farewell address he says he'll talk about his view of how the country has changed over the past eight years and offer some thoughts about what's ahead. president obama tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m. eastern, from chicago. with his farewell address here on c-span. c-span.org, and our c-span free radio app. just a moment away from the house coming back, a couple of votes tonight on the floor of the house. we'll have that for you momentarily on on c-span. the senate could be a late night. democrat saysing they may speak late into the night, into the morning, against republican efforts to repeal the affordable care act.

the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, proceedings will resume on motions to suspend the rules previously postponed. votes will be taken in the following order. . r. 315, by the yeas and nays h.r. 304 by the yeas and nays. the first electronic vote will be a 15-minute vote. remaining electronic votes will be five-minute votes. the unfinished votes is the vote on the motion of mr. burgess and pass h.r. 315 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 315 a bill to amend the public service act to expand maternity health care

professionals identified as health services. 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 5-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: the yeas are 405, the nays are 0. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended this ebill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. though house will be in order. the chair would ask all members to take their seats, take their onversations from the floor. the chair would ask all members o please take their seats.

for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida seek recognition? ms. wasserman schultz: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady will suspend. the chair would ask all members to please take their seats and remove those in favor say aye onversations from the floor. -- remove their conversations from the floor. the gentlelady is recognized. ms. wasserman schultz: i rise today with the florida delegation and other colleagues with the heaviest of hearts. in the last few days, our state has witnessed two horrific tragedies. the first occurred friday in my congressional district when a gunman mercilessly unleashed a round of bullets on people in the baggage claim area at the hollywood international airport,

murdering five and injuring everies. our prayers are with the families of the victims and others. i commend the officers who took down the perpetrator quickly and nimized the loss of life and the airport workers who are working to reunite people with their personal blongsings left behind in the chaos. e second occurred today when sergeant debra clayton was killed by a murder suspect. later, another officer was killed in a traffic accident in the investigation. to lose two officers on law appreciation day is a particular tragedy. i ask for a moment of silence to remember these lives. the speaker pro tempore: would everyone please rise for a moment of silence.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection, five-minute voting will continue. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentleman from texas, mr. burgess, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 304 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: h.r. 304, a bill to amend the controlled substances act with regard to the provision of emergency medical services. 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 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.]

the speaker pro tempore: the yeas are 404. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended and the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from washington seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i send to the detching a privileged report from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 33, providing for consideration of the bill, have by which they

guidance documents and judicial review and to ensure complete analysis on small entities of rules and for other purposes and for and for providing consideration to clarify the efinition of general solicitation under federal securities law. orderedker pro tempore: printed.

the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain requestion

-- requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from meet seek recognition? without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. come to will scom -- order. please remove your conversations from the floor. he house will come to order. the gentleman is recognized. >> i rise today on national law enforcement day to recognize our men and women in protecting communities across minnesota and our country. they put their lives on-line to keep us safe and secure.

we owe them so much, so much for them to the many risks and decisions they make every single day. we don't take their service for granted. that's why recognitions light oday and cookouts are so critical in strengthening the bond. our men and women in uniform and milies and loved ones make sacrifices and we recognize them for their daily service. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute and revise and extend.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you mr. speaker. i honor the life of deborah layton of the orlando police department. s a former police chief i know them both. sergeant clayton was murdered while responding to a call, deputy lewis was killed. as we recognize we mourn the death of these two public servants. sergeant clayton wasal wife and mother. she was 42 years young and celebrated her first anniversary with her husband. deputy lewis helped people and it showed in his work. he was just 35. i ask that all members join me

in honoring and remembering these heroes during this difficult time. thank you. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: thank you. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. thompson: permission to address the house and revise and stepped my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: woe without objection. mr. rothfus: i commemorate a man who constantly defied expectations and died this weekend on january 7. was a jewish civil lib beer tarian. and he joined forces with constituencies across the spec trums and shared common ground.

join the fraid to heretics and many of them are eightivity and pro-life. rather than worry about their judgment, he cared about fairness and equality to remain silent. he was more concerned about what he believed to be true and with their own code, they have the right to life as many of us. i commend him for his courage and integrity. it takes a certain sprirt, grit and determination and he may he rest in peace and may his family be consoled. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek eckniss?

excuse me. >> request yalk to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without bjection. >> i'm the son of immigrants, born in philadelphia, as our nation celebrated our bicentennial. i ran for congress because we have lost sight of our founding ideals. in federalist 10, james mad warned that factions with their own special interests may undermine the public good. today congress is crippled by these factions, powerful packs and lobbyists. this must change. i'm proud to be one of six members who refused all contributions if from pac -- p.a.c.'s and we need a bipartisan caucus to eradicate their influence. we also cannot let congressional seats become futile estates. the turnover rate here in the people's house is less than

european monarchies. mr. khanna: congress desperately need as so 12-year term limit like there is in the california legislature. mr. speaker, banning p.a.c. money and instituting term limits are necessary steps to restore our democracy. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from north carolina seek recognition? fok foxx i ask unanimous consent -- ms. foxx: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. speaker. today i rise to recognize sandra miers of laurel spring, north carolina. this remarkable and talented woman is retiring after spending her entire 40-year career with the social security administration. since the age of 18, sandra has worked in the wilkes bro field office where she started in an entry level position and currently serves as branch manager. my district staff and i have had the pleasure of working with her for many years now and we've always found her to be a

kind, caring person who's dedicated to serving others. sandra and her husband, john, are nearly life-long members of their church and upon retirement she plans to continue to assist the community by helping elderly members at her church complete errands, remain active and attend services. sandra miers is a perfect example of servant leadership, as well as the incredible work ethic that so many of my constituents in the fifth district share. al ghani county is fortunate -- allegheny county is fortunate to call this citizen one of its own. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. lamalfa: thank you, mr. speaker. today is national law enforcement appreciation day.

i think it's very appropriate in this body to stand up and show that appreciation, especially in these confused times where signals come out of this place that don't show appreciation, instead depics of our law enforcement in very -- depictions of our law enforcement in very unflattering terms. so to our friends in law enforcement, we want you to know that the vast majority of us believe in what you do and we value you and what you do every day out there to keep us safe, keep us secure in our homes and our communities and we also honor those too many that we've lost tragically in the line of duty. i know their families pray every night that they'll return home safely. too often just in 2016, many of these families' worst fears were realized. 135 fathers, sons, mothers and doctors never to return home from the line of dutyy. my home state of california, 11 officers lost. one even from my own district. deputy jack hopkins.

we recognize all the brave men and women around this country who sacrifice, who stand as a thin blue line between us and a lot of mayhem. virtually grateful and want to take time this day to recognize what you do for us. god bless you all. men. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek ecognition -- recognition? for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. richmond: mr. speaker, thank you. i rise today to defend an 18-year-old school student who expressed his life experiences and did he it in the form of

art, protected by the first amendment to our constitution. what i also want to do is make sure that we as members of congress don't use our bully pulpit in this very prestigious and most elite body in the united states to condemn the actions of an 18-year-old who is only expressing what he sees on a daily basis. what real leadership is is to talk to that young man and ask him why in his community this is his perception. ask him why he fears the police. ask him why in his neighborhood they fear the police. because we as members of congress, we understand the sacrifice of law enforcement and the fact that they put their lives on the lines every day and we honor them.

but when there's a question on any segment of our society that they don't get equal justice, equal protection of the laws, and that the pledge of allegiance rings hollow when you say and justice for all, what real leadership does is tackle that issue as opposed to jumping on an 18-year-old high school student with that, mr. speaker, i yield -- student. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. thompson: unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today on law enforcement appreciation day to commend the law enforcement officers throughout our nation who answer the call to serve their communities. law enforcement officers face increasingly difficult circumstances while working to serve and protect the public. it's a dangerous job. and often it is a thankless

job. just last week pennsylvania mourned the loss of a 23-year-old pennsylvania state police trooper who was shot and killed while investigating a domestic incident. our officers put on their uniforms each day knowing that they can be in harm's way at any moment. they answer the calls in times of distress and they follow the rules and they wear the badge proudly. we must remember officers are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, they are human and they arguably have one of the most difficult jobs in america. so today, and each day, let's honor our brothers and sisters in blue, let's thank them for the important work they do to keep us all safe. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman from florida is recognized for one minute.

>> thank you, mr. speaker. the 115th congress has a unique opportunity to clean the swamp, especially of members who were convicted of committing felonies while serving in office and driving a retirement check from the taxpayers. mr. yoho: i reintroduced the struft restored to the united states taxpayer act which eliminates the taxpayer-funded portion of congressional pensions for members who were convicted of a felony while serving. i applaud the 10 fellow members of the house who co-sponsored trust and in doing so they demonstrated their willing -- they're willing to hold themselves accountable to their employers. the american taxpayers. we are willing to hold ourselves to the same standards we hold those who serve in our military and elsewhere. if members of congress are serious about cleaning up washington and truly accountable for their actions, then supporting this bill is common sense. if we break the law and break the trust of the people that have placed us in power as representative, then we should be willing to for fit the

taxpayer-fundsed portion of our retirement. we are not above the law. if anything, we should be held to a higher standard. i encourage my colleagues to support this and i yield back. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leaves of absence requested for mr. bishop of georgia for today. mr. correa of california for today. mr. danny davis of illinois for today and tomorrow. and mr. perry of pennsylvania for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, those

requests are granted. the chair will recognize members for special order speeches without prejudice to the resumption of legislative usiness. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2017, the gentleman from louisiana, mr. richmond, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. richmond: thank you, mr. chairman. i ask unanimous consent that all members have five days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. richmond: mr. speaker, tonight i am privileged to have this opportunity to stand on the house floor and to anchor the congressional black caucus' special order hour. where today we want to discuss some of the issues and challenges confronting this country that we hope this newly constituted congress will be prepared to take up as we move into the 115th congress.

the first and most glaring issue confronting the congressional black caucus is the nomination and confirmation of jeff sessions to be the attorney general of the united states. for members of this caucus, since its inception, has fought for equality and justice, and we do it because it's the right thing to do and that's how we were raised. jeff sessions' record is atrocious when it comes to equal rights, equal protection, justice for all and voting rights. at worst, he was a co-conspirator in the promotion of segregation and discrimination. at best, he lacked the courage and motivation to fight for equality, equal protection and justice. in the words of mayaing an -- mayaing an lue, when someone

shows you who they are, believe them. president-elect trump has shown us time and time again exactly who he is through his words and his actions. his cabinet nominations offer further evidence who have he is and what he values. -- who he is and what he values. each of these individuals who shown us who they are as well. mr. speaker, tonight will you ar from many passionate, educated, experienced freedom fighters from our communities. and they will each address heir concerns with the nominations coming from the president-elect. and we do it out of an obligation to continue to fight for the least of those. those who cannot hire a lobbyist, those who are struggling to make ends meet. those who wake up every day trying to figure out how to put clothes on their kids' back, food on the table, a house, a roof over their heads, and to

continue to fight for the american dream, opportunity for their children. so, mr. speaker, with that i will yield the balance of the time and control of the time to the gentleman from texas, marc easey. mr. veasey: i want to thank the gentleman from louisiana for yielding time to me. and good evening, mr. speaker. i want to welcome you to tonight's congressional black caucus special order hour. that will examine the negative impact of president-elect trump's nominations for the position of u.s. attorney general, secretary of education and secretary of health and human services. let's be honest here. the 2016 presidential election showed us both the worst and the best of american politics. the most disturbing development of the election season, of course, was the president-elect's campaign that

s an us versus them type campaign that really divided the nation. it was really sad for people to see that on display. on november 9, after winning the presidency, the president-elect tweeted, quote, such a beautiful and important evening, the forgotten man and woman will never be forgotten again, we will all come together as never before. but will he keep his promise of doing all that he can to repair our divided nation? so far he has been very disappointing and when you look at the nominations of senator sessions, betsy devos and tom price, to key positions, and his administration, it seems that he has forgotten, that he's forgotten and ignored our dark -- our nation's dark history of oppression, particularly to the african-american community. the president-elect's nominees

represent everything that the congressional black caucus has fought against. as a caucus, we fought to ensure that the african-american community is empowered with the tools it needs to achieve the american dream. mr. trump's cabinet nominations are set to push the dream back so far out of reach for millions and millions of americans. i'm going to yield to the dean of the unions house of representatives, the gentleman from michigan, mr. john conyers. mr. conyers: let me thank my colleague from louisiana opening up this part of our special order that the congressional black caucus has come together to more critically examine the

jeff ion of senator sessions. now as the ranking member of the house judiciary committee, i led a joint statement in november that was signed by every democratic member of the diciary committee opposing senator sessions' nomination for united states attorney general. attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer of the united states charged with the ministration of the criminal justice system and enforcement of our civil rights. senator sessions is a -- is early unsuitable to lead the

department of justice. in 1986 testimony before the senate judiciary committee, witnesses said that mr. sessions had referred to the naacp, the national association for the advancement of colored people, the southern christians leadership conference and other vil rights groups as, quote, un-american and communeist inspired. one prosecutor in the alabama nited states attorneys' office referred that mr. session referred to him as boy and counseled to him as what you say to white folks. his appointment to the federal bench was opposed to the

leadership counsel of civil ights and naaacp and other organizations. enator sessions has criticized the section 5 pre-clinches provisions in the voting rights act which myself and many others have been fighting to restore since the 2013 supreme court shelby versus holder decision. senator th congress, sessions opposed bipartisan criminal justice reform efforts and he has opposed the re-authorization of the violence against women act in nearly

immigration reform bill that has come before the senate. a vote to confirm jeff sessions as attorney general is a vote against freedom and equality. and so i join with many of my colleagues today in urging the senate to oppose his nomination and i thank my colleague for yielding to me. veezeveeze thank you very much for your words, dean of the house and i would like to invite the gentlelady from california, ms. waters. ms. waters: i rise today to encourage opposition to the nomination of jeff sessions to the attorney general's office by this president-elect.

we have been asked and asked and constantly asked, he defines himself and defined himself when he was denied a federal judgeship in 1986. he woos denied, they heard him use the n-word and it was well documented after two members of oh, i thoughtsaid it was ok until i learned they smoggede marijuana. this was the same man that the goes were un-american and on and on and on and not wornt we are calling him as a racist, he defined himself in that manner and denied that appointment to the federal judge

ship including republicans who voted against him. we have a man who is going to be considered for the attorney general's office, where we have the civil rights division. should we be worried about that. you bet your bottom dollar. this is a throwbook. in is a man who is a set backback and doesn't agree with criminal justice reform. this is a man who does not want the justice department to work with local police departments ferguson. he has shown himself to be against women a does not support the lgbt community. the ould we want him to be

attorney general overseeing civil rights. i would advise everybody who is listening to support him, not being appointed to that position and get the word over to the senators that they should not support him and not vote for him. i yield back smveezeveeze i would like to reckmies the ranking member of the homeland security member, the gentleman representativei, thompson. mr. thompson: i would like to thank you for organizing this special order on a topic that is on a great topic. the attorney general serves as the united states chief law enforcement official. they do certain acts in that

position. certain acts of that people nor is their service limited to any particular party. the attorney germ is there to serve all of us. with arnold palmer of that meefert and become the next attorney general. based on his record, there i are a number of reasons why senator sessions is unfit to lead. first, at his 198 confirmation earing, it was revealed that senator sessions had called the acp and aclu communist inspired. naacp. fe member of the

neither one of those organizations are communist inspired. sessions said he believed that he southern leadership conference called ain't anti- -american values. if being free and being able to exercise your fright to vote and not being able to determine one's color for participation, then, you know, i don't know what mr. sessions was talking an t but he was calling attorney black fworn as race traitor and i'm more concerned about in the aftermath at the shooting of mother emmanuel in

charleston, south carolina, he pposed taking down the confederate flag. if there is one symbol that are presents hate is the confederate battle flag. he continues to defend that symbol. i can't imagine that having that kind of attitude and that operation. join the eaker, i chorus of the congressional lack caucus to what would be a travesty of justice. veezeveeze i thank the gentleman from mississippi for his timely

comments. representative jackson lee. ms. jackson lee: i would like to thank mr. richmond for his leadership. let me offer my appreciate to law enforcement officers across america and join my colleagues and value demmings and the sadness in orlando. i rise today for not a personal statement, or a statement that has to do with personality. as the president-elect said of mr. sessions, he is a fine and does ent fellow. i have no interest to determine whether thates true or false but i want to hold the president-elect accountable tore to the words that he pledged to

the nation that he would be a president for all americans. that pledge will ring hollow millions of n tens americans and the nomination of the secretary of health and human services and the nomination for attorney general. and rather rn opposing the right to vote, the right to privacy, criminal justice reform, it is quite the contrary of senator sessions, he opposed shelby count on the bases of trying to support vote ink rights and individual month is hostile and

someone who has constantly not sought to fix but sought to undermine. fee fremsnchings he was the first prosecutor in the country to bring charges of voter fraud. list yes or no to this. he didn't just bring charges. of voter e counts in d facing 100 years prison. and he has been a leader to undermine the protections and did nothing to rescruket and restore section 5 when members of congress worked diligently to fix the spem by case. criticized attorney general holder. cases. te with 31

senator sessions harmed schools. he led the fight to uphold the state of baum after it was deemed unconstitutional. in the state of alabama, they an ub apartheid schools. now we understand that the senator has taken credit for de segregation efforts. there is no efforts in alabama schools or any schools since filed. i would say to you as i close, we who are vulnerable look for the department of justice as the solid rock of justice, whether we are imgroonts or women,

whether we need civil rights or those seeking freedom of justice. with that in mind, i believe that this nominee now standing with the criteria evidenced by the record stands not prepared, not fit to hold this position of the attorney germ of the juns, a sacred position of law and ustice, i yield back. mr. veasey: i now recognize ms. barbara lee from california. mr. lee: thank you very much. let me thank -- ms. lee: thank you very much. let me thank representative vesey for hosting this election on president-elect trump's disturbing nominations and your commitment to defending civil and human rights for all americans. now more than ever, the voices of the c.b.c. are so important

in this fight. i'd also like to recognize our new chair, cedric richmond, as he takes the helm of the c.b.c. during these very challenging times. but i know that under his leadership, our caucus will continue to fight in a very strong and aggressive way for equality and justice. the president-elect, mr. speaker, ran one of the most divisive and racially tinged campaigns we've witnessed in modern history. since winning the presidency, president-elect donald trump has nominated individuals to serve in his cabinet, providing and proving that he will govern just as he campaigned. there's no greater example of this disturbing reality than senator jeff sessions' nomination to serve as our country's attorney general. mr. speaker, the justice department is our best tool for protecting civil and human rights, voting rights, by appointing senator sessions to lead this department, president-elect donald trump is making it clear that he will

abandon these fundamental values. senator sessions has a long history of opposing civil rights and equality. he's called the voting rights act a piece of intrusive legislation. he said that the supreme court's disastrous decision to gut voting rights was good news for the south. and in the 1980's he was rejected from serving as a federal judge due to his blatantly racist comments. any one of these statements should be disqualifying. but in the proposed bigoted trump administration, frankly, i'm not nolt surprised. but i'm -- i'm not surprised. but i'm appalled that the president-elect would select such an extreme and divisive figure to serve as attorney general. someone who has publicly displayed prejudice and intolerance is not qualified to serve as our chief law enforcement officer for our civil rights laws. by that standard alone, one thing is clear. senator sessions is wholly unfit to serve as attorney general. senator sessions has forcefully

degraded the lgbt community, voted against the violence against women act, and undermined the cornerstone of civil rights movement and the voting rights act. his nomination really is a chilling indication how a trump administration intends to govern. this country has made tremendous progress in the fight to protect, preserve and expand civil rights for all americans. we will not allow a trump administration to drag us back into the past. as the conscience of the congress, the congressional black caucus is a voice for the marginalized. our message to the trump administration and to president donald trump is simple. a vote to confirm senator jeff sessions is a vote against justice. we will fight to protect any rollback on civil or human rights. we will not be silenced. i call on all of my colleagues to oppose senator sessions' nomination as the united states attorney general, because his history, his history disqualifies him for this important position.

thank you, again, congressman vesey . mr. veasey: thank you very much -- congress -- ms. lee: thank you very much, congressman vesey . mr. veasey: thank you very much, congress -- ms. lee: thank you very much, congressman veasey. mr. veasey: thank you very much, congresswoman lee. i want to recognize representative bobby scott from virginia. mr. scott: thank you. i thank you for organizing this special order. i'll be brief. there are a lot of people that want to speak. i'll just speak to the jurisdiction of the education and work force committee, i have the honor of serving as the ranking member. as we consider appointments to the department of labor, education and health and human services, we shouldn't just look at people's personalities, but what the policy implications are of their appointments. and the senate must reject those nominees who will fail to stand up to the goals and aspirations of the america's

children and workers. the first nominee i'll speak to is secretary of labor, mr. putser, who was c.e.o. of c.k.e. restaurants. he has spoken out many times in opposition to an increase in the minimum wage. many stapets have recognized that the minute -- states have recognized that the minimum wage is so low that people working full-time fail to make a wage that exceeds the poverty level. what is his position going to be on increasing the minimum wage? and over time? are people entitled to work overtime after 40 hours? the regulation is in place, will he enforce that new regulation or will he try to overturn the regulation that recognizes and honors the 40-hour workweek with those who work more than 40 hours will get time and a half? if you look at the c.k.e. retirement plan, it has a lot to be desired in terms of fees.

what will his position be when you look at the fiduciary rule, which will require financial advisors when they're looking at somebody's retirement fund, to have the workers' best interest in the forefront, not their personal profit and what they can rip off out of it, but have to look at the workers' views as paramount. will he change that? so that we can go back to the days where people can take advantage of unsophisticated workers and take advantage and sell them products that are not in their best interest? what is his position going to be own forcing federal regulations, c.k.e. restaurants has been found in violation of many wage regulation violations, will he vigorously enforce those? those are the kinds of things that we need to look at when we look at the secretary of labor. the secretary of education, betsy devos, is best known for support for vouchers, vouchers in michigan have shown that

they fund schools that are actually worse than average, so they haven't done any good. will she support public education or will she support the privatization of education? finally, health and human services. will we privatize medicare? will we repeal, without replacing, the affordable care act? a lot has been said about repeal and then replace later. let me tell you, until you've seen a plan, you can just count on the repeal, there will probably never be a replace. what would happen, everybody, if there is no plan? 20 million people, 20, maybe 30 million people would lose their insurance and the insurance market for everybody else will be in chaos. we need to make sure that we look at this and get these decisions straight before we confirm anybody. all of the nominees and all of these nominees and others should be reviewed not on their personality but the policy

decisions that they'll be making. the next generation of americans will depend on their education, their jobs and their health care, on the decisions these nominees will make and the senate should reject any of the nominees that will take nuts wrong direction. thank you -- that will take us in the wrong direction. thank you, mr. vesey , i yield , i -- thank you, mr. vesey -- mr. veasey, i yield back. mr. veasey: thank you. how much time do we have remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman has 32 minutes remaining. mr. veasey: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, next i would like to invite the lone voice in the state of wisconsin, someone that has always -- is always there on these issues, and in speaking out, not just for her district, but the many people around her state that want that voice from the c.b.c. and that is ms. again moore from wisconsin. -- ms. gwen moore from wisconsin. mr. moore: thank you so much, mr. --

ms. moore: thank you so much, mr. veasey. i want to thank the new chair of the congressional black caucus for his tremendous effort in putting this very important special order hour together. i rise this evening because i'm extremely concerned about the nomination of senator jeff sessions. certainly president-elect trump as a right to nominate people and have them be presented before our senate. certainly you don't expect a republican to necessarily agree with all of your positions. but i'm concerned about senator sessions because i think he's aligned himself with extreme identify willing -- ideological views that won't best serve all of the people of the united states. during the last seven years, the department of justice has investigated at least 23 law enforcement agencies in

response to rampant civil rights abuses. and i fear that under an attorney general, jeff sessions, that those consent decrease -- decrees and that very important work in resolving the conflicts between particularly african-american communities and police officers will be lost. i'm extremely concerned, as are at least 70 civil rights organizations and organizations with an women are attorney general sessions. they're concerned about the -- not just anti-abortion views that senator sessions has displayed, but the zealous anti-choice positions that he has taken. his association and alignment, again, with extreme

anti-abortion organizations. they believe that he's not capable of fair and impartial action as attorney general. and what is so chilling as an example is when senator sessions was asked about president-elect trump's access hollywood scandal. he said that he didn't characterize the grabbing of a woman's genitals as necessarily a sexual assault. very, very chilling and disturbing. being from wisconsin, where we have fought egregious and unfair voter i.d. laws, laws that were designed to disenfranchise particularly african-americans, mr. sessions has indicated that the gutting of the voting rights act has actually had no impact and no one has been denied the right to vote. he is, it seems to be, tone

deaf to the cries of african-americans across this country, to protect their voting rights. so, i will yield back to my good friend, mr. veasey, and i just would encourage the senate to look very carefully at this nominee, because in fact the united states attorney general 's only charge is to protect the civil rights of all the citizens and i don't know that he will be willing or able to do that. i yield back. mr. veasey: thank you, representative moore. i thank you for your comments and thank you for bringing up issues with voter i.d. in wisconsin. that may have tilted the election results in that state. also now, my good friend from the impire state, yvette clarke , the representive from rooklyn. mr. clarke: thank you, mr. vease --

ms. clarke: thank you, mr. veasey. i rise today on behalf of the people of the ninth congressional district of new york in opposition to donald trump's nominee for the position of attorney general of the united states, senator jeff sessions of alabama. i stand with my colleagues in the congressional black caucus as we raise our voices on behalf of the millions of americans who depend on this caucus to speak as the conscience of the congress. speaking truth to power. mr. speaker, i struggle to understand how senator sessions can even be considered to lead the department of justice when time and time again throughout his political career he has actively opposed the mission and purpose for which the department of justice was created. for the better part of my life, at least a half a century, the department of justice has assumed the position of leadership in the fight for the civil rights of african-americans seeking the uninhibited right to vote,

young women seeking protection against sexual assault on college campuses, disabled individuals fighting for equitable access to basic services, and immigrants aspiring to pursue their vision of the american dream. the nomination of senator sessions does not support the legacy of progress made under the auspices of the modern day department of justice. as a young prosecutor, he directed racial slurs at his african-american colleagues. senator sessions spoke highly of the ku klux klan. he actively targeted and persecuted activists like mr. albert turner, one of dr. martin luther king's advisors, for simply trying to register disenfranchised voters. and when he became attorney general of alabama, senator sessions, a product of segregated education, worked tirelessly to prevent predominantly african-american public schools from accessing

an equal share of resources. resources that had been long denied to black students. as a member of the senate, senator sessions has been an outspoken opponent of criminal justice reforms that many of his republican colleagues support. he's a leader in the effort to define undocumented americans as the other and forcibly separated families in the united states. the women and men who lead the department of justice are called upon to pursue justice, but with such a documented history of hostility toward the most vulnerable populations, people of color, women, disabled individuals, and immigrant families, we cannot expect senator sessions to pursue justice on their behalf. i absolutely and unequivocally oppose the nomination of senator

sessions. he's shown his disdain for the most basic of human principle, equality, justice, an fairness. they represent the basis of our constitution. confirming mr. sessions would break that very promise. i stand with the c.b.c. today asking the senate of the united states to uphold the virtues of the constitution and reject this divisive nomination. and i yield back to my colleague. thank you. mr. vesey: representative clarke, thank you very much. i would also like to remind members that we have about three minutes per member left of speaking time and wanted to just remind members of that time so everyone will have an opportunity to speak on this very important matter. with that, i would now like to recognize the gentleman from georgia, mr. hank johnson. mr. johnson: i thank you, dear colleague. i want to congratulate cedric

richmond as he takes the helm of the c.b.c. and manages this exercise tonight and also marc vesey who will be the point man for doing these special orders. we're called upon tonight at a critical time in the nation's history. we have a new president coming in who is polarizing, divisive, and inexperienced and immature and he's making some selections for his appointment and the senate has the opportunity to weigh in on those appointments. so what's happening is that there are incomplete and missing answers to the senate questionnaires that appointees like senator sessions -- jeff sessions, who i rise in opposition to, have completed and sent in. this puts the office of congressional -- this puts the

fice that vets these candidates at a severe disadvantage of not having the information they need in order to vet these appointees like senator jeff sessions. the office of government ethics is the name of that organization. they don't have the information that they need. so we also have a compressed schedule of nominees to be considered over the next few ays, and this, combined with the incomplete answers puts us in a position of not having enough information to conduct full, fair, thorough, and sifting analysis and vetting for the american people, the people who are going to serve them into the future. so i'm very concerned, especially about a guy like senator sessions, who has a history of being opposed to civil rights for certain

americans. now there are those who would say that this took place 0 years ago, all of the things he said and did, prior to becoming a senator 10 -- 20 years ago. some will say all of these things that have been cited about senator sessions are 30 years old but i mean, we've got to look at what has occurred in the life of senator sessions to make us think that he has changed. it takes a courageous person like george wallace to come forward and say, i was wrong for being a racist. t takes a strong person like lee atwater to say, i was wrong. but senator sessions has not said he was wrong. there's nothing that senator sessions has written that says, i apl poll jies for what i did back then. there's nothing he said and certainly his legislative

record, which is only nine bill over the last 20 year, three of which were ceremonial in nature, there's nothing in that legislation that would lead taos conclude he's changed. so he's going to be bad for the attorney general's office and i conclude my time by asking my senate colleagues to think carefully about what you're about to do and say no to senator jeff sessions. mr. vesey: thank you, mr. johnson. now i'd like to recognize my classmate and voice from the newark area, representative donald payne jr. mr. payne: i'd like to thank the gentleman from fort worth. looking forward to a potential class with his team next week. but i guess you have to get out of green bay before you can go to dallas. mr. speaker, the job of the u.s.

general is to protect the rights and freedoms of every single american. senator sessions' record and public statements suggest that if confirmed , he will not uphold our constitution's values of fairness, justice, and quality for all. since the election of president-elect trump's victory has been marred by allegations of voter intimidation and suppression in key states, it is lear that we need to restore the full protections of the voting rights act. yet senator sessions has called the voting rights act an intrusive piece of legislation. and when he was united states attorney in west alabama, senator sessions used the power of his office to intimidate and

dissuade african-american voters. americans recognize that we need for congress to find a bipartisan solution to immigration reform. senator sessions has been one of the loudest opponents of comprehensive immigration reform. and he has even fought against legal immigration arguing instead for immigration moderation. americans also recognize the dire need for criminal justice reform. yet senator sessions has opposed bipartisan legislation to modernize prison sentencing for low level drug offenders. on every measure, senator sessions has shown that he will be detrimental to african-americans and other minority communities as our nation's next tonchinge. the -- next attorney general. the next attorney general must build on the progress of the

last few years under attorney general lynch and attorney general holder. he or she must safeguard civil rights, prosecute hate crimes, protect the right of due process, and uphold the constitution and our basic values of freedom. every indication is that senator sessions is too extreme and unwilling to protect the safety and the rights of every american. if confirmed, as -- if confirmed as u.s. attorney general, senator sessions will pose a grave threat to our justice system and the communities that system is meant to protect. his ideologies are in direct contrast with the justice department's mission. with that, mr. speaker, i yield ack.

mr. vesey: thank you, mr. payne. now i'd like to recognize, also my classmate, from the buckeye state, here to my right, ms. joyce bayhity representing the columbus -- bayhity representing beatty mbus area -- representing the columbus area. mrs. beatty: it is an honor to stand here with these colleagues tonight. but we come tonight with a strong message. we are here to speak out against president-elect trump's cabinet nomination, who based on their records are, in my opinion, too divisive, too extreme, too out of touch, and unable to protect the safety of all americans. individuals like jeff sessions and betsy devos. and trust me, mr. speaker, these nominees need to be vetted.

the american people deserve to know who will be in charge of these critically important federal agencies. we are extremely concerned with senator jeff sessions' nomination to be the u.s. attorney general. sessions, as you have heard tonight and you will continue to hear, has continuously obstructed the process we've made with the enactment of the royce toric civil rights legislation of the 1960's. he has consistently, mr. speaker, fought to block legislation, legislative efforts to ensure racial equality. including his staunch opposition to full enforcement of the voting rights act. the very bill, mr. speaker, if confirmed, he would be in charge of enforcing and protecting. mr. speaker, i join my

colleagues, we cannot allow that to happen. next up in trump's cabinet of cronies is his nominee for education secretary. betsy devos. who has pushed to expand taxpayer-funded vouchers for private and religious schools and has absolutely zero experience as an educator or an educational leader. she has, however, mr. speaker, spent millions of dollars lobbying for school choice proposals, proposals which harm disadvantaged and at-risk communities. now i'm from the great state of ohio and to have someone owe our ohio elections commission $5.3 million, we cannot allow that to happen. we have to be the voice for the people and especially those people who are voiceless. so let me end by saying, mr.

speaker, as a member of the congressional black caucus, i stand here tonight wanting the public to know that we are concerned and we are exercising our right and our voice. with that, i yield back. mr. vesey: thank you, representative beatty. -- from the state of new york. >> chairman richmond has already shown, leadership. mr. jeffries: we have a president-elect who for five years perpetrated the racist lie that barack obama was not born in the united states of america. ran one of the most device i campaigns in the nation's history and then promised he was

going to bring all of us together. and then you've got his colleagues on the other side of the aisle who have said, well, democrats and people in the civil rights community, african-americans, we should give the new president a chance. this is the same group of people with declared war on barack obama on day one of his presidency and governed themselves under the following approach. obstruction today, obstruction tomorrow, obstruction forever. that should sound familiar to folks from alabama and the deep south. but now they want us to give them a chance. you can't lecture us on presidential etiquette. you have no credibility in that area. we'll decide how we want to engage.

and as it relates to your pick to head the department of justice, it is totally unacceptable, unreasonable, unjust, and unconscionable. not because of anything that he may have said 30 years ago. as offensive as that may be. but because of the positions that senator jeff sessions has taken today. today in 2017, based on his recent track record, he supports the confederate battle flag. not 30 years ago. today. today he supports voter suppression efforts that are advanced by his unwillingness to repair section 4 and section 5 of the voting rights act. that's not 30 years ago. i don't care that you showed up in selma, alabama, for a photo op. your position on the voting rights act is unacceptable.

today. today you support mass incarceration. failed drug war. and the prison industrial complex. and because of your positions today, reasonable americans should oppose your ascension to the department of justice and i yield back. mr. vesey: thank you, i thank the gentleman from brooklyn. now i'd like to call on my dear friend from charlotte, representative alma adams. ms. adams: thank you, representative vesey, i want to thank the chair of the c.b.c. and my colleagues for coming out and speaking out. i rise today to express my concern and strong opposition to president-elect trump's cabinet nominations for attorney general, secretary of education, and secretary of health and human services. president-elect trump chose not to practice what he preached. he chose not to drain the swamp. instead he nominated politically divisive individuals to serve in his administration.

throughout a public service career of more than 30 years, senator sessions used the power of the courts to discriminate against civil rights leaders. allegedly used racially charged language to disparage minorities, expressed support for the k.k.k. and then tried to dismiss it as a joke. celebrated gutting of the voting rights act and opposes same-sex marriage. he denied the constitutionality of roe v. wade and voted against greater access to health care for veterans. he blocked the paycheck fairness act and voted against the re-authorization of the violence against women act. he does not respect the rights of minorities or women and he's proven himself to be unfit to serve as the united states attorney general. as an educator, i want to speak a bit on that. education is the great equalizer. one of the most important investments families make is in their children. the secretary of education must be committed to providing a free, world class education to all students, rarledless of

race, gender, ability, status, financial means or geography. unfortunately betsy devos has consistently fought for private school vouchers that divert funds from public schools, our mmunities and our children who need these investments the most. she's never -- she's even used her personal wealth to lobby against important transparency and accountability members -- measures that would have provided necessary safeguards for michigan students. devos' track record of undermining public education and her lack of commitment to defending the rights, the civil rights of students, causes me great pause in her quest to become secretary of education. i can't support it. betsy devos, absolutely not. finally, chairman price. he's made it clear that his budget priorities are highly partisan. he's confirmed and we can expect if he's confirmed that he'll strip 20 million people of affordable health care. women would be denied their right to contra sepping and reproductive health care -- contra acception and -- con --

contraceptives and reproductive health care. we can't go back to the time when being a woman is a pre-existing condition for health coverage. these folks will not unite the american people and they cannot be trusted to advocate for our most vulnerable populations. so i urge my senate colleagues to oppose all of the confirmations. senator jeff sessions, betsy devos, and chairman tom price with that, i yield back the balance of my time and i -- price. with that, i yield back and thank you very much. mr. veasey: thank you. i now recognize the gentlelady from michigan. mrs. lawrence: i want to recognize the chair of the black caucus, chairman mr. speaker. i rise today to take a stand against those who would seek to further divide our nation. we face the greatest chaos, not

by the act of outsiders or foreign intruders, but by the division and war with each other. the nomination of jeff sessions as our attorney general threatens our strength as americans. we are over three decades of a jeff on public service, sessions' words and actions lead to one question. who is included and excluded from the public he chooses to serve? jeff sessions has referred to the voting rights act as a piece of intrusive legislation. the first federal prosecutor in the country to bring charges against civil rights activists for voter fraud since the passage of the v.r.a. in 1965. sessions has called the shelby vs. holder case, calling it good news for the south.

sessions has referred to the naacp, civil rights groups, aclu, saying they have done more harm than good by trying to force civil rights down the throats of the good people of the united states. he has referred to these organizations as unamerican and the communist word, inspired. african-american and other people of color are disproportionately affected by the acts of voter suppression. and the criminal justice system, those among others are the key areas in which sessions has showed deliberate, deliberate disregard for the justice and equalities of all americans. this is a pivotal moment in our nation's history. and we simply cannot treat the american people like a social experiment. history will reflect on this moment and time and our inaction will be accounted for.

thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time -- mr. veasey: i thank the gentlelady. now recognizing the gentlewoman from new jersey. mrs. watson coleman: thank you, mr. speaker, and to my colleagues, who are here this evening. as i said, i would like to have sent this transition period working with the president-elect on ways to solve our nation's issues. i would have liked to have been reassured that despite a campaign fueled by disparaging and divisive rhetoric, that his actions will work to unite us all. instead, we're here battling against a nominee who the senate has already deemed unfit for a federal judgeship. so what could possibly make him fit to serve as our nation's top law enforcement officer? the definition of justice is the quality of being just. impartial or fair. synonyms include equity, objecttivity and neutrality. senator sessions has built a

reputation and most importantly a voting record that does not align with justice. i do not wish to relitigate the past and while i cannot being -- it cannot be ignored, we don't have to look too far back to identify senator sessions' priorities. in 2006 he voted to renew the voting rights act years later he supported the supreme court decision to strike key provisions of that law. following being denied a federal judgeship, he co-sponsored -- he voted against 2009 legislation to extend federal hate crime protections to people targeted because of their sexual orientation. further, he's been the ring leader for opposition to immigration reform. how can we in good faith recommend, nominate or confirm a person to a post that is solely responsible for protecting the civil rights of all americans, including those who are vulnerable, disadvantaged and discriminated against? this administration is continuing to ask us to put aside our intellect and trust

their intention. i refuse. this administration would like to us support a man who throughout his career has determined the rights of those who look like me, like constituents i serve, as inferior. i refuse. and i ask the senators to please consider this as they listen to whether or not this gentleman deserves to be confirmed. thank you and i yield back. mr. veasey: i thank the gentlelady. now recognizing the representative from virginia. each each mr. speaker, i thank -- mr. mceachin: mr. speaker, i thank the gentleman for yield and i thank the gentleman from louisiana for organizing this hour today. mr. speaker, i stand here today because i believe that confirming jeff sessions as attorney general for the united states would jeopardize the progress we have made for equal rights and against discrimination. mr. speaker, there's an affront to common sense, to confirm someone who is criticizing the rotes -- who has croat crith sized the voting riket --

criticized the voting rights act of 1965. it is an anaye front to common sense, mr. speaker, -- an affront to common sense, mr. speaker, calling for the death penalty of people who were later exonerated as mark of conservatism. mr. speaker, it is an affront to common sense to confirm someone who was previously rejected for -- as a choice for a federal judgeship to lead a department that in part vets future federal judges. it is an affront to common sense, mr. speaker, to confirm someone who does not believe in justice for all to lead the department of justice. mr. speaker, it is clear that this nominee would not act in the best interests of all americans regardless of color, gender, country of origin, sexual orientation or economic status. mr. speaker, it is my fervent hope that the senate of the united states will deny the confirmation of this nominee and i yield back.

mr. veasey: mr. speaker, is there any time left? the speaker pro tempore: 30 seconds. mr. veasey: mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of my time. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities with regard to members of the senate or the president-elect. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, by direction of the democratic caucus, i offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 34. resolved, that the following named member be and is hereby elected to the following standing committee of the house of representatives. one, committee on armed services, mr. smith of ashington. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the resolution is agreed to and a motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

the chair announces the speaker's appointment, pursuant to clause 11 of rule 10, clause 11 of rule 1, and the order of the house of january 3, 2017, of the following members of the house to the permanent select committee on intelligence. the clerk: mr. himes of connecticut, ms. sewell of alabama. mr. carson of indiana. ms. speier of california. mr. quigley of illinois. mr. swal we will of california -- mr. swalwell of california. mr. castro of texas. r. heck of washington. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2017, the gentleman from texas, mr. boy merit, is recognized for -- mr. gohmert, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority party. mr. gohmert: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you. it is an honor to be here tonight. eginning of this new year.

it's been great being in east texas this weekend, last all the hope ng that has arisen as we've entered this new year, 2017. i think it's going to be a good year. i'm told that just on the basis of a new president coming in, who's promising to throttle back, remove so much of the heavy iron boot off the throat of the economy, that firms are starting to hire again, businesses are making plans to expand and grow. and then we're seeing the reports of plants that are decided to stay in the united states instead of going elsewhere. there's a lot of optimism out there.

there are young people that are asking what it was like back when you came out of college and had multiple job opportunities for most of the people coming out of college. instead of opportunities to live with your parents or your grandparents or a parent or the other parent. they actually had multiple job opportunities. . d that optimism has arisen as we entered this year also, it's very sad to see a form of racism and negativity that arises. i've said before publicly, and one k it's still true, need go back no further than the confirmation hearing for clarence thomas to the supreme court. but the more you look, the more

u find that the most persecuted person to be in america these days is a conservative african-american. if you're black and you're a conservative, you can expect the slings and arrows and hate from all over the country. vicious. mean. and it was yet another slap, as if the high-tech lynching of the senate confirmation hearing , as grossly unfair as it was, that woman that with held any complaints whatsoever followed man from job to job, never raised a complaint until he get ady to be confirmed to the united states supreme court, raised allegations that can't

possibly be denied or upplemented, verified, not effectively. you raise them 20 years -- plus. that's why we have laws on the from to protect allegations too many years after the fact. we have statues of -- statutes of limitation. if you sit on something and don't tell people for years and years and then all of a sudden for political reasons you raise up allegations against someone who's basically defenseless, the thing is clarence thomas was not defenseless. there were like 15 people, 15 women came forward, said, look, i was there around anita hill who those things were going on, those things never happened. . clarence thomas is a brilliant, fine man.

over and over. does any of that come up when hbo talks about him? of course not. because they're out to slander him, liable him, make him appear to be some crazy guy. the guy is brilliant. absolutely brilliant. some say, well, yeah, the only way he got into harvard which at the time was too conservative for him, he thought, after holy cross and then it was too conservative, he ends up flying to yale, going there, he didn't think quite as conservative, but he began to notice as he points out in his book that the liberals would talk to him about sports and oppression of black people in america, and that's all they wanted to talk about. but he began to notice the two or three other conservatives, the few that there were in yale at the time, yale law school,

basically would talk to him about anything. i've had a conversation about him -- with him about that in prior years at yale. but it is interesting. the liberals say, oh, yeah, we're the ones who care. you're only here because we pushed for affirmative action. you couldn't possibly be smart enough to be in a place where i am, the liberals think. so yeah, it's because of us liberals you're here. no. the guy is brilliant. he deserves to be there on his own merit, on his own intellect. he deserves to be a member of the united states supreme court. he deserves the acclaim that he's never properly gotten. but people that have clerked at that court know the integrity, the intellect, the consistency of clarence thomas. he was maligned, they thought basically it was an effort to

bork, as it's come to -- it's become a verb, what was done to justice bjork, accuse him of outrageous offenses, derail his confirmation, so that this conservative principled, qualified individual doesn't make it to the supreme court. well, the effort worked. on assassinating so grossly, unfairly, the character of justice work -- bork, but it didn't work on clarence thomas because he is a man of steadfast faith, integrity, and not just the brilliant intellect. and it's really heartbreaking, i mean, i thought, even though i

didn't support president obama because i didn't want him taking us down a socialist road, a socialist health care road, he talked about these things, the videos were out there he wanted to get taos where the government controlled health care, single payer, in other words socialized medicine where the government gets to decide whether you get health care or whether it's any good or not and of course it ends up not being, most of the time, once the government has total, unfettered control. i didn't want to go those places he wanted to go. but i thought the good thing is, it shows that america is above racism and this is a man who can bind up this nation as never before. yet he has spent right at eight years now creating more division in this country than we've had since the 1960's. and who was stirring it up back then? he was in the middle of groups that were stirring it up back

then. protege of bill ayres, first fundraiser he had in the home of someone who felt like it was a good idea to kill police, at east try to. i hear constant allegations that are so unfair, those who know jeff sessions make some very fair observations. i noted the great fairness of someone with whom i disagree often, but senator susan collins, this article from cnn politics says, a moderate republican elected to the senate the same year as jeff sessions in 1996 admit she is and sessions don't agree on a host of issues but she was happy to

accept his, jeff sessions', request to introduce him at the conference hearing alongside senior alabama senator richard shelby. quote, he's a decent, honorable, patriotic individual, unquote, kohl lens said at an interview in her senate office. i felt bad, he was not getting a fair shake from those denigrating him. the main lawmaker, susan collins, is referring to aldwations of racial insensitivity. same democrats used to block sessions from moving thru committee 30 years ago. collins explained that she is basing her endorsement of sessions' character on her own experience. working with him over the past 20 years. well, isn't that a good thing, mr. speaker? you have a senator that says you know what, i'm not going to listen to the slings an arrows, i'm going to go based on the evidence.

that i have seen, heard, and known for myself. you can denigrate someone all you want, but we are going based on what's real, what's factual. and god bless her for doing. quote, i don't know what happened more than 30 years ago. when jeff was nominated to a district court -- to be a district court judge and his nomination failed, unquote, she said. quote, but i do know that jeff sessions that i've worked with in the past 20 years, and he's a good person. and i believe he will perform very well as the attorney general. another republican colleague who went out of his way to get to know jeff sessions is senator tim scott, the only african-american g.o.p. senator. in december, scott invited sessions to visit his home state of south carolina, where the two

lawmakers met criminal justice professionals in charleston. and you know, i have such great regard for my colleagues across the aisle, but i am heart broken at 30 years after the denial of jeff sessions, a judicial bench, when the jeff sessions that i've come to know in the 12 years i have been in congress doesn't -- and i the him, i feel like pretty well, he's a gd, decent, fair man. he tries to follow the teachings of jesus christ. he tries to treat people fairly and equally. assistant -- from

he was assistant district attorney thomas harrison, who had started in the helping prosecute regarding the lynching of an african 19-year-old, just horrific, 19-year-old african-american michael donald. in alabama. and the assistant district attorney harrison at the time prosecuted the case in state court, he was quoted as saying, sessions asked what we needed, because sessions was the u.s. attorney. what they needed in other words to go after the culprits that would do such a horrendous says, i ct, and he said, in order to get a capital murder conviction, we need these things. and he -- talking about jeff sessions, said in regard to

whatever the federal agents did or the f.b.i. did, he would make those things available, he did in fact do that. i don't know. that's the kind of jeff sessions i've gotten to know over the years. little heart breaking to hear allegations about a guy, i really like him. and then to hear allegations that i've heard made about me in a grossly unfair manner. and i can't explain all of the allegations about -- that are so grossly unfair about jeff sessions. but i can address some of the things that have been alleged to make him unfit to be attorney general that i know are idiculous.

one of the points that was made concern for --is concern or opposition to the new voting rights act extension, i guess that's what they were talking about. i know a great deal about that. that comes through the judiciary committee. i know my friend, fellow republican, jim sensenbrenner, eached an agreement with democrat john conyers and others and they weren't letting amendments get through, and i was trying to make the point clear, you want to save the ting rights act, you can't keep punishing a state because they did something wrong 50 years ago. that's not constitutional. and if you insist on continuing

to put these punitive positions in the voting rights act, that will continue to punish southern states that have recorded these days a -- and it was pretty well rue across the south, they had less racial disparity than places in the north. in wisconsin, in massachusetts, in california. and yet people from these other states, because they made a majority, said we don't care that they are -- there's less racial disparateness in those southern states. there was harm 50 years ago and there was. and it needed to be cleaned up. it desperately needed to be cleaned up. and we needed a voting rights ct in order to help cure the

evils. but what was pushed through in a voting rights extension with my opposition and i don't know what jeff's arguments were, but i know how wrong it was and i came down here and my friend, and i mean that, my friend, john conyers was sitting right there, it was toward the end of the year and i said, look, i've talked to liberal law deans from different parts of the country, new york, california, texas, and when we discuss what you've put in the voting rights act, you're still treating states punitively that are now doing better than california, new york, massachusetts, at least some districts in those states, which -- wisconsin had a district with a huge problem. you can't do that. it's going to be ruled unconstitutional.

and i still cannot support it. but why don't we do a joint mendment and fix this? and my friend john conyers, he's a very honorable man, he said, let me talk to some of our folks. and when i talked to him before the end of the year, he said, we think it's ok and the people i talked to think it's ok, we don't need to amend it, we're going to leave it just like it s. well, it's wrong. whether it's in the voting rights act, whether it's in a criminal bill, a civil bill, if you're punishing people for the sins of their grandfathers or fathers, it's wrong. it's un-american. and if -- i don't know jeff sessions called something like that un-american, but i will.

when you try to punish an individual for something their father or grandfather did, that is un-american. that's wrong. and lo and behold, the liberal law professors and deans that i've talked to across the country before i begged, well -- i begged jim sensenbrenner, he was sitting at the back right back there, he said, no, we're not touching that bill. they were happy to let it go to the supreme court one day just the way it was. and just as i explained to john conyers right here, just as i explained to jim sensenbrenner right back there, this should be struck down if the u.s. supreme court is going to be fair, impartial, and follow the constitution. you can't keep punishing people for something their fathers or grandfathers did when they are doing better than people in your

own state and you vote to punish them. why? because you can and their fathers or grandfathers committed a wrong many years ago. a grievous wrong it was. and it needed correction. and there's some places it still does. but you don't keep punishing people 50 years after they leaned up their problem. so when i hear people say jeff sessions is not fit because he opposed the voting rights act, i tried to clean it up. because it had an un-american provision in there. you shouldn't -- i just can't believe anybody on're side of the aisle would continue to support the idea that we should punish children or grandchildren for something their father or grandfather did many years ago.

and this child has become an adult and they have made sure there's fairness abounding. there's always going to be injustice. and one of the great problems in this justice department, it was always quick to take up for someone who had been shot by a policeman. before they knew any of the facts and demonize the local police. and sometimes, rare cases, but every now and then, they did deserve demonizing. but a department of justice should not demonize them before we find out the facts. and in most of those cases, when we find out the facts, whether it's baltimore or other places, even a law ime, professor or sometime the president said acted stupidly talking about the policeman,

turned out the policeman conducted himself reasonably. we never did hear if the president apologized to the policeman or not. the point is, the president and justice department have spent eight years dividing us in ways i did not believe were possible eight years ago. and so when i hear my friends come in here and start condemning a man as not being fit to serve because of things like opposing an nconstitutional, was then, it is today, it would be if somebody tries to pass a pun muchment -- punishment of some group of people for something their grandparents did. it's wrong. it's unamerican. i'll say it until the day i die.

it broke my heart. i saw it as a federal judge. i saw it in chamber, never in the courtroom itself. it would bring me to tears. i'd break down. when you see the suffering of children because of the sins of their parents. but the government shouldn't be in the business of punishing people intentionally. there was a provision in the voting rights act that did just that. now, i also heard allegations about jeff sessions, either opposing a hate crime extension or a hate crime bill. and i can tell you, from conversations i had years past, back when we were talking about hate crimes bills, we did not need hate crime lalls. and what was the fake news that

was trotted out here in washington, trouted out around the country trotted out around the country? remember what happened down in south texas, wasn't in my district, but i'm familiar with what happened down there. there were three people, three ite guys that took a poor, decent african-american, used a chain, tied him to their truck, and drug him until he was dead. as i've said, in print and publicly before, i would personally have no problem with a jury ordering a sentence, if we could put it in the law, so that the family of that victim could decide what they were going to use to drag the defendant and the -- they would drag those white defendants over. but that's not the law. and the law in texas is that our juries can find you guilty

and sentence you, well, the juries don't actually sentence to death. that's left to the judge. the juries answer three questions. i know, i've put to juries three times. on one occasion the jury came back a lock up and so i sentenced that defendant to life. on two occasions of the three capital murder cases i tried to mpletion, the jury found unanimously, number one, he committed the murder. number two, he knew that a murder was going to be committed. and that he was a future -- that was number two. he's a future danger to society. and number three was there was no evidence that mitt gated the imposition -- mitigated against the imposition of the death penalty. the jury comes back, yes, yes

and no. and it's left to a judge like me to look a man in the eyes and tell him that i sentence him to death. there is nothing that goes to your soul like looking someone in the eye and saying, you're going to be taken by the texas department of criminal justice and you're going to be put to death. for the crimes you have committed. i believed in the death penalty. but i believe with all my heart you have to make sure due process occurs could, care less about race. i hear these allegations about jeff sessions and know jeff and i know this is ridiculous. as i was listening to some of just broad statements

taking a swat at jeff sessions, a really fine, decent man, and it took me right back to 20 years or so ago when i was that felony district judge in texas and i tried capital murder cases, murder cases, and never mind the fact that i was court-appointed to appeal the capital murder conviction of an african-american man and i did everything i possibly could ethically and within the law for my client who i believed was wrongly convicted in that case and his case was overturned after our argument, my argument. i was the only one to argue for our side. i was the one that solely did the brief. even though the family paid a lot, thousands of dollars to somebody from another state. i did the whole thing. i did it all.

didn't have a clerk do it. i did it all. his capital murder conviction was reversed. his mother used to bring me wonderful food, i loved her, went to her funeral, she was just an incredible christian woman. and her funeral did her justice. of course then her daughter ran against me for congress three times. but that's another story. but nonetheless, i can remember back when i was a felony judge and i got served with a bpoena by a defense lawyer and they had taken the position in a pleading, in another i had that because disparity ppointed a

number of -- disparate number of white people to be grand jury foremen over african-americans, then i must be bigoted and therefore convictions? smith county should be overturned. and i think they subpoenaed other -- another district judge or two. we have three. and i knew that lawyer. he knew i wasn't a racist. and he subpoenaed me and made allegations in print before he even knew who had been on my grand juries during those years i was a felony district judge. but he made the broad-based allegation, must be racist, got to throw out these cases. and before i came to testify, actually got the list of my

grand jurors and i didn't get to choose the grand jurors. those were chosen by a grand jury commissioner -- by grand jury commissionsers. they choles the grand jury -- they chose the grand jury members, the commissioners did, all i did was get -- i got to man.se the grand jury fore i didn't care about race. i didn't care about gender. i pointed people because -- i appointed people because when i looked at the background, the little bios we had on each of the grand jury members, i wanted somebody that was going to be a leader on that grand jury. i didn't care about race. and when the criminal defense lawyers did their homework after they made allegations,

they notified me that i would not be called as a witness, because i appointed too many african-american grand jury had en and therefore i appointed -- it was a disparate number of african-americans, it was too many and therefore i would hurt their case because i would show maybe i was more biased for african-americans than against them. i didn't care about race. i can remember a couple of grand jury foremen. one of them, he was, i think, assistant school superintendent. i knew the guy. he was a solid citizen. i'd seen him in action. he was a real leader in the community. he was an honest, fair man. i thought, he'll be great as a grand jury foreman and he was. but probably the best grand ry foreman i ever appointed,

she was a saint, her name was ms. glass. and i knew enough about her when i saw she was on the grand jury, i knew shed need -- she needed to be the foreman. she was a saint and she was organized and she called things like they were and you couldn't help but fall in love with ms. glass if you were around her for any length of time at all. but anyway, those memories, getting a subpoena, alleging that i'm a racist, until they actually did their homework and found out, whoops, he may be too pro-african-american, we don't want him to testify. i got that same feeling when i was hearing those allegations against jeff sessions. not based on facts. boy, we just had the feeling hat maybe he was being unfair.

i think somebody mentioned the southern poverty law center, southern something. i know the southern poverty law center, my opinion, after they insighted hatred against the family research council, they insighted hatred against other people. the southern poverty law center . they were supposed to be the an think the signature -- sis -- an thigget sis of hate. they stirred up so much that he would go into their lobby and try to kill people. at the family research center. the more of this craziness. and the bible warns us of a day when up will be down, right will be wlong and i keep wonderer -- wrong, and i keep wondering, are we there? because, you know, we hear from people at the civil rights commission that maybe christians are the big hate group in the country.

really? the only religion that's truly based on love. because to be a christian you have to believe god so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believed in his son would not perish but and racist, isg life. fair? so supposedly, jeff sessions, nd jeff sessions is not fit to

serve as attorney general because he is for vouchers. r. speaker, when you hear from african-americans about how the children have suffered under horrendous conditions in the school and then for this moment, they got vouchers, they won the lottery, they got vouchers that republicans fought for and got to go to great schools and being good gs or they got a education. my other ay, didn't kids, are they going to have to face the georgia gangs.

why can't they be an engineer, i don't think it's hate. i don't think it's prejudice. and ache for a mom like that and dads y don't why moms and and you go to the school. it's not an indictment of public schools. we didn't have kindergarten. had great teachers. nspiring, since i was going to learn. and i know i was going in the law school for some day. t my math teachers in push schools, seventh schools.

and some students, i loved, they were great. a lege algebra, we had professor who had us turning in our homework, monday, wednesday, riday class, turn in the homework. you didn't want to do the homework, you answered it wrong, i didn't open my book and never did the homework because my seventh grade they were so good, it was there. i injoid math. it was easy because of the public school training i got.

but not every school has the advantage. i had the advantage of eighth brame eacher until the tumor took her out and that is a burdenen. 'm going to lay down and i'm exhausted. and i'm going to lie down. and caught me some slack. that is life living with a public school teacher. t because i think or if jeff ssions, i think he may, if schools are not teaching children to read and write andics sell or president of the country, then let them go to a

school and i think public schools will win out. they've got the wherewithal to have the best schools. nd that was the purpose of vouchers. i heard the allege that trump haven't had and i a lot of conversations with trump. but my impression was that he never said and maybe he did but i know i have heard people say repeatedly that i leey gormente is a birther is a lie. i never, ever, ever said that. but it became a credo of the she some guy on fox news,

says, tell me somebody that hates lowey gormente is a birther and if i recall correctry, he later wrote an article, gormente never actually said that obama never said that and he is a birther and that takes me back to august, i guess it was july of 2009, i believe it was and my friend, bill sey, from florida, had a ittle two-page bill. and it was a good bill. i read the bill and i tried to

do that before i agreed to support a bill and i read the bill and i recall that the "new york times" and the "washington post" i think around january of 2008 raised the issue of whether or not john mccain was qualified under the constitution to be president of the united states. apparently he was porn in the panama canal zone. and gee, is that being a natural citizen? yeah, he was in the military ap yeah, maybe -- they raised the ssue, "new york times" and weast. and i was in israel when i got word that i was being accused of being a birther and i can recall

out here in the speaker's lobby, a whole slew of reporters wanting to know about my being a birther and one of my times was with the "washington post" and i know she is a good reporter and she is not there now and i couldn't believe. and really, you think i'm a birther? and she said i ns from the white house that you signed on the bill if i recall the words correctly it was to to de lightize the president and have him thrown out of office. and i sa said wow! it was exactly the words that every reporter, you are trying office. tize the

i think doonsdelen bury and this one reporter caught me in another place and said you are on the birther bill and i said are you talking about the birther bill? i said have read it? and i said no. i know it's trying to throw the president out of office. i said i tell you what, i haven't been giving statements allegations culous but when i was here, it was absurd and i said i tell you what, you read the posey bill, just barely over two pages and if you still want a statement from me, i'll give you as long a

statement as you want. the next time i saw her, i said, did you read the posey bill? and she said, yeah, it didn't do anything it was go to do, exactly. conseffed ry well- bill. and rahm emmanuel saw it as an opportunity that someone was choosing the president and my thought, what difference does it make? i still find it interesting that certificate and who knows that's the right one ut i never had an issue with

barack obama being an american citizen. i think he should have come forward and shut down the noise much sooner, but he and rahm emmanuel liked using that and liked to call me a birther even though it was an absolute lie. and what bill posey's bill that has been for years now -- eight years now, it has been called a birther bill, anybody can read the bim, it said before a candidate for his or her party's the tion pursuinging nomination for president, the

party must make a determination at that individual meets the equal fakes of the constitution. so the reporters were getting from somebody in the white house, maybe rahm emmanuel, ounded like rahm, whoever sent gary the false lies that he used for a script, never bothered to read the bill and see that the allegations of birthism, whatever that is, was just a lie. it said beginning in 2012. nobody was trying to get anybody thrown out of office. and whether or not somebody like john mccain was qualified to

shall president, you would get it resolved. couldn't imagine a worst horror for america to have someone elected president and get thrown out after they are elected, we are go talking about riots and dwoiding and even worse than this administration has been able to do on its own. i didn't want to yank a president out of office, but i thought this is a bill posey thought of a very fairway. and those that were concerned about my friend ted cruz being appropriate to be president, i thought if the left hadn't so demonized bill posey's bill, he had the framework that would get

this out of the way long before you ever got to a party nomination . and you couldn't come in at the last minute after the nomination and say, nope, it would take care of it and the supreme court justice said years ago, gee, if there is no gislation that sets up a foundation or an enabling come running on't to the supreme court and have an enabling legislation come out of congress, don't come running to us and he wasn't talking about anything specific and grit. the possessy bill would be terrific, enabling legislation

nd if the white house hadn't freaked out over poey's bill and bill wouldn't have been an issue. and a party chair could accept the application to become a candidate and had to determine whether or not that candidate meets the contusional re quirmentse. worked out. t it and coming t poor bill posey has been demonized. i keep coming back to this, it reminds me of what i keep hearing being said about jeff sessions, a very decent man.

i don't know as -- i don't try to push my religious beliefs on others, it's a part of who i am, as a christian, i try to forgive others. i've been amazed by the grace of god how i've been able to forgive people who have jerked me around, worked with some people who have really stabbed me in the back before. but i've been amazed. jeff sessions was called all kinds of things in 1986. yet 10 years later, he was elected to the senate. he never sought any kind of revenge against those who did him so unfairly and unjustly. because he cared about justice and doing the right thing. this country needs to heal.

and if people are going to keep screaming racism when it appears the biggest source of racism may have been all those people that told me, well, i wanted to vote for the first black american in our history and i really didn't know much about politics. you mean, you voted for someone because of the color of their skin? yes, i wanted to be able to tell future generations, i voted for the first black president. i wanted to do that too. and that's why i voted for alan keyes in 1996. sorry phil gramm, i know you're from my state, but i thought a lot of the intellect and integrity of allen keyes, i still do. that's why his son works for me. e is brilliant, fair, smart,

etty dog gs gone -- pretty degreegone funny too. i don't care about race. we need to quit throwing this racist term about. enough already. let's give jeff sessions a fair hearing. let's look at what his record really is. and if he, like i did, opposed an unconstitutional punishment of a future generation who has done no wrong for something grandparents had done, then he's right. that's unconstitutional. it is un-american. and i am grateful that donald trump has appointed, has nominated a man like jeff sessions from the senate. god bless jeff sessions.

i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. does the gentleman from texas have a motion? mr. gohmert spst i move that we do now hereby adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to adjourn. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly, the house stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow for morning hour debate. we will have those remarks next

on c-span. health and human services -- treasury secretary talks about public investment. >> we had a great meeting. he loves this country. and he loves china, too. we will talk about that on wednesday. we will be talking to you very