our dear heavenly father on this national day of prayer we publicly acknowledge you to be the lord of the universe the author of creation the arbiter in history and the savior of mankind we bow before your probably it's and celebrate your goodness to our nation thank you for blessing america bless this chamber of decision makers and let each of them seek your guidance in every matter of our country bless this chamber of legislators and let each of them vote always according to your eternal standards which transcend time and personal preference bless this chamber of social leaders and let each of the a model for us your healing virtues of compassion and mercy integrity forgiveness and service we bow before your power celebrating your goodness to us as a people thank you for blessing america thank you madam speaker i'm pleased today to introduce the reverend jerry strickland who just deliver the invocation for the u s house as we as a nation begin this national day of prayer a time when communities across america will be joining in prayer for our country today and what better person  begin this day than a man whose ministry has carried him across north carolina touching people from all walks of life from the booming coastal city of wilmington to rural communities like pikeville wilson and little washington north carolina to all america cities of fayetteville and lumberton this former christian education director for the north carolina conference of the international pentecostal holiness church gary knell pastors a vibrant non denominational multicultural church named kingdom place that is growing exponentially and has a wide ranging ministry that shares god's love and the redeeming price power of jesus christ born and reared in southeastern north carolina he's married to my sister karen macintyre strickland who's with us today and they have two children  is a graduate of the university north fun of pym brook berry service student body president and received his master's in religious education at duke and his master's of divinity from southeastern baptist theological seminary as my brother in law particularly on or to have had him open us today after the players strike they debated whether to enact a wild card rule to allow the second place team into the playoffs only one owner at the time voted against the texas rangers general partner george bush were in the rule passed twenty seven one at the time the president said i made my arguments and went down in flames history will prove me right since then nearly a third of the world series champions have been wild card teams including the two thousand and four world series champions red boston red sox the rule help save baseball and its history are shown as history has shown and just like his baseball predictions president bush sings a very similar tune about iraq and he says as recently as yesterday his true prove whether i'm right and i think i'll be right really five years today since his speech our mission accomplished and let's take stock more than four thousand lives have been lost tens of thousands have been injured of american men and women have been injured we spent over four hundred seventy five billion dollars taxpayer dollars in people and a beacon for those who believe even the transformational power of democracy our relationship with israel is built on the bedrock principle that free people and freedom itself must be defended whenever and wherever it is threaten israel itself faces constant threats to its freedom as our people suffer from the most consistent barrage of a terrorist attacks the world over but that does not stop does not or does not prevent israel from frightening and standing strong as a representative of one of those country's largest jewish communities i'm proud to rise today in support of israel and to congratulate the great state of israel on its many my colleagues yes we're looking at an anniversary of iraq here but let's talk about things that the american people can relate to immediately cost of eggs going up thirty five percent last year cost of melt going up about twenty three percent fre going up about sixteen percent now we know that americans going to the gas pump are paying near four dollars a gallon in many areas what does this all have to do with iraq well we're in iraq for oil the oil companies are running our domestic energy policy it's having impact on the price of food it's causing a great transfer of wealth upwards away from the working people in the middle class of this country into the hands of a few wealthy oil company owners we need to get out of iraq we need to end the occupation close the bases bring the troops home we need to set in motion an international security and peacekeeping force that can stabilize iraq as our troops leave we need to start taking care of things here at home n gentleman is recognized for one minute that a speaker san francisco city officials are encouraging illegals to find their home in this california town the city recently began an expensive public relations campaign reminding illegals that it is still sanctuary city and that local law enforcement will not cooperate with federal officials to enforce immigration laws this bold announcement comes at a good time many other american cities actually believe in enforcing the law and cooperating with the feds  international traffic trespassers this call those illegals that live in the shadows of those cities to be perplexed as to what to do they certainly don't want to go home because they cannot receive free social services like health care welfare and education so to be completely compassionate and caring san francisco should expand its p r campaign to include those hard line narrow minded nonsense u s cities and encourage their illegals to go to san francisco the p r campaign should be the city by the he welcomes all including those that violate the law meanwhile congress should prohibit all federal money from going to sanctuary cities like san francisco that laugh at the rule of law and pander to illegals and that's just the way it is semisonic despite what purpose award from the environmental protection agency for sustainable farming practices heaton's five hundred and eighty acres of walnuts on a plot of land in the town that his great great grandfather founded and which lot for crist utilizes pest control practices that reduce the need for chemical sprays it is methods include pheromone based treatments as well as maintaining plants that attracted official insects and birds th control rodents chris's motivation is an admirable example of sustainable farming and stands as a shining illustration of the increased commitment of san joaquin county farmers and growers to environmentally friendly agricultural techniques as a pioneer in the field chris has generously offered to share his take sneaks with fellow farmers it is my honor to recognise chris and they could graduate him for his well deserved award unsanity march fifteenth the jeanette high school basketball team from my district won the states class double a championship the dinette jayhawks became the second high school in all of pennsylvania his history to reach the achievement of winning both the state basketball and state football championships led by players to well pryor shaw sunder and jordan hall and coach jim nasser the jayhawks want to gain that will go down as one of the best n p i double a history and kept a remarkable season in which the team went twenty five and four this is a great accomplishment for a small school district in southwestern pennsylvania which is excelled in the classroom mikaela mentor was named a blue ribbon school in the district schools receive the keystone achievement recognition this year with the school district getting the bronze medal who was only one thousand years old when he was killed in iraq last week lance corporal herder was from the small to conduct a community of sag harbor new york and is the village villages first war casualty since world war two he's the thirtieth of our brave troops from long island and the eighth constituent of mine who has fallen in iraq and afghanistan lance corporal herder had been in iraq for only a month when he died a hero while defending a checkpoint in ramadi he was killed while firing at the driver of an enemy truck full of explosives that was running a barrier and about to crash into dozens of his fellow marines his noble sacrifice was honored earlier this week when hundreds of long islanders paid their respects outside the old whalers church in sac harbor they remembered his youth his love of the marine corps and his determination to be the best marine he could be he was always faithful on behalf of new york's first congressional district i extend our heartfelt condolences to his family their loss will never be forgotten and we will always remember jordan's noble led to an artificial demand for ethanol h r fifty nine eleven the remove incentives for producing ethanol act of two thousand and eight are ripe act repeals a renewable fuel standard repeals tax credits for ethanol producers and repeals tariffs and duties on imported ethanol these incentives are giving ethanol producers a guaranteed market for their product domestic corn already a heavily subsidized commodity has been the primary source of biofuel and the mandate has encouraged farmers to focus agricultural production away from food production and toward fuel production the department of agriculture has said that the biofuel mandates mandate has raised fuel prices as much as twenty percent in addition ethanol is role supposed savior for our energy woes has been severely overstated ethanol as a fuel yields about thirty percent less energy per gallon of gas then prevail and per gallon than a gallon of gasoline this is what happens when government picks winners and losers indiana right tell me is recognized for one minute then a speaker i come to the house floor today to honor our nation's veterans particularly the thousands of losers who have risked their lives to protect our nation and secure our liberty all americans owe a great debt to the veterans who have served and in some cases made the ultimate sacrifices for our nation as a member of congress i rely on the spirit of these brave men and women to guide me as we work in this chamber to ensure our troops have the benefits they have earned and deserve when they come home this weekend in my hometown of indianapolis indiana our distinguished house majority leader stanley hoyer has graciously agreed to accompany me with a group of our nation's finest veterans at the american legion on guy in road this visit will provide leader hoyer and me with the opportunity to personally thank some of our better and to learn more about how we can better meet the needs of these true american heroes i am honored to welcome the majority leader back to indianapolis and i look forward to working with him to ensure we meet the needs of all of our nation's veterans i yield back the balance of my time gentlemen as back about this time members are reminded to stay out of the reauthorize county payments in josephine county nearly half of the county workforce has been cut in recent years public safety has been hardest hit overnight patrols by the josephine county sheriff's office are down to one ten hour shifts split among six deputies who cover sixteen hundred forty miles that six deputies patrolling the area the size of the state of rhode island maybe remember the fat frantic search after thanksgiving of two thousand and six for the james kim family in the federal forests off southern oregon the search and rescue funds for that operation came from this very important program that this congress has refused to reauthorize why won't the democrat leadership bring a vote on h r thirty fifty eight it's a bipartisan bill for county payments it's been three months since the committees of jurisdiction of senate to the full house and yet no votes been scheduled so again call on the democratic leadership to do the right thing keep the commitment to the timber communities of this country and pass a reauthorization or attach it to a vehicle that's moving restore faith with rural counties all across america keep the federal commitment to the people of timbered counties like josephine thirteen house mentalist and one one six seven we saw that it shall be an order in any time when the legislative day of thursday may first two thousand and eight for the speaker to entertain the notion that the house suspend the rules relating to the following measures one the bill antarctic fifteen fifty seven fifteen to ensure continued availability of access to the federal student loan program for students and families to the bill for nine three to prohibit discrimination on basis of genetic information with respect to health insurance and employment history and bill to provide for a temporary extension of programs authorized by the foreign security and roll investment act of two sixty seven said objection the gentleman from new york is recognized thank you madam speaker as the current just describe nature as eleven sixty seven authorizes the speaker to entertain motions that the house suspend the rules at any time on the legislative day  thursday may first two thousand and eight and legislation relating to the following three measures one h r fifty seven fifteen to protect the federal student loan program number to donate jar for ninety three genetic information nondiscrimination act number three a bill to provide for temporary extension of the farm bill through is necessary because under clause one a of rule fifteen the speaker may entertain motions to suspend the rules only on monday tuesday or wednesday of each week in order for suspensions to be considered on other days the rules committee must authorize consideration of these motions this is not an unusual procedure in fact in the hundred ninth congress the as my friends on the other side of the hour reported a number of rules and provided for additional suspension day this rule limits a suspension of rules to only these three time sensitive measures this will help us move these non controversial speaker on september twenty eighth two thousand and six when republicans were in the majority and the democrats were in the minority i was managing the rules on the floor similar to what we are considering here today to allow specific bills to be considered under suspensions on the rule on a day that suspensions are not permitted under house rules like today during a debate on that day in september two thousand and six then ranking member of the rules committee mrs slaughter stated and i quote it isn't just what the congress has done with its time that is so disappointing it is also what the congress has not done all the challenges it has not addressed unquote better speaker they came the same can be absolutely said today about the democrat controlled house of representatives earlier this year house democrats approved a budget that included a tax hike of six hundred eighty three billion dollars a largest in merican history americans cannot afford the democrat plans to cut the child tax credit in half to reinstate the marriage penalty and raise taxes on every single taxpayer and set a record breaking tax increases this congress should work to make those tax cuts permanent i'm also dismayed that the democrat controlled house of representatives has not act to extend the state and local sales tax deduction to states that don't have state income tax that tax expired on january first of this year the state and local sales tax adduction is important for those states that don't have a state which is my home state of washington extending this deduction is a matter of fairness that congress must act three knew as soon as possible the democratic controlled house of representatives had also failed to act to give our intelligence community the tools they need to protect our country from new terrorist threats by modernizing the seventy's era faisel laws for over seventy four days now america has been hobbled in the vital work to monitor terrorist communications and detect new plots despite the fact that the senate has approved a bipartisan plan and senate over to the house house democrat leaders have refused to allow the house to vote on the senate plan and  refused to go to conference with the senate madam speaker why i ask why is an issue of this magnitude be in placed on the back burner by democrat leaders despite repeated attempts by republicans to allow the whole  house to vote on this bipartisan plan and speaker the democrat controlled house has also failed to address perhaps the most pressing issue on the minds of americans today a rising gas prices democrat leaders may not like to hear it but since they took control of congress in january of two thousand and seven the cost of a gallon of gas has gone up by over fifty percent in fact the cost of gas has gone up by more by more in sixteen months than it had gone up in the prior six years instead they have spent hours giving speeches trying to blame the president and anyone but themselves for the fact that congress has done nothing to address rising gas prices the madam speaker facts are stubborn things and the facts are that gas prices have gone up over a dollar a gallon on the democrats congress's watch the facts are that democrat leaders promised the american people in two thousand and six let me repeat that madam speaker the facts are that democrat leaders promised the american people in two thousand and six that if they were to conclude control krongard they had a plan then i quote a commonsense plan unquote to quote lower the price at the pump unquote it's been sixteen months of this democratic congress and a promise is nowhere to be seen this congress has put forward no plan have taken no action and pass no bills to lower gas prices the promise relief at the pump to lower gas prices they've done nothing and speak here at this time i'd like to ask unanimous consent to insert into the record an article by investor's business daily posted april twenty ninth two thousand and eight and it states and i quote this congress is possible is possibly the most irresponsible in modern history this is especially true when it comes to america's dysfunctional energy policy unquote is there jackson without objection so author and speaker we all know that we must work together democrats republicans the house the senate and the president to solve america's pain at the pump until this happens how are we should not deny good ideas from being considered therefore i would be urging my colleagues to defeat the previous question so that i can amend the rule to make in order any bill that would have and i quote the effect of lowering national average gas price per gallon of regular unleaded gas unquote let's defeat the previous question and show america that congress  drastically increase they want to debate on solutions therefore as i stated a moment ago i will be asking my colleagues to vote no on the previous question so that members can offer solutions that have the effect of lowering national gas price per gallon of regular unleaded gas as i mentioned two years ago then minority leader now speaker pelosi promised americans a democrat plan to lower gas prices at the pump they have controlled congress for sixteen months but we still have not seen this plan meanwhile the cost of gasoline is getting is setting record highs the time is now for the house to debate ideas and solutions for lowering gas prices and it is time for the democrats to reveal their plan that they promised two years ago so madam speaker by defeating the previous question i will move to amend the rule to allow any bill to be offered and considered under suspension is of the rule that would have the effect of lowering the national average price per gallon of unleaded gas i ask unanimous consent to have the text of the amendment an extraneous material in syria in the record prior to the vote on the previous question urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question so that i can have a debate so that we can so there are these vialli important issues that america's families workers truckers small business and entire economy face with these rising prices of yields back and times the gentleman from new york thank you madam speaker why not could be here this morning to debate gas prices i feel compelled to put a few things on the record of shell twenty five percent and this increases the five year trend of record all profits now while my colleagues say we have done nothing the fact is that we've done a great deal and they have been almost consistently voted against it for example we have tried more than once to take away the federal subsidy to these auto companies to the big five because when they are awash in money and we see no reason for them to get more from the taxpayers and there are you getting at the pump that has been consistently we thought by both republican party and the president present cost of the same policies as he has done all along sort of hope for the best and for the last seven years the congressional republicans and president bush doled out billions of dollars in subsidies to the big oil companies instead of working for an energy independence plan for america which was rarely discussed even while during their tenure and we're committed to the new direction speaker pelosi has called on a suspend purchases of oil for the strategic petroleum reserve temporarily that would may go a long way towards helping us with this we have done this before but president bush says he doesn't think it would affect the price on friday the new direction congress called on the federal trade commission to enforce the law and to investigate record gas prices impossible market manipulation under the energy independence and security act of two thousand and seven c has the authority but will not take it to exercise the power to protect the consumer from skyrocketing energy costs that is the republican administration the energy independence and security act of two thousand and seven also included landmark provisions to make cars and trucks more efficient to promote the use of more affordable american biofuels and the new fuel standards will reduce car or consumption by one point one million barrels per day by two thousand and twenty and will save american families seven hundred to a thousand dollars per year at the pump that is under the republican the democrats in congress we've also passed legislation in this house to crack down on oil price gouging to hold opec accountable for all price stick saying and again as i said to repeal the subsidies for profit rich big oil so we can invest in renewable future energy futures however president bush and republicans blocked these efforts every step of the way cracking down on all price gouging was opposed by one hundred forty republicans in the house including all of the republican leadership except mr mccotter holding opec accountable was opposed by sixty seven republicans including most of the republican leadership mr boehner mr blunt was to call mr dreier and ms granger repealing subsidies to the private ritual companies investing in renewable energy an energy efficient efficiency was opposed by one hundred seventy four republicans almost unanimously including all of the republican leadership and in every case the bush administration threatened to veto the bills unfortunately the republicans in the senate refused to even let them become bills to go to the president now we have a good and sufficient record here have planned to do or we have done more that was done in the last seven years strategy that without our geo i guess vote on previous question and on the rule and i you backed into my time to move the previous one one five six the soft upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to take from the speakers tables a bill h r four ninety three to prohibit discrimination on the basis of genetic information with respect to health insurance and employment with the senate amendment there too and to consider in the house of the intervention of any point of order except those arising under cloth ten of rule twenty one and motion offered by the chairman of the committee on education and labor or his miller the gentleman from california mr mcmahon the gentleman from michigan mr dingell the gentleman from michigan mr upton the gentleman from california mr stark and the gentleman from michigan mr camp each will control ten minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from california mr george miller information nondiscrimination act i first wish to congratulate representative slaughter for her leadership on this bill on which is worked for better than thirteen years has been a privilege to join her in that work and  i'm delighted that it has brought us to today's vote recent advances in research have made it possible to identify genetic basis for human diseases these breakthroughs magnificent as they are have opened their door to early detection and treatment of diseases prevention strategies geared to a person's genetic makeup at the same time this information can also be used to unfairly discriminated against or stigmatize individuals when it comes to insurance and employment to protect individuals from insurance discrimination h r four nine three would prohibit health insurers both in group and individual markets from canceling denying refusing to renew or changing the terms or premiums of coverage based solely on genetic predispositions toward specific diseases additionally in order to protect individuals from employment discrimination this bill would make it unlawful for employers or other hiring it is to use individual's genetic information regarding hiring firing promotion or other terms and conditions of employment the legislation requires genetic information to be treated as a part of the individual confidential medical record and that employers maintain separate forms or files for any genetic information that they may have changed the house of representatives passed this legislation a year ago with strong bipartisan vote of four hundred  twenty to three unfortunately the measure has been held up in the senate as usual with these concerns now resolved we are close to providing americans the ability to undergo genetic testing that may indicate early treatment and prevention of diseases such as cancer heart disease diabetes alzheimer's without fear of losing their health insurance or myself one additional minute or of affecting adversely the conditions of their employment the bill currently before sid ludes clarifying language intended to ease the concerns of some of my colleagues and is identical to the version passed by the senate last week these changes include a firewall between title one and two of the bill the modification is clarify that employers are not liable for health insurance violations under civil rights laws unless the employer has separately violation violated a provision of title two governing employers the changes also make it clear that while individuals are protected from discrimination based on genetic predisposition the authority of insurance companies to base coverage and pricing on the actual presence of a disease is not affected these changes broaden the base of support for the bill allow us to bring the house the house floor the legislation with the expectation that it will be signed into law by the president i thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their hard work on this bill and for coming together to make this legislation a reality madam speaker i ask and then sent to yield back the remainder of my time to my distinguished friend from california the honorable george madam speaker i rise in support of this legislation and yell myself such time as i may consume them as recompense while it is not a perfect bill i do believe it contains a number of important improvements over prior versions of the legislation including that which i supported a little more than a year ago on the house floor more importantly it marks a commitment by this congress to ensure that the laws of the united states protect american workers and healthcare consumers from discrimination on the basis of their genetic makeup because that goal is so critical i will vote for this build a day and urged my colleagues to do likewise before i turn to the substance of my remarks i'd like to commend my colleague and fell member on the committee of education and labor representative judy biggert for her years of work and dedication on this important issue she's been persistent and effective on so many issues that have come before this committee and this congress and she should be commended for adding this important bill to her list of legislative accomplishments and i also want to commend the gentle lady from new york the distinguished chair of the rules committee mrs slaughter who has been mrs biggers partner in this effort as i noted during our committee's consideration of this bill last year i believe the title of the legislation before us the genetic information nondiscrimination act embodies a proposition that all men burrs of our committee and indeed our congress would endorse simply put it no employee should face discrimination on the basis of his or her genetic makeup or any other characteristic other than his or her ability to do the job similarly no employees should risk his or her health insurance status simply because of the possibility that they might someday develop an illness this bill was drafted with those fundamental principles in mind and i believe that through the legislative process we've taken steps toward ensuring that the bill we send the president today ensures that those principles are fulfilled while minimizing the potential for unintended consequences i would take this opportunity to point out a number of improvements in the bill that i think merit attention foremost i am pleased that the bill we will send a day to the white house for president bush to sign embodies the same logic as a past executive order issued by president clinton to ensure that this legislation would not inadvertently serve as a broad new federal mandate requiring all insurance plans and employers employers to cover all treatments related to genetic related conditions that's exactly the type of unintended consequences we were seeking to avoid and i'm pleased we were able to work this out second i would highlight a provision in the legislation that ensures that employers who are currently subject to a number of confidentiality and record keeping requirements under law are not burdened by yet another redundant set of paperwork requirements the bill before us today provides that with respect to genetic information if an employer maintains employee records and treats them as it does confidential medical records under the americans with disabilities act it is in compliance with this new genetics law third i applaud a significant improvement in the bill namely its extension of genetic nondiscrimination protection to all americans one of the issues raised during our committee's consideration of the bill was concern that the bill's protections did not adequately extend to cover children in utero or at early stages of development or in connection with in vitro fertilization and other technologies i am very pleased that the final bill before us addresses this issue to the satisfaction of all members on both sides of the aisle who worked in good faith to ensure the broadest protections possible the senate amendment we consider today contains a number of other improvements over prior versions including important provisions relating to those who participate in genetic clinical testing providing for use of genetic information in matters of public health safety and ensuring the most focused scheme of remedies possible these changes represent issues we were able to work through over the past year and which demonstrate how the legislative process is meant to work we were presented with well intentioned legislation hard meaningful testimony on it and its potential impact on employers and employees alike raised and debated legitimate concerns and worked through to bridge the gap between where we began and where we stand today i thank the staff from both sides of the aisle and in both chambers for making this a reality before concluding my remarks i would be remiss if i did not note for the record that i am still concerned that this bill is in some respects potentially overbroad while we all agree with the goal of nondiscrimination i discussed earlier the facts remain that we are poised today to adopt a sweeping new expansion to federal civil rights game the most expansive change since adoption of the americans with disabilities act in one thousand nine hundred as we send this bill to the president to sign into law i would urge my colleagues to join me in remaining vigilant in the months to come in monitoring the administration of this new law to ensure that it addresses the problems it is intended to correct and does not simply become yet another bureaucratic burden on employers or a lottery ticket for plaintiff lawyers in that same light as courts and administrative agencies interpret and and force these laws i would urge them to heed the intent of congress namely that this bill's most egregious penalties must be reserved for the most egregious violations of the law if experience under this new law shows that this is not the case i trust my colleagues will join me in supporting swift action to correct any mistakes we have made with that i will conclude my comments as i noted at the outset of my remarks today will ensure that the law of the united states protects american workers and healthcare consumers from discrimination on the basis of their genetic makeup a goal i think is shared by every member of this house i urge my colleagues to support this legislation i yield my the balance of my time to the gentle lady from illinois and ask unanimous consent that she be allowed to control the remainder of the time a thousand and seven and add my congratulations and praise to the gentle lady from new york ms slaughter and the shuttle will vote for below i miss bigger for the work that they have done to bring this bill finally to the president's signature it's small but it's long overdue a small but long overdue step toward improving our health care system and preventing employment discrimination ensures that our laws governing patients rights are as current as the latest medical technology simply stated the legislation provides peace of mind and encourages people to take advantage of the miracles of modern medicine without fear of reprisal or consequences at work or in health care or in qualifying for insurance jenna's it's known prohibits insurers and employees from using the genetic information to discriminate thus a woman who's decided to find out whether she carries a breast cancer gene need not worry about losing her job or health insurance merely because she sought the test and acted of this law's critical to protect patients and it's needed to encourage people to use robust genetic  research and to encourage more research additional research will to help us determine when we men will get breast will get colon cancer or prostate cancer and not be afraid to go and receive those tests for fear of being discriminated against this legislation enjoys broad bipartisan support more than four five hundred groups representing patients employees physicians providers and others who value wonderful advances in health care research over the number of years i can remember helping to lead the charge with my colleague mr waxman on a bipartisan bill to double the money for the national institute of health back in the ninety's and we had a similar effort in the senate between john mccain the republican leader there on that same issue and paul wellstone a dear dear colleague who is no longer with us but together we pass bipartisan legislation and with those advances of course you have to look at other things that are pertinent to and that's why this genetic information nondiscrimination act is so important i remember traveling to the university of michigan and meeting with one of the researchers there that in fact it received in an i h grand and he just weeks before because of that grant had a dinner by the breast cancer gene that struck strikes one in eight women across america he was excited and it wouldn't happen without that any money but with that discovery it's clear that we have to in fact protect that genetic information have all made advances and work closely chairman dingell to mitigate what we believe were some significant problems with the legislation as it was introduced among other items we wanted to make sure that any use of information by certain entities regulated under the health insurance portability and accountability act not also be regulated by the equal employment opportunity commission under title two of the bill such dual regulation of the use of information would have been highly disruptive disruptive and certainly inappropriate we also made numerous clarifications to make sure that the new regulatory scheme did not disrupt reasonable and needed activities by health plans to improve health care coordinate benefits process benefits or educate beneficiaries it is important of the congress to be mindful that we are not writing on a blank slate each and every time that we launch one of these new regulatory and liability schemes and i certainly join many here that are satisfied that these important prove ment's made by the committee on energy and commerce are preserved in the bill i want to commend the bipartisan and by camel discussions that led to this compromise and i would urge that we all support it when a roll call vote comes and at this point i would yield the balance of the time that our committee controls to my friend from illinois and miss bigger coverage believing they are doing the right thing and expecting that they have secured access for needed health services for themselves and their family but unfortunately this is simply not always true individuals regardless of their age or circumstance  denied health coverage every day due to the evidence or existence of preexisting conditions this could be from anything from asthma to heart disease and it could affect anyone from our nation's children to our grandparents to each of us for more than ten years the health and insurance portability and accountability act has produced provided protections for some individuals and families to ensure this information is not used to deny health coverage by either an employer or an insurer but gaps still remain with the evolution of biomedical research our nation's scientists have discovered opportunities to use genetic information to prevent diagnose and more effectively treat some of the most devastating diseases  lifetime i'm honored to represent some of these most brilliant researchers and scientists in southeastern pennsylvania in addition to the great medical potential they are exploring genetic information over the potential to reduce health care costs with better prevention and disease management we must ensure that these new revelations do not come with a price discrimination by employers insurers schools or others based on genetic information of those who are not even sick are simply identified as being predisposed to a specific disease if we do not wish to reassure our fellow americans that they are safe and taking full advantage of the opportunities provided by exploring the genetic information then these advances in biomedical research could well go before not for this reason i applaud my colleague representative slaughter for introducing the genetic information nondiscrimination act and for being its champion for so many years i am proud to support its passage today it's important for all americans and their access to health coverage and i yield back channels pennsylvania yells back our time the gentleman from michigan  speaker you myself such time as i make gentleman is recognized for ten minutes as many of my colleagues have stated pass thing this bill is an important step forward in protecting the health of every american and we should be proud of our efforts to work on a bipartisan basis to craft this legislation and i want to recognize the efforts of the gentlewoman from illinois congresswoman bigger this bill should be a model for our efforts to reform health care we all agree that individuals should not be discriminated against on the basis of their genetic information employers and insure should not be allowed to use genetic markers to deny employment or health coverage simply because they possess a particular gene but genetic information can also be used to help patients health plans of an ability to interact with both patients and providers to highlight recommended tests and courses of action for example a person that has a gene for a certain type of cancer would be recommended to receive more frequent cancer screenings knowing this health insur would no to approve coverage for these additional screenings because it would be at a higher risk of developing that type of cancer we all preach about transforming medicine to provide more preventative care now we are finally at a point where medical technology be effectively used to deliver the preventative care that we envision i'm certain that the use of genetic information is just the tip of the iceberg as medicine develops so must our laws and regulations that we must be careful not to stifle these promising medical advances i'm confident that we can both protect patient privacy and improve the delivery of health care as this legislation does and with that i yield my time the remaining time from my committee to the gentleman from illinois to the gentleman from new hampshire is recognized for two minutes thank you man and speaker i rise today in support of h r four ninety three it genetic information nondiscrimination act as a member of the education labor committee i knew that we served the american people well when the committee passed this bill and then the house passed it almost unanimously in april two thousand and seven now a year later when the verge of sending this important legislation to the president with overwhelming bipartisan support in both chambers science and medicine have made great strides in recent years especially me guard to genetic mapping in research the potential for finding the answers that we are da so desperately seeking for to so many diseases and afflictions is greatly increased by the research being done however in order for these efforts to be successful the public must be assured that these new discoveries will help and not hurt them science will soon be able to tell us about many more diseases that individuals are genetically predisposed to develop that information should be used only for the public good it must not be used by companies to pick and choose who gets insurance or who gets discriminate against they should not be allowed to charge higher prices higher insurance premiums because of some of these individual genetic makeup this critical piece of legislation will protect individuals from this discrimination this is an important step that congress is taking today and very happy that we are doing this in a unified spirit i commend congresswoman slaughter and bigger for their efforts here i also would like to thank chairman miller and my colleagues on the education and labor committee for their work on this and so many important issues and i urge my colleagues to vote yes i rise today in strong support of h r four ninety three the genetic information nondiscrimination act which will prohibit health insurers and employers from discriminating on the basis of genetic information as many of my colleagues are aware this just lation has been around for quite some time i've been working on it more than seven years and congresswoman slaughter has been working on it for more than twelve years it's been a long road and there have been many times that i thought this day would never come but it's over this period of time i've heard stories from from my constituents and other individuals across the country about how genetic information was affecting their lives quite simply their stories of how our laws have failed to keep pace with medical science a breast cancer survivor in chicago told me that even though her doctor recommended that she undergo a genetic test to see if she had a sixty percent chance of developing over arion cancer which was quite common in the type of breast cancer that she had she refused the test she said i can't lose my job it isn't that she didn't want to know quite quite the opposite she desperately wanted to know but she she feared that if she had an adverse result of this test that she would lose her job she is not alone studies show that eighty percent eighty five percent of americans fear employers will use genetic information to discriminate and then there's a woman from missouri lou sr it under under had suffered from cancer was cautioned by caution by her doctor that undergoing genetic testing would cause her to lose her health insurance she too chose not to undergo genetic tests and she is not alone studies show that eighty four percent of americans express concern that health insurance companies would deny coverage based on genetic information and then there's the man  with a family history of p k d decided to take a genetic test but chose to use an alias and pay cash rather than bill his insurance just to keep the men in the the test out of his out of his medical file and he also is not alone twenty six percent of genetic counselors themselves admit that they would use an alias and sixty seven sixty eight percent said that they would pay for the test out of their pocket to protect themselves from discrimination the dean of a prominent university in massachusetts told me that the fear of genetic discrimination was hindering clinic clinical trials showing the development of life saving techniques at n a a teach fear genetic discrimination is the most common reason that people cite for not participating in clinical trials and breast and colon cancers madam speaker i've heard these stories over and over again from individuals wanting to know their genetic rist developing diseases as fire engine is cancer heart disease diabetes parkinson's alzheimer's t is that these individuals are voting and are avoiding genetic tests that would empower them with the information that could save their lives so i want to let all people know that when the house passes to gina today we will be just one step away and that would be the signing by the president from realizing the medical benefit benefits of genetic testing one step away from ensuring people will be able to take a g genetic test without risking their jobs and health insurance one step away from insurance and sure in that patients can stop using aliases and using out of pocket and paying out of pocket to keep their job genetic test secret one step away from ensuring that individuals will be able to participate in genetic clinical trials without fear of discrimination and the last step is the president's signature and i am happy to say that he is expected to sign this bill madam speaker is clear to me that it bypassing gene and freeing people from fear of genetic discrimination that we can unlock the tremendous lifesaving and cost saving potential of genetic research more americans will participate in generic clinical trials and more americans will use these tech technologies to improve their health and with these with these improvements comes the prospect of dramatically reducing the chronic care costs that cripple our health care system we now have more than five hundred different health advocacy and business organizations supporting this bill and re surveys show that ninety three percent of americans believe that employers and insurers should not be able to use genetic information to discriminate with numbers like these it should be no no surprise that the house passed this bill last april four hundred twenty to three the senate passed it last week ninety five to zero and the president is expected to sign this measure into law and at this time i would reserve the balance of my time mattered madam speaker we've been waiting for this day for over a decade but finally we're here and we're about to pass h r four ninety three the genetic information nondiscrimination act that we call gina which was first introduced by representative slaughter in one nine hundred ninety five which was approved by the senate last week it's been a law in road but the main sponsors of the legislation representative slaughter and representative bigger have preserved and i congratulate them i'm proud to be an original co sponsor of jeana which will prohibit employers from using genetic information to discriminate against workers and will also protect prohibit health insurers from using such information to raise premiums or to deny coverage we know that many states including my home state of california prohibit employers and health insurers from discriminating on the basis of genetic information and this is very good but these laws vary widely so it is important for the federal government as it has with title seven and the american produce abilities act a da to step forward to establish a national policy making it clear that discriminating against workers and others based on genetic information is on acceptable madam speaker this bill also contains the provisions of h r twenty six thirty seven the child labor protection act of two thousand and seven it was a bill i introduced last year that passed the house in june of two thousand and seven the provisions in h r two six three seven will increase civil penalties from eleven thousand dollars to fifty thousand dollars for violations that cause the death or serious injury of a child worker as if there's any penalty high enough to make up for a child the legislation though provides that a penalty can be doubled when the violation causing death or injury is repeated or willful the child labor bill was a narrowly drafted bipartisan effort it's a good foundation for future action on child labor laws so i'm delighted that part of jena includes my legislation legislation that can be used to offset the costs of jena where a living man and speaker in an exciting age we've just begun to tap the potential of genetic testing this bill and so protection that is needed some this research can go forward and can be used wisely i yelled back on the neal factor time the gentleman from illinois i was there the balance of my veyron hagen carlos fenwick from our staff that work so hard on making this a reality thank you very much for your good work this is about as basic as it gets it's a fundamental principle in this country that when you walk in and apply for a job you shouldn't be judged on the color of your skin your gender your sexual orientation your ethnicity your age and to that today we religion to that today we are adding the notion of your genetic background i think most americans madam speaker would understand as a matter of simple common sense that if your grandmother had breast cancer it should be irrelevant as to whether you get a job or not if your grandfather was diabetic it should be irrelevant as to whether you get health insurance or not and under what terms and this simple powerful common sense idea that some body in this legislation will become embodied in the law very shortly because of the good work that is being done here beyond the basic fairness the basic principle that we should be judged by our abilities and not by o characteristics is the point that we discussed earlier during the rule debate many americans job the fire bully fear that if they share their genetic information with researchers that that information may wind up hurting them it may wind up depriving them of the job depriving them of health insurance or raising their health insurance premiums the very significant protections that are in this bill soon to become law will provide a level of for americans that when we participate in genetic research as i have by donating my d n a sample to the coriolanus tatoo in camden new jersey that we will be protected against misuse of that information this on locks and exhilarating potential for finding the cure for all kinds of diseases and afflictions that hurt so many people for so long so i believe this is a singular achievement it's an honor to be a part of it and i know that generations of americans will benefit not only from the simple fairness that this law will impose in the workplace but for the great potential that this law will unlock for the investors and inventors and researchers of this country no american should ever be denied a job or health insurance or a promotion because of their genetic characteristics because our actions today this will become the law thank my friend the distinguished chairman of the education labor committee for allowing me a time and to his leadership i'm a proud co sponsor of this bill i am pleased to see it moving forward after more than a decade of advocacy while researches ability to identify genetic markers for diseases a given hope and promise to millions of people regarding how to make more informed choices about their personal behavior the promise of this breakthrough  is hindered as many of my colleagues have said by well founded fears of how information may be abused in the employment and insurance industries while many states including my own home state of new york have laws which prohibit discrimination in health insurance and by employers based on genetic genetic testing and information it is clear that the laws are not fully comprehensive and that federal action is necessary certainly to make it more uniform across all fifty states fear should not be a deterrent to knowledge disregarding available tests for fear of discrimination prevents citizens from making smarter personalized choices about their own well being we know too much to subscribe to one size fits all medicine and once again it should be our physicians and not our insurance companies who influence our healthcare decisions this is a wonderful bill very much overdue for enactment years and years and years in the process it's supported by hundreds of patient advocate groups and will make a true impact on the health care of our nation i urge all my colleagues to support the bill and i yield back the balance of my time gentleman yield back the time generated from illinois i rise in strong support of the genetic genetic information nondiscrimination act and think my colleague congresswoman slaughter for her tireless work term after term to support this bill and ensure that it would invention will become law over the past several years genetic discoveries have progressed at a remarkable rate today doctors and scientists have the ability to detect genes linked to common conditions like colon cancer and heart disease individuals who learn about their genetic risk factors can make lifestyle changes and begin treatments that can prevent these conditions all together but too many americans don't take advantage of these amazing breakthroughs for a very practical reason they fear that the information will be used to deny them health insurance or even a job well the best way to lie those fears would be to enact universal health care coverage for all this bill is a fantastic first step by prohibiting discrimination on the basis of our genes this bill will improve the chances that average americans can benefit from cutting edge genetic science it will promote better health care by helping americans feel secure enough to learn about their genetic risk factors as the daughter of a father who suffers from all climbers and a mother who suffers from arthritis i personally understand the need to make genetic testing a positive step in understanding one's genetic predispositions and making health care health care choices it should not be a hindrance to getting or keeping one's job or health care benefits while this many great things i want to point out just two very important ones number one it will arm people with necessary and relevant information about their health and number two it will ensure that people won't be penalized for seeking and using this valuable information life however out of fear of losing their jobs or their health insurance studies have shown that many americans for go the potential health benefits of genetic testing while involved in a course at the university of pennsylvania on genetic discrimination the position paper dr ruth collins students presented to me reemphasized that this concern of genetic discrimination risk stifling further scientific advances in genetic based research no genetic discrimination laws and health care such as in my state of pennsylvania may mean for going cures based on genetic research with the young daughter who underwent treatment for a malignant brain tumor recently i understand why a scientific technology advances discrimination cannot grow with that we harm not only the quality of life but life itself we state laws vary in how to maintain the privacy of genetic information the genetic information nondiscrimination act will set a national standard and take the first step toward advancing the scientific and health benefits of genetic research and protect the genetic privacy of americans i urge all my colleagues to support this bill thank you very much we will shortly with a vote on the on the genetic information nondiscrimination act known as gene in today we celebrate with a great sense of of unanimity and agreement about this about body of opponents to it over those over those many years there are many who tried to ascribe attributes to this legislation that either wasn't intended to address or didn't exist at all but the opposition was formidable but when we when we celebrate the passage of this legislation today we must also celebrate the spirit of two women in the house of representatives that persevered  through all of the political debate as hot as it was from time to time through all of the all of the controversy too much of the ignorance and misinformation about the legislation but who throughout that entire decade understood the promise of this legislation both to those who would not not be discriminated against in the in the future but also the promise in terms of medical research and information that would become available to promote not only cures and treatment but greater scientific understanding of the genome and and our makeups and its impact on our health and those two women were congresswoman louise slaughter from from new york and our colleague who is with the senate chamber today judy biggert from illinois it's one thing to stand here and say we all agree today but that wasn't the case and that was what they kept pushing against year after year to get the congress to understand the importance of this legislation we come to that understanding rather late when you consider that many of the states have taken these steps many asians have taken the step but it's terribly important that we do it so people can will be assured that that this no worker will be discriminated against because of his or her genetic information as i mentioned forty one states of already led the way in passing laws to prohibit discrimination to individual health insurance markets thirty four states that pass laws to prohibit employers from discriminating in the workplace and the federal government has banned discrimination against federal government employees every american deserves this protection in the last two decades we've seen incredible scientific advances in the diagnosis and the treatment of once an untreatable undetectable conditions scientists now have the incredible ability to identify genetic markers for disease that could and may never occur genetic testing is also can also help prevent by identifying them early despite this amazing potential of genetic testing advancements have been stifled out of fear of what may what may be what some may do with the results of those tests many americans forego testing because of that fear the fear of losing their jobs the fear of losing their health insurance we pit that against the knowledge discovering the treatment that would be impossible to those individuals but the fear prevented them from coming forward and this is not an isolated fear we have two thousand and six research study showed that eighty five percent of the respondents believe that without protections employers would use genetic information to discriminate sixty four percent believe that insurers would use the information to deny critical coverage the jet genetic information nondiscrimination act is clear title one of the bill prohibits group health plans insurers from collecting or requesting genetic information with narrow exception yes it also protects the privacy of this personal information title to the bill prohibits employers from collecting or using their employee's genetic information it also prohibits employers from discriminating against employees in hiring firing and other terms of conditions of employment based upon genetic information this final bill makes it clear that even though employers may not be held accountable for violations committed by health plans under title one employers remain fully liable liable for any violations of title two including violations involving health benefits is well settled in this country's employment discrimination laws  seven the age discrimination employment act and the american with disabilities act that it is unlawful for employers to discriminate against employees in their health benefits we intend for the courts to continue to interpret employer obligations under gina similarly to all other civil rights laws gina will protect workers like david i shal are a former worker at the burlington northern santa fe railroad who discovered his employer was trying to prove his injury was caused by a genetic disorder rather than work related injury this is precisely the type of discrimination in this use of genetic information that we seek to prohibit in this bill the protect the protections provided by gene are long overdue and represent slaughter vigor to have five over this last decade for these important changes these important provisions in the law and i want to thank them for all of their hard work i also want to take a moment to thank the members of my staff brian kennedy jody calamine and michael gaffin for all of their efforts from from congressman andrews staff carla stanwick congresswoman slaughter's staff michelle adams sandy pelligrini from from congresswoman vigor staff brian peterson from congressman's wrangles and stark staff the changes in the end the distinctions between the the actions in the house and the senate and all of the and all of the controversy that this that this brought with them and and with that i'd like to your kind words and it's been it's been a long road but we're here and with your help just let me say that there's three benefits that are so important in this bill number one is that people get a genetic test in this and it shows if they have a propensity for having some disease they can then take preventive measures and take measures that's going to that are going to improve the quality of their their life and it's personalize medicine and people have got to take the command of their their medical health lives second of all because people will take preventive measures this is going to reduce the cost of health care it's going to reduce the cost to businesses because their their their employees will be taking these preventive measures is going to reduce the cost to health care providers because people again will be taking these these measures and as i've said before through the clinical trials it will increase the ability to find cures for so many diseases if people get into these so with that i would really like to take a moment to thank representative slaughter chairman slaughter of the rules committee one more time greg walden of oregon who has been a major sponsor of this bill congressman andrews of new jersey who has been so helpful and you from california who has been so so involved and then senator snowe senator kennedy and senator enzi for all their hard work on this issue it's truly been a pleasure to work with all of them and i'd also like t mccleary of the ways and means committee and then representative camp for being the spokesman for them and i applaud them for all their efforts and i'd also like to thank former speaker newt gingrich who has been so supportive of this legislation and i would be remiss if i didn't mention sharon terry and the coalition for genetic fairness as well as all of our other organizational supporters for all their persistence and their expertise on this issue and i and for his testimony before all three committees in the house and finally i have to thank the staff all of the staff who work so tires placed for years now behind the scenes on our behalf and put in long long hours t there's there's so many reasons why everybody should vote for this and certainly having passed the house by four hundred twenty just three last april and the senate ninety five to zero you say well this is a no brainer why didn't this happen a long time ago and it's relates to privacy and the other hipaa and a da and all the things that had to be brought in here that everything everyone works so hard just to have a a wonderful  and it is no surprise you know the that we're here but it just took a long time and with that i i would urge all my colleagues to vote for this measure and i would really reserve the balance of my time generated reserves or time gentleman from california the speaker i will also be remiss if i did not thank you dr francis calls for all of his work and assistance and guides to the congress on this on this matter and for everything else that he he does i all those opposed no the ayes have it the motion is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table and that i ask for a record vote is when they request this fifteen minute vote on the motion to concur will be followed by five minute votes on ordering the previous question on house resolution eleven sixty seven adopting house resolution eleven sixty five if ordered and suspending the rule and adopting house concurrent resolution three o eight this will be a fifteen minute  house is holding their first series of votes of the day beginning with this vote on final passage of the genetic nondiscrimination bill sensually of making sure that your genetic information is not used against you but also be a vote on the previous question allowing suspension bills and a along on allowing suspension bills today and be followed by a vote on a bill that was debated yesterday allowing the use of the capitol grounds here in washington for a peace officers memorial service this the genetic nondiscrimination legislation isn't working its way through congress for over a decade and that's one of the items that came up when i a short time ago with a capitol hill reporter covering this johnson is with congress daily why are we seeing this genetic nondiscrimination bill in the house again today well it has only been passed one other time in the house and that was that was about a year ago around this time and it was a slightly different version of the bill this was bill the bill that the house passed last year originated in the house and went through all committee process the bill that's on the floor today is a bill that has been negotiated in the senate and it has actually passed the senate several times in previous congresses but this is the first time that the house is voting on the senate version of the bill and your story today that there was a last minute issue with the measure what was that and how are they a dressing that it's a minor issue dealing mainly with the armed forces the the bill would would this allows employers from collecting genetic information from their employees because that is supposed to be private but in the armed forces they make a practice of doing that mainly to be able to identify any human remains that would that they would need to do should somebody die and you know in service to the country so the administration asked that there be clarifying language put into the bill to allow them to continue that practice there already is language in the bill allowing some exceptions for law enforcement there are some crime labs for example they need to have collecting that information from their employees so that they can distinguish between their employees genetic information and whoever they're investigating so they just tweak that language a little bit it's a minor change and it should be no problem getting through the house so we should expect that final passage today then i believe the final passage and it will probably be overwhelming last year when the house voted on a similar bill only three members voted against it what's president bush expected to do when these bills hit his desk  he's expected to sign it he has indicated when the house passed this bill in the last year that he would be willing to sign and he said several times in the past that he supports the legit lation and the last minute request that the administration made to change the senate bill is an indication that they're trying to work with them and this legislation has been in the pipeline for what ten years why is it taken so long thirteen years actually and it's mainly taken a long time because when it was first introduced it was it was opposed by all the employer groups and the insurers it was introduced in the house by the now rules chairman lee slaughter and in two thousand and three two thousand to two thousand and three the senate started since very serious negotiations and they changed the bill dramatically they tried to model it after civil rights legislation they worked with the employer community and the insurance community and as a result they came out with a near consensus bill every time it's passed the senate is passed overwhelmingly and the problem has always been that the house been under republican control the house has been less willing to deal with the issue so we're seeing it now probably because we now have democrats in control the house can we dig a little bit more into the the issue itself genetic discrimination to do we suspect is practicing a requiring genetic testing that could expand on that a little bit and how is that information being used to discriminate well there's there are some limited anecdotal evidence that there are some employers and some insurers who have taken for example family history knowledge of someone's family history and use that either to deny insurance or to deny somebody their order to fire them there's no widespread evidence that it occurs and mainly the bill is being crafted in part because there's there's a fear that all of the information that can come from genetic testing will be squelched if people believe that they could be discriminated against based on finding it out so this is really unusual in the sense that there is very little evidence that there's widespread discrimination taking place but people fear that that could be the case and so they're wanting to do a centrally a preemptive strike fund johnson writes for congress daily we look forward to talking with you again thank you and the health is in the middle of this vote on final passage of the genetic discrimination bill the house also debate a series of suspension bills on student loans and the farm security bill a little bit later of the debate on a couple of procedural motions dealing with food and energy security of those bills likely held next week we expect the final legislative business to happen before three p m eastern today again this is the first in a series of four votes the first go round in the house today the armed services committee yesterday approve the senate's defense authorization bill and the story from c q today on line the senate's newly drafted defense authorization bill would authorize six hundred twelve point five billion dollars in fiscal year two thousand and nine including seventy billion dollars for military operations in iraq and afghanistan the armed services committee said in a statement today that measure which the panel approved yesterday night would authorize a three point nine percent pay raise for u s military personnel a half percentage point more than president bush saw in his budget request it does not include one point two billion dollars in proposed increases in health care deductibles co payments and fees in the military strike your network the bill does not contain any language to require a withdrawal of u s forces from iraq but it doesn't suit a ban on u s funding for most reconstruction projects in iraq with an exception for rebuilding programs the cost less than two billion dollars two million dollars you can read more about this story on our web site capital news dot org house in the final few minutes of this final passage vote on the genetic discrimination bill a measure that's been in the works for about thirteen years president bush is likely to sign the bill we learn that from a an interview that we ran just a few minutes ago this is the first in a series of four votes a couple of procedural votes coming up also a vote on a bill that was debated yesterday allowing the use of the capitol grounds for a peace officer as memorial service a couple of new stories to pass on to you former democratic party chair says that he is switching his allegiance in the presidential race from hillary rodham clinton to barack obama this from the associated press joe andrew was the party's chair during the last two years of bill clinton's presidency and as a superdelegate he says the primary process has reached a point that is hurting the democratic party also the pentagon is urging troops to get psychiatric counseling for wartime mental health problems under a new policy such counseling will not be used to deny troops security clearances unless it was court ordered or involved violence incidentally were airing a hearing on c span three about this very issue you can see that once again on c span three so a couple of procedural votes in the house right now that will be followed by a vote on a bill debated yesterday allowing the use of the capitol grounds for peace officers memorial service a little bit later suspension bills on student loans and farm security bill or the farm bill also debate a couple of the procedural motions dealing with the farm bill votes in those bills likely held next week we also expect the final legislative business to happen before three o'clock today as voting continues in the house couple of new stories barack obama still trying to move beyond the debate over his former pastor his inflammatory remarks appearing on n b c s today show this morning obama and his wife said the public is tiring of hearing about the reverend jeremiah wright and his views also this from the associated press the commerce department reporting consumer spending was up four tenths of a percent in march but higher prices for food gas and other things accounted for most of the increase also today the private trade group thomson financial says manufacturing activity was flat in the month of april voting continuing on the house floor another procedural vote to be followed by a bill debated yesterday allowing the use of the capitol grounds for a peace officers memorial service in the senate today senators debating federal aviation administration programs you can see live coverage of the senate over on c span two a leader of the democratic party under bill clinton has switched his support to barack obama joe andrew was the democratic national committee chair from  thousand and one he made the announcement in this hometown that indianapolis one of the states holding a primary next week senator obama now trail senator clinton by nineteen superdelegates those numbers to forty four to sixty three but he leaves and overall delegate and you can follow the delegate count on our web site c span dot org and north carolina is the other state in next week's primary and tomorrow night senators clinton and obama will be at the annual north carolina democratic party dinner  here on c span that all started eight p m eastern you will also hear from north carolina governor mike easley who announced this week his support for senator clinton  on this phone yankees are two twenty eight nays are one eighty nine the resolutions adopted without objection a motion to reconsider is laid on the table so this will be the last in the series of four votes this vote on the use of the capitol grounds for a memorial service we expect the next series of votes to happen between two and two thirty they will deal with the farm bill and student loans also some procedur  motions dealing with the farm bill both of those bills likely to be held next week we are also may see special order speeches following all of the legislative business today a quick news story fending off g o p accusations of setting up a no work schedule for the last month house democratic leaders are lining up a staggering amount of legislation to complete in the three weeks leading up to the memorial day recess house majority leader standing hoyer yesterday cited a plentiful mix of high profile bills to expect on the floor in the coming weeks these include a housing stimulus package the iraq war supplemental bill the defense authorization bill contentious electronic surveillance legislation the budget conference report the intelligence authorization bill and conference pertaining to farm subsidies consumer product safety and higher education a story once again from roll call staff reporter jennifer zero two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the concurrent resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table purpose of gentleman from california arise i move that the house suspend the rules and pass aged house her house concurrent resolution three forty the clerk report the title of concurrent resolution past and current resolution three forty recognizes the gentleman from california the gentleman suspend for a minute mr speaker i requested the gentleman would suspend a minute please take your conversations off the floor the house will proceed when it's an order mr speaker i request five legislative days during which members may insert extraneous material on house concurrent resolution three this this concurrent resolution makes two technical corrections to the jena legislation just passed first with respect to the department of defense labs in our concurrent bills section two zero two b six of section two zero five three provides an exclusion for an employer to kentucky conduct d n a analysis for law enforcement purposes as forensic laboratory which emits analysis to the combined d n a index system known as codice if the employer only uses that analysis of d n a and identification markers for quality control to detect sample contamination however we recently learned that the armed forces d n a identification laboratory after all of the armed forces medical examiner system which identifies soldiers remains would not be included in this exclusion because it does not submit d n a to the coda system it was not our intent to prevent the armed forces  after all from from using d n a analysis for human remains identification this technical change would allow them to continue their mission with respect to nyack the other and the other the other changes is a very minor one section one hundred four of the bill dealing with medigap requires the national association of insurance commissioners to modify their regulation as to conform to gina the deadline for nyack to make these modifications is june thirtieth two thousand and eight if nyack does not make these modifications by this time frame h s will require were required to make the modifications by october first two thousand and eight when this bill moved through the house last april these deadlines were not a problem however with today being may first now it will not be able to make it to meet the june deadline that's the that's the other changes to this bill provides pushes back the nyack and h h s deadlines until october thirtieth two thousand the speaker i feel myself the same as i may consume don't recognize mr speaker i rise in support of house concurrent resolution three forty this resolution makes technical corrections to the genetic information nondiscrimination act commonly known as gina the act that we just passed specifically this resolution will clarify the use of genetic information at forensic laboratories used by law enforcement agencies the technical correction ensures the department will be able to use genetic information to identify the remains of american servicemen and women the recent d n a identification of sergeant staff sergeant matt mop and missing since his capture in iraq since two thousand and four offers us a painful reminder of why genetic information may be needed to identify the heroic men and women who gave their lives in service to this nation this is a simple yet necessary change to a bill that enjoys the support of a vast majority of this body adoption this resolution will allow this legislation to move forward the jena well marks a commitment by this congress to ensure that the law protects american workers  healthcare consumers from discrimination on the basis of their genetic makeup because that goal is so critical i support this resolution today and urge my colleagues to do likewise i yield back the balance went to one years back as thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the concurrent resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table i don't know california for what reason to drive t swiftly to pass this bipartisan legislation to ensure that students and families will be able to continue to access federal loans they need to pay for college regardless of what happens in the nation's credit markets over the past few weeks the president president also his support for this legislation i'm glad that the president has recognized the importance of this legislation and i'm very pleased that with today's vote we'll have an opportunity to still send to him this bill for his signature the bill we are considering today now includes some of the amendments added by the senate to strengthen the purpose of the legislation and i want to thank senator kennedy and senator enzi for all of their support for the for this legislation and all of their efforts to get it through the senate on a timely basis because today's vote is timely but the sooner we get this legislation to the to the president's desk the sooner it can be implemented by the department of education this week many incoming freshman will be reviewing their financial aid packages and making decisions on where they plan to attend college this fall for many of theirs many of these students their families have already worried about paying bills in today's economy they should also have to worry about whether federal aid they depend on to pay for college will actually be there this fall when they need it over the past few months we've seen we've been closely monitoring what's been happening in the financial markets and we've heard from stakeholders across the political economic spectrum the department of education college financial aid officers guarantee agencies lenders financial analyst and students not surprisingly have heard varying predictions of what's to come some believe that the lenders will continue to face to face trouble accessing capital for loans and others believe that the markets will ease up fortunately so far the credit crunch has not prevented any student or pa from from getting the federal loans that they are for which they are eligible but we believe that is only prudent to prepare for that possibility that the ongoing stress in the nation's financial markets could jeopardize access to student student loans  addition to the provisions already passed overwhelmingly by the house earlier this month the legislation before us today includes additional measures approved by the senate amendments this this amended legislation is is that loans made through the lender of last resort program are made with similar terms and conditions as other felt felt loans it makes the secretary's authority to to designate entire institutions as as a lender of last resort program temporary it ensures that guarantee agencies and lenders operating under the lenders of last resort program are subject to the same rules regarding inducements and conflicts of interest of other felt lenders are subject to its safeguards and lender of last resort program from the abuses by requiring guarantee agencies and lenders acting as lenders of last resort to report on loans made through the program it protects taxpayers by require reporting on the cost of the lender of last resort program as compared to the current loan program and finally admitted legislation reduces low income students reliance on federal student loans by directing all loans generated by this legislation into the academic competitiveness and smart grants i believe that these additions will enhance this bill by providing further protection for smart for fish for parent parlors boost boosting the low income students aid to low income students and increasing accountability to the lender of last resort program now more than ever families deserve every surance that we're doing all that we can to make sure that they will be continued to be able to finance their children's education am confident the our efforts couple with proper planning the department of education will help ensure that students are able to get the financial assistance they need to attend college this fall i would like to thank mr mccain our committee senior republican a mystery and a host of the subcommittee chair and mr keller the senior republican on the subcommittee and all of their staff and all my colleagues on both sides the aisle for their commitment to acting promptly on behalf of move america students and families and again thank you to senator kennedy and senator enzi for their support and i urge my colleagues  joins the swiftly passing this legislation well the gentleman from california mr miller i reserve the balance of my time and reserves of time with the gentleman from california mr miller confirm that the motion is myself such time as i may consume don't recognize i'm pleased to be here just two weeks after the house voted overwhelmingly in support of this effort to restore confidence in our student loan program today we will give final approval to this measure and send it to the president for his signature it is not often that congress acts so nimbly to respond to a current market challenge and i welcome the show of bipartisan cooperation i hope it's a sign of things to come when we  debated this bill on the floor two weeks ago i noted that while it is a good start it is not a complete solution that continues to be true today i am particularly interested in exploring a more market oriented solution to what is obviously a market based problem i am hopeful that the administration will pursue steps such as an intervention intervention by the federal financing bank along with the other proposals that have been offered to restore balance still the steps taken under this bill are important preliminary measures and i look forward to their swift and ackman the original bill passed by the house focused on restoring stability to an answer uncertain market and offering reassurances to students and their families we did that by a sabotaging the u s department of education as a temporary backstop to purchase loans and inject modest amounts of liquidity into the market in order to ensure lenders can make new loans in the coming school year we also offer new loan availability and flexibility and we call on the federal financial authorities to exercise their authority to stabilize the market i appreciate that the other chamber chose to move quickly on our bill rather than taking up a competing bill that would have slowed down this important assistance to students and families however some important improvements were made as this bill moved through the other body and i want to highlight those here today in early two thousand and five and early two thousand and six congress approved a budget reconciliation measure that created two new grant programs to help low income students pursuing a college education those two programs are the academic competitiveness grant and the smart grant these grant programs are meant to promote student academic achievement particularly in fields that we've visited that are vital to our continued competitiveness in a changing world during the committee deliberations on a comprehensive renewal of the higher education act representative rob bishop took a leadership role in clarifying the role of states and not the federal government establishing rigorous high school curricula the purpose of the academic competitiveness grant was to encourage students to pursue challenging coursework to prepare for college but it was never intended to usurp state and local responsibility for establishing curricula i'm pleased that we're able to incorporate his proposed changes into the bill that is moving today mr speaker i support this bill but i would be remiss if i did not highlight what i believe to be the root causes of the current difficulties in our financial markets last year federal support for the loan program was slashed forcing loan providers to scale back on benefits and revaluate their future participation in the program this year disruption in the capital markets have reduced liquidity and shaken investor and consumer confidence i appreciate the steps taken in this bill to big in the stabiliser program that has been badly shaken i'm especially pleased that this bill contains no net cost to the american taxpayer and that it does not force colleges and universities to embrace the government run direct loan program that the vast majority have already rejected i will remain vigilant in protecting against any efforts to capitalize on the current situation by imposing a big government monopoly on student loans in fact  because i do not support a big government intervention but i favor the bill before us the fact is if we fail to act now we may be forced to take on a major a much greater government role in the future we made a commitment more than fo decades ago that there are national benefits to an affordable accessible higher education system what we're doing today is restating that commitment and sending a signal to students and families that we continue to believe in this program that has opened the doors of higher education to so many millions of aspiring young americans mr speaker this is a good bill that deserves our support i want to thank chairman miller along with chairman and ranking member of the committee representatives in a holster and keller for their leadership on this issue i'd also like to recognize the staff for their hard work as well and i urge all my colleagues to join me in support of this measure i miller and ranking member buck mckeon and all others who have worked with us to be able to resolve the challenge of access and affordability of higher education to all those who wish to of go to that level of education this is for urgent legislation and i think the leadership in both the house and the senate for ensuring its swift passage we are all united in our commitment to provide every assurance to students and families that there will be no disruption in the federal student loan programs regardless of what is happening in the financial markets in our country as of today no student has been unable to find a lender for a federal student loan however we are not going to wait until students and families are denied loans before putting safeguards in place today is the day that many incoming freshman students must decide which college they will attend in the fall financial aid is a critical consideration for that decision process we can leave no doubt in the minds of students families our campuses about the availability of that aid that is why we must send this legislation to the president for his signature without delay mr speaker this legislation will provide much needed liquidity to the student loan marketplace by authorizing the secretary of education on a temporary basis to purchase student loans so that lenders have the funds to make new loans the legislation clarifies the  last resort option so that's so that if called upon guaranty agencies will be able to fulfill their role as lender of last resort as required under the higher education act the legislation will reduce the reliance on private loans to fill the gap between federal student aid and the cost of college by increasing the amount a student can borrow in the unsubsidized loan program this contingency plan for student loan marketplace will come at no cost to the taxpayers in fact any savings that may be generated will be directed to the academic competitiveness and smart grants that are available to needy students who complete a rigorous program of study in high school and those students who are pursuing majors in high need feels such as science engineering technology and foreign languages might have thirty more seconds the gentleman thirty four seconds don't recognize traditional thirty seconds finally with h r fifty seven fifteen we are signaling that we will bring all of our tools to the task of guaranteeing access to student loans this legislation also calls upon treasury and our federal financial institutions to do their share to ensure that there is sufficient capital in the federal student loan marketplace i urge all my colleagues to vote yes on this critical stopgap legislation i yield back german yours back a star in the house will receive a message speaker a message from the senate from florida's record i thank you mr speaker and i thank the gentleman for yielding i rise today in support of the ensuring continued access to student loans acts as a ranking member on the higher education subcommittee and founder  caucus i'm honored to be a co sponsor of this important legislation how do we get here the troubles that began in the subprime mortgage market have had a ripple effect on our economy impacting all types of consumer credit unfortunately that includes student loans as a result of these disruptions in the financial markets students and families all across the country are worrying about how they'll pay for college this fall through no fault of their own middle class families are worrying that their children may have a difficult time getting the financing they need for college at least when it comes to federal loans there are steps we can take now to prevent that from happening that's why i support this bill before us this bill will increase loan limits by two thousand dollars to undergraduate students and it will give students more flexibility in their loan payment options and it includes provisions that will help generate more low interest loans additionally the savings achieved in this bill will provide more aid to full and part time pell eligible students through national smart grants and this is how smart grants work if you're eligible for a traditional pell grant and you major in math some science or foreign languages that are critical and you have a b average you will be able to get an additional four thousand dollars above and beyond the maximum award of four thousand eight hundred dollars this bill expands that to allow full and part time students to partake that means we will be helping and a total of approximately one hundred thousand students who are majoring in math and science in critical language and also helping ourselves because we desperately need more math and science majors i have a chart here regarding our strong support for pell grants on a bipartisan basis to put this bill in perspective since i came to congress in two thousand i have noted that we have increased funding by a hundred and forty nine percent from seven point six billion to eighteen point nine billion we have increased the maximum award from thirty three hundred to forty eight hundred dollars an increase of forty five percent now with this new expanded legislation for more part time students to get these smart grants those particular students in math and science will get as i said earlier eight thousand eight hundred dollars in eligible grants and finally and particularly significantly we made it possible for an additional one point nine million students to go to college an increase of forty nine percent from three point nine million students getting  two thousand to five point eight million today making sure that college is affordable has been a bipartisan parody of this congress this bill will help ensure access to college for many worthy students and provide much needed stability to the student loan market at a time when most of what is most important are college students i want to thank chairman george miller chairman ranking member mckeon for their speedy and bipartisan work on this bill i want to thank my colleagues in the senate for turning this legislation our around so quickly and adding some key provisions dealing with the smart grants i also want to thank the white house for indicating its strong support this legislation and their willingness to sign it upon arrival for these reasons i urge my colleagues to vote yes on h r fifty seven fifteen and let's make college more affordable for all young people march fourteenth under mr miller's leadership the education and labor committee held a hearing on the question of student loan availability and at that time secretary spellings from the department of education came in and said that the administration was merely quote monitoring the situation close quote and expressed some diffidence and confusion about whether or not in fact the federal government really had a role to play in terms of being lender of last resort well during the last six weeks what we've seen is the collapse of bear stearns we've seen lenders withdraw from the student loan market and a clear signal that the sub prime mortgage crisis is in fact extending to student loan market in connecticut the connecticut commissioner of higher education mike miata in the director financial aid at university of connecticut who i met with confirmed the fact that they were seeing some withdraw from the market in a need to step up their activity in terms of giving students more help as they enter a very challenging year again because of what's happening in the financial markets this legislation which now the administration has come around in support of will in fact strengthen the direct loan program and will confirm that the federal government will in fact be a lender of last resort for the make sure that in august and september students and families will not be running into difficulty and will in fact be able to go to college in the fall the federal government acted swiftly to help bear stearns an investment bank which frankly morally and ethically didn't deserve to help millions of students however do in this legislation which will clearly confirm that the federal government has a role to play going into the summer months as students reach out to get financial assistance that in fact the doors of colleges and universities will remain open i applaud mr miller for his leadership going back to last march introducing to insure the current credit crunch does not prevent students from attending college recent decisions to suspend the issuing of student loans by the pennsylvania higher education assistants agency and other lenders around the country clearly demonstrate the need for this legislation this bill is a model for bipartisan cooperation problems in the credit markets began affecting the student loan market only two months ago and since that time congress has quickly moved to identify the problem craft responsible solution to that problem and quickly move that solution through the legislative process and today we're sending this bill to the president for his signature congress can be proud of taking this proactive step to prevent a is recognized for thirty minutes thank you mr speaker and i thank the chairman for yielding and i thank the chairman and the ranking member of the full committee and also of the the subcommittee for working together so quickly and so cooperative y to bring this legislation to the floor it is very badly needed and it will allow us the passage of it will allow us to expand upon the gains that this congress has made in the dual goals of access and affordability and let me just quickly reflect on those we have we have significantly reduced student loan interest rates we have significantly increased the pell grant maximum we have overridden the administration's recommendation to eliminate the s e o g program we have overridden the administration's recommendation to eliminate the perkins loan program and we have done all of this on a bipartisan basis and we have done all of this with a focus on keeping student need and student interest uppermost in our mind there are several very positive features of this bill let me talk just about three of them the first is seeing to it that we maintain liquidity in the student loan market to some a situation that is forced upon us by factors that have nothing to do with the student loan program the second is the increase in loan limits on an annual basis the most important element of this is that it will reduce student reliance on private lending and that certainly is a goal of ours to see to it that students have access to government regulated loans as opposed to private loans and lastly the the easing of the repayment requirements for the parent loan will be a norm asli helpful to needy families and the students of those families again want to commend the leadership on both sides of the i'll end both sides of the capitol for working so quickly on this i want to commend the education department and the administration for their willingness to be supportive and i  jersey record director without objection thank you mr speaker and thank you mr chairman i congratulate you and mr mckeon for skillfully navigating this legislation to the floor and i strongly support it  our country's economy has been severely affected by a lack of liquidity crisis in plain language people who need to borrow money to do good things who are credit worthy are having a very difficult time borrowing that money the early tremors are in our present in the education field that young men and women who need money to go to school are beginning to have trouble borrowing that money and we are frankly concerned that an earthquake may follow those tremors rather than wait for that disaster to occur chairman miller mr mckeon are taking preventive action along with the secretary of education to try to prevent such a calamity from occurring this legislation is commendable on any number of grounds first it strengthens the lender of last resort program so that guarantee agencies around the country will be equipped to quickly move capital to students and schools who find it difficult or impossible to get that capital from the banking institutions second it increases the limits that students can borrow money that is guaranteed under the federal guaranteed loan programs this is especially important because so many of our students need what are called gap loans this is the person who has an aid package of twenty eight thousand dollars but who needs thirty one thousand dollars to go to school in the past the way families and students have dealt with this problem is to find a private lender to make a loan to fill that gap there is increasing evidence that achieving that lo is increasingly difficult by raising the loan limits in a fiscally responsible way this bill alleviates that problem and finally find courage ing the growth of technological progress in the education sector this bill ramps up the infrastructure that will be necessary to move loans to more students around the country as the time has come there's a lot of cynicism mr speaker in this country about government and some of it is quite justifiable but i would hope that the cynics would watch the process this occurred here where two leaders one democrat one republican have come together listen to the secretary of education carefully analyze the problem and work together to produce alleges a piece of legislation that i believe will solve that problem i commend them for their leadership i'm proud to support this legislation i would urge republicans and democrats to vote yes and i yield back the balance of my time gentleman delayed they they moved expeditiously and now will be able to get this the president's desk and hope fully the concerns that that i've felt for several months now will will never come to  go through this year and students will be able to get their loans and we'll do this without any hiccups but if not this will be a big help i think as we move forward with that i yield back the balance my thought goes back this time john from california in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the senate amendments are great too and without objection the motion to reconsider the speaker  a purpose jenna from pennsylvania arise i move to suspend the rules and pass s twenty nine fifty four the clerk report title senate twenty nine fifty four and act and then public law one ten dash one ninety six to provide for a temporary extension of programs authorized by the foreign security and roll investment act two to two thousand two beyond may second two thousand and pursuant to the rule the gentleman from pennsylvania mr holden and the gentleman from oklahoma mr lucas each will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania mr speaker i rise in support of this two week extension of the current farm bill the conferees have been working hard particular chairman peterson and and the chairman and ranking member in the other body and we can see the light at the end of the tunnel but we still need some additional time to dot all our eyes and cross the t's as we try to prepare the american people for sound foreign policy over the next several and i think that we are going we are going to present a farm bill to this body and to the american people that will do just that i think this will gain overwhelming support in both bodies and will be signed by the president of the united states in the commodity title we will not only sustain our safety net but we will see significant reform and conservation title where i have the privilege of chairing a subcommittee along with mr lucas who's the ranking member we will see significant more investment of about four billion dollars into our conservation programs in nutrition which is so important to our leadership we will see an additional ten billion dollars in investment in nutrition programs and finally on the energy title we have we hear so much talk about our need to be less dependent upon foreign energy we need to step up to the plate and do something we should have done it years ago but we cannot let this farm bill go without having a significant investment in energy and we are proud of the work that we've been able to do in the energy title particularly in the area of cellulosic ethanol we think that we're going to have a program that is going to allow us to begin to wean ourselves off the dependency upon foreign energy so mr speaker i believe that the conferees are working hard they are making significant progress but we need a little bit more time will complete our product so with that i urge support and i  thousand two farm bill so that the conferees can attempt to finalize this bill i share my colleagues perspective over there i think progress has been made and we need to bring this to a conclusion with that arch my colleagues support this farm bill twenty nine fifty four those in favor say aye those opposed say no in the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table pursuant to clause eight of rule twenty proceedings will resume on questions previously postponed votes will be taken in the following order motion to instruct on h r twenty four nineteen by the azan  motion to suspend the rules relating to h r fifty seven fifteen by days and days the first electronic vote will be conducted as a fifteen minute will remain electronic votes will be conducted as five minute votes offered by mr flake there isn't a question that on the motion to instruct members will record their votes by the cronic device this will be a fifteen minute the house right now voting on this procedural motion a motion to instruct conferees asking house conferees to take a certain position the negotiations with senators over the farm bill right now the flake motion to instruct agreeing to the senate's position to maintain the current forty thousand dollar limit on direct farm payments while this vote is underway and it is a fifteen minute vote a little bit earlier i had a chance to speak with a reporter covering this issue on capitol hill