some important steps taken to get banks to do short sales ahead of foreclosures. that seems like a commonsense sort of step. modifications were the borrower can make the payment or they might have a shot at staying in the house conversation. you can watch the rest of it online. we will take you to the u.s. house. by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. dear lord, we give you thanks for giving us another day. at the beginning of a new workweek, we use this moment to be reminded of your presence and to tap the resources needed by the members of this people's house to do their work as well as it can be done.

we ask that you send your spirit upon them, giving them the gifts of patience and diligence. with all the pressures of for action that cry out each day and with all the concern and worry that accompanies any responsibility, we pray that they might know your peace which surpasses all human understanding. may your voice speaks to them in their hearts, illuminating their hearts and spirits, enabling them to view the tasks of this day with confidence and hope. all this day and through the week, may they do their best to find solutions to the pressing issues facing our nation. may all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory, amen. the speaker pro tempore: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house her approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1 the journal stands approved.

the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from south carolina, mr. wilson. mr. wilson: everyone, including our guests in the gallery, please join in. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will receive a message. the messenger: madam speaker, a message from the president of the united states. the secretary: madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: mr. secretary. the secretary: i am directed by the president of the united states to deliver to the house of representatives a message in writing. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina seek recognition? mr. wilson: madam speaker, i

ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. wilson: madam speaker, when mary west went to the government health care website, she didn't think she would lose her doctor. she struggles with high pressure and diabetes. because of these health concerns, she's developed a relationship with a doctor. she was devastated when she realized that her policy was not accepted by her local hospital. trying to obtain an alternative policy that will be taken there has been even more difficult due to the lack of communication between the provider and the hospital. this story highlighted over the weekend in the spartanburg herald journal reveals the nightmares that south carolinians and americans are experiencing as a direct result of obamacare's failure. this unworkable law is tragically flawed. it's not fair that the

president is creating barriers when making trips to the doctor. obamacare will need to be repealed and replaced with a commonsense solution that maintains the doctor-patient relationship. instead of big government dictates that destroys jobs. in conclusion, god bless our troops and we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? mr. levin: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from michigan is recognized for one minute. mr. levin: today marks the 100th day that unemployed americans have been cut off the federal unemployment insurance program. let me give voice to how they have spent the last 100 days. a woman from pennsylvania wrote, and i quote, it's scary, mr. levin, not knowing what will happen from day-to-day. my landlord has tried to be as patient as he could, and now he

had no choice but to serve me an eviction notice. it's scary to think that my america is this cruel. carol from new york, i've been in the medical field for over 25 years and unable to find work. i can't pay my rent or electric bill, phone bill, no money for gas, no money for food. i can't even print out my resume for a job because i can't afford to buy ink for my printer. this is the first time in my life i had to go to a food pantry. i was ashamed. never in a million years would i imagine this is where i would be. i'm not looking for a handout. i just need a little help to get back on my feet until i find a job. tonight the senate will pass a bipartisan u.i. extension. this house must not ignore these stories. we must act. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from indiana seek

recognition? mrs. brooks: madam speaker, i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. mrs. brooks: i want to congratulate the outstanding ability one program that is committed to providing employment opportunities for people suffering from vision loss. since 1915, indiana's very own bosma enterprises has been a partner of the program with a goal of changing lives. bosma is indiana's largest employer for people with vision loss, helping over 50,000 people find employment since it started. it's more about the numbers though. take chris, she was born with glaucoma. meaning she had the eyes of an 80-year-old at the time she was born. at the age of 4 she lost all of her vision and began orientation and mobility treatment at bosma enterprises.

following that training she began as a braille instructor. she continues to volunteer in her free time, teaching braille and keyboarding in the very center she graduated from four years ago. madam speaker, it's my honor to extend my support to the a ility one program and bosm enterprises. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, this is to notify you formally pursuant to rule 8 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives that i, as a custodian of records for congressman joe pitts, have been served with a subpoena issued by the united states district court for the eastern district of pennsylvania requesting documents in a third-party civil case. as i have determined that there are no documents responsive to this subpoena, it is not

necessary for me to determine whether compliance with the subpoena is consistent with the privileges and rights of the house. signed sincerely, thomas tillet, district chief of staff, congressman joe pitts. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on april 7, 2014, at 10:19 a.m. that the senate passed house concurrent resolution 88. with best wishes i am. signed sincerely, karen l. haas. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a message from the president. the clerk: to the congress of the united states, section 202-d of the national emergencies act provides for the automatic termination of a

national emergency unless within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration, the president publishes in the federal register and transmits to the congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. in accordance with this provision, i have sent to the federal register for publication the enclosed notice stating that the national emergency declared in executive order 13536 of april 12, 2010, with respect to somalia is to continue in effect beyond april 12, 2014. on january 17, 2013, the united states government announced its recognition of the government of somalia. the united states had not recognized a government in somalia for the previous 22 years. although the u.s. recognizeation underscores a strong commitment to somalia's stabilization, it does not remove the importance of u.s. sanctions, especially against persons undermining the stability of somalia. for this reason i have determined that it is necessary to continue the national

emergency with respect to somalia and to maintain and enforce the sanctions to respond to this threat. signed, barack obama, the white house. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the committee on foreign affairs and ordered printed. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess, fax any requested votes will be held after 6:30 p.m. eastern time. 4:00live house coverage at here on c-span. coming up this week on the c-span networks, secretary of state john kerry will be testifying on his 2015 budget request, which includes one point $5 billion to support humanitarian efforts in syria.

you can watch coverage live of the secretary testimony tuesday on our companion network c-span3. on wednesday the senate judiciary committee will hold a hearing on the proposed comcast-time warner cable merger with a look on the potential impact on consumers. you can watch the hearing live 10 a.m. eastern on wednesday, also on c-span3. >> our joint services agreement and our shared services agreement -- we are really into that really involved. -- really involved. that news operation cost us almost $800,000. it is not for the faint of heart. it has this is what people wanted, this is what they need to get them back to our station, channel 21 in myrtle beach. we put that back in place. support iis financial alone could not afford these figures.

there was an ice storm in south carolina. it was just destroyed. we were there for almost 16 hours. these are the kind of expenses that you cannot calculate. i don't know what kind of wealth in no way can i survive this without the joint services and shared services agreement. >> the fcc ruled that owners cannot control more than one station in the same local market. tonight on "the communicators." the assistant secretary of homeland security says an alarming number of countries provide little or no information on lost or stolen passports. he testified before the house homeland security subcommittee on maritime and border security

for about an hour and a half. >> we are pleased to be joined by allen, who has been with this committee in the past. we appreciate his attendance here today. he is the assistant secretary for international affairs. mr. john wagner has also been before the subcommittee before. we appreciate his attendance

today. he is the deputy assistant commissioner up and border protection -- at the customs of border protection. and mr. shawn -- i will more formally introduce them in just a moment. let me recognize myself for an opening statement here this morning. first of all let me start by -- thoughts and prayers are with the families of those killed and wounded at fort hood. a terrible incidents that happened. state ofg members texas. certain as we begin the difficult task of finding what went wrong there we have to be mindful to support the men and women who wear the uniform, not only overseas but certainly when they return home here as well.

the abilities of terrorists to do us harm who hinges on their ability to travel. if you make it hard for terrorists to cross our borders on the future acts of terrorism's can be prevented. commend the department of state for the great progress we have made as we have strengthened the outer ring of border security. we station dhs personnel in high risk countries to prevent persons of concern from boarding the plane or getting a visa. and we are using biometrics to detect visa fraud. in the past three years the subcommittee has held six various hearings in document security because we certainly understand the importance of 9/11's commission

recommendation. travel documents are as important as weapons for terrorists. vulnerabilities can be exploited by those who would do us harm. so we must have robust measures in place to deter and ultimately detect those from traveling -- those traveling on false documents. toare certainly dismayed report to of the passengers on flight 370 boarded the aircraft using stolen passports. wallet has been reported we don't have any reason to believe these individuals were involved in an act of terrorism. it certainly highlights the vulnerability of the aviation system abroad. our prayers go out to the families who are still waiting to learn what happened to their loved ones and we certainly hope and pray that lane will soon be found. through the work of the department of homeland security we have made the necessary changes to keep the public secure.

the ability to ward a plane with a stolen passport is really low. a lost and stolen data database was created to send messages to a central repository and check against that database to make sure no one can enter a country or board a plane with a known, lost, or stolen passport. unfortunately only three countries in the world routinely check the flight manifest against that database. kingdom,ates, united and the united arab emirates. there's is no question other country should follow our lead. according to the poll in 2013, travelers boarded into national flights more than one billion theirwithout having passports checked against the

database. we should use every avenue at our disposable -- at our disposal. in addition to not consistently checking the lost and stolen that -- stolen passport database, other countries are not consistently sharing lost and stolen passport information with the interpol database. the overwhelming majority of the 40 million records in the lost or stolen database comes from visa waiver program countries, in large part because it is conditioned for pre-travel to the united states. not routinelys do check their flight manifest against the database. will be exploring and introducing legislation and legislative solutions to encourage countries within the visa waiver program to do so. lostut timely reporting of and stolen travel documents it becomes very difficult for cdp,

through their advanced targeting system, to determine if some one is flying on a false document before they present themselves to the customs officer at an airport. if a terrorist is intent to hijack an airplane it may be too late. statesough the united has a robust screening and vetting process, it doesn't mean our work in this area is done. i understand cdp just recently began to check passengers on outbound flights against the loss in someone database. we are certainly interested in hearing from our viewers today why that wasn't done before. on theto get an update department of homeland security and if apple has done since 9/11 from getting on a plane bound for the united states. while americans should be confident the dhs is doing good work vetting all of the appropriate databases, we can and should work with our international partners to strengthen security for americans who travel abroad. --s subcommittee readies

subcommittee stands ready to assist in any way we can. texas to ms.y from jackson for her opening statement. morning to the witnesses. thank you so very much for your presence here today. again for reminding us as i intended to do of the tragedy that occurred in my home state. and to again offer to those men and women who have been brave enough to put on the nation's in farawayfight places, our deepest concern and sympathy for the families who have lost their loved ones, who i have indicated are willing to serve in the united states military. certainly those who are injured. is the second time that this tragedy has occurred at fort hood. it is the second time we have

had to embrace those who are our neighbors. 2009 andith them in will continue to do so now. i hope this committee will have an opportunity to address the question of protecting -- even as this is a military issue, detecting our men and women while they are on domestic soil and view it as a cause for zero tolerance for these kinds of incidences on domestic military bases. my sympathy to not only the men and women at fort hood and the leadership but also to the people of the state of texas. another tragedy we are facing in trying to find solutions. even as this has gone too many many days, we still express our concern for the families of the passengers of malaysian airlines flight 370. i hope it will not be their final in if there has been no

determination as to what occurred to that particular flight. today i'm appreciative that we are holding this hearing, as i spoke to the chairwoman in the immediacy of the hours of determining there were passengers on that flight. whether or not have concluded there are no connections, we do traveled --ssengers we know american citizens were on that flight. we do not know what connections those two passengers may have had to its demise. reports suggest that these

individuals who are not criminals or terrorists seek to hope to raise europe. travelers can readily board thataft's using passports do not belong to them is a cost for concern. if a couple of people can do it, so in terrorists or criminals. after 9/11 and even before that we know that we live in a different territory with from actors and different reasons for their actions. in fact there are known examples -- committed his crimes after traveling internationally on a stolen passport. widowhe so-called white from july 2005 suicide bombing is wanted in kenya.

evidence that this is a problem. it is my understanding that most of the world is ahead when it comes to preventing lost, stolen, or fraudulent documents. alterable documents against appropriate loss and stolen databases -- these checks yield results. in fiscal year 2013, u.s. customs and border protection reviewed 17,710 possible hits against lost and stolen databases, resulting in 496 individuals being denied from boarding planes to the u.s.. cbp has reviewed 10,806 possible individualsng in 59 boarding. thank the homeland

security and agencies for the extended perimeters and the improved security that we have had post-9/11. we are clearly in a better place than we were. i think them again for their service. since the flight three 70 incident, dhs has expanded its checks, not just including the writing passengers but those departing this country. -- a writing passengers but those departing this country. i hope to hear from our dhs theesses today about why parting passengers were not included in that check or if any analysis had been done. i also hope that we will be will to embrace and include the airline industry as a move forward on a number of ways to ensure the safety and security of the traveling public. i hope to hear from all of our

witnesses about how we can encourage our international partners to follow the lead of the u.s. that regularly trek -- regularlynts check travel documents against the interpol database. doing so is made possible and fewer. passportsies against -- although the flight 370 incident is focused on the vulnerability, it was noted interpol. in fact speaking at the summit in february just before the flight 370 incident, interpol's secretary general ronald limited only a handful of countries are the systemlly using to screen travelers when that device is available, leaving our global security apparatus

vulnerable, exploitation by criminals and terrorists. the world is getting smaller. we traveled from all over the world to all over the world. hope to hear from our witnesses about how we can encourage other countries, particularly those we work mostly with on aviation security regularlyo begin screening documents against interpol's database. i will be looking to draft legislation dealing with the enforcement aspect of this particular aspect of aviation travel. the travelingf public, including u.s. citizens traveling between foreign countries could well be at stake for him as well as those traveling from foreign countries to the united states, as well as americans traveling elsewhere around the world. i think the chairwoman for holding today's hearing and the witnesses for joining us. to allownimous consent

a member of the full committee to sit and question the witnesses at today's hearing. >> i yield back. >> other members are reminded that opening statements may be cemented for the record. we are pleased to have very distinguished witnesses. indicate that i am part of a quorum and a mark up and i will be away for just a moment. i think the chairwoman. >> certainly. a busy morning. we are going to be having votes so we will move along here. he is the assistant secretary of international affairs and chief diplomatic officer for the department of homeland security. mr. john wagner is asking cap -- is acting deputy assistant director for the field of operations and u.s. custom

border operations. ms. brenda spragg serves as deputy assistant secretary of state for passport services in the puerile of counselor affairs -- in the bureau of counselor affairs. in this capacity mr. strength overseas the network of 23 agencies that are responsible for the acceptance, adjudication, and issuance of u.s. passports. a position he has held since 2012. he acts on behalf of the attorney general as official u.s. for presumptive to interpol. he has been focused on improving partnerships between the other 189 interpol member country's and their local counterparts. of the witnesses will appear

in the record and the chair mr. -- for his statement. >> thank you. i appreciate this opportunity on this subject. the international criminal police organization is the world's largest transnational police association with 190 member countries today. each member country has a national central bureau to conduct interpol activities and coordinate services within its national territory. among the services interpol provides to the law enforcement entities of every member country with access to its s ltd, stolen and lost travel document database. this database contains 40 170ion records divided by of the organization's members. interpol confirmed two of the passports used to board malaysian airlines flight 370

had been recorded in ace -- in the lost document database. as noted, ron noble noted the surprise of many that very few countries systematically query the s ltd database for the purpose of verifying whether a passport has been lost or stolen. even more troubling is the ms. -- is the miniscule rate in which countries outside of are contributed information to the database. since 9/11 the united states government and the american people have addressed the security vulnerabilities exposed so tragically on that day. a the 12 years since in thoroughly bipartisan fashion, in which this committee has played a significant role, we have constructed if multilayer fully automated interagency approach to homeland security.

as additional vulnerabilities have been revealed that are revealed, we examine and respond as we doppropriately so today in the context of lost and stolen passports. when an individual seeking admission to the united states present a foreign passport, whether he or she seeks admission by land, air, or c, that passport is screened against the s ltd database prior to admission. on multiple occasions. we also screen outbound passports in the same way. most countries in the interpol screenty do not travelers against the database as thoroughly as we do in the united states. many, not at all. more disturbing is the alarming number of countries that report very few, and in some cases, no lost or stolen databases.

visa waiver countries are required to do so. europe,tates, canada, and other be wp partners have divided the vast majority of the 40 million records in the slt database. some of the most popular haveries in the world contributed few, if any, records to the database. the remarkable development, 40 million records added in the past 12 years, the lack of data provided by many interpol countries remains significant. of servingthe honor on the interpol executive i have beenea urging the organization to prioritize the program and other border security efforts as core functions of interpol. sure, there are real and current challenges to this decision.

despite the fact dhs and the united states national bureau have worked to incorporate recommendations for data reporting and response times into interpol's standard manyting procedures, countries have not been able to connect their agencies and interpol does not require them to do so. the task ahead is encouraging our partners to more fully utilize the database and to engage in these kinds of border screening and security efforts. this can only add to its value of the standpoint of american security. i look forward to exploring with last. it will not be the i take from our past experience that we can resolve this matter in a satisfactorily cost-effective way. thank you for this opportunity. i look forward to responding to

your questions. >> thank you very much. the chair recognizes mr. wagner for his testimony. theistinguished members of committee, thank you for the opportunity to appear today and discussed the role of u.s. customs and border protection and passport security. i appreciate the opportunity to join my colleagues in speaking on this very important issue, which supports the core mission of cbp. i like to discuss the sources of information available. query this information as well as our operational responses in the different travel environment. the ability for officers to access real-time reliable information on all travelers seeking admission to the united states is critical to art -- to our antiterrorism efforts. cbp must ensure that a traveler isn't fraudulently presenting another individual's valid passport or other travel documentation, whether the document is stolen or intentionally provided to enter the united states. uses interpol's stolen and

lost document travel database and support systems in the air land and sea environments to verify the validity and status of travel documents. data when -- lt through the electronic system authorization, also known as esta. esta's provided 90,000 since 2008. in all travel environments, cbp officers. travel documents against our primary travel database that includes access to many enforcement systems, including lost and stolen passport data. and sea environment, cbp has the extra advantage of receding airline traveler information prior to departure from the foreign location. identifyles cbp to

potential risk factors. cbp will coordinate through our national targeting center and our assets overseas in the immigration advisory program or in preclearance, or remake coordinate berkeley through our regional carrier liaison groups to prevent boarding in cases where the esta has been denied or if a traveler does not have a replacement to commit to the one reported lost or stolen. 650has committed over recommendations to carriers in the last 18 months. in all environments p court mates with interpol. many of the cases are actually mao intent.th no if the passport is a u.s. passport we will allow the pack -- allow the traveler to receive -- to proceed and return to the department. traveler will have a valid replace the document for the lost and stolen one and cbp

identify they are the true bearer to allow the traveler to us -- to proceed. if the traveler is found to be presenting a lost or stolen passport or has altered and tampered with the passport and any form, cbp will take appropriate law enforcement action against that traveler. in the last 18 months cbp has lost or stolen documents in order to enter the united states fraudulently. securitye passport operations cbp has developed this carrier liaison program, which provide string to airlines and their security companies on identifying properly the committed passengers to the united states. training provides airline personnel hand -- hands-on instructions and fraudulent document identification and travel document verification.

trained 630,000 airline and security personnel. when carriers encounter lost or stolen documents, training strict security contact the regional carrier leaves and groups that are 24/7 operations maintained and new york, miami, and hauled the loop. in real timepond considering the validity of a travel document. cbp strives to ensure that travelers are appropriately interviewed or threatened for the united states. cbp has placed opposition strategic airports overseas to work with carriers and host nation authorities and has built strong liaisons with airline representatives to improve our ability to expand our security

efforts be on the physical borders of the u.s.. these efforts seek to keep our transportation sector safe and potentially reasoning united states. -- potentially reaching the united states. thank you for the opportunity to testify. i am happy to answer your questions. >> chair now recognizes ms. bragg for her testimony. testimony. >> chairman miller, distinguish most of the committee to thank you for the opportunity to testify today about the many things the department of state does to promote the security of u.s. passport and to deter passport for appreciate your focus on this important topic. we at the department of state believe to prevent passport fraud we need to focus on five areas. a sophisticated document with technic advanced security features, a robust and vigorous education system, real-time

sharing of data, a proactive anti-fraud program, and outraged u.s. citizens to educate them -- i'm sorry. to educate them about the important form of identification. because of the access of passport provides, we spend years creating products with high-tech security features in photo biometric and secure limiting micro-printed, color shifting ink enhanced electronics that render these documents virtually impossible to counterfeit. but it's the sophistication of u.s. passport increases, so did efforts of those attempting to commit passport fraud. today's passport fraud most often involves fraudulent birth certificates, fake identities and the look-alike photos. passport adjudicative spend hours annually in mandated trained to make certain that they have the skills to identify there is types of fraud. we also integrate several real-time fron front-end databae checks into our education

system. but this is not enough. as recent events have shown, even a well-designed, well educated passport still if on ability in the wrong hands. domestically we counter this by reporting lost, stolen and revoked passports detected, the system and custom border protection used to screen arriving passengers at u.s. ports of entry. in turn cbp transcends us u.s. passport its season at u.s. borders so that we can identify patterns and determine whether the better submits a fraudulent passport application internationally we lead the way in reporting lost, stolen and revoked passport data to the interpol lost and stolen travel document. we provide interpol with real-time data including the passport number and date of issue so it is accessible to member law enforcement authorities worldwide. we also require all countries in our visa waiver program to report lost and stolen data to interpol if they wish to

maintain vwp status. the departments of state and homeland security use the sltd to that visa applicants inbound flights and doesn't manifest and people crossing mentors at all u.s. ports of entry. if you this is about international law and border enforcement agencies, the sltd effectively prevents impostors and is lost or stolen passports they bought or obtained fraudulently for travel. though i would our documents and systems are strong, there is never time to rest on our laurels. the u.s. passport is one of those sought after documents in the world. not only is it an international can't document it is also a legal form of identification and might be used to determine eligibility or endowment benefits, to apply for driver's license, to confirm employment eligibility, to qualify for a mortgage or to open a bank account. this means we must continually assess the passport security features and design for potential vulnerabilities and

incorporate new measures as technology advances. through our website, travel top state.gov after committee outreach by our 29 passport agencies, we remind you citizens of the importance of safeguarding their passport and provide guidance for reporting to us if the documentation is lost or stolen. we continually review our methods to improve our passport issuance system and fraud detection capabilities. and look for new ways to partner with other agencies to educate the public and strengthen existing procedures. we welcome opportunities to expand the efforts with federal, state, local and international agencies to protect our citizens and promote safe, secure and legal travel throughout the world. thank you again for the opportunity to appear before you today. i'm happy to answer any questions you may have. >> thank you very much, mr. sprague. mr. sprague. thatcher never get jesus mr. bray for his testimony. >> thank you, chairman miller,

ranking member jackson lee and distinguished members of the subcommittee. it is an honor to be today to provide you with an overview of interpol stole the lost travel document database or sltd. dashing stl p. before this i'd like to echo the previous statement of the pen regarding the tragedies there's a malaysia airlines flight 370. our thoughts and prayers remain with the families and loved ones of the flight passenger and crew. this incident servicers to underscore the need for coordination and collaboration across international borders great a safer, more secure world for us all. as you're aware the international criminal police organization commonly known as interpol is the largest police organization in the world. membership is comprised of the national police the first from 190 member companies. all of which participate in the organization on a voluntary basis to interpol exist to ensure and promote the widest possible you to assistance between these police authorities. in order to achieve this high level of cooperation each

interpol never should country is required to establish and maintain a national central bureau. interval washington is that national central bureau for the united states. a component of the department of justice were unique in that we are also omitted by the department of homeland security. enough for six year of operation interpol washington is or but a multisector workforce consisting of a full-time staff from the department of justice and an additional senior personnel represent more than 30 years law enforcement agencies. simply stated our mission is to visit the international police cooperation, communication and investigations through interpol on behalf of the united states. we support and heavily utilize interpol's database and resources, it's global, secure global complete situation in the i-20 47 and what to publish this nation. it is the it would force him that connects the uc berkeley with interpol which with resources but also correctly with our 189 other member country partners. the use of its databases are

governed by interpol tools in the processing of data. it is these rules allow interpol washington to extend the service and data including sltd to u.s. law enforcement. in accordance with our internal information sharing session interpol washington is next and the ability to query sltd to all authorities to existing u.s. law enforcement data systems. the sltd itself is essentially a search of a positive stolen and lost passport, visa and attended document information designed to prevent illicit international travel and false impersonation by criminals and terrorists. a query against the database to which there' there is a naturalt in the return of only information about the suspect document itself but will not include personally identifiable information about the document holder. although stronger encouraged by interpol, participation in sltd is voluntary and does very country by country the u.s. has embraced as a pd in its efforts as the critical point of its persecuting and transportation

strategy. in the united states the bureau of consular affairs at the department of state as a designated target and source for the stove and lost passport data that is popular into the stove and last travel database. the u.s. making over 39th of the more than 49 records contained in the sltd. u.s. participation in sltd is managed at interpol washington by our operations and command center. working on a 24 by seven basis recorded the entry of that data into the u.s. passport data into the sltd, and also verify and result in matches against the database by either for or domestic authorities. in 2013, u.s. law enforcement border security and council authorities already sop in more than 238 million times. accounted for proximate 30% of all query activity worldwide. these queries result in more than 25,000 matches against the database, the of 100 of which were resolved administratively. small number of these hits, however, represent a series

potential concern and were referred to appropriate law enforcement authorities for further investigation. as you can see, interpol washington is aggressively pursued the use of sltd to enhance and support on national security investigation. we will also continue to explore additional applications for sobt to further assist our law enforcement can be to ensure the safety of the american people. chairman miller, ranking member jackson lee, and distinguished of the subcommittee i appreciate the opportunity to testify about our role and support program and i've be pleased at any questions you have at this time. >> thank you very much, nestled appreciate all of the witnesses your it's been very, very informative. i think they're interesting issue and something that i think the united states congress needs to be looking at a bit more. because really the purpose of this hearing, first of all, we have a great story to tell, as has been mentioned here this money. the united states has a great story to tell about how

significantly we have ratcheted up our security, our document security, et cetera, for our american citizens, particularly flying domestically here since 9/11. it really is a remarkable achievement by our nation i think. and so i think, i want to make sure that our united states systems do recognize and take a high degree can't have high degree of confidence and comfort level in the fact of what is happening with our various government agencies when our citizens are traveling domestically here. but as we are very aware now, and i think the american citizens are much more aware, because of the tragic of the malaysian flight 370, that if you are an american citizen and you are traveling internationally, particularly from one international country to another, they don't have the same type of security with their data documentation that we do.

and suppose we know that, but yet we need to look at what types of things we could do perhaps to incentivize others to improve a bit, particularly when they see in the malaysian flight 370 there were american citizens traveling on that aircraft. and so since that has happened, the world continues to search for that flight, we decided to have this hearing this morning really to look into this issue a bit and explore what kinds of options we might have. and certainly one that comes to mind immediately and has been mentioned here of course extensively, and there's a testament today in our opening comments, both myself and the ranking member, i mean, we have 38 countries, a list of 38 countries that do, these are our friends. these are our allies, these nations that are under the visa free travel, the vwp program.

and this is a program that the united states started back in the '80s really as a way to expedite travel from our allied countries into the united states and for tourism, for commerce, et cetera. and since 9/11 we have had great success with them. certainly checking, or giving us information, if there is a lost or stolen passport. so that is all good. however, it is interesting and it really comes like i think because of the malaysian flight that these same countries are not really checking as they could for the potential stolen or lost passport under database when people are getting on their flights. and so again these are other nations, and i think the united

states obviously they are our friends, allies consider but we do this particular program with them, and i'm just wondering, i mentioned in my opening statement, it's my intention we are looking at introducing legislation that would require them as a participant in this program to really not only just regulate submit information on lost and stolen passports, but really for these countries also to routinely check the database for passengers who are boarding these flights. and i mean, you look at the list of the countries here. as i say, these are our friends and allies, closest allies in the world. look at france and germany and greece, ireland, italy, et cetera. this information is available, and in some ways it would seem to me that many of these countries don't need to incentivize by the united states. perhaps they will start doing it on their own at what has come to light with malaysia's flight.

i guess i would throw the question out, maybe start with mr. bersin. what is your thought about actually legislation about something like that and what you think would be the reaction of our allied countries for something like that? would they consider it an intrusion? what would you you about the on something like that? >> madam chair, so of course you recognize that pending the submission of legislation this is, which the department would have a formal review process, this is in good faith response to your -- >> at i appreciate that. there has not been legislation introduced by as i said it is my intent to do so. >> is looking at. >> is looking at the what and which visa waiver countries operate now, we do require them to pipe of the database so that every time someone comes -- populate -- on the way to the united states we have been queried the database, maintained by interpol operate as

ms. sprague indicated and find lost and stolen documents, and the number is great because of the requirement. also when you get on a foreign airline and they come, someone is coming on a foreign airline from those countries, we get the same benefit because the advanced passenger information requirement of games to any flight from any country, whether visa waiver or else coming to the united states. the question you raised which is whether as a condition of protecting into visa waiver program they ought to be compelled to scream against the database with regard to all flights, regardless of whether the coming towards us are going elsewhere, poses an interesting policy question. it does address the issue that we see highlighted by malaysian airline or flight 370 and the two iranians using the lost or

stolen passport issued in italy and austria. is a legitimate issue. i believe though that we are going to have to assess whether of all the things that we would require that do not have a direct impact on us, whether that would be one of them, i think it's an open question. ..

ct do that. some of them do it in a varying degrees and then the ability to run that data against the different databases that are there for that government to access becomes a technology and resource issue for a lot of the governments to do. in the cases where we've had our closest partners develop these types of systems we've also brokered some arrangements to help them targeted information and help them review it and exchange information and located personnel on the ground to work with their authorities to help them adjudicate a lot of the manifests. we have officers in camelot and mexico. it's an extension of the advisory program. but we can work with travelers moving towards the government to identify travelers in the countries to help them identify that.

we've had some success with stolen documents entering pamelor in mexico to do that so people continue to push certain countries to expand on those really on those capabilities. >> following up with mr. wagner because it was in your testimony or one of you that testified at the cbp was going to be just starting a screening for lost in the store when passports and i know you've been doing that on the in-bomb flights. can you tell us what we are doing and why we are doing that and how it advantages us from the security risk standpoint? >> we get 100% of the passengers departing the united states manifests. historically we have screened them for some of our top threats that we face the terrorist screening, no-fly hit with some of the targeting and analysis.

we've recently added to the lost and stolen database to the manifests and screaming. we are looking now i want to see 60 to 80 hits a day total. we are looking to program the systems to be able to see if we can administratively reconcile so we are not chasing down administrative actions. the old database person is interred. as we've seen on the inbound the majority are reconciled in the administrative manner cause they have a replacement document and they lost and found the document so we see ways we can help them pinpoint the ones that are with qualified intent and depart the

u.s. on the stove and document. and we are working to see if they can build and prohibiting printing the boarding pass when they get the hits to reconcile the information and respond. it is properly credentialed the person leverages a lot of that as well. even though we are talking about peace and passports activity i think interpol is an interesting organization and you mentioned all of the members countries. for instance if you had germany

got on an aircraft flying into the united states would they be sharing that information with us? not just other threats. so i understand how the information sharing works in the organization. >> it can be received from germany and other countries. we routinely receive information regarding traveling sex offenders from a generally registered offenders in many countries that have a registry for that but for the countries that may be notifying us. we communicate that information immediately to the determination can bthatdetermination can be me disability in the united states but that's one story. there is information regarding criminals, terrorists that are

chain-smoking on a daily basis. at the command center is 24 by seven, 365 s 365 so they procesd over 30,000 messages to and from the law enforcement community. this is the work we do every day into vs ltd has been a component of the work we do to enhance u.s. security. as we spoke about it is a department of justice concern. there are no officers there. it is law enforcement and tools to help us overcome linguistic and sometimes cheap traffic barriers with other foreign countries. as you said it's been a success story we will be able to build upon in the future.

>> as indicated that we can receive information on the criminal records and in fact it is the vehicle that they can communicate and there are sex offender registered but that information was not come unless there is a specific case or law enforcement inquiry. unless that sex offender or murderer unless that record is in the fbi database we had no routine insight into what is in the data records of other countries. that's the issue. if there is a specific case or inquiry they would receive that information but the point is it's not a routine data exchange

because we don't have routine access to german criminal records anymor any more than the routine access unless there is a case towards the criminal records. >> of the subcommittee and the full committee is interested in pursuing legislation in regards to biometrics etc. and that is the only sure fire wa surefire f verifying somebody's identity in this case we are only talking about foreign travelers into the united states. they are an important tool for something like that perhaps from the department. do we have a comment on that? >> i would never pretend to be an expert but as you know they

provide ten fingerprints and of course those can be verified at the entry so the most reliable biometric accepted his fingerprints and they are already collected. >> one of the requirement requit congress imposed is that we enter into something called the preventing and combating serious crime agreements. there's also a national security agreement that's required that would facilitate the exchange of information and we do have with the 38 countries in agreement and in fact with some countries that are not members we have those agreements. but we are at the very dawn of creating the exchange and one of them is biometric we can inquiry

each other's fingerprint databases and if ther there's ad light alert to call the police authority to say what is that about. >> certainly the information is power. such a critical component of the security that we appreciate that and the chair recognizes the ranking member. >> let me thank the chairwoman and the witnesses again. in my opening statement i mentioned it to individuals and i'm going to mention them again because in the present circumstances of the malaysian flight 370, the investigation

initially has not pointed to the individuals having criminal intent to bring the plane down. what is attributed to these individuals in false passports is a benign but important issue of a desperation added that the bike drop and 50 and sympathy. i don't want that determination to cloud how serious this hearing is and how crucial that we have a construct that will let the world know this is a very serious issue and the witnesses already know that in actuality he was convicted of masterminding not just a traveling soldier standing by the wayside about masterminding the world trade center bombing

and many have made note of the fact that it's something that didn't wake america up. it was so unusual we didn't attribute it to the beginning change in the psyche of those that want to do america harm but he was traveling internationally on a stolen passport and of the widothewidow that is now wantedn kenya is linked to fraudulent passport. we must leave here with the idea that solutions are possible and i would like to put on the record that interpol has taken note travelers have boarded flights more than 1 billion times without having their

passports checked against the lost travel documents. that is very much a wake-up call so i would ask you what impediments with respect to technology privacy concerns that are blocking or keeping countries and what is your view of how the u.s. might be able to be hopeful to these countries? you are correct with the observation on the 1 billion -- >> that is a large number. >> very large. you indicate some of the difficulties the countries have. these include not only resource free strains in terms of lacking the money and priority of a budget decision. it also involves the lack of technological know-how to set up

the kind of sophisticated information technology systems that are required to create this kind of automated checking. it also involves as you indicated the invisible requirements or constraints of privacy and the lack of coordination between immigration authorities and police authorities of the provincial levels in foreign countries. all of those together within institutional, create an institutional capacity to operate the kind of automated vending systems that we have. having said that, we have to have a strategy with regard to those countries that are critical to our security to ensure at the very least they populate the stolen and lost travel document database. the important requirement for us in the near term is that we have the data to be able to see who may be traveling to the united

states. the second requirement is to figure out again based on flow of passengers what strategic capacity building efforts we ought to engage in to help countries build up the kind of technological and capital requirements to build up the systems and while we do that, to some extent we don't, for example, at the department of homeland security have capacity buildinbuilding fund and fundine sector funding in which to do that. so when we go out to do that they grant from the state department or the defense department we have to do that so-called aldehyde which we regularly do. >> that you have no budget line items that would allow you to dip into the funds and be engaged in that kind of capacity building?

>> that's correct. >> when the secretary went to visit with countries dealing with tsa responsibilities in foreign countries, what outreach was that? >> with regard to tsa because of the responsibilities for the screening and airport security has a limited separate line budget with regards to providing technical assistance on airport security no other component to my knowledge has a separate line item that would permit the kind of capacity building. >> let me quickly pursue this very briefly. you said that despite the fact they work to incorporate recommendations on response times and the standard operating procedure they do not require

member countries to implement them. do you have recommendations on this? >> as i said in response to the chairs question requiring other countries to screen the database is an issue we need to debate but populating it has a direct and immediate impact on our security so if we go down that route and mandates or capacity building efforts i would focus on getting data into the database that we could screen. whether we could cooperate with interpol and other organizations such as the civil aviation organization is one we also need to explore as we move forward.

>> but there is a question with mr. wagner. cbp has screamed arriving passengers. you haven't screamed departing pax to the passengers i think you started after malaysia 370. mr. bersin said he doesn't believe any other agency have capacity building. i need a yes or no on that and then whether this indicates our ability in the human trafficking issue because i would imagine that that is also a possibility for individuals being smuggled todathey may be on a fraudulent passport as well but the

question is you just started giving the exiting passengers. why haven't you done it and then what about the impact getting our hands around the passports on human smuggling? >> we've recently added to the lost and stolen documents to the outbound manifest screening that we do. we will focus primarily on the terrorist screening database is and other types of national security. but we will call out some of the administrative heads. >> we will be working to come up with a better -- >> do you believe in issues dealing with human smuggling and trafficking? >> and assuring people that are properly credentialed. as far as the capacity building i don't think we have a line item for it but we do put a lot

of resources into doing that and work with the department of state to fund those activities and like i mentioned before helping the governments build these advanced passenger information systems to get the manifests, to do the targeting and analysis and helping ex- change that information is critical to a lot of our priorities. i have questions i will put in the record and ask for a response from the committee and i will ask about how you discern the possible hits but do you do if a possible hit is discerned. now the chair recognizes the gentleman from mississippi. >> in an effort to share information to the passports as

a criteria in the visa waiver program countries must sign agreements with united states regarding the sharing of lost and stolen passports. through participation in the program that nations have agreed to share the lost and stolen passport information. doctor bersin, do the countries routinely share information on lost and stolen passports in interpol backs >> yesterday due into there was regular checking that we do to see that that requirement is met that would be a preview of how many entries have been made by the countries and if th that problem arises we will remedy that. >> are there any countries that are noncompliant? >> at this time no and asked several of us noteasseveral of e

testimony of the 40 million records 96% of them come from the visa waiver countries or aspiring in which the requirement to populate the database is set. >> if the country becomes noncompliant what actions would you take? >> first would be the communication between the program office working with the components on hsi to point out the deficit and overtime we haven't met the situation yet but there would be the authority of the secretary's office with secretary johnson to take steps to see that that effort was enforced in the law. >> we haven't had this instance happened yet.

what would be a realistic amount of time, three months or six months quick >> because of the importance to the security vetting we wouldn't want that to be an extended period of time. i know everybody seems to be in compliance right now but is there a hurdle to providing the information you hear from the partner nations? >> with regards to the visa as the chair pointed out at the outset of these are the closest allies in the country with whom we share the most experienced that have developed sophisticated information systems operating through, so with regard to the countries we have the infrastructure in

place. >> as a result of the requirement to you think the sharing has been increased into the program has been successful? >> i appreciate you can be named this hearing and exploring the legislative options so soon after the vulnerabilities have been exposed and appreciate the testimony that we've heard from the experts today and want to thank mr. wagner and mr. bersin for the response and the outbound passengers from the u.s. in light of the flight 370 tragedy and everything else that you described but to build upon something the ranking member has asked about the capacity building with other countries around the world you responded

that there is not a line item currently but can you talk a little bit more starting with mr. bersin and continue with mr. wagner about funding the capacity and efforts into the second question you may also want to address in the same way that we are exploring the legislative options in the fixes you've already put in place maybe talk about what other countries have done over the last three weeks so if you would start. >> starting with the second question in the aftermath of the interpol statements come of secretary general ronald noble

has been publicizing the issue and countries around have taken note of the problem and while it's too soon to say that it's resulted in changes it has created an awareness that didn't exist before and i think we will be seeing different countries within the constraints of the systems and cultures into the wall taking action and we should continue to encourage the populating database and also the screening. with regards to capacity building there are instances in which they have received state department grants through programs to help countries build the capacity. my point is it's always on a grand basis and there is no long-term capacity building line item to say we are going to do this and encourage all of the

countries in north america from colombia or pinnacle to build a system so that any time someone comes into the north american aerospace or port we would have insight who is on those planes. to do that would take a large budget. mr. wagner is in a better position to give the experience and can allow anin panama all ad others but the larger vision is that over the next ten years while we cannot build the measures we built here we can put a minimally required satisfactory system in place from ten of all to the arctic but that would take it budget appropriation and i was us. >> i would think every country and every person in the world

that gets on an airplane has a shared interest so we have the allies we've already described. the uk is already pursuing this but we also have countries like iran who have safety concerns. is there any way we can provide resources or encourage others especially wealthy countries to share the burden to make sure everyone is participating? i would love to find from you or mr. wagner what the cost is so we know what we are talking about. do you have a thought on this? >> we did work with mexico and panama on and the caribbean to help these countries with their authorities into the internal laws and regulations to complex of the manifest information to help fund them in the systems to

actually go through and screamed that information and we have our personnel with this to share what we can so there's work to do with other developing develog countries and then there's also the developed world getting our allies to take like approaches to how we do this and you will find very degrees of capacities and authorities and privacy issues that it's a consistent message that all of our allies should be doing it in a similar fashion. >> as a follow-up to today's hearing what you be able to come up with a ballpark figure and share that with the committee so we understand and maybe on the past experiences with other countries what it would take to

fund the necessary capacity locally, not that the united states needs to bear that burden on its own, but just so we know what that number is it so that is the basis for engaging other countries that might give to fund that's because it's in everyone's interest. >> she described this in finer detail. there is an infrastructure background. there is one single that connects the 190 countries have interpol and it's the beginning of the kind of system that you're talking about but perhaps he can explain what the system is and why it is a potential link in the area that you're exploring. >> we have notes in about five minutes. >> it is the backbone that connects the countries to not

only interpol and resource databases to each other and the ability otothe ability of the co utilize this is centered upon its bureaus of the national central bureau becomes the cornerstone for making sure that the utilities tools are available. >> with that said the u.s. has been supportive of the interpol membership in the community specifically in central america. we helped install sites at specialized police units but also border control points as well. we are continue to work prior to the airline disaster we've been working with counterparts in mexico and other countries in the caribbean as well to determine how we can better and most effectively assist them in fully realizing how the utilities and tools may be better serviced in their countries. and we will obviously work with interpol to determine how we can best come up with a global

strategy for engaging countries sharing best practices and lessons learned from this process. it's been a process for the united states, one that's taken time to develop and we need other countries to ramp up as quickly as possible. >> recognize the gentleman from california. first the ranking member has a comment. >> i want to put on the record thank you for your leadership on this issue and a lighter that you joined on into this isn't taking your time but i hope you will submit -- i would like to submit the letter for the record. again thank you for your leadership. >> thinthank you madam chair for allowing me to participate and the ranking member for supporting that request. and as others have stated, my prayers and wishes go out to the families of malaysia flight 370.

but as we have often learned from aviation disasters, if there is any hope that has come out of it it is that we learn a lot about our own security and how to make passenger safety much better and i also want to note int if the chair miller submitted a letter to the department of homeland security and we appreciate the response that we received. and with senator schumer to create this s. ltd database if they don't we simply won't issue than these us and i hope i can work with the chair and the ranking member on such

legislation. mr. bersin from you we would've to north america's concern as well because i believe the country we should principally be tracking our ones who have airports near our borders. for example, and my colleagues district she has mexico which has a large international airport and in san diego you have to yell on a just to the south and washington state you have vancouver and of course new york montréal and toronto are not far. my question is what degree are the bordering countries to the north and south, canada and mexico and of course in the hemisphere and a law and other countries, what percentage of passengers are being screened against the database traveling in and out of those countries?

>> with regards to mexico, the figure mr. wagner can confirm what the 100% in terms of people entering mexico and could cross the border and come into the united states. with regard to canada, the canadians are fully cooperative with us and they screamed. we are in discussion with them about the full screening debut for their own citizens and as a result of this incident we will see a complete screening from the neighbors to the north. >> does that mean a flight originated in venezuela and landed in mexico 100% of the passengers with a check? >> that's great with regards to the stolen and lost travel document database. >> suppose a flight originating from germany and coming to vancouver, 1100% be checked?

>> with regards to against the canadian database, yes and against the s. ltd when there is a secondary inspection there would be a check and as i say we are engaged in canada is engaged in to see what it could do to complete the cycle. with regard to the point on north america the reason i focus is that it's not just the neighboring airports such as far as and el paso, san diego, but it's people coming from outside the atmosphere into central america for example and traveling overland to the border so it's important for us to actually look at this as a continental problem, not a national one and i think president obama in the own the

border action plan with the prime minister and canada recognizing perimeter security as a critical issue and our colleagues and partners share this notion. >> we are beginning to learn about check it whic such as a purchase program with interpol. what is the participation of u.s. airlines and hotels and other tourism companies right now as far as checking passports against the database as a point of purchase rather than 72 hours before the flight? and i'm just talking about the united states. >> i believe that all passports are being screened not by the

airlines necessarily at the plaintiff purchased but by cbp and domestic purchases is what we are referring to. >> but i check a program intended to have cooperation with the vendors, right? the airlines and hotels. >> right. the relationship, the public-private relationship exists in the u.s. for some time and has a better fact it's a model for the world. it's one that we have taken to interpol and the ie check if working group is in a developmental stage. interpol is beginning to look at how to balance requirements into the concerns of 190 companies with a public-private partnership. having said that, the models that have been rolled out have been with hotels and they have seen success. they are now looking specifically at following the malaysian airline disaster at the transportation sector.

>> is every purchase in the united states to travel outside or every purchase out of the united states to travel in the united states checked against the database at the point of purchase or closer to the departure or arrival? >> this will be the final question. >> when the tickets are purchased and checked out the counter. >> 100%? >> inbound flights to the u.s. yes. >> i want to thank the witnesses for being here. i think all of us have additional questions, so i would invite you all to separate those for the witnesses and we will ask for a written response to the questions and again i appreciate you coming on short notice. we convened this hearing i had an idea and convened it pretty

quickly particularly for helping us move on capitol hill. so we appreciate the witnesses coming this morning and in person went to the role that record will be open for seven days and without objection the committee stands adjourned. thanks again [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> and more from capitol hill and about 25 minutes when the house camels back into consider a number of bills today's -- today, including one dealing with the cost of federal loans. any requested votes will be held

after 6:30 p.m. eastern time. you can watch live coverage at 4:00 here on c-span. and coming up, take a of state john kerry will be testifying on his departments 2015 budget request, which includes $1.5 billion to support humanitarian efforts in syria. you can watch live coverage of his testimony tuesday at 10:00 a.m. eastern on our companion network, c-span3. and wednesday, a judiciary hearing on the proposed comcast -time warner cable merger and a look at its impact on consumers. live at 10 a.m. eastern also on c-span3. in our shared services agreement, we are really active. and our station, which did not have news -- because you know, nooses were you really make your money in the local market. that news operation cost us. it is not cheap. it is not for the faint of heart.

but because it is what the people wanted and needed, to get we put thattation back in place. without sinclair, i alone could not afford these figures. ice just destroyed our generator. we were off the air for almost 16 hours. was $400,000.r these are the kinds of expenses you cannot calculate. i don't care what kind of wealth i may have been blessed with. there is no way with my owning two or three television stations that i survive this without these shared services agreement. >> this past sunday, the fcc will that owners cannot control more than one station in the same local market using joint sales agreement and shared services agreement. find out more tonight on the communicators at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2.

>> and the u.s. house is said to gavel back in about -- in about 20 minutes. but before they do, some of today's white house briefing with jay carney talking about paid his commission and other topics. >> a quick question on the issue of equal pay. the president slated a figure of woman making $.77 on the dollar compared to men. i wonder if you -- a couple of people have looked at white house studies that said the median salaries in the white house, women make 88% of what men make. what appearsplain to be a wage gap here at the white house echo >> i with say a couple of things about this. we know that cleanse -- closing the gender wage gap is a key part of our economic agenda, women's agenda. and here at the white house,

equal pay legislation deems that there should be equal pay for equal work, and that is what we have. men and women in equivalent roles here earn equivalent salaries. we have two deputy chiefs of staff, one man and one woman, and they make the same salary. we have 16 department heads, and over half of them are willing -- are women, all of whom make the same salary as their male counterparts. and i think it is worth noting, as anyone who participates in our senior staff meetings can have here in the white house over half the staff are women, and for filling key senior leadership roles across the board, including deputy chief of staff, counterterrorism monitor, national security advisor, white house counsel, senior advisor to the president, director of domestic policy, director of communications,

director of legislative affairs, director of scheduling, and director of management and administration. the that tells you is president has enormously qualified people in the most senior spots in the white house. >> why does the median salary of show as the white house 80% of men, though? >> i think those studies look at the aggregate of everyone on staff, and that includes from the most junior levels to the most senior. what i can tell you is as an institution, we have aggressively addressed the challenge. at the $.88 that you cite, that is not 100, but it is better than the national average. when money comes to the bottom line that women who do the same work as men have to be paid the same, there's no question that is happening here at the white house at every level.

earlierade the point that the administration is prepared to impose further -- sector sanctions. do you have buy-in from the european? because sector sections will hurt bothll their economy as well as the u.s.. >> as the president indicated when he signed the executive order imposing the sanctions on the russian economy and sectors of it, it would not be our preferred course because there would be harm done to the u.s. economy, to the global economy, to the european economy. but it would be necessary to do so if russia engaged in further transgressions of -- against ukraine. what you saw when the president visited europe and had meetings with our closest allies in europe was just what you have asked about, which was a buy-in,

if you will come a consensus -- ifour european allies you will, a consensus among our european allies that this would have to be the next update if russia engaged in further transgressions. obviously, i will not speak for individual european countries, but i would point you to what european letter -- leaders said while the president was in fromum, and note that chancellor merkel, prime minister cameron, leader after leader in europe, you have seen very strong statement about what and very firme commitments to holding russia accountable for the transgressions that have already occurred and any potential further transgressions. >> even the reports that we have seen since the european meetings, there seemed to be description sees -- discrepancies between what

-- what would cause us pain from sanctions. >> i'm not sure what you are referring to, but we have been working very closely with our european partners as well as japan on this issue. feel that we have achieved a very strong joint commitment when it comes to how ,o respond and how to act should russia engage in further transgressions. >> i want to follow-up on john's question about pay equity. you're basically saying that women at the senior levels here make equal or more than men, but if you're at a lower level and a woman on the white house that, you don't make as much? >> that would be a misinterpretation of what i said. everybody at every level here at the white house is paid the same for the same work from a male or female. that is reflected at the most senior levels here, where half

or more than half of the department heads are women. some of the most senior positions in the white house are filled by women, including national security adviser, homeland security advisor, white house counsel, communications director, senior adviser, deputy chief of staff. he goes on and on. >> [indiscernible] >> i think i just explain that, and i will again for you as well. if you look at the aggregate to my from the senior to the most low levels, you are gathering everybody together, which includes the lowest level salaries. which may or may not be, depending on the institution, filled by more women than men. but at every level here at the white house, you are paid the same for the work you do regardless of your gender. rex -- >> some federal contractor say that is what they are doing as well, but the numbers are off because of what you just said. >> the equal pay issue, and i'm glad you're sitting in interested in it, is focused on ensuring that -- for example,

led better -- lily ledbetter was where she hadnce no idea that she was being paid less than men doing the same work, until she was will -- informed well after the fact through in an autonomous tip. the president -- an anonymous tip. the president tomorrow will use executive authority to do address those issues, and it has to do with making sure that women are not discriminate against when they are doing the same job and being paid less for it. >> and senator reid is going to have a vote, i believe, tomorrow on this issue. any -- and the senate committee is going out what they call a gop pay gap and are saying that republican senators are keeping women from making the same as men. midtermsked you if elections had anything to do with this, you said you were

offended. do you still stand behind that idea? >> that is like saying that pushing the minimum wage or any item that they think is important policy has to do with the midterm elections. i would remind you that the first bill the president signed into law was the lily ledbetter bill. that was a long time from any election. the actions that the president is taking this week, the actions that he supports that democratic senators are taking reflect the commitment that he has held and proven his interest in from the very beginning of his time in office. peter. former florida governor jeb bush said something on immigration, basically at those people who come to the country illegally do so because they have no other means to provide for their family. any said what they did is "not a but an act of love and

commitment to their family. i honestly think this is a different kind of crime. does the white house think this is a different kind of crime? >> i did not see former governor bush's remarks. but it is clearly the case that -- and i have heard former president bush talk about this, too. and as you know, up -- as you firm george w. bush was a supporter of comprehensive immigration reform. in front of republican audiences, talk about how family values do not stop at the rio grande. i think that is what former governor jeb bush is talking about. and thirdly, we would agree with that. it's does not mean that we are not a nation of laws and we do not need to enforce our border security, which we do. and the president is obviously committed to that, but we need to reform our immigration system. it's broken. and i believe both former president bush, former governor

conference ofort immigration reform. and that reflects a broad consensus across the country that exists. senator john mccain was a sponsor of comprehensive immigration reform. that consensus exists and it is not ideological, not partisan. it got democratic support among republicans for, the business support, labor support, support from the evangelical communities , support from law enforcement community. and the reason why there is this consensus is because the needs are so clear, and the benefits of comprehensive immigration reform are so clear to our economy, our security, our capacity to innovate, and also to ensure we are showing the kind of compassion when it comes to some of these issues that the president talked about recently. >> is there a desire to have the kind of compassion, or does that withith -- does that gel

what was put out in the "new york times" that many were deported for minor traffic violations and no criminal past at all? do those two things gel? one8% of deportations met or more of enforcement priorities. other than convicted criminals, it involves those trying to unlawfully enter the united ands, illegal reentrants, fugitives from immigration court. it is important to note that 82% of individuals removed from the interior of the u.s. were previously convicted of a criminal offense, and 72% of these individuals were convicted of a level one or level two offense. these individuals were convicted of aggravated felonies, or other

sentences with three or more misdemeanors. additionally, 93% of all of ice's non-criminal removers were oreat immigration violators fugitives from immigration court. it is important to remember that under u.s. law it is a felon and -- felony to reenter once you've been removed. that points out one of the challenges here, and one of need -- the reasons why we to reform our system comprehensively. because as the president has made clear, he remains deeply concerned about the pain too many families feel from the separation that comes from our broken immigration system. the president has directed homeland security secretary jeh johnson to do an inventory of the department's current actions to see how the department can conduct enforcement more humanely within the confines of the law. you have the facts before you, which is that we have when it

comes to enforcement , taken steps to make sure in this case that a two percent of individuals removed from -- 82% of individuals removed from the interior were previously convicted of criminal offenses. were repeat immigration violators. but there is still this issue of the pain of separation and the need to take action. that is why we need to pass conference of immigration reform. it would be such a good thing for the house of representatives, four speaker boehner and republican leaders eric cantor and kevin mccarthy to listen to the voices out in the country calling for immigration reform to my listen to the business leaders calling for it. leadersaw enforcement calling for.

listen to the economists talking about the boone immigration gdp,m would provide to our to deficit reduction. listen to those who argue about how important it is to ensure that all of our employers across the country are playing by the same rules. listen to those and look in valley and elsewhere, who are enormously concerned about the need to keep talent that comes to the u.s., individuals who come and study here in fields like engineering and computer science, to let them stay here so they can build businesses here and the united states can continue to be the leader in these high-tech fields that are so valuable to our economic growth. there are so many great reasons to pass this. there are so may conservative reasons to pass this. and the president sincerely hopes that republicans in the house hear those voices, hear those conservative argument as well as the humane arguments --

not that those are contradictory necessarily -- i didn't even get a laugh out of that? and then take action. >> very quickly. tonight in dallas, the ncaa championship game will be held. can you give me the president picks? of us, his picks washed out in the bracket. >> i want to ask you more seriously, though, about the university of kentucky, which starts five freshmen, part of the one and done rule. a lot of people think that is not a way to run athletics and it is a bad tradition to be created college sports. what is the opinion of the president of schools inviting kids to play for one season and then grooming them for the pros as opposed to academic opportunities? >> i confess i have not had that conversation with him. i know the president has addressed questions like this in some of the interviews he has done with espn and other outlets

on issues related to sports and economics within sports. i know the president believes firmly that it is important for our student-athletes to get an education. but i don't have a specific response from him on the question of kentucky freshman. said that the wage gap in the white house is better than the national average. >> i am just basing that on the data that john told me. >> when you say that, do you mean that is good enough for the white house? is there still work to be done? >> there is work to be done across the country. we need to engage in that. on the fundamental issue if -- pay women employers equally for the same work, the white house record is crystal clear. and the answer is, yes. and not only that, but on a separate and related matter,

when it comes to ensuring there are women in senior positions, to thete house can point very senior women on the staff were --positions ranging from white house counsel to communications to national security. and note that the president has in enormously qualified individuals in those positions who happen to be women. the broader issue is one that we as a nation have to address, and that is why the president is committed to it. the focus of the paycheck equal payct and the related executive actions that the president wants to take is to ensure that women are not being paid less for the work that they do, the same work that men do. >> yes, our nation is founded on law, and not on the women of man. we are not ruled by kings or emperors and there is no divine right of president.

a president is an ordinary citizen vested with the power to govern and sworn to preserve, protect and defend the constitution of the united states. inherent in that oath is a responsibility to live within its laws with no higher or lower expectations than the average citizens, just like the sims. -- ms. sims. when the president appeared at the deposition of ms. jones and that the federal grand jury, he was sworn to a second oath to truth,e truth, the whole and nothing but the truth, so hope you got. this according to witnesses, to the judiciary committee before he did not counsel do. for this, i will vote to impeach the president of the united states, and i asked that this case be considered by the u.s. body ofnd that other uphold thecongress

responsibly to render justice on these most serious charges. but to the president i would greatir, you have done damage to this nation over this past year. and while your defenders are contending that further impeachment proceedings would only purchase act and exacerbate the damage to this country, i say that you have the power to do -- to terminate that damage and heal the wounds you have created. you, sir, may resign your post -- boos] [gavel] >> the house will be in order. >> and -- and -- [boos] >> the house will be in order.

>> and i can only challenge you in such fashion if i am willing to heed my own words. to my colleagues, my friends, and most especially my wife and family, i have hurt you all deeply and i beg your forgiveness. was prepared to lead my narrow majority as speaker, and i believe i had it in me to do a fine job. but i cannot do that job or be the kind of leader that i would like to be under current circumstances. so i must set the example that i hope resident clinton will follow. i will not spam -- i will not stand for speaker of the house on january 6. but rather, i will remain as a backbencher in this congress that i so dearly love for approximately six months until the 106th congress, whereupon i will vacate my seat and asked the governor to call a special

election to take my place. i think mice -- my constituents for the opportunity to serve them. i hope they will not think badly of me for leaving. i thank my chief of staff and all of my staff for their tireless work on my behalf. and i standing by me. i love her very much. 35 years agoeated and brought to you today as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. 35 years on c-span, and in the house a number of bills including one dealing with the cost of federal loans. any requested votes will be held after 6:30 p.m. eastern time. in the senate, the extension of unemployment insurance, the vote

around 5:30 p.m., and it may not passive it comes over to the house. the rules committee is meeting on the budget today. house democrats unveiled budget plan with tax hikes. 'response.e democrats --efits from integration immigration reform to make those numbers work. the plan proposed by chris van hollen. it includes additional infrastructure spending. early childhood education per grams, and unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed. paul ryan's plan manages to balance the budget by 2024 i repealed coverage under the a formal care act and cutting spending in federal agencies. the associated press reports the

proposals are aimed more at appealing to the parties' bases. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] purpose does the gentleman from new jersey, mr. garrett, seek recognition? mr. garrett: i seek unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on this bill, h.r. 187 , which is the budget and accounting transparency act of this year, 2014. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey, mr.

garrett, seek recognition? mr. garrett: pursuant to house resolution 539, i call up the bill h.r. 187 2. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 284, h.r. 1872, a bill to amend the balanced budget and emergency deficit control act of 1985 to increase transparency and federal budgeting and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 539, the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on the budget printed in the bill is adopted. the bill as amended is considered read. the gentleman from new jersey, mr. garrett, and the gentleman from maryland, mr. van hollen, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. garrett: let me begin by thanking the chairman of the budget committee, chairman paul ryan, and the budget committee staff as well. for their hard work on h.r. 187

, the budget and accounting transparency act. as many have talked about before, our budget process in this country is broken. simply put, we need to make the budget process more transparent. so the will before the house today, the budget and accounting transparency act, is, as we like to say a commonsense attempt to introduce more sunshine and common sense into our budget process system of what would this legislation do? most importantly, the bill will require the federal government apply something called fair value accounting. that is the same credit accounting standards as the private sector uses when making or guaranteeing loans. so fair value accounting provides a more robust or more complete picture of the cost to the taxpayer of government loan programs or government lending programs. fair value accounting accomplishes this how? by accounting for an additional market risk premium.

also, the bill recognizes that the budgetary impact of government-sponsored enterprises of fannie mae and freddie mac. this bill would bring the words of the taxpayer from out of the shadows and onto the budget. so why exactly do we need this specific piece of legislation here today? well, without getting into the weeds too much, the simplest explanation is that there is no such thing in this country, or the world, of a free lunch when it comes to a government program. the costs are always borne by someone. in this case it's borne by the american people. the facts indicate that not only is government costly but also government costs more than we all initially expected. so the burden of government rarely comes in under budget. nowhere does this ring truer than the federal housing administration program, also called f.h.a., and their mortgage insurance. it defies common sense,

according to the federal accounting rules, that they make money for the government. how do they do so? only through the alchemy of government accounting can you transform a mortgage portfolio of lead into gold and still remain true to the law. so this free money comes courtesy of what? it comes courtesy of the federal credit report act of 1990. this is ea federal accounting program and the standard that we operate today. cooking cotting -- accounting rules that determine on the basis of a subsidy cost including the risk that the borrowers default on the mortgage. by using the treasury rate, which it does not account for and does not account for market risk or overall systemic risk system of what does that mean? unlike fair value accounting, which appropriately incorporates a premium for market risk, the current law fails to reflect the true cost to the american

taxpayer of these f.h.a. mortgage-backed insurance. let me give you an example. in 2011 report, the nonpartisan c.b.o., the congressional budget office, compared the cost of the current system of f.h.a., single family mortgage insurance, on both the current law and what we have here which is fair value basis. what did c.b.o. find? c.b.o. estimated that under the current accounting, f.h.a. would raise $4.4 billion for the government in 2012. sounds pretty good. but if you actually dug into the numbers and used fair value basis, which as i said before, is what the private sector would be forced to do, with an appropriate accounting of market risk and of course market risk is there, then what did c.b.o. find, c.b.o. estimated that f.h.a. would not gain $4.4 billion but f.h.a. would lose $3.5 billion over the exact same period. why is this?

because c.b.o. believes that fair value provides a fuller picture of a program's budgetary impact system of it now employs fair value basis accounting as a standard proceed wrur for federal loan garen tees and federal loan programs such as f.h.a. where is the problem? the a ba ma administration has strongly resisted the move to fair value accounting and instead cling to the current program instead. let me give you another example. in 2010, president obama effectively nationalized the federal student lending program. the president then immediately spent the savings if you will, remember i talked about some of these before, on his signature health care law. what's the problem? the problem is that there is a growing gap now between how much money was borrowed and backed by the u.s. taxpayer, that means you and i, and how much money is being repaid by the graduates. let me give you some numbers. based on the department of education data, there is a, get, a $99 billion gap between what

has been borrowed and what has been paid back since only 2010. remember, the president said these loans would actually make money for the federal government, instead, the actual numbers are coming in that it's costing $99 billion gap. so the bill before us today, the budget and accounting transparency act fixing these shortcomings by requiring that market risk to be explicitly included in estimates of federal credit programs. what will that do? it will bring federal budgeting practice in line with what's long been standard practice in the private sector. specifically, it requires the executive branch and congress to use fair value accounting in calculating the cost of federal credit programs that consider not only the borrowing costs of the federal government but also the costs of the market risk of the federal government in incurring or issuing any of these loans or loan guarantee programs. so with mounting debt, and a lackluster job growth, it's time

to force the government to play by the same economic rules as every single american family and business mazz. to it's not fair -- and business has to. it's not fair to keep putting the american taxpayer on the hook. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? mr. van hollen: thank you, mr. speaker. let me say at the outset that we welcome any proposals to improve the budget process, but it's a mistake to suggest that simply tinkering with the budget process will somehow solve our problems. the bigger issue in the congress has been an unwillingness of many people to compromise and at the end of the day, in order to make budgets work, you have to have give and take system of for example, the reason we saw a government shutdown last october had nothing to d with budget process. it had to do with the fact that our republican colleagues said

they were going to shut down the government as a means to try and shut down the affordable care act. to shut down obamacare. it was clear that that was not going to work. we're not about to strip millions of americans from the new insurance protections they have. but despite that, our colleagues pursued that strategy and we saw 16 days of unnecessary and unproductive goth shutdown. that was not a problem of process. it was a problem of politics. now, with respect to this bill. i would say to the gentleman from new jersey that if your bill were limited to bringing fannie and freddie on budget, we would join you. we would welcome you in that. but as you know, this bill does much more than that, in fact, it fundamentally changes the way we account for credit programs, federal credit programs, including things like the student loan programs. now, the gentleman from new

jersey mentioned the impact on the f.h.a. and a couple of years ago, i think three years ago in the budget committee, we actually had a hearing on this subject. this bill was then on the floor in 2012 and at that time, many of us said that before we consider the other changes that this bill proposes, at least we should have a hearing in the budget committee to determine what the impact will be on student loan programs, small business administration programs, veterans loan programs, at least we should have that information. and yet, three years have gone by, we're now back with the same bill on the floor, but no hearings to try to judge what impact it would be, have on student loan programs and i want to mention the student loan programs in particular. the gentleman said that the president had, quote, nationalized the student loan program. let me just translate what that means. it had been that the bank the big panks -- big banks, were

essentially a conduit for all the student loan programs and they were taken very -- taking very little risk but pocketing big profits, just as a middleman. a middleman without risk bus profits. so democrats provide -- proposed a program to help more students with more loans to afford college, we got rid of the middleman and used the savings to try to increase and in fact did increase the amount of funds available so more students could afford to go to college. now, this bill comes along and it would actually change the way we account for student loans to artificially make those student loans look more expensive on the budget than they would otherwise be from a budget perspective. now maybe this isn't surprising, after all just last week in the

house budget committee, we debated the house republican budget. that republican budget is going to be here and debated on the floor of the house tomorrow. we'll start debate on that budget. that budget significantly cuts the student loan program. so one of the things it does is it charges students interest on their loans while they're still in college. that's about $41 billion of additional interest costs they put onto students. at the same time in their budget they protect special interest tax breaks for hedge fund owners, big oil companies and the like. so that's what their budget does. now this piece of legislation would address that from a different direction. it actually would artificially increase the cost on the budget books of student loans going forward. let me just read from a letter from the formered of the

congressional budget office. he writes, the accounting convention used since enactment of the credit reform act of 1990 already reflects the risks that borrowers will default on their loans or loan guarantees. under credit reform, costs are already based on the expected actual cash flow from the direct loans and guarantees. this bill proposes to place an additional budgetary cost on top of the actual cash flows. then it goes on to point out that that may be something that members want to consider during debate, but to actually put that artificial inflation in the budget actually is potentially misleading to people who are looking at the budget. like so many bills around here that are misnamed, this one named the budget transparency

and accountability act, reduces budget transparency by putting in the budget a cost for student loans that is actually artificially increased. . so i would suggest to my colleagues that we reject this particular proposal. again, if the gentleman had brought to the floor a bill that simply put freddie and fannie on budget, that would be fine. but this bill actually is the vehicle to inflate the actual costs of things like student loans. at the same time we're having a republican budget coming to the floor that actually cuts those student loans. at this point, meek, i ask unanimous consent -- meek, i mr. animous consent -- speaker, i ask unanimous consent to place this into the

record. mr. yarmuth: we reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. garrett garrett i yield my -- mr. garrett: i yield myself such time as imai consume. i may -- if i -- as consume. i will touch on one or two of these issues. in a sign of bipartisanship, i would like to extend to you, not knowing where this bill may end up in the future of things here in the house and the senate, but extend to you an invitation to co-sponsor with me what you said twice during your remarks, that you seem to be on the same page as i am and as i have been for a long time with regard to the g.s.e.'s and have fair value accounting applied to them.

and on budget. i would extend that invitation to you. mr. van hollen: i support the part of your amendment that puts them on budget. to the extent that that's your question on budget, i'm happy to join with you on that. i wish you would join with us now in reconsidering your proposals to change student loan calculations. but we may be asking too much at this point. mr. garrett: so as i say, my staff will talk to your staff on that. thank you for your other omments. without objection, i'd also at this time like to enter into the record a letter dated january 30 from the american action forum which is an organization run by former c.b.o. director, which says, and i won't go into detail, but basically -- the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. garrett: wrote to express his complete support of h.r. 3581, the budget and accounting transparency act of 2014.

for the very reasons that we have set forth here already. i am not seeing any other speakers at this time. i'm going to reserve and allow the other speakers to go. the speaker pro tempore: jaurt. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized -- the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. yarmuth: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pascrell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pascrell: mr. speaker, i rise in strong opposition to this legislation. this is an illusion, another one. the ncaa men's basketball national championship game is tonight. i know that many of my colleagues are looking forward to watching some high-level competition from these two great squads. however, at some point you could be assured you will see one team's coach yelling at the referees. guaranteed. they'll be screaming in their faces, convinced that they are calling too many fouls. and that they're being biased

against their team. you can be assured that the coach yelling at the refs the most will be the one whose team is losing. this is basically the same thing that's happening here on the floor today, mr. speaker. on this bill. and all the other so-called budget processes. you can't get away from process. you don't want to talk about results. you're always talking about process. process and process. trying to work the refs because you're losing. this argument -- because you're losing this argument. the ref in this case is the nonpartisan congressional budget office. you refer to that many, many times. nonpartisan congressional budget office. the bill before us today, offered by my colleague from new jersey, would require the congressional budget office to

score federal loan guarantee programs in a way that makes them appear more expensive than they actually are. that's what you are all about. i've served on this budget committee for the last four years. we can't do our job right if we don't have accurate estimates of what federal programs really cost. this bill will absolutely make our job harder by making us work with inaccurate data. in fact, all in all, the congressional budget office estimates that this bill, your bill, would have increased the estimated cost of federal credit programs in 2014, would have increased them, by $50 billion. all by waving your magic wabbed. -- wand. now, this isn't really about finding the best technical way

to measure the course of each program -- cost of each program. that's what you say. it's working the refs in way that would make even coach k proud. it's nothing but a dishonest attempt to make worthy government programs appear more costly so that those who are identify willingly opposed to government -- ideologically opposed to government and government spending can more easily undermine those very programs. that's what this is all about. mr. yarmuth: i yield the gentleman an additional minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for an additional minute. mr. pascrell: my colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't like the federal loan guarantee programs that help first-time homebuyers. they help less unfortunate americans pay for their education. they are willing to cook the books in order to make a better case for their elimination. mr. speaker, we could do better than this. we can argue about these programs on their merits. instead of resorting to

budgeting sleight of hands. process. i'm strongly opposed to the bill. we'd be voting to raise the minimum wage and give raise to 27.8 million americans, to $10.10 an hour. that's what we should be debating on this floor. we could finally consider the immigration reform legislation that the senate passed nearly a year ago. we should be debating the u.i., the insurance rates, unemployment rates, to restore unemployment benefits to more than two million americans including 125,000 in my home state of new jersey. but instead we're here today considering a bill that does nothing except enable the majority's fringe ideology, pave the way for even more cuts to the most vulnerable. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired.

does the gentleman reserve? mr. yarmuth: we reserve our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: i yield myself such time as i may consume. two quick points. process is important. i guess if you -- you could be opposed to process, the gentleman from new jersey referenced the ncaa, if there was no rules and all the players could just go out and do anything they wanted to, i guess you could say we could rack up -- let me just finish the thought, you could rack up a lot of points and scores and do very well. but there's a reason and there's a method to the game. and that's why you do have rules and that's actually why do you have the refs. yeah, the coaches on both sides will complain. but the refs at the end of the day are the ones that say, hey, these are what the rules are and let's play within the confines on it. second point i was going to make is, i understand this issue is pretty difficult and pretty complicated. the bill's not that long. but the gentleman from new jersey has it completely

backwards. you want to look, go by the c.b.o., don't you and you want to apply this to the c.b.o. and what's it your bill is going to do, no, that's not what i said. i do agree with the c.b.o. the c.b.o. already does this. it's a c.b.o. that is calling for this. it was the directer of the c.b.o. who said what i just entered into the record, that we should be doing this. this is already done that way, i inform my colleague from new jersey. what we're saying is, if he and i agree that the c.b.o. is, as he just said, this nonpartisan entity, which has the right way of handling it, they are handling it the right way. we're now simply saying, administration, you should be doing what the gentleman from new jersey and i both say should be done here, what the c.b.o. says should be done here, and apply it to o.m.b. and how the administration does it. the gentleman has it completely reversed as to what the bill actually says but i will yield

to the gentleman. mr. pascrell: thank you very much to my colleague from new jersey. first of all, no one on this side of the aisle ever suggested that we need no rules. what you're trying to do is put everyone at extremes. and that's where we are many times, because you are the majority and we are the minority. and i respect that. but don't say we don't want the rules. we fought for rules -- mr. garrett: reclaiming my time. what i was just pointing out is you were saying that both sides' coaches were going to be yelling at the refs and they wanted their side to win or lose. if you use an analogy in a game, there has to be rules. and we're saying that the rules that should apply are the rules that you indicated the c.b.o. is a nonpartisan entity, that they are doing it the right way and we're saying, exactly. the c.b.o. is nonpartisan. they're calling for this type of application of the rules and if we agree on that point, and if you dig into the bill to realize we're saying it's not to make sure the c.b.o. does

it, but the administration does it. so reread the bill. you understand what we're trying to do. i think at the end of the day you and i may actually agree. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. yarmuth: may i inquire how much time we have? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky has 19 1/2. the gentleman from new jersey has 18 1/2. mr. yarmuth: i yield an additional minute and a half to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pascrell. mr. pascrell: thank you. mr. speaker, this isn't as country complicated as one would pretend -- isn't as complicated as one would pretend it to be. first of all, the c.b.o. says, if this were the law of the lapped, in other words, if this bill -- land, in other words, if this bill would have been passed by both the house and the senate when it first came up, it would have cost us $50 billion more in the 2014 budget. i find that hard to believe

that you would accept that when you practically -- the gentleman that i'm speaking to right now through the chair -- has voted no on everything under the sun. so i find that difficult to believe. there needs to be rules, particularly in all financial matters. those rules have a purpose. i am telling you, this is a process question and this does not in any manner, shape or form enhance the passage of a budget that we can live with, we americans. thank you, mr. speaker. mr. yarmuth: i now yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. yarmuth: one of the interesting elements of this debate, and i think it's pretty clear that we have not a total disagreement of opinion on the two sides. we both want the same objective, which is a fair and honest accounting of what

programs cost the taxpayers or how they may benefit the taxpayers. we do know that it's pretty generally agreed that by moving toward the fair accounting method, the fair value method, that we would be creating a higher cost or at least the budget would indicate a higher cost for many of the loan programs that we've been talking about. but we don't know exactly what the ultimate impact would be and which method would be more accurate. o.m.b. does not support this proposal. o.m.b. says it has a hard time figuring out how it could assess value. market-based value. and so we don't have total disagreement here. we're in certain of the same objective. but there's another element to this that i think we have to consider in that when we compare loan programs in the private sector to loan programs

from the government, we're not always comparing apples and apples. we're comparing two very different motivations. in the private sector, when a financial institution makes a loan, its entire objective is to create return for its investors and stockholders. the loan is essentially isolated in purpose. you advance funds, you expect a return and that's the ultimate objective. when the government creates a loan program, it's not just to make money for the government. in fact, that is often not even considered. what we're trying to do in many cases is to create an additional outcome, an ancillary outcome that is the primary objective of the program. for instance, when student loans we are trying to create more college graduates throughout this country. . understanding that the more college graduate we was from a strictly financial standpoint, the treasury will benefit because people will be earning

higher incomes and paying higher tax rates. when we're talking about housing programs, we're looking at things like the v.a., the v.a. housing program, we're trying to find a way to help veterans, many of whom come back from deployments, disoriented, dislocated, without any way of finding housing, we're trying to create programs that will help repay our obligation to our veterans. in many -- in many other areas, we have an advanced vehicle manufacturing program. i know about this program very well because it was part of that loan program that resulted in a $600 million investment in the louisville assembly plant in my district in kentucky and now has added more than 3,000 new employees in my district. so the objective there was not necessarily -- as a matter of fact it wasn't at all to make

money for the government. it was to help stimulate the production of energy efficient appliances and to promote advanced technologies throughout our vehicle sector. so again, just to say, because there is associated a risk that's recognized in the private sector by financial institutions, does not imply that we should necessarily say that that same risk is equally important in the federal budgeting process. because again g -- again, we have ulterior motives in virtually every loan program that we have. we understand again, as ranking member mr. van hollen said, we do want transparency. we want to make sure that the american people know exactly what the programs cost. probably more importantly, internally, we need to know what these programs cost because we have to make policy decisions as to whether they are benefit this is -- benefiting the country as a whole, benefiting the taxpayers and benefiting the treasury. the question is, without the kind of analysis that the

ranking member suggested, where we actually determine through hearings and discussion what the cost of the student loan program would be, how many students we potentially are cutting out of the student loan program eric what we might be doing in the energy sector by imposing higher cost through the budget pro-- budgeting process and therefore a lower participate rate through the actual program, whether we're actually damaging the economy and the budget in different ways, not just on the direct cost versus benefits of the actual loan program. so these are some of the considerations. this is why we say this is a bill that's not ready for primetime and we think that this is -- we could be spending better time of this body or minnesota -- on more important measures to help the american people. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentleman is recognized.

mr. garrett: i yield myself such time as i may consume new york a moment i'll be yielding to the chim of the committee. to go back to the gentleman from new jersey who made the point as to which side of the issue is o.m.b. and c.b.o. -- c.b.o. on, it is a process issue but it is important that during an appearance before the house budget committee where we considered this legislation, the director of the, and i'll stress this point again, the nonpartisan c.b.o., congressional budget office, stated, and i quote, we believe that the fair value method of accounting which is what is in this bill, for federal credit transactions provide a more comprehensive measure of a program's true cost end quote, and that is exactly why we bring this bill to the floor. the gentleman indicated that there's a more partisan o.m.b., takes a different view but the nonpartisan c.b.o. takes the view of this legislation that we should make sure that there's

complete transparency and then all the points that the gentleman makes as far as making the decision as to how many students we should be able to have in these programs, how much -- how large is the housing program so on and so forth, then we can more accurately make those determinations once we have the actually numbers accurately before us and that's all this legislation really does. with that, i yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman who is table get a budget out of budget committee in record time the other night. the chairman of the budget committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. mr. ryan: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i want to thank congressman garrett for his hard work on this very and bringing this to our attention. it's really simple, mr. speaker. when washington makes or guarantees a loan, it is putting taxpayers at risk. our budget rules don't account for all of that risk. we understate the cost of credit programs by about $50 billion a

year. that's what the current accounting rules do. current accounting rules make it look like the government is making thall money from all these loans when in reality we are consistently overstating the profitability. let me give you one example. our current rules led to the projections that the f.h.a., those loans made between 1992 and 2012, would save us $45 billion. sounds like a great deal. $45 billion boon to the federal government in reality, those loans cost us $15 billion of hardworking taxpayer dollars. that's a swing of $60 billion. it's not about imposing costs, this bill is about recognizing the actual costs of what this government does. that's really what this is all ability. c.b.o. has reviewed this time and again. the gentleman from new jersey just mentioned this. and they have very much

concluded, like the private sector that budgeting federal credit programs should use fair value accounting as the most accurate meth for these programs. washington needs to be upfront with taxpayers about the true cost of its decisions because the taxpayers themselveses are the ones who are on the hook. but that's what the garrett bill would do we can't also forget that the office of management and budget which is a more political office, under the service of the president, they are ignoring the cost of fannie mae and freddie mac. in fact, o.m.b. shows them as saving money when they are huge liabilities. since 2008, fannie and freddie have been wards of the state. they're wholly owned subsidiaries of the federal government. and in 2013, the g.s.e.'s accounted for 60% of first lien mortgage origination. taxpayers are exposed to over $5 trillion of outstanding liabilities. o.m.b. keeps it off budget. despite the fact that if they ever go under if anything

happens again like did recently, guess who gets stuck with the tab? taxpayers. we cannot look at our budget through rose colored glasses. we have to be as clear-eyed as possible. we need transparency. we need real accounting. we owe it to our taxpayers. so this bill would require the government to use fair value accounting. it would require o.m.b. to be more honest about fannie and freddie's true cost and it would build upon the best practices in the private sector so we in congress can make better informed decisions about the hardworking taxpayers and what we are committing for them on their behalf. that's all this is. doesn't impose a cost on anybody, it simply recognizes the actual costs that are occurring. with that, i'd like to yield back to the gentleman from new jersey the balance of my time and thank him for doing this. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back this egentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky. mr. yarmuth: i yield myself such

time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. yarmuth: i certainly appreciate chairman ryan's comments and agree with many of them. while he mentions one case involving f.h.a., there are a number of loan programs throughout the government who don't necessarily -- which don't necessarily fall into that same category and many of them are very, very critical to our nation. if you talk about water system loans, many loan programs that affect rural america, in addition to the student loans, we have again the advanced technology vehicle manufacturing loan program. many across the board and what this legislation would do would essentially treat them all as exactly the same. we know that that's not necessarily necessary under the tarp program, tarp was actually accounted for in the budget using the fair value standard that is proposed in this legislation.

so we actually have a history of treating some loan programs differently than others and what we would say is, why don't we take the time to have hearings on this proposal, to actually consider the impact of an across the board standard on a variety of different kinds of loan programs. this is why we keep saying this is a bill that's not ready for primetime. there may be a considerable amount of merit in applying this accounting standard to some of the loan programs in the federal portfolio. but that doesn't mean it's appropriate or helpful in assessing the impact on every loan program. and furthermore, what we do know by virtually every analysis is that using the market based risk analysis that mr. garrett's bill proposes would under our budgeting rules do two things. one, add to the cost of

virtually every loan program, there certainly is no instance in which his analysis would say a loan program would cost any less, and what that would also do is create a misleading picture of how much that loan program actually ends up costing the taxpayers on a cash basis. just because there is an intangible risk factor attached to a loan program in the budget does not mean that that will ultimately be realized and in fact we may never understand if it is realized by the taxpayers system of for all these reasons, again, we would oppose the legislation, not because we think it's a horrible idea, we just think it's an idea that is -- that has not been vetted nearly sufficiently enough and could have a serious detrimental impact on many very, very important loan programs that benefit the american people. with that, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky

reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: just one point to that. we just dug through while you were speaking, i've sat through that committee now for a number of years and since this is an issue that i've been somewhat following for that period of time, i knew that your statement saying that we haven't had the time, haven't spent the time on hearings or what have you just did not ring true. so i dug through it. the fact of the matter is, we've had two hearings and two related markups on this legislation and i think that gives us the information we need now to go forward and secondly, to the point that you make that the various programs are unique in their nature, absolutely. and that is why this legislation allows fair value accounting to be applied individually and

evaluate each program accordingly. we do all that in this legislation, it comes about through the multiple hearings and markups we have had and i think now is the time to go forward and give us the transparency to the american public that they're asking for. with that, i reserve and we do not any other speakers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. yarmuth: i yield myself the balance of our time, we're prepared to close, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr.iar smuth: the gentleman is correct but not in a totally accurate way. we have had a hearing about budget processes at which this was discussed. we have not had a hearing dedicated solely to this legislation in which we could flesh out the impact on these loan programs that i mentioned. so in conclusion, i think to kind of summarize where we are, this program, this proposal, may be a perfectly appropriate proposal. we wish that we could have more

time and more analysis to determine whether we're doing more damage than good. we both seek to have the most accurate budgeting process and the most accurate process for assessing the value of important government loan programs. that is a shared goal, both republicans and democrats. we think that this bill is not - effectively and sufficiently fleshed out to make that kind of determination at this point. we think there are far more important things that this body ought to be dealing with, including raising the minimum wage, extending unemployment benefits, working on developing infrastructure for this country, as we all know is a critical need. all those things which will help stimulate our economy and create jobs. and for all these reasons that i mentioned and my ranking member, mr. van hollen mentioned, we oppose this legislation and urge

a vote no. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky yields back. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. garrett: thank you, mr. speaker. i will be brief. just to set the record straight, actually, we did have hearings on this and we did have markups on this back on june of 2011. we dug into it at that period of time. the legislation essentially the same just in a different cycle was what we have, in essence what we have before us today. we have had that opportunity, but i'll say this. if we see this legislation go to the -- continue on the floor today and if we see this bill actually pass today, i extend to the gentleman and the members of the committee, or anyone on the other side of the aisle that my door is open to try to make changes to it that you see appropriate, to make it have the flexibility that you think is not in the bill, which i think is in the bill so on and so

forth. so i stand ready to continue to work with you on it. but i think after the hearings that we've had, the importance of this legislation, now is the time to move forward. just one last point on this. i think the chairman of the committee made the point but let me just reiterate. this at the end of the day does not add any additional costs to the american taxpayer. what this bill does, it just makes transparent the cost that is already there. trying to come up with a simple analogy but fair value accounting is not necessarily one of the simplest things you can find an analogy for, it might be like this. you would not go to the store and go through with your credit card swiping it along buying the things you need or think you need, not knowing what they cost as you leave the store, just putting them on the bill, knowing at that at the own they have day, you have to pay for that bill, you wouldn't go to the store and do that, any more

than you should right now with the american public byudesing the taxpayers' credit card, for all these programs, worthwhile as they may be, necessary as they may be, you shouldn't just be swiping the credit card, not knowing exactly what the bottom line is, not knowing what the actual cost to the american taxpayer is and that's all this bill does is give us that information. with that information in hand, then we can come together, republican and democrat alike, on those areas that we all agree on are necessary for this country and necessary that we expend funds on, with that information at hand and do it in a more prudent and efficient and effective manner than we have been in the past where we have done without the information. with that, with that i you -- with that i urge a yes vote on this bill and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yields back his time. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 539, the previous question is ordered on the bill as amended.

question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to amend the balanced budget and emergency deficit control act of 1985, to increase transparency and federal budgeting and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 1-c of rule 19, further consideration of .r. 1872 is postponed.

the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered. or on which a vote incurs objection under clause 6 of rule 20. record votes on postponed questions will be taken later. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move we suspend the rules and we pass h.r. 3470 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 3470, a bill to provide for the transfer of naval vessels to certain foreign countries and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from california, mr. royce, and the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. royce: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm going to ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to put any extraneous

material on this measure into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. royce: i also ask unanimous consent to place into the record an exchange of letters with chairman camp of the committee on ways and means. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. royce: i yield myself such time as i might consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. mr. royce: mr. speaker, i rise n strong support of h.r. 3470. this legislation that i authored reaffirms the united states' steadfast support for taiwan and provides the legal authority to sell naval vessels to taiwan. i very much appreciate the bipartisan support that we've received from mr. engel and other members of the committee aisle. he

this legislation passed unanimously out of our committee and the bill makes several change -- several changes also to improve u.s. security assistance to friends and allies. on april 10, 1979, the taiwan relations act was enacted to govern america's relationship with the republic of china-taiwan. for 35 years the act has helped maintain peace and security across the taiwan strait and the asia-pacific region. during this time, taiwan has undergone a monumental transformation from grinding poverty, from dictatorship to today a vibrant, multiparty democracy. taiwan's economy has evolved, too. to where it is today, our 10th top trading partner. this week we recognize this 35-year transformation. few other pieces of foreign policy legislation have been as

consequential as the taiwan relations act. america's support for taiwan has allowed this island nation to realize its full potential. it is now more important than ever that we reaffirm our strong commitment to taiwan and to the taiwan relations act. and as chairman, i led two bipartisan delegations to taipei and other places to examine taiwan's economy and to look at its defense capabilities. and today's legislation is the product of the committee's bipartisan effort to prioritize the u.s.-taiwan relationship. by incorporating two pieces of legislation, both which passed the committee unanimously, the house of representatives is now in a position to fulfill both the spirit and the letter of the taiwan relations act. this legislation allows the esident to transfer for sale

four guided missile frigets to taiwan, which are greatly needed to augment taiwan's defense capabilities. i have seen firsthand the world war ii era submarines and the 50-year-old fighter jets that form the core of taiwan's military. congress has made it clear to the administration that it wants more defense sales to taiwan. these four ships would bolster taiwan's defense, to ensure that peace in the taiwan strait continues to benefit the entire region. in addition to supporting taiwan, this legislation also authorizes the transfer of excess demissioned naval vessels to thailand and mexico. these transfers help support the priorities of the u.s. navy while strengthening the capability of allies and other close partners to meet our

shared maritime security objectives. the bill also makes long overdue improvements to the timeliness of u.s. arm sales to friends and allies while maintaining appropriate congressional oversight it. also makes technical amendments to update certificate notifications and permitting requirements under the arms export control act. and finally the bill also clarifies that certain business kfality protections of the export administration continues to protect information related to export licensing. mr. speaker, i will reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves his time. the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly, is recognized. mr. connolly: i thank the speaker and i thank my colleague, mr. royce, the distinguished chairman of our committee once again for his bipartisan collegiality in the workings of our committee, especially on this important piece of legislation. mr. speaker, i yield myself

such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. mr. connolly: i want to also recognize rise in strong support of the taiwan relations act affirmation and naval vessel transfer act. i'm proud to serve, mr. speaker, as the co-chair of the congressional taiwan caucus, hich makes sure that we have relations. i'm also proud of the fact that since 1988 i have actually been to taiwan 23 times. and have seen extraordinary change over those three decades. since the signing of the taiwan relations act in 1979, the u.s. and taiwan have forged a closer partnership to improve cultural and economic relations between our nations. our partnership has been instrumental in maintaining peace and security across the taiwan straits and throughout

east asia. while it's important to mark this historic anniversary, we also should take this opportunity to affirm our, that is to say the american, commitment. as a reflection of that, today's bill authorizes the president to transfer up to four surplus u.s. naval vessels to taiwan. taiwan's been a valuable partner in combating global terrorism and delivering humanitarian relief when needed. china's recent declaration of an air defense identification zone and subsequent provocation toward other ships in the region has raise aed concerns about the possibility of escalation and provocation. that makes the security posture of friends like taiwan even more precarious and more important. and underscores the need for us to continue this defense partnership. the bill also, as the chairman indicated, authorizes the transfer of surplus naval

vessels to each mexico and thailand, both critical defense partners of she nation. these transfers will enhance the ability of these countries to collaborate with the u.s. navy on joint or support operations. the bill also provides an overdue modernization of the congressional review process for the licensing of u.s. defense exports. under the new criteria, congressional review will focus on major defense exports. the bill also will help advance the president's export control reform which has long been a priority for the high-tech community which i'm proud to represent in northern virginia. i've been working with the house foreign affairs committee can for years to reform federal export controls which have stifled innovation in the american commercial defense industry and put u.s. exports at a disadvantage. today's bill updates the process for congressional review of exports to reflect regulatory changes now being implemented by the departments of state, commerce and defense. as we celebrate the 35th

anniversary of the adoption of the taiwan relations act, i working with other friends of taiwan to reaffirm america's unwavering commitment to this partnership, including trade and investment activities that will benefit both of our nations moving forward. over the past 60 years, the united states-taiwan relationship has undergone dramatic changes. but taiwan's development into a robust, lively democracy underpins the strong u.s.-taiwan friendship we enjoy today. i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join the chairman and myself in supporting this important legislation and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia reserves his time. the gentleman from california. mr. royce: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from north carolina, mr. holding, a member of the committee on foreign affairs. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for three minutes. mr. holding: thank you very much. let me first thank chairman royce for his steadfast leadership in the foreign affairs committee on this legislation that we have before

us today, mr. speaker. h.r. 3470 strengthens the bilateral relationship between the united states and the republic of china-taiwan in two very important ways. first, it reaffirms congress' commitment to the taiwan relations act that for 35 years has served as the foundation of our relationship with the republic of china on taiwan. . secondly, mr. speaker, it has a transfer of missile frigettes to taiwan -- and i should point out that i've seen firsthand in taiwan the threat that the people's republic of china is constantly presents to taiwan. they are there, you know, right across a very short distance body of water ready to strike at any time. so reaffirming our military commitment to taiwan is critical. you know, as we have seen the

chinese government continue to escalate tensions in the region, mr. speaker, making certain that we enhance this security cooperation is important, and as chairman royce pointed out, taiwan is a superior trading partner with the united states. in the top 10 trading partners, and i'd point out that the trade with taiwan represents about 500,000 jobs here in the united states. so i'd like to thank the chairman for his work to further the u.s.-taiwan relationship and certainly look forward to working with him to determine what else we can and should be doing to support an unwavering ally in an increasingly important part of the world. mr. speaker, my view with successful foreign policy is your friends trust you and your enemies fear you, and this legislation today is a good step in the direction of our enemies -- or unmies fearing us and our friends trusting us. so i thank the gentleman and i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves. the gentleman from virginia. mr. connolly: we have no further speakers on this side, mr. speaker, and i'm prepared to yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. royce: i thank the gentleman, and i will yield myself such time as i may consume in closing here, but, mr. speaker, i urge all of my colleagues here to support this bipartisan legislation. just as important as arms sales to taiwan, the u.s. must support also efforts to taiwan's d expand diplomatic presence. and i am pleased to report to the house that legislation signed into law last year, another bipartisan product of this committee, helped taiwan participate in the international civil aviation organization for the first time since 1976. taiwan's participation in regional trade agreements could greatly benefit american consumers and exporters as

well, so mr. speaker, congress should be proud of the role that the taiwan relations act has had in helping taiwan become what it is today. taiwan is a beacon of hope and drauks in a part of the -- democracy in a part of the world that still yeerns for the basic -- yearns for the basic freedoms that they enjoy on a daily basis. as we commemorate the taiwan relations act, let us speak support of e in this. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3470, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

without objection, the title is amended.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass s. 404. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: senate 404, a bill to preserve the green mountain lookout in the glacier peak wilderness of the mount baker-snoqualmie national orest. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings, and the gentleman from arizona, mr. grijalva, ach will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington, mr. hastings. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on

the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. hastings: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, s. 404 would preserve the green mountain lookout in the glashe year peak wilderness area in my home state of washington. the green mountain lookout was constructed in 1933 on the summit of green mountain for the purposes of fire detection. it was also used to look for enemy aircraft during world war ii. while the lookout is no longer used for fire detection, it has, however, become a favored destination for hikers. several years ago after the lookout was damaged in the snowstorm, the forest service disassembled and removed the lookout by helicopter with the intent of replacing the foundation and reassembling the lookout. in 2009, the lookout was reassembled, again, using

helicopters. but in 2010, mr. speaker, an environmental group from out of state in montana filed and won a lawsuit claiming that the repairs violated both the wilderness act and the national environmental policy act, or nepa. as a result, a federal judge in seattle ordered the forest service to remove the historic lookout. elimination of this popular hiking destination by this order would have begun this summer. this bill puts a stop to that nonsense and it protects the lookout. mr. speaker, unfortunately this is not an isolated incident. too often lawsuits from extreme groups seek to close off public access to public lands and too often bureaucracies are happy to comply with eliminating existing recreation from public lands. at times they even take the lead in pushing such restrictions. credit, however, is due to the

forest service for using common sense in this case. in other cases, such as the subcystens cabin of the alaskan native veteran, also addressed in this bill, or the halting of stocking fish in the north cascades, which is the subject of another bill, common sense hasn't always prevailed so it comes to congress to fix the problems. the house has already acted once on this piece of legislation regarding the green mountain lookout in february to -- by protecting this lookout. by voting on this senate bill today, the house will send the measure to the president to be signed and to become law. the senate approved the measure by unanimous consent last week at the request of our senator from washington, senator patty murray. this action was prompted by a visit by senator murray to the washington state communities affected by the tragic mudslide that claimed the lives of over two dozen citizens.

senator called me a week ago last saturday morning and said that when asked what she in her -- and her congressional colleagues to do to help, the mayor of darington, one of the communities that's affected, asked to save the lookout. it's a small action that cannot undo the tragedy but it will help protect the recreation and asset in this corner of washington state. mr. speaker, it goes without saying to those affected by the mudslide, our hearts go out to those of you who lost loved ones and the sincere thanks is owed to all who has been part of the rescue, search and rebuilding of that area. mr. speaker, i'd like to express my optimism that this is the first of other bills affecting fun lands that will become law this year. there has been bipartisan communications between the house and the senate on finding agreement on a number of bills

of local importance to communities across the country. bills to solve problems, foster economic development and to protect historic and special places. had not the special circumstances prompted action on this bill today, i'm confident it would become law soon enough. senator murray and i, along with senator cantwell, from washington state also, had been discussing a number of other bills of interest to our particular state. i hope and believe these will be among those that can be accomplished later on this year. it takes one step at a time, so i urge my colleagues to support this bill and send it to the president for his signature. and with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington reserves. the gentleman from arizona. mr. grijalva: thank you, mr. speaker. and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. mr. grijalva: thank you, mr. speaker. the green mountain lookout tower is perched on a bluff overlooking washington state's

cascade mountains in what is now the glacier peak wilderness. built in the 1930's by the civilian conservation corps, it is a popular destination for hikers and a testament to our long tradition of public lands based on service and training programs. a lawsuit challenged the tower's presence in the wilderness area and a judge ruled that it be removed. passage today of s. 404 will ensure the tower remains where it is, which we feel is important and appropriate. i want to thank senator murray of washington and representative delbene, the sponsor of the house companions. it's thanks to their hard work that we're considering this legislation today. while it does not take away -- while this will not take away from the tragedy from the recent mudslide, passing this bill today will be a big win for the local community and the state of washington as a whole. we support the legislation and thank the majority and the chairman for bringing it up under suspension of the rules. with that i reserve the balance

of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona reserves. the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i'm very pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from alaska, mr. young, who is author of the house version of the alaskan provisions of this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. young: i thank the chairman. and the green mountain lookout heritage protection act includes an amendment on the house floor in february. the amendment to the omnibus public access and lands improvement act passed the house by voice vote and i'm pleased it's come before the house again as part of the senate-passed legislation. during the debate on that measure, i told a story that led to this provision and how the federal government failed one of my constituents, mr. william holstrum, endangers his veterans' allotment and the cabin he and his family built on their own effort on his land, the federal government conveyed to him and then took back due to a bureaucratic error. at its core, fixing issues like this is one we are all sent here to do washington to

accomplish and a which it's been fixed, merely months after i first made -- was made aware of this issue is an example of how congress should function as we work together. today, the as the house sends s. 404 to the president, i'm pleased that william and his family can put this headache behind him and he can continue to serve st. mary's alaska as mayor and president of his village corporation. may i again thank the chairman and the ranking member and the two senators and the total washington delegation for this legislation, especially recognizing the mudslide. but i hope we all recognize the federal government is not a good manager of land. . there are too many times logic does not prevail and too many times they're being sued by interest groups that understand logic. i'm suggesting respectfully as the chairman said, we ought to work together, both sides, parties together in solving land issues that are really created by our own government. both sides. i've been under eight

presidents and i've watched these presidents all not take into consideration individuals, their rights, their prerogatives, free americans. i again thank you for the efforts put forth in this legislation and i commend the chairman and ranking member for the work they've put forth and god bless you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from washington reserves. the gentleman from arizona is recognized. mr. grijalva: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield to the gentlelady from washington, the sponsor of the legislation, as much time as she may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from washington is recognized for as much time as she wishes to consume. ms. delbene: thank you. mr. speaker, i'd like to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their help in considering the green mountain lookout heritage protection act today. a bill close to the hearts of many of my constituents who have been struck by a terrible tragedy. as many in this chamber know, 22, on a y, march mountainside in my district, an enormous landslide occurred,

almost unthinkable in size and scope, wiping out an entire neighborhood and destroying an important stretch of state route 530, the primary transportation artery between arlington and carrington and other communities to the east. at least 33 people have lost their lives and more are still missing. the damage and lost caused by this disaster are heartbreaking but the community response has been equally inspiring. people throughout the region have come together to support each other and do their part to aid in the search and recovery. in the days after the tragedy occurred, members of the community and the mayor asked for support on issues important to the region. one of their requests to our congressional delegation, to senators and congressmen, was for our help to pass this bill. last year i introduced the green mountain lookout heritage protection act in the house and with unanimous senate pass and last week we are one step closer to providing this community with a piece of good news about a treasured local landmark. the green mountain lookout

located in the glacier peak wilderness was built in 1933 as a civilian conservation core project -- corps project. the lookout is a popular destination for hikers near and far and it is listed on the national register of historic places. but it's also an important historic and unique part of the community of darington. unfortunately severe weather caused the green mountain lookout to fall into disrepair in 2001 and the u.s. forest service took steps to preserve the historic structure for future generations. however an out of state group filed a lawsuit against the forest service and unfortunately a u.s. district court issued the forest service to remove the lookout. if congress does not act soon, the lookout will be removed for good. this lookout is a local landmark for the darington community and the pacific northwest and is also a critical tourist attraction and economic driver in the region. at a time when this community is faced with a long, difficult

road to recovery, we must do everything we can to help. including supporting the region's economy and in this case protecting the green mountain lookout, saves a cherished landmark and supports outdoor recreation and tourism, both critically torn pot local economy. this bill is simple. it will allow routine maintenance. local governments in the area, my constituents, as well as a number of environmental and historic preservation groups support saving the lookout. this bill also saves money because it would cost more to remove the lookout than to keep it where it is. the green mountain lookout represents a significant piece of pacific northwest history. it deserves to be protected for outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy for many years to come. this bill can't undo what's been done. but as the mayor of darington told me, it can be a piece of good news and a victory for an inspiring community that has gone through so much.

today i ask all members of the house to vote for this bill and do their part to support this remarkable community and this historic landmark. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from arizona reserves. the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: continues to reserve. the gentleman from arizona. mr. grijalva: i inquire as to how much time we have. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona has 15 1/2 minutes. mr. grijalva: at this point, let me yield to the gentleman from washington, mr. larsen, for as much time as he may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. larson: thank you, mr. chairman. i want -- mr. larsen: thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank the chairman of the full committee, the ranking member of the full committee, the ranking member of the subcommittee for helping to bring s. 404 to the floor, the grune moan -- the green mountain lookout heritage protection act. the lookout symbolizes a unique and vanishing part of the heritage and this bill

symbolizes congress' solidarity with the hard-hit part of our state. green mountain lookout is one of the few survivoring -- surviving fire lookouts in the west. it's one of only six such lookouts within a wilderness area. it was an early warning station in world war ii to alert citizens to possible aerial invasion. and the communities in nearby darington are recovering from last month's tragic landslide that has take the lives of dozens of people -- taken the lives of dozens of people and shut the communities off from much of the outside world. first responders, fema, other federal agencies have been extraordinary in their efforts to help with recovery. but passing this bill invests in a longer term economic recovery of the region. many of the people in these communities remain lie on outdoor recreation and the tourism that it brings for their livelihoods. part of that economy is based on access to had historic and beautiful location, like the green mountain lookout. keeping the lookout in place means darington has one more reason to tell people from

across this country that darington is open for business. with the summer recreation season coming up protecting the green mountain lookout, it send as message from congress to these communities as well, that we're with you. for 12 years i represented these communities in congress and for three years before that on a local county council. i introduced legislation identical to this bill in june, 2012, right after the -- an ill-advised court decision suggested the green mountain lookout should be taken down. i was pleased that senators followed that with the introduction of companion legislation in december of 2012. and in february, 2013, congresswoman dell bennie reintroduced this bill, along with our senate colleagues. i appreciate my colleagues' willingness to protect the lookout and i appreciate the support of chairman hastings and ranking member defazio and others to put this bill on the president's desk. by protecting the lookout, we'll protect the economic livelihoods of many of those who have struggled after last

month's strategyic -- tragic landslide. so i urge my colleagues to support this legislation, to vote for s. 404 and with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from arizona reserves. the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i advise my friend from arizona, i'm prepared to close if he's prepared to close. mr. grijalva: i have no further speakers. mr. hastings: i'll reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona. mr. grijalva: thank you. i thought the representatives from washington state -- the representative from washington state stated the case for the legislation and all of us concur with that and urge all members to vote for this piece of legislation. it's thoughtful, it's pragmatic and it's necessary to do it with some urgency so that that historic site is not lost. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona yields back his time. the gentleman from washington. mr. hastings: i yield myself the balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, this is a good piece of legislation and i want to congratulate my colleagues from the western

part of the state for introducing it and percent see are see are -- persevering on it. it is one of those issues, as i mentioned in my opening statement, where with we many times in the west get influenced by somebody out of state. this is just one of those classic examples, there's no reason why the lookout should not be there for the people that vounled the community of darington -- surround the community of darington and for the people who hike in that area. so many times i've come to the floor and colleagues on my side arguing about lawsuits, especially from the environmental emphasis, it's just one more example that we are correcting. in fact, i hope we can have more of those in the future. this is a good piece of legislation, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time and urge adoption of the legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 404. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to

reconsider is laid on the table. the speaker pro tempore: for

what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 4323, the debbie smith re-authorization act of 2014. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 298, h.r. 4323, a bill to re-authorize programs authorized under the debbie smith act of 2004 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte, and the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte. mr. goodlatte: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on h.r. 4323, currently under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, i ask yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes to consume. mr. goodlatte: in 1989, debbie

smith was kidnapped from her williamsburg, virginia, home while her husband, a police officer, was sleeping upstairs. her assailant dragged her into the woods behind her home and raped her. despite being threatened with further harm, she bravely came forward, reported the assault and consented to a forensic exam with hopes that her attacker would be quickly identified and apprehended. unfortunately this did not happen. in the years following the sexual assault, debbie smith, stricken with thoughts of suicide, struggled with the paralyzing fear that her unknown attacker would return to inflict further harm on her and her family. the traumatic effect of the assault remained with debbie and her family for over six years until an offender was identified and convicted using nadarkhani anal sills. -- d.n.a. analysis. i'm pleased to sponsor h.r. 433, the debbie smith re-authorization act of 2014,

to ensure victims of rape, sexual assault and other violent crimes do not have to endure similar experiences to debbie smith in the future. i would like to acknowledge the bipartisan support received from the numerous co-sponsors of this important legislation, including lead co-sponsor congresswoman bass of california, and original co-sponsors, ranking member conyers and crime subcommittee chairman sensenbrenner and ranking member scott. i would also like to recognize the efforts of my colleague from new york, carolyn maloney, in co-sponsoring this bill, re-authorizing the program she helped create in 2004. finally, the gentleman from texas, judge ted poe, has been also a strong leader in this area for many years and we are all very appreciative of his efforts. with the goal of eliminating the backlog of untested d.n.a. samples, the debbie smith program awards grants to state and local governments to fund

the collection of samples from offenders and crime scenes, including rape kits, increased laboratory capacity and the analysis of d.n.a. samples in a timely and appropriate manner. additionally, grants are authorized to provide training technical -- training, technical assistance and education to law enforcement officials, court officers, corrections personnel and forensic science and medical professionals. the effectiveness of d.n.a. evidence in criminal investigations and prosecutions is unquestioned. the nat d.n.a. index has provided assistance in more than 224,000 investigations. in my home state of virginia, the database contains more than 366,000 offender profiles and has aided in nearly 8,500

criminal investigations. due to a number of factors, including the expansion in recent years of the number of states requiring arrestees to submit d.n.a. samples, the demand for testing of these samples continues to outpace the capacity of state and local government laboratories. in 2011, laboratories processed 10% more d.m.a. cases than in -- d.n.a. cases than in 2009. however, backlogs persisted as demand grew by 16% during the same period. illustrating the need for continued support of this vital program. i urge my colleagues to support this important legislation, re-authorizing the debbie smith program, to continue reduction of d.n.a. backlogs nationwide. i thank debbie smith for her contribution to this effort, her courage in standing up for millions of others and i reserve the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte, reserves his time. the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, is recognized. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.r. 4323, the debbie smith act, which was originally enacted in 2004, during sexual assault awareness month, we have an opportunity to take an important step in continuing a program that helps address the problem of sexual assault. debbie smith -- the debbie smith act has helped state and local law enforcement reduce the nation's large backlog of untested d.n.a. samples, grants the use of hire personnel and processes samples and using them in the combined d.n.a. index system. grants have been directed to d.n.a. training and technical assistance for law enforcement and courts and to sexual assault nurse examiner programs. cribela are aers to have almost unanimously reported --

laboratories have almost nanimously reported that their backlog still remains. hundreds of thousands of examples, each representing an unsolved crime, remains untested. mr. speaker, regrettably, over 200 untested samples remain in los angeles alone that have outlasted the statute of limitations for prosecuting cases, so we have to do everything we can to process these samples. we must do everything we can also to strengthen our national -- nationwide database and reduce the d.n.a. backlog so cases of sexual assault can be solved and prosecuted without delay. re-authorizing the debbie smith act will bring perpetrators of sexual assault to justice before they can attack more victims. i am proud to acknowledge that debbie smith is a constituent of mine. she lives in charles city county, virginia. she waited more than six years for the d.n.a. from her rape

kit to be processed and checked against the national database to identify her attacker. her attacker was identified, but unfortunately during those six years he attacked at least two other women, crimes that would not have happened if his d.n.a. had been tested in a more timely manner. and debbie has spent the last few years with her time and effort with her organization, e-a-rt, which stands for hope exists after rape trauma, and she has been advocating for a reduction in the d.n.a. backlog and offering assistance to victims of sexual assault. i commend my colleague from virginia, the chairman of the judiciary committee, mr. goodlatte, and the ranking member, mr. conyers, for working together to expedite consideration of this bill. and also want to acknowledge the original author of the

debbie smith act, the gentlelady from new york, mrs. maloney, for her hard work and continued advocacy on behalf of sexual assault victims. i urge my colleagues to join me in furthering honoring the work of debbie smith by voting for this bill to re-authorize the bill that bears her name. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, reserves. the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: continues to reserve. the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i'd yield three minutes to the gentleman from new york -- excuse me -- mr. speaker, i'd yield three minutes to the gentleman from michigan, mr. conyers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for three minutes. mr. scott: the ranking member of the full committee. mr. conyers: thank you. mr. speaker, this is a bill at demonstrates that members of different parties with different philosophies can come

so ther when the cause is clear and straightforward, and we come here today supporting e four-year re-authorization of three programs established under the debbie smith act of 2004. these programs facilitate a holistic approach to the use of d.n.a. in sexual assault cases by providing federal grants to address the huge d.n.a. backlogs and provide d.n.a. training and technical assistance to states and local law enforcement agencies. the backlog grant program is med for debbie smith who has -- my dear friend, bob -- mr.

scott indicated was kidnapped from her home and raped in nearby woods. the attacker remained unidentified for more than six years until the d.n.a. sample, collected from a convicted person serving time in a virginia state prison for other crimes, revealed his identity as her attacker. the delay in identifying her attacker caused debbie smith un cycle torture. i'm very pleased with the fact that -- psychological torture. i'm very pleased that judge poe, mr. scott, we were able to smith and her

husband who honor us by witnessing this proceeding that is now going on. i want to commend not only the chairman of the judiciary committee, mr. goodlatte, and ranking member of the crime committee, bobby scott, but also jim sensenbrenner of , all in and judge poe who have worked so hard to make this law work. we're reducing the backlog, but the person that championed this issue the most was carolyn aloney, and i'm happy to

recommend her for the commendation that she deserves. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. scott, do you reserve? mr. scott: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. nadler, who has been working hard on this issue for a number of years. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for three minutes. mr. nadler: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of h.r. 4323, the debbie smith re-authorization act. every two minutes in this country someone is sexually assaulted. that means at least one man, woman or child will have been brutally attacked. by the end of this year more than 200,000 people, nearly all of them women and girls, will be victimized in the most inhumane way. 3% of attackers will ever serve

a day in prison. these statistics are staggering, and we are not doing all we can to ensure that every victim has access to the justice they deserve. too often victims who will willing to report their attacks feels them victimized all over again. they then wait, often living in fear and with no information from law enforcement while their rape kit collects dust in an evidence locker or on a lab shelf. it to see the importance of rape kit testing, look no further than new york city. in 1999, the city enacted a policy to test every rape kit and eliminated the backlog of over 17,000 kits. 15 years later that policy has made a world of difference. every kit collected in new york is tested within 30 to 60 days, and the arrest rate has sky rotted from 30% to 70%. compared that to the national rate of 24%. clearly the more rape kits we

test, the more pretty good shapists we get off the streets. imagine what would happen if we tested all of the 400,000 rape kits still sitting on the shelf today around the country? i have fought to end the rape kit backlog for nearly 15 years. in 2000 i supported passage of the d.n.a. analysis backlog elimination act which provided $40 million for states to evaluate d.n.a. evidence. when they failed to decrease by 2002, i introduced the rape kit d.n.a. analysis backlog elimination act which would have authorized $250 million to help police departments finance rape kit testing. in 2004, i co-sponsored and worked closely with mr. sensenbrenner and others to enact the justice for all act that created the debbie smith d.n.a. backlog grant program which authorized hundreds of millions of dollars for d.n.a. testing and strengthened the ability for state and local law enforcement to test rape kits. while i am pleased that we will re-authorize the debbie smith grant program time toad, i am disappointed that we are not considering a complete re-authorization of the justice

for all act, including the kirk bloodsworth postconviction d.n.a. testing programs. d.n.a. evidence is vital to providing justice for all people. by putting violent criminals behind bars and by exonerating wronglyful convicted individuals. we should not let a vital program lapse because it is liss politically expedient. i hope we pass a complete re-authorization for the justice for all act. as the senate plans to do shortly. since the creation of the debbie smith grant program, we have seen much progress but the backlog continues to be a major program and progress is uneven across the country. i commend the chairman of the committee and the ranking member and all the other members who have worked on this bill. i urge my colleagues to support the bill and work towards a day when no rape kit goes untested and every victim of sexual assault sees justice. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from virginia reserves. the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i yield four minutes to the gentlelady

from new york, mrs. maloney, the author of the original legislation. mrs. maloney: thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york is recognized for four minutes. mrs. maloney: thank you. i thank all of my colleagues on this important bipartisan legislation. there is no more important thing a government can do than protect its citizens from violent crime. and today's re-authorization of the debbie smith act until 2019 does just that. it will protect women. it will save lives, and the debbie smith act has been called the most important anti-rape legislation ever to have passed this congress. during sexual assault awareness month, april, we are presented with the grim statistics that every two minutes someone is sexually assaulted in our country. this bill was first introduced in 2001 after hearing steve horn and i organized on the use

of d.n.a. to convict and exonerate, and since first signed into law in 2004, debbie smith act funds have provided state and local governments with the tools to eliminate the backlog that exists around this country. it's estimated the backlog is roughly 400,000 kits sitting in warehouses and police offices, and each one of these kits is representing a life of a woman who's been raped. it not only represents peace of mind for her to know that her rapist will be convicted and put behind bars, but it will prevent future rapes, because the f.b.i. tells us that most rapists will attack another seven times. so if we can convict, we can save seven other lives. i want to recognize two extremely brave women who are speaking out on this issue, have testified before congress

and it's very difficult to do. i have tried to get people to testify. the only person i could get to testify was my good friend, debbie smith, who inspired me and others after her wonderful testimony in 2001. she is also joined by natasha who is founder of the natasha justice project for all of her work to completely eliminate the backlog. . natasha and debbie's their stories tell the need for this legislation. my friend, congressman scott, spoke about his constituent, debbie, but natasha was raped and it took 15 years for them to process her kit. during that 15 years, her rapist raped other women, was involved in sex trafficking and the selling of drugs and a slough of other crimes across this country. when her kit was processed, he was put behind bars.

if they had processed it early, it would have prevented all of this other damage to women and to society as a whole. one of the tragic costs of this type of crime is that those who survive a sexual assault carry wounds that they're not readily visible. they are three times more likely to suffer from depression, 13 times more likely to abuse alcohol, 26 times more likely to abuse drugs and four times more likely to contemplate suicide. each rape kit that gets tested brings these survivors closer to justice and prevents future rapes. since i first introduced the first version of this legislation in 2001, it has always received wide bipartisan support and i thank chairman goodlatte, ranking member conyers, members of the judiciary committee, poe, bass,

nadler, scott, mark green for all of their hard work. i hope that this bill will quickly pass the senate and become law. this is one of those rare bills that virtually guarantees that it will put real criminals behind bars and protect people more effectively from one of the most traumatic assaults manageable. rape -- imaginable, rape. the grants provided to states and local governments will allow them to significantly reduce or eliminate their backlog. and by using a national d.n.a. database -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for 30 seconds. mrs. maloney: and the da -- database helps them identify the criminals and the bill that mr. poe and i passed earlier this years, the safer act, will direct that 75% of this money go directly for the backlog, that's roughly 113 million. it's important. this is a moral imperative to eliminate the rape backlog so that women will not be

victimized simply because their government failed to act. and failed to process this important evidence. this is an important day. i urge my colleagues to unanimously pass it and move it to the senate and unanimously pass it there. thank you. the eaker pro tempore: gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte, reserves. the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i yield the gentlelady from texas, a member -- distinguished member of the judiciary committee, ms. jackson lee, three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized for three minutes. ms. jackson lee: i thank the ranking member of the subcommittee on crime and thank the chairman and ranking member of the full committee and thank mrs. maloney for her leadership . i was on the crime subcommittee as this bill was introduced and was eager to see it work its will in that early time frame, in the back drop of the courage of debbie smith and to

recognize natasha who, as i understand it, is a constituent of mr. scott. those were the early days, in 2001, when we were finding out all over the nation that rape kits were actually lost and my city was no different. this has been important re-authorization because of the grant programs that are provided. and in particular the debbie smith re-authorization has 1 -- $151 million grants for state and local labs for backlogs. as i indicated, in my own hometown we were dealing with backlogs and lost kits as well. the d.n.a. testing and training assistance is important as well. d.n.a. training and technical assistance, some $30 million directed to the sexual assault nurse examiner. there's nothing more lonely than to be raped and then on top of it to not see your case pursued. i want to thank the houston area women's center that

involves itself in sexual violence against women and catherine griffin who has worked with prostitutes and others who have actually been raped but obviously considered not. we have experienced in houston decades' old rape kits that sit untested in houston, have identified at least 1/3 of potential offenders in cases where there was sufficient d.n.a., according to the houston police department. but the good news, and i congratulate the city of houston, combined with dollars from the debbie smith re-authorization and city's own investment we now have a new d.n.a. lab that is opened and ready for business, to ensure that the victims of crime and sexual assault are not left along the highway of despair. my district alone, 6,600 rape kits have been cleared affs august, 2013. that is an important step forward. i look forward to continuing to work on issues dealing with d.n.a. of those involved in human trafficking. but i also want to say why this is extremely important.

because in my own congressional district, as i left houston, we have found a house that unfortunately the state of texas decided to put 23 violent sexual owe fenders in a neighborhood in what is called a halfway house. those individuals are at the backside of their incarceration, but, mr. speaker, i would say that it was a dangerous set of circumstances. when these individuals would be among children and women and be without the necessary security in a neighborhood. and so this d.n.a. for rape kits has one aspect of the need that is being addressed in helping women, again, not feel lonely and left without refuge and left without the ability to access justice. and so i support h.r. 4323 and ask my colleagues to support it and remember that there is a large and broader picture that we must look at in order to address the violence against women. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i yield

myself the balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. scott: mr. speaker, i yield myself the balance of the time just to encourage my colleagues to support the re-authorization of the debbie smith act. i thank the gentleman from -- my colleague from virginia, for his support and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia, mr. scott, yields back his time. the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte, is recognized. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, i yield myself the balance of the time, to recognize many people who have worked very hard to bring us to this re-authorization today, of this important legislation. i particularly want to thank congresswoman maloney for her leadership from the original legislation to today. to congresswoman karen bass of california, who unfortunately could not be with us for this debate this evening. but she has played a role as the lead co-sponsor of this legislation. the ranking member of the full committee can and the ranking member of the crime

subcommittee, mr. conyers and mr. scott, i thank them for their hard work on this as well. and i certainly thank the chairman of the crime subcommittee, mr. sensenbrenner, for his contribution. and the speaker pro tempore, the gentleman from texas, for his work in this area on this and other legislation affecting crimes against women. mr. speaker, this is important legislation that will help to avoid many, many future victims. i really thank debbie smith and natasha for being with us today when we talked about this issue this afternoon. i want to thank them for their currently in speaking out about it. they are not only helping to have a better understanding on the part of the public of the nature of this problem, but they are actually helping to fight crime. and this congress will be helping to fight crime when we

get these perpetrators of these horrific events much, much more quickly than these multiyear delays that we've heard about tonight. we need to get them quickly, we need to prosecute the guilty, we need to exonerate the innocent and put those guilty ones in prison where they cannot perpetrate more of these crimes. some of them out on the streets for additional years perpetrate additional crimes. this is a serious problem. this will save the taxpayers money by reducing the amount of crime that is perpetrated in our society. i urge my colleagues to support this important legislation and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte, yields back the remainder of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 4323. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without

objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess subject to the call of the chair.

money in the local market. that news operation cost us almost $800,000. it is not cheap. this is not for the faint of heart. but because this is what people want, it's what they needed to get them back to our station, back to wwnb, channel 12 in myrtle beach, billy huggins, we put that in place without their financial support, i alone could not deal with these figures. during the ice storm and ice just destroyed our generator, we were off the air for almost 146 hours. to get a generator was $400,000. these are the kind of expenses that you cannot calculate. i don't care what kind of wealth i may have been blessed with, there is my owning two or

three television stations without these joined services and shared services agreement. >> the f.c.c. ruled that owners cannot control more than one station in the same local market. using joint sales agreements and shared services agreements. find out more tonight on "the communicators" at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span2. >> on the next "washington journal," ohio democratic congressman tim ryan discusses a debate over the federal budget on capitol hill. followed by senate public policy committee chairman, john barrasso, on energy and health care issues. and later, "los angeles times" correspondent brian bennett will talk about white house deportation policy under president obama. "washington journal" live every morning with your calls, tweets and facebook comments at 7:00 .m. eastern on c-span. >> during this month, c-span is pleased to present our winning

entries in this year's student cam video documentary competition. student cam is c-span's annual competition that encourages middle and high school students to think critically about issues. this year students were asked to create their video based on the question -- what's the most important issue the u.s. congress should consider in 014? eighth grader connor martin and second ydings-lynch won prize. >> it has never been a big of problem in the past as countries have always been willing to buy u.s. debt. however, now that the u.s. is accumulating more and more debt, other countries may discontinue buying u.s. treasury bonds. >> the other reason it's important if it got too big at one point and no one knows what that point would be, you could have a situation where our lenders got nervous about our

ability to repay. and then they stopped lending us money and that would create -- that would create a cascading series of problems and put us into a debt crisis like you've seen other countries like greece go through. >> in the current environment, though, my question is, isn't weak demand the greater concern ? and i look at consumers pulling back on their spending because of high debt burdens, underwater mortgages from the financial crisis, businesses holding off on investing because of weak consumer demand. >> dear congress, debt is our country's greatest concern. >> how will the u.s. cope with its own accumulating debt? the u.s. debt began directly after the

revolutionary war. america had borrowed money from france and the netherlands to pay for the costs of the war. over the next 10 years, with the national debt at $43 million modern, the u.s. created tax organization firms such as the department can of finance and the u.s. treasury department. the u.s. treasury department was created for the ability to borrow money and was created to keep the debt at a manageable level. the department of finance was created to manage different costs of america and make sure these costs weren't so high as to raise the debt. the next milestone in the history of government debt came in the 1861 civil war which cost over $5 billion to fund. to help stop the debt in 1862 the government passed a legal tender act which allowed the government to, one, print paper money to help pay off the debt and, two, to sell $500 million worth of treasury bonds. in the early 20th century, america prepared for world war

i by raising taxes and selling more bonds. after the war, the u.s. debt was set at over $25 billion. the great depression, combined with the stock market crash, drove the u.s. debt up even further. even so, by world war ii, the u.s. economy still had not come close to surpassing the gross domestic product of america. however, after the war, the debt had more than quinn it upled from $50 billion to $256 billion. >> we had a big debt after world war ii. comm excess of 100% of g.d.p. >> the large amount of debt that the u.s. had accumulated almost caused an complick collapse. generous money donations were the only thing that prevented the united states economy from failing. the debt situation has never been more dire. >> we are approaching a level which would be the worst we've ever had, the biggest debt we've ever had. >> we're worried that they're -- [inaudible] >> recently one of the greatest threats to the u.s. has been threat of default.

default is the act of being unable to pay back the national debt which can lead to distrust of the nation as a whole. for the united states default would be horrific as the country would not be able to borrow the massive amounts of money it needs to keep itself running. default could possibly mean the collapse of our economy. >> we came relatively close to a place where the u.s. would have been unable to pay its bills. the reason of that is because we have a ceiling in the law on how much we're allowed to borrow. and unless that ceiling is lifted periodically, the treasury department runs out of ways to finance the debt that we have. so we came relatively close to that. that's happened several times in the last, you know, five years. >> thankfully the different parties are being urged to work together to combat the national debt. >> again, the good news in this is that we hope, anyway, that our republican colleagues have learned the right lesson from

the debacle we just went through. unnecessary pain imposed on the country for 16 days. it didn't have to be that way. and we're hoping that our colleagues will put down the clubs and recognize that this negotiation should be between the two budgets and no one should try and gain advantage again by threatening to shut down the government or default on our debt. if we can put down those clubs and have a serious conversation, maybe we can advance the ball. >> congress and the white house are working together to make the debt a thing of the past. >> the president has made it a priority of his which is why he submitted a series of budgets, including budget compromises that seek to, using very targeted policies, seek to reduce the debt as a share of our overall economy. >> as long as i'm president, i will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum. but i intend to fight

obstruction with action and i will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place. >> unless we get very serious about attacking these issues, it can impact the overall economic stability. >> the debt problem has been plaguing the united states for decades. during to the efforts of political figures and the presidents, the balance is beginning to tip. america is beginning to lower the grows domestic production ratio and create more jobs. >> in the six months before i took office, we lost nearly four million jobs. and we lost another four million before our policies were in full effect. those are the facts. but so are these. in the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs.

[inaudible] >> i'm not a deficit or debt chicken little. i think you have to be smart about it and find ways to reduce the debt and the deficit and you have to do it in a balanced way. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> to watch all of the winning videos and learn more about our competition go to c-span.org and click on student cam. and tell us what you think about the issues these students want congress to consider. post your comment on our facebook pages or tweet us using #studentcam. >> next, today's white house briefing with press secretary jay carney. he talked about pay equality for women and tomorrow's expected announcement from president obama on two new executive orders concern canning equal pay for equal work.

here's more. >> kind of a sparse crowd. must be the weather. it's a little early. i have a parent-teacher conference. so try to get out by 1:00. good, ok, well, glad to be of assistance. i have no announcements to make. welcome here on this rainy monday. after what was almost a spring-like weekend. a little chilly. but we'll take it. julie. >> thanks, jay. there have been a lot of developments in eastern ukraine over the last 24 hours or so with pro-russian separatists sneaking into the administration building, calling for a referendum that

was similar to the one that happened in crimea. does the white house believe that russia is behind these developments? >> that's a very good question. we're concerned about several moves in ukraine over the weekend and we see those as a result of increased russian pressure on ukraine. as you noted we saw groups of pro-russian demonstrators take over government buildings in the eastern cities and there is strong evidence suggesting some of these demonstrators were paid and were not local residents. in one town, a handful of pro-russian separatists in a barricaded government administration declared the creation of the people's republic, announced a so-called referendum on may 11 seeking to join russia and requested russia send in military peace keepers. these people lack the legal authority to make any of those decisions. if russia moves into eastern

ukraine, either overtly or covertly, this would be a very serious escalation. we call on president putin and his government to cease all efforts to destabilize ukraine. and we caution against further military intervention. >> when you say that some of these people were paid and were not local residents, do you think they were being paid by russia? >> again, we can divine from the strong evidence that some demonstrators were paid and that they were not local residents. i think that at least suggests that outside forces, not local forces, were participating on the effort to create these provocations. i'm not going to -- >> you say outside forces. russian forces? >> what we can say, what's clear is that this is a result of increased russian pressure on ukraine. nd we see it in the troops that have amassed on the

border. we see it in a variety of developments internally within ukraine, in the regions of the country where there are more thnic russians, in some of the concerns expressed about the fate of ethnic russians. we've seen this all along throughout this crisis out of moscow where there have been discussions or assertions about ethnic russians being mistreelted -- mistreated and certainly at the time when that first started it was -- there were statements to that effect that bore no resemblance to the actual truth at the same time. so all of this is of concern to us and we've made very clear that should russia take action that violates ukraine's territorial integrity further or violates ukraine's sovereignty further, there will

be further consequences. as you know, the president signed two executive orders and the second one creates authorities that would allow the united states to level more additional sanctions aimed at the russian economy. our partners in europe and elsewhere have indicated a like-minded approach should there be further troubles. now, i say that but i want to remind you that we are continuing to push for the diplomatic resolution to this matter, a de-escalation of the crisis, and we are working with or at least engaged in conversations with russia and others about the need to have a dialogue between the russian and ukrainian governments that can be joined by international partners. the need for russia to pull its

forces back to its bases and to the levels that existed prior to the crisis. and for a series of other steps that need to be taken so that this situation does not escalate. >> have you received any concrete signs from the russians since the meeting that they are interested actually in a diplomatic solution? >> we continue to be engaged with russia in discussions, including at the level of secretary kerry and the former minister. we also are engaging with our european union partners and others and importantly directly with the government of ukraine on these issues. i wanted to take this opportunity to applaud the steps that ukraine has taken to continue disarming and re-integrating regular forces, including the action to have law enforcement agencies disarm these groups. i think that reflects the fact that the government and ukraine has -- the government in ukraine has been handling this very difficult situation responsibly and that has

certainly not been the case with the government of russia. >> the white house and state department both said at the end of last week that the president and secretary kerry would have a meeting to discuss the future of the u.s. role in middle east peace talks. has that meeting took place yet? >> i don't have any meetings involving the president to read to you. obviously the president and secretary kerry are in regular contact about that issue, middle east peace, as well as the many others that confront us around the globe, including the situation in ukraine. but as you know, secretary kerry has a standing meeting with the president and i assume that that will be one of many topics that they discuss when everything takes place. >> the russians had talked of pulling back some forces in eastern ukraine. that is what happened? >> i have no update on our view of that and i think that our st statement regarding those

reports was that we hadn't seen any evidence to suggest that there had been an actual pullback of forces. and i think the general said that. >> and basically what we're seeing in eastern ukraine, do you see this as a repeat of the crimea scenario? >> i think circumstances are obviously different in the regions that we're talking about. developments that are of concern, as i just noted of ukraine. and we note the presence of the significant number of russian troops on the border, which has been the case now for some time. and we monitor those developments and we have warned russia against further intervention in ukraine. in order to resolve and de-escalate the situation, russia needs to move those troops back from the border region and to begin

negotiations directly with the ukrainian government. as i noted before, we are prepared to impose further sanctions. on sectors of the russian economy, should the situation escalate. >> and are those sanctions ready to go, ready to announce as soon as you can make some movement? >> i don't want to delve too deeply into the process, but you can be sure that when the president signs an executive order of the kind that he signed, the second one, which deals with the potential for sanctions on sectors of the economy, that a certain amount of work goes into preparing that executive order and work continues should the authorities contained within it be employed. >> now that you've hit the seven million mark on obamacare, will this allow the president to have more time to push his policies, equal pay, minimum wage, be able to promote those policies more?

>> i think the way i would answer that is to say that the effort under way, since october 1, or from october 1 to march 31, and particularly in the wake of the troubled rollout of distracting hile for a lot of folks and something that required a lot of attention, so that we could get it right, even then did not prevent the president from focusing on his number one objective, which is to take action wherever possible, with congress when possible, using his executive authority or his convening power when necessary, to expand opportunity for americans around the country. to ensure that we're putting in place policies that will reward hard work and responsibility. and he's been doing that, i think he's going to continue doing that. he's got an event tomorrow on equal pay. he's going to take action using

his executive authority in that arena. even as he calls on congress to do what it should, which is to pass the paycheck fairness act. so, look, i think that as we noted last week, that was an important milestone and we were all gratified at the extraordinary work that went to hitting the seven million signup mark. and that number has only increased since then, as those who have -- who were already in line, who had begun the process of signing up but weren't able to finish it by march 31, continue to sign up. and that's all to the good. the president's going to be focused on what he was focused on in the past which is expanding opportunity, rewarding hard work. >> people were warned before they took action in crimea. the warnings that everyone issues now and the fact that we already have sanctions in place, do you think that

there's any evidence that what has been done already towards russia is a deterrent to them doing anything further? >> it's hard to prove the negative. obviously they have -- >> based on the conversations that have happened. >> they've had troops on the boarder in ukraine for some time. we can't -- border in ukraine for some time. we can't be sure about russian motivations. we are concerned about the presence of those troops, we're concerned about developments within eastern ukraine. and we've made clear, as you noted, that further transgressions by russia will be met with and responded to by further sanctions. including in the areas outlined in the executive order the president signed. so, there are costs associated with the actions that russia has taken already. and there could be further costs coming as a result of the actions that russia has already

taken and there will certainly be more costs if russia takes further action. >> in the last conversation between the president and putin , did putin reiterate that they have no further design on ukraine and also, he was supposed to put something in writing, if he wanted to go further with discussions. did that ever happen? >> on the first question, we read out in some detail the president's conversation with president putin and i would point you to public statements by russian officials and note that whatever's being said by russian officials is not something we consider can the last word. we're obviously looking at russian actions and that includes actions on the border, actions within ukraine. on the question of the so-called u.s. proposal the the two presidents spoke about --

the two presidents spoke about friday, they continued to discuss how to de-escalate situation and the u.s. is fully prepared or coordinated with the ukrainian government on these discussions. but within the context of these conversations, as you know, the general elements of the off ramp that we have proposed include international monitors, pulling back a of russian forces -- pulling back of russian forces and direct russia-ukraine dialogue, supported by the international community. as the ukrainian government proceeds toward constitutional reform efforts and prepares for elections on may 25. the , i'd like to note responsible approach that the ukrainian government has taken in these last weeks, despite the enormous pressure they've been under, because of the situation precipitated by russia's actions in crimea and elsewhere. >> did they put something in writing? >> there have been conversations, i'm not going to

go into detail about the way they've communicated. but russian officials understand what we have proposed very clearly and we have been in discussions about our proposal, supported by our partners, for de-escalation. and we certainly hope that those conversations produce a decision by russia to de-escalate. thanks. >> we just passed the anniversary of the start of the rwandan genocide. i'm wondering if there's any, even your own analysis this anniversary comes as we're seeing what we've seen unfold in sir yarks another mass -- syria, another mass humanitarian crisis, mass killing, one million, two million displaced people. are we looking again at another never-again moment? is there concern within the white house that not the united

states necessarily could have stopped this but a failure on the part of the world community to stop yet another mass killing that is approaching the magnitude of what we saw in rwanda? >> i thank you for the question. let me say a couple of things -- [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] >> watch the rest of this briefing online. back to the floor of the house. budget control act of 1985 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from connecticut seek recognition? >> i the clerk: with instructions to report the same back to the house forthwith the following amendment. at the end of the bill with the following new title. title 4, equal pay and protecting small businesses. ms. delauro: i ask to dispense

ith the reading. section 401, equal pay for women and protecting small businesses and hire loan costs. this act shall not take until the ratio year-round workers is 100% as reported by the bureau of the census pursuant to the data collected from any current population survey social and economic supplement. protecting small businesses and consumers. this act shall not apply to any student, business or agriculture if such act increases the cost of such loan and credit programs for small businesses and consumers due to the elimination or reduction of federal support. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from connecticut is recognized for five minutes in

support of her motion. ms. delauro: this is the final amendment to the bill. it will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. if adopted the bill would proceed to final passage as amended. this amendment works to end pay discrimination against women and ensure every principle, one that i hope everybody in this body agrees with, men, women, same job, same pay, because it is true in this body, tomorrow is the milestone of equal payday, a women's earnings catch up to what a manmade last year. we are three full months into 2014. women should not have to work an extra quarter of a year to be paid what they are due. my amendment would postponethe effective date of the bill under consideration until

congress has worked to close this pay gap and ensures this act does not increase credit and loan programs for small businesses, students, farm is and businesses as result of pay support. paycheck discrimination is not a partisan issue, it effects every family. nearly 60 years ago, a republican president, president eisenhower told the congress, legislation to apply the legislation of equal pay for equal work without discrimination because of sex is a matter of simple justice. congress came together to pass the equal pay act and end what president kennedy called and i quote, the serious and indemocratic problem of unequal wages. in 2014, women are making 77 cents on average for every dollar made by a man.

this wage gap is closing at a rate of one-hal year, we have 40 more years for women to get paid for the same work. families cannot afford to wait that long and that is why we just saw the republican-controlled senate in new hampshire pass a paycheck fairness bill unanimously because this is an issue of simple fairness, same jobs, same pay that affects everyone. women are half the work force in america. 2/3 of the primary bread winners in american families and poverty rate among women is as high as it has been in 17 years. women have less retirement security, less protection on their pension, more reliance on social security, but they receive lower payments because of this continuing wage gap. as a result, 2/3 of seniors living in poverty today in the

united states of america are women. these disproportionate financial pressures that women are facing are a product of this wage gap. according to the national partnership of women and families, women lose $11,000 in income every year as a result of pay discrimination. this pay gap has not budged in a decade. for women of color it is worse. they make only 2 cents as compared to -- 62 cents as compared to -- the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. ms. delauro: the pay gap has not budged. african-american women make 62 cents as compared to the average white mail. hispanic women, 54 cents. the pay gap holds true across occupation levels. less pay for women means less income and that affects an entire family. two-income households are

already struggling. this is not a partisan issue. unequal pay affects all families. they are trying to achieve their american dream and getting less take-home pay for their hard work. we have heard it from one in massachusetts. she found out years into her job that the university she worked for was paying men more for the same work. mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. ms. delauro: terry kelly if tennessee discovered she was making less than she deserved because her husband held the exact same job. rashonda from iowa discovered her father was paying women less. this is real. both republicans and democrats agree that people doing the same job should receive the same pay. this amendment reaffirms our same commitment to the behaving principle and also says that we

aren't going to force small businesses and consumers while working hard, playing by the rules and trying to make a better future to pay more because of this bill. mr. speaker, we made an enormous difference for women and families when we passed the affordable care act. we said to insurance companies, you cannot charge women more than men. that is the law of the land today. it is real. it is being implemented and it is happening right now. and now, we should build on that. let us make sure that employers cannot pay women less for the same job despite all the difference in their lives and lives of their families. i urge all of my colleagues to support this amendment. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? mr. garrett: i rise in opposition to the motion.

so, a number of questions to my mind after just hearing the sponsor of the motion. it won't go in this order. one is why does she want to hide from the american public the actual facts of what they are doing to the american public as far as spending the taxpayers' money. second question that comes to mind is why, when the opportunity was given to the other side of the aisle to work with us, to amend the bill or change the bill in those areas they disagreed with on its merits, why they instead came with this proposal, this motion on the floor totally extraneous to the underlying message and purpose of the bill? now, mr. speaker, mr. times we come to the floor do people say, this bill before us is a commonsense piece of legislation. i'm going to say it again it is

a commonsense piece of legislation. maybe we should have had a different name to it and call the bill what it is, knowing what you are spending bill, then the other side of the aisle would have agreed with us and said, let's move forward, because who can disagree with actually knowing what you are spending? and that's all this bill does. it doesn't eliminate any programs or cut any programs or diminish any programs. all it does is allow congress and the american public to understand what we are spending and what the costs are to the various programs that both sides of the aisle support. the proponent for the motion didn't get into the weeds at all, but those coming to the floor, let me remind you what the provisions does. first and foremost, it brings federal budgeting in line what the private sector has been doing for a long time. requires the executive branch

and congress to use fair value accounting. what does that mean? it means that when we spend american taxpayers' dollars we have to let the taxpayers know how much it's costing. this isn't just my idea but what the private sector has been doing and the c.b.o. says we should be doing as well. econd point, it brings on it brings fannie and freddie into it as well. why should we do that? it bricks recognition of the impact they can have on our government. they have cost $80 billion. we want to get it in the budget and see it clearly. thirdly and lastly, it would make them responsible for the program.

if you have an agency that wants to spend your tax dollars, they have to have the justification for it. we can continue to help the poor, we can continue to have ag programs, we can continue to have energy programs, we can continue to have programs to facilitate housing in this country. but as we do on those programs we agree on, let's be honest with american -- with the american people and let them know what it actually costs. for that reason, i recommend a no on this motion to recommit and a yes on the final passage of the legislation. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yields back. without objection the previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit. the question is on the motion. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the noes have it. >> mr. speaker, i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having

risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. pursuant to clause 9 of rule 20, the chair will reduce to five minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote on the question of passage of the bill. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: the -- are 179 the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 179, the nays are 217, the motion is

not adopted. the question is on passage of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. >> mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise? >> ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is record ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a ive-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 230, the nays are 165. the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: can members clear the well. members will clear the well. members will clear the well, lease.

for what purpose does the gentlelady from michigan seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on house administration be discharged from further consideration of house concurrent resolution 90 and ask for its immediate consideration in the house. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 90, concurrent resolution authorizing the use of emancipation hall in the capitol visitors' center for a ceremony in commemoration of the days of remembrance of victims of the holocaust. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection to the consideration of the concurrent resolution? without objection, the concurrent resolution is a gry -- is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. he house will be in order.

for what purpose does the gentleman from alabama seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from washington, mr. denny hick, be removed as co-sponsor from h.con.res. 94. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida seek recognition? ms. ros-lehtinen: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to share some words written by ann vazquez about the tragic loss of a teen from my miami high school.

shannon melendi and i became fast friends. i still get tears when i think about her. she disappeared on a lunch break from her job at a softball field in atlanta. it was 1994. it would be another painful 1 years bf the suspect confessed. shannon's body was never found new york funeral, no official time to mourn, the years unfolded in a surreal fashion. a sophomore with a quick wit, a champion debater, the daughter of caring and present parents, it can happen to anyone, anywhere. thank you, ann. shannon will always you. -- will always remember you. mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from -- the gentlewoman from ohio seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection.

ms. kaptur: a threat to liberty anywhere is a threat to liberty everywhere. freedom's bell rings now for nations around our world to choose between the fledgling democracy of ukraine or the dictatorship of russia. as the russian bear eats its way through ukraine's eastern most resquons with abandon, the scene seems almost surreal as the world waits while putin pushes his illegal aggression further. the questions for freedom loving nations are, who defines freedom's edge for ukraine? surely not russia. where does the edge of defiance stop and who will push the bear back in its cage? aggressor putin says he'll send russian piece keaping forces to the nation he just invaded illegally. that would be a line for "saturday night live" were it not so real. when the accords were signed in 1934 and ukraine gai up the

third largest cache of nuclear weapons on earth, ukraine was left defenseless but was omised by the united states, united kingdom and russia that they one sovereign. so let me ask the united kingdom and russia, do words mean anything? and now let me ask the nato nation, where is the edge of liberty you will defend? the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. poe: mr. speaker, the united states state department is on an art spending spree. first it spent $1 million for a granite statue at the london embassy. it's modern art, it looks like a stack of brecks. now it has spent $400,000 for a

statue of a camel that will be sent to the embassy in pakistan. is this really necessary? i mean, a camel? this is an example of spending somebody else's money. this ought to be embarrassing to the state department. mr. speaker, there is more. this is the same state department that the inspector general has recently said has lost our -- lost or misplaced $6 billion. the state department cannot account for this money. where, oh where, has the taxpayer money gone? if any business lost $6 billion, its shareholders would be mad and want answers, but the government gives no answers and what money it has, it wastes on camel statues. congress should pass my bipartisan bill with mr. connolly, the foreign aid accountability act and make the state department account for the money it spends. otherwise, more lost money. more camel statues, more art spending sprees.

and that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman -- the gentlewoman from texas eek recognition? without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for ne minute. ms. jackson lee: thank you, mr. speaker. i've always used -- viewed the budget document that's produced by this house and the senate and the president as a moral compass of america's commitment to her people. that's why i rise with such great disappointment in the republican ryan budget that today as we speak is in the rules committee, gutting investments in education, scientific research, advanced manufacturing, cutting from those vital transportation investments by over $52 billion when we have crumbling highways and crumbling dams and crumbling infrastructure.

slashing $145 billion from the very heart of our children's opportunity for education out of the pell grant. providing million naferes with over $200,000 in tax breaks. ending medicare as we know it by vouchering it, almost like the privatization of social security and cutting medicaid by $732 billion. and then, ending the opportunity for americans to have access to affordable health care, preventive health care, to be able to allow those who need health care to be able to have it. to avid being a third world country. $25 million americans need access to -- 25 million americans need access to health care. let's get a better moral document and reject this budget. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection thembing gentleman is recognized for one minute. . >> thank you, mr. speaker. a partnership between the armed

forces foundation and nascar can, troops of the track is a recreational group therapy program for service members, veterans and their families. now in its fifth year, troops of the track has reached more than 2,000 individuals since its inception. i'm humbled to be part of this initiative. last year i was honored to join participating soldiers and families from the 19th battalion at fort knox. mr. guthrie: i would like to commend the armed forces foundation and nascar for joining together in the creation of this important partnership in giving our troops the recognition they so richly deserve can. i yield back the balance of my ime. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. thompson: can request can unanimous consent to conscious request can unanimous consent to -- request can unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection.

mr. thompson: last week the united states department of agriculture announced that $300 million would be paid out to states through the secure rural schools program to compensate for the lost local revenue because of a lack of timber harvesting in national forests. last year the administration decided to retroactively apply 2013 sequestration cuts to the 2012 s.r.s. funds. and request a payment of $17.9 million has already been distributed to states and counties. this decision immediately sparked bipartisan opposition, prompting the house committee on natural resources to conduct an investigation into the administration's legally questionable actions. the investigation found that the white house ordered the sequestration cuts for the s.r.s. program and that the administration chose to apply the reductions in a manner that makes certain that all secure rural schools counties felt the hurt. mr. speaker, i am glad the administration chose against playing more politics with this program at the expense of our rural community, including those which i represent. but in the long run, rural

communities wouldn't need additional funding through this program if we actually harvested the proper levels of timber on these taxpayer-owned lands. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to honor the life of sergeant first class daniel ferguson. sergeant ferguson grew up in polk county, florida, where he attended mulberry high school and he played tight end for the football team. he was a member of the fellow ship of christian athletes and a member of the future business leaders of america. his classmates and teachers remember him fondly as a person of great character, kindness and respect. after graduating he joined the army in 1993, he served with distinction in afghanistan, iraq, kuwait, earning a bronze star, three meritorious service medals, amongst many others.

he returned from afghanistan last year. last week on april 2, sergeant ferguson was shot and killed on fort hood in a tragedy that left three killed and 16 more wounded. on behalf of the people of the 17th district of florida, and florida's heartland, i send my deepest condolences to the families of sergeant first class ferguson as well as sergeant carlos rodriguez and sergeant timothy owens. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess subject to the call of the chair.

>> this is from "washington journal," about 35 minutes. >> w. >> in this segment, we take a look at how your money is at work in a different government program. this week, we will talk about a

tax exemption for mortgage debt forgiveness that may be revised by congress. we are joined by nick timiraos. guest: the issue here is that if the lender forgives a debt that you owe them, that is treated by the irs as income. when we saw007, more foreclosures and banks were being encouraged to offer relief to homeowners, it turned out that if the banks offered you relief, if they forgave some of your mortgage principal, that would be treated as income. that help you are getting from your bank, you would have to pay taxes on. congress passed a series of measures that said you would not have to do that, but you would not have to treat any forgiven mortgage debt as in some. that was 2000 seven and expired

in 2010. it expired in 2012 and they passed a one-year extension last year. yearber 31 of this past came around and it expired with no extension. now, what the senate finance committee is looking at doing -- they have passed a two-year extension of this provision so that homeowners who are getting help on their mortgage, or you're getting a short sale, that is were you own more than your home is worth and you sell the house at a loss in the bank agrees to take the loss area -- take the loss. the difference on your amount of mortgage is $200,000 to $300,000, the bank is forgiving $100,000. the irs would say that is income and you would have to pay taxes on it. homeowners going through a short sale, this is probably someone that is cash poor. how are they going to come up with money to pay more on taxes?

the concern is that you may be in sending the wrong kind of behavior. if we are encouraging people not to do that because they're going to face a big tax bill, there is a perversity there. that is the reason this is up for renewal again. correspondent. why was this allowed to expire at the end of last year? one members of congress who were voicing concerns? just bang i don't think it was the particular mortgage provision. when it expired, some people were saying we did so much for housing, do we need to provide more for housing? saying,re some people we have already done so much, maybe it is time to rip the

band-aid off. on the whole, this was lost in the broader issue of tax reform. there was a hope that you would not have to do the tax extenders this year because you could get a bigger tax reform bill. once it became clear that was not going to happen, people said, we need to do this. there has been a view among the analyst community that this is something that would get extended. if you are a homeowner in florida and you are looking -- say the bank was offering you a danceable reduction. , if you recall over the past year, there has been a number of settlements with banks. jpmorgan had a settlement last fall. the settlements have been structured in a way that the banks are providing principal reductions for hundreds of thousands of homeowners. if the bank was offering to trim your mortgage by $50,000, but the irs is saying that is nice of them, but you are to have to

pay us more in taxes, it is a perversity to hear that some members have heard this is like throwing a life rope and then dropping the end that they are holding in letting you struggle out there after they have gotten banks to give you this release. there is a view this would ultimately get done. if you're a homeowner in florida and you're saying am i going to go ahead and accept this deal from the bank, am i going to do the short sale without knowing what policy is going to be? it is hard to bank on congress doing this and saying i will keep my fingers crossed that congress will retroactively extend this provision. host: let's give folks a visual how this works. this is courtesy of the congressional research service when they looked into a report they did for congress on this. they gave an example of a possible qualified residential debt of $200,000.

the loan is renegotiated or the property is disposed of for on hundred $80,000. that $20,000 difference, the debt is forgiven. the tax liability is 28% on the $20,000. that comes out to the $600. without this -- that comes out to $5,600. without this, you may owe that to the irs. how much did this cost a federal government? how much in taxes were collected because of the mortgage forgiveness debt relief act? almostthe estimate is $5.5 billion. we have had it for seven years and it is probably -- it could have cost the government tens of billions of dollars. the benefit you receive would be harder to measure. when people do a short sale instead of a foreclosure, that is less harmful to the community

because the home doesn't go bank ---- doesn't go bank and vacant. onyou measure the impact communities, you are probably having more short sales, having people not lose their homes to foreclosure if they can afford a reduced payment, would make up a lot of money for the economy down the road. about 6.5 million underwater homes as of december 23 -- as of december 2013. nevada, florida, an arizona has the highest number. we are opening up the phone sines, looking for question and comments as we talk about the mortgage forgiveness debt relief act. republicans can call at (202) 585-3881. democrats, (202) 585-3880. independents, (202) 585-3882.

you have received mortgage relief under this act, if it is something you have made use of, we would like to talk to you. that is (202) 585-3883. we will start with john, durham, north carolina. good morning. my question is, if you do a payingale, and you are mortgage protection insurance, how does that work? guest: i am not sure. you are referring to if you were paying mortgage insurance on your monthly payment. you get in's say trouble and you do a short sale, are you still subject to that income tax? mortgage insurance is a benefit that is provided to the lender on your mortgage. that is the policy that you are

paying for and that you or your lender have been required to take out. it is so that if the ball were to fall on your mortgage, mortgage insurance company is going to cover a portion of the loss that the lender could take on the default. if you are no longer living in the house, if you no longer own the residence, and if the mortgage is paid off, the mortgage insurance is not there anymore. to consult a tax professional or a real estate agent. host: how does this fit in with the overall universe of programs that were instituted to help the housing market? one kindthink it was of tool in the arsenal. since 2007 there has been an alphabet soup of homeowner relief programs. one of theobably

first and one of the more bipartisan proposals because everybody agreed that if we could get banks to do things voluntarily, if we can you homeowners to work with lenders, we should provide what encouragement we can to have those things happen. first safetyof the net things. since then, we have had a range of mortgage modification programs. hamp.vernment had they were paying lenders to modify mortgages that met certain parameters in terms of reducing the monthly payment. issues on all sides. they have thrown a lot of different things at it.

there has been a huge debate over whether more should be done. people feel like there should be a principal reduction program. freddie mae and fannie mac -- freddie mac and fannie mae decided not to produce -- in a debt reduction program. now we have seen in the housing market a decent recovery, at least in home prices. prices haveis that gone up a little too fast and are making it harder for people to afford homes. borrowers are underwater or they owe more than their homes are worth. it was almost double that a couple of years ago.

the home price gains have helped, but there is still a long road to go. should more be done? if you're going to do more, you are not going to have favorable tax provisions for those who get help. it makes you wonder if it is worth doing these things. a special line, (202) 585-3883 we would love to hear your story if you have used these program. peggy, you are on. caller:. thank you for taking my call. we were back east in 2007 and purchased a home. we put 30% down. the house went way down in value.

it is valued at less than what the people valued before us in 1990. took a dime from anybody. we took the loss. it is time to take the band-aid off. i know a lot of people that are in bad situations with their homes. some of these people did not put any money down. read modifications and some of them have defaulted twice. this is a convoluted housing market. it will not get better until things start over again. people are flipping homes in santa cruz and san jose. the houses are beyond the reach of anybody. the housing market is in a mess. it is time that this is all over with. had helpople that have and i am the one taking the

brunt of that. we are paying the taxes for those people. it is time for it to be over. thank you. john that goes along with 's comment. i paid too much for a house, why should this be the bank or the taxpayer's loss? guest: they illustrate the reason why there has been frustration with government efforts. rants recall one of the that gets credit for being partymental when the tea got started, this was the day that president obama unveiled his mortgage modification sam turned to the traders on the floor and said who wants to subsidize a mortgage for somebody that ?ubsidized an extra mortgage

you have a number of people, and peggy is a good example. enough is enough, let's let the market sort itself out. or has been no easy answer on this crisis. i think that there have been some important steps taken to get banks to do short sales ahead of foreclosures. that seems like a commonsense sort of step. modifications were the borrower can make the payment or they might have a shot at staying in .he house those are things where there is a decent consensus that those have worked, but this will be an issue that economists will study for years to come.

i would love to see some analysis of that. host: nevada is one of the underwaterbers of homes. let's go to nevada. dave is waiting. you are on. thank you for taking my call. questions.uple of a few years ago, i signed over a quick claim deed. my wife decided to file for divorce and did not see it coming. claimr changed the quick deed back because i never thought i would get divorced. she let the robber to go into foreclosure. the property was sold in 2013 deficit on what was claimed on the property.

there is a $50,000 deficit. opinions on this as to whether or not the bank is against issue a 1099 this. got people say that if you a get it by that tax year and you do not get it, they cannot issue a later. if they extend the mortgage debt is issued, and a 1099 in years to come, do you have any idea what the obligation on that is going to be? on a specific financial issue, you ought to consult a tax professional. i do not know enough about your situation to give you qualified advice.

banks,rstanding is that even when this has been in effect, they have been issuing these 1099s to let the irs know the average's principal. even if all of the principal is covered by this provision, the banks are supposed to issue the forms and it is incumbent on the thereler to study whether -- their forgiven debt meets the standards of this particular provision we have been talking about. not every type of forgiven mortgage principal is covered by this provision. even if the provision is extended, there are some types of mortgage debt where you may still, and all along you would you would have not qualified for this sheltered

status under the tax roll. it is important to -- when you are going through the situations , to consult with a tax professional so you do not make a mistake on your taxes. nick is here to talk about these issues in our "your money" segment this week. we have a special line for those who have received federal mortgage relief. on that line, mike is waiting in a north carolina. good morning. you are on. question is, does this apply to second or third mortgages? they can depend on your personal situation, a state, the type of debt. if this was a loan that you used on a refinancing you took money

, so it is verye hard to generalize. different states have different cancel debt.ating california, for example, if the loan is nonrecourse, the lender cannot come after you after a foreclosure to seek the unpaid portion that they did not recover from a foreclosure, if it is a nonrecourse loan, purchase money mortgages in california would be an example, -- itight now, there is is unlikely there is a cancellation of debt income that is triggered for those mortgages. because it varies so much from the type of loan, the state's loss on whether the loans have

recourse or if they are nonrecourse, it is hard for me to give a specific answer. host: do you mind telling us a little more about your situation in which rogue ram you used? i did not use the program. i learned about it from you guys. i am going to go back and check it out. i appreciate the information. go to joann, waiting in north port, florida. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. i have two things to ask you. i went through all of my savings and everything to save our house. mortgage and i was not entitled to anything because i do not have a freddie or a fanny. my loan is secured through credit union. every time i tried to finance, there was never anything available to me.

the second thing, i am in a wonderful area. my neighbors are wonderful. there was a lot of foreclosure and people do not take care of them. the banks do not take care of them. a self, my husband, my neighbors, we mow the lawns, we take care of everything. thatems that people know the house is going to cost more money if it is a short sale then if it is a foreclosure. these people just wait. they wait for the house to go into foreclosure before they buy them. the first point, it is unfortunate that so many people have that hardship. you raise a valid point in respect of who owns your wallet. most people have never paid that much attention to what happens to their mortgage after they take it out. so many of our mortgages are

funded with global capital. these bond markets are set up and away that some mortgages may get delivered into a security that is backed by annie mae or freddie mac. government controls fannie mae and freddie mac, they have been able to provide more assistance to those borrowers. if you have a mortgage underwater and it is backed by fannie or freddie, you can refinance. for somebody like joann, if the credit union has it on their books, you're at the mercy of the credit union to go into that credit union and say i am a good paying customer, let me draw my rate. drop my rate. sales andt foreclosures, it is hard to tell. it depends on the neighborhood. in many cases, the short sale will go for a little bit more

than a foreclosure because the home has been maintained. someone has been living there in the grass is not dead in the front lawn has been taking care of. there may be some places where it is harder, the banks are taking longer to foreclose and people are able to live longer in the house without making payments with the bank now foreclosing. before the last extension wheret, dd asked about most of the relief is recurring -- occurring. guest: i want to double check the provision. my understanding is that this applied substantially to primary residences, not to investment homes are second homes. majority of this relief would have gone to california

and florida. states had the highest share of foreclosures, the highest shares of underwater borrowers. california and arizona have done better. they have had the foreclosure crisis faster because it is easier for banks to process foreclosures in the states. there are more problems in florida, but also in new york and new jersey, where the courts have higher standards to process foreclosures. banks have been much slower to move delinquent properties through the foreclosure process. it is not uncommon to hear about foreclosures that have lasted three or four years or longer in new york and new jersey. host: if this comes back in it bemost likely, will a standalone package or with

other bills? year there are a series of tax provisions that expire and the congress has gotten into the habit of extending some or all of them every year. there is a provision this year on mortgage insurance premiums. if you pay insurance premiums in the past years, you have been able to to talk those -- to deduct those. if you have a loan backed by the federal housing in menstruation, you will pay mortgage administration every month. that is something that is in here that will be up for a two-year renewal. who are the champions of bringing this back on capitol hill? guest: wide and has been leaving

me -- leading on this. the national association of associations,e consumer advocates, a number of and civil rights groups that have been campaigning for more principal forgiveness, there has been a crusade in washington to see more banks and more entities provide principle forgiveness. it only makes sense to do those things if you have this tax provision in place. a lot of groups have been in favor of mortgage forgiveness and they are getting behind providing me benefit on the other side. host: several folks waiting to talk to you. we will go to maria, san diego, california.

good morning. i am like everybody else. very worried. very stressed out. i have been like that since 2007. when everything began to break down about the homes. me and my husband bought a home, , in 1983. va loan. it was signed by hud and the va receiptill have the and bill of sale and everything. now, my house is upside-down.

owe $559,000. 74-years-old. my home, according to what everyone says, has been through the hands of the attorney general, according to bank of fraudulentd it is a loan, predatory lending. we bought the house from countrywide, but i know that countrywide was bought or purchased by bank of america and also something about the world savings bank. sure ilet me make understand your you bought the home in 1983 with a va loan. countrywide came in later. ,t you refinance your mortgage

10 or 12 years ago with countrywide? no.er: we start with countrywide. down.band put $40,000 veteran anddisabled he passed away one year after we purchased the house in 1984. that, my loan went flying all over the place. host: thank you for sharing your story with us. we want to let nick offer any thoughts he has on her situation and are there still federal programs in the works that someone in that situation can turn to? like so many of these situations, it is hard to hear about. i am sorry for your predicament. va loan, therea

ought to be a way to do loss mitigation to do assistance through the va program. they have tried to improve their with thesework loans. sometimes people have their -- 1983, if you had a 30 year mortgage in 1983 and you never refinanced, you have pay that off by now. what i think happened is perhaps , in many situations, people refinance the loans many times grew asr loan balances home prices grew. way ofa very effective financing college education, health care expenses, or what have you. when the housing market cratered, you ended up with a lot of people who -- it was not

that they bought at the wrong as thehey borrowed housing crisis went on and found ,hemselves with a new mortgage with a different mortgage company that was no longer backed by the va or a larger and theyed by the v.a. may not have had as much flexibility to help. karen expresses some of the concern that some other folks have expressed in this segment. why should someone with an overpriced home get relief as opposed to someone who lives more modestly? that is the conversation happening on our twitter page, @cspanwj. we also have a line for those that have received mortgage relief. (202) 585-3883. john is calling in on that line from iowa. good morning. are you with us? caller: is there a difference between a foreclosure and a

short sale? guest: i am not sure because it younds on the type of loan have and it can depend on the purpose -- a can depend first on what your state debt policies are. second, a can depend on what you use the loan for. wherecould be situations even in a foreclosure, if the -- afor gives a disk deficiency and you go into foreclosure in the bank takes a , they could pursue a deficiency against you. it depends on your state. i am not familiar with the law in idaho. iowa, i am sorry. forgive that deficiency, there's a possibility that would be considered forgiven income.

florida is an example where it is a recourse state. you can be pursued by the bank, even after a foreclosure, for the deficiency. it is possible. i do not know this 100% and florida. check are in florida, with a tax professional. just because you go through foreclosure, you may still, if the bank decides to forgive or not pursue a deficiency, that could be considered some kind of income benefit to you. forgivenessrtgage debt relief act, what does it do for the short sale market and now that it is off the books, what has happened to that market? guest: i don't think we have enough data yet. it is april. we have three months where this provision hasn't been in place. a lot of short sales would have close in the first quarter this year.

they would have been in the train before that. i do not imagine there will be too many situations to say someone trying to do a short sale in december and january said forget it. it will be interesting to watch. there have been some reports that short sales have dropped, especially in states that would benefit the most from this. it will be interesting to see. has been a steady trend where people have been doing short sales more and more. banks have been better about doing them. they are easier to do. see -- be easier to interesting to see. borrowerchange in behavior because of the tax provisions? nick is a correspondent with "wall street journal."

>> the entire nation is founded on law, not by the will of men. we are not ruled by kings of emperors, and there is no divine right of presidents. a president is an ordinary protect the n to constitution of the united states. the nt in that oath is eed to live within its laws. when the president appeared at the deposition of mrs. jones before the federal grand jury, he was sworn to a second oath, to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help you god. this, according to witnesses, to the judiciary committee, and to the special counsel, he did not do. for, i will vote to impeach the president of the united states. and to ask that his case be considered by the united states senate and that other body of

this great congress uphold their responsibility to render justice on these most serious charges. but to the president, i would say, sir you have done great damage to this nation over this past year. and while your defenders are contending that further impeachment proceedings would only protract and exacerbate the damage to this country, i say that you have the power to terminate that damage and heal the wounds that you have created. ou, sir, may resign your post. >> the house will be in order.

>> the house will be in order. >> and i can only challenge you in such fashion if i am willing to heed my own words. to my colleagues, my friends, and most especially my wife and family, i have hurt you all deeply and i beg your forgiveness. i was prepared to lead our narrow majority as speaker, and i believe i had it in me to do a fine job. but i cannot do that job or be the kind of leader that i would like to be under current circumstances. so i must set the example that i hope president clinton will follow. i will not stand for speaker of the house on january 6. but rather, i shall remain as a back bencher in this congress that i so dearly love for

approximately six month into the 106th congress, whereupon i shall vacate my seat and ask my governor to call a special election to take my place. i thank my constituents for the opportunity to serve them. i hope they will not think badly of me for leaving. i thank allen martin mitigating circumstance chief of -- chief of staff and all and i think my wife most especially for standing by me. i love her very much. god bless america. >> find more highlights on our facebook page. c-span, created by cable companies 35 years ago and brought to you today as a public service by your local cable or satellite provider. in a few moments, a look at a bill that would shield journalists from prosecution that are protecting their