Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. House Of Representatives 11022017 20171102

The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. The prayer will be offered by the guest chaplain, pastor Kenneth Codner, great baptist church, bellefonte, pennsylvania. The chaplain please bow with me in prayer. Heavenly father, i am humbled to be able to stand before you on behalf of this assembly here today. Lord, we are sinners, deserving none of your favor. But, father, i come to you in the merit of the lord and savior, jesus christ, who washed me from my sins in his shed blood. Father, we are aware more than any of the bitterness and bitter divisiveness throughout this room and across this nation of ours. I know that this grieves your heart, father. And i pray that we would repent of our sins, that you might forgive them and heal this land of ours. I pray that youll work in the hearts of the members of congress, that they be willing to put aside their political expedience and partisan politics and personal agendas, that they would strive to do what is best for our nation as a whole, and uphold the constitution, which they have vowed to uphold. Father, that they would seek to do what is pleasing in your sight, that they would seek your will and wisdom, for the decisions of this day and each and every day. I ask these things in the precious name of jesus christ, my savior. Amen. The speaker pro tempore the chair has examined the journal of the last days proceedings and announces to the house his approval thereof. Pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1 the journal stands approved. The pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from texas, mr. Green. Mr. Green i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with iberty and justice for all. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Thompson, is recognized for one minute. Mr. Thompson thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to welcome pastor Kenneth Codner to the house of representatives as todays guest chaplain. Hes a native of owego, new york, and graduated from alfred agricultural and Technical College in 1973. A couple years later through the help of a coworker he trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal savior. He had the desire to make his life count for god. In 1976, he enrolled in the Bible Program at tennessee temple university. Two years later he transferred to north Star Bible Institute in rochester new york, graduating in 1983 with a degree in theology. In june, 1983, moved to kansas dove he pastor of the Bible Baptist Church serving there for 15 years. Hes married and god blessed their union with five wonderful children. In september of 2000 they moved to bellefonte, pennsylvania. And in 2002 he grounded the grace bantists church. Its an honor to have him and his family here today. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to take from the speakers table Senate Concurrent Resolution 28 and ask for its immediate consideration in the house. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. The clerk Senate Concurrent Resolution 28. Concurrent resolution providing for a correction in the enrollment of senate 782. The speaker pro tempore is there any objection to the consideration of the concurrent resolution . Without objection, the concurrent resolution is agreed to. And the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. The chair will entertain up to 15 further requests for oneminute speeches on each side of the aisle. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Poe mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection. The gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, its game seven of the world series. Best hitting team in baseball, the Houston Astros orange, versus the best pitching team in baseball, the l. A. Dodgers g seven of the world series. Best hitting team in blue. The series is tide up three games apiece. Top of the second inning. Springers at the plate of the its the third pitch. Spinninger loads up and belts it. Home run springer smacks his fifth roundtripper of the world series. The astros are up 50. Next inning, next several innings, all the bats are silent except l. A. , the best record team in baseball, gets a run. Its the bottom of the ninth. Astros take the field. Score. 51. One out. Two outs. Houston pitcher morton sends a sinker straight across the plate. Its a ground ball. Three outs. Its all over but the shouting. Astros win astros win astros win world champions of 2017. The championship predicted by the 2014 Sports Illustrated with springer on the cover. Finally happens after 55 years. And the city of houston goes astronomical. Thats just the way it is. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise . Unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Million higgins the tax policy center, Whartons School in virtually every rational economist have reviewed the House Republican tax cut plan, the results are clear. No new good economic growth. Big debt and deficit. And big tax cuts for corporations. And very rich americans. Three million wealthy americans will get a tax cut next year of 220,000. 250 million not so rich 250 million not so rich americans will get a tax cut of 2,21. If you make 730,000, your income next year will increase by 8 1 2 . If you make 150,000, it will increase by 1 . Where are all the deficit hawks . Where are any of the deficit hawks . This tax plan is nothing more than fraud. Being perpetrated against middle america. I ask my colleagues to reject this plan. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. Revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to urge my colleagues to support the champion healthy kids back. This Critical Health care legislation provides a fiveyear extension to the Championship Program that so many children and lowincome families rely on. Ms. Stefanik in my district alone, over 21,000 children use chip for access to lowcost health care services. Proud this legislation includes a needed twoyear extension of funding for Community Health septemberers. This is an issue i worked hard on as over 95,000 people in my district receive Critical Health care and Preventive Services from these centers. There is still much more work to do to improve our Health Care System for families in the north country. In congress, ill keep fighting programs our district depends on and ill continue working programs our district depends on and ill continue working toward the affordable, high quality Health Care System that die midistrict deserves. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Le mr. Green mr. Speaker, members, first of all i want to thank the Houston Astros for winning the world series and giving some folks in houston and Southeast Texas something to cheer about. We have had a tough few months, but you can see from last night theres a lot of cheering in houston. But im here to talk about a major issue thats really important. The Childrens Health Insurance Program, the Championship Program, both programs are chip program, providing Health Insurance for over nine million lowincome children and serving on the frontlines of primary care providing high quality primary and Preventive Care for 25 million americans. Congress let funding for this program expired a month ago, and we must act in a bipartisan manner to strengthen and ustain them. Both chip and Community Health centers have always had strong bipartisan support since their reaction, 20 and 50 yearsing a respectively. Not this time. We should not cut medicaid to fund these two programs. You are taking money away from the poorest children to give to the less poor children. We need to support vaccination programs, Infectious Disease detection, prevention, and chronic disease prevention. We need to make sure this bill is bipartisan and its not right now. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. Ddress the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Ms. Roslehtinen thank you so much, mr. Speaker. There are less than 21 legislative days left this calendar year and the house has yet to vote for a permanent solution to protect dreamers from deportation. H. R. 3440, known as the dream act, introduced by congresswoman lucille roybalallard, and me is an effort to put an end to the fear and to the uncertainty that surrounds over 800,000 young immigrants living in our country. This bill will allow qualified dreamers the opportunity to better plan for their future in the only country they truly know as home, the United States. After several years, they will able to apply for conditional permanent residency, and eventually for citizenship. During that time, they will continue to participate in their daily activities such as contributing to our communities, helping our economy, showcasing their talent and ingenuity. Mr. Speaker, lets do whats right for these young immigrants. Because they are already americans in their hearts and minds. Lets bring the dream act for a vote so that these Young Professionals can make their American Dream a reality. The clock is ticking, mr. Speaker. Thank you for the time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back. For what purpose does the the gentlewoman from california seek recognition . Unanimous consent to revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Mrs. Davis mr. Speaker, i received hundreds of letters from constituents who are deeply worried about the proposed tax plan. One told me without the state and local Tax Deduction his family of seven faces a loss of over 40,000 in deductions. Another constituent told me his family would lose 20,000 to takehome pay under this tax plan. Why on earth would we do this to middle class families . Why would we cap the mortgage deductions middle class home buyers depend on to lower their xes, to lower taxes for huge corporations . This plan is simply reckless and hurtful to the american and our economic growth. So lets take a look at real tax reform for real people, not a plan that helps those who need it the least. And our the speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . To address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Spree, today i would like to recognize the local Fire Departments in texas district 25, specifically the ones located in Johnson County. Mr. Williams all together First Responders in this county were deployed for over eight to help with Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. 20 firefighters and personnel were sent from bono, godly, grand vue, and to help with hur departments to help out with the storms impact. Two weeks ago these First Responders were honored during the Johnson County Emergency Services number one monthly meeting. Over the course of two months they contributed a great deal o the total number of 17,000 rescue missions in texas. More than 33,000 individuals were displaced as a result of this tragedy and these heroes put their own lives on hold to help out their fellow texans. Mr. Speaker, these crews who serve their local community are a rare find. They are heroes. And i am honored to represent them in the 25th Congressional District of texas. They voluntarily left their families and put their lives on the line in order to save others. The folks in rescue missions in texas. More than houston and south texas will be forever grateful. Texas is still recovering and together we will be stronger than ever before. So god bless texas. God bless the First Responders. And god bless the United States of america. In god we trust. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, today i rise to pay tribute to a living legend, my friend and colleague, congressman sam johnson. Recently rehad the opportunity to honor him by renaming the vietnam archive at Texas Tech University the same johnson vietnam archive. Nobody in the United States congress enjoys more esteem from his colleagues on both sides of the aisle than sam johnson. His legacy of service is awe inspiring. 29 years in the United States air force. Combat missions in korea and vietnam. Nearly seven years as a p. O. W. , roughly three of those years in solitary confinement. Mr. Arrington there are many forces and politics that pull us from pill to post and many interests that compete for our time. There is one force that drives this man, his desire to fight for the future of his country. There is only one interest, thats only whats in the best interest of all americans. Im grateful to texas tech for honoring congressman johnsons service and sacrifice and im proud of the example sam has set for all of us who serve in the peoples house. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition . Ms. Jackson lee i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Jackson lee good morning, america. What about those astros . The Houston Astros, members of the 18th Congressional District and the great city of houston. Let me thank the Houston Astros a harvey worn community to the highest limb. We have never won the world series. Minute maid is a fine stadium. And the l. A. Dodgers were a very fine a harvey worn community to the highest compet let me thank all of them for the great sportsmanship, the character that was shown, show what americas about. You can be two great adversaries on the battlefield of baseball, but you can still be great friends and colleagues and part of the Great American pastime. Thank you to the mayor, county government, the state government, all of those fans out there, thank you, thank you to George Springer who caught the final out. I was so excited. Congratulations to those southern boys. They did a create grob did a great job and were the world series champion, the American League champion. Go Houston Astros. Mr. Speaker, i thank you for your kindness. Im so excited. They are great young men. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Mr. Thompson mr. Speaker, request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Thompson thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to congratulate dan glotts on receiving the 2017 Warren County chamber of Commerce Chamber of business and Industries Community service award. The chamber presents the award annually to an individual who has made significant contributions to the community. Dan was raised in Warren County, graduated from warren high school, and he currently serves as the Warren County planning director. He has given us time his time to numerous organizations, including the boy scouts of america, where he has served in many roles over the years, including scout master and council commissioner. Dan is an excellent role model and mentor for scores of young scouts and is involved in many more organizations. Hes a Founding Partner of walkable warren, which is a local initiative to promote Healthy Lifestyles for people of all ages, through established walking and bicycling train trails. Dan is also the games competition coordinator for the Warren County special olympics, as well as a cantor at the catholic church. These are just some of dans community activities. Mr. Speaker, i congratulate dan and i thank him for his Outstanding Service to Warren County. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Lamalfa thank you, mr. Speaker. First, a hearty congratulations to my texas colleagues from northern california. Giants country. Orange october feels good, doesnt it . Especially when you defeat the hated Southern California franchise. With that, i rise today to join my colleagues in support of the new tax reform bill that was released just today by the ways and Means Committee. This legislation contains many provisions that congress has been promising the American People a long time. Doubling the standard deduction, lowering the Corporate Tax rate, cutting taxes for small businesses. Thats what these reform measures are. Saving money for millions of americans and simplifying doing taxes, as well as creating an environment for american businesses to thrive and come home and bring the jobs with them. Here in america and in the american economy. American people want tax reform, they need tax reform and theyve waited a long time. Indeed, 1986. They shouldnt have to wait more years to kickstart their economy and help american jobs. Mr. Speaker, we need to make this happen now. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from indiana seek recognition . Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to highlight the recent passage of h. R. 1488, the Indiana Dunes National park act, which passed the house unanimously yesterday. This bill renames the Indiana Dunes National lake shore as the Indiana Dunes National park. Mrs. Walorski creating the first National Park in indiana and the 60th in the country. The indiana dunes are a treasured source of natural beauty, where hoosiers and their families can enjoy countless recreational activities. Its a diverse landscape consisting of dunes, oak savannahs, swamps, boggs, marshes, prairies, rivers and forests, creating one of the most biologically diverse areas in the country. The park contains over 2,000 unique animal and plant species. Making the Dunes National lake shore indianas first National Park will draw the attention of more americans from around the country, to give them an opportunity to enjoy one of the most beautiful places in our land. Mr. Speaker, i look forward to this bipartisan bill, being quickly passed by the senate and signed into law by the president. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Shimkus mr. Speaker, today is a big day. I want to congratulate my colleague and friend, mr. Brady, the chairman of the ways and Means Committee, and the committee for the rollout of our tax reform proposal. First time in over 30 years. For the individual, what do we get . We get a fair, flatter, simpler tax code. Were lowering the rate. Were doubling the personal exemptions. And guess what, most americans will be able to file their tax returns on a postcard. For corporate america, we get a reduction from 35 to 20 , which will make us competitive across the world. Most countries in the major industrialized nation tax their corporations at a 20 rate. And we will eliminate most every loophole that will deprive special interests of being able to interrupt and interseed in the tax code. For what purpose . A simple purpose. More money in individuals pockets and a growing, thriving economy for all americans. Again, i congratulate chairman brady and the ways and Means Committee. I look forward to seeing a quick passage on the floor. And i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Brady mr. Speaker, by mr. Burgess mr. Speaker, by the direction of the committee on rureblings i call up House Resolution 00 and ask for its immediate consideration. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the resolution. The clerk house calendar number 96. House resolution 600. Resolved that aupon doppings of resolved, that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house the bill h. R. 3922, to extend funding for certain Public Health programs, and for other purposes. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. In lieu of the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on energy and commerce now printed in the bill, the amendment printed in part a of the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution, modified by the amendment printed in part b of that report, shall be considered as adopted. The bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further amendment thereto, to final passage without intervening motion except, one, one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on energy and commerce, and two, and the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on ways and means, and two,one motion to recommit with or without instructions. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for one hour. Mr. Burgess thank you, mr. Speaker. For the purpose of debate only, i yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from new york, ms. Slaughter, pending which i yield myself sufficient such time as i may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Burgess House Resolution 600 provides for the consideration of a bipartisan bill reported by the house ways and means and the energy and Commerce Committees. The rule provides for one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chairs and Ranking Members of the committees on energy and commerce and ways and means. The rule adopts the amendment in e nature of a subs of a substitute recommended by the committee on ways and means. Further, the rule waives all points of order and makes no further amendments to the legislation. However, the minority is afforded customary motion to recommit. On behalf of millions of seniors in my home state of texas, and all across the United States, i am grateful that the house is considering h. R. 849, the protecting seniors ac access to medicare act of seniors access to medicare act of 2017. This bill has been championed by my good friend from tennessee, dr. Phil roe in this congress and in previous congresses. It accomplishes a very simple task. To repeal the unpopular independent payment Advisory Board created under the Affordable Care act. This repeal has strong bipartisan support in both the energy and Commerce Committee, on which i serve, and in this entire body. As of today, there are 270 republicans and democrats democratic cosponsors to the bill who all agree that the creation of this board was a very, very bad idea. More than 800 organizations representing every state support this bill. If i may add, this includes seniors, Patient Advocacy groups, physician groups, and other Health Care Provider organizations. This board is charged with broad, sweeping powers to reduce medicare spending when medicare expending exceeds an arbitrary target. The board is a Panel Composed of 15 members. Appointed by the president , con filmed by the Senate Confirmed by the senate for up to two consecutive sixyear terms. Fewer than half of the independent payment Advisory Board members can be Health Care Providers. And no one, and this is an important point, no one on the board may receive outside income, so that means by its very definition, this board is comprised of people who cannot be practicing physicians. The other members will come from the ranks of think tanks, unions and academia, for a panel with so much authority over medicare spending, there could be little to no clinical expertise amongst the board members. Is this what americans really want . Heres some good news. The board has yet to be formed. Hoor aye for that. And according to who are aye for that. And hooray for that. And according to the board of Medicare Trustees from the centers of the actuary, the independent payment board may not be formed until at least 2021. Based on the current medicare spending rate projections. Well, thats good news to seniors and their doctors and their families. But these projections are just numbers and they can change. In fact, last year the projection was very, very different, that independent payment Advisory Board would be triggered this year. Rather than the delay. The concern of many of us here in the house, and hundreds of stakeholders ive heard from, is that under the law the independent payment Advisory Boards proposals are required, required to be implemented by the secretary of health and Human Services unless Congress Acts by creating its own proposal to achieve the exact same savings or by preventing the automatic implementation process as defined by law. So what is that process . The law mandates immediate introduction of legislation encompassing the independent payment Advisory Board proposed bills in Congress Stop and think about that for a minute. Thats not a bill introduced by a member of congress. Thats a bill introduced by an outside board. Thats a bill introduced by the administration. Let me repeat. The law mandates immediate introduction of legislation encompassing the independent payment Advisory Board proposed bills in congress and establishes strict deadlines for committee and Senate Floor Consideration and places limits on the appropriations process. While congress is permitted to modify the type of cuts to medicare, it must achieve identical savings amounts to medicare spending as contained in the boards plan. The law bars congress from changing the independent payment Advisory Board fiscal targets in any other legislation it considers, and it creates procedures whereby a supermajority vote is required in the senate to waive this requirement. If the independent payment Advisory Board fails to report recommendations or never becomes operational, the secretary of the department of health and Human Services is given the power to implement the cuts unilaterally. Well, you might think that then of course this would be under judicial or administrative review. But the independent payment Advisory Board is exempt from administrative or judicial review. No matter what your views on the Affordable Care act, we should all agree that giving this much power to a panel of unelected and unaccountable officials or a cabinet secretary, whoever he or she may be, in any administration, giving away this much power is simply bad policy. The house shouldnt be for that. This process is extremely complicated and maybe that was the intent of the people who wrote the provision creating this board under the Affordable Care act. I also fundamentally believe that the independent payment Advisory Board infringes on the separation of powers by shifting authority from the legislative to the executive branch, not only does the creation of this board significantly limit congress authority, it eliminates needed transparency from hearings and debate. It eliminates any meaningful opportunity for stakeholder input. Believe leaving medicare payment decisions to the hand unelected and unaccountable with little congressional oversight will actually harm seniors access to Quality Health care. Congress has played an integral role in shaping policies that best reflect the needs of our districts and our states. And our constituents demand, they demand that. Thats the reason they sent payment decisions to the us here. Lastly, as a physician, i treasure the doctorpatient relationship. I believe we must do more to honor this relationship and prevent the federal government from further eroding this precious commodity. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Ms. Slaughter thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. And yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized. Ms. Slaughter the independent payment Advisory Board was created, in fact, by the Affordable Care act, as we have heard. It will be a 15member Panel Composed of president ially appointed and Senate Confirmed experts. Charged with developing proposals to prevent medicare costs from getting too high. It is about fiscal prudence. The majority and its allies, however, spread many mistruths about the board. It has even been called a death panel, if you remember that. In reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Recommendations may not a single sole has been dominated to the soul has been nominated recommendations increase cost sharing premiums or taxes or reduce benefits. They have no way to do that. To it is not yet constituted as an entity. Today in the absence of a board, the secretary of health and Human Services is directed to submit recommendations to congress if a trigger is met. The independent medicare actuaries predicted this board will not be triggered until it at least 2021, four years from now. So, mr. Speaker, i think we spending why were time today with everything facing us, addressing a problem that could exist four years from now . Is the majority so desperate to undermine the Affordable Care act that they are repealing a panel whose sole purpose is keeping medicare costs in line . According to gallup, 55 of the public approves of the health are law. They want to see it strengthened not eviscerated. In contrast, under the majority leaders leadership, they want to see majoritys leadership, congress has an Approval Rating of just 13 . So should 13 be telling 55 what they need to do . Instead, since the majority has so far been unable to repeal going to undermine it brick by brick. The president s even sabotaging the Affordable Care act administratively. Slashing the budget to publicize the law by 90 and cutting the open Enrollment Period in half. And in the interest of public service, let me say that the Enrollment Period started yesterday and continues to december 15, so please go and take care of your Health Insurance. What the white house has done is make a direct attempt to cause chaos, to weaken signups under the open Enrollment Period that began this week. The Kaiser Family foundation estimated that as a result of the Affordable Care act medicare growth has been historically low. The growth in Health Care Prices is at its lowest level in 50 years. The Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that medicare growth rates will its targets until 2021, hence the reason for not doing a panel for four more years. Its really too bad that this congress and its targets until majority its sabotaging the Affordable Care act. Chipping away at its benefits. We should be strengthening it. Remember that every president since Theodore Roosevelt just about has tried to do a Health Care Bill like the one that we have today. Perhaps its because barack obama did it that theres so much problem with it in the majority. There is a Bipartisan Senate bill crafted by senator alexander and senator patty murray that the Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office c. B. O. Found last week would save money, stabilize the insurance marketplace, and reduce the debt by 3. 8 billion. Thats all that without anyone losing their insurance. We take up that bill . We never get an answer for that question. What is it about trying to take Health Care Away from poor people or that we wont put a bill on the floor that has alt advantages and savings that we know and that is totally bipartisan . Is it because the majority knows it will pass . Our nation has urgent problems. Our infrastructures crumbling, education costs skyrocket. So high, so fast that it is unattainable to many students. We desperately need to stabilize our Health Insurance markets by passing the compromise by senators alexander and murray. Thats what we should be doing here today. There are members on both sides of the aisle who want to see improvements to the board, but thats not what the bill does. It terminates it all together. Its the wrong approach at definitely the wrong time. Regardless of what you think about this word, board, we should be able to agree that congress has more important things to do than address a problem that might not exist for four years, if at all. And i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Burgess thank you, mr. Speaker. At this time im pleased to recognize the chief sponsor of the bill, dr. Phil roe from tennessee, for five minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from tennessee is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Roe thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of the rule for my bill, h. R. 849, the protecting seniors access to medicare act of 2017. This boil would repeal the independent payment Advisory Board or ipab which was created lely as a Cost Containment mechanism as part of the Affordable Care act. It has nothing to do about quality of care or access to care. I cant think of anything more important, mr. Speaker, that this mechanism as part of the Affordable Care act. It has Nothing Congress should is providing quality care and access to care for our Senior Citizens of this country, some 58 million of them. Whatever your feelings may be about the a. C. A. , this provision has strong bipartisan opposition from its beginning and it was not contained in the House Democrats version of the bill, but was jammed in by the senate at the end. If you still need convincing on just how unpopular this provision of the law is, ask yourself how often do we see a bill come to the floor under a rule that has 270 bipartisan cosponsors. Passing this bill will send a strong message to our Senate Colleagues its time to act now. Mr. Speaker, the overwhelming bipartisan support from members is only outdone by the overwhelming nationwide coalition of support. Id like to request unanimous consent to submit this into the record, a letter from the protect my doctor and me coalition, a letter that has been signed by nearly 800 groups representing patients, providers, and all sectors of the Health Care Industry with support and all 50 states. Let me read one paragraph. Ipab is constructed under the Affordable Care act is a board compromise of president ial appointees who will be charged with making recommendations to cut medicare expenditures if spending growth reaches an arbitrary level. Once the secretary of health and Human Services implements an ipab recommendation, that action is not subject to administrative or judicial review. Granted ucted, ipab is unprecedented powers and president obamas office of management and budget director said it was the largest transfer granted of power from legislative branch to a Bureaucratic Branch since the federal reserve. Thats a mouthful. Even the ability to change laws previously enacted by congress with virtually no oversight. Democrats and republicans may not always agree on how to get things done around here, but when you can bring 270 house members together on one bill, its pretty clear that something needs to be done immediately. We were lucky this summer that Medicare Trustees report indicated that ipab would not trigger until 2021 or 2022, but our backs against the wall. We must act. We cannot afford to let 15 unelected, unaccountable you bureaucrats unkibble bureaucrats make decisions with no checks from congress. I urge my colleagues to support this and refer also, mr. Speaker, to a letter i signed on to, a bipartisan letter, december 17, 2009, that said the following, this was a bipartisan letter written to the speeblinger speakers of the house of representatives, nancy pelosi at that time. Finally the peoples elective we must oppose any proposal to create a board that would surrender our legislative authority and responsibility for medicare ogram to unelected, unaccountable officials within the very same branch of government that is charged with implementing the medicare policies antifact so many americans. Mr. Speaker, i urge my colleagues to support this rule and support final passage because that will show the American People you stand with americas seniors. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore without objection. The gentleman from tennessee yields back. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Burgess i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas reserves. The gentlelady from snoveraget ms. Slaughter may i inquire of my colleague if he has further speakers . Mr. Burgess i believe at this time i have two additional speakers. Ms. Slaughter i reserve my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized. Miss pleased to im recognize a gentleman from florida, also a physician, dr. Neal dunne, for two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Dunn thank pleased to recognize a gentleman from florida, also a physician, you, speaker. Mr. Speaker, i rise in support of protecting seniors access to medicare act, sponsored by my colleague and fellow physician, representative roe. Obama administrations establishment of the establishment of the independent Advisory Board or ipab is perhaps the most insidious part of the Affordable Care act. With ipab, 15 unelected bureaucrats would be empowered to make Health Coverage decisions for 55 million americans who are Medicare Beneficiaries. Care would be rationed. Physicians like myself would be unable to pursuit the course of treatment we think is appropriate for our patients. Seniors would lose access to the best care. D all without any input from congress or any accountability to congress or any accountability to voters. With all of the divisiveness we see in washington, the ipab repeal bill we consider today is genuinely bipartisan. Urge my colleagues to give it overwhelming bipartisan vote and show the country were serious about keeping our promises to our seniors. With that i yield back. The speaker pro tempore overwhelming bipartisan vote and show the country were the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Burgess i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlelady reserves. Mr. Burgess let me yield myself a minute and a half. Mr. Speaker, i did want to delineate the membership of this board as is outlined in the Affordable Care act. So the board will be appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the senate, with the advice and consent of the secretary of the administrator for center and Medicaid Services and administrator of the Health Resources and services administration, all of those individuals will serve as exafisho nonvoting members. Here are the qualifications for the actual board. Appointed member shcht board shall include individuals with National Recognition for their expertise in Health Finance and economics. In actuarial science, Health Facility management, health plans, and integrated delivery systems, and reimbursement of health care facilities. Missing from that picture, of course, are the people who actually provide the care, the people who are involved in that doctorpatient relationship. Almost as an afterthought here t the end of that paragraph, osteopathic physicians. The other aspect is no member of the board can receive outside income. That may be a good idea, but that guarantees there will not be a practicing physician on that board. I think that is a significant oversight. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlelady from new york is recognized. Ms. Slaughter let me yield myself about 30 seconds here, or a minute. Because im troubled by this. I understand my learned colleagues, i dont want to insult them at all, but it says in the legislation, that ipab cannot ration health care, cannot raise taxes, or increase deductibles and copayments. Nder the current law section 1899a, 42 u. S. C. Clearly states the proposal shall not include any recommendation to ration health care, raise revenues, or Medicare Beneficiary premiums. Increase the cost sharing, including deductibles, coinsurance, and copayments, or other wise restrict benefits or modify eligibility criteria. I regret i have to do that because its direct contradiction of what my good friends on the other side have told the country and what i assume that they believe. And let me inquire again if my colleague has any other speakers. If he does not, im prepared to close. Mr. Burgess im prepared to close as well. Ms. Slaughter all right. Mr. Speaker, russia interfered with our 2016 election. That much is clear from special counsel muellers investigation, which led to entitlements against two Trump Campaign aides. The legitimacy of our electoral system is at stake and its time the Republicancontrolled Congress sets aside the partisan politics and treats this threat with the gravity it deserves. If we defeat the previous question, i will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up representative swalwell and representative cummings bill which will create a Bipartisan Commission to investigate the russian interference in the 2016 election. Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the amendment in the record, along with extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Ms. Slaughter thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, one of the worst political stories ive heard in my lifetime is what we just talked about. The death panel, what its going to do. Even though its prohibited by the written law to do the things that it has been accused of being able to do. Most of that politifacts talked about the death panel part of it and said that that was a 2009 lie of the year. But here we are eight years later and we keep hearing this about the panel and its intent. The board is about keeping medicare growth in line, nothing more. Nothing less. So lets be honest about what the bill really is about. Attacking the Affordable Care act. Regardless of what you think about the independent payment Advisory Board, the nation has immediate problems today that deserve our attention, from health care to education to infrastructure. We should not be taking this valuable house time talking about a board that may or may not come into existence four years from now. Thats not what we will need to deal with today. So i urge a no vote on the previous question and the rule. And i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. Does the gentlelady reserve . Or yield back . Ms. Slaughter i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Burgess mr. Speaker, at this time im pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from georgia, mr. Carter. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from georgia is recognized for one minute. Mr. Carter thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, obamacare was tacked full of provisions that took power and Health Care Choices away from the American People. One of the most egregious examples of obamacares overreach is the independent payment Advisory Board. The architects of obamacare designed the ipab as panel of 15 unelected and unaccountable people who were tasked with making arbitrary cuts to medicare after a certain level of spending is reached. Mr. Speaker, the American People elected congress to make decisions on Health Care Policy and i know my constituents agree that medicare is too important to be left in the hands of unaccountable people. The ipab would take an axe to medicare spending, adversely impacting unknown numbers of vulnerable seniors, instead of allowing increasing value to seniors and lower costs. The ipab approach would lead to rationing health care which would put bureaucrats, bureaucrats, not doctors, in charge of deciding what procedures folks will receive through medicare. Mr. Speaker, the American People deserve thoughtful and deliberative decisions by their elected officials and thats why i support repealing the ipab and i ask my colleagues to join me in doing so. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Burgess ill reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Ms. Slaughter mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. The gentleman from texas. Is recognized. Mr. Burgess thank you, mr. Speaker. I recall things a little differently. I recall the lie of the year being, if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. But i guess thats a debate for another day. Mr. Speaker, todays rule provides for consideration of an important piece of legislation to protect seniors access to health care from the illadvised medicare independent payment Advisory Board, created by the Obama Administration within the Affordable Care act. I thank the authors, chairman 270 and dr. Roe and the house cosponsors of h. R. 849, for their thoughtful and Bipartisan Legislation. And i urge my colleagues to sport rule for providing for consideration of this underlying bill. And then support the bill. With that, i yield back the balance of my time, move the previous question on the resolution. The speaker pro tempore the question is on ordering the previous question on the resolution. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. Ms. Slaughter i request the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from new york requests the yeas and nays. The yeas and nays are requested. All those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this uestion will be postponed. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Burgess mr. Speaker, by the direction of the committee on rules, i call up hose russianlusion i call up House Resolution 601 and ask for its immediate consideration. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the resolution. The clerk house calendar number 97, House Resolution 601. Resolved, that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house the bill h. R. 3922, to extend funding for certain Public Health programs, and for other purposes. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. In lieu of the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on energy and commerce now printed in the bill, the amendment printed in part a of the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution, modified by the amendment printed in part b of that report, shall be considered as adopted. The bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further amendment thereto, to final passage without intervening motion except, one, one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on energy and commerce, and two, one motion to recommit with or without instructions. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for one hour. Mr. Burgess thank you, mr. Speaker. For the purpose of debate only, i yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from new york, ms. Slaughter, pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Burgess House Resolution 601 provides for the consideration of a critical bill to provide Health Insurance and health care to millions of underprivileged children. This package, which includes two separate bills, h. R. 3922, the Community Health and medical professionals improve our nation , or the champion act, of 2017. And h. R. 3921, the healthy kids act. This was reported out of the committee on energy and commerce after lengthy deliberation and negotiations, and a lengthy mark judgment the rule provides for one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and the Ranking Member of the committee on energy and commerce. The rule adopts an amendment from the chairman of energy and Commerce Committee, modified by a Second Amendment by the same author, combining the two bills into the package on the floor today. Further, the rule waives all points of order and makes in order no further amendments to the legislation. However the minority is afforded the customary motion to recommit. The congressionally appropriated stream of funding for the Childrens Health insurance of ram expired at the end september. Funding for other important Public Health programs such as Community Health centers, the National Health service corps, Teaching Health Center Graduate medical education also expired at the end of september. While every state which receives federal funding through these programs continues to have adequate dollars to maintain Health Insurance for every enrolled child, several states are beginning to exhaust their unspent 2017 funds and redistributed funds from the center for medicareMedicaid Services. With november now upon us, waiting any longer will only put more pressure on those states to begin sending notifications to children and families that they are losing their coverage for those programs. So it is important that we reauthorize funding for the Childrens Health Insurance Program and other programs now. H. R. 3922, the championing healthy kids act, will achieve that important task. It is essential to our efforts to ensuring that these programs continue to meet the Health Care Needs of children and families who have come to rely upon them. Today more than eight million lowincome children across our country depend on the Childrens Health Insurance Program for many of their health care services. These include routine doctor visits, immunizations, prescription medicines and dental care. Through flexible capped allotments to the state, the program has been able to successfully support these children while providing states with opportunities to tailor their respective programs as best meet the needs of their respective populations. The championing healthy kids act would extend chip for another five years, which is the longest extension since its inception in 1996. An extension through fiscal year 2022 will provide Financial Stability for every states chip program and certainty for those children and their families that are covered. Additionally, ensuring coverage for chipeligible children will make them less likely to have to enroll in medicaid or obamacare. This bill also contains and maintains a provision under the Affordable Care act that provided 23 of increased matching for two years. Then that draws down to an increase of 11. 5 match in the third year, and then finally provides funding at prea. C. A. Levels for the final two years. These funding levels will provide the states enough time to plan their budgets before returning to the regular chip matching rates, thereby restoring the fiscally responsible federalstate medicaid partnership. While reauthorizing chip funding is the primary focal point of this legislation, the championing healthy kid act also includes other important provisions relating to our Nations Health care. The bill provides a twoyear extension of funding for federally qualified Health Centers, Community Health centers. One in 13 individuals nationwide relies upon a Community Health center to receive health care services. The Community Health center fund plays an Important Role in supplementing the services that federally qualified Health Centers are able to deliver to underserved communities, by providing care to all americans, regardless of income or ability to pay. Funding the Teaching Health Center Graduate medical Education Program is also extended for another two years. The legislation includes a twoyear extension of other important Health Programs, including funding for the National Health service corps, family to Family Health information centers, the Youth Empowerment program, the personal responsibility Education Program, the special Diabetes Program for type one diabetes, and the special Diabetes Program for american indians. In addition to the important funding streams addressed in this bill, the committee on energy and Commerce Incorporated a way to help our nations territories in a time of need following recent natural disasters. The bill includes more than 1 billion for the Medicaid Programs in both puerto rico and the u. S. Virgin islands. This funding should assist our territories in providing care for their populations who have faced substantial devastation from hurricanes irma and maria. The medicare funding issue is unique to puerto rico and the United States citizens living in the territories. This was a problem that predated the hurricanes. But it was exacerbated by the devastation that the storm brought to the island. Without a legislative fix from congress, this will be an ongoing and festering problem until it is properly addressed and the bill before us today begins to do just that. Additionally, the bill delays the 5 billion in cuts to many of the hospitals across the country from the Affordable Care actmandated medicaid disproportionate Share Hospital reductions for fiscal year 2018 and 2019. Im sure that many of my colleagues have heard from hospitals in their districts whose ability to remain operational and to continue to provide care could be jeopardized by these payment cuts. These cuts are offset in future years, adding an additional 6 billion in reductions in fiscal years 2021, 2022 and 2023. This theres but does not fix the problem that obamacare created for safety net hospitals. It is one which we will have to revisit, but it delays the cuts that have already been affected by current law. And protect these safety net hospitals which protects the neediest citizens in our country. Not only does the championing healthy kids act reauthorize funding for essential Health Programs, the bill is fully offset. T will not add to the national debt. The committee for responsible federal budget called this, im quoting here, a responsible health package, closed quote, noting that the 18 billion of cost of the bill is fully offset with savings beyond the 10year budget window. One of the ways that costs are offset was to alter the qualified health plan grace period so it would align with state law grace period requirements. This involved changing in the Affordable Care act the grace period for subsidized individuals from 90 days to 30 days unless a state specifically allows otherwise. Also redirected 6. 4 billion from the prevention and Public Health fund to help pay for the legislation. This fund is required by law to receive 2. 5 billion in annual appropriations which must be used for prevention, wellness and Public Health initiatives administered by the department of health and Human Services. If congress let me say it again. If congress does not direct these funds toward specific efforts, the secretary of health and Human Services has the authority to spend the funds however he or she deems fit. While we are redirecting these taxpayer dollars, the overarching purpose of the funding is still to improve the health and wellness of americans through existing mechanisms and Community Health centers will do just that. We allow for certain wealthy Medicare Beneficiaries with individual incomes of over 500,000 to pay increased premiums in order to offset some of the cost of authorizing these programs. These beneficiaries will be subject to higher premiums, thereby increasing their overall cost, but still their cost will be lower than if they purchased insurance on the exchange. The championing healthy kids act is a fiscally responsible way to fund some of our nations most important Public Health programs. The bill would ensure continued access to care for children and individuals who rely on the programs for Vital Health Care services. Mr. Speaker, this is a good bill. Mr. Speaker, these offsets are reasonable. For these reasons i encourage my colleagues to support todays rule and support the underlying bill, and i will reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves his time. The lady from new york is recognized. Ms. Slaughter thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me the customary 30 minutes and i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. Ms. Slaughter thank you, mr. Speaker. 33 days ago funding for the Childrens Health Insurance Program, which nine million children rely on for their health care and wellbeing, expired after the program was allowed to lapse. States crafted budget assuming federal chip funding would arrive on time, as it has always done. They are now scrambling to develop a patchwork solution to keep the program alive. Six states and the district of columbia warned out they will run out of funding next month. 13 states say they will soon have to tell enrollees they could lose coverage without immediate congressional action. Utah officials will send letters to enrollees this week letting them know the program is forced to wind down. The Kaiser Family foundation has found that 32 states are expected to run out of funding by march if Congress Fails to act. So im glad were here today with a bill to reauthorize chip and other Public Health programs but they are woefully inadequate. This bill is paid for by eviscerating funding from one of the most important parts, again, of the Affordable Care act that helps to keep people well the Prevention Fund. This fund focuses on Childrens Health expanding access to lifesaving vaccines and reducing the risk of lead poisoning, among many other things. This is a particularly heartless cut when you consider that many residents of flint, michigan, still cant get a clean glass of water from the faucet or bathe in uncontaminated water three years after the water crisis began. Children there in flint will be forced to live for the rest of their lives with impacts ranging from neuro developmental damage and Behavioral Changes to hypertension and anemia, damage caused by a government that failed to act. If it fails to adequately Fund Medicaid for puerto rico and u. S. Virgin islands as they continue to try to rebuild following the recent devastating hurricanes, that will be a compounding of the tragedy. This bill fails to waive the requirement that both of those islands match federal investment before they can access any of the medicaid funding. And we dont deal with that at all, even for chip. 70 of puerto rico doesnt even have power six weeks after Hurricane Maria hit. New york utility workers are down there now and im sure we will see results soon. Residents in puerto rico are washing clothes and bathing in contaminated rivers and streams and drinking it as well. A Million People there still dont have any running water. They dont have the ability to put up millions of dollars, either, to match these funds because they are struggling to survive. And we dont address that. These are american citizens, and we have an obligation to help them. These reauthorizations are a chance to really Work Together and deliver, but we are worried about this opportunity because there is no indication this bill could pass the senate with the cuts it has made to the Affordable Care act, and i am referring, of course, to the ones Preventive Care. That will be a major tragedy. As ive already said, so many states are right at the edge of not being able to fund the program at all. Other states are ready to tell both Community Health services and chip they are no longer providing for them. So this partisan approach will only delay the extension of the programs even further, and i nsider that a major degradeation of our duties. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Burgess before i yield to the chairman of the rules committee let me yield myself 30 seconds to response. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Burgess it pains me to hear people talk about the 33day delay in getting schip funding resubmitted. I just want to assure the house of representatives that republicans on the subcommittee of health and energy and commerce have been ready to go with this legislation. We did our legislative hearings in the summer, as the gentleman will recall, because he was there, and we were ready for our markup in the month of september. Why was it delayed . Let me reference an article from c. Q. News october 23, 2017. Democrats do not want a Childrens Health insurance bill to come to the floor this week for a vote said Frank Pallone jr. , at a district event. The idea is not to come to the bill this week, said pallone. So mr. Speaker, id ask unanimous consent to insert this copy into the record, and i will yield five minutes to the gentleman from texas the speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman from texas is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Sessions mr. Speaker, thank you very much. I really appreciate the distinguished gentleman from lewisville, texas, dr. Michael burgess, who serve several roles in this house of representatives, first as subcommittee chairman for health for the energy and Commerce Committee. Actually, his favorite committee. And then his duties at the rules committee that mike has spent a good number of years in service to the entire body. I want to thank dr. Burgess for his personally handling not only this matter but bringing to Congress Really strong attitude that he has about children. Dr. Burgess, for a number of years, since his early days in Parkland Hospital in dallas, texas, as a resident and then becoming an obstetriciangynecologist who served not only the dallas area thousands of people, but he brought to that a love of children, women and families to give precious life to the United States of america. And i want to thank him for his healthy child bill that he brought to the energy and Commerce Committee. Mr. Speaker, let me say this. The gentlewoman from new york, the Ranking Member of the rules committee, and the entire committee yesterday spent a great deal of time not only looking at this particular bill but other very germane issues related to health care, and my colleagues, including the gentlewoman from new york, really have the best heart in this. I believe this is an issue where we agree. We agree that Childrens Health is not only an important part what congress should be involved in but actually resolving the issues. And she is very correct. Several weeks ago it was brought up in the rules committee the timeliness of this issue, the appropriateness of the rules committee handling this bill to get it to the floor so that we would allow not only the American People to understand what we were doing but really to put in play so this could be handled by the United States senate and the president. I want to congratulate my colleagues. I think that my colleagues, to a person, understand the importance of this, and certainly mike burgess leadership at energy and commerce but also the rules committee. So reauthorizing the Childrens Health Insurance Program, or chip, as its known, is vitally important. Its important because there are some 400,000 children in texas alone where chairman burgess and i live. We see not only families but we see the health care community. We see other elected officials and just normal people at home who expect us to get our work done. We are today. In fact, were not only getting it done, but as chairman burgess has talked and even as the gentlewoman, ms. Slaughter, talked about, there will be states at the end of november that will be running on fumes, be running on empty, and a good number of states are funded until probably february or march. But that is not a reason for us to delay, and so we are here respectfully to ask the entire body, republicans and democrats, but also to let the American People know that the Childrens Health Insurance Program, through the efforts of mike burgess, through the efforts of greg walden as chairman of the committee, have worked very diligently to make sure that it not only comes to the floor but the nuances of the bill that will include many, many good bipartisan ideas will be offset and it will be offset and we are going to have to make sure as we move forward that those are careful instructions that we all understand. But the bottom line to this is, mr. Speaker, this congress, because of the bipartisanship, because of the ability, because of the importance of chip, is handling this today. So we are going to ask all members, if they did not have a chance to see what i thought as a robust, distinguished panel that came to us yesterday to talk about this but also the thoughtful ideas from our members about the importance of this, i think we can convince this body, this body, republicans and democrats, that the underlying legislation helps secure for five more years, which is what the goal was, five more years to make sure that we can move forward, give states the authority and the responsibility, gives the American People confidence what were doing to take care of this issue has not only been done but presented in such a way it will be successful. So thats our job, mr. Speaker. Our job is to take the work that comes from the committee of jurisdiction in this case the energy and Commerce Committee move that through, look at it, vet it and make sure the best ideas happen and im pleased and proud to be here today. I will yield back my time to the gentleman. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas reserves. The gentlelady from new york is recognized. Ms. Slaughter mr. Speaker, im pleased to yield three minutes to the gentlewoman from california, ms. Matsui, a distinguished member of the energy and Commerce Committee. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized for three minutes. Ms. Matsui thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentlelady for yielding. Mr. Speaker, i rise in opposition to this rule. For months, House Republicans have delayed action to fund chip and Community Health centers. These programs are critical in our communities and cannot survive without this funding. They have always been bipartisan, but unfortunately the bill before us today is not. Instead of working with us, republicans have focused on trumpcare and sabotaging the a. C. A. Now, they put forward this bill full of poison pills that will only further delay funding these critical Public Health programs. To turn what has been traditionally a bipartisan process into a political game does a disservice to families. H. R. 3922 eliminates the a. C. A. s prevention and Public Health fund, which helps people in my district and other districts get vaccines, prevent diabetes and combat Heart Disease. The reason we put the Prevention Fund in the a. C. A. In the first place was to reorient our Health System toward prevention which ultimately saves money and keeps people healthier. We all want to ensure kids have the insurance that they need to access Affordable Care, but slashing benefits that will in the long term hurt the very children and families that chip and the Community Health centers help, as this bill does, is the wrong way to go. This legislation is another attempt by the republicans to undermine the a. C. A. Unfortunately this is just one of the many acts of sabotage that weve seen over the last year from the Trump Administration and congressional republicans. And on top of these attacks on the Affordable Care act, h. R. 3922 creates a false choice between helping seniors and helping kids. This legislation makes changes to medicare that will hurt all seniors benefits in the long term. Democrats have offered solutions chip ould pay for funding and Community Health senters in a way that doesnt centers that a way that doesnt rob peter to pay paul centers in a way that doesnt rob peter to pay paul. Im disappointed republicans have chosen this partisan path for programs that are so dear to our communities. I urge my colleagues to vote no on h. R. 3922 and to support the democratic substitute. Thank you and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Burgess let me yield myself 30 seconds for the purpose of response. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Burgess mr. Speaker, if were going to tell stories, we ought to say once upon a time. Should be our opening. This bill merely takes some of the discretion for the prevention of Public Health fund away from the administration and returns it to congress where its supposed to be in the first place. So we take discretion over some of the prevention Public Health fund dollars away from the executive branch and redirect these dollars to proven Public Health programs that enjoy broad, bipartisan support in congress, like Community Health centers. Every democrat voted for the cures for the 21st century and it did exactly the same thing. I yield a minute to the gentleman from georgia. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from georgia is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, were here over a month late to reauthorize chip. While the families of nine million children are holding their breath to see whether their kids are going to have Health Insurance. Mr. Carter were bringing this up now because my colleagues on the other side of the aisle ask us to delay, and in good faith zwefment over 232,000 children,000 children rely on chip for their Health Insurance. My constituents are asking why weve delayed it. Im sad to have to tell them that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle decided to delay our efforts to pass the bill out of the energy and Commerce Committee. And then they decided to delay bringing the bill to the floor for a vote. I would hope that they would have the good reason for these delaying tactics, but the truth is that they opposed the provision that was requested by president obama in his fiscal year 2013 through fiscal year 2017 budgets that has a minor impact on the highest earners under medicare. This is politics at its worst. And i stand here today to say that enough is enough. The energy and Commerce Committees markup for this bill was stalled three times because our friends decided to oppose a policy that the Previous Administration supported. When the American People tell us that theyre fed up with the partisan politics, this is exactly what theyre talking about. I ask my colleagues to join me today in putting the needs of nine million children above the shortterm political interests. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Ms. Slaughter thank you, mr. Speaker. Im pleased to yield five minutes to the gentlewoman from connecticut, ms. Delauro. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized for ive minutes. Ms. Delauro mr. Speaker, i rise to voice my opposition to this rule and to the underlying bill. First, by the way, my colleague from california, ms. Matsui, talked about the democratic substitute. But lets be clear. Its our republican colleagues, the majority, who would not make a democratic substitute in order , to allow us to come here to have a debate on their proposal and what we proposed. How about that for democracy in the United States house of representatives. No democratic substitute. So, lets leave that aside and focus on what we have here today. Again, opposed to the rule, opposed to the bill. The Childrens Health Insurance Program is vital for millions of our nations most vulnerable citizens. Our children. And the gentleman before us spoke about nine million children. Yes, but do you know how long we have waited for the majority to reauthorize the Childrens Health Insurance Program . The length of time is shameful. But even more shameful is how the majority intends to pay for the Childrens Health Insurance Program. This is what the bill does. The bill includes massive cuts to something called the Public Health and Prevention Fund. What is the Public Health and Prevention Fund . It is inclusive of many of the programs that we rely on in order to save lives. Yes. They are the programs that go to help our Community Health centers be able to treat people that come to their door. 23 Million People in the United States use Community Health centers. It is often their primary care. But let me lay out for you what some of these programs are. He centers for Disease Control childhood vaccines, vaccinations, immunizations for our kids being cut. Lead poisoning prevention. You go to any community and this country in this country and they will tell you whether it is water or whether it is paint. Some of our children have the highest levels of lead. And what we need to be doing is screening them at a very early age so we can address the issue. They cut this out. Also, the centers for Disease Control Heart Disease program. Stroke and Diabetes Programs. Breastfeeding grants for hospitals. Childhood obesity prevention. Suicide prevention. When we are looking today with an Opioid Crisis in this nation, and so often thats resulting in suicides, that they are willing to cut the heart out of the Prevention Fund programs to fund the child Health Insurance program. So we are harming children at one end of the spectrum and robbing the money from that end of the spectrum to pay for the Childrens Health Insurance Program. Which i am a big supporter of. So we are stealing from this prevention program. Now, today my republican colleagues have offered a tax cut proposal. Take a hard look at it. Because the richest, the wealthiest, those with the most lobbyists are the biggest beneficiaries of these tax cuts. And middle class working families will get the short end of the stick. Those people who make over 1 million, several Million Dollars, are going to get the benefit of the tax cut. Why arent we taking that money and paying to reauthorize the Childrens Health Insurance Program, rather than taking the money from the health and Prevention Fund . So instead of providing tax cuts today for the richest 1 of americans, we could have a strong Childrens Health Insurance Program. And we could have a strong public and health care Prevention Fund. That does not have to make these egregious cuts. I think theres one more point that people need to know about this bill. The bill cuts something that was in the Affordable Care act, the grace period. They cut that back to 30 days. That means if someone misses one Health Insurance payment, they can lose their insurance for the remainder of the year. You know, today our biggest economic challenge as a nation is that people are in jobs that just dont pay them enough to live on. They cant afford their health care. Its cruel. Its a brazen attempt to undermine the Affordable Care act, which quite frankly has been the majoritys agenda for a very long time. So today ms. Slaughter i yield another 30 seconds. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for 30 seconds. Ms. Delauro there is no need to play off Childrens Health insurance against the Public Health and Prevention Fund. There is no need to cut back on a grace period for the folks who may miss one Health Insurance payment. So i urge my colleagues, dont be cruel. Dont be inhumane. And to those of my colleagues who will say no to this, you stand on solid ground, you stand with families in this nation, you stand with children in this nation, and you say no to cuts that are going to hurt their lives. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from new york reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Burgess mr. Speaker, at this time im pleased to yield to a fellow member of the House Rules Committee three minutes, the gentleman from alabama. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from alabama is recognized for three minutes. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank my colleague for yielding. I rise to ex tend my support for this rule extend my support for this rule and the underlying legislation. This legislation funds critical bipartisan Health Programs that help keep our communities healthy. Mr. Byrne mr. Speaker, i have long been a strong supporter of chip because i have seen it in action back in my home state of alabama. I served on the Alabama State school board back when alabama implemented our chip program, known as alkid. Alkids was the first chip program in the country and it has made a real difference. In fact, the uninsurance rate for children in alabama has gone from 20 prechip to 2. 4 today. For 83,000 alabama children under 19, the Program Offers low costs, comprehensive Health Care Coverage lowcost, comprehensive Health Care Coverage that includes immunizations, sick child doctor visits, prescriptions, vision care, dental care and much more. Chip has always been a bipartisan program. And i hope this reauthorization will earn bipartisan support for the children of america. This legislation also reauthorizes the Community Health centers fund. I am a huge champion of Community Health centers because, again, i have seen them work in alabama. From the Medical Clinic to a primary health to a southwest Alabama Health services, these centers are a are vitally important to so many americans, but especially to lowincome families and those in rural areas. One in 13 people nationwide rely on a Health Center for their Health Care Needs. And this reauthorization is necessary to ensure those individuals continue to receive access to medical care. This legislation also includes many other Health Care Provisions to meet other priorities. Among these provisions, i am pleased the legislation continues medicaid disproportionate share payments or dish. It provides funding to hospitals that provide a large number of indigent patients. This is absolutely critical to the life of alabamas hospitals and failure to renew these important payments could result in numerous hospital closures in our state. So, mr. Speaker, i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to get behind this legislation and ensure it gets across the finish line. We should not let petty political arguments keep us from ensuring that children, children have access to affordable Health Insurance. Keeping the doors open at Community Health centers, allowing alabamas hospitals to continue serving communities in need. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas continues to reserve. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Ms. Slaughter thank you, madam speaker. I yield five minutes to the gentleman from new jersey, the distinguished Ranking Member of the committee on energy and commerce, mr. Pallone. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Pallone thank you. I want to thank the Ranking Member of the rules committee, and also thank you, madam speaker. I just want to express the tremendous frustration that i have and that democrats have in general, the way the Republican Leadership has handled the chip bill, ipab, Community Health centers, the legislation were considering today and tomorrow. First of all, i need to point out that its over a year ago when i asked the leadership of our committee to try to come up with Bipartisan Legislation with regard to Community Health centers and schip, the childrens initiative. And all they wanted to do, from january until september, nine months, was repeal the Affordable Care act. Thats all they were interested in. They didnt want to hear anything about chip, anything about Community Health centers. Just repeal the Affordable Care act. Now, my colleagues on the other side suggested somehow theyre very concerned about kids because of chip. Well, the fact of the matter is that if you repeal the Affordable Care act, children, everyone, Community Health centers would suffer such damage because they would lose their Health Insurance, or the underpinnings of the Community Health centers, which have been financed with the Affordable Care act, that any suggestion that somehow because youre concerned now about chip or Community Health centers is belied by the fact that you spent the last nine months, through september, trying to repeal the Affordable Care act. If you really cared about these things, then you would not have sought that repeal. Then the republicans on the committee, the leadership were willing to talk about chip and Community Health centers. But mind you, the authorization for those two programs ended september 30. So it was literally too late, and now my colleagues on the her side say, oh, well were bringing this up today because we care about children and Community Health centers. If you did care you wouldnt bring this bill up today because we know if the bill is not bipartisan, which it is not, it wont pass the senate. These bills will pass on a partisan vote on friday and as a consequence theyll go to the senate and there will be no action and well have to deal with this at the end of the year as part of some larger omnibus spending bill or whatever we do at the end of the year. So anyone who tells you that the republicans in trying to pass a partisan bill are actually moving forward on chip or on Community Health centers, that is simply not true. What were facing here with these bills and i include ipab, chip, Community Health centers, what were really facing is another effort on the part of the Republican Leadership to repeal or sabotage the Affordable Care act. All these things are part, in some fashion, either with payfors or authorization of he Affordable Health care Affordable Health care act, and the fact of the matter is we are now seeing what i would call piecemeal repeal. You couldnt repeal it outright so you do a piecemeal repeal. You repeal ipab. You basically use funding from the Prevention Fund and you gut that so you can pay for the chip funding. You change the grace period so Something Like half a Million People lose their Health Insurance. Meanwhile, the president of the United States is out there every day issuing executive orders to get rid of cost sharing subsidies, to cut back on the outreach program. You look at all this, its nothing more than a piecemeal repeal of the Affordable Care act. Its sabotaging the Affordable Care act, so this has not changed. The first nine months until september, outright repeal. Between now and the end of the year, piecemeal repeal. Every day a different bill. Real inconsistency the best i can say about whats going on is to say we have to pay, we have to come up with offsets to pay for the Childrens Health initiative and the Community Health centers but we dont have to do it for ipab. 17. 5 Million Dollars is what its going to cost, according to the c. B. O. , to repeal ipab. If you use that money it would almost pay for the chip and the Community Health centers bill that will be considered the next day. So, again, this total inconsistency, suggesting somehow we care about one thing or we care about whats really going on is robbing peter to pay paul. The way you pay for the Community Health centers and the chip bill basically sabotaging the Affordable Care act is what you do is you shorten the grace period from 90 days to 30 days, when people, if they dont pay their premium will lose their Health Insurance and we know maybe 688,000 people, according to c. B. O. , will lose their Health Insurance. Then, we have a Prevention Fund can i have 30 seconds . Ms. Slaughter i give you an additional minute. The speaker pro tempore members are reminded to address their comments to the chair. Mr. Pallone thank you, madam speaker. Then you have the Prevention Fund which is used for childrens lead poisoning programs, for childrens vaccines, for the Opiate Program that the republican say they care so much about, these are going to go away in order to pay for chip and Community Health centers. It is unbelievable whats going on here, and i just ask my colleagues, look at whats actually happening. They wouldnt even let our substitute we have democratic substitute, and the rules committee wouldnt even let us consider it. So its not just the underlying whats actually happening here in terms of the substantive bills, its also the process its being used. Thats why i am glad we are talkingburg the rules time. We had a subtuitt that would have paid for the Community Health centers, paid for the Childrens Health program. They wouldnt even let us consider it here today. So i ask my colleagues, basically, vote no on the rule. Turn down this rule and let us have another opportunity to actually do something thats important and meaningful. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Jot reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. The gentlewoman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Burgess let me respond before i yield to the gentlelady from tennessee. First off, the gentleman may not remember, we had a legislative hearing on in june on this on this very bill. It was delayed from june 14. The gentleman may recall. There was an unfortunate circumstance of a shooting at a congressional baseball practice and in fact a member of our committee, whip steve scalise, was in surgery at that time and most of us felt we couldnt go through with the hearing that day but we had two weeks later as soon as we could get the hearing time so it was done well in advance of the expiration of the funding. And then furthermore, as far as the substitute goes, the minority is afforded the customary motion to recommit. I look forward to hearing it. I yield two minutes to the gentlelady from tennessee. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from tennessee is recognized for two minutes. Mrs. Blackburn thank you, madam chairman. I thank the gentleman from texas for his work that has just been so consistent on how we meet the needs of our Health Centers and of the Childrens Health Insurance Program and also on the repeal for ipab. And when we talk about ipab, i tell you its so important that we mention our colleague and my fellow tennessean, dr. Phil roe, who is a member of this chamber, and i applaud him for his consistent work on keeping that in front of us. I think it is fair to say, as chairman burgess has said, we have worked diligently on the chip issue, and i know the gentleman from new jersey is not pleased with how that is going to be paid, how we address the payments in that but i have to say, our goal, madam chairman, is to make certain that the states have the funding that is necessary for them to meet the needs of children, of children who are needing these health services. And this is something that we have been diligent in our in our work to meet those needs and to work with our states and to see how you best do this so that needs are being met right there where those children have them, that the states have the resources they need. When it comes to the independent payment Advisory Board, we ought not have to be discussing this today because this is something that should never have been placed passed in the first place. Its something that was completely unnecessary, and we are looking at going in and changing this and for good reason. There is bipartisan agreement that you have to get down the costs that are in medicare, and i know that that is not going to be an easy task. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. Mr. Burgess i yield an additional 30 seconds. I yield an additional 30 seconds. The speaker pro tempore an additional seconds, the gentlewoman is recognized for an additional 30 seconds. Mrs. Blackburn thank you, madam chairman. When you are looking at ipab, you dont want to give those decisions of how youre going to adjust health care for medicare enrollees to 15 unelected, appointed bureaucrats that really have no responsibility to anyone in this process. This is our responsibility. It is appropriate that congress recoup that responsibility that we make these decisions, and i support the legislation that is in front of us and yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Ms. Slaughter thank you, madam speaker. I yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from texas, ms. Jackson lee. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from texas is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Jackson lee let me make a proclamation here on the floor of the house and that is all of the sweat and tears of the democratic members, although we offer the opportunity to our republican friends to do something about health care, all of our sweat and tears prove to be a successful response to the 25 million uninsured americans. No matter how much our friends on the other side of the aisle try to nitpick and pick away at a successful Affordable Care program, they simply cannot do it. To the American People, it worked. It worked because we included and supported health care for children with chip. It worked because we supported and expanded Community Health centers. It worked because we had ipab that is not even going to be in effect until 2021. Not to do anything but preserve medicare. On the other hand, today we have a pronounced tax bill that will jeopardize the Medicare Trust fund, that will take millions and billions away from medicaid, and the last hammer in the coffin will be the destruction of the Childrens Health Insurance Program and Community Health clinics. Now, let me be very clear. I happen to be in an area, south texas, or the southern part of texas, from corpus to port aransas to rockport, beaumont, houston, harris county, where Hurricane Harvey devastated our community, health care is crucial. Many of our hospitals were underwater. People were not able to Access Health care. The Community Health clinics are the best neighborhood source of health care, and the legislation by my friends is to borrow from peter to destroy peter to prop up paul. Rather than take the pallone amendment, which i want to thank ms. Slaughter for submitting it in the rules committee, to provide real funding the speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. Ms. Slaughter i yield another minute to ms. Jackson lee. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from texas is recognized for one minute. Ms. Jackson lee i thank the speaker. To take ms. Slaughters amendment to accept mr. Pallones amendment that he had offered that would find a way to effectively support Childrens Health Insurance Program and, of course, the Community Health clinics, which in the state of texas has been a life saver for all of our communities where we were the poster child for having the largest number, a quarter of our people in texas did not have Health Insurance. With the Affordable Care act and of course the Community Health clinics, we were able to do it. Now, let me finish by saying it was a bipartisan effort in 1997 with a balanced budget that we created the Childrens Health Insurance Program. It has been an effective, strong armor, if you will, around Childrens Health. And everywhere i go, the texas childrens hospital, they are raving about the Childrens Health Insurance Program and medicaid. Today or tomorrow were going to break that system by taking money from somewhere else to destroy another Health Program and putting it in this program. All i can say is we dont care about children here. The Affordable Care act works. So does chip. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. Ms. Jackson lee i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Burgess madam speaker, may i inquire as to how much time i have left . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas has 6 1 2 minutes. The gentlewoman from new york has nine minutes remaining. Mr. Burgess let me yield myself let me yield myself two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Burgess because i want to address the issue of the Public Health fund. This bill before us does redirect 8. 9 billion from the prevention and Public Health fund to support critically important Public Health programs that expand access to care and improve health outcomes. Prevention fund was established in the Affordable Care act as mandatory funding for prevention in Public Health programs to improve health and help restrain the rate of growth in public and private Sector Health care costs. According to statute, billions of dollars in advanced appropriations are to be used for the broad purpose of supporting programs authorized by the Public Health service act for prevention, wellness and Public Health activities. However, prevention, wellness and Public Health activities are allowable but no Prevention Fund specific are generally applicable definitions of these terms are to be found in the Public Health service act or in the Affordable Care act or anywhere else in federal law. The Affordable Care act was not accompanied by Committee Reports in either chamber. The department of health and Human Services has not published regulations, guidance or other information to clarify the departments views about the types of activities that are within the scope of the Prevention Fund. Annual mandatory appropriations for the Prevention Fund continue in perpetuity if congress does not explicitly allocate the funding, then the secretary of h. H. S. Has the authority to spend these dollars without congressional oversight. This bill takes discretion over some of the some, not all, some of the Prevention Fund dollars, it takes it away from the executive branch and redirects these dollars to proven Public Health programs that enjoy broad bipartisan support in Congress Like Community Health centers, a program that employs 190,000 people and served over 24 million patients in 2015. This has been supported in the past. Most recently in the cures initiative, where democrats and republicans supported the redirecting of funding for the Prevention Fund, for the specific purpose of preserving Public Health. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Ms. Slaughter madam speaker, may i inquire if my colleague has any has any other speakers . If not, im prepared to close. All right. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. Ms. Slaughter thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Burgess im happy to engage the gentlewoman as long as shed like. Slaught law is with ms. Slaughter we do that frequently, do we not . In may the republican majority recklessly passed the Health Care Repeal bill without any analysis at all from the Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Finding out a month later that it would have taken insurance away from 23 Million People. I fear the majority is going to make the same dangerous mistake with their tax bill. The New York Times reported that some sections of the bill released today are placeholders that will, quote, allow Republican Leaders to work out the details of a new set of revenue raisers that would be inserted in the bill before the full house votes on it, end quote. In order, they will be a surprise. After the ways and Means Committee marks up the bill, they will rewrite the bill in a back room and jam it through the house. It is beyond irresponsible to vote on a bill of this magnitude without knowing how to will impact hardworking americans. We employ dozens of wellqualified, nonpartisan expert economists and Public Policy analysts with advanced degrees in the Congressional Budget Office precisely for moments like this. And it appears the majority is again this year prepared to move so fast that no member will have the benefit of their nonpartisan advice. So, if we can defeat the previous question, i will offer an amendment to the rule that will prevent this massive tax cut bill from coming to the house floor unless nonpartisan analysis from the experts at the Congressional Budget Office has been available for at least two days. Madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the record, along with extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Ms. Slaughter thank you. Now, madam speaker, we dont have time to spare, playing games here, with the chip program. Its on life support in many states, with officials scrambling to try to keep it alive. This is a program that youve heard before that nine million children rely on. 2,800 Community Health centers are at risk of closing their doors if we do not reauthorize the Community Health centers. That would leave millions of people without health care, cost more than 50,000 jobs, and already the Centers Nationwide have been forced to consider Cutting Services following the majoritys failure to reauthorize the program before it expired on september 30. Everybody knows that these centers do remarkable work. They deliver quality care to low at lower cost. More than 330,000 veterans relied on them for Health Care Last Year alone. And they could be reauthorized under a clean bill in seconds. Instead the majoritys putting them at risk with this partisan bill which seems unlikely to pass the senate. And we will then be nowhere. If you want to know why only 13 of the public approvings of congress under the leadership, just look at the bill before us today. Republican leaders have turned even the most bipartisan programs into endeskers that seem unlikely to become endeavors that seem unlikely to become law. Theyve disallowed the Democratic Party to have any substitute with any other ideas, so that we can have an honest debate. We see that time after time in the rules committee. The inability of anyone on our side to even get amendments pass. But not to allow a substitute on a bill of this magnitude i think is a real dereliction of duty. It speaks volumes about the inability to get anything done. And lastly, madam speaker, i want to recognize georgia who is sitting here with me. Georgias been on the rules Committee Staff for 9 1 2 years. Hes leaving us at end of the week to take a wonderful new job, a new project. Hes a pennsylvania neighbor, we could always count on. Hes a lot of fun. Were going to miss that. And his aunt rose works in the cloakroom and we know that she gives the best birthday parties in the world. And we dont know what were going to do. We hope that george will come back and celebrate those with us. And rose will once again delight us with every kind of sweet thing in the world. So, back at the bill at hand, i urge a no vote on the previous question, the rule, the bill, and i yield back the balance of my time. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from new york yields back. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Burgess thank you, madam speaker. Ill yield myself the balance of our time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Burgess madam speaker, i do want to address one of the things thats come up in the discussion. Thats the issue of the language in the underlying bill that supports the citizens, the american citizens of puerto rico. There was a problem in puerto rico with their medicare system, the way people were not automatically enrolled as they were in every other state or territory. There was a problem under the Affordable Care act where they faced a medicaid funding cliff. These problems existed prior to the two hurricanes that hit the island. And a request was made to chairman walden and myself on behalf of the people of puerto rico to fix these problems. Prior to the storms coming ashore storms coming ashore. And thats what we fixed in the language of this bill. I might remind this body, that when Hurricane Katrina came , ore in labor day of 2005 that a similar problem was encountered. Ultimately the state share of that payment was made, it was made with funds from the deficit reduction act, which were allocated on september 30, 2006, over a year later. The fact is that there are going to be Funds Available to puerto rico to help offset their part, their match, their state fair of the federal match, that it will likely come through disaster distribute money thats appropriated for disaster relief. But we are fixing their underlying problem that existed before the hurricanes, and if we dont fix it, it continues to be a problem year in and year out, and the american citizens of puerto rico are poorly served by that. So this body is taking that up today and im proud of the fact that our subcommittee and our full committee recognize that and provided that relief. Madam speaker, i want to enter into the record a letter from the texas Health Resources, mr. Barkley beerdon. I want to quote from this letter. We appreciate your leadership on delaying cuts to medicaid dish, which took effect october 1, 2017. Thankfully h. R. 3922 would eflame its eliminate the scheduled medicaid dish reductions in fiscal years source of funding to continue for safety net hospitals. Again, i ask unanimous consent to submit that for the record. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Burgess i also have a letter from the childrens hospitals which renew the call for bipartisan chip extension. Childrens hospital Thanks Congress for its longterm bipartisan commitment to chip and for the children it serves. We look forward to working with lawmakers to maintain a strong chip program and strengthen health care for children in the few fur. The speaker pro tempore without objection mr. Burgess in the future. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Burgess then finally, madam speaker, i will tell you im perplexed. I frankly do not understand why there is reticence to provide an offset for funding of Childrens Health insurance. For people who earn over 500,000 a year, seniors who earn over 500,000 a year, or a couple who earns over 875,000 a year. This was language that was included in president obamas budget, so dont tell me its not bipartisan. Because it was bipartisan. Madam speaker, todays rule provides for the consideration of an important piece of legislation to maintain the important funding streams for millions of underprivileged children, depending on the program. I want to thank chairman walden for his efforts to continually work with the minority on the energy and Commerce Committee, repeatedly providing the requested extensions by the Ranking Member in order to continue discussions on the legislation. The package reflects hours of work to create legislation that will benefit millions of americas children so that they can lead healthier lives. I urge my colleagues to support todays rule and the underlying legislation. The championing healthy kids act. With that i yield back the balance of my time and i move the previous question on the resolution. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas yields back. The question is on ordering the previous question on the resolution. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. Ms. Slaughter madam speaker, i request the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. All those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this uestion will be postponed. Pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess subject to the