Transcripts For CSPAN House Session 20150226

The speaker pro tempore on this vote, the yeas are 234 and the nays are 177. The previous question is ordered. The question is on the adoption of the resolution. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. Mr. Polis mr. Speaker, i request a recorded vote the speaker pro tempore a recorded vote is requested. Those in favor of taking this vote will stand and be counted. A sufficient number having arisen, yeas and nays are ordered members will record their votes by electronic deve. This will be a fiveminute vote. National captioning institute inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of of of representatives the speaker pro tempore on this vote, the yeas are 234 and the nays are 184. The resolution is agreed to. Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. Pursuant to clause 8, rule 20, the Unfinished Business is the question on agreeing to the speakers approval of the journal, which the chair will put de novo. The question is are 18 on agreeing to the speakers approval of the journal. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the yeas have it. For what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition . On that, i ask a recorded vote. The speaker pro tempore a recorded vote is requested. Those favoring a recorded vote will rise. A sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. Members will record their votes by Electronic Device. This is a fiveminute vote. Recorded vote is national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of theou prngpotil commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House representatives. The speaker pro tempore on this vote, the yeas are 246. The nays are 168. With one answering present. The journal stands approved. Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that it may be in order at any time on tuesday, march 3 2015, for the speaker to declare recess subject to the call of the chair for the purpose of receiving in joint meeting his excellencecy Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu. The speaker pro tempore without objection. For what purpose does the gentlelady from texas seek recognition . Will the gentlelady suspend. The house will be in order. Please remove your conversations from the house floor. The gentlelady from texas will commence. Ms. Jackson lee thank you very much. I was unavoidably detained by a meeting with Law Enforcement officers from across the nation so i missed roll call vote number 91 on the question of consideration of the resolution involving funding of d. H. S. If i had been present i would have voted no. I ask unanimous consent for this to be placed appropriately in the record. The speaker pro tempore without objection the gentleladys statement will appear in the record. Ms. Jackson lee thank you. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to House Resolution 125 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of h. R. 5. Will the gentleman from tennessee, mr. Duncan kindly take the chair. The chair the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the further consideration of h. R. 5 which the clerk will report by title. The clerk a bill to support state and local accountability for Public Education, protect state and local authority inform parents as to the performance of their childrens schools and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore when the committee of the whole rose on february 5 2015, all time for general debate pursuant to House Resolution 121 had expired. Pusuant to House Resolution 125 no further general debate shall be in order. In lufe the amendment in the nampe of a substitute recommended by the committee on education and the work force printed in the bill, an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of rule committees print 1148, modified by the amendment printed in part a of house report 11429 is adopted. The bill as amended shall be considered as the original bill for the purpose of further amendment under the fiveminute rule and shall be considered as read. No further amendment to the bill as amended shall be in order except those printed in part b of house report 11429. Each such further amendment shall be considered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a member designated in the report, shall be considered as read shall be debatable for the time specified in the report, equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, may be withdrawn by its proponent at any time before action thereon, shall not be subject to amendment and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the committee. It is now in order to consider amendment number 1 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts seek recognition . Mr. Kennedy mr. Speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number one printed in part b of house report 11429, offered by mr. Kennedy of massachusetts. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. Kennedy, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts. Mr. Kennedy mr. Speaker, if i could ask the house to come to order please. The chair the committee will be in order. The gentleman may proceed. Mr. Kennedy thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to offer an amendment rooted in the values t kn wals. We madigr o etlanayarus aspectsf federal policy in k12 education there are important areas where we can in fact find Common Ground. We all believe that our children deserve an education that prepared him or her to succeed in a modern economy. We all know that far too many children dont get that chance today. Particularly children in minority and high poverty schools. We all know that over the next 10 years, jobs in stem fields science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, are expected to grow at almost twice the rate of jobs in other field. Today in masshu m speake todainaschet, se mp for hispicesen60 hr or w neighboranov 110 higher for africanamericans. Even more alarm, the poverty rate for black families in massachusetts is 144 higher than their white neighbors and 273 higher for hispanics. Shockingly, those numbers are actually better than far more states across the country. While our economy is improving, that gap is a dangerous economic undercurrent that left unaddressed will affect us all. For an increasingly globalized and competitive economy, we need to ensure we are tapping all the talent and potential we have here in america in order to succeed. Title 1 funds are some of the best resources that the federal government has to make sure that every child in every school has a fair chance at the starting line, delivering muchneeded assistance to schools that disproportionately serve minority and low income communities. But this bill in its current form would jeopardize the already inadequate resources so many schools depend on. The democratic substitute is is a better path. We protect those tite 18 he sources and allow them to serve their original civil rights purpose, to ensure that each of our students has an equal chance to succeed. I join my democratic colleagues in wishing that we were not considering a bill today that would con sol tate title 1 funds and undermine their historic role, but the amendment i offer today says that even if we are going to be linin wld wirod cuts and block grants, Stem Education and Economic Justice are still priorities we must elevate. My amendment would simply allow but would not require, states to use their flexible title 1 funding for grants that support the success of women, minorities, and lowincome students in stem. Too often, mr. Speaker, the resources our teachers need to prepare their students for jobs today and form are limited by zip code, gender and race. That make this is far more than an economic issue. Its a civil rights issue. It will define our society for generations to come. I know that we all support equal access to the jobs in a modern economy. Thats why we must pass this amendment, increase the reach of Stem Education to communities that need it most and ensure that a students potential isnt limited by the street he or she grows up on. With that i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from massachusetts reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota seek recognition . Mr. Kline thank you, mr. Chairman. I claim time in opposition. The chair the gentleman is oppod t andnt mr. Kli . The chair the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Kline i thank my colleague for offering this amendment even though i am opposed to it. The federal government has taken a very active role in improving Stem Education. In fact a count i took a couple of years ago, there were over 200 stem programs but our multibillion dollar investment is failing to produce strong result, not because of lack of funngutecsef o ch burecr let sthwi meyt w progranddd states a lalic flliinn programshaprmo effntndff r ineaof washingtons priorities. I agree with the importance of this issue for the future of our skilled work force but i have coer tt itrodus anoth fl program. For these reasons i oppose the amendment but rnl my colleagues to support the bill. I reserve. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. Mr. Kennedy thank you, mr. Speaker. May i inquire the time i have remaining. The chair the gentleman from massachusetts has 1 1 2 minutes remaining. Mr. Kennedy i yield one minute to my colleague from connecticut. The chair the gentlewoman from connecticut is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today in support of this commonsense amendment and want to thank my good friend, congressman kennedy for his leadership on this issue. Ms. Esty this amendment supports equal opportunities for all of our children. Many of the goodpaying jobs of the future will require stem skills and we as a country must do better to ensure that all children, no matter who they are or where they live, receive quality math and science education. For far too long efforts to expand Stem Education have left girls and children of color behind. As wages remain flat and income inequality only deepens across our country ensuring access to quality Stem Education for every child is not just a moral imperative it is an economic necessity. Our children deserve these opportunities and our Companies Need diverse vibrant, diverse students in their work force. So again, i want to thank congressman kennedy for offering todays amendment and i urge my colleagues to support it. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. The gentleman from minnesota the gentleman from minnesota continues to reserve his time. The gentleman from massachusetts has 30 seconds remaining. Mr. Kennedy im prepared to close. The chair the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for the remainder of his time. Mr. Kennedy i appreciate the words of my colleague in recognition of the importance of this issue. I would like to point out that this amendment does not require anything, it solely allows for Stem Education to be highlighted and stem programs, particularly important, i believe, at a time when hispanics and africanamericans combined make up 13 of our stem work force and women only make up 26 of our stem work force. This is an imperative, its a priority for our country, if we are truly going to recognize the talent and potential of every american. With that, mr. Chairman, i yield back. The chair the gentleman from massachusetts yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from minnesota mr. Kline under the underlying bill there is an allowable use. If the school wants to spend money on Stem Education, they certainly may and i think thats the right way to approach this. I oppose the gentlemans amendment and support the underlying bill and i yield back. The chair the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from massachusetts. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the noes have it and the amendment is not agreed to. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from massachusetts will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 2 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does does the gentleman from wisconsin seek recognition . I have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 2 printed in house report of 114 129. The chair the gentleman from wisconsin and a member opposed each will control five minutes, the chair recognizes the gentleman from wisconsin. Growth growth there were a ogtggg treeropse each a problems mr. Grothman this is a simple amendment and shrinking the time that this is being revisited, from 2021 back to 2018. One of the reasons why i think our forefathers dont want the federal government involved is we move so slowly. My local superintendent can change policy daily. My lool School Boards meet every other week. My state superintendent can change rules every few months. We knew there were big problems in no child left behind back in 2002 or 2003. 11, 12 13 years later, after the problems were very apparent, we still have not amended that bill, which is why this is a good amendment right now. As hard work done on this bill is we know people will say i wish we would have done that or something else. I dont think its too much to ask that we revisit this legislation three years from now, well after our local School Boards or after our state legislators vote on it many many times. I reserve the remainder of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves. Mr. Scott mr. Chairman, i ask unanimous consent to seek time in opposition, although im not opposed to the amendment. The chair without objection so ordered. Mr. Scott i yield myself such time as i may consume. 50 years ago, we passed the elementary and secondary education act recognizing that a childs future opportunities are primarily established by virtue of their education. We know that there is inequality in education, primarily because we fund it typically by the real estate tax. We fund it politically and those in lowincome areas tend to get the shortened of the stick. Thats why we passed the elementary and secondary act. The underlying bill takes all that good work and goes backwards. They cap the funding. We take the money from the lowincome areas and give it to the wealthy areas. We eliminate the focus on English Learners and disabled. The bill goes in the wrong direction. By shortening the authorization of the life of this bill under h. R. 5, the gentlemans amendment will force us to reauthorize it and reconsider it in a shorter period of time. If its a bad bill, i think its a good thing. Its my firm belief this the implementation of this bill will yield dangerous results. The gentleman and i are in agreement that we ought to revisit it as soon as possible and thats why im not in opposition to the amendment and reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman rvethbancofis time. The gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. Mr. Grothman i yield time to the gentleman from minnesota. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Kline i understand the gentlemans concerns but i must oppose the amendment. I believe its important to ensure our strong prohibitions and limited federal law and maintain into years for the future. Our School Boards, superintendents and educators need to have some consistency and not be worried about things that are going to change in a year or two or three. These prohibitions in the bill are important to correct the course of the federal government and ensure the secretary of education cannot exercise any control over state and local jurisdictions and that cannot be a shortterm fix. For that reason, i oppose the gentlemans amendment and i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition . Mr. Scott i yield to the the gentleman from colorado. The chair the gentleman from colorado is recognized. Mr. Polis believe or not there is something worse than no child left behind and something worse than this bill and that is constantly moving the ball federally, which unfortunately this amendment would entail. One of the biggest concerns from educators, from School Boards, from state boards of education is, we need time to implement whatever the heck you do in washington, good, bad or int to keep thllovg conyil d trying toll fill out new forms, trying to figure out new testing regimes and just as they figure them out we are going to move the ball again. Whatever the federal education policy is, its very important to have some consistency. We have had no child left behind for 15 years and should have replaced it earlier. It wasnt in 2002 or 2003 but might have been when it expired in 2010. Now we are on overtime, but the answer is not to take it back before we even know whether a federal education policy is working before it expires only to be replaced by a new congress with a different law requiring a totally different change of direction by educators, principals, School Boards and state boards of education. For these reasons i encourage my colleagues to oppose this amendment and i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. The gentleman from wisconsin has three minutes remaining. Mr. Grothman im prepared to close, then. The speaker pro tempore does the gentleman from virginia have any additional speakers . Mr. Scott i dont have any additional speakers but i have the right to close. The chair the gentleman from wisconsin has the right to close. Mr. Scott parliamentary inquiry. Mr. Scott if ours is the position that the underlying bill and they are amending it, who has the right to close . The chair member of the committee rising in true opposition has the right to close. Mr. Scott i yield back. The chair the gentleman from wisconsin is recognized. Mr. Grothman ill close then. Just one more time to emphasize on this amendment. It is my experience in many, many years dealing with local superintendents local School Boards, very rarely are they appreciatetive of people on other levels of government without that expertise in education telling them what to do ok . Right now i live in the came bells campbells School District and they are not appreciative when the u. S. Congress tells them how to run their schools. Im going to vote for this bill. If i talk to my local School Boards six months from now, a year from now, they will be grateful that this bill passed, but they would like more freedom. And i do think that the local School Boards are closer to the parents and closer to the children and will do a better job of managing those schools than we will. And that is why i have introduced this amendment. I mean maybe three years from now we will go back home and theyll say, my goodness i wish you would have prescribed more. Thats not going to happen. Three years from today the local School Districts are going to one more time going to say, hey, back in 2015 when you passed this bill, im glad you passed that bill but still give us more freedom. The chair the gentleman from wisconsin yields back. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from wisconsin. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the noes have it and the amendment is not agreed to. Mr. Grothman i ask for roll call. The chair pursuant to clause 6 rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from wisconsin will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number three printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition . I have an amendment at the desk. The clerk amendment number three printed in part b of house report 11429 offered by mr. Meeks of new york. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125 the gentleman from new york, mr. Meeks, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from new york. Mr. Meeks thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Meeks h. R. 5 perpetrates the same serious flaw with the accountability systems as in no child left behind which deters high quality teachers joining lowincome school. The current accountability system discourages quality teachers from joining lowperforming schools because they are warned if their students are not consider prove prisht, they will suffer the consequences. And then achieves a sixth grade level by the end of the school year, that student will not be deemed prove efficient and the teacher and the school will be negatively impacted. My amendment requires they measure growth as a crucial component within the accountability system established by the states. It would leave it to the states to decide their own measurement of growth so they can measure the individual Students Learning progress and not give an entire school one score based on the amount of the students who are deemed pro efficient in a particular subject. I believe high quality teachers would join schools composed of students not meeting standards. My amendment opposes the fundamental principle to encourage equality in the provisions of education regardless of social and economic status or demographics of the student behind the desk. I reserve. The chair the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota seek recognition . Mr. Kline i claim time in opposition to the gentlemans amendment and i do oppose. The chair the gentleman is recognized is recognized to claim the time in opposition and recognized for five minutes. Mr. Kline i thank the gentleman for this amendment, although i do oppose it. This amendment would require that annual statewide assessments measure student growth and include such growth in that states accountability system. Under the student students access act, states are allowed to inclued measures if the state chooses, adding a federal mandate is contrary to this bills purpose of returning control to the hands of state and local education leaders. Therefore, i urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment. And i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from minnesota reserves. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks i yield one minute to the gentlelady from california oregon. Ms. Bonamici under no child left behind schools were punished if students didnt reach a static proficiency target, it didnt matter how many gains they made or how close they were to reaching uh proficiency. The system unno child left behind was unworkable and damaging. This system should recognize the gains made each year and provide incentive for schools to provide differentiated teaching for students. Its anytime to replace the no child left behind accountability systems that label schools as failing even when students make tremendous growth this amendment is an important step in the right direction and i urge my colleagues to support this amendment. Thank you, mr. Chairman, i yield back. The chair the gentlewoman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from the gentleman from minnesota continues to reserve. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks i yield one minute to the gentleman from colorado, mr. Polis. The chair the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Polis i want to thank mr. Meeks for bringing forward th impta andnthacu t the ar one of the most important changes from no child left behind. As you know, no child left behind had a concept called adequateeay ogss a bit osnect was anytngutroes i w apiurofhe studr with this new bill, the goal is to look at student growth. Unfortunately, the republican bill, absent the meeks amendment, leaves student grth t the core p of federal education policy from both a civil rights perspective and an education perspective should be to goal is to look ensure that every child in our country, that there is accountability for the academic growth of that child each year. Thats the key tenet of accountability and transparency that this ealt would restore to the underlying billism strongly believe if we can pass this amendment, it would remedy one of the major inequities and setbacks in this bill. At least no child left behind has universal goals even if the goals were off the mark. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from minnesota continues to reserve. The gentleman from new york is recognized. Mr. Meeks how much time do i have left . The chair the gentleman has 1 1 2 minutes remaining. Mr. Meeks i yield one minute to the gentleman, mr. Scott. The chair the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Scott thank you, mr. Chairman. I think the case has been made for the growth model as opposed to the static model. Its much fairer, gives credit where credit is due, as the gentleman from new york has said. Some teachers produce two and three years growth in one year but because a student was so far behind, theres still not theyre still not on the static test up to par and on the a. Y. P. Standard, that school is a Failing School although they did tremendous work. The reason this needs to be required is these assessments are a little more expensive. If you dont require it they wont get done. These are the better assessments and should be part of the legislation. I thank the gentleman for introducing his amendment and i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from minnesota continues to reserve. The gentleman from new york. Mr. Meeks thank you mr. Chairman. This is an issue i believe needs to be addressed. I would hope that this amendment would be included in a larger bipartisan reauthorization of esca and i withdraw this the i withdraw the amendment at this time. The chair the gentleman from new york has withdrawn his amendment. It is now in order to consider amendment number 4 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from michigan seek recognition . Ms. Lawrence i rise to speak today the chair does the gentlelady have an amendment. Ms. Lawrence yes, i do the chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 4 printed in house report 11429, offered by ms. Lawrence of michigan. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentlewoman from michigan, ms. Lawrence, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentlelady from michigan for five minutes. Ms. Lawrence mr. Speaker today i rise to speak in support of amendment number 44, it is require it requires that the secretary of education disapprove my state plan that fails to, in con sull in consults with state and local agencies, to demonstrate last a separate reporting of academic assessments for foster y. El scbeeqre the seety eon repacem assessments for foster children. Victor hugo said, he who opens a school door closes a prison. I believe this statement is particularly true for children living in poverty those who are homeless and those in the foster care system. Many students are blessed to have parents that can be advocates for them in and out of school. They have parents that know their childrens attend p. T. A. Meetings and even testify at school board hearings. However, too many young people are not that lucky. One in 45 children experience homelessness in america each year. Children experiencing homelessness are four times more likely to show delayed development and twice as likely to have learning disabilities. Many of these children are under the care of the state through our foster care system. There are approximately 402 children 402 402 children in foster care in the United States. In michigan alone approximately 13,000 children are in foster care on any given day. On average. Children remain in state care for nearly two years and 8 of children in foster care have been there r rehafo o fiay on ara. Ar the ethnic breakdown is even more devastating at 24 of those in foster care are africanamerican. Double the percentage of africanAmerican Children in the entire United States popat in foster care e 13 more than 23000 young people aged out of foster care without permanent families. In fact, research has shown that those who leave care without being linked to permanent families are likely to experience homelessness unemployment, and incarceration as adults. The state has a vested interest in this next generation of americans who face height and emotional behavior and academic challenges. Amendment 44 simply further requires that data that is already collected and is included, that this data thats generated, would allow the state to track the achievement or failure of students who are in foster care on their academic assessment. Act semi academic assessment results are already gathered within each state and l. E. A. By gender racial ethnic, English Proficiency and students with disabilities and students with an active duty military parent. This only seeks to ensure that foster youth are also monitored and reported on so that the state can take corrective action as needed. Mr. Chairman, i yield back my time. The chair the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. The gentleman from minnesota is recognized. Mr. Clipe thank you, mr. Chairman i claim time in opposition although im not opposed to the amendment. The chair without objection the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Kline thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank the gentlewoman for this amendment. Foster children are a vulnerable population of students that face many disruptions in their lives. Unun in their lives. Unfortunately, it also sometimes disrupts their else this amendment will allow states an schools to see how their foster children are doing in addition to other subgroups of students and then better address their unique needs to improve their education. Again, i thank the gentlewoman for the amendment, i urge my colleagues to support the amendment and i yield back. The chair the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from michigan. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 5 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition . Mr. Goodlatte i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk wl desigheme. The clerk amendment number 5 printed in house report 11429 offered by mr. Goodlatte of virginia. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentleman from virginia, mr. Goodlatte and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia. Mr. Goodlatte thank you i yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Goodlatte like many members of congress i continually hear from folk in my district about the need for more local control of education. Mandates from washington do not always translate well to the school bordes, administrators and teachers who are closest to our nations students and are ultimately responsible for providing education in our schools. While the underlying bill provides bep fits to states and locality the Additional Needs especially in regards to testing, has come to my atexas. The amendment iffer offered would provide this flexibility to localities by giving state nuss authority to allow local educational agencies to administer their own locally designed academic assessment system in place of the state designed academic system. Whiheamreiren a laid o b aisr eiunrlng bill for state designed academic assessments would also apply to local academic assessment, would provide an opportunity for designed academic localities to make their own states if they determine their state test does not immediate the schools needs. They also have to have the approval of the state to do this. This can only benefit our schools as they seek to provide quality education in a transparent manner. I urge my colleagues to support this bill and urge my colleagues to support this amendment and reserve my time. The chair this for what purpose does the gentleman rise . Iisinppitn t amendnt chr hnem oeae to srt recnid r ve minutes. Mr. Chairman, this will just add confusion to an already difficult situation, to have each locality set its own assessments means that all assessments will be different. Mr. Scott what happens in one city is going to be differe frootr tyif sde in onemo a city,llf suenth be more intelligent . No, they just did better on a different assessment. Mr. Chairman, we have in our democratic substitute and an amendment coming up the idea that assessments should be as accurate as possible and we should have as few assessments as possible. One of the things people keep talking about is a multiple tests and burden of these tests. We can do better but allowing each locality to come up with its own homebaked assessment will lead to confusion and something nobody will understand. You dont know if a student in one city is doing as well as one in another city because you cant compare results. I reserve the plans of my time. The chair the gentleman from virginia, mr. Scott, reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from virginia, mr. Goodlatte is recognized. Mr. Goodlatte i yield myself such time as i may consume. Mr. Goodlatte i wreeled myself such time as i yield myself such time as i may consume. The state or locality could exercise that authority ongoing and practically speaking, if a School District in virginia felt the standards of learn wrg not suitable for their needs, they would have the opportunity to create and administer their own Rockingham County assessment test. But since the state is ultimately responsible for this and has this will occur in limited circumstances because the state still has the ultimate power and responsibility. The same requirements as laid out by the underlying bill for statedesigned academic assessments would apply to locally designed academic assessments. Reading and math in grades three through eight and once in high school and in science once in elementary, middle and high schools. Reasonable adaptations and accommodations for students with disabilities inclusion of English Learners and so on. This will encourage creativity and innovation that may help to better inform how we do this testing process. Lets open this up to more ideas from more communities and i think this will be very well received by School Systems around the country and by the states for that matter. The amendment will not decrease transparency, parents and the community will still have access to the information they need about their schools. Under my amendment any locally derived assessment would be required to provide data thats comparable among all local education agencies in the state. Chairman alexander of the Senate Health committee released a discussion draft of his esca discussion bill in january and it includes a similar provision to this amendment. I appreciate the chairman and the members of his staff working with me and my staff on this amendment and i again urge my colleagues to support the amendment. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition . Mr. Scott i yield oneine to the gentleman from colorado. The chair the gentleman from colorado is recognized for one minute. Mr. Polis thank you, mr. Speaker. This unfortunate amendment, which enjoys the opposition of both the chamberf mmce as e vil tsnd mr. Pol ha dtyomni, uld effectively gut the transparency and accountability that we currently have around performance and growth and Public Schools. Its absolutely critical to have a common measuring stick to understand how all students are doing. Allowing districts to create and measure success by their own standards effectively encourages dumbing down standards and disguises the persistence of learning gaps acroucounie accounbity provides important informatn to help educators benchmark student performance, relevant to students is statewide, not just students in their school or district. The learning that we have for making sure that we can compare our students from across the state is absolutely critical in creating a high performance, quality Public Education system. This amendment proposes to give additional flexibility it actually provides additional disguises and sub ter fuse which is why its opposed by both the Business Community and the civil rights community. Its really important that we maintain our commitment to transparency and accountability and that we know what our that we know what performance standards were measuring our students against. I encourage my colleagues to poe pose this amendment and i to oppose this amendment and i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from virginia. Mr. Scott mr. Chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Scott mr. Chairman, i just wanted to read parts of a letter from the Leadership Council on rights. It says locally developed aelse isments will undermine one of the most central tenants of state and local efforts to raise achievements for all students, the ability to have can comparable data and as a result know how all students in all schools and communities fair on a common, objective measure of achievement. Statewide assessments serve as a check to ensure that to ensure the students who are the focus of the federal law, lowincome students, students of color, students with disabilities and English Learners, are not being subject to lower expectations than their peers. It provides parents, communities and advocates with critical information about how well different schools and districts are serving different students, a crucial tool for monitoring and ensuring the protection of civil rights. Local assessment would not allow for these same comparisons. Mr. Chairman, for those reasons i would oppose this amendment and reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from virginia is recognized. Mr. Goodlatte im the only speaker. I would urge my colleagues to support the amendment for the reasons ive already elaborated. Its important to give states and localovtsnd scho dns more flexibility. I urge my colleagues to support the amendment and yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time the gentleman from virginia. Mr. Scott mr. Speaker, i would hope that we would follow the guidance of the business and the civil rights communities and oppose the amendment offered by my distinguished colleague from virginia. I hope wed oppose the amendment and i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The question is on the amdmt fed t gentlanrom virginia. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The agreement is the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 6 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Castro i have an amendment at the desk. The clerk amendment number 6 printed in part b of house report 11429 offered by mr. Castro of texas. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentleman from texas, mr. Castro, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. Mr. Castro thank you, mr. Speaker. This is a commonsense amendment that seeks to appoint a neutral person within the department of education to address student k12 textbook standards and concerns. This neutral person would be somebody who could receive complaints from students teachers administrators anybody in the schools. This person would be independent of the secretary and most importantly, because i know we yield much power to the states over curriculum and textbooks, this is somebody that would not have any authority to make binding decisions, to overturn state decisions, but somebody who could help take in complainlts or concerns, also help resolve those concerns within the states. Sometimes between publishers in the states for example, and the reason that i brought this amendment forward, there are a few reasons. First, in different states as in my state of texas for example, there have been some very heated disputes over what should be included in textbooks. When we think about history, for example, in 2010, i believe, the state board of education in texas considered removing thomas jefferson, for the virginians that are he oe stf flntl philophe, exe. Beev star theyvie remove cesar chavez from texas textbooks. Some of the same things have happened in places like arizona, where theres been a very heated battle over textbooks there. This person would not have any Binding Authority to resolve those disputes, this would simply be somebody at the department of education that could offer voluntarily to help resolve them or also take in those concerns. The secondt , vel yearsgoanth iju a heanotto itre is an anecdote to illustrate this, there was a woman who sent me a picture over facebook and the picture was of her daughters textbook. Her daughter was taking Summer School at, i believe my old high school, and this textbook was completely graduate fittied, was torn up, was about as battered as you could find a textbook, and this woman was making the point to me that her daughter should not have to be learning from that textbook. Because the quality was absolutely horrendous. Well, it turns out that in texas, in some School Districts, students were no longer able to take textbooks home with them, even though the School District had not moved to Online Learning or anything like that, they werent able to take textbooks home with them because of the condition of the textbooks and because they were being torn up so much. I think that we need, at the department of education, somebody who can take in those concerns and let the Congress Know about them, let the department know about them, but also offer to work with the states to improve those conditions. Because Something Like that is most certainly affecting Students Learning ability. With that mr. Speaker i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . Mr. Chairman, i claim time in opposition and i am opposed. The chair the gentleman from indiana is recognized for five minutes. I thank the chair and i also thank the gentleman for offering his amendment, even though im opposed to it. Mr. Rokita states should have good textbooks for students that cover the material thoroughly, fairly and, most importantly, accurately. Buerisoel len determinwh shase are or judging the quality of them, frankly. All the arguments a gentleman makes can be taken care of at the state and local level. I fail to see how they get any better result in any of his examples by having some federal bureaucrat, hundreds if not thousands of miles away from the situation, do any better job with it. In fact, the federal government already is prohibited from weighing in on things like curriculum and standards. Theres absolutely no role for the federal government in approving or overseeing the adoption of textbooks. Thats a bad idea and leaves us on a slippery slope, to even worse outcomes. Its in that spirit that i must oppose this amendment and i urge my colleagues, all of them republicans and democrat all of them, republican and democrat, to do so as well. I reserve. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from indiana has the only time remaining. Mr. Castro will the gentleman from indiana yield me 30 seconds . I ended early. I hear the gentlemans concerns. And understand that most of the power in this subject matter is vested with the states. But the fact is, there are real problems in some of our states that are not being addressed and that arent being handled in the state capitals and this position is a tune in binding one one where the states, folks in the states would have to come and voluntarily seek out a dispute resolution. This person wouldnt have any power to make decisions for the states or override any decisions. I understand the wariness among many here in this chamber of the role of the federal government. But i would mr. Rokita i thank the chair and the gentleman for his, again for his concern, but i fail to see how this capitol can do any better job than the gentlemans State Capitol or at the local level. The government that governs best is the government thats closest to the people. And that serves the situation well. So with that, again, i claim my right to close. Having nothing further to offer on this i yield back. The chair the gentleman from indiana yields back the balance of his time. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. The gentleman from texas. Mr. Castro i would ask for a roll call vote. The chair pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 7 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition . Mr. Langevin mr. Speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 7 printed in part b of house report 11429 offered by mr. Langevin of rhode island. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125 the gentleman from rhode island, mr. Langevin, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from rhode island. Mr. Langevin thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i might consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Langevin mr. Speaker id like to thank chairman kline and Ranking Member scott for their work in bringing this bill to the floor. While i still have strong concerns about the underlying bill, i am pleased to offer this bipartisan amendment along with my good friend and colleague mr. G. T. Thompson of pennsylvania. As cochairs of the career and Technical Education caucus, mr. Thompson and i are submitted to help meet the demabbledses of the modern economy demands of the modern economy. Our amendment provides flexibility for states to use title 1 funds for presentitiesship and career counseling. This is becoming a common refrain, i know, but the skills gap is a persistent and wholly fixable drag on our economy. We simply need to address it. In conversations with Business Owners across my home state and rhode island, i have constantly heard that they are struggling to find qualified candidates to fill the job openings that they have available right now. And in a state such as mine that has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country still, this is a troubling situation that we need to fix. Apprenticeships are attest are ativitied are a tested and proven way for students to gain realworld experience while earning credit toward high school graduation. Students are able to get on the job d training and onthejob training and skills needed for future career success. Adding apprenticeships to title 1 will provide a muchneeded boost to Career Training programs. Additionally, this amendment with will make it easier for School Districts to invest in comprehensive career counseling, thats a vital part of skills training. High School Diplomas are no longer ffie f t moderno iet our enenses hp schse connect high sc ss with the schools that they need to succeed in the 21st century work force. Mr. Speaker, while not every job will require a college degree, some Postsecondary Education will be absolutely necessary and is absolutely necessary. Whether it comes from a community college, a Skills Training Program or on the job training, we need to change what it means to be college and careerready. We need to provide students with the knowledge and the experience that will truly prepare them for whats next. With that, mr. Speaker, i urge all of my colleagues to join any in me in supporting this amendment and i reserve the balance of my time. The cire ntmafr rhode la rv h t r aturseoeth gen fnnlvia seek recon mhoso m sak, riseo claim time in opposition while im certainly urge all of my not opposed to this thoughtful amendment. The chair without objection, the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized. Mr. Thompson thank you, mr. Speaker. I want to thank my good fe and cochairman of the bipartisan career and Technical Education caucus, mr. Langevin, for working with me on this amendment. His leadership. We believe it is vitally important that flexibility be provided to local School Districts as they explore options for students to earn academic credit through internships or apprenticeships. Unfortunately too often our schools have subscribed to onesizefitsall approach to opportunities available to students. As expect it is expected that all graduates will be goingen to to a fouryear postsecondary program. Mr. Speaker, this is a false premise. And its not realistic and certainly not fair to students. While i reach out to lead child every student should leave High School College and career ready, its imperative to allow School Districts to help young learners in Career Exploration and the positive gains that can be achieve through the realworld work experience. It provides credit for them for these realworld experiences. I encourage support of this amendment and yield the balance of my time to the subCommittee Chairman. I thank the gentleman. On behalf of chairman kline and myself i would like to put on the record that we think this amendment improves the underlying bill and we thank the gentlemen for offering it urge my colleagues to support it. I yelled back. The chair the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from pennsylvania. Mr. Thompson i yield back. The chair the gentleman from rhode island. Mr. Langevin spb i thank my colleagues for their supportive comments, i urge my colleagues to support the amendment and yield back the balance of my time. The chair the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from rhode island. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 8 printed in part b of house report 114129. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Mr. Barletta i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 8 printed in part b of house report 11429 offered by mr. Barletta of pennsylvania. Of pennsylvania. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Barletta and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Barletta i want to thank the committee for working with me during markup to address my concerns, especially on our nations after School Programs. Supporting kids who attend after School Programs has been a bipartisan effort. My amendment simply requires School Districts that use title 1 money for after school before after school before school, or Summer School activities to report and describe those activities in their local plans. I am confident the Data Collected from this reporting will further demonstrate the importance of after School Programs to our nations kids. We already know after School Programs help keep kids safe, improve academic performance, and help working families across america. The benefits of these programs span all aspects of our communities student participation of our communities. Students participating in after School Programs have shown improvement in homework completion theres improvement in class participation and in attendance. This all leads to better grades. Better behavior. And lower rates of drug use and violence. Where im from in pennsylvania, gangs have become a problem in some of our areas. When i was mayor of hazelton, i saw it on our own streets. After School Programs offer a safe environment for kids to further their academic learning rather than seeking out and joining gangs. For example, im a im proud to shine after School Program is expanding from one county into a second this nationally recognized Program Offers after school and Summer School programs for kids in prek through college. It focuses on projects in stem courses, science, technology, engineering and math, as well as the arts. Shine help pross deuce better educated young people who later go on to graduate from professional schools colleges and universities to become important parts of our nations work force. It is a detriment for criminal behavior. At the end of the day, after School Programs like shine can change a childs future for the better. I will continue to advocate for their success. I have a special interest in the improvement of our educational system because two of my four daughters are teachers. This amendment and legislation as a whole are very close to my heart. After School Programs help ensure americas students succeed, not only in academic success but in Student Engagement as well. I ask my colleagued to demonstrate their support for after School Programs by supporting my amendment and i urge a yes vote. I yield the remainder of my time to the gentleman from georgia, mr. Allen. The chair the gentleman is recognized for the remainder o ee. Heemnd o mr. All . R, rise in support of my friend mr. Lou barlettas amendment to the Student Success act. Last week i had the opportunity to spend time in our district and visit many of our local schools. The one thing that i heard from both administrators and teachers are the success of after School Programs and the summer programs. Lets face it, sometimes students just have a difficult time maybe during the school year. They get behind. And when they get behind, they tend to stay behind. These after School Programs and these summer programs give our students the and opportunity to catch up and thats important. Because as long as they are with and remain with the class and can be successful, they are successful students. That is why im proud to support mr. Barlettas amendment providing that School Districts report after school, before school or summer activities in their local education plan. I yield the remainder of my time to mr. Barletta. The chair the gentleman yields back to mr. Barletta. Mr. Barletta i yield back the balance of my time. The chair for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i seek to claim time in opposition to the amendment though im not opposed to the amendment. The chair without objection the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Thank you very much. I want to thank my friend, mr. Barletta, for his interest and work on this subject as well as thank our Ranking Member for his service and the work hes put into this overall effort. This is really important and i think its important that we stop for a moment and recognize the effect, the impact that after School Programs have in the lives and trajectory of the lives of so many kids in this country. Mr. Kildee who otherwise dont have a positive outlet. For all the energy that these young people carry around with them all the time. There are neighborhoods in this country, certainly neighborhoods in the communities that i represent, that without after School Programming provided in that school building, there is no other positive avenue available for them. Theres not a Community Center theres not a park thats maintained, they dont have the access to or the means to join a ymca or ywca. For these kids, the only avenue they have to explore cultural activities, to become involved in music or in the arts or in just good physil exercise are those after School Programs. Only avenue which have the additional value of connecting these young people to their school in a way that is not solely tied to simply classroom time and the very important work that theyre doing on their academic studies. It allows them to feel that connection to school as the center of their community. Of course what we know, and the research is clear on this, is that young people involved in after School Programming do better academically. So mr. Barlett tark i appreciate, mr. Speaker, i appreciate mr. Barlettas efforts on this and look forward to working with him on after School Programming. Its really important and i think its the i think its right that the congress address it. With that, i yield the remainder of my time to the Ranking Member, mr. Scott. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Scott i thank the gentleman for yielding and i thank the gentleman for his amendment. These programs have been proven to increase academic achievement, increase Student Engagement and reduce dropouts. This is especially powerful in light of some student studies that show some students regress in the summer. If theyre given effective summer programs i thank the gentleman for offering his amendment and hope its adopted. I yield back to the gentleman from michigan. The chair the gentleman from michigan yields back. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from pennsylvania. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. The amendment is it. The amendment is agreed to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 9 printed in part d of house report 129. For what purpose does the gentleman rise . I have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will report the amendment. The clerk amendment number 9 printed in house report 11429 offered by mr. Quigley of illinois. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentleman from illinois, mr. Quigley, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. Mr. Quigley we must keep a critical point of esca standards for professionals. Republicans and democrats agree that classroom professionals or paraprofessionals as theyre called must be prepared and equipped to carry out their work in the classroom. Today theyre qualified to provide muchneeded instructional support especially for state of the unions with special needs. Every School District from our country is in compliance with these standards and has been since 2006. In fact, 11 states, including my own state of illinois, have already codified these requirements in their own state law. Removing these federal requirements would risk defaulting to low or nonexistent standards at the state and local levels. We cant let this happen. Classrooms are already severely overcrowded and paraprofessionals provide teachers with the critical support they need to best educate our children. Im a strong supporter of our teachers and part of that support comes in ensuring that their aids and other classroom aides and other class classroom counterpars are qualified to their jobs. By eliminating these standards we are urning our tourning backs on our teachers and these professionals. I urge a yes vote and reserve the balance of my time. The chair for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . Mr. Chairman, i rise in opposition. The chair the gentleman from indiana is recognized. I thank my thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank my colleagues for this amendment, though i must oppose it. This amendment backs specific requirements for paraprofessionals. They place too much emphasis on a teachers credentials and licenses. As a result schools have come to value a teachers resume over his or her ability to increase student achievement, i. E. Their effectiveness. The elimination of these requirements in the Student Success act doesnt prohibit states or local School Districts from having requirements for teachers and paraprofessionals. Mr. Rokita but certainly is not the job of the federal government to tell states and locals what those requirements are. So because of that, i urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment and i reserve. The chair the gentleman from indiana reserves. The gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Quigley i yield one minute to mr. Mckinley. The chair the gentlen o virgia w virgias thtlroilno iregned mr. Mckinley paraprofessionals play an Important Role in our school theyre teachers aide, assistants and work closely with special needs students. They also provide support to teachers by working with students in direct instructional roles. As a grandfather of a student with special needs, i clearly understand the importance of ensuring he has the proper support he these at school. This amendment does not create new standards or requirements, it simply maintains the qualification requirements already in place. Without these requirements we are at risk of having underqualified people in charge of special education students. Theres a critical this is critical to Student Success that we have qualified trained paraprofessional teachers and gentleman mrors. Remember, every schoolteacher in the country is already compliant with this requirement. This is a commonsense this is commonsense and i urge support of this amendment. I yield back my time. The chair the gentleman from West Virginia yields back. The gentleman from illinois reserves. The gentleman from indiana is recognized. Mr. Rokita i believe we have the right to close. The chair the gentleman from indiana reserves. The gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Quigley i yield one minute to the Ranking Member. The chair the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Scott when congress enacted no child left behind in 2002, we recognized the importance of paraprofessional qualifications because their support to students has a Significant Impact on their success in schools. They provide a wide range of support including tutoring, computer assistant and other instructional services. The past 13 years, paraprofessionals have met these strong qualifications and including a minimum postsecondary credentials and demonstration of specialized knowledge. They already meet these standards and thats why its unfortunate that the underlying bill repeals these standards. We dont understand why were going to go backwards in maintaining high standards and thats why this amendment is so important and i would hope it would be adopted. I yield back. The chair the gentleman from virginia yields back. The gentleman from indiana reserves. The gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Quigley the entire part of e. S. A. Was to improve the status of education for all children in this country regardless of their zip code or special needs status, but to keep these standards for paraprofessionals intact, i urge my colleagues to vote for this bipartisan amendment to support teachers and students, and i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from indiana is recognized. Mr. Rokita the whole purpose of the Student Success act is the fact that we trust teachers, parents, local policymakers local taxpayers more, thinking they can do a better job than anyone out here in washington, d. C. The arguments the gentleman make are certainly good ones. Standards are a good thing. They should be made at the local and state level. The government that governs best is the one thats closest to the people. Thats what the Student Success act in large part is about. The gentleman from West Virginia indicates that he is a grandfather of a special needs child. I am the father of a special needs child. As one of the authors of the Student Success act, i think these standards will be can be well adopted at the state and local level and thats where they should be adopted, so with that i urge my colleagues to vote against this amendment. I yield back. The chair the gentleman from indiana yields back his time. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from illinois. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. The amendment is not agreed to. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from illinois will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 10 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio seek recognition . Ms. Fudge mr. Chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 10 printed in part b of house report 11429 offered by ms. Fudge of ohio. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125 the gentlewoman from ohio, ms. Fudge, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from ohio. Ms. Fudge thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, my amendment would reinstate maintenance of effort requirements in h. R. 5. It would continue to require states to show their current year funding is at least 90 of the prior year amount before receiving any federal education dollars. Maintenance of effort is intended to protect resources for schools and students in tough economic times. Removal of maintenance of effort requirements from esca as contemplated in h. R. 5, would allow states to raid their education budgets to pay for other budget line items or programs. That would leave the federal government the primary or only Funding Source for schools. If the goal of h. R. 5 is to reduce federal input for education, this does just the opposite. States should not be given free reign to reduce school funding. That disproportionately impacts poor communities and children. This congress should not revert to the times of larger class sizes poorly supported teachers and less access to rigorous curriculum for so many of our poor disabled and english learning children. The 90 m. O. E. Threshold in current law is a commonsense safeguard. It ensures state agencies remain invested in key Education Programs while still allowing states the room to respond to changing fiscal realities. Mr. Chairman i would like to yield one minute to the Ranking Member, mr. Scott. The chair the gentleman from virginia is recognized for one minute. Mr. Scott thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank the gentlelady for yielding. Mr. Chairman the purpose of esca is to increase resources to an education especially focused on areas of high poverty. The underlying bill limits the amount of money that can be spent under the bill, it takes money by changing the formula from low income areas to high income areas and now this amendment tries to eliminate one of the most devastating impacts that is the requirement, the maintenance of effort. If theres federal money going into the states, it can only increase money going to education if the states maintain their effort. If theyre able to reduce their effort and just replace the money they were spending with the federal money, then theres been no increase in education and the ones left behind continue to remain behind. This is an extremely important amendment. It makes sure that the federal money actually increases the money going to education to help those left behind and i would hope that we would correct this grievous error in the underlying bill by adopting the amendment. The chair the gentlemans time has expired. The gentlewoman from ohio reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . Mr. Rokita mr. Chair, i rise in opposition. The chair the gentleman from indiana is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Rokita i oppose this amendment because it goes back to the status quo of current law which ties the hands of state officials over budgeting. What schools and states need is less federal control and greater flexibility. Not the opposite. We need to stop thinking that we know what is best for states and that includes tellinging them how much to spend on various areas of their budget. I want to be clear that the statutory civil rights provisions in current law are kept. We dont have that issue with this bill. And i want to also make the point that just because you spend more money on something doesnt mean you get a better result. Since 1970 education federal education spending has increased 300 in this country while test scores have remained flat. So just increasing funding levels isnt necessarily the answer. And the fact of the matter is, an m. O. E. Directs the states and individuals property, i. E. , their money to do things that really we shouldnt be telling states or localities or individuals what to do with. With that i reserve. The chair the gentleman from indiana reserves his time. The gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. Ms. Fudge mr. Chairman may i inquire as to how much time i have remaining . The chair the gentlewoman from ohio has 2 1 2 minutes remaining. Ms. Fudge at this time i would yield one minute to my colleague, ms. Bonamici. The chair the gentlewoman from oregon is recognized for one minute. Ms. Bonamici thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank you, representative fudge, for yielding and for offering this important amendment. Public education is primarily the responsibility of states and local School Districts. Historically the federal government contributes about 10 of funding to k12 education. The elementary and secondary education act, since it was first enacted as part of the war on poverty, has supplemented the role of states and districts by providing targeted resources to students and communities that have traditionally been underserved and continue to need that additional support. This amendment is critical to preserving that targeted role. The receipt of federal funds should not be used to replace the investment of states in Public Education. I urge my colleagues to support representative fudges important amendment and i yield back. Thank you, mr. Chair. The chair the gentlewoman from oregon yields back. The gentleman from indiana reserves . The gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. Ms. Fudge i thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, it is certainly important that we restore m. O. E. Requirements to this bill. H. R. 5 must be amended to ensure every child in america has access to a quality education. Mr. Chairman, this bill is so flawed that even this amendment will not improve its significant it significantly. Therefore i respectfully withdraw my amendment. The chair the gentleladys amendment is withdrawn. It is now in order to consider amendment number 11 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Mr. Desauliner mr. Speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 11 printed in part b of house report 11429 offered by mr. Desauliner of california. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentleman from california and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from california. Mr. Desauliner thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, theres no doubt that the Head Start Programs produce incredible benefits for American Children and families. Those benefits are not only educational but economic and healthrelated as well. As a form head start commissioner in california, ive seen firsthand how effective these programs can be at making kids excited about learning at an early age and the positive effects that they have on their education in the future. The original intent of the law was to ensure that local education agencies are working collaboratively with head start to ensure head start is providing services that are the most thoughtful and relevant to their local community. However, while head start agencies are required to form coordination agreements with local education agencies, the opposite is not true. Which slows the process and creates unnecessary bureaucracy. For example, this loophole causes head start agencies to spend weeks on end trying to pin down local education agencies. The local Education Agency on the other hand doesnt feel that it is a priority to sign an official agreement, since they are not required to do so. This causes the process to break down. This amendment short and sweet. It would simply strengthen the language that currently exists within the esca which reads that both parties must coordinate with Early Childhood programs and instead require local education agencies to develop agreements with head start agencies. It would make agreements a twoway street would clarify and solidify the process and would be a victory for a local Education Agency for local education agencies, Head Start Programs and the children in the programs that they both search. It is long overdue to make this fix and it is noncontroversial and nonpartisan. I yield back the balance of my time, mr. Speaker. The chair the gentleman from california yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . Mr. Rokita i claim time in opposition, although im not opposed to the bill. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Rokita i thank the chair. Research indicates reliable highquality child care is critical to sustaining parents ability to work. That is why the legislation would allow states and schools to use funds allocated through what we call the local academic flexible grant under title 1 to support prek programs instead of creating a federal program, as i see this amendment, it improves the coordination between existing Head Start Programs and local educational agencies. This amendment improves the underlyinging bill, i think, and strengthens existing Early Childhood care and Education Programs for children and lowincome families. So with that, as a cosponsor of the bill, i thank the gentleman for offering this amendment again, i think it improves the underlying bill and i urge my colleagues to support it. With that i yield back. The chair the gentleman from indiana yields back the balance of his time. The question son the amendment offered by the gentleman from california question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes ha i the amt agreed to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 12 printed in part b of rouse report house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . Mr. Davis i have an amendment at the desk. The clerk amendment number 12 printed in part b of house report 11429 offered by mr. Davis of illinois. The chair the gentleman from illinois, mr. Davis, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. Mr. Davis thank you mr. Speaker. I rise today to offer this amendment that would protect the voices of our educational professionals and also maintain local control which is what reforming the esca program is all about. Especially in my district. This amendment simply protects the savings clause of title 1 of the elementary and secondary education act, to ensure that nothing in federal law can be construed to temple nate or overturn terminate or overturn a state or local collective bargaining law, memorandum or other agreements. The savings clause predates no child left behind and has been in existence for more than 20 years. In addition, 34 states including my home state of illinois mr. Speaker explicitly allow collective bargaining for teachers, Education Support professionals and other Higher Education faculty. The amendment does not expand collective bargaining rights that exist in current law. The bottom line is, this amendment provides certainty to local and state entities that the current collective bargaining agreements will remain in place. This amendment is supported by many here in washington and many teachers and educational professionals that ive spoken with including those at the illinois education association, the National Education association. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, to provide certainty for our educational professionals, and i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from illinois reserves his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek reck nix . Mr. Scott mr. Chairman seek recognition . Mr. Scott i seek time in opposition, although im not in opposition. The chair without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Scott mr. Chairman, i rise in support of the amendment offered by the gentleman from illinois the amendment is thoughtful and necessary to restore employee protections that are already in current law. I reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from virginia reserves his time. The gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Davis mr. Speaker, id like to recognize my colleague and friend from the great state of indiana, mr. Rokita, for as much time as he may consume. The chair the gentleman from indiana is recognized. Mr. Rokita i thank the chair and the gentleman. I think this is a good amendment. It clarifies the law on this topic and im glad to support it. I thank the gentleman for offering it and i urge my colleagues to support it and i yield back. The chair the gentleman from indiana yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from virginia is recognized. Mr. Scott mr. Chairman, i yield one minute to the gentleman from colorado, mr. Polis. The chair the gentleman from colorado is recognized for one minute. Mr. Polis relationships between districts and mr. Polis its challenge relationships can be turbulent, its challenging for school board members, and most of all its challenging for parents of kids in the schools. This amendment help prossvide a degree of certainty and predictability with regard to collective bargaining agreements that are in place. As we move forward, we should s t edtoe xe and wdonebe fissione many coecve bargaining agreems in place are and predictability strong and an asset to districts that have them. We have many districts and communities in colorado that have entered collective bargaining agreements with educators that include pay for performance and quality measures. We should encourage that kind of creativity at the district level. The more we can o e t osby th thi a perrmndtywih omo child eh tt no child left behind era, providing predictability for educators in the classroom every day, doing their best to educate our kids, is a tenet that hopefully we all agree on and one thats reflected in this agreement which i strongly support. I yield back the lance of my time. The chair the gentleman from virginia reserves. The gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Davis id like to reserve, im ready to offer Closing Remarks. The chair the gentleman from virginia is recognized. Mr. Scott there doesnt seem to be much opposition so i just i have one more speaker, mr. Chairman. The gentlelady from oregon. The chair the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. I thank the gentleman. This is an important feature of the elementary and secondary education act and i appreciate the bipartisan effort of my colleagues to reinstate it. Ms. Bonamici the collection bargaining agreements have been negotiate aid cross this country. I commend the representatives for making sure that the legislation we are debating does not interfere with local laws or agreements and i ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this amendment and i yield back. The chair the gentleman from virginia is recognized. Mr. Scott i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from illinois. Mr. Davis i want to thank my colleagues from both sides of the aisle for their support for this commonsense amendment. When i go back and speak to my educational professionals and also as a father of three teenagers in the taylorville, illinois, Public School system, its constantly about how do we make sure that washington stays out of running our schools in our local School Districts . Thats what is so great about other provisions in this esca reform package. My colleague, mr. Rokita, and my colleague, chairman kline, have put measures in place that will fix some of the problems that many of us have seen through the implementation of no child left behind over a decade ago. Local control matters. This instant this clarifies that local control and locally negotiated collective bargaining agreements are not superseded, are not superseded by bureaucrats here in washington, d. C. And mr. Speaker, id like to now take this time, actually may i inquire how much time i have remaining . The chair the gentleman has 2 1 4 minutes remaining. Mr. Davis i id like to at this time reck nizz my good friend and colleague from the great state of illinois to speak for two minutes, mr. Bost. The chair the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Bost i thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise in support of this amendment and urge its adoption. The amendment simply states that nothing in the bill shall interfere with state and local collective bargaining laws. This amendment is about federal respect of state and local laws. When it comes to education, im a firm believe for the local control, and everodth has knmeed respect sterheears state knows that to be a fact. For too long, the federal government has attempted to determine for parents teachers, school administrators, what is best for our schools and our children in southern illinois. The underlying bill may not be perfect but we cant let it fall for the good that it does do. The legislation takes an important step forward in restoring local control in edatn,ndhas e odoofo mys s good for your kids. Once again, i thank my friend for the opportunity to support the amendment and i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Davis i want to thank my colleague from illinois, mr. Bost, who has been a fighter for those in education throughout his tenure as a state representative in illinois. He and i have worked together on these issues for over 20 queers. Since i offered my Closing Remarks before he spoke, ill tth oorni bori lose my coly yieldacthbancofy time theha e ntyi back t qn hamdmt oede mafr no. Thosevoay thpoo. In thopiohe, ayes hav thme id. It is now in order to consider amendment number 13 printed in 13 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from wisconsin seek recognition . Ms. Moore i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will report the amendment. The clerk amendment number 14 prinned in house report 114 ht 29 offered by ms. Moore. The chair the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from wisconsin. Ms. Moore thank you, mr. Chairman. I rise today to offer an amendment along with my colleagues Frederica Wilson of florida and danny davis of illinois this amendment seeks to protect our most vulnerable students by ensuring that high poverty schools are not adversely affected by provisions in h. R. 5 that propose changes in the funding allocation formula for teacher support and the quality of Educational Services under tle of the no child left behind act. Now mr. Chairman, if we dont adopt this amendment, we may inadvertently break a long bipartisan agreement on our fundamental need to ensure that our low income students are not aligned less qualified teachers and less quality Educational Resources than their more advantaged peered. The reality is that in a School District that serves students in poverty, they face many, many hurdles and challenges in recruiting and retaining teachers as well as other quality qualified staff. Now current law prioritizes Teacher Development funding to states and schools serving the greatest concentrations of students in poverty. Specifically the no child left behind title 2 formula for School Districts focuses 65 of funds of students in poverty at 35 on numbers of students. That students in poverty versus just numbers of students. The state formula focuses 80 of its funding on poverty and 20 on student population. H. R. 5 completely up ends this eliminates this critical prioritization, by equally weighting poverty with mere student population. Sort of cutting the baby in half 5050. This removes substantial federal support from schools and states serving the poorest students and gives these funds to schools and states without similar levels of economic need. This of course, mr. Chairman, has an impact on every single state in the union where there are disparate levels of income in our communities. It undermines teacher training and student achievement for students of poverty. My amendment simply would delay the implementation of this formula until the secretary of education certifies to congress that students in poverty are not adversely affected by this change in service, quality and level. This would provide the appropriation caution before eliminating that critical safeguard of funds for students in poverty. As written, we have strong reasons to fear that h. R. 5 would result in federal dollars being siphoned away from states and School Districts with the poorest students and awarded to states with schools of high stakes high states or School Districts with more affluence. Data released earlier this week show that h. R. 5 translates into billions of dollars of cuts in School Districts serving high populations of black and hispanic students. Hispanic students. Now, mr. Chairman, since all politics is local, i must decry the loss of these educationa resoueso e lat ho district in my jurisdiction, and thats the milwaukee Public School system. They would lose upwards of 150 million in federal funds for impoverished students over a sixyear period if we ratify h. R. 5 in its current form. Our secretary of education, arne duncan, has called this kind of a reverse robin hood. Stealing from the poor to give to the rich. And while were discussing this mr. Chairman, i want to point one last thing out, this is budget neutral, this amendment doesnt add one dime to the cost of this bill. Its only its only intention is to protect the very teacher supports that help close the achievement gaps on low income students. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this bill. How much time do i have . The chair the gentlewoman has 30 seconds remaining. Ms. Moore i reserve. The chair the gentlewoman from wisconsin reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . I rise in opposition. The chair the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Rokita thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank the gentlelady for this amendment, although i must oppose it. Its my understanding this amendment is unnecessary in the sense that during the last congress, the house adopted a nearly identical amendment offered by the gentlelady when h. R. 5 was considered at the time. Because it was adopted, her original amendment is included in the base text of this version of h. R. 5 and therefore this amendment is duplicative of existing language. Mr. Chairman, i politely say to the gentlelady that she fails to see how persuasive she was the stonesani gey colles e existing lgue. Amentbeofhe underlying idea but because it simply its simply duplicative of existing language and i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time they feel gentlewoman from wisconsin is recognized. Ms. Moore if this is duplicative, it does no harm. This was offered with the abundance of caution because the formula is being proposed to be changed. So just vote for it. If its repetitive or redundant whats the harm . Please vote for it. Please withdraw your objection. And i yield back. The chair the gentlewoman from wisconsin yields back the balance of her time. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from wisconsin. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. The amendment is not agreed to. Ms. Moore mr. Chairman i would ask for the yeas and nays. The chair does the gentlewoman ask for a recorded vote . Ms. Moore i ask for a recorded vote. The chair pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from wisconsin will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 14 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentleman from West Virginia seek recognition . Mr. Mckinley i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the ameme. The k mebe14 printedn rt bhoe rert seek 11429, offered by mr. Mckinley of West Virginia. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125 the gentleman from West Virginia, mr. Mckinley, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from West Virginia. Mr. Mckinley thank you, mr. Chairman. This amendment is quite simple. It requires states to identify work force critical subjects for their schools. Work force a work force critical subject is one that matches the needs of employers to the courses being taught. Too often, we graduate students with skills that dont match the needs of our employers. In West Virginia, we have needs for jobs in oil and gas, Health Care Information technology, and clean coal research. But each state is different. Currently 60 of u. S. Employers are experiencing difficulties finding qualified workers to fill vacancies and 58 of h. R. Professionals report that workers lack competence needed to perform their jobs. Todays work force is ever changing. This amendment will help states identify areas where to focus developing skills and competency are needed in the work force. This could involve an increased focus on science technology, engineering and math. Identifying work force critical subjects will help us do just that. I want to thank the stem coalition, Education Coalition and chairman kline for their support for this amendment. And i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek reck snigs . Mr. Scott thank you seek recognition . Mr. Scott i rise to claim time in opposition though im not opposed to the amendment. The chair the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Scott i think the gentlemans amendment focuses on the importance of aligning education with labor market needs so when you get educated, youre educated for the jobs of the future. The underlying bill, however does not insist on college and career ready standards. So that when young people graduate from high school they ought to be ready for a job or for college. Wed like to see in the legislation that the standards set by each state provide that if you graduate from high school, youre able to go to College Without remediation. This amendment goes in the right direction by aligning the labor market needs and therefore im not in opposition to the amendment. And i yield back. The chair the gentleman from virginia yields back. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from West Virginia. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . I move that the committee do now rise. The chair the question is on the motion that the committee rise. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The motion is adopted. Accordingly, the committee rises. The speaker pro tempore mr. Chairman. Chairman the committee of the whole house on the state union having had under consideration h. R. 5 has directed me to report it has come to no resolution thereon. The speaker pro tempore the committee has had under consideration h. R. 5 and has come to no resolution thereon. Pursuant to clause 12a, rule one the chair declares the it is not a fight amongst republicans. All republicans agree that we want to Fund Department of Homeland Security and we want to stop the president s executive actions with regard to immigration. Meanwhile president obama opposes Senate Filibusters but he sat there like a bump on a log watching Senate Democrats filibuster the debate on this bill. So were waiting to see what the senate can or cant do. And then well make decisions about how were going to proceed. Finally. The president S National Security adviser said that destruct the Prime Minister of israel is set to address the Congress Next week. The American People and both parties in congress have always stood with israel. Nothing and no one should get in the way of that. But what is destructive in my view is making a bare deal that paves the way for a nuclear iran. Thats destructive and so important for the American People to hear what Prime Minister netanyahu has to say about the grave threats we are facing. Im glad the Prime Minister is coming and most of my colleagues will be here to hear what he has to say. This is a twopart question. Is a final bill have to have some semblance of Immigration Reform blockade. And number two, what is accepted . What other things will be acceptable to your conference . The house passed the bill six weeks ago. Its time for the senate to do their work. No other changes, my way or the highway . I dont know what the senate can produce or not produce. If they produce something well decide what we are going to do. You do know what the senate is going to produce. They are going to vote on a clean bill, when they do that, will you be able to persuade your conference and use democratic votes to get that clean bill passed . Ill see what the senate passes. More of a philosophical question. The Senate Majority leader clearly agrees with you on principle, but hes doing what he needs to do to get the department of Homeland Security passed funded. You are a legislator and compriser at heart, is it harder for you to hold the line the way your caucus is or do you feel comfortable doing it . Not hard at all. The president said 22 times that he did not have the authority to make these changes in law. And yet he did it any way. The congress of the United States cannot look the other way and act like it didnt happen. The courts arent looking the other way. This is a violation of our constitution. Its a violation of the balance of powers in our constitution and it needs to be addressed and were doing it. Is it worth shutting down the department of Homeland Security . We passed a bill to fund the department. You feel your speakership is being challenged yet again . Heavens sakes, not at all. At least temporarily. At least temporarily. Is that enough . Do you think thats enough and how do you balance that with the shut downof the department of Homeland Security. The courts have stopped it at least temporarily. There is a role for congress to play in defending the constitution and upholding the rule of law and we intend to do that. Homeland security funding runs out tomorrow night . We passed a bill to fund the department of Homeland Security six weeks ago. Six weeks ago. Time for the senate act. Is johnson wrong . We passed a bill to fund the Department Six weeks ago. How many times do i have to say it. The answers are the same as yesterday. Mitch mcconnell has said exactly what he is going to do, you know what you are going to get. Its going to be a clean d. H. S. Bill. Are you going to put it on the floor, kill it or have you had that discussion. [ [kinging sounds] when i make decisions ill let you know. Thats just a kiss. Several. [laughter] is a continuing resolution tied to the courts any likely outcome . The house has done its work and when the senate does its work, well let you know how were going to proceed. Paul. Describe your relationship with mcconnell. Senate majority leader and i have had a long relationship especially over the last seven, eight years. He has his challenges and i have mine and two different institutions that you dont have the same body temperature every day and so you know, we tend to try to work to narrow the differences, but sometimes there are differences. The house by nature and by design is a hell of a lot more ram bunksous place than the senate much more. See you. Thanks. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] house Members Meeting at this house as current funding runs out at midnight. Jeh johnson has been on the hill all day. Showing him secretary johnson talking with reporters off the house floor during floor votes and meeting with members on d. H. S. Funding. Democrats from both chambers came together to hold a press conference. We heard from nancy pelosi and harry reid. Here are their comments. He switched on me. [laughter] good morning everyone. Its an honor to be here with the Senate Democratic leader. We come together because we are faced with a challenge for our country, a challenge to honor our ocean of office, which we all take to protect the American People. And now we have had this comity of errors with major amateur hour and nonlegislation that is standing in the way of our honoring our oath of office. But as we had the debate on it, its important to recognize what it means to people. Harry, you remember when we established the department of Homeland Security and the committee on Homeland Security. It was controversial and i dont think we have it exactly right, but nonetheless the title Homeland Security was the source of great debate. But it has the word home in it and this is what it means to people and their homes. A shutdown will block 340 million for staffing and adequate response grants. Critical funding for local communities used to help Fire Departments increase the number of front line firefighters. It means the urban Area Security initiative a shutdown will block 600 million in the urban Area Security initiative that supports the preparedness of nearly highthreat communities. Fema and Disaster Preparedness grants, think of this, under the Republican Department of Homeland Security shutdown there would be 260 fema employees furloughed, that means you stay home and do not get paid and do not under any circumstances come to work. Critical Disaster Preparedness grants will be blocked. Local jurisdictions, for example, in massachusetts which has been inundated with snow, local jurisdictions will be denied the Disaster Assistance grants they need to deal with the snows. D. H. S. Shutdown will prevent secret service and prevent hires and upgrades across the service not only to protect president obama but to prepare for the upcoming president ial elections. Under republican shutdown 30,000 d. H. S. Employees will be furloughed. Another 170,000 d. H. S. Employees made up primarily of front line security personnel will have to come to work without pay. Thats nearly 200,000 employees that will either be furloughed or asked to work without pay. I dont know about you, but i think almost everybody i know cannot live without having a paycheck on time. Members of Congress Even and yet, theyre asking the department of Homeland Security people to do that. And that nearly 270,000 employees, 40,000 are board patrol, 50,000 t. S. A. , 13 thousand i. C. E. , 30,000 active duty coast guard, more than 4,000 secret service Law Enforcement agents all asked to come to work without pay. As we all know, practically all of them depend on their pay check and lack of pay would cause real hardship and their families including the ability to pay your mortgage, rent, car payment, whatever it happens to be. Lets just get down to passing a clean bill until the end of september. The gamesmanship should end. The texas courts, as i degree with the courts decision, now harry and i agree that peter king will be probably the most quoted man in america in the next few hours when he said, peter king, republican member of congress from new york, he said, we cannot allow d. H. S. Not to be funded. People think were crazy. There are terrorist attacks all over the world and we are talking about closing down Homeland Security. Peter king, republican of new york then said, this is like living in the world of the crazy people. I associate myself with the remarks of the the gentleman from new york. I yield to the democratic leader of the senate. So good to be with you always. We have been in some battles over the years Social Security wars and im happy to be with you today. Were here to fund the department of Homeland Security the funding for the department of Homeland Security is gone friday at 12 01 a. M. Its over with. If it shuts down leader pelosi has outlined in detail how it hurts p but one thing to make sure everyone understands, not only does it affect those men and women who work so hard, but it affects our homeland. In new york, they picked up three guys who decided to join isis. Its in the mind of every american that we see these people in cages theyve captured, and now they spent 20 minutes of burning one of them to death. Picked up 21 christians in syria day before yesterday. We know they will likely be beheaded. The American People are frightened and likely so. They appear to have money and terrorists appear to have money why shouldnt our homeland have the ability to protect itself . Its like living in a world of crazy people. Thats what king said and thats absolutely true. I want to make sure everyone understands where we are in the senate. We are going to have a vote on making sure that Homeland Security does not shut down. We are ready to vote on that right now. Its been held up by the republicans and im sure it will clear because they can only hold it up for a short period of time. We have heard all kinds of rumors, that the house is going to take our fully funded bill and send it back with a number of riders on it. There is a waste of time. We will not allow a conference to take place. It wont happen. And were willing when were finished funding Homeland Security, if the republicans want to go to immigration, any part thereof, well go to it. We wont need a motion. Well just to go to it. We must accept the fact that this is i dont know crazy. This is eighth grade. Two leaders who havent talked to each other in two weeks. This isnt a good sayings and we arent going to be part of the petty games. We want the department of Homeland Security for all the reasons leader pelosi mentioned to be funded. If the house sends over an amended bill with riders, does the department shut down . If they send a bill with the riders in it, we are not going to play games. We have been working for a month to come up with a Clear Funding proposal. So they can put all the riders they want. We will not allow that to take place. Would you accept a shortterm c. R. . Im not going to be here playing all these hypothetical games. Let the house act. The rules are clear what rights they have, what rights we have. They have to do what is the right thing to do and that is fund the government. Im happy to see chairman rogers, who said he believes there should be full funding. There is a score or more that has publicly spoken out, republicans, that says it should be fully funded. Whether its a two day c. R. Or riders, we are where we are. In the senate, we will vote on fully funding the department of Homeland Security. And if they want to debate immigration when this is over, we will do it. Speaker boehner was asked if there were discussions with you. I have had brief discussions with him on this subject wednesday, probably most recently, where i said we are not prepared to do two months c. R. We cant involved in five days, seven days and all of that nonsense. Lets get the job done on time. This is all about time. Its about the time that they kick the can down the road from december. In december instead of making this part of the compromised bill for funding the government, they said they were separating this out. In that time, and the speaker said at that time, we are going to pass it in january. Thats what he said at the time. In that time in january, we had the jesuis charlie. And everyone was gathered around department of Homeland Security except in the house of representatives chairman chamber. We still havent faced our responsibility. I have a grandson in the eighth grade and his knowledge about how to pass a bill is superior to what we see among the republicans here. So its harmful to our National Security, our Homeland Security for us to be inching along, two months, four months. Stop the game playing. We are talking eight months we have lost some of the time. The uncertainty is really bad. If you want to train a work force to protect the American People, we are already weakening that because of the time that the republicans have used up with their friffolity. Its about time for them to grow up and pass this bill. Are there conservatives in the house that they can win this immigration fight. You have to talk to them about that. I think what they are demonstrating is immigration is not the reason they were shutting down the government but the excuse they are using because now they have an out of what the judge said in texas and still want to shut down government. Understand that shutting down government is their motivation and they have to be held accountable for it. I lost track but im sure you know they defunded tried to defund obamacare 57 times. The d. H. S. Funding taken care of, will you have the collins bill . I said make sure you all understand this. The president signs Homeland Security. We dont need 60 votes. We relish a debate on immigration but its after we fully fund Homeland Security. How would you amend that bill . The senator said we have two or three weeks work on that bill and would be longer than the keystone leader. You wont give Speaker Boehner cover for a temporary c. R. , two weeks, two months . We need to have our homeland is protected. Its not the cover for the speaker is less important than the cover than the American People need from us to do our job and to pass a Homeland Security bill. Getting back to the immigration point for a moment, understand and you probably know this the president of the United States acted with full Legal Authority under the law and with precedent and with the ability for prosecutorial discretion to protect the people. President Ronald Reagan and president Herbert Walker bush president clinton, president george bush and president eisenhower and president nixon, reagan the president said if you dont like what ive done, act. Pass a comprehensive immigration bill. But they didnt. And they are now saying the president is acting in a way that they object in a way that is unconstitutional and never said that about Ronald Reagan. While our president is saying pass a bill. The Congress Passed a bill and president reagan said you didnt go far enough to protect people. He had the Family Protection piece that he added that president Herbert Walker bush then followed through and protected more people than president obama has done with his action. And one of the strongest president s we have had is his advocacy for Immigration Reform is president bush and never had a complaint except for this president so it rings hollow when they talk about the constitution with president ial precedent and law of the land, our president has acted within his Legal Authority. If theres this much trouble its important but frankly a very schmoll portion of the federal government. How is everything going to go when it gets to be a debt ceiling, september 30, when you have a whole fiscal year, Everything Else that was this much trouble you should write a story. Im interested in what you think. Would you have a resolution to declare [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] House Republicans are meeting. Keep you updated on what we here there. And work continues on the k12 measure that members debated today to eliminate National School requirements and give that authority to states. We spoke to a reporter earlier about that measure. Its called the students success act. As the house continues is rewrite, we are joined with Education Week. What are some of the changes this g. O. P. Bill would make to the current law . This republicanbacked bill would roll back the federal governments role in education. Specifically, it would allow states to use funding to their discretion. It block gants a lot of funding to states and schools that flexibility. It would keep the annual testing regimen, however, it would give a lot of the control over accountability to states. Over the next couple of days, the house will debate up to 44 amendments including dealing with common core standards. What are those standards and what are the proposed changes that the bill might make . So the common core state standards are academic benchmarks that the states have adopted. So the bill as written includes language that prohibits the secretary of education or the white house from incentivizing or any way coercing states into adopting the common core. Thats an argument that a lot of conservatives make but there is an amendment that would go a step further in allowing states to opt out of the common core if they so choose and more of a symbolic amendment and putting the common core standards on the floor for an open debate, which is the first time thats happened ever in congress. The headline on your piece is title 1 portability for schools to get vote. In terms of title 1 funding how much does the bill authorize for that . Sure. So what the bill does is authorize funding through 2021. Fiscal 2012 levels. In terms of title 1, the bill as currently written would allow those title 1 dollars to follow student to the school of their choice including charters. The amendment that my story focusing on was an amendment that was filed by a republican from indiana who would have liked to see the title 1 dollars be made to private schools and the rules committee did not allow that amendment through, which was sort of a big deal for both republicans and democrats. A lot of republicans were nervous that if it got oked through the rules committee and allowed to be debated, it might cause problems in reporting out a clean bill, whereas democrats were more nervous about making it more conservative. The rewrite is coming from the House Democrats and the white house and from Heritage Action. They tweeted about their opposition. They said the key voting, the reasoning, its not nearly conservative enough. What isnt conservative enough for Heritage Action . So as i previously mentioned about the title 1 money going to private schools, they would having liked to see that. They would have liked to see the federal government completely out of education. There was an amendment offered that did not get owe kayed by the rules committee to keep funding for education but not have to be beholden to any of the requirements. We have been focusing on the house. Where is the senate in their rewrite of the law . So, in the senate, the chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Education committee have been in bipartisan negotiations for the last two weeks now trying to hammer out a deal thats acceptable to both sides of the aisle. They havent had a whole lot of problems in that end, but we should see something in the next week or so. Senator alexander has been very clear that he would like to get something onto the floor as quickly as possible and he mentioned that he has worked out some time with Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell to have that happen sometime in march. You can read more online and follow her twitter. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] work continues on that education measure to eliminate National School requirements and give authority to states we could see work on legislation to fund the Homeland Security department. Current funding expires at midnight and republicans in the house are meeting to agree on how to handle that situation. Expect votes sometime after 6 00 eastern when the house gavels back in. We heard from the white house earlier. Well show you that as much as we can before the house returns. Good afternoon everybody. I apologize to the delay. Nancy, you want to get us started . Time is running on the deadline. Will the president get involved . Right now, it seems to be an agreement a disagreement, but between the republican leader of the house and republican leader of the United States senate. And again, republicans made an aggressive case over the course of last year about why the American People shouldnt trust the United States congress to Republican Leadership and here we are seven, eight weeks in and they are on the precipice of falling down on the job particularly when and thats notable when we are talking about funding the department of Homeland Security. The president remains engaged and ready to take phone calls as necessary. Right now, this is not a partisan dispute but a party dispute among leaders in the republican party. Unfortunately, the people who stand to lose the most from it are the American People. Is the president willing to accept a c. R. . Right now, there is no reason that this shouldnt get resolved. What is being considered by the United States senate is a piece of legislation that would fund the department of Homeland Security through the remainder of this fiscal year. It would not include any ideological or politically motivated riders but would have compromise for appropriate funding levels for that agency. Im loathed to make predictions what is going to happen when it comes to congress. But right now everybody expects that that piece of legislation once it comes up for a vote will get bipartisan support. The question then will be whether or not the speaker of the house is going to put it on the floor. Because we know if that piece of legislation passes the senate with bipartisan support is put on the floor of house of representatives, it would also pass with bipartisan support. The question right now is a question for senators in both parties as they consider that piece of legislation. We have an expectation about what that outcome is going to be. Then the question will rest with the speaker of the house and if its necessary to speak to the president about how important it is to fund the department of Homeland Security, hell have that conversation. But i would anticipate that the speaker of the house understands the stakes of this action. And were hopeful that he will take the responsible course and allow that bipartisan bill that would fund the agency for the remainder of this year to come up for a vote and pass the house of representatives. Is the decision to send susan rice and Samantha Powers to dial down the rhetoric . I think the participation of ambassador power and National Security adviser rice is the kind of participation you have seen in previous conferences. The president spoke a couple of times over the course of his tenure in the white house and the Vice President has spoken over there, but its not uncommon for Senior Administration officials to speak at that conference and thats what will happen this year and certainly if its perceived by some as an effort to demonstrate bipartisan support for the relationship between the United States and israel, then that would be great. That would be a great conclusion. That is the kind of investment that is characterized this administrations management of that relationship. Unfortunately thats not the way everyone has participated in this dispute over the last several weeks and we are hopeful we can get back to a place where the National Security of the United States, most importantly but also the National Security of israel can be enhanced by ensuring that our relationship is not subjected to partisan turbulence. What role did the u. S. Play in the unmasking of the jihadi john . I have seen those reports over the course of today. And i know that there are some Media Outlets that are reporting that this suspect has been identified. What i can tell you is that the United States government continues to aggressively investigate the individuals who are responsible for the mud of american citizens. And at this point, im not in a position to either confirm or deny the individual named in these reports is the individual they were searching for. But i can tell you that the United States commitment and the president s commitment to ensuring that we find and hold accountable the terrorists who are responsible for the murders of american citizens have never been stronger. And we will work closely with our partners around the world to ensure these terrorists are brought to justice. Can you describe the relationship with the British Government in identifying this individual . I can just say generally. There is a special relationship that exists between the United States and United Kingdom and encompasses conversations in a wide areas and supplies to National Security. There are extensive Law Enforcement and intelligence resources that have been shared between our two countries as we search for the individual who are responsible for the murder of both u. S. Citizens and some british citizens as well. This is something that we continue to be focused on and continues to be a priority. And one other National Security issue. Secretary kerry said on saturday that the president will be making a decision in the next few days on ukraine. Can you give us an update on his thinking and when you expect the decision to be made . I dont have a specific update in terms of the president s thinking. Obviously over the last several weeks, we have seen negotiators from france and germany and ukraine and russia convene to try to find a diplomatic resolution to the escalating conflict in ukraine. We have expressed concern about the tendency of the russians to pretty flag grantly violate the terms of an agreement they had just signed. That does put the russians at greater risk at isolation and additional costs being imposed upon them by the international community. I can tell you that the president S National Security adviser, susan rice, is convening a meeting in italy u. K. France and germany to discuss this issue further. All of these countries have both observed the continued russian escalation of the situation. They also have been an important part of coordinating the effort to impose costs on russia. So these kinds of discussions between the United States and our counterparts are timely and i would anticipate we would have a readout of that meeting today. Do you anticipate that meeting the next step against russia . I think typically it is not uncommon for the United States and the president S National Security team to be in regular touch with our close allies including the four i named here. It is notable we are convening a group meeting, but i dont have any advance readout of decisions that may or may not be made in the context of that meeting. [inaudible] i dont have a specific preview of their remarks. Im not sure of the status of ambassador powers remarks and rices remarks are still being written. At previous conferences its an opportunity to demonstrate once again the commitment of this administration and of this country to close Security Cooperation with israel, Prime Minister netanyahu has observed the Security Cooperation between the Netanyahu Administration and Obama Administration is unprecedented. He met that in a positive way and i think you would expect that ambassador power and susan rice say that. They would talk a little bit about why the Administration Believes that it serves the National Security interests of the United States and of israel to try to resolve the international communitys concerns about Irans Nuclear program diplomaticically. There may be something we can provide at a later date. Senator men nendens sent a letter to the administration that before you take the cuba off the list of state a terrorism that the president address a number of fugitives from u. S. Justice and as a matter of principle if the president believes fugitives should be turned back to the United States in the context of negotiations . I heard about the letter and i didnt read the details. I can tell you when the president announced the end of last year he was prepared to normalize relations between United States and cuba, it was in terms of the way the United States has pressured the cuban government to protect and advance the basic human rights of their citizens. And part of that process was reviewing cubas status on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. These are two separate processes. There is a process between diplomats of the United States and cuba where they are talking about normalizing relations between our two countries and reestablishing diplomatic ties. And this process is being driven by the state department and one that is ongoing. I would draw a bit of a distincton between terrorists and those who support terrorism around the globe and people who are wanted by the United States of america. They arent always the same. Im loathed to make predictions about speed and efficiency of the United States congress. Its not uncommon for them not to meet those expectations. This is a process that the Administration Remains committed to and its a process we remained committed to. There are some democrats who believe that is a worthy endeavor and certainly those democrats take heart in knowing that the president is committed to agreements that strengthen the standing and expand the opportunity of middleclass families in the United States. The president has pretty high standards when it comes to considering agreements like this. There is no doubt however, that rising u. S. Exports as has contributed significantly to our countrys economic strength. That through the economic recovery increasing exports have contributed to nearly onethird of our Overall Economic growth. We have also seen exports have increased by roughly 50 since 2009. And between 2009 and 2013, exports have supported an additional 1. 6 million u. S. Jobs. There are a variety of how good trade agreements that open up opportunities for American Goods and services is good for the u. S. Economy. Thats why the president will be pursuing an geement and will work with congress to make progress. There are some republicans who agree with the president when he says that. We are going to try to capitalize on that Common Ground and work with democrats and republicans. Based on the careful coordination and investigative work that had been conducted along side our british allies. But whether or not the person that is named in those news reports is the person in question, is something i can neither confirm nor deny. There are thousands of people who have reportedly left the western world and hundreds certainly from the United States to fight with isis. How is it possible to keep track of these people . Do you have the resources to do that . No doubt that the challenge that you are raising is a significant one and one that World Leaders have identified as a risk. The latest assessment as it relates to u. S. Citizens is about 100150 individuals who have traveled or attempted to travel to that region of the world to lend support. But the numbers when you consider people across the people. Upwards of 20,000 people. This is a significant challenge. And its a challenge to which we devoted significant resources. That there is an effort i guess the best illustration of this, the president convened the u. N. Security council last fall. Second time a u. S. President has done that, to talk about this precise issue what they can do to improve our coordination and mitigate the threat that is posed by foreign fighters and we are using significant Law Enforcement officers and intelligence resources are dedicated to this. This is a risk and a challenge and one that we are working hard to mitigate. Can the u. S. Follow each of the people that those who have left these shores . I refer you to our National Security experts in terms of how exactly we mitigate this threat. There are a variety of ways that we do exactly that. And one of those ways is to do our best to monitor the movements of individuals who may have traveled to the region. We are cognizant of that. And we are trying to prevent people from going in the first place and that is that is part of what we talked about at the the summit here last week but this is part of an ongoing effort to prevent people from going in the first place and there are significant d. H. S. Resources we can use to do that. Can you monitor them all . There are 20,000 people and there are variety of ways that we can mitigate the threat and we are working aggressively to do that. The naming of jihadi john help or hurt the effort to capture or kill him . Well, that may be a question ta is better posed to our Law Enforcement and National Security officials who are responsible for bringing that individual to justice. And we are focused on making sure that the terrorists who are responsible for the killing of these innocent americans are brought to justice. But as it relates again to these specific reports i can neither confirm nor deny their accuracy. But the United States have a position whether or not he should be named . Does it help in finding him or hurt in finding him . I have not seen a specific request necessarily from this government and i dont believe there has been one from the British Government. Well, let me say it this way, i do think that it is that you can infer from the fact that that neither the u. S. Government or British Government is confirming the identity of this individual or the accuracy of these reports. It is an indication that the investigation is won that we are pursuing rather aggressively. And over the last several months at least, our investigators have found it to their advantage to not talk publicly about the details or progress of that investigation. I cant confirm or deny them. Cuba, the second round of negotiations ends tomorrow in washington, d. C. What do you expect to be accomplished . Will it be we open soon . Its correct that tomorrow, february 27, the United States will host a delegation from the cuban government to talk about establishing relations. The delegation will be led who is the director general of the u. S. Division of ministry of foreign affairs. They will continue the dialogue that was initiated january 22 in havana. They represent a key step in implementing the new direction announced by the president last december. The parties identified a set of issues that need to be addressed as we reestablish diplomatic relations. We stated our expectation that u. S. Embassy havana and the cuba embassy in washington will operate like the rest do throughout the world. We look forward to address these issues that we have identified. Do you suspect they will be successful . These kinds of diplomatic exchanges represent an effort to try to propel our relationship forward. And the president was very clear that it does reflect a new strategy that were pursuing, that the previous strategy was to try to isolate cuba and try to use that isolation as pressure on them to change the way they treat their citizens. For 50 years that strategy was implemented with very little to show for it and the president believes its time to try a new strategy where we engage the government and engage the people to give them more voice and give the cuban people the opportunity to have more say in the direction of their country and leadership of their country. In an interview with the governor of texas he said that its not his responsibility, even thousand the lawsuit stopped at least temporarily the president s executive actions its not his responsibility to do with the 11 million undocumented ip grants. Does the president have any new initiatives that he is going to present to congress to at least deal with the 11 million who are here while this court ruling stands . A number of things come to mind. I didnt see the specific interview that youre referencing. Everybody understands that it is unrealistic to suggest that the United States will devote the resources to deporting all 11 Million People who are here. Its unrealistic. It would be cost prohibitive and the president talked yesterday about the negative economic consequences it would have for the country. What the president has decided is we should bring some accountability to our immigration system and one way we can do that is to offer some relief to those individuals that have family members in this country and been in this country for a number of years and by doing so, we can bring them out of the shadows and subject them to background checks and weed out those individuals who pose a threat to Public Safety and ensure those individual are paying taxes. And according to a lot of independent analysis, that would have positive economic benefits for the country. And we have seen a number of Law Enforcement officials including local Law Enforcement officials in texas have said it would make their communities safer. So the president going to congress now again with a new plan saying lets deal with this or is he going to sit back and wait and see and adopt what the senate did a year ago . The president is seeing Congress Move forward on comprehensive immigration legislation. The United States senate did do that in 2013 and we would be supportive of the Congress Picking up where they left off, seeing the senate pass that legislation and finally have it be brought to the floor of the house of representatives. But the fact is, that was something that was bhocked by Congressional Republicans for a year and a half and no indication they are willing to change their position. But if there are a number of conversations this that they want with the president to pass immigration legislation. The president would be happy to have those conversations and would be happy to host those conversations. But we havent seen a lot of interest in this from republicans on capitol hill. And the fact is that they are continuing to advance a system that is the closest thing that we have to amnesty. Because of their failure to act and because they are aided and abetted by the governor of texas, we have 11 Million People running around this country without being accountable. The president is trying to bring accountability to the system and make these individuals who have been here for some time submit to a background check and pay their taxes and has the benefit of ensuring these individuals who are have been in this country for a substantial period of time and making a tangible contribution to these communities no longer have to live in fear of one day being separated from their family. So the president has put forward a commonsense solution in legislative form and has taken steps to try to address this problem and bring accountability to the system. It is irresponsible for them to act on this. White house aids and Administration Officials negotiated with secretary clinton and the Clint Foundation failed to prevent the algerian government very time they were lobbying this white house and the state department. Wasnt this what the president was trying to prevent . At the end of 2008 there was a memorandum of understanding that was drafted between the then Transition Team and the Clinton Foundation. And the goal of that memorandum was to ensure that the excellent work that is being done at the Clinton Foundation could continue. This is work that involved providing hivaids medicine to children in africa and trying to meet the needs of people who are in extreme poverty and trying to bring relief to the citizens of haiti. They were doing important work and wanted to make sure that work could continue without interfering with the responsibility of secretary clinton to represent the United States government in an official capacity. And that memorandum of understanding went beyond the baseline ethical guidelines and put in place some additional requirements to ensure that we could that the Clinton Foundation could continue its work and that the secretary of hague could do her work without a conflict of interest. Then money came in and was lobbying this administration for relief. How do you explain that, given these wonderful ethics rules, that this mistake was made . Again, for compliance with the memorandum of understanding, id are id refer you to the state department. Theyre responsible for executing the agreement. Obviously there was some responsibility at the Clinton Foundation when with the white houses reputation on the line, this was a negotiation between, as i recall very senior people. This is not just the state department and the foundation. Does the president have any concerns, you laid out all the wonderful work the foundation does no dispute there. But what about the appearance of impropriety . These foreign governments trying to get access and wield influence in this president s administration. There is a it is the responsibility of the department of state to determine how and how compliance was enforced when it came to the maam ran dumb of understand memorandum of understanding. Id refer to you them for questions about this. I can tell you that the president is obviously very pleased with the way that secretary clinton represented the United States around the globe during her tenure. Not disappointed at all that this money came in despite the ethics rules . The president thinks highly of the work that secretary clinton did had while she was in office. I want to ask you about isis and secretary kerry. Yesterday he testified on capitol hill and said, quote, despite isil, despite the visible killings that you see and how horrific they are, we are actually living in peard of less daily threat to americans and to people in the world than normally. Less deaths, less violent deaths. When you have tragically American Families who have seen their family members beheaded by isis, we see these images every day, how can secretary kerry make the claim to the American People to the world, that were safer than we were before . Well, i think he could do so with the evidence on his side. What he was able too demonstrate and i think what he was discussing is the success that our military campaign has had in applying significant pressure to the isis leadership. That there are thousands of strikes that have been conducted by the United States and our Coalition Partners to take out isil targets, in some cases even isil leadership targets, supply lines have been destroyed, fighting positions have been destroyed. What this has done is it has prevented isil from being able to operate comfortably in iraq and in syria. We have been concerned from the very beginning that isil would attempt to use all of the instability and chaos in syria to try to establish a safe haven that they could then use to launch targets in other locations in the world, and because of the pressure that we have applied, because of the strategy that we have pursued to have fighters on the ground take the fight to isil and to back them up with military and Coalition Air strikes, that pressure has been applied and that has reduced the ability of isil to expand their reign of terror. That said, isil continues to be very dangerous. And there have been tragic incidents of violence in which americans have been killed. Do you think this is preventing isil from expanding their reign of terror . Thats correct. We have been concerned that isil would try to establish syria as a safe haben where they could then use that area to plan and execute terror attacks all around the globe. Do you disagree with the president s director of National Intelligence . Because he gave very direct testimony today, among other things, he said 2014 is shaping up to be the most terror attacks and deaths than the previous 45 years that this data has been collected and said in 55 years of his personal involvement in intelligence, hes never seen bigger a bigger threat to the world right now. How does that square request everything you just said . Hes the president s director of National Intelligence. Hes somebody who is reviewing this intelligence on a daily basis. What were talking about here is their capacity. Their capacity has been limited because of our efforts in iraq and in syria. Because of our efforts to shut down their financing. Because of our efforts to use military air power to take out isil targets. Because of our efforts to arm and equip fighters on the ground to take the fight to them. We are seeing the isil leadership is not operating comfortably in that area of the world and theyre under extensive and extreme pressure that does not mean that the pressure. That does not mean that the threat that they pose is eliminated. Theres work that needs to be done. Its important for us to be vidgelenlt. Its why were going to continue to pursue this multifaceted strategy to shut down their financing and the flow of foreign fighters, to try to counter their messaging that radicalizes people around the globe. And were going to continue to train and equip even more fighters to take the fight to them on the ground and were going to continue this air Strike Campaign against them. And that has allowed us to make progress against them. But the effort to degrade and ultimately destroy them is one thats going to continue. Last summer you said that a lot of the president s efforts have brought tranquility to the world. Do you stand behind that . I stand by the fact that what the president has done on numerous occasions has used american influence, american diplomacy and American Military power to try make the world a safer place for the American People. And fleece doubt that we face significant threats from terrorist organizations and others around the globe. The worlds a dangerous place. But there is no doubt that the president is using his authority as the commander in chief to protect the American People and to make it a safer place for the American People. Alexis. Can you indicate the president s reaction to the f. C. C. Ruling on Net Neutrality is and whether he looks forward to the government defending the f. C. C. s ruling in court . I have not when i walked up here they had not yet taken the final vote on this Net Neutrality provision. So this is an independent process, so what i will say is i know theyre planning to vote on it later today. Once they take a vote on that measure, well evaluate exactly what it is they voted on. They did . Ok. Our policy team will be taking a look at exactly where it is that they approved. Early indications was that it was going to be in line and consist went the position that the president had articulated last november. But well take a look at that and once our policy folks have had an opportunity to review the policy they approved well have a reaction from the president for you. Second question relates to ukraine. I wanted to go back on to the question of costs that are on the table. Is the president supportive of talking to allies about the potential of coordinating, jettisonning russia from swift . I dont. Swift is like the a. T. M. Its like the [inaudible] in which the banking money moves so that russia can tap into it. And that is one cost thats been talked about potentially. I can tell you that im sure my colleagues at the Treasury Department know a whole lot more about this than i obviously do. So id refer you to them in terms of getting a better sense about what sort of options theyre considering. We have in the past been reluctant to talk about the options that were considering because we wouldnt want to essentially announce the steps that we were preparing to take. Because it would only allow individuals who the targets of those steps to take actions that would, you know, move their money around or shield them from the steps that were trying to take. So but for better insight into the policy dilemma or at least the policy decision that needs to be made on this id refer you to the Treasury Department. I want to ask a couple quick questions. With everything thats gone on with immigration on the hill, yesterday the head of Homeland Security was on the hill. Could you give us some information about his conversation, his conversation with the president following his hill visit . And what that hill visit entailed. I dont believe that the d. H. S. Secretary had an opportunity to speak to the president. The president was on the road for most of the day yesterday and i dont believe that the two of them connected on the phone. But and im not aware of all of the meet thags the secretary had, i know that for weeks now he has been meeting with both democrats and republicans. But hes spending most of his time trying to urge republicans to do the responsible thing and ensure that his agency thats responsible for protecting the homeland of the United States of america, is properly and fuldy funded through the end of the year. At least through the end of the fiscal year. The other irony that struck me about this is that the thing that were not debating right now or what the funding are what the funding levels should be. That the hard work, the difficult part of this of making policy decisions about what the appropriate funding levels are, in which elements of the department of Homeland Security need, what level of resources, all that work has been done. And right now its just matter of whether or not were going to implement a compromise that just about everybody has agreed to. Thats what i think is such a disappointing fact about this situation. Is that the hard work of making policy decisions about the proper funding levels for the department of Homeland Security has been done and agreed to across party lines. Right now its just the responsibility of Republican Leaders in congress to move that bipartisan agreement across the finish line. And their failure to do so would have negative consequences for the country. So, can you detail and go into specifics about the negative consequences for the country . We hear certain things about how it would affect just broad brush strokes, how it would affect antiterrorism efforts and how it would affect furloughs, possible furloughs of tens of thousands. Could you go into a little bit more detail about the negative effects . Im sure that the department of Homeland Security can get you some more detailed information about this but i think generally speaking, i think the most obvious consequence is that we would have more than 100,000 d. H. S. Personnel that are on the front lines of keeping the country safe, twhee be responsible for showing up to work on monday without knowing theyre going to get a paycheck for it. And knowing the professionalism of these men and women im confident that theyre going to show up and do a good job, but it certainly isnt fair. And it certainly doesnt give them the kind of support that they deserve. For leaders in congress to not give them a paycheck because of a political dispute with the president of the United States, who happens to be in a different party. Failing to do that would be failure of Republican Leadership. Hopefully were not going to reach that eventuality. The other consequences are, you know we would see tens of thousands of other d. H. S. Employees be furloughed so they wouldnt show up to work. That cant be good for our Homeland Security. Theres a bunch of other processes that would be stopped or at least slowed down, particularly as they relate to processing Emergency Assistance to states that need it. So there is important work that is at risk here and hopefully well see republicans and Republican Leaders come to their senses and do the right thing for the country and move across the finish line, a bipartisan agreement to fund the department of Homeland Security for the rest of the year. Todays february 26. The threeyear anse anniversary of the death of trayvon matter be. There was an martin. There was an outgrowth of the death of Trayvon Martin here at the white house. Three years later, what is the president thinking, what has he learned, what does he want to do moving forward . I think the most important lesson for the president out of this is that there are a lot of important things the president of the United States can do without passing a piece of legislation. Theres no bill that created the Black Brothers Keeper Initiative. By mobilizing local elected officials and leaders in the private sector to try to address this urgent need in communities across the country, theres an opportunity to make a real difference and the president is pleased that after three years that substantial progress has been made on the my brothers Keeper Initiative but theres a whole lot more work that needs to be done and i think this will be an important legacy of the historians who evaluate the presidency of barack obama theyll take a careful look at. Are you saying that this is a hard issue [inaudible] this hard issue trump its legislation . Im not saying that. The case im make something theres very important work that can be done in communities all across the country. And that can make a real difference in the lives of thousands of people. That doesnt require legislation. That the president using his executive authority, that the president can use capitalizening to his stature of the leader of the free world, that he can make a real difference in the lives of people all across the country and more importantly, he can mobilize other people who are concerned about their commie communities want to get involved in their communities to try to address some of these urgent needs. The president believes that its good for those individual communities, but its also good for the country and he certainly is proud of the progress thats been made so far you but it also recognizes the important work that needs to be done. Has he spoken to the Trayvon Martin family at all today . I dont have any conversations with them to read out at this point. Without the president or the Vice President or secretary of state speaking, this is Something Different than in past years isnt it . Not necessarily. I know that there are other years in which specific in which the administration had been represented at apack by individuals other than the president or the Vice President. I had i can get you a list of previous speakers for like a week. Ive had a page in my book that described all the previous speakers there. So we can get that you list. I know it exists. Within this administration, so there are two times in which the president has spoken. The Vice President has spoken to the gathering at least once. But the other occasions were the message from the administration was delivered by other senior members of the president S National Security team and thats the case this year as well. The delay and deciding and the timing of this, you have to know that the perception is there that theres there was tension about this. And that its not going to be the president. The other thing wases the time frame about these announcements. Let me follow up with facts. What they indicate is that the story is that its not at all uncommon for three or four days before the conference is slated to begin that the Administration Announces the Senior Administration officials who are participating. The point here is that the fact that both ambassador power and the National Security advisor rice are speaking to the group its indicative of the commitment of this administration to a strong u. S. Israel relationship. And that the Security Cooperation comm in particular is one that, under the leadership of this president is unprecedented. And thats everything from close intel sharing relationships to working to counter threats from terrorists in the region, to even providing funding for the Iron Dome Program that over the summer saved the lives of countless innocent israelis who were at risk as being targeted by extremists in gaza that were firing rockets at them. Why isnt the president himself going to say exactly those things in that forum then . In this case the president believes that both ambassador power and the National Security advisor, susan rice, will do a good job of indicating the administrations commitment to a strong u. S. Israel relationship, of indicating that the president and his team are determined to ensure that that relationship isnt reduced to a relationship between a couple of political parties. But actually reflects the strong bipartisan consensus that exists in washington that the United States National Security interests are enhanced by assisting in the protection of the National Security of our closest ally in the middle east. Weve demonstrated a commitment to that principle throughout this president s tenure in office and that will continue in the years ahead. For the last couple of weeks, whenever it was asked here does all of this detract from that relationship or could it be destructive and you always kind of gave that answer, what you just said, it about it being a electronic relationship. But now were hearing that, yes, this is destructive to the relationship, so what has changed in the assessment to actually be saying those words now . What we have said all along and the president spoke about this at some length at his News Conference with chancellor merkel, that there is a long tradition in the United States of ensuring that the relationship between the United States and israel isnt just reduced to a relationship between political parties. That for a long time leaders in both parties in this country and in israel have sought to try to shield that relationship from turbulence associated with party politics. Both in the United States and israel we have thrivinging democracies that occasionally are characterized by a pretty robust and in some cases even aggressive flitcal debate. Thats one of the things that we actually have in common with israel. Its one of the reasons that we feel a close kinship with that country. But for a long time, that relationship the relationship between our countries has been shielded from that occasionally ram bunning shuss political debate. The president believes that that is an important principle thats worth protecting. Thats something that hes determined to do and certainly a message that both ambassador power and secretary rice will present when they speak to apack. Are you saying that the debate surrounding this is whats being destructive or is the fact that hes coming here in this way, to give this speech what could be destructive to the relationship . No. Im not trying to squesm a healthy political debate. What im suggesting is that the president believes very strongly that even the appearance of interfering in party politics, on one side or the other, is bad for our broader relationship. Thats precisely why the president will not be meeting with the Prime Minister when he travels to the u. S. Next week. As you know, the Prime Minister is on the ballot in israel and an election is scheduled for just two or three weeks from now. And the president doesnt want to leave anybody in israel with the impression that hes trying to put his thumb on the scale to support one candidate or another. What im confident of is that whoever wins the election will continue to have regular consultations with the u. S. President and that person will enjoy strong coordination between our government and theirs and the president is committed to that because he believes that american National Security interests are enhanced by it. You said the president remains engaged. Whats he doing to avert shutdown . The president that the point stands ready to continue to encourage members of congress to take this commonsense step and ensure that the funding for the department of Homeland Security doesnt lapse at the end of the year but right now the principle disagreement is between the Republican Leadership of the house of representatives and the Republican Leadership in the United States senate. Do you think engagement is the most useful thing right now . No. I think the most useful thing is for the president to stand ready to make the case to republicans that funding the department of Homeland Security is a really important thing for them to do. Its a pretty commonsense case. I think its a case americans or democrats im sorry, democrats and republicans all across the country coup make to congressional lead fathers they had the opportunity to make that case, and certainly the president will make that case if hes given the opportunity as well. If hes give than opportunity, what does that mean . I guess it means if theres a need for him to have a conversation with Speaker Boehner to move this process along, then hell do it. If theres a need for him to have a conversation with leader mcconnell this week, to move this process along hell do it. Right now the issue is that, in the United States senate, theyre poised to approve a fullyear funding bill for the department of Homeland Security in bipartisan fashion. And the question right now is whether or not the speaker of the house is going to put that up for a vote in the house of representatives. If he does, no one has any reason to be worried. We know that will strongly pass with bipartisan support in the house and the president will sign it and operations at the department of Homeland Security will not just continue uninterrupted, but they will get the benefit of certainty. Knowing that they have a fullyear funding bill that is at appropriate levels for them to do their important work. Thats the good outcome, that good outcome is entirely possible. It just depends on the speaker of the house demonstrating some leadership and doing the responsible thing. I guess im just trying to get a sense of what the circumstance would be in which he would proactively get involved. The president has had meetings with members of congress in both parties on a number of occasions over the last six or seven weeks. The clock is ticking. Yeah, but again this is not a dispute between congress and the administration. Weve done as i pointed out in response to somebodys question earlier, weve done the hard work of figuring out what the funding levels should be. We figured out which programs the department of Homeland Security deserve which levels of funding. And that required a lot of negotiation and compromise and Work Across Party Lines to reach that agreement. Thats the hard work of this process. The easy work is taking a consensus, bipartisan agreement and just moving it through the congress on time. Were talking about something thats as important as the department of hopeland security, it shouldnt be that difficult. As it requires is a little bit of leadership and a pretty good dose of responsibility. The question is whether or not the speaker of the house is going to assume it. Jihadi john, understanding again that the u. S. Isnt confirming the name, can we assume though, that whether its him or others who are directly involved, that they would be on a nofly list . The nofly list i believe is maintained by the department of Homeland Security. So you can check with them about the steps they would take. But you can be assured that the United States government is using every emment at our disposal. Intelligence, even our military capability certainly our Law Enforcement capability and our Law Enforcement regulationships. To bring to justice those individuals who are responsible for the slaughter of innocent americans. You mentioned a number we heard a lot, that there are probably between 100 and 150 americans who have gone abroad either to train or fight. But then with the three arrests in new york and statements that were made yesterday there obviously is another group who has not left the United States and perhapses will never leave the United States, but are still considered to pose a threat. In fact, what he said yesterday was that the agency is following has home groun violent extremist investigations in every state. Is there a number that you know , of people who are being followed, that are in that category as opposed to people who have left . Is the message were on top of this or youre at risk wherever you live . The message i think is one that we try to send pretty clearly in the context of countering violent extremist summit last week and that is the u. S. Government is working closely with local officials and communities all across the country to combat violent extremism and to try to counter the efforts from isil and other extremist organizations to radicalize vulnerable members of the u. S. Population. And this is something that we continue to be very mindful of. And it requires a lot of work. But we certainly have gotten excellent cooperation from local Law Enforcement and from Community Leaders and there are some communities that actually came to the summit to participate and share their best practices. Some communities have devoted significant time and resources to these efforts and shown some important results and our efforts to replicate that scenario in communities across the country is a priority of the administration and one that continues every day. The people that ive talked to, even who have run some of these programs and believed that theyre useful and important, say thats a longterm proprospect. It isnt something that happens overnight. So i guess im asking in the more immediate sense, are there any do you know of any mms numbers and should people i guess following up on bills question should people feel confident in all 50 states that the resources are there . I dont have any numbers like that in front of me. But i can tell you that the American People can be confident that the administration and local Law Enforcement in communities all across the country are keenly aware of this risk and are implementing a coordinated strategy to mitigate it. Pam. Thank you. Following up on bills question. By not publicly unmasking jihadi john and showing maybe hes like kind of an ordinary guy, does that raise the risk that he might be more of a celebrity, he might become more of a consult figure and maybe more of a magnet for the scores of americans who are trying to go over there and the other westerners trying to go over there . These are the kinds of equities that im confident that our investigators consider. Ultimately the goal here is to keep the American People safe and our counterparts in the u. K. Are trying to keep the british people say much safe. That means, you know engaging in and conducting an exhaustive investigation to try to bring to justice the individual who is responsible for the murder of the citizens in our countries. And im confident that they have evaluated the pros and cons, if will you, of offering up more details about the investigation. But at this point they have not offered up very many details at all. Thats why im certainly not in a position to confirm or deny any details that have been reported today. But i am confident that at some point our expert does determine there is a benefit to talking more publicly about the progress that the investigation has made so far, that theyll do, that but theyll do that only if they conclude that thats in the best interest of the investigation and in the best interest of protecting the american and british people. When the president invited some Muslim Leaders to the white house several weeks ago, did he make a specific appeal to them to kind of watch their communities for extremism and counter any kind of efforts that might be going on . The thick about this is that thing about this is that, first of all that was a conversation that covered a pretty wide range of topics but they certainly did talk about issue of countering violent extremism. The fact is, the leaders in their community are having a conversation about that issue because they want to protect the members of their community. So they didnt need the president of the United States to come in and say to them that they needed to look out for members of their community. Their leaders theyre leaders in their community because thats what theyre focused on. It is why we have been successful in working in partnership with leaders in the Muslim Community to try to combat some of the efforts from extremist groups overseas, to radicalize people in the Muslim Community and this country. That has been a successful, Fruitful Partnership that has protected the American People including american muslims. That is the nature of at least part of that conversation that was convened here at the white house a few weeks ago. If the government does know the identity of jihadi john, would the Justice Department be already preparing to file charges against him . Thats a question i dont know the answer to. You might check with the department of justice on that. A couple quick questions on trade. You said a little bit earlier in the briefing that there are a lot of republicans who support the t. T. P. And some democrats. What is the president doing to bring up the Democratic Party to get more of his Party Members to support his agenda and is he willing to compromise on some of his current positions to assuage some of the concerns of his party . I can tell you that this is a practical matter. The president devoted some portion of his state of the Union Address to talking about why this is important to the country. The president as you know today is doing interviews with a handful of local Television Anchors from across the country, where hes going to make the case that the communities that they cover are communities that have benefited significantly from opening up American Goods and services to overseas exports. And that striking additional agreements that are good for middle class families would also be good for these individual communities. In some ways that sort of groundlevel advocacy is something that i do think will persuade democrats and republicans, frankly, to take a close look at some of the trade agreements that the president is trying to broker. And the president continues to have conversations with democrats and republicans all the time. Some of which you hear about, some of which you dont. In which he makes a very direct case for why what he wants to do, in terms of trying to reach an agreement with a host of other asiapacific countries would be in the best interest of the United States. And one key element of that argument was also a key element of the argue he made during the state of the union, that if the United States refuses to or fails to engage in this region of the world, that what youll see is youll see that china, given their own economic aspirations, will engage pretty aggressively in that region of the world in a way that will be disadvantageous to American Workers and american businesses and American Farmers. That they will seek to lower the kinds of standards that we abide by in this country. So notice our interest to try to go to our partners in the asiapacific and work with them to abide by the kinds of standards that we regularly abide by. The benefit of that is the president continues to be confident that if American Workers and american entrepreneurs and american businesses and American Farmers are give an level playing field, that they cant just compete, theyre going to win. And thats going to be good for our economy. Its going to be good for job creation. And thats the strategy and thats the case that the president will be making to members of congress and frankly in both parties about this issue. Has the white house had a chance to read the op ed by senator warner warren, specifically about this issue . I have did have i did have a chance to read a little bit of the op ed. What i can say is a general matter, is that the what is contemplated in the agreement is raising standards including standards that are related to settling disputes between companies that are located in other countries and the United States. And what the president breesks we should do is put in a framework that holds those other countries that are operating in the United States to a higher standard and that failure to include a standard and failure to include a mechanism for enforcing that standard will only put American Workers and american businesses at a disadvantage. Again, if we fail to engage in this region of the world, were going to let china write the rules of the road. Thats not in the best interest of the United States. And its certainly not in the best interest of the american economy. So what is part of this agreement, and where we part ways with the views that are expressed in senator warrens op ed is that were advocating putting in place rigorous standards that raise standards for everybody else. If we know and the president knows that if everybody else is abiding by the terms that american businesses are, that american businesses are going to thrive. And theyre going to benefit from access to those overseas markets and that means theyre going to hire more people their bottom line or at least their profit line is going to go up, and thats a good thing for the american economy, its certainly a good thing for job creation. And it would be good for our broader National Security and the president s going to aggressively make that case. One quick question on a call the president made the other day to walmarts c. E. O. Is the president doing more of these cause calls to leaders, trying to get them to operate on their own to raise the minimum wage, has he gotten progress . The president i dont have any specific calls to read out at this point but the president over the last year or so has actually traveled to some businesses to give them credit for taking care of their workers. Youll recall when the president was in new york he went by the gap and picked up a couple of items for his family to bring attention to the fact that gap had made the decision to raise their workers pay. Youll recall that after the state of the union a year or two ago the president visited costco to highlight the success that company had enjoyed, at least in part related to the workplace policies that they have in place for their employees. So the president s going to continue to look for opportunities to shine a spotlight on those businesses that are doing the right thing by giving their workers a raise. And, again, and this is certainly true of walmart, they didnt do they didnt make that decision to change their policies, give their workers a raise, give them access to more flexible scheduling procedures, as a favor to the. They did it because its good business. Its good for their bottom line. Were confident that other businesses are are going to reach the same conclusion. We just think that, again, congress should reach the same conclusion and they should give all American Workers a raise. First of all, jihadi john, can you explain what value would you put on johnny jihadi john as a target . We remain committed to making sure that the individuals who are responsible for the murder of american citizens are brought to justice. And that makes any individual who is responsible for killing americans a valuable target. The president has and will continue to devote significant resources to bringing those individuals to justice. So theres no special attention for him . Again, youd have to talk with the department of justice as they conduct this investigation. If you wanted an assessment of where he ranks on list. In the mind of the president , he ranks highly on the list because that individual is responsible for the murder of innocent americans and the president s determined to bring them to justice. We heard about these this al shah baseball at american mall over the weekend. Theres nothing that stops people from going to a gun show and doing. That if theres any sort of thought to be given to push to close gun show loophole and strengthen background checks in the interest of National Security . If there isnt one the president certainly believes there are some commonsense steps we can take that would ensure that we can continue to protect the Second Amendment rights of lawabidinging citizens while also making it harder for those who shouldnt get guns to get them. The president has pushed a variety of legislative proposals to try to effectuate those changes. The president has also put in place a large number i think two dozen or so executive actions to try to take those steps. Those executive actions have been important and successful but there is more work that can be done to implement commonsense measures that would both protect the Second Amendment right to lawabiding americans while making it harder for those individuals who shouldnt have firearms from getting them. Cpac is going on right now. Governor mrs. Christensen y Chris Christie has said that the people here at the white house somebody should tell them to shut up. I wonled father you have any reaction to that wonder if you have any reaction to that. What happened . It seems like only yesterday he and the president were throwing footballs on the boardwalk. Now this. Youd have to ask him that. Followup on trade. You mentioned one of the aims for todays interviews is to persuade republicans and democrats that this is a good thing. Does the president think that right now the support is there for trade Promotion Authority in Congress Today . And if not, you know, how far away does he think he is to getting the support he would need both amongst democrats and among enough republicans to make up the difference . There are some democrats who said theyd never support this. To get that through and finish the Transpacific Partnership i think its hard to assess because there isnt specific t. P. A. Legislation put forward yet. I know there are democrats and republicans on the hill that are working on that. Maybe even as we speak. So i think at that point well be in a better position to start counting votes and getting the sense of where people stand on. This youre right that there are some when people who have, in both parties frankly, who have ruled it out on principle, without even considering what the legislation includes. But i think the vast ma the gentleman reserves the balance of his time of majority of members of congress are interested in seeing specific legislative proposal and it will give us an opportunity to do two things, one is to persuade them of some of the details that are included in the proposal, that those would be a good thing. It also would allow the legislative process to work. That if there are specific provisions that members of congress have concerns about they can off tweaks or changes or edits that might garner additional broader support. There will be a legislative process associated with this and the president will be engaged in that process and making the case both to democrats and republicans that this is something that is clearly in the best interest of the country and clearly in the best interest of the middle class families that live here. Has the president or anyone at the white house weighed in on those negotiations on the front end to make sure that the proposal is something that he could accept . This is to Grant Authority to the president. I know that there have been conversations between white house staff and members and staff on capitol hill on this top ofic. Topic. So there has been Administration Level engagement. I dont know of any specific conversations the president has had on this but hes had the opportunity to talk about this to some of the congressional leaders. Thats part of the legislate prove sess there. Will be a Committee Process where this will go through the committee, but obviously the leaders will have some influence on this as well. And the president i know for sure has had some conversations with congressional leadership on the issue. Does the president or does the white house believe that t. P. A. Bill, once its introduced in the senate, was going to be a bipartisan effort . Does the white house believe it has to be a bipartisan effort to have a chance to succeed . Most congressional observers who may know a little more about this process than i do i think do assume that its going to require democrats and republicans in both houses of Congress Getting together to advance this. So we are operating from the premise that it will require bipartisan support. If there is a way for i mean im not sure there is another way. We are working in bipartisan fashion to try to get both democrats and republicans to support it. Do you think the bill will be introduced in a bipartisan way . That i dont know. I think it certainly would be a good and important first step for there to be democrats and republicans who support the first draft of this legislation. Another thing is i know that on the hill theyre talking about trying to do this in the First Quarter of the year which would be end of march. Did the white house say south korea that as a realistic goal and does the white house and the strad Administration Believe that mandatory goal to have t. P. A. In place that quickly could get t. A. T. P. A. Done . Im not in a good position to assess where whether theres realistic but obviously the lelingtive process is one that sometimes can be a little arduous and sometimes take a little longer than we would like. But this is something that is worthy of careful consideration in the congress. And we would like to see it done as quickly as possible. But we also want to make sure that its done in a way that can build support among members of congress from both parties so it can pass. So we certainly are feel a sense of urgency about it but i wouldnt put a time frame on it. Bob, last one. A couple days ago the president vetoed the keystone x. L. Pipeline bill there arent enough votes to override. The president said he wanted to let the state Department Review process continue to play itself out. Is there any reason to believe or any timeline for that process to be completed ever . Or is it just going to politically be left to die of neglect . Is there any, you know any reason to expect that review process to finish . Yes. I think you can expect the state department will complete the task that is in front of them. Thats their responsibility. Im confident that theyll do. It i dont know at this point exactly what the time frame for that final decision and final review to be completed will be. You can check with the state department. They may be able to give you a better estimate of the time frame were looking at here. Were getting into president ial Campaign Season already. It always seems that way. Theres an opportunity for us and certainly the experts at the department of state and the other relevant federal agencies, to evaluate this process without the influence of politics. To really focus on the merits and the consequences and put forward a decision to the president about whether or not it is clearly in the National Interest to construct the pipeline and hopefully well get that done soon. Thanks, everybody. Have a good day. Cred c. D. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] the house expected to gavel in shortly. We could see work on legislation to fund the Homeland Security department at some point. Republicans met earlier on house how to proceed with the Homeland Security funding. Current funding expires tomorrow at midnight. And today work continued on the k12 education measure. To eliminate National School requirements. Votes on amendments expected after the house gavels back in. We spoke earlier to a reporter about the Student Success act. What are some of the changes this g. O. P. Bill would make to the current law . This republicanbacked bill would do a lot to rollback the federal governments role in education. Specifically it would allow states to use a lot of the funding to their discretion. It block grants a lot of funding to give states and schools flexibility. It would keep the annual testing regiment however it would give a lot of the control over accountability to states. Over the next couple of days the house is going to debate up to 44 amendments including one dealing with common core standards. What are those standards and what are the proposed changes that the bill might make . So common core state standards are a set of academic benchmarks that a lot of states, a majority of states in the country have adopted. The bill as written includes language that prohibits the secretary of education or the white house from incentivizing or in any waco ersing states way coercing states into adopting the common core. Thats an argument that a lot of conservatives make. But there is an amendment that will go a step further in allowing states to opt out of the common core if they so choose. And its really more of a similar bomb symbolic amendment. Its putting the common core standards on the floor for an open debate, which is the first time thats happened ever in congress. The headline on your piece is title 1 portability for private schools to get no floor vote in house and c. L. B. Debate. In terms of title 1 funding for low income students, how much does the bill authorize for that . What the bill does is authorize funding through 2021. At fiscal 2012 levels. In terms of title 1 portability, the bill as currently written would allow those title 1 dollars to be low income students to follow students to the school of their choice including charters. The amendment that my story focuses on was an amendment that was filed by luke messer, a republican of indiana, who would have liked to see those title 1 dollars also be made available to private schools and the rules committee did not allow that amendment through. Which was sort of a big deal for both republicans and democrats. A lot of republicans were nervous that if it got ok through the rules committee and was allowed to be debated on the floor that it might cause some snafus in roar reporting out a clean bill while democrats were nervous about making the bill more conservative than it already is. Heritage action tweeted about the opposition saying the Heritage Action fund is key voting the bill. Their reasoning, its not nearly conservative enough. Thats a politics k12 tweet. What isnt conservative enough for Heritage Action . So as i previously mentioned about the title 1 money going to private schools, they would have liked to see that. They also just generally would have liked to see the federal government completely out of education. There was an amendment offered that did not get an ok that would have allowed states to keep federal funding for education but not have to be beholden to any of the requirements of the current law. Weve been focusing on the house obviously. What about the senate, where are they in their rewrite of the law . In the senate, senators alexander and murray, the chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Education committee, have been in bipartisan negotiations for the last two weeks now trying to hammer out a deal thats acceptable to both sides of the aisle. They havent had a whole lot of progress on that end but we should see something in the next week or so. Senator alexander has been very clear that he would like to get something on to the floor as quickly as possible. And hes mentioned that he has worked out some time with Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell to make that happen at some point in march. Lauren camera with Education Week covering the debate on capitol hill. You can read more at edweek. Org. Thanks for the update. Cred c. D. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2015] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] simpson, kindly take the chair. The chair the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the further consideration of h. R. 5, which the clerk will report by title. The clerk a bill to Public Education protect state and local authority the chair amendment number 14 offered by the gentleman from West Virginia. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18 proceedings will resume on those amendments printed in house report 11429 on which further proceedings were postponed. Amendment number one amendment number 2 amendment number 6, amendment number 9 amendment number 13. The chair will reduce to two minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. The Unfinished Business is request for a vote on amendment number 1 by the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. Contendy, on which further proceedings were postponed on which the noes prevailed. The clerk amendment number 1, printed in part b of house report number 11429, offered by mr. Kennedy of massachusetts. The chair a recorded vote has been requested. Those in support of a recorded vote will rise and be counted. A sufficient number having arisen, yeas and nays are ordered. Members will record their votes by Electronic Device. This will be a 15minute vote. National captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives the chair on this vote, the ayes have 204, the nays are 217. The amendment is not agreed. To is not agreed to. The Unfinished Business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 6 printed in part b of house report 114 by the gentleman from texas by the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. Grothman, on which proceedings were postponed and on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. The clerk amendment number printed in part 2 of house report 11429 offered by mr. Growthman of by mr. Grothman of wisconsin. The chair this a recorded vote has been requested. Those in support of the request for the recorded vote will rise and be downed. A sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. This will be a twominute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the chair on this vote the yeas are 114, the nays are 311. The amendment is not agreed to. The committee will be in order. Members, please cease conversations, take your seats. The house will be in order. Members please clear the well. Members, please cease conversations. For what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for the purpose of a scheduling announcement. The chair without objection. Mr. Mccarthy members are advised that the house is expected to complete its work for the week by tomorrow evening. Information on the legislation that will be considered in more detailed floor timing for tomorrow will be announced after the conclusion of the rules Committee Hearing tonight. I yield back. I yield mr. Hoyer will the gentleman yield . What can we expect to be on the floor tomorrow, mr. Leader . Mr. Mccarthy mr. Speaker, i mean mr. Whip, i expect that we will deal with the current schedule that we have before us, plus dealing with d. H. S. Mr. Hoyer can the majority leader tell us in light of the fact thats less than 24 hours from now, what we might be considering with respect to keeping the department of Homeland Security operating on a permanent basis through september 30 . And i yield to my friend. Mr. Mccarthy i thank the gentleman for yielding. As the gentleman knows, we dealt with this weeks ago and sent over to the senate and as i just listed before, we will provide that information after the rules Committee Hearing tonight. Mr. Hoyer will the gentleman yield . Mr. Mccarthy gladly. Mr. Hoyer the rules committees going to meet at 9 30 tonight, is that the yes. Somebody said 8 00 over here. A member of the rules committee. Is it 8 00 or 9 30 . Mr. Mccarthy wheres our rules Committee Chair . 8 00. Mr. Hoyer 8 00. Will the gentleman yield again . Mr. Mccarthy gladly. Mr. Hoyer mr. Leader, we have been now, youre correct, six weeks leaving the department of Homeland Security twisting in the wind. Weve done that as the gentleman knows mr. Mccarthy mr. Speaker, mr. Speaker reclaiming my time, ive been very clear about the schedule for tomorrow. We will end our work by tomorrow evening. This house has taken action to make sure the d. H. S. Was fully funded. We did our part and i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Without objection, twominute vote willing continue. The Unfinished Business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 6 primented in part b of house report 11429 by the gentleman from texas, mr. Castro, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the noeses prevailed by voice vote. The clerk will redesignate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 6. Offered about by mr. Castro of texas. The chair a recorded vote has been requested. Those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. A sufficient number having arisen, rdevo is ordered. Members will record their votes by Electronic Device. This will be a twominute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the chair on this vote the yeas are 182, the nays are 243. Less than a majority voting in the affirm tifpk, the amendment is not agreed to. The Unfinished Business is the request for a recorded vote on 9 by the gentleman from illinois, mr. Quigley, on which further proceedings were postponed and onpy the noes prevail i and on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. The clerk amendment number 9. The chair a recorded vote has been requested. All those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number havin arisena recorded vo is ordered. Members will record their votes by Electronic Device. Had this will be a twominute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the chair on this vote, the yeas are 218 the nays are 201. A majority voting in the affirmative, the amendment is adopted. The Unfinished Business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 13 printed in house report 11429 by the gentlewoman from wisconsin, ms. Moork on which further proceedings were postponed, and on which the noes prevailed by voice vote. The clerk will redesignate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 13 printed in house report 11429 offered by ms. Moore of wisconsin. The chair a recorded vote has been requested. Those in support of the request for a ror recorded vote will rise and be counted. A sufficient number having risen, a recorded vote is ordered. Members will record their votes by Electronic Device tl twme t [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. In cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the chair on this vote, the yeas are 183 the chair on this vote, the yeas are 185 the nays are 239. Less than a majority voting in the affirmative, the amendment is not agreed to. The chair it is now in order to consider amendment number 15 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition . I have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will report the amendment. The clerk offered by mr. Delaney of maryland. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentleman from maryland, mr. Delaney and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland. Mr. Delaney thank you, madam chair. I yield myself three minutes. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Delaney i want to start by thanking congressman junge, congressman polis, chairman kline and Ranking Member scott for their support of this bipartisan amendment. And i know my colleagues join me madam chair, in the view that whenever the government, the private sector and the not for Profit Community work well together, we get Better Outcomes for all our citizens, which is exactly what the paper success pay for success framework is designed to do. It allows local governments to innovate, address best practices and be fiscally responsible with respect to the provision of government services. This amendment madam chair is designed specifically to allow the funds that are allocated in the underlying bill for teacher training and retention to utilize pay for success frameworks against those programs. Teacher turnover is a big issue in the United States. Its estimated to cost our educational system 1 billion to 2 billion. In my own state of maryland, its estimated to cost up to 45 million. Its very important that we make a difference against this problem. We want to make sure that educational agencies have as many tools available at their disposal to work against this problem including pay for success approaches and frameworks. I want to thank my colleagues for their support of this amendment and i reserve the rest of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . Thank you, madam chair. I claim time in opposition though im supportive of the amendment. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Row key tea mr. Rokita thank you, madam chair. I want to thank the gentleman for his hard work on this amendment. Currently Teacher Attrition costs the United States 1 billion each year. Many teachers mr. Young many teachers leave in the first five years. Providing these teachers with evidencebased Training Thru a pay for Success Model will not only save the government money, it will help to retain top talent in the classroom. This amendment will do just that, give schools the ability to participate in this finance mod tole retain the best to retain model to retain the best teachers. It allows investments to scale up scientifically proven social and Educational Programs. Because the projects are focused on results, government money soninlaw paid out to private Sector Investment investors when desired outcomes are met and only in accordance with the value assigned to those outcomes. This social impact model has the potential to fundament a fundamentally transform our Educational Programs shifting the focus from inputs to outcomes. I want to thank the gentleman from maryland, the gentleman from colorado and others for their leadership on this issue. I want to thank my fellow colleague from indiana for his overall leadership on this educational bill itch look forward to our continued cooperation on these efforts and urge my colleagues to support this amendment, reserving the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from indiana reserves, the gentleman from maryland is recognized. Mr. Delaney thank you madam chair. Id like to yield one minute to my friend from colorado, congressman polis. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Polis i want to thank my colleagues from maryland and indiana for bringing this forth, im honored to be a cosponsor of the bill. This allows taos leverage philanthropic dollars to meet a socially designed outcome and is only paid out when the outcome is reached. This allow us to leverage our limited resources through a pay for success mechanism to ensure were getting what we paid for. This is important to educators who deserve the best in professional go its important for students to make sure they benefit from the limited professional Development Dollars we have. Its also important for the Philanthropic Community and Government Investment because we want to make sure our dollars are deployed as positively as possible. Some of these met ribblings can include, does the professional Development Lead the teacher to help improve Student Development . Thats one of the oldest benchmarks of whether it works. By time and aligning our limited resources for outcomes for supporting teachers through a pay for success initiative, we can make sure our limited investment has the maximum positive benefit. I urge my colleagues to adopt this amendment and yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Young thank you, ma mr. Delaney id like to yield one minute mr. Delaney id like to yield one minute to mr. Scott. Mr. Scott we all know evidence based approaches save more money than they cost. This will allow the private sector to make those investments and prove that were right. I thank the gentleman for introducing this amendment and for their leadership. This is a great amendment and i trust it will be adopted and well be table be able to make great progress in education and other social services. I yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from maryland is recognized. Mr. Delaney again, i urge my colleagues for support of the amendment. I thank my colleagues for support on the floor. Whenever the government, private sector and nonprofit Work Together we get Better Outcomes. I yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from indiana is recognized. Mr. Young i yield two minutes to the gentlelady from washington. The chair the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. I rise in support of the amendment and rise to support strong, conservative legislation that provides equal opportunity and education for everyone in this country, no matter their walk of life, how much money they may have or what challenges they face. Mrs. Mcmorris rodgers the Student Success act improves, strengthens and modernizes our classrooms to give our students the opportunity to reach their full potential. As a mom of a 7yearold son, cole who has special needs, i know firsthand that everyone has different needs in the classroom. Every students path to learning is both unique and equally important. So im proud to advance legislation that recognizes that. It all starts by innovating and empowering americas students. Thats why ive championed the 21st century classroom innovation act included in todays legislation. And together well ensure that that technology will be fully incorporated into our classrooms to enhance personalized learning for our students. By blending traditional learning programs with high tech tools, well take our classrooms and our students to the 21st century. But the foundation of real education reform goes beyond Technological Advancement and begins with an unequivocal recognition that our students may have different needs. But they should all have an equal opportunity, an equal opportunity to learn, an equal opportunity to graduate, and an equal opportunity for a diploma. Thats why i championed several important provisions in the Student Success act that address thees needs. First, when a state establishes guidelines for individualized alternative testing they will do so on a subject by subject basis. Parents must be clearly informed when they move their children in alternative testing so it will fully understand the implications of majoring those decisions for their ids for their kids. Right now far too many children with parents of children with disabilities arent told when their kids are moved into alternative testing. This legislation changes that and ensures the chair the gentlelady is recognized for an additional minute. Mrs. Mcmorris rodgers spst it ensures that mrs. Mcmorris rodgers it ensures that students who take alternative testing cannot be prevented from receiving a diemployee masm it will enhance communication between parents and teachers and give everyone an equal opportunity to receive a diploma and ensure that when my son cole and millions like him walk into a classroom theyll be defined by their ability not their disability. And at its core, this legislation changes the way we think about and educate those with disabilities. That is how we achieve real 21st century education reform. The chair the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. The gentleman from indiana is recognized. I yield the balance of time to ganm indiana. The chair the gentleman from indiana voiced. I cha the chair and the gentleman from indiana for his leadership on this issue and jalt the gentleman on the other side of the aisle. I appreciate it very much. Mr. Rokita i rise in strong support of this amendment. I think its a great example of the kind of use that we intended with this language to begin with. The federal government spends tens of billions of dollars on education annually. If ask you the average hoosier or any american they think washington does a pretty poor job of spending those dollars efficiently, as was just demonstrated. Instead of business as usual, we should look for new ways to achieve results which is exactly the concept behind the gentlemans pay for success initiatives. These initiatives provide flexibility for the public and private sectors to partner together around common goals. This model ensures value for taxpayer dollars. And simply as a cosponsor of the underlying bill, along with chairman kline and members certain members of the education and work force committee, we would urge all our colleagues, both republican and democrat to support this amendment. I yield back. The chair the gentlemans time has expired. All time has expired. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from maryland. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 16 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition . Mr. Jeffries madam chair, i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the chair will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 16 printed in part b of house report 11429 offered by mr. Jeffries of new york. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentleman from new york, mr. Jeffries and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from new york. Mr. Jeffries thank you, madam chair. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Jeffries madam chair, i rise today in support of a modest change to h. R. 5 that would amend relevant portions of the Student Success act related to technology. To include education about the harms of Copyright Piracy. This amendment is designed to encourage local educational agencies, teachers, educational staff and parents to discuss the harms of Copyright Piracy as well as the use of technology in a responsible fashion. In the absence of classroom instruction about the importance of intellectual property as well as the harms of Copyright Piracy, at the elementary and secondary school level, young people are often unaware of the boundaries established in law to prevent the illegal infringement of copyrighted content. Research suggests that in order to uphold the societal value of respect for intellectual property, individuals must learn or be introduced to this principle at an early age. This mission, of course, is anchored in the United States constitutional charge to congress, to protect intellectual property. Article 1, section 8, clause of the United States constitution says 8 of the United States constitution says, the Congress Shall have the power to promote the progress of science and useful arts by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries. We have an article 1 responsibility as members of congress to ensure that creators and innovators are not robbed of the fruits of their labor. Technology, of course is a wonderful thing and its the way of the future. It is an important tool and we must ensure that our students are using it in a safe and responsible fashion or certainly at least provide our local educational stakeholders the opportunity to disseminate information in a manner that they see fit. In the classroom, children are currently taught that plagiarism is an ethical violation of academic honesty. This amendment will hopefully facilitate the extension of this discussion into the digital era. To that end, we must help our local schools and parents be biven be given the tools necessary to proactively educate to the extent that they see fit information about the unforce unforeseen impact on Copyright Piracy, the importance of intellectual property and its connection, of course, to the american economy. A variety of bipartisan stakeholders support this amendment, including educational organizations such as creative future, as well as the Copyright Alliance had the Recording Industry association of america, the National Music publishers association, the Songwriters Guild of america, the authors guild, the association of american publishers as well as the recording academy. Intellectual Property Protection is a foundation of the american economy. Our continued prosperity at least in part depends on protecting the innovation and the creative output of artists musicians, scientists and engineers and ensuring that the next generation of creators can flourish as well. Thus its important to recognize the vital role that education can play in helping the future leaders of america understand the value of the american Creative Community and protect this significant sector for future generations. For these reasons i urge my colleagues to support this modest amendment and at this time i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from new york reserves. Who seeks recognition . The gentleman from new york is recognized again. Mr. Jeffries let me yield one minute to the distinguished gentleman from virginia, representative scott. The chair the gentleman has 30 seconds remaining and so the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. Mr. Scott thank you. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam chair copyright law is a complicated field and any guidance we can give teachers and parents on how to avoid Copyright Infringement and refrain from unintentional or intentional piracy would be worthwhile and i support the gentlemans amendment and yield back. The chair the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Rokita i claim time in opposition, even though im not opposed. The chair without objection, the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Rokita thank you madam speaker. I dont intend to use the whole time. I just wanted to add my praise to mr. Jeffries work and i think it also represents a good starting point. I certainly support this amendment. Theres a number of issues around technology that is important to incorporate into professional development. Mr. Polis some of them have to do with the Legal Framework like copyright. I would add to that illegal hacking or accessing of sites. I would add to that trademark piracy, in addition to Copyright Piracy. Some of them have to do with potential dangers to students like cyberbullying, privacy and knowledge about how students dont put their personal information online, for how it could make them subject to a crime. And along with, of course copyright privacy, particular will in the academic contest, its important that teachers, parents and educational professionals receive education on the fair use and the academic context. A very important piece of when youre researching documents citations, where the line is between plagiarism and a proper citation, where the line is between fair use in a noncommercial academic contest and illegal commercial or personal use of a copyrighted product, so i think this represents a good starting point. I look forward to working with the gentleman from new york on this issue as it moves forward. I support the amendment and i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from new york. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 17 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from massachusetts seek recognition . Ms. Clark madam chair, i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the chair will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 17 printed in part b of house report 11429 offered by ms. Clark of massachusetts. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentlewoman from massachusetts, ms. Clark, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from massachusetts. Ms. Clark thank you and yield myself three minutes. The chair the gentlelady is recognized. Ms. Clark madam chair, in addition to achieving outstanding results for individual children, highquality Early Childhood education and care is as close to a Silver Bullet as we are going to find to solve our economic challenges. Young childrens brains develop at an astonishing pace. Childrens first learning experiences during these years are critical to their visual, language and social, emotional development. Skills developed at this stage are the foundation of language and reading proficiency. A key indicate key indicators for academic and economic success later in life. Americas Early Childhood teachers will provide our children their first informative experiences and are therefore a critical influence on our nations future economy. An important stepping stone to the middle class is not just access to Early Learning but access to highquality learning. Parents should be able to go to work and have confidence their kids are receiving highquality learning experiences. This confidence in turn enhances parents ability to work and reach their own economic potential. For this reason, im offering a commonsense amendment. This amendment simply clarifies the professional development for early grade teachers is an acceptable use of funding under this bill. Local School Systems should have the flexibility to use title 2 funds, the existing funds that are already targeted to support teachers principles principals and School Leaders on professional development that directly benefits our youngest learners. Its important to note that this amendment does not require them to do so, rather it simply allows them. This nocost amendment is supported by a range of Early Childhood advocates, including the center for law and social policy and the zero to three. High quality Early Childhood education for our youngest learners is a goal that cuts across party lines and enjoys broad support from the American People public. It is a winwin. I hope my colleagues in both parties will support this amendment and i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentlewoman from massachusetts reserves the balance of her time. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . Mr. Rokita i claim time in opposition, although i am thy im not opposed. The chair without objection, the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Rokita i thank the chair and the gentlewoman for this amendment. Early childhood care, as we all can appreciate, Early Childhood care and education, as we all can appreciate, is critical to both children and working patients. This amendment would allow school parents. This amendment would allow schools and head start centers, if they so choose mr. Chairman, as the gentlewoman described, would allow them if they so choose to coordinate and provide Important Services to lowincome children. It will also ensure parents have a clear understanding of the services being offered. I think this amendment is a step forward for the existing partnerships between the Head Start Program and local education agencies. And like the amendment that was discussed before i think this amendment is deserving of our support on both sides of the aisle. With that i yield back. The chair the gentleman from indiana yields back the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from massachusetts is recognized. Ms. Clark mr. Chairman i would like to yield one minute to my colleague from oregon. The chair the gentlewoman from oregon is recognized for one minute. Ms. Bonamici thank you. Id like to thank representative clark for yielding and for offering this important amendment. Highquality Early Childhood education sets up students for success throughout their lives and is a critical component of any Education System. We should be doing all we can to support Early Childhood educators, to help engage families in Early Education and to take steps to close the achievement gap before it opens. I urge my colleagues to support representative clarks amendment. And i yield back. The chair the gentlewoman yields back. Ms. Clark i yield back. The chair the gentlewoman yields back. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from massachusetts. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it and the amendment is agreed to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 18 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition . Mr. Cohen to ask for passage amendment 18. The clerk amendment number 18 printed in part b of house report number 11429 offered by mr. Cohen of tennessee. The chair the gentleman from tennessee, mr. Cohen, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from tennessee. Mr. Cohen i rise today to offer an amendment to h. R. 5 to add a section on justice and conflict resolution allowing states to award grants. This amendment allows more flexibility to states by expanding the types of training that can be paid by title 2 funds to make sure teachers and administrators have sufficient training opportunities. It doesnt add any costs to the bill. Once students enter the juvenile Justice System, they will probably be arrested as adults. Students away from the classroom because of suspensions, they are more likely to get in trouble. Many have moved away from zero tolerance policies because they have been expeled. An example, a student who used his hand to simulate a gun and was suspended and another situation where a child brought a fake gun to school. These types of incidents hurt the students cost the society more money and cost as human beings. This amendment would help to establish disciplinary policies and procedures. Conflict resolution programs work to address the cause of problems and repair any harms that have been done. Those programs work and they save money in the long run because incarcerating youth is expensive. A report released in 2014 showed incarcerating a child can cost 400 a day. Many of our youth are swept into the Justice System as a result of overrelines of policing in our schools. This needs to stop. From pennsylvania to california schools have seen reduction in disciplinary suspensions because of the programs usage and needs to be used in mr communities. And the n. E. A. , peace alliance, National Association of communities, dignity in schools and Kansas Institute of conflict and peace resolution have written in support of this amendment. This allows administrators to address disciplinary problems other than ways in Law Enforcement. C. B. O. Says sa does not add costs and i appreciate to address this amendment. I ask my fellow members to support it. I reserve. The chair the gentleman from tennessee reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . Mr. Rokita i rise to claim time in opposition although im not opposed. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Rokita i thank the chair and the gentleman from tennessee for this amendment. It will allow teachers and other School Professionals if they show choose and thats the key here to receive training and to better address problems that may arise at their schools. I agree conflict resolution is an important tool to help keep fack cult and students safe. This is a good amendment as it improves the underlying bill and i thank the gentleman for offering it. And i urge my colleagues to support it. And i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from tennessee is recognized. Mr. Cohen i thank the gentleman. I recognize mr. Polis for one minute. The speaker pro tempore charkt for one minute. Mr. Polis my hometown is one of four judicial districts in the state of colorado to have a Pilot Program. Boulder counties are recipients of the Pilot Program and it is a tremous opportunity to use restoretive justice in the juvenile context. It is how to make up for their crimes and rather than just have a fine that is placed on them. Our District Attorney believes that 60 to 70 juvenile crime will be able to be dealt with in boulder county. What this amendment would allow is a more Meaningful Partnership with the School District. The current funds for the Pilot Program come through the Justice System. If funds are available to train indicators, a more meaningful and integrated partnership with the School District and the d. A. s office and the Sheriffs Department can be reached to make it even more successful in boulder county, colorado as well as the rest of the country. I strongly support the amendment and i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from tennessee is recognized. Mr. Cohen i yield the balance of our time to the Ranking Member scott. The chair the gentleman from virginia is recognized. Mr. Scott i thank the gentleman from tennessee for this great amendment. Working with muslim on the Judiciary Committee he is a strong supporter of Crime Prevention measures and conflict resolution programs have been shown to reduce crime time and time again. These concepts are appropriate in our schools and will help create Safe Learning environments and im delighted to support it. And i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from tennessee all time being expired the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from tennessee. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it and the amendment is agreed to. Now in order to consider amendment number 19 printed in house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition . As the designee of mr. Duffy i have the amendment at the desk. The clerk amendment number 19 printed in 11429 offered by ms. Wilson of florida. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentlewoman from florida, ms. Wilson, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. Ms. Wilson this amendment requires School Districts to be transparent in providing information to parents at the beginning of the school year on mandated assessments the students will have to take during the school year and any School District assessment participation. As a former teacher, Elementary School principal, i have seen firsthand the damage caused by the pervasive of high stakes standardized testing. While the stake of our students and Education System, we need to move towards a more balanced form of assessment that mirrors diverse kinds of success in teaching and student learning. Unfortunately h. R. 5 fails to address schools excessive dependence on deeply problematic standardized tests. As someone who has dedicated of my career and my life to students and their success, i can tell you that students do not join the profession to teach to the task. Yet more and more educators are forced top spend preparing students for tests and reviewing the results of those tests. By some estimates, almost a third of a teachers time is spent preparing students to take standardized tests. This is unacceptable. That is why this amendment is so important, by providing parents with information about the standardized tests their students will be taking and providing them with the policies regarding student participation, we begin to hold the system accountable for the dramatic overuse of these tests. It is time to end this practice of toxic overtesting. That is why i support this amendment and ask all of my colleagues to vote in favor of this amendment. Thank you. I yield back. The chair the gentlewoman from florida yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . Mr. Rokita i rise in opposition although i do not oppose the amendment. The chair the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Rokita i thank my colleagues ms. Wilson and mr. Duffy for this amendment. Looks like this amendment is transparency for parents and students and that is a great thing and one of the chief purposes of our bill. We have all heard the concerns of testing from our constituents neighbors and colleagues alike. Ensure parents are aware of what tests their children will have to take. This amendment ensures parents have that ability to request this information from their childrens school. This is a good amendment as it improves the underlying bill and i urge my colleagues to support it. And i yield back. The chair excuse me, i reserve. The chair the gentleman is the only one who has time remaining. The gentlewoman from florida has yielded back. Mr. Rokita yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from florida. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it and the amendment is agreed to. For what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition . Mr. Polis i have an amendment as a designee of mr. Messer and cosponsor of number 126. The chair it is now in order to consider amendment number 20. The clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 20 printed in part b of house report number 11429 offered by mr. Polis of colorado. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentleman from colorado, mr. Polis and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. Mr. Polis over 40 states now allow for public Charter Schools, Washington State being in the newest and like other kinds of Public Schools, we find across the country, high quality public Charter Schools as well as poorlyperforming Charter Schools. Charter schools are not the answer or the problem, they are ways for more flexibility. Some have extended school days. Some have a differentiated curriculum, some partner closely to provide wraparound services. I had the opportunity to found two Charter Schools. The new america school, which now has five campuses in new mexico and colorado, works with new immigrants and english language learners to help them gain proficiency in reading, and writing in english. Many of the students we recruited to attend our school were not in school before. They worked odd jobs and we had a flexible schedule. We had to provide day care. I also had the opportunity to be a cofounder of the academy of urban youth in denver, colorado. With what this sense of congress does, it supports the Public Charter School movement which has long had bipartisan support and calls upon calls upon and supports more quality public Charter Schools. I want to separate this from some of the issues that my colleagues perhaps on both sides of the aisle have with particularly although quality schools whether Charter Schools or neighborhood schools or Innovation Schools which colorado allows. If the school is poor quality, hopefully it is a school that not only a member of congress has a problem with, but the school board and the superintendent want to take the steps necessary to improve the quality of that Public School. But to the extent that we have methodologies and models for successful public Charter Schools, we need more of them just as we need more high quality neighborhood schools and magnet schools. I hope this can be incorporated as a sense of congress and i reserve. The chair the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. Mr. Rokita rise to claim time knoppsition although i do not oppose the amendment. I thank the chair and i thank my friends, mr. Polis and mr. Messer, for this amendment. And continuing to raise this issue. Im in complete agreement with it. As is certain members and a good deal of the committee. Really and this chamber as a whole. This amendment highlights the Important Role Charter Schools play in our Education System. Parents are clamoring for more options for their children and Charter Schools help fit that need. I visit Charter Schools all over indiana and more and more throughout the nation and its clear that while Charter Schools might not be the answer for everyone, some parent its love their traditional Public Schools, some want to have their Children Home schooled, others believe a private school is the right choice. But the key here is choice. Many parents would not have an option at all without Charter Schools, as the gentleman describes. Charter schools are a great thing and i appreciate this amendment adding a sense of congress on the importance of Charter Schools. So again i thank the gentleman for offering the gentlemen for offering this amendment. I think its a great amendment understand i encourage my colleagues to support it and the under i encourage my colleagues to support it and i yield back the balance of my time. Mr. Polis Charter Schools are subject to the same accountability laws as other Public Schools, both at the federal level throorks no child left behind and indeed in the successor bill, all the accountability and metrics are applied to public Charter Schools as they are to magnet schools and neighborhood schools and other district schools of choice. In addition Charter Schools have a strong accountability to patients in the community. Because in addition to meeting those state and federal academic requirements, they have to earn the enrollment of their students. Unlike in neighborhood school, they start with zero students. And without the confidence of the community, without the confidence of the parents who choose to entrust that particular Public School with the education of their kids, they will not succeed. Im glad that our congress can come together around an important innovation and Public Education. And i strongly encourage my colleagues to adopt this amendment and i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from colorado yields back the balance of his time. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from colorado. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 21 precipitationed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition . Mr. Polis i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 21 printed in part b of house report 11429 offered by mr. Polis of colorado. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentleman from colorado, mr. Polis, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from colorado. Mr. Polis thank you mr. Speaker. Im pleased to offer an amendment today that would amend the charter School Program in entitle 3 for the underlying bill. And make a positive improvement. As you know, the charter School Program not only is a life line for growing and replicating public Charter Schools but we want to see the benefit of that innovation spread across other Public Schools. Im very grateful both the underlying bill and the democratic substitute both have very Strong Language in fact nearly similar language nearly identical, about helping quality public Charter Schools grow and expand. Now as many of my colleagues are quick to point out, traditional Public Schools are also doing innovative things and showing growth every day. And for the foreseeable future, the vast majority of students in the country will have continued to attend district Public Schools. District Public Schools are innovating to provide meaningful programs for students and helpinging to narrow the achievement gap in our country every day. As my colleagues know, im quick to point out the benefit of innovation, that public Charter Schools allow including the two that i founded in colorado and new hampshire. New mexico. My amendment would encourage Charter Schools and traditional Public Schools to collaborate and share best practices. They need not operate in their own separate silos, both can learn from one another. Both kinds of School Governance bring to bear ideas thats at the table that can improve the quality of education for all students. This amendment would simply encourage Public Schools with traditional governance through a School District and public Charter Schools to Work Together so that both parties can learn from the others success others success. I reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from colorado reserves his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . Mr. Rokita i rise to claim opposition although i do not oppose the amendment. The chair without objection, the gentleman from indiana is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Rokita i thank the chair and i again want to thank my friend and colleague for this amendment. I appreciate being able to join with him on it and continuinging our work on the Charter School continuing our work on the Charter School nimb tin initiatives. This amendment supports the sharing of best practices between Charter Schools and traditional Public Schools. Again, i think ths gd in we veeethsuesul charr tarr schootritnal Public School cooperation. And we know that working together helps each of them compel. Again, its the old excel. Again, its the old adage of iron sharpening iron and thats reflected here in this good amendment. Many of us believe other Charter Schools and traditional public cool schools can benefit from these partnerships as well. This is a great amendment and it approves the underlying bill and i thank the gentleman for offering it and urge my colleagues to support it and with that i yield back. The chair the gentleman from indiana yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from colorado is recognized. Mr. Polis i yield a minute to the gentlelady from oregon, ms. Bonamici. The chair the gentlewoman from oregon is recognized for one minute. Ms. Bonamici thank you and thank you, representative polis, for yielding. I want to thank representatives polis and rokita for offering this amendment. Highquality Charter Schools are laboratories for innovation. In ex change change for offering family in exchange for offering families, students and educators the autonomy to experiment with new educational models, we expect that professional as to teaching and learning will be shared so that the vast majority of students in traditional Public Schools can benefit from the lessons learned. Last congress an amendment i authored was included in the bipartisan success and opportunity through quality Charter Schools act. That provision, which is now included in h. R. 5 asks states to track and report on the sharing of best practices emerginging from Charter Schools emerging from Charter Schools. Im pleased this amendment encourages collaboration between Charter Schools and School Districts to improve the dissemination of promising practices and i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this amendment and i yield back. Thank you, mr. Chair. The chair the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. The gentleman from colorado is recognized. Mr. Polis i hope that this amendment in our small way helps Congress Change the culture in which all too often is too competitive between Charter Schools and School Districts. I have talked to district administrators, heads of literacy for district, who hadnt been to and didnt know about innovative literacy programs going on in Charter Schools in their own district. And again theres plenty of blame to go around. Ive talked to Charter Schools that arent aware of their own districts initiatives for professional development or Stem Education in the lower grades. By working together, even at times where it takes swallowing ones pride, im confident that both public Charter Schools and districtrun schools will benefit in the long run most importantly benefiting the students that they serve. I call upon my colleagues to support this amendment and i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from colorado. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. Its now in order to consider amendment number 22 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from illinois seek recognition . Ms. Kelly i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 22 print in part b of house report 11429 offed offered by ms. Kelly of illinois. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentlewoman from illinois ms. Kelly, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from illinois. Kell ms. Kelly thank you mr. Speaker. I offer a commonsense amendment to h. R. 5 the Student Success act. My amendment makes a minor modification to the underlying bill and does not have an impact on direct spending. Still, this simple fix stands to make a tremendous difference for countless students and families on the education front. My amendment would provide an assurance from statewide Family Engagement Center Grantees under the family engaugement program of the bill that will conduct adult and Financial Literacy Training Programs in their community as part efftso ga famili a iro ade ts r udts so oftenhenaba around education focuses on children and schools. But estimates suggest there are 30 million adults in the United States who have trouble with basic literacy. This means not only do they struggle in their own lives and in reading a menu or paying the bills, they are also unable to help their children with the most basic homework exercises. Parents who struggle to read are often incapable of comprehensive report cards and academic progress reports and their struggle with literacy can have multigenerational consequences as these parents are unable to provide early academic guidance at home that is critical to Early Learning success. By Financial Literacy is a critical component to education and communities stand to gain from the existence of more local programs devoted to teaching Money Management skills to parents and kids. Many teachers cite lack of time, lack of state curriculum requirements, and lack of demand as the top challenges to teaching Financial Literacy. American students today often find themselves in situations in which they are making more spending decisions and accumulate morgue debt at a time when debt pressures are impacting student performance and resulting in students dropping out of school. As the Family Engagement center is supported by this bill aim to improve educational outcomes for families across the spectrum, they must realize bolstering reading and Financial Literacy is a critical comprehensive Family Engagement and education strategy. Our National Security, Economic Prosperity and global standing depend on americas ability to secure its educational and financial future. When schools succeed, america succeeds. And when communities and families are invested in education, students thrive. I ask bipartisan support of this commonsense amendment and with that i yield back. The chair the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . Mr. Rokita i seek time in opposition although i do not oppose the amendment. The chair without objection, the gentleman from indiana voiced. Mr. Rokita i thank the chair and i thank the gentlewoman for this amendment. Family Engagement Centers are available to help parents understand and engage in their childrens education. As a part of that mission, the centers help parents learn basic skills like literacy. In todays world Financial Literacy is an important issue for parents to be able to understand and support their childs education. I want to be clear that this language is part of a Grant Application and requirement in that regard. It is not part of a testing standard or a teacher training standard. So with that i urge my colleagues to support this amendment and the underlying bill. With that i yield back. The chair the gentleman from indiana yields back the balance of his time. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from illinois. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it, the amendment is agreed to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 23 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from oregon seek recognition . Ms. Bonamici i have an amendment at the desk. The clerk amendment number 23 printed in part b of report rouse of house report 11429 offered by ms. Bond hitch where ms. Bonamici of oregon. The chair the gentlewoman from oregon, ms. Bonamici and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from oregon. Ms. Bonamici thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Id like to thank chairman kline and Ranking Member scott for their leadership on the committee and on this important legislation. I know that well need to continue to Work Together to identify opportunities for bipartisan collaboration. If were going to successfully replace no child left behind. And i have confidence we can do that. And i also thank representative costello areow for his work on this amendment and the smart act. Mr. Costellos dedication to Public Education is commendable and i look forward to continuing to work with him. The bonamicicostello amendment is finding Common Grounden to a way to support teaching and learning in our nations classrooms. We have all heard about the overuse and misuse of standardized tests. Too much time is lost to preparing for and administering assessments and too few of these assessments provide timely information that meaningfully supports the learning that is taking place in our schools. But the purposeful use of highquality assessments can support teaching and learning. Good assessments used appropriately can serve as one tool for monitoring students progress and helping parents, teachers and School Leaders see how students are performing across the state. This amendment will help to reduce the testing burden and build highquality aelse isment systems that support teachers and students. Importantly the amendment recognizes that a onesizefitsall policy to address excessive testing wont work. There is evidence that time spent testing fluctuates significantly among districts. With some districts dedicating three times as many hours to testing as other districts. The variety and use of tests is why our amendment lets states and local districts design their own plans to improve use of assessments. Our amendment reserves a portion of local academic flexible grant funds for states and School Districts to improve the use of assessments. The amendment allows states and School Districts to use those funds to audit their assessment systems and report to the public their results which might include the amount of time students spend taking tests, whether the tests are high quality and whether the tests provide prompt feedback to support teaching. They can develop a plan to make assessments work better. States and School Districts can provide professional development or speed the development of assessment results. Once again, i thank the representative for his Partnership Chairman kline and representative scott to make sure that schools have the ability to eliminate unneeded assessments. And i urge my colleagues to support my amendment and reserve. The chair the gentlewoman from oregon reserves. I rise to claim time in opposition but i do not intend to oppose. I yield myself such time as i may consume. Public education is overly burdened by standardized tests. Frustrated teachers and parents are saying the same thing. We need to fix this. Mr. Costello regular assessments in english and math are objective tools to measure achievement but it has been worn down through blue books and sheets that waste classroom time. Let me illustrate the point at my high school prior to 1992 where High School Students would have a midterm and final tests and teachers would review these tests in a class period giving the test this would be five hours of instructional time devoted to administering these examples. A class of 2017 who is proficient will spend approximately 43 hours preparing for and taking three exams to prepare for college. A member of the class of 2017 who is not proficient during the first attempt could spend 16 hours for taking three exams twice, completing three online classes and completing the other High School Assessments to prepare for college. Its too much. It is stifling and not conducive for fostering the intellectual growth we want to see. This bipartisan amendment is a solution to many of the redundant, low quality and unnecessary testing that takes place. It will empower to give existing funding to state and local education agencies to develop curriculum plans to make tests. Quicker delivery to educators and parents and how to shape curriculum for that student from the local district and parent, not the federal government. We need to get back to empowering our children to think and succeed at the local level. I thank chairman kline for the opportunity to address this important issue and i appreciate the effort of representative bonamici. I encourage my colleagues for this amendment to be included in h. R. And i reserve. The chair the gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. Ms. Bonamici may i inquire about the balance of time . The chair 2 1 2 minutes. Ms. Bonamici i yield to the gentleman from colorado for one minute. Mr. Polis hardly a day goes by when i dont hear from my constituents that there is too much testing. There is little they dont make the effort to distinguish between district testing, and classroom testing, the federal piece is what we are dealing with. What this amendment ensures is we focus on the quality of testing. We had a review of the Different Levels of testing. What drives the most frustration among educators and families and students is testing for which they dont understand the purpose or doesnt have a purpose. We either make clear what the purpose of testing is in Public Education but have the most efficient and best route to get from here to there with regard to the quality of the tests. There are too many unnecessary and lowquality tests in Public Education. And at the same time, we maintain our commitment to accountability and transparency we must ensure that we get we take the quickest possible line from point a to point b to the highest quality of test to fulfill the goals of accountability and transparency. I yield back. The chair the gentlemans time has expired. The gentlewoman from oregon reserves. The gentleman from pennsylvania reserves. Mr. Costello i yield two minutes to the gentleman from florida. Ry rise in support of the amendment offered by my distinguished colleagues. As a member of miamidade public County School board im familiar with the challenges that our families and stupid face as it relates to testing. Dont get me wrong, testing is a critical element of the accountability system. If we cant ask the question are our children learning, then we have already failed in delivering an Education System that serves this great nation and our families. Excessive and redundant testing has undermined the accountability systems and made it harder for our young people to learn. I commend my distinguished colleagues for working together in a bipartisan way to offer this solution that will help millions and millions of children, teachers and families all over our country. I know the children of my Miamidade County Public Schools will appreciate this amendment and i know the teachers back home will appreciate this amendment and i commend my colleagues for their courage to Work Together in favor of such a smart solution. I want to take the opportunity to commend chairman kline and chairman rokita for all of their hard work on the underlying bill which i support. Thank you, and i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from oregon is recognized. Ms. Bonamici i thank my cosponsor of this amendment and those who spoke in favor. Good quality assessments can inform instruction. This amendment gives districts and the states the ability to do that and i urge my coloogs to support it and i yield back. The chair the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized . Mr. Costello i yield to the gentleman. Mr. Rokita i thank representative bonamici for her work and seeing this amendment through and also a member of our committee for his effectiveness. It has been a Great Partnership all the way around. I want to associate myself with my colleagues remarks and this amendment helps states to help improve our assessments are used and how many are given. This is a common delen sense amendment and urge my colleagues to vote for it and i yield back. The chair the gentleman from pennsylvania has 0 seconds remaining. The chair the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from oregon. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. Now in order to consider amendment number 24 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose the gentleman from colorado seek recognition . Mr. Polis i have an amendment at the desk. The clerk amendment number 24 printed in part b of house report 11429. The chair pursuant to house res. Lougs 125, the gentleman from colorado and a member opposed each will control five minutes. Mr. Polis in education, mr. Speaker, oftentimes textbooks cost hundreds of dollars for each student. Now sometimes that money has to come from the families. Sometimes the school or the district might have some old dogeared textbooks outdated. I have been to a number of classrooms where the teacher says if you have this version you read pages 333. If you dont have a version, heres a few copies well get to you. That gets in the way both from an access standpoint and economic disparity standpoint and preventing our students having the most up to date textbooks and available information. In an effort to address this issue, my amendment would create allowable use of funds for awarding open source textbooks and open Educational Resources. This movement is sweeping the country with regard to available education in other areas. My amendment allows funds to be used for the creation and distribution of open source Educational Resources and textbooks at the can12 level to bring cost savings to School Districts cost savings to families and quality enhancements and educationalens hansments to those districts and schools in those states that embrace the utilization of the funds. Many states are beginning to embrace this concept to save costs and improve the quality of their educational kept. My amendment would allow them to use existing federal fund to boost these cost savings even more in innovative districts and states that have chosen to embrace the open source textbook movement. I reserve. The chair for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . Mr. Rokita i claim time in opposition although im not opposed to the amendment. Again, i thank mr. Polis for this amendment. The amendment clarifies that states may use at their choosing their funds under the local academic flexible grant to distribute open source distribution resources. This grant is designed to be used to support the activities of the state and local School Districts are important to their stupets. If open source materials are available, they should be use able to use the funding. This is in line with the spirit and themes found. I thank the gentleman for his offering of it and i urge my colleagues to support it. And i yield back. Mr. Polis my supporting my amendment, congress could voice its support for the growing academic open Source Community and for encouraging costreducing qualityenhancing innovation in the context that is available for students across the country. I encourage my colleagues to support my amendment and i yield back. The chair the gentleman from colorado yields back. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from colorado. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it and the amendment is agreed to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 25 printed in part bmp of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition . Ms. Jackson lee i have an amendment at the desk. The clerk amendment number 25, printed in part b of house report number 11429 offered by ms. Jackson lee of texas. The chair the gentlewoman from texas, ms. Jackson lee, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from texas. Ms. Jackson lee thank you so very much, mr. Chairman. Let me thank the gentleman from indiana to his kindness. I want to thank the Ranking Member of the full committee, mr. Scott, and mr. Kline who have worked diligently and we could not have come to a point of having members amendments without the hard work of mr. Scotts staff and certainly mr. Kline. I think both of them because of our great concern on this issue. Mr. Chairman and colleagues, this is the face that im trying to help with my amendment. This is a face of children being bulleyed in america. My amendment sports accountabilitybased programs that are designed to enhance School Safety including prevention and disruption and recruitment of activity by groups involved in extremism and gangprevention programs. I will note that this amendment wants the support of accountabilitybased program and to acknowledge that every day in schools across america, children of all kinds are bullied. One in seven students in k12 is bullied. 28200 are attacked. It addresses growing concerns and misuse of social media by militant extremist groups to recruit students. It is about giving to the schools to be prepared for the new, if you will, ills that are facing our children which includes cyber bullying, peer advocacy. It is noted when there is intervention, bullying is stopped. And bullied youth were most likely to report that actions from others made a positive difference. I ask my colleagues to support this amendment and to realize that we can provide the skills and the tools for School Districts to help in this very unfortunate circumstances for our children. With that i reserve. The chair the gentlewoman from texas reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . Mr. Rokita i rise to claim time in opposition although im not opposed. This adds anlounlt use of funds an allowable use of funds to focus on projects that focus on school and student safety. The local academic flexible grant is the product of us eliminating over 65 programs in current law and delivering the funds that supported those programs back to the states and with the states, even further back to local School Districts and so forth. We know all too well that bad things can happen in schools. This amendment will clarify that School Districts can use this funding, again, not being mandated by the federal government but through this grant, can use the funding to support programs aimed at making schools safer. This is in all our interests. I thank the gentlewoman for offering this amendment and urge my colleagues to support it and the underlyinging bill and i yield back underlying bill and i yield back. The chair the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. Ms. Jackson lee i thank the chair very much. How much time do i have remaining, mr. Chairman . The chair the gentlewoman from texas has three minutes remaining. Ms. Jackson lee let me, first of all, thank the gentleman from indiana again for the clarity of this instruction to our School Districts across america. If i might again acknowledge, mr. Scott and the chairman of the full committee, but if i might continue to say that cyberbullying is estimated that 2. 2 million children experience cyberbullying in 2011. This is a teaching tool. This is a marvel comic book that says internet superheroes, meet the internet villains. Many different tools that school dicts can use to be able to educate our children. 64 of students enrolled in weight loss programs reported experiencing weightbased victimization. And as i indicated, peer advocacy, 70. 6 of young pele y eye enulinin their s. Wenoth ts aroem but we know that intervention helps and my amendment again emphasizes the intervention and the accountability. I ask my colleagues to support this amendment and i thank them for their support in advance and i leave you simply by acknowledging that this smile or this face should be a smile when every child goes to school, they should have a smile on their face. With that i yield back and ask for support of the jackson lee amendment. The chair the gentlewoman from texas yields back the balance of her time. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from texas. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 26 printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition . Mr. Wilson mr. Speaker, you ms. Wilson mr. Speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. The clerk amendment number 26 printed in part b of house report 11429 offered by mrs. Wilson of florida. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentlewoman florida, mrs. Wilson, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from florida. Ms. Wilson thank you, mr. Speaker. This amendment provides for Elementary Students reading below grade level to utilize intensive care reading labs to improve their reading efficiency. Im well aware of the shortcomings of h. R. 5 and its failure to make the improvements necessary to bring our educational system into the 21st century. The bill falls short of providing quality education for many of our Young Students and has in fact left many of our students behind. Students need enriching learning environments individualized instruction welltrained teachers and positive reinforcement to support their educational development. Mr. Speaker, this amendment i have before you today provides for just that approach. To helping students improve their reading proficiency. First it provides for individualized reading instruction through intensive care reading labs, in addition to their normal reading instruction in schools. Helping improve students literacy early in their education. In these labs, students will be taught by highly trained teachers who work with students in small numbers to improve their literacy and reading comprehension. If children can read on grade level by grade three, they will graduate high school. Teachers in fist, second and third grade should specialize in teaching language arts. Then another subgroup should specialize in math and science. They should be trained by the School District. By using this specialized approach, schools will be able to better prepare teachers and ensure students are being taught by teachers dedicated to their specific fields. In high schools, english teachers teach english. Math teachers teach math. It should be the same in k3 grades. That is why i support this amendment and why i urge all of my colleagues to vote for this amendment as well. Thank you, mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentlewoman from florida yields back the balance of her time. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . Mr. Rokita i rise to claim time in opposition to this amendment. The chair the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Rokita i thank the chair and i appreciate the gentleladys concern and the purpose of this amendment. However it must be opposed. Comprehensive reading programs and connection to their College Careers and success are obviously vitally important. Since state and local etcation officials understand the importance of reading efficiency, including the benefits of teaching comprehension, vocablary and other skills, im confident these officials will seat benefits of programs like this and choose to use their local academic flexible grant under this bill to Fund Programs like this. The block grant is designed to be flexible. Thereby allowing local education officials to use the funds in the way that most benefits their students. We do not want to start rebuilding the silos that weve just knocked down with this bills language and i believe this amendment unfortunately would do that very thing, by requiring this instruction instead of letting a state and local School District teachers parents local taxpayers and School Officials decide whats best for their students. I agree again with the importance of this issue but oppose the amendment as the underlying bill already provides states and School Districts funding flexibility to set their own priorities not letting washington do. It i encourage my colleagues on that basis then to oppose this amendment, but still support the underlyinging bill and, mr. Chairman, with that i yield back. The chair the gentleman from indiana yields back the balance of his time. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from florida. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The noes have it. The amendment is not agreed to. Its now in order to consider amendment number 27 fingerprinted in printed in part b of house report 11429. For what purpose does the gentleman from connecticut seek recognition . Mr. Courtney mr. Speaker, the clerk has an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 27 printed in part b of house report 11429 offered by mr. Courtney of connecticut. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentleman from connecticut, mr. Courtney, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from connecticut. Mr. Courtney thank you mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, nearly two decades ago congress created the military Housing Privatization initiative to improve military Family Housing that in many cases was decrepit and by allowing private developers to upgrade, maintain and operate housing communities. In the years since publicprivate ventures created under this program have infused millions in private capital to improve the Living Conditions of military families at installations all across the country. And has made a tremendous difference for our military families across the nation. As of 2011, 193,000 units of housing have been converted under this program. Under the Program Priority for housing goes first to military personnel then to federal employees and retirees. However, if occupancy rates drop below a certain level for a period of time, the housing can be made available to the general public. Allowing nonmilitary families with children access to this housing is an important part of ensuring the financial viability of these ventures, but it also presents unanticipated challenges to the Host Communities where they are located since these properties are propertytax exempt. For example, today there are 130 civilian nonmilitary children residing at the site. These children attend Public Schools alongside military children residing in the same community yet they receive no impact aid support for the cost of their education and since their housing is property taxexempt, the Host Community has to absorb the entire per pupil cost for their education. While i was made aware of this problem because of the growing challenge there it is clear from discussions with Navy Officials and the developer that the same problem will face communities across the country that have privatized military housing as the size and composition of our military changes in the years ahead. Under current law, local schools are eligible to receive only 5 of the support payments for children residing on federal property with a parent who is not affiliated, but only if the number of children being educated equals or exceeds 1,000 or equals or exceeds 10 of the total number of students in average daily attendance. My amendment was simple. Or is simple. It would ensure that the number of civilian children living in property taxexempt military housing can be more adequately factored into a communitys support for educatinging these children under impact aid. Since my amendment was made in order last night, ive heard recognition of the problem that im seeking to address but also concerns at how it would have wider ranging impacts to this program, particularly in light of the ongoing funding challenges in impact aid. Throughout the day myself and my staff have had productive and thoughtful discussions with the National Association of federally impacted schools in the military impacted Schools Association about how to address this issue shah my communities and others are facing and i would note that the chairman of the committee, mr. Kline, who also serves on the House Armed Services committee with me has pledged to work with my office to try and address this issue. Which again, at the end of the day, is about fairness for Host Communities that step up and make sure that our military families have safe and good schools. These organizations will the gentleman yield . Mr. Courtney yes. Id be happy to work with you. Mr. Courtney i appreciate that, mr. Kline. These organizations have pledged to work with me to find ways to constructively address these issues in the days moving ahead and at this time i would ask unanimous consent to with dray my amendment. The chair the amendment is withdrawn. It is now in order to consider amendment number 28. The clerk amendment number 28 printed in part b of house report 11429 offered by mr. Know laven minnesota. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 125, the gentleman from minnesota, mr. Nolan, and a member opposed each will control 2005 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from minnesota. Mr. Nolan thank you, mr. Speaker. Id like to begin by thanking chairman kline for his work on this important legislation, of course our Ranking Member bobby scott as well, and the members of the committee and the rules committee for allowing us to offer this amendment here this evening. Mr. Speaker in short, my amendment ensures that indian children will not be expected to attend school in buildings that are delabtated and dangerous. Under title 5 of House Resolution 5, the federal government has an obligation to fund and maintain these schools. Its time to honor that obligation and send the message to our students in Indian Country that their education and their success in life are important to all of us. And expecting them to go to school in facilities in utter disrepair simply does not send that message. According to the department of interior there are 63 schools funded by the bureau of Indian Education that are listed in poor condition. For example, the school on the Leech Lake Reservation in my district is housed in an old Pole Building, cold and drafty in the winter hot in the summer, unfit for children or teachers in any season. I operated my sawmill and pallet factory in a Pole Building. I think we all agree that we want something better. For our children when they go to school. Look around us right now, mr. Speaker. We have a magnificent capitol here to symbolize the importance of the work and the purpose of what we do here. Sure, as a practical matter we can conduct our business our nations business in a Pole Building but we dont. And for good reason. Architecture carries with it and needs to carry with it not only a sense of function, but a sense of importance and a sense of purpose. The simple truth is architecturaly distinctive schools deliver a message to students that their education is valued, that it is important. The school, as i mentioned, like so many others has an incredibly long list of serious problems. Students endure rodent and bat infestations, roof leaks and holes, mold and fungus, faulty air system, uneven floors poor lightinging sewer problems and dangerous electrical configurations with wires just crisscrossing all the hallways and the rooms in a dangerous way. This building is literally in danger of collapse. It has earned the nickname killer hall from local emergency responders. Students and faculty throughout the 63