mr. meeks, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair now recognizes the gentleman from new york. mr. meeks: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. meeks: h.r. 5 perpetrates the same serious flaw with the accountability systems as in no child left behind which deters high quality teachers joining low-income school. the current accountability system discourages quality teachers from joining low-performing schools because they are warned if their students are not consider prove -- prisht, they will suffer the consequences. and then achieves a sixth grade level by the end of the school year, that student will not be deemed prove efficient and the teacher and the school will be negatively impacted. my amendment requires they measure growth as a crucial component within the accountability system established by the states. it would leave it to the states to decide their own measurement of growth so they can m

mr. greg meeks of new york. >> thank you, mr. chairman. madam secretary, good being with you. let me first going on record that i wholeheartedly agree with the president's change in direction. i think that it is clear that over 50 years nothing has changed with the policies that we had and time says if you don't do the same thing over and over again you get the same result so i wholeheartedly agree and think the time is finally there for a change in policy. i should also say that i do feel the passion, for example, my good friend, the ranking member of the western hemisphere in just listening to his opening statement and i would hope that the kinds of questions -- because clearly the passion he has is for the people of cuba. and listening to his opening statement, you know, some of the questions he has i hope there is that kind of dialogue that goes forward because this should be about trying to make sure there is a better day and better change in our policy but a better day for the cuban people. and so in that regard, and i've been down all of -- been to cuba several times an

. >> mr. meeks of new york ranking member of the subcommittee on europe. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank the witnesses for their testimony today. i look at these hearings as i did back in 2001 when you were in endeavoring to try to decide what was the best thing to do there. understanding what took place in 2001 so that we could learn from it. sometimes, what i think the president is talking about when you say patience et cetera we didn't have any patience. we thought that and sometimes, we think it's a quick hit. i remember when shock and awe happened and then a few days later, we heard the president of the united states say, mission accomplished. we thought that was going to be it. many members of this committee said once we got in there, that individuals would be waving a flag and saying thank you, america, and we're bringing our values to them and they would just embrace it. ten, 11 years later we still have troops on the ground. we've committed more in the region than anyone else. no one has lost over 6,000 lives in military combat. it's us. and then i stil

. >> mr. meeks of new york ranking member of the subcommittee on europe. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank the witnesses for their testimony today. i look at these hearings as i did back in 2001 when you were in endeavoring to try to decide what was the best thing to do there. understanding what took place in 2001 so that we could learn from it. sometimes, what i think the president is talking about when you say patience, et cetera, we didn't have any patience. we thought that and sometimes, we think it's a quick hit. i remember when shock and awe happened and then a few days later, we heard the president of the united states say, mission accomplished. we thought that was going to be it. many members of this committee said once we got in there, that individuals would be waving a flag and saying thank you, america, and we're bringing our values to them and they would just embrace it. ten, 11 years later, we still have troops on the ground. we've committed more in the region than anyone else. no one has lost over 6,000 lives in military combat. it's us. and then i s

mr. gregory meeks of new york. >> mr. secretary, it's good to see you. some have said that the united states no longer leads. i think they mean leading in a unilateral way. i want to complement you on leading and thin administration because leading in a multilateral way and what you and this administration have done is bring a lead by bringing countries together whether it's bringing the countries together on the p5 which those sanctions is what put iran in a position that it's currently in whether it's bringing countries together to fight ebola, whether we deal with the russian situation, bringing countries together to deal with isil. that's leadership. and it's difficult leadership when everybody had their own competing interests. and i think that the leadership that we're doing today so that we can share this world has slunk. we can't do it it our way with no one else is real leadership it's hard work and it is sometimes not thankful. so i appreciate the work that you're goingdoing in those regards. it's difficult because when i look at my constituent

mr. greg meeks of new york. >> it is good being with you. let me first go on record saying i wholeheartedly agree with the president's change in direction. i think it is clear that over 50 years nothing has changed with the policy we had. time says if you don't do the same thing over and over again and you get the same result. i wholeheartedly agree. i should also say that i do feel the passion of, for example, my good friend the ranking member of the western hemisphere, listening to his opening statement. and i would hope the kinds of questions just because the passion he has is for the people of cuba. in his opening statement, some of the quest as he has, hope it is that kind of dialogue that goes forward -- with some of the questions he has a trying to make sure there is a better day for the cuban people. and so in that regard, i've been down all of -- been to cuba several times in other places in latin america and the caribbean. and i have found that one of the major obstacles we have had in the region is on cuban policy. it has caused f

mr. greg meeks of thork. >> good being with you. let me say i agree with the president's change in direction. i think it's clear that over 50 years, nothing has changed with the policy that we had and time says if you don't do the same thing over and over again you get the same result. i agree and think the time is there for a change in policy. i do feel the passion of my good friend, the ranking member of the western hemisphere listening to his opening statement. i would hope that the kinds of questions because clearly the passion he has is for the people of cuba. in this opening statement some of the questions he has, i hope there is a dialogue that goeser forward. this should be about trying to make sure there is a better day, a better change in the policy for the uh cuban people. i have been down to cuba several times and all other places in latin america cuba et cetera. one of the major obstacles is on our cuban policy. it's caused friction, et cetera. they have all said to he me we needed to change. in fact, when i look at it

mr. greg meeks

mr. greg meeks of new york. >> let me go on record as saying i wholeheartedly agree with the president'schange in direction. i think that it is clear that over 50 years nothing has , changed with the policy we had. i wholeheartedly agree and think the time is finally they're for a change in policy. i should also say that i do feel the passing of, for example, my good friend, the ranking member of the western hemisphere and would hope the kind of questions -- because clearly the passion is for the people of cuba. i hope that kind of dialogue goes forward because this should be about making a better day for the cuban people. so in that regard, i have been down several times, and have found one of the major obstacles we have had in the region is on cuban policy and has caused friction. they have all said we needed to change. in fact, when i look at it and think about multilateral relations as opposed to unilateral relations, we were the only country in the world, all our major allies, everybody that has sanctions against cuba, unlike this administration has been successful putting together

mr. lieu: thank you, meeks. i ask unanimous consent the house bring up h.r. 61, the clean department of homeland security funding bill that will keep the department open so it can carry out its critical mission of keeping the american people safe. the speaker pro tempore: as previously announced the unanimous consent request cannot be entertained. mr. polis: mr. speaker, i yield to the gentlelady from texas, ms. jackson lee, for the purposes of a unanimous consent request. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from texas is recognized. ms. jackson lee: i am pleading and asking unanimous consent that the house bring up h.r. 861, the clean department of homeland security funding bill in this climate of terrorism that would keep the department open so that we can carry out itsing his of keeping the american people -- carry out its 34igs of keeping the american people safe. the speaker pro tempore: the unanimous consent request contribute be entertained. mr. polis: mr. speaker, with just over 24 hours remaining be