Transcripts For CSPAN House Session 20141204

Record to reflect the views of mr. Van hollen earlier about not having amendments where we can fully discuss in the house the twoyear funding for the syrian rebel army, and also to make sure that we do not have combat troops actively engaged in iraq. But, mr. Speaker, i am rising right now to strongly state my deep disappointment in a version of the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange act that was included in the National Defense authorization. Heres the National Defense authorization bill, and in here are some land bills. Now, one of the land bills in particular that have been included in here is extremely controversial and it is nongermane and will lead to the destruction of sacred sites for two major tribal nations in our country. And when it does that, when it destroys these sacred sites, it benefits a foreignowned Mining Company with troubling ties to the government of iran. Id like to submit for the record a long list of tribal organizations and other groups who oppose this proposal because of its direct disregard for native americans sacred and cultural sites, mr. Speaker. Thank you. Unfortunately the speaker pro tempore without objection. Ms. Mccollum unfortunately, the amendment to strike this provision from the bill offered by my friend, mr. Cole, who is the cochair of the native american caucus along with me, a bipartisan amendment, was totally rejected by the rules committee. So, mr. Speaker, i urge my colleagues to oppose this rule. The National Defense authorization should not be used as a vehicle to undermine our commitment to protecting religious liberties for tribal nations where so many of those men and women have proudly fought to serve their country, the United States of america. With that i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida. Mr. Nugent mr. Speaker, i think mr. Cole really addressed the issue as regards to how it went down in rules. He clearly addressed the issue on this floor in regards to his support of the rule. Even though he didnt get everything that he wanted. Mr. Speaker, i continue to reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time is reserved. The gentleman from massachusetts. Mr. Mcgovern its my pleasure to yield two minutes to the the gentlewoman from california, ms. Lee. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from california is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Lee thank you very much. I want to thank the gentleman for yielding and his leadership and for really trying at least to allow many of us with different points of views to have some input into this rule and this bill. Unfortunately that did not happen at the rules committee. So of course i rise in strong opposition to this rule to provide consideration for the National Defense authorization act. While i certainly support several elements of this bill, i have grave concerns about the more 63 billion in funding for the overseas Contingency Operations fund. The account remains a slush fund that allows the pentagon to circumvent the budget control act. And, mr. Speaker, we still havent received an audit from the pentagon. Every agency has to go through an audit process. What happened at the pentagon . We still have not received the audit for a lot of reasons that they state, but in a bipartisan way many of us are urging the Defense Department to come up and show us the numbers, show us what their awe cut will provide so the American People know what their taxpayer dollars are paying for. I also have grave concerns about authorizing any funding for the current war in iraq and syria, and, yes, that is war thats taking place. And that congress has not yet debated or authorized this new war. We see more and more troops being sent to the region, and of course unintended consequences could put these troops in harms way and lead to combat operations. And i dont believe the American People want to see our brave young men and women in that role. And thats why many of us have called and will call on congress to live up to it its constitutional responsibility and have a full debate on any authorization for any use of military force. We are in a war, mr. Speaker, and each and every day we see more and more danger, we see more and more wars that take place. Enough is enough. Mr. Speaker, committing the u. S. May i have another 30 seconds. Mr. Mcgovern an additional one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for an additional one minute. Ms. Lee mr. Speaker, committing the United States to yet another longterm war in the middle east, it should never be an afterthought. What we continue to do is authorize in a variety of bills the continuation of a war that has not been authorized nor declared. And i know the American People worry about the world at this point and what is taking place. They know how dangerous the world is. We know that also. And we know that the pentagon deserves a budget and authorizations that ensure our National Security. But we also know that we have a constitutional responsibility to debate the use of force and in fact if we believe that thats the course of action that our country should take, then lets have an up or down vote. This really should be the moment that we are debating that because once we leave here, come january, we dont know what will happen. We dont know how far this war will have expanded. And it will continue to be an unauthorized war. Congress and the American People deserve to understand the cost and consequences to our National Security and to our domestic priorities in fighting this war. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida. Mr. Nugent continue to reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from massachusetts. Mr. Mcgovern may i inquire of the gentleman how many additional speakers he has . Mr. Nugent i have none. Mr. Mcgovern we had a couple but i guess they are not here. I will close, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized and has 10 1 2 minutes remaining. Mr. Mcgovern mr. Speaker, im sad to say that this congress is kind of ending the way it began, under a very closed and restrictive process. As i said earlier, this is the most closed congress in the history of the United States of america. Routinely important issues, issues that impact not just the American People but that impact the entire world are denied a debate on the house floor. And we are bringing up multiple bills here today, all under a very closed process, and yet there is some very important issues that need to be debated and to be discussed and to be voted on. Ive crumbling bridges and sewer and Water Systems in my district that need repair, and i cant get a penny to repair or replace them. We are told we dont have money. We seem to have billions and billions of dollars to throw at these endless wars in afghanistan and the middle east. And, mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the november 2 New York Times editorial, the new wars rising costs. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Mcgovern we seem to have money for those things. We heard earlier today about the fact there are 50,000 ghost soldiers in iraq that we are funding with our taxpayer dollars. They dont exist. Somebodys stealing that money. And wheres the outrage in this congress . Wheres the outrage . Mr. Speaker, these wars deserve a debate. They deserve our oversight. We are supposed to be a deliberative boddy. We should be talking about these things. And we are getting more deeply involved in another war in iraq and in syria. We have 3,000 troops in iraq right now. God knows how many are going to be there when we come back in january. And by the way, there is nothing in this bill that prevents the president from adjusting the mission of those troops so that they are engaged in direct john the ground combat. Onthe ground combat. It is something we ought to be concerned about. Yet we are not. We are leaving town without even talking about this stuff. You dont need an ndaa bill to debate and vote on an authorization. All we need is a Republican Leadership with a backbone to bring it to the floor. This is our responsibility. This is our job. This is our constitutional responsibility. And yet we are not doing anything. Mr. Speaker, i would also like to ask unanimous consent to enter into the record an article by fox news political analyst, juan williams, entitled, congress ducks its duty on isis vote. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Mcgovern mr. Speaker, i also want to talk a little bit bout the immigration bill. As i said before, the president didnt create this problem. The house Republican Leadership created this problem. We had the senate that acted in a good faith bipartisan manner. And passed a comprehensive Immigration Reform bill. That was a year and a half ago. And in a year and a half this house of representatives has done nothing except come to the floor and demagogue the immigration issue. The debate on the other side of the aisle, quite frankly, has gotten so ugly that it is, quite frankly, i think beneath the level of dignity of this house of representatives. We should expect better in terms of the debate on the issue of immigration. And i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the november 20 editorial from the New York Times which concludes by saying, the right lafalcely label mr. Obamas actions lawless. They are a victory for problem solving over posturing, common sense over cruelty, and lawful order over chaotic status quo. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Mcgone i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a november 25 letter from 130 legal scholars why president obamas action is lawful and has historical precedent. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Mcgovern i ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a november 29 letter to senate and house judiciary chairman leahy and goodlatte and Ranking Members grassley and conyers, from four form councils from thele obama, george w. Bush, and Clinton Administration on the president s authority to take lawful executive action on immigration. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Mcgovern mr. Speaker, if i could ask the indulgence of my colleague, one of our speakers just showed up. If he doesnt mind if i could yield him. Mr. Nugent i have no objection. Mr. Mcgovern i yield the gentleman from florida, two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Speaker, im a very fortunate man. I am the son of immigrants. My parents came here at the es of 17 and 18, respectively. And through the Great Fortune we had, we were they were adjusted and they were part of this great nation. Since then, since then many more have come after. In particular i represent a community that is almost 69 hispanic. The majority of which were born in a foreign land. Mr. Garcia the reality is that our immigration system for years has worked and worked efficiently to make what we do better than any other nation in the world. We make americans. In the last decade and a half, this system has ground to a halt. In the last few years, our president has moved steadily to use its executive power to try to make the system work a little bit better. I believe that its an important step. But we had an opportunity, we had an opportunity in this house to pass the Senate Version that receives 68 votes. Something that would have made the system better, function better, brought more investment into america, more dollars into the federal revenue, and yet the house punted. I am appreciative of the president s action because he is well within executive power. But if the other side does not like the president s action, they can bring up the senate bill. There are enough votes in this house to pass it. We will have an orderly process. It is not a perfect bill, but it does do the right thing. Which fixes a broken immigration system. I want to beg the other side to understand the implications that fighting on this issue has. This is a nation of laws. There is no question. But the executive has Plenary Authority in this air area, and the time has come to move since this house will not move. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from massachusetts has 3 1 2 minutes remaining. Mr. Mcgovern mr. Speaker, i want to ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the amendment that i will offer if we defeat the previous question in the order along with extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Mcgovern and that basically will be the text of h. R. 15, the Senate Passed comprehensive Immigration Reform bill. We could bring this issue to a close right now. With that i reserve my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time is reserved. Gentleman from florida. Mr. Nugent i thought the entleman was closing. The speaker pro tempore does the gentleman from massachusetts seek to close . Mr. Mcgovern mr. Speaker, i guess there is some confusion here that the gentleman may be offering to amend the rule and im just were trying to get a sense what is going on over there before we give back all our time. Mr. Nugent mr. Speaker, shortly ill be offering an amendment to the rule that will be necessary to alleviate the point of order that currently lies with the defense bill. We hope well expedite the consideration in the senate of this critical critically important bill. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from massachusetts. Mr. Mcgovern mr. Speaker, we have one additional speaker that just showed up. Would the gentleman mind if i mr. Nugent absolutely. Mr. Mcgovern i yield one minute to the gentlewoman from texas, ms. Jackson lee. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from texas is recognized for one minute. Ms. Jackson lee i thank the gentleman from massachusetts for his leadership and the manager. Many of us, mr. Speaker, have come to the floor of the house time and time and supported our troops, supported their families, wanted them to have increased dollars in their compensation. But today i come with a heavy heart that issues of war and peace are in this bill, the authorization bill, and we have not had the time to debate this in front of the American People. Sending young men and women in the midst of a storm and war where they may lose their life and yet this majority refuses to give us hours of time to show the American People what the commitment is, i raise a question. And then, of course, a bill that attacks the Constitutional Authority of the president of the United States and an immigration bill that is closed because the president is not going beyond the law. Hes not changing the law. He has the authority to use his executive power for humanitarian relief and hes saving the parents of children who are citizens and this is a wrong rule and i ask my colleagues to vote against it. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. The gentleman from massachusetts. Mr. Mcgovern how much time do i have left, mr. Speaker . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman has 2 1 2 minutes. Mr. Mcgovern let me urge my colleagues to vote against this closed rule, triple closed rule. It unfortunately has become a pattern in this congress, the most closed congress in the history of the United States of america and, again, i would urge my colleagues to vote no as well because we are talking about a defense bill but were not allowed to have a debate or vote on any of these wars that were involved in. You know, if we truly care about our troops, if were truly living up to our constitutional responsibilities, we ought to have a debate and a vote. We ought not to duck it, we ought not to leave town without talking about these serious issues. On the issue of immigration, rather than the silly, petty, ugly symbolic bill na is being brought to the that is being brought to the floor, if my colleagues dont approve of the president s executive action, help me defeat the previous question and well bring up the compre henced immigration bill that the Senate Passed and we can end all this nonsense, end all this rankor that weve seen unfold here in the house. We can do better than what is on display today, and i regret very much that the Republican Leadership continues to insist on this closed process which stiffles debate and prevents us from debating and voting on important issues. With that i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from florida has 8 1 4 minutes remaining. Mr. Nugent thank you, mr. Speaker. I think i made my frustrations readily clear in regards to how we got to the current ndaa. Its troubling to see how the senates failure to act is going to end up costing our troops. To me its just not right. To the men and women, the 1 of america that put their lives on the line for this country, the senate has turned a blind eye to. Im optimistic, though, that with the changing of the guard in january that were actually going to get things done, were actually going to pass legislation to address the issues that are so confronting this nation that deserve to have discussions in both houses. It is important that senate act. Its important that senate has debate. So i think that at the end of the day, in january with the changing of the guard, were oing to see a different set of facts as Congress Moves forward. And im really hopeful that Congress Takes the steps and mr. Mcgovern talks about it, but we need to talk about the aumf. We need to talk about those Guiding Principles that set up where we are today, things that were passed long before i came to congress. Authorizations that go back 12 to 13 years ago and the landscape has changed and we need to absolutely have a strong and long, hard debate in regards to how we authorize the , in force in the future specific instances, as the constitution requires. And we talk about the constitution, we talk about the president just ignoring it. The administration side stepping Congress Whenever it sees fit. Use of force is one of those areas, i think. And the same with what this dministration has done and the underlying rule allows us to address in the president s recent executive order. The bill reaffirms that congress has the right to rewrite Immigration Laws. It says that the president must enforce the laws that are currently on the books. Thats something he wishes, but what is currently law of the land. Mr. Speaker, the president s action have gotten so out of hand that we now must pass bills to remind him what the constitution says. Nd thats thats a shame. We even have to remind the president what he himself has said in the Pacific Northwest about what is the in the past about what is the appropriate role of the office of president. Speaking in 2011 in a univision town hall stated, and i quote, with respect to the notion that i can suspend deportations through executive order, thats just not the case. Because there are laws on the books, unquote. He also said that Congress Passes the laws, and its the executive branchs law job to enforce and implement the laws and then its up to the judiciary to interpret the laws if theres a question. You know, the president even said theres enough laws on the books by congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system. That for me is simple enough. And the president said this, that through executive order to ignore those congressional mandates would not conform with my appropriate role as president. I didnt say that, he said that. Im not a lawyer, hes a lawyer, a constitutional lawyer. What he hasnt said to us, the merican people, is in those 22 instances he said those things, why hasnt he justified to the American People that maybe he was wrong when he said that. He didnt get it right, didnt understand. He never said anything like that. What hes done is come back and say, you know what and he said it before, i have a pen and a phone and he can do what e pleases. R. Speaker, this is an unfortunate time when we have to call the president out for not following the constitution. This is not something that i look forward to. Its not something i want to do, but it is so important, as ive said before, that we respect the article 1 powers that this body has in the constitution that our Founding Fathers thought it was so important that there be a separation of powers so that there was no monarchy, so there was no one person that can call all the shots. They saw it because they needed to because what the oppression is they left that they were under. Were merely standing up for our rights as citizens of the United States as, i believe, we should be enforcing the constitutional requirements, that founding document. Maybe im wrong, but i dont think so. I have been wrong in the past, but on this particular issue, the constitution is the document that we should live by. The constitution sets forth the operation of this government, not by whim and not by decree but by law. Ere a nation of laws. Youve heard me talk about the ndaa, and i will say this to mr. Mcgovern as it relates to authorization of military force. I agree wholeheartedly that we need to have a separate debate, we need to have it when we have a partner across the other side of the capitol that will enjoy join in that debate about what we should be doing with the use of force and what we do as it relates to the men and women that serve. Mr. Speaker, i urge my colleagues to support this rule and to support the checks and balances our founders so thoughtfully crafted. Mr. Speaker, i offer an amendment to the resolution. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the amendment. The clerk an amendment offered by mr. Nugent. Page 2, line 14, insert before the period, in the amendment specified in section 5 of this resolution. At the end of the resolution add the following. Section 5. The amendment referred to in the first section of this resolution is as follows strike section 3096 and insert the following section 30 6 payments in lieu of taxes. For payments in lieu of taxes under chapter 69 of title 31 United States code which shall be available without further appropriation to the secretary of the interior, one, 33 million for fiscal year 2015 and, two, 37 million to be made available for obligation and payment beginning on october 1, 2015. Funds available for obligation and payment under paragraph 2 shall be paid in october of 2015. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida is recognized. Mr. Nugent mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time and i move the previous question on the amendment and on the resolution. The speaker pro tempore the question is on ordering the previous question on the amendment and on the resolution. Those in favor say aye. Thopeds. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The gentleman from massachusetts. Mr. Mcgovern on that i ask for the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. All those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Members will record their votes by electronic device. Pursuant to clause 8 and clause of rule 20, this 9 of rule 20, this 15minute vote on ordering the previous question on the amendment and on the resolution will be followed by fiveminute votes on adopting the amendment, if ordered, adopting the resolution, if ordered and suspending the rules and adopting House Resolution 758. This is a 15minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote the yeas are 227. The nays are 191. The previous question is ordered. The question is on adoption of the amendment. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The amendment is adopted. The question is on adoption of the resolution, as amended. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The gentleman from massachusetts. Mr. Mcgovern mr. Speaker, on that i ask for a recorded vote. The speaker pro tempore a recorded vote is requested. Those favoring a recorded vote will rise. A sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This is a fiveminute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore the nays are 191. The resolution is adopted. Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. The Unfinished Business is the vote on the motion of the gentlelady from florida, ms. Roslehtinen, to suspend the rules and agree to House Resolution 758 as amended on which the yeas and nays were ordered. The clerk will report the the title of the resolution. The clerk House Resolution 758, resolution strongly condemning the actions of the Russian Federation under president putin which has carried out a policy of aggression against neighboring countries aimed at political and economic domination. The speaker pro tempore the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to the resolution as amended. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This is a fiveminute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote the yeas are 411. The nays are 10. 2 3 of those voting having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. For what purpose does the gentleman from california rise . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the question of adopting a motion to concur in the Senate Amendment to h. R. 3979 with an amendment may be subject to postponement as though under clause 8 of rule 20. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. For what purpose does the gentleman from california rise . Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 770, i call up h. R. 3979, with a Senate Amendment thereto and i have a motion at the desk. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill, designate the Senate Amendment, and designate the motion. The clerk h. R. 3979, an act to amend the Internal Revenue code of 1986 to ensure that Emergency Services volunteers are not taken into account as employees under the shared responsibility requirements contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care act. Senate amendment, motion offered by mr. Mckeon of california. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to House Resolution 770, the motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and Ranking Member of the committee on Armed Services. The gentleman from california, mr. Mckeon, and the gentleman from washington, mr. Smith, each will control 30 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from california. Mr. Mckeon. Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and to heir remarks include extraneous material on h. R. 3979. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i rise today in support of the fiscal year 2015 National Defense is rization act, the ndaa how congress fulfills its truly responsibility to provide for the common defense. This year will mark the 53rd Consecutive Year that we have completed our work. What makes this bill such an important piece of legislation are the vital authorities contained within. It provides resources for the mission in afghanistan. It finds our military operate it funds our military operations against isil in iraq and syria. It pays our troops and their families. It keeps our navy fleet sailing and military aircraft flying. It maintains a Strong Nuclear deterrent. The ndaa is much broader than this, but i will close in the interest of time. Before i do, id like to thank Ranking Member smith and all members of our Armed Services committee and my colleagues in this body. For all for all of their efforts to get us to this point. Every year for the past 52 years, congress has passed an ndaa. Im grateful for the hard working chairs ammeds Ranking Members of the house, but also to all members of the body for recognizing the importance of this vital piece of legislation. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from washington, mr. Smith, is recognized. Mr. Smith thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as i may consume. I want to join with the chairman in urging the body to pass this important piece of legislation. This bill every year helps our military do its job. It provides pay increases for people who serve in the military, it provides for military construction and it provides for the necessary authorities that the men and a women who serve in our military need to perform the missions that our country asks them to do. This is particularly important as we continue to fight in afghanistan and as we continue to try to figure out how to deal with the challenge in syria and iraq. I think this bill is of even more importance because it contains within it the train and a equip authority to help deal with isis and syria and iraq. Mr. Chairman, the house is not in order. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is correct. The house is not in order. The house will be in order. All members please take their conversations off the floor. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Smith thank you. I really wrish to emphasize wish to emphasize that that train and equip mission is just that. It in no way, shape, manner or form authorizes the use of military force. And i think it is the best approach. I dont want u. S. Troops fighting this war. We have learned that u. S. Troops cannot win the battle against the evil ideology that al qaeda and isis have promoted. We need local partners. Thats what this bill helps us do. Train and equip those local partners so they can fight isis on their home turf, locally, and in a far more successful way. I will say that this bill is deficient in one regard. We have a smaller Defense Budget than we ever anticipated that we would have. If sequestration comes to pass, well be smaller still. There are very difficult decisions in terms of what equipment to procure, what equipment to set aside, how to cut personnel costs, the pentagon has wrestled with all of those issues and made a series of proposals to us for how to make those cuts. We rejected pretty much all of them. Thats not going happen in the future. In 2016 and 2017, were going to have to make some choices. Because if we dont make choices, readiness gets hurt. Its the last thing that they can cut. They do not fix equipment, they do not train troops as much, they do not pay for am anition and fuel to do the training. If we dont make the decisions on how to make rational cuts in the budget in light of how much that budget has shrunk, readiness gets hurt. So in the future i hope well make those decisions. But i applaud the chairman for his fine work. I want to thank him for an excellent working relationship, wish him the best. Hes been an excellent chairman. Hes upheld the tradition of bipartisanship on our house Armed Services committee, as well as anybody. I really appreciate that working relationship. I thank you for the work on this bill and i urge its passage and with that i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from california is recognized. Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to my friend and colleague, the incoming chairman of the house arm aed Services Committee and a chairman of the intelligence, emerging threats and capabilities subcommittee, the gentleman from texas, mr. Fortenberry. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Fortenberry mr. Speaker, i appreciate the time. Mr. Speaker, i rise in support of this measure. As weve already heard, there are members who have concerns about various provisions of this bill. I think many members have concerns about the process which brought this bill to us and it was certainly messy, which was inevitable when the senate never passed a bill. But when you look at this measure as a whole, despite any imperfections, it is better for the country, better for our security, better for the men and women who serve in the armed forces to pass this bill rather than to reject this bill. I hope members will support it strongly. In fact, there are many good, important provisions in it. Within the subcommittee on intelligence, emerging threats and capabilities, we have provisions dealing with cyberoperations, with defense intelligence, special operations and human rights training of foreign militaries. And im very grateful to my partner, mr. Langevin, who has worked with me throughout the formulation of these provisions and throughout the past four years on those issues. Mr. Speaker, finally it is very appropriate that this bill be named in honor of chairman buck mckeon. Not just for the work he has done on this measure, but for the work he has done to promote our countrys security throughout his tenure. And for the commitment that he has shown to the men and women who serve our country in the military. He has made substantial contributions substantively and i agree with mr. Smith, clabstively, in working in a bipartisan way which is also good for the country, good for the men and women who serve. We will certainly miss him but we appreciate very much all his contributions and naming this bill for him is one way to help recognize those. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from washington. Mr. Smith thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield two minutes to the nking member on the tactical committee. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from california is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Sanchez san thank you, mr. Speaker. And i want ms. Sanchez thank you, mr. Speaker. And i also want to echo my thanks to chairman mckeon. I had the pleasure not only of working with him on this committee but also the education committee, when we were on that. And so you will be missed here in the congress, buck, but as a californian i hope youll come back and help california even more. An Important Role of the Armed Services committee is to conduct a aggressive oversight conduct aggressive oversight on the hundreds of billions that the department of defense spends each year. And while the d. O. D. Needs strong funding support from congress, there are still a lot of areas of wasteful spending, areas that need to be cut, areas where more funding might be needed than requested in the budget. And i am pleased that this final ndaa includes numerous measures to reduce or restrict funding for d. O. D. Programs that are behind schedule, not performing or judged to be of lower priority. In the tactical, air and Land Forces Subcommittee, in this part of the bill, there are almost 800 million in funledsing reductions to such funding reductions to such programs and we did that in a bipartisan manner. Theres also oversight legislation on several crit cam programs. The final critical programs. The final bill provides funding for the president s budget level for most major programs. Including more than 8 billion for the f35 aircraft, also for research and development on that aircraft. And finally, the ndaa also includes significant funding in highpriority areas. For example, the growler aircraft, 450 million. An additional 98 million for an additional mq9 aircraft. An additional 103 million for helicopters for our Army National guard. An additional 382 million for army ground vehicles. Also, i am very pleased that my provisions took further to further integrate women into the military were included in this final bill. I strongly urge the department of defense to ensure that there are no delays in expanding opportunities for female Service Members who are out there on the front line. And yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. The gentleman from california. Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to my friend and colleague, a member of the arm aed Services Committee and Armed Services committee, the gentleman from virginia, mr. Forbes. The speaker pro tempore how many minutes . Mr. Mckeon two. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from virginia is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Forbes mr. Speaker, thank you. I rise in support of this bill. I continue to be impressed with the bipartisan effort that is used to create this bill. Chairman mckeon, we want to thank you for your leadership and service to our nation. Your time and effort to support our men and women in uniform and to guide our National Security will be sorely missed. But you leave the committee in good hands with the gentleman from texas, chairman fortenberry, who will bring two decades of experience and leadership to help navigate our committee through the challenges ahead. I do have to express concern for certain provisions included in this bill related to Service Member entitlements. More specifically im concerned with the cutses to military housing allowances, comsears and the pharmaceutical copay increase. While the bill takes important steps for honoring our commitment to those who wear our nations uniform, i remain concerned that these provisions send the wrong signal to our warriors and their families who have already sacrificed so much for our country. Despite these concerns, i believe that this bill is a strong one and should be broadly supported. As to the sea power subcommittee, im pleased with the provisions in this bill, including the continued funding of the nuclear refueling and complex overhaul of the u. S. S. George washington, construction of two virginia class submarines, two destroyers and three combat ships. We were also successful in authorizing the construction of l. P. D. 28, continuing tomahawk missile production line, retaining the existing Cruiser Force structure and providing thorough oversight of the requirements for the navys uclass program. I want to thank the members of the Armed Services committee, especially my sea power and a Projection Forces subcommittee Ranking Member, mr. Mcintyre, for his long service and unyielding support for our men and women in uniform. And with that, mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from washington. Mr. Smith thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield two minutes to the Ranking Member of the sea power and Projection Forces subcommittee, mr. Mcintyre. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from North Carolina is recognized for two minutes. Mcthank you, mr. Speaker i know that he will continue the great tradition of bipartisanship on this subcommittee and i wish him the best in the future and those with whom we have served on our great subcommittee as they continue to serve our men and women in uniform. Mr. Mcintyre this bill contains 15. 65 billion for ship building that will authorize the two virginia class submarines, two early bird class destroyers, three combat ships and an additional 800 million for the san antonio class amphibious ship it. Also reaffirms congress a support of an 11ship Aircraft Carrier fleet with the aa digs of nearly 00 million. Something that i know chairman forbes and a i chaired shared a passion about. These ships are critical to the United States ability to project power and presence anywhere in the world. This bill, mr. Speaker, continues the long tradition of bipartisan support for our troops, for which this committee is known. Im very humbled and honored to have been able to serve on this Important Committee for our nations security and i want to thank my colleagues this year and through the years that i have served with over these last 18 years. Thank you also to chairman mckeon and to Ranking Member adam smith, my classmate, for their steady leadership throughout this process. Both of these gentleman have gentlemen have been great partners and without them we would not be here now to vote on this bill. It has indeed been a privilege to serve with them, to serve with the Committee Members and, most importantly, to serve our great men and women in uniform who serve all of us throughout this country and indeed around the world. I strongly urge all of my colleagues to vote yes on this bill. May gods blessings be with those who serve our country and continue to stand night and day for our freedom. Lets show them our support. Lets support this bill and get it done today. God bless all of them and god bless our nation. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from california. Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to my friend and colleague, a member of the arm aed Services Committee Armed Services committee and chairman of the military personnel subcommittee, the gentleman from South Carolina, mr. Wilson. Two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from South Carolina is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Wilson thank you, chairman mckeon, for yielding. America appreciates chairman buck mckeon and his wife for their extraordinary dedicated service to promote a Strong Military defense and the wellbeing of Service Members and their military families. I wish them god speed for their future success. The chairman will be greatly missed. As chairman of the house arm aed services sub arm aed Services Subcommittee on military personnel, and im very grateful i had the pleasure of working with susan davis of california, ive been grateful to serve with chairman mckeon to draft this bill. Supporting our Service Members and providing necessary resources for our military families and veterans is the primary function of the federal government. With the hopeful passage today of the National Defense authorization act, we will help achieve this goal and he sure our National Security remains in and ensure our National Security remains in tact. Today are provisions that the house and senate has agreed upon that will help keep American Families safe and make sure our brave men and women in uniform are given the resources they have earn aed and deserve eamb earned and deserve. Key provisions including awards of the purple heart to members of the armed forces like those at fort hood, mandates new criminal Sexual Assault reforms to prevent future crimes from occurring and offers support to victims in need. Additional behavioral and Psychological Health programs will be made available to address and prevent military suicides. A bipartisan prohibition on the transfer of Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States and prevents construction of terrorist detention facilities at home. Supports operations to promote peace in the middle east by supporting our allies in the region. In the future we will work to enhance paid benefits and economy air is proposal as. As a 31year veteran of the Army National guard, im pleased we were able to support the National Guard readiness and capabilities by preventing the transfer of any apache helicopters in the coming year. Apart from assisting the states when disaster strikes, National Guard serves as the combat reserve force for our active army and a air force. Their accomplishments are crucial for the security of our country. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Smith i yield two minutes to the Ranking Member of the military personnel subcommittee, mrs. Davis of california. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from is recognized. Mrs. Davis i rise in support of the National Defense authorization act for fiscal year 2015. As the Ranking Member of the military personnel subcommittee, im pleased that this bill includes a number of provisions that continues our commitment to our armed forces. I certainly want to thank chairman joe wilson for working with me in a bipartisan manner to support our Service Members and their families. I would also recognize and thank our retiring chairman, buck mckeon, and adam smith, the Ranking Member, for their leadership. Im pleased that the final agreement continues the committees focus on Sexual Assault. These provisions include requiring the Judicial Panel to assess the impact of using Mental Health records by the defense in preliminary hearings and a comparison between the civilian use of Mental Health records and civilian criminal proceedings. Requiring the secretary of defense to consider the victims of Sexual Assault preference regarding whether the offense should be prosecuted by courtmartial or in a civilian court. Requiring performance appraisals of a Commanding Officer to include whether the officer has established a command climate in which allegations of Sexual Assault are properry managed and victims feel free to report a Sexual Assault without fear of retaliation. The agreement also includes several Health Care Provisions that continue to improve the Mental Health of the force. Although the agreement includes a modest onetime change to the tricare farmy copay rates and increase in the 1 in the housing allowance, it does not include the full savings proposed by the department of defense. As a result, the department will need to address the savings it already took in fiscal year 2015 budget. As mr. Smith has pointed out, the discussion on compensation that led to this agreement is a beginning to the conversations we must have. As we look to the next congress, i hope that the results of the military compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission due in february of 2015 will inform this important discussion. We all know these are difficult times, particularly with full sequestration ahead in f. Y. 16. Ignoring the issue will only lead the department to take signature cuts to end strength and readiness. These difficult decisions will need to be made in order to sustain our all volunteer force. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. The gentleman from california. Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i yield to my friend and colleague, a member of the Armed Services committee and chairman of the tactic air and Land Forces Subcommittee, and the sponsor of the Child Protection amendment that hes worked on for seven years, the gentleman from ohio, mr. Turner. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from ohio is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Turner thank you, mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the National Defense authorization act of 2015, the 53rd consecutive National Defense authorization act. I want to personally thank the chairman and Ranking Member smith, staff director, my m. L. A. , senator inhofe and Ranking Member of course secretary hagel for having included in this bill important legislation that will protect the custody rights of our men and women in uniform. This has been a battle for seven years. I greatly agreeshate their tenacity and support over what has been a long battle. No longer will random family law courts across the nation be able to penalize our men and women in uniform by taking custody away from of their children as a result of their having served their nation. I have the honor of serving as the chairman of the tactical air and Land Forces Subcommittee as well as the cochair of the military Sexual Assault prevention caucus. Under the full Committee Leadership of chairman mckeon and Ranking Member smith, with my Ranking Member loretta sanchez, we have done a bipartisan effort in this bill. It supports the men and women and it also helps retain Defense Technology superiority, sustained our critical Defense Industrial base, and helps to maintain continued modernization for our military. In addition, we provide full funding for the joint strike fighter, tactical programs, and additional funding for the National Guard and reserve component, tanks, strike vehicles, tactical wheeled vehicles and others. I also believe this bill is incredibly important because of the provision that is are in this bill with respect to Sexual Assault. I want to thank my cochair, representative tsongas, and the military personnel subcommittee, chairman joe wilson and Ranking Member susan davis for her help on the issues of Sexual Assault in the military and custody. These provisions are incredibly important and will provide additional protection to our men and women in uniform. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back his time. The gentleman from washington is recognized. Mr. Smith i thank you. Mr. Chairman, i yield two minutes to the Ranking Member of the intelligence emerging threats and capability subcommittee, mr. Langevin, from rhode island. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Langevin i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Langevin thank you, mr. Speaker. I first want to thank chairman mckeon and Ranking Member smith for their work on this bill. The ndaa gets done year after year not because its easy but because it is absolutely critical to our National Security and its absolutely critical to honoring and supporting our men and women in uniform who put themselves in harms way every day to keep our nation safe. This year im particularly proud of what chairman thornberry and i were able to accomplish in the emerging threats and capability subcommittee. I thank mr. Thornberry for his partnership, especially on issues relating to intelligence and other issues. I congratulate him on becoming the incoming chairman of the full committee. This bill supports important investments in areas of emerging technologies such as electric weapons, including rail guns and lasers. To broad based that support the next generation of disruppive technologies, to the Stem Education efforts that will inspire the innovators of the future. It will also strengthen d. O. D. s cybersecurity posture by identifying the tools needed to recruit and retain a qualified work force. Furthering our understanding of the threats we face in cyberspace. Enabling training ranges and providing for operational and ready force. It extends critically needed special operations authorities while working to combat the alarmingly high rate of suicide among our nations special operators. Finally, it strongly supports the critical undersea of programs such as virginia class submarines that continue to be so important to our security. I also applaud the inclusion of language to address economic or industrial espionage in the United States. Earlier this year i successfully advocated for efforts to understand how we as a nation should diagnose and respond to Economic Warfare which is embedded on a large scale by the freedom of cyberspace and insidious threat to our national wellbeing. I also note the valuable inclusion not just of public lands legislation in my home state of rhode island, but also the federal Information Technology acquisition reform act. While more must be done to address our challenges in cyberspace, this long needed update to existing law is important progress. With that i applaud the chairman and Ranking Member of the committee, especially the staff, for their efforts. I urge support of the legislation. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from california is recognized. Mr. Mckeon i yield two minutes to my friend and colleague, a member of the Armed Services committee and the chairman of the readiness subcommittee, the gentleman from virginia, mr. Whitman. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from virginia is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Wittman i rise in support of this bill which provides our men and women in uniform the compimentquiment and training they need to get their jobs done. I wish to thank my esteemed colleague and Ranking Member from guam, madame bordello, and all the others of the committee. This has three important imperatives. First, it prohibits d. O. D. From conducting another base realignment and closure round at a time when our National Security strategy is in flux, our requirements under certain, and the future unclear. We have asked the military to simultaneously draw down operations in afghanistan, build Partnership Capacity in the asia pacific, and execute operations in iraq. We should not divert their attention away from these Important Missions to pursue illadvised objectives driven by bubts rather than sound strategy. Second, we have increased funding to more than 1 billion to pay for critical operation and maintenance activities, including depot maintenance, ship and aircraft sustainment, and basic and advanced training for our troops. This bill also funds the refueling and overhaul of cvn 73, National Guard Training Center rotations lost due to sequestration. Critly needed upgrades for our training ranges, long overdue military Construction Projects, and delayed facility sustainment and modernization requirements. Finally, this bill funds our nations most pressing missions, including those focused on support of our european allies against increasing russian aggression and fighting isis in iraq and syria. As i close, i wish to join my colleagues in congratulating chairman mckeon for getting this bill across the finish line and for his Exemplary Service to our soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen. Mr. Chairman, everyone acknowledges your formidable record on defense policy and leadership of this committee. I want to recognize another legacy that shouldnt be overlooked. As members of congress, we have no greater responsibility than to be the leading advocate and voice in this chamber for our constituents. Without question, mr. Chairman, you have done your duty for the people of the 25th district. Its an honor to serve with you. I wish you fair winds and following seas and may god bless you and your family and our great nation. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from washington. Mr. Smith i yield two minutes to the Ranking Member of the readiness subcommittee, miss bordello, from guam. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from guam is recognized for two minutes. Ms. Bordallo thank you, mr. Speaker, thank you Ranking Member smith. I rise in full support of f. Y. 15 ndaa. As a Ranking Member of the readiness subcommittee, i appreciate the bill provides our men and women in uniform with the resources they need to remain trained, equipped, and ready to execute the full range of missions and operations that face our modern military. In particular, mr. Speaker, the bill is significant improvement over the house passed measure and restores 818 million in cuts to the baseline operations and maintence in accounts. These funds will ensure that necessary repairs and upgrades to air fuels and other Mission Critical facilities occur. Among many other important provisions, the bill also provides an additional 25 million for two additional combat Training Center rotations for the Army National guard. This bill finally lifts the restrictions on the obligation and expenditure of government of japan direct contributions and u. S. Military Construction Funds that directly support the realignment of a range from okinawa to guam. Finally, mr. Speaker, we can say that the military buildup on guam is back on track. And this critical component of our rebalanced strategy will begin in earnest soon. Over the past year, there has been significant progress on the realignment, including the signing of a landfill permit, the completion of a draft supplemental e. I. S. Document on guam, and the deliver riff a master plan to congress. The actions we take in this bill fulfill the u. S. Congress obligation to keep this progress on track. And more importantly, we finally demonstrate to our allies in japan that we value their leadership and role in moving this realignment forward on their end. I cannot emphasize this enough. This bill moves the military buildup forward and is critical to our overall rebalance to the asia pacific region. And i thank chairman mckeon, Ranking Member smith, our readiness chairman, my chairman, mr. Rob wittman, and all the members of the committee for their support. I thank the committee staff, particularly vicky and brian, for their hard work. And i urge my colleagues to pass this very important bill. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. The gentleman from california is recognized. Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to my friend and colleague, a member of the Armed Services committee and chairman of the oversight and investigation subcommittee, the gentleman from nevada, dr. Heck, general heck. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from nevada is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Heck mr. Speaker, i rise to thank the chairman, the gentleman from california, for his years of service to the nation and this body. Hes a great leader, a great friend, and a great mentor. I wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. He should know he will truly be missed. I also rise to urge my colleagues to support the carl levin and howard buck mckeon National Defense authorization act for fiscal year 2015. Passing this bill is critical to our National Security and for ensuring that our men and women in uniform have the necessary resources to maintain a high state of readiness. There are many important personnel related provisions in this bill, including combating and preventing Sexual Assault in the military, decreasing the suicide rate within our ranks, and finally recognizing the victims of the 2009 fort hood shooting with the purple heart. While i appreciate the continued efforts to prioritize the health and welfare of our Service Members, i do want to express my frustration with the senates insistence on including add mrdyrgs Administration Proposals to increase copays, decrease the housing allowance, and shortchange our troops on their pay increase. Although fiscal realities and constrained resources force us to make difficulty decisions, now is not the time to make changes to personnel compensation and benefits. Last years ndaa congress established the military compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission to evaluate and analyze potential reforms to pay and benefits and report back to congress. The house bill did not include the administrations proposals because we reject pea meal reforms that undermine piecemeal reforms that undermine the work of the commission. Any attempt to change pay in benefits before we receive its report expected in february of next year are premature and illadvised. I aa plaud the chairmans efforts. We cant continue to balance the budget on the backs of Service Members and their families. Passinging the bill is critical to our National Security and providing the authorization is needed for the department of defense to carry out its critical functions. Therefore i intend to support the bill, urge my colleagues to do the same and look forward to addressing the personnel compensation issues in the next ndaa. And i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from washington is recognized. Mr. Smith thank you, mr. Speaker. Im pleased to yield one minute to a member of the committee, mr. Kilmer, from the great state of washington. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from washington is recognized for one minute. Mr. Kilmer thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today in support of the 2015 National Defense authorization act. This bill makes needed investments in our military capability that are critical to the security of our nation and our allies. I would like to specifically thank the chairman and the Ranking Member for their hard work on this bill and specifically for extending the authorization to pay overtime to public shipyard employees working on the Forward Deployed Aircraft Carrier in japan. Not only would this authorization allow the carrier to be maintained and returned to the fleet more quickly, but its also a necessary demonstration of support to our federal workers. Following pay freezes and the Government Shutdowns and sequestrationrelated furloughs, our federal employees have endured enough hardship. Its not fair to ask them to leave their families for months on end to do a job they could do at home. Im grateful that the congress is supporting our federal employees and supporting National Security. So i thank the chairman and the Ranking Member for their support of this provision. I thank them both both for their terrific service to this congress and this country and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from california is recognized. Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to my friend and colleague, the chairman of the house Natural Resources committee, the gentleman from washington, mr. Hastings. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from washington is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Hastings thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, title 30 of ndaa represents a bipartisan agreement on provisions under the jurisdiction of the house Natural Resources committee and the Senate Energy and Natural Resources committee. This agreement represents a balanced approach to public lands management. It will create thousands of new jobs, support energy and mineral projections, transfer land out of federal ownership and protect treasured lands through the establishment of several locally supported parks and wilderness areas. A few highlights of this agreement include opening the worlds Third Largest undeveloped resource in arizona, boosting American Energy production on federal lands by reducing bureaucratic permit processing delays, reducing grazing permit backlogs on federal lands and increasing private funding for of national parks. The agreement designates less than 250,000 ache aers of wilderness, the designations however protect private property and are balanced with Economic Opportunities on other lands. The agreement provides for over 110,000 acres of land to be conveyed out of federal ownership to be utilized for economic and community development. It also releases approximately 26,000 acres of current wilderness study areas. Additionally it provides an unprecedented study of two montana wilderness study areas for oil and gas potential. Tremendous credit goes to mr. Daines of montana for securing the thousands of acres of w. S. A. Release and this new energy study. He has broken important new ground. And it also includes a number of items that are important to my district in the state of washington. Lastly i want to emphasize that all of the bills, includeed bills included in this agreement have undergone public review in the house or the senate. And it includes nearly three dozen housepassed suspension bills that have languished in the senate. Mr. Speaker, i want to take my final time here to thank chairman mckeon and Ranking Member smith and their respective staffs for their work on this. Without that collaboration with my staff, we wouldnt have gotten this done. I too want to add my congratulations to chairman mckeon for his service well deserved to this house and to the country. I yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from washington. Mr. Smith thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, mr. Nadler. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york is ecognized for two minutes. Mr. Nadler i thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, this bill authorizes training and equipping syrians and iraqis to fight isis. And authorizes 63 billion for war fighting. It does all this without a debate or a vote by congress to authorize the use of military force in this conflict. Instead we are still relying on the obsolete 2001 authorization for the use of military force. This is an evasion of congress solemn constitutional responsibility to the American People to decide on a question of war and peace and not to leave that to the president alone. We were told that we would debate these issues after the election. Now once again we side step these questions. In the meantime, the president has begun a Bombing Campaign of syria. I dont recall this congress ever authorizing a Bombing Campaign in syria. Again, these are questions for congress and we must insert our constitutional a power to authorize or reject the use of force in syria after a real debate. I therefore cannot acquiesce by voting for these funds. In addition, this bill continues the shameful prohibition on closing the Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay where transferring inmates to prisons in the United States. It is beyond shameful that we are holding alleged prisoners, some of who are alleged terrorist, alleged terrorists, for 13 years so far without any charges or trial or prospect of trial. This violates every principle of human rights and every principle of american liberty. These prisoners should be charged and tried and convicted or else released. The bill prohibits this elementary justice. Im astonished frankly that i would hear on the floor of the United States congress as i did last time we discussed this someone say that these people might be acquitted if they were tried. Therefore they should be held in jail forever. Because of the evidence maybe the evidence doesnt exist there theyre in fact terrorists and because someone in the government, in the allpowerful, almighty, allknowing bureaucracy says an individual is a terrorist, that person must be held in jail indefinitely, because after all we dont have the proof. That is not america. Mr. Speaker, i urge my colleagues to reject this bill and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from california is recognized. Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i yield one minute to my friend and colleague, a member of the house Armed Services committee, the gentlelady from missouri, mrs. Hartzler. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from missouri is recognized for one minute. Mrs. Hartzler thank you, mr. Chairman. I rise in support of the fiscal year ndaa and i want to thank chairman mckeon and Ranking Member smith for bringing this important bill to the floor. I am pleased that congress came together in a bicameral, bipartisan effort to pass this critical bill for the 53rd Consecutive Year. This legislation gives our brave troops the resources needed to combat the National Security threats we face as a nation. This bill works to provide the necessary tools to our troops, even though we face a scarsity scarcity of funds under sequestration. Im happy that we were able to keep the apaches with the National Guard and secure additional funding for the e. A. 18 growlers. Im particularly pleased that the a10 will be spared from retirement. The men and women defending our National Security deserve the nations best Close Air Support aircraft and the a10 is simply unmatched in this category. This bill is a fitting tribute to chairman mckeon as his final act leading the house arm aed Services Committee. Hes been Armed Services committee. Hes been a tireless advocate for our National Defense and our men and women in military and im honored to have served with him. Thank you, mr. Chairman, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. The gentleman from washington. Mr. Smith thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield two minutes to my Ranking Member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, mr. Engel from new york. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Engel thank you very much, mr. Speaker. I want to thank my friend from washington for yielding time to me. And i rise in support of the National Defense authorization act for fiscal year 2015. As the Ranking Member on the Foreign Affairs committee id like to thank chairman mckeon and Ranking Member smith for working with chairman royce and me in a productive manner on many of the International Provisions contained in title 12 of this legislation. The state department and other civilian Foreign Affairs agencies work side by side with the u. S. Military in protecting the National Security of the United States and it is very important that our two committees do the same. Mr. Chairman, mr. Speaker, this ndaa underscores the complex challenges and dangers we confront around the world in the middle east, south asia, europe, africa and east asia. There are many important provisions in this bill but id like to take a moment to highlight section 1209 which would reauthorize the pentagons train and equip program for the moderate vetted syrian opposition. For far too long the modern opposition in syrias been waiting for our support. They are now fighting a threefront war against the assad regime, isis and the al qaedabacked front. To defeat isis and create conditions necessary for political transition in syria, we need the moderate opposition to serve as boots on the ground in syria. The Free Syria Army is far from perfect but theyre the best weve got. And we need to get the train and equip program ramped up as soon as possible. Mr. Speaker, id also like to express my support for section 1264 of the legislation which removes the two main Political Parties in iraqi curd stan from a terrorist list kurd stan from the terrorist list curd istan from the terrorist list. Recent and ongoing conflicts in syria, iraq, afghanistan, mali and other countries have damaged and destroyed countless archeological sites and historic artifacts that constitute the Cultural Heritage of man kind. My amendment would simply require the Defense Department to report on their efforts to help protect Cultural Property in areas of armed conflict. Mr. Speaker, i urge my colleagues to support the legislation, i thank mr. Smith and i thank mr. Mckeon and let me just wish mr. Mckeon god speed. Hes been a great member and a good friend and i wish him the best in the future. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from california is recognized. Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i yield one minute to my friend and colleague, a member of the armed house Armed Services committee, the gentleman from alabama, mr. Burn. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from alabama is recognized for one minute. Mr. Bryne i appreciate the chairman for yielding. There is no greater responsibility of the federal government than to provide for our National Defense. This bill does that. I am particularly pleased this bill appropriately provides for our nations navy. Including full funding for three combat ships which is consistent with the navys request. I truly believe the l. C. S. Is a critical component of the future fleet. I also want to join my colleagues in thanking chairman mckeon for his dedicated service to our men and women in uniform and for your great leadership on the committee. Were losing a true advocate for a strong National Defense and i want you to know that your leadership will be sorely missed. But the rest of us that will remain will do all we can to carry on in your tradition tradition. I want to urge my colleagues to continue a long tradition of bipartisan support for the ndaa and i encourage a yes vote on this critical piece of legislation and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from washington is recognized. Mr. Smith thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield one minute to the gentlelady from california, ms. Lee. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman from california is recognized for one minute. Ms. Lee thank you. I want to thank the gentleman for your leadership and for yielding. Mr. Speaker, i rise in opposition to h. R. 3979, the National Defense authorization act. Congress is considering extending the authority to train and equip syrian rebels, despite the fact that we have not yet had a debate and a vote on an authorization for the use of military force against isis. In other words, were digging ourselves deeper into an unauthorized war. Congress is once again rushing into another war and allowing the executive to rely on the blank check of 2001. Thats why i voted against the 2001 authorization for the use of military force which was for perpetual war. I have consistently called for its repeal and for the repeal of the 2002 aumf against iraq. All of us agree that isis is a global threat and must be addressed. But that does not mean that we replace one blank check with another. The American People deserve to know the costs and consequences of engaging in another longterm war in the middle east. Thats why i have called and will continue to call for congress to live up to its constitutional responsibility and have a full debate on an authorization for any use of military force in iraq or syria. The American People want us to do our job. Unfortunately once again congress is getting us off of the hook. This bill expands our involvement in an unauthorized war. I urge a no vodote a no vote. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewomans time has expired. The gentleman from california is recognized. Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from South Carolina, mr. Sanford. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from South Carolina is recognized for one minute. Mr. Sanford thank you, sir. I thank the chairman. In se to reluctantly reluctant opposition to this bill. This is a great bill that has important forums in projecting force around the world in sustaining troop levels and in ultimately defending our country. But i do believe, as just mentioned by the last speaker, that theres still a glaring problem in that it continues this process of ceding power and authority from the legislative branch over to the executive branch. Which means for me, as good as this bill is, and i think its a great bill, there is still this larger constitutional question about the balance of power in our system of government at the federal level. I mean, for me what i would say is, i dont know how we condemn the president for taking unilateral action with with regard to with regard to immigration, and yet endorse a bill that authorizes and offers funds for his ability to take unilateral action with regard to war in the middle east. As has already been noted, hes burned through the 60 days of the war powers act. This is no declaration of war and there is no the speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Sanford i thank the chairman. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from washington is recognized. Mr. Smith i reserve at this time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from california is recognized. Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i yield two minutes to my friend and colleague, a member of the Armed Services committee and chairman of the Strategic Forces subcommittee, the gentleman from alabama, mr. Rogers. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from alabama is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Rogers thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise in support of f. Y. 2015 ndaa and urge all of my colleagues to do the same. I want to say congratulations to chairman buck mckeon on delivered the 53rd consecutive ndaa to our men and women and this institution. This institution would be much worse off for you not having been here. Were much more thankful you have been here and well be much worse off when you leave. We thank you for your service to our country and to this institution. This is replete with important policies that have been clear and undeniable in their impact on the security of the American People. It funds the development of a new rocket engine to be available by 2019, which will allow us to responsibly break our dependency on the russian engines. It reduces red tape and bureaucracy at the National Nuclear security administration, which is a Critical Organization with men and women who do important work to provide American People with the only true security guarantee, its nuclear deterrent. It introduces commonsense reforms using publicprivate partnerships to procure commercial Satellite Services for the military in a more cost efficient manner. It funds critical Missile Defense cooperation with israel and includes continued direction of coproduction of these capabilities with the United States with its American Workers. It ensures that the government does not overlook the cheating, as in case of the i. N. F. Treaty, and it will not continue to cave on russian demands that poses a direct threat to our National Security. I yield the balance of my time and urge my colleagues to support this very important piece of legislation. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from washington. Mr. Smith i continue to reserve. We have no further speakers at this time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from washington reserves his time. The gentleman from california. Mr. Mckeon might i inquire as to the time remaining . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from california has 10 minutes. The gentleman from washington as 11 1 2 minutes. Mr. Mckeon im prepared to close. Mr. Smith i shall close. We had other speakers that had not come down. Mr. Mckeon we reserve. Mr. Smith i yield myself the balance of our time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Smith i want to thank the people who pulled this bill together. The staffs both the house and the senate side do season amazing job that people dont side do an amazing job that people dont realize. The fact that Senate Either doesnt pass a bill or wait until the absolute last minute to pass a bill, so then we have to work through the committee process. So its been fits back and forth. And the committee has done a fabulous job. This is a very lengthy, very complicated piece of legislation. Without the expertise of our staff, there is no way on earth we would be able to accomplish it. I also want to point out again how important this piece of legislation is. This is the 53rd Consecutive Year that we passed an authorizing bill. I think that recognizes how important National Security is and how it is one of the central duties of the United States congress to make sure every year we give the authorities to our men and women who are serving in our in the armed forces, to do the jobs that we ask them to do. So i thank our staff for that. Really want to recognize their leadership. I also want to particularly recognize the leadership of chairman mckeon. This is his last time as chairman and as a member of congress. Our committee has tried to have two basic core principles. One, we get our bill done. Two, we work in a bipartisan fashion. And when you look around this body today, you have a greater appreciation for how difficult those two things are. We are not naturally bipartisan, and we are not naturally inclined to pass legislation because there is always something about any piece of legislation that somebody would prefer to be just a little bit different. And then thats not any less true in our bill, but we recognized the necessity of getting it done. And the ability to do those two things starts with the chair of the committee. When i arrived here, floyd spence was the chairman of the committee, and he and everyone right up through ike skelton who was mr. Mckeons predecessor, had made it a priority to, number one, work with the other side. Buck, from the very moment he was elected and the moment i was elected as ranking, reached out to me and made sure that bipartisanship started at the top and flowed down throughout the entire committee. The second piece of it is, the absolute commitment to getting the bill done no matter what. Again, chairman mckeon has just been outstanding in that regard. Its been a tough, tough four years. Many challenges have cropped up but we have met every one of them and been able to get the bill done. I thank him for his leadership. I also want to thank chairman levin on the senate side. Hes retiring. Last year as chairman. He showed a similar commitment and he had an even more difficult time over there. He and senator inhofe were having a conversation couple days ago as we were trying to figure out how to do this which they were trying to explain to us the senate rules. Look, im never going to understand them. Dont explain them. Nothing i can do about it. Thats up to you. So senator levin has shown outstanding leadership as well. On the whole, i think this is a very good piece of legislation. We have to remember that we fwace a wide variety of National Face a wide variety of National Security threats at this point. We still have troops in afghanistan. We now again have troops in iraq. We have north korea, which is very unpredictable. We have the challenge of dealing with iran and all of its levels. We have russia and Vladimir Putin that are messing around in the ukraine in a variety different other areas. This is probably as dangerous a time that we had since the end of the cold war. Our National Security strategy, the funding and the decisions we make could not possibly be more important. At the same time, we have a huge budget challenge. We have sequestration, and we have this rampant desire to cut, cut, cut, cut everything from government, not contemplate any new revenue, not contemplate of any possibility of spending more money, interNational Security strategy has to try to wrestle with that so that makes it very, very difficult. I will say again what i think is going to be most important in the next few years, i dont think sequestration is going away. Im going to continue to argue that it should. But given the majorities in the house and given the last house and senate, given the last election, its unlikely to go away which means the military is going to have to live with a dramatically lower amount of money than they thought they were going to have. And theyre also going to have to live with all those National Security challenges that i mentioned and undoubtedly a few that i didnt. So how do we do that . Right now unfortunately congress is doing it the old way which is parochial. We all have an interest. We dont want our base closed. We have an airplane or a ship thats stationed in our district or a particular defense contractor thats invested in a particular piece of equipment so whenever the pentagon comes up and says we need to cut this, you have a predictable group of people who will rally and say heres why we shouldnt and by and large the rest of congress has gone along with that group of people. Im here to tell you thats just not going to continue to work. Its not. The very small, minor personnel cuts that are in this bill are things that none of us would have liked to do. Wed love to have more money but we dont. On the a10, on the retirement of the cruisers and the amphid vehicles not the retirement but refurbishment. On the change of the gud and reserve that have been proposed, i mean, all of these are things we prefer not to do but we have the money that we have. Until this congress decides to change that and provide more, it is the absolute worse thing we can do to reject every single change. I mean, weve had things as minor as, you know, a guard unit wanting to move five c130s from a base in one state to a base in another and proposals in our bill to disallow them from doing that. Because, you know, the people in that state dont want them to be moved and i understand that, but that is not a sustainable Defense Strategy in this environment. We are going to have to make some difficult choices that we dont want to make if were going to properly protect our military because, again, what happens and we dont make those choices, money doesnt magically appear to pay for these things. The pentagon has to reshuffle the deck and make cuts elsewhere to try to figure out how to make it work and the cuts always come from readiness. Weve always said, you know, that the worse thing that we can do is create a hallow force, a force that does not have the training and the equipment to do the missions that we asked them to do. Well, that is precisely what we do when we reject reasonable cuts, we dont do a brac, for instance, and leave the military with no choice but to reduce training and equipping because thats all thats left. Thats the last thing on the table. So i hope we start making those tough decisions in the coming year. Again, i thank the chairman and thank the staff. I wish senator levin the best in his retirement as well. I urge passage of the bill. With that i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from california is recognized. Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i yield myself the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Mckeon i would at the outset like to thank mr. Smith. I agree with probably about everything he said. He has been a tremendous partner to work with and, you know, he just had hip surgery a few weeks ago and these last few weeks when all these meetings and all the time and all the effort hes had to put forth in great pain, i really commend you for your integrity, for your steadfastness in your commitment to serving your district, the members of our Armed Services and this nation. Its been great experience working with you, and ive enjoyed just about every minute of it. There are times when we disagreed, but weve really done that at a high level and tried to keep it always on the issue, never personal. Its been great. I want to join him in thanking our staff. We get all the credit, they do all the work. Both sides of the aisle. I frankly, most of the staff i dont know if theyre on the minority or the majority side because they work so closely together and we thats just the culture of the committee and im sure it will continue. As youve heard through other debate, this legislation addresses a wide variety of policy issues, including supporting operations in afghanistan, funding the war against isil in iraq and syria, reinforcing our capabilities in the pacific and maintaining the Nations Nuclear deterrent, but many challenges remain. Next year the Armed Services committee will be in excellent hands. Mr. Thornberry and i have sat next to each other now for 20 years on the committee. He will be the chairman next year. Mr. Smith will continue to be the Ranking Member. They will have their work cut out for them, but theyre more than up to the task and i wish them all the best because our security of our nation lies in their hands along with all of the members of the committee and all of the members of this body. I hope sometime next year a compromise can come to the floor that will end sequestration. There isnt a magical solution that republicans can support and the president can sign without sacrifice on both sides. When that solution comes, it will be a tough vote on both sides. I pray that our colleagues will hold this one thought in their heart when that vote comes remember the great sacrifice that our troops and their families and loved ones at home are making around the world. Right now theyre walking in the mountains of afghanistan, theyre at sea within missile range of iran, theyre flying wing tip to wing tip against russia against russian bombers over the north sea, theyre nose to nose with the north koreans, theyre sweating in the he can with a torial equitorial heat of africa, theyre standing in the sands of iraq against a brutal enemy. They take those risks. They make those sacrifices because of you. Me do it for they do it for you. They do it for us, for their families, for their flag, for our freedom. And how have we repaid them . With equipment thats falling apart, by laying them off while theyre off in war zones, by docking their pay and their medical benefits, by throwing them out of the service and onto a broken economy. I met our forces on the battlefields of iraq and afghanistan dirty and sweating from fighting. Ive watched too many families, as have all of you, spend long months waiting for those returning from deployment. Ive seen too many heroes put into the ground. They never failed us, not once. So shame on us if were unwilling to pay back what we owe them. Shame on all of us, from the white house down, if we cannot make far less sacrifices than we ask of them on their behalf. My road in congress is coming to an end. It will be in the next congress and the president to make these injustices right. So please show our troops the respect they deserve. Give them the tools they need, help keep them safe. Honor their sacrifice with your service. I know that youll do the right thing. Im in the twilight of a 22year career here in congress. Its been mentioned that we passed this bill 53 times. I want to tell you, i was not here for all 53 of those. Nor was adam. Hes much younger than i am. You might think that ive been here 53. But its been the history of the committee to get this done every year because it is so important. Ive come to know many of you as friends and many of you as family. Arm aed Services Committee staff, once again, thats minority and majority, youre all veterans, youre professionals, youre tireless. But i just think of you as the best. Oh, boy. Taff i did not want to do this. I did not want to give this speech. Not because i have any regrets, i just have this problem, you know, thankfully the speaker has it a lot worse than i do and he gets all the attention. But i have the same problem. You know, we hear a lot about government workers and we spend money on government workers and they dont do anything. I just want to tell people of america that all of these people that work here spend countless hours and they do so much for so many people. I have some constituent workers at home that have helped thousands of people. And every one of these overnment workers here deserve our gratitude, our thanks for all that they do. I want to thank all my colleagues for their many wonderful things theyve said. I made a comment the other day that my funeral is going to be somewhat anticlimactic. Ive heard speeches saying what a wonderful person i am. Fortunately im old enough that i dont take any of that personally or too seriously. This is a d that responsibility that was given to me by colleagues. Ive enjoyed it. Its been a great experience. But i know its not about me. Its about what we do here. My my family. People say, boy, we love your christmas card. We have six children. 0 grandchildren 30 grandchildren. And now one greatgrandchild. And they are all great. And im going to spend a little bit more time with them. I think id like to teach some of my grandchildren how to fish , if somebody will teach me how to fish. And my wife has stood by my shes r 52 years now and shes a tremendous person ho i look up to so much. Now, im a mckeon, so that means im of irish heritage. O id like to part with an irish blessing for all of you. May the road rise up to meet you and the wind be ever at your back. May the sunshine upon your face and the rain fall softly on your fields. And until we meet again, may god hold you in the hollow of his hand. To this great body and to our troops, wherever you may be, may god bless you and keep you, may god bless america. And now for hopefully the last time, mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. All time for debate has expired. Pursuant to House Resolution previous question is ordered. The question is on the motion from the gentleman from california, mr. Mckeon. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The motion is agreed to. And, without objection, the motion to reconsider for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise . Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i demand the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. All those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Pursuant to the order of the house of today, proceedings on this question will be postponed. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 770, i call up h. R. 5759, to prohibit certain actions with respect to deferred action for aliens not lawfully present in the United States. And for other purposes. And ask for its immediate consideration. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk h. R. 5759, a bill to establish a rule of construction clarifying the limitations on executive authority to provide certain forms of immigration relief. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to House Resolution 770, the amendment in the nature of a substitute printed in part b of house report 113 646 shall be considered as adopted and the bill as amended shall be considered as read. The gentleman from virginia, mr. Goodlatte, and the gentleman from michigan, mr. Conyers, will each control 30 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on h. R. 5759. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, i recognize myself for such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he may consume. Mr. Goodlatte thank you, mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to support mr. Yohos important bill, the preventing executive overreach on immigration act of 2014. President obama has Just Announced one of the biggest constitutional power grabs ever by a president. He has declared unilaterally that by his own estimation more than four million unlawful immigrants will be free from the legal consequences of their lawless actions. Not only that, he will in addition bestow upon them gifts such as Work Authorization and other immigration benefits. This, despite the fact that president obama has stated over 20 times in the past that he does not have the constitutional power to take such steps on his own and has repeatedly stated that, quote, i am not a king, end quote. Pursuant to article 1, section 8 of the constitution, only congress has the power to write Immigration Laws. Our Founding Fathers established this separation of powers to prevent tyranny. As James Madison wrote, no political truth is greater is certainly of greater Intrinsic Value or is stamped with the authority of more enlightened patrons of liberty than that the accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and a judiciary a, in the same hand, whether of one, few or many, and whether her edtary, selfappointed or elected, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. Yet president obama is in effect rewriting our Immigration Laws by granting deferred action to more than four million unlawful aliens. Pursuant to article 2, section 3 of the constitution, the president is required to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Yet president obama is refusing to enforce our Immigration Laws for these millions of unlawful alienle aliens. President obama justifies his actions by claiming that his administration is merely exercising the power of prosecutorial discretion. Yet as Clinton Administration i. N. S. Commissioner told her agency, exercising prosecutorial discretion does not lessen the i. N. S. s commitment to enforce the Immigration Laws to the best of our ability. While previous president s have provided immigration relief to groups of aliens, usually their actions were based on emergencies in foreign countries. Thereby relying upon the broad constitutional power given to a president to conduct Foreign Affairs. Without any such foreign crisis and in granting deferred action to a totally unprecedented number of aliens, president obama has clearly exceeded his Constitutional Authority. I commend mr. Yoho for introducing his bill which undoes the damage to our constitutional system that president obamas action as are causing. The bill reaffirms the constitutional principles that only congress has the power to write Immigration Laws and that the president must enforce those lalls. Mr. Yohos bill preventing president obama or any future president from exempting or deferring the removal of categories of unlawful aliens except to the extent that the president is relying on his constitutional powers over Foreign Affairs or utilizing exceptions provided for in the bill for exceptional humanitarian and Law Enforcement circumstances. The bill prevents president obama or any future president from considering such aliens to be lawfully present in the United States and thus ineligible for the rights and privileges available to lawfully present aliens. It prevents president obama or any future president from granting Work Authorization to such aliens. Finally, the bill takes effect as if enact aed on november 20, enact aed on november 20, enacted on november 20, 2014. I again urge my colleagues to vote for this necessary bill and reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The chair will receive a message. The secretary the senate has passed s. 229, cited as the Corporal Michael j. Clems act of 2014 in which the concurrence of the house is requested. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from michigan. Mr. Conyers i ask unanimous consent to yield myself as much time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from michigan is recognized for as much time as he may consume. Mr. Conyers thank you. Members of the house, in one week this 113th congress will expire without having considered a single piece of legislation to fix our nations broken immigration system. Its been 525 days since the Senate Passed bipartisan comprehensive Immigration Reform legislation that would have made meaningful and long overdue reforms, but our chamber here has still steadfastly refused to allow an up or down vote on that measure. No one questions that our immigration system is broken. Its failing our economy and millions of families and our businesses and yet rather than deal with these Critical Issues we are here today to vote on yet another symbolic antiimmigrant measure that has absolutely no chance of consideration in the senate. I want to be clear. Politically motivated, hastily drafted, an attempt, once again, to attack our president as well as immigrant families who contribute to our communities and our economy. By blocking the protections offered by the president s actions, the legislation would deprive nearly five Million Immigrants and their families of the hope that they might finally live without constant fear of separation and deportation and it would undermine the administrations efforts to devote greater resources towards securing our borders and deporting felons and not families. And this would mean millions of undocumented immigrants, not to e asked to pass National Security and criminal background checks and pay their fair share of taxes in order to register for temporary protection from deportation. 579 5759, the president s executive order is recognized by both liberal and conservative legal experts, and in a letter written last month, 11 prominent scholars explained that the president s actions are within the power of the executive branch and that they represent a lawful exercise of a president s authority. And this letter was signed i was amazed at the list of constitutional authorities. Strouse llinger, david david strauss, formerly in the solicitor generals office, laurence tribe, and even conservative professors like eric posner. And 135 Immigration Law professors echoed that and provided constitutional, statutory and Regulatory Authority for these actions. Not to mention that the president himself was a professor of constitutional law. Nd finally, this measure, h. R. 5759, goes well beyond preventing the president from expanding deferred action expanding deferred action for childhood arrivals or creating a program to protect the parents of u. S. Citizens and lawful permanent residents from deportation. It would not only prevent this president but any future president from protecting discreet categories of individuals facing unique dangers and challenges. This means that no future administration would be able to parole in place the undocumented parents or spouses and children of military personnel and veterans or facilitate enlistment in our Armed Services by american citizens who have undocumented family members or grant deferred action to victims of crime or serious forms of Human Trafficking. For these and other reasons, this legislation is opposed by Many Organizations that care about our immigration system and are working to protect the vulnerable among us, including the United States conference of catholic bishops, the aflcio, the Service Workers international union, the National Task force to end sexual and Domestic Violence against women. Lets think this through carefully, and i urge you to oppose this very dangerous antiimmigrant measure. Mr. Speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from michigan reserves. The gentleman from virginia. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, i yield myself 30 seconds. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. Mr. Goodlatte to clarify a couple things. First of all, its not true that house of representatives has not acted to fix our broken immigration system. First of all, last summer we passed two bills, one from the Appropriations Committee and e the jurisdiction of the Judiciary Committee, that did just that, to provide resources to secure our borders to stop the surge Illegal Immigrants coming into our country and to make sure that similarly unconstitutional daca program that the president implemented earlier was frozen and could not proceed further. So to me thats simply not true. Second, to say that president s going to require people who the speaker pro tempore the time of the gentleman has expired. Mr. Goodlatte i yield myself an additional 15 seconds to say that fact of the matter is that en you talk about taxes, theres no requirement in the president s executive order that anyone who qualifies as an unlawful alien to get this administrative legalization to pay back taxes. Theres none. They pay taxes moving forward. One of the benefits they qualify for the earned income tax credit. This could cost the taxpayers more. The speaker pro tempore the time of the gentleman has expired. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, i now yield five minutes to the chief sponsor of the legislation, the gentleman from florida, mr. Yoho. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from florida is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Yoho thank you, mr. Speaker. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I appreciate the work that youve done on this, and i appreciate the attention that this has brought. Theres a lot of consternation about this bill. I stand here today obviously in support of my bill, h. R. 5759, preventing the executive overreach on immigration act of 2014. Its a simple bill. Its four pages. But yet its caused a lot of debate. It just simply says that the it states that the president , mr. Obama, does not have the Constitutional Authority to grant amnesty by issuing work visas to five Million People here illegally. Ive got a list of scholars, claim at back up the this bill is not unconstitutional. This does not talk about deporting it will deport nine Million People. It doesnt talk about that. It doesnt talk about granting amnesty. It just stops an unconstitutional action by our president who has taken an oath to defend, protect the constitution of the United States, just like the rest of us in this body has. To vote no against this bill is to vote no against the constitution. Harry reid has already said he will not bring up this bill for a vote. The president says he will veto this if it makes it to his desk. My question is, to not bring up this bill or to not sign it, is that not a vote against our constitution . It is important that we address the true debate here, and that is the separation of powers. This bills not about Border Security, work visas, everify or Immigration Reform. This is about the administrative overstepping its bounds and unilaterally challenging the laws of this great nation of ours. Article 2, section 3 of our constitution makes very clear that the duty of the president is to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Despite this straightforward charge, the administration is refusing to enforce our existing Immigration Laws for millions of unlawful aliens. Article 1, section 8 of the constitution clearly states, only congress has the power to write Immigration Laws, and our Founding Fathers established this separation of powers to prevent an overreaching executive. Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court found in galvin vs. Perez that the formulation of policies pertaining to the entry of aliens and their right to remain here is entrusted exclusively to congress and it has become about as firmly embedded in the legislative and judicial tissues of our body of politics as any aspect of our government. Preserving article 1, the legislative powers, this is not a partisan issue. Its not republican or democrat. Its allowing executive action like this to slide simply because we are frustrated with a system establishing and it establishes a dangerous precedent that could be abused by president s of both parties for any area of law they disagree with. Id like to point out to my colleagues on the other side that if we continue to surrender from this body, our legislative powers to the executive branch, then we could easily be standing here in two, five or 10 years discussing a republican president who refuses to enforce the employer mandate of the Affordable Care act or uphold portions of the Voting Rights act and it could go on and on and it could open up a dangerous precedent. Just because one disagrees with the outcome, doesnt mean they need to violate. The congress has the power to create and write laws and the president has the duty to faithfully execute those laws, not to pick and choose, like he does or doesnt like them and thats according to, again, article 2, section 3. I ask members to support h. R. 5759, restore constitutional powers to congress and stand on the side of the constitution to protect this great nation of ours. Thank you, mr. Speaker. And i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back his time. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Conyers mr. Speaker, i yield myself 10 seconds. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for 10 seconds. Mr. Conyers br before calling on our mr. Conyers before calling on our distinguished colleague from california. I want everyone, particularly the author of this bill, to know as the Senior Member of the house Judiciary Committee, i firmly believe and support the constitution, the amendments and the precedence. Im now pleased to yield to a Senior Member of judiciary whos worked on this issue for a number of years, the gentlelady from california, ms. Lofgren, for four minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from california is recognized for four minutes. Ms. Lofgren mr. Speaker, the Legal Authority for the president S Immigration actions derives in part from his constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. In heckler v. Cheney, the Supreme Court explained this duty does not require the president to act against every technical violation of the law. The court said, quote, an agencys decision not to prosecute or enforce, whether through civil or criminal process, is a decision generally committed to the agencys absolute discretion. Two years ago, the Supreme Court in arizona vs. The United States, struck down most of arizonas sb1070 law. The court said then the broad discretion exercised by federal immigration officials extends to and heres a quote whether it makes sense to pursue removal at all. The arizona courts said discretion in the enforcement of Immigration Law embraces immediate human concerns and can turn on factors including whether the alien has children born in the United States, long ties to the community or a record of distinguished military service. When we created the department of Homeland Security in 2002, we charged the secretary with the duty to establish National Immigration enforcement policies and priorities. Thats 6 u. S. Code 202. Congress delegated that authority to the executive branch and they are now using this authority. We enacted a law that permits the issuance of employment authorization. They are now implementing that part of the law. This bill would block some portions of the president s recent action to keep young people from facing deportation and to prevent parents of u. S. Citizen kids from being deported, but the bill harms others too. Immigrant victims of Domestic Violence who seek a green card through the violence against women act are not protected from deportation while they wait for a visa. With this bill they would face deportation. Victims of serious crimes approved for uvisas get deferred action while they wait is insufficient because victims may assist Law Enforcement without appearing at trial. Victims of severe forms of Human Trafficking eligible for statutorily cantee visas could face deportation. The bill would end the ability to parole in place the undocumented families of American Military personnel and veterans. Deporting the mothers of american soldiers could be the result. There are precedents for the president s actions. Prior president s were not met with such instructionism. President Ronald Reagan created the Family Fairness Program. Once expanded by president george h. W. Bush, that program is expected to protect 1. 5 Million People. The reason was to keep families together. One of the key motivations for the president s actions last month. Some wrongly claim the reagan program was to carry out congressional intent in the 6 1986 act, that is false. When the Senate Judiciary committee reported the bill, they said, quote, it is the intent of the committee that the families of legalized aliens will obtain no special petitioning right by virtue of the legalization. They will be required to wait in line in the same manner as immediate family members of other new resident aliens. But president reagan decided otherwise. Some wrongly argue the scope of the reagan Family Fairness Program was smaller, that it was not intended to provide relief to 1. 5 Million People, about 40 of the undocumented population at time. Again, that is false. The i. N. S. Commissioner then testified before congress that it covered 1. 5 Million People. An internal decision memo at the time states, family policies provide voluntary departure and employment authorization to potentially millions of individuals. The draft processing plan at the time said current estimates are that greater than one million eligible family members will file for this benefit. Many m. E. P. Members on the other side many members op the other side of the aisle want to prevent the president s actions from going into effect. But the president has strong constitutional and Statutory Authority to take these actions. I would ask an additional 20 seconds. Mr. Conyers id like to grant her an additional half minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for 30 seconds. Ms. Lofgren he cannot change the law and he has not done. So he has the authority to grant temporary relief to some. We need broad reform and to do that we need to legislation. Its shameful that the house has failed in its duty to legislate, to fix our broken immigration system. The Judiciary Committee has reported out four bills. Weve yet to see them on the floor and i would ask unanimous consent to put in the record the testimony by the commissioner before the Judiciary Committee in 1990, the draft processing plan from 1990, and the decision memo from 1990 that prove the elements of the reagan fairness plan. The speaker pro tempore without objection, that will be part of the record. Ms. Lofgren i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. The gentleman from virginia. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, i yield myself 30 seconds. To point out that the Supreme Court decision in heckler vs. Cheney in no way in no way justifies the claim that the president of the United States has this authority to issue this enormous order. I quote from the decision. Nor do we have a situation where it could justifiably be found that the agency a has consciously and expressly adopted a general policy that is so extreme as to amount to an abdication of its statutory responsibilities. Thats whats happened here. The president has abdicated his statutory responsibilities in enforcing the law and changed the law and thats why it cannot be upheld. The chair now is pleased to recognize the gentleman from missouri, mr. Smith, a member of the Judiciary Committee, for two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from missouri is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Smith thank you, mr. Speaker. Thank you, mr. Chairman, for bringing this legislation to the floor. Mr. Speaker, president obama just last week made the action and said, i quote, change the law, closed quote, on immigration granting amnesty to millions of illegal aliens. The president should not be allowed to do this. In fact, article 2, section 3, of the constitution requires the president to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. On march 2, 2011, 28, 2011, president obama said he would not use an executive order for amnesty. Explaining that, and again i quote, temporary protective status historically has been used for special circumstances, closed quote. Those are his words. More than 20 times the president said, executive action on immigration would not be appropriate. Nothing has changed in our constitution but now the administration is now singing a different tune. Mr. Speaker, im from the showme state. I would love for any of my colleagues in this body to show me in this document the constitution of the United States where it grants the president the authority to change the laws. Article 1 of the constitution says, congress will change the laws. Not the president. The president will execute the laws. Faithfully execute the laws. Mr. Speaker, i proudly support this legislation and i ask all my colleagues to do so to stop this action. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Conyers mr. Speaker, im ms. Pelosi, eld to our leader, for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from california, the minority leader, is recognized for one minute. Ms. Pelosi thank you very much, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I commend him for his leadership as chairman and now Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee. And his important work for comprehensive Immigration Reform. I also salute the Ranking Member of the subcommittee on immigration, congresswoman lofgren of california, who has not only chaired the immigration committee, she has taught Immigration Law. She has been an Immigration Lawyer. She represents a very diverse district in california blessed with strong immigrant population. Mr. Speaker, more than 520 days ago the Senate Passed bold bipartisan comprehensive Immigration Reform by an overwhelming majority, it was bipartisan, it was overwhelming, 520 days ago. More than that. Time and again the Republican Leadership in the house has promised productive action to fix our clearly broken immigration system. Yet time and again republicans have refused to give the American People a vote on this critical issue. They have ignored Law Enforcement, the badges, faith leaders, the bibles, and business groups, the three bs, denied our countries billions of dollars in economic benefits and 1 trillion in deficit reduction. Turned their backs on millions of hardworking immigrant families forced to live in daily dread of separation and deportation. In the face of republicans failure to act, president obama has used his wellestablished legal and Constitutional Authority to bring our immigration system back into line with our needs as a nation and our values as a people. The president s executive actions will restore accountability to our immigration enforcement, securing our borders, deporting felons, not families, requiring undocumented immigrants to pass a criminal background check and pay taxes. President s have had Broad Authority to defer removal when it is in the National Interest and past president s have regularly used this authority. President Ronald Reagan understood that immigration was a constant reinvigration of our nation. S a new president in 1981, president reagan said, our nation is a nation of immigrants. More than any other country our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome those from other lands. In the lead up to the immigration control and reform act, president reagan again called out our nation to action when he said, were also going to have compassion and legalize those who came here some time ago and have legitimately put roots down and are living as legal residents of our country. Even though illegal. Were going to make them legal. In a signing statement of the immigration control and a reform act, president reagan said, we have consistently supported a Legalization Program which is both generous to the alien and fair to the countless thousands of people throughout the world who seek legally to come to america. He went on to say, the legalization provisions in this act will go far to improve the lives of a class of individuals who now must hide in the shadows without access to many of the benefits of a free and open society. Does that sound familiar . He went on to say, very soon many of these men and women will be able to step into the sunlight and ultimately if they choose they may become americans. In the years immediately following the enactment of the 1986 Immigration Reform and control act, president reagan and president george h. W. Bush took both actions to protect the spouses of children and children of people who received status under the law. Although congress in that immigration bill explicitly chose not to grant status to these people. President s reagan and bush recognized that it was not in the National Interest to separate families. Using their authority to establish a Family Fairness Program by executive action. They offered spouses and children indefinite protection from deportation and Work Authorization gave them Work Authorization. Every president since president Dwight David Eisenhower has used this same Broad Authority. Republicans and democrats alike fpblgt dating back more man alike. Dating back more than 50 years, president s have granted extended voluntary departure to nationals of more than a dozen countries, including cuba, vietnam, laos, cambodia, chile, poland, afghanistan, ethiopia and uganda. President bush granted deferred enforcement departure to chinese nationals after the Tiananmen Square massacre, even though he vetoed a similar bill passed by congress. I remember that well, it was my bill. He vetoed the bill because he didnt want to sign the bill and then he issued the executive order, doing exactly what the bill would do. Several years later he granted e same status to 200,000 salvadorans. Thanks to president obamaS Immigration accountability executive actions in the same vain, millions of hardworking, lawabiding families will be able to celebrate the holidays with a renewed hope in the future. In response to this president ial action of common sense and compassion, republicans are asking today on this floor a radical bill of appalling callousness and cruelty. With this bill republicans are demanding that we deport hundreds of thousands of young dreamers who know no country but the United States. With this bill, republicans would tear apart millions of thousands throw upon thousands of American Children into foster care with this bill republicans would deport the family members of our heroes in uniform serving oversales. Deny release and respite to victims of Human Trafficking and Domestic Violence, reject the values that are the at the heart of our heritage and our history. This legalization excuse me, this legislation is unworthy of our nation. Dont take it from me. That is why this bill is opposed by groups including the United States catholic conference of bishops who wrote, instead of traumatizing these children and young adults, the future leaders of our country, we should invest in them by ensuring that their families remain in tact. Mr. Speaker, i hope our colleagues will take the advice of the catholic conference of bishops and vote against this legislation. Democrats in the house will continue to demand comprehensive Immigration Reform that honors our heritage, giving certainty to families, fueling innovation, creating jobs and reducing the deficit. We know that the president s steps cannot be a substitute for legislation. They must be a sum ons to action. Summons to action. Here in congress and across the country, we will keep up the drum beat for progress, of advancing comprehensive Immigration Reform. We will do so, heeding the advice of president george w. Bush who told us, as we dealt with this issue, to treat the people who are affected by it with respect. Republicans should reject this coldhearted bill and give the American People a vote on Immigration Reform that they deserve. With that, mr. Speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. The gentleman from virginia. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, its my pleasure to yield three minutes to the gentleman from louisiana, the majority whip, mr. Scalise. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from louisiana is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Scalise thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman from virginia for yielding, for his leadership on immigration issues, i especially want to thank my colleague and friend, congressman yoho for bringing forward this piece of legislation which just goes back and reestablishes the rule of law, mr. Speaker. Youve got a president whos consistently gone out time and time again and shown disregard for the constitution and the rule of law of this nation. We just had an election in november. The president said himself this was going to be a referendum on his agenda, and the American People were Crystal Clear about their dislike of this failed agenda from this president. And theyve told him, get back to work. Go work with congress to solve problems. And whats the First Response . The president has to poke his finger in the eye of the American People who spoke loud and clear to him is to say hes going to disregard what they said and hes going to ignore the rule of law and in fact ignore what our constitutional framework of checks and balances is and he thinks he can sit in the oval office and write his own laws. And then he comes forward with this proposal to literally disregard enforcement of our nations Immigration Laws. This isnt going to stand, mr. Speaker. This legislation says you cant do that, mr. President. There is a rule of law. You need to start enforcing that law. We came together as a house just a few months ago and passed a Border Security bill. Lets actually get back to the rule of law and protecting our nations borders. Its not just an immigration issue, its a National Security issue. And so what is the president s response to this legislation . He threatens a veto. Again, the president thinks he can sit in the oval office and make up his own laws. Thats not the way our system of government works, mr. Speaker. So we bring this legislation forward today to get us back to that rule of law and to remind the president its time for him to heed the message that millions of americans across the country set just a few weeks ago and said you need to start working with congress and solve real problems. In fact, this weekend in my home state of louisiana, there are three more elections on that ballot. Pay close attention, mr. President. Pay close attention to yet another referendum on your agenda thats going to occur this saturday with a Senate Election and two more house races. The American People want you to get out of the cocoon of the oval office and start working with congress to solve real problems. Weve passed legislation to solve those problems. You can try to ignore them, issue veto threats, but its time for you to roll up your sleeves and get to work with us and solve those problems together. Pull back your executive action. This legislation ensures that happens. I urge approval and yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The chair reminds members to address their remarks to the chair. Mr. Conyers mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from michigan. Mr. Conyers im proud to recognize a dedicated member of the Judiciary Committee, judy chu of california, for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from california is recognized for one minute. Ms. Chu mr. Speaker, it seems the republicans will do anything other than put a bill on the floor to pass Immigration Reform. So far theyve refused to allow for a vote on the bipartisan h. R. 15. They are threatening another Government Shutdown and they suggest impeaching the president for doing whats right. When they did put a bill on the floor it was to repeal daca. Its been more than a year and a half to allow a vote on h. R. 15. Even if it were put on the floor today it would pass. Instead we have this bill to undo the president s executive action, a step he wouldnt have had to take had Congress Done its job. This is just another distraction when what we need are real solutions. There are real families at stake who need real Immigration Reform. American businesses need it. Our communities need it. If republicans are unhappy that president acted, there is still an option for them. Legislate. Join us in crafting and voting on a bill that will fix our broken immigration system. The speaker pro tempore the time of the gentlelady has expired. The gentleman from virginia. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, at this time its my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from tennessee, mr. Duncan. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from tennessee is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Duncan thank you, mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise in support of this very reasonable legislation which really simply requires that our present Immigration Laws be fully enforced or at least not be violated. I commend the gentleman from florida, mr. Yoho, for bringing this legislation to the floor. The president has said hes been forced to act because the congress has not done so. That is not correct. As chairman goodlatte pointed out a few minutes ago, congress can write a new law, changing an old law or leaving present law in effect. The administration is glossing over or is ignoring the fact that we have very detailed Immigration Laws on the books now. They may not like present law, but no one has the right or the power or the authority to pick and choose and enforce some laws but not others. President ial executive orders have traditionally been used almost entirely for noncontroversial, administrativetype actions. They were not meant to be a way for a president to bypass the congress. We do not live or not supposed to live under a system where all the power is vested in the executive. We have a constitution and it should be followed. Mr. Speaker, all of us admire those who have immigrated here legally and have contributed so much to this nation. We have allowed many millions here legally. Since the law of 1986, far more than any other country. But with 58 of the people in the world having to get by on 4 or less a day, that means that almost four billion people are hoping to get one good meal today and probably arent. We are blessed beyond belief to live in this nation, but our entire infrastructure, our schools, our hospitals, our jails, our roads, our sewers simply could not deal with the rapid influx of millions who would come here in a relatively short time if we opened our borders. We have to have a legal, orderly system of immigration and it must be enforced. I urge my colleagues to support this very commonsense legislation, and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Conyers mr. Speaker, im pleased to yield to the gentlelady from texas, Sheila Jackson lee, a distinguished member of judiciary, 2 1 2 minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from texas is recognized for 2 1 2 minutes. Ms. Jackson lee i thank the gentleman very much. I rise with a sense of moral indignation that we would want to block parents from loving their children, children from loving their parents and deporting persons who have no reason to criminally act in this nation. I join with the president in saying, let us keep families and deport felons, and that is a discretion that is given by the law to allow president s to take care and ensure that laws are enforced properly. This legislation is wrong headed and misdirected. Allow me to say this november 20 executive order is now being retroactively judged by this congress. That is not the congress responsibility. The congress, if they desire to do so as theyve done on many occasions is to bring this to the judicial courts. But if they do so they will find that law has dictated that courts read without much interest in deciding whether or not an administrative decision has been made with fault. The president , through executive order, is making an administrative decision in terms of how laws are prosecuted. Just yesterday, the state of texas and a number of other states, filed a lawsuit against executive actions announced by the president on november 20. Much to my surprise and, of course, with great joy, the fifth Circuit Court of appeals appears to have already issued a decision dismissing such a complaint. It did so in 1997 when governor george w. Bush arguing that the federal governments failure to enforce our Immigration Laws violated article 1. The court rejected the texas argument that the federal government had breached a nondiscretionary duty to control immigration under the immigration and nationality law. Specifically, the courts said we are not aware and have difficulty conceiving any standards for determining whether immigration control efforts by congress are constitutionally adequate. Why . Because theres an interpretation of the law and an administrative component of the law. Likewise, in heckler vs. Chainy the courts said an agencys decision not to take Enforcement Actions is unreviewable under the act because the court has no workable standard against which the judge the agencys exercise discretion. The president of the United States is instructing and giving guidance to administrative agencies who will make decisions accordingly to the framework of making sure that those who are felons are out but families are not. If you want to stop Human Trafficking, if you want to have a conscience in this nation, if you want to protect the vulnerable, if you want to keep young people whose bright eyes is to simply serve in the United States military or in the speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. Mr. Conyers i yield 30 seconds. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for 30 seconds. Ms. Jackson lee if you want to recognize those individuals who have come here to do what is right and if you want to stop the siege of Human Trafficking, as ive said, where houston is the epicenter of it, we see it every day where people are out of the shadows, if you want to do that then you will vote against this misdirected law and you will read the constitutional dictates, first from the fifth Circuit Court of appeals, then from the United States Supreme Court in arizona vs. The United States, and understand that the president has executive authority to do what hes just done, to be a moral keeper and to give discretion to the law. With that i yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore the time of the gentlelady has expired. The gentleman from virginia. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, may i inquire how much time is remaining on each side . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from virginia has 14 1 2 minutes remaining. And the gentleman from michigan has 14 1 4 minutes remaining. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, at this time its my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from california, mr. Mcclintock. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Mcclintock i thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, this transcends the issue of illegal immigration. The president s action has crossed a very bright line that separates the American Republic that prides itself on being a nation of laws and not of men from those unhappy regimes whose rulers boast that law is in their mouths. Its true that throughout the nations history president s have tested the limits of their authority, but this is the first time a chief executive who is charged with the responsibility to take care that the laws be faithfully executed has asserted the absolute power to nullify or change these laws by decree. Under our constitution, the president does not get to pick which laws to enforce and which laws to ignore. He does not get to pick who must obey the law and who gets to live above the law. And hes forbidden from making law himself, all legislative power herein granted shall be vested in a congress of the United States. Whether we choose to recognize it or not, this is a fallfledged constitutional crisis fullfledged constitutional crisis. If this president is allowed to stand, it will render meaningless the separation of powers and the checks and balances that comprise the fundamental architecture of our constitution that have preserved our freedom for 225 years. If this precedent stands, every future president , republican and democrat, will cite it as justification for lawmaking didecree. The measure before us is the first act of this congress to restore the balance of powers within this government. The president would be well advised to heed it before sterner measures are required. The seizure of legislative authority by the executive proved failtal to the roman republic. Now its happening in our own time. Let that not be the legacy of this administration. For more than two centuries, americans have successfully defended our constitution and now history requires this generation to do so again, which it does beginning with this measure today. The speaker pro tempore the time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Conyers mr. Speaker mr. Speaker, im pleased to yield now two minutes to the gentleman from rhode island, member of the Judiciary Committee, representative cicilline. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from rhode island is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Cicilline i thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, everyone in congress and most people in this country understands that our immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed. Our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have blocked a Bipartisan Senate bill from coming to the floor, and president obama has taken action that hes legally permitted and morally obligated to take. Executive orders are not unusual. Every president since president eisenhower has used this authority to take action on immigration issues, including six republican president s. So mr. Speaker, when the gentleman from florida said voting against his bill is like voting against the constitution, i suggest its just the opposite. The contours of the executive authority of the president are defined in the constitution and by precedent of the courts and there is no question that the president has authority to exercise prosecutorial discretion in this regard. In fact, voting for this bill undermines the constitution because the executive authority of the president is set forth in the constitution of the United States. We all recognize there are 11 million undocumented citizens or residents of this country. We dont allocate resources to deport all 11 million. We allocate resources to deport about 400,000, which means by definition we are asking the department to set priorities in deciding who to deport and say those priorities makes sure they deport the most serious offenders, those that pose harm to our communities. This is whats reflected in the president s executive order. Its very important to understand that there is in fact, little question from legal scholars and id like to ask unanimous consent that a letter which has the signature of 136 law professors who support the constitutionality of this provision as well as a separate letter from additional titans in the legal community, beginning with president lee bolger from colombia university, several other legal scholars be submitted. The speaker pro tempore without objection, they will be part of the record. Mr. Cicilline mr. Speaker, the speakers executive order will ensure we have a safer country, that we will grow our economy, that we will keep families together. I strongly urge my colleagues to reject this republican proposal and to allow the president s executive order to remain. The speaker pro tempore the time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from virginia. Mr. Goodlatte at this time im pleased to yield three minutes to mr. Barletta. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Barletta mr. Speaker, i rise in support of h. R. 5759. This bill simply says that the president cannot issue blanket amnesty. This legislation also contains language that is similar to my own bill, the defense of legal workers act. It states clearly that Illegal Immigrants who are granted executive amnesty are not authorized to work in the United States. When we talk about illegal immigration, we always hear about what we should do to help the Illegal Immigrants. What about the American Workers . Whos going to stand up for them . Theres this toxic intersection of this executive amnesty and the Affordable Care act. Under the a. C. A. Employers with 50 or more workers will have to provide Health Insurance or pay a 3,000 fine. But under the president s amnesty, the legal immigrants are exempt from the a. C. A. That means with their new work permits, the legal immigrants will be 3,000 cheaper to hire. That will drive companies to hire Illegal Immigrants instead of legal American Workers. Or worse yet, get rid of American Workers in exchange for cheaper replacements. This bill is a small step but i will vote for any bill that stops executive amnesty. That includes stopping the funding and supporting my own bill that protects American Workers. Lets remember that we have been put in this position by a president who campaigned on the slogan of, yes, we can. But the governments under the philosophy of but governs under the philosophy of, because i want. To i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Conyers mr. Speaker, im pleased to recognize the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina, mr. Price, for two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from North Carolina is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Price i ask permission to revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore without objection, so ordered. Mr. Price mr. Speaker, i rise in strong opposition to this misguided and politically motivated legislation. In fact, it would be dangerous and irresponsible for this body to prohibit the department of Homeland Security from exercising prosecutorial discretion. D. H. S. And i. C. E. Must be able to prioritize the detention and the deportation of people who pose a threat to Public Safety and National Security. As opposed to deporting, for example, College Students who were brought to this country by their parents. Or perhaps spouses of u. S. Citizens serving in the military. Its not even a close question. The reality is discretion is and always has been exercised by every prosecutor in this country. To my knowledge, republicans have never questioned this. Never challenged it. Until the current president began prioritizing dangerous criminals for immigration enforcement. As former solicitor general Walter Dillinger recently wrote, and i quoting, in light of how legally conservative the Justice Department opinion really is, it is a wonder that this issue has become the subject of such heated, occasionally apocalyptic, commentary. Those who object to the president s efforts to unite families should stop hiding behind unfounded legal allarums and debate president pes action as on the merit the president s actions on the merits. Very good advice. I urge defeat of this cynical and unwarranted legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from virginia. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, at this time its my pleasure to yield 1 1 2 minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina, mr. Sanford. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from South Carolina is recognized for 1 1 2 minutes. Mr. Sanford i thank the chairman and i thank not only the chairman here but i thank the gentleman from florida for his hard work on this important measure. Because my dad used to say, at times in life its important to call an ace an ace. And i think that fundamentally what this bill depuzz is call an ace does is call an ace an ace with regard to cutting off and ending unilateral actions by president s, whether theyre republican or democrat. This is fundamentaly about the balance of power in our federal system. Its also important because it fits with what im hearing from a lot of folks back home when they say, this issue of Immigration Reform has less to do with immigration than it does to do with the rule of law in this country and the way in which it should be applied to all folks equally. They say that its fundamentally unfair for states to be burdened with new costs based on the unilateral action by a president. They say its fundamentally unfair for our federal entitlement system to be that much more wobbly becaused on a unilateral action by a president and they say its that fundamentally unconstitutional for the president to take action in the pattern that he has, where its with the Affordable Care act, whether its with the federal contracts, whether its with war in the middle east or now immigration. So is this enough ultimately . No, i think we ultimately need to defund the president s ability to move forward. But its important its an important first step in that basic notion of what my dad prescribed as calling an ace an ace and with that i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Conyers thank you, mr. Speaker. Im pleased to yield now to the gentleman from texas, al green, for two minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Green thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i cannot support this legislation. And hope nobody expects me to. Mr. Speaker, im the beneficiary of the greatest executive order ever written. The emancipation proclamation. In 1863 when lincoln signed the emancipation proclamation, the country was at war, it was being torn apart. Yet he signed that proclamation. While it did not liberate the slaves, it did lead to the passage of the 13th amendment in 1865. I cant agree with this legislation because truman in 1948 signed an executive order integrating the military and it went on to integrate the broader society. Because it was a part of the avantgarde efforts. And i would note that at the time he did it, the dixicrats were formed. They split from the democratic party. We have always had time of strife in this country. But great president s have always stepped forward and theyve done the right thing. Now, let me address something quickly that has to be addressed. The question of, this is a magnet, that it attracts a lot of people to the country. You cant be serious about this. If you were serious about the magnetic approach, you would have done something about wet foot, dry foot. Wet foot, dry foot allows any person to get one foot on american soil whos from cuba to come right on in and get into a pathway to legalization. Just by getting one foot. Have the other foot in the water, one on land, come on in. And that is the policy of the United States government. Youd end that if you were serious. That is a magnet. But you dont see magnets until it comes to certain people, it seems. Mr. President , i salute you for what you have done. I commend you, i stand with you on this issue. But more importantly, i stand with bringing people out of the shadows of life, into the sunshine of a new life. God bless you and i thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The chair would once again remind members to address their remarks to the chair. The gentleman from virginia. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, at this time its my pleasure to yield two minutes to the gentleman from georgia, mr. Collins, a member of the Judiciary Committee. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from georgia is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Collins thank you, mr. Chairman, thank you, mr. Speaker. It is amazing again to come down to this house floor to discuss issues and to be a part of this debate. And i think one of the issues that really has to come to light here is when it is being said that what were doing is trivial, what were doing doesnt matter. Then frankly what does matter . Does the constitution matter . Does the rule of law matter . What is amazing to me, and i sat through a whole 5 1 2hour hearing the other day in dealing with this, where we use letters that were not probably used for the right context, we used other examinations, and it always came back to, in the end, if it just helps somebody its ok. The problem im having here with this is this problem. Is the ones who are coming into our country, many of them who i have spoken with, theyre coming from places where rule of law is not followed. Where rule of law is broken. And so now what do we do . They come to a country in which rule of law is being put aside. Is being expanded. Just to help, just a little bit i applaud the gentleman from florida, i applaud everyone here who is saying it doesnt matter if its a democrat or a republican. Whats right is right and thats what mat whats right is whats right and thats what hatters. It is a time for debate. Its not a time for exercising further outside the lines. It is a time in which we as a group come together and say, lets solve problems. Lets not poison the well in which we cannot have conversations and we dont have the dignity in which we have. For those who truly want to come to our country, who have done it legally, who have done it right, why would we do that . Thats whats wrong about this debate. Thats the problem were having right now. Were saying, mr. President , there are three brancheses of government and you can do whatever you want to within your side, but the congress has to do its side and it listens to the people as well. I think they spoke pretty loud and clear three weeks ago. With that, mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Conyers a thank you, mr. Speaker. Im pleased now to recognize for three minutes the distinguished gentleman from illinois, mr. Gutierrez. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from illinois is recognized for three minutes. Mr. Gutierrez mr. Speaker, i have spent the past year speaking every week in this chamber about the damaging affects of our broken immigration system on our security, our economy, our families and communities. We started with such great hope at the beginning of this congress. But here we are in the final hours of the 113th congress and instead of moving a piece of legislation that the majority would put forward to address the underlying problems with our immigration system, we have before us another symbolic, superphysical vote that will fix absolutely nothing. This bill will not strengthen security at our borders. Including the most important gateways that are rarely mentioned. At l. A. X. , chicago ohare, or j. F. K. This bill will not address the labor needs of our Agricultural Industry or tech industry. This bill will not protect American Workers by implementing everify across the board, to make sure there is one legal labor force in america. Paying their fair share of taxes and fully protected by American Labor laws. This bill does not do that. This bill will not answer the pleas of u. S. American citizens who have a parent or a spouse who want to get right with the law, is willing to submit to a thorough background check at their own expense and prove to the American People that they are not a threat and able to work and pay taxes and contribute to the success of this country. Instead of moving forward, instead of legislating Actual Solutions to difficult Public Policy issues, instead of putting the emphasis on doing what needs to be done to improve the economy, the security and the basic human decency of our laws, we are left with a tired and unfortunate partisan battle. It is a partisan fight based on pure fantasy. Not just a fantasy that the u. S. Congress will ever appropriate enough money to jail, expel and deport 11 Million People and their families, but also the fantasy that what your side votes on today will ever become law. You know it. I know it. Apparently the majority prefers to take symbolic votes instead of legislating real and lasting solutions. Mr. Speaker, they didnt call Ronald Reagan a tyrant. They didnt call him lawless. Yet he said, i will protect a million and a half undocumented people that you call illegal. He protected them. When the congress expressly said they would not be included for any benefit under the 1986 Immigration Reform and control act, he protected them. He used his president ial power to do that. And he wasnt called a tyrant. He wasnt called lawless. He was doing the right thing, protecting the siblings and spouses of those that would be granted legalization under that law, that congress expressly excluded. And you want to know something . Im happy that president barack obama is following in that great and proud tradition set forward by president Ronald Reagan, that he would rather put families first, the demagoguery and any antiimmigrant policy always last. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from virginia is recognized. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, i yield myself one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, its always a pleasure to me to see former president Ronald Reagan, especially here in the house chamber. I in fact voted for president reagan twice and was proud to support him and one of the things i remember most about president reagan was that great debate with his opponent in one of the president ial debates in which he said, there he goes again, pointing out when his opponent said something inaccurate about him. Well, there they go again. Because what we have is something today very, very, very different than what president reagan did. President range signed a law president reagan signed a law, a bill passed by congress, signed it into law and then he found some things that he didnt think were correct, so he then took action. But in todays the Washington Post which i would cite for the gentleman from illinois, its headline is, the Washington Post editorial today, an action without precedent. So when he cites president reagan as a precedent here, the Washington Post, clearly refutes that by pointing out how small that was and how it was done in response to a specific identifiable concern about legislation passed and the congress then subsequently fixed it as well. That is not whats occurring here today. And as the Washington Post notes, its plain that the white houses numbers, the 1. 5 million claim, are indefensible and the scale of mr. Obamas move goes far beyond anything his predecessors attempted and without legislation that had been passed to found it upon. No, this is a power grab of enormous proportions. It is unconstitutional. It is clearly what he said he was going to do when he came to this body. I yield myself an additional one minute. When he came to this body almost three years ago with a list of things he wanted done, he said if you wont do it i will. Some members on the other side of the aisle stood up and applauded. Since then, in health care reform, in the environment, in our enforcement of our drug laws, in a whole host of other things, thats exactly what hes done. He said he was going to do it. Take my pen and my phone and im going to do it myself. Well, in this case, he had on more than 20 occasions say he did not have the authority to do it. Now, the folks on the other side of the aisle are saying, oh, he didnt change the law. Mr. Speaker, i yield myself an additional 30 seconds. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. Mr. Goodlatte he didnt have the authority to change the law, but guess what, when he signed the order, heres what he said. He said, what youre not paying attention to is that i just took action to change the law. To change the law. Article 1 of the constitution says the law is only changed by the United States congress. Article 3 says the President Shall faithfully execute the law. His actions are unconstitutional and they are unprecedented. At this time, mr. Speaker, i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from virginia reserves his time. The gentleman from michigan is recognized. Conrad engweiler mr. Conyers mr. Speaker, im pleased to yield the gentlelady from california, zoe lofgren, for 1 1 2 minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from california is recognized for 1 1 2 minutes. Ms. Lofgren mr. Speaker, i in my opening remarks did note the uncanny similarity between the action that president reagan and the first president bush took and the action that president obama has now taken. I would hope i dont know. I use the official record as a source of information instead of chat in articles and i submitted for the record the memorandum, the internal decision memorandum in the i. N. S. Dated february 8, 1990, indicating that 1. 5 million, 40 of the undocumented population in controvention to the orders of congress were going to be given deferred action. The commissioner of the i. N. S. Under oath testified that 40 of the undocumented population were going to be in contradiction to the congress explicit decision were going to be given deferred action. I also have the draft processing plan that says millions of people would be given in controvention to the act of congress deferred action. They even had the amount of money that they were going to make off the estimated filing fee. So i would recommend that people take a look at the documents and they will see that what president reagan did is almost exactly the same as what obama did. 40 of the population. I dont think that president reagan could get the republican nomination today, but that does not diminish the validity of his action at that time. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. The gentleman from virginia. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, at this time im pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from georgia, mr. Kingston. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from georgia is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Kingston thank you mr. Speaker, mr. Chairman. We are thank you, mr. Speaker, mr. Chairman. Were hearing outrage from the other side. Number one, it was the president himself who said over 20 times why this action is illegal. I would invite the democrats to read his remarks. Over 20 different references to it. Number two, they talk about prosecutorial discretion. This is ok. But as i understand it, that you have that discretion when youve run out of money and maybe you cant implement a finer point of a law, something you are prosecuting. It doesnt mean you change the law. I would invite the democrats who think that we disproportionately pick on this president , i would invite them to look at the 1950s case during the Truman Administration in which president truman nationalized the steel business by executive order in order to avoid a strike. It went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court found on a 63 vote that you could not change the law of such magnitude by executive order. And that is not the case we were picking on poor little harry truman. It was a case we were sticking up for the constitution. I invite the democrats to look at the court cases the lawsuit that 17 states have now joined in saying that the president has violated article 2, section approximate 3, the part of the constitution section 3, the part of the constitution that talks about executing laws which this president seems it is a pick and choose operation run out of his political office. I also invite the democrats to go to Central America and talk to so many of the immigrants that i have. I have been to honduras. Ive been to el salvador. Ive been to guatemala. Ive talked to people. One of the earlier speakers said they come here because we changed the law, youre out of your mind. Go talk to the folks in Central America. They got the word that its easier to come here under those circumstances. Can i have 30 seconds. Mr. Goodlatte i yield 30 seconds. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. Mr. Kingston they need to go to Central America and talk to the people who would be taking advantage of this. Finally, let me say this about leadership. You know, in split government with three branches, equal branches, you dont get what you want. But leadership is pulling together the coalitions to talk to people and say, you know, what part of this law can we agree on and what can we do about it . Thats what leadership is about. The president has that opportunity to show leadership now that hes going to have a new congress and new senate to work with. The way to get things done is reach out and work with people and not to be in your face against them. Thank you very much. The speaker pro tempore the time of the gentleman has expired. The chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan. Mr. Conyers mr. Speaker, im pleased now to yield two minutes to the distinguished gentleman from california, mr. Javier becerra. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from california is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Becerra i thank the Ranking Member for yielding time. I dont hear anyone disagreeing that our immigration system is broken. Its broken for our commerce as businesses try to figure out how to do the best business across the border, as they try to figure out who they can employ and not employ, its broken. I dont think anyone could say we need to have much attest we could have as much security abroad as we have at home. And if we dont have laws that work well our security is broken. Certainly the whole discussion here makes clear that American Families, American Families are being disrupted, separated day after day, no one wants to see that done to an american family. Srnl not to a whole bunch of american certainly not to a whole bunch of americans who wants opportunities in the future. Our immigration system is broken. Lets just all agree with that. So what do we do . Well, we can fix the broken immigration system or we can put message bills on the floor of the house that are never going to get signed and become law and leave in about five more days and in the year 2014 without having done anything and watch as weve gone more than two to three decades without fixing a broken immigration system or we could finally take the bill thats been sitting here in the house for 525 days, that passed in he senate on a bipartisan vote 68100 senators, republicans and democrats voted to fix the broken immigration system. Bipartisanly. Thats been sitting here for a vote for 525 days. We have five days left in the session. We dont need to wait another 525. We could fix the broken immigration system for our economy, for our families and for our National Security. Or we can do a message bill, as we have on the floor, which will not pass the senate, which will not get signed by the president , which means we leave 2014 having done nothing. The president said in january during his state of the union, congress, lets get this done together. But if you cant do something then ill do what i can under my executive authority . Mr. Under my executive authority can i have 30 seconds . Mr. Conyers i yield 30 seconds. Mr. Becerra ill do what i can under my executive authority under the constitution and so he did. So now its a matter of trying to make things work better and smarter given we have a broken immigration system. Now is not the time to double down with the social agenda matters that go nowhere. We could get this done but we all have to be accountable. Just as we demand those immigrant families to be accountable, Congress Needs to be accountable. Lets get this done. The American People have been telling us for years, get this done. You know the solution. Lets act. Five days to go, lets get this done. Put the Senate Bipartisan bill on the floor and well get this done. With that i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from virginia. Mr. Goodlatte may i inquire how much time remains . The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from virginia has two minutes remaining and the gentleman from michigan has 1 1 2 minutes remaining. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, i have only one speaker remaining so ill reserve my time. And prepared to close. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from virginia reserves his time. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Conyers mr. Speaker, its my pleasure now to call upon a Senior Member of judiciary to close out our side, jerry nadler of new york, the remainder of our time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from new york is recognized for 1 1 2 minutes. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman mr. Speaker, rather, the president is not changing the law. Hes exercising president ial prosecutorial choice. The very fact that only 400,000 people a year can be deported when theyre admittedly 11 million undocumented people in this country says you have to make choices. I didnt see anyone on that side of the aisle demand that president bush or president obama, for that matter, deport all 11 Million People and propose and propose the appropriation to be able that to be done. There must be choices. The president must choose. I will not repeat all the legal arguments we heard over the last hour that president has this well within his power to make these choices. Discretion happens. 400,000 against 11 million, discretion happens. Making that discretion systemattic and sensible, prioritizing it, doesnt change the law. The republicans admit the law is broken but they havent brought the bill in four years. The president acts within his power is good. And finally, i must comment on what the remarks of mr. Barletta who says and i heard other people say it that these that the undocumented aliens or the documented aliens, for that matter, pose a threat to american jobs. The fact is they do jobs that other people dont want. And more to the point, what poses a threat to american Living Standards is the fact that they cant enforce standards. The fact that an undocumented alien cant complain to an Enforcement Agency when hes paid below minimum wage or when hes exploited, that reduces wage levels for everyone. If we want to help wage levels, let the undocumented people that are here and are going to stay here, let them come out of the shadows, pass a comprehensive bill, let them work legally, enforce the minimum wage. It will benefit all American Workers. I thank you and yield back. The speaker pro tempore the time of the gentleman has expired. The gentleman from virginia. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, i yield myself the balance of my tine. The speaker pro tempore mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, i yield myself the balance of the time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Goodlatte its been said we need to do Immigration Reform and i certainly dont disagree with that but the United States constitution says that Immigration Reform must be done by the United States congress. The president doesnt say, nor does the constitution say, hey, if the congress doesnt do it or doesnt do it the way i like it, then i get the opportunity to do it myself. Thats not what the constitution says. It says the President Shall faithfully execute the laws. Now, the gentleman from new york in talking about the impact of the president s executive action here says, oh, the people who are here illegally and are taking jobs,er in taking jobs that americans dont want. Well, maybe there will thrst some truth to that. Maybe some of them are not. The fact of the matter is the president has unilaterally taken executive order that would give every single one of the four million to five million undocumented people in the United States who take jobs to take any job in the country they want to. As good a job, as high paying a job as you want. Yes, we need to do Immigration Reform. The American People want us to do Immigration Reform but they want to start with enforcement first. Instead, what the president has done is taken the law into his own hands and that is the real issue in this case and the real matter before the congress and the real importance of this legislation. Its not about where you are on Immigration Reform. Its about where you are on protecting the United States constitution. Because this president s actions are unprecedented. This president s actions are beyond the pale. This president s actions are unconstitutional and this legislation offered by the gentleman from florida, mr. Yoho, stops that and thats why every member of the house should support this good legislation and make sure that we preserve what we are sworn under an oath to preserve and that is the constitution of the United States. Ladies and gentlemen, i urge adoption of this legislation and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore all time for debate has expired. Pursuant to House Resolution 770the previous question is ordered on the bill as amended. The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the bill. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. Third reading. The clerk a bill to establish a rule of construction clarifying the limitations on executive authority to provide certain forms of immigration relief. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition . I have a motion to recommit at the desk. The speaker pro tempore is the gentleman opposed to the bill . I am opposed in its current form. The speaker pro tempore the lerk will report the motion. Mr. Goodlatte mr. Speaker, i reserve a point of order. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from georgia reserves virginia reserves a point of order. The clerk mr. Murphy of florida moveses to recommit the bill, h. R. 5759, to the committee on the judiciary with instructions to report the same back to the house with the following amendment. Subsection b of section 3 of the bill is amended in the matter preceding paragraph 1 by striking subsection a and inserting, in accordance with this subsection and subsection e, subsection a, add at the end of the bill the following, e, protecting military families, victims of Human Trafficking and cuban nationals. Revisions of this act shall not apply to exemptions or other actions that, one, provide relief to parents, spouses and children of u. S. Citizens who are current members or veterans of the u. S. Armed forces, the selected reserve or the ready reserve, or who seek to enlist in the armed forces. Two, protect victims of Domestic Violence who have successfully petitioned for relief under the violence against women act and victims of criminals and serious forms of Human Trafficking from further abuse. And three, protect cuban nationals in the United States or that arrive or at between a port of entry into the United States or any persons of other nationality deserving of similar protections. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from florida is recognized for five minutes on his motion. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Murphy thank you, mr. Speaker. This is the final amendment which would not kill the bill, or send it back to committee. If adopted, the amended bill will immediately proceed to final passage. Mr. Speaker, my amendment would shield the unintentional victims of the bill before us, namely military families, survivors of Domestic Violence and exploitation and the cuban people fleeing the brutal communist regime of the castros. First, the amendment would preserve the governments policy of protecting undocumented parents, spouses and children of military personnel from deportation. After the pentagon heard from many Service Memberses who feared for the safeties of their families back home, u. S. Citizenship and a Immigration Services instituted a parole in place policy for respecting military families, supporting military readiness and honoring our commitment to those who serve our nation so bravely. Mr. Speaker, such an is this such an abuse of power . Surely the majority of this house wants our brave men and women serving on the battlefield to be able to focus on the mission and not fear that their families will be taken from them. The slogan, support our troops, must at least mean that. Next, my amendment would protect the victims of Domestic Violence, abuse and severe human traffic. We know a willingness to come forward and cooperate with Law Enforcement can break the cycle of violence and make justice possible for the real criminals. Uscis developed a a program to give victims of incredible violence temporary uvisas and tvisas for trafficking. In 2010 alone, nearly 12,000 of these visas were given out. So victims can come out of the shadows. What is it about visas for Abuse Victims that so enraged some in this chamber . American Women Deserve better than a policy that threatens to deport the victim while their abuser simply walks free. That is why the National Task force to end sexual and Domestic Violence against women wrote that this bill, quote, broadly sweeps large numbers of victims into a scope and ignores the best interests of victims and their children. Finally, this motion would preserve our countrys long standing practice of granting parole and ultimately green cards to cuban nationals. Those who escaped the clutches of the nearly 56yearold communist dictatorship yearn for the freedom they are so brutally denied just 90 miles from our shore. To this decoud been a democracy activists, remain subject to arbitrary arrests, beatings and imprisonment, without the protections spelled out in my amendment survivors of the castro regime are denied a france of freedom and deported. It is that what we want . Growing up in south florida, i can tell you that the cultural richness of the great state of florida does not exist without cuban american immigrants. Many of whom escaped with nothing more than their lives. To my friends across the aisle who call this a process argument, let me say, if this house had done its job we wouldnt face a process question in the first place. You want a better process, pass a bill. Dispense this measure before us and bring up h. R. 15, a real Immigration Reform from the gentleman from florida, mr. Garcia. It will reflect our broken system, secure the border, create hundreds of thousands of jobs and reduce the deficit by nearly 1 trillion. Its got the votes. We can make it the law by christmas. The American People asked for Immigration Reform and this body voted to help secure the border and support dreamers. Now were looking at ripping apart military families, prosecuting the victims of Domestic Violence and Human Trafficking and sending cuban refugees back to the brutal hands of the casstrose. I urge my colleagues castros. I urge my colleagues, dont let this be the story of the 113th congress. Defeat this meanspirited bill before us. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise . Mr. Goodlatte i seek time in opposition to the motion to recommit. The speaker pro tempore does the gentleman withdraw his reservation . Mr. Goodlatte yes. The speaker pro tempore reservation is withdrawn. The gentleman is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Goodlatte thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, first i want to thank the gentleman from florida, mr. Yoho, the gentleman from idaho, mr. Labrador, for the contribution he made to the language that is in this important bill, to stop the president s unilateral action that is unconstitutional. And the gentleman offering the motion to recommit should note that the bill takes effect as if enacted on november 20, 2014. It nullifies the president s unlawful, unconstitutional executive order. It does not change an a Immigration Law that provides already considerable statutory protection for our members of the armed forces of the United States and their families. It protects victims of Domestic Violence who have successfully petitioned for relief. And cuban nationals, as has been noted during the debate here, are already protected under the law and this bill in no way, shape or form harms any of those protections under the law. So i would urge my colleagues to oppose this motion to recommit and support the underlying legislation which is needed to stop the unconstitutional actions of the president of the United States in writing an executive order that is unprecedented in its scope. And i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Without objection, the previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit. The question is on the motion. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. Mr. Murphy i ask for a recorded vote. Yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore a recorded vote is requested. The yeas and nays are requested. All those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. A sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. Members will record their votes by electronic device. Pursuant to clause 9 of rule 20, and the order of the house of today, this 15minute vote on the motion to recommit will be followed by fiveminute votes on pass and of the bill if ordered and the motion to concur in the Senate Amendment to h. R. 3979 with an amendment. This is a 15minute vote. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of epresentatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote, the yeas are 194, the nays are 225, the motion is not adopted. The question is on passage of the bill. As many as are in favor will signify by saying aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The gentleman from virginia. On that, i ask for a recorded vote. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. Those in favor of the request for the yeas and nays will rise and be counted. A sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. This will be a fiveminute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote, the yeas are 219, the nays are 197, three members voting present. The bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The Unfinished Business is the question on the motion to concur in the Senate Amendment to h. R. 3979, offered by the gentleman from california, mr. Mckeon, on which the yeas and nays were ordered. The clerk will redesignate the amendment. The clerk moigs offered by mr. Mckeon of california. The speaker pro tempore the question is on the motion. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This is a fiveminute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote the yeas are 300. The nays are 119. The motion is adopted. Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. For what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Mr. Mckeon mr. Speaker, i send to the desk a concurrent resolution and ask unanimous consent for its immediate consideration in the house. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the concurrent resolution. The clerk house concurrent resolution 121, concurrent resolution providing for a correction in the enrollment of the bill h. R. 3979. The speaker pro tempore is there objection to consideration of the concurrent resolution . Without objection, the concurrent resolution is agreed to and the motion to reconsider s laid upon the table. For what purpose does the gentleman from connecticut seek recognition . Mr. Larson thank you, mr. Speaker. I wish to be recorded because of a technical malfunction. I wish to be recorded no on h. R. 5759. The speaker pro tempore without objection, it will be part of the record. Mr. Larson thank you. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition . Yes, mr. Chairman, on h. R. 5759, i missed that vote. I would be voting no on h. R. 5759. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentlemans statement will be appear in the record. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does, the gentleman from maryland seek recognition . Mr. Hoyer mr. Speaker, i request unanimous consent to speak out of order to ask mr. Mccarthy for the schedule for the week to come. I had to without objection. Mr. Hoyer i now yield to my friend, mr. Mccarthy. Mr. Mccarthy i thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, the house is not in order. The speaker pro tempore the house will be in order. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Mccarthy thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, on monday the house will meet at noon for morning hour and 2 00 p. M. For legislative business but no votes are expected. On tuesday and wednesday the house will meet at 10 00 a. M. For morning hour and noon for legislative business. And on thursday the house will meet at 9 00 a. M. For legislative business, last votes of the week are expected no later than 3 00 p. M. On friday no votes are expected. Mr. Speaker, the house will consider a number of suspensions next week, a complete list of which will be announced by close of business today. On monday in addition to our usual suspensions, the house will consider h. R. 5781, the california emergency drought relief act of 2014, authored by my good friend, david valadao. Californias facing the worst drought in our century and that has a negative impact, not only on our states economy, but on the entire nations food supply. This legislation is critical so that we dont let precious water from current and future storms wash away to the ocean. Mr. Speaker, the house is also expected to consider legislation to address the upcoming expiration of our current continuing resolution as well as legislation on the expiration of terrorism Risk Insurance act. I thank the gentleman and yield back. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for his information. I note in his comments with respect to next thursday that we do not expect to meet on friday, which i understand, but it does not specifically reference that that will be the end of the of session of this congress and therefore conclude the 113th congress. Is the expectation, mr. Leader, that in fact thursday will be the adjournment date for the 113th congress, and i yield to my friend . Mr. Mccarthy i thank the gentleman for yielding and the answer to his question is, yes, it is. Mr. Hoyer as the gentleman has Just Announced, therefore, we have four days left to go in this session, three of which will be voting days. I know that we have a number of things yet to come, one of which, of course, is the funding of government. Does the gentleman i know there have been a lot of discussions about what form that bill will take, whether it will be an omnibus, whether it will be a c. R. , a continuing resolution, whether it will be a combination of those two. There is concern on our side of the aisle, mr. Pryce, who is Ranking Member on the Homeland Security committee, is very concerned that some of the security needs of the country will be put, if not at risk, in doubt if there is a shortterm unding of that part of the 1 12 of the appropriation bills. Does the gentleman know whether or not were going to have an omnibus, which will cover all 12 of the appropriation bills and departments or whether or not it may be a combination of some shorter term funding and longer term funding, and i yield to my friend . Mr. Mccarthy i thank my friend for yielding. As my friend knows that negotiations are ongoing between the appropriations, the house and the senate. As soon a conclusion of those negotiations are done, well notify everyone and post what comes out. And i yield back. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for his information. I had a brief discussion with mr. Rogers with whom i served for about two decades when i was on the appropriation committees. I think both he and i and while you and i have had conversations, i Wont Disclose the substance of those conversations, but i believe strongly that an omnibus will give greater stability and confidence to those who carry out the programs that congress has set forth. So we are very hopeful that we can reach an agreement, both on weve already reached agreement on funding levels in the ryanmurray budget agreement that related to this last years fiscal year and this years fiscal year, fiscal year 2015. So weve agreed upon numbers. The only thing we need now agree on, i think, specifically is riders. I know that those are legislative provisions in the appropriations bills. I know that were having a lot of discussions about those. I know we have negotiations about those. In those negotiations, mr. Leader, i would urge you, as the majority leader of your party, to do what you can to provide for full year funding for the entire government because i think that will live give confidence to people with respect to Homeland Security, it will put us in a better security position, less doubt, more ability to plan, more ability to respond effectively. So i would hope that the leader could lend his very, very substantial influence and intellect and judgment to that process which i think would be good for the country. I yield to my friend. Mr. Mccarthy i thank the gentleman for always being willing to give advice and as soon as we get the negotiations done, we will keep him abreast. I yield back. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for being pleased that i continue to give advice and encouraged by that, i will continue to do so, i want him to know. Let me just one of his colleagues that i know is very close to the speaker, senator byrd of North Carolina, said, shutting down the entire government over something that doesnt make sense, still doesnt, and wont in the future. I know youre committed to not shut do you think the government, i share that view with you and want to work toward that end, but there are those who do and to the extent, therefore that we get the government fully funded through september 30, we will not have that confrontation, and i suggest with all due respect to the leader that if we delay a portion of that funding requirement, were just going to have that fight 60 days from now or 90 days from now or however long this is put off when we have already agreed upon the numbers that those agencies will be funded at. But i understand what the gentleman says. Last two other issues that i think are very, very important, one of which is tria, you referenced tria in your comments. We are hopeful that we will follow the senates not lead, but follow the senate in terms of a bipartisan engagement on this issue. As you know, mr. Leader, mr. Eaker, the Senate Passed the tria bill which extended the federal Reinsurance Program for even years by 934 vote. It was not close. It was overwhelmingly bipartisan judgment that extending this would be good for business, good for insurers, good for contractor, good for jobs, and good for our economy to give, again, confidence that there would be the insurance available so that people could undertake Construction Projects either in urban, suburban, or rural areas. And i would hope very much that we could bring a bill to the floor next week, mr. Leader, hat extends for no less than two years, i pull out of it, because its less than, because i know you have the chairman of the finances committee who doesnt want to do the five years or seven year, but the way were going to to give confidence to people in this economy is to give them some ability for longterm thinking. If tria ends, there are going to be many, many projects that will not be undertaken in the private sector. Forget about the Public Sector which i know the gentleman from california likes to wants to see, additional Economic Activity in the private sector. There are 45 house republicans, as you know, have written to Speaker Boehner and in that, they said, quote, we respectfully urge you to schedule action on a multiyear extension. That would be at least two years. Businesses with terrorism coverage are being told their coverage will end if Congress Fails to act, causing the sort of uncertainty that hurts economic growth. Those are 45 of your members, your colleagues, of our colleagues, who have made the observation. I think theyre right. Ive said that just now. And i think therefore that for all the reasons they articulated that also indicate, mr. Leader, that there are at least, therefore, in this congress, over 230 votes to pass a tria extension with a fiveyear window. I say that because every democrat will vote for a longterm tria extension, 45 of your members have written a letter clearly indicated they support that. That gets you well over 230 votes. I think a majority of your party would vote for that as well system of i think we probably would get close to 300 votes. But i would hope we would do that, because i think thats in the best interest of our country. And i yield to my friend. Mr. Mccarthy i thank the gentleman for yielding. As the gentleman was correct in my announcement, i announced we will have legislation on tria on the floor next week. I think what the gentleman said prior about not wanting to shut the government down, im glad comments with you, that you feel that same way. I just at times get concerned with the news reports that i hear from your leader trying to comment, dont know if theyre true or not, inside your own conference, trying to withhold votes. I hope that we can continue the working relationship that we have developed and into the new congress as well to Work Together because no one on this side of the aisle ever wants to shut the government down. Thats why well bring forth legislation that will not shut the government down and protects it at the same timism yield back. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for his comment. Very frankly, i am convinced that mr. Rogers and ms. Lowey, ms. Lowey being the Ranking Member of the Appropriations Committee, mr. Rodgers being the republican chair, could agree today and could bring a bill to the floor on tuesday. That would get overwhelming support. He gentleman knows that in a accommodating some in your caucus, either for legislative additions to the appropriations you need a waver for, as you know, the legislation appropriations bill is not consistent with the rule, you need a waiver to accomplish that. D the what we hear on willingness to fund the Homeland Security agency, which as senator graham said just the other day was a bad idea and would undermine National Security because of the duties of the Homeland Security department. It is what the leader was say, the leader on our side of the aisle, ms. Pelosi, was saying that we cannot commit to something that, a, we dont know whats happening fully, hasnt been decided yet, but secondly, that is inconsistent with the agreement that we have on a bipartisan basis of the ryanmurray funding caps and that we think mr. Rogers and ms. Lowey have agreed upon and can report out a bill that we can support fully. I think thats what the leader is saying. I agree with her on that. Im therefore hopeful that the bill will be in a fashion that will reflect, a, the ryanmurray agreement on numbers, and b, not have in it poison pills, as we refer to them that will make it difficult, if not impossible, for us to support. Beth of us want to keep the government open. That is the responsibility of he appropriations bills. Other extrainus extraneous legislative actions which may want to be taken which would put that at risk i would hope would not be taken. That was, i think, what the leader was saying. The gentleman has nothing further, i will yield back. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today it adjourn to meet on monday, december 8, 2014, when it shall convene at noon for morning hour debate and 2 00 p. M. For legislative business. The speaker pro tempore without objection. The chair will entertain requests for oneminute speeches. For what purpose does the gentlelady from florida seek recognition . Ms. Roslehtinen i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Ms. Roslehtinen thank you. Mr. Speaker, i rise in support of maria Corrina Machado who is being unjustly accused, intimidated and dragged into court under bogus charges by the regime in venezuela. She has been stripped of her seat in congress, been barred from leaving her country, and is being denied due process. In may, the house passed my legislation aimed at denying visas, blocking property, freezing assets, and prohibiting Financial Transactions to members of the Venezuelan Regime who are responsible the speaker pro tempore the gentlelady will suspend. The house will be in order. The gentlelady may resume. Ms. Roslehtinen thank you. In may, the house passed my legislation aimed at denying visas, blocking property, freezing assets and prohibiting any Financial Transactions to members of the Venezuelan Regime who are responsible for human rights abuses against the peaceful citizens of venezuela. The u. S. Must no longer standstill as these abuses are repeated in our own hemisphere. 72 students, two elected officials, 12 military officers, and democracy activist lembings opoldo lopez are still in prison under politically motivated charges. Maria corrina must not join them and all Political Prisoners in venezuela must be freed immediately. I thank the gentleman for the time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleladys time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Johnson thank you, mr. Speaker. Men and boys killed by police. Impunity for the killers, no justice, no peace. I cant breathe. Militarized police met Peaceful Protesters on their knees. I cant breathe. Weapons of war, a show of force on our streets. I cant breathe. Disenfranchised youth driven violence and speech. I cant breathe. Cynical media makes this great tv. I cant breathe. This cowardly kuok afraid of losing our seats this Cowardly Congress afraid of losing our seats. I cant breathe. Half heart red form when theres more that we need. I cant breathe. Just thinking about the despair that it breeds. I cant breathe. Black lives matter, him i please hear my pleas. I cant breathe. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. For what purpose does the gentleman from indiana seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i request one minute to address the house and revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to briefly highlight an issue that i wish had been resolved this week but unfortunately, the president s veto threat of an unfinished tax extenders compromise caused this bill to remain fallow. Under the current outdated tax code, l. N. G. , lick fied national gas, is applied the same excise tax as other fuel despite producing Different Energy outputs per gallon. Mr. Young this results in l. N. G. Users facing disproportionately higher excise tax rates than their diesel counterparts, creating an inequality that hinders the attractiveness of l. N. G. As a el system of a truck using Clean Natural gas pays 70 more than its counterpart across the street. At a part owered tug will pay instead of the 29 cents per gallon tax, pay nearly 50 cents per gallon. There has been Constructive Movement by representative thornberry, and i applaud that i hope we can address this next year in the debate on the highway trust fund. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlelady from hawaii seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. Ms. Gabbard thank you,