mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield to a member of the energy and commerce committee -- i don't know we'll know this -- but we'll be hong him tomorrow night, mr. waxman. mr. waxman: thank you, congressman pallone, for acknowledging me that i'm the ranking member at the present time. of course, he will now take on that job very ably i'm sure. and both of us will follow in the tradition of john dingell. it's so appropriate that room where the energy and commerce committee meets is now known as the john dingell room. john dingell has been the leader of that committee, a leader in the congress for longer than anybody else has served in either of the senate or the house. but what i want to say is from my own personal perspective. i've served on that committee for 40 years, and i've learned more from john dingell than i have from anybody else that i've served with as a colleague. there were times when we had disagreements and we argued them out and then resolved them and compromised them. but most of the time, he was

mr. pallone: i thank the gentlewoman. mr. speaker, i yield now to our democratic leader, the gentlewoman from california, s. pelosi. ms. pelosi: i thank the gentleman for yielding and appreciate his friendship with the distinguished leader of our -- of the ren tire congress, he dean, number one as congresswoman kaptur said. mr. speaker, i'm going to be brief and yield -- put some of my statement in the record an hopefully return to the floor in the couple days ahead to say more about mr. dingell because so many members are waiting and i hope more time will be afforded to sing the praises of this great man. every now and then you hear the expression, somebody is a living legend. that doesn't even begin to describe john dingell. he is a living legend. he has had a hand in every -- nearly every major legislative accomplishment over the past six decades from protecting civil rights and workers' rights -- i'm so glad to see john lewis here -- to ensuring food safety, to enacting consumer protections, to creating jobs in michigan's

mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield to a member of the energy and commerce committee -- i don't know we'll know this -- but we'll be hong him tomorrow night, mr. waxman. mr. waxman: thank you, congressman pallone, for acknowledging me that i'm the ranking member at the present time. of course, he will now take on that job very ably i'm sure. and both of us will follow in the tradition of john dingell. it's so appropriate that room where the energy and commerce committee meets is now known as the john dingell room. john dingell has been the leader of that committee, a leader in the congress for longer than anybody else has served in either of the senate or the house. but what i want to say is from my own personal perspective. i've served on that committee for 40 years, and i've learned more from john dingell than i have from anybody else that i've served with as a colleague. there were times when we had disagreements and we argued them out and then resolved them and compromised them. but most of the time, he was

mr. pallone. thank you, mr. chairman and thank all of you for coming today. mr.airman access to safe and affordable food is very important to every consumer in america. i think at least we can agree an that fact. i begin this conversation by saying that i represent an agricultural district in north carolina. it is also a low-income district. and so i have a very keen interest in this subject. a large portion of my north carolina district is agriculture. farmers all across my state and across my district remind me that north carolina farmers don't just grow crops for north carolinians. they grow crops for america. and so the food supply chain is vast, interconnected. the work necessary to get an apple or ear of corn to the produce section at the supermarket is staggering from seed to farmer to wholesaler to processor, to packer, to distributor, even to the store shelf itself. it's easy to appreciate the intricate system that feeds america. and i'm beginning to learn more and more about this. but several states have proposed regulations and that i worry would cause

mr. pallone companies, farmers, fda, consumer groups can work together to draft a label without renderingre. and as mr. waxman alluded to earlier, has usedéomzÑ this auty in the past. and that's fortunate bee4wue we would greatly, greatly prefer a national gmo labeling solution. but in the absence of leadership from fda, we believe they should act and require mandatory disclosure. congre3amo7Ñ long recognized a role for the states, a leading labeling. and that's why the mlea was crafted to not prevent state labeling laws such as the gmo disclosure laws that have been passed by states like vermont. you've heard arguments made today and will hear more by this panel that gmo labeling will increase food prices, but you doesn't have to work for the grocery manufacturers associate or work for the food industry to know that food companies change their labels all the time, to highlight new claims or new innovations. [ also hear today that gmo labeling will create costly new farm and food segregation systems. but those systems have been in place for decades to address allergens and to meet growing

moving forward let's go to mr pallone's question on labeling the. i would love to hear from you what you all at the fda, what your team think should be conveyed in those labels to the consumer? what should be there about health and safety and nutritional content of those products? >> the statute tells us as a general matter that labeling is not to be false or misleading. that is the basic proposition. there have been many changes to the law, we write the nutrition facts panel which has information which makes macronutrients and micronutrients, and proposed earlier this year to do that and we are reviewing comments on it. >> when do you anticipate having those? >> i would certainly hope the agencies could issue final rules dating nutrition facts by 2016. it is a complicated -- it is called informal rulemaking which is more difficult and formal rulemaking the is resource intensive. >> i want to get too a couple of other things. i am certain you all go through reams of information on analyzing data, i wonder how often do your fda analysts go back in an

mr. pallone. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i think everyone here would agree that goals of the able act is worthy. the bill's title means achieving better life experience, and would have a tax-free accounts and would provide a way with families with disabled children would set aside savings for the child's care. the bill uses medicare cuts to pay for a tax break. medicare is a program that seniors and people with disabilities depend upon for their health care. and we should not be cutting medicare to pay for this bill. meanwhile, we all know that our efforts to permanently repeal and replace the s.g.r. in the lame duck are unfortunately falling flat. while i hope we can still pass s.g.r. this month, if it does not get done, we're going to have a medicare bill that will cost tens of billions of dollars in march and republicans will force us to pay for every last dime and here we are using $1.2 billion in health offsets for nonhealth bills. in addition to the medicare offsets, there are offsets in

mr. frank pallone. we work together. and this way exemplify what is public service should be all about. identifying a problem and then working together to solve it without regard to party lines. but no matter how many problems we solve, there are, of course, many hurdles ahead. immigration. continued reckless spending. these new threats, these horrible threats in the middle east. ever growing executive branch and of course as i mentioned, health care. as an ob/gyn physician it worries me to be leaving congress at a time when our health care industry has been tipped on its side, i think, because of the patient protection and affordable care act. it's critical that this country find a more sustainable path to creating quality care and access to physicians. government bureaucrats have no place between doctors and their patients. but still in light of these few frustrations, i have great confidence in this body. if history shows us anything, it's that despite the day-to-day angst of gridlock, and there's plenty of that to go around, this institution remains the greatest representative body