Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, somewhere in America a young child will not be able to see their immigrant parents come home this evening. In every State in the Union, there are individuals that are undocumented that simply want an opportunity to work and dream here in America.

I am in the midst of a 1-day fast to encourage the passage of reasonable, sensible, comprehensive immigration reform. Yesterday, 119 Houstonians stood with me to commit to fasting until this bill of comprehensive immigration reform is passed: border security; earned access to citizenship; elements of paying fines; elements of doing charitable work; ensuring that the arts and businesses come together and have the resources and talent that they need; and creating jobs.

In Texas, there are 400,000 immigrants with some billion-plus dollars. Removing that would have a terrible impact on the economy. Passing comprehensive immigration reform is not only economically sound, but it is the

humane, dignified thing to do. This Congress must come together, Republicans and Democrats, and give dignity to those soldiers and others who simply want an opportunity to serve and be part of the American Dream.

To my Haitian constituents, those of Haitian descent in Houston, Texas, and those around the Nation, I want you to know that we have not forgotten you.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in memory of the victims of the Haitian earthquake that took so many hundreds of thousands of Haitian citizens in a terrible, massive disaster. Nearly 4 years after Haiti's devastating earthquake, there is still too little transparency and accountability, with too much work to do and too many Haitians suffering.

As Haitian Americans are caught up in our broken immigration system, it is important for them to know that we have not forgotten their loved ones. There are close to 300,000 people still living in tent camps, many of whom are facing forced evictions. Although there was a great deal of sympathy and help, now is the time to be able to look to those who are still suffering.

Cholera has killed over 8,400 Haitians and sickened over 689,000; hundreds of thousands of Haitians have little or no access to potable water or basic health services; Haiti is facing an impending food crisis; and the children are suffering, according to local and international organizations. That is why I have supported H.R. 3509, the Assessing Progress in Haiti Act of 2013. This legislation will give Congress information.

According to the GAO, Congress lacks information on the amount of funds that have been obligated and disbursed. But Congress must do something. They are our friends and neighbors; they are our allies, and Haiti cannot suffer this alone.

As I conclude, let me thank the Congressional Black Caucus for the work that it has done. Without ceasing, we will continue to work together and work with this Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to remember the victims of the massive earthquake in Haiti four years ago.

Nearly four years after Haiti's devastating earthquake, there is still far too little transparency and accountability around U.S. relief and reconstruction aid efforts.

There are close to 300,000 people still living in tent camps, many of whom are facing forced evictions. Cholera has killed over 8,400 Haitians and sickened over 689,400 since it was first introduced to Haiti in October of 2010.

Hundreds of thousands of Haitians have little or no access to potable water or basic health services, and Haiti is facing an impending food crisis according to local and international organizations, and the government of Haiti.

That is why we should pass H.R. 3509, the ``Assessing Progress in Haiti Act of 2013.'' This legislation, which I am proud to co-sponsor, will greatly assist Congress in overseeing U.S. assistance in Haiti by providing lawmakers, the U.S. public, and Haitians with key details on the manner in which U.S. taxpayer money is being spent.

According to the GAO, ``Congress lacks information on the amounts of funds obligated and disbursed and program-by-program progress of U.S. reconstruction activities [in Haiti].''

Mr. Speaker, the people of Haiti continue to face tremendous challenges and still need our help.

That is why it is essential that we ensure that U.S. assistance to Haiti is delivered efficiently is more essential than ever.

Let me thank the gentleman from Nevada (Mr. Horsford) and Mr. Jeffries again both for convening the Congressional Black Caucus, under your leadership and the leadership of our chairwoman, the honorable Marcia Fudge, and to be joining here on the floor, at least to date, with our colleague from New York, our colleague from North Carolina and our colleague from New Jersey, which is clearly showing the vast depth of this particular crisis going from South to North and to the far western State of Texas.

Let me say to those who are presently unemployed, the 72,000 a week that occurs as we stand on the floor of the House, that you can count on the Members on this floor, the Democratic Members, the Congressional Black Caucus and our good friends on the other side of the aisle, to recognize that this is not a partisan issue but an American issue.

Just a few weeks ago, or just last week, in fact, I had in the Houston Chronicle an op-ed that said the number one job of the House is to extend emergency unemployment aid. The program will help the economy by creating jobs and boosting growth.

I think it is important to emphasize and refute some of the negative stigma that comes from those who misunderstand what the unemployment benefit--or unemployment insurance, let's use that word--means. It means that individuals have actually worked. They are working people. They put into the idea of having an unemployment benefit, and the United States Federal Government determined in times of bad economic times to continue the 47 weeks through an emergency relief.

By the way, it was supported by President George Bush in 2008 when he offered to say that these individuals have worked previously, they are looking for work, and they deserve to be able to support their families.

Individuals like Anetta Parker, who has been looking for work for 2 years, who is holding up the very letter that she held up at my press conference in Houston to acknowledge that this is a letter that many people are getting in their mailboxes. Not only are they getting these letters, but they are not getting any indication for relief, call United Way, call social services. I can tell you, people who work do not have a tendency to know the local social services, and they are desperate. They get a letter that they are being cut off.

In the midst of this I met individuals who are looking for work and said, I am now homeless because those dollars were allowing me to pay week to week for a place to live, a place to clean myself, if you will, to make myself presentable for work, to look for work, which is a requirement of the emergency unemployment insurance benefit, and they are now on the streets.

Not only are they on the streets, Mr. Horsford, but when I went home on Friday and sat down again at the career and recovery resources to look for or to talk with more individuals, many of these persons are veterans, because veterans are taught to suck it up, and they have not even, in some instances, attempted to get these benefits--to those who would say that everybody just wants to be on the dole. So beyond the unemployment benefits of 1.3 million, there are many others that we have not approached.

So it is important that this Special Order is done to reach to the other side of the aisle for the Speaker to put on the floor of the House an emergency 3-month extension of unemployment benefits, to not cast aside individuals who have been looking for work and to not ignore the fact that over this cold December, we lost 16,000 jobs in construction, we lost some 11,000 jobs in the movie industry, we lost jobs in the sports industry, and we are continuing to lose jobs because this month was a cold month. So the production of jobs was 78,000. Even though this economy is rebounding and we have had some other good months, this month, the December month, it was 78,000.

Don't you think that those individuals who are looking for work were rebuffed by the fact, or were blocked by the fact, that there were jobs that were lost?

So I would like to encourage my friends in the other body to quickly find a way of coming together. As my colleagues know, they postponed the votes today. I believe that some of the suggestions being made about pension relief for military persons may be a basis of finding compromise, but I think when we pit the idea of fiscal responsibilities and deficits against individuals having a roof over their head and children having food on the table, it is disgraceful.

It is equally disgraceful when people misinterpret the idea of what unemployment benefits are all about. As I wrote this op-ed, it saddened me, though I believe in the First Amendment, when letters came in response to the op-ed, and they wanted to ask a question: Why don't these people get a job?

Why don't we have a jobs program? That didn't disappoint me; I think that is a good question. But they didn't seem to understand that it was people looking for work who could not find work. It was long lines of people who couldn't find work. They want to work. So I would say to them, this is not a hand out but a helping hand. I expect to introduce soon a training bill that allows individuals who are on unemployment benefits to get a stipend to be able to utilize for Labor Department- designated disciplines of work, to

train for work that needs additional workers.

So it is not a stipend to go out to your local job-training setup that somebody set up. It is actually to have officially documented needs for the particular profession that you are training for. You get your unemployment benefit, you are not cut off, and you get a stipend for that training. That creates jobs.

But just to say let's pass various bills, like the Keystone bill, and that is the cause of no jobs is not accurate. But I do think we can support the jobs bill of the President, and we will create jobs.

So I want to thank the gentleman for allowing us to come and to be able to highlight that in the cold of the winter there are people on line trying to get work, and that were people on line trying to get work in November and October and September and August and July, because this young lady, Ms. Parker, has been looking for work for 2 years. She is a very competent administrative assistant, along with many others. Veterans have been looking for work.

So I would like to say to those I met with on Friday, we will not forget you. We recognize that you are deserving of human dignity and that you want to work, that you have worked, that you are not looking for a handout, and that the unemployment insurance is not a handout. It is an emergency relief for those who have worked. Let us have compassion. Let us have sympathy. Let us care about others, and let us work together to extend the unemployment insurance benefit to provide for the families of America.

I thank the gentleman.

[From the Houston Chronicle, Jan. 8, 2014]

No. 1 Job for House: Extend Emergency Unemployment Aid

(By Sheila Jackson Lee)

Right now, 1.9 million Americans are experiencing an

economic emergency, which will turn into a catastrophe for

them and their families if Congress does not act immediately

to extend the emergency unemployment program that expired on

Dec. 28. Unless the aid is extended through 2014, nearly 14

million Americans will be negatively affected--the 4.9

million workers who will see unemployment insurance cut off

and the approximately 9 million additional family members

those workers are supporting.

There are some who believe that there is no economic

emergency justifying an extension of the emergency

unemployment program. They are wrong. Let them tell that to

jobless veterans looking for a new job in an economy in which

there are still nearly 2 million fewer jobs now than there

were before the recession began. Let them tell that to the

persons who know from experience there are more than three

applicants for each new job created. The national employment

rate is 7 percent and of these unemployed, the long-term

unemployment rate--the share of unemployed workers who have

been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer--is 37 percent, the

highest it has been in 20 years.

Behind these grim statistics are the heart-breaking stories

of real people--veterans, parents, seniors--struggling to get

by on about $300 a week. These benefits, which the recipients

earned and paid for through their payroll taxes, are needed

to pay rent and utilities, buy groceries, pay for Internet

access to search for jobs and gas to get to job interviews.

This is why the most urgent task pending before the House

of Representatives is to extend the emergency unemployment

program. To address this emergency, I introduced legislation

last month, the Unemployed Job Hunters Protection and

Assistance Act (H.R. 3773), that would extend the program for

12 months to provide the benefits earned by the recipients

and avoid what will be a tragedy not only for those who are

unemployed but also for an economy still recovering from the

worst recession since the Great Depression.

Extending the program is good for the nation's economy

because it will create an estimated 200,000 jobs, increase

economic growth by .2 percent and generate $1.52 in economic

activity for each dollar expended.

The emergency unemployment program was established in 2008

during the Bush Administration and has been reauthorized

several times as the economy continues its recovery. Congress

has never failed to extend emergency unemployment insurance

when the rate of long-term unemployment was even half the

current level of 37 percent. And because of the emergency

nature of the congressional action, the extension was not

subject to any offset requirements during the Bush

Administration. There is no good reason to impose any such

requirements now; doing so serves no purpose other than to

punish the persons who need our help.

Despite a slowly recovering job market, these unemployed

job hunters have not lost faith. Every morning, they get up

and go out or online looking for jobs. They want to work.

They still have hope that things will get better so they can

provide for their families. But they need the help that

unemployment insurance is intended to provide.

Now is not the time to scapegoat those who have lost their

jobs through no fault of their own. Now is the time to extend

the emergency unemployment aid. At a minimum, Congress should

and must vote to extend the program for three months while

negotiations continue on a long-term solution. On Tuesday, a

bipartisan measure that would do this cleared a procedural

vote in the Senate, allowing debate to continue on the three-

month stopgap. This is an economic emergency. It is time for

congressional Republicans to work with their Democratic

colleagues on the issues of importance to the American

people.

I thank the distinguished gentleman, and I thank the manager of this legislation, and I thank the good intentions of our colleagues.

I want to pause for a moment, Mr. Pallone, and just simply say that although these are important issues, as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, I helped draft the PATRIOT Act and business record 215, and we are now looking to constrain the collection of mega-data, and I accept the importance of privacy for the American people. But I pause for just a moment to ask my colleagues, we have enough time today to actually pass the extension of the unemployment benefits. There are 1.3 million people, 12,000 in my own community, who would like us to stay here and make sure that we get that done. I hope that my friends on the other side of the aisle will accept the challenge of Republicans putting an extension of the unemployment benefits on the floor to help unemployed Americans.

But this is an important issue as well, and I do want to say that our friends have not documented any breach on personal and private data of those individuals that have accessed the Affordable Care Act, which are 9 million plus, and growing. We have had 46 votes to repeal it. Now we come one by one with legislation that has not gone through regular order. It has not gone through the committee process. It has very good intentions; but, in actuality, it may be overly burdensome because, Mr. Speaker, there is no bar. There is no limit for HHS to provide notice for any possible breach within seconds or minutes or hours after the incident may have occurred.

Frankly, this legislation doesn't go far enough. Let me give you a few facts. The Affordable Care Act implementation of healthcare.gov is under the authority of HHS. HHS assigned the task for developing healthcare.gov to the agency's Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Under the Federal Privacy Act, all Federal agencies must draft regulations to protect personally identifiable information under their control.

The Federal Privacy Act was established by an act of Congress and concurrence of the executive branch to balance the government's need to maintain personal information on Americans with the right of individuals to be protected against unwarranted invasions of their privacy.

The Privacy Act came as a direct result of the work of the Church Committee following revelations that the government has routinely used records on citizens for political purposes to engage in surveillance or retaliatory activity. There were a series of laws

passed by Congress to protect the privacy of Americans.

Computer records management was of such grave concern to Members of Congress following investigations into disclosures that then-President Nixon had used his high office to seek out by means to exact retribution against political enemies by causing harm to careers, reputations as well as financial injury through IRS audits.

So we have had an intense interest since the report ``Records, Computers, and the Rights of Citizens'' was produced in 1973. HHS is chiefly responsible for why the United States became the first Nation in the world to draft a Federal privacy law. They know what to do. They developed the Code of Fair Information practices which have five principles, one of which says there must be no personal data recordkeeping systems whose very existence is secret, that is, to not use the data of people in the wrong way.

There is the CMS Policy for Privacy Act, and I offer this for the Record.

The baseline of my point is that HHS was at the core of developing privacy. There have been no known breaches. There is no bar for CMS and HHS to tell the American public or the individual immediately.

This bill will add burdensome requirements and may--it may--distract or take away from legal and lawful law enforcement investigations. I ask that we look at this together in a bipartisan manner. I believe in privacy. I hope we can work together, Mr. Pallone, and make this what it should be; but I think the American people are protected.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on H.R. 3811, the Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act of 2014.

I would like to commend the author of the bill for the focus on privacy.

Privacy protection is a policy area that has strong bi-partisan agreement.

However, because H.R. 3811 did not go through regular order there was no opportunity for the Committees of jurisdiction to provide valuable input into its drafting.

I would like to offer a few facts that may make it clear that this bill, although well intentioned is not necessary in its current form.

The Affordable Care Act implementation of healthcare.gov is under the authority of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

HHS assigned the task for developing healthcare.gov to the agency's Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

Under the Federal Privacy Act all federal agencies must draft regulations to protect personally identifiable information under their control.

The Federal Privacy Act was established by an act of Congress and concurrence of the Executive Branch to balance the Government's need to maintain personal information on Americans with the right of individuals to be protected against unwarranted invasions of their privacy.

The Privacy Act came as a direct result of the work of the Church Committee following revelations that the government had routinely used records on citizens for political purposes to engage in surveillance or retaliatory activity a series of laws were passed by Congress to protect the privacy of Americans.

Computer records management was of such grave concern to members of Congress following investigations into disclosures that then President Nixon had used his high office to seek out means to exact retribution against political enemies by causing harm to careers, reputations as well as financial injury through IRS audits.

In 1973, a report ``Records, Computers, and the Rights of Citizens'' was produced by the former Federal Department of Health Education and Welfare (HEW), which today exists as two agencies one of which is the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) established the first federal agency privacy policies for information held on Americans.

HHS is chiefly responsible for why the United States became the first nation in the world to draft a federal privacy law.

HHS developed the Code of Fair Information practices which later became the basis for the Federal Privacy Act.

The Code of Fair Information Practices has five principles:

There must be no personal data record-keeping systems whose very existence is secret.

There must be a way for a person to find out what information about the person is in a record and how it is used.

There must be a way for a person to prevent information about the person that was obtained for one purpose from being used or made available for other purposes without the person's consent.

There must be a way for a person to correct or amend a record of identifiable information about the person.

Any organization creating, maintaining, using, or disseminating records of identifiable personal data must assure the reliability of the data for their intended use and must take precautions to prevent misuses of the data.

The Federal Privacy Act protects all personal information managed by Federal agencies.

We know that not all agencies do a good job at protecting the personal information of citizens so today's focus on privacy is relevant and important.

However, our focus should be much broader and better informed regarding the work of each agency in this area.

Committee hearings would have been beneficial in informing the drafters of H.R. 3811, prior to its introduction on the Floor of the House for a vote.

For example, authors of the bill may have taken a different approach if it was acknowledged that the CMS has several policy documents specific to the topic of protecting personal identifiable information of medical records data:

CMS Policy for Privacy Act Implementation & Breach Notification (7/ 23/07)

Risk Management Handbook Volume III Standard 7.1 (12/6/12)

Incident Handling and Breach Notification

CMS Privacy Policy is written to meet obligations established by the Federal Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C., 552a), the Computer Matching and Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-503) and the Department of Health and Human Services Privacy Act Regulations (45 C.F.R. Part 5b).

I want to assure my colleagues that under the Federal Privacy Act all Federal agencies must ``develop an effective response to [breaches] that requires disclosure of information regarding the breach to those individuals affected by it, as well as to persons and entities in a position to cooperate, either by assisting in notification to affected individuals or playing a role in preventing or minimizing harms from the breach.''

All agencies, which include CMS, must report all incidents involving personally identifiable information to US-Computer Readiness Team or (US-CERT).

The US-CERT reporting requirement does not distinguish between potential and confirmed breaches--all must be reported within 1 hour of discovery/detection.

The CMS policy on breach notification has 5 criteria to determine if a breach has occurred:

Nature of the Data Elements Breached

Number of Individuals Affected

Likelihood the Information is Accessible and Usable

Likelihood the Breach May Lead to Harm

Ability of the Agency to Mitigate the Risk of Harm

CMS is directed to provide notification without unreasonable delay following the discovery of a breach, consistent with the needs of law enforcement and any measures necessary for CMS to determine the scope of the breach and, if necessary, to restore the integrity of the computerized system.

The consideration of Law-enforcement in government agency breaches is very important because this type of crime can take place in seconds or it may occur over hours, days, weeks or months.

Law-enforcement in investigation of data breaches attempts to identify the culprit(s) and others who may be involved.

To avoid impeding the efforts of law-enforcement or national security H.R. 3811, the Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act of 2014 should have included a law-enforcement exception.

Responsibility for information on individuals whose personally identifiable information has been breached is the CMS Administrator the highest official of the agency.

However, if the data breach is under 50, the notice may also be issued by the CMS Chief Information Officer or Senior Official for Privacy.

CMS Breach Notification to individuals must be in writing that should be ``concise, conspicuous, and in plain language'' and include the following:

Brief description of what happened, including date(s) and its discovery;

Description of the types of information involved in the breach;

Whether the information was encrypted or protected by other means when determined the information may be useful or compromise the security of the system;

What steps individuals should take to protect themselves from potential harm;

What the agency is doing; and

Who affected individuals should contact

There is no evidence that healthcare.gov had a breach of personal information.

If such a breach had occurred it would not be secret and members of this body would have been briefed.

First, the most important rule for cyber security is following the example of the professionals who work in this fast paced area: truth comes before beauty. The truth is that there is no computer system that is 100 percent secure from hostile cyber attacks, natural disasters, structural failures or human errors.

Second, the Internet is a rough neighborhood--the best we can do is to design the best systems possible provide the resources necessary to follow through on good security and privacy designs and ignore the politics of the moment. The most dangerous threats to cyber security do not care about anyone's political party they may care very much about your nation of origin.

Third, cyber security is not about the 14 year old with a laptop, but the botnet attack from a coordinate effort that brings to the discussion significant threats to networks. There is no evidence that nothing occurred that would suggest that the website experienced anything of this nature.

Congress should use regular order to consider means and methods of securing all federal data that is categorized as personally identifiable information.

Attempts to misinform or frighten Americans regarding the healthcare.gov or the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act implementation mechanisms are unwarranted.

CMS has a detailed and well managed program for ensuring that personally identifiable information is secure and when questions arise they have a top level ``Incident Handling'' protocol that is through in investigating issues and uncovering the facts regarding suspected breaches.

CMS relies upon US-CERT, which is part of DHS' National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center (NCCIC) to address breaches of data it manages.

The Department of Homeland Security's United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) leads efforts to improve the nation's cybersecurity posture, coordinate cyber information sharing, and proactively manage cyber risks to the Nation while protecting the constitutional rights of Americans.

CMS informs US-CERT within an hour of a suspected breach incident.

However, a report does not mean that an incident occurred an investigation must proceed to determine if the report is valid.

It is important note that premature breach notices being sent to consumers regarding their personally identifiable information could have unintended and adverse outcomes for several reasons:

Notice fatigue--too many notices and people stop paying attention;

Increased cost of administering a program due to additional communications that inform people that the initial breach notice was a false alarm;

Giving notice to cyber criminals or terrorists that they have been discovered before law enforcement or national security can assess how the extent of the threat, the target or objective of the attack and trace the source of the threat with the goal of identifying the culprits; and

Correcting the problem that allowed the breach to occur

HHS should only collect the personally identifiable information that is necessary, used it for the purpose of the collection and promptly discarded that data so no database or system of records is created.

I commend my colleagues for the focus on Privacy and hope that we can work together to improve the protection of personal information on Americans throughout the Federal Government.

I strongly recommend that my colleagues vote to send this bill back for committee consideration so that its goal of improving privacy protection can be better matched to the reality of what CMS is currently doing in the area of breach notification, which conforms to what Americans need and law-enforcement as well as national security must have to protect federal agency computer networks.

1 Introduction

CMS must be able to respond to computer security-related

and/or privacy-related incidents in a manner that protects

its own information and helps to protect the information of

others that might be affected by the incident.

This Risk Management Handbook Volume III, Standard 7.1,

Incident Handling and Breach Notification standard, along

with the companion procedures of the RMH Volume II, Procedure

7.2, Incident Handling, supersedes the CMS Information

Security (IS) Incident Handling and Breach Analysis/

Notification Procedure dated December 3, 2010.

1.1 Background

1.1.1 SECURITY EVENT

A Security Event is an observable occurrence in a network

or system (e.g., known or suspected penetrations of

information Technology (IT) resources, probes, infections,

log reviews), or any occurrence that potentially could

threaten CMS data confidentiality, integrity, or

availability.

1.1.2 REPORTABLE EVENT

A Reportable Event is any activity or occurrence that

involves:

A matter that a reasonable person would consider a

violation of criminal, civil, or administrative laws

applicable to any Medicare contract or federal health care

program.

Integrity violations, including any known, probable, or

suspected violation of any Medicare contract term or

provision.

A matter considered to have an ``adverse'' impact on the IT

system/infrastructure or CMS data confidentiality, integrity,

or availability. Examples of specific events that should be

reported include (but are not limited to):

Unauthorized access to or use of sensitive data for illegal

purposes.

Unauthorized altering of data, programs, or hardware.

Loss of mission-essential data (i.e., patient, financial,

benefits, legal, etc.).

Environmental damage/disaster (greater than $10,000)

causing loss of IT services or data, or which may be less

than $10,000 in damage yet affect CMS' ability to continue

any day-to-day functions and operations.

Infection of sensitive systems, firmware, or software by

malicious code (i.e., Viruses, Worms and Trojan Horses,

etc.).

Perpetrated theft, fraud, vandalism, and other criminal

computer activity that did, or may, affect the organization's

capabilities to continue day-to-day functions and operations.

Telecommunications/network security violations, i.e.,

networks (including local area networks [LANs], metropolitan

area networks [MANs], and wide area networks [WANs]) that

experience service interruptions that cause an impact to an

indefinite number of end users.

Unauthorized access to data when in transmission over

communications media.

Loss of system availability affecting the ability of users

to perform the functions required to carry out day-to-day

responsibilities.

Root-level attacks on networking infrastructure, critical

systems, or large, multi-purpose, or dedicated servers.

Compromise (or disclosure of account access information) of

privileged accounts on computer systems.

Compromise (or disclosure of account access information) of

individual user accounts or desktop (single-user) systems.

Denial-of-service attacks on networking infrastructure and

systems.

Attacks launched on others from within organizational

boundaries or systems.

Scans of internal organizational systems originating from

the Internet or from within the organizational boundaries.

Any criminal act that may have been committed using

organizational systems or resources.

Disclosure of protected data, including paper disclosure,

email release, or inadvertent posting of data on a web site.

Suspected information-technology policy violation.

A Reportable Event may be the result of an isolated event

or a series of occurrences. Reportable Events under these

procedures include events that occur at CMS federal sites,

contractor/subcontractor sites/systems, consultants, vendors

or agents. If the Reportable Event results in an overpayment

relating to either Trust Fund payments or administrative

costs, the report must describe the overpayment with as much

specificity as possible, as of the time of the due date for

the submission of the report.

Security events that may consist of an observable

occurrence in a network or system (e.g., detected probes,

infections prevented, log reviews, etc.), that do not

threaten system integrity, are not considered Reportable

Events unless they may be reasonably associated with other

incidents, Reportable Events, or breaches. CMS categorizes

these events in a monthly report to the Department of Health

and Human Services (HHS) (hereafter referred to as the

``Department'' or ``HHS'') Cybersecurity Program as follows:

Malicious Code Prevented: Viruses were prevented and did

not cause any harm to any system.

Probes and Reconnaissance Scans Detected: Probes and scans

were detected but did not pose a serious threat to a CMS

system.

Inappropriate Usage: Misuse of computing resources by an

otherwise authorized individual.

Other: Cannot be categorized under any of the above and do

not threaten system integrity.

There are many events that may be flagged as inappropriate

use of resources, but reflect situations that do not fall

under the definitions associated with incidents, Reportable

Events, or breaches. In such cases, reporting should be made

through applicable contractual resources, or through

appropriate Federal Fraud, Waste, and Abuse reporting

channels.

1.1.3 PRIVACY INFORMATION

Privacy is the right of an individual to control their own

personal information, and not have it disclosed or used by

others without permission. At CMS, we are charged with

protecting other people's private information--that of every

citizen (or legal resident) beneficiary utilizing benefits

the vast Medicare/Medicaid program, as well as many

subsidiary programs.

Confidentiality is the obligation of another party to

respect privacy by protecting personal information they

receive, and preventing it from being used or disclosed

without the subject's knowledge and permission.

Again, at CMS we are charged with protecting the

confidentiality of other people's citizen-beneficiary

information. A breach of that confidentiality is not simply a

failure of a ``technical control'', it is a basic failure of

CMS to meet its obligation to protect the individual citizen.

Moreover, unlike the banking industry where financial

compensation is a readily-available remedy to a breach,

private medical information cannot be simply replaced with

something of ``similar value'', or by simply closing an

account, and opening a new (better protected) one. Once a

privacy breach occurs, the ramifications can be far-reaching

and long lasting--with no readily available ``patch'' to undo

the damage (we cannot simply replace one violated health

record with a brand new one.)

Security is the means used to protect the confidentiality

of personal information through physical, technical, and

administrative safeguards.

Privacy is the ``business objective'' of security. The core

of the relationship between information security and

information privacy lies in the fact that security, or lack

of it, is the determinant of the level of privacy that a

system or infrastructure can assure. If there is a breach of

computer security, it has a corresponding negative effect on

the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the

information therein. Inadequate security leads directly to

loss of privacy. Therefore, if privacy is the ``business

objective'', then security is the ``functional requirements''

necessary for an IT system to meet those ``business

objectives''.

1.1.3.1 PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION (PII)

Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is information

which can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's

identity, such as their name, social security number,

biometric records, etc. alone, or when combined with other

personal or identifying information which is linked or

linkable to a specific individual, such as date and place of

birth, mother's maiden name, etc. PII also includes

individually identifiable health information as defined by

the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act

(HIPAA) of 1996, Privacy Rule (45 CFR Section 164.501. PII is

also often referred to as personally identifiable data or

individually identifiable information.

1.1.3.2. Protected Health Information (PHI)

Protected Health Information (PHI) is individually

identifiable health information held or transmitted by a

covered entity or its business associate, in any form or

media, whether electronic, paper, or oral.

Individually Identifiable Health Information is a subset of

health information, including demographic data collected

concerning an individual that:

Is created or received by a healthcare provider, health

plan, employer, or healthcare clearinghouse.

Relates to the past, present or future physical or mental

health or condition of an individual; the provision of

healthcare to an individual; or the past, present, or future

payment for the provision of healthcare to an individual, and

meets either of the following:

Identifies the individual.

There is a reasonable basis to believe the information can

be used to identify the individual.

The HIPAA Privacy Rule excludes from the definition of PHI

individually identifiable health information that is

maintained in education records covered by the Family

Educational Right and Privacy Act (as amended, 20 U.S.C.

1232g) and records described at 20 U.S.C. 1232g(a)(4)(B)(iv),

and employment records containing individually identifiable

health information that are held by a covered entity in its

role as an employer.

The HIPAA Privacy Rule covers PHI in any medium (including

paper) while the HIPAA Security Rule covers PHI in electronic

form (ePHI) only.

1.1.3.3 DE-IDENTIFIED HEALTH INFORMATION

With those definitions in place, what information (or data)

elements comprise PHI such that, if they were removed, the

above definition of individually identifiable health

information would not apply? The answer is in the HIPAA de-

identification use standard and its two implementation

specifications of the HIPAA Privacy Rule.

There are no restrictions on the use or disclosure of de-

identified health information. De-identified health

information neither identifies nor provides a reasonable

basis to identify an individual. There are two specifications

for de-identifying individually identifiable health

information; either: 1) a formal determination by a qualified

statistician; or 2) the removal of specified identifiers of

the individual and of the individual's relatives, household

members, and employers is required, and is adequate only if

the covered entity has no actual knowledge that the remaining

information could be used to identify the individual.

The following identifiers of the individual or of

relatives, employers, or household members of the individual

must be removed to achieve the safe harbor method of de-

identification:

1. Names

2. All geographic subdivisions smaller than a State,

including street address, city, county, precinct, zip code,

and their equivalent geocodes, except for the initial three

digits of a zip code if, according to the current publicly

available data from the Bureau of Census:

a. The geographic units formed by combining all zip codes

with the same three initial digits contains more than 20,000

people.

b. The initial three digits of a zip code for all such

geographic units containing 20,000 or fewer people is changed

to 000.

3. All elements of dates (except year) for dates directly

related to the individual, including birth date, admission

date, discharge date, date of death; and all ages over 89 and

all elements of dates (including year) indicative of such

age, except that such ages and elements may be aggregated

into a single category of age 90 or older.

4. Telephone numbers

5. Fax numbers

6. Electronic mail addresses

7. Social security numbers

8. Medical record numbers

9. Health plan beneficiary numbers

10. Account numbers

11. Certificate/license numbers

12. Vehicle identifiers and serial numbers, including

license plate numbers

13. Device identifiers and serial numbers

14. Web Universal Resource Locators (URLs)

15. Internet Protocol (IP) address numbers

16. Biometric identifiers, including finger and voiceprints

17. Full face photographic images and any comparable

images.

18. Any other unique identifying number, characteristic, or

code, except as permitted for re-identification purposes

provided certain conditions are met

In addition to the removal of the above-stated identifiers,

the covered entity may not have actual knowledge that the

remaining information could be used alone or in combination

with any other information to identify an individual who is

subject of the information.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his kind leadership, because it is kind leadership, and I am very privileged to be very proudly a member of the Progressive Caucus, serving as the vice chair liaison on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus to the Progressive Caucus and a member of the Executive Committee and have watched this caucus take on hard issues. First, of course, issues that dealt with the idea of minimum wage and the underpayment, if you will, of Federal contractors paying Federal employees who are contracted to them.

We have understood the distinction of the 99ers versus the 1 percent and waged a strong battle to make sure that the 99 percent were heard. So today, I want to join the gentleman and say that time is running out. Just this week, as I indicated earlier today and the day before, those whose benefits were cut off on the 28th are receiving those notices or are receiving empty mailboxes just in time for the end of the month and the beginning of the monthly bills. Whether it is one's mortgage or rent, whether it is the utilities that one has to pay, whether it is care of one's elderly parent or children, I can assure you that the 1.3 million, 4,000 per week, 12,000 in Harris County, 66,000 in the State of Texas, are now confronting some very difficult times.

Now, I think it should be known that when we say the term ``progressive,'' it is also a term that celebrates the greatness of America, its diversity, its opportunity and prosperity. I have not heard one of our members of the caucus in any way challenge prosperity, victory, or success. In fact, I am going to share with my colleagues what the Houston Chronicle put on the front page: ``Sales of million- dollar homes snowball here.''

That gives a false image of America, congratulating those citizens and families who are able because of the greatness of this Nation, because of the hard work of themselves and so many who contribute to the economy, because of the hard work of those who are now chronically unemployed or unemployed who contributed to society and want to contribute to society, they are able to be prosperous. It is good news for the real estate industry and my friends who are in that industry and good news for small businesses, but that clouds the issue and it allows people to falsely represent that all is well.

The chronically unemployed number in the United States is higher than it has ever been. It is 2.6 percent, juxtaposed against a 7 percent unemployment rate. It varies across America.

So I want to join the gentleman with a very loud, clarion voice, hopefully a voice of clarity, that you can have prosperity. We are a capitalistic society. There is good news in Houston. But at the same time, when I held an outreach press conference on December 31, fearing the worst, that there was a full house of people looking for work, people telling their stories of how long they looked for work, and the sadness of not being able to find work, and the faith community joining in and the social network community indicating they don't know how long they are going to last with this added number of individuals. Food banks, emergency food stamps and others, they didn't know how long they were going to last.

It is imperative that we have, within these hours, movement by the other body, which we congratulate for making the first step. But I would like to say this should be an emergency, an emergency vote for a 3-month extension and then the opportunity to go forward on a more deliberative analysis of how we can fund the rest of the time.

So I would hope--we voted today. Democrats voted to extend the unemployment. I hope that the Progressive Caucus' voice will be heard. I thank the gentleman because I want the 1.3 million and growing number to be able to have the same dignity as those who can celebrate the purchase of a million-dollar home, which we don't in any way challenge, but we realize that there are people who simply want to be able to make that rental payment or mortgage payment. They can do it. Although they are making ends meet, they can do it if we recognize the importance of giving them that transitional bridge. Pass the unemployment insurance benefit now.

Let me thank the Speaker for his courtesies and the leader for her courtesies for the opportunity to share on the floor of the House.

Mr. Speaker, I would offer to say to my colleagues who spoke earlier that we all recognize that the Affordable Care Act has generated opportunities for 9 million Americans, and it is growing. Let's find common ground. We have a law that is legal and affirmed by the United States Supreme Court, but it is affirmed by what is most important: hungry Americans needing good health care to save their lives and the lives of their families.

Frankly, I believe that there needs to be security for all of the Web sites of Federal agencies, rather than have bills that appear to be attacking the Affordable Care Act again, after 46 attempts to repeal it. Let's find a way that we can work together to secure extensively the entire Web sites carefully that are utilized by the Federal Government.

But I have the opportunity and I want to cover, Mr. Speaker, an array of issues that I think are important as we begin this new year. I do want to wish everyone a happy new year. But as I do so, since I come from Houston, and have been a member of the House Science Committee for 12 years before moving to Homeland Security, I want to congratulate NASA and the White House.

First, NASA, for the miraculous and unbelievable space walk just about a week or so ago by two outstanding astronauts. Space walks are not often done. They are much more difficult--in fact, extremely difficult--than one might imagine, as you watched what seemed to be a beautiful effort of activity in space.

I want to congratulate them. That is science. That is genius. That is what these astronauts trained for. They are our neighbors. I was with them over the holiday. I want them to know on the floor of the House that this was outstanding work.

I want to congratulate the White House because, as many of us have advocated over the years, my colleague who is no longer in the House, Congressman Nick Lampson, and myself signed many letters to extend the life of the space station. I am very pleased that it is now to extend the space station for 4 years. I am optimistic when that 4 years is nearing, there will be another assessment that there is more life in the international space station--opportunity for major research, including, when I was on the Science Committee, cancer research in particular, heart disease, stroke, aging. Our former Senator, John Glenn, took a second ride into space as a member of the United States Senate to test space travel on those who are aging.

Congratulations to NASA and the international space station. It speaks to the genius of America. It speaks to the aspirations and hopes of children around the world. It focuses on the emphasis in the United States on science, technology, engineering, and math, or STEM. Teachers continue to emphasize to our children the importance of those disciplines, and it gives us great hope.

And that is a lot of what I will talk about tonight: hope. For when we think of hope, we must have a broad definition that it includes all Americans. In fact, I believe from the very moment of the dumping of the tea in the Boston Harbor, the Founding Fathers of this Nation, in spite of all of the possible inequities like the holding of slaves, had hope. They left their places of persecution because they had hope.

And we have grown through the ages, from the 1600s, 1700s, 1800s, 1900s, the 20th century, and the 21st century. It has all been around hope. We were hopeful the turn of the century, even as World War I was flaring. We were hopeful even as the 1928-1929 collapse was happening. We were hopeful even with the horrific, heinous acts of World War II, with the interment and the Holocaust. But people were hoping that we would save people and get out of the dastardliness of that.

We were hopeful in the fifties. We as African Americans were hopeful as we marched in the 1950s and 1960s. We were hopeful with the Thurgood Marshall argument before the United States Supreme Court on Brown v. Board of Education. We were hopeful.

Now we come to a situation of wealth inequality. We must assure those who fall in that gap of where they are not where they should be, through no fault of their own, but because of this increasing gap.

For example, the wages of those in the top 1 percent--those making $352,900-plus--their income grew 281 percent from 1979 to 2007. For the bottom 20 percent, their income grew 16 percent, those making less than $20,000. For those making $34,000, it grew 23 percent. For those making $34,000 to $50,000, 25 percent.

There is wealth inequality in this Nation.

Some would argue some of that is inherited wealth, some of that is capital gains, some of that is stock revenue. It is wealth inequality.

I am moved by the words of Justice Brandeis:

We can either have democracy in this country, or we can

have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we

can't have both.

That is not snatching wealth from someone who has worked hard. It is to even up the opportunity for that gap--281 percent growth for the 1 percent, and numbers like 23 and 25 and 38 percent for the working middle class. We need to do better.

And so I think we need to start by stop quarreling about the unemployment benefits extension. We did it under President Bush, with no offsets, and, as well, for about 5 years with President Bush even acknowledging that when people work and invest in this Nation and they fall on bad times, give them a transitional bridge.

Some would say our unemployment is going down. My friends, on the chronically unemployed, it is the highest it has ever been, at 2.6 percent. Now that is growing to 1.3 million in 2013. It will go up to 3.64 million.

So I am not asking for the whole piece. I had a bill that said 1 year. Let's extend it for 3 months on an emergency basis and then begin to discuss how we can fund it.

There are 68,000 jobless workers that are in Texas, and we expect that as it grows in 2014 to 1.9 million and more--as I said 3.6 million and growing--it will be 106,900 Texans.

I have spoken to some of those Texans, and I have heard the stories of a welder who liked his job, was laid off, through no fault of his own, and needs this transitional funding so that he can be presentable for a job. Or a person in technology, administrative assistant, or somebody who worked in home health.

I believe that we have a legitimate basis for the creation of 200,000 jobs--a real dent in the economy and an acknowledgment that the unemployment rate in the United States in 2012 was 8.1 percent. States range from 3.1 percent, to Texas, which is 6.8 percent. Missouri is 6.9 percent. We have 5 percent and 5.7 percent. We have 7 percent in Alaska. Delaware is 7.1 percent. It goes all over the gamut. The individuals are not able to find work because for every job, there are three persons looking.

It generates into inequality of wealth. There is nothing that will refute this except for a transitional hand-up for those unemployed. And, yes, job creation.

My good friends, the Republicans, say they passed a bill on job creation last year. Yes, they did. And we have a bill on job creation, the Jobs bill. That seems to me a compromise in the making. That seems to me an opportunity for us to sit around the table and talk about technology and then talk about other aspects of job creation, because people have to be trained and retrained.

This week I will introduce a bill that is studied not as a bill introduced by a Democrat, but studied for the substance of the bill, called the New Chance for a New Start in Life Act of 2014. This is where you invest in people. It creates an opportunity for someone who is unemployed and still on their unemployment benefit--remember, they have worked and this is unemployment insurance--to get a stipend for certain accredited specific job training that ties to the market.

My friends, all of us are going to say, Well, they are going to take their money and they are going to be on the basket weaving training program; or they are going to take a truck training program, but they have no license. Accredited programs so that person can provide for their family and their training can be paid for.

And we are going to work through accredited social service agencies. We are going to partner with cities and nonprofit agencies for apprenticeships and internships. Every job is not an apprenticeship. We want to work with our friends in the trade and the labor community.

Unions have done well for America. Thank you for increasing our minimum wages and conditions in the workforce. Let's find a way to work together, but sometimes it is an internship in an office or an engineering company.

And then we have to provide training and employment enhanced for veterans. There are 22,000 veterans included in that large number of those who are needing transitional funds. We need to work with community colleges and Historically Black Colleges and Hispanic-serving institutions to be able to find a way to get chronically unemployed persons in the workplace, investing, paying taxes, and loving it every moment.

I have talked to folks who said that the most they want for Christmas and the new year is to have the alarm clock go off at 6 a.m. and jump out of bed to go to work. How are we going to cut these people off? What sense does it make?

And then it is important to note that added to the component of problems that we have is that poverty in America still exists. The 49 million poverty rate for African Americans and Hispanics greatly exceeds the national average. In 2010, 27.4 percent of Blacks and 26.6 percent of Hispanics were poor, compared to 9.9 percent of non-Hispanic Whites and 12.1 percent of Asians.

That is not targeting quotas. It is going where the problem is.

You know where else the problem is? Single women of any race, head of households. In 2010, 31.6 percent of households headed by single women were poor, while 15.8 percent of households headed by single men and 6.2 percent of married-couple households are in poverty.

In my district, 18 percent of households in the State of Texas, first in 2009 and 2001, ranked second in the highest rate of food insecurity. In my district, 151,000-plus families live in Poverty.

To the extent that we can't solve that problem, that is not shameful. We have seen the poverty gap close nationwide, even though we know children still live in poverty. President Lyndon Baines Johnson, who spoke on the war on poverty on January 8, said, We must live for hope, as I paraphrase.

And I worked diligently with programs from VISTA to Medicaid to Medicare to job-training programs to infrastructure programs to programs allowing young people to go to college. I am a witness of all of those programs. Frankly, I worked in the President's summer youth program in the hard rumble area of my youth.

And I have seen Members mention in the last 24 hours how they participated in the same programs. They happen now to be Members of the United States Congress. I would like to know how many Americans would call in the Congress and say, I am a beneficiary of the war on poverty, the Great Society.

Why can't we find common ground to recognize that we can be efficient, but we can also invest in people?

So I raise an ancient philosopher in my remarks on this question:

Any city, however small, is in fact divided into two, one

the city of the poor, the other of the rich; these are at war

with one another.

Plato said that.

And the question is can we now, in the 21st century, rebut that. Can we find a way to have hopeful people who are poor work with hopeful people who are rich and find a way to enrich both of them, to give them work and to make them shining examples of what America is all about?

Laying that groundwork, I hope my colleagues will join me on the Second Chance Job Act that I have just introduced that will go alongside the kinds of incentives in the jobs bill that President Obama has offered and the bill that was passed here in the House.

Why can't we both be on the same page of caring about getting a bill passed that both bodies will look at favorably, taking pieces? Why can't we get back to legislating again, giving and taking, making amendments, finding out what my friend on the other side of aisle wants, finding out what we want here, having amendments being accepted, making the bill one that is not only through the regular order of the committee, but here on the floor of the House, getting amendments that would satisfy and work with all of us?

I think there is more work to do in many, many areas, Mr. Speaker, and I would like to continue now to be able to offer some of my concerns.

Last evening, on CNN, there was a recounting of a young lady, tragically, who attempted suicide, a young bullying victim, first tragically being raped, not being believed, and ultimately coming forward. I am sort of summarizing the facts. And then because this person was a star athlete in one of the Midwestern States, the town turned on this young girl and her friend, bullying everywhere.

And I think it is time for America and the Congress to make a statement on it, a simple statement. I am not asking for much, but I have introduced H.R. 2585, the Juvenile Accountability Block Grant Reauthorization and the Bullying Prevention and Intervention Act of 2013. You will be surprised how simple it is:

To be able to allow groups from all over America, 501(c)(3)s that may be under the jurisdiction of faith institutions, youth groups, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, tennis clubs, social service agencies, schools, to put their best practices forward and how they believe they can stem the tide of bullying, what kind of intervention, and add to that, cyber bullying. It also provides for gang prevention programs, turn our children toward socially beneficial pathways.

I had one Member say to me, What would be wrong with the Congress making a unified statement that they want to prevent bullying and they want to intervene?

That is the simple process, four corners of the bill. And research studies have shown that approximately 25 percent of school bullies will be convicted of a criminal offense in their adult years.

I believe in intervention. And I would say to my friends who are experts, all of the advocacy groups, I believe it would be very important if we came together and had this one statement that came out of the Congress, that we want parents and schools and communities and baseball clubs and basketball clubs and football leagues to understand that we have all got to pour our energy into letting children know that to live healthy and free of intimidation is a good thing, that have your fun somewhere else.

I don't know whether bullying led to this absurd game of knockout, but we have got to take a stand alongside of the personal intervention that comes about through the normal community ways.

Just for the record, it is important to note, 30 percent of U.S. students in grades 6 through 10 are involved in moderate or frequent bullying as bullies, victims, or both. According to the results of the first national survey on this subject, bullying is increasingly viewed as an important contributor to youth violence, including homicide and suicide. One out of four kids is bullied. The Justice Department says that in this month, one out of every four kids will be abused by another youth.

Surveys show that 77 percent of students are bullied mentally, verbally, and physically. We have to find a way to make a national statement. What better way than a Congress that is the symbol of the most powerful Nation in the world and the most powerful lawmaking body.

Why is it so difficult to pass something as simple as that?

It does not stop us from looking down the future when we have many more resources to deal with to put a huge amount of funding in it once best practices--once we give the spark plug and get people excited about our Federal Government is concerned about this, let's look for enhanced best practices. Let's make a statement on this,

which I think is enormously important.

I want to quickly, and I hope, as we debate these issues on the floor, that there will be Members who will want to have a conversation. I want to say, as well, that many of us have experienced violence in our communities. I am going to discuss that a little later, but I want to say it now. I have had a number of incidences of violence, through knives, through guns, in my own school districts in Houston.

Even though we know that does not define our school districts, I say to them, when you have an incident like that, it is not a reflection on you, but it is a signal and a sign that the community must come together. We will look forward in Houston to putting together a Stop Violence Commission under the 18th Congressional District, bringing people from the faith community, bringing other leaders, working with the Mothers Demand Action, MDA, who have come out every moment to stop gun violence, working with mothers and fathers who have had to bury their children, funerals that I attended over the holiday or before that time frame. I want to tell that mother whose son's funeral that I attended, I have not forgotten. We will embrace you, and we will find a way that we can sit together and make a difference.

Let me switch now for a moment--I will come back to that issue--and remind us of the humanity of comprehensive immigration reform. I said that I had any number of issues that I think are weighing on many of us as Members of Congress, weighing on those of us who are doers and want to do, and I would venture to say that that is this entire body. But we are getting stalled, and for what reason, I don't know.

But my hometown paper was eager to review H.R. 1417, which is a bipartisan product that has come out of the Subcommittee on Border Security and Maritime Security, my colleague from Michigan, and out of the full committee, with the chairman and ranking member of the full committee, a bill that has now been joined under H.R. 15, to put a bill forward in the House.

And I would just ask, why can't we end the suffering of so many, end the divide and deportation of so many families, in the thousands, and begin to look, as the faith community and business community, educational community, health community, research community, business community wants us to do?

Comprehensive immigration reform, Texas is a prime example: 16.4 percent of Texans are foreign born; 42 percent are Latino or Asian; 33.2 percent of immigrants in the State are naturalized U.S. citizens; 11.8 percent are registered voters or new Americans; 87.7 percent of children with immigrant parents are U.S. citizens; 75 percent of children with immigrant parents are English proficient; 70 percent of naturalized citizens have a high school diploma; 61,511 foreign students contribute $1.4 billion to the State economy, and they make up 21 percent of the workforce; 9 percent of the workforce is unauthorized.

We need to get people from underneath the underground economy. We need families able to walk the streets together, mothers not being dragged out of homes. We need the DREAM Act children to be able to raise their heads as U.S. citizens. We need access to citizenship.

This coming Monday, I will gather at Catholic Charities with people from all over the community in Houston, Texas, and we will be standing together, raising our voices as humane Americans. We will be speaking about Latinos and Asians. We will be speaking about Africans. We will be speaking about people from the Caribbean, people from Europe, people from Canada, people from Ireland. We will be speaking about people from all over the world that happen to be in Houston, Texas.

It is time to pass comprehensive immigration reform and pass it now.

I mentioned very quickly that I would be going through a number of issues, but let me just turn to the issue of guns.

Let me pause for a moment and find out how much time I have, Mr. Speaker.

Let me quickly mention that we must stop the violence of guns. When we think about 5,740 children being killed by guns, I would like, again, for this Congress to look at H.R. 2812, which is a bill that deals with stand your ground that we have not addressed from the Trayvon Martin case.

And I would like them, also, to quickly look at gun safety and gun access prevention, H.R. 65. I find that a way of being able to come together and keeping guns out of the hands of underage children and teaching gun safety to parents and children.

I want to also join with my colleague on the Foreign Affairs Committee and mention human trafficking is a major issue. It will be commemorated on January 11, but I will be hosting, with the Homeland Security Committee, a hearing on human trafficking in Houston, Texas.

Quickly, I want to make mention of the Congressional Gold Medal that I have for Malala, who is a voice of strength, a young teenager gunned and shot--I wouldn't say gunned down because she lives in Pakistan, only because she wanted girls to have education.

I ask my colleagues to join myself and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen to insure that we do have, if you will, the honor of presenting this to her, nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, spoke before the United Nations, and I hope that we will do that.

Let me close, Mr. Speaker, by mentioning two quick things, and that is, let us not forget our veterans, enormously important, and let us also move quickly for NSA reforms.

As a member of the Judiciary Committee that helped write the Patriot Act, section 215, that was not our interpretation. That was not legislative history for trolling mega-data collection. We can be safe and secure, and we will be presenting a briefing on privacy and security next week in the Judiciary Committee, 2226, at 10:30. I hope all of the colleagues will come.

But I have introduced legislation to make sure that there is a people's advocate in the FISA Court, but more importantly, that we restrain and find a way to restrain the mega-collection. And I hope the President, in the reports that he has just received, will be able to do that as well.

Let me also indicate that internationally, I think this Congress should deal with where we are in Syria and where we were in South Sudan, two places that I am concerned about, the human cost, if you will.

We have a lot to do, Mr. Speaker. I just gave just small bits this evening, but we have a lot to do that we can do together in a bipartisan manner.

And we can look at the Affordable Care Act, just as a point, in closing, because it has been so divisive, and look at it that it is working. People want insurance. We can do that, and we can make sure that, as we do so, Mr. Speaker, then America will see us working together. That is what I would like to see happening.

I have given an array of an agenda that touches the lives of people. Let's get to work.

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

Mr. Speaker, 48 hours, a million-plus Americans received letters in their mailboxes. They weren't overdue tax letters. They were not letters suggesting that you are at fault. It was not a notice to say that you are no longer an American citizen. It was not a letter to say you are now relieved of any responsibility to pay any bills or to provide for your family.

It was a letter denying, or extinguishing, taking away the unemployment insurance that most Americans have come to understand that, as working Americans, having worked in their life, that they would be the recipient of these benefits during a brief lapse or an extended lapse of not being able to find work. The chronically unemployed percentage is the highest that it has been in decades, and therefore, this is not the time to delay.

I hold in my hand as well a resume of a competent worker, a college graduate who has the responsibility to support his family and who has been looking for work for 2 years, earnestly, energetically, and intensely, and cannot find work.

The clock is ticking on the 30 hours in the United States Senate, but the real concern is my friends in this body. Recognizing that these letters deal with people's lives, and to make a representation that all is well, unemployment generally is 7 percent. However, it was lower than that when President Bush signed the unemployment insurance benefits in 2008. These guys, these distinguished Americans, misfits, why can't they find work? Twenty thousand-plus are veterans looking for work, men and women who served in the United States military, or, as we met in the White House on Tuesday, a mother of two distinguished men who are serving in Afghanistan.

So the 1.3 million languish while we are trying to make a determination that may not be able to be made. Frankly, I would ask that we all be reasonable. I would simply make the point that it is an emergency.

I want to pause for a moment and thank the Houston Apartment Association that has worked with me and has sent a letter to all of their members asking for those 12,000, some of whom are residents of apartments in Harris County, to be sensitive and tolerant of those individuals who can document that they were the beneficiaries or the recipients of unemployment insurance that was cut off on December 28. I want to applaud them for their sensitivity in dealing with those particular individuals. I ask mortgage companies and utility companies and city water bill companies to be tolerant as well, to be working with families who are basically without a lifeline.

But the issue before us is the fact that these letters have gone to people such as this woman, who has looked for work every day. She liked her job and was laid off for no fault of her own.

Right now, we have the opportunity to pass a 3-month emergency relief--some of us have introduced bills for 1 year--and then contemplate, discuss, and work with what might be the appropriate way of funding the continuation.

No person unemployed, chronically or not, is happy with an unemployment benefit check. What they are happy with, Mr. Speaker, is the ability to work and to provide for their family.

So I would make the argument that as we discuss privacy issues on the Affordable Care Act, which are already taken care of by CMS, today and tomorrow on the floor we should be passing unemployment insurance. I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me, recognizing that Americans want to work. Let's help them transition with a bridge of unemployment insurance.

Mr. Speaker, I want to join the Rules Committee and thank Members on both sides of the aisle for their hard work, but I want to associate myself with Ranking Member Slaughter for recognizing that we represent millions of people, and the constant closed-rule approach for bills that have not even been heard by committee makes it difficult to represent your constituents. So I associate myself with her plea for equity and comity.

I also ask that we recognize that 1.3 million and growing, 3.6 million, 4,000 a week, of the individuals who worked and invested in this Nation have received letters, like my constituent in Houston, letters with no offer of assistance but simply that your unemployment benefit, insurance benefit, has been canceled. Cancel your life, cancel your housing, cancel your food, cancel your medicine, cancel taking care of your children, cancel your life.

And so I believe that it is extremely important that we vote today-- again--and we hope that we will draw bipartisan support, to avoid the loss of some 200,000 jobs, to avoid the loss of serving 20,000 military veterans who are in fact beneficiaries of unemployment insurance, 1.3 million Americans, 2 million children impacted, to avoid the loss to the American economy. Mr. Speaker, $1.55 is generated by this insurance, millions of dollars to be lost.

And then I would say that it is important to be able to have a rule structure, more than a structured rule, more than a closed rule, because the bills that are before us today, the underlying bills, I am opposed to because my district is impacted by the Superfund.

I thank the gentleman.

The three Superfund bills, no involvement of the Federal Government, taking authority away from the Federal Government, having the States override the Federal Government on Superfunds. There are neighborhoods that are still suffering.

And then with respect to this issue of privacy, I support the idea; but what I would say to my friends, and this privacy with healthcare.gov, what I would say to my friends is that we cannot continue to chip away at a bill, the Affordable Care Act, where millions of people have received health care. Let's work to ensure privacy for all of the sites of the Federal Government. Let's not pick away at the Affordable Care Act, which has been documented that it is secure, healthcare.gov.

If Republicans wish to help make all of government secure, we are ready to do that, but what I would suggest is that this bill is not going in the right direction. I ask for a ``no'' vote on the rule and on the underlying bills.

Mr. Speaker, there are so many acts of success of our government that many of us know it is the greatest Nation in the world. Through the years, we have had great leaders who have recognized that government can work on behalf of the American people. Today, we commemorate the 50th year of the war on poverty.

I thank my good friend, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, who will be holding a commemoration in recognition not only of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the President who declared war on poverty, but also the many workers and many Presidents since who, in many aspects, helped to build on the Nation's safety net.

Today, however, we find ourselves in a dilemma, not recognizing and accepting success where it is. Poverty has fallen significantly over the last half century. Since the mid-1960s the average incomes among the poorest fifth of Americans have risen significantly. Infant mortality has dropped sharply, and severe child malnutrition has largely disappeared, but it still exists.

In parts of my 18th Congressional District in Texas, we have very high mortality rates. It means that our job is not over. Nearly 50 million Americans, however, were poor in 2012, including 13 million children; 60 million people lived below half of the poverty line; and large racial disparities in the African American community were clear and documented. African Americans have a lower college degree graduate level than White Americans.

So the safety net has to be something for all of us. I borrowed this from my good friend from California, just to show you a line of Americans possibly looking for work. We cannot point out and we cannot know at this point which one of these are near the edge of poverty or living in poverty simply because they cannot find work.

So it is important to note that there are elements that many discard: the earned income tax credit; supplemental nutrition program; the huge job training and educational investment that President Johnson made on the war on poverty; Medicaid and Medicare, huge safety nets, not handouts but safety nets. Maybe the word ``welfare'' should be changed to something of a transitional living fund, for that is what it is for people to be able to live.

There has been much maligning of the Affordable Care Act. Well, I am here to announce today that close to 9 million people have now been recipients and victors in getting health care; 3 million young people have been able to stay on their parents' insurance; and we have seen the slowest growth in health care in 50 years, safety net. As well, we have people who will no longer have lifetime caps or preexisting conditions preventing them from getting insurance or those who work as roofers or laborers who, because their work is difficult or dangerous, they cannot get insurance--safety net, part of the overall picture of the war on poverty.

Now we find ourselves in the midst of a debate about a transitional outreach to individuals who are chronically unemployed. Some would argue we should not do it. We should not do it for individuals who have looked for work actively when there are three individuals per job. Some would say we need an offset. I consider it an emergency.

But do you know, Mr. Speaker, I am concerned about the people in my district and across America that are tired of partisan politics. So why not a compromise? Why not a 3-month emergency extension and then a deliberation on the offset? Well, that probably will not be heard.

So what is the offset? Why are we not in the midst of a combined discussion about what would be the most effective for all of the Members to be able to vote on? It is documented that the unemployed are in everyone's district. There are 1.3 million that are chronically unemployed, who are on the brink of poverty, who are not able to secure a safety net .

Let me just make mention of the earned income tax credit that has been a vital lifeline for many around the Nation. Yet, that is looked upon as a potential cut. It is too expensive.

These are lifeline safety nets that President Johnson started. Quite frankly, of all the wealthy nations, we have the lowest safety net and the

highest poverty because we are not willing to accept the fact that sometimes an American needs help--even a veteran, even a soldier.

Today, I honor the 50th anniversary of the war on poverty, Mr. Speaker, and I ask us not to give up the fight because the American people are looking to us to win the war.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to acknowledge the leadership of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, represented by his wonderful family: his late wife; Luci Baines Johnson; and our dear friend here in Washington, the former first lady of Virginia, Lynda Johnson Robb.

They understand the words that our President gave us. Unfortunately, many Americans live on the outskirts of hope, and some on the outskirts of health.

I join my colleague, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, to say to you that the war on poverty is not over. As we look at the red on this paper, every single State has someone living in poverty. Those individuals are represented in 16 million children, and 20,000 military veterans are also included in those 1.3 million Americans who are not getting unemployment benefits.

So as we look at those who need Head Start, a program that was a generational result of President Johnson's effort, we must fight to extend unemployment insurance, and we must ensure the war on poverty remains our cause, our hope. It is important to give hope to Americans.

I want to thank the gentlelady from California for her leadership.

Mr. Speaker, simply, we can begin to attack poverty in 2014 by extending the unemployment benefits for 1.3 million Americans.

Thank you, President Johnson, as we honor the fight against the poverty that has encompassed so many Americans. The war on poverty is a war to be won. We thank you for VISTA, the Child Nutrition, the National School Lunch, the Food Stamp program, the Community Action Programs, the Indian Reservation Programs, and Legal Services.

I served on the board of the Gulfcoast Legal Services, and we say to our colleagues: if you would look at the red that is on these sheets, you will know that poverty does not belong to any one Member. It belongs to all Members. All States have individuals who are living below the poverty line. It is time to continue the fight against poverty through unemployment insurance, through job training, through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, through child care, and Head Start--a vital, vital, vital transition of opportunity for poor children. It is time to continue that fight.

It is our pledge and our commitment, along with legislation that I intend to introduce, to give enhanced training to those who are chronically unemployed, to keep the dream of President Johnson's alive and to extinguish poverty as we know it in the United States of America.

President Lyndon Johnson:

``. . . we have the power to strike away the barriers to

full participation in our society. Having the power, we have

the duty.''

It has been 50 years since President Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty, an initiative to endure the ideals and principles of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, with hopes to rid our nation of the plague and disparity of poverty.

Social programs established by the War on Poverty provide invaluable aid to the elderly, the seriously disabled, members of working households, and children and spouses of deceased workers.

National Successes Of The War On Poverty

Major initiatives include: The Social Security Act 1965; Food Stamp Act of 1964; The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964; Job Corps; Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA).

Programs established during the era of President Johnson and those created since as result of his initiative have cut poverty nearly in half.

In 2012, programs kept 45 million people, to include 9 million children, out of poverty according to the Census Bureau's Supplemental Policy Measure (SPM).

If benefits were taken away, the poverty rate in America would be 29 percent under the SPM, but with them, the rate is 16 percent.

Cumulatively, programs developed during the War on Poverty have prevented 1.2 billion ``person years'' of poverty.

One of the demographics most affected by poverty was the elderly. In 1960, 35 percent of those ages 65 and older lived in poverty. With the implementation of Social Security, poverty among the elderly fell to 14.8 percent in 2012.

Programs Encourage Work And Create Rewarding Opportunities For Low-

Income Families

The Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit have not only reduced the poverty rate by 3.0 percentage points among all individuals and 6.7 percentage points among children, they reward work by offsetting payroll taxes and providing a supplement to labor market earnings.

Research shows these tax credits increases work and earnings, and increases participation in the workforce, especially for single parents.

Mr. Speaker, right now, 1.3 million Americans are asking the question, why? Why is there a debate about my ability to pay for rent or mortgage or food or the necessities of taking care of my family? Why, having worked for many, many years, am I now being denied an unemployment insurance benefit that was utilized for the last 5 years and first voted on and brought forward by the Congress that supported President Bush in extending unemployment benefits?

Why is there not an understanding of what it is like to receive a letter in the mail to indicate that you will get no more benefits, even though you are actively looking for work and even though there are three people looking for every job? Why does this House of Representatives not understand that we can pass a 3-month emergency relief for these individuals and debate for the rest of the year how do we get a pay-for or an offset for funding it after 3 months?

Mr. Speaker, this is an emergency. People are on a lifeline, and we are killing it. It is time to pass unemployment insurance benefits now for the American people.

Mr. Speaker, one of the major reasons why I believe the future of our country is bright and its best days lie ahead is the extraordinary quality, talent, commitment, and energy of the young people who will in time assume the responsibility of leadership.

Members of Congress know well, perhaps better than most, how blessed our nation is to have in reserve such exceptional young men and women who will go on to become leaders in their local communities, states, and the nation in the areas of business, education, government, philanthropy, the arts and culture, and the military.

We know this because we see them and benefit from their contributions every day. Many of them work for us in our offices as junior staff members, congressional fellows, or interns and they do amazing work for and on behalf of the constituents we are privileged to represent.

I rise today to pay tribute to the wonderful young men and women who have done this work in my office for my constituents.

Mr. Speaker, I believe there is no higher calling than the call to serve a cause larger than ourselves. That is why I ran for public office. I was inspired to serve by President Kennedy who said, ``Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country,'' and by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who said:

Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. . . . You

only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

By this measure, there are several other great young men and women who served as volunteers this year in my offices. They may toil in obscurity but their contributions to the constituents we serve are deeply appreciated and I wish to acknowledge them. They are: Carlos Fierros, Toulia Nwabunnia, Ziad Saqr, Michal Shinnar, Chike Achebe, Morgan Cassell, Deontae Wherry, Kern Kumar, Myron Latney, Mohammad Cifci, Hiromi Oka, Marcus Smith, Zahit Akinci, Alezeh Rauf, Elif Duran, Omorose Eguakun, Amy Akabue, Ariadna Mujica, Olivia Igbokwe, and Ayanna Costley.

Mr. Speaker, the energy, intelligence, and idealism young people bring to their internships in my office and those of my colleagues helps keep our democracy vibrant. The insights, skills, and knowledge of the governmental process they gain from their experiences will last a lifetime and prove invaluable to them as they go about making their mark in this world.

I am grateful that such thoughtful committed young men and women can be found working in my office, those of my colleagues, and in every community in America. Their good works will keep America great and good.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Bishop Prince E.W. Bryant, Sr., the legendary pastor of the legendary Island of Hope Church of God in Christ Church in Houston, Texas. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Bishop Bryant's service in the ministry of the Gospel.

To mark this great occasion, Bishop Bryant is being honored as a ``Soldier of the Cross'' by the Texas South Central Jurisdiction of The Church of God in Christ, Inc.

Born in East Texas, Bishop Bryant was the fifteenth child of Deacon Bishop and Mamie Bryant. He was saved and filled with the Holy Ghost on March 18, 1963, and began preaching on March 25, 1963 at the age of 15 under the late Elder Eddie Davis. He was licensed under the late Bishop C. H. Nelson and ordained by the late Bishop S. M. Crouch of Los Angeles, California.

Bishop Bryant was attended public school at Concord High School in Mt. Enterprise, Texas. He later attended LIFE Bible College, Los Angeles, California, from which he received his Bachelors of Theology; and the Family Bible Institute in Denver, Colorado, from which he was awarded a Doctorate of Divinity in 1993.

Bishop Bryant began his pastoral ministry on August 6, 1969. Over the next 50 years, pastored six churches: Bethlehem COGIC in Mt. Enterprise, Texas; Evangelist Temple COGIC in Bay City, Texas; Eastside COGIC in Lufkin, Texas; and The City of Refuge COGIC, Livingston Memorial COGIC, and The Island of Hope COGIC (formerly Anderson Memorial), all in Houston, Texas. He remodeled or built three of these churches.

Bishop Bryant has served the church from his youth to present in many capacities: as Sunday School Superintendent, Jurisdictional Chaplain, Jurisdictional Young People's Willing Worker President, District Superintendent, Jurisdictional Executive Secretary, President of Jurisdictional Minister's and Worker's Institute, Chairman of Jurisdictional Annual Leadership Conference, and as Administrative Assistant to the late Jurisdictional Bishop, Bishop N. H. Henderson.

Nationally, Bishop Bryant has served the Church of God in Christ as a member of the General Assembly Executive Committee, Commissions for Constitutional Convention Committee, General Council of Pastors and Elders Judiciary Review Committee, and Executive Board Member of the Church of God in Christ Urban Initiative.

Bishop Bryant has also actively involved himself in the civic life of the community. He served two terms as President of the Advisory Board to the Mayor of Houston under Mayors Kathryn J. Whitmire and Mayor Bob Lanier.

Bishop Bryant also served on the Civilian Review Committee for the Houston Police Department, as Chairman of Religious Committee, as founder of the Project David Ex-Felon Re-Acclamation Job Program, as Vice President of the Houston Northeast Quadrant Citizens Chamber of Commerce, as Chairman of Houston-Harris County Regional Substance

Abuse Faith-Based Task Force Committee, and member of the Executive Board of the Minister's Conference at Prairie View A & M University.

In times of disaster, Bishop Bryant can be counted on to provide comfort and assistance. In 1983, he organized and chaired the Emergency Disaster Relief Texas Inter-Jurisdictional Council, which coordinated government entities and non-profit charity organizations such as FEMA, Red Cross and United Way.

When Tropical Storm Allison hit in 2001, Bishop Bryant facilitated a benefit service. In 2005, during Hurricane Katrina he organized the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund and was the Coordinator of the Church of God in Christ Distribution Center, a 20,000 square foot warehouse which distributed food, clothing, and non-perishable goods to thousands of displaced Katrina victims.

In 2008, in response to Hurricane Ike, Bishop Bryant again chaired the Emergency Disaster Relief Texas Inter-Jurisdictional Council.

During his fifty years of ministry, Bishop Bryant has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including the following: Meritorious Services To The Community by Mayor Fred Hofheinz; Meritorious Service To the Community by Mayor Kathryn Whitmire; Houston Police Department Public Service Award; Service Recognition Citation by Councilman Shelia Jackson Lee; Distinguished Service Award and Outstanding Leadership Award from COGIC Texas South Central Jurisdiction; Excellence In Service Award by United Minister's Institute of Texas Southern University; Special Achievement Award from The Religious Workers Guild; Outstanding Leadership AIM 2000 Church of God in Christ National Auxiliaries In Ministry Convention; by Bishop J. W. Macklin-AIM Chairman, Charles Harrison Mason Award The Religious Workers Guild, Visionary Pastors Award from the Houston Forward Times.

On October 17, 2013 in Abuja, Nigeria, the African Children's Hostel was named The Bishop Prince Bryant, Sr. African Children's Hostel in his honor.

Mr. Speaker, Bishop Bryant is married to Mrs. Yolanda Howard Bryant and they are the proud parents of five children: Superintendent Prince E. Bryant, II (Candies); Dommonique Jeannie Bryant; Phillip Paul Bryant; Elder Desmon Ryan Bryant (Franchell); and Tymorra Mishon Bryant.

They also have been blessed with five wonderful grandchildren: Prince E. Bryant, III, Paiton Anise Bryant, Pierce Edward O'neal Bryant, Madison Danielle Bryant, and John Patrick Bryant.

Mr. Speaker, for 50 years Bishop Bryant has provided remarkable service to our nation as a community, state, and national leader.

I am proud to call this remarkable American hero my friend and I offer him my heartfelt congratulations on the 50th Anniversary of his service in the ministry of the Gospel.

Bishop Bryant truly is a ``Soldier of the Cross.'' I offer my best wishes for his continued success in ministering the Gospel for many years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak on H. J. Res. 59, the ``Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 and Pathway for Sustainable Growth in Medicare Reform Act of 2013.''

On the positive side: Republicans--and the bipartisan deal does not cut Medicare, Social Security, or Medicaid benefits by a penny even though our friends across the aisle went into the talks insisting on cuts to programs like Head Start, Housing, Social Security, Medicaid, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs that sustain children, families, and seniors.

The agreement increases discretionary spending caps under the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA) for FY 2014 and FY 2015 to partially restore spending cuts that would otherwise be made those two years under the sequester required by the BCA.

Under the measure, the sequester for FY 2014 and FY 2015 would be reduced to restore $63 billion in spending authority for those two years--while $85 billion in cuts to mandatory programs and revenue increases would be made to more than offset that increased spending and provide for a net $23 billion in deficit reduction.

Budget Caps & Sequestration

The budget proposal increases FY 2014 discretionary spending by $45 billion and FY 2015 spending by $18 billion compared with their scheduled sequestration levels, with the increases equally split each year between defense and non-defense spending (a $22.4 billion increase for each category this year and a $9 billion increase for each in FY 2015).

Those increases would set a $1.012 trillion limit on discretionary spending for FY 2014 and a $1.014 trillion limit for FY 2015. Under the current stopgap funding law, discretionary spending set at the woefully inadequate sequestration level of $986 billion.

Under the new caps, defense spending for FY 2014 would be set at $520.5 billion (about $2 billion more than current funding), while nondefense spending would be increased to $491.8 billion.

Because of the circumstances that led to the budget impasse during the first session of the 113th Congress, I introduced H. Res. 375, a bill expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that Congress should refrain from shutting down the Federal government or conditioning the resolution of fiscal and budgetary disputes on the taking of action relating to non-germane legislative matters.

I invite members from both sides of the aisle to co-sponsor H. Res. 375.

The budget proposal before us is not perfect--far from it--but it is a modest and positive step toward preventing Republicans from shutting down the government again and manufacturing crises that only harm our economy, destroy jobs, and weaken our middle class.

A self manufactured crisis by the Republican majority resulted in a government shutdown that lasted 16 days and cost taxpayers $24 billion.

The cost to Federal employees and the people they serve cannot be calculated.

As with any compromise there are some things in the agreement that I support and some things that I strongly oppose.

The agreement allows Congress to move forward in meeting its obligations to the American people by alleviating some of the damage being caused by sequestration.

It is useful to chronicle the severity of the suffering and pain inflicted by sequestration on the most vulnerable residents of Texas and the Constituents that I serve.

Sequestration Impacts on Texas

Head Start and Early Head Start services were eliminated or severely impacted with approximately 4,800 children being impacted throughout the state of Texas.

Families in my district who rely on Federal Government programs like Head Start are hurting. The pain did not start with the shutdown, but with sequestration which hit Head Start programs for 3 to 4 year olds in the Houston area hard: $5,341 million cut; 109 Employees cut; 699 Slots for children cut.

Head Start and Early Head Start Programs were further stressed by the federal government shutdown.

On October 2, I joined hundreds of Head Start supporters from across the country and many of my colleagues to protest the closing of Head Start programs due to the federal government shutdown.

I picked up one of the tiny blue chairs that represented the thousands of Head Start children from around the nation and said that an empty Head Start chair represents a future doctor, engineer, president, or teacher who is at risk because of the Federal Government shutdown.

My support of Head Start and Early Head Start is based on what I have seen and heard about programs like the AVANCE-Houston Early Head Start program serving parents and children in the 18th Congressional District.

The AVANCE-Houston Early Head Start is a program serving low income families in my Houston Texas District.

I visited with AVANCE-Houston administrators earlier this month because I wanted to get an update on how low-income families with infants and toddlers and pregnant women served by the program were doing.

The AVANCE-Houston Early Head Start's mission is simple: AVANCEHouston works for healthy prenatal outcomes for pregnant women, enhance the development of very young children, and promote healthy family functioning.

AVANCE-Houston serves nearly 1,800 children city wide. Each of these families and their children are suffering the effect of the legislative malpractice of the House majority.

Sequestration has cost AVANCE-Houston $842,518 Head Start and Early Head Start in lost funding for ending the harmful effects of Sequestration on programs like Head Start had to be a priority.

Sequestration and House Budget Bill's Negative Impact on the

Supplemental Nutrition Assistant Program (SNAP)

The House Republicans' Farm Bill proposed cutting our nation's food assistance programs, known as SNAP, by $20.5 billion to stay within the unrealistic funding limitations set by sequestration even though a cut of this magnitude would deprive millions of children, seniors, disabled persons, and families of the benefits they need to survive in an economy that has not yet fully recovered from the worst recession since the Great Depression.

SNAP Facts

In the 18th Congressional District an estimated 151,741 families live in poverty.

According to the Census my city of Houston more than 442,881 persons live near the poverty level.

The percentage of Texas households experiencing food insecurity (18%) ranked second only to Mississippi.

We know that there is hunger in America

For more than 40 years, SNAP has offered nutrition assistance to millions of low income individuals and families. Today, the SNAP program serves over 46 million people each month. Households with children receive about 75 percent of all food stamp benefits. 23 percent of households include a disabled person and 18 percent of households include an elderly person. The FSP increases household food spending, and the increase is greater than what would occur with an equal benefit in cash. Every $5 in new food stamp benefits generates almost twice as much ($9.20) in total community spending.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), 16.7 million children under 18 in the United States live in households where they are unable to consistently access enough nutritious food for a healthy life.

Food Insecurity

16.7 million Children lived in food insecure households in 2011.

20 percent or more of the child population in 37 states and D.C. lived in food insecure households in 2011.

Emergency Food Assistance

Nearly 14 million children are estimated to be served by Feeding America, over 3 million of which are ages 5 and under.

54 percent of client households with children under the age of 3 participated in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

Poverty

In 2011, 16.1 million or approximately 22 percent of children in the U.S. lived in poverty: Participation in Federal Nutrition Programs.

In fiscal year 2011, 47 percent of all SNAP household contained children.

During the 2011 federal fiscal year, more than 31 million low-income children received free or reduced-price meals through the National School Lunch Program.

Unfortunately, just 2.3 million children participated in the Summer Food Service Program that same year.

This proposed budget protects SNAP programs from crippling cuts for 2014-2015.

In addition to providing relief from sequestration there are a number of other good provisions in the Budget Agreement. For example:

The Budget Agreement Protects Social Security and Medicare

The budget agreement blocks a scheduled 23.7 percent reduction in the Medicare reimbursement rate for physician services set to occur January 1, in order to meet the sustainable growth rate. Instead, the measure's so-called ``doc fix'' provides a 0.5 percent increase for the first three months of 2014, and it also extends more than a dozen Medicare- related programs.

The budget deal makes sure that doctors who treat seniors have a guarantee of payment for the medical services they provide.

The budget agreement also addresses the issue of payments to hospitals that treat large numbers of uninsured patients.

The budget also makes changes to payment rates for inpatient services in long-term care hospitals.

Congressional Budget Office estimates that the three-month doc fix would cost $7.3 billion and that the efforts to reduce the burden to taxpayers would reduce spending by $9 billion.

The net direct spending for health care related programs, after factoring expansion of health care programs, would be an overall budget reduction of $300 million over 10 years.

The agreement scales back the proposed cuts to federal employees sought by Republicans and exempts current federal employees.

Federal employees under the budget agreement would receive a pay increase--the first in three years.

Sequestration cuts would be diminished under this budget agreement, which opens the Federal government up for new hires in the coming year.

Federal employees are making contributions toward budget reduction considering the three years of no cost of living increases and the increased contributions toward retirement plans for new government hires and military retirees.

On the negative side:

Mr. Speaker, it is outrageous--it is scandalous--that the budget agreement does not include an extension of unemployment insurance for the 1.3 million jobless workers will have their benefits cut off on December 28, and nearly another 1.9 million will lose their unemployment benefits over the first half of next year.

If Congress does not extend unemployment insurance, an additional 3.6 million workers will lose access to benefits in 2014.

In Texas, 68,900 jobless workers will lose their unemployment benefits on December 28th.

An additional 106,900 Texas workers will lose access to benefits in 2014.