the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 325, the nays are 103. the previous question is ordered. the question is on adoption of the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the resolution is adopted.

>> mr. speaker, i request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is ordered. those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having risen a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 392 and the nays are 37. the resolution is adopted. without objection, a motion to reconsider is laid on the

table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. sessions: thank you, madam speaker. on tuesday evening the rules committee circulated a dear colleague, outlining the amendment process -- madam speaker -- madam speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: if the gentleman would suspend. the house is not in order. members are advised to take their conversations off the floor. the gentleman from texas is

recognized. mr. sessions: thank you very much, madam speaker. i'll start over. on tuesday evening the rules committee circulated a dear, colleague, outlining the amendment process for the senate amendments to h.r. 22, the drive act. this will be the vehicle for onsideration of h.r. 3763, the surface transportation re-authorization and reform act. an amendment deadline has been set for friday, october 30, at 2:00 p.m. this is an unusual amendment process, so i ask all members to please read the dear, colleague, which can be found on the rules committee website very carefully, and refer any questions to the rules committee staff or myself as the chairman. i would also like to point out that in consultation with the transportation and infrastructure committee, several changes were made to the bill as ordered reported.

a summary of those changes can also be found on the rules committee website. please feel free to contact myself or any of our staff members if we can be of assistance and i thank the gentleman for the time and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair will receive a message. messager: madam speaker, a message from the president of the united states. the secretary: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: i'm directed by the president of the united states to deliver to the house of representatives a message in writing. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky, mr. rogers, seek recognition? mr. rogers: madam speaker, pursuant to the rule just adopted, house resolution 495, and as the designee of the majority leader, i call up h.r. 1314, with the senate amendment thereto and i have a motion at the desk.

the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill, designate the senate amendment and designate the motion. the clerk: h.r. 1314, an act to amend the internal revenue code to 86, to provide for a adverse determination of tax-exempt status of certain organizations. senate amendment. mr. rogers of kentucky moves that the house concur in the senate amendment to h.r. 1314, with an amendment. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 495 the motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the majority leader and the minority leader or their designees. the gentleman from kentucky, mr. rogers, and the gentleman from maryland, mr. van hollen, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the

gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the further consideration of h.r. 1314 and that i may include tabular material on the same. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. rogers: i rise today to present the house amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. 1314. the bipartisan budget agreement of 2015. an agreement that helps advance this nation's -- this nation toward our goals of fiscal stability, strong national security and entitlement reform. these are goals we've been dvocating for years.

first, this agreement prevents the economic damage of a default. which could happen as early as next week. by suspending the debt limit through march, 2017. next the agreement includes the first significant reform to ocial security since 1983. by closing loopholes, increasing program integrity and cracking down on fraud. resulting in $16 billion in long term savings. the agreement also finds savings in other mandtory programs, including over $30 billion in medicare entitlement savings. as i've said many, many times before, and i've heard it said many times by others here on the floor, mandatory and entitlement programs are the primary drivingers of our

deficits and -- drivers of our deficits and our debt. in fact, we've saved $195 billion on discretionary spending in these last four years. in the meantime, the entitlement mandatory side of the budget continues to zoom skyward. reforms to these programs are necessary and overdue. and i hope that this bill today paves the way for additional action in the future. this bill also repeals a flawed provision of the president's health care law. eliminating the automatic enrollment mandate that forces workers into employer-sponsored health care coverage that they may not want or need. finally, in my opinion, most importantly, this agreement provides for a new top line spending -- new top line spending caps for the next two years. this will roll back the harmful

automatic meat ax approach of sequestration cuts which gut important federal programs and slice the good with the bad, including slicing into our military strength. two-year plan, why is that to so important? well, it provides much-needed certainty to the appropriations process and to the defense department and all the other agencies of the government. certainty, ensuring our ability to make thoughtful, responsible funding decisions over that time. having established agreed-upon top line numbers for both fiscal 2016 and 2017 will allow congress to do its work on behalf of the american people and avoid a harmful government shutdown, or the threat thereof. particularly crucial

when it comes to our national security. it provides the pentagon with the certainty needed to plan for the future, maintain readiness and provide for our p troops. these adjustments are fully offset by mandatory spending cuts and other savings, not through tax increases, as the administration proposed in its budget submission earlier this year. and these new levels do not undermine our remarkable success in limiting federal discretionary spending. since 2011, as i've said before, we've reduced discretionary spending, that is what we appropriate here on the floor, by $175 billion. and we remain on track to save taxpayers more than $2 trillion if you extrapolate those numbers through 2024. with passage of this important

agreement, my committee stands ready, coiled, poised, to implement the details of this deal. going line by line through budgets and making the tough but necessary decisions to fund the entire government in a responsible way. we will begin work with our senate counterparts as soon as this bill is signed. we have our eye on the december 11 deadline and it's my goal to complete our appropriations work ahead of that date to avoid any more delays, continuing resolutions, or shutdown showdowns that hurt important federal programs our economy and, coincidentally, the trust of the people in the congress. i want to thank and commend our leaders for their courage, their tenacity, their resolve. and while i know that this deal is not perfect, there are

things i would change if i had the chance, the process by which it emerged is less than ideal, i believe still it's in the best interest of the country that we move forward with this arrangement. this agreement takes steps in the right direction, from finding savings in our entitlement programs to protecting our economy from a dangerous default to providing for the future of the nation through funding certainty. these are goals that i believe we can all get behind. and so i ask my colleagues to support this bipartisan agreement today. i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: thank you, madam speaker. i want to start by joining the comments of the chairman of the appropriations committee, mr. rogers, in congratulating all those who came together to iron

out their differences and produce this agreement. it is not a perfect agreement. but it is far better than the alternative, the alternative which would have produced great damage to the economy, as opposed to this agreement which will help boost economic growth and make important national investments. what a difference a week makes. just last week we had on this floor a bill that would have jeopardized the full faith and credit of the united states. it was a piece of legislation that says, the united states government only has to pay some of its bills. doesn't have to pay all of its bills. that would have been an awfuls pretent that would have put the economy at risk. even worse, it said, well, when we decide which bills we're going to pay, we're going to first pay all the bondholders, like china and the folks on wall street, rather than our soldiers

and veterans and the doctors who provide care to our seniors. i'm glad we gotten beyond that, madam speaker. this will ensure the full faith and credit of the united states. it will also lift the very damaging sequester caps that ave been put in place. that according to the nonpartisan congressional budget office was going to slow down. we're investing in education, scientific research, transportation and military readiness. i know these decision -- those decisions will be left to mr. rogers and the appropriators and i wish them all the best in making those decisions and hope we come back by mid december with an agreement to go forward and not further strets of -- threats of government shutdown. but this agreement at least provides the room and space to make those important

investments. it also prevents a looming 20% cut in social security disability benefits. and provides that reassurance to millions of americans who otherwise would have been on the edge. it prevents what would have been a whopping increase in medicare part b premiums for millions of seniors around this country. who would have been stretched extremely thin and probably not been able to make all their payments, whether they were mortgage payments, rent payments or food payments, at the same time they were facing those huge medicare part b premium increases. so that was addressed as well. now, like mr. rogers, there are lots of things i would like to see in this bill that were not but on balance, this is an important step forward. certainly a great improvement over where we were just a week ago and so again, i want to

express gratitude to everybody who helped make this possible and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. sessions. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. sessions: madam speaker, thank you very much. mr. chairman, thank you. last night in the rules committee, we looked at this bill, talked about it, and -- talked about it and its importance to the nation. first let me say that this is an agreement between the white house and the house. this is an agreement we can move forward on and avoid many destructive things that might happen. not only to the american people and the economy, but really our own credibility. our ability to work together at this very careful time is important that we produce the ability for the american people

to see this can happen. now, there's a lot of things i agree and disagree with that are said. first of all, harm the economy, good gosh, when you only have 1% g.d.p. growth, the president has already done that with massive tax increases. the president has done that with rules and regulations. and we are trying to make sure that what we're doing in this bill is to stick to the republican plan. what is the republican plan? it has been going into our sixth year that we are going to hold government spending flat and we do that essentially not only with a c.r., which we will do again in a few weeks but through effective use of sequestration. what we have done is been able to take the sequestration dollars and utilize them in such a way that we pull in, as the chairman was speaking about, we're pulling in mandatory spending. we believe after five years of

staying flat with government spending that we are in a more dangerous world than ever and our military must have more money, our security operations must have more money. so what we're going to do is to look at the entire process, come up with an idea about bringing in more money that funds our security, that funds our military, and offsets that so that we can do this by looking at long-term mandatory spending that will bring in over $170 billion worth of savings over the mirror that we look at. over the time frame that's important for the american people to have confidence that we will not bankrupt this country and that we can continue. now, the bottom line to this whole exercise is, is that what we have done is work together.

and working together, we now have a plan to move forward and we will simply go to the next exercise, and that is funding the government for the year. the republican plan is simple. we are not going to give this government one extra penny to put us into a bankruptcy circumstance but we are asking also back that the president of the united states give us an opportunity to grow our economy. taxes are too high. we have too many rules and regulations. but the republican party will stick to our plan and that's what we're doing here. i thank the gentleman and the young chairman for the time. i yield back the balance. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentleman from maryland is ecognized. mr. van hollen: thank you, madam speaker. i'm pleased to yield three minutes to mr. levin of michigan, a distinguished ranking member of the ways and means committee. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. levin: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. levin: first and foremost, this bill takes the important step of protecting the full faith and credit of the united states. we will pay our obligations and not only to foreign bondholders, but to our citizens. whether veterans or our children, unlike the republican majority bill last week. it protects millions of seniors from a 50% increase in their monthly medicare part b premiums an spreads out the cost of paying for the fix over a number of years. it ensures that all 11 million americans that rely on social security disability insurance won't see their benefits cut by 20%. it is fiscally responsible,

while not undermining our changing the structure of vital programs in any way. let me repeat that. it is fiscally responsible while not undermining or changing the structure of vital programs in any way. it ensures in social security a uniform national process for disability valuations. and it closes a loophole used mostly by higher income individuals who receive higher social security benefits than intendd. it regularizes payments to medicare for care given in outpatient facilities. finally, the agreement raises the spending caps for two years for domestic spending. not only for defense priorities

as some have earlier proposed. so i just want to repeat that so it's clear. the agreement raises the ending caps for two years for both domestic and defense spending. that means we can better fund critical domestic programs that were cut under sequestration, increasing support for education health research, food safety, job trainingand health care for veterans. this was a product of a lot of effort. of members, of staff, and various committees. the leadership. on a bipartisan basis working with the administration. i just want to leave expressing my support and expressing that we will truly have a broad, bipartisan vote for this bill

today. i yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland reserves. and the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: i yield three minutes to the distinguished chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. frelinghuysen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. frelinghuysen: madam chairman, i'll be brief but i rise in support of the agreement before us this afternoon. madam chairman, as my colleagues are aware, the department of defense and the intelligence community have borne the brunt of our efforts to reduce the budget deficit and control our burgeoning national debt. under the budget control act of 2011, roughly half of all the discretionary spend regular duckses were taken from programs in the national security area. my colleagues, 2011 was a different time. security environment has changed significantly.

since that time, threats from terrorist groups and nation states have risen dramatically. the security spend regular duckses envisioned four years ago seem extremely unwise and dangerous today. in this agreement the department of defense will receive additional resources, badly needed resources. $30 billion this year. and $50 billion next year. but almost more important, this agreement gives the pentagon and our intelligence community predictability, certainty. the ability to organize and plan its activities for two years. it also gives our soldiers and their family a degree of certainty that they will be supported as they do the work of freedom. senior leads of the army, navy, air force and marines and the department itself will now be able to plan as to how they will configure, equip, train, sustain and deploy our forces in the most effective and efficient

manner possible. this ability will result in budget savings and a more effective fighting force. madam chairman this agreement is by no means perfect. but this agreement does require support because it provides predictable funding for our nation's security at a time of changing and growing -- of change and growth. every member ought to support it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: i yield two minutes to mr. cummings from the great state of maryland, the very distinguished ranking member of the oversight and government reform committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. cummings: thank you for yielding. i rise in support of the bipartisan budget agreement. i'm very encouraged that this agreement includes provisions from my bill, the medicare drug price fairness act which i introduced back on may 18.

my legislation requires generic drug manufacturers to provide rebates to medicaid -- to medicaid when they raise prices faster than the rate of inflation. my legislation will help americans get life-saving prescriptions they need. it will save $1 billion over 10 years, according to the congressional budget office. just this morning, the nonpartisan kaiser family foundation issued a report citing this issue, the skyrocketing prices of prescription drugs is the number one health care priority for the american people. the report fund that 77% of those surveyed, including democrats, republicans and independents, identified the issue as their top health concern overall. this legislation is a strong and welcome step to help keep drugs affordable, but we must do more. we need to investigate drug companies that are taking advantage of the american people by jacking up their prices just to boost corporate profits and make their executives rich.

over the past month, press reports have been filled with almost daily accounts of drug company executives trying to justify the obscene price increases while lining their pockets. my colleagues may have heard -- who so-called increased the price of a drug that treats life-threat vening infections from $14 to $750 overnight he called it a great thing for society, end quote. my colleagues may have also heard about michael pearson, the c.e.o. of valiant pharmaceuticals, which increased the price of two drugs used to treat heart failure and hypertension by 512% and 525% on the same day it acquired them. they are obstructing congressional oversight and refusing to provide documents relating to its increases.

i'm pleased at the -- to support this budget bill. i urge my colleagues to vote in favor of it. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: i yield three minutes to the distinguished chairman of the house armed services committee, the -- eman from texas, the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is mr. thornberry: we cut our military budget 21% from 2010 to 2014. madam speaker, i think everybody in this body will acknowledge that the world isn't 21% safer today than it was four years ago. if you look around the world, whether it is the growth of isis into more countries or the continued challenge of al qaeda and its various afailiates to

syria with historic russian reinsertion today, to china building islands in the south pacific, to north korea, to iran , intentionally an agreement it made on its missile testing just after the u.n. ratified the nuclear deal to daily cyberattacks. the world is growing increasingly dangerous and we send men and women who wear the uniform of the united states out to meet that danger. and yet we cut their budget 21% and we saw last week the president of the united states use them as a political bargaining chip to force congress to comply with his domestic agenda. the bottom line for me is that our troops deserve than that and that's the reason i support this bipartisan budget act of 2014. it increases -- it stops the cuts in defense.

it increases the money going to our troops, and it prevents them from being used as a bargaining chip in the future because it sets the military budget for fiscal year 2016 and fiscal year 2017 so that that is decided they can't be used as leverage for some other agenda. i think that is the sort of stability and predictability they need and they deserve. and i think the great question, madam speaker, is if not this, then what? we know that this budget agreement at least comes close to meeting what the president has asked for on defense and comes close to the congressional budget within $5 billion. that's not enough money to repair the damage that has been done over the past five years, but it's in the ball park. and if we do not approve this budget, then what? then we are back to continuing

resolution and sequester, which means the army has said they will need to cut 40,000 troops on top of the 70,000 they have already cut. that is a sampling of what not passing this bill could well mean if we go back to c.r.'s and the sequester level. it would be drastic reductions in the military, a much less safe world for the united states and its interests. i believe that deserves our support. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from kentucky reserves and the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: i agree with the gentleman that the investments in military readiness are important and the investments to help our economy grow to invest in scientific research is important. what the president said to the congress is what the vast majority of the american public

believe that it's vital to have a strong national defense, but a strong national defense requires a strong economy and requires an educated work force and investments in innovation and technology and requires a 21st century infrastructure. so i'm pleased that the president insist we make investments not just in the military, but also vital investments to help the economy grow, grow more jobs, which are estimated to be in the range of 350,000 in 2016 alone. so those are vital investments that also help strengthen america and i'm pleased to yield two minutes to somebody who has been on the front lines of making those important investments for our country, mrs. lowey, the very distinguished ranking member of the appropriations committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york is recognized for two minutes. mrs. lowey: thank you, mr.

speaker. as ranking member of the appropriations committee, i rise to support this bipartisan legislation that ensures the full faith and credit of the united states and sets a path to a responsible appropriations process this year and next. since the beginning of this year's appropriations process, democrats have called for relief fl damaging austerity budget level caps so congress can invest in our nation's future. unfortunately the majority's budget resolution and appropriation bills would have strangled economic growth and not met our nation's need with cuts to pell grants that help families pay college tuition and law enforcement grants, for example. the list goes on and on, from the start of the appropriations process, i urged my majority colleagues to negotiate reasonable spending caps that

protect our economy and national priorities. i'm pleased these talks finally happened and resulted in this bipartisan package that provides an additional $40 billion for defense, $40 billion for nondefense over two years. these investments are critical. upon its passage, i look forward to working together in a similarly responsible manner to reach bipartisan consensus on the spending bills to avoid a government shutdown in mid-december. i urge passage of this bill so we can immediately begin our appropriations work already overdue. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from maryland reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. the gentleman from kentucky has 15 1/2 minutes remaining and the gentleman from maryland has 19 minutes remaining.

the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: i yield three minutes to the chairman of the transportation and housing subcommittee, mr. diaz-balart. mr. diaz-balart: thank you very much. i thank the chairman and i only want to make four brief points. number one is that i, too, have concerns with lots of parts of this bill. there are parts that i wish were different. i think all of us do. but there are a number of reasons why i think it is important we move forward on this legislation. number one, this helps avoid a devastating hit on senior citizens in the district that i represent and frankly senior citizens across the entire country that deserve to be protected by those of us that represent them up here in washington. number two, that when we are able to move forward on the appropriations process, which this legislation will allow us

to do, that's a way that allows every member of this house to have input. every member of this house has been part of that process. so those of us who believe in regular order and inclusiveness and making sure every member has a word and a say as to how we move forward, this bill will allow us to move forward on that very open process. and lastly and we have heard this before, it's no secret that the world has gotten a lot more dangerous. and you have heard the numbers. we are devastating, devastating our military at a time when we are asking them to do more and more and the world is becoming more and more dangerous. let me just leave with this last final point. are we going to allow our military to continue to receive cuts at a time when they should be helped and should be actually

have increased spending or are we going to permit the devastating of our men and women in uniform in the u.s. military at this time in history? i for one not going to sit back and allow the u.s. military to be devastated by more budget cuts. so therefore, i would urge respectfully urge a yes vote on this legislation. and with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from kentucky reserves and the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: i'm now pleased to yield two minutes to mr. ellison of minnesota, a distinguished member of the financial services committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for two minutes. mr. ellison: i thank the gentleman for the time, i plan on voting for this bill but i'm not going to celebrate that. it lifts the debt ceiling and don't have to fear defaulting on

america's debts. avoids cuts in medicare and disability insurance. but the fact is, no one here, no one in this room can say that this piece of legislation that we are looking at now is going to advance america, bring us progress that we actually really need. do you know that since 2012, we have seen 640 fewer national institute of health grants. haven't been making the investments in science. this is a survival budget and we need to survive. so i'm going to vote for this piece of legislation, but we must come to the moment in time when we are looking to advance our country to move forward and offer real leadership to the world rather than just object ceasing over how much we can cut. the fact is that the progressive

caucus offered a budget. it means our minimal conditions but doesn't advance our real progress that we need. we have principles that we have been talking about, about pushing our nation forward, college education, housing, transit, this is what is going to make our country strong and this budget keeps us above water and keeps us from defaulting on our debts and that's a good thing. but can't we do more? i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland reserves and the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. issa. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for three minutes. mr. issa: thank you, madam speaker. i'm a member of the majority. when the majority brings a bill to the floor, you normally start off with yes and hope to stay there. in this case, i started off with

likely and didn't arrive at a yes. reluctantly i'm going to vote no on this bill. i'm not going to vote no because what it seeks to do or knowing that we need to fund our troops in the field in a war that has dragged down for 15 years. but i'm going to vote no because of how this bill is paid for. i have done as much as i can as long as i can to tolerate how we, quote, score things. at the risk of being wrong, i will remind people that i'm only as good as the information that my staff has given me. but according to c.b.o., $2.5 billion worth of this pay-for comes from premium payments that are accelerated, meaning we are robbing from the future to pay for ood. another one comes from extended pension smoothing, $9 billion.

this is a time shifting on money over 10 years. again, we are robbing from the future to pay for this year. another one, $4 billion comes from social security disability, but it's a double count. it's already been scored elsewhere previously. $5 billion comes from the strategic petroleum reserve. this is the third time saying we are going to sell the oil at this price. the real question is aren't we selling off an asset today to pay for current expenses? $3.5 billion will come from bandwidth sale. i'm not thrilled. i think we should make more bandwidth available to the public. but here's the one that really broke me, extending the medicare sequester rate saves $14 billion but the one-time saving is based

on the year 2025. in closing, madam speaker, i will not sell our future for this year's budget and therefore i recommend a no because of the pay-fors in this budget. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from kentucky reserves and the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: i'm pleased to yelled two minutes to someone who is focused on making sure we keep the full faith and credit of the united states, mr. welch of vermont. mr. welch: there are two reasons why this deserves our support. this is good public policy. this finally unleashes the hackles of the congress. and mr. rogers, you are going to have an opportunity through your appropriation committee, republicans and democrats, to do their job. second, it averts enormous increases in medicare part b

premiums. third, it keeps social security disability funds solvent through 2022 and there are a number of other things. but the second major reason why this is so important is this, it is an agreement. we have finally come together through the leadership of speaker boehner and leader pelosi to legislate. and we have been part of a legislative body that is on strike. it hasn't legislated. and we cannot underestimate the power that is unleashed by the capacity of this congress to give certainty to the american people and to our agencies as to what comes ahead and what they have to do. secondly, what speaker boehner did and what speaker boehner did, and i am so indebted to him, he has two weapons when used is threatened and that is the threat of shutting government down and the threat of

defaulting on america's full faith and credit. when there was the planned parenthood dispute and he was in favor of cutting funding, he opposed shutting down government to achieve that goal. we suspended the debt ceiling through 2017. it means this body is going to have not just the opportunity bus the responsibility to do its job. finally, what we have seen here when speaker boehner reached out to leader pelosi is that he had in the minority leader a willing partner who is willing to sit down, work hard and reach an agreement. that sets the foundation for progress ahead. i wish the best success to speaker-to-be ryan and he has willing and able partners in the caucus to make progress for america. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland reserves, and the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: i yield to mr.

sanford two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from south carolina is recognized for two minutes. mr. sanford: i thank, madam chairwoman. i say to the gentleman from kentucky, i am absolutely sympathetic in the way he and others in leadership are really caught between a rock and a hard place. you think about 100 members of the defense community saying, wait a minute, we won't vote for it unless we get more folks there. folks in the ag community, we don't like this particular provision. advocates of medicare, we have to have a bit more here. the realities of a debt ceiling. the president that says clean ceiling or nothing at all. i mean, they have been between a rock and a hard place. we are still at the end of the day $1.5 trillion problem that has grown on top of an $18 trillion problem. i therefore believe the simple notion, the key to get out of a hole is quit digging. i believe this bill digs more

than one. there is a process question. in fairness to the chairman and others, in some ways this was handed to them and i think there are serious questions any of us should have with regard to progress. two, it does remove the caps. as draconian as they are, they only represent the piece of financial restraint in washington, d.c., that has encumbered this entity that has a lot to do of the domestic restraint we've seen on discretionary spending. finally, as my colleague from california just pointed out, there is borrowing from peter to pay paul. if you look at where disability insurance is getting money from the old age survivors and pension smoothing and a whole number of other areas, you're left with this larger question of, this does still not solve the problem of this upward trajectory that we have with regard to spending in this place and therefore i'd remind everyone what admiral mike mullen said, former chairman of

the joint chiefs of staff, he said the greatest threat to our civilization was our national debt. at the end of the day, this bill compounds it. for that reason we would respectfully encourage a no. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: thank you, madam speaker. i'm now pleased to yield two minutes to mr. neal of massachusetts, distinguished member of the ways and means committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for two minutes. mr. neal: thank you. today's effort is a moment of satisfaction. this stands before us as a testament that congress cannot be dictated to by a minority of the majority. this institution cannot work based upon the principle that a minority of the majority can dictate the outcome of legislative life. i'm glad we're finding common ground for a common purpose. that's similar to the congress i joined a lot of years ago. but rather than a moment of gloating, we should all take a

look at what's happened to the process that once governed this institution. my plea to the new speaker of the house is going to be, remember that the committee system is the vertebrae of congress. it's within the structure of the committee system that we find a way forward and to speaker boehner, a good man and a good friend who leaves here in the next couple of days, congratulations. as well as to leader pelosi, leader mcconnell and leader reid. but the sad commentary is, this could never have happened if they didn't take it upon themselves to actually do the negotiation. the polarization of this institution would have prevented that. we cannot keep taking america to the financial precipice. we need some predictability, some confidence in building the economy. by embracing this proposal, we allow that opportunity to perhaps happen. we take default off the table.

the full faith and credit of the united states will not be impugned. we will not allow the country to be hijacked by extremist views. and i say to those here, that small number that want to dictate the outcome of what happens in this institution, pay some attention to the skill and the art of legislating as opposed to just the talking points that lend themselves to the insendary commentary that flows from this institution now. work with both sides to try to find an outcome that american people can look at us having accomplished with some pride. we look at this institution with great regard, and what's happened to it is a shameful exercise in allowing this rule that prevents us from moving forward because of the advances made by a minority of the majority. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves.

the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: madam speaker, i'm now very pleased to yield two minutes to mr. blumenauer of oregon. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon is recognized for two minutes. mr. van hollen: of the ways and means committee. mr. blumenauer: i appreciate the gentleman's courtesy and his hard work over the years on the budget. i'm pleased to stand today to support this agreement. it allows us to limp along. there's no shutdown for now. we avoid the damage of default. there's a slight relaxation in sequestration. there's equity for seniors and the disabled. there was a time when many of these provisions would not necessarily be a cause for celebration, but it is today. this is a signal accomplishment for stability and i take my hat off to speaker boehner, to leader pelosi, the senate

leadership, the president and his team delivered on agreement that came together for congress at relatively warp speed, working behind the scene for days. it wins the house some breathing space, not lurching from crisis to crisis. and i hope that we take advantage of this achievement. this was an important week here on capitol hill. we've made a transition on my republican side with the new speaker, a friend, a gentleman that i respect and admire, paul ryan. look forward to working with him. it was important that the house was able to work its will on the ex-im bank. we found a piece of legislation supported, not just overwhelmingly by the house, but by a majority of republicans bottled up in committee by a minority and it

broke loose and i think that's important. i hope this breathing room allows us to do one other thing, and that's to prioritize our budget requirements. we are going to spend over $1 trillion in the years ahead on nuclear weapons that we cannot afford to use and can't afford to buy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. blumenauer: we could do better for the american people and i hope this agreement allows us to do so. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland reserves. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: continues to reserve. the gentleman from maryland. mr. van hollen: thank you, madam speaker. i'm now pleased to yield a minute to mr. fattah of pennsylvania, distinguished member of the appropriations. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for one minute. mr. fattah: well, i am one who comes to this floor to support this agreement. it means that the great work

that we're doing on the , propriations committee working with my colleagues, like chairman rogers and tom cole from oklahoma, the work we're doing on brain health-related issues, the creation of a process, to map the human brain, to create a national brain observatory, to help lead the world in which a whole range of diseases can finally -- we can find answers to can go forward. we'll be able to move appropriations to youth mentoring to housing to health care because the congress and its leadership have come together. so i commend both sides and i commend the white house. i'm pleased that this agreement has happened. yesterday i announced a $10 million tiger grant for philadelphia. this agreement means there will be other members who will be making said announcements out in the future because we'll be doing the work that helps keep

america number one in the world. for all of our challenges we have the most powerful nation in the world and this agreement helps move it forward and i'm here to applaud it and to vote in favor of it. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland reserves. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: reserves. mr. van hollen: thank you, madam speaker. it gives me great pleasure to yield to someone who knows how to lead, who knows how to get things done, who knows how to find common ground and was a vital part of bringing us to the progress we're making today, the democratic leader, ms. pelosi. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized. ms. pelosi: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding and for his kind words and return the compliment to him. to the staff of the budget committee, the staff of the other committees of jurisdiction on both sides of the aisle who enabled this important agreement to come

forward, thank you very much, mr. van hollen. madam speaker, today we're proud to come to the floor with legislation that moves america forward, affirming full faith and credit of the united states of america, as our constitution says should never be in doubt. and a passing a budget agreement that creates jobs, protects seniors, invests in our future. today we cast our votes for a bipartisan budget package representing significant progress for hardworking american families. throughout the budget process, i'm proud that democrats have been united by our values and our determination to win progress for those hardworking american families. we showed we had the revothse and resolve to sustain the president -- votes and resolve to sustain the president's vetoes that did not meet the needs of our -- of the american people. a comprowmidse aen abled us at

long last to bring to the floor a bill, a bill with which we have broken the sequester strangle hold on our national defense and our investment in good-paying jobs and the future of america. and this agreement before the house, we achieve equal funding. we honor the principle of parody between defense and domestic priorities. we achieve equal funding increases for defense and domestic initiatives amounting to $112 billion over the next two years. we prevent a 20% cut in disability benefits for millions of people in 2016, and extend the solvency of the social security disability insurance program. we prevent a drastic increase in medicare part b premiums and deductibles for millions of seniors next year. we affirm the full faith and credit of the united states and

that full faith and credit is nonnegotiateable and unbreakable with a clean debt limit suspension. we push through the gridlock to provide more economic certainty and according to the council of economic advisors create an additional 340,000 jobs in 2016 alone. budget and senior groups are lining up and the groups for disability are lining up in support of this agreement. as aarp wrote to congressional leaders -- i'm sure you saw this, mr. rogers. and thank you for your this courageous support of our legislation, our great chairman of the appropriations committee -- aarp wrote, aarp strongly supports the bipartisan agreement you reached to avert deep reductions in social security disability benefits in 2016 and to address the imminent spike in medicare part b premiums which many older americans would otherwise experience. your efforts to reach across the aisle and together find

sensible solutions to significant problems are appreciated and commended. together, working together, democrats and republicans we have found a way forward for the american people. i thank the republican leadership for their partnership in reaching this agreement. again, i thank the staff of the committees of the jurisdiction -- the budget committee, the ways and means committee, the appropriations committee, the energy and commerce committee and others. i commend our colleagues for speaking out on this important agreement. let us pass this agreement. let's vote yes today together. let us pass this agreement, move swiftly to keep government open and make progress for the american people. i urge a yes vote and i hope it is a big strong one. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized.

mr. rogers: may i inquire how many speakers the gentleman has remaining? mr. van hollen: i have about four more speakers. mr. rogers: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky reserves. and the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: i'm now very pleased to yield four minutes to somebody hob -- who has been a key leader on budget and fiscal issues, our distinguished democratic whip, mr. hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized for four minutes. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentlelady and i thank the gentleman from maryland for yielding. and i thank him for his outstanding leadership as ranking member of the budget committee on fiscal stability, fiscal responsibility and his willingness to lead in ensuring that america invests in its future. and i thank the chairman of the

appropriations committee. i don't think i quote the chairman as much as i quote any other member. unrealistic and ill-advised, the sequester. and i thank him for that. this represents a bipartisan effort to prevent a catastrophic default and lessen the chance of a government shutdown in december, lessens the chance. it doesn't preclude it. it shows what is possible when democrats and republicans work together to get something done in a bipartisan way. this has been a pretty unique eek. ex-im bank passed with the majority of republicans and all but one democrat. this is going to pass in my view with overwhelming numbers of republicans and democrats voting for it. that's what americans want and expect.

they want us to work together. this bill replaces the sequester, the ill-advised policy that is hurting our country. it replaces it for two years and does so with parity. it protects medicare part b beneficiaries and saves the social security disability insurance program from insolvency. all of those are worth while objectives. this legislation will give us a chance to work on a long-term solution to our fiscal challenges over the next two years. this agreement, like ryan-murray is a short-term agreement. and the end of it comes sooner than we expect. congress ought not to wait until this agreement is about to expire two from now to act. we should get to work right now on a big, bipartisan deal to put america's fiscal house back in order and enable our nation to

afford investments in a stronger economic future. americans are not looking for a rick ety bridge but a sturdy one that can carry us into a stronger economic future. businesses across the country are looking for long-term certainty for congress to replace the sequester and remove the uncertainty that it has created and continues to create. so i hope, madam speaker, the history that is written about this legislation is that it was bipartisan first step towards securing the kind of long-term agreement all of us know we must achieve. i had the opportunity to serve with mr. rogers for a couple of decades on the appropriations committee. he and i have served in this congress together for a long period of time. he is a responsible leader in

the congress of the united states. and i quote him because his perspective and mine are the same, although we differ on many issues. and it is that we owe it to the american people. we owe it to america and to future generations to create the fiscal stability that will allow the appropriations committee very frankly to again become the center of decision making, which it was for many of the years that i served on. too often now we ignore the appropriations committee whose job is to set priorities and to apply the resources of our country to those priority items. if we don't adhere to that process, that will not happen. so, madam speaker, in closing, we need to get a long-term fiscal resolution. this is a short-term. i will support it. it's good for the country. but we need a long-term solution

and i thank the chairman and i thank the ranking member, mr. van hollen my friend, who has done such a terrific job. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: i yield one minute to representative jackson lee from the great state of texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from texas is recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: mr. ranking member, let me thank you and to the chairman of the appropriations committee. let me thank you as well. this was a tough call and i do want to thank the leadership, speaker boehner, and our leader, leader pelosi, whip hoyer and of course our ranking member of the budget committee, ways and means leadership as well. this is an important step forward because i can say to my constituents that we fixed some of our pain and your anguish.

this bill quickly provides $80 billion but i'm grateful that part of that deals with the plusing up of nondefense discretionary funding. child care, national institutes of health and other very important issues. my seniors, i think it is important to note, that your medicare premium part b will not go up 50% increase in 2016 and there will be less deep cuts in social security, more jobs being created, and as well, we will have the opportunity as i indicate, to increase the n.i.h. funding. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. ms. jackson lee: we must be careful not increase mandatory minimums and do protect social security and medicare and continue to monitor this for a budget that will lift the debt ceiling until 2017 and have this

country stand on its feet and pay its bills. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: may i inquire how much time remains on this side? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland has 3 3/4 minutes remaining. mr. van hollen: i yield two minutes to the gentlelady from california, ms. lee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized. ms. lee: first let me thank our ranking member, congressman van hollen for yielding and your treemedous leadership on the budget committee and to leader pelosi and to speaker boehner. i have to thank them for demonstrating that we can work together in a bipartisan way on behalf of the american people. and so, madam speaker, i rise in support, the bipartisan budget amendment of 2015. it's an agreement, actually, not an amendment. but as a member of the

appropriations and budget committees, i really know how difficult it has been to get us to where we are today. so thank you very much. this budget deal, though, it is not perfect. it averts a shutdown and prevents a stroolic default on the federal debt. most importantly, it provides relief from the sequester and it begins, it begins to invest in the american people through programs like food stamps, the safety net which many people need until they are through this economic recession. we must do more to create good-paying jobs for individuals who want to work. this begins to invest in early childhood education and in public housing. this agreement also prevents a massive hike in health care costs for our seniors. while this agreement is an important step forward, much work remains. it's past time that we start addressing the priorities of the american people, including

passing bipartisan, comprehensive immigration reform, making education affordable and accessible from pre--k through college and invest in work force training through our community colleges and building pathways out of poverty. i urge my colleagues to vote yes on this agreement. but we can get congress back to work putting people first. the american dream has really turned into a nightmare for so many. hopefully, our action today will give people hope that the american dream may be achievable, but we must do more. i yield the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: thank you, madam speaker. i yield one minute to mr. boil pennsylvania.e of the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. boyle: thank you, madam speaker. for the people who believe nothing can happen in washington and that we are permanently doomed to disarray, this has been a very bad week for them. first with export-import bank we see a majority of republicans and overwhelming majority of democrats come together and reach a bipartisan compromise and now here again with this big budget agreement, something that would avoid the catastrophic default, the first in american history, if it were to happen. madam speaker, i don't depee with everything that's in this bill, but i agree with the majority of it. and it's about time this body stop allowing the 10% or 20% to we agree 70%, 80% with. this is a step in the right direction and i'm proud to support it. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. van hollen: may i ask how much time remains on this side? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland has 45 seconds left. mr. van hollen: we close where we started. we recognize this agreement is not perfect, but it certainly beats the alternative and it is a positive step forward. it ensures the full faith and credit of the united states. we will pay our bills on time. it prevents damaging sequester cuts to our economy and allows us to invest more in education, in scientific research and military readiness and prevents a 20% cut to social security disability beneficiaries and it prevents a whopping medicare part b increase for millions of american seniors. so again, while many of us would like to see more and i agree with those who have said that we need to invest more and address

many of the other big issues our country faces, this is a positive step forward. i want to thank everybody who helped come together to make it possible. and i urge its adoption. the speaker pro tempore: all time of the gentleman has expired. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: how much time is remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky has nine minutes remaining. mr. rogers: i yield myself such time as i may consume. i shall not take the nine minutes. madam speaker, it's been my goal as chairman of the appropriations committee for these four years to get us back into regular order. when i first came here and for many years thereafter, we passed 12 individual appropriations bills, funding the entire government, but separate bills, so that every member had a chance to go through each of those bills, offer amendments,

debate them, fight them, promote them, what have you. but at least everyone had their day in court. and somehow we got off on a tangent to where we could not appropriate separate bills. so at the end of the year, fiscal year, we had no choice but to pass what's called a continuing resolution, which means we just continue spending as we have for the last year regardless of the needs of the moment. and that's a terrible way to do business. agencies, particularly the military, would not have a way to plan their work or to make orders or to deploy troops and the like. a terrible way to do business nd we lunch from one crisis to another. nd my goal is to get back to appropriating 12 separate bills so we don't need a c.r.

we hear current needs and c.r., you are spending money that is no longer needed on projects no longer needed, but nevertheless they are required to spend the money, terrible waste of money. so to get back on track, the appropriations process, our committee needs to have a top line number to which we appropriate. we have not been getting that number for one reason or the other. . not only will we get a number for fiscal 2016 that we can right an omnibus appropriations bill for current needs and finish it by december 11, the deadline, we'll do that, but it will be made up of the bills that have passed both the house and senate appropriations committees and in conversations

between the two bodies. not only do we have the number for fiscal 2016 but we have it for fiscal 2017 and that is very important. it gives us a year to plan our work to try to marshal through 12 separate bills for the first time in many, many years so that we with the senate can send to the president 12 bills that have the polish and the content put into it and on it by the members of our bodies, the house and the senate. that's my goal. that's why i'm so strong support this bill. that's the biggest thing in it from my perspective. now, it's important to help those on social security disability to take the worry away from them that that fund will be drying up, which it would be. it's good that we're taking

care of the medicare benefit increases -- the cost of the interest on medicare. it's important, very important, of course, that we avoid the default on our debt ceiling coming up momentarily. all of these things you heard about in this debate are great, but for me, the two years that we have now to get back on regular order and stop lurching from crisis to crisis, to stop that business, this bill will give us that great chance. so i urge members to support the bill. it's a good one. it's not perfect. not ideal by any stretch of the imagination but it's the best we can do and the alternative would be disaster. i urge an aye vote and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: all time for general debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution

495, the previous question is ordered. the question is on the motion by the gentleman from kentucky, mr. rogers. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, this 15-minute vote on the motion to concur will be followed by a five-minute vote on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal, if ordered. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]