mr. harper. >> thank you mr. chairman and thank you madame secretary for being here today. we welcome the punt to have this conversation. >>> i'm going to ask the clerk to bring you a document for you to look at so i can ask you a couple of questions. if you can go to page 8 on that, i have highlighted an item there. but this is a copy of a cgi slide show from october 11 discussing technical issues that must be addressed within the website. on page 8 of what i've handed you, cgi recommended that cgi and cms have a review board to agree on which issues can technically be solved and which should politically be solved. was such a review board convened? >> i cannot tell you. i've never seen this document and not aware of this recommendation. >> but cgi is responsible for the website, correct? >> it's responsible for the application. >> does surprise you that in the slide show that they gave in october 11th, they acknowledged political reasons for -- >> sir, i've never seen this document. i have no idea what that means. did you ask cgi when they came -- >> can you find out for u

mr. harper, for five minutes. thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to recognize the craftsmanship of george berry sr. george's life has been dedicated to wood carving. this interest began at a young age and developed into a life-long pursuit and it displays his passion for nature. george is not only -- has not only been committed to his art but has become an important fixture within the local art community in mississippi and he's been recognized both within this community and outside of it with several distinguished awards. through his passion for art and education, george berry sr. has made a tremendous impact on many mississippiians and others throughout this country. george was born in oklahoma and at the age of 6, george was taught wood carving by his father. he moved to mississippi in 1972 to teach industrial arts at the piney woods school, an historically african-american school located in rankin county, mississippi. a year later he became a charter member of a program created to create folk art within the state. after retiring fro

mr. harper. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, madam secretary, for being here today. i'm sure there are other things you would rather be doing but we welcome the opportunity to have this conversation. i'm going to ask the clerk to bring you a document for you to look at so i can ask you a couple of questions. if you can go to page 8 on that, i have highlighted an item there. but this is a copy of a c.g.i. slide show from october 11 discussing technical issues that must be addressed within the website. on page 8 of what i handed you, c.g.i. recommended that c.g.i. and c.m.s. have a review board to agree on which issues can technically be solved and which hould politically be solved. would such a review board convene? >> i can't tell you. i have never seen this document and am not aware of this recommendation. >> c.g.i. is responsible for the website, correct? >> c.g.i. is responsible for the application. >> for the application. does it surprise you that in the slide show that they gave on october 11, they acknowledge political reasons for -- >> sir, again. i have never

mr. harper. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, madam secretary, for being here today. i'm sure there are other things you'd rather be doing but we welcome the opportunity to have this conversation. i'm going to ask the clerk to bring you a document for you to look at so i can ask you a couple of questions. if you can go to page 8 on that, i have highlighted an item there. but this is a copy of a cgi slide show from october 11th discussing technical issues that must be addressed within the website. on page 8 of what i've handed you, cgi recommended that cgi and cms have a review board to agree on which issues can technically be solved and which should politically be solved. was such a review board convened? >> sir, i cannot tell you. i've never seen this document and i'm not aware of this recommendation. >> but cgi is responsible for the website, correct? >> cgi is responsible for the application. >> for the application of this. >> yes, sir. >> does it surprise you that in a slide show that they gave october 11th they acknowledged political reasons for trying to solve t

mr. harper: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of the research for life-saving cures proposal. this vote is about helping some of our country's most vulnerable patients. seniors hoping for cures to long-time illnesses, precious children and their families looking for answers about genetic disorders, and the scientists who are proving -- who are moving ever-so close to discovering america's next medical breakthroughs find themselves asking if they'll be able to continue their life's work. the national institutes of health provide support to promising research, leading to life-saving treatments. innovative clinical trialing aiming to reverse the core symptoms of disorders, such as fragile leg syndrome, autism, spinal musculars a roify, down syndrome, and cystic fibrosis, to name a few. these give families hope, the research that is there. but this is just the beginning. these studies help our nation's most dedicated scientists build promising discoveries. to continue these trials, congress must allow the n.i.h. to stay open while we work on getting the government back up and runn

mr. harper you give the president regular updates on the marketplace. the president stated he knew nothing about the status and functionality of the marketplace. how often and what were the subjects of those updates? >> well, i think there were a series of regular meetings with the president, with some of our federal partners, with offices of the white house from the omb to others on a monthly basis, giving reports on policy and where we were going. none of those, i would say, involve detailed operational discussions. that wasn't the level. it was, are we coming together, do we have companies, do we have plans. >> sure. i understand that. obviously, when it comes to the president of the united states, certain level of details you have to see at the 10, 20,000-foot overview. in terms of the functionality, he was legitimately caught off guard? >> well, i assured him that we were ready to go. everyone knew with a big plan that there were likely to be some big problems. no one anticipated this level of problems. >> just a second quick question. where is hhs

mr. harper that you give the president regular updates on the marketplace. the president stated he knew nothing about the status and functionality of the marketplace. how often and what were the subjects of those updates? >> well, i think there were a series of regular meetings with the president, with some of our federal partners, with offices of the white house from the omb to others on a monthly basis giving reports on policy and where we were going. none of those i would say involve detailed operational discussions. that wasn't level. it was, are we coming together? do we have companies? do we have plans. >> i understand that. obviously, when it comes to the president of the united states, a certain level of details you have to see a 20,000 foot overview. in terms of the actual functionality whether it's the website or marketplace, he was legitimately caught off guard in. >> i assured him and that we were ready to go. everyone knew with a big plan that there were likely to be some problems. no one anticipate this had level of problems. >> and just a seco

mr. harper. thank you, mr. chairman. thank you madam secretary, for being here today. i'm sure there are other things you would rather be doing but we welcome the opportunity to have this information conversation. i'm going to ask the clerk to bring you a document for to you look at so i can ask you a couple questions. if you can go to page 8 on that i have highlighteding an item there but this is a copy of a cgi slide show from october 11 discussing technical issues that must be addressed within the website. on page 8 of what i have handed you cgi recommended that cgi and cms have a review board to agree on which issues can technically be solved and which should politically be solved. was such a review board convened? >> sir, i can not tell you, i have never seen this document and i'm not aware of this recommendation. >> but cgi is responsible for the website, correct? >> cgi is responsible for the application. >> for the application of this. >> yes, sir. >> does it surprise you in the slide show they gave october 11th they acknowledged political reasons for -- about

mr. harper? >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, madam secretary, for being here today. are other things you'd rather be doing, but we welcome the opportunity to have this conversation. i'm going to ask the clerk to bring you a document for you to look at so i can ask you a couple of questions. if you can go to page 8 on that, i have highlighted an item there. but this is a copy of a cgi slideshow from october 11, discussing technical issues that must be addressed within the website. and on page 8 of what i've handed you, cgi recommended that cgi and cms have a review board to agree on which issues can technically be solved and which should politically be solved. was such a review board convened? >> sir, i cannot tell you. i've never seen this document, and i'm not aware of this recommendation. >> but cgi is responsible for the website, correct? >> cgi is responsible for the application. >> for the application. >> yes, sir. >> does it surprise you that in a slideshow that they gave in october 11th, they acknowledged political reasons for -- >> sir, again, i've never seen