now recognize the chairman of the full committee, the gentleman from michigan, mr. upton. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to thank all of our witnesses for coming to discuss this draft of this must-pass legislation. more than a million and a half satellite tv subscribers rely on the provisions of stella that expire at the end of the year, and the draft sthragse that is subject of our hearing will ensure that these subscribers continue to receive the services that in fact they have come to rely on. there's been a healthy debate, yes there has, over what this re-authorization should and should not do. and we welcome continued input as the process moves forward. we want to work to re-authorize stella. it's important to remember this is not the venue for comprehensive reform. as you know the committee has embarked on a multiyear effort to update the communications act, and this process will be driven by a thorough and thoughtful review of all aspects of today's communications marketplace with the goal of updating our laws to better respect today's realities while leaving t

mr. upton: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the distinguished chair of the health subcommittee. i have a statement for the record which i'll ask unanimous consent to submit for the record. mr. speaker, here we are at the very end of -- when the doc fix expires, march 31. that's next week. we have tried in a very responsible way for many months to try and resolve this issue, and i commend my friend, mr. waxman, and others and we passed our bill out of committee last summer, 51-0. speaker boehner said he didn't think we could honor mother teresa for sainthood with a vote like that. i commend my good friend, mr. camp from michigan, and sandy levin, the gentleman from michigan, on the floor now, as we work together and work with the senate as well to actually lock in place a bill on literally the last day that chairman baucus was in the united states senate to resolve thflt and we knew all along we were going to have to have a pay for. and here in the house a couple weeks ago we passed a bill. some on partisan lines, not 100% on either side, but we passed a 10-year fix with a pay fo

camp, mr. upton, dr. burgess, myself, senator baucus and senator hatch. that bill is supported by the ysicians and the patient groups. it would not cut payments and that bill would fix this problem permanently. the bill before us today is not a permanent fix. it's a short-term fix. two weeks ago republicans brought up the bipartisan bill for the permanent fix with a poison pill offset that undermines reform for low-income families. that was two weeks wasted where we could have worked toward a permanent solution. i heard my colleague -- republican colleagues say it's too hard to find offsets or we don't have enough time to come up with the offsets to get a permanent bill done. let's not forget, republicans do not insist on offsets on things they really care about. trillions in tax cuts for the wealthy, no need to offset that. a medicare prescription drug bill that costs far more than this permanent fix to the s.g.r., no need to offset that. but when we talk about protecting seniors' access to their doctors, their answer is different. . speaker, i would urg

walden and mr. upton have both told me personally they are going to be doing lots of hearings and papers to set the groundwork. >> another issue you have been involved in is online gambling. sheldon adelson has come out against allowing federal framework for online gambling saying he will do whatever it takes to stop that. does that worry you? does that make it harder to pass the bill? >> we need to clarify what i am for. i am for internet poker. poker is a game of skill. if the best poker player in the world were at this table, they would take all our money in a reasonable amount of time because they are better. you may be a super poker player, i don't know. you may one of these whiz kids who plays poker on the internet already. i am not for online gambling. i am for internet poker if the states want to allow their citizens to play poker on the internet. it is a states' rights position for me. having said that, mr. adelson has come out against it and he has every right to do that as a citizen. i think he

mr. speaker. chairman upton, chairman whitfield and ranking members waxman and rush, all of you for working with us to move this bipartisan legislation today. mr. whitfield, i want to particularly thank you for your leadership on the subcommittee. and thank you to my colleague, david mckinley, for partnering with me on this issue. mr. mckinley has an extraordinary background as an engineer and small business owner, real practical knowledge that has been extremely helpful and he's brought invaluable expertise to our committee. i'm grateful to him, this whole body should be grateful for his partnership. this bill today has good ideas advanced by members of congress, representatives eshoo, rogers, matheson, latta and castor and thank all of them for their leadership on this issue. and lastly, i want to thank house leaders, especially majority leader cantor. he and his staff, steve, have been enormously cooperative in dealing with some of the thorny problems that arise whenever there's a complicated piece of legisla

mr. uptonthe speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for two minutes. mr. upton: well, thank you, mr. speaker. i first want to commend republicans and democrats for getting the policy right. this is a tough nut to crack. 51-0 in our committee led by joe pitts, dr. burgess, the doc caucus, mr. waxman, mr. dingell, mr. pallone. we worked long and hard to get the policy right and we worked with the other committees to do it as well. the difficulty we always knew was going to be on the pay-for. and i would suggest this -- we want to work with the senate, we want to get this thing done. the pay-for is the toughest part. let's go to conference. let's work with the senate to get a pay-for that can work. now, we know that there's a deadline coming up at the end of this month, and as we look to try and find a pay-for, let me go through some of the other delays that this administration has already done. individual mandate delay, americans with canceled coverage due to obamacare, de

walden and mr. upton have both told me personally and they've said pluckily they're going to be -- publicly they're going to be lots of hearings to set the groundwork to do it. >> host: brendan sasso. >> another issue you've been involved in a lot is online gambling. sheldon edelson has come out against allowing the federal framework for online gambling, he said he's going to do whatever it takes to stop that. does that worry you? >> guest: we need to clarify what i'm for. i'm for internet poker, and poker's a game of skill. if the best poker player in the world would take all of our money, he or she -- [laughter] in a reasonable amount of time because heir -- they're just better. you may be a super poker player, i don't know. [laughter] you may be one of these whiz kids who plays poker on the internet all the time already. but i am not for online gambling. i am for internet poker if the states want to allow their citizens to play poker on the internet. it's a states' rights, you know, position for me. ha

mr. walden and upton told me they will set the groundwork. >> brendan: another issue you have been involved in is on-line gambling. sheldon elderson has come out against online gambling saying he is going to do whatever he can to stop this. >> guest: let's clarify. i am for internet poker. poker is a game of skill. if the best poker player was sitting around the table they would take all of money in a reasonable time. you maybe a super poker player. you maybe one of the kids who plays poker online. i am not for online gambling but i am for internet poker if the states want to let them play. it is state's right position. mr. alderson is against it. and he's got every right to do that do. but respectfully i think he is wrong. there are millions of people playing poker online and playing within a state that allows us like nevada and new jersey and four-five other states will allow it. they are playing on sites that are offshore. it is going to happen. it is happening. and i would hope at some point in time, he accepts the reality as the tides come in and the tides go out and the sun rises in t

chairman, again, i wish to thank mr. upton and whitfield for their support of this amendment and the underlying bill that goes with it. mr. whitfield's work on the overall bill shows his true leadership and caring for the people of app latchia and -- appalachia and all across america. this country is a leader in the world, an innovator and a job creator. it's time that it reins in excessive regulations that cede burdens resulting in families, children, husbands, spouses worried about tomorrow. it's time our regulators pull back in. this amendment and this legislation overall will create that ability we have in the american dream again but not an american dream that's driven by regulations. i urge all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this amendment. mr. waxman: if the gentleman will yield to me? mr. mckinley: and i yield back the balance of my time. mr. waxman: if the gentleman will yield? the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. mckinley: i yield back. mr. waxman: you won't do it. ok

camp, mr. upton, dr. burgess, myself, senator baucus and senator hatch. that bill is supported by the ysicians and the patient groups. it would not cut payments and that bill would fix this problem permanently. the bill before us today is not a permanent fix. it's a short-term fix. two weeks ago republicans brought up the bipartisan bill for the permanent fix with a poison pill offset that undermines reform for low-income families. that was two weeks wasted where we could have worked toward a permanent solution. i heard my colleague -- republican colleagues say it's too hard to find offsets or we don't have enough time to come up with the offsets to get a permanent bill done. let's not forget, republicans do not insist on offsets on things they really care about. trillions in tax cuts for the wealthy, no need to offset that. a medicare prescription drug bill that costs far more than this permanent fix to the s.g.r., no need to offset that. but when we talk about protecting seniors' access to their doctors, their answer is different. . speaker, i would urg

upton, whitfield, chairman shuster and congressman mckinley for their work on all the legislation we're dealing with, with energy costs this beak -- week. and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from georgia. mr. johnson: thank you, mr. speaker. give now my pleasure to one minute to the distinguished gentleman from michigan, the ranking member of the full judiciary committee, mr. john conyers. the chair: the gentleman from michigan is recognized for one minute. mr. conyers: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to commend my colleague n judiciary committee, mr. johnson, for the leadership that he has exercised here in bringing this discussion rward on a bill that is very disappointing to me. this bill imposes hard and fast deadlines that will be unrealistic and -- in certain circumstances and would undercut responsible decision making and public involvement in the federal review and permitting processes. and i ask unanimous consent to have my statement included in the record. in its full extent. the chair: the gentleman's request is covered by general leave. mr. conyers: thank you. the chair: the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. marino: mr. chairman, i now yield three minutes to the gentleman from p