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

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,

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

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 every year. >> well, i understand that. and my time is limited so let me just s

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 have voted over 200 times to undermine pr

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

john waxman is so cool he's been called the eric clapton of chefs.re for the ultimate dish. great to have you with us, chef. good morning. >> great to be here. >> tell me about it. >> this is a thing to do at home. my kids love this. marinade with soy sauce, chilies and lime. marinading an hour before hand and throw it on the barbecue. it takes on a whole new development of flavors. soy adds saltiness and texture but helps to caramelize the meat a little. >> it's delicious. >> i know folks taking notes. what is the one tip for making a perfect taco? >> it's a combination of flavors, here you have guacamole. i like it chunkky. i made pineapple salsa. it's wonderful riff on fresh salsa but i cooked it with ginger. it has hick a little little jic >> and i make this with brussels sprouts. change it to an edible dish. save it, slice it, however you want to do it. toss with spicy almonds, cheese and lemon. that's it. and at last, there's these little beans, these are dried fava beans. when i was first going to italy. i love these beans, they cooked them in

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

waxman why not make it a federal contract, rather -- >> why not make it a three-year contract, then another? instead of may 3, 1, 1? >> we could do that, but that is a lot more paper to continue. three, plus the possibility of one ioneand one, you just have o do those annual renewals, which i agree keeps people on their toes. to set a three-year contract, you have to go out into a process at the end. this gives you the option of doing that or not. >> i would move to amend this resolution for any term. i do not know what the language is other than a five-year term. >> second. >> on the amendment, and the discussion, commissioners? all of those in favor? a >> ye. -- >> aye. >> on the item as amended? >> so moved. >> seconded. >> any additional comments? any public comments? seeing no one, all of those in favor? ay >> e. -- >> aye. that concludes the consent calendar. madam secretary, if you would call item 10? -- 9? >> item #9. discussion and possible action to authorize the general manager of the san francisco public utilities commission to seek board of supervisors approval and execute on b

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

both sides of the aisle and both sides of the capitol from jay rockefeller to joe biden, mary, henry waxman and back to john kerry. so many have demonstrated they understand how important it is that consumers' personal data be treated with care and respect. now, protecting privacy online and off is a central part of the ftc's mission. we have gone after dozens of

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

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

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

. >> reporter: democratic congressman henry waxman says expanding off-shore drilling is not the answer. >> now the republican mantra is that we need to drill, baby, drill. this slogan may sound good but it's based on a complete fiction. we're drilling more but prices are still going up. >> reporter: president obama says domestic oil and gas production is the highest it's been in nine years. he also announced a clean energy plan this week in north carolina. >> the cities and towns across the country, what we're going to say is, if you make a commitment to buy more advanced vehicles for your community, whether they run on electricity or biofuels or natural gas, we'll help you cut through the red tape and build fueling stations nearby. >> according to aaa in maryland drivers are paying around $3.71 for a gallon of regular unleaded, $3.86 for mid-grade and $3.98 for premium. we're trying to help you save money at the pump. head to abc2news.com to find the lowest gas prices in your area. click on the traffic, then gas prices tab. >>> severe weather in tropical paradise. why the governor dec

but there we had a very bipartisan view, it was joe barton, it was henry waxman, it was barney frank, who was your college classmate and backus, everyone agrees that we should keep our jurisdiction because we did a really good job and because there was uncertainty very, very early on. so -- >> you were very diplomatic and i understand where you're coming from and i have very little to add to what the chairman has said, except the following. first of all, with respect to the people who have gone over there, peggy toolly, who brought our principal pre2008 case that yielded consumers millions and millions of dollars went over to head up the cfpb's new nonrank financial protection program. second, i would point out, that the cfpb has exclusive jurisdiction over rule making, over fair debt collection practices. and it may make a rule which is broader than the one that we enforce under the fair debt collection practices act. we don't know. at the present time. the chairman is correct about that. but from my standpoint, it's folly, in this limbo state that the cfpb is in, comment that we kno

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

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

. >> henry waxman says expanding offshore drilling is not the answer. >> the republican mantra is we baby, a drill. this may sound good, but it is based on a complete fiction. prices are still going up. >> brother that obama says domestic oil and gas production is the highest it has been in nine years. he also announced a clean energy plan this week in north carolina. >> what we are going to say is if you make a commitment to buy more advanced vehicles for your community, whether they run on electricity, biofuels, or natural -- natural gas, we will help you cut through the red tape and build filling stations nearby. >> after months of anticipation, apple finally unveiled the new version of the ipad. >> instead of being called the ipad3 or ipad hd, it is called the ipad. it will be a little thicker and heavier than the ipad2. the new ipad will cost the same. it stores in little over a week on march 16. the new ipad is also this week's facebook giveaway. go to w.j. 8 wjla.com/facebook. we will announce the winner tomorrow. >> are your kitchen appliances safe? a new report says consumer

facts, but they refused to come forward and talk to us, just like they refused to go in front of waxman'smittee. they claim that americans for prosperity is a grassroots organization, and when the obama folks said prove it they refused to do that. they say one thing, and use all of their money and lawyers to stay in the shadows, and our job and the jobs of the tens of thousands of people on facebook page the people who are going to do screenings and house parties with the koch film the organizations working with green peace and campaign for america's future our job is to put a light on the shadows, and say yes it's free speech here is what they are doing, here is who is paying for it and here is where you need to do. >> where do we go in >> kochbothers.com is the webpage. but most importantly is working with what we hope will be 50 organizations helping to spread the word. have a house party, give it to church or school or labor union, because we're up against a large operation and we need to fight back. >> right. well thank you very much for joining us. i really appreciate it and the wor

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

secretary himself countered henry waxman's statement that supply does matter. we should be doing everything we can to unleash the energy potential here at home. my issue with the administration's energy policy they are hostile to fossil fuels. any reasonable individual will tell you, we're going to be a fossil fuel economy for some time to come. if that is the case, we explore and extract the energy, oil and gas from the ground. >> bret: they say production has gone up? >> i think production has gone up on private land. i would posit that is due to the policies that have been put into place prior to this administration because when this administration has come in, you can look at the difficulties that i have been hearing that have occurred in terms of permitting. on the public lands or spaces we in virginia are one of the only states on the east coast that has said we want to see deep sea drilling. administration is standing in wait and won't do it. >> bret: turning to politics. there are a number of primaries that are going to be tough because of redistricting

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

ranking officials who were asked specifically about what they did in their official conduct by the waxmanman. bill: kevin o'reilly, right? he's doing work in iraq at the moment. >> we have asked for a telephonic interview. we really want to get a characterization on the record of what might have been a relatively benign core respond dance. bu core correspondense. the inspector general isn't looking at any type of this material and is getting full cooperation from the administration. bill: where will this lead do you believe. >> we want to know who authorized this prapbl at the political level, who knew about it. as you know eric holder has said he didn't know about it at all and he's not held any of his high ranking political appointees accountable for it. brian terry's family is still not getting answers or prosecutions on those who brought about the death of their son or brother. bill: this is what the white house is saying. white house counsel is reviewing the letter and will respond as appropriate. broadly speaking while some personnel in the white house were made aware of atf's effor

that was "pumped up kicks frgs why sharon waxman's picks, from therap.com. begin with rosie o'donnell, sounds like absolute chaos and it ended with her show over about six months roughly being canned. >> yes, but i think the bigger problem is, did anybody in america really know that rosie o'donnell had a show on the air in. >> no. >> not very many people were watching it. >> so is that a rosie o'donnell problem or an own problem? >> it's an own problem. oprah's network has had nothing but problem after problem since it launched and it's been less than a year and oprah has put her brand all over this, taken over the company, she's become the ceo of this thing and she's on the air and programming and people are not watching this network. this is a big problem. >> so you think that the rosie o'donnell debacle -- it started off as an audience based show and got great kudos for the programming of that particular show, even if it didn't have a lot of viewers. >> the issue first of all, it doesn't really matter about the programming if it gets great critical respon

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

it was joe barton, henry waxman, barney frank who was your college classmate and congressman baucus. everyone agreed that we should keep our jurisdiction because we did a really good job and because the uncertainty there was uncertainty particularly very early on. >> you were very diplomat and i understand where you're coming from. and i have very little to add to what the chairman has said except the following. first of all, with respect to the people who have gone over there, who brought our principal pre-2008 case that yielded consumers millions and millions of dollars went over to head up the cfpbs knew financial protection program. second, i would point out that the cfpb has exclusive jurisdiction over rule making, over fair debt collection practices. and it may make a rule which is broader than the one that we enforce under the fair debt collection practices act. we don't know. at the present time. the chairman is correct about that. but from my standpoint, it's folly in this limbo state that the cfpb is in except we know that it's got a lot of our people doing nonbank work and

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

we worked with a number of members of congress, people like rosa delauro, henry waxman, john dingell in the house. we worked with dick durbin, tom harkin. these are senators. we have worked with so many really caring and wonderful members of congress who wanted to put food safety at the front of the congressional agenda, and even so it took a decade. so i share your frustration, but i also know that there are lots of important things happening here. during that time there was a major oil spill in the gulf coast that delayed things. there were also -- it was during that time we went to katrina. so a lot of times things can happen that really get in the way of people's best intentions. but i share your frustration and that's why i think many of us are here in washington working every day to ensure that the best policies do advance. host: we have time for one more call. house coming in just a few minutes. golds borrow, north carolina, george, on our independent line, go ahead. caller: i work on a turkey factory farm for a short period of time. if people knew how the birds were treated.

we worked with a number of members of congress, people like rosa delauro, henry waxman, john dingell in the house, and big durbin, tom harkin -- dick durbin, tom harkin -- these are senators. we work with so many wonderful, caring members of congress who wanted to put food safety at the front of the congressional agenda. and even so, it took a decade. i share your frustration, but i also know there are also lots of important things happening here. during that time there was a major oil spill in the gulf coast that delayed things. there were also -- it was during that time that we went through katrina. a lot of times and things can happen that get in the way of people's best intentions. but i share your frustration, and that is why many of us are here in washington working every day to ensure that the best policies do advance. host: we have time for one more call. house coming in in just a few minutes. george, independent line. caller: i worked on a turkey farm one time and i cannot take a break if only people knew how those words were treated. there are so much hormones pumped into t

meanwhile, under the leadership of waxman on the other side, they say look, the problem here, speculators plus we need to plug in more cars. >> i've been schooled on this a little bit. the speculators are betting that the price of oil goes up. if you start drilling all around the country and have a massive program, speculators who don't like losing money will then speculate maybe that's not a good bet to bet on it going up and it could bill on itself. >> let's talk a little bit about this. david axelrod, a former advisor to president obama is slamming now mitt romney for rush limbaugh's comments last week about that college student and contraception. well, now, that same guy, david axelrod planning to go on the bill maher show and if you go back and look at some of the old videotape, you'll see that bill maher has had a few nasty words about women as well. so is there a double standard here? >> not only women. sarah palin especially. that stands out. i can't use the terms that he used because he's on hbo and he says who cares, i don't have sponsors. i'm a comedian. it's ok for david axelr

most of the bills that were introduced starting way back in 2003 and ending up with the waxman-markey bill that was a couple of years ago, these were bills that would regulate emitters that emitted over 100,000 tons a year. however, if you do it through regulation, it has to be under the clean air act, and the clean air act specifically says not those entities that emit 100,000 tons a year, but those who emit 250 tons or more. mr. president, that would be every church, every school, every hospital in america. and so that cost, we can't even approximate what that would cost. and that's what doing cap and trade by regulation would do. so simply put, my third and my last amendment would be to do here what they've already done in the house of representatives, and that is to take away the jurisdiction from the environmental protection agency, directly relates to the price of gas at the pumps. you take these amendments, and if the menendez bill should get through with these three amendments we can totally stop the increase of gas at the pumps because that's what we're going to be faced with

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

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