Different colors. All woven and held together by a single precious thread of democracy. Paul has taught us so much and as students who followed him, worked with him, believed with him, loved him and now miss him, we could never, ever be more thankful. With that, mr. Trone and mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. Mr. Trone i recognize mr. Levin. Mr. Levin thank you very much for recognizing me, mr. Trone and i thank the majority leader for organizing this. Mr. Speaker, i rise to speak for mr. Sarbanes, senator sarbanes employees. And especially for my sisterinlaw milley freeman, who worked for Paul Sarbanes from december of 1989 to january of 2007. And im not going to talk about all the Amazing Things about senator sarbanes that his maryland colleagues have eloquently mentioned and john, im not going to talk about fathers and sons, but my dad who served in this house and my uncle carl levin who served in the senate, both loved him very much. Andlet me talk about nellie his broader staff. Nelley loved serving in the senate, on the staff, and she loved the senator. Thats what she called him, the senator. Nelley sarbanes saw freeman for who she was, he saw her talent and he unleashed her people of with the maryland of which she was a tive, to organize events, to organize his participation in festivals and convenience of all kinds, and she just loved this work. And saw the value in it understood that the connection with human beings and the essence of politics. And he once said that nelley knew more constituents and more local organizations than anyone else in maryland. And i think she is incredibly proud of that to this day. I know that she shared a joy of working for senator Paul Sarbanes. And how you treat your staff, and how you see your staff says a lot about you as a public servant. Senators have a lot more staff than we do over here in the house. And he really knew his staff and treated them great. After senator sarbanes retired, nellie went on to work for another senator and then she retired. When she retired, her current employer, the senator couldnt attend her retirement party, but Paul Sarbanes did. He showed up and he spoke about nelley. Thats the kind of person he was. So its a great loss for maryland and for our country. And i just want to say all of his former staff that you all dont get enough appreciation. Our staff doesnt. Senator sarbanes treated his staff right and i hope we can live up to his example. With that, mr. Speaker, i yield back. Mr. Trone thank you, mr. Levin. I, too, rise today to honor the life and legacy of maryland senator Paul Sarbanes. The magnitude of his loss will be felt throughout maryland and the country. Senator sarbanes spent his entire career fighting for the issues that marylanders care the most about. He was a champion for justice, authoring the first article of impeachment against a corrupt president. He was a champion for fairness, tackling corporate Regulatory Reform and transparency for investors, he was a champion for the environment, spearheading efforts tom protect Chesapeake Bay for generations to come. Its not just his long list of accomplishments that senator sarbanes will be remembered for. But his dedication to the people. Senator sarbanes defined what it eans to be a public servant. Who showed up in the communities that felt left behind. He listened to the concerns of his constituents. And he worked hard to get things done for our state and the country. That type of leadership is hard to find here in washington. We can all learn a lot from him. I know i have. My wife and i extend our condolences to the friends and family of senator sarbanes and especially his son, our friend, congressman john sarbanes. I yield back to the chair. The speaker pro tempore under the speakers apolicy of january 3, 2019, the gentlewoman from indiana, mrs. Brooks, is recognized as the designee of the minority leader. Mrs. Brooks i yield troo 30 minutes to representative byrne. Mr. Byrne i thank the gentlelady. My grand parents were from indiana and the gentlelady from indiana represents her state well. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to give my pairewell speech to this house and i am going to say i rise today with hope and optimism. I know thats unusual because there are people on both sides of the house who want to say this country is in a bad place and headed in the wrong direction. I believe that view ignores two very important things. One is our history. And the other is what i hear the people of america telling us. Several years ago, a number of us from the senate and the house, both parties had the privilege of spending an evening at the library of congress with a noted history writer. And at the end of the evening, the moderator said, what parting words do you have for these members of congress . And he said i think the people of america knew history better, they would be more hopeful and more optimistic. I have been listening to the people of my district for the last seven years. And i heard what they thought and they told me and the American People through elections told us, too. And the great things about elections is there are no filters. If you look at the history of this country, you will see notable things, one is that this country was founded by people who believed in principles, in morals and values, who define who we are. They took a tremendous risk in fighting the most powerful military nation in the world, Great Britain and did it after declaring something very important, not just that they were declaring independence but the reasons for why they were doing it. That congress was the second continental congress. The First Continental Congress which met in 1774 is the forerunner to this house, a group of people elected to represent the people of this country. Its a notion as old as the creation of parliament and the house of commons, something that was their heritage. They took a great risk because they felt they faced a great risk. And when the colonies were founded that they would have the same rights as all english people and they found after the frenchindian war that that wasnt true that the rights were going to be taken from them and willing to fight for them. Let me say this very clearly, they didnt come in with clean hands. When the europeans came to this continent, this was an old wolved. There was a civilization that had been here for thousands of years. And between our germs which they had nothing and we took this land from them. And in 1619, european slave trader brought the first slave to this country. So when they went into that fight with the british, they didnt have clean hands. But society is complex. And because they didnt have clean hands didnt mean they didnt have clean hearts, and they did. They waged an incredible war for five years and they won because of what they stood on. Go back and look at the declaration of independence. One sentence says it all, we hold these truths, absolutes, nothing, we hold these truths to be selfevident. I know they used the word men but the principle of equality was in there and said we were created equal, which means we had a creator and say we hold these truths that all men are created equal and endowed, gifted by their creator by god themselves with rights that cannot be taken away from there and life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And the governments instituted among men to secure those very liberties, did he risk their just powers from the consent of the governed. We need to reread that sentence over and over again. Government doesnt exist for the politicians but to secure rights and the power we have is the power of the people give us. Now, i know very well that we had to follow up that desperate war and that declaration by creating the constitution, the constitution we are under today. Sadly as the constitution out there, too many people and too many people in power dont know much about. Because the purpose was not only to create a government to have enough power for things to be done listed in the preamble but also put limits on this government. And some act that there are no limits and our founders had to fight against a tyrannical government. Those same english rights they had inherited had been secured because people for hundreds of years had to fight back against british kings. People lost their lives. There was great suffering as there was in our revolution because tyrannical Central Government dont give their power back easy or without a fight and that fight continued in the constitution. And in the bill of rights, which was adopted by this house in the very First Congress under the leadership of James Madison and he said in his speech when he introduced the bill of rights, he said this is all about making sure that we take away from this powerful government we created any trample and laid them out and all the states ratified those amendments and they are part of the fundamental law of this country, although we act like sometimes they are not. I have listened to the debates we have under the free exercise clause. The free exercise clause is in the First Amendment to the constitution. It says congress cannot make any law that establishes a religion or infringes upon the free exercise of that religion. Exercise, action. We have a right to freely exercise our religion and we need to remember that fundamental right along with the others. Now, that was our founding. The declaration of independence, the war for independence, the constitution. The bill of rights. That was our founding. Not 1619. And we need to remember the principles of our founding because they are central to who we are as people. Now, over the course of the 19th century, we were invaded by Great Britain, the Capitol Building here was burned, the white house was burned, we could have given up, but we didnt. Because thats not who we are. We not only survived, we fought on and built this great country so that by 1860, we not only boarded bordered on the atlantic ocean, we border on the the Pacific Ocean and the rio grande. We grew by leaps and bounds. Then in 1861, we entered another tragedy. Because the people that put that constitution together failed in at least one critical regard of they failed to address regard. They failed to address the issue of slavery and we fought a terrible civil war that cost the lives of 600,000 americans. To solve a problem that should ave been solved in 1787. Despite that war, we came back, we ended slavery, we adopted the 14th amendment and the 15th amendment, and we grew as a nation throughout the rest of the 19th century. Finally, in the early 20th century, did the right thing and gave women the right to vote. Neither my grandmothers as young adult women with families could vote. Its amazing that that was true just that long ago. But it was. And but we corrected it, as we always do. In world war ii, this country fought an incredibly difficult world war on three different continents and beat the most powerful nations in the world. And at the end of that war, stood as the only real power left in the earth. And we had a choice. We could have walked away. Come right back to our shores and say, were going back to being the country weve been. We could also have said, we got more power than everybody else, were going to use it against everybody else to make ourselves wealthy. We didnt either. We stood up and led the world in creating a rulesbased order that has benefited people all over the world. That has looked at lifted billions of people out of poverty, that has increased the lifespan of billions of people. That spread democracy and freedom around the globe. Because thats who we are. While we were doing, that we were also facing our problems here at home. Yes, we have problems here at home. We didnt finish the work of the civil war. We had to go through a difficult civil rights movement. And in this house we adopted the 1964 civil rights act. In this house we adopted the 1965 Voting Rights act. We did that. We provided things for the education of the children of this country that they didnt have. We provided for things for health care that people in this country didnt have. We provided for clean air and clean water. We addressed our own problems while we were leading the world. Because thats who we are. We do those things. Now, i understand that there are people that want to give us a different version of that history. They want to tell us that were all evil from birth. That somehow this country is inherently evil. That just doesnt square with historic facts. They want to rewrite history. Whats the first thing any authoritarian government does, is rewrite history or attempt to do it. The authoritarian wannabes of this country are trying to rewrite our history. Because they want to do that to pursue a radical agenda that doesnt match up with what the American People want. They try to call themselves progressives. Thats not progressive. Wanting a powerful Central Government is regressive. Thats regressing back to what we rebelled against in 1776. Theyre not progressive. Theyre socialist. Theyre at least honest in saying that. But theyre not progressive. Its regressive. Let me tell you what i hear the American People say. In my district and around this country. Theyre saying this. We americans arent evil. We are and have been a force for good here and around the world. We arent socialists. We dont want a powerful, overreaching Central Government. We dont wanted me for all, where the government makes decisions for us and our doctors. And rations whether, when and how we get our health care. We believe our Health Care System is the best in the world and we want to keep it that way. But we also want to assure that everyone in this country has real access to it. We dont want a green new deal. Which jacks our utility bills, saps our economic competitiveness, and destroys jobs. We dont want to defund the police. In fact, we think spending on Public Safety is a good thing. We value our Law Enforcement officers and we grieve when one is killed, as dozens are every year. We want our government to defend our shores and interests and protect us here at home. We rely upon the men and women wearing our uniform to do that and we want our government to take care of them. Ive gotten the chance to travel all over the world to see our men and women in uniform. Many of them in harms way. And i am so proud of them. And like most americans, i want to make sure were doing the right thing by them. We want to make sure that theres opportunity in this country for everyone, everyone. Dont leave anybody out. We want everybody to be able to take advantage of all that this nation has to offer. And to achieve that goal, we need quality education for everybody in this country and not just for the privileged. It shouldnt be the case that you get one set of education because of where you live, one type of education, one quality of education, and a worse one if you live in some other place. We should give everybody the freedom to have quality education so that they can take advantage of those opportunities. We want justice for everyone, everyone. Because injustice to anyone is injustice to us all. We want air and water to be clean. We want to continue to be the economic leader of the world. Let me stop and say a word about china. The greatest external threat to this country is china. Not the chinese people, but the communist party that runs china. They seek to become the only power in the world. Not a power, the only power. And theyll do anything, anything, theyll stop at nothing to get it. And its past time for us to wake up and understand the threat that they are not just to us, but to the entire world of that rulesbased order we created after world war ii. And, mr. Speaker, we the American People are tired of being divided, divided by our region. Since when is it ok for the coast to look down on other parts of the country . We dont want to be divided by race. People arent defined by the color of their skin, theyre not defined by their ethnicity, theyre not defined by their national origin. Thats antiamerican to think that way. We should come together over that. We dont want to be divided by our gender. We dont want to be divided by our religion. Whether youve got a religion or not, we dont want to be divided by it. We dont want to be divided by generation. The young versus the old. Its always been that the old hand us something valuable to the next generation. Thats what we should be about. That division in our country is the greatest internal threat we got and i will tell you, mr. Speaker, its the greatest threat of all. Because there is nothing that this great nation can accomplish when we are united cant accomplish when we are united, when we are one out of many. That is who america is. Thats who the American People want us to be. And thats the great challenge before this house. I have had a great experience here in congress. Ive met some wonderful people. Ive had the privilege of serving the House Armed Services committee, the education and Labor Committee and the rules committee. And i have seen a lot of important things be done here and be done right. The best legislation passed in this house is bipartisan legislation. The worst legislation is almost always partisan legislation. Usually it doesnt make it across the finish line, by the way. Our ability to Work Together should be what we should all be striving for in this house. And i hope the house to follow will do that. Before i take my leave, i want to say a few things. I want to thank the many members of this house who have befriended me and helped me on both sides of the aisle. I particularly want to thank my fellow colleagues in the alabama delegation. They have been a great family to be a part of. I want to thank the staff, the staff of this house is amazing. So very helpful, so very competent. And we just couldnt get our jobs done without you. I want to thank the good people of southwest alabama. They gave me the great privilege of being here to represent them as their only representative. What an honor thats been. I hope and pray that i have fulfilled the trust they put in me, because they are my bosses. I want to thank my many supporters who time and time again helped me. And sometimes it wasnt so easy to do what they had to do. I want to thank my office staff here in washington and the district. They made me look good every day. And i could not have done what ive done without them. So to all of my staff, present and former, thank you for what youve done for me. And i want to thank my long suffering family. You know, they love me and they supported me. Even when i wasnt so lovable, and even when it wasnt so easy to support me. I could not have done it without them. So, to my son patrick, his wife caroline, my grandchildren, mcguire and ann roberts, my daughter kathleen, her husband steve, and son cooper. My daughter laura, her husband Lieutenant Commander steven prue, who is now presently at the pennsylvania. My son collin, and most of all, i want to thank my wife, rebecca. You know, these are hard positions and its really hard to be the spouse of somebody in these positions. And rebecca has done a tremendous job in supporting me in every way you could ask. She is truly the love of my life for 40 years now and i want to thank her for all that shes done for me and all those 40 years, particularly these last seven in all those 40 years, particularly these last seven years. Now, mr. Speaker, say farewell to this house i say farewell to this house. God bless you all and god bless the United States of america. Yield back to the gentlelady. Outstanding, to my dear friend and colleague. Best to you in retirement and into your next chapter of life. You have an amazing family, you have a passion for our country. Thank you for reminding us all of the great history of this country and what an amazing country we were both born we were both proud to be born in and lucky to be born in. I wish you well. Mr. Speaker, fellow members of congress, my dedicated staff past and present, my family and friends, and most importantly to the hoosiers of the Fifth District of indiana, i stand before you today at the end of an incredibly challenging year. Mrs. Brooks at the close of a tumultuous decade. And in the final days of my tenure as member tenured member as of this esteemed body. I wanted to make a difference in my community and country. I believe that despite the dysfunction that dominates the headlines, i could get things done for my home state of indiana and my fellow hoosiers. Above all, i wanted to restore confidence in congress. To reassure people that our government can and does do enormous good. That their elected representatives are dedicated Public Servants who, while still human, wake up each day committed to ensuring a Brighter Future for every american, for the opportunity where the opportunity to thrive is not limited to some but afforded to all. But how do you go about rebuilding trust and faith with some 328 Million People . We still have a long way to go. Congressional Approval Ratings continue to hover in the teens and 20s. But over the course of my eight years here, ive identified four steps that i believe can and will go a long way to restoring public trust and faith in congress. First sounds relatively simple. We just need to do the work. As every member of this esteemed body knows and practices, making an idea into an effective law takes careful planning, hours of learning, listening to the experts, deep discussions, debates with constituents and colleagues across the political spectrum, not to mention actually writing the legislation and earning the votes to get it signed into law by the president. These days it wherever you look, its hard not to see the deep divisions, along party lines to be sure but racial, socioeconomic, gender and religious lines as well. Following a contentious election, those divisions are on full display. Easy to point out the problems we face, but its the difficult work to set aside our differences to roll up our sleeves. My time in congress has taught me that it is work worth doing. Some of the most important work that i have been involved in here has been in response to the number of americans lost to the opioid overdose that is high and pushed higher by the pandemic. Im proud to be a part to getting a comprehensive piece of legislation to work against the heroin Opioid Crisis from prevention, education and treatment and recovery and drugs into the hands of First Responders and supporting Law Enforcement. Im prouder that the legislation that was ultimately signed into Law Incorporated hundreds of Smart Solutions and proposals from individual members of congress from across the country and the political spectrum. The recovery act epitomizes the way our government should work for us and i approach each day to work along side my colleagues regardless of party and address the challenges. I believe governments First Priority is security. Keeping its citizens safe. The people directly responsible for ensure or our security are our brave servicemen and women. It is impossible to overstate my gratitude for the work they do, the sacrifices that they make for our safety and their willingness to pay the ultimate sacrifice. I was part of a delegation noo afghanistan, iraq and jordan to thank moms for serving away from their families on mothers day. Reinforced my belief that congress top job is to give them the tools they need to perform their duty and never forget the sacrifice they have. While contentious and difficult my work on the select committee on benghazi is to make sure we protect our diplomats and they deserve to know they we are doing everything in our power to keep them safe and defend our nation. At home, our First Responders who are on the front lines because i worked closely with our partners in Law Enforcement and later as u. S. Attorney of southern indiana, i wanted to be a voice for Law Enforcement in congress. I saw their dedication and the sacrifices they make. They were in our areas where we can make our citizens and First Responders safer. Hill pped to have social media. And senators young and done ellie led efforts to give First Responders critical access to Mental Health support to manage the trauma. Today, Law Enforcement needs our support more than ever even as we look for ways to enforce our laws. Time and time again, we found areas of agreement no matter how small where positive change can be made for fellow citizens and sometimes we go big. We came together to pass the 21st century cures act. It speeds up Research Development and deploying of life saving medicines, treatments and vaccines. I have joined representative Wasserman Schultz that women can detect Breast Cancer early. There is good meaningful work being done on capitol hill but none is done alone. To my friends and family, thank you doesnt cover it. You kept me honest and strong and love and laughter made the happy days more joyful. My husband david, and my children, having you by my side. I love you very much and couldnt be prouder. And to the rest of my family and friends at home and across the country, thank you for being my champion, my cheerleaders and walking along side me even during the difficult parts of this journey. You were the first volunteers and you always have my back. I look forward to spend time with you in the months and years to come. To my dedicated team past and present, some of have been with me. I share he every accolade with you. It is hard to find people who share a purpose. From the day i announced my candidacy until the day we turn off the lights there are individuals who contributed to my work with integrity and grit. We have become a family. While working side by side, we celebrated weddings, babies, first grandchildren and cheered one another one, new jobs, first homes and Cross Country moves and we grieved together. Mourning friends and family members including judy who died this past spring after a long battle with Breast Cancer. I have been lucky to be surrounded by smart people who worked late nights and crisscrossed the 5th district to learn and grow along side and craft effective legislation that fixes problems for people. Im proud of all of the work we have done together and looking forward to cheering you during the twirses and turns. To my colleagues, most of whom i call friends, particularly the indiana delegation, my brother and sisters hoose years, thank you for your patriotismism and service and im grateful for all the opportunities we had to tackle big problems together. I recognize my mentors, representative kathy mrs. Mcmorris rodgers who supported me, former speaker, john boehner who gave me many opportunities. Representative fred up ton and representative grg walden and our Republican LeadershipTeam Mccarthy and in Steve Scalise and liz cheney. Thank you for your encouragement and wisdom and finally to the people of the 5th district, it has been a great honor of my life to serve as your voice in congress over the last eight years. I would like to recognize the young people who participated in my advisory groups, the thousands of constituents who visited with me at connect with your congresswoman event. The Business Leaders who made our events such a success. You make me proud to be a hoosier. My second step in rebuilding confidence in congress, we must remain closely connected, more closely connected to our home states and the people we represent. The laws we pass in congress are focused on the National Level and my First Priority has been serving the people in the 5th. E worked with more than 4500 quipts and resolve issues with the Veterans Administration and medicare and assist with stalled adoptions. We worked with communities to assist critical grants and initiatives that are making 5th district a greater place to work and grow we secured funding for 8th street bridge and commemorated the Robert Kennedy speech after the assassination of martin luthing king junior and i worked to establish the landmark for Peace Memorial part of an africanamerican civil rights honor and it was my friend john lewis to celebrate that 50 years of struggle and progress and we grieved following a stragg Tragic School shooting and we honored the teachers, school and Police Officers who saved lives. The job is difficult, but sometimes this job is just fun, whether calling a brilliant Young Hoosier they are going to the military academy and learned how puzzles are made at a factory and joined students in marion to celebrate sports itles, at we saw the latest in cuttingedge technology. And it wouldnt be a trip home without mentioning the food, the waffle after ringing the bell or grabbing a bite at the indiana state fair. I cant thank the farmers for opening their farms to me and helping me to understand the. Rk that goes to understand i got to try my hand like being a u. P. S. Driver. But the conversation with the Young Hoosiers. Will never forget the ro tmpcrmp program and adventures across the district and the warm welcomes i received. On the job and remaining roots, the third way we can restore confidence is look at ourselves in the mirror to make sure that Congress Makes our nation strong and continuous improvement. Walorski, we were the first republican women to represent the state of indiana in washington d. C. In 50 years. We joined a small but mighty group of women in the house that despite our differences agreed that Congress Needed more women and i took the baton from representative stefanik and we led efforts tom recruit more women and people of color to run for congress. This fall more women ran and won. Our work must continue on both sides of the aisle if congress is to truly reflect the diversity of our country. One of the reasons i agreed to caucus. The womens we worked to recognize the female leaders who came before us from the first woman who served in congress, janet rankin. Importantly, we acted on the findings of the Indianapolis Star investigation into sexual abuse to protect Young Athletes from harm. And we did so across party lines. Nowhere was bipartisanship more at work during my Service First as a member and chairwoman of the house iggetics committeet it was unprecedented opportunity to ensure transparency and accountability, and justice. Little did i know i would preside over the committee that the me too movement shined a light on Sexual Harassment in ur society and government. Like ted deutch, i was shocked to learn millions of dollars of settlesments had been paid. A Bipartisan Group of members worked to reform the Congressional Accountability Act and make sure that financial settlements arent paid by members of congress. There is still so much work to be done but i have to tell you at the end of my service here in congress, the select committee on the modernization of Congress Gives me much hope. We recently published 97 bipartisan recommendations focused on making Congress Work more efficiently and transparently and be more responsive and access i have. A a quarter of our recommendations have been enacted. If we are to debate 21st century issues we must bring everything into the modern age. I encourage and urge my colleagues to first read our report and take up the select committees recommendations and continue the hard work and i thank representative kilmer and graves for your leadership. My fourth and final step of rebuilding trust until congress. Ensuring we are looking ahead to those on the horizon. Following the recession in 2009, Many Americans were out of work. Our economy was moving towards industry 5. 0 and if we arent careful this future will leave many of our fellow citizens behind. We passed legislation to improve training and work force programs to retrain and deploy americans who are out of work, to expand 5g network so more people can participate in this Industrial Revolution and provide clear guardrails and offering better protections for our personal information. Our world is changing fast and Congress Must keep up. When former representative mike ronalders approached me about continuing his work to strengthen our biodefense, i knew it was important work. Alongside with my incredible partner and who became a very dear friend, representative anna eshoo and i began engaging again in the biodefense efforts that had been going on since the early 2000s. The reauthorization of the pandemic all hazards preparedness act. It was signed into law in 2019. This legislation represents years of bipartisan collaboration and thoughtful input from medical and Public Health preparedness and response leaders. It helped bolster our response to natural disasters and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats. When it was passed i thought the greatest threats we faced were from terrorist organizations like isis. Using chemical or biological weapons in their attack, which are still a significant concern today. But little did i realize that our nation, our world was on the verge of a pandemic that would grind business, travel and life as we knew it to a halt. Im glad we passed it when we did. I know we must do better in the future. When the next novel virus or biological unforeseen event occurs, americans will expect more from this institution. We can learn from our successes and failures over the last nine months, and in the months to come as we look toward a covid19 vaccine and ultimately a return to our normal pace of life. We know some things will never be the same. Change must happen in our country to make good on our founding promise. That all people are created equal, and that our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are protected. How we do that is a matter of great debate. Playing out in our streets, in protests, on social media, around dinner tables and in headlines. Seems like theres no good solution, no way forward. Its up to us, to every american, to forge a path together and to mend the fissures that are breaking apart our nation and our democracy. Ive spent the last eight years engaged in this work, day in and day out. It is work i will continue for the rest of my life, because the truth is we have far more in common than we dont. We are up to this task. I believe in the american spirit and the power of our ingenuity and the strength of our resolve. We will get through these difficult days. This pandemic will end. We will get americans and businesses back to work and school. We will overcome the scourge of racism and prejudice. We will restore trust and confidence in our government, and in congress. We will once again see this chamber full of big ideas aimed at ensuring the American Dream s within reach for everyone. Thank you, mr. Speaker, for the very last time. I yield the floor. The speaker pro tempore under the speakers announced policy of january 3, 2019, the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois, mr. Lipinski, for 30 minutes. Mr. Lipinski thank you, mr. Speaker. When i was a professor teaching american government, before he was elected to congress, the first thing i would do when beginning to teach a class about congress and the legislative process would be to show this video. Its the threeminute schoolhouse rock cartoon video from the 1970s called im just a bill. The cartoon begins with a group of constituents calling their congressman with an idea for a new law. The congressman introduces a bill which goes through House Committee debate and amendment before a vote to report the bill favory bli to the house floor favorably to the house floor. On the floor the bill goes through debate and amendment before a majority vote that send the bill over to the senate, where the process continues. This is a process that we call regular order. Regular order in the house is a standard way of legislating that facilitates extensive participation of members in the deliberative, consensusbased Decision Making process. More importantly, this is how the framers of the constitution not only intended the house to work, but believe that the house needed to work if the united wases, then in its infancy, to succeed. Congress was created in article i of the constitution because the legislative branch, being closest to the people, was necessary necessarily the linchpin of american representative democracy. While the framers didnt include in the constitution the rules by which the house or senate would operate, they understood that the way in which the law making process was conducted was critical to the creation of laws that were good for the nation as a whole, and to the legislatesy of congress and legitimacy of congress and those laws. James madison oftentimes called the father of congress James Madison, often called the father of congress, thought it was essential that the legislative branch made policy that well represented the vast and varied republican and best served the nation as a whole. Remember, our nation began as a unique experiment in selfgovernance. Theres great doubt about whether the views of people so diverse could successfully be forged into good policy that serves such a large nation. Madison believed that the way to do this was for members of congress to represent the multiple diverse interests and ideas of their constituents in an open marketplace of ideas in congress. Through the legislative process, the peoples representatives would debate, deliberate and put together a consensus on legislation that served the common good of the nation. What the constitution created was not a parliamentary system, because the framers did not intend to empower temporary majorities. Instead, they wanted to compel compromise in a diverse society. The exercise of power was shared so that all American Voters had an opportunity to be heard in the law making process. And to ensure that only the will of broad, durable majorities could be acted upon. Especially because america was a large and diverse country whose unity needed to be nurtured, it was critical that the legislative process work this way, so that the American People saw congress as an institution that truly represented them and aw american law as legitimate. But today the house doesnt often work this way. Especially when we deal with issues that are of the greatest importance to our nation. Those bills, when they get considered, dont get shaped through an open process in committee and on the house floor. Each member doesnt have the opportunity to represent their constituents by bringing their ideas and interests to the legislative process, where debate, deliberation and compromise produce the best policy for our nation. Instead the process runs through the speakers office, where the content of legislation is shaped to get enough votes just out of the majority to pass something that pleases various partisans. Now, before i go any further, i want to make clear that this is not a criticism of the current speaker or any former speaker. This is a problem of our institution. So, how did we get here . Well, theres been a big change in the way washington reacts every two years after a congressional election. It used to be the case that when Election Results came in, everyone would look to see which party has the majority in the house, who has the majority in the senate, and whether it had 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, and which party held the white house. Understanding that balance of power and the issues facing our nation over the next two years, members of congress would get to work figuring out what issues they may be able to come to an agreement on and get passed into law over the next 20 months or so. Before the next Campaign Cycle began. Now, today what happens is after understanding the balance of power in washington, after an election, each Party Retreats to its corner and begins plotting what their partys going to do over the next two years. If theres unified government, that is one party has the majority in both chambers of the congress and the presidency, here in the house the speaker will consider the priorities of the party and decide what issues to make their legislative priorities over the next two years, to create partypreferred laws and keep that majority. If there is divided government, which is the norm, having occurred 30 out of the last 40 years, and if you include the filibuster, 39 1 2 out of the last 40 years, if the case, the speaker plans what the party can do over the next two years to help the party gain unified control of the government with the hope of them passing all of the partys preferred policies. And on the other site of the aisle, they figure out side of the aisle, they figure out what they can do over those two years so they can get control. In order to help the party carry out this biannual plan, members of congress have given up much of their power to represent their constituents in the legislative process to party leaders. So what has this led to . Gridlock. There are so many issues we need to address in this nation. And we fail to act. Health care costs, the federal debt, immigration, Climate Change, the economic and military threat of china, Social Security and medicare finances, transportation infrastructure, the continuing decline of good works class jobs, reforming the working class jobs, reforming the war powers act. These are just some of the major issues which congress has been failing to address. And im sure there are other major ones that i just missed. The one obligation that congress has each year, passing appropriation bills to fund the government, is almost never ccomplished on time. President s have stepped in to fill the policymaking void. They now wield power even to address issues that were specifically put in the hands of congress in the constitution. Increased president ial exercise of power on policy has resulted in policy whipsawing back and forth, depending on the president ial administration. Law making by executive order has become the norm. So much so that saturday night live even did a parody of im just a bill, replacing bill with an executive order. And this president has taken it to a new level. But no matter who the president has been, few of us stand up for our institution. We only criticize president ial overreach when its a policy that we dont like. And its not only the president who has gained power because congress is failing to act. The courts have also stepped in as activists turn to the judicial system to decide policy issues in the absence of congress. So what we have now is an imperial presidency and powerful courts with a congress that largely sits gridlocked. What happens when we have unified government . In those rare times . The last two twimes this occurred times this occurred, major policy changes were passed on completely partyline votes. The Minority Party then attacked the legitimacy of these laws. Now, im not saying that these laws were illegitimate. They were not. But the framers knew that this kind of attack would happen if we did not come together to forge compromises. Now, in both cases, after this occurred, these unified case of unified government, the last two times it happened, in the next election the House Majority was changed by the American People. Today congress is failing in ways that the founders feared. In senator Lamar Alexanders farewell address to the senate, he defended the filibuster saying that what is needed to make the senate work better is not a change of rules but a change of behavior. Unfortunately in the house, i believe that we need some of oth. Over the past four years i have been a member of the house Problem Solvers Caucus. The caucus is a Bipartisan Group of about 50 member, evenly divided between democrats and republicans. We meet every week to talk policies and build relationships. Our goal is to Work Together to get to yes on policies that are good for our country. I have greatly enjoyed the caucus because not only have i been able to build friendships, but was able to participate in a microcosm of what madison envisioned for the house. Problem solvers caucus doesnt always succeed in forging compromise because sometimes its been out of our reach. But we have taken on some big issues. I was part of a Problem Solvers Caucus working group put together after President Trump said he would eliminate daca and told Speaker Pelosi and democratic leader schumer he would help work out legislative solutions to protect these immigrants brought to the United States as children. The dreamers. The president never followed through on that. But the caucus believed there was a bipartisan agreement that we could work out that granted the opportunity for citizenship to millions who, we argued, were deserves of deserving of this, while putting in place policies to prevent future illegal immigration. Our working Group Meeting usually started at 9 00 p. M. Because that was a time of day that everyone was free from every other obligation that we had around here. Wed get together, democrats and republicans, learn from each other and from experts about current law, discuss our views and our stites views on what the law should be. What should be done. Honestly, work through every minute detail of a compromise. We would work late into the night. A few times i had to run out to catch the last metro train to Union Station at 11 30 to get back to my apartment. It was hard work. But enjoyable. And we came up with a compromise that was endorsed by a ipartisan group of 50 members. Just as wed come up with compromise legislation in the same manner that would have strengthened the Affordable Care act and made it more affordable. In the end, despite our agreement, we could not get legislation on either of these issues to the floor. We had good policy for our nation which probably could have gotten a majority in the house to pass it and constant listen and possibly been able to get through the senate with bipartisan support. Got there by bringing our ideas but the rules didnt give us an avenue to bring this idea to the house. In the summer of 2018, when the Problem Solvers Caucus proposed changes to the house rules, i said this our constitution empowered the American People by empowering congress and their representatives. Congressional rules are now rigged in a way that diminishes our ability to represent our constituents. This has resulted in a congress that doesnt work and is frozen in partisan gridlock, allowing the president and the courts to grab the power thats supposed to be held by the American People. By instituting these proposed reforms we will begin to restore this power, create partisan gridlock an facilitate congressional problem salving to help us build a better america for future generations. We made a little bit of progress in changing rules but much more is needed. Much more is needed to make this Great Institution work as it was intended by the framers of the constitution to work for the American People. And im hopeful that those changes will occur and the problem solverers and the Problem Solvers Caucus will be successful. For the next couple of weeks and in the next congress. Because the American People need us. Now despite the way which the house falls short these days, good work still happens here because everyone who gets elected to the house does so because they want to make a difference. There are still ways that we can succeed for our constituents. During my time representing the people in the Third District of illinois, i have always said my goal every day was to make life a little better for my constituents and our country. And i knew the whole team of staffers there to help. Recently, as i was driving out to washington, i was listening to former senator al frankens book giant in the senate. As a big saturday night live watcher, i enjoyed the book very much. Senator franken was very candid on a lot of things. One of the most important truths franken mentioned which is rarely spoken here, members of congress are never supposed to admit their staff was responsible for an idea or been indispensable for getting something done. He says that he once publicly gave credit to a staffer for an idea and he was told by a colleague not to do that. Its always the senator who has the idea and does the work, he was told. Franken thought that was wrong and i agree. Maybe because i was a staffer before i was elected. As i look back on everything that i have done over 16 years, i want to thank all the staff that worked for me over the years. These are some of the things that we were able to accomplish. We were able to offer 16 laws and i was chief democratic cosponsor on 11 other laws. American manufacturing jobs is a priority for me having grown up and representing the southside of chicago. We were able to get signed into law the customs training enhance. Act to stop illegal goods coming into the country. The small aircraft rescythelyization act to help american aviation manufacturers. The steel and aluminum Energy Conservation an Technology Competitiveness act reauthorization to help these manufacturers thrive. And numerous buy america provisions we were able to get into transportation and other laws. But the one im most proud of is the American Manufacturing and competitiveness act which took five years to get done but resulted in a First ComprehensiveAmerican ManufacturingStrategy Plan to be produced by the federal government since alexander hamilton. Its a good plan. Im hope they feel Biden Administration considers its recommendations. To protect the environment against Climate Change we got the Bright Energy savings act into lew. To protect victims of Sexual Assault in the military we got the sane deployment act into an ndaa. For veterans we got the purple heart and disablesed veterans act and the recovery act. As an engineer i love the science, space, and technology committee. We did much on that committee to increase funding for scientific research, and to boost technological Innovation Activities of the federal government. I was proud to author a National Science foundation reauthorization act of 2010. N. S. F. Continues to be the Gold Standard of all International Scientific research in an innovation agency. The most Successful Program that we were involved with has been the innovation corps or icorps program. I was a nonstop promoter of this program which teaches University Faculty and graduate students about entrepreneurship and helped launch dozens of startups. We were able to grow that program at n. S. F. And expand to many other federal departments and agencies. We were able to get an option for the senate set up at the d. O. D. Representing the heart of the transportation hub of our nation, we were able to accomplish much for northeastern illinois and the nation in transportation. Locally we brought home hundreds of millions of dollar federal money to improve local transportation including roads for bridges, sidewalks and bike lanes and airports. We helped get 1 billion for the great rail Modernization Program to improve the rail network in the region and alleviate blocked crossings. We had a train service, we got funding for a new tower at the airport and for rail underpasses in betford park and bridge port. Midway airport has been made safer and more successful as an economic engine for the southwest side. I want to thank individually the staff here in d. C. That made all this possible. Staff assistance, veronica, sarah, legislative correspondents Brian Freedman and elizabeth kelly. Legislative assistants keith devereaux, wendy adams, chris lines, jacoby, adam white, andrew hoff for the and paul orsey. Senior legislative assistance for policy advisor, joel, the late andrew davis, sophia, jonathan, kaitlyn, ashley. Our Office Administrator jennifer. Our Communications Director over the years, joel reed, phil davidson, the late chris danshaw. Isaac, and our Digital Press manager grace. Vaseyative directors john ii, john ratliff, jason day and alexander beckman. An chiefs of staff jason thai, jacqueline oday, Mike Laughlin and eric. I thank all of them for the great work that theyve done for me and for the people of the Third District of illinois. I was going to start naming members that helped me get all the work done but i know think danger in this business of leaving anyone out so i just want to thank all my colleagues for the work that we have done together over the last 16 years. We had he district, what i would argue is hands down the best constituent service in the nation. Whether it was related to Social Security, veterans benefits, military service, immigration issues, passport issues, and any, many more issues. , e staff included anthony fiorelli, dawn courtney, alvador difranco, jessica, josh, john h, gene, mcglenn, grayson sol embing rno, mary e zack, the late ann. Weve had over the last few staffers. A number of ts been very difficult. We have come together as a staff and are thankful to all those departed staffers and their families. Over the years, jerry was the chief of staff in the Chicago Office for most of my time in congress and ran that office, ran the district. He forewas there for most of lenore was there for most of my time, is well loved by veterans across the district. Joe binomo, now my district director, has been with me for all 16 years. Paul belmonte who spent 16 years lso and helped so many immigrants in we had a few that we saved from being deported. Nd last but not least, jerry mulvado, who has probably, i would argue, the best caseworker in the history of congress. Jerry has been called a saint more times than i could ever count for all the work he did for so many people, for so many years. Not just on federal issues but any issue that anyone ever brought to jerry. He is the only staffer i know who has ever written up multiple time chicago newspaper for what he did for people. All these people made it work. And did so much for all the residents of the Third District. I want to thank them so much. Finally, i want to thank my mother, who gave me a love of learning, my father who helped give me a love of politics. But above all, they both gave me a love of helping others. As my mother was a teacher, and my father served in Chicago City Council before he served here. I also want to thank my wife judy who thought she was marrying a lifelong professor, and then provided me with more support than i could have ever hoped for in this job. Its only those spouses of members who know everything it takes, everything they go through. I want to thank judy so much for her support. An last, i want to thank the people of illinois Third District who gave me the honor and privilege of serving as heir representative. Mr. Speaker, the greatness of our nation springs from ethis founding principles which sound common to us today but were radical for their time. We hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable right that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I still believe this is the greatest nation in the world. It is perfect, because humans arent perfect. But we must pray and work every day that each of us and our nation better upholds the principles of equality and we better protect the life and for every ry day person. From the very first moment of life until natural death and with gods grace, we will do that. And we will be the shining city upon the hill for all the world to see and follow. God bless this institution. And god bless the United States of america. Thank you. Yield back. The speaker pro tempore under the speakers announced policy f january 3, 2019, the chair recognizes the gentleman from arizona, mr. Schweikert from rizona for 30 minutes. Mr. Schweikert i have had a handful of great conversations with you over the years even though im a conservative from the desert, you have always been. Ery kind to me so its appreciated. So, mr. Speaker, this is one of those opportunities where you have the feeling you are going to be doing this a lot over the next year. I want to make an argument that growth is more. And i want to go further than that because one of the things that spurred me to come here, i listened to janet yellen a ouple of days ago who may be the next treasury secretary and in a speech there were wonderful words about helping the working poor. But there was a complete failure in that discussion to talk about where we have had success. And look, so many people in this body run around and saying, you are conservative, you are liberal, but we care about the Hardworking Taxpayers of america. We want to see our brothers and sisters in america particularly hose and god, i hate this term and we often sound like accountant on steroids and our brothers and sisters who are in ua rmptmp le. We claim we want to do things. We have the proof that in 2018, 2019, there was a miracle happening in this country. For the first time in modern economic history of the United States the thing, particularly the left used to scream at republicans because they cared about income inequality. We delivered policy that for the first time that income inequality began to shrink. Two years where it worked. And so, as the demagogry, which is the modern political scene as we hear people like the january yellens of the world who i had a great working hip with over the years, read their script and dont take a moment to say, what actually worked. And in the last couple of years, what worked to help so many of our american citizens actually have opportunity to actually see a light at the end of the tunnel to stop seeing the purchasing of their lives, the ability to take care of their families and kids, even outside the political rage , at drives this body so often can we take a moment and understand america was doing something it had not been able to do for decades and decades and decades and decades where the income inequality, the movement to wages and value for someones labor had been crushed decade after decade and in 2018, 2019, the data is absolutely solid and clear. There was an economic miracle happening in this country. If you care about the poor, look at what happened and lets do more of it. And those things that werent working in the previous year, lets do less of it. So lets walk some of the facts. And this is my moment to get a little snarky at my colleagues from the other side and some of the comments theyve made and those on our side looking for our apology because they didnt tell the truth. They projected the future. So, look, this is when Speaker Pelosi was then the minority leader. She basically, when we did the tax reform, after calling it a scam and her quote saying making the rich er, except thats not what happened. The mathis the mathis the math. I know it doesnt fit the political rhetoric but the mathis the math. If you look at the highest actually went th down. Something that had not happened in modern economic history. You would have thought the democrats would say we got it wrong but we came a lot about this. Why dont we look at some of the other reality. My colleagues on the ways and Means Committee on the other side, house democrats, kept doing speeches and i just snipped one of the quotes, the onetime bonuses are nice but what workers deserve are permanent wage increases, the wage increases are Share Holders and corporate executives, not the middle class. They are absolutely wrong. Nd the mathis the mathis the mathis the fact, is the fact. And we even broke this down and see wage increases for africanamericans with the fastest Movement Growth in modern times. I mean like the last 50 years. Hispanic and the outpaced angelo workers rather dramatically. You think those on the republican side are ever going to get an apology for making up things. Why dont we go on and make it for gender . Turns out the 2018 and 2019 movement in wage growth was miraculous. There should have been joy in this body if you care about the working poor and turns out that wage growth on females, particularly females who didnt have a High School Education was remarkable. In 20818 when they did the calculation, it was 7 wage growth because their labor had value. We live in a society that had more jobs than people. Got to be all of our goal is that peoples work, their labor became valuable. I desperately hope to focus on how to get back to that. I know some of these charts are hard to read and well put them up on our website and i compliment on the joint economic activity, but this one and the next one are just important because it is a simple fact that the rhetoric after tax reform from the left, they made things up. And by doing that, they hurt so Many Americans because if we had been honest about the fact, it would have been honest if my colleagues on the other side would say yeah, it is helping the working poor and working americans and we can do it better, god bless them, that would be honest, but to say it was hurting them is a lie. Heres a simple example. 2017 before tax reform, we always come here and talk about , top 1 of income earner they were controlling, i think slightly over 21 of all the income in the country and they were paying 38. 5 of all the federal income taxes. What happened after tax reform . How many times did we hear from the left, from the leftwing echo chamber and the media, that well, this was tax cuts for the rich. Well, a year later, when there was tax reform, 2018, that top 1 were no longer 38. 5 of the federal income taxes and now paying 40 of the federal income taxes but the control of the wealth, income wealth actually went down. But what was more important, and this is my failing, we dont talk enough about well call it the bottom 50 of our brothers and sisters that we claim we represent, we claim when we get behind these microphones, we care about. There, the bottom of the 50 , the tax burden actually decreased, decreased, but the percentage of the wages went up. And this is just and this is only 2018. 2019 numbers havent been vetted and not all in yet. But our understanding, the curve will steepen. The fact of the matter there was an economic miracle happening in 2018 and 2019. We need to figure out what we were doing right and do more of it. And another way to basically say and thing, this is forgive me if i mispronounce her name who may become the o. M. B. Director, potential nominee and said incredibly partisan things that were wrong. The quote is here because they practiced class warfare against us. Actually, no, its just the opposite. If you actually look at the old the top 10 under the tax system were paying less of the federal tax burden than they did after tax reform. And our brothers and sisters, the other 90 of the income earners in this country were paying less of the federal tax burden after tax reform. The mathis the math. But the rhetoric was toxic and didnt tell the truth. Ut once again, then minority leader, nancy pelosi, widening the income inequality gap. The taxes, the republican tax reform along with some of the other policies that came about in 2018 and 2019, were the first time in modern economic history where income inequality actually shrank. And i thought that was the holy grail that the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer except after Regulatory Reform. If you actually care about working men and women in this country, if you actually care about the working poor, you have a template that is only a year in the past where it was working. Lets figure out what we were doing right. And mr. Speaker, lets do more of it. And one thing i will beg of this body as the democrats look like they will continue to be in the majority and they have spent a couple years demagogging our previous work when we did the tax reforms and did the Economic Opportunity that it brought, stop making up the numbers. Tell the truth and lets hold hands but in the public world, six feet distance, if our rhetoric is we care, weve delivered tax reform in a fashion where it works. It created an economic in many ways and to quote chairman powell, the federal reserve, a goldie locks economy. Congress member of lets get back to that economy helping our working poor and our middle class and actually as you can see in the data was closing income inequality. And with that, mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore under the speakers announced policy of january 3, 2019, the chair recognizes the jilt from texas, mr. Green, until 10 00 p. M. Mr. Green and still i rise. And tonight id like to initiate this event with some words of thanks for the many people who worked late into the night with us. I want to thank all of you for what you do and for staying here for the duration. There are other persons who are without this facility who are also here until we leave. So i thank you for what you do. But i also tonight would like to make note of the Houston Chronicle, thats the largest newspaper in houston, texas. Id like to thank the Houston Chronicle for exercising some its courage and some of its wisdom in terms of what it has produced with some of the news stories as of late. The Houston Chronicle has printed two stories that id like to focus on tonight. Theyre about policing in the state of texas. Documents id like to submit for the record. They both deal with policing in texas. The first one is styled blistering government report blasts training oversight of texas Law Enforcement. The second one is an editorial, styled hair stylists get more training than texas cops, thats than texas cops thats unacceptable, id like to start with this one on the blistering government report that blasts poor training, oversight of texas Law Enforcement. This is from the Houston Chronicle, the Houston Chronicle indicates that last year over 600 texas Law Enforcement officers received a dishonorable discharge from their agencies from misconduct yet more than a quarter of them as foreign to work officers. To qualify for a peace officer license, texas cops need fewer hours of basic training than licensed cosmetologists. And less than half the education required of airconditioning an refrigeration contractors. While the basic training requires officers to spend 48 hours on the firing range, it demands only two hours of civilian interaction instruction. Some things bear repeating. 48 hours on the firing range, two hours of civilian interaction instruction. Somethings got to change and im pleased to see that the chronicle is part of the movement to bring about the change, the reform thats necessary. Since this story goes on to read, and its dated, by the way, november 30, 2020, at 10 16 a. M. When it was last updated. It goes on to indicate that in texas, the regulation of Law Enforcement is by and large toothless. This is from a Sunset Committee report. I want to focus for just a moment now on why this is so important to me. I have a constituent. A constituent who has made his ansition and its because of an encounter with a peace officer in the state of texas. I want to talk about Joshua Johnson. And how the death of Joshua Johnson has had an impact on my life and i believe on the lives of many others who are familiar with this story. I believe his case is one for us to examine another way of taking these cases of questionable shootings by police before the authorities. In the case of Joshua Johnson, was a 35yearold black man and at 6 00 a. M. On april 22, Joshua Johnson was house sitting for a neighbor. He went out of his home, that home and he went out to the street. He had an encounter with officer who was there. Much has been said about the encounter but what i will tell you now is based on fact. Because we have an actual recording of what the officer has said that in my opinion has corrupted this investigation. Joshua has this encounter and as a result he was shot twice. He later on died. But lets not continue from this point. Lets step back for a moment. His parents lived within yards of where he died. His father took his mother to work that morning. When he returned, his son had lost his life. He acquired the opportunity to go and bring his wife to the area near the scene. There was an investigating officer there. This officer took it upon imself to explain to the rents of joshua, ms. Wilhelmina berry and his father, he took it upon himself to tell them what the facts are. He told them their son approached this officer who was in a car, a vehicle. And that this officer told their son to low aeropistol, it was a b. B. Pistolering according to the report. Flat son had his phone on. He did not lower the pistol and as a result he was shot twice and he was killed. Now the officer that called this to the attention of the berrys did not talk to the officer who did the shooting. He did not have the benefit of a video recording. He did not have the benefit of an autopsy report because one had not been performed, this was just two hours after joshuas death. He did not have the benefit of a ballistics report. He did not talk to the medical examiner before making these statements. There was no way for him to know what he was saying. But he said it and it has become the narrative for joshuas death. Shot joshua, ho twice, and this is the part that will tear your heart, he shot joshua twice and drove away. Shot him twice, and left the scene and drove away and went around the corner. If he shot him because he was in fear of his life and this is typically whats said, should he not have concern for the lives of people in that neighborhood hat he was sworn to protect . Joshua didnt die immediately. But he did die within some short time after he was shot. So the family finds themselves being told how their son died by one who didnt see it, didnt have a video recording of it, didnt have an autopsy report, didnt have a ballistics report, didnt talk to the medical examiner, he had they had someone who literally gave them story that some believe was made up. Can you imagine, your son is on the ground. Your son is dead. You cant go over and see your son. And youre told that your son has died because he pulled a b. B. Pistol on a peace officer. This is important in terms of what the officer said because of this training. Two hours of civilian interaction instruction. Not nearly enough. That officer who was investigating should have been better trained such that he would not have told this story without having more of the actual facts. Such that when he would tell them they could believe what he told them they could believe no ballistic report, no autopsy report, no conversation with the medical examiner, didnt talk to the officer who shot joshua. Yet he told them that these were the fact terms of how their son had lost his life. This officer needed better training. Unfortunately, in texas, theyre not getting this training at this time. And im proud the chronicle for pointing it out. He also needs training in terms of how you present yourself and how you protect the people and the neighborhood that he was in. Lets talk about the shooting. How can a Police Officer shoot a person twice, not be fired upon, and simply drive away . It makes no sense. Drive away. If you believe that this person was a threat, wouldnt you want to protect the people that youre sworn to protect and defend by staying there . Or wouldnt you call for additional help . You shoot him twice and you leave. Joshua died. Theres more to the story. But my point tonight is this. The houston the Houston Chronicle has apparently decided that enough is enough. And that there should be better policing in the state of texas. I have decided that theres another way to deal with these cases. The grand jury is one of the means by which we can take cases to court. But theres another way. In texas we have something called a court of inquiry. I believe that its time for us to use this tool, the court of inquiry, to get the facts and have transparency such that the public can understand whats ppening that they cannot acquire intelligence on when these cases go before a grand jury because its all sworn osecrecy. No one can tell you what happened before the grand jury. Maybe the District Attorney can give you some semblance of what happened. But the court of inquiry allows any person who believes a crime has been committed to go before a district judge and explain what the facts are and if that judge believes theres probable cause to believe that a crime has been committed, then that judge goes to another judge and another judge, an administrative judge, and makes an appeal through the administrative judge to convene the court of inquiry. Then a third judge will conduct the court of inquiry. I think in the state of texas, because of the training, or absence thereof, as it relates to our peace officers, this court of inquiry is going to be a great benefit as we move forward. Its time to change the paradigm. Simply allowing these cases to go before a grand jury and never know what actually happened is not enough. I believe that the Houston Chronicle has set a proper course for us to move in a direction that will change policing in the state of texas. And i would invite persons to please, read these two articles that i have called to your attention. Mr. Speaker, if there are no objections, id like to place both in the record. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Green and mr. Speaker, i would like to leave you with these words and all who are listening. Joshua johnson shouldnt have lost his life that morning. He shouldnt be another statistic. He should be with his parents. And my prayer is that these parents will receive the justice they deserve because they have been waiting now more than 200 days, approximately 230 days for some decision from Law Enforcement and theyve not had hat decision. There is some hope and the District Attorneys office is moving forward with an investigation. My prayers that this family will receive the justice they deserve because their son shouldnt have lost his life on the 22nd of april this year at approximately 6 00 a. M. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to section 4b of House Resolution 967, the house stands adjourned until authorization bill that sets defense policy for 2021. That legislation heads to the senate. President trump has vowed to veto the measure over the removal of names and symbols that honor confederate generals. They passed a few other bills including the one that waived the Disability Insurance waiting period for people with als. Tomorrow, work on a measure that extends government funding through december 18. Live wednesdaye at 10 a. M. For morning speeches and then at noon for legislative work. You are watching cspan, your unfiltered view of government. Cabled by americas Television Companies as a Public Service and brought to you today by your television provider. Cspans washington journal. Everyday we are taking your calls on the air on the news of the day. Well discuss policy issues that impact you. Ohiog up wednesday, democratic congressman jim ryan discusses the future of the Democratic Party and congressional news of the day including the looming government funding deadline and efforts to forge a compromise on covid19 relief legislation. Talks about his plan to challenge the Electoral College vote tally when congress certifies the results of the election on january 6. And Georgetown University medical centers dr. Jesse goodman, the former chief scientist of the fda, discusses the covid19 vaccine approval process. Watch cspans washington journal, at 7 a. M. Eastern wednesday morning. Be sure to join the discussion. Wednesday morning, government officials testify on the Veterans AffairsDepartment Response to the covid19 pandemic. Watch live coverage beginning at 10 a. M. Eastern on cspan 3, cspan. Org. Next, medical professionals who advocate for alternative coronavirus treatments and mitigation measures testify in front of the Senate Homeland security and Government Affairs committee. Some of the doctors have been ofocated the use hydroxychloroquine and question the efficacy of masks and quarantining. This runs 2. 5 hours