mr. pitts, and the gentleman from minnesota, mr. peterson, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. pitts: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pitts: i rise in support of the resolution and call on the house to support reforming the sugar program in upcoming negotiations on the farm bill. just a few months ago, i offered a reform amendment to the farm bill that gained unprecedented support and which made modest but essential reforms to our government sugar program. today we debate this resolution, one that is even more modest but just as critical to bringing stability and balance to our sugar market. as a matter of fact, my resolution is even more timely. following our debate on this program, the government began shuffling out money to support sugar growers. $250 million worth in four months. we were told by the opposing side that it operated at no cost. we nee

mr. pitts: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in strong support of the f.d.a. safety act. since the senate will not negotiate with us about opening up the entire government, we will continue proposing commonsense bills to reopen ritical functions as soon as possible. this bill funds the f.d.a. and ensures that it performs important duties, including inspections of food, medical device, and pharmaceutical facilities. it makes sure that reviews of lifesaving new devices and drugs continue, that the government doesn't stand in the way of innovation. we have the most dynamic and productive medical research firms in the world. american companies and universitys are paving the way to incredible new cures. in fact, three american scientists were just honored with this year's noble prize in american for their research into how our cells function. americans can continue leading the world in this field, but we have to make sure that the f.d.a. conducts reviews promptly. let's get the f.d.a. back open and performing their important work, patients young and old are counting on it. wit

mr. pitts: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to speak in favor of the rule to consider it a resolution to reform the sugar program. at the time we passed the farm bill this summer, opponents of sugar reform were telling us that the program didn't cost taxpayers a dime. now just a few months later the program is costing taxpayers $250 million. sugar is the only commodity program in the farm bill that had no reform. even as other commodities were modified to put more risk on farmers, sugar continues to get its sweet deal. cotton, peanuts, dairy farmers will all see changes in the coming year, but not sugar farmers. it's a sweet deal that is sour for consumers, for taxpayers, and for businesses across the country. for consumers, those who use sugar, high prices mean they are paying an additional $3.5 billion a year. for taxpayers, low sugar prices mean bailouts, rising to hundreds of millions of dollars. for businesses, for those who use and consume sugar in the food industry, high sugar prices place them at a distinct disad

. >> mr. pitts, chairman of the health committee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome, madam secretary. have you personally tried to register or enroll on the website? >> sir, i created an early light account so i would see the prompts that were coming to people who were interested. i did work my way to the application feature fairly early on, but frankly i have affordable health care so i -- >> i just wonder if you've been through the process that millions of americans are having to go through. madam secretary, the initial website crashes appear to be largely a result of the decision to prevent browsing of the plans. cgi federal testified at our hearing last week that they had designed the website to allow users to browse and compare plans before having to create an account. ms. campbell told us that two weeks prior to the october 1st launch, they were told to turn off the browsing feature. were you aware in september that this decision was made? >> sir, i wasn't aware of that particular decision that was made by the cms team. i was aware that we were paring b

. >> mr. pitts. >> i thank the chairman. question to everyone. have any of you or your companies prepared memorandums or summaries explaining where the problems are with healthcare.gov? ms. campbell? would you submit those for the record, if you have? >> if we are allowed to do so, >> if we are allowed to do so, we have to get permission under our contract with c.m.s. >> but you have prepared summaries or memorandum? >> i wouldn't call them memorandum. i would say we probably have, you know, just a normal course we provided information about what's happening on our system. >> we'd appreciate if you'd submit that to the committee. mr. slavitt. >> nothing holistic in a you're striking to my knowledge. >> ms. spellecy. >> we don't have any involvement with healthcare.gov so we do not. >> mr. lau. >> likewise. >> all right. to c.g.i. and qssi. "the washington post" reported this week, quote, "when the website went live october 1, it locked up shortly after midnight as about 2,000 users attempted to complete the first step." is this true? ms. campbell

mr. pitts: this house overwhelmingly passed legislation providing for our military in cases of a government shutdown. we voted to provide them not only pay but benefits for themselves and their families. now, the president's lawyers at the department of defense are blocking death gratuities to families of those that made the ultimate sacrifice. families of soldiers killed in battle are being victimized by the department of defense. outrageous. today, congress will act again to make our wishes even more clear. the president is the commander in chief. he should not be using troops and their families as pawns in this political bickering. he should be doing everything he can to stand up for the men and women of our military. instead, he's refusing to negotiate until he gets his way. he's violating his trust as commander in chief and the troops and destroying the morale. divided government is hard, but it's what the people have given us. it requires negotiation and compromise. let's provide for our

. >> mr. pitts, chairman of the health committee. >> thank you, mr. chairman. welcome, madam secretary. have you personally tried to register or enroll on the website? >> sir, i created an early light account so i would see the prompts that were coming to people who were interested. i did work my way to the application feature fairly early on, but frankly, i have affordable health care, so i -- >> i wondered if you have been through the process that millions of americans are having to go through. madam secretary, the initial website crashes appear to be largely a result of the decision to prevent browsing of the plans. cgi federal testified at our hearing last week that they had designed the website to allow users to browse and compare plans before having to create an account. ms. campbell told us that two weeks prior to the october 1st launch, they were told to turn off the browsing feature. were you aware in september that this decision was made? >> sir, i wasn't aware of that particular decision that was made by the cms team. i was aware that we were pearing

. >> mr. pitts. >> i thank the chairman. question to everyone. have any of you or your companies prepared memorandums or summaries explaining where the problems are with healthcare.gov? ms. campbell. would you submit those for the record if you have? >> if we are allowed to do so, we have to get permission under our contract with c.m.s. >> but you have prepared summaries or memorandum? >> i wouldn't call them memorandum. i would say we probably have you know, just a normal course we provided information about what's happening on our system. >> we'd appreciate if you'd submit that to the committee. mr. slavitt. >> nothing holistic in a you're striking to my knowledge. >> ms. spellecy. >> we don't have any involvement with healthcare.gov so we do not. >> mr. lau. >> likewise. >> all right. to c.g.i. and qssi. "the washington post" reported this week, quote, "when the website went live october 1, it locked up shortly after midnight as about 2,000 users attempted to complete the first step." is this true? ms. campbell. >> that is true. >> 2,000. >> i

. >> mr. pitts. chairman of the health committee. >> welcome, madam secretary. you personally tried to register or enroll on the web site? >> sir, i created an early light account so would i see the prompts coming to the people interested. i did work my way to the application feature fairly early on but frankly i have affordable health care so -- >> no, i was wondering if you've been through the process millions of americans are having to go through. >> madam secretary, the initial web site crashes appear to be largely a result of the decision to prevent browsing of the plan. cgi federal testified at a hearing last week that they had designed the web site to allow users to browse and compare plans before having to create an account. miss campbell told twous two we prior to the october 1st launch they were told to turn off the browsing feature. were you aware in september that this decision was made? >> sir, i wasn't aware of that particular decision that was made by the cms team. i was aware we were pairing back some features to not put additional risk on the we

mr. pitts: the house passed a full veterans appropriations bill in june with a vote of 421-4. that bill was never taken up in the senate. if we cannot have our conferees negotiate on a full bill to open back up the government, we will act to protect the most vulnerable. today, we will again consider this bill and i hope that the dozen moifs democratic colleagues who supported this sensible measure last night will continue to stand with us. we have to make sure that we are serving those who served us on the field of battle. wounded warriors should not be used as pawns in this political bickering. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the entlelady from california is recognized. ms. woolsey: -- >> thank you, mr. speaker. instead of working on a bipartisan solution, the speaker made the reckless and irresponsible decision to shut down our government. this did not have to happen. there is bipartisan suppo

mr. conaway: i thank the gentleman for yielding time, i rise in strong opposition to the pitts-goodlatte amendment. we have already voted on this amendment provisions during the farm bill and the house voted to reject it. and i'm not sure why we are here again to retrade all of this issues. if the resolution were to pass and i hope our members remember how they voted in july and stick with that again this week, but because provisions in both bills in the house and senate are the same, this has less effect for the conferees to ignore it. we can and do grant extra access above and beyond the commitments if we need more. the farm bill says let's wait to see how much mexico is going to

pitts. again, with all due respect to mr. gruber, and i appreciate we have a disagreement here, i think the reality is gold, silver, bronze plans, the on difference is the fansiinancing. the mandates are feamostly identical and much more expensive. >> you mentioned thanksgiving. the web sites might not be ready for thanksgiving but the law is already a huge turkey in is about a system that is almost designed to fail. the president said failure is not an option. failure is designed in this program because what the president has said he wants is a single payor system and the soft middle and hard left wants it to fail so they can say we tried to work with the private system, it didn't work, we need more government involved, we need a single payor system. should that ever happen, investment goes down the toilet, innovation goes away. look to europe where one. single areas of largest growth is private insurance and private hospitals. if it fails, things will get worse rather than better. >> pete, with all due respect to our disagr

. >> mr. pitts. >> i thank the chairman. question to everyone. have any of you or your companies prepared memorandums or summaries explaining where the problems are with healthcare.gov? ms. campbell. would you submit those for the record if you have? >> if we are allowed to do so, we have to get permission under our contract with c.m.s. >> but you have prepared summaries or memorandum? >> i wouldn't call them memorandum. i would say we probably have, you know, just a normal course we provided information about what's happening on our system. >> we'd appreciate if you'd submit that to the committee. mr. slavitt. >> nothing holistic in a you're striking to my knowledge. >> ms. spellecy. >> we don't have any involvement with healthcare.gov so we do not. >> mr. lau. >> likewise. >> all right. to c.g.i. and qssi. "the washington post" reported this week, quote, when the website went live october 1, it locked up shortly after midnight as about 2,000 users attempted to complete the first step. is this true? ms. campbell. >> that is true. >> 2,000. >> i

. >> mr. pitts, chairman of the health committee. >> thank you, mr. chairman.come, madam secretary. have you personally tried to register or enroll on the website? >> sir, i created an early light account so i would see the prompts that were coming to people who were interested. i did work my way to the application feature fairly early on, but frankly, i have affordable health care, so i -- >> i wondered if you have been through the process that millions of americans are having to go through. madam secretary, the initial website crashes appear to be largely a result of the decision to prevent browsing of the plans. cgi federal testified at our hearing last week that they had designed the website to allow users to browse and compare plans before having to create an account. ms. campbell told us that two weeks prior to the october 1st launch, they were told to turn off the browsing feature. were you aware in september that this decision was made? >> sir, i wasn't aware of that particular decision that was made by the cms team. i was aware that we were pearing bac

the clerk: pitts of alabama, -- ey of georgia, gingrey the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman rise? >> i -- mr. hensarling: i call up the swaps regulatory improvement act and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: union calendar number 169, h.r. 99 , to improve sections of the dodd-frank wall street reform act relating to swaps entities. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 391, the bill is considered read. the bill shall be debatable for one hour equally guyed and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the committee oning aicalture and the chair nd ranking member of the committee. the gentleman from texas mr. conaway, the gentleman from texas mr. hensarling, and the gentlewoman, ms. waters each will control 15 minutes. mr. hensarling: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the record on h.r. 992 currently under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hensarling: i yield myself four m