The speaker pro tempore on this on this vote the yeas are 351, the nays are 4. 2 3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The Unfinished Business is the vote on the motion from the gentleman from texas, mr. Ratcliffe, to suspend the rules and pass h. R. 5389. The clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk a bill to encourage engagement between the department of Homeland Security and Technology Innovators and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. Members will record their votes by electronic device. This is a fiveminute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc. , in cooperation with the United States house of representatives. Any use of the closedcaptioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u. S. House of representatives. ] the speaker pro tempore on this vote, the yeas are 347, the nays are 8. 2 3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The speaker pro tempore the hamber will come to order. For what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h. R. 5452, the native American Health savings improvement act, as amended. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the title of the bill. The clerk unocalen tar 490, h. R. 5452, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue code, to permit them to qualify for Health Savings accounts. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from nebraska, mr. Smith, and the gentleman from michigan, mr. Levin, each will control 20 minutes. The chair recognizes the jilt from nebraska. Mr. Smith i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h. R. 5452, currently under consideration. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Smith i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Smith im happy to stand before you today as we consider h. R. 5452, the native American Health savings improvement act, a bipartisan bill that makes common sense improvement to current rules surrounding Health Savings accounts and those who get care and native american services. Anyone who a high deductible plan is able to make contributions to a Health Savings account, but under i. R. S. Guidelines, anyone who has received services at a native american facility in the last three months is ineligible to participate at h. S. A. This could discourage people who receive treatment at native American Health care facilities from participating in h. S. A. s. H. S. A. s empower individuals and families to shop around, unleashing the powers of choice and competition to lower costs and improve quality. We want to lower barriers to these types of accounts and encourage individual whors otherwise velljibble to not forego treatment simply because of confusion over when they might be able to resume contributing to their h. S. A. I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bipartisan, commonsense measure. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from michigan. Mr. Levin thank you. I yield myself such time as i shall consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Levin mr. Speaker, currently, crirkses to a Health Savings account may only be made when an account owner is enrolled in a High Deductible Health plan. Additionally, the account owner may not be eligible for other Health Coverage that is not a High Deductible Health plan. This bill would make sure that receiving benefits under an Indian Health service or tribal medical care program does not disqualify a taxpayer from h. S. A. Eligibility. Furthermore, under this bill, the tax pairer would still have to be covered by a High Deductible Health plan to be able to receive of make h. S. A. Contributions. It is unclear how big of a problem this currently is across the country, particularly in indian country. I have made it clear that h. S. A. s and high deductible plans move our country in the wrong direction, away from affordable and comp rehence i Health Coverage. But i dont think individuals covered through i. H. S. Or tribal medical care programs should be forced to forego one insurance or the other. With that, i reserve the balance of our time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from nebraska. Mr. Smith i yield two minutes to the gentleman from michigan, mr. Moolenaar, a member of the science committee, budget committee, and agriculture committee. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. Mr. Moolenaar id like to thank the gentleman from nebraska for yielding time. I also want to thank chairman brady, House Committee of ways and means and also congressman paulsen, congresswoman noem, and congressman blumenauer for cosponsoring this Bipartisan Legislation. Id also like to thank the gentleman from michigan for his comments. This legislation today before the house, h. R. 5452, will improve access to Health Savings accounts for native americans who choose to receive care at Indian Health Services Facilities by ending an unnecessary penalty against them. Currently native americans are not allowed to contribute to their own Health Savings plan for three months after receiving care at an Indian Health service facility. These accounts can be a newsful tool for families to cover the cost of deductible, copayments and coinsurance. However this limits their access to services to help with treating High Risk Health conditions this commonsense legislation eliminates the waiting period so native americans dont have to wait to cey their hardearned money to make their own Health Care Choices and to receive treatment from Indian Health service doctors. Todays legislation this is a solution to a governmentcreated problem. This will benefit nativeamericans and i thank my colleagues for support of this legislation and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Mr. Levin i think we are ready to close. Let me mention, mr. Blumenauer wanted to be here and because of the weather, he has been unable to arrive and we regret and i think the ma majority may have the same problem. With that, i yield back the balance of our time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The gentleman from nebraska. Mr. Smith i would ask that representative noem face similar situation with air travel and the weather. But i have no other speakers, mr. Speaker. I would yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Smith about 20 million americans are covered by a High Deductible Health plan. These are a popular option and is ah shows no signs it popular option that nativeamericans would like to take advantage of. Any current law that could dissuade them, eligible plan, would be reversed. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation. And i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the question is will the house uspend the rules and pass h. R. 5452. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, 2 3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended and the bill is passed and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The bill as amended is passed. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition . Mr. Speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and pass h. R. 5456 the Family First Prevention Services act of 2016. The clerk Union Calendar 487, a bill to amend parts b and e of title 4 of the Social Security t of Family Services to help keep families safe and placed in the appropriate settings and for other purposes. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from florida, mr. Buchanan and the gentleman from michigan, mr. Levin. Mr. Buchanan i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative daze in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous remarks on the bill h. R. 5456 currently under consideration. I yield myself such time as i may consume. Epidemicry is under an and recent spikes and need of foster care placement. Under current Child Welfare, when a family is struggling the majority of dollars is available if a state removes a child and places that child in foster care. Eastbound though it is less expensive and more effective to keep them safe, these services are extremely limbed. Children who are raised by the state face abuse, teen pregnancy. He first the act will reserve the Current Trends by supporting early cost effecttive intervention to keep children at home. This quib a shortterm and longterm outcomes. Mover, it will ensure that children who do not need foster care are placed with families. Preliminary estimates are that the cost of the upfront services offset ore than fully into groop homes as well as delaying additional assistance to allow for a comprehensive review to be completed. In may, the Human Resources subcommittee heard about challenges and successes of those on the ground as they attempt to fight the heroin epidemic. Today, we will move forward to ensure that families get the help they need. This bill is the result of a bipartisan, bicameral effect. So i would like to thank Ranking Member levin and our senate on this for working effort. This includes a bipartisan effort by congressman young and congressman davis to i prove the exchange of information to get foster children to settle into homes more quickly. I thank my fellow committee members. This bipartisan members and those off the committee who have joined to sponsor this important legislation. Finally, i would like to recognize the overwhelming support we have received from the Child Welfare committee. Some say i have been working on 30 years for our kids. I ask unanimous consent to insert some of these more than 60 letters of support we have received so far on this will bill. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Buick combuke i reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentleman from recognized. Mr. Levin i yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Levin the Family First Prevention Services act has a very simple goal, improve the lives of our most Vulnerable Children. We worked across the aisle because we recognized the importance of ensuring that kids grow up in safe, loving and stable homes. I mentioned that we worked together on this, the gentleman, mr. Buchanan and others on the republican side, mr. Doggett, whom i will yield the balance of our time, mr. Davis, representative bass and others, worked so hard on this. And i think it has improved this legislation. Our foster care system provides an essential haven, even essential safe haven for abused and neglected children. However when it comes to our system today, it is clear that federal funding has been stacked against prevention efforts. That means our federal dollars arent being used to effectively help families and prevent child abuse and neglect in homes. In fact, less than 10 of dedicated Child Welfare funding goes towards prevention. This bill goes to ensure families have the help they need before a child goes into foster care. This bill would provide Substance Abuse treatment for parents and expand access to Mental Health care. The childrens defense fund, which tirelessly advocates for our Vulnerable Children offers its support for this bill and its my privilege to quote the defense fund under its so esteemed leader and i quote, it takes historic and long overdue steps to direct welfare dollars to improve outcomes for Vulnerable Children and families. Simply put, this bill would help keep kids safe and in their homes instead of placing them in a foster care system that we should use only when clearly necessary. It would be preferable if the bills provisions started sooner to help states face immediate crises. This legislation does not address every problem facing our Child Welfare system, including the need to recruit more foster family homes. But indeed, this bill is an important step forward in strengthening our nations Child Welfare system in the longterm. In fact, as was seen, more than 50 organizations dedicated to advocating for Vulnerable Children have come out in support of this legislation, including as mentioned, the childrens defense fund, the American Academy of pediatrics, prevent child abuse america, the american sikecoling call and voice for adoption and the north American Council on adoptive tchirn. This bill has been endorsed by representing direct i. R. S. This legislation represents an effort to find important Common Ground in the house and also in the senate with the leadership of senators hatch and widen. We have more work to do. We have more work to dor indeed but sure our children to this bill would take a very important step on that path. So once again, i would like to thank my colleagues on the republican side and democratic side and i would like to thank the staff on our side and ensure that the same has been true of the democratic side for all of their work on this important issue. With that, i reserve the balance of our time. And as indicated, mr. Speaker, i would ask that the balance of our time be now governed and managed by the gentleman from texas. The speaker pro tempore without objection. The alreserves. Mr. Buchanan i reserve. The chair the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Doggett i would yield myself five minutes. The speaker pro tempore the jap is yielded five minutes. Mr. Doggett each day in america, as many as eight children die at the hands of those who are supposed to be caring for them. Three out of four of these children are under the age of three. Half of them will never reach their first birthday and countless others of all ages will forever be scarred by abuse and by neglect. The legislation that we consider tonight is all that remains of a comprehensive child safety bill offered by senator wyden and offered by me in the house last year. I salute his leadership then and i accept his decision to settle for a small bit for what we sought to accomplish. Is year, senator wyden put a fraction of our original bill into a proposal to which senator hatch agreed that a bipartisan family first draft proposal. Todays bill is a fraction of a fraction of our original initiative. Despite the valiant efforts of groups and individuals across texas, we have ar child abuse crisis there. As they reported, hundreds of children in imminent danger as Child Protective Services investigations show. And the same in other states. And the answer in this bill is to do nothing with regard to Child Protection Services Additional resources now. To do nothing about this crisis now. To continue neglecting the neglected this year, next year, and the year after that. Adoption has proven one way that we can keep children out of the foster care system and in loving families. The only way that House Republicans, and i know this is not mr. Buchanans personal view, but the only way House Republicans would agree for taos Fund Additional Preventive Services for these children, to avoid child abuse, even though that takes three long, painful years of the lay, the only way they would do that, is by our cutting about 700 million from adoption. The other source of funding is congress regatt or group care. I is congregate or group care. I believe we do need a change. But in texas last month, there were about 50 foster care youth and the only place they could find to sleep was in the offices of Child Protective Services. One has to ask about this bill, where will these children go if those Group Facilities are no longer available this measure was approved on the same day the ways and Means Committee approved barring over 50 billion for air decisional tax breaks and yet not another dime of Additional Resources to prevent child abuse this year. They demanded that there could be no resources going into child abuse unless it was paid for from other Human Resources. Essentially robbing peter to pay paul. One important aspect of the bill is the kin shipp is the nship provision, assisting relatives willing to raise a child keep them in a family home so they wont get bounced around from one place to another, that they get some support. Idea. Its a worthy but it shows how theyve slashed relief. This years bill was estimated to cost 1. 7 billion for kinship. Today we today we have a mere 8 of what they recommended. Hardly worthy of a celebration. Major focus of this bill is to provide a federal incentive for the states to invest in prevention and Early Intervention to assure the safety of children. For too long we backloaded everything. Abuse, we responded to after it occurred, instead of trying to prevent it at the beginning. We offer assistance now through this bill, eventually, and we should be focused on it. I agree fully with that focus. Thats why ive planned to vote reluctantly for this proposal. But this bill would give the states an incentive through whats called title 4e where the federal government would put up 50 , 50cents on the dollar thats expended. I yield myself another 0 seconds. And the state would put up 50 cents. Unfortunately, this bill provides no immediate relief for children that are in danger right now. No additional funds for three years. In texas, with the opioid crisis, in other states, these children need help now. Its gotten so bad that federal courts are beginning to declare these systems unconstitutional. We could have done better by these children, we have the capacity to do better, we have not had the will to do better in this congress. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentleman from florida. Mr. Smith having no other speakers, i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas. Mr. Doggett at this point, i recognize for five minutes one of the members of our committee who has been a real advocate for children suffering from abuse, mr. Danny davis from illinois. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from illinois is recognized for five minutes. Mr. Davis thank you, mr. Speaker. I want to thank my colleague from texas for yielding. Child welfare advocates have used the adjectives landmark, historic, and trail blazing. To describe this to describe this bill. I whole heartedly agree with them. I am pleased to be a cosponsor of this legislation that begins a fundamental shift in federal Child Welfare policy, preserving families rather than separating them. I am deeply great to feel Ranking Member levin, chairman brady, chairman pew buchanan, Ranking Member wyden, and chairman hatch for including many provisions for which i have advocated. Provisions that will substantially strengthen families in chicago, in illinois, and throughout the nation. Im equally grate to feel Ranking Member doggett for his tireless efforts to secure Additional Resources for prevention. My Congressional District has the highest percentage of children living with grandparent care givers in the nation. Followed closely by two other Congressional Districts in illinois. We know that Substance Abuse and addiction underlie substantial percentage of Child Welfare cases, and separate families. When i ask foster youth what policymakers could do to make Child Welfare better, they almost always state, you could have helped my mom and dad. That is exactly what were doing here today. The Family First Prevention Services act invests in addressing key reasons that families struggle by providing evidence evidencebased Mental Health, staun stance abuse and Parenting Services to strengthen families so they can avoid the Child Welfare system. I am especially pleased that the bill includes my work to improve the effectiveness of child abuse and neglect prevention related to Substance Abuse by modernizing the regional partner shipp grants, coupled with the Prevention Services, the extension of the kinship navigator program, the improved licensing standards to address barriers for relative care givers, the extension of adoption and legal guardianship incentive payments, the new services for pregnant and parenting foster youth, the investment in Electronic Systems to improve placement of youth and the funding to support children in staying with their parents in residential treatment, all promise to improve permanency and well being for youth and kinship care givers. I want to thank the chairperson of my Child Welfare task force, dr. Netta wilson, for sharing her expertise on how to improve policies to support children and families. I also want to thank Pam Rodriguez and George Williams who are tasked in chicago as well as nancy young with children and family futures for sharing their expertise about what policies work to support parents affected by Substance Abuse so that we can strengthen families. Finally, this is not a perfect deal but perfect bill, but it is a historic bill and a unique opportunity to strengthen families. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to enact Additional Support for kinship care givers, enhanced services for expectant and parent and foster and parenting foster youth, and to protect the Social Security benefits of foster youth. I attended a High School Graduation last friday. And the young lady who got the biggest applause was one whose mother and grandmothers and grandmothers both had chied died within the last three years. She also has given birth to two children. But she graduated with honors. And it is the assistance and help that we give to these young people who really prove that we can have an effective welfare help system for young people who need the help. I thank you, mr. Chairman, and yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back. The gentleman from florida. Speakers, we have no i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Doggett i yield three minutes to the gentlewoman who, though not a formal member of the committee, has been an active participant in our subcommittee and chaired the foster care caucus among others, ms. Bass. The speaker pro tempore the gentlewoman is recognized. Merchandise bass i rise today in ms. Bass i rise today in support of h. R. 5456, i believe its a positive step to reforming our Foster Care Program in this country. It takes into account what weve learned about waivers. Weve learn wed can reduce the number of children in care by providing services upfront, Prevention Services that until now could not be supported with federal dollars unless the state or county had a waiver. What do we know . We know that the main reason why children are in foster care is because of child neglect and the main reason for this is Substance Abuse and mental illness. For example, there are programs such as shields for family in los angeles, that has been able to reduce the number of children in care by providing Substance Abuse services for families for 12 months. The problem with h. R. 5456, however is that services would be cut off after 12 months and taking addiction, one of the features of addiction, is relapse. So what happens to a family if the individual relapsed in the 11th moverpbt . Will the children automatically be removed and placed into care . I think during the Implementation Phase we need to consider flexibility with cutting off services at the end of 12 months. The same thing applies to Mental Health services. The chafee grant is another thing thats a positive feature of h. R. 5456. Chafee grants help young people transition to adulthood. Im pleased that h. R. 5456 includes my language to extend time to 23 years old for a young person to receive Prevention Services. What these services are services that help a young Person Transition to adulthood such as housing, counseling, job training, etc. Chafee is also extended in h. R. 5456 to the age of 26 for educational grants. I want to applaud my state of california, where we where reforms are under way. We passed legislation in california that long recognizes the need for housing to transition young people out of care. But in california we have had the insight and foresight to understand that children 16 years old sometimes want to transition out of the foster care system. Unfortunately, h. R. 5456 eliminates funding for children who are 16 years old. Im concerned that the bill might have some unintended consequences. I think we would all aee it would be best to keep a child in a family sitting when theyre 16 years old. However, many young people wind up running away from foster homes, unfortunately, they wind up suffering from abuse again in a foster home, and they need to be transitioned into adulthood. Im hoping could i ask for another 30 seconds . Im hoping that h. R. 5456 will take into consideration unintended consequences and not contribute to homelessness amongst youth. Thank you, and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady yields back. The gentleman from florida. Mr. Smith we have no other speakers, i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. Mr. Doggett i yield myself one minute. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized for one minute. Mr. Doggett four years ago, i authored and passed into law the protect our kids act. It became law with the help of former ways and means republican chair dave camp and it established a commission to eliminate child abuse and neglect fatalities. It is a mark of the progress or the lack of progress that this year when that commission came forward wits report, republicans on our committee would not permit a hearing to accept the modest find offings the commission. So weve reached tonight. I was offered in the traditional washington way an opportunity to put my name on this legislation. It had some meritorious provisions that eventually come into effect. But i could not do that and face my constituents in texas saying that i had done something to address this crisis, when i know in fact we are not doing what needs to be done to address this crisis. I advanced one of many alternatives to provide the dollars to deal with this crisis now. I yield how much time remains, mr. Speaker . The speaker pro tempore 45 seconds. Mr. Doggett mr. Speaker, that was a proposal, not for new taxes, i yield myself the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Doggett not for new taxes but a proposal for Tax Compliance that would have fully funded the bipartisan agreement from the senate. But for the ideological commitment to oppose any new resources going to address child abuse, we would have those dollar well, wouldnt be taking the money out of good adoption programs, we wouldnt be delaying a response for three years, we would be doing something now to address the challenges that are out there, the children that face abuse and neglect today, thats what should be happening. Thats what todays bill fails to do, though it offers us the promise of eventual action to do what we should be doing right now and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlemans time has expire. He gentleman from florida. Mr. Buchanan again, this is a bipartisan, bicameral legislation and takes important steps to keep children safely at home and out of foster care. Most federal funding is directed towards reimbursing states after they place a child in foster care. This legislation turns this around by putting resources towards preventing resources to keep children with their parents and this will ensure that children grow up in a safe home surrounded by a strong family. Strong families make for a strong chupets. I urge my colleagues to support this and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h. R. 5 56 as amended. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair twird being in the affirmative, the bill is suspended and the bill is passed and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. The chair will receive a message. The messenger a message from the senate. The secretary i have been directed by the nat to inform the senate that the nat has the d h. R. 1577 as modernization act in which the concurrence of the house is requested. The speaker pro tempore the chair lays before the house the following enrolled bill. The clerk senate 337, an act to improve the freedom of information act. The speaker pro tempore the chair will entertain requests for oneminute speeches. For what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition . Permission to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Thank you mr. Speaker. On behalf of georgias th Congressional District i recognize the amazing works of georgias World Harvest Church and their 15th honor our heroes. It has made a difference in the peoples lives by going into communities with messages of hope and demonstrating the true love of jesus christ. Part of their service is honor our heroes event which is a great event to honor our veterans who have helped maintain our freedom. The World Harvest Church serves as headquarters for teams that administer help by building churches. Mr. Speaker, i offer our deepest appreciation for the world har vet church. And our nation is made better by nd we are truly blessed by World Harvest Church. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. For what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition . Mr. Lamalfa permission to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Lamalfa i rise in support of h. R. 4768 which the house will consider this week. It will prevent families to spapped their authority. And as Congress Writes it. You wouldnt have judicial deficient reference. So we dont liven in that world. And federal agencies especially under this Obama Administration vrl interpreted the law in ways never intended to increase their own power. They rejected we are bipartisan are two examples. Mr. Speaker, it is high time he we remind that the peoples representatives write our nations laws and not bureaucrats nor courts to go long with that. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition . Mr. Thompson permission to address the house for one minute. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Thompson thank you mr. Speaker. I rise today in recognition of the pennsylvania marine corps league, the organization will hold its Department Convention later this week in State College located in the 5th Congressional District. It was founded by a major neral in 1923 and it was founded on 1947. It has a membership of more than 50,000 men and women and comprised of active duty and reserve duty enlisted men and women. I have a deep respect over the course of our nations history. The corps was founded in 1775 and those who have severed are protecting the lives of american citizens. Arines have proven their courage. Mr. Speaker, i thank all the men and women from pennsylvania and across our nation who have served as United States marines and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. The chair lays before the house the following personal requests. The clerk leaves of and cease for mr. Curbelo for today, mr. Mr. Of today, ms. Hahn, jeffries for today and ms. Waters of california for today. The speaker pro tempore without objection. The requests are granted. The gentleman from california, mr. Thompson is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. Mr. Thompson i thank the gentleman for yielding. An peaker, i rise tonight issue that saddens everyone and an issue that isnt being addressed. Last week we lost 49 innocent lives in the worst mass shooting that our country has ever seen. Sadly, its not an isolated case. Let me give you some numbers. In the three years since the tragedy at sandy hook, there have been 1,000 100 mass chootings. And lives cut short by someone using a gun. The house of representatives has held 30 moments of silence for the victims of Mass Shootings since sandy hook and we havent taken a vote other legislation to keep guns out of dangerous hands. I think that is shameful. The American People deserve more than silence. The American People deserve a congress that is willing to stand up and do whatever it takes to take whatever our country is safe. Dangerously mental ill dont have access to purchase guns in our country. And today, suspected terrorists can legally buy guns in our country, individuals who are on e f. B. I. s terrorist watch list can pass a background check and walk out with the gun or guns of their choosing and do it legally. Ince 2004, more than 2,000 suspected terrorists were able to purchase guns and more than 90 of all suspected terrorists who tried to purchase guns in the last 11 years walked away with the weapon that they went in to buy. In the wake of the horrific attacks in orlando, Congress Must make it a priority to keep Deadly Weapons out of the hands of suspected terrorists. There is Bipartisan Legislation that would prohibit those on the terrorist watch list from being able to purchase firmingse. This bill is common sense. If you are too dangerous to fly, you are too dangerous to buy a gun. It is long past time for the Republican Leadership to bring that bill up for a vote. We need to pass my bipartisan bill to require back ground checks for all commercial ground sales. This is the first line of defense when it comes tom stopping dangerous people from getting firearms and we know that background checks work. Every day, they stop more than domestic sole 50 abusers and 20 fugitives from buying a gun. Unfortunately in 34 states, criminals, domestic abusers and the dangerously mentally ill kl purchase guns online or at a gun show. This is a dangerous loophole that noods to be closed. Yesterday, Senate Republicans blocked legislation in a measure to he strengthen background checks. The Republican House is going on with business as usual. Business as usual, without giving the American People a vote to help prevent gun violence in our country. If the Republican Leadership agrees that success pected terrorists, criminals, domestic abusers and the dangerously mental ily ill shouldnt be able to buy guns, they should give us a vote. I would like to yield five minutes to the woman hop represents sandy hook where the ms. Town tragedy took place, esty. Ms. Esty i rise tonight to call on the u. S. Congress and call on this body, the United States house of representatives to do its job, to vote this week to keep guns out of the hands of wouldbe terrorists and to ensure all commercial sales of weapons go through a background check. Since the tragic shootings at andy Hook Elementary School in 2012, more than 100,000 americans, let me repeat that, 100,000 americans have lost their lives to gun violence. Think about that. Think about a town in your district. Think about why your mother limbs. I think about my hometown, three citizens in my district, lost, every single person, parents, teachers, grandparents, lost to grand gun violence. In the 3 1 2 years i have been here, we have not been allowed not one, not one single solitary vote to take bipartisan steps to help prevent gun deaths in this country. Congress silence, our failure to act in this house, the adership in this houses refusal to allow a vote is wrong, its shameful and it must stop. Since my colleague, senator urphy and senator blumenthal 15hour filibuster last week, americans have risen up to say enough. Enough sons and daughters lost, enough families torn apart. Enough of absurd loopholes that make it easier for people on the f. B. I. s terrorist watch list to buy guns than it is for your 16yearold to get a drivers license. Reforms and extended background checks to all commercial sales e comnsense Bipartisan Solutions that will save lives. Outside of washington, these ideas arent the least bit controversial. They are common sense. The American People get it. Their overwhelming majority of support, nofly, nobuy rule that would close our absurd loophole where someone km purchase a gun and to have background checks on each and every commercial sale. Yesterday on monday, a majority of senators decided to protect the interests of the gun lobby rather than protecting the American People. Now is the now is the time for this house to lead. The house has remained silent for too long. For far too many acts of gun violence that have claimed the lives of tens of thousands of americans. It is unthinkable, unconscionable that this house would look to recess to celebrate the fourth of july, the freedom day, our Independence Day in this country, when we have yet to hold a single solitary vote since sandy hook, when 100,000 americans have died from gunshot wounds in 3 1 2 years. We must take up action, we must act this week, it is time for congress to vote, it is time for congress to act. Hank you and i yield back. I thank the gentlelady for the compassion that she brings to this debate. Its understandable, having met with and spoken with many of the parents who lost their children at sandy Hook Elementary School. Mr. Thompson to talk to them and to have to tell them that yet another year has passed and the leadership in this congress has refused, has refused to hold one single vote on any measure relating to gun violence is despicable. Its very, very sad. I know that the gentlewoman from connecticut goes home every weekend and talks with those parents and those Community Members who were shaken to their core to get that call that there was a shooting at an Elementary School and that their child was involved and had to come down o that school and learn that their child was taken from them. Its unacceptable that we allow this to continue. When sandy hook took place, i was asked by the minority leadership to share a task force on gun violence prevention. Chair a task force on gun violence prevention. I took that on. I took it on for a couple of reasons. One, i know it had to be done. And two, i bring a unique perspective to this debate. Im a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. Im a gun owner. Im a hunter. I have vast experience with firearms, including carrying a militarytype assault weapon for the tour that i served in vietnam. I consider myself a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. Nd would do nothing to take an individuals Second Amendment right away from them. As i say, i support it strongly. I also believe that as a responsible gun owner i and all of my fellow responsible gun owners have a responsibility to answer this call, to figure out how we can put on the books laws that, while protecting the Second Amendment, while protecting an individuals right to own firearms and use firearms for target practicing, collecting, hunting or selfdefense, we have a responsibility to make sure we keep hands keep firearms out of the hands of people who shouldnt have firearms. Criminals and the dangerously mentally ill should not be able to have firearms. They shouldnt be able to buy them, they shouldnt be able to own them, they shouldnt be able to use them. And surely this congress can come together and figure out a way to make certain that this doesnt happen. To the best that we possibly can. Ill be the first to admit theres no bill in the world that we can pass that will solve every issue related to gun violence. But we should try. We owe it to our constituents, we owe it to those who lost loved ones through gun violence, and we owe it to the responsible lawabiding gun owners of this country to try. Now, i thought we had the makings of a good proposal when i sat down with my colleague and my friend from new york, republican, peter king. And we put together the legislation commonly referred to as the King Thompson bill King Thompson bill, to require that anyone who purchases a firearm through a commercial sale would be required to go through a background check. You wouldnt think it would be necessary. You wouldnt think that anybody would want to sell a firearm to someone who may possibly be a danger to their community or to our society. But the fact of the matter is there are people who sell firearms willynilly to anybody with the cash to buy it. We need to step in and make sure that we stop willynilly from selling these firearms to criminals and the dangerously mentally ill. Thats what the kingthompson bill does. It says that if you buy a firearm through a commercial sale, you have to have a background check. Now, anybody who buys a firearm in any of our 50 states through a licensed commercial dealer has to go through a background check. Thats the floor. Thats the minimum federal law. Some states, however, dont go any further than that, which leaves this big loophole. It exempts individual sales and some of those individual sales are commercial. When you set up a table at a gun show and sell firearm after firearm after firearm or when you go online and you list your firearms for sale, as an individual, people can call, say, i want to buy that gun, no background check needed, because youre buying it from an individual, you can meet down in the parking lot of your local whatever store, and you can make that transaction. That needs to be stopped. 34 states dont do anything about that. The kingthompson legislation would do something about that. It would say, you have to first get a background check. Now, its a bipartisan bill. As a matter of fact, there are 186 members of this congress who are coauthors of that bill. Five of them are republicans. 90 of the American People believe that you should have background checks for commercial sale of firearms. 85 of n. R. A. Members believe you should have background checks for firearms. They know that this is the first line of defense. Again, it wont stop everything. But it does work. 170 felons a day through the existing background check system are stopped from buying firearms. We know it works. Sadly, about 40 of all firearm purchases are done outside of federally licensed commercial sites. So 40 of the people who are buying guns today are able to avoid a background check. Thats wrong. We ought to close that. When we started the Gun Violence Prevention Task force, we met with everybody. I conducted the meetings. I conducted the hearings. We met with gun owner groups, we met with gun dealers, people who sell firearms, we met with gun experts, we met with people who are opposed to guns and people who are for guns. E heard from police, sheriffs, the federal agency that deals with gun laws, we heard from the n. R. A. We brought everybody in, all the outside gun groups, to tell us what we needed to do. Without question we came away from that with the understanding that background checks is the number one thing that we can do if we want to make a dent in this gun violence problem that we have. We should have a vote on that bill. Now, we know that it works. I told you that. But dont take my word for it. Look at the facts. When connecticut passed what they call their permit to purchase, which is a background check legislation, their state has was saw a 40 drop in homicides by firearms. 40 drop. Conversely, the same time at the same time missouri repealed permit to purchase, which led to a 25 increase in homicides by firearms. Those numbers alone tell us that we need to do something. We need to do everything we can to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldnt have them. And, again, if youre dangerously mentally ill, if youre a criminal, if youre a domestic abuser, or if youre a terrorist, you should not be able to have a firearm. And its this congresss responsibility to do what we can Congress Responsibility to do what we can. Background checks are our first line of defense for making sure these aforementioned groups dont get their hands on firearms. Id like to yield to the entlewoman from connecticut. Ms. Esty thank you, mr. Speaker. I would like to drill down a little bit on the remarks of my good friend and colleague, mr. Thompson, about why these two bills, why the no fly, no buy bill, and the expanded background checks, are so important. And why they are so critical for this house to take votes on them this week. Because keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people lets remember who these people are. Convicted felons, Domestic Violence abusers, and the dangerously mentally ill. And the no fly, no buy would add wouldbe terrorists to that list. I think something the overwhelming number of americans and frankly People Living anywhere in the world would agree would make sense. Keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people not only makes sense, but it works. Since background checks were ins actualitied over instituted, over two million purchases of guns were stopped by wouldbe buyers who submitted to a background check and it came back with a rejection saying, you are not authorized and the gun was not sold. So it does work. Doesnt work perfectly. But it works. And why does it matter that we expand background checks . Let me tell you something that i learned when i was elected to this job and the horrible murders happened in newtown. I learned about the details of our present system. When the background check system was put in 20 years ago, nobody bought guns on the internet. In fact, most of us didnt buy much of anything on the internet. But now we do. Now nearly 40 of the sales go through the internet and almost none of those go through background checks. That was surely not the intent of our colleagues 20 years ago. Anyone wasnt the way bought anything. And that, simply to keep up with the times, to reflect the way americans purchase guns, ammunition and everything else, we need to close the had the internet loophole. Not just gun show, more importantly its the internet. Lets also understand what it means now to have this loophole. Im going to tell you the analogy that a former a. T. F. Official, alcohol, tobacco and firearms official, told me when i first started working on this issue now 3 1 2 years ago. He said this. Elizabeth, imagine you arrive at the airport, people flew in today, imagine you arrive at the airport and theres somebody loaded up with a suicide vest and guns standing next to you in line. But there are two lines you can go to get on the plane. One of the lines is the one where cust marle youre used to cust marley youre used to custima customarily youre used to. Theres another line. The other line you can choose and you can just walk right onto the plane, take your gear with you. If that gear happens to be bombs, if it happens to be a suicide vest, if it happens to be guns, you can just walk right onto the plane. Now, i think we can all agree that that would be incredibly dangerous, incredibly irresponsible. Senseless. The et that, that is system we have right now for guns. If you are a terrorist, if you are a Domestic Violence abuser, if you are dangerously mentally ill, and most importantly, if you are convict a convicted felon, all you have to do is go online or all you have to do is go to the gun show and go to the booth that doesnt list that its a federally licensed firearms dealer. Folks, that just is too easy. Its too easy for the bad guys to get their hands on guns. And it is up to us to take action. The simple action of passing these two important pieces of legislation to close these loopholes. Now, some will say its too hard. This congress is too gridlocked. We cant get anything done. Heart is what mark barton does every day, mark bartons son was murdered in his classroom and mark barton gets up every morning and he cant have breakfast with the rest of the family. He cant do that now. Its too painful. His house alone in with the rest of the family sleeping because his son is no longer there. Mark barton is one of the activists who because this congress has failed to act, these american heroes pound the avement, go to churches, synagogues and mosques and go to chambers of commerce to pressure this body, the house of representatives, the peoples house, to take action to defend the people. What we do is not that hard, not compared to what mark barton does every day and not compared to the heartache in chicago where you have dozens dying on a giving weekend. Folks, its not that hard. We can take the vote. We should take the heat. And we should act to save lives. Thank you. I thank the the gentlewoman from for her comments and she is correct. Mr. Thompson can you imagine that . We have all kids, can you magine your child being lost and get the call that your son or daughter has been murdered at school. Thats hard, thats difficult, what we are doing is not hard and shouldnt be hard for the Republican Leadership to allow us to have a vote on gun violence prevention legislation that would help prevent these things from happening. They just happen too often. Every day, 31 people are murdered. Shot ay, 151 people are in an assault in our country. Thats hard. Whats the Republican Leadership afraid of . You afraid to take a vote . Are you more afraid of the people that were in that nightclub in orlando hiding in the restrooms hoping they uldnt be the next once that were murdered. . Give us a vote. Lets address this issue. Its shameful. Theres nothing to be atrade of. We were elected to come here and do a job. Force Prevention Task heard from every interest on this issue. We took what we heard, we put it in this legislation, the background check legislation addressed issues other than the back zpwround check proifings. Issues that were brought to us by the n. R. A. The n. R. A. Asked for specific things. They asked us to make sure that there was due process for veterans adjudicated as mentally defected before losing a firearms rights. There was a request to clarify doesnt violate the protection for the medical protections. We put that in the bill. The n. R. A. Was concerned that the length of time that you have to wait in order to get your firearm after you passed the background check. We put in place a provision that reduces the time line. Right now its three days. Eventually, it would phase into being hours with the idea that the system would have more complete records because the bill also requires that allows states to get Grant Funding to get their information into the ystem and put records into the system. The n. R. A. Said that hunting buddies shouldnt have to go through the background check, if e at the duck club and has a shotgun, they said they shouldnt have to go through a background check. We put an exemption into our bill. There was great concern that is bill would lead to some sort of big brother list of gun owners. Not only is that nonsense, but we raised them one. We added a 15year felony for the improper storage of records by anyone in the government. We also heard concerns that members of the Armed Services a conflicted, they have a anent home address and permanent home duty request and that compromised it. We put a provision that members of our Armed Services can count their home as their residences. These are things that the n. R. A. Said we are trying to fix. And we take a a permanent home duty request and that compromised it. Step to fi terrible problem where people can buy guns without a back grouped check, domestic abusers and terrorists. This is a good bill with 186 bipartisan coauthors. No one knows that than the gentleman from new york than congressman israel. Mr. Israel i would like to thank you for your leadership and bringing both people on the commonsense notion if you cant buy a plane ticket you shouldnt be buy a gun. If you are on the terrorist watch list, you shouldnt be able to avail yourself of buying a gun. When 20 children were murdered in sandy hook, the gentlewoman from connecticut, i believed that congress was going to do something. What did we do . Nothing. When americans were murdered in san bernandino, i said sometimes we are going to do something. What did we do . Nothing. Enough silence. We are here to protect and defend the constitution of the United States and allow lives to our wed down and allow citizens be slaughtered and the solution is another moment of silence is uncon shon abbling. We came into session tonight and on friday, the speaker will send Congress Home for a week and in that week, so many more americans will be killed by gun violence. So many more, to allow this congress to take a weeks vacation and do nothing on gun violence is unconscionable. No bill, no break, mr. Speaker. No bill, no break. The speaker wont allow us to vote on a bill, we shouldnt be allowed to take a break and go home. And for those who decide they are going to leave here without rising their voices, i dont know how you will defend that decision when you go home and look at your constituents and say i have a week off and i have done nothing to protect and defend my constituents. I understand there are going to be and i yield back to the gentleman, i understand there re differences on he various solutions. What this gentleman has done has brought us to Common Ground, no fly, nobuy. 80 of the people agree. 78 of the n. A. R. Members agree. The vast majority of republicans along with democrats and republicans. Not only is it common sense and the gentleman demonstrated, republican from new york have worked out so many areas of disagreement to areas of agreement. When the vast majority of the American People agree that terrorists shouldnt be able to purchase guns than the peoples house should listen. E need to do it by the time we recess, no bill, no break. And i hope our colleagues understand the importance of that and i yield back. Mr. Thompson i thank the gentleman for his comments and i recognize a colleague from mine an emergency room doctor who not only understands that we need to pass this legislation that has seen the carnage that has come in, for his care. Mr. Ruiz thank you for your leadership and championing gun violence prevention. I join my colleagues in demanding that speaker ryan allow us to vote. E watched in horror as 49 of our lgbt brothers and sisters lives were cut off. These Mass Shootings and congress does nothing to keep our constituents safe. I have taken care of too many patients injured by guns. I have the gutwrenching experience of telling families and friends that their loved ones were killed by a gun. I have taken care of innocent victims of driveby shootings and taken care of victims who spouse i shot by their have taken care of victims who have been shot by bystanders at store and i have had the terrible experience of having to tell a mother that her child, her young child was killed in the streets. T is not something that we can ever be fully prepared for, but we do way too often in our country. And these are needless deaths, needless deaths because there is an opportunity right here, right now, to curve the trend of violence in our country. End. Is gun violence must this week, we are calling on the speaker to allow a vote so our constituents know where exactly where we stand. There are several bills that would make a difference, the the the no buy and spappeds background check system. If we cant agree on the fact that terrorists should not get their hands on guns in our country, then it is a political shame on the parts that are beholden to political interests. Tolerance n the zero or demoveg abusers act, this would present vent them from oing a firearm and lets vote on the Second Amendments protection act, another bill which would improve the record systems which would help our lalmts and mandate that all commercial gun sales its not like we dont have ideas or a path forward to curb gun violence in america. There is no one cure all. If we take a public approach and the aspects of gun violence we will reduce the risk of gun violence and we reduce the incidents of gun violence in america. Let us vote so that terrorists and violent criminals colt access firearms and prevent another orlando. Let us vote to End Gun Violence and keep the American People safe. I join my colleagues in calling for no bill and no break. I yield back my time toll congressman thompson. Mr. Thompson i thank the gentleman from california not only as a distinguished member of this body and sadly he had to witness the carnage that comes about as a result of gun olence and trying to pass so congressmensense laws that protect the second amount. As a gun owner and strong supporter of the Second Amendment, i think that is absolutely necessary, but i think it is absolutely irresponsible for any gun owner to not stand up and be counted when it comes to passing commonsense public sense measures when it comes to the commercial sales of firearms. I thank everyone who spoke during this hour. Moments of silence are not enough. Weve had 30 moments of silence since the tragedy at sandy hook. The not enough. We need to stop being silent. We need to speak up. We need to do our job. We need to show the courage that our constituents have placed us in in us. We need to do in us. We need to do our job so when parents send their kids to school they can be reasonably assured that their kids are going to be safe. We need to do our job so when people go into a church to pray they dont have to worry about some maniac coming in and shooting them during their prayer hour. We need to do our job to make sure when people are relaxing and reck reacting in a club or reacting in a club, they can be reasonably assured that their congress has taken steps to keep guns out of the hands of people who are criminals and people who are dangerously mental illinois. Dome illinois. Domestic mentally ill. Domestic abuserers abusers or terrorists. Its time to do our job. Stop the moments of silence. Stand up, show some courage and pass some commonsense, bipartisan gun violence prevention legislation. Thank you, and i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. Under the speakers announced policy of january 6, 2015, the gentleman from texas, mr. Poe, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority eader. Mr. Poe thank you, mr. Speaker. I rise tonight to talk about what occurred at Stanford University a couple of weeks ago. And a followup to some of the events that occurred after that. The victim in that case gave a powerful victim impact statement. It was 7,200 words long. Last week members of the house, led by Jackie Speier from california, and 18 members of congress from both sides of the aisle just read the statement into the congressional record and it took almost an hour. To read her compelling statement about what happened to her when the rapist, brock turner, committed this crime against her. After the crime was committed, there was a trial. The case was not, as we say in a system, plea bargained or plea agreement, it was an actual trial. After the trial, the judge assessed punishment for three felony crimes that he committed. That being brock turner. The judge assessed opinion punishment as a misdemeanor of six months in jail which means brock turner will spend probably 90 days in jail. Half of a semester for the crime he committed against the victim. As a former prosecutor for eight years, trying these type of cases, and a judge in houston for 22 years, hearing only criminal felony cases for 2 years, ive seen historically how devastating the crime of Sexual Assault is. We as a Community Need to understand how victims are mpacted with this crime. Obviously the judge in the stanford case didnt get it. You can read what he said and its obvious to him, he was so concerned about the feelings of the criminal and his future than he was about the victim. He was almost dismissive of her statement that she read into the record. And there is a movement that is being started by stanford law professor, michelle landisdauber, who i got to meet last week. Very impressive, mr. Speaker. She gets it. She understands about the crime, sault this especially at stanford, and the impact of the victim. Shes using a recall system thats in california that a public official can be recalled if theres enough signatures on a petition to get the recall on the ballot. And she is feisty and shes going to get it done. I admire the state of california for having recall of public officials. This is a perfect example of why other states ought to have recall of public officials. Especially judges who dont get it right. In my opinion the judge should be removed from office. And after i spoke on the house floor and then 19 members spoke a couple of days later on the house floor about this crime, ive received hundreds, hundreds of contacts from Sexual Assault victims throughout the country,. Imarily by email these Sexual Assault survivors, some of them have never told, according to them, theyve never told anybody what happened to them. Years ago. Or in recent years. Many of them just didnt get the justice that they deserved. They didnt tell for a lot of reasons. Mainly because they were ashamed. Rape survivors, god bless them, they think sometimes the crime is their fault. And the not, mr. Speaker. And its not, mr. Speaker. Its never the fault of a victim when a Sexual Assault occurs, the fault of the criminal. Every time. Not most of the time. Every time. Judges need to understand that. The Justice System needs to work for victims of crime just like it works for the accused citizen. Same constitution that protects defendants protects victims of crime as well. Weve come a long way since the days i was prosecuting. Once again, california has led the National Movement for victims rights. My friend, jim costa, from california, he and i head up the crime victims caucus. He was the sponsor of three strikes youre out that passed the law in california. But california has a history of looking out for victims. I commend california for that. I know that may shock you, mr. Speaker. But i commend them for getting it right when it comes to victims. This particular case, it all went this particular case, it all went wrong. The victim articulated it quite well in her statement. I hope every member of congress reads the congressional record. Because that statement of that lady is in the congressional record. Just read it. More importantly, if youre a dad, read it to your sons. Ill come back to that in a minute. I have four kids. Three girls and a boy. I have 11 grandkids. Seven of them are girls. I sure dont want my kids and my grandkids to continue to grow up in a society that doesnt really take care of crime victims. And is dismissive to them. Of the many survivors that wrote me, several bravely offered to share their stories with me and im here to read some of those stories. Not all of them. Just a few. Some have asked me not to give their names. Some are unanimous. Some said its ok for me to tell who what their name was. Im not going to tell their whole name. Im just not going to do that. I think they deserve that privacy. I hope i share in these words, the world will see how outstanding, resilient these few Sexual Assault victims have over the years. Jennifer writes, it was january, 2004, i was 24 years of age. Im a divorced mother of three, he will three Elementary Schoolchildren. Studying to become a preschool teacher. The man i loved came home drunk after wrecking my car. The children were upstairs asleep. He beat me, beat my head against the cement floor, and then he rape med as i tried to stay raped me as i tried to stay quiet. So quiet, so still, so he would leave and no one upstairs would wake up. E did finally leave. My mother said, since i loved him it wasnt rape. Because i got involved with a man who would do that, it was my fault and couldnt very well make him lose his job because of my poor judgment. I was young, i didnt know. To this day, i blame myself for letting it happen. Even though now i know that none of it was my fault. Because of that night, i have post Traumatic Stress disorder postTraumatic Stress disorder. My body remembers, even if my mind doesnt know all of the details. After reading the speech you made, i told my new husband about what happened to me and this was the first time i ever told him. Weve been together for 10 years. Mr. Speaker, in all due respect to jennifers mother, jennifers mother was wrong. It was not jennifers fault that she fell in love with a worthless guy. And the Sexual Assault was certainly not her fault. It was his fault. And he should have been held accountable for what he did. But yet jennifer still suffers to this day for what that individual did. The rape. We use the word rape and we use Sexual Assault. Sexual assaults a relatively new term. It used to be called rape because thats a specific type of Sexual Assault. Sexual assault is broader. But rape is never the fault of the victimment and neither is Sexual Assault victim. Andneather is Sexual Assault. And the defendant and neither is Sexual Assault. And the defendant always has an excuse. To blame the victim. Well, she came on to me. Or it was what she was wearing. Or she was drunk. Or she was under the influence of narcotics. She didnt resist. She didnt scream. She didnt tell me no. She didnt run for help. The defendants in these cases always blame the victim. But rape is not the fault of the victim. No means no. If people out there in america want to join in on this nversation, they can use the survivorsspeak and keep discussing this issue. Because i think we should discuss this issue. Here we have a victim. I said no. And saying no means no. It doesnt mean maybe. It doesnt mean yes. No always means no. So if folks want to join in on that, i would encourage them, survivorsspeak. Thats jennifers story. This was this story was written by a family member. Because of the age of the victim. Shes unanimous, of course. 26 years ago a 6yearold was raped in mercedes, texas. The rapist got his fix as he pleased. The pervert, well, hes still on the loose. Hes a pedophile. A rapist and a scum bag. Yet he still walks the streets. His victim is now 30 years of age. She still has postTraumatic Stress disorder. She still cries, is depressed and relieves her tragedy relives her tragedy each day. Thank the congress for what theyre trying to do for this crime. Theres a case where we know who the perpetrator was and for some reason we dont know, he got away with it. Meas maybe because of the age of the victim. Maybe she didnt want to testify. We dont know. But he got away with it. And the victim still suffers. Now, 24 years later, from what happened to her when she was 6 years of age, mr. Speaker. Kristena says this, as a victim of rape 25 years ago, i am disappointed to see that we really havent made progress as a nation or a people in changing the attitude toward rape victims. It is time to recognize the lifetime impact that rape has on a victim. It affects every part of your being, its time to stop the line of questioning that the victim is subject to. The line of questions that insinuate, well, what did you do to cause this . Ive been at the courthouse, i see how criminal defense lawyers ask and question in cases like this. The individual is the fault of the victim and not the fault of the rapist. And thats one of the defenses to go after the victims. She continues, he was a friend of a friend. I still question my judgment. Every new date, the first thought is where is my escape route. Then it progresses to what are the signs that im ignoring that plight harm me. This is an abnormal thought process but its what i need to do to feel safe again. Lifetime of grief. She says this. I was raped. I have not received any justice tore the act committed against me. I have stayed silent for nearly five years and today that ends. Today, im no longer a victim of crime but a survivor. Im not alone. I actually matter. Good for asia. I was 19 when i was drugged and raped. I will never know how many individuals raped me. I may have no memory of the act but irt doesnt change the outcome i was unconscious. I will always remember the pain, seeing the bruises that covered and myide of my thig hmp underwear was ripped. I never want to see those clothes again. I reported that rape but i never received justice. I went through questions from the police. I felt so much pain at the hospital through the pregnancy st, the std test and the tmp iv test and pictures were taken of my bed and i felt so much shame. When the rape kit was done, i crade, it was terrible. He and others walked free. I live with the feeling of shame. I could not smile. I live to this day with nightmares. I plame myself. Because maybe if i had nt taken that drink, he took my voice for years, a piece of me he did not deserve. I went through therapy. My body was taken without asking but i have a voice now and it will not be silenced. I tell my story. We didnt ask for this. We need to make sure that no more victims are made to feel they did something wrong. I didnt violate him but i can carry the scars of what he did. I stand with every victim. Its the first time i have given my voice to be heard. Thank you again for giving us a voice to fight with. And she is thanking all members of congress who have spoken out against this crime. This is another individual and i have three more including this more. Mr. Poe, i hope your words will be heard. From personal experience, the nightmares may never stop, not even my rapist was killed in prison, nightmares did not stop. I still see his face in the dark my i hear his voice praising body. Carry this burden since i was seven years old and cant be fixed but it can be stopped by making the punishment so severe. She probably wouldnt have agreed with the sixmonth sentence that the stanford judge days. Ole only gave 90 into my e, a man broke apartment who beat and pistolwhipped me. This is hard to read this. He sodomized me with his gun. I have flashbacks and i have panic attacks and the wish just to die and end all of this damage that he did to me. You give some of us hope and i thank you and other members of congress for standing up for us rape victims. Im honored for you to share my story and help others, i fear my attacker even though i dont know his name. He knows my name. He stalked me. Thank i for taking the time to write me back. The last case, lauren, is a case i tried. I tried the person that assaulted her and her sister. It was in 1997, lauren was at the age of 11 her step sister was 9 years of age and they were molested not by a stranger or a friend, but by their grandfather. He molested them several times. This happened 20 years ago and lauren cant talk much about it. She reached out to tell us that Sexual Assaults stays with you for life. The individual was convicted and received a 0 hive year case and 5year case in another and he had to do 15 years. We have done some good things over the years and good things in congress. The justice for all act, strength thention the right for victims of crime, increasing their access for reauthorization of victims grants. It takes steps to reduce the rape kit backlog and expands the nurse exercise in underserved communities. When i started prosecuting cases, we didnt know what rape cases were. Wonderful doctors have figured this out like the Childrens Hospital in houston and it is a forensic kit that is taken of e sexual victim and they are tracked through dap. But right now in our country, we have rape kits sitting on the shelves in Police Departments throughout the country gathering dust. People cant get around to solving these crimes and make all kind of excuses, we dont have the money and we need more help. We are denying justice for failure to analyze these rape kits. Kits. To these rape it exonerates some people in the pen. Get it done. Solve this problem of the backlog of rape kits. There is no excuse for the f. B. I. , not to analyze those sexual kits. When the crime is committed, mr. Speaker, the system works in such a way, we dont let the victim forget. They may have to testify. And they cant get on until the rape kit is analyzed and the idea it has to wait a year or two years before we know who ommitted this crime, this is buse and may exonerate a victim. So no more excuses. Needs to be a priority of Police Departments, analyze the sexual ssault kits because urt good evidence in the courtroom to convict the guilty. But you cant get to that point and the victim cant get to the trial so they have to continue to remember this. Not that they would forget it, but cant get on with their lives. Nd same is true with these cases. The judges will say im going to try a slip and fall case. Courts in the United States by the legislative of the cases tures shall make put them in the line first. Some states do it, some dont it. But thats an easy case that we could do. And of course, in law of justice the w act, it protects funding and streams that are critical and i mentioned about the d. N. A. Testing. One thing that i mentioned jim costa and this issue is a bipartisan issue and we have 80, every year we have this fight with the appropriators. There was a great law passed by ngress response order by Ronald Reagan on who said this when a criminal defendant is convicted in criminal court, the judge may impossible a fee and that fee goes into what is act the victim of crime fund. And god bless those judges. More and more money is going swoo the fund. And that fund is to be used for victims of crime including services restoration, counseling, all of those things we do for victims. But heres the problem. More money than ever before is coming into the fund. There is 9 billion in the fund. This is ntsd taxpayer money, but money that criminals have paid the rent on the courthouse, plus their sentence and in a fund to go to crime victims. Us,the problem is congress, doesnt appropriate all the money that came in the previous year. Appropriated to crime victims organizations. And they are barely keeping the lights on and the rest of that money and i know the money, im not a c. P. A. But a lawyer, and they say we cant spend that ney because we need it as an offset for another program. It is not taxpayer money. And what tim and i have been trying to do is what goes in this year comes out next year, spend it all. We dont need to have a Rainy Day Fund because federal judges are making defendants pay into this fund. Once again, it be longs to victims of crime but it is administered to the justice department. Hangs onto it because the appropriators dont spend it all and appropriate all the money because they want to use it as an offset. The country and some judges like e one at stanford, happen to get their mindset right today in 2016. Sexual assault is a crime we dont much bl it. So we dont talk about it. We talk about other things. T these victims live quiet lives of despair. And i have known a lot over the years, some of them even in contact with me. Just called to check with me. They dont get over it. We would happy they would and get their lives together and emotionally, a lot of them dont just get overit, for a lot of reasons, because they are shameful. Their mom told them it was their fault, whatever. And we need to make it clear that congress is on their side. We are on their side. We are their only voice
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.