mr. engel: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in opposition to h.con.res 55, and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. engel: let me first say that i believe congress needs to do its job and pass an aumf, which is the authorization for the use of military force. we should have acted on this months ago, so this is the right message but with only the highest respect to my colleague from massachusetts, i believe that withdrawal by a date certain at this time is the wrong policy. this measure would direct the president to remove all u.s. armed forces deployed to iraq or syria since august 7 2014, except those needed to protect american diplomatic facilities and personnel. that's no way to defeat isis or to help the people of iraq and syria. i cannot vote for a policy i do not support. however i share the frustration voiced by mr. mcgovern, ms. lee and many others. i've said time and time again that congress should pass a new aumf. we owe it

mr. engel, and the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. mcgovern, each will control 40 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. royce: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members here may have five legislative days to submit statements or extraneous material for the record on this measure. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. royce: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. royce: mr. speaker i rise in opposition to house concurrent resolution 55. but while i am opposed to the resolution, i do want to commend its author, mr. mcgovern, for his constant and principled attention to the issue of military engagement in iraq and syria and the role of congress in making this decision and these are some of the most important and challenging issues that we face. that we struggle with as an institution. and i know the gentleman from massachusetts is frustrated. i have listened to him on the floor of the h

and as mr. engel mentioned, we want -- when one is looking at this, we are looking at cultural things which have been, let's face it, destroyed forever. some of these things are thousands of years old and you can't bring them back. and you can't help but think we're talking about physical things here, but we also see them do other horrific things. when they take a jordanian pilot and then in a particularly barbaric fashion set him on fire in a cage. when they take people out to a beach and one by one behead them. when they sell innocent women and young girls into slavery. over and over again we've seen these horrific things happening and it's time the world stood up to this group both for the horrific things they're doing on historic artifacts which can't be brought back, but also the human lives that they have so callously extinguished. this group must be stopped and let's hope that this evening we're at least taking a step in that direction. i yield back and once again thank mr. engel. the speaker p

mr. engel: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise in opposition to h.con.res 55, and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. engel: let me first say that i believe congress needs to do its job and pass an aumf, which is the authorization for the use of military force. we should have acted on this months ago, so this is the right message but with only the highest respect to my colleague from massachusetts, i believe that withdrawal by a date certain at this time is the wrong policy. this measure would direct the president to remove all u.s. armed forces deployed to iraq or syria since august 7 2014, except those needed to protect american diplomatic facilities and personnel. that's no way to defeat isis or to help the people of iraq and syria. i cannot vote for a policy i do not support. however i share the frustration voiced by mr. mcgovern, ms. lee and many others. i've said time and time again that congress should pass a new aumf. we owe it

mr. engel: thank you, mr. chairman. none of us who represent the new york, new jersey and surrounding area that wasn't deeply affected. there are 1851 people in my district who are program beneficiaries of all you do, dr. howard. we're very appreciative of it. you've answered some of my questions but i want to try to bring out certain other things. many of us in the aftermath, mr. lance just mentioned the friday after the tuesday of the attacks, many of us in the delegation went to the site of the attacks. it was surreal. you just scratched your head and you couldn't believe you were really, it's like a nightmare you couldn't believe you were living it and then you realized every few seconds, this is real. and so we walked around, other people walked around, we really weren't wearing a mask. they did give us masks but didn't really make it seem as if it was that important. i've heard a lot more people got exposure, i went back several times, i don't have any ill effects, thank god, but people w

mr. engel: mr. chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. engel of new york, at the end of the bill before the short title insert the following, section, none of the funds made available may be used by the department of commerce or other federal agency to lease or purchase light-duty vehicles or for any agency's fleet envin territory except in the fleet performance dated may 24, 011. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 287, the gentleman from new york and a member opposed will each control five minutes. mr. engel: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, on may 24, 2011, president obama issued a memorandum on federal fleet performance that required to be alternative fuel vehicles such as hybrid electric or biofuel by december 31, 2015. my amendment echoes this by prohibiting funds in this act to purchase new light-duty vehicles unless that purchase is made in accord with the president's memorandum. i have submitted the memorandum over the past few years and

mr. engel. i apologize. but i yield to him. mr. engel: thank you. i thank the gentleman for yielding and let me agree with everything you said. in the aftermath of september 11, it's estimated that up to 400,000 americans were exposed to copeous amounts of smoke and toxic substances. as a result many of our heroes now suffer from these debilitating conditions. acute respiratory disorders, cancer depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, it goes on and on. it's heartbreaking that the 9/11 survivors and first responders who have already given so much must now carry the burdens of these long ailments. i was proud to be an original co-sponsor of the 9/11 health and compensation act and i'm proud to be an original co-sponsor of the re-authorization we're discussing today. a failure on conditioning's part to pass this -- congress' part to pass this legislation would be an egregious affront to americans. i specifically say americans because the population of those who will benefit from this re-author

mr. engel of new york. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 287 the gentleman from new york and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. engel: on may 24, 2011, president obama issued a memorandum on federal fleet performance that required light-duty vehicles to be alternative fuel vehicles such as hybrid, electric or natural gas by december 31, 2015. my amendment echoes the president's memorandum by prohibiting funds to lease or purchase new light-duty vehicles unless that purchase is made in accord with the president's memorandum. i submitted identical amendments in 17 different appropriations bills over the past few years and every time they have been accepted by the minority and majority. i hope my amendment will receive similar support. we no longer pay $147 per barrel. the global price of oil is still largely determined biopeck. and -- by o pmp e crmp. we can change the technologies. federal government operates the largest f

mr. engele chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. royce: i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on this resolution. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. royce: thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. royce: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm going to yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. royce: mr. speaker, today we consider this house resolution expensing the sense of the house of representatives that iran should immediately release all detained u.s. citizens as well as provide all known information on any u.s. citizens that have disappeared within the borders of iran. as always, i appreciate the support of the ranking member, mr. engel of new york, in bringing this resolution to the floor, and i also want to acknowledge the author of this measure, congressman kildee of mich

mr. engel: thank you. i want to thank representatives chabot and mccollum for introducing the house companion to this bill. around the world over 1/3 of children under the age of 5 have no registration of their birth. most of these children are girls. i remember my grandmother, my mother's mother, who came to this country before world war i from eastern europe. didn't have a certificate, didn't really know for sure what year she was born or what time she was born. she knew it was december, she thought it was december, but didn't have it. i remember here we are now, many, many years later, and we have the same problem in many areas around the world. not existing on pape consider shatter a person's life -- paper can shatter a person's life. with official documentation comes certain protections and without those protections, a person becomes an easy target for child labor human trafficking and child marriage. down the line many of these children will be unable to inherit land or money, start a business or eve

mr. eliot engel for his opening statement. mr. engel: thank you mr.hairman for holding this hearing and ambassador power welcome. thank you for your testimony today. more importantly, for your distinguished service. as far as i am concerned, you are the right person at the right time to be our you and ambassador and we are lucky to have you. across seven decades, the united nations has done a great deal of good. million saved from starvation, diseased by smallpox, peacekeeping missions that have brought stability to war-torn regions. at the same time, we must technology at the u.n. is far from perfect. we need to improve the organization's management. enhancing transparency and strengthen internal oversight. we must continue to speak out forcefully when member states in you is the u.n. is a platform to an -- to unfairly single out israel. in my mind, the best way to address these problems is to maintain our engagement with the organization. u.s. leadership at the u.n. has headed off deeply biased and one-sided resolutions targeting israel. we cast the

i only have 30 seconds left for mr. engel. i apologize. but i yield to him. mr. engel: thank you. i thank the gentleman for yielding and let me agree with everything you said. in the aftermath of september 11, it's estimated that up to 400,000 americans were exposed to copeous amounts of smoke and toxic substances. as a result many of our heroes now suffer from these debilitating conditions. acute respiratory disorders, cancer, depression posttraumatic stress disorder, it goes on and on. it's heartbreaking that the 9/11 survivors and first responders who have already given so much must now carry the burdens of these long ailments. i was proud to be an original co-sponsor of the 9/11 health and compensation act and i'm proud to be an original co-sponsor of the re-authorization we're discussing today. a failure on conditioning's part to pass this -- congress' part to pass this legislation would be an egregious affront to americans. i specifically say americans because the population of those who will benefit from this re-authorization spans the entire united states. it's 429 of the

i'm filibustering just a little bit because mr. engel is allegedly on his way here. let me just ask -- >> can i -- >> yes, oh, please. >> i want to thank you for that opportunity, because when we, the president's budget has much detail about new -- >> mr. rosekind, i have to interrupt you. the president's budget never gets a single vote. republican senate or house senate, republican or democrat, no one would even offer the president's budget up for a vote this year. so that is -- you know the president, and this is not unique to the obama administration, president bush's budget when i was here in the majority earlier, frequently those would not pass on the floor of the house or the senate. so sure, the president sends up a wish list that balances never and yes, it's got everything funded to a level that would be great if we lived in a world of unlimited resources, but you are the administrator. i've run a business. you understand that as the administrator sometimes you have to prioritize spending and that's what we really are looking for you to do, that's what we wan

now recognize the gentleman from new york, mr. engelfive minutes for questions. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i, too none of us represent new york or new jersey and surround every that wasn't deeply affected. to our 1851 people in my district who are program beneficiaries of all you do dr. howard. so we are very appreciative of it. you've answered some of the questions but i want to try to bring up certain other things. many of his -- many of us in the aftermath, mr. lance just mentioned that was the friday after the tuesday of the attacks, many of us in the delegation went to the site of the attacks. it was so real. you just scratched your head and you could with you are really come it was like a nightmare. he couldn't believe you are really living it and then you realize every few seconds, this is real. and we walked around, other people walked around. we really were not wearing a mask. they did give us a mask but it didn't make it seem as if it was that important so i bet a lot more people got exposure. i went back several ti

mr. engel: i thank my friend for yielding to me and i want to say that i appreciate the bipartisan hard work of chairman nunes and ranking member schiff, but i want to bring to the house's attention recent reports that this bill makes drastic cuts in our so-called covert support to the moderate syrian opposition. a headline in the saturday "washington post" read, and i quote, secret c.i.a. efforts in syria faces large funding cut. if these reports are true, just as the moderate syrian forces may be starting to make progress, especially in the south of syria, then i'm afraid we may be making a big mistake. unfortunately, most members of the house don't know for certain if this legislation will reduce our support for the moderate opposition. those funding decisions are made behind closed doors and that's why i believe this bill is not the right place for us to be making decisions that have a major impact on our syria's strategy. i have no doubt that chairman nunes and ranking member schiff are de

i want to yield to the gentleman from new york, mr. engel, and i yield him two minutes on this matter. the chair: the gentleman from pennsylvania may yield but not for a specific time. mr. fattah: i yield him time and i will keep track that he doesn't go over two minutes. mr. engel: i thank the gentleman for yielding to me and i must rise and oppose this amendment. earlier this year, a.t.f. recognized the threat posed by armor piercing handguns and tried to limit the sale of the 556 round, which is the military armor piercing round. this have made sense. when they tried to make that change, they shouted down this proposal. i supported the a.t.f.'s proposal then and i believe this and other regulations on armor piercing handguns are needed. i introduced an act to enact the proposed change into law because we have the responsibility to protect our police and communities from these unreasonably dangerous weapons. a hunter doesn't need an pistol that can fire these armor piercing rounds. they serve one purpose, to kill human beings. they need to

. >> mr. engel. >> thank you mr. chairman. i want to thank my colleague mr. for not drinking all of thats kool-aid you have in the back against obl- k'Ñ and bringing something constructive.i i can't try thathl i was a former altar boy. i went to school, learned all the for americans to do was to f)qc%á t that health c)xdp/ was a m $ it doesn't even seem like a p[lÂ"ájjt if a kid is sick and someone saysv you]39 y can't have health care. it should pain us as human beings if a personm goes to a doctor and finds out that the child has get insurance. class people have insurance. but that probably sometimes restricts people from getting this. it just seems to me that instead of tearing down a system where you know in your hearts people are getting health care that you would say, i don't like the way you've done it mr. president. i don't like the way you democrats have done it. let us help you to do it better. but to take some sense of pride that the supreme court will just strike down the opportunity for people to get just basic health care, to mem9 is not just me

. >> at this time i recognize the gentleman from new york mr. engel or five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. moniz, thank you for her testimony. we appreciate it. i would like to join everyone. >> i'm having a hard time hearing you. >> generally not so hard to hear new yorkers talk. i will try to talk a little louder and not slur my words. i want to applaud your efforts and the efforts of everybody involved in producing the first record of the qer task force. it establishes a sensible blueprint, and make in our lecture. more resilient and to identify and improve vulnerabilities in our transmission and distribution system. as you know super storms know superstar and sandy slept through my district and the surrounding region in october 2012 knocking out power to over 8 million people and causing distribution problems. some new yorkers in my district waited more than two weeks and struggled the whole time to keep families safe and warm. as a result i'm focused on the ability of our energy transmission and distribution system to withstand future s

. >> at this time recognize the gentleman from new york mr. engel for five minutes. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman secretary moniz and thank you for all of your good work. reappreciate it. i would like to join everyone in a -- >> i'm having a hard time hearing you. >> i'll do this. this is better. generally not so hard to hear new yorkers talk. i'll try to talk a little louder and not slur my words. i want to applaud your efforts and the efforts of everybody involved in producing the first report of the task force. it establishes a sensible blueprint making our electric grid for resilient and to identify and improve vulnerabilities in our current energy energy transmission distribution system. as you know superstorm sandy swept through my district in october of 2012, knocking out power to 8 million people and causing several fuel supply and distribution problems. some new yorkers in my district waited for more than two weeks for their lights to turn on and struggled the whole time to keep their families safe and warm. i'm particularly focused

now recognize the gentleman from new york mr. engel, five minutes for questions. >> thank you very much mr. chair. and i too none of us that represent new york or new jersey, and the surrounding area that wasn't deeply effected. there are 1851 people in my district who are program beneficiaries of all you do doctor howard so we are very appreciative of it. you've answered some of my questions but i want to try to bring out certain other things. many of us in the aftermath mr. lance just mentioned the friday after the tuesday of the attacks, if of us in the delegation went to the site of the attacks. it was surreal you just scratched your head and you couldn't believe you were really -- it was like a nightmare, you couldn't believe you were really living it and then you realized every few seconds this is real. and so we walked around, other people walked around, we really weren't wearing the masks. they did give us masks but didn't really make it seem as if that was that important. so i bet a lot more people got exposure. i mean ill-eff

i only have 30 seconds left for mr. engel but i apologize and i yield to him. >> thank you for yielding and let me agree with everything you said. in the aftermath of september 11th, it is estimated that americans were exposed to copious amounts of smoke and asbestos and now suffer from debilitating conditions cancer, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and it goes on and on and it is heartbreaking that the 9/11 survivors and first responders have already given so much and must carry the burden of the long ailments and the very less we can do is to help them. and i was proud to be a co-sponsor of the james zadroga and proud to be a co-sponsor of the reauthorization today. and americans gave so much on 9/11, service to thur country and i specifically say americans because the population of those who benefit from the reauthorization spans the entire united states. it is 429 out of the 435 congressional district benefit from the programs so this is an issue of national performance. so the first responders who rely on the

mr. engel of new york. but you've got to -- i can go back to basics. if we start from the premise that the information is mine, is yours and we're going to give the individual the right of who has access to it, you know then worrying about what happens when somebody breaches it is not quite as complicated. if you put it in the public domain but then try to protect who has access to it as opposed to not even making it available then you have less to protect and less to worry about who's going to, you know, breakthrough a firewall and breach it. but it does happen, and we ought to we ought to take every legislative step that we can take to protect it and to penalize those that do it so that the incentive is for better protection and, in that way, not have as many people attempting to do the hacking. >> on the newer and kind of broader policy questions we've seen the obama administration turn to the commerce department's ntia to kind of sort out things like mobile app privacy and facial recognition privacy, and now they're going to be turning to drones so

. >> need to go to mr. engel. ambassador thank you very much. >> thank you sir. >> opening remarks, let me ac acknowledge the very strong work in israel and the u.n. you listed several instances in your written testimony and want to acknowledge your personal commitment to pushing back against efforts to delegit mit israel at the u.n. the ridiculous nonsense from the u.n. human rights council which is consists of some of the worst offenses of human rights and makes that council a joke and under minds itself self-. the president gave a interview with channel 2 knew and was re-evaluating how they approach israel in the international stage around the palestinian issue, unquote. i understand that this reevaluation will not effect our security relationship with israel. the president made that clear. but frankly his remarks are troubling as were other remarks he has made on the same subject. re-evaluating the ways we defend israel on the international stage could have ominous consequences and tampa bayousy le very concer

mr. engle thank you very much for your excellent statement. your leadership. i think the american people need to know more and more, we work across the aisle. it's always a privilege to work with eliot engel the ranking democrat on the full committee. thank you so much. mr. palmer who is from -- sorry. i thank you for being here. and look forward to your testimony. >> thank you. good afternoon. i'm honored and privileged to provide my testimony before you. and i commend you for holding this important hearing. i'm here today because i'm inspired by a british-educated barrister traveling on a train to with a paid ticket who was thrown off a train for sitting in first class compartment because of color of his skin. the sense of justice and outrage within him inspired a struggle for civil rights in south africa, which he later transformed for a fight for international independence from a colonial power. i'm referring to gandhi. i'm not comparing myself to gandhi, but i'm prepare to the stand up to fight for the cause that transcends cultures and nations. i'm here today because my little boy who i love dearly isn't with me, and he has been robbed of his father's love and presence for over thre

mr. engle, thank you very much for your excellent statement. your leadership. i think the american people need to know more and more, we work across the aisle. it's always a privilege to work with eliot engel, the ranking democrat on the full committee. thank you so much. mr. palmer who is from -- sorry. i thank you for being here. and look forward to your testimony. >> thank you. good afternoon. i'm honored and privileged to provide my testimony before you. and i commend you for holding this important hearing. i'm here today because i'm inspired by a british-educated barrister traveling on a train to with a paid ticket who was thrown off a train for sitting in first class compartment because of color of his skin. the sense of justice and outrage within him inspired a struggle for civil rights in south africa, which he later transformed for a fight for international independence from a colonial power. i'm referring to gandhi. i'm not comparing myself to gandhi, but i'm prepare to the stand up to fight for the cause that transcends cultures and nations. i'm here today because my little boy who i love dearly isn't with me, and he has been robbed of his father's love and presence for over thr

mr. talbott, and madam ambassador, thank you for being so kind to me in terms before the session. following up on the excellent remarks made by ranking member engel as when a president obama issued a not so veiled threat to israel that the u.s. may not be able to support a veto of the french resolution at the u.n. security council and palestinian statehood. use of the word opposed. we will oppose but will the united states, yes or no veto any resolution of the human the forces imposes the two-state solution on israel? what will our position be? will we veto you say we oppose, but will we veto? that will send a strong message. >> again given that we worked last summer on u.n. security council resolution with israel and we're potentially prepared to support, we weren't able to get everybody on the council to rally around. i think it's perilous to make a blanket statement but i want to underscore we are consistently opposed, we will oppose anything that is by skim anything that would undermine israel's security. i think our track record is very solid. >> thank you. i think that's a track record that worries israel's, i applaud you for saying that yo

engel. also with us from boston american diplomat former ambassador nicholas burns. >> mr.start with you. the headline of the"the washington post" says it all for a lot of military types, more troops ordered to iraq 450 advisors won't be on the front lines. you hear one quote after another, might be a good step in the right direction but it's not enough. what do you think? >> i think it's a step the administration had to take something has to be done to strengthen the iraqi army. it's the only army that's going to keep the islamic state out of baghdad. it's the only army that can take back ramadi. that army failed. it failed a year ago this week in mosul and failed in ramadi the last couple weeks. the administration had to do this. but beyond this the president also needs to continue to emphasize this isn't going to be a short term struggle. we don't have the strategy in place to defeat isis right now. we have a contained strategy and it's barely working, barely adequate. that is an important point. i think most important thing we can do find a way internationally to make i

engell in the house. i would urge my colleagues to support this. the presiding officer: the senator has used her 30 seconds. mrse presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: i'm delighted to team up with the good senator here because this is a very modest amendment that just puts us in line with our colleagues: the united kingdom germany turkey france, australia and others who already are directly arch the kurds. -- arming the kurds. the president's policy that i absolutely support is we're going to take this fight to isis but we're not going to have combat boots on the ground. we're going to help strategically with airstrikes. these are the people who are taking it day after day deaths and blood and wounds. that's the least we can do is support this amendment. the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired. mr. reed: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: mr. president i oppose the ernst amendment. it would undermine what has been the fundamental policy of the united states going back to the last administration, a unified sovereign iraq. this amend