If I could be given the time remaining, I'd appreciate it. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Connecticut has 15\1/4\ minutes remaining.

Again, as someone who was a private sector employer for over 25 years, there is nothing under existing law that prevents an employer from giving an employee paid time off. I did it many times. Now it is my privilege to yield 1 minute to my…

I now yield to the gentlelady from California (Ms. Bass) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I now yield to the gentlelady from New York (Mrs. Lowey) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

It is now my honor to yield 1\1/2\ minutes to an outstanding colleague on the Education and the Workforce Committee, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Andrews). (Mr. ANDREWS asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I yield to the gentlelady from Arizona (Mrs. Kirkpatrick) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

I yield now to the gentlelady from New Mexico (Ms. Lujan Grisham) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

I yield now to the gentlelady from Texas (Ms. Johnson) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

I now yield to the gentlelady from California (Mrs. Capps) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

I now yield to the gentlelady from New York (Ms. Slaughter) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

I now yield to the gentlelady from California (Ms. Speier) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

I now yield to the gentlelady from California (Ms. Matsui) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

I yield to my neighbor and good friend, the gentlelady from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro), for the purpose of a unanimous consent request. Ms. DeLAURO. I ask unanimous consent to insert my statement in the Record in opposition of a sham bill…

I now yield to the gentlelady from Florida (Ms. Frankel) for the purpose of a unanimous consent request.

I want to thank the witness for their testimony, very frank testimony this morning, particularly about the impact of sequester.

Your testimony clearly shows that we don't--we can't move on. I mean, we are far from out of the woods here.

I always cite Phil Gramm, who invented sequester, who was quoted recently saying the purpose of sequester was not to be a policy but to in fact be an incentive for people to sit down and compromise and act.

1 year ago tomorrow marks the anniversary of the Federal Reserve Board reporting that student loan debt exceeded $1 trillion. What that means for the average student loan borrower in America is a debt level of $27,000. That's just the…

These programs not only help those who are at the bottom rung of our socioeconomic ladder but also they help American agriculture.

I hope we maintain the bipartisan support that I think is witnessed by today's testimony and by what we did last year.

Money for pest detection and eradication is absolutely essential.

I think we do it better in terms of quality and yield than anyone in the world.

We cannot stay in Afghanistan forever for a wide variety of reasons.

We want to deny Al Qaeda the ability to return to Afghanistan and use it as a safe haven.

We cannot be a permanent crutch. We have to transition.