mr. latham: mr. chairman, i make a point of order against the amendment because it proposes to change existing law and constitutes legislation in an appropriation bill and therefore violates clause 2 of rule 21. the rule states in the pertinent part, an amendment to a general appropriation bill shall not be in order if changing existing law. the amendment imposes additional duties. i ask for a ruling of the chair. the chair: does any other member wish to be heards on the point of order? -- heard on the point of order? hearing none, the chair finds that this amendment finds language imparting direction. the amendment therefore constitutes legislation in violation of clause 2 of rule 21. the point of order is sustained and the amendment is not in order. mr. himes: i seek unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment. the chair: the amendment has already been ruled out. mr. himes: thank you, mr. chairman. the chair: the clerk will continue to read. the clerk: page 40, line 12, title 3. related agencies, a

mr. hastings: mr. speaker, i would at this time indicate to my friend from texas that i'm prepared to close. i have no further speakers at this time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hastings: mr. speaker, it's not all doom and gloom over here. there are provisions in the agriculture appropriation measure that i support. i appreciate the report language in support of the united states department of agriculture's pollenator programs. i along with others have been leaders in bringing the subject to the attention of congress, something of vital interest to all of this nation, and i have been teased an awful lot about being the bee man because i bring up the pollenator issue all the time, but the fact of the matter is if we don't have bee, we are not going to have food. i also appreciate the provisions related to citrus greening which will be devastating to florida's citrus growers as well as those provisions in this measure that address rural housing. i represent belle glade flori

mr. visclosky: mr. chairman, i would like to yield four minutes to the gentlewoman from new york, the ranking member of the appropriations committee. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for four minutes. mrs. lowey: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to thank the chairman, ranking member, the defense subcommittee has a long tradition of working closely together and i sincerely appreciate these bipartisan efforts. this is an extremely important and timely bill. as the department is tasked withdrawing down forces in afghanistan, appropriately responding to the upheevenal in iraq, and face -- upheaval in iraq and facing other challenges across the globe. totaling $490.7 billion, the base portion of the bill is approximately $200 million above the president's request. however, after accounting for appropriate increases in active duty pay and housing costs, the remainder of the bill is actually below the president's proposed level. budget caps and sequestration force difficult decisions. many of which will

mr. anderson and anybody else. the captain as well. maybe we can just reform this, but as some of you indicated before, we've been done this road before, we reformed it before. passed legislation just a few years ago. we instructed treasury to do something and we instructed xm to enter new agreements. and we tried to have xm do cost benefit analysis. neither of those things were completed, correct? >> you were totally ignored. >> so the question i have before i think about re-re-reforming something, if we do that, you don't have to answer this, i'm wondering why i anticipate being here two or three years from now after this re-reform has been ignored again? >> that's why we thought this problem was fixed last time. and then we worked over the course of the last two years to try to get the reforms that both sides of the aisle enacted. lowell braynard told me they were not going to interact with the subsidies right across in the treasury department. >> in the meantime while we wait for refo

mr. thornberry. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, i'd like to begin with a brief additional observation on the notification issue. for the past several years, this committee has worked on a bipartisan basis to establish an oversight structure for cyberoperations, for terrorism operations and for sensitive military operations. and an oversight structure that allows the department to have the flexibility it needs to operate in a volatile, rapidly changing world and still give us the ability to exercise our duties under the constitution. now, the basis for all of those in all three of those areas is we get timely, accurate information from the department, and this failure, even if it was ordered by the white house, undermines the ability to have that sort of oversight structure. i've been a member of the intelligence committee for 10 years. our work depends on getting accurate, timely information from the intelligence community. if the president can violate the law and say, no, in this case we're not going to give you the inf

mr. portman: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, the clerk just read part of the description of this legislation, and i want to thank this body on both sides of the aisle for working with us on this. tomorrow we mark a momentous occasion. it is the 70th anniversary of d-day, a day of course that will go down in history as one of the greatest naval invasions in the history of our country but also when we lost many brave american soldiers and one where the country came together to pray for them and to give them the strength that they would need, not just on that day, d-day, but then going on to the continent of europe to ultimately veining- ultimately veininultimately van. on that day, president roosevelt decided to give a prayer for the troops and the nation. that prayer -- this body has just passed legislation to provide that prayer to be part of the world war ii memorial, to give it some additional context and interpretation at a critical time where we need to look back at history in ways as this prayer does, that brings

mr. smith: mr.lations to the san antonio spurs on winning the 2014 nba championship over the miami heat. this is the fifth nba championship for the spurs under coach gregg popovich. coach pop very much was also named is the season's nba coach of the year. the entire spurs team, led by captains tim duncan and tony parker, played with determination to bring the championship trophy back to san antonio. the spurs also clinched the best record in the nba season with 62 wins and 20 losses. also, congratulations to can why leonard who was named nba final's most valuable player. leonard averaged over 17 points and six rebounds in the championship series with three consecutive 20-point performances. leonard also had the help of the spurs' big three made up of tim duncan, tone -- i mean, anue-in and tony parker -- manu ginobli and tony parker. so well deserved congratulations to the spurs for bringing the trophy back to the alamo city. as we say in san antonio, go, spurs, go. the speaker pro tempore: for what

mr. hoyer: mr. chairman, let me say about ed pastor, he is a quiet man, like john wayne in hard uiet man, who worked for his constituents and had the opportunity to serve many years with mr. pastor on subcommittees together and on the full committee together and we owe a debt of gratitude to both of these gentlemen who worked together to produce products that america could be proud of and work forward on. they worked as a team trying to get the best job possible within the constraints which they were operating. and we thank them both for that. and thank you, mr. pastor. we're proud of you. the chair: without objection, two-minute voting will continue. unfinished business is request for a recorded vote on the amendment offered by mr. schiff, on which further proceedings were postponed and which the noes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. schiff of california. the chair: a recorded vote has beenry questionsed . a sufficient number hav

mr. rose, to the report? [speaker not understood]. almost all line items are general fund in the line items. but it doesn't tally. is there only a certain percentage of these? >> [speaker not understood], budget analyst's office. several departments get work orders [speaker not understood] other city departments. [speaker not understood]. >> okay, thanks. >> [inaudible]. >> right, okay. supervisor wiener? >> yeah, i would be inclined to move to accept the budget and legislative analyst recommendations with the ~ budget analyst recommendations. i don't know how to rephrase it. it's a little [speaker not understood] at this point. but not to accept the 77,000 for year one, 133 for year two as outlined by [speaker not understood] and her staff. so, accepting the agreed upon cuts with the exception of those year one, year two line items. and, you know, it's always hard in this position where we hear [speaker not understood] between the department and the budget analyst. when you talk about wh

mr. wilburn, thank you very much for the service to your country as i thank captain moak as well. i used to be, prior to coming to congress, an officer in the green energy company itself. i don't know about your particular company but it's a subject i'm highly interested in. but, mr. wilburn, i'm still a little curious. i understand that you were on a flight, i guess, when you were sending your testimony. but i guess my first question is, was it -- simply a clerical mistake, or did you change your mind on whether or not t.a.r.p. regulations in dodd/frank played a role in failing to finance the brazilian company that sought your product? so is it a clerical error, or did you change your mind about including that in your testimony? >> no, it's not a clerical error. i didn't have exactly all the facts. you'll see the rest of my written statement. i think it speaks to some of those issues surrounding what you're -- >> okay. mr. wilburn, you heard the testimony of others on this panel. and so

mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, happily i want to inform the senate that the three judges from florida that we are about to vote on have the support of senator rubio and me and it is as a result of a bipartisan process. it's actually a nonpartisan process how we select our judges in florida. senator rubio and i appoint a judicial nominating commission in the three judicial districts in florida. they then, when there is a vacancy of a judge or a u.s. attorney or u.s. marshal receive the applications, do the interviews and make for one vacancy three recommendations. senator rubio and i then take those three recommendations and the two of us together interview the applicants and the arrangement we have with the white house -- and, of course, we know that the president could select whomever he wants -- but the white house has graciously agreed and this has been a long-standing practice with the federal judges selections from florida.

mr. miller: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida is recognized for as much time as he may consume. the gentleman will suspend. the house will be in order. the chair asks members to take their conversations off the floor on both the majority side and the minority side. the gentleman from florida is recognized. mr. miller: mr. speaker, this motion is to help us go to conference and to quickly work out the differences between the house and senate bills that would provide meaningful reform to the department of veterans affairs. this motion also ensures that the house has a position from which to begin negotiations with the senate in a conference. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from florida -- the gentleman from florida reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from maine is recognized. mr. michaud: thank you, mr. speaker. i claim time in opposition although i am not owe potioned to the m

mr. valukas, thank you for being here. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, we're still trying to unravel the facts that led to one of the worst auto motive tradition of the last decade. and that is the installation of these faulty ignition switches in gm vehicles that we now have caused -- know has caused over a dozen deaths. these switches were bad from the start. they should have never been installed. and once they were installed, it became quickly clear to gm officials that something was very, very wrong with them. disturbingly, the company left these unsafe vehicles on the road for over a decade. mr. volukas, you've done important work describing how a defect known to gm employees for over a decade went unaddressed for so long. this report paints a troubling picture of gm's culture and commitment to safety that allowed this tragedy to take place. it describes engineering and investigative failures, a lack of urgency in addressing issues, poor communication within the company and

. >> mr. speaker, today we know that for four years, the prime minister has hand picked closest advisor was a criminal and brought disgrace to downingstreet. we now also know that the prime minister willfully ignored multiple warnings about him. on the 8th of july, 2009, the guardian published evident of phone hacking on an industrial scale when couldon was editor of the news of the world. at that time couldon was his director of communications. what actions did he take. >> as i said a moment ago, the assurances that i received were the same that i received by the press complaints commission, by police investigations. they were also thoroughly gone into by the levison inquiry, an inquiry i supported. specifically -- he talks about warnings -- specifically on the warning from the guardian. levison said this. the editor of the guardian did not raise the issue with mr. cameron at meetings both in the month after the article was published and the following year. he says this. he says this. honorab

mr. latham: mr. chairman, i reserve a point of order on the gentleman's amendment. the chair: the gentleman reserves a point of order. without objection. is there objection to the dispensement of the reading? the reading is dispensed. the gentleman from california is recognized for five minutes. mr. garamendi: i thank you, mr. chairman. the gentlelady from tennessee spoke about the american taxpayer and the money that's being spent by congress and i'd like to pick up on that subject because i am deeply concerned about where and how we spend our taxpayer money. it's not our money. it's the american public's money and it ought to be spent wisely and it ought to be spent on american made goods and services. this amendment would build off of the current law dating back to 1933, the buy american laws. this amendment is necessary, and i'll tell you why it's necessary. this is a picture of the new san francisco bay bridge built by the chinese government. several billion dollars of american taxpayer money, c

mr. chairman, i yield back. >> mr. conyers, even though you have exposed certain catalysts i think you'll be able to walk the halls safely. >> i'm more worried about them then me. [ laughter ] >> i won't go there. the state will recognize mr. issa. >> thank you, mr. chairman. chairman goodlatte has said he wants to do comprehensive copyright reform and i'm going to take this opportunity today to challenge all of you since you sort of represent, no kidding, the spectrum, the width and breadth of the problem in music both written and obviously the broadcast of the performance and we'll just go back as we often do here, especially for the non-lawyers who are here on behalf of the constitution to the cause and i'm leaving words out because i only want to have the part related to copyright, not the part related to patent. the constitution clearly says that we have two promote the progress of useful art for limited time on behalf of the authors exclusive right to the respective writings. now, it doesn't actually talk about t

mr. mcnerney: mr. speaker, i just want to say our farmers need the assistance right now, and i'm glad that the house appears to be ready to take a vote and i urge my colleagues to vote yes. thank you and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california. those in favor say aye. those opposed say no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. he amendment is agreed to. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. garamendi: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. garamendi of california. page 20, line 10, after the dollar amount insert of which $50 million shall be for the emergency conservation program under title 4 of the agriculture credit act of 1978, 16 u.s.c. 2201. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 616, the gentleman from california and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes

mr. nugent: mr. chairman, the conner electronics missile project, known as champ, is an air force program to disrupt the adversary's electronics without causing physical damage to facilities or people. my amendment would transfer $10 million from the budget from director of energy technology to director of technology. this would move a duplicative fund to integration for actual use on the battlefield a decade ahead of schedule. the air force intends development of champ for use on a delivery vehicle that will be available to combatant commanders in 2025. for a small investment of $25 million this year, the air force can get champ to the combatant commander on a cruise missile delivery system 18 months after an enactment of this bill. almost a decade ahead of schedule. the reason we can do this so quickly at such low cost is by utilizing unused cruise missiles, like the ones the air force used to test champ recently. there's an existing stockpile of cruise missile that was been removed from the origin

mr. turner. >> thank you mr. chairman. mr. secretary, we have had very important issues to discuss here. obviously one the issue of notice to the congress and was this a good idea and the policy of whether or not this is a shift from the policy of not negotiating with terrorists. we had a briefing on monday department of state, mr. work, department of defense. joint chiefs. i asked them this question. can you cite any precedent for this nature of a swap where we have swapped with a nonnation state. you were asked this question by a ranking member and you cited the exchange of securing the release of helicopter pilot michael durant. you used the words it was a functionally exchanged. now, the five briefers, of course, when i asked them that question said there was no precedent and we had not done exchange with nonsovereign states within the last 40 years. i want to point out to you that when helicopter pilot michael durant was released in somalia it was said he was released as a gesture of good will. president clinton immediate

mr. mr. frelinghuysen:: i ask unanimous consent when the house adjourns today it adjourn to meet at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow and, two, when the house adjourns on that day to meet tuesday, june 17, 2014, when it shall convene at noon for morning hour debate and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute peeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> i ask permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from new york is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to commend a recent display of distinguished heroism by the brave men of the fire department of new york. mr. grimm: on the morning of june 5, 20 14, a massive fire erupted in staten island. the firefighters were engine 161 and ladder 81 quickly arrived on the scene and set to work battling the blaze. with choking smoke and rising flames, firefighters

mr. stephenson and mr. white, i'd like to ask you both to talk a little about the company's commitment to diversity, the merged companies commitment to diversity in a number of different contexts. i know everyone will agree having a diverse group of individuals as real partners both inside and outside of the country is important. at&t's public interest statement pledges at&t's diversity best practices will be applied to directv. such action would be laudable given at turkey's his with supplier diversity and inclusion. mr. stephenson, please describe the best practices referenced in the public interest statement. >> yes. first i'll start with employees we have a strong belief our employees reflect the market they serve. i don't think you can be successful in the marketplace employees, executive all the way up to the board that reflects the people they serve. i think we have a very good track record in that regard down to the board and frontline employees serving the market. we also extend, as you pointed out

jordan of ohio, mr. o'rourke, mr. amash, mr. massie, mr. holt, mr. nadler, mr. petri, mr. delbene, mr. farenthold, mr. sanford, mr. butterfield, this is all over this house of representatives, right to left, saying, yes, we need to protect our country but we also need to honor our constitution. and especially the fourth amendment. we started this congress by reading the constitution of the

mr. nugent: mr. chairman, i appreciate it, i appreciate your comments and the work you've done on this. with that, madam chair, i reserve, unless there's -- the chair: the gentleman from florida reserves. for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition? mr. visclosky: i seek recognition in opposition to the amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. . mr. visclosky: thank you mafment dam chair, i seek the time because i agree with the -- thank you, madam chair, i seek the time because i agree with the assertion of the gentleman and that is the service that is provided by the military technicians he's looking to exempt. agree with every word he said. i want to make it clear to my colleagues that these civilian employees, as a condition of their employment, are a member of the unit in which they work. my problem is, there are other people who are employed by the federal government who also do very important work and i would include everyone who is in the feder

mr. veasey: mr. speaker, i rise today to express my sadness and also honor the passing of a great man, pastor maurice edward barnes. pastor barnes lived the life of service for both the church and community. born on july 30, 1945, to christy and late reverend robert barnes sr., he grew up in the lake cuomo community in fort worth. after completing his studies at texas wesleyan university, trinity university and southern bible institute, he answered the call to preaching. for over 20 years he was the faithful servant in the church he grew up, succeeding the reverend bristol, at the zion missionary baptist church in the cuomo community. as a man who diligently served those around him, pastor barnes was not only a leader in the church but also showed great leadership in organizations aimed at improving the community, like the naacp. my heart felt sympathies to his wife, first lady deborah watson barnes, his children and extended friends. pastor barnes made a positive impact on my life. i ask my colleagu

mr. chairman, i don't think we need any more time with the department. we respect whatever the committee decides on this thing, but we thought we were in agreement. these are our recommendations. we reduced our recommendations in the first go around. whatever the committee decide. it goes without saying we accept. >> okay. supervisor breed? >> i guess the problem i have is based on what i'm hearing, it sounds like the department is implying that they are being forced to cut a dollar amount. and i know that there have been budget and legislative analyst reports that weren't done for other departments. i don't think any department is forced to make cuts. i think the various identified areas are not necessary for various purposes. so, i'm just -- i don't understand why we wouldn't just accept these cuts that are listed here unless there is some justification the department can provide us for why we wouldn't do it, and i haven't heard any just yet, so -- >> mr. rose? >> mr. chairman, to furth

mr. burgess: mr. speaker, imagine if you have a medical show up to the emergency room and you're in the waiting room. that's what's happening. overcrowding has become a reality. more than half of all e.r. doctors have reported this trend. it's ironic that the main pillar of the affordable care act, an increase in patient's access to care, is exactly the opposite of what is happening. we're having a hearing on thursday in the energy and commerce subcommittee on health. i'm looking forward toyota. we'll discuss the impact of the president's health care law on access to health care. it's my sincere hope that the administration is cooperative and forthcoming as we investigate yet another aspect of the affordable care act that instead of helping is hurting patients, doctors, and hospitals and putting a strain on our system. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, p

mr. speaker. >> thank you. i'm sure the whole house will wish to join me in wishing the england football team, the very best of british before their first world cup game this saturday in brazil. mr. speaker, i had meetings this morning. i'll will have further such meetings later today. >> i wish every football team in the world cup, everyone -- they have received decisions. if we continue at the street, it will take more than 40 years to get to the point where everyone gets a say. what is he going to do about that? troduced these new benefits that we make sure it is done in a way that works well. so i would say it's very important not to have an artificial deadline of replacing one benefit with another. the whole point about the personal independence payment is it is more accurate and more targeted than disability living allowance. it will need more help for those with the greatest disabilities and are determined we get it right. >> would've the prime minister join me in congratulating th

mr. cotton: mr. speaker, this amendment -- >> mr. chairman, the house is ot in order. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cotton: mr. speaker, my amendment would very simply prohibit the use of funds in this legislation from being used to transfer detainees at guantanamo bay to their country of origin or any foreign country. there are two main reasons why this amendment is necessary. both related to the president's action in trading five senior taliban commanders for private bergdahl. first, he's proven that section 1035 of the national defense authorization act is inadequate and, second, we need to review the conditions of release of the taliban five. on the first point, this congress granted the president last year expanded authority to release detainees from guantanamo bay conditioned on 30 days' notice to the congress as well as certain other conditions. the president abused that authority by releasing the taliban five without notification, even to the so-called gang of eight, the senior

mr. lauder? >> thank you very much, members of the committee. thank you for the opportunity to be here today to help address this vital national security topic. monitoring iranian compliance with a potential nuclear agreement. i appear before you today in my private capacity as someone who is on monitoring and verification over several decades and the views i will be presenting are my own and not intended to represent views of those i've been associated with such as the department of defense and the nuclear treaty monitoring and verification. my statement draws in part on those experiences and on the defense science board task force report as well as the work of a nongovernmental task force on verification requirements for nuclear agreement with iran. neither of the two task forces makes a judgment as to whether compliance with any particular nuclear agreement is ver fibl. indeed, we do not yet know the details of the monitoring provisions that will emerge in the iranian agreement now und

okay, so mr. turner -- mr. turner, let me pick up where you left off, because i cut you off to stick with the five minutes. what i'm interested in particularly is the example, i think you wanted to get into, but i want to get your sense on how it would be more effective to ask states to help coordinate assistance programming. how they're so interrelated. and then let's start with the example you want to mention and then talk about how states can better help coordinate assistance. >> by all means. by all means. why don't i do the second one first -- i think if we're able to -- states are able to manage under a system which they own and control and can focus on the right things, instead of the ancillary things, then i think we'd see one, consolidation of overlapping programs, into units that make more sense. an example would be wia, s.n.a.p., and tanf. and you could add to that public housing, as well, where these programs are all operating separately, and with parallel but overlapping objectives. secondly you co

mr. forbes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, thank you for being here and for mentioning the need for transparency. as you talked about, our inability to prosecute the individuals that were released, this administration is not exactly had a stellar record on prosecution of people at gitmo when you look at the fact that the lead prosecutor for the 9/11 terrorist had specifically said that he would have had a guilty plea out of all of them within six months and this administration came in, shut down his prosecution, destroyed all of his pretrial work and we've been five years and still haven't brought them to trial. secondly, i don't think even you would argue that the conversations that took place in 2011 complied with the law. and basically what we're trying to get across is that we're a nation of laws. you can't pick and choose just because they're convenient or not convenient which ones we're going to enforce and which ones we aren't. but the third thing is, and you said this, that there are limits to trades that we

for mr. given or mr. matkovsky, if your investigations in audits, did you identify any sort of pattern when looking at wait times and scheduling practices and what i mean by this, are there some times of facilities better or worse tan otherss, are wait times longer for certain types of care? >> primary care over specialty care, for instance? >> i would say one of the principle methodologies that we have witnessed is a veteran calling in for an appointment, he gets an appointment, 1420 days out. because that's the first available appointment at that facility. and then that appointment gets scored as the desired date of the veteran and, therefore, zero waiting days. the vast majority of the cases that we have seen involve that scenario. the other scenario would be you get that appointment 120 days out, two weeks before the appointment, it gets re-created, veterans know wiser, because it's recreated for the same time and date. once again, it reflects a waiting time, which does not reflect the reality of the

mr. collard, mr. mcclain, do you -- regarding cost management, would you find that the veterans -- the vha and the way they deal with prescription drugs and pharmaceutical costs is a good thing? i've heard that they actually use their size to leverage down those costs. >> the answer is yes. i think they do a pretty good job. by statute, v.a. actually purchases drugs in bulk for dod and v.a. and the indian health and coast guard. by statute the manufacturer is required to give them a discount off of commercial rates. so, actually, v.a. does a very good job in purchasing drugs. >> mr. collard? >> i would concur. >> so does that same sort of approach exist with medicare? >> not to my knowledge. >> would that contribute to out-of-pocket costs for senior citizens generally, do you think? >> you know, i haven't -- sir, i haven't looked at that. i don't have an opinion on that. >> you know, well, thank you. you know, mr. walls, is there -- would you like to -- i yield my time to you if you have any question.

mr. chairman with all due respect. and i do respect you from the bottom of my heart. my point is, you asked a question. i can't sell my technology here because there's barriers to entry to the market. and the barriers to the entry of the market is the oil and gas industry who subsidize the 15% oil and gas depletion allowance. i don't get that as a producer. i can but my bio and gas -- >> mr. wilburn, we'd be willing to work with you and be much more competitive in areas. i've got limited time. so does dr. de rugy. have the opponents painted an apocalyptic vision and if so why not? >> i will don't think it's an accurate version, mr. chairman. for one thing, as i said in my testimony, less than 2% of u.s. exports are backed by xm. and that doesn't consider the possibility that these exports would happen independently of the existence, absent the bank. more importantly, we have to think of what some of the other witnesses have said. so, for instance, a large part of the activity of the bank

mr. hoyer: mr. speaker, before i inquire of the majority leader, i want to say at the outset, i have now and have had great respect for the majority leader. the majority leader is a person of significant intellect, he cares about this institution, cares about our country and works hard on behalf of the principles which he believes in and which his party believes in. and i have enjoyed the opportunity to work with him. we obviously, as people have seen from the colloquys from time to time, have not always agreed on what we ought to be doing. mr. cantor, from the state of virginia, served in his house of delegates, in his general assembly for eight years. he served there with distinction and then was elected to the house of representatives in 2000 to succeed a good friend of mine, the former mayor of richmond, tom bliley, who mr. cantor chaired his campaign for at least three cycles. obviously successfully. he served in the house of representatives since 2001, was selected early on as the chief deputy

mr. reid: mr. president? the presidinmr. president?offic. the president pro tempore: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to the hagel sport sportsmen legis. the president pro tempore: clouter. the clerk: motion to proceed to s. 2363, a bill to protect and enhance opportunities for recreational hunting, fishing, and shooting and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, following my remarks and those of the republican leerksd the senate will be in a period of machine until 11:00 a.m. this morning. the majority will control the first half, the republicans the final half. at 11:00 a.m., the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of keith harper to be united states representative to the united nations human rights council. this is postcloture time. the time until noon will be equally divided and controlled in the usual form. at noon then there will be two roll call votes. one on confirmation of the harper nomination, and then thee will be a cloture vote on t

mr. graham: mr. president, contrary to what may be popular belief, there are plenty of democrats in this body very much worried about iraq. the question is what do we do about it? it is complicated, i will be the first to admit, but the first thing we have to assess as a nation, does it really matter what happens in iraq. clearly, i think it does. economically if iraq becomes a felled state, the oil production in the south falls into the hands of the iranians. iraq becomes a fell state that spreads economic chaos throughout the region. you will feel it at the gas pump, you will feel it in your wallet eventually, so an economic collapse in iraq would affect our economy and our ability to recover. i think it would throw the world oil market into turmoil. so it matters economically. militarily, does it matter? it does in this regard. isis is an offshoot of al qaeda because al qaeda kicked them out. these people now are going to have shaven -- safe haven from alepo, syria, to the gates of baghdad. they h

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to calendar number 384, the hagueen sportsmen's act. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to s. 2363, a bill to protect and enhance opportunities for recreational hunting, fish, and shooting and for other purposes. mr. reid: following my remarks and those of the republican leader, senate flb a period of morning business until 1:45 today. the majority will control the first 30 minutes, the republicans the final 30 minutes. at 1:45, the senate will proceed to executive session to conduct at least one roll call voavment there will be a vote on confirmation of sylvia burwell for secretary of health and human services, then a vote on carolyn hessler radelet. we hope to confirm the radelet nomination by voice. s. 2267 is at the detect for the second reading. the clerk: s. 2432, a bill to amend the higher education act of 1965 to provide for the refinancing

mr. ellison: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, if there's one thing i think democrats and republicans can actually agree on, it's that if a penny is earned, that penny must be paid . this amendment is very straightforward, in fact a version of it has already passed the house of representatives. what it says is that if there is a federal contractor who has been found to engage in wage theft, that they may not benefit from this appropriation. now, there are many contractors who work for the department of defense who have employees that cook the meals for our troops, wash their uniforms, do all manner, many, many important tasks, to keep fighting men and women in a position to serve our nation. some of them may even work in the economy sear, they may work at -- commissary, they may work at various jobs and they sometimes, the federal contractors who serve the federal government, do not pay these workers. and, mr. chairman, you may think, well, you know, maybe that happens but how often does it happen? is it really a big pro

mr. rose, i'm sure is going to stand up and commend me and my office for delivering a $623,000 surplus this year. as you are he call, chair farrell, this is the promises i made to you when we fixed our salary saves program. salary saving is that number we've su month poesed -- we're supposed to save with employees on leave. we had an unusual large number of employees who took lead that is year, and you can see the number there. we had 28 employees who at various times took and they weren't out at the same time, but different times but it equalled $623,000 in savings. the three that i've noted here are the three investigators and those three investigators because they weren't able to fill these positions for over nine months, we saved close to $200,000. these savings are not going to repeat themselves next year. in fact, if you look at -- for 2014-15, we only have 11 vacancies and if you look at your packet, we actually set forth the hiring delays and leaves that we're anticipating. we're

mr. wolf: mr. speaker, i rise today as a follower of jesus and a life-long member of the presbyterian church, u.s.a., and was deeply upset of what happened last week. i feel alienated from this tradition which is the only active clergyman to sign the declaration of independence to submit a statement of protest by the board of directors which expresses a similar sentiment. i'll begin with marriage. after several years of internal discussion and debate, the assembly voted overwhelmingly to take a position which runs counter to the scripture which defines marriage as the joining of one man and one woman. it has long been clear that our culture is in the throes of this issue. in reality there has been a decades' long assault on marriage, which was almost universally as a god-ordained institution, the nexus of procreation and child rearing has been called into question, both in the larger culture and the framework which governs this land. but perhaps the most striking troubling this is happening within

mr. deutch: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, it's no surprise -- excuse me -- that i oppose h.r. 4899. however, my amendment is not an attempt to sabotage a bill. it's to fix a major drafting error within this legislation that could have drastic consequences on our nation's district courts. my amendment would strike section 10702-a-3 of the bill which mandates that cases involving oil and gas leases, quote, take precedence over all other pending matters for the district court, closed quote. i'm grateful for the opportunity to explain the serious implications of this serious provision. the provision seems to be directed to concerns that individuals and communities, small businesses, other interests that are not party to the production of an oil and gas lease may file lawsuits to prevent or delay an oil and gas lease from moving forward. now, i believe that people have an important interest in the production of oil and gas leases that could impact public health, property, environmental injuries in the area of the lease.

mr. hupp sgle mr. chairman and members of the subcommittee, i would like to start by telling the committee something you probably don't hear very often. congress to congress on getting it right. for over ten years now sound exchange has administered the statutory license for sound recordings on digital radio that this committee created in 1995, and that decision shines as a true legislative success story. it provides transparency and efficiency that makes possible the digital radio services enjoyed today by over 100 million americans. it has led to a critical and growing revenue stream for sound exchange's 100,000 accounts which represent featured artists, background musicians, label and rights owners, large and small. and the statutory license has provided a huge commercial benefit to the 2,500 services who have used it to build their services, some of america's best known and largest companies with household names like pandora and sirius xm providing them easy access to the product they needed to get

mr. smith: mr. speaker, americans do not trust the liberal national media to provide them with accurate, fair and balanced news. a recent poll conducted by the brookings and public religious institute found that only 23% of americans consider the national broadcast news networks to be their most trusted news outlet. but 26% of independents listed fox news as their most trusted network compared to only 17% who chose the broadcast networks. the least trusted network, according to the poll, is msnbc. only 5% of americans selected the network as their most trusted news source. americans dis-- americans' distrust of the liberal national media will continue to grow until the media stops telling them what to think. there's a good reason why fox news has been the highest rated cable news network for 12 straight years. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition? without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute

mr. forbes? >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. secretary, thank you for being here and mentioning the need for transparency. you talked about inability to prosecute individuals that were released, this administration has not had a stellar record on prosecution of people at gitmo when you look at the fact that the lead prosecutor for the 9/11 terrorists had specifically said that he would have had a guilty plea out of all of them within six months and this administration came in and shut down his prosecution, destroyed all of his pretrial work and we've been five years and still haven't brought them to trial. secondly, i don't think even you would argue that the conversations that took place in 2011 complied with the law. basically what we're trying to get across is we're a nation of laws. you can't pick and choose because they are convenient or not convenient which ones we're going to enforce and which ones we aren't. the third thing is -- you said this. there are limits to trades that we would make and some where we draw the line

mr. harkin: mr. president, i ask consent that if the final vote on passage is successful the statement of the managers for the work force innovation and opportunity act be printed in the record immediately following the text of the senate-passed bill. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. isakson: mr. president, how much time remains on the republican side? the presiding officer: one minute. mr. isakson: mr. president, i'd like to ask unanimous consent that five additional minutes be extended from the democratic side to the republican side. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. harkin: how much time is on our side? the presiding officer: 25 minutes. mr. harkin: absolutely. mr. yook isakson: mr. isakson:

mr. -- mrs. christensen: i rise today to pay tribute to one of my hometown stars, tim duncan of the san antonio spurs. tim is a tife-time champion, 14-time all star, two-time m.v.p., and a three-time finals m.v.p. he grew up on my home island of st. croix and graduated from st. dunstan's episcopal school with my eldest daughter. that's where a tall, thin, and shy timmy began to play basketball ball. they -- basketball. they were not the winningest team. we have followed his games with pride. we appreciate how he stayed in touch with his classmates and friends these years. the way he's given back to us, to north carolina, to san antonio, to his foundation. the character program in our schools and his support of youth sports and health awareness and research. tim duncan is a champion in basketball and in the lives of the communities that he continues to -- give back to. on behalf of the people of the u.s. virgin islands, thank you, timmy, for making us proud and the role model you have been for our

thanks. >> mr. chairman and member of the committee, our recommendation has absolutely nothing to do with public defender mentioned three things. the district attorney's budget, the leap program, and the indigent defense program. our recommendation had a absolutely nothing to do with any of those items. let me read you the recommendation which is on page 12 of our report. we say the increase attrition savings 14-15, the department is proposing to reduce attrition savings by 122,335 to hire vacant positions that has a salary surplus in 13-14. the documentation provided by the public defenders office indicates the implementation of the budget and legislative analyst recommended reduction [speaker not understood] would result in a deficit for the public defenders office. on the contrary, the analysis by the budget and legislative analyst shows that not only would our recommendation not result in a deficit, but rather the public defender would still have surplus funds available even if the implementatio

just, mr. rose, if you could summarize what the differences are right now between your office and the department of technology? >> it's a process of getting more details, supervisor. we laid out our recommendations to them. we think our recommendations are good. they're coming back with additional documentation and once we reconcile that, we can refer back to you next week. >> okay, if you can keep my office posted in the meantime. >> absolutely. >> that would be great. >> okay, colleagues, any further questions or comments to mr. rose or mr. tuitui? okay, thattionv. we look forward to seeing you next monday and working that out in between. okay. up next we have our human rights commission. this ~ >> i'll do it the old-fashioned way. i'm not much of a technologist. it's interesting going from the department of technology to the human rights commission. i'm not so sure you could get much further apart. good morning, supervisors, mr. chair. i'm [speaker not understood] sparks, director of the hum