speaker. after decades of doing nothing, decades of doing nothing, this bill contains very strong measures to protect american products from nations that manipulation their currency. now there will be a three-part test that will identify countries that manipulate their currency and once identified they must be reported to congress and action must be taken. o i certainly appreciate the help of both the house leadership, as well as the ways and means committee, because these provisions will level the playing field, mr. speaker. all of us want free trade, but it must be fair trade. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from michigan yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: it's now my pleasure mr. levin: i yield to another distinguished person from michigan, the gentlelady from michigan, ms. dingle -- mrs.

dingell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. mrs. dingell: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise for the utmost respect for my colleague from michigan and agree with her on the need to address currency manipulation. mr. speaker, when the ways and means first began considering this bill, it represented a real opportunity to improve our system of trade and eliminate loopholes that allows foreign nations and bad actors to avoid our trade laws. currency manipulation is the number one trade abuse that must be addressed. unfortunately, this bill has become the christmas tree of the holiday season, and it's being used to put lipstick on a pig that's our current trade negotiations. it ties our negotiator hands and even negotiating common emission standards by restricting any consideration of climate issues, and it prevents them from negotiating immigration-related language as well. further, it weakens existing

trade laws designed to prevent human trafficking. and the ribbon on this christmas surprise is a totally new provision on the internet taxation that isn't even in the jurisdiction of the ways and means committee and could have unintended consequences that could bankrupt local governments. there are good provisions at the core of this bill to help improve our customs system, but they are outweighed by the political gamesmanship that has made this legislation impossible to support. we've seen far too many other examples of last-minute political provisions inserted in bills over the years, and we risk unintended consequences of these political provisions as well. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: mr. speaker, i'm proud to yield two minutes to the gentleman from ohio who worked hard to ensure trade agreements are for expanding trade while expanding immigration. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is

recognized for two minutes. >> thank you. thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the chairman of the ways and means committee and i'm delighted he's chairman of the ways and means committee for yielding. mr. king: and i rise in support of the conference report of the customs bill. it's got many provisions within it, which i'm happy about and happy to support. currency manipulation provision is one of them. but i'm pleased to be here to be able to say that there were those that had significant heartburn over trade promotion authority. i am one of them. there were two provisions that i so badly wanted to be included within the t.p.a. legislation because i have a bit of a history of working to hold and to keep the immigration components out of trade deals. that's -- congress needs to be passing immigration laws, not trade negotiators. well, that language is an amendment that is in here in the conference report along with language that prohibits the negotiations under trade promotion authority on climate change. so we are protected from

executive decisions imposed upon this congress and a usurpation of article 1 authority by two pieces of legislation. no negotiations under t.p.a. can include climate change and no negotiations under t.p.a. can include immigration. congress can speak to that but they cannot negotiate that under t.p.a. that's important to me. it's important to a lot of people in this country, and i'm standing here saying thank you to now speaker ryan who negotiated this with me and others and he regrets that he wasn't able to shake my hand as chairman of the ways and means committee. that's fine with me, mr. speaker. i'm happy to shake the hand of kevin brady as ways and means committee and say to many people who had significant apprehension as to whether this would come together on all of the language necessary to get support for trade promotion authority to say to them upon passage of this conference report here today and the anticipated signature, merry christmas to all of you who

wanted to step down the line to preserve article 1 authority to the united states congress, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from iowa yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i'll reserve. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: thanks, mr. speaker. proud to yield two minutes to my friend and colleague and neighbor to the gentleman from texas, judge poe. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. poe: i thank the chairman for yielding. mr. speaker, i support free and fair trade. where i come from in houston, texas, we're an export city. we make a lot of things and we sell them all over the world so i support trade. let's go back to the year 1898, mr. speaker. the spanish-american war existed then, and to help finance the war, congress taxed a new contraption called the telephone. the war was over, teddy roosevelt and the rough riders

had stormed san juan hill before the tax was completely collected. but the tax re-emerged and mr. speaker, that war tax over 100 years ago is still on your telephone bill. you pick up your phone bill and you have a land line, you're still paying that war fax. and the point being, mr. speaker, once congress imposes a tax it seems like it never goes away. but shock. in this legislation it prohibits a tax that is already being collected in some states. some states tax the internet access. this bill does away with that tax, but it fairly allows states like texas to phase it out until 2020. good compromise. so let's eliminate another tax on americans. mr. speaker, don't get too excited. we may be eliminating one tax but that war tax over 100 years ago that was implemented still exists. aybe we'll get around to

eliminating it. that's just the way it is. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: i yield to the gentlelady from indiana who has fought for enforceable trade laws, one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from indiana is recognized for one minute. mrs. walorski: i thank the chairman for yielding. mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of the conference report before us. manufacturing is critical to the hoosier economy in my district. a study by the economic policy institute found that manufacturing jobs account for almost 17% of all jobs in indiana. that's the highest rate in the nation. 23.1% of the jobs in my district are manufacturing jobs. the second highest in the nation. this legislation will make our manufacturers so much more competitive by eliminating the red tape, removing supply chain bottle next, it provides new

tools to tackle evasion of u.s. trade remedies and intellectual property theft. to be sure, i'd like to have even a new mills process and i thank the chairman for his commitment of finding a path forward on that. mr. speaker, i wholeheartedly urge my colleagues to support this legislation that will help manufacturers in my district and across the country and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from indiana yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: it's now my pleasure to yield one minute to the gentleman from virginia, mr. connolly. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized for one minute. mr. connolly: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my friend from michigan for his graciousness. i rise in support of the trade facilitation and trade enforcement act of 2014. it is a significant improvement over the original customs bill i opposed. there are human trafficking reporting requirements that have been added. there's currency language that expands u.s. action on currency manipulation. it codifies the enforce act, some of the most strict

enforcement provisions ever on trade by u.s. legislation. it creates an interagency trade enforcement center. it creates a trade enforcement trust fund. it provides protections to small businesses and bans child and forced labor. i would prefer to see stronger pro-environmental provisions, but this enforcement bill, trade enforcement bill is a significant move forward, and i'm pleased to support the underlying legislation and the conference report and i thank all who contributed to it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from michigan reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from michigan. mr. levin: is the chairman ready to close? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: i'll do the same. thank you. how much time do each of us have? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan has four minutes remaining. the gentleman from texas also

has four minutes remaining. mr. levin: thank you. that's even steven. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan is recognized. mr. levin: let me first address climate change. you know, it's interesting that some of the people who speak in avor say how regrettable it is that this provision is even here, and the gentleman from iowa made clear why this provision is here. it was an effort to get votes for t.p.a. my feeling is, no matter how people voted on t.p.a., they should oppose this conference report. one of the reasons relates to global warming. it is really disgraceful this provision is here at the same time virtually everybody in the world is trying to address climate change, and i just want to read the exact language.

it says, to ensure that trade agreements do not establish obligations for the u.s. regarding greenhouse gas emission measures. that's the exact language and here's no way to fuzz it over. there's no way to fuzz it over. and let me then say a word about currency. this conference report deleted a meaningful, very, very concrete way to address currency manipulation. and the language here in this conference bill just essentially in the end says nothing that's meaningful. it says, if the president determines there's a problem with countries' currency, it won't even mention the words currency manipulation. then, the president shall do

such and such, things he can already do, and there's a waiver for the president if he doesn't want to take any of the steps. so the currency provision essentially takes away what was in the senate bill and we passed the same -- or the similar measure a number of years ago. so that's as to currency. this is very much in the wrong direction. the same is true in terms of human trafficking. essentially what it says is, if a country in tier 3, the worst in terms of human trafficking, takes some concrete steps, they can still receive all the benefits of a trade negotiation even if they still have the most egregious conditions in their country on human

trafficking, both sex and human trafficking. that is really also, i think, worse than warranted. let me say a few things about enforcement. i guess no one has worked, if i might say, more than i have in had terms of enforceability. the provisions that we have put in place, for example, those regarding worker rights, environment and medicines, they need to be enforced. the problem with this legislation is, in most of the cases it really doesn't change anything much, if at all. as i said earlier, it establishes an enforcement existed.at's already it has super 301. the administration has the

ability to do that already. and it does set up an enforcement trust fund, but there's no appropriation of the money. enforcement is already underappropriated. so now we're setting up a new trust fund without any indication that is going to be appropriated. so this bill is very close in spirit and in language as to the bill that almost all of us on the democratic side voted against. i urge strong opposition to this conference report. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from michigan's time has expired. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. brady: you know, expanding trade and giving our american workers and companies more opportunities around the world creates jobs here in america, better paychecks, better

opportunities and a stronger economy for our country. critical of that is to make sure our trade agreements and trade rules are enforced. that's what this bill is all about. this establishes the strongest trade enforcement and remedy laws ever put on the books in the united states of america. it incorporates issues against currency manipulation, protections and remedies on a number of other areas within our economy that never before have been placed into effect and creates a working trust fund, a source of existing revenue to focus on enforcing those rules. it also streamlines the way we do trade in america. that's important as well because it's important for consumers, to lower prices, it's important to our local businesses to sell and compete both here in america and around the world. in fact, it's been more than a decade since we have

re-authorized customs and that process. this is about modernizing it, making it more efficient, more effective, more accountable, all of which helps grow our economy and helps working-class families. . this fulfills the commitment of then chairman of the ways and means committee paul ryan and our leadership to our members in our house, to make this an even better law and we have succeeded. working with representatives king and sessions on immigration language, to make sure this is a trade-only agreement. working with members of the steel caucus, representatives barletta, murphy, davis, boss at that, and many others, to make sure we have strong remedies in those areas. working with representative miller and the michigan delegation, against currency manipulation. and working successfully with representative zinke of montana to make sure there's strong oversight of the u.s. trade representative's office.

and we have more access to negotiating rounds. to chairman royce of california on human trafficking. to chairman chabot of ohio on small business provisions, to mr. crenshaw of florida, to ensure that there are trade preferences for nepal as they struggle in this bill. and then working with mr. walden, mr. reichert, mr. reid and mr. boustany on key provisions. i say all that to make the case, this is a bipartisan measure. it's thoughtful, it's effective, it's long overdue, and it's important to expanding trade and making that effective here in america. with that, mr. speaker, i urge support and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 560, the previous question is ordered. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i have a motion to recommit at the desk.

the speaker pro tempore: is the gentleman opposed to the conference report? >> yes, mr. speaker. given all the injustices promoted by this bill, i am strongly opposed to it. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman qualifies. clerkt will report the motion -- the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: mr. doggett of texas moves to recommit the bill to the committee on conference with instructions to the managers on the part of the house to, one, disagree to subsections b and e of section 914 of the conference substitute recommended by the committee of conference, and, two, insist on sections 701 through 706 of the senate amendment to the bill as passed the house. the speaker pro tempore: the motion is not debatable. without objection, the previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit. the question is on the motion. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. the motion is not agreed. to mr. doggett: mr. speaker, on that i would ask the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are

ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, and the order of the house of today, further proceedings on this question will be postponed.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman

from connecticut seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, pursuant to the rule passed earlier today, h. resolution 560, i call up h.r. 2250, with a senate amendment thereto, and i have a motion at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill, designate the senate amendments and designate the motion. the clerk: h.r. 2250, an act making appropriations for the legislative branch for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2016, and for other purposes. senate amendments. mr. rogers of kentucky moves that house concur in the senate amendments to h.r. 2250. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 560, the motion shall be debatable for one hour, equal request divided and controlled by a ranking minority member -- ranking and minority member of the house. the chair recognizes the gentleman from kentucky. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material

on the further consideration of h.r. 2250. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky voiced. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i rise today to present h.r. 2250, a short term continuing resolution, that will fund the government through december 16. as you know, our current funding mechanism expires today at midnight. at this point, it is unfortunately necessary for us to have a little more time to complete our negotiations. this continuing resolution extends current levels of funding for critical government programs, for five additional days, ensuring our government stays open until midnight next wednesday. the senate passed this same bill yesterday, so with approval in the house, this bill will go to the president today. i believe we're making good progress, mr. speaker, on a

final full-year appropriationses package. while i had hoped that we would be done by this point, there are still many moving pieces. it's my hope and expectation that the final omnibus legislation will be completed by this new deadline. mr. speaker, i'm not the biggest fan of continuing resolutions. they tend to be wasteful and inefficient. however, at this point, i see this procedure today as the best way forward. this continuing resolution is scope, rt, limited in simply buying us enough time to wrap up our negotiations and bring a full-year bill to the floor without a lapse in important government services. i urge my colleagues to support this bill. before closing, mr. speaker, i have a sad announcement to make. on wednesday morning, the

committee lost one of its longstanding staff, who has been associated with the legislative branch for some 25 years, chuck turner. we mourn his loss. as soon as we have further details on services, we will provide that information to the house. i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i rise in halfhearted support of the continuing resolution before us. while it saves hardworking americans and our economy from a disastrous government shutdown, it reflects the failure of congress to carry out one of our most basic constitutional responsibilities . it has been 2 1/2 months since the beginning of fiscal year

2016, and six weeks since we passed a bipartisan, two-year budget agreement to set the guidelines for appropriations. there is no good reason we should not have passed spending bills by now to keep the government operating for the 2016 fiscal year. the bill before us today should be bipartisan legislation that makes crucial investments in biomedical research, job training and national security. the bill before us today should provide relief from harmful sequester caps that are hurting economic growth and families' pocketbooks. instead, republicans insist -- republicans' instistence on including dangerous, harmful policies in the spending bills has halted progress. since the budget agreement, terrorist attacks in paris and san bernardino have brought to

bear the need for improved security and closure in lax gun safety laws. yet the majority wants to continue to deny even basic research on causes of gun violence at the centers for disease control. not to mention, we should act immediately to stop the legal purchase of guns by those on terrorist watch lists. an amendment i have introduced four times in five years, that has been defeated every time in committee. the process has stalled because republicans insist on demonizing legal women's reproductive health decisions, even putting women jobs at risk if their employers do not agree with their health choices. and finally, 2015 is on track

to be the hottest year on record, with droughts leading to hunger and wildfires and rising sea levels, threatening to wipe away island nations. yet republicans demand measures that harm the environment, put the health and safety of americans, their children and the entire planet at risk. i hope my colleagues will work together in the coming five days to agree on appropriation bills and invest in biomedical research, education, infrastructure, job training and a strong national defense. together we can provide opportunity for hardworking families, build a 21st century work force and a secure america. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york reserves. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: does the gentlelady wish to close?

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky reserves. the gentlewoman from new york is recognized. mrs. lowey: i yield back, i'm sorry. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from kentucky is recognized. mr. rogers: mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky yields back the balance of his time. all time for debate has expired. pursuant to house resolution 560, the previous question is ordered. the question is on the motion by the gentleman from kentucky, mr. rogers. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is agreed to. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, and the order of the house of today, proceedings will resume on questions previously postponed. votes will be taken in the following order. the motion to recommit the conference report on h.r. 644, adoption of the conference report on h.r. 644, if ordered, and agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal, if ordered. the first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute

vote. remaining electronic votes will be conducted as five-minute votes. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on -- the unfinished business is the question agreeing to the motion to recommit on the conference report on h.r. 644 offered by mr. doggett on which the yeas and nays were ordered. the clerk will redesignate the motion. the clerk: motion to recommit the conference report on h.r. 644 offered by mr. doggett of texas. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the agree -- the question is on agreeing to the motion to recommit the conference report. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned 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 170rk the nays are 239. the motion is conscious --

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 172, the nays are 239. the motion is not adopted. the unfinished business is the question on adoption of the conference report. those in favor say aye.

those opposed, no. the conference report is adopted. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? mr. levin: ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]