hayden to be the chief librarian of the library of congress. are so happy that her mother joined her today. i feel a close relationship with both of them. colleen is also a social worker. by the way, the maryland delegation is not trying to change the constitution. there only two senators elected at the moment. but senator sarbanes is also a very active member of the board and he is here with us today to show support and solidarity. as you look out in the audience, you see a unique group of people of all ages and diversity who are here to support dr. hayden as well. these are the people of the board and the executive advisory committee who on their own time and own dime worked to make the library one of the best and premier library systems in america. and the fact she has such broad support i think indicates what her leadership has been. she's been the ceo of the library for over 20 years. her nomination is bittersweet. it will be a great gain for the nation but a loss for baltimore. she once again will be a first, the first african american to

in the 113th congress. the budget apparently will cut $157 billion from the supplemental nutritional assistance program. over a 10-year period. the republican budget that came out of the committee would cut roughly $2 trillion from medicaid. when i was on the -- when i was on the committee, the number was $700 million. i thought that was out of control. $700 million. now we're at $2 trillion. over a 10-year period, apparently. then we've got cuts in higher education, the proposal is $185 billion over 10 years. you have to ask the question, why would anyone propose such da cronian cuts? -- such draconian cuts? and the answer is clear, this is not something that is often talked about, but the objective is to create a situation where you can dramatically lower the tax rates for the wealthiest amongst us. the top tax rate right now is 39.6%. but what the budget that has been put forth by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would do is it would create two tax rates. one at 10% and the other at 25%. so wh

hayden to be the chief librarian of the library of congress. re happy that her mother, colleen, has joined her today. she is also a sister social worker and the maryland delegation is not trying to change the constitution. there are only two senators elected at the moment but senator's our veins is a very active member of the board and today to show support and solidarity. as you look out in the audience, you see a unique group of people of all ages and diversity who are here to support dr. hayden as well. of there the people board and executive advisory committee who on their own time and own dime work to make the library one of the west and premier librarian systems in america. the fact she has such broad support indicates what her leadership has been. she's been the ceo of the library over 20 years and her nomination is bittersweet. for the be a great game nation, but it will be a loss for baltimore. will be very proud if dr. hayden is confirmed because she will be a first -- the first african-american and the first the librarian of congress.

in some ways the budget act was different than this. it was a comprehensive way for congress to tackle priorities, take them on through a special set of committees they create, it was in some ways in experiment creating a shadow set of committees could bring the rest of the congress to bay. it probably was the other way around. the budget committees are influential by exception, only the extent to which the leaderships adopt them as their pet process to effectuate leadership reforms is the budget committee's work gaining leverage. a lot of us would like to see that change to some extent. a lot of us would like to see a budget where we as a nation periodically enact priorities and changes in priorities and the like. i'm going to talk today about one possible proposal along those lines, recognizing that reformers' experiments are likely to be -- to take 20 years to reach fruition. i have a nice, long gestation period i provided for myself. this process is something we call portfolio budget and it's a product of the work of the national budget round table that myself and maya an

the library of congress should continue to be a leader. i would be honored to be part of the legacy and a compliments of my predecessors in this position, to be part of a continuing movement to open the treasure chest that is the library of congress. this can be done without threatening the library's core responsibilities to support and advise congress, to serve users of the copyright office, and assist researchers who benefit from its exhaustive collection here if confirmed, it would be my privilege to join the dedicated staff and supporters of the library to ensure that andtreasures are secured treasured for years to come. thank you for your consideration and i look forward to answering your questions. you, we are going to start with a five-minute round of questions and there will be a time for a second round, so we will stay pretty close to five minutes on that first round and people can ask other questions later if they have time to state. you mentioned your predecessor, his 28 years in the library, saw lots of growth in the library, lo

the alexander hamilton notes are down in the library of congress. ere are all sorts of various notes. one of the great things about digital libraries is a group of people are working hard to get more of those up on the web. brian: did you see the acres dar hamilton notes? >> they said look at the micro delim film. >> i had access. brian: how many of the other notes did you read? >> i read all of them and all collected in volume done in 1911, but i didn't look at all of them. one of the things i hope the book produces is people looking at these notes to see what degree those notes were written later or revised. brian: when we covered an vent of yours, i think you talked about the portrait when he was 32 years old and put it on screen so you can see it. why is this of interest to you? mary: i love this portrait. there is some debate over whether it's done when the library of congress dates it to the early 80's. or whether it represents him as a younger man. on this one, i'm going with the library until it's proven differently. i think it shows them the

in some ways the budget act was different than this it was a comprehensive way for congress to tackle priorities, take them on through a special set of committees they create, it was in some wayance experiment, creating a shadow set of committees could bring the rest of the congress to bay. it probably was the other way around. the budget committees are influential by exception, only the extent to which the leaderships adopt them as their pet process to effectuate leadership reforms is the budget committee's work gaining leverage. a lot of us would like to see that change, to some ex-pent. a lot of us would like to see a budget where we as a mation enact priorities and changes in priorities and the like. i'm going to talk today about one possible proposal along those lines, recognizing that reformers' experiments are likely to be -- to take 20 years to reach fruition. i have a nice, long gestation period i provided for myself. this process is something we call portfolio budget and it's a product of the work of the national budget round table that butler d maya and co-chair a group of

the commissioner. this is one of our most important roles in congress. and hold our agencies accountable and with that mission, i appreciate the gentleman for the opportunity to speak a few moments and i urge my colleagues to support this h.res. 494 to impeach the i.r.s. commissioner. i want to thank my good friend for leading this special order and i yield back. mr. desantis: i thank the gentleman and it's my pleasure to recknies my colleague from the great state of florida, who is really a stalwart in terms of bringing accountability to government, ted yoho. . yoho: i thank my colleague and i say good evening, mr. speaker. this is a great moment in time and i appreciate you bringing this up and this is an important issue and this is something that every american has a vested interest in. and the topic of tonight's discussion is important one. one that demands attention. my district and i have never been a fan of the i.r.s. it wreaks terror and in a perfect world we would eliminate it all together. when you consider their actions of targeting conservativ

that teach a sense of the temper of congress in those days. a perfect uproar like babel worst forth every two or three minutes as mr. a was as bold surgery would smite his cleaver into the very bones. at least half of the slaveholding members of the house left their seats and gathered in a quarter of the hall where \mr.{-|}\mister a stood. whenever any of them broke, mr. a would say i see where the shoe pinches, mr. speaker. nipple pinch more yet. they will fight hard to digest. if i get through every slaveholder, slave trader and slave breeder on this floor, will not get mentors for bitter reflection it shall be no fault of mine. on monday the 23rd, adams picked up where he left off, i've been reading one anti-slavery petition after another. this time the speaker ordered him to his chair adams refused, kept on his feet hours on end. his fear allies, putting the anti-slavery champion joshua giddings of ohio gather protectively by his side. the leaders of the slave factions got up from their seats to hover nearby less they miss the work of the o

the easiest way for congress to pass a law, clarifying the clean water act. but congress has chosen not to do that. so the obama administration has done what it should do, using its power to promulgate a regulation that would provide clarity to which bodies of water are regulated. and guess what? they've done that in a way that's consistent with how the law was enforced prior to the rapanos decision. without much complaint before the rapanos decision. it basically goes back to best science, tells us logically what needs to be regulated, and that's what this rule would do, protect our clean water. now there's a lot of misinformation that's been given about the clean water rule. quite frankly, normal farming activities don't require any new permits, any permits under the clean water act. and if you would listen to some of the arguments against the clean water act, you would have a hard time comparing that to what in fact is in the bill. so the clean water act would reestablish the well-thought regulatory framework for protecting our clean water so that we don't

we are pleased that the congress has taken action. a lot of large dollar savings have come from congressional action n. a number of area where is the agencies have taken action it's because of congressional urging as well. there is a lot more that could be done. i'm pleased to be here today to talk about the opportunities. s in addition to the new areas that we have added to the list. thank you for holding this annual hearing. it makes a difference. in getting support. i will pass on to our staff your thanks and appreciation for their hard work. mr. chairman, congressman cummings. thank you for your comments. be happy to answer questions at the appropriate point. >> thank you. mr. dalrymple, you are recognized for five minutes. >> chairman chafitz, members of the committee. i'm here to discuss findings of the government accountability office related to the sixth annual review of duplicative programs. we appreciate gao studies of the irs and programs. their findings, insights and recommendations are invaluable to us as they help assure

those are the programs that continue to grow and grow and grow unless congress and the president, congresshe administration, are able to reach an agreement about how to reform them. that might not be all bad if it weren't for the fact that the majority of those programs are going broke. medicare, social security, other mandatory programs, unsustainable. at home i get this all the time. people say, aren't those programs unsustainable? i says yes. think about what you just said? that means they will not be sustained. means they're not going to continue. and so we believe that it's irresponsible and reckless not to address these unsustainable programs. so we believe it's important to lay out a path for saving and strengthening and securing met compare and medicaid and social security. but the budget itself doesn't -- isn't able to touch those. that's on the mandatory side of the budget. the number -- the only thing that is able to be enforced on the budget side is that 302a, that discretionary number. what bet the unauthorized programs? we have a process right now would the majority of nondef

the last few years of congress have been the most unproductive ever. >> rep. rick nolan: yeah, it's unbelievable. i didn't hardly recognize the place when i came back. >> o'donnell: congressman rick minnesota, is also co-sponsoring the stop act. nolan was first elected to congress in 1974 but served just six years. he returned in 2013. >> nolan: it seems like i took a nap and i came back and i say, "wow, what-- what happened to this place? what's happened to democracy?" i mean, the congress of the united states has hardly become a democratic institution anymore. >> o'donnell: why? >> nolan: well, because of all the money in politics, in my judgment. >> o'donnell: what has your party said about how members of congress should raise money? >> nolan: well, both parties have told newly elected members of the congress that they should spend 30 hours a week in the republican and democratic call centers across the street from the congress, dialing for dollars. >> o'donnell: 30 hours a week? >> nolan: 30 hours is what they tell you you should spend. and it's discouragi

pelosi: it's the congress of the united states. the congress of the united states, each one of us has a responsibility to weigh in on our doing our job. and wherever the buck stops, the fact is congress is not doing its job. and these are emergencies. these are emergencies, zika, flint and others, so i'm not getting into what goes on in the republican conference. you'll have to ask them about it. reporter: but at the end of the day that's the issue, they were unable to move major bills under speaker boehner. he's responsible now and do you fault him in some way as being the person at the top? ms. pelosi: i'm saying it's a dysfunctional republican congress. they have been obstructionists in terms of congress acting and doing its job. they've been obstructionists to the president's initiatives and now they want to make the third branch of government, the judiciary, and incomplete body and not being able to function fully. so this is the attitude that exists in their caucus. as you saw, only 30-some members who are able to threaten to

why is the congress being held now? >> traditionally communist countries convene the party congress every power shift period. for the last 36 years pyongyang regime didn't have a justifiable moment to convene the event. this year started off with a nuclear test and long-range missile test. with that self-proclaimed success kim jong-un saw the coming may as the right time to show off his accomplishments. the congress will last four or five days. the event could signal a new kim jong-un era with no dramatic policy changes. the congress will present new guidelines to proclaim kim's so-called pyongyang policy, which is simultaneous pursuit of nuclear and economic development. >> and what will you be watching for? >> kim jong-un will be on the main stage as an actor while commander in chief of the party congress. also, the generational shift in terms of key elites of the regime on the key issues. the media-oriented event is likely to celebrate the status of the country as a nuclear weapons state. kim jong-un will once again c

the next librarian of congress. the nominee and the 14th librarian of congress. her successor served for they worked and dr. hayden was the first to be a pointed for a term of ten years. there was no reason to believe they couldn't be reappointed and that's the first time to get lots of things done. she met with members of the senate and i know you are supported by your mother. it's always good to have your mother with you. they are sitting right there behind her and they have other places in the middle of the country. we certainly are glad to be joined by our two colleagues and if you would like to start, i would like you to be the first person to interview them to the committee. >> thank you very much. and we know senator schumer, you as well. we nominated them to be the chief librarian of the library of congress. we are so happy that her mother joined her today. i feel a close relationship with both of them. colleen is also a social worker. by the way, the maryland delegation is not trying to change the constitution. there only two senators elected at the momen

brian: where are the notes at the library of congress? >> they are in a big vault at the library of congress and you need special permission. most people don't need to go that far and you can see it on the website and the library has a wonderful website. or this weather.com, it was -- for this website, it was important to look at the notes. i could go down and see it. i kept my hand behind my back the entire time and only touched them. brian: why did it take two years? mary: they don't want a regular person to see it. they are considered a national treasure. and the library is very cautious about it. after a while, they decided that some of the questions i raised about the notes were worth investigating. but it took them a while. brian: what does the vault look like, and where is it in the library and where did you look at the notes? mary: that was the best part of the project. some of madison's letters, they hold in the reading room and if someone is explaining why, inside the inner section of the library, down the elevator, around the co

congress sets the rules. congress funds the i.r.s. congress passes that crazy internal revenue code that people hate and then blame the i.r.s. for administering what congress passed. i'm mystified if this is not just a stunt to try and divert attention from the fact that congress and the republican leadership has been attacking the i.r.s., defunding it, making its job a difficult job under the best of circumstances, why not apply it to congress? why shouldn't we set the example? particularly when we have more people under our employment who are on that big list. don't we lead by example? shouldn't people look to us? the hypocrisy in not allowing my amendment to apply to congress may be one of the reasons why congress is the only entity in the federal government that has probably lower ratings than the i.r.s.. it's because we are not willing to be accountable. because we play games. because we do things that we know will never be enacted into law but is a good sound bite on somebody's website or a quick interview. i'm going to reintrodu

we do that every year for the congress. because in some cases, it may make sense to have that and in other cases not. but in no case should it be an excess of what the needs are. >> right. and i just use that as a generalization. not in specific. i think you would have to look at each agency individually. but the point is, it's not sound fiscal management. >> that is correct. that's why we focus on it. >> mr. dalrymple, i want to direct some questions to you about the tax gap. and the inspector general for the tax administration, the treasury inspector general, issued a report and in his report he said that there needs to be more timely and more accurate estimates of the tax gap. currently, the irs reports this about every five years. has the irs acted on the inspector general's recommendations? >> we intend to have the new tax gap out -- report out later this month, as a matter of fact. we're acting on it as we speak. >> can you tell me how much the irs collected, what was the revenue total collected for the last fiscal yea

the budget as most of you know does three things in congress. ets the 302 a number, the number that the appropriators can spend on the discretionary side for the next fiscal year. it lays out in the budget window, the ten-year window. it lays out the vision for the challenges that we face. whether it's the majority budget or whether it's the minority budget or the other budget that's offer. oftentimes it's used an and opportunity to say this is how we address the challenges that we face. finally the third thing that it does is something that's not used terribly often but an incredibly powerful tool, the whole issue of reconciliation. a process that allows the congress to address spending or revenue or debt in a way that doesn't make a whole lot of difference in the house to the process but in the separate it allows us to move a piece of leng las vegas forward with a simple majority. doesn't require a super majority so you can get around the 60-vote margin in the senator. so it's pretty straightforward. ought to be easy to do, right? last year we

we are pleased that the congress has taken action. a lot of the large dollar savings have come from congressional action. and also, a number of areas where the agencies have taken action it's because of congressional urging as well. there is a lot more that could be done. i'm pleased to be here today to talk about the opportunities. in addition to the new areas that we have added to the list. thank you for holding this annual hearing. it makes a big difference in getting support. i will pass on to our staff your thanks and appreciation for their hard work. mr. chairman, congressman cummings. thank you for your comments. be happy to answer questions at the appropriate point. >> thank you. mr. dalrymple, you are recognized for five minutes. >> chairman chaffetz, ranking member cummings, members of the committee. i'm here to discuss findings of the government accountability office related to the sixth annual review of duplicative programs. we appreciate gao studies of the irs and programs. their findings, insights and recommendations are

we have, the congress we have, not the country and congress we all wish we had. we live in an era of huge, complex financial markets and we have learned again and again and again that those markets fail, sometimes wiping out $13 trillion, the net worth in this country, in a month. somebody has to be looking at the whole system and looking to shore up its weaknesses. a broken an era of appropriations process. it is chaotic. today's congress is not madison's perfect vision. so regardless of the ideals of article 1 in the institution, the reality today is that moving an agency into a chaotic appropriation process is to subject that agency to that very same chaos, to uncertain funding, to the risk of shutdown, to the risk of shutdown and back room deals. so let's find a budget resolution, fix the appropriations process and then maybe, just maybe, maybe we can talk about moving agencies into the appropriations process. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. ms. waters: i yield the gentleman an additional minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlema

and the executive. congress in the sense that it causes them to say we're going to write even vaguer statutes and punt to the executive which we can then blame if we don't like the rules they write, and the executive because the executive then says, all right, we have free rein to write the regulations we want as we want hem or as the president wants them. do you agree with that? >> i think it's hard to generalize about the effects on congress an owl of this because congress sr. on all of this because congress is 535 people, and there are different statutes and different areas where they do this. i think what happens often times in congress is there is disagreement about something, and they can't resolve it, and they, the compromise sometimes is to punt the issue to the agency. and if they do that through broad, capacious terms, you know, our job is to the to interfere with that decision. sometimes, however, the compromise in congress is to draw maybe a line in between the two positions, and then the agency want

i demand you shut them out, that gives you a sense of the temper of congress. perfect uproar would burst forth every two minutes as mister a with his bold surgery would smite his cleaver into the very bones. at least half of the slaveholding members of the house left their seats and gathered a quarter of the hall, whenever any of them broke, mister a would say i see where the shoe pinches mister speaker, it will pinch more yet. and it is hard to digest if before i get through every slaveholder, slave trader and slave reader on this floor does not get materials for bitter reflection it shall be no fault of mine. on monday the 23rd, adams picked up where he left off, reading one anti-slavery petition after another. adams kept on his feet hours on end, his few allies including the anti-slavery champion joshua giddings of ohio who gathered protectively by his side. and unless they miss a word, to throw those insults at him that was described. adams pulled another page from a sheaf of papers held close to his chest. he turned to the speaker. and i hold in my hand the

about the fact that it is much harder for congress to act and for the president to act. if were left with a framework that depends on congress acting then we have a problem in congress has a problem. it is never going to be the -- be able to act as quickly or as clearly as the president, especially in times of emergency. >> as we're getting toward the end of the program, i want to tell you about some upcoming cases. we will be with us until the mid-december. it will read air on c-span and -- it will re-air on c-span and available to watch on her website. if you been watching, you know that we have published a book, collection of pieces that are backgrounds to these cases written by tony mauro who was been covering the court for 30 years. it is a book called "landmark cases" and available for $8.95. it is available on her website, www.c-span.org. you will find a how to order. we will get a free quickly for the rest of the series and you can see the background of earlier cases we have done. let's hear from larry in colorado. you are on. >> good evening. what a wonderful epi

that is not the case now. congressated from the grant program because of the high costs, but the implementation of the water policies by successive administrations did not retreat with congress's retreat from funding. quite the contrary, the administration transformed the aspirational goals into unfunded main dates, involving hundreds of billions of dollars of costs imposed on local communities. let me give you some examples. cities are held by epa policy to an arbitrary number of no more than four overflows per year. however, there is no science substantiating the need for that. so in some cases, cities are allowed 14 while in other cases zero overflows. engineering a system that could handle any type of storm event with zero overflows is almost impossible, needlessly expensive and wasteful of local resources. in my own city, i have a river that is labelled as fishable and swimable. that river dries up in the summer to only four-inch deep pools of stagnant water. i can safely say that no one is ever going to swim in t

that is what the law requires. how does congress have to write a law to get the president to actually make sure this is executed? we have argued this sense brock -- since barack obama became president. i talk about this with conservative friends. tell me how the president can violate the constitution? this is a grievance to the supreme law of the land. we have a president who carries zero guilt about violating his role in office. this is political and he gets away with it. if he could, he would legalize millions of people that he thinks will vote for his party. this is about millions of undocumented democrats in the minds of barack obama and those on the left. for me, this is about conserving our country. [indiscernible] >> i am not that optimistic. we were there today. we need more of a 5-4 decision. this is an example of what we will get if we let the president name the next justice of the supreme court. we will get another sotomayor, focusing on the policy and not be legal issue. it is important for us to hold the line until next

it was passed by the congress of the united states. it allows the president of the united states to take the action that is being considered today. so, i will say to everybody that i am looking forward. i am very optimistic that next june, there will be 4 million people signing up not only for driver's licenses, but to protect their families. >> i thought the argument this morning was very encouraging. lofgren, the ranking member on the immigration subcommittee in the house of representatives. i thought the arguments were very encouraging. i think that justice breyer nailed it when he pointed out that this was a political dispute between texas and the president. texas is allowed to proceed every time the state disagrees with the president, and they will be filing a lawsuit. this is something that should not even be before the court, number one. number two, they made it abundantly clear the ability of the president to grant deferred action is long-standing and be based on statute and regulation. and to deny that would be an extraordinar

the budget does three things. in congress. it sets the 302-a number which is the discretionary number. the number that the appropriators can spend to on the discretionary side for the next fiscal year. it lays out in the budget window the 10-year window, it lays out kind of the vision for the challenges that we face. whether it's the majority budget or whether it's the minority budget or whether the another budget that's offered. oftentimes it's used as an opportunity to kind of say, this is how we would address the challenges that we face. and then finally, the third thing that it does, is something that isn't used terribly often but is an incredibly powerful tool, and that is the whole issue of reconciliation. reconciliation is a process that allows the congress to address spending or revenue or debt in a way that -- it doesn't make a whole lot of difference in the house to the process, but in the senate it allows us to move a piece of legislation forward with just a simple majority, doesn't require a supermajority, so you ca

this is the congress of the united states. we are supposed to do the work of the american people and we have people in crisis in my own hometown and we can't get congress to act. not on a budget. not on help for flint. not on zika. we need to do our job in the body of this united states congress. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> seek perfect nation to speak to the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, this week the supreme court heard oral arguments in the united states vs. texas case. this is the texas-led challenge to the president's executive orders on immigration. a challenge that i strongly support. by granting unilateral amnesty to five million illegal immigrants, the president has blatantly disregarded his duty to enforce our laws. instead he is trying to rewrite them all together. mr. marchant: it doesn't work this way. article 1 of the

the gop now possesses a clear working majority in both branches of congress. >> after 18 years on theical sidelines, republicans are back in control of congress. >> it's the first time since the depression that the republicans had real power in washington. and they were raring to go. they really wanted blood. >> galvanized, the republicans now target the white house. their candidate is tough, slick and camera-savvy. >> thomas dewey was an incredibly impressive guy. when he was a prosecutor, he went after the former head of the new york stock exchange, he went after lucky luciano. he was an incredibly successful governor of new york who created the state university system. who cut taxes. thomas dewey was a political superstar. >> in 1944, dewey had run against roosevelt, but nobody beats a popular president in war time. >> now roosevelt is dead and the country holds truman responsible for its economic woes. >> dewey is already seen as a man who can save us, a man who is heroic. >> what's the outlook, governor? >> the outlook is excellent, sir. >> and with the republican congress blocki

the vote. one example is cases involving congress people on the federal side. lot of things of value, a lot of corrupt action happened in illinois. he was prosecuted in the district in the district of columbia by then u.s. attorney eric holder. it's hard to imagine a situation where the convention happening in the state of ohio where there would be some sort of illegal conduct that would not touch ohio at all. if a client came to me and said i'm going to do this thing that's clearly illegal but i'm going to do around it by doing most of the stuff outside of ohio, i'd tell them to channel the republican party's nancy reagan and just say no. that's a very dangerous place to be. juries don't like those arguments and judges don't like those arguments. you don't want to be making those arguments from some jail cell in an appeals case. >> thank you for helping us understand this. it's good to be forewarned. thank you. >> thanks. >> the prospect of ohio prosecutors prowling the cleveland convention site when one of the contenders for the nomination is the ohio governo

government and the u.s. congress has been seeking for is nohan a decade, which nuclear weapons in iran, hypothetically, if we were to contemplate sitting away from the jcpoa, we would not be followed by our p5 plus one colleagues. quite the contrary, this would become an issue of extraordinary concern and division between ourselves and our p5 plus one colleagues. more importantly, it would be grasped by supporters of a nuclear program in iran, and by hard-liners in iran to assert that we were an unreliable arerlocutor, and that stepping away from the jcpoa would be a clear signal that they need to return to their nuclear weapons program with even greater urgency. we would see that is very dangerous. sen kaine: is it in the security interest of the world that we keep everyone on iran's activities rather than u.s. negotiating tactics? mr. shannon: as i noted, and as you noted, we are very focused on what iran is doing. it's very important in our diplomacy in our engagement with our partners that we highlight where ron

the paper act in this congress that would require the i.r.s. to send filing instructions and tax forms and paper format if someone traditionally files their taxes on paper. this seems pretty easy to me. while many of my constituents have concerns about how complicated their taxes are or how high their rates are, they want to pay their taxes. we should not be keeping them from doing so. i urge all of my colleagues to support this simple resolution. i think if the i.r.s. would stop going after individuals about their politics, they would have plenty of money to send out the forms. i yield basket remainder of my time. soipt gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: you ready to close? mrs. noem: i have no further speakers. mr. levin: i yield my southwest balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. levin: i respect the gentleman from michigan, my colleague, who talks about it becoming more difficult. the reason it's more difficult to reach the i.r.s. on the phone or to perhaps get the forms is b

before the congress. in fact, at that point we didn't know, which comes to a second point that i want to make to you and that is, if we look at some of the slides, you will notice there's a very painful slide my colleague put up and it says, reasons why the agreed framework failed. i don't think the agreement framework failed. i think the policy failed. in other words i think the framework was fine. the north koreans cheated on it. i think it's a fair question, when did they start cheating? right? how did they when they did? i actually don't know the answer to that. i don't know, for example, when i was sitting opposite at those wonderful lunches and dinners in geneva whether they were cheating then. i don't. i know when roughly we caught them which was in the late '90s but i don't know when they were doing it. then if you asked why they were doing it depending on when they started you might have one answer which puts a lot of responsibility on us and another answer puts the responsibility on the north. if

the purpose of the caucus is to create a national dialogue and to educate other members of congress and their staffs about the issues impacting hbcu's. as well as to address the needs of hbcu's and to support students and graduates of these institutions by increasing access and career opportunities. with the help of representative byrne, we have grown the caucus to 56 members now from both sides of the aisle, to -- over the course of this year. i'm proud to announce that the caucus is now bicameral, having the support of my home state senator of north carolina. those of us in congress have more to learn from our hbcu institutions and from the students that attend them. and that's why whether we first launched the caucus, our first goal was to listen. and we did just that. we listened. we've held several staff briefings on various topics impacting hbcu's. i hosted a round table in my district with presidents and representatives from 10 hbcu's in the 12th district of north carolina. i hosted a round table in my district as well with the former secretary of education, arne duncan, with pre

, not all the other federal courts. so we could, congress could, abolish all of the federal districts that are there. we could abolish them all. we could say there'll be no federal courts, it'll all be handled throughout supreme court itself. that's not a practical application but it's from a constitutional perspective. then i said to justice scalia that we could eliminate all the federal courts except the supreme court and the supreme court, we could over time reduce, there's no requirement that the supreme court have nine justices. or seven or five or three. we could reduce the supreme court of the united states down to the chief justice, there's no requirement that we build or fund a building or heat it or wire it for electronics or anything. there's no requirement that we have staff for any of the supreme court. the congress could crank all the federal courts down to just the supreme court, reduce the supreme court just the chief justice at his own card table with his own candle new york staff and no facility. that's the argument i made

that is what the law requires. how does congress have to write a law to get the president to actually make sure this is executed? we have argued this sense barack obama became president. i talk about this with my conservative friends. we will be able to have law enforcement regarding immigration. assault --agree just egregious assault to the letter of the law. the president carries zero guilt about violating the law. his calculation is purely political. the question is, can he get away with it? if he can, he wants to legalize the use of people that will vote for him. this is about millions of undocumented democrats in the mind of barack obama and many people on the left and that is what this case is about for them. for me, it is about the rule of law and conserving our constitution. i am not that optimistic when it comes to the law. today,are on the bench we need more of a 5-4 decision. this is an example of what we will get if we let the president named the next justice of the supreme court. sotomayor, another focusing on the polic

the j.v. team and describing them as contained. it took an act of congress to compel the president to submit a plan to defeat isil and violent extremists. over a month after the february deadline, his plan was pathetically released to seven pages. this is not a serious plan to protect american families eliminating terrorist safe havens. this is not a real plan because it does not directly reference radical islam or jihad once. it is not a real plan because it only outlines past activities. it clarifies the president's legacy of failure. sadly, it is clear that this does not provide a path to defeat isil and mass murderers. while i have confidence in our service members and military leaders, they deserve a clear mission. seven pages is not sufficient as american families are at risk of attack. in conclusion, god bless our troops and may the president by his actions never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from vermont seek recognition? mr. welch: t