ms. castor. thank you for offering this amendment and just to first emphasize a point that's already been made, which is this budget does immediately, immediately, reduce benefits to medicare beneficiaries, because the affordable care act does close that doughnut hole. that provides that support for seniors in need, and this budget reopens the doughnut hole and. does it immediately. and so that's an immediate change for those seniors. i think it also needs to be pointed out that when we did the affordable care act we used savings, for example, by ending the subsidies to some of the private insurance carriers that were way high. 140% subsidies were being paid. we used those savings for the purpose of providing these additional benefits. in other words, we used those medicare savings to provide this prescription drug benefit, and the budget we have before us from republicans takes those savings, even though, ads were run against people base and the savings. while you take those savings you don't pl

ms. castor? schueler?, mr. schueler, aye. ms. bass. ms. bass, aye. ms. bonei, mr. chairman? >> no. >> mr. chairman, no. >> are there any members looking to vote or to change vote? >> ms. wasserman schultz, aye. >> the clerk will report. >> mr. chairman, on that vote the ayes are 15 and the nos are. since we have four votes, recess subject to theal the >>> the committee will come that was our last series of votes for the day, so we should not have any more interruptions of that. i believe mr. um recognized for purpose -- i apologize. your. i was over in an appropriations meeting with the secretary of it vote and i would have been a yes for thatte iope i'm recorded as a yes for the second vote. i was here present for it, thank you. >> the record will reflectprefe. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i have amendment number three which i would offer. designate amendment. >> the amendment offered and related to transportation. he copies of the amendment and the gentleman from oregon is recognized for nine minutes. >>nk appreciated the exchange w the staff earlier about so us ought to be

ms. castor, aye ms. bass? ms. bass, aye. ms. bonamici? aye. mr. chairman? no. >> the clerk shall report. >> mr. chairman, on that vote, the ayes are 14, the nos are 20. >> nos have it, the amendment is not agreed to. >> do you have an amendment at the desk. >> the clerk will report on the status -- >> the midwest working together. an amendment offered by ms. mccollum related to women's health. >> thank you. women deserved access to affordable health care. unfortunately before the women health care act, women were not guaranteed access. a woman was dpe nighed health care buzz she had a c-section. in florida, a woman denied coverage because she was given anti-aids education after a sexual assault. a senior could not afford her prescription drugs while in the medicare doughnut hole. a woman in south dakota could be charged $1,200 more than a man for the same identical coverage. a woman in texas had her insurance rescinded because she was fighting breast cancer. a mother of three children with cystic fibrosis in utah was stuck in a low-paying job because she si

ms. castor. and thank you for offering this amendment, and just to first emphasize a point that has already been made, which is this budget does immediately, immediately reduce benefits to medicare beneficiaries because the affordable care act does close that donut hole. it provides that support for seniors in need, and this budget we opens the donut hole and it does it immediately. and so that's an immediate change for the seniors. i think it also needs to be pointed out that when we did the affordable care act, we used savings, for example, by ending the subsidies to some of the private insurance carriers that were way high, 140% subsidies were being paid. we used those savings for the purpose of providing these additional benefits. in other words, we use those medicare savings to provide this prescription drug benefit. and the budget we have before us from the republicans takes those savings, takes the savings even though a lot of ad to run against a lot of people based on the savings, but why

ms. castor. you know, we balance it by the fact -- because as you noted the recovery act gave a shot in the arm to the programs. it's about $18 billion during this administration put into water infrastructure programs and it is another cut. tough, tough choices. but we're at the point where we don't really have many places where we can cut except in the infrastructure investments. we are mindful we'd like to get to a place where these are loan programs for the most part where there is a revolving almost self-sustaining point. but we are years away from that. >> well, i hope the congress will respond overall by giving a boost to these vital clean water and drinking water initiatives that are important partnerships for the local communities and find savings elsewhere in the budget. next i'd like to ask you about the good news out of the administration on more fuel efficient cars. i think this is great news for american families and businesses. it appears that you all are building on the success tha

ms. castor? aye. mr. schuler? aye. ms. bass? aye. ms. bonimici? aye. mr. chairman? >> no. >> mr. chairman, no. >> any other members who need to vote? if not, the clerk shall report. >> mr. chairman, on that vote the ayes are 14, the nos are 20. >> the gentle lady from wisconsin is recognized. >> thank you very, very much, mr. chairman. >> do you have an amendment at the desk. >> yes, sir, i have an amendment at the desk. >> an amendment offered by ms. moore related to nutrition. >> the gentlelady is recognized for seven plns. >> i don't envy your job as the budget chair. to try to figure out how to reduce to a balanced budget when you have so many strictures that you've put in place. you can't tax the rich, you want to lower corporate taxes. you can't raise taxes in the middle class by ending the bush era tax cuts for them. that's not feasible. you can't stop sacred dough cows like defense. so you have to cut $7 billion out of programs that help the elderly, disabled, women, children and the infirm. th that's why we have to block grant medicaid, voucherize medicare and block gran

ms. castor related to privatization. >> it is six minutes. are you okay with that? the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. >> this is a straightforward amendment that will disallow privatization of social security and protect workers and retirees. my amendment is an insurance policy in case the republicans move to privatize the social security and budget reconciliation and in doing so, guard against a raid on social security trust fund to reduce the deficit. because any form related to social security should benefit our neighbors who paid in. those are their benefits and they should not be used to reduce the deficit or finance special-interest tax funds. so we must guard against, we must guard social security and in doing so avoid the higher deficits and higher taxes that social security privatization would bring. at this time i will yield to my good friend from pennsylvania, ms. schwartz. >> i want to support this amendment, given that, i know we are obviously still in some challenging times on the fiscal side and that the republican includes privatization of

ms. castor. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. castor: i thank the gentleman very much. the republican budget makes something very clear, republicans and democrats have very different visions for our great country. the republican vision is harsh and independent commentators have said a few things about their proposed budget. they called it reversed robin hood. they called it disturbing and they called it extreme. i think one of the primary reasons is that the republican budget breaks the promise that this country has made to generations of americans that is medicare. the fundamental thing is if you pay into medicare every year as you're working that it will be there for you in retirement. you can live your retirement years in dignity. even in the safe of a diagnosis of alzheimer's or cancer, you will not go bankrupt, and your children will not go bankrupt. medicare makes america great. but unfortunately through this budget the republicans say they don't share that view. specifically, the republican budget ends guaranteed coverage t

ms. castor, who spoke about the reduction of the 2013 budget of $359 million for the clean water and drinking water revolving fund. i hope there might be way to try to restore some of that money, because my state of new york has received many millions of dollars to protect our watersheds and make create -- repair source who systems, and epa's most recent drinking water survey indicate new york will require $29.7 billion over 20 years to ensure continued delivery of safe public drinking water. i want to emphasize that and i hope you can find some way to restore those cuts. i want to talk about fracking because that is something in my state that is a hot topic. we have many people who are fearful of fracking, obviously we don't want it to contaminate the drinking water or have fracking by the watersheds. that is a concern that i have. on the other hand, it has the potential to create many jobs in western new york as it is doing in pennsylvania, and i know that ms. degette and mr. green have spoken to you about it with the study. i think the study is a good idea. i think that we have to know wha

ms. castor the affordable care act is two years old this week. it outlaws discrimination in co-payments and premiums for the same coverage based on gender. see, women have been charged generally more for health insurance. more than 90% of the best-selling health plans still charge women more than women for the same coverage. the affordable care act ends that discrimination. second, women can no longer be denied coverage for an h.m.o. or insurance company because they have a pre-existing condition, like breast cancer that's in remission, or they had a c-section when they delivered their child or even injuries from domestic violence. three, women no longer have to jump through the bureaucratic hoop of obtaining permission to see their ob-gyn. four, and because prevention works and saves money, women in new health insurance plans will automatically be covered for screenings, madam grams, birth control. finally, health insurance companies can no longer can sell your policy if you get sick. these are important protections for women across america, for

ms. castor. >> thank you, mr. chairman. secretary panetta and general dempsey, thank you are in much being here and all of your years of service. over the past decade, the threats to america's national security have evolved from the conventional threat -- the restaurant stayed out various to unconventional nonstate areas, terrorist networks, terrorist organizations in america and the department of defense have rightfully adopted and grown a terrific special operations force, we invest in that. the budgets grown their rightfully. the best it can pull it the value that they take out of osama bin laden. thank you very much. when the sharpshooters were able to take out the pirate and save lives and doing so. and just last month the rescue and amalia at eight workers. so i rank the new strategy that should emphasize in the budget right to land that continually peschel operations. the former so calm commander, admiral eric olson always emphasize quality over quantity. but after years in iraq and afghanistan, where special operato

ms. castor is on the desk. >> amendment on the desk. >> gentle lady from florida, clerk will designate. >> relating to medicare. >> gentle lady recognized for nine minutes. >> the plan that break the promise of medicare and ends medicare as we know it. the republicans propose to raise the cost of prescription drugs and cut the smart new benefits and popular consumer reforms that have been in place for two years and are working very well. this is a double whammy for our older neighbors across america. here's what my amendment does. it proposes to retain the closing of the doughnut hole and the money going back into the pockets of our older neighbors, parents and grandparents and propose to retain those important new screenings, mammograms and colonoscopy is that are saving lives and retain that important new wellness that has become popular and is very smart policy. so first on the doughnut hole. under the affordable care act that has been in place for two years with is currently happening is that cliff many of our older neighbors were falling when it came to paying for their prescription