roots to the president's policies. they were targeted by somebody who politics with the president i was trying to overturn the president -- i am sorry, the supreme court decision of ofizens united and support using her power. with that, i yield back. >> this weekend on c-span, house debate on holding lois lerner in contempt of congress for refusing to answer questions. saturday morning at 10:00 eastern. on book tv,, john yoo argues the obama administration's policy will harm -- cause harm. and a look at the mount vernon dining room restoration.

>> timothy writes for the hill. he houses out for another week long break, but the senate will be in. says, it is crunch time on energy. what is the status of that measure? said, theyus, as you have scheduled a vote for the bill. what is holding things up right and what might hold up the bill as a whole, is republicans want to get amendments into that. including senate reid,ty reader -- leader have blocked those amendments. one of the amendments would be to force the approval of the

keystone pipeline. reid is open to having a vote on a separate bill just for the keystone pipeline. fiveesn't want these other energy related amendments to be considered for this bill. he used a procedure called filling a tree to prevent any amendments from being considered. for ain, senators calling vote on the pipeline. what is the boot -- mood of the country on building the pipeline? >> a lot of polls have shown that the country does support this pipeline. for the most part, the polls have shown the possible jobs that are going to come from the construction and operation are outweighing some of the environmental concerns that environmentalists have brought up about the pipeline.

it is something that the american people support. >> senators on both sides of the aisle, do they support the separate votes on that question mark >> all the republicans doing the senate. count, about 11 democrats support it. louisiana isfrom leading the fight for the democrats. said that she had 58 votes to approve the pipeline you need 60 votes to get a filibuster she believeordie she will have that many votes within the next week, essentially, to pass that. she has 58 now. we will see that actually happens. tax was also on the agenda next week. what is on the bill and what

senators are leading? >> the tax extender bill -- we expect to see a floor vote. around taxextend breaks for two years. for my beat, energy, there are a number of popular tax cut its. -- credits. things that encourage alternative energy and fuel efficiency. they are popular. they expired at the end of last year. this will extend those for two years. the senate finance committee approved the bill in the beginning of april, i believe it was. there's a lot of bipartisan support for a lot of these tax extenders.

that goes. where >> how does the senate's bill on extending tax credits compare with the house's current efforts? >> on the house side, they are taking a different approach. few tax breaksa at a time. the most recent was at the end of april. -- it wasround was tax breaks including research and development ones that the business community likes. republicans house and the majority have not shown to be receptive to the senate's strategy of the big texas tender things. -- tax extender things. point, the house's

tactic has been smaller bills. ama at can tweet tim c timothy_cama and you can read his work on the hill. >> next, a discussion about the createact, a bill to emergency unemployment insurance and job creation. this is 35 minutes from washington journal. now on your screen is representative charlie, from pennsylvania. often described as a moderate republican. you?does that term mean to >> i have considered myself a center-right congressman in a to me i amt country

have --he folks that we believes we have a strong national defense and personal responsibility. -- e are keeping with >> you have been working on unemployment insurance. guest: i have a legislation growth act. it acknowledges the economy is still -- isn't still in a very good place. we except the fact that we can continue to extend unemployment benefits. emergency unemployment benefits extend as far as 98 weeks. today an individual can receive up to 73 weeks in some states.

we should allow for the continuation of emergency hould e continuation of emergency unemployment benefit program until the end of this year at 40 weeks. that is 40 weeks or 10 months. of we should deal with the underlying problem that unemployment -- we are not creating enough jobs in the economy. one, approval of the keystone xl pipeline, which many would estimate would be 40,000 jobs both erect and indirect, for , and we medical tax talk about restoring the nature of full-time work. defined as 30 is hours. we take it back to 40 hours because we know many americans

-- their hours are being reduced below 30 hours. let's deal with these job getting an job saving measures and pay for it by stopping the double debt on unemployment benefits being collected simultaneously with this opinion -- with disability benefits. there's a presumption you are not going back to work. host: potential passing? guest, mark meadows has been a key ally on this issue. of we are working hard to build some support. there has been some interest on the democratic side of the aisle from us because many of the job creating proposals to support medical device tax. there's a lot of support in the

repeal it. from elizabeth warren to al franken and bob casey and others. there are democrats who want to eliminate that tax. is pretty clear there's a lot of support for that. an opportunity to vote on this legislation there is a good shot it would pass. host: how much more legislating a we going to see on major issues? guest: we are going to have to see some this year. he has to deal with a number of to thefrom trade medicare fix or the sustainable growth rate. we have to make sure our doctors can get paid for the services they rendered. to confront to have that issue. there is a highway trust fund. it is likely to go bust. john delaney is working on a

proposal to deal with that as well. what issue, particularly is happening in europe, we have an aggressive trade agenda. we are going to have to move forward on at least some of these issues. host: we have talked to a lot of members on -- lot of members of congress on this program. i don't think i ever met or -- or or read somebody talk to somebody who supports the medical device tax. could that as a standalone be repealed or does that create wave c echo >> i think it could. -- create waves? guest: many democrats insist we pay for it. most on the republican side believe we do not should pay for

taxing. that is the debate, how do you go about paying for it? we were almost able to delay it when we reopened the government during the shutdown in october. we came within a whisker of making a change there. it and thereg at are a lot of folks who want to repeal is. i believe senator baucus insisted on it during the health-care law debate. it is often credited to him, or blames, for the device tax being in there. host: charlie dent is in his fifth term, a representative of the 15th district of pennsylvania. guest: it goes from the delaware river, south of east pennsylvania, with three mile island at the southwest extreme points. boroughs of the

hamburg. like to call hershey, pennsylvania the sweetest place on earth. a lot of biotechnology, life sciences, we have a lot going on there. host: congressman dent serves on the appropriations committee and the ethics committee. you talking congressional issues. withe going to begin gerald in cincinnati on our democrat line. caller: good morning. i heard you speaking about the unemployment insurance. i have been out of work and i am a veteran and everything. off of my job by no means of my own.

voted on thehey uninsured benefits? the senate is trying to pass a bill, which i have some concerns with. it would extend the unemployment program by an additional two months. they would also do it retroactively. i don't think that is a good way to go. would extend unemployment benefits on a phase down basis until the end of the year. not 73 weeks or a year and a half, it would be for 10 months. a person could collect up to 10 months of both state and federal unemployment benefits combined. i think that is a smart way to proceed. we are going to tie that to job creating or job saving measures, which deal with the underlying problem of unemployment, which is lack of growth in the economy and lack of job creation.

thank you for the call. john next call comes from in atlanta on our republican line. caller: how are you doing? some money from the transportation bill if the democrats pay their taxes. president obama couldn't fill his tact -- fill his cabinet because nobody paid their taxes. john kerry did not want to pay poor tax. people in the irs haven't paid their money. havee recovery act you 51.6 51.6 million dollars going to denmark and then $91.4 million going to japan. million, spain 430 million. host: can you bring this to a

conclusion? if thatust want to see might help in fixing these potholes. in answer of your question about transportation, i mentioned a few moments -- a few moments ago that the highway trust fund is on the verge of solvency in late july and early august. congress will have to fix this. in two have to do it steps. first we will have to temporarily patch the program because once it goes insolvent projects. around the country. we cannot have that happen. i have seen estimates from anywhere from 10 billion dollars to $15 billion. that is the first thing. we are going to have to pass a longer-term surface transportation bill. and we are going to have to fund it. that is really the big question.

just heardy you congressman delaney talk about his proposal to take repatriated funds and create a bond financing program, which may be part of the solution. i also give him credit for his effort. talklso tell you that about using federal royalty thenues -- but that into trust fund. we are going to have to find a sustainable funding source to shore up this trust fund. i think we are going to have that conversation fairly soon. others bit the bullet and passed some pretty significant transportation legislation. i suspect washington is now on the verge having to do something similar. stay tuned. whatever we want to do we want to make sure that those of who are using the roads are those that will be largely paying for it.

i believe that will be the focus going forward. all theseking at options as we speak, he will have a bit more to say. tweet -- areas -- any number of just the construction alone was estimated to be 20,000 jobs on the keystone xl pipeline. work, a lot of trenching that would have to be done. is an immediate benefit on the direct side. all the folks who are providing the best aerials -- providing the materials, all are going to be very much impacted as well.

number ofan enormous jobs. this issue has caught up in politics. has become ideological. the state report says if we build this pipeline that it will not have an impact on carbon emissions because this soil is going to go somewhere. i would arsenal that i would also argue that transporting this oil by truck and rail is not a very energy efficient way to move all this. host: is the xl pipeline done for the year? i would prefer harry reid simply allow for a vote on the keystone xl pipeline. i don't know why this is so complicated.

i know there are many in the senate's who would like to see this move forward. just allow a straight up or down vote. why does it have to be attached to something else? --elieve senator reed senator reed has the authority to schedule an up or down vote. >> tony is coming in from minnesota. please go ahead. caller: i am a businessman. i started three businesses in my lifetime. i employed over 160 employees. partiesking that both are completely missing the solution to america's problem, especially with the highway system. when eisenhower started to build these highway systems in our the 40's 50's and

gasolinetax rates for was only about four percent of the growth tax. now we are taking on the average , which is much higher. back then the government employees that were hired, it was only 10% of the dot employees that were hired to maintain the roads. now it is completely the opposite way around. we have 30% of the dot tax dollars being paid out to government employees to sit in big fancy offices and that leads to almost 50% left to actually build the new roads with private contractors. the problem isn't the fact that

we need to tax more, which is the democrats answer to every single problem our nation has, we need to microscopically look at each department in this nation and say, wait a minute. if we could build all these highways in the 40's 50's, and 60's with less gas being pumped out of the pumps and we were able to make it work, why can't we do is now with three times more taxation on the gasoline? guest: in answer to your question, you raised an interesting point. since the interstate highway system was established back in we have had a lot of things happen. .n the 50's it was a lot easier

go through years of a process. you have to go through a design, preliminary engineering -- engineering, right away acquisition. there is a multi step process. it takes forever and a day to get a project to construction. we have to streamline that process because it is taking up a lot of money that is allocated for our highway system. you remember one the i 35 bridge collapsed a few years back? that was rebuilt in 437 days. us around the country decided at the time that this is an emergency. that bridge had to be rebuilt. maybe we should treat all structurally deficient bridges like we treated that bridge,

where they waved a lot of the rules and regulations and basically got that bridge rebuilt. we probably have more structurally deficient bridges than any nation in the state. why should we go through all the steps to replace a bridge? that would be my recommendation, let us streamline the process so we can take our limited resources and put them into replacing those bridges or even those roads that need to be replaced. guest: -- host: if the house is so concerned about trade and transportation bills, why are you putting the focus on benghazi and the irs? guest: the irs issue has been with us for some time and benghazi -- we had votes on those two issues. me that itclear to

has been pretty hard for an individual to stand up and protest their innocence rather than take the fifth amendment. i just want to get to the truth. suggesting anybody committed any particular crime. it was tragic what happened. at the same time i think we all know what happened here. this fairy tale was spun that a video caused the attack on the facility when in fact we know it did not. it was ap meditated terrorist attack. this story was spun to protect the campaign narrative at the time, which is that al qaeda was on the run. a terrorist attack would disrupt that narrative. i just want the truth on both of these things.

are -- i any of us believe many of us are ready to move forward. are going to see bipartisan collaboration between republicans and the president. that is going to happen at some point. host: john is calling in from south carolina. you are on washington journal. a suggestion for c-span. thatlly wanted to talk to democrat guy, i think you need to have both guys on. as far as gas would you agree in the pump enough oil

united states to sustain us? guest: what is going to be your follow-up? caller: i'm going to get all the way down to how we fix our roads. host: go ahead and make your statement. we pump enough gas and oil to sustain us in the , why are we paying five dollars per gallon per gas? the pipeline. job on the pipeline that means i have to move out to nebraska somewhere. why not build a refinery in north dakota?

that shouldn't affect us. i'm military. these gas companies that drill on federal land, they should subsidize our military with free or cut it in half. they are not paying any taxes anyway. go ahead and take that money you are giving to these oil companies and fix our roads. guest: i filled the other day and i paid three dollars 75 that -- $3.75 per gallon. can't united states be self-sufficient? absolutely. thesylvania is

second-largest gas producing state in the nation after taxes. we have tremendous gas reserves in our country. yes we can become cap's self-sufficient, so much so that -- theree the capacity is a demand for american gas in japan. they need to diversify their supply. the answer to your question is yes. are we self-sufficient? todo we have the capacity become north american energy self-sufficient? my answer would be us. i am not prepared to give you a particular time or date. we could largely become north american energy self-sufficient. the big question in the united states is this administration, will it allow for the development of both oil and natural gas resources on federal land to a greater degree than they are doing now?

the administration is slow walking the approval process. that is a really big issue. i would argue we are in a great position to become self-sufficient for gas and oil. host: is fracking a loaded term or the industry term? guest: this has been going on for decades, hydraulic fracturing. what is really more recent is the notion of horizontal drilling. able tovidual who is drill into the ground and turn it almost at a right angle, i think they do it at a slowing goal. that has been really transformational. hydraulic fracturing is regulated by the states. we use very water intensive practices. waterve to treat the

after using it to drinking water standards. we want to make sure these water sources in particular are protected and we want to make sure that happens. hydraulic fracturing has been around for decades. it has added the number of jobs in pennsylvania. the price of gas has dropped because we have all the sweet -- all these resources. supply is way up. the mediatant than jobs created by the gas is the fact that these natural gas prices has given our unit -- has given our country and enormous competitive advantage. are paying for the lowest

rates in the developed world. that is a major change for maybe a decade ago. we are a lot of interest from foreign investment into the united states. it's a reliable stable supply. when you're dependent on russian are notthe russians known as a reliable supplier, they are inclined to cut off supplies if the politics dictate. host: the appropriations committee passed their omnibus bill. we've happy with the final numbers? we passed the commerce justice science built out of the committee and provided allocations, which essentially establishes what each of the 12

subcommittees of the appropriations committee will receive. we set those allocations based on the budget agreement that was enacted in december. the overall discretionary spending number for this fiscal 1.0 4pcoming will be trillion. the number this funding the current fiscal year is $1.012 trillion. that is where we are. that is split 12 ways. not equally between ways. also takes a big chunk. that was established yesterday. host: what is the next step in the process?

guest: get processes one month ahead of schedule. -- they havers been working to restore washington to a regular order process. it is important that we send a message that we can government, that we are capable of doing what the public sent us here to do. i think we have been lurching from one crisis to the next. i believe it is important to provide some level of budgetary sodictability and stability that the public have some confidence in washington. we were in the situation where there was always a threat of asset -- threat of a shutdown or default. i think we have to get back to of business.der

when you do that it provides for a lot more stability and atmosphere and also frees up time and oxygen to do other things, like the keystone pipeline or transportation bill or whatever the issue is that people want to talk about. host: the chair of the appropriations committee will be c-span's asked this week on newsmakers, which airs at 10 a.m. on sunday mornings. carolyn in westchester on our republican line. thank you for holding. caller: i was wondering why congress is not investigating building seven. what happened on 9/11. the attacks took down the buildings on the north and south tower and that contributed to the collapse of building seven. not much i can say about that.

host: birds calling from our republican line. caller: thanks for the service you do. i really appreciate what you said about benghazi earlier and just wanting to find the truth. that is a levelheaded approach anybody should take. i want to apologize because my question really is for peter. just like the last caller, i know you get a lot of questions about building seven on your and hosts tend to be perturbed by that. a lot of times say you covered it and i just want to establish for the audience that cutting somebody off and calling them conspiracy theorists when they can't defend themselves is not really covering it or debate. i also know that one of the leading organizations behind questioning what happened with building seven offered c-span a chance to air this on their programs back in september, a chance to have a debate with

them and somebody advocating for the official story of what happened to the openings on that day. my question is why hasn't c-span taken them up on that offer? host: thank you for calling in with your views. ron is calling in from west chesterfield, new hampshire. caller: good morning. i would like to get back to repatriating dollars back into the united states. president obama raised his hand in 2008, the republicans have been doing nothing but reading -- rating every social program under the guise of paying down our deficit. it doesn't matter whether it is unemployment, kids going to school for head start, military benefits, they have cut money from everything under the guise of paying them a deficit.

there is one segment of the population that the republicans refused to come to. i believe repeat treating dollars back into the united whyes at 40% is a reason these corporations are keeping their money's overseas, i believe if we were to go up to 60% one month from now and two months from now that tax will go up to 80%, i believe the for that tax ever gets to 60% these corporations would have a lot of money back into the united states. is just another large corporate giveaway, and other large corporate tax loophole. host: i think we have the point. guest: on the issue of free petri shin, we have to be clear

about this. states taxes these multinational companies anyway that is different than the rest of the developed world. a an american company builds facility, a chemical plant in ireland, it will pay 12.5% of the irish government. a german company that builds the same plant in ireland will pay 12.5%. the german company will take their profits back to germany without paying any additional tax. payamerican company gets to the difference between 12.5% and 30%. the tax code allows for these companies to defer bringing back that money. they keep all this cash overseas. idea is to allow for a repatriation. maybe five percent.

we try to make it more reasonable? also the fact that the united statutory a large corporate income tax in the world is not helpful at 35%. we need to get that rate closer to 25, where most of the developed world is. simply threatening these companies means they were likely to contain them that continued keeping their money overseas and use their moneys for overseas operations. this absurd policy is incentivizing american headquartered companies to set their headquarters up in other countries. worse of all we will have more job loss that way. >> on the next washington journal, the tea party's influence in the midterm

elections. ynn took setane gl policies that affect working mothers. including the pay gap between men and women. and high school teachers talk about preparing for the advanced placement u.s. government exam. plus e-mails, facebook comments, and tweets. washing turn -- washington journal. live at 7:00 a.m. eastern. >> at today's the vents -- defense department briefing, rear admiral john kirby discussed a team sent to nigeria in an effort to find 200 schoolgirls kidnapped by an islamist group. >> i want to stress at the --set that our participation it is interdisciplinary.

of people comprised in law enforcement, fbi, intelligence community, and the u.s. military. , in addition to the 10 or so troops, will consist of eight personnel. six of them are already there in nigeria, in the capital. the others should be arriving in the next few days. these are subject matter experts. troops that are trained in intelligence, communications, and mostly coordination functions. logistical kinds of things. the great majority of the additionalassets, personnel, are there on the ground. we expect the others will get there shortly. >> people that live in the embassy -- what are they doing? >> a will work out of the embassy. we are not talking about u.s. military operations in nigeria to go find these girls.

that is not the focus. the focus is on sending subject matter experts that can help advise and assist the nigerian authorities in their search for these girls. the president was clear that he wants to help any way we can. nigeriathe help that has accepted. we believe is the appropriate step now. >> what sort of experts? >> they are trained in communications, intelligence, collection and analysis. some logistical issues. we are going to be trying to do what we can to try to help them in their search. collect and analyze information they obtained. do what we can to help them find these girls. >> that was some of the defense department reefing. you can watch the entire briefing online at c-span.org.

>> you can now take c-span with you wherever you go. with the free c-span radio app for your smart phone or tablet. orten to all three channels c-span radio anytime. there's a schedule of each network so you can tune in whenever you want. shows.dcasts of recent take c-span with you wherever you go. download the free app online for your iphone, android, or blackberry. president of the united states. >> earlier today, president obama talked about energy efficiency and climate change in a walmart mountain view, california. his remarks were 15 minutes. [applause] hello. hello, everybody.

hello, mountain view. [applause] it is good to be in california. this is actually my third day on the west coast. on wednesday, we went to l.a.. the move went to san diego. we are here in the bay area. i have to get back because sunday is what? >> mother's day. >> mother's day. that is a public service announcement. do not forget [laughter] howld michelle one time, come people put so much emphasis on mother's day and father's day not so much? [laughter] said, every day other than mother's day is father's day. [laughter] [applause] which i thought kind of colitis -- quieted me down.

i want to think your mayor for hosting us. [applause] i want to thank the folks at walmart. i know this up like a typical walmart, but it is different. that is why i am here. a few years ago, you decided to put solar panels on the roof of the store. you replaced some traditional light olds with leds -- light bulbs with leds. you made refrigerated cases more efficient. you even put in a charging vehicles.r electric those upgrades created dozens of construction jobs. they helped the store save money on energy bills. i am here today. more and more companies like walmart are realizing that wasting must energy -- wasting less energy isn't just good for the planet, it is good for the business. bottom line. [applause]

it adds new jobs. changing the way we use energy is just one of the ways americans have been working so hard to move this country forward. in the wake of the worst financial and economic crisis in generations, our businesses created over 9.2 million new jobs. the housing market that was reeling is rebounding. you have a manufacturing sector that is adding jobs for the first time. more than 8 million americans have signed up for health care coverage through the affordable care act. [applause] troops that were fighting two wars are coming home. president create jobs in other countries, more countries -- companies are choosing to invest

right here in the united states. before a long way to go we get to where we need to be. an economy where everybody who works hard, who takes responsibility, has the chance to get ahead. build an chance to economy that works, not just for a few at the top, but for everybody. that is our goal. the idea that no matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from, what your last name is, if you work hard and take responsibility, you can make it in america. that starts with helping businesses create more good jobs. one of the biggest factors in bringing jobs back to america has been our commitment to american energy over the last five years. when i took office, we set out to break our dependence on foreign oil. today, america's closer to energy independence that we have been -- then we have been it in decades. we generate more renewable

energy than ever with tens of thousands of jobs to show for it. we produce more natural gas than anyone. everybody's energy bill is lower because of it. so are our climate -- carbon emissions that cause climate change. we set new fuel efficiency standards for cars. that saves the family -- typical family $8,000 at the pump. for the first time in 20 years, america produces more oil than we produce -- buy from other buy from to read -- other countries. we are producing more energy and also becoming a leader in the energy for -- sourc of the future. wee are becoming a leader in solar. the cost of solar panels have fallen 60%. solar installations have

increased 500%. every four minutes, another american home and business goes solar. every panel is pounded into place by a worker whose job cannot be shipped overseas. live, no matter where you or where you do business, solar is getting cheaper and easier than ever before. with more businesses and rural cooperatives and homes choosing solar, prices come down. manufacturers get more innovative. more jobs are created. last year, jobs in the solar industry increased by 20%. but we got more work to do. i want to work with congress to do it. unfortunately congress has not been as visionary on these issues as we would like. it can be frustrating. in this year of action, wherever i can go ahead and create my own opportunities for new jobs, i'm

going to take it. so far, i have taken more than 20 executive actions. from launching new hubs to attracting more high-tech manufacturing jobs to america. two reforming the job training programs to make sure more americans are getting the skills they need to get the jobs that exist right now. . here at walmart, i want to announce a few more steps we are taking that are going to be good for job growth and the economy and we don't have to wait for congress to do. more cleangenerate energy, waste less energy, and leave her kids and grandkids with a cleaner planet. we know making buildings more energy-efficient is one of the easiest cheapest ways to create jobs, save money, and cut down on pollution that causes climate change. it can save our businesses tens of billions of dollars a year.

they can use that money to grow and hire more folks. it would put construction workers back to work, installing new systems and new technology. this is what you call a win-win when. -- win-win-win. buildingsd the better initiative. it is an initiative to improve the efficiency of the rings by 20%. we have 190 businesses and organizations that have signed on. they are cutting energy use 2.5% every year. together, they have saved the hundred million dollars in energy cost. we know what works. that is why i have been picking up the phone and reach out to more leaders to get them on board. today, they are stepping up. ,rom cities, school districts universities, as this is, you

are seeing folks move on energy efficiency. increasedging to energy efficiency and 31 plants. university of virginia is doing the same thing. cities like little rock and kansas city are replacing streetlights with more efficient leds. in walmart, you have committed to reducing energy construction over -- consumption over 850 million square foot of space. that is enough to cover more than half the city of san francisco. taken together, this will make a difference. it's the right thing to do for the planet read the right thing to do for the bottom line. you can save the money, pass it back to consumers in the form of lower prices. you can use it to create more jobs. folks in the private sector are doing their part to create jobs and reduce pollution. i am making sure the federal government does its part.

two years ago, i ordered $2 -- $2 billion in energy upgrades for federal buildings. i am ordering $2 billion more. these will create tens of thousands of construction jobs and save taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. is department of energy putting a new set of standards in place that could save businesses billions of dollars in energy costs and cut carbon pollution. of taking 80lent million cars off the road. i want to stop -- think the secretary of energy and shaun donovan of hud. [applause] that is where the plotting. -- worth applauding. that is the first announcement. cities, schools, businesses. we will pledge to waste less energy. we have congress 30's that we

know work. second announcement is about more americans coming together to use more clean energy. i called up leaders from a range of industries and made the economic case for why solar is a good idea. he listened. today, more than 300 organizations from home photos companieslders to like home depot and apple announced they are going to expand the use of solar energy, quitting more jobs and cutting carbon pollution. we have public banks like connecticut house remake. greenbank.cut hoss we are making it easier for renewable energy companies to attract investment. we will support training at community colleges that will help 30,000 workers learn the skills that solar companies are looking for.

walmart already has the most installed on-site solar capacity of any company in america. now you have announced plans to double that capacity. it is all part of your goal to buy or produce 7 billion kilowatt hours of renewable energy by 2020. something that could save walmart $1 billion a year in energy costs. we know generating more clean energy and using less dirty energy, wasting less, can be good for business and consumers. it is good for the world we leave for our children. together, the commitments we are announcing today prove there are cost-effective ways to tackle climate change and create jobs. howften, when we hear about we are going to deal with his issue, people say we cannot afford to do it. it will not be good for the economy. it will be good for the economy long-term.

if we don't, that will be got for the economy. rising sea levels. drought. more wildfires, more severe storms. those are bad for the economy. we can't afford to wait. there is no reason we can't go even further than we are so far by working with states and utilities and other organizations to change the way we power our economy. on the change is. we have to act now. -- clite change is a real. we have to act now. hundreds of scientists, experts, businesses. they all contributed over the course of four years. what they found was unequivocally clement change is not some far off problem in the future. it is happening now. it is causing hardship now. it is affecting every sector of our economy and society. he more severe floods, violent wildfires.

it is costing businesses money. here in california, you have seen the effects firsthand. increasingly, more and more americans do. including many republicans outside of washington. so, unfortunately inside washington, we have climate deniers who shout loud. but they are wasting everybody said time on a civil debate. it is a fact. we know the shift to clean energy won't happen overnight, but we have to make tough choices along the way. we know that if we do, it will save us money and create jobs over the long term rid that is what walmart understands. walmart is good at counting its pennies. that's why this fight is so important. the sooner we work together to adapt the economy to our -- to

this reality of climate change, the more likely it is we do right by our kids and leave a more stable world. ultimately, that is what motivates a whole lot of us. as americans, we don't look backwards. we look forward to. we seize the future. we shape it. when it comes to energy, we have sectore to shape that that is probably going to have more to do with how well our economy succeeds than just about any other. we are blessed when it comes to energy, but much more blessed when it comes to the innovation and dynamism and creativity of our economy. if we do our part right now to rebuild an economy in transition to a clean energy future, we will create more jobs. we will reduce our dependence on foreign oil. we will leave our children with a better america.

thank you very much. god bless you. [applause] we appreciate your leadership. thank you guys. happy mother's day, x next finalizing legislation on nigeria and venezuela. aboutpelosi talks investigating benghazi. and the latest treatment for poster manic stress disorder.

to markup three strongly bipartisan measures dealing with pressing humanitarian issues. because these measures enjoy broad support because we are looking at a short legislative day, the braking member and i intend to consider them as members were previously notified. the following items which all members have before them are to be considered red. they will be considered on block. 73, international megan's law. this is offered by mr. smith. the bipartisan amendment provided to your offices last night. 4587, the venezuelan human

rights and democracy promotion act. authored by congresswoman lehtinen. bill, house resolution 573, condemning the abduction of female students by boko haram, authored by congresswoman wilson. and the voice amendment to house resolution 573. without objection, all members may have five days to submit statements for the records and any extraneous material on today's items. after opening remarks by myself and the ranking member, i will the blue -- i will be glad to recognize any seeking recognition. we are considering chairman smith h i-45 73. it is the international megan's law. sexrevent demand for child

trafficking. it deals with the issue we want to address. the horrendous exploitation of children overseas by adults traveling for purposes of engaging in sex tourism. afortunately, this has become growing industry in a number of countries which are ill-equipped to deal with the influx of child predators, including the united states. this bill codifies existing law enforcement efforts to combat child sex tourism by establishing the watch center. child sex tourism by establishing the angel watch center. within the department of homeland security's child exploitation investigation center. the angel watch center currently operates by combing through massive amounts of data from multiple agency sources to analyze foreign travel by convicted child sex offenders, and determine whether notification to u.s. officials

or foreign governments is warranted. this bill improves vastly the speed of the information that the center receives and the staffing at the center. right now there's one lady doing this and it's often after the fact. this rectifies this and will allow the center to better detect and report the travel of child predators so that that is prevented. it also requires the center to maintain records of its work so that we have more information about how other countries are combatting child sex tourism. listen, i think all of us here who have worked with congressman smith over the years know we all owe him a debt of gratitude for his heartfelt commitment to this issue and i want to thank him for his leadership, and a long-standing dedication that i think has surpassed what anybody else has ever put in to trying

to track and do something about this issue. and i'd note that there was very close collaboration with the judiciary's majority and minority on this bill, and ranking member engel and i look forward to working with our colleagues on this committee and the judiciary committee as we move forward to ensure that the bill's notification provisions are effective, and satisfactory. now we also consider house resolution 573 on the recent boko haram abductions. this sunday is mother's day. but for hundreds of mothers in nigeria, this will be another day of horrendous grief. their daughters are missing. kidnapped from school by an islamist terrorist group. this resolution puts the committee firmly on record in condemning this atrocious abduction of nearly 300 schoolgirls. many around the world are just learning of the evil of boko haram.

unfortunately for the communities in northern nigeria, the terror there has existed for years. sadly, boko haram lives up to its name. that name translated loosely is western education is a sin. they have killed more than 600 students and teachers. they have destroyed some 500 schools. they have denied more than 15,000 young nigerians an education. they've killed many other people, as well. but their focus has been on killing teachers, and going after students and killing students or abducting them. despite knowing the dangers, these young women were committed, they were all committed to their education. and they took that risk of trying to go to school. boko haram has been a focus of this committee for which subcommittee chairman smith and ranking member bass deserve credit. members will recall that it was pressure from this committee

that was critical in convincing the state department, forcing the state department, to des ignite boko haram as a terrorist organization, a foreign terrorist organization as the designation today. indeed the administration made that announcement in this room under pressure from the members of this committee, and it should not have taken so long. commanders at the pentagon have stated that boko haram is, quote, a threat to western interests, and one of the highest counterterrorism priorities in africa. that's especially the case given nigeria's position as a continent's most populous country and the largest economy in africa. this resolution reaffirms our support for the assistance that the administration's offered to help the nigerian's find these girls, but more needs to be done. i'm pleased that we are considering an amendment i've authored and the ranking member supports to encourage more aggressive assistance.

it's clear the nigerian forces are struggling in this fight. direct u.s. security assistance, intelligence, and advisers in the field can make a big difference in rescuing these girls, and combatting this threat. years ago a key military assist from the british was key in ridding sierra leone of a rebel insurrection. if you remember the revolutionary united front, and the amputations of children that they used to conduct. more recently, french efforts in mali have been key to combatting that al qaeda threat there. historically the nigerians have been reluctant to receive such outside aid. luckily, that seems to be changing. we should be pushing on the nigerian government to accept as much help as they can, to save these young women now, and to e eliminate the boko haram threat soon. this resolution is part of that push. and lastly we are also advancing

hr-4787 to impose targeted sanctions on venezuela's human rights abusers. since february, thousands of student activists have taken to venezuela's streets to highlight rampant crime and lawlessness. these peaceful protests have grown in size and frequency, and the response from their government, president maduro, who was hugo chavez's hand-picked successor, has unleashed a heavy-handed, and violent response that has resulted in many senseless deaths, countless casualties, and the jailings of thousands, including many senior opposition leaders. in fact, a new human rights report released this week found a, quote, pattern of serious abuse carried out repeatedly by multiple security forces in multiple locations, unquote. just yesterday we learned of fresh reports of hundreds of more students being rounded up and tossed in jail.

this legislation opposes targeted sanctions on those individuals who've carried out human rights abuses or who ordered the violence against those peaceful protesters. while the obama administration has been supporting political talks in caracas, there unfortunately has been little progress there. if the maduro government is to agree to true reforms, to reverse the dissent, its leaders must feel the pressure. targeting those officials who have directed this repression is a good place to start. chairman emeritus ros-lehtinen should be recognized for her efforts on this legislation, and i appreciate her and chairman salmon working in a bipartisan way with the democratic members, mr. sires and other members on the committee. i will recognize our ranking member mr. engel of new york for his remarks. >> mr. chairman, thank you very much. for holding today's markup on

these important pieces of legislation, and as usual, for working with us in such a bipartisan manner. firstly i'd like to commend our colleague mr. chris smith of new jersey for his leadership on anti-trafficking issues, and for his hard work on hr-4573. there were a lot of negotiations going on with this bill, and mr. smith was of one purpose, wanting to have an effective law to combat child trafficking. and was willing to make the necessary compromises to truly receive bipartisan support for this bill. so i commend him for his tenacity, his sincerity, and for his hard work. this legislation, called international megan's law, aims to prevent child sex offenders and traffickers from exploiting vulnerable children when they cross an international border. in reality is that some sex

offenders are traveling overseas to exploit children in a practice known as sex tourism. in some of these countries extreme poverty and inadequate law enforcement protocols enable sex offenders to continue their victimization of children, often unbeknownst to the local government or with local law enforcement turning a blind eye. international megan's law establishes an angel watch center within immigration and customs enforcement that would provide advance notice to foreign countries when a convicted child sex offenders travels to that country. the bill also calls on the president to negotiate memoranda of understanding, or other bilateral agreements with foreign governments that would encourage information sharing on known child sex offenders. worldwide, it is reported that over 2 million children are sexually exploited each year through trafficking, prostitution and child sex tourism. 2 million children. that's just staggering. we need to do all we can to

encourage the international community to address this scourge. mr. chairman, i'd like to thank you for working with us to move this important legislation forward. i also want to thank the judiciary committee for working with us in a bipartisan manner. to come up with a practical and effective mechanism which will serve the twin goals of deterrence and prevention. i understand that there is one outstanding provision in the judiciary committee's jurisdiction regarding actual notice that will be worked out in good faith prior to floor consideration. next i'd like to thank my good friend miss ros-lehtinen for authoring the venezuela human rights and democracy protection act. i've been privileged to work with her on this important legislation. it's very important in the eyes of the world are on venezuela. as president nicolas maduro and his security forces crack down on peaceful protesters, it's an absolute tragedy that 41 people have been killed and over 100

injured at protests throughout the country. you know, i just came back from ukraine with the chairman, and what's going on in venezuela reminds me a lot of what was going on in ukraine with the protests. i am grateful for president obama and secretary kerry's strong statements condemning the maduro government's represe reprehensible actions. at the same time i'm disappointed by the silence of oas member states many of which suffered repression at the hands of their own governments in the not so distant past. while i'm pleased that negotiations are under way between the maduro government, and segments of the opposition, i'm concerned that not enough progress has been made. this bill has been crafted to impose targeted sanctions on human rights violators in venezuela, while not harming average venezuelans who are already suffering as a result of terrible economic mismanagement by first by hugo chavez and now maduro. i hope that this committee and

the house leadership will work closely with state department in determining when it is appropriate for this bill to be considered by the house of representatives. when we return to washington the week of may 19th, i believe we should assess the state of negotiations between the venezuelan government and opposition, and the situation on the ground in venezuela, before deciding whether to bring this bill before the full house. again i thank miss ros-lehtinen, chairman royce for their leadership on this important legislation. and urge my colleagues to support its approval by the committee. finally i strongly support hrs-573, a resolution offered by my former committee colleague miss frederica wilson of florida. this important resolution condemns the abduction of more than 200 schoolgirls in northern nigeria by the terrorist group boko haram, an act so heinous that it's even been criticized by some supporters of al qaeda.

this is only the latest in a long string of grisly and heartless attacks that boko haram, which has burned schools and killed students, attacked churches and mosques, murdered christian and muslim religious leaders, and set off bombs in the capital city of abuja, hrs-573 strongly condemns the abduction of the girls and supports u.s. and international efforts to assist in their recovery. while i hope these efforts are successful, we must also recognize that nigeria's approach to countering terrorism has not been very effective. there is extensive reporting on human rights abuses, committed by the nigerian military, which compound the fear experienced by citizens of the north, and alienate the very community that could be providing valuable intelligence on boko harem. i hope the nigerian government will see this kidnapping as a wake-up call to re-evaluate their counterterrorism strategy, and that we can work with them to share expertise on civil and

military relations, and development for the long neglected northern region of the country. in closing i'd like to again thank chairman royce and our colleagues on both sides of the aisle for working in a bipartisan way on these important pieces of legislation. >> thank you mr. ingle. do any members seek recognition to speak on any of the en bloc items? congresswoman ros-lehtinen? >> thank you so much, mr. chairman. and thank you to our ranking member eliot engel for working with my office and mr. salmon's office, and mr. sires, to bring up this bill on the venezuela situation to mark up this morning. i'd like to recognize the many venezuelan americans who have made a long trip from new york, michigan, ohio, florida, to be here and to witness this day, and like to point out in the audience maria conchito alonzo who is a wonderful actress.

i loved her role in moscow on the hudson with robin williams. it's good to see her. thank you all for being here. for three months now as both of the gentlemen have explained the maduro regime in venezuela has committed human rights violations as it seeks to muzzle the students who are peaceful, and they have been marching with a clear call. they're calling for the respect for human rights, and democracy to really take hold in their nation. so far they have been over 40 people killed, nearly 60 reported cases of torture, more than 2,000 people unjustly detained. hundreds more injured, and let's look at what has happened just this week, mr. chairman, and members, just this week, 250 teenage protesters who had camped out in public squares to protest were rounded up at 3:00 in the morning yesterday. also just this week the venezuelan intelligence agency picked up and has put in detention rodrigo diemante, the

leader of a world without muzzle. censorship continues. this week another prominent independent radio program was pulled off the airwaves. this week, newspapers are saying that they have about two weeks left of newsprint. maduro has restricted newsprint coming into the country. the government has put many challenges in their way to provide information to the people of venezuela. and lastly, opposition leader leopoldo lopez was supposed to have his day in court yesterday, and all of a sudden his hearing was simply postponed without reason, without discussion, without explanation, simply canceled. all of this happened just this week. but even with all of this repression, mr. chairman, the students and the student unions on several campuses in venezuela continue to show bravery and courage in standing up for democracy, and for freedom of expression. that is all they're asking.

now mr. chairman, ranking member, and members, some opponents of this legislation have claimed that we must give peace a chance regarding the talks, and just two notes about that. first of all, the violence is only on the government side. the students are not the violent ones. why create the violence and then say we have to have a dialogue for peace. here's a solution for peace, stop shooting the students. also, the uno team members are in the pockets of maduro, they're followers of maduro so how can you have any real discussion taking place there. and after several rounds of so-called negotiations, the talks have yielded no results, and it's not the u.s. that is derailing the process, venezuelan leader maduro and his goons are the ones that are derailing the process because they have the weapons, and their allies are using them against

the people, the unarmed peaceful protesters. other opponents believe that we should wait and see what the peace process can resolve. well, i ask, when is it a good time. how many more people have to be innocently killed for the time to be right? it will dmefr be right. maduro is the one whose perpetrating the violence. it's simple. another topic i would like to clear up is the authorization funds in the bill. this is not new money. we already direct $5 million to civil society programs in venezuela. so the bill just ensures that we do not fall below that number, and that we do not preclude assistance for democracy, and human rights issues. which is what it should do. and again, i commend our committee, thank you mr. royce, our chairman, for your leadership. thank you mr. engel, and mr. salmon, and mr. sires, and for shining a light on the atrossies committed in

venezuela, i urge my colleagues to support the bill, the venezuelan people are counting on your support. thank you, mr. chairman. >> other members seeking -- mr. meeks? >> thank you, mr. chairman. first let me give a word on, and thank miss frederica wilson for her resolution on boko haram. you know, being the father of three daughters, this is just unbearable. and it is time for the world to unite, to make sure that those young girls are returned home, and that also those that committed this heinous act is brought to justice. and this bill, this resolution, joins with the rest of the world the focus that should be on this horrendous group that now has killed, and has these three -- almost 300 young girls and a

number of others that they have killed as the chairman indicated in his opening statement, i know of young boys that have been murdered. it is -- this resolution is kindly and i highly support it. i also thank mr. smith, because we do have to, you know, one of the most heinous acts is these sex crimes that's going across borders and all over the our place that we all earth. it's timely, and it's a resolution that i strongly support. moving on to hr-4587, the venezuelan human rights and democracy protection act. let me first say that i am deeply troubled by the violence that erupted in venezuela at the onset of protests months ago. and that i joined the people of venezuela in mourning the loss of so many lives.

i remain committed to doing everything in my power to supporting a positive outcome in that nation for its people. however, i strongly oppose hr-4587, and i believe vehemently that unilateral action is not the answer. this bill does not advance u.s. interests. it will not help the people of venezuela. and it sends the message to our regional allies that we don't care much about what they think. moreover, the obama administration has the authority to do what this bill calls for, and has shown its willingness to use its authority. so, then, what is our objective? is this intended to push venezuela to the brink? what would that do for the venezuelan people? i've had the opportunity to speak with most of our major allies in the region, and all of venezuela's neighbors. who are our allies. and i have yet to hear any support for sanctions. but there is strong support for multilateral engagement.

our allies do not want to see the situation in venezuela worsen. the unilateral sanctions bill we are considering this morning is misguided. it is, in fact, an unfortunate reminder of the history of the united states' arrogance in the western hemisphere. we have a legacy in the americas that is riddled with the long-lasting consequences. that legacy left us with a trust deficit. today, we are considering a bill that does nothing to help build trust. our standing in our own hemisphere will never improve unless or until we build that trust. while we pursue these sanctions our allies are actively supporting dialogue. members of this very committee have made it a point to denounce and even condemn regional organizations. yet one of those organizations has managed to be the facilitator of engagement between some and the opposition and the government of venezuela. we don't know yet if the

mediation will lead to the effective dialogue. but the effort does deserve a chance to succeed. it is my sincere open that those talks are successful, but at moments like this, i wonder if we prefer that dialogue fails. unilateral sanctions would be another policy mistake. i believe a very costly policy mistake. we mursz learn to work with our aol lies and individuals in the region and work collectively on this hemisphere and not be unilateral actors which further isolates us and causes us to have problems with our allies. and i yield back the balance of my time. >> we go now to mr. chris smith. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i want to thank you, chairman royce, for not only scheduling this but being so supportive. our staff here, we had 12 staffers working on this. both sides of the aisle. three committees, homend

security and judiciary and of course our own foreign affairs staff. so i want to thank you and the best council on the hill mark ines did multiple rewrites. this truly is a bipartisan bill and to remind some members who may not have been here years ago, we did pass the international megan's law back in 2010. and like so many of our initiatives, died in the senate and never even got a vote. hopefully this one will speed to passage over in the other body. you know the idea actually came from a meeting that i had with members of the tip trafficking persons from thailand back in 2007. as i often do i meet with people as they're traveling in, particularly countries that are on watch lists or tier three, and i ask them, if you knew that a convicted pedophile, a felon, was coming to bangkok or anyone else or phuket or anywhere else in thailand, what would you do? they said they wouldn't get a

visa. and if they got in, we would watch them like a hawk. that afternoon we began putting a framework together for an international megan's law. note parenthetically that megan kanka, the precious little 7-year-old who was brutally killed by a pedophile who lived across the street from her, nobody knew this man had been convicted and spent time in prison for sexually abusing children, he houred this little 7-year-old megan kanka into his home, brutally raped her and then killed her, and that led to the explosion now all 50 states and all territories, have a megan's law. a registry that has made a serious difference in preventing the impunity and the secrecy with which these people operate. international megan's law would notice countries of destination, stand up to angel watch program. we have worked with i.c.e. and others who have done a great job, but with extraordinarily limited resources. there was a case out in

california where they had actionable information of several pedophiles heading to south korea. they noticed south korea, and they didn't let them in. so these men were unable to abuse little children in korea. the legislation also seeks to establish a reciprocity. not unlike we did -- unlike what we did with the trafficking victim's protection act back in 2000. we want megan's law everywhere. there are some places like the uk that has a megan's law. but we don't want pedophiles coming here again convicted, not the allegation, these are convicted individuals, to abuse our children. there needs to be a watch attitude globally and that plays in to one of the major three ps of all efforts that we do on trafficking, prevention, prosecution, and protection. this will prevent, this could have a serious chilling effect on all this. finally, you know, and thank my two distinguished colleagues for

explaining what is in the bill. in 2010 chlt gao found that in 2008 some 4500 u.s. passports were issued to registered sex offenders. and these men travel. and they travel under secrecy and they abuse little boys and little girls, then come back and go back to their jobs, whatever else they do. so this hopefully will at least at as a deterrent. let me shea mr. chairman very briefly on the issue of boko haram, we've had several hearings on boko haram, and have raised repeatedly with the administration, and finally in november they actually did it, that is to designate boko haram as a foreign terrorist organization. greg simpkins our staff director and i traveled there in september of last year. we went to a place called joss, a place where boko haram had firebombed churches, several churches, killed people, we met with the people who had been the

survivors, and we learned, frankly after meeting with the imam and others that it's not just christians that they target, they target muslims, as well. i had heard that but we heard it in great detail while we were there. these people are pathological. they are killers. they're like joseph kone and mr. chairman you have done so much in trying to combat that man who has killed so many and allowed his people to rape so many girls, particularly young girls. so this legislation i think helps put us all on record to express our outrage, it is good, i think the administration has deployed a number of people, including the head of africom, fbi, justice, u.s.aid, human rights bureau, they're en route as we talk, and as we made and hopefully there will be an all-out global effort, the french have stepped up, many european countries, the uk, china has even signaled their concern about this so i think hopefully those girls will be rescued and brought back to their grieving parents.

thank you mr. chairman. >> thank you, mr. smith. we go now to albio sires of new jersey. >> thank you, mr. chairman. let me stirs start by recognizing the hard work of frederica wilson from florida and my colleague from new jersey, chris smith. i've known chris smith many years, this is a passion of his, and i'm very proud of the fact that he represents new jersey, and especially his hard work on sex trafficking. and of course, i'd be remiss if i didn't mention my colleague from florida ileana ros-lehtinen and her hard work that she has always, always put forward in efforts like this. and mr. chairman, i thank you for holding this markup. for holding this markup and authorizing the administration to impose targeted sanctions on individuals responsible for ordering and carrying out the warranted violence against empty government demonstrators in venezuela that began three months ago. since the anti-government process began in february, at

least 41 people have died. hundreds have been jailed. beaten, and injured at the hands of venezuela's government forces. and armed supporters as they express their frustration to the deteriorating conditions in their country. just this week human rights watch released a scathing report detailing the oppressive tactics by security forces and pro-government armed groups against demonstrators while noting the implicit nature of government prosecutors and judges in tolerating abuses while prosecuting. while mr. maduro has engaged in mediation talks with the opposition, such talks have thus far been of little substance. more importantly, however, promising these talks are they do not exonerate the ruthless acts of violence and human rights abuses that have been carried out against the demonstrators.

this bill which i proudly support is a testament that the united states would not condone acts over aggression limiting the freedom of assembly in our hemisphere and it equips the administration with the appropriate tools necessary to act accordingly. i thank chairman royce, ranking member engel, and ileana ros-lehtinen for their leadership and their efforts in advancing this bill, which i urge my colleagues to support. thank you. >> mr. rohrabacher are you seeking recognition? >> yes, i am. >> mr. rohrabacher of california. >> i would yield one minute of my time to mr. smith. >> i'll only take about 30 seconds. i just want to make clear, too, some of our friends on the democratic side on the judiciary committee, again, they have worked very closely with us, but i would commit to working with them toward an additional amendment before the bill gets to the floor that would alert the child sex offenders when they arrive at the airport of an angel watch's notification action. so they're fully apprised about

what has happened, regarding them. so that will be something we will do. >> thank you. yes, i would like to rise in support of this amendment, all three of them are fine examples of legislation based on those moral values that guide all of us here, and that we are so proud of that america officially stands behind. especially i'd like to thank miss ros-lehtinen for her leadership, and in providing us a vision of what goes on in venezuela and cuba and other countries, where we have such repression. president maduro is obviously synonymous with repression, corruption, the impoverishment of his people, cronyism, brutality and yes, even murder.

and we join today, we join the people of venezuela, in demanding a respect for human rights, and yes, demanding -- demanding with them free and fair elections to try to make sure that this malady that they suffer will be removed from them. i commend -- commend you very much, and commend my colleagues for supporting this legislation, which will hold accountable people who are committing crimes against their own people, and in this case, in venezuela. i would hope that we all are committed to those principles, but we use this as a vehicle, number one, holding those who are committing the crimes accountable, but also

reaffirming that human rights and the democratic the democrat unite the people of the world. and how this issue should be involved eventually will be a democratic election in which we join the people venezuela to help them ensure that as we did in various election s elections sure that there is an honest process to choose their own government. thank you very much. . we foe now to mr. ted deutsche of florida. >> thanks to you and the ranking member for holding today's markup. i'd like to commend mr. smith for his important legislation involving sex trafficking. i'd like to commend ms. wilson for her resolution that aims to

take on the tough issue of the abduction of these female students by boko haram. anytime we have an opportunity to stand up against terror and in support of children's rights, we should do it. but i really want to thank my friend and colleague chafor her work in moving the act forward and for doing it swiftly. i'm proud to be an original co-sponsor. this bill will empower the administration are w. tools to crack down on human rights abuses taking place against those seeking basic freedoms in venezuela. people in venezuela have the democratic right to supreme of speech, to freedom of assembly, on do process and the democratic right to a responsive government. tragically the madura regime has trampled over each of these

rights. this government has continued its repressive policies. journalists are imprisoned, protesters are subjected to serious abuses, torture and even death. and for what? simple li becauy because of ven demanding greater security where 2500 people were murdered for the first two months of 2014. or is it because people are suffering from serious food scarcity and lack of access to basic supplies. these are simple basic demands from the citizens of a democratic state. the unlandfall and unjust use of force can the not be tolerated. there is no justification for the abusive tactics used by the security forces against mostly n nonvie lolent protesters. gangs use aggressive crackdown

tactics. with a judiciary clearly in the pocket of president maduro, these gangs and security forces have been free to repeatedly commit human rights abuses with impu impunity. this this behavior exposes the true colors of the madura geem. regime. i strongly support the bill before us today. it would impose sanctions on individuals that have contributed in anyway to the violent crackdown. i thank the administration's strong stance on this issue and i believe that this bill will provide more diplomatic tools to convince madura to reach a peaceful resolution. the voices of the people must be heard. and their fundamental freedoms must be protected. we must make clear to president madura and his cronies that he has to respect the democratic

rights of all venezuelans and proet them fr protect them from undue suppression. there are a lot of issues that we grapple with around the world. but human rights matter. they matter to us and they matter to us wherever those rights are trampled anywhere in the world. this is not an issue that the venezuelan people alone care about, that venezuelan americans alone care about. this is an issue that if we care about those democratic ideals that we like to talk about time and time again in this congress, then we should all care about it. that is what this bill does. i commend my good friend. it is not that long ago that we first learned of the s.o.s. venezuela signed. the people of venezuela have sent us an s.o.s. signal and today is the first step in a serious way that this congress will respond. thank you and i yield back.

>> mr. sams salmon of arizona. >> thank you. i want to thank the gentle woman for always standing on the right of freedom and liberty. thank you for holding this markup, a truly bipartisan effort. and for those watching this hearing out in america and across the world, this is the most bipartisan committee i think that exists in the entire congress aand it's such a tribute to all the members and realize that we try tone act theed a damage that partisanship ends at the water's edge. and we're fighting for the principles we believe in.

i hear some say that maybe we could just accomplish what we need to with dialogue. dialogue doesn't get it done. and that is why when it comes to causes of human suffering and basic human freedom and human rights, this committee has tried to be very, very clear time and time again anywhere on the globe that we stand for freedom and we stand for basic human dignity. and think that a good thing. i'd like to thank the members on the committee that helped me with the technical amendments. thank you for your commitment to this effort. and i'm pleased to be an original co-sponsor of this piece of legislation which seeings to send an important message that the united states will always stand with those

that seek freedom. for months we've seen the government venezuela use violent tactics to silence opposition killing up to 41 citizens and improperly detaining protesters. and according to human rights watch, there are at least ten reported cases of protester detention that could be classified even as torture. . even children have ba been pick up and subjected to humiliating body searches. the report released this week found compelling evidence of serious human rights violations. citizens shot with rubber bullets, some at point blank. i believe due process rights have been denied and the judiciary is knowingly c

compliscent. this violence and repression has gone on way too long. and it's happening right here in our own hemisphere. and while we see a lot of folks talking about all the different things happening in our globe, shouldn't we be more coming any santa of what is happening in our own neighborhood? if we don't standany santa of what is happening in our own neighborhood? if we don't stand against these atrocities in a big way, what do we stand for. i yield back my time. . >> before i go to the next speaker, i've heard the last votes on the floor have been moved up to about 11:10. so we'll need to move to a final vote before that. so let's see how many speakers we can fit into the next ten minutes or so.

but remember all members have leave to put statements in the record if you so wish. i think we go now to mr. sacili. >> thank you for having this hearing. i'd like to recognize the work of congresswoman ros-lehtinen and thank her for her strong leadership throughout this this crisis. today's markup show this is committee is committed to protecting human rights in all regions of the world. and doing so in a swift targeted and effective way. made gur radiculopathy geem has engaged in hideous human rights violations and we must add our voices loudly in condemning this and do all that we can to impose costs for those responsible as the best way really to end these practices. and i really just want to thank my colleague for her great work and leadership. as a member of the african

subcommittee, i'd also like to thank the committee for scheduling a vote in a timely manner. abducting innocent young girls and foorcing children into marriage or slavery is unconscionable and no child in any part of the world should live in fear of that kind of treatment. we have to send a strong message that these agents are unacceptable and we must be united and strongly condemning them in the strong he is terms. in addition, i want to end by thanking my colleague congressman smith for legislation before us today. as we all agree, subjecting children to the kind of inhumane un

up con shenkable acts is of grave concern. mr. smith has led on it for many years and i applaud him for this legislation today which will help protect presumably thousands and maybe millions of children all over the world. i look forward to supporting all three bills. >> we'll go first to congressman sto stockman and then congresswoman karen bass. >> venezuela is a nation that has abundance of oil. and also had an abundance of middle class. and under this socialist policy, they have destroyed the middle class and destroyed a nation. they can't even get toilet paper now. they have a shortage of toilet paper. and we're getting blamed up here in the united states for making it happen. that is nonsense. think we need to take action. we don't need anymore talk. they have had enough talk.

the people are suffering. we need to take action. and i'm sorry for my colleagues' view point and disappointed in that view point, but i feel the pain in venezuela. s wrong what is happening to those people and we need to be vocal about it and i'm glad this committee is doing this and i appreciate the chairman's action. also on our friends in nigeria, people forget they locked before the kidnapping, they locked young children in a building and burned them to death. this is something we need to take action. if anybody has a heart, look around the world. united states is a leader. i'm tired of leading from behind. i yield back. >> we'll go to karen bass of california. >> thank you very much, mr. chair. thank you always just as my colleague just mentioned for such a bipartisan way that you conduct this committee. i do want to say that i have a lot of concern about what is going on in venezuela, but i am

concerned that we might be acting a bit prematurely especially since the administration has said that this might be a little premature as well as other countries in latin america. but i want to acknowledge the continued and tireless work of chairman royce and smith in combatting human trafficking around the world. i've had the great privilege to work with both of them and the bill before us today is just one example of the work that can be done to protect people around the world from trafficking and sexual assault. i look forward to continuing to work with all of my colleagues on this important issue. secondly, i want to thank the chairman and ranking member as well as chairman smith and for all their good work protecting the students from bow come thko. and we know the kidnapping has been heinous, however we also

know that boko haram has been slaughtering male students an conducting suicide bombings in the nigeria capital as well as many other parts of northern nigeria. it's imperative that the u.s. congress condemns boko haram and its violent acts in the strongest terms an assumsupport people of nigeria and the parents of the an ducted girls with calls for their immediate return. it is my hope that this legislation will lay the ground work to the not only bring back the kidnapped girls, but also if anything can come out of tragedy, it is my hope that this begins to mark the end of boko haram now that the rest of the world is aware of their terror. i yield back the balance of my time. >> we're going now to randy webber of texas followed by c. e

>> sometimes when you want to lead the orchestra, you have to turn your back on the crowd. we should take the lead on this and step out and do the right thing and denounce this and make sure that this this is condemned everywhere we see it and i commend the chair and i commend you all for bringing this up and i fu fully support it. thank you. p. >> mr. castro. >> thank you to all my colleagues who worked on these three resolutions. with respect to the venezuela resolution, thank you congresswoman ross for your work. our job is as to stand up for democracy and human rights without regard to what kind of political leaders are perpetrating human rights abuses. too often we've not attended enough to issues in latin

america. there are things that happen in latin america that if they had happened in another part of the world, we would jump on them more quickly. so i think this is quite frankly long overdue. and i do think that there is merit to the concern that mr. meeks raised that there is a process, in other words, this is a more aggressive step that usually we've done -- in other parts of the world, we would have done other things first. but now this has gone on for months so we must act swiftly at this point. and i want to say particularly with respect to latin america, first, we'll l rk, we realize e is unique and different. but we can't overlook the history of the region and the fact that in the '70s and '80s, you had leaders who disappeared thousands of people throughout latin america. and we can never let that happen again. so we have to be swift in condemning it and making sure that they know that the united

states will take real action. with respect to the resolution that mr. smith put forward on sex trafficking and sexual tourism, thank you mr. splmith r your work on that. the one i guess thing that i would suggest is that on the angel watch center on the leadership, that we include somebody from the justice department if we could. right now i think it's otherwise and border control. f i'm in agree with all the support for venezuela. as some of the members have mentioned that we're acting too fast, i want to remind them that this is not something that happened overnight, this has been a 15 year process. hr 4573 protect children from exploitation, strong support of

that. hr 573, this is a time to stand up to the boko haram and renouncing what they have done. and i think these are all important bills and they can be summed up best by what martin luther king said. in justice anywhere is injustice everywhere. and i'd like to add to that that tolerance of injustice anywhere would be tolerance of injustice anywhere. or everywhere. i'm proud to be on this committee. i yield back. >> any other members seeking to be recognized? if not, hearing no other speakers, or no requests, the question occurs on the items considered on block. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. and the measures considered on block hr 4573, hr 4587, and

house resolution 573 are agreed to as amended. and without objection, each of the measures as amended is ordered favorably reported as a single amendment in the nature of a substitute. staff is directed to make any technical and conforming changes. and that concludes our business for today. i want to thank ranking member engel and all our committee members for their assistance in this markup. the committee is adjourned. floor,he house

congressional action in response to the kidnappings of nigerian schoolgirls. they observed a moment of silence. so ordered. mr. cantor: mr. speaker, americans have watched in horror this week the atrocious news reports coming out of nigeria. hundreds of young girls have been kidnapped with the intent to be sold into slavery or marriage simply because they had the courage to seek an education and better life. just this past weekend i watched my daughter, not much older than these girls, graduate from college. as a parent i cannot imagine the suffering of the moms and dads who merely wanted a good education for their daughters.

the obama administration has taken initial steps to help assist efforts to return these girls to freedom and to their families. i thank them for their efforts and i know all of us stand ready to provide whatever assistance is necessary. members should be aware that upon our return we will consider a bipartisan resolution being considered by the foreign affairs committee regarding boko haram and these kidnappings. additionally, when we come ack, we will also consider five bipartisan bills to take steps toward our ultimate goal of ending human trafficking. together these bills provide resources and authorities to fight domestic human trafficking, provide services to the victims and take steps

to deal with international human trafficking. the atrocities in nigeria have awakened the global conscience and have reminded us all of the evil of human trafficking. it is also important to note that the underlying threat posed by extremist groups in nigeria and throughout the region is growing. hether it is boko haram, hezbollah, hamas or al qaeda, it is critical that we in the house work with the administration to confront the growing threat these violent extremists pose to international peace, security and the protection of innocent lives. in the coming days, as we focus on finding and returning these girls to their homes, m.i.a.

may god watch over them -- may got watch over them and those seeking their return. and with that, mr. speaker, i will yield to the gentlelady from california, the democratic leader. ms. pelosi: thank you, mr. leader, fo >> thank you mr. leader for yielding. for giving us the opportunity to speak about this crime. will thank the distinguished majority leader for his remarks and i associate myself with his remarks and their entirety -- in their entirety. that's how important all of this is. i want to commend congresswoman wilson for her resolution, h.r. 73, which says, condemning the abduction of female students by armed militants from the terrorist group known as boko haram in the federal republic of nye