Radio listeners, hang on, the hearing is coming up shortly. We will be streaming it live on cspan. Org. Our responsibility and our duty is to cover the u. S. House and senate gaveltogavel. Lets take you live to the house floor. E hoe will be in order t chair lays bere the house a communication from th eaker. The clerk the speakers rm, december 4,. , 2019. I hereby appoint theonable to act as spear pro tempore on this day. Signed, nancy pelosi, spear f e hous oreresentativ. The eaker pro tempore pursuant to the order of the ouse of nuary 3, 2019, the chair will now recognize mbs from lists submitted by the mari and minority leaders fomorning hour debate. The chairill alrnate recognition between thparties. All time shall bequally allocated beeen the parties and in no event shall debate continueeyond 11 50 a. M. Each member other than th majoriy anminotyeaders and the minority wh shall be limited to fiveintes. The cir recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina, mr. Bishop, for five minutes. Mr. Bishop ank y,. Speaker. I ask unanimouconsent to revise and extend my mas. He speaker pro tempor without objeion. Mr. Bishop at 2 p. M. Today, hcommittee on natural reources, subcommittee on indigenoupeoples, will hear lumbee recoitioact which luee tribe the long overdue benefits. The lumbe this bill is no symbolish gesture. No other recognized tribe is right to selfgovernment and sovereignty. Finally gnition will allow the 55,000 lumbee i fair access have to the benefits and programs vailable to all other recognized tribes. S a state senator, i sponsored legislation to clarify the status of the lumbee as a state ensure ed tribe to access to appropriate grants and programs. Now i am proud as a United States congressman to continue lumbee tribe on the federal level. In fact, cosponsoring this legislation was one of my First Official acts in congress. Applaud my colleagues, representatives butterfield and hudson, for introducing this important legislation to right wrong. Ndamentally unfair i look forward to casting my vote on the house floor to give recognition they so rightfully deserve. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Back. D the speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina, mr. Minutes. Ld, for five butterfield mr. Speaker, i honor my friend of more bruce rose. S, mr. Pause to a will for rose day. Had 60 years of Continuous Service to our city. Speaker, mr. L. Coon d from Charles High School and got a degree college. On technical he proudly served our country in the United States army for two years. Served for 30 years with the wilson fire department, seven of which he served as fire chief. Attended fire schools throughout North Carolina, virginia, and tennessee, National Fire academy in emitiesburg, maryland. Hes a graduate of the executive Development Course of chief fire mittsburg. N em appointment of governor james p. Hunt to the National Fire commission. 1999 governors ward for outstanding volunteer service. Mayor rose continued to serve as a goodwill ambassador as he was mayor beginning in 1992. Hes been proud to celebrate the through of the city events such as ribbon cuttings and groundbreaking and proclamations. F he speaks at community events, works to bring industries into he city and has worked diligently to see the City Community thrive. Especially proud of the worley gate project which is bringing Economic Development to city. An 18er his leadership, million surface transportation is now happening in the africanamerican community. City invested 2 million into this project. The North Carolina department of ransportation invested 6 million, and with my assistance, the city received a tiger grant secretary anthony fox of 10 million for the project. Tenure, mayor rose has been involved in several projects and initiatives such as frt buck coin of the buck coin reservoir and municipal broadband and its been successful. Been wilsons longest serving mayor. Nearly 28 ng 27, consecutive years and eight consecutive terms. Mayor rose is a lifetime member first pentacostal holliness holiness church. He is married to Rebecca Davis rose. They continue to be involved in Church Functions throughout the city. Mayor rose, mr. Speaker, is to four children and one delightful grandchild. Mr. Speaker, i ask my colleagues to join me in today in congratulating and honoring my mayor c. Bruce rose as hes recognized for 60 i epeat that again 60 consecutive years of unselfish wilson, o the city of North Carolina. The contributions of mayor rose o the city cannot be overstated. Thank you, my colleagues, for listening. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from kansas, mr. Marshall, for five minutes. Marshall thank you, mr. Speaker. This week is Second Amendment eek in our office to celebrate our godgiven rights to keep and bear arms. Each year at the start of the i cant wait to get out in the field and enjoy ne of my very favorite pastimes. Hunting is an american raditions shared across generations and this thanksgiving i was able to sneak my son to go duck hunting. Let me tell you, mr. Speaker, seen so many ducks. All the conservation groups are incredible jobs. Any kansans use firearms for hunting. Carrying a firearm can be the difference between life and death. Counties in kansas, the closest Law Enforcement officer is often 30 minutes to hour away. Thus, you may need a firearm to rotect yourself, your loved ones, and your property. N both rural and urban areas, kansas use for selfdefense. A gun locked away in a basements. A handgun, rifle, the right to defend ourselves must not be infringed upon. As i represent kansas in staunchly remain opposed of any laws restricting any firearms can be bought. Guns, which i call guns con confiscation, will be met with a ground swell of opposition because these types of laws amendment second rights. In congress, we need to keep fighting for programs that ddress the underlying cause of gun violence, which is mental illness. To reach out to those who are they can get the proper care and attention early so they dont fall through the themselves or others. We also need to make sure our existing background check system is working properly to continue to prevent tragedies while now nfringing on the rights of mentally stable lawabiding citizens. Gun olutions to preventing violence can be found at dinner tables, in our churches, in our communities. Individually, we must practice and promote responsible gun while collectivingly ensuring that the second collectively ensuring that the second upheld. T is each one passing on their knowledge and skills to the thats our way of life in kansas. We must continue to uphold it nd our constitutional right to keep and bear arms for the purpose of selfdefense and freedom. L r. Speaker, today marks more than one year since President Trump signed the usmca trade and its still collecting dust on speaker pelosis desk. Entire year that nancy pelosi and how democrats have made kansas businesses, farmers, ranchers, and workers wait. There is no excuse for holding this trade agreement which is expected to create 176,000 jobs and deliver a 70 billion boost to our United States economy. Kansas, it would mean thousands of jobs and hundreds dollars. Ns of this agreement will make us stronger in our next trade with china as well. With all due respect to speaker no more here are excuses. Its time. Lets deliver a win for our usmca now. Pass house aker, this week republicans produced our report showing specific facts that ismantle the democrats claims of scombeechlt. This impeachment. President trump has a reasonable skepticism of ukraine due to its history of pervasive corruption. Evidence does not establish that President Trump pressured ukraine to briz ma Holdings Holdings for the purpose of benefitting him in the 2020 election. Finally, number three, the evidence does not support that President Trump covered up the of his telephone conversation with president restricting access to the call summary. Speaker pelosi previously said conditions for impeachment must overwhelming and bipartisan. Currently, there is only bipartisan support in opposition impeachment. I guess the facts really dont matter and democrats moving all about w this is politics. Thank you, mr. Speaker, and i back. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Green, for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise ker, and still with my pneumonic notes in hands. Mr. Speaker, i rise because i my country but i also rise heartfelt regrets. It hurts my heart, mr. Speaker, see the Judiciary Committee experts on the topic of impeachment, one of the seminole issues of this congress. Mr. Speaker, s, and not one person of color experts. What message are we sending to when we have experts color . One person of are we saying that there are no people of color who are experts topic of impeachment . What is the message that were sending . Mr. Speaker, if i am wrong, i but if the ze, committee is wrong, if the congress is wrong, what will it do . Mr. Speaker, people of color for too long have been ignored by ne party and taken for granted by the other. Too often this happens. Often it but too happens. Mr. Speaker, i refuse to be and taken for granted. I came here to represent the ignored and taken for granted. Ot one person of color among the constitutional scholars. It seems that theres a desire some to have the output of eople of color without input from the people of color. It seems to me that we have a point wherein we got this debate about what these committees are going to do when we have our various persons us as witnesses. We ought to have balance as it relates to all aspects of society, and that would include people of color. I rise today , with great regret. Today to say that this is democrats. Its not about republicans. Its about fairness. Whether or not we have matured to the point in this country where were going treat all people equally. Ts about whether we have where phosed to a point we wont have persons appear without the richness of within this country. I support people of color. A o so, not because i am person of color. I do so because i believe that this country the words of the pledge of allegiance are mportant, that we should have liberty and justice for all. Yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Five minutes. Or. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to recognize the well earned retirement of North Hampton township chief of police mike clark. Chief clark has served the people for 47 years. As our chief of police since 2013. For the first 26 years of his service, chief clark served on the patrol division, on swat, and Detective Department giving him a wide range of experiences within the police force. Earlier this year under the leadership of chief clark the department earned an accreditation from the pennsylvania learment accreditation commission, an achievement realized by just 10 of the states 1,200 police departments. Chief clark works to make the department more active in the community, to increase his officers interaction with the people they work to protect. His coffee with the Cops Initiative created personal connections between the Police Officers and public. Under his leadership the department created a Facebook Page to kept public informed. Mr. Speaker, we want to thank chief clark for his hard work and dedication to the people of North Hampton township. Because of the actions of chief clark and his officers, North Hampton is safer and happyier for everybody who resides there. Chief clark, thank you for your service and we hope you enjoy your well earned retirement. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to honor the life of Thomas Hecker of lionhorn, pennsylvania. He passed away surrounded by his family had he age of 72. Tom was born in philadelphia and raised in langhorn. He graduated from beneficiaryon Egan High School and received his under graduate degree from la salle university. Afterle receiving his law degree from villanova university, he joined a law firm where he faithfully worked as a partner until his passing. He was man of devout faith and he volunteered at his church and as a lecter and eucharist particular minister. He had a zest for life often expressed through the twinkle in his eyes we saw every time we saw him. He cherished his family freands and he loved to socialize and connect with them over a meal and a good bottle of wine. He was notorious for his eagle sunday football parties and created bleachers in his house for game days. Tom was also a golf enthusiast. You could often find tom in the summer at his beach house. E lived by the motto, smile, our deepest condolences go out to his family and friends. Hes enjoying his eternal award for a life he spent serving thers. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to honor the life of former state he representative bob godsaw who passed away before the thanksgiving who day. He represented the 5 ld district honorably for 36 years and retired in 2018. Bob was born in francona, pennsylvania, on the family farm where he lived until his passing. He was a proud graduate of soudertown high school and Juniata Juniata college. He helped run the family farms poultry many operation, served own the school board, and former Montgomery County controller. He served as the chairman of the Consumer Affairs committee, following his tenure as chairman of the tourism and Recreational Development committee. He frequently worked across the aisle to push legislation that protected consumers, boosted tourism across the state, and been fitted the people of Montgomery County. Mr. Speaker, no matter the politics, bob put his community first. He worked tirelessly to bring better jobs, safety, and improved infrastructure to our community. Bob was great man and a dedicated Public Servant and as long as good honest individuals like him work to serve the people, we can look forward to the future. Mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. Costa, for five minutes. Mr. Costa i ask unanimous consent to address the house and revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to celebrate the passage of legislation this week called e a bill that will spur portuguese invest nour economy and help create jobs here in america. As a proud portuguese american and a cochair of the congressional portuguese caucus, and member of the hispanic caucus, i join with Congress Members cicilline, nunes, and others in being the original cosponsor of the act. I want to thank my colleagues this week for their support and passage on a bipartisan basis. Our friendship with portugal and the contributions of hardworking portuguese americans i, immigrants, are an important part of our countrys history and our heritage. As well as our economy. The United States is portugals largest trading power partner outside the european union. It in 2018 alone, trading between our two countries reached an excess of 5 billion. This will only increase that Economic Activity. This bill, because this bill will make it easier for portuguese investors, businesspeople, to increase their operations in the United States. Growing both our economies, drawing our nations even closer together, and guess what . Creating more and more jobs. More than 100 Portuguese Companies today already have operations in the United States. What did those operation does . They create jobs, opportunities, and they build additional prosperity on both sides of the atlantic. We have done our part. Now its time we hope that the United States senate will do their part. So that we can send this bill to the president that has, again, strong bipartisan support. It will obviously be good to get this measure passed, hopefully, efore the end of the year. Senators whitehouse, too manyy, bipartisan have already introduced their version of the legislation, the ameegos act, in the United States senate. We thank amigos act, in the United States senate. We thng them for their sprong efforts and partnership. Sharing prosperity in this instance can only benefit both countries. Both the United States and portugal. And its this kind of it commonsense trade policy, i think, that we need to be advocating, along with continuing to build on our partnerships, both within the european union, as well as within south america and with asia, and of course the all importance between our closest neighbors, both canada and mexico. Trade, obviously, done properly can create goodpaying jobs in america and been fit our relationships and our benefit our relationships and Economic Activity with those countries who we value the most. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from wisconsin, mr. Steil, for five minutes. Mr. Speaker, in 2018 an estimated 47 billion spam robocalls were placed in the United States. Americans lost 1. 5 billion to fraud last year. Weekly, sometimes daily our phones are flooded with spam calls. Not only are these calls annoying, but these criminals trick people into giving away personal information such as their Social Security number or bank information. Robocalls affect everyone from janesville, to kenosha, racine, and everywhere in between. Last month i held an Identity TheftFraud Prevention workshop in southeast wisconsin. More than 200 residents attended and received useful tips from federal and state agencies to protect themselves from fraud. Making communities resilient from scammers is critcafment robocalls are becoming more critical. Robocalls are becoming more sophisticated every day. Its becoming easier for americans to call victim to scamming. Thats why Congress Must act. Today the house is voting on a bill i cosponsored, the telephone robocall abuse criminal enforcement and deterrence act, the trace act. The trace act strengthensed penalties for criminals who conduct spam robocalls. This bill also requires Telecommunications Companies develop new ways to certify all calls are from legitimate people. Working together with phone companies, consumer groups, and the federal government will protect our community and go after the bad guys. I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense, nonpartisan bill. Mr. Speaker, this week we recommit ourselves to ending the hivaids epidemic. We have made progress to prevent infections and enhance treatment, but more work must be done. Supporting the global fund and fully funding its programs is an important piece of the puzzle. The global fund is a Partnership Organization that works with government and private secretary yorl in private sector to end the aids, tuberculosis, and malaria epidemics, by developing low cost, high impact treatments in technologies we can save lives. Since the creation of the global fund in 2002, death caused by these diseases have been reduced by onethird each year in countries where the global fund invests. I was proud to cosponsor the bill and see the house support the global fund. This is an important issue to many across southeast wisconsin. Earlier this year i met with pastor bob griffith and pastor Lawrence Kirby to discuss the United States commitment to battling these health epidemics. Whether that be at home in southeast wisconsin or throughout the world. Pastor griffith and pastor kirby worked in racine and kenosha communities and their work there is admirable. They advocate for those in poverty and for our Global Community dealing with these diseases. Thank you to pastor griffith and pastor kirby for their dedication to this cause, for bringing awareness to the fight. We must continue working together and ensure education, treatment, and assistance is available to those who need it. Thank you. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. Davis, for five minutes. Thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this is not the first time i have risen on this house floor to congratulate the rochester rocket Football Team on a state championship that they just won just this past week at husky stadium in illinois. They played the chicago santa rita mustangs winning by a score of 4228. They came out strong with three touchdowns early, giving them a 210 lead at the end of the first quarter. With four touchdown passes between quarterback clay bruno and receiver hank beatty, the rockets proved they meant business. The dynamic duo put on an offensive showcase with bruno completing 18 of his 25 passes for 313 yards. And beatty hauling in 12 catches for 212 yards. Their offense was as dominant as ever. Making it nearly impossible for saint rita to create any momentum. In addition to a powerhouse offense, the defensive line showed up to work. Senior peters had 11 tackles and sophomore johnny neal had seven. He was playing j. V. Half way through the season and got a 14yard sack on the quarterback and fumble recovery. This is the rock rockets eighth straight championship in 10 years. And this is the first one that hey achieved in the higher 5a classification. Leave it to coach leonard and the entire team and community to get bumped up by maybe a student or two and higher class and win a state championship there, too. Congratulations, coach leonard. Congratulations to all your assistant coaches and to the entire Rocket Community on another well deserved state hampionship. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to congratulate coach brent weekly and the central a M High SchoolFootball Team on their class 1a state runnerup title. Last week they played a great game with the winslow panthers but lost in the 1a state championship. This year was the teams first year since 2001 that the raiders have made an appearance at the ihsh championship game. While they didnt bring home a win, they held their heads high following last fridays game. A ms quarterback threw for 192 yards and two touchdowns. Connor, you have come a long way since i used to drop my kids off with you at the same baby sirt in tailorville a few short years ago. Our receiver had 11 receptions, tie for the most all time in a class 1a championship game. His 157 receiving yards broke a 1a record set back in 2006. All said and done, a m had its best season in 18 years. Coach weekly said it best of his team, hats off to our kids. They kept competing. Im really happy and proud of them. Well, im happy and proud of them, too, coach, and we are proud of you and your entire Coaching Staff and the entire central a m community. Congrats on a great season. R. Speaker, its been one year since an ef tornado ripped my town. More than 700 buildings were damaged and 300 destroyed but a single life was lost. Looking over r taylorville that night and im thankful for the critical decisions made by our former chief, mike cruz, and our berry. Mayor, bruce their actions likely saved countless lives. Its a night ill never forget. Ot only because of the destruction i saw when arriving back into my Community Minutes ravaged it, nado but its also the damage i saw daylight. Ay in but im also amazed by the enerosity that we saw from so many people from outside our community. Hundreds of volunteers came out cleanup and h the donations poured in from across and nation to help those in need. I especially want to thank ed make up others who missions for taylorville for coordinating getting these families out to those in need. This past weekend at the v. F. W. Post as a community to remember that night, to thank responders and volunteers for their work and also remind everybody that many of lies are still in need help. One year after this devastating to, again, thank all those who continue to help forometown recover and pray the families still in need. Taylorville strong. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Thompson, for five minutes. Mr. Thompson mr. Speaker, i rise today in support of the crosss annual holiday meal for Heroes Program cross annual holiday Heroes Program. His strives to provide our men and women in uniform with strength thats important around season. Day we look forward gathering with friends and loved ones during this time of year. For our service members, this is a luxury. These men and women spend many months at a time away from their families. Thats difficult no matter what time of the year it is, but holidays, their sacrifice is magnified. Today, from 10 00 a. M. To 3 00 the rayburn foyer, we can all play a small role in brightening the spirits of those in our military by signing a holiday card. It is an initiative that i look participating in every year, and i encourage my colleagues and staff to well. Ipate as for more than a decade, the holiday mail for Heroes Program hard to remind our heroes just how much we ppreciate their service and their sacrifice. Last year around this time, i had the privilege of sponsoring delegation nal abroad where we met with our troops and had the pleasure of spending time with them during week of thanksgiving. My colleagues and i traveled to a ait to serve and to share meal with soldiers stationed there. It was an honor to meet with so any individuals who have committed their lives to protecting our great nation. We can all do our part to dedicated service men and women now and throughout the year. Small as sending a card, can brighten the holiday eason for those that are deployed. This Holiday Season i encourage one of us to take a moment out of our days to let soldier know how much we appreciate them. Thank you, mr. Speaker, and i ield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house until noon today