the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. almighty god of the universe, we give you thanks for giving us another day. we pray for the gift of wisdom to all with great responsibility in this house for the leadership of our nation. and that the members return from the various districts in our nation -- as our nation enters a week which ends with memorial day may we all be mindful in the busy-ness of life to remember our citizen ancestors who served our nation in the armed services. grant that their sacrifices -- sacrifice of self and for so many of life, will inspire all of american citizens to step

forward in whatever their path of life to make a positive contribution to the strength of our democracy. bless us this day bless us this day and every day and all that is done within these hallowed halls n for your greater honor and glory amen. the speaker pro tempore: the compare compare and announces to the house his approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from ohio, mr. chabot. mr. chabot: please join me in the pledge. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska seek recognition? >> request unanimous consent to

address the house for one minute. revise and extend my. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you mr. speaker. i rise today in support of h.r. 1732, the regulatory integrity plow text act and aloud its passage by the house of representatives. mr. smith: this bill prohibits the e.p.a. from using its waters of the u.s. rule to expand its authority, yea beyond congressional intent. waters of the u.s. is another executive overreach by this administration. the clean water act intentionally limited the e.p.a.'s jurisdiction to navigable waters, yet waters of u.s. would expand federal jurisdiction to include virtually all water flows from pitches to prairie potholes, even on private land. nebraskans are concerned waters of the us cows severely harm our ag economy by increasing costs and uncertainty for producers. america's farmers and ranchers are already great stewards of the land and take numerous steps to protect our natural resources. by blocking the u.s. waters of

u.s. rule stops the latest power grab and sports ag producers across the -- supports ag producers across the country. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition 1234 >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. green: thank you mr. speaker. members, it doesn't take long for a texan to brag about things we do in texas, but i wanted to take our one-minute today to talk about what the houston rockets has done. first time in 19 years to advance to the next level of the nba playoffs. being a rockets fan for as long as we have had them, i know all the houstonians and basketball fans were amazed they came from three games behind to win. also, sports, basket is not the only thing a couple blocks from where the rockets play, the houston astros are playing a. few years ago we had the worst team in baseball. but now they have been leading their division now and just swept another home standard.

i want to congratulation -- stand. i to congratulate the houston rockets and the houston astros. it's a long season. we need to keep it up. are you bringing sports history into houston again. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. chabot: thank you. mr. speaker, i rise today to mark the sixth anniversary of the end of the civil war in sri lanka. in a brutal war that lasted 37 years we saw nearly 100000 people killed many of them civilians, as a result of the tensions between the country's buddhist majority and hindu minority. since the war ended however, corruption and ongoing human rights abuses have prevented sri lanka from reaching a national reconciliation. then in january of this year, we saw the president, democratically elected with significant support from all communities.

mr. speaker, on this occasion i call on the new government to release the 200 detained political prisoners account for the nearly 20,000 missing civilians from the war, and end oppressive restrictions on the tamil provinces. this sixth anniversary serves as the reminder of sri lanka's war-torn past and a chance to move it towards a future of democracy justice, and equality for all its people because only then can sri lanka finally achieve the stability, peace, and prosperity it deserves. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from north carolina seek recognition? ms. foxx: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. in 2014 the u.s. environmental protection agency and the u.s. army corps of engineers issued a rule that would significantly broaden the federal government's power to regulate waters in adjacent lands under the clean water act. the waters of the united states

rule would give the federal government jurisdiction over puddles, roadside ditches, irrigation ditches, and storm and waste walter systems, federal agencies frequently place burdensome regulations on the american public, and this rule is no exception. fortunately, last week the house passed h.r. 1732, the regulatory integrity protection act which would require the agencies to start over and develop a new rule in consultation with state and local governments and other stakeholders. this commonsense legislation prevents an out-of-touch administration from threatening the livelihood of north carolina's farmers and saddling local governments with exorbitant compliance costs. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. sir, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2-h of rule 2 of the rules of the u.s. house of representatives, i have the honor to transmit a sealed vfl received from the white house

-- enveloped received from the white house on may 15, 2015, at 3:33 p.m. and said to contain a message from the president whereby he smits a copy of a notice filed earlier with the federal register continuing the emergency with burma first declared in executive order 130-47 of may 20 1997. signed, sincerely rob bert f. breeze, deputy clerk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will read the message. the clerk: to the congress of the united states section 202-d of the national emergencies act 50 u.s.c. 1622-d provides for the automatic termination of a national emergency unless within 90 days prior to the anniversary date of its declaration the president publishes in the federal register and transmits to the congress a notice stating that the emergency is to continue in effect beyond the anniversary date. in accordance with this provision, i have sent to the federal register for

publication the enclosed notice stating the national emergency with respect to burma that was declared on may 20, 1997, is to continue in effect beyond may 20 2015. the government of burma has made significant progress across a number of important areas, including the release of over 1,300 political prisoners, continued progress toward a nationwide cease-fire, the discharge of hundreds of child soldiers from the military, steps to improve labor standards, and expanding political space for civil society to have a greater voice in shaping issues critical to burma's future. in addition burma has become a signatory of the international atomic energy agency's additional protocol and ratified the blol cal weapons convention. significant steps towards supporting global nonproliferation. despite these strides, the situation and the country continues to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign

policy of the united states. concerns persist regarding the ongoing conflict and human rights abuses in the country. particularly in ethnic minority areas. in addition, burma's military operations with little oversight from the civilian government and often acts of impunity. for these reasons i have determined that it is necessary to continue the national emergency with respect to burma. despite this action, the united states relanes committed to supporting and strengthening burma's reform efforts and to continue working with those of the burmese government and people to ensure the democratic transition is sustained and irreversible. signed, barack obama, the white house. may 15, 2015. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the committee on foreign affairs and ordered printed. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in re

right now, the manhattan institute for policy research hosted a series of panel discussions on the future of america's black community. it's focused on reducing crime and related factors including legalization of drugs and the breakdown of the family. speakers include former maryland governor bob ehrlich this year's 50th anniversary of a study on black america which was conducted by then assistant secretary daniel patrick moynihan under president johnson, who later represented maryland in the senate. >> good morning. maybe we can get started. good morning, everyone. my name is jason reilly, i'm a senior fellow at the manhattan institute for policy research

and i'd like to welcome everyone to our symposium today titled prospects for black america, the moynihan report turns 50. white america symposium you're in the wrong room that would be any of the other rooms in the building. i'll be very brief with my remarks because we've got some excellent panels lined up and i want to give them as much time as possible for discussion. i'll get a chance to speak a little later on this afternoon so i hope you can stick around. i began working at the manhattan institute in february of this year. but the idea for this conference, a conference on race, first occurred to me many years ago when i was still on staff with "the wall street journal." i came across a book called the fairmont papers which

essentially is a transcription of a conference that occurred in 1980 at the fairmont hotel in san francisco. the conference was organized and hosted by the economist thomas sole and it was entitled "black alternatives." he save -- sole gave the opening remarks where he noted that the economic and social advancement of blacks in this country is still a great unfinished task he said methods and approaches currently being used to advance blacks demand re-examination. he said there's growing factual evidence of counterproductive results from noble intentions and that the goal of the conference was to explore alternative approaches. that's why we're here, he explained. to explore alternatives. not to create a new orthodoxy with its own messiahs and its own excommunications of those who dare to think for themselves. he said the people who were

invited to speak here are people seeking alternatives. people who have challenged conventional wisdom on one or more issues. people who think for themselves. some are democrats, some are republicans, some are liberals, some are conservatives. but all are open to fundamentally reassessing what's been tried in terms of public policy and helping black underclass. and finally, he noted -- finally, he noted that america's been through a historic phase of struggle for basic civil rights for blacks. a struggle that was necessary but not sufficient. he said the very success of that struggle created new priorities and new urgencies. economic realities to confront. and self-development to achieve. in schools, at work, in our communities. he said all that back in 1980.

and i must have come across it in the late 1990's. now here we are in 2015 and i don't think those sentiments are any less relevant today. a few years after i scored the fairmont papers, i became friends with sole who will be 85 this year and has yet another book out in a couple of months, i just got the galleys in the mail last week. i asked him about that conference. i've asked him about it several times over the years. he said it went very well. got a lot of press coverage. lots of good feedback he said he had ever intention of hosting a second one but the plan simply fell through. he never got around to it. i said that's the kind of conference we need and if someone else is hosting it, i've never been invited. after i joined the manhattan institute, i figured i'd give it a shot, and so here we are. i hope we can proceed in the

spirit that sole described, honestly evaluating what's been tried, opening our minds to alternative approaches. we know the conventional explanationers in black-white gaps we see today in education, incarceration, employment, incomes, etc. the conventional wisdom is that it's mainly about residual racism. legacy of slavery and jim crow, etc. conventional wisdom is to call for more government resources more government programs more wealth redistribution, and so forth. but the people asked to participate in today's symposium all bring something new to these discussions. they're not afraid to think outside the box about addressing these problems. they're open to new approaches. and just as important, they're willing to honestly evaluate what's been tried already. what's working and what's not working.

and quite a will the isn't working this year, we're marking the 50th anniversary of daniel patrick moynihan's report on the black family. it was a controversial document when he issued it while serving as assistant secretary of labor under president johnson and it remains controversial today. moynihan highlighted troubling cultural trends among inner city blacks with a special focus on the increasing number of fatherless homes. the fundamental problem is that of freshmanly truck -- structure he wrote. the evidence not finally colorfully persuasive, said the negro family in the urban ghettos is crumbling. for his troubles, he was denounced as a victim blaming racism, bent on undermining the civil rights movement. even worse, his findings were ignored by public policymakers including the great society architects who would go on to expand old programs an formulate new ones that exacerbated the

problems that moynihan had identified. marriage was penalized. single parenting was substized. history has proved that moynihan was on to something. when the report was released, 25% of black children and 5% of white children lived in households headed by a single mother. in the next 20 years, the black percentage was double and the racial gap would widen. today, more than 70% of all black births are to unmarried women, twice the white percentage. for decades, research has shown the likelihood of teen pregnancy, drug abuse, dropping out of school and many other social problems grew dramatically when fathers were absent. one of the most comprehensive studies ever done on juvenile delinquency included that the most critical factor in whether a male youth will encounter the criminal justice system is the presence of a father in the home. unfortunately, the moynihan

report ultimately, i should say, the moynihan report was an attempt to have an honest conversation about family breakdown and black path loling. one that many today still refuse to join. faulting ghetto culture for ghetto outcomes remains largely tattoo. an op-ed in the "new york times" a few days ago about the baltimore rioting and high black crime rates carried the headline, black culture is not the problem. what is the problem? according to this author, the problem is white racism. quote, the problem originates in a political culture that has long bound black bodies to questions of property. yes, i'm referring to slavery. unquote. i'm hoping the discussions today will be a little less reductive than that and a little more honest. black crime rates in 1960 were

lower than they are today. if the legacy of slavery explains the level of black crime today that legacy must have skipped a couple of generations and then reasserted itself. moynihan said that his goal was to better define a problem that many thought mistakenly, in his view, was no big deal and would solve itself in the wake of civil rights gained. skepticism was warranted. before we get started with the panels, i want to thank a few people. larry moen who signed off on this event. lee, debbie and others handled every everything from contacting the panelists and esecuring the venue, i thank them all for air hard work. i'd like to invite the first hanlists up and while they're doing so, i can read their buy yows.

-- bios. mr. riley: the honorable robert every slick the first republican governor in maryland when he was fivers elected in 2002. he also served a a u.s. congressman and state legislator. he made record investments in public schools as the governor of maryland, which i think is important for our discussion today he authored maryland's first public charter school law. which enabled more than 7,000 students to attend 30 new public charter schools. and he doubled funding for need-based college scholarshipping, helping college enrollment reach an all-time high on his watch. heather mczonled the thomas w. smith fellow and contributing

editor to city journal. her work covers a range of topics including homeland security, immigration, policing, homelessness, and education policy. her books include "are cops racist"? a city journal analogy which investigates the workings of the police department. she's a nonpracticing lawyer, has clerked for the honorable stephen reinhart, u.s. exeaps for the ninth circuit. she's also the -- the u.s. court of appealers in ninth circuit. she's also recipient of the 2005 bradley prize for outstanding intellectual achievement. john mcwhorter is a contributing editor at "city journal" who commented sensibly on race, ethnicity and cultural issues he also blurbed my last book. he's the author of "all about the beat: why hip-hop can't save

black america," the author of "using -- losing the race," as well as the author of a followup book "winning the race." john is also a linguist and teaches in the english and comparative literature department at columbia university. panel will be moderated by judge william koontz, who serves on the u.s. district court for the eastern district of new york. he was previously a commercial litigator in private practice in new york and since 1987, he's served as a commissioner of the new york city civilian complaint review board supervising hundreds of investigations into allegations of abuse by members of the new york city police department.

the title of the first panel is reducing crime rates in the black community. i'll let the judge take it from here. mr. kuntz: before we begin i would like you to join me in a moment of silence for new york city police officer brian moore who tied yesterday, he was 25 years old, he was patroling in my parents' old neighborhood of queens village, new york. thank you. we have a curious tradition in public forums such as this, one

in which people who are established themselves as experts, people who are well known to you, people who are well-spoken, and people who need no introduction receive an introduction from someone who is obscure to you, not known at all and you're wondering, what the hell is he doing up there? that would be me. my name is bill kuntz, i was born and raised in new york, lived in queens village as a teenager. i wanted to tell you how important this panel is both personally and professionally. today we are going to consider

the facts that as the murder of police officer moore demonstrated yesterday there is no such thing as a routine police-civilian encounter not for the police officer, not for the civilian. for years i served on the review board reviewing misconduct for police officers. each and every one of those complaints whether herer tos you or not was ewe -- whether merit ors you or not was -- meritorious or not was unique. they had the potential for deadly force or some of the most uplifting encounters between our police force and residents. i hope when you leave this panel discussion today, you exorcise

from your vocabulary the phrase, routine police encounter. there is no such thing. i will now turn this over to our truly distinguished panel. our knowledgeable experts. and we will begin with the former governor of maryland. mr. ehrlich: so, a week ago sunday i was driving my 11-year-old and my 15-year-old back from an event in maryland. we were drive do you think the baltimore express way. everyone familiar with that, raise your hand. i figured we'll cut up north avenue, go back to indianapolis and cut over to -- back to

annapolis and cut over to hilton street, cut over to streets very familiar to me. i did. we stopped at a light, there was a little african-american girl waving to us. i think she and her parents recognized me. less than 18 hours later that intersection i drove past was the center of the universe with regard to rice and riots and -- race and riots and police and more bad press for a city i grew up in, right outside baltimore city. so when you talk about personal, someone who grew up in maryland, whose dad worked very close to that intersection, a college i had championed as governor, a c.v.s. i knew well, friends in that neighborhood, it's very personal. very personal.

so as a result obviously, over the past few days all of the tv folks have been calling, getting me on their shows asking me why, what, where, what do you think? and i have to say that my initial thoughts were probably the same thoughts everyone in this room had. the first thought was, on the first day, when those kids, some of them from douglas high school some from other high schools, gathered together and began to do their thing your first thought was, where are the fathers? more fathers, less rioters. knowing the academic achievements or lack thereof in some of these area schools and past battles i fought particularly as governor against unions and others who protect

monopolies, negligent monopolies my second thought was, more degrees, less rioters. as someone whoed a authored a review online, 50 years since moynihan i recommend it to all of you my thought was more sentencing statutes that make sense, less rioters. more drug laws that make sense, less rioters. and so after these initial thoughts during these -- this interview process as the days unfolded, i also began to think about the fact of this case and what was truly at issue here. because these were consequences

of failed policies for decades. what were the facts of this case? how -- who was negligent? who was not? who should be held responsible? and the real issue here which is police practices. much less race although it's race race, race, race, because race equals ratings. but police practices and what happens with regard to this particular prisoner in that van that night. and we don't know. we don't know. but we'll find out. we'll certainly find out. my concluding comment is this -- as someone who has been a state legislator in congress, and governor, i certainly would indulge to some extent the idea

of healing. who is against healing? we have to heal. but if it's healing on familiar terms, if it's the same old m.o., if it's the same old paratime as you heard out of the president's mouth the other day and others we need more money, $22 trillion since the great society. if that's the premise, i'm not going to play. there's folks in those neighborhoods shouldn't play. policymakers shouldn't play. and we should not indulge it because if it's just that, nobody should be surprised if we see a repeat in three months, six months, nine months, three years, 10 years. and as someone who knew this neighborhood my entire life, i wouldn't be surprised to see the same conditions if it's the same

paradigm. maybe, hopefully just, you pray that something good can come of this. nothing good comes from this yet but maybe this conference, this conversation these values, can actually become part of the agenda. not just in annapolis but in washington, d.c. if that's the case something good will come of this. mr. kuntz: thank you. we'll have opening statements from john and then from heather and then we'll have discussion amongst the panelists and then questions from our learned audience as well. mr. mcwhorter: if i add value to this event it's as a responder. i'm much better at responding. so i think heather can go first.

mr. kuntz: he knows i wouldn't let him get away with that in court. you didn't do your homework? are you billing your client for this? heather: -- ms. macdonald: we have been -- there's been a movement of black lyes matter. it was triggered by death, it was a move to eliminate grand jury proceedings when a police officer uses lethal force and a presidential task force on policing. the premise of that black lives matter movement boils down to essentially that the police are the biggest threat facing young

black men today. i want to propose a counter hypothesis to that conceit, which is that in fact, there is no government agency more dedicated to the proposition that black lives matter than the police. now, every unjustified police shooting or death by other means is an unmitigated tragedy and the police have to work incessantly to refine their tactics, to make sure they don't misperceive threats. and the police also have an indefeasible obligation to treat everybody they encounter with courtesy and respect. and that obligation is too often violated. the police develop very rough attitudes on the street, in part because of the behavior that they receive in trying to make

arrests or investigate crimes. but that civilian behavior is no excuse for treating people rudely and perempt orly. -- and peremptorily. nevertheless, in new york city today, 10,000 males are alive who would be dead had homicide rates remained at 1990's level. the essential aspects of that revolution is an obsession with crime data, analyzing crime data on a daily if not hourly basis to try and figure out where crime patterns are emerging and accountability for police precinct commanders. it used to be that nobody assumed that the police could

control crime or held them accountable for it. and now the nypd is routeless -- is ruthless about imposing responsibility on precinct commanders. if they do not save black lives their careers are in jeopardy. what happened in new york, thanks to this revolution in policing was to liberate the law-abiding residents of inner city neighborhoods to be able to go out into the public, to shop, to go to the store pick up their mail in the post office elderly women could come down into the lobbies of their buildings without being fearful of drug dealers. and there's one other thing that drives new york policing now, and that's community demands. for assistance.

right now, we're seing a movement to depolice, decriminalize, in new york there's an effort to cut back on broken windows policing which is the idea of enforcing low level quality of life offenses. it's said to unfairly burden minority communities. if this pushed -- push to decriminalize becomes effective it's going to involve ignoring the very people whom the advocates purport to represent. it's a moral imperative. i have never gone to a police community meeting in harlem or the south bronx or central brooklyn when i haven't heard variants of the following requests -- you arrest drug

dealers and they're back on the corner the next day. why can't you get them off the streets? there's kids hanging out in my lobby smoking weed. why can't you arrest them for loitering? i smell weed in the hallway. somebody's breaking the law here. i met an elderly cancer amputee in the mount hope section of the bronx who was terrified to go into her lobby and get her mail because of the youth hanging out there. she said, please, jesus, send more police. the only time she felt safe was when the police were there. so i'll conclude while we need constantly to work on police-community relations what is being lost, i think in this discussion, is that to date, short of i would agree with the

judge, rebuilding the black family, the second best solution to giving the same rights of public safety and freedom to inner city neighborhoods that the wealthy enjoy is sound and effective proactive policing. thank you. mr. kuntz: as the last responder, would you like to respond? mr. mcwhorter: this is how i see the issue that this panel is devoted to. it is definitely true that it would be ideal if we could do what we're call regular building the black family. obviously that's true. there are various things that go on that i don't think need to be spelled out again here, that ideal lie -- ideally hi would not be going on. but the problem is what is the likelihood those changes are going to happen, whether or not we say they're going to? and after 50 years, i think it's

quite clear that there's no way to create a movement in black america that would rebuild the kind of black freshmanly we're talking about. i'm not saying it shouldn't happen. it clearly can't be done. we have to really talk about what we mean here. could it be that a certain number of black leaders and come um -- columnists started making a certain call for the rebuilding of the black family and it would be effective. let's face it. if, say, one out of two of those black leaders and columnists made that call then they would be raked over the coals by the usual suspects. sol jamil bowie at "slate" and others would talk about what horrible human beings these leaders and columnists were for not understanding the role of institutional racism in the past. now would those people end up

crying or need to go into therapy in no but what would result is conversations and op-eds where people bathle it out whether we were talking about the culture or the system, it would wind up a draw nobody would learn anything. that's what would happen if one out of two people decided -- decided to devote themselves to reed bying the black family. if al sharpton decided to do that a reporter would attack him for that and it would end up a draw. mr. kuntz: but cornel west would no longer write the introfor him. mr. mcwhorter: let's say that 95% of people said the black family needed to be rebuilt. >> we leave this event at this point. you can see it in its entirety on our website.

we go live now to camden, new jersey, as president obama is talking about community policing. president obama: i've come here to camden to do something that might have been unthinkable a few years ago. and that's to hold you up as a symbol of promise for the nation. i don't want to overstate it. obviously camden, you know, has gone through tough times and there's still tough times for a lot of folks here in camden. but just a few years ago this city was written off as dangerous beyond redemption. the city -- a city trapped in a downward spiral. parents were afraid to let their children play outside. drug dealers operated in broad daylight. there weren't enough cops to patrol the streets. so two years ago, the police

department was overhauled to implement a new model of community policing. they doubled the size of the force, while keeping it unionized, they cut desk jobs in favor of get manager officers out into the streets. not just to walk the beat but to actually get to know the residents. to set up basketball games. to volunteer in schools. to participate in reading programs. to get to know small businesses in the area. to be a police officer takes a special kind of courage and i talked about this on friday at a memorial for 131 officers who gave their lives to protect communities like this one. takes a special kind of courage to run toward danger. to be a person that residents turn to when they're most desperate. and when you match courage with

compassion with care and understanding of the community, like we've seen here in camden, some really outstanding things can begin to happen. violent kime in camden is down 24%. [applause] murder is down 47%. [applause] open air drug markets have been cut by 65%. [applause] the response time for 911 calls is down from one hour to just five minutes and when i was in the center it was 1.3 minutes right when i was there. and perhaps most significant is

that the police and residents are building trust. building trust. nobody is suggesting that the job is done. this is still a work in progress. the police chief would be the first to say it, so would the mayor. sam den and its people still face some very big challenges. but this city is onto something. you've made real progress in just two years. and that's why i'm here today. i want to focus on the fact that other cities across america can make similar progress. everything we've done over the past six years whether rescuing the economy or reforming our schools or retooling our job training programs has been in pursuit of one goal. that's creating opportunity for all of us. all our kids. we know that some communities have the odds stacked against them and have had the odds stacked against them for a very long time. in some cases for decades.

you've got rural communities that have chronic poverty you have manufacturing communities that got hit hard. there are not only cities but also suburbs where jobs can be tougher to find and tougher to get to because of development patterns and lack of transportation options. and folks who do work, are working harder than ever but don't feel they can get ahead. in some communities that sense of unfairness and powerlessness has contributed to dysfunction in those communities. communities are like bodies and if the immunity system is down, they can get sick. and when communities aren't vibrant, when people don't feel a sense of hope and opportunity then a lot of times that can fuel crime and that can fuel

unrest. we've seen it in places like baltimore and ferguson and new york. it has many causes, from a basic lack of opportunity to some groups feeling unfairly targeted by their police forces. that means there's no single solution. there has to be a lot of different solutions, different approaches that we try. so within of the things we did to address these issues was to create a task force on the future of community policing and this task fowses were outstanding because it was made up of all the different stake holdsers. we had law enforcement. we had community activists. we had young people. they held public meetings across the country. they developed concrete proposals that every community in america can implement to rebuild trust and help law enforcement. the recommendations were released in march, they were finalized today, they include everything from enhanced officer

training to improving the use of body come rahs and other technologies to make sure that police departments are being smart about crime and that there's enough data for them to be accountable as well. and we're trying to support the great work that's happening at the local level where cities are already responding to these recommendations. before i go further i want the members of our task force to stand because they've done some outstanding work and they deserve to be acknowledged. thank you. [applause] now, we've launched a police data initiative that's helping camden and other innovative cities use data to strengthen their work and hold themselves accountable by sharing it with the public. departments might track things like incidents of force so they can identify and handle programs

that could otherwise escalate. here in camden officers deal with some 41 different data systems which means they have to enter the same information multiple times. so today we brought a volunteer elite tech team to help, a group of tai ta scientists and engineers, they're going to work with the police department here to troubleshoot some of the technical challenges so it's easier for police departments to do the things they want to do in helping to track what's going on in communities and then also helping to make sure that that day is -- data is used effect i havely -- effectively to identify where are their trouble spots? where are the problems? are there particular officers that need additional help additional training? all that can be obtained in a really effective efficient way. today we're also releasing new policies on the military style equipment that the federal government has in the past provided the state and local law

enforcement agencies. we have seen how militarized gear can sometimes give people a feeling like there's an occupying force as opposed to a force that's part of the community that's protecting them an serving them. can alien ate and intimidate local residents and send the wrong message. so we're going to prohibit some equipment that's made for the battlefield that's not appropriate for local police departments. there is other equipment that may be needed in certain cases but only with proper training. so we're going to ensure that departments have what they need but also that they have the training to use it. we're doing these things because we're listening to what law enforcement is telling us. the overwhelming majority of police officers are good and honest and fair. they care deeply about their communities, they put their lives on the line every day to keep them safe.

their loved ones wait and worry until they come through the door at the end of their shift. so we should do everything in our power to make sure they are safe and help them do the job the best they can. and what's interesting about what chief thompson has done and what's happening here in camden is, these new officers who i have to confess made me feel old because they all look like they could still be in school, the approach that the chief has taken in getting them out of their squad car, into the communities, getting them familiar with the people that they're serving, they're enjoying their jobs more because they feel as if over time they can have more of an impact and they're get manager help from the community because the community has seen them and knows them. before there's a crisis. before there's an incident.

so it's not just crisis response. it's not after the fact, there's a crime, there's a dead body there's a shooting and now we're going to show up. it's, we're here all the time hopefully we can prevent those shootings from happening in the first place. [applause] but one of the things i also want to focus on is the fact that a lot of the issues that have been raised here and in places like baltimore and ferguson and new york goes beyond policing. we can't ask the police to contain and control problems that the rest of us aren't willing to face. or do anything about. if we as a society don't do more to expand opportunity to everybody who is willing to work for it, then we'll end up seeing

conflicts between law enforcement and residents. if we as a society aren't willing to deal honestly with issues of race, then we can't just expect police departments to solve these problems. if communities are being isolated and segregated without opportunity and without investment and without jobs if we politicians are simply ramping up long sentences for nonviolent drug crimes that end up devastating communities, we can't then ask the police to be the ones to solve the problem when there are no able bodied men in the community. or kids are growing up without

intact households. [applause] we can't just focus on the problems when there's a disturbance and then cable tv runs it for two or three or four days and then suddenly, we forget about it again. until the next time. communities like some poor communities in camden or my hometown in chicago, they're part of america too. the kids who grow up here, they're america's children, just like children every place else, they've got hopes and dreams and potential. and if we're not investing in them no matter how good chief thompson and the police are doing, these kids are still going to be challenged.

so we've all got to step up. all got to care about what happens. chief thompson will tell you his officers read to young children in the communities not just to build positive relationships but because it's in the interest of the community to make sure these kids can read. they can stay in school. and graduate ready for college and careers and become productive members of society. that's in his interest, not just as a police chief but also as a citizen of this country. and somebody who grew up in this area. knows this area. and that's why we partnered with cities and states to get tens of thousands more kids access to quality early childhood education. no matter who they are or where they're born. they should get a good start in life. that's why we partnered with cities including camden to create what we call promise zones, where all hands on deck efforts to change the odds for communities to start happening because we're providing job

training and helping reduce violence and expanding affordable housing. that's why we're ready to work with folks from both sides of the aisle to reform our criminal justice system. we all want safety. we all know how pernicious the drug culture can be in undermining communities. this massive trend toward incarceration even of nonviolent drug offenders and the costs of that trend are crowding out other critical investments that we can make in public safety. if we're spending a whole lot of money on prisons and we don't have computers or books or enough teachers or sports or music programs in our schools, we are being counterproductive. it's not a good strategy. [applause]

and so in addition to the work we're doing directly on the criminal justice front we're also launching something that we call my brother's keeper. an initiative to ensure that all young people, but with a particular focus on young men of color have a chance to go as far as their dreams will take them. [applause] over the coming weeks, members of my cabinet will be traveling around the country to highlight communities doing great work to improve the lives of their residents. we know these problems are solveable. we know we're not welcoming for answers. we're just lacking political will. we have to see these problems for what they are. not something that's happening in some other city to some other people, but something that's happening in our community. the community of america.

and we know that change is possible because we've seen it in maces like this. we've seen it thanks to people like officer virginia matteas. where is virginia? there she is right there. [applause] earlier this year, vice president biden and i got to sit with officer matteas and rank and file law enforcement officers from around the country and virginia was talking about how when she was growing up in east camden, crime was so bad she wasn't allowed to go to the store alone. her mom was once robbed at gunpoint. when she was 17 her uncle was shot and killed in his own store. instead of turning away from camden she decided she wanted to become a cop where she grew up to help the community she loved. and today she's a proud member of the camden county police department. and she's a constant presence in the community, getting to know

everybody she passes on her beat even volunteering in a kindergarten. officer matteas isn't just helping to keep her community safe, she's a role model for young people of camden. anyone who thinks that things aren't getting better, she said, i see kids playing outside, riding bikes in the neighborhoods, on their porches having a conversation. that's how i measure change. that's how we should all measure change. i had a chance to meet with some young people here who participated in a round table with the officers and they're extraordinary young people. and they got hopes and dreams just like malia and sasha. they're overcoming things that my children didn't have to go through or i didn't have to go through. in talking to them, some of them, the reason they've been able to make it and do well is because their parents don't let

them out outside. well, you know what, children shouldn't have to be locked indoors in order to be safe. that's not right. some of them still have concerns about friends of theirs that have taken a wrong path and got involved in the streets and drugs. yeah, that's not the environment that we need our kids to be growing up in. i challenge everybody to get to know some of these young people. they're outstanding. they're going to do great things in their life. [applause] president obama: but -- the point is is that they shouldn't have to go through superhuman efforts just to be able to stay in school and go to college and achieve their promise. that should be the norm. that should be standard. and if it isn't we're not

doing something right. we as a society isn't doing something right if it isn't so -- [applause] president obama: so ultimately that's how we're going to measure change. rising prospects for our kids, rising prospects for the neighborhood. do our children feel safe on the streets? do they feel cared for by their community? do they feel like the police departments care about them? do they feel as if when they work hard they can succeed? do they feel like the country is making an investment in them? do they see role models for success? are there pathways to jobs that they can identify? do they know if they put an effort they can make it? are they going to be treated fairly regardless of the color of their skin or what their last name is?

it's pretty basic. i travel around the country. the one thing that makes me always so optimistic is our children. and what you realize is everywhere kids are -- kids are kids. sometimes they'll drive you crazy. they'll make mistakes. but there's an inherent goodness in them. they want to do the right thing. they just need to be given a chance. and some of them aren't going to be lucky enough to have the structures at home that they need in which case we all have to pick up the slack. and if we do they'll respond. they will. but we got to feel like that they're our kids. we got to see our children in them in their eyes.

we haven't done enough of that but we can. there's a moment of great promise. there's a moment of great hope. and if we're seeing such extraordinary improvement in camden because of the good efforts of a lot of elected officials and an outstanding police chief and some wonderful police officers and the community that's supportive and nonprofit organizations like salvation army and others that are doing some great work, if it's working here it can work anywhere. it can work anywhere. [applause] president obama: city hall of camden you got an inscription by walt wittman. in a dream i saw a city invincible. in a dream i see a country

invincible. if we care enough to make the effort on behalf of every child in this country. [applause] president obama: camden is showing that it can be done. i want america to show everybody around the country that it can be done. thank you very much, everybody. god bless. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] ♪

♪ i will provide for you and i'll stand by your side you'll need a good companion now for this part of the ride yeah, leave behind your sorrows let this day be the last well, tomorrow there will' be sunshine and all this darkness past ♪ ♪ well, big wheels roll through fields where sunlight streams oh, meet me in the land of hope and dreams ♪

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>> ♪ this train carries saints and sinners this train carries and losers and winners this train carries whores and gamblers this train carries lost souls ♪ ♪ this train carries broken-hasn'ted this train thieves and sweet souls departed this train carries fools and kings thrown this train dreams will not be thwarted this train, faith will be

rewarded this train the steel wheels singing this train bells of freedom ringing ♪ >> ♪ no you're not alone because i'm going to make this place your home ♪ ♪ setting down it will all be clear don't pain no attention to the demons they feel you with fear the trouble, it might drag you down you'll get lost, you can always

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>> president obama in camden, new jersey talking about community policing and demilitarizing plus. also announcing a pullback in the surface military equipment with local law enforcement. you will be able to watch it shortly online at c-span.org. the police union opposes the president's initiative. in article in "politico" this afternoon accuse the president politicizing the safety of the nation's police officers. their story says the nation's largest police union is fighting back against the white house plan to restrict local police force's ability to acquire military-style gear, accusing president obama's task force of politicizing office safety. bayonets, grenade launchers will no longer be able to police departments. james pasco, the executive director of the fraternal order of police, told "politico" today he hopes to have a white

house meeting as soon as tomorrow to discuss his concerns about the plan -- how the plans could put cops at risk. "the f.o.p. is the most aggressive law enforcement advocacy group in washington and we will be at our most aggressive need in ensuring our office's right" well the u.s. house returns at 4:00 p.m. eastern, about 45 minutes from now. they'll begin their legislative agenda for the week. that includes debate on anti-human trafficking legislation and funding for the u.s. coast guard. live coverage of the house here on c-span starting at 4:00 p.m. eastern. while we wait for the house's return a discussion now on income inequality from today's "washington journal." "washington journal" continues. guest: there has been a lot of talk already on the 2016 campaign between the richest americans and the rest. we will be talking about that on "washington journal" and we are

joined by matt and michael. president obama in 2013 called this economic inequality issue that defining challenge of our time. would you agree with that? guest: yes. the doubling of the top 1% of the income share, runaway income at the top. a real hard hit meeting class. median incomes are down 8% since 2000 and the precarious market situation, a lot of unemployment continuous employment. host: talk about the growth of any quality. are we hearing so much about it because this is an issue that is running away? guest: i think we have heard a lot about it the financial races because we dodged another great depression, there has been a lot of economic anxiety. inequality was high before the

financial crisis and we tended not to hear all that much about it. there was no occupy wall street were not talking about it as the defining challenge of our time. i think as it continues to expand we will see inequality as an issue. host: talk about the roosevelt is to move the policy prescriptions that your group recently put out. guest: we just released a big report called rewriting the rules. people talk about weak economic performance over the past 10 15, 30 years, they tend to emphasize things like globalization, technology, and skills. we really wanted to emphasize public policy decision, the rules of the economy how labor markets are set up play just as much of a role and certainly a greater role than is commonly

acknowledged. a lot of these changes we argue have not aid the economy stronger and in some cases, like financial deregulation, may have weakened it. we think it is within our capacity to rewrite these rules. host: for viewers who want to check out the report it is rooseveltinstitute.org. if your income last year was under $20,000 748-8000. between 20000 and exceed thousand -- and $60,000,748-8001. a line for those who made over $100,000, 748-8003.

guest: i think income inequality has been overstated as a problem. the research that i have done and try to highlight that others have done does not make a very strong case in my view that if you care about any quality of opportunity, that income inequality ought to be the thing that you target. i am more concerned about upward mobility from the bottom. i think the way to do that is to do experimentation at the federal level with programs trying to increase the skills of kids, change the behavior of parents. i think we have federal safety net programs that have bad incentives were people are discouraged from working saving, marrying. i think we ought to have some reforms in the area of higher education finance thing but i would not tend put forth an agenda that specifically is trying to reduce income in the alley.

host: hr two -- a chart to demonstrate what we are talking about. the blue line on the top is the top .01% of earners in this country and the red line is the bottom 90% in this country. you can see the percent change in real income since 1980, staying flat for the bottom 90% and going generally upward for the top .01%. michael, is it just a matter of getting people more ability to break into that top point 01%? guest: no, we do not believe so. these are symptoms of our economic delays. -- malaise. we really need to

tackle the underlying illness and that is that there are a lot of rules that are channeling wealth upward, redefining finance, corporations, labor markets, intellectual property. all taken together it creates this to virgin's. -- this to virgin's. divergence. it is not a recovery that is broad-based. the 1% looks like it is coming down to -- back to 2007 levels. these trends are very likely to continue forward. host: in terms of changing the policy regime, is it a matter of heavy taxes on that .01% to try to move money down? guest: there is also things political scientist call market conditioning or pre-distribution, everything from labor market regulation to

the minimum wage that set of the market. i think it is time we pulled it back. host: scott, i imagine you do not miss fairly agree. guest: lots of disagreement. i think the story they want to tell in the report that the rise income inequality beginning in the early 1980's facilitated by these rules changes that he talks about have had negative consequences i think a big problem for the report is the timing of the story does not work out. the growth in income slowed starting early in the 1970's, predating the run-up income concentration by a decade. productivity slowed in developed countries around the world countries that had a lot of inequality, countries that did not have that much. there are a number of instances like that where the financial

sector has become a bigger share of the economy. this is not something where financial is asian -- financial-ization has affected. hopefully we can have a discussion about trends in living standards as well. the chart you referenced visually downplays how much there has been income growth for the middle class the congressional budget office indicates that it's been something like -- it has been something like a 40% increase since 1979. we are almost back to the levels that were essentially all-time highs for living standards. host: scott winship's website manhattan.i-institute.org and

rooseveltinstitute.org. we want to hear from our viewers and we have divided them from income last year. peter calling in from valley cottage, new york for people who went -- who made between $51,000 and $100,000. caller: i want to talk about the 800 pound gorilla in the room. the research report comes from 1945 to 2013. as immigration slowed between 1945 and 1970 incomes increased. when immigration increased the incomes went down and then went flat. crs reported that the foreign-born population of the united states surged from 9 billion -- 9 million to 20

million in 2013. incomes of the bottom 90% dropped 7.9% from an average of 33,000 621 to 30,980. there are other contributing factors, globalization, out sourcing, declining utilization trade deals that are bad advances in robotics and tech elegy. when you have a weak economy or slowly growing economy you will not be able to absorb all these people. we bring in 1,002,000 immigrants legally every year that are competing with american workers. this legalization effort that was being pushed a year ago they want to double that. host: peter is an valley cottage, new york. in your report the roosevelt institute talked about this idea

of immigration. guest: certainly having a large part of the labor force essentially be in the shadows of labor law and not having basic right, basic protections, the ability to go to law enforcement or other types of agencies is a real detriment to other workers who have to compete. we feel you can make the labor floor much better for everyone by incorporating people formally. there's a lot of different ways to measure this but my understanding is that immigration has fallen quite dramatically it's the great recession, and there may be outflows. we do not see this renaissance of working-class wages so there are other factors at play. host: scott winship, did you want to jump in? guest: i think i do agree with what mike said. the research literature is all over the place on this question. i do think that the caller

brings up an important point which is that a lot of the in the report could have benefits but a lot of them could have cost as well. i think a lot of them that are not as rarely discussed in the report whether that is more spending on federal policies that would increase deficits or economic growth that way. i agree with mike about overall how important immigration has has not been for wage trends over time. host: in terms of spending, henry wants me to ask you do about under investment in american infrastructure and american workers. guest: i think the infrastructure problem in the u.s. this is a bad time to cite the literature on this given that we just had this horrible amtrak accident but i think they have made a pretty strong case.

a researcher that has been on blogs, he makes a very smart -- a very strong case that it has been overstated. we want to maintain our infrastructure spending for sure. i think what the recovery showed is that even when we boost spending on infrastructure it does not have very strong, especially short-term impact on employment distribution so i think infrastructure has been oversold. host: income inequality, the income distribution in the u.s. is our topic for the next five that it's were so on "the washington journal." jim is up next, kitty hawk north carolina. good morning. caller: good morning. one of the problems i think we have in this country is the low savings rate.

without money in the bank it is very difficult to negotiate any kind of union contract or just discuss those possibilities with your management. i can recall my grandmother -- my grandfather was a cabinet maker and my grandmother had this jar in the pantry and she saved one dollar or two dollars a week. i said what is that money for? she said it is for a time when we go on strike so i can pay the mortgage and feed the family. i think that is one of the major problems in this country. earlier in the day on another network i heard that people between 55 and 65, 60% of them have no retirement fund. what is going to happen to those people in the next 10, 20, 30 years, living to the tune of 80 or 90 years old? host: michael? guest: there has been a big

experiment with 401k. people just have not historically ever received that way. it is differently to save off of yourself. people generally retire off a government pension or private engine. the gap there is pretty big and sterling. we have seen internationally were a lot of these private savings institutions -- an experiment of the danish penso ion section. we call for bolstering social security. i think the reason for the decline of the strike which happened much earlier, in the 1940's after a lot of change in the labor law, it rings down the strike level do not want to

blame it tubing much on individuals. we think it is really a structure -- a function of labor law that has caused that change. guest: i think this is one of these crises, the retirement savings crisis that has been overstated. there is really good research showing that our official data that people use to gauge the adequacy of retirement savings and how much income retirees have is really understated. incomes of older americans. i think it is a misreading of those sorts of statistics that lead you to conclude we should spend more on social security, which is really going to eat the rest of the budget along with medicare as things currently stand, even if we do not expand it. i think that is a real trade-off. host: income inequality is the topic of our roundtable this morning on "the washington journal." here is a another chart showing

the wealth share in the united dates from 1913 to 2012 of the top .1%. you can see once it was passed 2010 or so that number over 20% of the wealth share of the united states is held by those on top. we are talking about income inequality. calvin is up next, winston-salem, north carolina. good morning. caller: good morning, and kudos to c-span for the continuous excellent job you and your team do. host: i appreciate that. caller: the nature of a capitalist system is to have built in income inequality. going back to the fight of europe which was the predecessor for our current american capital system, there will always be those who have the capital and those who will seek to work using their capital.

income inequality is built in. the second thing i would like to mention is a book called "the millionaire next" by a couple of doctors that was published back in 1996. it points out a couple of things, and piggybacks on with the gentleman mentioned millionaires live next-door and are inconspicuous because a lot of their habits, their saving and spending habits, the values that they have in terms of emphasizing education, deferring immediate satisfaction to look at the long-term benefits of a decision, that is what really makes people wealthy and prosperous. i do not think it is a total government thing more tonor do i think we have to let free enterprise solve the situation. host: scott? guest: i think the caller makes

an interesting point that there are people out there that are millionaires who we might not expect were identified as much. for somebody who tends to worry less about inequality than other people it is hard to understate how much inequality there is in the united states. the inequality between mary ellis than who is -- larry ellison, who is often the richest person on the charts in america, and mitt romney, is as great as the inequality between the top 1% and the average middle-class family. it is astonishing how high inequality levels are in united states. i think you need to make a case why that is a problem. host: do you want to jump in? guest: they said earlier, you want to include sociology

individual and family decisions. we think those tend to be overrated compared to the normal conversation. a general tendency toward inequality, of course, we have always had inequality in the company -- in the country. one thing we have noticed is that a lot of those things change very rapidly. ceo salaries relatively flat and certainly do not have the explosive characteristics of after 1980. there are different ways to set up with some people called the varieties of capitalism. ones that are more inclusive that work better for more people and one that channels income to the very top. host: john from pennsylvania, made between $51,000 and $100,000 last year. caller: 100 years ago upton

sinclair said something like if it is difficult for a person to understand something, if their salary depends on them not understanding it, you can take the manhattan institute heritage foundation, american enterprise in two and club for growth, you can apply it. as far as the income inequality, the facts are there to back it up it would be nice if c-span had the roosevelt group on as much as heritage and the other groups. you guys definitely have the right wing think tanks on their tubing much. as far as income inequality goes, the facts are out there. host: scott, do you want to talk about your group and michael, i will let you do the same? guest: the manhattan institute is a free market think tank in

new york city. we advocate the government play a role where it can help but generally we are a lot more worried about government failure than market failure. i was at the brookings institution before i was at the manhattan institute. i think the caller is identifying some problems there that are on both sides of the aisle for sure. ultimately i would encourage him to read my own stuff on inequality and see whether i have the facts wrong. host: it is manhattan-inst itute.org. and the roosevelt institute. guest: we were to keep the legacy of franklin and eleanor roosevelt life. we started a think tank in 2009, financially -- primarily focused on the financial reform.

host: roosevelt institute.org if you want to check out that website. laura, good morning. caller: it is both my husband and that -- my husband and i making that we are now retired. i wanted to address president obama's conference on inequality because it seems like he was blaming whitey instead of addressing the fact from all these institutes, especially the heritage in the tiered -- heritage institute, the number one grouped are single female-headed households. one income and barely with a high school education. if you wait and get married then you will have two incomes and you will yield your way up and you will save. he did not address the fact that

lacks account for 12 to 13% of the population but have 70% to 80% of out of wedlock births. these kids that are raised in ingle family households -- in single-family household have more problems. if you wait and get married and commit to the mother of your children then you can work your way up and not be trapped in poverty. host: michael, i'm going to let you jump in. guest: what we have emphasized is that the causation runs both ways. sociologists have talked to poor women who are not getting women. -- who are not getting married but they find their economic conditions are too unstable. a lot of times they cannot find men stable paying jobs. we want to say the causation

runs both ways. economic performance can cause weaker marriages. people who have higher student loans are likely to delay marriage. in the report we do emphasize mass incarcerationn, an important policy change that is influenced income for particularly people of color. it has really -- an attempt to lock a lot of people out of the labor market. we need a good bipartisan effort to evaluate our criminal justice. host: what do you think applies here? guest: i think the caller has a point that the upward mobility in the united's eight is -- in the united states is more of a problem of upward mobility for african-american. family structure is a big part

of the problem there. i would add a couple of other things. i think another very big problem is the extent to which people of color are concentrated in neighborhoods that are poor. there was a big report that just came out by a harvard economist. it essentially found that if you grow up in a poor neighborhood it impedes your upward mobility. the other point of my family structure is important, it is much broader among the african-american community among people who do not have a college degree. two thirds of seven-year-old i think was the last research i saw, or living with just one parent. i think this is a national problem that transcends race. host: we have about half an hour left on our income inequality roundtable. anthony is waiting in atlanta georgia, and made between

$25,000 and $50,000 last year. caller: good morning. host: good morning. caller: i wanted to make a comment about something you said at the beginning. the .01% doubled their wealth. my question is, what do you guys feel like would actually help the inequality gap? you say education reform but people are going to school and then they are coming out in debt. i just do not see where it is going. do you know what i'm saying? host: scott winship, i will let you start. guest: let me identify a couple places in the room court where i agree -- in the report where i agree with remedies. government is unfairly protecting incumbent organizations or businesses, or

where we are overpaying for things as a contractor. i think in the report they talk about defense contracting. if you live in washington, d.c., you cannot help but notice how many very wealthy people there are. i think there are areas where we could increase competition and if we included some deregulations that helped smaller businesses break into markets are currently we have got large corporations lobbying to keep them out, that is something that is hurting the national economy increasingly a lot of conservatives would get kindness and oppose this crony capitalism. host: michael? guest: i think people has widened his suggestion that everyone should get one more

year of education than i thought was necessary. a lot of it returns to higher education and has kind of plateaued out. i think the caller is correct in that and our report has a lot of different suggestions. one is emphasizing employment -- unemployment. if we decreased unemployment you would see a lot more broad income growth. a higher minimum wage -- a higher tax margin, provides a disincentive to step up the salaries. doing something with corporate governance. we discuss them in the report. host: tallahassee florida, for the line that made under $25,000.

caller: i just wanted to say that i noticed over the years in my retirement -- i worked 35 years in the private business. my husband worked for the state for about 35 years and after he retired, unfortunately he passed away with cancer, but he had over 300,000 in his retirement working for the state. i would like to know how the state employees and government employees and up with so much in their retirement while private workers do not fare so well. i will take my answer over the air. host: scott winship. guest: i think the major reason is what is called defined-benefit retirement plans are more comment in the government -- or more common in the government sector.

your employer guarantees you a fixed amount of income based on how many years and your level of income upon retirement. in the private sector workers are contributing to themselves. a lot of people on the left wish that we had more of the former, the defined and if it's plans -- the defined benefit plans. what we are seeing in the public sector is that pension plans been severely underfunded and it is questionable whether a lot of folks, especially starting out today, or ever going to see that retirement savings in the end. if it ends up that employers have to take back some of their promises and say, we will not get as much as we promised you. younger workers are getting less generous packages so near

retirees can get the full commitment that was promised to them. it is sort of an unsustainable model. host: michael is this a place where there is some agreement? guest: i would have to know more about the plan. he has social security for one third, private savings, and employer pension. no matter how that was in play in the 1950's, that is mostly gone now. we need to rely more on private savings and employer pension so we should think more about social security. host: on the line for those who made under $20,000 sam. caller: thank you for the very interesting topic. the past couple of calls have been towards retirement more than income equality.

i am fortunate in the fact that i was able to retire relatively young, because over the past 10 or 12 years i saved almost everything i need. a caller earlier talked about the benefits of two incomes or being married and how that was wonderful for saving money. so we have divorce and get rid of a freespending wife. when it comes to the inequality argument, what causes it, how to solve it, and cetera, it comes down to as far as i'm concerned that the unions have been decimated. business, republicans, conservatives, capitalist went after them with a vengeance and consequently, they have been knocked down to very, very small membership. if you go back to the glory

years of the 1950's through the 1970's, my father was a union member, worked in a factory and need a good enough living that we even had small home on the lake. you cannot do that nowadays. you take a look at those charts, the host showed when earlier were the upper income folk, their income has skyrocketed whereas the middle class working class has stayed flat. what more proof do you need? there are other charts out there that show wealth, ownership of wealth, where the top 1% owned about 50 to 70% of the total wealth of the country whereas the lower 99% or 90%, whatever the number, bones practically nothing -- owns practically nothing.

i do not presume to be as smart as your guest, but nevertheless the fact exists that income inequality exists and it has gotten worse, not better. host: michael. guest: i like his point that a lot of callers were talking about retirement. what other people care about is security, will they be homeless when they retire? in addition to helping provide a broader base of income, -- i think that is the thing that need to be emphasized more going forward. i want to hear from a voice, and not be trapped in the 1970's. there is a real opportunity going forward but we could end up in a world where it all goes to the 1% were we are broadly -- or we are more broadly

prosperous. host: john, good morning. caller: good morning. i was calling to say something about the 1965 reform. that is when all these inequalities started. these people that got this welfare, and it has totally run rampant for the past years. the income, the parts were they get earned income credit, that is tax reform and it is ridiculous that the government has supported these people. i understand, if you go out and work, there are jobs out there. people can get a job.

even picking up trash alongside the road or whatever. they would rather sit at home and not do nothing. that is my feeling. i would like to hear what they say. guest: i think the welfare system we have in the country did have a lot of problems with it around discouraging work. i think it still does to a pretty large extent. in the 1990's we implemented a number of reforms to cash benefit that people received. they were time-limited, there will work requirements. they were sent to the states in the states were allowed to be much more flexible about the rules. we made it a lot more difficult for poor people who did not work. at the same time, the caller alluded to the earned income tax credit which made it easier for poor people who do work. the research has showed that it

really induced a lot of lower income people to work. single mothers work a lot more today than they did. their incomes are higher so i think it was a successful package of reforms. i think we ought to build on it. it is really a different issue than inequality and the changes in inequality that we have seen over time. guest: i think the earned income tax credit is a good program. if a person works full-time, should they be in poverty? i think as a society we tend to think no. it is a mixture of making employers chip in more and tax members -- taxpayers chip in more. president obama and marco rubio have proposed to extend. host: you bring up some of the

statements that are being made on the campaign trail but several talking about it. why are we hearing so much about it? will it be a key issue in the 2016 election? guest: if we had really high income growth year after year like in the late 1990's this would probably be a different conversation. people think if unemployment gets low 6% we will see more wage growth and we have not. if that trend continues, it will make us really examine how our country is working. it is bad for dialogue about inequality. host: scott, are you surprised hillary clinton is talking about this, marco rubio is talking about this? several members of congress also appeared guest: -- talking about this.

guest: jeb bush, it really is an issue that i think a lot of people are going to talk about in 2016. i think you will see inequality of opportunity is a bipartisan issue and people will have different selections based on whether they are on the right or left. if hillary clinton is the nominee, she and her husband had done very well since leaving the presidency and i think it will be tricky for her to talk about inequality. host: we have about 15 minutes lefto talk about this topic with our roundtable of experts. we will go to marry grace from cranston, rhode island on the line for those who made between $51,000 and $100,000. caller: i want to thank c-span for having both sides speak as

you always do. i know some folks get disgruntled but i always think you are fair and balanced. with that, my question is for scott. you talk about how marriage really hope with -- really helps with any, putting both incomes together. have you ever explored the variables of gay and lesbian and how they can contribute? they have had so many problems in trying to get equal right. in some states as you know, they do not allow gay marriages and so forth. i would like to know if you explore that. guest: i have not personally. i think you have to distinguish a few issues. marriage is important for inequality. it is more for inequality between the middle and the bottom versus the top 1% and everyone else.

when you think about inequality i think you have to distinguish between those two issues. i support marriage equality. will it effect can come and equality, probably not. it is just the numbers of gays and lesbians are very small and not all of them want to get married. certainly philosophically i support it. host: michael, and he thought? guest: i generally agree. host: marianne is in pennsylvania on the line for those who made under $20,000 last year. caller: good morning. until this country decides to take the jobs and look at them as important instead of paying sports players so much money because they can knock a ball so far were movie stars or ceos. a few years ago at the beginning of the 2007-2008 i wound up

getting a job as a casework in -- a caseworker. we started out at $27,000. i have a bachelors degree and a teaching certificate. it is a burnout job also. i lasted two and-a-half years and i was the third person to leave that year. until we decide -- teachers, even teachers in 1998, i made $27,000 as a substitute teacher. we need to decide what is important and what is not. people are putting their money in the wrong cases but they do not seem to care as long as they have their thumbs on their phones and looking down. pay attention, america. spread the wealth around. host: that is marianne with her thought. cornell is next in new jersey

for those who made between $51,000 and $100,000 last year. caller: good morning, gentlemen. the problem with income and equality is that -- and i do not want to totally blame the republicans -- but the problem is that they do not want to have the wealthy to pay just a little more so that we all can prosper. i live in new jersey where we have the highest taxes and insurance in the country. i will be 59 in february but i'm still scuffling and wondering how i am going to make it in retirement, and i have been working two jobs for over 20 years. i do not see an end in sight. now the problem is that children and grandchildren do not have a

chance anytime -- the top 1% to 2% owns 90% of the wealth. if you were to double the minimum wage you would still have problems. host: before we go to the panel when you say children and grandchildren do not have a chance, you mean a chance to move up into a different income bracket? caller: to survive where wages are. the top 1% to 2% do not want to let the wealth spread around. the decline in unions, the unions are what created the middle class. the problem is, in the public sector unions are a little higher because it is usually friends and family and they are

not going to mess up. but in the private sector unions are down to 7% or less. host: i got your point. scott winship, mobility issues. guest: i think it is important to distinguish between the state of things and whether things are getting worse or not. we do have upward mobility in the united states that is too limited if you start in the bottom fifth. there is about a 40% chance you will remain there. president else, there's only a 30% chance you will make it to the middle class or higher. is it connected to income inequality? there, i do not think there is a whole lot of evidence. economic mobility has not fallen. there was a new paper that came out in november that was looking at mobility in canada, sweden and the united states and it

found for men the united states does not have worse upward mobility than canada and we. -- and sweet. den. i think it is problem to be clear about -- i think it is important to be clear about what problem we are addressing. host: i want to show viewers this chart from business insider, the probability of a child to enter the top 20% based on their parent's quintile. can see the chances going up as the parent's income goes up. guest: the most important decision that a child will have -- will make his who their parents are, and they do not have that decision.

any quality has gone up in the past 20 and 30 years and opportunity has remained relatively flat. it was increasing in the 1980's according to research from brown university. if we look at the past couple of decades it is flat but low compared to peer countries. our inequality is high but our opportunity is high compared to the countries of europe. host: just a few minutes left with our panel. we will try to get as many of your calls as we can. we have been waiting on dover, florida. caller: i am retired but i did want to tell you my story as fast as i can. i was not just very poor, i was very, very poor. my dad had a fourth grade

education, my mom had eighth grade, and when jobs were scarce -- i am 83 years old -- they followed food and vegetables. when i was a teenager they went to new york and worked and i stayed. we never got one red cent of government assistance. when i got out of high school i went to work at a bank and worked for four years. i happened to marry a man who had three degrees. he had a degree in accounting, theology. he ended up getting a teaching certificate and also a masters in administration. he was a schoolteacher. he chose to teach school because he loved it and it was important to him and because he saw how

children that did not have moms at home, they did not do as well. he insisted that i stay home and take care of our children and run the home. that is what i did. he never made a living but we lived off of what he made. i will guarantee if you figure that every dollar he made from the time he started working until he passed away three years ago, he did not make a million dollars in his lifetime. but right now, i am worth a half a million. it is not what you make, it is what you do with it. host: as you look back on your life story that you just told us, is there one policy that was especially helpful to you? is this something you felt like

you and your has did on your own? caller: do i feel like what? host: was it federal policy that was held or was this something you did on your own? caller: we did it on our own. we never got help from anybody. and yet i raised three kids and one went to college. every one of them said mom, i had the best childhood a kid could have. we furnished all the balls in that gloves and fishing poles and kick balls and everything for the whole community. we were just -- and all the kids wanted to come to our house. i was at home and my kids could bring anybody home as long as they were decent because i ran this house.

they all knew who was in charge. host: it sounds like a great place to grow up. thank you to the caller for watching. guest: i think she brings up a really interesting point that we have not really touched on, a little bit around unions in the 1950's and 1960's. one of the things that has changed over time is that a lot more women work. a lot of women choose not to and certainly i want to support that. but a lot of women wanted to work more than they did in the mid-20th century. reorganized our institutions our rules in a way where really discouraged married women from working. we believed that a single male breadwinner should be able to support a family on his own. we paid men a kind of bonus in that sense in order to

essentially maintain this traditional arrangement of men working and women at home. that has changed over [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] >> "washington journal" is live every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. we'll take you live now to the u.s. house. they gaveled in for debate on several veterans bills. also on coast guard re-authorization and a senate-passed measure dealing with anti-human trafficking. live coverage here on c-span. will be taken later. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 474 the homeless veterans' reintegration program. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 474, a bill to amend title 38, united states code, to provide for a five-year extension to the homeless veterans reintegration

programs and to provide clarification regarding eligibility for services under such programs. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from ohio, mr. wenstrup and the gentlewoman from nevada, ms. tithe u.s., each will control -- ms. titus, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and add extraneous material on h.r. 474. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. wenstrup: thank you, mr. speaker. h.r. 474, the homeless veterans' reintegration programs re-authorization act of 2015 would extend this very good job training and placement program for homeless veterans. this bill would also make some commonsense changes to the program's eligibility rules by making veterans housed under the h.u.d. v.a. supported housing program and formerly incarcerated veterans eligible for hvrp. mr. speaker, by making those eligibility changes we will be adding placement services to

groups of veterans who are largely unemployed and has significant barriers to employment. the job placement rate of 70% have been recognized as one of the best of the federal government. i believe warrants its continuation. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from nevada is recognized. ms. titus: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. titus: mr. speaker, i, too, rise in support of h.r. 474 the homeless veterans' reintegration programs re-authorization act of 2015. this bipartisan bill re-authorizes the highly successful homeless veteran reintegration program, hvrp, which provides grants to train and reintegrate homeless veterans into meaningful employment. h.r. 474 also clarifies that in addition to homeless veterans, those participating in the

h.u.d. voucher program and those transitioning from being incarcerated are also eligible to participate in hvrp. hvrp is unique among federal programs as it is dedicated to providing employment assistance to homeless veterans. other programs that we hear much about focus on needs such as emergency shelter, food and substance abuse treatment. homeless veterans often face a variety of programs that can bar them from traditional employment pathways including severe ptsd, history of substance abuse and encounters with the criminal justice system. hvrp providers give homeless veterans supervised, intense counseling to find a poss philadelphia pathway forward, and this bill will not incur any direct spending costs nor will discretionary costs be beyond the minimum.

i want to thank chairman wenstrup for his hard work on this bill as well as ranking member takano for his efforts to advance this legislation, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. wenstrup: once again i encourage colleagues to support my bill, h.r. 474. i have no speakers at this time. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from nevada is recognized. ms. titus: thank you, mr. speaker. i, too, urge my colleagues to support h.r. 474. it's a good bill that will re-authorize and clarify the homeless veterans' reintegration program, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. wenstrup: again i encourage members to support my bill, h.r. 474 and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house

suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 474. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1038, the ensuring v.a. employee accountability act. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1038, a bill to amend title 38, united states code, to require the secretary of veterans affairs to retain a copy of any reprimand or admonishment received by an employee of the department in the permanent record of the employee. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from ohio, mr. wenstrup, and the gentlewoman from nevada, ms. titus, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker, i

ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and add extraneous material on h.r. 1038. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. wenstrup: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, currently if a v.a. employee is either reprimanded or admonished for their employment, it is removed from the employee's file three years and two years subsequently. subsequent of the removal, there is no record of their poor performance or acts regardless how many different jobs they hold within the v.a. or how long they remain a v.a. employee. mr. speaker, personnel policies and rules such as we are addressing today are part of the culture of no accountability at the department of veterans affairs that has contributed significantly to the recent public scandals. the list of scandals now includes the abuse of the purchase guard program where some v.a. employees were spending $5 billion annually on

goods and services without contracts which was exposed to the veterans' affairs committee hearing last thursday. it's time to ensure that only the most ethical and most qualified employees who benefit from the tax dollars that support them move up through the ranks at v.a. and one way to assist that is to retain an employee's entire history in their personnel file. now, no one is saying that employees can't improve their performance after being reprimanded or admonished but they should know the history of their staff or potential staff members. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from nevada is recognized. ms. titus: thank you mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. titus: thank you, mr. speaker. i, too, rise in support of h.r. 1038 the ensuring v.a. employee accountability act of 2015. currently when a v.a. employee is reprimanded for misconduct, the paperwork describing the incident is removed from that employee's file after three

years. paperwork describing an incident leading to an admonishment is taken out just after two years. h.r. 1038 requires the secretary to maintain all written reprimands and admonishment of any v.a. employee and that -- in that employee's file for the entire duration of his or her time at the v.a. as we work to ensure effective oversight of v.a.'s actions, it's important to maintain a record of v.a. employee's past misconduct. at the same time we're working toward greater accountability, we must also ensure that increased transparency does not come at the expense of fairness and the equitable treatment of v.a. employees. i look forward to working with my colleagues and all interested parties to clarify the intent of this legislation, to ensure that we are not inadvertently affecting settlement agreements when appropriate and that admonishments and reprimands

are not wrongly used to silence whistleblowers. mr. speaker i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker i now recognize the author of this bill, mr. costello from pennsylvania, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for two minutes. mr. costello: thank you, mr. speaker. it's my pleasure to come before you today to speak on behalf of this commonsense effort to ensure greater employee accountability within the department of veterans affairs. we all agree that our veterans deserve the best service and care possible and it is our responsibility to ensure that that care is provided by responsible employees. . this is a further step in that direction. the v.a. carries out their disciplinary actions in a tieredsome -- system. the two most commonly used are the two lowest. as the v.a. continues to very re-view the findings of the recent inspector general's investigations related to data manipulation, backlogs and

excessive wait times it's apparent that greater number ofed a monday youishments and rerp mands are being issued to at-fault employees. however, in the current policy these disciplinary actions remain in an employee's file for only three years and are then deleted. this prevents the keeping of complete employee files and doesn't allow the poor performance within the v.a. to be tracked or held accountable. veterans expect correct disciplinary action to be administered, indeed, all taxpayers do, and not simply the issuance of a temporary written warning. therefore as the v.a. continues to issue these lower-tier disciplinary actions more heavily than others, it's important that the personnel actions remain in the employee's record while employed at the v.a. my bill requires all reprimands and admonishments replain in an employee's file. there are some concerns that this legislation could negatively impact flexibility in resolving routine personnel

disputes but there's nothing in this bill that imposes new employee penltses or would affect the exist process for a v.a. employee to appeal a disciplinary action. we're open to working with our senate cousht parts to ensure that nothing -- counterparts to ensure that nothing in this legislation prevents a v.a. employee to go against this. it's simply another tool for the secretary to hold employees accountable during their tenure at the v.a. mr. speaker, i hope my colleagues will support my legislation to promote transparency and accountability where it's needed. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. wenstrup: i have no further speakers. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady from nevada is recognized. ms. titus: thank you mr. speaker. i commend mr. costello for his work on this bill. i urge my colleagues to support h.r. 103 and to work with all of us -- 1038, and to work with all of us to ensure that going forward the intent of the bill is accurately realized. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time.

the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. wenstrup: once again, i encourage all members to support h.r. 1038 and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 1038. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1313, the service disabled veteran-ed small business relief act -- veteran-owned small business relief act. the clerk: a bill to amend title 38 united states code to enhance the treatment of certain small business concerns for purposes of department of veterans affairs contracting goals and preferences. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the

gentleman from ohio, mr. wenstrup, and the gentlewoman from nevada, ms. titus each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and add extraneous material on h.r. 1313. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. wenstrup: mr. speakerings i yield myself as much time as i -- mr. speaker i yield myself as much time as i may consume. mr. speaker, h.r. 1313 would amend title 38 to allow certain surviving spouses of service disabled small business owners to continue to be classified as a service disabled veteran-owned small business for a three-year period following the death of the veteran owner. current law limits the continuation to just the surviving spouses of disabled veterans rated at 100% by v.a. by changing the law, we will enable surviving spouses of the vast majority of small businesses owned by service disabled veterans to make the transition from a preferred v.a. contractor to the private sector market. this small change will also

provide a large measure of financial stability to surviving spouses. i see this as another commonsense bill and i thank mr. mcnerney for bringing it to us. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlelady is recognized. ms. titus: thank you mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. titus: mr. speaker, i rise to support h.r. 1313, the service disabled veteran-owned small business relief act of 2015. veterans who are rated as 100% disabled by the department of veterans affairs and who own at least 51% of their small business receive preferred status in the federal contracting process. if the veteran small business owner passes away, the surviving family members and business partners are not allowed any time to transition away from this preferred status. thereby putting their businesses in jeopardy of losing any federal contracts they may have. last year there were an

estimated 500,000 of these businesses nationwide. this bill provides a three-year transition period during which the business would keep its preferential status and any federal contracts associated with that status should the veteran opener pass away. current law -- owner pass away. current law allows the surviving spouse to maintain preferred status for up to three years following the death of a veteran owner, but only if that veteran had a 100% service-connected disability rating and died due to the disability. h.r. 1313 further expands the transition period from three to 10 years after the veteran owner's death if the veteran were 100% disabled or died from the service-connected disability. h.r. 1313 is a fair policy that will ensure we protect the hard work and investment of our service-connected disabled veterans who own small businesses. i'd like to thank chairman wenstrup and ranking member takano of the subcommittee on

economic opportunity and the veterans' affairs committee for their support of this bill and mr. mcnerney for bringing it to us and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. wenstrup: i have no further speakers. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman is recognized. mr. wenstrup: thank you, -- ms. titus: thank you mr. speaker. at this time i'd like to yield five minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. mcnerney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for five minutes. mr. mcnerney: mr. speaker, first i want to thank chairman wenstrup and ranking member takano for their continued work on behalf of our nation's veterans and for bringing these commonsense bills to the floor today. small businesses are the economic drivers in our communities and we must give them opportunities they need to grow and prosper. veteran entrepreneurs in particular are some of the most tapped starting, managing and growing small businesses. in the united states there are about five million veteran-owned businesses and an

estimated 500000 disabled veteran small owned businesses. a disabled veteran small owned business is one that must be at least 51% directly owned and controlled by one or more service disabled veterans. the federal government established procurement contracting goals for small businesses in 1978 and set aside 3% of the total value of all federal contracts for veteran-owned small businesses. although some federal agencies meet this goal -- meet these goals, there are mo penalties for not meeting -- there are no penalties for not meeting the procurement goal. the v.a. is dill jebt on the other hand in -- diligent on the other hand in meeting this goal. under current law if the veteran who is rated 100% disabled and owned a service-disabled veteran small -- owned small business passes away, the surviving spouse has 10 years to transition the business away from

service-disabled veteran small business status and for contracts that the company has with the v.a. however, if the veteran business owner was rated at less than 100% disabled or died of a nonservice-connected injury, the surviving spouse has only one year to transition the business for contracts with the v.a. unfortunately this is not enough transition time for service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses whose owner passes away and was rated at less than 100% disabled to rereposition the business, putting many service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses at a disadvantage. we need to correct this deficiency in the law. that's why i introduced h.r. 1313, the service disabled veteran owned small business relief act. my bill allows the service disabled veteran owned small business whose principal owner

passed away, with the reasonable three-year transition period from service disabled veteran owned small business status with the v.a. it is only right that we provide our heroes and their families and the employees with flexibility and certainty to ensure their businesses continue to thrive. the loss of a veteran business owner is already tragic enough for their families and can put service disabled veterans, small owned businesses at severe risk of closing or downsizing because of the loss of federal contracts. h.r. 1313 is supported by the paralyzed veterans of america, am vets, veterans of foreign wars of the united states, the american legion and iran and afghanistan veterans of america. in addition, the veterans administration said at a subcommittee hearing on march 24 of this year that the bill

is a reasonable approach. i hope that my colleagues will join me in passing this commonsense bill and support veteran owned small businesses across crit. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from nevada is recognized. ms. titus: thank you. i would urge my colleagues to support h.r. 1313, to ensure that our service-connected disabled veteran small business owners are able to leave a legacy for their families and co-workers when they pass away. at this point i don't have any other speakers and i would yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. wenstrup: once again mr. speaker i encourage all members to support h.r. 1313 and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 1313. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair -- mr. mcnerney: on that i request

the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the 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 of rule 20 further proceedings on this question will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1382 as amended. the boosting rates of american veteran employment act. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1382, a bill to amend title 38 united states code, to authorize the secretary of veterans affairs in awarding a contract for the procurement of goods or services to give a preference

to offerers that employ veterans. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from ohio mr. wenstrup, and the gentlewoman from nevada, ms. titus, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend my remarks and add -- revise and extend their remarks and add extraneous material on the bill as amended. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. wenstrup: i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. wenstrup: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, to improve employment opportunities for veterans and business opportunities for the companies that employ them, h.r. 1382, as amended, would require the secretary to consider the number of veterans working for an offer in the decision to award a contract. under the bill the secretary may give a preference to such employers based on the percentage of the work force made up by the veterans. the bill would also provide the secretary with department authority for any offerer who

willfully and intentionally misrepresents the number of veterans they employ. mr. speaker, the unemployment rate among certain groups -- age groups of veterans still exceeds their nonveteran peers and this is one commonsense step to increase job opportunities for veterans of all ages. i thank miss rice for her hard work on this bill and with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from nevada is recognized. ms. titus: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. titus: thank you. i rise in support of h.r. 1382 as amended. the boosting rates of american veteran employment or brave act, of 2015. according to the april, 2015, bureau of labor statistics report almost 7% of post-9/11 veterans are unemployed. which is higher than the national average. these men and women have dutifully searched their country. now it's our job as members of congress to craft policies that will improve and increase

employment opportunities for them. this includes improving the federal contracting process to incentivize private sector companies to hire more veterans when they come home. the department of veterans affairs establishes long-term contracts with private sector businesses to provide veterans medical equipment, supplies services and other things. currently the v.a. gives preference for these contracts to veteran-owned small businesses. but it does not give preference to businesses that actively employ veterans. this bipartisan brave act allows the v.a. to consider the proportion of veterans employed by a prospective contractor when awarding those federal contracts. . it incentivizes v.a. contracts to employ more veterans. h.r. 1382 deterse companies from exaggerating the number of veterans they employee by requiring debarment for any company that knowingly

misrepresents its proportion of veteran employees. h.r. 1382 does not require offsets nor does it add any burdens on taxpayers. this bipartisan legislation will reward companies who hire veterans thus incentivizing private sector recruitment of veteran employees. it is indeed a win-win-win policy for the private sector, the federal government and most importantly veterans themselves. i want to thank miss rice, the sponsor of this bill chairman miller for bringing it to the floor and dr. wenstrup, mr. takano, the chairman and ranking member of the subcommittee on economic opportunity, for their work on the bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker, at this time i have no further speakers and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from nevada is recognized. ms. titus: thank you, mr. speaker. at this time i'd like to yield five minutes to the gentlewoman from new york miss rice, who is the sponsor of this important legislation.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for five minutes. miss rice: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of my legislation, h.r. 1382 the boosting rates of american veteran employment act. mr. speaker, i doubt there is a single member of this body who would disagree that american veterans, men and women who have stepped up to protect our country and preserve the freedom that we cherish, deserve our full support when they completed their service. they deserve the opportunity to find a good job to support themselves and their families. they deserve the opportunity to succeed in civilian life, to adapt their extraordinary skills and training to thrive in a civilian work force and make a meaningful contribution to our economy. we've seen real progress adding veterans to the work force but we cannot be satisfied with that progress while so many men and women still struggle to find the good jobs they deserve. we cannot be satisfied when the unemployment rate among post-9/11 veterans remains higher than the national average. we cannot be satisfied if even

a single american veteran who wants to work is not given the opportunity to do so, is left jobless, homeless, forgotten and abandoned by the country he or she served. unemployment among veterans is not only a stain on the character of our country it is not only a dir election by the promise we made to the men and women to protected us, they've received the most sophisticated training that world has to offer. they have unique skills and experience. they know how to work as members of a team. they know how to succeed in the most difficult conditions. they know how to get the job done. whatever that job may be. they received that training, they developed those skills and gained that experience because we invested in them as service members and we foob foolish not to -- we would be foolish not to double down on that. we would be foolish not to invest in their potential to adapt their training and skills and experience and use it to thrive in a civilian work force and contribute to our economy. we need businesses in the private sector to recognize the benefit of having veterans in their work force.

we need businesses to recognize that it is in their self-interest to actively seek out and employ veterans, not as an active charity, but they are excellent workers and know how to get the job done. that's why it's so important that we pass h.r. 1382. this legislation would make the kind of investment that members of both parties can be pleased to support the kind that costs no money. the department of veterans affairs is already authorized for $19 billion for total procurement. this len sure when the secretary of the v.a. -- this will ensure when the secretary of the v.a. has those contracts, he will give preferences to those businesses that have a high concentration of full-time veteran employees. as has been noted, the v.a. can already given such preference to veteran-owned businesses as it should. we should give that same advantage to contractors who actively invest in veterans, who recognize their value and their potential to thrive in a civilian work force.

such companies do exist and this legislation will reward them for their commitment to giving veterans the opportunity they have earned. but in doing so in creating such an advantage this legislation will also create an incentive for other contractors to do the same, to be proactive, to make it a priority to seek out veterans who are looking for employment. and in time i have no doubt that they'll recognize the value of investing in veterans, they'll find themselves with a more productive, efficient and effective work force. mr. speaker, i want to give special thanks to my co-lead sponsor on the other side of the aisle, congressman paul cook a combat veteran who served 26 years and retired as a united states colonel in the marine corps. this bill has the support of several major veteran service organizations including veterans much foreign wars the american legion and the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. finally, mr. speaker, i would like to express my support for another bill that i'm proud to co-sponsor dr. wenstrup's legislation, h.r. 474, the

homeless veterans reintegration program re-authorization act. the hvrp provides critical support to help reintegrate homeless veterans into the work force and address the underlying issues that so often lead to life on the streets. services ranging from job training, job placement and career counseling to clothing, housing transportation and treatment for mental health and substance abuse disorders. this program has been successful and passing a five-year re-authorization will secure its future and allow state and local agencies to plan long-term programming. i thank dr. wenstrup for his leadership on this issue and i urge my colleagues to give h.r. 474 their full support. thank you mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentlewoman from nevada is recognized. ms. titus: thank you, mr. speaker. i strongly support h.r. 1382, and i urge my colleagues to do the same. i don't have any additional speakers so i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from ohio is

recognized. mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker, once again, i encourage all members to support h.r. 1382 and i thank miss rice for presenting this legislation. 1382, as amended and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 1382. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative -- mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. 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 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker i move to suspend the rules and

pass h.r. 91, as amended, the veteran's i.d. card act. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 91, a bill to amend title 38, united states code to direct the secretary of veterans affairs to issue, upon request, veteran identification cards to certain veterans. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from ohio, mr. wenstrup, and the gentlewoman from nevada, ms. titus, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and add extraneous material on h.r. 91 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. wenstrup: thank you mr. speaker. mr. speaker, thankfully many of the nation's businesses offer discounts to our service members and veterans. unfortunately, unless the service member is a qualified military retiree d.o.d. does

not issue an i.d. card as proof of service. that means millions of veterans cannot take advantage of those discounts or proudly share evidence of their honorable service. this bill would change that by directing the secretary of veterans affairs to issue a veteran's i.d. card to any veteran who requests such card and who is not entitled to military retired pay nor enrolled in the v.a. health care system. the bill would require the card to display the veteran's name and photograph and serve as proof that veteran honorably served in the armed forces. this bill would also require the secretary to determine a fee to be charged that would cover all costs of producing the card and managing the program. the bill also specifies that card does not entitle the holder to any v.a. benefits. i thank my colleague, mr. buchanan for his efforts on this commonsense legislation, and with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from nevada is recognized. ms. titus: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. titus: thank you, i rise in support of h.r. 91, the veteran's i.d. card act, as amended. this bill directs the secretary to issue upon a veteran's request a veteran's identification card. in most instances, a veteran must be enrolled with v.a. to receive a v.a. i.d. card or utilize his or her dd-214 to prove military service. many veterans are hesitant to carry around their dd-214 which may contain personal health information. a veteran's i.d. card would provide those veterans the ability to prove their service without the need to constantly have to produce an official document like their dd-214 form. issuing an optional veteran's i.d. card is a simple way to provide a reliable and convenient method for our nation's heroes to use to prove their honorable service and veteran status. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from ohio is

recognized. mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker i now recognize the gentleman from florida, mr. buchanan for three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized for three minutes. mr. buchanan: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of the veteran's i.d. card act. this is bipartisan legislation. i've introduced allowing all veterans to receive an i.d. card through the v.a. over the years i've heard from countless veterans in florida and across the country. they have expressed frustration about their ability to document their service. this will allow them to document their service, to get an i.d. card. the i.d. card won't quite replace the dd-214 but they don't have to carry around the paperwork with them. also to help with identity theft, cut down on that, and one of the biggest things for veterans in our area is it will help with jobs and opportunities in terms of not having to carry the paperwork though have proof their service in terms of their employee. it will provide discounts for a lot of our businesses in the

area. a lot of businesses offer a veteran discount but they don't have the documentation. as a result many times they don't get the benefits. one of the biggest benefits also it allows there's no cost to taxpayers which is a big thing for a lot of people. one other thing i just want to mention is that many of our veterans have served our country proudly. this will also help validate their service as well from that standpoint. so on behalf of 70,000 veterans in my district, almost two million veterans in florida, 22 million veterans in the country i urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation, to help our american heroes, and with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker, at this time i have no further speakers, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from nevada is recognized. ms. titus: thank you mr. speaker. i support h.r. 91 as amended, and urge my colleagues to do the same. at this time i would yield

back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from ohio is recognized. mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker, once again i encourage all members to support this legislation, h.r. 91, as amended and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 91, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair -- mr. wenstrup: mr. speaker, on that 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 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 1816, as amended to exclude from consideration as income under the united states housing act of 1937 payments of pension under section 1521 of title 38, united states code, to veterans who are in need of regular aid and attendance. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1819, a bill to exclude from consideration as income under the united states housing act of 1937 payments of

pension made under section 1521 of title 38, united states code, to veterans who are in need of regular aid and attendance. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from missouri, mr. luetkemeyer, and the gentlewoman from new york mrs. maloney, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from missouri. . mr. luetkemeyer: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend and add extraneous material on this bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. luetkemeyer: mr. speaker, i yield myself three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. luetkemeyer: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to support h.r. 1816, the vulnerable veterans housing act -- reform act of 2015. i strongly urge my colleagues to support its passage. h.r. 1816, legislation that has been long championed by the gentleman from nevada, mr. heck, is designed to help some of our nation's greatest heroes, our disabled veterans better afford the housing and medical care they desperately

need. to do so h.r. 1816 would change how the department of housing and urban development calculates a disabled veterans' income for -- a disabled veteran's income by exempting their service-related disability benefits and expenses related to in-home care. in other words, right now h.u.d. is counting the aid and attendance disability payments of those heroes as income that could pay for housing. when it really should only be used to pay for their medical care. c.b.o. has estimated there are about 2,000 veterans who would be impacted by this change. this legislation will ensure that we don't punish low income disabled veterans who are seeking or receiving housing assistance simply because of the disability benefits. fixing the income calculation of disabled veterans is not only a matter of fairness it's also a matter of common sense. many of these disabled veterans require extensive care and assistance to perform basic daily functions such as bathing eating and dressing.

this aid and attendance payments are designed only to cover the costs of the in-home care they require to meet those needs and is wrong to ask these veterans to use that money for any other purpose. the housing challenges faced by disabled veterans are great and i commend mr. heck for his hard work to bring this issue and a fix to it for -- to our attention -- for it to our attention. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. >> mr. speaker, i yield myself as much time as i may consume. and thank mr. heck for his leadership on this bill. mrs. maloney: as a former veteran he has a deep understanding of these issues the and also to mr. luetkemeyer who is the chair of our housing committee and one of our most active members on the committee, having served not onlied a a community banker but -- only as a community banker but as a community regulator. i am very pleased to rise in strong support and bipartisan support of 1816, the vulnerable

veterans housing reform act. this bill will bring a measure of fairness to our government's treatment of severely disabled veterans. the bill excludes the payments that disabled veterans receive for in-home aid and attendance, from being considered as income when determining their eligibility for h.u.d. housing assistance. under current law these in-home aid and attendance payments are wrongly counted as disposable income. which makes it harder for disabled veterans who receive these payments to qualify for the federal housing assistance which they deserve. these payments are absolutely not disposable income. rather they are payments that are medically necessary to enabled -- to disabled veterans, to perform evidence functions.

functions that were, if not for their extraordinary sacrifice would not require in-home aid payments in the first place. thousands of veterans across our country are unable to qualify for federal housing assistance. such as section eight rental assistance. because these payments are improperly counted as income. and let's be clear. these are veterans who have suffered life-changing injuries and who are now severely disabled as a result of their service to our country. it is their service and their sacrifice made in the name of peace and freedom that have made in the great nation that it is today. for our great nation to turn around and make it harder for these veterans because of their service-related disabilities to qualify for housing assistance is grossly unfair and something that should be swiftly

rectified. that is what this bill does. it rights a wrong and -- in our federal housing policy. and gives the veterans the respect and support that they deserve. i applaud my colleague, mr. heck, who has served this country as a veteran for -- veteran. for three times he has brought this bill to the floor. it has passed on suspension three times and i really applaud his persistence in pursuing this commonsense fix that will help thousands of veterans that deserve the aid and the assistance from h.u.d. to rightfully get it. i urge my colleagues to support this bill and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. luetkemeyer: thank you, mr. speaker. i now yield as much time as he may consume to mr. heck. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. heck: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank the gentleman

from missouri and the gentlelady from new york for their support. i rise today to encourage my colleagues to support the bipartisan h.r. 1816. the vulnerable veterans housing reform act of 2015. this bill would remove an unnecessary barrier that prevents our disabled war time veterans from receiving the housing assistance they so critically need. this body recognizes the importance of this issue when it unanimously passed substantially similar bills h.r. 6361 and h.r. 1742, during the 112th and 113th congress. unfortunately these bills were not considered by the senate. i'm hoping the third time is the charm. quite simply, h.r. 1816 prevents the department of housing and urban development from considering a veteran's aid and attendance benefits as income. the aid and attendance benefit is an enhance the -- enhanced pension provided by the department of veterans affairs to our nation's wartime veterans who are severely disaged and have little or no income. veterans eligible for this benefit are those requiring the aid of another person in order

to perform their activities of daily living, such as eating or protecting themselves from the hazards of their daily environment. in order to receive this benefit, our severely disabled veterans must first sentence their eligibility for a low income pension which requires an annual adjusted gross income of lets than $12,868 for a single veteran with no depenalties. once eligibility is determined, low income disabled vets can receive roughly an additional $8,600 in benefits to help defray the cost of their medical care. this is an important point. this aid and attendance benefit is for medical care. not -- it's not discretionary income, it's not for groceries, not for transportation utilities or anything else. as you can imagine, these low-income veterans struggle daily to keep the lights on, put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. add to that the exorbitant cost of paying for a personal care attendance and -- attendant and it becomes difficult for them to stay in their homes.

the department of housing and urban development operates a number of programs that can assist these veterans. however current regulations require that the aid and attendance benefit be counted as income when determining eligibility for housing assistance. mr. speaker, this makes no sense. the v.a. provides this benefit to ensure that our low-income disabled wartime vets have the necessary resources to receive the medical care they need and have earned. now, while $,600 may seem like a substantial amount of hundred -- money, it doesn't cover the cost of a full-time aide. the median annual cost for a licensed home health aide in 2013 was $19,000. the cost of an assisted living facility was $42,000. and the median cost of a room in a nursing home is about $80,000 annually. so continuing to count the aide and attendance benefit as income does nothing more than reduce the housing assistance available to our vets and jeopardizes their ability to

live independently. mr. speaker administration to reduce homelessness in our veterans population. the need for this legislative fix is just as strong today as it was last congress and the congress before that. most recent statistics from the department of housing and urban development indicate that approximately 50,000 veterans are homeless and we certainly don't want to add to that number. mr. speaker, h.r. 1816 will go a long way toward preventing additional homelessness for our nation's veterans. i urge my colleagues to support this critical legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. luetkemeyer: we reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker, i have no further requests for time. so i will be yielding back the

balance of our time. i want to underscore a point that mr. heck made, congressman heck, that so many of our veterans become homeless. and it is a huge problem across this country. by passing this bill, we will enable more veterans to stay in the home and to have the respect and dignity that they deserve. this is a commonsense bill, it has passed this body two times before almost unanimously. i hope that this will be, as mr. heck said, the third time's the charm, that we will finally get this through the senate. it's well deserved and long overdue. i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this fair and commonsense proposal that will help our veterans. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from missouri is recognized. mr. luetkemeyer: thank you mr. speaker. i want to thank the distinguished laid from in -- lady from new york for her fine work on this bill and her strong support and also want to thank the sponsor of the bill, mr. heck the distinguished gentleman from nevada, for again bringing us to our -- this to our attention, again, trying to attempt to right a wrong here. this is certainly something we certainly need to support and

will do. we urge all of our colleagues to support this measure and with that, mr. speaker, i have no requests for -- further requests for time and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 1816, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass s. 178, the justice for victims of trafficking act of 2015. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: senate 178, an act to provide justice for the victims of trafficking. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from virginia, mr. goodlatte and the gentlewoman from texas, ms. jackson lee,

each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia. mr. goodlatte: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on s. 178 currently under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. . mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. goodlatte: remember here today to consider comprehensive legislation that will help address the scourge of human trafficking generally and child sex trafficking specifically that is occurring in every corner of the united states as we stand here today. according to the federal bureau of investigation, sex trafficking is the fastest growing business of organized crime and the third largest criminal enterprise in the world. one organization estimates that child sex trafficking in the united states alone is a $9.8

billion industry. criminal organizations, including some of the most violent criminal street gangs like ms-13, have realized that selling children can be more profitable than selling drugs. this is because drugs are only sold once but minor children can be and are prostituted multiple times a day every day. it's time for congress to send a clear message that we won't stand for this. today marks the third time that i've stood on the house floor urging the passage for the justice for victims of trafficking act. the house passed similar legislation in may of 2014 and again in january of this year. s. 178, the bill we consider today, and its predecessors are comprehensive legislation that, among other things, provide additional resources to law enforcement and service providers through a victim-centered grant program, help to facilitate investigations by providing child sex trafficking and other similar crimes are predicate

offenses for state wiretap investigations and it's a crime to solicit or paytonize child prostitutes or adult victims forced into prostitution. and strengthen the existing federal criminal laws against trafficking through a number of clarifying amendments. i am very pleased that a number of separate trafficking bills that were originally passed by the house judiciary committee and then by the full house are contained within s. 178. including the stop exploitation through trafficking act of 2015 introduced by mr. paulsen of minnesota, the save act of 2015 introduced by mrs. wagner of missouri, and the human trafficking prevention, intervention and recovery act of 2015, introduced by mrs. noem of south dakota. i thank all of my colleagues for their dedication to ending this terrible crime. i also thank judge poe of texas

for sponsoring the two previous house versions justice for victims of trafficking act. s. 178 is not perfect legislation and i thank both house and senate leadership as well as the bill's sponsor, senator cornyn, for agreeing to fix technical issues with the bill in future legislation. but it is my belief that this legislation will do much good in the fight to end human trafficking and for that reason i urge my colleagues to support the bill and thus send it to the president to be signed into law and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, i ask to speak for such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. jackson lee: let me join my friend and colleague, the chairman of the judiciary committee, and thank him for his leadership in making sure that this bill comes to the floor, along with the ranking

member, mr. conyers and the subcommittee chairman, mr. sensenbrenner, and myself as the ranking member, are grateful for the leadership of our colleagues in working through the human trafficking legislation. i would associate myself with the words that all of us have said very often as tragically and heinously sex trafficking and human trafficking the trafficking of children keeps on giving in an ugly, horrible disastrous way that ruins the lives of innocent victims. for they are used over and over again. stand here recognizing that houston ranks very high among those cities that have had the scourge of human trafficking. in fact, as i rise to support s. 178 the justice victims act -- trafficking act of 2015, i recognize that human trafficking is a scourge that impacts greatly on my home district in houston, texas.

houston currently ranks number one among the u.s. cities with the most victims of human trafficking. so i congratulate on the house bill judge ted poe congressman poe, my neighbor in houston, and care lynn maloney, a -- carolyn maloney, a member from new york, who brought this bipartisan legislation. i want to thank my colleagues as well from the homeland security committee of which judge poe joined us in the first human trafficking hearing that i held in houston, texas to further emphasize the coming together of law enforcement, social service advocates for the importance of this legislation. in fact, as i recall, this bill being written there were so many different groups from faith organizations who are putting on walks to talk about human trafficking. houston recognized that they had a problem that they need to fix. in the backdrop of this legislation, as it was making its way through the house, we even had a massive human

trafficking raid, if you will, that had 20, 30 persons in a home just a few distance from downtown with one of the individuals or a couple of the individuals being minors. we know what their end would be. so 25% of all human trafficking victims are in my home state of texas. currently 30% of all human trafficking tips to the national rescue hotline come from texas. but this is a national problem. the national center for missing and exploited children estimates that one of every seven endangered runaways reported to the center a likely victims of minor sex trafficking and that at least 100,000 american children are victims of sex trafficking each year. it is our duty to rescue these children, shelter them and help them recover from the trauma that has been inflicted upon them. it is also our duty to prevent those crimes before they happen and to provide law enforcement with the tools they need to combat human traffickers. this bill will be a significant

weapon in the war against sex trafficking which unfortunately is the fastest growing business of organized crime in the united states generating an estimated $9 billion annually. mr. speaker, we have said it continues to generate income and revenue. i'm very glad there are a number of legislative initiatives incorporated in this final legislative document and that this will go to the president's desk and will be signed. i'm glad that language that i submitted in the judiciary committee that puts congress squarely on the record in the sense of congress that we stand together on the issue of opposing human trafficking and viewing it as a dastardly deed. although not perfect, this is a comprehensive bill that includes a variety of measures intended to strike at the problem of sex trafficking through prevention, law enforcement and rehabilitation services for victims. what i like most of all is it puts the united states congress

and ultimately the president of the united states in the laws of the land on the side of children and on the side of victims what about -- who have been part of sex taffing. and those who solicit and advertising human trafficking will be punished. law enforcement identified online sex ads as the number one platform of buying and selling of sex of children and young children. these men can sit idly in their house and victimize individuals. this is an important step forward for law enforcement to have the tools to reach those predators wherever they are. this legislation provides the tools hurt by this business and specifically addresses the needs of thousands of homeless children, many of whom are on the streets of houston. and i say to them today that they will be embraced with a document that stands on their side. many who have fled physically and sexually abusive homes only to be victimized again by sex traffickers. mr. speaker, i'm delighted that

this bill is moving and at this time i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, at this time it's my pleasure to yield five minutes to the gentleman from texas mr. poe a member of the judiciary committee a champion in the fight against child sex trafficking and the author of one of the underlying pieces of legislation that led to the bill that we're considering here today. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. poe: i thank the speaker and i thank the chairman for bringing this legislation promptly to the house floor today. mr. speaker it was 155 years ago this nation in this chamber debated several volatile issues including slavery. after 600,000 americans, both from the north and the south, died in war slavery was forever banned by the 13th amendment to our constitution. now in our time, this ugly

scourge has risen its head again one more time. the evil enterprise has taken on the enslavement of women and children. traffickers, slave masters buy and sell the young in the marketplace of child sex exploitation. they treat these victims as cattle to be led to the stock yards of slavery. the traffickers even brand the victims, mr. speaker, on the neck with a brand so that other traffickers know who they are whose property they belong to. this illicit revenue of trafficking is second only to the drug trade. my hometown of houston seems to be the hub for child sex trafficking in the united states. the average age of the minored sex trafficked child, mr. speaker is 13. maria was an 11-year-old girl.

she met a person that treated her nice. he was an older male. traffickers, mr. speaker do not wear long trench coats. they're relatively young good-looking guys. anyway, he enticed her, he bought her some presents, he took her to his home and then she became a slave and she was sold on the marketplace daily as an 11-year-old girl for a long time until she was able to escape that trafficker. that's what's taking place in our country. but today unlike 155 years ago, this congress is united in stopping this curse of slavery. 10 bills dealing with sex trafficking overwhelmingly passed the house of representatives. one of those was one that i sponsored, justice for victims of trafficking act along with carolyn maloney, who's here

today. mr. speaker, these are all bipartisan pieces of legislation and you don't get much bipartisan than carolyn maloney from new york and ted poe from texas agreeing. we are only separated as churchill said by a common language, and i want to thank her for her hard work for years on this issue of trafficking. and the senate combined these 10 bills, made some positive changes and their bill passed the senate 99-0. justice for victims of trafficking act goes after the trafficker, the slave master, the slaveholder. it treats the child as a victim and not as a criminal, not as a child prostitute. it rescues the victim. and it targets the demand, the buyer, the child abuser that buys for pleasure these children. this legislation also allows federal judges to impose not only prison for these criminals but may order fees that go into a fund and that fund can be used for victim services, even for training for peace

officers, make these criminals pay the rent on the courthouse, pay for the system that they have created. and i want to thank all those that have been involved in this numerous issues, and i especially want to thank the ladies of the house of representatives. on both sides for bringing this issue to a vote today. they are very powerful, mr. speaker, on this issue and they deserve recognition. i also want to commend senator cornyn for the ligs he pushed forward, this original -- legislation he pushed forward, this original bill we're voting on today in the senate of the united states. mr. speaker, america can no longer deny the inconvenient truth of sex trafficking. the enslavement of children is not acceptable and it will not be tolerated. it will not be tolerated in this country and it's not going to be tolerated in other countries as well. america's kids, mr. speaker

are not for sale and that's just the way it is. and i ask unanimous consent to introduce into the record a letter that was sent by 163 different organizations in support of this legislation. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. poe: and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, it gives me great privilege to yield to the distinguished the gentlelady from new york whom i've worked with over the years on issues dealing with women's rights and the abuse and misuse of children and certainly her work on the issues of sexual abuse and sex trafficking of children and women, congresswoman maloney is a member of the financial services committee, and i yield her five minutes. and an original co-sponsor -- the co-sponsor with congressman poe of this legislation in the house. yield her five minutes.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized for five minutes. mrs. maloney: mr. speaker i rise in strong support of the senate-passed justice for victims of trafficking act. i commend the ranking member of the -- the ranking member for the subcommittee on crime terrorism and homeland security for her hard work on this bill and so many others and on this issue and to chairman goodlatte and the leadership for bringing this bill swiftly to the floor. but i particularly applaud the efforts of congressman poe who as a former -- as a former judge and prosecutor brought a keen understanding and passion to modification this bill forward. . for years i have worked on trying to pass legislation that focused on the demand side of trafficking. it is only by going after the demand side that you'll ever make a dent in protecting these young girls and boys. with his leadership he, brought

new life and focus to getting this passed and i cannot thank him enough. i truly blove this bill will save lives. i am so pleased that democrats and republicans have come together as we have historically done in efforts to combat human slavery, human trafficking, and to bring forward a bill to help victims of this modern day form of slavery. this bill cracks down on traffickers and provides resources to trafficking survivors. there are an estimated 21 million victims around the world today including in all 50 states, being sold for sex and slave labor. and businesses -- business is very good for some -- for some very bad people. every year, sex trafficking yields well over $9 billion in illegal profits. but unlike guns and dope, that can only be sold once, the human

body can be sold over and over again, usually until they die. this legislation starts to put a dent in those profits by levying fines on convicted traffickers and using the money to create the domestic trafficking victims fund. this is -- this is appropriate justice. traffickers are forced to pay for rehabilitative services for the girls boy, men, women, and children whom they have victimized and profited from. but we have to capture these criminals first and perpetrators too easily have slipped through the cracks. in fact, trafficking victims are commonly charged with prostitution, while their pimps and johns and traffickers are never held accountable for their terrible crime. this bill will flip that equation by giving law enforcement tools to help victims and new powers and

resources to identify, arrest and prosecute buyers and sellers of sex with minor -- with minor children, pornography, slave labor and other forms of sex and labor trafficking. this will clarify once and for all that traffickers and johns and pimps are the true criminals in sex trafficking. because make no mistake, prostitution is not and never has been but has often been called a victimless crime. patronizing a trafficked individual is not a casual act of sex. it is a criminal act of rape. stiffening penalties and levying fines on perpetrators of these terrible crimes can start to decrease demand and put the people who buy and sell children behind bars, protecting other children from being hurt and

destroyed, and put them behind bars where they belong. this bill also enables victims and survivors to get the help they deserve. most trafficked individuals have multiple encounterers with law enforcement while enslaved but police are not sufficiently equipped to identify them. to that end, the bill provides support for law enforcement to better identify and serve trafficking victims. these are victims who need help not culprits to lock up while their traffickers and pimps go free. we cannot afford to miss opportunities to recognize a trafficked victim when he or she walks into the police station or hospital or local clinic. and there must be protocols such as those called for in this bill, in place to ensure their safety and not to treat them as the criminals. this bill provides a comprehensive approach to address these issues and to banish this horrific crime from the united states of america.

i urge congress to act right away so victims need wait no longer for justice and the critical services and resources that they so desperately deserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. mrs. maloney: i urge support for this bill, it is long overdue and will give a better future for the -- for those that have survived the most worst crime in the world. this is -- may -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. ms. jackson lee: i yield the gentlelady 15 seconds. mrs. maloney: this bill is so critically important. of all the bills that we have passed we have passed a series of bills, but this one has prevention, enforcement, help for the survivors. i applaud everyone who worked on this important piece of legislation and we can't pass it fast enough. i yield back. shaung, sheila for yielding. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman is recognized.

mr. goodlatte: i would like to join the gentlewoman from texas in thanking the gentlewoman of new york for her work on this, and thank ms. jackson lee for this bipartisan legislation. now i'd like to yield four minutes to another champion in the fight against sex trafficking particularly on the internet, and that's the gentlewoman from missouri, ms. wagner. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. wagner: i thank the gentleman for his leadership on this issue and so many others. i rise in support of senate bill 17 , the justice for victims of pacific trafficking act and all the house-passed human trafficking legislation that was incorporated into this senate bill. today marks the culmination of a long journey for myself and many members in both chambers who have worked on this important issue. this legislation represents a significant step forward in the federal government's efforts to

combat the scourge of modern day slavery known as human trafficking. this bill makes enormous progress in the fight against trafficking by providing resources to law enforcement officials and collecting fees from sex traffickers that go into a new fund for victims. it also includes my signature legislation, the save act which makes it illegal to knowingly advertise the victims of human trafficking, especially on the internet. i thank my friends and colleagues senator mark kirk and diane feinstein for offering the save act as an amendment to this important legislation. beyond the multiple tools and resources it gives to law enforcement and survivors, this legislation also serves an important symbolic purpose. it symbolizes the long-standing and steadfast commitment members of congress have toward

protecting the most vulnerable members of our society. no longer will the cruel exploitation of women and children be allowed to continue unchecked. no longer will sexual predators be allowed to torture, rape and kill young americans in the name of financial profit. mr. speaker, with this legislation, we are providing voice to the voiceless and advocating for those who account -- who cannot advocate for themselves. mr. speaker i'm so proud of all of the good bipartisan work done by my colleagues here in congress on this issue of human trafficking. years of work by many of my colleagues including representative poe smith, noem paulsen, beatty and maloney and many, many others mr. speaker, vlade the foundation for this long overdue action. i am grateful that many of my colleagues have held events in their home districts to raise awareness and educate the public about human trafficking. awareness, training and education are the key to

preventing this horrible crime from happening in the first place. young people must be warned about the devious and manipulative strategies employed by trafficers to ensnare them in the trap of sexual slavery. the children at risk are not just school students. pimps or traffickers are known to prey on victims as young as 9 years old. traffickers may target minor victims through social media website, after school programs shopping malls and clubs. through friends or acquaintances who recruit students on school campuses. one of the best ways to combat human trafficking is through education. many states have successful programs that train school personnel about how to identify the victims. we should work with schools to develop policies and protocols and partnerships to address and prevent the exploitation of children. partnership between public and private sectors is the key to combating human trafficking.

many times, frontline employees in the transportation and hospitality industries are the ones best instituted -- suited to identify trafficking victims or their predators. increased awareness or training will lead to more victims being identified which is the critical step in breaking the cycle of exploitation and victimization. mr. speaker i urge all my colleagues to support this legislation and all efforts to combat human trafficking and i look forward to continuing continuing this work in the house of representatives and this congress as a whole for years to come. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. from texas. ms. jackson lee: we reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia. mr. goodlatte: it's my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. smith a great advocate for human rights here in the house. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized. mr. smith: i rise in strong support of s. 17 , the justice for victims of trafficking act of 2015 -- the justice for victims of trafficking act of 2015 a bill authored by senator cornyn with input from many. it includes numerous bipartisan bills passed by the house earlier this year under the extraordinary leadership of majority leader kenn mccarthy conference chair kany -- cathy mcmorris rodgers and our own chair, bob goodlatte. it will provide powerful new tools in the struggle to abolish modern day slavery including a fund designed to provide assistance to victims of human trafficking and grants to states and localities funded by a $5,000 penalty assessed on convicted offenders. the bill seeks to protect runaways from the horror of trafficking strengthen the child welfare response, aid victims of child pornography and criminalize advertisement for

commercial exploitation of children. each year, mr. speaker as you know, there are approximately 100,000 american children, mostly run it is aways trafficked in the u.s. the average age of initial enslavement is 13. these children, when found are often charged with prostitution fined or put in juvenile detention where there are or should be other options available. these children, mostly young girls, need to be protected and cared for and treated with compassion and respect, not prosecution. the pending bill moves us toward this goal. indeed, title 6 authorizes d.o.j. to give preference rble treatment award -- preferential treatment awarding community grants to states that treats a minor engaged in commercial sex as a victim. title 7 was inspired by a ground breaking study conducted by laura litterer and funded by several organizations that founded approximately 88% -- found that approximately 88% of

domestic trafficking victims had contact to health care providers while being trafficked, the most common being hospital emergency rooms. almost 64%. situational awareness coupled with best practices will without a doubt help victims escape this cruelty to freedom and protection. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: may i ask how much time is remaining on each side? the speaker pro tempore: five and three quarter minutes for the gentleman from virginia. nine and a quarter for the gentlelady from texas. mr. goodlatte: at this time it's my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from minnesota, mr. paulsen who has also contributed one of the pieces of legislation included in this effort. i thank the gentleman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two

minutes. mr. paulsen: i want to thank the gentleman for his leadership on this issue. this is an important moment in the fight against modern say slavery. for several years, members of both parties have been working diligently with law enforcement victims and others to end the sale and victimization of innocent girls this bill is the culmination of all the initiatives previously passed in the house that will increase penalties for pimps and johns, that will enhance the federal government's response to traffic, that will enhance cooperation with governments overseas, and will go after websites that aid in the trafficing of minors. i'm pleased that this package also includes the safe harbor legislation that ensures we'll be treating my no, sir that are trafficked as victimed rather than as criminals and improve the services they receive. mr. speaker the traffickers that we see today use every tool that they can use to keep victims silent and under their control whether it's using threats violence, drugs, or

deception. trafficking victims all share one thing in common. it's a loss of freedom and a loss of the ability to speak out. today we stand with these victims to bring them out of the shadows and say enough is enough because our girls are not for sale. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. ms. jackson lee: i yield myself such time as i may utilize. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. jackson lee: i want to thank the members who have spoken and highlighted a number of points that i want to reinforce. i want to reinforce what my good friend, congresswoman carolyn maloney has said and congressman poe we're looking the pimps and the johns straight in the eye and really focusing on demand. connected to demand is those lives, those lives that we want to restore and give them a new opportunity in life. we want them to not be bruised. we want them to have the ability to be able to restore

their lives as young as under 10 or 11 or 12 or teenagers or young women. and this particular legislation, which i want to highlight, promotes rehabilitation by encouraging the development of specialized court programs for victims of child human trafficking. as the chair of the children's caucus i realize how vulnerable our children are all over the world, and what i'm most interested is the outpatient treatment, life, skills training, family support services and job placement. when you find a homeless teen or one that has been victimized, they are empty. they are without any sustenance to know that they have something of quality to save and to mold and to build. the rehabilitation part of this particular legislation -- and i do want to acknowledge senator cornyn -- is a very, very important part of this legislation. with that i reserve.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, at this time it's my pleasure to yield one minute to the gentleman from texas, mr. babin. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. babin: yes, sir. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of the legislation before us to combat human trafficking. not only would i like to thank chairman goodlatte and his committee but i'd also especially like to thank our senior senator from the state of texas, mr. cornyn, for his leadership in getting this important legislation through the senate. this bipartisan bill will strengthen our laws against human trafficking, train law enforcement fworte target criminals engaged in -- who are targeting criminals engaged in this. these victims are taken from their homes enslaved, treated as objects. human trafficking is a terrible, heinous crime and its victims are usually voiceless. today we're their voice and we're taking action on their

behalf. this legislation provides resources and services that help victims to be identified, rescued and most importantly to begin to heal from these traumatic events. s. 178 takes steps that would serve as a model for other nations to follow in combating the inhumane crime of human trafficking. we must do all that we can to restore dignity to its victims and bring justice to its perpetrators. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. babin: and i urge all of my colleagues in joining me in supporting this very important legislation. thank you mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, i have the privilege of now yielding four minutes to the distinguished the gentlelady from ohio, the author of h.r. 246, that protects children from being criminalized, which is included in this bill, congresswoman beatty four minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for four minutes. mrs. beatty: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in strong support of the bipartisan justice for victims of trafficking act, s. 178.

first, i'd like to thank chairman goodlatte of virginia ranking members conyers from michigan of the judiciary committee for bringing this important bill to the floor for consideration. i also would like to thank congresswoman sheila jackson lee for her leadership and for managing the bill today for the democrats. a special thank you to the original sponsors. this comprehensive legislation is a major milestone in our efforts to crack down on sex trafficking and to help protect vulnerable children across america. one of my top priorities of the 114th congress was to pass my trafficking bill, h.r. 246, and today's bill includes it and nine other bipartisan house bills aimed at combating the scourge of human trafficking. i thank senate judiciary committee chairman grassley for

offering the language of my bill as an amendment during the mark upof s. 178 to ensure its inclusion in this legislation. mr. speaker, on march 2 2015, i sat through the senate judiciary committee markup to witness and hear the committee's discussion and vote and today i am proud to stand on this house floor with colleagues on both sides of the aisle advocating for this legislation that will provide child sex trafficking victims with greater restitution, justice and resources. mr. speaker, human trafficking is one of the fastest growing crimes in the world. we have heard that and it is worth repeating. in fact, according to the united states state department, human trafficking is the world's second largest criminal enterprise after illegal drug trade. as we know, it is not just happening in farahway lands.

it happens -- faraway lands. it happens in our own back yards. i'm proud to have participated and led discussions on preventing child sex trafficking in my district. last year i joined a bipartisan roundtable discussion to hear firsthand stories and challenges from once child victim teresa flores who is now a national spokesperson and best selling author of "the slave across the street." in the united states some 300,000 children are at risk each year for commercial sexual exploitation. in my home state of ohio, each year an estimated 1,100 ohio children become victims of human trafficking and over 3,000 more are at risk. the average age of trafficked victims in the united states is between 12 and 13 years of age. at this early age mr. speaker, children should be in middle

school making new friends, playing sports, enjoying after-school programs or just being children. mr. speaker these children deserve better and today's legislation is much needed. a much-needed step in that right direction. we know that no single system can successfully combat trafficking. preventing identifying and serving victims of trafficking requires a multicoordinated approach across all levels of government as well as input and assistance from nongovernment entities and the american people. my provision in this bill will update federal law to include the term child sex trafficking to reinforce that children who are trafficked should not be criminalized as prostitutes. instead treated as victims. we need to ensure people understand that approximate they report an instance of child sex trafficking law enforcement is not going to

pursue the child and prosecute them as a criminal. they are victims. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. mrs. beatty: may i have five more seconds, please? ms. jackson lee: i yield the gentlelady 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. beatty: thank you and thank you, mr. speaker. so let me end by saying, i'm asking and encouraging all people when they see something, say something. mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues today to support this legislation so we may send it to the president's desk for signature, finally bringing justice to the tens of thousands of human trafficking victims. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, may i inquire how much time is remaining on each side? the speaker pro tempore: 3 1/4 minutes. mr. goodlatte: 3 1/4 here? the speaker pro tempore: yes. 3 1/2 for the gentlelady from texas. mr. goodlatte: we're prepared

to close. ms. jackson lee: she's going to close? mr. goodlatte: yes. ms. jackson lee: you're yielding to me now because she's closing? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized. ms. jackson lee: mr. chairman so many important points have been made and i just like to quickly summarize by adding my appreciation again, to the sponsors and to the speakers today, congresswoman maloney and come woman beatty and of course the speakers of our friends on the other side of the aisle. and i want to emphasize something that i think should pierce our hearts which is that children should be protected and there are several elements that i think are important to make mention of regarding these children of being protected. one, i'd like to acknowledge the responsibilities of the attorney general to create a system to monitor the issuance and enforcement of mandatory restitution. remember, these children have been victimized over the years and really have been thrown to foster care or other agencies

where moneys were not available. these restitution orders will compensate victims not only of human trafficking but also related immigration and child pornography cases and establishing a domestic child victims fund will help for the conditions of our children. we worked on a cybersecurity bill and an important part of this bill is that it establishes a national cybercrime center to manage and to provide data. essential for this efforts. it authorizes the u.s. marshal service to provide service to state local and other law enforcement. it has placed them in a very effective manner. let me note the fact there are mandatory minute mums and i know we will be looking at a very small way in this bill, we will be looking at sentencing reformation and reform in the following months. but what i would say is our children are enormously important. this is a very important bill, and i think it is very important that we move this legislation and do it as an

embracing of our children and protecting of our women and standing as a country against the violence of sex trafficking and child trafficking. might i also say that this bill encourages and forces training for our law enforcement, something that we view as very important as we're going forward, to investigate human trafficking as well as for training for those essential to our criminal justice system. i might, as i close indicate that we have finally come full circle to be able to stand again on the floor of the house and acknowledge that if you engage in these activities, we will find you wherever you are and we will prosecute you and the idea that you can hide as a pimp or john is no more and the idea that children are left to their own devices after they have been victimized is no more. we look to reunite families, to strengthen families, to provide for these children and as my colleagues have just said, not to criminalize the children but to make them restored.

victims first, tragically, but to restore their lives. i ask my colleagues to support the senate bill, the underlying bill, the bill on the floor of the house and i want to thank the members of the judiciary committee of the senate and the members of the judiciary committee here in the house both the chairman and the ranking member and the members on our committee as we worked through this process and all the members who put forward outstanding initiatives that are now part of this legislation. with that i yield my time and i ask for support on this legislation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. goodlatte: mr. speaker, to close the debate, it's my pleasure to yield the balance of our time to the gentlewoman from south dakota mrs. noem, who has also contributed a major piece of the legislation before the house today. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from south dakota is recognized. mrs. noem: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. speaker, human trafficking is an issue that i believe many people see as far removed from them and their families but the reality is that it's happening

all around us, in our schools, near our homes, on websites that our kids visit and frequent. my words are not intended to alarm people today but to bring into perspective that it isn't just happening overseas or in communities far away from our homes. it's happening across this country, even in my home state of south dakota. in our state there are three main ways that people are trafficked, according to kimberly la plant, who works at an organization in sioux falls. they're brought from our native american reservations and sent to the south dakota oil fields. and they're sold to events like our sturgis motorcycle rally. or it's homegrown trafficking meaning it originates in our state and that by the way is the most common problem across the country. in 2013, the south dakota attorney general's office held a six-day undercover operation at the sturgis motorcycle rally. they put up an online ad and in six days received more than 180

responses. local law enforcement did the same thing in a community not far from my home in just -- over two days they received 110 responses. in form of slavery is happening almost every single day. it's time we do something about it. this bill is our opportunity to do something about it. it's an opportunity for both chambers of congress to stand together and support legislation that protects our children and our communities. one of the components of this legislation is the provision that i wrote to help combat many of the problems that we are facing in south dakota but also other places in the country. today there are only about 200 beds for underaged victims in the united states. the language that i wrote included in this bill ensures that shelters can get access to more resources to build safe housing for those trying to escape and recover from trafficking. there's also a severe lack of information about trafficking and its victims to help prevent it and to intervene when it occurs, my language makes sure that that information on the state of trafficking in this

country is analyzed and used to decide how those federal resources should be used to combat it. i am so proud to see this package coming to the floor today. i urge the president to sign it quickly so that we can all join hands and act to prevent this human trafficking from continuing across our country and protect as many children and help them heal as we possibly can. with that, mr. speaker, i will yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. . mr. goodlatte: i yield back our time. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 178. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended -- the gentleman from virginia. mr. goodlatte: on that i ask for the yeas and nays. 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 proceedings on this question will be postponed.

for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1987 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of

the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1987, a bill to authorize appropriationers in coast guard for fiscal years 2016 and 2017 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from louisiana, mr. graves, and the gentleman from maryland, mr. cummings, each will control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from louisiana. mr. graves: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extrains you material on h.r. 1987. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. fwraves: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. graves: h.r. 1987 re-authorizes the coast -- authorizes the coast guard act of 2015. it slashes the budget by 17% which will only hurt their

performance, drive up the cost of new assets and deny service members the critical resources they need to perform their duties. mr. speaker, the coast guard has become someone the swiss army knife of the sea, responsible for law enforcement dealing with fisheries, alien interdiction, drug interdiction maritime law and national security. mission after mission has been heaped on the corps of engineers without the corresponding resources for those service members to do their job. h.r. 1987 provides sufficient funding to ensure these cuts do not happen and the service has what it needs to successfully conduct its mission. the bill also makes several reforms to coast guard authority as well as laws governing shipping and navigation. specifically h.r. 1987 supports coast guard service members by authorizing sufficient funds to allow for pay raises consistent with the ndaa and by ensuring they receive access to some of the same benefits as their

counterparts in the department of defense. it improves coast guard mission effectiveness by aligning the leadership structure of the service to that of other armed services and by replacing and modernizing coast guard assets in a cost effective manner. the bill enhances oversight of coast guard, reduces inefficient operations and saves taxpayer dollars by making commonsense reforms to the services administration and its acquisition processes. it supports the u.s. flag and crude vessels by strengthening the enforcement of cargo preference law, it encourages job growth in the maritime sector by cutting regulatory burdens on job creators. it re-authorizes and reforms the administrative procedures of the federal maritime commission to improve accountability. and finally, it includes language to require an independent assessment of leases versus constructing a new polar ice breaking. mr. speaker, right now other

nations operating in the arctic far exceed the capabilities of the united states. this is an area where we must focus and ensure that the united states' capabilities are capable of protecting our interest in that region. i believe we could potentially deliver this critically needed asset polar ice breaking capabilities much sooner and save a tremendous amount of taxpayer funds if we pursue ta public-private partnership to aquir a polar ice breaker. h.r. 1987 is a bipartisan effort put together in close consultation with the minority. i want to commend ranking member defazio and garamendi for their efforts as well as chairman shuster and subcommittee chairman hunter for their leadership. i want to thank the men and women of the coast guard for the tremendous job they do for our nation. coast guard service members risk their lives on a day dibasis to save those in peril. ensure the safety and security of our ports and waterways, and protect our environment. around they do all this -- and

they do all this on aging and on absolute cutters and aircraft some of which were first commissioned in world war ii. passing h.r. 1987 will help strengthen and rebuild the coast guard and demonstrate the support congress has for the coast guard and the deep appreciation we have for the sacrifices they make for our nation. i urge all members to support h.r. 1997 and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. cummings snk i yield -- mr. cummings: i yield myself such time as i my consume. i want to thank subcommittee chairman garamendi and rank -- ranking member garamendi and chairman hunter for their work on this legislation. i fully support this very important piece of legislation. h.r. 1987 authorizes robust

funding for the united states coast guard's operations particularly for its accusation program. -- acquisition program. the coast guard has been cut to the bone. everybody knows that. we failed to ensure adequate funding for the construction of critically needed new cutters the coast guard of the future will be less capable than the coast guard of the past and the way it has been. something that should be unacceptable to our nation. i strongly support section 303 of this measure, which strengthens the enforcement of existing statutes that require government cargos to be carried on u.s. flagged vessels. today, according to the maritime administration, there are just

83, just 83 ships flying the u.s. flag in foreign trade. we've lost more than 20 ships from the u.s. flagged foreign trade fleet just since the end of 2012. our merchant marine not only carries commercial cargo, it provides vital sea lift capacity to the united states military. and yet particularly during periods of demobilization we have repeatedly allowed our blue water fleet to decay until unforeseen crises have created an urgent need new need, for sea lift capacity. such post mobilization decline is happening again but now our fleet is falling to such low levels that we risk reaching a tipping point from which we may

never recover. we cannot afford to let that happen, and i remind my colleagues, this is our watch. effective enforcement of our existing cargo preference requirements is essential to the success of our flagged fleet and is just like any other buy america policy that ensures expenditure of u.s. taxpayer dollars to support the interests of united states taxpayers. i want to thank my colleagues on the coast guard subcommittee for working with me to closely -- to look closely at this critical issue. i also commend chairman hunter for offering an amendment to the ndaa that would provide a one-year increase in the msp annual operating stipend. i want to thank him for his leadership. as i close, i know that section 32 -- 302 of this bill is of big

concern to me. section 302 would gut much of what was enacted in section 609 of the coast guard authorization act of 2010. section 609 was enacted to ensure that all survival craft approved by the united states coast guard provide the basic protection of keeping individuals out of the water if they are forced to abandon a vessel. of particular concern is ensuring that the elderly, children, and those with disabilities have access to a survival craft that can actually ensure their survival. the national transportation safety board has been clear for the last 40 years that out of water survival craft save lives. rather than rolling back the requirements contained in the

coast guard authorization act of 2010, we should be focused on ensuring full implementation of these requirements. as such, i hope that before this authorization is finalized, section 302 is removed from it. with that, i again thank my colleagues for their hard work on this legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from louisiana is recognized. mr. graves: i yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from california, mr. royce. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. royce: i thank the gentleman. congratulations to chairman shuster and ranking member defaws -- chairman shuster and ranking member defazio for getting this bill to the floor today. we are certainly proud to support the men and women of our coast guard they play a critical role in rescue, saving lives, and the role they play also in drug interdiction and in protecting our territorial waters. i would also like to recognize

the cooperative way in which chairman hunter has worked to address concerns about how this bill would impact an important lifesaving program under the jurisdiction of the foreign affairs committee and that's the food for peace program. over the past several years, the effort to reform the food for peace program so we can feed more people in crisis overseas, in less time for less money, has been portrayed as a zero sum game between the intended beneficiaries of our generosity and the u.s. merchant marine, and that's unfortunate because that's wrong. what is career, though is that we need to fix this problem in thence that -- sense that after typhoon haidon struck the philippines in 2013, u.s. purchase and shipping requirements delayed deliffries of u.s. food for three weeks.

fortunately, with the food for peace program, those needs were met. but now in nepal, it would take 45 days to get u.s. food in country even though food pab propositioned in nearby sri lanka. -- has been prepositioned in nearby sri lanka. if we had to wait 45 days to respond to every humanitarian disaster, you know, some people would perish. certainly many would be on the verge of starvation over that 45 day period. i am therefore pleased to see that this year the coast guard authorization bill does not raise cargo preference requirements for -- from 50% to 75% and further the bill's cargo preference enforcement provisions maintain important consultation and public comment requirements. at the same time, the recently passed national defense authorization bill will accelerate support for the existing maritime security program.

i appreciate chairman hunter's work to ensure that u.s. maritime security needs are fulfilled through a national defense mechanism rather than relying upon food aid cargos. and mr. speaker, preserving u.s. maritime security is essential but need not come at the expense of food aid. i look forward to continuing to work with chairman hunter and ranking member garamendi and creative solutions that enable us to preserve u.s. maritime security while making food for peace more effective and more efficient and most importantly getting it there on time for those that are in need after a disaster. so i yield back the balance of my time. thank you very much. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. cummings: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized.

. mr. cummings: i ask to put into the record the statement of mr. garamendi and i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the statement of the honorable peter defazio. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. cummings: mr. speaker, we have no more speakers. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman yield? the gentleman from maryland yields back. the gentleman from louisiana. >> thank you mr. speaker. we obviously covered all the key points of this legislation, the importance. i'd like to briefly highlight the fact that the u.s. coast guard commission has fundamentally changed over the last several years in regard to the mission upon mission heap upon this agency. mr. graves: they're now playing a greater role in regard to national security cooperating with our other defense and armed forces and i want to make note that this legislation ensures that the coast guard is on a path to playing that role

and to being able to perform their responsibilities and duties proficiently. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h.r. 1987, as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until

>> a hearing on modernizing the air traffic control system. live coverage of the senate hearing. later a discussion on body cameras for law enforcement officers. a senate judiciary subcommittee looks into the matter. watch that live at 2:30 p.m. eastern on c-span3.

tonight on the communicators members of congress on n.s.a. collection of phone records privacy and neutrality. >> authorizes the metadata collection the bulk collection because last week we found out that the second district federal court agrees with justin amash and i that the patriot act never authorized these programs and these programs are illegal but the n.s.a. would tell you that these programs were authorized by section 215 and fisa court issued a warrant. >> our policy is far from being up to date. we have policy that is out of date. we have copyright policy from 1976 a lot has changed since

1976 and electronic communications privacy act which was done in 1986. people could send an email to someone they worked with and email is a standard form of communication and one of the popular forms of communication and we still have a situation where a piece of paper in your desk drawer, law enforcement would need a warrant to access that information. an email that has been stored in the cloud is not subject to a warrant standard. >> we aren't making a comment. but what we are saying, the internet needs to be open and free and any time the government gets involved there is an open-ended pan dora's box. and we had hearings where they can't answer basic question about what their own rule would do. we are saying let that be an

issue for congress and the elected officials but not put in place by bureaucrats who have no consequence. >> tonight at 8:00 eastern on "the communicators" on c-span2.

guest: office of congressional ethics, the whole purchase is to review things you see in the newspaper or hear complaints, whenever they see something that may be an ethical violation, they review it first and pass their review onto the ethics committee with a suggestion, either you should dismiss this or something you should investigate it. there is a real appearance of a violation here, go get them. host: tweets out amid the news

headlines among the 2013 trip by 10 members and how the house ethics process is still a mess. what was this trip that garnered so much attention. guest: members of congress are not allowed to take travel, free travel to places from other governments or from lobbyyists or from corporations that have lobbyists. they don't want big corporations paying to take you to las vegas and party it up. this trip is a nonprofit group was paying for travel, a couple of nonprofits. and members of congress submitted their notes to the ethics comments saying we would like to take these trips, paid for by these nonprofits. the ethics committee said go

ahead. those none profits were fake and were created by the government-controlled oil company, largely to pay for this trip. and it was about free travel and free gifts and all this other stuff. again posing as an educational trip paid for by a nonprofit when it was a lobbying trip paid for by an oil company and a government that wanted help for their oil pipeline. host: if you want more information, paul singer is the right person to ask the questions.

guest: dug up oddities. and they begin to investigate the members of congress and say something is wrong. somewhere in that process, the ethics committee contacted the office of congressional ethics and said we are doing our own investigation. you can stop now. and host: ethics committee is controlled by members of congress themselves. guest: they can punish. the board can't punish. so the ethics committee stepped in at some point and said we got this. you guys back off. and the office of professional ethics said no we are not going to back off and continue investigating and we don't know what goes on in these meetings because it is all completely behind the wall of secrecy but

the ethics committee approved this trip in the first place and now the members of congress are mad because they are getting in trouble and the ethics committee said we will straighten it out and the office said let us straighten it out. host: the names of the 10 members that have been identified in those documents of those who took the trip. one of those is representative clarke, a member of the congressional ethics committee. what has been the response from these 10 members? guest: they have said, the once one s who had spoken said we didn't know. we asked ethics committee for approval, they gave us approval and we took the trip and we had no idea it was improperly funded.

i don't judge that answer. i don't know the case well enough. the office of congressional ethics appears to be saying well there were oil company logos everywhere and you should have known this was being sponsored by somebody and carpets and other gifts worth of thousands of dollars. well we thought they were cheap carpets and didn't know. they are saying we didn't know they were doing anything wrong. host: how do we know? guest: this is the first, the office of congressional ethics created in 2007 and 2008. this is the first time one of their reports has leaked. the "washington post" got a copy of the draft report normally what happens is the ethics committee receives this report again in confidence. the ethics committee decides what to do and think about it for a while and 90 days before

it has to be publicly released. in this case, the thing just leaked. no one ever seen a leaked report before which is kind of fun for people like me. host: leads to a conversation we are having about the congressional ethics process, if you have questions for paul singer. caller: the problem i have here is something just recently leaked out. if you consider the fact that this just leaked, then congress itself needs to be investigated

because of the whole lot of other things that hasn't been leaked that should have been leaked. these people need to be prosecuted and kicked out of office, not voted out, kicked out i mean immediately. not know 90 days, immediately. and that's not just congress. a whole lot of stuff that is going on in washington, d.c., and needs to be cleaned up and they need to get baptized in jesus' name. host: we have a number of issues there. guest: we are supposed to find something that looks suspicious and investigated and fully vetted and then returned with some sort of a verdict so the public can know whether or not something went wrong here. and i think the danger of an ethics process where stuff leaks

out like this is people lose faith in the process. members of congress themselves say we aren't going to participate in the process if it's going to become a public document. the flip side is the office of congressional ethics investigated is ethics committee didn't do anything. they didn't know, as thomas says. getting kicked out for bad things or were they not. host: office of congressional ethics on the house side and get into the senate, but on the house side created march 11, 2008 governed by eight board of directors, members cannot work for the federal government and the budget appropriation for the house office of congressional ethics $1.5 million. what happened in early 2008 or

before that that led to the creation of the office of congressional ethics? guest: this was part of the democratic takeover of the house of representatives in the 2006 elections. you remember and we were working together at "roll call" that there were a series of scandals in the house and nancy pelosi and the democrats ran their campaign around a drain the swamp theme. we are going to get rid ofruption in the house of representatives. and i think the most famous one was the foley scandal which was exchanging lewd emails. it looked like they responded poorly to that. they knew about the messages and didn't do anything. pelosi is running on this drain

the swamp platform. she wins and democrats take control and they created this panel or a task force to figure out how to make things happen. for a period of years before that, the ethics committee had these rules that said essentially, nobody can file a complaint except a member of congress and the two parties had agreed to never file a complaint. so you had this process where the ethics cops were handcuffed to their own desks. host: which leads to this issue we brought up one member of the ethics committee being named. can the ethics committee be brought before the ethics committee? guest: that's a good question. a member of the ethics committee can be brought before the ethics committee. in theory, that member would be

excused from the committee for a period of time. it is members of congress policing themselves essentially. and there is no other place we would do that and expect that kind of behavior. host: charlie dent, republican from pennsylvania is the chairman. congresswoman linda sanchez of california the ranking member on that committee. let's go to rockville maryland. lucas, good morning. caller: quick question. did the members of congress after this trip give money to this oil company or the government or have there been any actual effect of the trip or was it just an enjoyable trip? guest: we have not found any effort by any member of congress to help the oil company after this trip and haven't seen any

money going back and forth. so this looks like a trip where they took a gift they were not entitled to take, that is the free travel and may have accepted some token gifts that they should not have accepted. and the it didn't work the way it was supposed to work because a drk fake nonprofit paid for your travel. there is no evidence at this point that any member of congress was swayed by this trip to take some sort of action on behalf of this oil company. host: does this change things about how members accept gifts in the future? guest: there are several ongoing cases in congress that has led to questions about whether the rules need to change. so i'm sure your view if you remember this conversation about

aaron shock, the lawmaker from illinois several news investigations were investigating this guy and he was spending money from his campaign improper ways and office account in improper ways. there was a discussion about how the way office expenses are paid. we don't know if it's going to happen. there is another case where a member of congress was found to be voting in favor of their own work -- their own companies that they owned. member of congress wasn't punished but congress said well 's change the rules. same case here. members of congress got caught in a trip that they shouldn't have taken. should the rules change? maybe. host: here to answer your congressional ethics question for the next half hour. west milton, ohio, line for

republicans. good morning. caller: good morning. my question is why are the congressmen and congress women traveling when we have all these problems at home? didn't we hire our representatives to take care of our needs and to represent us and to get sick america well again? guest: this is a fundamental question with all foreign travel that we explore. you would like members of congress particularly if they are going to be involved in foreign policy to be traveling to countries and getting an idea of what the world is like. we have members going to iraq

and afghanistan looking at the situation militarily and know something about the country because iraq and afghanistan have been a huge policy problem for the united states. so, it makes sense that a member of congress would go. you don't want to say, member of congress don't go to a place in a world where an important policy is going on. that is a fairly thin issue brief to attract that many members of congress. the country is interesting because our closest ally near iran and they have oil and the former soviet republic, there is a lot to learn there. i would leave it up to the voters to answer this question that i think is the right question, is this where we

should be having members spending their time or in baltimore or in san diego or in some place in the united states where there are things going on that matters. host: interesting suggestion on twitter, the ethics committee should be like jury duty every american citizen should get a chance and how is the ethics -- how are ethics reconciled with contributions. it is compromised by donors. guest: this is again -- i can't give you an opinion about this because i don't have an opinion and not my job to an opinion, american politics is privately funded.

fundamental premise is american politics is privately funded. that means when ar congressman wants to run for re-election he has to turn to private donors and ask for their money. that opens a ethical question. he trying to satisfy the people who paid him to run for office. i do not make a judgment that is inherently corrupt that you are asking private sources for money, but it opens the door to questions every time you have a financial transaction, if anybody gives you money, it is fair for me as a reporter to say what did that person get back and did the congressman do something he shouldn't have done. host: rick, good morning. caller: my question is about the so-called blind trust funds that give the nonappearance of

conflict of interest to these politicians. i would bet a nickel to the dollar that somewhere in the cheney household you will find shares of halliburton stock and why isn't that question ever asked during these political debates? do you have a blind trust? do you plan on having a blind trust or something along those lines, because i find it hard to believe that anybody especially as smart as these politicians that they are going to invest their money and don't have a clue as to where it's going. guest: every member of congress and every politician who is running for a federal office have to fill out every year a financial disclose sure form and on that form there is a check box that says do you have a blind trust and if so, has it been approved by the committee.

the ethics committee, pardon my lack of knowledge. the ethics committee approves helps these truly blind. i take all my money and stick it in this account and i don't know how it's invested. all you are allowed to know about it whether or not it performs and when you fill it out the form, you write in there how much it earned and what the investments were. but there are blind trusts. they are publicly declared and i agree with you completely if you are a member of congress, the safest place to have your money in a blind trust where you can say with a piece of paper that someone has certified i don't know how this is being invested and i don't take control of those decisions. host: you want to run through the senate said? guest: there is none on the

senate side. in the senate, there is no offings of congressional ethics or a secondary panel just an ethics committee that basically does what the house ethics committee used to do which is hide behind a wall, look into things they find interesting and never publicize the enormous bulk of them. so we don't know what the senate ethics committee does. host: lafayette louisiana, line for democrats. caller: listen, i remember back when al gore and bush junior well bush, the younger one not the senior when he was running in florida they had a lot of -- how would you call it, people weren't able to vote in democratic areas and stuff and it was blocked and came out with computer systems and when obama

ran for president the second time, mitt romney when you pushed for obama it would go to obama. should we go back to the old machines to stop gerry meandering about that? guest: people believe that a paper ballot is safer than an electronic ballot. electric thronic voting machines are now aging out. the first rounds of them came up after the 2000 presidential election. the machine is now 10 years old and the software is old is there software to upgrade it or need a new machine. an interesting conversation and you will hear about it because more and more jurisdictions are going to all electronic online

voting. it is a never-ending question. keep in mind, elections elections for president are carried out at the local level. so it is the state that controls the election and how you vote even though you are voting for the president of the united states. the rules are different in florida than in oregon. host: voting issues are not the purview of the ethics committee but the house administration committee looks at these issues from a congressional level. guest: they make sure that the proper policies are in place and states are actually making sure they have the most modern equipment. host: line for republicans good morning. caller: been a long time watcher. given the fact that the public approval of congress is down

around 20% i want to know if the expert can answer this question and the last 50, 60 years, how many members of congress have been disciplined -- never have been expeled but how many have been disciplined? guest: really good question. it's very hard to count. i have gone back -- first of all, jim traficant was expeled in 2002 or 2003. he was a congressman from ohio who was convicted of taking kickbacks, went to jail and was expeled from the congress. it was a dramatic moment where he had to go to the floor of the house and the vote had to expel them. came through the ethics

committee. so that's one. there's been several dozen cases over the past seven or eight years since the process has been in place where members have gotten various kinds of punishments, although you may not consider them to be proper punishments. saying they get a letter saying you shouldn't have done it. that was a harsh punishment. the trip that we are talking about is similar case, some years ago members of congress took a trip overseas and it was paid for by a private interest and shouldn't have accepted these gifts but the trip had been approved by the ethics committee. the outcome was members of congress were required to pay back the cost of the trip. but they were allowed to use their campaign funds to pay for

it. how much punishment was that. 91 by the yeas and nays h.r. 1313 by the yeas and nays, h.r. 1382 by the yeas and nays. the first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. remaining electronic votes will be conducted as five minute d votes. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from ohio, mr. wenstrup, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 91 as amended on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 91, a bill to amend title 3 united states code, to direct the secretary of veterans affairs to issue upon request veteran identification cards to certain veterans.

the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 402, 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 the gentleman from ohio, mr. wenstrup to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1313 on which the the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk: h.r. 113 a bill to amend title 38, united states code, to enhance the treatment of certain small business concerns for purposes of department of veterans affairs contracting goals and preferences. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 403, the nays are zero. 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from ohio, mr. wenstrup, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1382 as amended on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 1382, a bill to amend title 38 united states code, to authorize the secretary of veterans affairs in awarding a contract with goods and services to give a preference to offerers that employee veterans -- employ veterans. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device.

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

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 404, the nays are zero. 2/3 being in the affirm ty, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on house administration be discharged from further consideration of senate concurrent resolution 3 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: senate concurrent

resolution 3, concurrent resolution authorizing the use of emancipation hall and capitol visitors' center to sell -- for an event to celebrate the birthday of king kamama i. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection to the concurrent resolution? without objection the concurrent resolution is agreed to. >> i ask unanimous consent that all members have five ledge dative days to revise and extend their -- five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and incloud extraneous materials on senate resolution -- senate concurrent resolution 3. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? ms. ros-lehtinen: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without

objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. the house will be in order. the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you. madam speaker, i rise today to remind us that may is stroke month. according to the american heart association stroke is the leading cause ofties ability in the united states. in fact, one out of every six people will suffer from a stroke in his or her lifetime. and yet, strokes are largely preventable and treatable. small changes in diet and exercise can have an enormously positive impact on your heart health and help prevent a stroke. america's amazing medical researchers and practitioners

are also doing their part by pioneering new treatments that save lives every day. finally, let's remember these four letters. fast. f.a.s. -- f-a-s-t. face droop arm weakness, speech difficulty trouble speaking, if you experience any of these symptoms, call 911. thank you for the time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman frl virginia -- from virginia seek recognition? the gentleman from virginia is recognized. >> 50 years ago today, president lyndon b. johnson announced from the white house rose garden that enrollment could begin -- would begin for an early childhood education program called head start. mr. scott: for the last half century, head start has been more than just a preschool program. it includes preschool but also

critical supporter is spisses, including family engagement and new -- good nutrition. children in head start do better academically. the program also saves more money than it costs by reducing teen pregnancy, high school dropouts and the likelihood of incarceration. we know that head start works, and we mark the occasion of 50 years of one of the most successful early intervention programs. so let us recommit ourselves to the idea that all of our children have access to quality preschool education like head start. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. thompson: thank you madam speaker. i rise today to congratulate 17-year-old devon anderson of pennsylvania for being named the pennsylvania american leon --

legion's eagle scout of the year. devin, a member of kersey troop 94 first joined boy scouts after learning about it in first grade. since then he dedicated himself to church, school, scouting, community and personifies all that an eagle scout should be. madam speaker, i have the privilege of attending his eagle scout ceremony back in november of 2012. knew right away, then and there, that he had a bright future ahead he advances to the national level where he'll compete among 56 applicants to earn the coveted eagle scout of the year award. like devin's parents joe and karen, i am so proud of all of devin's accomplishments and wish him the best heas compete nrsnabble award. thank you, madam speaker and i yield -- competes for this national award. thank you madam speaker and i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio seek recognition? ms. kaptur: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without

objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. kaptur: madam speaker members of congress attend many events. other the weekend i was privileged to be part of the 125th anniversary celebration of united ally trades local 50 plumbers, pipe fitters and allied trade in northern ohio. 125 years of building america forward. over 1,000 -- over 1,500 people came into this mammoth hall and we remembered those who had come before us and been part of building of plum, of pipe fitting of building america forward in our refinery, in our nuclear power plants in the natural gas lines that are laid. the power of america was before us in the hands and minds of those who have the skills to build for us. the training academy they have built at local 50 is probably the finest in the country at least one of the finest. and i'm just so proud of the younger men and women who are

coming up in the trades. they have a decent wage, they can earn enough to join the middle class they have retirement plans. they have health plans including front path that they built from scratch serving thousands and thousands and thousands of people. congratulations at 125 years to united ally trade, pipers and -- plumbers and pipe fiters local in ohio. god bless you, you blessed america. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise to honor and recognize minnesota rabbi harold kravitz as chair of the board for maison a jewish organization for hunger. i want to thank him for the work he's done in minnesota and across the country for his fight against poverty and for his work

on childhood advocacy. he's received numerous awards, including being named one of america's most inspiring rabbis. however it's more than awards, madam speaker. anyone who has met rabbi kravitz will tell you it's a passion he has for the cause he is advocates for that brings him success. i wish him success moving forward and the best as he moves on to new endeavors which i'm sure will continue many project it is make the world a better and safer and more just place. his service and commitment to helping our community have made a significant difference and we thank him for his tireless efforts and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition? ms. jackson lee: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: thank you. madam speaker, what about those houston rockets? the 18th congressional district and the toyota center last night, we reclaimed the name clutch city. let me thank the young men of the houston rockets the rockets

organization, for the first time in 18 years the rockets are in the western championship. i know it's not the championship of the national basketball association, but it's really good for houstonians. we had a rocking good time. for those who were able just to be on the streets, those wrp inside the arena, those who were at various sites around the city, i watched my constituents have just a great amount of joy. it's my privilege to thank the owners, the coach and yes all of the team. we know there are great stars on the team and we know that they work as a team and that's what makes the houston rockets great. i'm here today saying, what about those rockets? with a red coat on to salute the houston rockets and push them on tomorrow night to be champions again. thank you for being the right kind of role model for our young people and letting them know that academics and sports go

together, the national basketball association realizes the importance of young people having role models, for young people staying in schools, and they're focusing on that. i'm rooting for the houston rockets. what about those houston rockets. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i'm equally excited about the golden state warriors madam speaker, starting this week. that's not why i'm here tonight. over the weekend, i had the opportunity to participate in a really great ceremony far gentleman who is a world war ii triple ace in california, counselor bud anderson. mr. lamalfa: he dedicated so much to his community, not just in the war but in all his efforts afterwards in leadership. but colonel ander -- anderson a

triple ace a cornerstone to keep the war effort against germany by escorting fighters and bombers in for the important bombing runs that helped turn the tide in world war ii against the german effort to make war. so being able to honor him with so many of his friends and others showing up with p-51 d mustangs was a great tribute to him. this week as well he'll be honored with the congressional gold medal ceremony, taking place this wednesday at 3:00 p.m. eastern. i hope everyone will take that in. madam speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leave of absence requested for mr. kohl burrson of texas for today mr. lamb -- mr. culberson of texas for today, mr. lamb born of colorado for today and mr. peabury for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the 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, madam speaker. i'm glad to be joined by my colleague and my friend, the gentlelady from illinois, ms. kelly. thank you, congresswoman kelly for joining me in co-anchoring this special order hour tonight. thanks also to the members of the congressional black caucus and to all of those watching from home. madam speaker, last month, freddy gray a 25-year-old baltimore man died in police custody from a spinal cord injury. his death, ruled a homicide, has drawn ongoing national attention, increasingly frayed relations between police and communities throughout the united states. tonight, we come together as a caucus to address the urgent need to reform our criminal

justice system and promote police accountability and also to talk about many different issues of diversity in our nation. our nation is at a crossroads. failure to make meaningful reforms to our criminal justice system risks damaging relations between communities and police beyond repair. but real commonsense reform that enhances transparency, advance public safety eradicate discrimination and instill trust can create a system that works for all americans. currently, our law enforcement system and criminal justice systems aren't working for african-americans and other minorities. as a result, a meaningful dialogue between law enforcement and the communities they are charged with protecting remains elusive. tonight, we will speak to the urgent need to reform our criminal justice and police systems so that we can breathe

new life into the american promise of full equality and justice for all. with that, madam speaker, i'd like to yield time to the gentlelady from illinois, ms. kelly. ms. kelly: thank you, my friend from new jersey, for leading tonight's special order hour. madam speaker once again the congressional black caucus has the opportunity to discuss some of the many important issues and challenges facing our nation right now. i strongly believe that our conversation here tonight is a critical discussion for the record as we continue the work of making our communities and country better. the urgency of now addressing reform, accountability equality and diversity that's quite a title, but what does it all mean in the context of our floor discussion? america is celebrated for being a melting pot but i like to say a tossed salad or a stew, because in a stew or salad, you don't lose your identity but

learn to live together in the same gravy or the same salad dressing. this congress is without a doubt a true testament to the diverse people, personalities, and communities that make this great nation so great. but it needs -- in these tie namic times, how can we ensure that our laws and policies are fully emgracing -- embracing our melting pot or stew of a nation. how can we ensure that we make this great union even more perfect? it starts with holding ourselves accountability and having a myriad of respect. on an economic front, appreciating our diversity and inclusiveness for all americans. i look forward to a fruitful conversation on this and thank my co-anchor, representative payne. . i did want to acknowledge the diversity dins that are we had last week. these days we hear so much about the toxic partisan atmosphere in congress titled

like how congress became so partisan of "the washington post" to a "politico" piece. this graphic shows how america's partisan divide grew. the reports of congress' hyperpartisan are abun danlt. the reports point to the -- abun danlt. the reports point -- abundant. the reports point to camaraderie lost. since my time at the -- as a state legislature in the illinois state house, i've been hosting diversity dinners to grow friendships and nurture collegial working relations among legislators who may not otherwise interact. tonight as we discuss equality and diversity i want to reflect on what i see as encouraging and bridging differences and understanding in different communities. last week i hosted a long -- hosted, along with other members, my second annual congressional diversity dinner. 40 members of congress from both parties, including members of both the republican and democratic leadership, i saw

michael -- a microcosm of our nation. a crowd made up of members from coast-to-coast with truly diverse backgrounds coming together to enjoy each other's company. if we can put aside our partisan blinders to break bread together i am confident we can find ways to work together. that's what america wants and needs and that type of leadership is the kind of leadership we deserve. today we have an opportunity to celebrate diversity and show that bipartisanship can thrive in congress. we've seen the trust between political parties law enforcement and communities across the nation spike. now's the time for us to come together to address the reforms needed to rebuild this trust. let's show the american people that we are a diverse body that won't let parties' lines divide us or define us. i yield back.

mr. payne: i'd like to thank the gentlelady for her thoughtful comments and, madam speaker it is true. we have come to a point in this nation where one side has gone to one corner, the other side has gone to another corner, not to meet in the middle to solve issues and problems. there was a time when this great body would compromise. if you didn't get everything you wanted -- you didn't get everything you wanted and i didn't get everything i wanted. so that means we compromise and came to a decision. the gentlelady also makes a good point about working with members on the other side of the aisle. the gentlelady from arizona, the speaker this evening, has become a great collaborator with myself on homeland

security subcommittee which she chairs, and we worked extensively together on legislation that we both support and we need more of that. we need more of that to happen. we need to take the time to hear each other, to listen and to see where we don't agree on everything, but there are common threads that we can build and bind together. and so with that i am proud to see her sitting -- sitting in that chair. i get to sit next to her in committee. puts me closer to the speaker's chair. i feel privileged for that. but right now i'd like to yield to one of the most thoughtful members of the united states house of representatives. she hails from houston, texas and always has great words of wisdom and thoughts and ideas on the issues that we face in

this great nation and that is the gentlelady from texas, the honorable sheila jackson lee. ms. jackson lee: madam speaker, i think by the spirit and the tone of this special order, we can see that there is hope and a pathway for collaboration. let me thank mr. payne who has evidenced those collaborative efforts through his leadership on homeland security and successful leadership passing any number of initiatives in a bipartisan manner. i also am delighted to join congresswoman robin kelly and she is right she had a very successful diversity dinner last week and i'm sure it outdid the one the year before. and there was a lot of cross-polenization and good feelings and discussions about very important issues and we found that america is a diverse

nation and we're happy when we have the ability to understand each other's cultures or understand the backgrounds that we have come from, our own neighborhoods make us different, our own faith makes us different, our families mold us differently. where we went to school. yet in this place, the american people ask us, as both mr. payne and ms. kelly is saying today to walk a pathway of bipartisanship, but really towards success. so allow me just briefly to comment on one or two points regarding diversity and i would highlight that one of the areas is where i form early served as a member of the science committee in years past. we have gathered around science tech technology, engineering and math and we have gathered around transportation infrastructure and i hope by our words tonight that we will find a way to forge a way forward for transportation infrastructure because every one of us needs not only good

roads and highways and dams but we need good public transportation, as evidenced by the heinous and unacceptable tragedy of last week, with amtrak. and i might add that i am a space shovenist nasa supporter. many centers are around the nation, it's a job creator, as is infrastructure. and i would hope that we would write a bill and have republicans and democrats support the value of human space exploration. what a pathway for bipartisanship. we haven't gone that way, madam speaker. but i'm hoping that the words we offer tonight will see us do that. let me focus on my last point and indicate that we have a moment a significant moment in history. this is a great cause and that cause is to find a pathway for criminal justice reform. yesterday marked the 61st century of the landmark decision in brown vs. board of

education zgs that overruled the separate but equal doctrine and gave needed momentum to the fight for reform equality and dweverts in our nation's schools -- diversity in our nation's schools and i would say society at large. many communities are waiting for that kind of evenhandedness and justice in the criminal justice system. this does not mean that we throw targets at our friends in law enforcement. it means that we find ways for there to be an acceptance that we all can stand improvement, correction, enhancement, educational opportunities tactics, training. there is no shame to any of that. and as i stood with officers and families who were on the grounds of the capitol on may 15 as i joined them for the police memorial, for those who had fallen in duty there were

faces from all backgrounds and we were singularly noting the tragedy of loss -- lost officers. at the same time as we mourned those officers we know that there are officers who look to work with us as we move this criminal justice system along. i would just like to acknowledge that as we do so, we can find bipartisanship. because the cost of incarceration, for example, is almost prohibitive. $75 billion is spent on local, state and federal incarceration. we have the largest percentage, two million people, incarcerated across america. we can do better. part of that is expanding community-oriented policing. building trust, a bill that i introduced, h.r. 59, that would create a pathway for ensuring that communities feel that they are being protected, but not feel differently that they're

being, if you will, put in a certain category to be utilized as a basis for revenue raising in our communities. then we heard f.b.i. director kony, and i agree with him, the science of doing a better job is data and statistics. so i introduced the cadet bill collection and analysis of data to educate and train law enforcement officers. what it simply means is give them the numbers, the statistics, to know how they can do a better job at planning going forward, how they police. let there be information for us to be able to design the right kind of policing tactics that work for law enforcement and for the community. it's right out of the f.b.i. director's playbook. he said, we're operating without data, without statistics. frankly, that is not what we should be doing. tomorrow we'll be holding a hearing on the issue of police accountability and gaining the

facts in the judiciary committee, but there's much more for us to do. for example, what are the education requirements? what are the various resources used for mental health? and psychological needs and training and nonviolent conflict resolution received by police force -- police officers? the feasibility and efficacies of making greater use of the technological devices, such as body cameras. but i want more technology. laptops, many law enforcement have laptops. we might need to move toimbings pad, to be able to give them a quicker response times and quicker support systems, to be able to ensure that we have the right tools to work together and, yes, you cannot breathe life into the reform of a criminal justice system if you do not have a component dealing with our youth. so i've introduced of course, the juvenile block grant accountability re-authorization bill and the anti-bullying and

bullying intervention act, to be able to address a cause and sort of a cause and a relief for our young people. so i would offer to say that there is much work that we can do. we'll be looking at the legislation that many people have passed. i want to conclude on this note . to simply acknowledge the ranking member, john conyers, on the judiciary committee, that wants to join together with myself, tome brace the legislative initiatives of our members, to get the right kind of omnibus big bill going forward -- bill going forward for the american people to see criminal justice reform. i want to thank my colleagues for allowing me these comments and as well the bipartisan approach that you have taken. with that i yield back. mr. payne: thank you. really appreciate the always thoughtful and timely remarks by the gentlelady from texas.

madam speaker at this time i'd like to yield as much time as he may consume, another great texan, a gentleman who has served this house with distinction served with my father and i've had the great opportunity to work with him, mr. sessions. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yields. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. sessions: i send to the desk a bill. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to cape house resolution 271, resolution providing for consideration of the bill, h.r. 1806, to provide for technological innovation through the priorization of federal investment in the basic research fundamental scientific discovery and development to improve the competitiveness of the united states and for other purposes. providing for consideration of the bill h.r. 2250, making appropriations for the legislative branch of the

fiscal year ending september 30 2016s and for other purposes. and providing for consideration of the bill, h.r. 2353, to provide an extension of federal aid highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit and other programs funded out of the highway trust fund, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. sex session madam speaker, i want to thank -- mr. sessions: madam speaker, i want to thank the gentleman from new jersey. in fact, he did refer to the relationship that i had with don payne, a young congressman from new jersey who in fact engaged me as a new member in the caribbean caucus. during that period of time that i engaged with the congressman's father, we tried to pay attention to the caribbean, as some would say a gateway to the united states of america. but a country, a land, a number of islands of people who were

not only most accommodating to the united states of america, but really thoughtful in ingenuity involved in the people of the caribbean. i found through the relationship that i had with then congressman payne, as he was co-chairman of the caribbean caucus, i learned the things that he tried to teach me about not only a people but about a relationship with the united states of america. and i do miss don and i want to thank the gentleman for not only knowing that, but acknowledging that and i want to thank the gentleman for yielding time to me to file the rule and i thank the gentleman and i yield back the balance of my time. thank you very much. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yields back. the gentleman from new jersey may continue. . mr. payne: i thank the gentleman from texas who as i said has had a distinguished career to this point and will continue to show great leadership in the house of representatives. i thank him for his friendship. madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have

five legislate i days in which to revise and extend -- legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my special order tonight. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. payne: madam speaker we hear a common thread about diversity and you know, at the bottom of the statue of liberty there are words on it, and it says, give us your tired, your poor your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. that's allowed many diverse peoples to come here and look for the freedoms that this nation can extend to you and prosper. we need to continue that great tradition. i hear a lot these days about the borders and eliminating

pathways to come here and that has not been our a -- has not been our tradition. i do not believe at this point in time in our nation's history that we should talk that way, or else we should remove those words from the bottom of lady liberty. equality and diversity is the center of criminal justice concerns. inequality fosters distrust which erodes relationships between police and communities. baltimore and other police-related tragedies over the past year speak to the broader challenges. unfortunately, racial discrimination persists throughout our nation, undercutting the gains of african-americans in their communities. as we work to reform our criminal justice system we must also work in support -- work and support equality in all contexts. this is the only way to fully

meet the needs of our communities. as a caucus, think congressional black caucus is committed to ensuring that the increasing diversity of the nation is reflected in american business. to that end, we will make sure that american businesses receive the government contracts and tax preferences are taking concrete steps to improve diversity at all levels. diversity in the work force means diversity in all sectors, including technology industries where there is a lack of african-americans. we need to engage the tech sector in increasing african-american representation and inclusion in the industry. the american promise that we all are created equal must guide our efforts at all levels, from policing in our communities, expanding opportunities for minorities in the work force. madam speaker, you know, there

has to be balance in everything. we see the issues that towns such as ferguson and baltimore and long island, new york, have suffered with the tragedies of losing people in those communities, but we also know that police organizations have a difment job. they are trained -- a difficult job. they are trained to protect and serve. we must make sure that's the goal, to protect and serve. unfortunately at times, we find circumstances or situations where think -- where they are in a position where they're not protecting and serving, but more

like an occupying force. and that is not what we need from our law enforcement officers. we need for them to engage in the community and understand what's going on in that community and have a good enough relationship that when and if there is a circumstance where they need information, that the community feels comfortable enough to go to them with the information they need in order to serve the issue. there are good and bad in everyone, madam speaker. good public servants and bad public servants. there are good teachers and bad teachers. there are good speakers and bad speakers. poor speakers. but when it comes to law enforcement, we need to have them serve the community.

so i stand here to say, i thank them for the difficult task that they have every single day to go into the community and their families, say good-bye to them and hope they return from that shift that evening. so i don't take it lightly. there is enough responsibility on all sides, from law enforcement and from the community that has a responsibility to law enforcement. but we need to continue to strive to make this a more perfect union -- perfect union. with that, madam speaker, i'd like to yield to the gentlelady from illinois. ms. kelly: thank you, congressman payne. i did want to say to madam speaker, i appreciate you

participating in the diversity dinners last week. can't have congressman payne one up me. thank you so much, i appreciate it. as we continue our conversation on accountability, equality and diversity, i'd like to offer some statistics on our economy 50 years ago and today with respect to the african-american community and women. in 1965, african-american job seekers could be denied employment based on the color of their skin and when they could find jobs, they were disproportionately paid less than white males in the same position. in fact in 1965, the black unemployment rate was 8.1%, almost twice the national unemployment rate which stood at 4.5%. 50 years later, we've made great strides in our nation's -- and our nation's work force is more diverse than ever, but we have much more work to do. today at 10.4% the black unemployment rate is still almost double the national

unemployment rate of 5.6%. while it's significantly smaller, there's still a racial wage gap. the meeting in african-american households -- the median african-american household is 2/3 the income of the median white household. we have seen the greatest economic growth in decades, more and more women have been able to re-enter the work force reducing the unemployment rate among women to a six-year low. unfortunately black women have been unable to reap this benefit. the black women unemployment rate has increased over the past two months. according to a recent analysis by the national women's law center, the block women's unemployment rate is more than twice the unemployment rate of white women, despite having comparable levels of education, black women have had the highest unemployment rate of any other group. a possible factor in the stubborn unemployment rate for

black women is that we are disproportionalityly employed in the public sector which is experiencing a much slower recovery than the private sector. nwlc said the stagnant job situation for black women is a red flag in the employment landscape and urged lawmakers to act to promote a stronger, more widely shared recovery. i couldn't agree more. we need to invest more in job training and retraining programs that help black women adapt to the changing work force and prepare for the careers of tomorrow. we must work to promote diversity in hiring and encourage employees -- employers to model their work forces on the communities in which they operate. as we look for ways to help increase diversity in the workplace and help women succeed, we must be mindful of the challenges black women face and develop targeted programs to help level the playing field for all women. these facts i've just covered point to a systemic problem and

we need to address them today. it should be our mission today to see to it that in 50 years when lawmakers stand here, they're proudly touting the progress our nation has made because all americans are paid equally and no one is discriminated against in the workplace. as chair of the congressional black caucus brain trust i am working to address our nation health equity gap by ex-employering legislative and policy initiatives to reduce minority health distear by -- disparities and promote health equality for all. the health disparity gap is particularly wide as blacks have high rates -- rates of many adverse conditions from cancer to diabetes, from hypertension to stroke, blacks are often overrepresented and undertreated. a major barrier to african-americans getting the medical care they need is the lack of adequate numbers of african-american doctors in their communities.

studies show that african-americans are more comfortable seeking treatment from doctors who look like them and are much more likely to adhere to courses of treatment prescribed by black doctors. yet our african-americans compromise 35% of the u.s. population but represent only 4% of the physician work force, according to the association of american medical colleges 2014 diversity in the physicians' work force report. the infamusstusskegee study fostered mist trust of medicine in the african-american community that makes trust vital to closing the disparity gap. we must work to create a physician work force that reflects our nation. one key way to do that is encourage more african-americans to pursue education and training and -- in science technology, engineering and math. congress must do more to support

investments in stem education and to create avenues of access for african-american students to enter the stem fields. in my district, i launched the second congressional district stem academy to expose students to stem fields in hopes of encouraging them to pursue stem-related careers. also, a stem work force made up of diverse ranks is crucial to future innovation. to help in that mission, folks across the country and in silicon valley have taken note. i know fissbook has sought to change the face of innovation through efforts like facebook academy and facebook university which target high school and college students from underrepresented groups. similar to my stem academy, it's good to see them making an effort to build a pipeline and introduce women and people of color to jobs in stem which could be i.t., engineering and hopefully more young people decide to become doctors and they can work in african-american communities or

underserved communities. a medical student population that reflect ours country's population would create a pipeline of diverse doctors to our communities which will in turn put all americans on track to live a healthier life. with that, i turn back to my colleague from new jersey, congressman donald payne. mr. payne: thank you ms. kelly. appreciate your comments and in close, i'd like to thank you for co-hosting this special order on criminal justice reform accountability and diversity. it is through these special orders that we are able to speak directly to our constituents about the valuable work the congressional black caucus does to reduce injustice and promote equality for all african-american communities. our criminal justice and police systems are in a state of crisis.

too often under these systems black lives are treated as though they don't matter. we saw this last month when baltimore's freddy gray died in police custody from a brutal spine injury. such tragedies erode trust between our communities and the police. a promise compounded by a wide range of factors from disturbing gaps in incarceration rates, to racial disparities in sentencing. we need a system that holds criminals accountable and protects law enforcement while at the same time ensuring the safety and equal treatment of all communities. this includes implementing body cameras in order to promote transparency and accountability while deterring wrongdoing. at the same time, we need to make sure that law enforcement officers don't resort to discrim in a tir policing practices.

it is undeniable that racial profile regular mains an ongoing crisis in our nation. there's a clear and growing need to ensure robust and comprehensive federal commitment to end racial profiling by law enforcement agencies. the end racial profiling act which i proudly support would do just that. . it was constructed in a law in new jersey after my uncle william payne one of the first anti--racial profiling cases and i took that idea and have brought it federal. of course, real accountability remains -- means that we will, at times, need independent investigations of police-related deaths. we're glad to see finally

attorney general lynch launch an investigation into the baltimore police department with the stated goal of assisting police departments across the country in developing their practices. in less than one month on the job, attorney general lynch is already making a difference, and we thank her for that. as we reflect on the dire need for reform of our criminal justice system, we need to advance the cause of equality in all contexts. this means expanding diversity in the workforce, in health and all aspects of life, from the mail room, to the board room, from manufacturing industries, to the technology sector. many of these challenges we face today are great. but as a caucus we remain

committed in solving them. thank you. and with that madam speaker i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6 2015, the gentleman from louisiana, mr. graves is recognized as the designee of the majority leader. mr. graves: thank you very much to talk about 2016 president's budget request and energy policy in this nation. madam speaker there are a number of energy programs in this nation a number of energy programs where public lands' resources are leased and energy is produced on public lands and in the offshore waters of this nation. as you can see here, this is a

table explaining some of the different programs that are out there today. you can see that onshore on federal lands, when you produce federal resources or energy resources like oil, gas, coal and other resources, you can see 50% of the funds from that energy production on federal lands goes to the federal government. 50% goes to the states under the mineral leasing act. there are no constraints whatsoever as to how those states can spend those funds. 50% of the funds goes directly to the states. right there 50% that goes to the federal government 40% of that 50% or 80% of the federal funds actually goes into what's called the reclamation fund to be used in the water projects in 17 western states.

90% of the funds that are produced from energy production on federal lands goes back and is invested in many cases in those same states where production has occurs. in alaska, 90% of the funds goes back to the states. you can see here on geothermal 25% of the -- excuse me, 25% goes to the federal government. 50% goes to the state and the counties share in 25% of the revenue. for offshore alternative energies such as wind and wave energy and things along those lines, 27% of the receive news are shared with the adjacent states. i'm going to come back to this one on oil and gas offshore but just make note that there is extraordinary disparity as to how these different resources are treated.

i made reference to the mineral leasing act. and so, again except for the case in alaska, when you produce energy on federal lands 50% of the money goes directly to the states and of the offshore dollars $900 million, up to $900 million goes into the land and water conservation fund and all 50 states benefit, for national parks and wildlife refuges for urban parks and playgrounds and wildlife refuges that the states manage. ensure the preservation of historic buildings. you have 27% of -- in the three-mile zone, offshore, the six states that produce energy, they get 27% under section 8-g. you have under the gulf of

mexico security act 27% of the receive news are given to the land and water conservation fund. let me recap this disparity. if you are producing energy on federal lands onshore 50% of the money goes to the states with no strings, on 40% goes into the reclamation fund and 10% goes into the u.s. treasury. if you are producing energy offshore and producing energy in the offshore effectively all of that money goes to the federal government. and i will show you another post ter here that some of the dollars that have gone to the states. in the case of alaska and the county of mechanism came off the web site, office of natural resources revenue and this

reports to different sales years' data and will vary to some degree, but between 2009 and 2014, 97% of the funds that were generated from energy production on federal receive news was returned to the state of alaska. they received $158 million out of $163.6 million on revenue generated on federal lands. in california, 52% of the money went to california. over half a billion dollars during that time period. giving you an idea on some of the amazing figures, state of colorado, and produce $2 billion in energy production on federal lands and received over $900 million with no strings attached. the two extraordinary ones, state of new mexico generated $5.5 billion between 2009 and 2014 and that state received

2.75 billion back or approximately 50%. and in the case of wyoming, they produced 11.7 billion in revenue between 2009 and 2014 from energy production on federal lands and they received $5.8 billion with no strings attached whatsoever for the state of wyoming, which i want to be clear. i think it's great. i think that's how federal policy should work and federal returns should be shared with the states that hosts such energy production but here is the indefensible comparison of what happens with offshore energy receive news. this shows you that in 2009, less than 1% of receive news were returned to the states that produced offshore energy.

that's the state of texas, louisiana mississippi alabama california and alaska. those states in 2009 generated over $5 billion in revenue for the u.s. treasury. those six states and shared with counties and parishes, received $30 million. in 2010, they received.06%. and in 2012, and produced revenue for the federal government offshore and those states in 2012 on 6.5 billion six states shared only $837,000. unbelievable, less than 100,000 per state. in the case of -- if you take it overall the comparison between

2009 and 2014, over -- approximately $41 billion in revenue was produced from offshore revenue production and.12% was shared. states in some cases are getting 90% of the receive news. offshore receive news, the six states that produce this offshore energy are receiving .12%. now, mr. speaker you have to ask what role do these states play in our overall energy production? it is amazing. with just 2% of the offshore outer continental shelf leased with just 2% the oil production offshore accounts for 18% of all of the oil production in the united states.

and with just 2% of the outer continental shelf for lease for energy production, that production is approximately 5% of the nation's natural gas production. it has generated for example, in 2014, it generated incredible numbers. $7.3 billion. this is one of the largest reoccurring nontax revenue streams that goes into the u.s. treasury each year. to add insult to injury, four of these -- let me take that back. i guess it would be five of the six states that produce offshore energy only have three miles of state waters. which means they only get energy receive news from state waters and 100% from state energy. in the case of florida, which doesn't produce energy and the

state of texas they actually have three times that or nine miles. so you have disparity and that onshore production gets 50% to 90% of the receive news. states get .12% of the receive news to date. and you have the fact that the states of louisiana mississippi, alabama california and alaska only have three miles of state waters. in the case of texas and florida, they have three and roughly nine miles of state waters. the disparity is unbelievable. now this house has taken many efforts dating back decades ago to try to rectify and address this disparity. the conservation reinvestment act brought together such diverse interests such as congressman young of alaska and

a congressman from california. it was really amazing to see this house pass legislation bringing together everyone from the oil and gas community to the environmental community to ensure that these resources are re-invested back into coastal states that are producing energy and back to ensure we can protect our outdoors and protect future generations. unfortunately that legislation despite passing the house didn't pass the senate. in twune and in 2003, additional efforts included in the energy policy act passed the house of representatives once again with a strong margin to share offshore receive news with the states of louisiana, mississippi alabama, california and alaska and those states that produce offshore energy.

and unfortunately those efforts died in the united states senate. and in 2006, the gulf of mexico energy security act in december of that year was enacted. and what that did that replicated an offer that the president made decades ago. 37.5% of the all the receive news generated from federal waters. and they turned it down from president truman and despite that being offered, it wasn't until 2006, until 2006 when congress finally acted and enacted again what is known as the gulf of mexico security act which would share 37.5% from receive news of new energy production that occurs prospectively after december of 2006 and so it's not 37.5% of

all energy production or 37.5% of these numbers you see here. it is merely a fraction of that. so it isn't anything close to partity with what happens for onshore receive news, but it is a start and it is establish party and jo shore and offshore policy. in the state of louisiana, we actually passed a constitutional amendment with an amazing margin that dedicated every penny of those receive news from that act, dedicated every penny of it to the coastal restoration and making our coastal communities more resilient, ensuring that we don't see a repeat of what we all witnessed from hurricane katrina, where in our home state of louisiana, we had over 1,200 of our brothers and sisters, our

neighbors and friends and co-workers lose their lives. over 1,200. hurricane katrina and hurricane rita caused a spike in gas prices, to the tune of a spike of 75 cents a gallon. again in 2008 we saw price spikes $1.40 a gallon. $1.40, constitute thinking largest price spike in gasoline since the arab oil embargo. the reason i'm here tonight is to talk about the president's budget request. this year, when the president submitted his budget request, he submitted a request where he proposes to withdraw the gulf of mexico energy security act. to withdraw the, in 2014, the

$8.6 million that was split among six states, excuse me, four gulf states that produce offshore energy trying to prevent that from ever happening again. in the president's budget request he, says this proposal generates $5.6 billion in savings over 10 years through legislative reform proposals including reforms to encourage diligent development of federal energy resources while improving the return to taxpayers from royalty reforms. let's talk about that for a minute he says that it's going to generate savings he says it's management -- it's management reforms on oil and gas production that's going tone courage diligent production. mr. speaker, by withdrawing revenue sharing and potentially discouraging offshore energy production, that's not encouraging diligent development.

what it results in, it results in us having to import more energy from other nations. i remind you, nations like venezuela, like nigeria, many countries in africa and the middle east that don't share america's values. we are sending hundreds of billions of dollars to those countries. in 2011, over one-half of this nation's trade deficit was attributable to importing energy from other nations. that effectively is sending jobs it's sending hundreds of billions of dollars to those other countries that in many cases are taking those same dollars and musing them against the united states interests around the globe. it doesn't encourage diligent development of federal energy resources as the president's budget request suggests. they also say it improves the return to taxpayers i'm struggling with thousand this improves the return to

taxpayers, whenever study after study is crystal clear that proactive investment in things like coastal restoration, hazard mitigation investments according to the c.b.o., it returns $ for every $1 investment. according to fema, it returns -- fema study, it returns $4 in cost savings for every $1 invested. many, many others have said the savings are multiple times that. what's incredible to me, when we had the secretary of the interior who i asked for a meeting, i believe it was on february 4, here we are may 18, still have not been able to get that meeting, including offering to meet with the deputy secretary or anyone else who can speak intelligently on this issue. i'll take the receptionist if you're watching. we've asked for that meeting. in their budget request, it specifically says, cut has been identified as a lower priority program activity for purposes of

gpra mornedization act. now that's a government performance results act. so -- i said, wow, they did an evaluation. let's ask the secretary. madam secretary could you explain how you did an evaluation. her first response was, what's gpra? it's in her budget request and she asked me what gpra. despite the fact that it says they did an analysis and determined it was an a low-priority program. after i explained it they were untable explain. i asked if they'd provide us with information about how it would compare with other on shore programs and here we are months later, you'll be shocked to learn we have not received that information, it doesn't exist. politics mr. speaker, at its best. unbelievable. you can't justify from a policy perspective, can't justify it

from a financial perspective. can't justify it from a resiliency perspective. absolutely encredible. in fact, mr. speaker, i'd like to read a quote here from the environmental defense fund from the national wildlife federation and from the national audubon society. where they note, let's see, quote, this proposed budget undercuts the administration previous commitments to restore critical economic infrastructure and systems in the mississippi delta where we're losing 16 square miles of critical wetlands every year of preventable coastal erosion crisis. we urge congress to fund by maintaining the funding that is vital to the gulf coast and by identifying adegreesal funding for other priorities.

that's a quote from the environmental community. so this is the administration, i guess, attempting to win accolades from the environmental community who turned around and criticized them for that the irony goes even farther and that is, in 2013, secretary joule sends out a press release saying how great these dollars that are being shared are and talks about how these revs were distributed to state, local and federal tribes to support critical reclamation, conservation and other projects system of here they are, taking credit for it saying how great it is, and then they come back and make an about face that they can't explain, justify, can't even meet on, and haven't been able to provide any documentation as to how they came to their decision. once again in december of 2014 once again, a press release from

the department of the interior giving all sorts of accolades to themselves for sharing these revenues and the great investments they'll result in, yet in the f.y. 2016 budget request, we've seen them attempt to withdraw those dollars. now what's interesting is in the press release, the administration said that this should be done because these resources, these public resources, these energy resources offshore should be shared by all americans. well ok, let's talk about that. for on shore production, as we noted here, for on shore production, 50% of the money goes to the federal government, but of that, 80% of this actually is returned back to the states, 50% fwes directly to states with no strings attached. the federal government only gets 10%. the federal government only gets 10% yet they didn't cut this program. so i'm struggling with how they've determined that these

resources should be shared with all americans yet they're only doing it for this one program and leaving this other program entirely intact. once again, the disparity cannot be defended. let's go ahead and take their idea that resources should be shared with all americans and apply it to other federal resources. what about a national park? what about a national wildlife refuge? what about some b.l.m. land somewhere. these facilities that charge entrance fees they take all those dollars and give it right back to that park. the state of louisiana doesn't get any of it. it goes back to the park. we don't get any disparate benefit from that. the state that hosts the national park and hosts the national wildlife refuge it benefits from that in the form of tourism and economic activity and a place for their citizens to recreate. explain to me that disparity? once again, it simply can't be done. mr. speaker i want to -- i want

to make note that the problem in coastal louisiana and why it's so critical that these dollars be invested, that the gulf of mexico energy security act program be continued. in coastal louisiana, prior to the u.s. government, the federal government building levees on the mississippi river, and our coastal region of the state, the state of louisiana was growing to the tune of three quarters of a square mile per year on average. it was growing in land. when the corps of engineers came in and built levees on our river systems, we immediately went from growing or acreating to losing land. in some years, or in some decades we've lost an average of 16 square miles per year. in other decades we've lost closer to 26 or 28 square miles per year. in 2005, we lost nearly 200 square miles of our coast per year. to put that, to add it all up,

the total figure, we've lost 1,900 square miles of our state since the 1930's. to put it in comparison. if the state of rhode island lost 1,900 square mile the state of rhode island wouldn't exist anymore. if the state of delaware lost 1,900 square miles it would consist only of its inland waters. 1,900 square miles is an extraordinary amount of land. to watch this administration come out and say, we're going to propose this new watts of the u.s. definition becausers of the united states are so important to us, we've got to protect them. yet the federal government is causing the greatest wetlands loss in the united states. prospective, on fwoing and historic. the federal government is. the same agency, the corps of engineers, that's supposed to be enforcingwetlands loss. the state of louisiana said we'll take these dollars when they begin flowing in, in 2017,

2018. we'll take those dollars and invest protect them by constitutional amendment, wore going to complement them with billions of dollars and other state controlled spending, and we're going to invest them in making the coast of louisiana more resilient, making our communities more resilient, making the economy of this nation more resilient and i remind you new york 2005 because of hurricane impacts from the state of louisiana, prices spiked 75 cents a gallon on average nationwide. 2008 when hurricanes hit the gulf coast in louisiana, prices spiked $1.40 a gallon on average nationwide. this is a national issue. mr. speaker, following the 2005 hurricanes the federal government expended over $100 billion, by some estimates perhaps close to $130 billion $140 billion, responding to these disasters from the 2005 hurricanes. if we had taken somewhere in the range of $8 billion to $9 billion, we could have prevented the 1,200 lives that were lost

that i referenced earlier. we could have prevented the expenditure of well over $100 billion in taxpayer funds, the majority of that going toward deficit spending. it doesn't save money to cut the gulf of mexico energy security act. to the contrary, mr. speaker, it's going to cost our nation more dollars and history has proven that studies by congressional budget office, studies by fema and others have proven that this is a penny wise and a pound foolish. it will result in additional debt, it will result in additional planned parenthood, it will result in additional economic disruption in this nation. s the wrong aproach. so in closing mr. speaker i'm going to say it one more time. on shore energy revenues are shared, 90% between mineral leasing act and bureau of reclamation funds. 90%.

offshore energy revenues we get well less than 1%. well less than % per year today. and if we try to slowly begin addressing the disparity but nowhere close to what happens for on shore production. we try and do the right thing and make sure that these funds are constitutionally protected to be invested in making the communities more resilient, making the ecosystem more resilient and addressing the wrongs of the federal government, addressing -- addressing natural resource flaws of the federal government, we now have this administration who is supposed to be the environmental administration coming out and taking these dollars away which is once again why environmental defense fund, national wildlife federation, audubon society and many, many others came out against this. and so mr. chairman, excuse me, mr. speaker, i want to urge as we continue to move through the appropriations bills and continue to work on energy policy that we truly seek to do

what the president said in regard to his all of the above policy which includes conventional fuels to ensure that the states that are producing these energies receive some type of mitigated funds or revenue sharing to ensure that the state of alaska, that the east coast and other states that are bringing offshore production online, are treated fairly and to ensure that these dollars are reinvested back in the resilience of these communities and in the ecosystem. with that, i yelled back. -- i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time.

the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's policy of january 6, 2015, the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, for 30 minutes. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. a lot in the news recently about questions being asked people running for president. it's been interesting. and in taking that issue up, though, it is important to look at some of the current news. here's an article, may 17 by bill sanderson, "new york post," says saudi arabia is to buy nuclear bombs from pakistan and

it says saudi arabia will join the nuclear club by buying off the shelf atomic weapons from pakistan, u.s. officials told a london newspaper. wow. well, that was something that we weren't expecting back when president bush went into iraq when he made that call. that someday saudi arabia and others in the middle east would become some -- so nervous about the chaos created in the middle east that they would determine that we may need to get cluke collar weapons. we have been comforted by the fact that the united states would keep peace in the middle east, they wouldn't let anything get out of hand. they would keep other middle

eastern countries and radical islamic countries from having nukes, but this administration has shown it is not capable of preventing nukes from proliferating in the middle east and our allies are getting quite nervous. here's an article from a brilliant prosecutor from the original -- andrew mccarthy. in "national review" the iraq question is the iran question, at least it should be. and he goes on to point to the question that is being asked of republican presidential candidates, the mainstream media those that donate to the clinton foundation, those kind

of folks, those that would take a hostile position against republicans in debates, those that would as mediators or m.c.'s in the debate would actually speak on behalf of the democrats, they aren't asking these questions of democrats, but it's a legitimate question and andrew mccarthy says, was it a mistake to invade knowing what we know about iraq. he says the question should not be asked solely of republicans and others who supported the war should be grilled, too. many of us who supported the iraq war base that support on the principles enunciated in the

bush doctrine and it is well set out. it says attack the jihaddists wherever they operate and make rogue states understand that if they support the strirts, we will treat them as enemies. and that calculation, iraq was an enemy, regardless of whether it had weapons of mass destruction. it, talking about iraq, was not the worst such enemy. iran was. and it obviously was a potentially more dangerous enemy if it had weapons of mass destruction that could have been shared with jihaddists. iraq nevertheless, was surely in the camp of states that using bushes, was against us.

then, we have an article here from review special forces just took out a top isis leader and captured his sex sliverry-condoning wife. while air strikes continue to hammer isis positions, it turns out that's not the only thing that jihaddists need to worry about. they are training rebels and now engaging the enemy and they just put down a top islamic state leader. "usa today" reported that it will be hurting the morale and sets out something from "usa today." but that is such an intriguing

story, mr. speaker and i find it intriguing but i can't remember how many times but it was many times that the president and many members of this administration said there will be no boots on the ground in syria in this area. no boots on the ground. we were told that over and over. which is really perplexing. i mean because we all trust the same people that told us if you like your insurance, you can keep it, if you like your doctor, you can keep it. told us all of these things, they aren't going to persecute people because of their religious beliefs. who wouldville thought there would be no boots on the ground and then put boots on the

ground. in fairness to the administration, they hovered and were able to lift up the wife of the isis leader without actually getting boots on the ground or it's quite possible they didn't wear boots maybe they are wearing slippers, or maybe bear -- barefoot. i know boots have come a long way since i was in the eerm and i never understood why we had to wear those boots, split shine them. i like the boots they are wearing them, but maybe they have other shoose so they don't have to put boots on the ground.

but in any event, it's most intriguing what's happened in the middle east. and then we have a story today from judicial watch, judicial watch has now gotten documentation as a result of a court order on may 15, they have been able to get more documentation than congress has been able to get, because they're fighting this administration in court and they're getting court orders to force the issues. the only way you get information out of this transparent owe obama administration is if you you bring them out kicking and screaming with the documents under a threat of what a judge

can order and do. that's obvious. as a member of congress, asking for the documents that were provided in discovery in 2008 to the convicted terrorists in the holy land foundation trial, i got a website one time, i asked for the boxes of documents that the justice department gave to the terrorists and i understand the attorney general holder was saying there may be classification issues but i keep coming back to the point that gave the terrorists, surely, you can give them to members of congress. that also points out a problem that is ongoing in this administration they keep helping the wrong people. you know in egypt we have been told by the administration that,

gee, the president elected in a very questionable election, there were allegations, a great deal of fraud but i was told by egyptians, it was made clear to the opponent of morsey if he raised any issues about fraud that the muslim brothers would burn the country down and he chose not to contest what was some apparent fraud in the election. and morrissey allegedly got 13 million votes or so. and despite the fact or at least reported by many news organizations that there were over 30 million egyptians out of the 90 million or so that went to the streets peacebly. the largest demonstrate in the

world, they went to the streets. they demanded a nonradical islamist ppt president. they demanded the ouster peacebly of the president who they believe committed treason and who they understood had bavelly torn up the constitution that the u.s. government was helpful in advising in, but somehow, our advisers did not persist in making sure they had a provision for a peaceful impeachment of the president of egypt. they had no way to get him out. but these moderate muslims -- i have talked to a number of them that were there demonstrating --

these secularists jews, they have told me how moved he was to have so many people from so many walks being an encouragement, we don't want you persecuted in our country of egypt anymore. it's not right. so naturally, what would the obama administration do, they would demand, the man that was shredding the constitution in egypt that was persecuting christians and which was building the radical organization in egypt, this administration was giving them weapons and wanted to help them any way they could which helped lead to the question that i have been asked by moderate arab

muslim leaders in the east, why do they keep helping the muslim brothers. do you not understand that they are at war with you? well, it should have been clear but this administration was helping the wrong side. didn't stop with pushing for theous ter of this country's ally in egypt, mubarak. this administration decided to ous ter gaddafi, a man a dictator with blood on his hands that after 2003, after the bush administration ordered the taking out of saddam hussein, gaddafi got scared, and opened up his weapons and said he will

not pursue nukes. he will do whatever the united states telts him with regard to his weapons. and as some in israel told me, he was really helping with the information against terrorists more than anybody than maybe us. and yet this administration undertook a bombing effort against gaddafi. and now we find out information from documents that have been acquired from judicial watch that this administration was actually helping with weapons at least that's the way it appears and what we have been hearing all along. . and some have said, even in my

trip to libya with my friends steve king and michele bachmann if it weren't for the obama administration bombing gaddafi they could not have gotten him out of office and he would still be helping us kill -- find and kill terrorists. but now libya is in chaos. there are muslim brothers doing the best they can to put egypt in chaos. syria is now in chaos. iran is taking over more and more including just last september, president referred to the success story in yemen. now iran is the power player in yemen. not the united states. the obama administration in yemen basically has been whipped

by iran. this is scary stuff when you look at what has happened in the middle east since this administration took over. if i might -- the story from "judicial watch" dated may 18, pretty timely, includes information about the documentation that was ordered by the united states district court and is now -- has now been obtained even though the administration blacked out a lot of information that apparently would be embarrassing to it. story says "judicial watch" announced today it obtained more than 100 pages of previously declassified secret documents from the department of defense

and the department of state revealing that the d.o.d. almost immediately reported that the attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi was committed by the al qaeda muslim brotherhood linked brigades of the captive omar abdul rahman and have been planned at least 10 days in advance. rahman was known as the blind sheikh, that's the one that andrew mccarthy has prosecuted as lead prosecutor, and is serving life sentence in prison for his involvement in 1993 world trade center bombing and other terrorist acts. the new documents also provide the first official confirm eags that shows the united states government was aware of arms shipments from benghazi to syria. the documents also include an august 2012, analysis warning of the rise of isis and the

predicted failure of the obama policy of regime change in syria. the documents were released in are re-- in response to a court order in accordance with a may 15 2014 freedom of information lawsuit filed against both the d.o.d. and state department seeking communications between the two agencies and congressional leaders, quote, on matters related to the activities of any agency or department of the u.s. government at a special mission compound or classified annex in benghazi. unquote. a defense department document from the defense intelligence agency, d.i.a. dated september 12, 2012, the very day after the benghazi attack details that the attack on the compound had been carefully planned by thebury gadse of the captive -- by the brigades of the captive

omar abdul rahman to kill as many americans as possible. that's in quotes. the document was sent to then secretary of state hillary clinton then defense sec re-- then-defense secretary leon pa net tark the joint chiefs of staff and the obama white house national security council. the heavily redacted defense department information report says the attack on the benghazi facility, quote was planned and executed by the group of omar abdul rahman. the group subsides -- subscribes to the al qaeda ideologies. that was part of the message, september 12, 2012. now it is understandable why president obama would not have gotten this message because he clearly had to get a good night's sleep because he was going to a campaign event in las

vegas september 12. so he surely didn't have time to review this material in pursuit of his campaign, less than two months away from election day. it's understandable he would not get the information and would not know that these -- this was not about a video. it was about a carefully planned attack by subscribers to al qaeda and the defense intelligence agency knew that, and that message was sent to hillary clinton, it was sent to the joint chiefs of staff, and it was sent to those who were not out campaigning in las vegas at the white house. article goes on the attack was planned 10 or more days prior on approximately the first of september, 2012. the intention was to attack the consulate and to kill as many

americans as possible, seek revenge for u.s. killing of abouye, it also lists him as al-abib in pakistan and in memorial of the september 11 2001 attacks on the world trade center buildings. this is quoting from the d.i.a. report, it says, a violent radical, the leader of bcoar, is abdul basit, also called azuz. he was sent by sa but here rethe leader -- by zawahiri, the leader of al qaeda, to set up al qaeda bases in lib yasm the grup's headquarters were set up with the approval of the -- of a member of the muslim brotherhood movement where they have large caches of weapons. some of those caches are

disguised by feeding troughs for livestock. they have sa-7's sa-23 they train almost every day, focusing on religious lessons and scriptures including three lessons a day of jihaddist ideology. mr. speaker i'm very confused by that. i don't understand how these muslim brothers, these jihaddists, could be studying scripture, and this is quoting from the defense intelligence agency report when it says they're focused on religious lessons and scriptures including three lessons a day of jihaddist ideology because this department of intelligence agency reports they're studying religious lessons and scripture claiming to be islamists but that couldn't possibly be because this administration has made

clear, these people are not religious. they're not islamists. they have nothing to do with islam. these people are just never do wells. i don't understand why the defense intelligence agency would report they're studying religious lessons when they're not religious at all, according to this administration. mr. speaker, i take you back to that so-called ashe spring, when this administration was helping the muslim brothers and i stood right here on this floor and pointed out, well look, we know that there are al qaeda in these rebels. we don't know what percentage. we don't know how many. but we know there's some al qaeda in these rebels that this administration is helping. we should wait and not keep militarily supporting people that we know include al qaeda

until we find out more. but this administration went ahead. as this story says they maintain the group maintained written documents in a small rectangular room, about 2 meters by six meters that contained information on all the al qaeda activity in libya. wow. al qaeda ties. anyway the d.o.d. documents contain the first official documentation the obama administration knew weapons were being shipped from the port of benghazi to rebel troops in syria. an october 2012 report is confirming weapons from the former libya military stockpiles, which word is we helped get there, were shipped from the port of benghazi, libya, to the port of benice, and syria weapons shipped in

late august 2012, where sniper rifles r.p.g.'s and 125 millimeter 155 millimeter howitzer missiles. it goes on, the d.i.a. report said the opposition in syria was driven by al qaeda and other extremist muslim groups, and it quotes the muslim brotherhood the al qaeda a.q.i. are the major forces driving the insurgency in syria, which this administration wants to keep calling vetted moderate syrian rebels, when their own report says they got al qaeda ties. but as this says, the deterioration of the situation has dire consequences on the iraqi situation and it goes on to set those out. but i think the big question that should be forcefully put to former president george w. bush

and anybody who is running for president the next time, they ought to be asked this question. if you had known before we went into iraq going after the brutal dictator saddam hussein, who had killed hundreds of thousands of people including kurds, with chemical weapons and other weapons, and you knew he could be ousted and after a surge the war could be won, but then that after your victory in iraq following the surge you would be followed as president with an administration that was too incompetent to negotiate a status of forces agreement with

iraq, and so you end up having that administration is going to have to leave and actually commit other acts that will help create absolute chaos in the mideast and you're going to be followed by this administration that will help the muslim brothers that your muslim allies in the middle east say the muslim brothers are at war with you, yet this administration that follows you will keep help america's enemies -- helping mesh's -- america's enemies and because of the creation of chaos by the succeeding administration, iran will be pursuing nuclear weapons and that the succeeding administration will be so incompetent and clueless as to what's happening in the middle east they think it's ok to let

them keep enriching -- enriching uranium pursuing nukes and it gets so bad that this next administration will even cause our allies like saudi arabia to go buy nukes. and then we end up with this subsequent administration that helps the muslim brothers create more chaos than we could have imagined, knowing all of that would you go into iraq? that's the question. but it's really a tough question how in the world would president george w. bush have known he would be followed by such incompetence that would help our enemies and would just create chaos across the entire middle east? such that our friends would be in conferences with people like me going, we don't understand america anymore.