mr. becerra: with that, we'll take any questions. >> you mentioned turmoil on the other side. it sounds leek you're not optimistic. a couple of you are from california. what do you make of leader mccarthy who seem to be the favorite right now? mr. becerra: kevin mccarthy is someone who has been in leadership, not just in the house, but when he served in the state legislature, he was in leadership there. he understands legislators and the legislative process. my sense and our hope would be if he becomes speaker that he would use that knowledge to help us move legislation forward to try to get things done. perhaps he'll have more success in corralling his own team so that we can get things done. but at the same time, the concern is that as the vice chairman just said, will he work with them? the chairman of the dccc said this, will he work with his colleagues on the republican side or will he get run over by them? our hope is not only can he work with them but he'll reach across the aisle to work with us so we can get things done rather than doing things at the last moment throu

mr. becerra: ok. javier becerra. joined by our vice chairman, joe crowley, chairman of the democratic congressional campaign committee, congressman from new mexico, mr. lujan, and our colleague from california who has been a champion on issues relating to health care and women's rights, jackie speier. glad that she's with us as well. we had a caucus meeting where the principle focus of discussion was, making sure we don't experience what we saw two years ago in 2013, when republicans decided to shut the government down for reasons unrelated to the government itself and the budget that needs to be in place for the government services that we pay for with our taxes can keep on moving forward. two years ago we saw that as a result of the republican government shutdown, that 120,000 jobs were lost. we saw as well that the economy lost some $24 billion and while a billion dollars may not seem like a lot to politicians in washington, d.c., a fraction of that would help a lot of people help pay for their college education, f

mr. becerra. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. becerra: i thank the gentleman for yielding time. the goal of america and the international community in our negotiations with iran is and has been to prevent iran from producing and possessing nuclear weapons. by all accounts iran had already reached a point where it was perhaps just months away from crossing that nuclear threshold. i repeat, months away. not years, not decades, months away. so few votes can be taken more seriously than one intended to halt the spread of nuclear weapons. that's why this congress and the american people should support the agreement negotiated to prevent iran from producing and possessing nuclear weapons and we should vote in this congress against any of these congressional measures attempting to thwart its implementation. the negotiate aid greement provides for inspection and verification a regime which iran had to consent to and it must now submit to. that regime for inspection and verification is not just credible, it's enforceable. and those who hav

mr. becerra: with that we'll take any questions. >> you mentioned the turmoil on the g.o.p. side several times. sound like you are not optimistic the next speaker will be able to get things in line. a couple of you are from california. what do you make of leader mccarthy seems to be the favorite? mr. becerra: i'm simply say i think kevin mccarthy is someone who has been in leadership not just in the house but before he served in the state legislature, and he was in the republican leadership there as well. and so he understands legislators. he understands the legislative process. my sense and our hope would be if he becomes the speaker that he would use that knowledge to help us move legislation forward, to try to get things done. perhaps he'll have more success in corraling his own team so that we can get things done. but at the same time the concern is that as the vice chairman just said that will he work with them? the chairman of the dccc said this, will he be able to work with his colleagues on the republican side or get run over by them? our hope is that not only can he

mr. becerra sent in june. we keep repeating to sit down and negotiate. recognizing that you are the majority and recognizing that the president has the signature and we stand ready to cooperate in a compromise as we go forward. today on the floor, instead of dealing with the economy of our country, republicans are up to some more of their -- i don't know how to describe it -- insults, lack of respect for women. too many hardworking families are feeling pinched. instead of joining democrats at the table for a bipartisan budget, the republicans are engaged in legislation on the floor that would, as i say, disrespect a women's right to choose. at the same time as i saw in california as well, wildfires in california and across the west have burned hundreds of thousands of acres. this week in california, two citizens died. four firefighters were hospitalized. 13 firefighters have died this year fighting firefighters in the west. to fund firefighting we had to shift money from wildfire prevention to wildfire suppression. we shouldn't have to do that. preventio

mr. becerra. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. becerra: i thank the gentleman for yielding time. the goal of america and the international community in our negotiations with iran is and has been to prevent iran from producing and possessing nuclear weapons. by all accounts iran had already reached a point where it was perhaps just months away from crossing that nuclear threshold. i repeat, months away. not years, not decades, months away. so few votes can be taken more seriously than one intended to halt the spread of nuclear weapons. that's why this congress and the american people should support the agreement negotiated to prevent iran from producing and possessing nuclear weapons and we should vote in this congress against any of these congressional measures attempting to thwart its implementation. the negotiate aid greement provides for inspection and verification a regime which iran had to consent to and it must now submit to. that regime for inspection and verification is not just credible, it's enforceable. and those who hav