mr. boyle: you mentioned the language talent. as someone who is in the military, don't you think we are missing out on a lot of potential of kids who have gone through the daca program? mr. polis: a kid in my district wanted to be in the district and didn't find out he wasn't american until he was 15 and still not letting him join the military. what kind of talent are we missing out by not letting these deferred-action kids enlisting in the regular manner? mr. lieu: having been in the military for 19 years, it is very clear that their main criteria can you complete the mission and how good you are at completing the mission is not whether or not you have a piece of paper to say you are documented. u.s. military is missing out on talent, people who otherwise would do great things for our military to protect our homeland and so on. it makes very little to no sense to link these two issues that shouldn't be linchinged. let's have separate debates on both issues. the senate is about to do that and i hope the house can do it as well. mr

the chair now recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. boyle, for five minutes. mr. boyle: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to speak briefly about two aspects of the president's budget that really struck me and a number of my constituents in philadelphia and montgomery county as so important. as a new member it has been a special honor to be serving in this chamber and have had a few incredible incredibly special moments that all americans can identify with. the swearing-in of a new congress, something that dates back to right after our first congress was sworn in, right after the u.s. constitution was signed in philadelphia. one of those other moments, the actually mandated moment, is when the president comes to congress to give a report on the state of the union from time to time as the constitution says. so sitting right here in this chamber, hearing president obama speak about the state of our union, would be exciting in any year in any circumstance. but it was especially this year, because for the first time in six years after the deepest and darkest recession in a

mr. boyle: thank you. thank you, madam speaker. . today -- and i realize i haven't been serving in this body very long, only eight weeks, but today is the kind of day that drives most people nuts about congress. even though we all agree, senate republicans, senate democrats, in a more than two to one vote, house democrats and house republican, we can all agree we need to fund the department of homeland security. yet here we are, a few hours before the deadline once again playing around with the security of the united states. madam speaker we have a way to end this. we have the senate bill in front of us. let us adopt the bipartisan bill, get the homeland security department funded, and then we can move on and have this legitimate debate about immigration. thank you, madam speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. carter: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. roybal-allard: i yi

smith's committee is not here i would like to recognize miss frankel and mr. boyle to share those five minutes however you would like to divide them. >> thank you, mad dam chairman. i thank you you and ranking member for this hearing which is very important and i want to share your sentiments or sorrow for the loss of kayla mueller. we have heard from the administration obviously in the past several months, why we should train and arm syrian rebels. we now have a request for authorization for the use of military force so i am very pleased that you're here to talk about, it's a little change of pace, let's put it that way. this is what i'm particularly interested in. not only the type of human humanitarian assistance and ansing some of the questions about whether we are getting to those who are suffering, but i'm also interested in your opinion as to the role that humanitarian assistance plays in the larger goal of defeating those forces like assad, like isil, that are causing the pain and then what else i would be interested in especially in in light of what happene

. >> mr. boyle is recognized. >> i have to say having been on this committee for the past few weeks i keep waiting until we get to have hearings with good news. i suspect we will be waiting a long time. the scale of the human tragedy that has taken place in syria is unbelievable. no over 12 million human beings who have been dislocated. this has created enormous instability not just in syria but northern iraq and other nearby areas. i would just ask, and a lot of my comments were echoed earlier. so rather than being repetitive, i would just ask that when you are giving your statements, this is part of a regional fight. part of the fight going on for 1400 years. i would like you to talk to the extent you are knowledgeable the stability of the regime in jordan, because being bordered by israel and what was going on last summer in gaza with the disruptions on the west bank and what is going on with the de facto shia sunni civil war and also a war between those who believe in a radical, militant violent

speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. boyle. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. boyle: thank you mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. speaker, i also want to thank the republican majority. as a new member i haven't had the opportunity to speak on this issue on the house floor or vote on it. when i saw that the previous congress had voted 55 times to repeal the affordable care act, i was a little concerned that i would miss all of the fun. so i'm very happy that we now have a 56th vote on this issue and it gives me an opportunity to say what a strong supporter i am of the affordable care act. more than 10 million americans have health insurance today that otherwise would not have it. more than three million children have been able to stay on their parents' plan who otherwise would not have had health insurance. and another three million on top of that have extra protections through state-affiliated agencies such as chip that would not have it today if not for the afford

mr. brendan boyle of pennsylvania. >> thank you. i waited three hours here to ask this one question, because i was concerned that this issue might be overlooked with the plethora of issues that we have and that you have, secretary kerry, around the world. one of the great achievements of the last 20 years of american foreign policy was forging a peace agreement in northern ireland. we're now 15, 16 years on from the good friday agreement and tensions still remain. the house the senate on a bipartisan basis appropriated $2.5 million for the international fund for ireland. but the state department is hesitating in releasing it. secretary kerry, would you please commit to me and to congress that these funds will be released by the state department and that the united states will continue to play a strong and active role in the northern ireland peace situation. >> mr. lee zell of new york followed by mr. tom emert of minnesota and that's it. >> thank you mr. chairman. mr. secretary, there was a letter that was sent from the other presid