Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. House Of Representatives 11082017 20171108

Bill that would allow Small Businesses to raise capital. Theyll finish up work today on a bill dealing with hydroelectric power. To the house floor now. Live coverage here on cspan. The speaker the house will be in orer. The prayer will be offered by the guest chaplain, pastor Jeff Williams, Faith Community church, janesville, welcome wisconsin. The chaplain let us pray. Our father in heaven, your word declares you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations and from everlasting to everlasting, you are god. Your sovereignty when juxtaposed with our humanity humbles us and causes us to seek your face. When beginning his rule king solomon prayed for you to grant him a discerning heart to govern your people and distinguish between right and wrong. Grant that same discernment in this chamber today. I pray for these who have been entrusted with the response to believe the govern this great people that they may adhere to the principles and quicks this country was founded upon. Bless them, i pray. Your prophet moses prayed say, may the fiver of the lord our god rest on us, and establish the work of our hands on us. May that same favor rest on this, the peoples house today. In jesus name i pray, amen. The speaker the chair has examined the journal of the last days proceedings and announces his approval thereof. The journal stands approved. The pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from new jersey, mr. Cyrus. Mr. Cyrus 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 iberty and justice for all. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. Ryan, is recognized for one minute. The speaker i thank the chair for yielding. My colleagues, it is my absolute privilege and honor to welcome pastor Jeff Williams who just led us in the opening prayer. He is the head pastor at Faith Community church in janesville, wisconsin. Hes the son of a swedish immigrant. Pastor jeff began in a ministry at his home church in rockford, illinois, where he was born and raised. In 19 he andis hiff moved 30 minutes north to begin Faith Community church in janesville. Quote, we had nothing but a vision, he said. No people, no equipment, and no place to meet. And a vision in the lord that was enough. Over the years pastor jeff has turned that vision into a Beautiful House of worship and fellowship and at the heart of our community. I have been there many times. It is really an impressive place. Pastor jeff has been a very good friend to myself and our family for many, many years. And i will note, however, that he is a bears fan and we can forgive him for that one. But it is an absolute honor and privilege at the heart of our o welcome mastor jeff here pastor jeff here. I want to thank him for offering todays prayer. The speaker pro tempore 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 michigan seek recognition . Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to recognize a remarkable student in my district. With a heart for helping veterans, our military, and their families. Morgan is a 14yearold from eaton rapids who created a nonprofit called morgans hugs. Mr. Walberg since the age of 5 morgan has been giving back to veterans. If there is a veteran in need Morgan Springs into action. She organizations donation drives and collects food, clothing, and more. When she competes in beauty pageants, she encourages her fellow contestants to donate as well. Morgan helps in so many other ways, too, including visiting veterans in Nursing Homes and putting her own christmas on hold to give presents to military families. Morgans dad is a disabled veteran and she has seen firsthand the sacrifices made by the men and women who serve our country. We owe them an immeasurable debt. As veterans day approaches, may we volume morgans example and do everything we can to take care of our nations heroes. And i yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition . Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one inute. Mr. Sires mr. Speaker, i rise today in strong opposition to the republican tax plan. As i have said many times before, this plan gives tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations over the needs of American Families while adding a predicted 2. 1 trillion to the National Debt over the decade. Particularly devastating for new jersey is the partial elimination of the state and deduction. More than 25 of new jerseyans will face a tax hike over the next decade due to this change. New jersey taxpayers pay 3,478 more in federal taxes in 2015 than they receive from the government. More than any other state. Not only would the bill aggravate this disparity, it would also eliminate vital deductions that give relief to those burdened with high medical cost, superintendent debt, and unexpected losses due to natural disasters. Mr. Speaker, i will not support a onesided plan that harms new jersey and those who are most in need of a tax relief. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . 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. Speaker, this coming saturday marks veterans day, a day on which we honor and cherish heroes like lewis villa of hope well township, pennsylvania. Nearly seven decades ago, mr. Villa, followed in the footsteps of his two older brothers by enlisting in the army. Mr. Rothfus he joined the 456 airborne field battalion and became an army ranger assigned to first company, first platoon, first squad of the airborne rangers. He employed in he deployed in 1950 to japan and then to korea where he was captured and spent 28 months in a prisoner of war camp. When he returned home he met his beloved wife and had two children. He is a treasure of the community and he rarely fails to land a joke and always lights up a room with laughter. I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to him as well as all our veterans. Happy veterans day. May god bless them and their families. I thank the speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlelady from New Hampshire seek recognition . Unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to discuss the need for tax policy that benefits hardworking families in New Hampshire and all across this country. Were long overdue for real tax reform, but unfortunately the plan unveiled by my republican colleagues is more of a giveaway to millionaires, billionaires, and corporate special interests. Ms. Kuster consider this. 80 of the tax breaks in their bill go to the wealthiest 1 of americans. This is while cutting 500 billion from medicare and 1 trillion from medicaid. That trade is frankly unconscionable. This bill is a bad deal for granite staters and bad deal for the American People. The republican tax plan eliminates important deductions for hardworking middle class families. It caps property Tax Deductions, eliminates student Loan Interest deductions, and the medical deduction tax credit. The plan even ends the work opportunity tax credit that encourages employers to hire veterans. House democrats are offering a better deal. I urge my republican colleagues to work with us to support working families. Thank you. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlelady from indiana seek recognition . Unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. E speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Mrs. Brooks thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Honor our nations veterans. Id like to take a moment to thank our nations heroes for their Selfless Service to our country. It was a privilege to welcome home veterans on the indy honor flight last month after they traveled to d. C. To visit memorials honoring their service and sacrifice of our Nations Armed forces. It was both a humbling and inspiring opportunity to meet so many veterans who are patriots in every sense of the word. We owe it to them and their families to ensure they have access to quality care and the services they deserve. Im proud to see many important veterans bills passthrough the house this week and look forward to continuing our work in congress to support our american heroes. To all of our veterans, we thank you for your service and enjoy veterans day. We salute you. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from nevada 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 inute. Mr. Speaker, i ask today i rise to remember the life of kerry barnett, a woman who was known for her love of pickles, tum hmming birds, and willingness to help others. She loved Country Music and grew up listening to it with her grandparents house. She frequently went to Country Music concerts and had traveled to the route 91 Music Festival with her childhood friend. She was a lifelong californian who celebrated her 10th anniversary as a Culinary Team member in anaheim. Mr. Kihuen she loved harrell tiffs and friends like her said she would have made a great mother. She also had the nickname of aunt terry because all the children loved her. I would also like to extend my condolences to her family and friends. Please know that the city of las vegas, state of nevada, and the whole country grieve with you. Mr. Speaker, i yield the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Smith mr. Speaker, a front page story in roll call about chief of staff general kelly is as misleading as you can get. It clearly is an intentional hit job. The headline read, kellys antics rankle capital. The article claims, quote, g. O. P. And democratic members are united, end quote, in not wanting general kelly speak out. But only one republican known for his criticism of this administration is quoted compared to four democrats. The four democrats, three are current members of congress and one is a former Clinton Administration official. So much for balance and so much for the articles unfounded claim. This is what passes for journalism these days. When you see stories like this one, you twin to understand you begin to understand why the president is right to use the term fake news. I doubt general kelly will be intimidated and i hope he will continue to speak out. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlelady from minnesota seek recognition . Unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Speaker, i rise today in strong opposition to the republicans tax scam. The middle class receives virtually no ben forfeit this bill. This bill hits middle class minnesotans especially hard by dismantling the state and local tax deduction. Ms. Mccollum it increases costs for College Students and their families. It abandons adoptive parents, and it punishes people with high medical bills. So why does this bill hurt hardworking families . So President Trump and the republicans can pay for giveaways to the wealthiest americans . Big corporations and billionaires will see their axes slashed while the heirs and heiresses will be allowed to dodge taxes entirely. Americans op 1 of receive nearly half the tax cuts. 99 of us will be stuck with a federal debt that will explode by trillions of dollars. Mr. Speaker, this republican am receive nearly half the tax cuts. 99 bill is not tax reform. It is not a good deal for the middle class. It is a scam plain and simple. I oppose it and we must defeat it. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman rom arkansas seek recognition . Without objection. Mr. Speaker, i rise today during National Stem day to recognize the importance of encouraging our youth to pursue their interest in science, technology, engineering, and math fields. As technology continues to advance, stem occupations continue to grow and become more valuable to the development of our society. Mr. Hill over the past decade, employment in stem occupations has outgrown nonstem occupations by nearly 20 . I commnd the houses work in implementing the annual congressional stem app challenge for students across our nation. This competition allows students to compete by creating an idea for an app on a of their choice and is designed to engage student creativity and encourage their participation in stem fields. As a member of the congressional Stem Education caucus and the father of a stem student in college, i will continue to of their choice sup of Stem Education throughout arkansas and our country. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition . Mr. Kildee i seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Kildee thank you, mr. Speaker. Democrats agree that we need to simplify our tax code and provide tax relief to middle income families, but unfortunately this republican tax plan gives big tax cuts to the rich, huge tax cuts to corporations, and raises taxes, yes, the details matter, raises taxes on tens of millions of American Families, middle income families making 100,000 or less. Takes away the ability for some to deduct interest on home mortgage, takes away the ability to deduck interest on student loan, for goodness sake. Takes away the ability to deduct interest on medical expenses. But for the loopholes that apply to the people at the very top, for the loopholes that apply to corporation they leave them alone. They bring down their rates and let them keep their loopholes an force us to borrow money from our children and grandchildren to give great big tax breaks to people at the very top. This is wrong. This is not what the American People elected us to do. We need to shut this down now. We need tax relief for middle income americans, not tax giveaways to the people at the top. We ought to reject this plan and do it now. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does think for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . Without objection. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Earlier this year, Army Sergeant josh rogers was killed in action during a raid targeting an isis prison in afghanistan, making the ultimate sacrifice while working to free those imprisoned by eel. A native of bloomington, illinois, in my Congressional District hurricanes heroism and bravery havent been forgotten. A graduate of Normal Community High School in 2013 where he come peet o competed on the track and football team, his teachers and coaches remember him fondly. Mr. Lahood they say he was a natural leader and a hard worker who believed it was his duty to serb his country in the military. Thats why im standing here to announce the introduction of a bill that would rename the post office in bloomington, illinois, the Sergeant Josh rogers u. S. Post office. Theres no way to truly thank Sergeant Rogers or his family but it is my hope that this building will serve to honor him and remind all of us of the price of our freedom. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlelady rom illinois seek recognition . Without objection. Heres the republican tax scam, first you cut taxes for the wealthiest corporations and the super rich. Number two, cut Americans Health care. Dont take my word for it, look at the republican budget. After clearing the way for a 1. 5 trillion tax cut, it proposes cutting medicare and medicaid. Coincidently, i dont think so, by 1. 5 trillion. It gets worse. Under the republican tax bill, American Families would no longer get to deduct medical Major Medical expenses from their taxes. Ms. Schakowsky seven in 10 households using the medical expense deduction make under 75,000 and over half the americans who depend on that medical deduction are over 65 years old. Families struggling to afford Cancer Treatment or longterm care should not have to pay for pay a health tax so that billionaires can get a huge tax cut. I urge my colleagues to reject this scam. Americans deserve a better deal. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida seek recognition . Without objection. Ms. Roslehtinen mr. Speaker, november 9 marks the 79th kristallnacth. Referred to as the night of broken glass,ierman troops were ordered to target jews because of their faith. They destroyed hundreds of synagogues, looted and vandalized thousands of businesses, arrested tens of thousands of innocent civilians and killed nearly 100. This atrocity was a harbinger of one of historys darkest periods, the holocaust. The anniversary of this grave tragedy serves as a constant reminder of what happens when hatred and big trifloods our and bigotry foods our world. Unfortunately, the world has not learned the lessons of the past. Antisemitism has seen a troubling rise across the globe and we must continue our fight toward ending this brutal chapter of intolerance. November 9 serves as a reminder of this tragedy but also as an opportunity. An opportunity to fight this hatred, all forms of hatred, and vow to never let such an atrocity to ever occur again. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from North Carolina seek recognition . Without objection. Mr. Speaker, its increasingly obvious what a sham of a tax plan the republicans have proposed, slashing tacks on the super rich, Large Corporations, at the expense of the middle class. Much less well known and what the republicans dont want to talk about is their proposal to repeal tax exempt private activity bonds and therefore to kill the same publicprivate partnerships that they profess to support. States, local government, private partners around the country use private activity bonds to finance a wide array of Infrastructure Projects like highways, airports, hospitals, Water Treatment facility, Affordable Housing. Mr. Price in North Carolina, private activity bonds financed an upgraded terminal at raleighdurham airport and are being used by our Housing Department to attract new investors to new housing developments. With republicans get their way these projects would die on the vine. More than 6,200 units of Affordable Housing would disappear. How does that help working families realize the American Dream . At a time when funding for infrastructure is continually squeezed the last thing we should do is push through a plan that would hamstring our state and local governments and destroy our ability to Leverage Private investment. I urge my colleagues to oppose the republican tax plan. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition . Without objection. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to oppose the republican tax plan a tax plan that is of, by, and for the wealthy and wellconnected. How do we know this . Yesterday, a republican congressman told a capitol hill reporter, quote, my donors are basically saying, get it done or dont ever call me again. There you have it. A window into the true motivation for this bill. Its a massive giveaway to the big donor class. It slashes the Corporate Tax rate. Guts the estate tax to benefit millionaires and billionaires. And creates a new loophole so the super wealthy candice guise their income. Mr. Sarbanes whats worse, republican tax bill would be devastating for millions of middle and lower income americans. It attacks the state and local tax deduction, mortgage interest deduction, eliminates Tax Deductions for medical expenseness and student debt and increases the deficit by approximately 1. 5 trillion. Mr. Speaker, americans deserve a better deal. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman rom illinois seek recognition . Without objection, recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. In a time of national strife we see our nation in every now and then its good to remember history. 180 years ago yesterday a man named Elijah Parish lovejoy was run out of st. Louis city. Mr. Shimkus for writing and publishing an abolitionist newspaper call the st. Louis observer. He moved across that alton, illinois, and continued that. On 7th november, 1837, loveinjury received a new press. Many of his Printing Presses were thrown into the river. When he got the new press from e ohio antislavery society, when local slave owners heard of the arrival of the new machine they decided to destroy it. A grup of his friends attempted to protect it. During the attack, lovejoy was shot in the head and died. He was the first martyr to freedom of the press and of course we debate the press but this epress is still an Important Institution in our society. In 1952, the Elijah Parish lovejoy award was established and is given to a member they have newspaper profingts who continues the heritage of fearlessly defending freedom. I think its porn to come back and remember a great moment in our history. I yelled back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Without objection, youre recognized for one minute. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. I rise today to ask and highlight which americans will see their taxes go up every april 15 under the republican tax scam. Middle class families, teachers, firefighters, nurses, our veterans. Folks paying off student loans. Seniors with medical expenses and Small Businesses and every homeowner will pay more in taxes. Over 50 million americans will see their taxes go up every april 15. Mr. Cardenas students and teachers are hurt by this tax scam. This tax scam will make it harder for teachers to afford supplies for their classrooms. The republican tax scam eliminates medical expense deductions. The adoption tax credit goes away. Student loan deductions, gone. State and local Tax Deductions for homeowners, frerget about it. Forget about it. This tax scam is just wrong. It hurts hardworking American Families. And it benefits the largest corporations. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman rom michigan seek recognition . Without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I had planned to come down to the floor here to manage some bills here in a couple of minutes but i decided i needed to take this opportunity to address some of the thing that the American People might have been hearing from the other side of the aisle just now. This is absolutely just political demagoguery. What is going on. And frankly, its political malfeasance. This is about simplification. This is about fairness. This is about making sure shah hardworking american men and women and their families have the opportunity to live the American Dream. Mr. Huizenga right now we have a tax code that is mass i, first of all, and second, its filled with loopholes and exceptions that lobbyists and the wellconnected have put in there over the last number of decades. It is time to change that. The American People deserve this. Its real tax relief for real working families and thats why i think youre seeing such enthusiasm out of the American People for this tax plan. With that, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman rom missouri seek recognition . Without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Let me see if i can inject some truth into this. Rise to oppose the deficitexploding republican tax plan that rewards billionaires first and then asks hardworking americans to pay for it. Mr. Clay the trump republican tax scam will raise taxes for millions of working families. It will kill jobs in the Home Construction industry. It will punish student loan borrowers. This reckless plan would repeal the deduction for state and local income and sales taxes and i would remind my colleagues in the majority that if you vote yes, youre voting for a 900 billion tax increase on American Families. This bill is not conservative. Its not profamily. Its not proworker. It will kill jobs and reward the wealthy. And corporations. At the expense of everyone else. Vote no on the g. O. P. Tax scam and lets pass a real tax reform bill that puts middle class families first. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman rom new york seek recognition . Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Last night all throughout our great country, hatred lost in america. Fear mongering lost in america. Race baiting lost in america. Xenophobia lost in america. Homephobia lost in america. Mr. Jeffries confederate monuments lost in america. The war on medicaid lost in america. Voter suppression lost in america. The trump playbook lost in america. The make america hate again agenda lost in america. Democrats will continue to focus on the economic wellbeing of the American People. Will continue to fight for better jobs, better wages, and a Better Future for the American People. Democrats will continue to ight to deliver a better deal. The speaker pro tempore the chair lays before the house a communication. The clerk the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. Sir, pursuant to the permission granted in clause 2h of rule 2 of the rules of the u. S. House of representatives, the clerk received the following message from the secretary of the senate on november 8, 2017, at 9 37 a. M. That the Senate Passed, senate 1088. That the Senate Passed senate 10125. With best wishes i am, signed sincerely, karen l. Haas. The speaker pro tempore the chair lays before the house this enrolled bill. H. R. 3031, an act to amend title 5 United States code to provide for flexibility in making withdrawals from a thrift savings plan account, and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, by direction of the committee on rules i call up House Resolution 609 and ask for its immediate consideration. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the resolution. The clerk house calendar number 100. House resolution 609. Resolved,that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the house the bill h. R. 2201, to amend the securities act of 1933 to exempt certain microofferings from the Registration Requirements of such act, and for other purposes. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. The bill shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and on any 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 financial services, two, the amendment printed in the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution, if offered by the member designated in the report, which shall be in order without intervention of any point of order, shall be considered as read, shall be separately debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question, and three, one motion to recommit with or without nstructions. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from colorado is recognized for one hour. Thank you, mr. Speaker. For the purposes of debate only, i yield the customary 30 the es to my friend, gentlewoman from new york, ms. Slaughter, pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume. Mr. Buck during consideration of this resolution all time yielded is for the purposes of debate only. The gentlewoman from new york, ms. Slaughter, pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume. Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Buck mr. Speaker, i rise today in support of the rule and underlying legislation. The rule provides one hour of debate and makes in order all amendments offered at the rules committee. I want to note that not one amendment to this bill was offered to the rule or to the bill. Mr. Speaker, the microoffering safe harbor act is on important step towards helping Small Businesses grow across our country. Small businesses arent just about selling a product or providing a service. Entrepreneurs take the risk for a chance to improve their community and their families livelihood. These individuals employ our friends and families and improve our quality of life. Congress needs to do what we can to help entrepreneurs succeed. Young businesses need to use their limited capital, time, and resources to grow their business not fill out bureaucratic paperwork. This problem has only grown worse since Congress Passed the doddfrank wall street reform and Consumer Protection act in 2010. When doddfrank passed congress promised it would protect consumers, but it has only Hurt Community banks, Small Businesses, and the middle class. Doddfranks burdensome Regulatory Regime has caused Community Banks to disappear across america, making access to capital more difficult for many Small Businesses. The house passed the financial choice act to repeal and replace doddfrank, but it currently sits untouched in the United States senate. I hope they will quickly vote to repeal doddfrank and make credit easier for access to access for main street. But there is more we can do in the peoples house to help create new jobs and opportunities. All too often the federal government creates regulations that disproportionately hurt Small Businesses. While a Large Corporation may have a team of lawyers to comply with these rules, this is rarely the case for a young business. That is why i support this bill. This bill ends ambiguity in the law by clearly defining a nonpublic Offering Exemption under the securities act. Currently Companies Just starting out risk unintentionally violating these laws, which might discourage capital seeking the they need to grow. It is common sense to ensure our countrys laws are clear and to allow Small Businesses to operate capital they need to grow. Without fear accidentally violating the law. Our economy depends on Small Businesses, and those that put everything on the line to pursue the American Dream. Of bill will benefit all us by helping those individuals businesses and create jobs in their communities. In order to help our Small Businesses grow and create jobs, we need to pass this rule and pass the underlying bill. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields. The gentlelady from new york is recognized. Ms. Slaughter thank you, mr. Speaker. Businesses and create jobs in their communities. In order to help our i thank the gentleman for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Miss sclauter submission slaughter thank you. The securities asket 1933 ms. Slaughter thank you. The securities act of 1933 governs current law regarding the sail seal an purchase of securities like stocks, bonds, or options. Intent behind this law is to require that investors receive the necessary information about the securities and to prevent fraud when they are sold. To achieve this, the securities and Exchange Commission currently prohibits the sale or delivery of securities that have not been registered with the agentcy. With some limited exemption agency. With some limited exemptions. Today these exemptions are usually limited to those transactions made with sophisticated investors who understand the associated risks. H. R. 2201 would weaken securities act unnecessarily by adding an entirel new exemption for certain issuers while removing important disclosure requirements. Let me say that again. Removing the important disclosure requirements. In other words, to know what you are buying. It will leave investors vulnerable to sell unregistered securities without the important guardrails that apply to the transactions today. It is part of the majoritys agenda that prioritizes deregulation above all else. Through the Congressional Review Act and many other bills, the majoritys been relentlessly attacking safeguards that protect consumers. Risking our health, our safety, and finances. And this is all in order to make it easier for corporations to engage in questionable business practices. Who loses in the giveaway of to big corporations and bad actors . The American People. Mr. Speaker, i have always believed a bad process leads to a bad product. This week has put the majority in the history books for alt wrong reasons. All the wrong reasons. Closed rules have completely blocked members from offering amendments on the house floor. 49th sterday with the closed rule of the year, this majority broke the record for becoming the most closed session of congress in history. Thats a long time. Let 49th closed rule of the year, this m this session of 115th congress is the most closed session ever. In fact, our present speaker has not had an open rule. This is not some arcane matter. More than 1,300 amendments have been blocked this year through the restrictive rules. Its prevented action on matters that touch nearly every sector of society. This week we saw another mass shooting in a church. Families gathered together in a small texas town. A man with a gun came in and killed 26 of them and wounded 20 more. One family lost eight of its cherished members. Those killed in that attack equals 7 of the small towns entire population. This congress could Work Together and actually stop these tragic murders because this is a place where we can do that, but under the majority we cant get a vote on any measure that would do anything about it. If you care about whether we sent troops to a war in afghanistan and syria, if you matter. N closed rules if you care about protecting whistleblowers and reducing government spending, closed rules matter. If you care about whether we build the president s defensive border wall with mexico, or strengthens the ethics in the branch, then closed rules matter. And if you care about protecting the nearly 800,000 young dreamers nationwide, closed rules definitely matter. Because the majority has used restrictive closed and structured rules to prevent and e and votes on these other important matters from ever happening here on this house floor, each amending legi because and other important matters from ever happening here on this house floor, each of us has been elected to do our jobs. Representing our constituents by of closed process, were prevented from doing so. Those routinely come before the rules committee havent even been fully considered by the relevant committees. That such a bill is before us today. When speaker ryan took the gavel two years ago, he said, quote, only a fully functioning use can really, truly do the peoples business, end quote. Well, mr. Speaker, were not doing the peoples business. Were unable to do the job we were sent here to do. Were unable to take action on the things our constituents care about most. It is no wonder that this congress is the most unpopular congress in recent memory. It is past time that well return to regular order and start tackling the major issues that we face. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady reserves. The gentleman from colorado is recognized. Mr. Buck mr. Speaker, i yield five minutes to the gentleman, i do mean gentleman from minnesota, mr. Emmer. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from minnesota is recognized. Mr. Emmer i thank my colleague from the great state of colorado. Mr. Speaker, obtaining accessible and reliable forms of capital is one of the Biggest Challenges that Small Businesses and entrepreneurs face today. I will say that again. Were not talking about Large Corporations. Were talking about Small Businesses and entrepreneurs. According to 2016 yearend economic report from the National Small business ssociation, 41 of all Small Businesses surveyed said that, quote, lack of capital is hindering their ability to grow their siness or expand operations. And 20 said they had to reduce the number of employees as a result of tight credit. That is why i introduced their microoffering safe harbor act. This bill does not create new securities registration it does not create a new securities registration exemption under the securities act. Rather it defines what constitutes a permissible nonPublic Offering. It provides Small Business with the clarity and confidence to know that they are offering their offering is not a violation of the securities act. If enacted, this will make it easier for entrepreneurs and Small Businesses, again, not Large Corporations, to raise money from family, friends, and their personal Network Without running afoul of the vague and undefined private offering safe harbor provisions in the securities act of 1933 more specifically, this legislation requires the following three criteria be met simultaneously in order to trigger a safe harbor exemption for a security offering. Each purchaser must have a substantive preexisting relationship with an owner. There can be no more than 35 purchasers of securities from the issuer that are sold in reliance on the exemption during the 12month period preceding. Lastly, the aggregate amount of all securities sold by the issuer cannot exceed 500,000 during the 12months preceding the offering. The microoffering safe harbor act helps bring clarity to existing law so our current and future job creators can easily raise capital within the confines of an easy to understand provision without the help of an ever increasing expert. Furthermore, ever increasingly expensive expert. Furthermore, the legislation reserves all federal and state antifraud antifraud protections. Ill say that again, the legislation preserves all deral and state antifraud protections. Ultimately this bill will scale existing federal rules and Regulatory Compliance for Small Business, thus providing another protections. Ultimately this practical optio entrepreneurs to raise the capital they need to start and grow business. The timing couldnt be better as the house continues to pr mote job and Economic Growth through this once in a generation effort to reform our tax code. As our Small Businesses and startups continue to provide for over half of all current jobs and over 65 of all net new jobs since the 1970s, we must provide the tools they need to succeed and this legislation does just that. I would like to thank chairman hensarling, chairman session, and chairman huizenga for working to bring this bill to the floor and i urge my colleagues to support the previous question, adopt the rule for h. R. 2201, and vote in favor of the microoffering safe harbor act when it comes to the floor for consideration. Thank you and i yield back. Mr. Buck i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlelady from new york is recognized. Ms. Slaughter if we defeat the previous question ill offer an amendment to the rule to bring p h. R. 340, the dream act this h. R. 3440, the dream act this bipartisan, bicameral legislation would protect young people who are americans in every way except on paper. Democrats tried numerous times to protect dreamers. We tried other and other to bring up the dream act and offered amendments only to be blocked by this recordbreaking closed congress. There is bipartisan agreement that something must be done to help these young people. Lets do it today. Mr. 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 to discuss our proposal im pleased to yield four minutes to the wrelt from california, mr. Aguilar. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Aguilar today i must ask a question of this chamber. What makes America Great . Do we measure greatness by the strength of our economy . Or by the size of our military . Is greatness defined by export prices and profits of corporations . You see, mr. Speaker, i dont think thats the case. I believe that we are a nation built upon a set of unshakeable values. And it is our ability to uphold these values, not the rise and fall of the stock market, that will ultimately define our greatness. One of our values is this. If you work hard, set goals, and refuse to give up, you can fulfill your dreams. As americans this value is ingrained into all of us. We repeat it each and every day and tell our kids to follow their dreams or tell them that they can be anything they want when they grow up. We say these things, mr. Speaker, because we believe them. We believe hard work pays off. We believe dreams can come true. And yet on september 5 of this year, President Trump ignored these american beliefs when he ended the daca program. That decision told nearly 800,000 young people in this country that their hard work didnt matter. That their dreams of pursuing success might not pay off in the end. These young dreamers who are as american as any of us, they go to school here, they have jobs here, they raise families in our communities, and they serve in our military. This is why each and every day we fail to pass the dream act we call the values that make our country great into question. If we fail to pass this bipartisan legislation, then we are no longer a nation where hard work pays off. Ill be forced to explain that to dreamers in my district. Ill have to tell minerva who paid her way through college shell have to give up her dream of medical school. Ill have to explain to leticia that despite becoming the first in her family to attend college she wont be able to fulfill her dream of serving others as a social worker. You see, mr. Speaker, these are real young people and real dreams and they deserve a real answer. Theyve put in the work, theyve done everything they can to build lives in this country. And we need to come together to make sure that we uphold our values and allow them to continue those lives here. I urge my colleagues to vote against the previous question so that we can bring up the dream act to the floor for a vote immediately. This country is great because we uphold our values. Mr. Speaker, its time that we prove that thank you and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from colorado is recognized. Mr. Buck i yield five minutes to the gentleman from michigan, the chairman of the subcommittee on Capital Markets, security, and investment, mr. Huizenga. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Huizenga thank you, mr. Speaker. I appreciate my friend from colorado allowing me the opportunity to speak on this bill. Mr. Speaker, currently the securities and Exchange Commission prohibits the sale or delivery of securities that have not be registered with the agency. A large portion of startups and really, these are ideas, rely on small, nonPublic Offerings, also known as private placements, such as with friends and family and they do a round of offerings in order to raise initial early stage seed capital. However, the securities act of 1933 does not define what constitutes a Public Offering or conversely a nonPublic Offering. As a result, startup mace unintentionally violate the act when it seeks to offer securities to potential investors in a private placement. Lets put that in real i think learn. Lets make this actually approachable in a way that i think true american entrepreneurs can understand. The reality is, these are people with an idea. A drive to move forward and to improve something. They go and offer to their family, or maybe ask of their family, to be a part of that dream. To help with some seed capital. To give them a little bit of their hardearned money to help them achieve their dream. And guess what . Then they get to take part in the success of that. Theres some risk. There is some risk. But theres also reward. And what how this really translates is, this might be the doctor who has a great idea for a new health drink or a new implement to use in the surgery room. It might be a mom who had left the work force and was taking care of her kids and said you know what, theres got to be a better way of making sure my kids are getting a healthy meal transported to school, or Something Like that. These are people that are looking around and theyre say, i can go make life better. Not for me. Not just for my family. But for others. And they are trying to then pursue that. Two a to address this uncertainty we have, 2201, the microoffering safe harbor act would implement a simple amendment to the securities act of 1933 by make clearing what constitutes a nonPublic Offering. Its going to provide Small Businesses with needed clarity and confidence to know their offering is not a securities act violation. Think of that. Again. Might be that doctor or stay at home mom who is out there trying to fund an idea. Who unintentionally and with no malice or no understanding, that theyre violating federal law. So a microoffering authorized under this bill would allow Small Businesses or small entrepreneurs to operate with confidence. By and what it is going to do, these common sense requirements to be part of this are such. Each investor has a substantive preexisting relationship with the owner. This is no flyby friendship. This is somebody you actually know. There are fewer than 35 purchasers or investors in that. And the amount cannot exceed 500,000. If you divide out 500,000 which is a lot of money by 35 people thats less than 15,000 a person. 14,285, to be exact. That to me, this is not about helping wall street somehow for crying out loud. This is about main street. And i believe its porn to note as the sponsor, mr. Emmer, noted earlier, nothing in this bill would remove or inhibit the authority of the securities and Exchange Commission or the department of justice for prosecuting securities fraud. With antifraud protection still in place, it scales federal rules and Regulatory Compliance costs for these Small Businesses and entrepreneurs. So h. R. 2201 is a common sense bill designed to help main street, not wall street. Simply put, it will allow Small Businesses, entrepreneurs, these dreamers to Access Capital necessary for their growth. And as i said, representative emmer has done a phenomenal job in shepherding this through. In our 2016 Capital Markets subcommittee hearing where we dealt with this bill, he had a great quote. He said, quote, the problem with the ability of Small Businesses to effectively use this exemption is the term private offering is not defined in law. Not only does this private Small Business prohibit Small Business from using the exemption, it leaves businesses who try to use the exemption and cant afford a team of expensive lawyers, which most Small Businesses cannot, exposed to potential lawsuits and future liable this will create a bright line safe harbor for small private offerings and help them open new businesses and expand existing ones. I applaud the hard work of my colleague, mr. Emmer, on this bill and urge my colleagues to vote in favor of h. R. 2201 and yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlelady from new york is recognize. Ms. Slaughter may i inquire if my colleague has more speakest, i am prepared to close. Mr. Buck we do not have more witnesses. Ms. Slaughter then i shall close, thank you. Mr. Speaker, the unnecessary partisan bills like this one take up valuable floor time when we could be considering important legislation to extend expired programs like the perkins loans which help lowincome students finance their education, or to address gun violence. The American People are frilingtened of an agenda that prioritizes deregulation and corporations above all else. Democrats have been pushing for votes on the house floor on amendments that would actually address the major problems were facing today. That includes everything from Climate Change to our militarys role abroad to protecting the Daca Recipients and addressing the gun violence epidemic thats tearing communities apart. But weve been blocked at every turn. The majority has gone to unprecedented lengths to prevent any kind of real debate from happening. And we have proof of that because they used closed and structured rules to block more than 1,300 amendments so far this year and so far this session is the most closed session of Congress Since congress began. Its no wonder that just 13 of the public approves of congress you should this leadership. Thats according to the latest figures from gallup. And the bill before us continues that dangerous and unpopular agenda. So i urge a no vote on the previous question, the rule, the bill, and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields. The gentleman from colorado is recognized. Mr. Buck thank you, mr. Speaker. This bill is an important step to improve the american economy. We need to support Small Businesses and their ability to grow. This will happen if we give the free market the opportunity to work. We should get bureaucrats out of the way of Small Business owners who only want to serve their families and communities. This bill moves us in that direction. I thank congressman tom emmer for introducing this porn bill and taking the time to come to the floor today. I also thank chairman hensarling for his work on these bills as well as House Financial Services committee. Chairman hensarling recently announce head will not be seek regular election to congress but we will all remember the great work hes done in his time in d. C. And the important contributions hes made todd legislation were looking at today. I ask my colleagues to vote yes on the rule. I ask them to vote yes on the underlying legislation. I yield back the balance of my time and i 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. Ms. Slaughter i request the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore in the opinion of the chairs the aye of the chair the ayes have it. The yeas and nays are requested. Those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. A sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Members will record their votes y electronic device. Pursuant to clause 8 and clause 9 of rule 20, this 15 minute vote on ordering the previous question will be followed by fifeminute votes on adopting the resolution if ordered and suspending the rules and passing h. R. 4173. 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 224, the nays are 190. The peeves question is ordered. The question is on adoption of the resolution. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition . Ms. Slaughter on that, i request the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. Those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. A sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Members will record their votes by electronic device. S that fiveminute vote. 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. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote the yeas are 233. The nays are 190. The resolution is adopted. Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The Unfinished Business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from florida, mr. Bilirakis, to suspend the rules and pass h. R. 4173 as amended on which the yeas and nays are ordered. The clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 4173, a bill to direct the secretary of Veterans Affairs to conduct a study on the Veterans Crisis line. The speaker pro tempore the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended. 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. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote the yeas are 220. The nays are excuse me the ayes have 420. The nays are zero. 2 3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. For what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i would ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and tend their remarks and put into the record extraneous material. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Pursuant to House Resolution 607 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the consideration of h. R. 3043. The chair will appoint the gentleman from illinois, mr. Hultgren, to preside over the ommittee of the whole. The chair the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h. R. 3043 which the clerk will report by title. The clerk a bill to modernize hydropower policy and for other purposes. The chair pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as read the first time. The gentleman from michigan, mr. Upton, and the gentleman from illinois, mr. Rush, each will control 30 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan, mr. Upton. Mr. Upton mr. Speaker, i might ask for order in the house. The chair the gentleman will suspend. The committee will be in order. The committee will be in order. Members, please remove your conversation from the house floor. He committee will be in order. He committee will be in order. The gentleman from michigan is recognized. Mr. Upton mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair without objection, the gentleman from michigan is recognized. Mr. Upton mr. Speaker, i rise today in strong support of h. R. 3043, the hydropower policy 2017. Ization act of this legislation introduced by my friend and colleague from the energy and Commerce Committee, Cathy Mcmorris rodgers, is an important step towards modernizing our energy infrastructure, creating jobs and, yes, strengthening our economy. T to thank her for her for this bill. We held one legislative hearing. Both subcommittee and committee markups where the bill was agreed to by voice vote. Following the markups, the Bipartisan Committee staff held more hearings from tribal governments to gather additional view. I think the resulting bill strikes a careful balance. Changes were made to increase state and tribal consultation requirements in a very strong savings clause was added to protect states authorities under the clean water act. Hydropower is an essential component of an alloftheabove Energy Strategy for this country. Hydropower is clean, its renewable and affordable base load power. Its good for consumers, electricity bills and its also good for jobs which is why labor is strongly supportive of this legislation. There is a tremendous opportunity to expand hydropower production on existing nonhydropower dams. Approximately 2,200 dams produce electricity. There are opportunity it is improve the process for those due for reliancing. By 2020 over 400 existing projects with almost 19,000ing me watts of capacity will 19,000 mega watts of capacity will be due for reliancing. Fixing the licensing process would improve safety, swrup grading the performance of existing dams and utilizing nonpower dams, canals and conduits would enable investment to address aging dams and improve overall safety. The duration, complexity and safe i have to the hydropower licensing process creates significant challenges that prevents investments to create jobs and benefit consumers. The licensing process for a new Hydropower Development project can last over a decade and costs tens of millions of dollars, significantly longer than the time it takes to construct a natural gas fired powered plant of the same size this legislation, h. R. 4033 would level the Playing Field by modernizing the permitting process without compromising environmental protexes. It improves efficiency, accountability and transparency. It requires balanced, timely Decision Making and reduce duplicative oversight from the multiple federal agencies that review hydropower applications this bill brings certainty and timeliness to the licensing process by enhancing in consultation with federal, state, and local agencies, and indian tribe, and requires ferc to establish a process for setting the schedule for review. H. R. 3043 identifies scheduling issues, impose licensing conditions and resolve disputes. This bill also contains provisions to expedite the approval process for an amendment, license for a qualifying hydropower project upgrade. Without the hydropower licensing improvements in this bill, without them, we risk losing Investment Opportunities in new hydropower infrastructure which would benefit consumers with affordable electricity and expand the use of clean, renewble energy. Again, i thank my leagues for their work and the great staff on this important piece of legislation and i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time the gentleman from illinois, mr. Rush is recognized. Mr. Rush i thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Rush i rise in strong opposition to h. R. 34043, the hydropower policy modernization act of 2017. Mr. Speaker, while members on oth sides of the aisle support hydropower, unfortunately, the deeply re us today is flawed and will not modernize or improve the hydropower licensing process. Nstead, mr. Speaker, h. R. 3043 would place private profits above the public interest. By giving priority to our public waterways of our public water ways to industry in order to generate power and profits. Over and above the rights and interests of native tribes, of farmers, of fishermen, boaters, and other stake holders who also rely on these public rivers and streams. Mr. Speaker, it is very important for us to remember that hydroeelect triss that hydroelectric licensing can span between 30 to 50 years. And under existing law, a license holder can be granted automatic yearly extensionings in perpetuity without even having to reapply. Mr. Speaker, this issue is far too important for us not to get it right this time. Actually do . 3043 this bill will make the federal Energy Regulatory commission, ferc, the lead agency on the licensing process and will , states ative tribes and other federal resource pay deference to the Commission Even in areas where ferc has no expertise or statutory authority, including on issues regarding agricultural water use, Drinking Water protection, fisheries management, and recreational river use. How absurd, mr. Speaker. Additionally, mr. Speaker, h. R. And alter the nd trial type hearing for vision tissue provision of the federal power act essentially rigging the process in favor of industry by providing multiple new entry points to challenge conditions designed by federal resource agencies. Mr. Speaker, the threat of these important hearings may be used to coerce agencies to propose weaker conditions. At the same time this bill also shifts the venue for these hearings to ferc. Which is another very obvious handout and handover to industry. Mr. Speaker, in testimony before the energy and Commerce Committee, we heard repeatedly that a major cause for licensing delays was due to incomplete applications that do not include all the pertinent information that is necessary to issue a decision. Mr. Speaker, h. R. 3043 does nothing, absolutely nothing, address this very, very serious issue. In fact, this bill will implement timelines on federal resource agencies, states and tribes to but does not quire others to submit their information to the agencies before the clock actually starts ticking. The peaker, ferc itself, very agency that would be this with implementing bad deal, ferc itself disputing claims that this bill would streamline the licensing process noted that the legislation, and i quote, mr. Speaker, could increase the complexity and the length of the licensing process. End of quote. These are fercs words. Fercs words before the committee. Mr. Speaker, we cannot allow hydropower facility to claim a monopoly over our public waterways without mitigating the negative impacts of these facilities on others who rely on these resources and without at the same time without complying with modern environmental laws. H. R. 3043, mr. Speaker, is opposed by states, opposed by the native tribe, opposed by the Outdoor Recreation industry, and and re than 150 National Local environmental organizations. Mr. Speaker, it is all these easons that i too stand in concert and side by side with native tribes, Outdoor Recreation industry, and other 150 national and local environmental organizations, it is for these reasons that i too must oppose this bill and i urge all of my colleagues to do the same. With that, i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman re the chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from michigan is recognized. Mr. Upton i yield such time as she may consume to the author of this legislation, the author of this legislation, the gentlelady from washington state, ms. Mcmorris rodgers. The chair the gentlelady is recognized. Ms. Mcmorris rog spers i rise in support and urge support of the hydropow mrs. Mcmorris rodgers i rise in support and urge support of the hydropower bill. Hydropower is the largest source of clean, renewble and affordable energy. In my in my home state of washington its roughly 70 of the of our power that comes from hydropower, one of the reasons we enjoy some of the lowest electricity rates in the country. Only 3 of dams produce electricity. Theres room for increasing, we could double hydropower production, create an estimated 700,000 new jobs without building a single new dam. Simply by updating the technology in our existing infrastructure and streamlining the reliancing process. But we must reduce the Regulatory Burden to allow this process to move forward. This legislation seeks to streamline the reliancing process in an inclusive and environmentally friendly way. On average, it only takes 18 months to authorize a reliance authorize and reliance a new natural gas facility. 18 months. But it can take up to 10 years or longer to license a new hydropower project or reliance an existing facility. 10 years. Right now it can be extremely costly and an uncertain process to reliance an existing dam or license a new dam. Investors are pursuing other bhace load sources of energy because of the current regulatory process. I want to encourage investments so we can support and expand renewable carbonfree hydropower. As i understand it, hydropower is well supported by my colleagues. But many think we are tipping the scales in favor of this source. First, id like to define industry. Were hearing a lot about industry on the other side. In washington, many dams are owned by small p. U. D. s who pass on all dos rate payers. They are passed on to the people of Eastern Washington and throughout the United States. These are not major corporations. Ive also heard that we are lowering Environmental Standards during the licensing process for tribes and states. At the request of the western governors association, we added language to clarify that nothing in this bill, nothing in this bill, will touch the federal Water Pollution control act. The fish and wildlife coordination act. The endangered species act. The rivers an harbors appropriation act. Or the National Historic preservation act. Ive also heard we did not allow tribes and states to testify on this bill. I struggle with these comments. This bill has begun through regular order. Weve held multiple hearings. We had a member from Standing Rock sioux tribe on one of the panels. It passed out of committee with a voice vote because concerns were raised from the tribes and we committed to sitting down and working with the tribes to attempt to reach some language and i am proud of our efforts in that regard and im greatly disappointed that at the end of the day, the tribes did not come to an agreement on the legislation. Although we werent able to reach that resolution, we do protect the integrity of this legislation. Licenses are complex. But theres no excuse for a process to take 10 years. Its time to update the approval process and make hydropower production easier and less costly without sacrificing environmental review. Thats exactly what the hydropower policy modernization act of 2017 will do. Specifically, my legislation designates ferc as the lead agency for the purposes of coordinating all apublic applications of federal authorizations and establishes coordinated procedurers in licensing of hydropower projects. By designating ferc as the lead when coordinating with agencies, state, and tribes, there will be added transparency and collaboration. This will diminish the burden on resource agencies and help avoid unnecessary delays and ltimately lower cost to my constituents. My legislation also incentivizes capital intensive projects like updating turbines or improving ladders. Right now these upgrades are included in the life span of a dams license during the relicensing window. Included in the legislation is an early action provision, requiring ferc to include all protection, mitigation and enhancement measures during the relicensing process. In addition, the legislation allows the timely and efficient completion of licensing procedures by minimizing the duplication of studies and establishing a program to compile a comprehensive collection of studies and data on regional or basinwide scale. At the same time industry has the option to help pay for studies and Staff Resources to speed up the process. As a cochair of the northwest energy caucus, i recognize, i am excited about the tremendous potential hydropower brings, not just to my district in Eastern Washington, but to the country. By utilizing currently untapped resources and unleashing american ingenuity, hydropower production will Lower Energy Cost and help create jobs. This bill is not about changing outcomes or environmental law. This bill is about speeding up the process, saving time and money, and i urge all of my colleagues to support Clean American Energy and support the hydropower policy modernization act of 2017 and i yield back. The chair the gentleman from michigan reserves his time. The gentleman from illinois. Mr. Rush mr. Speaker, now i yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from new jersey, the state that made such a significant and giant step last night to making our nation a better nation, the gentleman from the Ranking Member of the full committee, mr. Pallone. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Pallone thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank mr. Rush, our Ranking Member of the subcommittee. Mr. Speaker, i rise in strong opposition to h. R. 3043. I support hydropower. It can deliver low carbon affordable power if its well managed. But these facilities, which are licensed for 30 years to 50 years, can do enormous harm to fisheries, agriculture and recreational culture resource ifs not proper overseen. And the hydropower licensing process can be more efficient, but electric utilities should not be permitted to operate without license conditions that ensure other public interests are met. Look ook at h. R. 3043 and at the take holders in the rivers and watersheds that provide hydropower facilities as their fuel, i see a bill thats unbalanced, regressive and dangerous. It will harm farmers, fishermen, boaters, tribes and Drinking Water. H. R. 3043 will allow private Hydropower Companies to use public Water Resources to generate power and profit without mitigating the negative impacts of their facilities on others who rely on our rivers and without complying with modern environmental laws. H. R. 3043 is a direct assault on states rights, tribal rights, and it undercuts major environmental laws including the clean water act, the National Environmental policy act and the endangered species act. It prioritizes the use of rivers for Power Generation above all the needs of water uses and it inserts that the federal Energy Regulatory commission into decisions that it has no authority, experience or expertise to make. So what this bill will not do is speed up the licensing process. Ferc testified before our committee that one of the causes of delay in the licensing process was the failure of the applicant to provide a complete application. Yet, this bill does nothing to ensure an applicant provides one. It does nothing to impose a deadline if there is no clearly defined starting point of a completed application. How can a state make a decision on a Water Quality certificate if the applicant hasnt submitted the information that state needs to make that decision . And while ferc requires applicants to submit a complete application on the matters over which it has direct responsibility, the commission has many times denied a similar opportunity to state and federal agencies with regard to matters where they have ferc has consulted with other stakeholders while failing to incorporate licenses. Ferc recently to impose a number of conditions the state of West Virginia included in its Water Quality certificate for a project on the monagaloa river. Ferc did this despite the fact that West Virginia acted in a timely matter, and West Virginia acted in accordance with this law and delegated responsibility under the clean water act. Yesterday, i sent a letter with several of my colleagues to ferc expressing concern over the process it used on this project, and this bill virtually ensures this type of situation will be repeated. Now, a project that is noncontroversial, supported by the state, is likely to be solved by hearings and other possible litigation that could have been avoided. So mr. Speaker, the truth is h. R. 3043 treats federal agencies, state governments and Indian Tribes as secondclass citizens in this process. Ferc is required to consult with them, but consultation does not ensure it will get ferc to support to fulfill its mission. License renewals, any license that wants to avoid new investments or operating conditions can certainly do so because ferc will grant them automatic annual license renewal for as many years as they need. Another reason why this bill will not exat the died hydroelectric licenses because rather than streamlining the process, h. R. 3043 greatly expands litigation opportunity, something that will increase the time and exspents to reward a license and does this by providing a bias, costly trialtype process to secure decisions in the utilitys favor. Now, current law allows a single opportunity to challenge an Agency Condition to avoid undo expense and delay in the licensing process. But h. R. 3043 expands the opportunities to challenge agency decisions, allows multiple challenges and moves the venue for these hearings. Not even ferc thinks this is a good idea. In fact, at our hearing on this bill, the deputy associate general counsel at ferc advised the committee to either retain the existing trialtype hearing process or eliminate it altogether. Well, that advice obviously fell on deaf ears, because the bill puts the trialtype hearing process on steroids. In essence, the private Hydro Companies pick the venues, secure the rules and challenges conditions that federal resource agencies that ferc seeks to impose on a license to protect public interests. And ferc warned this change would increase the expense, complexity and length of licensing process, hardly the traits we would associate with streamlining. Ultimately, the bill is a bad bill because its bad for native americans. Its bad for the environment. Its bad for recreation. Its bad for farmers and agriculture, and h. R. 3043 is bad for states who will now find it much harder to protect Water Quality and manage the waters within their boundaries. Maybe thats why the bill is opposed by states, tribes, the Outdoor Recreation industry and more than 150 local environmental organizations. Opponents of the bill include the western governors association, the National Congress of American Indians, the Environmental Council of the states, the outdoor alliance, the National Wildlife federation, american rivers, league of conservation voters, among many, many others. But perhaps the ultimate condemnation comes from ferc which in testimony before our committee disputed claims that the bill would streamline the licensing process, noting that the legislation, and now i am quoting, quote, could incomplees the complexity and increase the complexity and time. I dont think its too much to ask facilities awarding awarded longterm licenses and free fuel share the rivers with others. So i urge my colleagues to oppose the bill, and i reserve the balance of the time. The chair the gentleman from illinois reserves his time. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Upton mr. Chairman, id yield one minute to the gentleman from virginia, a member of the energy and Commerce Committee, mr. Griffith. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Griffith thank you, mr. Speaker. Hydropower is an essential component of an alloftheabove Energy Strategy. We have a tremendous opportunity to expand renewable hydropower production. However, without so muchneeded licensing improvements, we risk losing Investment Opportunities in new hydropower infrastructure. In particular, closed loop pump hydro project have the opportunity to store energy for use when it is needed. I introduced h. R. 2880 with the goal of making the review process of these projects as efficient as possible. Both House Resolution 3043 and h. R. 2880 will allow the federal Energy Regulatory commission to impose licensing conditions only as necessary to protect Public Safety or that are reasonable, economically feasible and essential to protect fish and wildlife resources. Im excited about the possibility some are exploring build these facilities in abandoned land mines. This could be a real benefit to our coal field regions in central appalachian, mr. Speaker, in the forms of jobs, Economic Development and Energy Security and i am proud of what were doing here in an effort to make this happen. Industry and labor groups alike support h. R. 3043 because of a modern Regulatory Framework for hydro is good for jobs and good for consumers. The following groups have written in support, among with others, of the bill the American Council on Renewable Energy, the International Brotherhood of boilermakers, the International Brotherhood of electrical workers, the International Federation of professional, technical, and many others. Mr. Chairman, i ask this letter be submitted for the record, that it includes these names. The chair without objection, it shall be done. Mr. Upton can i ask how much time is remaining on both sides . The chair the gentleman from michigan has 17 minutes remaining. And the gentleman from illinois has 16. The gentleman from michigan reserves his time. The gentleman from illinois. Mr. Rush mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from maryland, very important member on the committee, mr. Sarbanes. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Sarbanes i thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise in opposition to the hydropower policy modernization act of 2017 because it weakens states rights to protect their own Water Quality. Under the clean water act, states have the right to protect their water by setting Water Quality conditions on hydropower licenses. This bill would constrain that authority, forcing states to issue rushed conditions using incomplete Scientific Data or surrender their authority to issue conditions at all. In short, the choice that states have to protect their water and their people is to either do it poorly or not at all. We had a fix for this. We had an amendment to h. R. 3043, but it was not made in order. It would have preserved the Critical Role states play in protecting local Water Quality by exempting their rights under the clean water act from the bill. For marylanders in my state, this issue is bipartisan and hits close to home. Ferc is currently considering the relicensing of a hydroelectric dam on the susquehanna river. It is a critical driver of the bays Water Quality. Any new ferc license will need to have conditions that protect the susquehanna and the bay from the sediment and nutrient pollution built up behind the dam. That is why even republicans in our state, the secretaries of the environment and Natural Resources, sent a letter urging congress to strike the provisions in this bill that would limit marylands ability to set Water Quality conditions. Im disappointed that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle in this body who so often remark on the importance of protecting states rights from usurping federal agencies have refused to protect states by bringing this critical amendment to the floor. I urge all of my colleagues to oppose h. R. 3043, and i yield back. The chair the gentleman from illinois reserves his time. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Upton mr. Chairman, id yield three minutes to the chair of the energy and Commerce Committee, the gentleman from oregon, mr. Walden, three minutes. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Walden thank you, mr. Speaker. I want to draw attention, first of all, to page 17 of the bill, line 23, because we heard from those who oppose it that somehow this can adversely undermine fish and wildlife coordination act, endangered species act, clean water act, etc. , etc. Line 23 makes it very, very clear, no effect on other laws, nothing in this shall be construed to effect any requirement of these underlying and very important laws that protect our environment. So i just want to make sure thats in the record. This is the current text of the bill were voting on today. So i rise in support of h. R. 3043, the hydropower policy modernization act. Hydropower plays an enormously Important Role in Electricity Generation across the country and especially in my home state of oregon. Hydropower generates 43 of electricity in my state. Its dependable. Its base load. Its carbonfree. It is renewable, and it is very important to our region. Nationally its one of the largest sources of renewable generation. U. S. Hydropower could grow by almost 50 by the year 2050. Thankfully my good friend from washington, mrs. Mcmorris rodgers, introduced this legislation because as these entities go to relicense, sometimes it costs tens of millions of dollars to get renewal of a government permit to continue doing what you have been doing. And it can take seven to 10 years to work through the process. By the way all those cost, generally, guess who pays for them . The rate paters. People paying their electricity bill end up paying for all of this outofcontrol review and regulation. As the Committee Work on this legislation under the able hand of the gentleman from subcommittee on energy, mr. Upton, we solicited feedback from all stakeholders as we crafted this. We made a number of changes to address the concerns. We had hearings. We had lots of other individual discussions and round tables. We added new provisions to ensure that states and tribes are consulted early in the licensing process to identify and resolve issues of concern. We also made sure state and local governments could recoup the costs of reviewing applications, conducting studies. We even added strong savings clause that clarifies our intent nothing in the bill should be construed to affect any requirement, any requirement the clean water act, endangered species act, and other environmental laws. Ourselves we find here today with bipartisan support for this legislation. And the support of the American Council on Renewable Energy, the American Public power association, Business Council for Sustainable Energy, Edison Electric institute, International Brotherhood of boilermakers and electrical workers, the large public power council. Labors International Union north america, National Electrical contractors association, National Hydropower association, north america Building Trades council. Those host intergraly involved in making sure we have reliable hydropower support this legislation. Its bipartisan. I urge my colleagues to support it. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from michigan reserves his time. The gentleman from illinois. Mr. Rush mr. Speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from manyle new york, mr. Tonko. The chair the gentleman virginia tech. Mr. Tonko thank you. I thank the ranker of our subcommittee, the gentleman from illinois, for his leadership and hard work on the subcommittee and for yielding. I want to express a few concerns with the bill before us. First let me say i support hydropower and believe it must be maintained as an important part of our generation mix. Hydrois an excellent source of reliable, zero emissions Electricity Generation. In order to address Climate Change and increase clean energy production, it is critical that we make licensing and relicensing of these projects feasible. This is an important issue for my home state of new york. Hydropower resources produce 19 of new york states total lectricity generation in 2016. The average age of new yorks hydropower facilities is over 50 years. And many projects are expected to go through the the average age of relicensing process in the next 15 years. I want to reiterate that members on both sides of the aisle want to see these projects developed within reasonable timelines. And i understand the current challenges in relicensing and the desire to bring greater certainty to the process. However, i do not think the bill before us would address those concerns in a balanced approach. Which takes into account the legitimate concerns of state and tribal governments as environmental stakeholders. The process that produced this bill was flawed from the beginning. The committee failed to hold a hearing to understand the concerns of states and tribal governments or federal resource agencies. These entities would be those whose authorities may be mited by ferc under this legislation. The bill enables ferc to set a schedule that may limit states and tribal governments and other federal agencies to have the time to fully consider and, yes, set conditions on license applications. And legislation. The bill enforceable ferc sched outside the control of these agencies may create a perverse incentive for applicants to responses to information requests from other agencies and state governments. Tively rubbing out the running out the clock and preventing conditions to be required on the application. Our watter resources are treshes Water Resources are precious. Power generation, recreation, wildlife, and fish habitat, Drinking Water and agriculture, managing these resources effectively is about balancing those often competing interests. The Democratic Alternative addresses the scheduled concern by allowing stakeholders to be involved in the creation of the schedule setting process. But i also believe ferc has some of the necessary tools already in the underutilized integrated licensing process which encourages all stakeholders to engage in a robust information sharing process up front. Finally, to set the record straight, i listened intently as the gentlelady from washington state, the sponsor of the bill, spoke to the fact that the Standing Rock sioux were represented at hearings, that they had a witness at the ferc hearings. They were there to discuss pipelines and not hydro. I am opposing this bill today but i hope we can move forward with a truly bipartisan process in the future to improve the licensing process while respecting, respecting the needs of all stakeholders. With that, mr. Speaker, i yield back. The chair the gentleman from illinois reserves his time. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Upton mr. Chairman, i would yield two minutes to the gentleman from colorado, member of the Natural Resources and Armed Services committee, speak in support of the bill. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Lamborn i thank the chairman. I rise in support of the hydropower modern days act of 2017, sponsored by our colleagues from the state of washington, mrs. Mcmorris rodgers, it simply looks to bring hydropower into the 21st rentry by improving transparency within the federal Energy Regulatory commission, and also reducing federal duplication. Hydropower is a reliable and emissions free source of electricity that accounts for much of the nations total renewable Electricity Generation. But in fact only 3 of existing dams in the United States produce hydroelectricity. This illustrates the vast opportunity in this country for new hydroPower Generation. In the water power and ocean subcommittee of Natural Resources, which i chair, we have spent much of this congress crafting and advancing legislation to capitalize on these opportunities. Legislation such as my bill, the bureau of reclamation pump storage hydropower act, is intended to promote pumped storage Hydropower Development t existing reclamation facilities. Mrs. Mcmorris rodgers bill in frovent us goes hand in hand to these efforts. Even our friends across the aisle agree with our facilities. Mrs. Mcmorris rodgers bill in e at a may oversight hearing in my subcommittee on the challenges facing hydropower, Committee Democrats helpfully suggested we should find ways to retrofit all nonpowered federal facilities with hydropower. We should all agree that improving the permitting and approval process for these facilities would be the easiest way to achieve this goal. I want to thank congresswoman Mcmorris Rodgers again for sponsoring this critical piece of legislation. She has and continues to be a champion supporter of hydropower. Ust last month my subcommittee considered another bill authored by the congresswoman, h. R. 3144, that looks to provide certainty and reliability to several considered hydropower projects producing electricity in the federal Columbia River power system that had been mired in third party lit gation, questionable and expensive judicial and onerous it federal regulations. Thank you, i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from michigan reserves his time of the the gentleman from illinois. Mr. Rush i yield two minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. Garamendi. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Garamendi i thank you, mr. Chairman. , orrville dam, california. 30foot potential tsunami coming down on the cities. 200,000 people evacuated. Thankfully the rain did stop and the levee the spillway that had failed did not become a catastrophe. Ferc is now in the process of relicensing the dam and a complete Environmental Impact statement is now more than a decade over, 2007. However there have been very significant changes like maybe the dam could collapse or the spillway. We know that the river has been further congested with the material that came from the broken spillway. There are serious negative Environmental Impacts that have resulted from the damaged spillway. The river cant carry the same capacity. Bottom line, it is for these reasons that a failure by ferc to require a supplemental Environmental Impact statement ould be a serious abdication of fercs responsibility. Unfortunately, a proposed amendment by mr. Lamalfa, my good republican colleague and i, to require such supplemental impact statement was not included in the bill. Nevertheless my message to ferc is clear. You must do this so that there is full protection and full understanding of the potential impact that this dam will have on communities and water supply as well as flooding w that i yield back. Flooding. With that i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from illinois reserves his time of the the gentleman from michigan. Mr. Upton i yield two minutes to gentleman from arizona, mr. Gosar, two minutes. Mr. Gosar i rise today in strong support of h. R. 3043, the hydropower policy modernization act of 2017. For centrist western states have fought over scarce water supplies. We have an expression in the west that says whiskeys for drinking and water for fighting over. It led our visionary forefathers to build storage projects throughout the west to provide water, hydropower, Flood Control, and environmental benefits while adhering to states water rights. These are nonpartisan endeavors as evidence. While the project came after president kennedy, it continues to bring poss parity to arizonas ranchers and farms. The Glen Canyon Dam and other projects affiliated with the olorado River Project provided backbone for hydropower. H. R. 3043 streamlines the process and encourages the expansion by establishing a single lead coordinating agency, the federal Energy Regulatory commission, in order to facilitate in a timely manner all hydropower authorizations, approvals, and requirements mandated by federal law. This bill will also dramatically decrease cost, a huge win for the west. Presently ferc exercises jurisdiction over 1,600 nonfederal hydropower projects at more than 2,500 dams under the federal power act. According to ferc, the relicensing workload is increasing doctor matically. Between f. Y. 2017 and f. Y. 2030, roughly 480 plowjects will begin the relicensing process. Rural could he opts, power companies, and other stakeholders need a clear process. Lets get bureaucracy out of the way and pass h. R. 3043 so we have a clear process moving forward. I thank the gentlewoman from washington for the sponsorship of this much needed legislation and i urge my colleagues to vote in support of this commonsense bill. With that i yield back. The chair the gentleman from michigan reserves his time. The gentleman from illinois. Mr. Rush mr. Speaker, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. Ruiz. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Ruiz thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise in strong opposition to h. R. 3043, the hydropower policy modern zwation act modernization act which undercuts federal tribal treaty and trust obligations. In fact, parts of this bill specifically eliminates that ion for tribes ensure that dams and other die hydropower projects do not harm tribal fisheries, livelihoods, or violate treaty rights. This is that ensure that dams and other die hydropower projects do not harm tribal fisheries, livelihoods, or violate treaty rights. This is unacceptable, not only does this undermine tribal sovereignty, but it flies in the face of our moral and legal obligation to protect tribal treaties, land, and resources under the federal trust responsibility. I am especially disappointed that the majority that ensure that dams and other die hydropower had the opportunity to fix this issue, yet walked away from the table, even though i brought this up as n issue toe fix in committee, the majority rushed this bill through committee for a house croat without addressing tribal concerns. Furthermore, the majority refused to make in order my amendment addressing tribal concerns. Furthermore, the majority mooni the fix to empower tribes to set conditions on hydropower projects to protect their reservation and resources. The letter sent by democratic Ranking Member pallone requesting a hearing to allow tribal input and tribal participation on this particular issue was left unanswered. So i say this to those republicans who do support tribal sovereignty and selfdetermination, you can still fix this issue. And improve the federal dropower licensing process simultaneously while still protecting tribal treaty rights by supporting the rush substitute amendment. Join the democratic rush amendment that includes language to empower tribal governments to determine when a project may harm their tribe. Without this fix, this bill undermines tribal governments and harms tribal resources and land. So, therefore, putting Energy Profits above tribal treating rights. So i urge my colleagues to take a stand. Do not ignore your responsibility to tribes when it matters most. Support the democratic substitute amendment sponsored by representative rush that preserves the responsibility of the federal government to honor treaty obligations and protect tribal resources. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Yield back the balance of my time. Mr. Rush i reserve. The chair the gentleman from illinois reserves his time. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Upton mr. Chairman, id yield two minutes to the gentleman from california. Two minutes. I thank the gentleman. I rise in support of h. R. 3043, the hydropower policy modernization act of 2017. Mr. Denham in my area of californias Central Valley we have the turlock and modesto irrigation districts. They have been fighting for over eight years to relicense the don pedro hydro facility. This is where we get our Drinking Water for the families in our communities. Ts where we get our water for irrigation for our farms. And our ratepayers frb spending money for over eight years on the relicensing projects. They had engineers, scientists, 35 studies. They have done the modeling for ferc to show them all the different impacts that will be had here, and in the process, theyve spent 30 million already. They planned to spend over 50 million. Now, 50 million and we are not going to have one drop of extra water storage. This is not going to improve the quality of the water for the people in my district are going to drink. No new water, no better quality. This is still going to see the same conditions for our fish, same conditions for our stream beds. After 50 million and over eight years, all we will have done is completed over 35 studies to continue to look, continue to go through red tape, and the people in my district will still have a water shortage. We can do things much better. W, close to me, we also have the down in merced we have another irrigation district as well. Theyve gone over a decade in relicensing. The xchecker hydro project, over 20 million spent. Again, the same type of scenario. Farmers, families, no new improved Water Quality, no new water storage. Just a decade and 20 million for many, many studies that are not improving our process. Mr. Upton i yield another 30 seconds. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Denham i thank the gentleman. What we have before us, this legislation is not going to solve all of our problems for californias Central Valley, but it will help us with the challenges that were facing with relicensing. We can do things better. We can do them more efficient, and we can actually bring water delivery to the people who need it most. It starts with the ferc relicensing and changing the process to a much more transparent and efficient process. This bill deserves a yes vote that will help us through that process and i yield back. The chair the gentleman from michigan reserves his time. The gentleman from illinois. Mr. Rush mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman rom california, mr. Huffman. Mr. Costa. The chair the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Costa i rise in support of or h. R. 3043, the hydropower policy modernization act. I believe others that have had experiences within their constituencies, within their Congressional Districts that hydro relicensing process is plainly broken, plain and simple. Let me give you a couple reallife examples of why this legislation is needed, is needed now. They both provide energy in my district for the people of the san joaquin valley, for households, for farmers, and for people of the valley. The two same examples that congressman denham spoke of a moment ago. The turlockmodesto has worked in good faith. For more than eight years. And they spent over 30 million to renew their license for don pedro dam, a facility thats been in operation for almost 40 years. The district estimates when they are finished with this process, they will spend over 50 million. Meanwhile, the merced irrigation district in my constituency, has spent over 10 years and 20 million to relicense the xchecker Hydroelectric Project. This project is still not finished. This facility has been in operation over 60 years. Since these are public agencies remember, these are public agencies. These costs are passed on to the ratepayers in mostly small, Rural Communities that i represent and congressman denham represents. It raises their electric cost. It makes no sense. This is about maintaining, maintaining clean, Renewable Energy. This is about reducing the Regulatory Burden and not passing these costs onto the ratepayers. Given the experience that ive just given you, my constituents believe that frankly this bill could go further in removing inefficients and relicensing process, but inefficiencies and relicensing process, but this is not perfect but i support the legislation and i urge my colleagues to do the same. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman from illinois reserves his time. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Rush mr. Speaker, might i inquire as to how much time is remaining on both sides . The chair the gentleman from illinois has five minutes remaining. The gentleman from michigan has 7 1 2. Mr. Rush we have no further speakers on this side. Mr. Upton we have a couple more speakers. Well go through and then close if we have time. The chair the gentleman from michigan is recognized. Mr. Upton mr. Chairman, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. Lamalfa, two minutes. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Lamalfa thank you to the gentleman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I rise in support for this commonsense hydropower streamlining process for modernizing the way we permit in order to bolster the process for over 400 existing hydropower projects in the United States. Very important in my area as well. Hydropower delivers clean Renewable Power 24 hours a day, unlike other Renewable Power which fluctuates with time of day, sun, wind or lack thereof. In 2014 california alone produced 14,000 megawatts of electricity from hydropower facilities. Again, clean, renewable, relyable hydroelectric power. Of the ict is two largest, orville and shasta. It generates Economic Opportunity for the community. With local input, which is important, we need to address the streamlining this process and expanding renewable hydropower production in the country to pave the way for more jobs, affordable power to consumers everywhere. Relicensing permits ought not be a wish list for every special interest, but indeed on the measures of the power that can be generated. So mr. Speaker, mr. Chairman, i appreciate the time and i wholeheartedly support and urge this house to support h. R. 3043. Thank you. The chair the gentleman from michigan reserves his time. The gentleman from illinois. Mr. Rush reserve my time, mr. Speaker. The chair im sorry. Mr. Upton mr. Chairman. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Upton i yield two minutes to the gentleman from montana, mr. Jean forty. Gianforte. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Gianforte i rise in support of the hydropower policy modernization act. Nearly 1 3 of the electricity generated in montana comes from hydropower. The libby, hungry horse and noxin rapid projects each have generating capacity of more than 400 megawatts. There are dozens of more smaller hydropower facilities in montana from Thompson Falls to those around great falls, tiber, fort peck and yellow tail. This legislation will ensure that existing projects will have timely relicensing and enhanced consultation between federal, state, local agencies and our Indian Tribes. It will also help provide certainty for new projects. I know in my home state, there are proposals to electrify existing Flood Control and irrigation dams like the gibson dam that face ongoing licensing issues, and i have introduced legislation to address that particular one. This bill is a step in the right direction for hydropower nationwide, and im happy to support it. With that i yield back. The chair the gentleman from michigan reserves his time. The gentleman from illinois reserves his time. Mr. Upton mr. Chairman, i might say we have now concluded with our speakers. Were prepared to close, so if the gentleman wants to go first and then ill close and well go from there. The chair the gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Rush mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to place into the record letters in position to h. R. 3043 from environmental, recreation, fishery and conservation groups from across our nation along with list of groups that have signed these letters. The chair the gentlemans request will be covered by general leave. Mr. Rush mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to place letters from the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources, california state Water Resources control board, the western governors association, the state of washington, the association of clean water administrators, the Environmental Council of the states, the association of state wetland managers, and the Maryland Department of the environment. And, mr. Speaker, a copy of the esolution passed in october, 2017, by the Southern States energy board, expressing opposition to states rights and hydropower relicensing under section 401 of the clean water act. The chair the gentlemans the gentlemans requests will be covered by general leave. Mr. Rush well, thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous from t to place letters ated tribes of the yakima nation, the pilup tribe sokoma indian calismel tribe. And a copy of the resolution passed in october, 2017, by the National Congress of American Indians opposing the proposed amendments to the federal power act. And also, mr. Speaker, a letter from Ranking Member pallone of the full committee, and myself requesting a hearing with representatives of the native american tribes, states and resource agencies that was signed by each and every member of the democratic side of the energy and power subcommittee. The chair the gentlemans request will be covered by general leave. Mr. Rush mr. Speaker, i yield myself as much time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Rush mr. Speaker, the substitute amendment that we will consider shortly provides ndian tribes with authority to seek for themselves with respect to the hydropower licensing process. Currently, mr. Speaker, the agencies of the departments of nterior and commerce propose to protect tribal reservations. If the substitute is enacted, tribes will have sufficient capacity can resume responsibility for protecting their own reservation. The Tribal Authority provision is absolutely very important and long overdue. As sovereign entities, tribes have a status different from that of states and federal agencies. They should be negotiating on their own behalf to protect their own interests, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, hydropower projects, a number of which were designed and built over the objection of tribes resulting in losses of tribal lands and fisheries. We can and must do better. Can be r projects designed and operating in ways that lower their environmental costs and preserve other mportant uses of the rivers. Current law and current egulations already provide for compensation for tribes. In fact, under the integrated , they are cess required to consult with tribes ive years before their current license expires if they plan to seek a renewed license. The integrated license process was designed, specifically, mr. Complex, r the more controversial hydropower projects. In a new project or relicensing of existing project. And allowed to pursuit their license under the tradition cense process that lusscl us includes less opportunity for consultation. Ferc should be denying some of these requests. But each and every one of them are granted. When this happens, controversial projects run into redictable problems. This is an administrative hange it that ferc should make that will require no new legislation and would improve the licensing process. Mr. Speaker, this bill does thing, absolutely nothing to solve this problem or fecks the problem that we have been discussing. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Upton thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Upton i dont intend to use all the time. I just want to make a couple colleagues as we colleagues as close debate on the general debate on this bill. This isnt a new bill. A lot of us in this body support, on both sides, support an all of the above strategy, safe, nuclear, clean coal, it supports energy efficiencies, renewables, wind, solar, and hydro. This bill, 3043, its not a new bill. In fact, the provisions almost to a t in both the house and Senate Version last year, in a bill that ultimately didnt get conferenced and to president obama, we didnt really have any disagreements on the hydrosection. We came to an agreement in the house passed bill as it relates to the hydrobill and the senate recall, 928. I pretty overwhelming. Pretty bipartisan. And in essence the same provision that is we have here. I got to say that throughout the process we listened to the concerns raised by some of the stakeholders, including states and tribes. We made a number of significant changes to the version of the bill as compared to the version last year that added more strength, more hurdles to go through. The biggest change, frankly, we made was taking the hammer away from ferc to compel agencies to stick to a deadline. Consequently no permits are going to be granted by default because of a missed deadline, but we also inserted new state and tribal consultation requirements with a very strong savings clause that clarifies that nothing, nothing shall affect the clean water act and other environmental laws. That wasnt in the bill last year. Thats new this year. So i think that weve accommodated the concerns particularly when any of the members that are here in this congress that were there last Congress Actually voted for the provisions we had. Certainly in committee as well as on the senate floor. I just want to read into the line 23, no 17, effect on other laws, nothing in this section shall be construed to affect any requirement of the federal Water Pollution control act, the fish and wildlife coordination act, the endangered species act of 1973, section 14 of the act of march 3, 1899, commonly known as the rivers and harbors appropriations act of 1899, and those provisions in subtitle 3 of title 54 u. S. Code commonly known as the National Historic with required to an application for license under this part. This bill is stronger than the one that most of us supported last year, particularly as with to an application for license under this it pertains to hydroelectric licensing by ferc. I commend the action of mrs. Mcmorris rodgers who again carried the water on this again in this congress. Id like to think well have a positive vote with republicans and democrats supporting the bill. Were prepared to discuss and debate the amendments. With that i yield the balance of my time back to the chair. The chair all time for general debate has expired. Pursuant to the rule, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the fiveminute rule. It shall be in order to consider as an original bill for the purpose of amendment under the fiveminute rule the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on energy and commerce printed in the bill. The Committee Amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read. No amendment to the Committee Amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be in order except those printed in house eport 115391. Each such amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report, by a member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent. Shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for ivision of the question. Its now in order to consider amendment number 1 printed in house report 11539 1. For what purpose does the gentleman from wisconsin seek recognition . On behalf of my friend and colleague, mr. Pocan, we have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 1, printed in house report number 115391, offered by mr. Grothman of wisconsin. The chair many pursuant to House Resolution 607, the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. Grothman, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from wisconsin. Mr. Grothman thank you. First of all id like to thank the chair and Ranking Member for their collaborative effort to bring this bill forward. This amendment which is supported by colleagues on both sides of the aisle is pretty simple. It requires federal decisionmakers in the department of interior to consider the threat of Invasive Species when installing fishways. This was brought to my attention when looking at a dam on the Wisconsin River in wisconsin, below that dam we have asian carp, an envasive species, huge fish f that fish was able to get further north on the Wisconsin River, because of a fishway, you could wind up with this Invasive Species not only in the northern part of the river but quite frankly dozens of lakes along northern wisconsin. Given the dam, even if there is flooding, that species could wind up working its way into Lake Michigan and up the st. Lawrence seaway. Its very important before the department of interior listens to certain environmentalists, they realize the fishway at big am would result in trouble. Because the devastating effects Invasive Species can have on the environment, local fish population, the economy, this amendment will assure the federal agencies are taken into account before installing fishways. I would like to say by unanimous consent i would like to submit a letter here for the record. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair without objection, the gentlemans request will be covered mr. Upton will the gentleman yield . I just want to say this is a very good amendment. Its bipartisan. I know owglaw, caucus on a bipartisan basis, house and senate, have taken strong actions against the asian carp. This is a good amendment. Were certainly prepared to accept it. I commend you for taking the time on the floor. Mr. Grothman i guess were going to hear from my wonderful friend from wisconsin. The chair does the gentleman reserve his time . Mr. Grothman i reserve. The chair for what purpose does the gentlelady from wisconsin rise . Ms. Moore i was wondering if the gentleman from wisconsin would yield. Mr. Grothman sure. The chair the gentleman from wisconsin yields to the gentlelady. Ms. Moore thank you so much, mr. Chairman and gentleman from the badger state for yielding knee. Im so pleased to join him along with representative mark pocan, all of us, in support of this amendment. Its so critical, mr. Chairman. Wisconsinites value our Natural Resources like no other. The great lakes are an immense source of regional pride as well as a great economic engine for our region. We know that these resources are constantly under attack from a variety of threats. One particularly nefarious threat is Invasive Species. My colleagues, were all aware of the costs these species impose. These costs are something that, unfortunately, the Great Lakes Region knows too well. To the sea lamprey, asian carp now advancing toward the region we have spent hundreds of mills of dollars dealing with the damage created when these Invasive Species get into the great lakes ecosystem. Keeping them out of the great lakes in the first place is the most effective strategy. A stitch in nine stitch in time saves nine. This is a sed that bipartisan amendment. And i want to emphasize that the amendment does not predetermine any particular outcome or decision. Theres no magic bullet, mr. Chairman, to the problem Invasive Species given there are so many pathways for them to get into a body of water. Including through balance list balancelies water. This commonsense amendment gives us a more effective tool in that fight. I support this amendment and urge my colleagues to vote for it. I yield back to you, mr. Chairman. The chair the gentleman from wisconsin. Mr. Grothman i yield back the remainder of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Does any other member seek recognition . Mr. Rush mr. Speaker, the Minority Side is prepared to accept this amendment. The chair the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from wisconsin. So many as are in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. Opinion ayes have t the amendment is agreed in the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. Its now in order to consider amendment number 2 printed in house report 115391. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . I have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 2 printed in house report number 115391, offered by mr. Babin of texas. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 607, the gentleman from texas, mr. Babin, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. Mr. Babin thank you, mr. Chairman. When a disaster like half like Hurricane Harvey strikes one of the most important jobs we have is assist. From the texas guard to the cajun navy, to citizens who have volunteered their time, money, and prayers, we saw across Southeast Texas in the immediate aftermath of that storm nothing less than a moddle to which the whole nation and world can aspire. I have even compared the rescue of so many texans by boat to the miracle at dunn kirk. But when the storm passes its just as important we look for lessons, demand accountability, and work to fix whatever went wrong or may have made the situation worse. Im pleased to offer this amendment today that will begin to address such an issue. When a hydropower station is licensed and regulated by ferc, its not just the power plant that falls under federal control. Decisions about lake levels, flood storage capacity, and other measurements of the body of water that powers that station are set forth in ferc protocol, ferc license protocols and guidelines written and administered by folks who work right here in washington. As a former official for the texas river authority, i know there are tough decisions to make. Sometimes its a matter to matter of choosing bad to worse options of where to put the water. But concerns have been raised by my constituents about whether ferc licenses need to be adjusted to count for the to account for the unprecedented flooding we just experienced and with the ability to make commonsense changes in the face of an impending flood event. My amendment ensures nothing will stand in the way of ferc going in and examining the licenses for any facility located in the path of a terrible dast of the terrible disasters we have seen this year and by pass it with strong, bipartisan support we will make clear that thats just what ferc should do. Now id like to reserve the balance of my time and introduce someone who is now famous in texas, uncle fred upton, now that the ast rows have won the series. Mr. Upton yes, i do have extended family now in texas. This is another tool in the toolbox for ferc. We want to make sure areas are protected who have survived these terrible hurricanes. I encourage my colleagues on a bipartisan basis to support this amendment. Mr. Babin and now id like to yield the balance of my time to my friend, next door neighbor, and cosponsor of this amendment, the gentleman from southwest louisiana, mr. Clay higgins. Mr. Higgins i rise in support of amendment number 2 to the hydropower policy modernization act of 2017, offered by my friend, representative babin, of texas. My colleagues amendment is a commonsense addition to this important piece of legislation which will allow the government to take more reasonable steps to mitigate the damages of flooding and hurricanes. Mr. Speaker, i participated in rescue operations in texas in the immediate wake of Hurricane Harvey. The last rescue i personally responded to was early on friday around 1 00 or 2 00 in the morning, less than two days after hurricanes landfall. The elderly gentleman we rescued told me something i will never forget. With tears with tears in his eye he is said, sir, i have lived in my home since 196 and never flooded. In 50 years, ive seen this much waterfall but ive never seen this much water rise. Mr. Speaker, no one in this body batted an eye when we approved hundreds of billions of dollars in emergency appropriations releaf to the victims of this years hurricane season. It is time we as a peoples house move past the reactionary era of addressing the needs to repair and rebuild after natural disasters and start focusing on Proactive Solutions to mitigate potential damage before natural disasters. A proactive spirit should be fully implemented in our regulations and how we invest in infrastructure. If we had invested over the last few decades, just a small percentage of the peoples treasure that we granted postdisaster as emergency relief appropriations into premitigation efforts such as the cleaning and maintenance of our existing Water Management systems both natural and manmade , much of the resulting damage would not have occurred and many fewer American Families would have suffered. Representative babins amendment will allow procedural tool for the ferc to review licenses for any project located in a region declared by the president to be a disaster area, which will allow us to better and more strategically manage our dams, flood gates and reservoirs when we know storms like Hurricane Harvey are imminent. Mr. Speaker, i thank congressman babin for introducing this amendment and i urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this commonsense solution as well as the underlying bill. Yield back. The chair the gentlemans time has expired. Does anyone rise in opposition . Mr. Rush the minority is prepared to accept this amendment. The chair the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. He amendment is adopted. It is now in order to consider amendment number 3 printed if house report 115391. For what purpose does the gentleman from West Virginia seek recognition . Mr. Jenkins i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 3 printed in house report 115391, offered by mr. Jenkins of West Virginia. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 607, the gentleman from West Virginia mr. Jenkins, and a member opposed each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from West Virginia. Mr. Jenkins thank you, mr. Speaker. Thank you, mr. Chairman. My amendment is very straightforward. It supports the mission of the underlying bill to responsibly increase opportunities for hydropower across the nation. My amendment authorizes agencies with an existing memorandum of understanding, with ferc, to study the expansion of hydropower. The need for this arises from a roject in my district in summersville, West Virginia. There is whats called the run of the river Hydroelectric Project in summersville. And there is an m. O. U. Between the town, the city of summersville, ferc, and the army corps of engineers. The summersville hide row project was licensed by ferc in 19 hydro project was licensed by ferc in 1992 and constructed in 2001 with the cooperation of the army corps of engineers. It provides enough renible energy to power 22,000 homes. It might be possible to increase hydro power by adjusting the seasonal pool levels and managing the releases. Even if this is only for just a few days, it could result in a 15 increase in Power Generation for the surrounding community. Unfortunately, ive heard that even to conduct a study, it requires explicit authorization from congress. So thats what were doing here today with this amendment. This amendment would provide that authority. And only in limited cases where there is an existing m. O. U. On the books. Between the agencies and ferc. At this time, mr. Chairman, mr. Speaker, i would yield 30 econds to the chair. I thank the gentleman from West Virginia. This is an amendment that allows for a study on the potential to expand. I support this, i urge my colleagues to support it on a bipartisan basis and yield back. Mr. Jenkins South Carolina i reserve me mr. Jenkins i reserve my time. The chair does anyone rise in opposition . Mr. Rush the minority is prepared to support the amendment. The chair the gentleman from West Virginia. Mr. Jenkins thank you to the minority for your support in this and to the chair for his leadership on this effort. Let me close by thanking specifically a couple of individuals. One, jim price. Hes been i want fwrally related and involved with this project really from its inception. Work so much. Is and the develop thorne project, thank you to their efforts. Also the mayor of the city of robert lle, robert schafer. Bob schafer. Thank you so much for your incredible support and leadership in the city of summersville. Thank you to bob schafer. With that, i reserve i yield back my time and encourage support for this amendment. The chair the question is on the is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from West Virginia. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. It is now in order to consider amendment number 4 printed in house report 115391. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . Mr. Rush mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to enter additional letters of opposition into the record. The chair that will be covered by general leave. Mr. Rush thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i have an amendment in the nature of a substitute at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. Clip amendment number 4 printed in house report 115391 offered by mr. Rush of illinois. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 607, the gentleman from illinois, mr. Rush, and a member opposed will each control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. Mr. Rush mr. Speaker, i rise in strong support of the rush amendment in the nature of a substitute and i urge all of my colleagues to support it as well. Mr. Speaker, hydropower is backed by members on both sides of the aisle. We all support hydropower. But the process for how we license these projects is far too important for us to get it wrong. While many members on the Minority Side have objections to the underlying bill, h. R. 3043, which is due to its negative impact on states rights and states prerogatives other than clean watt under the clean water act, my substitute amendment addresses these issues in a more responsible way. Will not r, h. R. 3043 modernize nor will it improve the hydropower licensing process. Places r, it simply private profits for industry over the public interest. Mr. Speaker, we certainly need a more balanced approach such as the one provided in my substitute amendment. Which contains bipartisan provisions that were included in bothydropower package that sides agreed to in a fit of bipartisanship last december in committee. Mr. Speaker, my amendment contains several provisions to improve the licensing process which also while also offering incentives to the hydropower industry. This substitute contains a requirement to set up a new unlike process but h. R. 3043 it protects the rights of federal resource agencies, states, and Indian Tribes to impose conditions in accordance with modern environmental laws. My substitute also amends the definition of Renewable Energy to include all hydropower, just it r. 3043 does, however, expands the roles for federal purchasing of Renewable Power eyond the 15 included in h. R. 3043 as an objective and not a mandate. Mr. Speaker, my amendment also contains a reward for early action provision that authorizes ferc to take into account a licensing investment made over the course of their license in order to improve the efficiency or Environmental Performance of their hydropower facility when setting the term of the new license. Mr. Speaker, in testimony before the energy and Commerce Committee we heard repeatedly that a major cause for licensing delays was due to incomplete applications that do not include all the pertinent information necessary to issue a decision. H. R. 3043 does nothing to address this issue, my substitute does so by directing ferc and other federal resource agencies to convene negotiated rule making with all the stake holders to develop a process in which a completed license application will be evaluated and issued within the period of not more than three years. My amendment preserves authorities by directing ferc and the secretary of interior to issue guidance on best practices in the hydropower licensing process. Mr. Speaker, we cannot allow profits to industry to supersede the tribes. The chair the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition . Mr. Upton i claim time in opposition to the amendment. Mr. Chairman, i do rise in opposition to the amendment. I do so with some hesitancy against my good friend, but i would say this amendment would strike and replace the base tax language that would add additional layers of red tape and bureaucracy to the permitting process. The bill itself essential permitting and licensing reforms to ensure the renewable hydropower remains an important part of the all of the above approach on energy. We know that the permitting process has been broken. We have heard from ferc over the years and project developers that have been stuck for more than a decade because of bureaucratic delays and we need to improve coordination. There are lots of moving parts with multiple permits required. But this bill, 3043 brings transparency and predictability to the process by empowering the state and federal agencies to actually sit at the table with ferc to i had nye issues of concern and resolve them before they result in unnecessary delay. The bill, h. R. 3043 as we have said, ensures that states and tribes are an integral part of that process. The word consult appears no less than a dozen times in the 30 pages. And without these important changes to the law, states and tribes may be left out of the important decisions relating to hydropower licensing. And i remind my colleagues. This is a ju provision we added. This wasnt in the bill last year as we debated this title and approved it in committee. So i would move again on the senate floor with the vote that was 928. E bill h. R. 3043 strikes a careful balance which is why it has support from the Business Council for Sustainable Energy and he had ison electric institute, International Brotherhood of boiler makers and International Federation of technical and public engineers. Laborers union of north america, National Electrical association, National Hydropower association, the North American Building rades council and the united brotherhood of carp enters. Mr. Chairman, we view this as a poison pill and kill the jobs and discourage reliable hydropower and i urge my colleagues to vote no on this amendment and vote yes on the bill. The chair the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from illinois. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. The gentleman from illinois. Mr. Rush i ask for a roll call vote. The chair pursuant to clause 6, rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from illinois will be postponed. For what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition . Mr. Upton i move now that the committee do now rise. The chair the question is on the committee rising. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The motion is adopted and accordingly, the committee rises. The chair the committee has directed me to report there is no resolution. The speaker pro tempore the chair of the committee of the whole house of the state of the union that the committee has had under consideration h. R. 3043 and has come to no resolution thereon. Pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house