To gaveluse is about in so we are going to leave the hearing. You can continue watching on cspan3 or on our website cspan. Org. The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. The chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. The clerk the speakers rooms, washington, d. C. November 19, 2019. I hereby appoint the honorable mark takano to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. Signed, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the order of the house of january 3, 2019, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. The chair will alternate recognition between the parties. All time shall be equally allocated between the parties and in no event shall debate continue beyond 11 50 a. M. Each member other than the majority and minority leaders and minority whip shall be limited to five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from oregon, ms. Bonamici, for five minutes. Miss bonamici miss bonna beachy thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today in strong support of h. R. 4674, the College Affordability act. Im proud to be an original cosponsor of this comprehensive reauthorization of the Higher Education act. The federal role in education is centered on equity. When we promote and realize equity in education, when we expand and invest in educational opportunities, we can improve outcomes for all students at all levels. President johnson signed the first Higher Education act into law in 1965, more than 50 years ago. The goal was to make certain that no student is denied a College Education because of a lack of resources. At that time, president johnson said, this act means the path of knowledge is open to all that have the determination to walk it. We have made some progress over the past 50plus years, but for many students, especially first generation and lowincome students, many students of color, they have that determination but there are still too many barriers for them to overcome. Im glad this bill addresses those barriers and includes several of my long time priorities. Informed by conversations i have had with students, community colleges, colleges, and universities across my home state of oregon. These priorities include strengthening financial counseling for student borrowers, and modernizing the federal Work Study Program to direct resources to students who need it most. Ive also heard from numerous student loan borrowers in northwest oregon who describe loan repayment as anxiety inducing, daunting, overwhelming. Which is why i have included language in the College Affordability act to help protect many borrowers from default by getting and keeping them in manageable income driven repayment plans. Also unfortunately i have heard that housing and Food Insecurity are prevalent for too many students across this country. This bill includes language i authored along with my education and Labor Committee colleague representative takano to address the issue of Food Insecurity by making sure that students who are eligible for snap are aware of their eligibility and have the support they need. The College Affordability act increases pell grant funding, supports school based childcare centers, provides stronger accountability members for institution, creates an Emergency Grant Program for students who encounter unexpected financial barriers, and makes urgently needed improvements to the Public Service loan forgiveness program. Im proud of the work that the education and Labor Committee has done in trafting the College Affordability act. Im grateful to chairman scott for his leadershipi urge all my colleagues to support this crucial education when it comes to the floor as we continue our work to make College Affordable and equitable for everyone. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Thompson, for five minutes. Mr. Thompson i rise today to recognize november 21 as National Rural health day. Nearly 16 million americans call Rural America home. Its great place to live, work, and raise a family. To ensure the vitality and vie branny of Rural America investments in infrastructure, technology, and health care are critical. Americans in every corner of the nation deserve access to reliable Quality Health care. Rural america faces its own unique Health Challenges that need to be addressed. Sadly, Rural Americans are more likely than those in urban areas to die prematurely from heart disease, cancer, unintentional injury, chronic lower respiratory disease and stroke. The nations five leading causes of death. Rural america is no stranger to health care struggles, including long distances to the lowest hospital. Many uninsured or underinsured residents and large number of aging residents with chronic conditions. Another issue is simply the lack of doctors and providers. There are only 40 physicians for every 100,000 people in Rural America. This leads to unserved patients and overworked medical professionals. One way to address these issues is through telemedicine. Telemedicine can reduce health care barriers, increase access and bolster convenience for millions of americans. Telemedicine is critical in ensuring increased access to care for americans who live many miles away from a hospital office. Ors you can also make the difference in the lives of limited mobility americans like those who may be elderly or living with different types of disabilities. Another way to improve the health of Rural Americans who may be considered lowincome is to address outofpocket costs for medicaid expenses. Something that needs to be addressed for seniors in not only Rural America but also across the country is the misuse of direct and indirect remuneration or d. I. R. , which is and how tim pacted the part d drug plans. Over the years d. I. R. Has become a catch all for pharmacy fees which has unfairly shifted additional costs on to medicaid patients. While progress has been made with the 2018 Medicare Part d pricing role, there is still much more to be done. Thats why i cosponsored h. R. 1034, the fair pricing act. This bill directly addresses necessary forms to d. I. R. Fees by doing four key things. First, the fair pricing act will require all price concessions between a pharmacy and a pharmacy benefits manager be included at the point of sale to decrease patient costs. Second, the bill will realign market incentives to ensure patients have access to and receive the best possible care. Third, the fair pricing act will direct the secretary of health and Human Services to establish a working group of stakeholders to create quality measures based on a pharmacys practice. And lastly, the bill would ensure pharmacy benefits managers disclose all fees, price concessions, and programs to the centers on medicare and medicaid. Mr. Speaker, Rural Americans deserve the best medical care available. We can improve options for them and for all americans through common sense, Bipartisan Solutions like investments in telemedicine and legislation like the fair pricing act. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yield back the balance of his time of the the chair recognizes gentleman from texas, mr. Green, for five minutes. Mr. Green thank you mr. Speaker. And still i rise for the love of my country. I rise today with a special message concerning some of the disasters that confront us in this country. I rise because last night this house passed h. R. 37 3207. This was a piece of legislation designed to deal with Emergency Management after these disasters. It is filed the reforming Disaster Recovery act of 2019. This is an important piece of legislation that passed and because it has passed the house, it is most appropriate that we do several things. The first, acknowledge the support that it had in the house. And give thanks to those who supported the legislation. I have to thank all of the 290 members of this house who voted to support this legislation. 290 members, it was bipartisan. Mrs. Ann wagner was the republican lead on this bill and she did great work in bringing along the bipartisan effort that was necessary to pass the legislation. Mrs. Ann er in, wagner, could hee cosponsor. I would like to thank my chairwoman of the Financial Services committee, the honorable maxine waters. Who fought fearlessly to help us get this passed. I cannot do this without acknowledging the ranking member, the honorable mr. Mchenry, who fought also to get it passed. In fact, it passed out of the committee unanimously because of waters and mchenry. Because of the honorable ann wagner. It passed out of the committee unanimously. The bill came to the floor and again 290 of the members of this congress voted for it. I salute all of the persons who helped to make this possible. Just a quick word about the bill. Five minutes is not nearly enough to thank all the People Associated with it. And i have a long list of persons that i shall place in the record at some point. Least of which will be the staff. Staff really worked diligently and tirelessly to get this bill passed as well. But the bill itself, after natural disasters in this country, we have been relegated to starting a process to accord various areas in the country that are impacted funding to help them rebuild, to help them restore order to their lives. And in doing this we have not codified the methodology by which we would perfect the assistance thats needed. We never codified it. 26 years ago h. U. D. Received the responsibility to respond, but we didnt give any codified rules. The h. U. D. O. I. G. Indicated there was a necessity to codify some rules so that we could respond in a timely manner, but also do it in an efficacious manner such that we would not reinvent the wheel each and every time, which is what we have been doing. Reinventing the wheel. Well, this bill does that. It codifies the whole process of dealing with management after a disaster. Fema deals with the emergency side of it in terms of an immediate response. Providing persons with someplace to live. Providing persons with the necessities of life. But longterm response is what h. U. D. Deals with. And under this longterm response legislation that we passed yesterday, h. U. D. Now can work with municipalities directly in some cases f. A municipality has demonstrated it can handle large sums of money, then funding can go from the congress to the municipality as opposed to some other Agency Within the state and then trickle down to that municipality. Houston, texas, by way of example has kem demonstrated it can handle these large sums of money. Great accounting department. The mayor is there and has done an outstanding job. With this kind of opportunity to get direct funding, people will receive help more efficaciously, theyll receive it immediately. Also small areas of the country, small cities, they will get some better understanding of how they can approach this process and how they can get the funding accorded them in a faster way. The bill really is something that has been needed not only for the hurricanes, the flooding, but also for the tornadoic activities, the earthquakes that will visit some parts of the contry, for the fires well have. This legislation is meaningful and i will say more about it in the future. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from alabama, mr. Byrne, for five minutes. Mr. Byrne thank you, mr. Speaker. Unfortunately i must rise again because like so many times before the goal post for impeaching President Trump have moved. At this rate nancy pelosi must be any field goal kickers worst nightmare. Since day one literally day one, it has been abund dantley clear that the far left members of the socalled squad have been moving this democratic majority closer to impeaching the president. They dont care why or how. They dont care what evidence, real or imagined, is use. They only care about the end result. Impeaching President Trump so he will not win reelection. As this radical faction gains dominance in the democratic party, Speaker Pelosi has tried every justification if the book to impeach this president. We were told for years we would get to impeachment from the mueller report. They said just wait. Wait until the report. Its going to show russian collusion. Well, two years and millions of dollars down the drain, mueller showed no collusion. The democratic narrative quickly turned towards obstruction of justice. But that, too, fell flat. But then, mr. Speaker, majority got a new gift, the whistleblower. Never mind he had no firsthand knowledge of what he blew the whistle on, never mind hes a partisan democrat, never mind he worked with adam schiff on his new allegations against President Trump. It was Campaign Finance violations. That didnt work. Then, it was quid pro quo. For weeks thats what the about. Y talked not anymore. Apparently, mr. Speaker, some ighly paid Political Consultants warned Speaker Pelosi that quid pro quo did not resonate with the American People. So now it seems theyve moved on o another version of impeachment that tested best in groups, the nefarious sounding bribery. Bribery, thats what well on. Ach President Trump well, mr. Speaker, i think my friends on the other side need to dust off their law books because, unfortunately, for their latest impeachment fantasy, bribery isnt just some word. Its a real crime with a real one this and its majority cannot prove. Ou see, bribery occurs when an individual corruptly links receiving something of value in for an official government action. I say to the majority, show me asking ukraine to look into he 2016 election and into the sketchy dealings of hunter biden is acting corruptly. Ill e i tell you what, show you evidence that ukrainian officials were working to boost ill showclinton, and you evidence that the Obama Administration itself was concerned about Hunter Bidens deals. I think most americans will say, maybe the president of the nited states should be looking into these things. I think they will say we want the president looking into in our corruption government and interference in our elections. To the ortantly, i say majority, show me how president to these ed aid investigations. Of mr. Speaker, president rumps phone call with ukraines president zelensky, you know, the one that the whistle ower blew the on, its on the internet. Everyone can read it and i hope nowhere will, because in that call did President Trump ver link any aid to ukraine in exchange for anything. The president did not one time, one time, even mention any kind of hold on the aid. Not once. This is not bribery. Conduct. Ot impeachable yet, here we are trying to remove the president of the United States, the leader of country, the man chosen by the voters over these newest allegations. Mr. Speaker, the American People see past this charade. Is a now that this partisan political scheme, and at this point, i think most are paying attention, those who havent tuned out, now this is just the latest effort by democrats to throw something at the wall and see if it sticks. Has committed no bribery, treason, or high crimes misdemeanors. The only offenses that the constitution says warrant impeachment. I ask the majority, when do we stop and get back to the business of the American People . I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The chair now recognizes the mrs. Woman from ohio, beatty, for five minutes. Mr. Speaker, im to represent the third Congressional District of ohio. The tunately, my district, state, and the nation is no gun ger to senseless violence, lack of Affordable Housing, and Quality Health care. Today, again, to say enough is enough. To mourn the 13,200 men, who have children been victims of gun violence this year. Thoughts and nly prayer is over. Ts time for serious hardhitting policy and change. I call on my colleagues to legislation, h. R. 287, the safer now act. Safer america for everyone right now is comprehensive and pulls most er the forwardthinking policies in one package. T would, mr. Speaker, require background checks, prohibit the sale of semi automatic assault weapons, make trafficking a offense forcriminal firearms. Whoibit the use of firearms has been convicted of stalking and bans bump stock. And the two gun reform bills awaiting senate action. My first floor speech when first elected to congress was on gun violence. I helped sponsor and ass commonsense gun laws, proudly received an f rating from the f. R. A. , participated in sitin, ur gun reform marched with moms demand action, students demand action for gun reform and more. m calling on the governor of ohio, city mayors, state epresentatives, Security Council city council to demand action to make our safer. Ties get guns off the street. Train and put Neighborhood Police back in our communities. Call upon the soontobe new to ce chief of columbus first patrol our inner city neighborhoods. Know our community. Old Police Officers accountable, and support reducing gun violence, because enough is enough. Speaker, lack of Affordable Housing is an issue. Most lumbus area is the expensive region for housing in ohio. Would have to work a minimum wage of over 18 a twobedroomford apartment. Get a fighting to only 15 per hour minimum wage. I recently convened an summit to housing discuss this critical issue with stakeholders, toured the district, and in that evening 400 joined by some constituents to have a community handrsation, hearing first from them about Affordable Housing issues. E know that young people and africanamericans are isproportionately affected by this housing shortage. Too many young people, too many veterans, and ny too many families are facing homelessness. Suburban areas are continuing to grow. Of eed to ensure that all our residents can grow and prosper. I recently on, passed a bill for f. H. A. To get a homebuyers reduction on their mortgage insurance for taking a Financial Literacy course. It passed the house. To, lets call on the senate pass that. We must increase the supply of equitable opportunities to Affordable Housing. Call on the banks to Design Projects with their bankowned houses. Raise bond financing. Abatement housing buyouts. Increase federal funding. A housing czar in my district, and support state housing tax credits. Will continue to work with stakeholders to address this crisis. Ble housing mr. Speaker, lastly for today, i affordable ess to and Quality Health care for my constituents and all americans. Many constituents do not get the care they need due to costs. Eting too many seniors cant afford and theyre ptions cutting their pills in half to stretch their medicine. Oo many young people cannot afford the insurance premiums to even get access to a doctor. Beginning of this congress, i met with stakeholders in my district to solicit their help. Will continue to support the Affordable Care act, oppose attempts to dismantle this critical egislation, because if republicans have their way, nearly 30 million americans their health care. Sobering ionable and statistic. Im proud to cosponsor h. R. 3, cost of the Prescription Drug act. Mr. Speaker, im fighting for the people of the third ongressional district, and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. Recognizes the gentleman from indiana, mr. Pence, for five minutes. R. Pence thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to jane paulie the Community Health center with ocations across indiana on 10 years of helping patients of all ges and backgrounds in need of care. 2009, these Health Care Centers continue to serve communities across the sixth affordable oviding health care to hoosiers. The jane paulie community the spirit of humanity and altruism by serving those in need, regardless of the patients ability to pay. On a decade of service. Recognizer, i rise to the New Castle High School omens Volleyball Team for winning the 2019 class 4a state volleyball championship. This marks new castles third year in a row on achieving this victory. S the Coaching Staff and players brought pride to the new castle community. Congratulations to the trojans great job on a threepeat. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to Greenfield Central High School marching band for indiana he class b state championship. Recently visited Greenfield Central High School and was able to meet some of the band members nd see their incredible facilities firsthand. He 160member could go arrest pride marching band cougar marching band worked hard and its an accomplishment they re sure to remember for the rest of their lives. I congratulate them on their asome achievement. Mr. Speaker, i rise awesome achievement. Mr. Speaker, i rise to recognize Barbara Hinkle for receiving the award. Hop respect life as a member of the st. Gabriel started the ra compassionate visitors and vigil serves group which local nursing homes. Barbara started the group to and hope she said, joy to the lonely and peace and comfort to the dying. Barbara on her award and thank her for her heart. s mr. Speaker, i rise today to for the y appreciation Muncie Public Library on eceiving the Historic Preservation education grant. He funds from indiana humanities, in cooperation with endowment of the humanities will be used to help the librarys share its history nd preservation needs with the public. Carnegie library was the first and ry building in muncie one to first to be built in donation from w andrew carnegie. This facility serves as an icon f history and a modern work space and receives my full support in congress. I yield the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the time. Ce of his the chair now recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. Minutes. Five mr. Bera thank you, mr. Speaker. Today, i rise today to talk Great Service e Space Programs in america, the americorps program. 1994, more than 1. 1 million americans have served in americorps. Today, more than 75,000 americorps members serve each 21,000 locations across the country, including schools, Public Education agencies, community groups. Hbased americorps members come from all across is this country. Heyre young men and women looking to learn leadership and give back to our country and our communities. Serve critical needs Like Fighting poverty, sustaining national parks, responding and to disasters and mentoring youth. Hey mobilize and coordinate millions of volunteers to serve alongside them, which promotes the Lasting Impact on volunteers and the communities that they serve. Was recently fortunate to speak at the induction ceremony for the Americorps National community corps, one of three americorps programs. Americorps members are assigned one of four regional campuses, one being sacramento, alifornia, the district i represent. Befo before amayor becoming americorps members, they have to take the pledge. I read that pledge. I thought this is something that ought to think about as members of congress. Let me read that pledge to you right now, mr. Speaker. Things done ll get for america to make our people healthier. Ter, and ought to ths i will bring americans together communities. Our faced with amp thee, i will take apathy, i will take action. Conflict, i will seek common ground. Aced with adversity, i will persevere. I will carry this commitment beyond. This year and i am an americorps member and i will get things done. Imagine if these Young Americans can take that pledge, what if we change that last line to, i am a member of congress, and i done . Et things we can learn something from these young people. A body, e together as lets immolate what we are were teaching that next generation and lets get things done, congress. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Chair now recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Smucker, for five minutes. Smucker thank you, mr. Speaker. Rise today to recognize november as National Adoption awareness month. According to the Adoption Network one out of every 25 families in the United States has an adopted child. That means adoption has directly touched the lives of 1 3 of the u. S. Population. Yet despite the widespread impact of adoption, many more children still need a loving home. The average child waits for an adoptive family for more than three years. Nearly 115,000 children are waiting to find their forever home. We can do better. Many barriers prevent these children from being placed in loving homes. They include the high and often unpredictable cost of adoption. And families and birth mothers simply not having enough information about the option of adoption. To reduce these barriers and help support increased adoption placement, i recently introduced the improving adoption outcomes and affordability act. My legislation provides assistance to state or local governments, public or private adoption agencies, faithbased organizations, and eligible nonprofits for the purpose of improving adoption education, providing prebirth counseling assistance to birth mothers choosing adoption, and helping to cover Mental Health or Substance Abuse treatments to mothers struggling with addiction and other personal challenges during pregnancy. Not only will this increase education this increased education and counseling improve the outcome of the adoption for both birth mothers and adopting families, but it will also provide more pricing stability to the overall fees that families pay during adoption. Adoptions often cost hens of housands of dollars which is a financial impediment to families making this life affirming choice. Injecting more price predictionibility into the adoption system may be the help that families need when making this decision to adopt. Last Congress Bipartisan legislation that i introduced to reduce known barriers for foster placement was signed into law. This bill builds on that effort to improving adoption outcomes and we all will remain committed to ensuring that every child has the opportunity to grow up in a safe and loving home. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to congratulate the faculty, staff, and students of ann la tort Elementary School being recognized as a 20192020 National Blue ribbon school. The National BlueRibbon Schools Program was founded nearly 40 years ago to recognize outstanding public and private schools who are making a difference and exemplify excellence. La tort elementary was recognized as an exemplary achievement gap closing school. Id like to thank penn manor superintendent, the school board, and the leadership and teachers at la tort elementary for working very hard for this achievement. We know how a quality education prepares students for success throughout the rest of their lives. Mr. Speaker, in their application for wreck nizz, the School Principal notes that it is evidence how individuals throughout the community are vested in the education of every la tort student. Mr. Speaker, id like to thank and congratulate that community for making a difference in the lives of their students and for for being tion recognized as a National Blue ribbon school. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair recognizes for being gentlewoman from alabama, mrs. Roby, for five minutes. Mrs. Roby thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to highlight an important time in alabamas history. Im proud to lead the efforts joined by my colleagues from alabama in introducing a resolution today which honors the 200th anniversary of alabamas statehood. On december 14, 1819, alabama was incorporated into the union as the 22nd state. December 14, 2019 will mark 200 years since the historical day of our states incorporation. This is a monumental occasion in our States History and we are looking forward to joining alabamans in a year full of memorable celebration and commemoration of the bicentennial. It is my greatest honor to represent and serve the people of alabamas second Congressional District which includes montgomery, our States Capital city. Alabama is currently experiencing extreme Economic Development and job growth across the state, which makes this special time even more exciting for us all. I join my colleagues in recognizing this milestone in our States History. I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve the people of alabama as we celebrate the birthday and history of the beloved state we all call home. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back. Pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house conflict of interest with hunter biden sitting on the board . Only thing im aware of is pertains through his deposition. As you know, financial records show a Ukrainian Natural Gas Company routed 3 million to hunter biden. Im not aware of this fact. Until recently. I guess i didnt independently look into it. Im just not aware of, you know, what kind of payments mr. Biden may have received. This is not something im aware of. Did you no he that burismas legal representatives met