Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. House Of Representatives U.S. House Of Representatives 20240714

Houston, we have a problem, when that message was received in control, it was Katherine Johnson who crunched the numbers to get our folks home. This was at a time when everything was going wrong and she had a cool head and ined ed incredibly brilliant mind to put this complex data together. This is not hoping the computer spitz out the right information spits out the right information. This is the long work that we all dreaded as a kid when it was simple math, and this was of the longest, most complex nature, the type of math that they had to do highly quickly. These Women Deserve the Congress Gold medal. They deserve this recognition. I support this bill and i urge my colleagues to pass this piece of legislation. And with that, i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from guam is recognized. Mr. San nicolas thank you, madam speaker. I yield five minutes to the gentlewoman. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. Ms. Johnson thank you, madam speaker. I rise today in support of h. R. 1396, the Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act. I want to thank the Ranking Member for the from the committee, mr. Lucas, for joining me in introducing this bill and for his efforts to help secure the necessary support to bring the bill to the floor. I also want to thank senator koonce for his leadership in championing an identical companion bill in the senate, which passed out of the senate by unanimous consent in march. I wish to thank the 309 cosponsors, the bipartisan cosponsors in the house. The Hidden Figures of nasa include the now wellknown women mathematicians and engineers Katherine Johnson, dr. Christine darden, dorothy vaughan, and mary jackson. Their stories portrayed in the 2016 Hidden Figures film represent the stories of hundreds of women computers, mathematicians and engineers working at the nasa and its precursor organization, the National Advisory committee on aeronautics. From the 1930s to the 1970s. In the early days of the space program, women and their talents were critically important, but often overlooked. Women were typically not permitted to serve in any visible position or recognized publicly for their contributions. Women of color faced additional daily indignity of racial discrimination. In spite of these challenges, to apply chose their considerable talent to achieve what is arguably one of the nations crowning technological achievements, landing the first humans on the move. The success of the Nasa Space Program was due in large part to their brilliance, hard work and perseverance in the face of adversity. What better example can we hope to give our sons and daughters . This bill will bestow congress highest civilian honor in recognition of the achievements of Katherine Johnson, dr. Christine darden, dorothy vaughan, and mary jackson, and all of the other women computers, mathematicians and engineers at naca and nasa during this important time in our history. I urge my colleagues to support the bill and i yield back the alance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from North Carolina is recognized. Mr. Mchenry i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from guam is recognized. Mr. San nicolas prepared to close. I reserve, madam speaker. Mr. Mchenry i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from North Carolina yields. The gentleman from guam is recognized. Mr. San nicolas thank you, madam speaker. I yield myself as much time as i may consume. I am pleased that this bill has wide bipartisan support and i would like to thank the entire House Committee on science, space and technology for their efforts in ensuring this incredible story is not lost. Given the place the moon landing holds to our nation, a national expression of gratitude to these women for their contributions is long overdue. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this important piece of legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h. R. 1396, as amended. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3 of those voting 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. For what purpose does the gentleman from guam seek recognition . Mr. San nicolas madam speaker, i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill, h. R. 3589, the greg lemond Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2019, as amended. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 3589, a bill to award a congressional gold medal to greg lemond in recognition of his service to the nation as an athlete, activist, role model and community leader. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from guam, mr. San nicolas, and the gentleman from North Carolina, mr. Mchenry, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from guam. Mr. San nicolas madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks on this legislation and to insert extraneous material thereon. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. San nicolas i yield myself as much time as i may consume, madam speaker. I rise in strong support of h. R. 3589, the greg lemond Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2019. I want to thank the gentleman from california, representative thompson, for his work on this bill, which honors a man who, in addition to being one of our nations greatest athletes, the greatest american cyclist in history, exemplifies the virtues of sportsmanship, selflessness and perseverance. Greg lemond is the only american cyclist to win the Tour De France. Officially, which he won three teams. He is also the First American to win a major european cycling tournament and the youngest cyclist in history to be selected for the u. S. Mens olympic team. Lemond is at the pinnacle of american cycling history and ranks firmly among the most Accomplished International athletes in u. S. History. In 1987, he suffered a horrific gunshot injury during a hunting accident in 1987, which left him with over 40 pellets in his andmen and he was told he would never ride a bicycle again. Remarkably in what remains one of the most astonishing recovers in recoveries in sports history, he won the 199 Tour De France on his final day 199 Tour De France on his final day 1989 Tour De France on his final day. That is a tet testament to mr. He will that is a testament to mr. Lemonds tenacity. Its the last time an american won the Tour De France. Above and beyond his considerable athletic accomplishment, lemond has demonstrated repeated willingness to sacrifice his own individual victories for the sake of his teammates. Outside of the world of sports, lemond and his wife have worked through various charitable initiatives to support victims of childhood abuse and various childhood illnesses. I thank mr. Thompson for joining me in introducing this bill this congress and urge members to votey he vote yes. Thank you, madam speaker. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from North Carolina is recognized. Mr. Mchenry madam speaker, i rise in support of the greg lemond Congressional Gold Medal Act. First, i want to thank my colleague from california, mr. Thompson, for his work on this important Bipartisan Legislation. I support the greg lemond congressional gold medal let me start over. Let me try to start over. Im getting ahead of myself since we have so many bills on the floor. I support the greg lemond Congressional Gold Medal Act. I support it because greg lemonds a legend. One of the cyclist cycling worlds best and the only american ever to officially, officially win the Tour De France. When fans of cycling think of lemond, they think of firsts. In 1983 he was the First American to win an elite world road championship. In 1984 he was the first cyclist to sign a milliondollar contract. In 1986 evers the First American to win the tour he was the First American to win the Tour De France. And finally, in 1989, he was the first cyclist to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated as the sportsman of the year. Madam speaker, greg recovered from a near fatal hunting accident in 1987 to go on to win two more Tour De France. And he won those two with buckshot that was lodged in the lining of his heart. What an incredible athlete, what an incredible physical specimen. What a tenacious spirit. And what an icon that is a fantastic representation for our children to understand that you can be an elite athlete and do so, abiding by the normal human constraints that were all bound by. But doing it with intensity, with training, with focus, with practice, and with such a great deal of success over his amazing career. Greg lemond is an icon in the sports world, and is deserving of the congressional gold medal. He represents some of the finest qualities that we have as americans, and i urge my colleagues to support this bill. And i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from guam is recognized. Mr. San nicolas thank you, madam speaker. I yield five minutes to representative Mike Thompson of california, chairman of house ways and means, subcommittee on select revenue measures. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from california is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Thompson i thank the gentleman for yielding. Madam speaker, i rise in support of h. R. 3589, my legislation to award american cyclist greg lemond with a congressional gold medal. I thank mr. Graves from georgia, the coauthor, lead republican on this bill, this is a bipartisan measure. And its clear by the number of coauthors that greg lemond has tremendous respect in this chamber. Its pointed out that he was born in california, madam speaker, but hes your favorite son as well, having grown up in nevada. Mr. Speaker, greg lemond stands atop the list of the greatest American Cyclists in our history. His accomplishments speak for themselves. The only american in history to officially win the Tour De France. A threetime Tour De France champion. The youngest american ever selected for the u. S. Olympic team. The First American in history to win a major cycling tournament in europe. The winner of 22 races overall. These achievements alone would place greg firmly among the greatest of american athletes. But they dont tell the full story. Gregs career has embodied many of our most cherished and fundamental values. Sportsman values, sportsmanship and sacrifice and being a good teammate. Greg won the Tour De France three times, but he could have won even more. In 1984 and 1985, greg lemond was in a position to win the tour. In position to win another title for himself. But instead, both times greg lemond chose to department advertise himself to his department ties himself to his teammates, sacrificing a chance at the title himself to ensure that one of his teammates would emerge victorious. Greg would continue to demonstrate that selflessness for the rest of his life. In addition, greg personified the ideals of perseverance and commitment. Never more so than during the 1989 Tour De France. Because in 1987, as you heard, while recovering from a broken wrist and collar bone, greg lemond was shot during a hunting accident. Doctors removed over 40 shotgun pelts from his abdomen. He was told that he would never ride a bike again. 18 months later, greg lemond mounted one of the greatest comebacks in the American Sports history. Winning the 1989 Tour De France by eight seconds, the closest margin of victory in the history of that event. That victory, on the heels of his gunshot wound, an appendectomy, a broken wrist and a fractured collar bone was the last time an american won the Tour De France. In the years since, greg lemond has devoted himself to helping others. He and his wife, kathy, are active in Numerous Community causes, helping victims of sexual abuse and supporting research into various childhood illnesses. Greg lemond has worked to promote clean and healthy sporting habits and to encourage young people to live healthy, active, engaged lifestyles. More than any other cyclist in our history, greg lemond was the epitome of the breaking away culture. A young kid on a bike trying to do things no american had ever done. Madam speaker, greg lemond is one of our nations greatest athletes, a tremendous role model and a force for good in his community. Its fitting and proper that we honor him with the congressional medal. I thank everyone, encourage you to vote for this bill, and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from North Carolina is recognized. Mr. Mchenry i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from guam is recognized. Mr. San nicolas thank you. Im pleased to support this bipartisan bill an want to thank the bills and all many cosponsors. For decades, greg lemond has breakaway the culture of cycling and is the tenacity thats unparalleled in American Sports. Me k my colleagues to join in passing this piece of legislation. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. House stion is will the suspend the rules and pass h. R. 3589, as amended. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. Chair, 2 3ion of the 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. For what purpose does the gentleman from guam seek recognition . Nicolas madam speaker, i move the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 1830, the National Purple heart hall of honor commemorative coin act of 2019. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. 1830, a bill to. Require the secretary of the reasury to mint coins in commemoration of the national. Urple heart hall of honor the speaker pro tempore rule, the the gentleman from guam, mr. San nicolas, and the gentleman from carolina, mr. Mchenry, will each control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from guam. Madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and on this eir remarks legislation, and to insert extraneous material thereon. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. San nicolas madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. San nicolas thank you, madam speaker. I rise in strong support of h. R. National purple heart hall of honor commemorative coin act of 2019. Maloney and nk mr. Mr. Gallagher. The purple heart was established general and future president George Washington in 1782 and most the oldest and recognized military medals to those who were killed in action. The National Purple heart hall of honor was located in new windsor, new york, just two newberg where george have the signed to purple heart. Is a memorial or to the brave men and women who have been wounded or died in works to ensure their sacrifices are not forgotten. Currently there are over 200,000 installed at the hall of honor. This bill would provide tangible upport to the hall of honor by directing the west point mint to in uce commemorative coins recognition of the work of the hall of honor. Proceeds from the sale of this to will Fund Improvements the museum itself to help expand the understanding and respect or those who have served and sacrificed. Additionally, proceeds will go towards special projects, like heart patriot project which provides resources for recipients and their families to visit the heart hall of honor museum. I want to thank mr. Maloney, mr. Takano and mr. Gallagher for helping me introduce this this congress. Reserve, madam speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from North Carolina is recognized. Mr. Mchenry thank you, madam speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Mchenry madam speaker, i rise in support of h. R. 1830, heart hall purple of honor commemorative coin act. Thank the gentleman maloney, for mr. His work on this Bipartisan Legislation. Work and for your hard purplencere advocacy for heart, those that have been has honored with a purple heart and they have serve this nation. Heart hall of honor preserves and collects the of all purple heart from all services. Their families and friends 1,095 purpleere are heart recipients enrolled from the great state of north world warrepresenting i, world war ii, korea, vietnam, omalia, Operation Enduring foreign relation and Operation Iraqi freedom. These courageous men and women re recognized by the National Purple heart hall of honor because, surprisingly, there is o comprehensive list of recipients maintained by the federal government. Thats a separate issue we can at a separate time, but i think its important that he work that congressman maloney has taken upon taken enormous labor it takes to get a bill like this to floor. Se so in fact, the only award for which there is no list is the of honor. So madam speaker, the National Purple heart hall of honor is an that deserves the ecognition and the commemorative coin that this bill will strike. To so i urge my colleagues support this bill. Its another good piece of legislation. Again, i commend the author of the legislation, mr. Maloney, and advocacy ork on behalf of those who have received the purple heart. With that i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the reserves. The gentleman from guam is recognized. Mr. San nicolas madam speaker, minutes to mr. Sean Patrick Maloney of new york. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Maloney i thank the gentleman. Madam speaker, i rise in support bill, the National Harm heart hall of honor commemorative coin act, and urge my colleagues to support its passage. The National Purple heart hall my district ted in in new windsor, new york, has the mission to collect the of purple heart recipients from all Service Branches and across generations o we can ensure that all recipients are remembered. Serves as a living memorial to our veterans sacrifice. My bill would honor all purple recipients with a commemorative coin produced at the mint at west point. Proceeds from the sale of the coin would be going to the hall of honor for projects that raise awareness the memory ute to and sacrifices of all our service men and women who were wounded or killed in combat. Too often, the voices of our veterans are not heard, and as our veterans get older, our world war ii veterans, their memories and experiences are in danger of lost. These stories are the most powerful record we have to document the sacrifice of our families. Nd their stories like that of corporal leay, who was born in to a father who served in world war ii. His unit was ambushed soldiers. Ng he was injured by shrapnel. Him nemies wanted to send back to the United States because of his injuries, but he insisted on remaining on the his fellow with marines to finish his tour of duty. The his tour ended, corporal served as a new York City Police officer for 13 years. Reminded of the story of sergeant ago, a stationed near the cambodian border. And his i know, company were attacked. Hile operating a machine gun, drago was badly wounded. But remained unwavering at his post. Grit and s perseverance, the enemy would have surely pushed forward through the United States position. We cant forget about the dedication of our military nurses who have risked their support e and again in of freedom. Beetries mary mary macdonald. Er and her unit served behind enemy lines in belgium, but she was wounded with shell fragments those injuries she lost her sight in her right eye. Chief nurse macdonald remained nd first known woman to have received to have earned the purple heart. 2013, i had the honor of presenting a long overdue purple heart to the family of a world Corporal William b. Tebow. Colonel tebow served in the in the guard, enlisted army, and was in may, 1918, wounded in action. In belgium. G shrapnel wounds to his legs and was wounded again. Army discharged from the in 1919 but never received his purple heart and he received and during world war ii responded to another call to defend freedom, enlisting this serving as navy and an aircraft inspector. In two world ving wars, corporal tebow was never medals he had earned. Presenting the purple heart to his family was something ill never forget. 95 years overdue, but time could not diminish the debt e oto corporal tebow for his service and sacrifice in defense of our freedom. These are the stories that what it is, the very best in american spirit. Exemplifies the heroism purple heart awardees. The purple heart hall of honor of thousands of stories of patriotism and resilience. For years to king get this bill passed, and im so proud and grateful for the upport of our military Service Organizations who supported this legislation, especially the ilitary order of the purple heart, for volunteers like stephanie keegan, who lost a son who served with honor and came home with invisible wounds. Their efforts will guarantee we will finally produce this coin to harm heart bolster purple heart veterans, support the of the west point mint. Congratulations to all and lets of this measure in all ur in honor of our veterans and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from North Carolina is recognized. Mr. Mchenry i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the reserves. The gentleman from guam is recognized. Mr. San nicolas prepared to close, madam speaker. I reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. Mr. Mchenry yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from North Carolina yields back. The gentleman from guam is recognized. You, an nicolas thank madam speaker. I yield myself such time as i may consume. Want to, again, thank mr. Maloney, for introducing this legislation, to all the cosponsors. Work to guarantee the stories of our purple heart forgeten. S are not this will help future generations to understand their sacrifices. Urge into hi colleagues to in i ask my colleagues to support this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the house n is will the suspend the rules and pass h. R. 1830, as amended. Those in favor say aye. Thoepdz. Those opposed, no. 2 3he opinion of the chair, 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 chair will receive a message. Speaker, ager madam message from the senate. The secretary madam speaker. He speaker pro tempore madam secretary. The secretary i have been trented by the senate to inform senate has at the passed without amendment h. R. 1058, the autism Collaboration Research lity education and support act of of 2019. Ism cares act the speaker pro tempore thank you. The chair will now entertain oneminute speeches. For what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Speaker. You, madam every day americans volunteer within their communities to help friends, neighbors, including our nations elderly. I had the opportunity to deliver on wheels on many occasions and i have seen the impact it has had on our seniors. Society, we must Work Together to take care of Older Americans who are sometimes abused, or neglected, nd thats why in 1965, the Older Americans act was enacted range of a Wide Services and programs for individuals over the age of 60. Allen this critical legislation supports many programs important for georgia nutrition programs at churches and Family Caregiver support. m proud to serve on the house education and labor committee, where this week, with unanimous ipartisan support, we voted to move forward legislation to reauthorize the Older Americans act. Congress has done many times before, i urge my colleagues to americansze the older act, to protect our nationsled elderly. Thank you and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the entleman from alabama seek recognition . Madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Madam speaker, i rise today the life of Tuscaloosa Police department kuzett. Ator he was tragically killed in the line of duty monday night. He was only 40 years old. He leaves behind two young his fiancee. As a 13year veteran of the Police Department and veteran of United States army, he was loved and respected in the tuscaloosa community. Awful event reminds us that the men and women of Law Enforcement do not get the deserve. Ion they not only are they Public Servants in the truest sense, wives and ve husbands, they have children that they care for. Members of their communities. They put their lives on the line to protect. And deserve our thanks gratitude and our prayers. I offer my sincerest condolences family of officer kuzett. Of the all be proud record of service and service he leaves behind. He will not be forgotten. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentlelady from texas seek ecognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Ms. Jackson lee i rise today to endorse the fair act, which therell be a vigorous debate on the floor of the house tomorrow. As a member of the Judiciary Committee i was pleased to be a cosponsor of the legislation and explain to american what is is forced dispute arbitration. It is arbitration almost without your knowledge. This bill will provide the opportunity for individuals who are forced into arbitration to be able to waive that particular provision. In fact, one of the most sad cases is that of someone who utilized massage envy, a company where this person was trying to relieve their pain and unfortunately were ais alled on the massage table. All they wanted to do was get out of their contract but when they checked the little box to get out of their contract they checked the box to say you must go into forced arbitration. You mu wait weeks and months an days and years. I want to take note of the fact that this is not about trial lawyers. Its about justice. Im glad that the nation has lawyers that can stand before the bar and in the court to defend those who cannot defend themselves. Forced arbitration injustice, this repeals that injustice, im a strong supporter of the fact act of the fair act and the fact is, it gives justice to those who have no other remedy. Lets pass the fair act. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Madam speaker, i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks, the speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Thompson i rise today to recognize september as National Suicide prevention month. Depression and suicide ideaation affects all ages, genders and backgrounds and thousands of americans die each year. Suicide is the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. Theres an estimated 1. 7 million attempts each year. In 2017, suicide rates in pennsylvania exceeded the national average. Mental health professionals, advocacy organizations, survivors and allies take this month to combat the stigma of discussing Mental Health and connect with those with suicidal thoughts through a network of professional resources. If you think a loved one is struggling with depression or ideaation, just ask. People in need can often feel relieved when someone asks about their well being in a caring way. Acknowledging, discussing their thoughts, may be the first steps to reducing their risk. I encourage anyone struggling with thoughs of suicide to call the National Suicide prevention lifeline, 18002738255. Madam speaker, lets keep the conversation going yearround. We can all play an Important Role in prevention. Thank you, madam speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from mississippi seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and rhett ry and to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Since world war ii, 138,103 american soldiers have been listed as prisoners of war. 83,114 american soldiers soldiers have been listed as missing in action. Powmia recognition day was created to hon nor the sacrifice of those imprisoned in wartime and to remember those brave soldiers who never returned to american soil. Today, we thank our heavenly father for returning home those american soldiers who found themselves confined on foreign soil and we bow our heads in prayer and remembrance of those still missing. I ask the members of the body and american citizens everywhere to include those soldiers, their families, and their communities in your prayers and to join me in thanks for the freedoms and liberties we enjoy every day because of their sacrifice. Thank you, and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore are there any further requests for time . Under the speakers apounced announced spoil of january 3, 2019, the gentleman from california, mr. Levin is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. Mr. Levin madam speaker, id like to begin by saying that the issue of Climate Change is very personal to me. I have a 5 and a 7yearold at home and like any parent, theres a lot i worry about for their future. One of the things i worry most about is the planet were going to leave behind for them and for their future children. The path were on right now leads to a grim future for our planet. We burn fossil fuels like coal and oil at unsustainable rate, releasing extraordinary amounts of Greenhouse Gas emission into the air. And weve destroyed forests and other carbon sinks around the world that previously absorbed some of those emissions. The intergovernmental planet on Climate Change, a collection of 1,300 scientific experts from countries all over the world conclude theres a more than 95 probability that human activities over the past 50 years warm our planet. As a result the last five years were the hottest ever recorded. According to the Trump Administrations own weather and space agencies. Over the past century, average Global Temperatures have increased steadily. 16 of the last 17 years have been the warmest ever recorded by human observation. In my home state of california the indicateors of our rapidly changing climate are unmistakable. Our summers are hotter, our droughts are more severe and our land is dryer, creating fuel for yearround wildfire that was wiped out entire communities. According to the Trump Administrations own report on Climate Change, compiled by more than 300 experts across 13 federal agency the impacts of Climate Change are already being felt in communities across the country and will become increasingly devastating over a short period of time. The president would be well served to read the report of his own agencies. Were having more frequent and extreme weather like hurricanes and floods, were experiencing Sea Level Rise and coastal erosion. Our National Security agencies have warned us that unless we take aggressive action to combat Climate Change we will see a deterioration in global stability caused by food and water insecurity, worsening Public Health, economic distress and damage to military infrastructure as a result of Sea Level Rise and more extreme storms. Climate change is a defining issue of our time. If we dont take bold action to address this crisis now, our children and grandchildren will suffer the worst consequences. Unfortunately this president and many in the Trump Administration are content with inaction or worse. In fact, some refuse to admit Climate Change is real. Instead pushing policies that would exacerbate the problem, catering to the fossil fuel industry and corporate polluters at the expense of our air, land, and water. While we should be taken aggressive action to combat Climate Change, pushing countries around the world to do the same, the white house gladly surrenders our standing as a Global Leader my colleagues and i are here to say that we will lead. We will continue to fight for action. My colleagues that youll hear from, theyre leading right now. With that, madam speaker, i yield representative hill, my friend from californias 25th district, as much time as she may consume. Ms. Hill thank you so much, congressman levin. I am both a millenial and one of the youngest members of congress and i joined congress at a moment when communities from california to the ba ma bahamas are enduring the effects of Climate Change. In my own district were experiencing lengthening fire seasons and droughts. Those of us who refused money from big oil and who will be the who have to live with the effects of Climate Change have to take it upon ourselves to fight for our generation and the generations to come. Tomorrow, young people across the world will begin a week of Climate Action with the Global Climate strike. We may not have made this mess but we will fight to clean it up. Thats why i sent a letter to donald trump along with 110 of my fellow members of congress to call for a renegotiated nafta deal that meaningfully addresses the Climate Crisis. From moderates to progressives, we are coming together to call for binding climate standards and a recommitment to the paris climate agreement in the updated nafta. So far thats not what trump has in mind. The current nafta 2. 0 deal trump geshted with mexico and canada fails to mention Climate Change. Even mention it. We cannot afford to pass another trade deal on the wrong side of our historic fight to tackle Climate Change. With 76 of americans now saying Climate Change is a crisis or major problem, its common sense that our trade deals should support, not undermine, Climate Action. In fact,s that long standing demand. One that leading environmental organizations, labor environment coalitions, climate economists and members of congress have been elevating over the last two years of nafta talks. The fact of the matter is that the Climate Crisis threaten ours communities and future every single day. While were fighting to tacking this tack they will crisis, were seeing corporate pruitters line the pocks of too many on the other side of the aisle to protect their bottom line. I see colleagues in both chambers of congress who wont have to deal with the repercussions of their actions bargaining with my future and the future of generations to come. This cycle must end now. It is past time for rhetoric and empty promises. We need new policies that offer Real Solutions to the Climate Crisis. That doesnt include just h. R. 9, which to be honest has very little chance of being taken up in the senate. It has to also include our trade policies. The reality is that this moment is too important to throw away. This is an unprecedented opportunity to put our money where our mouth is on climate. We should ensure that any regauched nafta prioritizes climate by including binding climate standards and getting a guarantee from trump himself that the United States will remain a member of the most universal and basic worldwide climate agreement. For our health, for our safety, for our future, and for the people. Thank you and i yield back. Mr. Levin thank you very much, representative hill itch very much appreciate your leadership. Over the next several days, the eyes of the world will turn to the Climate Crisis. With the global youth strike for climate set to take place in over 150 countries. Just before the United Nations holds a Climate Action summit in new york city. While millions of people across the globe call for action, on Climate Change, and World Leaders come together to show how theyll honor the commitment to the Paris Agreement, its safe to say that the white house wont step up to lead, let alone take any meaningful action. Instead, the Trump Administration is pulling us out of the Paris Agreement which nearly 200 countries from afghanistan to zimbabwe and in between have signed. Where president obama created a leading role for the United States on the world stage, the Trump Administration has retreated. The u. N. Secretary general has called on all leaders to come to the Climate Action summit with concrete, realistic plans to enhance their nationally determined contributions by 2020 in line with reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions by 45 over the next decade. And to netzero emissions. By 20 by 2050. The United States has an important opportunity to show leadership and to push other countries to follow us. And thats how we should evaluate all these measures, on the basis of followership. That requires that we lead. Thats critically important. The work that we do, the amount of collective action that will be needed, must start with leadership from the United States. Thats the only way were going to combat the Climate Crisis. I was very proud, among other bill, help introduce the Climate Action now act. The first major Climate Change legislation that we had in the 116th congress. In fact that weve had for a number of years in the u. S. House of representatives. The bill would prohibit the administration from withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement. It would also call on the president to develop an make public a plan for how the nation will meet the pollution reduction goals in the Paris Agreement. The bill isnt just about staying in paris. Its about creating goodpay, green jobs right here in america. Its about Public Health. Its about protecting our air. Its about protecting our water. Its about defending our National Security from the threats that Climate Change poses and its about leading again in the world. Thats how the United States should be leading. We should set the example. With that, madam speaker, i yield my friend, representative gwen moore from wisconsin, as ch time as she may consume. 12 oore madam speaker, years, we have been told we have 12 years to limit the effects of Climate Change on our planet and ensure a better world for our children and grandchildren and future generations to come. 12 years. But ms like a long time, now scientists are saying that the actions that we take in the next 18 months will determine our ability to meet our climate goals by 200. In 18 months, we will experience two more winters and another summer, each bringing with them more extreme weather and more catastrophic natural disasters. The stakes are so high. Less predictable climates produce lower crop yield, drive up the cost of healthy food. Meanwhile, heat waves resulting from a growing array of Public Health problem like asthma, mental illness, heart disease, stroke and more. In wisconsin, from where i hail, we still remember the deathly shill of the polar vortex this past winter matched only in the summers recordsetting heat, heavy downpours and our storm in july produced enough damage that several counties received federal Disaster Relief funding. But you know what, madam speaker. Saster funding can rebuild communities but cannot help them om being torn apart from Climate Change. Within the next 18 months to prevent further decay of our climate, we must work to support a swift transition away from fossil fuels, but also to fortify our communities. The fact is Climate Change has a discxds difficulties par ate impact on low income and minority communities. Indeed, these communities are already discxds difficulties proportionately impacted by other environmental hazard and we are just piling on. Air pollution from those stationary and mobile sources, primary sources of environMental Health risks particularly in urk ban areas. Lowincome, highminority population communities, which are located d that near chemical plants, peak load wasteplants and hazardous incinerators. The poor and people with low Educational Attainment were substantially to be located within one mile of a polluting facility and Racial Disparities were particularly evident in the midwest and the west. As it pertains to our warming climate another study found that as urban heat islands, lowincome and highminority communities will boast higher heat indexes, thereby compounding the dire and deadly impact that heat waves have on urban population. Or to put it bluntly, the urban poor will experience more heat than the wealthy. Simply by virtue of where they live. With Climate Change, extreme heat is expected to be more common and more severe for the poor and already vulnerable communities. This will likely result in increases in heatrelated illnesses and cardiovascular complications, Kidney Disease which are harmful to outdoor workers, children, our elderly and lowincome households. It is worth mentioning that these communities which already suffer resource deficient sits cannot relocate out of flood zones and they have challenges adopting new clean energy technologies. While this administration continues to fiddle when it takes to exercising leadership, while they ignore the admonishon f science if we dont do something in the next 18 months, we might not be able to reverse these impacts within is 12 years. I tell you something, in june, my city of milwaukee announced a comprehensive action base plan to meet the u. S. s commitment under the Paris Climate Accord despite what this administration is doing. We are moving forward to create Green Infrastructure and to create jobs. In august, our wisconsin governor signed an executive order aimed at eliminating the use of carbonbased fuel in wisconsin by 2050. We created a diverse task force comprised of city and city officials that will reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions by 45 levels by 200 and eliminate them all together by 2050, a goal which i support. But let me say this. While action and state and local officials are welcome and necessary, we know they cant do it alone on such a vital issue, the federal government should not lead from behind. The federal government should not be missing in action and absent from the table and it will be absolutely critical for them to protect the most vulnerable populations so that they have access to Adequate Health care, clean drinking water, healthy food, and affordable housing. But leading from behind is what this administration is doing, besides pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord without any plan or alternatives for addressing Climate Change. This administration has move to back the Clean Power Plan and other efforts to address Greenhouse Gas emissions. We must not only make sure that recognize the disparate impacts of Climate Change, but we must also bring our most atrisk citizens to the table and discuss the actions that well together to discuss Climate Change. What we need to do right by our fellow human beings and by our beloved shared planet and protect ourselves and our planet against the threat we face today and in the future. And even if this administration wants to turn its back, this house must not. We must continue to pass legislation that will help us meaningfully address Climate Change. 12 years from now, 18 months from now, how about right now. And i yield back to the gentleman. Mr. Levin thank you, representative moore, for those powerful words. I want to address something that has been in the news and the president s announcement yesterday that he will revoke californias waiver to set its own auto emission standards and this is something as a native southern californian that is near and dear to my heart. So many had to endure poor air quality over the years and this is something that has never been partisan, since the late 1960s. California has been able to set its own air quality standards because the standards we set when Ronald Reagan was governor preceded those standards set by the federal government. Clean air is not a partisan issue. This is ridiculous that the administration would want to go after california once again in this matter. Another thing to refute are the claims made by the president costs. Ars safety and d this has proven to be most Cost Effective and auto manufacturers want to accelerate the transition to more electric vehicles and sustainable vehicles. Everybody wants california to be able to have its own standards with two exceptions, President Trump and big oil. Those are the two exceptions. It is clear whose direction the president is taking. We need to acknowledge that his decision here flies in the face f established Climate Science. And the science tells us that Greenhouse Gas emissions are driving Climate Change. We should do everything we can. The Clean Air Act clearly gives california the authority to set its own emission standards and this authority has been afffirmed by the courts, the congress and previous administrations, republicans and democrats alike. Gep, this is not a partisan issue. Even the Auto Companies want to see this happen. Why are we fighting over this ridiculous assumption by the president that he can roll back five decades of progress for cleaner air in california. I will do everything in my power as a member of progress as my colleagues will and california will prevail. Madam speaker, i would like to yield to my friend, representative huffman as much time as he may consumet mr. Huffman thank you from the representative of the northern most district on the coast of california. I want to thank my friend from san diego and orange counties are so well served by your intelligent principled leadership and especially on this issue, this crisis that we are trying to confront of global Climate Change. Your leadership on this issue has certainly been noted. Our leader, nancy pelosi, reached out and chose a freshman member of congress because of your background and clarity that she put you on the select committee on the Climate Crisis. So thank you so much for that leadership and you are doing more than that and putting great bills into the hopper. You are leading this debate this evening. So we are well served with your leadership in southern california. We hentioned and one of the previous speakers mensed we are gathered here on the eve of this Global Climate strike tomorrow. Tens of thousands of students all over the United States, 800 different sites, they are working in harmony with 156 other countries where young people are doing the same thing worldwide. This is a week of action. These are High School Kids and even younger in some cases. They understand what is at stake here and part of their message that i think we really need to need to hear, we dont have time. There is an extreme urgency to confront this case. The longer we wait the longer it will be to preserve. If we wait too long, its game over. They are scared. We ought to be scared that we are running out of time to address this crisis. Yesterday, i sat down with a few of these Young Leaders and super grateful that four of those that we met with a couple of hours were from my district and i thank the National Childrens campaign and schools for Climate Action and came all the way to washington, d. C. , to make sure that the country heard their story and that story involves the terrible firestorm of people in the north bay had to live through. These young people had their lives uprooted and impacted in profound ways and sharpend their climate activism and they brought that to the conversation that chairman grijalva and were part of that yesterday. And the Climate Change is having right now, not some abstract in the future, its happening now and going to get worse as we go forward if we dont act. This message of urgency. The public understands it. Congressman levin, you and i were in the cloak ram and c nmp bc showed a poll that the American People understand that this is a crisis. The public gets it. The rest of the world gets it. On mopped, the nations of the world will gather in new york to map out the next steps. They will be building on the paris climate agreement and will figure out how to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions by 45 . If the young people get it all over the world, its fair to ask, where is American Leadership right now . Where is this administration right now . And you alluded to it, the dispute over californias clean car authority, they are trying to take us backward in the wrong direction. We dont have time for that if were serious about that th crisis you talked about the fact that our authority under the Clean Air Act goes back to 1967, i think it was a governor named Ronald Reagan that got us started on this critical authority. Its been so successful. California has used it to protect clean air over 50 times. Do you know how many of those time the 50 times we have used that Clean Air Act authority, how many of those were rejoked revoked . Zero. It has never been revoked. It has always been upheld. Its been wildly successful in helping california improve air quality, reduce smog, improve Public Health. We have added jobs, the economy has continued to grow. Weve been able to do all this in a way that helped stimulate the Auto Industry to innovate and bring new and very desirable models of vehicles to market that wouldnt be there if it werent for californias leadership on Clean Car Standards and of course more than a dozen other states that have followed suit and joined us as clean car states. What President Trump is trying to do is absolutely unprecedented in american history. Its legally dubious. Hes wrong on the law. Hes wrong on the policy. Its the most serious assault on state authority and on Public Health that you could imagine. Yet with this administration, hey, its just another day in the trump white house, unfortunately. This house, of course, the peoples house, gets it. Weve already started to take action. Were working to block the Trump Administrations worst climate rollbacks and of course just last week a bipartisan majority of this house voted to approve my bill to protect the Arctic Refuge from this crazy drill everywhere mandate that they put into the republican tax scam in 2017. We also passed bills to protect the pacific, atlantic, and Florida Gulf Coast from these plans to do more offshore drilling. These are important steps in the fight to confront the Climate Crisis and of course there was h. R. 9, the Climate Action now act which would block President Trumps attempt to take us out of the paris climate agreement. Lets keep working together in the peoples house, lets keep working with this energized, motivated, incredibly passionate and new generation of leaders were seeing all over the country, all over the world, thank you for your leadership, congressman levin. Mr. Levin thank you, representative huffman for your friendship, your mentorship, for the work you do. You are a true environmental champion. Im really, really grateful to call you a friend. Weve got a lot of work to do. I think its really important that as we think about this issue, we begin to address some of the myths and misconceptions out there. One of the biggest that i hear from my friends across the aisle is that we cannot combat Climate Change without destroying our economy. When exactly the opposite is true. If we invest in the Clean Energy Jobs of the future well see incredible Economic Growth and protect the environment at the same time. Nowhere has that been more true in the United States than in our state of california where im proud to tell you that we have the most Clean Energy Jobs in the United States. If you look at this chart, over 500,000 jobs in the clean tech sector. Im proud to have come from the clean tech sector. Im proud to have started a trade association in orange county, california which historically has been seen as one of the most conservative places in the United States. We created a booming Clean Tech Industry that is going stronger than ever before. The same is true in San Diego County where we have some of the leading Clean Energy Companies in the United States. We can protect the environment, we can grow the clean tech economy at the same time. In california, it has never been a partisan issue. When we pass a. B. 32 in 2006, Arnold Schwarzenegger was the governor. Republican governor. Then when we passed cap and trade we had nine republican legislators that helped get that passed in the california legislate legislature. Because both governor schwarzenegger and the republican legislators at the time understood that if we made Climate Change a primary focus, if we reduced Greenhouse Gas emissions, not only was it the right thing to do for our state and the planet, it was the right thing to do for our economy. That is exactly what has happened. My friend Marshall Burke is a researcher at stanford university, my alma mater. Hes studied the costs of action on Climate Change but more importantly the costs of inaction. Theres an inherent cost to doing nothing. My friends across the aisle always like to tell you about the cost of doing something. They will say bold and aggressive measures will cost too much. Friends, the costs of inaction are even greater. My friend Marshall Burke has said if we dent take substantial action to mitigate the Climate Crisis it will cost the u. S. Economy 25 to 35 trillion over the coming decades. Thats with a t. 25 trillion to 35 trillion. The good news is that we can take the steps we need to act. We can combat the Climate Crisis and we can create these Clean Energy Jobs. Ive introduced Bipartisan Legislation to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels by promoting development of Renewable Energy on public lands. We can expand those technologies that grow our economy and protect the environment by extending important tax credits like the Solar Investment tax credit which drives job creation. Reduces Greenhouse Gas emisses, and helps level the Playing Field for clean energy and we need it for things like Battery Storage as well. Ive introduced legislation that presents an ambitious plan for transitioning the United States to 100 zero Emission Vehicles which will also have an enormous Health Benefit to the United States of america. According to a 2016 report issued by the American Lung association, transitioning to zero Emission Vehicles would deliver 33 billion in total health and climate savings by 2050. The 90 reduction in the pollution that causes smog and oot would translate to 195,000 fewer lost work days, 96,000 fewer asthma attacks, and 2,200 fewer premature deaths. Ive introduced legislation as well to expand electric vehicle charging on public lands across the United States ancon Vert National park service an Forest Service fleets to zero Emission Vehicles. This commitment will also help the United States lead the world in developing and manufacturing innovative zero Emission Vehicle technology. Since California First instituted a zero Emission Vehicle requirement in 1990, the overall economy has flourished. Cutting Edge Companies like tess la have generated billions of dollars in Economic Activity for our state and leading Automotive Companies across the country and the world have done everything they can to invest in the cleaner technology of the future, zero Emission Vehicles. Alternatively, if we fail to act, if American Car Companies dent lead and if we dont have a support i federal government helping them to lead the way in these zero Emission Vehicles of the future, we will allow other countries to take the lead and china and india and nations in europe will reap the economic rewards that should be staying right here in the United States of america. We will find ourselves purchasing foreign vehicles that should have been made right here in the u. S. A. Now, many of my colleagues, theyre doing great work. And they have introduced or passed legislation that addresses the Climate Crisis in many different ways and promotes the Clean Energy Jobs of the future. You just heard from a few of them. Madam speaker, i want to wrap up here by pointing out one more key fact. The American People overwhelmingly support aggressive action to combat Climate Change. Public opinion polling shows that the majority of americans say that it must be addressed and its got to be addressed now. Its a crisis. The majority of americans, they overwhelmingly believe this is a crisis and they are right to believe that. But unfortunately, our president right now, he calls Climate Change a hoax. He says that it was brought on by chi in to undermine American Economic competitiveness. Hes not willing to listen to the science. He should listen to the scientists from his own agencies. He should just take the halfhour necessary to even read the executive summary. From his observe scientists report. Thats all i would ask. He should think about Climate Change when he make appointments. Unfortunately, hes been appoint clige mat science deniers like william happener, a gentleman who said if the plants could vote theyd vote for coal. Moreid more co 26rbings co2 in the atmosphere is a good thing. That is a person advising on Climate Science. Its not that the administration is too close to the oil and coal industry, it is that they are an oil and that they are the oil an coal industry. Theres a revolving door between 1600 pennsylvania an avenue and the Oil Companies and the Coal Companies and the American People demand better. That is a rejection of science, it is dangerous and irresponsible. It is dangerous and irresponsible for the white house to pressure the national sotionic Atmospheric Administration or noaa into supporting the president s false claims about hurricane dor yap. You dont see any sharpies on this chart. Its dangerous and irresponsible that the white house refuses to accept Climate Science and act on it. It is dangerous, it is irresponsible. We must embrace science, we must embrace facts. As i said in the beginning of this, this is about our children and our grandchildren. Im thinking today about my own two children. My daughter elizabeth who is 5. My son jonathan, who is 7. Maybe my wonderful wife christy will cue up cspan and play this for them my son who is 7 just started second grade. We have 12 years. By the time my son is ready to graduate from high school, according to the best science we have, we better have got then crisis figured out. Or were going to have irreparable damage as a result. Its on us. And when im done with my service in the house of representatives, which i hope comes many years from now, i want to be able to look back, as i know so many of my colleagues do, and know we gave it everything we had to try to address what we believe is the most pressing issue facing the United States of america and the world. Thank you again, madam speaker, and with that, i yield back and i believe im yielding to my friend, representative tlaib from michigan who has some other remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from michigan the remainder of the time. Mrs. Thrabe thank you ms. Tlaib thank you, mr. Speaker. Rise in tribute to fire chief of dearborn. He maintained a perfect attendance record since becoming a Fire Fighters in 1996. And has received such awards as the fire chief lifesaving award and the Department Medal of va already award for his bravery in the line of duty. Please join me in supporting captain pridemore in wishing him a happy retirement. I o, mr. Speaker, today, stand with the united autoworkers. By honoring general motor workers on day four of their strike. This is Grayson Riley pollings. A child who a child of a general motor worker whose she is only 5 years old. Gets e periodically treatment forer is ball palsy. Her next treatment son october 1. Nd her father is on strike right now and worried about whether or not he has Health Care Coverage anymore. Mr. Speaker, General Motors c. E. O. Makes 22 million. 281 times the Median Income of their workers. Yet workers are being asked to pay more for health care. General motors yen motor workers gave up so much to keep the company afloat. They didnt abandon g. M. During their toughest times. But now they are asking, asking for fair wages and coverage for their health care. Im urging my colleagues in the country to join me in solidarity with them today. Thank you, mr. Speaker, i yield the rest of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Levin i now recognize the gentlewoman from illinois, ms. Schakowsky. Ms. Shah cusky thank you for leading this discussion about climate. What i love about so many of our freshman members like congressman levin, who says how urgent the need is right now to act. A sense of urgency. Im on the climate and environment subcommittee. We had a hearing. We had nice people testifying but we still heard, particularly from our republican colleagues, that its a decision between jobs and clean environment. Are you kidding me . We have known about this crisis which it is, for decades. We knew about it even in the johnson administration. Long, long ago. Weve had we have had this debate as if you have to pick one or the other. Representative levin went over and over how good for the economy, how good for workers, how good the jobs are that we address asting time to this problem. It was really, really frustrating to me that we have gone over this and over this. And in the meantime, the forests are burning in california. The fields are flooding in illinois where im from. The hurricanes are destroying lands florida and all up and down the coast, except for alabama not really and so, its really so important that we are listening to the children. You know, yesterday, we had this amazing young woman, greta tuborg, who is from sweden. She is 16 years old. She is already a veteran fighting worldwide, a national figure, calling for us. This is one of the things she said yesterday when she was here in washington. She said this is greta, now 16 years old. Please save your praise. We dont want it. Dont invite us here to just tell us how inexpiring we are without actually doing anything about it because it doesnt lead to anything. Gretas fierce. But she is not the only one. I hope im able to get home in time to my district and enjoy my grandson outside of his School Tomorrow afternoon at one of the demonstrations, the many demonstrations that will be taking place across the country on climate, where young people re telling us we cant wait. This is our century. This is our time. We are going to take the lead. And i think it is our job now to follow them. There is actually a court suit right now where 22, 21 young people have sued the government of the United States of america for violating their Constitutional Rights by ignoring this issue of climate and the crisis that we are creating. Our species is in danger. Every species is in danger living on the earth today. But this is truly a matter of life and death. We already are seeing climate refugees, people who cant live in places because they cant grow crops anymore. The spreading of the sahara desert. We are seeing the amazon rain forest burning. And you know every breath that every person takes on earth is because of the oxygen that comes out of the rain forest at the amazon. What are we doing . We are still debating this . We are still talking. We are having conversations about it. And way too little action. Im really happy that last week, we passed a bill at least in the house to stop offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Pacific Ocean and in the gulf. Im really happy that we are trying to reverse the drilling n the anwr up in alaska. But we have to do big things. We have to take action together with countries around the world and have to listen to the children. They are begging us. They are asking and they are speaking out. And all we really need to do is follow. And again, i want to thank representative levin and so many of the freshmen that have come here into the congress and said this is urgent. We cant wait anymore. We cant wait anymore. We must act. Thank you. I really appreciate the opportunity to come down here today. Thank you. Mr. Levin thank you so much, representative schakowsky. And great honor to serve on the subcommittee under the leadership of our chair representative castro and i serve with many other members. And i think our great speaker, nancy pelosi, for creating the select committee as part of the 116th congress. Governor inslee says ours is the first generation feeling the sting of Climate Change. In the last generation that will be able to do something about it. And i couldnt agree morement. Weve got to listen to the children, our own chin and the children we see here in washington. We have to listen to those voices and make those changes. They are counting on us. And these walls, right here, they are counting on the 45 people that are so honored to serve as the house of representatives to get this right for future generations. With that, im honored to be one of those members to fight the good fight. And i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Under the speakers announced policy of january , the gentleman from florida, mr. Yoho is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority eader. Mr. Yoho thank you, madam speaker. Madam speaker, on september 0, 2019, northeast florida will his wenton carter celebrate 100th birthday. The year he was born, world war i ended with the treaty of treaty of versailles and bostons babe ruth was traded to the new york yankees. More amazing is the life mr. Carter has led serving our country. Mr. Carter received the purple heart after being wounded by slap nell in his thai fighting the japanese on the island in world war ii and was there for the rising of the American Flag and he fought in the korean war. After 22 years in the military, he retired as a marine Master Sergeant and served 42 years in Government Service which included recruiting future marine. He is celebrating 60 years of marriage. Father of two and loves to talk about the lord. Therefore, it is on this day, september 19, i proudly acknowledge mr. Wenton w. Carter on the house floor and i ask you to join me in wishing him an early happy birthday. I would like to honor those who were prisoners of war and those who remain missing in action as well as their family in ia. Rvance of p. O. W. Mmp we are indebted to those who sacrifice everything to enjoy the freedoms. You are not forgotten. His is the central praise of p. O. W. s and m. I. A. s recognition day. We stand behind those who are serving and those served and those who never returned from service that ultimately gave the ultimate sacrifice. Through international relationships, we have returned many of those fallen back on our country and to their families and will continue to do the search and return of our m. I. A. Soldiers and its our responsibility to never forget and the men and women who paid the pricement we must continue to honor them in the years to come. Madam speaker, i would like to take this time to honor one of lankenow. Uents john we must always remember those we have lost in honor of the heroes that sacrificed their lives for others. On september 11, 2001, he was assigned to hazardous special lift in albany new york. As the sicked plane flew into the towers, he was requested to respond to new york to assist First Responders at grouped zero. Upon arrival, he was requested by name to conduct the first hazard surveys of the ground zero. He worked until early honoring taking samples. He remembered how dangerous it was and fearing there was a possibility that one of the adjacent buildings could collapse. He spent the next couple of weeks continuing to assess the hazards the conditions on grouped zero. It is my pleasure to represent men like him. I commend him and the rest of the First Responders on 9 11 for their character, for their courage and their commitment to serving others. And i want to thank them, these true heroes for their service. Madam speaker, i would like to highlight my alma matter, the university of florida, which i represent in floridas district. The university of florida, under the district of dr. Foxx has risen in the u. S. News and world report ranking to number 7 of all public universities in the United States. This is the third year in a row that the university of florida has advanced in that ranking. The university of florida incorporates all health disciplines, one of the largest engineering schools in the country and top vet school that i graduated from in 198 and one of the few schools in the nation to have won Major National championships and titles in football, basketball and baseball. And i guess that is why it is great to be a florida gator. Madam speaker, i would like to talk about another crisis that has been dealt with on this house floor. And that crisis is the Immigration Crisis we have. We hear about Climate Crisis. Crises are things that we must respond to. But so many of the things we face in congress are issues that may be crises for some along the border or some being advanced by people coming into the country illegal, if congress were to act, it would go away. There are times to deal with Climate Change and time to deal with the border crisis. A photo from june of 2014 when my colleague on the other side said there was a crisis and it it was under president obama. And i look at these people and they look people that want opportunity and coming to this country. And i have this other photo and there are families, women, children, husbands and i look at people that are wanting to come into this country for opportunity. And where congress has failed and its not just failed this nation but failed these people. Its in the policies that we dont have because of political divide. We talk about we want to fix the crisis on climate or the Immigration Crisis, because it becomes a wedge and a tool that people use in politics for the next election. They are against that and thats why you have to vote me back in and that happens on immigration and thats why immigration doesnt get fixed. We have proposed a Guest Worker Program that will solve probably about 90 is what our estimates are of the people coming across our southwest border. The people coming across our southwest border are not the rocket scientists or engineers or health professionals, they are the people that are working in the lower skills, agriculture, hospitality and construction but yet they are so needed because without them this country wont work. We cant grow the fruits and vegetables, we cant build the building. What we have proposed is a Guestworker Program. And if you picture a banner, Guestworker Program and understand its not Immigration Reform because if you use that word up here, they part. This side blames the republicans wanting to deport everybody and my side wants to give amnesty and neither is true and nothing gets done and we have seen this year after year for 36 years. A banner bill that says Guest Worker Program will have three silos, one will be agriculture, one will have hospitality and one will have construction and ll talk about the agriculture ill talk about the agriculture program. Theres a prescreened pool before people come into the country. It addresses the people who are already here illegally. And number three, it reforms the h2a program, a temporary program of 10 month, and makes it stronger so it serve pross deucers better, but also protects the Migrant Worker. This is something that should not be a partisan issue. This is handgun this is something i have shared personally in this chamber with over 50 members of the house of representatives in a bipartisan way and i have shared it on the senate side in a bipartisan way. We shared it with outside industries around the country. Im getting calls from people from wisconsin, from indiana, from pennsylvania, from california, that want this bill passed. And basically what this does, a fly, is on the h2 program, a temporary 10month program, the what i it works now, someone comes in on this program and get a waiver. That waiver is for a year. They get another waiverer up to three years. People just kind of fade off the grid and they wind up being in america illegally. They may have come in legally but they transfer and become a person here illegally. And then they live in the shadows and theyre afraid to come out, fear of deportation. The other thing is they come in currently and may leave the program they the job they came in on and go to construction or another field. So the program that allowed them to come in, they dont honor. With our program, we tighten up estrictions on h2a, people come in on an h2a vee, is a dedicates them to agriculture, they are dedicated to be in that sector, because thats what they agreed to come in on. They can stay up to 11 months is what wear proposing. Then they go back home and then they can come back. The other thing we do is the prescreening portion of this bill works this way. Well have a countrytocountry agreement between, say, the country of honduras with the United States. Statetostate department agreement. With a person from honduras or anywhere in Central America wants to come to the United States, they apply. Must be minimum of 18 years of age. They have to apply individually. If theyre married and the spouse wants to come in, that spouse applies. But you have to be a minimum of 18, no children. They apply. That information from the country they come from goes to our state department and it would be basically passport information. Their name, address, age, things like that. Our d. H. S. Will take that information. Theyll do a background check. Once they clear the background check, that person who applied is an applicant, theyre permitted to come into the country but only after a job is available. When a person applies they can apply to a sector, maybe its dairy, maybe fruits and vegetables, maybe its the citrus program. Once they get accepted into the country, and a job is available, a get issued what we call gwip card, guest worker identification. Theyll have smart card or smart chip technology. Itll have the individuals picture on it. Once a person gets this card, theyre permitted to be in the country for a fiveyear period of time. For five years. They can stay in this country and they can renew 4 1 2 year into the program. After that, they can continue doing that, provided they stay a person of Good Standing in the nation thamplee can get a drivers license number. Itll be a guest worker drivers license number. That has to be renewed every five years. Itll start off in the state they get approved in. When they pass the test. But thatll allow them to drive in the country legally. It gives them a chance to come into the country legally, whether they want to be a temporary worker or a fiveyear, yearround worker. We have a restriction in there. They have to commit to work five 75 of the year in the Agriculture Sector. On the Guest Worker Program for agriculture that person has taken on the responsibility and commitment that they will work in ag and ag only. On both programs with the h2a or the fiveyear Guest Worker Program that individual is automatically entered into the everify system. So when our employers take somebody out of the pool, theyre automatically using everify. That person again is free to travel the country. If they come in, say they want to do citrus in florida that season is over, usually by mid june. They can go to North Carolina and work with another crop or maybe the state of washington or new york. And they can stay indefinitely in the country for that fiveyear period of time but must work a minimum of 75 of the year in the United States in agriculture. If they choose to leave agriculture and work in construction, and they get picked up or found out and they get hired illegally by a contractor, what happens is they have broke the terms of their agreement and they will be deported on that that Identification Number, it will be a 15digit Identification Number with the initials a. G. At the end of it for agriculture so when theyre put into the everify system, those have to jive. If that person tries to go to construction, his number wont work in a construction entity. If an employer trays to hire somebody illegally that is permitted to work in agriculture and they want to them in construction, theyre subject to a fine per person, person incident. This is something we hear in the hospitality interest, they need a Guest Worker Program. Our goal was to create a reliable, predictable, certain works for for the labor of this country. Second part of the fiveyear program is this. For the people in this country illegally, they can apply to this program. What we have done is we have moved ag labor from the department of labor an we move it to the usda. So for that group of people that are in this country illegally, they can apply to this program, the program will be run by the United States department of agriculture and theyll run a program that says for this time period if youre here illegally, if you want to apply to this program, you can apply with the understanding that were not looking to deport you. Were looking to get you to a legal status in this country. For five years at a time. While that person is applying hes what we call the applicant. During that process, theyre protected from being deported. Background checks will be run. We realize that some people are going to have, you know, fender benders. May not have showed up for a court date or didnt return a library book. We understand that. So they will be given due time to get right with the law and clear up their past. When they get accepted into the program, they become a participant. During that time period, as a participant, theyre here for five years at a time, can renew 4 1 2 years into it take get the gwic card, get the 15digit number that allows them to work in the ag sector, theyre not dedicated to a certain employer, they can renew 4 1 2 years into it. If they came in illegally with a family, their family is also protected during that period of time when a background check is being done. Once that is cleared up that family is protected for up to five years at a time and again when they renew that family is protected. And it is not a pathway to citizenship. If somebody wants to become a citizen, they apply for citizenship just like anybody else that wants to become a citizen of our great nation. In this program, again, what were looking for is to create a reliable, predictable work force for our Agriculture Sector and it gives the flexibility of the individual to move around the country to fulfill the needs that Migrant Worker has. We did a round triple round table throughout the state of florida over the august recess and stopped at 10 different areas in my state. Florida is a large agriculture state. People think of it as beaches and palm trees but we also have, were the number one producer of sweet corn, number one in water me lon, number one in citrus in the nation. We have over 300 specialty crops. Were heavily dependent on migrant labor. As we traveled around the nation, what we saw, or around our state, we got tremendous amount of feedback from all the different sectors and we sat down with the migrant work force. Im a veterinarian by trade. I work with horses and cattle and ive been around agriculture since i was 15. Ive talked to the migrant. Ive talked to the people. I found out that, i would can them did you come here legally or illegally . They would tell you because we had a great relationship. They said i came in illegally. You ask, do you want to become a citizen . Some do, some dont. Most just want the opportunity to come here and work. And when were in south florida going through talking to some of the producers. They were saying people from honduras can come here, work a season, maybe five months. The amount of money they make in five months is equivalent to five years in that nation. And i saw this as a way that we can fulfill the needs of our producers, fulfill the needs of Food Production for this nation an fulfill the needs of the worker who wants to come here far better life and they have an opportunity to become a citizen if they go through normal channels. The other thing this does, i didnt mention this, theres a 2,500 fee which breaks down to 500 a year. For the person that came in illegally, the first time they apply and get accepted into this program and become a participant, there will be the 2,500 fee for the permit but therell also be a 2 50rks0 fine that they have agreed that they have breck then law coming in. That puts that argument to rest, well they broke our law. These people realize that. Theyve acknowledged it. They paid a fine. We can move forward. I thought it was interesting when we went down and did our tour around the state. That the producers said, you know, comes down to this. This nation will either import their food or theyre going to import their labor. That is a National Security issue. I look at these workers, ive worked with so many of these people over the course of the year, over the last 30 year, theyre great people. My heart goes out to them. I know they want a better future. I know they want to live the american dream. Maybe not in this country but maybe the honduran dream. If a person can work five month heres and have the equivalent of five years pay in their home country, it can change lives. Itll develop an economy down there. So what i ask our workers, or our members of congress to do is get this information. You can go to our website. Yo ho yoho. House. Gov. Go to the legislation tab. Click on that. Therell be a dropdown screen. Therell be ag Guest Worker Program, we have two videos on that that explains the program. We have 10page white painer that explains the program. We have a bill thats already written, its right at 110 pages that we look to introduce. This is, its not a solution to immigration. It is a solution to the work force channels we have in this nation ining a chull her agriculture, hospitality and construction. By doing this, coming to agreement on border security, enforcing the laws already on the books, but giving people a legal portal to come into this country legally in their pre and theyre prescreened before they come in, and allow people in this country illegally to become legal, we have solved a big crisis that this body has been unable to fulfill and honor to the American People and it causes more division in this nation. More division in this house. And it just grinds the wheels of progress for this nation to an end. With that, madam speaker, i yield the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. Under the speakers announced policy of january 3, 2019, the chair recognizes the gentleman from arizona, mr. Schweikert, or 30 minutes. Mr. Schweikert thank you, madam speaker. Dont you love that when we take a few minutes getting organized, sometimes we walk around with so many moving parts. This is sort of a continuing conversation that weve been doing on a theme for well over a year now. Last congress and now into this one. Its a combination of a couple of things. One, our office works very hard on actually looking at solutions. But first youve got to understand some of the problems. And i want to say this very nicely and maybe in the next couple of weeks well come back and do it again. Weve already done it a half dozen times here on the floor. That is, the miracles of technology that are toobt do a about to do Amazing Things in environmental protection. So to our brothers and sisters who on the left who are sharing their heart felt concerns over Global Warming and Greenhouse Gases, what was so disappointing is the lack of optimism of the Incredible Technology breakthroughs that have happened. Think of this. Outside houston, theyre burning coal, burning natural gas, and theres no smokestack. Theyre capturing every bit of the a co2. Theres a litany of these types of technologies that sort of, the old mall newsian view of the way you save the malthusian view of the way you save the planet is live much poorer. Thats been wrong for centuries. Once again well private that the 1968 population bomb book, or the views that the world would starve by the late 1970s, been wrong over and over and over. We as policymakers have an obligation to make sure were moving those technologies forward. Just like the ways and Means Committee last year actually updated the tax credit for carbon sequestration. And if you if you follow the literature, the Amazing Things that happened in just that one year and technology and how good things are happening. But thats not my reason for being behind this microphone tonight. Were going to continue the theme and fulfill my obligation from last week when i said i would bring in the new revenue numbers for the first 11 months of the year on whats actually happening in the economy, what is the greatest threat to our future. Lets start with the threat and then lets talk a little bit about the good things and the solutions. Almost every member at some point has walked behind these microphones and shown this slide. But this is so important to understand what the actual conversation that drives almost every policy on this floor. Its called demographics. Its the reality of the math. You see this red, thats 1965. I accept thats, what, 55 years ago. But 34 of this governments spending was what we called mandatory. Earned and unearned benefits. Social security, you earn it. Medicare, this is prior to medicare. But you earn those things. Today its no longer 34 of our spending. Today its actually crossed over 70 of our spending. We dont even vote for on this floor. Its a formula. You turn a certain age, you get a benefit. You fall under a certain income urk get a benefit. Youre part of a certain group, you get a benefit. The blue, 15 of our spending, thats defense. The green here, 15 is what we call the other part of discretionary, and thats what we sit here and debate. And that number is going to continue to shrink. Because we have 74 million of our brothers and sisters who are baby boomers, who are moving into retirement. 10,300 americans every single day turn 65. Its not republican or democrat. Its math. But as ive joked many times, even though its a little bit of a dark humor, welcome to a mathfree zone. So lets actually continue to talk about whats the greatest threat to our society, and also the fact we have some amazing opportunities to actually deal with it. Heres the math. Take a look at the chart behind me. If i could sit in front of you and say, the next 30 years were going to remove Social Security, were going to remove medicare from the conversation, your government, your federal in nment has 23 trillion the bank. But if we roll Social Security and medicare back into the math , were 103 trillion upside down. 103 trillion negative. So were a couple hundred percent of g. D. P. And thats the 30year window. Because remember the math. Every five years, just the growth in Social Security and medicare, health care entitlements, just the growth equals the defense department. Every five years. So every 10 years its as if we added two defense departments, just from the growth of Social Security and medicare. Is that republican or democrat . Its demographics. Somehow this place completely 50 ot there was a baby boom years agoplus, 60 years ago. Over an 18year perioder of time and we have 7 period of time and we have 76 million of us who are baby boomers, moving into our retirement, and we havent set aside the fraction of the resources necessary. So this is the great fragility, for my little soon to be 4yearold little girl. This is the threat to her economic life. Her economic future. But i will argue, the future of our country, and actually the Economic Vitality of the entire world. Because when the United States runs into crushing headwinds, the rest of the world also suffers. And once again, look at the chart. The reality of it is Social Security is huge. But its an easier fix. Its medicare. Medicare is what our great fragility is. So lets actually talk about some of the positives. Because, and its my very last slide that we typically start with, we come here and talk about, hey, theres sort of five pillars, economic expansion, tax code, trade, regulatory, that you do those policies to maximize Economic Growth. Incentives to join the labor force. As you know, we still have a math problem, millennial men into the labor force. Even though the august numbers were stunning, you know, now weve broken over, what is it, 63. 2 labor force participation. I know thats geeky. But when tax reform was done, the modelers all said, well, were fearful that Capital Stock and labor will be the headwinds that keep us from being able to grow. Well, it turns out that thing they call Capital Stock has worked in our favor. Its working great. The amount of resources coming back in, we call repatriation, that was part of the tax code, ave exceeded the models. Americans saving has exceeded the models and now that we are in many ways the healthiest economy in the world, the amount of resources that are flowing into our economy from around the world have exceeded what anyone modeled. Capital stock is in great shape. Look at our interest rates. It turns out labor is our fragility. But think about this. If i had come to people in this room, republicans and democrats, and said, hey, three years ago, lets were having this conversation three years ago, youre going to live in a country in 2019 with substantially more jobs than available workers, that in the last, like, we saw in the august data, in the last three months for, well call it our brothers and sisters, and i hate this term, but theres not a better way to talk about it, who are in some of the lower income areas, they will be having wages growing faster than 4 . You would have thought i was out of my mind. Yet its happening. You would think there would be just joy from our friends on the left and a little more talking about how wonderful that Economic Growth being moral, because it helps so many of our brothers and sisters who have had some really rough decades, the math is still early. And its going to be hard to do. But theres a couple modelers out there that i have these conversations with that are saying, this may be the year, that because of Income Growth in those, our brothers and sisters who didnt finish high school, who have had those types of equivalent of moderate to lower skilled jobs, but their wages are growing so fast this may be the first year where income inequality actually shrinks a bit, and our friends on the left say thats one of the biggest moral imperatives in their vision. Guess what, something were doing is working in the economy. Look at our brothers and sisters. Hispanic population, africanamerican population, handicap population. All these different subcategories we do to do our u6 math, either at or bypassing some of the best employment numbers in modern history. Would you think theres almost be joy and you would think actually the debates around here would be, how do we keep it going . Instead of who we intend to punish next. So, part of the amusement ive had so far this year, particularly and its sometimes hard, but never do it, come up here behind the microphone and we have this whole binder of some of the crazy things that were said a couple years ago when we were doing tax reform. Revenues are going to collapse. The economys going to be thrown into recession. All this sort of just darkness. And it was wrong. So think about this. The chart behind me is the , low, i think thats yellow is the, what we call, receipts for the first 11 months of this fiscal year. Your federal governments fiscal year begins october 1. The blue is 2018, the green is 2017. Receipts for the first 11 dollars, 2019 in hard uninflationadjusted dollars are the largest revenue receipts in u. S. History. And i was doing the math off the top of my head, i need to grab it and sit in front of a calculator, but off the top of my head, i believe thats a 4 growth rate in revenues. Yet the argument around here is the tax cuts are these horrible theyre going to theyre wrong. And the math is here. Do you think were going to get an apology . That number is also, if i inflationadjust it so i do constant dollars over the last few decades, its the second highest revenue in u. S. History. And think about whats happened in our economy. How many of our brothers and sisters are working, how many of our brothers and sisters are seeing the value of their homes, the value of their paychecks, the best theyve been in decades . I just i dont know how we come here to the floor, we claim we care about working men and women in the country, and then dont take joy in the fact that the math is actually stunningly positive, and how we dont engage in a debate and discussion, how we keep discussion how we keep it going. But politics, as you know, in d. C. , have become absolutely perverse. Where the weaponization of a rything, the rage is now Business Plan of certain Media Outlets to, god forbid you Say Something positive about the economy because youll lose viewership, but the math is the math. So lets even take it a bit further. Because we live in a society thats so honest about whats actually happening in the economy, you all saw Industrial Production numbers a couple days ago. I know im geeking out a bit. But remember, wasnt it on this very floor just a couple months ago, we were all talking well, one side was talking about, were going into recession, things are crashing, you know, the sugar high is over. Except for the fact that Industrial Production last month had a. 6 which is a nice, big spike and revision of previous months, its working the United States is working, our economy is working , and compare it to the rest of the world. Wheres the joy . Wheres the excitement . If you say you care about people, these are people not only working, but why do we fixate on Industrial Production . What are the two factors that allow a Business Concern to pay their workers more . Well, its traditionally inflation, which doesnt mean a bigger paycheck buys you more, and its productivity. When productivity goes up, people get paid more. And the purchasing power is more. Industrial production is linked to productivity. It means this is part of the reason our brothers and sisters out there who are out there rking their hearts out are getting paid more and theyre purchasing power is their purchasing power is better. I know this is geeky. I know i come behind this microphone and sometimes sound like an accountant on steroids. But these things are important. Because its real. Its not some emotional blairing of, you know, we hate this person, we like this person. We made the math work. And were seeing the results of good things for hardworking americans. Growth is moral. And where i want to take that is my experience in phoenix of visiting the homeless campus and st. Josephs, the workers there having jobs because we are so desperate for workers in our market that employers are trying to recruit workers from he homeless campus. We actually brought some last year to testify in front of the ways and Means Committee, were so desperate for carpenters and plumbers and electricians, they brought a young man to testify in front of the ways and Means Committee that wasnt like our typical witness. He wasnt wearing a suit. He had a number of facial tattoos. As a matter of fact he had a number of facial piercings. And he opened up his testimony to the ways and Means Committee saying, im a threetime convicted felon, im an addict. But because of a private group that was so desperate for workers, they took a chance and they were doing training, in his case electrical training, in the prison. Before he gotba