trade. we have to get trade right and expand opportunities for agriculture and exports and because our farmers are trying to do it and some are makingheadway. people don't realize how strong it has become as an exporter of sweet potatoes. they didn't even eat them until 10 years ago. there is a 20% increase. europe is opening up as a market. we need to figure out how to help them provide access to more markets and how to we -- and how do we eliminate the regulations that literally make no sense? it's not just environmental regulations, it is workplace regulations. immigration policy sometimes comes into the mix. there are a number of areas we need to shortlist.

on judiciary is has an enormous oversight. we had the first confirmation hearing. it provides oversight function. >> on your sweet potatoes, anything you can boil from the u.k.? you mentioned the nexus between judiciary -- the debate is moving in a constructive conclusion of ideas and then it unravels. i think we are years back in angry rhetoric on both sides.

is or anything that can bring the debate back together? >> i think the problem is, at least from afar, when senators or members of congress try to get together on immigration reform they let it go beyond a scope that keeps enough people on board. i believe we should focus on border security. if we can come up with a credible way to reduce the growth of the population first establish some credibility with the american people, and i think when we go about doing that it is going to put people out of their comfort's own on both sides of the aisle. -- comfort zone on both sides of

the aisle but we have to be realistic about immigration reform that doesn't embrace either of the extremes of the points of view that are out there right now. and i think you do it in an interim fashion. the biggest problem is people think one single legislative matter will solve the illegal immigration problem in this country but there is a very long, well-documented bipartisan history of failure when they've tried to do that. so now i think we need to do it in a more systematic way. start with sealing the border and then look at the present population and determine how you come to some sort of closure on it. it is not going to be done in a bill or in a year. but i think you can map out a strategy and then start explaining to the american people, my supporters and detractors how you go about doing it.

but first and foremost, you take the issue out if you draw up the security issue by securing the border and not necessarily through just sealing the southern border, but i think it is through mexico and sealing the border. 80% of the people coming across the border are not from mexico. that should give you creative thinking about how you go about sealing it and then once you do that, you build on the credibility of the population that is here. >> so i'm going to does one more question so you can think about how you might jump in and that is reflecting back on your campaign which was remarkable, not only your success, but you know this and i don't know if anyone else does, the most expensive senate campaign in history. my understanding is about 115 dollars to $120 million. so we have a lot riding on you. you are a heavily invested individual. >> well two thirds of it was riding on the other individual. >> fair point. >> i'm sorry.

>> of the overall resources, i think $90 million of the $120 million came from resources and coming from money and speech and the limitations, any thoughts? assuming you are doing this again in six years, how you can improve upon the system? >> i -- i think that -- that third party money is a reality. i do think there is something to be said for some level of increased transparency and disclosure. i know that gets people nervous on both sides. i was having this discussion with senator white house last week. but in a strange way, the fact that $80 million of the $115 was against me ultimately worked against my opponent and i think that people absolutely got burnt out.

i woke up on wednesday morning the day after the election and i got misty-eyed when i saw a toothpaste commercial. because, i mean, for a year the first negative attack ad run against me was in thanksgiving in 2013. $7.5 million by third parties on the other side of the aisle before the primary. but i think it is a reality. i think we ought to do probably more to disclose the sources. but i'm not one who says it all needs to be shut down. i think the supreme court has spoken.

and now you figure out how through disclosure the way they go about communicating things because there is some ugly stuff out there. and there were things done by third parties who were supporting us that i was uncomfortable with. but i do believe that at the end of the day, north carolina is a microcosm of the u.s. electorate. it is a center right state center left state depending on the issue. i think that the unaffiliated which are the growing segment of the voting population get turned off by that so the third parties who use it as a tool might find, as in north carolina, may work against them. >> and we have about 15 minutes. and we have shy audiences here and raise your hand and we have a few microphones coming around and we have one here and one here and there is a mic. >> good afternoon. patrick wilson for the babcock and wilcox company. good to see you senator. one of the questions that the president got today, i'll pitch to you because it is topical and timely. what do we do about tax reform. i know you talked about this

during the campaign and given what you said about the regulatory burden on american business, certainly having businesses burdened by the highest tax percentage making it hard to sell, i'm wondering what you think about this? >> i think the challenge here are two very different perspectives on tax reform between the president and the current leadership of the congress. we did tax reform in north carolina not in our first term but in the second term. we simplified it. we went from 44th to 16th. a lot of that was through sim simplification, and it is not just changing the way the tax code works, and i think people think there is a reduction in the tax burden, what i've heard from the president, i've not read his budget proposal, sounds more -- as much focused on how to derive more revenue from a

economy that needs to have more money moving through the privatete sector. that is why i feel strongly we need to work more on policies that can improve economic activity and then make tax reform an easier thing to deal with. never going to be simple. as i told everybody in north carolina. everybody is for tax reform and broadening the base and lowering the rate. except for everyone wanting that one exception that is righteous for the sector they happen to represent. it is almost impossible to do without bipartisan support or supermajorities and both people in charge of both ends of the street.

i think sweeping tax reform this year, i'm not speaking for the leadership, i've not had a discussion with them but it seems unlikely to me because of those challenges and because the president is coming at this from a very different perspective that lazes revenue -- raises revenue. and i still believe we have a debt to deal with. and if we reduce revenue, we have to come up with a way to retire the debt. so even if you reduce spending it raises a question of how much of that would reduce into a reduced tax burden. we have to spend time figuring that out and we have to find out if we have similar philosophies in the house and the senate and then the caucus to get it through.

and the other problem you have is a political one. the tax reform to me is something that has to be implemented at least a year before an election. the reason for that, when we did a tax reform, we have a 6, 7 and 7.5 personal income tax in north carolina and we simplified it and brought it down to 5.75 and lowered the tax sales by a penny if you look at the base. and we knew if we implemented that into a tax year people wouldn't believe you would have not had a reduced tax burden and exposing taxes. and people saw that their with holding was lower or the refund was larger. and you can't implement something in january of this year or july of next year and go through a cycle where the american people would absolutely be able to see that it benefited them. so you have to work on timing as

well. >> another question in the back. and the mic is being run to you. hence the work mic-runner. >> i'm joann lynn from the center or elder care and you are on the senate committee of elder care. we face elder care, one of the biggest in the country and north carolina has interesting experiments with elder care and pharmacy and on the other hand our dependence on families is becoming thin as families are smaller and more disbursed and poorer. so what are your services for

your committee of aging. >> i'm excited to be on the committee and excited to follow the lead of senator collins as the chair. i have not spent a lot of time talking. we had our first committee meeting last week. the fastest meeting i've had. we talked about some things and got back to votes. i think we can provide more resources. i, for one, have a personal interest in alzheimer's and dementia because i personally experienced that and i went back and took some courses on it to become a better care giver for my grandmother who was diagnosed at a relatively young age. but investing in research so things that are providing the cost to care for elders higher

than it should be is something i'm more interested in in finding out how wages get into that. and i think when you discuss entitlement reforms and i had a lady come up to me in western north carolina and they said i couldn't support you because you are going to end medicare and i said, well, ma'am, i talked to my mom about it and she said i couldn't do it. and i think a part of what we need to do is realize there is a promise out there and it goes back to the discussion on mention reform -- pension reform and other things, how do you fulfill the promise you made and give the next generation of people more time to deal with a new more sustainable model. and more reasonable people, if you communicated -- i'm 54. so i would be part of that group

that may have to look at medicare and social security a little bit differently than people in four or five years away for possibly qualifying for one program or another. but i think we have to look at that so that first we can reduce the fear among the seniors population and there are people out there because of the third party money being spent that think it will be taken away and i think we have to go and tackle that and there are a number of other committees that would fall under that jurisdiction but i do think that entitlement reform is something we should look at because there are some things we

can't keep at current form and speed and seniors view it as critical to their lives and i look forward to looking into it -- the committee, i guess. >> a couple of more questions on this side. >> thank you. ramon buehler from the madison coalition. i believe you may be unique and correct me if i'm wrong. you may be the only former speaker of the house who was just elected to the senate and that gives you unique perspective. and i wonder what you think of the idea that sometimes bipartisan cooperation is easier to achieve is a mong speakers and senate presidents of different states than it is among members of the house and senate in washington and that you talked about this problem of regulatory reform, two to one voters don't like what they see.

what do you think of the idea that in the same way that states got congress to propose the bill of rights to limit federal power, that states could do what five state legislative chambers have already done, which is to urge congress to propose the regulation freedom amendment that require that congress approve major federal regulation instead of them being decided by bureaucratics from washington. >> i think we're trying to be consistent with what we did in north carolina. when we came in the first pass of regulatory reform was to require a business case for regulation whether it is taxpayer cost or cost for an industry, to be commensurate, whether it is

workplace benefits or whatever it is, and in many cases it has to be developed and there has to be a talk with the legislation in nb so it is consistent with what you are talking about. and i think that until that could potentially be put into place at the federal level, you can kind of use that as a way to go back to fair thinking members and say let's talk about how these regulations are affecting your state, yu constituents for no great gain and use that for bipartisan support to repeal the regulations that have simply gone too far. but it was worked in north carolina.

i don't believe it is any coincidence over the last four years that north carolina's economy is ahead of south carolina on unemployment. i think it was through the systematic approach that we've used for responsible regulatory reform. and it is not just clawing it all back. it is in a reasonable formation. we are the first to tackle coal ash and putting forth the regulatory framework to do it. and we got the investor owned utilities and other power companies and we balanced the regulations and there were people that were concerned because we had the coal ash bill on the dan river that we would just overreach and i refused to let that happen and we've used the same framework to solve the same pressure from certain special interest groups and we got to a good policy and i believe that regulatory policy

will be adopted by other states. >> a question right here. >> senator, i was curious about your views on [ inaudible ]. last year we asked the government for some documents and they said no to foyer the documents and then the government said now you have to pay for them and they said you said we have to foyer them. and this doesn't make any sense especially for for the pressure you have to put on us. what can be done for the transparency of documents for the business industry? >> i think we have to do a lot. but we have to be mindful out there that there are people out there who abuse these requests as well. and so you have balance -- it is very difficult to do. we dealt with this in north carolina.

after i became speaker, we had -- or we had document requests for just an unbelievable number of areas that we had little or nothing to do with. so they seem like they were part of a chess game being made versus a legitimate request for transparency. what sort of oversight or maybe even independent review of requests to try and -- try and get to what the motives are. and then if somebody wants the documents, get it to them but there may have to be a cost. a lot of times legitimate questions that may be very reeling get clogged up in all of the other ones going through the cycle. i don't have an answer for it and i do think it is a problem

and even congress can't do the documents they can. i was just watching cspan and saw a house member complaining about getting documents that they want. so i think it is important to get documents that they can't get. >> and the final question right over here. and the senator will be in town for the next six years. >> my name is michelle demauer. i'm from the u.k. embassy. and so we appreciate your sweet potatoes in the u.k. and i wanted to ask you about your trade reviews and the trans-pacific partnership and the european views. >> i think the tpa, i think the president mentioning that got more of a reaction from our side

of the room than anything. i think the tpp trade is important particularly for agriculture. the world likes american products. i think it -- they think it is one of the safest food sources they can have access to. if we are able to have lower-cost access to the markets. i would support it. i would support the tpa. >> i want to thank all of you for joining us. i think there is a sense that we have a new senator that is both

eloquent and substantive. usually you get one or another but it is wonderful even have it in a single package. >> just to give you an idea where my bias is when it comes to regulatory reform, the state's back to -- i was in the minority whip. this was around 2010. i was having a discussion because i do believe you can get regulations to a point where you preserve the environment, the workplace safe, we can do that. make sure their children can bring clearwater. it is the means, not the ends. i was having a discussion with someone and we were at a starbucks in my district. we were talking about certain regulations where maybe you should allow businesses to opt out.

as long as they indicate through proper disclosure and employment literature, there is this level of regulation that maybe they are off the books. maybe you can make a market-based decision as to whether or not they were applied to. she says, i can't believe that. at that time we were sitting back at a table near the restrooms. it should be on the books. this is one i can illustrate the point. i don't have any problems with starbucks as long as they opt out of this policy imposed a sign that says we don't require our employees to wash our hands. the market will take care of that. let them decide.

every business that did that would go out of business. i think it is straight to the point, that that is the sort of them and tell it he we need to have to reduce the regulatory burden on this country. i think if we go about it in a commonsense way that that solves a lot of problems. eminently more easy to stop -- to solve. >> we appreciate you joining us today. inc. you. -- thank you.

>> members return in about half an hour for a debate on three bills, including one that requires the homeland security department to fund a social media working group to provide guidance in using social media when there is a national crisis. that is scheduled for 6:30 eastern. tomorrow we expect a debate on another bill that would repeal the health care law. for the first time the measure would have certain house committees develop an

alternative to the legislation. you can follow it here on c-span. >> the political landscape has changed with the 114th congress. not only are there 43 new republicans and 15 new democrats in the house, and 12 new republicans and one new democrat in the senate, there are 108 women in congress, including the first ever african-american republican woman in the house. keep track of the members of congress using congressional chronicle on c-span.org. the congressional chronicle page has lots of useful information including voting results and statistics of each session of congress. fast axis -- new congress, best access on c-span, c-span2, c-span radio, and c-span.org. with the fcc focusing on net neutrality in february, we spoke with two industry executives of the consumer electronic show and -- electronic show in las vegas.

>> at the end of the day the internet needs strong, enforceable, protectable you -- protectable rules for net neutrality. they need subject to reasonable management, they also need before -- be enforceable. >> the problem with where the net neutrality issue has gone is it is not focused on the substantive rules, which there is a lot of consensus around. but it is focused on the quality to adopt rules. a status has existed now for over a decade. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern. >> bill pascrell discusses

president obama's 2015 but proposal. they chose to challenge the republican study group. plus, phone call facebook comments and tweets. testimony from white house budget director shaun donovan on the presidents 2015 approval. he will speak with members of the senate budget committee. we spoke earlier today with a capitol hill reporter. >> a cq roll call, a staff writer there. join us again on the washington journal.

even before the budget arrives on capitol hill republicans have been panning some of the information that has come out about some of the programs that are in it. is this budget dead on arrival? >> the budget is dead on arrival just as it is the same sense it is in most years on capitol hill particularly when you have divided government. what the budget document is used for by the white house, regard with the party, is to lay out its vision for how in an idealized world it would restructure parts of the government, restructure parts of the tax code and where the executive branch would prioritize investments if it were left to its own devices. since it's divided government

what really happens is the lawmakers in both parties try and go through this document. you will see lawmakers in both parties go through this document and try to find things that match things that they have already proposed or are otherwise interested in to try to pick out little pieces in order to advance their own priorities and figaro places where they may have top -- may have common ground. >> what are those areas of potential agreement in the spending plan? >> one of the things that came out over the weekend was the significant investment being soft for a full six-year surface print -- surface transportation or highway bill done. it is a certainty that the

particular mechanism of paying for it, using a tax on foreign profits and foreign earnings, the way the white house is structured back at the treasury department will be proposing something that is not something that will be viewed terribly favorably at the capital. there is a five person understanding that there is a gap for the highway trust fund. if people were actually willing to come to the table and find some alternative tax policy reason or way to pay for it, then that is one area we may find common ground. it has already come out this morning. we are noticing that there is a 561 billion dollar funding request in here.

i think there is bipartisan agreement that the defense level is going to be above where it was under the sequester. that will be an area where we find common ground. >> talk about what is going to happen today after the budget arrives and the coming days this week. >> one of the things happening today is the president himself going to the department of homeland security to lay out his budget proposal. in the crisis and the spending

situation with the department of homeland security funding, which runs out toward the end of february, you will see briefings by the office of management and budget and they are going to have conference calls and briefing to outline the fair -- outline the various plans. what happens is attention turns to capitol hill. when books are delivered and people have a chance to digest things just a little bit you will see agency heads shelling back and forth to the hill appearing in lots and lots of budget hearings were they outline their vision ahead of the drafting of the annual budget resolution by the lawmakers of the capital. >> if you want to read about it as it happens, you can check out his work at rollcall.com.

thanks for dropping in and helping out this morning. >> for more details you can read the presidents entire 2016 budget request online. several departments and agencies have been playing in their thoughts on the budget proposal. next up officials from the state department outline their departments 53 point billy -- $53 billion request. >> earlier today president obama released his 2015 budget. -- his 2016 budget. i am pleased to be joined by her administrator to discuss the budget request. i want to note this is his last budget rollout. in just a couple of weeks he will be moving on. i wanted to briefly take this opportunity to thank roche for his service. he has pushed forward innovative

edward -- innovative efforts free he has galvanized our response to unexpected crises like the haiti earthquake and ebola outbreak. president obama said if there is one thing this new century has taught us it is we cannot separate our work at home. this fact is deeply understood i secretary kerry and the men and women of state and u.s. id. -- u.s. the eye -- they will secure peace and stability for the american people, strengthen the u.s. economy and global markets and support u.s. citizens in a diplomatic end of -- the dramatic presence overseas. the state budget request totals 53 point -- $50.3 billion, which is 1% of the federal budget. our base budget request is $43.2

billion. this will allow us to address ongoing and emergence -- and emerging national security challenges carry out our global diplomatic and development missions, advance the single policy and the lament initiative honor security commitments for our allies and partners, and carry out conflict invention and peacekeeping activities throughout the world. we have also requested $7 billion and overseas contingent operation funds to respond to immediate and extraordinary national security requirements. both those funds will support critical programs and operations in afghanistan, pakistan, and iraq, as well as exceptional costs related to our efforts to fight iso-, respond to the conflict in syria, and -- and support ukraine. if you've the key investments we propose to make the next year, as vice president biden said in an op-ed last week, our budget will address the underlying

social government and economic factors in central america that drove last year's crisis and unaccompanied child migration while helping mexico secured southern border. our goal is to partner with our neighbors in central america, to mitigate these underlying factors before they risk the dangerous journey north and arrive at our border. for afghanistan our request includes $1.5 billion in assistance which will support the afghan unity government as it strives to implement key reform, improve its economy and work with us on share security issues. our budget request also provides 963 million dollars to secure and support embassy operations, including a $125 million, all of which will enable a significant reduction in military presence. with a new reform i did afghan government in place we have the opportunity to solidify the progress we have made in afghanistan over the last decade. our request continues for sick

-- continues in security and economic programs necessary to do so. is part of the collaboration with coalition partners to degrade and ultimately destroy iso-. our request includes $3.5 billion to strengthen regional partners providing humanitarian assistance, and strengthen serious moderate opposition to enhance conditions for negotiated political transitions. this also includes an additional 1.1 billion dollars to support diplomatic engagement with iraq to sustain our strategic partnership. last year at west point president obama announced the creation of a counterterrorism partnership fund that will enable us to build capacity and facilitate properties online to mitigate terrorism. our budget counters russian

pressure and aggressive action. this includes $275 million to support an additional loan guarantee of $1 billion. if ukraine continues to make progress and other conditions warrant, our request also provide support for democracy and anticorruption measures. the request also provides $5 billion for international organizations. a strategic relationship across the globe to enable global security while sharing the burden on other nations. they satisfy u.s. obligations to the u.n. and 44 other organizations. at the same time our request will address going hereditary and needs around the world.

we are facing for large-scale crises in syria to adjust this unprecedented challenge. we are seeking a total of $5.6 billion in humanitarian funding. we are investing over 800 million dollars in clean energy, sustainable landscape and the global climate change initiative. this includes $350 million of a state department contribution to the -- to the green climate fund, a new fund that will help developing countries next is to public and private finance, to reduce in carbon pollution and strengthen resilience to climate change. secretary kerry firmly believes the state department and u.s. id personnel are our greatest resource. the people and the platforms make all of this work possible.

these funds sustain our relations with foreign governments. and vital overseas services to businesses. an order for our diplomats and professionals to do our work they must be safe and secure. secretary kerry is committed to doing whatever he can. our request includes worldwide security protection to support key security requirements, such as protection of diplomatic personnel and new infrastructure, such as the foreign affairs security training center. within the embassy maintenance account, the budget includes $1.4 billion for worldwide security upgrades, which include support for the capital security maintenance sharing program. as recommended by benghazi accountability review board. the fact remains that american

leadership is needed now more than ever. global leadership and leverage depends on resources. our budget request reflects what is needed to ensure that united states remains engaged on a myriad of issues that directly impact security, prosperity, and values of the american people. we look forward to working with congress. we will target -- we will turn it over to roche. >> i appreciate your kind comments and your incredible leadership on behalf of ensuring the state eight have the resources required to carry forth. that carry forth the strong commitment to leadership around the world. heather likes to point out, and she is right, that most americans think our collective budget is greater than 20% of the federal budget. in fact it is somewhat smaller than that, clocking in at just 1%.

i would also like to think the leadership of president obama and secretary kerry. and democrats and republicans and others in both houses of congress relatively strongly supported u.s. aid in our country's development and humanitarian missions around the world. in fact 2015 is an important year for our collective partnership to address extreme poverty and promote resilient democratic societies, often the most difficult parts of our world. no matter where we work across the globe the men and women of the state department work on behalf of the american people. the modest and critical investments we make in improving the quality of life for the world's less fortunate contribute directly to american strength, security trade, and prosperity. we are making sure we are doing

our work to ensure where the assistance is no longer necessary. the president's budget request includes 22.2 billion dollars. these critical resources allow us to a defense other countries interests in a far-reaching set of contexts. by leveraging public-private partnerships and harnessing the power of technology, science, and innovation. to just over 500 today or a reduction of greater than 35%. this meant that the global health program has been -- we

have been able to deliver better resources where we concentrate our efforts. the day all of our major programs are independently evaluated by third-party valuators. the results, which are often important but not the most exciting documents to read, are available on an iphone app. it is 40% and the 2016 budget request will take that to 46%. never has this been focused -- has this focus on delivering real results been more evident -- a $.2 billion is included for funding for global health

including malaria and a broad range of programs that tackle neglected tropical diseases, including ebola. these resources underscore our commitment to helping realize the goal of ensuring that every child survives until the age of five and thrives beyond that time frame. to achieve this goal we cannot -- we have narrowed our focus to 24 countries that account for 70% of child deaths and maternal deaths. in the past two years alone in those countries we have delivered an 8% reduction in child mortality. we saw the power approach last week as the united states committed more than $1 billion over four years to the global alliance for vaccines and immunization to immunize 300 children and save 5 million child lives by 2020.

a another new example is president's commitment to africa, specifically power africa. this year's budget includes $144 million on resources to take that initiative warned. the receptacle for that initiative at the african leadership summit. those resources will help bring tens of billions of dollars of private investments to the african power sector in hopes of connecting 60 million homes and businesses to clean renewable affordable power. this budget requests includes one point zero $2 billion -- $1.02 billion for the effort. the state eight manage portion of that will be 100 $78 million. in 2013 these investments, in addition to bringing more than 70 companies to go invest with

us in countries around the world has directly helped more than 7 million far -- 7 million farm households out of poverty and improved nutrition for more than 12 million children -- 12 million children who would otherwise go hungry by helping the family stand on their own two feet. the president's budget has included attempts to ensure that we reach hungry people, particularly at their greatest hour of need, by restructuring america's 60-year-old food assistance program. we look forward to working with congress to get that done on a bipartisan basis this year. we hope to renew the unique policy partnership between america's food producers shippers you met syrians, and the world's children who suffer through crisis. this is important this year because smart result oriented humanitarian assistance is needed now more than ever.

last year was the first time in our agencies 53 year history that we were called to respond simultaneously to for large-scale emergencies around the world, not including the ebola epidemic. we supported more than 300 field hospital and clinics that have saved countless lives. we have reached 3 million people in need of emergency assistance. in west africa we have cut down to magically on the number of new cases for more than 100 today when our efforts started to less than one per day over the course of the last week in liberia. using the money appropriated to state and eight for the fy 15 ebola response and preparedness fund, the budget presented today request includes resources for global health security programs to work alongside a range of countries to make sure threats

like ebola to not emerge again. even as we respond to these crises we know it is critical to support human rights around the world. that is why this budget will provide 2.4 billion dollars for democracy, heman writes, and government programs, some of which heather has spoken about. in addition this budget will include nearly $200 million in central funding for science, technology, and innovation through the global development lab. the lab has delivered extraordinary result, redesigning the protective equipment that ebola responders use in west africa to keep themselves in a that keep themselves safe. those results can be replicated across a broad range of what we do if congress continues to provide strong bipartisan support for the united states global development.

echoing heather's comments, with $1.7 billion in u.s. administrative expenses, this allows us to invest in our most important resource, our staff. this represents just 7% of our total program responsibilities. we urge congress to fully fund operating expenses. >> we look forward to taking questions. them at these figures you provided not match up with the figures -- if you can't answer these questions right now according to the cbo in 2015 the total budget authority for function 150 was $62.12 billion. this year it is 46.7 $6 billion, which would be a reduction --

$46.76 billion, which would be a reduction. >> we will let our budget experts go to the table with you. our request overall includes other agencies, including treasury and others that have international affairs activity. it is a 6% increase over our fy 16 requests. we will make sure you get an answer. overall our budget request is increasing. there are some cuts here and there in the budget. for example, even though we maintain a robust investment in our pakistan assistance, that has come down by a small amount from 10%. based on what we think the needs are and what we assess the capabilities are.

we have level funding for iraq at this point. >> two similar ones. the cb j summary tables have blanks for just about all the fy 2015. i am guessing that's because of the crummy bus -- the crummy bus -- the cromnib >> we work with our appropriators. that process is happening at the moment. >> will be not get that break down -- when do you expect to have that breakdown available. >> i would say in the spring. it takes quite a while to go back and forth.

>> i have two granular questions. i noticed the economic support funds for egypt are budgeted at 150 million for fy 2016. you don't have that yet. it was 200 million in fy 2014. for many years it was 250 or 255 million. what explains the decision to ask for less and then add in 2014? do you believe the government is just not making congress? >> it is a good question. we do know from our discussions from them the attendant -- i am working with them in this request. we have settled at that level.

>> the last one, someone asked secure, you have funding for thailand. of course thailand had a crew. i wonder why your programming met funding for fy 16, given the coup. >> i would like to ask highlights from the western hemisphere. that one billion includes -- >> the billion dollars for central america -- in the central america response to them -- to the migration crisis, we have acquired money to the southern border. our funding levels are pretty consistent with last year's

requests for the western hemisphere, with the exception for the american region. based on assessment -- i don't have the number with me. >> how about a human rights program for cuba? >> the funding is similar to last year. it is $20 million. the only difference in our funding request is that we ask for $6.6 million. >> i do not have the numbers that we can follow up. >> i thought you had asked for more -- for more money from columbia. there is a slight increase and

decrease. >> i'm pretty sure there is a slight decrease. >> would you focus a bit more on the priorities for asia? >> i'm glad you raised that question. we have an increase from 8%. these of the fy 14 appropriations the same issue regarding 2015 is relevant in that we cannot compare without the allocations we are going through the congress. we propose an 8% increase. >> can you talk about why the priority of this administration, why asia-pacific is not mentioned in your highlights? >> when you look at the legit overall and what we have

prioritized increases for and even some of the places we have had to cut, it is clear it remains a key priority for us because of the level of increase. we can speak to thethe numbers tell the story. >> specifically where does the 8% go to? >> all that is on the website and the call you have afterwards . we can get into that level of detail with you. >> can you go into more detail about [indiscernible] >> the number includes the work we are doing to counter isil to deal with the syrian humanitarian crisis and to make sure there is the ability, that there is training.

other partners in the region that are taking a lot of their responsibility for the crisis there. >> we have time for a couple more. go ahead in the back. >> can you tell us what is the [indiscernible] individually and how much of that is economic assistance? >> could question. afghanistan request is five -- $1.5 billion for assistance. i have the breakdown here. $1.2 million is insecurity and the rest is in -- 1.2 billion is in security and the rest in civilian assistance. the total amount of request is $2.5 billion. >> that includes our platform. 1.5 is the number for

assistance. for pakistan -- there is 500 34 million in civilian and 270 in security. >> thank you very much everyone. >> we have a background [indiscernible] >> the house is coming in for debate on three bills including one that requires the homeland security department to form a social media working group that would provide guidance in how to use social media when there is a national crisis. also we expect debate on a bill that would repeal the health care law but for the first time, the measure would instruct

committees to develop an alternative to legislation. right now the house rules committee is meeting about that bill. we will have live coverage expected to get underway on c-span3 shortly. we have been covering a number of events giving more information about different parts of the budget. we will have those briefings for you here after the house goes out. the house expected back here momentarily for debate on three bills.

and proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered. or on which the vote incurs objection under clause 6, rule 20. record votes on postponed questions will be taken later. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 361. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 361, a bill to amend the homeland security act of 2002 to codify authority under existing grant guidance authorizing use of usual and area security initiatives and state homeland security funding

for enhancing medical preparedness, medical surge capacity. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule the gentleman from georgia, mr. carter, and the gentleman from new jersey mr. payne each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia. mr. carter: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. carter: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for such time as he may consume. mr. carter: i rise in support of house resolution 361, the medical preparedness allowable use use act introduced by my former colleague in emergency preparedness response and communications congressman

bilirakis. this amends the act to make it clear that grant funds under the state homeland security grant program and urban area security initiative may be used to enhance medical preparedness and purchase medical countermeasures. the grant allows funds to be used for medical preparedness equipment and activity. this bill codifies those activities to ensure that they will be allowable and will not cost any additional money to do so. we have seen the benefits that grant funds including those used for medical preparedness activities have provided when coming to response activity. this was in response to the boston marathon bombing and we know the threat of a chemical -- we know the threat of a chemical or biological attack is real. we must ensure that the first responders have the tools and capabilities they need if such

an event should occur. as a result of this bill, grant funds could be used for items such as predeployed medical kits for first responders and families equipment, training and a equipment and planning activity. identical language to h.r. 361 was approved by the committee on homeland security last year by bipartisan voice vote and passed the house by 391-2. mr. speaker as a pharmacist and someone's district who is under threat of hurricanes, floods and natural disasters, i know the benefit these can provide for our first responders and the citizens they protect. i urge members to support this bill. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? mr. payne: i rise in strong support of h.r. 361 and i yield myself such time as i may

consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for such time as he may consume. mr. payne: h.r. 361 would authorize grant recipients under the homeland security grant or urban security initiative program to use funding to enhance medical preparedness and medical surge capacity. currently the federal emergency management agency permits grantees to use these funds for such purposes. however enactment of this measure into law will give some predictability to the grant recipients as they struggle to build and maintain medical response capabilities at the state and local levels. over the course of the past year our doctors nurses and emergency service personnel have responded to outbakes of ebola, meese wills, d-68 and other

contagious diseases. although none of these outbreaks were the result of bioterrorism they served as a reminder that medical preparedness is a critical component of our national preparedness. i commend the gentleman from florida for working with the homeland security committee to make sure that the medical preparedness continues to remain a priority at the federal, state and local level. i would be remiss if i did not take this time and opportunity to express my support for the re-authorization of the metropolitan medical response system, which would provide dedicated funds to medical preparedness and activities. i would also note that the members may be here today to discuss the use of grant fund understanding, but not overshadowing this debate is

more immediate -- there is an immediate obstacle to d.h.s. grant programs. the fat that congress has not passed a full year funding for the department of homeland security that the president can sign into law. i ask unanimous consent that the record -- that the record -- a "washington post" editorial piece entitled g.o.p. holds hostage the immigration. and underscores the urgent need of gamemanship to be put aside. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. . mr. payne: with respect to the measure before us today. i would note that without funding, neither the urban security initiative nor the state homeland security grant program will be working to build

medical preparedness capabilities or any other capability at the state and local level. ask any first responder and they will tell you these grant programs are essential to building maintaining and exercising important preparedness capabilities. representing the 10th congressional district, i have seen firsthand how these programs have bolstered capabilities both in newark and jersey city. the cuts to these programs only punishes first responders and medical services personnel and the citizens they are charged with protecting. with that mr. speaker i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. carter: i yield as much time as he may consume to the sponsor of this legislation, mr. bilirakis. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from florida, mr. bilirakis, is recognized for such time as he may consume. mr. bilirakis: i would like to thank mr. carter and the ranking member for doing such a great job and working on this piece of legislation. i rise in support of my bill, h.r. 361, the medical preparedness allowable use act. this legislation would amend the homeland security act of 2002 to clarify that grant funds under the state homeland security grant program and urban area security initiative may be used to enhance medical preparedness and purchase medical countermeasures. i originally introduced the medical preparedness allowable use act in 2012, after a series of hearings on medical countermeasures when i proudly served as chairman of the subcommittee on emergency preparedness, response and communications. at these hearings, the need for this legislation was highlighted

when we received numerous testimonies from the emergency response community on the importance of stockpiling medical countermeasures in the event of an w.m.d. attack. this includes pre-deployed medical kits for first responders their families and immediate victims of widespread terrorist attacks on our homeland and natural disasters, resources similar to those provided to postal workers participating in the national u.s. postal medical countermeasures dispensing by the program. the grant guidance and the usual -- usual and area security initiative permits this funding to procure medical countermeasures and allows for other medical preparedness and medical surge capacity equipment and activities.

however, this guidance is developed on an annual basis. there is no guarantee that these uses will be authorized in the future. to be clear, as mr. carter said, no new funding is authorized in this bill. however the expenditures authorized and codified by the bill we are considering today can make a big difference in protecting the public. if we're not safe, mr. speaker, nothing else matters. codifying this authority will assist emergency responders in the event of an attack. providing certainty that grant funding may be used to support them now and in the future. we must have certainty. i consistently find myself in awe of our first responders and the sacrifices that they make on the public's behalf. in the wake of recent terrorist attacks, such as the boston

marathon bombing i'm committed to ensuring congress fulfills its obligation to support the brave men and women responding to these various threats. i thank congresswoman brooks and representative peter king for being original co-sponsors and continued support for this legislation. i would like to commend the chairman of the full homeland security chairman mccaul, for his leadership in making this initiative a priority and also for being a co-sponsor of this good bill. . finally i would like to note that the emergency services preparedness coalition endorses this legislation and its intent. it pass the house with overoverbhemming bipartisan support in the last two congresses. however, the senate never acted on this measure. with new leadership in the senate mr. speaker, i am

hopeful that they can take this measure up quickly so that we can get this before the president to be signed into law. we have a responsibility to ensure our communities are prepared, equipped, and capable of executing countermeasures for future terrorist threats and natural disasters. the passage of h.r. 36 would truly aid our first response -- responders in this endeavor. mr. speaker, i urge all my colleagues to vote in favor of this great bill and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. >> mr. speaker i have no more speakers on my side, if my colleagues on the other side are ready to close, i am. >> mr. speaker i have no more speakers, if the gentleman has no further speakers, i'm prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized to close for his side.

mr. payne: thank youing, mr. the medical prepareness allowable use act is a good bill and i'm prepared to support it. the gentleman has given us a good legislation and that's the type of legislation when it comes to keeping our nation safe in times of attack or natural disasters that we need. i also urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the passage of a clean d.h.s. funding bill so that the states and urban areas across the country can continue building and maintaining critical preparedness capabilities. again i would like to thank mr. bilirakis for working with us on this issue and i congratulate him on a wonderful bill that makes sure that our nation can continue to be prepared in times

of disaster. i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 361 the medical preparedness allowable use act, and with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yields back the balance of he time for the minority. the gentleman from georgia is recognized to con conclude debate. >> mr. speaker, as i -- mr. carter: mr. speaker as i noted earlier, this bill enjoys broad, bipartisan support. i hope members will vote for this bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. all time having expired on this bill the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 361. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. mr. carter: i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: those in favor will say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative.

mr. carter: mr. speaker, i request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman request the yeas and nays. mr. carter: yes, sir. sproik the yeas and nays are requested. -- the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 further pr seedings on this question will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. carter: i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 615, the department of homeland security interoperable communications act. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 615, a bill to amend the homeland security act of 2002 to require the undersecretary for management of the department of homeland security to take administrative action to achieve and maintain interoperable communications

capabilities among the components of the department of homeland security and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from georgia, mr. carter, and the gentleman from new jersey mr. payne, each will control 20 minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from georgia. mr. carter: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. carter: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognize for such time as he may consume. mr. carter: i rise today in support of h.r. 615 the department of homeland security interoperable communications act introduced by the gentleman from new jersey, the ranking member of the homeland security subcommittee on response preparedness, mr. payne. this amends the homeland security act of 2002 to include

achieving and maintaining interoperable communications among the department's commonet components. h.r. 615, addresses the findings and recommendations of a november 2012 d.h.s. office of inspector genre port which stated that the department does not have the appropriate oversight or governance structure to ensure communications interoperability among its components. the department has been in the fore front front of working with stake holders to provide our nation's first responders with the resources and tools needed to have effective interoperable communications. now the department needs to practice what they preach. it is vital that the department's components are able to effectively communicate day to day and most importantly, during emergencies. mr. speaker, i recently visited our southwest border and met with men and women from the border patrol, customs, and

border protection, and the coast guard who are on the frontlines of our efforts to secure the border. it is vital they have the ability to communicate with one another and personnel from other d.h.s. components as they work to achieve their vital missions. in order to ensure the department is taking the necessary steps to achieve and maintain interoperable communications cape b89s h.r. 615 -- capabilities, h.r. 615 requires the department's undersecretary for management to submit an interoperable communications strategy to the committee on homeland security no later than 120 days after enactment. i urge all members to join me in supporting this bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia reserves. curp for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey sec seek recognition? mr. payne: i rise in strong support of h.r. 615, the department of homeland security interoperable communications act and i yield myself such

time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for such time as he may consume. mr. payne: thank you mr. speaker. mr. speaker my goal today is to put the department of homeland security on the path to achieving agency-wide interoperable communications. almost 15 years ago, courageous first responders raced to lower manhattan to an area that came to be known as ground zero. in the days that followed, first responders from neighboring jurisdictions including jersey city responded to help with response and recovery efforts. not long after these devastating attacks concerns were raised about the interoperability gaps that existed between responders on that deadly september day. the 9/11 commission identified improving interoperable

communications at all levels of government as a pressing recommendation. they emphasized that both technology and governance are critical components of interoperable solutions and recognized d.h.s. as the federal agency responsible for spearheading such an effort. though nationwide, over $13 billion has been invested to achieving interoperable communications at the state and local level, we are still not there. at d.h.s., over $ 30 million has been invested into communications capabilities toward 123,000 radio users since 2003. however, in 2012, the department's own top watchdog, the office of inspector general, found that d.h.s. personnel did not have reliable interoperable communications for daily operations and planned events and emergencies.

in may of 2014, the inspector general's -- inspector generals testified before the homeland security committee that out of 479 field radios, that attempted to communication on a specific channel, only one user could do so. that is a 99.8% failure rate. too often communication failures are attributed to technology or lack of resources. here technology is not the culprit, it's the scapegoat. indeed, the inspector general found that d.h.s. had not established protocols to ensure that practices are in place to achieve interoperability throughout the department. h.r. 615, the d.h.s. interoperable communications act which i introduced with congresswoman susan brooks, the former chair of the emergency

preparedness subcommittee would direct the undersecretary of management to issue policies and directives related to interoperability, develop a strategy to achieve d.h.s.-wide interon on rabblet and report to congress -- interoperateability, and report to congress biannually. it is essential to emergency response and homeland security operations. the men and women in uniform that serve and protect in the 10th congressional district of new jersey never miss an opportunity to remind me of something we already know. interoperable communications saves lives in disaster. interoperable communications challenges must be addressed in a timely and thoughtful manner. last congress, this chamber unanimously approved this legislation identical to the measure before you today. an -- enactment of h.r. 615 into

law would put on -- put d.h.s. on the path to achieving interoperability. before reserving my time i'd like to thank the former sme subcommittee chairwoman susan brooks for her dedicated efforts to work with me on this measure. i will miss working with her on this panel. and i would like also to thank the ranking member thompson, chairman mccaul and new chairwoman of the subcommittee ms. mcsally, for their support. i urge my colleagues to support improving the interoperable communications at d.h.s. by voting. with that, mr. speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey reserves the balance of his time.

the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. carter: mr. speaker i yield as much time as she may consume to the distinguished gentlelady from indiana, the former chairman 240e6 subcommittee on emergency preparedness response communications, mrs. brooks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from indiana mrs. brooks is recognized for such time as she may consume. mrs. brooks: i rise today in support of h.r. 615 the department of homeland security interoperable communications act. i did have the opportunity to work on this bill with the fine gentleman from new jersey, mr. payne, the ranking member of the subcommittee on emergency preparedness response and communications last congress when i chaired the subcommittee. i'm very pleased to see this bill on the floor today and want to thank chairman mccall and ranking member mr. thompson for bringing it back to the floor. the need for interoperable communications was highlighted as the congressman from new jersey noted by the 9/11 commission after the september 11 terrorist attack. we know that much progress has

been made by first responders across the country in gaining interoperability and the nationwide public safety broadband network that is being developed by the first responder network authority will further contribute to these cape b9s. however in the department of homeland securities' own inspector general november 2012 report illustrated the department itself has not made sufficient progress in addressing its own interoperable communication capabilities. so h.r. 615 works to address this serious issue by requiring the undersecretary for management to develop a strategy for achieving and maintaining interoperable communications between the d.h.s. components. it requires d.h. stomplet report to congress on the progress it is making toward achieving milestones. as a former u.s. attorney who helped set up indiana's anti-terrorism advisory council after 9/11 and indiana's first fusion center, i know firsthand

the importance of seamless communication between first responders, especially in times of crisis, including those in the department of homeland security. continued inability to make progress on interoperability can have serious consequences for public safety across our country. that's why congress must hold our various law enforcement agencies, particularly those in federal government, accountable for communicating clearly with one another to ensure we eliminate confusion, duplication and discord among those necessary when lives are on the line. that's exactly what the gentleman from new jersey's bill does and that is why i encourage my colleagues to support once again this very important piece of legislation and i thank him for his leadership and yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. payne: i yield four minutes

to the ranking member member of the subcommittee, the gentlelady from new jersey who i am glad to have her join us in congress not only for her ability in the state legislature and removed me from being the lowest member in the delegation off the bottom. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new jersey is recognized for four minutes. mrs. coleman: thank you, mr. speaker and thank you to my colleague from new jersey and fellow member on on the homeland security committee. i rise in support of ranking member payne's legislation, h.r. 615 d.h.s. interoperable communications act. this commonsense bipartisan legislation builds upon recommendations made by the office of the inspector general of the department of homeland security by requiring d.h.s. to

develop a strategy for achieving interoperable communications. during an emergency be it a terrorist attack or natural disaster such as superstorm sandy, it is essential that first responders are able to communicate. it is also essential that components of the department of homeland security are able to communicate with one another at all times. h.r. 615 as introduced by my colleague from new jersey and before us on the floor today seeks to make that aspiration a reality. sadly, mr. speaker, in the 14 years since the terrorist attacks of september 11, 2001, we have still not reached the day where interoperable communications is a universal reality amongst state and local

and federal agencies. ranking member payne's bill fixes that reality as it relates to the department of homeland security. importantly, the bill clarifies and enhances the department's undersecretary for management responsibility for achieving and maintaining interoperable communications amongst the components of d.h.s. by doing so, the bill focuses on this important mission and aid congress in conducting the oversight necessary to see the policy goals of the bill are achieved. as ranking member of the subcommittee on oversight and management efficiency i look forward to conducting robust oversight of d.h.s.'s operations in many areas including interoperable communications. mr. speaker, i applaud the gentleman from new jersey mr. payne, for his work on this legislation, and urge all of my colleagues to support h.r. 615, the d.h.s. interoperable

communications act. and with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new jersey yields back. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. carter: mr. speaker, i have no more speakers. if the gentleman from new jersey has no further speakers, i'm prepared to close once the gentleman does. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. payne: mr. speaker, i have no more speakers and i'm prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized to close for the minority. mr. payne: thank you mr. speaker. mr. speaker, t.s.a. must be able to talk to fema and the coast guard during an emergency. be it a terrorist incident or natural disaster. for that reason, the achievement of cross component interoperable communications is essential to d.h.s. being able to carry on

its mission. h.r. 615 takes a responsible approach to addressing the oversight findings of the inspector general and the committee on homeland security about a serious operational gap at the department of homeland security. -- interoperability. an earlier version of this bipartisan measure passed the house unanimously last congress. for these reasons, i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 615. and with that, mr. speaker i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yields back. the gentleman from georgia is recognized. mr. carter: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. carter: mr. speaker, it is vital that the various component agencies of the department of homeland security be able to communicate on a daily basis and particularly in times of crisis. this bill will help to ensure

these capabilities are implemented and maintained. i urge all members to join me in supporting this legislation. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia yields back the balance of his time. all time having expired on this bill, the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 615. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, -- mr. carter: i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from indiana seek recognition? mrs. brooks: i move to suspend the rules and pass bill h.r. 623 the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 623, a bill to amend the homeland security act of 2002 to authorize the department of homeland security to establish a social media working group, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from indiana, mrs. brooks and the gentlewoman from district district of columbia each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from indiana. mrs. brooks: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to include ex train yause material on h.r. 623. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mrs. brooks: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized.

mrs. brooks: i rise today in support of h.r. 623, the social media working group act of 2015. social media is transforming the way the nation is communicating before during and after terrorist attacks, natural disasters and other emergencies. there are recent events of how citizens are turning to facebook twitter and instagram for public safety information, to comfort survivors and request assistance. during the height of the most recent storm juneau in the northeast there were 20 thousand posts using the #blizzardof2015. a quarter of americans got information about the devastating terrorist attack of the 2013 boston marathon from facebook and twitter. immediately doling that attack and during the manhunt the

boston police department utilized social media as a way to communicate with and solicit information from visitors and citizens. the first announcement that tsarnaev had been captured was not through a press conference but through the boston police department's twitter account. that post was retweeted more than 135,000 times. these examples prove that social media has become one of the primary ways we share information. in the 113th conching i served as the chair of the committee of homeland security on subcommittee of emergency preparedness response and communications. and our subcommittee held two hearings that focused on this and we learned that while the nation is making great strides in this area gaps and challenges remain. one of the key take-aways was that after and during a terrorist attack natural

disaster, there is a need for better communication between the public and private sectors, specifically with how we utilize social media as a communication tool. last year i introduced this bill along with ranking member payne, chairman mcdowell and to address this issue and i'm pleased now to re-introduce the bill this congress. h.r. 623 addresses the issues we heard in our hearings by authorizing and enhancing the department of homeland security 's virt tall social media working group to ensure information sharing between the department and appropriate stakeholders and the leveraging of best practices. currently the social media working group made up of state and local officials is doing great work in developing documents on how to utilize social media during disasters and produced a lessons learned paper on social media usage during hurricane sandy. this will increase the

stakeholder participation particularly among the private sector and federal response agencies, there bep by creating a whole community dialogue on this issue. the bill would require this group to submit an annual report lessons learned and any recommendation. finally this bill will require the group to meet in person or virtually at least twice a year and it will not be a financial burden on the department. in today's day and age when new social media platforms and technologies can change the game almost instantly, we must ensure our chiropractors call first responders can adapt to a critical landscape. the house passed this bill last congress with strong bipartisan support. i now want to thank chairman shuster and chairman barletta for working with me and the committee on homeland security to get this bill to the floor today.

i urge my members to join me in supporting this bill. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from indiana reserves the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from from district of columbia seek recognition? ms. norton: mr. speaker, i congratulate and commend ms. brooks of indiana and mr. payne of new jersey for sponsoring the social media working group act of 2015, which addresses an emerging and important topic in emergency management. more and more we are seeing social media, especially youtube and facebook in preparing responses in emergency situations. in the past few years, social

media has become a valuable tool that has been used by emergency managers at all levels to warn those in harm's way of impending natural disasters. and i might add that the same could occur in terrorist disasters. moreover, it has been used to inform survivors of how to access disaster assistance and tips for a speedier recovery. equally important, social media has been used to coordinate and manage assistance from nonprofits and volunteers who want to help in recovery efforts, but it is not just emergency managers who use social media regarding emergencies. individuals have used social media to help identify locations where assistance may still be needed and to raise awareness of impending hazards. they have used it to communicate with loved ones who may be

impacted by an event as well as to reconnect pets with their owners. it was no different here than in the district of columbia after 9/11. and i refer to the earthquake centered in virginia, but certainly felt in every part of the nation's capital because cell phone service was jammed, residents returned to social media to communicate within minutes of that earthquake twitter noted that over 40,000 earthquake-related tweets were sent about the occurrence. facebook noted three million mentions related to the earthquake nfment 2010, the department of homeland security established the virtual social media working group to provide recommendations on how to use social media, before, during and after emergencies. the existing working group

consist of emergency responders, nonprofit organizations and federal agencies. h.r. 623 would codify that working group to make certain that their good work continues. to allow for broader representation, the bill expands the working group membership to include the private sectors and require consultation with nonmembers. to ensure accountability, the bill requires an annual report to congress on important issues such as best practices and lessons learned. it would also provide recommendations on various issues, including how to improve the use of social media for emergency management purposes. this is a very timely bill, mr. speaker. and it will assist in informing the public of critical emergency information, which may well save lives and reduce injuries.

i strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill. and i reserve the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from indiana is recognized. >> i have no further speakers and reserve the balance -- mrs. brooks: i have no further speakers and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from the district of columbia is recognized. ms. norton: as i was coming to the floor, i tweeted and facebooked that i would be on the floor managing this bill. we're used to tweeting and facebooking our every move usually for fun and yes, even to come on the floor. i will be very interested to know whether, when we had this tragic accident last week in our metro system, when we lost one life, and when we know for sure communication between the

district of columbia fire and emergency and metro was infirmed, i will be very interested to know whether facebook, twitter, and other forms of social media were helpful and i cannot believe they were not. we all think of these social media for social fun. what's important about the bill that my two colleagues, representative brooks and remitive payne, have brought to us is, of course, that it shows a most essential use. i'd like to -- i'd like to -- i yield four minutes, or such time as he may consume, to a co-sponsor of the bill, mr. payne of new jersey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for such time as he may consume. mr. payne: thank you, mr.

speaker. i want to thank the gentlelady from the district of columbia, ms. holmes norton, for yielding me the time. last congress, the subcommittee on emergency preparedness, response -- emergency preparedness, response and commune igses held a series -- communications, held a series of hearings examining how preparedness can impact response at all levels. stake holders including google.org planeteer, and the internet association provided testimony about how the internet helped galvanize citizens affected by disasters from the boston marathon bombings to hurricane sandy. we also heard from energy services congressmen companies headquartered in my district

pse&g, recognized by j.d. power and associates and c.s. week for its innovative use of social media in the days leading up to and following hurricane sandy. pseg used social media to communicate with customers about how to prepare for the storm and to mitigate damage and about power restoration efforts afterwards. additionally pseg testified about lessons learned about using social media during disaster response, ranging from using the right tone in message to -- messages to preparing social media companies to handle the increased volume of messages. in those hearings, we also took testimony from federal, state, and local governments ability how to use social media more effectively to provide

disaster-related information to be better integrated into disaster response applications. we also heard from fema and local officials on efforts to improve the use of social media following a terrorist attack or natural disaster. i was pleased to work with then-subcommittee chairwoman, representative susan brooks, on this oversight effort and ultimately on the bill to ensure that important conversations about how to best use social media following a disaster can continue. last july, i was pleased to -- last july i was pleased to manage an identical version of this bill on the house floor on behalf of the committee on homeland security. that measure h.r. 4 3 pass -- 263 passed the house on -- 4263

passed the house on suspension as i hope will occur with h.r. 623. this congress, i am pleased my committee was able to work with the committee on transportation and infrastructure to ensure that h.r. 623 gets considered early this congress. that said, i am disappointed that this time around under the rules of the house the committee that developed the legislation in response to extensive oversight findings was not given the opportunity to present it in the full house on its own. that said, i congratulate subcommittee chairwoman brooks on the success of her efforts to ensure that federal, state and local governments continue to work with the private sector and nonprofit disaster response providers to develop innovative uses for social media. i urge my colleagues to support

h.r. 623 and with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yields back. does the gentlewoman from indiana continue to reserve? mrs. brooks: yes, mr. speaker. mr. speaker i'd like to thank the gentlelady from the district of columbia and the gentleman from new jersey for continuing this important work that we began last year. it was a visit to the american red voss cross shortly after hurricane -- to the american red cross shortly after hurricane sandy when we learned about social media and the growing role it played and the fact that it had digital -- that they have digital volunteers now who continue to work on behalf of saving lives. i want to thank those who have been supportive of this bill and i urge my colleagues to join me in once again supporting this legislation and now yield back the balance of my time. i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentlewoman continues to reserve. the gentlewoman from the district of columbia is recognized. ms. norton: i congratulate the sponsor and co-sponsor once again on this vital and valuable bill. as we see the kinds of really unheard of events we are experiencing it seems to us often that phones and cell phones are so 20th century. twitter facebook, are the functional equivalent for many americans of 9/11. so today on this floor, i think we are resolved that social media are, to be sure, always about fun and games but they may also be about life and death.

i am pleased to support this bill and to ask for its support here in the house and to yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady has yielded back. the gentlewoman from indiana is recognized to close debate. mrs. brooks: i urge my colleagues, and again, thank the gentlewoman from the district of columbia and the gentleman from new jersey new york supporting this important legislation and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from indiana yields back the balance of her time. all time having now expired on this bill, the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 623. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair 2/3 being in the affirmative, he rules are su spended -- the rules are suspended. mrs. brooks: i demand the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: those

in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until downed. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 further proceedings on this question will be postponed. pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until approximately 6:30 p.m. today.

happening in the senate at noon eastern tomorrow. senators are expected to begin work on the security spending bill which does not provide [indiscernible] a procedural vote requiring 60 votes is scheduled for tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. eastern. you can see the senate live on c-span2. >> with the fcc focusing on net neutrality in february, we spoke with two industry executives at the consumer electronics show. >> we believe the internet means -- needs strong, enforceable

rules to protect consumers and developers. nondiscrimination, [inaudible] and they need to be enforceable. >> the problem we have with the -- where the net neutrality has gone is it is not focused on substance. there is a lot of consensus but it is focused on the fcc's [indiscernible] our concern is they are going to undo a regulatory status that has existed now for over a decade. >> tonight at 8 p.m. eastern on "the communicators" on c-span2. >> tomorrow morning representative bill pascrell

discusses president obama's budget request proposal. and representative raul labrador. in looking at maternity leave in the u.s. compared to other systems another countries. plus your calls, facebook posts, and tweets tomorrow at seven p.m. eastern here on c-span. tomorrow, testimony from shaun donovan on the president's budget. he will speak to members of the senate budget committee. you can see that live at 10 a.m. easter on our companion network, c-span3. more than 1000 of you have posted comments about the budget including warren who says -- midge feels differently. and now we want to hear from

you. go to facebook.com/cspan to join the conversation. >> keep track of the republican-led congress and follow its new members to its first session. new congress, best access on c-span c-span2 c-span radio and c-span.org. >> the house returns live at 6:30 p.m. eastern for votes in the and speeches. until then, more about the president's audit request from today's "washington journal." we take a look at how your money is at work in a different federal program. this week is the federal budget coming out. it's now on capitol hill. joining us to talk about it is william hoagland, from the bipartisan policy center. we have lots of details to go

through. this is a $4 trillion budget. it includes a deficit and one that spends above sequestration levels. your reaction to those numbers? caller: this is a budget that is not dead on arrival on capitol hill. it's probably going to be on heavy life support when it arrives a peer. it does have an opportunity to engage the president and the congress in some serious debates that have been lacking over the last few years. i have concern as we look out into the future, you gave the number right for 2016. the budget shows the deficit would go up in the out years under his proposal. it is $640 billion over 10 years. congress has interest in

reducing the budget, that is going to be a difficult task for congress to take on. it continues to show a deficit in debt. the budget assumes that with economic growth that the proportion of the deficit relative to the economy is flat. the second concern i have after glancing at it is the accumulation of deficits from the beginning of the republic to today as a share of the economy remains relatively high. the budget stabilizes that around 75%. that's well above historical average. we used to run about 40% of gdp. it's a good start. it's as exciting as the super bowl was for budgeteers.

host: he will be taking your questions. phone lines are open for the next 40 minutes until the end of the show today. a lot of experience that you have in reviewing the budgets and the process they go through, what happens today? what is the timeline for getting if there is some agreement? caller:guest: this begins the process. by law, the president issues of the first monday in february. this will be his day for his agencies and officials at his omb erector -- director.

he will be making a presentation. as early as tomorrow, the two budget committees will begin the process of taking testimony from cabinet officials and others on the broad outlines of this budget. under the process that we are operating under, regular order the budget committees will take the budget and go through it and they will come up with their broad blueprint of what they would like to see fiscal policy be for the next year, 10 years or longer. the committees will report out of their committees. they will go to the senate and house floors and for the first time in five years, they intent could conference -- to

conference. this will become the basis on which guides the committees of jurisdiction on filling out the blueprint and building the house and moving forward. if everything works the way it's supposed to, this is not always the case, it will be april 15 when congress has its answer to the budget in terms of its own fiscal blueprint. then the real work begins with the committees building around that budget and reporting legislation to the president to be signed into law. host: this is the 2016 legend that will begin october 1. -- budget that will begin october 1. he served as a staff member on the senate committee from 1982

until 2003. he served as the staff director of that committee for several years. he now works for the bipartisan policy center and will take questions and comments. we will start with sharon in ohio. good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for taking my call. i just wanted to ask the gentleman what the american people can do? what can we do? the stupid mistake has been made to put the republicans in control of the congress. every decision they make has a big business hank on it. they don't care about social security. they don't care about what we have paid into, our retirement plans. they only care about the egg business and -- big business and

the rich. guest: i think the fact you were calling into c-span is an indication that you are an active individual in the process. that's good. i think what we need is people such as yourself and others to study, understand, when with your -- wayeigh in with your congressman as we are in this preparatory stage. i encourage you to do what you're doing, which is participating and continuing to do that with your elected officials. host: what is your group? what are you trying to do? guest: we were established in 2007. it was established by four former majority leaders of the united states senate.

these were democrats and republicans. we are not nonpartisan. we work hard to find solutions to these issues, such as the debt and deficit and issues of health care and immigration. we want to find solutions with bipartisan issues. these are usually high-level people. many have served in congress or in statehouses. we bring these individuals together and we conclude that if you can find bipartisanship, we ought to be able to find bipartisanship on capitol hill with these issues. host: we are chatting with william hoagland. robbie is up next. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say that i think the major reason for the $18 trillion debt that we have is

the ability that congress has to raid the social security trust fund. people are very much misinformed about what is going on with social security. the vast majority of years it's been in existence, it's operated on a surplus. congress has been able to get a hold of that money. if we change that, they would be more responsible. i would like to know his opinion on this. host: what do you think? guest: i don't want to get too far into the weeds. you are correct. when the social security -- when you are a in more on an annual basis in your taxes to social security, we build up a surplus in the trust fund. when the social security trust

fund has a surplus, what does it do with those surpluses? it rights and iou to the treasury so they don't have to go out and aro from the public. it becomes available for operational government. you are absolutely correct. the difficulty is we are moving into a situation where we are not running a cash surplus and we are paying down that debt that was accumulated in social security. as the congressman previously on pointed out is that trust fund will exhaust by 2033. we will have to go into a pay-as-you-go system. the revenues will only pay benefits. that will be a 20% reduction in what people will expect. this is a complicated issue. i apologize for going into all of the numbers.

we have to look at ways to reform the system. we are not talking about cutting benefits for those who are in retirement. in order to make the program sustainable in the future, we have to look at ways to improve it. we have to modify the program for the future. host: john is on our line for democrats. caller: good morning. i would like to ask a question. senator rand paul made a remark a week or so ago. i was listening on the television that he wants to cut social security disability by 20% because most evil -- people are scamming the system. i would like to say i worked for 35 years with one company. my lungs went bad and i had to go out on disability. i do know about most people scamming the system.

what do you think about cutting disability by 20%? guest: thank you for the call. let me point out that we have launched about a year ago a commission made up of a number of highly respected individuals including kent conrad and former undersecretary at social security jim lockhart to look into this issue. we set up a task force on disability. we are looking at the issue of disability. one of the things i have noticed in today's numbers, i have not seen what the president reposes to do about the disability insurance program. the reason i raise it is we have

to trust funds. we have one for retirees and one for disabilities and the issue is the disability trust fund will exhaust its resources at the end of 2016 probably november. what senator paul was suggesting, i think, is not that he was proposing to reduce benefits by 20%. if congress does not address the disability insurance trust fund in this congress, this is in this congress, under the current law as it exists, those benefits would have to be reduced by 20%. the issue before congress how

does he propose to deal with that budget? there are proposals out there. i don't think fraud is a major issue. there is some inefficiencies. we know there were some in new york with some of their disability programs. the vast majority of people deserve the benefits you are getting. the question is whether those who want to work can find work and not be disenfranchised by the disability program by the way it set up. this is a big issue. it's one that i did not see addressed this morning, at least in the initial release of material the president put out. host: lots of numbers will still be coming out today. we will be chatting about them tomorrow as well as new details come out. we are talking with william hoagland.

joe is in kentucky on the line for democrats. you are up joe. caller: we keep talking about the budget every year. whatever has happened to the plan? guest: the commission was set up , the president wanted recommendations in 2012 to move forward to find ways to reduce the long-term debt of the country. the commission had to have a super majority and they did not reach that goal. the recommendations did not become formal recommendations. the president himself did not take some of those recommendations and bring them forward. the commission, all of those commissions that were set up to look at the long-term debt of

the country that has been set aside. this is for budgeteers, this is an important day for us. we are going to reengage on a number of proposals. a number of proposals that congress is considering our part of those proposals. we will see some of that. the president's budget is released today, without looking high numbers myself, it suggests there will be a 1.8 trillion dollar deficit reduction over the next 10 years. it is said that there will be $400 billion from reforms of the health care system. when i checked this morning, it was about the same number.

it is the same proposals of last year that focus on pharmaceuticals and increasing premiums for part b and part c. a lot of that was in the original commission report. host: we see these things pop up down the road. andrew is up next on the line for republicans. caller: good morning. i was one the hearing -- wondering about that waste spending. -- wasteful spending. what about getting rid of planned parenthood? the grants they give out to artist that give out statues nobody wants. that's just wasteful spending. bridges to nowhere.

i would like to see what he has to say about that. host: it depends on your definition of wasteful spending. guest: it's the eye of the beholder. $4 trillion of spending, there probably is inefficiencies in that budget. the question is does this indicate areas of consolidation of agencies and review of programs and look to ways to consolidate and move forward. there has to be ways. the previous caller, i believe there is fraud in the disability program. there probably is in the defense department and on down the line. it behooves us as managers and

executives to weed out that as much as possible and make the government the most efficient for the limited dollars we have. how much is there? it's in the eyes of the beholder. is a program that funds artists a wasteful program? maybe it has lower priority. for that artist, it is his sustenance and livelihood. it is a challenging issue. that is why we elect officials who tried to make these hard decisions of setting priorities on how taxpayer dollars should be used efficiently. host: let's head to new york. this is the line for democrats. caller: good morning. i want to ask a couple of questions. one is in the health care program.

it seems like the middle class is when someone goes to the hospital and can't pay, it comes back on the rest of us. the health care they have now covering everyone is more sensible. it would be more sensible to have a public option plan like other countries have. i think that would be an easier way out. another question i have is why are we spending so much money overseas, i know we have to protect our country. we need to protect the people here. we need to feed and close the people here. you are supposed to help the poor and needy and anyone who says you aren't, i don't know what kind of heart they have. guest: the issue of the public option was debated at the time the aca was going through

congress. it was not an option we could move to at that point. the bottom line is we have a very complex health care delivery system that includes public and private involvement. the public option elimination making it all public option was something a democratic congress felt they could move forward with. i do believe you are going to have a debate. there is going to be a debate over the affordable care act. making changes and modifications to it, i think the house today will vote on a repeal of the entire affordable care act. with all do respect to congress, that is unlikely to get sufficient votes to overcome a filibuster in the senate. modifications to the affordable care act will be negotiated and

maybe successful. on overseas investments and expenditures, it's a function of the budget function 150 we are in a global economy, but in this budget of $4 trillion, less than 2% of it is actually going for what we would refer to as overseas assistance. host: the rules committee is having a hearing on the rules for that vote on the affordable care act. we are covering that on c-span today for those who might want to watch that. i've got about 20 in its left with william hoagland. vick is in peoria. did morning. caller: we always have a problem controlling congress. i have a solution. when i tell people, we have

candidates and they will vote 97% of the time what their constituents say. the way we will do it is an has to come in the form of cards. they have to be registered voters. if they say they want stoplights , let's say 51% of the cards come in, that's what they will get. we can hold their feet to the fire. i want them to give up their office if they want hold to that. call some of these people up. lobbyists, businesses, people with money, we would have control instead of a republic where we are not represented. what would you think of that idea? vote 97% of the time like your constituents or leave office. host: i will let you weigh in on

that. guest: i'm not a political scientist. it's an interstate proposal. i would suggest that there are 535 members of congress. it could be, difficult to manage administratively. let me say that i am more concerned about voters are dissipating and just voting. it does seem to me that we have seen a decline in anticipation in harlot process. i think that is a concern -- our dissipation process. i think that is a concern. we will be better informed in the decision-making process. host: myrtle beach is next. tim, you are on with william

hoagland on budget day. caller: good morning, john. i would like to say about social security, people should be more informed. i found out more about social security in these last 13 months that i knew before. he mentioned at one time we had a surplus and they rated it. -- raided it. we are looking at the lowest gas prices in a long time. we are looking at a windfall right here if we keep the gasoline in the united states. what would you think about a $.50 a gallon for everybody and what it would do for the economy? we could do all the things that everybody wants to do. host: are you talking about a gas tax?

or lowing the price -- lowering the price? caller: think if it was $.50 a gallon. guest: first of all, you raise a good question. when the price of gasoline comes down, is this the time to establish a gas tax? the budget today has a very big effort as it relates to infrastructure. his proposal to fund the highway trust fund, which expires at the end of may of this year, establish a proposal that includes a tax, a 14% tax, on profits that are being held overseas. that is his way of funding it. i'm not anticipating.

i think that sets up the good debate. there are some rivers of congress that are starting to focus on a gas tax. host: the president is looking to raise money for those public works projects over the next six years. guest: it includes a 14% tax on overseas profits. a 19%, at his current, an interesting point, the way it is phrased in the documents that were put out today, it is a tax now. 14% on $2 trillion, i'm not quite clear on how that $280 million comes in. we would not be looking at a deficit.

we would be looking at something much less than that. it's not clear how this is set up. for future profits overseas, the proposal is 19%. i think what the president proposed today will engage a discussion about is that the way to fund infrastructure in this country or is a gas tax, that has been at the normal way historically. should it be out of general revenues? from a budgeteers perspective is this is a wonderful opportunity to talk about our funding needs. host: tennessee is up next. ray is on our line for republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. i have a question.

he said that there isn't much fraud in the disability. i have a number of younger people in my family that are disabled. one is 45 years old. she has never worked a day. she is drawing disability benefits. now she is drawing disability. she has ruined her health. she eats. how can he say before they make this decision? guest: if i lead you to believe i don't think there are issues in the insurance program in this area of fraud, i am sorry. i did not mean to suggest that.

i meant to suggest that the program of this magnitude, that is an element of it, but there are clearly individuals who really did have a disability and it impacted their work. what i would suggest to you is one of the things that concerns me is not so much whether you r relative is eligible and receiving benefits. what is a problem at this point is she has no incentive to go off that disability to gain work. i feel that is one of the issues are commission is working on. we have a task force in this area. the way the program is set up,

your disability and if it's our reduced by 50% after a dollar amount. that is a disincentive to work. we need to find ways to incentivize people to work. there are a number of disabled who still want to work if it's available to them and the system does not disenfranchise them from working. host: we bring up stephanie on the line for democrats. good morning, stephanie. caller: i just have one simple question. actually, i have a bunch of questions, but i won't argue with them. the cap on social security, it is $118,000. guest: yes. caller: if you make $1 million

you keep paying. guest: that is a very good question. there are people who have suggested it's one way to provide funding to the social security trust fund. when the cap was established, it was supposed to cover 90% of wages. today it is much less than that. i can't remember the exact figure. there is a sense that the cap should be raised if not taken off completely. there is no civil answers to these very good questions. the reason you don't just take the cap off completely as it does have an interactive affect with the benefits. if you take the cap off, then warren buffett and bill gates will be paying, but theyme on motions to suspend the rules

previously post postponed. h.r. 361 which the yeas and nays. h.r. 615 by the yeas and nays h.r. 623 by the yeas and nays. first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. remaining electronic votes will be conducted as five-minute votes. the unfinished is vote of the motion of the the gentleman from georgia, mr. carter, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 361 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 361, a bill to amend the homeland security act of 2002 to codify authority under existing grant guidance and usual and area security nirblettive and homeland security security grant funding for enhancing medical preparedness and capabilities. 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 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

again, the debate is coming up in the house tomorrow. an update on a vote expected in the senate tomorrow. congress is working. why is that? >> they had resistance from some

parts of the republican conference. some of the critics of the immigration policy felt that temporarily funding the agency with the cr would give leverage to the president in the new year and they would revisit some of the immigration funding and policies. we are only looking at a few weeks before homeland security spending lapses. the question is whether we look at another. >> what are the details in the bill and the provisions holding things up? >> the things that drew the veto threat deal with preventing him from having money to implement

and it would have shielded illegal immigrants from deportation. there are other provisions that would have gone back further and tried to keep the president from pursuing his policy that protects younger people from staying in this country. there are people who came here as babies or children and would like to stay here and go to work . they have not been given the ability to permanently stay in this country and the president is trying to shield them from deportation. >> 44 democrats and independents sent a letter to the majority leader to have the senate take up a clean spending bill.

what kind of impact do you think they will have? >> you will see how unified it the democrats are and how unified the republicans are. they say they will hold together and keep mitch mcconnell from getting the votes he would need to start the debate. the republicans will be unified and there is a perception that a number of republicans do not like the house amendments to the homeland security bill and would like a simple bill that would protect homeland security through the end of the fiscal year. i do not think we will see an outcome tomorrow. it will be a stalemate for a few days or longer. >> what do you think will happen if they fail to get the votes to move forward?

>> he can talk with his conference and the house republicans about the next step and start discussing possible areas of compromise. the same thing for democrats. at the current time, both sides are taking a hard stance. the democrats in the white house say it is nothing but a clean bill for them. obama repeated his call today at the department of homeland security where he went to announce his budget. for mitch mcconnell, he has to do a lot of talking with the republicans. there are a lot of people who actually like the house bill including jeff sessions. it will take a while for mitch mcconnell to get members behind the strategy.

>> nancy reports for bloomberg. you can find her articles at their website. thank you for the insight. >> obama unveiled the budget request today. it is being called the most populist ever. here are a few things about the biggest burdens in the tax proposals. warm buffet gripes that he pays more than his -- his secretary pays more in taxes than he does. another one is president obama limiting the value of itemized deductions to 28% of their income. also, the last one mentioned would be extending the earned

income tax credit for low income workers and create a new session

. .

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 377, the nays are two. 2/3 being in the affirmative,

the rules are awe spended, 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 to have the gentleman from georgia, mr. carter, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 615 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 615 a bill to amend the homeland security act of 2002 to require the undersecretary for management of the department of homeland security to take administrative action to achieve and maintain interoperable communications capabilities. among the components of the department of homeland securities 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 network yeas -- the yeas are 379, the nays are zero. 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. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentlewoman from indiana, mrs. brooks, suspend the rules and pass hmplt r. 6 3 on -- h.r.

623 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 6 23, a bill to amend the homeland security act to instruct the department of homeland security to start a social media working group. the speaker pro tempore: 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 328, the nays are 51. recorded present, zeeree. 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 upon the

table. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. sessions: mr. speaker, i send to the desk a privileged report from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the titles. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 70, resolution providing for consideration of the bill, h.r. 596, to repeal the patient protection and affordable care act and health care-related provisions in the health care and education reconciliation act of 2010 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, by direction of the democratic caucus, i offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 71, resolution electing members to certain standing committees of the house of representatives, resolved -- mr. becerra: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be considered as read and printed in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on house administration be discharged from further consideration of house concurrent resolution 12 and ask for its immediate consideration in the house. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. the clerk: house concurrent resolution 12, concurrent resolution authorizing the use of the rotunda of the united states capitol for a ceremony to present the congressional gold medal to jack nicklaus. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection to the

consideration of the concurrent resolution? without objection, the concurrent resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska seek recognition? my apologies, sir. without objection, the gentleman from nebraska is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to draw your attention to cooperative -- could opportunity health. these plans have been awarded approximately $2 billion in taxpayer dollars. mr. smith: coop -- co-opportunity receive loans.

on december 23, 2014, the iowa insurance commissioner submitted a petition for an order of rehabilitation of could opportunity health. the -- co-opportunity health. approximately 120,000 of their customers, most of whom live in nebraska, have been told they need to find a new insurance carrier. i am extremely concerned about this situation for nebraskans needing health coverage and for the taxpayers who have seen millions of dollars lost and millions more put at risk. this is one more example of obamacare's failure. last month i sent a letter to h.h.s. secretary seeking more information about these concerns. americans were promised they could keep the insurance they had and liked and now we are seeing they cannot even keep the insurance this very law created. this is one more reason i look forward to voting tomorrow to repeal this harmful law. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio seek recognition? ms. kaptur: i rise to address

the house for one minute please. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized for one minute. ms. kaptur: thank you mr. speaker. i rise to give reassurance and hope to sandy collins and the family of the mayor of toledo, mike collins, who yesterday was involved in a very serious automotive accident. he apparently had a heart attack while he was driving after trying to prepare the city crews for the snowfall that was about to come a level three snowfall. and then there was an heroic act that saved his life, though he's in critical condition, at the university of toledo medical center. a woman named evelyn johnson mother of eight children, a grandmother of five, saw his s.u.v. that had crashed into this telephone pole and she stopped her car on her way to work and she and another man, a good samaritan who came along

had to pry him out of the car. it was still running, he still had his foot on the gas, but he was completely unconscience and she and the other gentleman administered c.p.r. at the direction of the 911 crews in the city of toledo. i am so proud of my hometown and the love and the care and the preparedness that they demonstrated to care for our mayor. we pray to god that he will fully recover and that his injuries will be healed. we give comfort to his wife, sandy, we know she's at his side. our entire community reaches out to them. and we congratulate ms. johnson for mr. herrera: wism in helping our mayor -- her heroism for helping our mayor. thank you very much. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota seek reck fission? mr. paulsen: i ask to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the

gentleman from minnesota is recognized for one minute. mr. paulsen: mr. speaker, last week the house passed 12 different bills combating the growing crime of sex trafficking by protecting victims and bringing traffickers to justice. in addition to the action that congress is taking, however, it takes people on the ground, in our communities stepping up to deal with this issue. i'd like to highlight some of the efforts that are being done by some students in minnesota. that are making efforts to put an end to this horrible problem. the high school student council, led by a senior, luke stanbrook, is helping fight sex trafficking by organizing assemblies to help fellow students know the signs of trafficking in their community. they're also organizing fund raisers to help raise money for organizations that help victims of human trafficking. mr. speaker, it is rewarding and energizing to know that there are young leaders like luke and the senior student council who are working to have a strong impact on putting an end to this horrific crime and i'm proud of their efforts and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for

what purpose does the gentlewoman from -- without objection the gentlewoman from texas is recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: thank you so very much. today, mr. speaker, i sent a letter to the food and drug administration and the centers for disease control for a national alert for an alert to the public regarding the highlighting of the importance of our children becoming vaccinated for this outbreak of measles, particularly the m.m.r. the united states is experiencing a large multistate measles outbreak that started in california on december 2014 and spread to six additional states and mexico. from december 28 mr. speaker, through january 21 2015, 5 is confirmed cases -- 51 confirmed cases linked to this outbreak have been reported to the c.d.c. 22 from california, nine from six other states, three from utah, one in oregon and one in nebraska and arizona.

the spreading of this is enormous. the most disturbing aspect of this outbreak is that 86% of patients who contract the disease had either been unvaccinated or had unknown vaccination status. the outbreak is aggravated by the large number of children and parents who have chosen not to get the m.m.r. vaccine. i want us to be cashese and do the -- cautious and do the right thing. the saddest case was an 8-month-old baby in arizona who was exposed to the measles. i ask that we take this seriously as a member of the homeland security committee, and find a way to alert patients to make the right decision for their children. i will be continuing to work on this and ask my own community to send out an alert to help save those children and others who are vulnerable to the measles outbreak. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman from california is recognized for one minute.

mr. lamalfa: thank you, mr. speaker. as california enters what looks like its fourth year of a severe drought, we need to take action so that when we do finally get rain once again we'll be able to store it. sites reservoirs or projects have been talked about for many years in northern california that would store nearly two million acre fee of water in its best possibly con figure race -- possible configuration. we need to take action. we'll be introducing legislation to authorize that. we also need help from bureau of reclamation in putting the funding forward to finish the feasibility studies that are necessary to get -- go from talk, from dream, to getting construction going and having the water reservoirs that we need for california to stave off drought in the future years. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leave of absence requested for ms. clark of massachusetts for today, mrs.

lawrence of michigan for today ms. lofgren of california for today through thursday, and ms. napolitano of california for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request ares granted. -- requests are granted. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2015, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. payne, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. payne: thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent that all members be given five days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. payne: also, mr. speaker i'd like to enter into the record a statement on tonight's c.b.c. special order from the honorable eddie bernice johnson from texas.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. payne: thank you. mr. speaker i want to begin by welcoming our new members by thanking congresswoman marcia fudge for her leadership of the congressional black caucus during the 113th congress. thanks to your dedication and tireless work, this caucus is better positioned to address the diverse challenges of african-american communities. thank you very much. i also want to thank the new c.b.c. chair the honorable congressman g.k. butterfield of north carolina. i'm confident you will do a great job leading this caucus with steadfast commitment to justice and to building an america that works for everyone. let me also thank my counterpart, the honorable congresswoman robin kelly, for joining me in leading the

c.b.c. special orders this year. and i am truly honored to take this -- on this new role and i look forward to working with you as we help carry out the critical mission of this caucus. mr. speaker 50 years ago in the midst of the civil rights movement hundreds of brave men and women gathered in selma, alabama, to begin a long, arduous march to montgomery in support of fundamental truth, that every american, regardless of what they look like, has the right to vote. on march 7, 1965 600 men and women set out from selma following the death of 26-year-old jimmy lee jackson, a deacon from marion alabama, who died from a gunshot wound inflicted by a state trooper at a nonviolent demonstration. theirs was a peaceful nonviolent march. but it was met with fierce

brutality. it would take the marchers two more attempts to arrive in montgomery, but on march 25 after a 12-day journey, they did arrive. . since that day, our country has made significant strides in achieving equality and justice for all, but significant challenges remain unmet. tonight, we -- we will examine where we have come from, where we are, and where we would like to go as a society. we must be ready to go. in 1985, selma became the focal point of volter registration efforts in the south. at the time only 2% of the city's eligible african-american voters had been able to

register. the impact of selma to montgomery march was profound. as dr. sing said selma produced the voting rights legislation of 1965. the voting rights act of 1965 banned discriminatory voting requirements that disenfranchised african-american voters throughout this country. and yet today the dream of fully -- of full equality is something many african-americans can only dream of. . where we are nearly six years after the end of the recession, people still struggle to find work and the gap between the rich and poor continues to grow. for african-americans, this situation is severe. given the disproportionate effect of unemployment on our communities. at the same time, there remains

widespread over poverty a defining challenge of our time. this economic inequality threatens to undercut the gains african-american communities have made and it undermines the idea of economic mobility the idea that if you work hard in this country and have ambition you can get ahead. the economic crisis is not only facing african-american communities. where we are in education. education is the most important economic investment we can make now and for future generations. yet, across the country, we still have seen cuts to education at all levels and attacks on critical programs like head start and pell grants. these attacks undermine the ability of african-americans to get ahead. that is why i strongly support

president obama's new bold bold initiative for free access to community colleges. so, too, do efforts to dismantle social safety nets programs which our communities depend on. those efforts are irresponsible unjust and contrary to who we are as americans. the congressional blast black caucus will make criminal justice reform a center priest of our agenda. we will work to reduce the epidemic of poverty in this country. we will work to create educational opportunities for african-american children. and we will support efforts to strengthen our 105 historically black colleges and universities. the c.b.c. also remains committed to fighting against efforts to dismantle the social safety net.

we are determined to restore section 5 of the voting rights act and to make sure that everyone regardless of what they look like or where they come from has equal access to the polls. and we resolve to ensure that increasing diversity in this nation is reflected in american corporations. together these policies will bring us closer as a nation. we will empower communities of african-americans and they will ben fit from full equality and live the american dream. there is no doubt that we are in difficult times in this nation. injustices are widespread and threaten some of our most fundamental rights. but we will find no answers in apathy. no comfort in complacency. as we have -- as we always have

we will continue the march for progress, for freedom, and for justice and equality for all. and mr. speaker, it is my honor and privilege now that i yield to the distinguished gentlelady from illinois ms. kelly. ms. kelly: thank you so much. thank you, my friend from new jersey. it is an honor to host with you this year. i am excited about the work ahead for the c.b.c. in the 114th congress. i also want to acknowledge the great job congressman horseford and congressman jeffries did in hosting the special order hour in the 113th congress and i also want to honor our past chair, congresswoman marcia fudge, for all her great work. discussing 50 years from selma, where we were, where we are, where we are headed, i expect

this to be very stimulating, frustrating, and rewarding, all at the this same time. it remains that we have a lot of work to do. with that, i yield back, congressman payne. mr. payne: i thank the gentlelady. mr. speaker, at this time it is my honor and privilege for the first time in the 114th congress to have the chairman of the congressional black caucus g.k. butterfield, address us for as much time as he may consume. mr. butterfield: i thank the gentleman for yielding. the congressional black caucus is delighted to come to the floor this evening commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1965 vote rights act. at the end of slavery mr. speaker, in 1865, 150 years ago

the state of north carolina has a -- had a slave population of 331,000 slaves. after passage of the 13th amendment and ratification of it by 2 states these slaves became free. they became american citizens and males 21 years old or older would soon be entitled to vote. among those 331,000 slaves gaining freedom 128,000 of them resided in my congressional district. in some county the black population exceeded the white population. in 18 0 african-americans gained the right to vote by the enactment of the 15th amendment. for the next 30 years, african-american men voted in large numbers and became a political force in state politics four african-americans were elected to congress in north carolina eight in south carolina three in alabama and one each in georgia, florida, mississippi, virginia and louisiana. many more were elected to state and local office. in 1900, after k.k.k. violence

and lynchings had not deterred black political participation, most southern states passed disfranchisement laws, requiring a literacy test and payment of a moll tax. these had the intent of disenfranchising black people from voting. and it work. for the next half century, african-americans were denieded the right to volt with a few exceptions. following his 1964 acceptance of the noble peas prize, dr. martin luther -- of the noah belle peace prize, dr. mar -- nobel peace prize, dr. martin luther king wrote about the law. on march 7, 1965, under the leadership of dr. king, john lewis and others, black residents of selma attempted to

march from the brown church to the capital of the state. as they approached the edmund pettus bridge they were brutalized by state police and forced to retreat. rewe have to it as bloody sunday. two days later they again began their march to montgomery. as they crossed the bridge and saw the strong police presence they saw the strong police presence and turned around. president johnson telephoned the governor of the state to say let them march without incident. dr. king persuaded thousands of proparticipants, black and white, to march. following the march, a white marcher was murdered will transporting marchers back to selma. jimmy lee jackson was killed by police during a selma protest in

february of 1965. saddened by these murders, president johnson reconsidered his unwillingness to promote voting rights legislation he went on national television on march 15 and announced he would support a voting rights bill. despite the southern filibuster the voting rights act was enacted into law on august 6, 1965. this important law has changed the political landscape for african-american communities. it bans the use of literacy tests gives minority communities the right to litigate discriminatory election schemes that dilute their vote. it provides for section 5 that requires certain jurisdictions with discriminatory histories to preclear election law changes with the attorney general. to our great dismay, on june 25 2013 the u.s. supreme court made section 5 unenforceable because the data used to determine covered jurisdictions is outdated, according to the court. the supreme court has now called on congress to modify the

formula. to this day, mr. speaker, our republican colleagues have refused to allow the bipartisan b.r.a. amendment bill -- v.r.a. amendment bill to be vote on. mr. goodlatte said he has no intention to legislate a modification to the formula. the effect of not having section 5 is to allow jurisdictions to pass discriminatory election laws with impunity and without oversight. the voting rights act enabled african-american communities to elect hundreds of black elected officials. we successfully litigated dozen and dozens of cases. many of my colleagues were elected because enforcement of the voting rights act forced -- it force -- states to draw congressional districts where black communities are not submerged in their -- and their vote diluted system of mr. speaker this story must be understood by every american citizen, the right to vote for african-americans was obtained by blood, sweat, and tears and we are determined the

congressional black caucus, is determined to continue this fight into 2016 and beyond. mr. payne, ms. kelly, thank you very much for yielding time. i yield back. mr. payne: thank you, chairman. we are looking forward to your leadership in the 114th congress and we will continue to strive to make sure that the issues that the c.b.c. finds important are relevant on the day-to-day basis. thank you. now, mr. speaker, i'd like to yield to the gentleman from south carolina, the leader, mr. clyburn, who has probably forgotten more about the going ons and the rules in this chamber than i'll ever know. the gentleman from south carolina, mr. clyburn. mr. cly bush: thank you so much mr. payne, for yielding me time. i appreciate your accolades but -- mr. clyburn: thank you so much mr. payne, for yielding time.

i appreciate the accolades but i eassure you my long-distant memory is very good. i assure you your contributions to this body are very much appreciated. mr. speaker, on yesterday i opened up black history month with a speech at cornerstone baptist church on wayne street in columbia, south carolina. they had an interesting topic for me to develop. it was all about remembering our past and preparing for the future. chairman butterfield has talked a little bit about the past that many of us remember. but 50 years after selma we must turn to the question that

martin luther king jr. asked in one of his great books. where do we go from here? chaos or community? statistics show that there are nearly 500 counties and thousands of communitiesed in the united states that are classified by the census bureau as persistent poverty areas. they are so defined because 20% of their populations have lived below the poverty level for the past 30 years or more. they're diverse including caw cushion counties estate -- in states like west virginia kentucky, and tennessee. native american communities in states like south dakota, alaska

, and oklahoma. latino communities in states like arizona, new mexico, and texas. african-american arch can american communities in states like -- african-american communities in states like alabama and mississippi. there are urban communities in states like new york and outlying communities in states like missouri. 139 of these counties are represented in this body by democrats. 331 of these counties are represented in this body by republicans. 18 of these counties are split between the two parties. combating persistent poverty should matter to all of us

regardless of party geography or race. in early 2009, when we were putting together the recovery act, i proposed language to require at least 10% of these funds be funds in three rural development counts be directed to these persistent poverty counties. this requirement was enacted into law. in light of the definition of persistent poverty counties as having at least 20% poverty rates over 30 years the provision became known as the 10-20-30 initiative. this provision bore dividends as economic development projects proliferated in persistent poverty communities across the country. using the 10-20-30 formula under the recovery act 4,655

projects in persistent poverty counties totaling $1.7 billion was funded. i saw foresthand the positive efforts of these projects in my district. we were able to undertake projects that create jobs, that would have otherwise languished. among those investments was $5.8 million grant and a $2 million loan to construct 51 miles of water lines in the rural community of britain's neck in marion, south carolina. there are many other success stories. in mississippi $17.5 million was spent to install a water line elevated tanks and two wastewater pump stations,

providing portable water to rural mississippians and creating badly needed construction jobs. in a special utility district in texas they received a $538,000 loan to construct more than nine miles of new water distribution lines and connect over 60 households to a new water system. in 2011, i joined with our former republican colleague, then representative joean emerson of missouri, to introduce an amendment to the continuing resolution that would have combined or continued 10-20-30 for rural development and expanded it to 11 additional accounts throughout the federal government's effective economic development education job training health, justice the

environment and more. i want to make one thing clear. about the 10-20-30 approach. it does not, i repeat, it does not add one dime to the deficit. it simply targets resources from funds already authorized or appropriated. over the past 30 years the national economy has risen and fallen multiple times. during each economic down turn while we have been rightfully focused on getting the economy as a whole back on track, we have not given adequate attention to these communities that are suffering from chronic distress and depression-era levels of joblessness. as a result they have suffered

even in good economic times. the 10-20-30 approach would provide a mechanism to address this deprivation in times of wrought and in times of plenty, in times of federal investment and in times of fiscal austerity. last year i wrote an essay on 10-20-30 which was published in the harvard journal on legislation. i discussed the history of our nation's efforts to address chronic poverty and more fully lay out the case for broadly implementing 10-20-30 in a bipartisan fashion. mr. speaker, as we begin to put our 2016 budget together i look forward to working with all members in this body on

both sides of the aisle irrespective of what state or county you may represent. i look forward to working together so that we can make a real productive legacy for summer and we can move forward and answer dr. king's question chaos or community, with a resounding, we are building communities. thank you and i yield back. mr. payne: thank you, mr. clyburn. you know as in the past the c.b.c. will continue to work to reduce the epidemic of poverty in this country. when over 45 million americans live below the poverty line we are failing as a nation. and as congressman butterfield

said earlier this month that the c.b.c. will advocate the clyburn 10-20-30 plan, which redirects at least 10% of an agency's grants and discretionary budget to communities where at least 20% of the population has lived below the poverty line for the past 30 years. these are the issues that we will continue to work on as members of the congressional black caucus. and now it is my honor to have one of my mentors, since before and arriving in congress a former friend of my father and great colleague the honorable charles rangel, come before the floor. mr. rangel: i ask unanimous

consent to revise and extend my remarks. i wish i had a prepared statement. but i was so moved by listening and being a part of this great congressional group in this great country to be able to celebrate 50 years since the voting rights act. as a kid that was growing up on the streets of lennox avenue and dropped out of high school, i didn't have the benefit of having anything to attach a dream to that would allow me to believe that one day i could be sitting in the united states house of representatives. but after returning from the war and being a beneficiary of the g.i. bill and after

graduating from law school i was able to see and hear atrocities that have been committed on black folks in this country, the likes of which i had not seen except during war time. and even though my mother's family came from virginia, in the city of new york and even as today i don't ever remember meeting any white people from the south. i don't know what that is. perhaps congressman butterfield will be able to do a little historic research about why they stay in the south and didn't come to new york where racism in new york city was -- had a sugar coating to it. they didn't use dogs and bombs and things of that nature. but i recall so vividly in seeing people like andy young and especially our dear friend and colleague, john lewis be

prepared to put their lives on the line for our country. not for themselves. in korea indiana most wars -- and in most wars, people fight to stay alive and they don't voluntarily put their life on the line as john lewis and others had done. but what happened was when they had the first selma march, what we refer to as the bloody sunday, years before our beloved congresswoman was born i saw something that i really -- pained me as an american rather than as a human being. and then when they had the second march from selma to montgomery and dr. king pulled that back. and then we had the plea for

people from all over the country to come down for the third march. and i recall before i had bad feet and wasn't thinking about going to selma to do 54 miles but the inspiration to see people that had been prepared to put their life on the line for me and others like me, could not allow me to return to new york. it's very interesting that i have to admit publicly that when i heard the voice of lyndon johnson coming across on radio and television saying, we shall overcome i kind of thought that those were our words. and if a white person was to say it, i never expected to

find that accent of the very people that sounded as though they were part of a conspiracy to keep children of slaves from assimilating into the constitutional beliefs that we had since learned to live by and he joy and hope for. -- by and enjoy and hope for. what an historic moment that was what a revolutionary period that was. because as we review that and look at the picture of selma, we wondered, where did all of the people that represented this hatred go? the people who stood in the ways of people from registering and voters the people that took advantage of the idea that just because of their complexion that they were

superior, the people that belonged to the ku klux klan, the people that used religion as a sword instead of a shield, did they disappear? did they just go away? what happened to the so-called dixiecrats? but then i am reminded that as the result of the voting rights act and the civil rights act, that they didn't go very far. that they threw down their party label. but they stayed in the same places. made of them are doing the same thing -- and many of them are doing the same thing. trying to continue to prevent people of color from enjoying their full constitutional voting rights. and then when i was honored enough to come down here in

1971 where the half a dozen congressional black caucus members, nine joined with four of us that had decided to form the congressional black caucus, you can not believe congressman payne how it was never our dream that that small group would go from 13 to 26 to 40 to 46 to 47 and reach the historic impact on our policy and on our nation. a group that had no intention of doing anything except to introduce create and support policies that could make this great country even stronger for all of us. and, true, we have a lot of obstacles to overcome.

but i don't think any group of people have been as successful as we have, coming from the pits of slavenry in such a short period -- slavery in such a short period of time as we are now and to see how much more work we have to do that one day our children and our grandchildren would say, why did they have to have a congressional black caucus? why wasn't it just a democratic caucus? why did we need it? >> because of the commitment of individual members of the black caucus that come from all walks of life and got here to make this a better country and more effective congress, soon and