left alone, there would be a huge price to be extracted from some in congress who aren't particularly supportive of this democratic priority. it would put at risk the support for these 16 million americans, half of whom are children, 164,000 residents of oregon. i think adopting it in this package and making it permanent is a far superior approach to guarantee that. then roll up our sleeves and work on the provisions together and there will be lots to argue about, but in the meantime i feel comfortable supporting those priorities and particularly for low and moderate americans. mr. brady: i would like to yield to mr. reed.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for 1 1/2 minute. mr. reed: i thank the gentleman for jackson lee and the folks on the other side of the aisle that have come together to support this legislation as i do today, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, hardworking taxpayers across america deserve a fair, simpler tax code. a tax code that allows them to be keep more of their hard earned dollars. that's why i support this legislation as it is a step in the right direction along that path. the other important aspect of this legislation is it brings certainty to our manufacturers. the energy sector. in regards to these provision that is are tome paragraph requirely extened each and every year as my colleagues have recognized over and over again and now to large extent we make permanent. that allows them to plap for tomorrow. that allows them to make the i vestments -- investments with their hard-earned dollars in the places they choose to put money. they can lee on a tax code that is certain, simpler, and fairer

on their behalf. we also in this bill take care of hardworking families. we also take care of people like our bill with the mortgage forgiveness act, the america gives more act, where we talk about charitable donation of food inventories. that is the right policy for american people. that is the right policy for hardworking taxpayers across america. and i am glad that we have on the floor today an opportunity to semdem straight to our hardworking taxpayers that we care about them and we are going to put their interest first and foremost rather than washington, d.c.'s and those of the elected officials here. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york yields back the balance of his time of the the gentleman from texas reserves. gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i'm very pleased to yield two minutes to another key member of our committee who brings such local business sense to the issue of taxes, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. kelly. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is

recognized for two minutes. mr. kelly: i thank the chairman. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support. this is one of the things that i think really makes us a little different. it is about certainty. where i'm from there's an old saying if you don't know where you're going any road will get you there. people that run business vs. to know where they are going before they start. so this does bring some honesty to what it is we need to do. pu in a time where people talk about i and me, i want to talk about all the other people, the wes that got together. this is truly a joint effort between a lot of staff members, not just members of congress, but staff members. so if i could just for a second i want to thank the committee's team, george, mark, harold, john, aaron, and den i ever. they have -- and jennifer. they have put in unbelievable amounts of time on this to get this done not for the republican party but the american people. at this hing it is

time of the year to actually give back and do something for others and do it in a way that just makes common sense to everybody out there who has to know where it is that they are going. there's something about certainty that gives us the confidence to go forward. that gives us that assuredness that we can actually get there. this is an incredible opportunity. this is really historical. so i want to thank members on both sides and i think for the american people they'll sit back and say this is the place where these guys get together or girls can't get together on anything. this is truly bipartisan. it's taken a lot of work by a lot of people. i want to thank you for what you did. you incredible people, great patriots. thanks so much. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania yields back the balance of his time of the the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i yield two minutes to another distinguished member of our committee, mr. kind from wisconsin. the speaker pro tempore: gentleman from wisconsin is recognized for two minutes. mr. kind: i thank my friend for yielding.

mr. speaker, i am all for certainty. i'm all for predictibility. i'm all for a lot of the policy initiatives contained in this legislation before us. but what i am not in favor of is the fact that this bill is not paid for. not a nickel of it is offset. when i go home to wisconsin i constantly hear from folks back home for congress to pay our bills. to get our fiscal house in order. this legislation doesn't do t it's $700 billion over the first 10 years that explodes to $2 trillion in the second 10 years. there is nothing more dangerous for the long-term success of social security and medicare or our children's future than these end of the year large tax cut packages that are not paid for, that are not offset. it's a missed opportunity. we should be doing this within the context of comprehensive reform. i submit that by going forward and making permanent many of these provisions in the legislation today, it takes the wind out of the sails of tax reform in the future.

there's been an impliesity agreement when we do comprehensive reform is that we are going to do it in a way that builds uncertainty, encourages investments, makes us more competitive globally. but we don't blow a hole in the deficit in our children's future at the same time. chairman camp recognized that with his discussion draft. hard choices he made. the lowering of rates and broadening of the base. we are ducking that responsibility here today. the irony is that for every bipartisan deficit reduction commission that's been asked to try to come up with plan to get our fiscal house in order have reached the same conclusion. we are going to need some additional revenue in the future and long-term spending reforms in order to accomplish it. this legislation fails on both of those fronts. i would encourage my colleagues to vote no on this legislation. we can continue temporarily to extend many of these important provisions today but let's keep the pressure on comprehensive reform by doing this now, i

submit, we are punting on the opportunity in the very short future to take on a tax code that's been long overdue for reform since 1987. i encourage my colleagues to vote no and i yield back the remarne of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas virginia tech. mr. brady: i am pleased to yield a minute and a half to a key member of our committee who has extensive business experience, the gentleman from ohio, mr. renacci. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. renacci: thank you, mr. chairman i want to thank you and your staff for the hard work. mr. speaker, i rise today in the support protecting americans from tax hike act, the path act. i came to washington as a business owner and c.p.a. to reform our broken tax code and really protect hardworking american taxpayers. many of those taxpayers came to my office on an annual basis looking at many of these extenders and not understanding whether they were permanent or not permanent. whether they had the -- them or would have the opportunity to

use these credits. this package here makes many of these credits permanent. the path act is an important first step forward. i say a first step forward in allowing us to reform our broken tax code. this legislation will make several tax policies permanent such as the r&d credit and the small business expensing. it will provide certainty and predictibility to our businesses and individuals. and most important, it will help open the door to economic growth. this legislation also removes unnecessary tax compliance burdens. the path act includes a bill i introduced with many of my colleagues, including many on the bipartisan working group that i formed many years ago. this information reporting simplification act of 2015 is in the bill. this bipartisan commonsense legislation provides a safe harbor to eliminate the need to correct minor errors on tax forms that have de minimus impact on the tax liability outcome. and helps avoid the waste and

time dollars for businesses and individuals that would otherwise have to refile their tax returns. mr. speaker, the path act is an important first step in fixing our tax code and i urge my colleagues to join me in support. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman's time has expired. the gentleman from texas eserves. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: it's now my pleasure to yield 2 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. becerra. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for 2 1/2 minutes. mr. becerra: i thank the gentleman for yielding. there are pockets of americans who might like the tax break here for corporations or the tax break there for wealthy folks who want to donate some of their i.r.a. for the 320 million americans in

the country and particularly for the 147 million americans who file federal tax returns, my guess is they are more concerned about their security and that of their children. their personal security, our national security, and our economic security. after san bernardino, colorado springs, charleston, it newtown where americans were senselessly gunned down in our schools, at our work, and in our places of worship the american people want job one of this congress to be security. personal, national, and economic. so why two weeks after 32 americans were terrorized, 14 of them killed, in san bernardino, would we make this massive $600 billion tax break give away charged to the government credit

card, because remember, it's not paid for. charged to the government credit card, why would we make that the first major legislation to come before this house for a vote? we can all agree that the f.b.i. does important work keeping us safe. tracking down terrorists. we all agree that they need to do more. so why we be voting for this bill which would rob funding for everything from the f.b.i., food safety, to college pell grants. this bill costs the -- the costs just of this bill by themselves, the cost of this bill would fund the f.b.i. for the next 73 years. because remember, niece tax breaks are not paid for. we have to -- these tax breaks are not paid for. we have to pay for them somehow. if you add up the tax breaks, 73 funding for the f.b.i. why would we use the credit card to give people who could give up the i.r.a.s when most americans can't put enough money into one basic i.r.a.

this is wrong-headed. these are not the american people's priorities. we could reform the tax code, but this is not the reform the american people are asking us for. asking us first and foremost keep our eye on the prize, our security, my kids' security, your kids' security. our national security. and our economic security. you give a-- away this money to corporation and wealthy folks, guess what, can that guy who has to think about the job and whether she's safe at the job or he's safe at the job or worship safely, can they send their kids to college, buy that home, and retire in security? i urge my colleagues to vote no. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i'm pleased to yield one minute to a member of our ways and means committee that has focused op making american companies competitive here around the world, the gentleman from north carolina, mr. holding. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina is

recognized for one minute. mr. holding: the path act will provide much needed certainty to our nation's families and small businesses. most importantly lay the foundation for comprehensive tax reform. for far too long folks in north carolina had to face the burden of trying to grow their businesses and plan for foot ture while being forced to operate under a tax system comprised of temporary tax provisions whose fate are unpredictibility. -- unpredictable. with this bill farmers m my district can purchase a new tractor without having to gamble whether congress will extend the provision. the research triangle park, innovative companies will final-l be able to access r&d considered as read to the further support their groundbreaking research without being concerned as to whether congress will extend the credit or not. mr. speaker, importantly it is imperative that we continue to build on this progress. this bill is an important first step towards comprehensive tax reform that simplifies the tax code, lowers the rate, and makes america competitive around the

world. i urge my colleagues to support the path act and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: it's my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, distinguished member of our committee, mr. pascrell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. mr. pascrell: mr. speaker, let's cut to the chase. i support this legislation. it wasn't an easy decision. but i believe that democrats were able to get a lot of policy into the bill that's good for middle class. it's going to help 16 million americans out of poverty. n new jersey, 435,000 children and 219,000 families will lose some or all of their working family tax credits if we don't do this. this package includes a bill introduced by my friend, tom

reed, and myself, to help put people back to work. our tax credit for businesses who hire long-term unemployed americans, and we have abandoned them, let's face it, that will help those families who haven't yet felt the effects of our economic recovery. another bill, mr. likert from washington -- reichert from washington, calls it support our nation's hardworking teachers. you heard hem speak about it several minutes ago. mr. blumenauer from oregon said, these things pass routinely any way. who the heck are we kidding? the enemy of the good is the perfect over and over again we have proved that here on this floor. an important provision allowing public safety officers to withdraw from their pensions when they retire early without a tax penalty is included in this

package. there are provisions that support mass transit commuters, small businesses, low-income housing, families paying college. and the earned income tax credit child tax credit is -- are the biggest forces against poverty. i can't say enough about making these permanent. when faced between the choice of facing these priorities, i simply can't vote against them to prove a point that not everything is in there including the kitchen sink. the bill is far from perfect. and let me say this, mr. chairman, i think this has been a civil debate and that's healthy for us, all of us regardless of what happens. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i yield a minute and half, the gentleman from

illinois, mr. dold. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. dold: i thank the chairman. we are voting on a historic bill, a bill as a small business owner wheng i came to -- when i came to congress, it was making it harder for me. and they should be making it easier for me to open up my business. i hear from small businesses that they need more certainty. if they had the certainty they would be able to move forward, and instead they sit on their hands. these tax policies we are voting on today and what a difference a year makes. a year ago, we were extending these tax extenders and we made it for one year, which was retroactive. retroactive tax policy, i can't ne. ine anything so assasi

we want to talk about moving our country forward, this r&d tax credit is vital. for small businesses, we are jump starting our economy and growing more american jobs. it's not just for the businesses. we are also protecting families and helping families pay for higher education. we have incentives for charitable giving. some that say the government should determine where the dollars go. putting that choice in the hands of the american people where they can put those dollars, those dollars will go so much further. that's the type of bipartisan legislation that the american people not only want but expect from this body. so as we also have so many other i at things in this package, urge my colleagues to come in a bipartisan way and pass this

package. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: it's my pleasure to yield two minutes to an active member of our committee, mr. davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. davis: i have been told that all that admitters is not gold. and there isn't much that is absolutely perfect. and this extender package certainly is not. however, i'm pleased to note that it does make the child tax credit permanent. the american opportunity tax credit permanent. the earned income tax credit permanent. expands deductions for expenses for elementary and secondary school teachers, expands deductions for state and local sales tax, extends deductions for research activity, which helps to create jobs. the new market tax credit has

been beneficial to districts like mine, all over the country. and i'm indeed pleased to see it extended. the work opportunity tax credit is a god send, long-term unemployed. i have worked on an issue called work colleges and i'm pleased to note the exemption for students who worked under this provision. i'm pleased to note the elimination of residency requirktse for disabled individuals who are eligible. i'm pleased to note the exclusion for wrongfully incarcerated individuals. mr. speaker, these extensions are good. i'm not sure that they're going to do enough. they're not paid for. and i'm not sure that they're going to do as much for low and moderate-income families as i

had hoped, but i'm convinced that they will do good. but i'm not sure that they will do enough. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: i yield one minute to the one of the members of the ways and means committee, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. meehan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. meehan: let me express my support on this. i try to think how it makes a difference in their lives, for a person looking for a job and jobs are created for small business and this is the kind of a program which we have given certainty to the entrepreneurs that will create new jobs and therefore, new revenue by somebody who is back to work.

we appreciate teachers taking money out of their own pocket. it's not a big dollar amount but we say thank you for making a commitment to our children. we have conservation easements that will allow us to protect beauty in which open space continues to be an issue. in the issue of health care, families struggling with diseases that we have the research and development to make a change and then ultimately when we have the products that we can bring to market, we are not taxing them and driving them further away. i urge my colleagues to be supportive. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania yields back. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i yield to the gentleman from illinois, mr.

roskham. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. roskam: you know, not long ago the internal revenue service reached out its long arm and ried to get between donors and 501 c-4, 5 and 6 organizations and the i.r.s. did something. they created a false impression and sent letters to donors that had a chilling effect and said that we know you made this contribution, but we think we may have a tax liability for you there. you can imagine how this had a shuddering effect all throughout these areas. unless people think that this is a left-right issue, it's not. it's left and right that were both under a threat here. i'm pleased in this extenders' package is something that has had broad bipartisan support and bicameral support and support

from both the political left and the political right and that is c 4, 5 hat gifts to 501 and 6 organizations should be tax exempt and the i.r.s. ought not be manipulating, intimidating and so forth. what this does is make sure that the i.r.s. is boxed in and that there is no gift tax liability. i strongly support this package. i thank chairman brady and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i yield one minute to the gentlelady from indiana who has been a key proponent of tax relief for families and small businesses. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from indiana is recognized. mrs. walorski: mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of protecting americans from tax hikes act. i want to highlight two that

will highlight indiana's economy. the research and development tax credit has relied on short-term extensions leaving innovators incomplete limbo. today we are making it permanent giving innovative industries the confidence to make investments here in the united states. indiana is also home to 300 medical device companies employing over 20,000 people and stands to benefit greatly from this certainty. i'm also thrilled today that we are delaying the damaging medical device tax for two years. this misguided tax will cost jobs, harm patients and i look forward to the day that we can fully repeal it. mr. speaker, our tax code is a mess, but today, we have an opportunity to give certainty to individuals to families, charities and job creators. and we can take another step forward toward comprehensive tax reform. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan reserves. mr. levin: reserve. mr. brady: i yield one minute to the gentleman from south carolina who is a strong proponent of pro growth tax reform, mr. sanford. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise as a fiscal hawk and one who believes passionately in the issue of the debt debt and deficit and government spending but we can't pretend our way to fixing those problems and first part of fixing the problem is recognizing that you have a problem. yet, the reality is for the last 30 years or so, we have pretended that which was permanent was not permanent which makes overall this notion of tax recorm incredibly difficult. it's true with regard to tax policy as well. i just applaud the committee for

the way they moved us to a place where we can move to a fair tax, flat tax, change in the tax code that would make the system fair and flatter and more equitable for all and get rid some of the provisions that don't belong in the tax code. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: is the chairman ready to close? i will do so. i yield myself the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for three minutes. mr. levin: well, here we go again. $621 billion added to the ficit and when you include interest on the deficit, far more. no hard choices. we're making a bad choice.

there's been lots of talk here about certainty. what is certain with this bill is that it will lead to further starving at what the republicans call the beast, adequate, domestic spending for education, or health, for job training, for nutrition programs. and what is also certain is that is it's going to make it easier for republicans to cut taxes for the very wealthy. that has always been one of the major purposes of all these bills that have come all these months these last couple years, adding up to even more than this for king permanent unpaid- tax cuts. it's also certain with this bill

that we will keep loopholes that need to be closed. for all of these reasons, i think the cost is much too high, much too high. there are some important provisions here, but their significance, i think is really overwhelmed by the fact that we're going to add money to the deficit and have the consequences for the long-term. i urge opposition to this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan yields back. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for 2 1/2 minutes. mr. brady: i thank the ways and means members who have for years and years worked on making these important tax relief provisions

permanent, who continued with me to stay at the table to work through an agreement that finally provides tax relief to families and businesses can count on. it wouldn't have been possible without an extremely talented professional staff, our tax team led by george and did remarkable work in crafting this tax relief a permanent measure and for that, i say thank you. this is a historical day. today is business as usual in congress and we take an important first step in pro-growth tax reform. this provides tax relief for families and businesses. it reins the i.r.s. to protect taxpayers and includes the first anti-fraud provisions in the tax credit programs since the 1990's. .

it spends no more than what we spend each year as congress lurches december to december trying to decide what's pem, what's temporary. what can people count on? today we heard arguments that these tax savings advances terrorism, starves children, apparently responsible for the breakup of the beatles. the truth of the matter is, extending these provisions year by year is no less the -- the math is no different than simply acknowledging that's going to be done and doing it permanently so that we can actually create tax relief our families and businesses can count on. this is not the end of tax reform. this is a serious first step to pro-growth tax reform that's built for growth. built for the growth of families' paychecks. built for the growth of our local businesses. built for the growth of america.

we've got work to do. today we start that work. let's get to work. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas yield back the balance of his time. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 566, the previous question is ordered on this portion of the divided question. the house is will concur in the senate amendment with the house amendment specified in section 3-b of house resolution 566. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman ask for the yeas and nays? mr. levin: yes. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 318. the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 318. the nays are 109. the first portion of the divided question is agreed to. without objection, a the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. pursuant to clause 1-c of rule 19, further consideration of the pending motion is postponed. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the unfinished business is the question on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal which the chair will put

de novo. the question is on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the juren stands -- journal stands approved. a recorded vote is requested. those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 234 and the nays are 155 with two answering present.

the journal stands approved. pursuant to clause 1-c of rule 119 further consideration of the motion to concur in the senate amendment to h.r. 2029 with amendments will now resume. the clerk will report the title. the clerk: house amendment umber 1. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 566 the portion of the divided question comprised in the shall t spsfide in 3-a now be considered. this portion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the ranking member on the committee on appropriations. the gentleman from kentucky, mr. rogers and the gentlewoman from new york, mrs. lowey each will control 30 minutes.

the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky, mr. rogers. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, may we have order? the speaker pro tempore: the ouse will be in order. he house will be in order. the the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. rogers: i rise today to present amendment number 1 to the senate amendment to h.r. 2029, the fiscal year 2016 consolidated appropriations act, legislation that will fund the federal government for the rest of this fiscal year. this funding measure provides $1.149 trillion for critical government programs and services. this is the level agreed to in

the bipartisan budget act of 2015, which was enacted last month. this funding meets the $548 billion defense and $518 billion nondefense base budget caps. the omnibus contains full year appropriations for each of the 12 annual appropriations bills. weighing priorities and funding levels carefully to prevent waste and promote an effective federal government. the bill targets funding toward our national security, protecting against cuts that would damage our military readiness and securing our homeland by strengthening our borders and prioritizing law enforcement. the legislation also focuses funding on our veterans, providing nearly a 10% increase for the department of veterans affairs while addressing v.a.'s

problems with construction mismanagement and disability claims backlog and shores up other critical priorities such as the national institutes of health and the center for disease control, agricultural research and infrastructure. the legislation also includes many policy items that will help rein bureaucratic overreach, protecting the rights of americans and encouraging economic growth. the legislation blocks administration's proposals to impose new fees on ranchers, air passengers and the oil and gas industries. and the legislation protects free speech by ensuring that the i.r.s. does not suppress the ivic participation of 501c-4

organizations. the bill preserves the sanctity of life by carrying all existing pro-life policy provisions from previous appropriations bills. it adds new provision prohibiting jeanetting editing of human embryos and reduces funding by 7%. to prevent wasteful or questionable spending, the bill halts improper behavior at federal agencies, like making sure the i.r.s. doesn't spend any money on frivolous videos or conferences. within the labor, health and human services portion of the omnibus alone, the legislation eliminates 17 duplicative and unnecessary programs, zero on 17. and the bill provides no new funding for expanded e.p.a.

regulatory programs, insisting holding e.p.a. to its lowest funding level since 2008. finally this bill includes a number of legislative provisions , the james zadroga health and compensation act, the visa waiver program, improvement and terrorist prevention act and the intelligence authorizing act, among others. an importantly it includes legislation to lift the 40-year ban on crude oil exports, a huge win for our economy and job creation. the package reflects a hard-fought, fair compromise and i believe my colleagues on both sides of the aisle should support it. the road to this final bill has

been without its bumps and obstacles. but i'm proud we have finally come to a solution. it's been a long, hard odd icy. although one big catch-all bill is not the ideal way to conduct business in this house, the legislation will do the important work of funding our federal government and preventing a shutdown. let me add that it would be enormously helpful if in the other body, they would change their procedures and rules so that on an appropriations bill funding the basic level of government, the senate would act in a expeditious way to allow these bills to come up over there without the 60-vote requirement. before i close, mr. speaker, i want to thank my entire

committee and in particular the hardworking staff. their tireless efforts on this legislation, most of these people, mr. speaker, have not d a day off since before thanksgiving. they have sacrificed their family time, their holiday dinners, countless hours of no sleep in order to bring this bill to the floor. their hard work has resulted in a good bill and i'm proud to support it today. i also want to thank my counterpart, the ranking member of this committee, mrs. lowey, for her commitment to getting this done. e's been fair and been conscientious and a good partner and i look forward than continuing to work together this coming year. and lastly, i want to take a moment to commemorate one of our

dearest staff, chuck turner and his decades of service to the appropriations committee and to this house. chuck sadly passed away on december 8, but he leaves his final mark on this institution in the form of the legislative branch appropriations bill that is a part of this bill. his presence will be deeply missed in the halls of this capitol and in our rose of friends. with that, mr. speaker, i look forward to putting to bed our fiscal 2016 appropriations work and turning toward our next year which will any luck will come in under regular order. i urge my colleagues to support this bill and reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york.

mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, first i also wish to join my chairman in mourning the loss of one of our majority committee staffers, chuck turner, who died earlier this month. chuck's passing is a true loss for our committee. and in the final hours of session for this year, we may finally be concluding this year's appropriations process. it hasn't been an easy year, but i do want to thank chairman rogers, my partner in this effort, and the staff for their hard work to put together spending bills following the two years' budget agreement. i'm disappointed, however, that the majority attached a repeal of the oil export ban to this omnibus spending bill. such a major policy change should not be added at the last minute on a must-pass bill to keep government opened.

it is especially disappointing that we could lift the oil export ban in this bill and yet we don't address the urgent bankruptcy crisis facing puerto rico. it remains a priority to me and my democratic colleagues and we must continue all efforts to reach an agreement as soon as possible. i'm pleased that this bill drops more than 150 extraneous policy provisions, many of which would have caused a white house veto. gone are dozens of attacks on women's health, labor protections, consumer financial protection, the clean air act, and the clean water act. i was, however, disappointed that we were unable to reverse a 19-year-old prohibition on federal funding for the re-research of gun violence. it should have been removed from the labor-hhs appropriations

bill years ago. the budget agreement enacted in november provided additional funding, allowing us to make critical investments reflecting democratic values. increases, mangor increase have been made to national inopportunities of health, head start, energy research, infrastructure investments through the army corps of engineers, cops hiring, nutrition funding, and many more important priorities. we also are able to prevent steep cuts to the environmental protection agency, another agency frequently targeted by some in the house majority. also of great importance the omnibus package carries the 9/11 health and compensation fund to ensure we care for those who responded bravely on that tragic day and are now sick as a result. i appreciate the bipartisan

efforts of all those involved to make sure this legislation was included. date ition, on this foreign operations of this bill, while there are many provisions that i do support, i am frustrated by the punitive cut of $2.5 million to unfpa and the continued attack on women's health. i'm pleased that this bill sustains our commitment to embassy and diplomatic security, continues the unwavering support and robust funding for our close allies and partners, israel and jordan. we also reaffirm our commitment to basic education and investments in global health, including pepfar, the global fund, the global alliance for vaccine initiative, nutrition, maternal and child health, as well as programs to combat tuberculosis, malaria, and

pandemic threats. in closing, i would have to call this package a mixed bag. while it fails to address several key priorities and wrongly includes a give away to the oil industry, it advances important investments that make our communities safer, improves access for early childhood education and childcare, increases funding for k through 12 education and pell grants, and invests in job creation by supporting biomedical research and small businesses. our country will be stronger as a result of these investments. i support this compromise legislation. and i also, in closing, want to thank the staff. the staff has worked day and night to put this bill together. david, lesley, and the entire

minority appropriations staff, will and jim on the majority staff, and dick on the leader's staff. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentlewoman reserve? the gentlewoman reserves. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield three minutes to the chairman of our defense subcommittee, mr. frelinghuysen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. frelinghuysen: mr. chairman, thank you for the time and for your leadership and support and that of ms. pelosi for our men and women in uniform wherever they serve. in the wake of paris and san bernardino, the american people are deeply concerned about their security. they wonder how and where the next attack will occur and they are turning to us to protect them. in an increasingly dangerous world, the defense and intelligence portions of this act proride funding for our armed force -- provide funding for our armed forces in our intelligence community to

confront multiple threats we face across the world. what some have described as a long war against extremism. this measure includes a global war on terrorism title, overseas contingency operations to ensure our military is agile, lethal, and ready to address these threats and theft strength and capability to defeat the rise of many islamic terrorist groups worldwide and deter potential gressors like russia, china, north korea, and iran. mr. chairman, we share the concern of the army, navy, air force, and marines about the erosion of overall readiness in the force. to begin this reinvestment, this bill provides $168 billion to fully fund programs to prepare our forces for combat and other missions. within this funding, an additional $609 million over the president's budget will help the services, particularly the guard and reserve. in summary, mr. chairman, this package provide our troops and looks after their families and

for those -- and those who have been wounded in service to our nation. i would also add this package offers the department of defense, our intelligence community, and our defense industrial base the stability and predictibility they need and have sought. my colleagues, it is the first responsibility of the congress under the constitution to provide for a strong common defense. in a world rife with crises and challenges, we do not know where the next catastrophe may or hot spot will erupt, or how and when our armed forces will be asked to respond. but we do know the american -- that america must continue to lead and this bill enables that leadership. this bill deserves our bipartisan support. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yield back. the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentlewoman from new york. mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i'm happy to yield to the gentleman from washington, mr. mcdermott,

for a unanimous consent. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcdermott: thank the gentlelady from new york. i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record my remarks in opposition to this bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman from new york. mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i'm happy to yield two minutes to the gentlelady from ohio, ranking member of the energy and water subcommittee, ms. kaptur. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. kaptur: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the ranking member for yielding me time. this week marks progress in the return to regular order. and although four months late and following the resignation of former speaker john lane bayner, a victim of republican gridlock, this critical funding legislation deserves passage to avoid another shutdown of the federal government. this congress must be disciplined and constructive and i thank chairman hal rogers of

kentucky and ranking member nita lowey from new york for leading our committee in that direction. i want to thank our subcommittee chair, mike simpson, as well as staff leads, donna and tonya, for their stellar work. our appropriations accounts constitute but a third of overall federal spending, about 30%. the appropriations accounts have been shaved away for nearly 30 years now, down from 50% of costs for running our nation's most vital functions in prior decades. this has meant cuts in everything from defense of our nation at home and abroad, all the way founding for critical lifesaving programs like clean water, modernization. just ask the people in flint, michigan, how it feels to have a water emergency because the children and adults are having to drink water with lead. we can't continue to shortchange our appropriation accounts. other committees beyond our own must act to grow our economy while balancing our nation's accounts. the budget committee, the tax committee, the authorizing

committees, and quite frankly congress ought to require the executive branch to balance u.s. trade accounts which have ballooned to $9 trillion in the negative over the past quarter century, creating such a drag on economic growth. still vast energy imports continue to represent the single largest component of our trade deficit and this bill promotes an energy and water bill that tries to move our nation forward despite all of this. as one of 12 measures in the omnibus, our energy and water section provides a strong pathway for american energy independence, as well as upgrades to vital port and water assets essential to life in america. a $535 million increase investment at the corps of engineers will keep our ports opened for business and continue to clean our waterways. might i have an additional 15 seconds from the gentlelady? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for another minute. ms. kaptur: i thank you very much. there is $1.257 billion for

western drought response, water smart programs, and river restoration and increased funding for science is equally important up to $5.3 billion, which will support american innovation, critical for manufacturing competitiveness and job creation. $2 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy sets us on a path toward greater energy. let me end with this, when our foes decide to flood our global market with excess crude oil and push prices below $2 a gallon, they try to snuff out emergency energy sectors like natural gas. our bill attempts to move and the world in a different direction and we don't want any more recessions caused by those who control the spigots raising gas prices over $4 a gallon. though this bill is not perfect, it represents a compromise. i urge my colleagues to vote positively and support this measure to move america forward again. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: i yield two minutes to the very distinguished chairman of the subcommittee on

foreign operations, ms. granger. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. ms. granger: mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of this omnibus appropriations bill. my top priority is to ensure we provide for our national security. this omnibus does precisely that. this is one of the most dangerous times in our history. we must ensure that the united states remains not only the greatest country in the world, but also the strongest. the u.s. and our allies face threats from countries such as iran, russia, china, north korea . additionally radical islamic terrorists such as isis continue to threaten everything we stand for. as chair of state foreign operations and vice chair of defense appropriations i'm very proud of what this bill does to ensure resources are available to counter these threats. i have worked hard to ensure our military has the tools it needs. we fund the equipment required to confront our enemies head on, and we take care of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and their loved ones.

not only does this bill provide funding for training and readiness, it also funds critical family services. assist abc is provided for our allies including israel, jordan, and ukraine who are vital partners this fight. to address security issues closer to home, we have prioritized funds for counter narcotics and law enforcement assistance in mexico, colombia, the caribbean, and central america, including funds to stem the flow of unaccompanied children to our borders. there are increased funds in the bill for embassy security and prevent and protect against future terrorist attacks, unrest, and other acts of violence at home and abroad. the bill also includes provision that is will make our foreign system more secure. passage of this omnibus is critical to ensure america can continue to lead from the front in this very dangerous world. i want to thank chairman rogers, chairman frelinghuysen, and ranking members lowey and visclosky, for their timeless

work on this bill. i urge a yes vote, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the the gentlewoman from new york. mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i'm very pleased to yield two minutes to the gentlelady from connecticut, ms. delauro, the distinguished ranking member of the labor, health, and human services subcommittee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. delauro: i rise in support of the omnibus appropriations bill before this chamber. in many ways this omnibus moves the federal budget in the right direction. it begins to leave behind the shortsighted policies of austerity that have slowed our economic recovery. but i am disappointed it did not go further. i'm troubled that the labor-hhs education bill received only a fraction, about one half of its fair share of the $33 billion increase provided by the recent budget deal. while we were successful on many fronts, the bill still does not

adequately fund many of our nation's highest priorities. i have also been fighting for years to remove a policy rider carried in this bill that prevents the centers for disease control from funding research on gun violence. even congressman dickey who authored the rider is now opposed. this bill, however, does begin to make incremental progress and there are many, many successes to highlight. it boosts our efforts to improve our quality of life. it provides an increase of $00 for the centers of disease control and $160 million to ddress the growing threat of the bacteria. and it provides for child care and $170 million for head start. these early learning programs reduce inequality and narrow achievement gaps. there are sizeable increases,

$455 million for special education, $5 million for title i grants and $200 million more than last year for job training and apprentice programs. imagine if we gave labor, education and health programs their fair funding. we could be expanding access to high quality child care, early childhood education. we could be funding partnerships between community colleges, technical training to develop the most highly skilled work force in the world. tomorrow i will vote to support this omnibus bill. it is a downpayment. i urge my colleagues to vote yes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized.

mr. rogers: i yield two minutes, mr. simpson. mr. simpson: i thank my ranking member for her hard work wep spent preparing for this bill for consideration and acknowledge the work of our senate partners. there are a number of good reasons for us to vote for this bill and many of them are in the energy and water development section. this bill provides strong funding for our nation's defense and important infrastructure investments that will keep america's waterways open for business and critical funding to secure the security of our electrical grid and support our aging stockpile. this includes full funding for critical warheads such as the b-161 bomb and the cruise missile. the program has been increased by 141 million and the ohio class ballistic missile. funding for the army corps of

engineers includes $1.2 billion. this bill provides for full use of the annual everyone dth revenues. and moves this country forward with a balanced all of the above energy. it includes important funding for the idaho national laboratory to advance nuclear technologies and ensure efficient use of energy. $162 million to improve the resilience of the electrical grid against cybersecurity. we continue to commonsense provisions that were included in last year's bill such as changing the definition of fill material and to protect consumers' choice and responsible commercial operations. i urge my colleagues to vote for

this omnibus and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady from new york. mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i'm very pleased to yield two minutes to the distinguished the gentleman from north carolina, mr. price, the ranking member of the transportation, housing and urban development subcommittee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. price: mr. speaker, i urge my colleagues to support this omnibus bill. it will provide funding certainty for the balance of the fiscal year and the sequester caps that crippled our appropriations process and it casts off the poison pill riders that threatened everything from fair housing to truck safety, to environmental protection, to women's health. this bill will allow us to begin repairing and modernizing our aging highway and transit systems, makes critical investments in railroad and aviation system and the grant program that will allow us to build a stronger transportation

future. the omnibus makes limited but significant progress towards addressing the affordable housing crisis and provides funds to maintain and rehab public housing and increased funding for the choice neighborhood programs and home and investment partnerships. mr. speaker, the bill fails to fully address our known transportation and housing needs. we still have a great deal of work to do. but whatever deficiencies this omnibus contains would only be made far worse by defeating this bill. that would likely lead to a full year continuing resolution that would be funding at sequestration levels and eliminating programs. finally, mr. speaker, we must resolve to get our budgetary house in order. we should pass this bill and thank everyone who worked to bring this together, but we must stop lunching from crisis to

crisis. surely we can do better than to depend on the threat of a shutdown. this bill is a small step in the right direction, far better than the alternative, but it's past time for congress to conclude a comprehensive agreement, one that sets responsible funding country mustts our make. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: i yield three minutes to mr. calvert of california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. calvert: i would like to recognize mr. davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. davis: i thank the gentleman. the interior environment section of this bill instructs the office of surface mining to re-engage state partners before finalizing the stream buffer zone rule.

this rule blurs the lines between the stream buffer zone rule and the clean water act and would have a devastating impact on coal mining. we have audio recordings of officials touting the fact that a major benefit of this rule would be no more coal mining. it estimated it will result in the loss of 7,000 or 9% of the more than 80,000 coal mining jobs in the united states. mr. chairman, it is my understanding that this report language would mandate o.s.m. to go back to the states and require signoff on the rule before finalized. can you clarify the intent of this language? mr. calvert: the language included in the omnibus recognizes that this administration has not been working with the states in a collaborative manner. of tates signed memorandums understanding. they established processes for data information sharing and the

exchange of comments and ideas. unfortunately earlier this year, nine states withdrew in protest. this mandatory congressional directive will require they share date ave information as they have should have been doing all along and we will be monitoring this implementation. the committee commits to working on the implementation process moving forward to ensure that o.s.m. re-engages the states and actively engages them in the process. mr. davis: i thank the gentleman for the clarification and i thank mr. johnson. mr. frelinghuysen: i associate myself with the comments of my colleague from illinois, mr. davis. this is a devastating rule. -- mr. johnson: the administration has said this is going to kill 7,000 jobs and far more than

that. we are looking at 80,000 jobs. they are critical stakeholders in this, mr. chairman. it is my understanding in the interpretation of this language that o.s.m. will be directed to re-engage and meet with those states at the states' request. and based on that direction under the weight of law, that would essentially mean at a minimum the comment period for those states of prime asy that request meetings would have to be reopened, is that your interpretation? mr. calvert: yes. mr. johnson: i appreciate all the hard work that has been done on this. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired, unless you would like to yield some more time to the gentleman from california. mr. rogers: i yield to the gentleman. and would mr. davis yield?

i'm sorry. let me associate myself with your comments. my district, like yours has been absolutely devastated by the war on coal. and this language is a great help in that direction. mr. johnson: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentlelady from new york. mrs. lowey: i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the distinguished gentlelady from california, ms. roybal-allard, the ranking member of the homeland security committee. ms. roybal-allard: mr. speaker. as the ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee on homeland security, i can attest that division f of the bill before us today which provides funds to the department of homeland security is the result of careful consideration, intense scrutiny and bipartisan collaboration. i want to thank chairman carter

for his leadership and his partnership in crafting our portion of the bill. the bill provides significant resources for critical priorities, including funding to recapitalize the coast guard and air and marine fleet, to fully fund fema's disaster and relief activities including wildfire management assistance grants and to significantly enhance support for flood mapping and pre-disaster mitigation and to maintain funding for fema terrorism preparedness grants including $50 million to help communities counter violent extremism and prepare for complex, coordinated terrorist attacks. without this omnibus bill, my home state of california and communities across the country would be faced with the uncertain funding level of a continuing resolution or in the worst case, the effects of a government shutdown. it is also important to note the

bill does not include a number of harmful immigration policy riders that were adopted during the committee consideration of the house bill. this funding bill is clearly not what i had hoped for. many of my colleagues feel the same way, and i share many of their concerns including the lack of assistance provided to puerto rico and the give-aways to big oil. however, on balance, i believe this bill should move forward and i ask for an aye vote. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: i yield three minutes to the gentleman from california plrks calvert. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. calvert: on december 2, isis sympathizers attacked and killed 14 and injured another 22 in san bernandino, california. police and first responders put their lives on the line rescuing

survivors and capturing the perpetrators. however, localities have faced unexpected costs as a result of this attack and i yield to the gentleman from texas, the chairman of the the c.j.s. subcommittee to discuss the funding terrorism in the bill. mr. culberson: protecting the homeland is our priority and we provide funding to combat terrorism, a significant increase for local law enforcement assisting the f.b.i. the bureau has the ability to reimburse costs and there is $50 million for victims of terrorism. mr. calvert: i yield to the gentleman from texas, homeland security subcommittee chairman to discuss d.h.s. resources available to respond to the attack. mr. carter: i thank my friend to yielding to me and give you the news about what department of homeland security is doing.

this bill includes $2.5 billion for grants for first responders, $397 million above the request. further this bill includes $50 million for a new program to help states and local communities prepare for, prevent and respond to terrorist threats. mr. calvert: i thank the gentleman. i yield to the gentleman from california, representing san bernandino, california, mr. ag did you lar. mr. aguilar: it killed 14 and injured 22, responding to the attack were the first responders. i look forward to working with the gentlemen and the departments to assist san bernandino in recovering from this attack. mr. calvert: thank. i yield to the gentleman from -- yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady from new york is

recognized. mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the distinguished the gentleman from new york, mr. serrano, the ranking member member of the financial services and general government subcommittee of appropriations. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized. . tie minutes. without objection. mr. serrano: i thank the gentlewoman and our leader. this is a very bittersweet moment for me. on one hand i'm so proud of what my staff and i other members and your staff did to make the financial services portion of this bill much better. much, much better. we increased dollars to the i.r.s. we helped the treasury department. we helped the small business administration. did so much that would make anyone want to be the top yeller and screamer in favor of this bill. for that i am very grateful.

for that i'm very thankful to the committee and to our leadership and to the staff. but then as one who was born in an american territory called puerto rico, there is a glaring omission. that is in puerto rico's worst financial crises we could not get our colleagues on the other side to agree for just some simple help. some simple opportunity to declare bankruptcy. for a simple opportunity to put their house in order. for a simple opportunity to restructure their debt. and so i have said so many times here that i find myself always in this, not contradiction but double situation where i am a member of the united states congress. prior to that a new yorker since the age of 6, long time ago. very proud of that. but important in the territory. and if there was ever a sign of colonialism, it's what we have done in this bill. we totally ignored the needs of

four million american citizens. we totally ignore the need for them to restruck tire their debt. we totally ignore the need for them to survive. and in the process, we may be creating a humanitarian crisis. we could have averted it. simply by allowing some simple language in this bill. but we chose not to do so. so i think it's time that we do two things. that we address the issue as speaker ryan has said that he will before march 31 shall the issue in general of work work's problem. but it's also time to address the issue of the relationship between puerto rico and the united states. it can't continue to be what it is. it either needs to be an independent nation or a state of the union, but it can't continue to be powerless and begging for everything it gets. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the distinguished

chairman of the military preparedness and veterans administration. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for two minutes. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. dent:00 i rise in support of the fiscal year 2016 consolidated appropriations act. legislation that will provide for much needed budgetary certainty, stability, and predictibility. i certainly like to commend speaker ryan, chairman rogers, ranking member lowey and my good friend and partner, ranking member of the subcommittee, sanford bishop, for all their hard work and for -- and also all the staff who did so much work behind the scenes to make this bill what it is. while this bill has many excellent provisions throughout its entirety, as chairman of the subcommittee on milcon-va, i can say with confidence this is a good fwill bill for our veteran service members and military families. it will ensure those who have served in defevens our great nation receive the full benefits, care, and support they deserve and help to maintain our military's readiness both at

home and abroad. the bill will ensure quality housing for nearly two million military families and improve the quality and safety of our bases, defense installations, monuments, and cemeteries throughout the world t will provide an increase for v.a. programs including a 10.5% increase to v.a. medical services to provide care and treatment for approximately seven million veterans. it will also allow veterans with hepatitis c to be treated and cured and help the v.a. to address critical issues like mental health care and reducing the rates of veteran suicide and homelessness. we'll also provide funding needed to reduce the v.a. claims' backlog and move us closer to establishing an integrated electronic health records system. it will increase congressional oversight at the v.a. to counter the instances of gross mismanagement in eaksess of cost project overruns that have affected facilities across the country, colorado being the most egregious example.

for these reasons and many more, mr. speaker, i support the legislation and encourage my colleagues on both side of the aisle to do the same. i want to thank ranking member bishop, mrs. lowey, chairman rogers, and all the staff who put this bill together. thank you again. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentlelady from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i'm very pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. farr, the distinguished ranking member of the agricultural subcommittee and representative of the peace corps. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. farr: thank you very much, madam ranking member of the committee, nita lowey. i want to just remind people that this is a big bill. it's a bill that's got a lot in it. it's got a lot more good in it than it has bad in it. big deals have both. but what's really important, this is the most important vote we take all year because this is the vote that runs all of

government. keeps it all operational. all the things you have heard about. i want to thank the chairman, mr. rogers, because he promised at the beginning of the year to our committee he was going to get us back to regular order and get us a bill. i bet we were going to end up with a c.r. which is the worst thing we could do. it's the failure of congress to carry out its business. want to compliment mr. rogers and nita lowey for their incredible work to get a clean, relatively clean appropriations bill and how important this is. the work that was done on all the minutia there on our staff d the democratic side and my staff, michelle, troy, the republican staff of tom, andrew, pam, elizabeth, betsy, and chairman aderholt's staff of brian and jennifer thank you for all the detailed work night after night that you put into this. if you take medicine, this portion of the bill, 1/12 of the

bill, the ag portion and commodity future trading commission and f.d.a., if you take medicine, this bill impacts you. if you invest in the market this bill impacts you. if you care for animals this bill impacts you. if there are hungry people in this country and around the world, this bill really impacts you. quite frankly, if you want to eat safe, wholesome, and affordable food this bill is essential. thank you-all for doing this. but most of all i want to thank also another subcommittee. the subcommittee on international relations. and kay granger and nita lowey just did an incredible job for the first time fully funding peace corps, the highest level they have ever funded. we have 23,000 people applying for jobs and congress has only appropriated enough money to hire 3,500. this bill will go a long way to allowing all those americans who want to do service to our country abroad to get a chance to do so. so i want to thank you-all. it's one of the better bills. it's certainly a lot bert than last year. i look forward to next year.

will it even be better? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: i yield one minute to the gentleman from kansas, member of our committee, mr. yoder. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman virginia tech. mr. yoder: i rise today to applaud the efforts of chairman rogers, his staff, and all my colleagues on the appropriations committee. this bill achieves many conservative goals, including ending the export oil ban, limiting the e.p.a. to its lowest funding since 2008, freezing the i.r.s., almost $2 billion below the president's budget request, denying any new funds to obamacare, resolving visa cafere westerns, and other pryors. while cutting in certain areas, we are also able to reprioritize 13e7bding and one is for the national institutes of health. this bill provide the largest funding at n.i.h. since 2003 and i want to thank chairman tom cole, the subcommittee, for his work in that endeavor. as we debate this bill, cancer is prepared to kill 600,000 americans next year. without new investment, we'll be unable to find a cure to cancer or any other diseases, heart disease that affect every family and community in america. i thank the committee for their

leadership. mr. speaker, this bill represents the hard work of the committee and many others as it seeks to advance the conservative causes in a balanced way in a divided government. i urge its passage. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i'm very pleased to yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from georgia, mr. bishop, the ranking member of the veterans administration and military construction subcommittee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized tore two minutes. mr. bishop: i thank the gentlelady for yielding. mr. speaker, first of all i'd like to thank chairman dent for his hard work on the subcommittee. he's been a tremendous partner. i'd like to thank chairman rogers and ranking member lowey for their strong bipartisan leadership. certainly i'd like to thank our staffs for their hard work. today's omnibus reflects what the f.y. 16 mill con-va bill should have looked like during full house consideration. discretionary funding for v.a.

programs in today's agreement is $71.4 billion, $6.4 billion above the f.y. 2015 enacted level. this agreement fully funds major construction within the v.a. budget. as you may recall, this was a significant issue in the house bill. there are a number of good things to highlight within the bill that will have a profound impact on the lives of our nation's veterans. for example, we have the opportunity to completely eradicate hepatitis c from our nation's veterans. we raised the amount for funding for treatment to $1.5 billion. additionally, in order to combat veterans' homelessness, suicide, and ptsd, we have also included $7.5 billion for mental health care services. that being said, mr. speaker, it is high time that we return to regular order. by regular order i mean a process that starts with a realistic allocation, enabling the appropriations committee to meet our nation's fiscal needs. i believe that if the appropriations committee were

given a fair chance, we could have completed our work months ago. mr. speaker, the process has much room for improvement. governing through the use of omni bills is not a lost factor. i believe we must return to regular order utilizing the entire legislative process to determine how our government invests in the american people. truly regular order's better for the committee, for the members, and for this august institution in which we serve. nevertheless, while the omnibus is not perfect, far from it, we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good. this is a good bill and i urge my colleagues to pass it. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, may i inquire of the remaining time? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky has 7 1/2 minutes. the gentlelady from new york has 10 3/4 minutes. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the chairman of

the financial services subcommittee on appropriations, mr. crenshaw. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized for two minutes. mr. crenshaw: thank you very much for the recognition. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of this funding bill for 2016. as chairman of the subcommittee on general services and financial services, i want to high lie light some of the areas that i think -- highlight some of the areas i think are important for members to understand. we oversee in this subcommittee a myriad of agencies, all have an impact on our functioning federal government and also on the constituents that we represent. we oversee and fund the treasury, the internal revenue service, the securities exchange commission, the federal trade commission, federal communications commission, small business administration, and many other agencies. and i think that while we overall fund this section of the bill, $1 billion less than the president requested, there are

some areas where we increase funding that are important that are priorities. like law enforcement. like drug abuse prevention. there's been a lot of discussion about the i.r.s. over the years. quite frankly they have betrayed the trust of the american people and have a long way to go to restore that trust. therefore, they are funded at a flat level. however we give them additional money to try to do a better job of customer service. they complain they can't answer the phone. they can't respond to mail. so they have additional dollars to improve that. we do other things to rein in some of their out-of-control activities. but overall, mr. chairman, this is a good bill. we increase funding for some of the priority items, as i mentioned, like the small business administration. they actually help create jobs. they help grow the economy. drug abuse prevention is important and we fund those levels. some of the areas that aren't so important we reduce funged, actually frees their funding.

but overall this is the result of a lot of hard work by the committee members. special thanks to our ranking member serrano. overall i would urge all the members to support this legislation. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i am very pleased to yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from california, mr. honda, the acting ranking minority member of the commerce, justice, and science committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. mr. honda: thank you, mr. chairman. i thank the ranking member for yielding. i thank chairman culberson who worked with me and my staff to formulate a better bill. while there are areas that could still be improved in the c.j.s. bill, i'm thankful for the chairman's bipartisan effort and desire to find common ground. lifting the budget caps we were able to more fully fund many of the essential programs. i'd like to highlight a few of these. i was pleased we were able to

dedicate fund for the national network for manufacturing innovation to fund one competitively chosen center and provide funding for nist. the modest increase for minority business agency will allow them to expand their work creating jobs and fostering innovation and entrepreneurship amongst minority-owned businesses. in the 2020 census, we ensure that all communities, including those that are small, rural, or have limited proficiency with english are counted. . the rider making the survey optional was dropped. this is important to communities across the country including cops, byrne justice kits. and a backlog reduction program and my district were able to receive $45 million. and robust funding for both

commercial and c.l.s. and owe ryon. we're able to provide healthy funding for science and exploration missions and i hope the mission will be able to include the expertise of all nasa centers. happily, we restored earth and geoscience funding and removed e language and i'll continue to work the limitations on n.s.a. in the future. finally, many of the harmful immigration riders were removed, including ones that would have stripped the administration's ability to defend daca and dapa and . thheld d.o.j. grants -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. honda: 15 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentlelady yield 15 seconds? the gentleman is recognized. mr. honda: the c.j.s. portion of the omnibus bill will invest

in our nation's future and move us forward. i want to thank, again, to my chairman culberson and i look forward to continue to work with you closely and yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield 30 seconds to the distinguished chairman of the permanent select committee on intelligence, mr. nunes of california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from the central valley of california is recognized. mr. nunes: i ask unanimous consent that my full statement is included including condition n. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. nunes: i want to thank hairman schiff, vice chair feinstein, chair hal rogers and ranking member lowey as well as the hard work in getting this important legislation to the floor today and eventually to the president for his signature. i urge all members to support the bill. with that i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i'm very pleased to yield two minutes to the distinguished the gentlelady from minnesota -- gent the dl lady from minnesota, ms. mccollum. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from minnesota is recognized. ms. mccollum: thank you. mr. speaker, i rise in support of this omnibus appropriations agreement. this agreement reflects a truly bipartisan compromise that fills congress' most basic responsibility, to fund the operations of the federal government. as the ranking member of interior, environment and appropriations subcommittee, i am thrilled to be supporting our subcommittee's section of the bill. i want to remind everyone that in july, our bill died on the floor. it was underfunded and it was loaded with bipartisan -- loaded with partisan riders that harmed the environment and failed to meet the needs of the american people. this is not a perfect bill, but it is a remarkable improvement. this bill provides critical

resources to important programs, ranging from clean air and water, natural resources, native americans and the arts. and for the first time in five years, the environmental protection agency is not being cut. the agreement provides $93 million support to the national park service programs and funds the national parks centennial. democrats and republicans are equally committed to fund native american programs which received an increase of 5% over 2015. important increases for education, health and tribal government programs. the land and water conservation fund is re-authorized for three years and funded at $450 million, the highest level funding since 2010. and the national endowment for the arts and humanities are funded at the president's request, which is terrific. the real victory is here for the american people is that this agreement removes policy riders that were bad for the

environment, bad for our air and our water and bad for our families. those riders are gone from this bill and that is a victory. i want to thank chairman calvert for a very positive working relationship this year, and i appreciate the courtesy and the respect you and the republican staff has shown me and my staff. the democratic appropriations staff worked incredibly hard to protect our priorities in this bill. i thank you and i urge support. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the distinguished chairman of the agriculture committee, mr. conaway of texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. conaway: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank the chairman and chairman aderholt for the consideration they gave. they were kind in that consideration. we certainly appreciate that. mr. speaker, we heard reasons why to vote for this bill. defense spending, lifting the ban on crude oil. let me add one other aspect and that's the repeal of the country of origin labeling requirements that are currently in law.

by repealing this, we help american producers avoid almost a -- excess of $1 billion of retaliatory measures that mexico and canada are spring loaded to begin applying against american production. this repeal avoids that. mr. speaker, in my view this adds additional weight why i'm supporting this bill. i ask they look at the defense spending, crude oil ban and repealing of coal as reason why to support this bill and move it to the senate and the president's desk. i ask my colleagues to support this, as i am. thank you for consideration during this process. we appreciate being part of the work and look forward to supporting it and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentlelady from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i am very pleased to yield one minute to -- two minutes -- maybe three minutes -- to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. fattah, a senior member of the appropriations committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for two minutes.

mr. fattah: i thank the gentlelady and i thank our chairman rogers and the work of the staff. i think we have a bill here that the house can fully embrace. it is -- the point i want to make is that we have in this bill a measure, spending, programs that will help americans on the health side, on education, on housing. i particularly want to indicate how pleased i am we were able to increase very significantly our investments in brain science and brain research. we were able to almost double the president's request in youth mentoring. there are areas, everything from commercial crew to efforts to combat drug addiction that would commend this bill for favorable support here in this house, and i want to thank the committee for all of its great work.

i want to particularly thank my staff for the work they've done, and we'll have a chance to indicate as we go forward after the holidays some of the particulars, but i will single out one right here right now. there was a young officer, police officer who was in a gun battle in my district trying to protect life and property. our commissioner said it was the most courageous act he ever saw of a police officer. in this bill today, we name a program in the department of justice, a program focused on lessening violence against police officers after this young officer, robert wilson. it's not a -- an effort in which we want to just think about money, and i think that the chairman and the ranking member, i thank them for their cooperation in this effort because i think it in symbol and in substance says to those who protect our communities that we indeed care about them and we understand the dangers that they face. so i thank you and i yield back

the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentlelady from new york is recognized. -- mr. y: mr. speaker speaker, may i ask how much time is remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from new york has 4 1/2 minutes, and the gentleman from kentucky has four minutes. mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. as we close this debate, i want to extend my appreciation, again, to chairman rogers and his staff and my abled staff and my chairman, kay greaninger. it's really been a -- kay granger. it's really been a pleasure to produce this bill. as we close this session, i just want to reiterate the message, mr. chairman, which

you've been sharing with us in committee and here on the floor of the house, it's time for regular order. we should deal with each of the 12 bills independently, bring -- to the floor to a vote bring them to the floor to a vote. although there has been a lot of negotiation and a lot of compromise working on this omnibus bill, and i'm very proud of the product that we produced. whether it is funding the national institutes of health or education or head start or king care of our veterans or in this very, very difficult time where we have challenges i over the world --

understand the next speaker we're waiting for is not arriving. so as i close my comments and tell you what it is a pleasure to work with you and to complete this bill, which i know, i know will have an important impact on our families, our veterans and all those who serve in the military th such distinction and -- mr. rogers: will the gentlelady yield? mrs. lowey: i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady reserves. mr. rogers: if the gentlelady will yield. if you're waiting for another speaker, i would be happy to introduce another on this side. mrs. lowey: i would be delighted to have you introduce the distinguished gentleman from your side, a member of the rules committee, a member of the appropriations committee, a friend, and i look forward to his remarks. happy to yield. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the distinguished chairman of the

labor-hhs subcommittee on our appropriations committee, the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. cole. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oklahoma is recognized. mr. cole: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. frankly, i want to, number one, tell you how pleased i am with the portion of the bill that we were able to work with. my friend, the distinguished lady from connecticut, and i worked together. our members worked hard. we're exceptionally pleased to begin to reinvest again at the national institutes of health to put $350 million for additional research in alzheimer's, to put over half a billion dollars for additional early childhood education, to send back to the states, frankly, over $400 million for idea, to help school districts deal with children with special needs. we were exceptionally pleased to be able to preserve impact aid, something that the president had significantly

reduced. but in saying that, i want to say we had a good working relationship with the administration. so this is a good product. this actually serves some really important purposes. i feel like we worked today in a bipartisan way to prioritize things that mattered to all of us, and certainly that mattered much -- very deeply to the american people. i want to, again, close by thanking my good friend from connecticut, ms. delauro, for working with us. i want to particularly thank my friend, the ranking member, who worked very hard. and i'm especially proud of my chairman, mr. rogers from kentucky, because i think he not only produced a very good product under very difficult circumstances, he's also brought us closer to restoring full regular order, which i know is his aim. last people to thank, of course, are the people to make it all possible. we had just a brilliant staff effort. hardworking, dedicated,

thoroughly professional and frankly bipartisan. i want to thank each and every one of them. i would be remiss not to single out, if i may, mr. chairman, my own chief clerk, susan ross, who i thought did an exceptional job and to thank will smith, our chief clerk of the committee for his extraordinary job. with that, again, i would urge passage of the bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlelady from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: may i ask how much time is remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady has 2 1/2 minutes. mrs. lowey: well, it is a pleasure for me to yield 2 1/2 minutes to the distinguished whip, the distinguished gentleman from maryland, mr. hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. hoyer: i thank chairwoman lowey and chairman rogers for their leadership on this bill. mr. speaker, there's no such thing as a perfect bill. there are a number of things about this bill that i would change, and to that extent i'm probably like everybody else in

that house when i opposed when they were brought them on their n, including the banff crude oil. puerto rico to restructure its debt at no cost to the taxpayer, which is a resource that they want to prevent real harm to our citizens living on the island. the speaker has indicated a willingness to work across the aisle early next year. we must do so. but this omnibus represents a compromise that will revert a government shutdown and continue our investment in national security, education, housing, public health, innovation, environmental protection and maintaining justice. no one is going to get everything they want or prevent everything they oppose from being included. .

businesses and workers need certainty certainty that our government remines opened. i'm glad the most egregious partisan policy riders were removed from this bill. i congratulate mr. rogers and mrs. lowey for that accomplishment. i believe we can do better. especially when it comes to making investments in areas that grow our economy such as infrastructure, research, and innovation, higher education, and work force development. but i will in -- i will support this omnibus and i urge my colleagues to support this omnibus because we must not let the perfect stand in the way of the practical and the appropriate. it is our responsibility, not to kick the can down the road with taining resolution, but to pass commonsense appropriations that avert the dangers to our economy that stem from a shutdown. his bill achieves those goals. and i hope we can move into the new year with a renewed sense of what we ought to do together to

invest in a stronger future for america. i urge my colleagues to vote yes on this omnibus bill. thank mr. rogers and mrs. lowey for their leadership and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. does the gentlelady have time? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. mr. rogers: i yield myself the balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, we would not be here without the work of this great staff that we have mentioned time and again today. these people work tireless hours all night. they have had one day off since before thanksgiving and that was thanksgiving day itself. i want to say a word of thanks again to the great staff led by the chief clerk, will smith, thank you, will, for the great

job. and jim, your deputy, and all the other staff on both sides of the aisle. thank you, so much, david, for your great work. mr. speaker, we should not be here under these circumstances. we should not be here dealing with a bill that funds the entire government in one package. this so-called omnibus appropriations bill. we are supposed to pass 12 separate bills. bring them to the floor separately and conference with the senate separately. we were on track to do that. we got the earliest start in our history this year. and yet the senate refused to allow any of the bills we sent over to the brought to the floor. forcing us into this omnibus. next year i hope it's different. i hope the senate will bring these bills to their floor. so we can separate them into 12 different packages, conference them, debate therges amend them, and pass them in regular order.

in the meantime, this is our only choice to keep the government open and that is to pass this omnibus appropriations bill. i want to thank all the members of my committee, all the chairmen of the subcommittees, all the ranking members on the other side, all of the staff on the subcommittee level who have worked time and again night after night on putting together this extremely large and complex appropriations bill and added to it several other authorizing pieces of legislation that were tacked on to this bill. nevertheless it is a good bill. there's things i wish i could have gotten if the bill that we were unable to. and i'm sure my counterpart, mrs. lowey, has the same feeling. but this is the best we can do. i urge members to vote for the bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 566, the previous question is

ordered on this portion of the divided question. the question is, will the house concur in the senate amendment with the house amendment specified in section 3-a of house resolution 566. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. 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. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to section 2 of house resolution 566 and clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed.

for what purpose does the gentlewoman from -- seek recognition? the gentleman from michigan. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i ask unanimous consent to take from the speaker's table the bill h.r. 3594 with the senate amendments thereto and concur in the amendments. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the clerk will report the title and the bill of the senate amendment. the clerk: h.r. 3594, an act to extend temporarily the federal perkins loan program, and for other purposes. senate amendment. strike all after the enacting clause and insert the following, section 1, short title. this act may be cited as the federal perkins load program extension act of 2015. >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous

consent to dispense with the reading. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the reading is distense penced with. is there any objection to the original request of the gentleman from michigan? without objection, the senate amendment is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid pon the table. the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from north carolina seek recognition? ms. foxx: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. on november 20 of its annual business meeting, members of the american anthropological association voted in favor of disgraceful resolution to boycott israeli academic institutions. by definition a boycott hinders study and research. it is deplorable to see leaders in america's institution of

higher education support this stifling academic discussion. the stifling of academic discussion. their actions are contradictory to the fundamental principles of academic freedom and the free exchange of ideas that they claim to promote. while the supporters of this boycott claim to be standing up for the rights of balance palestinians, what they are actually doing is presenting a one-sided and inaccurate representation of reality in israel and ignore palestinian violence. the simple truth is throughout history israel has made numerous concessions in the pursuit of peace while seeking only the right to exist. anthropology teaches respect for cultural differences but it's clear some in academia didn't learn that lesson. let's hope a majority of the members of the american anthropological association take time to understand the implications of this shameful resolution and vote no when it is put to a vote before the organization's full membership in april. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? america online unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. sanchez: thank you, mr. speaker. i stand here today to praise the passage of the every student succeeds act, a landmark piece of bipartisan legislation that fixes the outdated policies of no child left behind. this legislation takes into consideration the collective criticisms of teachers and students and parents and, well, everybody really involved with education. the every student succeeds act benefits low-income students, minority students, and english language pairiers -- barriers to learners by requiring schools to include student data about these groups into their accountability

process. high stakes testing will no longer monopolize our class time. students will not have the flexibility to pilot innovative -- schools will now have the flexibility to pilot innovative testing measures, allowing more time for learning in the classroom. i was also proud that both chambers included final language which i supported to include statistics for homeless students so that we can identify and aid some of our most needy students. every child has the right to an education, a quality education. and i am so happy we were able to pass this act. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida seek recognition? ms. ros-lehtinen: to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker, i rise today to speak about fairness and liberty. two deeply held values that

define us as americans. i'm proud that our great nation is moving toward a more inclusive society. in a historic ruling this past summer, the supreme court of the united states determined that our constitution guarantees marriage equality. that ruling is a reflection of human rights and it is also an economic and compassion issue which, as republicans, we should embrace. not sacrificing our values is what the g.o.p. stands for. limited government that reflects individual liberty. but even with marriage equality, every day lgbt americans still lack basic legal protections. all americans deserve equal protection and equal rights under the law. as a founding member of the congressional lgbt equality caucus, i will continue to work to ensure that the principles of respect, of fairness, and justice are ebb joyed by all --

enjoyed by all no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity. thank you, mr. speaker, for the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. speaker, recent iranian ballistic missile tests in direct violation of sanctions by the united nations show that this regime cannot be trusted. this week a panel of experts from the united nations confirmed that the tests in october, november violated sanctions placed on iran in june of 2010. the tests also stand in stark contrast to the joint comprehensive plan of the agreement unveiled by president barack obama which was to curb the iranian nuclear program. at a time when the united nations security council is

considering new sanctions due to the missile tests. the idea that we should reward iran by removing economic sanctions, providing billions to a regime which has long been the leading state sponsor of terrorism, is dangerous. past performance is a good indication of future actions. iran has a decades-long history of misrepresentation to the global community. especially in regards to its nuclear program. i urge the president to abandon the joint comprehensive plan of action in order to make sure not one dollar flows into the coffers of this terrorist regime. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. chair. i'm proud of two virginia national guard based aviation units who will be deploying to kuwait. according to an announcement made december 4, 2015, by major general timothy p. williams, the

ajew anti-tenth general of varks, 40 of our soldiers assigned to company a, 224th aviation regiment and detachment 2, company b, 777 aviation support battalion are scheduled to begin serving on federal active duty in early june, 2016. mr. brat: i'm especially proud of my former intern and virginia native, specialist jack. he's served in the national guard for four years. jack will be leaving his family and friends for at least one year while on tour. when interviewed about the deployment, jack said, quote, i think it's most important to recognize we are on a mission to defend the constitution of the united states. we are all family and i have great friends here. they are all professionals and they love doing what they do, end quote. i'm truly grateful and proud of our men and women in uniform. they courageously defend our nation and preserve our freedom and they will continue to do so. we must remember daily the sacrifices our military service

members make to protect our freedom. our nation must keep its commitments to those who sacrifice to keep us free. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair lays before the house the following request. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> request to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to tell the story of lisa of pennsylvania who's one of 10,000 women who have been affected -- affected negatively by the permanent sterilization device known as essure. 10 months after the birth of her son, lisa underwent the essure procedure.

mr. fitzpatrick: her doctor said there was no downtime, the perfect option for single mother, he said. following the failure of the device, lisa now livers with chronic pain, multiple surgeries and depression. what was supposed to be a simple procedure has cost her several jobs, time with her children and years of her life. i rise as a voice of the essure sisters to tell this chamber their stories are real, their pain is real and their fight is real. mr. speaker, my bill, the e-free act, can halt this tragedy by removing this dangerous device from the market. too many women have been harmed. i urge my colleagues to join this fight because stories like lisa's are too important to ignore. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2015, the gentleman from nebraska, mr. fortenberry, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.

mr. fortenberry: thank you, mr. speaker. as we think about the history of america, one of our finest hours as a country came on the shores of france on d-day, june 6, 1944. we're all familiar with the general details of that battle. the mist zone drops of the paratroopers the night before, the slaughter that met the first assault on omaha beach and the heroics of our rangers at point duhawk. but mr. speaker, among the lesser known facts, the troops that hit utah beach under the command of general theodore roosevelt actually landed in the wrong place. and while landing with his men and realizing his error, general roosevelt responded by

saying, the war starts here. mr. speaker, after american forces landed on that day, fought across europe with key allies and ultimately defeated the nazis, the united states was cast into the role of the world's lone superpower. now, not perfectly but at great sacrifice to our country, we then began to create the space for international order. we forged the conditions for international commerce, including helping other countries develop their economies and create governing systems rooted in high universal ideals. r. speaker, as we know, time's changed. we no longer live in that kind of world. and in the wake of last month's horrifying attacks in paris, america's long-standing ties with the french have gained a

new significance. the islamic state called isil targeted a stadium, cafes and a theater. an act of knee listic destruction against innocent civilians who were just beginning to enjoy their weekend. beyond just destroying large swaths of the middle east and many of his inhabitants, precipitating the greatest refugee crisis since world war ii, again, this islamic state have killed french secularrists and catholics. they have attacked the russian orthodox by blowing up a civilian airliner. and they have killed shiite muslims in beirut. but now, mr. speaker, it's happened to us. in san bernardino, a couple embraced a -- this twisted religious death cult, deciding

to kill innocent people in order to satisfy a bizarre vision. this new level of terrorism has brought three critical issues into focus. first, the international community has a responsibility to fight isil. the world constantly pushes america to the forefront of needed military action, but the entire community of responsible nations, including certain sunni arab countries, must engage in this conflict. it is the -- not the united states' responsibility alone. we can lead, we will lead, but it must be in solid concert with responsible world powers. france has now properly responded with its own air campaign, backed by our intelligence. this resolve could compel more europeans to rethink their

vulnerability and take decisive action themselves. the united kingdom has now expanded its efforts as well. second, mr. speaker, it's time to face a gruesome reality, the targeted and systematic violence against christians, yazidis and other religious minorities in the middle east is a genocide. genocide is a powerful word, but the world must recognize this grim reality and work to support the most vulnerable minorities in the middle east. no responsible approach to this tragic situation unfolding in iraq and in syria can ignore their plight and the plight of other innocent people. in an attempt, mr. speaker, to elevate the world's consciousness about this difficulty, i have introduced h.con.res 75, a resolution of the house of representatives calling the slaughter of christians and other

ethnoreligious minorities by its proper name, a genocide. similar measures are being introduced in parliaments throughout the world. christians and other vulnerable minorities in the middle east and elsewhere must be accorded tolerance and religious liberty, one of the cornerstones of our own society. thankfully the resolution has 160 bipartisan co-sponsors and is gaining swift and broad support throughout congress. hopefully we will bring this resolution to a vote for next year and it will serve to elevate the consciousness of the world as to this horrific problem and perhaps provide a gateway for constructive policy considerations. christianity in the middle east is shattered. christian yazidis and others are a vibrant but endangered spectrum of minorities, and they need our help now. in the face of isil's

onslaught, we must help them by forming an alliance, and we cannot afford to wait. these ancient faith traditions have every right to maintain their ancient homelands and in turn contribute to a stabilizing diversity of voices in both culture and new forms of governance. third, the related issue of refugees and migration points to the collapse of a nation state order. is a ranting asylum responsible humanitarian impulse but simply accommodating more asylum so the tragedy is an action that must be reconciled with both national security and capacity concerns. attacking the injustice that leads to refugee flight must be a top priority followed by new

political structures that allow people to remain where they are in safety or to return to their ancient homelands. this is a precondition for long-term stability in the middle east. an immediate step could be, mr. speaker, an enforcement of safe zones, especially for the vulnerable minorities in iraq and syria. in the country of syria, there's an old roman road named strait street. it runs through the middle of the capital of damascus. mr. speaker, you might remember the road from the biblical story. after st. paul was blinded and knocked from his horse, god told him to visit the house of judeas and seek out a christian -- judas and seek out a christian named sal. truth be told that the house of judas is on strait street. syria is a country made up of

people with mixed cultural traditions. four years ago as we know a civil war broke out. it displaced millions. it is now entering a new phase with new complexities. the dick at that torial -- the dictatorial leader, assad, has a patchwork of enemies, including isil. he's clung to power in the coastal region of that country where he continues his dynasty's bloody rule. ironically, he's a trained ophthalmologist who practiced for years in london. only to assume power after the death of his elder brother. it's hard to understand assad's motive except perhaps to protect his own religious minority tradition. a couple years ago i predicted that assad would not survive

long, but as some uprisings descended into a winter of religious extremism causing more destabilization and helping create the conditions for terror groups like his to metastasized, he's maintained control over much of western syria. in his battle for control, his murderous regime has contested armed opposition groups, some f them also murderous. it's all worsened the conflict. yet, mr. speaker, here's a very onflicted reality. the preservation of some stability in some zones have offered safety to other religious and ethnic minorities. two years ago the house of representatives confronted a choice. the president called for military action against assad after assad's use of chemical

weapons. i voted against the presidential intervention, as did a majority of my colleagues. we felt that the united states did not need this and many expressed justifiable fears if assad was overthrown, something worse might even replace his government. events since then have given that fear additional credibility had the united states succeeded in toppling assad, isil might have seized even more of that country. perhaps threatening lebanon and gaining proximity to israel's borders. now enter into the equation russia. during the debate over whether to strike assad, russia brokered a deal to help facilitate the destruction of the government's chemical weapons, avoiding the immediate possibility of a military

confrontation between washington and damascus. now, two years later, russia has once again taken an active role in the syrian civil war, enhancing and building military bases in assad ace territory and launching air -- assad's territory and launching air strikes. fueling actors are putin's power against assad. first, he wants to revive a sense, a russian sense of nationalism. and almost metaphysical understanding of the russian realm of influence. look back at his recent speech at the u.n. he rejects a unipoly world where the united states sets the rules for commerce and governance and values. furthermore, he is suspicious of liberal democracy, preferring instead his idea of stability even if it is achieved at the hands of strong

men. second, russia has a long-standing diplomatic, security and economic arrangement with the syrian government, enabling him to expand his country's military presence there while also bolstering his political standing at home. third, syria also has a rich orthodox christian heritage that survives as a minority faith in assad's controlled territory. putin sees his venture as protecting that familial alieas. foreign policy, mr. speaker, has largely overlooked this consideration as an important dimension of putin's motives. now, rura claims to be fighting -- now, russia claims to be fighting terrorists. if true, their intervention could merge -- their intervention could emerge as a point of convergence for the united states, russia and civilized interests. but that remains somewhat

hypothetical at this moment, and there are significant signs of conflict escalation. russia could help avert humanitarian disaster by focusing more intently on attacking isil, but currently putin is also choosing to fight other syrian opposition forces with the possibility of furthering the protracted civil war. . the best scenario would be for russia's involvement to create the space for a new, transitional government structure to replace assad. isil could be pushed further into the eastern desert and a new international coalition could emerge to defeat this threat to civilization. advancing this scenario is a key policy marker in what should be the overarching geopolitical strategy of the united states. of the many possible futures for the middle east, one must

certainly be avoided. islamic militants sweeping across places like straight street in syria, continuing to destroy ancient monuments in pal palmyra and - in nimrod, threatening to raise its black banner of death from damascus to d.c. the threat of peril in the 21st century requires a new cooperative arrangement to fight twisted theology and ar barism across the globe. isil represents eighth century barbarism with 21st century weaponry. isil is battling the very essence of civilization. and beyond the bloodshed itself,

isil attacks the understand lying fill sop call proposition of the west, that all persons have inherent dignity, which is the source of our rights. mr. speaker, we stand at a solemn crossroads. the word must fight back on two fronts, against isil and for the time honored philosophical principles and values that sustain an orderly existence in e flourishing of any truly great society. so depends the beauty of paris. so depends the protection of communities like san bernardino. so depends the security of the world and the protection of nnocent people everywhere. mr. speaker, i had an extraordinary privilege this summer on the 71st anniversary

of d-day. this is a picture a photo of utah beach and one of the beaches where one of our -- where our troops first stormed through. where general theodore roosevelt came through with his men and declared the war starts here. general roosevelt went on one month later to die in battle of a heart attack. he was ill, he disguised his illness because he wanted to be in leadership with his troops. he is buried near here at the omaha beach cemetery, which contains nearly 0,000 american troops who gave their lives. he's buried next to his little brother, quentin roosevelt, who was an aviator, a flier in world war i. here you have two sons of a president of the united states who gave their lives in the two

great wars of the last century. on this spot, mr. speaker, there's a new monument, that's a higgins boat troop carrier with a replica of soldiers storming the beach. i'm proud of the fact that this monument is a replica of one in columbus, nebraska a small town in my congressional district. it was built by the people of columbus, ship here and placed for the 71st anniversary celebration of d-day. a great sacrifice financially and time wise, many people in the community of columbus came together to build this extraordinary monument, a gift to france but primarily as a perpetual memory of those who fought an died. both quentin roosevelt, general roosevelt, and so many other young men and women gave their

lives for a set of interlocking ideals. the beauty of liberty and the protection of human dignity which, mr. speaker, unfortunately in our fallen world must sometimes be preserved by a willingness to confront darkness, by a willingness to confront that which is irrational. but it is this same struggle, the same struggle that took place here, that we must engage in today. this struggle requires a different global effort but it is the same struggle. the tranquility of order, for the security of the world, and for the protection of america. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back.

for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to be recognized for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, i rise today in remembrance of mr. ed findeg jr. he was born in brunswick, georgia in 1927 and moved to st. simons island shortly thereafter. growing up, he was a very active boy scout, achieving the rank of eagle scout. through his late teens and 20's he served in the navy in the philippines and later in the georgia air national guard in casablanca. mr. carter: in between serving, he played football at the university of georgia. he would go down to the port and watch the tugs dock and undock merchant ships and fell in love with the work.

shortly after returning, his application as a bar pilot was aprusmede he served actively for 37 years. in addition to a full-time bar tie pilot he ran two longtime family businesses, findeg sign company and findeg tire company. he was a community leader but more importantly he was a husband, father, and grandfather. my thoughts and prayers go out to the family. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. under the speaker's announced spoil of january 6, 2015rks the gentlewoman from new jersey, ms. -- 2015, the 1kwr078 from new jersey, mrs. watson coleman, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mrs. watson coleman: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection.

mrs. watson coleman: thank you, mr. speaker. if a funding bill is a reflection of priorities, then the omnibus we are considering right now is the clearest snapshot of what's wrong with our nation. we're talking about lifting a 40-year ban on the export of crude oil, risking thousands of jobs, and rising gas prices for working families. immediately after joining the most important climate agreement ever created. we're expected to swallow tiny increases to the program's work -- to the programs working families need and rely on while we make permanent tax cuts for corporations and millionaires that we have not paid for. we're expected to cheer the extension of vital programs like think child tax credit when that credit has not been indexed to

cover the rising costs families face. mr. speaker, these are gains and after only a year in congress, i am tired of playing -- these are games and after only a year in congress i am tired of playing them. we like the word compromise, it implies we've done something good, that we've worked together. if we pass this bill, we will have worked together to keep america down for generations to come. we're patting ourselveses on the back for making it out of sequester. but the incremental spending increases in this omnibus funding package donology to make up for the past five years of cuts. we have spent so much, so much time digging ourselves deeper and deeper into a funding hole that this omnibus seems like level ground. the fact is, it's not.

it's far from it. regardless of how nice funding increases may sound, the foundations of the american dream are crumbling beneath our feet. right now, with stagnant wages, struggling schools, and a wealth gap that is only getting bigger. working families need funding that supports their needs. they need a tax code that promotes the middle class. they need tax credits and funding for programs to help cover the outrageous costs of child care and preschool education. costs that outstrip tuition at public colleges in 31 of our 50 states. they need funding for higher education that would allow them

to graduate without debt. they need more support for our highways, our bridges, our rail systems, and broader infrastructure, the kind of projects that create good-paying jobs and make every community stronger. the kind of projects that cause people to feel confident that they have enough security in their future and enough money in their pocket to spend some of it and help stimulate the economy and to create many, many, many ancillary jobs and small business needs. they need a lot more than what's being offered in this legislation. a funding bill compromise should not compromise the needs of families across the country -- across the country who are relying on us to get this right, and any extension of tax credit

needs to be protected and uplift every american. we can't afford to pass them without a plan for them. labored r, we have ver many things in this house. we have spent a long time talking about less important issues. we are being confronted right now with a humongous bill that has broad implications on communities that are vulnerable for the next several generations and we are asked to support a piece of legislation that does t seem to address from a proportionally equal perfect i, those needs. i want to take a moment now to just draw the house's attention

to this front page story in politico. it headlines, congress' half trillion dollar spending bing. what's fascinating -- binge. what's fascinating about this is that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, the folks res on -- the folks responsible for this spending bin -- binge, are always the first to condemn government spending. now they want to spend billions of dollars on special interests, without supporting pell grants, without supporting our historically black colleges and universities, without supporting the programs that combat 306rity, like w.i.c. without supporting the working families in this country and supporting the needs that they had in order to prosper. their prosperity helps guarantee the economy's prosperity because the revenues generated from the

things that we do toup lift our working families, that revenue gets put back into the economy and creates a better, fairer, and larger economy. the numbers in this omnibus lie. they sound like increases but they do nothing to pull us out of the rut that the past five years have left us in. i know that there are many of my colleagues who feel the same way. we look at the modest increases that may be associated with child care tax credit. we look at modest increases that may be applied to a housing program. we look at modest increases that may be applied to several programs that, if there were sufficient revenues associated with those programs, would indeed make a difference in these communities.

but the proportion a -- proportionality of priority in this omnibus bill and in our efforts today and tomorrow does not speak to our acknowledgment that it is the majority of people, that it is the middle class, the working class, and yes, even the most vulnerable that we are leaving behind. we can do better than that. mechanic, we need to do better than that. because we are better than that. there are several there are some glaring omissions in the omnibus bill. is unfathomable that we are unwilling to support a u.s. territory in a financial meltdown just as we offer permanent tax breaks for corporations and special interests who don't even need our help. we are leaving the citizens of

puerto rico woefully in need. this is not fair. this is un-american and this isn't who we are. what is our responsibility to the citizens of puerto rico, who won't have good access to hospitals, medicare. what about the children, almost 56% who live in poverty, what are we saying to them? what we are saying in this bill that is before us, this day, coming forth, that is expected to move forward in this house is that we are still only concerned with elevating the status, the well-being, the security and the happiness of those that already have a lion's share of all of it. mr. speaker, we are better than

that. we have a responsibility to speak up, protect, preserve and ensure opportunity for all. that is what we have been elected to do. i want to take a moment to talk about the give-away to oil companies that we have in this omnibus. there's nothing positive about this for working families. ending the 40-year ban on crude oil risks our energy security here at home. it threatens our environmental leadership and it takes away jobs from american workers. we didn't pass legislation to create more access to oil in this country simply to be able to provide wealthy companies the opportunity to sell it abroad at higher price to bypass our

refineries, to sell crude oil to other countries and have them benefit from the jobs that we fought to create in the legislation that we passed. that's illogical. that's contraintuitive for what we did in the first place. yet, it is in this bill. and yet, the glaring priority of the wealthy multinational corporations versus the interests of the every day working families is just in your face. unacceptable, totally unacceptable. it serves no purpose that i can identify other than to further appease another of the special interest groups so dear to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. but it does nothing for the economy of the united states of

america and for the working families here. but i guess i shouldn't be surprised, because it's not the first time and i doubt it will be the last time. and mr. speaker, we can go and on and on, and i will have additional points that i would like to raise with regard to this omnibus bill. but my friend, my colleague from the great state of new york, congressman jeffries, has come here to share his perspective on the impact of this omnibus bill. and with that, i would like to yield to my colleague. mr. jeffries: i thank my colleague from the great state of new jersey for your tremendous leadership throughout the course of this year as it relates to presiding over the congressional progressive caucus' special order hour where week after week, you have been

able to illuminate to the american people some of the challenges that we face here trying to enact policies that make sense for hardworking americans, low-income folks, middle class, for seniors, for the most vulnerable amongst us. just a moment i wanted to reflect on one particular aspect of the omnibus bill that i find troubling, and that is the failure to do what is necessary to help put the people of puerto rico, united states' citizens on a trajectory that will allow them to achieve some manner of economic stability moving forward. now i never practiced criminal law. i am a lawyer, but i understand there are sometimes crimes of commission, where you affirmatively do something that is damaging and crimes of

omission. the greatest omission as it elates to this one -- $1.1 trillion spending bill is the failure to do anything to help deal with the economic crisis that exists right now in puerto rico. a crisis, by the way, that in large measure has responsibility right here in the united states of -- congress. 1996 we began a 10-year phaseout in provisions in the tax law that were put in place in order to help the economy of puerto rico. that 10-year phaseout ended in 2006. and over that period, it witnessed a dramatic disinvestment of corporate entities from the island of the mainland ward and other places. a massive number of jobs were

lost. that phaseout was completed in 2006. puerto rico has been in a deep ecession ever since. every other citizen of the united states of america who lives in the 50 states here, lives in a municipality that has bankruptcy provisions available to it to help it restructure its debt when necessary. people of puerto rico, again as a result of a law enacted here in this chamber in 1984, have been denied bankruptcy protection. and fundamentally all the people of puerto rico were asking for is to make sure that those citizens who live on the island can be put in the same place,

not better, the same place as every other united states citizen. so they can avail themselves of bankruptcy protection to enable them to restructure their debt in a way that makes sense that allows them to pay their teachers, their police officers, firefighters and others. and yet with all that was done, all the acts of cow mission with agreement, ion-plus we couldn't help the people of puerto rico by simply putting them in the same place to restructuring provisions in a manner that would give them the opportunity without a single cent of taxpayer expense to be in a better place?

people of puerto rico participate in the military, die in foreign conflicts of the united states of america at a rate higher than those in the 50 states, yet they're compensated from a medicaid reimbursement andpoint around 40% or 50% less. we don't have time to go through how policy set here in the united states congress has devastated the people of puerto rico economically for the last few decades. but it does seem to me we can find some way to deal with this issue. we found a way to give away billions and billions of dollars to big oil companies as it relates to lifting the prohibition on the export of crude oil. but we couldn't find a way to help the hardworking people of

puerto rico. shame on us here in the united states congress. now lastly, it's my understanding that the speaker who i take to be a man of his word, said we are going to deal with this issue in the next 90 days. here's the problem. on january 1, there's a significant amount of money that puerto rico owes that it cannot pay. and so the island can't wait until march 31 for the congress to try to work this out. the promissory note is not good enough. and as an african-american member of congress i'm reminded of a speech that dr. king gave in 1963 right outside these halls on the national mall. he talked about the fact that the magnificent words of the

constitution and declaration of independence was a glorious promissory note. we hold these truths torn self-evident and all men are created equal endowed by their creator the ability to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. but that century after century and decade after decade, that promise other note was handed over to the african-american community as a stamp, insufficient funds. i can't with any degree of confidence suggest that we can credibly say to the people of puerto rico and to those individuals of puerto rican december ept that i represent back home in brooklyn and queens that this so-called promissory note issued is going to take any

action 90-plus days. i hope there is a measure of resolution before we ultimately vote on this omnibus bill to deal in good faith with the people of puerto rico, united states citizens, who deserve our attention. and i yield back. and i thank the distinguished gentlelady for this time. mrs. watson coleman: will my colleague yield for a question? you spoke about the impact of the omission of puerto rico in the omnibus bill and what it does to the territory of puerto rico and the citizens that are there. my colleague has spoken eloquently as to the proportionality question in this omnibus bill in general that would not only negatively impact puerto rico, but puerto rican and other citizens here in the united states of america. whole communities, working-class

families. and would my colleague just use a little bit of his time to talk about that issue of fairness and proportionality that i heard you so eloquently speak. mr. jeffries: thank you. the big question that we face here earlier today, we voted on 600-plusender package, billion dollars. none of it was paid for at least as it relates to what was done today. but i think reasonable people understand that because making a se tax breaks permanent in way where they were not paid for ultimately is going to blow a tremendous hole in the deficit and that as we move forward, the people who will pay for the tax cuts that were passed out of this house earlier today --

hundreds of billions of dollars, notwithstanding the earned income tax credit and the child care tax credit that of course many of us support, the people who will pay for it will be the poor, the sick, the afflicted, working families, those who need assistance and so in good conditions there is no way i could support the tax extender package and go back home and say we just did a good thing. as it relates to the omnibus, we all have to ask the question, if the plus-up is somewhere in the neighborhood of $32 billion in additional spending, yet we understand in the tax extender package, hundreds of billions of llars were unpaid for over a 10-year period and ultimately someone is going to pay the price for that, that's one of the reasons we got something

like sequestration, we got jammed as a result of tax cuts , at were not paid for in 2001 a failed war in iraq, a failed war in afghanistan, none of that was paid for and ultimately we find ourselves in fiscal difficulty. who pays? the most vulnerable in america. that's how we got sequestration. . i'm not convinced we're not going to find ourselveses in a similar situation going forward as a result of what was tone with this tax extender package today. i'm in the process of continuing to review the omnibus bill and trying to weigh and balance the equities. i will tell you, though, that the failure to do something anywhere people of puerto rico is greatly troubling. because it doesn't cost the taxpayers anything. and the fact that some of the

programs of importance to urban america, whether that's historically black colleges and universities, may not have received the resources some of us think they deserve and got concerns as it relates to some of the foreclosure prevention issues and some other areas, we're all going to have to take a look at the equities, but it is clear that we should be able to do much better. for the american people, for those that we've come to the congress to represent, for those who have disproportionately born the burden of reckless and irresponsible fiscal policies over the past decade or so, and let's just hope that we can proceed to do things differently in a way that benefits those we represent here in america. so i thank the distinguished gentlelady for her opportunities

to speak further on this issue and also want to acknowledge my good friend, keith ellison who is a tremendous champion for working families across the country. mrs. watson coleman: thank you, i appreciate that. thank you to my colleague and friend, i appreciate your perspective from the proportionality issue. who's going to pay? we're going to pay. who is going to pay when the bill comes due? it is the working famries and most vulnerable. let's not get so excited about the $30 billion increase when we realize we've been under sequestration, for what does that mean? i thank you very much for sharing your time with us. now, mr. speaker, i'd like to yield to my colleague from minnesota, congressman ellison. mr. ellison: let me thank the gentlelady. i just want to say, you've done an awesome job holding down the progress i special order hour. it's been to the benefit of everyone who listens. so bonnie watson coleman, thank

you very much. mr. speaker, it's important for all of us involved in this debate and every american to understand a concept known as starve the beast. it's a conservative concept and what it really means, and i would like everybody just to be clear, what it means is that the conservative wing in our country wants to shrink the size of government where a big multinational oil company will never have to worry about an e.p.a. regulator because the government will have so little money, they won't have an e.p.a. regulator. the starve the beast concept means that a big bank won't ever have to worry about a bank regulator saying, hey, mr. banker, you cannot do that with the american people's money, you have to be fair, you have to be proper and right with the people's money, because we'll shrink the government to be so

small and so weak that there won't ever be that regulator who will say to the big banks, you cannot do that. starve the beast means that the largest private sector elements in our country cannest tape accountability that the government provides through the people who inspect the water, the people who inspect the meat, the people who inspect the air quality the people who inspect these things. and when the public interest runs afoul of the private gain, the private gain will prevail because the public won't have the wherewithal and resources to say, no, or you have to readjust this, or you have to operate at a higher standard of quality or anything like that. how do you get this starve the beast strategy in play? e thing you do is you have unpaid for tax cuts and you get these tax cuts in place, they're

all good you say, isn't this great, don't you want to stop paying taxs? who likes paying taxes? nobody. so people say, ok, good, we're going to get out of having to pay taxes, how nice. but then you don't pay for them. but then what happens to the budget? you've got a big hole in the budget because the revenue you were counting on is not there. now, then, you use the public relations to say that raising taxes is just the worst thing anyone could ever do at any time in their life. they say this three letter word of tax, it's really a four letter word, i'll let your imagination go from there. then, because they have been raising -- they made raising revenue utterly radioactive, all we can do is cut. so what do we do? we cut education funding. we cut meals on wheels. we cut national institute of health. we cut, we cut, we cut. all this stuff that ordinary citizens relie on. until we get to the next round

of tax cuts. by the way, when it comes to tax cuts and conservatives, if the economy is doing really well they need a tax cut. if it's doing really bad, of course the solution to that is what? a tax cut. and if we're just doing average, well, why not have a tax cut. almost always unpaid for. and if you look at it over time, there's this pattern of irresponsible tax cuts, deficits, cuts to fix it, more tax cuts, deficits, more cuts to fix it, never do we raise the revenue we need in order to meet the needs of our society. who gets hurt? not the country club set. people who need their government to function on their behalf. people who drink water every day. who need some inspection of it. people who eat -- like to breathe clean air. people who might want to eat some meat that's been inspected. people who might, suffering from a serious disease like

alzheimer's or parkinson's, who might need the national institute of health to put forth a grant which will help. and so what does that all have to do with this discussion? today, we just passed a bill that gave $600 billion worth of unpaid for tax cuts and made them permanent. we created a structural deficit even worse. now, are they going to -- now they're going to give it back a little bit, a little bit. we give away $600 billion. they give us $30 billion. voila, we're supposed to be happy about that. there's a concept also known as stockholm syndrome. they cut -- your captor holds you in control and you -- and then they, after they've held you a little while they give you a few little chips. then they make you think when they give you even a little drop of water, that they're so benevolent. i will never forget that we

never should have had sequester in the first place. we never should have had sequester. we had a hostage taking situation here where republicans were literally threatening to default and renege on the full faith and credit of the united states by not -- by busting the debt ceiling. if we did not give them back all kinds of cuts and concessions, they would bust the debt ceiling. so then we entered into this deal where we had some cuts in the beginning and then with they did is, they said, we're going to set up a special committee three republicans in the house, three republicans in the senate, three republicans in the -- three democrats in the house, three democrats in the senate. this committee was supposed to come up with some cuts, targeted cuts to reduce the deficit. which they said then was the worst thing in the world to ever have a deficit. and then they got in that committee and instead of holding their pledge to protect and defend the united states, they upheld their pledge to not raise

taxes to serb political figures in our landscape. the whole committee failed and this was contemplated that if this committee cannot come up with targeted cuts, then there will be across the board cuts on both sides, also known as sequester. you know what? that committee really never had a chance. i wish we would have known then that that committee was always a sucker deal. because they were clicking -- clinking the champagne glasses when that committee fail. they knew it was going to be across the brd cuts. they said, it's going to be domestic discretionary, which you liberals like, and there's going to be cuts to the military which u.s. conservatives like, which is a gross overgeneralization and not exactly accurate, but what we never accounted for is that in 2001, the u.s. military budget was already -- was about $290 billion. by the time we got to sequester, it was about $700 billion.

they could stand some cuts but the programs that the average citizen needed that were going to be ravaged could not. so you know, no sooner than the sequester went into effect, we had people say, we can't do these military cuts, can't happen, won't happen. they had their friends and advocates even though they've been getting fats for years. what about meals on wheels and education funding and environmental protection? that was attacked. so what does that mean about today? what it means about today is this. things een more tax given away, i definitely think some of the things made permanent today are good tax treatments -- treatments. i'm for research and development. i'm certainly for child credit and eitc. but they should be paid for because if they're not paid for they're going to come out of another part of the budget next year. tax d by the way, how come

doesn't have to be paid for but anything regular people need must be paid for. why do we have to find offsets for unemployment insurance but not things big business needs. utter hypocrisy. i want to tell you, for the folks listening, that there is a very important thing that speaker john boehner said when the republicans took over a few years ago. he -- they came up with this big, ugly budget, to cut things americans relie on to prosper and grow and they said, we wouldn't pass their house file one system of mr. boehner, speaker boehner said, if they won't take it one big leif loaf at a time, they'll take it one slice at a time. boy if that promise is not being kept. we have to turn around and say no to this starve the beast philosophy. we have to turn it around and start meeting the needs of the american people. taxes are the price we pay to live in a civilized society.

if you don't like taxes, move to so mall ark you won't have to pay any. good luck. but in america, where we pay some taxes that pays for schools that pays for clean water, pays for highways, pays for police, pays for fire, we've got to stop and stand against this false claim that there is something wrong with taxation. let me just wrap up on one point. the gentlelady, i know we have to move on, we have other great speakers i want to hear from myself, but i want to make one quick comment as i listen to my colleagues and prepare to take my seat and that is one of the things we'll be dealing with tomorrow. now you know, we talk about this tax extender thing and the omnibus as if it's two different things. it's one big thing. that's truth. one of the elements of the omnibus tomorrow which is pretty ugly, is lifting the oil export ban on crude oil. according to the energy information administration, lifting the ban will increase oil industry profits by more

than $20 billion annually. the big companies that make all these extra profits, i think that they have their favorites in the house of representatives and not too many of them sit over here. probably a lot of them sit over there. i will also say that it will cut refinery jobs, it will make us more dependent upon foreign oil and it will increase more fossil fuel. this is absolutely the wrong thing, the only virtue of it is that a small, tiny, select number of people are going to get $20 billion. and i'm disgusted by it. by the oil industry's own expectations that this will lead to more than 7,600 wells being drilled each year, more fossil fuel the largest report from the center for american progress says it will result in an additional 500 metric tons of carbon pollution each year,

egive lit to 108 million more passenger cars or 138 more coal-fired power plants. it will cost jobs in refineries, it will do real damage to americans, but this is on the docket tomorrow. are there good things on the docket tomorrow? yes, there are. i'll leave it to other people to decide whether it's worth toyota pass a monstrosity like this. so i will say, always know that sometimes when you're in the game, somebody else playing has an overall long-term strategy and if you're just playing minute to minute, you are going to be no match for them. understand starve the beast, don't play the gameful i yield back. mrs. watson coleman: i thank you for sharing your wisdom with us and your perspective on those issues we are confronting in the very near future. mr. speaker, could you tell me how much time i have left. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman has 23 minutes left.

mrs. watson coleman: thank you very much. i would like to yield to my colleague from georgia, mr. hank ohnson. mr. johnson: thank you, congresswoman. and today, we are just about ady to vote an omnibus spending bill which is a part of or tax extender bill that we that some passed today. i did not vote for it. i was opposed to the tax $622 er bill, which added billion to the nation's long-term debt, unpaid for. and largely tax cuts to the wealthy. there are some features in the

tax extenders' bill that were appealing. for instance, it enhanced the child tax credit. it made it permanent, along with the enhanced earned income tax credit. but -- and those are important for middle-class people, working people. those are very important. and we did the right thing on those, but unfortunately, they represented a small part of that $622 billion. 2/3 of which was a give-away to the wealthy through various tax loopholes. and so congress did that dirty deed today and it blew a hole in the nation's long-term debt. and you know what's going to happen? because while you have reduced

the amount of resources that the federal government takes in to be able to give back to the people who are governed in the form of transportation dollars, health care dollars, education dollars, national security dollars, things that we have to pay for -- in other words, you can't have the freedoms that we enjoy and the prosperity that we all enjoy without having a government that lays down this infrastructure. and that's what our tax receipts pay for. and so what we've done -- and we have been cutting federal revenues for -- since 1980. it's been almost 40 years we have been on an incease ant cutting of government. we have been spending a lot of

money. we have been spending without paying for it. that's what created the debt largely because of wars, unfought wars and tax cuts. so while we have things to pay for, we haven't been paying for them with tax monies. we have been paying them with the promise to take in tax money and we continue to increase the cutting taxes. and so, how do you then pay for the government that we need when you are cutting these taxes? well, we pay for this government every year when we have these spending bills that come up and they always tend to come up at the end of the year when everybody is ready to go home and when government is about to shut down because it hasn't been funded. so what did we do this year? we did the same thing this year

as we do in previous years and that is to wait until the last minute, put together a 2,000-plus page spending bill and then we spring it on members of congress in the dead of night and give us two days, two full days to be able to read through it and then vote on it. we are scheduled to vote on it tomorrow. it's not a great way of doing business in this country. and that's what we have been doing, we are giving away resources. tomorrow we will pass the spending bill -- they call it two bills but really it's one bill that has been split into two parts. the first dirty deed was done today, the next dirty deed will be done tomorrow. the spending bill has a lot of stuff in there that should not be in there.

why should you have a spending bill and turn around and give away the nation's resources, the nation's oil. you are going to remove a 40-year prohibition on the be uction of crude oil to sent overseas for refinement. you are going to remove that ban n a spending bill that was unleashed on us just two days ago, 2,000 pages, a spending bill. but why are you giving a break to the oil industry? why are we going to vote to remove that ban on sending our precious oil offshore to be refined, thus costing us good middle-class jobs here in america that those refiners --

refinery workers, they are going to lose their jobs because we're going to allow the oil to be exported so it can be refined in a foreign nation by workers who are not paid commensurate to what we are paid over here and then we are going to import our own oil back to our country at a higher price? it doesn't make sense, ladies and gentlemen. we need to be weaned from foreign oil and we do that through producing our own oil. if we then send our oil overseas to be refined, then the only folks getting rich off of that are the oil companies, and they have been getting rich for a long time. and we are giving them another opportunity to make billions and

billions of dollars more. and it's the oil that belongs to this country. and so it's wrong that we do that. this is one of the features in our spending bill tomorrow, and i disagree with that. i think most americans probably do. and many members of congress do also. many who here will be will pass this bill to get out of here and keep the government open. and that's not a great way of doing business. that's not the way we should do business in this country. america deserves better. the citizens deserve better. and with that, i would yield back. mrs. watson coleman: i thank the gentleman from georgia. i appreciate your comments and thank you for sharing your wisdom and experience with us. and i yield to my classmate and colleague from arizona, representative gallego.

mr. gallego: the omnibus has a compromise. the omnibus bill should be about funding the government, not pushing through policies that would never receive enough votes to pass on its own. asking us to support this bill is asking us to support bad policy. among the legislation's many serious shortcomings is the failure to address the mounting crisis in puerto rico. the people of puerto rico are american citizens. they vote in our elections, they swear allegiance to our flag, they fight and they die in our wars. yet at a time when massive bills are coming due, this congress has turned its back on puerto rico. including a provision in the omnibus to allow puerto rico to restructure its debt wouldn't cost the taxpayer one money. we did not put that in. every single state in this union

are afforded the provisions of chapter 9. that is unfair. and refusal to come to the island's aid is un-american. mr. speaker, that will deal a blow to our efforts to save our planet. less than a week after the week in paris, republicans want to give big oil a major victory while leaving our brothers and sisters in puerto rico. lifting the oil export ban on the heels of new studies of warming lakes across the country and around the world is a major effort to all the -- major blow to all the efforts made in paris. according to the energy administration lifting profits by more than 20 billion as a direct expense at america's wildlife and natural resources. y the oil industry's

projection, it will result in additional wells being drilled resulting in degradation of one million square acres of wildlife habitat. increasing drilling and without personal nantly the land and water conservation fund takes us backwards and will harm jobs while exacerbating the problems we face. mr. speaker, democrats are being asked to fight 2/3 of the vote for this bill, but this agreement does not refleekt even 2/3 of our values. we should reject this bad deal for americans. thank you. mrs. watson coleman: thank you to my colleague, representative gallego. mr. speaker, i would like to yield the balance of my time to the gentlelady from california, representative barbara lee. ms. lee: i want to thank the gentlelady for yielding and thank the progressive caucus and yourself for allowing us to use

the remainder of our time and thank you for your powerful leadership. let me say, mr. speaker, that today, myself, congressman farr, we mark one year since president obama's historic announcement that started the process of normalizing relations with cuba. on december 17, 2014, the president took a very bold step to end more than five decades of failed policy and instead chart a new path for relations between the united states and our cuban neighbors. for more than half of a century rgs the united states pursued a shortsighted isolationist policy. this policy was wrongheaded and ineffective and alienated from our allies andes stranged us from one of our nearest neighbors. through the persistence and bold leadership, we are finally making some headway in reversing this. and congress is beginning to

catch up. yesterday, i joined nine of my colleagues, both democrats and republicans in announcing the launch of a bipartisan cuba working group that will promote a policy that reflects the interests of the american people engaged with cuba. i would like to yield some time to my friend and colleague from california, who has been such a leader on so many issues, but especially on ending the embargo and normalizing relations with cuba. he understands that this is good for trade, that this is good for america. that this is good basically for our foreign policy. and it's in our national security interests that we normalize interests with cuba. mr. farr: congratulations on being the member of congress who has been to cuba more times than anyone else and has done more to lift the embargo and essentially

start the end of the cold war that we face in cuba. i would like to say -- [speaking spanish] and for the americans i would like to say happy birthday and include that as a happy birthday to my wife, because her biggest wish has been that she could go to cuba before she dies and guess what? now she can go. this is a great birthday present to her that she will be able to visit cuba after 55 years of failed policy where our government prohibited american citizens from traveling to cuba. so with this lift, i would like to thank president obama and thank president castro. i think what you saw were two nation leaders getting together and doing what nation leaders should do and figure out how to get along rather than to tight.

what we have done in congress is not helped. i would like to have your comments on this, too, because we impose legislatively in law these embargos that say you can't travel, you can't trade, americans you can't use your dollars or your credit cards. banks can't do it. farmers can't sell. we have treated all these barriers and the presidents of each country or at least the president of our country doesn't have the ability to use his administrative authorities in being able to do wonderful things. 55 years of frozen policies have changed. you can't change everything in 12 months but we have been able to open up embassies and it was a delight to be in washington this time of the year and have the cuban embassy invite all the members of congress and staff over to their embassy for a

holiday party and bring one of the best cuban music groups to celebrate all of this. and we couldn't have done that a year ago. we couldn't have done it a year ago today. but today's the day that will go down in cuban history as the day they remember u.s. beginning to break the relationships. we have sent secretary kerry -- you know secretary kerry's visit to cuba was the first secretary of state to visit cuba in over 70 years. we begun bilateral discussions and created a bilateral steering commission where secretary kerry was instrumental in getting both countries to sit down and discuss the differences in economic policy and social policy and cultural issues. they have done some work in environmental issues and cuba is so close to the american soil that the environmental policies

in our country affect them and vice versa and great to have them develop ocean standards and marine standards as we are trying to do along the florida coast. they have done some work with law enforcement, integrating information and trade particularly on narcotics trafficking and things like that. opened up mail service to the united states. they lifted what they could on the travel ban, is allowing americans to go. and today i'm excited to learn that both countries have agreed to begin commercial air service. you had to go on charter flights. and your city of oakland, california, is one of those cities is designated as a scheduled airline airport so people can fly directly from oakland, california to havana. . we need to do more on global rights processes, global

health. cuba and the united states got together to help the haitians about the critical needs that haiti has in their delivery of medicine and care to that really poor country, so devastated by the albuquerque. so -- queark. so what i'm very excited -- earthquake. so what i'm very excited about frankly is the cubans hosted one of the most important discussions going on in the world and that's how to end the longest revolutionary war, best financed revolutionary war in the history of the world, which is the farc, supported by all the drugses in colombia, and the colombian government and the farc rebels have been sitting down in cuba and working out a very complicated, how do we end a war, how do we get you back into civil society, how do we stop the violence? with that and with the recognition of cuba, it's the first time that an entire hemisphere, entire hemisphere in this world, has been in diplomatic relations and peaceful relations. no country fighting another country within the hemisphere. what a great model for the rest

of the world. and what a great model to show those countries in conflict, internal conflict, that if a farc and the colombian government can sit down and work out a peaceful resolution, then any country can do that. so i want to thank you and celebrate today. it's december 17, it will be a day not only remembered as my wife's birthday, it will be remembered as the day that the americans he started breaking the cold war, the frozen foreign policy, and barbara lesion you had a lot to do with it. ms. lee: thank you, congressman farr. let me thank you for laying out much of the history and the rationale for why -- what seemed so simple, normalized relations between our country and cuba. and this was another, december 17 marks another milestone and that's the release of our good friend, allen gross. he and judy gross, of course, are very excited about the forward agenda that we have here in congress to lift the embargo and to lift the travel

ban. and also it's a day that we just want to say to allen, a year later we're really pleased hat he's home with his family. and we absolute allen gross and the people of -- salute allen gross and the people of cuba and our own government for making sure that this happened on december 17 of last year. mr. farr: you were so instrumental in -- think about it, a year ago allen gross was on a plane coming back after spending five years, longer in a cuban prison. you and i had the chance to visit him there. as we knew, i mean, his state was frail. and if he hadn't gotten out, i really worried about him. i saw him the other day here on the hill and he look just fantastic -- looked just fantastic. what a great spokesman for america and foreign policy, that countries can resolve differences. ms. lee: absolutely. thank you, congressman farr. i'd like to yield now to congresswoman karen bass, who has been a great leader for many, many years, i mean, in

the day i say, congresswoman bass was really very clear on why we needed normal relations and should have normal relations between our country and the united states and it's in our own national interest to do that and he certainly knows that and has been before a lot of people, very involved in ending the embargo. congresswoman bass. ms. bass: thank you very much, congresswoman lee. i want to applaud your leadership and the leadership of congressman farr. we will miss him as this is his last session in congress. but for years you have worked to have normal relations between the united states and cuba. and although i've only been here for five years, i know that you've put in many, many years working to see that our two nations cooperated. it's really amazing, if you think that we're only 90 miles away and where else is there in the world where we have two countries that are so close but yet we've not really been able

to communicate and have normal relations? and so, i am happy to celebrate this one-year anniversary and i look forward to our nation's continuing to work -- nations continuing to work together. so a few things i would like to mention, the fact that even in spite of the embargo and the travel ban, over 100,000 americans visited cuba every year before the policy change. but americans had to go through all sorts of changes in order to have the opportunity to visit the island. and now with travel opening up, i'm glad that the flights will go from your city, congresswoman lee, it will also go from los angeles, direct from los angeles to havana. but oftentimes when we think of establishing and re-establishing relations with cuba, we think about it from the vantage point of what the united states has to offer the island. and certainly we could talk long about that. but the cubans actually have things to offer the united states. and i can think of several

examples. right now there's over 50 u.s. students that are studying medicine for free in cuba. and the only obligation that those students have is that when they come back to the united states, after graduating, they have to commit to practice medicine in an underserved area. the cubans have been pioneering medication and a vaccine to prevent lung cancer. they've also been able to develop a medication that has helped reduce the need to amputate limbs secondary to diabetic. they've developed this medication. and that is something that we could use from the cubans. so i'm looking forward to us continuing to establish and deepen our ties with the island. and with that, i yield back to my colleague, congresswoman lee. ms. lee: how much time do we have left, mr. speaker? the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired.

ms. lee: the time has expired. well, let me thank the gentlelady from california for being here, for her leadership. we have legislation, h.r. 3228, to lift the embargo. and h.r. 664, and h.r. 403, also to lift the embargo and travel ban. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2015, the chair recognizes the gentleman from south carolina, mr. sanford, for 30 minutes. mr. sanford: i thank the speaker. i want to dovetail for one moment, though, on the conversation that was just held by my colleagues from across the aisle. i think that they've been courageous. i think about sam farr and barbara lee and what they have pushed for ultimately has less to do with cuba, although they might argue otherwise, and much to do with american rights. because i would give just as an example this whole notion of a travel moratorium, as it now exists, from the united states to cuba. it's nonsensical. and they've been bold enough to

point that out and many other things out for quite some number of years. they've led the way on this issue. and i just want to applaud them. if you stop and think about it, as an american, you can travel to any country in the globe -- on the globe except for one. i mean, you can go to north korea, you can go to syria, you could go to iran, you could go to iraq. you may not -- it may not work out well for you, but you can go to anyplace on the globe except for a place roughly 60 miles off of key west. and that's a remarkable infringement on american liberty at the end of the day. and so i thank them for what they've done. not only on behalf of the cuban people, but ultimately to advance this larger notion of individual liberal -- liberty here in this country. with that having been said, i also want to touch for one moment on the progressive hour that preceded my time. it was said during that hour that taxes, quote, are the cost of living in a civilized society. and i think the question that all of us would have to ask is, how civilized a society do you

want to live in then? because there's this, you know, i've told my boys about this, this magazine that they'll one day read entitled "readers digest," and when they pull the different readers -- polled the different readers, they came out with the finding that americans would be roughly happy with 1/4 of their wages garnished and sent off to the world of taxes. whether at the federal, state or local level. the reality, as is pointed out by a guy by the name of laurence, who studied accounting, is that a child born into america today will face roughly an 82% tax liability. which is to say, if that's the cost of civilization, many people would say, i want a much less civilized society. because 82% does not allow me to be civilized in the way that i offer christmas presents to my kids at christmas time, or help out at the local church or charity, or pay for my kids'

education, or all the other things that go with life. and so, yes, we recognize that taxes are a part of, quote, civilized society. but the degree of tax load that faces this next generation is outstanding and ulingt matly brings with it -- ultimately brings with it the roots of our civilization's undoing if we don't watch out. which would bring me to what i wanted to talk about. in the military, they have a thing called an after action review. in that, it's simply saying, let's look at what just occurred and analyze for a moment what did we get right and what did we get wrong and how might we get it better the next time around. in that light i want to look at the omnibus bill. debate is done. we'll vote on it tomorrow morning. we'll head for christmases and holiday seasons across this country. and in that regard, i offer empathy to hal rogers, the appropriations team, and all in leadership who were, you know,

involved in the negotiating process, which i get was hard. i think it's easy to monday afternoon quarterback these kind of things and my attempt to analyze is not an attempt to do that. there was a plus and minus in essence for every member of congress. there's something to like and there's something to dislike in a $1 trillion billion of -- bill of -- $1 trillion bill of 2,000 pages. pluses and minuses. coming from charleston, south carolina, you look at something like guantanamo bay and say, i think it's a plus that there's another prohibition on domestically relocating high-value targets from guantanamo bay to the united states of america. i think that that makes sense. it's in fact the third prohibition that this congress has put in place. the other two, -- the other two the president has signed. my hope is that he'll adhere to that over the last couple of months of his presidency. i think that fully funding the military, which is a core function of the federal government, i think is a plus. i could go with a number of other pluses.

i'll mention minuses, though. i don't think what should have been done was done with regard to syrian refugees. i don't think what could have been done was done with regard to planned parenthood. i look at a program like the aritime sea program, you know, $5.4 million a ship, it's corporate welfare, if you want to cut to the chase. and i think a real challenge. programs like that shouldn't have been in this bill. i look at the cyberinformation security act of 2015. i think it's an infringement upon our fourth amendment rights as americans. and i think that civil liberties are really the foundation to every other liberty had that we enjoy as americans -- liberty that we enjoy as americans. and i think there are real challenges there. the founding fathers were so deliberate about putting in place civil liberties because they didn't like the idea of a british soldier coming into a house and rooting around long enough until they found something to charge you with. i think that what we have in this bill is an extension of that infringement, that was

guarded against at the time of the founding of the republic. i look at the crude oil export ban coming down. i know that's viewed as a positive thing, within the chamber. as a coastal resident, i view it as a negative. to me it's a bit of an oxymoron. to say, we're going to ship oil offshore, but we're now going to begin to open up for exploration areas that have been prohibited, not been open for exploration off the carolinas, under the guise of energy independence, but we're going to take what we might find there and ship it to france, to me that just doesn't make sense. i struggle with that. i struggle with the e.p.a. ruling. i mean, the e.p.a. has made a giant territorial grab with regard to waters or nonwaters, if you want to call them that, of the united states. i think that more could have been done. and for those different reasons i'm ultimately going to vote no on this tomorrow. but i think that in terms of my after action review, the point is not to pick the pluses and the minuses, because they're

endless. in any bill this bill -- big. but to highlight the way in which the taxpayer always loses when you end up with a giant total at the end of the session. i mean, an omnibus bill inherently is bad for the taxpayer. because it gives everybody in the world of politics a reason to vote for it or vote against it. whoever comes up at your town hall meeting or at the rotary club back home, you're able to say, i was for you, i was with you, because there's unlimited disguise in one's ability to be for or against the bill in a christmas tree sort of bill, with as many ornaments as this one has on it. $50 billion if broken out across the united states, that's about $400 of additional spending per family. and the question i think we each have to ask as taxpayer

advocates is, is another $400 going to washington in line with what my taxpayers want or would they rather have that money at home to spend, indeed, on christmas presents under the tree or a host of other family needs? add to that the entitlement spending that will occur at the you look at startling increases that continue to progress. i look at this bill and i say, the one loser in this equation is the taxpayer irregardless of what a good job hal rogers and others on the appropriations team attempted to do because of the nature of the bill. the fact that we're looking it at the omnibus bill. so it's my christmas tree list as we go into the season that next year come this time we're not going to face an omnibus bill. speaker ryan has promised that will be the case. we'll impback to so-called regular order. and i just want to emphasize it

is vital from a taxpayer standpoint that we do so. because if we don't, the undoing of our civilization is being laid at rest not with the threat of terrorism. terrorism brings with it the capacity to hurt a nation, to kill thousands or to kill hundreds. it doesn't bring with it the ability to bring down a nation. what brings the ability to bring down a nation is right from within, and the former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said it best when he was asked, what's the biggest threat to america, his answer was not the chinese, not terrorism, not a whole host of threats around the globe. his answer was the american debt. the omnibus bill that we will pass tomorrow is a threat with regard to the growth of entitlement spending, domestic discretionary spending and overall spending. it's vital that we get this process right next year.

mr. speaker, i do wish you a merry christmas. and before i call it quits, i in fact like to yield the balance of my time to my colleague from georgia who i also wish a merry christmas too. mr. collins: i rise to honor a constituent who's put her beliefs into action. meg has dedicated her life of meeting the needs of her community. she's a professor amayor tuss in northeast georgia where she teaches french and spanish. in addition to empowering her students through education, she's spent the past 25 years leading crop hunger walks to raise awareness and funds to end poverty in northeast georgia and around the world. through the efforts of dr. whitley, the clay county food pant reerks the safe house in blairsville, food boxes and sutches and numerous families and nonprofits were served. when dr. whitley asked about her efforts and how long she will give selflessly to our

community, she says, have we ended hunger? and as of today they have met their $200,000 goal. i celebrate dr. whitley and her volunteer team on their 25th crop walk anniversary and thank them for all they have done for families in understood in northeast georgia and throughout the -- families in northeast georgia and throughout the world. this is what is representing the ninth district of georgia. this is the season when others give, and dr. meg whitley is one who does that over and over again. and with that, i yield back to my gentleman from south carolina. mr. sanford: i thank the gentleman from georgia and thank the way he highlighted great action from those at home and with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's -- under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2015, the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, for 30 minutes. r. gohmert:

mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. article just in from "politico." burgess everett. this is today. concludes with a quote from senator mcconnell -- senator charles shumer of new york. quote senator schumer of saying, quote, senator mcconnell wants to see the senate work, but the good news for us is to make it work he . s to basically do our agenda

it's what we've been telling people for so long, mr. speaker, that people across america say we'd like to see you guys in washington work together. we'd like to see government not shut down, that you guys work together and get things done. but as we explained repeatedly, and now it's been confirmed by senator schumer, there's only one way that some folks here in this capitol building will reach an agreement with republicans, and normally hat's if we do exactly their agenda. i go back to the spring of 2011 when republicans resumed the majority in the house of

representatives. there was a c.r. that was going to expire. government ran out of money at midnight. as i recall it was a friday. and it appeared to me -- and 've said since then that certainly appeared that harry reid believed and the white house believed the conventional wisdom here in washington that if the democrats could force a shutdown then their massive friends in the mainstream media would blame republicans and that would be their best shot at regaining a majority in the house and keeping it in the senate. so basically to avoid a although midnight,

our speaker at the time, speaker boehner gathered us together late that evening and said, look. we've gotten $29 billion in cuts. i know we said it would be $100 billion originally and $60 billion, but we got $29 billion. turns out we didn't get those. we may have spent more money. but in had essence it appears that the speaker had to basically cave to what harry reid wanted in order to avoid a hutdown in the spring of 2011. that would continue to occur. we'd come up on deadlines. the senate would not pass any of the appropriations bills, would sit back and say we're not going to do our work. we're not going to comply with our constitutional responsibility. we're going to sit back. we're going to wait, get bills

from the house and then demand our agenda. and if they don't give us our agenda, then we will shut things down and our friends in the mainstream media will blame republicans and we'll get the majority back in the house. of 2013, september we gave harry reid basically everything he wanted and he still shut the government down. and just as conventional wisdom had indicated, the mainstream media blamed republicans, and in fact, the mainstream media mantra was so overwhelming that even speaker boehner got i used or maybe -- maybe

guess he did blame republicans because we didn't totally capitulate on everything harry reid wanted. gave him most everything he wanted. and the last thing we did was appoint -- this is 1:10 a.m. on he morning of october 1 -- october of 2013, we approved the appointment of conferees, harry reid wouldn't even approve conferees so we could have a deal worked out by 8:00 a.m. and nobody would miss work. he didn't want a deal worked out. he wanted a shutdown. they'd already contracted to bring barriers to shut down open air memorials so people couldn't even walk down the swralk. apparently the people -- down the sidewalk. apparently people in this administration believed if we could jerk around world war ii veterans then republicans will get blamed for that too, so they violated the law. they spent more in shutting

things down than they would normally spend in keeping them open. that violates the law as it exists. they shut down things there was totally no reason to shut down. they brought in more park service people to help shut them down than are normally ever out there. all to try to make people blame republicans when it was clearly the calloused, intentional desire to inflict harm on people, including world war ii veterans by some people within this administration. but america didn't fall for it, and they didn't give democrats back the majority in the house, and in fact they gave republicans the majority in the senate. nd now today we get this story

, quoting senator schumer, democrat from new york, the good news for us is to make it work. senator mcconnell has to do basically our agenda. en we find out a story today from carolyn may, senior officials rejected a proposal to incorporate social media screening in the vetting process of foreign visa applicants in 2011. four years ago this administration said, we're oing to continue our effort to blind ourselves of our ability to see our enemy and to know who our enemy is. that started back in 2009 when this administration came into town and basically the council

of american islamic relations, a co-conspirator named in the holy land foundation trial for supporting terrorism, they have an open door and they answer their phones at the white house anytime they call and complain. they wanted documents purged, so our f.b.i. agents, our intelligence officials, our state department people could not be adequately trained on what radical islamists believe. this administration still will not even recognize that such a thing as radical islam exists, and not one person in the administration that's elected, that is making these decisions or that's been confirmed by the senate has a degree, an advanced degree in islamic udies and especially not

advanced degrees from the university of baghdad in islamic studies as one of the orld's most renowned experts on islam does. and that world renowned expert on islam with ph.d. from the university of baghdad in islamic studies makes very lear that the islamic state is islam. his name is al baghdadi. he's the head of the islamic state. nd as the very learned carolyn glick has pointed out, the failure of any administration, republican or democrat, to ecognize that radical islam is performing a m is ge disfavor for moderate

muslims who want to stand up against radical islam. but by this administration saying there is no pluralism in islam, it's all good, there's no bad people claiming to be -- , that actually are islamic it does a great disservice to moderate muslims who would like to stand up and take it on. . there have been wonderful friends of the united states that have. the president in egypt has. others have. and for some reason this dministration chooses to alienate those who would stand up, who are muslim, who would stand up against radical islam. as if they don't have enough problems as it is.

but it was an intelligence friend, friend in intelligence here in the u.s. government, who made that statement that i used a moment ago. we blinded ourselves of the ability to see our minute. -- our enemy. and that continues. if this administration had not made that decision in 2011, not to look at social media, they could have seen that mehalik, which is surely -- malik, which is surely not her real name, but that she has pledged her allegiance to radical islam. it's kind of tough to recognize when somebody pledges their allegiance to radical islam if you won't even recognize that there is such a thing as radical islam. this article says, a proposal

to admit 10,000 syrian refugees to the united states has ignited a bitter debate in washington, but more than 10 times that number of people from the embattled country have quietly come to america since 2012. according to figures obtained by foxnews.com. some 102,313 syrians were granted admission to the united states as legal permanent residents or through programs including work study and tourist visas from 2012 through august of this year. a period which roughly coincides with the devastating civil war that still engulfs the middle eastern country. experts say any fears that terrorists might infiltrate the proposed wave of refugees from the united nations-run camp should be dwarfed by the .otential danger already here

quote, the sheer number of people arriving on all kinds of visas and with green cards and possibly u.s. citizenship makes it impossible for our counterterrorism authorities to keep track of them all, much less prevent them from carrying out attacks or belatedly try to deport them, said jessica vaughn of the center for immigration studies. i think it's reasonable to assume that the u.s. government ran the minimum intelligence traces required at the time of entry. but we know now, as of 2011, they wouldn't even bother to look to see if someone wishing come in had made statements in social media, or even had their picture made with known terrorists. of course, we had a great patriot in the person of phil haynie, he worked for the department of homeland security , that was cited for his

brilliance in finding over 300 of 400 people that were looked at, that he entered data on, that should be added to the terrorist watch list, from an tabliki ion called shamat. but since there are apparently ties with people in that organization to this administration, perhaps it's care, they complained, and he sends -- ends up being , away from ut off ability topetter data. his investigation -- to enter data. his investigation into potential radicals within the organization was shut down. not by his superior, his superior recognized its importance, but by people way up the chain. and if that investigation has

continued, it appears pretty clear there would be people alive today in san bernardino that are dead. the numbers obtained from the u.s. cuss tums and border protection -- customs and border protection show 60,000 syrian visa holders have entered the u.s. since 2012, including 16,245 this year through august. additional numbers provided by a congressional source showed another 42,303 syrians were granted citizenship or green cards during the same period. quote, it's tile unlikely that the 102,313 syrians who were admitted over the last three years were effectively vetted, said the spokesman of the federation for american immigration reform. even in countries where we have a strong diplomatic presence, the sheer volume of background checks being carried out precludes the kind of thorough vetting that is necessary.

and we know also, from search, that it costs 12 times more to bring a syrian refugee here to the united states than it does to keep them alive and keep them functioning somewhere in the area of syria. so it's pretty arrogant for the united states to claim, we need to bring these syrian refugees to the united states, even though we could actually help and keep alive and keep in tioning 11 more people addition to the one we brought here, if we just helped them where they are. we also had this report yesterday, the chattanooga shooting, a terror attack. f.b.i. director james comey says. the dance of whether or not to call the july mass shooting in

chattanooga a terrorist attack appears to be winding down. f.b.i. director james comey twice called the deadly chattanooga shooting that killed four marines and one sailor a terror attack during a with nypd ence commissioner on wednesday. they spoke after addressing the nypd shield conference in new york city. quote, we've investigated chattanooga as a terror attack from the beginning, unquote, comey said. quote, the chattanooga killer was inspired by a foreign terror organization, it's hard to entangle which particular source, there are lots of competing poisons out there, unquote. the response came as comey was asked to clarify an earlier statement in which he linked the root cause of the july 16 naturalized u.s. citizen who was born in kuwait

to the recent islamic terrorist attack in san bernardino. quote, san bernardino, as with chattanooga, another terror attack we've dealt with in recent times, unquote, comey began the answer to a question about the december 2 terror attack in california. aziz, 24, was fatally shot by police after opening fire at a military recruiting center and then driving to a reserve center where he killed five. mr. speaker, it is absolutely heartbreaking to know that people like this are in this country, they've got information out there on social media indicating their terrorist affiliations. and this administration, number one, will not recognize that there's something called radical islam, and number two,

won't allow their people that work for them to check out to see if there is such information about people seeking to come into this country who will ultimately kill americans. then this story yesterday, a team led by middle eastern woman caught surveilling u.s. facility on the mexican border. middle eastern woman, this from judicial watch, middle eastern woman was caught surveilling a u.s. port of entry on the mexican border, holding a sketch book with arabic writing and drawing of the facility and its security system, federal law enforcement sources tell judicial watch. the woman has been identified abdullah old lila razak, according to customs and border patrol. she appeared to have two

accomplices, a 31-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman. customs and border protection agents noticed the trio observing the facilities at the ort of mar posea in arizona -- mariposa in arizona. she was first noticed inside the entrance while the two women stood outside near the entry door, the document states. when federal officers asked her why she was drawing sketches of the facility, she stated, because she's never been to the border. according to the cb -- c.b.p. report. quote, during the inspection abdullah raza k's sketching book, c.b.p. officers noticed the book contained writing in english and arabic language. there were drawings of what appeared to be vehicle primary

inspection area and additional drawing of pedestrian turnstyle gate depicting video surveillance cameras above the gate. the report proceeds to reveal that the drawings were partial and incomplete. this distressing information comes on the heels of two separate and equally alarming incidents in this same vicinity. a few weeks ago judicial watch reported that five young middle eastern men were app rehenleded by the u.s. border pa -- apprehended by the u.s. border patrol in an arizona town situated by 30 miles from the mexican border. two of the men were carrying stainless steel cylinders and back p.c.a.s, alarming border patrol officials enough to call the department of homeland security for backup. d.h.s. officially denies this ever occurred but law enforcement and other sources have confirmed that the two men carrying the cylinders were believed to be taken into custody by the f.b.i. of interesting note is that only three of the men's names

were entered in the border patrol's e-3 reporting systems which is used by the agency to track apprehensions, detention hearings an removals of illegal immigrants. e-3 also collects and transmits by graphic and bio-- biometric and biographic data. two other men were listed as unknown subblets, which is unheard of, according to a judicial watch federal source. in all my years, i've never seen that before, a veteran federal law inforce -- enforcement agent told judicial watch. anyway, there's just -- there just continues to be more and more bad news from the border. but, and i read the article, mr. speaker, today. i went, nogales, arizona, i've read a story before about nogales. obviously this is indicating

with the arabic language, the sketches of the entrants -- entrance by people from the middle east, very curious behavior from these middle eastern folks. well, i went back through articles i had and this is what - where i'd seen the name, nogales, arizona. this is an article from december 27, 2013. john dodson, the federal agent who blew the lid off the justice department's fast and furious gun walking scandal claims the f.b.i. had ties to the men who killed u.s. border patrol agent brian terry in 2010 near nogales, arizona. in fact, d ombing tson says the mexican bandits who gunned down terry were working for f.b.i. operatives and sent to the border to do a drug ripoff using intelligence gathered by the d.e.a.

special agent et with the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms, explosives, said he doesn't think the f.b.i. was part of the ripoff crew but the agency was directing the rip crew. the point here, i think that is important, we know that one of the guns that this administration was pushing legitimate gun dealers in the united states to sell to people that shouldn't have been allowed to get guns, so that they could end up going to drug cartels and they could supposedly follow the weapons, we know that one of those weapons this administration pushed to be sold ended up in the hands of drug cartels who killed apparently u.s. border patrol agent brian terry in 2010, so we know there's violent drug cartel activity in the nogales, arizona, area, and

now interesting report that apparently it's not just drug cartel activity in that area, it's also middle eastern activity surveilling the entry areas. . i think it's also important to remember what this administration did as reported atkison who was working at cbs who was exposing something which was a big problem as fast and furious, but in her article om december 7, 2011, she points out communications within this administration after this administration pushed gun dealers to sell to people they shouldn't have so guns could go to drug cartels

in mexico. they then, according to communications, as reported by cheryl, to use the fact that long guns were being sold to people that shouldn't have been and that those were being used in crimes, they wanted to use hat to pass more gun control rules to take americans' second amendment rights away from them. absolutely astounding. and also this article yesterday from "national review," says, increasing the number of guest worker visas will hurt america's most vulnerable workers. n. smith. and it points out, pro-labor advocates are criticizing a new senate omnibus spending bill, which will quadruple visas or unskilled guest workers for a

total of more than 250,000. most of the people i know who bring ublicans want so down the extremely high unemployment level for african-americans and other minorities. and yet this administration has pushed so hard something they wanted. they want more people coming in and taking jobs, lowering the wages of american citizens and american workers, taking entry-level jobs away from those we should be pushing off welfare into jobs and working. i know an awful lot of people that would love to work and would love to have those jobs. article from december 15

entitled "white house opens door to care representative, ignores muslim reformers." this is the problem, mr. speaker, in this administration. this administration is allowing the foxes to set up and give advice on how to run the hen house. nfortunately, the hen house is containing law-abiding american citizens who are put at risk by this administration's refusal to acknowledge that islam is pluralistic, just like christianity is, there are extremes at different ends, but there is a radical islam that ants to destroy this country and there are those that are

more moderate like those in the muslim brotherhood. they want to take over the united states, but as they've indicated, we're making so much progress in taking over the united states without violence, we're concerned violence -- we have to use at some point, but let's not use violence as long as we're making so much progress. that seems to be the theme of the muslim brotherhood right now in america, and this administration continues to be complicit in helping people that were named in the prosecution of support for terrorist activity which convictions were obtained with the idea we can go after the rest of these named conspirators later. the trouble is after the conviction, within a month and a half this administration takes over and they were not only refused to prosecute the co-conspirators, they bring them in as their advisors.

is there any wonder there's not more americans being killed? i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman have a motion? mr. gohmert: i move we do now hereby adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to adjourn. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly, the house stands house speaker paul ryan discussed the house agenda and his desire to see the chamber get back to regular order. here's his briefing.

mr. ryan: let's try then of the year press conference thing again. shall we? [laughter] in my first days as speaker, i outlined four things that i think we need to do to get our house back on track. today i want to provide you a brief update. first, we need to get the house working again as the founders intended it to work. so far we've opened up the process. more amendments, more conference committees, more new members on conference committees. in 2016 we will make it our goal to pass all 12 appropriation bills through regular order. this has been done -- this hasn't been done since 1994. but it's how congress ought to operate so that we can better protect the taxpayer dollars and make our place the true representative body that it is. second, we need to find common ground without compromising our principles. so far we've gotten some big things done doing that. transportation, defense,

education, customs, just in about six weeks. i feel good about where we are on both the spending and tax bills that are being discussed or being considered today and tomorrow as well. the spending bill had some big wins for the country. whether it's lifting the oil export ban, increasing military spending, or renewing health care for the 9/11 first responders. and with this tax bill, finally with this tax bill, families and businesses are going to have the long-term certainty that they need instead of scrambling year after year to find out what's next. third, we need to be an effective opposition party. this spending bill reins in the i.r.s. it stops the e.p.a. overreach. it blocks the obamacare provisions. and it prevents taxpayer bailout of the risk core program. excuse me, the risk corridor program. and when we return in january, the house will put an obamacare repeal bill on the floor and pass it and put it on the president's desk.

this bill will also defund planned parenthood. we're going to keep working to give families relief from this law, while we work to dismantle it and replace it altogether. which brings me to the fourth point. we need to be a proposition party. 2016, we're going to be a proposition party. as i told our members this week, i didn't become speaker to sit in a room and make big decisions on big bills. i became speaker to give us a horizon to shoot for, to lift our gaze so we can show the american people who we are and what we believe and what we're going to do to solve their problems. that's why our top goal in 2016 is going to be to put together a bold pro-growth agenda for the country. we will offer the people of this nation a real choice and plan to restore a confident america at home and abroad. this work will begin at our retreat next month. so i feel good about where we are right now. i feel good about what we've been able to accomplish in just

a few short weeks. and i feel very good about where we're going in the next year. with that, i'd be happy to answer your questions. reporter: why are you -- [inaudible] -- mr. ryan: yeah. thank you for introducing yourselves. reporter: why are you waiting -- why is the defunding planned parenthood in the omnibus? mr. ryan: it's in the reconciliation bill. that was the bill we chose long ago, we could get that through the senate, we knew we couldn't get it to the senate in any way a-- in any other way. i think we're going to do it the first week after the new year. reporter: there's some angst in your conference right now about the visas for foreign workers. senator sessions says that it will cause higher unemployment and lower wages for americans. the seasonal workers will go from 66,000 to 250,000. judiciary put it in that the buck stops with you. what do you say to your fellow members of the conference? mr. ryan: i think these things kind of happen at the end with these bills. this policy went through the

committee process. this policy was passed by the full appropriations committee in july. with consultation and approval by the house judiciary committee. so if you have any questions about the substance of the proposal, i'll refer you to the judiciary committee. but this has been out there for a long time. our members had listening sessions with the appropriators, all during the construction of this bill itself. again, this passed in the house judiciary committee in july. with the house -- they passed the house appropriations committee in july with the house judiciary committee working with that committee. so if you have any questions, i'd refer to you those guys. the whole point of this, i want the committees driving the process. i want the committees writing the legislation and that's what happened here. reporter: do you think you'll be ok overall? mr. ryan: i do. i think we're doing fine. reporter: you said yesterday -- you say dible] there's consternation at the end here. but are you convinced, you're pretty solid that this mix is good on both bills? mr. ryan: i feel pretty good

. out where we are you always find out when the vote comes, let me say this. you know i don't like this process. right? you know that we inherited a process, a cake that was pretty much more than half baked. i don't like the way that these bills come together. because i think we should do these separately, individually, through what we call regular order. that's why i just started this press conference saying, next year, we're going to do things differently. next year when we have a fresh start, we're doing things differently. because i don't think this is the way that we should be governing. but we are where we are and we have a bipartisan compromise, where by the way, i think we've got some good wins. look, democrats won some things too. that's the nature of bipartisan compromises. so the way i look at this is, we have made the best of the situation we have. there are some really good wins in here for the american people. there are very good wins in here for the economy. for job creators, for taxpayers. there are some important developments in here that will help us build a confident america. but as congress works in the new year, i want to make sure that we get back to what is called regular order.

so that we have a system that operates like the founders intended. and i feel very good that we're getting off on that good start next year. reporter: erica warning with a.p. you made clear that your 2016 agenda does not depend on the president signing what you put forth. do you need the president next year and can you talk a little bit about -- mr. ryan: do i need the president next year? you really want me to answer that? just kidding. [laughter] look, we disagree just profoundly with the president on so many issues. and we will oppose his agenda where we disagree. that's on a lot of things. i think we've shown that. but we feel, because we think the country's headed in the wrong direction, because the president's policies have now been in place for seven years, it's not working. look at poverty. look at wages. look at the economy. look at foreign policy. look at military. look at regulations. this isn't what a confident america looks like. so we owe the country a better agenda.

a better way forward. we owe the country a fresh approach, a new plan, and that's what we're going to do. so, no, it doesn't require the president. we don't agree with the president. this is why we're going to roll out our own pro-growth agenda, which will stand in stark contrast to the agenda that's been pushed through here in the last seven years. reporter: on that issue of the agenda for next year. you've talked about trying to do an a.c.a. replacement in tax reform. i was curious, you said you don't think those would actually be signed, of course. mr. ryan: correct. reporter: a, do you think you'll have actual scoreable legislation on those two issues in and, b, is there any attempt to try to do some smaller stuff on smaller issues where there might be exron ground, that you've expressed, like expedited rescission? mr. ryan: on all issues, i think budget process reform, biannual, for example, there's a chance we might have some bipartisan consensus. we have to do two things next year. we have to walk and chew gum at the same time. we have to look for common ground to advance the common good where we think we can find

good things to do together. and we've done that just this year, transportation is a good one. education's another one. what we're passing this week. so we have to continue to find common ground. but we also have to offer the country a clear choice. we have to put alternatives out there. and so are we ever going to have a law repealing obamacare signed into law by a president named obama? i kind of doubt that. that is why we're going to put out our own alternatives. i can't tell what you the score's going to be in all of this. because this is going to be a decentralized system. our members are going to participate from the bottom up, organically, in assembling this agenda. what i want to see happen in 2016 is everybody who ran for congress and came to the republican conference has an equal say so in how we're going to assemble this agenda and take our case to the american people, because we think that's the choice they deserve. reporter: [inaudible] mr. ryan: i'm not saying either. reporter: when you talk about

putting out this bold agenda, are you going to actually bring these bills to the floor and have the house vote on them so you can show -- mr. ryan: sort of like what jonathan said. that's going to be decided by our members. that's why i say i don't want to presume to have it all figured out because we haven't as a team decided exactly when and under what context we're going to be rolling our agenda out. reporter: you said you didn't want this job and how much you didn't like this process. what's it been like to be speaker and are you going to be around this much next year. what are you going to be doing in 2016 when you are not here. the speaker: my routine is pretty well known. this job is an honor.

i always wanted to be a policy maker and work on the issues that i cared about. and i was honored to do that. first of all, i'm thankful for the people of wisconsin to give me this chance and i'm grateful to my colleagues for asking me to and become speaker and putting me in this position. and i'm going to exercise this responsibility to the best of my abilities. and one of the things i thought this place needed is more regular order, and that's something that we have done. i think what i have found in the last six weeks is by opening up this process, by having more member involvement, by having the place work the way it was intended, we have taken pressure out of this system. members can do their jobs better and constituents are better represented. i feel very proud of what we have been able to accomplish

here in a couple of months. and i'm excited to get on to our agenda in 2016. reporter: next year's agenda. you talked about the incumbent president, what about the agenda that gets out in front of your nominees? the speaker: i think it's a little late to show the country what we are going to do if they give us the honor and being able to pass our agenda. we know who we are and what we believe in and we ought to take the principles to the big problems of the day to offer real solutions to their problems to give them a very clear choice. the way i see this, it ought to be up to the people of america to decide what america is going to look like after 2016 and punting and kicking the can down

the summer isn't good use of our time. that's why we are going to assemble our agenda. reporter: are you going to wait? the speaker: does it look like it? i stay the same. i weighed the same for the last 20 years. i haven't lost any weight. merry christmas and happy holiday. >> [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> nancy pelosi held her briefing with reporters earlier today and discussed 2016 federal funding and why she plans to vote for the spending bill tomorrow not knowing there is enough democrats' votes.

ms. pelosi: we are consfwonting the climate crisis. the paris climate summit is truly amon you mental moment in the history of the world. i am nearly 200 countries participated, nearly 150 heads attended tended and personally there adding to the seriousness of the discussion. i congratulate president obama, senator kerry, secretary mo nmp

iz and others in the negotiations. they really were essential in securing a solid, bold commitment to address the climate. this.lyness spoke about pope francis issued this about protecting the environment. praising st. francis who was the earliest environmentalist and he is our patron saint in the city of san francisco. it comes down to the republicans in the congress of the united states continue to cling to their denial on the subject before all of you were born there was stop the world, i want to get off and that could be their slogan. as you know today, the house

will vote on a permanent unpaid for republican tax extender bill that will give hundreds of billions of dollars to special interests. my problem with most of it is that it is unpaid for. many of the initiatives in the bill have democratic origins, issues that relate to income, unearned tax credits, american opportunity acts. 179, and initiative to help small businesses, came from us, credits. of r&d tax r&d tax credits have been important to us and making them permanent. but the issue of having all of that unpaid for in my view is unconscionable and i say that because we have the

responsibility not just in terms of the provisions of a particular bill, but how it affects our responsibilities to be architects of our children's futures. the future is built on the quicksand of tax breaks making the deficit even larger in the outyears threatening the stability of social security. it's just plain wrong. presidenta plan since bush became president. it deepens the deficit. at some point, they will have to borrow more from the social security trust fund undermining that. certainly that is an obstacle of comprehensive revenue tax reform to lower the corporate rate to omote and it dampens the

opportunities we have to invest in discretionary investments in our children's education and their future. it's just plain wrong and i intend to vote no. i did speak on the floor. but nobody said it better than the house progressive caucus. perhaps you read their letter, but in case you didn't. concern with the current agreement is weighted too heavily toward corporate america and furthers the long-term republican goal of fiscal responsibility standards for tax cuts and investments and will open the door to further attacks on discretionary investment and our social safety net programs. now what is really important of is the -- again, many these initiatives of our own and some of these we want to be made

permanent but the unpaid for is just a trojan horse and using it to put stuff on there for benefits to corporations to shift jobs overseas and it is appalling. it does not have fiscal soundness so that many more americans can participate and it does not have my support. we have the omnibus tomorrow. hopefully we can go home, but we shall see. many of our democrats have concerns about what is in the omnibus and what isn't in the omnibus and particularly what isn't and that is what we wanted for puerto rico to declare bankruptcy. doesn't cost the american people one single penny. not one red cent.

whatever it is, it doesn't cost us any of that. but instead, they resisted putting it in the bill. i'm encouraged that the speaker has said that we will come together after the first of the ar and by march 31, 2016, we will have resolved this issue and we certainly look forward to working together to accomplish that. he wants us to go through the regular order, through committee. we have done enough research and know what the problem is. there have been meetings. we can just get moving on it. the fact that it is not on the bill, again not costing anything and the fact it didn't go through committee, i understand that. but there are other things in the bill that didn't go through committee either. and then we have concerns about oil and the lifting the ban on crude oil being exported. that was probably the most --

the biggest obstacle i have to overcome to support what is before us today and tomorrow. the exporting of oil is -- timing of it is so incredible that when the rest of the world is reduce our dependence, we are taking actions to increase emissions. certainly what else is in the bill offsets some of the emissions that big oil is putting up. the price of oil on the world's market, oil price is higher than what texas price is here. instead of selling the oil here and reduce our dependence on foreign oil and have it refined in our refineries, good-paying jobs for american workers, they are taking the oil off to sea

and our jobs with it and leaving the price tag of billions of dollars to pay for the damage they have done to the american refineries here, especially the small ones, the ones that have independent -- independent-drilling companies. that was my big torment. some of you just don't know. but the fact that republicans want big oil so desperately really argues for voting for the bill because they were willing to concede so much. this was their -- we are here to export crude oil at the expense of american jobs and so we are willing to give up so much. we are pleased that the legislation is rid of the poison pill riders that what is in the bill is positive -- well, let's talk about -- it eliminated

riders to dismantle women's health. they tried to eliminate the ean power plants, tried to eliminate weaken d.o.d. frank and oversight of wall street and sabteage campaign finance reform and that is called the colorado 2 revolution and they had to take out their provisions to destroy a.c.a. we blocked 10 riders in the bill that would have seriously hurt labor in our country. stunning how they have targeted, whether it's women's health and planned parenthood and the environment, workers' rights to organize. it's a plan. but i'm pleased that renewing the 9/11 health and compensation bill and now they have come

around. but think of it. they are getting over $600 billion of unpaid-for tax cuts many to corporate america, unpaid-for while we had to offset the cost of 9/11. our first responders. emergency spending. wouldn't you think 9/11 is an emergency? and we do not usually have to offset emergency spending. i'm glad that is in the bill and an obligation we had to our first responders and hope that it brightens their holiday season. any questions? where is chad? he's not here. the warriors won. [laughter] reporter: boehner was only to get 80 republican votes and ryan wants 100. but it largely falls on the back

of house democrats who have real concerns. are you confident that you can provide the votes necessary to get this over the finish line? ms. pelosi: no. members are concerned about how this all came together. we never really met. it was done at the staff level and thank god for our magnificent staff and particularly proud of richard on the omnibus side. but members are reviewing it. and there are people who have very serious concerns about what this does to working families and what it does to our investments for the future. and we are showing in the bill the good work that was done in a bipartisan way. subcommittee by subcommittee. and the fact that we had a victory actually bipartisan victory on the budget bill

enabled to have billions of dollars more for investments. there are many good things that the propertyors negotiated in a bipartisan way that are in the bill. people have concerns about the export of oil. the export of oil came along we were on a path and that ingredient was harmful -- ingredient -- that assault on the discussions -- was a real assault on the other hand that enabled us to get many more things. and that's what some members who are particularly concerned about the climate issue and environment and health issues that are related to air pollution are studying right now and will be continuing that discussion. i feel what we did in the bill more than 10 times offset the

damage that exporting crude oil does. and again, there are some other issues that members, i think when they see the bill will have a better understanding but they may decide they don't want to be a party that enails the export of oil or the tax breaks for corporate america that are unpaid for. the debate, each of them and their merits even to make them. reporter: is this unparalleled here >> are you exipping this? ms. pelosi: they have the majority. they have the majority. they have the legislation. we have some serious objection which we have made known all along. i can't say. because our members are studying the issue. as i said, and then tell me what

you think. reporter: what needs to happen? you said you are in talks right now. do you have a counterproposal or what needs to happen? ms. pelosi: the counterproposal is a c.r. how many do they have? this is -- i mean this is deadly serious. this is deadly serious and when they injected oil into the debate that this was a disrupter of a serious magnitude. but she -- it wouldn't have cost a penny for them to have done puerto rico. so -- you are saying those two issues. no. that aggravates all of the other concerns that they have of things that are not in the bill, but it's a compromise. vote for what's in it rather than what you didn't get into it but recognize what we kept out

of it. again, i have told them how i came down on this, because ange. what are the next stages of all of this. now let's get more information and we'll see. and i respect the thoughtfulness which our members are bringing to the process. i share their values. i know what their concerns are. but i want to know them the good work that the negotiators have done on this, especially nita lowey. you are asking me how many will we have? the bonanza ave, of increasing emissions, sending jobs overseas and more profits at the expense of american workers and costing the american taxpayer $8 million.

reporter: you spoke about the r&d tax credit and the ideas that your party came up with. ms. pelosi: 179. reporter: would you make them permanent and how would you pay for them? those are the two biggest expenses. ms. pelosi: the fact is that the objection here is what we need to do is to comprehensive revenue reform, tax reform so that you can see -- and all along when we were doing the budget with speaker boehner he said before we can give you a top line, i want to see what the outlaysr the off sets are. you have a comprehensive tax reform, see what revenue you need. you lower the corporate rate. perhaps repay try ate and you

try to increase your opportunities in terms of investment. but you don't say, well we agree on modernizing and making r&d permanent and therefore going to jobs 0 billion to overseas. i call it a trojan horse. what is the situation and what is the nature of it, what is the modernization of it so it truly is the did he creating growth which brings more revenue into this treasury. and nothing brings more money into the treasury than the education of the american people. early childhood, higher ed, post-grad. let's put these things together. and when we did our innovation

agenda starting 10 years ago, modernizing and making r&d permanent was one of our key elements, heavily investing in k-12 was of the same value there. weighing of he can quits but not one instead of the other. and i heard my colleagues say, in that area we have more r&d -- no, we know r&d and that's why i support modernizing and making it permanent but not in the expense, not in the way they are doing it and not as a hook to drag in dogs and cats that will not necessarily be sometimelative to the economy, but just for the benefit of the special interests. reporter: are you definitely

going to vote for the omnibus? ms. pelosi: yes, i am. think i told you, once i was criticizing china for the human rights in china and tibet, he said you have a negative attitude. i tried to rid myself of negative attitudes on the big oil so it did not prevent me from recognizing from what else is in the bill. reporter: doesn't sound like you are going to -- i'm not sure you are pushing your members very hard to vote for it. ms. pelosi: you don't know that. reporter: are you? ms. pelosi: perhaps you don't know this about our members. it's not about pushing. they always vote their conscience. make sure they have all the information they need to make the judgment that is consistent

with their view of the constitution, their representation of their constituents and their conscience. we call it the three c's. the caucus before us is a factor, but we do want to build a consensus there and that's what we do and we stay unified. we don't stay unified because we heard them but we stay unified because we have shared values. as i said, i have my own problem with it because of what i knew the exploitation -- the other thing about oil that i want to tell you. the reason is also harmful, the the price between the was the same until fracking and then there's a disparity.

now it's $3 but it was $20 at one point. this encourages to do more fracking in order to get more oil to ship overseas and this is why we have such serious numbers as to how -- it was almost nothing going for it except it's what the republicans want and i'm going to show my colleagues what they were willing to yield and then we'll see where they come down. one more question. reporter: the white house offers grudingly the package but it's not just republicans. wouldn't you be opening a risk to doing a disservice to the

president if you can't get it over to the senate tomorrow? risk? osi: what is the our members are going to do what our members are going to do. and i don't -- i'm respectful of other peoples' views, of course. but there is a separate vote, members see them as we are an abling to do the other side of it. they are going to do it any way because of tax breaks and special interests make my day, say the republicans. regardless of what it does to the deficit. where did the deficit hawks go. probably part of the endangered species. i don't know. we are going to do what we do. we have a different caucus. our caucus is magnificently

diverse. 50% is women and minorities. and we represent them. our job title and our job title and our responsibilities are the same. so they have a little bit of a different perspective than maybe in the senate although we work with them closely. and the white house who may have a different view. reporter: are you holding out? ms. pelosi: we are not holding out. we have serious unease in our caucus. i don't think the speaker is going to reopen the bill. he made that very clear. but i think it's really important that the commitment on puerto rico be very, very -- look, be followed up with right away. again, that's where it is and there's no shortage there.

we'll see where they come down and see what the republicans come up with. in the meantime, we'll be talking about big oil versus what we did for renewables, which is quite remarkable in the package. we will be reviewing what the investments were what the appropriators were able to do in a bipartisan way. i feel sorry for the appropriators because they did such good work and on top of the budget before to bring us to a place where we got rid of sequestration, there was a two-year period and had more opportunity for investments in our future, that was good. and then, again, came big oil. thank you all very much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by ational captioning institute]

>> before minority nancy pelosi held her weekly briefing, the house passed a measure that permanently extends several tax provisions that were set to expire at the end of the year. they debated a $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government until september 30, 2016. a final vote takes place on friday. for more details, we spoke earlier today with a capitol hill reporter. >> appropriations reporter for roll call, why does congress passing another huge spending bill? >> because they couldn't pass the regular spending bills over the spring and summer. >> how did they get into that position.

who are the primary negotiators? >> there is a big disagreement over topline budget numbers that went up to the white house. the two parties spent months fighting over the numbers and as a result, boehner ended up calling on his sword before he left congress and decided to negotiate with the white house to set new budget numbers on his way out the door. because he was able to do that, that gave the appropriations committee new topline numbers as they negotiated. >> were these negotiations bipartisan or both size on the house and senate side? >> yes, they were. they were very secrettive and became more so as time went on and a leadership level. >> you point out in your article, the headline, oil, greens, winners and losers. one of the winners was the

a.p.i., the petroleum institute, a winner because of the lifting of the domestic oil ban. who else is a winner and who would you point outs a loser. >> biggest winners were planned parenthood. they were trying to ut cut their funding and they were not able to touch that. the house wanted to cut all of the funding that goes to title 10 family planning. they were not able to do that. and republicans were not able to impose policy restrictions on abortion or on planned parenthood. so pro-choice people ended up winning big here. another win, environmentalist did reasonably well. in exchange of lifting the oil ban they got money to go to a new convembings account. they authorized a land and water

account that had expired for three more years and they got some more money there. but in other ways they lost because a lot of environmentalists were upset to the changes of the oil export ban. >> nancy pelosi saying that earlier in her briefing she is not confident that she will support the omnibus that she can provide the democratic votes, cabinet secretaries are pushing for an aye vote. how many democratic votes will they need to pass this bill? >> the republicans have been whipping the omnibus bill but we don't have a clear picture of how many republicans will be voting for it. the leaders seem confident about the number of republicans but as with past big budget votes we haven't gotten more than 100 republicans. so once again, it's looking like democrats will have to do the

heavy lifting but with pelosi not whipping the bill, it's unclear and a lot more progressive members are really upset about the oil export ban being lifted and upset that the bill did not provide bankruptcy protection to puerto rico and it's unclear where the democrats are. >> hall rogers and republicans n this tweet, the omnibus is a hard-fought compromise. i believe both colleagues can and should support it. what about republicans who will vote against it, particularly those in the freedom caucus not like about it? >> number one, the lack of language having to do with refugees coming from syria and iraq. the stand-alone bill passed the house earlier this fall. they wanted it included. they were upset there what not

more having to do with abortion on the bill they were seeking new restrictions and not able to receive much of that beyond a small cut beyond a united nations program. >> speaker paul ryan talking about 2016 and the return to regular order in the appropriations process. how important is a win on the omnibus bill and how would he like it to set up the process for 2016? >> a win on the omnibus would be huge for him. he has been selling this idea, let's get the omnibus passed and we can move to push the house republican agenda and looking to get next year's work, some are saying mid to late march. so he is hoping to get all 12 of the annual appropriations bills debated and passed off the floor, which is a pretty amazing

feat for an election year. we'll see if he is able to do that. both chambers of congress are not able to be here much next year so it will be an ambitious agenda. >> tomorrow, the appropriations process and you can follow her reporting on fwitter. thanks for joining us. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] >> the house returns friday live and plans to hold the final vote on $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government until september 30 of next year. the chamber started by debating and passing a measure that permanently extends several tax provisions set to expire at the end of the year. we'll show you the floor debate now.

mr. brady: this prevents taxes from increasing and makes it easier for them to do their xes and reins the i.r.k. and protects them from the program administered by the i.r.s. and i would like to talk about the six specific ways this bill helps american taxpayers.

mr. brady: our bill contains strong measures to fight fraud and abuse in the tax credit programs. while the provisions are significant, they are only a downpayment on republican efforts to make tax programs which are prone to error, abuse and waste. today more accountable. reins the i.r.s. and delivers

the power to fire employees who taxpayers against and prohibits i.r.s. employees from using email accounts for official business. i'm grateful for the members of congress. this bill includes dozens of provisions drawn from bills this past year. that's a reflection of the regular order that i'm committed to extending and expanding next

year as the committee addition in on tax reform and other critical measures. there are's a lot in this bill but those are the key principles. the legislation present venlts tax increases and makes it easier for americans to do thire taxes and that's a great gift, an overdue gift for american taxpayers for people who want a stronger u.s. economy. i would reserve the balance of my time.

mr. levin: programs like head start and pell grants and job training and basic health research. for those to make tax breaks permanent so they will not have to be offset in a tax reform, this bill will help them carry it out, leaving more room to cut taxes for the very wealthy which they will say will pay for themselves. for those who want to continue tax cuts that were only intended

for a specific period, like expensive bonus deappreciation, whose purpose is to ease recovery from the recession and loses effectiveness otherwise, this bill will help do that. for those who want to continue international tax proposals, often serving as a loophole and helping to move resources overseas, this bill will help do that. the active financing international tax provision made permanent in this bill at a cost f $78 and its extension of the c.f.c. look-through provision for five years at the cost of $8 billion which often promotes tax havens should be thoroughly re-examined as part of comprehensive tax reform and the sooner the better. this bill is a piecemeal approach to tax reform and

opposite what was done by former ways and means chairman dave camp who kept some provisions, ended some like bonus depreciation and paid for his revenue neutral tax reform proposal. mr. brady: as chairman of the committee has asked the joint committee on taxation make available to the public the technical explanation with protecting americans from tax hikes act of 2015 which the

house is considering today. joint committee has issued that technical explanation as jcx and expresses the ways and means committee understanding and legislative intent behind this important legislation. it is available on the joint committee's website. mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from louisiana who leads the tax policy subcommittee for the ways and means. mr. boustany: i thank the chairman for the fine work he and the staff have done to negotiate this package. speaker ryan has talked about restoring confidence in america something we can agree upon, things we need to achieve that involves protecting our values and very importantly restoring american prosperity and can't do that until we reform the tax code. that is at the center of all

efforts to restore american prosperity through economic growth. what this bill does and i rise in vigorous support of it, it stops the cycle of just extending these provisions without vetting them year after year in the late hours of the year. it's time to stop that and we are doing that. we are making some of these provisions permanent, creating certainty for american families and businesses at a time of economic uncertainty. this is real tax relief that sets the stage for tax reform. there are a number of important provisions. mr. paulsen has worked hard to repeal the medical device tax and stop the health nurns tax hich is causing premium hikes.

mr. boustany: we have run them through committees and markups. we are trying to restore regular order. ladies and gentlemen, this will be seen as a first step in restoring american confidence. i'm confident of that. let's pass this package. mr. levin: i yield three minutes to the democratic whip, mr. hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. hoyer: last speaker, i have heard that speech in 1981, i heard it in 2001 and 2003. the certainty of this bill is that we will explode further deficits and provide for disinvestment. that's the certainty of this bill and i rise in strong opposition to it. this package will raise deficits by approximately $622 billion er the next 10 years and unpaid tax-provision. >> i high liret one major issue

and enacting this legislation will set the stage for the next round of painful sequester cuts otherwise known as disinvestment. to my colleagues not see the ckage is and the sequester's 13 billion in cuts that were imposed. republicans will again insist on hundreds of billions of cuts. and growing jobs and the economy in order to make up for the budget shortfall. some of which are made permanent. there are certainly good reasons to make a number of these tax crids and deductions permanent. i support making many of these permanent. but we ought to pay for it in the process as your predecessor

did, mr. camp. it was a tough decision he made and it was dismissed out of hanged because it was hard to do. this is easy to do. no courage required to vote for this bill. all you have to do is suspend common sense. this legislation flies in face of the basic budgeting principle which hardworking families all across our nation understand and have to live with. the president of the committee for responsible federal budget wrote in the "washington post" last week and i quote, how do we explain to our children that we borrowed more than $1 trillion counting interest not because it was a national emergency or to make critical investments in the future or because we just don't like paying our bills. republicans would answer as they always do, that tax cuts somehow

magicically pay for themselves. i have been here 5 years and it has never happened. we have seen the notion several times over and they have been higher deficits and a ballooning debt -- 30 seconds. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. hoyer: who higher ballooning debt to disinvest in our future and dismantle care, associate security. let's not make this same mistake again. we ought not -- we ought to be voting on a straightforward two-year extension and then commit ourselves to a meaningful tax reform as david camp did. it's tough to do, i understand that. but it's the right thing to do. let us show that we have courage as well as common sense.

defeat this bill. let us move on to meaningful tax reform and growing our economy. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from ohio. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. tiberi: thank you, mr. chairman. i say mr. and mrs. america would be stunned to understand that to keep current policy in place, we have to raise taxes to keep tax cuts that have been in place some, for 30 years. the r&d tax credit has been around for 30 years. and the horrible way we make policy here on a retroactive basis or one year forward, is changing today. so tom and judy price, farmers

in my district who have been thinking about buying a loader this year can actually buy one and can plan for the next 10 years on how to operate their farm and make investments, or that small business guy who ants to expense or that person whose r&d is so important but they weren't sure what we were going to do with the r&d tax credit. it has been around for decades, decades. so current policy has been for decades the r&d tax credit and yet to make that permanent which is being argued by some on the other side is that we have to raise taxes to pay for this policy, this current policy. no wonder americans shake their heads. this is a good bill. this is an amazing bill.

go talk to your small business owners and the accountant at the ymca who puts together the filings, tax filings, about the permanency in the child tax credit, about the new market tax credit, things that have an amazing impact in our community like the low-income tax credit like mr. neal and i have worked on. it's going to impact communities from coast to coast, including in my district this ohio and farmers as well. this is going to provide amazing certainty. i have been pleased to work on a number of these issues with my colleagues and this, ladies and gentlemen is a wonderful bridge to comprehensive tax reform. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield a minute and

a half to mr. rangel. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. rangel: i don't know how proud we can be as legislators to say at the end of the year instead of legislating, having hearings, listening to what this is going to do to america, but instead of that we are proud of the fact that we are negotiating. here we are talking about billions of dollars of tax cuts and yet we know when we get home there is nobody in the world that is going to think that their jobs, their education is going to be better. what the world should be screaming for to provide the leadership is to say we have a system based on the tax code that we can depend on. we shouldn't have to extend these every years but we need to work together so we know what's going on. it ain't to say, people talking about the earned income tax

credit and i fought for this and i'm one of the people that goes against loopholes and trying to get more in it to get some justice out of the tax system. but the truth of the matter is because of the disparity in incomes, because people work hard every day, we are going to use the tax code in order to say we'll give them a refundable tax credit. no. what this is going to do is remove the ability of this great country of ours to have the discretionary funds to do the right thing that is conditioned what we call the pursuit of happiness. we shouldn't be using the tax code for social welfare or in order to have certain companies that are going to benefit. what we should be doing is reforming the entire tax code so america knows where we are going and where we should be going.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: i yield to a member of our committee, the gentlelady from kansas, ms. jenkins. two minutes. ms. jenkins: i thank the gentleman for yielding. as i met with folks in kansas they express their frustration with washington and uncertainty is the enemy whether in tax policy, regulatory policy. folks need to know what the rules are so they can plan accordingly. as a former c.p.a., i have seen firsthand how uncertain tax policies expire negatively impacts our businesses and families. i'm pleased we have secured a tax package that will bring

certainty to families and businesses fighting to create jobs in our still struggling economy. this legislation will help bring us closer to the stable tax policies our economy desperately needs. this bill is another step in the right direction towards a confident america built on our principles and values that hard work should equal success. this legislation will grow our economy, put more money and rein the i.s. we can continue to make strides towards a pro-growth agenda that helps businesses succeeds creates more jobs and stimulates the economy. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i yield one minute to our distinguished leader, nancy pelosi. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. pelosi: i thank the gentleman for his leadership for

america's working families and so many areas. congratulations to you, chairman, in your new leadership. the bill before us is cause for very serious discussion. we, in this body, have a very big responsibility to make decisions as architects of our children's future, architects of our children's future that strengthens the middle class and takes us to our responsibility to be custodians of our democracy. the middle class is the backbone of our dem and this undermines the success of our middle class. in terms of children, their education, the financial

security of their families, the pension security of their grandparents, health of the environment in which they live, all of that is seriously affected by this legislation. but let's put it of a grand scheme that started after president clinton left office. in his term of office, because of the budget act of 1993, which passed with democratic support, it unleashed a remarkable era of job creation and it took us on a path to deficit reduction. in fact, five of his last five -- even ere in surplus or in surplus, and that was taking us on a path to reducing not only the deficit -- of course, it would be eliminated -- but the national debt. along came tax cuts for the

middle class, and in just a few years, all of the progress in reducing the deficit that occurred during the clinton administration were reversed by he bush tax cuts, unpaid for for the wealthiest. and that unpaid for is really what my problem is here today because there are many provisions in this bill that we, democrats, take ownership of and i personally take some personal pride in having worked on. for example, the eitc, the earned income tax credit, the childcare tax credit, those we negotiated with president bush to take them to the place where they are and they are a stimulus. they were debated and passed at the time as part of president bush's stimulus package. when it comes to some of the initiatives, like r&d, we've all been talking about modernizing and making permanent the r&d tax -- the

research and development tax credit, maim them permanent. but the problem -- make them permanent. but the problem is unpaid for. when we talk about 179, that is a creation that democrats were very much a part of, the initiative to help small businesses. we fully subscribe to that, but when we make them permanent -- and that might be a good idea -- and they are unpaid for, it also hurts our ability to do something broader in the tax code and take advantage of that opportunity. so low income housing tax credits, again, i don't think i'm second to none except maybe mr. rangel in this body in my advocacy for this. it's important they're in this legislation. and they should be permanent but they should -- my problem with it all is, why are these

things -- this is an engine to nd jobs overseas with the -- with some of the provisions that are in the legislation. it's like a trojan horse. there are many good things and then all of a sudden you find ut, -- sudden you find out what's in the belly of them. bonus depreciation and things like that, people will take advantage of it, we get the boost in our economy and our treasury from that. but here's what it comes down to. ou go down this path of $600 billion-plus of permanent unpaid for tax extenders, largely benefiting corporate america, and say that doesn't have to be paid for -- oh, but by the way, you want to do $7

billion to honor the work of 9/11 first responders, you have to pay for every penny of it. find a way to do it by cuts or some other way. so what is it the symmetry in all of this? tax cuts for businesses to send jobs overseas unpaid for and permanent? 9/11 -- which is an emergency, would you not agree? if there was be a emergency, it was 9/11 and the costs related to honoring our commitments both in health and compensation should be held up because we didn't kind pay-fors and now we have and that's good. what really is -- i question very seriously, what are the costs in the outyears? it's hard to determine, but they are there. and what they are going to do is take such a serious -- increase the deficit with such

seriousness. our country will have to borrow from the social security trust fund to stay afloat. seriously undermining social security. as steny -- our distinguished whip said, social security and medicare and the rest. seriously affecting this legislation -- this seriously affects our investments in the education of our children, promotion of growth and the rest of there. so i think -- and the rest of that. so i think what it comes down to is we support them. we don't care if some of them is permanent. it's the unpaid for part of it that's mortgaging our children's future, that is threatening social security, that undermines our ability to reduce the deficit and reduce the interest payments on the national debt. and, again, walking away from what president clinton did so

successfully with a very difficult vote, we lost the congress after that because it was a very challenging -- for that and other reasons, but some members did but they said, i did the right thing. it took us on a path to fiscal soundness. it took us on the path of economic growth. this, of course, was reversed in the bush years. $5.5 trillion of deficit reduction was -- $11 trillion reversal. one of the biggest up until that time of a reversal. so, my colleagues, i sympathize with some who say, i've always been for r&d tax credits and others who say, well, it has to do with the tax stuff in my state and all that. i appreciate that and i respect your judgment on it, but there is a bigger picture here. nd the bigger picture is our responsibility to the future and the chickens will come home

to roost on this. we will have to pay. you know who's going to pay? our children, their families, the social security system and the rest. so for that reason i urge my -- i will not be supporting this, and i join my distinguished whip, mr. hoyer, in urging our colleagues to vote against it as well. i know it sounds good, but as i say, it's a trojan horse and we should not be fooled. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from california yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the house leader of the efforts to stop the medical device tax, the gentleman from michigan, mr. paulsen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for two minutes. mr. paulsen: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the chairman for his leadership on this issue. you know, mr. speaker, members, the united states is the only country in the world that lets important parts of its tax code expire each and every year, and we are changing that here

today. this bipartisan tax package prioritizes permanent tax relief for families and businesses so they can keep more of their own money, they can hire new workers and they can invest in new equipment. it also includes the repeal of the medical device tax that's been in place and stops it for the next two years. a tax that's cost our economy jobs and has also reduced innovation. because of this tax, what's been the result? you know, one small business i spoke with said it's pretty simple. instead of having 10 projects i'll have six. that means two fewer engineers and two fewer technicians. another company i spoke to says because it's a tax on sales, ot on profit, they testified a 79% effective tax rate they have. 79%. how can anyone justify a 79% effective tax rate? another company said they're borrowing money from the bank every single money just to pay the tax and the hopes and risk they will actually become profitable. of course, a constituent i spoke to, jim, he told a story of losing his job at a medical

device company he had for 21 years to be laid off. he eventually was rehired but his job paid $40,000 less. his vacation time was half and his health cost skyrocketed. of course, patients are suffering also because we have fewer life-saving and life-improving technologies here developed in the united states. mr. speaker, this tax package helps our economy, it gets us back on frack with a pro-growth tax code and i'll say that our local businesses are really excited about ending the guessing game of six-month, one-year retroactive tax policy and instead giving predictability and certainty so they can invest in their people and their equipment. i ask my colleagues to support this legislation and thank the chairman for his leadership. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: it's now my pleasure to yield three minutes to a gentleman from minnesota, mr. neal. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for three minutes. mr. neal: thank you, mr. levin. the bill we have before us

today is the universal legislators' dilemma, the possible versus the perfect. i rise in support of this legislation today. i stand with president obama in support of this legislation today. i rise to prevent 18 million americans, including eight million children, from falling deeper into poverty. i rise to ensure that during this special time of the year, nonprofits will continue their important work to improve the lives of millions of americans through charitable activity. i rise to unleash billions of dollars in economic development to rebuild, to rehab, to refurbish our neighborhoods and our communities. i rise to incentivize american innovation and the millions of jobs that it creates. at this bill's core is a modest pro-growth jobs bill, one that given the current head

windwinds of our economy is sorely needed. i spent the better part of my career in congress as a champion -- headwinds of our economy is sorely needed. i spent the better part of my career in congress as a champion of the earned income tax credit and expanding it, as a champion of the child tax credit and expanding it, as a champion of the low-income housing credit and expanding it and the expansion of the new markets tax credit program, which my d.n.a. is clearly on. taken together, these credits will go a long way toward improving the lives of millions of americans across the country in our typically overlooked communities. this is not the easiest way to accomplish an end. we should be very critical of ourselves now for the backup manner in which we do these undertakings. voting on 12 legislative appropriations bills tomorrow wrapped into one, tax policy that is done in this shape and

manner, but i would also say something else we need to remind ourselves of, the breakdown of the committee structure in congress and what has happened to the procedures we all used to vet controversial legislation. amendments could be offered and people could speak their minds. so today we're taking up issues that should have been vetted over the course of the last three years and a gentle rebuke to my colleagues on the other side, chairman camp had the backbone to put out a decent piece of legislation. didn't mean we were going to embrace it or endorse it, but it was a courageous act and it was his own side that shot it down. in cambridge, massachusetts, kendall square has the highest concentration of research and development in the world. making any r&d tax credit

permanent is going to enhance that. i have worked on that credit and worked for a more aggressive r&d credit. this is not perfect what we are doing today. it's far from it, but it represents a compromise or as the "new york times" called it an acceptable compromise that is necessary to move the country forward and i urge its adoption. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i yield two minutes to the former leader of our tax policy subcommittee, mr. reichert. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. reichert: thank you, mr. chairman, for your hard work on this bill. we come back and we are here in washington d.c. and throwing around tax terms like bonus depreciation and research and development and on and on and on. people for the most part don't

get all of that talk, but they do understand when we are talking about reducing their taxes and creating an environment where businesses can thrive and re-invest their capital back into their hard work, their small businesses, create jobs and sell their products and hire more people. that's what this bill is about. and just three quick examples of constituencies that i'm hearing from. one the teachers in washington state. they really appreciate the fact that there is certainty now that they can deduct the amount of money they spend up to $500 on school equipment to help our children learn. every year we go through this exercise or two years, exercise of deciding whether or not we are going to support our teachers. they have certainty. this isn't about big businesses. these are teachers.

two, small businesses, s-corporations, they can now, with certainty, have access to revenue rather than waiting for 10 years, they can have it in five. they can sell equipment. they can sell that equipment and buy new equipment creating more jobs and three, for washington state especially, the sales tax is a big deal. the permanency in our ability in washington state to deduct our sales tax from our federal income tax creates certainty for ery taxpaying citizen in washington state. this is a big deal. these three small little provisions are big deals for the average american across this country in washington state and in the 8th district of

washington state that i serve. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from, two minutes. mr. doggett: the nonpartisan committee for responsible federal budget has said that over two decades, this very bill will add over $2 trillion to the national debt. and for anyone who hides behind poor kids to justify that $2 trillion in debt understand that there is no poor child in america who will get a dime out of this bill next year. their tax credits do not expire. we avoid another year to resolve that matter. this isn't about poor children. it is about big gifts. indeed, in the holiday spirit, the biggest bow of all has been put on a special gift for wall

street. the world's largest financial institutions, the ones that brought america to its economic knee with the debacle over finances and came forward and got a majority of this congress to vote for a taxpayer bail out and they are getting a reward. they are getting a tax subsidy that is made permanent. it happens to be a tax subsidy that was removed from our tax code originally in a bill that ronald reagan signed into law and when it got put back in on a temporary basis, bill clinton sought to veto the provision because it was so unjustified. and christmas, of course, it's not cheap. this bill, this gift to wall street costs $78 billion, not paid for, borrowed from the saudis and chinese to give wall street $78 billion, with a b. how much money is that?

well, the same amount about is included in the bill this will be a part of and it funds all the medical research at the national institutes of health, centers for disease control, head start, all of the education for the disabled and disadvantaged that is provided, all of that combined is $78 billion, but you can be sure that wall street is never disadvantaged in this capitol building. this $78 billion tax subsidy is called the exception and these bankers have been active. they may have been very naughty to the american people and may have been naughty to the merican economy but oh so nice to members of congress. republicans are helping keep a provision in here that will only lead to shipping jobs overseas and borrowing from overseas to

put this burden on the american people. this is the kind of provision that causes americans to be so concerned about their government and a feeling that it's run away from them because these provisions are run away our debt and providing the support that we need. i urge the rejection of this pack acknowledge that will do so much harm to our country. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan reserves. mr. brady: i ask unanimous consent that members may have five legislative days to include extraneous material. i yield to a big fighter who serves on the ways of -- and mr. smith. tee, the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> u.s. congress owes the american people better tax policy than we currently have.

we have so many temporary provisions that so many americans are wondering and trying to predict what the tax policy will be at the end of the year. we should be about establishing permanent tax policy. mr. smith: i appreciate the bipartisan interest in today's bill because i know a lot of work has gone into this and i know constituents in nebraska's 3rd district can appreciate what permanent tax policy can deliver especially as it sets us on a trajectory to comprehensive tax reform. we hear from both sides we need comprehensive tax reform. i agree. this is a great way to move the ball down the field and end up with better tax policy as a result of this legislation and i urge my colleagues to adopt this legislation. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas reserves. mr. levin: could i ask how much time is remaining. the speaker pro tempore: 15 nf minutes remaining.

the gentleman from texas has 15 minutes remaining. mr. levin: i yield to the gentleman from california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. thompson: i thank the gentleman for yielding and i stand in support for many of the provisions that are in this bill. and i believe that we need to bring nerm nancy to our tax policy. and one of the pieces of this legislation we are debating today is near and dear to my heart. and that's the conservation easement provision which has helped all of our districts a great deal. that, too, needs to be made permanent. but i'm standing in opposition to the bill -- the overall bill. not because it's bad policy. a lot of the provisions in this bill are good public policy. we should pass them. we should make them permanent. but sadly this bill is fiscally

reckless. we are going to pass this policy and send the nearly $700 billion bill onto the taxpayers of this country. my friend, the gentleman from louisiana, in his comments, said that every piece of legislation in here has had hearings, they have had markups and they have taken these to the floor. he is absolutely correct. we have done everything except make sure this bill is paid for. and that is the responsibility that all of us should take seriously and we should not pass tax expenditures without paying for them. i urge a no vote on the bill. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i'm pleased to yield one minute to a champion of state and local sales tax deduction, the gentlelady, mrs. black. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized.

>> i rise in strong support of protecting americans from tax hikes act which includes a permanent extension of the tax deduction which is so critical for tennessee. we are proud of one of nine states without an income tax on wages. taxpayers are able to deduct their state income tax on their federal return and only makes sense that a similar deduction would be made available in states like mine that exercise our right not to pile on additional income tax on our own. as the only member of the ways and means committee from the state of tennessee, i was proud to work with chairman brady to ensure the inclusion of this much needed provision in today's bill. i'm pleased this legislation combats educational tax fraud, specifically this bill requires an individual claiming the american opportunity tax credit provide the employer identification number of the educational institution they are attending.

in turn, saving our tax system of $837 million in fraudulent payments. i urge passage. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i now yield to mr. blumenauer 2 1/2 minutes. the gentleman from oregon is ecognized for 2 1/2 minutes. mr. blumenauer: i appreciate the gentleman's courtesy. i, too, have been deeply concerned about the long-term trends of our failing to come forward with revenue to pay for america's priorities. i found the bush tax credits a disaster and i have repeatedly brought before my friends in congress proposals to actually fund our priorities. and i look forward to doing so

again, either standalone or in kept of comprehensive tax reform. i'm prepared, however, today, to support the provisions before us. first of all, i think the costs ought to be put in perspective, because these items are ones that have been routinely approved year in and year out, not particularly paid for, and they are ones that will be approved again. my friend, the distinguished minority whip talked about better to just do two years. doing it on an ongoing basis as two years, continues to have the same costs but provides uncertainty for people who depend upon it. there are a number of provisions here that we all worked on, wind, solar, new markets, short line, transit party, cyber acts.

these are items people deserve to have some clarity moving forward and numerous provisions that ultimately would pass but we hold people in suspense until the end. but i want to speak to one particular item here. my good friend from tech as said you don't have to worry about the earned income tax credit or the child tax credit because they don't expire until next year. well, i would respectfully suggest that if we follow that path and waited until 2017, not in the context of this total package, i think we are putting at risk significant tax relief for working low-income americans and their families. left alone, there would be a huge price to be extracted from some in congress who aren't particularly supportive of this democratic priority. it would put at risk the support

for these 16 million americans, half of whom are children, 164,000 residents of oregon. i think adopting it in this package and making it permanent is a far superior approach to guarantee that. then roll up our sleeves and work on the provisions together and there will be lots to argue about, but in the meantime i feel comfortable supporting those priorities and particularly for low and moderate americans. mr. brady: i would like to yield to mr. reed. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for 1 1/2 minute. mr. reed: i thank the gentleman for jackson lee and the folks on the other side of the aisle that have come together to support this legislation as i do today, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, hardworking taxpayers across america deserve

a fair, simpler tax code. a tax code that allows them to be keep more of their hard earned dollars. that's why i support this legislation as it is a step in the right direction along that path. the other important aspect of this legislation is it brings certainty to our manufacturers. the energy sector. in regards to these provision that is are tome paragraph requirely extened each and every year as my colleagues have recognized over and over again and now to large extent we make permanent. that allows them to plap for tomorrow. that allows them to make the i vestments -- investments with their hard-earned dollars in the places they choose to put money. they can lee on a tax code that is certain, simpler, and fairer on their behalf. we also in this bill take care of hardworking families. we also take care of people like our bill with the mortgage forgiveness act, the america gives more act, where we talk about charitable donation of

food inventories. that is the right policy for american people. that is the right policy for hardworking taxpayers across america. and i am glad that we have on the floor today an opportunity to semdem straight to our hardworking taxpayers that we care about them and we are going to put their interest first and foremost rather than washington, d.c.'s and those of the elected officials here. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york yields back the balance of his time of the the gentleman from texas reserves. gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i'm very pleased to yield two minutes to another key member of our committee who brings such local business sense to the issue of taxes, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. kelly. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for two minutes. mr. kelly: i thank the chairman. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support. this is one of the things that i think really makes us a little different. it is about certainty. where i'm from there's an old saying if you don't know where you're going any road will get you there.

people that run business vs. to know where they are going before they start. so this does bring some honesty to what it is we need to do. pu in a time where people talk about i and me, i want to talk about all the other people, the wes that got together. this is truly a joint effort between a lot of staff members, not just members of congress, but staff members. so if i could just for a second i want to thank the committee's team, george, mark, harold, john, aaron, and den i ever. they have -- and jennifer. they have put in unbelievable amounts of time on this to get this done not for the republican party but the american people. at this hing it is time of the year to actually give back and do something for others and do it in a way that just makes common sense to everybody out there who has to know where it is that they are going. there's something about

certainty that gives us the confidence to go forward. that gives us that assuredness that we can actually get there. this is an incredible opportunity. this is really historical. so i want to thank members on both sides and i think for the american people they'll sit back and say this is the place where these guys get together or girls can't get together on anything. this is truly bipartisan. it's taken a lot of work by a lot of people. i want to thank you for what you did. you incredible people, great patriots. thanks so much. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania yields back the balance of his time of the the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i yield two minutes to another distinguished member of our committee, mr. kind from wisconsin. the speaker pro tempore: gentleman from wisconsin is recognized for two minutes. mr. kind: i thank my friend for yielding. mr. speaker, i am all for certainty. i'm all for predictibility. i'm all for a lot of the policy initiatives contained in this legislation before us. but what i am not in favor of is the fact that this bill is not paid for.

not a nickel of it is offset. when i go home to wisconsin i constantly hear from folks back home for congress to pay our bills. to get our fiscal house in order. this legislation doesn't do t it's $700 billion over the first 10 years that explodes to $2 trillion in the second 10 years. there is nothing more dangerous for the long-term success of social security and medicare or our children's future than these end of the year large tax cut packages that are not paid for, that are not offset. it's a missed opportunity. we should be doing this within the context of comprehensive reform. i submit that by going forward and making permanent many of these provisions in the legislation today, it takes the wind out of the sails of tax reform in the future. there's been an impliesity agreement when we do comprehensive reform is that we are going to do it in a way that builds uncertainty, encourages investments, makes us more competitive globally. but we don't blow a hole in the deficit in our children's future

at the same time. chairman camp recognized that with his discussion draft. hard choices he made. the lowering of rates and broadening of the base. we are ducking that responsibility here today. the irony is that for every bipartisan deficit reduction commission that's been asked to try to come up with plan to get our fiscal house in order have reached the same conclusion. we are going to need some additional revenue in the future and long-term spending reforms in order to accomplish it. this legislation fails on both of those fronts. i would encourage my colleagues to vote no on this legislation. we can continue temporarily to extend many of these important provisions today but let's keep the pressure on comprehensive reform by doing this now, i submit, we are punting on the opportunity in the very short future to take on a tax code that's been long overdue for reform since 1987. i encourage my colleagues to vote no and i yield back the

remarne of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas virginia tech. mr. brady: i am pleased to yield a minute and a half to a key member of our committee who has extensive business experience, the gentleman from ohio, mr. renacci. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. renacci: thank you, mr. chairman i want to thank you and your staff for the hard work. mr. speaker, i rise today in the support protecting americans from tax hike act, the path act. i came to washington as a business owner and c.p.a. to reform our broken tax code and really protect hardworking american taxpayers. many of those taxpayers came to my office on an annual basis looking at many of these extenders and not understanding whether they were permanent or not permanent. whether they had the -- them or would have the opportunity to use these credits. this package here makes many of these credits permanent. the path act is an important first step forward. i say a first step forward in allowing us to reform our broken tax code.

this legislation will make several tax policies permanent such as the r&d credit and the small business expensing. it will provide certainty and predictibility to our businesses and individuals. and most important, it will help open the door to economic growth. this legislation also removes unnecessary tax compliance burdens. the path act includes a bill i introduced with many of my colleagues, including many on the bipartisan working group that i formed many years ago. this information reporting simplification act of 2015 is in the bill. this bipartisan commonsense legislation provides a safe harbor to eliminate the need to correct minor errors on tax forms that have de minimus impact on the tax liability outcome. and helps avoid the waste and time dollars for businesses and individuals that would otherwise have to refile their tax returns. mr. speaker, the path act is an important first step in fixing our tax code and i urge my

colleagues to join me in support. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman's time has expired. the gentleman from texas eserves. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: it's now my pleasure to yield 2 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. becerra. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for 2 1/2 minutes. mr. becerra: i thank the gentleman for yielding. there are pockets of americans who might like the tax break here for corporations or the tax break there for wealthy folks who want to donate some of their i.r.a. for the 320 million americans in the country and particularly for the 147 million americans who file federal tax returns, my guess is they are more concerned about their security and that of their children.

their personal security, our national security, and our economic security. after san bernardino, colorado springs, charleston, it newtown where americans were senselessly gunned down in our schools, at our work, and in our places of worship the american people want job one of this congress to be security. personal, national, and economic. so why two weeks after 32 americans were terrorized, 14 of them killed, in san bernardino, would we make this massive $600 billion tax break give away charged to the government credit card, because remember, it's not paid for. charged to the government credit card, why would we make that the first major legislation to come before this house for a vote? we can all agree that the f.b.i. does important work keeping us

safe. tracking down terrorists. we all agree that they need to do more. so why we be voting for this bill which would rob funding for everything from the f.b.i., food safety, to college pell grants. this bill costs the -- the costs just of this bill by themselves, the cost of this bill would fund the f.b.i. for the next 73 years. because remember, niece tax breaks are not paid for. we have to -- these tax breaks are not paid for. we have to pay for them somehow. if you add up the tax breaks, 73 funding for the f.b.i. why would we use the credit card to give people who could give up the i.r.a.s when most americans can't put enough money into one basic i.r.a. this is wrong-headed. these are not the american people's priorities. we could reform the tax code, but this is not the reform the american people are asking us for. asking us first and

foremost keep our eye on the prize, our security, my kids' security, your kids' security. our national security. and our economic security. you give a-- away this money to corporation and wealthy folks, guess what, can that guy who has to think about the job and whether she's safe at the job or he's safe at the job or worship safely, can they send their kids to college, buy that home, and retire in security? i urge my colleagues to vote no. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i'm pleased to yield one minute to a member of our ways and means committee that has focused op making american companies competitive here around the world, the gentleman from north carolina, mr. holding. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for one minute. mr. holding: the path act will provide much needed certainty to our nation's families and small businesses. most importantly lay the foundation for comprehensive tax reform. for far too long folks in north carolina had to face the burden of trying to grow their businesses and plan for foot ture while being forced to operate under a tax system

comprised of temporary tax provisions whose fate are unpredictibility. -- unpredictable. with this bill farmers m my district can purchase a new tractor without having to gamble whether congress will extend the provision. the research triangle park, innovative companies will final-l be able to access r&d considered as read to the further support their groundbreaking research without being concerned as to whether congress will extend the credit or not. mr. speaker, importantly it is imperative that we continue to build on this progress. this bill is an important first step towards comprehensive tax reform that simplifies the tax code, lowers the rate, and makes america competitive around the world. i urge my colleagues to support the path act and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: it's my pleasure to yield two minutes to the

gentleman from new jersey, distinguished member of our committee, mr. pascrell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. mr. pascrell: mr. speaker, let's cut to the chase. i support this legislation. it wasn't an easy decision. but i believe that democrats were able to get a lot of policy into the bill that's good for middle class. it's going to help 16 million americans out of poverty. n new jersey, 435,000 children and 219,000 families will lose some or all of their working family tax credits if we don't do this. this package includes a bill introduced by my friend, tom reed, and myself, to help put people back to work. our tax credit for businesses who hire long-term unemployed americans, and we have abandoned them, let's face it, that will

help those families who haven't yet felt the effects of our economic recovery. another bill, mr. likert from washington -- reichert from washington, calls it support our nation's hardworking teachers. you heard hem speak about it several minutes ago. mr. blumenauer from oregon said, these things pass routinely any way. who the heck are we kidding? the enemy of the good is the perfect over and over again we have proved that here on this floor. an important provision allowing public safety officers to withdraw from their pensions when they retire early without a tax penalty is included in this package. there are provisions that support mass transit commuters, small businesses, low-income housing, families paying college. and the earned income tax credit child tax credit is -- are

the biggest forces against poverty. i can't say enough about making these permanent. when faced between the choice of facing these priorities, i simply can't vote against them to prove a point that not everything is in there including the kitchen sink. the bill is far from perfect. and let me say this, mr. chairman, i think this has been a civil debate and that's healthy for us, all of us regardless of what happens. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i yield a minute and half, the gentleman from illinois, mr. dold. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. dold: i thank the chairman. we are voting on a historic bill, a bill as a small business owner wheng i came to -- when i

came to congress, it was making it harder for me. and they should be making it easier for me to open up my business. i hear from small businesses that they need more certainty. if they had the certainty they would be able to move forward, and instead they sit on their hands. these tax policies we are voting on today and what a difference a year makes. a year ago, we were extending these tax extenders and we made it for one year, which was retroactive. retroactive tax policy, i can't ne. ine anything so assasi we want to talk about moving our country forward, this r&d tax credit is vital. for small businesses, we are

jump starting our economy and growing more american jobs. it's not just for the businesses. we are also protecting families and helping families pay for higher education. we have incentives for charitable giving. some that say the government should determine where the dollars go. putting that choice in the hands of the american people where they can put those dollars, those dollars will go so much further. that's the type of bipartisan legislation that the american people not only want but expect from this body. so as we also have so many other i at things in this package, urge my colleagues to come in a bipartisan way and pass this package. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: it's my pleasure to yield two minutes to an active member of our committee, mr. davis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized.

mr. davis: i have been told that all that admitters is not gold. and there isn't much that is absolutely perfect. and this extender package certainly is not. however, i'm pleased to note that it does make the child tax credit permanent. the american opportunity tax credit permanent. the earned income tax credit permanent. expands deductions for expenses for elementary and secondary school teachers, expands deductions for state and local sales tax, extends deductions for research activity, which helps to create jobs. the new market tax credit has been beneficial to districts like mine, all over the country. and i'm indeed pleased to see it extended. the work opportunity tax credit is a god send, long-term

unemployed. i have worked on an issue called work colleges and i'm pleased to note the exemption for students who worked under this provision. i'm pleased to note the elimination of residency requirktse for disabled individuals who are eligible. i'm pleased to note the exclusion for wrongfully incarcerated individuals. mr. speaker, these extensions are good. i'm not sure that they're going to do enough. they're not paid for. and i'm not sure that they're going to do as much for low and moderate-income families as i had hoped, but i'm convinced that they will do good. but i'm not sure that they will do enough. and i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: i yield one minute to the one of the members of the ways and means committee, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. meehan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. meehan: let me express my support on this. i try to think how it makes a difference in their lives, for a person looking for a job and jobs are created for small business and this is the kind of a program which we have given certainty to the entrepreneurs that will create new jobs and therefore, new revenue by somebody who is back to work. we appreciate teachers taking money out of their own pocket. it's not a big dollar amount but we say thank you for making a commitment to our children. we have conservation easements that will allow us to protect

beauty in which open space continues to be an issue. in the issue of health care, families struggling with diseases that we have the research and development to make a change and then ultimately when we have the products that we can bring to market, we are not taxing them and driving them further away. i urge my colleagues to be supportive. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania yields back. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i yield to the gentleman from illinois, mr. roskham. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 1 1/2 minutes. mr. roskam: you know, not long ago the internal revenue service reached out its long arm and ried to get between donors and

501 c-4, 5 and 6 organizations and the i.r.s. did something. they created a false impression and sent letters to donors that had a chilling effect and said that we know you made this contribution, but we think we may have a tax liability for you there. you can imagine how this had a shuddering effect all throughout these areas. unless people think that this is a left-right issue, it's not. it's left and right that were both under a threat here. i'm pleased in this extenders' package is something that has had broad bipartisan support and bicameral support and support from both the political left and the political right and that is c 4, 5 hat gifts to 501 and 6 organizations should be tax exempt and the i.r.s. ought

not be manipulating, intimidating and so forth. what this does is make sure that the i.r.s. is boxed in and that there is no gift tax liability. i strongly support this package. i thank chairman brady and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i yield one minute to the gentlelady from indiana who has been a key proponent of tax relief for families and small businesses. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from indiana is recognized. mrs. walorski: mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of protecting americans from tax hikes act. i want to highlight two that will highlight indiana's economy. the research and development tax credit has relied on short-term extensions leaving innovators incomplete limbo. today we are making it permanent

giving innovative industries the confidence to make investments here in the united states. indiana is also home to 300 medical device companies employing over 20,000 people and stands to benefit greatly from this certainty. i'm also thrilled today that we are delaying the damaging medical device tax for two years. this misguided tax will cost jobs, harm patients and i look forward to the day that we can fully repeal it. mr. speaker, our tax code is a mess, but today, we have an opportunity to give certainty to individuals to families, charities and job creators. and we can take another step forward toward comprehensive tax reform. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan reserves. mr. levin: reserve. mr. brady: i yield one minute to the gentleman from south carolina who is a strong proponent of pro growth tax

reform, mr. sanford. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise as a fiscal hawk and one who believes passionately in the issue of the debt debt and deficit and government spending but we can't pretend our way to fixing those problems and first part of fixing the problem is recognizing that you have a problem. yet, the reality is for the last 30 years or so, we have pretended that which was permanent was not permanent which makes overall this notion of tax recorm incredibly difficult. it's true with regard to tax policy as well. i just applaud the committee for the way they moved us to a place where we can move to a fair tax, flat tax, change in the tax code that would make the system fair and flatter and more equitable for all and get rid some of the provisions that don't belong in

the tax code. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: is the chairman ready to close? i will do so. i yield myself the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for three minutes. mr. levin: well, here we go again. $621 billion added to the ficit and when you include interest on the deficit, far more. no hard choices. we're making a bad choice. there's been lots of talk here about certainty. what is certain with this bill is that it will lead to further starving at what the republicans call the beast, adequate,

domestic spending for education, or health, for job training, for nutrition programs. and what is also certain is that is it's going to make it easier for republicans to cut taxes for the very wealthy. that has always been one of the major purposes of all these bills that have come all these months these last couple years, adding up to even more than this for king permanent unpaid- tax cuts. it's also certain with this bill that we will keep loopholes that need to be closed. for all of these reasons, i think the cost is much too high,

much too high. there are some important provisions here, but their significance, i think is really overwhelmed by the fact that we're going to add money to the deficit and have the consequences for the long-term. i urge opposition to this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan yields back. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized for 2 1/2 minutes. mr. brady: i thank the ways and means members who have for years and years worked on making these important tax relief provisions permanent, who continued with me to stay at the table to work through an agreement that finally provides tax relief to families and businesses can count on. it wouldn't have been possible without an extremely talented

professional staff, our tax team led by george and did remarkable work in crafting this tax relief a permanent measure and for that, i say thank you. this is a historical day. today is business as usual in congress and we take an important first step in pro-growth tax reform. this provides tax relief for families and businesses. it reins the i.r.s. to protect taxpayers and includes the first anti-fraud provisions in the tax credit programs since the 1990's. . it spends no more than what we spend each year as congress lurches december to december trying to decide what's pem, what's temporary. what can people count on?

today we heard arguments that these tax savings advances terrorism, starves children, apparently responsible for the breakup of the beatles. the truth of the matter is, extending these provisions year by year is no less the -- the math is no different than simply acknowledging that's going to be done and doing it permanently so that we can actually create tax relief our families and businesses can count on. this is not the end of tax reform. this is a serious first step to pro-growth tax reform that's built for growth. built for the growth of families' paychecks. built for the growth of our local businesses. built for the growth of america. we've got work to do. today we start that

[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2015] a final vote on that legislation takes place tomorrow. after its considered by the house, senate will then need to measure to avoid a government shutdown. current funding runs through december 22. you can watch the house live on c-span when members gavel back n friday at 9:00 a.m. eastern. >> american history tv, every weekend on c-span3. saturday night at 8:00 eastern, on lectures in history, louisiana state university history professor andrew bureau seen it on the enlightenment era in the united states. a time prior to the american revolution, whose emphasis was scientific reasoning and ideas that shape the politics and morals of that generation. by e starts out in 1727