Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. House Of Representatives 11032017 20171103

May all members with your grace rise to the importance of this great challenge with integrity and professional excellence. May all their efforts in the days and weeks to come be for the benefit of all americans and inspire all to proclaim your greater honor and glory. Amen. The speaker 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. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule 1, i demand a vote on agreeing to the speakers approval of the journal. The speaker the question is on greeg to the speakers approval of the journal. Is on agreeing to the speakers approval of the journal. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The journal stands approved. Mr. Hultgren mr. Speaker, i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and i make a point of order that a quorum is not present. The speaker pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question are postponed. The pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentlewoman from missouri, mrs. Hartzler. Mrs. Hartzler i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The speaker the chair will entertain up to five requests for oneminute speeches on each side of the aisle. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . Mr. Hultgren thank you, mr. Speaker. Request one minute to address the house. The speaker without objection, the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Hultgren thank you very much. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise to celebrate 50 years of Community Service rendered by the united way of greater Mchenry County. Members of the Community Came together in the fall of 1966 with the primary purpose of raising funds in order to help deserving organizations achieve their goals. In that first year alone, united way raised more than 21,000. This money went to funding organizations such as the Salvation Army and the American Red Cross which remain faithful partners today. By 1977 the united ways importance was rapidly increasing throughout the community as they created new partnerships with several agencies. In fact, the united way of greater Mchenry County became the fastest united way. During the 21st anniversariee they delivered 1. 1 million and continued to record that record over the years. I am grateful to celebrate this 50year milestone with the people of the united way of greater Mchenry County as they continue to help our neighbors help each other. With that, mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition . Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Defazio yesterday, the republicans unveiled their tax cuts they purport to benefit the middle class. Nothing can be further from the truth. Then again i guess it depends on your definition of middle class. 80 of the benefits flow to those that earn over 400,000 a year. Perhaps thats middle class to that side of the aisle. They repeal the alternative minimum tax. Weve only seen one trump tax return. 31 million, 80 of his taxes were the result of the alternative minimum tax. Thats the middle class tax cut . Oh, then slashing permanently the corporate rate to 43 . Thats going to really benefit the middle class. They pretend somehow thats going to raise salaries. Give me a break. Then under the guise of family farms and Small Business, Small Businesses and family farms between 11 million and 22 million in longer pay an inherentans tax. Thats middle class . All these things will drive up the debt by 2 trillion which raises Interest Rates for everybody who has to borrow money to go to college, buy a car, buy a house. Oh, if you want to go to college, you cant deduct your student a lot interest anymore. Adopt a kid, no, did away with that deduction too. This is a reuss by the republicans. We have to kill this turkey before thanksgiving. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from missouri seek recognition . Mrs. Hartzler i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Mrs. Hartzler i rise to recognize some Outstanding High School students from my district in missouri who have displayed deep appreciation and respect for our armed forces. Before the last regular season varsity football home game, members of the Waynesville High School Mentor Council presented pocket flags to the 763rd Ordinance Company who will soon be deploying. The students also presented the pocket flags to the partners in education, the 787th military Police Battalion and third battalion, 10th infantry regimen to share with their deploying soldiers. Its part of the pocket flag program which provides them with personal pocket flags. Freshmen folded the flags and wrote personalized messages to accompany each flag on patriot day. I applaud these students for taking the initiative to honor our men and women in uniform. With young people like these walking down the halls of our schools im certain america has a bright future. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition . Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Blumenauer thank you, mr. Speaker. As time goes on, people are going to have a chance to look at the details of the republican tax plan. Its clear the benefits are concentrated to those who need help the least, ignoring those who need help the most and producing an unaffordable deficit in the future. But one of the most disturbing elements of this is that the republican plan would gut the agreement that we negotiated in good faith with the Wind Energy Industry to be able to wean them off tax subsidy. It was phased down in exchange for that certainty, the industry has up to 50 billion that is at risk by having the federal government pull the rug out from underneath them. We were well on the path towards sustainability with clean, american built, low carbon energy. Puts at risk 50,000 jobs as a result of the reversal in course, and it raises questions for American Business whether or not they can trust the American Congress to keep a deal. This is an element that must be changed. We must respect the agreement that we made and protect the massive investment in manufacturing and employment. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition . Mr. Carter ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Carter mr. Speaker, i rise today because when we talk about the tax code, its easy to get bogged down in numbers. But tax reform isnt about percentages. Its about people. Its about Small Business owners like shawn register in georgias first Congressional District who wants to grow his business. Its been his passion for much of his life. Mr. Register is the sole owner of register international, a shipping business in brian county, georgia, a type of business very important to the coastal economy. An economic downturn was force to lay off employees, leaving himself as the only one remaining. Now he wants to hire employees but needs the little push to help afford the extra push. With our tax reform plan, mr. Register will have the ability to grow his business and provide muchneeded jobs to citizens in the first district. Tax reform has many faces. More than 300 million. And every single one of them inspires our working congress as progrowth tax reform. We will get this done for them. Thank you, mr. Speaker, and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from california eek recognition . Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Yesterday republicans unveiled their vision for tax reform and it is not pretty. Mrs. Davis the proposal raises taxes on the middle class and showers the wealthiest 1 of our country with 80 of the benefits at a total cost of 1. 5 trillion charged to our nations credit card. The plan should be called hurt the middle class act. Ms. Eshoo it eliminates personal deductions for medical expenses. It eliminates the deductibility paid on interest loans. It eliminates the deduct ductibility of state and local income taxes. Again, raising taxes on the middle class. And to add insult to injury, the proposal eliminates the deduction for personal property losses from one Natural Disaster fire. Now, in california we just experienced the worst fires in californias history. Over 14,000 people lost their homes at a cost of at least 3 billion. The heck with them. When policies weaken the middle class, the backbone of our country, they weaken our entire country. The president said tax reform will be the best the speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. Ms. Eshoo but for the middle class this bill will be one lump of coal. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to support the championing healthy kids act. This important legislation continues muchneeded funding for programs like the Childrens Health Insurance Program, Community Health centers and our rural hospitals. Community Health Centers are a critical access point to care, and ive see firsthand how they bless each person they serve. In addition to Community Health centers, my district includes many rural hospitals which are truly a lifeline for my constituents. Thats why i join my colleagues urging to delay the cuts for the proposed disproportionate share of hospital and Community Health centers for at least two years. Mr. Allen and im happy to see this legislation doing just that. I wont let washington forget about the Rural Communities at the heart of my district. They deserve better. And guess what, this bill is fully paid for. While delaying these cuts is a step in the right direction, i will continue to fight for a permanent solution. Thank you to the energy and Commerce Committee for their work, and i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill. With that i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition . Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to express my strong opposition to the republican deal to cut taxes for the superrich at the expense of everyone else. Apparently republicans believe the American People are just too distracted to recognize a con game when they see one. Mrs. Murphy but make no mistake, the republican plan is about giving tax breaks to the largest corporations and the superrich. It is not about the middle class or people who have to go to work every day. If working families had an opportunity to read the fine print, they would see this bill has nothing to do with them. Dont be fooled. The money needed to make this plan work has to come from somewhere. It will hurt working americans and will cause our deficit to explode. The strength of our country requires investment in people so our children can have a better future, so our Small Business ks thrive and seniors can retire with dignity. Thats the america that we want and thats the american promise we must keep. Mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore gentlewoman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and if necessary revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Congress supported the Childrens Health Insurance Program. It fulfilled one of the highest responsibilities we have which is to ensure the health and wellbeing of our nations children. Children without Health Insurance are less healthy, they go to the emergency room for chronic conditions like asthma and dibet and they do worse in school. The program is extremely successful, increasing Insurance Coverage to children to 95 nationwide. Mr. Brown because of this 198,000 maryland children and more than eight million around the country have received routine checkups, vaccinations, sick visits, prescriptions, dental and vision care and emergency services. We should not only reauthorize chip but Work Together to ensure every child in america has ensure. Instead, the republican partys breaking the history of bipartisanship that chip has long enjoyed. Republicans are forcing us to choose between insuring kids and taking away coverage from 700,000 lowincome americans, raising premiums on seniors and cutting the prevention and Public Health fund. Mr. Speaker, lets stop playing toll picks with the health care of our children politics with the health care of our children. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The chair lays before the house an enrolled bill. The clerk h. R. 304, an act to amend the controlled substance act with regard to the provision of emergency medical services. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition . Mr. Walden i call up the bill h. R. 3922 and ask for its immediate consideration in the house. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk Union Calendar number 262, h. R. 3922 a bill to extend funding for certain Public Health programs and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to House Resolution 601 in lieu of the amendment in nature of a substitute, the amendment precipitationed in the house report, modified by the amendment printed in part,s of report, is adopted and the bill as amended is considered read. The bill shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on energy and commerce. The gentleman from oregon, mr. Walden, the gentleman from new jersey, mr. Pallone, each will control 30 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from oregon, mr. Walden. Mr. Walden mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Walden thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, were here today to consider a very, very important Public Health bill. H. R. 3922, the championing healthy kids act. This legislation funds a fiveyear extension of the Childrens Health Insurance Program known as chip. Along with a twoyear extension of Community Health centers and numerous other critically important Public Health programs. This bill will deliver Quality Health care and peace of mind to millions of americans. The patients and families helped by this legislation are our neighbors and our friends. More than eight million children receive chipfunded coverage and more than 25 million patients are served by our Community Health centers and other important programs. This fiveyear funding of chip marks one of the longest extensions of the Program Since it was created 20 years ago. The policy we are considering mirrors the bipartisan policy thats been introduced and voted out of our Sister Committee in the United States senate. Funding for these important programs expired september 30. The committee worked on a bipartisan basis well before this deadline, to try and reach a bipartisan agreement on a range of policies to yaufer set the costs of this very critically important funding extension. Three times at the request of the democrats we delayed committee action. Three times. We tried to find offsets that were agreeable as weve always been able to do before. Unfortunately that was not the case this time. These delays meant Congress Went past the deadline of september 30. While states still have rollover chip funds available, and the next wave of Community Health center funds wont go out until next year, we cannot wait any longer. Patients cannot wait any longer. Patients need care. These critical programs need funding. And we must move forward. In my district alone, there are 12 federally qualified Health Center organizations with 63 delivery sites. They leverage 41 million in federal money in order to serve more than 240,000 patients in oregons second district. These Health Centers, and i visited many of them, are prevention and Public Health in action. Often rving as the main provider of care for people for hundreds of miles around. Were also extending the tional Health Service corps. And the teaching Health Center graduate medical education program. Mr. Speaker, these are really important work force programs that place qualified providers into se of the most underserved areas of our country. In addition to Community Health centers and the work force programs, this bill extends the funding for the special Diabetes Program and the family to Family Health Information Centers. The peonal responsibility progm. And the Youth Empowerment program. These locally based patientntered organizations provide comprehensive services to those most in need. Moreover, this legislation eliminates two years of the acrosstheboard cuts to medicaid allotments called for under the Affordable Care act, obamacare, we delay those cuts foa disproportionate share of hospitals for two years. Medicaid dish funding represents an important component of many state Medicaid Programs and is particularly relied upon by many states to help provide Additional Resources to key safety net providers. Now, while this relief is only temporary, and does not address the larger structural challenges under obamacare, it woulgive Congress Time to explore what budgetneutral approaches ere might be delegate existing dish dollars on a morequitable and fair basis. In my state alone of oregon, hospitals have told me this relief in this bill just for them represents 6. 8 mllion over the ne two years that they can use to helpowincome people get access to hospital care. In paying for this package,nd this is the area where we have most disagreement with the democrats, we have take an fiscally responsible approach. Like using existingunding streams for prevention and Public Health efforts, for prevention and Public Health efforts. And ensung highdollar lottery winners a removed from the Medicaid Program so its limited resources can be prioritized for the most vulnerable. And stopping individuals on the Affordable Care acts exchanges from gaming the system. The bill also asks medicares wealthiest 1 , people who are retired and making 40,000 40,000 a month, not a year, a month, to pay about 135 more for their medicare, just on parts b and d, thats already subsidized by 75 . Just a little more so we can fund Childrens Health Insurance Program Childrens Health insurance for five years. While it was not ultimately possible, unfortunately, to reach consensus on some of the policies to offset the new funding in this bill, there is broad bipartisan agreement on the core policies contained in this legislation. I believe theres bipartisan support for many of the reasonable and fiscally responsible offsets contained in House Resolution 3922. So, mr. Speaker, this is good legislation. This is long overdue legislation. It reflects the good work done by your house energy and Commerce Committee, and i urge my colleagues to put politics aside today and ensure these vital programs get funding extensions they need. Were over the deadline. Its time to act. With that, i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i rise today to speak in opposition to h. R. 3922, a partisan bill to reauthorize the Childrens Health Insurance Program or chip, as well as Community Health centers and other Public Health programs. It pains me to be here today because this should not be a partisan bill. I have tried for months to negotiate with republicans to develop a bipartisan compromise, but House Republicans chose to spend the first nine months of this year by trying to repeal the Affordable Care act. They failed. Now House Republicans are using the reauthorization of chip and Community Health centers as a way to once again sabotage the a. C. A. Make no mistake, mr. Speaker, if republicans cant repeal the a. C. A. Outright, theyll cripple it any time they can. This time republicans are risking the health care of nearly nine million children and the care of families all around the country that use Community Health centers. Theyre risking that care because this partisan bill has no chance of ever becoming law. By taking this route, republicans are guaranteeing the chip and Community Health centers will not be reauthorized until the end of the year. And thats extremely unfortunate. Mr. Speaker, i strongly support chip, our Community Health centers, and all of our Public Health programs that are extended in this bill. These programs have traditionally been bipartisan. The bill before us extends these programs by taking billions of dollars away from the Affordable Care act and undermining medicare. In short, this republican bill offers a false choice. In one hand, it strips Health Care Away from upwards of 680,000 americans and guts the Prevention Fund, which pays for immunization and vaccines, lead poisoning prevention, opioid treatment, and many other important programs. And on the other hand, it reauthorizes these important programs. Democrats strongly support reauthorization of these programs but we reject the way republicans are paying for fem. So, mr. Speaker, there are so them. So, mr. Speaker, there are so many other policies that save money. Countless alternatives that democrats have offered to republicans for months. Yesterday i offered an alternative that would have provided a robust reauthorization and extension of these important programs and it was paid for in a commonsense way. My alternative would have changed the timing of payments to Medicare Advantage plans. This approach was recommended by both the g. A. O. And the office of the inspector general. But republicans rejected it in the rules committee. They wouldnt even allow it to come before the full house for a vote. And why . Its because they would rather use reauthorization of chip and Community Health centers as another way to sabotage the Affordable Care act. I simply reject that approach and strongly urge a no vote. And i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from oregon is recognized. Mr. Walden mr. Speaker, before i call on my next person to Say Something here, there are 17,000 children in mr. Pallones district and 14 Health Centers. That if he votes no, hell be voting against. And by the way, the offset he recommended, people need to know who are watching this, would violate statute in our paygo it would be a paygo violation. Thats why it was not acceptable. This is the problem we face. We delayed three times at their request. Only to be offered up a payfor that violates statute and violates our paygo rules. We cannot accept that. We have to operate within the law. Like everyone else in america. I now yield four minutes to the gentleman from texas, dr. Burgess. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for four minutes. Mr. Burgess i thank the gentleman for yielding the time, for the recognition, and let me just say, i want to thank members of the health subcommittee, both sides, who have worked hard on this legislation. It is unfortunate that it was not brought to the floor of the house in the month of september. From a subcommittee perspective, we were ready. We had our legislative hearings in june. We were delayed one time, when the whole house recessed after the shooting of the members of the baseball practice. But were rescheduled for two weeks later and we had a successful hearing, we had a good hearing. A lot of facts were laid out. We came up with commonsense legislation that was offset in a responsible way. The offsets are not draconian. And we have before us a bill today that will in fact fund some of the nations most important Public Health programs. It does fund the state Childrens Health insurance for five years. Five years. One of the longest extensions for this Program Since its inception in 1996. It len sure that children and families it will ensure what children and families who rely on this program will continue to receive the access this need. It also includes in a fiscally responsible way to delay the harmful obamacare mandated cuts to safety net hospitals who also provide care to underserved patients. Think about that for a minute. Were accused of undermining obamacare, but heres a cut that obamacare mandates to your safety net hospitals across the country. Not just in texas, but across the country. And were replacing that today in a fiscally responsible way. Provides funding for Community Health centers, an important part, important key part of health care in communities across the country. And it will help americans who rely owns on these vital Health Services. Not only does the bill provide assistance for underserved populations, but it does so without adding to the national debt. The committee for a responsible federal budget called this, quote, a responsible health package, closed quote. Noting that the 18 billion cost is fully offset with savings beyond the 10year budget window. Other groups have also been supportive. Texas hospital association, Texas Health Resources for me back home, the childrens hospitals, and a number of health care organizations. Have data from mackpack who advise congress on policy. They have advised us on, under current law there are no new federal funds for state Childrens Health insurance for fiscal year 2018 and beyond unless Congress Acts to renew funding, all states will experience in in chip funds for 2018, which means if someone is contemplating a no vote on this bill, if youre contemplating a no vote, you do need to be aware that if you live in the states of arizona and minnesota, you ran out of money in october of 2017. North carolina, same situation. Oregon runs out next month. Vermont runs out next month. You need to think about your no vote before you apply it. Every single u. S. Territory, with the exception of puerto rico, runs out of ran out of money in the month of october. So a few facts that people do need to bear in mind, that if a that if they vote no on this bill, what the actual implications of that are. Yesterday during the debate on the rule i heard a lot of discussion about taking money out of the Prevention Fund it. Doesnt take money out of the Prevention Fund fund. It doesnt take money out of the Prevention Fund but it does provide discretion for some Public Health dollars, 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. So, we are fulfilling our article i responsibility. We shouldnt just be giving everything to the administration to decide how to spend money, whether it be a democratic or a republican administration. This is the right thing to do. Im proud of the work done by our subcommittee. I think our subcommittee staff has performed admirably on both sides of the dice. I urge a yes vote on dias. I urge a yes vote on the bill. It is time to act. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from oregon reserves. The gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i yield a minute and a half to the gentlewoman from california, ms. Eshoo. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from california is recognized for 1 1 2 minutes. Ms. Eshoo i rise to oppose this bill, the socalled championing healthy kids act. First off, we are a month late and many dollars short. It was the majority that brought it up late. We didnt have anything to do with late. Secondly, were playing political games with the lives of 14 of the children in my Congressional District who received their Health Insurance through the Childrens Health Insurance Program, and the five federally qualified Health Centers in my Congressional District. They provide medical, dental, mental Health Services to almost 55,000 of my constituents every year. Reauthorizing these historically bipartisan programs is critical to the health and safety of not only my constituents but millions of others across our country. Today, the republican majority is holding them hostage by insisting to fund these programs by means testing medicare beneficiaries, kicking individuals who purchased their Health Coverage on the marketplaces off their insurance and gutting the Public Health Prevention Fund established in the Affordable Care act. Remember, the republicans have set their budget based on eliminating the Affordable Care act. My state of california will run out of funding for chip sometime between now and december, and this has never happened before in the history of this program. The Community Health centers in my district told me about the difficult decisions they have to make because congress has not reauthorized i thank the gentleman. Because congress has not reauthorized their funding, including layoffs of physicians and closing clinics doors. Were playing with peoples lives here. If we cant find the funding for these important bipartisan programs, then we dont deserve to be members of congress. I cannot support a bill that hurts people instead of helping them. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back. The gentleman from new jersey reserves. The gentleman from oregon is recognized. Mr. Walden thank you, mr. Speaker. I recognize myself just to respond. My friend and she is my friend from california, obviously wasnt aware it was her party, her leader who asked on three occasions delaying this vote to the floor. October 23, mr. Pallone says he hopes it doesnt come to the floor. I just tell you, this was a bipartisan agreement not to bring it until we can try to work these things out. We were all trying to figure out how to get this done, and when it comes to medicare, remember, were talking about people making 40,000 a month a month paying 135 more 135 a month more. O we can fully fund childrens insurance for children. Yield to the conference chair , mrs. Mcmorris rodgers. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. Mrs. Mcmorris rodgers chip provides Health Care Coverage for some nine million children, more than a million in washington state. We all need to remember how important this program is for the health of some of the most vulnerable. Some states, like mine, are expecting to run out of chip funding soon. So its crucial that we move forward now. This bill also reauthorizes the teaching Health Center graduate medical education programming, providing funding two years with a robust increase. These are not only this not only preserves current programs like the spokane teaching Health Center, but also provides funding for new programs in communities that need them. This bill makes a real difference to those who need health care, and i encourage my colleagues to support it. And i yield. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields. The gentleman from oregon reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, its the ultimate absurdity for my colleague, the chairman of the energy and Commerce Committee, to suggest somehow i control when a bill comes to the floor of the house of representatives. The only reason that the republicans ever delayed bringing this vote to the floor is because they know and i know that if this bill is partisan it will never become law. It will go to the senate and it will sit there and the only way it will become law is if its a bipartisan effort that actually accomplishes something and gets most people to support it. We can keep listening to the other side say, oh, the democrats delayed the vote. The democrats delayed the vote. The vote shouldnt be held today. The vote should be delayed today because this is going nowhere. This bill is going nowhere. They know it. Want to keep saying it, you can say it all day for the neck hour, but for the next hour but its the ultimate absurdity. I yield to mr. Green who is the Ranking Member of our health subcommittee, two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Green thank you, mr. Speaker. And i thank my Ranking Member for yielding to me. I rise to oppose this bill. I got elected to congress to expand access for health care. Im not a doctor, im not a nurse but as members of congress, we can do as much damage as someone who isnt a doctor or nurse by legislation that we see today. While i strongly support expanding the Childrens Health Insurance Program, federally qualified health clinics, advancing our other Bipartisan Health care programs, this legislation includes offsets that undermine access to cover these services. Again, my goal in congress was expand health care, and this bill restricts that access. 2 3 of medicare dollars go to children, medicaid. If you cut medicaid youre cutting those children. And this bill cuts children from medicaid and it gives money to the children who are less poor on chip. We need both programs. We dont need one or the other. Both chip provides Health Insurance to almost nine million lower income children by providing high quality, Preventative Care to more than 25 million americans. Congress let funding for these programs expire last month. First time in our history that fhcs and chip program were not bipartisan. Thats the step this congress is not making or this house is by doing this. It should be bipartisan because its always been bipartisan. Unfortunately, instead of bipartisan negotiations looking for a compromise, the process was derailed. The bill cuts medicaid 2 3 to help poor children and limit their access. The Prevention Fund, Prevention Funds for centers for disease control. We have any number of future illnesses that we need the c. D. C. To have the ability to fight that. And here were cutting vaccinations in our communities. Were cutting Infectious Disease detection and prevention. I urge my colleagues to vote no and lets expand access and not restrict it. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from new jersey reserves. The gentleman from oregon is recognized. Mr. Walden thank you, mr. Speaker. I would point out theres about 50,000 kids that mr. Green may be voting against today in the houston area if this goes down and we cant get this over to the senate and work it out with them. Twice hes voted to cut the Prevention Fund and use it for other purposes. I now recognize the gentleman from new jersey, mr. Lance, for a minute and a half. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for a minute and a half. Mr. Lance thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise in support of this legislation. This package is the product of our work on the energy and Commerce Committee under the leadership of chairman walden. This legislation accomplishes the very important goals of reauthorizing the Childrens Health Insurance Program. Renewing funding for Community Health centers and extending Critical Resources for medicaid in puerto rico. One of the first votes i cast in congress was for chip, creating a fiscally responsible Health Program that now serves 8. 5 million children in the United States. And i continue to support Community Health centers and the work they do in areas like dover and sommerville, new jersey, in the district i serve. We also cannot forget about the many families and children in puerto rico who also benefit from the Medicaid Program. Thats why i am teamed up with resident commissioner gonzalez clon to make sure low gonzalezcolon to make sure low cost medical care is available for children in puerto rico. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from oregon mr. Walden i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone i yield to the gentleman from new york a minute and a half. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for a minute and a half. Mr. Engel were talking about programs that provide health care for millions of American Children and serve some of our countrys most vulnerable citizens. Yet, my republican colleagues have inexplicably taken these programs hostage, tucking into this bill new attempts to undermine medicare, sabotage the a. C. A. And strip hardworking americans of their Health Insurance. Not to mention theyre trying to extort these harmful policy changes a month after they let chip and Community Health Center Funding expire. This is absolutely unconscionable because make no mistake, these cuts will hurt the same americans that depend on chip and Community Health centers. My democratic colleagues and i care deeply about these programs. Thats why we have sounded the alarm for months, not just yesterday, for months and urged the majority to stop wasting time on a. C. A. Repeal and get to work on renewing these lifelines for american families. Im disappointed that didnt happen and im disappointed by whats happening now. I urge my colleagues to vote no, and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from new jersey reserves. The gentleman from oregon is recognized. Mr. Walden now yield to the gentleman from texas, mr. Olson, very important member of our committee, a minute and a half. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for a minute and a half. Mr. Olson i thank the chairman. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to strongly encourage my colleagues to support the healthy kids act. There are many reasons to support this bill but most importantly it extends the Childrens Health Insurance Program, chip, until 2022. Chip ensures that children too low for medicaid get basic Health Insurance. 400,000 children in texas rely on chip for Quality Health care services. We must act now. Hurricane javy left a path of destruction across texas and put a may are jor strain on our communities and resources that has resulted in moments of uncertainty. The bottom line is we must act now. This bill responseably provides children with the proper resources to live a healthy life without adding to our countrys deficit. Again, i strongly urge my colleagues to act now. Vote for this bill. Thank you. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from oregon reserves. The gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone i yield a minute and a half to the Ranking Member of our oversight subcommittee, the gentlewoman from colorado. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from colorado is recognized for 1 1 2 minutes. Ms. Degette thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as one of the authors of the original bill 20 years ago, i rise to express deep disappointment that the house has not been able to reach a bipartisan agreement bipartisan agreement on how to fund the extension of chip. The september 30 deadline has long passed. Now nine million children and families are waiting anxiously for us to figure it out. My home state of colorado is likely to run out of chip funding in january with termination notices going out to worried families in the next few weeks. Yet, here we are with a partisan bill that asks us to pay for lowincome childrens insurance on the backs of seniors and the most vulnerable. The bill also cuts the Affordable Care act, which could result in 668,000 people enrolled in a. C. A. Plans losing their Health Insurance. Nobody should have to lose coverage in order for others to keep it. This is a false choice, and its out of step with what the American People have been calling on us to do. Only the 115th congress could find a way to make the chip bill partisan. I urge irrespective what happens today on this vote, i urge my colleagues to get together across the aisle, across the capitol, find a way to reauthorize this important bill in a way that doesnt cut benefits for other people. Lets truly give kids these benefits that they need, and lets move on with our business. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back. The gentleman from new jersey reserves. The gentleman from oregon is recognized. Mr. Walden thank you, mr. Speaker. I now like to recognize the gentleman from florida, mr. Bilirakis, an incredible advocate for children and health care in america, for a minute and a half. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida is recognized for a minute and a half. Mr. Bilirakis thank you, mr. Speaker. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I am so proud to serve on this committee under your great leadership. Mr. Speaker, i rise in support of this important bill which incorporates my bill, the Community Care act, which reauthorizes funding for Community Health centers for the next two years. Community Health Centers have been a proven track record of providing highquality, cost Efficient Health care to approximately 25 million americans, including seven million children, and 300,000 veterans. Each year there are over 100 million coordinated and integrated patient visits through the 1,400 Community Health Centers Across the country. This bill will reauthorize chip for the next five years. This program is vital for the refly 360,000 children roughly 360,000 children on chip in florida alone. It includes the chip buyin programs such as the one we have in program. This sets the rules of the road and will ensure that 12,000 children in floridas chip buyin program will continue to have access to chip. Mr. Speaker, lets get this done now for our children. I urge passage of this important piece of legislation. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i yield a minute and a half to the gentlewoman from illinois, ms. Schakowsky. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from illinois is recognized for a minute and a half. Ms. Schakowsky mr. Speaker, the truth is that republicans are holding Childrens Health insurance, nine million kisdz, and the Community Health center program, 15 Million People,s who tanl. To hostage. To wreak even more havoc on our Health Care System and make children and seniors sicker and undercut medicare. Paying for Childrens Health insurance on the backs of seniors is simply a disgrace. This bill would increase Medicare Part d and part b incomerelated premiums, changing higher income charging higher income seniors the entire cost. This is a structural attack on medicare. And thats why the aarp, which supports the Childrens Health Insurance Program, opposes this bill. Imposing 100 premium is unfair because these seniors already pay more. And it will drive many out of medicare altogether, undermining its solvency. To make matters worse, the republican income threshold is not based on current income, but on a twoyear period. So, for example, seniors income is volatile and if you sold your home, you could get a massive premium penalty. Even if you use the money you got from selling your home to buy into an assisted living and that money wasnt available. Incomerelated premiums are simply unnecessary. There are many other ways to pay for the chip program without using medicare as an a. T. M. Democrats have offered reasonable alternatives but republicans opposed all of them. I urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. The gentleman from new jersey reserves. The gentleman from oregon voids. Mr. Walden i thank the speaker. Before you will call on my next colleague, i want to point out that in ms. Schakowskys district, all were talking about here is seniors making 41,000 a month, a month, would pay an extra 135. So we can fully fund Childrens Health insurance, Community Health centers, all these programs in here are funded. We use the Prevention Fund, which is not allocated out in the out years, its just a postmoney you can use for prevention and wellness, we use that to fund this as well. This is why weve been unable to Reach Agreement with the democrats. Its sad theyve made this partisan. Now we go to the gentleman, mr. Bucshon, for a minute and a half. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from indiana is recognized for a minute and a half. Bukebuke mr. Bucshon mr. Walden i now go to my friend from california for a minute. Mr. Costello thank you, mr. Speaker mr. Costello thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Costa thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise in favor of the people of the san joaquin valley. The people i represent did not send me here to put the lives of children at risk. I made a commitment to improve access to health care for families that i have the honor to represent here in the house. I will continue to meet that commitment. The question is, will congress do the same . And extend the Childrens Health Insurance Program . My Congressional District has perhaps the largest percentage of children that qualify for the Childrens Health Insurance Program in the entire country. Coverage is vital to families throughout my district, but its particularly important to communities like planada and others where these Health Care Clinics provide such important valuable health care to these children and their families. Approximately 71 of the children in my district receive their medical coverage through the combination of Childrens Health Insurance Program and medicaid. We cannot let this end. This bill is not perfect. To be sure. But these children cannot be put at risk with further delays in funding for the important programs that this bill extends. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from oregon reserves. The gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield two minutes to the vice Ranking Member of our committee, the gentlewoman from florida, ms. Castor. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from florida is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Castor i thank the Ranking Member. Colleagues, for decades now in america, weve worked together to make sure that kids can see a doctor and get the care that they need. Working with pediatricians, families and advocates back home, weve reached an historic point where almost all kids across the country have Health Insurance coverage. The Childrens Health Insurance Program or chip, or known in florida as florida kid care health request kids, has been an important piece of this historic coverage level. Chip simply is vital for families, millions of hardworking families, so that their kids can get the checkups, the immunizations, sometimes the Critical Care that they need. So they can be healthy and well. Now, i chair the bipartisan Childrens Health care cawculls. We educate and advocate caucus. We educate and advocate so kids across america are healthy and well. So it is especially disappointing this year that my republican colleagues failed to act before chip expired. See, they were consumed all year long with ripping Health Coverage away, decimating the Affordable Care act, and radically changing Health Services provided under medicaid. In doing so, they let our kids down. They let our families down. And then at the 11th hour, after the program expired, they come up with a very partisan bill, rather than the bipartisan bill that has been the historic backbone of Childrens Health insurance. Dont take it from me. A lot of the advocates across the country, like pediatricians, obstetricians, gynecologists, march of dimes, say, please dont fund chip based upon harmful cuts. Dont have cuts negatively impact the health of women, children and families. Pediatricians say, dont jeopardize other important Child Health Policies in the process. Lets go back to the drawing board as soon as possible. Over the weekend, next week, bring it back to the floor next week so that families and kids get the care that they need. This bill today, unfortunately, is simply a delay. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. The gentleman from new jersey reserves. The gentleman from oregon is recognized. Mr. Walden thank you, mr. Speaker. There they go again. Delay, delay, delay. And vote against kids and vote against their hospitals, vote against their doctors. Thats why we couldnt get agreement. I now recognize the gentleman from indiana, mr. Bucshon, for a minute and a half. Mr. Bucshon the gentleman is recognized for the speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for a minute and a half. Mr. Bucshon i rise in strong support of the championing healthy kid act, which extends schip for another five years. In 1997 congress created schip in partnership with the states to meet the Health Care Needs of lower income kids. Last year nearly 100,000 hoosier kids received Health Insurance thanks to this critical program. I am proud that this legislation will continue to protect Vulnerable Children in the eighth district of indiana. This bill also extends two years of funding for federally qualified Health Centers. Family to Family Health Information Centers and other important Public Health programs. This Funding Provides an Important Health care service, resources and information for families in the eighth district and across america. I urge my colleagues to support passage of the championing healthy kid act, and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from oregon reserves. The gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from vermont, mr. Welch. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from vermont is recognized for a minute and a half. Mr. Welch thank you. Mr. Chairman, im speaking to my chairman, i accept your commitment and your leadership on ensuring children insuring children. But im speaking to you because i reject the argument that in order to fund the Health Insurance program that all of us support, we have to compromise Health Programs that benefit many other people, including in vermont. Let me just give an example. The Prevention Program in vermont, mr. Chairman, is really helping people stay well. We had 922,000 that was spent on immunization programs for our kids. We had 377,000 for lead poisoning prevention. Lead poisoning is brutal. We had 372,000 for Heart Disease prevention and control. And we had over 209,000 for diabetes and prevention control. So i acknowledge your commitment. I only have a minute and a half. Im sorry. I acknowledge the urgency with which your side and our side supports chip. But why is it that if we support it, we dont pay for it and instead of paying for it directly, coming up with ways to eliminate waste in the Health Care System, we take away our ability to immunize, to prevent lead poisoning, to reduce Heart Disease. Thats my question. Mr. Walden if youd yield id be happy to answer. Mr. Welch the answer for me would be that we go to where the waste is. I yield back. Mr. Pallone do you want an additional 30 seconds . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Walden would you yield . Mr. Welch ill give you 10 seconds at the end. The answer to me would be that our committee engages in addressing the waste and health care in health care, including high Prescription Drug costs, rather than take it out of good programs. I yield the balance of my time. Mr. Walden i appreciate the gentlemans sincerity. We work well together on a lot of issues. Youve also voted to use this Prevention Fund for other purposes in the past. As have i. We dont touch the Prevention Fund for 2018. And theres 400 million left in 2019 and billions thereafter for the very important programs you articulated. We dont use all the money. We leave money behind. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from vermonts time h. S. A. Has expired time has expired. The gentleman from new jersey. Mr. Pallone i yield myself such time as i may consume. Mr. Speaker, the bottom line, is when you start cutting money from the Prevention Fund, you are cutting Prevention Program for kids, adults, the dsabled and, most important lirks oprah ats. C. D. C. Spends a significant amount of money from the Prevention Fund dealing with the opiate crisis. So dont tell me that somehow this is ok. Youre taking money away from opiate prevention, youre taking money away from kids programs like lead poisoning and vaccines. It is unbelievable how much is actually going to be lost from the Prevention Fund because of this bill. Im not interested in what happened in the past. I want to know whats going to happen in the future. We have an opiate crisis. Dont take money away from the Prevention Fund which is used to deal with that crisis. I yield now i reserve the balance of my time. Mr. Walden thank you, mr. Speaker. I do think its important to note that my friend and he is my friend from new jersey is has twice voted to use this Prevention Fund for other purposes, including the 2012 middle class tax cut. With that, id recognize the gentleman from texas, mr. Barton, for a minute and a half. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for a minute and a half. Mr. Barton i thank my chairman and would ask unanimous consent to revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Barton mr. Chairman, weve talked a lot today on the floor about the childrens component of this bill. The schip. Its a good program. It covers about 45 of the lowincome children in texas. Its a very worthwhile program. And needs to be reauthorized and funded. I also want to talk about the ommunity Health Centers. In enis, texas, theres a hope clinic annex. The joe batter Family Foundation purchased a building for the hope clinic, which is a federally funded Health Center thats primarily located in waxahachie, texas. Every day several dozen lowincome people go to the nell barton hope clinic. Over the course of the year, several thousand people go to the hope clinic in both ennis and waxahachie. This bill funds reauthorizes those Health Centers for two years. My friends on the democratic side, im not sure what theyre complaining about. This is a program that Funds Health Care for children and for lowincome people through the Community Health centers. It is fully offset. And funding is increasing, mr. Speaker. Not decreasing. But its doing so in a way that its offset. Whats the big offset . The big well. I hope we vote for this bill when it comes up for a vote later today. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from oregon reserves. The gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i just wanted to talk about this use of the Prevention Fund. Democrats have never supported the type of drastic cuts to the Prevention Fund thats in thi proposal today. In fact, when faced with such cuts, we vote nod nine times. In the two cases where we voted in favor of using some of the Prevention Fund as an offset, neither cut placed c. D. C. Programs and efforts at risk as this legislation does today. The republican proposal would cut the Prevention Fund nearly in half and leave a 400 million hole in funding for prevention and Health Programs and within c. D. C. s budget, beginning in 2019. This cut would be devastating to local, state and federal efforts to protect the Nations Health. And unlike my republican counterparts, what they contend, this cut to these programs would not be made up in the annual appropriations process, as evidenced by the proposed cut of 198 million to c. D. C. In the House Republican fiscal year 2018 appropriations bill. And the decrease of 580 million when adjusted for inflation. You talk about opiatse, you talk about Childrens Health programs. These would be drastically cut because of what theyre doing today to the Prevention Fund. And i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from oregon is recognized. Mr. Walden before i yield to the gentleman from michigan, i want to point out when democrats voted for the no class tax cut we used 3. 6 billion out of the Prevention Fund they say they havent touched and now they have. Now i yield to the gentleman from michigan, mr. Walberg. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from michigan is recognized for main and a half. Mr. Walberg thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Speaker, i rise in support of h. R. 3922. I want to thank chairman walden and dr. Burgess for their leadership in bringing this bill to the floor today. The championing healthy kids act reauthorizes a number of programs important to my constituents including the Childrens Health Insurance Program, Community Health centers and the teaching Health Center graduate medical education program. H. R. 3922 will continue the chip program for five years, allowing the successful federalstate partnership to provide Health Coverage for low income children and pregnant women. It also extends funding to federally qualified Health Centers for two years. A key component to the Health Care Safety net, and helps address our increasing Health Provider shortages by investing in the education, training of future health professionals. Of importance, this legislation is fully paid for with responsible policies, such as measures to allow states to disenroll lottery winners from medicaid and prioritize the most vulnerable. Im proud of the good work that was done by the energy and Commerce Committee to advance this legislation to the floor, and i encourage my colleagues to vote yes on the bill and to ensure the programs are available for the people who depend upon them. And i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from oregon reservs. The gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield a minute and a half to the gentlewoman from california. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from california is recognized for 1 1 2 minutes. Ms. Matsui i rise in opposition to this bill. The Community Health clinics each day, its a new threat. Most of the year has been trumpcares severe cuts to medicaid which Health Centers and their patients rely upon. Today, its a lack of extension of the critical grant funding. Tomorrow or the next week well be back to ripping medicaid away to pay for the republicans tax cuts. Weve always extended chip and Community Health Center Funding on a bipartisan basis, but unfortunately the bill before us today is not bipartisan. The Prevention Fund, which will be slashed in this bill, funds programs that are critical to children and families, rely upon chip and Community Health centers. Many times these programs are even run out of our Community Health centers and could not exist without the Prevention Fund. These are things like childhood asthma prevention, vaccines. It often takes someone going above and beyond a simple doctors visit to provide families with the resources they need to stay healthy, and we need to invest in these services. We cannot strip this funding from critical Prevention Programs that children and families rely on, and we cannot allow programs like medicare and medicaid to be attacked and raided. I urge my colleagues to vote no on h. R. 3922, and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired yields back. The gentleman from new jersey reserves. The gentleman from oregon is recognized. Mr. Walden i thank the gentleman. Once again, my dear friend from california twice voted to use these Prevention Funds for other things. By the way, when we use them for Community Health centers, they are doing this work on the ground helping people with opioid addictions and other health care issues. I now recognize the gentleman from georgia, mr. Carter, for a minute and a half. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from georgia is recognized for a minute and a half. Mr. Carter well, i thank the airman for yielding and for his outstanding leadership on this very important committee. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to implore my colleagues to put politics aside, to put politics aside for the sake of the 232 children in my state of georgia and the 8. 9 million children across our nation who are counting on us to reauthorize chip. 12 states will run out of chip funding before the end of this year so the idea of waiting around another two months is simply unacceptable. Lets be clear why we are here today. Instead of having this discussion two months ago, we had to delay the energy and commerce markup, the healthy kids act, the chip bill because the other side of the aisle refused to even consider reasonable offsets to pay for the program. So i ask my colleagues on the other sidof the aisle, how was that objection related to fighting for the middle class . Even president obama supported the change for highincome beneficiaries in his annual budget. How are we supposed to look parents in the eye back home and tell them that wehoose politic instead of choosing to relieve their concerns about coverage . Mr. Speaker, lets do our job and lets reauthorize chip, and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from oregon reserves. The gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone i yield, mr. Speaker, a minute and a half to the gentleman from california. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from california is recnized for a mite and a half. Well, i think the Ranking Member. Mr. Mcnerney mr. Speaker, its critical we reauthorize chip. Slashing Public Health funding is not the way to do it. Treatment of chronic diseases that accounts for 75 of our Nations Health care spending and many of these diseases can be prevented. Unfortunately, h. R. 3922 does not do that at all. This bill cuts in half the a. C. A. Prevention and Public Health fund that plays a criticalole in preventing and treating chronic diseases, including keeping kids healthy. The massive cuts to this funding will be devastating to my Central Valley of california district. My district has the largest number of tuesday besh low ciscases for children under 5 years old. Children in this age group will develop life thatening forms of t. B. Since their immune is less mature. They are releague on the funding from the Prevention Fund to address t. B. Outbreaks. Its troubling that republicans are using chip reauthorization to take poor Public Health services away from kids. Its also frustrate bug not surprising the reblicans are making another attempt to sabotage the Affordable Care act. This legislation is robbing paul to pay peter, and i urge my colleagues to votegainst it. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentlemafrom new jersey reserves. The gentlan from oregon is recognized. Mr. Walden well, tk you, mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. Sabotaging the Affordable Care act. What were doing is putting off planned ts to our hospitals that take care of lowincome people. Those cuts called for under the Affordable Care act, were putting those off so they can serve these lowincome people. That is sabotaging the Affordable Care act. On the issue of using the Prevention Fund, my fend from california who just spoke has twice voted tose the Prevention Fund, including for tax cuts in 2012, and for the 21st century cures last year. Now were using it for Community Health centers and Childrens Health Insurance Program. Is is an appropriate use of the fund to get replenishedy law every year. With that i recognize the gentlelady from puerto rico whose constituents has suffed such damage, such destruction a result of the hurricanes, jenniffer gonzalezcolon. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. Miss gonzalezcolon iise in support of the healthy kids act. I wanto begi by first thanking chairman walden and dr. Burgess for their leadership in moving forward this critically needed legislation. I am particularly thankful for those ithe leadership d all my colleagues in the energy and Commerce Committee for including 1 billion allocation to temporari address puerto rios impending obamacarecreated medical cliff while also providing another year of the disproportionate shared hospital relief. To put things in perspective, when w rived in this year, more than one million Puerto Ricans were facing the possibility of losing their Health Care Coverage due to a funding shortfall resulting from the medicare application to the island. E moved quickly during the bill and they allocated 295 million to improve that situation. In this bill, we are allocating 1 billion for puerto rico Medicaid Program, and this is an important step, but still we need to secure a permanent solution for puerto rico long standing medicaid inequalities. And that means changing. With that i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from oregon reserves. The gentleman from new jersey. Mr. Pallone thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield a minute and a half to the gentlewoman from new york, ms. Velazquez. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from new york is recognized for a minute and a half. Ms. Velazquez thank you. I want to thank the Ranking Member for yielding. Mr. Speaker, as puerto rico struggles to recover from the historic damage of Hurricane Maria, this legislation shortchanges the islands long struggling Health Care System. At exactly the time that puerto rico most needs our help. Some gislation provides of puerto ricos medicaid system. Even before Hurricane Maria made lawful, speaker ryan committed to help puerto ricos looming medicaid crisis. This bill provides just 1 billion. We have no assurance or guarantee that the next emergency supplemental will provide appropriate funds to address this problem. The fact is our fellow citizens has been shortchanged by the disparity in medicaid funding. This forced the government of puerto rico to borrow money to provide health care. So if you wonder where puerto ricos financial crisis stems from, you look right here at the u. S. Congress. Yet, the amount included in this bill is far from sufficient to address even this years shortfalls. For the puerto rican people who have already suffered so much, this funding level amounts to an insult. If ever there were a time to channel aid to the islands Health Care System and fix the systemic problems that result in the system the speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. Mr. Pallone i give the gentlelady another 30 seconds. Ms. Velazquez that results in the system underfunding, this is it. There is a litany of reasons to opposing this, but lets make it clear. One of them is it will not do enough for the people of puerto rico. These are u. S. Citizens. They have fought, shed blood and died in every major conflict. Now, they need our help and this bill does not supply it. Reject this bill. Vote no. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. The gentleman from new jersey reserves. The gentleman from oregon is recognized. Mr. Walden mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. How cynical, how cynical what we just heard. How cynical. Twice ms. Velazquez has voted well, no, ms. Velazquez has 43,000 in chip, 43 Health Centers and shes going to 43 Health Centers and shes going to vote against 1 billion for citizens in puerto rico and the Virgin Islands because its not enough. So your answer is to vote no today and deny 1 billion. I yield to the speaker pro tempore the gentleman from South Carolina is recognized for how many minutes . One minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise in support of h. R. 3922, and you know, listening to my democratic friends, its said right by chairman walden, its cynical andts amazing they can vote against this bill. Not only does this bill reauthorize Public Health programs vital to americans who need them most, but it does so in a fiscally responsible manner. Reauthorizing chip for a fiveyear period was an important priority of Childrens Health care providers in my district. But doing so while saving billions is an impressive feat. On top of that, providing funding for Community Health centers will drastically improve rural health in South Carolinas fifth district. This bill is proof that the American People can trust their government to provide essential services to citizens who cannot provide for themselves. Mr. Norman and without saddling our children and grandchildren with debt. Mr. Speaker, id like to commend my colleague, chairman walden, for his impressive efforts in striving toward greater government. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from South Carolina yields back. The gentleman from oregon reserves. The gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i yield a minute and a half to the gentleman from massachusetts, a member of our committee, mr. Kennedy. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for a minute and a half. Mr. Kennedy thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this moment is a bit hard to stomach. Its hard to stomach yet another attempt to sabotage the Affordable Care act and in the words of our colleagues, extolling it, resulting hundreds of thousands of people losing their Health Insurance. Its hard to stomach 1 trillion tax cut being proposed to benefit wealthy adults at the same time our republican colleagues are telling us we cant afford to take care of our sick kids. Its hard to stomach over the cost of the past month as chip lapsed and panic set in families whose lives benefit from this program. Its hard to stomach to give them care is to somehow take it away from someone else, scapegoating patients who struggle to afford their monthly premiums and sometimes fall behind. Why is it always those patients who are asked to sacrifice . Its always those communities that are asked to do more with less. Why would we somehow create a false choice on this floor today that leads nine million families for an impossible choice tomorrow. For those familiar lice, chip is not a line item in the budget. Its a lifeline and they deserve the same decency, urgency that our republicans showed the wealthy in their tax plan yesterday. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from oregon. Mr. Walden thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Walden were fully funding chip for five years, were taking care of programs for our citizens that have diabetes. And the payfor that theyre objecting to most is were asking the wealthiest seniors in america, those making 40,000 a month, to pay 135 more for their medicare so we can do this work thats so important. How ironic, how cynical. This is a payfor thats been used before for other programs. President obama himself suggested in a budget that nstead of the top earners, the 480,000 a year, a couple making over 800,000 a year, pay a little more here, take it down today 80,000 a year. We just said, if youre making 480,000 a year roughly, 40,000 a month, youll pay 135 more. They will not vote for that cut to fund Childrens Health care. We will. Thats whats going on here. This is where we could never get them off dead center to make this bipartisan. It is a tragedy this is not a bipartisan bill as it always has been. I three times delayed moving this forward, including crossing the deadline to september 30. To try to find Common Ground that would be bipartisan and we could never get there. Because they would never yield in a way where we can find Common Ground. So we must go to the senate for from here and get the work done for the American People. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from new jersey is recognized. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i yield a minute and a half to the gentlewoman from michigan, mrs. Dingell. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from michigan is recognized for 1 1 2 minutes. Mrs. Dingell thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise in strong opposition to this legislation because it prevents presents us with a choice that we should not have to make. I take a back see the to nobody in this institution in terms of fighting for children and families. But we live in the United States of america. The greatest nation in the world. And i reject the notion we have to rob peter to pay paul. Or in this instance, jeopardize the future of medicare and steal 6 billion from critical Prevention Programs to pay for Childrens Health care. They are all equal priorities. And we shouldnt have to sacrifice the health of one population to pay for another. Its that simple. The changes that the bill makes to medicare may sound innocuous. And i have Great Respect for the chairman. But the reality is they will threaten the future of medicare. Meanstesting Social Security is a good sound bite. But its a very slippery slope. Im not worried about whether whether wealthy families can be able to afford for increased medicare premiums. But im worried that these changes will result in wealthy people abandoning the program in large numbers. We would which would would worsen the risk pool and ultimately increase the costs for middle and lower income seniors. And it would fracture completely the universal nature of medicare and put the entire program at risk. Its an unwise proposal that should be rejected. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. The gentleman from new jersey reserves. The gentleman from oregon. Mr. Walden meerks could i get a time mr. Speaker, could i get a time count on how much each side has . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from oregon has 45 seconds. The gentleman from new jersey has 4 1 2 minutes. Mr. Walden ill reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from new jersey. The gentleman from new jersey. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from texas, mr. Doggett. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. Mr. Doggett the Childrens Health Insurance Program began as a truly bipartisan initiative, but now it is being overwhelmed by republican indifference. So low is it on their priority list that they left the let the law expire. Three states have already required emergency funding. And 400,000 texas children are at risk if this program will not be continued. In the face of this crisis, their response is, we wont put another new dollar into this program unless we take it from medicare beneficiaries. Why should we begin a process where we call on those who rely on medicare to pay for nonmedicare purposes . Its wrong. And the second way they propose to fund this bill is by reducing Public Health prevention. Whether it is zika and west nile virus, where i live down in texas, or its the Opioid Crisis which is affecting our state like every other one. Sure, were glad to hear President Trump do a tweet and give a speech. But he did not add any new dollars to fight this Opioid Crisis. We need bold action and its not by reducing the funds, its by supporting our chifrpblt the speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from new jersey reserves. The gentleman from oregon. Mr. Walden just point out, mr. Chairman, i yield myself, that the gentleman just spoke has voted to cut the Prevention Fund before to use it for other purposes. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from new jersey. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i yield one minute to the gentlewoman from michigan, mrs. Lawrence. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from michigan is recognized for one minute. Mrs. Lawrence mr. Speaker, i rise today to support funding, fully funding the chip act, but opposed to the republican bill. Because of the reduction in the grace period, we are forcing americans to go into their own pockets. Although this bill will reauthorize chip, it fails to show compassion for the lowincome families and children who do not have access to Critical Health care. And it is a matter of life and death. Chips impact is overwhelmingly felt in communities of color. Together chip and medicaid help 54 of2 of hispanic and all black children nationwide. As members of congress, we have a duty to protect our nations children. We need to support the millions of families who rely on this vital program. This is not the right way. We need to Work Together in a bipartisan way to in a matter to pass an important piece of legislation like chip and not take away from our children, but support them. And i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. The gentleman from new jersey reserves. The gentleman from oregon reserves. The gentleman from new jersey. Mr. Pallone you have no additional speakers . Mr. Walden right. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, how much time remains on each side . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new jersey has 2 1 2 minutes. The gentleman from oregon has 45 seconds. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, ill just yield myself one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new jersey is now recognized for one minute. Mr. Pallone mr. Speaker, i want to stress again that one of the payfors that the republicans dont talk about much is the fact that they are reducing the grace period from 90 days to 30 days. So if someone miss a payment on their insurance misses a payment on their insurance, they currently is 90 days to make up for it. Under this bill theyll only have 30 days. The c. B. O. Estimates that over 500,000 people will lose their Health Insurance and have to reapply for next year because of this reduction in the grace period. I know my colleague from the other side says, well, thats too bad, you know, because they have the responsibility to pay it. But the fact of the matter is that a lot of people have a hard time paying their monthly premium. And we should not be passing legislation that ends up with half a Million People losing their Health Insurance. Again, this is a way to sabotage the Affordable Care act. The Affordable Care act is trying to make more people covered and has succeeded in covering 95 of the people in this country. Why in the world would we use a payfor that cuts back on half a Million People that they would lose their Health Insurance . The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from oregon reserves. The gentleman from new jersey. Mr. Pallone mr. Chairman, im prepared to close with the time i have remaining. I have 1 1 2 minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new jersey has 1 1 2 minutes. The gentleman from oregon has 45 seconds. The gentleman from new jersey is ready to close. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Pallone thank you, mr. Speaker. I just want to emphasize, we did not have to be here today. We could have done a bipartisan bill without sabotaging the Affordable Care act. And thats what concerns me most, mr. Speaker. The republicans tried to repeal the Affordable Care act, they failed. Now theyre trying to repeal it piece by piece. The payfors that are in this legislation are unfair to the American People. The Prevention Fund is used for opiate prevention, used for kids for various programs. Dont cut back on that to pay for these other things. And the grace period. Half a million americans are going to lose their insurance because of the cutbacks in the grace period. Another effort to sabotage the Affordable Care act. And lastly, and probably even most important, again, the republicans are going against the Medicare Program. Theyre trying to make cuts in the Medicare Program and restructure the Medicare Program in a way that i believe will hurt the Medicare Program, reduce the amount of people in the insurance pool, and ultimately lead to higher costs for middle class and lower income seniors and the disabled in the Medicare Program. I urge my colleagues, dont let the republicans continue to the sabotage of the Affordable Care act. We could have done this on a bipartisan basis, passing this bill today does nothing for the Childrens Health initiative or for Community Health centers because this bill is going nowhere. It will end up in the senate, the senate will not take it up, and well be waiting around until christmas to actually find a way to fund these programs and put these programs at risk. Vote no. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from oregon. Mr. Walden thank you, meevepblgt look, lets get this back mr. Speaker. Look, lets get this back where it belongs. Were fully funding Childrens Health insurance for ive five years, Community Health centers for two years. The only sabotage of the Affordable Care act going on here today is stopping cuts, stopping cuts for hospitals in our districts that serve lowincome people, that would otherwise occur under the Affordable Care act. We do that for two years. The democrats dont think seniors making 40,000 a month, 40,000 a month, should pay an extra 135 for their part b and part d medicare so we can take care of our Community Health centers and children who need Health Insurance. We delayed this bill coming to the floor, bipartisan request to find a bipartisan solution that was illusive, sadly. Illusive. Weve never had this problem before. But we have it today. We must act. I urge a yes vote on this legislation. And i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. All time for debate having egs pired, pursuant to House Resolution 601, the previous question is ordered on the bill as amended. Engrossment and third reading of the bill. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. Third reading. The clerk a bill to extend funding for certain Public Health programs and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from South Carolina seek recognition . I have a motion to recommit at the desk. The speaker pro tempore is the gentleman opposed to the bill . I am opposed in its current form. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman equal files. The clerk will report the motion. The clerk mr. Clyburn of South Carolina moves to recommit the bill, hrmentrrment h. R. 3922. Dispense with the reading. The speaker pro tempore is there objection . Without objection, the reading is suspended. Does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition . Mr. Walden yes, mr. Speaker. I reserve a point of order against the motion to recommit. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans point of order is reserved. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from South Carolina is recognized for five minutes in support of his motion. Mr. Clyburn mr. Speaker, the republicans that reserved the point of order against this motion, let me be clear about what this means. The Republican Leadership does not want a vote on providing proper chip funds to our United States territories, including puerto rico and the Virgin Islands. There may be a point of order against this provision, but it is the same point of order that applies to the republicans bill. And do you want know what that means . They waived the point of order for their bill, but they will not waive the point of order for this bill. I wont take up too much time, mr. Speaker. I just want the body to know that the Republican Leadership is once again rigging the game in favor of the majority. This isnt about hurting me and the democratic members of this body. No. This hurts the people who are already struggling in puerto rico and the Virgin Islands. To my friends on the other side of the aisle, you may hide behind procedural tactics, but e fact remains that doing so denies our United States citizens living in the territories the proper funding, funding that the governor has requested to recover. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from oregon. Mr. Walden thank you, mr. Speaker. I waive my point of order. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman withdraw his point of order . What else does the gentleman rise . Mr. Walden well, mr. Speaker, i rise in opposition to the motion to recommit. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Walden thank you, mr. Speaker. Today, members of this house can deliver peace of mind to the parents of eight million lowincome children who depend on the Childrens Health Insurance Program. The house can extend funding for important Public Health programs, including resources for the critical work Community Health centers do in our communities in my district and yours. This bill will help deliver muchneeded Health Care Resources to our friends and fellow citizens in the Virgin Islands and in puerto rico. Yet, we have heard complaints about how this package is paid for. Well, let us be clear how this bill Funds Health Care for kids and Community Health centers. In paying for this package, we have taken a fiscally responsible and reasonable approach. Our bill funds Kids Health Care by allowing states to disenroll lottery winners. These are winners making 80,000 or above from the lowincome Medicaid Program. We ensure highdollar lottery winners are removed from medicaid so that medicaid resources can go to medicaid eligible lowincome people in our districts. Our bill directs funding from the prevention and Public Health fund to finance important prevention and Public Health needs. Like funding the national Health Service corps, Teaching Health Graduate Center medical education and familytofamily Health Centers, Community Health centers. If these are not important programs for prevention and wellness and Public Health, i dont know what are. Thats why, mr. Speaker, the house is not in order. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is correct. Please take all conversations off the house floor. The house will come toured. Until it comes to order, the gentleman will not continue. The gentleman will continue. Mr. Walden thank you, mr. Speaker. Our bill before us today, which i predict will have bipartisan support, directs funds from the Prevention Fund for important Public Health priorities that have long had bipartisan support. So were using a bipartisan fund to pay for Bipartisan Health care support for health and wellness which is what its intent was in the beginning. Most recently, nearly every House Republican and democrat supported this idea just a year ago, just a year ago when we passed the 21st century cures we said, heres a health and wellness fund, Prevention Fund that makes sense for cures. It makes sense for, we believe today, for our Community Health centers and for Childrens Health insurance. Our bill also asks the wealthiest among us, the 1 ben fish earks those making 40,000 a month beneficiaries those making 40,000, thats an individual to pay a little more to help pay for Health Insurance for lowincome children. I think they would be willing to do that and we as well. President obama on multiple budgets said this is a reasonable way to pay for other priorities. That was bipartisan. Its bipartisan today. These reasonable payfors have been opposed by some in democrat leadership, some House Democrats want to use Childrens Health care and funding Community Health centers as a bigger end of the year goulash. Yet, our kids cant wait any longer. States like minnesota will run out of money for the Childrens Health Insurance Program. At the request of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle we have agreed to postpone time and again but time has run out. The negotiations did not end as we all hoped they would, but we cant wait any longer. Its time for this house to deliver peace of mind to the families that rely on these critical families. Its time to vote yes. I urge my colleagues to vote no. No on the motion to recommit and approve the underlying bill. And i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from oregon the gentleman from oregon has yielded time. Without objection, the previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit. Those in favor of the motion say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. The gentleman from South Carolina. Mr. Clyburn on that i request the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. Those in favor of this vote by the yeas and nays will rise. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Members will record their votes by electronic device. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, this is a 15minute vote on the motion to recommit and will be followed by fiveminute votes on question of passage of h. R. 3922 if ordered and approval of the journal, if ordered. This is a 15minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote the yeas are 187, the nays are 231. The motion is not adopted. The question is on passage of the bill. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. Mr. Speaker, on that i ask 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. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This is a fiveminute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ]