mr. waxman: mr. chairman, i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. waxman: mr. chairman, i rise in opposition to h.r. 5. it combines two very bad ideas into one terrible bill that is anti-senior, anti-consumer and anti-health. it's no accident that we're considering the legislation during the second anniversary of the affordable care act. because this is a thinly veiled partisan attempt to confuse the public and obscure the law's success in covering young people , reducing costs for seniors and providing improved health benefits. title 1 of the bill before us, the medical malpractice provisions, have been around for over a decade. they have not been enacted under democratic or republican congresses and presidents. because they are an extreme intrusion on the authority of the states to set their own liability rules and would shield bad actors from accountability when they cause injury and death . let's be clear. this bill is much broader than traditiona

mr. waxman.members of the committee, i'm pleased to be with you today to discuss the president's 2013 budget for the department of health and human serv helps to create an american economy built to last by strengthening care and support the research to tomorrow's cures and lead to american children and families so every one has a fair shot to reach his or her potential. it makes investments that we need right now while reducing the deficit in the long run to make sure that the programs that millions of americans rely on will be there for generations to come. i look forward to answering your questions, mr. chairman, about the budget but i want to just take a few minutes to share some of the highlights. over the last two years, we have worked to deliver the benefits of the affordable care act to the people. we have americans already getting coverage through their parents plans. more than 25 million seniors advantage of the free recommended services under medicare and small business owners are getti

mr. waxman said he will go now. i would like to recognize mr. waxman. >> thank you for being here today. and thank you for your outstanding leadership that you have provided to the environmental protection agency. under your leadership, epa is making our air safer to breathe and our water safer to drink and you are doing so in a way that will strengthen our economy and create jobs. congress, should be your partner in these efforts, but since republicans took control last january. the house of representatives, has tried to undermine your efforts every step of the way. the epa budget represents a small portion of the overall spending. under the president's proposal for fiscal year 2013. epa funding is less than one quarter of 1% of the federal budget and epa shares over 40% of these funds with the states and tribes to help implement federal laws and achieve national goals. but today we will hear that your budget is too big and that we cannot afford investing in clean air and clean water. these attacks are part of a broader agenda. house republicans

mr. waxman, chairman of the subcommittee. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mrs. clinton, i'm really delighted to see you here. my father just passed away, as did yours. and we started going through his papers, we found a letter he wrote around 50 years ago. complaining about the fact that a doctor wouldn't come to my mother, because they couldn't afford to pay the bill. she suffered for the rest of her life, because of an illness that might have been controlled. so i know it was my father's dream, as well. and is others around this country that we finally have guaranteed access to care for all in americans. that's really what the core of the president's proposal is all about. and some of us who have worked in this area for a long time have felt that we needed a president who was willing to take the bold leadership to deal with this difficult issue. i used to think that would be enough. now i know that what we needed more was also a first lady like yourself to give us the expertise and guidance you've had and given us in preparing this plan before us. the crux of

mr. waxman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and secretary chu, we are pleased to see again that are committed to the lot of energy challenges that we're facing and you'll be asked about them, by members of her committee. at the american people are concerned about high gasoline prices. and i think because of our dependence on oil, oil itself, that is leading, leading us to higher prices in gasoline. oil is priced at a world market. so even if we produce more oil in the united states, that's not going to lower the price of gasoline here because we have oil priced based on what the world prices is. canada, for example, should be the utopia republicans pray for. in canada they produce more oil than they consume. and yet their prices are just as high as ours. and their people are complaining about the high price of gasoline as well. so when we hear republicans say reduce -- produce more oil, they are doing with all copies want but it's not going to reduce the price of gasoline. energy economists tell us that the republican plan does

mr. waxman: mr. chairman, i am pleased at this time to yield two minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, mr. rush holt. the chair: the gentleman from new jersey, mr. holt, is recognized for two minutes. mr. holt: mr. speaker, i thank my friend from california, and i rise in opposition to h.r. 5 which would repeal the independent payment advisory board which i think is one of the good features of the health reform law. you know, i have real concerns about h.r. 5. we're talking about undoing work instead of doing the work that this congress should do. repealing ipab in the pretext of protecting medicare just one day after the republican budget was released that would end medicare and shift the cost of health care to our seniors while giving tax breaks to millionaires, there's just no logic to this. the bill would also make significant changes to the federal health care liability system, making it difficult for legitimately injured patients to hold health care providers accountable, including even lim

mr. waxman. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm pleased the sub committee is here.very week, we learn a breach of vulnerability. it is vital we are paying attention. like the smart grid, which was the topic of our last hearing by the sub committee, it was a sub committee on oversight investigations. communications networks are vulnerable to cyber attack. the potential for disruption are high because communications networks are the common thread to all critical infrastructure sectors. in fact, the public safety legislation that was just signed into law exemplifies these concerns. under the new law, the first responders will rely on broadband to secure the safety of life and property. that will strengthen their ability to protect the network. today, i look forward to continuing the discussion of the security threats faced by mobile devices and the role for ensuring cyber security. our witnesses today represent a broad cross section of internet service providers as well as a hand set manufacturer. this should further help our understanding of what risks threaten the ne

mr. waxman. >> without objection, so ordered. that concludes our hearing. the members may give you questions. we ask that you respond to those questions once you get them promptly. and i remind members that they have ten business days to submit questions for the record. and that means they should submit their questions by the close of business on monday, april the 2nd. excellent hearing. wonderful testimony. we thank our expert panel for your very important testimony and answers to our questions. subcommittee is adjourned. >>> this is c-span 3. with politics and public affairs programming throughout the week, and every weekend, 48 hours of people and events telling the american story on american history tv. get our schedules and see past programs at our websites. and you can join in the conversation on social media sites. >>> a house committee this week gave the federal government a c-minus for its ability to track the freedom of information act requests it receives. the report came out as american university law school held a discussion on transparency and

mr. waxman, the additional $1 billion in medicare and medicaid is for really two categories. one is about $800 million that actually is for the one-time build out of the federally operated exchange program. i.t., consumer outreach and the services in the areas where the state is not setting up a state-based exchange. once a state-based exchange with with the federal government and we will pick up the other pieces. part of the dollars are for that. part of the dollars, actually, are $200 million are toward increases and enhancements in the medicaid and medicare programs themselves. the overall administration of the two efforts where we have about 118 million people that we need to update. i will tell you, mr. chairman, with the additional request, our overall costs with the largest insurance programs in the world are running under 3% with the $1 billion increase. >> that is very impressive. thank you. >> the chair thanks the gentleman. the committee will stand in recess until the end of the last vote. we will reconvene immediately. we stand in recess. >> the chair recognizes d

mr. waxman, for five minutes of questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. administrator jackson, the house republicans have urged you not to issue pending proposed new source performance standards under the clean air act to reduce carbon pollution from new power plants. they argue that the regulations will hurt the economy and are not necessary. i could not disagree more strongly. climate change is the greatest environmental threat we face. although the standards will have a modest impact on the overall problem, they are critical as a first step in tackling carbon pollution. they'll boost the economy by providing certainty to the power sector allowing investment decisions to be made and new generation to be built. administrator jackson, you're an engineer, a practical problem solver. does it make any sense to pretend climate change isn't happening and hope we can deal with it later? >> no, sir, it doesn't. >> denying the science and the facts i think is indefensible and putting off action until later is utterly irresponsible. according to the highly regarde

mr. waxman made. i think you're doing a fine job as secretary and i want to thank you and my constituents for the good work you do. i am very proud of the fact that my state of new york trains the largest number of medical residents in this country. we have over 15,000 residents developing all kinds of life-saving skills in our state as of 2010 and we train and new york trains the largest number of primary care physicians in the country. given the increasing age of the baby boomer generation, 32 million newly insured americans are projected to enter into the healthcare system over the next few years i'm concerned about the physician shortage that the country is facing. i wanted to echo what mr. pallone said earlier. i was disappointed to see the president's budget included a 10% direct cut in direct medical education funding and a $177 million cut to children's hospital graduate medical education funding. i think we need to be training more physicians and adequately supporting our teaching hospitals,

mr. waxman spoke to that earlier has provided states with the authority to give extra assistance in the form of extended loan terms and low are interest rates or principal forgiveness to disadvantaged communities and i live in a disadvantaged community and you know that very well. because of that the srf has been an essential source of financing for small and disadvantaged community, water systems that are unable to finance infrastructure projects at market rates. but until the passage of recovery act, states had complete discretion to decide whether to exercise their authority and provide disadvantaged communities with such assistance. 14 states had decided not to provide the assistance. an additional six states reserve less than 4% of their funds over the life of the program for these disadvantaged communities. recovery act funding of the srf made a significant difference for millions of americans and you know that record very well. in fact, according to epa, recovery act funds provided through the drinking water srf brought 693 drinking water assistance serving over 48 million americans b

mr. waxman: mr. chairman and my colleagues, today the house is taking up h r. 4309, which the republican says is a modest proposal to make the department operate more efficiency. i have to agree, this would not reform the f.c.c., it erases it. it makes it more difficult for the f.c.c. to protect consumers and strips the f.c.c. of its powers to make sure that mergers between telecommunications companies are in the public interest. it would stymy the ability of the agency to do much of anything except produce reports for congress. of the i have -- though i have many problems with the bill, i have three major concerns i want to highlight. first, it creates a new set of procedures for the f.c.c. for more than 65 years, the administrationive procedure act has governed administrative agencies across the federal government. this bill creates a special procedural set of rules for the f.c.c. alone. let me give you an example. the bill requires the f.c.c. to include in every notice of proposed rule making the

mr. waxman. that concludes the opening statements. as i said earlier, we only have one witness today -- the honorable steven chu, secretary of energy. you are recognized for five minutes for an opening statement. >> thank you, chairman whitfield, ranking member rush, chairman upton, ranking member waxman, and members of the committee. thank you for the opportunity to discuss the department of ergy's fiscal year 2013 budget request. to promote economic growth and strengthen security, president obama has called for a strategy part of american energy. the president wants to fuel our economy with domestic energy resources while increasing our ability to compete in the clean energy res. the 2013 budget request was guided by the president's -- >> excuse me for interrupting you. mr. rust says that he cannot hear you. -- mr. rush says that he cannot hear you. >> i am having difficulty hearing you as well. if the person in charge of audio visual could crank up the game a little bit. -- gain a little bit. that seems to be better. thank you. to

mr. waxman. >> thank you. i am please the committee is looking at this issue. this is our second hearing. every week we learned about a cyber breach and vulnerability. like the smart grid, which was the topic of our last committee , communications networks are vulnerable to sniper attack. the potential to severe disruptions -- vulnerable to cyber attack. the public safety legislation that was signed into law exemplifies these concerns. under the new law, first responders will be allowed -- to be relying on network to secure the safety of life and property. that will strengthen their ability to protect the public, but only if the networks are protected from cyber attacks. i look forward to continuing our discussion of the security address space by mobile devices. our witnesses today represent a broad cross-section of internet service providers, as well as a handset manufacturers. this will help our understanding of what companies are doing to mitigate these risks and what the subcommittee might do to assist you in these efforts. i believe the federal government

mr. waxman. >> without objection, so ordered. that concludes our hearing. the members me give you questions, and we would ask that you would respond to those questions once you get them promptly and i would remind members the have ten business days to submit questions for the record, and that means they should submit their questions by the close of business on monday april 2nd. excellent hearing, wonderful testimony. we think our expert panel for your very important testimony in the answers to our questions. without objection, the subcommittee is adjourned. [inaudible conversations] >> we get calls going up and down the mississippi delta saying they were now revoked, and the next morning between 6,000 to 100 men poured into phillips county to begin shooting down blacks. >> they know what's going to happen but we don't know what's going to happen. we don't realize what is going to happen. but they seem to because the crowd is with us now. the momentum is behind us and they are pushing us. these stories and others from the local content vehicles in little roc

mr. waxman. for us to move in the clean energy world, we have to pay for that.s it not true that you have filed european gas prices for the united states? very briefly. yes or no? have you not said that it would be good for us to have european gas prices? we all know the answer is yes. obviously, to move to a clean energy future based upon americans pay more upon, which is the desirable of this administration -- i did not want to go in that direction, but my friend from california empowered me to go. >> [inaudible] >> i would like to reclaim my time. -- did not get a chance for him to enter. >> i reclaim my time. >> will the department abide by the ruling? >> yes. >> do you have the staff to pursue it? >> if the federal court says to do so, we will do so. >> describe the funds that could be made available from the prior year's through this application. this would include any carryover funds made available until expanded, annie and obligated balances from prior years that may have -- any un padillaobligated balances from prior years -- any unobligated balances fr

mr. chairman. >> thanks. i recognize the gentleman from georgia. >> thank you. madam secretary, gk here. ranking member waxman was quoted in the hill newspaper yesterday as saying and this is a quote, i pa to impose some discipline on congress to stop out of control medicare spending. do you agree with that? >> i do. >> because the president believe we need to save the medicare program from bankruptcies like ranking member waxman does? >> i believe the president believes in very strongly and -- >> so -- so my time is limited. yes and no is fine on that. thank you for that. >> i didn't give you an answer. >> -- slogan, we can't wait to highlight congressional inaction really on many issues. tell me this. should we take ranking members waxman's advice and start showing discipline to reform medicare this year or should we tell our seniors to wait until after the next election? yes or no? >> the president's budget has a very positive proposal for medicare which not only ensures that the 48 million people have the benefits that are committed to them, but that we continue to slow the growth rate which has happened

mr. waxman for an opening statement. >> i welcome our witnesses as well. i'm pleased the subcommittee is looking at this issue of cybersecurity. this is our second hearing. every week we learn of a new cyber breach of vulnerability so we are finally paying attention to this question. like this margaret which is the topic of the last hearing by the subcommittee, and the investigations the connections networks are highly vulnerable to cyberattack, the potential for this fear do because of their assertions are high because communications networks are the common thread to all critical infrastructure sectors. in fact the public safety legislation that was just signed into law exemplifies these concerns under the new law first responders will be relying on the broadband communications networks to secure the safety of life and property and the devotee to protect the public but only if the networks are protected the cyber attacks. we are continuing our discussion of the security threats faced by local offices and the proper role for the subcommittee to ensure serv