mr. poe: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. mr. poe: mr. speaker, last year iran's net exports of petroleum dropped to their lowest levels since 0e. its g.d.p. has dropped for the first -- since 1990. its g.d.p. has dropped for the first time in years. now the iranians say they will negotiate if the sanctions are reduced. reducing sanctions without varyfying that tehran is -- verifying that tehran is abandoning is misguided and reckless. the u.s. is moving toward an appeasement deal with iran and iran is giving up nothing. last thursday i met with prime minister netanyahu of israel who called this deal to reduce sanctions with iran a bad deal, a very bad deal. the french foreign minister called the so-called deal a fool's game. iran will not negotiate in good faith and the u.s. is being played. meanwhile, iran stalls, delays and lies

speaker, purr -- mr. poe: mr. speaker, pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, i demand a vote on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. the speaker: the question is on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the journal stands approved. the gentleman from texas. mr. poe: i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and i make a point of order that a quorum is not present. the speaker: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question are postponed. the pledge of allegiance today will be led by the gentlewoman from missouri, mrs. wagner. mrs. wagner: thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like everyone in the gali to join us in 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 pennsyl

hastings: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. poe. mr. poe: for the first time the u.s. is producing more crude oil than it imports. it's due to the fracking in north dakota and texas and other areas. that's the reason. energy information administration said this week that oil production by barrels is up 11% from last year and 63% over the last five years. this trend continue with the expanded use of renewables and of course the completion of the'keystone pipeline it's entirely possible we could see a total energy independence in this country in the next 10 years. imagine what our foreign policy could be if we were energy independent. we could make middle eastern oil and turmoil and politics irrelevant. however, all this progress has been done despite the current administration. how ironic it is, the administration takes credit for all the oil production boom when it does everything it can to stonewall this boom. the oil and natural gas production on federal lands is down 40% compared to 10 years ago. most of the new drilling is on private

the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, for five minutes. mr. poe: mr. speaker, the health of the nation is now in the hands of government. let's see how it's working out for people who work for a living. many americans are feeling the pain of government health care, and here's what some of them have sent me from my congressional district in texas. billy from spring, texas, writes, i can't afford what obamacare will cost. how can they say it's better? my company pays part of my insurance and the insurance is good. why do i have to change to something i cannot afford? it doesn't make any sense. my doctor told me a lot of them will retire rather than deal with this horrible health care law. the quality of doctors will diminish. i thought the government was for the people. well, billy, apparently the government is for the government and not for the people. james from humble, texas, says, defund obamacare. my employer has already informed us our health care will be changing and this comes at a very bad time for my family. we will be forced into exchanges and

mr. poe: mr. speaker, the house of representatives has voted numerous times to repeal obamacare, but the president finally admitted today that obamacare is just not working. and so to save his flawed legislation, he has decided to selectively enforce the law. the individual man darktse the idea that you can keep your own insurance. he said he won't enforce the fine for noncompliance for one year. his method is unconstitutional. the constitution requires congress to write, rewrite and amend laws. no president can just use administrative discretion to not enforce laws or change the law. administrative discretion is just not mentioned in the constitution. selective enforcement violates the 14th amendment. no president can just administratively change any law. what's next? is he going to raise taxes by administrative order? congress must write the law. the president must enforce the law. the house will address this very issue legally tomorrow by bringing up legislation that now the president seems to

mr. poe, to preside over the committee of the whole. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h.r. 1900 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill to provide for the timely consideration of all licenses, permits, and approvals required under federal law with respect to the citing, construction, expansion, or operation of any natural gas pipeline projects. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as read the first time. the gentleman from kentucky, mr. whitfield, and the gentleman from california, mr. waxman, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky, mr. whitfield. mr. whitfield: thank you very much. mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman from kentucky is recognized for as much time as he wishes. mr. whitfield: as chairman of the subcommittee on energy and power, we had a number of earings over the last

mr. poe: mr.peaker, the house of representatives has voted numerous times to repeal obamacare, but the president finally admitted today that obamacare is just not working. and so to save his flawed legislation, he has decided to selectively enforce the law. the individual man darktse the idea that you can keep your own insurance. he said he won't enforce the fine for noncompliance for one year. his method is unconstitutional. the constitution requires congress to write, rewrite and amend laws. no president can just use administrative discretion to not enforce laws or change the law. administrative discretion is just not mentioned in the constitution. selective enforcement violates the 14th amendment. no president can just administratively change any law. what's next? is he going to raise taxes by administrative order? congress must write the law. the president must enforce the law. the house will address this very issue legally tomorrow by bringing up legislation that now the president seems to su

mr. poe: ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. mr. poe: mr.peaker, from bubba in southeast texas to the pope, no one is off limits to the surveillance of the national spy agency. americans are fighting the soviet-spy by filing thousands of record requests on the n.s.a. they want to know if they have been monitored. resident transparency to citizens have received a form letter with no answer to their question, all because it's a spy secret. citizen joel writes, i should have the right to know if i'm under surveillance and grant open records requests. the n.s.a. is addicted to spying and snooping. it has no authority to impose surveillance on citizens. this is a clear violation of the fourth amendment. n.s.a. acts like people are the enemy of the state. this activity is the enemy of private-personal privacy of the united states. and that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minut

poe. they have two children. they got married last year and there has been a very public dispute about this. haven't and mrs.s is an issue we have dealt with privately for many years. we are pained to see it become public. liz has always believed in the traditional definition of marriage. she has always as you treated her sister and her sister's family with love and respect exactly as she should have done. compassion is called for even when there is disagreement about up a fundamental matter and liz's many kindnesses shouldn't be use the to distort her position." the latest statement from haven't and mrs. chaneyny, lynne cheney on a family dispute that is very public and perhaps in some ways gets at some disagreements that other families are going through as well as a dispute going on in the republican party right now. let's move on. >>> toronto aren't mayor rob ford is in a battle for his political life. right now the city council is debating a vote to strip ford of most of his key powers. this follows a similar last week that stripped ford of other powers. things got heated when the mayor's brother doug fo

mr. mcclintock: one such family is the harolds abury family in mare poe is a. he writes, i'm a carpenter and covered under the company's plan. when i retired my wife went to work and she was informed yesterday that he was dropping coverage and dropping coverage for anyone below full time. we'll be able to enroll her on my plan, but this doesn't address her loss of income. mr. speaker, my office is being flooded by such complaints, i have to believe that our colleagues across the aisle are hearing the same things, why aren't they listening? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to indicate as many of my colleagues have that beyond the so-called glitches and hiccups of the website, that the president's health care bill simply is not working. in fact, it is hurting. since the president's health care bill was signed into law, i've seen the