Host guest thank you, greta. Host the house is about to gavel and. In. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] he speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. The chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. The clerk the speakers rooms, washington, d. C. February 27, 2020. I heeby appoint the honorable pro tempore on this day. Signed, nancy pelosi, speake o the house of repsentatives. The speaker pro tempoe pursuant to thorder of the house of january 7, 2020, the chair will now recognize the majorit and minority ed by eaders for morning hour debate. The chair will alernate between the parties and each member other than the majority and minority leaders an minutes. Ut in no event shall debate continue beyond 11 50 a. M. The chair now recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, thank you, mr. Fe minutes. Speaker. Highlight the importance of our Nations National heritae these sites are rich with hist marvelof our nations natural pin 1984, president ronad pNational Heritage area into law, calling it a, quote, new ind of national park, end ew quote. Nation touts 55 national im proud of the 12 national hritage areas in pennsylvania morthan any other state in the nation. Ennsylvania span 57 of our 67 counties, and these areas are truly an Economic Development powerhous. In 2014, tourists spent an estimated 2 billion worth of goods and svices during their travels to pennsylvanias naional heritage areas. Thats 2 billion back into our prural communities. One of those areas, the oil region natnal heritage area, is in my district. The oil region has established asa was established as a ppennsylvania heritage rea in 1994. 1 years later it became a ational heritage aea. The pennsylvanias oi region is rich with history. N 1859, edwin drake changed forever when he drilled the worlds fist commercal oil pennsylvania, which is in my Congressional District, during the ennsylvania oil stablishing pennsylvanias oi region as the birthpla of the worlds president trum industry. Recently i ad the pleasure of joining the ally avens National Heritage areas for their annual iwas reminded of the positive impacthat these areas hve on our communities. National heritage areas Publicprivate Partnership models in the country it is for that reas and commitmen to preserving our nations history im so proud to stand beside him them as they tirelessly prmote our ations rich history. Natioal heritage areas are preserving our nations history, not only to celebrate opportunity utilizing it. C thank you, mr. Speaker i yield back thealance of my tim. Pchair recognizes the gentlemanc from new york, mr. Espaillat, or five minues. Mr. Espaillat thank you, mr. Chirman. Celebrate the 176th anniversary of independenc of the dominican republic. Which gain its independence in 1844 from the republic o haiti. Led by juan powella, this island nation moved forward under great adversity. Throughout its 176 yeas, it , dictatorships, and other strong nd determining pthese many decades, the nation today w enjoy the precedents o presence of over two million donicans in the United States. Many of them in new yor state and many of them in the 13th Congressional District. Particularly inwashington heights. We see many streets in the of the paytree arkts of the nation. Patriarches of the nation. We ave schools named after 6 c very prominentmembers of that communy. We also have a huge parad which now goes down sixth aveue but originally started right thre in audubon avene pwe have social and cultural institutions. We have bodega owners, supermarket owners, hair businsses i think are chara their resolve, our peoples resolve t work hard and make it a bettr city for all of us. We send remitances back home becoming the first and most important column of the dominican economy. We continue tocontribute in many many ways to that island natin and the United States f america. last saturday we witnessed an unprecedented event where Young Heights to protest a failed municipal election back home. Last weekwashington heights neighborhood in manhattan, which im honed to represent in cogress, witnessed thousands of young people who came to protest against the most recent failure by the domincan republics electoral board. Toproperly execute the countrys municipal elections february 16. Emily, gonzalez, santana, lberto, reyes, and others, particularly a youg man by the name of if i leap pay bautista, led these young people, tem, descended inashington heights. Their initiative to fight for their peoples future will probably ot go down in the history book. Yo may not be able to find hem in a wiki peeda page in the future. Wikiedia page in the future. But their names wll be echoed their patriotism will forever. They are fighting to strengthen democracy. Thy are fighting to strengthen democratic system and process. Thats why im here to exalt heir names and to tell all proud of them. [speaking a foreign language] pthe speaker pro tempore the translation from he pan yeal to english. Gentleman rom kentucky, mr. Comber forks five minutes. Week i had the opportunity to trav to kentuckylake alongse Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell and oter local leaders to observe progress being made to remov asian carp from our west kentcky waterways. 6 c1 senator mcconnell and i took a boat on the water to observe the new modified, unified method for removing this invsive species from our lakes. Thanks to federal fundin progress that will improve the fishng industry and our overall tourism economy in the first Congressional District of kentucky. The federal resource that is have been steered toward this roblem are instrumental in is fighting the war on carp. It has truly been a team liklyon county, doing a tremendous job of advocating for ation. While there are certainly work left to do to eradicate asian carp, we are moving in the right direction. A pledge to continue working with state anlocal officials to be an effectiv federal pour waters of this harmful species. Mr. Speaker, i rise to to recgnize Union County School superintndent patricia chefer, for winning the f. L. Due preutstanding superintendt award. This prestigious honor is Kentucky School board demonstrated a high level of accomplishmnt within ther school system. Serving as superitendent comes with a variety of steep challengs and responsibilities. Based on this award, patricias one above and beyond to excel role. She hs committed her career to workig with Community Leaders to improve opportunities for the next generation. Including placing a heavy emasis on improving career opportunities. Ducation her impact on union couty and poverstated. Ioncannot be i have sen firsthand the great ork she has done and join with all y constituents in the first congressional strict of entucky in congratulating her. Pmr. Speaker, i rise today in recognition of national f. F. A. Week. An event that always brings back fond memories and is very special to me. Not only am i a proud farmer and former commission of agriculture, but i was also very active in f. F. A. And had the hi honor of serving as kentuck state f. F. A. President. F. F. A. Had an extraordinary influence on my life as i know 1 it does for many young people today. I proudly display my blue and gold jackethere in my while ill admit to bng biased, there is no better way to learn, grow, and excel than being part of f. F. A. This quality organizaion uses agriculture education to empower students and put them on a lifelog path to success. T are extremely valuable and i know it makes a positive dierence in the lives of yung people every day. Pim proud to represent so many high quality f. F. A. Programs, washington and f. F. A. Will always hold special place in y heart. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentlewomanfrom georgia, mrs. Mcbath, for five minutes. Mrs. Mcbath thank you, mr. Pspeaker. I rise on the anniversary of the house passage of h. R. 8, the houshe bipartisan backgroun checks act. It has been one year since we c democrats and republicans, and voted to pass a commonsense ill that will help save lives. Oe year sense we vo prevent unnecessary gun deaths and keep guns away from those who should not have them. One year since we acted to protect our children, to protect our communities, and to protect our families. 100 americans die every single day from gun violence. In 2020, there have already been more gun deaths in the United States than our peer countries will experience in an entire year. That is unconscionable. And its why 90 of our country supports universal background checks. Yet we are told that instead of changing our laws we must have ore active shooter drills. More first graders coming home with tears in their eyes. 6yearolds asked to decide for themselves whether they are more likely to survive by hiding in a closet or if they should rush the gunman. More mothers reading message from their children locked inside a school that plead, mom, if i dont make it home, i love you. And i appreciate everything that you have done for me. Too often we are told that we must accept these tragedies, but millions of americans refuse to accept that. And i stand with them. Today marks one year since we passed the bipartisan background checks act. Tomorrow marks one year since the passage of the enhanced backgrounds check act, which would close the charleston loophole. I even introduced a bill that would give loved ones and Law Enforcement more tools to keep guns away from those who are a danger to themselves or others. Tools that would help people like mary miller strobal whose brother was a combat veteran suffering from depression and ptsd. Mary and her family worried about his Mental Health and drove to every gun store in their area pleading with the store owners not to sell her brother a gun. Ben miller died by suicide. He used the gun that he bought at his local gun store. There is injustice in this year without action. I know that sense of injustice. On black friday, november, 2012, my son jordan was sitting in the back seat of a car at a gas station when his friends. A man pulled up next to them and complained about the loud music that they were playing. He pulled out a gun and he fired 10 shots into that car. Hitting jordan three times. Killing my only son. I lost my son, but i am still his mother. And i am on a mission to help protect the lives of children like him all over america. I made a promise to my community that i would act in washington. I promised that i would take that sense of protection, that love a mother has for her only son, and use it for my community. Use it for the american people. I promise i would dedicate my life to families like mine in marietta, georgia, who are terrified that they will send their kids to school and never see them come home. They are terrified that they will be me. I pray that on the oneyear anniversary of h. R. 8, that we remember that this is in our hands. We remember families like marys, we remember children graduating in high school, we remember florida. We remember communities across this country. Are in our hands. I want to thank my colleagues, urvivors, and volunteers and advocates across america and that are here with us today for work to pass this landmark legislation and protect families. Us all in god bless this fight to save american lives. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman indiana, mr. Pence, for five minutes. R. Pence thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to anniversary of the battle for iwo jima. Joining privilege of senator young at a ceremony last week in indianapolis to this fateful battle that led to the allied victory ii. Orld war with us at the indiana war saucerman, a ayne orld war ii marine veteran of iwo jima and a true American Hero. 75 years ago, he found himself miles away from home in the midst of a fierce battle that would help change a course of the war and itself. To wayne and to other patriots and ight for the freedom liberty we hold so dear, thank service. Our next month, i will have the honor of returning to the island congressional delegation invited to 75th reunion the of honor on iwo jima. E will be joined bip the commandant of the marine corps japan by itaries from remembering and honoring those ago. Ought 75 years r. Speaker, i rise today to commend president trumps leadership on the waters of the and support issue his repeal of the burdensome regulation. As a result of this decision, our farmers can worry less about overreach on their own property and instead focus and growing their farms and small businesses. E finally have an administration that puts our Farmers First and for hoosiers thats a big , deal. I pledge my commitment to armers and families in my district to continue working with the Trump Administration on critical issue. To speaker, i rise today ecognize a house tool in engineering in richmond, indiana, for their effective apprenticeship program. Recently visiting a house, their leadership told me about heir nationally accredited apprenticeship program, which has been helping hoosiers for years. A house offers a fulltime job while their employees attend to gain hands on learning experience with peers in the company. Wish a house continued success, and i thank them for their investment in the richmond. Of r. Speaker, i rise today to recognize the Good Samaritan food pantry of north vernon and wonderful manager, ginger miller. The Good Samaritan food pantry over 29,000 Jennings County residents last year, 1,000 veterans. The Good Samaritan food pantry allvolunteer staff and runs completely on donations. This organization help feed those in need, but it lso provides clothing and Household Items for families in need. God bless those that help the samaritan food pantry run volunteersss all the involved. R. Speaker, i rise today to congratulate silas of shenandoah winning the or 195pound weight class indiana title. Ng state this is his second straight wrestling state title and he elite group of only one of five Indiana High School win the in history to pin. By silas is ranked fourth in weight class and can compete at the pan am games. Best of luck in his future. Thank you, mr. Speaker, and i back. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from illinois, ms. Underwood, minutes, ms. Underwood thank you, mr. Speaker. His week the house is taking strong action to stop the use. Mic of Youth Tobacco we watched as the tobacco and kids. Roducts by it has exploded in our community over the past month. Its become a fullblown public crisis, affecting more than five million kids. More than 200 illinoisans uffered respiratory illness from dangerous Vape Products since last year. Eight of them have died. Happening. Nt be thanks to decades of Public Health work, Youth Tobacco youth actually going down until the introduction of sophisticated Vape Products. These products are targeted at kids. Theyre made with flavors like and gummy bears. Theyre marketed directly to children, and theyre designed keep children hooked. This is a crisis that we will be decades, th for because 95 of Adult Tobacco sers started when they were kids, and theres still so much we dont know about how the high doses of nicotine and other these products affect kids bodies and their minds. Failure to d. A. s effectively regulate these products, Congress Needs to act late. Fore its too its time to stand up and refuse to let our kids be hurt. Pass the protecting american lungs and reversing the epidemic act of 2019. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman pennsylvania, mr. Fitzpatrick, for five minutes. Mr. Speaker, i the today to recognize Bucks County Community college who recently received a 200,000 raise awareness and promote its metal working apprenticeship program. 12week Program Provides entry training, forklift certification, and other skills to begin a career in manufacturing. The Pennsylvania Department of ommunity and Economic Development grant will be used to promote bucks county ommunity colleges manufacturing, preapprenticeship training programs. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, partnered with bucks county native congressman ro khanna to ntroduce the student apprenticeship act, a bill that would close the gap between Higher Education and labor by workforce training and catalyzing the growth of egistered apprenticeships nationwide. Apprenticeship programs provides skills in education for jobs and is right in vital careers and we need to ive them the attention they deserve. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to of theze sergeant elaine Middletown Township Police department. She was the first woman in the when y of the department she was promoted first from atrol officer to detective in 2014. Recently, she was promoted begin. This time from promoted again. To time from detective sergeant. Her success will set a great and future current officers at high hometown, Township Police department, middletown. Diligence led to her promotion. Shes a great role model for our to unity and i look forward seeing more promotions in the future as she works her way up. Er dream job of chief of police. We wish her well. Speaker, i rise today to recognize the ben say len a hugep council who took step to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their residents by rohibiting vaping in public township facilities, including parks and other recreational areas. Our ealth and safety of children should be our top priority, and the recent youth has been a huge health issue in our community and across our nation. Had the opportunity to meet with students from new their o expressed concerns with how prevalent vaping has become in their schools and they talked about on toons that we can work bring attention to this issue. Part of the rise in youth vaping attributed to favored such flavored nicotine, mango. Tomorrow, the house will vote on the reversing to Youth Tobacco act. As a cosponsor of this bill, i voting in favor of this bill and taking a uchneeded step to mitigate tobacco use among our children. Back. Eaker, i yield the speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from minnesota for five minutes. Ms. Craig thank you, mr. Speaker. Rise today in support of binary der and non youth. Today is Jazz NationalCommunity School and reading. Like to read the book i am herthel and ica jazz jennings. Jazz. For as long as i can remember, been pink. Color has my second favorite color is silver. Color is rd favorite green. Here are some of my other things. Dancing, singing, back flips, rawing, soccer, swimming, makeup and pretending im a pop star. I love mermaids. Sometimes i even wear a mermaid the pond. My friends are samantha and casey. Have fun together. We like high heels and princess cartwheels and trampolines. But im not exactly like casey. A and boy e a girl brain but a body. This is called transgender. This way. When i was very little and my om would say, youre such a good boy, i would say, no, mama, good girl. My family was confused. They had always thought of me as a boy. I got older, i hardly ever layed with trucks or tools or superheroes. Only princesses and mermaid costumes. This was s told me girl stuff. I kept right on playing. Sister says i was always talking to her about my girl dreams and my girl how one day i would be a lady. Ful she would giggle and say, youre a funny kid. Sometimes my parents would let wear my sisters dresses around the house, but whenever my ent out, i had to put on boy clothes again. This made me mad. Never gave up trying to was nce them, pretending i a boy felt like telling a lie. Day everything changed. Mom and dad took me to meet a lots andr who asked me lots of questions. Afterward, the doctor spoke to the word and i heard transgender for the very first time. At bedtime, my parents both hugged me and said, we understand now. Be who you are. Love you no matter what. Smile and smile and smile. I could ad told me start wearing girl clothes to school and growing my hair long. My name let me change to jazz, but jazz felt much more like being me. Said that being jazz would make me different from the other kids at school, but that being ok. Erent is whats important, she said, is am. Im happy with who i being jazz caused some other too, likebe confused, the teachers at school, and at the beginning, they wanted me to play e boys bathroom and on the boys team in gym class, but that didnt feel normal to either. L i was so happy when the teachers changed their minds. Playing on ine not the same team as casey and samantha. Even today, there are kids who me or call me by my boy name or ignore me altogether. Me feel crummy. Then, i remember the kids who to to know me usually want be my friend. They say im one of the nicest school. I dont mind being different. Different is special. Matters most is what a person is like on the inside. I am happy, i am having fun, i am proud. I am jazz. Thank you, jazz jennings, for your courage. Mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from california, miss spehr ms. Speier, for five minutes. Ms. Speier thank you, mr. Speaker. I, too, rise to speak about a book. A book much like i am jazz that i have had the privilege of reading before on the house floor for a number of years. Its an opportunity for children to explore their gender identity without being criticized. This book is entitled, they, b, he, is as easy as a. , c. They, they, they. New friends are everywhere waiting to play. Out on the dance floor we love to sing they. They is a way to let everyone be. No one left out and everyone free. Then when we are friends we sing they, she, he, z. Making it easy as a, b, c, d. A, airy loves to area besk. They hold their pose with ease. Brodie is a break dancer. Brodie loves to freeze. Carey leaps high like a cat. She springs and leaps in bounds. Ego drums and dances, tree has all the sounds. Ebb any flies everywhere ebony flies everywhere. Fawn is free as a flower. Fun can bring the spring. Gila going fast and strong. Shes dancing on the go. Harveys heartbeats happily, hiphop makes her flow. Indigo is into insects. Z loves the buzzing vibe. Jorge jams to jazzy tunes. He or they can jimb. Jimb. Jive. Kelly can kick super high. His heart lives in the sky. Lord sings of lofty heights. Their songs let them fly. Marly is a star mermaid. He or she flows with the sea. Nathan is a nesting bird, he just wants to be. Oceans arms are open wide, tree swings and sways about. Paul pretends to be a plant, paul grows up and out. Quetsle is so quiet, he rests just like a queen. Renee is into rainbows, he creates the scene. Skies like a star so bright, all the pronounce are right. Tie is a tiger in the night. He claims his own might. Unea is a uniform, they prance to their own sound. Viola is a volcano, her powers in her ground. Ren whistles when she dances. She knows what shes to do. Exander exaggerates moves, they re extremely cool. Yelly yells yes jow joycely, their voices become the song. Zahara zooms in and out. Z knows that z belongs. Now your chance we need your moves, join the dance. Theres always room. Mella makes the maya makes the art and words. She sings the sound to lights. Matthew dreams and tinkers, he makes the world tight. Together they make books for the kids they used to be. And for their own two kids so all kids can grow up free. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. Costa, for five minutes. Mr. Costa i ask unanimous consent to address the house or five minutes. Revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Costa mr. Speaker, i rise today to honor an exceptional veteran in my hometown of fresno, california. Albert hinderson. Albert and i are here at the Veterans Home in fresno. A wonderful facility that provides a continuum of care for those men and women who have served our nation over the years. Albert has an incredible story. Hes one of the last living survivors of the u. S. S. Bismarck sea, which sank 75 years ago this month during the battle at world war ii on the island of iwo jima. We all know of that historic battle that took place in iwo jima. His story is the story of survival, and its a remarkable one. He joined the navy as a cook at the age 17. And after learning of the attack on pearl harbor like Many Americans who decided to selflessly do everything they could to protect our country, he began his military journey on the u. S. S. Bismarck sea as a second class chef. Where he often speaks of the difficulties of food, preparing food for such a large group of folks. The ship made its way to the philippines in 1944. Its fate was sealed when it was struck by two japanese kamikaze pilots. The kitchen in the kitchen at the time of the attack, albert made it to topside only to discover that all the life rafts and preservers were taken by other members of the crew. He spent more than four hours struggling to stay afloat in the choppy waters of the pacific ocean. Praying for gods help to survive after being rescued by a passing u. S. Navy motor boat. For his services and his injury, albert was awarded the purple heart and good conduct model medal. So i ask my colleagues today to join me in recognizing an American Hero for a remarkable moment in history, for a remarkable man over 75 years ago. Albert, we thank you for your sacrifice and your courage to our nation. God bless. Mr. Speaker, i also rise today to discuss and talk about the challenges facing our country and the world with the recent outbreak of the coronavirus. This disease presents a serious threat that i think requires proactive approach in a bipartisan fashion. Unfortunately, the mechanisms put in place by the previous administration, the obama administration, to deal with pandemics like this have been dismantled over the last year. They were put in place to deal with the ebola crisis and the sars crisis years ago. And to ensure that in the future if possible pandemics occurred that we would be prepared. In 2018 the president fired the entire Pandemic Response team. In the proposals 2021 budget request he proposed cutting over 700 million to the center for disease control. Hopefully this proposal will be dead on arrival. In the face of this crisis, this is simply unacceptable. We need to be on guard. The social and Economic Impacts of this pandemic could be devastating globally. But the Public Health crisis affects all americans. We just had the first case in the last 24 hours in Northern California that was believed to cause as origin from here in our country, not from coming from china. So we require a robust response. The congress antipresident need to Work Together in a bipartisan fashion to ensure the wellbeing on the Public Health and safety of the american people. Hopefully the president of the United Statess press conference yesterday reflects the administrations intent to Work Together. We need to. Im committed to joining my colleagues to en ensure we have an effective strategy in place to protect all Americans Health and safety from this potentially deadly pandemic virus otherwise known as coronavirus. We need to be on guard. We need to do everything we can to protect the american people. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess until noon today. Well, this morning, health and Human Services secretary capitol hill k on for the Third Straight day this ack on capitol hill morning for the Third Straight day answering questions about the coronavirus outbreak as well 2021 h. H. S. Budget request