me, as you know, the testimony you're to be give is subject to title 18, section 1001 of the united states code. when holding an investigative hearing, this committee has the practice of taking testimony under oath. do you have any objection to testifying under oath? the chair then advises that you that under the rules of the house and the rules of the committee, you are entitled to be advised by counsel. do you desire to be advised by counsel during your testimony today? if that case, if you would please rise and raise your right hand, he will swear you in. do you swear that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? you may now be seated. and it's my understanding that the only opening statement will be given by you, mr. secretary, and mr. wulf is here to answer questions with regard to the internal. they're both going to give it. okay. it, okay. a change in direction from last night. mr. beers, if you would then -- you're recognized for five minutes to give your opening statement. >> thank you, chairman, and ranking member green and distingui

the clerk: to amend title 49, united states code, to authorize appropriations for the federal aviation administration for fiscal years 2011 through 2014, to streamline programs, create efficiencies, reduce waste, and improve aviation safety and stable , to provide funding for the national aviation system and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 533, the conference report is considered as read. the gentleman from florida, mr. mica, and the gentleman from west virginia, mr. rahall, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from florida. mr. mica: thank you, mr. speaker. and good morning. i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mica: i am pleased to rise in support of the conference report of the f.a.a. re-authorization. this is the f.a.a. modernization reform act of 2012. first, i want to take a moment to thank ranking member rahall, chairman petri, ranking member costello as well as chairman rockefeller, ranking member hutchinson and the conferees who worked on thi

the clerk: h.r. 658, to amend title 49, united states code, to authorize appropriations for the federal aviation administration for fiscal years 2011 through 2014, to streamline programs, create efficiencies, reduce waste, and improve aviation safety and capacity to provide stable funding for the national aviation system and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: ordered printed. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered on or which the vote incurs objection under clause 6 of rule 20. recorded votes on postponed questions will be taken later today. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3835. the speaker pro tempore: and the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 3835, a bill to extend the pay limitation for members of congress and federal employees. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman f

second, there is a deduction in the tax code for manufacturing activity in the united states. the president has proposed expanding that dramatically. that would be incredibly useful to the manufacturing sector, and in some ways, more useful than a corporate tax cut. a corporate tax cut, if you expense it out, a lot of the benefits would go to the financial-services sector and not to manufacturing. if you have a specific tax deduction for manufacturing activity, you're going to target that. it will be in ensuring incentive. the president has talked about this for a few years, but it is in the midday being some features in the tax code that may encourage of shoring, and that is used to pay for some of these tax benefits. i think the tax benefits he is proposing would be useful to the sector, to grow employment. host: will year from its romney in a few minutes. but first, those phone calls. -- we will hear from mitt romney in a few minutes. caller: i heard the president of singapore being interviewed over the weekend. singapore is ranked as the number one place in the world to do

consideration of the conference report to accompany the bill h.r. 658 torque amepped title 49, united states code, to authorize appropriations for the federal aviation administration for fiscal years 2011 through 2014 to streamline programs, create efficiencies, redeuce waste and improve aviation safety and capacity, to provide stable funding for the national aviation system, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 534, resolution providing for consideration of the bill h.r. 578, to emergency deficit control act of 1975, to provide the budget baseline and providing for consideration of the bill h.r. 3582 to amend the national budget act to provide for macroeconomic impact of -- analysis of the impact of legislation. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. for what purpose does the gentleman from maine rise? >> thank you, mr. speaker. i have a motion to instruct conferees at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk:

simplify the drafting of section 1752, relating to restricted buildings or grounds of title 18, united states code. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and concur in the senate amendment? members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 387, the nays are 3. 2/3 being in the affirmative -- the speaker pro tempore: have all members voted. any member wish to change their vote. on this vote, the yeas are 388, the nays are 3, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the senate amendment is agreed to. and without objection, the the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. please take your conversations off the floor. the

the clerk: h.r. 65 , an act to amend title 49, united states code torque authorize appropriations for the federal aviation administration for fiscal years 2011 through 2014, to streamline programs, create efficiencies, reduce waste and improve aviation safety and capacity torque provide stable funding for the national aviation system and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. poe: mr. speaker, religious civil liberty is the bedrock of a free people. but today we face an unprecedented and unconstitutional act of aggression against our religious liberties sponsored by the u.s. ghovement president's health care edict forces catholic organizations to choose between violating their religious faith or not furnishing their employees with health care. no government has the right to cause a person to violate

i want to read this statement -- she wrote america has a flag code that governs the use and care of the united stateslag. following the code preserves the integrity of the nation in mourning distinction and the symbolic value of honor. while whitney houston had a public-inspiring talent she gave up that gift by the conduct of her personal life. she is no way someone worthy of being honored by a "nation in mourning." on the other hand here is governor chris christie. >> because her ultimate depiez, because of her history, of substance abuse that somehow she forfighted that good things that she did in her life, i reject that on a human level. >> clarence? you don't think that the whitney houston's funeral should be another front in the culture book and first of all, the flag is a strong part of american culture. people put more meaning in the flag in this country than most. at the same time, i saw -- i heard a similar argument when elvis died. people said we're going too far to honor a guy that died over drug-related issues. i don't think that should overshadow the good things she did. i think the gove

president barack obama and his team finally released their plan to overhaul the united states corporate tax code. the u.s. currently has one of the highest corporate tax rates in the world at 35%. the obama administration is now proposing to slash that to 28% and to fill the remaining gap which eliminating dozens of tax breaks and loopholes for businesses, especially the oil and gas sector. now, the administration says that will put the u.s. rate on par with rates in other advanced economies, but republicans want to cut even further. presidential hopeful mitt romney has come out with his own corporate tax plan which aims to reduce the rate to 25%. charles, those rates both by obama and mitt romney sound pretty high when you compare it to hong kong's corporate tax rate on profits. there's a flat tax rate of 16.5%. it looks pretty attractive for businesses. then there are certain tax breaks for certain sectors like for shipping and also if you're in the business of reinsurance here in hong kong. how do things look where you are in the u.k.? >> it's a complex picture i think always in terms of corp

united states. it's the uncertainty that's causing them to hold back on investments. one of the big uncertainties is the tax code. >> jean, let's talk about this. you point out the last time the united states embarked on tax reform was 1988? >> '86. >> 25 years ago. the clock actually starts for tax reform today and it's vital that we do something about this. what's your take on the discussion? >> well, you know in, 1986 that's when they passed tax reform. but they actually started the process a few years before that. they dedicated groups at the treasury to come up with different proposals for lawmakers to consider. we haven't done that, so we're not going to see any tax reform this year. we may see a lot of conversations about it. treasury secretary geithner said i'm going t talk with the top tax writers in the house and senate and get this ball rolling. the ball could be rolling for a few years. some people don't expect they'll be reformed before 2014. >> stephen, let me ask you this. why is the tax code so complicated? you've worked in other places, you led the company's practice in china, you've been in oth

the chair appoints, pursuant to section 287-a of title 2 united states code thomas j. wickham jr. as parliamentarian of the house of representatives to succeed john v. sullivan, resigned. the gentleman from california. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, let me first extend congratulations to john sullivan for his extraordinary service to this institution over the last quarter century. we are going to have a chance to talk about one of the florida statest, most incisive minds in this place. the bar is not too high for that, but he's been extraordinary and we also want to congratulate mr. wickham as well, mr. speaker. with that, i rise to say that on the 28th of june 1787 benjamin franklin in the midst of the constitutional convention said that they should call on the assistance of heaven and have a prayer every day as the assembly began. and that's a tradition that continues today and one that has just been utilized by reverend adam mchugh, who is a very, very capable and thoughtful guy who is from upland, california, and he's a prolific writer as well as serving as chaplain at the hospice c

simplify the drafting of section 1752 relating to restricted buildings or grounds of title 18, united states code. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from utah seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that it shall be in order at any time through the legislative day of march 1, 2012, to consider the house resolution, consider in the house, house resolution 562. mr. bishop: the resolution should be considered as read and the previous question should be considered as ordered and the preamble to adoption without intervening motion or demand for division of the question except one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the majority leader and minority leader or their respective designees. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. bishop: mr. speaker, by direction of the committee on rules i call up house resolution 566 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 115, house resolution 566, resolved that at any time after the adoption of this resolution

house of representatives that eliminates every single special interest tax break in the united states code, every break, every exception, every exemption, every favor. that's h.r. 25, the fair tax, mr. speaker. you know about the fair tax. it's the most widely co-sponsored fundamental tax reform proposal in the entire u.s. house of representatives. it's the most widely co-sponsored proposal in the entire united states senate. and it is the only bill in congress that solves every single special interest break. the only one. and it brings american manufacturing jobs back to america. puts the american manufacturing community on a level playing field with our foreign competitors. the only bill in congress that gets that done. mr. speaker, if you want to see more about it, you know you can see it at www.thomas.gov. you can see it at www.fairtax.org. it is h.r. 25 and it will save this american economy. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from the district of columbia seek recognition? ms. norton: to address the house for one minute.

whole house on the state of the union for consideration of the bill h.r. 3813, to amend title 5 united states code, to secure the annuities of federal civilian employees and for other purposes. the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. general debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divide and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on oversight and government reform. after general debate the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. in lieu of the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on oversight and government reform now printed in the bill, an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of title 16 of rules committee print 112-14, shall be considered as adopted in the house and in the committee of the whole. the bill is amend -- the bill as amended shall be considered as the original bill for the purpose of further amendment under the five-minute rule and shall be considered as r

with its space tradition, america did not have different codes for different socioeconomic class is. to be a decent person in the united states was to adhere to the code that applied to all rich and poor alike. if you want to know what that was, go to google books and read stories from their leaders then you can find there and there were used to teach america's children of all socioeconomic class is from the mid 1850's to the early 20th century. in today's new upper class, the code that has taken its place is a set of injunctions to be nice. call with the code of nice children are supposed to share their tollways, not hit each other come to terms, to be nice, but not to be judgmental. that's what i mean by loss of self-confidence. the code of the minorities of was to set the standard the ecumenical niceness explicitly rejects that responsibility. the new upper class still does a good job of practicing the virtues. it hasn't lost self confidence in the right values in the numbers of the new upper class will not preach with the practice. the collapse of the security code come ecumenical niceness is not sturdy also means certain

when scott makes his point about what things are like when the united states in post prosper united states, we talk about overlapping zip codele retreating into the shadows of the personal away so-called undocumented americans do these days, i happen to be a legal if cumin slam documented -- i think i know the document and frankly enjoy living in the shadows as opposed to living in the glare of the irs and all rest of it. i think we will see a great increase in that and you will start to see -- calling from phoenix or tucson -- if you go south of tucson is fascinating. there is a sign -- you see signs saying proceed farther at your own risk on united states interstates the risk the united states no longer runs. you will see that kind of sovereignty moving farther and farther up the country to the southwest. if the dystopian scenario came to pass you would start to see fiscally prudent states like wyoming -- why would they wish to be bankrupt to bailout california or new york or new jersey. the question then becomes will they refuse certain federal fiats and what will the government of the united states do about it? i can't s

united states secret service must therefore rely upon a provision in the district of columbia code whichddresses only minor misdemeanor infractions when someone attempts to or successfully climbs the white house fence or, worse, breaches the white house itself. h.r. 347 remedies this problem. it specifically includes the white house, the vice president's residence and their respective grounds in the definition of restricted buildings and grounds. the bill also clarifies that the penalties in section 1752 of title 18 apply to those who knowingly enter or remain in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do so. current law does not include this important element. the house passed this bill one year ago by a vote of 399-3. earlier this month the senate passed the bill by unanimous consent. the senate also collarified that the revised law applies to individuals the secret service is required to protect by statute or by presidential memorandum. h.r. 347 ensures that the president, the first family, the vice president and others had are protected whether they are in the

votes of the two houses on the amendment of the senate to the bill h.r. 658 to amend title 49, united states code, to authorize appropriations for the federal aviation administration and so forth and for other purposes, having met, have agreed at that the house recede from its disagreement to the amendment of the senate and agree to the same with an amendment and the senate agree to the same, signed by a majority of the conferees on the par of both houses. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will now be up to two and a half hours of debate on the conference report equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. mr. rockefeller: i thank you, mr. president. the problem we face here is that a lot of -- most people are in the air, coming this direction. most will land around 5:00. so senator hutchison and i don't feel any particular pressure. we can talk for long periods of time, talk about other things. mr. president, today we are considering the f.a.a. conference report, which has been the subject of negotiations. i shudder when i say that -- between th

. >> jason, a lot of people have said about the corporate tax code in the united states that there is huge difference between the statutory tax rate, what is on the books and what companies actually pay. i think people would be surprised to know that, for example, the corporate tax revenue that you take in is the lowest it's been in 40 years that the united states corporations pay almost half of what other advanced countries pay. that kind of information is often lost in a political year. when the republicans are talking about us having the highest tax rate in the world i'm wondering if there is a strategy that the administration has to put out regarding the effective--the real tax amount that corporations are paying, and why this is so important. >> yes, one of the things that the report--that the white house and the treasury report put out today tries to do is to layout the rationale why the president is coming at this issue the way easy. it's filled with tables and charts and some of them show exactly what you just said. the united states may have the second highest statutory rate

down manufacturing in the united states and move it overseas. the tax codently allows companies moving operations overseas to deduct their moving smens expenses and reduce their taxes in the united states as a result. it is a direct subsidy to move the job overseas. it is just common sense taxpayers shouldn't be helping companies cover the cost of outsourcing jobs. the president also is taking important steps to encourage in-sourcing, when companies close operations overseas and move jobs back to the united states. specifically, the president is calling for a 20% income tax credit for the expenses of moving operations back into the united states to help companies bring jobs home. he also proposed a new credit for investments that helped finance projects in communities that have suffered a major job loss event, and every one of our states has one. it might be the steel mill in hennepin, illinois, the appliance factory in galesberg, or the farm equipment factory in canton, i will i i will. too many communities have suffered dramatic layoffs when plants have sh

>> news star provides the directories that manage virtually all the area codes, telephone numbers in the united states. these are through long-term contracts with price risers in them. so the company has about 50% of their business that is contractually rising at about 10% a year. on top of that, they have some new areas of growth that are pretty exciting. they made an acquisition last year of a company called targis i.d. that has caller i.d. and customer data, as well as involvement in what some of the viewers may have heard of, a service called ultraviolet. many of the movie studios are behind this ultraviolet service. which you can think of as a digital walker to store-- locker to store data files, and access movies digitally. they are involved in that. and we think that's an exciting area for growth. >> tom: interesting play. 20 seconds left but i want to get to this unique energy play with kirby, kex, a barge operator. transportation for petroleum products instead of the oil or december il itself. >> well, kirby is very interesting play. and they're really benefitting from solid fundamentals in t

united states. so there are numerous provisions in the tax code that have the effect of providing preferential treatments to particular sectors of the economy. do you agree that primary objective of tax reform should be to address these kinds of distortions in tax laws? >> i think tax reform really should have the goal of trying to make our tax system much more progrowth, simpler and fairer. and in 2010, the house as part of the expiring provisions included a provision that is not ultimately inacted that required the joint committee on taxation to look at all the expiring tax provisions and do analysis in terms of the cost benefit analysis who is beneficiaries were. i think it's that type of analysis that really is important in terms of looking at all these provisions that congress has previously enacted. some of them very well maybe worth keeping as part of tax reform. others if a thorough analysis has been done may be outdated and should be limited. >> thank you. >> i agree with tom. i think the fair simpler approach would be the best approach to take. whey hear most companies saying is that they are w

when you take an oath of honor and courage and commitment, you need to stand behind the code of the united states marine corps. and to see him justifying his actions as far as the drug use and the drug dealing, it did bother me. it did bother me. >> in our final interview with carney who served seven months in iraq and was awarded a good conduct medal, he once again spoke more like a marine than a convicted drug dealer and murder suspect. >> since i've been in jail i've been reduced to living out of a paper bag, i've recognized my potential. this has enabled me to recognize my potential. and i believe that sometimes in order to come up strong, you have to be put down as far as you can go. you have to be pushed to the absolute limit that you can be pushed, and to see if that's going to destroy you, or if you're going to rise above that and become better because of it. and that's the true test of a man. >> serving time for drug dealing and facing a murder charge may not be what you would expect for a battle tested marine with a seemingly bright future, but inside the orange county jail, carney wasn

code the way it is. there is not a congressman in this room who if they sat down with a blank sheet of paper today would craft this united states tax code to govern our nation. it's in need of reform. spending restraint, of repairing the safety net entitlement reform and tax reform the president's budget was devoid of any of it. of any. nothing to save medicare for future generations. nothing to protect social security for these generations. nothing to change those safety net programs, mr. speaker, to ensure that they are that hand up instead of that hand out. nothing to build upon our work ethic that we have in this country by re-- by reforming the tax code and bringing businesses back to american shores. i encourage folks to go look at that budget. they can see it, mr. speaker it's www.omb.gov, office of management and budget, the white house website where they can view that budget. i encourage them to tune in to the budget committee, mr. speaker. we are again having hearings on that budget all week and will continue into the future. i encourage folks to look at the process that happens here in this body, mr. speaker where ab

second, there is a deduction in the tax code for manufacturing activity in the united states. the president has proposed expanding that dramatically. that would be incredibly useful to the manufacturing sector, and in some ways, more useful than a corporate tax cut. a corporate tax cut, if you expense it out, a lot of the benefits would go to the financial services sector and not to manufacturing. if you have a specific tax deduction for manufacturing activity, you're going to target that. it's going to be an ensuring incentive and then the president has talked about this for a few years, but it's also eliminating some tfeatures in the tax code that my encourage offshoring and that goes to pay for some of these other benefits, but i think the tax code he's propo proposing would be particularly useful to the sector to grow employment here. >> we'll hear from mitt romney here in a second. but first, ron, you're on with scott paul. good morning. >> caller: good morning. thank you for your time. i heard the president of singapore over the weekend being interviewed, and singapore i

code of conduct. republican party versus white, decided by the united states supreme court, said that judges have first amendment rights, so they can say anything they want. the point is that if a judge says, "i'm going to rule for or against an abortion issue," without hearing the evidence during the course of the campaign, should that judge be disqualified? by virtue of those statements. and also, if a judge is to be reduced, that is the most difficult thing that a trial lawyer ever has to do. i will tell you as a practicing trial lawyer, you will stay up nights and nights and nights before you will ever see to reduce a judge. it is very serious. >> a few people in the audience might be helped if you would define refusal. >> refusal is when you say to a court, "you cannot be fair." this is the person who is going to judge your case and your client's case. you then write a motion that explains why you think this judge cannot be fair. if you do not think that is a tough decision -- it is a tough decision on a lot of bases. your client's affidavits have to be filed. you should never file something like

-- david just to jump off of that very quickly, if you have a tax code that perpetuates this kind of inequality where the united statesalls behind countries like china, and russia, which we are. what is the real effect on our economy? >> when you build up too much income at the top and people can't consume it, you literally destroy capital over time. we don't need -- we don't have any shortage of rich people, and net the republican policy the major problem is the rich doesn't have enough. the problem is the working class doesn't have enough. their jobs have been taken away from them and we need to recognize that inequality begets more inequality and eventual social unrest if we don't get a handle on it. >> as we are seeing with the occupy movement. david jay johnston and charles blow, thank you for joining us. a decision by the susan g. komen association has angered a whole host of people. and how new laws are depriving citizens of their most fundamental right to participate in our democracy. >> you ever wonder what rick santorum wouldldldldldldldldldldldldldldldldldldldldldldldldldldldldld sam adams at the peak of it

inequality in the united states where the sluggish growth in the middle has occured at the same time as very rapid growth for the top 10% and top 1% over time in the united states. and the tax codeas offset part of that, but not much of it. the policy discussion often says, what are we going to do about this rather than other ucation. it will take time to move kids through college, community colleges, it plays out over a law period -- along period of time. with regard to the tax code, it works quickly, but we should not expect it to be a full solution here or anywhere close to a full solution. most of the increase that has occurred has occurred with regard to pretax income. there is no plausible set of changes one can put into play where you can take this chart and offset any significant share of that over time. e tax code can help a bit, but it is not a full solution. we should t hold out false hope that this is going to change instantaneously. what are the implications of all this? there are some implications with regard to differential spending patterns. those of you in retail have undoubtedly noticed that high- end retail has been doing better than mid-tier and a discount re

who your major competitor is and how the current tax code causes you to make decisions based upon investments? starting to my left. >> the united states postal service. they don't pay my tax. ups, their tax profile is very sloor to ours. and we have several international competitors, dhl, at&t and others. as an example, dhl's reported epr's effective tax rate over the last 10 years have hovered around 20%, vis-a-vis our 36%, 37%. that's why i say us paying at what we are right now is a real competitive disadvantage, because they have additional after-tax funds that they can continue to reinvest in their global networks they don't have. >> and they compete with you here and abroad? >> yes, sir. >> our main competitors are at&t and verizon, as well as the satellite companies, directv and dish. and obviously we compete globally in the capital markets for investments. and farce the impact on the communications industry, i think verizon and at&t are much more similar to us than maybe even the satellite companies, although the difference is that large. we're all capital intensive companies. for us, tax reform is more about getting the econo