mr. jeffries: mr. speaker, it's an honor and privilege to once again have this opportunity to anchor the c.b.c. special order along with my very disting westerned colleague, my good friend from the silver state, epresentative steven horsford, where for the next 60 minutes, during this hour of power, members of the congressional black caucus will have an opportunity to speak directly to the american people about the sues facing higher education here in america. we are at a crisis moment. as it relates to our capacity to make sure that we can provide an affordable college education to as many americans as possible. the problem that we in this country confront is two-fold. first, the cost of a college education keeps going up but the amount of financial aid available to younger americans keeps coming down. as a result, higher education is increasingly out of reach, particularly for low-income americans or working families or the sons and daughters of the middle class. and a college education is a pathway

mr. jeffries: thank you very much. we have been joined by another dynamic member of the freshman class who arrived a couple of months earlier than the rest of us. he's gotten off to a tremendous start. i yield to my distinguished garden state, the the always nattily dressed, donald payne jr. mr. payne: i want to thank my colleague for anchoring tonight's c.b.c. special order on student loans and thank congressman jeffries for that ind observation. access to quality education is the basis of the american dream. in 1965, the higher education act was passed by congress and signed into law by the -- by president lyndon baines johnson, a former rural school house teacher who fully understood that education is the greatest equalizer. since then, student aid in this country that be the spring board that gives hardworking students with low to moderate income the opportunity realize their goals and transcend economic status. the federal pell grant program helps more than nine million students get to and through college. unfortu

mr. jeffries, who will provide a bit of an ending. mr. jeffries: thank you for co-anchoring this special order and to dr. christensen and thankful for all you have done for co-chairing. the affordable care act is the law of the lapped and the president has been elected and re-elected. let's move forward and address the health care disparities that have been set forth so eloquently here today, come together and deal with the ailments that are facing the american people. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. members are reminded not to refer to persons on the floor as guests of the house. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2013, the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, is recognized for 60 minutes. mr. gohmert: it's always an honor to come to the floor of the house of representatives. and especially when there's so much of great importance occurring in our nation at this time. we do need health care reform and i appreciate my friends across the aisle talking about the importance of good he

mr. jeffries. my daughter is in great shape and very attractives and fits the customer of ambercrombie, she was so insulted by the comments. why? the eths on of the customer. they don't think it is cool to pick on larger sizes. >> that is a fair point. but this is a company that is pushing the boundaries with the clothing and remember the catalogs that are border line pornographic. >> they are edgy. and there is no question. >> they are look for example that edge to cope them up in sales. >> morgan, timing iseverything. and in the '90s over size was in. and everybody wanted extra large and are they squeezing them in a fashion corner thathey may wanto get out of? >> i think they are. it goes back to the point i made. two-thirds of the americans are obese. over weight. >> not that bad. >> and the point is, you are talking about a huge portion of the population. and a huge buying demographic. >> hi priced jewelers cut out a large percentage. it is what you charge. >> and we have a big market to accomm

mr. jeffries of new york. mr. jeffries: let me first thank the distinguished gentleman from the badger state, my good riend, representative mark pocan who has been a leader on issues of significance to america. in fact during his short time in the congress, we have seen week after week, month after month, representative pocan has come to the floor of the house of representatives, the people's house, and boldly articulated a progressive vision of how we can deal with some of the problems that we confront today in america. and certainly when we talk about wrapping our arms collectively around the issues of great significance in this country of ours dealing with the crisis in higher education is of utmost importance. and as representative pocan has laid out, if the congress does not act by july 1, more than ven million americans will face a doubling of their student oan interest rate from 3.4% to 6.8%. increasing an already heavy burden as it relates to their college education. why is it important that we address this

mr. jeffries: the sequestration cuts began as a slow burn but have increasingly caused pain for people all across this country. now this house somehow found the courage to rescue air travelers from the sequestration battlefield, but we left other americans behind. we left head start children behind. we left expectant mothers behind. we left seniors who rely on the meals and wheels program behind. we left public housing residents behind. we left the long-term unemployed behind. we have an obligation to address issues that confront all americans and that's why i support h.r. 900 a one-sentence bill that would repeal the sequester. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields lack. for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for 60 seconds and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madam speaker. i want to take this of-second moment to stand here in front of the house and talk about a little bit about the working families flexibil

mr. jeffries, for five minutes. >> thank you. mr.orney general, thank you for your testimony here today, and thank you for your great service to this country. let me first note for the record my concern as it relates to the matter, the subpoenas issued that appeared to be overly broad in scope. hopefully that is something that the investigation taking place will examine with close scrutiny. second, i am troubled by the fact that the negotiation or consultation did not occur in advance of the decision to issue the subpoena. hopefully again that will be covered. you mentioned earlier today in your testimony that racial and ethnic profiling is not good law enforcement. i appreciate that. in new york city we are grappling with a very aggressive stop and frisk program administered by the nypd. many are concerned that african- americans and latinos are being racially profiled in these encounters. 3 you may know, more than million stop, question, and frisk encounters have occurred in the city of new york over the last decade. and approximat

mr. jeffries, for five minutes. >> mr. chairman, thank you and mr. attorney general, thank you for your testimony here today and thank you for your great service to this country. let me just first note for the record my concern as it relates to the a.p. matter that, one, the subpoenas that were issued appear to be overly broad in scope and hopefully that is something that the investigation that takes place will examine with close scrutiny and second, that i think as many of my colleagues have expressed, i'm also troubled by the fact that the negotiation or consultation with the a.p. did not occur in advance of the decision to issue the subpoena and hopefully that will be covered. you mentioned earlier in your testimony that racial and ethnic profiling is not good law enforcement. as you know in new york city, we're grappling with a very afwressive stop and frisk program being administered by the nypd where many of us are concerned that african-americans and latinos are being racially profiled in the context of the stop and frisk encounters. the, as y

mr. clarke: thank you -- ms. clarke: thank you very much, congressman horsford, and i thank you for your leadership, along with congressman jeffries and in leading this special order hour for the congressional black caucus. mr. speaker, i rise today to join my colleagues in the congressional black caucus in raising awareness about health disparities that continue to affect racial and ethnic minorities in the united states of america. despite medical advances that save many lives in our country, there has been very limited progress in ending the racial and ethnic disparities in health. in a 1985 report, the united states department of health and human services called health disparities in this country, quote, an affront both to our ideals and to our ongoing genius of american medicine, understand quote. now decades later health disparities still exist between black and white, rich and poor. a primary reason for these disparities is quite frankly the lack of health insurance that has been a problem for all these many years. for instance, african-americans make up 13% of the entire population but account for more than 1/2 of all peop