Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20130725

Galesburg, illinois. Today he is in jacksonville, florida. What is your view of his Economic Policy . That is our topic as we go to the newspaper. You can see the phone lines there. For republicans and independents you can also make a comment on our twitter feed or Facebook Page finally, you can send an email pan. Org. Cs want to hear your views. Here is the front page of the Chicago Tribune lead story this morning is a local angle. se is wall street journal take a little bit more of the president yesterday from knox college. I am here to tell you today we are not there yet. We all know that. Not there yet. We have more work to do. Even though businesses are creating new jobs that have broken record profits, nearly all of the income gains of the past 10 years have continued to flow to the top 10 percent. The average ceo has had a raise of over 40 percent since 2009. The average american earns the same or less they have since 1999 and companys tire remain holding back hiring those that have been out of work for some time. Today more students guarding their degree, but soaring costs saddle them with an sustaining debt. Healthcare costs are slowing , but a lot of working families have not seen any of the savings yet. The stock market rebound helped a lot of families get back what they have lost, but millions of Americans Still have no idea how they will be able to retire. Host we want to hear your views on obamas economic policies. You can also make a comment on twitter or facebook. cspan. Wj is the twitter cspanwj. The New York Times we will begin with a call on the democrats line from david in fairfax, are protected yet. Virginia. Theer i agree with what president is saying. Like the fact that he challenge the democrats and republicans. I like the fact that he is not resting on his laurels, even to gethe does not need reelected but still fighting for the American People. Specificthere anything the president has said or done economically that you agree with . The healthree with care law. I think a lot of people forget the reason why they first implemented it was to help the economy and to help those without health care. That they have pushed forward. I think it is benefiting the country, and i think it will in the long run. Host think you for calling in. Joe are republican and pennsylvania. Good morning. Joe is gone. Stanley and massachusetts. Independent line. Stanley in massachusetts. Having meank you for on. It is not with the president said but what he did not say. They never tell you the whole story on the monthly jobs report. Last month they created 196,000 jobs. I have been keeping track of the initial jobless claims. It is over 1. 3 million. I wish they would say that. Host stanley in massachusetts. Sylvia in broken arrow, okla. Caller how are you . That cspan allows phone calls where individuals like me and others around the world in the United States can voice their opinions or views about the topic. I have three questions. Is about jobs. I hope and pray that everyone can get a job. There is not enough jobs out there. The second one is buying a and why theome credit score has to be 620. Even a military family cannot buy a home because of being in debt. The third one is the economic news. Views. The president of the United States twice and have gotten feedback from him. Staff. Glad he has i got feedback. I am so happy he answered my mail. Ideas how toof deal with the judicial system and how broken it is, about the invent moren to technology, and also within the 5013cs. The it was more so that people could really look into their community, senators, work with the senators. Host we appreciate you calling in and making four points this morning. One to show you this chart in the New York Times all of these lines go down in 2002 and again in the 2008 crisis. The top 10 have gained 5. 4 and the bottom 90 percent have lost 1. 5 percent in income. Carl, republican. Carl, a republican. Being retired a long time, and the end of the month i have the same question. I am wondering if spending is a positive or disadvantage . Host what is your answer to that . At my right now looking bank account i think it is a bad habit. Host that is carl. Several tweets on this issue. Gets, only policy if it past in the legislative branch, so far nothing is passed so there is no Economic Policy. Were doing so well, why is it than consistently 60 percent of americans keep saying america is on the wrong track. D and wonderful says speechsident in his yesterday talked about the House Republicans. We have seen a sizable group of republican lawmakers suggest they would not vote to pay the very bills that congress ran up. Afford to repeat that. Than reduce deficits with a scalpel by cutting out programs we do not need, looking at the ones we do need or maybe once uttered in need of reform, making government more efficient, instead of doing that, we of folks who insist on leaving in place of meat cleaver called the sequester that has cost jobs, harmed growth, hurt the military, gutted investments in education, science, medical research [applause] almost every credible economists will tell you it has been a huge drag on this recovery. And it means we are under investing in the things that this country needs to make it a magnet for good jobs. Page our facebook here is a couple of editorials, on the president s economic speech we will begin with the New York Times here is the wall street journal corey a democrat and grand rapids, michigan. What do you think about the president s Economic Policy . Caller the first thing many to do is give us an accurate number of the people unemployed. The people that are on unemployment is totally inaccurate. We need the real number of people that are unemployed. Not the number they pull out of thin air. That is my opinion on the whole thing. That is really what i wanted to call and tell you. They are actually lying to us all. Host jack on the republican line. Caller good morning. The economy is rolling along just about the way it should. I am retired auto mechanic. I have learned some time of an engine starts running too fast, you have to tweak it and slow it down so will not consume as much fuel. I think this is a great country. I am glad to live here. I have to get going because i see a storm rolling in. The front page of Washington Post stanley, independent line, a South Carolina. Good morning. Caller good morning. I wanted to say i am pleased with the president s economic policies. He has done the best he can over bad economic circumstances. If the economy is so bad, why is the stock market so high . Leon, please go ahead with your comments. Tired of obama going to these republicans complain about spending too much money. They are getting this socalled money that the government is spending money on. Budget cuts is affecting the lowerincome people. , ive beenyou know working looking for work for quite awhile now. The government is spending money on people like myself. It is hard out here. Is obama is appealing to all these other people. Host it is now at 2economist that race. The next race to become the fed chief looks like a race between janet yellen and mr. Summers. Lawrence summers. The summers with the president brought those homicide during the 2009 financial crisis. Larry summers was with the president during the financial crisis of 2009. That is the wall street journal today playsusa the speech groin elk grove. Oak good morning. Caller his policy is pretty much the same since 2008. The policy of blaming one group against another. If you go back to listen to his speeches, he always vilifies one group of people whether it is the oil industry, banking industry. I hope that some of the people of galesburg were are listening. I was disappointed they applauded politely when they started when he talking about the sequester. We see constantly pictures of barack obama signing the health his people around him. A cute little child standing there. Let me remind everybody, he signed the sequester bill exactly the same way. We never see that anymore. Why do you think he did that . He is using that as a way to vilify another group of people. That the sequester bill was an ax clearcutting. He signed the bill exactly the same way he signed our Health Care Bill. The front page of Washington Times politico as an article about a new poll out the lead story this morning in daily caller a new chart out, another economic chart. How does americas middle class rank globally . No. 27 is the ranking. This is by the Global Wealth of data book from 2012. Wealth,see it is median individual wealth per person per country. 193,000. Ia is atgoes on down to the u. S. 38,786. James is here in the suburbs in virginia on the independent line. You. Ller thank i wanted to start by quoting from the president s speech that repealing obama care and cutting spending is not an economic plan, and i could not agree with that war. I think there are princes the fact that the tea party is creating a backlog in the government and i think that reflects why Congress Overall Approval Rating has been in the single range right now. As a 22yearold poor, working with horses, i really need this healthcare law to work. I need Affordable Health care that will be there for me when i get off my parents plan when i turned 26. Have Marcia Blackburn answer why she wants to take away my health care when i make less than 20,000 per year in trying to support myself individually, why taking that away is a decision. Will ask her that question. How is she trying to take away your health care . Think it is a concentrated effort on the part of the republicans to stop health care from going through. Him aid not want to give victory on that. That is his crowning achievement as far as legislation is concerned. I think other pieces of legislation can arguably he is working very hard on immigration reform. Come ofmething will that, but i cannot say that is concrete. Her that will ask y question. A tweet today morning ross in louisiana. Democrats. Caller i am sitting here and i am watching the program and what i believe is happening, and i have always said this, republicans do not want barack obama to have any type of success. I feel this will have an affect on years to come. Republicans always want to mention Ronald Reagan and the great savior he is, but a barack obama save this economy, the history books will have to record this. I think that is something they feel more than anything. I understand this is the first black president we have had. Heis not truly black, but has that skin color. Lead story this morning, usa today now, the Washington Times has an editorial on that vote they go on, saying the vote, they disagree with the final outcome. When it comes to the final outcome, this is tell everyone voted on the amendment part of the defense bill. Theepublicans voted for amish bill. No. Voted 111 voted for it. 83 against it. Some of the key players, Marshall Blackburn coming up in a few minutes. Along withor it, yburn. Ibu this would have restricted the nsa. Voting no. Voted no. Ner, well. Pelosi voted no as teny hoyer voted no. Well. Antor voted no as the majority leader. The leadership of voted against it for the most part. That with thebout guest. Here is how the Financial Times played the president s speech in illinois george in san diego. Thank you for holding. Republican line. Caller the queue for your program. [inaudible] of the people and should not. I am not happy with him. I think he should go. Thank you. Host peter, massachusetts. Independent mind. Call line. Different setswo of people. People that are working and doing well making 50,000100,000 are more. At the same time as another group of people that are unemployed or underemployed unemployed or underemployed and working to parttime jobs in the people making the better of it are being forced to do, almost twothree jobs because of all the people that up and let go. They are burned out, afraid to do anything about it because if they get laid off, they are unemployed. At the same time, you just about the snooping stuff. At the drop of a hat money can be sent to do these huge programs. Seemsg syria, which it things are out of balance. My phone is going to die. I will wrap up with that. Host here are some economic charts in the Washington Times currently we are looking at 7. 6, up from 5 in 2008. Black unemployment up to 13. 7 . Hispanic unemployment up to 9. 1 . The Industrial Production index increased. Back up to 99. 1 . The dow jones average, the stock market, up quite a bit as well. Inflation is down from 4. 3 to 1. 8 . Personal savings rate down from 5. 4 to 3. 2 . Consumer Confidence Index is back on the rise. It was 87 in 2008 prior to the crisis. Down to 37 in 2009. Back up to 81 at right now. James in governor, new york, on the democrat line. You are on the washington journal. About theam concerned possibility of not following the plan, ands economic what it will mean to possibly creating a giant petrie dish for within which we will have mutated diseases. If we repeal obama care, that is 27 Million People who cannot go to the doctor when they start coughing. If we did not support the middle jobs and housing and food stamps, that is more people and eatlose their homes out of garbage cans. There is such a thing as tuberculosis, which cannot be cured by very many or in any medicines we have. There is sars. Are tying in the healthcare law to economics . Yes. Er we had an ice storm here a few years ago. When you have a lot of sick people in one place and not getting enough to eat and the shelters are cool, they will have the worst bronchitis. Host jane in new york. Economic policies of the president. Understand we do not honor the Federal Reserve and the irs. And our prison system would create a lot of jobs for people if you would take that back over in kit quit giving all the money to the prison systems, trillions and trillions of dollars. The this is from Washington Times this morning this article as well from the Washington Examiner the the polos the announced a conversation on race and justice pelosi. 30 nancy monica andfrom virginia. Independent line. Obama careking about causing people who were working full time to not only have a parttime position. If there were four plays by hardees or Something Like that, theyre forced to get to jobs. The expense will increase the cost of health care. It is going to make it unavailable for most of the citizens, because of the huge amount of people use to administer that. We have doctors that are disgusted with what is coming up here yen they did not want to make decisions to harm their patients. This is just a crowning achievement. They have always had health care to go to the emergency room. There are other solutions that have been tried here. The Economic Policy between the overregulation, epa running the cost of fuel up, running the cost of home heating bills, you cannot do anything but make poor people have a really tough time and may not even survive. Postfrom the washington chris in texas. Democrats. Economic policies of the president , what do you think . Caller good morning. Sound dumb or whatever. I do not follow politics too much, but i do not think the Economic System will get much better. Crap for a long time. I didnt think it will get much better matter what anybody does. This is obviously the way our falls. Ents our government spends so much money. Chris. Thank you for calling. Politico that did not necessarily reflect the new revelations. Here is the daily news post the new york a couple ofyou more front pages. With thethe guardian massive photograph. A refugee camp in jordan. You can see the size of the camp. Talking about the press with the federal court. Moves forward with regard to detroit bankruptcy. Icago suntimes miami herald as we continue to take your calls on the economy, charles in fort collins, colorado. Good morning. The whole problem i think were having with this is if you look at the whole system for how it goes in the elected officials, we elect officials from corporate money, not from private money not from private money. You get out of there and go to work for boards of the same people they are regulating when they are in office. Up soole system is set these politicians are not working for we the people, but working for the corporations. We see that with the middle class dropping. We see that with the corporate profits going to the ceiling. It is a systemic problem. About point to this is two months ago they voted one hour to allow all of the senators to do Insider Trading within the senate. If i did that, i am going to jail. Host what was that though you are referring to . Caller they voted to allow the senate to do insidertrading on the senate floor. There are people that go in there and say if you do this, put your money here. I am not aware of that vote. Have not heard about that. All right. Thank you. We will leave it there chris in springfield, missouri. Last word on the president s Economic Policy. Caller think you very much. One of the biggest problems is i think they are all living in denial. One of the biggest realities is technology. The Auto Industry has laid off a lot of people because cars are being made not by 100 people but by 20 people on the line. In the Music Industry you have piracy. Congress refuses to take care of this particular problem. All of these industries feed the economy. We have problems with architects. The Publishing Industry is now seeing a big change. We have gone from retail alpha alfred outlets this all has a domino effect in the industry. No one wants to stand up and say the truth. No one wants to say when you change the economy, a change from an industry what was based on manufacturing to Service Oriented industry, then you have problems, and unless we indicate educate the people of Start Talking about what is really going on, that i think we will continue with the economics and 7 unemployment. Very quickly, economic headlines we want to show you the new york imes as are the next two articles. This is from the Washington Post the washingtonat times frontpage of companies and market section of the Financial Times finally, that is all we have on economic headlines that we wanted to share with you. Fromuests coming up, one the house, one from the senate, one republican and one democrat. Up next, Marcia Blackburn. We will be right back. Marsha blackburn. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2012] 3] really is a web site, the history of Popular Culture. A collection of stories on the history of Popular Culture. Culture is quite more than that. Do is have been trying to go into more detail with how Popular Culture impacts the politics and sports and other arenas. Have our stories about popular music. Sports biography. We have history of media entities, newspaper industry. There are range of things. When i formulated the site i purposely cast a wide net to see what would work. More with founder and publisher, jack doyle sunday at q a. On cspans the role of the first lady, she becomes his confidence. Confidante. They have all done that. They are all strong women. I would say that is their main role, confidante to the president. Our original series, the first women, what encore presentation of first ladies from Martha Washington to ida mckinley week nights in august starting august 5 on cspan. Representative marsha blackburn. We have a calller who had a question for you. An independent who live in virginia. Under 25yearsold. He wanted to know why you are trying to take away his health care. About the Affordable Care act and the fact that republicans are voting against it. He is a supporter of it. What is your answer to james . Isst what i am trying to do increase access for Affordable Health care for all americans. What so many people are learning is the Affordable Care act is really the unAffordable Care act. What we want to make certain is individuals, regardless of their age, regardless of where they live, have access to Affordable Care. What we see happening more and from the bill is it is restricting access. If you delay the employer mandate, you have to delay the individual mandate. You are hearing from hospitals about the accelerated cost. Hear from positions doctors about the reduced. Eimbursement that is not what we want. We have health care and availability. Research, development. New protocols and therapies that are yielding better outcomes. That is what we want. Robust innovation in the health ,are sector and not a stifling constricting of what people have access to. Host want to ask you about a vote yesterday in the house of representatives. Funding. Alled amish this would take away funding for domestic surveillance. You voted in support of it. Guest i did. I think some of our constituents are saying maybe every once in awhile we need to put the brakes on and produce something. Many times washington is has a tent with a ready to back up and take a closer look at something. The nsa program, surveillance all of that needs a better review. Should they be Holding Information on someone who is not a suspect . And no. Should we review who is getting the security clearances, which i think is a bigger problem, and to has eyeballs. And making sure everyone understands what the collection process is. Lets say you are collecting the data. They a process whereby sift through the digits, if you will. Looking for repetition. They run it through algorithms, and they see when they come up with repetition and a profile. At that point, they get permission to do a little bit more work. They go to a court and try to link the persons fault personal identifying information with that. We know what the intent of the law was to be. We have concerns of the way this administration is using that. We have concerns because of the problems that exist with the over reach of the administration with the irs, at department of justice, fdic the list goes on and on. Is separate. What is very clearly the administration. Causing a good bit of concern. Host the leadership of the house all voted against it. The speaker even voted in this bill. What does that say . Does that say anything . Very close vote. Guest it does. Them,d never speak for but the perception probably of people watching that is they were going to vote to support the process as it is embodied. I think the Intelligence Community voted with this. They are the ones that have greater access and a greater ability to review. What this highlights is the. Essaging process we need to look at what this is and how it is carried out. How this work moves forward and what the value is for it to help people in this country to keep them safe. Before wemore topic go to calls. The president spoke in knox college in galesburg, ill. , yesterday. A sizable group of republican lawmakers suggest it would not vote to pay the very bills that congress rang up. Fragile economy in 2011, we cannot afford to repeat that. Rather than reduce deficits with a scalpel, by cutting out programs we do not need, fixing , we havewe do need folks who have insisted on leaving in place a meat cleaver called the sequester that it has cost jobs, arent growth, hurt the military, gutted investments in education, science, and medical research. [applause] almost every credible economists will tell you it has been a huge drag on this recovery. It means we are under investing in the things that this country needs to make it a magnet for good jobs. Financial times heas headlines speechi listened to the and he droned on for 80 minutes and basically went nowhere with it. It is troubling the president seems to have such a lack of understanding for how you create jobs. How private Sector Investment is what creates jobs. We turn around what we have, application of the policy of this administration, every time we turn around, and were looking at some of these Interactive Technology jobs, you have an active this sec or fda would comes to health care or an activist epa when it comes to Small Business manufacturing. The fact that were trying to bring the manufacturing back to america, and they are making it more difficult. You now have 291,000 Regulatory Agency employees. You have 80,000 pages of new regulation. Go out here and talk to anyone in the financial sector, and hey will tell you doddfrank war and peace 13 times over. The amount of regulation coming out of there it is like you want to say, mr. President , instead of going to galesburg, why dont you come to the hill . Why dont you and by some of us over to sit down and talk about the effects that the policy of your administration are having on the district. When you have 7. 6 unemployment and you are in the five years of he u6 number isou that 14 6 , and tell people that are going on food stamps and government assistance for every one job that has been created, you have to and just as yesterday we said lets back up and take a look at what is happening with the surveillance program, we need this president to say, you know, i might be on the wrong track. Most of america thinks he is on the wrong track. Lets back up and looked at what is at hampton it hampering job growth in this country. I think people would appreciate that. Host earned is our guest. First elected in 2002. Vice chair of the energy and Commerce Committee and also member of the Budget Committee and the republican whip team. Mason is a republican in franklin, indiana. Good morning. Ill echo good morning. Caller good morning. Thanks to this Affordable Care act my Health Insurance just for me is more than double what it both me and my wife before the Affordable Health care act. That theyive a notice will no longer be covering me as of the end of this year because they cannot afford to maintain the Health Insurance. So, i am going to lose my insurance. Now, as far as the economy. You know, this is really brilliant. If i am an employer and have 55 employees, i could save 215,000 in Obamacare Taxes by laying off 2 people. That is really brilliant when it comes to the economy. Now you have people struggling talking about the group of people working two or three jobs trying to make it. Now they have another Obamacare Tax or they are going to be forced to buy something they cannot afford. Guest yes, and you know, i wonder when his insurance doubled because what i am survey thatfrom the i have run in my district, peter, and then at energy and Commerce Committee we ran a survey. People can go to Energy Commerce committee. Gov and pull it up, to see what was happening with employers in the country. In my district, what we have 2011, 2012, insurance costs have escalated 123 ere from 25 to depending on the company and employer. Many companies now are eliminating Health Insurance as a benefits simply because they can no longer afford it. Whatsee be happening we do see happening is what he mentioned, many people are being hed off and or as someone tires, or they incentivize someone for early retirement so they get under the 50 number. The unions even though i do not always agree with the unions i think they had a very valid point in their concerns, the letter they wrote to the democrat leadership. Obamacare, the application of the obamacare law will be the end of the 40 hour work week. Because now you will have a 30 hour work week. People will be trying to get under that for employment. Hink we all look to seeing see what is the impact on individuals. In the Grocery Store, i ran into a lady who came up and her hours had been cut. She was now under 30 hours a week. What had been a fulltime job. The benefit structure was going to be reduced. Mall onwas going to the the weekends and working a second job to patches that through. Her husband was also working two jobs. And this is a family with three young children. Forbetween the two, you got jobs going on. They are trying to balance off and shift health care or childcare with these three children. That is the kind of impact that is happening. People say, ok, how do we keep our head above water and get through this. That is what is happening. Host next call comes from andy from georgia. Democrat. Caller good morning, congress. Ady blackburn i have watched you go through the years. I guess a lot of people probably i am not going to put you in the category. Ofill probably get run out town for speaking well of a republican. I have watched you come in and go through the years. You are one of the republicans i have hoped for. You are a pleasant lady. I am your neighbor. I am from georgia. I appreciate your ability. M looking for maybe you senator chambliss, he is not going to run again people like you. With theu stick republican line. But i think really deep down inside my dad taught me about Social Security. There was a battle to get fine tuned. I see the young women like you in the Republican Party that i think that has that ability. I said i know you have to stick with the boehner and the party line. And i am saying this as a person who cares people, not a party. I am a retired firefighter. My wife is a schoolteacher. I am right in the middle of all this. I ask you, would would you please start to do a little bit better can you work a little harder . I know in your heart you have that ability and the talent. I respect you. I am looking forward to seeing things get better. Thank you for your time. I appreciate you. Guest thank you, andy. I appreciate that, and i want to say thank you to you for the service you have done as a firefighter and your wife as a schoolteacher. Those classrooms, teaching for future generations. Peter, i think what andy is speaking to is the frustration that people across the country have that washington cant seem to get anything done. Washington is broken. They look around their neighborhoods and they are saying, where are the jobs going . Where are the jobs . Why isnt the economy Getting Better . A look at washington and they hear the bickering back and forth. And they want us to Work Together to get some things done. Is like, why did the president go to galesburg when he could have, right over here, or even didnt have to leave the white house . Invite us down and say, tell me what is happening in your districts with the economy. Talk to me about that. Let me know. I think the sense of statesmanship is what so many people are missing. You have read all of the papers, and you have looked at the pundits, whether they are from the left or from the right, the speech was widely panned. There was great disappointment. I think that across the country you got that. People want to see some constructive work done to address some of the issues that are affecting this country. Host representative blackburn, lets go back two years ago when john boehner and president obama were meeting and trying to come up with a socalled grand bargain. It fell apart. Affect did that meeting series have on House Republicans and their willingness to work with president obama . Guest that is a good question. I think that you go and and you try to negotiate in good faith. Then you find out that it was not something that was going to be done in good faith. There were decisions that were going to be made, or it was going to be spun a political way. Do thatthat after you for a a while, then you say, this is not serving me well, or this is not serving the country well. Which is the point. I have always found that things that are good policy and that making good politics. I think that many times we dont explain what we are doing. Let me give you a good example of that, going back to the grand bargain, if you will. The budget control act. I got to tell you, people who were against that, were against that. But the information they had many times was wrong. Back in my district, some of those individuals who were most vocally against the budget control act are now saying, you know what, i am glad you all got that sequester past because it gave us a two percent acrosstheboard cut. It gave a real sustainable cut. That has lowered the baseline. That says to me, one of the things we have to do in our district is we go out and educate our constituents. And to make certain that they have all the information. We are working very aggressively on that. Facebook, twitter, our website. Anyway we can to make certain that our constituents are informed and to encourage democrats as andy was saying encourage them to come and work with us to get some things done. That is why it would be wonderful for the president and the administration to be respectful of congress and not go out here and blame but go out here and say, hey, look there are some things that are not working. And we need to get to the bottom of this. What didnt work . Stimulus didnt work. Son of stimulus didnt work. You know, all of the quantitative easing. Questions about whether or not that has worked. What is having a debilitating affect is overreaching regulation. Every time you turn around there is any new regulation. I was in one of my rural hospitals, another big example. 100 bed hospital. On a friday afternoon when hhs tends to send out these new regulations, they got a whole batch i think four or five e mails with regulation changes that are implemented immediately. So, when you got one compliance officer, what does it mean . It means they are working all weekend long trying to tend to this and bring people up to speed. That is the kind of thing that is just debilitating. Host randy is in perkins, oklahoma. Republican line. You are on with representative marsha blackburn. Randy . I would like to know when will the republicans get the backbone to stand up to these democrats, these radical leftwing activists . Epa, he is an activist judicial system. It is becoming so ridiculous. I believe this country wants to go down. This government wanted this country to fall apart. Host randy, i can hear your frustration. I know from oklahoma, you got a lot of great people who are representing you and doing a great job, i will add. I think that you are seeing a persistent and a tenacious mess in the way these investigations are being canceled, with the irs investigation. Today youve got information that the republicans are going andiden that investigation begin to look at some of the not for profit. We are hearing, peter, from so many notforprofit and individuals who are now beginning to say, hey, i think i was not targeted. Let me tell you my story. I think i was targeted. Let me tell you my story. We are being thoughtful and careful. I think what you will want us to do is make sure we do it right the first time. And whether it is the review or the are doing at irs department of justice, which the Judiciary Committee is handling. My committee, energy and is handling the review of the department of energy loan programs. We are handling the review of the epa and some of the overreach there. We are also in charge of looking at or investigating what was the and theg that hhs administration decided to delay the employer mandate. To be verygoing thorough. We are going to be respectful of the constitution. And we are going to be respectful of our constituents who sent us here, and we are going to do this job right. Host a viewer tweets blackburn hasrsha been in the house since 2002 and suddenly she is upset about the nsa. Guest no, i think he is probably a little bit wrong about that. I think that what we have is some concern for what has transpired over the last few weeks. We know that the data mining has been a very useful tool to the Intelligence Units are out in the theater of war. We fully understand that. We just have the fortitude to letss review this review this. Sometimes there are things you need you need to do a freeze, you need to do a halt, you need to do a backup and a revisit of certain things. That is what you will see us do. Host records in nashville, tennessee. The home of marsha blackburn. Independent line. Caller actually right outside of nashville. Inful and Brentwood Brentwood this morning. I voted for you in the past. I like to call myself an independent now because i am frustrated with both sides of the aisle. Need twoknown is, i things to touch on real quick and then i will hang up. One is, Grocery Store on that you made earlier. If you want to work in a Service Oriented business, which more and more businesses in the country are becoming Service Oriented instead of industrial base, what happens is, say you work in a Grocery Store and they have a competitive clause. If you go and work for another company that sells like items, you are not able to work for the company because it is a conflict of interest. All of a sudden in a Service Oriented country you cannot work for another company that sells like items. Ms. Blackburn, one thing i would like you to tell the nation is how it went for medicaid system anden care and a correction fraud. The legislators here in nashville have fault brought tenncare and it still does not work. Host thank you for calling in. Guest rick is exactly right. The conflict of interest and the not and the noncompete in the private sector employee contracts have a very true effect. That is something he is exactly right on that. I know that so many people are beginning to be affected by this. Tenncare was the test case for Hillary Clinton health care. 115was put in by a cms 1 waiver, agreement with office of the governor and the state of tennessee. It it went into effect january 1 , 1995. What he is talking about is the fact that the cost of tenncare which was opposed to the medicaid managed, it quadrupled in cost within five years. Happening is we had a fouryear battle in the state of tennessee over imposition of a state income tax, which we do not have. We still do not have. A full fouryear battle. The battle was, we need the state income tax because we got to pay for tenncare. Now, the legislators could not tweak were change the program because it was an executive order program. As werepeatedly asked, went through the obamacare debates, i would ask secretary sebelius, have you looked at have you talked to the governor, who was then the governor and the state, who pullingp going in and the waiver, repositioning it and moving 270,000 people, nearly 25 of the enrollees, although the program, because they have got a non no verification of enrollment and eligibility, and all of these individuals were moved off of that program. It was a democrat governor who did it. Of course, they never talked to anyone at tenncare. Of course, they do not want to know how explosive the cost of the program was. This is what is happening with obamacare. And rick is exactly right about this. In tennessee, we say, we have been to this dance. We know how this thing comes out. And it is not good. Obamacare was to be an 800 billion program. You remember, it will come in under a trillion dollars. Then after they passed the bill and read the bill, what the cbo do, peter . A changed the cost estimate and trillion. 1. 4 do you know what they gave us as the budget number to work with this year for the cost of obamacare . , and the program has not even started. Rick is right. And tennessee, we know how it happens, and it is not a pretty picture. T vivian tweets in to you id you signed the pledge to shut down the government if they can repeal obamacare . Guest i do not know what she is referencing. Host there has been discussion about shutting down the government. Guest i do not know of any kind of ledge. What we are very concerned about i have the bill that is actually the oneyear delay of obamacare for programs and taxes. The reason we have done this, in order to refund and keep any money from the continuing resolution being reprogrammed. On predatecr we are obamacare. What they have to do is reprogrammed, the administration reprograms the money. What you have to do is an act a delay. I have that legislation. We are circulating it right now for original cosponsors. We have it pretty much ready to go. With theset happens explosive government controlled health care. It cramps your access. It increases your cause. It yields worse outcomes. R d. Mpers are in the we want people to have access to healthcare, not access to a queue to wait for healthcare. Call. Last jasper, memphis. Democrat. Caller yes, i am from the memphis area and i am a truck driver. Blackburnsugh ms. Area. I see people standing on the Street Corner with signs that they want food. A lot of them need healthcare. And then you talk to officials about obamacare. It seems to me she should be signing to get obamacare to help the people. My question to ms. Blackburn what has the Republican Party done to help the working class people in this world . Right now i have been from tennessee for 50 years. Theve seen nothing that Republican Party has ever done for the working class people in this country. Host thank you, sir. Guest well, i think it is so interesting when you have a call ,ike that, that jasper has every day. I go to work in say, how do we preserve freedom . Faith, family, freedom, hope, opportunity . How do you put it in place . A government that is going to be there to do the that only the things individuals can i do for themselves . How do you make certain you keep the American Dream alive . I love the fact that individuals that we all can dream those big dreams and then work to make those dreams come true. And have that opportunity. How wonderful that in america you can be born and go to school and get an education and then at the end of the day say, i want and be a physician, i want to be a schoolteacher, i want to move to a different part of the country, i want the opportunity to make my dreams come true, i want to be a mom, i want to have a family, i want to teach my children, i want to homeschool my children did those are options. They are choices. And only in america. ,hen i hear a call a jaspers it kind of is a little bit outstanding because you do not hear people around the world talking about the russian dream or thechina dream venezuelan dream, you hear them talk about the American Dream. And the opportunity to build a family, growr a your family, and then to decide to pursue hopes and dreams for yourself and for your family. Host we have been talking with her presented a marsha blackburn, republican of, part of the leadership in a house. Representative marsha blackburn. Coming up next, senator ben cardin, a democrat from maryland. We will be talking about congressional issues with him as well. After this update from cspan radio. As Congress Debates immigration legislation, members of the house and senate leave for a weekend tour of immigration related site in new york city with stops at ellis island and a naturalization ceremony. Our route 20 lawmakers are scheduled to participate these events being organized by the faith and politics institute. Most are democrats but there are also a handful of republicans, including House Majority leader of virginia who will speak saturday at a Jewish Center in queens. Organizers say the hope is to promote reflection on the nations immigrant history. In washington, meanwhile, president obamas picked to be the number two official at the Homeland Security Department Faces questions from lawmakers this morning about an inestigation into his role helping a company run by former secretary of state Hillary Clintons brother to secure a foreign investor visa. Mallorcas head of citizenship and immigration 11 00 a. M. Stifies at at the hearing before senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs committee. At least one republican member of that committee is calling for the nomination to be put on hold. At 11 00 a. M. Rage on cspan radio or watch the hearings on cspan 3. This from chicago willie reid has passed away. The 1955witness in prosecution of the white man accused of killing emmett till, the young black man whose murder in the mississippi delta became one of the most infamous lynchings in the history of the jim crow south. Augusthim only once on 28th, 19 55, during the last hour of tills life. He was in the back of a green and white chevrolet pickup truck. An africanamerican sharecropper risked his life at the age of 18 to appear as a surprise witness of the murder trial, an event that helped spur the civil rights movement. A had lived in chicago under different name sent fleeing mississippi for his safety nearly 60 years ago. For decades, he had worked as a hospital orderly. He was 70. Emmett till would have turned 72 today. Those are some of the latest headlines on cspan radio. I think interestingly that the korean war in a sense sort of helped the south korean the South Koreans reunify themselves in a way that was not there before. When the communists came down, they were brutal. And a lot of the South Koreans turned against the communists and the north. That sort of solidified, i think, their sense of National Cohesion and identity. Sungi think kim il miscalculated, because had he waited, it is possible the south it is possible it would have disintegrated on its own. 60 years after north korean troops crossed the 30th parallel, a look at a war that never really ended. Sunday night at 9 00 on afterwords part of book tv this weekend on cspan2. . Washington journal continues. Host senator ben cardin, democrat of maryland and umber of the finance committee and Foreign Affairs committee. You heard the president posses speed yesterday. What did you think . Guest peter, i thought he laid it out pretty clearly. He is somewhat frustrated. Frustrated that our recovery is not stronger than it should be. He concentrated on job growth, as we should. We need more jobs and we need people more welltrained. The importance of education. I think he is showing frustration that he cant get, particularly the republicans and he was pretty specific to sit down and work in a constructive manner. He understands compromises must be made. And he understands there are deep divisions of philosophy and congress. But we need to answer americas problems. Host the speaker of the house,. Ohn boehner, had a prebuttal we want to show you a little bit and get a response. [video clip] to hear interested today that the president was going to give a speech about the economy. After all, republicans have a plan for growth and jobs. We have been focused on that plan. And we certainly welcome the president s ideas. But the white house says it is not expected to say anything new, no new proposals in the speech. Said, hedent himself is not going to change any minds. All right. Well, exactly what will change . What is the point . What is it going to accomplish . You probably got the answer. Nothing. It is a hollow shell. An easter egg with no candy in it. If the president wants to help, keystoneto approve the pipeline that has bipartisan support here in the house. And the to work with us bipartisan majority to delay the Health Care Bill him up to give the American People and their families and individuals the same break he wants to give the big businesses. Threatening to shut down the government unless we raise taxes. Americans are not asking the question am aware of the speeches . They are asking, where are the theystion mark host are asking, were are the jobs . Guest what the president supports and i support, it will not be the plan that we want because we cannot and that they plan we want. There are differences between democrats and republicans. We need a balanced approach to deal with the federal government. Wrist and foremost, we have to get rid of sequestration, the acrosstheboard my list cuts hurting the people and our country. To dr. A chance to talk collins at nih and the amount of Research Work that will not be done this year and the advancements that will be lost and the jobs that will be lost. We need to get rid of sequestration. Federal workers are being furloughed, losing 20 of their pay. That is not right. We need to correct you. We need to substitute. Substituted in a balanced way. Yes, the republicans are correct bringing to us the attention that we need to save monday money in mandatory spending. We agree. We need to find a way to reduce mandatory spending, particularly by bringing down the cost of healthcare in america. We can do it by Delivery System reform. We also need to get revenues. Year 1. 3very trillion in the tax code. We can certainly reform the tax code and get a more efficient code without raising rates and bring in revenue. That is a balanced way to deal with the fiscal problems so we can balance our books but still have the type of Economic Growth and infrastructure and research and education that will create the jobs. Democrats and republicans can come together on that plan. I talked to enough republicans and democrats didnt know there is a way of getting this done, that is what the president has been talking about. Host from until those quote this morning i want to ask you about a finance committee issue. Hill this morning i want to ask you about this. This is about the tax reform issue. Submitted a proposal, it would be under lock and key for 50 years. Host you and i guest you and i ought to check in 50 years to see if it is the case. We need to reform our tax code. Our tax code is badly broken. I will take advantage of the opportunity to let the leadership of the finance committee know how i think we should reform our tax code. I am a member of the finance committee. I think it is important that we can deal and talk frankly. I think that the end of the day we have to do our work in the publics eye. We need to have an open process. I think the chairman and Ranking Member understand that. But we want to make sure we have at least some honest discussions to seeing if we can find a way we can move forward and correct this badly broken tax code. Bargain you see a grand on tax reform this congress . Guest i think we need a budget agreement. I think tax reform can help us get to a budget agreement. I think there is more consensus among the democrats and republicans that we need to change our tax code and make it more efficient and simpler and more predictable, and that may give us the ability to help fill in the blanks on a broader deal. Host do you see at the end of september, the end of the fiscal year, another continuing resolution . Do you see a new budget being passed . Where are we . Guest not a lot of work days between now and the next fiscal year. I would hope we could use regular water. I can tell you, we tried to go to conference on the budget. We tried many, many times. If the have blocked us at each effort. A complaint we do not use regular order. When we pass the budget they do not let us go to conference. We need to sit around a table and negotiate and get a budget agreement. There has not been a lot of progress on that. That is extremely disappointing. We certainly will do everything we can to get an orderly budget process. If we dont complete i will work at the end of september, that we will have to go to continuing resolution. Host one more question before we go to calls. From the New York Times this morning. The u. S. , in a sign of this pleasure, the f16 delivery to egypt. Egypt is critically important to the United States. A very important strategic partner. It has a Peace Agreement with israel. We have a large presence in egypt. We will have a hearing this morning starting at 10 30 a. M. This morning in the Senate Foreign relations committee, an update. I want the administration to remain engaged. It is in transition again. We dont know how it will finally resolve itself. Our principles are clear. We want leadership in egypt that will respect the rights of citizens, that will help us in our war against extremists and will honor its commitments to the state of israel. Tweet for you, senator cardin. Did you support the amash amendment. Are you familiar with the vote in the house . I know you are in the senate to muscle does not vote on this. Nsa funding. On guest i believe we need to have balance between collecting information to keep american safe but also protecting civil liberties. I would not support efforts that would block the nsa from getting information, but i think we need to have more accountability and oversight. Ost linda fresno, california. Democrat. You are on with senator ben cardin. Caller i have a question. I am really concerned about the. Egativity in the congress and where are we going . Is i think we are the best country in the whole world and i think the rest of the world is just as good. I think we need to move forward. I am tired of the negativity. I am tired of republicans blocking everything this president is trying to do on behalf of the American People. Disconcerting. I have been making notes as i was listening to you talk about the nsa. I mean, i have no secrets. They can take all they want. All they want. And nonprofits. Get calls from people who are hired. It can go on and on. Disturbed by boehners comments about repealing his only function not toepeal laws and make laws . Host a lot on the table. Lets get an answer. Guest first, thank you for your question. There is a deep division in the United States congress on policy. Disappointed we did not do better in the last elections and elected democraticcontrolled congress. It did not happen. We need to resolve our differences. I completely agree with you about the negativism. We need to Work Together. We need to compromise. In the recent weeks in the United States senate, we have seen very positive signs of democrats and republicans getting together. We did it on the president s nominations and we will complete the work today or early next week on the National Labor relations board. Weve got positive accomplishments. Yesterday on the floor of the senate we passed the Student Interest loan issue. I did not agree with the final result. I voted against it. But we worked together and got it done, and there were no be lays moving the legislation forward yesterday. Thats how we should work. Have respect for different views but reach conclusions. Missingwhat is particularly in the house of representatives. I agree with your point. Host why were you one of the 17 who voted against it . Guest i am concerned about taking off the table subsidizing Student Loans as a way of making college more affordable. The premise of the bill was that we have to pay there cannot be any subsidies to the Student Interest provisions. I think colleges are way too expensive, and i think most of my colleagues agree. We need to look at the cost of education. Ofdent borrowing is one part it. I thought we should have taken this issue up when we take up reauthorization of Higher Education. Host edgewater, maryland. Republican line. Go ahead, margarita. Caller good morning, mr. Cardin. I am an american by choice. My husband spent 41 years between the National Guard and the regular military. 65. As now hit tricare is going to be dropped, which he was told when he joined the military you have everything for life. Dont worry about it. You can go to vietnam, you can go to desert storm, you can go to iraq, we will look after you. Now hes got to go on medicare. What is happening . We are now having to pay almost 3000 a year for our healthcare. Im sorry. Theres something very, very wrong. With the way you treat your military. And then you turn around and say, these guys are great. Well, you know, it is not so great when you have a bullet put through your head. And you dont do anything guest first, let me say, people who served in our military, they are our heroes. They are the ones protecting our freedom. In recent years, it has been a tremendous sacrifice with multiple deployments in iraq and now in afghanistan. Sacrificedve really for the nation. We made commitments to our military at we would take care of them. You are right about tricare and healthcare. We made commitments. We need to honor those commitments. I am proud that the budgets that have been approved by congress have provided more fun than ever for healthcare for our military r. Funds than eve we are mindful of the commitments and want to make sure they are on it. I am not sure of the specifics of your stiff that it particular circumstance. I know our office deals with military families to make sure they get the health care we committed. We are a strong supporter of tricare and of making sure that our veterans are properly cared for. Caffe, ormond beach, florida. Independent line. Cathy. Main issue is job growth and the republicans have done everything they could to block every any job growth under this president to make him look bad. First of all, they blocked his jobs bill which would have built up our decaying infrastructure. Then the republicans voted against any penalties against the companies who outsource our jobs. They are very helpful. Only to themselves. Six months before the 2012 residential election bill bradley, the former democrat senator from new jersey, was on meet the press and he said corporations were sitting on 2 trillion of profit. If they would spend just 20 of their 2 trillion profit the Unemployment Rate would have fallen to five percent. Guest well, i agree with the thrust of your point. There is no question that we could do a better job in tightening our tax code about outsourcing american jobs. We have had opportunities in this congress to pass legislation that would reward companies for keeping their jobs here and penalize those companies that take american jobs and outsource them overseas. We have not had the cooperation of the republicans in order to get that done. That is unfortunate. The number one priority is creating jobs, and we have not been able to get the focus of the republicans to help us come together on a job agenda. Instead, they look at just cutting spending across the board, the sequestration cuts are hurting jobs. Nih, and mentioned earlier, nih, the basic research is not being done. That hurts your job growth. We are losing jobs as a result of sequestration. We can talk about the federal workers taking 20 cut in the pay because of sequestration. What impact it has on the local communities. Quite frankly, theres. Quite frankly, there should be a sense of urgency but instead we find that we still are in this gridlock situation where one party basically will not come to the table in order to negotiate. Host frank in georgia on our democrat line. Good morning. [indiscernible] the administration of Social Security. I was just diagnosed with prostate cancer. Social Security Administration wants to charge me a monetary homelessecause i was yet and still i got my senator chambliss, he worked very well with me. I am a democrat, he worked very well with me. We got the situation straightened out. People in thee social Security Administration that really need to be checking before they got in there. I a lady from marilyn from me me if i doer told not fax or information i was dying i would pay the monetary penalty. On a false pretense. No calls at all. They did not know anything about it. What was going on. Is your question or comment for the senator . Caller for the senator, i think the administrations in the government we do need to straighten out who have control over the way we are being treated. Our insurance that their insurance has. Ecohot guest i think Social Security is one of the most successful programs not only in the history not just the United States but as far as governmental programs, one of the strongest and most important the government has ever passed. Along with medicare, Social Security guarantees the dignity of our seniors. It protects those that are most vulnerable from the point of view of disability, and it has worked very effectively. Areadministrative costs very low compared to the incredible importance of these programs. But they have to be administered according to the law. I know at times it is frustrating, because there are administrative delays. We tried to make sure it is handled as efficiently as possible. Gave thehelp if we social Security Administration the type of support they need in their budget. At times we cut the budget when i think we should not have cut their budget. Your point is well taken. We are here at oversight to make sure the laws are carried out fairly and we certainly want to make it easier for constituents to get the services they deserve. Senator carton serves and the subcommittee on health care, so you were there from the beginning when health care was being formed, the Affordable Care act. Where now on it . What are your feelings about it . Strong supporter of the Affordable Care act, obamacare. I think it fundamentally will bring everyone in the system. It will help reduce the growth of health care costs. It takes care of americans who have preexisting conditions to make sure that they have adequate coverage. Iam proud of the provision added to the law that provides for pediatric dental care. We had a tragedy in maryland where a youngster who died could not get access to dental care. That is corrected. Please that families can keep children on the Health Insurance policies until the age 26. I think the rebate system, to make sure that policyholders get value for their dollars and the millions of americans now getting rebates. It fundamentally, everyone should be responsible to be part of the system. There have been literally millions of americans who have used our Healthcare System system and have not paid for it and have shifted the cost to others. At time, it will end, and will have everyone responsible in the system. And lastly, let me say, it treats all people equally from the point of view of spreading the risk so we do not have favorites in our system. It will take time for it to be fully implemented in an orderly way. I heard some of the previous callers, some of the complaints you hear about the old system not about the new system. The new system has not even been fully implemented yet. The mandates do not go into effect until next year but you hear the Horror Stories about the rate increases that have nothing to do with the Affordable Care act. I think this is an important advancement for america to say at long last health care is a right and and not a privilege. Host senator cardin, communistdog is the twitter handle. He writes what will come out of the next debt ceiling showdown . The president has made it clear it is not something we will negotiate. We have to pay the deal bills. I expect that the end of the day congress will extend the debt ceiling. Those concerned about the growing debt, simpsonbowles generally has been cited as the goal of what we are trying to achieve as far as responsible reductions in the debt. We are well along the way of achieving the numbers under simpsonbowles. So, there has been tremendous progress. The debt actually have been reduced. Growth in the debt has been reduced. There is no reason other than politics and not extending the debt ceiling. Greg is in South Carolina calling from the republican line. Senator ben cardin is our desk. Guest. Greg . Please, go ahead. I was talking a while ago about all of this negativity that is going on within our people out of washington. Obama, he goes to these different places and gives , and he isout things dragging a lot of negativity into his political agenda. Instead of doing that, he ought to try to put a positive spin on things and try to deal with things that are very essential, things that we need to be concerned about. Economy,e, such as the definitely. We need help. Come together in washington and sit down and tried to deal with these issues adultse responsible should be doing, we are going to have problems from here on out. The previousold caller, i agree there is way too much negativity in washington. We need to come together. We need to meet together. We need to bring things forward. I believe in the last couple of weeks we have seen a positive trend in the United States senate where democrats and republicans have worked together on procedural issues as well as substantive issues. I will say this about president obama, throughout his term, he has reached out to republicans. He has met oneonone with republicans, met with them as a group, listened to their concerns. He has taken the leadership to say, look, i am willing to take on my own hardy and tell you saves, we have to money on mandatory spending, something republicans said was a requirement of the budget agreement. The president has gone more than halfway to sit down and say let us compromise. Every time he does, he seems to be undercut i the republicans. They seemed to say we will take what you put on the table but will not budge on anything else. Our way or no way. No way to negotiate. Both sides have to do it in good faith. I think the president has been very sincere, very open to compromise. The willing to work within reasonable parameters. I think particularly in the house of representatives, it has been extremely difficult, and we have not seen the good will return. Host where are you on syria . Is a i think syria situation that requires strong u. S. Leadership. We need to help the opposition be better organized and more effective. We have to make sure that our help does not go to extremists. That is a very important point. There are parts of the opposition dangerous to u. S. Interests, affiliated with al qaeda that would be very dangerous for us to participate with. So, i think u. S. Participation can help isolate those that are harmful to the United States, those who really want a syria that respect all the rights of citizens can get help from the United States and coordinate with the United States. They are not asking for boots on the ground. Talking about basically helping and organizing and being a more of a way of unseating alassad. Host taylorsville, north carolina. Independent line. Caller hey. Host you got to turn down the tv. Er host we will put you on hold for a minute. Carl in richmond, virginia. Democrat. You are on the air. Caller i am calling in reference to the obamacare plan. Want to say that the obamacare plan, i feel, is a great plan. Cant understand why the polls are so negative against it. What concerns me so much is that i work or one of the major corporations in this country and right now i just got a statement in the mail saying my deductible next year going from 500 up to 1000. I heard other people talking about the companies are going up on insurance rates. Doing what youp are doing, trying to keep the obamacare Going Forward because by the time it goes through, the insurance are going is going to be high anyway. Keep supporting our president and keep doing what you are doing, and thank you so much. Guest i appreciate your call. Know what is in obamacare, the more they like it. The more they realize what the facts are, it becomes more popular. Facts get out there, and clearly the support is there for the continuation of this program. There has been a lot of misinformation out. People were blaming obamacare for things that took place well before this law was passed. People will recall that the quality of their Health Insurance products has been eroding over time. It costs more, you get less. That is what happened before we passed obamacare. As a result of the Affordable Care act there is now guarantee protections. 39 ofnews poll the American Public thinks it should be repealed. The Affordable Care act. Expand or keep it, 36 . The evenly divided. Then when it comes to hurt me or help me, 38 said it is going to hurt them. 13 said it would help them. Again, i think when people get information. When they realize there were would no longer be a pre existing condition, they like that. When they realize how many of them would be subject to pre existing conditions. If you are a woman, for many insurance policies, that is a preexisting condition. When they also understand in fact that now they have to get value for their prop. 80 85 of the premium whether directly or to employer, have to go to healthcare and if its. You get a rebate at the end of the year. Millions are getting the rebates. They sort of like that. This is helping me. The more information that gets out, i am convinced, the more popular the program will be. Host when you turn it over to cspan2 you can watch a discussion at politico about Health Insurance exchanges. You can see it right there. Background information on that event is available on our website, www. Cspan. Org. Boring file clerk tweet into you do we really need a new budget . We have clean done pretty well living off the continuing resolutions. Guest absolutely, we need a budget. The budget is the policy document, moral document, priority document of the country. Where do we need to make advancements . Better educated work force . More . Building more roads . Not every priority in government is equal. If we get a chance when we pass a budget to say, this is what we believe is important for future growth. There is a limit as to how much resources we have and how much we can spend in government. We need to make those decisions very carefully. We have a fiduciary responsibility to pass a budget. It is our responsibility. We got to get it done. And lets go back to lee taylorsville, north carolina. Independent line. Youre on the air. Caller can you hear me now . Know, is, you [indiscernible] when president clinton was in the office, when the peace treaty went through, all the jobs went overseas. That hurt our country. Cost our jobs. One more question about that one more question about another thing. Security, we dont make enough money to hardly live on. Thejust i guess white house the middleclass, existw class, they dont no more. Host we got the point. We appreciate you coming in. And the response . Securityrst, social was never intended to be the sole source of retirement income. It needs to be supplemented by private savings and private retirement fund. That is why we work hard to encourage a place to provide pension benefits for their employees. Why we offer so many incentives for individuals to save for retirement. I am proud of the role i played with senator portman in announcing and acting changes the pension law that makes it easier for you to put money away. Savers credit for low income families with the government provides part of the money that you put away for savings. People need to participate, employers need to participate. It is part of system. Secondly, in regards to outsourcing and the global issues, we are in a global economy. Weve got to compete in a global economy. It helps us to engage the international community. We want to do it on a level playing field. We think American Companies can outcompete World Markets if it is a level playing field. Given a level playing field, we are ford. And we want to be actively participating in the global economy. Host a viewer tweets will you pledge to uphold the filibuster . All. no, not at i am for senate rules changes. I think the filibuster has been abused. Particularly the rights of individual senators. I think the senate is different than the house. It should be able to cool things down. It should be able to have a deliberative debate. We should not be as impetuous as the house. We are a smaller body. But at the end of the day, the majority should rule. It should be an exception when you use the filibuster. Historically it was used once or twice during a term of college congress. Now it is used daily. The 60 vote threshold should not be the threshold for the senate. It should be simple majority except in extraordinary cases. And we really should look at a more streamlined way in which the senate should operate. Host as we wrap up, this is kind of a philosophical question in a sense. A viewer tweets in why do liberals want to subsidize everything . College loans, flood, Health Insurance, forms, etc. . Guest we believe there is a role for government. Yes, we believe, we need to have you well educated workforce we all benefited the publics cool systems in our country is one of the reasons why america became the great education the great economic power. We believe our system of Higher Education is another reason why we became a great economic power. We want to encourage the type of investments that will lead to private sector job growth. We understand that job growth in america will occur in the private sector. But we want to make sure we have a welleducated work was, that our environment is clean, that people have healthy air to breathe, that food is safe. There is a role for government to play, and we believe it needs to be adequately funded. Illinois, in republican line. 30 seconds before the house comes in. Color caller thank you for taking my all. Sequestration, who originally brought the idea up, and if it is such a bad idea, why did the president signed it . Guest great question. It was put in as a placeholder. Most people thought it would never take effect. The democrats or republicans would never allow acrossthe board cuts to demo domestic programs and military programs. It was a placeholder. And it was never intended to take effect. And, quite frankly, it is devastating. Your questions are a very is a very valid question and no better answer than i could get you. Host senator cardin, the senate has one more week before recess. What is going to be some of the major legislation we see maybe next week or in the fall . Guest guest we are working on appropriations bills. I think we will continue to work on that. We may take up an energy bill that is a bipartisan will. We could make some progress in the appropriations bill has democrats and republicans supporting it, so that is good news. Host we have been talking to senator ben cardin, a member of the Foreign Affairs committee. Thank you for your time. Guest my pleasure. Host the house of representatives is coming into session. The speaker the house will be in order. The prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. Haplain conroy let us pray. Compassionate and merciful god, we give you thanks for giving us another day. As this house comes together at the end of a busy week, bless the work of its members. May their legislative actions bring about positive results hich redowned to the benefit of all members of this nation. As our members go to their districts, fill their hearts with understanding, their wills with courage to listen well and reflect back with the expertise and knowledge they possess, greater insight for american voters. The work that they have is difficult work. May they rise together to accomplish what is best for our great nation and indeed for all the world. May all that is done in the days to come be for your greater honor and glory. Amen. Chair has the exceled the journal of the last days proceedings and announces his approval. Pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1 the journal stands approved. For what purpose does the gentleman from arizona rise . Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule 1, i demand a vote on agreeing to the speakers approval of the journal. The speaker those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The journal stands approved. The gentleman from arizona. Mr. Gosar mr. Speaker, i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and i make a point of order that a quorum is not present. The speaker pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the chairs prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be postponed. The pledge of allegiance today will be led by the gentlewoman from illinois, ms. Kelly. Ms. Kelly i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The speaker the chair will entertain up to five requests for oneminute speeches on each side of the aisle. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise . Without objection. Mr. Speaker, today i proudly recognize the fifth anniversary in expansion of, quote, my possibilities, a Nonprofit Organization serving disabled young adults in north texas. My possibilities began with a vision of three dedicated mothers of special needs children. These mothers dreamed of something more for their kids beyond a high school education, and after two years of hard work they created the first full day, full year continuing Education Program for disabled texans. N fact, last week commemorated the grand opening of a new facility in plano so even more texans can be lifelong learners. My possibilities stand as a testament to the american spirit of freedom and free enterprise. Three moms took an idea to fill a need in our community and made it a reality. Thats truly remarkable. The folks at my possibilities live up to their motto, quote, make every moment count. To the staff, board of directors and chairman, thank you for your tireless efforts and your dedication. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlelady from illinois rise . Youre recognized for one minute. Ms. Kelly thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today as i have before on behalf of the many families victimized daily by the persistent gun violence in their communities. As a nation we shutter at tragedies like the newtown shootings. It left a mark on our collective conscious. Yet, sadly every day deadly gun violence occurs every day in urban america, often without the same media coverage. Since newtown over 6,000 americans have lost their lives to gun violence. Still, congress has yet to act on commonsense gun reforms that would save lives. Every life lost, regardless of zip code, is a tragedy. Ts age easy to get angry. Instead we need to turn our anger and frustration into action. In my three months in congress ive introduced three commonsense gun bills that will help make our communities safer. Though federal legislation alone cannot stop the gun violence epidemic, its a tep in the and s right direction. I urge my colleagues to cosponsors these bills and stand with me against gun violence. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona rise . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to shed light on attorney general eric holders less than glamorous tenure. Mr. Gosar hes expected to be governed of the principals of seeking justice. He has one primary job, to enforce the laws of the United States fairly and impartially. It is for that reason that lady justice wears a blindfold. The blindfold suggests that justice should be served without impartiality. How come the attorney general overlooked actual injustices and the disregard for the rule of law. As Supreme Court Justice Brandeis said, in a government of laws, the existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. If government becomes a lawbreaker it breeds contempt for law. It invites every man to become a law unto himself. It invites anarchy. Folks, i will be back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman seek recognition . To address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Mcnerney americas night out begins crime began those 30 years ago to encourage communitybased crime prevention. I participated in Many National night out events throughout the years meeting people who are committed to reducing crime in their neighborhoods and promoting Community Spirit by building relationships with their local Civic Leaders and Law Enforcement officials. This year i look forward to celebrating National Night out in stockton, california, a city in my district. National night out has made a difference in my district by bringing people together and making them more aware of how to keep their neighborhoods safe. National night out has grown to over 37 million americans participating in 15,000 communities across north america. Illustrates out how partnerships between Community Members and local Law Enforcement can prevent crime. I encourage my colleagues to participate in National Night out events in their own districts. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from utah rise . The gentleman is recognized for ne minute. Mr. Stewart my heart is back in our state as we celebrate our great pioneer heritage. Brigham 4, 1847, ivas part of meadows and he uttered the famous words, this is the place. After traveling more than 1,300 Miles Crossing the great plains and the rocky mountains, the pioneers settled to begin a new life. Throughout this they suffered great hardships, fatigue, cold, exhaustion. They quickly called utah home when they reached this great valley. When they grew crops, they grew it into the wonderful city we now know. Our state has much to be proud of. We have the greatest snow on earth. Our National Parks are truly magnificent. Our state is consistently rated among the top in job creation, education and quality of life. Utah truly has some of the most honest hardworking and friendly people in the country. Pioneer day is celebrated to honor anyone who immigrated west to utah during our great pioneer heritage who aided in creating this great state. Im proud to call utah my home. I yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise . Mr. Speaker, i rise i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, just last week i had the privilege of speaking to students who attend Florida International university in my district. These students included democrats, they included republicans and independents but their message was clear its time for congress to help keep college affordable, and that is why i have supported efforts to prevent and reverse the doubling of the federal student loan rates which took effect on july 1. Mr. Garcia this issue is too important for us to delay any further. I was very encouraged that the senate yesterday passed a strongly bipartisan compromise bill to lower these rates. I urge the house leadership, mr. Speaker, to bring this bill to the floor and keep college rates affordable for our nations students. I yield back the balance of my time. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from arizona rise . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Franks mr. Speaker, it is my privilege to cochair the religious Freedom Caucus in the congress and to participate in the defending freedoms project, a bipartisan effort from members of congress to adopt a prisoner of conscience. Has adopted a christian pastor and american citizen from idaho who is currently imprisoned in iran for his faith. Irans tyrannical attempts to in the words of Ronald Reagan, stifle the freedom and muzzle the selfexpression of the people, have been exposed again to the world after the imprisonment of pastor abadini, who was sentenced to eight years in prison who was working to build an orphanage in iran. Martin luther king said injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere. This is the far reaching implications of a single instance of human rights abuse. I would call again opinion iran to immediately release the pastor so he can return to idaho to be with his family and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, 10 years ago today this body unanimously passed the elimination act which my colleague from virginia, frank wolf and i sponsored. Mr. Scott it is to end Sexual Violence in our nations prisons. Assaults by ng young people. Under prixa, no youth under 18 years of age can be placed in a housing unit where contact with adult inmates may occur. Furthermore, children and adult jails are placed in solitary confinement with their own for their own protection. Due to this type of confinement and exposure to abuse, youth have the highest rates of suicide amongst all inmates. It urges agencies to avoid subjecting children to solitary confinement. Mr. Speaker, i call on the department of justice to redouble its efforts to ensure that every state implements it from vent all inmates Sexual Violence. Thank you. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlelady from tennessee rise . I ask permission to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for a minute. Mrs. Black mr. Speaker, on july 4, the Obama Administration updated the federal register and buried in more than 600 pages of this new regulation was a controversial decision to delay verification of eligibilityr obamare subsidie use the honor system which more accurately should be described as an open invitation for fraud and abuse. In a desperate attempt to try to save the president s Failing Health care law, the administration is willing to give out billions of dollars in fraudulent payments, racking up even more debt for current and future generations and this is indispensible. That is why i have introduced h. R. 2775, the no subsidies without verification act. My bill would stop this irresponsible action by requiring that verification systems be put in place before any subsidy is paid with taxpayer money. I urge my colleagues to join me in this fight and support h. R. 2775. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise . I ask unanimous consent to trem. Revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Waxman mr. Speaker, my colleagues, every day a member of the state climate caucus has come to the floor to raise concern about Climate Change, and we know about Climate Change from hurricanes and tornadoes and droughts and all the other things that we are seeing, but yesterday the Prestigious Science journal nature published an analysis of the cost of rapid warming in the arctic. And that analysis found that the cost could range from 10 trillion to a little over 200 trillion. The mean cost is 60 trillion. Im not misspeaking. Its not 60 million, its not 60 billion, but 60 trillion. These enormous costs are the consequence of the release of 50 gigatons of methane now trapped into arctic ice shelves which experts believe will be released into the air within the next 50 years, if not sooner. If we dont stop spewing Carbon Pollution into our father. The arctic is pivotal to the functioning of the earths systems, oceans, and climate, but we are recklessly endangering it. We need to stop acting like members of the flat earth soinl and start listening to the urgent warnings of the scientists. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . Thank you, madam speaker. Madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that h. R. 2315, deserving access to orphan drugs, be rereferred to the committee on ways and means and in addition to the committee on energy and commerce. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Pursuant to the House Resolution 315 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h. R. 2218. The chair appoints the gentleman from utah, mr. Bishop, to preside over the committee of the whole. The chair the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h. R. 2218, which the clerk will report by title. The clerk a bill to amend subtitle d of the solid Waste Disposal act to encourage recovery and beneficial use of coal combustion residuals and establish requirements for the proper management and disposal of coal guseton residuals, that are protective of human health and the environment. The chair pursuant to the rule, this bill is considered as read the first time. The gentleman from illinois, mr. Shimkus, and the gentleman from california, mr. Waxman, each will control 30 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h. R. 2218. The chair thank you, the request needs to be made in the full house not in the committee f the whole. Mr. Shimkus mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Shimkus mr. Speaker, we have spent much time talking about the need for congress to consider jobs legislation. This is a piece of projob legislation. This bill is unique because it also is a prostates rights legislation and proenvironmental legislation. Focusing on jobs, let me explain why a no vote is an antijobs placing anywhere from 39,000 to 316,000 jobs at risk at a time when we can least afford it. We are here because for over three years ago the e. P. A. Put out three proposals on coal ash, including regulating coal ash as a Hazardous Waste. This caused massive uncertainty in the marketplace and created a an unnecessary stigma on the recycling of this product. I have a piece of shingle made and produced by coal ash. As the states agree, as highlighted in a letter from the state of michigan in support of h. R. 2218, enactment would end the regulatory uncertainty that has hindered our efforts to promote the beneficial use of coal and combustion residuals. E. P. A. Announced in litigation proceedings recently that it ll not have a final coal ash rule before 2015. The fact they leave the designation on the table even though three decades of science and facts that point the other way that coal ash is not hazardous, it directly is contributing to the loss of current and future recycling. Its not an abstract substance, its used in an important infrastructure in this country. The American Coal Ash Association informed us that uncertainty in the marketplace caused by e. P. A. s proposal to regulate coal ash as Hazardous Waste as diminishing their economic prospects down to 40 of coal waste. This bill establishes a solid framework for regulation of coal combustion residuals in a manner protective of human health in the environment or state and environmental regulators, including the Environmental Council of the states, and the association of state and territorial management officials would not be endorsing this bill. Coal ash makes concrete stronger, more durable, and cheaper. A no vote against this bill means that you support less durable, more expensive highway schools and green buildings. Dont take my word for it, the american road and Transportation Builders Association and many other road and Bridge Builders and also the building and Construction Trades Union wants this bill because they want high Quality Construction material for building roads and bridges. For members concerned about wall board from china, coal ash is stable. Domestic source for wall board and will control costs. Dont take my word for it, the american forest and Paper Association supports this bill. Mine workers across this country need a stable way of having Americas Energy future secured. This bill accomplishes that. Dont take my word for it, ask the United Mine Workers who support this bill. Coal ash is recycled and used as a raw material in making cement. Voting no means you choose to put coal ash in land phils rather than putting it back into roads and building projects. Dont take my word, organizations like the Phoenix Cement Company and the Wisconsin Ready Mix Concrete Association and washington aggregate and concrete association, they support this bill. A vote against this bill is a vote for prolonged regulatory uncertainty. A vote guns this bill is a vote to increase costs on the federal, state, and local governments and infrastructure. A vote against this bill is a vote to increase cost on all americans and to dare unemployment to go even higher a vote against this bill is a direct message to career state employees in states across this country that you do not trust them to do the right thing regarding regulation of coal ash. This bill is a projobs, proenvironment, antibureaucracy bill. If you want progress instead of process, protection instead of politics, and jobs instead of a continued uncertainty, vote for this bill. We find ourselves in this morass of regulatory uncertainty because the existing approach to environmental regulation. This bill presents a new approach that will reduce the inefficiencies of our federal rule making process by setting a National Standard in the statute and charging the states with implementation. If you support protecting jobs and preserving state rights and trust your state environmental regulators to protect our communities, you need to support this bill and vote yes on final passage. With this, mr. Chairman, i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from california is recognized. Mr. Waxman mr. Chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. Day the house is considering legislation to block e. P. A. From acting to ensure the toxic coal ash is safely disposed of. The coal ash is the result of the coal that has been burned and this coal ash needs to be disposed of. Now, what the republicans who are suggesting this bill be adopted are suggesting is that we remove Public Health protections in order to allow polluting disposal sites to continue with business as usual. Thats a little tough to justify as we led up to todays debate, we heard about land use justifications and i want to set the record straight. First of all we have been told this is a states rights bill because we need this legislation in order for the states to impose adequate regulation on dangerous coal ash disposal sites. Thats not true. The states can regulate coal ash disposal today. In fact, many do. The problem is that many states are not doing a good job. For example, in ohio the coal ash disposal sites have serious ground water contamination problems. The coal ash at these sites have contaminated ground water with arsenic, mirkry, and radioactive mercury, and radioactive level materials higher than the Safe Drinking Water act. The e. P. A. Has identified 133 cases of ground water and surface water contamination at coal ash disposal sites. All of this has occurred under existing law where state laws can be effective. And states can act. The problem is they are not all acting. Secondly, the proponents of this bill have argued, we have to pass this legislation to allow coal ash to be recycled. They argue e. P. A. Wants to designate coal ash as, quote, hazardous, end quote. That isnt what epp proposed at all. E. P. A. Proposed at all. They say this designation would be a stigma on coal ash and ensure there would be no longer any market for recycled coal ash, but that argument is just plain wrong. Hazardous labeling and restrictions on beneficial reuse are simply not at issue. When e. P. A. Issued its proposed coal ash rule, the agency offered a couple of alternatives , neither of these proposals would involve labeling coal ash as hazardous. Quite frankly, even if it were designated hazardous, that doesnt mean it cant be reused. It can be reused. Third, we have been told that we must pass this legislation because its a careful compromise from the version of the last congress. Im not sure who was in that compromise because the bill is even worse than the bill from the last congress. The republicans have refused to work with the democrats on the committee. There is no bipartisan coal ash bill in the senate. The administration has identified five problems with the bill that cause it to fall short of protecting human health and the environment. Lets focus on the reality. This debate is not about a war on coal or putting a stigma on coal ash. Its not about whether state governments are inherently better than the federal government. Its not about jobkilling regulations. This debate is about whether or not we are going to allow coal ash disposal sites to contaminate our Water Supplies and threaten human health. If this bill is enacted, coal ash disposal sites will continue to pollute our ground water. And once contamination is confirmed, well, this bill would allow it to continue for another 10 years. And do nothing. And then after that they might even continue it for another indefinite period of time. So it will continue to pollute ground water, the water we drink. And our Water Supplies, and our water sources. This bill says a dump site that is contaminating ground water today can pollute for 10 years. More arsenic, more mercury, more lead. Is that what members of the house want to vote for . If the owners of the polluting structure cant control their contamination within 10 years, this bill says states can give them even more time to keep polluting. New information released yesterday reveals that 3 4 of existing unmined coal ash impoundments do not have the space at their existing locations to construct an additional disposal facility. Those facts practically guarantee that if this legislation were to be enacted, communities across the country, many of them poor and minority, will simply have to endure contaminated water, polluted air, and the risk of catastrophic dam failure. And why . Nor states rights where the states already have the rights . Its really for polluter rights. And polluters do not have and should not have a right to pollute our Water Supplies. His can be handled effectively this is a serious piece of legislation that will make clear that Public Health projections must be en protections must be enforced. I urge my colleagues to tune out the special interest information that seeks to weaken our laws and oppose this legislation. No matter how you voted in the last congress, this bill is worse. I urge members to vote against it today. I reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from illinois. Mr. Shimkus thank you, mr. Chairman. I would ask my colleague to look at the 11 additional changes that have been made in the last in this bill versus the last bill and realize how much we have moved in the direction he speaks of. I now recognize the author of the legislation, mr. Mckinley, for seven minutes. The chair the gentleman from West Virginia is recognized for seven minutes. Mr. Mckinley thank you, mr. Chairman. I rise today in support of h. R. 2218. For 33 Years Congress has wrestled unproductively with how to deal with coal ash. An unavoidable byproduct of burning coal. After countless hearings, meetings, and amendments, we come here today with a solution. Over the past 2 1 2 years, we listened to environmental organizations, industry, senators, the states, the e. P. A. Now the bill has strong bipartisan support with democrat cosponsors and a Broad Coalition of over 300 organizations and businesses, including state environmental officials, governors, recyclers, manufacturers, coal miners, coal operators, and labor unions to name a few. If we dont act decisively, congress will once again kick the can down the road. That would mean the status quo continues. At the Committee Hearing earlier this year, the e. P. A. Administrator testified that states have the ability to ensure proper management and disposal of coal ash under this legislation. At that hearing my good friend from illinois, mr. Shimkus, asked him if the e. P. A. Was not opposed to this language to the bill. His response was, that is correct. Even the president s become engaged on this debate. The statement from the administration earlier this week said they appreciate the efforts of the house and issued no veto threat, no opposition was expressed. That ought to tell you something. The opponents of this legislation should read the last sentence of the administrations statement. The administration would like to work with congress to allow for the development, implementation and enforcement of appropriate standards for managing coal combustion residuals while encouraging the beneficial use of this economically important material. Let me show you what were talking about here. Ash. S a jar of fly every day coal ash is produced in 48 of our 50 states across america. This is a national issue, not just one for coal states. Over 140 million tons of coal ash are produced annually. Approximately 40 of the material is recycled into everyday products, used in households, in the construction industry. The remaining 60 is disposed of in landfills. Now, 2218 deals separately with both of these issues. The first part deals with recycling. Early in the Obama Administration, the e. P. A. Proposed a rule to declare coal ash as a hazardous material. Despite the fact that under the bill clinton administration, the e. P. A. Had already determined in 1993, in 2000 that coal ash was not hazardous. Let me repeat that. Theyve already said its not hazardous. No industrialized nation in the world classifies fly ash as a hazardous material. Deeming it such would essentially destroy the ability to recycle coal ash, dramatically increase the cost of electricity and crush hundreds of thousands of jobs across america. The United States already has a much lower rate of recycling than other countries. China over 65 . Japan 95 of their coal ash is recycled. We should be encouraging recycling, not standing in the way. The second part of the bill deals with processes for disposing the coal ash that is not recycled. The section has been significantly strengthened and provides for all new and existing landfills to be state run, using the federal law known as rick are a, which rcra, which has requirements for protecting, quote, human health and the environment. Rcras primary goal are to, quote, protect human health and the environment, to reduce the amount of waste generated and to make sure its done in a environmentally sound manner. Disposal requirements will comply composite liners, air quality and dust controls, Groundwater Protection standards, Emergency Action plans, corrective actions for deficiencies, inspections, structural stability. Lets make it clear if a landfill ever becomes deficient it must be fixed. No ifs, ands or buts. Its just that simple. For example, under the corrective action under section 4001, subsection c2b, an owner and operator of a facility is not relieved, is not relieved of their obligations to develop alternative disposal capabilities regardless of whether they have the space available. For anyone to argue otherwise, perhaps they havent read the bill. For the first time there will be a uniformed National Standard for disposal. Or congress can do nothing. It can. Just like it has been for the last 33 years. But i dont think we should continue with the status quo. Working in this bipartisan fashion weve made progress. After 30 years of debate, its time for action. Our constituents deserve protection for their health and their environment. This legislation makes it possible. We often hear, often hear congress isnt voting on a jobs bill. Ladies and gentlemen, mr. Chairman, theres not a clear jobs bill that were going to deal with in this congress. Protecting 316,000 jobs across america and preventing utility bills to increase, we must protect these jobs. I encourage all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this prohealth, proenvironment and projobs legislation. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from california. Mr. Waxman mr. Chairman, the administration and i would like to work out a bill with the republicans, but this bill has two problems. After all is said and done, there is no requirement that they protect Public Health and the environment. Theres all sorts of language that says we want them to, but if the states dont do that, theres a second problem, theres no enforcement, theres nothing that makes them do it. If you have no clear standards to protect health and no enforcement to make sure that Public Health is being rotected, thats a bill thats asking for continuation of pollution of our groundWater Supplies. We can Work Together and get a bill, but this administration has said it does not adequately protect Public Health and the environment, it doesnt address the real problems. Even some of the changes that they have made have made this bill worse. Its a bill that we should reject and then go back to the negotiating table. Mr. Chairman, at this point i wish to yield five minutes to the Ranking Member of the on ttee on energy thers in committee, the gentleman from illinois, mr. Rush. The chair the gentleman from illinois is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Rush i want to thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, here we go again. The republicans spilling their shamelessly empty rhetoric , jobs for the American People. Might be on their minds. Jobs for the American People might be in their mouths, but jobs for the American People are not in their hearts. Mr. Speaker, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are arguing that we need to weaken ur environmental laws to create jobs. Thats incredibly shortsighted. Do we really want to say to the American People that they must ffer, contaminated groundwater, drink dirty water, is that what were saying . A University Shows just the opposite. Its not a fight between jobs and clean environment, clean water, clean Drinking Water. The study says we can create tens of thousands of new jobs y requiring safe disposal of coal ash. Ensuring that coal ash disposal sites protect human health and their environment will take work, will create jobs. It will take construction workers, Equipment Operators and engineers to do this work. And let me add this is not makeshift work. These jobs will provide tremendous benefits to the communities in which they take place. But these jobs wont happen if we pass this atrocious bill. This bill simply preserves the status quo and keeps americans out of work. Mr. Chairman, when it comes to protecting the Public Health and ensuring that all americans ve access to clean air, land and water, im very sensitive to the issue of ensuring that there are in the very least minimum state or federal standards and that the u. S. E. P. A. Has the full authority to enforce those standards. Mr. Chairman, due to a case in district where contaminated Drinking Water was piped into the homes of my constituents between 1986 ars, and 2007, and the state of , inois refused to intervene i cannot support legislation that bars the e. P. A. From enforcing state or federal standards as this atrocious, shameful bill does. Mr. Chairman, states rights as mean states inaction this case where it was only determined, courageous acts of citizens by the name of trisha who had the courage to alert the media to this shameful act being committed by elected officials, those responsible for taking care of the Public Health and ensuring that the environment was safe and the water that in the morning, in the evening, during the day that they drank was safe. These officials, these local officials had that responsibility and they turned. Eir back on the people and not only did they turn their back the chair the gentleman is recognized for one additional minute. Mr. Rush not only did they turn their back, but the illinois e. P. A. , the state e. P. A. Refused to even investigate this matter. I had to get the u. S. Justice department and the u. S. E. P. A. To end this atrocity. If this bill is ever enacted, it will bar the federal government at the very least last rving as the backstop for the American People against polluters who seek to skirt the law without with regard without regard to the families they serve. Mr. Speaker, i ask that the people who are members of this a gress who have a heart and mind to not only put the American People back to work but also to protect the environment. Vote no on this bill. I yield back. The chair the gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Shimkus thank you, mr. Speaker. The administration has not issued a veto threat on this bill. I now recognize the gentlelady from tennessee, mrs. Blackburn, for two minutes. The chair the gentlelady from tennessee is recognized for two minutes. Mrs. Blackburn thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from West Virginia for his outstanding work on this legislation and also to mr. Shimkus who is the chairman of the subcommittee for his leadership on the issue. And i do rise today in support of the coal residuals reuse and Management Act of 2013. Im an original cosponsor on that legislation. Now, i think it comes as no surprise to anybody that this administration has declared their war on coal. You can listen to the comments that are coming out of the president and his advisors there at the white house. Theyve done everything in their power to shut down coal plants and to put american coal miners on the unemployment line. The e. P. A. Has targeted everything from existing coal fired plants to new plants, coal Mining Operations and has been looking at labeling coal ash as a Hazardous Waste since 2010. Now, unbeknownst to so many individuals and so many of my constituents is the fact that he same coal ash that has been used safely to make and get this bricks, cement, asphalt, plastics, and is used as a filler in wood products, is all of a sudden a Hazardous Waste. Id like the administration to explain to me if coal ash was a Hazardous Waste when they use tarp funding for shovelready projects to repair roads with asphalt containing, guess what, coal ash. Was coal ash a Hazardous Waste last winter when it was used in snow and ice control products to keep roads and pedestrians in chicago safe . Or was coal ash a Hazardous Waste when it was used to build the e. P. A. s new headquarters . While i am sure most of my constituents would like to abel the e. P. A. s headquarters a superfund site, i would say, lets support this bill and i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from california. Mr. Waxman if coal ash is reused it is not a Hazardous Waste. If it is stored and leaks into our ground water or our Drinking Water, it can be very hazardous. The problem with the republican bill is it doesnt clearly state that Public Health must be protected. And when they state it, there is no clear enforcement. E. P. A. Cant be sure that the job is being done. And even citizens cannot filed lawsuits to require it to be done. This is a special interest bill that does not serve the interest of the American People. Id like to now yield to the gentleman who is the Ranking Member of one of our energy subcommittees, the gentleman from new york, five minutes. The chair the gentleman from new york is recognized for five minutes. I thank the gentleman from california, and i thank you, mr. Chair. Mr. Tonko once again the house will consider a bill that provides us the states with what they already have. The authority to regulate disposal of coal ash. H. R. 2218 also virtually eliminates any regulatory role for the Environmental Protection agency. All of the bills title suggests its about the beneficial reuse of coal combustion residuals. It has little if anything to do with promoting that worthy goal. No one has disputed that it is preferable to reduce the amount of coal ash that ends up in disposal facilities. It saves money and lengthens the productive life of that disposal facility. And it means that a waste product is put to productive use in cement, wall board, and in other products. All of those things happen now and they will happen whether this bill passes or not. Actually, if the bill encouraged stronger standards for disposal, it would likely spur increased recycling. Another opportunity squandered in my opinion. So if its not about recycling, what is this bill about . It is about maintaining the status quo. The bill virtually ensures that deficient facilities will indeed remain deficient, and what does that mean . It means that communities in states with weak programs and lax enforcement remain at risk. This bill does not set credible standards to ensure that Public Health and the environment are protected. Communities, whose ground water sources are known today to be contaminated by toxins leeching from unlinet disposal pods, will have to wait 10 years before a state would have to act. Even then there are provisions for granting additional time for an operator to upgrade or repair a leaking facility. We know from recent experience that some these facilities are structurally unsound. A breach in the dam in kingston, tennessee, in 2008, in eastern wisconsin in 2011, and in martins creek, pennsylvania in 2005 all sent coal ash spilling out into waterways and on to the land. H. R. 2188 is not going to help us avoid adding accidents to this list. Very similar bills to this one passed the house several times in the last congress. They failed to become law and h. R. 2188, in my opinion, is going to follow that same path. Communities living in the shadow of these facilities deserve to be protected. There is no reason to allow deficient facilities to pollute our water and our air and jeopardize the health and people in communities across this great nation. We can do better, we should do better. My colleagues and i will offer several amendments this morning that if adopted would improve this bill. A better legislative effort could resolve the uncertainty surrounding this issue, and more importantly, ensure that our Citizens Health and safety are protected. We cannot afford more kingstons. We do not have to. Without improvements, this legislation will proceed no further in the legislative process. Without improvements, it should not proceed any further. I oppose h. R. 2218 in its present form, and i encourage my colleagues to do the same. With that, mr. Chair, i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from illinois. Mr. Shimkus thank you, mr. Chairman. Let me remind my colleagues. So special interests. United mine workers, building and construction trades, and the transportation workers of america. I yield two minutes to the chairman of the full committee, mr. Upton. The chair the gentleman from michigan is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Upton thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, i rise today in strong support of h. R. 2218, the coal residual reuse and Management Act, an important and bipartisan jobs bill. Todays vote is the culmination of an over twoyear pusuret of a thoughtful, transparent solution to a serious regulatory challenge. While the coal ash bill has continued to improve when we first debated it back in 2011, we stayed true to our original principles. First, the bill sets out strict standards for coal ash management, but leaves the permitting program to the states. This approach is important because it ensures consistent Environmental Protection, but gives the daytoday implementation to the states who have the combination of expertise and dedication to get the job done right for their state. Second, it takes e. P. A. s threeyear proposal to regulate coal ash as Hazardous Waste off the table. When e. P. A. First published this proposal, they knew that if it overreached, the e. P. A. Would face a very tough dilemma. They wanted a permit program for coal ash, but in fact the solid Waste Disposal act did not give e. P. A. The authority over coal ash unless, unless it was labeled hazardous. This legislation offers a solution. The Administration Stopped asking for the hazardous designation and good thing, beginning this year the e. P. A. Stopped seeking that the agency instead of the states do the permitting. The administration has come a long way and we certainly commend them for that, but meanwhile we have been listening to and working with the e. P. A. And on april 11 of this year, e. P. A. Testified before our committee and by moving past the notion that e. P. A. Should write regulations for each state, the administration finally acknowledged that the states are in the best position to implement coal ash permit programs. After our hearing, we had additional meetings with the ep taupe discuss the bill and we ultimately made changes 30 additional seconds. The speaker pro tempore the chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Upton we ultimately made changes the e. P. A. Recommended, including tough deadlines for state action. This is how the legislative process is supposed to work. The bill reflects crucial input over the last two years from house and senate republicans, democrats, and the administration. The time has come to put our pencils down and enact this law so we can close the regulatory gap, states, utilities in hundreds of thousands of workers in the recycling industry have been waiting in limbo for a resolution. This bill meets those needs. I urge a yes vote and yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from california. Mr. Waxman mr. Chairman, might i inquire how much time is left on each side . The chair the gentleman from california has 13 minutes left. The gentleman from illinois has 15 1 2 minutes left. Mr. Waxman well continue to reserve our time. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from illinois. You, mr. S thank chairman. From a wo minutes member who is very helpful in this legislation, mr. Latta from ohio. The chair the gentleman from ohio is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Latta thank you very much. I thank the chairman for yielding. I rise today, mr. Chairman, in support of the coal residuals reuse and Management Act designating coal ash as a Hazardous Waste which the e. P. A. Proposed in june 2010 would not only raise Energy Prices for families and businesses, but also stroy the jobs that come with it. H. R. 2218 will protect these jobs by setting minimum standards for the states, who will be charged with implementing and providing regulatory certainty that has ceased to exist within the coal ash industry since 2009. If this legislation is not signed into law, the e. P. A. Will overturn 30 years of precedent and designate coal ash a Hazardous Waste despite findings at the department of energy, the federal highway administration, state regulatory authorities, and the e. P. A. Itself that the toxicity levels in coal ash are well below the criteria that requires a Hazardous Waste designation. In fact, in the e. P. A. s may, 2000 regulatory determination, e. P. A. Concluded that coal ash does not warrant regularation regulation as a Hazardous Waste and doing so would be environmentally counterproductive. It is estimated that meeting the regulatory disposal requirements under the e. P. A. s proposal would cost between 250 and 450 per ton, as opposed to about 100 a ton. In 2008, 136 million tons was generated. That means passing this bill could put a 47 million burden on the electricity generators that use coal. Energy costs aside, about 45 of coal ash generated is recycled, being used as an additive in cement, concrete, wall board, roofing materials, roadbased filling materials. Designating coal ash as a Hazardous Waste could halt these beneficial uses which the e. P. A. Estimates will lead to 16. 7 million in increased costs per year. It will provide certainty in the coal ash industry and strikes the appropriate balance of strong Environmental Protection without all the economic consequences of a Hazardous Waste site. I urge support of the legislation and i yield back. The chair the gentleman from california. Mr. Waxman mr. Chairman, i yield two minutes to a very distinguished member of our committee, the gentleman from texas, mr. Green. The chair the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Green thank you, mr. Speaker. Id like to thank our Ranking Member for allowing me time. I rise to express strong support for h. R. 2218, the coal residuals reuse and Management Act. Last congress this chamber passed twice passed legislation on a bipartisan basis that was weaker than the bill before us today. The last congress the effort resulted in legislation that create add staterun Waste Disposal program with minimum federal retirements while ensuring that coal ash can continue to be reused and recycled in everyday products. The legislation before the house today continues that model, but with even greater Environmental Protections, including accelerated requirements for ground water monitoring, fixed deadlines for when problems that compound may be tiered, and periodic inspections for the structturel integrity of impoundsments. There is a patchwork of state programs to regulate the waste with no federal oversight. H. R. 2218 would be the first time established comprehensive minimum federal standards for coal ash management disposal and give the e. P. A. The authority to enforce the compliance if a state does not establish a coal residuals programs. This legislation would ensure that coal ash can be continued to be used beneficially which puts billions of dollars in our economy annually and protects tens of thousands of jobs and beneficial reuse industry. Encouraging beneficial reuse of coal ash ensures less of it ends up in land phils which is good for the environment and good for our economy. I know some members are concerned about the legislation, but we work diligently with the majority and stakeholders to make improvements in the bill. The ascertainations by some of my colleagues that the legislation does not do nothing to protect the environment are making the perfect the enemy of the good. Part of the legislation is moving the ball forward and we cannot continue to work on legislation that simply will die in the senate. This bill is a reasonable compromise and winwin for the American People that will help protect the environment and create jobs. I urge my colleagues to support it, and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the chair the gentleman yields back. Mr. Waxman i yield back my time. I point out to my colleagues this bill will not make it into law. The senate will not accept it. The president will not support it in interpresent form because it doesnt protect Public Health. Coal ash contains arsenic, cad lead, mercury, and other toxic materials. Its a threat not with the coal ash is used for other purposes but when it is in a disposal site and leaks into our Drinking Water. Thats what this issue is all about. Reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves or yields back . You reserve . Mr. Waxman i reserve, yes. The chair the gentleman from illinois. Mr. Shimkus thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to thank my colleague from texas who has helped us move the bill in a direction. Ill remind my colleagues that the president has not issued a veto signal on this piece of legislation. I would then like to yield two minutes to my friend and colleague from florida, mr. Bilirakis. The chair the gentleman from florida is recognized tore two minutes. Mr. Bilirakis i rise today to express my support for the coal residual reuse and Management Act. I want to thank mr. Mckinley and his staff for their hard work on this very important issue. This commonsense legislation will empower states to safely regulate coal combustion products by fixed standards without overwhelming state budgets or customers wallets. The recycling and reuse of coal combustion products has great economic and environmental benefits. Extending the broods and reducing deposits in landfills and surfaces. It will provide the certainties states, businesses depend on all while giving the e. P. A. The authority to protect the public should a state fail to enforce these standards. I ask my colleagues to support this legislation. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from california. Mr. Waxman mr. Chairman, i continue to reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from illinois. Mr. Shimkus mr. Chai