That should be put in front of american citizens host ok. Guest there is no question we have limited resources. In many of these count these challenges, in dealing with isil or frankly russian aggression in eastern europe, the question is what is the cost of not acting . Often, by sitting back and not acting, we encourage further aggression. Both our allies and enemies are watching. There are times, of course, out of moral authority and doing what is right, america steps i steps up. But the on that, it is important to understand the world has never been smaller. Washington journal airs live every morning. Were going live to the house now for votes on measures debated earlier. Erk will report the resolution. The clerk House Resolution 99, resolved, that the house has heard with profound sorrow of the death of the representative nunnelee a representative from the state of mississippi, resolved that the clerk communicate these resolutions to the senate and transmit a copy thereof to the family of the deceased. Resolved when the house adjourns today it adjourn to the memory of the deceased. The speaker pro tempore without objection. The the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 proceedings will resume on motions to suspend the rules previously postponed. Votes will be taken in the following order. H. R. 719 by the yeas and nays. H. R. 720 by the yeas and nays. The first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15minute vote. Remaining electronic votes will be conducted as fiveminute votes. The Unfinished Business is the vote on the motion of the the gentleman from new york, mr. Katko to suspend the rules and pass h. R. 719 on which yeas and nays are ordered. The clerk h. R. 719, a bill to require the Transportation Security Agency to conform to existing federal law and regular layings regarding federal investigator positions and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. 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 representative any usef ocaptioned covera of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly pribited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote, the yeas are 414, the nays are zero. The speaker 2 3 being in the 2 3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The house will be in order. Members will please take their seats. Members will please take their seats. For what purpose does the gentleman from mississippi rise . I request unanimous consent to speak out of order for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection the gentleman is recognized. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on friday, we lost our colleague, Allen Nunnelee who represented the first Congressional District of mississippi. Mr. Thompson yesterday congressman nunnelee he was memorialized. The entire mississippi delegation and 40 other members of congress attended. I ask that the house pause for a moment of silence in remembrance of congressman nunnelee. The speaker members will rise and observe a moment of silence. The speaker without objection fiveminute voting will continue. The speaker weather, the voting will continued. The clerk will report the title of the bill. Caller a bill to improve intergovernmental planning for and security incidents at domestic airports and for other purposes. The speaker the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This is a fiveminute vote. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representates. Any use of tedo coverage of the house proceedings for political or commeralurposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote the yeas are 411, the nays are one. 2 3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and, without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. For what purpose does the gentleman from oklahoma seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i send to the desk two privileged reports from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title. The clerk report to accompany House Resolution 100, resolution providing for consideration of the bill, senate 1, to approve the keystone x. L. Pipeline and providing for proceedings during the period from february 16, 2015, through february 23 2015. Report to accompany House Resolution 101, resolution providing for consideration of the bill h. R. 644 to amend the Internal Revenue code of 1986, to permanently extend and expand the char tarble deduction for contribution charitable du deduction for contribution of food eneventtory and h. R. 636, to amend the Internal Revenue cofede 1986 to permanently extend and increasing spending limitations and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore referred to thes who call referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the chair will postpone further proceedings today on the additional motion to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered. Or on which the vote incurs objection under clause 6 of rule 20. Any recorded vote on the postponed question will be taken later. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition . I move that the house suspended rules and pass House Resolution 710. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 710, a bill to require the secretary of Homeland Security to prepare a comprehensive security assessment of the transportation Security Card program and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from georgia, mr. Carter, and the gentlewoman from texas, ms. Jackson lee, will each control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from georgia. Mr. Mccarthy mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous con mr. Carter mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on the bill under consideration. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Carter mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Carter thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of h. R. 710, the essential transportation worker identification credential assessment act. First i would like to thank the gentlelady from texas, ms. Jackson lee, for reintroducing this thoughtful legislation and the gentlelady from michigan mrs. Miller, for her leadership in moving it through her subcommittee last congress. Mr. Speaker, this legislation calls for a security assessment to determine the efficacy of the transportation worker identification credential, commonly known as the twic program. This bill will help Congress Better determine the value of the twic program and simultaneously allow the department to proceed with finalizing the longawaited card reader rule. I support this bill and the contribution on the floor today because it responds to a key recommendation of the Government Accountability office that the twic program should have a baseline security assessment before the Program Moves forward. I have several thriving ports in my district, such as savannah, brunswick and kings bay. As many of my colleagues who also have ports in their districts know, twic is a Port Security program that has been wrought with constant delays and questions about its overall security value. Last congress the border and maritime subcommittee had held a hearing with the coast guard t. S. A. And g. A. O. On the twic program and the ongoing concerns therein. And this legislation is a result of that strong oversight. It may be hard to believe, but more than a decade after the legislation that required twic was first enacted, theres been no security or effectiveness assessment of the program to assess the underlying assumptions of the security and control concerns the card was intended to mitigate. This bill seeks to answer the simple question how if at all, does twic improve Maritime Security . This should have been one of the first things the department did when it began toimplement this program and this bill ensures to implement this program and this bill ensures it is done. The twic card was designed to prevent terrorists from gaining access to sensitive parts of our nations ports through the use of biometricenabled credentials. However, with no biometric regulations in place, the twic card is currently used as a flash pass. Since most facilities and vessels are neither currently required to nor voluntarily utilized by a met by biometric readers. The lack of biometric readers, therefore, limits the effectiveness of this program. For several years members of the Homeland Security committee have been calling on the department to release the card reader rule, to provide some certainty to workers and industry. The final rule to require twic readers to be used at the riskiest 5 of all twicregulated vessels and facilities has not been issued. The notice of proposed rulemaking was posted almost two years ago, which was nearly six years after workers were first required to pay for and obtain a twic card. The delays are so significant that workers have already had to renew their biometric credentials in the time it has taken to issue regulations on credential readers to actually utilize the biometricenabled technology. This is absurd. While we all agree there is much room for improvement with the twic program, putting it on hold for several more years would do more harm than good. The Business Community has been preparing for this twic rule for several years. This bill will give them certainty about the requirements of the twic program. It also allows the coast guard and t. S. A. To continue their efforts to deliver the Port SecurityProgram Congress expected years ago. Finally, h. R. 710 requires the g. A. O. To perform consistent reviews of the twic program and follow the changes the department makes as a result of the assessment. This added level of review will provide congress with progress updates for future legislative action. The proposed role and open g. A. O. Recommendations lead to some basic questions about mitigating threat, risk, and vulnerability at our nations ports and how the twic program should be used effectively to prevent a potential terrorist attack. We have an obligation, mr. Speaker, to get this right. I urge my colleagues to support h. R. 710 and reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman suspends. The gentlewoman from texas is recognized. Ms. Jackson lee i rise in strong support of h. R. 710, the essential transportation worker identification act. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. Ms. Jackson lee i thank the gentleman from georgia for his commitment and for his service on the Homeland Security committee. I want to acknowledge our chairman and Ranking Member of the full committee and mrs. Miller who now serves as chairwoman of the border Security Committee of which and Maritime Security, which i served as Ranking Member of the last congress. The bill passed the house unanimously in the 113th congress and im pleased it is being considered by the house again today. So mr. Speaker, might i add my appreciation to the house leadership, in particular, the speaker and majority leader, and of course our leader and minority whip. The safe port act of 2006 directed the secretary of Homeland Security to implement a biometric Credential Program now known as the twic program to ensure that individuals and unescort with unescorted access to secure areas of port and vessels were vetted an carrying proper credentials. Mr. Speaker, i had a twic card. I remember being there as the twic card was being implemented and watching various employees come to the center and sign up for the twic card. We had great hope and inspiration on the twic card. Establishment of the program was viewed as critical to ensuring security of our ports. However, in the years since it was established, the department of Homeland Security struggled to realize the security benefits that congress envisioned. I know that the transportation security administration, the former director was very concerned and made their efforts, and it should be noted it is an important part of their work along with others. In fact, the Government Accountability office had examined the program and identified serious shortcomings that may undermine the programs intented purpose and make it difficult to justify program costs. And particularly the cost to workers. I saw that firsthand. I also saw the challenges of workers who had many unique scheduling for their work hours to be able to get a twic card. In response i introduced h. R. 710 and its predecessor last congress with the support of subcommittee chairman miller as an original cosponsor to ensure that congress received an independent, scientific assessment of the program and to require the secretary to issue a corrective action plan responding to the assessment. Ranking member thompson is also a cosponsor but this is bipartisan legislation. The required assessment should give congress the information it needs to determine how best to proceed with the twic program. The bill has been refined over time to ensure that the long overdue rule making for twic card readers would not be affected by the bill and to refine the scope of the assessment we are seeking. There is great interest in that final rule, particularly there is interest in how many ports and vessels will be required to install readers for biometric cards. If the final rule requires only a limited number of vessels and biometric readers as has been previously proposed by the department, we will still certainly need to have a discussion about what this means for the approximately two million truckers longshoremen and port workers who today carry twics as part of their job. For those of us who live around and near our ports, such as the houston port, we know this will have a great impact. With that mr. Speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady reserves. The gentleman from georgia is recognized. I have no more Speakers Network gentlewoman has no more speakers, i am prepared to close once the gentlelady does. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from texas. Ms. Jackson lee i would like to offer in i would like to, in close, again, thank my colleague for his work on the floor today on this legislation. I want to make the point that this bill was generated by the g. A. O. Report which found a number of concerns that i just want to mention one or two. The reliability of Data Collection retention was done in an incomplete and inconsistent manner. This report wanted to inform us of. This was the g. A. O. Twic report. And it commented on some of the illnesses or ailments of this process. The reported transaction data did not match underlying documentation. Install twic readers and Access Control systems to not collect data on twic reader use and they did not employ effective compensating Data Collection measures. Also participants did not have instances of deny access. Finally t. S. A. And the agents did not collect complete data on malfunctions twic cards. This legislation, the underlying education h. R. 710 is to be a helper. It is to help correct our path to make the document, the twic card that all of us are quite familiar with, the best effective data collecting document and system it could possibly be. Im grateful that again my colleagues on the Homeland Security committee supported this legislation and i ask my colleagues to join us in making what is good much better and best. To be able to secure the nation and provide for the homeland. With that, i yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. The gentleman from georgia is recognized. Mr. Speaker first of all, i want to thank the gentlewoman from texas for her leadership in this very important issue and once again i want to urge all my colleagues to support this strong, bipartisan piece of legislation. Mr. Carter i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 710. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. For what purpose does the gentleman from iowa seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak on behalf of h. R. 644 which promotes charitable giving. Think about this one in eight iowans struggle to find food. One in five iowa children dont have enough to eat. Iowa and our country face a very real challenge here that we cannot ignore this week well be considering h. R. 644, fighting hunger incentive act. H. R. 644 is good for families who give a