really well. they have not been able to pick any case. a lot of their candidates have not one. -- won. michael mooney, we have to leave it there. the house is about to gavel in. breaking news, the former house speaker dennis hastert is pleading guilty today in connection with paying hush money to a former associate. we bring you now live to the house floor. [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] . signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 6, 2015, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour ebate. the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip

, but in o five minutes no event shall debuted continue beyond 11:50 a.m. the chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer, for five minutes. mr. hoyer: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hoyer: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i rise today to pay tribute to the speaker of the house, john boehner. speaker boehner and i, as some would note, do not always agree. we've been on opposite sides on this floor and opposite sides of debate many times. however, that is behind us for john boehner. in all the years i served with him, speaker boehner has shown me the same kindness, grace and friendship that he's shown so many of this house, its colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

john boehner is a gentleman in the truest sense of the word and a leader who, even in the act of stepping back from his position in the leadership, has always put the best interest of our country first. when it came time to make difficult decisions, even in the face of strong opposition from some in his own party, speaker boehner was willing to work across the aisle to make sure that this house was achieving its most fundamental responsibilities to those we have the honor of serving. we did not have a default in our debt at least twice in large part because of john boehner's determination not to let it happen. millions of children benefited from the performance of no child left behind because john boehner, the chairman of the committee, put children's

interests first and worked in partnership with the late senator ted kennedy and congressman george miller. that was in the best traditions of a president bush-sponsored piece of legislation, a republican chairman, a democratic chairman and a ranking democrat working together on behalf of our country's interests. john boehner worked to keep his conference and this house marching forward down a productive path. history will be the judge of his success as the leader of his party, but all of us, all of us who have had the honor of serving with him will judge him as we know him, a considerate and thoughtful individual who was a patriot and cares deeply about this house and the nation it serves. i want to thank him, as i would hope all of our members would

thank him, and frankly those members who served with him but are not in this house now for his service and for his friendship. and i want to wish him well and wish him luck out there on the golf course where i'm sure he'll be spending a lot more time. i'm going to be envious of that. in addition to time that he will spend with his family and continue to serve his community, his state and his nation. john boehner served his country and this house of representatives with responsibility and we should all thank him for that. we wish the speaker and his wife, debbie, well as they embark on a new phase of their lives. he's served his country well. i'm confident that he will continue to do so, and i yield

back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from alabama, mr. brooks, for five minutes. mr. speaker, benjamin franklin advised, quote, when you run in debt you give to another power over your liberty, end quote. washington is in the middle of an epic battle between elected officials who on the one hand are financially responsible, have the understanding and backbone needed to prevent an american bankruptcy, heed the wisdom of founding father benjamin franklin and fight out-of-control debt that threatens our liberty and those elected officials who, on the other hand, are financially irresponsible and are too weak to resist spending money america does not have, has to borrow to get and can't afford to pay back. this week congress faces yet

another last-second debt deal, negotiated in secret, sprung at the last moment that fails the american people by not fixing the cause of the debt ceiling problem, out-of-control deficits. earlier this year, america's comptroller general and the nonpartisan congressional budget office warned congress and president obama that america's current financial path is, quote, unsustainable, end quote. meaning that america faces a debilitating insolvency and bankruptcy unless we get our financial house in order. the c.b.o. issued two other dire warnings. first, america's debt service costs will increase by roughly $600 billion in 10 years. for perspective, $600 billion is more than what america spends on national defense which begs the question. where will the money for that additional $600 billion debt payment come from?

second, the c.b.o. warns that by 2025 america will face an un-eneding string of annual trillion-dollar deficits, deficits that can only end in debilitating american insolvency and bankruptcy. mr. speaker, economic principles don't care if you're a family, a business or a country. if you borrow more money than you can pay back, you go bankrupt. there are good and bad ways to raise the debt ceiling. today's debt bill is bad because it not only fails to restrain america's strength addiction, it makes things worse by increasing spending by $80 billion. i have been in congress since 2011 when america's debt blew through the $14 trillion mark. now america's debt is $18 trillion. this debt deal blows america's debt through the $19 trillion mark, meaning america's bank account will soon be $5

trillion weaker than it was in 2011. rather than fixing america's deficit problem while we still have the financial ability to do so, this debt deal kicks the can down the road to 2017 when america will be financially weaker and less able to rise to the financial challenge that threatens us. mr. speaker, today's debt bill is akin to a sick patient going to the emergency room and getting pain-killing drugs that makes the patient feel better yet does nothing to cure the disease that kills him. in the real world, that's medical malpractice. similarly, today's debt bill that makes america feel good but does nothing to cure our debt disease is governing malpractice. president george washington advised congress that, quote, no at the kuhn year consideration is more urgent than the regular redemption and discharge of the public debt. wn none can delay, be more

injurious, end quote. george washington's advice in 1793 is prudent today. congress and president obama must balance the budget before america's debt burden spirals out of control. before it is too late to prevent the debilitating insolvency and bankruptcy that awaits us. mr. speaker, i exor the washington to rise to the challenge and be financially responsible in raising the debt ceiling. the first step is to defeat this debt bill that not only fails to fix a time-critical problem, it actually makes america's spending addiction $80 billion worse. america's future is a great nation and world -- as a greating nation and world power will be on this. i urge my colleagues to be financial, do the same and insist the debt ceiling be

raised only if we simultaneously fix america's addiction to deficit spending. today's debt ceiling bill fails that benchmark. it threatens america. it should be defeated. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. blumenauer, for five minutes. mr. blumenauer: mr. speaker, in the process of wrapping up a budget agreement that is welcomed since it protects against default on the national debt and prevents draconian cuts for disability payments and unfairness in medicare premiums for our senior citizens, but it continues a downward spiral in government spending for essential items that would improve america's infrastructure, education, medical research and much more. yet, at the same time we're continuing on autopilot with some of the largest expenditures for generations to come. we had an announcement yesterday that we will be replacing the next generation

of stealth bombers for our nuclear triad, up to 100 of them, at an estimated cost of over $550 million each. and that's just the estimated shelf price. the opening bid. plus another $20 billion in development costs. our history of developing weapons of this magnitude is that it's the opening bid and the prices likely to spiral much higher in the future. the same contractor that won is bid could only build 21 b-2's out of a planned 132 as the cost spiraled to over $1 billion a plane. this comes at a time when we're committed to spending over $1 trillion in the coming decades upgrading our nuclear fleet. think about it. 12 new ballistic missile submarines, up to 100 new

long-range nuclear capable bombers, 642 new land-based ballistic missiles, 1,000 new nuclear capable long-range standoff cruise missiles. and why are we doing this in the first place? think for a moment. these weapons that we have already are far in excess of anything america will ever need. a destructive capacity to obliterate any nation multiple times over. and yet we're moving ahead without ever discussing this spending here on the house of the floor whether or not it's what we need. think about the security threats of today. in terms of an inability to withstand the devastating impacts of climate change on our communities, the threats from isis, different challenges of encroachment from russia and china, not nuclear attack, but moving ahead building artificial islands.

invading neighboring countries. these are threats now, the taliban, international terrorism. and we're committed to spending vast sums of weapons that we're never likely to use and are useless against the real threats we face. we don't need 454 land-based nuclear missiles now. these end up threatening us. look at the recently released information about the standdown around russian paranoia in 1983 regarding nato exercises. we didn't realize how paniced they were or the steps they took. that's the real step for nuclear weapons, accident or miscalculation. and consider the opportunity costs of vast sums of money that we're tiing up that could be used for other purposes. including strengthening our military for today's threats or helping our veterans or communities which is bearing

down upon them or equipping our citizens in this century. we just had a fascinating lesson when the export-import bank was freed from the iron grasp of a committee and allowed to actually be debated on the floor of the house. it will be bottled up for years , never had that sort of attention. we had more time and energy spent on the ex-im bank in the last 50 hours than the last 50 years, certainly the last 50 months. what if congress addressed and debated our current nuclear policies and the vast sums of money that are being spent on autopilot that will be chewing a hole in the budget to the detriment of the department of defense and everything else? there's let'son to be learned, and i hope someday congress will learn it because there is a path for a stronger, safer america and more meaningful targeted military spending and a balanced, thoughtful

prioritization. if congress does its job in the open, collectively, the results become easier and the results become better. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. thompson, for five minutes. . mr. thompson: i rise today in recognition of the students from pennsylvania participating in this week's national future farmers of america, or f.f.a., convention in louisville, kentucky. i believe in the future of agriculture. those are the first words from the f.f.a. creed. the pennsylvania group is among 60,000 f.f.a. members at this week's convention. participating in a variety of competitions and stressing the importance of agriculture to our nation. among pennsylvania's state officers attending the convention is tony rice. tony is a student at the pennsylvania state university's main campus in pennsylvania's

fifth congressional district. and tony has had one of two officers candidates traveling to louisville. each year six student members are selected as national officers of the f.f.a. these young men and women travel as many as 100,000 miles per year, stressing the importance of agriculture, agriculture education, and the f.f.a. candidates are judged upon their ability to be effective communicators and team players. for the past year tony rice has met with more than 12,000 high school students. to address the important role that agriculture plays in pennsylvania's economy, as pennsylvania's number one industry. i not only commend tony rice for his dedication to the future of this industry, but also his fellow f.f.a. members and the educators who have helped these young people who will be the agricultural leaders of tomorrow succeed. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. mcgovern, for five minutes. mr. mcgovern: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, one of the greatest health challenges facing our country right now is hunger. we have a hunger problem in the united states of america. and for far too long we have minimized the problem, some have even ignored the problem. in short, our response has been inadequate. and we have failed to view hunger as a health issue, which it is. for our nation's youngest and most vulnerable, our children, the negative effects of childhood hunger are pervasive and long lasting. last week i was pleased to see the american academy of pediatrics release its newest policy statement which for the first time recommends that pediatricians screen all children for food insecurity. the new recommendations consist of two simple questions for pediatricians to ask parents of young children at their annual well visit to identify and

address childhood hunger. it also recommends that pediatricians become more familiar with our roe bust system of anti-hunger programs at the federal, state, and local levels. when pediatricians know more about these anti-hunger programs and the resources they provide, they will be better prepared to help families in need. pediatricians are among the most respected, if not the most respected voices on children's issues, and i hope that with the a.a.p.'s policy statement more people will start paying attention to the devastating effects of childhood hunger on america's future. it is shameful that childhood hunger even exists in this country, the richest country in the world. that one in five children lives in a food insecure household. that 17.2 million households in this country struggle with food insecurity. that the only reliable healthy meal some kids receive the one they get through school breakfasts or lunch or lunches. mothers and fathers are forced to skip meals so their kids can

have more to eat because the family simply cannot afford to put enough food on the table. the harmful effects of hunger on children are well documented. for example, children who live in households that are food insecure get sick more often, recover more slowly from illness, have poorer overall health, and hospitalized more frequently. children alow lessents affected by food insecurity are more likely to be iron deficient and prealow lessent boys have lower bone density. early childhood malnutrition is tied to conditions such as diabetes later in lifmente lack of adequate healthy food can impair a child's ability to consequence straight and perform well in school and linked to higher levels of behavioral and emotional problems from preschool through adolescence. i have personally heard from pediatricians in the emergency room come in for a common cold that's become much worse because they don't have enough to eat and their immune systems have

been compromised. stories like these are heartbreaking. mr. speaker, we know consistent access to adequate food is one of the best medicines for growing, thriving children. children's health watch, a national network of pediatricians and child health professionals found in comparison to children whose families were eligible but did not receive snap, young children whose families receive snap were significantly less likely to be at risk of being underweight or experiencing developmental delays. if members of congress are not swayed by the moral arguments for ending childhood hunger, they ought to be suede by the economic ones. ensuring our kids have access to enough nutritious food saves money in the fomple reduced health care costs and helps them become more productive contributors to our economy later in life. mr. speaker, without our robust federal anti-hunger programs, there would be no doubt that there -- there would no doubt be more hungry children in this contry. the special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children, or

w.i.c., provides nutritious food and support for children and mothers. the supplemental nutrition assistance program, or snap, is our nation's premiere anti-hunger program and helps millions of low-income families afford to purchase food every month. about half of all snap recipients are children. and our school breakfast and lunch programs, summer meals, and child and adult food care programs, all provide nutritious meals to children in community child friendly settings. we can't forget about the incredible work our food bangs, pantries, and other charities do to provide healthy food for low-income children and their families. despite the incredible work that they do, charities cannot do it alone. the demand is simply too great. charities need a strong federal partner to end hunger in this country. mr. speaker, for a while now i have been urging the white house to convene a white house conference on food nutrition and hunger. we ought to bring anti-hunger groups, pediatricians, business leaders, teachers, hospitals, farmers, nonprofits, faith leaders, and governmental

officials together to come up with a plan toned hunger in this country once and for all. i can think of no more compelling reason to end hunger now than for the health and well-being of america's children. in closing i commend the american academy of pediatrics for working to solve hunger as a health issue and addressing how it afokets our country's greatest resource, our children. we can and we should do more to end hunger now. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yield back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from louisiana, mr. abraham, for five minutes. mr. abraham: thank you, mr. speaker. it has now been, mr. speaker, 1,532 days since president obama go. al assad must guess what? he's still there. 789 days since

president obama drew the red line in the sand, so to speak, and told assad not to use chemical weapons on his own people. he ignored that and he used chemical weapons and he continues to use chemical weapons and killed his own people. what we are seeing in syria, the rise of isis, the refugees crisis of tens of thousands of people, children having to migrate northward to get out of syria, the civil war are all the direct results of the president's unwillingness to stand by his word. now, russia is in syria. they are telling the u.s. on our own soil that america is weak. look at what they have done at the ukraine. we didn't do anything but give rhetoric and words. nothing to push putin back to where he should be. america is losing its standing

in the world and we would rather appease our enemies than show our strength. this administration still has no strategy for handling isis, no tangible plan for defeating assad, and seemingly no wheel to stand up to russia's aggression. assad must go. isis must go. isis must be defeated. america must stand firm and show the world we are a force to be eckoned with not to be tramped -- trampled on. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yield back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. farr, for five minutes. mr. farr: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. farr: thank you very much, mr. speaker. october is dyslexia awareness month. it's part of a broader learning disabilities month.

this is the time we focus on learning disabilities, particularly in our students and our own children. it all who suffer from not -- not all, but many who suffer from learning disabilities. i'm emphasizing dislection kwla awareness month because i have dyslexia. growing up it was very hard being a student that couldn't read well, couldn't spell, couldn't write. i was very ashamed of that. i was shy. i didn't know how to ask for help. but i had a lot of support in my home. my mother and father didn't really know how to treat it. we didn't even know how to diagnose is in the early ainls. i became withdrawn. and embarrassed to go to class, particularly to get up and have to read in front of the class

and to frighteningly have to spell in front of the class. i still have troubles doing that. but thanks to loving parents and to supportive teachers i'm here. i share my story because we need to move the stigma attached to learning disabilities. no student should have to sit in silence being ashamed. being afraid to ask for help. i had a high school biology teacher, a person who i actually wanted to grow up and be like, and be a high zool biology teacher, i think i studied sciences because so much of sciences was memberorization and not having to write a lot of papers and not having to read in front of the class. i passed that message on because one in five children with learning disabilities or attention issues it has to know that it's not because they have a low i.q., they don't.

in fact some of the brightest people in history have had these learning disabilities. it isn't because you are different. it means that you are unique. it means that with the right help and support and love you can accomplish many things. you can cope with your disability. many members of congress are dyslexic. or have children who are dyslexic. and so many so that we have actually formed a congressional dyslexic caucus. i'm urging you to ask your member of congress if they have been a member of that caucus to join it. i ask for you to ask your school districts what help they are bringing to kids with disabilities. and particularly for dyslexic students. i encourage the students to speak out. you may be shy about reading, but that shouldn't be affecting your speaking. and you should speak out about

what you feel and what you want. dyslexia's a reading and spelling disorder. but you can develop coping kills. with that you can overcome your shame and your shyness. after all, many of us in congress have done that. and that's why i'm speaking today and not reading. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida, mr. jolly, for five minutes. mr. jolly: thank you. mr. speaker, i rise today to recognize and congratulate the fisher center for alzheimer's research foundation on their 20th anniversary. to date the fisher center has raised tens of millions of dollars in private funds in the quest to find a cure for this heartbreaking disease that affects millions of families across the country and around the world. mr. zachary fisher created the foundation in 1995 with a single

mission, of finding a cure for alzheimer's through scientific discovery. since then the research scientists at the fisher center for alzheimer's research at the rockefeller university led by noble laureate dr. paul gringuard have made remarkable strides. there is much more work to be done to defeat this debilitating disease. mr. speaker, as i rise to recognize the foundation's leadership in the fight to cure alzheimer's, i must also recognize mr. fisher's many other charitable endeavors that have transformed and touched the lives of those who serve our nation in uniform. mr. fisher was deeply committed to supporting the men and women of our armed forces and our veterans as well. in that light he founded the fisher house foundation which provides housing to the families of our veterans and our service men while a loved one receives medical treatment. additionally, mr. fisher found the intrepid sea, air, and space new seem in new york city.

the cause for which i rise today is to urge my colleagues once again and urge the nation once again to focus on the profound need to increase alzheimer's research and to recognize the equally profound work that the fisher center has done to ultimately advance and find a cure. with 5.3 million americans suffering from alzheimer's, we must do more. left unchecked, alzheimer's will continue to dramatically i impact countless lives and families across the country and left unchecked alzheimer's could cost our nation $1.1 trillion annually by 2050. . i rise to thank the fisher center foundation for leading this charge by funding groundbreaking research to finally end this disease. thank you, mr. speaker. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california, ms. sanchez, for five minutes. ms. sanchez: thank you, mr. speaker.

mr. speaker, i rise today to direct our attention to the importance of preserving our planet and what we should do to address the issue of the changes going on in our climate. protecting our environment and addressing climate change are issues which are important to all of our cities across the united states. in fact, at a very local level, many of our communities are working on these issues because they face them directly head on . and for the latino community, like other communities, we're family oriented and we want to provide a better future for generations to come, and that includes leaving our planet better, better for our grandchildren and their children. and as the latino population continues to increase in the

united states, we are about one out of every four and they say that in another 30 years or 40 years we'll be one out of every exposure icans, our to climate change and the risks of pollution are even more important because our zip codes, where we live, where the latino community lives, that's where we're hiatt risk. it's estimated that -- we're high at risk. it's estimated that latinos live in communities that frequently break ground level ozone levels. it doesn't affect latinos. asian americans tend to live in those zip codes. and what that means is we're breathing dirtier air than most americans and we have more respiratory illness and poor environmental protections

affected food that feed our children, the air that our families breathe and the water that we drink. since i was elected to congress almost 20 years ago, i have worked tirelessly to work in orange county, where i live and where i represent, to help get some green projects in, both in orange county and in california. for example, i have fought to maintain the funding for the pacific crest trail which serves residents of the entire west coast and visitors from around the world. and, of course, i'm an avid hiker, so i love that trail. in fact, in this congress i co-sponsored legislation which would permanently extend the land and water conservation fund, which ensures the conservation of national parks, rivers, streams and it provides grants to local parks and to recreation projects. one of the things it does is try to ensure that, for

example, california, being so long in length, that you could start at the southern portion of california and actually walk through wilderness all the way to the oregon border. it's a bipartisan program, this land and water conservation fund, and that's why it kind of distresses me a little bit that we haven't funded it, that we as a congress have not funded it because it's incredibly important, especially in urban areas, such as my district, where there's little natural environment left and where we need open space, green parks. it's where latinos go to have their barbecues, it's where we have our family gatherings. it's incredibly important to us. sometimes we live in pretty cramped conditions, and we need that outdoor space, even if it's in an urban area. places like pierson and pioneer

park in my hometown park of anaheim or sin tennial park in santa ana or our beautiful santa ana zoo. they've all been made possible by the land and water conservation fund. and mr. speaker, do you know what the total cost to taxpayers for these wonderful developments are? zero. the land and water conservation comes at no cost to the xpayer, but it benefits them immensely, and still this house has failed to fund this. it expired on september 30. so mr. speaker, the land and water conservation fund is another example of a commonsense -- commonsense bipartisan program in which this house has neglected to act. so i ask the members of the house, can you go back to the people of your district and say to them, i don't really care

about our parks? i don't really care about the environment, i don't care about where you hang out with your families? this congress has to act. we should act together on this because it's incredibly important to our families. and i'll leave you with a quote, another one from one of my favorite people, his holiness, pope francis. i call for courageous and responsibly effort to redirect our steps and to avert the most serious affects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity. i'm convinced that we can make a difference, i am sure. thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the chair will receive a message. the messenger: mr. speaker, a message from the senate. the secretary: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed s. 754, cited as the cybersecurity information sharing act of

2015, in which the concurrence of the house is requested. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. fitzpatrick, for five minutes. mr. fitzpatrick: i request unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. fitzpatrick: mr. speaker, i rise today in recognition of breast cancer awareness month. breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, and today i wish to honor those fighters, survivors and families it impacts. such as the edwards family of washington crossings, bucks county. tracy edwards was just 47 years old, a wife, mother, daughter, sister and a courageous fighter to the end. the american cancer society estimates that nearly 300,000 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in the united states this year, so it is critical we understand that the

battle against this disease does not end when the pink ribbons go away. i fully understand the vital role leaders play here in washington every day in supporting groundbreaking research and that we must fight for better treatments, finding a cure and ultimately defeating breast cancer. let's work together to end it once and for all. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from -- the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. lamalfa, for five minutes. mr. lamalfa: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, for too long we neglected mental health in our nation, leaving many to suffer with little hope. nowhere more clearly is this seen than in our rural communities. according to reports, more than 60% of rural americans that are experiencing shortages in mental health professionals are

suffering with that shortage. more than 90% of psychologists and psychiatrists in this country work in metropolitan areas. more than 60% of americans rely solely on their primary care providers for mental health care. and in most rural communities, the mental health care responder is a law enforcement officer despite not being a medical specialist. all across rural america, patients continue to face longer wait times, difficulty accessing care and long distance travel just to access subpar care by professionals, through no fault of their own, not even adequately trained to diagnosis and treat mental health issues. in chasta county in my district, there is evidently one psychiatrist in this area while there is an estimated 4,000 patients with mental health needs. the lack of facilities, such as beds, leave patients stuck in the emergency room before they

can see a health professional with no other options. while the president's health care law attempted to make strides in this area, by including behavioral health coverage, this system is fundamentally and fatally flawed. while continuing to throw may serve ding at it as a temporary band-aid for this crisis, it does nothing to address the root of the problem. one sides fits all, top-down systems do not work, -- one size fits all, top-down systems do not work. our rural patients will continue to suffer. many end up homeless, in prison, placing a financial or en on our communities, even suicidal. for this reason i'm proud to pport h.r. 2646, the helping families and mental health crisis act of 2015, and thank my colleague from pennsylvania for introducing this sorely needed bill. it's said the first step to fixing a problem is acknowledging there is one and that's exactly what this bill does. we spend $130 billion on mental

health every year yet our country still faces a shortage of nearly 100 psyche attic beds. three of the largest mental health hospitals are incarceration facilities. for over 2,000 children with a mental health disorder only one child psychiatrist is available. outdated hipaa privacy laws continue to prevent families and doctors from getting their loved ones and patients the care they need. our mental health system is broken but it certainly does not have to be. h.r. 2646 is a great step in rebuilding the system to one that works to empower patients and families with access to care and services they need. it brings accountability to the system to ensure every federal dollar is going to evidence-based standards. it improves quality and, ex-pands access to behavioral alth while advancing telepsychiatry to areas with limited services. volunteering at clinics and federally qualified health centers.

it provides alternatives to institutional -- institutionizations so patients can access the treatment, the need while it helps us decrease the incarceration rates, homelessness and recurring e.r. visits. these are just a few of the sorely needed reforms included in h.r. 2646. i want to stand today to thank my colleague, mr. murphy from pennsylvania, for his leadership in introducing this bill and urge my colleagues to lend their support of this responsible measure to help fix this broken system. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, ms. jackson lee, for five minutes. ms. jackson lee: i thank the chair. thank the speaker very much. good morning. i rise today to commemorate breast cancer awareness month. as a breast cancer survivor, i want to add to my sisters and brothers my appreciation for their strength and are determination, my respect to

those families whose loved ones did not survive the battle. but i'm very grateful that out of this awareness that we have begun to focus on more research for breast cancer remedies and solutions. i introduced a bill dealing with triple negative breast cancer, which is the most deadliest breast cancer and impacts women and minority women to the extent that their life span is shortened. so i rise today to indicate and to ask for renewed commitment by this congress to focus on more research to bring an end to the forms of breast cancer that have been so deadly, in particular, to women. and i want to thank the u.s. department of defense for working with me on providing and supporting legislation that i offered and introduced to provide the research but also the care for military women who

have had breast cancer during their service in the united states military. it is also domestic violence month, and i acknowledge, again, the privilege i had to serve on the judiciary committee and to work with chairman hyde in the early stages of introducing and re-authorizing the violence against women act. so many strides have been made and in particular i want to acknowledge the many agencies in houston that have helped women who've been victims of domestic violence and abuse and others in some instances men. in particular, the women's -- houston women's area center that has provided service. i served on the board previously, and i appreciate their service. i want to say to those women, maybe men, do not suffer alone. seek help and seek help now. mr. speaker, today we will be looking at the culmination of

discussions that have presented itself as a budget, that would end some form of sequester and would raise the debt limit until march 15, 2017. as a member of the congressional progressive caucus, i am committed to certain principles that i believe help all of america, and that is the end of sequestration, the saving of social security, medicare and medicaid, not eliminating any executive orders or toxic riders undermining, for example, the issues of dealing with our broken immigration system and the evenness of defense and nondefense sequester relief. . i also made a commitment to my seniors that we would fight against the horrific increases that were about to take place under medicare part d. those numbers were going to be onerous and burdensome on our seniors. i offer them in just a moment.

in addition, let me say that the compromise generates $80 billion of sequester increases over two years, with the increase splitted evanly between defense and nondefense programs. i'm hoping that it will help many as i indicated i'm supporting of breast cancer research and will help the national institute of health. it will help fill the seats for so many parents who need head start resources for their children. as we well know, the service of our diplomatic security having traveled with my congressional colleagues, i know the diplomatic security is a vital component to protecting our foreign service officers. and then to m prove, if you will, the day-to-day functions of this government. i am glad, as i indicated, with respect to the medicare part b premiums that we will not see the 54% increase that i think was the number and that the

increase will be somewhere around 18% to 20%. we want it to be zero. i want my seniors to know about continue to fight the increases in prescription drugs and service under medicare part d, continuing to go doufpblet might i just add i believe it's important that we on an -- addition that we negotiate the decreasing price of prescription drugs. if you talk to any individual what they will say is their highest cost -- part of their highest cost whether seniors or families is the cost of prescription drugs. so i think it is very important. i think i want to look more into, mr. speaker, the social security disability fix that is in this budget to ensure that no one sees any loss and cuts to their benefits. we just can't stand for that. social security recipients, as much as people want to prioritize them as some having perpetrated fraud, they do not, mr. speaker. as i close, let me say, i want

to protect those who are disabled. we are going to continue to look at this even down to the moment of voting to make sure that the budget brings about success and help and not harm. i ask my colleagues to be deliberative in this debate and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. costello, for five minutes. mr. cost tell poeo -- mr. costello: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank the athletes, parents of student athletes, coaches out there. sports builds carketemplet i want to make sure we are using technology, science, data analytics, and best practices to keep our student athletes practicing, performing, and competing in a safe and responsible manner. i recall as a former high school and college athlete the pregame and prepractice routines that my coaches used to require before we could start to play. and while sports provides great enjoyment for athletes, fans, and coaches, they also pose

health risks. some of them are unavoidable, some are preventable. by utilizing data and technology, we can establish best practices so our athletes can remain healthy and compete in our -- and our sports teams can succeed. we can do that and still make certain injuries more preventable in the process. in 2015, we have watches that provide real time data on our heart rate, blood pressure, to smart phones that can then be shared with coaches, parents, and physicians. that's just an iwatch, or fitbit. data analytics goes hand in hand from what quarterback will be the most successful to building a winning baseball teefment today's success is fueled by skills, knowledge, and teamwork, both on and off the field. just as we find ways to incorporate technology and data to ensure our next generation of athletes can remain healthy and playing well into old age, we

must also encourage investments in the research, innovation, and technology to continue to build upon these already great achievements. one aspect of this can be found in using data analytics to better understand injuries in our children and student athletes. identifying vulnerabilities and assessing the lasting impact of other injuries so we can design equipment and enforce rules to most effectively avoid the likelihood of such injuries, but do so without compromising the integrity of the competitive sports we all enjoy watching or participating in. health professionals, coaches, trainers, and parents can utilize this data to bring about greater awareness of sound practice that is can keep our student athletes healthy and in the game and not on the sidelines. every preseason we read in our local newspaper about a student athlete who suffered a concussion during football or soccer practice. in 2013 alone, over 1.2 million children visited emergency rooms for sports related injuries and nearly 8% of these emergency

room visits were concussion related. earlier this year i had the opportunity to introduce health -- house resolution 112, a resolution, secondary school student athletes bill of rights, which encourages greater communication, coordination, and teamwork among coaches, parents, teachers and medical professionals to ensure our children receive adequate training, safe equipment, and facilities, and immediate ons-site injury assessment. the very data and tools we use to generate information like r.b.i.'s or yards per carry can be used to study incidences of injury, dietary habits on developing athletes, better training practices, and the safe and responsible athletic experience for our youngest athletes. with the support of over 100 diverse organizations dedicated to improving the health of our student athletes, including the national athletic trainers association, the american football coaches association, the american heart association, the national association of state boards of education, and

the american academy of pediatrics, house resolution 112 is just one step towards encouraging and emphasizing the use, sharing, and he r incorporation of data and innovation in including the safety of athletes and avoiding injury. while that effort deals with on the field success of our student athletes, just as important is making sure we are giving the next generation the tools they need in innovation and analytics. in congress, we should enable continued research by making a commitment to providing the next generation of innovators with the tools to learn, develop, and ultimately succeed. indeed, stem skills, the foundation of innovation, lies in dynamic, motivated, and well educated work force equipped with science, technology, engineering, and athletics. as a member of the congressional stem caucus, i'll continue to be an advocate for stem curriculum in schools so we can equip the next generation of scientists and mathematicians with the tools to succeed. the lessons can be supplied to

sports and the process. our stem students will play a major role in leadling the way to greater success on the field. the bottom line, we must all work together to continue to keep our favorite athletes and our children and oiler teams on the field and in the game and prevent injuries and encourage lifelong habits that will allow our children to lead healthier lives. by encouraging the use of technology, we can ensure our student athletes our athletic trainers, parents, and coaches have the tools needed to keep our athletes healthy and on the field instead of on the sidelines. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan, mr. rot, for five minutes. mr. trot: thank you, mr. speaker. you know, here in congress we deal with a great number of different matters.

and we vote and sometimes we win and sometimes we lose, but i thought it was worth spending a moment this morning to take a look at how the iran nuclear deal is going. we are 10 days since the deal has been formly adopted. -- formally adopted and here's the update. the supreme leader has already begun redefining and testing the deal. earlier this month iran tested its new ballistic missile. the missile has 1,000 mile range. can carry a 1,600 pound payload. the only practical use for this ballistic missile is to carry a nuclear warhead. the day after the test, iran convicted "the washington post" journalist they had been holding. the day after that, iran arrested, apparently, an american business manman. in recent weeks identify han has become partnering with russia to undermine our policy and goals

in syria. and of course iran continues to hold the four americans. this deal was predicated on iran changing its rogue behavior. we are 10 days into this deal and so far i have to say we are not off to a very good start. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. perry, for five minutes. mr. perry: thank you, mr. speaker. i think it's important that constituents know why their members vote for and against different things. yesterday we saw the re-authorization of the export-import bank and i voted no on that. of course i, like probably every single member of congress, has businesses in the district that i represent that use the export-import bank to further their business, hire their

employees, and help their community. so why would somebody vote against the export-import bank? i'm here to tell you why. see, we have a tradition in america of a free market value, and it's won its standing in the world, it's not by a corrupt system of cronyism and political favor. that's what the export import bank is to me. unfortunately, while many small businesses in every community use the export-import bank, fully 98% of businesses don't use the export-import bank to do their exporting. 98%. but that's not really the issue. the issue is other things. for instance, between 2007 and 14, more than 51% of all ex-imsubsidies benefited just 10, 10 corporations. one in particular benefited from $66.7 billion in subsidies. we can't fix social security and

we can't afford our military. we can sure afford for 10 corporations to get 51%. it is not really about the small business in your community generally speak being. foreign firms that receive most of ex-imfinancing are large corporations that primarily purchase exports from u.s. conglomerates not main street businesses. five of top 10 buyers are state controlled and rake in millions of dollars from their own governments in addition to ex-im bank subsidies. five in 10 are in involved in exploration, development, and production of oil or natural gas. these foreign firms collecting subsidies from american taxpayers at the same time that this administration is restricting domestic oil and gas operations right here at home. consequently, the federal government has doubly disadvantaged u.s. energy firms through excessive regulations and ex-im bank subsidies granted to foreign competitors.

now, sometimes in washington it's not what you know but it's who you know. of the 16 members of the ex-im bank's 2014 advisory committee, half, fully half were executives at companies or unions that directly benefited from ex-imfinancing during their term. fully half. does that sound remotely suspicious to anybody? another five members represent companies or unions that received ex-imassistance shortly before they joined. i'll give you an example. since 2011, former energy secretary and new mexico governor bill richardson has held a seat on spanish energy company's advisory board. shortly after joining the firm, mr. richardson was appointed to -imadvisory board -- ex-im advisory board right after the loans were issued.

they totaled around $150 million. supporters of ex-imargue that the advisory committee members shall associated with their beneficiaries is a positive feature. to the contrary, i think it hows that a corporate cronyism -- that that atmosphere exist at ex-ism and will continue to exist. the office of the i.g. and the g.a.o., the government accountable office, repeatedly documented dismanment, dysfunction within ex-im including policies and procedures to guard against waste, fraud, and accuse. fully 112424 investigations have been initiated between october, 2007 and 2014. as well as 792 separate claims involving more than half a billion dollars. 74 administrative actions since april, 2009 in which bank officials were forced to act internally on the basis of

investigations by the inspector general. the congressional budget office reported that ex-im programs actually operated a deficit. we also are told it makes the american taxpayer money. we don't really know because they use their own accounting system not used anywhere else. says it will cost taxpayers $2 billion in the next decade. . you wonder why certain members of congress won't vote for this thing. it's not about the small businesses in our communities that are trying to do a good job and play by the rules, because they are doing a good job and playing by the rules, but there's a bigger issue here. there's more to the story now, the new bill that we passed guarantees an audit every four years, but keep in mind that ex-im currently has around 30 open investigations. i got 30 more seconds, mr. speaker.

i'll close. the speaker pro tempore: continue. mr. perry: 75 years of prison time, 49 criminal judgments, more than 223 million in court-ordered fines and restitutions and i could go on. mr. speaker, the ex-im bank doesn't do everything it could for small business but it does a lot for people that know people in this town, and that's why it must be reformed or ended. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from florida, ms. ros-lehtinen, for five minutes. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you, sir. thank you so much, mr. speaker. for years i have been pushing for the united states to re-examine our relationship with unrwa, the u.n. relief and works agency. unrwa employs individuals ffiliated with hamas, a u.s. designated terrorist organization, that openly and loudly incites violence against

israel. yet, the united states, which means the u.s. taxpayer, sends early $300 million a year to this organization, to unrwa, without questioning, without scrutiny. just last week, the u.n. quietly suspended several individuals after allegations of incitement were brought rth from the n.g.o. u.n. watch and we thank u.n. watch for carefully looking over this organization. these allegations, mr. speaker, are just are the tip of the iceberg. we must not continue to send taxpayer dollars to unrwa. again, that's the united nations relief and works agency, and subsequently to individuals tied to the terror group hamas in violation of our laws. that's why, mr. speaker, earlier this week i reintroduced my bill that would

stop all u.s. contributions to unrwa until the organization purges its payroll of individuals who incite violence against israel and until that organization ends all its affiliation with hamas. is that really too much to ask, that we should demand that before u.n. agencies get one penny of u.s. taxpayers' money that they must not incite to violence and they must no longer affiliate themselves with a u.s. foreign terrorist organization? so i urge my colleagues to support this measure, to sign on as co-sponsors and to lead in the effort to fight the incitement to violence against israel. mr. speaker, i rise to pay tribute to an extraordinary south floridian and one of the most highly decorated veteran

of the vietnam war, my dear friend, hacinto. just last month, ace, as we call him, was diagnosed with langse cancer. the news hit -- larynx cancer. the news hit him hard. the chances of a favorable outcome looked disheartening. however, no stranger to tough situations, ace made a commitment to his family that he was not going without a fight. after a total of eight chemotherapy sessions, 33 radiation treatments and three different surgeries, ace is no longer bedridden and has been declared cancer-free. so i ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating hacinto "ace" acibal, on this incredible milestone and wishing him many years of good

health throughout his life. thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until noon today. already has been a busy day, both on the floor and off the floor. particularry for the republican conference. first, legislative business today. they'll come back and begin work at noon on this two-year budget deal, the one agreed to by congressional leaders and president obama. it would lift those spending caps, those budget caps over two years, and extend the debt ceiling through march of 2017. off the floor, action already under way with the republican conference meeting this morning in their process of electing a new speaker. they'll meet this afternoon for that vote at 1:30 eastern, and we will cover it all here on

c-span throughout the day. this afternoon's vote 1:30 eastern. that will be of course off the floor in a meeting room. we expect to hear from members after that as well. the full house will vote for speaker tomorrow morning at 9:00 eastern. this morning, though, started with some news about former speaker dennis hastert. here's the new via twitter, cbs with the tweet. former house speaker dennis hastert pleads guilty in hush money case. it's a plea deal and recommending a sentence up to six months. laura litvan from bloomberg saying that sentence will be handed down on february 29. and denny hastert serving as speaker from january of 1999 through 2007. again, his sentencing date set for february 29. but ahead on capitol hill, the selection of the next speaker, want to let you know if we get a chance later today, we'll certainly love to hear you on the phone and also on twitter as well. it's @c-span.

facebook.com/c-span to post some of your thoughts as well. the day started for republicans in the basement of the alcohol, as it often does with -- of the capitol, as it often does with this, hearing from paul ryan and from daniel webster walking by you on the screen there from earlier today. we also, after the meeting, heard from congressman webster from florida. also trent franks and mark meadows. here's what they had to say after this morning's meeting. r. webster: i'm going here optimistic and see what happens. >> assuming that paul ryan wins the nomination today, are you ending your campaign on the house floor tomorrow? mr. webster: i want to speak for people supporting me. i know i talked about a power base and the leader will decide for members. principle base, the number [inaudible] so we'll be talking to each other. >> who will you vote for

tomorrow? mr. webster: well, that's another principle and i'll talk about that later. hanks a lot. mr. meadows: i can't vote for the budget based on the merits what have is or is not in the budget. i certainly applaud his willingness to be very firm and committed to changing the process so we have a more inclusive process going forward. >> what does ryan support the budget deal tell you about what kind of speaker he's going to be? mr. meadows: i don't think it actually gives an indication on what kind of speaker he will or will not be. i think it he -- i think he is committed to changing the process. even as just a few minutes ago, he believes that [inaudible] the committee will do a lot more work so we're not coming

up against debt limit crisis management issues. >> have you grown more encouraged by him in the last couple weeks? mr. meadows: certainly paul has done a very good job trying to address some of the concerns that many of us have where we felt like our voice has not been heard and he's been committed, both in private and in public, of supporting those efforts. >> mr. meadows, what's it going to be like working with mr. ryan? mr. meadows: well, we haven't had election yet. if he becomes speaker, i look for a very inclusive and certainly a united effort to make sure we move the agenda forward for the american people. >> do you think you'll vote for him? mr. meadows: really, right now i'm committed to vote for dan webster and that's as far as i've gone. i am against the budget. mr. franks: i think from my perspective i'm growing more

encouraged all the time. >> yeah. mr. franks: yeah. i think regardless of the myriad of different policy -- we all have among ourselves that paul ryan has a unique ability to help create a compelling message and to disseminate it in a way that people understand it. and that's a great gift. i hope that it will not only bring the republican base together but let the american people know that our greatest desire is to do great for the american people. >> what if he moves an om bus bill in december after making these pledges to move by regular order? mr. franks: well, the great challenge to regular order is the insidious, relentless, outrageous abuse of the filibuster by senate democrats. the house nearly always gets its work done. we've passed nearly every bill

we've taken on. the challenge is we've not got it considered in the senate because of the motion to proceed to consider. it takes 60 senators. no matter if there's not 60 senators on the floor. we e get all 54 senators, still need four senators. i don't know why that's not a bigger issue in the country. we don't have to do away with the ability to have an honorable filibuster in the senate. what we do have to do is to get this boot off the neck of the constitution and this crushing stalemate that is doing this country so much damage and making the base think that the people out there think that nobody gives a damn here. >> how will republicans -- if ryan moves an omnibus? mr. franks: there are only two things we can deal with this dilatory issue in the senate and that is to either alter the

rule on some basis or to raise its abuse to so high profile politically that people get what's going on here. >> fire in the hole. coming through. >> does paul ryan support changing the filibuster rule? mr. franks: you'll have to talk to him about his feelings. he certainly understands what it's doing to the house. it is the primary reason there's so much indecision in the house. thank you. >> thank you so much, sir. >> so some of the scene this morning after the republican conference meeting where they heard from paul ryan. they heard from daniel webster. and just to lay out the schedule for you, the republicans, house republicans will vote for their speaker this afternoon at 1:30, and reportedly congressman ryan will be nominated by trey gouder, representatives hensarling of texas, kristi noem of south dakota will second it. daniel webster will be nominated by bill posey and

steve pearce and jolly will have the speeches. then tomorrow the full house will vote on the speaker. the -- in the caucus, there are 248 in the republican conference, rather, so paul ryan needs 125 or so to get approved today. and then, of course, the 218 number tomorrow in tomorrow's house election. and we'll look for some of your comments on twitter @c-span. on c-span, our capitol hill producer posting a photo. you may not have heard what mark meadows is saying. i've committed to vote for webster for speaker in conference and that's as far as i'm willing to go. scott wong from "the hill." ryan told colleagues he will not play the role of caesar. then did a thumbs up, thumbs down, like a scene straight out of "gladiator." though ryan is now saying, according to scott wong, he's telling g.o.p. colleagues he wants to move on spending issues faster so congress will not face these cliffs. and on that note, it was yesterday that paul ryan expressed his support for this budget deal, this two-year

budget plan hammered out between the white house and republican and democratic leaders on capitol hill. here's the headline in "the hill." paul ryan to back budget deal. it's from thehill.com. we got more details on what this bill is all about. the house will vote on it today. here's a look from this morning's "washington journal." guest: there is the survivors trust fund and the insurance disability trust fund and the problem is that the disability insurance trust fund was slated to run low, not be able to pay full benefits coming in starting in 2016. so basically to forstall that, the proposal is to kind of a stwo step kind of thing. one is to -- is to reallocate

some of the money that's going into the old age survivors insurance fund for three years and have some of that go to prop up the disability insurance fund, which would keep it solvent until 2022. and then the others to make some changes in some of the -- in some of the qualification and anti-fraud provisions. so basically the idea would be to make -- to include medical experts for the states that don't currently include that when determining disability, but also to expand the number of investigations that are going on for anti-fraud, to increase some penalties involved with fraud for disability insurance and then also to make it less of a cash cliff for people who currently receive disability when they get work and earn more so it's not sort of a straight dropoff but more of a gentle easing off

of disability benefits as they return to work and earn more money. host: what does this mean, then, for future beneficiaries of social security disability insurance? about well, for those in 20 states that don't currently use medical experts in the determination process, it will mean a change for them. according to the center on budget and policy priorities, that's been going on for about 16 years as a pilot project, they will return to the same process that other states use. but generally speaker speaking, this is scene -- but generally speaking, this is more of a nibbling around the edges in terms of reform. there are larger reforms for the disability shurps program in recent years -- insurance program in recent years, but there's been really not that much pushback that one might have expected, say, from

democrats who are generally very protective of entitlement programs, including social security. they seem, coming out of the conference yesterday, not terribly, not terribly concerned about the impact this would have on that program. host: and you started by saying there are two trust funds for social security. so let's talk about the other one. is that touched, changed, dealt with at all in this two-year budget deal? guest: however, the survivors fund is considered the healthier of the two funds so it would have an immediate impact. there is an issue of double counting in that -- in the sense of whether or not this will then drag that -- drag down the solvency of that fund

a little bit as well, but, again, that's -- overall the two programs are -- if you put the whole two trust funds together, at least as of last year, they were projected to be solvent to around 2033. host: ok. let's talk about medicare. what does this deal say about medicare? guest: well, this is where it gets a bit complex. because the bureau of labor statistics said there was essentially very little inflation last year, there's no cost-of-living adjustment for social security beneficiaries. a lot of medicare recipients have their medicare essentially taken out of their social security checks. for 70% of those, that's not a problem. there's a small subset, though, of medicare recipients who would face a problem in that their premium would go up basically from about $105 to

about $160. most of those would be high income beneficiaries, medicare beneficiaries, newer ones or ones whose premiums are paid by medicaid. and so basically to kind of make that hit much less fficult, the idea here is to stead make it from $105 to $160, to smooth it out, go up to about $120. what they would do, some reallocating between funds and then starting in 2016 basically take a small degree of money, $3 for some of those in that maul group that would be affected and have them sort of repay this loan, this kind of intergovernmental loan from one hand of the government to the other basically to mooth that

out. now, -- smooth that out. now, the odd thing is they've prepared because we're living in such a relatively low inflation world these days, there is language to let this happen in 2017 as well if again the federal statisticians find there's no significant inflation and therefore again no cost of living increase. host: all right. jonathan nicholson. when will this vote take place today? guest: probably around noon. i think the republicans would like to get it done as maybe the swan song for house speaker john boehner who, of course, is slated to resign at the end of the week from both his post in congress -- from both his seat as well as from speakership. of course, this would allow for a clean slate for paul ryan who is expected to easily win the party nomination later today

and then tomorrow to be voted on the floor as the new house speaker. host: and real quickly, what is paul ryan's stance on this budget deal? guest: he's tried his best to try to distance himself from this in part because of some of the more hardcore conservative and libertarian members of the republican caucus, a, don't like the process by which this thing was drawn up in terms of the sort of sprung on people basically monday morning and here we are wednesday, you know, $80 billion over two years. and they wanted more deeper reforms to these programs to mandatory spending if they were going to bust the budget caps which were agreed to in 2011. host: jonathan nicholson, bloomberg b.n.a. budget reporter. >> and just to let you know, you can read the entire two-year budget deal. we have linked to it on our

website at the top of the page on c-span.org. jonathan nicholson mentioning there could be the swan song for outgoing speaker -- house speaker john boehner. if it is a swan song, it could be a loud one. here is meek emmanuelle. they are outrigedragede. jake sherman tweets, the freedom caucus is against the budget deal. that news coming out this morning. senior members of the whip team said they were counting votes assuming all 40-something would vote no. from frank thorpe of nbc, the house is currently expected to vote on the budget deal around 5:30 p.m. today. and chad says senator paul on fox calls the budget deal rotten. doesn't like busting budget caps. this is a disaster. i'll do everything in my power to stop it. reports yesterday when senator paul was in denver indicated he may indeed filibuster. no word on when the senate will take up the budget deal but as you heard from frank thorpe late vote around 5:30 eastern

or so because the house has to take care of nominating their new speaker. that's expected to be paul ryan. that vote around 1:30 this afternoon. the house coming back in to take up that budget deal initially, anyway, at noon eastern. so until then we're going to show you some of the tribute last night to the outgoing house speaker. his republican colleagues from ohio and democratic colleagues as well, both from ohio and other states spoke on the house floor for over an hour. we'll show you as much as we can as we wait for the house to gavel back in. a neighboring district to john boehner, i have come to know john pretty well and not consider him not just a colleague but a friend. not just this, but we have had a lot in common. we both lived in the cincinnati area our entire lives. we were born and grew up in a small blue-collar neighborhood

just to the north of the city of cincinnati although my family ved to cincinnati when i was six years old. john was the second of 12 children. we are raised catholic and i know having pope francis speaking to us. rivalh played football in high schools. and incredibly. we both played defense. in fact, we both have ties to former head coaches at notre dame. john played at moore high school and i was recruited to william ap marry. we both worked to put ourselves through schools as january tors. later, we ran small businesses.

john with a packaging and a plastics business and i with a very small law practice and we served in local politics. in many ways, i understand the challenges that john has overcome. and make no mistake, john boehner's story is incredible. it is the american dream. and we have a couple of my colleagues who would like to speak this evening. i would like to yield to the gentleman from ohio, mr. gibbs, such time as he might consume. i would like to recognize speaker boehner. so many of us are here today

serving -- had difficult races that year and it was a big morale boost. i remember the last days in the 2010 election. we had two standing-room only rallies in ohio. on the eve of the historic victories, i stood with speaker wayner and lay out the vision for the republican house. i have a picture of the rally. i hope you will continue to look back on those fondly as i do back in 2010. thank you, mr. speaker, for the years of service for the people of western ohio and your confidence in me. i congratulate you in your retirement and wish you and your family nothing but the best, god speed. mr. chabot: i would now like to yield to the gentlelady from ohio, ms. kaptur, who will be handling the democrats' time

this evening. and i might note that she is the most senior member now of the 16 members from ohio and the longest-serving woman in the house of representatives. i would like to yield to the gentlelady. ms. kaptur: i thank the gentleman for organizing this important hour of recognition and i thank all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have been here to thank speaker john boehner for his service to america. john has served the people of ohio for well more than two decades having begun his career in the ohio legislature but has served here in the congress now for more than two decades and if we think about that period of time, we think about the various situations that he has faced as a member and then later as speaker. certainly in the late 1990's, being part of the broad coalition to balance the budget

when president clinton was president and we were able to balance the budget by the end of the 1990's and begin paying back the nation's debt. the 9/11 attack on our our country and subsequent military conflict and the 2008, 2009 economic crash which we are digging our way out of it. well look at the sad invasion by russia of ukraine and the ensuing conflict in the middle east that has spilled over into syria. this period of speaker boehner's service have been a very difficult time for america. and if i think about some of my favorite memories of the speaker, it would have been one of our more recent experiences handkerchief 's

ery wet and his utter joy to invite the pope to address us for the first time in american history a pope addressing the congress as a head of state. another memory i have of the speaker and congressman chabot shared this was with ohio state and the victors in the speaker's lobby in the rayburn room, all of us posing, very proud of our hio buckeyes and some of our colleagues and handing them out. there were moments of joy as well. and the speaker's many accomplishments as speaker requiring bills to be posted three days online before we voted on them. he had many accomplishments and built a legacy in his own right

as a reasonable right despite presiding over a frack issues membership. he worked to find a way forward in a period. even when compromise seemed out of reach. i would have to say without question, speaker boehner's departure is a huge loss to our buckeye state. the house is a place for seniority and the ability to balance demands that matter and we are very, very grateful for his service. as the most senior member of ohio's delegation, i thank the speaker for his service to the people of the united states and this house for 25 years. his respectful and moderating presence often with a smile in this house will be missed. and may he and his family enjoy

the years ahead as he returns get o other locations to deserved r and r. we have several speakers on this side. congressman chabot, and we await you yielding us time. and i thank you so much. mr. chabot: i thank the gentlelady. reclaiming my time. i yield to the gentleman from mr. ren asy. mr. renacci: i didn't know we were going to talk about that. tonight, i join my colleagues in rising to voice my appreciation. speaker boehner has been a strong leader to some very difficult and unique times. he has faced many challenging situations and decisions and

also celebrated many great accomplishments. he ranged to hear from great leaders such as israel's prime minister and ukranian president. most recently, he orchestrated the head of the roman catholic church, pope fran list. he has improved our education system and the lives of all children. it has been an honor and privilege to serve along side him in this chamber and with the ohio delegation. mr. speaker, one fun fact about speaker boehner and i, we both love to play golf. and i played a lot of courses together with him but never in the same foursome. i look forward to joining you with a friendly round of 18. i thank speaker boehner and his family for his service and dedication to our country.

thank you and i yield back. mr. chabot: i yield to the gentlelady from ohio. ms. kaptur: i would like to yield time to the gentleman from illinois, mr.ly pins ki of chicago. mr. lipinski: thank you for yielding. i want to rise to commend the public service and commitment of speaker john boehner. the speaker has much to be proud of. and and we should be proud of his commitment. but we find issues that we didn't agree with him. i appreciate that he did his utmost to keep the house functioning in a vital branch of government yes in some very, very difficult times. history will show that john boehner did a fantastic job in getting us through these times.

speaker boehner has a big heart. it's not demonstrated in his profane way that he likes to address his friends, but demonstrated well by all the time and effort he has put into a scholarship program for children. ed he knew the advantages he had going to catholic school. he wanted to give that advantage to others and that says much more about john boehner than anything else. thank you, mr. boehner, for your service, your wife debey and your entire family have made. i would like to acknowledge the speaker's staff who are a great reflection of the speaker, and i want to acknowledge mike summers

staff, former chief of barry, katherine, tommy andrews and so many others who really helped this place to run. so thank you for all of your service and i wish all of you the very best. mr. chabot: i yield to the gentleman from ohio, mr. latta. mr. latta: i thank you for yielding and for the special order tonight to honor speaker boehner. this is a reflection and remember the first time you meet people and met people and this is one of the things that i remembered about john boehner. i was in the ohio general assembly and a couple of our colleagues and some of my fellow members will remember, we were walking across the street in columbus and said, why don't you come over with us we are having

a meeting with john boehner. and that's the first time i met the speaker and i can remember how impassioned he was about the youth of america. next time i got to know the speaker is during my special election back in 2007 and after it was all over, my wife and i, which got a call from the clerk's office at 11:00 on election night and said when are you going to get sworn in and i said don't we need to worry about the secretary of state? we started talking about that and make sure my daughters were here to see me get sworn in. i pulled into the parking garage about 9:00 and i was a member of the state germ assembly and had a vote that day and just as i'm pulling in, my phone rings and i

say hello. and he said latta, when are you coming down here. and i said that's funny. he said you will be here tomorrow. leader, we'll see you tomorrow. but he has been accessible to the members here in the house. and have been appreciative of that and never been a time an opportunity to sit down with him in his office to go over the issues that are important to me and the people in my district. and also important as the chairman said earlier about coming from the same area, the speaker and i share a county in northwest ohio which is mercer county. with all these years going by, i want to wish the speaker and debey and his whole family all the best and a great retirement and i yield back to the gentleman.

. . ms. kaptur: i thank the gentleman very much. i would like to say that one of the features i like best about john boehner is that he wanted to be speaker of the house. he didn't want to be president. he didn't want to head over to the other body. he didn't want to -- a supreme court nomination. that he really loved this house. and that matters. that matters to all of us who continue to serve and that matters to the historical record and we appreciate all of his substance that he has given, whether you agreed with him on issues or not. he definitely was a man of the house. i would like to yield time to the very able member from cleveland, down to akron now, congresswoman marcia fudge, my dear colleague from northeastern ohio. ms. fudge: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. mr. speaker, i am proud to stand with the ohio delegation this evening to thank you, mr. speaker, for 24 years in the u.s. house of representatives and your lifetime of public

service. i'm just trying to get his atext. -- attention. ok. you have served this nation and the people of ohio with distinction. for 24 years, you have honored and respected this institution. you have worked arduously to get things done. as speaker, you have been a leader willing to listen to all sides and address the complex issues of our time. we applaud your commitment and dedication to the house and we'll be forever grateful for your statesmanship and courtesy. while we may not have always agreed, your door was always open. i could always come to you and discuss problems and issues. i respect your opinion and consider you a friend. i speak for everyone when i say you will be missed in this house. you are a gentleman and a scholar -- scholar and it has been a pleasure and a privilege to have served with you. i wish you well in your retirement.

>> thank you. i thank the gentlelady for her kind words. reclaiming my time, i mentioned before in my opening statement that there are a number of rival g.c.l., greater cincinnati league, high schools. there are rivals in all sports and academics and everything, especially in football. mr. chabot: as i mentioned, speaker boehner went to moore and one of those schools, i went to la salle, elder is another school. and the fourth school, not necessarily in order, because they beat la salle this year, for the last five years, is st. xavier high school. and the next gentleman who will e share in this tribute to our speaker is a graduate of st. xavier high school, and that's brad wenstrup. i now yield to the gentleman. mr. wenstrup: i thank you, mr. chairman, for yielding. mr. speaker, i'm here to recognize the gentleman from redding, ohio. it's a town in my district full of hardworking people and committed families. this man from redding grew up in a big and very faithful

family. he learned the value of hard work, sweeping the floors of his father's bar. and worked his walk through xavier university in cincinnati. when it came to -- when he came to washington, he was a reformer from day one of the -- one. the last man standing from the gang of seven. he worked to clean up corruption from the house bank in the 1990's into banning earmarks today. for the first time in a half century, the house of representatives decreased discretionary spending for two years in a row. mr. speaker, with all of your service in mind, i'm reminded of a teddy roosevelt quote, it says, it's not the critic who counts and not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doctor of deeds could have done -- or whether the door of deeds could have done better, the credit goes to the man who is in the arena and that is you. john boehner attended molar high school as representative chabot mentioned. school in cincinnati that i'm proud to say is a rival to my high school, st. xavier.

we beat molar this year and, mr. chabot, we beat la salle this year. through that catholic schooling, john boehner committed himself to thousands of children that seek a real education and value in their lives. his support for educational choice has opened pathways of opportunity for thousands of children locked in poverty. fighting to give all students a chance to choose their own future. for over a decade, john boehner's held fundraisers for scholarships for d.c. children seeking a chance in life through education at d.c. catholic schools that otherwise they could not get. and hope that these acts of kindness will be permanently engraved in the legacy of speaker john boehner. so thank you, mr. speaker, on behalf of not only -- not only on behalf of the largest republican majority since 1928, but on behalf of my family, and for your and debby's personal kindness and guidance to us.

good luck, mr. speaker. thank you. i yield back. mr. chabot: thank you. i thank the gentleman for his kind words and i'd like to now yield to the gentlelady from, ms. kaptur. ms. kaptur: thank you, i'd like to yield time to charles rangel. mr. rangel: ask to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. rangel: while i'm not only going to miss speaker john boehner, but i'm going to miss when he leave next year the congress that john boehner loved and i have loved so much. if republicans think that they had a problem with john boehner, they should have known jack kemp. because it was jack kemp that introduced -- introduced me to boehner. at that time we acknowledged that there were democrats and republicans, but the whole idea that you could be vindictive

enough to attempt to destroy someone politically or not work together as john did with george miller in bringing the leave no child behind, the work that i've done on ways and ans with trade, and was so open in dealing with john, who represented not an ideology but represented what he thought was best for the country, to me john boehner was, as so many people have said, just a regular guy. first one in his family, like so many of us, that went to college. entered public service. and through a variety of things became the speaker of the house that has to be just one of the greatest senses of pride that any american could ever have. the whole idea that there were people in this partisan time

that would believe that they would want him to leave even more than democrats would want him to leave is something that would have to be explained by history. but of course things are strange today. black doctor brain surgeon is now leading for president the republican party. and don trump, right behind him, running for president. a big battle as to who will replace john. these are things that are just so unusual, so that while i miss john, i'm just missing the days when we used to come to this floor and decide how many votes we need to get something passed and we hope that we would be in the majority. but the most exciting thing would be being able to work

with the other side and being able to sit with the president or stand with the president and to truly feel that you were not a democrat or republican, but you got legislation passed. we never called it compromise. i guess we called it just working together. and enjoying working together. and that's gone. i don't know whether it would come back. but it would seem to me that john is always going to be remembered as somebody that cared more about his country, his family, and this congress than he did about being speaker and that's the way i want to remember him. thank you, congressman, for giving me this opportunity. mr. chabot: thank you. we very much appreciate the gentleman's words, who has been around here, a very distinguished gentleman, korean war veteran, and we respect you greatly.

the gentleman from ohio, mr. tiberi, is recognized. mr. tiberi: thank you. mr. speaker, what a journey, what a journey. a journey that i got to join after i was elected to the house in november of 2000. my first real interaction with you, mr. speaker, you might remember, you were the incoming chairman of the education and work force committee. as freshmen, we were putting together our requests to decide what our top committee assignments would be. education and work force wasn't one of mine. but it was apparently one of yours. not just for you as chairman, but for me as freshman. because you came by and saw my list and said, i don't know why you're doing, that you're going to be on the education and work force committee. i said, no i'm not. yes, i was.

and yes i did. and it was an unbelievable experience. it was one in which i did not expect and, as chairman rangel said, one that made history, with george miller and the late senator ted kennedy and president george w. bush. and it wouldn't have happened without the leadership of then chairman boehner. boy, could he run a committee. it was really his forte, that most americans don't even know. what a great committee chairman he was. he was a committee chairman's chairman, quite frankly. and he, as leader, as speaker, will go down in history as one ho cherished that process, that process was not always

what he liked or what he wanted, but he sure understood it, he sure respected it, he sure loved it. as mr. rangel knows, he was sure good at it. in a bipartisan way. in november or excuse me in early 2006, we had an opening for majority leader. and i harkin back to a dinner that i was able to attend, back in like 2002, when i heard then chairman boehner said, you know, someday i'd like to be back in leadership. i looked at him like he was crazy. are you kidding me? how can you do that? you know what he did? he just worked hard, he did the right things, he played the long game. he helped people. and when the opening that he won aw came in 2006,

an upset race on the second ballot. to become our majority leader. the dye was already cast and we lost that election in november of 2006. and the democrats took the majority. and john was our minority leader. worked hard, many thought that we'd never see that majority again. and on november, the day before the election, in 2010, i had lunch with then leader boehner and he said, we're going to take the majority back and it's going to happen tomorrow. ladies and gentlemen, history all changed when pope francis came. it changed because pope francis was here, but it changed the history of john boehner's speakership. but i'm confident history will

show that john boehner was one of the best speakers in the history of our country. mr. speaker, god speed, we'll miss you. mr. chabot: i thank the gentleman very much. very inspiring. the gentlelady's recognized again. ms. kaptur: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i'd like to yield time to congresswoman joyce beatty, who had served as the minority leader of the ohio senate prior arriving here, and has just arrived with such capacity and i know she has served with john boehner and knows him very well. thank you for being here this evening, congresswoman beatty. mrs. beatty: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank you to my friend, congresswoman kaptur, and congressman chabot, for managing tonight's special order. i am proud to join my colleagues as we absolute speaker john -- salute speaker john andrew boehner, for his almost 25 years of service, and

being elected this january to his had third term as speaker of the house. tonight my remarks are personal. i have had the pleasure of knowing john boehner for more than three decades. although at different times we both served in the ohio house of representatives. he and my spouse, otto, served and worked on many things together. when i came to congress, he invited me into his office for a cup of coffee. it's not bad to have a speaker, the third most powerful person in the country, to call you by your first name and when we're back home to say to others in my district that i'm his friend. as a freshman, as most of you know, mr. speaker, seniority is very important in this house. i was a freshman, that equals no

seniority. nelson mandela died and i learned that there was going to be an opportunity for members to go to south africa to nelson mandela's funeral. wow. yes, i wanted to go. all my colleagues said, there's one problem, congresswoman beatty. and that word again appeared, seniority. well i'll always be so grateful for speaker boehner approving the reck menation from leader pelosi, and yes, i went to nelson mandela's funeral. tonight, i am proud to join my other colleagues and others in saying that speaker boehner served as a great statesman for ohio and the nation. the great state of ohio has benefited greatly through his leadership. while there are things certainly that we have not agreed on,

we've always managed to not be disagreeable. in a way that was negative -- disagreeable in a way that was negative for ohio or the nation. but there were some things we did agree on. and there's one quote that was a very proud moment for me as a member of this united states congress. when speaker boehner said, it was beginning to become a political football, and just as i thought it was time to stop, i thought, let's have a discussion with responsible members of congress to try to bring some resolution to this. but in his own views, there should be no debate because he said, mr. speaker, in my view, the issue is settled. the flag should be gone. and mr. speaker, that flag was the confederate flag. so i say thank you, mr. boehner,

for that. thank you, congresswoman kaptur, for recent article that i read that you wrote about speaker boehner and i think you said it all when you talked about his life here in congress. and you said, we all have benefited in our state from the great work he's done. i agree with you. thank you, mr. speaker, for always taking my calls, thank you for always having an open door, and i leave you with these words, the words of nelson mandela. it always seems impossible until it's done. thank you, mr. speaker. job well done. mr. chabot: reclaiming my time, the gentlelady refered to being able to attend the funeral of

nelson mandela. the speaker made it possible for me to also go on a bipartisan delegation to the funeral of pope john paul ii. it's one of those experiences a once in a lifetime thing. 5 sad occasion but one that was inspirational to me and a lot of other members who when as well. i'd now like to yield to my colleague, the gentleman from ohio, mr. scifres. mr. scifres: today i rise to honor a fellow ohioan who has for -- much mr. stivers: today i rise to honor a fellow ohioan who has done so much for the country. i didn't really know john boehner, but he convinced me to run for congress to make america better. he was very honest in that recruiting process.

i said, i'd like to be on the energy and commerce committee, he took a big drag of his cigarette an said, not going to happen. so he never misled me, he never said anything that he didn't back up, and i will always respect that about him and the way he's acted his entire time for 25 years in this house. i know he'll be happy to spend more time with his -- with the things and people that are important to him. he's going to spend more time with his wife debbie, his children, his brand new grandson. and of course he'll spend more time with his golf clubs and probably a bottle of wine. i think it goes without saying that we'll miss john boehner more than he'll miss us. he's always been the responsible adult in the room. he's always done what's right for america, regardless of the personal costs. he has a lasting legacy in this institution from simple traditions like the boehner birthday song that we'll sing in this institution for a very long time to policy matters like

looking after at-risk kids both here in washington and all around this country. enacting meaningful entitlement reform and banning earmarks. he also had political accomplishments, winning become a republican majority in the house and growing that majority. his legacy will be lasting indeed. and i'm a better representative for having worked with john boehner. they say washington changes you, but after 25 years in washington -- in washington, d.c., john boehner has never forgotten where he came from. his roots are that big catholic family, running a local bar in a blue collar part of cincinnati that background grounded him and gave him the right perspective on both life and public service. losing john boehner's bad for ohio and i believe it's bad for america but it's probably good for john boehner. speaker boehner, on behalf of my constituents, let me say thank

you for your selfless service to this country and good luck in the future, and please don't be a stranger. i yield back the balance of my time, mr. chairman. mr. chabot: reclaiming my time, does the gentlewoman from ohio have further speakers? ms. kaptur: i have no further speakers but i would like to add this, if i might. that is that the circumstances that have led to speaker boehner's decision to depart this chamber trouble me a great deal. and history will report on everything that happened that has led to this point, but how sad is it that someone with that experience, from our part of the country, the great lakes region, doesn't have all that much here in terms of leadership positions, would do this for what he views as the good of the country because certain individuals seem not to be able to work as a team.

and if we can't work as a team, team america, then i think that really harm ours entire republic and speaking as the dean of our delegation, ohio will lose a great deal b >> part of last night's tribute to outgoing speaker john boehner. see it online on c-span.org. the house is gaveling back in to begin work on a two-year budget and debt ceiling agreement agreed to by congressional leaders and the white house. they'll debate the rule first and votes later this afternoon. off the floor, republicans will be choosing the next speaker. that vote set for 1:30. live now to the house floor here on c-span. [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]