mr. waxman: i oppose this rider. which would block the department of energy from implementing or enforcing commonsense efficiency standards for light bulbs. this rider was a bad idea three years ago when it was first offered and it's even more unsupportable today. every claim made by proponents of this rider has been proven wrong. mr. burgess told us that the energy efficiency standards would ban incandescent light bulbs. that has been simply false. you can go to the store today and see shelves of modern energy-efficient incandescent lightbulbs that meet the standard. they are the same as the old bulbs except that they last longer, use less electricity nd save consumers money. we heard for years that it restricts consumer choice. we even heard it again a minute ago. well, if you shopped for light bulbs lately you know this isn't true. modern incandescent light bulbs, every light bulb every shape, size and color are available. consumers have never had more choice. critics claim it would cost consumers money. in fact,

mr. waxman for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. doctor, last friday when you released the c.d.c. report on the anthrax incident you announced you are imposing a moratorium on c.d.c. transferring any biological samples out of any b.s.l. 3 or 4 labs until they had conducted a lab by lab assessment and you additionally close to the bioterrorism and rapid response and advanced technology, or the brat lab, and announced it i will remain closed until it is approved to reopen under safer conditions. this is so the cdc can undertake a comprehensive safety review and ensure that the proper procedures and protocols are in place moving forward. dr. frieden, how long you anticipate this moratorium lasting, and the brat lab being closed? >> the short answer is so they can open safely. the long answer is that some can resume. proficiency testing for those agents in the laboratory response network, and that is something we will look at very carefully, but i am committed we will not open them until we can open them safely. >> what steps are you ta

mr. waxman. >> thank you, mr. chairman.important for us to figure out ways to develop q wars more rapidly. we spend an enormous amount of money in basic research of which the pharmaceutical companies take advantage and are able to produce products that are life-saving. we have got to encourage more development of medicines but we also have to make them affordable. we don't do anybody a favor if we have a drug that cannot be bought or the health care system cannot pay for so as we think about new products, new drugs, new therapies, we must evaluate them and to see if we are adding more to helping the american people and mankind or whether we are just layering on new efforts that will cost a lot more but may not add to the therapy that people are so desperate to have. thinking outside the box, it is evident from this kind of meeting and it is interesting. i have never seen anything like it in the time i have been in congress and i will look forward to this group figuring out the recommendations to the committee so we can cons

mr. waxman said he's never seep anything like this, i know this is a unique and special moments to you mr. upton and you mr. gett for convening us in what i hope would be a series of conversations. to try to answer your question, certainly what desperately need to get a study predictable project ri ory of support. we've not seen that. we have lost over 20% of our purchasing power. it has put the system under tremendous stress. it has caused the loss of jobs. maybe most importantly and most worriso worrisome. if we want to see innovation continue at the level that it could need to have confidence that there is going to be a panel for them that their dreams are going to be possible to pursue. we're not lacking their ideas. this is a unique moment in terms of search potential. it is also perhaps an occasion where we're missing out on the kind of return on that investment that might be there. i want to mention that as well because i think your questions reflect an interest in that. don't know if you saw just today a publication that did an analysis of the economic returns of the women's healt

mr. waxman for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. doctor, last friday when you released the c.d.c. report on the anthrax incident you announced you are imposing a moratorium on c.d.c. transferring any biological samples out of any b.s.l. 3 or 4 labs until they had conducted a lab by lab assessment and you additionally close to the bioterrorism and rapid response and advanced technology, or the announced it i will remain closed until it is approved to reopen under safer conditions. this is so the cdc can undertake a comprehensive safety review and ensure that the proper procedures and protocols are in place moving forward. how long you anticipate this moratorium lab beingnd the brat closed? >> the short answer is so they can open safely. the long answer is that some can resume. proficiency testing for those agents in the laboratory response network, and that is something we will look at very carefully, but i am committed we will not open them until we can open them safely. >> what steps are you taking to lift the moratorium, and when

mr. waxman for five minutes. >> doctor, last friday when you released the c.d.c. report on the anthrax incident you announced you are imposing a moratorium on c.d.c. transferring any biological samples out of any b.s.l. 3 or 4 labs until they had conducted a lab by lab assessment and you closed the rapid response and advanced tech noling and announce it i will will remain closed until it is approved to reopen under conditions. and can undertake a comprehensive safety review and ensure that the proper procedures and protocols are in place moving forward. how long do you anticipate this moratorium lasting? and the brat lab being closed? . at the c.d.c. i'm impressed with everything that is happening there. for the high containment biological laboratories, to have these lapses is not acceptable. so it's really troubling that although numerous government agencies over the past few years have warned c.d.c. about problems at the high , it appears bs c.d.c. has not heeded those warnings. h.h.s. nchtor general that documented a series of safety lapses and lack of oversigh

mr. waxman for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr. frieden, last friday when you released the cdc report, on the anthrax incident, you announced you were imposing a moratorium on cdc transferring any biological samples out of any bsl-3 or bsl-4 labs until they had conducted a lab by lab assessment. additionally, you closed the bioterrorism rapid response and advanced technology or the brrat laboratory and announced it will remain closed until it as approved to reopen under safer conditions. these seem like appropriate interim steps until cdc can under take a comprehensive safety review and ensure that the proper procedures are in place moving forward. how long do you anticipate this moratorium lasting? and the brrat lab being closed? >> the short answer to your question is as long as it takes to ensure that they can open safely. the longer answer is that there some are things that need to resume. for example, proficiency testing for select agents in the laboratory response network. and that's something we will look at very carefully.

mr. waxman, the full committee ranking member for helping bring this legislation to the floor. i strongly support brand u.s.a.'s mission of promoting international travel to the united states, and i have heard from travel and tourism professionals across my district about the need to re-authorize this program. but it's not just the chicago area that benefits. brand u.s.a. supports 350,000 jobs and $3.4 billion in visitors' spending each year from coast to coast, according to the u.s. travel association. i would like to thank mr. bilirakis and mr. welch, the sponsors of h.r. 4450, for their continued commitment to the promotion of international tourism. the sponsors worked with me to make some important improvements to this legislation during the committee markup process. the amendments we made to the bill will make brand u.s.a. even more accountable and economically viable moving forward. due to our efforts, the bill incorporates several recommendations that the government accountability office made in a 2013 report. the department of commerce is now required to establish speci

mr. waxman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. waxman: i thank the gentleman for yielding to me. mr. speaker, since before the terrorist attack of september 11, 2001, experts have been concerned about the vulnerability of chemical plants to attack. these facilities hold large stores of industrial chemicals which pose a safety and security risk to the american people if they are released or detonated. a recent report found that more than 134 million americans live in the vulnerability zones around these chemical facilities. i have such a facility in my district which is a very serious concern for the surrounding community. these risks have not been addressed adequately, and this bill falls short of what is needed. the chemical facility anti-terrorism standards program at the department of homeland security has not been successful. it was set up through an appropriations rider that did not give the department the tools it needed to succeed. the original statute blocked effective enforcement, leading to a lack of compliance. we saw th

mr. waxman and ms. eshoo. we have no more speakers. i urge a yes vote on this bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: i thank the gentleman from vermont for his kind works and work on -- kind words and work on this legislation. i mr. waxman and ms. eshoo have worked tirelessly on this bill. their staff, shawn, david, who worked hard on this. and my senior policy advisor, all of whom spent time working this through. it's interesting we get to this point and it kind of goes naturally. a lot of work went in to getting to this point. i thank our staffs and our members who really worked with us in a very good-spirited way. with that, mr. chairman, i'd -- mr. speaker, i'd urge the house approve this bill, without objection, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 4572, as amended. those in favor say aye. those

mr. waxman for five minutes. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, for holding this hearing.ant for us to investigate this incident involving the release of potentially viable anthrax on cdc's campus in atlanta. when i was chairman of the oversight committee, we held hearings after the 2001 anthrax attacks. we looked at the safety of postal workers and the public in handling mail and the postal service and cdc's response to those attacks. we had hearings again in 2003 and 2005 where we found there were still gaps in biological detection of anthrax and communicating test results and risks to the public. those hearings showed why cdc's work on identifying and containing public health risks from these types of biological agents is so important. but this work can also pose risks and that's why this oversight hearing is important. in 2009 when i was chairman of the full committee, we held a hearing on the proliferation of high containment biolabs and the lack of oversight over such facilities. mr. dingell also held a hearing in 2007. so this is not our first introduction to this s

mr. waxman, thanks for being with us.do you believe it will take to stop the escalation of violence on both sides at this point? >> well, i think for one thing, it's going to go for both to make statements to try to calm tensions and to try to control the situation particularly to avoid any further deaths. i mean, israeli police in responding to these demonstrations have to be very, very careful that they don't kind of do the things we've seen in recent days, beating of palestinian jews or killing palestinians, which is only going to continue the cycle of violence. >> six israeli suspects have been arrested on suspicion of the murder of the teen last week. could that dissipate the tension? >> well, it certainly is an important step in the right direction. it was absolutely necessary. there was the sense among palestinians both within israel as well as in the occupied territories that israel was treating the murder of the palestinian teenager differently than the murder of those israel jewish teams. it's very important for

mr. waxman for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. dr. frieden, last friday when you released the the cdc report on the anthrax incident, you announced you were opposing, imposing a moratorium on cdc transferring any biological samples out of any bsl3 or bsl4 labs until they had conducted a lab-by-lab assessment. additionally, you closed the bioterrorrism rapid response and advance technology or the brrat laboratory and announced it will remain closed until it is approved to reopen under safer conditions. these seem like appropriate interim steps until cdc can undertake a comprehensive safety review and insure that the proper proceed yours and protocols are in place moving forward. dr. frieden, how long do you anticipate this more to moratorm lasting and the brrat lab being closed? >> the short answer to your question is as long as it takes to insure that they can open safely. the longer answer is that there are some things that need to reasylum. for example -- resume. for example, proficiency testing for select agents in the laboratory r

mr. waxman, thank you. >> we want to turn to the crash of malaysian airlines 17 shot down over ukraine. crews are at the crash site, the associated press saying that the rebels now say they have collected most of the recording devices. we want to turn to roy challenge in moscow this morning. what are you hearing about the status of the black boxes? >> well, i think it's telling, that quote there, prom the rebels, we recovered most of the black boxes, indicates that the rebels don't really know what they're looking for. there are only two flight recording devices on a plane such as this, the data recording and cockpit voice recording device. it doesn't make sense to say they recovered most of them. the latest i heard, this is going around on the russian news agencies, interfax, et cetera is that the initial claims that the rebels had discovered the black boxes are now discounted. they obviously don't quite now what they're looking for and announcing they don't have them. >> vladimir putin pushing back against kiev which blames russia for shooting the plane down, is that pushing the entir

mr. waxman noted in his statement, we have been doing this work for quite a while. we started with the original anthrax attacks, and we have gone on to a number of other issues over the years. our past work has a couple of major themes. one of them is a lack of strategic planning and oversight of the whole picture of biosafety laboratories. aphis and cdc are only a part of that picture and since 2001, there have been an increasing number of biosafety laboratories both within that sector and also across the whole government. there are six or seven different agencies involved and no one entity has been charged with developing a strategic plan. we became particularly concerned about that as budgets began to shrink recognizing that the management and operation of these laboratories is an expensive venture and if they are not properly maintained, other kinds of problems can arise. we have also observed that there is a continued lack of national standards for designing, constructing, commissioning and operating these laboratories. there is guidance. the biosafety and micr

mr. waxman, five minutes. sdplz thank y >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. this is the 12th hearing this committee held on the health care act since enrollment began on october 2013. these hearings, if you look at them, all have one purpose. to undermine the affordable care act regardless of the facts. the hearings have misled the public and i think squandered t taxpayers' dollars. in fact, the affordable care act is an historic success. it has made comprehensive health care reform a reality for the american people. more than 8 million people have signed up for private health insurance plans through the public and private marketplaces, exceeding efforts by over a million people. an additional 7.6 million people have enrolled in the chip program. 3 million people under the age of 26 have enrolled in their parents' health care plans. in my district alone, if i can be parochial, 17,000 residents who were previously uninsured now have quality affordable health coverage because of the affordable health care act. so i'm giving you some perspective that the law has

mr. waxman said in his opening statement. it may sound obvious, but it's important we acknowledge this is a complicated issue. there's a lot of complexities to this. there's a lot we don't know about brain science. i think we all could agree that the notion that this is an thash merits significant investment in research is really something -- and it's beyond even concussions in sports. we got traumatic brain injury in terms of our soldiers in the field. this is a really important issue that's complicated and we ought to make sure we approach it in a thoughtful and comprehensive way. so mr. chairman, thank you for scheduling this hearing today. i was going to ask mr. miller, without taking too long because this is an open-ended question, but could you kind of walk us through the steps as information and research has brought more knowledge to the nfl, how has the league responded and how have you positioned yourself on these issues to address the issues of concussions? just if you could walk us through some of the history of ho

mr. waxman: i rise in opposition and seek time in opposition to this amendment. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. whackman: when a company wants to -- mr. waxman: when a company wants to export liquefies natural gas, it has to split an application with the department of energy. for the exnorth countries with a free trade agreement with the u.s., d.o.e. must grant the application without delay. for exports to countries without a free trade agreement, d.o.e. has to approve an application unless it finds that the proposed export will not be consistent with the public interest. to make this determination d.o.e. evaluates a range of factors. they look at the economic impacts. the international considerations. u.s. energy security and environmental effects. mr. cassidy's amendment would prohibit d.o.e. from even considering one of the most important factors, the impact of l.n.g. exports on climate change. i don't understand why we would do that. the world's leading scientists are unequivocal. climate change is already happening on all continen

mr. waxman, for the good work they have done on this legislation. indeed, the staffs on both sides of the committee have been remarkable in what it is they have done on this matter. and it's interesting to note that we have the strong support of the american academy of dermatology, the american cancer society action network, the melanoma research alliance, the environmental working group and the melanoma research foundation. and i ask unanimous consent to insert letters from those agencies into the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. dingell: i'd like to observe that the staff has performed extraordinary work on this matter. i want to congratulate and thank greg on my staff as well as taylor, john, carley, eric for their hard work on the legislation. and i want to recognize members p-a-s-s, t coalition, for their hard work on this coalition. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. whitfield: mr. speaker, a

their leadership, and i want to thank, too, chairman upton and ranking member waxman for his leadership and, of course, mr. pallone and mr. pitts. i yield back and urge my colleagues to support h.r. 4709. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. does the gentleman from new jersey reserve his time? mr. pallone: yes, i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. mr. pitts: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield three minutes to the gentlelady from tennessee, vice chairman of the energy and commerce committee, another leader on this issue. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from tennessee is recognized for three minutes. mrs. blackburn: thank you, mr. speaker. and i want to thank the chairman for his work on this issue, for working with congressman marino and congressman welch and congresswoman chu as we sought to move the issue forward. we also thank chairman upton for working with us as we brought the issue forward. the gentleman from vermont mentioned the epidemic and the widespread abuse that is taking

mr. waxman for five minutes. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman, for holding this hearing. i think it's important for us to investigate this incident involving the release of potentially viable anthrax on cdc's campus in atlanta. when i was chairman of the oversight committee, we held hearings after the 2001 anthrax attacks. we look at the safety of postal workers and the public in handling mail. the postal service and cdc's response to those attacks. we had hearings again in 2003 and 2005 where we found there were still gaps in biological detection of anthrax and in communicating test results at risk to the public. those hearings showed why cdc's work on identifying and containing public health risks from these types of biological agents is so important. this can also pose risks, that's why this oversight hearing is important. in 2009 when i was chairman of the full committee, we held a hearing on the proliferation of high containment biolabs and the lack of oversight over such facilities. mr. dingell also the hearing in 2007, so this is not our first introduction to the s