but to parallel d n d c mr. bill and you alls project in the western edition and is street fair rosa parks in my opinion is total violation and that runs with the tshgsz n d c i would be amiss if i supported everything or doesn't support is it i'm neutral i'm making it aware to individuals that i spoke to today and those who are listening to this number one we're in a new era we would not except eras failed efforts and misguided leadership so under those principles i have to evaluate what the hell is going on you have to look at what you're dealing with mr. witnessing i didn't i know they're big property owners is nonprofit and developers are coming in and taking over the housing authority me as a black a niagara go we were in a state of emergency any of those developers you've got going on we're not involved there this is a a an a mechanism i respectfully represent this to is city is blacks are gone let's get 5 thousand black families some of them might be in jail but 5 thousand families and follow them for 10 years

mrs. comstock for introducing this bill and mr. lipinski for co-sponsoring and i urge my colleagues to support it. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 1119 as amended. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. smith: i move to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1156, international science and cooperation act of 2015 as amended. the clerk: h.r. 1156, a bill to authorize the establishment of a body under the national science and technology council to identify and coordinate international science and technology cooperation opportunities. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule the gentleman from texas mr. smith and the gentleman from illinois, mr. lipinski each will control 20 minutes. mr. smith: i ask unanimous cons

mr. rosen: bill, you have been wonderfully restrained. mr. marshall: when you see this being paid for by mothers for apple pie, it does not tell you much. i'm glad everyone is interested in the poor. they have little political influence because they do not give money. it is helpful to voters to know who it is they are supporting. one of the cues on that is who contributes to a particular campaign. the fact is it does not make that much difference. but if large amounts of money can be put into races by groups who no one knows who they are, and sway elections because the other side does not have enough money to be able to defend against the attack. disclosure is a second-best regulation to give a cue to voters to have some idea why somebody is attacking a candidate or not. mr. rosen: we have to put on the table the question of citizens united. we are having a great debate about whether citizens united was rightly or wrongly decided by the constitutional society in boston on may 12. we had a great debate on a similar topic in philadelphia. it is

he is accompanied by world war ii veteran, mr. bill ficcaccio. esenting the country of greece, the defense attache. world war ii veteran mr. james. [applause] >> representing the country of kazakhstan, its deputy chief of mission. accompanying him is world war ii veteran and chairman of the oss society, commander hugh montgomery. [applause] >> representing the country of the kurdish republic, it's minister. and world war ii veteran mr. robert zimmerman. [applause] >> representing the country of luxembourg, his excellency. and world war ii veteran mr. sammy thompkins. [applause] >> representing the country of malta is deputy chief of mission and holocaust survivor mr. manny mindel. [applause] >> representing the republic of moldova, his excellency, and world war ii veteran and tuskegee airmen, colonel charles mcgee. [applause] >> representing the country of the netherlands, as deputy chief of mission and holocaust survivor, miss luis israel who is originally from the netherlands. [applause] >> representing the country of new zealand is defense atta

bill. as a matter of fact mr. chairman this president has threatened to veto all the defense authorization bills some point in the process. that's not a reason for us not to take the next step. we should build upon the bipartisan work that came out of committee. i suspect there will be bipartisan work with amendments from republicans and democrats on the floor and we should pass this measure, go to conference with the senate and keep working towards the end of the process where hopefully we can have something better than the budget control act. to say i'm not going to support our troops unless we do that first i don't think is the proper way to go. this is a normal budget process. we have a house and senate budget resolution for the first time in years. of course. mr. smith: this is not where we are coming from, not supporting the troops. mr. thornberry: i do not mean to say that is the intention of the gentleman or those who oppose the gentleman. that is the effect. there are 40 essential authorities that have to

that opportunity is lost if this package of four bills gets winnowed down to two. mr. president, in particular, dropping the enforcement bill, in my view, is legislative malpractice. and the calculation here is quite simple. the finance committee gave the senate a bipartisan trade enforcement bill that will protect american jobs and promote american exports, which are two propositions that i believe every member of this body supports. the enforcement legislation closes a shameful loophole that allows for products made with forced and child labor to be sold in our country. this is 2015, mr. president. there is absolutely no room for a loophole that allows slavery in american trade policies. if the decision is made to drop this bipartisan legislation that shameful loophole would live on. now, any senator who goes home and speaks, as i do, about the virtues of job-creating trade policies has in my view, a special obligation to ensure that american trade enforcement is tough effective and built on american values. that is what the finance committee's bipartisan enforcement

mr. president, once again i urge all my colleagues to support the bill and i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: mr. president i come to the floor today to discuss two amendments that are pending to the trade bill. i want to begin by thanking chairman hatch and ranking member wyden as well as senator mcconnell and senator reid for working with me to make these amendments pending. i believe it's important we have an amendment process as we consider granting trade promotion authority to the president. enact the bill before us will have major impacts on our nation's economy for years to come and senators should have an opportunity to improve the product reported by the finance committee. the trade promotion authority bill by its very nature demands that senators be able to debate and vote on key trade issues. that's because the trade promotion authority bill creates a process by which trade agreements are submitted to congress for approval without the opportunity to change them on the house or senate floor

. >> mr. bill, are you ready for your picture? >> yeah. >> when we met paul komyotti in 2008, he had an inmate job as the photographer in the inmate visitor room. right from the start he was good natured and full of optimism for the future, despite having been incarcerated for the past 26 years. he entered prison at age 17 for his role in a bizarre family plot that ended in the murder of his abusive father. >> my father was an alcoholic. i was a little kid, 7, 8 years old. i'm crawled under the table, he's got this belt, and he's hitting me, blood all over my body. >> his mother, brother and sister were all convicted. paul's mother was given 90 years. >> as far as i know, she's the oldest woman in prison in the state of indiana. >> paul was eligible for parole after 26 years. >> you'll never see me in khaki again after today. >> he quickly landed a factory job and was doing well. >> you want to wake up with that attitude in the morning that today is going to be a good day. today is going to be better than yesterday. >> but he coul

that opportunity is lost if this package of four bills gets widowed down to two. mr. president is dropping enforcement bills. and my view is legislated again. this will protect jobs with two propositions and every member of this body supports the enforcement legislation closes a shameful that allows products. this is 2015. there is absolute no room in this. this legislation is a shameful loophole that will live on. any senator that goes hockey and speaks about being against job creating policies that has in my view a special operation. the finance committee, bipartisan, enforcement bill is all about everyone working together. without proper enforcement no trade deal with every live up to the hype. this enforcement bill is a jobs bill plain and simple and needs to get to the president's desk. some elements of this package represent priorities that have traditionally belonged to republicans. other elements are traditionally democratic. but taken as a whole, despite partisan packages both committees had an understanding that the component part would be linked together. yo

mr. king for bringing this bill forward and i thank mr. boyle for standing for what's right and i appreciate that. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. will the house pass h.r. 723. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. thompson: mr. speaker, request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, last week was national small business week and while back in pennsylvania's fifth congressional district i attended a ceremony honoring jim and coleen small for receiving the 2015 western pennsylv

mr. bill raush who is missing in action right now. or awol. political director for iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, and carlos fuentes, senior legislative associate for the veterans of foreign wars. we'll start with you, mr. butler. >> chairman, ranking member blumenthal, and distinguished members of the committee, on behalf of our national commander, michael ham, and the 2.3 million members of the american legion, we thank you for this opportunity to testify regarding the american legion's views of the progress of the veterans choice program. the american legion supported the veterans access choice and accountability act of 2014 as a means of addressing emerging problems within the department of veterans affairs. va wait times for appointment medical care had reached an unacceptable level nationwide as veterans struggle to receive access to timely health care within the va health care system. it was clear that swift changes were needed to ensure veterans could access health care in a timely manner. as a result, the american legion im

mr. mica: congressman bill foster of illinois. mr. foster: corporal sarah medina, aurora, illinois. mr. mica: and congressman trent franks from arizona. mr. franks: lance corporal jacob andrew huggg arizona's eighth congressional district. mr. mica: mr. speaker and my colleagues greater love hath have no man than to lay down his life for a fellow man. those who represent those brave marines, sergeant ward mark johnson from florida seventh congressional district. we all ask you to join us in a moment of silence and we ask that as we approach this memorial day, that we remember in our thoughts and in our prayers all those brave americans and their families who paid the ultimate price in service to our nation. mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, five-minute voting will continue. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion to recommit on h.r. 880 offered by the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. neal on which the yeas and nays were ordered. the clerk will redesignate the motion. the clerk: motion to recommit by mr. neal of massachusetts. the speaker pro tempore: th

bill? >> i am. the clerk: mr. neal of massachusetts moves to recommit the bill h.r. 880 to the committee on ways and means with instructions to report back to the house forth with. strike section 2 and insert the following, section 2 no increase or deficit or delay of comprehensive tax reform. nothing in this act shall result in one an increase in the deficit or two, a delay or weakening of efforts to adopt a permanent tax credit. section 3, two year extension of research credit, a, in general. section 41-h of the internal revenue code as amended by striking december 31, 2014 and inserting december 31, 2016. b, effective date, the amendment made by the section shall apply to amounts paid or incurred after december 31, 2014. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for five minutes in support of his motion. mr. neal: i'm opposed to this bill in its current form and will not kill the bill nor will it send it back to committee but proceed to final passage. we are si

mr. heck for his leadership on this bill. mrs. deep understanding of these issues the and also to mr. luetkemeyer who is the chair of our housing committee and one of our most active members on the committee, having served not onlied a a community banker but -- only as a community banker but as a community regulator. i am very pleased to rise in strong support and bipartisan support of 1816, the vulnerable veterans housing reform act. this bill will bring a measure of fairness to our government's treatment of severely disabled veterans. the bill excludes the payments that disabled veterans receive for in-home aid and attendance, from being considered as income when determining their eligibility for h.u.d. housing assistance. under current law these in-home aid and attendance payments are wrongly counted as disposable income. which makes it harder for disabled veterans who receive these payments to qualify for the federal housing assistance which they deserve. these payments are absolutely not disposable income. rather they are pay

i'm going to turn it over to mr. bill radcliff. he's going to be fine. [ applause ] you got this. you don't have a wireless. >> i don't want it. >> see? >> good afternoon, everybody. i -- i can't speak in the third person. my makeup doesn't allow me to do that. i'm one of those funny people that have to think about what they're going to say and before they forget it write it down. so with sister nicole's wonderful dissertation that i enjoyed i'm going to do my best to follow up with maybe something you all can take away from this experience. i have to tell you this experience for me i'm going to be honest with you, i guess as a sailor, a firefighter, i've been a re-enactor about 26 years and i'm extremely nervous. but having said that i'm going to take my time and my little notes and pass along what i have to tell you. i want to thank you all for being here. i want to thank all the honored guests that are in attendance. my associates on the ses- -- sesqui- -- the commission. my brothers and sisters from the 13th united states colored troops. mr. and mrs. hill, mr. and mrs. overton

mr. perdue: i further ask consent that the bills be read a third time and passed and that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table en bloc. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. perdue: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 81, s. 501. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 81, s. 501 a bill to make technical corrections to the navajo water rights settlement and the state of new mexico and for other purposes. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. perdue: i ask consent that the bill be read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. perdue: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the help committee be discharged from further consideration and the senate now proceed to s. res. 168. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 168 recognizing national foster care mo

-- [applause] representing the country of georgia, -- he is accompanied by world war ii veteran, mr. bill ficcaccio. [applause] representing the country of greece the company by world war ii veteran mr. james -- [applause] representing the country of kazakhstan, as deputy chief of mission, a company by world war ii veteran and chairman of the oss society, commander q mcgovern. --hugh montgomery. [applause] >> representing the country of the kurdish republic and world war ii veteran mr. robert zimmerman. [applause] representing the country of luxembourg and world war ii veteran mr. sammy thompkins. [applause] representing the country of malta, deputy chief of mission and holocaust survivor mr. manny mindel. [applause] representing the republic of malta -- it's his excellency and world war ii veteran and tuskegee airmen, colonel charles mcgee. [applause] representing the country of the netherlands, as deputy chief of mission and holocaust survivor miss luis israel who is originally from the netherlands. [applause] representing the country of new zealand, is defense attache and world war ii

mr. speaker, we have no further speakers on this bill. so -- mr. pascrell: we have no further speakers on this bill. mr. reichert: thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey yielded back his time, does the gentleman wish to claim time? mr. pascrell: just to speak. currently the i.r.s. has not ruled on these payments. allow -- aallow disputes to be settled by what they call private letter ruling. this will provide clarity and relief to surviving dependents, guarantee the not forced to pay an excessive tax after their loved ones have given the ultimate sacrifice. so mr. speaker i think that we are together on this. i wish we were together on a lot of other things, but we're together on this. because we will do anything to support our law enforcement officers in the united states of america, the greatest couldn't rein the world. -- country in the world. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington. mr. reichert: i yield as much time as i may consume to myself. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr

erik: coming uperik:, bill gross tells me there is only one thing better than outperforming the market. les find out how much of his wealth he has given away. mr. gross: it is not staggering. ♪ erik: welcome back. investors ask only one thing from a fund manager -- performance. and that is all bill gross used to ask it himself. now that he is 71, he faces success in different terms. mr. gross: i define success differently now than five or 10 years ago. success in the early years was business-related, asset growth related. family was related to how will your kids did on the soccer field. these days the children have grown and are doing their own thing. we are very much connected with their success but my wife and i have embraced our family and now success becomes a function of what we can do with the rest of the world. to help others and to prove that some of the prior success can blend into success for the future. erik: like what? mr. gross: we are donating to stem cell research. six or seven years ago university of california irvine the research center -- we recently connected with duke university in terms of stem cell and alzheimer's. we are

. >> mr. bill, are you ready for your picture? >> yep. >> all right. >> when we met paul komyatti at indiana state prison in 2008, he had an inmate job as the visitor room photographer. >> it keeps me occupied. it keeps me from counting the 36 weeks and 8 months i have left. however you want to break it down. >> right from the start, he was good natured and full of optimism for the future. despite being incarcerated for the past 26 years. komyatti entered prison at age 17 for his role in a bizarre family plot that ended with the murder of his abusive father. >> my dad was just an alcoholic. i was like a little kid, 7, 8 years old. i'm crawled up under the kitchen table, and he's got a belt with a buckle, putting marks all over my face and everything, all over my body. my mom is like look, stop. you've got to stop. you're going to kill him. >> komyatti, his mother, sister and husband were all convicted for the murder of his father. komyatti's brother-in-law was sentenced to death and executed. his sister testified against paul and

mr. rosen: bill, you have been wonderfully restrained. mr.arshall: when you see this being paid for by mothers for apple pie, it does not tell you much. we have to put this in a larger context. i'm glad everyone is interested in the poor. they have little political influence because they do not give money. it is helpful to voters to know who it is they are supporting. one of the cues on that is who contributes to a particular campaign. the fact is it does not make that much difference. but large amounts of money can be put into races by groups who no one knows who they are, and at the last minute sway elections because the other side does not have enough money to be able to defend against the attack. disclosure is a second-best kind of regulation to give a cue to voters to have some idea why somebody is attacking a candidate or not. mr. rosen: we have to put on the table the question of citizens united. we are having a great debate about whether citizens united was rightly or wrongly decided cohosted by the federalist society and the constitu

between inspector kestle and myself, he's saying the tax collector wants to know if the 2013-14 bill for mr. imtair attached to the account, he close ted business as far as we know in may, 2014 and i don't have my reply here but i went ahead and waived that, weed asked the tax collector to remove the obligation. >> i'm seeing something that's dated in november. >> between me -- >> no mr. imtair received a bill with the charges and it says -- i don't know what it relates to but it's talking about fiscal year 2014-15, then there's date next to it november 3, 2014, and then it shows he issued a check on november 5, 2014. >> right so that -- >> is that the same check we're talking about? >> i'm not sure because that's a transaction he would have made with the tax collect torx i know the amount due on the 2013-14 bill i have was $240.87. >> we're talking about the same one. >> sorry? >> we're talking about the same one. >> i think we must be. >> so you can see there the h31 tobacco sales that's the type of perm, 13-14 that's the period for which he was billed, the penalty started accruing on 12/

bill. put simply, mr. president i have a vested interest in seeing the customs bill become law and i will do all that i can to make sure that that happens. i'll work with senator wyden and the rest of my colleagues to find a path forward on these bills. i don't want any of them to be left behind. but we all know that the customs bill has language in there that cannot be passed in the house. i don't know what to do about that. all i can say is we can provide a vote here in this body, and who knows what that vote will be. i am quite certain that if we're allowed to proceed today that these bills -- not to mention many others -- will be offered as amendments. but in the end, we can't do any of that we can't pass a single one of these bills if we don't even begin the trade debate. [laughter] if senators are concerned about the substance of the legislation we're debating, the best way to address these problems is to come to the floor offer some amendments and take some to -- take some votes. that's how the senat

mr. smith: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and stepped their remarks and include extraneous remarks on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. smith: i yield myself such time as i may consume. h.r. 1158, the department of energy act of 2015 enables the department of energy to better form partnerships with non-fd entities and transfer research to the private sector. i thank mr. hultgren for his initiative on this issue and the gentleman from from colorado for co-sponsoring this important piece of legislation. i yield as much time as i may consume to the gentleman from illinois, mr. hultgren. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is -- time is reserved. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois is recognized. mr. hultgren: we also have several letters of support on this that i would submit for the record. one is from the bipartisan policy center on behalf of the american innovation council and the american nuclear society and i would ask that they be submitted for the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hultgren: i w

bill. unfortunately, mr. airman the minority party did not come back for five months, but we wanted to make clear that everybody understood the bill. we also wanted to make clear that people didn't make misstatements because in this bill the section provides f.a.a.'s ability to regulate commercial human space flight in order to protect the unininvolved public, national security, public health and safety safety of property and foreign policy. it preserves f.a.a.'s ability to regulate space flight participant and crew safety as a result of an accident or unplanned event. mr. chairman the man who has led this committee in a bipartisan manner, mr. chairman, i want to yield four minutes to the gentleman from texas chairman smith. the chair: the gentleman from texas. mr. smith: mr. chairman i thank the gentleman from california for yielding and our thanks go to majority leader kevin mccarthy for introducing such an important piece of legislation. in fact, we have made him an honorary member of the science, space and

bill. with that mr. speaker, i rise in opposition to the brooks amendment and look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this bill that will benefit all those who serve. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. mcgovern: i want to commend the gentleman for his very sensible remarks and i appreciate it. with that, i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from alabama. mr. byrne: i yield one minute to the gentleman from colorado, mr. coffman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. coffman: i'm here today to ask my esteemed colleagues to stand with me in declaring, let our dreamers serve. let the young men and women who were brought here as children through no fault of their own, serve their country. let them serve the country that educated them let them serve the kibtry they love. their ability to serve benefits us all. it povidse an expanded

joseph violante director of disabled american veterans mr. bill rausch who is missing in action right now for awol. political director for iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. carlos field taste of the veterans of foreign wars and we welcome all of you and we will start with you mr. butler. >> chairman nye six and ranking member blumenthal and distinguished members of the committee on behalf of our national commander michael hamm in the 2.3 million members of the american legion we thank you for this opportunity to testify regarding the american legion steel of the progress of the veterans choice program. the american legion supported the access to choice and accountability act of 2014 as a means of addressing emerging problems than the department of veterans affairs. v-8 waits for medical care have reached an unacceptable level as veteran struggled to reset access to timely health care within the va health care system. it was clear this with changes were needed to ensure that veterans have access to health canada timely matter. as a result t

mr. kelly: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentlelady. this is a very commonsense bill. h.r. 36 being presented by my colleague, mr. franks from arizona and the reason is why do we have to do this? i'm going to tell you something because scientific evidence now shows that unborn babies can feel bane by 20 weeks post fertilization and likely even earlier. because a late-term abortion is an excruciatingly painful and inhumane act against children being born and their mothers. women turning -- terminating pregnancies at 20 weeks are 35 times more likely to die from an abortion than in the first trimester. and 90 more times more likely to die from an abortion at 20 or more weeks at beyond. after five months into a pregnancy, the baby is undeniably a living, growing human and government's first duty is to protect innocent life. because overwhelmingly most americans, i'm talking about men and women, young and old, support legislation to protect these innocent people. because the hideous case of kermit gosnell in philadelphia is a brutal reminder of what can occur without these

mrs. black: it is my honor now to call op representative franks from arizona, who is the sponsor of the bill. for five minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from arizona is recognized for five minutes. mr. franks: i thank the gentlelady. madam speaker, for the sake of all of those who founded this nation and dreamed of what america could someday be and for the sake of all of those who died in darkness so americans can walk in the light of freedom, it is important that those of us who are privileged to be members of this congress pause from time to time. thomas jefferson marked the beginning of this nation said, quote the care of human life and its happiness and not its destruction is the chief and only object of good government. the phrase in the 15th amendment talks about our constitution it says no person shall be deprived of life liberty or property without due process of law and the 14th amendment says no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the law. madam speaker protecting the lives of all americans and their constitutional rights are

bill isn't keeping up. mr. reickhoff: three recommendations we made is post-9/11 bill to allow veterans to use their remaining entitlement to repay student loans. loans are a huge challenge for our community. but continually we hear the veterans want to cash in their benefits to use it to start a small business. they ask us over and over again is there flexibility to allow to us start a small business, career, they are incredibly entrepreneurial and we'd love to work with your team on expanding and exploring that because there is desire to grow and create small business at a very high level. also other issues that i want to highlight is allowing medically discharge veterans and retirees to transfer their unused benefits to spouses and dependents. there are a number of upgrades we make this year with the g.i. bill with the lessons learned where we see a whole crop graduate. mr. roe: senator blumenthal, you are recognized for five minutes. senator blumenthal: my thanks to each of you for being here. i apologize i

clinton headed to the floor by yet today the mere thought of even debating the bill was too much to bear. nothing changed mr. president it is the same bill we reported on in committee. you can remember that happy times hall finally it would feel good to get it out of committee. this is the same bill we have been talking about for months. deleting that is different is the strategy employed by the opposition. the tpa bill wasn't the only bill we also reported a bill to reauthorize trade some trade preference programs and the customs and enforcement bill. so to begin the debate on trade policy we heard references from colleagues on the other side to hear statements from those who were supportive of tpa that all four bills would be debated and passed at the same time. but was problematic because but as a number of problems letted in this bipartisan efforts we made to give there. >> i think the we knew about your situation and we had people on the committee that were totally opposed i made sure they had a right to renew their voices. i don't agree but i respect them i cannot even agree how they reach the positio

mr. smith who is the chairman of the pro-life caucus, he's a co-sponsor of this bill and he's at the center of life. i yield three minutes to mr. smith. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mr. smith: let me just say at the outset to my friend, the former speaker for whom i have the highest regard, it is always appropriate to defend to the best extent possible the fragile lives of unborn children from the violence of abortion and it is always appropriate to defend to the greatest degree possible conscience rights when they are under assault. that is why i, along with my of my colleagues rise today in support of h.j.res. 43 to disapprove of d.c. legislation that infringes on the first amendment freedoms of religious charities and pro-life advocacy groups in the district of columbia. i especially want to thank congresswoman diane black for her consistent and highly effective leadership for many yores for fundamental conscience rights and for attempting to respect human life to the greatest extent possible. you know, i agree with six distinguished law professors, and i'll in

joseph violante director of disabled american veterans, mr. bill rausch who is missing in action right now for awol. political director for iraq and afghanistan veterans of america. carlos field taste of the veterans of foreign wars and we welcome all of you and we will start with you mr. butler. mr. butler: chairman isakson six and ranking member blumenthal and distinguished members of the committee on behalf of our national commander michael hamm in the 2.3 million members of the american legion we thank you for this opportunity to testify regarding the american legion steel of the progress of the veterans choice program. the american legion supported the access to choice and accountability act of 2014 as a means of addressing emerging problems than the department of veterans affairs. v.a. waits for medical care have reached an unacceptable level as veteran struggled to reset access to timely health care within the va health care system. it was clear this with changes were needed to ensure that veterans have access to health care in a timely matt

bill. that is the simple truth. mr. speaker, i'm calling on the leadership here to either instruct the transportation committee or allow the transportation committee to write a transportation bill. i have absolute confidence that we can come together if we do. it's through the committee process that we find common ground. that's where we reach our bipartisanship. that's how we fix things here in the congress. that's how we get things done. . we will write a transportation plan for this country that gets this country moving again, saves lives and builds an economy. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the chair will receive a message. the messenger: mr. speaker, a message from the president of the united states. the secretary: mr. speaker i'm directed by the president of the united states to deliver to the house of representatives a message in writing. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. shuster: i continue to reserve the balance of my time. the speak

i had noted there had not been good reporters like mr. billlante at that bridge that day america's conscience might not have been stored and we might not have seen the changes that needed to be made. that is just one example of why the free press is so important. the state's had literally just walked to the podium as i was coming here. -- state's attorney. i have not the chance to see the nature of the charges. i've been watching the press conference she engaged in. let me just say this -- building on what i said in the rose garden, it is absolutely vital that the truth comes out on what happened to mr. freddie gray. it is my practice not to comment on a legal process that is involved. that is not appropriate. but i can tell you that justice needed to be served. all the evidence needs to be presented. those individuals who are charged, obviously are also entitled to due process and the rule of law. i want to make sure that our legal system runs the way that it should. do just that department and our new attorney general -- the justice apartmen

mr. lamalfa had been postponed, and the bill had been read through page 57, line 11. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. duncan of south carolina. at the end of the bill before the short title insert the following, section, for an additional amount for corps of engineers, civil department of the army, investigations, there's hereby appropriated in the amount otherwise provided by this act for department of energy, energy programs departmental administration is hereby reduced by $2,500,000. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 223, the gentleman from south carolina and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from south carolina, mr. duncan. mr. duncan: thank you mr. speaker. before i start i just want to thank the gentleman from idaho the chairman of the committee on energy and water appropriations for all his exemplary work on this and allowing the open p

loy: bill? mr.oagland: alice and i were on a conference yesterday and brought up something called the white hat bias, which has to do with analysis that comes from peer-reviewed articles. there may be bias in those articles because the editor has a certain bias. the point i make here is that we probably need to go outside for the discussion for hard evidence from other sources besides peer-reviewed academic articles for determination of what should be pursued in terms of our analyses. ms. loy: question in the second row. oh, sorry. >> my name is mike and i'm with the national organization of integrative physicians who are trained in prevention and wellness. and i guess my question is primarily for lisel, perhaps. i was here about nine or 10 months ago, and i believe there is another task force, and the staff director, and want to say is janet -- i'm not certain. my memory plays tricks sometimes. it is not wellness so much as memory retention for me. but that task force is an employer task force. the

bill isn't keeping up. mr. reickhoff: three recommendations we made is post-9/11 bill to allow veterans to use their remaining entitlement to repay student loans. loans are a huge challenge for our community. but continually we hear the veterans want to cash in their benefits to use it to start a small business. they ask us over and over again is there flexibility to allow to us start a small business, career they are incredibly entrepreneurial and we'd love to work with your team on expanding and exploring that because there is desire to grow and create small business at a very high level. also other issues that i want to highlight is allowing medically discharge veterans and retirees to transfer their unused benefits to spouses and dependents. there are a number of upgrades we make this year with the g.i. bill with the lessons learned where we see a whole crop graduate. mr. roe: senator blumenthal, you are recognized for five minutes. senator blumenthal: my thanks to each of you for being here. i apologize i w

mr. jones. >> bill mitchell, a 30-year news veteran, has covered many rock slides during his career, but none this big. >> and then she came back over and she said, why don't you guys move back a little ways. she said, i'm hearing things up on that mountain that really unnerve me. i said, what are you hearing? she said, i'm hearing pops and snaps and things that make me believe some more debris may come down. so we moved back about 20 yards at that time. >> i heard a sound that sounded like a car door slam. a really sharp rapport. i talked to steve, the county maintenance supervisor and said, have you heard this sound before? what's going on? he said, yeah, we did indeed hear this before. i said, we have to get all this construction equipment stopped. we have to hear what's going on. >> sensing imminent danger, they stopped the jackhammer and moved the construction and news crews even further back. >> vanessa goes on and she takes a look at the mountain and then she walks back and she's talking to some of the tdot personnel. and all of a sudden, they start walking back, she jumps in her

i'm a big fan of this bill, mr. president, it includes a number of my top trade enforcement priorities and i'm very glad we'll get a chance to vote on it today. of course, it's not perfect. some of the amendments that were added in committee leave me with some reservations. most notably the bill now contains provisions that purport to deal with constitutions manipulation that are in my view very problematic. one provision sets up an avenue for a counterveiling duty investigation or review to determine whether some measure of currency manipulation is effectively a subsidy either -- quote -- "directly or indirectly" -- unquote to a country'ser exports. if the government finds manipulation is once again either -- quote -- "directly or indirectly" -- unquote an export subsidy, sanctions can follow. this provision is problematic for a number of ropes. first of all, it is likely not compliant with our existing international trade commitments. it would effectively require the imposition of trade sanctions that under the la

mr. cohen: i'm down to my last minute. part of the bill with representative clay had some sensitivity training to recognize gender differences and maybe sexual orientation differences. do you think it would be helpful to have police training in the diverse societies we have today? ms. rahr: i wouldn't title it sensitivity training because the police would shut it down immediately. mr. cohen: my last minute. sheriff clarke, let me ask you this. you mentioned in your testimony that much of the population and -- in state and federal prisons was for violent crime. probably that's true. for federal system it's mostly drug crime. there's not so much violent crime there. that's where the drug situation really fills up the federal prisons. you mentioned -- you said illegal drug use is the scourge of the black community and it is a problem and leads to a great deal of violent crime. would you agree that marijuana possession is not the scourge of the black community and does not lead to violent crime the same way that meth, crack and crearn do? sher

mr. bill rausch. carlos fuentes. we welcome all of you for being here today. >> on behalf of our national commander, michael hamm and the 2.3 million members of the american legion we thank you for this opportunity to testify. it's reached an unacceptable level nationwide has veterans struggle to receive access to timely health care within the va health care system. it was clear that swift changes were needed to ensure veterans could access health care in a timely manner. the american he john vbc charges to work first hand with veterans experiencing difficulties in obtaining health care or having difficulties in receiving their benefits. according to the v.a. latest daily choice metrics dated november 31st 2015 there were approximately 51000 authorizations issued for non-v.a. care since implementation of the choice program with about 49,000 scheduled. the american he john is optimistic that the recent rule change by eliminating the straight line rule and using the actual driving distance will allow more veterans acce

the bill is passed. mr. bennet: i ask the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and that any statements relating to the bill appear at this point in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. bennet: mr. president i'd ask unanimous consent that remarks that i have prepared appear in the record as well. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. bennet: and before i turn this toafer my colleague from colorado i want to on the floor of the senate thank chairman isakson for his extraordinary leadership getting this done. it's very, very difficult to do. he came to colorado, senator blumenthal came to colorado. they are both men of their word, and i have never doubted that for an instant. the chairman has set and incredible example for this body. you wonts to thank the senator from kansas for his work on this and to my colleague senator gardner from colorado, he's been a true champion for our veterans. he's helped us keep our delegation together and through the chair i'

mr. bill raush who is missing in action right now. or awol. political director for iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, and carlos ffuentes senior legislative associate for the veterans ever foreign wars. we'll start with you, mr. butler. >> chairman, ranking member blumenthal, and distinguished members of the committee, on behalf of our national commander, michael ham, and the 2.3 million members of the american legion, we thank you for this opportunity to testify regarding the american legion's views of the progress of the veterans choice program. the american legion supported the veterans access choice and accountability act of 2014 as a means of addressing emerging problems within the department of veterans affairs. va wait times for appointment medical care had reached an unacceptable level nationwide as veterans struggle to receive access to timely health care within the va health care system. it was clear swift changes were needed to ensure veterans could access health care in a timely manner. as a result the american legion immedi

mr. chairman. i was on the floor concerning another bill. are we not making opening statements? me have a desire to. >> i would like to make an opening statement. >> go ahead. the senator from maryland. >> thank you mr. chairman. first off i want to thank senator wyden -- for their efforts. i think they have done a fine job and i do believe the trade promotion authority bill is a major improvement over the last tpa bill. i think the way you -- negotiating objectives including labor and good governance of human rights. how you do with them force meant it's a major improvement and i complement you. i also want to believe that we need tpa authority to complete the tpp agreement and i hope we have a successful tpp agreement. let me say though that i hope we will have a chance to improve the tpa bill as we move forward through the process and let me tell you my concern. trade% opportunity. yes economic values being the type of people that we are in the principles that would advance. i am proud of our predecessors jackson-vanik who against all odds was able to get a major provision inc