mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. r. pallone: h.r. 3537, synthetic drug control act is bipartisan legislation sponsored by mr. dent of pennsylvania and also by congressman jim himes of connecticut. it's a targeted approach towards addressing the latest threat from synthetic substances and i support its swift passage. stories of adults and teenagers busing synthetic drugs are becoming high and injuring themselves and others and they are unsafe and could cause convullingses, psychotic episodes and some instances death. the rise is an issue is what we have been dealing with in new jersey. increases and overdoses in deaths throughout the state from so-called designer drugs led new jersey to permanently ban synthetic marijuana in 2012. it is referred to as k.-2 or spice is still being sold illegally in my state and others. last year according to data from the american association of poison control centers, new jersey logged 142 emergency calls for exposure to synthetic m

mr. pallone. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. pallone: i thank the gentleman from michigan and for yielding and i'm happy to support this amendment. the people of flint have begun over two years without clean drinking water in their homes. they're still being harmed. it's a disgrace we are fight being providing them about essential federal aid. i want to commend my colleague, mr. kildee, and democratic leaders in the house and senate who kept attention on the plight of this community and worked tirelessly for the opportunity to offer this amendment. i hope to see this amendment pass shortly but our work will not be done. we have to work to go to conference with the house and the senate wrda bills to ensure that the people of flint receive the funds they need. safe drinking water is essential to every person in this country, and provisions to ensure safe drinking water should not be a partisan issue. so i urge my colleagues to join me in voting yes on this amendment and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance

mr. pallone for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for holding today's hearing, evaluating the department of energy's work on energy security here in the united states. and i'd like to welcome secretary moniz back and thank him for his efforts to provide us with a more secure energy future. this is an important topic, but the realities of energy security are changes as our energy mix changes. we can no longer simply look at oil supply when we think about energy security. our country must take a broader approach that encompasses cleaner energy technologies, including renewable energy technologies which are becoming more affordable. and beyond the realities of our energy mix, we must recognize the impacts climate change is having on our energy security here in the united states and abroad. our nation is not alone in this. the g7 energy initiative states that reducing emissions from fossil fuels is necessary to tackle climate change and can enhance our energy security. simply put, an energy future that reduces our carbon emissi

mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i strongly support this bipartisan legislation, h.r. 670, the special needs trust fairness act. this legislation, which i have championed for multiple congresses with my republican colleague, representative glenn thompson, would allow individuals with disabilities to set up special needs trusts for themselves without a court petition. i thank representative thompson for his continued leadership on this issue. a special needs trust is a special kind of trust that's designed to provide support for certain expenses for disabled individuals to supplement medicaid benefits. currently these types of trusts generally must be established by parents, grandparents, legal guardians or a court on behalf of the disabled individual. people can only set up a special needs trust for themselves after petitioning a court and oftentimes this process can take several months ants can incur significant legal fees during the process. this is not right. individuals with disabilities can and should have the a

mr. pallone. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. pallone: i thank the gentleman from michigan and for yielding and i'm happy to support this amendment. the people of flint have begun over two years without clean drinking water in their homes. they're still being harmed. it's a disgrace we are fight being providing them about essential federal aid. i want to commend my colleague, mr. kildee, and democratic leaders in the house and senate who kept attention on the plight of this community and worked tirelessly for the opportunity to offer this amendment. i hope to see this amendment pass shortly but our work will not be done. we have to work to go to conference with the house and the senate wrda bills to ensure that the people of flint receive the funds they need. safe drinking water is essential to every person in this country, and provisions to ensure safe drinking water should not be a partisan issue. so i urge my colleagues to join me in voting yes on this amendment and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance

mr. pallone and mr. cohen introduced. the issue is not the government forcing companies to use deferred prosecution agreements to potentially divert funds away from helping victims when it comes to corporate malfeasance. the more egregious issue is firms have avoided the prosecution to begin with. the little guy gets it in the neck. the banks and the corporations are never held accountable. you know yourselves, you opened up a can of worm here, my friend. and i mean that sincerely, my friend. the finance crisis inquiry commission -- mr. mcgovern: i yield the gentleman an additional two minutes. mr. pascrell: we're on a roll here. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. pascrell: the financial -- thank you, mr. speaker. the financial crisis inquiry commission made recommendations to the department of justice to criminally prosecute top executives at several large financial institutions but we have yet to see a major wall street executive criminally charged. that's criminal. you want to kno

mr. pallone. ranking member of the full committee for his five minutes of questions. >> mr. secretary, i wanted to ask you some questions on lng, particularly related to language in the energy bill on lng exports that is concerning me. applications for lng export have been increasing in recent years. since revising the approval process for lng applications in 2014, d.o.e. has been able to quickly approve applications after ferc completes their review. is that correct? >> yes it is. >> typically how long does it take d.o.e. to turn these applications around? >> it's been between a day and a few weeks since 2014. >> the energy conference is considering two provisions that would require d.o.e. to approve an application for export within 30 days of ferc publishing the final eis. proponents argue this deadline is necessary to ensure timely consideration by d.o.e., but given the department's track record, i find this arbitrary deadline to be completely unnecessary. in fact it could be detrimental to the ultimate approval of an export application. in light of recent events related

mr. pallone: we have no more speakers. so, can i close? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pascrell: thank you, mr. speaker. look, some people say that we don't win anymore. i would like to remind those people that the united states won 105 total medals in rio. 38 of them were gold. to those who say america doesn't win anymore, we can cite many, many other examples, of course. our olympic athletes make us proud. ew jersey's own lori hernandez wooed us with her strength and agility in the gymnastics competition. rli lloyd and rower lauren shmeltlinger made new jersey proud, as did a track star. not to mention a former intern from my office, kaley watson, who competed for the u.s. virgin islands in the back stroke swimming competition. you can't make this stuff up. this is great. they're just a few of the incredible athletes who inspired us this summer in rio. and we should do all we can to honor these olympians with our gratitude and our admiration. this bill, and, again, i salute the sponsor, recognizes the tremendous

mr. pallone, i'm mystified by republican attempts to paint a rosy picture of the insurance market prior to the passage of the affordable care act. let's go back and remember what it was like, denying insurance to people with pre-existing conditions, forcing certain populations to pay outrageous rates, applying lifetime limits to care. before the aca this was standard operating procedure in the individual insurance marketplace, and it was incredibly harmful to our families, friends, and constituents, not to mention some popular things about keeping your child on health care on your policy until he or she is 26 years old. so we've come a long way. an estimated 20 million americans have gained health insurance through the aca. my state of new york, there are some problems but basically it's going very, very well and we can rest easy in knowing that a sudden illness won't wreak havoc on our finances. 12 million americans with pre-existing conditions like asthma or diabetes can no longer be turned away or charged more on account of their health status. more than 39 million seniors on medicare h

mr. pallone for five minutes. >> thank you, mr.hairman, for holding today's hearing, evaluating the work on energy security here in the united states. and i'd like to welcome secretary moniz back and thank him for his efforts to provide us with a more secure energy future. this is an important topic, but our energy mix changes. we can no longer simply look at oil supply when we think about energy security. our country must take a broader approach that encompasses cleaner energy technologies, including renewable energy technologies which are becoming more affordable. beyond the relates of our energy mix we must recognize the impacts climate change is having on energy security here in the united states and abroad. our nation is not alone in this. the g7 energy initiative states that reducing emissions from fossil fuels is necessary to tackle climate change and can enhance our energy security. simply put, an energy future that redurss our carbon emissions and reliance on fossil fuels is a more secure energy future. simply recognizing

mr. pallone, i'm mystified by republican attempts to paint a rosy picture of the insurance market prior to the passage of the affordable care act. let's go back and let's remember what it was like, denying insurance to people with preexisting conditions, forcing certain populations to the outrageous rates, applying lifetime limits to care. before the aca this is standard operating procedure in the individual interest marketplace. it was incredibly horrible to her family, friends and constituents. and begin not to mention some popular things about keeping your child on having insurance on your policy till he or she is 26. so we've come a long way, estimated 20 million american safety and health insurance through the ac. my state of new york, there are some problems but basically it's going very, very well. we can rest easy in knowing the sudden illness or re- catholic -- when i recounted on our finances. preconditiomore than 39 millionn medicare have received free preventive services without co-pays thanks to the affordable care act tax free preventive services benefit. unlike any major leg

mr. lance. really appreciate it. and, of course, the committee chair, fred upton, and ranking member frank pallone. mr. speaker, you'd be glad to know we worked pretty hard to be bipartisan and productive in the energy and commerce committee. it takes a good deal of effort on both sides. but you know, this legislation is really an acknowledgment about this new technology. the application of the internet to activities that are just cutting across the entire economy. everything from agriculture to medicine. and it's an acknowledgment by congress this is a private sector-led entrepreneurial-led range of opportunities that has the potential to increase sufficiency and productivity. for instance, on farms, you have g.p.s. planting done by g.p.s.-guided tractors, and it results in much better planting with fewer seeds. it saves money and increases crop yields. n medicine, as you know, the telemedicine is being tremendously helpful to folks in vermont where we're a very rural state and it's tough for folks to make a 60 or 70-mile journey to the v.a. and with telemedicine we can have the doctor in that person'