mr. chairman and ranking members pallone and mr. waxman.members of the committee, i'm pleased to be with you today to discuss the president's 2013 budget for the department of health and human serv helps to create an american economy built to last by strengthening care and support the research to tomorrow's cures and lead to american children and families so every one has a fair shot to reach his or her potential. it makes investments that we need right now while reducing the deficit in the long run to make sure that the programs that millions of americans rely on will be there for generations to come. i look forward to answering your questions, mr. chairman, about the budget but i want to just take a few minutes to share some of the highlights. over the last two years, we have worked to deliver the benefits of the affordable care act to the people. we have americans already getting coverage through their parents plans. more than 25 million seniors advantage of the free recommended services under medicare and small business owners are getti

mr. pallone said earlier. i was disappointed to see the president's budget included a 10% direct cut in direct medical education funding and a $177 million cut to children's hospital graduate medical education funding. i think we need to be training more physicians and adequately supporting our teaching hospitals, not cutting their funding as they strive to train more providers. hospitals will already see significant cuts to bad debt and dish payments which disturbed me greatly because we fought for dish payments for new york in the affordable care act. so as a result of hr-3630, the middle class tax relief and job creation act, bad debt cut and dish cuts are there. and i'd ask that be looked at. >> well, i share your feeling that a critical piece of the puzzle for the united states having better healthcare, better patient care, better health is certainly a robust work force focused on prevention and so we would work with you to make sure that we're using all of the assets, all of the resources to do that. >>

mr. pallone. >> thank you my friend. mr. speaker, i can't believe that don payne is not with us today.where he would often sit and i would come down on the floor and ask him to do a one-minute or special order and he always had a smile on his face. you know, he was very proud of his african-american roots. and it was one of the reasons that he would off gone to africa and champion so many causes for those in africa. he cared so deeply about his hometown of newark and the other towns that he represented. always looking out for those in need. the disadvantaged. the poor. those were the people that he cared about and spent so much time trying to deal with their problems and make their life better. but i think more than anything else, i remember don's smile. don always felt that things could get better. that we could work together. you know, i think a lot of people don't know that his district was very diverse. there were many african-americans, but there were many people of other nationalities. we would often talk about the italian americans that he had lived with and grew up with and wor

mr. pallone for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to welcome lisa jackson before the committee. i have worked with her for many years, dating back to her time as the commissioner of the new jersey department of environmental protection. since you have been at the helm of the epa, i believe our country has made great strides in improving air quality, protecting america's waters and cleaning up our communities and these accomplishments are crucial to protecting human health and the environment. unfortunately, the republicans in congress and on the campaign trail in particular are attempting to argue that protecting our environment is somehow hurting our economy. i don't think that's true. i don't think you need to choose between a strong economy and a clean environment. i think they bolster each other. i think it's oftentimes my colleagues on the other side make broad generalizations without looking at the facts. according to the nonpartisan economic policy institute, epa's toxics rule will lead to the creation of 84,500 jobs be

mr. pallone. mr. pallone: thank you, my friend. mr. speaker, i c't believe that don payne is not th us today. i'm looking over there where he would often sit and i would come down on the floor and ask him to do a one minute or spial order. he always had a smile on his face. he was very proud of his african-american roots. it was one of the reasons that he would often go to africa and champion so many causes for those in africa. he cared so deeply about his hometown of newark and the other towns he represented. always looking out for those in need, the disadvantaged, the poor. those are the people he cared about and spent so much time trying to deal with their problems and make their life better. but i think more than anything else i'll remember don's smile. don always felt that things could get better. that we could work together. i think a lot of people don't know that his district was very diverse. there were many afcan-americans, there wer many people of other nationalities. we would often talk about the italian americans he lived w

mr. pallone, the affordable care act had a provision that as part of a definition of essential health benefits, various populations should be looked at. the recndor children around immigrations would be included. the strategies for preventative health that are recommended by the united states preventative health services task force would be included. and recognizing that too many insurance plans often did not include benefits that were specifically recommended for women's health, we were asked to develop a set of preventative health services for women. we turned to the independent scientifically driven institute of medicine and asked them to make recommendations to us. they came back with eight various health benefits, domestic violence screening, mental health benefits, well women visits, and the full range of scientifically recommended contraception services. we promulgated their rules as part of the strategy for women's health as an interim rule and added a religious exemption. and to be informed by what language should be used in that religious exemption, we looked at the 28 states which h

mr. pallone is recognized as the designee of the minority leader. . . mr. pallone: i'm here to talk about the affordable care act. some calm it the health care reform. this friday will be the second anniversary of the stt pat's signing of affordable care act or health care reform. and i'd like to talk how -- talk a little bit about how it's helping so many people, with patient protections and added benefits, whether we're -- whether you're talking about seniors or young people or women or just the general public. the main thing that is haraleded, if you will, by the affordable care act, is the opportunity over the next few years to expand health insurance to so many americans who do not have health insurance now. we estimate the varyiansy between 40, maybe 45 million americans that simply have no health insurance and what that means is they either don't go to a doctor or they don't get any kind of health care unless they get very sick and end up going to the emergency room. and the consequences of that is that they take no preventive care, they end up in the

mr. pallone: thank you, madam speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> madam speaker, i rise to ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. olson: madam speaker, 176 years ago the alamo fell. every texan fighting for independence was either killed or executed. i'd like to read portions of the last center sent from the alamo by its commander. fellow citizens and compatriots, i'm besieged by thousands of mexican under santa ana. i have sustained a continued bombardment for 24 hours and have not lost a man. surrender at discretion otherwise the garrison are going to be put to the sword. the man with the cannon shot, my flag still waves proudly from the walls. i shall never surrender or retreat. victory or death. signed, william bear travis, lieutenant colonel, commander at the alamo. remember the alamo. god bless texas. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the

mr. pallone, to speak a and i yield time to him. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i have a lot of don pain stories and i wanted to tell one which says a lot about the man. i listened to what sheila jackson lee said before about how he was humorous in telling jokes and new jersey politics and how he was so well respected and had the ability to basically tell other members or indicate to other members what they should do. and i also listened to clark when he said dop was a gentleman. don was a gentleman and people respected him as such in newark and throughout his district. there was an occasion after the redistricting when i gained an area -- i won't mention the area in my new district that was mostly african american and dop payne was very well known there and i wasn't known there. i actually lived at the jersey shore and people down at the jersey shore, the people from north jersey refer to us with names like clam digger indicating that the people aren't as sophisticated. i was at a meeting with african-american ministers and the purpose of don being there was to

mr. pallone. mr. pallone: thank you, my friend. mr. speaker, i can't believe that don payne is not with us today. i'm looking over there where he would often sit and i would come down on the floor and ask him to do a one minute or special order. he always had a smile on his face. he was very proud of his african-american roots. it was one of the reasons that he would often go to africa and champion so many causes for those in africa. he cared so deeply about his hometown of newark and the other towns he represented. always looking out for those in need, the disadvantaged, the poor. those are the people he cared about and spent so much time trying to deal with their problems and make their life better. but i think more than anything else i'll remember don's smile. don always felt that things could get better. that we could work together. i think a lot of people don't know that his district was very diverse. there were many african-americans, there were many people of other nationalities. we would often talk about the italian americans h

mr. pallone. the chair: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for three minutes. mr. pallone: thank you. thank you, chairman waxman. you know, i have a great deal of respect for my former chairman and colleague from texas, but the problem that i listen to him is that it's always the same. it's my way or the highway. and it's very unfortunate because there have been many opportunities in the committee where we could have worked together and come up with legislation on things like malpractice reform and ipab, but that's not what we get from the republican side of the aisle. they just constantly want to do their own thing and as he said, the president may be for malpractice reform, but if he's not for this malpractice reform then he's a bad guy. that's the point. we need to get together. if we are ever going to accomplish anything we need to get together and i don't see that on the republican side of the aisle today. i am very disappointed in the process of considering h.r. 5. i am disappointed and frustrated that my republican colleagues had the opportunity to bring to t