mr. higgins and mr. pompeo alluded to. we had a retired three-star general that applied for clearance last september. and i think he got it last thursday. you know if that's not dragging your feet i don't know what is. but i don't know why we would have wanted all these documents, 40,000 pages of documents, if we didn't have staff cleared to read them. i mean, we members of congress, i know y'all don't think we do much, but, you know, for us reading 40,000 pages of documents, that's what the staff's for. and so just in the amount of time it took to staff up to find the right people from both sides of the aisle and then to get their security clearance, i think everybody needs to understand it took a while. and then as far as the delay, you know, i think the delay has come from our chairman being too bipartisan. i know there was hours if not a couple days, spent on arguing about how much time each member would get. and i think the minority wanted it down to nine minutes and 20 seconds each the way this thing was deliberated.

mr. higgins and mr. pompeo alluded to.we had a retired three-star general that applied for clearance last september. and i think he got it last thursday. you know, if that's not dragging your feet, i don't know what is. but i don't know why we would have wanted all these documents, 40,000 pages of documents, if we didn't have staff cleared to read them. i mean, we members of congress, i know y'all don't think we do much, but, you know, for us reading 40,000 pages of documents, that's what the staff's for. and so just in the amount of time it took to staff up to find the right people from both sides of the aisle and then to get their security clearance, i think everybody needs to understand it took a while. and then as far as the delay, you know, i think the delay has come from our chairman being too bipartisan. i know there was hours, if not a couple days, spent on arguing about how much time each member would get. and i think the minority wanted it down to nine minutes and 20 seconds each, the way this thing was deliberat

mr. higgins. the -- you know, it seems as if -- i mean, when i think about this effort that we're making, and i don't care what anybody says. it is a search for the truth. and be clear that what is one person's truth, somebody else may say something opposite, and that's their truth. but our effort is to bring our heads together, our best efforts, and hopefully have some trust to look at all the facts and come to some conclusions. mr. smith is absolutely right. if we end this with a republican saying this and democrat saying that, what have we really accomplished? you know, one of the things that we did -- and i thought it was great that we did it -- was to sit down and meet with the families. and i meant -- i made every one of those meetings. and it was painful. it was painful. they did not ask for republicans to sit on one side of the room and democrats to sit on the other. they wanted us to sit down and work together, period. one of the things that they said over and over and over and over again

mr. higgins? >> mr. chairman ranking member cummings and members of the committee, thank you for this opportunity to discuss cia's continuing cooperation with the committee's investigation. i apologize in advance for my cough. since the committee's creation cia has enjoyed a positive and productive dialogue with the committee and its staff. as of last friday cia had fulfilled all of the requests to date. specifically, since last june cia has certified the committee's secure work spaces granted access to sensitive compartmented information for 15 members of the committee staff, reviewed roughly 40000 pages of state department documents for cia equities and through the director of national intelligence provided the committee with finished intelligence products related to libya during the period in question. last friday cia began production of more than 1,000 highly sensitive documents requested by the committee. i understand committee staff will begin reviewing those documents tomorrow. with regard to comm

mr. higgins? >> thank you, mr. chairman. the nuclear missile and cyber threat of north korea is -- is profound. the question is how does the united states respond to north korea's cyberattack on sony? an attack to punish sony for making a movie that humiliated the supreme leader. the united states options are very few. counter attack to weaken north korea's military sflm assets highly infectual. number two, relisting north korea as a state sponsor of terror, and with that we don't have much diplomatic relationship with north korea, that too would be highly infectual. the serious threat posed by north korea far exceeds cyberattacks. normian cyberattacks -- intent backed by considerable capability. there is only wen gee on political option equal to north korea's threat. that is to work with our allies, both new and old to end north korea's existence been and reunifying the korean peninsula. north korea's nuclear threat. north korea has 4 to 10 nuclear devices and hind hundreds of short and intermediate range missiles. they hav

mr. higgins? >> thank you, mr. chairman.the nuclear missile and cyber threat of north korea is -- is profound. the question is how does the united states respond to north korea's cyberattack on sony? an attack to punish sony for making a movie that humiliated the supreme leader. the united states options are very few. counter attack to weaken north korea's military sflm assets, highly infectual. number two relisting north korea as a state sponsor of terror, and with that we don't have much diplomatic relationship with north korea, that too would be highly infectual. the serious threat posed by north korea far exceeds cyberattacks. normian cyberattacks -- intent backed by considerable capability. there is only wen gee on political option equal to north korea's threat. that is to work with our allies, both new and old to end north korea's existence been and reunifying the korean peninsula. north korea's nuclear threat. north korea has 4 to 10 nuclear devices and hind hundreds of short and intermediate range missiles. they have

mr. higgins i think both of you have something in common with every member of the committee, which is a deep and abiding respect for the four people who gave their lives for this country. so i think that you share our desire to do what the house instructed us to do. and you'll note the department of justice is not at the table. you made reference, mr. ruben to the department of justice. ms. sanchez made reference to the department of justice. and i asked her to yield time so i could clarify that. and she's well within her rights not to do so. the department of justice did write us a letter. and we met with them. and we addressed the concerns that they had about protecting the integrity of their prosecution. which i can assure you, given my former line of work i want them to be wildly successful with their prosecution. so i would never do anything to jeopardize that. we met. we discussed it. we worked out the issues. they're not at the table. that's why they're not at the table. i don't enjoy these hearings. i'd rather have a hearing about substance, not about process. i don't want another he

mr. higgins: mr. speaker on monday, a bridge collapsed in cincinnati, ohio, killing one person, and injuring another. this tragedy calls to mind the bridge in new york in 1987 which killed 10 people and the collapse of the i-35 west bridge in minneapolis in 2007 which left 13 dead. i don't know if more transportation funding would have prevented these collapses, but i do know that every second of every day seven cars drive on a bridge that is structurally deficient. there's 69,000 structurally deficient bridges in the nation. there are over 99 structurally deficient bridges in western new york alone. these numbers are unacceptable. congress is failing the american people by failing to address this issue. last night we heard from the president a plan to increase funding for infrastructure. that is a start, but i say we can and must do more. and i encourage my colleagues to pass an infrastructure bill that is large enough to address the real needs of this nation. i yield back the balance of my time. the

mr. higgins: mr. speaker, there are 329 ports of entry across the united states. four of which are located in my district of western new york. these border crossings provide opportunities for trade and commerce requires sufficient levels of security and provide enormous economic benefits to our nation. today i ask the homeland security appropriations subcommittee to include funding to the programs necessary to ensure the free throw flow of people and goods at the northern border. specifically fund something needed to sustain the recent increase in customs and border protection officer staffing levels. this increase offers significant economic benefits by reducing wait times. also, i ask for funding to support the preinspection pilot program which will expedite the flow of traffic by moving primary cargo inspections to canada at crossings in buffalo new york, and blaine, washington. mr. speaker i will continue to push for these and other measures to integrate the economies of our border communities with our canadian neighbors. i urge the committee to support them a

mr. chairman. thank you. >> very good. we go to brian higgins of new york. mr. higgins? >> thank you, mr. chairman. the nuclear missile and cyberthreat of north korea is profound. now, the question is how does the trend respond to north korea's cyber attack on sony? .. and that is to work with our allies, both new and old and north korea's existence as an independent entity and reunify the korean peninsula. north korea's nuclear threat. north korea has nuclear devices in hundreds of short and intermediate range missiles. they have an active uranium and plutonium program. it's not inconceivable with korea in time we'll have a capability to reach the united states. north korea's regime is a proliferation threat. a decade ago we held to be a live debate could build a reactor in serious, and it is a potential source of missiles and nuclear material to the rogue states including terrorists. north korea has a serious conventional military, which is a threat and excess dental threats to the region. in a population of 25 million people come into the fourth-largest army in the world north korea's army is tw

mr. higgins: mr.er, i rise today to, along with my colleagues, honor the life and legacy of mario cuomo who passed away at the age of 82 on january 1. when we think of governor cuomo we think of him along with his son, now governor andrew cuomo and counsel tim russert from buffalo, driving a car riding from the airport to the mosconi center to deliver his keynote address, which made him known as a prominent figure in the democratic party. less remembered than his speeches but just as admirable were his writings. he wrote extensively on the american dream his immigrant parents achieved and the numerous causes he cared about. "why lincoln matters," which is a collection of 31 speeches he wrote going back to 1974. as a student of government, a teacher of government and now as a practitioner, until 2006, i went to see governor cuomo who was practicing law in manhattan. and i had 15 minutes scheduled with him and left two hours later. i told him that his writings going back to 1974 were as relevant today a

mr. higgins: now more than 70% of americans live in a state where sexual orientation does not dictate who can be married. our nation was founded on basic principles of freedom inequality and no law should discriminate individuals on the basis of who they are. we have come a long way since 2004 when massachusetts became a pioneering state in the fight for marriage equality. but the fight is not over. i am a proud original co-sponsor of the respect for marriage act, introduced in the house yesterday. this legislation will allow same-sex couples to receive equal and fair treatment under federal law regardless of their state's marriage laws. as we begin the 114th congress, i look forward to working with my colleagues in the house to make sure that we have laws in place to end discrimination towards individuals regardless of their gender race, religious background, sexual orientation or gender identity. i yield back the balance of my time. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? the gentlem

mr. chairman. thank you. >> very good. we go to brian higgins of new york. mr. higgins. >> thank you mr. chairman. the nuclear and cyber threat of north korea is profound. now the question is how is the united states respond to north korea's cyberattack on sony? an attack to punish sony for making a movie that humiliated the supreme leader. the united states options are very few. counterattack, to weaken north korea's political military and economic assets. highly ininefectual. number two, relisting north korea as a state sponsor of terrorism with new sanctions. and in that we don't have much of an economic relationship with north korea, that too would be highly ininefectual. the serious threat posed by north korea far. >> seeds cyber attacks. north korean cyber attacks i think are indicative of future intent. intent backed by considerable capability. there is only one geopolitical option equal to north korea's threat and that is to work with our allies both new and old to end north korea's existence as an independent entity and reunifying the korean peninsula. north korea's nuclear threat. north

mr. higgins: cancellation of this week's vote on the secure our borders act is a relief for northern border communities, including my western new york district. this legislation would require a biometric exit system at every border crossing which would duplicate inspections and significantly slow the flow of people and goods across the northern border. ynd the border -- beyond the border agreement already allows for it to be shared between canadian and u.s. official, thus the implementation of this system at the northern border would be redundant at least. already congested border crossings such as the peace bridge in western new york, would see longer delays which would ultimately create disastrous economic effects and compound security concerns. the officials said implementation of this program would effectively shut down the northern border. investments and personnel and infrastructure should be made along our borders, but we must take into consideration the unique needs of northern and southern border communities and protect the strong economic relationship that is essential to the unit

. >> we go to brian higgins of new york. >> thank you, mr. chairman.the nuclear threat is profound. the question of how to respond to the cyber attack on sony an attack to punish them for making a a movie that she nauseated their supreme leader. the options are few counterattack to weaken north korea's political military and economic assets, highly ineffectual. realistic them as a state as a state sponsor of terrorism with new sanctions. the serious threat posed by north korea far exceeds cyber attacks. it is it is indicative of future intent backed by considerable capability. there is only one geopolitical option and that is to work with our allies new line old two and north korean existence as an independent entity and reunify the korean peninsula the nuclear threat four to ten nuclear devices and hundreds of short and intermediate-range missiles and active uranium and plutonium programs, and it is not inconceivable. the proliferation threat. it is a potential source of missiles and nuclear materials to rote states road states including terrorists. n