mr. waxman: mr. speaker, as a supporter of the affordable care act, i look forward to next year where we will see all americans have a chance to buy health insurance for those who are on medicare, that is their health insurance coverage, and we will only keep the promise of coverage to them if we pay the providers who give them care, especially the physicians and votes why i ask for an aye on this bill. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. pitts: i yield one minute to the distinguished the gentleman from texas, subcommittee chairman, kevin brady. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. brady: let me thank chairman pitts for his leadership of the health subcommittee on energy and commerce. i rise today in support of the pathway for s.g.r. reform act. this important bill is to make sure our local physicians who treat our seniors don't face a drastic cut in their reimbursements on new year's day. the ways and mea

mr. waxman. >> think you very much mr. chairman. i know that there's a lot of politics very -- this issue. i sorely understand that change to a system that is more fair and stable for every american, not just a few, at every american, it's not easy. but all of this is exacerbated why wild propagandist, politicized statements that it been made, even today. chairman said more people will have lost their coverage than we'll get coverage. well, that absolutely cannot be true. it is not true. the congressional budget office, which is not democratic or republican, nonpartisan, they estimated that 7 million people will sign up for health insurance in the first year, and that 25 million people will be newly insured in 2016. that's really a major accomplishment. now, we hear republicans say, more people are losing their policy, but who are those people? we estimate 80 million people will lose their insurance. when you look at that statement, they are saying that people who have a change in the policy have lost it. for example, when they get

mr. waxman. >> think you very much mr. chairman. i know that there's a lot of politics very -- this issue. i sorely understand that change to a system that is more fair and stable for every american, not just a few, at every american, it's not easy. but all of this is exacerbated why wild propagandist, politicized statements that it been made, even today. chairman said more people will have lost their coverage than we'll get coverage. well, that absolutely cannot be true. it is not true. the congressional budget office, which is not democratic or republican, nonpartisan, they estimated that 7 million people will sign up for health insurance in the first year, and that 25 million people will be newly insured in 2016. that's really a major accomplishment. now, we hear republicans say, more people are losing their policy, but who are those people? we estimate 80 million people will lose their insurance. when you look at that statement, they are saying that people who have a change in the policy have lost it. for example, when they get

mr. waxman, for five minutes. >> thank you very much. i wanted to indicate that under the act, the fcc may not single out a specific provider for exclusion from the system of competitive bidding. at the same time, the fcc is permitted to adopt and enforce rules of general applicability that promote competition. even at&t recently it knowledge they support rules that limit the amount of spectrum anyone company could acquire as long as the rules applied evenly to all auction participants. chairman wheeler, as you know i am a strong supporter of the open internet rules because i believe the internet must remain an open lab form for innovation and commerce. you have emphasized the importance of the open internet order. at the same time, you recently made comments suggesting that an internet service provider could charge a content provider such as netflix a fee in order to guarantee the best available transmission speed. do you see these types of business arrangements as consistent with the fcc's open internet rules? >> thank you, mr. waxman,

mr. waxman. >> -- i will leave it at that. >> thank you for yielding to me. i want you to go your statement about the regrets that we have that the majority wouldn't postpone this hearing so that all members could attend the memorial for nelson mandela. obviously, more democrats feel the reason they wanted to be there was more important than to be here and they shouldn't have had to make that choice. madam secretary, want to welcome you back to our committee. healthcare.gov is much improved since he last appeared before the committee. millions more have applied for coverage and signed up. in fact, we just learned today that enrollment in november quadrupled over the october enrollment. all told as of november 30, 365,000 people have enrolled in private coverage, 1.9 million were through the process, just waiting to pick a plan, and enrollment has been speeding up each and every week. as a result we are beginning to the stories of people finally getting the security and peace of mind that comes with quality health insurance. some of these stories are very powe

mr. waxman. >> thank you mr. chairman. chair lafluer i know you focused on electric reliability during your tenure on the commission, and i think you are right to make that a priority in the opening statement. i talked about an april attack on an electric grid substation in california and my understanding is that this was a sophisticated attack using military style weapons and real damage was done and the consequences could have been far worse. you and i discussed this incident when we met yesterday. do you agree this was a serious sophisticated attack on the electric grid? >> absolutely. >> do you share the fbi concerned about publicly discussing details of the attack? >> yes because of the potential for copycat attacks if too much is disclosed. >> without getting into details, has anything like this physical attack on the electric grid ever happened in the united states before? >> i'm not aware of the incident with the same sophistication in all of the elements. it's certainly been sabotage incidents. he referred to the

mr. waxman. the thing is that smart be grid gives us -- smart grid gives us a tremendous opportunity to gather information so that we can become more reliable, so that we can predict grid behavior and gives us an opportunity to deliver renewable energies reliably and so on, but it gives the utility companies a tremendous amount of information about individual users, it opens up grids, utility companies for cyber attacks and so on. ms. lafleur, you said just two weeks ago the excision or pass -- commission passed cybersecurity standards. could you talk about that a little bit? are those mandatory standards, or are they voluntary? let's hear a little bit about that. >> well, thank you very much, mr. congressman. yes, they are mandatory standards. all of the bulk power system along with the nuclear plants are really the only part of our critical infrastructure right now that have mandatory standards. and what's new about the critical infrastructure standards we adopted two weeks ago or we proposed t

mr. waxman. it is a term in this opportunity to gather information so that we can become more reliable so that we can predict the behavior and give an opportunity to deliver renewable energy reliably and so on but it gives a tremendous amount of information about individual users. it opens up the utility companies for cyber attacks and so on. you said that commission passed cyber security standards. could you talk about that a little bit, are they mandatory standards, are they voluntary but here a little bit about that. >> thank you very much mr. congressman. they are mandatory standards. all of the power system along with a nuclear plant are the only part of the critical infrastructure right now we adopted two weeks ago and proposed to approve. they come from the not just supercritical aspect that all elements of the bulk power system received some level of protection because as you indicated with the increasing digitization of the grid, even the smaller assets can potentially be a problem. >> t

mr. waxman. mr. waxman: regrettably, this legislation before us does nothing to truly advance research at n.i.h. if we really had a sincere commitment to strengthen research at n.i.h., let's work together on a bipartisan basis. let's have hearings on the legislation. let's make sure that we have funding for all the research activities, and i think that we need to find a solution to restore n.i.h. funding rather than purely symbolic legislation. this reminds me of the time when the republicans closed the government. they refused to pass an appropriations bill for the government to function, and then people said, well, what about the parks and they said, well, we'll have a bill to open the parks. what about n.i.h. research? well, we'll do n.i.h. research, but not for the centers of disease control, not for other things. look, if you're going to do the job, do it right, and don't pretend, especially to a family that's agriefed, that you really are doing -- agrieved, that you're really doing pediatric res

mr. waxman shows up to give his statement. life detector does he would be given as there are competing hearings. the pronunciation of the names is a challenge so with us today children mcfarland, a the commissioner maguey david so for my colleagues we will try to get that right. you'll how chance to europe grain testimony bill could. >> good morning. two distinguished members of the subcommittee. my colleagues and i appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today on behalf of the u.s. nuclear regulatory commission and. nrc has a full plate of responsibilities from reactors from raised in security he continues to flourish and effectively. to dale like to share a few highlights of our accomplishments. with a licensed facility of materials in means our top priority. a vast majority aha -- are performing well while a few indians oversight to ensure the safe and secure operation but construction of the new unit is well under way under rigorous inspection in construction continues in the staff works toward the operating licenc

mr. waxman for five minutes. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. in my opening statement i expressed serious concerns about nrc's new policy for responding to congressional requests for nonpublic documents. i would like to read the previous policy. "the commission's general practice is to provide sensitive documents requested by members of its congressional oversight committees. it will also provide sensitive documents to other members of congress when the documents address matters pertaining to his or her state or district. ." i thought that was a reasonable policy that enabled the members of this committee and members with reactors in their districts to obtain the documents necessary for them to conduct oversight. the new policy is very different. nrc will only provide nonpublic documents to the chairman and ranking member of a committee and it will provide documents only after pursuing alternatives that do not involve producing requested documents. do you acknowledge this committee's constitutional responsibility to provide oversight of the exec

mr. waxman shows up to give his statement. life detector does he would be given as there are competing hearings. the pronunciation of the names is a challenge so with us today children mcfarland, a the commissioner maguey david so for my colleagues we will try to get that right. you'll how chance to europe grain testimony bill could. >> good morning. two distinguished members of the subcommittee. my colleagues and i appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today on behalf of the u.s. nuclear regulatory commission and. nrc has a full plate of responsibilities from reactors from raised in security he continues to flourish and effectively. to dale like to share a few highlights of our accomplishments. with a licensed facility of materials in means our top priority. a vast majority aha -- are performing well while a few indians oversight to ensure the safe and secure operation but construction of the new unit is well under way under rigorous inspection in construction continues in the staff works toward the operating licenc

mr. waxman. >> thank you very much and i want to welcome the members of the commission, chairman wheeler,d all of commissioners. i also want to join commending commissioner clyburn for the incredible job she did is acting chairwoman of the industry agreement on interoperability and long-overdue reforms on prison phone rates. your brief chairmanship will be remembered for the remarkable amount you accomplished. chairman wheeler, congratulations on your confirmation we are pleased to have you here. you join the fcc at a time when our country is under going dramatic and perhaps fundamental transformations in communications networks and technologies, and the decisions you make at the commission will no doubt have a lasting impact on our nation's communications landscape. at the top of the agenda is the spectrum auctions authorized by the public safety inspector auction act last year, and i'm pleased to see the fcc is moving ahead to conduct the h block auction in january in addition to allocating new wireless spectrum to address our nation's spectrum shortage. this auction will provide signif

mr. waxman would. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. in line opening statement, i expressed serious concerns about the nrc policy for responding to congressional requests for them on public documents. i would like to read that previous policy. the commission's general practice is to provide sensitive documents requested by members of the congressional oversight committee. will also provide sensitive documents to other members of congress when the documents address matters pertaining to his or her state or district. i thought that was a reasonable policy that enable the members of this committee and members with reactors to obtain the documents necessary for them to conduct oversight. the new policy is different nrc will lead provide non-public documents to the chairmen and their ranking member of the kennedy and documents only after pursuing alternatives that do not involve producing the requested documents. do you acknowledge the committee's constitutional responsibility to provide oversight of the executive branch? >> of course. >> in

mr. waxman for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i would like to thank each of the commissioners for being here today and i want to congratulate ms. lafleur on her new role as acting chair. the federal energy regulatory commission has a broad range of enforcing -- important issue before it, renewable energy integration and electric transmission modernization the hydropower licensing and enforcement actions to prevent energy market manipulation. but i want to focus on the issue that has not gotten enough attention during this congress, and that's great security. the nation's critical infrastructure and defense installation simply cannot function without electricity. yet it is clear that the electric grid is not adequately protected from physical or cyberattacks. these are not theoretical concerns. just this april there was an actual attack on our electricity infrastructure. this was an unprecedented and sophisticated attack on an electric grid substation using military style weapons for the attack. communications were disrupted. the

mr. waxman, will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from wisconsin. mr. ryan: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and on ude extraneous remarks the bill. 13r0eu7 without objection. mr. ryan: i yield myself three minutes. rise -- i rise on behalf of the bipartisan budget agreement. s the first time since 1986 that a divided congress has done what we're about to do. here's what the bill does. it reduces the deficit by $23 billion. it does not raise taxes. and it cuts spending in a smarter way. we take temporary, across the board cuts, and replace them with targeted, permanent reforms. and these reforms, they take place immediately. first, we cut waste. we stop paying medicaid bills that deadbeat dads ought to cover. we stop sending unemployment checks to criminals. second, we go after corporate welfare. we eliminate a government ram for energy companies. we eliminate a carveout in the student loan program. third, we start to address the real problem and that is auto pilot spending. we ask ne

mr. waxman: i thank the chairman. i thank him for his tremendous efforts on. i believe this is -- mr. defazio: i believe this is shield ement over the act which mr. shea fits and i offered a couple years ago. we have a nationwide protection racket going here. it's a little more sophisticated than the gang that says we are gg to smash the windows of your store unless you pay us 50 bucks a week. what you have here are hugely sophisticated, well funded patent assertion entities across america, and they did file 62% of the patent litigation, not 5% as we heard earlier asserted by one of my colleagues. and the payoff here is, ok, if you pay us $50,000, we won't drag you through endless court proceedings. they are going to cost you $1 million or more. all they have to do is assert something very big. we own this patent and you are infringing on it. that's it. that's all they have to assert. it's up to the snall business to figure out what that infringement is, which means they have to hire attorneys, they have to go through discovery, and incredibly, lengthy, and expensive process. i found

mr. waxman, for five minutes. mr. waxman: thank you very much, mr. speaker. on february 15, a small group of democratic members of the house joined together to form the safe climate caucus. we vowed to come to the house every day to talk about the defining environmental challenge of our time, climate change. today marks the 100th day we have spoken on the house floor. the safe climate caucus is composed of representatives from across this country. we come from the west coast, the east coast, the north and the south and the midwest. we come from coastal regions, urban areas and rural communities. we represent a cross-section of america. we started the safe climate caucus because of the enormous disconnect that exists between what scientists are telling us about the dangers of climate change and the conspiracy of silence and denial that exists in this house. there is a mountain of evidence that climate change is real and a dangerous threat to the ture of our children and grandchildren, yet, this body refuses to accept scientific reality. i wish my republican co

mr. waxman for agreeing to do t i want to thank our witnesses. a serious issue that has a lot of ramifications for the country. when i first got elected 30 years ago, there was no such thing as the internet. you could actually still send a tell gram -- telegram. i told about flying up here on american airlines this morning. members of congress still got two paid roundtrip train tickets to their district. ok. the world was completely different. if you wanted to make a bank deposit, you had to literally go to the bank. if you wanted to go to the doctor you had to literally go to a doctor's office. everything had to be done in person. now we have the internet and iphones and ipads and apps and all these things. just about the only thing you can't do anymore on the internet is play poker. and that is changing. as ms. schakowsky has pointed out, lots of states are eginning to allow intrastate poker and/or other games of chance. only two states in the union don't allow within their borders some form of gaming. two out of 50. so i think the time has com

now we would like applause for a second and allow ranking member waxman to give his opening statement. >> thank you very much, mr. thank you very much, mr. chairman. i apologized bingley. the other subcommittee that is me at the same time started late. so i am here and i wanted to thank you, and especially chairman macfarlane and her fellow commissioners for being here today. i want to use my opening remarks to comment on a really bad idea. that's the bill that we'll be examining today. the bill includes a laundry list of changes to the nuclear regulatory commission's interim procedures that dredge up old disputes that the commission has already worked through. after the three-mile island meltdown in 1979, congress in the carter administration recognizes the importance of centralized emergency authority in the event of a domestic nuclear crisis. the reorganization plan of 1980 addressed this concern and establish the basis responsibility of the chairman and the commissioners of the nuclear regulatory commission. that bill purports to codify the re-org session plan but it actually resends the plan and ignores the

mr. speaker, i have no other speakers here on our side. again, i want to thank the gentleman from ohio. i want to thank chairman upton and ranking member waxman for expediting this very important bill and i urge all of our colleagues to support this worthy legislation. with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york yields. the chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. mr. johnson: mr. speaker, i want to say thanks to my good friend and colleague, mr. tonko, for his support of this legislation. it may seem trivial to some, but trust me, it's not trivial to the many communities who are sitting on stockpiles literally millions of dollars worth of current hydrant technology that would have to be replaced. and that money just going down the tubes. i, too, urge a yes vote on h.r. 3588. and with that, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3588. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the -- mr. johnson: i request the yeas and nays. the speaker p