.com. now, the house is about to come in for the legislative session. back this week after a two-week recess. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., april 29, 2014. i hereby appoint the honorable john j. duncan jr. to act as

speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 7, 2014, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour ebate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip but in to five minutes, no event shall debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. mcnerney, for five minutes. mr. speaker, i rise to celebrate the life and legacy of my friend, w. ron cole who passed away on april 17, 2014. he was a native of stockton, california. he went to local schools,

graduated from stockton college and acquired a teaching certificate in the field of distribution from the university of california at berkeley. he was a veteran of the korean war, serving in the united states army from 1952 to 1954. his life was dedicated to serving the community in a variety of jobs, including member of the stockton metropolitan transportation district board of directors, stockton city council serving as vice mayor in 1985, san joaquin county council of government, california public utility commission port of commissioners, appointed by stockton city council to the port of stockton board of port commissioners in 1991, ron served with distinction as a commissioner for 20 years. during his tenure on the stockton board commission, ron's leadership was apparent from the onset, and in the year

200he helped the port of stockton -- 2000, he helped the port of stockton, by acquiring rough and ready island, the port of stockton became the third largest port in california, the largest inland port in terms of acreage in california and the second busiest port on the west coast inland. this allowed the port of stockton to better serve california's expanding agriculture industry and essential given the proximity to major transportation hubs in the state. ron also served on various boards and commissions at the state and local levels in california. he was a former member of the advisory board of the ymca of san joaquin county, a member of the stockton salvation army and a former gubernatorial appointee to the state hospital advisory board. in these roles, ron helped reach our youth and help those in need. as a veteran, ron was a member

of the -- part of the american legion in stockton, he was a member of my u.s. service academy nominee committee. his knowledge and expertise was invaluable to the young men and women who are joining our armed forces. ron was also a frequent visitor to my stockton district office. he knew my entire staff, and we appreciated him. ron was a 33rd-degree scottish rite mason, the highest degree for a mason. he was appointed to the office of personnel representative of the sovereign grand inspector general of the california for the stockton scottish rite in april, 1992, serving that position until may, 2003. he was instrumental in partnering the stockton scottish rite childhood language disorder center and the speech and language department at the university of the pacific. throughout this partnership, the stockton center became a flagship for all scottish rite

childhood language disor the centers in california, providing speech therapy treatment to children throughout our community. this center now serves approximately 100 children each week free of charge. ron's impact on our community and lives around him will not be forgotten. ron always brought a smile and a warm sense of humor. to no ron was to know a dear friend. he was one of my stockton's most dedicated citizens and we will miss him. ron was preceded in death by his wife of 50 years, mary ellen cole. ron is survived by his two sons, ronald w. and michael w. and five grandchildren, ronald thomas, stephanie, jeffrey, .yler i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. lankford, for five minutes. mr. lankford: last week as i traveled in my state over and

over again people encouraged me with a simple statement, i pray for you. those power words impact a belief that there is a god who created us, he cares for us and he's interested in our lives. it is the belief that if we pray, a loving god hears our prayer and responds to our needs and the needs of others. this is the week of the national day of prayer. this is a time for us to be able to reflect on prayer and to remember and recognize the americans who value prayer. i share the pleef with many others, that people are separated from god because of our choices to walk away from god and god's path for our lives to people live their lives alone, even in a crowd. the bible says the gift of god is eternal life through christ, our jesus lord. for what we do wrong is separation from life, real life. but god gives us the opportunity to have eternal life, life with god forever, by accepting the gift of jesus christ through his death and

his resurrection. he was my first real prayer. when i was 8 years old, i realized for the first time there is a god and i did not know him. i was separated from him. at home i prayed for jesus to forgive my sin and come into my life and take control. it is the prayer to begin the walk with god. the bible teaches us and i believe that god hears our prayer. not because of our good behavior but because god opened the line of conversation and i accepted his relationship. it begs the question, still. does it matter if we pray and pray for each other? yes is the simple answer. prayer puts our hearts and thoughts back in line with god's design. prayer allows us an opportunity to spread out our most painful problems before a loving god. and prayer is for a god who can do everything, to demonstrate his care and power in a world for those who do not think they need god. this attitude is not new.

president lincoln, march 30, 1863, wrote this. we have been the recipients of the choices, bounties of heaven. we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. we have grown in numbers, in wealth and power as no nation has ever known but we have forgotten god. we have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied in riches. we imagined that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue on our own. intoxicated by broken success, we have not redeemed his preserving grace. too proud to pray for the god that made us. it behooves us, then, this from abraham lincoln, to humble ourselves before the offended power. to confess our national since and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. the national day of prayer is not a mandate to pray. it's not a congressional establishment of religion.

it's two things. a congressional acknowledgment that millions of people in our nation believe in god and they believe that god hears our prayers and responds when we pray and request that those who believe in prayer should pray and pray for our nation and pray for our nation's leaders. if you're considering calling my office to complain that i mentioned prayer and god on the house floor, you're always welcomed to call but you are not going to change my mind and you are not going to change our nation. each day we begin with prayer in the house of representatives. the words of our national motto, in god we trust, are emblazoned in the wall right over my right shoulder there is a prayer chapel in the capitol set aside for members of congress to stop and pray before votes. we have always had prayer as a nation. that is the free exercise of religion that is protected by the constitution. i'm well aware that some people want people of faith to be silent and to never speak about god in public. they condemn my insensitivity for their lack of belief by trying to require fellow free american to live life more like

them. but i would remind them that they're not required to believe in god because they're an american and i'm not required to stop believing in god just because i represent americans. we are both free. you can choose not to pray. and i can choose to pray for you. for those in our nation that pray, i humbly request that you set aside this national day of prayer to renew your commitment to pray for our nation. we need god's help in our nation right now. we're in obvious trouble in conflict. even many christians that i meet would rather complain than pray. for everyone who says to me we're too far gone in debt, we've lost our way forever, i tell them that i believe there is still a god in heaven who hears our prayer, who cares about our lives. i will work, but i will also pray and ask you to join me. let's pray. ith that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back.

the chair recognizes the gentleman from rhode island, mr. cicillinely, for five minutes. -- cicilline, for five minutes. mr. cicilline: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to show you and my colleagues the faces of the americans that are hurting by refusing to renew unemployment benefits. just three days after christmas, this house leadership left these people out in the cold and made it more difficult for them to provide for their family, to buy food, to pay their mortgages or pay their rent. it's been four months since the house republican leaders turned their back on millions of unemployed americans. and the situation grows more dire for these individuals and their families with each passing day. for far too long, this congress has described the long-term employed in numbers, figures and statistics only. well, today i hope that we'll begin to change and that the speaker and other republican leaders will understand what's happening to real people because of their refusal to extend unemployment benefits.

i'm launching called the faces of the unemployed, to show my colleagues on the other side of the aisle just who they are hurting. this poster board will be outside my office and will be adding people to it as they share their stories and will force the republican colleagues to look into their eyes as they pass in the hallway and understand that these individuals should not be invisible. mr. speaker, i want you and all of my colleagues to look at these faces and explain to your colleagues and to america why you won't allow a vote that will help them put food on their table, pay their rent and provide for their families. these are real people, mr. speaker, who've been left behind and forgotten about by this body. it's disgraceful that while the republican budget spends billions of dollars abroad and protects special interests, tax loopholes and encourages companies to ship american jobs overseas, this body can't provide immediate relief to the long-term unemployed or still recovering from the great recession. in the end, this debate is

about more about dollars and cents. it's about the families who continue to lose unemployment benefits with each passing day that the house fails to act. it's about the more than 200,000 veterans and more than a million children who've been affected from this loss of benefits. it's about my constituents, michael from riverside, rhode island, who's about to lose his electricity and gas because he can't pay his bills and in his own words, has nowhere to turn. it's about paula from bristol, who's always worked since she was 15 years old and says, and i quote, she's been made to feel like a thief. it's about lillian from north providence who said she'd rather be working but can't find a job. these stories are not unique to rhode island. this is happening to people in every part of our country, nevada, illinois, california, kentucky and mississippi, to name just a few. these people aren't republicans or democrats. they're hardworking americans who can't find work and need

our help. it's time to put aside our differences and come together to provide immediate relief to these struggling families. in tough times, congress has a long-standing history of extending these benefits. especially during the bush administration. i urge speaker boehner to look at the faces of these unemployed americans and hear their stories to we can work together to solve these problems, as we have in the past. these photos and stories will be posted outside my office and i hope many of my colleagues will do the same to serve as a reminder, this isn't -- this is about the individuals and families hurting every day because we have not extended this critical lifeline. i hope this will put a face on the real stories of the people who are hurting and it will cause the speaker to bring a bill to the floor that will extend unemployment so we can answer the call and be sure we're doing everything we can to help those most in need. with that i yield back, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida, mr. jolly, for five minutes.

mr. jolly: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to honor a great american hero, a quiet legend in the special operations community and a quiet legend in military med son, master chief petty officer, gary "doc" welt. he passed away from complications from a.l. crmplet s. he passed away in seminole, florida, surrounded by his family. doc was only 55 years old. doc dedicated his life to service. . his country, his family, to those in the a.l.s. community, and service to his brotherhood of special operators. doc joined the navy in 1976 and became a navy seal in 1980. doc proudly served on seal teams two, four, and eight. he served as an instructor at the john f. kennedy special warfare center and the naval special warfare center.

after retiring in 2006 as u.s. socom senior enlisted medical advisor, doc continued to serve as a contract specialist, conducting counterterrorism and counter piracy operations until 2012. doc is survived by his loving wife of 17 years, brenda. along with his son, robert, his daughters crystal and sabrina, his brothers robert and donald, as well as his four grandchildren, lillian, meadow, andon, and michael. mr. speaker, last week the mcdaily air force base two communities gathered. one the community of from the tampa bay area who knew and loved doc. the second community, that of special operators who loved doc. it was a fitting tribute to a great man. today we honor his life, his legacy, and service, and today we pledge and commit to carry on the fight that doc fought against a.l.s.

we commit to not quitting until that fight is won. mr. speaker, i'm honored today to honor a great man who had an impact across this world. i appreciate it, mr. speaker, i yield back. steve: the gentleman yields back. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, r. mcintyre, for five minutes. mcintyre: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask permission to revise and extend. steve: without objection, so ordered. mr. mcintyre: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today as co-chairman of the congressional prayer caucus in recognition in celebration of our annual observance of the national day of prayer. each year we take this opportunity to pause from the hurried pace of our daily lives to reaffirm our nation's rich spiritual heritage and our commitment to maintaining and strengthening our great country's religious freedom. throughout more than 200 years of our nation's history, faith, prayer, and trust in god have

played a vital role in strengthening the fabric of our society. from the dawn of our country when the first national call to prayer was issued, to that day on april 17, 1952, when president harry truman paid the annual national day of wear a permanent fixture to this upcoming thursday when we will celebrate the 63rd annual national day of prayer in the cannon caucus room right here on capitol hill. we continue to turn to prayer as a guiding compass as we seek god's guidance and wisdom. it's from these historic underpinnings that our nation has grown and thrived. we stand here today on the shoulders of those americans who have boldly fought for our rights to be able to assemble, to be able to speak out, and to be able to worship freely. one of our great opportunities as americans is to be able to come together and say, we will and want to be able to ask god

for his blessings and his help on our nation. so that we, indeed, can be one co-chair, congressman randy forbes of virginia, to introduce a bipartisan resolution, and hope all of our members listening to today would join us in supporting the national day of prayer that urges all americans to come together to pray and reaffirm the importance of prayer has played in our national heritage. we hear so much today about partisanship and bickering and

why don't people get along. you know the one thing i chair, mr. speaker, back home that usually surprises people is, i know there is one group, there is one group on capitol hill where all those labors are put to the side and that happens every monday night or tuesday night depending on the night we go into session, right across the hall here in room 219, where there is no agenda except to pray and ask god for wisdom. like solomon of the old testament. so my hope is that as many members and your staff, if you'll allow your staff to join us, this thursday morning to come together as we celebrate the national day of prayer. for indeed, mr. speaker, the true source of power is not found here in the halls of congress or in the oval office in the west wing or in the chambers of the supreme court. the true source of power is found on our knees before the thrown of grace before almighty god. it is in that spirit that i rise today to reaffirm this

celebration of player in our nation's history for the past, the present, and god willing, the future. indeed, the power of prayer knows no bounds. thank you, mr. speaker. indeed it does stand for our motto, in god we trust. indeed we pray. steve: the gentleman yields back. with that the chair now recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson, for five minutes. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, one of my colleagues just a short while ago talked about the plight of folks who are unemployed. individuals who are unemployed either short-term our chronically unpoint of order and failed to mention those who are underemployed in this nation. it's an issue that needs to be addressed. i'm actually proud to be a part

of solutions that have passed out of the house of representatives that sit in the senate waiting for the -- senator reid to take the leadership to bring those house-passed jobs bills to the senate floor for action. bills that would provide some immediate opportunities for individuals who are unemployed, what folks need who are unemployed more than anything else is a job and a good-paying job. family-sustaining wages. mr. speaker, the house has passed bill after bill to help working middle class americans get the skills they need, the jobs they desire, and adequate pay to provide for their families. in the senate yet another day has passed when leader reid has chose to deny consideration of these commonsense bills, those to deny the relief that would come from those who are unemployed. the house has acted on more than

one occasion to advance completion of the long sought keystone x.l. pipeline. this decision has been again delayed by the obama administration. the house recently passed the save american workers act, which would restore hourly wages cut by obamacare's 30-hour workweek role. this bill remains stalled in the senate's legislative graveyard. the house passed bipartisan legislation that would renew the federal government's commitment to actively and adequately manage our federal forests. and where we have well managed federal forests in a health qui -- healthy way, we have healthy rural economic communities where we grow jobs. today that bill is gathering dust on the senate leader's desk awaiting action. mr. speaker, we were elect 20d solve problems. it's about time we got about the people's business.

americans deserve as much. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair now recognizes the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee, for five minutes. it ms. jackson lee: ask unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, when i think of most americans, i know that one of the major components of americans in our work ethic is we believe in working hard. we are not standing in line for government subsidies or handouts. we simply want to be able to have an opportunity. last evening i was on the floor speaking of the unfortunate circumstances of this past week. mischaracterization of what affirmative action really means. an opportunity for all of our students to go to institutions of higher learning with a diverse student body that

embodies and reflects america. responding to the decrease in numbers of african-americans since the dismantling of affirmative action at schools like the university of michigan and berkley and others. and to follow up that decision with untimely and unfortunate comments, first by an owner of a national basketball team, that baffles me when the owner indicates that he does not want to see black people at his stadium. it amazes me since if he looks out on to the playing floor he might see a lot of them. we find that sports is a place that brings us together from all walks of life. and then an individual that represents himself as one of the true traditions of america. ranching, much of it done in texas, wants to suggest that african-americans would be

better with picking cotton with gardens and chickens. the reason why i raise these issues is because today we have parts of our society that reflect those injustices. we have parts of the society that reflects ignoring of the ills that befall upon those who are more impoverished than others. many people don't realize that even though slavery ended in the 1800's, the 20th century found itself with individuals or segments of the population treated unequally for more than half a crentritcht even -- century. even with those laws changed like the 1964 civil rights act, minds and hearts did not change. so the inequities followed people of color. hispanics and african-americans in particular, language minorities. i have here a document that reflects that inequity right in

the city of houston and the district i represent. yesterday we came out with children at risk and the level of high schools that were not functioning. and they list north forest high school, madison high school, jones high school, wheatley high school, sterling high school, cashmere high school, worthy high school. at the bottom of the list. why? they are all in inner city areas because the investment in people is not there. so this wealth inequality is not where someone wants to get a handout, it is to reflect what is happening. highest unemployment is among latinos and african-americans. the red and purple bars. business ownership in this country because of the barriers to access to credit, the lowest number is with african-americans. lowest number of business owners. when we face the recession, mortgage collapsed, the highest number of bankruptcy filings were among latinos and african-americans. no, they are not looking for a handout. we are looking for policies that

will invest in education and to make sure that when we invest in people we overcome the barriers that deal with race and racism. when we lost all of the home equity which was one of the greatest assets of african-americans, then the decline in home equity and ownership fell upon many of us in a high number. from asians to whites, latinos, african-americans. when i say this, i speak of those who are white, who are equally facing obstacles, many know that one of the major movements of senator kennedy was his visit to appalachia and other places. my question to my colleagues today is how we can come together to look at a way of empowering those who are impoverished. making sure the educational system, regardless of your level of income, has the ability to treat you equally so that your school that you attend every day

, that your parents send you there who pays taxes, that your school is not at the bottom rank giving you the bottom rank opportunity. that your family is not in the category with no access for retirement. no ability to help you go to college. highest number, 62% for african-americans, latinos 69%, which plays partly to the fact that latinos live in the shadow society, many of them, because we have not passed comprehensive immigration reform. so, mr. speaker, it is time now rather than to accuse individuals and to call people names and to use racist categories, it is time for us to come together and be united to lift the boats of all americans. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the time of the gentlewoman has expired. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. rigell. for five minutes. mr. rigell: i thank the speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to pay

tribute to honor, to remember, and to celebrate the life of an outstanding american patriot whom i greatly admired, marine general, carl e. mundy, jr. it's not often i would think that a former sergeant in the marine corps reserves becomes friends with a four star general and a former commandant of the marine corps, but such was my good fortune. . i met general mundy through my father, ike. they lived in the same retirement community in florida and shared the special bond that bonds one generation of marines to the next. it transcends grade and rank, officer and enlisted and that my father bought in the battle of iwo jima, made their friendship and their mutual respect that much deeper and it

was at my dad's encouragement that i reached out to general mundy when i sought this office and when i met him he was 73 years old yet he exuted without effort and without pretense the dignity and the military baring that we'd expect of a marine commandant. it was his humble spirit, however, that i truly found myself pondering and admiring long after our meetings and conversations that ended and though the general always encouraged me to call on carl, i never could. he was always, of course, general mundy and always a leader, the general encouraged me in this effort, again, to serve this country not in uniform but through public service. i expect he led his good name and reputation to help me more out of respect for my dad than for me. out of the many endorsemented i seached, the general's meant the most. i believe all who favored me for that endorsement and those who served in the united states

military will understand why the commandant's endorsement was particularly meaningful. not long after general mundy lost his wife of 56 years, linda sloan mundy, the general was diagnosed with cancer. my parents passed him in the neighborhood one day when he was stilwell enough to take his afternoon walks and dad shared with me the account of when the general saw my parent's coming and he recognized my father, he stopped, he came to full attention and offered a respectful hand salute to my dad who, again, was a world war ii marine sergeant. a nice crisp hand salute. this is the spirit of man, the marine, the humble warrior i knew and so deeply respected. as i reflect among general mundy's life and service i'm reminded and it's good to see the young people in the house today. i'm just reminded that we are a free people because good men

and women have willingly set aside differences to fight for that which binds us together as fellow americans. general mundy inspired many others to serve, including his two sons, brigadier general carl mundy iii and carl mundy, both of -- and timothy mundy, both of whom are on active duty. i join my fellow marines, including my father ike, and grateful people across the country in expressing heart felt condolences to the mundy family. it is with eternal gratitude and respect that i'll offer a final hand salute and tribute and in memory to the 30th commandant of the united states marine corps, an american patriot, who i was fortunate to call my friend, general carl e. mundy jr., united states marine corps. mission, accomplished, sir,

simpler fidelis. -- simpler fidelis. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to honor national autism awareness month. modern science has helped control or eliminate many once deadly and debilitating diseases and conditions. but our understanding of autism remains an unsolved puzzle. mr. messer: more children than ever are being diagnosed with communication and behavioral disorders that lead to a diagnosis of autism. it now affects one in 68 children, according to the c.d.c. my nephew, trey, is one of them. i've seen firsthand how autism strains families, stretches their resources and makes life

more challenging in many ways. i've also seen the amazing joy that an autistic child can bring to a family. trey has sure brought a lot of joy to ours. families with autistic children do everything they can to help their kids maximize their god-given abilities, whatever they choose to be. but it's not always easy, especially in a world where many don't understand the unique challenges that autism presents. helping these families better navigate this treacherous world would make a huge difference for my brother and his family and millions like them. but doing so would be much more than just helpful to those families. it would be good policy too.

that's because autism imposes tremendous costs on families. many of which are shared by the schools their children attend. and the many medical and developmental specialists involved in their care. studies have found that it can cost parents up to $21,000 a year to care for a child with autism more than it requires one without. children with autism have annual medical expenditures that exceed those without autism by up to $6,000 a year. the average medical costs for medicare enrolled children with autism are about six times higher than for chair without autism. in addition to medical costs, intensive behavioral interventions for children with tism can cost $40,000 to

$60,000 per child per year. there are several steps that congress can take right now to help ease these burdens for families. the house should pass h.r. 647, the achieving a better life experience, or able act, which is legislation i've co-sponsored to allow for the creation of tax-exempt savings accounts for individuals with disabilities. congress also must re-authorize the combating autism act, which expires in september. this vital legislation provides federal support for critical autism research, services and treatment. mr. speaker, i've often said that autism is the polio of our time, and together as a nation we can beat this challenging disease.

families struggle -- families struggling with autism face challenges that many of us can't imagine. they either need nor want -- neither need nor want our pity, but they deserve our help. national autism awareness month, which ends tomorrow, should serve as a call to action for us to address the urgent and long-term needs of people affected by autism. and hopefully one day piece together the autism puzzle so as few children as possible are impacted by this disorder. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from arizona, mr. schweikert, for five minutes. mr. schweikert: mr. speaker, request unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. speaker,

yesterday evening or last evening, had a couple articles sitting on my desk and had the opportunity to read through them and i was somewhat -- what's the term -- oh, yeah -- outraged at some of the comments in there so that's the reason i'm standing here on the floor today. want to walk through a concept and then try to ferret out why is the agency so worried about this concept. simple. if you're going to make public policy, shouldn't it be based on data that's available to the public and that public data properly vetted is used to make public policy? sort of this concept of the crowd sourcing of information. so if there's a rule set made by an agency, we can all believe in it. we all know it's been properly looked at. it wasn't produced by a small side of the aisleo of very smart elitist who may be

ideologically set one way or the other, but the data, the information that creates the rules which we all live under, belongs to all of us. so how would you feel if you pull out a piece of paper and on that piece of paper is about an article about the speech that the administer mccarthy gave on monday morning -- and i do hope she's misquoted, because we've treated her kindly from the science committee and my subcommittee, but if i came to you and read a line that mccarthy told the audience on monday morning that she intends to go after a -- one more time -- go after a small but vocal group of critics in light of what the i.r.s. has done, doesn't that send chills down someone's back when you hear that an agency intends to go after its critics? and then there's these

arrogance that i hope was misquoted that only qualified -- only qualified scientists should be allowed to see, real scientists. so you're telling me that a grad student or a left-wing group or a conservative group or just someone that has an interest in data shouldn't be allowed to see the data sets that are making public policy that is literally costing trillions of dollars? you know, the concept of having a government that runs substantially on secret information is outrageous. so that's why i'm trying to push forward on a bill -- and maybe the title of the bill is a little inflammatory. it's called the secret science bill. very simple concept that you make public policy with public data and that public data that we've all have the right to vet and look at. look, the vast majority of americans will never look at it. but shouldn't you have the

right to access it? and then there's this outlier that the agency is using that complete, complete offisc ation of the truth. well, there's personal data out there and we don't know how to protect it. every single day, whether it be the census bureau, the cfpb, there is data, blind data. as a matter of fact, there's actually prothe owe calls for protocols for blinding data. it's done every single day but suddenly the e.p.a. doesn't want to have that conversation because for some reason they don't want you, the american public, and the academic community of all ideological stints have the right to access it. mr. speaker, administrator mccarthy was quoted saying, you

just can't claim the science isn't real when it doesn't align with your politics. she's absolutely right. i'm not asking for ideological data. i'm just asking for data to belong to the public and so that everyone has the opportunity to study it, understand it and, who knows, maybe the studying of that data we'll find better ways, smarter ways, more efficient ways to protect the environment, more rational ways. but we will never know until the e.p.a. finally steps up and makes that data available to every american. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until noon tod

off of the floor this morning, we are covering several hearings 2015 budgetdent's request. live on c-span3, treasury secretary jack lew testifying before a house appropriations subcommittee. again, that is live on c-span3 right now. also at this hour, education secretary arnie duncan is appearing about his departments 2015 budget. we plan to take you live to that hearing in a couple of moments.

first, we want to briefly mention news outside of congress. across the street, the supreme court today is hearing two cases that could alter the scope of what constitutes unreasonable search and seizure. cases will explore whether law enforcement can search the cell phones found on people they arrest without getting a warrant . a decision is not expected until june but we plan to have the entire oral arguments here for you on c-span when they are released friday. while we wait for the house to return, we take you live to the hearing with education secretary arnie duncan. this got underway at 10: 00 eastern this morning. >> early head start going to pre-k, hhs teams have been fantastic earners. we are linked at the hip. they are not being redundant, not being duplicate tip, but trying to make sure young people

have opportunities to enter kindergarten not a year or two and a half years behind. >> since you did not really answer the specific questions i have on those programs, i hope you will provide that in writing as soon as possible. >> happy to do that. >> thank you very much. >> a gentleman's time has expired. mrs. fox. >> thank you. i remain concerned about draft regulations coming out of the negotiated rulemaking session. it is one thing to say states authorize institutions that operate within their states. it is entirely another thing to dictate precisely how those states are to do it, and then if you do not agree, punish the students for attending the institutions within the state. are you using the federal regulatory process to push states into regulating solutions according to a federal idea rather than what might work for

students in the institutions within the state. >> i am happy to continue that conversation with you further. we want to make sure young people are being well served. >> i would also reiterate what the chairman said. we would like answers to some of the questions that we send you in a more timely fashion, so i look forward to getting more information. >> i apologize for that. >> last year, the president announced the development of a new college rating system that would compare colleges with similar missions and it would be based on access, affordability, and outcomes. i appreciate you have taken steps to gain feedback from the community on this proposal. i speak to a lot of students and families about their college search, and, actually, spent sometime during the easter break visiting campuses with my grandson who is a junior in high school this year. so, i am saying this from a very

personal level. experience, every family looks at different options. why do you assume the federal government can rate colleges and thereby presume to know what is best for millions of students and their families as they research their post secondary options? >> we do not presume to know anything. we have gone into this with a great sense of humility, trying to listen and talk to folks. it is interesting. your state is not the similar to probably every other state. you have institutions of higher education that have a 95% graduation rate, and others that have a 12% graduation rate. we at the federal level, thanks to your support, put out about $150 billion in grants and loans to institutions with a dash of higher education each year, and the hundred $50 billion is based on input. none of it is based on outcomes. this is an area that should be

of huge interest of two republican friends of trying to have accountability there, and are graduation rates going up or down? are people taking their mission seriously on the access side and the completion side? it is a massive investment and we want to make sure it is being used widely -- wisely. many, many hearings on the higher education act as well as all the legislation we have put forth in this committee. one of the things that we hear over and over and over again, is that the department collects data,ins and mountains of but from that we get very little information. departmentthan the setting up rating systems -- there are a lot of rating systems out there done by the private sector. why don't you just make information public?

why don't you revise the way you , and then make that available to the public? we like transparency. we do not think we are getting a lot of transparency from the department. why not put out useful information and let the public make the decision about how to rate the institutions? >> we have done a tremendous amount to increase transparency. i would agree with you, we have to continue to do this. as you're going through with your grandson, it could be an overwhelming process. for those navigating what is a grant, what is a loan, what is the four-your cost, the graduation rate, the chance to get a good job -- there is a huge of -- amount of information. everythingng to do to increase information and please challenge us to do a better job there. at the end of the day, we think

the hundred $50 billion annual investment, over time we would like to see more of that money going to places that are serious about graduation rates, serious about reducing their own costs, they can sure young people are prepared to go into the world of work and get a good job, and away from those places that do not take college completion seriously, that just see a free paycheck coming from the government every year. we think that next up is important in addition to transparency. >> thank you. >> mr. every home a. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and secretary for being here today. i appreciate you reminding us that the issues we are dealing rightsr indeed civil issues, equity issues, economic issues, opportunity issues. with that backdrop, let me ask two questions with regard to

equal access and opportunity. newwill the president's proposal on early childhood affect existing state and local early childhood oh grams such as pre-k or -- programs such as pre-k or early childcare programs, you particularly -- in particular head start, which under the ryan budget is taking a $700 billion hit. >> our goal is simple on the early childhood space. we want to remove children from waiting lists at the state level, and as i have traveled state-to--to--- state-to- 8000,to-state, you see 13,000 kids, routinely on waiting lists. our goal would be to keep kids going to existing programs, but for those hard-working families trying to do something better

for their kids before they start kindergarten, giving them the chance in the concrete way. that is what this money would go for. i want to be clear. you cannot do this on the cheap. teachers,ying for classrooms, materials that do not exist today. anyone that says they are for early childhood education but not willing to invest more money, they are not walking the walk, they are not living their values. and, secondary education -- the 2013 gao report outlined the failure of far too many charter schools to report critical data, particularly with regards to students with disabilities, english language learners, and poor kids in general. in the current budget climate, title i is that pre-sequestration levels, below prequel -- pre-sequestration levels in this budget. what assurances can you tell us

that 248 million dollars proposed for charter schools that will go to institutions that provide equal access to distinct populations, english learners, and students with disabilities, and poor kids, compared to what traditional public schools are being required to do at this point? >> happy to follow up, but simply put we want our money to go to high-performing charter schools. debate offten the charter versus traditional. i think it is the wrong debate. we need more high-performing schools. traditional, or charter, whatever they may be. we want to expand to be very clear that those charters that are getting great results, but working with their proportional share of poor children, english language learners, special needs children, it was their mission to serve kids that did not have advantages, and

hold us accountable to make sure we are doing that correctly. >> i appreciate that. we talked about the ryan budget is about prioritization. is a goes to ida, that priority. by definition, the ryan budget means a severe cuts will be in other areas on top of the cuts that are already in the ryan budget. for idad prioritization and meeting the mandated 40% as part of the issue, that will require extra resources, and we should not be afraid to talk about extra resources as opposed to robbing peter to pay paul in this particular instance. i yield back, mr. chairman. >> the gentleman yield back. dr. rowe. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and i know our chairman is one of the most supportive people of people with disabilities.

mr. secretary, i think the biggest challenge we have in education is to narrow the achievement gap, and i have spent a lot of time since you were here last -- i read a number of books and research, and one of them i read is "i got schooled," and i know you have met with the author of this book. we find out the achievement gap -- our schools in a lot of places are doing a fantastic job, and in many places a very poor job. we do not have to reinvent the wheel. we know what works and what does not work. we know we need effective teachers, leadership in the classroom, and data to find out before we we're doing is actually working. we need, probably, smaller schools, and that is a bigger one because it is a very extensive thing, and then more time in the schools. i want to start with your early education. if you look at a child that lives in a poverty area, they hear 30 million less words by the time they get to kindergarten than a child in

higher income does. 30 million less words are the problem is if we go through pre-k and do not continue the other metrics i have talked about, you lose all of that. vanderbilt published a study not a year ago that showed those very things -- those gains are lost by the end of first grade, i think it is. you tothings i would ask do is look at hhs, the head start program that works in some places, does not work in other places, find out what works there, and if you're think in about increasing this, and certainly governors are, combined the programs instead of committing to another gigantic program. let's look at what we have because our resources are limited. just so everyone in this room understands how well some schools are doing, if you take schools that have 10% or less poverty, and 75% more free and reduced lunch, we have the scores in the world.

it is pockets we have to go and focus on. are we doing that, or taking a gigantic shotgun and shooting up the whole country? >> you have really studied this issue and i appreciate your sincere commitment to thinking it through. i agree with many of the points you made, but just to challenge you on the w o -- we have to look at headstart and everything, but to be clear, we cannot get to where we need to go simply with existing dollars. we want to go from about 1.1 million students with access to $2.1 million.n to second, to the assumption that all the gains disappear, it would be great to have a doctor comment testify. he came to this with a great deal of skepticism, frankly. what he saw, not over a year, but on 3, 4, now going over five decades, massive return on investment. >> i agree with that, mr. secretary, but one of things that is also lost that is not in

your budget year, in the summertime -- i do not know if there are summer programs are not -- low income children lose gains during the summer. your children, my children, they do not. we will have them at the library, doing all kinds of things. that is a fairly simple thing that would negate those losses. if you lose 2.8 months in three or four years, you are a year behind no matter how good you do. >> could not agree more. aboutchools are thinking year-round. many successful charter schools longer hours.ng we love that kind of innovation. one place we do not need another study is around summer reading loss. you hit the nail on the head, and when he to and that cycle. >> i agree. legally, because my time is limited, one thing that affects my district specifically is the impact aid payment for federal property programs. aid payment foris the impact

federal property programs. in the -- in lieu of taxes. 55% of that county is owned by the federal government. i grew up in a county where fort campbell, kentucky, was until the best farmland and agricultural land they had. those schools are hit severely but that. what of my schools, $180,000, it is a not -- it is not a lot of money from here but it is a small rual county and it puts them at a great is advantage. are school systems this affects. >> i don't know the details of that specific situation. i have to follow up. >> another thing i wanted to ask you -- can you tell us with the graduation rate is for pell grants. i want to brag on tennessee. our governor just produced a program passed by the legislature to provide free community college and technical college for everyone in our state. >> the democratic time has expired. thank you, mr. chairman.

last time i spoke was one of the few brief shining moment of the of theongress where one 80 bills that have been enacted was about to be signed by the president last august. -- that protected the stafford loan program from going to 6.8% and as you know it is 3.8% -- >> a shining moment of bipartisan. >> the president at that time was saying our work is not finished. that is why when i look at the ryan budget, in terms of its impact on higher ed road grahams, it just takes your breath away. $260 billion in cuts to pell, 145 billion, $41 billion on , wipes out income-based repayment program and incredibly gets rid of the american opportunity tax credit that allows middle-class families to get a tax credit to pay for college. about 11 million families lost

$1100 under the ryan budget. i always thought republicans were for cutting taxes. nothing seems to surprise me, i guess, in terms of the way their priorities play out. but on the stafford program. again, everybody was kind of patting themselves on the back for the fact we protected the rate increase from going into effective july 1. what their measure does is it eliminates the in school interest protection which is therefore subsidized stafford loan students. it is about 7 million students who, again, do not have interest accumulate while they are actually in college. the estimate from the cbo is that it adds about $3000 to the interest level of students at time of graduation use stafford. ofthe $1 trillion price tag student loan debt which is stifling our economy, hindering peoples's advancement, they just added another $41 billion, and this is a program which, by the way, doesn't cost the taxpayers money.

stafford is an interest-bearing program that the federal government actually nets out with a positive cash flow according to cbo. they basically raise the revenue through this measure of in school interest by eliminating that protection for students. again, i think the record has to be crystal clear here, they are taking us backwards in terms of the issue of higher education affordability. now, your budget came out with a number of proposals which, again, just as the other side of this, which i hear about all the side -- all the time at home which is, when will we do something about rising tuition costs? forn, limiting this help students does not do a thing as far as that is concerned. your proposal is trying to incentives so affordability is one of the criteria they have to demonstrate and i wonder if you could talk about that. >> there is lots of room for honest debate and disagreement and discussion. right now we are 12th in the world in college graduation

rates. one generation ago we were first. it is not that we dropped, but we stagnated, flatlined and 11 countries past us. in a flat economy, flat world where jobs will go to where the most educated workers are, i think we can all agree that being 12 in the world is not a badge of honor, not something we can be proud of. we have to figure out how to go from 12 in the world to first as fast as we can. and anything that reduces access to college, that makes it harder to go, more expensive, takes us in the wrong direction. so we have to get better faster. we have high school -- with high school graduation rates going up, that is huge. we have to make sure they are college and career ready. and there is significant work going on. but it has to translate to higher college completion rates. so let's find ways to work together to get their, but reducing -- to get there, but reducing access and making it more expensive rather than less,

i think we are hurting our country, cutting off our news despite our face and jobs will go to countries to take that responsibility and opportunity more seriously than us. wage,want to keep high high skill jobs here and we want to build the middle class, the only way to do that is to increase access to some form of higher education. >> i think the rating system which, again, helps families and students make smart choices -- and not intimate with the default that was talked about. and mr. chairman, i want you to know the president of the university of connecticut, thery huskies embraced administration's plans and is willing to go along with the rating system. >> i thank the gentleman for not talking about that scoble. [laughter] >> i yield back. >> mr. wahlberg. thank you for being here, mr. secretary. concur with what my colleague from tennessee indicated about the ideas what

about in "i got schooled." fromhose ideas i read individual -- certainly does not come from a perspective on a lot of issues but on education, it made sense. and all of that went more to the power of the local district, the power of the local administrators, especially the building principal. being able to do a mentoring process, developing great teachers. and promoting great teachers. suggesting to teachers who have certainly plenty of well-meaning aspirations but yet are not going to make it in the world that we have right now to bring kids through the education process. that certainly says to me that the top-down central planning washington, from congress, department of education, yourself and responsibilities that you have, may not be the best direction if

you want to give, as he indicated already about my somenor, making significant payments and attempts and strides as a growing education in our state, dealing with early education, having a no wait plan in place, process, all sorts of good ideas developed at the local and state levels where they actually know what is happening at the schools or at least have the ability to do that. we ought to be encouraged. the chairman already asked you about what appeared to be inconsistent application of waiver. you indicated the waiver was not your first plan. where we are at right now. i understand michigan is one of those states whose waivers have been flagged as being potentially problematic. largely for the same issue washington faced. hasigan is and that the -- an active teacher evaluation law that gives school district's flexibility and incorporating student achievement and

evaluation than you would prefer, as i understand it. are you planning to rescind michigan's waiver? what i don't know the details of the situation. that has not come to me. i have a great working relationship with the government and state superintendent. your first statement, i think you presumed we somehow disagree. i want to be clear there may be more common ground than you realize. i have beenreason so angry about no child left behind is it was very, very loose on goals. goalposts, 50 different standards but very prescriptive from washington in terms of how to meet those goals. i remember when i was running the chicago public schools, i had to beg our department of education to allow me to try to tutor about 20,000 of my kids after school who -- what washington was telling me i could not do it. it was crazy. what we are trying to do hopefully in a bipartisan way in

terms of reauthorization, i think the right trade-off is to be tight on goals, make a high board -- high bar, make sure all of our students are graduating and graduating college and career ready and not having to take remedial classes, but much looser, but less prescriptive. >> how do you make it happen? so, tight on goals, loose on means, that is where -- what i think no child left behind got fundamentally wrong. those are the values i think absolutely essential. >> i evidently think that is the direction the chairman and his committee would like to go, making sure we provide opportunities for the local school districts and our states to meet high goals, yes, but have a great deal of latitude. class in i met with a the largest land-based area of the school system of the state of michigan. al school system, a lot of land space. i weep before i met with the largest will system in michigan but that was not detroit -- the

week before i met with the largest school system in michigan, but it was not detroit. we have a great amount of variety. -- our top down management moving us back to a setting where we are number one in college graduations as opposed to number 12 and the like is something we ought to be moving toward. i want to ask a final question. you listened to higher education institutions give you feedback on the rating system you propose. what have you heard? >> i heard lots of things. i will be very clear. it is very difficult. complex. i am very aware of some of the perverse this -- perverse incentives of no child left behind in the last thing we want to do is replicate that in the higher its phase. we want to make sure universities who are working with a more challenging population are not compared to harvard, yell, stanford. that makes a lot of sense. you want to make sure you are maximizing choice and transparency. you want to make sure that young people who want to go into teacher -- teaching, or going to

the peace corps or work in nonprofit. earnings in the backhand -- not creating incentives that take individuals or her universities from encouraging folks to do public service. those are the types of feedback you heard. there is trepidation on any kind of change and also significant support. the we are taking this very, very seriously and going into it with a real sense of humility. >> the gentleman top -- the gentleman's time has expired. >> thank you, mr. chairman, thank you for the secretary. with all due respect to our chairman, the ryan budget is not fiscally or morally sound. it fails the test of even a budget. if you can't determine where your revenue is really coming from in any reasonable real way or where your cuts are coming from, it is not a budget. just want to, i talk to you a little bit about pell grants. we know that right now pell

grants are eating more than 9 million low-income americans in the country. --iding more than 9 million low-income americans. in the president's budget -- i am working with some of my colleagues across the aisle on a bipartisan bill that would expand eligibility for the pell grant program for early college and duly enrolled high school students. what are your thoughts question -- firstible, i want of all, i want to appreciate the your leadership and i think you are passionate on these education issues and extraordinarily thoughtful. we have not talked much about this today but all the dual enrollment -- taking ap, classes, college classes, those are huge, huge programs. i am a big, big fan. to be very clear, this is not just for the highfliers. i actually think these are good dropout prevention programs.

if students on the margins start to take the classes and think maybe i can belong in college, maybe i can be successful. i went to an amazing early college located on a college campus in el paso, texas. low income students, virtually all immigrants. ninth grade biology class and these ninth graders were getting college credit. take about what it does in terms of not just academically but psychologically, how empowering that is. iw you create opportunities, am very interested in. pell grant being an interesting possibility. if we had more students -- let me just be clear -- high school diploma for me as a starting point and not an ending point. if every high school student was graduating either with college credit in their back rocket or with certification, then i would feel much but about where -- what they are going to be will to do long term. >> thank you, mr. secretary. what happens now is the high schools we are so excited about that these programs are not bearing the cost of the programs

-- are bearing the cost of these -- or these kids are and i think it would be unfair if we're going to promote this. >> i do not who is here from iowa, but iowa has about 25% of the high school students taking college-level classes. they worked out at the state level some pretty interesting 2 is nothips where k-1 bearing all the cost. >> i heard you mention all of our students a lot of times the day and the testimony and i am greatly concerned with the rising number of competitive grant programs coming out of the department of education. land on ensuring equal -- equal funding and opportunity for all students and not just the limited number of students in school district that have the infrastructure in place to write good grants? what to be clear, not a rising percent of our budget -- >> to declare, roughly 80% to 90% the formula-based and 10, 12% is competitive. it is pretty consistent. >> but it is a swing since you

came in, more competitive grants now than there were prior to this administration. >> we feel proud about that. two quick answers. one, we tried to make sure that as we do these types of competitions, that we have a very diverse slate. there are lots of concerns that rual communities -- rural immunities cannot come eat -- compete and we are improving and getting their fair share. people that have a real and sincere him in. we can go grant program by grant program and show who the recipients have been and we think it will be pretty representative. we are not going to highfliers but going to the most is advantage communities. the other thing that is so important is what we have done these heights of things, we have seen significant changes in behavior so it is not just those receiving the money that are benefiting but the district

moving and more profound ways. neighborhoods are a good example. there are dozens and dozens of great applicants of which we could fund but we did not have the dollars available. that many of the communities that come together have a blueprint, edition, and are working together with or without our money. i wish we can fund them but there have been residual benefits from putting these programs in place. >> inc. you, mr. chairman. i yield back. >> thank you, gentlelady. >> the budget review in today, i know it was saying the right budget was not moral or physical -- fiscal. it does raise taxes and does not close loopholes and so have chosen to dollars of debt. to -- if we are going to be honest. if you read through the build you have brought this question on waivers and the application of that. i was hoping when i first got on the committee we would we

authorize or change no child left behind. it was a well-intentioned -- well-intentioned bill that had a lot of issues that needed to be fixed. let's let the congressional leadership to it -- would passed the bill to the senate did we would not expect the senate to pass a bill. they can. that is the process to have them send it back -- we're doing it with the workforce investment act. what out of here. i think a partisan vote and we are hopefully having a final bill through the senate. not impossible to do. just have to have the will to do it. our leadership has taken a stance on fixing no child left behind. >> it is possible but i think it is not the most strategic or successful. senate -- to let the would like to do it in a partisan way. >> the bill is in the senate and it happened. the other way is for the president to grab the attention of the company -- country, like george bush did, it was a very bipartisan bill that passed. the thing with the waivers, i

think that's my issue, as broad discretion there. i think there is broad discretion, that it takes the pressure off the senate to fix anything. if there is an issue that is before us and we need to fix it, we know, and you can wave and the senate and say, well, we don't like this though but we're getting what we want by waivers, then why would they ever come to the table to negotiate? that is the problem i have with the waivers. >> i fundamentally disagree. you should be absolutely feeling the pressure every single day because i am feeling the pressure every single day. second choice for fixing it. has to be nothing less to do nothing would be educationally morally irresponsible. you see with states have begun in the waiver process, moving away from focus of a single test score and looking at high school graduation, reduce dropout rate, looking at college going rates, college going not needing remedial classes. many states have brought in hundreds of thousands of kids

who were invisible under no child left behind. it gets technical. they were not part of any accountability system. states are stepping up and saying we want to better serve for children and homeless children. >> i am not disagreeing with what they're doing -- on the senate -- >> you should feel huge pressure . >> we did. and there is a bill sitting in the senate. >> six years over door -- >> there is a bill in the senate . point lou -- let's not fingers. i am happy to work in any way constructed to move forward in a bipartisan way. >> i am willing to do so as well. the question i do have on the blueprint for career and technical education. -- a program. the concern going from a state formula to a stay competitive grant and you are trying to focus on consortia between pau

secretary and secretary which i agree with. getting out of secondary with just these skills are not going to post secondary -- trying to incentivize, that is absolutely right. but the concern of some of my rural -- it is easier for us and western kentucky to have consortium. there is a swap of land not cover by higher institutions and there is a concern -- to answer smallncern of rural schools will may not be able to form a consortium, how will they be able to prosper under the situation? what all we are -- >> all we are trying to do is cut through silos. that we have high schools talking to community colleges and both talking to the private sector and making sure we are preparing students for real jobs that existed not the jobs of 30 years ago. anything we can do better, that blueprint, it is probably two years out of date so we are happy to update. because of the competitive nature, it will go to more

cities in bigger cities in the programs and they are concerned about that. we have done in absolute priority or separately -- we could go through the stuff we have done, but we have had very significant rural opulence and in that part being left to decide, i am less worried about that but the consortia idea is what we want to continue to -- >> i agree with that. just a way to get there. look forward to working. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back. >> thank you, gentlemen. mr. polis. >> thank you, mr. secretary, for joining us today to discuss the department of education's priorities. i want to thank you. under your leadership we truly are witnessing the transformational power of an innovative and disruptive federal role in our schools. your signature program race to the top, to which i introduced a stand-alone bill earlier this year has spurred and continues to spur a wave of policy changes that helps states raise the bar for students and teachers,

promote innovation and accountability for school districts, school leaders, and educators. thanks to race to the top, states and school districts including my home state of colorado built systems to evaluate and support teachers and principals and invest in our youngest learners by expanding high-quality preschool and turning around our nations persistently failing schools. your administration has shown strength and courage despite this body's inability to act to reauthorize a long overdue and antiquated no child left behind law. request willbudget bring us closer but only a full reauthorization of nclb will truly move the needle. i was encouraged to hear your complimentary words about this committee's work on the charter school reauthorization. i hope we will have the opportunity to pass the bill on the floor of the house. it truly is a bipartisan encroachment that improves the

quality of the limited resources available to go to charter schools startups and i hope that you conveyed your support for these efforts to the senate where we believe this bill is a realistic way to focus on what we agree on rather than what we disagree on. and i look forward to working with you and the administration to move forward on the full or whatever web can find to agree on. a few months ago i wrote a barb -- bipartisan letter with 25 colleagues in support of the administration's connect initiative which aims to connect 99% of schools with broadband in five years. how will the connect educator's initiative give resources to take advantage of the bandwidth? educationquickly -- always moves so slow. technology has changed the way all you guys do business. it changed the way you guys interact socially. it led to democratic revolutions

around the globe and technology has changed education by two percent, on the margins. when i look at what other countries are doing for the children, i worry for our kids. i see south korea being at 100% access and our school that 20%. at a competitive disadvantage. i don't understand that. what we are looking to do is to dramatically increase access to high-speed draw -- broadband was i thinking drive equity the weather and the city or will ote, and- or rural rem it can drive excellence. students can move much faster and ahead. we need to increase schools' capacity there but we also need to train teachers. the budget request is to give teachers the skills they need to customize learning, to individualize it. teachers can support each other not in their buildings but across the country and across the globe in new ways.

so i think this could have a transformative impact over time. we want to make certain features have the skills to fully equip -- and are fully equipped to ticket vendors. >> my colleague's questions, talking about the grant-based programs. in addition to allowing the administration to have the highest and best possible impact on student learning with limited resources by directing them food grants, including many of your signature initiative -- a race to the top, seed, charter schools -- how did these grants help raise the bar across the country for policy changes and develop a basis of best practice that everyone can benefit from? >> for all the noise or whatever, every single time we do a grant competition, we have way more great applicants than we have dollars available. so clearly there is a net need there. at the end of the day, it is really not about the money but about unleashing innovation. we have played at the state level, at the district level, at the community level and we try

to impact all of them. as i said before, you have seen the level of coverage, the level of creativity, you have seen a level of collaboration and innovation that simply didn't exist before those opportunities were created. i just want to thank you again for your courage, your leadership. you lived in this work in a way that many of your colleagues, frankly, haven't. i think you understand both our strengths but you share the sense of urgency how far as a nation we have to go. we have to get better faster. we have to do it with scarce same,ces and more of the more just incremental change is not going to get us what we need to go. and my home state of colorado, even though we do not win the first is a toronto race to top we are winners in the policy winvations -- we do not first or second place at race to the top we are winners in the policy innovations. has's the demographic time expired but mr. dowdy? what's i want to congratulate --

>> i wanted congratulation for the celebrity nba all-star game. your ratio could have been better. >> i am working on it. andbut you were in thearena the rest of us were not. when i listen to criticism of our collie paul ryan i can't help but think, mr. secretary, his budget passed. the president's budget which, by the way, none of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle had the courage to introduce. it has to be done by republicans it is that zero votes last year and two votes this year. when we want to talk about moral courage and bang on paul ryan while he is not here, people might, your boss's budget-cutting whopping two votes the last two times it was offered. let me ask you this -- do you think government can engage in intentional racial discrimination to further a compelling governmental issue --

interest? talking about important state goals. i want to ratchet it up to a comport -- important state goal to compelling state goal. can government de jure discrimination to further a compelling governmental interest? >> i don't know the details. what guidance. >> the letter with respect to discipline from education and doj. >> i'm happy to talk about that. learn something new every day in the job. when the data came out that as a nation we were suspending preschool students and expelling them from school. i had no idea. it was mind-boggling to me. d dkk three orb four-year-old out of school and

not serving them. >> let me stop you right there because in a former life i was a prosecutor and it sounds great to say not serving them, but you also have kids in preschool and first grade who are following the rules which leads to the question, are you serving them by putting them in an environment not conducive to learning? on the question then becomes, is washington better able to make that decision or the local school boards? your letter -- i am saying your letter. you did not write it but you and the attorney general had a press conference on it. --t i am trying to get at is i don't know how you would have voted on the affirmative action case last week in michigan. audedhere was adissent lu by some of the other side of the aisle -- the government can engage in intentional -- not the fact though -- in racial discrimination to further a compelling government interest. he used the phrase important

government interest which school safety and discipline would be -- but yet you are not looking at intentional discrimination but you are focused on de facto dissemination. if he just has a disparate impact. >> you are a prosecutor and >> you are a prosecutor. i am not. >> i am a former prosecutor. was 40% ofnd students were suspended more than once. at 18% of enrollment. in many places, you saw children doing similar behavior -- >> that's what i want to get at. that first statistic means nothing to me. 95% of the people i prosecuted for child pornography were white. that is a disparate racial impact, but i never stopped to think i wonder if we ought to

reconsider our prosecution on child pornography. but you used several examples in this letter, one of which was a hispanic student fighting with a non-hispanic student. one got a two-day suspension and one got a three-day suspension. who was the aggressor? >> of course that matters, but at the end of the day, i for -- i take that first statement, which you said as low through -- i take it very seriously. the fact that 18% of children are receiving virtually half of the out of school suspensions, and these children are three and four years old. -- going to be very clear that is deeply, deeply troubling to me. >> troubling to the standpoint that they are engaging in conduct that would warrant being disciplined or troubling from the standpoint that they are being kicked out of school? >> troubling from the point of view that three and four-year-olds are being kicked out of school. >> how do you deal with it and who is best able to deal with

it? >> let me explain -- i worked in very challenging communities all my life. i work with kids coming with huge challenges. the easy thing to do would be to kick them out of the program iran and put them back on the streets. what we found was ways to work with them, to work with their families to get to the root of issues. if i had a child who was acting up in my after school program, and they witnessed perfect domestic violence last night at home, it makes you think differently about how you handle that child. that's the kind of thoughtfulness that has been missing and that we want to put in place. i've been to high schools that have had huge discipline problems, and have had to actually step back and create peerage or reason challenge students to own their behavior -- peer juries and challenge students to own their behavior. >> thank you for being here today. i am pleased to see that the president's budget invests in education and begins to address

some of the gaps and opportunities for american students, and this is, as we have discussed, in stark contrast to the ryan budget with its cuts, i am particularly concerned about tell grants and i.d.e.a.rants and when i visit schools in my district, i hear repeated concerns about that. i want to make a couple of remarks in response to some of the things we have discussed regarding the achievement gap. i want to point out the importance of the 21st century community learning funding and the importance of extended learning opportunities. some of these programs i have visited have shown a tremendous opportunity to help especially kids at risk. with regard to the student debt that was discussed earlier, portland community college in oregon is doing some great work on financial literacy, getting financial plans in effect with the student before the academic term, and they have been able to cut the number of accounts

assessed with late fees by 70% and reduce the number of accounts sent to collection by more than half just with that increase in financial literacy. there's some great work being done out there. my first question is about the presidents request for the $170 million for the new stem innovation initiative that would use competitive grants to recruit educators and get more students ready for stem careers. in the budget it says that scientists and engineers are innovators and we must ensure that our nation's capacity to innovate and compete is never limited by a shortage of talent in stem fields, and i could not agree with you more. i have had a lot of conversation with a lot of tech communities in my district and also with companies like boeing, intel, lockheed martin about the importance of developing a workforce capable of thinking creatively and driving innovation. it talks about the importance of

immigrating arts and design into stem curriculums and helping students stimulate both halves of their brain and ultimately produce innovation. can you talk about whether the competitive awards under the stem innovation initiative will be available to schools and educators that are pioneering the steam model, which integrates arts education into stem. >> stem, steam, i am for it all. massu want to improve results, try a little music. >> exactly. know all the stuff. we think there are far too many children who have great aptitude and interest in stem fields and do not have access to great teachers and great courses, and we lose that. so many jobs in the future -- a hugely disproportionate number have been replied with passion and expertise and love of the stem areas. we want to create a master

teacher corps were great teachers can get extra money so we do not lose them. we want to make sure we have great stem teachers not just for ap calculus and physics, but in third and fourth and fifth grade when so many children start to turn off. >> i appreciate the value of the program. my question is -- will that funding be available to steam schools as well? >> again, i do not see a conflict between stem and steam -- >> terrific. thank you. i amrelated note, concerned about the consolidation of the arts and education program into the well-rounded education program, especially since the budget proposal requests only $25 million for the consolidated program, which would support arts, health education, or immigrant, civics, government, history, geography, environmental education, economics, and financial literacy -- all important. this request is less than last year's request and represents the amount arts and education

had received independently. i'm concerned as we are looking at ways to educate the whole child about that change. are there other programs in a budget that could support a student's creativity. >> just one quick example, we have to put a huge emphasis on turning around financially underperforming schools, and part of the reason high school graduation rates are going up is because dropout rates are going down. what are the strategies the still early, but it looks very promising. schools have been turnaround using the arts-based curriculum. there are eight schools around the nation. it's pretty amazing to see, so that is another place where significant resources are going to enhance an arts curriculum in disadvantaged communities.

>> thank you. i see my time is expired. i yield back. >> thank you. as you know, the department of education recently proposed a cut in financial aid to programs whose graduates have high debt to income ratios. the court spoke on this and blocked the measure in 2012. we recently convened a field hearing in arizona where this issue came up. i asked the question of two of .ur public universities was notident of nau there, but one of their representatives was. i asked the question -- in this role were proposed for for-profit universities, would you support the same rule for not-for-profit universities and public universities? everyone of them said yes. all three said that if such a

rule comes out, that all should be held to the same standards. duncan, when you released the gainful employment regulation, you said protecting students is at the core of the rule. if that is truly the case, have you examined how nonprofit programs like expensive law degrees or culinary arts degrees there if the proposal is applied fare if the-- proposal is applied to everyone? if the bill is proposed for all of education, would you support it? >> we are trying to get this .art right now president crow is a remarkable leader. he is the best. it's pretty amazing what he has done there. honestly, many of the values not just on the gainful stuff, but many of the values around the college rating system are values i have to learn from him and others. let us try and get this part right first, but your basic point about greater accountability -- that is what the college rating system is about. about trying to make sure the

$150 billion in taxpayer money is being used more wisely than it is today. >> so it should be applied across the board, and you would support legislation to apply it equally to all higher education? >> again, we are doing two different things. we are working on the gainful regulations and also trying to develop a college rating system. specifically on the idea, why should the students that go to public universities -- why are they any less important? >> we are not there yet, and we are just trying to get these two complicated pieces of legislation right first. >> would you agree that all of these are important? >> every student is important. >> we may be introducing legislation along the lines to make sure public universities would be under the same rules you are proposing. i think that all students ought

to be equally protected. thank you. >> happy to have that conversation. >> and him and yield back. mr. hinojosa. -- the gentleman yield back. >> thank you for joining us this morning. the share of president obama's budget for education -- i applaud you for supporting increased investments in education for all. ineral higher education institutions which are vitally important to educating students of color and preparing them for college -- since fiscal year 2011, however, funding levels for these programs have decreased, due largely to sequestration. i am concerned that those cuts have never been fully restored. why are you recommending that

congress invest in a host of new hire education programs instead of increasing the funding levels for those that i enumerated? those programs are working for disadvantaged students. >> obviously, we are big supporters, and i want to personally thank you for your leadership in education. you have worked as hard on these issues as anybody, and that means a lot to me personally. while we have to work to increase access, the president and i are extraordinarily concerned about the affordability of college. it's one thing to get students if they cannot afford to go where what they have this mounting debt, we worry about what that means to young people and the country, so we are strategically making a choice to invest more not just on the access side and preparing students, but in making sure they can afford to get through college and not have prohibitive costs prevent them. >> i want to work with you on that. by 2018, numeral two/3 of the

nation's jobs will require -- 2/3 of the nation's jobs will require at least some postsecondary education. fortunately, the nation is making progress. the graduation rate among latino students has increased 10 percentage points since the year 2000 six. however, our progress is uneven, and we must do more to improve high school graduation rates and prepare those students for college and careers. mr. secretary, i and several other colleagues here will soon cap and gowng the act to help strengthen america's high schools and support president obama's high school redesign efforts. can you tell us more about the president's vision for high school redesign programs? >> we simply want to make sure that high schools are engaging students and are relevant. i worry that many students drop out of high school not because it is too hard but because it is too easy. they are bored and do not know why they are coming to school

every single day. as many people know the economy has changed, and if you drop out of school, you're basically condemned to poverty and social failure, and that was not true 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 years ago. i will tell you about one high school i went to a couple of .onths ago it was worcester tech in worcester, massachusetts. a couple of years ago, it was a failing school. huge issues, huge dropout rates. they have done many, many things to engage students in their own learning. they have a full-fledged clinic where young people are taking full-fledgedls -- veterinary clinic. i have an auto body shop, a culinary program, a fully functioning credit union where students work there and get paid to do that. the school has become this amazing community asset. not surprisingly, dropout rates, which were a huge issue, have almost disappeared. graduation rates have soared. we want to see more high schools

thinking about how they link what students are learning during the school day to the real world. though students at worcester tech and other similar students -- other similar schools know why they are coming to school every day. >> the republican -- or the ryan budget cuts tell grants -- pell grants by eliminating mandatory money and reducing funding to discretionary funding. experts believe this would potentially cut millions of students from the programs, leaving them to borrow more in just may drop out of college. how would this cut impact our ability to reach president obama 's goal to lead the world -- to lead the world in college attainment by 2020, and how would these cuts impact students of color? >> anything that reduces access to higher education hurts young people, hurts families, and hurts our

country. our goal together should be to lead the world and college graduation rates, again, as soon as we can. >> lastly, we have worked together to expand the pell grant program. the college costs continue to increase as the state is invest in higher education. how is the department of education creating incentives for colleges to control costs? >> the gentleman's time has expired. we will take that for the record. >> thank you, mr. secretary, for joining us again. several questions to go through with you. a subcommittee chairman here, i visited some travel communities recently, and a lot of the jurisdiction belongs, of course, to the department of the interior, but in terms of school structures and some other things, i think there's some small pieces that you in fact have. one concern that i saw was one tried in particular -- one tried

-- one tribe in particular was afraid quite literally to invest in school buildings for fear that the government would then come back and say, "so you got that done however you got it done, and therefore, we do not need to do it." and of course, promises have been made, and promises need to be kept. can you quickly comment on that, and would you join me in an effort to write your boss or the department of the interior to ?elp solve this >> absolutely. i want to be very clear that if we talk about neck goodies and disparities, no one has been more poorly served than our native children -- if we talk es andinequiti disparities. >> i appreciate that. >> i want to be clear. while the department of interior

has much of this, i want you to know i have but one of my top deputies there full-time to try and help them figure out a better way to educate children, so we are all working on this together. >> thank you for that. that is not the same guy that is supposed to be responding to our letters, is it? >> no comment. that was on me. that's my fault. >> that's a strong mark of character, frankly. i want to say that. i was in a meeting this morning where the apology could have been made and was not given, and it goes to character and leadership, and i appreciate you saying that. more specifically, you say responses will be more timely. i would like to know what that isn't what you're going to do to correct whatever situation you clearly have going on inside onr office so we can have both sides a reasonable expectation about what

"reasonable response" means. >> i will go to the chairman gives him a timeframe, and he will not be shy. >> thank you. moving on to washington state, knowing that -- noting that no one from that state is represented on this committee, and again, my role as a subcommittee chairman, we in the chairman talked about this as well. i am concerned about the way for being revoked. i get it. i understand about accountability. you and i agree on that. however, if evaluation's of these teachers were performed, what would be specific measurable outcome be? what should we expect as federal policy makers from this? >> again, we are trying tremendous discretion. every other state so far has figured this out, so there is no single way to do this. at the end of the day, what i believe in what i think you believe is that the goal of teaching is not to teach. the goal of teaching is to have children learn. and at peace -- not the whole thing, but a piece of teacher evaluations should be based on student learning.

that is the commitment that washington state gave. unfortunately, due date, they have not fulfilled that. all we're saying is that we think teaching is hugely important. teachers make a huge difference. >> having been there like you have been there, talking to parents and teachers and community leaders, surely they care. surely they understand the frustration and issues, and i agree that schools must exist for the students. they do not exist for the adults . i think what you are trying to do serves that purpose. would you also, though, nonowledge that no person, staff, no bureaucrat in your department knows the children of washington state better than the parents and teachers and taxpayers of washington state? absolutely. >> on gainful employment, you believe the public education system should be subject to that

same role? >> again, i want to be clear -- we are working on gainful employment regulations and also ratingson a college system, and those other two pieces of work we are working on. >> the gentleman's time has expired. >> thank you, mr. chairman. first of all, secretary duncan, i would like to thank you and administration for proposing a budget that makes real investments and our education system from pre-k to post secondary education. i cannot tell you how disheartening it is to see the ryan budget with all its cuts to education passed the house. i note that it did not pass by a

huge margin. the clock was kept open, and it barely passed. i think it was, like, 219 votes is what i recall. i am pleased to see this budget includes an investment in high school redesign through a competitive grant program. i was excited to hear the president mention it in his state of the union address. however, the contours and details are mystifying to me. can you tell us what are some of the key elements of a successful grant proposal, what they would be? and what are you really looking to do with high school redesign? >> we talked a little bit earlier, but what we want to --e sure is that we continue we are thrilled high school graduation rates have hit an all-time high. but i worry a lot about the 20% who do not graduate and what .heir life is going to be like we know there is not anything out there for them. what we want to do is make sure

that high schools continue to be very relevant for young people, that they understand what the jobs are in their communities, why they are going to school, what that leads to. we want to make sure that they are rigorous with more access to education. high schools that are serious about making sure 100% of students graduate and graduate college and career ready, we need more schools to look like that. early college and concurrent enrollment programs are part of the redesign. >> absolutely. we talked earlier -- i don't know if you were here, but i am a huge fan of the dual enrollment early college program. i would like to see a lot more of that so these resources can be used there.

finding ways to expand opportunity there, i think we should all be working hard on that. toas a teacher before i came congress, i have been involved with some of these concurrent enrollment programs. i have had actually students that come to my classroom from texas to california who have told me about their experience with some of these early college programs. do you see early college also being applied to career and technical education? >> it absolutely is. i see many places doing that well, but i think our collective challenge is always how we can scale what works and do this in a way that many folks have not. we think we have done some pretty good work to increase these opportunities tom of but i know there are many more children out there who could benefit if they had the opportunity. we would love to work with you .o figure out how we expand >> to you believe that concurrent enrollment and early

college and middle college strategies could have an impact on lowering the cost of education on middle-class families -- or higher education, i'm talking about. >> to be clear, we now have some high schools where students are graduating with an associates degree. by definition, they are reducing 50% of their higher education costs. it absolutely reduces costs, which is very important. not as excited about the just cost savings for cost reductions to families, and i think this is a really important dropout prevention strategy. creating opportunities for children who did not have is a really big deal. >> a lot of the strategies require a counterintuitive approach, which is that we have to reduce class sizes at the secondary level in order to -style teaching that some of the pedagogy requires. i was interested in your conversation about -- somehow pell grants got mixed into the

conversation. we had a conversation about the justification of the federal role in some of the early college models. since we are offering instruction, could you elaborate on that's amore? >> she asked the question if i am recalling correctly of whether we should be looking correctly at pell grants as the potential use of funds to help expand access to early college opportunities, and that is the kind of created inking that i think we should all be engaged in -- that's the kind of creative thinking i think we should all being gauged in. we should leave no stone unturned and think about doing that. we would love to have that conversation. we have staff working pretty hard on these issues as we speak . >> the germans time has expired. mr. thompson. mr. chairman.u, secretary duncan, good to see you. the last time we talked, we were breaking bread and talked about how to best serve the needs of this nation's youngest learners. i always appreciate those .pportunities for conversations

the department's budget request focus heavily on a clipping the of the fill the jobs 21st-century economy, and i think that is very appropriate. however, you do not propose any additional resources for the perkins funding. last month, over 91 members of the house through the advocacy of the bipartisan career and technical education caucus requested the appropriations committee return career and technical education programming to pre-sequester levels, and we talked a lot about the unemployed, the underemployed, and probably not enough, but some about the dwindling workforce participation, which is, i think, incredibly important to the strategic success of the future of this country. the solutions to address some of ct programmingis through the carl the perkins career and technical education act. there's not too many social ills

throughnot be addressed a family sustaining wage job. career and technical training enables individuals to have education to be career and college ready. my first two questions kind of go together. why does the department continue to prioritize spending on untested and often duplicative education initiatives when we have a tried-and-true solution in perkins, and why move money -- funding away from a full commitment to fund the program? >> first, appreciate your childhoodn the early space, and talking about that

funding. some form of education beyond high school has to be the goal. i am a huge point -- a huge fan of this. what we are simply trying to do is make sure that those programs are training students for the jobs of tomorrow and not of 20 or 30 years ago. candidly, i go to hundreds and hundreds of schools, and i see some programs that are cutting-edge and world-class and others that are a little bit outdated. what we are trying to do is we want to take to scale what is working and to make sure that these scarce resources are being used wisely, being used well to prepare students for the jobs and for the skills they need going forward. quite candidly, that is not always the case. in many cases it is. in some places, it's not being used as thoughtfully as we would like, so we are just trying to challenge that status quo. >> i share mr. guthrie's

concern. the program really is consistently proven, and i think it puts a disadvantage, whether ins 32,000 school districts this country, approximately 30% of all schools fall in that category, and many obviously do not have the resources to be as competitive. we have to check whether it is a competitive priority a separate slate. we've made absolutely certain that rural schools and communities are well represented erie it we gotten better over time at doing that, but i think we can address that specific concern pretty well. >> a shifting of $100 million i think is a significant concern -- church, millner, our heavenlyat