mr. mcgovern: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank the gentleman from georgia, my good friend, for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. and i ask than consent to revise and extend my -- i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks and i yield myself such time as i my consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcgovern: i urge my colleagues to vote no on this restrictive rule and to vote no on the underlying bill. the process here is awful. the bill before us was not even considered by the budget committee. they didn't hold a single hearing. no markup. and on a partyline vote last night the rules committee denied mr. value hon -- mr. van hollen, the ranking member of the budget committee, the opportunity to offer a meaningful substitute. the rules committee also on a partyline voted against an open rule. to all of the -- to all of the republican freshmen and sophomores who campaigned on the need for openness and transparency, by voting for this rule, you are officia

mr. mcgovern: would the gentleman yield to me? mr. woodall: i'll yield to the gentleman to answer this question. the gentleman sees here $10,793. that's the additional burden that the gentleman when he controlled this congress for two years with the president of the united states also of his party added to this working family's burden. now, when you come to the house floor and profess your affection for the working people in my district, the working people in my district, and you say you express that affection by ensuring that this year, this year one half percent of their pay is going to go up while $10,000 for that worker, $10,000 for that worker's wife, $10,000 for that worker's oldest child, middle child, and youngest child for a family of five in my district, the gentleman added $50,000 in debt and deficit that has to be repaid. that has to be repaid. . i know the gentleman was using his heart when he passed those programs, i don't question the gentleman's motivation at all. what i do is take offense that the gentleman question m

mr. mcgovern, for five minutes. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, president obama's state of the union speech was memorable and important for a number of reasons. i'm pleased the president talked about gun violence, climate change, voting rights, and of course jobs and the economy. i'm especially pleased for the first time in more than a decade the state of the union had a real focus on poverty and the need to help those who economically are the most vulnerable in our nation. poverty is the root cause of many our nation's problems. those in poverty face challenges that middle and higher income families simply do not have to face. and to be frank, there are too many voices in the united states congress that are silent on this issue. so i commend the president for talking about poverty, which we must confront and address if we are truly to fulfill our mandate to form a more perfect union. one of the most devastating effects of poverty is hunger. and we cannot end hunger now if we are not talking about it. this is a big problem. this is a cost

mr. mcgovern, for five minutes. mr. mcgovern: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for five minutes and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i rise today to talk about the problem of hunger in america. we are the richest, most prosperous nature in the world, yet, the sad fact is that in 2013 more than 50 million people in this country are considered food insecure by the united states department of agriculture. food insecurity, mr. speaker, is a technical term for the hung hery. that's right. there are more than 50 people hung hery people in this country -- hungery people in this country. it's time we end hunger right now. millions of people either lost their jobs or saw their wages fall. food and energy prices went up for many middle and low-income people. everyday costs like rent, utility and food became more difficult and in many cases families were forced to choose between food and electricity. even before the recession started, tens of million

mr. mcgovern, for five minutes. without objection. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, once again i rise to talk about the issue of hunger in america. there are over 50 million americans who go hungry each year. that's about one in every six americans who don't know where their meal coming from on any given day. mr. speaker, in the richest, most prosperous country in the world, that is unconscionable. unfortunately, too many people simply don't know that there's a hunger problem in the united states. but that is going to change with the new documentary called "a place at the table." mr. speaker, this powerful film shows how hunger actually affects everyday americans. specifically "a place at the table" documents people from all walks of life, from inner city philadelphia to rural colorado. and it shows how they struggle not just to put healthy food on their kitchen tables but some cases to put any food on their tables at all. the film just doesn't he show how people struggle with food, it shows how the lack of food affects children and the capacity of kids to p

mr. mcgovern. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for three minutes. mr. mcgovern: thank you very much. i want to thank the gentleman for yielding to me. first of all, mr. speaker, let me urge my colleagues that democrats and republicans alike to vote against this closed rule. this is a closed rule. where the entire process has been shut down. the committee's of jurisdiction held no hearings. there was no markup. came to the rules committee, what did the rules committee do? they shut it down. they shut out all possibilities for democrats or republicans to offer amendments. my friend from georgia is proud to defend this closed, iron fist policy, but i think it's wrong, especially on a bill like this. number one. number two, this is a rotten thing to do to federal employees. it really is. i mean these are hardworking men and women, these are people who work at n.i.h. who try to find cures to diseases that by the way will not only improve the quality of life for our

mcgovern. thank you mr speaker. of course the number of women in the workplace has been increasing for some time. but in where all those women public service. faced with the threat of redundancy and women leaders of small business. tell me that. cook too literal counsel are really threatening their job security. well this next tuesday going to be to his colleague in the communities and local government department and ask them to rethink their approach. of the had some of the heaviest cook. fully in place but maybe it's. it's not a good one. people leave their jobs and i would always regretted that because the simple fact is that in what all i was in other parts of the country. the number of jobs lost in the public sector the local and national government is far far outweighed by the jobs created in the private sector by over a million and over the last two years. he might get a subsidy mixing with pressures fake our own group questions to and twelve. figures from the bank of england sure that between january two tho

mcgovern was part of the delegation and they just returned yesterday. it's nice to have you with us, congressman. you got to spend a little time with mr. gross so how is he doing? how does he look to you physically and emotionally? >> actually two members of our delegation were allowed to see mr. gross. they say he was in pretty good shape, although he's obviously irritated that he's still in cuba in prison and not allowed to go home and see his wife and his family and his ailing mother. so we raised the issue with president castro, who seemed to tie it to the fate of the cuban five. those are the cuban that say we have in jail here in the united states. but look, what we need to do, i think we need to re-evaluate our entire policy and we ought to put together a formal structure where we begin negotiations with cubans on a whole range of issues, including alan gross, but also how we deal with the restrictions on travel, how we deal with the economic embargo and a whole range of things. this is a moment i think where we can not only move to release alan gross but we can move to change our entire policy. >> let me ask you a question beca

mrs. mcgovern, mr.christopher, and judith heumann, and governor markell. >> just real quickly, we spoke yesterday about medicaid and waivers yesterday. we were able to work through over a three-year process to get partnership for hope, a medicaid waiver for work training and other services. we were the only state in the country and to have that. the governors want to see how you go through that. i at least know what the tussles are through the bureaucracy. it is provided 2500 families and we will add another thousand families this year. we focus on folks with disabilities beyond the age of 18 because of the challenge. in high school there's a lot of socialization and training. what we were seeing in missouri those were falling off and heading into much darker lives without opportunity. so we took the 18 and above section and a together a waiver that included local, state, and federal and worked our way through the process. we will have 3500 folks that have been on a waiting list for services, all sorts