mr. duncan of south carolina, has joined us. as i mentioned, mr. speaker, mr. sires is the ranking member of that subcommittee, and mr. duncan is the chairman of that subcommittee. a valiant voice for freedom that must be heard. mr. duncan, as much time as he may consume. mr. duncan: i want to thank the chairwoman. former chairman doctor chairwoman of the full committee when i first came to congress. a real leader on foreign affairs issues, focused on cuba and venezuela. been a real mentor to me. i want to thank her for her work on this, giving us the opportunity to speak tonight. again, ranking member sires has been a champion on our subcommittee. i want to echo the words about mr. cost row as well. we've got a great subcommittee on the western hemisphere focusing on freedom and democracy. in the western hemisphere. and what we see in venezuela is alarming as well as it is saddening. when we hear about venezuelans who are scrounging for food in the dumpsters, eating domesticated animals, even flamingos. people that are hungry because the socialistic policies o

mr. duncan for unanimous consent request. mr. duncan: thank you very much, madam chair. i realize you are not going to be able to get to me for questions so i want to make a unanimous consent request to include in the record at this point an email from one of my constituents, melissa, who is the financial aid administrator at the tennessee college of applied technology because she has four good suggestions to help with this problem in her email. thank you very much. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. duncan. ms. kelly, you're recognized for five minutes. ms. kelly: thank you, madam chair. in recent years, hacking, identity theft and cybercrimes have been on the rise. i have been a victim myself. federal agencies have to do their part to secure their systems but congress must acknowledge the impact its own actions have had on the ability of agencies to protect their i.t. systems. many agencies face serious challenges in modernizing outdated legacy i.t. systems and implementing stronger cybersecurity measures under the severe budget cuts that have been imposed by republican-controll

mr. duncan. mr. munoz, you apologized to make compensation for dr. dao, i appreciate that. it was awful to watch that. it reminded me of the trump campaign rally. people shouldn't be treated that way. but the problem we've got is overbooking of airlines and the reason we had the overbooking and having to take that man off the plane, or have somebody come off the plane, is because the airlines are beyond the realm in getting profits, profits, profits, higher salaries for executives and less for customer. part of that can be seen in the size of the seats that you have for the customers. now, american and delta are tiny bit better than united on pitch. spirit's the worst. i think sky blue is good. probably alaska is okay. it's been shown that passengers can get problems with their veins thrombosis from long flights when they're so close together. seats have gotten smaller, pitch has gotten less. safety is a factor as well as comfort. mr. munoz, can you tell me what united has done, if anything, to try to have seats size and pitch that is safe for an evacuation of an airplane i

mr. duncan, for five minutes. mr. duncan: madam speaker, request permission to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. duncan: madam speaker, in my 29 years in congress, the issue on which i heard the most from constituents in the shortest time was on the big bank bailouts several years ago. when that was before us, i received 6600 emails in one weekend just in my washington office from friday when the office closed to monday when we opened back up. this of course was in addition to the many thousands of phone calls, letters, and emails that came in during the week before and the week after. i opposed that big bank bailout, but of course extremely big business won again and the congress voted for the bailout. three years ago, in 2014, i wrote the following in a newsletter to my 760,000 constituents. quote, a few weeks ago george mason university released a report saying that since the financial crisis, u.s. banking assets and deposits have continued to consol

mr. duncan. and i recognize for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. one of the things that you recognize, the self-regulation that you're going to ensure that you pay attention to it. but i would wonder whether it's going to be a irregularly or insii inconsiste inconsistent. how often would you you review yourself? >> i think in a regular course between united internally through our board. >> how often? >> our boards meet five times a year. so, at least that many times. internally to the open public, we have 186 million customers out there every day. to everyone's concerns and thoughts, we hear from them very frequently, with regards to those. so, i have an old saying from a long time ago. that it's about proof and not promises. so what you've seen from united, in the 18 months i've been there anyway, everything we said we were going to do, we delivered upon. so, it will be a constant stream of new announcements that enhance what we've talked about. and a follow-up on the issues. with regard to the policies we put in place, everyone will have to be a

mr. duncan. >> thank you, mr. chairman. just yesterday morning at the knoxville airport the plane we were supposed to fly to clipped a, a wing baggage truck with damage you could not even notice, but we spent three and a half hours there. they had trouble getting a hold of the proper person, the manufacturer is in brazil. and then they canceled the plane and it caused me to miss votes last night, and i hate to miss. this.hav am telling you i will tell you, we have the best aviation system in the entire world. me years ago, he said, everything looks easy from a distance. but you all have a very tough business. when think what happens, people have been denying good onehts and one bad one, the they tell everybody about is the one bad one. i am so thankful -- i heard on "npr" years ago that the russian air system has delays as long as four days. we get upset with a 40 minute delay. so, i appreciate what you do for us. let me ask you this, mr. munoz, before this unfortunate incident did your airline ever call law enforcement to

mr. duncan earlier. the question asked of you was whether, i believe, whether united used to law enforcement at all to remove our person for overbooking and security twice in response to the question. it seemed to either be a pat answer or, i don't know. let me be specific. has united this year removed personnelng security strictly on an overbooking issue? >> i am not aware of any specific instance where law enforcement has removed someone on that particular oversold situation. it's clear. are you able to tell us what united management or the site manager communicated to law enforcement that they, regarding 3411, waser on united this person -- did they say this disruptive and needed to be removed, or this person would not take $800 and needs to be removed. >> the failed policy and procedure we have is that after the attempt to incentivize a customer with that amount and other amounts, the protocol, the policy, called for asking for assistance from local law enforcement and that is wrong. >> so what chang

mr. duncan. mr. munoz, you apologized to make compensation for dr. dao, i appreciate that. it was awful to watch that. it reminded me of the trump campaign rally. people shouldn't be treated that way. but the problem we've got is overbooking of airlines and the reason we had the overbooking and having to take that man off the plane, or have somebody come off the plane, is because the airlines are beyond the realm in getting profits, profits, profits, higher salaries less f customers. part of that can be seen in the size of the seats that you have for the customers. now, american and delta are tiny bit better than united on pitch. spirit's the worst. i think sky blue is good, but probably alaska's okay. it's been shown that passengers can get problems with their veins in thrombosis from long flights when they are so close together. seats have gotten smaller. pitch has gotten less. safety is a factor, as well as comfort. mr. munoz, can you tell me what united has done, if anything, to try to have seats, size and pitch, that is safe for an evacuation of an airplane if an emerg

mr. duncan pointed out some years ago people in russia had to wait as many as four days to get an alternate flight. that's exactly what happened to us here in our nation's capital. after the flight was finally canceled, again, no opportunity to talk with anybody, to get any information about anything. nobody offering compensation for hotels or food or nobody offering to put anyone on another airline. everybody was just unilaterally informed they wouldn't get a flight out until the following monday. of course, it was cherry blossom festival, hotels running 5, $600 a month -- a night. needless to say there was a lot of upset people and understandably so. mr. lewis and i were able to get a couple of tickets to a nearby city through the number of efforts including my granddaughter able to get back home. because the airline was overbooked on every flight, there was no place in america we could fly to and catch the connecting flight to get back to minneapolis, minnesota. i would never believe that was possible. for crying out loud, we could have flown to london and back and gotten home in a timel

mr. duncan. i'm sorry, no, not mr. duncan, i don't know who -- >> mr. payne. >> mr. payne is recognized, i'm sorry. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you know, listening to all this testimony and the different opinions, the american taxpayers have invested more than $50 billion in air traffic control system in just the last 20 years. under the chairman's proposal to private ties atc last year, the federal government would have handed over atc assets worth billions of dollars to a private corporation free of charge. in the -- if the atc corporation was to hit financial or operational zults and needed to be taken over by the government, it's my understanding per the takings clause of the constitution that congress would have to pay to reacquire the atc assets. we would have to pay for what we gave away for free. what does the panel think about this? >> thanks. as i mentioned earlier, i don't believe it's my role as inspector general to express an opinion on purely policy call like that. however, to your point about valuation of assets specifically, our work has led -- our du

mr. duncan. >> five minutes. >> thank you mr. chairman and as some people here recall, mr. pool and i think others. i chaired the aviation subcommittee for six joers from 1995 until 2001. and speaker ginrich asked me to hold the first hearingsen oh the air traffic control corporation. ms. roben i think will remember that. and i think at that point almost everybody maybe with the exception of mr. pool was opposed to it. and so forth. but the chairman- the chairman shufter has done an amazing job and brought groups and people onboard that were not in favor of the proposal at the time. but i -- i'm sorry that i didn't get to hear mr. rinaldi and ms. robynn's testimonies because i had other meetings. but i want to say to mr. brown that fs i was impressed by your testimony. and i can assure you that i think your people will tell you the general achgs has not had a stronger than i've been and i'm sure the chairman will do everything possible to make sure that general aviations's concerns are heard loud and clear in any proposal we end end up with in this regard. mr. scovel you've

mr. duncan is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. just yesterday morning at the knoxville airport, the plane we were supposed to fly on to washington, a wing clipped a baggage truck with damage that you couldn't even notice, but we spent 3 1/2 hours there. they had trouble getting ahold of the proper person at the manufacturers in brazil. then they cancelled the plane. it caused me to miss votes last night. and i hate to miss votes. just to tell you that i've flown so much over the years that i've run into almost any kind of problem that you can think of. yet i will tell you we have the best aviation system in the entire world. my dad told me years ago, he said, everything looks easy from a distance. but you all have a very tough business. i think what happens is people have 99 good flights and one bad one, the one they tell everybody about is the one bad one. i am so thankful. i heard on npr many years ago that the russiana areroflot hasn average delay of 40 minutes. i appreciate what you do for us. before this unfortunate incident

mr. duncan: i wantedouo know how proud i am of youor all you have accomisd and wish you the best as you continue toork to educate our chilen. s ngtutis, principal tiller, on getting this gre recoition. as a side note, both ofy ns,raham and john phillip, have grad fromlion high. my thi son is crely a sophomore at clinton high. he's also all region and a state for the red devils boy soccer team. ngratulatns toarker. clipton high. and i yieldac -- clinton high. and iie bck the speaker p tpo: fr what purpose does e gentleman from rhode isndeek ecognition? mrlangevin: i k unanimous const to addresthe house for one mute, to revise and extend my remarks. the speakerro tempore: tht objection, the ntleman is recognizedorne minute. mr.anvi mr. saker, i se to celebte andecognize our departme o defense laboratories. i'm pleased to introduce biartisa resolution to degne may 18s partment f defense laboratory day, 2017. .peakerdefense labs have plyed a ique role in countls novations tt enhanc a strethed our tional secury. defense supporedesrcand development has yld my ga-changing state ofhert weon systems and

mr. sprague? >> yes, congressman duncan, that's correct. in fact, for alaska airlines, in 2016 alone, there were 675,000 seats that would not have been available if we did not have an overbooking policy so those were seats that would not have been available for last-minute business travel purchases, for accommodating guests that might have been disrupted due to weather or downsized aircraft and frankly having those seats available for sale allows us to keep fares low. >> so more people are able to fly at lower prices because of overbooking? >> yes, sir. >> is that -- is that true? would you agree with that, mr. kirby? >> yes, sir. >> all right. all right. well, thank you very much. >> ladies and gentlemen, with that, ms. norton is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i know you must have received messages from a number of us after the first incident about the need for more oversight by this committee of the customer service part of what the airlines do for us as a nation. i want to say to our witnesses, you may

mr. duncan, you're recognized for five minutes. >> just yesterday morning at the knoxville airport the plane we were supposed to fly on to washington, a wing clipped a baggage truck with damage that you couldn't even notice, but we spent three and a half hours there. they had trouble getting hold of the proper person, the manufacturer's in brazil and then they canceled the plane. and it caused me to miss votes last night and i hate to miss votes, but i tell you this i hate to miss votes. i tell you this because i have run into almost any kind of problem you can think of. i can tell you we have the best aviation system in the world. my dad told me years ago, he said everything looks easy from a distances. you all have a very tough business. when people have 99 good nights and where you know bad one the one they tell everybody about is the one bad one. i heard that the russian air flight system some times had delays as long as four days. we get upset with 40 minutes. let me ask you this, before this unfortunate incident, did your airline ever call law enforcement due to over booking before tha

mr. duncan. >> i realize you won't be able to get to me for questions, so i want to make a request in the record at this point an e-mail from one of my constituents who is the financial aid administrator because she has good suggestions to help with this problem. thank you very much. >> in recent years, the identity theft and cyber crime has been on the rise. federal agencies have to do their part to secure the systems that congress must acknowledge the impact it's had on the it systems. many agencies face serious challenges in modernizing the outdated legacy systems and implementing strong cyber security measures under the severe budget cuts that have been imposed by the republican-controlled congress is. one of the agencies is hit hard if the irs in may of 2016, the chief information officer testified and i quote, the system is the most critical challenge facing the modernization. what are the impact for the ability of modernizing and securing their systems and are we putting taxpayers a great risk? >> one of the things congress did for us is appropriate the additional $290 million. we

mr. duncan for five minutes?>> take initiative and thank you most of all for the great job you do during the subcommittee. let me just say, ms. gibboney, i've noticed that some members of congress in many of his set at night meetings try to make jokes about the wall. it's not much of a joke to you, is it? >> no, it is not. i don't see what's funny about it, because they've not been affected personally. because if they would, they would think carefully also. >> i wish that everybody could have heard your testimony. i've always heard that the worst thing that can never happen to you is to outlive one of her children. certainly you have our condolences. let me say this. some people imply or even say that if we try to enforce our immigration laws, it's a cruel or something is wrong with it. i noticed in some of the staff material, president netanyahu of israel, he said president donald trump is right. i built a wall along israel's southern border. stop all illegal immigration. great success, great idea. somebody can

mr. duncan, your stories hit me because my father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. we had seven kids in the family paid my family do not expect -- family. my family did not expect that. this was before the aca benefits and i remember my parents struggling so mightily, turned down by insurance companies, not going to the doctor. my mother broke her foot once and never went to the doctor. limped for years. never got her foot set because it was one more bill they could not afford. this is before aca. this is america, that we should not have that. i remember asking my parents, "how are we going to get through this?" are crawling to medicare." we do not want to go back to back and we shouldn't have to. we are a much cap -- a much better country than that. i appreciate you coming and reminding us how but for the grace of god and that we have a responsibility to make sure that nobody in this country lives hoping to crawl to medicare. so thank you. all of you. thank you ms. walkington fred talking about planned parenthood. it has been lost in all the other things. the fact

mr. duncan, to preside other the committee of the whole. -- preside over the committee of the whole. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h.r. 953 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill to amend the federal insecticide, if you thinkside and rodenticide act to clarify congressional intent of the use of pesticides in or near navigable waters. the chair: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered read the first time. the gentleman from ohio, mr. gibbs, and the gentleman -- the gentlelady from california, mrs. napolitano will each control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. mr. gibbs: i yield myself such time as i may consume. we are considering h.r. 953, the reducing regulatory burdens act clarify use of pesticides near navigable water. this is the appropriate federal statute to govern safety in the use of pesticides. fifra first passed in 1910, 62 years before the clean water act was passed. the sixth circuit court decision in the national cotton council versus the e.p.a.

mr. duncan: i rise today once again in support of the american health care act. i do this as a doctor. mr. dunn: we are giving it back to the people. the american health care act will lower the costs and serve patients. this act eliminates ork's subsidies and mandates and defunds planned parenthood and puts medicaid on a budget and largest entitlement reform in a generation. without washington mandates driving up costs and limiting access to care, americans will have the freedom to obtain quality health care plans that fit their needs at a cost they can afford. and all this talk about pre-existing conditions, this bill provides guaranteed issuance. let's not break our promise on repealing obamacare. we owe it to the people who september us here. i support the american health care act, mr. speaker, and i urge all members to do the same. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i remind my colleague that his vote could increase premiums for 090 a with asthma by $4, year. yield to mr. kennedy 1.5 minutes. contend contend what this -- mr. kennedy: wh

mr. duncan. as part of your introduction you mentioned your long service on the committee. i still mention with pride when you said you're the committee's skeptic. so i appreciate that and my staff does because that fits our rule. >> you and i have been around for a long time. >> yes, we have. thank you. i do standby those numbers. and what i meant to convey when i said that was the uncertainty of those numbers at that point. the numbers appeared to have changed a little bit recently because faa's estimates have come to $36 billion, completion day thereabout 2030 or so. but still the uncertainty remains. because at least for the six transformational programs that have commonly taken the title of next jen, in managing those acquisitions have not led to any kind of clear understanding as to total cost or ultimate completion date. so we're still very much in an uncertain environment with regard to those programs. it's clear what's happened is those programs have become part of a more general and ruling implementation of modernization efforts to be sure. faa to its credit has w

mr. duncan: i rise today once again in support of the american health care act. i do this as a doctor. mr. dunn: we are giving it back to the people. the american health care act will lower the costs and serve patients. this act eliminates ork's subsidies and mandates and defunds planned parenthood and puts medicaid on a budget and largest entitlement reform in a generation. without washington mandates driving up costs and limiting access to care, americans will have the freedom to obtain quality health care plans that fit their needs at a cost they can afford. and all this talk about pre-existing conditions, this bill provides guaranteed issuance. let's not break our promise on repealing obamacare. we owe it to the people who september us here. i support the american health care act, mr. speaker, and i urge all members to do the same. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i remind my colleague that his vote could increase premiums for 090 a with asthma by $4, year. yield to mr. kennedy 1.5 minutes. contend contend what this -- mr. kennedy: wh

mr. trum will make a speech aboard a decommissioned aircraft carrier. jericka duncan is at the "intrepid." >> good morning. president trump will meet with australian prime minister malcolm turnbull on the "intrepid" this afternoon. the first face to face conversation since a heated phone call in january between the two. while the "intrepid" provides a historic background it comes at a hefty cost for new york city. >> we're ready for it. we're ready for multiple protests and protests that move around. it's something we've become very comfortable with. >> reporter: mayor bill de blasio says new york city is prepared for president trump's return. >> i love new york. but going back is very expensive for the country. they close up fifth avenue and they close up 56th street. i live in trump tower which is right smack, great location, right smack in the middle of everything. >> reporter: first lady mel yanna and son barron are living in new york. the nypd estimates protection at trump tower costs nearly $150,000 a day. when the president visits, that cost is expected to more

duncan kennedy reporting from west sussex. president donald trump has said he is facing the biggest "witch hunt against a politician in american history" over his sacking of the fbi chiefjames comey. mrformer fbi chief, robert mueller, to lead an independent inquiry into alleged russian interference in last year's election. politicians on both sides of congress welcomed the decision — which took the white house by surprise. richard galpin reports. these are the darkest days so far for donald trump, whose brief, chaotic tenure at the white house is steadily being engulfed by allegations of inappropriate links with russia. director, if you would rise. so much so, a former fbi director, robert mueller, has been called in as special prosecutor to lead the growing investigation into the allegations. he's seen as an independent outsider and has been welcomed by democrat and republican politicians. it is a very positive development. it is evidence the administration is taking it seriously, good news. i don't believe it was necessary, i don't believe in special counsels, that they can go off on their own. having said that, i've got a lot of confidence in bob mueller. if there has to be a spe

duncan. >>> a meeting with north korea's dictator? president trump says he'd be honored to do it. >> obviously, he's a pretty smart cookie. >> also tonight, don't know much about hickory. mrro, andrew jackson and the civil war. >> he was really angry, that he saw what was happening with regard to the civil war. >> which broke out 16 years after jackson died. >>> tornados and flooding in the heartland leave more than a dozen dead. >> that first initial hit was the loudest thing i've ever heard. >>> and two degrees of separation. >> so when do youra gduate from >> on may 5th. >> and when do you graduate from high school? >> may 22nd. >>> this is the "cbs overnight news." >>> overnight, millions of people have been in the path of severe storms. tornado watches and warnings were up in pennsylvania and new york state. the system that was headed their way is the same one that exploded over the plains over the weekend. it brought twisters to east texas and near record flooding to missouri. at least 16 people were killed and 62 hurt. two young children were missing in arkansas after being swept away by floodwaters. we have two reports. first we'll go to mark strassmann in canton,