with a gentleman thank you very much thank you subcommittee chairman johnson and mr chairman thank you i'm very appreciative of the committee's consideration of this important bipartisan legislation restore competition to the freight rail industry and provide relief to thousands of shippers across the nation that depend on freight rail for transportation our nation's railroad system was designed to serve our country and over the years they have good times and bad times but they have always provided an essential service to the nation back in one thousand nine hundred eighty the railroad industry was for financial help overbuilt and failing seeking a remedy unfortunately congress did not remove the antitrust exemption that the industry had enjoyed and accumulated through various acts of congress during the one thousand nine hundred free from government oversight by the department of justice and the federal trade commission the rail industry has undergone dramatic consolidation shrinking from over forty major class one railroads to seven major carriers today with only four of them carrying ninety percent of our nation's freight this level of concentration and the resulting lack of competition certainly were not envisioned by congress in one thousand nine hundred eighty and over the years while the railroads have reaped profits shippers with little or no access to transportation competition along their routes have seen striking rate increases and unreliable service in my home state of wisconsin we have a prime example dairyland power is a rural electrical co op it is dependent on rail for its transportation of coal and is served by only one railroad it is known as a captive shipper at the end of the year two thousand and five the railroad that holds dairyland captive raise their rates dramatically the energy to cooperate of saw average rate increases of ninety three percent for january two thousand and six for one year of real transportation service it now costs dairyland about seventy five million dollars a year to ship by rail thirty million dollars worth of coal the increase has translated into a fifteen to twenty percent increase in electricity rates for their consumers served by the cooperatives that depend on their land for their power consumers also pay face increased rates from other captive shippers including chemical companies manufacturing industries agricultural sector forest and paper companies among many other the trade association representing many of these in the industry sectors like the american chemistry council the american corn growers and the steel manufacture association have endorsed this bill as a means of obtaining relief from this railroad monopoly power and beyond the problems posed by consolidation among class one railroads other practices known by names such as bottlenecks and paper barriers have also exacerbated the situation h r twenty two thirty three eliminates the antiquated railroad antitrust exemption that has no current public policy justification and is protecting  competitive conduct by the railroad industry in march two thousand and nine letter from twenty state attorneys general to the house and senate leadership asking congress to remove the railroad antitrust exemption reflects my belief that this provision is necessary the american bar association antitrust division also recommends this action second the bill permits the apartment of justice and the f t c to review railroad mergers under the antitrust laws standard to ensure competitive market and finally the bill allows for state attorneys general and other private parties for damages and to halt anti competitive conduct both of which are not currently allowable under federal law  add that the companion bill to this bill one forty six has already been reported out of the senate judiciary committee by a fourteen to zero vote and is awaiting a vote on the floor certainly this bill will not cure all  some power companies will face drastically higher rates from the railroads i am sympathetic and concerned about the plight of the captive shippers i remain concerned that the legislation before us will not solve their problem the bulk of the shippers concerned seem to live with what they view as an ineffectual regulatory body the surface transportation board like the any trust modernization commission i am skeptical about many any trust exemptions to media let me nation of some  address exemptions for the railroad industry such as objecting mergers in the review before the any trust division of the department justified justice is justified since our last hearing on this issue the courts and competition policy subcommittee marked up the bill and made positive changes that address a number of concerns that had been raised before specifically the manager's amendment adopted by the subcommittee eliminated confusion about whether a court could defer to the s d be additional doctor known as primary jurisdiction the manager's amendment clarifies that the last surrounding primary jurisdiction is not changed by this bill further the manager's amendment makes it clear that this bill is only prospect of in nature this means that courts will not be tempted were authorized under the bill to mergers that were consummated years before which is generally in keeping with any trust law i remain concerned however that this bill could subject railroad for injunctive relief throughout the country because railroads are widespread networks that are not easily diverted into other channels and injunction in one part of the network could have serious repercussions throughout in addition a railroad that runs across multiple districts and circu most could be subject to an injunction in one district whereas the exact same conduct could be deemed acceptable in an education district were still discrepancies among district and circuit court to form shopping by aggressive plant they are concerned about the admissibility of evidence relating to joint quotes and the inferences that could be drawn from that evidence under current law evidence of these agreements is not admissible this bill would change that i understand that the majority and representatives of the railroad in your street have been in negotiations over compromise language on this issue and i'm sorry that these negotiations did not result in a satisfactory fix at this point i plan to work with the majority to include language in the committee report that addresses these concerns and will continue to negotiate changes in the bill prior to its consideration on the floor despite these concerns given the amendments adopted at subcommittee i support the legislation with the understanding that we will continue to try to improve it as it moves its way through the legislative process and i hope the a gentlewoman from wisconsin will agree to do that if the bill is not improved by the time it comes up on the floor it should be opposed so i hope mr chairman that that won't be myself by the industry and i think it's fair today to concur with what you've said and that is support this legislation to work to address these concerns before it reaches the house and i'm quite confident  attacks of nine eleven in new york there was a small group of undocumented workers most of whom worked at windows on the world at the top of the world trade center the surviving family members of documented workers were awarded reported out h r seventy one a bill that would have allowed limited classes surviving dependents the opportunity to apply for adjustment of status or cancellation of removal so long as neither the dependents nor the are or were  both sides of the aisle that apartment and attorneys for these sixteen people i would particularly like to say mr lamar smith the ranking member of the committee for his support and help along the way h r thirty two ninety would permit the sixteen people who submitted properties of information to the department of homeland security to adjust their status to that of an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence so long as one they apply for a job within one year of a nac vote along party lines seventy five because this is a bipartisan bill it's supported by several members of the new york city delegation and surrounding areas including the ranking member of the homeland security committee peter king it is my hope that in on that day a foreign enemy attacked over three thousand individuals were killed at that time our hearts went out to the families of those murder victims and americans can then you just sympathize with those who loved the last one that day we consider this building one hundred tenth congress i opposed it at that point we were asked to grant lawful permanent residence and eventual us citizenship the greatest honor america can bestow to a number of individuals whom we knew nothing about we only knew they came here illegally and had a relative killed on nine eleven we did not even know how many individuals the bill covered immigration subcommittee ranking member steve king and i requested information about the potential beneficiary from the attorney for these individuals we wanted to know whether these individuals had criminal histories their date and place of birth how they enter the united states and their occupation unfortunately the attorney refused to provide this information to us ultimately the department of homeland security with the help of chairwoman lofgren provided the information to us the h s received the information from the attorney in return for the promise of temporary legal status on august fifteenth two thousand and d h has granted temporary legal status to fifteen o sixteen individuals who benefit from this bill from that information we learn that nine of the individuals are children and seven are adults as mothers brought some of them into the country some cross illegally and others overstayed their visas we also learned that one of the individuals did not pay his taxes between one thousand nine hundred ninety two thousand and six apparently he has subsequently paid the taxes so that he can be granted lawful immigration status or thirty to ninety should not serve as a precedent in the event that more people have loved ones killed in any future accident natural disaster or criminal activity or terrorist attack that means of the illegal immigrant victims of natural tragedies should not expect to receive lawful permanent resident status based on those tragedies i made a commitment to support the bill with the subcommittee ranking member and i received the information that we requested so i will honor that commitment and support this legislation today mr chairman are you about thank you with the indulgence of the committee  favorably to the house those in favor as amended those in favor say aye those opposed say no the ayes have it and the bill as amended is ordered reported favorably without objection the bill will be reported as a single amendment in the nature of a substitute incorporating the amendment adopted and of course authorized to make technical and conforming changes  members will be invited to submit any additional views that they choose within two days thank you very much are there also want to thank chairwoman last woman maloney the prime sponsor the bill congress and congressman king for their efforts this bill would allow lawful permanent resident status to certain spouse and children of victims of september eleventh two thousand one terrorist attack three thousand innocent men women and children lost their lives that day the lives of their families many of my constituents were changed forever among those who perished were small group of undocumented deportation would only add to the human tragedy of nine eleven where over many of these families have u s citizen children and deportation foursomes leave our country to be with our parents here at thirty to ninety would allow legal permanent residence to be granted to a small number of surviving spouse and children those and documented workers who died in nine eleven as mr smith said the class of beneficiaries is closing includes exactly sixteen people it's important to remember that these people are all september eleventh two thousand when we came together to rebuild new york and the pentagon well nothing could ever replace the loss of a loved one we compensated victims of the tragedy and the surviving beneficiaries every year we honor the heroism and sacrifice of those who lost their lives regardless of the immigration status here thirty to ninety is written in that same spirit of unity compassion and honor it recognizes sacrifices that occurred in nine eleven by providing a few surviving family members with humanitarian immigration relief i appreciate the efforts of those worked on this bill for what purpose does the gentleman from iowa recognition mr chairman is tempted as i am to at move to strike the last word i would rather ask what's appropriate for me to offer an amendment at this two which will be there in a moment report the amendments i'm  combined i think improve this bill substantially one of them is that we found out after great difficulty and much pressure to gather some of the information and very close to the information that i asked for that there were a couple of individuals who came to united states after september eleventh that would be advertently or inadvertently included in this legislation and so the short amendment is they had to be present in the united states on september eleventh two thousand and one before they would receive a lawful permanent resident status under the bill with consideration this amendment would take them out of the consideration and that's the purpose of it is that i think it's  a wrong president to be able to reward and i know that we had discussions about that particular language about for people to receive a path to citizenship who came to the united states after a tragedy under this bill sets a precedent that i think is not consistent with the philosophy of the rule of law or the compassionate united states of america there's got to be a line that's drawn and we see that in the case of one of the other people who would receive a lawful permanent resident status an individual who has evaded paying united states taxes that the money he has received is one million three hundred eighty two thousand two hundred fifty two dollars now if that is comparable to the other people who would be the subject of this bill to have people become millionaires out of this regardless of their tragedy and that component of that would be that they came to the united states after the tragedy they would have accomplished they would have a claim and my view if all of their extended families came to the united states afterwards would be a lot longer than it is so i object to the precedent that would be established and that's one of the components of the two amendments that we and the other component is requires that an individual will have properly paid their taxes and not just after the fact when they found out that they would not receive l p r status but having done so in a willful fashion prior to we have controlling the us code seventy two seventy two zero two and seventy two all three all make it a crime to attempt to evade paying taxes willfully fail to pay taxes and willfully fail to file a tax return that seems to be the case with at least one individual who has received a one point three really want four million and so i would make the point that that my amendment requires that individuals must have paid their taxes as directed by a law th requires that if you have someone who is receiving really amnesty under this bill after being in the country illegally and after receiving u s taxpayer money money from the september eleventh victim compensation fund that they had to pay their taxes on time not as a condition of receiving a green card we don't have to make deals like this rule of law has to stand in america then according to the department homeland security this individual's failed to file his tax returns in the years between nine hundred ninety nine and two thousand and six this is this is willful department homeland security stated that such a failure demonstrates an indifference to the social and legal obligations of residents in this country and they've also stated that the failure to file tax returns reveal a civic your responsibility and i would argue that he entered the country illegally that also demonstrates that failed in his civic responsibility and disrespected the laws of the united states of america and now receiving the dollars that i have reiterated here so that i understand that once this individual found out that he would only obtain legal immigration status then he paid the taxes this amendment would require that the taxes would have been paid before the fact not after not as a deal and not as an agreement that may now be included in this legislation that of course i object to the overall legislation for the reasons that i think most of the members of this committee know i think it sets a wrong precedent i think those that have been in the country the united states illegally and received funds from the victims compensation fund to the tune of many many cases more than a million dollars would not if they to follow the laws united states america they would have been here in the urge that we oppose the two amendments being considered on bank based on the information the department of homeland security now has we know who the individuals were who were not here on the day of the tragedy and five children of the people who died on nine eleven they were children who were provided by the united states government on a humanitarian basis to come in and be with their as for the tax issue the bill already requires that all federal tax liability be satisfied before a person could adjust their status to that of a lawful permanent resident the amendment appears to be based on the premise that a person can never become and i think it would also create a perverse incentive to not pay back taxes because no matter what you do you could never get the law it's important to note that the department been granted the status we're dealing with sixteen people that the taxes already languages in the bill is an adequate it allows anyone who has a tax liability simply pay up their back taxes out of the victim's compensation fund and then qualify for lawful permanent residence and so i think that that certainly violates the spirit and they violated the law and whatever temporary however temporary some of the people in this last message and i'm sorry we couldn't go she ate this and come to a conclusion where we narrowed this list down to thirteen rather than sixteen if that were the case and what that's exactly what i'm trying to do we could be discussing the merits of those that have more merit than question is on reporting the bill favorably to the house those in favor say aye those opposed say no i have it and the bill is ordered to be reported