doggett. mr. doggett: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the house bring up the senate amendment to h.j.r. 59, instead of leaving for a three-day weekend, that we open the government and go to conference on a budget and end this republican government shutdown. the speaker pro tempore: as the chair previously advised, the request cannot be entertained absent appropriate clearance. mr. doggett: ms. pelosi has cleared it. who's objecting? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is not recognized. the gentleman from virginia. mr. moran: mr. speaker, i'd like to yield for the purposes of a unanimous consent request, the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. pocan. mr. pocan: thank you. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the house bring up the senate amendment to h.j. resolution 59, to open up the government and go to conference on a budget so we can end this republican government shutdown that's costing the u.s. economy $160 million a day. . the speaker pro tempore: as the chair previously advised that request

doggett. without objection from each member will have the opportunity to spend a written statement and have it included in the record. i want to remind our witnesses pleased to limit their oral testimony to five minutes. however, without objection all the written testimony will be made a part of the permanent record. on our first panel this afternoon will be hearing from several of her own colleagues as mr. doggett said, and it sometimes unusual in the subcommittee hearing to have the interest of a number of members, so it's really an honor to have the four of you here. we'll be hearing from senator hatch via a video presentation later on. so the first panel is, today is the honorable erik paulsen of minnesota who, by the way, was acting chairman of this subcommittee last year. honorable louise slaughter of new york, honorable ted poe of texas, the honorable karen bass of california and as i mentioned, senator hatch of utah will present later. mr. paulsen, you're recognized for five minutes. >

doggett. without objection, each member will have the opportunity to submit a written statement and have it included in the record. i want to remind our witnesses pleased to limit their oral testimony to five minutes. however, without objection, written testimony will be made a part of the permanent record. on our first panel this afternoon, we have heard from several of our own colleagues. it is somewhat unusual for a subcommittee to have the interest of a number of members. to haveally an honor the four of you here. we will be hearing from senator via video presentation later on. the first panel is the honorable erik paulsen of minnesota, who by the way was acting chairman of this subcommittee last year. honorable texas, the karen bass of california, and unlimited, senator hatch of utah will present later. you aresen, recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman and ranking member, mr. doggett. i want to thank you for bringing to light an issue that is all too often ignored. it is

doggett: mr. speaker, surely no member of the house has expressed more interest in this subject than the founder of the foster youth caucus, our colleague from california, ms. bass, to whom i yield three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from california is recognized for three minutes. ms. bass: thank you. thank you, ranking member doggett. i rise today in support of the promoting adoption and legal guardianship for children and foster care act. -- in foster care act. i want to thank chairman camp and reichert and ranking member doggett for their ongoing commitment to our nation's foster youth. as co-chair of the congressional caucus on foster youth and the congressional caucus on adoption, i sincerely appreciate your leadership and partnership on this issue. since he 1997, when the adoption incentives legislation became law, we have seen a significant reduction of the number of kids in foster care and more importantly an increased number of kids in forever families. yet, there are

doggett. >> thank you, mr. chairman. while i am troubled by the determination of our republican colleagues to destroy the rights of americans to access affordable health care, i recognize the promise of affordable health care can be denied through management failure. i share some of the concerns that have been raised here this morning. if there were even one republican member of this committee who wanted to fix the shortcomings in the act and to learn lessons from the rollout about how to improve access, we could have a constructive hearing that focused on those limitations and how to address them. at the top of the list for any texan would surely be the million people that when we thought we were providing protection when we enacted this law who are getting absolutely nothing out of it. the limitations with the website are a part of the concern that i have. let me ask you specifically will the shop website for small businesses that was delayed be fully functional during november? >> yes. we will institute the shop compo

doggett, you are recognized. >> thank you very much. you talked about the caseload and saw several heads nodding back and forth amongst all of you as you discuss embrace issues, but just in terms of caseload, are there some national standards on what is appropriate for working your? how does that compare to what we have in texas? >> the child welfare league of america recommends that caseworkers are working with children in foster have a caseload of 12 to 15 children at a time. in texas, where at nearly double that recommendation. >> how do you find that in washington state? >> the caseloads i believe have been reduced over the course of the past decade, let's say, but we are still i believe, i believe on average in 1920. and particularly when you're working with vulnerable populations, you have to ask before you know when you have the particular vulnerable case of people on the caseload. and by that i mean children have been on the run from foster care. if you of 19 or if you can on your caseload, that's far too many. >> one aspect of

doggett: federal workers under sustained attack from the republican caucus deserve to have no further abuse, but approval of this bill is surely one of the more bizarre moments in a truly bizarre republican-controlled house. these gray con serve stewards refuse to allow our federal workers work and now today they approve legislation to pay them for not working. getting nothing for your tax dollar. that's the new republican tea party concept of fiscal responsibility. and the federal workers, even though they have paid leave now, are unhappy because of the uncertainty of not knowing from day-to-day, whether they will be called to work and not knowing whether that paid leave will arrive in time to meet their bills at the end of the month. paying federal workers not to work. a new level truly of absurdity in this politically manufactured government shutdown. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objectio

texas republican lloyd doggett says the impasses avoided now but extremist have not renounced brinksmanship schemes. this from marsha blackburn -- looking forward to conducting oversight on why 93% of epa workers are deemed nonessential. and new hampshire senator kelly ayotte says my office is in d.c. and new hampshire are open and have resumed normal operations. that's something we are seeing from a number of congress numbers. >> a 200-year-old clock stops ticking. time stand still. ohio clock, an easy metaphor for the government shutdown. >> we are standing just a few feet away from the united states senate chamber and the north the stench of the capital. the clock is behind me here, is the oldest clock in the united states capital. it was commissioned for the united states senate in 1815, ordered from a philadelphia clockmaker named thomas lloyd. >> one of the many reasons why these c-span video archives are so amazing. >> the video library is amazing. you can view and share c-span programming any time. go to c-span.org and go to the video library. to watch the newest audio, go to the mo

doggett. >> mr.peaker, i ask unanimous consent the senate bring up the senate amendment hjr 59 instead of leaving for a three-day weekend, that we open the government and go to conference on a budget and end this republican government shutdown. >> as the chair previously advised, the request cannot be entertained, absent appropriate clearance. >> mr. speaker, ms. pelosi has already cleared it. who's not clearing it? >> i'd like to yield for the purpose of a unanimous consent request for the gentleman from wisconsin. >> thank you. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the house bring up the senate to open up the government and go to conference on a budget so we can end this republican government shutdown that's costing the u.s. economy $160 million a day. >> as the chair previously advised, that request cannot be entertained absent appropriate clearance. gentleman from virginia. >> mr. speaker, i now yield for the purpose -- >> all right. we've been seeing there what has been going on for some tim