i am supporting mr. pitts. i have been around the sro task force the last three years, and so has mr. pitts. he has been instrumental in convincing the task force to increase the membership of the committee to 2 the what pennant representatives, and wisely the supervisors adopted that policy -- to two tenant representatives, and wisely the supervisors adopted the policy. i have never seen the others at a task force meeting in the last three years. there is already a representative on the task force from the mission sro collaborative. ms. cirilo has her hands full trying to get the standards of care enacted. i urge you to appoint mr. pitts to the sro task force. thank you. chairperson kim: is there any other public comment at this time? please step up. >> my name is michael nulty and i am the program director of the tenants' association coalition, as well as one of the facilitators that do the training is for the tenant leadership training, which are people that live in sro tenant buildings. so i have some famil

mr. pitts might be correct with the technical stuff. a very open heart can change a situation.ave no doubt that lj cares about the situation. >> is in any other public comment? >> seeing none, public comment is closed. just to quickly address one of the comments that was made, it is true, we frequently to have only one applicant for each seat for many of the committees that we hold and i think that we could probably increase our outreach efforts. the mayor's office has finally put together a website where it is easy to find all the seats that are available as they come forward. forward. we encourage members of the

mr. pitts might be correct with the technil stuff. a very open heart can change a situation. i have no doubt that lj cares about the situation. >> is in any other public comment? >> seeing none, public comment is closed. just to quickly address one of the comments that was made, it is true, we frequently to have only one applicant for each seat for many of the committees that we hold and i think that we could probably increase our outreach efforts. the mayor's office has finally put together a website where it is easy to find all the seats that are available as they come forward. we encourage members of the public to look at the website and to make sure that if there are seats, you want to make sure that the board is getting out there. i also want to thank the many applicants that have applied. we need to get the advisory committee. and within 60 days of this passing and that is part of the rush and putting this at this month, at this time and we passed this legislation in april. are there any comments? >> just a question for the colors, are there any that came in late that c

mr. pitts. mr. pitts: i'll ask the guest in the gallery to join us in saying the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker: without objection, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. altmire, is recognized for one minute. mr. altmire: mr. speaker, in the midst of one of the most contentious congressional debates in recent times, i knew just who to bring to washington to help bring people together. and it's my great honor to welcome the reverend miroslaus ste will lmaszczyk. known simply as father miro he has led the holy family parish in pennsylvania for 26 of his 36 years in the priesthood. he has received numerous awards in recognition of his public service since he first came to the united states from poland in 1986. and as testament to his poll later among his gong gation conscious congregation, mr. speaker, i'd also like to welc

mr. charles pitts. >> i think i want to start off with that on the internet it had two of the five letters i have submitted to the committees and stuff in the packet. they were sent with another application. but that is separate. that is two of 5. the thing is my voice has changed a lot of things within the city, just regarding the way things have been done. i have mentioned some of it before. i also think that she understands about the standards of care, but i have been in the commuty

mr. charles pitts. >> i think i want to start off with that on the internet it had two of the five letters i have submitted to the committees and stuff in the packet. they were st with another application. but that is separate. that is two of 5. the thing is my voice has changed a lot of things within the city, just regarding the way things have been done. i have mentioned some of it before. i also think that she understands about the standards of care, but i have been in the community, primarily surrounding homelessness issues. i have attended that meeting for the past two years. when she talks about the standards of care, i was the one that brought the idea to the table. everybody else ran with it. i was there around when standards of care were being written. the other thing is, as you already know, my voice has been very loud and active whenever there is a problem so that something happens, something changes. i just feel as though we can definitely do better. i want to shape and shift policy and procedure in a manner where things will get fixed, things would get better. i think one of m

mr. pitts: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to urge this chamber to support h.r. 440, a bill that requires the president to apoint a special envoy at the state department to vogt fosh -- advocate for religious minorities in the near east and south central asia and i commend the gentleman for his leadership on this matter. i personally met with the press peoples from -- oppressed peoples from all over the globe, predominantly ones from the near east and south asia. the region has long been a hot bed of religious discrimination and little has been done by our government to aid these innocent practitioners of faith. revolution striving for democracy and greater expression in the region have been matched by a wake of religious intolerance and extremism. as we cherish our right to the free expression of religion here at home our state department needs to reflect our dedication to protecting this right in our diplomatic engagements abroad. religious minorities in egypt, iraq, iran and other countless countries are left without

mr. pitts: to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. pitts: one reason why the $1 trillion government stimulus bill failed to hold down unemployment and reinvigorate our economy, over the past few years, the e.p.a. has spent more than $27 million on grants to foreign countries. this includes funds for breathe easy gentleman carda, an indonesian campaign to improve air quality. now, president obama may have some affection for a city he lived in as a child but is that a reason to send them federal stimulus dollars? there have been six grants that went to russia. 10 grants went to china. we already owe china interest on our debt. why on earth are we giving them grants to keep their country clean? the energy and commerce launched an investigation into this spending. we need to know how much has been spent and if the e.p.a. has further plans to send money overseas. our growing debt is hurting job growth. this is just another sad cas

>> i yield two and a half minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. pitts. mr. pitts: i rise in strong support of this resolution to renew sanctions against the brutal military dictators in burma. the plight facing these people of burma remains terrible. they continue to deprive nert groups of human rights and their lives. it does so with impunity. their human right violations continue to be horrific. the regime in burma is responsible for committing virtually every human rights violation imaginable. the atrocities perpetrated by the regime range from rape as a weapon of terror, the recruitment of child soldiers, ethnic clensing, forced labor, political detention and the list goes on. i received firsthand reports in my office detailing their use of ethnic minorities as human land mine sweepers. over one million refugees and 500,000 internally displaced peoples have been forced to flee their homes and 750,000 of the country's inhabitants remain stateless, indicative of the times they have turned to censorship of the internet as well as individual email accounts an

mr. pitts: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. pitts: mr. speaker, the american people can finally see harry reid's debt ceiling plan. only five days before the deadline set by the president, the senate majority leader finally put something on paper and submit it had -- submitted it to the congressional budget office. the plan before the senate is filled with gimmicks and does almost nothing to put our country on a better fiscal footing. of course, the largest gimmick is claiming to save $1 trillion by shutting down wars that are already winding down. despite having these phantom cuts in this bill, majority leader reid gives the president the full amount of debt ceiling increase that he needs to push everything passed next year's election. once again, the financial security of our country would be sacrificed for political expediency. by contrast, speaker boehner's plan cuts spending by $1 for every $1 increase in the debt limit. it may not be perfect, but it is necessary to keep us paying our bills and preventing debt rating downgr

just very briefly to answer your question, mr. pitts, on what are the implications.he young woman returns to her family after having been kidnapped and forcibly converted and forcibly married. the consequences in her life are as follows: she cannot marry within her own church because she's formally listed as a muslim, so she can't resume her life. her life is to live, to be ever live inside limbo. furthermore, if, and as i have talked to such women, she does marry, her marriage is illegal because she's a muslim woman and not allowed to marry a christian man. consequently, children that would be born to that couple would be illegitimate children and would not be given a national identity. and finally, as a muslim on her identity card she would not be given, she would not be allowed to be buried in a christian cemetery. so, in fact, she is forcibly for the rest of her life denied any public relationship with the thing that is most precious to her which is her faith. >> now, because of the lack of religious freedom, um, and some calling for egypt to be designated, um, a

i yield back. >> mr. pittsenthetically that congressman pitts for years has spoken out on the floor and committee nietzsche about the plight of coptic christians and has been tenacious in promoting religious freedom in general, but no one has done more in the u.s. house of government. thank you for your report. we will now go to our next witness, michelle clerk. i would just note that michele clark was the director this is how we were close and human trafficking at the anti-trafficking assistant at the organization for security operation in europe where she assisted all 56 countries at the oce, since virtually all of your upcoming united states and canada with meeting their commitments to combating this modern-day slavery. she is also the author of a comprehensive report with without objection with a big part of the record. a 41 page report calls the disappearance, forced conversions and forced marriages of coptic christian women in egypt. so ms. clark, the floor is yours. [inaudible] >> mr. chairman and member

. >> i would agree, mr. pitts. the kidnapping forced conversions and forced marriages do not seem to, do not appear to be based on my evidence as well on any commercial mou but rather an ideological motives. >> thank you mr. chairman. i hope the appropriate agencies of the government are notified of the testimony we've gotten today. >> thank you. we are joined by the distinguished gentlelady from florida, the chairwoman of the house committee on foreign affairs, and i would note yesterday after two days of the mark of the foreign relations reauthorization act, with her strong support, we approved a very strongly toward a resolution calling for religious freedom for coptic christians with a particular emphasis on disappeared into deducted and kidnapped coptic girls and young women and michele clark just said, madam chair, that thousands of coptic and girls go missing or are abducted every year, and that is absolutely under appreciated if it was noted with indifference by so many at the state department that it is min

mr. pitts: the law mandates that every individual pay insurance. if the insurance offered by an employer is deemed affordable by the government, then an employee must purchase it. however the federal government will only look at the individual plans offered by companies, not the family plans. while the plan for an individual may be affordable, the family plan could be significantly more expensive. correcting this mistake in the law would mean at least $50 billion more per year in government subsidies. the president told the american people that the new health care law would not increase the deficit, now we find yet another example of how this bill will cost both american families and the federal government far more than what was claimed. clearly we need full repeal before this law full of glitches and mandates is fully implemented, bankrupting families and the government. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: request permission to address the house, --

mr. pitts: yesterday the house passed the cut, cap and balance plan to raise the debt limit. now we need the senate to act and put their plan on the table. while it was good to hear yesterday that at least six senators have reached an agreement on a plan to control our debt, what we really need is the other chamber to bring a plan to the floor and pass it out of the senate. we have passed the clear plan, one that can be scored by the c.b.o., a plan that calls for a long-term solution to keep congress responsible. the balanced budget amendment. it's clear we need to act on the debt ceiling soon. our credit rating is certainly at risk. however, we cannot forget that what is truly at risk is the long-term solvency of our nation. if we continue on the current path we will end up being controlled by our creditors, just like greece, portugal and ireland. our very independence is at stake here. by acting responsibly now we avoid greater pain later. kicking the can down on the road is only kicking our nation's future. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the g

mr. pitts: they project that 40% of the loans given out to plan the could he opens will go into de-- coops will go into default. 35% of the loans to keep the coops solvent are also projected to go into default. this could add up to billions of dollars lost. we raise taxes by more than $1 trillion so we could burn it away on projects with an extremely high ratele failure. when we take money away from the private sector and then bush it away on government -- burn it away on government projects, the result is going to be lost jobs and a struggling economy. we need jobs, not more failed government programs. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman from missouri is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, this is a very sad time for me and i hope for others. unemployment is at 9.2%. mr. cleaver: for african-americans it's at 16.2%. if you use the lab

mr. jimmy fallon. ♪ >> jimmy: all right, that's ridiculous! [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you, sir. i signed it "brad pitt."y did you win "celebrity apprentice." >> god bless you. yes sir. >> jimmy: and you raised so much money. over a million dollars for st. jude. >> $1.4 million for the kids at st. jude. it was unbelievable. >> jimmy: come on buddy. [ cheers and applause ] and not only that, you got -- you got to, i don't know how you did this. you put a cowboy hat on donald trump. >> i know. >> jimmy: that was phenomenal. look at that. >> he looks like john wayne. >> jimmy: yeah, he does. he does look good. it was so weird, when -- because he did, he put the cowboy hat on. i'm like, "how the heck did you get him to do that?" >> i didn't think he would do it. >> jimmy: i know. >> i brought it out as a token of our esteem from the country music world just to say thank you for the opportunity. st. jude is such a huge charity for country music, and people, really, everywhere. but country music's really adopted it. and was like, thank you very much. he went like that. and i said, "put it on." he went "eh." i