Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, tomorrow will mark the 13th anniversary of the terrorist attack of 9/11. It is a day for us to remember and mourn those we lost, to comfort those who suffer still, and to honor those who responded on that day with courage and determination.

In New York on those dark days, there were thousands of anonymous civilians and first responders who, without a second's thought, gave their aid. They ran into burning buildings to save the lives of others. It is a day on which we lost 3,000 people, and thousands more lost their health in the wake of 9/11.

In response to the health crisis that the responders and others faced, this Congress came together in a bipartisan way and introduced the Zadroga Act. The Zadroga Act would provide health care to those who risked their lives to save the lives of others.

Whenever we talk about 9/11, we have to acknowledge the heroes and heroines of 9/11, some who lost their lives that day and those who are still sick and dying from the injuries and illnesses related to 9/11. As a Congress, we came together in groups all over America to comfort one another, and we stood together in our Nation's capital and vowed that we would never forget.

Never forget means that we don't forget next year or today, but we are always there to honor and to provide the health care to those who risked their lives to save the lives of others that day.

We came together this week in New York with a determination to put forward a reauthorization of the Zadroga Act for 25 years, which would continue this program, so that the certainty would be there, so that the services and health care would be there for the first responders, the victims, the residents, and others who became ill.

That vow of never forget comes with an obligation on the part of Congress, which is to ensure that we as a country remember, honor, and care for those who are now sick and for those who may still become sick from exposure to the deadly toxin mixes down at 9/11, mixes of fuel and glass and toxins and all kinds of chemicals that they breathed that day.

A major piece of that promise was the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. This legislation established the World Trade Center Health Program to provide medical monitoring and treatment for 9/11- related illnesses and reopened the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund to provide for economic losses and harm incurred from the aftermath of the attacks.

We know that there are thousands of individuals with at least one 9/ 11-related illness or injury. That includes over 2,900 people in the World Trade Center Health Program who have been diagnosed with cancer.

We know that more than 800 New York Fire Department members and more than 550 New York Police Department personnel are struggling with serious 9/11-related illnesses.

We know that we have already lost over 70 firefighters and 60 New York Police Department officers who have died from their 9/11-related illnesses since 9/11. These are people who got sick while working at the pile, and they have died because of their exposure.

We must continue to provide the specialized medical monitoring and care these heroes received through the World Trade Center Health Program and continue to provide economic compensation for the terrible costs they have borne by caring for those who cared so much for us.

As it stands, the Zadroga Act is set to expire in October 2015, yet the medical and economic crises of sick 9/11 responders and suffering survivors will not end in 2 years. They will only get worse over time. Research shows significantly higher rates of cancer among the 9/11 population, a disease with a long latency period. Diseases can take decades to manifest themselves.

That is why I plan to introduce, along with Peter King, Jerry Nadler, the New York delegation, and many others, legislation that would reauthorize the Zadroga Act's program for 25 years.

Named after Detective Zadroga, who was the first to die from 9/11- related injuries, many others have been helped through this important program. It would continue the specialized Centers of Excellence, the national health program, the research into new medical conditions, and the victims compensation fund for those who may develop 9/11 illnesses later and suffer related economic damages.

This is not just a New York issue, and I would like to share this map with my colleagues to demonstrate how widespread it is. This map shows that there were first responders and volunteers who came from every corner of America.

They returned to their hometowns, and that is why we have Centers of Excellence across this country to serve the responders and the volunteers who came to 9/11. Many of them are now sick from the toxins that they were exposed to at Ground Zero.

Some from the tristate area have since moved to other parts of the country. The map demonstrates the health programs participating, and participants are in 429 of the 435 congressional districts. This means that in almost every Member's district, there are constituents who are accessing or who are being treated under the Zadroga health program.

These are your constituents who are being monitored and who may be receiving treatment for 9/11-related diseases.

These Zadroga Act programs are vital to the sick and dying. They are vital to those to whom we said we will never forget. If we do not continue this program, then we are forgetting, so it is critical that we keep this promise and renew this program.

Together, we can affirm what we said 13 years ago, that we will never forget what happened here, that we will never forget what was endured, and that we will never forget what we promised.

As I said, this map illustrates that the populations in most of the congressional districts are being served by this.

Today, there was a Gold Medal given to the museum in New York City for 9/11, to the museum at the Pentagon for 9/11, and to the museum in Pennsylvania for 9/11. I urge my colleagues to visit all of these museums and the National September 11 Memorial and Museum which, so far, has had more than 14 million visitors since opening in September of 2011.

The museum serves as the focal point to examining the implications of the events of 9/11, documenting the impact of these events, and exploring the continuing significance of September 11, 2001. The 12,000 artifacts, 23,000 images, and almost 2,000 oral stories displayed at the museum remind all of us of that tragedy and what befell and happened that day.

I want to tell the story of the man with the red bandana. He has since been identified as an equities trader who stayed behind and tied a red bandana around his face and helped many, many people get rescued, yet he fell when the towers fell.

It tells the brave stories of many heroes and heroines--of first responders and participants--who helped others in the burning buildings that day.

Now the museum has a new exhibit, one that marks an important event in our Nation's response to 9/11. It now displays at the museum a uniform worn by one of the members of SEAL Team Six.

This is the courageous team that raided Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was found and killed. It is a magnificent exhibit. I am proud to have had a role in helping to secure this artifact, and I hope people will have the opportunity to visit this new exhibit.

The story of 9/11 is not just of the suffering and of the tragedy of that day, but also of the response--how we came together, united and determined, as a Congress. We came together to fight back, and I have never seen us work so strongly towards a common goal.

In 2002, Congress created the Department of Homeland Security, which brought together 22 separate agencies and offices into a single Cabinet-level department in order to secure our country from threats such as border security and cybersecurity, as well as coordinating efforts to respond to emergencies.

We also created the bipartisan 9/11 Congressional Caucus, which eventually led to the creation of the 9/11 Commission to investigate what exactly went wrong with our security and to make recommendations to protect our Nation against a terrorist attack.

The Commission and its staff reviewed over 2.5 million pages of documents; interviewed over 1,200 individuals in 12 countries, including every relevant senior official of both the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations; and held 19 days of public hearings across the country, with over 160 witnesses testifying.

This independent bipartisan Commission produced a book, the ``9/11 Commission Report,'' which is a well-informed report that served as a blueprint for improving our security. The book sold more copies than Harry Potter, and it came out with suggestions of what we needed to do to make our country safer.

Released in August of 2004, the Commission's report diagnosed the national security failures that led to 9/11 and offered steps that we needed to take to avoid future attacks. We worked together in the Congress--Chris Shays and myself and other Members of Congress--to support all of the 9/11 Commission Caucus' recommendations and the Commission recommendations.

This led to the biggest reorganization of our country's security system, the biggest reorganization of our government, since 1948, after World War II, and it created the Department of Homeland Security and forced all of the independent intelligence agencies to share information, not only on the national level but on the local level, with people who were working in the intelligence area for our protection.

Since 9/11, former Police Commissioner Kelly has informed us that well over 14 attacks on the city of New York were stopped because of the improved intelligence and police work that came out of this reorganization that we passed and put in place in Congress.

Congress established a whole Civil Liberties Oversight Board in 2004 and later strengthened it in 2007. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board was there to ensure that privacy and civil liberties concerns are fully considered when implementing antiterrorism laws, regulations, and executive branch policies.

So the story of 9/11 is not only the suffering, the health challenges, but also the story of how this Congress came together to address the challenges to reorganize, rebuild, change our government, our intelligence system, and put in place many safety measures that have served us well and have built our country into a stronger country and one that is better able to address terrorist attacks.

I am pleased to have with me now Jerrold Nadler from New York. He represents the 9/11 site. It is in the district that he is privileged to represent. He has worked long and hard not only on the 9/11 Caucus, on the 9/11 Commission Report, the laws that we have worked hard to put into law, but also the Zadroga Act, which together we worked on for over a decade, and yet it is now nearing a time when it will expire.

We have to make sure that this bill is reauthorized and that never forget means just that, that we will never forget, and that means continuing the health care and compensation for those who sacrificed so much to help others. They were there for us. We need to be there for them.

I would now like to yield to the gentleman from the great State of New York, Jerry Nadler.

I thank the gentleman for his leadership on this issue and so many other important issues.

I would now like to recognize a leader on this issue from New York, Representative of Staten Island and Brooklyn, Congressman Grimm.

I thank the gentleman for his leadership and for joining us tonight on this Special Order.

Tonight is a time to remember how just 13 years ago, this entire country and even this fractious Congress came together. We were united and determined as I have ever seen this Congress before, strong in our resolve and ready,

without question, to put country before self.

We worked together to bring comfort to the afflicted and justice to the terrorists behind this attack. With bipartisan cooperation, we rebuilt Lower Manhattan, the Pentagon, and put in place a memorial in Pennsylvania honoring the heroes on United Flight 93 that was headed towards our Nation's Capitol.

There is still much more left to do, and we need to have that same spirit to approach the challenges, such as the crucial Anti-Terrorism Risk Insurance Plan, the TRIA bill, has not been reauthorized yet, and the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 needs to be reauthorized. This and still much more needs to be done, not some day, but now.

Around 9/11, there is a great deal of rhetoric, but actions speak more than words. Let us come together, and let us get these two important bills and other bills done in a bipartisan way.

We shall never forget.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 7 o'clock and 1 minute p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Thursday, September 11, 2014, at 9 a.m.

Mr. Speaker, it is time to further address the epidemic of sexual assaults at our nation's college and university campuses. During some of the most formative years of their lives, students across the country should not have to live in fear of being stalked or abused. That is why a bipartisan group have come together to introduce the Campus Accountability and Safety Act that will address ambiguities in the law, strengthen protections and enforcement, and improve reporting by universities.

The changes included in the recent Violence Against Women Act reauthorization from the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act are starting to go into effect but more must be done. Rape is a horrific crime that exacts a physical and psychological toll on survivors. Women trying to get an education should not have to worry that they might also be victimized by predators on their campuses. This new legislation establishes new campus resources such as Confidential Advisors who will serve as a confidential resource and help coordinate support services; ensures specialized training and minimum standards for on-campus personnel who oversee sexual assault cases; creates new annual standardized, anonymous surveys that will be published online to help high school students and their parents make informed choices when comparing universities; requires a uniform process for campus disciplinary proceedings; no longer allows athletic departments or other subgroups to handle sexual violence complaints separately; and establishes penalties if schools do not comply with the legislation.

I applaud the work of our colleagues in the Senate on their comprehensive and bipartisan bill, and thank my colleagues, Reps. Patrick Meehan, Ted Poe, Cheri Bustos, Gwen Moore, Suzanne Bonamici, Susan Brooks, Renee Ellmers, Lynn Jenkins, Shelley Moore Capito, Kristi Noem, Lucille Roybal-Allard, Tom Reed, Robert Scott, Lois Frankel, David Joyce, Ann Kuster, and Gary Peters, for teaming up on this legislation. I am hopeful that the House will take up this effort in tandem with the Senate so that we can put a bill on the President's desk.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in honor of July 20th, a special day of remembrance for the families and loved ones of all those who have suffered so greatly as the result of one of the biggest national tragedies in modern Greek History--the 1974 illegal invasion and

occupation of the island of Cyprus by Turkish soldiers.

On July 20th, 40 years will have passed since the invasion forced nearly two hundred thousand Greek Cypriots to leave their homes in the occupied area and become refugees in their own country.

Turkey continues to forcibly occupy more than one-third of Cyprus with more than 43,000 troops. This amounts to almost one Turkish soldier for every two Turkish Cypriots.

To date, Turkey has repeatedly ignored all U.N. Resolutions pertaining to Cyprus and has continued to occupy the island in complete violation of international law.

As the co-chair and co-founder of the Congressional Hellenic Caucus, I fully support the reunification of Cyprus, and I am encouraged by the commitment of the Government of Cyprus to the UN-sponsored reunification talks.

I believe the partnership between America and Cyprus is based on mutual respect, a commitment to common goals, and a sharing of fundamental values.

I hope the recently renewed peace talks will allow Cyprus to take advantage of their gas reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the ability to work with another strong ally, Israel, to deliver natural gas to Europe.

It is up to Congress to continue to make our voices heard on our ultimate goal of a reunified and prosperous Cyprus where Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots can live together in peace, security and stability.

Madam Speaker, I rise once again to highlight the harmful, hypocritical influence of the gun lobby in America.

Just last week, The New York Times columnist, Joe Nocera, relayed the story of Andy Raymond, a Maryland gun dealer who faced death threats and hate mail from pro-gun radicals, all for trying to sell a gun that could save lives, the smart gun.

Smart gun technology is a breakthrough, one that could prevent thousands of accidental deaths and keep criminals from using stolen guns, yet intimidation and threats keep these products from the market while the gun lobby stands idle.

Last month, Senator Markey and I called on the NRA to denounce these so-called activists and their threats. They are all that stands between consumers and safer gun technology, and we cannot allow harassment and threats to continue while 45 Americans are shot, on average, in a gun accident every single day in America.

Smart guns can stop this.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership on the Oversight Committee. I thank him and Chairman Issa for moving this legislation through the committee. It would rename a United States Postal Service facility located in my district at 450 Lexington Avenue after Vincent R. Sombrotto, who is one of the most significant labor leaders of his generation.

Like many of his Postal Service colleagues, Vincent Sombrotto traded his military uniform for a letter carrier's uniform, and he wore both with great distinction.

As a letter carrier at New York City's Grand Central Station in the district I represent, Mr. Sombrotto led the 1970 wildcat postal strike that led Congress to reorganize the modern United States Postal Service.

Later elected as president of the National Association of Letter Carriers, their 16th president, serving from 1978 to 2002, Mr. Sombrotto worked to increase letter carrier wages, moving them from poverty level into middle class levels.

In 1992, he began the National Association of Letter Carrier's food drive, which has developed into the country's biggest 1-day food drive in the entire country. Since it started, the drive has provided more than 1.2 billion pounds of food for food banks in communities throughout the United States.

As a firm believer in civic responsibility, Mr. Sombrotto worked with the United States Postal Service and emergency services organizations to establish Carrier Alert. Carrier Alert is a nationwide program allowing postal carriers to perform humanitarian deeds on their routes, including saving lives, finding missing children and pets, and looking after the elderly.

I urge my colleagues to honor Mr. Sombrotto, who worked to improve the lives of letter carriers, their families, and their communities by supporting H.R. 2291.

Mr. Speaker, it was 3 months ago that the terrorist group Boko Haram attacked and kidnapped 276 female students. They were children, some 12 and 13 years old. Since then, more have been kidnapped, and some have escaped.

This Congress has a positive role to play by supporting U.S. and U.N. efforts to bring these girls home and to bring peace to Nigeria and Africa by supporting investments, by bringing development to Africa, and by encouraging all involved to do all they can to bring these frightened children home.

The African leaders have a role to play. They should be leading this effort in helping to rescue these children.

I will never forget how the world came together for one brief moment in the wake of 9/11 to support America.

``We are all Americans,'' the world said as one. I would wish now that the world would say that, until we bring these young girls home, we are all African.

Mr. Speaker, the good news is the June jobs report has been described by some as a ``blockbuster'' and a ``great success,'' but it could have been better.

In the June report, the economy added over 288,000 private sector jobs. That is five straight months in which 200,000 private sector jobs were added. This is the best performance since the boom years in the late 1990s.

The good news is that unemployment is down to pre-recession levels, but the bad news is that it could have been better.

Extending emergency unemployment benefits would have added another 200,000 jobs, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This, combined with the government shutdown, fights over the debt ceiling, governing by crisis, all prevented job growth from being even stronger.

Our economy has proved to be incredibly resilient. Imagine what we could do if 6 months from now we extended unemployment benefits; reauthorized the highway trust fund, which preserves another 700,000 jobs; and reauthorized the Export-Import Bank. All of this would create jobs.

Let's work together to create these jobs and pass these important programs.

Mr. Speaker, the terrorist who is at this moment leading insurgent attacks against Iraq and cities in Iraq reportedly once said to U.S. soldiers, ``I will see you guys in New York.''

When he said it, he didn't mean he wanted to go to a Broadway show like ``Jersey Boys'' or ``Beautiful.'' New York has been and continues to be a target for terrorists to attack. It is a towering symbol of all that makes America so exceptional. That is why it is so important for Congress to get the changes that were being made to the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act absolutely correct.

The TRIA bill that was recently reported out of the Financial Services Committee, as it now stands, would drive small- and medium- sized insurers out of the market and actually reduce the amount of insurance available. That is just the wrong way to go.

At a time like this, Congress should acknowledge that a very real threat still exists and pass the strongest TRIA bill possible. It is important to the American economy, and it is important for American jobs.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership in so many ways in this body.

I rise in opposition to H.R. 4413. This bill would impose unnecessary burdens on the CFTC and would restrict our financial regulators' ability to regulate cross-border derivatives.

Dodd-Frank brought the previously unregulated derivatives market out of the shadows and created a robust regulatory regime for derivatives. One of the core principles of this regulatory regime was that if the United States is ultimately bearing the risk on a derivative, then you have to comply with the Dodd-Frank rules.

One of the reasons that the U.S. markets are so strong is because investors have confidence in our markets and in our market participants. I am concerned that this bill, particularly in the cross- border area, could undermine that confidence.

For foreign derivatives entered into by a U.S. bank, the bank can only avoid complying with Dodd-Frank rules if they are already complying with regulations that are at least equivalent or stronger than Dodd-Frank rules. This bill, unfortunately, establishes a presumption that the derivatives rules in London and the EU are equivalent to Dodd-Frank, even though we know that is not true. The truth is London and the EU are well behind the United States on financial reform, and it may take many years for them to become equivalent to our rules. This is in my view a very real concern and presents an undue risk to the United States financial system and to our investors and to our taxpayers. This is why I cannot support this bill.

Mr. Chairman, I include for the Record two letters, one from Americans for Financial Reform and one from the Center For Progressive Reform.

Americans for Financial Reform,

Washington, DC, June 16, 2014.

Dear Representative, on behalf of Americans for Financial

Reform, we are writing to express our opposition to HR 4413,

``The Customer Protection and End User Relief Act''. This

legislation would have a severe negative impact on the

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and its ability

to police commodities and derivatives markets crucial to our

economy. The new restrictions it places on CFTC rulemaking

would require additional years of bureaucratic and legal red

tape prior to agency action, even in areas where Congress has

clearly directed the CFTC to act and where action is badly

needed to protect the public interest.

This legislation also includes no provisions that address

the CFTC's most fundamental problem--the lack of resources to

accomplish its mission. Due to both the agency's new

responsibilities under the Dodd-Frank Act for hundreds of

trillions of dollars in previously unregulated derivatives

markets, and the growth of the commodities markets the agency

has traditionally regulated, the size of CFTC-regulated

markets has increased roughly 15-fold over the last decade.

But funding for the agency lags enormously behind. As CFTC

commissioner Mark Wetjen recently stated, ``The unfortunate

reality is

that, at current funding levels, the agency is unable to

adequately fulfill the mission given to it by Congress: to

prevent disruptions to market integrity, to protect customer

assets, monitor and reduce the build-up of systemic risk, and

ensure to the greatest degree possible that derivatives

markets are free of fraud and manipulation''. The agency

authorization process could and should be an opportunity to

supplement appropriations with some form of agency self-

funding. Self-funding mechanisms are used by all other

financial regulatory agencies and have been endorsed by the

Obama Administration.

Instead of addressing the pressing problem of funding, HR

4413 would instead load down the CFTC with additional

mandates that would drain resources and act as a roadblock to

necessary oversight and enforcement. HR 4413 would more than

double the number of cost benefit analyses the agency must

perform prior to taking any action. Since any of these

analyses could serve as grounds for a lawsuit, this measure

would greatly expand Wall Street's ability to dispute any

agency action in court, tilting the regulatory playing field

still further in their favor. The legislation would also

create an initial presumption that CFTC rules did not apply

to so-called `cross-border' transactions, which include a

vast number of transactions involving foreign subsidiaries of

U.S. banks. The agency would have to perform a

`determination' (jointly with the Securities and Exchange

Commission) each time it wanted to regulate such

transactions. HR 4413 also includes additional internal

process requirements for the CFTC that would also act as

barriers to action. These additional requirements would

affect everything from the supervision of key employees to

the ability to respond to public requests for information.

In combination, these changes would greatly reduce the

CFTC's capacity to effectively police Wall Street. HR 4413

also includes many additional changes. Some of them, such as

amendments to indemnification requirements for swaps data

repositories, are reasonable. Other changes--including (but

not limited to) provisions that expand the definition of

`commercial end user' to include financial entities (Sections

321 and 352), exemptions for entities with billions of

dollars in swaps business from `swap dealer' oversight

(Section 355), provisions that would permit marketing of

complex institutional commodity pools to retail investors

(Section 357), and provisions that weaken limits on commodity

market speculation (Section 358)--raise serious questions of

their own.

But even before considering these issues, the major new

restrictions on the agency created by the cost-benefit and

cross-border provisions of this bill mean that supporting

needed derivatives regulation requires opposing this

legislation.

Provisions Related to Cost Benefit Analysis and Judicial Review

The CFTC already has a statutory requirement to consider

the costs and benefits of its actions, and to evaluate these

costs and benefits as applied to a long list of

considerations, including market efficiency, price discovery,

and protection of the public. Section 203 of HR 4413 would

massively expand this requirement. The section would more

than double than number of different factors the CFTC must

evaluate in any rulemaking, order, or guidance, and change

the standard of evaluation from consideration of costs and

benefits to a more extensive and burdensome `reasoned

determination' of costs and benefits. The section also

includes a particularly sweeping mandate that would require

the agency to determine whether an action 'maximizes net

benefits' compared to all possible regulatory alternatives.

This requirement alone, which seems to require comparison of

any actual regulation to a potentially vast number of

theoretical alternatives, could be read to require dozens of

additional agency analyses.

Some of this cost-benefit language does replicate cost-

benefit instructions from the Office of Management and Budget

that already applies to agencies within the executive branch,

although not to independent financial regulatory agencies

like the CFTC. In addition to this extension of reach, a

crucial difference is that since HR 4413 would add this

language in statute, each and every additional instruction

regarding cost-benefit analysis could become grounds for a

Wall Street lawsuit against a CFTC rule. The extensive new

cost-benefit requirements in Section 203 amount to a roadmap

for industry interests to tie up regulations in endless

litigation, delays, and red tape. With critical rulemakings

to implement new requirements like position limits to control

commodity price manipulation still incomplete almost four

years after they became law, the addition of new barriers to

action would be dramatic movement in the wrong direction.

Heightening the effect of the new cost-benefit provisions

are new internal process requirements in Section 204 of the

legislation. Section 204 would apparently change the CFTC's

internal structure so that the entire five-member Commission

directly supervised the activities of all key division

directors. These key employees would `serve at the pleasure'

of the entire Commission, `report directly' to the entire

Commission, and perform duties as prescribed by the entire

Commission. Currently, as in other Federal agencies

supervised by a multi-member Commission, the Chair of the

CFTC supervises the employees of the Commission. Giving

direct control of all employee activities to an entire five-

member Commission is a recipe for endless delay and

bureaucratic red tape. Currently, individual Commissioners

are able to hire their own personal staff and express their

views on Commission activities through the voting process.

Should this legislation pass, any individual Commissioner,

even if their views were in the minority, could interfere

directly with the activities of Commission staff in

implementing the law.

Provisions Relating to International Derivatives Markets

Section 359 of the bill contains sweeping new restrictions

on the ability of the CFTC to properly oversee derivatives

transactions conducted through foreign subsidiaries of U.S.

banks, even when such transactions have a direct and

significant connection to the U.S. economy. We need only look

at the example of J.P Morgan's `London Whale' transactions,

or the London derivatives transactions of AIG Financial

Products which resulted in the largest bailout in U.S.

history, to see that derivatives transactions conducted

through nominally overseas entities can have a profound

impact on the U.S. economy. Over half of Wall Street

derivatives transactions are currently booked in nominally

foreign subsidiaries, and it is very likely that more could

easily be transacted in this way if there was an incentive to

do so to avoid regulation.

Section 359 of the bill, mirroring the `Swaps Jurisdiction

Certainty Act', controversial legislation which recently

passed the House on a 301 to 124 vote, would create a

presumption that U.S. rules would not govern transactions

booked in major foreign jurisdictions. The legislation would

force U.S. regulators to accept foreign rules for derivatives

transactions booked by U.S. banks in any of the nine largest

global financial markets. The CFTC could overturn this

presumption that foreign rules would apply, but only through

a complex procedure involving a joint determination with the

Securities and Exchange Commission that foreign rules were

not `broadly equivalent' to U.S. rules, supported by an

official report to Congress. Furthermore, any rules governing

these cross-border derivatives would have to be identical

between the SEC and the CFTC, despite the fact that these

agencies regulate very different parts of the derivatives

markets and have differing jurisdictional authority under the

Dodd-Frank Act.

The drastic new limitations placed on CFTC jurisdiction

over cross-border derivatives would have a profound impact on

the ability of U.S. regulators to properly oversee

derivatives transactions. It would effectively overturn a key

provision in Section 722 of the Dodd Frank Act that gives the

CFTC jurisdiction over all swaps transactions that have a

`direct and significant' effect on the U.S. economy. This

provision of Dodd-Frank was put in place precisely to ensure

that the trillions of dollars in swaps booked in offshore

subsidiaries would be properly regulated and would not

endanger the U.S. economy.

As mentioned above, this legislation also includes numerous

other provisions targeted at various areas of CFTC

regulation. Some of these provisions would take positive

steps, while others could roll back financial protection in

troubling ways. But even before considering these and other

provisions positive or negative, the major new burdens the

cost-benefit and international derivatives provisions of this

bill place on the basic ability of the CFTC to do its job

create overwhelming reasons to reject this legislation as

currently written.

We urge you to vote against HR 4413 and preserve the CFTC's

capacity to properly regulate crucial futures and derivatives

markets. Thank you for your consideration. For more

information please contact AFR's Policy Director, Marcus

Stanley.

Sincerely,

Americans for Finincial Reform.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce bipartisan legislation along with my colleagues on the Human Trafficking Caucus, Rep. Chris Smith.

Very few Americans are aware that many of the goods they use everyday are tainted by human trafficking or the worst forms of child labor. According to the U.S. Department of Labor's 2012 List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor, 134 goods from 74 countries were made by forced and child labor. This bill will increase transparency in supply chains in order to remove slavery from business operations and products.

The Business Supply Chain Transparency on Trafficking and Slavery Act doesn't tell businesses what to do, but rather to tell consumers what they are doing to end human slavery.

This bill will give consumers the tools they need to know where and how their goods are being made. While there are good actors, there are businesses operating in parts of the world that rely on enslaved humans to produce their products. We believe American consumers have a right to know who these companies are.

This legislation creates a market-based solution rather than relying on prescriptive action by the federal government. Large global companies already reporting to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) simply need to include what they are doing to rid their supply chains of human slavery. This information will then be posted on the company, SEC, and Department of Labor (DOL) websites for easy public access. Consumers will be able to research a company and determine their purchasing decisions based on the information provided. Very simply, this bill creates competition to improve practices to end slavery by providing the public with information about what companies are doing to address slavery.

Human trafficking is the 21st century slavery. It is estimated that over 20 million people are working in some form of forced labor worldwide. We must use every tool available to help men, women, and children around the world who fall victim to the scourge of human trafficking, forced labor, and the worst forms of child labor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the reauthorization of TRIA, the antiterrorism risk insurance program, which will soon expire. This is a vitally needed program that helps the economy of our country. It was put in place after the 9/11 attacks, and it helped our country rebuild.

After 9/11, you could not get an insurance policy for even a hot dog stand in New York. You had to go to Lloyd's of London. It was tremendously expensive to get any type of insurance, but this program did exactly what it was expected to do. It allowed us to rebuild. It had a government backstop, and it did not cost the taxpayer one penny; yet it helped us build jobs and rebuild our economy.

We have so many government programs that don't work. This is one that did exactly what it was supposed to do and at no additional cost. We need to have a plan in place, so, God forbid, if we are attacked again, we have a plan of how to respond and how to rebuild. This is a program that has worked, and we need to reauthorize it.

Mr. Speaker, together, women and minorities comprise 2/3 of the entire United States workforce. Women today make up half of the current workforce, yet they still hold less than a quarter of all Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) jobs. Minority populations including African-American, Hispanic, and Asian populations make up only 28 percent of the STEM workforce.

Between 2010 and 2020, STEM career fields are expected to grow by 8.5 million jobs. These jobs pay 35 more percent than jobs in other fields. Furthermore, there is a great demand for workers with scientific, technological, engineering, and mathematics-based skills. STEM-educated graduates are more likely to find jobs in the manufacturing sector, the industry most likely to boost our economy and increase competition.

Background in a STEM education is essential to the many jobs that are opening in the manufacturing industry. America's manufacturing sector has led our economic recovery and will help the United States remain competitive in economic competition with emerging economies. However, in order to return to pre-recession level, the manufacturing sector must add 1.7 million jobs. Women and minorities engaged in STEM training have greater opportunity to contribute to the manufacturing sector and boost our global economy.

That is why I'm introducing the House version of S. 288, the Women and Minorities in STEM Booster Act of 2014. This bill will authorize competitive grant programs for three years through the National Science Foundation. The grants will go to online workshops, mentoring programs, internships, and outreach programs to engage women and minorities in STEM university departments, educational partnerships, and non-profit organizations to encourage the participation of women and minorities in

Mr. Speaker, last month, this body passed H.R. 863, a bill I authored along with the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. Blackburn). This bill would create a national commission to develop a plan for a national women's history museum on or near the Mall in Washington, D.C.

This would be the first national women's history museum in our country and, I believe, in the world. It passed this body with a huge bipartisan support and vote.

My friends and colleagues in the other body, Senators Susan Collins and Barbara Mikulski, are working hard to pass this bill, and I hope their colleagues in the Senate will move quickly and allow an up-or- down vote.

Passing this bill won't cost taxpayers a single dime, but it will be a valuable first step in honoring our Nation's foremothers and inspiring future generations of women.

Mr. Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment offered by the gentleman from Texas.

As a longtime supporter of the Census Bureau's work and the American Community Survey, I urge the Committee to keep this survey as current law provides.

The ACS is a vital resource for all of us in Congress, the federal agencies, and private businesses.

The accurate, timely data collected through this survey is the basis for over $415 billion allocated by the federal government to states and localities--over two-thirds of all federal grant funding.

Accurate data ensures that these federal dollars go where they are needed--and where Congress intended. This amendment would undermine the accuracy of the ACS and deprive our agencies of this vital information.

But it's not just government. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and its members know the value of census data. The Chamber stated that ``ACS data points are critical for business decision-making and long range planning.''

Businesses from restaurants, to retailers, to developers know that accurate information about our population is critical for their marketing and expansion activity. This amendment would remove a crucial recourse that helps businesses expand and create jobs.

What's more, we know what would happen if this amendment passes.

In 2003, the Census Bureau tested a voluntary ACS to disastrous results. Response rates plummeted by at least 20 percent, and

in 2012, the Bureau estimated that a voluntary survey maintaining the current reliability would cost taxpayers an additional $120 million each year.

A voluntary response survey would especially undermine our information about rural areas and low-income households. The Census Project estimates that with the change proposed by this amendment, the Bureau could not publish data for up to 40 percent of all counties in the country.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to look beyond the quick headline or talking point, and truly understand the importance of the American Community Survey.

For policymakers, for researchers, for businesses--this data set helps answer our most pressing questions.

This misguided amendment will undermine the ACS and deprive all Americans of this critically important information.