dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: thank you, objection. . >> as we continue to grieve the people of las vegas and the families of the injured or were deceased i see those

beautiful young people that have their life ahead of them and you a call for them. but our thoughts must turn to action so it c doesn't happen again. what can we do as a nation to change? when there are more mass shootings began days when we average more than one per day something has to change so this might not happen again the overwhelming majority would say yes. if we could talk to those souls that were killed they would say do something. they would not say leave things alone.

the fact there were so many injured not to prevent somebody else from dying the way they did. >> but the families of the loved ones would agree with me that it is appropriate and necessary. and then politics is to be a more prosperous place to live with no more appropriate time than now to talk of the issue. yesterday president trump visited las vegas. i'm h glad he reminded everybody they have the full support of the nation but he

did not talk about guns. to lead in a moderate debate on bill and opportunity is not over the president still has the opportunity all lives are on the president if he will lead the nation to do something reasonable and moderate about guns and gun safety. president trump will you wait to hear what the end are a says first? or will you wait for them to give you the green light? you said you are beholden to no one. to fashion yourself as a strong man. but you were not be beholden to anyone.

and the first republican president but the first to buck the nra? you know, the right thing toid do. so come now to say you support and would sign a lot to support the small step from making a getting into an automatic. and to make up their mind. that cannot be our only response. it is hardly enough even though we should do whatever we can and we must do more.

and the police to figure out where the dead man was -- the gun man but let's forget about implementing the national concealed carry permit. i know when somebody who has no check on mental derangement come to times square and they can do anything about it. that is what that law would do. any other heavily populated area downtown or other cities. football stadiums. concealed carry reciprocity past they could carry them into any football stadium in

america and police could not check them. so we have to do these things with the most effective to stop all of this violence with the daily gun violence. to adopt the universal background check. and tell senator murphy introduced yesterday. that requires a lot of what -- modicum of political coverage. to but the nra to engage in a reasonable debate of

commons since the law's. >> many weapons are already illegal. but to ban those stocks is consistent that senator feinstein has introduced. waiting for the nra to give us a green light. >> the president and congress are beholden to the nra allowing a shooter to kill 59 americans with these and cannot infringe upon those legitimate rights of gun owners. and to make a safer place. so now turning to the

humanitarian crisis importer rico and the virgin islands yesterday congress received a request from the administration for a supplemental aid package to help puerto rico and the virgin islands and other hit by storms also money for the western states for though wildfires it is a good first that but it is just a start of a long recovery and a relief effort that will require additional aid from this congress. the islands are just turning to assess the damage and once they hit can assume how devastating they were bewildered what - - respond immediately for additional support to assist recovery and rebuilding.

>> second, i am one of my colleagues on the other side, particularly those in the house not to attach any ideological policy writers to this urgent a package. those changes to flood insurance program and policy should come nowhere near this bill. they tried to do it last week and the faa bill and we had to send it back. because of joint opposition both sides of the aisle. let's not go through that again. i think our chairman for helping in that regard. third, it has become clear that puerto rico's recovery will be further hindered by its ongoing debt crisis. that coupled with the devastation from hurricane maria has led to growing concerns that

they will soon face of liquidity prices. crisis. they are running out of money to pay for services like first responders not to mention rebuilding a recovery. the funds we hope to include are critical. but we have to make sure they have enough cash to start the process. pima, local governments have to lay out the money first and then they get repaid, but puerto rico doesn't have the money to lay out. so we have to deal with that issues. with that in mind we should act quickly on the supplemental but that's just the beginning of our aid to rebuild. on the republican tax plan it is so awful in so many ways, increase huge raising tax cuts on middle-class people, and to

from the tax cuts for the rich cutting medicare and medicaid by close to $1.5 trillion. so were in favor of serious tax reform debate, we've mentioned our guidelines, no tax cuts for the 1%, no increase in the deficit do it in a bipartisan way, the republican plan does the opposite that's why democrats are post. lavish tax breaks on the rich, pays for it by cutting medicare and medicaid and leaves everybody in the cold except the wealthy. today i want to focus on one provision, the repeal of the state and local tax deduction. republican plan raises taxes on millions of middle-class families across the country by repealing the state local deduction. 44 million americans, that is about one in eight, it's about

one in every four or five families take that deduction. one third of all taxpayers take the deduction. almost one in three and, they don't just get a few pennies back, they get several thousand dollars after taxes each year. it's not just the rear group in states like massachusetts, new york and california. the reason it brings in 1.3 trillion is because it affects so many people throughout the entire country. don't believe me, look at the numbers. look at these charts, i'm posting here, and i hope the percentages for each state, 46% of the people in maryland get an average deduction of 12900. connecticut 41, new jersey, virginia, 37% debt and $11000

deduction. utah, 35% of utah taxpayers get an average deduction of $12954. in utah they said the standard deduction except for, it won't because were taken away the standard exemption. it's a wash if your family three, let's keep going. minnesota, new york, i want to show my republican colleagues how it would affect some of their states. let's take georgia. one third of all taxpayers get an average break of $9000. look at these numbers, i'm going to send them to everyone of you, look how it affects your state. okay, iowa 29% of all people get

a $10000 break on average. pennsylvania 29% $11000 break. arizona, 28%, my friend from idaho, didn't know he'd be here but his numbers on the chart. 28% get an average of $8800 break, you take that away from them? in the standard deduction doesn't make up for it if you have one child or more. nebraska, 20% $11000 deduction. by the way, these numbers come from a group that put it together but from the irs. these are irs numbers, south carolina, 27% and $8000.

missouri, 26%, ohio 26% $10000. kentucky. in his state 26% of the people, one out of four get that state local property deduction averaging $9995. jonah take that away? alabama where our dear friend the president of the senate for the moment sits, 26% they get an average break of $5900. kansas, 25% get a break, i'm saying these numbers because our friends, the heart rate was just wants to lower their own taxes

is telling everybody this is just in four states, massachusetts, new york, california, new jersey. no. it's across america. let's keep going, i am having a good time, hope you all are. oklahoma, 24%, $8000 break i think this is mississippi, 23% of $6300 break. louisiana, 23%, close to one honest four, texas, the great state of texas where our majority whip comes from, 23%, close to one out of four texans get a $7000.800 break. indiana 23% get a break. florida, 22% get a $7300 break. wyoming, would affect wyoming, it's a rural state.

22% get a $6300 break the state that is least effective is still very affected. south dakota only and seven west virginia only 17% of the people get a $9000 break in west virginia the $6000 break in north dakota. not to leave off north dakota. there around between four and $596,800. okay folks? the achilles' heel of this bill, there are many estate local deductibility. kills the middle class and the upper middle income people. it doesn't affect the rich. they don't pay a lot of property taxes, they make their money in high-income places. a lot of stocks and bonds.

the standard deduction does not undo it because you lose the standard exemption. even if you just husband-and-wife without kids i'm can ask unanimous consent the debate be delayed for a few minutes. i just need to finish my remarks, most on. okay. so, the benefit of state local deductibility affects every state, every city, every town, every municipality and goes deep into the middle class and working class. one other point i have to make, never realizing that some of our republican colleagues or say will modify. folks, there's no real way to modify the provision to

eliminate state local deductibility. you want to give a choice, that won't work because for middle-class taxpayers is the only the combination of their itemized deduction, state, local, mortgage and others that make it worth them to i mice. if you have to choose between the mortgage deduction in your property tax deduction? it's a loser. so they say will just do this for the very rich, that's not where the money is. where are you going to cap it? it's mostly middle-class deduction. so for cap it for people's whose income is 500,000 were million you don't bring in much money. so it's a loser, you can't fix it, get rid of it. the plans that are being done still continue to hit th hurt te

middle class dramatically. so, the republican plan to repeal state local can't be fixed, modified or tweaked around the edges. each proposal doesn't work. it must be scrapped. the state local deduction affects everyone even the one in five in the low state where it affects the fuse people. it's just one of the many flaws in this broken framework. the start over, don't just do a republican plan that repeals for the handful of wealthy corporations and individuals, work with us on a fair plan that helps middle-class, not the very wealthy. we are ready. but if you do the same thing you did on healthcare, try to do by ourselves, i think you'll meet with the same fate that the healthcare bill did. i you before. >> thank you mr. president.

last weekend, man camped out on 32nd floor of the mandalay bay hotel in las vegas. his stockpiled 23 weapons, hundreds of rounds of ammunition. he set up scopes, brought hammer to knock out the window. and then on sunday, he opened fire. he kept firing, for 15 minutes. stopping only to reload and switch weapons in over 15 minutes he murdered 58 americans and injured more than 500. that after the shooting i was in washington. i had seven meetings and not a single person in those meetings brought up the worst shooting in modern american history, not

one. i'm not sure if it was to mass shootings ago, three when we started to accept this as a normal condition of american life. when we lost our belief that it was within our power to protect our fellow americans at a country music concert were at a nightclub. or a movie theater or school. i know there are strong beliefs about guns in america, principal believes but there's also steps that the overwhelming majority of americans want us to take. 90% of americans thinks we need to rent checks for gun sales including 74% of nra members. it is 9% think we should prevent mentally from purchasing guns. 82% of republicans want us to

bar gun purchases on the watchlist. yet congress has done nothing to respond to the american people. we did nothing after aurora, after new town, after utah, unlike washington in colorado, our legislators, after two mass shootings in aurora and columbine they rose to the occasion and made tough choices after we suffer to the mass worst mass shootings in our history. after columbine we close the gun show loophole. after aurora we strengthen our background checks, in a western state. last year they blocked 8704

people from buying guns. that may sound like a lot, but 380,000 people apply for guns in colorado last year. that means just 2% of those folks who applied were blocked, and 98% able to buy a gun without a problem. who was that 2% that colorado was blocking but congress fails to block? among them were murderers and rapists and kidnappers domestic abusers. no one can come to this floor tell me colorado is worse off because we kept guns out of the hands of those people. the average wait time for those background checks was 12 minutes. that strikes me as a fair trade-off to keep guns out of the hands of murderers, kidnappers and rapists. but here in washington, despite

now an annual tragedy, tragedy after tragedy congress has done nothing. we haven't even done simple things. like's the gun show loophole or stop people on the terrorists watchlist buying weapons. this isn't about taking guns away from people who have them. spoke keeping guns out of the hands of people who nearly everybody agrees shouldn't have them. it's about stopping more people like the las vegas killer for modifying his rifles to become almost fully automatic the far more deadly. i've cosponsored a bill this week and i'm encouraged that some of my colleagues seem to be open to that idea.

i know we can't stop every mad manner every act just like we can't stop every murder from happy. just like the overwhelming majority of americans on that are fully consistent with the constitution. i remember after the shooting a pulse nightclub i was supposed to take my daughter to camp that day she was going to be away from us for a month. i remember i did everything i could to keep her from hearing the news that day. has a number of fatalities increased during the course of the day.

i did not want her to leave us, she was 12 at the time, with a sense of fear. the fear that i felt in the country felt. and i'm so sorry that my children, and america's children have to grow up in a country where mass shootings are common. when we are beginning to see them as part of our life. i heard someone say that's the price of freedom, but ashamed somebody would say that. in the united states of america. what a surrender that represents to our children, to the victims

of these crimes i did not grow up not america. the conditions have changed, we have let it happen and the result is now that we have an entire generation of america, of our country and our son and our daughters were growing up with a reasonable fear that they could be a victim of a mass shooting or that their mom or their dad by not come home one day. i think our kids have enough to

worry about, they have every right to see a movie or go dancing with their friends, to see a concert on their one night off, without the fear of being shot down by people have no business carrying such a powerful weapon. they have a right to expect this congress will finally do something about gun violence in our country. violence far greater than anywhere else in the industrialized world. madam president, in the wake of these horrific acts, and as always, americans spring into action, first responder secure the area and neighbors hold

vigils to honor the victims and support grieving families, a journalist shed light on what happened and why. citizens speak out to demand action from their elected officials, they are doing their jobs and it's time for congress to do ours. i yield the floor. >> every time president trump has the choice between standing up for american families were standing for wealthy banks and corporation he chooses the rich guys. he is promised he will never be beholden to lobbyist or the special interests, but he is appointed dozens of big business lobbyist and his administration. he promised he would not let the wall street guys get away with murder, after he was sworn in a loaded up his team with goldman sachs executives. over and over again he has promised to drain the swamp but

then appointed a lobbyist and insiders to position this is just the latest in the long line of corporate appointments. he is president trumps nominee, he's gone through the revolving door so many times it's hard to keep up from a wall street off farm, back eventually to the treasury department, venture private equity fund followed by another trip to a private equity fund. and now he's ready for another spin. the vice chair is one of the most important jobs in government. after the crisis congress put the fed in charge of supervising the biggest banks. that includes other financial institutions that bring down the system with them if they went under.

this a so-called too big to fail institution. that's what stands between millions of american families in another economic catastrophe that would rob them of their job, savings or homes. after the crisis congress created the vice chair for supervision to lead efforts to supervise these positions. so, what kind of supervision and oversight to believe in? his motto seems to be whatever the big banks want give it to. spent within a decade in private act where he argues for weaker rules for giant banks including relaxing the rules for stress test. during capital leverage standards and repealing the rule. it is hearing showed him a 124

page list of financial rollbacks from a lobbying group from the biggest banks in the country. i asked him which one of those dozens of changes he disagreed with him he couldn't name one. the number one thing we need for vice chair his independence from wall street. a demonstrated willingness to stand up to the wishes a big banks and protect the interests of working families. there is not a speck of independence in his track record. his time in government raise red flags. as undersecretary he was responsible for overseeing financial institutions, markets and regulations in the years leading up to this crisis. let me say it again, he was the treasury official in charge of helping oversee wall street in

the years leading up to the crisis. to point out how that worked out? if he wanted to stand up for the banks he could have found and fixed systemwide problem to the markets before catastrophe stuck struck. instead when they're making gobs of money he gave a speech in front of peru for bankers and said fundamentally the economy strong, the sectors healthy and our future, the banks looks bright. lesson two years later the system exploded cost americans about $14 trillion. make no mistake, that endangers the health of our economy. last time he was in charge he failed to act to protect the american people from the biggest

recession since the great depression, either because he missed the signs were he deliberately ignored them. either way, it makes him the wrong person for the job. american families deserve a strong leader as vice chair will fight hard to keep them safe. everything we know about mr. corr said he will be fighting hard for the big banks. i'll be voting no on his nomination. and i urge my colleagues to do the same. >> mr. chairman. i rise to speak in support of the nomination of randall corals. he has extensive government and private sector experience dealing with both domestic and international financial markets. he is no stranger to public service having served in

multiple posts of the treasury department. he has been nominated to serve as the vice chairman for supervision, a role that has never been officially filled. instead dan acted as the de facto debate cheering the federal board committee on supervision and regulation, overseeing the coordinating committee and representing the fed at the stability board among other functions in february cherry ellen said she expected president trumps nominee for vice chairman for supervision to the same responsibilities that governor cirillo had including the federal reserve committee in supervision and regulation and representing the fed at the financial stability board. i expect mr. corals to perform those duties in the inner and i

look forward to confirming him to that position soon. he has strong bipartisan support and was voted out of the banking committee with the affirmative vote of 17 - 6. he will play a key role in regulatory and supervisory policy for the federal reserve system. i urge my colleagues to support his nomination today vote for his confirmation. i yield the floor. >> i rise today like i have on so many occasions to give voice to the three and half million americans who call puerto rico home. their lives have been turned upside down by hurricane maria. now, more than ever they desperately need to be heard. i invite my colleagues to join me in amplifying the voices of millions of puerto ricans calling out for help.

on the millions here in the mainly of yet to hear from the families here on the floor with me are aerial photos of the destruction caused by hurricane maria. the astounding damage i saw firsthand when i toured by helicopter on friday. these pictures are pictures largely that i took. take this collapsed bridge this is situated in the central mountains of puerto rico. 30,000 americans who live in this area depend on this bridge to cross the rivers that run through it every day. but today those 30,000 americans are secluded, waiting in the dark and wondering one helpful arrive. images like these have stayed with me from the moment i left puerto rico.

i share them because the people puerto rico nader collective voices and support to stop this humanitarian crisis from revolving into a blown american tragedy. this is another example of some of the devastation of a large number of homes in the community. if we hope to overcome the monumental challenges before us we need a full grasp of the reality on the ground. i thought that's why president trump went to puerto rico this week, instead he continued to feed on his own version of reality. he told the people puerto rico they should be very proud that the death count was only 16 versus literally thousands of people who died in a real catastrophe like katrina.

a real catastrophe like katrina and certainly that was a catastrophe but this is no less real. moments later the ap reported that fatalities had risen to 34. while i pray it is not the case, i fear it may be even worse. we have secluded communities that still have not gotten access so we don't know what's happening there. we do not have a moment to was waste, like many i hope during his visit the president would take the highroad, and set a new tone after his administration had a willfully delayed response. instead he took to victim blaming to a new level. he told local local officials and i quote, i hate to tell you that you have thrown our budget a little out of whack

mr. president, perhaps we need to dial back the trillion dollar tax cuts you want to give to billionaire families like yours. because it's going to take more than paper towels to help the people puerto rico. in this country we do not turn our backs on americans in need. we don't complain about how much it cost to restore power to hospitals or rebuild roads or get clean drinking water and food and medicine to the hungry and frail. we are the united states of america and where there for each other, whether texas after harvey or florida or new jersey, puerto rico, if you for the president speak really you to that everything's going great

and he in particular is doing the greatest hope that a president has ever done in the history of the world. administration will say the majority worried of hospitals are open but leave off the fact that many are running on generator set a reduced capacity. and how getting to the hospital is nearly impossible and even if you do find a way there, the hospitals might not have the medicine come supplies or doctors you need. the ministration of set up 11 distribution points for food, water another necessities but what good is it that takes hours to reach and is out of supplies before you get there. the brag about how people have access to running water but neglect to say in some rural areas, barely over 13% of people have access to running water.

the post about the buildings being inspected, something even the governor questioned but look at this image i took five days before the president landed. this is 25 minutes outside of san juan. hurricane maria destroyed many of the wooden homes that populate the island. here's an example of it, you saw the other one where the homes are destroyed, some of them are not made with us same structure, here's a cement structure that's destroyed. so i saw this in communities near the capital, and the mountains along the coast. what does this tell us? an unfortunate truth, that the administration's response has

been inadequate from the start, for two weeks they cried out for help, help with clean water, how powering hospitals, helping families, yet he accused then the victims of this historic natural disaster of clamoring for handouts. he dismissed the urgency of the situation and he called the mayor of san juan a nasty woman who should pipe down. later she is waiting hip deep in water. does this look like a woman who is an taken responsibility? no. looks like a leader doing what she can to save lives. i knew from the start we were getting the full picture. because the administration went out of its way not to provide support for a bipartisan, congressional delegation to

visit the island, i decided to go myself. after all, it will be the responsibility of congress to fund relief and long-term recovery and we need the facts to produce the right legislation. so i boarded an american airlines flight to puerto rico. the maybe clear, i have visited the islands i don't how many times over the past 25 years both of my official capacity as a member of congress and personal for vacation. it's no exaggeration to say the islanders on friday is not the island i have known and loved. the lush, green tropical landscape that comes to mind when we think of puerto rico was mostly devoid of life. i met with the governor and spoke to local law-enforcement officials, federal fema officials with the help of the

governor's office and the joint action i surveyed the area by helicopter. destroyed homes struggled with the occasional -- a dead green here cover the landscape that such a foresight from that i caught myself thinking of somewhere else. was an all-too-familiar scene. seemingly strong cement structure of the building on the surface impervious to the strong wind of the hurricane, yet now on the verge of sinking into the earth. it eroded so much land that landslides have become the new normal. the people who live here and never be able to return. entire generations of close that communities may never be the

same. despite these dire conditions, i felt the spirit of community and commitment shared by so many americans across the island. after hurricane maria they look to devastation, no communication, no isolating effects of been cut off. is a wonder when the government will come to their aid they're doing what they can to survive. they've taken matters into their own hands. they're clearing roads sheltering relatives who lost their homes, working to care for the most honorable. through it all i saw the hard-working spirit a live puerto rico that i see whenever i speak to puerto rican families there and across new jersey. so many of my constituents are mobilizing to send help is the anxiously wait to hear from the

families. i too worried about my family on the island. my brother faces health challenges i worried about his care. fortunately we had a brief moment to me is able to give him some supplies. as tough as this was he was one of the lucky ones. he lives in a suburb of san juan which is relatively better off than the more remote rural areas. let's do a chart of our recovery status. fifteen days after the storm where does it stand? 93% of our fellow americans are still without power. i can tell you firsthand the heat and humidity from all the water that came from maria is stifling. it's oppressive. it's hard to breathe.

60% of puerto rico has no cell phone service people have no way of connecting on the island and outside of the island, or calling for help if they needed it. if they did we could have accuracy of search and rescue missions. day by day you're fewer have access to clean running water. from october 2 to the third the population with running water trapped 29% to 13%. the truth is, the situation would be an acceptable in any major city on the u.s. mainland. but as the people know they don't get the same treatment as their fellow citizens on the mainland.

the ugly truth is that for generations congress has treated the people of puerto rico not us our fellow americans were those that have fought and bled for our country and all puerto rican infantry division received recently the highest declaration congress gives collectively, hurricane maria did not create this disparity. but it exposed the long-standing inequities that have hindered the island for generation. they don't receive equal medicare families are access to tax credits. they're not just numbers on the ledger, their long-term care for a grandparent. treatment for critically ill child to make a living wage. that didn't happen overnight. these add up over time.

as governor said so eloquently, i invite you to reflect on why puerto rico is in the current state of disadvantage and inequality. doesn't just happen few weeks or months before start. it is happened more than a century puerto rico. i invite you to reflect on the reality that even after the storm hit and evidenced of a disaster in the united states, only half of the united states that puerto ricans were u.s. citizens. so when they were there these disparities were laid bare. none of this should take the trump administration by surprise, we knew the storm was coming. whenever days a category five hurricane was on a collision

course, just as communities across the island were picking up after the pieces. we've known about the aging infrastructure like the downed power line pictured here. all of us the that hurricane maria was recipe for disaster that would leave three and a half million americans in the dark. it should not have taken the administration 12 days to assure disaster declaration something that i had called for. there's no community that is untouched by this tragedy. they would had a three star general on the ground not immediately, we needed medical evacuation of vehicles and vessels, aid and relief systems on standby, the u.s. ready for

deployment instead they told us puerto rico is hard because it's an island in a big ocean. it happens to be an island with three and a half million united states citizens. there's no more time to waste. it's urgent to take action now. if we can send 20000 troops to haiti, surely we can get more boots on the ground saving american lives puerto rico. the generators delivered and the repair of communication towers expedited. it's up to the president to mobilize every resource to rebuild bridges and reach communities to reconnect families. we can't waste any more times, not one lives on the line. now in elderly residents in nursing homes growth trailer by the moment.

that one hungry american children have nothing to eat. when communities are without clean drinking water. we need to keep the pressure on the administration. that's why i urged the president so the military kumar quickly deliver resources to those in need. so i weirds fema to waive disaster relief cost-sharing because as the governor told me, i have no revenue coming in. and the likelihood of revenue coming in certainly in the short term is not there. so, how do you acquire the 75% of the federal assistance if you don't have the 25% to put up. that's way we've written the usda asking that they use all available resources to get food

to the people of puerto rico. it's an all hands on deck situation. congress has responsibility to act. that's why sent a letter to leader mcconnell speaker right asking for in a package and fund community development block grants. and authorize such as the emergency funded needed to save lives, but the assistance needed for full recovery. we must give them the tools to rebuild. it means making sure their financial control board gives the governor flexibility to spearhead this recovery. board members should be on the island assessing the damage speaking to the survivors. allowing a governor to create a new budget that reflects their post maria reality.

damage estimates could be as high as 90 billion. so enabling flexibility is critical going forward. said it before, the people puerto rico must come before wall street creditors. as it turns out it's an area where we can find common ground. last night he called for puerto rico's debt to be wiped out. i hope all of us in the fiscal control board can work together to jumpstart their recovery. that must address the debt and ensuring that protections are paid. imagine no longer working not having income and now you're pension is not there. have you make it? all of us here have a

responsibility to stand with puerto rico. how we respond will have consequences not just for the americans who live in there today but for generations to come. we need a package that matches the damages. the photos are brought to the floor give you a glimpse it's not enough to reconnect with faulty ailing power grid. it's time to be proactive and rebuild so it's repaired for the next storm of the 21st century. it's time to fix the disparities otherwise we will rebuild the broken foundation. the close on say nevermind my colleagues the puerto ricans are not just citizens of the united states which, in and of itself

should speak to the compelling arguments that we should be engaged in as our fellow americans. but, they have fought to defend our nation from world war i, to the war on terror. walked down on the vietnam memorial and you'll see puerto rican names on that far in excess to the american proportion. to this day, more than 10000 puerto rican serve in every branch of the u.s. armed forces. let's remember beyond the three and half million citizens on the island there 5 million living interstates, and our congressional districts and communities. in the aftermath of this disaster, these americans deserve the same rights, the same respect in response to the federal government.

that's why told people earlier this week, we all remember how hard it was to secure the funding we needed to rebuild new jersey in the aftermath of standing. we had to fight tooth and nail every step of the way, guess what, the two u.s. senators from new jersey, members of congress joined by colleagues and a host of congressional members were also affected and it was an incredible time to get relief. americans in puerto rico have no vote in the senate. there no votes in congress and the fight to rebuild will be that much harder. that as i have in the past, i intend to be their voice and their vote in the senate.

now as of the time to pretend recovery will be a piece of cake. none of us should sugarcoat the human catastrophe play now, it's time for honesty about the conditions on the ground and the challenges we face the actions we mistake. yes it is an island in the middle of a very big ocean, we are the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. of the most advanced military ever known, we have to be there for three and half million americans were in need. we are the united states of america, we do the impossible. we give our men in uniform and emission and they rise to the occasion, if we set up tactical airlift, the green zones at the

height of the iraq war, then surely we can save the lives of americans in danger and surely we can save those lives and help rebuild puerto rico. we must not rest until every american is safe in the work of rebuilding and stunned. i yield the floor. >> fred and i will bring you oral argument in the taste of gale versus whitford. they'll decide whether gerrymandering of wisconsin's electoral map violates the constitution. it's friday night at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> c-span's "washington journal", live every day with news and policy issues that impact too. coming up on friday morning a discussion of the recent tax reform plan with miami guinness, then, public research groups

talk about the colfax data breach in recent congressional response. u.s. concealing carrie about gun control efforts on capitol hill. watch "washington journal", live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on friday morning. >> c-span, where history on. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service america's cable television companies. spread two today by your cable or satellite provider. >> the house homeland security committee worked on a border security bill that includes $10 billion for construction of a wall along the border of mexico of 5 billion to six points of entry.

>> the committee on homeland security will come to order. the meeting today for consideration of hr 3548, the border security for america act of 2017. any requests for recorder votes may be rolled and you may recess the committee at any point. the chair plans to provide adequate notice prior to taking votes and will have the clerk of the committee provide notice to members. this morning, our committee has gathered to mark up the border security for america act. before we begin i want to extend my thoughts and prayers to the victims family members have lost a loved one