madam chair, this is a country of good samaritans. we should not offer impediments to them and i think this amendment supports it and i support it with the strongest conviction. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from michigan. mr. conyers: madam speaker, that's what we're doing under the volunteer protection act is protecting our volunteers, our good citizens that come forward . please, i would like to focus on the amendment here that provides a lesser degree of liability protection while allowing weaker state standards to remain in place. . what we need to do is to preserve our system of federalism and support the volunteer protection act which is constitutional, which does not violate the prerogative of the states to manage their -- and legislate on their own tort laws, and determine the qualifications of health care professionals. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. all time has expired. the question is on the amendment there the gentleman from florida . so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinio

madam chair -- at this point may be just folklore. madam chair, i yield back -- excuse me. i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from vermont rise? mr. welch: i seek time in opposition although i am not opposed. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. welch: first off, it's very refreshing that we have legislation that focuses on improving the business climate that we are doing together, and we had some internal squabbles about whose name goes first. i don't think it amuses the american people. but the bottom line, it should encourage the american people, we have bipartisan legislationes that going to do positive things -- legislation that is going to do positive things for those in vermont and around the country. i want to thank mr. fincher, mr. himes, mr. carney, mr. schweikert for working so well together to bring this legislation to the floor. there are a number of good things here. we don't have to exaggerate this as the answer to the real challenge in creating jobs, but you know what, just selling this for

senator whitehouse. >> thank you madam chair. i'd like to welcome administrator jackson back to our committee. i have some concerns about the beach protection budget that we can discuss as the budget process moves forward. very, very important to rhode island. and i wanted to mention what's very important to rhode island is there would be proper enforcement of the clean air act. we are a down wind state on a bright summer day, you drive into work and the drive time radio is often saying that today is a bad air day. and infants should stay indoors and seniors should stay indoors and people should not have engaged in vigorous outdoor activity. all because of toxic emissions that are being dropped on to us by midwestern coal plants and power plants. so that sentiment has been echoed. the american lung association has just done a poll that shows 73% of americans understand that you can have solid clean air standards and a strong economy. that they go together. 78% of independent voters agreed. 68% of republicans agreed with that. the

. >> thank you, madam chair. madam secretary, because of limited time, i would like to raise three issues and then i give you my remaining amount of time to address them. first iran. on the subject of the iranian nuclear program, the fiscal year 2013 congressional budget justification notes that, quote, the bureau of near eastern affairs will maintain pressure through sanctions to encourage iran to return to the negotiating table, unquote. this policy, however, is essentially the same unchanged iran policy that the administration has had since it took power back in january of 2009, engagement and pressure. on july 12, 2009, over two and a half years ago, you stated that, quote, we understand the importance of offering to engage iran in giving its leaders a clear choice. the opportunity will not remain open indefinitely, unquote. and we enter your -- excuse me, as we enter year 4 of this policy, it seems to me to be painfully obvious that this administration's policy is not only the same but that it's failed to ach

and senator boozman. >> thank you, madam chair. and again, very quickly, i just want to thank the secretary for being here. and the team that he's assembled for your hard work. senator brown mentioned that there's a lot of individuals in the va that are there because they want to be and could have other opportunities. and certainly you're in that category. and you know, you've led soldiers and now you're serving veterans. so we really do appreciate it very, very much. the other thing i would say is senator isakson mentioned, i do appreciate the fact that you're very willing to work in congress and very approachable, you and your staff. so that's something that is appreciated. so we appreciate all that you guys have done in the past and are looking forward to you doing a bunch in the future. and i yield back, madam chair. >> all right. thank you very much. with that i want to welcome again secretary shinseki. thank you for coming here today to give your perspective on the department's fiscal year 2013 budget and the fiscal year 2014

so with that, madam chair, i would yield back. >> thank you. so now we are honored to hear from administrator lisa jackson. >> thank you so much, madam chairman, ranking member. thank you for inviting me to testify on the president's fiscal year 2013 budget. it's good to see all the members of the committee here today. it's the fiscal year 2013 budget for the epa. i'm joined by the agency's chief financial officer barb bennett. epa's budget request of $8.34 billion focuses on fulfilling epa's core mission of protecting public health and the environment while making sacrifices and tough decisions. the kind that americans across the country are making every day. epa's budget request fully reflects the president's commitment to reducing government spending and finding cost savings in a responsible manner while supporting clean air, clean water and the safe guards that are essential to an america that's built to last. in some case we have had to take a step back from programs. this budget reflects a savings of $50 million through the elimination of

i yield back, madam chair. >> thank you. mr. scott for five minutes. >> thank you very much, madam chairman. mr. cordray, how long have you been now on the job? >> i've been on the job for three months mines five days. >> three months. and could you tell the committee what areas have jumped out to have raised the greatest number of complaints, the greatest areas of concern if you had to prioritize on where there is this greatest area problem in abuse of carrying out your mission? what would that be? would it be mortgage servicers? student loans, credit cards? what would it be? >> it a little hard to determine trends yet because it's been a short time, and we have been receiving complaints in stages. but i think there is very little question that the pace of complaints has been fastest in the mortgage area. especially around foreclosures and around servicer practices and the frustration that people feel. in fact, my guess is that the pattern of complaints we're receiving mirrors the pattern of complaints each of your offices recei

. >> thank you, madam chair. i also would like to thank the secretary for being here and making herself available to questions from the committee. i want to go and continue to explore the keystone xl pipeline. but i first want to just for point of clarification for everyone, we would much rather, as a policy in the united states, buy oil from our friends and allies in canada than we would from venezuela. would you agree with that?s. and we do buy, as you know, a lot of oil from canada. >> if we had the option to stop buying oil from venezuela and get more oil from canada, that is also a policy that we would pursue, wouldn't it? >> well, obviously we would rather buy oil from friendly ie. and we are doing everything we can to diversify our oil supply, including producing more oil here in the united states, which is all to the good. >> so why the -- why the flip-flop on the keystone xl pipeline? >> i don't think there was any flip-flop, congressman. i think this was always a matter that had to be evaluated in accor

rivera. >> thank you, madam chair. >> thank you, madam secretary. >> thank you, madam chair and madam secretary. i have a couple of written questions i want to submit for your consideration. madam secretary, this may be one of the last times together, so i want to publicly thank you for re-establishing america's influence abroad, especially toward the asia pacific region. as you aptly stated, and i quote, the future of politics will be decided in asia, not in afghanistan or iraq. and the united states will be right at the center of the action. thanks to your efforts, madam secretary, i believe the united states will be front and center, so i thank you for bucking tradition for your first trip overseas. on your first trip overseas you visited asia to convey a strong message that america's relationship across the asia pacific region are in dispensable, and in your many trips since then, cambodia, myanmar, south korea, japan and beyond you have been about the business of making and keeping economic and strategic commitments that will pay dividends many times over. i applaud you for recog

the speaker pro tempore: madam chair. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under consideration h.r. 3606 when certain words used in debate from objective to and on request were taken down and read at the clerk's desk, and i herewith report the same to the house. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the union reports that during consideration of h.r. 3606 certain words used in debate were objected to and on request were taken down and read at the clerk's desk and now reports the words objected to to the house. the clerk will report the words objected to in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union. the clerk: mr. frank of massachusetts, i have never seen the truth stood on its head more rapidly than my colleague from texas. this notion that who cares about credit, if that were honestly what the republican leadership believes, why did they take the credit from mr. schweikert and mr. himes and give it

thank you madam chair. >> thank you, mr. alexander, before you talk, for those of you that the did not come in, i said that we will take people in order of senior ity -- order of seniority, but if you came in late, it's first come first serve, so you came in last. >> if i promise not to go long, i can make a opening statement? >> sure. >> in your opening comment you said you feel like in all of your dealings you continue to hit above your waist, but it's hitting below the waist of the other guy that hurts and they are the ones that we have to stands up for. just to comment. as you know, there's much concern among the community and senior about the effects of the possible merger of two of the nation's largest pbms. the concern s include the effects that the merger would have on rural pharmacies and the patient access to those pharmacies of their choice. as a member representing a very rural district, i share these concerns, so commissioner eer iw that you cannot comment on this, but we hope that the views of the rural pharmac

. >> thank you, madam chair. appreciate you both being here, appreciate your service to our country, a chance to have a conversation, how we move forward. certainly this committee and this congress continues to be focused on job creation, economic growth, reducing and bringing our federal expenditures in line with our available revenue. i'm sure you share those goals. i've appreciated your comments this morning. one of the questions that mr. diaz-balart was asking was related to light squared. i don't know that's been discussed today. it harkens back to last year while we were dealing with this issue. many of us were getting a flood of concerns, complaints from various industries across the country from federal agencies even that the progression of light squared would have an effect on gps. i think we're all familiar with how that has progressed. we move forward in the appropriations committee, myself and congressman -- one of my colleagues and i move forward with austria and i move forward with an amendment to t

madam chair, i'll just add here, what has happened last year the i.t. budget is now released in april. and it's big number because it's all i.t. well really in it you have the paperless system that goes with secretary hickey's operation. and you have medical i.t. that goes with dr. petzel's. i'm just trying to be clear here. a piece that i'm concerned about is the medical i.t. so we link decision to do things for veterans in the medical sense along with the, you know, the tools to be able to do that. what happened last year sometimes happened, this large i.t. budget gets, you know, identified in april. we can now go forward. and the assessment is made, well, they can't possibly spend that before the end of the year. so we lose $300 million in a detrimental process. and at a time when we really needed to marry the two things up. he can now not deliver what we have already approved a year before and we're delaying that. so i think there's a mech -- >> timing issue? >> yeah. i think there's a mechanism here, getting stride on both ideas and i'd be happy to

westmoreland, five minutes. >> thank you, madam chair. mr. cordray, what would be your personal run over here? i know it's hard to get the direction from down there. what would be your personal definition of fair, f-a-i-r? >> congressman, i don't know that my personal definition is relevant here, because unfair is a defined term in the law, and my job as director of this bureau is to enforce the law that congress has enacted, and therefore we will apply the terms that congress specified as to what unfair means. but i do think it's likely that you and i and most people would have a fairly common sense, probably consensus view of what is fair and unfair. not to say we would agree in every circumstance. there is probably a specific number of circumstances that we would all agree that something is unfair. and then there are areas that are gray areas where we should as a bureau tread cautiously and be a little careful. you don't want to come down on people when things are not clear. >> that's fine. what is the definition of fair that you're going

cardoza is recognized. >> thank you, madam chair. thank you, secretary clinton. great to have you here again. this will be my last year in congress and i hear rumors that it may be your last year as secretary of state. i just want to take this opportunity to thank you for the tremendous service to our country in so many different ways. madam secretary, i want to raise the issue of our ally portugal. i represent a number of portuguese-american residents and i share that heritage. there are a number of issues with regard to the azores and visas and consulates that i'm very concerned about. the consulate in ponta delgada is rumored to be on the list for closure. one of the original consulates of our nation and something i ask you do everything in your power to preserve. certainly this is a budget discussion today. it's appropriate to discuss it in the budget. the second question i would have is that there are questions of visas that members of -- citizens of portugal would have to go to france in order to obtain certain kinds of permanent immigration visas or green

>> thank you, madam chair. appreciate you both being a. appreciate your service to our country. chance of a conversation deception of look at what our budget parties are, how would before. sortinstarting this committee as congress continues to be focused on job creation, economic growth, reducing federal expenditures in line with the available revenue. i'm sure you sure those goals, and so i appreciate your comments this morning. one of the questions that mr. diaz-balart was asking was related to lightsquared. i don't know if that's been discussing any kind of, hardened active last you were dealing with this issue. me of us were getting flooded concerns, complaints from the very same issues across the country from federal agencies even, that the progression of lightsquared would have an effect on gps. i think we're all familiar with how that has progressed. we move forward in the appropriations committee, myself and congressman -- one of my colleagues and i move forward with austria, and i move forward with an amendment to sort of instruct the fcc to tighten up its process on li

thank you, madam chair. >> excellent points, senator leahy, and thank you very much. senator lautenberg? >> thanks very much, madam chairman and welcome, attorney general holder. the job doesn't seem to be getting easier, and i'm not blaming you. i'm just sympathizing. not so much that i won't ask for more, because we're doing with less, and we see it in my state of new jersey. 246 gun murders in 2010. 12% more than the previous year. we've had layoff it's galore, and from cities that can't afford

. >> madam chair, this lease requires at one time minimum investment. as well as a promotional fee of $574,000 annually. if that pans out, there will be $63,232. we recommended that you approve this resolution. the lease was recommended to you on the basis of a competitive proposal. supervisor chu: let's open this up for public comment. are there any members that wish to speak on item number one? seeing no one, public comment is closed. colleagues, is there a motion? we can do that without objection. item number two? >> item number two. resolution approving amendment no. 1 to boarding area b and c books and news store lease no. 04-0231 between pacific gateway concessions, llc, and the city and county of san francisco, acting by and through its airport commission. supervisor chu: thank you. we have kathy widner. >> the item before you seeks approval to retroactively terminate a portion of the current lease of pacific gateway concessions to reduce square footage by 3000 square feet. there will be a new total amount. it will be existing bookstore space in

the last comment if i can madam chair if i could just add to my concerns, we actually -- so it is not bold. i know when i was chair of the student loans corporation we had a call center and as you can imagine when their loan rates change or they didn't get their payment or whatever it might be we have to go through a hole revamping of the system by the metrics we measured on a regular basis reports of the could see what the possibilities are. you mentioned you're going to have for you have a system where you can see the metrics of success, wait time, call time, whole time, response, all those. i want to echo what my colleague on the other side said that i would anxiously want to see that because this is our number one problem. the 800 number and, lack of response or inadequate response i should say and that is current, not six months ago or a year ago. this is very current and customer service is the name of the game, how to make sure these veterans have the services they need. it says something you could provide sooner or later so i could get a better understanding? >> i will dive in

thank you, madam chair. >> i thank you so much for your patience in sitting through and answering such good questions. we really do appreciate you so much. because everybody is counting on you. the little kids, the kids soon to be born and our families. thank you very much. we stand adjourned. >>> up next on c-span 3, a conversation with arlen specter later, from the national press foundation, we'll hear from eric schmidt of google. next week the supreme court signs and the constitutionality of the laws requirement that people purchase health coverage by 2014. tomorrow, the kato institute will preview the case. live coverage at 10:45 eastern here on c-span 3. the court will hear three days of argument. and here on c-span 3, c-spano,n. >> starting april 1st, on the theme the constitution and ddle show which part of the constitution is important to wh. meet the students who feature them. and for everyone participated in this year's competition significance. >> former pennsylvania senator arlen specter talks about the current health care debate and his new book. this is an hour. >> arlen

royce, thank you, madam secretary. >> thank you, madam chair, madam secretary. glad to have you back. i want to say thank you for following up with co-chair chris smith, chairman smith is i with the bosnian caucus and the fact they have a new government in place, we hope that continued u.s. and international support can help move them forward. so thank you for that. i also wanted to commend you on the recently announced international partnership, the climate between air coalition to reduce short-term pollutants. it underscored the nature of the challenge as well as the advantages to working with our partners at the u.n. and around the world. i wanted to ask, has that investment paid off in terms of stronger commitments by developing countries? and can we count on them to continue and fulfill those commitments if we are not hon honoring our pledges? raising that, congressman, because wehae change and the consequences of climate change pose national security problems to us, and so we are looking for ways to try to move forward where we can and take practical steps.

spent madam chair and? >> go ahead. >> just briefly, you took liberty and it's an important issue for us to talk about, but an article by stephen malloy, and he says the epa says air pollution kills tens of thousands of people annually. this is on par with traffic accident fatalities, while we can identify traffic accidents victims, air pollution victims are unknown, unidentified and as far as anyone can tell, statement of epa's assistance to go imagination. that's what he said. it ought not to be too much to ask epa to produce some tangible evidence that air pollution is causing the actual harm to real people. so that's what i'm asking for, i guess. i see the numbers that justify the data that justifies the numbers, and i think the chairman and i agree on the. >> we do agree and i did ask the question on corporate i ask unanimous consent to put in the record as she put out by the american academy of pediatrics, talking about how much they support your work. so we will put that in the record senator udall,

thank you madam secretary. >> thank you, madam chair and madam secretary. it's great to have you back. we're following it up with cochair chairman smith and i and so those concerns that we had raised earlier, given the fact that we have the new government in place,

>> thank you, madam chair. it's sort of nice to go last every now and then.as we sit here on this panel and we look at the requests that are put before us, we realize the dire state that our nation is in. it troubles me a little bit that what's put before us is not going to save our nation in any way. it almost appears to be a def deferens to other agencies, other departments, i think it needs to be addressed in totality by all agencies and departments. and so if you could help me a little bit with the history of cfpb and where that departure occurs and where that funding -- help me understand the timeline and how that tracks and where is that being picked up in your request here? and then i was really appreciative of the commissioner's comments about some things going back to the states. i think if there is ever an opportunity for this congress to evolve some parts of the federal government back to the interstates where they rightfully belong, this is a good opportunity. with the deficit as high as it is, with four contesecutive yea, we just heard on this pa

thank you madam secretary. >> thank you, madam chair and madam secretary. it's great to have you back. we're following it up with cochair chairman smith and i and so those concerns that we had raised earlier, given the fact that we have the new government in place, we hope that continued u.s. and international support can help move them forward. first of all, thank you for that. i also wanted to meant you on their recent international program. it understands the global nature of the program as well as the advantage to working with our partners at the u.n. and around the world. has that investment paid off in terms of stronger commitment by developing countries? and can we count on them to continue and fulfill those commitments if we are no, sir staying with our ple? >> thank you for bringing that up. we continue to believe that climate change and the consequences of climate change pose national security problems to it. and so we are looking for ways to try to move forward where we can and take practical steps. the fact is that the short-term climate forcers

supervisor wiener: thank you, madam chair. i called this hearing today said that we can have a frank and public discussion about the challenges we are facing, the significant challenges in terms of finding hiv services and keeping our longstanding commitment to those living with hiv and those at risk for the disease. over 30 years ago, when the hiv aids epidemic began, san francisco was incredibly hard hit. at the time,

senator bozeman. >> thank you, madam chair. again, very quickly, i just want to thank the secretary for being here and the team he's assembled for your hard work. senator brown mentioned that, you know, that there's a lot of individuals in the va that are there because they want to be and could have other opportunities, and certainly you're in that category. and, you know, you've led soldiers, and now you're serving veterans, and so we really do appreciate that very, very much. the other thing i would say as senator isakson mentioned, i do appreciate the fact you're very willing to work with congress and very approachable, you and your staff, so that's something that is appreciated. so we appreciate all you guys have done in the past and are looking forward to you doing a bunch in the future. and i yield back, madam chair. >> all right. thank you very much. with that, i want to welcome again secretary shinseki. thank you for coming here today to give your perspective on the department's fiscal year 2013 budget and the fiscal ye

>> madame chair, members of the committee, on the bottom of page five of our report, we point out that table 1, which is shown on page 6, shows the total estimated cost at $5.7 million for this project. that excludes the certificates of participation in financing and interest costs. the table there shows the total cost of $5.7 million. then, on page 7, we state that, as shown in table 3 on page 8 of our report, the estimated cost, net of the revenues that the port would receive from the shoreside power project -- that is the equipment usage fees as well as the rebate from the puc -- and this table 3 includes the certificate of participation of finance costs. mr. bentsen stated that the port does not intend -- does intend to continue the usage fee, which we have suggested, on page 8 of our report. we consider approval of this ordinance to be a policy matter for the board because the ordinance waives the city pose a competitive bidding and the lbe contracting procedures as presently required under the city present administrative code. -- the city's administrative code. supervisor chu: th

. >> thank you, so much, madam chair. you should know that whenever we meet here the first thing we discuss quietly here is baseball. but today we're discussing the fact that both of our district plans for our future political districts are in the federal courts and we have no idea what we're running this year. >> actually, i think ours in the supreme court have been in the federal courts and state courts. the state supreme court back to the federal court. and i'm not sure that most judges undertake their judicial responsibilities thinking they're going to draw congressional lines at the same time. i sort of know where my district is. >> thank you. >> missouri was actually third done and then we had a lawsuit filed very late. >> we measured twice, cut once in arkansas. thank you, madam chair. i would like to join you. i shouldn't have started that. i would like to join you in welcoming the commissioners. like many agencies the fcc plays a vital role in our everyday lives even though much of its important work takes place

and with that madam chair i yield back. >> thank you mr. lewis.ould like to welcome back the commissioner of the internal revenue service, mr. douglas h. sheldon who has served as commissioner since march of 2008. commissioner shulman thank you again for your time today. the committee has received a written statement and it will be made part of the formal hearing record. you will be recognized for five minutes for your oral remarks in you can begin when you are ready. >> thank you very much to all the members of the subcommittee for giving me the opportunity to testify today. i want to talk about, little pout filing fees and our strategic initiative and that presidents 2013 budget which would give us much needed increase over the 2012 enacted level. a significant portion of the presidents 2013 budget would restore congressional reduction in irs funding made over the last two years. i want to start by saying i believe it is incumbent upon all of us in the government to be as efficient as possible and to spend taxpayer dollars wisely. for the irs, t

thank you very much, madam chair. >> thank you, senate.ank you, madam chairman. the obama administration officials regularly try to justify their excessive red tape by citing misleading and incomplete health statistics. meanwhile, they completely ignore how these exact same regulations destroy jobs and destroy communities. when americans lose their jobs, their health and the health of their children suffers. these are the findings of a new minority report that i am releasing today as ranking member of the subcommittee of clean air and nuclear safety. the report is entitled "red tape: making americans sick." a new report on the health impacts of high unpoint. unemployment. this is a comprehensive report, and it contains expert testimony before this committee. and the best scientific medical research from institutions such as johns hopkins, columbia, yale and others. this key medical research and testimony details the public health consequences of joblessness. and the joblessness is caused as a result from the cumulative impact of the epa's

. >> thank you, madam chair. i have a couple of concerns, that the budget request includes operational efficiencies that are estimated to save $1.2 billion. that's been done in the past by, you know, various administrations. last years budget request also included operational efficiencies of just over $1 billion. the -- in the past, gao has questioned whether or not those savings has come about. i guess if they don't come about how are you planning for the risk? what's your contingency plan if we don't see $1 billion in savings? >> i'm going to call on dr. petzel to respond to -- since this is they looked at his budget for the savings. anticipated savings. but i can tell you that right off the top, $362 million saved because of using a medicare standard pay rate instead of paying the rates we were being charged previously. $200 million in proper payments because we reduced those. through the program management accountability program office in i.t., about $200 million in savings pause we -- because we terminated p

chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from maryland veck niced. mr. van hollen: thank you, madam chairman, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from oregon, mr. blumenauer. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. blumenauer: thank you. make no mistake, this is actually the heart of the budget philosophy of our friends from the other side of the aisle. this is where they want to take america. remember last time, it almost passed until the leaership was horrified, seeing it was winning, and started twisting arms to have people change their votes so it would go down. it is disconnected from the real-life consequences of average americans and what america needs. there's a certain irony we just -- there's a certain irony. we just approved a short-term extension of the transportation bill which makes it impossible to use the full construction psych until summer because the republicans would not allow a vote on the bipartisan bill that passed the senate because they were afraid it would pass and we'd have stability for two years. the ryan budget committee budget will

>> thank you, madam chair. think, general, for your service. you established a new residential mortgage backed securities working group. thank you for that. i want to talk in a moment about that. but last week phil angelides from senator feinstein's state, former chair of the financial crisis inquiry commission observed that what -- the number of lawyers, some 55 lawyers, investigators and other staff of the working group i just mentioned, that this is far fewer than the hundred law enforcement esdedicated to the fraud task force during the savings and loan era. he also suggested -- mr. angelides also suggested congress should extend the statute of limitations for raud from five years to ten years as congress did in 1989 when it passed the federal institutions reform recovery and enforcement act after the savings and loan crisis. public sentiment of anxiety, frustration, outrage, pick your noun, towards the fact that so . talk to me about the working group, the dollars you're dedicating of the $55 million increase you're asking for, is it going

>> thank you, madam chair, and e committee. thank you for being over here. i just want to add my voice to about prison overcrowding. and i could go through the facts and figures on that but you know those better than any of us do. it's just a real concern, and we have one of the prisons that's on the short list is actually in arkansas. back in 20 -- in fy 2010 it was well, now it keeps getting pushed back. now it's 2018. just an example being able to get to some of the real needs that we have. so i know i'm not alone in that. so i just want to voice my concern there. let me ask about sequestration. i don't believe anyone's sequestration, and i'm curious what would happen to sequestration if in fact take place? and what plan, what steps you're taking to, you know, address that? >> well, i certainly hope that's something we don't have to face. i mean, as i look at it, we'd be looking at an across the board cut of about 7.8%, which would mean a cut of about $2.1 billion. no justice component would be exempt from those cuts and from an operational perspective, b

thank you, madam chair. >> you are welcome. first let me ask you, chairman jankowski. could you smitt subm submit to us the 200 regulations you eliminated? that would be really lhelpful t have and we can use it to coerce others to follow suit. let me ask you about the university service fund, because i think it was saturday afternoon i was meeting with some constituents who are a little mom and pop cable company. and the contribution rate for the universal service fund has doubled over the last ten years or so. which obviously has led to an increase in fees to consumers. have you all done anything to address that particular piece of our fees and -- the like? >> the contribution factor reform is something that staff is working on, that we expect to move forward with with the fcc in the near future. on the other side of it, the lifeflight reform and we worked together to limit the growth of those funds, because on an aggregate basis, that sets the fees that are collected from consumers. the contribution proceeding will look at the allegation of those fees. basically who

. >> thank you, madam chair. mr. cordray, i want to follow up on the line of questioning that our chairman, spencer baucus had. i think what i heard you say with respect to the term "abusive" that the law was clear in this area. but i thought i also heard you say it was situational and subjective. i know that at least the coauthor of dodd/frank, senator dodd, during the senate debate on the creation of the act, said on the senate floor, quote, "i have never claimed or proposed my consumer protection is perfect. i acknowledge the word abusive does need to be debated defined and we are talking about striking that or making it better." the language never changed after that. so, number one, for the record, i want to say at least the coauthor of the act doesn't find it too clear. and i'm just wondering, is it clear or is it subjective? is it clearly subjective? are those competing or complimentary terms? i don't understand your point of view. >> okay. well, congressman, what i was saying, which is i think undeniable, is t

van hollen: thank you, madam chair. somebody who said let's fix this, in an adult way, the way other bipartisan groups have done is ms. mccollum from minnesota. i yield her two minutes. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. ms. mccollum: madam chair, this republican budget is a political document. it's the house republican platform for november. the g.o.p. platform put ours economy and millions of jobs at risk. they've not protections for seniors an families in need. they abandon local communities at a time when washington should be a partner for opportunity and economic growth. the republican platform cuts student loans and grants for higher education by $166 billion. the republican budget forces seniors to pay out of pocket an average of $600 additional every year for med cases they need because the -- for medications they need because the g.o.p. reopens an throws seniors back into the medicare part d doughnut hole and this budget drives americans into an enormous g.o.p. pothole, gutting federal tra