mr. barton. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. barton: i thank mr. sessions and hopefully will yield back some of that time. i thank you, mr. chairman, for the leadership you have exhibited, not just in the rules committee, but on this issue in general, you have a -- been a long time advocate of immigration reform and you have been active in the texas delegation as we attempt to move this legislation and you have been very active this afternoon in the rules committee. i want to also compliment the leadership of the majority as we have tried to craft a compassionate, conservative path forward. i happen to be an advocate of comprehensive immigration reform. i have a draft bill that i have been waiting until the right time to introduce. hopefully get bipartisan support. so i'm not one of these just-say-no republicans. having said that, we have a crisis on our southern border because of some actions the president's taken in the past and some inactions that he's not taking now. we have got this terrible situation where thousands and thousands of young chi

mr. barton of texas for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. before i ask my questions i want to make just a general observation. this is probably the last major investigation that this subcommittee and full committee is going to conduct where we have the services of mr. dingell and mr. waxman. we have had a history on this committee and this subcommittee going back at least 40 to 50 years when we have major issues we try to approach them on behalf of the american people in a nonpartisan very open way. and it certainly appears that we're going to continue that tradition today. so i hope that we can show the best to the american people that the congress at its best gets the facts, presents the facts, and does so in a way that in the future we protect the public health and safety for the american people. now, with that caveat, i do have a few questions. a number of congressmen so far have made the point that these ignition switches didn't appear to meet specificications. and my assumption is that you've agreed that they did not meet specification

mr. barton's point and the importance of cms because where those dollars come from for most academic medical centers where there's a mission, not an option to invest other places, but it's the mission to do research and education. those dollars primarily come from clinical revenues. a little bit from philanthropy, but you do the math, and it's huge endowments that would be required to make up that gap, and that's why the decisions on funding that are made from cms which drive the privates are so critical to this research enterprise because it's not just nih, but it's that supplement that every academic medical center puts in to the research enterprise where it's the mission to look for the cures. it's not an option. >> well, i just want to say this -- this met or exceeded my expectations, and i want to thank everybody for coming today, and i really want to thank -- most of the members have left, but i can't really remember a more robust discussion among members of congress that we've had either about looking in a visionary way to the future, so thank you all for participating in our introduc

mr. barton of texas for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. before i ask my questions i want to make just a general observation. this is probably the last major investigation that this subcommittee and full committee is going to conduct where we have the services of mr. dingell and mr. waxman. we have had a history on this committee and this subcommittee going back at least 40 to 50 years when we have major issues we try to approach them on behalf of the american people in a nonpartisan very open way. and it certainly appears that we're going to continue that tradition today. so i hope that we can show the best to the american people that the congress at its best gets the facts, presents the facts, and does so in a way that in the future we protect the public health and safety for the american people. now, with that caveat, i do have a few questions. a number of congressmen so far have made the point that these ignition switches didn't appear to meet specificications. and my assumption is that you've agreed that they did not meet specification

mr. barton for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. in answer to a previous question, dr. kingsbury raised the point about how many laboratories there are. the gao has indicated that there are probably too many laboratories. my first question would be to you, dr. frieden. why do we have so many laboratories, and are they all necessary? >> i don't know that there's a right number of laboratories out there. our job within cdc is to make sure we only work with dangerous pathogens where it's necessary to do that and that we do so safely. we will be taking a fresh look at everywhere we work with these pathogens internally at cdc to make sure it's kept to the minimum necessary to serve the function of responding to infectious disease outbreaks. we still have anthrax in nature and respond to events like that. we still have ebola with the largest outbreak in history now in west africa. the challenges we have are substantial. in terms of outside laboratories, our function in the division of select agents and toxins is to ensure the laboratories that are there are operating safely.