mr. chabot. the chair: the gentleman yields back. mr. chabot: madam chairman i'll claim in time of opposition but i'll speak in favor of the gentleman's amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. chabot: and i yield myself such time as i may consume. i want to thank the gentleman for offering this amendment and this is the way bipartisanship should work. the gentleman offered, i think, a very constructive amendment. we committed that our staffs and the members would work together on the gentleman's amendment and we have -- most of us have agreed with the amendment and do support it now so we thank him for his leadership on this amendment. we strongly support our service members and veterans. our nation owes them an enormous debt and the utmost respect. in the last congress an amendment was added to this legislation to allow rules that protect the rights and benefits of veterans to bypass the r.f.a. process. that amendment is carried forward in today's legislation. the legislation however, does not yet place on the same plane r

mr. chabot. and following up on your thought about the victims of brutality, wherever those victims are, i wanted to give ms. jacobson the opportunity assistant secretary jacobson, to answer the alejandro family. how can she explain to her daughters why their grandfather, who was killed by the castro regime, his life meant nothing and the personal who was in jail as a co-conspirator of the murder of her father was pardoned, set free and returned to cuba and received a hero's welcome, what does she say to her girls? >> let me start out by that i can never bring back her grandfather. and i can never do more than express my sadness and my condolences to her at the start. >> when she was told -- >> this should not have happened. >> by you and others that a trade would not take place, a trade by any other name, this was a swap, was it not? >> but madam chair, i just want to say, an exchange of intelligence agents between two countries is something that this government and previous administrations have

mr. chabot and following up on your thought about brutality wherever those victims are i wanted to give ms jacobs and the opportunity secretary jacobsen to answer that questions. how can marlena alejandra explained to their daughters whether grandfather who was killed by the castro regime and his life meant nothing and the person who is in jail as a co-conspirator of the murder of her father was pardoned, set free and returned to cuba and received a hero's welcome. what does she say to her girls? >> let me start out by saying that i can never bring back her grandfather and i can never do more than express my sadness and my condolences to her. it's something that should not have happened. >> when she was told by you and others of the trade would not take place this is a swap is it not? >> madam chair i just want to say an exchange of intelligence agents between two countries is something that this government and previous administrations have done many times. >> but at the state department not met with the family and didn't the state department time and time and time again tell her that her

mr. chabot. dr. yoho is recognized. >> thank you. and i just want to say i look forward to hearing your information so that we can come to some common sense solutions to the middle east over there and work with the aumf and the president to get some resolution, so, with that, i yield back. >> thank you very much. and so now, we turn to our witnesses. let me introduce our panelist is. first, we are pleased to welcome kelly clem enter kelly clemenses at the department of state. she has detailed, chef detailed to the office of the u.n. high commissioner of refugees in bangladesh and has served in the state department's task force on kurdish refugees and displaced persons. she has also been a special assistant to the under secretary of state for global affairs and europe during the balkan crisis. and we will hear from thomas dahl at u.s. aid. he has served since the late '80s and has managed product developments in eastern and southern africa as well as in the west bank and gaza. more recently, he has served as the director of the iraq r

mr. chabot of ohio. >> thank you madam chairman and thank you for calling this very important hearing todiscuss the administration's new cuban policy. i believe president obama's announcement to unilaterally change u.s. policy toward cuba sets a dangerous precedent. in fact, it furthers an ongoing pattern of his utter disregard for congress but that's the way this administration operates. it gives a backhand to the elected representatives of the american people, treats congress like the proverbial mushroom. keep them in the dark and feed them manure. mrs. jacobsen, and you said there were new concessions and this wasn't necessarily something that the cuban government -- those statements on their face or just not credible. you also said the obama administration was under no illusion about the nature of the cuban government. i would submit that the administration is just about as naive about the nature of the cuban government apparently has -- as it was about isis when the president famously described them jv or junior varsity. tell that to the families of those who have been brutally mass

mr. chabot, is recognized for two minutes. mr. chabot: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, mr. tiberi. one of every two working americans gets up each day and heads to a small business. that's where they work. small firms are critical to america's success. they create seven out of every 10 new job opportunities, and provide the means for millions of our neighbors to put a roof over their head and food on their table and to get ahead in life. the bill before us today would help those small businesses and the working families that rely on them by providing much needed certainty. it would make permanent several tax policies that end up being retroactively applied anyway at the end of every year but not without scrambling at the 11th hour. we have all seen this happen year after year after year. let's give these small businesses all over the country the certainty that they need. these provisions will help small businesses purchase equipment and technology to grow and create more jobs. after all that's what we on both sides of the aisle say what we are after is creating more jobs in this ec

mr. chabot of ohio. >> thank you for calling this important hearing to discuss the new cuba policy. i believe president obama's announcement to unilaterally change u.s. policy toward cuba sets a dangerous precedent. it furthers an ongoing pattern of his disregard. but that's the way the administration operates. it gives a back hand to the elected representatives of the american people. treats congress like the proverb ral mushrooms. keep them this the dark. feed them manure. you said there were no concessions and this wasn't necessarily something the cuban government wanted. those statements it's not credible. you said the obama administration was under no illusion about the nature of the cuban government. i would submit the administration is just about as naive about the nature of the cuban government as it was about isis when the president famously described them as the jv or junior varsity. tell that to the families of those who have been brutally massacred by those barbarians. this cuban policy this new policy is in my view, tragically flawed. the way it was brought about with s

mr. chabot. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized for three minutes. mr. chabot: thank you mr. speaker. the house went through regular order to fully fund the department of homeland security, but in keeping with our constitutional right, we elected to not fund the president's executive amnesty. we have a policy difference with the president, that's clear. he supports amnesty, we support the rule of law. let's debate that. but harry reid and the president want to play games and in doing so are jeopardizing america's security to win political points. it's sad. republicans funded the department of homeland security. we have not funded the president's illegal actions. and now democrats are playing politics with it. but this is not the time or place. this is about funding the department of homeland security, which we have done and now senate democrats are playing political gamesmanship that offend his executive amnesty. democrats are the ones putting the department of homeland security in peril to defend an illegal action taken by this president. we have passed