mr. rivera, wise man, staying around. >> thank you very much, madam chair. i learned from the best, you. madam secretary, thank you so much for being here today. as you know, recently we marked the 14th anniversary of the fib february 24th, 199, shootdown of the brothers to the rescue airplanes. as you know four americans were murdered over international airspace by the castro dictatorship. subsequent to those murders, the u.s. congress and then president clinton signed and passed into law the helms burton bill, which has never been fully implemented as you well know because of a provision that allows a waiver or suspension every six months to that law for implementation of that law. and that suspension i believe takes place around every january or february and midyear as well. we probably have just recently seen the obama administration suspend the helms burton law as it has been done twice a year since 1996. the rationale allowed in the law for suspending implementation of the law is two-fold. number one, that it serves u.s. interest. and number two, that

mr. rivera. >> thank you, madam chair. >> thank you, mrs. secretary. >> thank you, madam chair and secretary. i have a couple of written questions i want to submit for your consideration. madam secretary, this may be be one of the last times together, so i wan to thank you for reestablishing america's influence abroad especially towards the asia pacific region. as you aptly stated, and i quote, the future of politics will be decided in asia, not in afghanistan or iraq. and the united states will be right at the center of the action. thanks to your efforts, madam secretary, i believe the united states will be front and center, so i thank you for bucking tradition for your first trip overseas. on your first trip overseas you visited asia to convey a strong message that america's relationship across the asia pacific region are in dispen dispensable in your many trips since then, cambodia, myanmar, south korea, japan and beyond you have been about the commitment of making strategic commitments that will pay dividends many times over. i applaud y

mr. rivera i am not a member of the senior defense department. i am not allowed to talk about these issues with respect to the specific details or obviously national policy. one of the things we are able to do a measure of success is talk about the build stability operations. what we have been able to achooe on the ground. through those relationships we have built through out the years with the afghans we understand this is one individual isolated not representative of who we are what we are trying to do here with the afghan people and were theyable to do that through the partnership and loyalty and trust we have built with the afghan friends. >> i hope you are right. >> the afghan president saying he wants to withdrawal awe u.s. troops from the country side from the villages from the towns he wants everybody to hunker down in places like camp leather neck or back ram air base until the clock runs out. wouldn't that yield the territory back to the taliban, major? >> obviously this is a real insurgency. i can't get into what the president has deci

mr. rivera i am not a member of the senior defense department. i am not allowed to talk about these issues with respect to the specific details or obviously national policy. one of the things we are able to do a measure of success is talk about the build stability operations. what we have been able to achooe on the ground. through those relationships we have built through out the years with the afghans we understand this is one individual isolated not representative of who we are what we are trying to do here with the afghan people and were theyable to do that through the partnership and loyalty and trust we have built with the afghan friends. >> i hope you are right. >> the afghan president saying he wants to withdrawal awe u.s. troops from the country side from the villages from the towns he wants everybody to hunker down in places like camp leather neck or back ram air base until the clock runs out. wouldn't that yield the territory back to the taliban, major? >> obviously this is a real insurgency. i can't get into what the president has deci

mr. rivera: ethey were searching for refugees trying to reach freedom. raul castro himself admitted to trying to -- to ordering the shoot down over waters so there would be no evidence of the crime but the castro brothers have yet to be indicted for the crime of murdering four american citizens and continue to commit crimes against their sints every day. we should move immediately to indict the castro brothers for this crime. we should not turn our babs on the cuban people who fight for human freedom. i ask on this anniversary that we push for democratic change in cuba. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from north carolina seek recognition? ms. foxx: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. it's time we emphasize the facts about the price of gas in our country. on inauguration day for president obama, the average price of gasoline was $1.84 per gallon. today, it's $3.75. that's a

mr. zimmerman about trayvon martin. >> we're all making assumptions in terms of what happened or didn't happen. the hoodie, it's become a symbol. it was highlighted by geraldo rivera on fox. he said one of the reasons trayvon was singled out was perhaps because of a hoodie. i want to play what he had to say and the reactions of it. or maybe we won't. but he -- >> i am urging the parents of black and latino youngsters particularly to not let their children go out wearing hoodies. i think the hoodie is as much responsible for trayvon martin's death as george zimmerman was. you have to recognize that this whole stylizing yourself as a gangster, you're going to be a gangster wannabe, well, people are going to perceive you as a menace. >> he took some flack for what he said and he responded on twitter. he wrote, my own son said he's ashamed of my position regarding hoodies, still i believe parents must do what they can to keep their kids safe. >> i thivg it is unreasonable to suggest that a kid walking in the rain couldn't put his hood up, particularly knowing that this young person was in no way styling himself as a gangster, that he's a young man wearing a hoodie. i'