Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20140410

Congress. We start this morning with president obama yesterday at fort hood at the Memorial Service there following the mass shooting last week. We want to hear from veterans role is the what government playing in your postwar transition . Ears is how we will divide the lines. Iraqi and afghanistan vets, call us at 20258538 80. Veterans of other wars, 2025853881. Conversationthis at facebook. Com cspan. Heres what president obama had to say yesterday in fort hood, talking about the countrys returning veterans. [video clip] we must honor the men by keeping our troops safe, not an open battle but here as well. We can never eliminate every risk, but as a nation, we can do more. To help counsel those with , to keepalth issues firearms out of the hands of those who are having such deep difficulties. Muste military, we do everything we can to spare others this pain. By doingonor these men more to care for our fellow americans living with until illness, civilian and military. Today four american soldiers are gone. Four Army Families are devastated. As commander in chief, i am determined that we will continue to step up our efforts to reach our troops and veterans who are hurting, to deliver to them the care that they need, and to make sure we never stigmatize those who have the courage to seek help. Host president obama yesterday at the Memorial Service at fort hood. We are asking veterans to call us and get your thoughts on the government the role is playing. Here is a recent survey of returning iraq and afghanistan veterans. Thewould you rate the job government is doing in meeting the needs of the current generation of veterans . 5 said excellent. 36 said a good job. 56 said not so good, the government is doing a poor job. Poor. T so good, 30 said the next question, thinking about your own experience, how would you rate the job the government is doing in meeting your needs as a soldier or veteran . Veterans of iraq and afghanistan said a poor job. Provided the lines to call in. Veterans of iraq and afghanistan call us at 2025 853880. All other veterans call 2025853881. Carmen, vietnam vet, go ahead. Caller what question did you ask me again . Host what was the experience when you came back . Caller when i came back from my first tour in 1969, i remember coming into San Francisco at the airport, and there were people lined up cussing us out and spitting on us. I got my ticket to go to san psao, and all the stewardesses were squirting windex on me, wiping the spit off me and saying i did not deserve this. I forgive them all now, but i had a terrible time after that. I spent 40 years roaming around workedntry, 49 states i in, had over 800 jobs. I have three little girls in my truck, moving around because i could not stop moving. Moved to i had the same problems i did before that. I finally settled down in montana when i was 50 years old, and i asked the government for help for the first time. When they figured out how bad i they helped me. I wanted to say i am getting great care from the Veterans Administration. I was not getting it before because i was not asking. I would stay away from hospitals and i basically felt betrayed by my government because they kept starting more and more wars, losing more and more lives. I feel i am part of the real consciousness of the United States as a veteran who fought for the country. I dont think we fight for the country anymore, we just fight for resources. I dont want the American People to pay for the veterans anymore. I want somebody else to pick up the tab all our blood and all our treasure is everywhere. I still feel go ahead. Host ok, we go on to walter in baltimore, maryland, a gulf war veteran. Caller this is a great pain for me. I just want to say thank you to the veteran for at least trying to say the one word that he said yesterday, and that is that we as a nation must do more. I had gotten into the electrical saving me some financial stress. Mostly the stress that battle actually nobody can imagine, but let me just say thank you, mr. President , and beg you to consider to continue to pursue those chicken hawks. I condemn. S that host what role does the government play in your postwar situation . Caller you cannot turn your back on those who you saw to use and abuse. This past few years with this gameess, talking a good and doing absolutely nothing, cutting everything from the date with the ryan budget, it does nothing for the troops in the field. What it does, it creates a problem, and the reality is that owes everyone, not just the soldiers but everyone, a sense of peace and justice, and we get no justice in your cutting everything. Host back to the washington t Kaiser Family survey now thinking about Service Members to deploy to iraq or afghanistan and separate from the military before the 20year mark, do you think these Service Members get more benefits from the military than they deserve, fewer benefits than they deserve, or about the right amount given their service . Gets fewere military benefits than they deserve. 39 said about right. Only 3 said they get more benefits than they deserve. And that how would you rate the job the Veterans Administration is doing to meet the needs of military veterans . Or poort, good, fair, job. 8 said the da is doing excellent, 58 30 said good. 58 said and only fair or poor job. Tis is a washington pos Kaiser Family survey. Lastt on april 3 march we told the v. A. 611,000 disability claims over 125 days old was unacceptable. They have reduced by 44 . Still more to do. Florida, and a gulf war veteran ellsworth, what is your transition like . Caller i was in the military for 24 years and they helped europe tour a lot they helped your career along the way. Me and my wife when i got out, you had to navigate pretty much everything on your own, claims to the v. A. To anything besides that from housing to jobs, that kind of stuff, youre on your own. Felt like i was kind of kicked out the door, even though i retired honorably. Host and do you believe the government has a role in that, to help you with housing and other areas of civilian life . That theykind of feel should have the v. A. And the dod separate. What happens is the dod has taking care of me when i get into the military and when i leave. They are two separate entities. If they could combine the dod and the v. A. , they could work on my housing six months before i get out of service so it is an easier transition. Ed from florida, what was your transition like . Yes, i was in afghanistan, iraq, and vietnam. Will tell you this. Than. A. Cares a lot better during the vietnam era. First of all, i dont think the government owes me anything. I served my country, i did it honorably and i understood that. I appreciate everything the government has done for me, and the sense that they gave me a 40year career, and i am now retired. I have a positive effect, my transition from the military. The do you have to access Veterans Administration . Caller yes, maam, i do. Host what is your experience like . Caller how you see it from sitting in the foxhole from vietnam to today is a lot better. Host how so . Caller they definitely meet your appointments, they treat you like they say they are going to treat you. I definitely have had a positive effect from my current use of the v. A. Host a recent gao report found that they are having problems veterans returning from wars. What they write is that, for example, four of the 10 physical therapy consults the gao reviewed from one v. A. Medical center, no apparent actions taken to schedule the appointment for the veteran. For one of these consults, several months passed before the veteran was referred to care to a nonv. A. Health care facility. Officials cited increased demand for services and noshows that hinder their ability to meet guidelines of completing consult within 90 days of being requested. So a recent gao report, if you are interested in that. Also, a couple of tweets for you on veterans unemployment. Here is ben cardin, democrat from maryland, tweeting this out on the night. 270,000 veterans are waiting. Or the house to renew americans deserve for this to be brought up in the house. Here is a tweet from mark kirk, republican from illinois. Illinois has the nations fifth highest number of unemployed veterans. The higher more heroes act will help change that. Here is a tweet from stars stripes. Members of congress rarely hiring veterans. 3 of staff inp offices that responded to their survey. Ins hear from charles alexandria, virginia, a vietnam cold war era that. What was the transition like for you . Served duringi the vietnam conflict. I did not serve in vietnam. I want to state that for the record. In aved two years frontline nato base in germany during the cold war. My transition to civilian life was fairly easy. On the other hand, i have spent the last 10 years in iraq and afghanistan on various military projects as a civilian technician, and it has been a wonderful experience. It is important work, serious work, and it has been a privilege to work with the military on these different projects. Unhappily, i have lost two coworkers, and one of my Close Friends lost a hand, and it has been it has been with a great deal of sacrifice on account of the civilian technicians over there. Right now i am unemployed, but i iraq, for a project in but my firm did not get the contract, so i am not going on that project. I am going to be transferring to a project in liberia, west africa, and working on that project right now. You do not hear very much about the civilian technicians and the civilian engineers. The arrack and afghanistan iraq and the afghanistan conflicts have been unusual, in that there have been so many projects, so many of the tasks formerly done by uniformed military, eating done by civilian technicians, particularly electronic systems, Communications Host why is that, charles . Caller one of the reasons is it is more economical to have civilians do that kind of work trainingpend years uniformed military. Host what are the implications of that . When you come back as a civilian, are there issues that you think the American People, the government should be addressing for you . You have served as a civilian over there. Caller from your mouth the godsey are. From your mouth to gods ear. If the Defense Department would develop some programs and help to assist the civilian technicians and engineers with finding work thomas with getting their security clearances updated, and being able to find work in telecommunications, electronics, commuter systems computer systems. I have been lucky that i have been able to be picked up on this african project, but many tasks done bys military are now done by civilians. Done byalmost all civilians, by civilian personnel. The old days of the mail call and the corporal passing out the mail to private jones and private smith, that is going ne. Pumping fuel is almost all done by local nationals and supervised by civilian technicians. So much of the work in the arrack in the iraq and projects are being done by civilians. There is no support to help civilian technicians and engineers to find work in a civilian economy now that the war is wrapped up. Host unemployment for veterans here are the numbers. The bureau of labor statistics. 21. 4 million men and women were veterans. Unemployment rate for men, six point five percent for men, 6. 9 for women. Unemployment rate for vets with service disability, 6. 2 . That according to the bureau of labor statistics. We are getting your thoughts from veterans on postwar transition. We have divided the lines. Iraq and Afghanistan War 2025853880. All other veterans, 2025853881. The Washington Post our Veterans Mental Health needs being met . The fort hood shooter and thened questions about impact of Mental Illness and war injuries on the suspected shooter, identified as ivan lopez, a veteran of the iraq war. Foras undergoing tests posttraumatic stress syndrome. A new poll that many returning iraq and Afghanistan Service Mental Health and anger issues. said their mental and Emotional Health is worse than before going to war. 36 say they often experience outbursts of anger. 32 with worst Mental Health say their mental and Emotional Health needs are not being met. Compared with 13 of all veterans. That is the Washington Post Kaiser Family Foundation Poll on the issue of Mental Health. E more numbers for you according to the white house, this is what they say. The 2014 budget request for Mental Health services, the a Mental Health services, is 7 billion, from the white house. The request includes treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder. The v. A. Collaborates with the pentagon and the human Health Providing these services, and the Services Include partnerships with Community Providers as well. Guest hereho was a on the washington journal this week, democrat of ohio, tweeted we need to start thinking differently about how we treat our returning veterans. The handle fore the lynch foundation, a Veterans Organization that takes a look at treating Mental Health issues. You can go to their website and follow them on twitter if you want more information. Rudolph in columbus, ohio, vietnam vet, go ahead with your story. Caller i am a vietnam vet. When we got back, people were spitting at us and stuff like this. How many babies did you kill today . SeeAmerican People today the vets in a different light m the 1960s and 1970s from 1968 to 1970. Host greg m preston, connecticut, also a vietnam vet. Go ahead. The of veteran, am a vietnam serving in vietnam postcollege graduate. Backtly worked on coming from vietnam in my own way studied a lot of history, read a lot of papers, newspapers, found 40 eventually that after years, it was admitted that the gulf of tonkin was a manufactured event. Nine 11, 2001, where a government manufactured event. Whether the elected government or the shadow government, the israeli controlled government. Host why do you say that . What is the proof of that . Caller what is the proof yucca go to architects and engineers , engineers who are saying that the three buildings that came down whereby controlled demolition. We will leave it there. Here is the latest in the papers on lois lerner, the former irs official that has been testifying, pleading the fifth before the house committees. The National Section of the new headline, with the gop pushes criminal case for x official at the irs. Writes milbank dave camp, chairman of the committee, republican from michigan who is retiring, had a secret. Host dana milbank calls at all a charade. This,e Washington Post on their front page says this. Host we will be covering that. Times the washington this morning. We will be covering the vote, so go to our website for more details. Times ashington host there is more on this. Or is the side story that issa and congressman cummings, aemocrat from maryland, iss charges cummings was colluding with the irs to attack tea party groups. Host the wall street journal andhs in with an editorial says that new evidence that lois lerner targeted conservative groups they also argue that the ways and Means Committee has the authorization to release this tax information, that they did so yesterday. We will have coverage of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee vote today to hold her in contempt of congress. That takes place at 9 00 a. M. Eastern time. Go to our website on more information of when the entire vote hearing will take place. We are phone calls, hearing from veterans only this morning. Lowell from orange, texas, a vietnam veteran. Caller yes, my experience when i came back in the country i thought to seek employment. There was a paper mill close to where i lived, and i went and put in an application. My brother in law worked there. They told me that because i wore corrective lenses, they could not employee me. I basically found employment through the years at the school district. I stayed there 15 years, tried to go from nights todays, and i could not from nights to days. I could not get a day job. They would get people off the street and put them in a day position before they would put me on days, but i was good enough to keep for 15 years. Worked foreventually a government entity. A lady there whose husband was a andran, she ran a mail room she told me, i would like to see you get this job because you deserve it. So she trained me for that particular job, and i can handle it inside out. She retired, she went to commissioners court, told them i was the best man for that job, but they hired someone who could barely speak enough english. I have found that orientals or other people who possibly were not even born in this country are given jobs over veterans and even promoted. I call it lipservice when they say hire a veteran, promote a veteran, because in my experience i have not even seen that in my transition back from overseas. It is a sad thing, but i have been struggling ever since i came back. Job. E always had a the only time i was unemployed was during the reagan years when the economy got so bad and people were being laid off. Host we told you a little bit earlier about the legislation that republicans are backing hire more heroes act. This is a press release from senator mitch mcconnell, republican from kentucky. The leader from the republicans on the senate side. He says this about the legislation they tried to attach it to the unemployment bill, an extension of Unemployment Benefits last week. Under obamacare, employers with arer more employees required to provide Health Insurance to their employees, which creates a natural disincentive to Small Businesses nearing the threshold to hire new employees and grow the hire more heroes act would exempt veterans from being counted toward the fulltime equivalent requirement in obamacare. Moreis what the hire heroes act would do. Carl in brooklyn, new york, in afghanistan and iraq vet. Caller for me, the transition was relatively smooth. , i prepare before i got out. I was in the marine corps. When there is time for you to get out, there is no real help, they just push you out the door. When i went to transition classes, i already did most of the stuff. I went to resume classes, sent my resume out six months before i got out. Itt they need to do, when comes to about six or seven months, the younger kids having a hard time transitioning need to focus on getting out of the military and not their job because at the end of the day, they are going to force you out. As long as they meet the minimum guidelines that you attended a certain course, that is it, you are gone. You cannot call back. So you think the pentagon should give you a six month grace. Grace period to prepare you for it . Is not they do, but it really enforced. There are new rules that came out, but usually the commanders are going to do what is best for the unit. So if it is time for you to go because once you are gone, you are no longer their issue. They have other things to worry about. So the pentagon has to figure out a way to integrate the younger kids who have trouble because the Unemployment Rate for veterans is for people who are under 21. So people who did not go to college are now competing against kids who went to college and have experience in the civilian world. Host is there a formal handoff from the pentagon to Veterans Affairs . Aware of. T that i am i have not used Veterans Affairs yet. I have been fortunate where i am not seriously injured. There is no formal handoff. You have good leadership or Veterans Group in your hometown, have them guide you through the state program, but there is no official handout. You are on your own. Nobody is there to guide you. Unfortunately, the younger guys will have issues beyond the older guys. Host some headlines in the papers this morning before we continue this conversation with veterans only this morning. The starledger two in new starledger in new jersey has this a judge decided that turning papers over to the Investigative Panel violates the fifth amendment rights of Chris Christies former aides, pictured here. And this headline this morning the fed is reassuring the market on low rates. Stocks rallied wednesday after of a meeting last month below the fold in the money section of usa today, the news yesterday that toyota recalled millionillion 1. 7 7 vehicles in the United States. Do not delay a recall. Toyota making the news yesterday. We told you yesterday about this medicare data that has been released by the government showing which doctors received payment and how much and what the procedures were for. The New York Times above the fold this morning, the headline is, building medicare billing medicare while financing top democrats. That in the story today on the medicare data. Clinton also, president was at the lbj library wednesday, speaking on the role of the civil rights movement, talking about tough votes that lawmakers have to pass. He challenged lawmakers to make those tough votes, and president obama, and first Lady Michelle obama, will travel to the lbj library today, to make his own remarks honoring the 50th anniversary of the signing of the civil rights act. We will have coverage of that on cspan. Org. On hillary clinton, a side story in the New York Times. Her book will come out june 5. The book is about her career at the state department. Simon schuster has not yet set that has not yet said what the book will be called. June 10 is when it will come out. Mrs. Clinton would provide readers with candid reflections about key moments of the state department as well as reflections on navigating diplomacy in the 21st century. June 10 is when her book will come out. This is the economy and business section of the Washington Post. U. S. Regulators have told banks they need to increase capital they have on hold for losses. Highermargin is the legacy of the 2008 crisis. And then on the mideast negotiations. Israelw york times says it is deeply disappointed by secretary of state kerrys remarks on peace talks. In his testimony this week for the Senate Foreign relations committee, he is quoted as that both the israeli and palestinian sides bear responsibility for unhealthy actions that have derailed peace talks, but that the events of the impact is the announcement of the impasse is the announcement of 700 new Housing Units for jewish settlement in an area of jerusalem. The Israeli Government taking issue with secretary of state kerrys comments. Cspan. Org for more information on that. An update on pay equality. The legislation that was put to a vote in the senate yesterday was blocked by republicans. The bill sponsored by Barbara Mikulski had 52 sponsors, but democrats were unable to persuade republicans to vote for the legislation, which needed a 60fold a 60vote threshold. Had it passed, the bill would have made it illegal for employers to retaliate against workers who inquire about or disclose their pay. Goose creek, south carolina, a vietnam veteran. Caller how you doing this morning . Yes, i am a totally blind veteran, a lifetime member of the dva, which is the the bva , blind veterans association. Was progressive. I was not totally blind until 2000, but i can say that the teva system dva system has been wonderful for me the v. A. System has been wonderful for me. I have been to several blind hospitalsses or rehab in augusta. They have trained me on the computer, and they have issued me brandnew computers, all to help blinded aides , and iate my disability found out that wordofmouth through the veterans is essential for veterans to be knowledgeable of what benefits they should be looking for if they have a problem. They should seek out other veterans who are in the system and get a lot of information from them or pass through information to other veterans. Way and that is a helpful to reach out to the government and get what you need . Caller yes. By being a that lifetime member of the bva is also another voice for especially blinded veterans. They are a force in the government for whatever needs benefits we or should receive, that is a good voice to get in contact with representatives of blinded veterans. They do have other organizations out there bank for other forbilities out there other disabilities. If you can get a group that is most suitable for your it is a lot better as a voice in the government. ,ost we have to leave it there and thanks to all the veterans who called in this morning. We turn to politics here. Joining us on the phone is james with from New Hampshire. Scott brown is going to plan to reenter politics. When is he making the announcement, and who will he challenge . From massachusetts, not New Hampshire. Host oh, excuse me. Guest he will make the announcement tonight at 6 30, basically the same area where he was born. He was born right over the border, spent his first year and a half of his life in portsmouth. It is something he will try to argue in his speech tonight, that while he has lived most of his life all of his life in massachusetts, having served in massachusetts, that he has a bridge in the state. Host set up this race for us. What are the dynamics . A politicalis junkie posse dream. We have three u. S. Senators in this race scott brown, who we talked about. Serveds bob smith, who two terms in this very see before he was defeated in a republican primary in 2002. He also moved to New Hampshire, was living in florida for the last decade or so. He is going to be looking to return to his seat. This is going to be probably be the most expensive race in New Hampshire politics history, and you are sending up scott brown, retailrobably the best candidate i have seen in New Hampshire. His charm and ability to campaign will be great against the most formidable opponent in the picture history in Jeanne Shaheen. Host handicap the race for us. Caller the republicans race for left this dead. Figuring that Jeanne Shaheen would probably get reelected. She was beating them all handily in the polls. Right now the polls show this race is basically tied between ,cott brown and Jeanne Shaheen should scott brown become the republican nominee, though you have to give the slight edge right now to Jeanne Shaheen. I am not sure that these polls mean anything. The campaign has not even begun yet. Host going forward, what group do you see having the most influence in this race . Statewide race, or do you see outside groups, outside the state playing a role . No question that outside groups will be playing a huge role here. Control of the u. S. Senate is what we are talking about here, not just New Hampshire. The key dynamic to watch is whether or not the race is simply about the Affordable Care act. Scott brown in his speech tonight will make a lot of points about the Affordable Care act and say this race is about this one issue and this one issue only. But it is pretty unpopular in New Hampshire, about 40 of folks, some less than that, saying they actually support support it. En Jeanne Shaheen is in favor of it. She voted for it. Obviously scott brown is just moving to New Hampshire, that is one of the other things. To try to make this race about other than Just Health Care reform. Host does that help scott brown . Healthy this morning, laws campaign clout that news for dems. Guest i am not sure Jeanne Shaheen will convince a lot of people in New Hampshire that this law is a great thing in the next seven months. She will make this campaign about Something Else or a collection of other issues. Jeanne shaheen is a person who racesen in five statewide before. She only lost one of them. A Formidable Campaign operation and she can point to her own record. If you want to point to her votes, you can look at the things she has done for the state. Obviously scott brown cannot say the same thing. Host sue who are the early supporters of scott brown . Is very interesting. Scott brown has been very close with the other u. S. Senator in this race, kelly ayotte. Campaign for him when he won the special election. She was not even in office at that point. Beight at his rally will former governor john h sue new unu. John h. Sun that is a very key signal that he is going to have a lot of the oldline Establishment Republicans behind him, but what is interesting is that even among those in the base who would naturally disagree with him on a lot of issues, whether social issues or his position on guns, which is a real problem in the republican primary, these are folks who just want a chance to beat Jeanne Shaheen. Had scott brown gotten into the race last summer, i think you would have seen a lot more conservative pushback, but i think hes getting is so late, and the candidates who are more conservative are not getting it done, so he is like a white knight. L, thank youpindel for giving us your thoughts on this race to come. Coming up next, we will be talking about the budget that is being debated on the floor this week with both parties. Representativeth john yarmouth, democrat from kentucky. Schock. R, aaron we will be right back. The whole number of the electorate to vote for president of the United States is 538, of which the majority is 270. George w. Bush of the state of texas has received for president of the United States 271 votes. Al gore of the state of tennessee has received 266 votes. The state of the vote for Vice President of the United States as delivered to the president of the senate is as follows. The whole number of the elect wars to vote for Vice President of the United States is 538, of which a majority is 270. The cheney of the state of wyoming has received for Vice President of the United States 271 votes. Joe lieberman of the state of connecticut has received 266 votes. This announcement of the state of the vote by the president of the senate shall be deemed a of theent declaration persons elected president and Vice President of the United States, each for the term beginning on the 20th day of january, 2001, and shall be entered together with a list of the votes on the journal of the senate of the house and representatives and the house of representatives. May god bless the president and our new Vice President , and may god bless the United States of america. [applause] find more highlights of house floor coverage on our facebook page. Cspan, created by Cable Companies 35 years ago, brought to you today by your public your cable or satellite provider as a Public Service. Host we are back with congressman john yarmouth, democrat from kentucky. Owncrats have put out their. Is the Common Ground between the two . Guest not very much, greta. That is kind of reflective of the situation in congress in general right now. Parties,olarized polarized philosophically. But most importantly, will arise almost totally in terms of our priorities for the federal government and what the government should be doing and how much it should be doing in various areas. Those are reflected in the republican budget as well as our priorities in the democratic budget. Again, there is a very different attitude about what the government should be doing. Republicans do not believe the government should be doing very much, the federal government, and we still think the government is an effective tool for improving peoples lives. The chairman of the Budget Committee was on the house floor and he said the priorities for the Republican Party is spending restraint. Lets get your response. [video clip] this is all about getting the fiscal house in order, prioritizing taxpayer dollars. This is all about making sure that the next generation has future. R a secure that is why we are making those difficult decisions and that is why we are advocating these important reforms. Century, athe 20th lot of programs were created. A lot of laudable goals were established. But now in the 21st century, i think we have learned a thing or two about how we can better accomplish and achieve some of retirement, such as security. The way these programs were designed nearly a generation ago, they are now going into bankruptcy in this generation. Happen, we that to will pull out from underneath those who depend on these programs for the health and retirement security. Who will renege on the social contract. More to the point, we will do damage to the economy. If we keep the deficit and debt going on its current course. Host congressman, your response . Guest well, that is all very good rhetoric excuse me. It is all good rhetoric, when you look at what he does in the budget and what republicans are likely to approve of, their are things that the American People have resoundingly rejected. Thegs like voucherizing Medicare Program and returning it to private insurance companies. Cutting programs and education funding. These are things that just we are so heinous and so politically toxic that mitt inney had to reject them 2012. The same Budget Proposal that paul ryan put forth. Again, the devil is in the details. Let me take a drink of water. Host let me have you get a drink of water because we had yesterday on the show marsha blackburn, republican from tennessee, and she was saying the alternative from democrats in your party is the socalled investments. Here is what she had to say about that. [video clip] generally our colleagues across the aisle are seeking to raise taxes, and the amendments that they brought forward in committee would have raised trillion to pay for the socalled investments. And, she saysme when they congressman, she says when they say investments they mean tax increases. Guest she is absolutely wrong. Itare talking about making possible for young people to go to college so that they increase their earning capacity over their careers. We are talking about investing in infrastructure in our budget to the tune of 300 billion over the next few years. To provide the kind of infrastructure, whether it is broadband internet, access, water systems, that will allow the economy to sustain itself. These are things that are really not optional if we want to make sure the economy is vibrant down the road. We talk about implementing immigration reform, which the cbo has said reduces the deficit by almost 1 trillion over the next two decades and increases the gdp by over 3 . Just about raising taxes. As a matter of fact, in our budget, the percentage of deaths of it the percentage of decreases over 10 years. On the other hand, republicans cut taxes on the wealthiest americans so they can claim that the budget they can make these other cuts in very important programs to the American People, reduce the tax rates on people making over 1 million by one third. That is a reflection of our values. Host paul ryan says the budget will balance if the democrats want. Guest there is one great fallacy in that comment. What they do in the republican budget is eliminated the Affordable Care act, repeal it, but they keep all the savings and the revenue that were part of the Affordable Care act. It amounts to 2 trillion. You cannot play that game, repeal obamacare but keep the provisions that help our budget balance. Short over hison window. Host when you say window, you mean a decade. Republicans say theyre budget will save 5 trillion over the 10year period. Guest it cuts important programs. Youre talking about cutting 770 billion out of medicaid, 40 billion out of food stamps. 145 billion out of education funding. That is how you get to 5 trillion. You talk about some of these programs in the later years being cut by 25 , significant cuts in which means there are a lot of people who will not get Student Loans or they will get less Student Loans, pell grants. People will be cut off very Important Services like under medicaid, which, by the way, for the most part, supports seniors and children. This is where it all thats where all the Skilled Nursing this is where all the Skilled Nursing comes from. If you cut 770 billion at a time where you will need more seniors needing those services, you will put a lot of people in dire straits. Host we go to georgia, democratic caller. Caller thank you very much for taking my call. First off, im calling about the vote that was done on the extension of the longterm unemployment benefit. It seems like that was a significant plus that it was done, and now i hear nothing more about it. I am concerned that the house is not getting information back to individuals such as myself that would calm us and make us think that help is on the way. Thist know which stage policy or regulation is at at this point. I would just like to know, where are we at right now . With this extension that seems to past two years ago in the house . Two days ago in the house . Is it now that the president has to sign it . Host we will get an update here. Longterm stench in a Health Benefits passed the senate two days ago ask the extension of longterm Health Benefits passed the senate two days ago. We are perfectly willing to put that to vote on the floor because we think he would pass with republican votes, but Republican Leadership has said they are not interested at all in doing that. It is unfortunate that pupils hopes are being raised by ash that peoples hopes are being raised by the senate action. It is ok to cut off unemployment and when there are people who tend to have options. But that is not the situation yet. We have a long way to go in the economy before we are able to provide jobs for everyone. With that in mind, youre talking about the longterm unemployed who have no other option. When you are talking about this, it ends up being about 2 billion a month that this appears from the economy. It is a drag on the economy when you have all of these people out of work and not receiving benefits. A tweet from one of our viewers says, does the budget take into account what we can afford to spend . How much debt to future generations . It certainly does. In the democratic budget, we reduce the debt over relation to gdp. It does not add to the National Debt over time. That is where we need to be. The question, when you say what just aafford, it is not strict calculation of this money coming in in this money going out, you have programs people count on, medicare funding, benefits, adequate defense, and we have to provide again for the kind of investments that will keep the economy rolling whether it is talking about Energy Research or medical research. There are some programs we just have to spend money on an infrastructure, we cannot afford to let our infrastructure slowed down or water deteriorate or then the economy cannot grow at all. Are not optional. There are things we have to do as a country. No one else will do that. Deborah is next, independent caller. Is, how inquestion the world both parties in new date our country with very poor people and expect the middle class to go out for them. Keepxas, how do we nging millions of people American People, not the illegals. Why dont they take the American People above the league the illegals . Reformer has a duration is an important topic. Emigration. Tive people are illegal coming in. We have made incredible progress but still, we have an opportunity to bring incredibly. Alented people to the country we bring highly skilled workers. We reached our limit this week. Thethe next day months, people who are here working illegally, in many cases, they are paying taxes and withholding, but they are not receiving the benefits of those. There is a cost to having undocumented residents here. We ought to be concentrating on getting them legalized, reporting those creating problems, and keeping those who are productive working hear you ,alk to the Business Community and the matter what it is, the Employer Community says we need immigrant later labor. House whoing to the is trying to negotiate copperheads and reform last year and that is what we found. With unions and with management, to get comprehensive immigration reform. It is critical for them. I heard on the house floor during morning speeches the congressman talking about a july 4 deadline, that if republicans do not act on immigration before the house adjourns in july, that the administration could take action. Is that true . Guest i have heard rumblings of that. I do not think the administration has said that the buckley area i do not know whether that is his impression or whether they specifically told him that. Things going on in this country have to stop. Thousands of american. Hildren in foster homes they are here without documentation. No one wants to tear apart families like that. Jeb bush put it several months ago that no republican would vote against a policy that does chores our economy and jeopardizes National Security but that is exactly what they will do if they vote against copper intake immigration reform. There is a lot at stake here and it is not optional. We have a broken system and we need workers. We cannot have these families being decimated. There is an ask monica an economic aspect. Borrowed a chilean dollars guest we went through a high number in 2009. The first year, the last year of the bush budget, first year of the obama administration, we were 1. 3 billion. We have cut the deficit by significantly more than half. We are on course to reduce that further. We made enormous roger progress. To accrueontinue deficits of over 10 million a year. Most economists say if you get it down to under three percent of the economy, that is sustainable. On twitter saying lets hear from brett next in louisiana, a republican caller. Off, all of you both republicans and democrats should be embarrassed of yourself the way you of handled our business over the past 10 to 15 years. You make fun of us in the tea party because of our views but a lot of us were not happy because of the latter years of the bush years and we are very unhappy now of what is happening. Ou talk about this deficit president obama and the democrats keep bragging they cut the deficit in half. Most americans are ignorant and do not understand the difference between the debt and the deficit. If you check out the numbers, the deficit has been larger under president obamas death presidency, including 2009. President obama has kept us more in the deficit than president bush in eight years. Spending aboutow 400 billion less a year than we were when president obama took office. We have made significant cuts across the entire budget. Revenues are critical. The bush administration, there were two significant tax cuts that dropped revenue by about 20 at one point. Recreate ag to better balance between revenues and expenditures. This is where all democrats agree with paul ryan that we do have a problem with mandatory spending. Spending we cannot control. If you are 65, you qualify for medicare. That goes from the private sector cost to the Public Sector cost. These are things that, as a matter of policy, we have to debate as a country. Simpson bowles decision was in place several years ago area i did not agree with everything, but that really should be back out in the open and we should be debating those things actively. We should not be taking proposals we know are dead on arrival that would change the entire concept where people get certain money and private insurance. That is something the American People opposed by almost 80 . Danny on twitter says guest that is what we are talking about. It would bring literally millions of young people into the system. It would be paying taxes without 30 years of collective benefits and help sustain systems while the baby boomers are still alive and once the baby boomers are now will young people start receiving the benefits. We have 10,000 people turning 65 and now being eligible for benefits. Social security and medicare. We have got to figure out a way to deal with that. There have been changes made to the programs. Under the aca, the Medicare Program, we are now experiencing the lowest growth in the history of the program. Historically level partially because of the aca and partially because of economic factors. We are making progress but it is a very big ocean line and we are not going to build do that. Next to kentucky. Democratic caller. Caller hello. My fellow cspan viewers, the congressman is not contributing to the debt because he donates his salary to charity every year. Host is that true . Guest it is true. Host ok. Caller i keep up with everything. I love politics. Anyway, about three or four weeks ago, we had some gangs that went on a rampage downtown. It really unraveled the community. Saturday is one of the biggest displays in the country in the weather is supposed to be beautiful, anywhere from 4000 to seven thousand people. Gangs areried the threatening. The police met and said they are about 20 understaffed. The cuts are real. When bill clinton was in, he had the best economy weve ever had and we were at peace. My question is, it seems to me up in congress, you have so many darn people who do not know what theyre doing, maybe on both sides. These cuts have consequences and i wish to god they could sit the Bowles Simpson thing, there were good points. They will have to, somewhere along the line, because the whatry has major issues, im saying, there are consequences. I will ask for the response. Guest thank you for the call. There are consequences. We saw that last year with sequestration for the two month where the cuts actually the into effect and we saw impact in local level throughout the country. It was so bad, we did away with it for the next year and a half at least. They have consequences when youre talking about food inspection and police work and fbi work and all of these Government Services the American People have come to rely on. They are very important and when you make cuts, particularly in the domestic side of the you take things people take for granted and you all of a sudden put them in generate in jeopardy and reduce Law Enforcement effectiveness and then people come to understand how critical government is and how much they depend on it, even something as simple as getting help on your tax returns. That was jeopardized as the sequestration made acrosstheboard cuts. That is what we try to deal with. Your comment about knowing what they are doing a peer, i know it looks that way. I do not think anybody in congress is satisfied with the job were doing. Everybody is frustrated. The elections this year would reflect that and maybe they will not. Ultimately, the peoples voice will be heard. That is what we need to have happen. Richard butler says, what pleasemocrats 80 . Explain how this is a cut. Referring to the republican idea thoseucing money for types of programs. What the republicans have done is taken the next 10 years and, as in medicaid, they have cut 770 billion in their budget, which means 25 less money than would otherwise the spend. To a certain extent, these are all a little bit mythical in some ways. Things change dramatically over the economy. I remember when secretary geithner was before the budget howittee and i asked him, relevant are the longterm projections . Youre talking about 34 years with the way the world is changing. Are they relevant . He said anything past five years is not meaningful. We do the best we can. Paul ryan does the best he can. But we are talking about budgets as statements of values and priorities. He lays his out and lays out a different set of priorities. The short term about 40 billion out of surface transportation spending at a time we have critical needs. We embellish that by 300 million over the next three years. American people are on our side. That is the debate we have to have and have had. The problem is we never come to a resolution in this congress as to what the proper number should be. Numbers should be the easiest thing to do. Philosophy is hard to compromise. We did it in the farm bill with food stamps. Republicans want to cut 40 billion over six years and we did not want to cut any. In ended up eating 8 billion. That was a compromise. We need to be willing to do that more. Discretionary spending. Here is the front page story this morning, cost of drugs used by medicare doctors vary greatly by region. Seeking toreaucrats rein in costs negotiate lower prices how has this not changed the . In order to tackle what many people debt . A big driver of our guest it is an incredible problem. One of the first things we did when democrats took control of the house in 2007 was change that law. We passed a bill to allow the government to negotiate for medicare Drug Companies. Did not pass the senate. We propose that as an amendment to the republican budget. Did not do that this year but we opposed that amendment and there is only one reason it is the law. It makes no sense. The Veterans Administration negotiates with Drug Companies for pharmaceutical prices and they pay about 40 less than some people do in medicare. It can save the government money but the pharmaceutical companies are enormous contributors to political campaigns on both sides and money talks. Minnesota, independent caller. The morning and go ahead with your question and comment. Comments, i want to thank president obama for doing a good job for all of the work he has done, and the democrats, withare really up against the republicans because the republicans do not want to work with them. 2006, i was looking for a job. I was laid off. It took me five months to get a job. I was laid off. In 2007, the market went to crap i am running out of time here with the congressman. Caller in 2007, we all got laid off. I said, this recession is going to take longer than two president terms to fix the problem. It is still happening. Host we will leave it there. Guest thank you. Technically, we have been out of the recession for several years. You talk about the literal definition of the recession. We know many segments of the economy are effectively in recession still. Those affecting building trades, that is one of the segments and that is why we think it is so important to begin to have a surge in spending and infrastructure. Some point. To at we are borrowing money to do it but now spending and paying less for the money than we have in a long time. It is the right time to do it and it puts people to work immediately and take take care of needs that will not disappear. We will have to do it. That is an area where the government can play an important the supporting a part of economy that has been suffering. Thank you. Talkg up next, we will with aaron schock right after this news update from cspan radio. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] a report that simmering tension is prompting a blast from russia. Moscow is condemning nato for reproducing cold war era rhetoric. Russia also says nato has become an elite club that employs double standard. In response, the nato secretarygeneral demands russia pullback the tens of thousands areroops natos says amassed on the ukraine border. 450 u. S. And remaining troops and technical staff are taking part in joint military exercises in romania, flying u. S. F16 fighter jets alongside nato jets. Theyre calling on allies to beef up residence their presence. Nato already reinforced its air control and is performing daily surveillance flights over poland and romania. Hill, a houseitol Committee Votes this morning on whether to hold a former irs official in contempt of congress for refusing to answer questions at hearings. The official previously headed the irs division that processed the application for tax exempt status. Yesterday, the house ways and Means Committee voted to refer her to the Justice Department for possible criminal prosecution. You can watch it live at cspan. Org or listen to the first hour here on cspan radio. Those are some of the latest headlines. Let we needed something akin to the Grace Commission during or thegan commission realignment and Closing Commission during the clinton administration. An outside group with integrity. Politicians,ected to do a complete audit of government from top to bottom. Every agent see of government has a charter that created it. It has a purpose. If it is not fulfilling that purpose or not doing it within a reasonable budget, it should be cut or eliminated. Head start. It came in with the highest motivation. There are now three head start. Early head start, enhanced head start, and regular head start. Why do we have the other two . The first one was not working. The third one . The second one was not working. Columnist on fixing a broken washington saturday night at 10 00 eastern and sunday night at 9 00. Following afterwards, a Heritage Foundation book artie as he signs his books and chats with guests. Also, this year is National Black writers conference. Aturday at noon eastern sunday at 2 00, strengthening communities, a historical narrative. Every weekend on cspan two. Cspan, 435 years bringing Public Affairs events from washington directly to you, putting you in the room at congressional hearings, white house events, and offering complete gaveltogavel coverage of the u. S. House as a private as a service of private industry. Cspan, brought to you as a Public Service by your local cable or satellite provider. Follow us on twitter. Ast we are back with republican of illinois. Yesterday, the panel took a vote. What was the vote, how would you vote, and why was the action taken . It was the culmination of two years of investigation into allegations the irs is targeting groups for their political views. Have beene committees very public about their investigations. The ways and Means Committee operates very differently. Our committee has oversight responsibilities. Only when there is a reason for us to provide oversight to investigate, do we. When we do, it is often more private. We have access to sensitive taxpayer information know other committee has. Our investigation was much more private and much more out of the limelight. Once we reached the conclusion that lowes had broken the law, we believe the responsible thing to do according to the house counsel, the House Attorneys that work for the house of representatives, was to mark up a letter and forward that document to the department of justice, recommending prosecution of lois lerner. Let me be clear. None of the evidence we have found so far implicates anyone in the white house. The president , the administration, or any political appointee. Lois is a federal federal bureaucrat not appointed by the obama administration. What she did was wrong. She broke the law. We have evidence to back that up. There were three things. One, she targeted groups specifically for political leanings. Specifically conservative groups. The chairman was very deliberative to make sure there were claims she targeted liberal and conservative groups. They went over 600,000 documents and found no evidence liberal groups were targeted in the same way as conservative groups. She went so far as to bring in some of the liberal leaning groups into the irs to meet with her and her deputies. Why provided reasons for they thought crossroads gps, their adversary out in the political sphere, should be denied. She left that meeting and sent emails to her subordinates and said, give me all the documentation you have on crossroads gps and recommended denial of crossroads gps. All of this done through her purview as the head of a taxexempt organization in bc. This is in stark contrast to the white houses original assertion that was his the these were broken agencies. No one it was easy directed the behavior. No one was aware of it. We know it was the head of the Tax Exempt Organization leading the effort, spearheading the bad behavior. We now have documentation to prove it. Reached by her subordinates about why they made the changes to the rules. Theyuggested the reason made the changes to targeting groups is because of an uptick. An increase in 501 c filings. Her Legal Counsel said that is incorrect and there was no increase in those filings. She was then interviewed i Law Enforcement about the reason for the change in policy. Knowing what she was about to say was false, she repeated it to Law Enforcement and told the investigators the reason she changed the rules was because of an uptick in violence, even was a falsenew that statement. That was a federal crime, giving a false statement to lawenforcement. She finally began forwarding sensitive taxpayer information to her personal Gmail Account, a violation of federal law, to take sensitive taxpayer information out of the umbrella of the federal government and transfer it to a nonsecure personal Gmail Account and we will need the fbis help to figure out who had access to the through those, emails with the taxpayer information was that forwarded to and the like. Those things we know for certain based on documents. We believe it is more than cause for justice holder to press charges. We think it is important to the credibility of our government. American people need to know any bureaucrat who violates their Constitutional Rights will be held accountable regardless who the president and the attorney general is. These things you cite, is this the new evidence made public yesterday at the hearing . This has been classified information, private information. Is it appropriate for the ways and Means Committee to be making it public . Guest we believe we have to. To sensitive have taxpayer information is exclusive to our committee. Meaning, not even the speaker of the house, the chairman of the intelligence committee, has access to the irs personal documents. To the housesive ways and Means Committee. If not us, then who . Powers. Investigatory we have a responsibility to do that. We find evidence to suggest there is a federal five crime committed, for someone to suggest we should not forward that to the Justice Department, eric holder, would be an abdication of our responsibility. I absolutely believe what we did yesterday was the right thing. Americans across the country regardless of Political Police believe that the irs should be impartial, that the rule of law should be uniform, and regardless of your political beliefs, you should not fear whether or not someone who may worksar right person who in the federal agency who arbitrarily decides to change the rules, should be prosecuted for that. This is not only about what she did. It is about setting the precedent and making it clear this will not stand. Where will this go from here . Now what . Justice holder has the information we have now and it will be up to him whether or not he prosecutor. We believe there is more than enough evidence for him to do so and cause for him to do so and his responsibility to do so. These groupsw have who did not have access to her emails, did not have access to why they were targeted and the process behind it. They now have this information and i would not be surprised if they were not filing charges against the iraq for having the irs. They have the ability to seek recompense for the wrongdoing against them. Depending on where theyre located, you may have attorney generals of their state who wish to file claims of the federal government based on their citizens being discriminated against by a federal agency and a federal bureaucrat. This just happened yesterday. Those are all possibilities based on evidence laid out yesterday. Host does that mean in the end, taxpayers will be laying out for lawsuits . Guest hopefully what will happen is, i would hope lois lerner one of two things has happened here. Either lois lerner did all of herself,aterally by which is hard to believe but the evidence we have now all roads lead to her, so either have a bureaucrat who hauled off and did this because she thought she would have the political cover of someone, or we have a woman for herself fifth and others. If faced with upwards of 11 years in prison, she may decide she wants to cooperate with authorities. If she does, we may find out there is more to the story and who gave her direction to carry out the things we now have documents to prove she did. Our hope is not that we have to pay a lot of money. It is that she is held accountable and if there are people above her, who provided direction, they are held accountable. That would require her cooperation. If she does not, we have enough evidence that she could be prosecuted for up to 11 years in prison. Taxes, tax reform, let me get to phone calls and then we will tackle that. Rose, republican caller. I want to tell everybody listening, i have watched all the hearings. I watched the hearings with the irs, people from ohio, cincinnati. Testimony of all the citizens that have been freedomnd taken their of speech and freedoms away from them. I have watched all of it. , i watched the attorney general yesterday and the day before. I am shocked and horrified we have an attorney general who i do not believe will exercise the freedoms we have, and do anything to prosecute lois lerner. After knowing what he did under the clinton administration, [coughing] host we will have the congressman respond your thoughts. That was a discussion we had. The question is not justification for us to advocate hours. I take my responsibility as a member of congress very seriously. Effortgave this our test and did our Due Diligence and provided documentation and evidence to back up the claims. Much like the Law Enforcement in your local community, if the Police Officers do their work and do it well, the discretion on whether to prosecute is laid with the states attorney at the local level. Same thing with the federal government. I as a member of congress who have oversight powers do not have the ability to prosecute. Our constitute our prosecution with the attorney general, i have to believe the evidence is so compelling and now that the public knows it all, they can go to the website and read the 14 page letter that lays this all out in detail. It is chilling when you read what specifically she did systematically, not only breaking the law and attempting to cover it up. The act was committed, it was an attempted coverup, and so on. When you read that, it is chilling. I believe there will be public treasure that mounts for eric holder to prosecute. The second is that the individuals should have the right to know we were wronged. This process lays that out as well so they can get their Constitutional Rights protected and seek recompense for the wrong. And finally, there is still the opportunity that local states attorney generals could seek damages for constituents against the irs and particularly lois lerner personally. Taking this action yesterday, that is one part. The Reform Committee this morning in about 20 minutes is going to be taking a vote on whether or not to hold lois lerner in and in contempt. We will go tour website for coverage of that. A couple of tweets for you. Here is one. Why not just give her immunity for prosecution care she testified and you get your information. Theher says, leaves ask if representative will really face charges. People are tired of the charades. Offense to anyone who suggests this is a charade. If you go on the website and read the 14 page letter in blackandwhite, you cannot make up the emails that came from her account. You cannot make up the facts and evidence we provide in the test pear files in how they were targeted. This is plain as day. You can argue about whether or not some statements members of ourress might make politically charged, but the evidence laid out in this letter is indisputable and factual. Based on the facts, she violated the law. People who suggest this is somehow political motivated, what are they suggesting, that we should just say, i am a republican in the president is a democrat, so i will not suggest anybody within his administration did something wrong echo wrong . Ats back up off the hill for minute. We are not accusing the president of anything or eric holder of anything. We are not accusing any of the a president s appointees at the irs of anything. Was act that lois lerner politically motivated hack within the administration, she is a federal bureaucrat and has been there for over 20 years. Care whether she had super rightwing leanings or super leftwing leanings. We cannot have someone like that who uses political views and changes the rules based on your political views, running the irs. If you think it goes higher back to the tweet from our viewer, why not give her immunity from prosecution . She has not sought operation with us. Cooperation with us. E would not give her immunity ultimately, if the department of justice pursues this, and we hope they do, i am sure when in or attempt to contact her through attorneys, that may be a discussion they have. But that will be up to the prosecutor. Justice holder or someone underneath him. To investigate the facts. We had a witness who pled the fifth. All we had to go on was hard evidence, emails and the documents, and based on them, and they are indisputable, she broke the law in three areas. Caller. Ocratic youre on the air. Good morning, congressman. I am just wondering, after two ears and 14 million, and all the other money you spend on thesei am just investigations, u basically have nothing to show for it. Remember right, 1959, there was a change in the tax law. The irs made themselves and it then,d the wordiness and when the Supreme Court made their action that said money is free speech, that through the irs into a quagmire to figure it out, instead of you people helping them figure it out, they had to figure it out for themselves. Quest first of all, with regards to the expense, as a result of our investigation, i do not think you can put a price on the confidence required of our American People. I do not think you can throw about the price tag and say, we do not care if there was wrongdoing and we do not care if people broke the law, we do not care if peoples Constitutional Rights were trampled on. We do not think it is right he spent time, energy, and money investigating. I do not think you can put a price tag on making sure peoples Constitutional Rights are upheld. I do not know where he gets his figures. That may be the amount of dollars associated with staff between the ways and Means Committee, perhaps the government oversight committee. I do not know the calculations behind his figures. Toyou know what it costs prosecute someone at the Supreme Court level . Tens of millions of dollars. You do not hear people talking you are on brown versus board of education, you do not argue that tens of millions of dollars were spent , is it worth it . You cannot put a price on that. People fought and died for our constitution and for their Constitutional Rights. Toake my responsibility protect my citizens Constitutional Rights regardless of my political views very seriously. About 501 c four. I do not need to go down the path of whether i re. I believe regardless what the ruling is, it should be uniformly replied applied. The issue right now is that it was not. Where they broke the law. If you will say 501 c fours cannot be politically engaged, great. But then conservative and liberal groups should be denied. If you will seek additional investigations and additional documentation and you will ask if youre going to do it, do it to both groups and not just conservative groups. The issue here is the application of law was not the segments ofh population. Extenders. What are they, what is being debated, and when might the packers the part of the floor . Great question. When i go home and talk talk about a tax extender, they are basically short term tax provisions in the task of and they were originally put in place to incentivize certain behavior we wanted. There arewhat are they, what isg debated, and when might the packers the part of the floor . Great question. When i go home and talk talk about a incentives for wind energy production, the production tax credit that has resulted in a lot of wind farms popping up here the test credit for wind energy is usually a twoyear revision. Congress said we want to incentivize the behavior and we will put it into years and it expires after two ears. That has been reauthorize multiple times. There are provisions for research and development. Congress saidere, they want to incentivize r d. Lets give companies a tax instead of spending money here that is a twoyear provision. This package of twoyear provisions are called the extenders package. The ways and Means Committee believes at least on the house side that we ought to get out of the business of tax extenders. We ought to say either r d is good and bad, it deserves a permanent spot in the task code, and his nooses deserve a certainty to know the federal government will have incentive or not. We need to say, we will treat all business expenses the same, whether it is Research Development or advertising. That is the purpose of comprehensive tax reform. That is where the house has focused most of its time and energy. Dave camp has been working with the chairman of finance committee to come up with a comprehensive, bipartisan tacit form built. Dave camp laid out the houses proposal about a month ago and since that time, unfortunately, he is now the ambassador to china. He has left the country. We now have a new chairman in senator ron from oregon, a great guy. He is just getting his legs underneath him. Does that mean . It means all of the extenders are expiring or have expired. There is great pressure to say, if you are not going to fix the whole tax code, at least you with these provisions that are expiring and have expired. Host do you think that happened . The headline from april 8 do you think that is realistic what happened and congress did here . Yes. senator wyden is not prepared to do his own tax bill right now, he seems to be prepared to do taxes vendors. He said publicly he intensity that. As a result, the chairman of the ways and Means Committee has instructed us to prepare and introduce those in the house and that they will probably be debated and heard on the floor in may or june of the summer. My anticipation is the house will take action on the extenders this year. We get through the election and hopefully, next year, a new chairman in the senate, a new chairman and the house, because dave is rick tiring, and then finalize hopefully a copper has a test reform bill, so we do not have to go through the groundhog day scenario every two years of if it is staying and if it is going and have all the groups appear, the businesses with uncertainty, which is not good for the economy. Reduction, ise that part of an extender package and how did that become shortterm . Mortgage Interest Deduction is part of the permanent code. Mortgage reduction is in the , atent code and will remain least dave camp us proposal. You keep mortgage interest reduction however, we limit how many houses he we have. Cannothave 12 homes, you deduct the interest expense on all 12 homes. That type of structure benefits very wealthy individuals. The purpose of the mortgage interest reduction is to help people achieve the American Dream and help them buy a home. It is not meant to subsidize peoples overinvestment in real estate. We welcome people who buy multiple homes. We just do not think the taxpayers should subsidize worker encouraged that particular behavior. Fewer homes and a cap on the value of those homes. So, youre talking about the deductibility of that. It is something i support. It is basically individuals who are underwater and if the bank forgives them 50,000 on their mortgage, they do not have to pay income tax on that here it is something i support because it helped us clean up a lot of the Bank Balance Sheets and also create some certainty within the homeowners lives about being able to move on to the next chapter. We have a lot of people in limbo with their homes because they are underwater. In some cases, banks are seeking to collect but we would rather settle with the homeowner but the homeowner might not have the to pay thecash liability accrued of the bank writes off 100,000. Have 30,000. The smart thing to do is not to require not treat that as income if the bank writes enough. Iowa, independent caller. Youre up next. Thank you for having me on this morning. Im 64, and i was raised in a mixed neighborhood. Want to talk about the immigration thing for a while. The gentleman before the congressman mentioned, and i have heard it over and over about the wasted with these country,ming into our it really year takes me because i have been watching for five generations now the talent wasted in our own country with our brother and sister americans in inner cities and i wonder where the passion is and the same energy for all people in the inner cities that talk about families torn apart. Because i have been watching for five generations now the talent wastedmurder, games, drugs, povi and itney has been spent has been thrown merits to appease the folks living in the poverty in this country, but to hear all the wonderful things about the immigrants, which i believe there are, i believe we need to take care of our folks that, for five generations now, have been living and cannot get out of that situation. Ok. Immigration reform. I thought he was asking about poverty. Support an reform, i path toward immigration review reform. Think it should be a stepbystep approach. I do not favor a giant and obvious delight the senate did. We had a Border Security bill that passed Homeland Security committee unanimously. Every democrat and republican voted for our security bill. We should bring that to the floor and vote it out. Start with that and it will instill confidence that we are serious about knowing who is in our entry and being able to manage our borders. One third, roughly 40 of those here illegally came here illegally. They came on illegally on illegal visa. Our problem is much larger than Border Security. Visa do not fix the enforcement bill has to do with everify and then we have to deal with a third issue of children brought here illegally. Finally, the hardest step is what to do with the 12 Million People here illegally. I believe it is unrealistic to expect them to leave the country. I think they should not get preference over people who are lawabiding and are waiting in line. Paypal can, go to the back of the line and put on probation, but have the same opportunity to apply and become interventional american citizen. Path to dohere is a this but the president has undermined the credibility he needs with congress to negotiate when his signature bill continues to be changed unilaterally. When he tells us he is willing to shut the government down because he does not want any changes to his law, we offered a dozen different proposed changes to the obamacare law and hes absolute not, no modification, no delay, no changes. After the Government Shutdown occurred, he unilaterally changed allowing people to have high deductibility plans, delay of the employer mandate. All of the changes we have fought for, he did unilaterally. Is, how don it begs you negotiate with the president on immigration and get him to do things he does not want to do and have any expectation that once the law is enacted, he will we want a part of enforcement and Border Security in that law. That is where it comes down as to why it is critical to do. It is not that house does not want to do immigration reform. I believe we have a broken government system and the republicans in the house are adamant that we like to fix broken government and roll up our sleeves and be a part of that. I believe it will ultimately get done but the president has got work to do to breed confidence that he will be an honest broker and carry out the law. We are talking about the congressman who serves on the ways and means and represents the 18th district of illinois, the Illinois Statehouse as well. We will go to steve. Caller good morning. Plane hitn is, no Building Seven on 9 11, but it fell straight down in 6. 5 seconds. A third tower fell on 9 11 . Steve is part of a group that is organizing calls into our show and other shows that believes the government investigation into what happened on 9 11 is not adequate. They do not trust the evidence. Do you care to respond . Guest i will be honest. 9 11 happened when i was a student in college. I remember vividly being in my parents kitchen eating breakfast watching the attack. Not in congress with the 9 11 commission and i was not a part of those committees. Information is what his basis of information would probably be, news reporting and so on. I have no reason to believe our government did not do its digital gents diligence. If someone has something compelling, i would take a look, but at this point, i have no reason to believe there was any coverup or lack of investigation. I do not know what the motive would be on the part of our government to not get to the bottom of it. Host democratic caller. Caller i just want to tell you you canit is amazing show all this hatred, acting like you are not. Did you realize obama is the president . You do not accept that. Host give us a specific example of where the congressman was spewing hatred. About you know, he talked , if the president would listen to us and we have got a bill. If he is in charge [indiscernible] you are not following the logic and you are also breaking up. Let me go to illinois, independent caller. Caller hello. I am from illinois. I want toled because know when the Unemployment Insurance bill is going to get past. 55 times Affordable Care act. The irs is nothing but a sham. And ozzy is a sham. I voted for republicans because i am independent i will never vote for you people again. You are pathetic. You shut down the government. The president shut down the government . I remember mr. Cruise, the house are presented as. Shot this government down. Do not lie. Do not lie and say the president shut the government down. You cost us 25 billion in the shut down and then you turn around and want Unemployment Insurance paid for . It is sickening. Guest what i said was the president obama said if you want these changes to the Affordable Care act, i will not give you any of those changes and he was willing to allow the government to shut down as opposed to conceding to some of the changes that republicans wanted. You can disagree with republicans for fighting for those changes. The fact of the matter is some of the changes we were fighting for, the president subsequently did unilaterally. I would argue he wouldve been better off to agree to those changes congress was fighting for. Second, he asked about Unemployment Insurance and said it was a travesty to acquire require under shermans to be paid for. Unemployment insurance has always been paid for. President sn the position and not republicans in congress. After the president became president and we had a huge economic downturn and a higher Unemployment Rate than than we do now, it was president obama who went to the podium and said, asking for an extension of Unemployment Benefits, but it needs be paid for. That has been the position of the president since he has been in office. Sorry to rush you, but the house is coming in early today. Thank you for your time. Now, we will bring you to the house, where they are beginning their legislative they today. Thank you for watching. 2014. I hereby appoint the honorable Virginia Foxx to act as speaker pro tempore on this day, signed, john a. Boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. Chaplain conroy let us pray. Eternal god, we give you thanks for giving us another day. Send your spirit upon the members of this peoples house to encourage them in their official tasks. As the members approach the votes they are making today, may they have courage and leadership that looks to the vibrancy of our great nation. Assure them that in the fulfillment of their responsibilities, let them be faithful to their duties and the wisdom to be conscious of their obligations and fulfill them with integrity. As the congress looks to the upcoming holy celebrations of millions of americans, may they and may we all be mindful of gods love for us. May we be faithful stewards, not only of your creation but also your desire that all people would be free from whatever inhibits them to be fully alive. May all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory. Amen. The speaker pro tempore the chair has examined the journal of the last days proceedings and announces to the house her approval thereof. Pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1 the journal stands approved. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Madam speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule 1, i demand a vote on agreeing to the speakers approval of the journal. The speaker pro tempore the question is on agreeing to the speakers approval of the journal. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The journal stands approved. Mr. Olson madam 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 pro tempore pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question are postponed. The pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from washington, mr. Kilmer. Mr. Kilmer 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 pro tempore 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 seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. Mr. Olson madam speaker, i want to share with the American People a poem written by a marine corps officer. Its about two former seals, navy seals, ben and ty, that were killed in benghazi. Its called the valley boys of benghazi. Were the bally boys of ben combazzy, no fame, no glory, no paparazzi. Just a fiery death in the blazing hill, defending our country we loved so well. It was our job, we answered the call, fought to the constant and scaled the wall, we pulled 20 countrymen from the jaws of fate, led them to safety and stood at the gate, just the two barred the door, all were denied, so we fought and we fought and we fought till we died. We gave our all for uncle sam but our leaders didnt give a damn. Just two dead seals who carried we were just bumps in the road. Lets do our jobs and bring those thugs who killed them to justice. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition . Madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Kilmer thank you, madam speaker. I rise today in support of a very simple principle equal pay for equal work. Turns out im not the only one in my household who supports equal pay. One morning last month on my way out the door, my 8yearold sophie asked me my plans for the day. I have a speech for when woman succeeds, america succeeds. She said, dad, thats my agenda. She showed me a diary of a wimpie kid book, when i come to congress, she wrote women should get paid the same as men. This shouldnt be hard, madam speaker. My 8yearold gets it. And the American People are waiting for congress to get it too. So lets stand up for equal pay for equal work and bring the paycheck fairness act up for a vote. Thank you and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition . Madam speaker, i rise to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized. Thank you, madam speaker. Madam speaker, today i rise today to honor the life of United States Army Sergeant Timothy Owens who lived in missouri in the eighth congressional district. Sergeant owens was killed in the senseless act of violence in fort hood, texas, last week. Sergeant owens deployed to iraq with a 396th transportation company. During his military service, Sergeant Owens earned numerous awards, including the Army Commendation medal, the National Defense service medal, Iraq Campaign medal, global war on Terrorism Service medal, the army Service Ribbon, overseas Service Ribbon and four certificates achievement. Mr. Smith additionally, Sergeant Owens served as a counselor to his fellow soldiers at fort hood. In addition to his service to our nation, Sergeant Owens was a devoted husband and a loving father of three. He will be greatly missed by his wife, billie, his children and his numerous family and friends. Mr. Speaker, we honor the service and life of Sergeant Timothy owens and we lift his family in prayers. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . I request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman from california is recognized for one minute. Thank you, madam speaker. Last week in the Natural Resources committee, one of my esteemed colleagues across the aisle claimed the Scientific Evidence regarding houston contributions to Climate Change was inconclusive. Well, stanford researcher dr. James powell, a geochemist and a 12year member of the National Science board recently completed an updated survey of Peer Reviewed literature on Climate Change. Mr. Lone thall and as it r. Lowenthal and as it turned t, there were 10,885 peerreviewed climate articles. 02 disagreed. This is not disagreement. This is not a divided scientific community. Case closed. Congress must stop denying the science and take action. Future generations are depending upon us. Thank you and i yield the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from North Carolina seek recognition . Madam speaker, i seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Holding madam speaker, good friday and easter are right around the corner, but for some christians in the middle east, specifically in iran and egypt, these holidays can only be observed and celebrated in fear. Madam speaker, christians continue to be persecuted for their religious beliefs across the globe by intolerant, oppressive regimes and governments that seek to impose strict religious rule. Many of these christians, if they arent killed, tortured to death, in prison, must flee from their lives from places where their ancestors called home for the simple and single reason they are christians. Madam speaker, as we celebrate easter this year, let us not forget the plight and daily struggle of those who cant freely practice religion of their on choosing. Madam speaker, let us continue to hold those regimes and governments accountable for their systematic targeting and continued oppression of christians. Thank you and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition . Madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, madam speaker. I rise today in steadfast support of Small Business and h. R. 4383, the bureau of Consumer Financial protection Small Business Advisory Board act. Within the Consumer Financial protection bureau, consumers have a choice, Credit Unions have a voice, Community Banks have a voice and appropriately men and women have a voice through the office of Service Member affairs and these are all important contributors to include, yet, one group was left out and that group was americas Small Businesses and while identified as small they are mighty when it comes to our local economy and job creation. Mr. Heck i know they have insight in rules and regulations. Under the leadership of my friend, mr. Robert pittinger, i offered this critical improvement to cfpb and i ask my colleagues join us in this bipartisan effort to allow Small Businesses in the Financial Sector to be heard. Thank you, madam speaker, and i now yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Madam speaker, request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Thompson madam speaker, yesterday afternoon, u. S. Senators rob portman and Jay Rockefeller introduced the medical device parody for Service Members, compared to the bill i introduced with congressman tim ryan of ohio this year. Most know that incoming soldiers must pass a physical and mental evaluation which is the case but there is no similar evaluation for Mental Health competency. Madam speaker, according to recent studies, nearly half of all soldiers who committed suicide, many of those were individuals who were never deployed in a combat role. These studies give us insight into the Mental Wellbeing of our military, but what they also show is that we must know more. The bipartisan meps act will require a preliminary Mental Health assessment for military recruits prior to joining the service which will dramatically improve the way the military identifies and assesses Mental Health issues. The bill has no budget impact and support from a large number of Veterans Groups. I thank my Senate Colleagues for introducing this bill and encourage my colleagues in the house to join the support. Thank you, madam speaker, and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition . I ask permission to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. Without objection, the gentleman from florida is recognized for one minute. Madam speaker, i rise today to recognize the 45th anniversary of the Minority Business Development agency. Mr. Garcia throughout its history, mbda has spurred businesses Business Development and worked tirelessly to advance the growth and competitiveness of the minority Business Community. These businesses fuel the economic engine of our country. Revitalizing our communities by creating hundreds of new jobs. In my home state of florida, this agency has helped create 2,500 jobs since 2009, including over 800 new jobs in the past year alone. At a time when many communities blighted by recession continue to struggle, the Minority Development Business Agency will strengthen businesses on the verge of recovery. I look forward to seeing this agency continue to create jobs and prosperity both in florida and across our country. Thank you. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Woodall mr. Speaker, we all know that april is Sexual Assault awareness month, but what you may not know is about the amazing accomplishments of a young freshman in a high school down in my district. Her name is kelsey her shall and having been affected hersch and having been affected in the media, she founded a group in my neighborhood called bans for rape and Abuse Incest National network and she came up with selling wristbands. She set a goal for herself of raising 600, mr. Speaker. She ended up raising more than 10,000. Ending up winning the hope award for reins. She ended up founding a group called war eagles and this weekend shes holding a concert for courage and hoops for hope, two more fundraising events to draw attention to Sexual Assault and violence, particularly among young people. Mr. Speaker, one person can make a difference, and in my district its kelsey hersch, a freshman. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . To address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to talk about a giant that we lost in the fort worth community, luis sapata. Mr. Veasey the first hispanic ever elected to the fort worth council. He held the post for 14 years, one of the longest serving City Council Members in the citys history. He was so proud of the citys north side which he represented well. He did so many wonderful things for the community, like advancing the arts and protecting of the rose marine theater. He was also someone who was interested in rising the quality f life for all of our citys citizens. In addition to his duties on the council, he was a union member and Union Representative of vale helicopter, where he worked tirelessly to make sure every man and woman that worked at the plant enjoyed a better quality of life. I want to thank mr. Zapata for everything that he did to help make our city better, to help make our community better. He will be missed. And he is one of the legends of the Fort Worth City Council and someone that will always be remembered kindly in our city. Mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition . Mr. Woodall mr. Chairman i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and add ir remarks extraneous material into the record on h. R. 96. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Pursuant to House Resolution 544 and rule 18, the house declares the the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole on the state of the union for further consideration of house concurrent resolution 96. Will the gentlewoman from North Carolina, ms. Foxx, kindly resume the chair kindly take the chair. The chair the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the further consideration of house concurrent resolution 96, which the clerk will report by title. The clerk concurrent resolution establishing the budget for the United States government for fiscal year 2015 and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2016 through 2024. The chair when the committee of the whole rose on wednesday, april 9, 2014, amendment number printed in house report 113405 offered by the gentleman from arizona, mr. Grijalva, had been disposed of. It is now in order to consider amendment number 4 printed in ouse report 113405. For what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition . Mr. Woodall madam chairman, i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 4, printed in house report number 113405, in the nature of a substitute offered by mr. Woodall of georgia. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 544, the gentleman from georgia, mr. Woodall, and a member opposed, each will control 15 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia. Mr. Woodall madam chair, i yield myself a minute and a half. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Woodall madam chair, i rise today on behalf of the Republican Study Committee. As so many members of this chamber know, the Republican Study Committee is made up of those most conservative republicans here in the house, and while i serve on the Budget Committee, i have Great Respect for our budget chairman, paul ryan, and have great belief in the budget that came out of that Budget Committee. The Republican Study Committees role is to try to do even better. Madam chair, we have brought just such a budget today. We call it the back to basics budget. It is the budget that balances the fastest of any budget that we are going to be debating here on the house floor. Just four years it will bring us to balance, but im not here about the numbers. Im here about why the numbers matter. Because for every year that we are not in balance, madam chair, we are not just borrowing that money from our children, we are paying interest on that money that could have gone to other priorities. You will hear in this debate today about priorities that my friends on the other side of the aisle wish we would invest more money into. They dont believe our budget invests enough in, that may be true. But what our budget does is begin to pay back the debt in way that is we can take all that money that we are dedicating to to est today and dedicate to American Families tomorrow. Of all the things we disagree on in this chamber, i think we can agree the best use of our dollars is not going to pay creditors but is going to serve constituents. And thats what the back to basics budget will do for us today. With that i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition . Mr. Van hollen i rise to claim time in opposition to the gentlemans amendment. The clerk the gentleman is recognized the chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Van hollen thank you, madam chairman, what we have here is more than doubling down on what was already a bad idea. We heard actually from mr. Rogers who is the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, republican member of congress, that the republican version of the budget offered by mr. Ryan was quote, draconian. Draconian because of the impact it has on important investments that have historically helped make our economy grow. Make us a world leader. Make sure that we can keep our Competitive Edge in a global economy. So the republican budget coming out of the Budget Committee devastated those important investments. F course they didnt close one single special interest tax loophole for the purpose of reducing the deficit, but they decided to cut deeply into investments in our kids education. Everything from Early Education to k through 12 through college ed. They want to charge students. Make no secret about it, they want to charge College Students higher interest rates, and at the same time protecting special interest tax breaks. So what we have here in the Republican Study Group amendment is simply a doubling down on what the chairman of the Republican Appropriations Committee already called draconian. The interesting thing to me, madam chairman, i would have thought the Republican Study Group would have taken a different approach. I would have thought they would have taken an approach that didnt require as part of their budget the revenues from the Affordable Care act. But if you look at their revenue line, its identical to the revenue line in the House Republican budget which is identical to the Congressional Budget Office revenue line, which the Heritage Foundation, no left leaning group, has said means that these budgets incorporate the tax revenues from the Affordable Care act. I mean, again, heres what the Heritage Foundation said. Perhaps the bigger shortcoming of this budget is that it keeps the tax increases associated with obamacare. Thats what they said about the House Republican budget revenue line. This one has the same thing. If youre going to really repeal the Affordable Care act, as they say they do, that revenue line should go down. No matter how you cut it, madam chairman, the choices remain choice that is we do not believe reflect the values and priorities of this country. Which is protecting those special interest tax breaks for very powerful interests while gutting important investments in our future investments that have been droven historically to make proven historically to make the United States the leading economic power in the world. I reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from maryland reserves. The gentleman from georgia is recognized. Mr. Woodall madam chair, i yield myself 15 seconds to thank my friend for his fealty for the Heritage Foundation. I share with that. Would remind that that Harry Jackson is key voting a yes vote. If he would like to be in line with heritage he can vote with me today. With that i would like to yield four minutes to the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a gentleman who as provided huge leadership for us in this conference, the gentleman from louisiana, chairman scalise. The chair the gentleman from louisiana is recognized for four minutes. Mr. Scalise thank you, madam chair. I want to thank my colleague from georgia for yielding and his leadership at bringing forth this budget as the chairman of the Republican Study Committees budget and Spending Task force. Mr. Woodall brought this forward budget called back to basics. Thats what we are here to talk about right now. Madam chair, what are those basics we should get back to . I think its the basic fundamentals our Founding Fathers laid out when they created this great nation. Still the greatest nation in the history of the world, but a nation with serious challenges. If you look at our economy, our economy is struggling in many parts because of policies coming out of washington. Because of washingtons failure to confront those challenges. Madam chair, people across this country are ready to confront those challngs. They are looking to us to finally start laying out a vision that says we are going to start living within our means. We are going to do the things that families across this nation do every single year, and thats fenally get back to fiscal discipline. My friend on the other side, the the person who has to be tasked to coming and opposing budgets that balance uses terms like draconian. Madam chair, ill tell you whats doctor conian. Whats draconian is to deny the opportunity to our children and grandchildren that we enjoy today. Something that every single generation in the history of our country has. One of the pure definitions of the American Dream is that every generation in our nations history since George Washington led us through that revolution, every generation had better opportunities than those that we enjoy today. Yet most people in this country recognize if we dont get our fiscal house in order, our children, my 7 and 4yearold whom my you wife drove to school this morning, they wont have that same opportunity and they all deserve that opportunity that we enjoy. How do we do it . How do we get back to basics . We do it by real good strong bold policy. Bold policy that says we ought to live within our means, madam chair. Our budget balances by year four, 2018 we have a balanced budget. If you compare that with president obamas budget, hes got a budget that has over 1 trillion in new taxes. Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle say you need to stick more taxes on all these businesses. Anybody making a profit in america seems like they want to put a bullseye on them if they happen to be successful and make a profit and create jobs in this country as if thats a bad thing. So if you take their approach in their budgets, all of their budgets, they have over 1 trillion in new taxes. President obama has nearly 2 trillion in new taxes. So you would think, ok, all of those new taxes must be what gets you to balance. In fact, madam chair, all of those new taxes just give you more to spare. This president s budget never, ever gets to balance, but he has all of those tax increases that are our colleagues on the other side of the aisle talked about. In our budget we dont have any new tax increases, what we have is good, smart, fiscal polcy. Get our economy moving again, lets believe in the American People. By not raising taxes and getting our economy moving, you actually get to balance in four short years and start creating surpluses where we can pay back that debt. As my friend from georgia talked about. So we dont have to send all those Interest Payments to other countries, to other priorities, lets set those priorities in america. How do we do this . How do we actually get back to balance in such a short period of time . Number one we save medicare from bankruptcy, just as paul ryan does in the House Republican budget that came out of the Budget Committee, we share many of those same principles that get us to fiscal responsibility by saving medicare, not getting it go bankrupt, as our colleagues on the other side do. As the president s own budget does. The president s budget allows medicare to go bankrupt. We dont think thats responsible. So we take care of those who paid into a system over their lifetime. But we also invoke smart policy. If you start with health care, in our bill we actually repeal the president S Health Care law and replace it, replace it with the American Health care he reform act, a bill that actually puts patients back in charge of their health care, allows us, again, to have families be in charge of those decisions and lower costs. Good smart polcy. Well talk more about it. This is the right path to getting our economy back on track. With that i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from georgia reserves. The gentleman from maryland is recognized. Mr. Van hollen thank you, madam chairman. The gentleman speaks about the importance of fiscal discipline and fiscal responsibility and we agree. The question we have is, why do they exempt from the whole practice of fiscal discipline all these what are called tax expenditures. Tax preferences that have been put into the tax code, many time by very powerful special interests. What does a tax preference mean . It means in many cases because somebody has well healed lobbyists, they are able to escape having to pay taxes on something that everybody else has to pay for. What our republican colleagues are saying is they dont want to take away any of those special interest preferences for the purpose of reducing the deficit. They would rather cut deeply into our kids education, they would rather charge College Students more interest on their loans. They would rather increase class sizes in k through 12 which is what happens when you cut title one and special education. They talk about opportunities but the opportunities theyre protecting for the special interests who had their lobbyists do very well for them in washington. Hey, hands off all of that. Dont want to touch that, but were coming after everybody else including, by the way, seniors on medicare who will immediately see immediately see the reopening of the doughnut hole. So if youre a senior with a high Prescription Drug cost, thats going to cost you 1200 more per year on average immediately. And then they begin to phase in in their budget their medicare Voucher Program which will end the medicare guarantee. So this is all about priorities. And the interesting thing here is despite all the talk about fiscal discipline from our republican colleagues, its hands off imposing any fiscal discipline on powerful special interests who succeeded in getting themselves special deals in the tax code. And now im very pleased to yield four minutes to the gentleman from california, chairman of the Democratic Caucus and a member of the ways and Means Committee who spent a lot of time focusing on these issues, mr. Becerra. The chair the gentleman from california is recognized for four minutes. Mr. Becerra i thank the Ranking Member on budget for first, the work hes done over the years in trying to get america back on track when it comes to what it should do with its budgets. Budgets are a testament to our values and our priorities, and i believe mr. Van hollen has made it clear what the values and priorities of members on this side of the aisle are. Its about making sure that we invest the taxpayer dollars, to help our economy grow, to help grow jobs and to help our kids grow up and get to college. But let me remind everyone here of something. Remember those brainless autopilot sequester cuts which was scheduled for last year which led to the republican shutdown of our government . Well, the republican budget of 2014 is sequester on steroids. Remember last years autopilot sequester cuts that would have kicked over 50,000 children out of head start classes . Well, the 2014 republican budget kicks 170,000 kids out of head start classes. This republican budget would kill jobs. 1. 1 million americans are likely to lose their job as a result of this budget. Three million more, probably the following year, are the estimates. This budget would cut seniors Social Security benefits by changing the way we calculate their cost of living increases so they would get less each year even though we know the cost of living for seniors keep going up. It would continue to reduce our investments in very important projects that include medicare, because this republican budget would voucherize medicare. It would turn it into a privatized version of what we have right now without the guarantees so seniors will be paying more for their Prescription Drugs. It would close this republican budget would close not single wasteful Corporate Tax loophole and instead it offers millionaires a 200,000 tax cut at the same time its increasing taxes for the middle class by about 2,000. And it should surprise no one that while were not closing any tax loopholes in the republican budget and while were increases the taxes for middleclass americans, this republican budget excludes things that we should do. We could right now, through this budget, move to increase the economys capacity, increase the number of jobs and decrease our deficit by finally fixing our broken immigration system. Our democratic budget does that. The republican budget doesnt, and as a result, we give up, through the republican budget, an opportunity to reduce our deficits by close to 1 trillion over the next couple of decades. We give up the opportunity to create close to 3 1 2 million jobs over the next 10 years to 20 years by doing immigration reform. And we give up the chance to strengthen Social Security by doing immigration reform. The democratic budget makes those investments. The democratic budget actually invests in Early Childhood education. The democratic budget makes it possible for more families, middleclass families to afford to send their kids to college. The democratic budget makes those investments because we do close Corporate Tax loopholes. We do go after those who are evading paying their fair share of taxes. And we could make those investments in Early Childhood education, in fixing our broken immigration system, in investing in our roads and bridges because we go after those who are evading paying their taxes. We could do that but, again, i remind you, this is a budget being presented on this floor from our colleagues on the other side that actually puts brainless, r the in effect. Equester i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from georgia is recognized. Mr. Woodall mr. Chairman, i yield myself 15 seconds to say nonsense. This is the only budget that includes the tax code termination act that terminates every special interest tax loophole. Both gentlemen know that. Every special interest exemption in the tax code gone. The chair the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Woodall mr. Chairman, id yield a minute and a half, a member of my class 2010, the gentleman from kansas, mr. Huelskamp. The chair the gentleman from kansas is recognized for a minute and a half. Mr. Huelskamp thank you, mr. Chairman. Over the past three years i conducted over 220 town Hall Meetings in my district. My constituents do not want to hear about debt to g. D. P. Ratios, c. B. O. Scoring rules when it comes to the budget. They want to know why congress hasnt balanced the budget yet and when we plan to do. They want to know when washington will stop spending money we dont have and when well stop piling trillions of dollars of debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren. This alternative would balance the budget the soonest of any alternatives before us, mr. Chairman. And it would begin to pay down our debt the fastest. It is the type of results the American People demand, demand out of washington. Im pleased this budget includes innovative and responsible reforms like medicaid block grants, food stamp block grants and a real timetable to save and secure medicare. Im also pleased it would repeal obamacare. It would call for the passage of a real Health Care Reform act like the American Health care reform act. The jobs act, the reins act, throwing out our entire tax code and starting over. It would restore work requirements for those on welfare and prohibit funding to abortion providers. In short, this r. S. C. Budget is full of the right ideas to get our nation back on track. I encourage my colleagues to join me in voting for this budget and i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from georgia reserves. The gentleman from maryland is recognized. Mr. Van hollen i thank you, mr. Chairman. Its now my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentlelady from florida, a distinguished member of the transportation and Infrastructure Committee and someone whos focused on investing in america, ms. Brown. The chair the gentleman from florida is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Brown thank you. The documents that we are debating today is more than just the republican budget. T is who they are. The bible says the poor will always be with us, but our job is to help raise the standard. They remind me of the wizard of oz. The republicans have no heart. Let me repeat. The republicans have no heart. This is another example i reverse robin hood. Robbing for the working family and middle class to give huge tax cuts to the rich. The latest House Republican goals are dismantling medicare by ending the guarantee and replacing it with a Voucher Program. Lock grant and cut medicaid by 732 billion. And i was so upset last year when the snap program, the program that meals on wheels, assistance to children was cut by 40 billion. Now they cut it by 125 billion. Ok. Repeal the Affordable Care act, but let me just mention that verybody talks about repealing haS Health Care. Every single one of them haS Health Care. Reject the president s proposal for veterans job corps while reducing the high Unemployment Rate of veterans and cut 24 to nondefense appropriations, it would mean 146 billion cuts from veteranS Health Care. Now, cut transportation and Infrastructure Projects by 173 billion. Phasing out essential air Service Programs to 150 small communities. Eliminate amtrak operation funds, resulting in 36 states the chair the gentleladys time has expired. Mr. Van hollen i yield the gentlelady another minute. The chair the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Ms. Brown eliminate amtrak operational funds, resulting in 36 states and more than 20 Million People losing amtrak service. This transportation budget is soon no highway or transit investment in 2015. And while everyone knows that education is critical, head start, they cut billions from these programs. You know, to whom god has given much, much is expected, and i certainly think more is expected from the Republican Leadership in this house. As i said from the beginning, they remind me of the wizard of oz. This Republican House has no heart. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentlelady yields back. The gentleman from maryland reserves. The gentleman from georgia is recognized. Mr. Woodall mr. Chairman, at is time id like to yield 90 seconds to my good friend from indiana, luke messer. The chair the gentleman from indiana is recognized for a minute and a half. Mr. Messer thank you, mr. Chairman. The r. S. C. Budget balances in four years. For most americans, four years seems like a very long time. When they see budgets that balance in even 10 years, let alone 26 years or not at all, they wonder what were thinking. In the real world, folks cant spend money they dont have. Families have to balance their own budgets, and they expect washington to do the same. That is why i applaud this budget. Its full of tough choices. But it demonstrates that House Republicans arent afraid to make the difficult decisions necessary to secure americas future and preserve the American Dream. Its called leadership. That means proposing simple answers even when theyre not easy ones. I commend chairman scalise and mr. Woodall for crafting a plan that will balance the budget and create a healthy economy sooner than any other budget alternative. The r. S. C. Budget proposes a path that embraces the responsibility we have to future generations, to leave america better than we found her. The unwillingness of congress to make tough choices is putting our country on a road to ruin. Lets take the road less traveled. It may make all the difference. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The chair the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from georgia reserves. The gentleman from maryland is recognized. Mr. Van hollen mr. Chairman, i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the committee will rise informally. The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. The house will receive a message. The messenger mr. Speaker, a message from the senate. The secretary mr. Speaker, i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has agreed to s. Con. Res. 35, providing for a condition adjournment or recess of the senate and adjournment of the house of representatives in which the concurrence of the house is requested. The speaker pro tempore the committee will resume its sitting. The chair the committee will be in order. The gentleman from georgia is recognized. Mr. Woodall mr. Chairman, at this time its my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from ohio, mr. Chabot. The chair the gentleman from ohio is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Chabot thank you, mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the Republican Study Committees back to basics budget for 2014. It solves the problem that threatens the future wellbeing of this country, and thats the increasing size of the federal governments debt. The solution provided by the budget is simple. It requires the federal government to balance its budget in four years. Similar to the ryan budget, the r. S. C. Proposal reduces discretionary spending, reform Social Security, simplifies the tax code and cuts wasteful spending, among other things. Im particularly pleased with the r. S. C. s inclusion of two of my bills that seek to eliminate some wasteful spending. We eliminate the commission to nowhere and we eliminate the m. A. P. Act and we save 10 million by doing that. Time and again, the Denali Commission has been found to perform duplicative work that should be carried out by state and local governments. This view is supported across the board by citizens against government waste, the Heritage Foundation to even president obama. In fact, the Inspector General of the Denali Commission recently called it, quote, a congressional experiment that hasnt worked out, unquote. And suggested that, quote, congress put its money elsewhere, unquote. The waste within the u. S. Department of agricultures Market Access program is also disturbing. The m. A. P. Program, though intended to increase International Consumption of american products, has financed lavish International Travel and marketing expenses for some of our already most successful companies. Terps dollars had paid for International Educational wine tatings from london to mexico and financed an animated series in spain chronicling the adventures of a squirrel named sube twiggy and his nemesis. Our National Debt stands at over 17 trillion, such debt puts our countrys security, economy, and Everything Else at risk. Pass this today. The chair the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from maryland is recognized. Mr. Van hollen i reserve. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from florida the gentleman from georgia is recognized. Mr. Woodall i ask my friend from maryland if he he has any speakers remaining. I would ask my speaker if hed like to give me the opportunity to close. Close first. Mr. Chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. We talk about tax breaks for the rich here. There are no such tax breaks in this budget. We talked about the preservation of corporate loopholes. There are no such preservation of corporate loopholes in this budget. Will i say again this is the only budget that we will vote on that includes the tax code termination act which admits to one another that the tax system we have today is broken. Republicans and democrats alike have riddled it beyond repair. With special interest loopholes exemptions. Breaks, and special carve outs. I, mr. Chairman, is the cosponsor, lead sponsor of the fair tax, the overwhelm proposal on capitol hill that abolishes every sungle single deduction exemption. Nonsense if people suggest this is a budget this is a budget for working americans because, mr. Chairman, you saw it earlier when the chairman of the Republican Study Committee held up this chart, the redline represents a pathway of economic ruin contained in the president s budget. The president talks about a balanced approach, and yet his approach never balances. The Republican Study Committee budget balances more quickly than any other Budget Proposal that well discuss. Does it have to make tough choices to do it . Yes, it does. Whats the benefit of those tough choices, mr. Chairman . The benefit is in interest savings alone. If you support n. I. H. As i do, with just the interest savings between our budget and the president s budget, we couldnt just double n. I. H. Funding, we could triple it. Not just this year, but every year. In the budget window. Mr. Chairman, on our current path by 2017 we are going to be spending more on interest on the National Debt than we spend on the entire Medicaid Program to care for our children and our elderly. By 2020 well spend more on interest on the National Debt under the president s proposal than we will on all National Security concerns combined. Theres not a family in america, mr. Speaker, that believes they can borrow their way into prosperity. The interest that we pay on the debt that the president proposes that this nation borrows steals opportunities from our children. It is immoral to advance our generation today at the expense of generations tomorrow. Does this budget make tough choices . It does. Theres only one budget that well be considering today, mr. Speaker, that takes step to protect and preserves Social Security. Thats the r. S. C. Budget. There are only two budgets that well be considering today to take steps to ensure the solvency of medicare for generations to come, thats the r. S. C. Budget and the Budget Committee budget. Mr. Speaker, you cannot talk about a balanced approach that does not balance. You cannot talk about making tough decisions if youre willing to do nothing to save those programs medicare and Social Security that so many of our families back home rely on. We know those programs are headed towards destruction, which is why the r. S. C. Has made the very difficult choice to begin saving them today. It will only get harder if we put those decisions off until tomorrow. We say do it today. I urge my colleagues to support the Republican Study Committee budget. As its been key voted of organizations across this town, i will end as i began, i appreciate the gentleman from maryland recognizing the support of those outside organizations, those are organizations committed to balancing this budget. I yield back. The chair the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from maryland is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Van hollen i thank you, mr. Chairman. Gee, it would be great if we could all believe in magic. The gentleman says that their budget closes all the tax loopholes. No tax loopholes. In fact, he says theirs is the only budget that terminates the tax code. All together. Gets rid of it. Thats interesting. Because if you look at the revenue levels coming in under his budget, its identical to the current tax code. Every year exactly as the Congressional Budget Office says. Dollar for dollar. In fact, i think he said he got rid of it in fiscal year 2017 or so, but, gee, the dollars keep rolling in just as they would be if you didnt get rid of the tax code. You know why . Because they dont close any of those special interest tax breaks. Its the status quo in terms of the revenue coming in. If we were back and close some of those special interest tax breaks so that we could reduce our deficits, then you wouldnt have those numbers that theyve got in their budget resolution. Now, look, we all agree that we need to impose fiscal discipline. The question all along has been how do we do it . Do we do it in a way where we share responsibility as americans . Or do we do it in a way where some people dont have to pay anything which means everybody else has to get hit that much harder. Under the republican budget and under this budget even more, this is Republican Study Group budget, even more, they protect the very wealthy, right, youre doing great, but at the expense of everybody else. So the gentleman talks about more fund for the National Institutes of health, they more than double the cuts to National Institutes of health from the earlier budget we saw, which, again, i would just remind our colleagues, it was the republican chairman of the Appropriations Committee who said that the House Republican budget is draconian. That one. Thats from mr. Rogers. So now this ones doubling down on draconian. And the question for us as a country is, what are the consequences . What does that mean in peoples lives . Well, it means real things. It means less funds for head start and early head start. It means a big cut to k through 12 education. We have a bipartisan piece of legislation saying that congress is already paying to meet our commitments to special ed. We asked local school jurisdictions to take on the responsibility, it was the right thing to do, to make sure every kid got a good education. That was the right thing to do. But these guys would cut that back further. This is the wrong choice for america. Mr. Chairman, i urge our colleagues to vote no. The chair the gentlemans time has expired. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from georgia. So many as are in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. A recorded vote is the gentleman from maryland. Mr. Van hollen i ask for a recorded vote. The chair a recorded vote is requested. Those in favor of taking this vote by recorded vote will rise. A sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This is a 15minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ]