Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. House Meets For Legislative Business 20170623

Authenticate the grandeur and glory of the ideals and principles of our republic. Rupp with the work they do. Grant that the men and women of the peoples house find the courage and wisdom to Work Together to forge solutions to the many needs of our nation and ease the anxieties of so many. May all that is done this day be for your greater honor and glory. Amen. The speaker the chair has examined the journal of the last days proceedings and announces to the house his pproval thereof. Pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, the journal stands approved. The pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from washington, mr. Heck. Mr. Heck i pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The speaker the chair will entertain up to five requests for one minute speeches on each side of the aisle. For what purpose does the gentleman from Washington State seek recognition . I ask permission to address the house for one minute. The speaker without objection, the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Newhouse thank you, mr. Speaker. Today i rise to recognize kayla barron of richland, washington, who was recently selected for nasas 2017 astronaut candidate class. Kaylo was chodsen one of 12 from over 18,000 applicants to join just 338 people who have held the prestigious title of american astronaut. Before applying to the nasa program, ms. Barron attended the u. S. Naval academy where she received several medals and unit commendations while earning a bachelors degree in systems near engineering. From nt on to earn a gree cambridge. One of the first women commissioned in the submarine community as a submarine warfare officer. Kay la is an exemplary role model for students interested in science and technology. I commepped her for her hard work and wish her luck in her training and her future exploration endeavors. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the washington seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. Revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one inute. Mr. Speaker, today i rise to tell you about a time when partisanship was alive and when congress was boring for most americans. In fact it wasnt that long ago. It was just in march of 2015. Mr. Heck democrats and republicans fixed the medicare payment formula and funded the Childrens Health ensures program. I was proud to be a member of the body that day. Did our bipartisanship dominate the headlines . No. Did it get a lot of attention at town halls . No, of course not. Because all of us getting along was, well, boring. But these recent Republican Health care proposals, they are not boring. They have been developed in secrecy. They are completely bipartisan. And they nonpartisan, completely partisan, ill get and take us backward. I challenge my friend across the aisle, the republicans, to join us in fix and fix the parts of the Affordable Care act that need fixing, because a backward. I challenge my friend across the aisle, the the Affordable Care act has made a real difference for millions of americans, a positive difference. So lets get back to bipartisanship. Back to boring. Back to basics. Because thats what our constituents want most of all. I yield back, streak. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Lamborn mr. Speaker, i rise today to celebrate the 40th anniversary of focus on the family, a vital American Institution dedicated to preserving one of the countrys most foundational pillars, the family. While i cannot attend todays celebration in person, im grateful my good friend, Vice President mike pence, is in Colorado Springs to mark this wonderful occasion. It would be impossible to fully quantify the impact focus on the namfeam has had on our own nation and across the world. Children have been lovingly dissippled. And families have been reunited and strengthed. Most important are the 382,000 lives saved through focus on the familys option ultrasound, which helps mothers choose life when faced with unexpected pregnancies. Those 382,000 lives, and indeed our entire nation, owe you a debt of gratitude. So to founder dr. James dobson, jim daley, and the staff of focus on the family, i say welldone and offer you my sincere congratulations. Mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . Ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. Revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Davis thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, i take this opportunity to commend the life and the legacy of an outstanding resident of my community who served in world war ii, which is a long time ago. But he also become and outstanding citizen became an outstanding zint, steeped in the lutheran church, provided resources to the community where he lived and work. So i commend mr. Newman and just simply say, we have enjoyed knowing him. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition . To address the floor for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to honor the memory of florida Highway Patrol Sergeant William bishop of lake city. Trooper bishop was killed last saturday while working a Traffic Accident on i75 in alachua county, florida. Hes a 30year veteran of the florida Highway Patrol and dedicated his life to law enforcement. He truly loved his patrol family. He served in the United States farmy, serving on the frontlines all his life. Thats a calling not a job. Many of fish yops colleagues remember him as someone who exhibited compassion, honesty, and faith. He loved watching football but his greatest love of all was his family, especiallyis son. His service and sacrifice to the state of florida is a debt well never be able to repay. Please join me in donoring highway honoring Highway Patrol officer sergeant bishop. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from North Carolina seek recognition . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, im proud to say that North Carolina is home to many great student athletes that serve as Community Role models. One prime example is mckenzie gore, who graduated from wrightville high school this month and been named the 2017 gatoraid North Carolina baseball player of the year. Not only that, he was just recently collected third overall in the Major League Baseball draft by the san diego padres. Mckenzie not only demonstrates athletic excellence but also exemplary, carketerks and work ethic. The two primary straits necessary for great success. Very few have achieved as much as early in life and the culmination of years of hard work and commitment. Success, l who are in mckenzie is blessed to have a big decision to make. Go pro and play for the padres, or head to East Carolina University to play for the pirates. Whatever mckenzie decides, were all proud of him and wish him the very best. Mr. Speaker, i yield back my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition . To address the house for one minute. Revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, sometimes out of loss a cause arises and the lives of others are saved. I rise today to ask for my colleagues support of a bill i introduce today. Evans law. My bill would require the department of defense to make windows in military Residential Housing safe for military by ies and their children eequipping Housing Units with protection devices to protect against unintentional falls by Young Children. Mr. Turner we ask Service Members to go into harms way to save our life. Our Service Members deserve to live in Residential Housing properly equipped with window fall devices. Joining me today in the balcony is commander english, his wife, and their children. Jason, luke, lydia, and joshua. Commander english and his family have been tireless advocates for residential window safety requirements at the department of definance. They lost their son evan. He and his family have worked to raise awayness about the danger Young Children face. I want to thanth english family for their hard work and im hopeful that evans law will become part of the National Defense authorization act. I urge my colleagues to join me in their support. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h. R. 2842. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Pursuant to House Resolution 396 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for 2842. Ration of h. R. The chairman appoints the gentleman from california, mr. Denham, to preside over the ommittee of the whole. The chair the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h. R. 2842 which the clerk will report by title. The clerk a bill free throw vide for the conduct of demonstration projects to test the effectiveness of subsidized employment for tanf recipients. The chair pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as read the first time. The gentleman from nebraska, mr. Smith, and the gentleman from illinois, mr. Davis, each will control 30 minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from nebraska. Mr. Smith mr. Chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Smith i rise in support to talk about h. R. 2842 the accelerating individuals into the work force act. According to the bureau of labor statistics, there are more than six million job openings. The highest level since the government start tracking the data in the year 2000. At the same time, the share of americans participating in the work force is near a four decade low. Moving welfare recipients into employment is a central goal of the temporary assistance for needy families program, or tanf, yet only half of all tanf recipients receiving cash assistance are working or preparing for work. Some recipients have a difficult time transitioning from welfare into a job, so these types of onthejob Work Experiences aid in the transition. The same goes for employers who may be reluctant to hire welfare recipients with limited Work Experience or other barriers to working. The question is how can we bridge the gap . How do we connect outofwork americans with all of the employers who want and need to fill job openings . H. R. 2842 sponsored by congressman curbelo of florida and congressman davis of illinois encourages employers to work with state and local agencies to hire tanf recipients. States would only be able to use this money to provide benefits to those working. Providing paychecks in lieu of benefit checks, a key ten nant to welfare reform. Employers would take the lead by partnering with state and local agencies to hire tanf recipients, providing them with highly valued Work Experience and onthejob training, including atrentissships. Earn and learn models help people become familiar with the workplace, gain needed skills, and earn a wage. The reserves up to 100 million for one year from the Contingency Fund which has already been extended through the end of fiscal year 2018 to subsidized up to 50 of a tanf recipients wage for no more than 15 months. 15 of the funds would be setaside for Career Pathway programs to help individuals enter the work force and move up the economic ladder. And finally, high quality evaluations would be used to determine whether these publicprivate the part nrshches were effective in helping partnerships were effective in helping welfare recipients to get work. There is plenty of support here and across the country for tying government assistance to work or work preparation for those who are ablebodied. Decades of experience tells us the most effective Antipoverty Program is a job. It is helping lowincome americans earn success through the dignity of work. Mr. Chairman, i appreciate the opportunity to stand with mr. Curbelo in supporting this bill today. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Davis thank you, mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Davis i strongly support h. R. 2842, the accelerating individuals into employment act. Which is better known as tanf. This important bill modernizing e tanf Contingency Fund to promote effective job Training Programs such as subsidized jobs, Career Pathways and Apprenticeship Programs. Research is clear, subsidized employment Career Pathways and Apprenticeship Programs successfully engage people in employment, especially those who have been unsuccessful in finding paid employment through their efforts. Further research on employment programs document these initiatives increase employment and earnings both while individuals worked in a subsidized job as well as after their program ended. Also, studies show that states operated these programs that provided tremendous benefit at very reasonable costs. Many states use the tanf emergency funds to establish effective Subsidized Employment Programs. Using these tanf emergency funds in illinois, former governor pat quinn implemented the very successful put illinois to work program that directly created over 26,000 jobs, helping close to 5,000 employers in illinois. Nationally, the tanf emergency jobs. Reated 260,000 good Subsidized Employment Programs have three characteristics that make them an attractive part of tanf. They were able to increase employment quickly. They helped some of the individuals who faced the greatest challenges enter the work force and stay there, and when funded on a large scale, they can help boost local economies. For these reasons, democrats have proposed subsidized employment within tanf for years. My friend and colleague from wisconsin, gwen moore, initially proposed allowing subsidized employment in tanf many years ago. I embraced her idea in my responsible fatherhood bill, and im pleased to join with representative curbelo on this effort. If we are truly committed to helping families work their way out of poverty, we will need to do much more to strengthen tanf. We will need to ensure that states actually spend tanf money on tanf recipients. We need to improve access to education and training. Critical changes that both republican and democratic witnesses have emphasized over and over again. We need to improve childcare so parents can actually go to work. This bill is a good bill. It makes a small positive step forward on our path to more comprehensive improvements to tanf. I strongly support it and reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from nebraska is recognized. Mr. Smith mr. Chairman, i yield five minutes to the distinguished gentleman from florida, mr. Curbelo, the lead sponsor of the bill. The chair the gentleman from florida is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Curbelo thank you, mr. Chairman. I rise today in strong support of h. R. 2842, the accelerating individuals into the work force act. Here in the house, we have prioritized helping americans escape poverty, and we are working to create policies that are focused on getting individuals into jobs so they can achieve selfsufficiency. A job is something that dignifies the human condition. Its an opportunity for every individual to make a contribution to their families, their local communities and to our country. This bill is an Innovative Solution that will give more people access to that opportunity. Through proposals like h. R. 2842, we can help struggling americans find work and get on the path to success. This Bipartisan Legislation connects americans looking for work with employers looking to fill job openings, including through apprenticeships and other forums of onthejob training. It uses 100 million from the tanf Contingency Fund for grants so states can have projects to help those entering the work force and maintaining employment. Importantly, this legislation requires states meet certain criteria to ensure they achieve their intended goals. This includes a description of how local governments will coordinate these efforts with others that assist lowincome individuals. States must also report on the outcomes of the demonstration projects and provide evaluations to determine whether such employerled partnerships were effective. This bill empowers states, giving them the ability to take into account their own unique challenges and design programs that meet both their employers and job seekers needs rather than a topdown washington approach. This legislation has support from our business leaders. I would like to ask for unanimous consent to insert into the record a letter from the Business Roundtable articulating that support. The chair the gentlemans request will be covered under general leave. Mr. Curbelo mr. Chairman, i was happy to partner with representative danny davis on this effort to move individuals from welfare into longterm employment, and im proud of the work we have done together. I would also like to thank chairman brady and subcommittee chairman adrian smith for their leadership and hard work as well as rosemary and ann and the rest of the House Committee on ways and means staff who have worked on this legislation. If i may add one thing, mr. Chairman, last week in the wake of the tragic shooting against members of congress, we all vowed to come together, to find Common Ground. The committee on ways and means answered that call and im very confident that this house will do the same later today. The American People expect us to have our differences, our disagreements, but they also expect us to find Common Ground, and republicans and democrats have done this today in favor of those who need it most. Welfare recipients, needy families in our country. So im very proud to sponsor this legislation, to support it, and i would ask all of my colleagues to do the same. Thank you and i yield back. The chair the gentleman yield its back. The gentleman from nebraska reserves. The gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Davis thank you, mr. Chairman. And im pleased to yield five minutes to the gentleman from texas, who has worked on these issues for many, many terms and many years, mr. Doggett from texas. Mr. Doggett i thank the gentleman. The chair the gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Doggett i respectfully disagree this congress has placed any priority on helping get people out of poverty. Indeed, when it comes to poverty in america, this congress has largely been silent. I think the congress itself is impoverished when it comes to ideas about how to lift people up into the middle class. We talk here so much about the middle class, and appropriately so, but there are millions of people out there who are struggling to just climb up that first or sucked ring wrung of the economic ladder and work themselves into the middle class, and this congress is doing little constructively to assist them. The need for real and meaningful change is particularly evident in my home state of texas where the state legislature has been so incredibly indifferent to this problem. There, one out of every four children is below the poverty level, and over 1 3 of all texans live in the shadow of poverty, meaning their income is less than twice the poverty threshold. The corporation for Enterprise Development ranked texas near the bottom among all states on key measures related to financial security. Now, heres what todays bill, todays bipartisan bill does to respond to that, and its really a story of the number one. Of the several republican proposals that were originally advanced by now Speaker Paul Ryan two years ago, some introduced by republican colleagues, this is the one last bill standing. With a notable exception of a budget that is devastating to opportunities for poor americans, this is the one and only bill on temporary assistance for needy families, previously known as welfare, that republicans will even permit us to discuss on the floor of this house. This one very modest bill does not add one new dollar to address the challenges that those who want to rise from welfare to work need. It simply segregates 100 million from an existing fund for one year. Now, get this. That fund that theyre segregating the 100 million from, donald trump is seeking to abolish, the entire fund so that no moneys for this proposal will be available after one year. This bill gives the states no new flexibility, no new authority. It does not authorize them to do anything that they cannot do today. Indeed, some states are already finding and i think my colleague from illinois referenced one of these are already finding ways to do an appropriate situation subsidize employment. What this bill does is to say that on this particular 100 million of a fund as long as it lasts until President Trump eliminates it entirely that the states must use the money in a particular way. In other words, it seeks to restrict the states who receive these moneys to require them to use it for one particular way to assist those who are in poverty. It is also significant that the trump budget cuts are so far reaching in trying to undermine efforts to raise people out of poverty and for those who are not able bodied to provide them the support they need. This bill deals with a little less than one half of 1 of the trump budget cuts. I believe sincerely that we need a better approach, that we have ideas on both sides of the aisle that are being blocked by determination to not address root causes of poverty. First, we should support initiatives that strike at the early seeds of poverty. Programs like the Home Visiting program that will expire in a mere three months, a program that helps to improve opportunities for atrisk children and help their parents be the parents they want to be. And certainly Early Childhood education is a key part of that. Second, we should increase efforts to help people gain the skills they need to secure jobs through which they can support their families at a living wage. And thats the challenge here. Sure, some employers will love to have taxpayers subsidize their work force, pay part of the wages that they would otherwise have to pay. And sometimes this is a valuable support, particularly for people that are reentering our society after incarceration and other groups of particularly hardtoplace employees. But for many folks, the big question is, when the subsidy ends, when the taxpayers stops paying, will there be a job there and is there a job ladder that will allow that person to work themselves up or are they essentially participating in minimum wage employment that will not support their family and will not provide them a future . There are indemand skills Training Programs that do work and do offer an alternative, but theyre not free. They take an investment. An example is project qust in san antonio which has an quest in san antonio which has an 86 mr. Davis i yield two minutes. Mr. Doggett project quest has an 86 job placement rate for its graduates who boost their incomes on average from 10,000 a year before entering the program to 40,000 a year. I know there are similar programs in other parts of the country that do the same. They are not subsidized employment, but they are working with poor people to get the skills that they need for an indemand job and working with local employers to find out what types of jobs are most needed. And in many parts of america, our economy is being held back by a lack of qualified workers. And then one of the areas thats so important to all parents but particularly to single moms that are in poverty and that is childcare. And President Trump is proposing not one but three cuts to childcare, cutting out hundreds of millions of dollars of support to childcare which stand in the way of many individuals from working their way out of poverty. I believe that we need to be working together to try to find Genuine Solutions and that working together is not just here in this house in congress because the big problem here is that when we voted in 1996 and i voted for it, for welfare from moving welfare to work, we expected the states to be partners in that effort. And today, as much as we talk about work and getting from welfare to work, exactly eight cents out of every dollar being spent on the temporary assistance for needy families program, eight cents goes to work support and not very much more than that goes to childcare and President Trump, of course, wants to reduce that. Its only by having a comprehensive program that is really focused on the roots of poverty and assisting those who would help themselves that the promise of that welfare law can become effective. Unfortunately, while we did change fundamentally and end welfare as we know it, it became welfare for republican governors who wanted to use these federal moneys, not to assist the poor, but to assist their states fill various budget gaps. We have a great example of where block grants fail. I hope we can find ways to succeed. Thank you. The chair the gentlemans time has expired. The gentleman from nebraska is recognized. Mr. Smith mr. Is recognized. Mr. Smith i yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Smith i appreciate the efforts here today. I certainly, my colleague from illinois, mr. Davis, working with mr. Curbelo from florida, focusing on solutions. Mr. Chairman, we know that this day and age its easy to identify the problems and challenges that our country faces. Its a little more difficult to come up with solutions and bring people together. I appreciate the efforts of both sides coming together today. I truly believe that the solutions to our challenges are out in the communities where needy families live. And we know we have many needy families across our country for various reasons. America is a big country. And when you look at the challenges that individuals might face economically, i hope that we can come together as americans to focus on growing our economy, growing opportunity. Hoping that we see as our number one responsibility the need to provide for opportunity in the future. We cant determine certain outcomes, but we can certainly measure the outcomes from our efforts here in washington. Thats why this bill very importantly requires states to report on outcomes through this program. We need to provide more states. Ty for this does exactly that. Even more so with communities. As we do get the feedback from the states, i states. This does hope that we will heed their advice because they are the folks who are more in touch with the needs of their various communities around their jurisdictions. All 50 states, mr. Chairman, they are experts. I hope that we can Work Together with them, together here on both sides of the aisle in washington but also all across america with very diverse needs for a needy family. Mr. Chairman, i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Avis thank you, chairman. Im pleased now to yield three minutes to a fierce advocate for lowincome people. The gentlelady mr. Chairman. Im pleased now to yield three minutes from wisconsin, representative moore. The chair the gentlelady is recognized for three minutes. Ms. Moore thank you so much, mr. Speaker. Thank you, Ranking Member danny davis. I rise to express support for h. R. 2842, the accelerating individuals into the work force act. I do, again, want to thank my dear friend, representative davis, for recognizing the importance of subsidizing jobs. Something that was featured in my rise out of poverty bill. And i applaud this bipartisan bill. As a small step in the right direction, now, this bill calls project onstration which would show progress toward reducing poverty in our country through a oneyear test of Subsidized Employment Programs. But i would note, mr. Speaker, that it certainly does not tackle the larger shortcomings of tanf in desperate need of reform. If enacted, this bill would exhibit a great start at helping tanf recipients obtain shortterm employment. However, methods to retain longterm employment through Higher Education, Childcare Options for tanf recipients are still needed. I do want to point out, mr. The er, that contrary to popular notions of welfare recipients, i have been a welfare recipient myself, people on public assistance do, in fact, want to work. But they want to work at a wage that is sustainable. They want to work at a job that includes training opportunities. They want to work at jobs that provide them with a career ladder, and they certainly want to work at a job that will bring them out of poverty. Something that will help them work in a durable, lasting fashion. Since i have a little bit more time than i thought i was going to have, i just want to point out that its a little known fact that current law under tanf actually requires welfare work. Ents to do unwaged how absurd is that . Who in this body, mr. Speaker, would work for absolutely nothing . I want to note that the proposed funding mechanism in h. R. 2842 does not appear in my rise out of poverty bill. Tanf funds are woefully inadequate already. They are pegged to 1994. And certainly this flat funding would injure to the detriment of the entire inure to the detriment of the entire tanf program. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I just urge people to support this bill. I yield back. The chair the gentleman from illinois reserves. The gentleman from nebraska is recognized. Mr. Smith im prepared to ose if there are no more speakers. Mr. Davis i have no further speakers and im prepared to close. The chair the gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Davis i yield myself the balance of my time. I want to first of all commend mr. Curbelo for his leadership on this issue. And i certainly agree with him that we have found enough Common Ground to be here this morning. With a bill that we can pass. But i also agree with my friend doggett, that there are many shortcomings to helping individuals actually the potential that they have to move beyond poverty to sustainable employment so that they can the have a level of li and a level of expectation which gives them the energy that they need to keep moving forward. There are some improvements that we certainly need to make. We can allow greater education and training. Every time witnesses come before us they always tell us that, no matter whether they are billed as republican or democrat, or with no political stripe. We should improve tanf for kinship caregivers. We should remove the lifetime an on felony drug convictions. Just imagine that these individuals will never, ever have the opportunity to experience the benefits of this program. Or of this effort. We should remove the 60month time limit during recessions. And we should remove the ban to assist unwed teen parents. And other youth who are displaced. So clearly we do have agreement this morning. And i am delighted to be a part of it. But i certainly hope that my colleagues will look at those unmet needs that the legislation does not cover. I urge its support and yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from nebraska is recognized. Mr. Smith mr. Chairman, i yield the balance of my time. I yield my southwest balance of my time. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Smith mr. Chairman, i appreciate mr. Curbelo and mr. Davis for their leadership on this issue. And colleagues from both sides coming together in a bipartisan way so that we can help more americans get back to work. This bill requires high quality evaluations to determine whether these publicprivate partnerships are effective in helping welfare recipients move into jobs. These evidencebased results will be used to inform future policy decisions to reform our welfare system. Similar to the approach taken in the mid 1990s. I look forward to working with my colleagues on these important issues so more americans can earn a wage. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. All time for general debate has expired. Pursuant to the rule, the bill shall be considered for amendment under the fiveminute rule. In lieu of the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on ways and means, printed in the bill, it shall be in order to consider as an original bill for purpose of amendment under the fiveminute rule an amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of rules Committee Print 11522. That amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be considered as read. No amendment to that amendment in the nature of a substitute shall be in order except those printed in house report 115187. Each such amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report, by a member designated in a report. Shall be considered as read. Shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment. And shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question. It is no in order to consider amendment number 1 printed in house report 115187. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from North Carolina seek recognition . Ms. Foxx thank you, mr. Chairman. I have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 1, printed in house report number 115187, offered by ms. Foxx of North Carolina. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 396 the gentlewoman from North Carolina, ms. Foxx, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes of the the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from North Carolina. Ms. Foxx thank you, mr. Chairman. This amendment to h. R. 2842, the accelerating individuals into the work force act, would make two changes to the bill. The first part of the amendment would encourage the demonstration projects created under this bill to direct beneficiaries toward jobs in an in demand industry sector or occupation as identified by work force boards in their states and local communities. Today in this country there are approximately six million jobs that remain unfilled because they require Technical Skills and knowledge related specifically to an industry or occupation. If we want to help participants move from government assistance and hold a job, then we must set them on a path towards jobs and industry that is are currently and will remain competitive in the evolving 21st century economy. The second part of my amendment would include in the reports from states that establish these demonstration projects information about their efforts to ensure nondisplacement of workers and to address grievance claims. Congress future decisions related to similar programs will be enhanced by having access to this information and data reported from the states. I reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentlelady reserves. The gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Davis mr. Speaker, i rise to claim the time although i am not opposed to the amendment. The chair without objection. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Davis thank you, mr. Speaker. This amendment would further strengthen the protections against displacement of current employees. I think it is a goal that we all share to make sure that this bill expands employment rather than just changing who is employed. I plan to support the gentleladys amendment. I yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentlelady from North Carolina is recognized. Ms. Foxx thank you, mr. Chairman. As our economy continues to recover and evolve, it is critical that job seekers have the resources needed to gain the skills they need to compete for in demand jobs. That was the aim of the Work Force Innovation and opportunity act we passed in 2014. Y amendment encourages state agencies to coordinate with their work force boards to continue these efforts. My amendment also would improve the information participating states commit about their demonstration projects, providing important data for decisionmakers in the future. I thank my colleagues for their consideration and ask for their support of this amendment and the underlying bill. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentlelady yields back. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlelady from North Carolina. So many as are in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 2, printed in house report number 115tsh 87. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . Mr. Bost i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 2, printed in house report number 115187, offered by mr. Bost of illinois. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 396, the gentleman from illinois, mr. Bost, and a member opposed, will each control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. Mr. Bost i yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Bost thank you, mr. Chairman. I rise today to provide relief to the people of illinois and communities across the country that have fallen victim to corruption in their local housing authorities. Last year, the department of housing and urban development took control of Alexander County Housing Authority in my district after decades of fraud and mismanagement. Many of caro public Housing Units were falling apart. Rating somewhere between dangerous and unlivable. All the while the Housing Authority senior staff continued to cash in. Excessive pay, great benefits, large pension payouts. And big consulting contracts for former executive directors. All of this was paid for with taxpayers money, according to Southern Illinois newspaper found local residents coping with leaking roofs, moldy living facilities, broken heating and air conditioning, rats, cockroaches, unbelievable living conditions. This didnt happen overnight. It happened after many years of neglect. This situation is so bad that the worst Housing Units in carroll are being destroyed and families are being required to move. Sadly, carrolls story is not unique. Similar stories of mismanagement and fraud have occurred in Housing Authority across the country. While i continue to fight for the families, we must work to help those who have been relocated at no fault of their own. My amendment would require the state application include plans to help these families transition to their new communities and find work. This will be an important step forward for americans already fighting to stay on their feet. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Bost thank you, mr. Speaker. Everyone, if they can, support this amendment. I want, also, to know that it is my hope that both state and federal authorities pursue in this particular case those ones who have abused the system, that they prosecute them, and they are put in situations where they are in prison. There they will receive better Housing Conditions than what they left these people with. This amendment deals with the fact of allowing them the opportunity to work and to step them up into a better life, but i hope and i pray that the people who are responsible for these facilities will be prosecuted to the full extent and with that i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from illinois, mr. Bost. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. He amendment is agreed to. Its now in order to consider amendment number 3 printed in house report 11587. For what purpose does the gentlewoman from oregon seek recognition . Ms. Bonamici i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 3 printed in house report 115187 offered by ms. Bonamici of oregon. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 396, the gentlewoman from oregon, ms. Bonamici, and a member opposed, will each control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentlewoman from oregon. Ms. Bonamici thank you, mr. Chair. The amendment im offering with my colleague, representative susan davis, strengthens coordination between subsidized ployment through the temporary assistance for needy families, tanf programs, and the federal Work Study Program. The goal of the accelerating individuals into the work force act is to help lowincome individuals gain the experience and skills necessary for longterm success in the work force and access to familysustaining wages. Yet, studies of the longterm effect of shortterm subsidize employment programs demonstrate differing outcomes which is why im glad you included robust reporting in the underlying bill. But we already know the other that other efforts have clear longterm benefits. Adults who attain postsecondary credentials and degrees are much more likely to be employed and much less likely to rely on public assistance. For example, about 90 of young adults who earn a bachelors degree are employed. The employment rate for those who dont complete high school is just 48 . Not surprisingly, the vast majority, approximately 93 of tanf recipients did not attain education beyond high school. Helping more lowincome adults complete postsecondary credential programs and degrees is a proven strategy for reducing reliance on public assistance and promoting selfsufficient households. This is a bipartisan goal. Our amendment advances this goal by helping to give more lowincome parents highquality Work Opportunities while enrolled in postsecondary programs. Currently, the federal Work Study Program provides parttime jobs to students. Studies show those students who are lucky enough to get a federal Work Study Program have a higher Completion Rate and likely work in a position that is aligned with their program of study. The federal work study alone cannot meet the demand for connecting lowincome students with valuable workbased learning opportunities. In fact, only about 2 of Community College students participate in federal work study. The Subsidized Employment Program authorized in the bill were debating today could help address this unmet need and target Additional Support to lowincome student parents. Helping them attain a credential or degree and vastly improving their longterm employment prospects. But administering the Subsidized Employment Program in conjunction with the federal Work Study Program requires coordination among state agencies and Higher Education institutions. Our amendment encourages this coordination, and i encourage members to support it and i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentlelady reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska seek recognition . Mr. Smith mr. Chairman, i rise to claim the time in opposition to the amendment although i am not opposed to the amendment. The chair without objection, the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Smith mr. Chairman, i support this amendment. It requires states to coordinate efforts under this bill with other federal programs designed to help lowincome individuals obtain the necessary skills to enter employment and climb the economic ladder. Our federal welfare system is large, fragmented and growing in cost. The Nonpartisan Congressional Research Service estimates we currently operate over 80 programs that provide food, housing, health care, job training, Energy Assistance and cash to lowincome americans. Reducing bureaucracy and streamlining States Administration of employment and Training Services to lowincome americans is a step in the right direction. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment as well as supporting the underlying bill. With that i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentlewoman from oregon is recognized. Ms. Bonamici thank you, mr. Chair. A number of state programs leverage work study funds to help tanf recipients who are enrolled in Community College programs, meet work requirements and get real world experience and jobs that reinforce what theyre studying. Additionally, the Government Accountability office has recommended improving coordination between employment and Training Programs. And the department of health and Human Services guidelines on helping tanf recipients succeed in Career Pathways makes recommendations for using the federal Work Study Program in conjunction with tanf to boost the attainment of industry recognized credentials. Theres precedent and widespread support for improving the coordination of programs that help lowincome individuals gain Work Experience through subsidized employment. Again, our amendment does not require states to devote funds from tanf Subsidized Employment Programs to lowincome student parents, but it does ask states to consider how theyre using subsidized employment, whether through tanf or federal work study, in concert to give more people the opportunity to earn a Higher Education degree or credential and thereby significantly improved chance at finding a longterm living wage job. I ask my colleagues to support this commonsense amendment, and i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentlelady yields back. The gentleman from nebraska is recognized. Mr. Smith mr. Chairman, again, i ask my colleagues to support this amendment as well as the underlying bill. With that i yield the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentlelady from oregon. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. He amendment is agreed to. Its now in order to consider amendment number 4 printed in house report 115187. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . Mr. Krishnamoorthi mr. Speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 4 printed in house report number 115187 offered by mr. Krishnamoorthi of illinois. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 396, the gentleman from illinois, mr. Krishnamoorthi, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois. Mr. Krishnamoorthi mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. I rise in support of my bipartisan amendment. Id like to thank my good friend, congressman Lloyd Smucker of pennsylvania, in helping me to introduce this amendment. Right now what is being taught in classes doesnt necessarily align with what is needed to get a job. Yesterday, the house passed a bipartisan bill unanimously that would make sure theres stronger alignment and collaboration between career and Technical Education programs and the employers. Is amendment would require states who opt into this Pilot Program expands yesterdays bill to ensure resources are being used as efficiently as possible by guiding students toward the jobs they were trained for. I hope everybody will support passage of our amendment and i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from nebraska is recognized. Mr. Smith mr. Chairman, i rise to claim the time in opposition to the amendment although i am not opposed. The chair without objection, the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Smith mr. Chairman, i support this amendment. This amendment provides further information to ensure we have highquality evaluations, requiring states to measure how many recipients enter employment in the same field they received onthejob training. The more we know about how these programs work and the return on our investments are important when we make decisions down the road. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment as well as the underlying bill, and i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Krishnamoorthi mr. Speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Krishnamoorthi mr. Speaker, i thank the gentleman for your support. I urge all members to support this amendment, and i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from nebraska is recognized. Mr. Smith mr. Chairman, i urge my colleagues to support this amendment as well as the underlying bill and with that i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from illinois is recognized. Mr. Krishnamoorthi i yield back, sir. The chair the gentleman yields back. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from illinois. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. He amendment is agreed to. Mr. Smith mr. Chairman, i ask for a recorded vote. The chair pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from illinois will be postponed. Its now in order to consider amendment number 5 printed in house report 115187. For what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition . Mr. Davidson mr. Speaker, i rise to offer an amendment. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 5 printed in house report 115187 offered by mr. Davidson of ohio. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 396, the gentleman from ohio, mr. Davidson, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from ohio. Mr. Davidson thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to offer an amendment that if enacted would provide Additional Data on the performance and effectiveness of the programs created under h. R. 2842, the accelerating individuals into the work force act. In particular, my amendment would require states to include in their annual reports to health and Human Services department whether individuals who participated in this demonstration project will need additional forms of federal or state assistance after the fact. The data point really shows whether theyre truly independent of the safety net. The most meaningful solution to poverty is a job. I believe the data outlined in my amendment will further help Congress Measure the performance of this program in the scope that should apply to all our nations welfare programs, placing people into meaningful work and helping them and their families achieve selfsufficiency. We need this data to ensure the project is truly working. When i worked in manufacturing, data was vital component to solving problems. It showed me what worked best, what failed and most importantly, what needed to be changed, how to get to the root cause. The same science applies to solving problems here into this program. Too often we measure success of our safety net programs based on dollars spent rather than effectiveness. Fixing our welfare system is a sentiment shared by both sides of the aisle. This is a bipartisan bill, and i believe this legislations a great step forward. Additionally, our office has been working on another bill, the welfare brack act, which would create a Bipartisan Commission to review the 90plus meanstested programs that spend nearly 850 billion a year. I hope one day to have a vote on that bill just as we are having one on this today. We need more deeds and not just words. This bill is a great step forward in solving the problem. Theres widespread agreement on both sides of the aisle that our safety net is not accomplishing all it needs to. And if enacted, my amendment would help us here in congress identify new methods to help our nations most vulnerable by getting them into the workplace. It is crucial that everyone has an equal opportunity to engage in our communities and contribute by earning Financial Independence through the dignity of work. I urge my colleagues to vote in support of my amendment, and i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . Mr. Davis i rise to claim the time in opposition to this amendment. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Thank you, mr. Chairman. This amendment would require states to collect and report information thank you, on wheth participants were receiving related assistance like health insurance, childcare assistance, School Lunches or supplemental nutrition assistance program, or snap benefits. Or perhaps even the earned income tax credit. The information the amendment requests is not relevant to what were trying to learn from these demonstration projects. Which is whether different approaches improve earnings and employment. Asking for it is an invasion of the privacy of the individuals with no research benefit. Collecting this information also seems burdensome. For states and would likely require them to ask participating employers to ask their employees inappropriate personal questions that they would not ask of any other employee. Most importantly, i am concerned that requiring states to collect information on these important work supports would make some states think that they are supposed to discourage participants from accessing these supports. Both research and common sense clearly tell us that access to supports like childcare systems, health care, and wage supplements that pay for transportation and other work expenses make it more likely that individuals will succeed in work. We should do nothing that might discourage states from providing these supports to help workers succeed. Or e should do nothing to might cause individuals to not make use of what is available to them. I urge my colleagues to vote no on this amendment. And i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from ohio is recognized. Mr. Davidson i yield two minutes to the gentleman from nebraska. The chair the gentleman from nebraska is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Smith thank you, mr. Chairman. I thank mr. Davidson for his efforts as well. I support this amendment. I hope that we can evaluate all of the programs that we have to coordinate among them and to learn more about their effectiveness and ultimately, ultimately respect folks in need and do all we can that is appropriate to help lift themselves out of poverty. With that, mr. Chairman, i yield back. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from ohio reserves. The gentleman from ohio is recognized. Mr. Davidson thank you, mr. Chairman. I again just urge my colleagues to vote yes for this. Sunlight brings truth. Truth will set you free. My hope is truth will set folks free from the trap that many people find in multigenerational poverty. We really, truly want to help solve the problem and get the information that will help us make our systems work effectively. With that i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. It those in favor say aye. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed say no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. Mr. Davis mr. Speaker, i request the yeas and nays. The chair does the gentleman ask for a recorded vote . Mr. Davis yes. The chair pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from ohio will be postponed. It is now in order to consider amendment number 6 printed in house report 115187. For what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Mr. Khanna i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 6 printed in house report number 115187. Offered by mr. Khanna of california. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 396, the gentleman from california, mr. Khanna, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from california. Mr. Khanna thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, i rise today in support of h. R. 2842, the accelerating individuals into the work force act. I would like to thank the sponsors of the bill, the gentleman from florida, representative curbelo, and the gentleman from illinois, mr. Representative sessions. This bipartisan bill will assist lowincome individuals by helping some of our most needy americans to enter the work force and maintain their employment. I believe one of the Top Priorities for congress is to help our middle class, to create wealth in the middle class and to help wages of the 50 of americans who havent had a wage raise since 1980. Many americans have seen falling incomes which have left working families behind. My amendment is simple. The ds a requirement for many secretary of the department of health and Human Services to measure the effect that training and credentialing has on the recipients of helped by this bill. The public report and recommendations to congress are already mandated by the original bill. This amendment will not affect the overall cost. There is a body of Research Demonstrating that providing education and training makes people more likely to obtain good jobs and increase their wages. They are more likely to stay employed. The projects funded by this bill provide a great opportunity to add to this research so we can know how to tanf recipients and other unemployed workers. I want to thank the gentlewoman from washington, representative for her dell bean ts delbene, for her work. It requires one of the demonstration projects must be an Apprenticeship Program. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support my amendment that seeks to add information that can be used to modernize our job training, credentialing, and Apprenticeship Program to match employment with our current job openings. I yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska seek recognition . Mr. Smith i rise to claim the time in opposition to the amendment although i am not opposed. The chair without objection. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Smith mr. Chairman, i support this amendment. This amendment simply requires that the high quality evaluations include mesh shurements on how many recipients participated in an apprentice or Career Pathway program and any credentials earned along the way. Earn and learn models, those where an individual is getting is onthejob experience, earning a wage and new occupational skills are the best types of Work Force Development models the government can support. Apprenticeships in particular ovide a combination of occupational on the job training and related instruction, helping to improve worker training and address critical skill gaps that align of industry. We know that the best way out of poverty is through work and apprenticeships provide a pathway to obtaining of industr we know a successful career. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment as well as the yield ng bill w that i back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from california. So many as are in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The amendment is agreed. To agreed to. It is now yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The in order to consider amendment number 7 printed in house report number 115187. For what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition . Mr. Kilmer i have an amendment at the desk. The chair the clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 7 printed in house report number 115187, offered by mr. Kilmer of washington. The chair pursuant to House Resolution 396, the gentleman from washington, mr. Kilmer, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. Mr. Kilmer thanks, mr. Chairman. I yield myself such time as i may consume. The chair the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Kilmer thanks, mr. Chairman. Im here this morning to talk about the biggest thing on the minds of the folks that i represent, and thats jobs. Im glad that were having a discussion today about how to help people land a job that they can be proud of. Whether out of v. F. W. Or a county fair, in a lot of parts of the region that i represent this is the concern that i hear more than anything else. Todays bill would help people who are looking for work acguire skills that help them land a bigger paycheck and a better career. And im glad to offer an the fellow th member of the bipartisan working group, representative valadao torques make sure that the bill thats passed does good for Rural Communities and for our tribal partners as well. I know the fellow member of the firsthand the cha that small towns across america are facing. I grew number a timber town in Washington State and watched some of the parents of my friends and some of my neighbors lose their jobs as mills shut down. These men and women are the hardworking americans that want work, and they want training, and they want careers. And in short they want a shot at a better life. And thats what this bill will do and i really commend mr. Curbelo and mr. Davis for bringing it forward. With their amendment we can make sure that shot is extended to all communities, no matter their zip code. Our amendment directs the connect of health and Human Services to take a look at how to address employment challenges in rural areas and those challenges facing members of federally recognized native american tribes. It directs the secretary then to provide recommendations to congress on what fixes actually work best. When it comes to providing the training to get folks into quality jobs, we want to make sure were not flying blind. Our amendment makes sure we have all the information we need to make the right decisions and give folks who want a quality job a shot. With that i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman reserves. For what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska rise . Mr. Smith i rise to claim time in opposition to the amendment although i am not opposed. The chair without objection, the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Smith i support this amendment. The first hearing i pelled held as chairman of the ways and means subcommittee on Human Resources was on the geography of poverty. People often think of poverty only as they see it in cities, not realizing poverty today is more common than ever in suburban and even rural areas. People also underestimate poverty in rural and remote areas not knowing the rates of poverty in these areas have for decades been higher than in urban areas. This amendment ensures the secretary steak into account rural areas and Indian Tribes when making recommendations on how to address employment related challenges. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment as well as support the underlying bill. With that i reserve the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman eserves. The gentleman from washington is recognized. Mr. Kilmer the gentleman from washington is recognized. Mr. Kilmer thank you, chairman. I claim the pal of my time. I thank the gentleman for his support and thank representatives curbelo and davis for their work on the underlying bill and the cooperation of mr. Valadao for working to address this challenge. With that i yield back the balance of my time. And urge adoption of the amendment. The chair the gentleman yields. The gentleman from nebraska is recognized. Mr. Smith mr. Chairman, again i urge my colleagues to support this amendment and the underlying bill. With that i yield back the balance of my time. The chair the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from washington. So many as are in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the aye vs. It. The amendment is agreed to. Ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. Pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, proceedings will now resume on those amendments printed in house report 115187 on which further proceedings were postponed in the following order. Amendment number 4 by mr. Krishnamoorthi of illinois, amendment number five by mr. Davidson of ohio. The chair will reduce to two minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote after the first vote series. The Unfinished Business is on the request for recorded vote on amendment number 4 printed in house report 115187, by the gentleman from illinois, mr. Krishnamoorthi, in which further proceedings were postponed and which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. The clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 4 printed in house report number 115187, offered by mr. Krishnamoorthi of illinois. The chair a recorded vote has been requested. Those in support of the request for recorded vote will rise and be counted. A sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. Members will record their votes by electronic device. His will be a 15minute vow. 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 chair on this vote the yeas are 380. The nays are 32. He amendment is adopted. For what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska seek to be recognized . Mr. Smith i move the committee do now rise. The chair the question is on the motion that the committee rise. So many as are in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have t the motion is adopted. Accordingly, the committee rises. The chair the committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under onsideration the bill the speaker pro tempore the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the Union Reports the committee has der consideration h. R. 2842, and has come to no resolution thereon. The house will be in order. The house will be in order. Members please take members and staff take your conversations off the floor. The speaker the chair wishes to reiterate the announcement of the february 25, 2015 concerning the floor practice. Members should periodically rededicate themselves to the Core Principles of proper parliamentary practice that are so essential in maintaining order and delib bracy here in the house. The chair wishes to emphasize these points. Members should refrain from trafficking in the well when another, including the presiding officer, is addressing the house. Members should wear appropriate business attire during all sittings of the house, however rief their appearance on the floor may be. Members must refrain from engaging in still photography or audio or video recording or streaming in the floor may be. Members must chamber. Members violating this rule may be subject to fines. Members should address their remarks and debate to the presiding officer and not to others in the sec person or to some perceived viewing audience. The chair wishes to stress. Forts to reduce voting times order. As a reminder, members should attempt to come to the floor within the 15minute vote period as prescribed by the irst ringing of the bells. As a point of courtesy to your colleagues, voting within the alopted time would help with the maintenance of this institution. Members are further reminded that the policy is to not terminate a vote when the member is in the well attempting to cast a vote but other efforts to hold the vote open are not similarly protected. Following these basic standards of practice will foster an atmosphere of mutual and institutional respect. It will ensure against personal confrontation among individual members or between members and the prosiding officer, able to facilitate comprehensive of and participation in the business of the house and ensure the comity that has spirited deliberations above mere arguments. In other words, follow the rules. The chair appreciates the attention of the members to these matters. Pursuant to House Resolution 396 and 187, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of h. R. 2842. Will the gentleman from michigan, mr. Mitchell, kindly esume the chair . The chair the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of h. R. 2482 which the clerk will report by title. The clerk a bill to provide for the conduct of demonstration projects to test the effectiveness of subsidized. Ployment for tanf recipients the chair when the committee of the whole rose earlier today, amendment number 4 printed in house report 115187 offered by the gentleman from illinois, mr. Kris mortgagey, had been dis krishnamoorthi, had been disposed of. The Unfinished Business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment number 5 printed in house report 115187 by the gentleman from ohio, mr. Davidson, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the ayes prevailed by voice vote. The clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk will redesignate the amendment. The clerk amendment number 5 printed in house report 115187 offered by mr. Davidson of ohio. The chair a recorded vote has been requested. Those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. A sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This will be a twominute 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 chair on this vote the yeas are 264 and the nays are 147. The amendment is adopted. The question is on the amendment in the nature of a substitute, as amended. Those in favor, please say aye. Those opposed, say no. The ayes have it. The amendment is adopted. Accordingly, under the rule the committee rises. The speaker pro tempore mr. Chairman. The chair mr. Speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union had had under consideration h. R. 2842 and pursuant to House Resolution 396 reports the bill back to the house with an amendment adopted in the committee of the whole. The speaker pro tempore the committee of the whole house on the state of the Union Reports the committee has had under consideration the bill h. R. 2842, and pursuant to House Resolution 396 reports the bill back to the house with an amendment adopted in the committee of the whole. Under the rule the previous question is ordered. Is a separate vote demanded on any amendment to the amendment reported from the committee of the whole . If not, the question is on adoption on the amendment in the nature of a substitute, as amended. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed will say no. The ayes have it. The amendment is agreed to. The question is on 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 provide for the conduct of demonstration projects to test the effectiveness of subsidized mployment for tanf recipients. The speaker pro tempore the question is on passage of the bill. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. Mr. Speaker, i ask for the yeas and nays. The speaker pro tempore the yeas and nays are requested. Those favoring a 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. 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 378. The nays are 33. The speaker pro tempore on this vote the yeas are 377. The nays are 34. The bill is passed. Without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. For what purpose does the gentleman from florida, mr. Curbelo, seek recognition . Mr. Curbelo mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today it adjourn to meet on monday, june 26, 2017, 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 now entertain requests for oneminute peeches. The speaker pro tempore without objection. So ordered. Mr. Speaker, its been a generation or two since the horrors of communism were routinely on the news and mentioned in our schools. People killed running for freedom from east to west berlin, the soviet unions gulag designed to crush dissent nd the human spirit, and maos brutal rule in red china that killed millions. The house is not in order. The speaker pro tempore the house needs to come to order. Take your conversations into the hallway, please. You are recognized. Mr. Ruth fuss this week a new generation of americans witnessed the bar bear bar bear i haddy of the evil of communism. I extend my condolences to the family of otto wambier. Hey the speaker pro tempore can we please have order in the house. Take your conversations off the floor, please. You are recognized. Mr. Ruth fuss i extend my condolences to the family and friends to otto wambier. The north korean thugs may believe his torture and death empowers them. They are wrong. President reagan foretold communism will end up on the ash heap of history and that is where kim is headed. But otto has a different legacy. One of ottos friends told me his spirit could not be crushed and unlike the communist thugs of north korea, autos spirit will live on, especially in those who loved him. Mr. Speaker, north korea must be held accountable for ottos death and other transgressions. Last month the house passed the korean interdiction and modernization of saxes act. The senate should pass this legislation and get it to the president quickly so we can begin to put maximum pressure on this outlaw regime. I thank the speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition . To address the house for one minute. Revise and extend. The speaker pro tempore you are recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to recognize an Accelerator Laboratory which celebrated its 50th anniversary last week. Built on the prairies of illinois under the leadership of its first director, robert wilson, this national lab performs sut cuttingedge research and physics to help us understand the fundamental properties of matter. Mr. Foster it is where i spent most of my career. The discoveries made in the labs first 50 years will remain in the science textbooks forever. Experiments at the lab discovered three of the fundamental components of matter, the nutrino top. The top quark, the heaviest top form of matter. Unfortunately the republican Budget Proposal of the Trump Administration threatens the legacy of the lab and National Labs and scientific facilities throughout the country. Mr. Speaker, Scientific Research not like highway buildings that can turn on and off in any fiscal year. Scientific teams and facilities that can take generations to build can be wiped out in a single budget cycle by having their funding cut. Mr. Speaker, i call upon you and your colleagues to show us a budget that will maintain our countrys leadership in science and technology because destroying our scientific facilities is no way to make America Great again. Thank you. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise . Mr. Thompson mr. Speaker, request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. Revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection, are you recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, yesterday this house unanimously approved the strengthening and career Technical Education for the 21st century act, to give americans mr. Speaker, yesterday this house who enter force the skills they need to succeed. I was proud to sponsor that bill with congressman krishnamoorthi. It will help all americans across all sectors and industries because all education is career education. As chairman of the Agriculture Nutrition subcommittee i wanted to talk about food service careers. Earlier this spring hi the opportunity to visit the d. C. Central kitchen right here in our nations capital. D. C. Central kitchen feeds the most vulnerable among us, but it fights hunger differently t offers skillsbased education, empowerment, and Career Opportunities that allow people to finally be free from hunger and poverty. The c. E. O. There said, you cant feed your way out of poverty. And i wholeheartedly agree. D. C. Central kitchen feeds the hungry but teaches people the skills needed to find employment in the hospitality industry. Thats a c. T. E. Program. Helping people find jobs that pay living wages and obtain lasting careers. Thats something we can all get behind. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from missouri rise . Seek unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, you are recognized for one minute. Mr. Speaker, rise today to recognize the honorable reverend nathaniel dixon. On sunday reverend dixon will be giving his last sermon at st. Stephens United Methodist church. While this sunday may be his last, i have no doubt that the lives he has touched, parishioners, colleagues, neighbors, all of us will continue to uphold the lessons he fought us taught us and will remember the action he has taken over a long and hard fought career. Mr. Espaillat hes a true renaissance man. For 27 years he was a music teacher and later an administrator and also an executive director of the sax rack learning center. D satch mow satchmo, once said musicians dont retire, they just stop when there is no more music in them. Reverend dixon never stopped teaching music and he has incalculated love and passion for the lives of students and parishioners. Music helps, he said, because it is all in them. Thank you for your commitment and willingness to become a leader and a role model for many years to come in new yorks 13th congressional district. We love you and wish you the very best. Thank you. I yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. Revise and extend my remarks. The speaker pro tempore without objection. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Speaker, in texas whether you are two stepping, herding cattle or enjoying bash cue, you rarely find texans without boots. The finest boots in texas were made by houston legend, rocky carroll. This week after a long and colorful life, rocky died. The moment i met rocky i was immediately struck by his swagger. He looked like an old outlaw out of a western movie. He was proud of the fact that he worked 25 years with the Harris County sheriffs department. Through the course of his life, rocky also hand crafted boots for seven president s, celebrities, the queen, the pope, and many others. I once performed a small wedding ceremony for rocky and his new bride, and right before the wedding started, in walked rockys friend, president george h. W. Bush. Rocky knew everybody. Of his e the laws walls shop, which looked like a barn, most of his customers were regular folks like me. Rocky carroll was larger than life and uniquely texan to the core. We will miss our dear friend, boot maker for the president s, boot maker for the stars, and boot maker for regular folks. Thats just the way it is. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise . Missouri, aim soarry. Im sorry. Without objection, you are recognized. Mr. Speaker, sometimes its this well feels like the well of sorrow, such is the case today. I rise to honor crew and selfless Public Servant whose life was tragically taken before his time, mr. Jeffrey anders a. Lifelong resident of mayview, missouri, and a firefighter. Mr. Cleaver was killed in the line of duty on monday, june 19, 2017. I have decided that ill be praying through the weekend and next week for his family. Mr. Jacob was a man who gave a great deal to his community. He was seriously injured also in the same heartbreaking accident. Jeff was wellknown in the Close Knit Community of 200 residents, having been a farmer all his life. He and his wife raised two wonderful children who continue to live in Lafayette County in missouris fifth congressional district. He dedicated much of his time to mayview and its Fire Protection district. He could always be counted on to make a fire call and help someone in need. In all of his activities, he has demonstrated dedication and commitment to the greater good of others. He was actively involved in the mayview lie yones club, the 4h truck, and the odessa f. F. A. Advisory board. Along with his work as a volunteer firefighter with the mayview firefighter district. He also spent time in serving on the mayview special road district. Mr. Speaker, this family has given a great deal and we owe a great deal to them. Thank you. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise . Mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, you are recognized. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise today to congratulate the Donegal Womens Softball Team and their state softball tight. They beat cedar cliff 97, but it wasnt an easy vicktry. Into ailed 73 headed the bottom of the fifth inning but never gave up. They scored six runs that inning to take a 97 lead and never gave that up. This team has been to the state tournament the last four years but obviously this one was special. Donegal head coach said of the season, this was our dream since we lost last year in the semifinals. We wanted to get back here. It was a magical season. A victory like this is the display of years of dedication and hard work. So today i want to congratulate the donegal players, coaches, and staff on this remarkable achievement and let them know how proud were of them. Also like to recognize the families, students, faculty, and fans that supported them along the way. Thank you, mr. Speaker. 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 california rise . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection. You are recognized. Mr. Speaker, i rise today in strong opposition to the recently unveiled Senate Health care repeal legislation. The republicans have shut out the American Public out of their debate and with this bill they aim to shut them out of Affordable Health care too. This bill sets us on a dangerous path backwards, back to a time where Cancer Patients kept out of coverage because the cost of care was too high and to a time where pregnancy could be considered a preexisting condition. Congress must work collaboratively to bring down Insurance Premium costs and Work Together toward insuring every american. But the denying millions access to insurance by repealing protection for individuals with preexisting conditions, fwutting medicaid and threatening to threatening the solvency of of of the Medicare Trust fund all to give the wealthiest americans a tax cut is wrong. I urge my colleagues in the senate to reject this misguided proposal. Mr. Chairman, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from arizona rise . Without objection, you are recognized. Thank you, mr. Speaker. In december, 2010, u. S. Border patrol agent brian terry was killed with a gun traced back to the department of justices operation fast and furious. His family awaits answers. Agent terrys family recently testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that the Obama Administration continually denied efforts to release information about his death. They are calling on President Trump to unseal the records and expose the dirty secrets behind tragic scandal. Its shameful the Trump Administration has been accused of collusion and coverups based n unsourced rumors while president Obamas Administration covered up the ruth about terrys murder. The Obama Administration stone walled congress, investigators, and americans for years and to this day refused to take responsibility for their mistake. It is time for the truth. We have an opportunity to return transparency and trust to our government and i fully support the terry familys request for the records to be unsealed. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the entleman from california rise . Without objection, you are ecognized. Again, thank you, mr. Speaker. During this pride month, i rise today to speak out about the Human Rights Violations occurring in the russian republic of chechnya. It has been reported that in that country, men are kidnapped, detained, tortured and even murdered just because of their sexual orientation. Families have been shamed by these kidnappings and have resorted to take their own sons lives. In april, i, along with 48 other members of the Congress Members of congress, signed and sent a letter to secretary of state tiller will be tillerson asking him to raise this subject with russian officials. Mr. Panetta but but to date, neither secretary tillerson nor president trurp nor anybody else in the administration has taken action on this issue. The United States must speak out about this atrocity and russia must investigate such Human Rights Violations so that there is accountability for an end to the senseless crimes. During this pride month we here in the United States celebrate equality. However every month we must say and act for the men in chechnya as we fight for equality across the globe. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentlewoman from puerto rico rise . Without objection, you are ecognized. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The american citizens of puerto rico overwhelmingly voted to become a state. This is the second time in the past phi years where my constituents have expressed will to join our nation. Soon i will introduce legislation to set forth the terms of admission for the new state of puerto rico. Our people have in war and peace made countless cricks to our nation. They have fought in every conflict since the great war and many have made the ultimate sacrifice. When they do, their casket is country, to this covered with a flag with 50 stars be be but no star for to the represent themful it is hard to serve a country that represents democracy but does not extend that to you. Thank you, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from washington rise . I ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection, you are recognized. Thank you, mr. Speaker. During immigration heritage month, i want to recognize the great spirit and desire for better life that lives within our nations immigrants today and those before them. Americas immigrants have started companies, big and small, contributed to their local communities, and been our friends, family, and neighbors. But our immigration system is broken. It is failing the many children who are brought to the United States outside of their own control and thats why ive sponsored and cosponsthord bridge act which and the recognizing american childrens act to protect these children who only want to live the american dream. I believe, mr. Speaker, that we have to cork together, we must Work Together to pass a longterm Immigration Reform bill that secures our borders, yes, but just as importantly, protects our children, protects workers ies, and the who cant who want nothing more than to be part of this great country and live the american dream. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. For what purpose does the gentleman from wisconsin rise . Without objection, you are recognized. Before eaker, i stood you in this very spot not too long ago urging us to do what the American People want us to do. Not much as changed. Our federal debt continues to approach 20 trillion, our tax code remains broken and burdensome, threats continue to rise abroad and here at home, and by the way, our veterans are still not getting the care they deserve despite progress we have made this week on that issue. From my perspective, this is unacceptable. Despite the fact by congress is not doing the base exjob the American People sent us here to do, in seven weeks well adjourn on a monthlong vacation without a tax code. 30 tais a returning from recess if we dont make hard choices the government may shut down. Cutting our constituents from access to the programs they depend on for their livelihoods. My message is simp simple. Lets work through the august recess because in what over job would you grant yourself a month off if you hadnt gotten your work done. I know we need to get back home an meet with our constituent bus more than anything else i believe our constituents sent us here to do our job to Work Together to fix problems rather than punt them to the next generation. Lets stay here an do the work of the American People. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The chair lays before the house the following personal requests. The clerk leave of absence requested for ms. Gabard of hawaii for today and mr. Lamalfa of california for today. The speaker pro tempore without objection, requests are granted. Under the speakers announced spoifl january 3, 017, the gentleman from oklahoma, mr. Russell, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. Mr. Russell thank you, mr. Speaker. I would like to yield to mr. For a minute. Mr. Gallagher i rise in strong support of this act. Not only is the bill critical to giving workers the skills they need but also to making sure our career and techny education is with the advancements made over the last ecade. Passage of this bill helps close the skills gap and boost Economic Growth by eequipping students with the skills they need to fill the in demand and highskilled jobs in our local economies. Schools in wisconsins eighth district are prepared to lead the way when it comes to closing our countrys skills gap and time to give them the tools they need to do that. Im proud to cosponsor this important piece of Bipartisan Legislation. I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this bill. I yield back the balance of my time. Hank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, solomon, who was often noted as the wisest man in the world, said a soft answer turns away wrath but grievous words stir up anger. Mr. Russell if you were to ask the average american citizen, would they like their elected officials to come to washington and to Work Together, they would all say, of course. They should. Thats what we elect them for. And yet often in our history we mouth tions override the , we raise our voices distrust builds, isolation, results. We dont get to know each other. We dont get to work with one another. We isolate, then a distrust builds, and with distrust then we dont want to hear what either side has to say. Ultimately when we can no longer Exchange Ideas with the deliberateness, then we fall short. Solomon also said that two are better than one for they have a good reward for their labor. If the one fall, the other will lift up. And a threefold chord is not quickly broken. As we look at our mottoes and institutions, we have a phrase, out of many, one. That phrase is not out of one idea. Lets create many. Its just the opposite. One thing that i learned in my time as a soldier in negotiating and dealing with people, groups that literally could not agree to the point that they were shelling and killing each other and each others women and children in their villages as they burn, that even in situations like at, they could find some overlapping circles and some Common Ground in between. The events of the past week are a reminder not just to members of congress who oftentimes we do know each other, we do work with one another, we do serve on committees with one another, and we take great pride in developing those relationships despite our differences. But we have an obligation because as a constitutional representative republic, were a reflection of the people that send us here. And its important that the lawmakers that the American People send to washington to do that work be those that are willing to accommodate, that are willing to assimlate the things that we agree on, because if we cant accommodate and we cant assimlate as i viewed in wartorn battlefields in several different places through a career as an infantry soldier, if you can no longer accommodate or be willing to assimlate certain agreed ideas, then you are left with the third choice which is elimination. The United States has never had that as its pretext. Got close once in a period from about 1820 to 1860. We faced tough times before and come together. And i would hope, mr. Speaker, that got close once in a period take and deem these responsibilities with a lot of convicks, that the American People would take their responsibility to be mindful of the words of solomon. That a soft answer turns away wrath. But grievous words stir up anger. Our country is bigger than any of us. When we leave it, god willing, it will continue on. And the words that are said in this chamber, although recorded, few read as time passes, and as we govern our lives and go about our business, we have to remember the very principles that brought us together as a nation and that i nearly gave my life for in defense. So my hope is as we move in the coming days and weeks that we will work on the things where the circles overlap and we will not negotiate the nonnegotiateables. If we just focus on those things, we will have more than enough work to do to actually get stuff done. And as a message to the merican people, accommodate, listen, dialogue, be kind, be patient. I have seen the worst thing that human beings can do to one another in my lifetime. I have watched friend die on a battlefield. I had to take human life. I have seen horrible, horrific things that no human being should ever do. But were not in that place. We live in freedom, we live in great enjoyment of prosperity where our ideas and our work and our sweat of our brow can go and we can put to good use with great liberty. We have to tone it down. We have to be willing to put others before ourselves. And to listen. I pledge to do that as a member, one of 435 here. I hope the American People will to e to be as committed the United States as we all must be if were to secure the future for our children and grandchildren. One of the things that we often all agree on is efficiency in government. To turn the tone and the topic of the conversation a little bit in a different direction. Efficiency in government, nothing makes us more sad and disappointed than to see hardpaying tax dollars wasted by inefficiency. In my home state of oklahoma, for every Million Dollars the government wastes, we have to have 96 oklahomans work all year long to pay all their taxes so that we can waste it. I have often highlighted these wasteful measures in a series called, waste watch. We just released waste watch number seven where we sadly highlight over 50 billion worth of waste in just one item, and a total of 70 billion worth of waste on a single topic. Thats something that we all care about and that we all want to pay with our taxes, and thats education. For years americans have been paying more and getting less from our educational system. Over the past decade, National High School Student proficiency test scores in math have consistently met the minimum or below. Reading scores for high School Students over the past 20 years have been consistently substandard with a continued downward trend. As test scores remain low, available funding for education is often wasted. He solution is not simply to spend more on education without correcting the habits where the waste can occur. We need to spend our dollars wisely by eliminating educational waste as well as many other forms of waste in government, and push those dollars where they actually count, to our teachers and to our classrooms. Additionally, we have to change the perception that more money spent always equals a better outcome. If that were the case we would be the most efeshent government on the planet. Efficient government on the planet. It is my hope to create the motivation to assist educating americas children. It is not enough to point out the problems. Thats easy. Anyone can be a cynic and critic. But we must Work Together to fix them so that we can make our nation stronger. Education is vital to our children and our future. What are some of these things were talking about . How about this one . Researchers at the esteemed Harvard University spent 3 million to study if people were able to smell an unpleasant odor in their urine after eating asparagus. Also known as asparagus pee. According to the research. The research was funded through a Research Grant from the National Institute of health with your tax dollars. The n. I. H. Uses federal tax dollars to fund its research and receive 30 billion in 2016. The n. I. H. s Mission Statement is to, quote, enhance health, extend healthy lives, and reduce the burdens of illness and disability, end quote. We would all agree with that. Its good to try to fix problems with disease, fight the common cold, cure cancer, cure alzheimers all those things. The n. I. H. Has conducted lifesaving research in the past and giving Broad Authority how to spend the 30 billion and now we see waste. The n. I. H. Funds Research Grants to universities and much of the n. I. H. s fund something well justified and leads to lifesaving research. Funding a study that doesnt explore the possible Health Benefits of eating asparagus only if there is an odor after eating it does not fit into any mission of the n. I. H. Its akin to the taxpayers money being flushed down the oilet. This particular study was the grant provided by the n. I. H. To harvards t. H. Chen school of public health. Its purpose was to discover whether people could smell an asparagus effect. Researchers at harvard received more than 3 million in 2016 to survey grant provided by the n. I. H. To harvards t. H. Chen school of public 6,909 peo american descent to find if these peoples urine smelled funny after eating asparagus and the results were published in the british medical journal. It concluded, quote, a large proportion of individuals of European American dissent cannot smell any effect. 60 of the people surveyed, 58 of men and 62 of women stated that they could not smell any ure nary metabolites produced after asparagus consumption. However, a reporter for the National Public radio, stated that this report on this study, that 4,161 people were, quote, confused by even the question. You think . We didnt need to waste 3 million or have 260 oklahomans work all year long to see if there was some effect in this madness. Mr. Speaker, do you want to waste 2 billion, then give it to the Veterans Administration. In 2008, Congress Passed the post 9 11 g. I. Bill updating the g. I. Bill for 1944, creating new benefits for Service Members like myself, such as lengthening the Expiration Date following separation from the armed forces or retirement. And offering Living Expenses as well as tuition. Another change made the benefits paid directly to the school of choice for the veteran, and heres where it began to go awry. Initially benefits from the g. I. Bill were paid directly to the Service Member for them to decide how and where to invest in their own education. Makes sense. They were responsible enough to defend our republic, they can probably handle the funds. As they had for decades before. This change now comes with a litany of problems. An audit conducted from 2013 to 2014 by the office of the Inspector General for the u. S. Department of Veterans Affairs found that a 13 error rate in payments by the Veterans Benefit Administration to schools of choice for Service Members had occurred. To conduct this audit the o. I. G. Looked into 650 payments for 225 students to 50 schools and they found 128,000 in improper payments. Eight students who withdrew from their classes still received 2,400 in stipends and this money was never recovered. Extrap plating these numbers to the full class of students, the office of the Inspector General estimated that over five years the Veterans Administration would process about 205 million in improper payments. And you see it continue to go on and waste 2. 2 billion. We can do better. We must do better. We must do better by our veterans. We must do better so that we do for llow peoples appetite nonexistent Government Funds to continue to be consumed. Were a nation that is 20 trillion in debt. How many of you, if you came and, i ask you, hey, could i have 100 and you said sure. I said ok, but great. Its going to cost you 105 because im going to charge you 5 to take your 100. Wouldnt that wouldnt that be pretty much absurd and in your face . Yet thats exactly what we do with a Popular Program called the pell Grant Program. The pell grant was created in the 1980s and has since become the basic mechanism for the federal government to assist lower income families with Higher Education costs. The legislation mandates that students receiving the funds must be admitted and enrolled in an institution of higher learning. Fine. While the pell grant provides great opportunity for students who might not otherwise be able to attend college, something we all think is good, we waste comes from a stipulation within the law that requires the federal government to pay a fee to give away their money. The 5 payment goes directly to participating schools and is intended to help offset the cost of the pell grant. So we let institutions of igher learning charge a fee to accept your money, the taxpayers. While its true that are administrative costs voed, schools should accept the cost as part of doing business as they would if there were no pell grant and it was your hardearned money as you were supporting one of your children in college. Those fees would be ncorporated within that same 1,000. From 20 for the 2015 and 2016 year, the mechanics mum pell grant available was roughly 5,775. Based on the latest reports from the u. S. Department of education for the same year or for the year prior, the nations taxpayers provided 30 billion to eight Million Students. The average pell grant received of students is 3,00. That all sounds good. Well, while 5 doesnt seem significant when you put that 5 toward eight Million Students you can see where the problem is. Its an unnecessary, arbitrary and should be fee that should be disallow and we need to restore it so that colleges and institutions do not scoop something off the top. But people say well we have our administrative costs, we have overhead, we have our infrastructure, we have all these things we have to do. Yes, thats why we have allowed for decades the tax exempt endowments. So that as the endowments accrue wealth and they grow, they use those resources to sustain the infrastructure on the university. 20 trillion in debt. It would be great as we could not pay our bills we go to our next door neighbor and say, im short on my electric bill, can you help me, or i need help on my house payment this month, let me just get it from you. Our neighbors would not take kindly to that. And yet we are allowing these institutions who have the endowed wealth, who have all theable to do the infrastructure and yet what happens . They continue to waste money with administrative fees that only have increased by 300 since 1976. Heres another one for you. How many of you would donate to a charity that had a 52 administrative overhead . No takers . Didnt think. So and yet thats exactly what you do when you have the National Science foundation put forth Research Grants that were designed to help people in their health and fighting disease and many other things. The average fee that universities and institutions charge back to the federal government for these Research Grants is 52 . That borders on the immoral. A practice in Higher Education grant making that is not widely known or understood by the American Public is this pracktoifs charging indirect cost as a part of a grant. So for example, 1 million coming to a university for research, were all excited about that, help ours community, did you know that that university in turn will scoop on average 52 off of the top. Typical grant has direct costs and we all understand that as they put forth their budget. And they will list it with such things as researchers salaries, fine. Travel associated with research. Understood. But beyond that, universities are able to claim under our insane laws that additional funds in the form of indirect costs are needed for infrastructure of the institution and its our responsibility as taxpayers to support that. Never mind that taxfree endowments were designed specifically for that purpose and already exist that they could use but they never touch that wealth they never touch that accrued wealth they never touch that accrued interest. The office of management and budget defines indirect cost as expenses an organization incurs indirectly and they get to define what that is. What does it translate to . Rather than pick on harvard, lets pick on the big 12. Well start with the university of oklahoma. Charging the government for indirect costs is expensive and unfortunately a common practice among institutions of higher learning. Here are the indirect costs for the schools in the big 12. Im sure theyre not the only ones. This is a nationwide epidemic to the tune of 55 billion. Thats billion, with a b. Even in washington, d. C. , that is real money. University of oklahoma adds a 55 surcharge to its research on campus. Oklahoma state university, 45 . And 54 surcharge for Instruction Grant projects. The university of texas, 56 . We have a winner. Texas tech, 49 . Texas christian, 54 . Baylor, 38 . Theyre a little more economical but its still nearly 40 of waste. University of kansas charges a surcharge of 51. 5 . Kansas state, 5 , west virginia, 50 . Iowa state, 52 , the median average. Higher education officials rarely talk about it when and when confronted with it they will with straight faces and degrees of education argue that this waste is absolutely essential for them to continue to do. A recent George Washington University Student newspaper article revealed a Higher Education officials thoughts about indirect cos when he overtly referred to them as, you got it, subsidies. He let it slip. Maybe freudian, we dont know. The George Washington hatchet quoted lea chalupa, that, quote, research is bringing in money to the university. However, cha lieu pa is not just referring however chalupa is not just referring to direct dollars needed for research. We all agree with need red search. But what we dont agree with is the indirect, more than half, plundering of what the dollars were designed and intended to do. Lets switch to something that we should do to try to incentivize people to improve their educational experience. Sound confusing . It is. To the tune of 7 billion that was wasted, few americans will argue that the nations schools do not need improvement. We would all say they do. Whether one look at test scores or compares american outcomes with other nations, it is easy to see that many of our k through 12 schools are languishing. One recent report evaluated testing outcomes from American Students against other industrialized nations and americas students finished 17th out of 34. Not something to be proud of. This led president obama to direct more money at the issue like so many previous president s before him rather than looking at the underlying systemic concerns. Its not the amount of money, its the habit that is being created. While increasing funding can be a component of a solution, it is often not the most vital of the components. Without proper policy driving the expenditures, the money spent can become one more example of how inefficient federal intervention in anything can be. President obamas department of education directed 7 billion to a program known as the School Improvement grants program to which the department of energy named the 21st Century Community centers. Funds were directed to states with instructions to that the funds should be directed to the underperforming schools. The measures used to identify underperforming schools were Graduation Rates and readiness scores in reading and mathematic. Thensecretary of education arne duncan said we could move the needle, lift the bottom and change the lives of underserved children, end quote. Something all of us would agree on. The School Improvement Grant Program built on the race to the top efforts undertaken in the Bush Administration and the Obama Administration efforts doubled the funds for the pral. The department of education described the purpose of the 21st Century Community learning centers in the following way. This Program Supports the creation of Community Learning centers that provide academic enrichment opportunities during nonschool hours for children, particularly those who attend high poverty and lowperforming schools. All of these sound laudable. However, according to a report released by the department of energy a few days before the end of president Obamas Administration, test scores, Graduation Rates and College Enrollment were no different from those who had received the funds from School Improvement grants as those who did not 7 billion. Gone. Washington post article detailing the report detailed a fellow at the American Enterprise institute, quote, think of what all that money could have been spent on instead, end quote. Instead 7 billion was spent without injury oversight or careful oversight whatsoever. Congress must reexamine the role of the the role of the federal government in education because what is being done now doesnt work. Billions upon billions of dollars. How about if we cant solve it through 7 billion wasting and trying to make people feel good about education how about we just get them moving so we can fight obesity and then cut down on diabetes, disease, and other things. Sounds good. Lets talk about that. In 2010, with the assistance of first Lady Michelle obama, the lets move project began with the hope of reducing Childhood Obesity in america. S that real problem in oklahoma. We have one of the largest obesity rates at all of the states. The program costing as much as focused on r year impressing on children the importance of exercise and bringing healthy meals to schools. At first it appears it produced results. In 2008 u. S. Childhood obese tie rates were around 16. 2 . During the next three yearsing 1 states saw the rates begin a modest decline, in some states by 5 this could be attributed to the effectiveness of the program or a cultural change in how people view health choices. And how they view their eating habits. But it should be noted regardless that this decline was already begun by the time the lets move program was enacted. Overall, and sadly, in the late etc. Statistics, u. S. Childhood obesity rates did not cle decline and in fact have risen to 17. 2 in the last tatistical year. There are, many, many things we can continue to go on and talk about in waste. Lets end with this one. Want people to eat healthy, eat fruits and vegetables, something that sounds good . How many of you would be influenced by people dressing up like fruit of the loom in outfits like green beans, grapes, tomatoes an going to College Campuses and then just seing the sight of these people wearing these costumes, go, you know, i think i need to eat some grapes or vegetables. Thats what this program did and wasted 14. 7 million of your money. Its called the get frooved project. Not making it up. Not only did this program waste 14. 7 million, its still being funded by your tax dollars. U. S. Department of agriculture awarded 4. 9 million a year for this initiative, led by students and researchers at four American University the university of tennessee, south dakota, west virginia, and university of florida. The froove website reports its goals are our students are our best teachers. This is why we have students peer monitoring students helping them live a healthier life in their first year of college that includes dressing up in these outfits. 14. 7 million. There are things that the federal government has responsibility for an there are things it does not. Abraham lincoln said it best in a paraphrase, where he said, the things that we can do ourselves, the government ought not to interfere. The things we cannot do collectively, the government might have a role. We know the government may have a role in education, certainly with Education Funding and helping our facilities and our institutions. However, we do not need to waste 70 billion. Imagine what that could do. We will never change this idea if the American People do not demand of us to stop such madness and waste. That when people come and they, with straight faces and ph. D. s argue for dressing up in outfits, we have to push back on that and say, 20 trillion in debt. A weakened military. Roads and bridges that are falling down. And infrastructure that needs improvement. Modernization in our skies for the federal aviation administration. So many areas that the government truly does have a function and role. We will never get to it with asparagus urine studies and dressing up as fruit and vegetables. Mr. Speaker, my hope is that all of us as americans can find those overlapping circles and fight this absolute absurdity of waste in government. Be responsible with the american tax dollars, and sustain our Great Republic for the future of our children. Thank you, mr. Speaker. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. Under the speakers announced spoil of january 3, 2017, the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Poe, for 30 minutes. Mr. Poe thank you, mr. Speaker. When our forces invaded afghanistan in 2001, the goal was simple. Remove the terrorist group, the taliban government that sheltered the plotters of the 9 11 attacks on america. And destroy al qaeda, a terrorist group. This was a nato operation. A little history is in order. The United States was attacked, the member nations of nato agreed that that was an attack on one nation, and nato agreed to retaliate to the terrorist attack under article 5 of of the nato agreement. Article 5 has been talked about recently in the press. So what happened was, these 28 nations, nato, went into afghanistan, a haven for terrorists, who sought to attack and kill americans. That was 16 years ago. This is the longest war in American History and yet it is still going on. So lets examine how all of this is taking place and lets center on one nation, pakistan. And their role in all of this. The taliban, since that attack, waged insurgency in afghanistan, neighbor to pakistan, creating a perfect condition for terrorists to exploit in afghanistan and spread that terrorist activity to other parts of the world. The taliban and al qaeda have launched many of their attacks in afghanistan from their neighbor, pakistan. Recently a taliban sneak attack killed more than 160 afghan soldiers, prompting the defense minister and army chief of staff to resign. But the taliban, a terrorist group, doesnt just stage attacks, they seize territory. The special Inspector General for the afghan reconstruction said in january that 172 afghan districts are controlled, influenced, and contested by the taliban. Al qaeda has a listening history and loyalty to the taliban. Two terrorist groups working together. Osama bin laden swore his allegiance to the talibans leader, mue la omar even before the 9 11 attack on the United States. When lane was killed in pakistan, amman al zawari renewed that oath and cemented ties between al qaeda and the taliban. So wherever the taliban is, youll see that al qaeda is not far behind. So since 2010, the United States incorrectly blamed or claimed that al qaeda had just a little small presence in the country limbed to only 50 or 100 fighters. Well, we know now that that is absolutely incorrect. Then in 2015, the shocking u. S. Raid in afghanistan uncovered a massive al qaeda Training Camp for terrorists. Rounding up over 150 al qaeda terrorist activity individuals. This was more fighters than the u. S. Claimed existed in the entire country. By the end of last year, u. S. Officials announced 250 al qaeda terrorists were killed or captured in 2016. The point here is, the United States intelligence has been wrong about the activity of terrorists in pack stadge and in pakistan and afghanistan. But were getting it right now. Along with al qaeda in afghanistan, we have another terrorist group, i should have brought a chart to list all of this, the yakani network. Who are these folks . Its another terrorist group linked to al qaeda and taliban, and the akani network is responsible for more american deaths in the region than any of the other terrorists i have already mentioned. The Network Attacks inside afghanistan and they have been directly traced back to pakistan. All roads to terror lead to pakistan. In fact, in 2011, admiral mike mullen, chairman of the u. S. Joint chiefs of staff, testified to the senate, quote, the akani network has acts as a veritable arm of pakistans inner Services Intelligence agency. What is that . That is the military arm of the Pakistan Government. Working with terrorist groups throughout the world. Pakistan has ties to about every terrorist group in afghanistan and we know that the Taliban Terrorist Group is based out of pakistan. It came to no surprise when the u. S. Drone strike killed the leader of the taliban in 2016, guess where he was . He was in pakistan, hiding out. So there is a laundry list of pakistan support for terrorist groups. And i think a little more history is in order because this activity by pakistan has been going on for years, has been below the radar and lets list some of the counts of the indictment against pakistan and their terrorist activity. Ets go back to 1980, pakistan actively assisted countries like north korea, iran and libya. Where are we today . Iran, the number one state sponsor of terror in the world got some of its nuclear ability from pakistan. North korea, on the other side of the globe, guess what . They are developing Nuclear Capability and trace some of their roots for their science back to pakistan. The since 1980, pakistan has provided a safe haven and ani t for the ha q a network. And since the 1980s, pakistan s hosted multiple madrasas that indoctrinate pakistani young that join radical groups, that is a nice way of saying terrorist groups. One group that received millions of dollars has so many prominent terrorists that it has the name of the university of jihad. Ill continue. Since 1990, pakistan has supported terrorist groups in and r, called the l. E. T. Other terrorist groups in its proxy war with india. These groups have carried out attacks inside india such as the 2001 attack against the indian parliament. Since the 1990s, pakistani has allowed those terrorist groups to openly fund raise. And pakistan provided trainers, intelligence and Material Support for the Afghan Taliban. Specific terrorist group that operates in afghanistan based in akistan. Pakistan has forged an alliance. And the former head of pakistans i. S. I. Is called the father of the taliban. Pakistan Nuclear Scientists met with senior al qaeda, leadership to discuss the terrorist groups desire to acquire nuclear technology. In 1998, several pakistani officers were killed in an al qaeda Training Camp by the United States. Well, what were they doing there . They were training the al qaeda and terrorist activity. This was retaliation by the u. S. Or the Africa Embassy bombing. 2001, pakistan i. S. I. Helped revive the taliban after it was defeated by the United States in the northern alliance. While pakistan is fighting the pakistani taliban, it allows the Afghan Taliban or what it refers to as the good taliban to operate freely in its territory. Let me try to explain this. There is the pakistani taliban, operating in pakistan. The Pakistan Government goes after those people because they are causing crimes in pakistan. But there is the Afghan Taliban that operates out of pakistan that is supported by i. S. I. And works in afghanistan to kill nato forces, including america. Pakistan says, oh, we are going after terrorists. They are only going after those terrorists that operate in their country against pakistanis, not terrorist groups that operate in other parts in the world against america. After the u. S. Invasion in pakistan in 2001, Osama Bin Laden and many senior Al Qaeda Leaders fled to pakistan. Many of them are still there. Pakistan facilitates arms purchases for al qaeda as the war continued. Since 2004, eight major terrorist plots against western countries were planned in pakistan. 2008, the g. A. O. , the folks that take care of our money found that the Pakistan Government may have falsified claims for providing support to the United Statesled military operation. What does that mean . We give the Pakistan Government to help their military supposedly go after terrorists. And they give us back vouchers to say this is what we did. Well, our government went through these vouchers and found that pakistan they lied about this. They were asking for money for an activity that never occurred. So they tried to cheat the American People on these reimbursements. And theres more, november, 2008, l. E. T. Conducted the mumbai attack in india that killed more than 160 people with pakistani assistance. L. E. T. Is a terrorist group. 2009, taliban leader who had begun peace negotiations with the Afghan Government was arrested by pakistan authorities for negotiating a peace talk because pakistan did not want and does not want peace in afghanistan. 2010, pakistani intelligence is believed to have leaked the the identity of an america cant c. I. A. Intelligence chief based in pakistan. He had to flee the country. 2010, pakistan closed the nato supply route into afghanistan for one week in response to natos helicopter strike that killed three pakistani soldiers. Documents leaked in 2010 revealed direct meetings between i. S. I. And the taliban to organ or chest trait attacks on american soldiers in afghanistan. That was in 2010. Ill continue. The terrorist perpetrator of the 2010 attempted car bombings in times square, thats in the United States, was known to have undergone weapons training in pakistan. 2011, Osama Bin Laden, we all know who he was, the number one terrorist in the world history, well, he was found and killed outside of pakistans version of west point. In other words, you have a military installation and you have Osama Bin Laden hiding in his big old home there and the pakistanis were hiding him out. Americans went and took them out and didnt tell the pakistani government because they would have moved him again. We have evidence that pakistan supports terrorism. Nd what happened was, pakistan scrumbled americanmade jets to go after the americans who took out the taliban. Fortunately, the americans were able to get away and they were not attacked by the Pakistan Government. And to show how supportive pakistan is, one of our helicopters, you may remember, ad stealth on one of its rotors, it crashed there and turned it over to the chinese and take whatever evidence they wanted to show the stealth in that helicopter. Mr. Speaker, i would like to ask you how much time i have left. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman has 17 minutes remaining in his special order. R. Poe i thank the speaker. 2011, pakistan jailed dr. Afriti who helped the United States track down Osama Bin Laden and he is still in jail. Pakistan claims that they are a help to the u. S. In tracking down terrorism in the world, but theyre not. The evidence shows the difference. Whose side is pakistan really on . After the 2011 raid to kill Osama Bin Laden, pakistan, as i said embodied the chinese to inspect the wreckage on the stealth helicopter that the u. S. Forces left behind. If they are allies of the u. S. , they dont turn over technology to china. In 2011, pakistan i. S. I. Isonned the c. I. A. Chief following the bin laden raid. 2011, shelling killed 42 afghan civilians. Pakistan is notorious for its laws which are used to persecute numerous minorities, including christians. A pakistan christian mother of ive was sentenced to death for blasphemming. And to the federally minimum sterd tribal areas but turned a blind eye to the network that operates in the area. In september of 2016, pakistani terrorists attacked an Indian Military base in kashmir killing 17 indian soldiers. The terrorists were from a pakistanibacked group. And in 2017, pakistani cross border shelling forced villagers to flee their homes and further strained relations between afghanistan and pakistan. Well, no kidding. Let me give you some other evidence, mr. Speaker. And then make this clear. The issue here is not the people of pakistan. E issue is not american of pakistani descent. Our quarrel and our issue is not with those folks. I represent a lot of pakistani americans, good folks, hard working individuals. The issue is with the United States relationship with the government of pakistan. That is playing the United States. Recently, before the united the ns security council, ambassador permanent representative from afghanistan spoke to the u. N. He has an excellent speech and the relationship or afghans relationship with pakistan. Im not going to read his entire speech, but i want to make a couple of comments from his point of view about pakistan and their terrorist activity. He said in recent months dozens of terrorist attacks across afghanistan have claimed scores of lives. January, three simultaneous attacks in kabul, killed and maimed 160, including six u. A. E. Diplomats. There were numerous fatalities. Last week, two separate attacks the heart of kabul killed civilians. Two days ago, a hospital was attacked, 140 killed. The Taliban Terrorist Group has claimed responsibility for most of these attacks. But regardless of whose names are being labeled on these attacks our investigations have clearly established they were plotted from beyond our frontiers, namely in pakistan. I ask unanimous consent to introduce the entire speech of the ambassador to the u. N. Into the congressional record. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Poe he continues, and ill make one more comment. The Ambassador Says pakistan talks one policy and they walk another. Ill continue. Congress has written a letter to the United States congress. Who are these folks . They represent the views and interests of the did he send ants of muslims who migrated from india to the country of pakistan in 1947. And they write a letter and the title of their letter is world mujar Congress Request the u. S. To cut off military aid to pakistan. And they go into detail talking about the terrorist activity of the government of pakistan, not nly in pakistan, but it the borders across the world. Nd they request that and they are mainly using military aid, American Military aid, to kill innocent pashtuns nd others. The double game they are doing with the u. S. Must come to an end, its put the lives of u. S. And nato soldiers in danger in afghanistan. I ask unanimous consent to introduce this letter into the congressional record. The speaker pro tempore so ordered. Mr. Poe so what does all this mean . Ive given 20, 30, enumerated counts of an indictment against pakistan, alleging them of supporting terrorism in the world. What can we to about it . Pakistan is not an ally of the United States. But the United States, every year, gives millions and millions of dollars to pakistan. Congress has even brought this up before, have tried to cut some of that money off, its passed the house but never passed and become law. We continue to give them money. The United States does not and should not continue to give pakistan money because the money we give them goes to i. S. I. And that money goes to support terrorist activity in afghanistan that kills americans. Why are we doing this . But we continue to do it. For some reason i think is absurd. So the first thing we need to do is cut off the aid to pakistan. We dont need to pay them to kill us. Theyll support killing americans on their own. Cut off the aid. The second thing we do is to label pakistan a state sponsor of terrorism. Thats what they are. A state sponsor of terrorism. And Congress Needs to label them and make that designation so they suffer the consequences for their terrorist mischief throughout the world. And the third thing we do, we need to remove and revoke their major nonnato ally status. Thats a fancy word for, because pakistan is a major nonnato ally they get certain benefits, militarily, that other countries dont get. Revoke that. Quit giving them military aid. Quit giving them money. Designate them as a state sponsor of terrorismful remove the major nonnato ally status against pakistan. There needs to be consequences for this long history and most americans are not aware of, where pakistan says one thing, and like the ambassador said, does something else. Those consequences need to come now to get the attention. The longest war in American History continues today. And its a war supposedly against i believe so its a war against terrorism. But afghanistan still is a hotbed because of what takes place in and supported from pakistan. The Afghan Government knows it. We know it. The Pakistan Government knows it. So there must be consequences. I think pakistan is fund guilty of supporting terrorism and there should be action by the United States immediately. To to these three things. And thats just the way it is. I yield back, mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore under the speakers anons thatted policy of january 3, 2017, the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Gohmert, for 30 minutes. Mr. Gohmert mr. Speaker, i have to say, it is a privilege and its good for the house and good for america when judge ted poe is on the floor making a case. He was a great judge, great prosecutor before that, and we will always need his voice making the case here on the floor, especially the kind of strong case he was just making. I want to follow up with that. A str a story today this from christina wong, actually, june 22, yesterday, that james comey may have misled senators on may 3 when he testified to the Senate Judiciary committee he had never been an anonymous source in news reports related to the russia investigation. By that time he had already leaked several private conversations he had with President Trump to his friend, benjamin witt, editor in chief of the blog law fair and former eder to editorial writer for the Washington Post. Im sure youll recall as we see every day, evidence that the Washington Post does not just despice donald trump, they are actually malicious in their reporting. President trump has a as a public figure would normally have a tough time making a case as a public figure for liable or slander because you have to prove malice but the Washington Post has proved repeatedly, theyre not interested in fairness, anything resembling balance. They cant stand donald j. Trump and theyre out to try to get him in a malicious fashion. So when anybody, especially somebody with the f. B. I. , leaks anything to people that may have it end up in the Washington Post, they indeed themselves become part of the malice for our president. , only nine cle says days after comey was fired that the former f. B. I. Director had shared those conversations, quote, over the previous few comey never ote, told me the details of his inner meeting, i dont think i knew there had been a meeting other dinner until i learned it from the times story but he told me in general terms that early on trump had asked for loyalty and comey had promised him only honesty. He had also told me that trump was perceptibly uncomfortable with the answer. Now let me insert here as obviously mr. Comey does not understand what loyalty means and why a president of the United States would ask for loyalty from the director of the f. B. I. But what loyalty means from a director of the f. B. I. Is, mr. President , i will be loyal to the administration, i will not go out and leak things to the media. I will not go out and stab you in the back every chance i have, even though i have these friends that hate your guts and i know when i leak things or share things to people that cant stand the president , its going to hurt him and its going to be disloyal. Hats what loyalty is. It is outrageous for someone to try to make an obstruction case out of a president asking for loyalty. Look at what the Obama Administration did. They prosecuted more people that they alleged were leakers than all other administrations put together. They were aggressive in prosecuting disloyalty. Donald trump, on the other hand, as president of the United States, he wasnt threatening to prosecute the way the Obama Administration obviously had done. And he didnt try to make an example of everybody by having them prosecuted if they leaked anything. Otherwise comey would be standing before a judge answering charges right now. And maybe that should come later. But no, all he was asking for, i need you to promise me loyalty. And the very question of a president just asking for being a source of evidence that mueller was perhaps the most disloyal not mueller, thats another case altogether. Plenty of evidence about him. But that comey is probably the ost disloyal f. B. I. Director since j. Edgar hoover was taping president s himself. So and having them watched and spied on. So it is amazing as smart as james comey is, ive questioned him a number of times, i know how smart he is, but that as smart as he is, he couldnt figure out that loyalty would ean, you dont run, try to make your president look bad, after a simple meeting where the president just asks, would you be loyal . Im not asking for the moon. Im not asking for anything outrageous. Im simply asking, would you please be loyal. And even as President Trump was apparently asking for loyalty, this disloyal, dishonest director of the f. B. I. Was already turning wheels in his head, how can i hurt this president. I know. I know a reporter that hates trump worked for the trumphating Washington Post, even though hes not there now, hell know how to help me hurt trump. I mean, even as the president is asking for loyalty, thats what hes getting in the mind f the f. B. I. Director. So is it any mystery when we look back at the case history we talked about here on the floor about how comey manipulated John Ashcroft into recusing himself so comey could push his own dear, dear friend and god father of his child and godfather of his child, fitzgerald, Patrick Fitzgerald, into being special counsel to go after the bush dministration. And clearly comey and fitzgerald were hoping to nail karl rove, nail dick cheneys hide to the wall. Thats what they were after. And how do we know . Because on day one, of course, the fact that comey would put the godfather of his child, purr for him to be in that position, tells you you need to know but theres plenty more. They both knew. That richard arm taj had leaked Valerie Plames identity as a c. I. A. Agent and they knew that there was no need for a special counsel or a special investigation. Yet they spent millions of dollars, man hours, trying to get beyond that and find some way to nail somebody they didnt like. Youd call that dishonesty, disloyalty, because honesty would have had comey and his dear friend and godfather of his child immediately going public on day one, this would be honesty, to go forth and say, we know that the god farr of my child here the godfather of my child here, Patrick Fitzgerald, was appointed to find out who leaked information about Valerie Plame and her dishonest husband Joseph Wilson who lied to the c. I. A. , lied to congress, but we still need to know and guess what we already know on day one who leaked it, it was richard arm taj, theres no need to squander taxpayer dollars. Theres no need for the government to pay massive amounts of money to gerald to Patrick Fitzgerald to do this investigation. Were honest individuals. Were coming forward. And yeah, maybe it wasnt all that honest of me to put my dear, close friend, fitzgerald, in this position but im going to be honest now. We dont need this information. This investigation. But thats not what they did. They were disloyal and dishonest to the American People. To the bush to the Bush Administration and to justice. They asked for expanded jurisdiction, made it seem like they were on the trail of something big. They werent on the trail of anything big. They had nothing. They wanted to try to get somebody prosecuted. And that way they could try to justify the massive amount of expenditures for nothing, for no good reason, that they were about to go through. And eventually, they prosecuted Scooter Libby for allegedly being inconsistent with something he said. Same thing, they went after martha stewart, there was no Insider Trading that she was engaged in. I know she isnt a fan of republicans and seems like a nice person when i talk to her, but she was treated grossly unfairly. There was no Insider Trading, so they keep talking to her until they find they find something inconsistent so they could get a conviction and claim they had done some great good. Comey was underneath, behind the scenes in that as well. So its amazing to me how anybody could try to be accusatory of someone, a president , who said, can you please promise me youll be loyal. He didnt ask for anything , but l, nothing unethical apparently you know, i didnt know donald trump. Supported ted cruz for over a year for president , but i have come to understand that this man has amazing instincts with people, amazing business ack you mean, figures out when something makes sense and when something doesnt make sense. And one of the other members of Congress Just this morning was saying, i never realized until i have seen the president in bigon, the man really has a heart. Kind of surprising to some folks, but you get the inkling of it the more youre around him and you see the way he treats kids and saw the way he treats children. We saw the way he was so good to all kids. He didnt care if they were democrats kids or republicans kids, but i do recall eight years ago, one of my friends from texas had a daughter, book and pen and saw kids lined up getting an autograph from president obama and she ran over to get an autograph and came back in tears because she said when he got to her, he said im not signing yours and walked away and her parents assured her, it was nothing personal. He just obviously had some kind of emergency. But then later on before the congressional picnic was over, she saw other children lined up getting an autograph, ran and got to the end of the line and when president obama got to her, he said, i told you im not signing yours. Took a long time to get over that. But they a lot of the people that saw the way president obama treated some kids, not all of them, but some, saw the way president obama didnt care anything about their background, what party their parents supported. Gracious guy obviously showed a big heart for kids. So it would be understandable, somebody in business doing multibillion dollar deals would need to know people were going to be loyal. And i have come to know enough about donald trump and his intuition about people hes dealing with, if he asks someone to be loyal and that person hedges their bets and says, ill be honest, i havent asked him, but im willing to bet when james comey refused to say he would be loyal, but said he would be honest, i would be willing to bet you, donald trump knew this man wasnt going to be loyal or honest. And that is exactly what has happened. James comey has been both disloyal to his country, to the f. B. I. And to the president he was serving. He admitted leaking the information and some of us believed if President Trump had not tweeted out making reference to potential tapes of their conversations, that the disloyal, dishonest former director of the f. B. I. Would probably not have been as honest as he was about some other things that were said. But for anyone in the media to make some kind of big deal, potential obstruction of justice charge, just bringing up, tell me youll be loyal, is absolutely outrageous. I would expect every president surely if they were a good president at one time or another needed to ask for a ledge of loyalty, not that you are going to lie, not that you are going to commit a crime, but youre not going to run out and leak stuff more than once the way james comey did. You are going to be loyal to me and if there is a problem, come to me and dont go leaking it to your leftwing friends. And also being loyal, i would think, would include that if you believe there is a need for a an independent counsel, a special counsel and that you are a critical witness, that being loyal and being honest and being ethical would require that you forward to having one of your best friends in the world, bob mueller, being the special counsel. My friends, my very dear friends, jim jordan, mark meadows, jody hice have an article from yesterday, and i have been talking about this for a week or so to different people, but we do need an independent counsel. We need a special counsel. And courts have made clear congress cannot appoint an independent counsel. Its an executive branch function and violation of the separation of powers. Its been made very clear, congress can appropriate for independent counsel, and can make laws that create an office of independent counselor special prosecutor and do all those things, but they cannot, congress cannot appoint an independent prosecutor, a special counsel. Thats an executive branch function. And every one in the executive that derives their power they have either from or through the president of the United States. We know, there is no question about it. President Barack Hussein obama regularly and intentionally obstructed justice. But we know that for a president to obstruct justice the way president obama did was legal. He has the power to legally obstruct justice a number of ways, whether its at the very end, whether its an outright pardon or dictation of poll situation that president obama did, we are not going to go after and prosecute this group of people that have come in and committed crimes from other countries. Some of us felt like it was terrible judgment, but president obama had the Legal Authority to obstruct justice indirecting the Justice Department not to pursue and prosecute certain groups of people that or even individuals, he could parred them outright before or after the investigation. The president has that power. So does President Trump. But as my Friends Point out in this article, mr. Comey misled the American People in the early weeks of the Trump Administration by furtherering the perception that President Trump was under investigation, when in fact he was not. He good did this willfully intentionally and i would asked he did it disloyaly and dishonestly. And pointed out that comey recently admitted after being fired from the f. B. I. , he leaked a document to the New York Times dealing detailing a conversation he had with President Trump. Comey testified under oath he ordered the leak to create momentum for the appointment of a special counsel, which we now know is his mentor, predecessor and dear friend. And i have heard our great speaker of the house say, yeah, well, you know, the fact that his credentials are impeccable. Anybody that looks into the mueller situation deeply enough will not say that his credentials are impeccable. He served honorably in vietnam, but as f. B. I. Director, he set a policy in place that would run people out of the f. B. I. That had years of service and experience as supervisors and one article pointed out he had run off thousands and thousands of years of experience. I would submit its because his ego would not allow anybody that knew more than he did so they could question or offer suggestions contrary to what director mueller wanted. Thats what he cost the f. B. I. Millions of dollars and because of his poor leadership, his purging of the f. B. I. Training materials so that all these new people after he run off the experienced people that knew what radical islam was and been trained to recognize it, ran them off, had younger people in there who did not allow to learn what radical islam was. When the orlando shooter or tsarnaev on the radar that were investigated by muellers trained f. B. I. , they didnt know what they were looking for. And because of the poor training, wasnt intentional my people t would end up costing their lives. On may 7, 2014, house of representatives passed a resolution calling for a special counsel to investigate the i. R. S. Targeting of conservatives for their political beliefs. Comey and attorney general holder blocked the appointment. This despite the fact that the lead investigator they assigned to the case was a max out contributor to president obamas reelection campaign. This is the type of unequal justice that the American People despise. No special counsel targeting the investigation, no special counsel for the clinton email investigation, but if its about protecting comeys reputation and hurting President Trump, then of course there has to be a special counsel. Through 2015, 2016, there were calls for from congress for a special counsel in the clinton email scandal. I mean for heavens sakes, when you have someone go out and destroy known evidence thats been subpoenaed with a hammer, now that is illegal obstruction of justice. But no, comey didnt want that investigated. Oh, no, his dear friend Hillary Clinton, the dear couple that were so close to Loretta Lynch, that she would order him to misrepresent what the f. B. I. Was doing, that she would get on a plane knowing hes the spouse of somebody they are supposed to be looking at prosecuting, that there is plenty of evidence to show she violated the law many times, criminal law many times. Oh, no. But this Justice Department refused, even after it was revealed that attorney general Loretta Lynch met privately with bill clinton less than a week before the f. B. I. Hillary clinton. No special counsel was accomplished, even allowed or even recommended, even after some unusual Justice Department immunity deals, the deals the Justice Department made with comey there as director when he apparently was a big enough shot he could do his job and Loretta Lynch and say im not going to let anybody what he said no good prosecutor, in essence, would prosecute this case. That was a lie. But he went before the public to say it to help his friends the clintons or better friends of Loretta Lynch and the president. If President Trump had ever goten loyalty from james comey that president obama got on numerous cases undeservedly, people would be recognizing prior criminal activity for what it was and is. Anyway , in one of the hearings, mueller was asked out this incredible, horrendous activity of persecuting conservative organizations. Refusing to allow them to form because they could go against President Trump in the next election. The Trump Administration clearly used the i. R. S. As one of its most Effective Campaign operative groups. And it worked. They were able to they were able in 2012 to prevent conservative groups from forming and from coming after president obama for problems he had created. But with all the National Furor mueller. R. S. , mr. Was supposed to be so fair, so impartial, he was asked, ok, were told we dont need a special counsel because you, the f. B. I. , are all over this. You dont need any special prosecutor, you got this under control, who is the lead agent . He couldnt answer the question. Ok, well how many agents have been assigned to the case . Mueller could not answer that question. And the question, have any victims been interviewed, the answer again was, i dont know. The reason was muller is not objective. Hes not fair and balanced. Like pices this president his and comeys friends at the Washington Post, the New York Times in elite circles. Theyve shown they are and have been disloyal to the president. Theyve been unjust to this president. And mueller i mean, going back to when William Jefferson was being investigated, i havent seen the article in many, many years, but i do recall because were paying a ention, when mueller had Congressional Office searched without having there are many times members of congress probable entially cause they committed a crime. For over 200 years the way its handled, you go to the speaker of the house. Things in a members office, at that time nobody should have come into my office even with a warrant from the f. B. I. And been able to get material that said what f. B. I. Agents were giving me information about the terrible administration in the f. B. I. The only way we can have a balance of power, the only way we can have oversight, is if the f. B. I. Has no right to come in and find out who the whistleblowers are. Because they do come after weve seen that over and over. But mueller was out for blood. They get a search warrant. Forget 200 years of law. Were not going through the speaker so they can predeserve to preserve things that are privileged that the f. B. I. Shouldnt get. Always in the past. There have been many people prosecuted with things that came from their office, as i understood it, and i was in on one of the meetings between the attorney generals lawyer the house lawyers, and the f. B. I. They said, you know, many times we have given you when you show us what it is, we make sure whats privileged stays privileged and give you the evidence that lets you prosecute, but mueller went straight there as a smack at congress, you better not have oversight oh manufacture or ill come after you. When he was questioned about this issues that congress was raising, his response was, maybe its time i point apointed 400 agents to investigate congress. He was threatening congress. This is meanspirited. This is an unfair, unjust man. And theres only one answer. Because he leaked out, im investigating the president for obstruction of justice, now if the president fires him itll be another saturday night miss consider. So the answer is the president has all the authority, all authority, to appoint special counsel. Hes got to appoint somebody to investigate mueller, his chummy buddy comey, their chummy buddy Loretta Lynch, and the Hillary Clinton and bill clinton couple so we can finally find out truth, honesty, and loyally loyalty in this country. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expired. The chair lays before the house a communication. The clerk the honorable the speaker, house of representatives, sir, i write to inform you that i hereby resign from the office of u. S. Representative, effective 10 00 a. M. Eastern time on june 30, 2017. It has been a tremendous honor and privilege to serve the people of they have of utah as a member of congress. I thank you for your leadership as speaker and look forward to working with with you in my capacity as a private citizen to continue to find ways to improve our great nation. Signed, sincerely, jason e. Chaffetz, utah, third congressional district. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Gohmert i move that we do now hereby adjourn. The speaker pro tempore the question is on the motion to adjourn. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. The ayes have it. The motion is adopted. Accordingly the house stands dnourn adjourned unti wal contins