i can't tell you how many people i talk to all across my district that say, you know what, business is just no fun anymore. and so they're plotting their exit strategy. they're not plotting a strategy of growth, they're plotting a strategy to exit. . and retire with what an retire with what they are able to achieve so far. here's the fundamental question of this bill. are we going to be on the side of the american people, or are we going to be on the side of the bureaucracy? are we going to defend the e.p.a., are we going to defend the i.r.s., are we going to defen the department of labor? are we going to depen all these rules and regulations? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. rouzer: are we going to stand with the american people? that's yet before us today. mr. speaker, i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from georgia is recognized mr. lewis: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. pocan.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pocan: i'd like to thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, this week represents another missed opportunity for congress to take action on the challenges facing the american people. i understand that we are at this point because the majority can't pass a budget, they can't take action to combat the zika virus, they can't help the people of flint, michigan, and they can't address the opiate crisis. unfortunately your right wing and extreme right wing can't seem to agree with each other. instead of taking real action, we are going to vote today to prohibit the i.r.s. from hiring any new employees until the treasury certifies that none of the agency's existing employees have unpaid taxes. this legislation is both unworkable and unnecessary. i.r.s. employees have a tax compliance rate of over 99%. but a hiring freeze will hinder our ability to go after the real tax cheats in this country, and that's something we should all

be able to agree on. instead of arbitrary changes to the i.r.s., congress needs to take action to make our tax code work for the american people instead of corporate interests. something that's conspicuously absent from your debate today. let's talk about how we can close loopholes that allow multinational corporations to pay nothing in federal income taxes while working class americans and small businesses pay their fair share. let's have a debate about the corporate tax dodgers who are able to shift their headquarters out of the country with a stroke of the pen all while continuing to use our american infrastructure resources and customer base. let's talk about the thousands and thousands of tax dodging corporations including the $18,000 corporations that are registered to -- 18,000 corporations that are registered to the same building in the cayman islands, a building full of p.o. boxes. today corporate profits are an

all-time high by the fair of federal revenue continues to strink. dropping from 1952 to less than 10% today. while many corporations complain about the 35% statutory tax rate, the reality is the effective tax rate is much lower. in fact, the 2013 g.a.o. report found that u.s. corporations pay an effective tax rate of just 12.6%. a recent study found that u.s. corporations are currently hiding $1.4 trillion in profits from domestic taxation in tax havens like panama and the cayman islands. so while corporations dodge paying their fair share in tax, the burden falls to the middle class and small businesses in our districts and that's just wrong. that's the reality of why we are here with the useless bills in consideration today, once again the majority can't pass a budget well past the required deadline. let's take a serious conversation about how we can

adjust our tax code away from the corporate interests in favor of working families. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia reserves. the gentleman from north carolina is recognized. mr. holding: reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. we don't: mr. speaker, have any other speakers. i'm prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina is ecognized. mr. holding: mr. speaker, we have no additional speakers and are prepared to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized. we owe : mr. speaker, it to ourselves, we owe it to the american taxpayers to do better. as a body, we can do better. much better.

mr. speaker, i encourage each and every one of my colleagues to vote no. to vote no on this pointless and harmful piece of legislation. this bill is not worthy of the paper it is written on. vote no on this mean-spirited bill. it is not the way to go. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time i yield to back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from north carolina vefpblgt -- is recognized. mr. holding: thank you, mr. speaker. the internal revenue service, the people who work there, most of them like most americans pay their taxes. the internal revenue service is charged, obviously, with administering the tax code. they are charged with collecting

taxes. i served a long time in the u.s. attorney's office, and i can tell you that the i.r.s. is probably the most intimidating federal agency of the whole panoply of federal agencies. and the american people have a right to expect i.r.s. employees, these i.r.s. employees who are auditing taxpayers, collecting taxes to abide by federal tax laws. and that's why, mr. speaker, there is a law on the books that says the i.r.s. can fire an employee who is delinquent on their taxes. so that's why i found it -- found it so amazing that when the treasury inspector general tax administration went and did an investigation they found that the i.r.s., the bureaucrats that

run the i.r.s., in 61% of the cases where you had an i.r.s. employee that was delinquent on their taxes, that they were not fired. and further, it was shocking to find that there were cases when these employees who were delinquent on their taxes were not only not fired but they received a bonus. this is unacceptable and the american people deserve better. allowing i.r.s. employees to continue administering our tax laws when they themselves are in violation of that law undermines the trust of the american taxpayer. so, i commend my colleagues to vote aye, my colleague, mr. rouzer's legislation, h.r. 1206, it's an important step forward in creating accountability and restoring the public's trust in the i.r.s. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time for debate object the bill has expired. -- on the bill has expired. the chair understands that the amendment printed in house report 114-502 will not be offered. pursuant to the rule, the previous question is ordered on the bill as amended. the question is on engrossment and third reading of the bill. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill to prohibit the hiring of additional internal revenue service employees until the secretary of the treasury certifies that no employee of the internal revenue service has a seriously delinquent tax debt. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i have a motion to recommit at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: is the gentleman opposed to the bill? mr. kildee: i am opposed. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman qualifies. the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: mr. buildee of michigan moves to recommit the bill h.r. 1206 to the committee

on ways and means with instructions to report the same back to the house forthwith with the following amendments. page 3, after line, 11, insert the following. d, special rule of am cablet. this section is shall not apply for any year if the federal tax delinquency rate for either chamber of congress is greater than the federal delinquency tax rate for the department of treasury as published by the internal revenue service and its federal employee retiree delinquency initiative for the prior year. page 3, line 12, strike d, insert e. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from michigan is recognized for five minutes in support of his motion. mr. kildee: thank you, mr. speaker. this is the final amendment to the bill which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. if adopted the bill will immediately proceed to final passage as amended. this republican bill is unnecessary because the i.r.s. already as it's been said has rules in place to terminate employees that are delinquents

on their taxes, but it's important to note that out of the entire federal government, the employees of the treasury department have the lowest tax delinquency rate, a rate of 1.19%. 1/4 of the delinquency rate for the u.s. house of representatives. which is over 5%. substantially lower than the delinquency rate for the general public which is about 9%. my motion would stop this bill from going into effect in any year that the federal tax delinquency rate of either the house or the senate is more than that of the treasury department. it's that simple. you know what we're doing here, we are taking precious time on the floor of this house of representatives to deal with a bill that will go nowhere, that has no impact, and is simply a talking point to continue to beat up on the i.r.s.

meanwhile, we have public health crises taking place, the zika crisis, which endangers pregnant women, what have we done on the floor of the house to deal with that real crisis? what have you brought to the floor for us to vote on? nothing. and in my own hometown of flint, michigan, a city of 100,000 people who now for two years have not been able to drink water that comes from the tap because it has been poisoned by the terrible decisions of its state government. a community in crisis that has every right to expect that its government, its federal government would come to the aid of these people. 100,000 people poisoned by their own state government in crisis.

9,000 children under the age of 6. who for two years have had lead going into their bodies, lead is a neuro toxin. three people today in michigan have been criminally charged for inflicting this terrible tragedy on my hometown. a city in america in crisis facing a disaster. what is the response of the united states congress? what is the response of the republican leadership? not one minute devoted to coming up with a solution for the people in flint. nothing. more messaging bills. more talk. no help. for people in crisis. no effort to deal with the zika crisis, and nothing, nothing for

this great american city facing an existential threat and facing generations of impacts unless the state so far has failed to step up and the federal government acts. i sat through the hearings that have been held here in the united states congress. and listened to members, democrats and republicans, offer concern, offer sympathy, but when i introduced the families of flint act, an effort that would share equally the responsibility for solving this terrible crisis between the state and federal government, rather than arguing about who was at fault, we all have a sense that the state of michigan is at greatest fault, but rather than litigating that question, we seek to solve the problem. not only do i not yet have one republican co-sponsor who has been willing to step up, nearly 100 democrats have, and i'm sure

there will be more, and i ask for help from my friends on the other side, but no time on this floor has been devoted to what is clearly one of the bigest crises facing this nation, a great american city facing a threat, a literal threat to its existence. a threat to the health of those people. a threat to the future of those children. one of the first votes i cast when i came here to the house of representatives was to cast a vote to provide relief to the victims of hurricane sandy. not my district, not my community. not my region. but fellow americans. i was proud of that vote. i was proud that on that moment, on that day, as a member of the house of representatives, i was first an american. and when other americans were

suffering, we were willing to help. why not flint? why spend time on these meaningless political messages bills when there are real problems in this country that need to be addressed? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. kildee: i ask we put aside this nonsense and get to the work the american people sent us here to do. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from north carolina seek recognition? mr. holding: i rise in opposition to the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. holding: this is an attempt by the minority for them to enforce its rules against i.r.s. conduct and failure to protect taxpayer dollars. quite simply, mr. speaker, this bill would require the i.r.s. to report to congress, whether it has employees with seriously deleeng went tax debt or -- delinquent tax debt or why they can't provide that information to congress. as i said multiple times, the

american people deserve and expect i.r.s. employees to follow the same tax laws that they administer. and that's an expectation of the i.r.s. so it is not surprising that the i.r.s. would have a low rate of delinquency amongst their employees. so i.r.s. employees should know that it is current law, current law actually requires the r.s. fire willfully nontax compliant employees unless they have reasonable reasons for not paying their taxes. what is shocking is that in most cases, mr. speaker, the i.r.s., the i.r.s. leadership fails to even document why delinquent employees were not penalized. 60% of these delinquent employees -- 61% -- excuse me -- were not penalized for

having delinquent taxes. so this legislation, mr. speaker, is a critical step forward to restoring accountability and trust in the i.r.s., a trust that has been broken, a trust, i would argue, doesn't exist between the people and the i.r.s. so i urge my colleagues to make the i.r.s. accountable to the american people, vote against the motion to recommit and vote yes on h.r. 1206, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. without objection, the previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit. the question is on the motion. all those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the noes have it. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? mr. kildee: mr. speaker, i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having

arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 and the order of the house of today, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. the chair lays before the house n enrolled bill. the clerk: h.r. 2722, an act to require the secretary of the treasury to mint coins in recognition of the fight against breast cancer. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess subject to the call of the chair.

ms. pelosi:: the three-week easter break, i said to all of you that we shouldn't leave unless we had a supplemental that dealt with -- zika, that

dealt with flint, that dealt with opioids. we left and came back and we still don't have any action on zika and flint. opioids, the speaker says, is going through the regular order so let's hope that that happens. the bill that passed the senate still doesn't have any funding. we still need funding for that. but that's what this morning is about. it's about the budget. the -- let's call upon this republican majority that are so nsumed by their ideology, so disconnected that even pleas of expectant mothers and children fall on deaf ears. we are here to make sure that the families' message to the american congress is heard, do your job. instead of doing their job to protect the lives of american families, republicans are wasting this week grandstanding on the i.r.s., and the republican congress, if you're not a special interest or a big

cormings, you're on your own. whether it's flint, zika, the road to ruin budget, our colleagues here on the front lines of that fight. i'm pleased now to yield to the distinguished chair of the sdratic caucus, a person that's served on the budget committee, is a member of the ways and means committee, javier becerra. mr. becerra: thank you, madam leader. i'm proud to join my colleagues that's been in this fight for sometime. we had a deadline, we had to pay our taxes. while sometimes you look at the -- now you're saying, gosh, i hope it's going to be used well. we still have a responsibility. we know by the deadline, usually april 15 -- this year, april 18 -- we had a responsibility, pay your taxes. you don't pay your taxes, there are consequences. you can pay a penalty. you might pay interest as well on not having paid on time.

there are consequences for not doing your job. we're essentially telling our colleagues here in congress, do your job. now, the budget for the federal government is one of the principled responsibilities we have, just like a family has to make sure they can make ends meet, we have a responsibility to pass a budget. we were supposed to do that by april 18. that's not been done. now, that's a historic failure, and to not pass a budget and not just a historic failure, it's a historic failure to fulfill one of the most basic responsibilities of governing. i believe that. but those aren't my words. those with the words of former budget chairman, paul ryan, now speaker of the house paul ryan. istoric failure.

responsibility for governing. we have a simple job to do in this place. every american takes for granted because they have to do it. there are grave consequences when congress doesn't do its job and you're going to hear people talk about all those different consequences. but right now on the floor of the house we're debating bills that are going to go nowhere having to deal with the i.r.s. while we watch and republicans seem to be asleep at the wheel as we watch companies go through this game of inversion so they don't have to pay taxes in this country while americans just last -- this past week had to file their taxes. it's time for congress to do its job because, guess what, there are real consequences for a lot of people. we just simply say to our colleagues, let's wake up in the morning, understand we have to do our job and if we don't, there will be consequences. with that let me now yield my colleague from connecticut, rosa delauro. ms. delauro: thank you,

congressman becerra. madam leader, thank you. i'm delighted to be here with congressman kildee and congressman swalwell. as has been said, and the leader pointed this out, that we have three public health crises in this country. the opioid epidemic, the lead poisoning in flint and the zika virus. let me spend a moment talking to you about zika. congress has to take immediate action to stop the spread of zika in the united states. we can invest in stopping it or we can let people in this country get infected and suffer. in the last week, the director of the national institute of allergy and infectious diseases said, and i quote, we have to act now. if the regular appropriations process takes too long, i don't want to have to wait to develop a vaccine, end quote according to the c.d.c. director, dr.

thomas freean, quote, there is no longer any doubt that zika causes microcephaly. never has there been a situation where a mosquito bite can result in devastating malformation, end quote. there is no ambiguity. zika causes debilitating brain damage. nd while we doddle, children may die. today and just a few days ago health officials split over advice on pregnancy in zika areas. what does this say? physicians are determining whether they are going to say to american women, particularly those who live in the gulf states, where this mosquito is prevalent, they are thinking about talking to them about avoiding conception, that being the only sure way to avoid the birth of deformed babies.

is this the message that we want to send to american women. don't get pregnant. due to the majority's refusal to consider the emergency request, the administration has been forced to redirect $510 million from ebola to deal with an immediate zika response. let me be clear. these funds are being directed away from other critical and threatening global health risks and are being repurpped, shifted only -- repurposed, shifted only as a last resort not only because it's the right thing to do from a policy perspective. in fact, the administration said these funds need to be restored because ebola is not over. we cannot abandon our fight in west africa where ebola continues to flair up. this is unacceptable. it is unconscionable that in the midst of a global health

crisis that we cannot and will not appropriate emergency funds to save lives. congress needs to do its job what we were sent here for, what our moral responsibility is, to do its job on scomblmbings ika. i urge -- on zika. i urge my colleagues, both sides of the aisle, not to put american women and families in the predicament of choosing whether or not they should get pregnant or if they are already pregnant wondering whether or not their baby is ok. that's where we are today. we need to move. we need to act immediately. thank you and it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you someone who's been a leader on the fight to really to do something about the poisoning

of 9,000 children, lead poisoning in flint, michigan, mr. kildee. mr. kildee: thank you. thank you, rosa. you know, it's tough -- it's tough to stand here again and talk about this crisis in my hometown, especially when what i hear from my republican colleagues and reen republican leaders is great sympathy for the -- and even republican leaders is great sympathy for the 100,000 people of my hometown. they feel like their obligation is to send their good wishes, basically to send flint a get well card. this is a crisis. this is a crisis that is ongoing. in flint, michigan, today this morning every single family wakes up to a city with water that's not drinkable. today, it's been two years since this lead has been running through the water of the city of flint.

it has been nine months since this became known as a crisis. yet, while our state government continues to make excuses and treated as a public relations problem, these american citizens can't drink water and are facing consequences, long-term consequences to a crisis that was as a result of the calous failure of state officials. it's a disaster. one of the first votes that i cast when i came to congress, congressman swalwell and i came in together early in 2013, we cast a vote to provide relief for the victims of hurricane sandy. not people in my district, but i will say this, i was proud as an american, as an american representative in congress to do what i could to help these americans who were suffering. and all i ask is the same thing

for the people in my hometown. people in congress are elected not just to hold the position but to actually do a job, whether it's pass a budget, deal with a major crises. these american citizens in flint, michigan, have a right to have their federal government come to their aid when they are in crisis, when their health is threatened, when the livelihood of the people in this city is threatened, where the future of the children of flint is the ened and yet republican congress turns a blind eye and fails to act. i know for my colleagues who have been enormously helpful in reaching out to the people of flint and many of you have come to flint, i know they're not going to leave flint behind. we need to make sure we have a congress that's as good as its

people. we're better than that. we are better than this as a nation. we cannot let the people of flint behind and write off 9,000 children. and with that let me introduce, again, my classmate and colleague, a man who's been doing an enormous amount of work for our caucus and for the people of this country, eric swalwell. eric. mr. swalwell: thank you, representative kildee and leader pelosi for holding this conference. what we have heard here is people across our country are asking house republicans on the issues that matter most to them to simply do your job. when it comes to addressing corporate inversions, people are saying if you want to help me protect my job, you need to do your job. when it comes to stopping the spread of the zika virus, people across the country are telling house republicans it's time to honor the administration's request and do your job.

when it comes to collaborating with democrats and passing a budget on time, the american people expect house republicans to do their job. and when it comes to standing up for the 9,000 children in flint and providing the same relief that we always provide to communities in need in this country, people expect house republicans to do their job. over the past year, the future forum has taken 18 of the youngest house democrats to 14 cities across america. we've talked to young people, thousands of them at community colleges, colleges and work force places and what we have heard from republicans and democrats alike is that access to college and student loan debt is the number one issue facing young people. 40 million young people have $1.3 trillion in student loan debt and are stuck in financial quick sand and so they ask to house republicans, what are you doing to be just as collaborative as we are as a

generation? house democrats have introduced legislation to address this. congressman joe courtney has a bill that has 181 co-sponsors that would allow young people to refinance their student loan debt just as you can for a home loan and an auto loan. but it's been 392 days since that bill has been introduced and not a single republican has stepped up to do their job and join democrats to put more money in more pockets to help students out of this financial quick sand. it's no wonder that young people are so disillusioned and so disenchant with the way that washington is working today under house republican leadership. further inaction will further ingender distrust in their government and so today collectively we are saying on these issues, from our budget to corporate inversions to the zika virus and to the flint water crisis and this financial aid student loan crisis in our country, house republicans, it's time to do your job.

with that i'll turn to leader pelosi for questions. ms. pelosi: thank you very much, congressman swalwell. as director of the future forum, as leader of the future forum, i thank you for your important statement today, for your leadership across the country and for your strong statement asking congress to do its job. i thank our distinguished chairman. these statements come have a very deep place with us colleagues. i thank congressman becerra for his strong statement on the budget and asking congress to do its job. congressman kildee from a very deep place asking congress to do its job on flint, michigan. and, of course, congresswoman delauro on the appropriations committee has many concerns that she wants congress do do its job and i thank her for her strong statement regarding zika. just as we were coming in here, i was handed this statement. 2 million people at risk for the zika virus.

it can be found -- that even though it can be as found as far north -- anyway, talks about how far north it's coming even though the numbers are not as great in the u.s. yet. there's reason to be hopeful if we get our job done. you know, we say this all the time here. it's supposed to be a statement of our national values. why have the republicans not brought a budget to the floor? we have a saying in the world of -- that we live in of public policy, if we want to know your values -- if you want to tell us your values, show us your budget. show us your budget. i think that one reason they haven't brought a budget to the floor is they don't want the public to see their lack of values in their budget that they would make medicare -- remove the guarantee of medicare. the list goes on and on. but even that is not cruel enough to some of their members. so maybe if they don't want us to see their values, maybe their values are not cruel

enough to get the majority vote of the republicans. in any case, they should bring it to the floor, do your job. with that we would be pleased to take any questions you may have. yes. roirp what do you think of -- reporter: what do you think of funding -- what are the real onsequence [inaudible] people are saying it should move forward. mr. kildee: thank you, leader pelosi. i guess you would have to ask them, but here's my analysis. it seems to be rather duplicitous for many members of the republican congress, especially those members who have participated in the committee hearings for them on one hand to attempt to lay blame for the flint crisis at the doorstep of the

environmental protection agency which to the extent they have responsibility it's because it's those very same republicans who have continuously voted to constrain the e.p.a. in its ability to deal with environmental issues. so on one hand they have to blame the e.p.a. that they themselves constrained but then on the other hand when it comes to actually providing help to the people of flint, i've heard it said from these same members that this was a state-created crisis. so here's my concern, if a house is on fire, one does not call the fire inspector, assemble the city council, deliberate over how the fire was caused and then make a decision as to whether or not we should do something about the fire that is burning. there's a fire burning in flint, michigan. there is a crisis in flint, michigan. they are citizens of the united states and they are citizens of the state of michigan. my legislation would say we

will have a conversation about how this happened but before we get to that, let's, as americans, and as michiganians come together to fix this problem and provide help. so i don't have a good answer as to why republicans in michigan and republicans across the country have all the sympathy that they can muster but don't use the tools that they have available to them in their very hands to reach out and help the people of flint. it does -- and i'll leave it with this. it makes one question as to whether there is something about the very poor community of flint, majority-minority community that sets it aside from other places that perhaps would get more immediate response from some of these same people who seem to offer sympathy but no help. ms. pelosi: getting back to the point that congressman kildee made about one of his earliest votes was for sandy assistance.

overwhelmingly the republicans voted against the sandy assistance for new york while you proudly voted for it. and so some of what we hear from them is, well, that's not in my back yard, but when it is in their back yard, whether -- other disasters that have befallen our beautiful country, they expect us to respond fully. so we're saying we want to supplemental because it will take too long to get the full appropriations process done. the speaker doesn't want a supplemental and if we're saying we just can't wait, whether it's zika, whether it's flint or others. yes. reporter: we're about seven or eight months in to the new speakership of paul ryan here. i have a number of members on the other side of the aisle say to me, well, new speaker but we have the same membership and they ascribe that mathematics as the reason we can't move any of these issues, whether it be puerto rico, zika, education, the budget, etc. do you lay that at the

mathematics of the place that have not changed or do you put that at the feet of speaker ryan who has not passed a whole lot of major bills so far? ms. pelosi: it's the congress of the united states. the congress of the united states, each one of us has a responsibility to weigh in on our doing our job. and wherever the buck stops, the fact is congress is not doing its job. and these are emergencies. these are emergencies, zika, flint and others, so i'm not getting into what goes on in the republican conference. you'll have to ask them about it. reporter: but at the end of the day that's the issue, they were unable to move major bills under speaker boehner. he's responsible now and do you fault him in some way as being the person at the top? ms. pelosi: i'm saying it's a dysfunctional republican congress. they have been obstructionists in terms of congress acting and doing its job. they've been obstructionists to the president's initiatives and now they want to make the third branch of government, the

judiciary, and incomplete body and not being able to function fully. so this is the attitude that exists in their caucus. as you saw, only 30-some members who are able to threaten to vacate the chair and speaker boehner left. so it's up to them to see how they can live up to their responsibilities. it's up to us to make sure the public knows what is at risk and what it means to the american people that this dysfunction is not an academic conversation. it has a direct impact on the health and well-being and the economic security of the american people. yes, sir. reporter: those of us who have tried to ask ryan or hal rogers their plans on zika have basically gotten the message, we need more information, we're working on it, we're going to act but we haven't gotten a sense of how, when or on what

vehicle. i wouldn't be surprised if you have spoken to hal rogers or paul ryan about zika and maybe you can help the public get a greater sense of what's going forward in the future? ms. pelosi: i first want to yield to congresswoman delauro who we call -- has been a cardinal in the appropriations process and has been working on this -- in her committee, subcommittee's jurisdiction. ms. delauro: thank you, madam leader. that f all, this notion the administration has not provided information really is misrepresentation. i don't -- i didn't bring with me but i held it up both last week in the appropriations process and just yesterday afternoon about this much paper very detailed as to what the money will be used for. whether it is n.i.h., whether it is at c.d.c., whether it is

at the department of state and i have personally been in briefings with secretary burwell and republican colleagues. and the administration quite provide as tried to much information with the briefing, with justification, with language, with charts. it is all laid out. i'm going to make this aside which i made information. we have more information about this than we had about going to war in iraq and where we couldn't find a weapon of mass destruction and we spent $8 billion, which is unaccounted for today and that's not my number. it's the special inspector general who said that with regard to the reconstruction there. ut back to zika. yes, last week ranking member

debbie self and wasserman schultz, where florida is a real problem with regard to the zika virus, we said ok. if the administration hasn't provided you with this information, let's do a hearing, let's bring the administration in, let's ask them point blank the issues that you want to -- you need to address. they said no. mr. rogers yesterday said we've had briefings and meetings, etc. say is a lack -- i want to good will. there is no plan. there is no action except to say we don't want to do your supplemental but we want you to take money from ebola, which $510 million is already there, and which the world health

organization, others have said that if we abandon what we said we were going to do in west africa, what will happen is that other countries back out as well. and that public health infrastructure that we are helping to create is not going to occur and we will see additional flairups. alward, s is dr. bruce special representative for ebola at the w.h.o. we are now in a critical part of ebola as we manage the residual risk of new infections. we still anticipate more flairups and must be prepared for them. there's been a recent flairup in liberia. the point is they have no plan, they don't want to act and while they are fiddling american lives, people overseas, their lives are at risk and we're telling american

women, don't get pregnant. ms. pelosi: on that, i'd like to always make the distinction between a reason and an excuse. what chairman rogers and i have all the respect in the world for him. i served with him in the appropriations committee. what he and the republican majority are saying is not a reason not to do the supplemental. it's an excuse not to do it. my understanding from the republican leadership is they don't want to do a supplemental. they don't want to do it because if we have zika and we have flint and if we have opioids, which we really need to do, then some people may want to add some other things. that's not about leadership. that's just about an excuse, not a reason to do something. and they don't understand the subject of public health because they ignore the scientific evidence as to what -- how people are at risk. that the public health, ebola, zika and the rest know no

boundaries and we have to keep ebola at bay and you don't do that by transferring the money to zika and think that you are trying to solve a problem. any other questions? reporter: has the other side given you a certain amount of number -- ms. pelosi: has the what -- mr. report -- reporter: has the g.o.p. side given you a number? ms. delauro: no. it's to dismantle the global health security and as the leader pointed out, it is an excuse not to act on supplemental. and do what we need to do. they have no number. they are not holding any meetings. we have nothing that says they're willing to address this. ms. pelosi: and they do not want to have a public hearing so the public can hear the evidence to substantiate or to document a need.

in closing, though, i want to yield back to my distinguished chairman, mr. becerra, and to the leader of our future forum for any closing remarks they may have. mr. swalwell: closing having talked to thousands of young people, it's a generation that's very collaborative and inventive but a generation that's pulling its hair out when it looks at republican leaders in this town and their failure to collaborate on these issues. and so as we continue to go across the country, it is quite frustrating when we're asked, what are we doing on corporate inversions to keep jobs here? what are we doing to just pass a budget like we all have to pass in our households? what are we doing to make sure that people don't get pregnant? people say, do your job. be as collaborative as we are and i think that's our message

to house republicans. chairman becerra. mr. becerra: i would simply close by reblinding everyone that we run for office -- remind everyone that we run for office to be part of government and the job of the government is to govern and if you're not going to address the crisis that we now know with the zika virus, then squarely on their shoulders, on the republican shoulders will be this crisis blowing up, where women and many americans may be in jeopardy. children's lives may be in jeopardy. if another student in america says i can't go to this particular college that i got accepted to because we haven't dealt with the debt crisis and student loans, then that inability, that young person to go on to get that degree the way he or she wanted rests on the shoulders of the folks who don't want to do their job here. and if this congress won't deal with the 9,000 children who have been poisoned by lead in flint, that rests squarely on the shoulders of this

republican congress that's not willing to do its job. if you don't want to govern, get out of the kitchen. ms. pelosi: i think it's important to note that what we're hoping to do was to act in a bipartisan way to address these needs. in order for us to move forward as a congress and government, we want to -- show us your budget. we want the american people to see your budget so we can have a legit mate debate on the choices -- legitimate debate on the choices of the american people instead of a display of poor taste on the part of the republicans. the debate on the budget is as old of our country, it's a legit mate debate to have but we have to see theirs in order to debate it. i thank chairman becerra, congresswoman, ranking member on her subcommittee on appropriations, congresswoman delauro. sympathize and thank dan --

not dale -- his uncle -- dan kildee for sharing the depth of his concern and the strength of his intellect on finding solutions and, of course, to have the perspective of eric swalwell -- for congressman swalwell. very important to all this because all of this is about the future. so i thank them for joining us to -- all of us coming together today to say to the congress, do your job, show us the budget, hear the pleas of the children of flint, understand the threat that zika presents to us, acknowledge the concerns of our young people and as our chairman has said, don't waste our time on the floor of the house on bills that are going nowhere at the same time ignoring inversions where money is going elsewhere. thank you, all, very much. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.

visit ncicap.org]

>> the house is in recess. we expect members to return at about 3:30 p.m. eastern time for votes on several i.r.s. related bills that were debated today. our live house coverage will continue at that time. we spoke to a capitol hill reporter today about those i.r.s. related measures. >> naomi of "the hill." the house is considering legislation on i.r.s. oversight. the house passing the first of these bills on tuesday. so why is the house republican leadership scheduled i.r.s. bills for this week and is there an overall theme to these measures? >> so this week was the tax deadline, the deadline most states was on monday and the deadline in maine and massachusetts was on tuesday. and republicans are using the fact that everybody just had to file their taxes as an opportunity to pass legislation

that they say would increase the i.r.s.'s accountability to taxpayers. >> the first of the two bills considered in the house today involving i.r.s. collection of user fees, that measure sponsored by missouri republican congressman jason smith. what would that bill do? >> so that bill would prevent the i.r.s. from spending the receipts from the user fees that it collects without approval from congress. the user fees instead would be deposited into a general fund. >> the bill came out of the ways and means committee on a party line vote. democrats against it. what problem do the democrats have with that measure? >> so the i.r.s. has seen its budget slashed significantly over the past few years and democrats view the agency as severely underfunded and they view the i.r.s.'s inability to spend its user fees as another way of reducing its funds and reducing its resources. >> the other bill being

considered today by the house involves the hiring of new i.r.s. employees. it's sponsored by republican david rouzer of north carolina. what would that bill do? >> that bill would prevent the i.r.s. from hiring new employees until the treasury department either certifies that no current i.r.s. employees have seriously delinquent tax debt or the treasury department issues a report explaining why it couldn't make that certification. >> and where are the democrats coming down on that one? >> well, democrats have said that i.r.s. employees actually have a lower rate of tax delinquency than house of representatives employees. during the ways and means markup, congressman earl blumenauer, a democrat of oregon, introduced an amendment that would have prevented congress from hiring new employees unless there was a certification that no employees of congress had any tax debt.

but kevin brady, the chairman of the ways and means committee, ruled that that amendment was not germane. >> the obama administration coming out opposing both of today's measures. what is the white house saying about them, why are they opposed? >> so the white house is opposed to both of these bills, but it has explicitly issued a veto threat on the bill about the user fees for the reasons i had mentioned why democrats oppose the bill as well. the administration sees the i.r.s. as severely underfunded and opposes a measure that they view would further cut the agency's resources. >> in a related story, you write about i.r.s. commissioner john koskinen being on capitol hill this week to talk about his agency and tax day. what are his views about the i.r.s. and what are you hearing about the latest on calls by house republicans for him to resign? >> so the i.r.s. commissioner john koskinen spoke at the house ways and means committee

-- at a subcommittee hearing yesterday and he said that the end of the tax filing season has gone pretty smoothly. the i.r.s. did receive a slight funding boost this year for customer service and that has helped improve the level of service on telephone lines this year. they have received around $130 million. when it comes to calls to impeach the i.r.s. commissioner, a group of house republicans took to the floor to give speeches calling for koskinen's impeachment. on thursday they were criticizing him for what they consider kind of improprieties relating to how he handled the investigation into the -- into the political targeting scandal involving lois lerner.

you know, congressman peter roskam, who is on the ways and means committee, said earlier the day on thursday that it may not entirely logistically end up happening that there will be movement on impeaching koskinen because the senate may not respond to that because of a shortened legislative year because of the presidential election. > naomi is on twitter at nthehill. you can read her stories on thehill.com. >> again, the house back about 3:30 eastern time today for votes on those i.r.s.-related measures. one bill deals with hiring i.r.s. workers who are delinquent on their taxes. the other giving congress oversight over i.r.s. user fees. and on thursday, more

i.r.s.-related bills. one bill would deal with i.r.s. employee bonuses and hiring previous i.r.s. workers as contractors. all that ahead when our live coverage of the house continues today at 3:30 p.m. eastern time here on c-span. . harriet tub man will replace andrew jackson on the $20 bill and a couple of tweets and this one from bernie sanders, i cannot think of an american hero more deserving of this honor than harriet tubman. and been carson tweeting -- the hill tweeting, carson defends andrew jackson and calls for another way to honor harriet tubman. harriet tubman to replace andrew

jackson on the $20 bill. coming up at 3:30 back to the u.s. house. now here's today's washington journal. host: chair of the congressional task force on terrorism and unconventional war fare and thanks for being here. guest: we have had three forums and fourth in june and come from five union countries and purpose

in coming is to address intelligence, oversight, preserving the integrity of that what we have in looking at our terrorism financing as well as civil liberties protections and also cyber warfare. host: what are your impressions of other countries' willingness to combat terrorism. guest: the world looks to america. they look at our capital and great dome and they see the security of the world being secure and they depend on america in every respect. that's where the disappointment lies and that we haven't been out there in front in terms of more clarity of the mission and what's needed and what's

expected. we did so well in the 1980's and the challenge with the soviet union. ronald reagan signaled world leaders and had sustained sanctions put on russia and built up our military and pope john paul got involved with human rights and religious liberties issues and the soviet union collapsed. wherever i go throughout the world, particularly the middle east, our allies, our partners there in the gulf states are disturbed and don't understand the lack of focus and zrecks of this administration and inquire about that and our partners in europe want to believe in us. certain things that happened that raise issues and concerns and that's why we started these forums to answer the questions that we have enormous protections and privacy in this

country and we want the people to know what we have and at the same time we have to know who the bad guys are contacting and what's that about. and yet at the same time there has been restrictions on those we've recruited and trained. so i think it's important that we have a clear plan and a mission that enables our friends and allies throughout the middle east to align with us and they want to do that, but they need to know what the expectation is and what their role is and they will commit themselves.

the saudis have 120,000 troops and not ready to commit that. host: what are they doing within their own country to address radical islam and terrorism within their own country? guest: that is a real challenge, not only them and other countries in the middle east that play both sides, why do they do that? is it because of a lack of confidence in our mission, because they don't see the real clarity or focus. and yes, we need the saudis to be more aggressive than the restraint of engagement by individuals inside the country. i do not believe the saudis are engaged in any way or manner to advance the terrorists. to the contrary. i think they work against that. but at the same time there are

individuals who have. host: the white house is pinning its hopes for a more stable middle east on years to come that it can encourage a working relationship, what mr. obama has called a cold peace. guest: the goal is well stated, but at the same time, they want america. i had the crown prince said to me, congressman, we want to work with israel and the united states to combat islamic terrorism. i had discussions with the amir in qatar and he said we would fund the training of the refugees to take back their country. i mentioned that to the president and i didn't get a positive response when i happened to be aligned with him

to meet him. host: what do you mean? guest: didn't seem that interested. i thought that was a compelling statement by the amir. he has such a concern over the role of assad inside syria and how pivotal that is and he was willing to fund and train and equip whatever is required to take care of the families, able bodied refugees. i thought that was a very interesting concept of people who do want their country back and nothing was ever done to pursue that. host: let's go to a few calls, republican line. lee. caller: i'm glad mr. trump won but not happy with mrs. clinton because our terrorism will be worse with her in the office.

look at what obama has done. he has destroyed our country letting all these terrorists coming in and if we put hillary clinton in there, it's going to be the same and maybe worse, because look at the poor people that we left die over there and i can't imagine our children going to war for her because she would not have their back. we would lose a lot of our children to someone like this. uest: well, frankly, i share and admit that reality of the perception and reality of how mrs. clinton is perceived in the world today and in america. i think the world is looking to a strong america. and not only be perceived but the world is safer and that's what i appreciate and appreciate

so much about former ronald reagan. the world was secure at that time and yet ronald reagan never fired a shot to obtain that security and the world looks to this country and i hope and pray for the day that we can be strong and can be an ally and friend of the world but we stand for liberty and democracy, not just what we say but what we do. host: which one of the republican candidates would portray strength? there's three in the race. so who do you think? guest: all three recognize from my unching and listening and i have met all three not in great department, but we have talked and in my zugs with them, they fully understand adverse sears and what america needs to be

strong. host: have you endorsed anyone? guest: who comes off our bench will be a far better outcome that comes from the other side. america needs strong leadership. we need to understand the importance of free markets. we are in total bondage with the regulatory impedements. can't give capital to small businesses as we have discussed already this morning. we have a mission that's not matched. host: great falls, montana, independent. caller: greatest respect goes out to you and your colleagues. i use this analogy three months go, violence begets violence and why can't we take care of

this situation over on their soil, violently using extreme methods and get to the point that nobody will bother with the united states any longer. to me, all we do is muddy up the waters by trying to go over there with our soldiers and fight their war on their terms and we have to use all these rules and regulations. what we need to do is viciously attack these people and take care of the problem over there now? thank you. guest: very good statement. i concur with your concern. i do think what that addresses, though is again the lack of mission, the lack of clarity and on the part of our country that will engage the rest of the world. the world will be fully involved, not just on paper, not just window dressing as many nations have signed on in

support of our mission, but really not, not in a meaningful material way, yet they will. i think we can take this to the enemy. we have certain tools that we need to make sure we can access. one is good intelligence. we have to work with our partners throughout the world and have access to good data to know where and what they are trying to do and second one is intercept their financing capabilities and the financing is a key element involved in what particularly isis has to do in funding their own caliphate and require millions of dollars every day to sustain themselves and right now they have broadened the scope of their capabilities. i just returned from south america two weeks ago, meeting there with officials, leaders and four south american countries and they are fully aware there's money that is

being transferred through the financial system. they do not have the capabilities -- we have sophisticated technologies that we have to work with with our partners to be able to access and help us intercept and transfer these funds. the funding and two things we have to strengthen and be in our best capabilities. host: did you sense cooperation from the south american countries? guest: we were in columbia and discouraged that they don't spray the cocoa plant and this is an agreement between farc and the agreement. and this was a negotiation. we were in par gay, argentina and argentina is the most equipped. they don't have the ability to

prosecute, to investigate, but they don't have the technology to be able to adapt and work with us and we have to find ways to support that. host: you are the vice chair of the task force and held a hearing yesterday about isis market d why is there a for this? guest: they are appreciated in the arts community and very valuable. these go back for centuries and thousands of years and those have been exploited by isis in syria and iraq. the christian community, muslim community, all these very luable antiques will seek to put them through the market and try to sell them as part of their building their financial assets and capabilities. host: eric, mount vernon, new

york, democrat. caller: i have a comment and a question. i'm a vietnam vet and served two hours. guest: thank you, sir. caller: when the president is negotiating, the congress never contradicted him. never made the president look negotiation. the question i'm having for you which i'm having a hard time is, everybody blames this current administration for all the problems. every time he goes somewhere, they want to really beat him down and criticize his tactics and method and intelligence, when, in fact, wouldn't it be better if you allowed the negotiations to go on and not criticize him, but what's most troubling, again, you reference

ronald reagan. back in those days, both the democrats have had a common goal. once they got in office, they really tried to work this out and nobody got 100% of what they wanted but they had the interest of the american people at heart. all i hear from you, many of the colleagues is you want to blame, blame, blame and don't pass any bills. you don't move the country forward and you don't work together. and that is what the typical problem is. host: i want to have the congressman respond to what you are saying. guest: i appreciate the sincerity of your question and my answer is not to undercut the president whatsoever. what is needed during the dialogue is a clear understanding and perspective of how our friends view us at this time, and this is frankly my analysis having just returned

from saudi arabia late this last year, i was there in december and met with saudi leaders and have a pretty clear understanding of the thinking. my intent is not to undercut the president but consider what your problems are out there and what you are trying to resolve and have a clear understanding of that and only from that standpoint can you properly address this situation. host: what do you think this means, saudi arabia borrows $10 billion as oil pump drains reserves. it is raising money from global banks as it embarks on its first borrowing in 25 years to counter dwindling oil reserves. guest: they pushed the lever on this in terms of the -- the availability and i think they are seeing the impact on them as the, not just on russia and

united states. there is a big impact on the united states and i was clear on that when i was with the saudis and if you are our friend, what you are doing is destroying our market as well. host: that is cutting oil production. guest: yes. that's what they have done. so i think -- i had honest dialogue with our partners as well. i just don't try to play indicate what they are doing. we need to have an honest exchange. i want all the listeners to know that america needs to have clear direct communication with our allies and outcomes of the policies and how they affect us. host: george in new jersey, republican.

caller: thank you for your service. the fastest to win a war is get every american in that war and give us a method. f.d.r. is the model of success and used the outrage from pearl harbor for everyone to get off the couch and today's leaders have failed to utilize the outrage from these terror attacks for incentives. i feel so passionately about this that i started a website, a nonprofit effort to get every american to voluntarily train that pets to smell explosives. if we succeed this, we leave terrorists with no place to hide. and this just doesn't work in america, it works around the world. the problem is an effort can't go anywhere without leadership from people like yourself and what did you think about the web

site? guest: why not? i think we should use every tool possible. the president and the administration needs to be clear on the mission and we need to call out who our adversary is and call them who they are, islamic terrorists and that enables the american people to focus on what our mission is about. host: president obama visited c.i.a. headquarters last week and here's what he had to say. president obama: from brussels to istanbul to iraq where isil slaughtered children watching soccer, these did he praved terrorists have the ability to inflict violence to the revullings of the entire world. with attacks like these, isil hopes to weaken our collective resolve and once again they have

failed. it stiffens our unity and determination to wipe this vial terrorist organization off the face of the earth. today on the grounds in syria and iraq, isil is on the defensive. 66-member coalition including arab partners is on the offensive. we have momentum and we intend to keep that momentum. our air campaign, more than 1,-- 11,500 strikes so far continues to pound isil targets. harder than ever for them to move and for their masses to -- or for them to mass forces. when they try, we take them out. isil has managed to advance in some areas of syria and iraq, but it has not had a single successful major operation on the ground there since last summer. host: do you agree? guest: i agree with the

assessment of how isis is, but i can't say the president stepped commencesure that in a way. n -- commence rate they are not engaged in the process. they put their arm around us and ll with you, they are not, and we have been restricted in the saudis, very hard to get the president to move on that. he was concerned. and that's not where we need to be thinking in terms of the real priority of the mission. host: are you talking about air strikes? guest: air strikes. move oil through the country, pretty easy to identify what those trucks for.

host: worried about civilian casualties. guest: in contrast to the horror that will be inflicted as a result of selling the oil and funding terrorism. it was misplaced priorities with misguided policies as a result of it. now they have stepped up, the saudis, in some measure, but i believe that there still has been a restriction on where they are allowed to bomb and what they are allowed to do. and need the military to run this mission. host citizens at risk. the pentagon has delegated more authority to the commander of the army and civilians could be killed. previously authority for a mission with the potential had been made.

guest: again, we are late coming to the table and a lot has happened, late to the proposal. and the president should have engaged this and look at the downside what has taken place from the time took out all of our troops in iraq and left nothing there and that left the -- us open down to the limited nature we fought this water. water has gone under the bridge

and we can only hope and work with our allies and find out ways that we can recapture this momentum again. host: katherine in ohio, a democrat. caller: i'm a big c-span watcher. and my question is, are you sitting there on c-span trying to tell us that the country of ally in the main middle east supports this going to bed americans with the saudis. i'm sorry that you are not telling us the truth. host: why do you say that? caller: israel does not want us to be in bed with anybody in the middle east. and especially not saudis. the saudis want us to do their work because they're not physically, morally and apt to do it themselves. host: let's get a response.

guest: thank you for your inquiry. israel fully recognizes the threat of islamic terrorism. not only israel but the entire middle east and the entire world and israel works with our other partners in the middle east. they have been an enormous asset and assistance in egypt in fighting the muslim brotherhood in the sinai. don't discount the role israel has played. and very effective way. host: massachusetts, independent, your question. caller: i think it is disgraceful that the president and the republicans. these are slave states. it is genocidal against the whole planet. but these gulf states are slave states and right now the u.s. is supporting the slave states in

the war against yemen, the only country on the arabian peninsula isn't a slave state. the u.s. with its allies is rying to impose royaltyy and slavery. it is completely immoral and president obama and republicans working on this and it is against our democracy. they have done the same thing supporting the nazis in the ukraine and that was for fossil fuels. fossil fuels is not our future and i would like to see the democrats and republicans going to peace instead of supporting slaves as an excuse going to war. guest: i would say to you that there is no pure form of government. frankly, we have our own struggles within our own country. but as we look at the rest of

the world, it's desireous trying to replicate who we are and what we believe and the foundations of this great country and the freedoms and liberties that we have that don't exist in many parts of the world. we have a mission. we have adversaries and many people play a part in that role and if we get so pureist we cannot acknowledge the role that individuals play. countries are in the process of reform, some of them grudingly. for example in egypt, there has been an enormous transformation, they elected a president a parallelment and i was with the president and said this will not be regime and i will not serve more than two terms. i believe him because i met when

he was the head of the military. and egypt is not a perfect state today. i have had concerns with what's taking place in the imprisonment of people in egypt. and the same is true of saudis. in qatar, i have struggles in qatar. they have a major base for us over there, yet at the same time we have problems with funding. we have issues with turkey. we have issues with kuwait. this is very complicated and can't discount the rest of the world and say we aren't going to work with you because of the problems that you have that we don't respect or don't approve it. host: jacqueline, republican from philadelphia. caller: i'm an 80 years old oman you want me to sing a donald trump song.

my grandchildren love you. this is what i want to say. when i'm in the kindergarten classes and i'm left alone and the children get out of hand -- >> we will return to live house coverage as members have returned from a recess to begin a passage of votes. the speaker pro tempore: unfinished

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 177 and the nays are 245. the question is on passage of the bill. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, for what purpose does the gentleman from -- >> i ask tore a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote

[captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: the as are 254 and the nays is

1706789 without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid pon the table. the house will come to order. please clear the floor, please take all conversations off the floor. he house will come to order. the house will come to order. please clear the well, please lear the aisles. he house will come to order.

the house will come to order. please clear the aisles, take all conversations off the floor. he house will come to order. the house will come to order. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for one minute for the purpose of making an announcement. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. sessions: this morning the rules committee issued an announcement outlining the amendment process for h.r. 4498. the amendment deadline has been set for monday, april 25, at