Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. House Of Representatives U.S. House Of Representatives 20200207

the speaker: the house will be in order. the prayer will be offered by our chaplain, father conroy. chaplain conroy: let us pray. heavenly father, thank you for giving us another day. we thank you for every day you give us to be here at the seat of participative government. breast the work of all the men and women who represent the people of the united states. fill them with wisdom and good will that they might better work together for the benefit of our nation. bless all the leaders of all the branches of our government at the end of a difficult week when the divisions in our polity and our faith have been on open display for all the world to see. father, forgive us and send us your spirit that we might indeed heal the divisions and learn to love those with whom we disagree even our enemies. may all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory, amen. the speaker: the chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the house her pproval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from south dakota, mr. johnson. mr. johnson: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker: the chair will entertain up to five requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madam speaker. i want to recognize national gun violence survivors week and the 58% of americans who have experienced gun violence in their lifetimes. gun violence kills nearly 40,000 americans every year. more than half of those deaths are suicide. another 100,000 people are physically caught wooneded in the crossfire. entire communities suffer, too. those that may never shake the trauma, fear, anxiety, sadness of violent tragedy. ms. dean: like my friends, marge, jamie, jennifer, julia, gun violence survivors who live with the scars of unimaginable tragedy and yet continue to fight for sensible gun violence prevention legislation. our communities should be safe, joyful places. we should not live in fear of gun violence at our public schools, our places of worship, movie theaters, music venues, nightclubs, or even in our homes. this national gun violence survivors week let's hold survivors closer in prayer, in love and action, and promise we will do more in everything we can to end the crisis of gun violence in this nation. thank you, madam speaker. i yield the remainder of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from minnesota seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> madam speaker, i rise today to raise awareness on the need for annual physical through my participation in the flannel check challenge. the goal of flannel check is simple. wear flannel, schedule your annual scheduled screening and cure diseases early. some may ask why flannel? the answer is every individual disease has a color for awareness. pink for breast cancer, red for heart disease. flannel and plaid patterns, which come in countless color combinations, creates one identifiable pattern for all diseases. the unfortunate reality is that diseases is all around and the key to defeating any disease is by catching it early through annual physicals. mr. stauber: however only 20% to 25% of males and 60% to 65% of females go in for physical every year. madam speaker, we must work together to raise awareness on this important issue. so i encourage everyone to participate in flannel checks challenge by wearing flannel and scheduling an annual physical today. together we can help save lives. madam speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> madam speaker, this morning hardworking families across the northern new jersey woke up, made breakfast, and wished each other goodbye before leaving for work or school. but our thoughts are with one family that was unable to be together this morning. the swarie family. that's because, the husband, father, and neighborhood remains in nigeria remaining the outcome of his pending trial. for months members of new jersey delegation including senator menendez and booker, have been following his case and working together with the community to advocate on behalf of our neighbor and friend. mr. gottheimer: we were relieved in december he was finally released on bail. but we continue to urge the government of nigeria to follow its own laws. and to do the right thing providing l.a. with the due process rights he deserves. i want to recognize his family, especially his wife, who has dealt with a trying situation. as representative of the fifth congressional district, i'm happy to stand with the families. we are thinking of him and praying for hifment i will not stop working until he comes home. thank you, madam speaker. i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. carter: ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. carter: madam speaker, i rise today to remember the life of mr. james blackburn who passed away on january 22 at the age of 94. mr. [burn dedicated his life to practicing law and using his craft to make the savannah area a bert place to live. he was sworn into the bar over 70 years ago and worked as the city attorney for the city of savannah until he was 86. he even continued to legally represent the savannah airport commission until just last year when he was 93 years old. but his service to the public went much farther than law. he served in the united states navy during world war ii as the radar man on a tugboat. as a -- and as a recorder with the shrine and was a former president of the kiwanis club of savannah. through all of his he believed in treating all people with fairness, dignity, and compassion. his family and friends will be in my thoughts and prayers during this most difficult time. thank you, madam speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. >> thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to share the story of my state of the union guest, kevin harden, a west philly native, successful attorney, and guns violence survivor. when kevin was in college he survived five gunshot wounds during an altercation at the myers recreation center in southwest philadelphia. his life had not been easy. his mother suffered from addiction and his father juggled several jobs to make ends meet. his neighborhood lacked economic and educational opportunity. in the two years after his shooting, he lost both parents to cancer and assumed responsibility as primary caretaker for his younger siblings. ms. scanlon: kevin's turbulent childhood did not diminish his spirit. he was fortunate to find mentors. he graduated from college and decided to pursue law school. he became a successful lawyer and now works in his community to extend a helping hand to others like him. we know there isn't one size fits all solution to gun violence, but every day that we fail to act we fail our children and our country. it's been 345 days with no action or vote from the senate on commonsense gun safety measures past by -- passed by the house. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from the great state of florida seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> i speak to honor the life of trooper joseph bullock, whose watch ended on the morning of february 5, 2020, when fatally shot in the line of duty. trooper, your life was devoted to protecting those you had never met in the air force and with the florida highway patrol for 19 years. mr. mast: and you paid dearly that others would be safe. there are no words or actions that can repay the debt we each owe heroes like yourself. it would be fruitless for me to attempt words to remove grief from your family or fellow troopers, i can only offer from our nation the most ardent thanks for sharing you as a protector and pray to our father in heaven that every thought of you is a cherished memory and pride that you are a man who laid down his life for thers. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from the virgin islands seek recognition? ms. plaskett: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. plaskett: thank you. yesterday was the birthday of bob majerle. born on february 6, 1944 in jamaica, he became a reggae pioneer. from humble beginnings, majerle went on to sell more than 20 million records and was inducted into the rock 'n' roll hall of fame in 1994. his music as served as an inspiration and mantra for social movement. let's hear some of those words now. how can you be sitting there telling me that you care, that you care, when every time i look around the people suffer and the suffering and every day and everywhere. emancipate yourself from mental slavery, none but ourself can free our minds, have no fear of atomic energy because none of them can stop the time. how long shall they kill our prophets while weigh we stand aside and look, some say it's just a part of it, we've got to fulfill the book. won't you help me sing. these songs of freedom, because all i have ever heard, redemption songs. we need redemption. happy birthday, bob majerle. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> madam speaker, i rise today to recognize seven high schools located in the indiana sixth district for their extraordinary early college development program that he i observed when i was at lawrenceburg high school. mr. pence: participating in this program are also high schools in greensburg, connorsville, richmond, muncy central, delta, and the new castle career center. the early college development program provides students the ability to eastern both a high school diploma and associates degree or up to two years college credit towards a bachelor's degree. the early college development program also provides higher learning at a much lower cost with early college tuition waived for some students. i'm proud to see the hoosier state being the leader in education, preparing our students for the future, and finding solutions to fight the rising cost of higher education. madam speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, madam speaker. thank you, madam speaker. i rise today with what little voice i have to honor the san diego voice and few point newspaper in recognition of their 60th anniversary. san diego's voice and viewpoint is the largest african-american newspaper in san diego. it is a core piece of our community. this newspaper success was a result of a dedicated couple's hard work. though the newspaper began in the 1960's, john warren and his wife took over the publication in 1987. the couple was deeply involved in the african-american community and showed their leadership skills in publishing. mr. vargas: their efforts have resulted in the nationally award winning publication. the newspaper has highlighted the prospectus of the san diego african-american community and provide add great service to the city. in fact, the publication is all the zip codes of san diego and has a readership of over 60,000. i would like to honor the san diego voice and viewpoint for its dedication and lifelong commitment to the fringe frib community and the san diego community. thank you, madam speaker. i yield back. >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> madam speaker, national prayer breakfast brought to mind the quote by lincoln. driven many times by my knees by the overwhelming conviction that i had nowhere go. to mr. johnson: i, like lincoln, eel inadequate to my task at times. , like lincoln, seek strength, discernment, from prayer. i need prayer. of not just members congress that should be allowed prayer.upon students, like my three sons, and millions more, deserve this tool.ul that's why i thank the administration for their recent right toto protect the pray in schools. freedom to seek strength from someplace other than enriches this nation just as it enriched president lincoln. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the back.man yields for what purpose does the entlewoman from new york seek recognition? ask lowey: mr. speaker, i unanimous consent that all members have five legislative to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous h.r. 5687. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. 833uant to house resolution and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of for consideration of h.r. 5867. chair appoints the gentlewoman from florida, ms. castor, to preside over the committee of the whole. the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for the h.r. 5687 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: a bill making supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending september and for other purposes. the chair: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as read the first time. debate shall be confined to the balance bill -- bill and shall not exceed one hour by the chair and the ranking member of the committee on appropriations. the gentlewoman from new york, and the gentlewoman from texas, ms. granger, each will control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the new york. from mrs. lowey: madam chair, i yield yself such time as i may consume. n recent weeks, thousands of families in puerto rico were homes.from their schools were flattened. roads and infrastructure were as earthquakes racked an island still from the to recover devastation of hurricanes maria irma. while president trump has released some of the aid appropriated for those hurricanes, more support needed.ly we must act now on our shared to assist ity americans in need. his emergency supplemental ould provide $4.67 billion in targeted assistance to help families and communities recover devastating earthquakes and put puerto rico to long-term th recovery. me.ncludes $3. -- excuse it includes $3.26 billion in block ty development grant disaster recovery funds. $1.25 billion for repairs to systems.oad 100 million to restart school operations. $40 million for disaster assistance in puerto rico. and more than $20 million to the island's energy needs. this bill would provide puerto rico with to use this funding in conjunction with earlier relief resources. also takes swift action against the trump dministration's outrageous withholding of vital aid to puerto rico. would require detailed pending plans and mandate that funding be released in a timely manner. carries a e bill number of tax-related provisions of the urisdiction committee on ways and means that ill complement the emergency appropriations and support working families and encourage growth. chair, our fellow mericans in puerto rico need our help. unless we step up to the plate now, we further jeopardize security.ty and with this bill, we can provide communities swift relief and put puerto rico on long-term recovery. me ge my colleagues to join in support of this legislation, and i reserve the balance of my time. chair: the gentlewoman from new york reserves. is gentlewoman from texas recognized. ms. granger: madam speaker, i rise today in opposition to h.r. 5687. while this bill is being sold as bill for iations puerto rico, it is more than $16 tax on in unnecessary breaks which are largely unrelated to the recent the island.that hit also included in this bill is ore than $4 billion in new emergency appropriations, much of that for disasters that yet.'t happened finally, this bill is premature, funds from co has previous bills that have not been used. ver the last three years we allocated more than $40 billion for puerto rico disasters and half of that has been spent, and we've all seen recent reports of warehouses in water, ico full of diapers, food, that have not been distributed to residents in need. as for the recent earthquakes in puerto rico, the federal government has not scompleeted stud -- completed studies.red the time frustrated ederal government gives aid, there are billions in the fema major disaster relief fund that already available and can be used for earthquake response and on very now while we wait the full and accurate report on the damage and estimated cost. is oursasters strike, it job to ensure that the federal government helps those in need. have a duty to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used fiscally responsible manner. unfortunately, including tax reaks related to disaster recovery and funds for disasters that haven't even occurred yet, not a good use of taxpayer funds. are needed, weds will be there, just as we've been there repeatedly for puerto several years.st at this time i urge my colleagues to vote no. i thank you and reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman from texas reserves. is gentlewoman from new york recognized. mrs. lowey: madam chair, i am minutes to ield two the gentlewoman from ohio, the distinguished chairwoman of the on energy and water, ms. kaptur. the chair: the gentlewoman from is recognized for two minutes. ms. kaptur: i thank our chair, nita lowey, for yielding me time. 5687, in support of h.r. the puerto rico earthquake funding.tal this $4.67 billion in funding is a vital lifeline for our fellow puerto rico, reeling most recently from a series of earthquakes but also still recovering from the 2017's ntial damage of massive hurricanes irma and maria. december, a series of quakes rattled puerto rico, magnitude fiveer earthquake just this last tuesday. this body sends a powerful message to the island this house will not by you suffer from inaction this administration. following the most powerful quake in early january, millions left without power and running water for days. grid struggled to keep up with demand. nxiety remains high as more than 30 category five or higher hit this month. 30. unbelievable. as we learn from hurricane maria, the aftermath can prove to be even more dangerous and there's not speedy and effective action. i want to thank the u.s. army and, also, ineers the ohio national guard that has other urneys there and defense units that have risen to duty to protect and serve the in puerto ur country rico. this emergency supplemental will hard-hit, anxiety ridden fellow americans and hope,ities with strength, and support to begin moving forward again. not just to act now is unacceptable, it's immoral. to bill provides the means address current challenges inflicted on the human condition. to lso includes funds strengthen infrastructure for future mitigation. energy y subcommittee's and water accounts, the bill provides over $21 million for to department of energy provide technical assistance. the chair: the gentlewoman's time has expired. kaptur: can i have an minute?al to provide technical assistance to restore and rebuild the electric grid in puerto rico and territories. these funds will allow the department and our national labs provide the expertise necessary repair. the equally important is the significant financial support to needs of ducational island children for disaster nutrition assistance and repair of the infrastructure. this nation must help destroyed of our fellow citizens to help them recover disasters.historic we will never know when it will hit our own backyard. i ask my colleagues to support this emergency supplemental and yield back the balance of my time. he chair: the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. ms. granger: i yield to the entlewoman from puerto rico, miss gonzalez-colon, for five minutes. the chair: the gentlewoman from uerto rico is recognized for five minutes. : thank you.z-colon thank since december 28, puerto rico than 2,100 more earthquakes that have significantly impacted our region.tern actually, i was on the island when the -- on january 6. a 5.8 earthquake struck us. the next day 6.4. hour later, another 6.2. i thank the president for issuing an emergency declaration. a major disaster declaration prompted immediate to the now stance 28 -- 29 municipalities that most.een hit the however, this -- the seismic not stopped. ore roads and houses are damaged. the anxiety of the people on the eye lapped grows and that's island grows and that's why i stand in support of the package.supplemental i'm thankful for chairwoman lowey for introducing this bill. get this der to legislation enacted into law, in order to truly get the aid to states and and other jurisdictions affected by natural disasters, it's have the input of both sides of the aisle, senate, house, administration, and get this ready to go. it's my sincere hope as we move this bill and we keep in mind that we're dealing with real people's lives and suffering here. every week, every single week, when i go back home, i meet with people who have lost everything earthquakes. -- we are, we're used not used to earthquakes. this is a completely new game in rico. i met parents who are too frightened to send their kids to refusing tofamilies return home out of the fear that will collapse. at one point, over 7,000 people shelters.g in many establishing campsites on andside of the road, parks, in open areas. the devastation, my friends here, is real. it is true that the island has eceived -- has already allocated over $40 billion -- $90 billion in funding to the unprecedented hurricane maria. however, we are dealing here and entirely nt different disaster. let me tell you something. of all those that money that's een allocated, just $1.5 billion has been disbursed so we that have the cash congress already allocated two years ago. ongoing.quakes are he ground has not stopped shaking. while fema and the are -- congress can't wait until funds are depleted to act. speaker -- madam chair, i tax to highlight, also, the provisions included in this bill for puerto rico. . although some may argue they have no place in a supplemental, this provisions are vital for the long-term recovery of the island and all those efforts. i want to thank chairman neal for crafting this package, including legislation that i have previously introduced such as h.r. 302 to provide families in puerto rico with one or more children, the same treatment currently given to the island families with three kids or more under the child tax credit. tax 1786 to make the permanent on the island. we managed to include a five-year extension, but now this will make it permanently. and a provision extended the earned income tax credit for the island which is similar to legislation i interduesed in -- introduced in h.r. 754. i will always stand with the people i do represent. i'm the sole representative of the people of the island here, 3.2 million americans. yet we don't have a delegation in the house in the senate to support and push for these kind of bills. that is why i'm supporting this bill and i urge all my colleagues to do the same. what's happened in puerto rico, we don't know yet how longer these earthquakes will continue to happen. the u.s. geological survey is saying that they may be a year. maybe months. every time this happen the infrastructure weakens and again it begins with just six towns, now we have 29 towns in the disaster declaration. this is an ongoing emergency. again i wish nobody suffer what we are suffering today without having the complete recovery from the hurricanes. with that i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from puerto rico yields back. the gentlewoman from texas reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: madam chair, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, the chairman of the subcommittee on commerce, justice, and science, mr. serrano. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes. mr. serrano: i thank the chair. i rise in strong support of this emergency supplemental which will help puerto rico recover from damage caused by the ongoing earthquakes that have struck the island and help islanders still struggling to recover in the wake of hurricanes maria and irma. since december 28, puerto rico has experienced thousands of earthquakes, including numerous powerful ones. these earthquakes have caused significant damage on the island, roads, and schools, and left many individuals homes structurally unsound. many residents are fearful and uncertain of what comes next. thousands of puerto ricans are in need of assistance to repair the damage to their homes and lives. many have once again left the island for new york, florida, and elsewhere and need help there also. this bill provides the island with the support necessary to help repair damage infrastructure, allow students to continue learning, and assist in its economic recovery. it provides nutrition assistance to the most vulnerable members of puerto rican society. this bill also puts in safeguards to ensure the administration spends the money as instructed by congress so the island's recovery is not hindered by further man-made disaster. we all know what happened to our fellow citizens in puerto rico in the aftermath of hurricane maria and how our government's inadequate response and the response and recovery efforts. i'm thankful my colleagues here in the house are determined not to let that happen again. i hope our republican cleeds in the senate will act quickly to help puerto rico and urge strong support for this bill in the house. i usually do not comment on any comment made by another member and the person who make these comments is a person that she knows i have the most respect for and admiration, but our ranking member to the committee said that the bill premature. how can it be premature to try to help american citizens still recovering from two hurricanes? how can it be premature to help american citizens with -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. serrano: it is never premature. the time is right. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york new york yields back. the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. mitts granger:00 i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from texas reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: madam chair, i'm pleased to yield 2 1/2 minutes to the gentlewoman from connecticut, the chair woman of the subcommittee on labor, health, human service, and education, ms. delauro. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from connecticut is recognized for 2 1/2 minutes. rise to speak in support of the supplemental bill for puerto rico. the island has been rocked by earthquakes and tremors. thousands of americans left without water or power. facing catastrophic property damage. in my district i met with affected families and community members. we discussed the ongoing disaster and the response and recovery needs. i have staff people have family in puerto rico who are sleeping outdoors for fear of going back into a home which is badly damaged. there should be no question about providing the resources necessary to recover. this supplemental package provides $4.67 billion. educational needs, transportation infrastructure repairs, disaster relief activities. $100 million for education. k through 12 programs helps operation, support re-enrollment, pay for the cost of providing education to students who have been displaced by natural disasters. and, yes, it addresses the mental health needs of children as they have experienced a traumatic event. higher education, the funding helps defray the unexpected costs associated with enrolling displaced students and with rebuilding damaged facilities. it also extends the child tax credit to all children in puerto rico and the u.s. territories. under the current system, puerto rican families are only eligible for the child tax credit for the third or subsequent child. what we need to do is to expand and improve the child tax credit, make it fully refundable, but this is a necessary step in the meantime so that u.s. citizens, u.s. citizens in the territories are treated exactly like those in the states. let me just also assure on the final note, my colleagues, that we are working with the administration to determine the cost of our ongoing response to coronavirus. we have urged the administration to work with congress on a bipartisan basis to enact an emergency supplemental for that public health emergency. and we stand ready to move forward quickly to protect public health and safe. on this supplemental for puerto rico let me urge my colleagues to vote yes, vote yes for americans who are in dire straits on that island. it is unconscionable that we would have second thoughts about the kind of support that they need during this crisis. urge the senate, urge the president to add their support swiftly. our fellow americans in puerto rico cannot afford for us to delay any longer. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from connecticut yields back. the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. ms. granger: i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from texas reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: madam chair, i am pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from north carolina, the chairman of the subcommittee on transportation, housing, and urban development mr. price. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for three minutes. mr. price: madam chair, i thank my colleague and i'm pleased to rise in strong support of this supplemental appropriation. the bill provides $4.7 billion for disaster assistance, including $3.3 billion for hud's community development block grant program and 1.25 billion for emergency highway repairs. this funding will provide substantial help to the people of puerto rico. where devastating earthquakes have compounded earlier damage from hurricanes marie and irma. as well as other states and territories still recovering from major disasters. and i would remind colleagues that cdbg money from earlier disasters cannot be used for earthquake relief. we need this bill. the bill also provides targeted resources for puerto rico's school system, as well as nutrition assistance and tax relief for low-income families and small businesses. when it comes to disaster leaf, we should be putting politics aside. there should be widespread consensus that the federal government should be there as an active partner in a recovery effort. unfortunately, for far too long the trump administration has err representative-elected arbitrary barriers that have hindered puerto rico's recovery. they contributed to desperate conditions in many places on the island. for example, h.u.d. refused to provide more than $16 billion in already appropriated recovery funds for nearly 700 days. h.u.d. officials admitted during a hearing before our subcommittee that they willingly ignored a statutory deadline requiring them to move forward. now h.u.d. is imposing special grant conditions and other requirements on puerto rico which will slow down the recovery effort even further. while the island's clearly been singled out for disparate treatment, numerous states from florida to texas to my home state of north carolina have also waited longer than they should for h.u.d. to publish federal registered notices, governing the use of disaster recovery funds. this bill responds to the unacceptable administrative delays by including new accountability measures, new deadlines, actually not so new deadlines, they were included in legislation already passed by this body. deadlines requiring h.u.d. to publish notices, review, and approve action plans and sign grant agreements within a fixed time frame. as i say, those provisions were included in the bipartisan reforming disaster recovery act which passed the house back in november, but unfortunately like so much else is still languishing in the senate. so, madam chairman, enough is enough. we must provide the vital assistance to puerto rico and other communities that are struggling to recover, and we need to send a signal to the administration that congress, not the white house, holds the power of the purse. i urge all my colleagues to support this emergency disaster supplemental. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina yields back. the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. miss -- ms. granger: i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: madam chair, i'm pleased to yield three minutes to the gentleman from massachusetts, the distinguished chairman who came to congress at the same time i did and is now chair of the committee on ways and means, mr. neal. the chair: the gentleman from mass mats is recognized for three minutes. without objection. miss neal: thank you. thanks to chair woman -- chairwoman lowey as well. the difference is i'm staying. she decided -- i'm really happy to stand in support of this legislation today. this is a disaster relief package that i worked on with chairwoman lowey, congresswoman velazquez, and resident commissioner gonzalez-colon. in addition to providing supplemental appropriations to respond to the recent natural disasters that affected puerto rico and other u.s. territories, h.r. 5687 includes the puerto rican disaster tax relief act. these provision also help puerto rico rebuild its homes and communities and provide much needed relief to workers and families after these devastating earthquakes. specifically h.r. 5687 provides additional allocations of the -- allocations of the low-income housing tax credit which will allow critical investments of new affordable housing throughout the island. it makes additional allocations to the new markets tax credits in puerto rico allowing the island to make important investments like rebuilding community centers and hospitals in low-income neighborhoods. this legislation helps puerto rico and other territories implement the earned income tax credit and the child credit, two of the most powerful tools we have to combat poverty. last year the committee on ways and means reported out similar provisions in our consideration of h.r. 3300, the economic mobility act. today many puerto rican residents can be taxed into poverty from the u.s. payroll tax that is they pay. with our changes to the tax credit, we are creating long awaited parody between the residents of puerto rico and residents of 50 other states. additionally the earned income tax credit is one of the most important work incentives we have in our code this. bill certainly rewards work and i want to acknowledge bill pascrell from new jersey who did much of the good work to get to those success stories. we encourage work, we reduce poverty, this is a win-win for the island. as puerto rico and other territories try to recovery from natural disasters, it is appropriate that we are taking action to ensure that these territories have access to these critical tools for community development and poverty reduction. it is impossible to deny the suffering on the ground today on the island of puerto rico. it's my hope that congress will come together as it has in the past to help all members of the american family. . we urge full support on the other side. we took into consideration what they had to say at the committee. i want to thank chairwoman lowey for moving this legislation floor today.e i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman yields back. he gentlewoman from new york reserves. does the gentlewoman from texas continue to reserve? ms. granger: i continue to reserve. the chair: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: madam chair, i'm to sed to yield two minutes the gentleman from new jersey, a distinguished member of the mr.ittee on ways and means, pascrell. the chair: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for two minutes. pascrell: thank you, madam speaker, chairlady and ranking member. i support this supplemental. it's very necessary. destruction in puerto rico and the icane maria terrible earthquake last month continuous aftershocks makes this legislation necessary. to provide .r. 3307 a supplement to the earned income tax credit to puerto rico and other u.s. territories, which was included in the bill. unlike americans in every other working puerto rican taxpayers are excluded from the eitc to supplement their incomes. his is a deeply unfair restriction. it has tied the commonwealth's time at the worst possible as islanders are recovering from disaster and facing high dreadful levels of poverty. ae eitc has repeatedly proven critical tool to alleviating poverty, improving health outcomes, and encouraging labor participation. hy shouldn't our fellow americans in puerto rico -- and they are our fellow americans -- able to earn the same benefit? with this federal support, we provide a very powerful tool for puerto ricans to get back on their feet and get a leg up. they deserve that help, and i sk that we support the legislation. thank you, madam speaker. the chair: the gentleman from back.rsey yields the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentlewoman from texas continues to reserve. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. rs. lowey: madam chair, i am pleased to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from new york, distinguished chairwoman of the committee on small business, velazquez, who has been an persistent speaker in favor of this aid because she that her homeland, here families still resides, needs this money now and we have provide it now. ms. velazquez. the chair: the gentlewoman from ew york is recognized for two minutes. ms. velazquez: thank you, madam speaker. lowey, andchairwoman all the members of the appropriations committee for to bring thisntly ill to the floor and to moral, legal obligation of this congress. rico, an island invaded the united states and a colony. take our responsibility to care of our fellow american citizens. come here and say that we rico.een there for puerto yes, we passed a disaster relief package, and this administration has done everything within their withhold the money flowing to puerto rico. don't come here and say that you have been there for puerto rico. tell that to the parents who died ar-old girl villacas because they don't while functional hospital fema was withholding their money. past tuesday, puerto rico got hit by another aftershock. after more than 3,000 that has struck the island since december 27. in fact, it's estimated that aftershocks from the 6.4 january earthquake will persist in uerto rico for years, if not decades. imagine decades of feeling the under you shaking, never nowing when or just how bad it will be on any given day. 1,150 houses are destroyed while another 3,000 have suffered some structural damage. over evastation has left 4,000 people living in shelters families at risk. the chair: the gentlewoman is an additional minute. ms. velazquez: thank you, chairwoman. are 194,000 children school, countless more live in fear after seeing destroyed and loved anxiety and he issues common after disasters. et at the tell you about the recent comments on this bill. once again, they're misleading much erican people how money was sent to puerto rico. they are using these numbers at to oppose a system following the earthquake. and let me be clear. deterred.t be the $1. -- the 1.3 million puerto ricans that live in florida will not be deterred. the thousands and hundreds of thousands who live in ohio, new ylvania, new jersey, york, and every part of this deterred.ll not be we will pass this bill. i yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman from yields back. the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentlewoman from texas reserve.s to the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. chair, i am adam leased to yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from chairman of the committee on natural resources, mr. grijalva. the chair: the gentlewoman from rizona -- the gentleman from arizona is recognized for two minutes. mr. grijalva: thank you, madam speaker. forme thank chair lowey and the speaker responding with urgency in bringing this that i support, deal with e floor to the -- to help the families of uerto rico who are enduring once again another natural disaster. on december 28, seismic activity began on puerto escalate, ntinued to including a 6.4 earthquake. ongoing quakes have destroyed homes, infrastructure, affected power eneration and triggered blackouts across the island. 7,500 people have left their homes out of fear they may collapse and seeking shelter they can find it. staff from the natural resources ommittee investigated the damage caused by the earthquakes on the southern coast of puerto rico. report we ittee recommended high priority actions, including emergency 5687 g, which h.r. represents. he administration's recent tatement opposing h.r. 5687 shows total disdain for the people of puerto rico. president trump continues to lie american people about the amount of federal funding spent to address natural disasters on island. the president and his administration have a ensure the ty to people of puerto rico are and ed as full americans not colonized subjects. at the natural prayer breakfast that was some echo of the standing regarding teachings of the good samaritan, for ompassion we must have other people and that will to pass this ouse and move it forward. the disaster recovery funds that have been authorized for puerto for appropriated -- that have been appropriated need to be disbursed. the people of puerto rico deserve much more. our fellow americans on the treated as ve to be we have treated -- the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. from katrina to sandy, with the same concern, same support, and i urge passage i yield gislation and back. the chair: the gentleman from arizona yields back. the gentlewoman from new york reserves. members are reminded to refrain personalities n towards the president. the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. yield to the i gentleman from south carolina, mr. rice, a member of the ways and means committee, for as much as he may consume. the chair: the gentleman from south carolina is recognized. rice: thank you, madam speaker. cast aspersions on disaster relief. live in a coastal area in south carolina that's been hit by three storms in the last five years. matthew and then florence. tax lawyer before i got here. i didn't know much about disaster relief. i had to learn way more than i wanted to. one thing that concerns me and oncerns me greatly is the haphazard way in which disaster relief is granted. ust to understand the order of magnitude that we're talking puerto relief of -- for rico. the request of the governor in puerto rico amounts to -- just i the two hurricanes -- don't even know what it is for the earthquake. don't know if they made an official request yet. for the two hurricanes, maria one, amount to $94 billion. billion. they've got -- they've been billion.39 allocated or announced. obligated $20ved, billion. ow, there were 70-odd-thousand -- 476,000 applicants approved by fema in puerto rico. 476,000. at the amount the governor requested, $94 billion, per amounts to $200,000 fema applicant. amount0 roughly, and the that has been allocated or divided , $40 billion out, it's about -- it's just fema $100,000 per applicant. and then the amount that's actually been paid works out and i got that exact here -- $44 -- $41,816 for these twocant storms. a -- and there's remaining tremendous amount of money that's already been allocated that hasn't been paid out yet. was money -- disaster money that was made available in in appropriations bill december for storms that ccurred last year plus any storms that occurred within 60 days thereafter. also -- earthquakes are they're allowed to access that money. so i don't know that we really rushing in to allocate another $25 billion -- $5 billion in aid when there's so much money that's already available to be used for this disaster. this.tate to do i want to point this out. ust to show you the order of magnitude. after hurricane florence, the governor in south carolina requested $1 billion. puerto rico's requested $94 billion. carolina -- i have three -- the most affected counties in my district were dillon, marshalboro and chesterfield. marion county is 57% african-american. county is 51% african-american. marlboro is 30%. income is $30,000. just so you know the quality of life for these folks. 14,000 houses flooded, water inside the house. those for some reason approved by fema. f you look at the per -- even though they excluded 2/3 of the people that were damaged in this torm, we were still only awarded $14,000 per fema applicant. stands at right now applicant fema before this $5 billion that you're talking about adding in here. and keeping in mind that we already did an appropriations ill in december for disaster allocation for last year that his earthquake is already allowed to access. so that's what i want to say disaster allocation -- the total amounts that are asked i wantllocated here, but to talk also a little bit about hese -- about these tax benefits. in addition to the $4.7 billion beingitional money that's asked to be allocated here, over the $40 billion that's already allocated, there are in this ax provisions ill that has never been considered by ways and means. should arrive in ways and means. tax bills should be debated thoroughly. over again, you shouldn't legislate in appropriations bills. his appropriations bill, this disaster bill contains a number f very significant changes to the tax code. . some of these were part of a bigger bill marked up with no debate and no hearings six months ago or a year ago, but they have never been debated. there's never been a hearing on any of this in ways and means. so, one is the -- the two biggest things is we are extending here to puerto rico, the residents of puerto rico, the child tax credit as it exists under the united states tax code and the earned income tax credit. people don't know what that means. but basically that amounts to about $4,400 per family. family.er that's not a one time thing. that's forever. it goes on forever. the interesting thing about extending this credit to residents of puerto rico is that residents of puerto rico don't pay u.s. income tax. they don't file u.s. income tax returns. they don't -- unless they have -- unless they work for the u.s. government or unless they have their income comes from outside puerto rico, which is a small number of people, then they don't pay u.s. income tax. so what we are talking about doing here is the u.s. treasury will pay the child tax credit and the earned income tax credit to residents of puerto rico, credits against tax they don't know and never owe because they simply don't pay income tax. what this is is basically a $400 a month entitlement forever to the residents of puerto rico. and it makes no sense and it is not related to the disasters in any way and it's simply a pork barrel earmark is what it is that lasts forever going to puerto rico. those are the big things. the earned income tax credit and child tax credit. let me go further. in addition, this bill would provide new market tax credits of $500 million to puerto rico. now, the new market tax credit is a wonderful thing. again it's something under the united states tax code puerto ricans don't pay taxes under the united states tax code, but this would extend that credit, i guess people invest in puerto rico they would get a credit on their u.s. tax return, $500 million, just to put that in perspective. last year -- it's designed to get people to invest in rundown areas, in needy areas. it's a good thing. but last year the total amount for the whole country that we allocated, that we made available for the whole country was $3.5 billion. this would give $500 million of that to puerto rico, which would amount to 1/7 of what was granted to the entire country last year. $500 million. -- i just to that, want to step back and just look at and consider carefully these tax provisions in particular before we move forward with them. in my opinion, again, they are not related to the disaster in any way. they are simply a method of creating a new entitlement in puerto rico, credits against u.s. tax for people who pay no u.s. tax. but if we are going to do this, certainly it should be debated fully on this floor and certainly before it ever gets to this floor it should be debated fully in every committee, particularly the ways and means committee, that has any possible jurisdiction. let me go back and end where i started, and that is that i'm not here to cast aspersions on disaster relief. my poor rure counties in south carolina have -- rural counties in south carolina have been terribly affected and requested disaster relief and received disaster relief. they received far, far less than we are talking about here in puerto rico. probably if you look through all this maybe a sixth of what my poor families, my poor african-american families who had nothing to begin with, right, in marion county and dillon county and marlboro county are receiving about a third what the people of puerto rico are going to receive with this disaster bill that in my opinion is just -- we really need to consider the order of magnitude, number one, and we really -- when i say these numbers i'm not counting these tax credits. these tax credits need to be pulled out of this bill and fully debated. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the the gentlewoman from texas reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: madam speaker, i would like to remind the gentleman from south carolina, who is on his way out, the gentleman from south carolina at this bill has $25.7 million for south carolina to deal with the destruction and the needs. i would also urge the gentleman, because you did give a thoughtful analysis, perhaps visit puerto rico, as many of us have, see the tarps on the homes, people without roofs, kids that are not in school, homes that don't have water, don't have heat. i would be happy to work with you to analyze -- excuse me. and then i will yield -- i don't think i have time to yield. we gave you a lot of time. i just want to say to the gentleman from south carolina, i would be happy to work with you. visit to puerto rico with you. see the needs. i'm happy to come to south carolina, if there are unmet been hat have not provided for, we are happy to work together. but again in this bill there's $25.7 million for south carolina. >> the gentlelady yield. i would love -- mrs. lowey: i would be happy to give you time -- the chairwoman give you time. my friend, miss grarninge, gives you time, after our next speaker. thank you. now i'm pleased to yield, madam chair, two minutes to the gentlewoman from the virgin islands, ms. plaskett. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from the virgin islands is recognized for two minutes. ms. plaskett: thank you very much for the time. i was actually going to discuss some of the issues and specifics that were in the bill, this incredible bill that's so helpful, but i think the last comments cause me to have to take pause. first of all i don't know why we have to single out african-americans in south carolina as if they are in more need than anybody else. for funding or for underfunding when they are more affected by disasters. but the reason that these things are happening in the territories is because of the underfunding of this body to the territories in ways that does not happen to states throughout this country. there's no cap on medicaid in south carolina. there's no arbitrary amount of percentage that the federal government is paying as opposed to a local government is paying in south carolina. like there is in puerto rico and the virgin islands where congress arbitrarily said we'll only pay 55%, you pay 45% based on a number that has nothing to do with your population or its demographics. there was no cap on highway and us being removed from federal formulas that the rest of the states removed. so when we have a disaster, yes, we need more money because we have underfunding and our infrastructure is a lot more fragile than the rest of this country because this body hasn't done its job. you talk about taxes. why doesn't the virgin islands pay taxes in the same way? because almost 100 years ago when we asked this government to be treated in the same way as others, this government said, you know what, we'll let you keep your federal taxes and then we won't have to give you the same amounts of money. when in fact at that time maybe 100 people were able -- met the criteria of income to pay federal taxes. it's a sham and it's an okeydoke this country did to the rest of us. then you want to hold us to the same standards and make sure we are not supposed to give money in the sameway. it's ridiculous. i think this is an incredible bill. i think it's long overdue. this does not put us in the same footing as the states in terms of what should happen. i urge all of my colleagues to support it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from the virgin islands yields back. the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. ms. granger: i yield to the gentleman from louisiana, mr. graves, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana is recognized for two minutes. mr. graves: thank you, madam chair. i want to thank the gentlewoman from texas for yielding time. madam chair, we are in a situation where we absolutely have needs in terms of disaster s, whether it's puerto rico, virgin islands, texas, south carolina, nork north carolina nrk, louisiana, and other states that have been impacted by disasters. we have had hundreds of billions of dollars in damages in those states in just the last four years. it is extraordinary. i have had the chance to travel to many of those states and territories to see firsthand the impacts. and i want to be very clear. virtually everything everyone said on both sides of this aisle, they are right in terms what the disasters -- disaster victims are going through. but do i not agree in what folks are prescribing the strategy to be. we don't need to stand here an see who can outpuerto rico the other. it's not a money problem. i have been through this with millions and millions of people. we have policy problems. there are literally tens of billions of dollars in the bank today that we are unable to get to disaster victims. dumping more money on top of the existing more than $40 billion in the disaster relief fund and the billions and billions of dollars available today for puerto rico under the community development block grant disaster recovery program, that doesn't solve the problem. there is an amendment coming up later today by members from texas to put more money into a fund because some of the agencies have had trouble even getting law changes interpreted out. this isn't the solution. i want to thank everybody for coming here and trying to solve the problem for disaster victims, but when you investigate this, i assure you every single one of you will come back and understand this is a capacity problem. getting the bureaucracy both the territory, the state, and also the federal level getting the dollars to the disaster victims. that's why we are having problems today. i want to say this again. there are tens of billions of dollars available. this president, president trump, approved individual and public assistance for disaster victims for the puerto rican earthquakes. we've got to make sure that the money is actually getting to the right people. dumping additional money on top of the tens of billions of dollars doesn't solve the problem. we need to focus on real solutions and not stand here and practice politics with one another. i urge rejection of this bill. take a step back and fix the policy problems. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from louisiana yields back. the gentlewoman from texas reserves. the -- the chair: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: madam chair, i'm pleased to yield one minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from new york, the chairwoman of the committee on oversight and reform, mrs. maloney. the chair: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized for one minute. mrs. maloney: madam speaker, i rise in strong support of h.r. 5687. when hurricanes maria hit puerto rico, its entire electrical grid was destroyed. and millions of its citizens were without power. it took years to rebuild a lot of that infrastructure, and just when it was getting repaired, it was struck by another national disaster, another huge earthquake on january 7. that led to yet another round of power outages and even more suffering and death in puerto rico. this bill will provide desperately needed disaster relief that will allow the island to rebuild its infrastructure and revitalize its economy. puerto rico is home to 3.2 million u.s. citizens. and when disaster strikes, congress has a duty to step up and provide all the support our fellow americans need. i want to thank chairwomen velazquez and lowey for their passionate work on this bill and their help for puerto rico. i urge a yes on this bill. it's desperately needed. i yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentlewoman from tsks is recognized. from anger: i yield puerto rico, gonzalez-colon, for two minutes. the chair: the gentlewoman from fork pork is recognized for two minutes. miss gonzalez-colon: thank you, madam chair. thank you, ranking member, for yielding again. i think we have not understood the magnitude of this event. yes, we do have $40 billion approved for funds for puerto rico but of that just $1.5 billion is disbursed. the rest of the funds got through a different process. actually, in february of last year, there was the island tried to access $8.7 billion. of that just $1.7 got a grant agreement in january of this year. so again in order to get the funds it would be several months to have it. that's the reason one of the concerns, fema is getting the emergency disaster as we speak. same thing as the other federal agencies that are doing the job on the ground. but at the same time we did have a power plant on the island that's completely shut down. we lost the power for a few days. right now we don't have 500 megawatts reserve to actually -- if we do have another earthquake or any replicas, we may run out of power because we -- our power plants were affected as well. i do believe that roads, pipelines.lines that were affected, buildings that were affected, we haven't seen yet the amount of destruction. again you will see a lot of puerto ricans leaving the island. it's happening already. it happened with hurricane maria, they flew to florida. we are depleting basically our island because of these kind of things. yes, we do need the money. we do need to help our people in distress, and the tax provisions included in this bill, let me tell you something, they are not an invention of me. this house and senate did a report in 2016 recommending child tax credit, earned income tax credit, and many other amendments that treats puerto rico and the territories differently. that's the reason we don't have -- gh resources the chair: the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentleman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: madam chair, i yield one minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from new york, ms. ocasio-cortez. . ms. ocasio-cortez: thank you for the introduction and time of this bill. fact of the matter is that families,hildren, the the elderly in puerto rico are dying. they are breathing poisoned air, and they are now enduring the psychological trauma of ongoing earthquakes. my own grandmother is oxygen every day when the earth shakes below her, we don't know if she will have the to continue her equipment that's medically necessary. here is everyone the ng over money and over administration of a colonial state, we have to take a look at he actual reality of the ground. 95% of schools in puerto rico are not up to code. thousands of g puerto rican children vulnerable to the effects of natural disasters. all their ost belongings and many more live the psychological trauma. administration is not funds ng any of these that are duly -- that are supposed to be duly allocated recovery. the chair: the gentlewoman's time has expired. ms. ocasio-cortez: for that we to make sure we support this bill. 5687.ngly support h.r. thank you very much. the chair: the gentlewoman from new york reserves. is gentlewoman from texas recognized. ms. granger: i reserve my time. the chair: the gentlewoman from new york. rs. lowey: madam chair, i am pleased to yield one minute to the distinguished gentleman from islands, ern mariana mr. sablan. the chair: the gentleman from the northern mariana islands is for one minute. mr. sablan: thank you very much, madam chair. chair, ou, also, madam for yielding. -- i cannot just imagine. where we m a district have typhoon alley. in second largest storm 1935 - in the u.s. since island. -- hit my typhoon.another for puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands but for puerto two major ticular, storms hit the islands before a chance to truly et their lives back in order, earthquakes. so those homes that were not destroyed by the storms are now by the earthquakes. look, in the previous i was part of the budget. wanted to see how the u.s. would be applied to the islands. lose more money -- if e pay federal taxes than we don't. i ask support of the bill and i yield. thank you. the chair: the gentlewoman from texas is recognized. ms. granger: i yield back the time.e of my the chair: the woman yields back. the gentlewoman from texas yields back. new york isman from recognized. this owey: madam chair, emergency supplemental is puerto rico get back on its feet and build a better future. in a demonstration of nprecedented hostility to puerto rico, president trump has island.is back on the this congress must not do the same. legislation, my friends, we can feed the hungry, rebuild roads, restart schools, keep the lights on. i urge my colleagues to vote for critical assistance. it is absolutely essential, and do wish more of my colleagues have visited the island, saw the on the home, try to get through those roads that are so slushy, walking through, through, talking to the people. t is essential that we pass this critical assistance, and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back. all time for general debate has expired. ursuant to the rule, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. read.be considered as no amendment to the bill is in order except those printed in 116-392.f house report each such amendment may be ffered only in the order printed in the report, by a member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, time be debatable for the specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the opponent, shall not be subject to amendment and for demand subject of division of the question. it's now in order to consider amendment number 1 printed in of house report 116-392. for what purpose does the florida seek om recognition? ms. shalala: madam speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1 printed in part c of house offered by ms. shalala of florida. he chair: pursuant to house resolution 833, the gentlewoman from florida, ms. shalala, and a member opposed, will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from florida. ms. shalala: madam speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized. our halala: madam speaker, fellow americans in puerto rico have suffered greatly in the years.w from fiscal calamity to a onster hurricane to the earth-shaking and continuing to shake, i have seen this personally. these disasters have resulted in any puerto ricans leaving the island and many are children or young adults who are still in school. this amendment increases funding o conduct a study on the impacts that these young people face when they have to disrupt their education. truth is, we don't know the best way to help children who to to leave their homes pursue their education in another state or have to miss school because their school building is structurally an earthquake. but we need to. we need to know the best way to that all children can reach their full potential and with whatever e trauma they may have faced. ltimately, this amendment will save us money because we will future natural disasters will children -- where children to move away from schools or pause their education. unfortunately, there will be katrinas, and more and there will be more wildfires. we need to make sure that we are serving both children and the taxpayers. we should spend our money in the impactful way possible. this study will guide us on the effective policies and the most effective way we can use our ter funds to help children. i want to thank my distinguished olleague, congresswoman gonzalez-colon, for her work and her support on this amendment as congresswoman stephanie murphy, congressman alcee chairman jim mcgovern. i support the underlying bill, to i urge my colleagues support this amendment, and i ield back the balance of my time. the chair: does the gentlewoman reserve or yield back? ms. shalala: i reserve. the chair: the gentlewoman from reserves. does any member seek the time in opposition? for what purpose does the entlewoman from puerto rico rise? miss gonzalez-colon: i claim the time in opposition although i will be in favor of the amendment. without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized. miss gonzalez-colon: first of all, i want to thank shalala for this bipartisan amendment which i co-sponsored and thank you for island several weeks ago with congressman posy, murphy.woman let me tell you what this amendment is about. his will provide $1 million to conduct a study on the impacts of educational attainment, economic opportunities as well as the well-being of students from puerto rico that have had to disrupt or change their educational path disaster.atural although the full extent of the damage is still being assessed, the ongoing that earthquakes impacting puerto rico has been particularly our students and education system. collapse of this god it was l, thank in the morning and there were no students or teachers in the school. completely collapsed. and the department of education, of that, delayed the start of the semester across the island. conduct structural inspection of all public schools. date, 69 schools have already been deemed unsafe and reopen.ble to another 236 have been classified partially adequate, which means that only some part of the school or the building are safe. fact, although inspections are ongoing, the puerto rico epartment of education is projecting that 25% of the island public schools will be during this pen semester. there are six schools. all of them are closed. s we speak, tents are being installed as outdoor classrooms to ensure students don't lose semester. specifically, seniors going off to college. eventssruptive nature of cannot be overstated. puerto rico will need to have temporary sites to operate schools and regular students.laced many will leave the island altogether, as what happened maria. counselinghealth and will be crucial among the their d students and families. therefore, i support the $1 the on to help us meet educational needs of those affected by disasters. this udy funded by amendment will provide us with vital information to help us challenges for students forhelp them better prepare natural disasters. to thank congresswoman granger for allowing me the time shalala congresswoman for helping the people of puerto rico. reserve. ms. shalala: i yield two minutes distinguished member in connecticut, representative delauro. the chair: the gentlewoman from recognized for two minutes. i rise in support amendment. it's $1 million. it provides funds for a study on impacts of natural disasters on the well-being and ducational path of affected students, children in puerto rico. puerto rico have been struggling from the trauma disasters. natural it's been resulting in unbelievable disruptions to lives at home and at school. maria, rricane congresswoman menechino and i to -- congresswoman menk and i went to puerto rico and schools. we were told that children weren't coming to school. the question why. they were scared that if they returnedchool and they home they would not find their families, their home, or else that gave them their strength and the hope of so they weren't going. they also couldn't go because he power was out and the heat was too much for them to be there. hat is it that you can't understand? what is it this administration doesn't understand about what is to children, american rico?en in puerto we included $3 million in the labor-hhs appropriations behavioral ide health services and counseling to children in puerto rico. hese services are being provided through the national raumatic stress network, which is a national network of grantees that provide services adolescents and exposed to traumatic events. of our are the center communities. they offer students stable schedules, warm meals, support teachers and school professionals. they are the center of learning. with urgency, support school recovery, restore for children in puerto rico, take a careful look term impacts of these disasters on students' educational d success. i ask my colleagues to support this amendment. . the chair: the gentlewoman from puerto rico. miss gonzalez-colon: how much time do we still have? the chair: the gentlewoman from puerto rico has two minutes. the gentlewoman from florida has one minute. the gentlewoman from puerto rico is recognized. miss gonzalez-colon: the schools i'm shown you hearing is one maybe many people here will not know that the schools in puerto rico are used for shelters during hurricanes. so having the place for shelter being destroyed and many of them not client right now in doing the assessment, let me tell you an example. when we had the first earthquake with 6.4 and the replica, the government of puerto rico has to do an assessment of the infrastructure in all schools. weeks later we got more aftershocks of 5.4, 4.9. so that assessment continued to happen and it's an ongoing situation every week in order to have our kids and teachers safe. right now the number of schools deemed unsafe to return to classes. but if we do have another replica of 5., or 4.9, and we are having between eight and 12 tremors a day, then maybe many more schools can be included. originally there was just six towns included in the disaster. right now it's 29 because the infrastructure gets weakened with alt tremors. that's the reason i do support this amendment, the mental health issue for students, parents, and kids is a real situation on the island. we don't want to lose more kids. we don't want kids to lose their semester. i think this amendment will provide that much needed help. with that i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman from puerto rico yields back. the gentlewoman from florida is recognized. ms. shalala: madam speaker, this amendment is simply about helping american children. i urge my colleagues to support it. i yield to the gentlewoman, the chair of appropriations. the chair: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. , on lowey: madam chair madam chair, -- i'm pleased to support this excellent amendment and i yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman from florida yields back her time. the question on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from florida. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the amendment is agreed to. mrs. lowey: madam chair, on that i ask for a recorded vote. the chair: pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from florida will e postponed. it is now in order to consider amendment number 2 printed in part c of house report 116-392. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from puerto rico seek recognition? miss gonzalez-colon: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 2 printed in part c of house report number 116-392, offered by miss gonzalez-colon of puerto rico. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 833, the gentlewoman from puerto rico, miss gonzalez-colon, and a member opposed, will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the the gentlewoman from puerto rico. miss gonzalez-colon: thank you, madam chair. i yield myself such time as i may consume. le it today i rise in support of this amendment. it's a bipartisan amendment to increase the amendment of the regional assistance for puerto rico to $210 million. the island has been experiencing constant seismic activity since december 28 of last year and thousands of puerto ricans have lost their homes and all their belongings. these challenges, their safety, and job security as well as their availability to provide food for themselves and their family members. puerto rico does not participate in the national supplemental nutrition assistance program or snap. as our counterparts in the mainland, washington, d.c., guam, and the virgin islands. instead puerto rico has a program, n.a.p., which received significantly less funding. excluding us from snap, and that's another issue that this house addressed with making a us from also excludes the disaster portion of this program. known as d-snap. this means that every time there is a natural disaster, like the one we are experiencing now, congress needs to step up and pay federal funding for disaster nutrition. we saw that after hurricane irma and maria. now we are facing another emergency and that's the reason congress needs to approve funds or this -- for nutritional aassistance. this amendment will allow and help support beneficiaries of the program and allow an increasing enrollment and ensure that those impacted by disaster were supported in their effort to maintain food security. the earthquakes have caused widespread infrastructure damages. over 15,000 residents have reported damages in their homes. of those, more than 1,000 are damaged to a point of being unlivable or destroyed. this is a wide infrastructure issue that has inspected private homes, private businesses, including supermarkets, pharmacies, and stores in that region. since the seismic activity is ongoing, we expect the infrastructure problems to worsen. some structures have survive dies r seismic activity movement thus far, but there is no telling us when or if they will be destroyed or affected by future aftershocks. people are living in fear. people are living in desperation, especially in the southwestern region of the island. at one point over 7,000 people were living in shelters without a clear idea of when they will be able to return to their homes. i have experienced these tremors myself and i can firmly state that fear during these imes is more than justified. earthquake challenges make any forecast capabilities. according to the u.s. geological surveys there is no telling when the earthquakes will stop, however one thing we do know is that the island needs help and we need it now. this is why i'm supporting the underlying bill and why i'm offering this amendment. there are close to 397,000 n.a.p. beneficiaries in the affected municipal its, which 92,000 are children. this number pay grow contingent on more municipalities being affected. madam chair, food security is a critical part of any recovery effort. my amendment will ensure earthquake victims that can count with disaster funds to get them through this difficult time. le i would like to thank congresswoman delauro, congresswoman velazquez, soto, and serrano for sponsoring this important amendment for the people of puerto rico. i urge my colleagues to vote in favor. again i cannot vote for the bill. i cannot have members in the house and senate represent puerto rico. so i can with all of you to vote for puerto rico in this amendment. with that i yield the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back. le any member seek time in opposition? ms. delauro: i ask unanimous consent to claim time in opposition although i do not oppose the amendment. the chair: without objection. the gentlewoman from connecticut is recognized for five minutes. ms. delauro: may i just say i look forward to the day when my colleague, gonzalez-colon of puerto rico, can vote in this house of representatives. i also want to add one thing, our colleagues from south carolina said earlier that folks in puerto rico do not pay taxes. they pay-per-view roll taxes. we all understand payroll taxes. and quite frankly that's the basis on which the child tax credit is determined. so they are paying taxes. but i rise in support of this amendment. i'm honored to co-lead it with my colleague, jennifer gonzalez-colon, with congresswoman nydia velazquez, congressman serrano and soto. it increases funding for puerto rico's nutrition assistance program to $210 million. the $40 million in the underlying bill provides a strong foundation on which to build. and in light of a new analysis from leading nutrition experts, which has shown how great the need is, the amendment increases the resources to what the experts are now calling for. thousands have been left without food, water, or power. we cannot turn our backs on the people of puerto rico. we need to meet basic needs so that they can rebuild. it is not only a responsibility , but it is a moral responsibility. why is this necessary? because puerto rico receives a block grant for nutrition assistance, it's known as a nutrition assistance program or n.a.p., because the value of the block grant is fixed. their nutrition assistance is unable to meet the heightened needs of children and families in times of disaster. it's fundamentally different from how food stamps work for the millions of other americans elsewhere in our country. but we know where this administration falls on the food stamp program. they are willing to deny three million people access to food stamps, take two million kids off of a school lunch program. folks here are in need, but the people in puerto rico, the children in puerto rico, are in need. island ravaged by earthquakes and tremors, once they saw a 5.0 magnitude earthquake. in her request to the congress, puerto rico's governor warned, i quote, puerto ricans are currently suffering economic and job loss, displacement, and interruption of essential services and thousands of refugees currently located in camps are children and the elderly. we offer a bipartisan amendment today to build on the underlying bill. commend the committee chair, comewoman lowey, the subcommittee chair, congressman bishop for their hard work on this fast moving matter. to my colleagues, have a sense of what food means to people. we live in a land of plenty. we should not be about the business of denying food and nutrition help to others, and especially american children and american families from puerto rico. the nutrition assistance, the food that they need in order to survive. no one should go to bed hungry. in this country or in those countries where we have american citizens. that's puerto rico. i urge my colleagues, please, please deal with what our moral responsibility is in this body. we have the power to make this happen. let's make it happen today. i yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman from connecticut yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from puerto rico. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. he amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider add number 3 considered in house report number 116-392, for what purpose does the gentlewoman from the virgin islands seek recognition? ms. plaskett: madam speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk:aled number 3, printed in part c of house report number 116-392, offered by ms. plaskett of virgin islands. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 833rks the gentlewoman from the virgin islands, ms. plaskett, and a member opposed, will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from the virgin islands. ms. plaskett: thank you, madam speaker. i rise in support of my amendment. this amendment would increase the department of energy technical assistance for electrical grid recovery and the u.s. territories by $3 million. high energy costs have bedeviled the u.s. insular territories for many years. harming consumers, limiting development, and draining capital from our island's economies. the average price of electricity paid by u.s. virgin islands residents in the mid 2019 was about three times higher than the average power price in the mainland united states. these islands have suffered at least one tropical cyclone, typhoon, hurricane, and the last -- in the last three years, storms made stronger by warm oceans. as a result of unprecedented recent disasters, and the impact of enormous physical damage, the virgin islands are currently going through an energy crisis. hurricanes irma and maria damaged approximately 80% to 90% of the electrical transmission and distribution systems in the territory. rolling blackouts persist to this day. successfully incorporating resiliency measures into the system recovery effort, including by building microgrid systems and adding renewable generation capacity to the system does require significant technical assistance from the department of energy. i'm pleased that the house through this bill will be taking action to make appropriations for technical assistance with rebuilding electric systems in the insular areas. however given the current state of the island, including puerto rico, which has had the unique challenge of natural disasters reoccurring over the past several months, i'm concerned that the amendment of $15 million may not be enough to adequately address the urgent needs for assistance to improve grid resiliency and lower costs of electricity. that's why i requested this modest uptick of $3 m to see the utilities in the smaller territories like my district can get the technical assistance they need to solve energy problems that are unlike any other in the united states. . at this time, madam chair, i yield one minute to the majority leader, mr. hoyer. the chair: the majority leader one minute.d for mr. hoyer: i thank the from the virgin islands, ms. plaskett, for yielding. lament that as miss colon will not be she able to vote on the final passage of this bill. puerto rico is not a state. the were a state or if virgin islands were a state, they would have already been helped, consistent ith what we have done for states. madam speaker, history will emember this generation of puerto ricans for their perseverance, their courage, and their strength. endured two devastating hurricanes in 2017, they've had their heartbreaking aftermath. characterized by the trump failure to on's allocate resources properly, effectively, and timely. now, a series of powerful have struck the island, causing additional life. and, sadly, loss of we've heard reports that while transmission r infrastructure that was rebuilt stronger after the hurricanes, hold up the to aging power plants they served damage.d substantial i remind my colleagues that the people of puerto rico are our american citizens. they are our brothers and our sisters, our fellow americans. our concern.ing is their capacity to rebuild and is our stronger responsibility as the representatives of the american people, as it is their esponsibility of all the american people. that's what we do after natural help our fellow americans in need. adam speaker, i and several of my colleagues will be traveling to puerto rico over the resident's day district work period next week. we will be visiting communities in the south of the island that the been hardest hit by earthquakes. many of the same communities are still trying to rebuild from and maria. in puerto in 2017 rico and in the virgin islands plaskett.sentative i was there with the republican leader, mr. mccarthy. visited with families who lost their homes, who lost loved come nd who asked us to back here to washington and help. together, republicans and democrats, to pass emergency partnered on an amend the stafford act by nsuring that structures are built to 21st century standards. when i returned to the eye -- to the island later this month, i want to tell meet that congress has not and will not forget them, that their brothers and sisters on the mainland are with them. i want to tell them that we took action to provide the additional unding the island needs to recover from this most recent disaster. i want to tell them that the came together to approve the necessary funds to elp communities on the island restore critical infrastructure and rebuild schools and housing. to tell them that we came through with assistance for repairing the energy grid and resilient.ore i also want to be able to share made key that congress tax reforms to give low-income puerto ricans some help with affordable housing do for rebuild, as we the people here on the mainland. that's why i'm asking my colleagues to join me in passing making all of those things possible. to puerto rico in just over a week, i want to be able to tell the people there this house did its job. sadly, we have seen the veto threat, 's which was a little more than a fellow on of our americans, accusing puerto ricans of corruption and being receiving hy of emergency aid. administration would make such a charge. shame on them for making that and shame on them even more if they veto disaster such a uerto rico under spurious and hateful belief. democrats will continue to conduct oversight in order to does the administration not continue to withhold critical, connelly appropriate -- congressionally the people aid to of puerto rico who need it to rebuild. the stronger they are, the nation will be. i want to thank the chairwoman committee,opriations mrs. lowey, as well as the chair of the ways and means committee, mr. neal, for their hard work, members of their committees, on this package. thank representatives serrano, miss colon as nd well. i urge my colleagues on both yes of the aisle to vote on this package. fellow th with our might s wherever they live -- in the east, in the west, in the south, or in puerto worthy of mericans, having confidence that we will tand with them in hours of distress. vote yes. i urge -- i yield back the time.e of my the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentlewoman from the virgin reserves. does anyone rise to -- for what the gentlewoman from puerto rico rise? miss gonzalez-colon: i would in to claim the time opposition. the chair: the gentlewoman is recognized. miss gonzalez-colon: thank you. yield myself such time as i may consume. although i am claiming time in favor of the am in amendment presented by ms. plaskett. important to nderstand that living on an island puts us in a different mode than rest of the states. you can receive and manage electricity and the power plants mode.ifferent our infrastructure is weakened years,icanes and by many in our case. i do believe that this funds to -- technical assistance from the department of energy will help this , get us through situation, and allow the u.s. virgin islands and puerto rico what is o figure out going to be the kind of energy we are going to be using. we t now, the department -- approved $1.9 billion for assistance and funds electrical grid on the island. published yet. that means we don't have access to the fund even though the doing ent of energy is the assessment on the islands of virgin ico and the u.s. islands as well. because of that, i do support the amendment. that i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman reserves. the gentlewoman from the virgin recognized for two minutes. ms. plaskett: madam chair, i minutes. at the -- at this time i yield seconds to the gentlewoman rom -- to the gentleman from texas. the chair: the gentleman from texas is recognized for 30 seconds. >> thank you very much for the time. mr. green: i'm greatly honored to support this piece of honored on, especially that chairwoman lowey has put language in there that will mr. mline the process that hoyer helped to develop and i would like to add this. live inhat it's like to harm's way. in houston, texas, we have billion-dollar floods that take and these are supposed to be 100-year floods. unfortunately, they're happening al too often and sometimes on yearly basis. so i stand here today to say hank you to all involved, especially to mrs. lowey for what she's done to streamline this process. helpful to the persons in puerto rico, the island, but also in the long run people in pful to houston, texas. i thank you and yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman from the virgin islands reserves. puerto ricoman from is recognized. miss gonzalez-colon: i yield back the balance of the time. the gentlewoman from puerto rico yields back her time. the gentlewoman from the virgin islands is recognized. s. plaskett: madam chair, i just urge adoption of this amendment. this is important to the territories, as you heard from colleague from puerto rico, islands are very fragile, not not very fragile but we do have the scale that others have by having grids that can be areas.d to other this is -- the technical fromtance from this nation the department of energy would go a long way in supporting a more resilient grid. yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman yield it's back -- yields back. the amendments on offered by the gentlewoman from the virgin islands. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the it. have the amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider number 4 printed in part c of house report 116-392. does the urpose gentleman from texas seek recognition? crenshaw: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. he clerk: amendment number 4 printed in part c of house report 116-392 offered by mr. of texas. the chair: pursuant to house the gentleman from texas, mr. crenshaw, and a member opposed, each will minutes.ive the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. crenshaw: thank you, madam chair. i rise today to support the from the great state of texas. it's been 2 1/2 years since harvey. many of my constituents are still struggling to finance their rebuilding, and it's not texans simply waited on federal aid. we've -- we passed a local bond $2.5 billion to address recovery and future prevention. many took out s.b.a. loans, a low-cost loan to get themselves back on their own feet. here's the problem. my constituents never thought that taking out an s.b.a. loan, loan they would be paying back, would prevent them from federal iving other aid. benefits wasof duo addressed in law addressed by of louisiana. but the fix came too late for some. many victims of disaster who for federal ible aid -- aid are not able to that aid. this amendment will not be able to provide the estimated nearly billion that the texas general land office believes ould be needed to help all those affected, but my amendment will solve this problem for some of the most vulnerable people unfairly fell through the bureaucratic cracks. in ge my colleagues to vote support of this amendment, and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition? i ask unanimous consent to claim time in opposition although i do not oppose the amendment. the chair: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized. >> thank you. i yield myself such time as i may consume. rise today to offer this bipartisan amendment with my neighbor, mr. crenshaw, to help families who through no fault of their own recovery d disaster funding, in our case, for our constituents affected by harvey.e mrs. fletcher: hurricane harvey texas gulf coast in august, 2018. it was the second costliest hurricane in united states history. it took 68 lives, it dropped 60 inches of rain and cost more than $125 billion in damages. community came together to help and we showed each other and the nation how much we can we work together to help our neighbors in need, worked, too, appropriating funds and quickly to help those affected for and for assistance long-term rebuilding. the needs were great and the though well-intentioned, were slow, so many of our constituents took out loans from the small business and they could get low interest loans to do the work of and immediate rebuilding. and when they applied for the s.b.a. loans, they were told not taking out a loan would disqualify them from other disaster aid. unfortunately, they were, in disqualified from other forms of federal aid because taken out an s.b.a. loan. if they had taken out a loan bank, they nd or would still be eligible for federal aid. because they took out an s.b.a. midst of an unprecedented disaster, they receivingalified from federal assistance. of course, that's inconsistent with the programs. it's inconsistent with the this body to punish people for seeking help from the agencies that are there to help need, andheir times of i've heard from so many constituents who've been left by all accounts was a mistaken interpretation of the ntent and the rules that has needs to be correct -- that needs to be corrected. e can't simply leave them behind. we now have an opportunity to correct this error here and to bring meaningful relief to victims. this amendment will fund $45 million to those in texas who wrongfully denied assistance because they took out s.b.a. disaster recovery loans. . during harvey our community demonstrated we are at our best when we are working together to solve problems, and this amendment does the same. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment and i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman from texas reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. -- >> i yield as much time as he may consumer to mr. graves from louisiana. mr. graves: thank you, madam chair. i thank the gentleman from texas, mr. crenshaw, for fighting for the disaster victims of the lawful hurricanes that his constituents and others have gone through in texas, florida, north carolina, pork porks, virgin islands. i want to thank congresswoman fletcher for other co-sponsor ofship of this amendment to get this wrong fixed. madam chair, i want to very simply explain what is happening here. you have people that have experienced disasters, that have been through some type of flood or other disaster. the immediate assistance that's available to those disaster victims -- this is for homeowners, for renters, not for businesses, but the small business administration, offers loans, disaster loans to individuals. they offer it to businesses, too. they offer loans to individuals. and that is the only money that is largely available in the immediate aftermath. there may be a small grain available from fema, it's the overwhelm money. if you want to be proactive, lean forward, those are the resources that are available. you apply for a loan. that's one of your options. the other option that you have is that you can sit back in a fema supplied hotel room or you can sit back in a fema supplied trailer. the trailers cost about $150,000 a piece under fema's ridiculous process. you can be -- you can have one option where you are thousands and thousands of dollars of taxpayer funds paying for your hotel room. you can have another option where $150,000 is going toward a trailer to house you temporarily while you sit back and wait. the other option is you lean forward, you get the loan, and help to rebuild. you help to get your community back on your feet. you help to get the tax base. under our ridiculous federal policies, the people that were proactive are penalized. the gentleman from texas, the gentlelady from texas they are exactly right. the people are penalized that are trying to get recovered faster, that are trying to get their community recovered faster, that are trying to not spend more taxpayer fund or hotels or trailers. yet our federal policy penalizes them. tells them when combrants are available, grants you don't have to pay back, that they are ineligible. we are rewarding the wrong time of behavior. with the help of many people in this room we change the law. the disaster recovery reform t of 2018 changes, section 1210-a. we fixed this. the problem is it took h.u.d. over a year to write guidance and they totally missed it. they invented criteria that's not in the law. they totally missed it. they introduced discriminatory criteria and make it virtually impossible for many people to get assistance. what this amendment does, it's adding money to help fix a wrong. it shouldn't have to be done. i urge adoption of this amendment. most importantly, madam chair, we've got to fix these policies that are causing the federal government to revictimize disaster vick tifments that's not what we are here. that's not representing. i say again i urge adoption of this amendment. i want to thank my friend from texas for their work on this. we need to move forward and fix this long term. yield back. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentlewoman from texas is recognized for 2 1/2 minutes. mrs. fletcher: madam speaker, i yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from north carolina, the chairman of the transportation, housing, and urban development subcommittee, mr. price. the chair: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. price: i thank my colleague, madam chairman. i rise in support of this amendment. i know the amendment doesn't doesn't fully address the members' concerns, but it addresses them substantially, and we look forward to working with them further to engage both h.u.d. and the texas land office to work toward a solution for this issue. i thank both of our colleagues for putting this constructive amendment forward. and their effort to highlight this issue that's of great importance and happy to offer my support. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from texas has two minutes. to close. you have the only time remaining. mrs. fletcher: madam chair, i yield one minute to the distinguished speaker of the house, ms. pelosi. the chair: the speaker of the house is recognized for one minute. ms. pelosi: thank you, madam chair. i thank the gentlewoman for yielding. i thank her and mr. crenshaw for this very wise amendment to this important legislation. thank you for your leadership to both of you and the experience that you had in texas is one that's shared in the rest of the country as well. so thank you. i urge an aye vote on that important crenshaw-fletcher amendment. madam speaker, we -- many of us remember nearly 2 1/2 years ago hurricanes maria and irma tore through puerto rico and the u.s. virgin islands and left a trail of heartbreak and devastation in their wake. thousands of americans, all american citizens, tragically lost their lives. following the hurricanes many members traveled to the islands, we saw firsthand the homes that were destroyed, the communities ravaged, and the businesses and schools left in ruin. we saw the incompetent indifference compounded of many from here, compounded the terrible humanitarian crisis. it is unacceptable that the administration illegally withheld for a full year the assistance that congress appropriated and puerto rico needs both to recover from maria and to prepare for future disasters. puerto rico and the virgin islands. in recent weeks, tragedy has once again hit puerto rico as more than 1,000 earthquakes, 1,000 earthquakes have rocked the island since december 28. schools have crumbled, hospitals are in disarray, and houses have been destroyed. thousands of people are staying in shelters or sleeping outside out of fear that their homes could collapse as they sleep. tragically two americans have lost their lives, including a 13-year-old girl where too many are still waiting for the federal assistance needed to modernize hospitals and improve access to care. madam chair, as members of congress our most important responsibility is keep the american people safe. two weeks after devastating earthquakes struck puerto rico, our fellow americans on the island still face serious challenges to their safety, health, and well-being. emfamily sleeping outside, every child who no longer has a school to go to because of seismic dangers, every person who dies because they can't access a hospital, each is a challenge to the contents of our country. today with a strong supplemental assistance package, the democratic house and hopefully with strong bipartisan support is showing the people of puerto rico we are there for them now and throughout the road to recovery. i salute chairwoman nydia velazquez, our fearless persistent champion of puerto rico in the congress, born there, family there. thanks also to the members of the congressional hispanic caucus for raising a relentless drumbeat on behalf of the families of the island. and today also salute the distinguished chair of the appropriations committee for working right away, as soon as we came back into session in january, to provide assistance to puerto rico, the best route there. that guidance was was led by our distinguished chair of the meet of jurisdiction, mr. price. chairwoman lowey, chairman price, thank you for bringing us to the floor today this important legislation. the supplemental assistance package provides the relief that is urgently needed to help puerto rico and the virgin islands rebuild and recover today. it invests billions in efforts to prevent damage and loss of life in the future. although the earthquake was in puerto rico, the ramifications are in that region. the package as we have -- been noted provide more than $3 billion for disaster relief and long-term recovery, $1.25 billion for highway emergency, which will also go to disaster struck states on the mainland. hundreds of millions for critical education, nutrition assistance, electric grid recovery, and strong tax relief for puerto rico and other territories, including permanent changes to the earned income tax credit and child tax credit. and new investments to boost local economies and create good-paying jobs on the island. i thank our distinguished chair of the ways and means committee, richie neal, for his leadership in having this part of the package. sadly there are some who have some obstacles defending this emergency money to puerto rico following the earthquake. as members of congress we have a responsibility to act because our fellow americans deserve to know that their government will be there for them without question or hesitation. might i say -- so many people in the country don't realize puerto ricans are american citizens. many of them, if you visit there, you visit veterans centers where so many of them come together, american patriots, who have helped our country, we are so proud of them and we salute them, and in this time of knee need want to help them. i urge a strong vote to provide healing and hope for puerto rico. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the spouse yield back her time -- the speaker of the house yield back her time. the gentlewoman from texas is recognized to close. miss fletch every: i thank my colleagues for collaboration in this bill. i thank mr. crenshaw for working with me on this important effort for our community and for communities across our state and of course our country. i thank everyone for the collaboration and support and this effort and the eloquent statements and important statements made this morning in support of this amendment on the floor. i urge all of my colleagues to support this amendment. i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman from texas yields back. the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from texas. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. he amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 5 plipted in part c of house report number 116-392. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from michigan seek recognition? ms. talib: i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 5 printed in part c of house report number 116-392, offered by ms. talib of michigan. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 833, the gentlewoman from michigan, ms. talib, and a member posed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from michigan. ms. talib: thank you. i'd like to begin by thanking congresswoman lowey, subcommittee chairman price, and their staff for working with me on this amendment and for their critical leadership on this bill. i also like to thank my sisters in service, congresswoman velazquez and congress wome ocasio-cortez for leading this amendment with me. i'm so proud to partner with them to make our government more accessible, especially in times of disaster. this amendment ensures meaningful access to fellow americans with limited english abilities. to the public information maintained by grantees of the department of housing and urban development's community development grant. the amendment rests on two principles, madam chair. first, the puerto rican people have a right to know how this relief money is being spent in their own communities. second, no one is in a better position to hold officials and grant recipients accountable and to ensure the money we allocate today is used in the best interest of the community than the people of puerto rico themselves. that is why it is critical that we ensure that any information made available is easily accessible to all people regardless of what language they speak. i cannot overstate how important it is that we pass this bill. the people of puerto rico are struggling and persevering through some of the most difficult circumstances that any of us have ever experienced. the bill provides over $4 billion in critical disaster relief and long-term recovery assistance and funds programs and grants to kids back in fully functioning schools, repairing damages to infrastructure and roads, and rebuilding the island's electoral grid that's been damaged because of disasters and so forth. ensure that no one else is affected or that the children don't go to sleep hungry. it is time, it is time to release these funds. to hold the money that can save lives is not only inhumane and immoral but more dangerously a form of oppression. the disconnection to human suffering that we cause by doing nothing is what will continue to fail the american people. passing this bill fulfills essential promise of our democracy govern of the people, by the people, and for the people. passing this amendment in this bill ensures that some of the most vulnerable people have full access to democracy. regardless of who they are, where they are from, and what language they speak. i urge my colleagues to please support this amendment. and i reserve the balance of my time. and such time i would like to actually yield to our -- my distinguished fellow colleague, chairman of the subcommittee on transportation, and h.u.d., congressman price, for as much time as he may consume. . mr. price: i'm rising in support of this amendment. it is a considered amendment, one that is an important addition to this bill. access to appropriate materials, understandable materials in the program is vitally important. access to program materials is essential for transparency, for public input and for knowledge of how you take advantage of these benefits and these programs. what's available under the disaster assistance programs. while h.u.d. requires grantees to provide meaningful access, this puts a finer point on that. we need to do that. we need to underscore the responsibilities to provide access in dispensing this aid. i thank my colleagues for this amendment and i yield back. the chair: the gentlewoman from michigan reserves. any member seek time in opposition? the the gentlewoman from ichigan is recognized. ms. tlaib: as a person born and raised in this country, i can tell you how important it is critical to our democracy and protecting all of us. i thank my colleagues for their tremendous support, and i yield the rest of my time. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentlewoman from michigan. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. he amendment is agreed to. it is now in order to consider amendment number 6 printed in part c of house report 116-392. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek reck -- recognition. the clerk: amendment number 6 printed in part c of house eport 116- 92 offered by mr. levin of michigan. the chair: the gentleman from michigan and a member opposed each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: thank you, madam chairwoman. in me thank chairwoman lowey bringing this much-needed package to the floor. this bill includes funding for the long-term recovery of territories impacted by recent disasters included continued support for the electric grid's recovery. after hurricane maria hit puerto rico in 2017, it took an entire year to restore power to the whole long island. then last month, earthquakes damaged puerto rico's main power plants. the people of puerto rico and forced toans can't be deal with blackout after blackout especially when climate change has made catastrophic storms all too frequent. as we think about what is needed to ensure the long-term recovery, it is essential that renewable resources be part of that conversation. that's why i have introduced this simple amendment to prioritize funding for renewable energy projects that will enhance the long-term resiliency of puerto rico's infrastructure. we have seen what renewable energy can do. during the blackout that followed hurricane maria, puerto rican homeowners, businesses and hospitals waiting for repair crews installed their own solar power to get their power back faster. st year, puerto rico set a time line by 2050. that is a great step but not nearly enough and puerto rico needs our nation's help. we have to ensure that renubles are prioritized for the sake of their ability to survive disasters like hurricane maria and sake of our planet. power generation from fossil fuels is the greenhouse gas emissions that are making climate change worst. we have to make changes fast. shifting to renewables will help combat change and help american people cope in the aftermath of major disasters. i thank chairwoman lowey and i yield one minute to mr. price. the chair: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized. mr. price: i thank my colleague for yielding and i rise in support of his amendment. this amendment highlights the importance of prioritizing funding for renewable energy projects that will enhance the long-term resilience of puerto rico's infrastructure. reliable and resilient power grid is critical to puerto rico's ability to withstand and recover from future disasters. if i might, i want to take a moment to also highlight section 304 of the bill. it requires h.u.d. and other federal partners to finish the consultation on the $2 billion provided in the bipartisan budget act for electrical grid improvements in puerto rico and u.s. virgin islands within 30 days and h.u.d. to issue a notice in 60 days. i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i reserve. the chair: does any member seek time in recognition? seeing none. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i would just close by saying that i really appreciate our ability to take this small step, but i think we all ought to dream big for this beautiful part of our country. puerto rico has been subject to misfortunes and we can think about a different future for puerto rico, where it moves very quickly, not just to renewable energy, but to localized renewable energy so that each community has solar, micro grids, battery storage, so they aren't subject to these disasters in the same way at all. i yield back. the chair: the question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from michigan. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. he amendment is agreed to. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18 the unfinished is request for a recorded vote on amendment number 1 by the gentlewoman from florida, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1 printed in house report c 116-3 2. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the chair: on this vote, the eas are 256 -- the chair: the yeas are 257 and the nays are 149. the amendment is adopted. without objection -- there being no further amendments under the rule, the committee rises. the speaker pro tempore: mr. chairman. the chair: the house has had under consideration and pursuant to house resolution 833, i report back to the bill back to the house. the speaker pro tempore: under the rule, the previous question s ordered. the chair of the committee of the whole house of the state of the union reports that the committee has had under consideration the bill h.r. 5687 and pursuant to house resolution 833 reports the bill back to the house with sundry amendments. under the rule, is a separate vote demanded? if not, the chair will put them engross. the question is on adoption of the amendment. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. he amendments are agreed to. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. third reading. the clerk: a bill making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2020 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the ouse will come to order. for what purpose does the gentleman from oklahoma seek recognition? >> i have a motion to recommit at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: mr. cole of oklahoma moves to recommit the bill h.r. 5687 to the committee on appropriations. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. cole: madam speaker, i rise in reluctant opposition to this bill. long before i was privileged to come to this house, i was secretary of state in oklahoma at the time of the oklahoma city bombing and i was tasked to work with mr. lucas, who worked with the congress to see that we received timely assistance for a disaster that was not of our own making and we got that assistance and i'm forever grateful for the people that worked with us. once i arrived. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman will suspend. mr. cole: since i i arrived in congress, i never forgot the help we received from the congress of the united states. so i routinely voted for almost every supplemental that relate todd disaster relief. i was one of 49 republicans that voted for sandy relief. i have no doubt that our fellow americans in puerto rico need help at this particular time. i was very proud in the last congress to vote for over $40 billion of relief to puerto rico. it needed that money. no question about it. madam speaker, we are moving prematurely here. that money, that $40 billion, roughly half to be expended. it is available for immediate use right now. we still have $42 billion in the disaster relief fund. that money is available for immediate use right now. there is an ongoing fema investigation to determine the precise needs of puerto rico. that has yet to be completed and reported to congress. we should wait for that disaster relief, not because it may tell us we need less but may tell us we need more. but we should not act without appropriate information. so, madam speaker, i think the appropriate thing to do is to send this back to the committee and wait for the information to move. if we move now, it is almost certain the united states senate will not pick up this relief and the president will probably not sign this bill if it got to his desk. we wait for the appropriate information, use the available funds that we have right now to help people in puerto rico. we have a much better chance of getting our fellow americans the help they need when they need it and in the right amounts and in the right way. no doubt in my mind that this congress will respond appropriately to an emergency. i have seen us do it time and time again on a bipartisan basis. i know we'll do it again at the appropriate time. congress will respond if necessary. frankly, madam speaker, i move we recommit the current legislation to the appropriations committee and wait on the information and then act in the interest of our fellow americans. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from from the great state of florida seek recognition? >> i rise in opposition to the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> the gentleman from oklahoma talked about timely assistance for his state. i think that's important because that's what we are asking for puerto rico here today. we talked about the $42 billion for hurricanes. we know that less than half of that money has gotten to the island already. and we are talking now about earthquakes, a totally different disaster in the southwestern portions of the island, you if neek in character. these funds may not cover some of these other issues happening. and when you look at the schools in particular, that's all across the island. this is unique because they were made to withstand hurricanes and not earthquakes. mr. soto: we could supplement with another bill, why would we wait today when the pell of puerto rico need our help? and that's why we are here today. imagine 1,000 earthquakes since december -- >> the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore: the house will come to order. mr. soto: imagine the thousand earthquakes happening after hurricane maria. my guess was jessica who left the island who came to central florida because she was weary from sleeping in her car, sleeping on her porch day in and day out for over a month. i got to go firsthand to puerto rico and seen that damage as the ground shook. we talked about the schools and eople in the disaster relief camps and power plants are closed that puts them in a tough position. let's pass this bill that will drive $4.67 billion in disaster relief and vote against the motion to recommit because we can't wait any longer and vote yes on the ultimate package to rise above the politics of disaster relief, but for the gays of god go you, your districts and your states. we rose together for hurricane michael in my state of florida, hurricane harvey for texas and i ask the house to get the job done. vote no on the motion to recommit and vote yes on the bill to help puerto rico. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to recommit. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the nos have it. the gentleman from oklahoma. mr. cole: i would ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] this uant to clause 5 will be followed by five-minute vote on passage of the bill. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 178 rges the nays are -- and the nays are 223. the motion is not adopted. the question is on passage of the bill. the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 237, the nays are 161. the bill is passed. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? the gentleman will suspend. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? mrs. lowey: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that in the engrossment of the bill, h.r. 5687, the clerk be altogether ritesed to make technical corrections and conforming changes to the bill, including the change i have placed at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the changes at the desk. the clerk: 27, line 25. strike recovery act and all that follows through u.s.c. 5122 on page 28, line 1. and insert emergency assistance act, 42 u.s.c. 1521. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? oregon. excuse me. >> i request unanimous consent to speak out ofed for a few seconds -- out of order for a few seconds. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, >> last night i was inadvertently recorded as voting no on h.res. 826. expressing disapproval of the trump administration's actions towards medicaid. when it was my intention to vote yes. i respectfully request this be officially reflected in the record and ask my full written statement be entered into the record as well. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. pifment for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? mr. hoyer: i ask unanimous consent that the house meet on monday next at noon for morning hour debate and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. scalise: i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for the purpose of inquiring to the majority leader for the schedule next week. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. scalise: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. scalise: i would, mr. speaker, yield to my friend, the gentleman from maryland. mr. hoyer: i thank the minority whip. on mopped, the house will meet at 12:00 p.m. for morning hour debate and 2:00 p.m. for ledgetive business with votes postponed until 6:30 p.m. on tuesday and wednesday, the house will meet at 10:00 a.m. for morning hour debate and 12:00 p.m. for legislative business. on thursday, the house will meet at 9:00 a.m. with last votes expected no later than 3:00 p.m. we will consider several bills under suspension of the rules. the complete list of suspensions will be announced by the close of business today. mr. speaker, the house will consider h.r. 2546, protecting america's wilderness act. this bill is a package of lands bills out of the natural resources committee and would designate 1.3 million acre as potential wilderness areas preserving these public lands for current and future generations. the house will consider h.j.res. 79 removing the deadline of the equal rights amendment. this would remove the deadline paving the way to take a historic step for women's equality. i would add, mr. speaker, this is not an adoption of an assumption that, in fact, the 38 states who have ratified to date have not ratified within the framework of the constitution and therefore that amendment should, in fact, be judged to have been adopted. i yield back to my friend from louisiana. mr. scalise: i thank the gentleman for yielding back and going through those items that are going to be up on the house floor next week. i would like to ask the majority leader, in respect to some of the things that were discussed at the state of the union and i'm sure we will be talking about a few things that happened during the state of the union, but the president identified a number of items where he challenged us in congress to work with him on addressing some of the challenges that are facing our country. and he identified some items by executive order ta he is working on and identified some items from infrastructure, where i noticed there was applause on both sides of the aisle on some areas of educational opportunities, school choice, where unfortunately the remarks weren't received as equally as maybe they should have been, but also provides us some opportunities to find some areas where we can work and would benefit people across this country. starting with infrastructure, there is tremendous interests that i have heard from members on both sides to try to work on a package that we can get agreement on. i haven't seen the transportation committee tasked directly with doing that, but i have heard there is interest from chairman defazio and ranking member graves to reach a common ground. is there emphasis that is placed on tasking the transportation committee with actually going and working and going and finding that common ground which we know is there to try to put together an infrastructure package in the next few months? mr. hoyer: yes and i think the gentleman probably knows, the leaders of the relevant committees, mr. neal and mr. defazio, mr. neal on the funding side and mr. did he fast yeoh on the transportation and infrastructure and other items we think that need be included. met with the president in the united states in april. i tell the gentleman, mr. speaker, probably the most positive meeting that i have had with the president with other members in the group that had. this was dem cats and then the secretary of transportation was also there. and we talked about our joint ommit mnlt to infrastructure investment. as the president suggested during his campaign that our target would be trillion over 10 years, $100 billion a year so it will create a lot of american jobs and also being competitive with our competitors around the world in the 21st century. the president responded that he thought a trillion dollars was too little and suggested a $2 trillion investment doubling the average over 10 years and we had discussion about that. we indicated that we agreed with the president that such an investment would be warranted and productive. and frankly, grow the economy and therefore, be an investment, not simply an expenditure. mr. neal made the point, mr. whip, that the president -- if he will give us some direction on what he could support in terms of funding that investment and i made the observation that i said to him, mr. president, neither in the senate or the house will republicans or democrats support that big an investment if you are not leading, to which he responded to me, mr. whether whip, steny, i agree with you. we scheduled a meeting to be held five, six weeks later and unfortunately, for whatever reasons, both sides have their thoughts as to why the president came to the meeting and said he was not prepared to meet and we did not have that meeting and have not had that meeting since. but i will emphatically say to the gentleman, we want to work on infrastructure and we think it is critically important and the president said during the campaign he felt important. your side and on the senate side believe infrastructure is important. certainly as i said yes, we want to see if we can work together to adopt a significant infrastructure package, which we think will be good for the country. secondly, let me say that the president mentioned two other things, one of which was prescription drugs. we have passed a prescription dug bill, h.r. 3. the president said it would veto it if it was passed as it was, i would suggest following the regular order, the senate ought to take it, change it, amend it, do whatever they feel is appropriate to do, pass it if they can and let us have a conference, because we have all said we want to bring down prescription drug prices. the president says he wants to negotiate. we included in h.r. 3 negotiation. e president said he wanted keep prices to our global competitors and put six large nations which are similar to us, australia, great britain, canada, france and one other nation, in that calculation. and ta we would in our bill cap the prices at 120% of the average pies across those six nations. that was something the president wanted to do and he responded to a question about negotiations saying i want to negotiate like crazy. he is a businessman and realtor. so i think we have component parts in common. and my suggestion would be again that they take up h.r. 3, which is the prescription drug bill, do what the senate needs to do, go to conference and we discuss differences and pass the bill and send it to the president. so there is certainly in my experience in the long time here, that is the way we should get it done. that would be positive for the country and i think we can reach consensus hopefully from the administration, your party, my party and pass those two bills to the benefit of the american people. the last thing i would discuss the president said he was against pre-existing conditions precluding getting insurance. we share that view. we have passed a bill over to the senate that effects that end. the senate could take that bill up. work on it and go to wonches and assuming that we follow the president wanting to assure that pre-existing conditions did not prohibit anybody from getting insurance, we could pass that bill. we passed three bills or two bills and then infrastructure, which were four and those are positive items we could work on and we are prepared to do so. i yield back. mr. scalise: i thank the gentleman. on those fronts, clearly there is an ability to find common ground as we talk about infrastructure. there has been a lot of discussion of what that number would be, what the amount would be, because it would have to be a number that we can get an agreement between republicans and democrats that would be paid for. and it has to be paid for. that usually has been the sticking point with infrastructure, but within that, whether it's $200 billion or $2 trillion, there is an understanding we have to find out on agreement to pay for it and there is ability to find that agreement. the amount would be variable. but also something the president has talked about as well as member of congress, making reforms to the way we build roads, bridges. the infrastructure delays so often are caused by red tape that's unnecessary. i have heard from governors both republican and democrat that would like to seekonk not only send money. obviously the states would love to see more federal money but less strings attached that a project that may take 10 years to do because of so many overlapping delays and red tape that maybe should take two years at most. many cases, that delay is what prohibits the project being done, because it drives the cost up so much. it may be deemed unaffordable and gets scrapped as opposed if we address not only the financing but the bureaucracy and eliminating red tape so we can get more projects down quickly. that would be another area of mutual interests and the president is very interested in doing that. when i have had talks with him, it's not just the amount ta we are able to get agreement upon but also reforms to the red tape so we can move projects quicker and do projects that are unaffordable because of those days that are unnecessary and hopefully we can get everybody together a few more times to get closer to finding that agreement on infrastructure. as it relates to health care, there definitely has been a divide between our sides. if you look at h.r. 3, the gentleman recognizes, it was a very partisan bill. the vote reflects that. however our agreement on how the senate does business, they do business differently from the house. but they have been reluctant to take up hyper partisan bills. they will go to a bill that has broad support. usmca is a reflection of that. to do something very bipartisan and very good for our country and something able to move through both sides. if you look at h.r. 19, i would suggest that whatever the bill number is, not the number of the bill, it's what is in it that we can get bipartisan agreement on. h.r. 19 is an approach to find not a partisan approach to health care but areas where we had broad bipartisan support and the package of bills that came out of the energy and commerce committee. people are shocked when they hear that congress did work together, republicans and democrats came together to put together a package of bills that would lower drug prices that the president would sign that could be in law today where generic drugs would be on the market quicker so people could be paying lower costs. that package of bills came out of committee unanimously. it took a long time to put that agreement together but both sides did come together. if we could look at those approaches. h.r. 1 includes only bills that were bipartisan. people who had worked together on various elements of improving health care, from lowering prescription drugs, protecting pre-existing conditions, but not in a partisan way, in a bipartisan way that could get signed into law. one way or another we're going to find some issues where we can move both republican and democrat coming together to move bills over to the senate. those would clearly have a much higher likelihood of not only getting taken up by the senate, but actually getting signed into law. i would suggest when you look at some of those approaches, the bipartisan approach, where you don't have a presidential veto but you also have a strong ability to get senators on both sides, to want to take that up as well. and then finally, on school choice. the education, freedom, scholarship and opportunity act, this is something that president trump cited in the state of the union specifically. you can see it in isolated cases. i come from a city, new orleans, i was born in the city of new orleans. i was on the board of teach for america in new orleans. and we had a dramatic overhaul of our public school system where we created a charter school movement. and republicans and democrats. it was a democrat governor, who unfortunately passed away recently, who signed that bill, republicans and democrats working together, that has transformed some of the most worst failed public school systems in the country, the new orleans public school system, prior to our reforms was considered by most as the most failed public school system in the country, now has a very healthy charter school movement where children have real opportunities. parents have real opportunities. schools are competing for students and it's working for the students. and this is in a large urban system where it was failed and now it's very successful. clearly no system is perfect. but there are much more options, there are many more options for parents. and congressman byrne has a bill, there are other bills that are out there, to try to give at least some additional options to families so that if they're in a failing school, they can have a better place to go and ultimately the system would be working better for the student. so -- students. so on all of those fronts i would hope that we could find those areas of common ground and start there, build that, and work with the senators and with the president who wants to address these issues, like we were able to address usmca, which was signed into law last week. i would yield. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for his comments. first, let me talk about the prescription drug bill. we did pass a bill that was a compilation of six bilts, had five republican supporters -- bills, had five republican supporters when we voted on it. so it was a bipartisan bill. let me suggest, we ought not to dismiss, however the senate operates, that the way the regular order operates is we pass a bill. yes, we're in charge. and like you, we pass bills that we think were important. when you were in the majority you did the same thing. some had democratic votes. some did not. but the senate had an opportunity to send us back bills. we have 275 bills that we've done. we think they're all on substantive matters that deal with items that are good for the people. for the american people. and the senate has not acted on them. the way the system ought to work is we send our ideas over there, if they have different ideas, they send them back to us and we go to conference and resolve it. i agree with the gentleman, that's what we ought to do. and i'm hopeful we could do that. but the bill that we did pass, as i say, was a compilation of seven bills and had five republicans. but as you do, five republicans makes it a bipartisan piece of legislation. and the senate could send it back with something we don't agree on and try to resolve it. we want to reach that end. the other bill the gentleman talks about, h.r. 3, and the bill that we brought out, had improvements to the a.c.a. to make it work for the american people. your side, of course, wants to repeal the affordable care act. our side differs and believes that in fact millions of people, not only those who have availed themselves of a.c.a., and in the short-term it didn't bring down premiums, but it's now starting to bring down premiums as we thought it would. the constant assaults on the a.c.a. by people who want to see it repealed obviously has hurt that, because it has undermined certainty, which means the insurers are not certain what the rules are going to be and therefore our view is the premiums are still inflated. but again, i would urge the whip to talk to mr. mcconnell and say, look, we have a lot of bills over there. pass your version of the bill. send it back and let us work on it. and let's see if we can get to an agreement. that is how we have done for hundreds of years and that's the way we ought to continue to do it. i realize that mr. mcconnell, as any majority of the -- leader of the senate, has challenges in doing. that i think what he doesn't want to do is get to a bipartisan agreement which will allow passage through the senate. we don't have that here, as you know. your side could pass bills on a partisan basis when you were in charge. we can do the same. as i say, we had five republicans agree with us on the bill to which you referred. but i would hope you would urge senator mcconnell to pass our bill. senator brawn from indiana was on tv with chuck todd talking about impeachment. he said, let's get through this impeachment and get to the people's business. i think that was a reasonable proposition. the problem is, the senate is not getting to the people's business. they're not passing their own bills. and they're not passing our bills. in fact, they're spending all their time confirming judges. we think that has a purpose of making sure that for long term, whether they're in the majority or not, they will have an influence on what happens to the united states. i understand that political motivation. but it is impeding us doing the people's business. so, mr. speaker, mr. scalise and i tried to work together and i would hope that the senate would work together so that they could send us back bills of their choice. we can go to conference and we can make things happen. this house last year passed over 400 pieces of legislation. i don't have the exact number that the senate has passed of significant bills, as opposed to naming post offices or something like that. but it is in the tens, not the hundreds. i yield to my friend. mr. scalise: i thank the gentleman for yielding. clearly we've got a lot of agreement on our disagreement with the senate's way of doing business. of course one of their impediments that i know i've encouraged a change in, that they haven't taken up, is the 60-vote rule. just to bring up a bill. so many of the bills when we were in the majority that would go over to the senate that we felt strongly about, that would not be brought up, it was a majority republican senate, but because they have a 60-vote requirement, the minority could and would on occasion prevent many of those bills from coming up. but that's why i suggest to the gentleman, what we found is of the issues we'd like to tackle that we really do feel confident we can get in agreement with the president on, the senate's shown a higher likelihood of taking up a bill if it's got that broad support. and so in an example of h.r. 3, where, for the record, there were only two republicans who voted for it, while that could be called bipartisan, there was a separate package of bills that came out of committee unanimously. so if you have one approach, that still is viewed as very partisan with just two republicans voting for it. to address health care issues. if there's a different way to approach it, where every republican and every democrat on the committee of jurisdiction passed those bills that would lower drug prices, and the president said he would like to sign it, i would think the gentleman would agree, if those two bills are put side by side, which one do you think would have a higher likelihood of making it through the senate to the president's desk? it's very clear that the one that was unanimous would have a higher licklyhood. that's why i just suggested h.r. 19, because that was a bill that, while we would have liked to include a number of other issues, that maybe just our side might support, we put those on the side for now to say, let's find those areas in health care where we have very broad support amongst republicans and democrats and that's reflected in h.r. 19. you want to put a different package together, if the approach is, let's address this in a bipartisan way, we have a very high likelihood of getting not just the president's support but also the senate's support at moving that through. and i don't know if the gentleman had any more comments on that. mr. hoyer: i would simply say, if we reach a consensus in the congress, we're a co-equal, separate branch of government. whether obama was president or whether mr. trump is president, i was for the congress acting on that which it agreed. is it helpful to have agreement with the president? it is. but if we can't reach agreement with the president, our responsibility as a congress, senate and house, is to move policy that we believe are advantageous for the people. if the president disagree, then we have the option of overriding that veto. doubtful that we would do that. i understand. but that is the process that i think is most productive and most expected by the american people. i would, again, reiterate, on the bill that you keep saying could have unanimous support, what it would not have is, in my opinion, support for doing, in terms of health care, what we so fervently believe needs to be done, and that's to make sure the a. crmple a. works as -- a.c.a. works as it was intended to do. and if there is an alternative, consider that. but very frankly, neither the president nor your side of the aisle has had agreement on an alternative. senator mccain, as you know, was the deciding vote. republican on the last health bill that you sent to the senate. you sent that when you were in the majority. it didn't pass. notwithstanding the fact that you also had the majority in the enate. the president effectively said that bill, two weeks after you had the celebration at the white house, was astounded to hear that the president called that a mean bill. so we do have substantial disagreements. that does not mean, given the fact that we have a democratic house, that is we're in the majority, and a republican senate, the republican in the majority, now, i understand the gentleman's concern that it is necessary to get bipartisan agreement in the senate. in order to get that 60-vote threshold. we may agree on the 060 -- 60-vote threshold of getting on the floor, it's one thing to pass something or not. but in any event, i would urge the gentleman -- the gentleman to urge mr. mcconnell, pass your prescription bill. and if it's what you say and it can be done unanimously, send it over here, we'll have a conference. because both of us have articulated that we are for making sure that prescription drug costs do not price people out of being healthy. so i would urge you to do that. i yield. mr. scalise: i thank the gentleman. now that the senate has a little more free time, maybe we can get them to take up some of that legislation. i surely hope that we on both sides will continue working towards those, because they are areas of common ground that many have found and many have worked for months to find that. i do want to shift gears and talk about the decorum the night of the state of the union. the president talked about many things. as any state of the union. and i've attended 10 now. you've had republican and democrat presidents. there are things that i agree with in certain states of the union, and you can stand, you can sit, you can applaud. but i think we all saw something that goes way beyond, and in fact violates, the rules of decorum in the house. and that was when the speaker ripped up the speech. clearly it was a preed me dated -- premeditated move. i've seen actual video of her practicing or starting to rip it prior to the end of the speech. but when you go through the speech, and again, the president talked about the theme was, the great american comeback, and talked about things that are working well in our country. working well for everybody. where every segment of society's benefiting. and of course as every president i think since ronald reagan has done, highlighting some of those great things that are happening in our country by bringing people into the gallery to show the real face on some of these great things that our country does. again, if part of a policy that created that great visual is something that one side disagrees with, you know, some people stand up, some people don't. but to suggest that it didn't happen or that it's a lie, as some in the leadership of your majority actually said the whole speech was a lie, i would ask, was general charles mcgee's recognition as a tuskegee airman a lie? i think that was something great that people enjoyed celebrating. the humanitarian worker who was brutally murdered by al-baghdadi, it happened, her family was here. al-baghdadi was taken out by american troops, which i think was the right thing to do. he's in at -- that's not a lisme that's something that we -- lie. that's something that we ought to recognize and respect. when staff sergeant christopher hag was killed serving a tour of duty in iraq by a roadside bomb that was generated from an iranian terrorist, which was led by general soleimani, and now sol manyy -- soleimani's gone because the president took action to take him out, that happened, it's not a lie. in fact, the fact that soleimani is gone is something we all should celebrate, just as we celebrated when president obama gave the order to take out osama bin laden. there wasn't a dry eye in the house who were tearing up when williams who nd was on his fourth tour in the middle east and wife and young children and the president surprised her and us by bringing him back home. and what a special moment that was to see that family reunited. and tears were not a partisan issue at that moment, but it did happen and it's not a lie and something we should celebrate. the decorum of the house for the speaker to do that, most would agree was not appropriate. at a minimum, an apology should have happened. there wasn't. we brought legislation yesterday to rebuke the speaker to make it clear that's something not becoming of any member of the house let alone the speaker of the house and the roll call vote was tabled but if that happens again, we don't tolerate that kind of activity from our members let alone our leader. and if the gentleman had anything to say about that, i would yield. mr. hoyer: started his state of union with his shout of for more years reminds me of a rally than a state of the union. clearly the speaker or any of us diminish the people that he introduced, some of whom i severely disagree with and thought the actions taken with respect to that individual were totally inappropriate in the state of the union because that further divide and undermine any ability to work together. having said that, four more years was disrespectful to this institution. the resuscitation in your resolution of the honoring of individuals you just reflected had nothing to do with the state of the union, but had everything to do with honoring people who had done great things, experienced great hardship, ought to be empathized with. no one was saying those were a lie. one can interpret the speech for what each believed it was and can say something about it and reflect to the american people what they think of the substance of the representation of the state of the union. had nothing to do with the people who were honored, whether we agreed with them being honored or not. certainly i agreed with almost every one of them, save one. i yield back. mr. scalise: i appreciate the gentleman's comments but those names were part of that document that was ripped and i'm sure many of them was offended as we are that that happened. i would hope it doesn't happen again and we should speak out against that. and i would yield. mr. hoyer: mr. speaker, none of those individuals should take anything that was done personally. in fact, every one of those individuals was honored by people on this side of the aisle and that side of the aisle acknowledging them and honoring them with appropriate action. i yield back. mr. scalise: i appreciate the gentleman making that statement. and i would share that. i wish the person who took the action would make that statement to those people because many were offended. but that will be left to discuss later. but for now, i look forward to working with the gentleman on all of these issues that we discussed that the president offered the olive branch to work with him on and aachievable if we do roll up our sleeves and tackle it together. there is a template for how to do it. usmca is one. and 21st century cures when we are in the majority and worked closely to achieve that will be a milestone in curing major diseases for years to come and hopefully deliver those kinds of wins for the american people that we all represent. with that, i yield back the alance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from nevada seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to commemorate gun violence survivors week. every resident of nevada that claimed 59 lives and injured more than 800 lives. gun violence has touched too many of our lives. both on that day two years ago and daily. in nevada, someone is killed by gun violence every 19 hours. i personally lost my father to gun violence when i was 19 years of age and these deaths are preventable. my bill, h.r. 4836 the break the cycle of violence act is an important step towards to get ahead of the simplest violence. i'm proud that nearly a year ago, the house passed h.r. 8 for meaningful gun background checks. i know the cruelty of suffering a loss at the hands of a gun, knowing your loved one won't come home because someone was armed with a weapon they should not have had access to. i urge my colleagues in the senate to vote on h.r. 8 and for this body to take up 4836. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, earlier this week i had the honor of meeting gilbert howland nd bob at a reception honoring veterans of world war ii. they volunteered for a mission that was described as only dangerous and hazardous. these brave men and approximately 3,000 others were delide to northern burma to tight behind enemy lines. only nine of these volunteers are still alibe today and deserve to be honored for their bravery, sack cry ties and love of country. pennsylvania had more volunteers than any other state and one other russell handler from pittsburgh is still with us today. i'm proud to co-sponsor h.r. 906 introduced by representative pete king of new york. i would like to encourage my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation and honor the legacy. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: are there any further requests for one-minute speeches? the chair announces the speaker's appointment pursuant 4303 of the following member on the part of the house to the board of gallaudet university. the clerk: mr. bucshon of indiana. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced toll si of january 3, 2019, the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority read -- leader. mr. gohmert: under the new rules , since rules ss have been changed that only allow one special order per week despite my for years having encouraged members of our conference to sign up nor special orders to have a chance to get messages out that we feel need to be out as i said for years, you need to sign up for the special orders because you don't want my face to be the face of the party and i'm encouraged we got more people signing up now. but under the speaker's new rules, as of this congress, only one per week per person. so i'm pleased, mr. speaker, to be here for my one special order of the week. nd what a week it was. wow. the impeachment proceedings came to a conclusion that most everybody who had studied the situation knew that they would no matter how long it go drug out, it was going to be this conclusion. state of the union address tuesday night, most people or at least around here most people know constitution requires a state of the union report or address, but doesn't require that it be done orally. and originally the very first were provided in writing, but it is an opportunity for us to come to know it's not been quite as whom againous of a body homogne omp us. t has been -- some call it rump derangement sin trom. ptsd, president trump stress disorder. stress and e causes some cases derangement that people normally think straight st have trouble reaching the wise conclusions that they used to. so that has been an interesting thing to observe. but here we are end of the week of impeachment, end of the week after a state of the union address. i was honored to have my friend nigeria ell ferrage who has been fighting to make the point that president trump has been making here in america that unless our country is strong we cannot take are of other countries disasters and problems, our assaults on freedom around the world. we can't. we have to make sure we are strong first and the example that has been given before being on a jet plane and the instructions for good reasons say the adult must pass the mask on in the event of loss of cabin pressure which means there will be a loss of oxygen. put your mask on first so you will be conscious and helpful to your children and others who are not able to put the mask on themselves. if we are not strong, we don't take care of the united states of america as our oath should require us to do, then we are not able to be that shining light on a hill. we are not able to be that hope for freedom. there are a lot of countries around the world that don't care for the united states. me of it is simple jealousy, but some call the united states imperialist pigs which is no reflection on the united states, but a reflection of their ignorance of what imperialism means as well as exactly what the history of the united states is. when we have gone and fought and sacrificed our greatest treasure hard-pressed s, to find any place in history where a country sacrificed that precious treasure, our case, american lives, for other people's freedom. and we don't require that they learn our language, that they begin to get permission from our government here in order to conduct affairs in their own country. we're not imperialists. hymogeny. seeking that's not the case at all. we are about freedom. we have so many friends in france and we have -- we have a painting over here, only painting in the whole capitol, full length, of a foreigner. and here it is, has been here in the house for so many decades, friend of george washington, it's over here on my right. lafayette. e -- so we have had great help from the french. in fact they helped ensure the final victory at yorktown with their ships and military and the french military was there at the wallis, r where corner and he sent out a subordinate. we owe the french a great deal. . historians have wrestled with how we came about having freedom without the thousands of heads being separated from bodies, as occurred after the french revolution that began, you know, we got our rs after constitution. and the french revolution ended up ultimately resulting in an emperor named napoleon. but before napoleon even took .harge, so many people killed so much bloodshed. so historians have wrestled with that. how did the american revolution result in freedom without the tremendous beheadings, hangings that have occurred in other places like after the french revolution? what made the difference? and i believe those who point to the first great awakening around a 1730's and 1740's, recognition of biblical principles. and just who almighty god was and is. and this desire for freedom that our creator has provided. some say, well, if we're endowed with it, why doesn't everybody have freedom around the world? well, like anything you inherit, if you're not willing to fight for it, there will be evil people that will take it from you and you won't have it. so thank god for all of those who have served in our military nd fought for freedom. but some historians say the big difference, they believe, between the results of the american revolution and the french revolution was that the american revolution was about liberty and the french revolution was about revenge. as long as this country has been bout liberty, it has soared. and people have done well. of course, in the second century of our country there was another in the decades before the civil war. and some would indicate, actually, the second great awakening and the awakening of something daniel webbster, john quincy adams, of course frederick douglass knew better than anybody, but that -- how can you be a christian and follow the teachings of jesus, and at the same time put brothers and sisters in chains and bondage? they're inconsistent. they're incongruent. you can't have those two things working together. sure, slavery's talked about in the bible. but -- and it's always been around and it grieves me greatly. we heard a year ago at the national prayer breakfast there are now more slaves in the world than there have ever been at any time in the world's history. tragic. some say, well, that points to our own disgusting history here in the united states, like columbus coming over and establishing slavery. again, a lot of people don't know their history. but there were indian tribes that had captured and enslaved other indian tribes. i used to say native americans, but we've had so many native americans testify before our committee and they normally say, i'm an indian from such and such indian tribe. so that's been a revelation. but nonetheless, slavery has existed since the fall of man. it's an evil that exists in this world and i'm glad we were rid of it in the united states. it's tragic that it took a civil war and the loss of half a million lives. but, again, it took a second great awakening. and that was about liberty. what about revenge? . d we get to the 20th century two world wars. we haven't had a great awakening in over 100 years. and i think it shows in the activity here in this body. i think it shows in activities across the country. and i think it's something that would serve us well and help refine the country if we were to have a third great awakening. instead, we see tremendous partisanship. and i really appreciated the jority leader explaining for our speaker what she really . ant by things she had said shed say the -- she'd said that the state of the union address had no connection with reality. she said the speech was a pack of lies. she said the president selling a bill of goods like a snake oil salesman. and i appreciated our minority hip, my friend, steve scalise, asking about that. certainly appears there were a ot of truthful things. just to highlight some of the president's guests. this was -- this should have across eel-good event the aisle. and i wasn't a personal fan of president obama. but when he would tell a story that touched heart, as there were so many of those stories in the state of the union, how could you not be moved? how could you not applaud and stand and cheer for some of those heroic situations? so i thought it was like a good movie. you laugh, you cry, you cheer. and there were those events. but i've run into this some myself. one lady told me she was so sensitive to the holy spirit after she finished saying some really nasty things about me, when you came up the holy spirit left. i realized she was completely consumed with hate. so, yeah. you can't be consumed with that kind of hate and still feel the presence, as you say you have, of the holy spirit. but if you can set those kind of feelings of hate aside long enough, then it's easier to find areas of mutual agreement. -- tephanie and jania janiyah davis from philadelphia, pennsylvania. she was the fourth grade student. loves art and math. too long she's been assigned to low performing schools. her mom, stephanie, hardworking single mom who tried to apply for a tax credit scholarship, but since the governor had vetoed the school choice legislation, janiyah remained among the estimated 50,000 students on a wait list. as was announced here in this body, with her sitting right up there, she was getting a scholarship. this uld we not all cheer child with so much promise? having the chance to pursue her dreams and get the best education, just like children of presidents of both parties have here in washington, as they sent their child or children to private schools, why not give a poor minority a chance that the president's children have? one guy though, from crack -- juan guideo, from caracas, venezuela -- guaido from caracas, venezuela. thought it was inspirational to have him here and allow us to pay tribute to what -- to whom many of us believe is the , legitimate tual president. but, as the president pointed out, the u.s. is supporting the venezuelan people in their struggle for freedom and democracy. from lli and gage hagge stillwater. kelli was at home with her 1-year-old son when she learned her husband, army staff sergeant christopher, had been killed while serving his second tour of duty in iraq. explosiveilled by the devices designed and produced under the auspices of a guy named soleimani. whom president trump had ordered taken out. such an irony, too. he was killed and it shouldn't ave been a partisan thing over someone being killed by a drone strike. because i know -- i'm not aware of any of my friends across the aisle that expressed any concern when president obama had a father and son, two american citizens, killed without arrest or trial with a drone strike. i don't remember anybody on the other side of the aisle being upset or expressing that outrage that president obama had a .ather and son killed the son, apparently a minor, had them both taken out by a drone strike. but i could understand why president obama would do that. this is al-walaki. he was an american citizen, as i pointed out before, a flaw that has occurred in our citizenship system where there was no act of congress. we can't find that there was even an executive order, but somewhere along the way, despite the language during debate of the 14th amendment that made clear, no, they were not anticipating that if you were -- and they didn't say alien, they said foreigner, or a diplomat here, well, of course your children are not going to be american citizens. and they weren't for years. but somewhere in the decades following the adoption, the ratification of the 14th amendment, and like i said, can't even find an executive order, some bureaucrats apparently, state department, i guess, just decided it would be easier to start bestowing citizenship on children -- to children of people who were here , as the ratifiers of the 14th amendment called them, foreigners. they didn't even care whether they were here legally or illegally, a matter gentlewoman -- a majority certainly didn't anticipate that children of foreigners here would be american citizens. but, like i say, i've been trying to find out who made that decision to start giving citizenship to people that are born here. because we know, and i know our friend, judge andrew napolitano, i've heard him say on fox news before, you know, that basically people need to get over it. doesn't matter who you are, if you're born here, you're an american citizen. he was just ignorant of the fact that if you're a diplomat's child born here, you're not an american citizen. so those were the two areas. being a foreigner's child, a diplomat's child, you weren't to be an american citizen. but it would be very interesting if we could ever find out who made that call and how rego about curing it now. but -- we go about curing it now. but i think the president's right. if that was done by just some bureaucrat's decision, no act of congress, no executive order, just somebody just started giving out american citizenship to people that were born here to foreigners, then you should be able to retract it with a president's executive order, overruling whatever desk jockey or brewer contract decided -- bureaucrat decided it was too difficult to assess whether somebody was here legally or not . and so just start giving out american citizenship. . the name aliwaki, he's one of one people, we overwhelm knew a couple and i wasn't willing to give those names out because they were given to me in a permanent request cannot to give them out until others were known so that that person's identity wasn't in jeopardy of being learned, but, yeah, allah wacky, his parents came over on a student visa, he was born here. they take him back to yemen, teach him to hate america. and apparently there may have been people in the bush administration, certainly were in the obama administration, they apparently thought he was being a double agent and helping the u.s. when actually he was fomenting violence against americans here and abroad. understandable that president obama -- so it's understandable that president obama and people in his administration who tried to work with him, they wouldn't want him coming back and having a big trial where he revealed the different people he worked with and different administrations. the answer is take him out with a drone strike, never mind his minor son's in there. we don't know if he was guilty of fomenting violence or not, but he was a juvenile, as i understand it. we hear all these allegations about president trump, but not so much about the murders . dered by president obama called murders or killings i don't think they actually meet the criminal requirements of being murdered because they were people normally that he took out by order of the strike. they were enemy combatants killing americans. i didn't have a problem with him protecting american interests and doing what president obama did. nor do i have a problem with president trump protecting our ountry doing the same thing. i appreciate the majority leader saying no, no, when the speaker was talking about all the lies, just the whole speech was a pack of lies, he was selling a bill of goods like a snake oil salesman, the whole speech had no connection with reality. he was explaining that actually wasn't talking about all these people introduced. look forward to the speaker pointing that out. . dy jones from california jody's brother, december 17, 2018, rocky jones was shot and killed by an illegal immigrant in california. the criminal alien had committed this brutal murder was previously arrested for violent crimes, twice been deported, criminal alien was arrested in december, 2018, for the sixth time. but because of california's sanctuary state policy, he was released from jail. a few days later he went on a 24-hour rein of terror injuring several people robbing a gas station, leading law enforcement on a hide hi-speed chase and killing 51-year-old rocky, who was known as a kind and gentle soul. i don't -- he left behind a precious daughter and four brothers. but i don't see anything in any of these that should have been considered lies. these are touching stories. and i realize we have a disagreement here as many do across the country. i think there's a bill proposed with a new way forward where we even provide airfare to people who have been deported to bring .hem to the united states i think the trump administration's doing a good job getting rid of people who are criminal threats to this country. and i applaud those efforts. think it's part of keeping our ath to our constitution that we take here. our devotion is not to citizens of the world. it's like president trump's pointed out. we can't help the world if we are not strong as a nation. been at is what nigel has successful in promoting. a removal of the u.k. from the european union. you got some bureaucrats making decisions that they don't -- they are not residents of england and yet they are making decisions that have adversely affected the lives of brittons and -- i can understand them being upset. yes, there are those who say if we had a one world government, then there's no need for war. the argument that was made for the european union. look, if we are all one contry, then we can't have another world war started between germany and france or anybody else because we are all one government. and orwell would probably acknowledge that as a great basis for creating big brother that watches over everybody which seems to be where we continue to move in this country. great socialist communist progressive society. whittaker said, the problem of communism isn't economic, it's eight yism. -- atism -- atheism. i'll never seen before the fall of the soviet union going into the only authorized seminary, christian seminary in the whole soviet union, and as you turned in the gate there was a big building there and the building ad a picture of lenin's face and it said in russian, lenin is with us. the message was clear. you may be going into this christian seminary, but just understand this is a communist country and here are -- socialist country as they call themselves, and here it isn't christianity that's good, it's imported. lenin is the one who is with us. interesting visiting lenin's too many in those days. the rumor was his ear had deteriorated to the point they replaced it with a rubber one. never knew if that was true or not. his ear didn't really look real. none the less that was their message. this dead lenin is with us and not some god you christians think you should worship. we are moving toward a time in this country unless it's interrupted, and i think the election of president trump helped interrupt it, but where christians are really the only identifiable group in america where it's politically correct to condemn them, to belittle them, to persecute them. and we are seeing -- we are still seeing that grow. interesting that it grows at a time as anti-semitism continues to grow. here as in europe. we had from scottsdale, .rizona, lane his 't realize grandfather was going to be right there and that he was tuskegee airman. ne of those heroic airmen, who were segregated but incredible courage, incredible ability, and they flew missions that were just incredible, but they showed such courage in helping protect freedom even though they were fighting segregation or had to deal with it back then. what a heroic group. this young man is the great grandson of tuskegee airman charles mcgee. lane wanted to be and still wants to be a member of the united states space force. hose were all inspirational. i know and i think the majority leader referred to it, they disagreed with rush limbaugh being recognized. incredible man. extraordinary man. i recall back when i was on the bench as a judge in texas seeing that the republican majority elected in november of 1994 recognized rush as an honorary member of their class. they paid tribute. without him they didn't think republicans for the first time in 40 years would have got the majority back. of course newt gingrich was leading that charge from a congressional standpoint. he's an amazing guy. even when i get really frustrated and depressed about some of the things going on re, i can listen to rush and he has such an amazing sense of humor. as his interesting can verify as he has to ming -- me many times, i love the guy, he can personally testify rush limbaugh is not a racist. and he can verify that. has verified that. anyway, i know rush. i just think the world of rush. and what he's tried to do. and i thought now that he's been diagnosed with stage four cancer it was a great tribute. and i was -- we see it here in this body. we find out people that have made arguments staunchly against the things we really believe in, we find out they have cancer, and our thursday morning prayer breakfast, we pray for each other. it doesn't matter about party. and sometimes in that prayer breakfast you hear testimonials from people. you had no idea the things they had gone through. we setaside political things to play for each other and care about each other. i have been the burden to see people so angry about rush limbaugh's recognition were the things he's been amazing and done. and i think the slurs about him being a racist, they are absolutely absurd. talk to james. rush did not hire james because he was black. he hired him because he is an amazing guy. and he is -- he's been helpful to rush, but like i say, love games this great guy, and i am so pleased the president recognized rush. i got up to the gallery up there, rush was there. d meant a lot to me to hug rush limbaugh and encourage him and i'll continue to pray for him as well. just sorry that people can't take a step back when somebody is going through what rush is. at least drop some of the outrageous slander. we also add retired brigadier general charles mcgee and he is the one, the grandfather of ne, and i know -- comments were made the whole speech was a pack of lies. but these were extraordinary people. as they are stories were told, i mean there was cheering, there was tears. it was just a feel good time, should have been, for all americans. where we could see the things that brought us together and made us strong, and yet there were people that were not about to stand up and acknowledge or applaud some of these folks. really tragic. wasn't just rush limbaugh. paul moreau from montgomery, alabama, united states arm yvette ran, but he started successful contracting business . today he's building a new concrete plant in an opportunity zone in montgomery. . carl and marsha mueller from prescott, arizona. as far as i know, no relationship to bob that cost us $30 million or so when he knew immediately that his investigation was a sham. there was no collusion or conspiracy between the trump campaign and russia. even though there are people that continue after two years and $30 million or so, establishing no conspiracy, collusion between trump campaign and russia, people still keep wanting to bring that up, as if the lie is truth. , regret the er damage he's done to the name mueller. hese folks were wonderful. caleb was a devoted humanitarian aid worker. i knew the story, my heart broke or these people. it's just horrendous to think about what al-baghdadi did to their daughter. a loving, caring, dedicated person of faith trying to help others and baghdadi repeatedly raped her. it's more than a parent should ever have to deal with. to think about. but we also heard those stories about boko haram after they attacked a christian school. i was invited over. we didn't have people from the obama administration that appeared to want to help initially, even though they -- there was a #bring back our girls -- #bringbackourgirls. that didn't bring back anybody. but when i secretly met with dozens of the mothers of girls that were kidnapped and were , that and being raped was a very emotional evening. but i asked their pastor privately, i said, where are all the fathers? and he said, that's part of all of this tragedy. the fathers know their daughters are being raped daily, they don't feel like they should be sleeping in a bed, comfortable, when they were not able to protect their daughters. so they've gone to the bush, jungle, rain forest, whatever you want to call it, and they're living out there and many have lready died out there. read articles. there was a quote from a catholic bishop. i was told when i was over there, yeah, the obama administration is saying if you want some real help with boko haram, not just a hashtag, you want some real help that will make a difference and stop boko haram, you got to do a couple of things. you got to allow legalized same-sex marriage and you've got to start funding abortions and then we'll be able to be more help to you. of course that kind of reminds help asking ukraine to with investigations into corruption. but anyway. president obama obviously wasn't impeached. and nor did anybody that i'm aware of think we should have tried to impeach him because he wasn't helping these christian girls the way kyo have, by helping take out boko haram. even with drone strikes or more -- i understand there was some intelligence provided to the nigerians. but according to people i met with, they weren't getting the help because they weren't going to change their laws to adopt same-sex marriage or legalize bortion. but what a tragedy. and i don't know, maybe people -- some of the ones that didn't stand and applaud for that ,ouple that has endured so much maybe it was that they didn't want to applaud because al-baghdadi was killed, even though he was responsible for the killing of so many americans and so many christians and so many jews. and actually muslims as well. maybe they did not approve of a terrorist thug like al-baghdadi being killed. and i know president obama had said, you know, isis, that's not true islam. well, it was a radical form of islam. al-baghdadi had a ph.d. in islam. so i always kind of felt like he at least knew something about islam. perhaps more than people that did not have ph.d.'s in islamic studies. but i was very grateful that president trump took the actions he did to eliminate the person that could do the kind of things he did to carl and marsha mueller's daughter. but, again, i would have thought we could have celebrated the , an g out of just a thug enemy combatant, a person that wanted to see america destroyed. that we might have had more in the y or camaraderie relievinging the world of somebody that did so much damage to people in it. deputy chief rual ortiz. the guy's a hero. i've met him before. it was good to see him here. he was with the u.s. border patrol, joined them in 1991. he had served in the united states army. and he's got a lot of responsibility down on the border. trying to protect our country. because there are people trying to come in and either with drugs that are killing americans or slaving americans, or with people that don't like us. fortunately the majority of people coming in, they do like america and want to live here. who wants to ow help and who wants to hurt unless we have a secure border and can control who comes in. tony rankins from cincinnati, ohio. he had suffered from ptsd, posttraumatic stress disorder. he had become addicted to drugs. anyway. tony's story kind of reminded me of a friend from texas, curtis and who, as a christian who has been able to conquer some of these same demons, is doing great in helping others. so i had great appreciationer to tony rankins. -- appreciation for tony rankins and what he has overcome. and now the company he started, r investments, today he's working in an opportunity zone in cincinnati. but the new job has helped him overcome his drug addiction. but there's more that has to be done to keep someone from falling back into drugs. it's a daily battle. and people should be applauded for being age to do that. and i regret we didn't have more stimulating applause and recognition. but robin and ellie schneider. she was the one born 21 weeks and 6 days. one of the youngest babies to survive in america at the time. amazing story. and how could you not applaud that little child in her mother's arms? very touching. very moving. and it wasn't a lie. these weren't lies. these were real american stories that, again, should have made us all laugh, all cry, all cheer ver the good things. yvonne from caracas, venezuela. he was the chief of police there, venezuela's capital city. was esteemed as the nation's top cop, but he was imprisoned in 2004 for protecting protesters, held in captivity for nearly 15 years by chavez and the maduro regimes. but he escaped in 2019. got to fort lauderdale, florida. and was welcomed into the united states. that ought to be a story we could all cheer, from both sides of the aisle. that's a good thing. regret we were not even more lauditory for a guy who had overcome all that. though i guess for some people, if you aplayed him escaping venezuela and the chavez and maduro, maybe it was thought that applauding that might be some recognition of just how brutal socialism, progressivism, communism becomes. it was my privilege to have a long conversation with someone and years ago, the guy is brilliant. 12 years in a russian gulag because he wanted freedom of peech. you have fear societies and you have free societies and you can test which you're in. are you free to say, absolutely -- free to say absolutely anything you want to in the town square without fear of harm or arrest? if you are able to do that, you're in a free society. unfortunately for natan, he was in a fear society. and that's where communist systems go. they don't feel they can allow widespread christianity. they suppress, they keep people in fear. it's amazing too, as i travel around the united states, seems like some of our best citizens who understand the threats against america now, they're from former soviet block countries. and they say, we're hearing all this great stuff about socialism . we heard all that before. and we know that it leads to a loss of freedom. it leads to our lives being dictated by people above. it leads to the loss of parental rights because the government is going to tell you what you're allowed to talk to about your children. i was shocked to find out years ago that in the soviet union they made very clear, i heard the presentation, that these children do not belong to the parents. the parents are temporary caretakers. and if we ever find out that a parent has ever said anything negative about the soviet union, soviet government, those children will be removed and they will put -- be put in the hands of other temporary caretakers that the government likes and who will not say anything negative about their government. that's a fear society. and i fear we have moved in that direction dramatically. joshua smith from kentucky, he was up here. he was a 16-year-old from tennessee who committed suicide last september. but he had suffered from cyber assault on social media by students in his high school. but it was joshua's brother, . anning, that was up here described as sweetest kid on earth. loved playing musical instruments. ut he was bullied. cyberbullied. williams family from fort bragg. that was so touching. and i was surprised -- how could you not cheer? you know, this father coming back into the lives of his wife and two children. most of us were moved to tears. some were not. i don't really understand how everybody was not totally moved by what went on there. so, anyway. i was pleased that the majority speaker's fied the comments about those being, as she said, no connection with reality. pack of lies. selling a bill of goods like a snake oil salesman. i was glad he clarified that she wasn't really talking about all those human interest stories and things that should have brought us together. but unfortunately they didn't, as they should have. . for those who love justice, i m hopeful that now that this three-year pursuit of now chment is behind us, we are told oh, that's just the beginning. we are not stopping impeachment. we are going to keep going forward. court was told, oh, yeah, we are going to keep going forward with impeachment. we are not done. we are going to keep trying to find something, which really sounds like it's basically since it's been made very clear as of this week the senate is ot going to buy in to some bogus group of allegations that e not impeachable offenses which makes clear then you are pursuing it, apparently, using taxpayer dollars to try to besmirch a candidate for november, 2020, try to defeat him by using taxpayer dollars to make all kinds of allegations that you know will not result in removal from office but you are hoping will result in its defeat in ovember. but it is amazing the effect president trump has on people whether you call it trump derangement syndrome or whatever, but for so long we have had deep state people that felt like as un-elected bureaucrats they were supposed to be in charge. it appeared pretty clear to me lieutenant colonel vindman was offended, you could tell by his body language, the things he said, he was really bothered that president trump didn't do exactly what he told him to do in his talking points. how dare the elected president of the united states that bodies foreign policy, president obama agree or disagree when he was president, as he had said before, elections have consequences. many of us disagree with his foreign policy, he's president. can he have whatever foreign policy he cared -- he can have whatever foreign policy he can pursue. you have people like lieutenant colonel vindman, he didn't think president trump should do whatever he felt was appropriate, he thought he should do what lieutenant vindman thought it was appropriate. after all he saw himself as the be all, end all resource on all things to do with ukraine. and from the things we found out he said to the ukrainian leaders, it struck me from his testimony, my gosh, he's being more loyal to ukraine and the ukrainian president than he is to his own oath of office and his own commander in chief. he's advising them not to listen to his commander in chief, which is totally consistent with his act in -- activity in-r -- in moscow, apparently, when he was overheard belittling america and doing so to russians. hopefully he won't be there much longer, but just think about t if we hadn't gone through impeachment, we wouldn't have known about all these people that were un-elected bureaucrats that thought they ought to be in charge of everything. looking for a silver lining, i think there is a great silver lining because these people have now raised their heads and made themselves known that they think as bureaucrats they should run everything and they will do everything they can to undermine the president of the united states. now we know who they are. so we can start getting rid of those people. that will be a good thing for the country. as we look -- we had christopher wray, the director of the f.b.i. before our judiciary committee this week, i was hoping when he was appointed director of the f.b.i. that he would come in and he would clean house here in washington and help restore the f.b.i.'s sterling built on that it had over time, it seemed he had a habit, though, if you pointed out problems in the washington f.b.i. office, he would defend by saying, you know, you are basically casting aspersions on these 37,000 fine employees of the f.b.i.. that's why i had to make clear to him this week, i'm not casting any aspersions on anybody around the country. that are part of the f.b.i. because i have known too many f.b.i. agents, still do. and i know as a felony judge they would never have come and lied to me in seeking a warrant. hey would never have created a -- an untruthful document by changing information like we are told kleinsmith did. i still have concern they may make him the one fall guy, but he should, my opinion, you seek on a a warrant to spy presidential campaign that you don't want to win, and you take information that says carter age was an agent for our intelligence sources in spying on russia, and you change that to say he was not, so it helps you get a warrant to spy on a campaign you don't like, to me he ought to be in jail for committing a fraud upon the fisa court, and i think he ought to be in jail for any other crimes that were committed in the process of seeking to provide false information to violate american citizens' civil rights. i hope carter page is very successful in his efforts, legal efforts, that is. but instead we find out the one guy i thought, oh, they'll make him the fall guy when there are a lot of people that probably should be going to jail, but under christopher wray's leadership, what have they done to mr. klinesmith? they let him resign, retire early, and go get employment elsewhere, make a good living somewhere else. really? as i said to christopher wray, you are in law enforcement, you got to know how important deterrence is. when somebody does acts like he d in essence there is no punishment? it's just one of many things that seems to indicate to me that christopher wray thinks the way to get the f.b.i.'s reputation back is to cover up as much problem, not punish people. they need to be punished publicly so that it is a deter rent to any other f.b.i. agent that might be tempted to act similarly as kleinsmith or comey or mccabe or strzok. these are people that ought to be required to answer for their wrongdoing. and, yes, i still have significant problems with the inspector general horowitz. he did a lot of investigation, but it's very clear that strzok nd paige had tremendous bias in his original report said, eh, there is no indication it affected the outcomes. how about the fact that every outcome was consistent with their bias? not one single outcome was inconsistent with their bias for hillary clinton and their hatred for donald trump. when it's 100% consistent, then it means it's time to do something. christopher wray needs to go, too. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house the following personal request. the clerk: leave of absence requested for mr. lewis of georgia for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request s granted. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2019, the chair recognizes the gentleman, mr. schweikert, for 30 minutes. thank you, mr. speaker. my family accuses me of being incapable of speaking without moving my hands or without displays. we are going to see if we can do a little bit of both that we are good at. mr. speaker, about every week i try to take a block of time and come here and weak through both what i see happening math wise, what i see happening demographic wise. i know as soon as i use those words most anyone watching this is now falling asleep, but the math actually is important. i put this board up because i'm actually a believer there is a way to save the country from being buried in debt. there is a way that the next 30, 40 years can be incredibly prosperous. but we need to actually invest in this magic device called a calculator. because much of what we do here is rhetorical. we do policy by feelings. we engage in just absolute absurdity and unwillingness to talk about the reality of what's going on. first, a bit of premise then we'll do a little bit of what happened in today's job report to demonstrate there is a path. but that path doesn't exist until we start to be honest with each other. just a topline understanding. the next five years, just the growth, the next five years, just the growth, in social security, medicare, mostly medicare, social security, medicare, and health care entitlement the just the growth equals the entire defense department. you got to understand what's happening. it's not republican or democrat. it's demographic. there are 74 million of us who are baby boomers. and we are moving into our retirement years. we have earned benefits. and there is no money in the bank. it's all going to be borrowed. think of that. 10, over the next 10 years just the growth of social security, medicare, health care entitlementings, just the growth, is the entire discretionary budget. everything else is on auto pilot. t how many of our brothers and sisters who are elected who have this incredible opportunity and responsibility to come tell the truth are comfortable coming behind this microphone and saying, hey, turns out we are getting old very fast as a society. we have stunning numbers of promises that we have an obligation to keep. and we are unwillingness to have the honesty of the discussion of what we are about to do to our kids in crushing them. i have a 4-year-old daughter, doesn't she deserve to have the same opportunities we all have had? turns out there is a path, but we need to stop the delusion of , forgive me when my brothers and sisters on the other side saying if we just got rid of waste and fraud. it's an rounding error. we just need to tax rich people more. it's delusional. it's factions of a percent. you could take all their wealth. we don't seem to have our heads around the scale of this math. and the number of zeros that go with it. let's walkthrough. for the last couple years we have been trying to pitch a concept. you can't just do one thing. you can't just change entitlements and think you are going to accomplish anything. you can't just tax people more and think you are going to get anywhere. you got to do everything. it's sort of the holistic -- i prefer the term unified theory of we got to get the economics working. we have to maximize economic growth. we have to maximize labor force participation. we need to adopt revolutionary disruptive technology to crash the price of health care. because what i was just sharing with you health care is what drives the deficit. and i was here last week and showing slides that 90% of the future debt is substantially social security, but mostly medicare. and yet the only calls i get when i show that slide is i get people angry. stop telling us that. that doesn't fit the folklore i bathe in. but the fact of the matter is there is technology disruptions coming right now that could crash the price of health care and be amazing in changing our debt curve. the problem is a bunch of that technology is illegal. because it uses algorithms and sensors and things our current legal framework and reimbursement framework isn't ready for. we need to modernize. employment, we'll talk about some of the remarkable things that came out in today's unemployment numbers that should be incredibly hopeful to both those on the left and right of what's happening where our brothers and sisters who, what we refer to as marginally detached, are coming back into the labor force. . you are going to actually start to see, do we add incentives in unearned and even benefits. in our society, the vast majority of our spending, 70% is on autopilot. it's entitlements. you earned your social security. medicare. your you earned your v.a. you earned these things. other benefits you get below an u fall income, tribal obligations, made.ons we are there things we can do to add a -- yes, you may be 70 old.s you have your earned entitlements. a little we give you spiff? healthy? do you want to stay in the labor force? it turns out to be really good for society. it turns out to be really important. still have a problem with millennial men which is a to erent speech and we have figure out why they're underparticipating. opulation stability, really uncomfortable part of the the rsation to have but math is the -- math is the math. our birth rates have collapsed. at data right now that says half of millennials, won't marry. re there incentives we can produce as a government, as a ociety that those stable relationships bring another generation? problem.onest math we're collapsing population-wise. immigration, how do you design immigration system that's open, talent-based? we are about to hit such a demographic headwind if we don't ave brothers and sisters becoming americans that actually have certain skill sets. it's a morel gant system. i don't care your race, your with, on, who you cuddle all these things. i do care you add velocity with society, to our economy. there are other things. tax policy. regulatory policy. smart technology. we can do to help economic growth. work, make these things and you can't do one or two of them, you have to do all of a model that says at the peak of the baby boom, so about 15 years from now -- less than that, we get 95% of debt to g.d.p. but we can hold it. then it phased back to something normal. are don't do this, there charts that shows a couple hundred debt to g.d.p. society.p we become anemic, slow growth. crazy on axes like young people to make them pay our benefits. nd we become a country that is crushed any excitement and hope. good 's talk about the things, because there are proof policy correct, regulatory policy correct, good things can happen. i know in today's rage-based attacks we sit there and everything but there's good things happening. how do we figure out what's made of it?ppen and do more and the things that aren't working, let's do less of it. complicated. so, look, today we got the jobs was -- the jobs report we get about january is really important because they give us a sense -- it's not the final number but the sense f what was happening in 2019 and those last four months. every smart economist we work i am the senior republican on the house side on something called joint economics. basically for all the kids in your high school that were your math club, if you love the data, we have a -- a couple ed to have economists that work for me in that capacity. all expecting revisions and some ugly numbers. ago we t a few hours found out that there was 55,000 in november and december, year.nding parts of last the economy turns out to be healthier. the employment opportunities healthier. nd you all saw the number for january. 25,000 -- excuse me -- 225,000 jobs. far beyond even the most optimistic predictions. joy in ould have been this room. those are people who are working, who are coming back in he labor force, who are changing their lives. but this place isn't capable of anymore. these are really, really good things, but there's something remarkable underlying in that data. important. i know it's not exciting, but it's really important if you people.ut first, we work on the premise you'reowth is moral, and going to see some numbers here where our brothers and sisters who had basically quit, they had trying to find employment, they had dropped out. we call them the marginally detached. might have a hat small part-time job but they are unhappy. poor.lly the working all of a sudden we're seeing in the last 24 months remarkable wages and evenir more remarkable movement in their job opportunities. working out hing there. remember the first slide. how do we ng about have a healthy enough economy, ealthy enough economics in our society so we can keep our promises. nd this is one of the charts that's really important. if you all remember your high class.economics what are the two components that go up?ges two things we focus on? productivity and the other's inflation. that's actually the common -- inflationwages go up, is up, so we'll pay you more even though you have no mprovement in your purchasing power. and inflation-driven wage fallingyou're typically behind. the other side -- and that's about.is chart talks productivity. the company invested in a new iece of equipment or new software or new methodologies or new supply chain but it requires we got investments but more productive. workers we can pay our more. we were panic-stricken at the end of 2016. collapsed.y had lots of the smart people were saying, well, you had the tax reform. their investing. this and that. it's going away. absolutely ey were wrong. look at the last bar. that's 2019. we had a spike. now, i still don't think it's we're up to 1.7% productivity growth. in an economy our size, that's remarkable. we can do better, but it's going right way. if we're going to pay our brothers and sisters more, if working poor are going to ave an opportunity, this is crucial. can we fixate on the things that our economy, because there's something working now, how do we do more of it? next chart's impossible to read but it's actually really important. you have three layers in here. are for the wage -- so folks at the low end of the middle end of the scale and those folks making lots of money. has he remarkable thing happened since tax reform. i'll reach all the way over here. is really hard to see. it turns out it's the working 1/4 tile lowest that's -- quartile that's having growth in their wages. the brothers and sisters we were writing off as society. i have been on the joint years.c now for and just three, four years ago e brought in these fancy, very well-credentialed, really smart economists who basically said, finish s that didn't high school, americans with oferate skills, they're part the permanent underclass. start thinking of ways to welfare,hem subsidies, housing, because they're going to stay there. the concept you can start out poor today, learn move up, ork hard and they basically said was over. wrong. and this isn't republican or democrat. this is hope. this is what america's supposed to be about that those folks who come back and you may not have had the opportunity to have training.ll maybe something horrible happened in your life. you dropped out of high school. writing rs ago we were you off. double -- more than double the wage growth of and the mean in society. i know it's geeky, but it's important. these numbers are millions and millions and millions of our rothers and sisters out there that had a really crappy decade, nd all of a sudden something's happening out there where their wages are growing, the job stability, the value of their labor. may be the most elegant way to say it. of this is complex. this is the uncomfortable part of the situation. as ive me if i am not elegant -- eloquent on this as i'd like to be. low-skill population, it's the combination of robust enough need for o have a those skills or lack of skills need for that labor. the other side is you're not with the our society type of immigration that puts so uch low-skill population into society that you crush the working poor. like a see saw. you have to do both to get the value of that working poor population, make their labor valuable. it's happening. that should be joyful. now we should figure out how to do more of it. how do we keep this going working?t's now here's one i may take us a of le bit to a level complexi complexity in the thinking but it's really important. couple did tax reform a years ago, the joint tax folks, freaky smart. there's like 50 of them. and all had ph.d.'s those things. came to us and said, david, there's two ple -- fragilities in tax reform. t's the capital stock for organizations, for things to grow, to buy that new piece of quipment for that labor productivity. and the other thing was labor itself. we're getting old very fast as a society. there's some charts out there decade we thin the functionally have two workers or every one person in retirement. it's just -- it's not republican or democrat. it's called those of us who are boomers. it is.hat something has happened in the last two years and we saw a pop of it in this january data. if you look -- think about this. that 2008, re was 2009, and we were at 66%, 67% force participation. now, labor force participation basically means everyone in those people who are 16 or under -- i think under 16. to hose who are eligible work. being, i believe, much older. now, this number was supposed to because we're getting older as a society. to as supposed to continue dive down because we're only halfway through the retirement of the baby boomers. of a sudden in the last ouple years, we've broken the trend line. and all of a sudden today we saw to 63.4% labor force participation. say, eople glaze over and oh, what the hell does that mean? well, it means it's a number that those smart economists a years ago were telling us we'd never get to. but somehow it's happened. a re functionally living in time where we are going to be rewriting textbooks, but what's you are rkable -- and going to see this in one of the other charts here -- is those are coming back, they're starting to look for unemployment. so how do you have this weird number today? hey, there are 225,000 people labor force --he or took jobs in january, but up ployment actually ticked .1 of a point.- had it means people who given up, who weren't looking, in the last four weeks, haven't looked in the last year, functionally they up. given almost a couple hundred or so, , maybe 170,000 ame back into society's labor force. this is really important because societal st that complex, you're less likely to you're bad things if working. you're more likely to be able to start having a functioning family. even family formation if you're working. optimism, yourur health are better if you're working. starting udden we're to see populations that those fancy economists were writing years ago, ouple they're coming back. this is moral. really good. why does it become partisan? as good as it should be. it's a remarkable break of every we had.ne you think we'd have this honorable conversation saying, let's understand what's working more of it. because if we can do this for a another decade, that economic trend line starts remarkably. i'll try to make that make sense. last august, c.b.o. did its debt projections. we just got another one last week. . go any come behind the microphones -- i did. the 10-year window of debt wept down $705 billion. it turns out if you dive into that some of that was payrolls. there's a lot more people working, they are paying more payroll tax, wonderful. another thing that's more complex, interest rates. we expect the cost of financing the deficits of the u.s. government also came down about $400 billion. but there is an argument that the tax reform -- remember how we said -- labor and capital stock, turns out that thing called capital stock is remarkably better than anyone had modeled. we did something in the tax reform to stop businesses from moving their domiciles overseas, taking their profits and booking them overseas, keeping that capital overseas. we changed that. we have had a remarkable ooment of that. billions and billions. a few hundred billion dollars come crashing back to the united states where they have to pay taxes here on it, but that cash is now in our society. turns out also savings rates have turned out to be better than we modeled. so just that anti-fact that more people are working is about $705 billion reduction in the deficit in that one period between august and last week when we got the c.b.o. report. the cost of tax reform we thought would be about $1.4 trillion. we just covered about half of it. it's just an interesting thought what's going on. this is the remarkable chart, this is the one we need to get our heads around. think about this. january, y, 2009, 20. how many of you remember people getting behind microphones and talking about the real unemployment rate? remember? the real unemployment rate. it's not these people who are out looking, it's all the people, worn out workers. those people who have quit. we had numbers where it was approaching 17.6, 17 1/2% of our nation was part of the real unemployment. take a look what's happened. this is remarkable. we are now starting to see of the that were 6.7% -- this is people who are looking, not looking who have worn out, given up. it's been cut substantially more than half. and we are at this point where we have been having this amazing academic debate, conversation, what's real unemployment. not only that, what's full employment? how much -- i was told never to use this word behind the microphone, but this concept of elasticity. how many of our brothers and sisters are available to come back into the labor force? turns out there is a miracle happening out there. every month we will tell you, oh, 150,000, in this case 225,000 took jobs. because it's not part of the way they calculate. we are not telling you, hey, there may have been another couple hundred thousand that also moved back into the labor force that weren't even looking so we don't count them. they deserve to be counted and they are counted in this data here. called the u-6 unemployment. if we could keep this going for a few more years, we are already breaking the rules in almost every textbook. but this becomes remarkably important. for my brothers and sisters on the left, brothers and sisters on the right we get elected to make -- do our best to make people's lives bet earn protect the constitution. defend the constitution. if you don't see this as making americans' lives better, you don't understand, you don't own a calculator. or you don't have a heart. because i get behind here and talk about the math, this math s people, it's families. folks being crushed in the last decade who now have hope. why isn't there some joy? why do we have to live in a time where rage is the commodity of politics and not joy for the success we are having for so many people that are part of the working poor that now have hope, now have futures. it's working. and the other thing that's also somewhat joyful -- you see the red bar, that's real g.d.p. got to understand if we are going to back to around 16, even when we calculated the year 17, how much of our g.d.p. was also being dragged along helped assisted by the rest of the world. now when you look what's going on, we have had a -- remarkable level of stability, but we are dragging the rest of the world with us because the rest of the world is basically an anemic mess right now. yet next month i expect some ugly things in some of the numbers because of the virus. and what it's been to trade. there may be an upside in an odd way where many manufacturers business also consider moving their supply chain or making them less fragile, concentrated, which will be great for us as a country because we have just now had usmca, the nafta replacement path. now all of a sudden when you think about moving parts of your manufacturing back to north america. but this actually really interesting chart to understand even in a time where the rest of the world's economic growth has been collapsing, we are still doing remarkably well. i was going to come up here and show you the formulas appoint the g.d.p. and e.u. means this much to us. just understand we had some help three, four years ago. now we are the ones helping the rest of the world. back to that being remarkable. this is sort of the closing on the concept that growth is moral. but there also should be joy. those that come behind these microphones and say we care about people, we care about the workers, we care about the working poor, we want society to continue to expand and be healthy, take a look at the chart on my side. if you see blue, it's the previous eight years. if you see the read, it's the last three years. do you know which bar is the highest and has the biggest separation? who has had the biggest growth in earnings on this chart? turns out it's the bottom workers in our country. if you care about our brothers and sisters who have been struggling for so many years, this should be joyful. because something amazing is happening. not everyone's doing better except for high-wage managers. they are basically static. if you come over here and ctually look at the top income -- they are doing fine. but the bottom is the remarkable change. this is really important. because for so many years i would listen to my friends on the left come behind these microphones and talk about income inequality. it's a real thing. needs to be -- what happens when you have made more progress, particularly in the last 12 months, of closing that gap in income and equality not because you have crushed those with high skills, those with high wages, but because you brought up so much of our society. you have grown their wages remarkably. this needs to be our goal. our goal as a society must be to lift everyone up. not figure out that one quartile you identified as the enemy and go out and decide you are going to crush them because that's what our modern politics have become. back to the first slide again. if you next 30 years look at the math and what's functionally ou -- if you actually strip social security, medicare out of the next 30 years and say what do we look like 30 years from now? my little girl when she's 34 years old, what does the federal budget look like as we see it today? it's about $23 trillion f we don't have social security and medicare, it's about $23 trillion cash in the bank. that's $23 trillion cash in the bank. if we pull social security and medicare back in that 30-year window, my little girl and every other young person, every other person who thinks they are going to still be around in 30 years, $103 trillion in debt. it doesn't have to be that way. but we got to crash the price of health care with technology. we have to have people in the economy that are helping it grow. we need the productivity. e can have a remarkable future , but the intellectual capacity of the debates we are having around here, we have functionally gone a year and done nothing, nothing that actually helps america. but we have done some great messages bills and great politics and great grandstanding -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired mr. schweikert: we can do better and there's a path. mr. speaker, thank you for your patience. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman have a motion? mr. schweikert: mr. speaker, i'd like to make a motion to adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to adjourn. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly, the house stands adjourned until noon we brought you your unfiltered view of government since 1979 bringing you we're an infiltered view this november. in other words, your future. so this election season go deep, unfiltered. see the biggest picture for own elf and make up your mind with c-span's campaign 2020 rought to you as a public service by your television provider.

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