mr. mccarthy was saying about executive action and diplomacy to deal with the problem. in the case of ben mafus you have people talking to their saudi counterpart presenting evidence that he's doing this when you have in mind? >> well, no. what i had in mind in the short term was diplomatic exchange between the united states and the united kingdom about the use of their courts as a weapon of some welfare designed to suppress speech that's necessary to make good counterterrorism policy. >> roger in the center. >> i am roger with the cato institute. i want to pick up on the point and the mccarthy raised about the importance focusing on the ideology because of course this was driven by the kind of intolerance for criticism for the dissent that creates so much of the world and that calls into question andy's plight it's in the interest of these countries to have a robust first amendment protection. i don't think it is. i think these people understand perfectly it's in their interest to suppress speech because that is a threat to their continuation in power. but on the diplo

mr. mccarthy. next we have mr. ken spence. >> ranking members thank-you for the opportunity to testify my name is ken spence and ibm at executive council of travelers that offers all large property of risk management services to numerous with businesses organizations are individuals in the u.s. and abroad. our products are distributor primarily through the u.s. through independent insurance agents and brokers and a company that is a member of the american insurance association. there appears to be an emerging consensus there should be systemic risk regulation of the federal level. i will share some of travelers specific systemic risk regulation recommendations of a moment. however for any systemic level oversight to me meaningful across financial service sectors, there must be an insurance regulatory presence at the federal level to ensure that appropriate information is provided and analyzed and to ensure that any systemic level directives are effectively implemented. to that end of the creation of an office of th

mr. mccarthy who's been working on these areas.when we got this so-called housing plan it, looked like a plan in order to plan and we were expecting a plan, and yes, the differences you're talking about are not even approached. i don't know where fema is on it but it is very scary given the issue that perhaps receive the highest visibility and recovery in louisiana and mississippi was housing, to think we still don't have a plan. mr. mccarthy? >> i want to mention that mr. becker is saying is correct. at this point what you really need was a plan for a plan. and it's my understanding that the task force now is working on a concept of operations of actually applying the plan and starting to -- >> applying what plan, sir? >> the disaster housing plan to start having specifics for -- >> to make it into a plan? >> yeah to make it into a plan. and one other point i want to point out that the act did quite a few good things and i think one of the best things it did was to authorize case management and it had a few other things that took

mr. mccarthy, took the initiative here and we were pleased to work with him. the chair of the subcommittee, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. can courseky, is dealing with a back problem, he's not here, but he's not dealing with a back bone problem because this puts more back bone into the laws. the s.e.c. enhanced their ability to kick people out of the industry who have a bad record. it makes it very clear that a past bad record and past affiliation would still be relevant in giving the s.e.c. the right to protect investors. we are all aware that too little has been done to protect investors. this is a step forward toward further empowering the s.e.c. to do the job of protecting investors. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. mccarthy: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mccarthy: i rise in support of h.r. 2623, legislation to amend the federal security laws to clarify the s.

mr. mccarthy and me in supporting this effort to strengthen the democratic process and give american voters the electoral certainty they deserve. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. mrs. davis: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california. mr. lungren: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. lungren: today, i rise in support of this bill, the track bill, which will encourage states to adopt measures towards the modernization of election systems. the legitimacy of our systems is based on the public trust that properly cast ballots are counted and in the case of absentee ballots reach their appropriate destination. there is cause for concern as to the legitimacy of the outcome. long gone should be the days when dogged-ear absentee ballots are relegated to dark corners. instituting a tracking system, states can further ensure that security of their absentee ballots. some have said this is really promoting postal progress information for election shipments. mover, an absentee tracking system

mr. mccarthy about what changes need to remain to this effort act, we are taking a comprehensive free lookat the saturn aga and the recollection supported and i was secure supports madam chair mr. ranking member in these efforts. this navidad is currently setup to provide recovery dollars on a project by project basis. her for the gulf coast dates that were hit by hurricane katrina and rita, this is not optimal due to the extent of distractions. that i that we're nearly four years for these events and the states and fema are still arguing over doorknobs of whether a building that was flooded that is and falling down was more or less than 50 percent damage to demonstrates this. link in catastrophic cormack disasters the states and localities maintain the flexibility to rethink and replant the recovery and have other mitigation plan. they need to have a flexibility to decide whether rebuilding in the pre disaster for a. is the best solution for the committee's long term. what are some of the fixes that i hope you look at? in regards to this stafford act? us -- legislative regrading a level f

mr. mccarthy and of california have advocated for this to be used specifically to reduce the national debt. yet others want to recycle these funds and use them for other programs some of which are brand new and am curious from your perspective to believe it's in the best interests of the taxpayer to take t.a.r.p. repayments? >> our respect is a legal one minute thing legally treasury's chairman of taking to the interest or dividends or profits and to rent the reduction of national debt is clearly was compelled by law under eesa, the treasury is consistent with hola and i have the option to relent that money out of to maximum of $700 billion. >> as long as eesa is permitted to do so which is to the end of the year. >> the part that i keep hearing from people taxpayers is take the money and then throw it out there and keep adding more bisque and eventually the debt obligation that we have is staggering. i'm curious from your point you have been an advocate on perhaps -- perhaps behalf of the taxpayers and i'm curious whether they're better served by paying down the debt or spending t.a.r.p.

mrs. mccarthy of new york for today and through july 31. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the requests are granted. the speaker pro tempore: if member could please take their conversations offer the floor. the chair will begin entertaining one-minute speeches. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. >> thank you so much, madam speaker. i am pleased to announce that today the department of commerce awarded a $15 million grant to my alma mater, the university of miami, for the construction of a new marine science research facility at the school of marine and atmospheric science. the chair: the gentlewoman will suspend. -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman will suspend. the house is not in order. the gentlewoman may proceed. ms. ros-lehtinen: thank you so much. the rossen steel school, madam speaker, will construct an integrated seawater laboratory building that will also house a state-of-the-art marine life science center. the lab will be the only facility in the world with the wind wave storm surge simulator

mr. mccarthy: mr. speaker, earlier today, i was in a meeting with small businesses around the united states. we met inside this capitol. we talked about health care. we talked about ways to reform health care, to bring the costs down, quality up, to be able to have greater accessibility, to be able to have the ability to move from job to job and have the health care, be able to have choice and quality. and when i sat around this table with small business owners, one of the individuals owned a kentucky fried chicken, one a pizza establishment and talked about going from 45 employees to 35. he said if the health care bill as proposed, his question will not be will he have to lay people off, the question will be, will he shut down. he would have to close his business if this bill passes this week. then we met with another small business owner, and she provides health care to her employees, high quality. i ask that we spend our priorities not on how much time we have to pick a dog, but how much time we act

mr. mccarthy: permission to address the house. mr. speaker, this morning, i opened up my hometown paper. on the front page of the local section, there is an article. the current county, unemployment rate for the month of june increased to 14.7%. if that's a talking point, it's coming directly from the paper. one year ago, the unemployment rate was 9%. the american people know if americans are not working, america is not working. my constituents ask me is this obama economy going to improve. they continue to ask me, if you take more from what people earn from the energy tax every time you turn on a light, when you go to the health care, taxing and taking away the choice. but i tell them there's a chance for a better way. there is a better way to work together to focus on small business. small business creates 79% of every job in america. we can do better by working together and stopping the unemployment rate. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new mexico rise? >> mr. spea

mr. mccarthy out of california have advocated for those repayments to be used to specifically reduce the national debt. yet, others want to recycle those funds and use them for other programs some of which are brand-new. i'm curious from your perspective do you believe it's in the best interest of the taxpayer to take t.a.r.p. repayments to pay down the debt? >> our perspective is really a legal one and i think legally treasury's treatment of taking any interest or dividends and -- or profits and direct them through the reduction of the national debt, that's very clearly what's compelled by under eesa, the principal payments, the treasury is consistent with the law is they have the option to relet that money out to a maximum of -- >> as long as eesa permits them to do so which is right now through the end of the year. >> the part i keep hearing from people, taxpayers, that take the money back and we throw it out and have more risk and eventually the debt obligation that we have is staggering. miss warren, you've been an advocate on behalf of ie the taxpayers where they better served abou

mr. mccarthy out of california advocated for those repayments to be used specifically to reduce the national debt. yet others want to recycle these funds and use them for other programs, some of which are brand new. i'm curious from your perspective do you believe it's in the best interest of the taxpayer to take t.a.r.p. repayments to pay down the debt? >> our perspective is a legal one and legally treasury's treatment of taking the interest or dividend and/or profit and direct them to the national debt is compelled by national law under eesa. they have the option to relet that money out up to a maximum of $700 billion as long as t.a.r.p. is in existence. as long as eesa permits them to do so which right now is through the end the year. >> the part that i keep hearing from people, taxpayers that take the money back and throw it out there and keep adding more risk and eventually the debt obligation that we have is staggering. miss warren, from your point you also have been an advocate on behalf of consumers, i.e. the taxpayers. i'm curious whether you think taxpayers are better served by pay

mr. chairman. >> the gentle lady from new york, ms. mccarthy. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i appreciate it. i think many of my colleagues have said that this is actually been a very interesting journey that many of us have taken on this committee over the last several months. i wanted to ask ,-comhim as an alternative to federal regulation some have recommended moving to federal minimum standards that would enforce by the current state regulatory structure. would that solve the regulatory burden in areas such as licensing, market conduct and speed to market if not, please explain why. >> thank you for the question. we believe it does not. we believe federal minimum standards. many of us run national businesses. we are like the property and casualty industry, we price a product one time for all 50 states, our producers are often national, our producers often have our customers move from one state to another. so when someone suggests that federal minimum standards is the answer, what that means is those minimum standards will be met by there will still be 51 different sets of rules and regula

mr. president, we've also worked closely with leaders in the house of representatives, especially congressman kevin mccarthy and duncan hunter. but our work wasn't done all here in washington. we relied on technical assistance from the texas secretary of state's office, especially our director of elections ann mcgeehan, dozens of veterans service organizations, and many other citizens and patriots who want our troops right to enjoy -- to enjoy their right to their vote that it be protected, particularly for those who defend all of us. mr. president, i would urge all of 0 our colleagues to support this amendment when it comes to the floor, i hope later on today, and to give this important amendment our unanimous consent. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, once every 20 years we take up critical issues like health care reform. many of us believe that this particular moment in history is perhaps

mr. mccarthy about what changes need to remain to this effort act, we are taking a comprehensive free look at the saturn aga and the recollection supported and i was secure supports madam chair mr. ranking member in these efforts. this navidad is currently setup to provide recovery dollars on a project by project basis. her for the gulf coast dates that were hit by hurricane katrina and rita, this is not optimal due to the extent of distractions. that i that we're nearly four years for these events and the states and fema are still arguing over doorknobs of whether a building that was flooded that is and falling down was more or less than 50 percent damage to demonstrates this. link in catastrophic cormack disasters the states and localities maintain the flexibility to rethink and replant the recovery and have other mitigation plan. they need to have a flexibility to decide whether rebuilding in the pre disaster for a. is the best solution for the committee's long term. what are some of the fixes that i hope you look at? in regards to this stafford act? us -- legislative regrading a level