the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 420, the nays are zero. 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from missouri, mr.

luetkemeyer, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3240 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 480, h.r. 3240, a bill to instruct the controller general of the united states to study the impact of regulation d and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 421, the nays are zero. 2/3 being in the affirmative --

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 422, the nays are zero. 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from new mexico, mr. pearce, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 2366 as amended. on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will rorpt title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 3466, a bill to require the secretary of the treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the centennial of world war i. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote.

[captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 418, the nays are three. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the

for what from texas -- purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i send to the desk a privilege red port from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 766, resolution providing for consideration of the bill h.r. 5771 to amend the internal revenue code of 1986, to extend certain expiring provisions and make technical corrections, and for other purposes, and providing for consideration of the bill h.r. 647 to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to provide for the tax treatment of able accounts established under state programs for the care of family members with disabilities and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed.

he house will be in order. the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is are correct. the house is not -- the gentleman is correct. the house is not in order. members will clear the well. and remove conversations from the floor. the gentleman is recognized. >> i thank the speaker and i

rise to urge the house to pass the able act of 2013 that would help ease the strain on those with physical and mental disabilities by allowing the creation of tax free savings account that would work like the 529 college savings plans. mr. fitzpatrick: they could be used to pay for life expenses such as education, housing and transportation. in other words this bill levels the playing field for those with disabilities who cannot make use of tax-free college savings plans by giving families an alternative tax free account that they can use. it's also important to note that the bill doesn't take away any other benefits that those with disabilities may be entitled to. rather, it would serve as a supplement, giving families the flexibility to achieve a better life this bill has a tremendous amount of bipartisan support. the able act is an opportunity for this congress to show that we can work together to make a real difference in the lives of american families.

mr. speaker, this bill is about empowering those with disabilities and their families and i urges that house and senate pass the able act so that the president can sign it into law before the end of the year. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the house will be in order. members will please clear the well and take their conversations off the floor. the gentleman from texas is recognized. for what purpose does the gentleman rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> mr. speaker -- mr. poe: mr. speaker, he said i'm president, not a king, i can't do these things by myself. that was president obama in 2010. that was then, this is now. the lawless admferings continues

to ignore congress in order to go it alone and implement his own awe tore tharne -- authoritarian agenda his latest kingly edict is he will disregard the immigration law, orally change the rules, grant amnesty and give work permits to millions of foreign undocumented nationals. this shows he's more interested in giving jobs to illegal foreign nationals in america than americans in america. that's why we have introduced the separation of powers act. it would prohibit the use of funds for granting deferred adjudication, green cards and work permits to people not lawfully present in the u.s. most importantly, it would allow congress to exercise its check on the out of control white house that treats the constitution as a mere suggestion instead of the law. the president says he's not the emperor of the united states but his actions show otherwise. america doesn't need a king.

otherwise we would have kept king george. and that's just the way it is. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to refrain from engaging with personalities toward the president. further requests for one minute? the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leave of absence requested for mr. aderholt of alabama for today and mr. doyle of pennsylvania for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the requests are granted. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. lee: as the co-founder of the h.i.v.-aids caucus i'm proud to say we have made great

strides in combating the aids epidemic in our own country and throughout the world. contracting h.i.v. is no longer the death sentence it once was but much more remains to be done. a recent report by the u.n. found we have five years to break the epidemic for good or risk it rebounding out of control. we cannot allow the gains we have made in fighting for an aids-free generation to be lost and we can't eradicate aids -- we can eradicate aids if we devote proper resources to the fight here and abroad. we must reduce the stigma surrounding the disease by strengthening educational and outreach activities to help reduce the number of aids cases worldwide. we must also provide the science-based, comprehensive sex education that is proven to reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and we must repeal laws that promote discrimination and hate. mr. speaker, now is the time to take bold action to create a

world that is free from h.i.v. and aids. i urge my colleagues to join me in working to achieve an aids-free generation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. are there any further requests for one-minutes? under the speaker's announced spoil of january 3, 2013, the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.

the gentleman is recognized. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. well, it's been quite an interesting couple of days coming back from thanksgiving and this morning an interesting conference. what to do about a president who for a number of years, a couple dozen times or so, makes very clear he's not a king, he's not an emperor, he'd rather not have to deal with congress, congress is a messy thing to deal with, but he can't just do what he wants regarding immigration without fol throwing constitution and that means under the constitution, article 1, section 8, congress has sole authority when it comes to issues like naturalization and

immigration. and prior congresses have passed laws and made it clear what it takes to become a united states citizen. now those laws need fixing. there is no question about that. and despite all the rhetoric, our friends on the other side of the aisle, when they controlled the majority in the house and the majority in the senate and president obama in the white house, chose to absolutely do nothing about correcting immigration problems, securing the border, not even amnesty. why? because they know, they see the polls, and the polls make very clear that the american public did not want any type of amnesty. so the president knew were he and the democrats in the house and senate when they had the majority during their two years to have done something like an amnesty bill like the president

-- like the bill the president passed without going through congress, then they would have surely lost the majority and the president would definitely not have been re-elected in 2012 and they did not think it was worth risking the majority over an amnesty when the vast majority of americans did not want it. why? because the vast majority of americans have to comply with the law. and fortunately, those same vast number of americans think everybody else should as well. now we still see emails saying, you know, if we could get congress under social security, congress living under the same law as everybody else did, then a lot of our problems will be fixed. and that forgets the fact that actually members of congress have been paying into social

security for year, no member of congress has a benefit that every other federal employee doesn't already have, and one of the promises that republicans made that they said they would do if they got the majority in november of 1994 is make sure that republicans have to -- and democrats in congress -- have to live under the same laws everybody else does. . i was told when i was prevented from continuing to cook ribs that my friends across the aisle, democrats, republicans, love, everybody that's not a vegetarian told me they loved my ribs and my dear friend, louise slaughter, had told me that her late husband, before he passed, had -- as a vegetarian had even eaten two ribs of mine that she brought home. so my ribs were a big hit with everybody but the architect of

the capitol. he told me i couldn't continue to cook because a violation of the fire code and that was something republicans actually changed to make sure that we in congress had to live under the same law as everybody else does. so, we do. we're supposed to live under the laws as everybody else does. but then it comes to amnesty and some here in the minority think it's just fine for a president to legislate since they're not able to do that while they're in the minority. didn't do it when they were in the majority. president didn't do it before his re-election in 2012. so, it is a bit of a conundrum when the president of the

, asserts as an alleged former constitutional professor, apparently an instructor, says all these years he cannot do anything about the immigration problem because the constitution doesn't allow it. nd then immediately before the , and jury acted in missouri the president acts, knowing what was about to happen in missouri, ferguson, and knowing thanksgiving was coming up and a lot of people would take their eye off of what was happening with regard to then the president speaks a new law into existence

. the law's very clear. if you're not legally in the united states you can't legally hold a job. the president changed that law with a pronouncement and a stroke of his pen. ut that's not a legal law. so we've got to stand up for the constitution. for a president to avoid taking such action before an election, because he knew it would cost him a second term, it would cost his party dramatically in the senate and house, then to wait and do it immediately after the election and right before thanksgiving, thinks people will lose interest. well, americans are not losing interest. they're still concerned and now that the president's taken this unconstitutional action,

america's looking at republicans. you said you were against it, you ran and we elected you to the majority in the house and senate, you saying would you not abide such an unconstitutional action. so what are you going to do about it? well, one of the things being dear friend my todd yoho, sometimes people say dear friend around this body and they say it a bit tongue in cheek, but that's not true, ted yoho is a great american and i'm very, very proud he's my friend, but h.r. 5759, preventing executive overreach immigration act, my friend, congressman yoho, has a bill that declares that the president does not have the authority to exempt categories of persons unlawfully present in the united states from removal. any executive action seeking to exempt these categories of

person is a violation of the law and has no legal effect. the bill goes on to make clear this is a permanent solution that will apply executive actions that attempt to circumvent the law. further, this is not -- this does not effect any appropriation so it does not -- affect any appropriation so it does not risk any funding issues. it's a constitutional separation of powers issue, so any reform or change to the law must come from congressional legislation, not executive fiat. and basically makes clear an executive fix of the law sun constitutional -- is unconstitutional, temporary, and establishes a dangerous precedent that could be abused by presidents of both parties for any area of law they disagree with. so that's a great first step but the problem is, if we do ot eliminate the funding for

the president's unconstitutional action, then it may be carried out anyway. there's some talk about xtending funding to next march . by march people will already have been provided work permits that the law says may not legally have work permits. and it's not likely anything would be done at that point to stop it. now is the time to stop unconstitutional action. and as the president keeps saying, congress didn't do anything, it shows that he's getting terrible advice. we had a knockdown, drag-out session the last week of july in this chamber and two floors below this chamber in the house

office buildings we were fighting it out because as the president has said, dealing with congress can be messy. that's the way the founders intended it. they wanted it to be difficult to pass laws. and jefferson, thinking it would be a good idea, though he wasn't there at the constitutional convention so he didn't get this in, it would be a good idea if laws had to be on file for a year before they could even be brought up for a vote. things done in haste in this body or the senate are not a good idea. yet we must do something to stop the unconstitutional action. the president wants a border bill, we passed one in the house. somebody needs to advise president obama's advisors that

we passed a good bill. it was not a good bill on thursday, but by friday at 10:00 prime minister or so -- 10:00 p.m. or so when we passed it, it was a good bill. still had more to do, there's much more we can and should do. there's a lot of reforms that must be done. ut until the border is secured , then we're just going to have to keep reforming immigration, reforming immigration, giving amnesty, giving amnesty, until the country is not the country people wanted to come to. how ironic that people have to , ave countries they believe because there's corruption, violence, because the rule of law is not enforced fairly across the board, and they want to come to america because, with all the down economy, over

92 million people having given up hope of finding a job, not even looking anymore, this is still one of the greatest economies in the world. because we still pretty much try to enforce the law across the board. so people come from countries where the rule of law is not observed, not enforced fairly across the board, too many friends or people with particular interests of the leaders, they get special privileges. they get exempted from the law. so they come here where we're not supposed to do that and once here say, look, now that we're here, having come illegally, we want you, united states, to just forget about the law, ignore your

constitution, ignore the laws on immigration and just waive them, forget about them. when in so doing we would become like the country they felt they had to leave because we don't enforce the law fairly across the board anymore. the old saying, capital is a coward, talking about money to be invested, it's a coward, it goes to areas where it feels safest, where the laws will be most fairly applied, so that there is something that can be counted on, that laws mean things. so we've had a lot of investment in the united states of people from china, from russia, africa, south america, people around the world have been willing to invest in the

united states because we've been a country where capital ould be comfortable. but when mass amnesty is plied, which will ultimately throw however many people who are given legal work permits, you're going-to-to throw that many million people out of jobs, will you depress the working wage rate. mr. speaker, it can't be overemphasized that what happened since this president s been in office or in power is what we normally say about monarchs, but what has happened for the first time in american istory, never happened under

any prior president, but this president's policies, as he talked about the fat cats on wall street, though he received more donations from them than republicans did, as he bad mouthed the oil companies but he had friends that were doing favors for him as, as he bad mouthed crony capitalism as capital cronyism is exactly what was occurring in this country and from this the -- ration, actually for the first time in our history 95% of all income in erica went to the top 1% income earners. it's never happened before. i know, i know this administration, everybody in it talks about the fat cats and

going after the rich and yet amazingly, as they talk about going after the rich, it says, if there's a wink and a nod, we're going to talk bad about you, call you fat cat, but you are going to get richer than you've ever been, just don't forget us when it comes to political contributions. oh, yeah we'll trash the koch brothers but they can't hold a candle the to the fat cat democratic contributors. when you try to get your head around -- 95% of the income , ing to the top 1% in america it is extraordinary. the president himself acknowledged september a year ago that this was happening on his watch. so again people can talk about this middle class getting bigger, wages being suppressed.

their solution is, bring in five million new workers willing to work a lot cheaper without health insurance to compete with americans that need a little more in order to live. that need health insurance. and the solution is to bring in five million people more? you really want to see minority unemployment go even higher than its current skyrocketing position? that's not fair to americans and our oath is to this country and the people in it. and the way we do that is by defending the constitution against all enemies, foreign nd domestic. it's time the poor and middle class in america were helped by having a better wage by not continuing to leave the borders

open, by not winking and nodding and unconstitutionally allowing five million people who can only work illegally to work illegally but with the stamp of approval of the white house. it's time to stop it. before we lose the constitution ltogether. ere's an article from steven kamaroda and karen ziegler, it says, headline, immigrant families benefit significantly from obamacare. and the subheadline that apparently immigrant families account for 42% of medicaid growth since 2011. the article says, a key part of the affordable care act is medicaid expansion for those with low incomes.

a new analysis of government data by the center for immigration studies shows that immigrants and their u.s.-born children under age 18 have been among the primary beneficiaries of medicaid growth. the data show that immigrants and their children account for 42% of the growth in medicaid enrollment from 2011 to 2013. immigrants benefited more from medicaid expansion than natives because a much larger share of immigrants are poor and uninsured. it seems almost certain that immigrants and their children will continue to benefit disproportionately from obamacare as they remain much more likely than natives to be uninsured or poor. the available evidence indicates that medicaid growth associated with immigrants is largely among those legally in the country, but nonetheless, immigrants.

this points out that the number of immigrants and their u.s. born children on medicaid grew twice as fast as the number of natives and their children on medicaid, 2011 to 2013. immigrants and their children accounted for 42% of medicaid enrollment growth from 2011 to 2013, even though they continued for only 17% of the nation's total population and 23% of overall u.s. population growth in the same time period. about 2/3 of the growth in medicaid associated with immigrants was among immigrants themselves rather than u.s.-born children of immigrants. and it's an interesting issue because when my friend steve king and i were in england in recent years, we were told there that the law is very clear. they know that their country would fail if they just say, everybody that comes in is immediately entitled to every

federal subsidy the british government offers. so they have a requirement in england that you are not entitled to any benefit, we were told, until you have paid into the british system for at least five years. that kind of makes sense. and having just been over there, had a chance to address members from the house of commons, house of lords, having spoken at cambridge and oxford, you know, they're trying to save their country over there. but there is a great deal of welfare that is hurting the , but and their economics even so, they have a law that says you can't even get these kind of benefits until you have paid into our system for five years.

well, why isn't there something like that in the president's new law that he spoke into being? perhaps that ought to be the first reform that both houses take up. you can't receive any kind of benefit from the u.s. government unless you have paid into the u.s. government for at least five years. and that does not include getting more money back year fter year than you pay in. article yesterday indicated one woman in virginia had been using largely people that were illegally in the country to file for child tax credits so they could get anywhere, $4,000, $7,000 back, $1,500 more than they paid in, and it was a scam. if one woman in virginia can be

accountable for $7 million in child tax credits being paid out by our government more than people paid in, how many people are there across the united states that are doing that same thing while we have workers across the country like in my district that have said that because obamacare changed the definition of part-time work, it forced them into a situation having to work two part-time job, not having health insurance anymore, and just struggling just to survive. just to live. and yet, when it comes to people that have not paid a dime into the system, all of a sudden, we're just going to bend over backwards and violate the constitution for them. there's an article in breitbart today from tony lee that said

one in three illegal immigrants over the age of 25 in america do not even have a high school education, according to a new migration policy institute report. migration policy institute 8,512,000 here are illegal immigrant adults, 25 years of age or older, the study found that while 49% of illegal immigrants 25 years or older have at least a high school diploma or g.e.d., 17% have some high school education, while 33% do not have any high school education. and of course we've got people, all races, national origin, both genders, trying to get into this country, been trying for years nd years to do so legally. could fill needed positions to help our economy grow that are so specialized and yet they can't get a visa.

they're not about to get amnesty. we've got things completely backwards. and we know, of course, when the president talks about amnesty, legal status, along with other people here in washington, our border patrolmen make clear, over and over, that increases the number of people coming across our border. and thank god texas has stepped up. the state of texas has been paying tremendous amounts of money to have additional people on the border. at night, you can see their profile. d.p.s. troopers, texas rangers, game wardens. and just their profile there where they can call in people in the speedboats that texas has paid for to rush up and try to catch the coyotes bringing people across illegally.

the coyotes don't want to be caught. the people do. they want to turn themselves in as quick as they can. the coyotes don't want to be caught, they're not going to come across if they think they'll get caught before they can get back across with their raft. one of the other things that ought to scare law enforcement dramatically is the fact that i have heard a number of people as they were questioned by our border patrolmen out in the middle of the night, they're asked, not on the standard questions, but they've been asked many times by our border patrolmen, how much did you have to pay the gangs or the drug cartels to bring you across. sometimes it's $5,000, $6,000, $7,000, $8,000. sometimes a followup question is asked, where did you get that kind of money? in el salvador, guatemala, honduras, wherever you came

from? and often the answer was, well, you know, some of the friends in the u.s. or family sent money. we've been trying to collect money in our home country. and every now and then you get a response that scares me. it's probably at the bottom of many of the people's payments to come be brought in illegally by drug cartels and gangs. goingave confided they're to let us work some of the rest of it off. what does that mean? it means then when health and human services picks people up and transmits them across the countries with scabies, as we have seen happen and whatever disease they may bring in, transport them across the country, all across the country, so that as some have pointed out that means every state is a

border state. thanks to health and human services shipping them around the country. so as they build up their numbers in different cities a-- around the country and they owe the drug cartels that are ruthless, unscrupulous, and don't mind torturing and killing , we hear more and more about mexican drug cartel activities around the country and our horrendous that the united states department of homeland security, the united states department of health and human services, is being complicit in helping ship agents for the drug cartels and gangs around the country that can be intimidated and reminded,

remember, you still owe us $3,000, $4,000, $5,000, and here's how you will work it off. is it sex trade? is it drugs? poisoning more of our american teenagers and young adults with the mexican drugs being brought in? if they -- if the drug cartels are getting promises from people coming into the united states illegally that they will work off the rest of the money, then you can bet the drug cartels are going to see that they do. been told by border patrolmen that you don't cross the u.s. border without some drug cartel, some gang, some organized crime being in charge of the area of the border where you cross. and you dare not cross across

mexico into the united states without the permission of whatever organized criminal roup is in charge. they'll come after you. are bringing in agents of drug cartels and shipping them around the country where they can work for the drug cartels. what they've said there on the border. yeah, they're going to let me work this off. well, in talking to the border patrolmen in the middle of the night down on the border, they tell you some interesting things. and as i've been told by the border patrolmen, you know what, the drug cartel -- you know what the drug cartels call us, federal agents, here in the

u.s.? they borrow from a commercial on television and say, we're the logistics. the united states federal employees are the drug cartel's logistics. all they have to do is get their agents that are going to work for the drug cartels into the united states and then the united states government ships them around the country for the drug cartels. all they have to do is say, this is where i've got somebody, a family member, loved one, that's where i need to go. and we ship them free of charge. the u.s. government makes it free of charge at least to the immigrant coming in illegally, but of course there's no free lunch, as phil gramm used to

repeatedly say. somebody is paying for it. and to a limited extent, it's american taxpayers. to another extent, it's our children and grandchildren who are incurring the debts that will be paid with income they've never even figured out what job they'll be deriving the income from. that's immoral. here's an article from "politico" saying the d.h.s. chief short-term funding is a bad idea. jeh johnson warned tuesday that a short-term funding measure for his agency will be, quote, a very bad idea, unquote, telling congress such a bill would hold up everything from hiring secret service agents to paying for border security. well, we still have people that are saying, though, you know,

in a c.r., in an omnibus, we really can't put restrictions on the federal government in there and yet here's a report regarding the last omnibus highlights where there were 17 different restrictions on agencies' use of fees in the last fiscal year. and this was done with the help of the congressional research service. the review previous spending omnibus and senator jeff sessions, dear friend, great guy, he's been able to identify 17 separate restrictions. one was in section 543 on the united states citizenship and immigration service that said notwithstanding section 1356-n of title 8, u.s. code, of the funds deposited in the

immigration examination' fee account $7,500,000 may be allocated by immigration services for the purpose of providing an immigrant integration grants program. and there's one for the department of agriculture, department of justice, transportation security administration, nuclear regulatory commission, federal communications commission, securities and exchange commission, transportation security administration, bureau of ocean energy management, office of service mining reclamation enforcement, copyright office, export-import bank of the united states. so we know it can be done. it has been done. the restrictions have been made in past omnibus. even just last year. so we can do that and we should do that.

if we don't do that, then the president's unconstitutional a hashinner o be of terrible things to come. once you no longer have a constitution that means anything, then presidents can pretty much do as they wish. that's what happens in third world countries. that's why we've lasted over 200 years is because the constitution meant something, and it took a civil war to make the constitution more enforcing of what it said. took someone like dr. king, giving his life, to ensure civil rights for everyone as the constitution guaranteed. t once we've moved into this

postconstitutional era where the constitution no longer is nforced, it's just a document, then there is no schedule ton on which to hang muscle and the ight to makes a strong country and we become figuratively speaking a blob of a nation without structure. who can't defend itself adequately, that has drug cartels' agents throughout the country, who continue to have people sending wives in to have children in the united states, free of charge, and leaving to go back home with actually a .s. passport as american citizen. heck, that's how anwr alwacky,

hat the president was -- anwar parents came over on visas. he was born here. taken back. grew up learning to hate america. he deputy leader of hamas, marsuk, his wife came to the u.s., had a child that is no doubt being taught to hate america. palestinian islamic ji hard leader, arian, his wife came to the united states, had a child. american citizen. al-mudi, who is doing 23 years in prison for supporting terrorism, financing terrorism, his wife had a child here in the united states, an american citizen.

cleed sheik mohamed, the 9/11 mastermind -- khalid sheikh mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind, has testified to that in his own written pleadings and said if our act of terror created terror in your heart than praise be to allah. basically in his six-page pleading he said, you had it coming. i think there's possibly a chance he would raise a child to hate america. and then the muslim brother president of egypt, mohamed morsi, his wife came to america. irony of ironies. he thought he was being very clever to have an american citizen daughter. yet, the egyptian people didn't think it was so clever. they didn't like the idea, and when he became such an unconstitutional actor as a president that he could no longer be tolerated, be allowed

to be left in office, 20 million egyptians were reported in the streets of egypt demanding his removal followed by another demonstration of 30 million to 33 million egyptians. that's moderate muslims, christians, jews, secularrists out in the streets demanding we don't want a radical islamist in control of our country, egypt. amazing. such a huge event in the realm of human history in egypt. god bless the egyptians. we need to pray for them. we need to help them, but not this administration. this administration says oh, so you ousted the muslim brother part of the organization that wants to bring down america and you ousted him? well, if you don't put him back in power we're not going to send you the apache helicopters ou're using to keep the suez

canale open. we're not going -- sue ease canal open. we're not going to help you -- sue ease canal open. we're going to hold back any weapons that will help you ean up the radicalization in egypt in sinai that morsi oversaw. which is why some of the moderate muslim leaders in the middle east and north africa continue to ask, why do you keep helping your enemies? do you not understand that the muslim brothers are your enemy? do you not understand that the muslim brothers want the united ?tates as part of a caliphate ell, the department of homeland security and mainstream media continued to

belittle me that they had an advisor on their top homeland advisory council who had used his classification that janet napolitano gave him in an inappropriate way, that he had oken -- he was listed as a speaker, paying tribute to the ayatollah khomeini as a person of vision, that he defended the holy foundation principles, who were convicted of supporting terrorism. failed to properly file the tax forms that would allow his foundation to remain a 501-c-3, didn't file them. and yet he's a top advisor? well, even the obama administration had to finally let him go and, yes, go ahead and accept the resignation when

he tweeted out that the international caliphate is inevitable so we need to get used to it. even the obama administration had to let him go after that. so he's resigned. he's no longer a top member advising this administration, but it's time for americans to wake up. ignoring the constitution is not helpful. after over two dozen statements by this president that he doesn't have the power to in effect do what he just now did ght before thanksgiving, demands congressional action. we must stand up and defund the illegal activity of this president. mr. speaker, i think it's also important to note that our

republican leaders got duped in july of 2011. i tried to warn. i told people back then, told our whole conference this supercommittee will not be allowed to reach an agreement by the democrats. i was assured, oh, sure they will. it cuts a whole bunch of money from medicaid and automatic sequestration if the supercommittee doesn't reach an agreement. so the hundreds of billions, the gutting of our military will never happen because the supercommittee will reach an agreement because they don't want the cuts to medicare. well, it seemed very clear to me, and as i told my republican friends, no, they're going to prevent the supercommittee from reaching agreement if we pass this bill because they want the cuts to medicare because they t over $700 billion of

medicare funding in obamacare without a single republican vote. so the only way in 2012 they will be able to run commercials saying we love our rich friends more than we love seniors is if they prevent the supercommittee from reaching an agreement, the cuts to medicare are only a fraction of what obamacare did but nonetheless cuts to medicare will happen and the president's never cared much for the military anyway and this allows him basically to gut our military to pre-world war ii levels. so it's a win-win-win all around for the administration if we pass that bill creating a supercommittee. well, we did and the president got the military gutted. defense department gutted. the sequestration happened. and now i'm concerned if we

say, all right, we're going to defund -- we're not going to fund homeland security unless you agree, you sign a bill that defunds your illegal activity in providing amnesty to five million people. i think we need to be careful about that, mr. speaker, because it just may be that president would like to blame republicans and say, you know what, well, i'd like to have border patrol securing the border but the republicans cut off the funding and so, gee, there's no border pa free-throw line on the border. it's all the republicans' fault because they wouldn't fund it. i think we need to be rather careful about saying we're funding ank on not homeland security, only fund them for a short time and then threaten the president, if you

don't sign off on the bill defunding your illegal activity then homeland security won't be unded, as one of my republican friends pointed out, it's kind of like the old adage, if you're going to take a hostage, you need to take somebody that the other side doesn't want to see killed. and there's some concern that if we take hostage, figuretively speaking, the homeland security department in order to defund the illegal activity of this president's amnesty, it just may be that the president, figuretively, again, speaking, say, go ahead, take out your hostage. completely defund homeland security. that's ok with me. that's not the way you negotiate. if we're going to stop the president's unconstitutional

amnesty, it's going to require funding everything that needs funding but going after something the president really wants but doesn't need. good grief. when we're spending the trillions of dollars that we are, we can certainly afford, for example, to do away with the czars, to do away with, say, public transportation to golf outings. you know, we could save millions of dollars just on that alone. but do things -- this is what you do in negotiations. those of us that have negotiated multimillion dollar deals, multimillion dollar settlements, that's what we do. you have to find something that's very important to the other side but really not necessary. . i don't think homeland security

it place to threaten, but we have got to defund the illegal activity or those who fought to defend the constitution, who picked up the stars and stripes and carried it, representing our nation, our constitutional republic, and carried it as fellow soldiers were killed and advanced freedom here in america. their blood will be on our hands, because we wouldn't even stand for the constitution when there were no bullets being fired. we've got to stand up for america, and our constitution. and with that, i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california, mr. garamendi, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. garamendi: mr. speaker, thank you. now that i want to spend some time with my colleagues discussing something that we actually can do for every american family, something that the congress of the united states can take action on soon, like this week when we pass our appropriations bill, or perhaps next week if we fail to get the job done this week. we can help every american family tomorrow, the next day

and on into the years ahead if we take action. the subject matter of tonight is about an issue that affects every american family. wherever you are out there, my family, your family, families of my staff, perhaps the families of those who are working with us tonight, this is an illness, this is an illness that has become the most expensive and will soon become the most pervasive illness in america. t's aled i'mer's, dementia associated with alzheimer's. it robs an individual of their mental abilities. robs them of their memories, their family, of their work, their life. confuses their thoughts.

and eventually will zoy that individual. tonight we talk about alzheimer's. is there anyone out there, any family, any individual that hasn't seen this illness? i think we all have. so let's get into it in some detail. little later as my colleagues join us, we'll continue the discussion and talk about what we can do, your representatives, 535 of us, 435 here in the house of representatives, from every part of this nation, from every walk of life, from every community and the 100 senators from every stat. so let's use some of these charts to get a better fix of what we are actually facing here in america. let's see, alzheimer's is the most expensive disease in

america. one in five medicare dollars is currently spent on people with alzheimer's. 20% of every medicare dollar. in fact, the total cost today, this year, 2014 for alzheimer's is over $215 billion. a quarter of a trillion dollars. and more and more of that money will come from medicare as the baby boom population begins to move into its more senior years. this illness is not just found in seniors. we are also learning about the early onset of alzheimer's, men and women in their 30's and 40's. early alzheimer's and then it extends on, mostly in the more senior population, 60, 65 and above. this is an illness that is also

associated with genetics. we have alzheimer's in your family, there is a high probability that you will have alzheimer's yourself. but it's an illness that is associated with -- that can concur from brain damages or concussions. football players have suffered from one form of dementia or another and died early because of it. we also know that traumatic brain injuries are the most common injuries found among our troops that have returned from afghanistan and iraq. alzheimer's, it's there, investigate very expensive. what can we look forward to in the future? well, let's see. in medicare, this is medicare and medicaid, the federal government expenditures, not the family expenditures. not the health insurance

companies, but just the federal government. today it's about $122 billion. by the end of this decade, $195 billion and as this wave of baby boomers pass through our society, we expect by the year 2050 that the federal government will be spending over $8850 billion. $120 billion short of a trillion short on this illness. and this may be one half or 2/3 of the total cost, well over $1 trillion will be spent in about 35 years on this illness. you want to bust the budget? you want to see the deficits of america soar almost un

controlbly, look to alzheimer's and dementia and the effect that will have on the federal budget deficit. pay attention to these numbers, because these are the story of the american federal budget and the personal budgets of families across this nation. alzheimer's and dementia. $880 billion of medicare and medicaid money by 2050. another way of looking at it, different graph but the same story, the already high cost of alzheimer's will skyrocket as the baby boom moves through the population. so there it is. the same numbers. same graph. same extraordinary challenge facing america. and i should mention, this isn't

just an american issue, this is an issue for every advanced economy in the world. if you are able to avoid the childhood illnesses, the illnesses that kill so many in the developing world, then those economies that have advanced, face the exact same population surge and costs associated with alzheimer's and dementia. what can we do about it? well, what we can do is a lot. i suspect if you are looking at this on your tv screens or here in the audience, you really only see the green line. and this speaks of treatment for alzheimer's. today, $250 billion, both federal and local and private.

research. treatment versus research. the old addage, spend it now or spend a lot more later. penny saved is a penny earned. what does research amount to? i have to pull this up close. here it is. of spending $150 billion federal and state money. and what are we spending on esearch? $566 million. billions, millions, what does research amount to? well, it actually works. research actually will solve problems. medical research. how long have we been at polio? i remember growing up, the

issues of polio, very common in our communities and then some money was spent on research and a polio vaccine. you don't see polio in our communities anymore. research worked. he development of the salk vaccine and other vaccines and is essentially wiped out in america and only exists in a very few is lated places in the world. if we were to spend the money, we would see poll yeoh disappear from our world. same thing happened with smallpocks. ut i want to show you -- small box. let's look at the budgets that are active today. investments in health research at the national institutes of health.

2014 dollars. , 000 research, $5,4,000 enough? treat e spend more and cancer. hiv-aids, nearly $3 billion on hiv-aids. have we solved the problem? no, but we figured how people can live with hiv-aids and probably going to see a sack seen sometime in the near fute near see a vaccine in the future. cardiovascular issues, stroke, heart attacks, other cardiovascular illnesses, $2 billion, slightly more, spent on that. but the most expensive,

the most prevalent of all of the illnesses, alzheimer's, $566 million. $3 billion. n, but $566 million. what is the result? what is it when you spend this kind of money on research? it means something good happens. something really, really good happens when you spend money on research. polio research, polio vaccines, polio no longer found in the united states. look at these major illnesses. what does it mean? what does it mean when we spend money? on cancer research. let's take a look here. deaths from major diseases,

changes in the number of deaths from 2000 to 2012. breast cancer down 8%. what happens when you spend $5.5 billion a year on cancer research? cancer deaths fall. success. on heart disease, on heart disease, cardiovascular illnesses, about $2 billion a year and see heart disease being dropped by 16%. deaths by heart disease dropping by 16%. stroke, 28%. what is the use of research? you want to live, it's a pretty good thing to spend money on, particularly if you are thinking about getting cancer or any of the cardiovascular illnesses, heart disease, stroke, heart

attacks and the like. hiv-aids, you remember that number? where was it here? oh, yes. hiv-aids, nearly $3 billion spent on hiv-aids and deaths from hiv-aids down 42% in the united states. so what does it mean when you spend money on research? it means really good things for americans and around the world, a similar result. you spend that money on the research dealing with these major illnesses and you'll see the death rates drop all across this nation. hiv-aids, down 42%. spending $2 billion a year or $3 billion. cardiovascular, $2 billion. you see these. and this purple line over here. what happens when you spend $566 million a year on research for

alzheimer's? alzheimer's deaths, 2000 to 010 up, increased 68%. there's a story here. there's a lesson here. there's something that 535 of your representatives, the american people's representatives should be paying attention to and that is if we want to deal with the most devastating, most expensive and increasingly the most common illness in america, the one that always will lead to death, the one for which there is no cure presently, the the r which there is not kind of support needed for those that suffer from alzheimer's, then we better start talking about solutions. research is one of it. how much do we think could be spent this year in the appropriation bills that are now coming before us?

what if we were to add $200 million? about a 40% increase, what would it mean? well, it means that we probably, over the next couple of years, will begin to see profound knowledge about the human brain, about how it functions, about the diseases of the human brain and about how we can attack alzheimer's. i don't expect you to be done in two years, but i know that out there in the mind institutions, at the university of california-san francisco, university of california-davis, down at ucla and in other research institutions around this nation, we are learning how the brain functions. we're learning about the diseases of the brain, and if we were to invest this year an additional $200 million, we would see a flourishing of knowledge and maybe, maybe in

one of those research institutes they would find the key to solving the alzheimer's puzzle. and if they were to do so, we would see a profound reversal in these numbers. and this blue dramatic increase of 68% more deaths from alzheimer's over the last decade, we would see that reverse and hopefully we'd see it go down. i'd like to continue our discussion here with my colleagues. i've noticed that my colleague from california, jackie speier, representing the peninsula and i think you come very close to that great research institution, the university of california-san francisco. not sure it's in your district but i know it's on the border of your district if not in your district. ms. speier, if you can join us and discuss this issue, i know the been on your heart and your

mind and you've been a leader on this issue. thank you so much for joining us on the discussion about the most prevalent and most expensive of all diseases in america. spero dedes i thank the gentleman from california -- ms. speier: i thank the gentleman from california and you are right. more than 25 years i have represented ucsf here in congress and in the california house. i no longer technically represent the institution but i -- mr. garamendi: i get to represent the university of california-davis. it's in my district although the hospital and research center is not. i guess we share the same sadness. ms. speier: yes. and the same real joy in knowing there is extraordinary research going on at both those institutions. i thank the gentleman for drawing such laser focus on the issue of alzheimer's disease and why it is in fact the number one most prevalent disease in this country. i brought down this alzheimer's

association swash that many of us wore when our constituents came into town pleading with us to do more about alzheimer's research and many of us took pictures with them and said, yes, we're very supportive. but it's really time for us to put our money where our mouth is. it's not good enough to wear a purple sash and say you're supportive of alzheimer's research when in fact what we are spending in terms of alzheimer's research is so much less than it is with every other disease. as you're pointing out with your chart, i have a very similar chart as well. mr. garamendi: i'd love to see yours. ms. speier: that makes the case, we are spending $566 million a year on alzheimer's research. good. no question about it. but it's not good enough. and it's not good enough in comparison to what we're spending on cardiovascular disease, hiv-aids or on cancer.

$5 billion, $5.5 billion on cancer research. but the real issue is -- mr. garamendi: excuse me. ms. speier: yes. mr. garamendi: may i interrupt you for a second? ms. speier area yes. - ms. speier:. -- the speaker pro tempore: the chair will receive a message. the messenger: -- the secretary: i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed s. 1000, sited as the -- cited as the chesapeake recovery and accountability act of 2014 in which the concurrence of the ouse is requested. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. spero dedes i thank -- ms. speier: i thank the speaker. we are not spending as much

money on alzheimer's research and we need to pump that up. we need to talk about the elephant in the room and the elephant is not the republican elephant. it's the elephant on the issue of alzheimer's. why is it so important for you and me and every american to be concerned about alzheimer's research? because it is going to choke us financially in a very short period of time. 20 re now spending about $2 -- let me just get my figures straight here. $214 billion a year on the cost of health care. now, that's $150 billion in costs in medicare and then another $37 billion in costs for medicaid. so it is costing us a lot of money today, but the real choker is how much is going to cost us in 2050 and in 2050, it

$1.2 ng to cost us over trillion. so we owe it to our families. we owe it to our constituents. we owe it to the american people. we owe it to the medicare system and the medicaid system to find a cure or find a way to early detection and then to slow the process of this particular disease. now, in my county we have about 15,000 people living with alzheimer's right now and more than 45,000 caregivers. nationally in 2012, 15.5 million caregivers providing an estimated 17 billion hours of unpaid care valued at $220 billion which brings me to my next point and it's about women. this issue is a women's health issue. now, it's true that women, 60% of alzheimer's and dementia

caregivers are women. they are often unpaid in providing those services. but nationally a woman in her 60's has an estimated lifetime risk of developing alzheimer's, it's something like one in six. for breast cancer, where we have been so focused on, it's one in 11. but here's the most stunning figure of all. 2/3 of the five million seniors with alzheimer's disease in this country are women. 2/3 are women. so this is indeed a woman's health issue and one that we have to take very seriously. so with that, mr. chairman, i know you have other participants in this, and i will gladly yield back. mr. garamendi: thank you very much, ms. speier. i really appreciate you bringing the women's issue to this. the last three years of my mother-in-law's life was spent in our home as she went through

the process of alzheimer's. and it is indeed a women's issue. 2/3 of, as you say, are women. we experienced that. fortunately for us it was -- it worked out very well for us and our family. but we're not unique and while our experience was sad but good in some ways, that's not always the case. this is a huge, huge burden. not only are the women that suffers, the women are the ones that care for those that have it. so thank you very much. i notice our friend from the east coast has joined us so we want -- we often do an east-west thing here. my two friends are debating who's going to go first. mr. fattah, why don't you pick it up. mr. fattah: thank you and i appreciate that. we were together just recently n your district at the

stagland scientific symposium focused in on some of the challenges related to diseases and disorders of the human brain. this issue that you raised on the floor tonight is the most dominant challenge that we face in terms of a degenerative brain disease. it is not by accident that prime minister david cameron, when leading the g-7, said that dementia was the world's global challenge. it is not by accident that here in our own country we have created, through the great work of members like yourselves and others, a major focus now on brand er's as one of the name, dementia, that is affecting millions of americans and will affect millions going forward. i led an effort in the appropriations process focusing on the human brain, both

mapping the brain and challenging and chasing cures and treatment for diseases. this neuro science initiative, the fattah neuro science initiative has focused on the fact that these 600 diseases and plus of the brain affect over 50 million americans but there's none that's more costly than alzheimer's, none that are affecting more families than alzheimer's disease -- than alzheimer's. it's so important. we had an incident of a prominent restaurant owner in washington who was said to have gone missing in new york city because she's suffering from this disease. i was happy to be at the launch of the give to the cure effort which is an effort to build support so that the value of death, as it's called in terms of major research that needs to go forward to clinical trials, working with my good friend from the israeli brain

technology and so many others. this morning i met with the new president of cal tech and talked about the efforts there at a great university in your state, and they received well over 10% of the initial awards in the brain initiative from n.i.h. because of the leading research. and i've been in -- some people think i may have some designs i spent ng in cal -- time with a nobel prize winner. working with people like virginia lee and john trozinowski to begin to really understand the early formation of this disease and how it affects people. but i want to talk about this for a minute and then i will yield, how this affects families. not about the science of it, and there are significant scientific hurdles with over

100 billion neurons, tens of trillions of connections. we do not know how the brains of human beings work but we don't have a good understanding yet of how the brains of much smaller insects or animals actually function. this is a great scientific challenge. it is our, i think, the most important frontier for all of science to focus on and that's why i'm so dedicated to it. but when it comes to families -- and i heard you speak about your own -- this is something hat has a tremendous impact. and dementia is going to -- as people are healthier, their bodies are healthier, brains are degenerating, we're going to face more and more of this. we had a former speaker of the house, newt gingrich, talk about how we could reverse for a few years the onset of alzheimer's it could save our country trillions of dollars. but put the dollars aside.

what this is really about is valuing families and understanding that as much as science is something that we all are -- we all take a great interest in, that what should focus us is to make sure that our scientific endeavors are focused on how to improve the chances of the people who we represent. so the world health organization says there are a billion people worldwide. n.i.h. says 50 million-plus americans suffer from brain illnesses. we know you have your finger on the pulse, mr. speaker, and i thank you for conducting this special order. i know that so many members want to participate. i want to yield now back my time, but you can count on us as we go forward to continue to work with you and to work with the pharmaceutical industry and work with our academic enter prices and we're going to have even -- enterprises and we're going to have even more success going forward, not just in finding treatment but we have to put as our goal finding a

cure. so thank you and i yield back. mr. garamendi: trying to move the money into this research. and you mentioned the project out in california, which our former colleague, mr. kennedy, involved in that project, trying to pull together the research from around the world and here in the united states specifically so there is a sharing of knowledge back and forth from these research centers so what comes from the knowledge that may exist at cal tech or new york or in your state, pennsylvania. mr. fattah: i met just a few days ago, the european brain project, the e.u. is putting out a billion and a half euros on the table to map out the brain.

we have to have -- we have to bring these global efforts together and connect them. this is not about some one researcher somewhere discovering the solution to this. this will take a combined effort and a certain urgency. mr. garamendi: thank you so very much. i want to turn to my colleague from our normal east-west dialogue that we have done so many times. mr. tonko, thanks for joining us as we talk about a -- we usually talk about jobs and the economy and build it, but this time we are talking about alzheimer's. mr. tonko: thank you for leading us in a very important discussion during this special order. there is no denying that all of us, members of the house and

beyond, if you are to ask individuals out there across alzheimer's if issues have impacted their family, the immediate response is absolutely. all of us have been touched by those devastating impacts and outcomes that befell our loved ones and the ripple effect on to that circle of family and friends. it's devastating. you, in a sense, lose that individual and it's a very painful process for those individuals living with alzheimer's and dementia and for their immediate families, loved ones and caregivers as they watch and travel the journey with individuals. so i think for us to take that human element, that impact and

that dynamic and put it into working order, we would be well served to acknowledge that are alzheimer's is the most expensive disease in america. it is driving bankruptcy if it goes unaddressed and when one in every $5 medicare dollars is spent on a person with alzheimer's or dementia, the warning signals should be out there, to put our focus on a cure and research and developing those opportunities that will bend the cost curve, so to speak, that will unable us to address with dignity and common sense and economic sustainability the issues of alzheimer's and dementia. the impact upon our culture is so much so, the economic drain is at about $214 billion in

2014. that's an immense economic toll that is placed upon budgets, be they be medicare, medicaid that make it their goal to best serve individuals, especially in their elderly years and to be able to assist in that effort by advancing the efforts of the study of the brain that have been initiated by this president, by president obama and his administration, is a very, very worthy investment. it will tell us much about several diseases out there and allows us to approach an issue with dignity and facts at our fingertips, that will then provide for the best priorityization of how to respond to those issues. much has been said about research here tonight and rightfully so. it is very critical we grow the investment on research. i have participated in our

annual town halls that are lled for in the american alzheimer's project act. and that requires that we gather together to understand how well the services are coming together, what the needs are and how we plan appropriately for ongoing budgets. there, you receive, all of us, the very disturbing testimony that reaches us, impacts our thinking and certainly speaks our hearts and souls about what we need to do, painful journeys that individuals have made. i can vividly recall a high school friend mentioning that her husband didn't know her name but knew her voice. it is painful testimony to absorb. they motivate us and out to challenge us to move more quickly in this effort to fund research and find a cure and find better treatments.

the efforts that i think are important here that follow the national alzheimer's project act is to put together a more clinical response. and i think the alzheimer's accountability act, which i have co-sponsored, allows for h.r. 4351 to respond to the alzheimer's planning in a way that has those directly involved in the service and delivery system to the alzheimer's community, they will advise what those budgeted amounts should look in an annual amount amount to 2025. that is absolutely essential. i applaud our efforts here in the house with representative guthrie and others, looking to make certain that we have a much more accountable, well-planned and professional-driven estimate that will move us forward with

each and every budget year to respond to this crisis in america, and indeed is a crisis. and representative garamendi, these are efforts that i think need to be made. the commitment that starts with the human element, the compassion that needs to be expressed on behalf of the people of this country, via this house, this congress, both houses speaking to a legitimate request that authorizes the investment in research, that puts together a plan that is run by clinicians and how to best respond what those levels, those thresholds should be to the benchmark year of 2025 and do all within our professional capacity to harness the resources that are required. we grow in intellectual capacity, of which we are very proud and one that should serve

us abunt antly well and it is important to have our marts and souls, to put together the best blueprint. let's move forward with a resounding commitment of support to these individuals and caregivers. one in nine over the age of 65 is impacted by alzheimer's. one -- that is the fastest age demographic in our country. in order to plan and plan well with the onslaught of baby boomers, we need to make commitments and need to bend that cost curve by investing in research, preventative therapies and efforts promoted by the president and the administration to make certain we can move forward effectively and compassionately and allow for the best choices to be made.

i thank you leading us to this very important discussion, representative garamendi. and with the facts at our fingertips and the elements of compassion and dignity that should respond to the alzheimer's community, we can get these important measures achieved. mr. garamendi: mr. tonko, thank you very much for your bringing to us the information about actions that have already been taken. the als i'mer plan you discussed lays out a process by which the national institutes of health will develop a program of research, bring it directly to congress so that we can then analyze it and hopefully fund that research. it's the pragmatic way of dealing with it. it is a step-by-by step process o get to the solution of

alzheimer's. there is the hope act and that is one that would require that medicare take specific account of alzheimer's and that in the medicare program, there be a method to fund early diagnosis of alzheimer's and early treatment as was said by one of our colleagues early, a delay of three, four years of the onset of serious alzheimer's is extraordinarily beneficial to the individual and to the family and to the context, to the budget of the individual family, their insurance company as well as the federal government through medicare and medicaid. so that program also speaks to the caregiving that is necessary and medicare picking this up. this is the illness that will bust the bank and that's where the research comes into focus and into play.

we can do this. there is another angle to this. i was going to take this up with mr. fattah when he was here. he was talking about other agencies and other governments involved in dealing with this. about a month ago, i spent an hour with the new secretary of veterans affairs, and we were talking about the various challenges that the department of veterans affairs has dealing with all of the veterans and wasn't long before the conversation turned to traumatic of injury and ptsd, both which are illnesses or problems of the human brain. and we were discussing how the department of veterans affairs is dealing with this. turns out, they also have a research budget. and we know that he was unaware of some of the research that was going on, both at the n.i.h. and what mr. fattah talked about,

the one mind program that mr. kennedy is involved in, in pooling together the research available around the world, bringing that research together so that it could be a much more rapid solution to the problems that mr. mcdonald faces in the veterans administration dealing with post-traumatic stress illnesses and brain injury. all of these come together and in dealing with it, ultimately, we carry a heavy burden of responsibility here in congress. mr. tonko: absolutely. you talked about the caregivers and it is said that nearly 60% of those caregivers who respond to alzheimer's patients and those living with dementia are impacted with dremmedous emotional stress. and they -- tremmedyouse motional stress and tremendous

emotional stress. and rate that high. nearly one-third is suffering from some form of order of depression. the impacts here continue to sprall and cause for greater expenditure for those who are doing their good deed, responding to the needs of loved ones or friends or patient population out there, and then they are impacted by this order of depression. and it's assumed that has added additional costs to the system of our health care drain and that's at $9.3 billion and that estimate goes over the year 2013. so it's very easy to begin to do e math here on the cost of status quo, of not responding in deep measure or in wise capacity

so as to put together the sort of research that we require and the respite programs that are essential. having talked to a number of caregivers through my tenure here, now in my closing out my third term. but before that in the state assembly of new york, i would routinely hear from folks who would deal with these situations, family issues, in ways they never imagined would be possible. i know of some spouses that indicated to me that while they stayed home full-time being the caregiver, they sought employment and used every bit of that salary that came from that new employment, to go toward the cost of caregivers. now, they did that in order to save a relationship. it was a tremendous emotional drain on their relationship because it is not easy servin