The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. The chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. The clerk the speakers room, washington, d. C. , march 4, 2013. I hereby appoint the honorable luke messer to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. Signed, john a. Boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the order of the house of january 3, 2013, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. The chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to one hour and each member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to five minutes each, but in no event shall debate continue beyond 1 50 p. M. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from North Carolina, ms. Foxx, for five minutes. Ms. Foxx thank you, mr. Speaker. Every year washington imposes thousands of pages of rules and regulations on Small Businesses and local governments across this country. Hidden in those pages are costly mandates that make it harder for companies to hire and for cashstrapped states, counties and cities to keep streets clean and parks safe. Republicans and democrats alike agree that each regulation the federal government dictates should be deliberative and economically defensible. Thats why banded together with democrats loretta sanchez, Mike Mcintyre and mr. Peterson and James Langevin to introduce h. R. 899, the unfunded information and Transparency Act. This legislation will ensure public and bureaucratic awareness about the costs in dollars and in jobs that federal dictates impose on the economy. There is precedence for bipartisanship on this issue. In 1995, members from both parties got behind and president clinton signed the Unfunded Mandates reform act, umra, which sought to expose washingtons abuse of unfunded federal mandates. By forcing the federal government to estimate how much its mandates would cost, local governments and employers, regulations would necessarily become better and more efficient for everyone involved. And it has to a certain extent. But over the years weaknesses in the original legislation have been revealed. Weaknesses that some Government Agencies and independent regulatory bodies have exploited. The Unfunded Mandates, information and Transparency Act will correct these oversights and put some weight behind umra to ensure no government body purposefully or accidentally skirts public scrutiny when jobs and scarce resources are at stake. The spirit of the Unfunded Mandates, information and Transparency Act and its underlying principle that the American People would be better served by a government that regulates only with the best information is truly bipartisan. Lawmakers and unelected regulators should know the price of their dictates. So, too, should the people, private enterprises and governments, all of whom are being asked to foot the bill. Funds are very tight for families across this country. Millions of americans remain unemployed and many more still rely on Small Businesses and local governments for jobs, health care, Public Safety and education. Washington should think carefully before it decrees mandates that could stifen from the limited stipend from the limited government, job creators used to keep people employed. But loopholes within the original legislation revealed, federal mandates are not universally preceded by thoughtfulness. The Unfunded Mandates, information and Transparency Act, we have sbrofe deuced, will require that from government. I yield back. Introduced, will require that from government. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. Blumenauer, for five minutes. Mr. Blumenauer whats so maddening about the sequester drama, just like the earlier fiscal cliff drama and the looming Government Shutdown drama, is that it is hopelessly beside the point. The path to fiscal sustainability is not merely cutting budgets, raising tax rates or closing a few loopholes. Its about fundamentally doing business differently. Health care costs demand we accelerate health care reform, which were already working on in oregon and in a number of other communities and Health Care Systems across the country. These reforms have put into effect nationally would save more in Health Care Costs over the next 10 years than the entire 1. 2 billion in the sequester. Trillion dollars. Everybodys getting excited about acrosstheboard cuts in the department of defense, but no ones talking about how we fundamentally have to change our philosophy of military compensation, benefits and the size of the force to come to grips with the cost of an allvolunteer army. Of course at a minimum we should also dramatically shift and reduce resources away from the vast Nuclear Weapons stockpile and the three redundant Delivery Systems which we havent used in 68 years and probably never will. We have 10 times more nuclear firepower than we need for deterrence. Its pasttime symbol of the cold war and save hundreds of billions of dollars at no risk to american security. Its time for congress and the administration to work meaningfully for agriculture reform, to get more support for americas farmers and ranchers at a fraction of the cost. We should reform the outrageous, inefficient and unproductive Crop Insurance program. We should restore investments in nutrition, conservation, research and marketing that will make a difference for most farmers and ranchers, improve longterm productivity and support valueadded agriculture. This saves money in the long run and doesnt distort our trade position or make americans unhealthy. By all means, reform our tax code. But reform is not likely to raise anything near what a growing and aging america is going to need. Yes, close more of the egregious loopholes, but we need another broad based sort of revenue. A carbon tax would reform the bill, help reduce the deficit and help us protect the planet from catastrophic weather events and the budget busting Disaster Relief that inevitably follows. We should for the first time in 20 years increase the gas tax as recommended by the simpsonbowles report, a user fee that will help enable us to provide more support for transportation, put more people back to work rebuilding and renewing america. We should take a lesson from the history and our failed 14year effort to prohibit alcohol, where the government spent a fortune in a fruitless effort to enforce prohibition, lost a fortune in revenue and made a fortune for the mafia. The underworld cartels of the 1920s. We ought to treat marijuana like we treat alcohol. The federal government regulates and taxes while the states decide what they want to do to legalize for medical or recreational use. Given whats already happened in 23 states and the district of columbia, lets save money on enforcement, raise revenue from taxation and invest in drug treatment and efforts to keep drugs out of the hands of children. Lets take a break from the endless debates that are basically beside the point. Lets commit to doing business differently with health care, the military, enact broad based taxes to hope raise money and fix a broken tax code. Stop cheating the farmers and ranchers and the environment. This is not rocket science. We can start now if people address the big issues in a thoughtful way. Even when some of the measures may be controversial or hard, its a whole lot better than doing stupid things that alienate everybody. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. Mcgovern, for five minutes. Mr. Mcgovern i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Mcgovern mr. Speaker, in our efforts to end hunger now, it is important to look at all aspects of hunger. Today i want to talk about hunger and obesity and to highlight the unfortunate paradox between these two conditions. How can an obese person be food secure . To put it bluntly, how can an overweight person be hungry . The kay may be simple but the answer is not. Unfortunately this link is all too prevalent among low and middleincome people. Hunger exists because people do not have enough money to buy enough healthy food, but obesity is more complex. Just because someone has enough money to have food doesnt mean they have the resources to buy nutritious food. Ultimately this is a problem of poverty in america. The families who struggle with hunger not only struggle to put food on the tables, but they struggle to make the food as nutritious as possible. For a variety of reasons, even welltodo families are finding it more difficult today to prepare nutritious meals. A big amount has to do with the widely, available, high calorie, high fat, low nutrient food and it has to do with time constraints on families today. But its more difficult for low income food insecure families because they dont have access to full access grocery stores. They dont sell Fresh Produce and the produce they do sell is expensive. In order to stretch their dollars, they buy food that is more affordable. Low income families are especially vulnerable to obesity because of the additional risk factors associated with poverty. When taken together, these risk factors make it easy to see how obesity and hunger are related. There are at least four general risk factors for obesity that are associated with poverty. First, low income neighborhoods are underserved by full service supermarkets. In inner cities, food is more readily food is most readily available at small neighborhood Convenient Stores where Fresh Produce and lower fat food items are most limited. In rural areas, full Service Grocery stores are many miles away. This is commonly referred to as a food desert, something that can exist in both urban and rural areas. Second, when food when healthy food is available, it is oftentimes more expensive than less healthy options. Low income families must stretch their budgets in ways that make it difficult to purchase higher priced, more nutritious food items. This means that these families are forced to buy cheaper, high calorie, high fat, high sodium food that lasts longer just so they can make their food budgets stretch through the month. Third, there are fewer opportunities for physical activities in neighborhoods and schools. Safe open space can be difficult to find in many of our neighborhoods where lower income families live, sometimes because of lack of parks and other times because of higher crime rates. Fourth, high levels of stress and limited access to health care can contribute to weight gain. Hunger is truly a health issue and it is important to note that stress and lack of access to Quality Health care can trigger physiological responses that can trigger to obesity. Mr. Speaker, i remind people that food is medicine. My grandmother used to say an apple a day keeps the doctor away. It used to annoy me but shes right. We missed the opportunity during the Affordable Care act to address the issues of hunger and nutrition. We must do so now. Adequate access to nutritious food can lower instances of obesity and heart disease. That will improve the quality of life for people but will also save us money from Avoidable Health issues. Hunger costs of us dearly and the cost to picks the problem is cheaper than the status quo. So with all my colleagues, i urge us to join us to end hunger now. It is the responsible thing to do. Yes, we have excellent antihunger safety net programs like snap and the School Meal Programs that help reduce incidents of hunger in america. Yes, the first ladys lets move campaign is working to address obesity in america primarily among children. But we must do more to address these two issues together. Because of all the because of all these factors, it is clear that we simply cannot address hunger or obesity. We must address both of these issues at the same time if we are going to end hunger now. It is why i believe we need a white house conference on food and nutrition, a president ial summit that brings all the stakeholders together, a forum where we can develop and agree on one strategy to reduce hunger and owe beity together. I plea with my colleagues to not cut our antihunger safety net programs like snap and w. I. C. , programs that provide a minimal food benefit. To do so would only worsen the problem of hunger and obesity in america. We must end hunger now but we cannot do so just by increasing access to high calorie, low nutrient food. It is a real challenge but one we are capable of meeting. We just need to muster the political will to make it happen. End hunger now. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until 2 00 p. M. Today. Today, president obama nominated his next budget chief. A little bit more about her. She was in charge of the Wal Mart Foundation and she is a former deputy budget director for president clinton and chief of staff to robert ruden. They look forward to your testimony when she appears before the budget committee. Eric holder appearing before a long makers for an oversight hearing on wednesday. We will have live coverage of the hearing on our companion network, cspan3 at 10 00 a. M. Eastern. On friday come education secretary arne duncan and Kathleen Sebelius visited an Elementary School in tacoma park, md. A and they talked about investing in Early Childhood education and the automatic spending cuts that went into effect friday. The comments are about 30 minutes. [applause] this school where present so much of what we want the country be like, and i get to visit three schools, struggling schools, but the school has a high poverty rate, as many as 35 different languages spoken so a baby united nations. We ask them, do they like coming to school, and they say yes. Challenges of poverty, assimilating children, and they come to an environment where they can be successful. Board members, superintendents, teachers, staff it is fun to be here. Thank you for the hard work you do every single day. I this is a topic that we love to talk about, and government at all levels, federal, state, and local, investing in the education of our nations teachers, our children. This is one of the best investments we can make collectively. We are thrilled at about the president s landmark plan to create new partnerships with states to provide universal access to highquality preschool for all 4yearolds. It will provide the biggest expansion of Educational Opportunities in america in the 21st century. Parents who look for affordable learning programs, work tirelessly to provide opportunities, and Business Leaders all want children to have access to highquality preschool. The biggest beneficiary will be our children, particularly disadvantaged children, english language learners, and children with disabilities. Educational expansion is a win win proposition. It will make america more productive, and of the long haul will save millions in taxpayer dollars. It is past time to get our Public Schools and out of what we call the educational catch up business. America cannot win the race for the future by cheating children at the starting line. I hope everyone here today appreciates this is an extraordinary moment. It is not too often you find Government Departments with overlapping responsibilities, working together. I am grateful to my partner Kathleen Sebelius for her vision. She always puts children first. We worked on issues like the h1n1 virus. The president s plan will allow states to provide highquality preschool, up to 200 of the poverty line, and will provide incentives for all families who want to send their children to preschool. It would be an investment space that jump starts accessed the preschool and take leading states to the next level. States would use funds from our department to create high quality staterun preschool programs, administered with local providers. The urgent need for greater access to preschool for low and moderateincome students is not in dispute. Ask any parent or teacher about the gaps in development when children come to kindergarten. We know that on average children from lowincome families start and come into kindergarten up to 14 months behind their peers in reading and language skills. It does not have to be that way. No fewer than 30 of 4year olds are enrolled in high quality preschool programs. Our theory of expanding high quality preschool will be the same as it was during our first term. The federal role in education is support in partnerships to incentivize innovation to strengthen Educational Opportunities. That means we should be clear on goals, but loose on the ways to get there. Our Department Must set a high bar. We should leave it to local leaders to figure out the best way to achieve that high bar. Under the plan, states will be required to have benchmarks for outcomes, like having a highquality statelevel standards for Early Learning, wellcompensated teachers, and a plan to implement comprehensive assessment. The president has pledged to offset the cost of the Early Learning plan so it will not add a dime to the deficit. Skeptics question we should make a m