President that was not paying attention to his oath of office. And passed an impeachment resolution. That issue is now over in the senate and in their hands. We could spend some time talking about that but then last friday another issue occurred. Ill spend more time talking about that. A little later. But what it came but what i came to the floor tonight for is to talk about what a democratic aucus, our leadership, and the 230plus members of our caucus have been working on diligently over the last year. For the people. A series of legislative initiatives that address the fundamental concerns that america has, that americans talk about as we like to say, at their breakfast table. Or dinner table. The concerns about their familys education. About their job. About their retirement. And as i learned yesterday from my neighbor, a rancher, about the extraordinary cost of health insurance. I come to the floor tonight for that purpose. But im going to delay my discussion of that and ask the chairman of the labor education committee, bobby scott, to talk about the extraordinary work that his committee has done on the issues of education and for the working men and women of america. Mr. Scott, i know you represent one of the Largest Military districts in the nation and i know that the thoughts of your constituents are on your mind and i also know that its time for america to also recognize the work that youve done on the labor committee. So please if you would, mr. Scott. Mr. Scott i thank the gentleman from california for yielding. Yes, we have a lot of military installations in the area, we are concerned a thebt present situation in the middle east. Put we want to talk about whats going on in the committee on education and labor. I just want to share a few things weve been doing over the last year. Comments have been made of what congress is or is not doing. Well, we have been protecting the income of hardworking americans by passing the the house passing the raise to work wage act. Which will gradually increase the federal minimum wage from 7. 25 to 15 by 2025, lifting over a Million People out of poverty. We havent had an increase in the minimum wage for over a decade. The last minimum wage was over 10 years ago and the inflation has and to the point where one study concluded that a fulltime 40 hours a week minimum wage worker cannot afford in any county in the United States. We are not talking about San Francisco or manhattan. D they cant afford a modest twobedroom. E paycheck fairness act with genderbased diss parties and workers to challenge discrimination. Reelings for the Butch Lewis Act will present develop the collapse of our pension saving over a million hardworking americans their pension while protecting their pensions and taxpayer dollars and passed health care and social workers act to prevent violence and the injuries that occur. We passed that bill. In dig, the committee has reported the protecting the right to organize act which will unable workers to have better working conditions and we passed legislation to help in the area of child access to quality education and Safe Learning environment. We passed in the committee, the rebuild americas schools act and repair our Public Schools and crumbling infrastructure and will create 1. 9 million jobs. We passed two important civil rights bills in the area of education, the equity and inclusion of enforcement act and diversity act mr. Williams parents to challenges discriminatory policies. The committee passed the College Affordability act which will overhaul our Education System so students will have a college agree. We passed legislation to protect children from school shootings. In the area of health care, the house has passed to protect consumers from junk health plans to overturn the shortterm limited insurance as well as passing the lower drug cost now ct and lower Prescription Drug price he and increase transparency and protect we dren from child abuse by protect seniors by passing the legislation to improve the Older Americans act. All of those bills have passed the house and none have been taken up by the senate. We need to make sure the hard work of our committee is rewarded by the passage of those bills in the senate but as i have said, our committee have been busy doing the peoples work and i thank you for the opportunity to do a little bragging of what we have done. Mr. Garamendi you can brag. You could use the word brag but its not bragging but a fact. Its ag fact that your committee and this house now under democratic control has passed over 250 bills that are for the people and the work that your committee did on education and the labor working men and women of this nation is extraordinary example of what can be done when we focus on legislation that is for the people. Mr. Scott thank you for the opportunity to mention these bills for the people, the people will be much better off if we can get cooperation down the hall and improve education and health care and working conditions. Mr. Garamendi you did mention the grim reaper. Learly the Senate Leader intends to delay legislation that would be in the interest of the American People, higher wages, Better Health care and insurance products, jobs, making it in america, all of the things that i know you and your committee have worked hard on. D i look forward to the days ahead and agenda. Mr. Scott we are continuing to work. Mr. Garamendi thank you very much, mr. Scott. Im really torn. I would want to continue discussing the legislation thats out there, but i really stand in front of this chamber which at the moment is empty, with a very, very heavy heart and extraordinary concern. Im looking at where we are as a nation this evening. To really ponder may row and what state behold our men and emin the military. A couple of hours ago, the inevitable happened. Aybe it was i think i was a freshman in high school and my Science Teacher was trying to give me the principles of physicianics and he was talking about for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction and he was showing examples and i was playing football and i hit somebody and they hit me back or i hit somebody and they pushed me back. I would like to think i was more an equal. President took launched missiles at the second at the highest commander of the iranian military. And killed him. Along with one of the major, if not the major commander of the militia units in iraq. That attack took place just outside the baghdad airport. That was an action presumably to prevent some future action that might be taken by the iranians and by their leader or directed by their leader, general soleimani. My high schools Science Teacher could not have been more correct. For every action there is a reaction and we will engage on a debate on the floor and here across the United States about whether the first action taken by the president to take out the theer of the iranian guard, revolutionary guard, was an appropriate action. I think not. For a variety of reasons. And then we will also debate whether the iranian reaction to that action which occurred a couple of hours ago, was appropriate. Im quite sure that our military n the base in iraq views the iranian action as a very serious threat. We dont know the results of the bottom barredment of missiles, but we can assume that there were certainly destructions of buildings or airfields and we pray there was no destruction of life. But perhaps we may find that clearer unanswered. Where do we go from here . Here do we go from here . Were not on the verge of war, in a very, very unfortunate tragic sense, we are in a war. And some would claim that war is 40 years old and started way ck at the embassy in tehran, being occupied. And we could say thats correct. This is different. Im on the Armed Services committee and i have had the breffings and i do know, as do our generals and our intelligence community, the capabilities of the iranian military. And furthermore, we know the capabilities of their proxies, the various military units they have set up or quacey military units they have set up. E militias, yemen, hezbollah nd others. Its really a moment this our angerr us to hold , which is a normal and senate tral thing and im sure every one of my colleagues poses, anger at the attack at our military bases. And i suppose we should also think that perhaps iran should hold its anger, although they certainly expressed it, in the streets, in the funeral launching and in the of Ballistic Missiles at an american air base. We should hold our anger. We should say, where does this go from here . Titforat that time. Unfortunately i dont believe our president thought about the next move about the opposite reaction when he ordered the launching of the missiles that , bad, t a very dangerous bad person. I dont think he thought about the next order, nor do i think he thought about the third, fourth, fifth, sixth order, where does it go from there. But we have a chance this evening and tomorrow and the to think to stop bout the next event the next titfortath, where does it go . For those of us, 34 since one of our colleagues resigned today d the senate undoubtedly occupied with impeachment. Its time for us to reach into our bar and pull out the constitution of the united. Tates and read article one read article one. And for the American People to do the same. And when we read that, we will can that only congress declare war. Not the president , not the secretary of state, not the secretary of defense and not a eneral, but only congress maybe we could argue its already started, in which case stop. Come to congress, mr. President. And tell us why you must why we must, why america must, why our military must pursue the ext tit for tat. Tell us where it leads. Tell us how you think it might end. I know our secretary of defense says were not going to start a war but well end it. Ok. Then you come here. You come to the floor of this house, as roosevelt did, as others have done, and you tell us why. Why we should have a war with iran. Tell us how you intend to pursue that war and at what cost. Human lives. The treasury of this nation. And then let us ponder your wisdom or lack of wisdom. Let us ponder, let us no, not let us. This is not a matter of the president letting us, this is a matter of the congress of the United States asserting its constitutional obligation. This moment, on this day, when it is easy to argue that , on ca has been attacked this day, stop. Come to us, mr. President , and tell us why you want to pursue a war with iran. Tell us what equipment youll need. Tell us the number of troops that will be dispatched. And then it is our say sibility, 535 of us, yes, we will go to war with ran, or no, we will not. This is a critical moment. This is a moment when im thinking about that Science Teacher that said for every action theres an equal and opposite reaction and we have seen an action and a reaction. And yes, we attacked iran by taking out their top general. And yes they attacked us by launching their missile into our r base, and quite possibly harming our military personnel and others. Now, stop. Come here, mr. President , stand before us, stand before the American People. And tell us why and how, and what it will cost to pursue his. That is his responsibility and then, and then it is our responsibility on behalf of the American People and people beyond this nation to say yes, we will pursue a war, or no, we will not. ,nd keep in mind, mr. President that the existing authorizations to use force do not apply to this situation. Not the authorize tigse use force that was established for al qaeda in afghanistan. Not the authorization to use force to go after Saddam Hussein in iraq. No, those dont apply. This is different. This is demonstratively different. This requires the president to come to the congress, to come to the congress and explain why we with iran. Ct a war thats not to say we cannot protect ourselves but the next was far our military more would likely be far than an action of protection, but rather an action in response to what happened a couple of hours ago. I would have loved, i would have desired not to be here at this moment talking about this issue but rather following what mr. Scott had said about what has been done this last year for the American People. About the efforts that we have made to bring down health care costs. To provide pharmaceuticals that people can afford. To guarantee that americans do not lose their right to health insurance, as the president and our republican colleagues are attempting, have attempted to do for the last 10 years. I would love to have spent this evening talking about that. Would have loved to talk about the Education Programs that mr. Scott has brought to our attention. To talk about raising the inimum wage. Thats not where i am tonight. My thoughts are with those military personnel, the airmen, many of whom are from my district and probably at the bases there in the middle east. And oughts are with them their family, we pray that all are safe. , ray that tomorrow, tonight i,orrow mornings tweet says the president of the United States, will come to congress and explain why we should or should not pursue a war with iran. Good time for all of us to pray. Its a good time for all of us to take a deep breath and realize the path that we are on and where it might lead. Im deeply, deeply disturbed by whats happened. And im willing to take up my responsibility here, anxiously await what the president of the United States of america has to say as he stands here in the the ss and explains to senate and n, the the house, why we should pursue a war with iran. Thats his responsibility and. Hen it is our responsibility elected by the people of america to go to war or not. Or not to go to war. We shall see. Mr. Scott, if youre still with us, i dont know if you want to add anything. With that, mr. Speaker, 9 30 p. M. ,ximately President Trump responded to the firing of missiles with a tweet, saying we will have that statement and any updates when available. Journal,s washington live every day with news and policy issues. Wednesday morning, we will discuss escalating u. S. Iran tensions with Nebraska Republican congressman don bacon, California Democratic congresswoman barbara lee, and Defense One Senior National Security Correspondent katie bo williams. Live at 7 00 eastern wednesday morning. Join the discussion. The british house of commons, Prime Minister Boris Johnson takes questions from members in the first question time of the new year. This is also the first question time since the conservative party secured a full majority in the house of commons in the december 12 elections. See it live on cspan2. At our live look coverage wednesday on cspan. The house is back at 10 00 a. M. Eastern or general speeches, followed by legislative speeches at noon. On cspan2, the Senate Returns tot 10 00 a. M. Eastern consider judicial and executive nominations. On cspan3, a preview of events leading up to the
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