their prescription drugs. mr. carbajal: these are working families who no longer wait for one illness away from bankruptcy. these are children born with birth defects who will have previously been denied coverage for having a pre-existing condition or reach their families -- or reach their lifetime limit before they even started school. what concerns me most is the effort to repeal the affordable care act without putting forth any sort of replacement. this will have real consequences for american families and it's simply reckless governance. we cannot play politics with 20 million american lives that depend on the affordable care act for access to quality affordable care, health care. this is not a game. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for

what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. carter: permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. carter: i rise today to recognize mrs. deb thompson who recently retired as general tv.ger of wsab news she started working in 2005 and moved to savannah from dallas, texas and brought news to our local community. her dedication and passion for made her the perfect fit. and an example of this passion when she was arrested in march of 2016 as march of the muscular ystrophy lockup to help combat neuromuscular disease. it helped two children to go to a summer camp to give them the

best week of the year. she was instrumental in expanding the news coverage from 17 hours per week to 0 hours and creating a 10:00 p.m. program. i'm proud to recognize her today for all of her hard work and dedication in southeast georgia. i wish her the best of luck in the future. mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from oregon seek recognition? observation. the gentleman is recognized. mr. schrader: in a bizarre rant, president-elect donald trump said it would be the greatest jobs producer that god ever created. he might need to rethink his statement. make no mistake, while the republicans haven't given us any details about an a.c.a. replacement, we know what will happen if they repeal it.

millions of jobs will be lost. since it was passed in 2010, the u.s. economy added more than 15 million private sector jobs. the biggest job growth began the month the a.c.a. was passed. the other side of the aisle want to repeal. repealing the a.c.a. will kill 2.6 million including 45,000 in my home state. 30 million americans will lose access to health care and more added to our budget. we can't afford the reckless a.c.a. reckless policy and we need to focus on creating jobs. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute.

for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? for what purpose does the gentlelady from california seek recognition? the gentlelady is recognized for one minute without objection. >> today i rise because i offered an amendment to a bill, budget resolution bill that is going to come up for a vote tomorrow. the amendment i offered was a statement of policy that repealing the affordable care act without a replacement is dangerous and irresponsible. this is a bipartisan sentiment. stated, werepublican have great concerns that we have injected uncertainty if we don't give people a clear indication. i don't support a repeal. the people in my district cannot afford to go without health care in the 44th.

i urge my colleagues to think out this and listen to think their republican colleagues. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for what purpose does the gentlelady from washington seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute? the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker, the immoral effort to take away health care from millions of working families has begun. thanks to the affordable care act, thousands of families in my home state of washington have been able to get quality health care and now the republican majority is taking that health care coverage from those struggling to make ends meet. three-quarters of a million washingtonians will lose their health care, 55,000 young people will be kicked off and being a woman, once again becomes a

pre-existing condition where women would have to pay out of pocket for screening and birth control. four million washingtonians would see their health coverage decline and those who gained health care will lose it. mr. speaker, health care is a fundamental right and not a privilege. instead of rolling back the progress we made, we should be expanding health care to cover all who live in our nation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? without objection. >> this sunday. mr. o'rourke: hundreds of my fellow citizens will come out to the plaza to join us in supporting and defending those dreamers who across this country are 700,000 strong who were brought here at a young age who

are lick in our communities, going to schools and helping to create jobs and growing our economy. i'm introducing a bill to protect the dreamers who came out of the shadows who gave their telephone numbers and addresses to the federal government and i want to make sure they don't use that to deport them. and potentially deport those dreamers on who this country is depending. as a country that has gained from immigrants who contribute to the american way of life. with that, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. . >> i rise today in strong support of a true leader and

friend for the nomination of secretary of education. by far and away, betsy devoss is the ideal candidate. he has been focused and making sure our children have been given access to quality education particularly for the disenfranchised. he associated press said the academy and the difference that the school is making, betsy did e voss has had her hand in that. mr. speaker, being from michigan myself, i have seen firsthand what betsy has done for education in michigan. she you understands the important role that public schools in the k-12 system and the competition and school choice and parental control will

drive success to ensure that children are receiving the best possible education. i hope to work with my friends on the other side of the capitol and i hope that during this time before the committee in the senate that the rest of the nation will hear the great things she has done and how qualified she is for this job. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady rom michigan seek recognition. >> last weekend, i held a roundtable discussion in my district with health care providers, hospitals, doctors, nurses, clinics, labor leaders and working families to talk about what the affordable care act means to them. all of them oppose concerns about the repeal of the affordable care act. we talked about how important it s to protect the 695,000

residents of michigan who gained coverage and the fact that the uninsured rate in michigan has been cut in half. e story was was from a local clergyman who gained coverage for the first time. he told me, quote, the impacts on black members increased access to insurance coverage. what it has meant to their lives. we didn't take care of ourselves until it was too late and ended up in the emergency room and some of us died. now we can get checked out early. i heard from a union member, who said, i come from a family who suffered from cancer. we would have gone bankrupt without the a.c.a. people are saying what will happen? tomorrow, you need to look people in the eye and tell them why you are taking their insurance away.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady's time has expired. the chair announces the speaker's appointment and the order of the house january 23, 2017 on the part of the house, the joint economic committee. and lerk: mr. paulsen of mr. schweikert and mr. lahood of illinois, mr. rooney, mrs. maloney, mr. delaney and mr. beyer of virginia. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house the following personal requests. the clerk: leaves of absence requested for mr. ruther fd of florida for today and the balance of the week. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the request is granted. january 23, the gentleman from georgia, mr. collins, is

recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. collins: it is a privilege to be here tonight and one of the things, we all get started in the new session and the newness and excitement and hit the ground running and this congress is where the american people spoke and they spoke loudly saying the direction of our country needed to change and by change ng they meant towards a government that is conservative and listening to them and not about the government worker and not about government but what government does for the american people. tonight as i have taken on my role in the conference in working as the vice chair of the conference to introduce our members, tonight is the first ight we have some of our new freshmen here on the floor and we are going to know where they came from and introduce them to

the floor and what their passion is to share with this part of our majority going forward. the first gentleman is a dear friend from my home state. a s what we call back home dawg. but he is from west point, georgia and understands what real life is about and understands what is making jobs and he is a dentist and he i go go to stay on that side of the aisle because i'm not going to find out anything about that. it's going to be a good time tonight and i yield to mr. ferguson. mr. ferguson: i thank the gentleman from georgia and i deliver my first remarks on the house floor, i watched my hometown fall completely apart and i saw what happened when bad policies almost destroyed my

hometown from environment to manufacturing jobs to go overseas. i watched federal programs that were failing to meet the needs of my friends and neighbors tried to take the place of good jobs. federal jobs weren't fixing them but catching people in the cycle of poverty and we didn't want a handout but wanted jobs. and i was faced to move my dental practice away from my hometown to a more profitable community or get involved and be part of the solution. i chose to get involved and worninged to better the limbs. instead of being satisfied with one-size-fits i've all that perpetuated existing problems, we worked to bring jobs to west point, georgia to create economic development and infrastructure. we attracted a kia pomortse manufacturing plant and brought businesses that produced over

15,000 jobs in just a few years. the city of west point and the surrounding area today are revitalized not because of federal government programs but because we worked at solutions to meet the needs. . we need policies that encourage people to help get them out of poverty instead of strapping them in a multigenerational cycle of poverty. i know firsthand that more government programs do not make communities, schools or individuals great. in fact, i have lived through and governed out of the dependence created by bad d.c. programs that continue to trap people in poverty. what we have collectively done to those in poverty with these policies is morally wrong. there is a better way and we'll

do right by our fellow americans. i'm excited to work with my colleagues to craft and enact policies that will improve the lives of our citizens. i thank you and i yield back to he gentleman from georgia. mr. collins: i appreciate the gentleman from georgia, his passion, what he's going tb part of. i think the american people are excited too, we're a week away from inauguration of our new president-elect. there's also a time as we move across the country, not only from georgia but arizona and our next speaker, mr. speaker, is andy biggs. andy, looking forward to actually going to be serving with andy on the judiciary committee. s background is interesting, they're working to promote a conservative small business agenda he's also an awe that , which for those of us working

intellectual property, is very important. there's so much job creation in our country by the intellectual property rights. i yield to andy diggs now from arizona's fifth congressional district. mr. diggs: thank you. 'm grateful for the -- mr. biggs: thank you, i'm grateful for the opportunity to introduce myself. i hope to pick up where my good friend and predecessor former congressman matt salmon left off. he's left me big shoes to fill but i'm blessed to be able to counsel with him and i'm honored to follow his example. my district covers part os they have southeast metropolitan area of phoenix, cities of chandler, gilbert, mesa, queen creek and communities like sun lakes. many families have lived there for generations. they're hard work, patriotic and faith-driven people.

i am a native arizonan. one of the few. i live in gilbert with my wife of 35 years, cindy. we have six children and four grandchildren. i received my bachelor's degree in asian studies if brigham young university, my master's degree from arizona state university and a law degree from the university of arizona and have pursued adegreesal graduate work. for the past 14 years i've had the opportunity to serve in the arizona state legislature where i've served as the senate president for the last four years. during that time, we balanced the budget, going from the worst budget situation in the nation on a per capita basis and we reduced taxes, cut government regulations, asserted arizona's 10th amendment rights and we protected live -- life at all stages. when congressman salmon decided to retire last year , he asked me to run for his seat to ensure his constituents would continue to receive the same level of

care and concern and adherence to conservative principles that congressman salmon stood for. after a four-way primary, i won my primary election by 27 votes. on the campaign trail last year, i promised my constituents that i would fight to achieve six major goals and introduce bills to reflect those goals in this congress. preventing members of congress from being paid until a balanced budget is passed. breening -- braning in bureaucratic rule making and restoring rule making to congress. ending the obamacare loophole designed to ben in it members of congress. passing grant's law to protect .s. citizen -- citizens from immigrants.

to protect the country from common core and make sure it's not required to be taught to our tudents. we've worked hard to achieve ezz -- i've worked hard to achieve these goals already and will work hard to puffer sue that in my time in congress. last week, member this body were filled with great optimism and enthusiasm about the future. i am hopeful we'll continue to continue in that as we strive to do the bidding of our constituents. i will never forget the people who elected me to this high office and the principles important to them. it is my home, arizona. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. mr. collins: thank you. mr. speaker, again, as we see the quality and what the america have spoke in sending folks like andy biggs up here, last week we ot started with the rains act,

and andy jumped in with a couple of amendment he wanted to be part of the solution to start with. that's the kind of stuff that is really good. next up is the gentleman from kentucky, the first district of kentucky, mr. comber. he comes to us from a farm background and his background as he comes back, he wore the blue jacket and the green jacket. 4h and f.f.a. his heart is in agriculture he served as many may know on this floor, he was commissioner of agriculture for the state of kentucky. a will the of things have been accomplished here as he's getting ready to be part of this we're looking forward to that hometown. he's also a good friend of our commissioner of agriculture , he said, there's a good one in kentucky. i said then gary tells that, we know something is good. it is my pleasure to yield to mr. comer from kentucky's first district. mr. comer: i thank the gentleman

from georgia for yielding. it is indeed an honor to be a member of this great bdy. i ran a 14-month campaign for congress not simply to have a prestigious tite ail head of my name or to simply come to washington to point fingers at the other political party and blame everyone else for our nation's many problems. rather, i ran for congress so i could come here and work to solve our nation's many challenges. the first congressional district of kentucky stretches from the foothills of appalachia all the way to the western most counties along the mississippi river. it is a conservative, rural district, comprised of 35 unique counties with the main industries being agriculture, coal, and manufacturing. my constituents feel like washington has forgotten them. unfair trade agreements have cost us good-paying manufacturing jobs. the e.p.a.'s war on coal has devastated the coal economy and

its massive economic spinoff. overburdensome regulations like waters of the u.s. threaten the viability of our family farmers. and an unsustainable government takeover of our health care system, better known as obamacare, has significantly increased health care premiums on my small businesses and working middle class families. but mr. speaker, as i stand here today, there is a great sense of hope in kentucky. my district voted overwhelmingly for donald trump and voted out of office six incumbent democrat state representatives. my people expressed their displeasure at the polls and for once they feel like their voices were heard and their votes matter. i've heard my people's cries as a farmer, small business owner and parent of three small children. i've also felt their pain. and mr. speaker, i pledge here

today to work with my fellow freshmen colleagues, the incoming trump administration and the leadership in congress to make america great again. i'm proud that the first two weeks of this congress we have passed bills to undo the regulatory damage that the obama administration has done to our business. in the coming weeks, i look forward to repealing the failing obamacare health care system and replacing it with a market driven health care fix. and i am confident that i can play a role in working with the new administration to renegotiate our main trade deals, to ensure that american workers are on a level playing field. there is a better way to run america. the assault on the private sector must end. the disregard and disrespect for conservative, pro-family values must end.

the bloated federal government must shrink and congress must gain control of our federal government away from unelected bureaucrats. that's the will of the people of kentucky 1. the voters spoke loudly on november 8. i look forward to working with my fell he freshmen colleagues to ensure that we improve our economy, abide by the constitution, and restore confidence of the american people. i yield back the balance of my time. mr. collins: thank you, mr. comer. i think it's exciting to bring those values, my district is one of the more rural, agricultural district. we're not far from atlanta but in our part of the world, poultry and everything is agriculture. our next speaker is brian mass from florida. i got to know brian when he was running for this office, fwt to visit with him in his district as he was running. and let me just say, many times we talk about elections being, you know, campaign ads, speeches

all those things, very true. but it's also when a person connects with the people they're represents. when they connect with them in such a way that it sort of transcends their ideological perspective. i want to tell, we were at a polling precinct, people were early voting, i remember this one lady got out, she parked her car, got out, got her young to brian and e up said, i'm a democrat she said, i'm voting for everybody else, but i'm voting for you. and i wanted my daughter to meet you. when you make that kind of connection, that is what makes america great. that's the connection people need to have with their federal government. that's why the people's house is such a special place to be. and the people's house has a special representative from florida. i yield now brian mast from florida's 18th congressional

district. mr. mast: mr. speaker, i want to thank my friend from georgia, mr. collins, for putting me in this special order together tonight, for yielding me the time. for becoming a friend of mine, coming down and joining me in the beautiful 18th congressional district of florida. mr. speaker, it is with tremendous honor and humility that i rise to represent the hard working values of the 18th congressional district of florida. with communities like palm beach fwarneds, home of the pga tour. stuart, florida, home to the u.s. sailing academy. port st. lucie, the spring training home of the new york mets. and fort pierce, florida, the home of the only navy zeal and u.d.t. museum in the entire country, it's an amazing place. i do want to do this as well. i know i'm joined by the rest of my freshman colleagues and probably everybody in this chamber here and the entire body

when i say our thoughts and prayers have been with our new colleague, mr. rutherford, from the fourth district of florida, as i call him the sheriff, he's a friend, he's a patriot and i know that we're all praying for his speedy recovery. as i talk to people in my community, there's one issue that keeps them up at night more than any other issue, and that issue is the water quality in our area, or rather the lack thereof. i can tell you that it is nonnegotiable, it is a nonnegotiable priority for me, that we allow the water in our community, watter that used to be so blue that it looked like something out of a postcard, to once again become clean. for this generation, for future generations. i was studying at harvard, i studied the environment and i did very specific work in wadder shedd infrastructure. but i can tell you it doesn't take an academic to know these waterways are irreplaceable

treasures. to know they're central to the economy and economy of life -- to the economy and quality of life in our region and it's why most people i know make our 18th district home. why they call this place someplace they want to live for the rest of the life. it's the water and the weather. and if you take the water away in florida, the weather isn't always that comfortable. there's water being discharged from lake okeechobee into the treasure coast of florida, putting people out of business, killing sea life and making people sick. what makes our community so beautiful is literally being robbed from us. and this cannot continue. our lagoon, our beaches, our estuaries, they have to be restored and i will work endlessly to strengthen the partnership between our local, state and federal agencies to upfwrade that infrastructure, not just talk about it but actually get it done. this is life or death for the community i represent. mr. speaker, if i sound heated

over this, it's because i am heated over this. when i look back at history and see that the panama canal took less than a decade to build once the united states government got involved, that the hoover dam was built in five years, as far as i can tell, construction technology has only improved since the 1930's. but the infrastructure restoration surrounding lake okeechobee and the florida everglades is taking decades. it's an absolute embarrassment. that the water infrastructure projects in florida are taking so long. and at such a great social and economic cost to communities like my own. we can't afford to wait any longer. and this will be my top priority. another issue that i hear about conditions tantly is from people in our community talking about the role of america's weak foreign policy other the last eight years has played in destabilizing the middle east. and making our country and communities, places like fort pearce where the terrorist who

attacked the orlando nightclub, lives, where he worshiped, making our country less safe. i will work every day to provide with the tools and flexibility that they need to do their job and come home alive. and i was serving in the army, i had the honor to work alongside the best men and women. i worked as a bomb technician in military special operations and under the cover of darkness our job was to kill or capture the most menacing targets each and every night. i witnessed firsthand the supremacists that want to literally destroy our way of life. my scars and the scars of my fellow veterans, they should be

a continual reminder of the enemy we are fighting and why the work we are doing are so important. for me, september 19, 2010, i found my last explosive device. and claimed the lives of so many friend. and pieces of glass and nails, nell.earings and slap mr. speaker, the people that put that bomb there that manufactured that device, who have killed or wounded our bravest men and women, their goal is to wipe our country and our allies off the face of this earth, to bring that same war to our hometowns as they have done in new york and boston and chattanooga, san bernardino, fort hood and orlando. eight years of failed

international leadership has created a vacuum of power. isis right now has more money, more land, more resources than al qaeda did at 9/11. sitting back and waiting for peace, that's not a strategy. containment, that's not a strategy. we need to eliminate any safe haven to prevent any future attacks on the united states of america. i'm as well aware as anybody that defeating those who come against us comes at a cost. friends of mine, too many friends of mine have lost two or three limbs, have been blinded, covered on their entire body with burns, had massive head trauma or some combination after all of the above injuries. sadly, i'm aware of how often

the v.a. fails these men and women. it is not an option. we owe veterans. improving care for our veterans starts with improving the department of veterans affairs. give veterans the flexibility to choose any time, anywhere medical care. the increased competition will force the department of veteran affairs will improve health care. we have to eliminate the corruption and the incompetence o reduce the claims' backlog currently plagging the department. these claims make it impossible for the men and women who fought sigeon, like japan, mosul, to live their life as they have to wait years from the

department of veterans affairs. fixing these fixing these problems will ensure that the future generations are not burdened with the same challenges that today's veterans are facing. in addition to physical health care, we have to do more to help veterans with mental health care. there is a stat that is thrown round all too often, more than 20 veterans a day that take their own life. i have known some of them. and i can tell you that is an unacceptable rate that far exceeds the rate of the civilian population, but the fact is, to lose just one veteran from suicide is completely unacceptable. this is very personal to me. i have seen firsthand the impact that war can have on soldiers returning home, all of whom work

through the daily trends. not a week goes by where i don't get a call from someone who wants to talk about the fact that they want to step in front of a bus or go to sleep in the garage with the car running and never wake up. this comes after a tralmt advertising experience. we need to be there for one another and we need to be there for our veterans. i think about what president kennedy once said. he said the cost of freedom has always been high but americans have been willing to pay that price. our veterans, they do pay that price. they make tremendous personal sacrifices. just because they are always going to be there and always willing to make these sacrifices for our freedom doesn't mean we

can take their service for granted, which is happening every single time one of our veterans that failed. i'm committed to doing all i can to increase mental health re sources for our veterans whether legislatively to reduce suicide rates but we have to do more to assist returning veterans in finding jobs and starting careers. i know that the men and women that i served with were among the most talented and hardworking men and women that i ever met. they know what it is like. to be held to a standard of excellence. they know the stress of loading their bodies down and treking across long distances and work together as a team. they know what it takes to go

out there and get the job done no matter what challenges is placed in front of them. and they know what it is to not risk the bottom line, but to actually go out there and put their own life on the line. veterans are among the most qualified employees for any position. for veterans returning home from iraq and afghanistan, they face an unemployment rate that is substantially higher than the national average and i'm committed to working with local businesses and community leaders to discuss ways to reverse this troubling trend as well as supporting legislation to help our veterans use the skills and talents that they developed for the rest of their life. mr. speaker, following my service in the u.s. army, i made a very conscious choice to volunteer with the israeli defense forces because we share freedom, democracy and mutual

respect for all people something that i know firsthand that is not common in most of the middle east. during my time in israel, i served with soldiers driven by love for their fellow man. i learned with each family that i got to know just how much each family desires peace with every neighbor of israel regardless of their religion. the same cannot be said of israel's enemies. for the united states, the choice is very clear. we either stand with a historic friend and ally that shares our allies or we cave to the palestinians or countries like iran that represent everything that the united states is not. i have found that the most important time to stand for what is right is when it is the most difficult time to stand for what is right.

this moment in history is no different. we have to be proud of who we are and we have to stand with those and stand against any terrorist regime that seeks to threaten any one of us. mr. speaker, the last thing i want to say tonight is simply, it is a tremendous honor to have the opportunity to serve the people of florida's 18th congressional district. i know very well that the office i occupy, it doesn't truly belong to me but belongs to those people. and the simple fact is that the status quo has not been good enough. families are hurting and we have a lot of work to do. i have laid out a number of priorities to strengthen our country, but i also know this, that the problems washington is facing, they cannot just be fixed with bills and laws.

one of the most important lessons that i ever learned in the military and learned in combat was that inspiration matters. military leaders that i had who displayed courage and valor and selflessness, they drew the exact same thing out of every single soldier that surrounded them. and that's my goal. as i'm in the halls of congress as i work to inspire each peer, republican and democrat, to have courage and make sure that their sense of duty is to america above anything else and to make sure we serve selflessly and every day we are making this country and our communities that much better. and with that, i yield back any time i have remaining. mr. collins: mr. speaker, you can tell the passion that this class brings. if i e better ex plea

fide. we go north, all over this election an election heard clear from the north to the south to the areas in between from georgia to california, we have new voices, fresh voices and ones who come from businesses who made their life helping others, to find the workforce skills and mr. mitchell from michigan has done. he has made it a process in his life. no greater satisfaction that you have helped succeed and brings that desire tonight and comes from the wonderful state of michigan. we look forward to what mr. mitchell is going to bring to us. mr. mitchell: mr. speaker, i rise to thank the people of

michigan eye 10th representative district and i'm humbled. the weight of this office is not lost on me. asthma the gentlewoman reserves the balance of her time. leader said as you walk on the floor of this house and don't get goose bumps, it's time to go home. standing here, i have goose bumps. people asked me why i ran for congress. i ran for a goal of helping people achieve their american dream. fantasy, a fairy tale. i was born in south boston to a working class family and i moved to michigan at 11. my dad got a good job and my mom worked for the salvation army. my parents warked hard. i learned the value of hard work at a young age watching my

parents. i was the first in my family to go to college and work full-time to pay for my education. helping people to begin careers to support their families. there is something about the pride that comes when someone gets a job. their whole world changes when they are able to achieve and what it does for their families. over the last several years, unstable economies have put the american dream out of reach. the unemployment rates are down, long-term unemployment rates are igh and wage growth is anemic. many americans are just getting by. and in the november elections, americans screamed for relief. my message is that your voices have been heard. we are working here in the house to roll back regulations to

support families, businesses and the economy and breathe life back into the american dream. in order to make possible for people to achieve the american dream, we must give them the freedom and tools to succeed. this begins by stemming the regulatory overreach and strengthening our workforce by restoringing our critical infrastructure. we cannot regulate our wait to a stronger economy. government overreach cripples our economy. excessive regulations make it harder to succeed. time and resources that could be better spent are spent in never ending in con tuesdaying regulations. many of those regulations have en placing costly burdens on families and businesses. .

the house has already acted by passing the rains act and the midnight rules relief act. each of these measures would put accountability right where it belongs, with the people's elected representatives in congress, not unelected bureaucrats. we are also reforming health care in america to prevent further harm to families and businesses. patients and doctors should be in charge of their health care, not the government. since the affordable care act passed, patients' choice and access to care has declined, while costs are ever increasing. despite all the promises, many eople who had plans or doctors they liked could not keep them. our health care reform is a better way to increase accessibility and patient choice in addition to reducing costs. we will do that a-- by allowing purchase of coverage across

state lines, allowing businesses and individuals to band together to increase purchasing power, allow health savings accounts and expand risk pools. our plan focuses on putting power where it belongs, with the people, with the patients. government overreach does not stop with our health care. i know that surprises you. the one size fits all approach to legislation in recent years has failed america's students. it's time to put patients and individuals in control of their education and give them options to best suit their needs. i'm eager to advance solutions that will help students learn and be better equiped for future jobs, to create flexibility for working families and prepare the work force for a modern economy. in addition to a strong work force, our modern economy requires a robust infrastructure. it is essential we protect america's infrastructure to keep americans safe and create jobs and i plan to work with the house to do just that. there is much work to be done but i stand ready to work with my colleagues in the house and

senate to revise the american dream. it is more than an idea, it should be more than a wish. i have lived it and i want every young person in america to have the ability to pursue their american dream. thank you and i yield back. mr. collins: thank you, mr. mitchell. i think bringing that passion for helping others, bringing that passion to teach, i've always said that i believe that those who want to get involved in politics, run for elected office, there's two things they need to be part of. number one, they need to care for people deeply and make sure they have people first and foremost. they need alligator skin to let things roll off their back, but they need a heart that cares. but they also have to understand that our job involves teaching. paul, i appreciate you saying that. our next speaker for the night, we share not only the privilege of serving the people's house but also shared until recently, we both served the united states air force.

general bacon distinguished himself in that regard. helping our airmen all across the world, doing so with integrity and doing so with a passion for this country that he'll bring to this floor. he'll take that passion and for what is really the concerns of the world and be part of it. when i saw that in the nebraska home, when i went out there and was walking with him and seeing and listening to him talk, you ould hear the desire to serve. yogget they could have sent a better witness not only to air force value bus also american values and hopefully as we continue all will see the nebraska values shown in jen bay don. with that, i yield to the gentleman from nebraska's second ongressional district.

mr. bacon: what an honor to introduce myself as a member of the 115th congress. it's great to become a freshman again, it's been a long time since i've been called a freshman. i'm honored to serve the second district of nebraska. one of three districts of the state that consists of a county and a half around omaha. it's a great home a great place to live. i was raised on a small farm, or actually a farm in a maul town in illinois. a town of about 1,800. we had corn, soybeans, i bailed hay four times a year. beef cattle. i did that until i was 21 years old. i know firsthand how hard our farmers work to make a living. and it's an honor to be able to serve on the agriculture committee to make a difference there. i started serving in the air force back in 1985 as a 21-year-old, as a newlywed. my wife and i had 16 assignments, four different continents we were located in, coast to coast a lot of places

in the middle. i was honored to be able to serve as commander of five different units to include ram stein air force base in germany. there i got to see firsthand the importance of working with our allies and the importance of nato and i'm going to take that experience with me. i was also honored to serve as commander at the air force base near omaha, nebraska. i love the missions there. i love the people. several different flying missions, a nuclear mission there as well, i look forward to being a strong voice for our military community there. i also was able to deploy four times to the middle east. i look forward to using experiences that i've learned to make sure that our men and women are equipped, trained to win. i also did missile defense in israel and it was an honor to work with our israeli friends. i look forward to being a strong voice, to improve the friendship with our great ally, israel.

out of those 16 assignments, i did have three assignments, and i will tell you my wife and i loved eastern nebraska. the people are friendly. they have character. they love the military. and we're so blessed to be able to call it our home now. so i'm honored to be able to represent the great people of the second district. i will be serving on three different committees. on the armed services committee, the agriculture committee and the small business committee. i look forward to using my experiences to make a difference in all three. i'm going to work my hardest to make a difference. one thing i'm certain of, when americans are put on a level playing field, we win. when our businessmen and women, when our farmers are put on a level playing field, we win. our own government has put our citizens at a disadvantage. high corporate taxes,

regulations, a broken health care system. i'm going to dedicate myself to fixing these because we need to help our nation get on this level playing field where we start prospering and succeeding once again. during my time in congress, i look forward to doing the following and focusing on the following goals. i want to reduce the burdensome regulation and we've had a great start in the 115th congress. it is so exciting to see the great votes already taken. we have over 3,000 new regulations on average that are put out by our agencies. when you add up the costs of those from the past and those present, it adds up to almost $2 trillion, mr. speaker. that's almost 10% of our g.d.p. it falls unfairly on our small business community, our farmers. we've got to do better. we need to reduce the cost of health care. we're starting to work on that

now. i look forward to being part of the solution. we need to ensure that folks have patient-centered health care and supported by their doctors. not a federal bureaucrat running their health care where it's a one size fits all approach. i'm going to work hard to open up marks for our farmers and ranchers. nebraska has such a great agriculture, farming and ranching community. we're going to give them that opportunity and work hard to do it. we reform, work hard to reform a broken tax code. it's not right that our nation has the highest corporate taxes. it puts us at a disadvantage when we compete overseas and with our neighbors. we must fix that. i want to work hard to rebhilled and restore our military readiness. it's hard to believe our military readiness is at the lowest level since post-vietnam. that's wrong and we've got to fix it. finally i want to work hard to

restore our allies' faith in our nation. leading from behind has been a failure. i will close with this thought. it's something that i communicated much during the campaign. winning elections is not the goal. but it's a means to an end. mr. speaker, we're going to work hard in this congress and i'm going to be dedicated to working my hard toast deliver results for the american people and our district. it's about defending liberty, it's about ensuring we have opportunity and prosperity for the next generations. it's about making sure that our nation stays secure. i want to thank again for this opportunity to introduce myself and i yield back the balance of my time to my good friend from georgia. mr. collins: thank you. good to have you here. it's going to be an interesting time. i know as the last speaker here, not the last of all the freshmen, we're going to be doing this more in coming weeks, i just know as i watch tonight,

the passion of your class. coming in. i watched y'all as y'all come, went through ooryentation, did all the things together. there's a bond. even, i know you come and sit together, you talk together, there's an understanding that you come here for a purpose bigger than yourselves. that's exciting to see. i'm excited to have you here. it's going to be a good year. mr. speaker, as we have introduced and talked about these new members and they've allowed themselves to introduce themselves, one of the things i wanted to do is just make sure as we look ahead, we see folks who have made a place, they made a place in their community, made a place in their homes, and they look forward to serving here in this congress, we look forward to having them here. i want to take a few moments to discuss something else. this is, as we move forward and as we continue here, the majority of these new freshmen and all coming in, are going to be fighting for what matters. it's amazing to me now as we

enter tomorrow and we take the first step toward repealing what is a disastrous law, the -- it is amazing now the cries of oh, what is going to be done? what are you going to be doing now? it didn't matter a few years ago when they said, here's what you're going to have, take it no matter what. you want to keep your , that's a lie. it's amazing now how some on the other side are wanting to start yelling and say, you've got to have a plan. they didn't have a plan. let's remind the american people why we are here. the majority is here because of six years of poor decision making. started at the base up and gone up. we're going to continue this majority to put people first. put those who get up every morning who want a job, who want to be able to go to their job, to start businesses, use that intellectual capital so they can continue to do those things without government interference, i heard the other day as i was here working on a rule, i heard one of the speakers actually say that we should not put these

burdens on government employees because it would make their jobs so much harder. please, tell me where the voice is for the american worker out in the field every day just trying to make ends meet? it is in this majority and we will continue to put forth policies that take away the government overreach and put it back where it belongs in the entrepreneur the moms, the dads, the kids, those who have a dream right now in a freshman english class or science class, a dream that one day they'll own their own business or go further. mr. speaker, let's put this in perspective. this majority is putting people first and over the past six years the american people have responded. it is now our time to act. people say if you don't have a plan, then you're not understanding. this is friends and neighbors that elected us. and we will not fail. in this moment. we have said what we're going to do. we're going to put people first. in their businesses, in their

jobs, and in their health care. when we do that, that's what makes america great. so tonight is the first night for letting our freshmen come share their heart, we've heard their passion, we're going to continue to hear their passion, as new and more freshmen come. mr. speaker, you're part of that, there's many others who will be a part. i'm looking forward to leading, in our majority, putting people first, putting americans first and this country is going to be the better for it. with that, mr. speaker, i yield back the balance of our time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 201, the gentlewoman from new jersey, mrs. watson coleman, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mrs. watson coleman: thank you, mr. speaker. i can unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. watson coleman: thank you

very much, mr. speaker. i am here this evening representing the congressional progressive caucus in this special order hour and i will be joined by colleagues as we will examine what our future appears to look like as we plan for the transition which is taking place. so we are eight days away from a new president and administration that continues to refuse to put americans first and complicit with republican controlled congress that will help them execute that mission. at 1:00 a.m. this morning, 51 republican senators voted to repeal the affordable care act with no replacement. . fter six years of hallow grandstanding, republicans now know their repeal will dump

costs on families, businesses and the federal budget. the facts are clear, mr. speaker. republicans' repeal of the a.c.a. would result in the loss and more ion jobs than 250 billion, that is billion, b, a gross state products in 2019 alone. family budgets and state budgets alike would be rocked by the repeal. and we cannot forget about our health care providers. the repeal of the a.c.a. will crumble our health care infrastructure, decimating alth care system' ability, weaken local economies and result in massive job losses of

health care professionals. and while republicans claim to champion to reducing the eficit, o.m.b. calculates that repealing of a.c.a. would lead to larger deficits in each year and add more than 2 trillion in debt over the next decade. taking away 30 million americans' health care, blowing a hole in our budget and sad lling our debt is the height of irresponsibility. it is important to note that 20% of americans support this repeal and delayed plan. in fact the american people want people to raise wages and create good-paying jobs.

the a.m. can people want to be assured that the federal government is working for all of their interests. that is what i want to do as well. and i stand ready to work with anyone who is serious about these priorities. mr. speaker, the nominees that this president-elect has put forth are focused on everything but the true interests of the american people. maybe, maybe, their focus on the personal interests on the president-elect. today, the nominee to lead the epartment of housing and urban development could not promise that not one decision or one dollar would go to the president-elect or his family. this is a problem. maybe, maybe their focus on rolling back hard-fought freedoms and protection. yesterday, new jersey senator

corey booker that nominee for the attorney general has not demonstrated a commitment to the central requirement of the job. at is to aggressively pursue the mandate of civil rights, and equal rights and justice for all. this is a problem. perhaps they are not even interested in getting money from children in public schools. has made a devos career of advocating for the shutdown of public schools and supporting legislation that has reduced oversight and accountability in michigan charter schools. anty e work is the very these is. this is a problem.

and to speak to this problem, i would like to yield to congressman phone cow -- congressman takano, who has experience in standing up for public education for our children. congressman takano. ata thank you -- mr. takano: and i thank the gentlewoman from from new jersey yielding me some time. i rise today to express my strong opposition to the nomination of betsy devos for secretary of education. to start, president-elect trump's nominee has absolutely no experience in public schools. not as a teacher, not as a student and not as a parent.

and that lack of experience makes her efforts to privatize public education particularly shameful. i was a public school teacher for more than 24 years. i taught high school. which means that i have spent at east 24 more years in a public school classroom than betsy devos. has she actually stepped inside. she would find teachers who are giving everything they can, their passion and time and often their own money to give kids the best jation possible. she would find classrooms in need of modern equipment and programs in desperate need of funding. she would find students who deserve to receive an

exceptional education to reach their potential. .ut misdevos has no but insert a profit motive that will cripple our public schools and punish the children who attend them every day. the obama administration purchased public schools on the race to the top. betsy will have a race to the bottom line. her result serves as a warning to schools across america. by using her personal fortune to influence policy, she had a influx of for-profit schools into the state of michigan. michigan taxpayers now hand $1 million and in return many of

those schools underperform public schools while evading public accountability. what makes the american dream possible for each new generation? if we abandon our pob schools, we abandon public schools who rely on them as a path to a brighter future. the senate should not confirm a secretary of education who does not believe in public education. senate democrats and republicans must send a clear message to all across the country that we stand by our public schools. i hope they will do so by rejecting this nomination. thank you, my dear colleague from the state of new jersey, thank you for this time and opportunity. and let my views to be known and

make a plea for our colleagues in the house to do their duty and hold out for secretary of education that tumly bleaches believes in public education. mrs. watson coleman: i thank my colleague for speaking on behalf of public education and students everywhere. we talked about it before and i am happy to announce we will be working on behalf of the caucus on public education and looking at those issues that are being brought forth and those plans that are being offered. if you look in mill district, you see some of the finest public schools in the country and just 12 miles away, you see some of the most challenging. betsy n my district, devos would look at teachers to

teach but have textbooks in what is considered as placement that don't have the cover on the top of the book that those children are using this. and i know this. and higher education, education is indeed that issue, that opportunity, that difference between living a life of poverty and being able to educate yourself and prepare yourself for a future we must stand up for. and i thank you for the time you have given us. 0. takano: i became a teacher more years, having to experience disparity in the boston, massachusetts area. some days, being a substitute

teacher in brookline, massachusetts and the contrast between the wealthy brookline, massachusetts school district and inner city boston, woke me up and i really believed if we did not address the achievement gap in our country, that if the american dream was only available to some and not all of our students that our very democracy would be in jeopardy. such a --ns me to see from the incoming trump administration, such a superficial, stream profit-driven notion of improving our schools, i wish that both the president-elect, betsy devos could see the great

work being done in my schools and my congressional district, -- he ishave a teacher responsible for one-fourth of all the latinos who scores fours and fives on the a.p. tests. remarkable work being done in a remarkable school and doesn't cherry-pick and in a school district that is making remarkable strides. and this work is -- is not being looked at carefully, but being overlooked and it's a shame we have a secretary of education, a has e, betsy devos who such a terrible history who is

committed to tearing down our public school system. mrs. watson coleman: by nominating tom price for h.h.s. as the secretary of health and human services, president-elect trump, will continue his assault on the health of americans. the nominee has made a career of lining the insurance companies at the expense of the sick on behalf of the rich and his support to cuts to medicaid and medicare are forever known. this signals another broken promise to pledge to lead the federal programs alone and he is doing the opposite. this is indeed a problem. defending the sanctity of american dempsey is more and

ter russia's attack, rex tillerson, nominee for secretary of state, would say if he -- he wouldn't say if he would support saverageses against the country. in fact he admitted that he had not yet spoken with president-elect about the conflict. this is a huge problem. not the least of which is one whether or not we can believe it. i would like to now yield some time to my colleague from california, a champion for all progressive needs and for all families, congresswoman bash rally. ms. lee: thank you very much. i want to thank the gentlelady from new jersey for yielding and your leadership and including a champion for women's health and women's reproductive health care and thank you for this important

discussion. i serve on the budget committee and you mentioned nominee congressman price for the health and human services and president-elect donald trump making recommendations of those individuals who want to dismantle health care within the agencies. and this is a a very troubling development in terms of these a pointment nominees. . many know that president-elect trump ran one of the most divisive presidential campaigns we've witnessed in modern history. he's nominated billionaires to serve in his cabinet, proving that he will govern just as he campaigned. also, he's nominated individuals who want to dismantle for the

most part the agencies that they will have jurisdiction over. another example is his choice for secretary of state, which congresswoman watson coleman mentioned, that's rex tillerson. i serve on the state foreign operations subcommittee of the appropriations committee, and understand the importance of our diplomatic initiatives, our usaid initiatives, our efforts to really bring education and health care to the poorest of the poor around the world. our secretary of state serves as the nation's chief diplomat and represents america's interests around the world. and i have the opportunity and the privilege to serve on the committee that funds the majority of these efforts. so the nomination of secretary of state rex tillerson really troubles me. his extensive ties to the kremlin raises the question of whose interest will he represent?

our country cannot afford a secretary of state will hoh will place private corporate interests over the needs of the american people and our national security interests. his recent confirmation hearing reveal what had we have known all along in republican-controlled washington, the cabinet officials will cailter to special interests, not to american families. based on the nominees that we have seen come forward. it's not just the secretary of state we should be concerned about. here at home, president-elect trump has nominated cabinet officials that is would turn back the clock on progress. his nomination for secretary of labor, an drew pudzer, another millionaire c.e.o. who benefits from an economy rigged against families struggling to make ends meet. he earns more than $1 million a year, but opposes a raise for low-wage workers earning just $15,000 a year. he said that food assistance programs, which keep low-wage workers like those he employs, at, i believe it's carl jr.'s,

and i believe hardy's also, he says that low-wage workers -- if they apply for these food assistance programs and the programs actually discourage work. there are millions of people who are working too two jobs, being paid -- working two jobs, being paid minimum wage, who need food assistance, who need food food stamps because they cannot survive in today's economy. the working poor, low-income individuals, should be very troubled by this appointment. as secretary of labor, which is supposed to look out for the rights of working men and women. we need a labor secretary committed to helping working families and addressing the epidemic of poverty. not one who caters to the most affluent. also, by nominating senator sessions to lead the justice department, president-elect donald trump is making it clear that he will abandon our fundamental and human and civil

rights. senator sessions has a long history of opposing civil rights and equality. i'm very proud of members of the congressional black caucus for really setting forth his record, his history, such as laying out the fact that he was rejected from serving as federal judge due to his blatantly racist comments. he forcefully degraded the lgbt community, opposed the violence against women act, and undermined the voting rights act, calling it a piece of intrucive legislation. clearly someone who has publicly shown prejudice and intolerance is not qualified to serve as the chief law enforcement for our civil rights laws. once again, you see a nominee who really doesn't believe in the values of liberty and justice for all, a person to head an agency that's supposed to be an agency that ensures the civil and human rights for all. nominations, these nominations,

let me be clear, they are a chilling indication of how a trump administration intends to govern. our nation has made tremendous progress in the fight to protect, preserve and expand civil rights, civil liberties and human rights for all americans. we will not allow a trump administration to drag us back into the past. finally, let me just say that, something that is troubling me tremendously at this point in our history, our nation prides itself on being a democracy. we actually promote democracy abroad through our democracy programs, which, of course, i have historically opposed. but the point i'm trying to make, and want to make clear, is that this new administration, when you look at the majority of cabinet nominees, they're very, very wealthy, and do not fundamentally believe in a

strong public sector. and in many ways do not support the mission of the cabinets they are actually asked to lead. privatizing medicare and other public sector programs that ensure that the most vulnerable have a safety net and an opportunity to live the american dream, by privatizing these agencies -- this is dangerous. it will lead to chaos. private sector takeover of the government is dangerous. and it erodes our public institutions that are required in a democracy. so, congresswoman watson coleman, i believe this is a dangerous and slippery slope that this administration has embarked upon. and we need to expose every step of the way who these individuals are, their background, and we have to urge that they comply with the ethics requirement and submit their financial disclosure statements and all the required ethics forms, so

that the public will know who they are. we must be transparent. and of course we would like for our president-elect to release his income taxes also. but again, we kind of see what is taking place now and we knew this during the campaign. i thought that we were going to see now more of an effort to unify the country. but unfortunately i think these nominees show us which direction, unfortunately, this new administration will take. thank you again. mrs. watson coleman: thank you very much, congresswoman. it is true. as we see the unfolding of some of the drama that is taking place, including that which affects us and is associated with russia, it is even more important than ever that the president show us that he's not hiding anything regarding his relationships that potentially present a contradiction of his first and foremost

responsibility to us, and show us his tax returns. with that i thank you very much for being here. would now like to yield to my representive from new york, mr. adler. mr. nadler: i thank the gentlewoman from new jersey for yielding. and for hosting this special order and for granting me time to speak. since the first nomination was announced by president-elect trump's transition team, phones in my office have been ringing off the hook. not a day goes by when i do not hear from my neighbors, friends and constituents, of their angst, frustration and discontent. i share their anger and dread. that feeling of being punched in the gut as name after name has been released. each nomination from president-elect trump has put the fox in charge of the hen house. we're not talking about simple differences and partisan ideology.

we are talking about nominees who have devoted much ofer -- of their professional lives to undermining democratic institutions that are the foundation of our country. this new administration is so extreme that we cannot in any good faith give this president-elect the traditional deference to name a cabinet that represents his governing philosophy, because the appointments show it to be a philosophy that seeks to corrupt, if not fully destroy, our institutions, traditions and values. senator jeff sessions, the nominee for attorney general, was considered too racist to serve on the federal bench by a republican senate, much less to head the justice department. and is someone who has so little respect for women's rights, he voted against the violence against women act and called roe v. wade a colossal mistake. ben carson, the nominee for h.u.d. secretary, said today in his confirmation hearing, that he was against protecting lgbt americans from housing discrimination because

protecting them from housing discrimination would be granting them extra rights, refusing to recognize that lgbt americans deserve equal rights. tom price, the nominee for h.h.s. secretary, wants to eliminate medicare and medicaid. as we know them. repeal the affordable care act without a second thought for the millions of americans who would lose coverage or would be subject to limits on pre-existing conditions and would be subject to life-time and annual limits. and is so little understanding of women's health, he insisted that not a single woman would lose access to contraception if contraception coverage were eliminated. betsy devos, the nominee for education secretary, advocated for years to move taxpayer dollars away from public schools and towards for-profit private schools that would leave behind low-income students, minority students and children with disabilities. scott pruitt, the nominee for e.p.a. administrator, does not

believe in climate change and is so linked to the fossil fuel industry that he has sued the e.p.a. a dozen times to block environmental regulations designed to protect us from the effects of climate change. the list goes on and on. each more horrifying than the one before. these are not the values the majority of americans voted for in november. i don't just mean because hillary clinton won the popular vote by three million. i cannot imagine that the voters who wanted to drain the swamp and voted for mr. trump for that purpose and have the needs of working people represented are thrilled to see him named the wealthiest cabinet with the greatest collection of wall street insiders in american history. the fact is, president-elect trump and the republican party do not have any mandate from the people to carry out the horror show this cabinet represents. rather than rubber stamping the most extreme cabinet i have seen in my 25 years in washington, the senate should reject these extreme nominees and then both

houses should do their constitutional duty to conduct oversight of the administration. i am ready to do that work. over a month ago, along with my democratic judiciary committee colleagues, i sent a letter to chairman goodlatte asking him to hold hearings on the conflict of interest in ethics provisions that apply to the president of the united states. i have not heard a response. every democrat in the house signed on to the protect our democracy act, legislation to create an independent, bipartisan-appointed commission to investigate russian hacking in the 2016 election and to make recommendations to ensure that nothing like that happens again. it's interesting that not a single house republican has joined us. i join my constituents and millions of americans in wanting to know why. why republicans are working so hard to protect present elect trump from having to answer -- president-elect trump from having to answer questions. why are republicans working so hard to support president-elect

trump's extreme and out of touch cabinet? why aren't republicans asking the same questions about how president-elect trump will avoid conflicts of interest? i have served in this body for nearly 25 years. i have seen this body take on the big questions of our time. the roll of government in the lives -- role of government in the lives of everyday americans, the threat of the terrorism in the city i call home and around the country, the right of every american to marry whoever they love, the right of every american to vote free of intimidation, the right of every american to make their own health care choices. i have seen us come through those battles, bruised and battered, but stronger. that is why i refuse to despair. i refuse to put my head down and hide. i refuse to give up on america. i will stand here and fight for the country we all believe in. i will do everything in my power to represent the strong progressive values of the men and women who sent me here. i will work with my colleagues in the house and the senate to stand united against any effort to undermine the rights we have

fought so hard to achieve, whether it comes from the other end of the world, or the other end of pennsylvania avenue. but if there's to be any check on this administration, congressional republicans will need to join in that fight. and it starts with rejecting this shameful slate of nominees. thank you and i yield back. mrs. watson coleman: i thank my colleague for sharing your insights and your experience with us. we have a lot of work to do and we are ready to do it. in addition to those that my colleague has mentioned, i'd like to bring attention to some of the other nominees that we should be considering here. we haven't mentioned the department of energy and the nominee, governor rick perry, who disregarded this agency so much that he couldn't even remember that he wanted to eliminate it when he was running for president. or even linda mcmahon, who is

the wife of a billionaire. it seems to me that this litany of nominees belongs to the millionaire-billionaire club, they know each other well, and the one thing they're committed to is ensuring that their interests and the interests of this president-elect, in his private life, are advanced. and i think that the people in this country need to understand how troublesome this is. i now would like to yield some time to the -- my colleague from new york, the co-chair of the caucus on black women and girls, and a fighter for the rights of all working families and all vulnerable families, yvette clarke. mr. clarke: i thank the gentlelady from new jersey, the honorable watson coleman. r. speaker, i rise today

i rise against the nomination of betsy devos and my colleagues have been talking about the troubling nominations of donald trump and i wanted to add my voice with respect to the secretary of secretary of education. 90% of americans, republicans and democrats alike send their children to public schools and as a proud graduate of the new york city public school system, i know the importance of both primary and secondary education as part of the early childhood and art of early childhood young adulthood. most -- like most schools in the united states, schools are operated by the city, town or county for the benefit of the

public. and all of the resources allocated to public schools are used to support the development of students preparing them for success. . speaker, i believe betsy devos has a very different approach to education and that is extremely clear. she and her family have devoted millions of doll rs arizona to charter michigan to schools. let me repeat that. most of which have recorded test scores in reading and math that are well below the state average. recently the "detroit free press" explained why families in detroit have the choice, few of

these choices actually offer quality education. mr. per, i am concerned that betsy has used donations to legislators from investigating whether they are providing a comprehensive education that will prep them for the futurement i'm alarmed at the system allowing for-profit corporations to operate charter schools, realigned those resources for school children into the pockets of share holders. ince 1959, the devos has operated a.m.way and cheating working families and we cannot

allow her to expand the same basic principles to effect our education system. investors.ealthy it's not a solution. it is a problem. and with that, my colleagues, i thank you for giving me the time. i i hope the america cap people are watching closely because it is a travesty. mrs. watson coleman: i thank you, my colleague. more important than any partisan we are at a juncture where we will experience a president-elect who has ignorance about the powers

of government. and as identified the nominees and opportunity at every turn. cast off by a republican- controlled congress instead of working in the best interest. there are just sotch at stake. and whether it's in the department of state or the department of education or energy or h.u.d. or health and human services or justice or environmental protection agency where a nominee spends his time as attorney general and dismantling and legitimating against the department of

environmental or labor or the labor secretary who doesn't seem to care about working individuals or s.b.a. administrator who doesn't have an idea to be a part of a middle class or even the treasurer of the country who comes from massive wealth and big business, each of these illustrations in combination with the decisions already to dismantle to take health care away to create the loss of jobs as a result of dismantling the affordable care act, without replacing anything in its place, these things put together represent the dismantling of the democracy that we have south so hard to sustain.

if we are going to wash these attacks on the equality, then we must make sure that the people in this country see these thing. because i have a question for all of us to answer. as we look -- as i look toward these issues, individually or at what point do we conclude with the question what is happening in america and i conclude our special order hour. and i thank you. the speaker pro tempore: members e reminded to refrain from engaging in the president-elect r the senator.

under the speaker's announced policy of january , 2017, the chair recognizes, the gentleman from texas, mr. gohmert, for 0 minutes. wsh for 0 minutes. . gohmert: mr. gohmert: yes, sir. it's thursday evening in the use of representatives and fellowe to hear friends,

, mbers of the house reporters in anguish over the issue of a potential wall toward the united states and mexico. so i thought it was worth looking at some information about mexico, our closest neighbor to the south. and data should be reese ent. they have gotten 120 million people in mexico gross domestic trillion in 2.1 pesos, 2.1% growth -- terrible. t's about like the obama economy.

$117,000 come, around per capita. -- 0.1%. , 1. but you look at the economics of mexico in the world and you think, wow. u look at their resources, extraordinary resources. just extraordinary resources. and we know they have hardworking people, because we know from the people of mexico that have come to the united states, people constantly indicate, gee, their best workers we have, these hardworking folks from mexico.

you have hardworking people in the nation of mexico. you've got incredible natural resources that have never been tapped or not adequately tapped. e don't even know the full potential. oil, gas, all these minerals that mexico is supposed to have. and you look at what people have done over the thousands of ears, i mean, advanced civilizations. why is mexico not one of the top 10 or top 5 economies in the world? .t's listed 62nd in the world well, they've got plenty of

land. i can personally testify they have some of the most burial terrain in the world. , autiful beaches, mountains farming regions, magnificent land, minerals and hardworking people. word as 62nd in the an economy? ell, that's an interesting question. and it would seem to be because from hearing people that heard from mexico and either tried to start a business there and looked at it to start a business there, start manufacturing there, because there are many that have set up many manufacturing shops down there but they are essentially

persuaded out of it if they could find a more suitable place the drug cause of cartels, the corruption, that the drug cartels bring to mexico. and what is it that the drug cartels are making billions of dollars off of, to allow them to make money off of city governments? the mexican border patrol. obvious the people are not crubt, i meant too many that want desperately to make the nation of mexico one of the greatest in the world and it's possible that could happen, but not so long as the drug cartels

are potentially the month most powerful entities in mexico. i mean, they are right next to the united states. they really should be really pun of the top five or top three or four economies in the world. but they are nowhere close. drug cartels, we found, we know, ke money, particularly off shipping illegal drugs into the united states. made a forest tune off of it. i heard from friends of mine in texas that are in the drug enforcement business, both federal and state, that when the u.s. congress made it difficult that i re difficult

used in the cooking of substances put together in order o create methamphetamine, that became much more rare, especially in east texas where i live, where we have trees, woods , terrain, where people can easily hide out, set up a lab, cook up some methamphetamine, especially as developed during our time on the felony bench where people in texas learned how to look methamphetamine, create methamphetamine with a cold cooking process that didn't subject them to quite the danger and didn't create quite the

nasty smell that often got meth labs reported to the authorities. . and by drying soup many of the meth labs, we were told, the going to be a great day for america -- the going to be a great day forever -- it's going to be a great day for america. we drop the meth labs by making it harder to get sudafed because you have to ask, give your driver's license, restricted to a very limited amount of sudafed . well, we were told, that's going to dry up drugs. this methamphetamine is going to be a thing of the past. we'll cut it to next to nothing. well, it's true. it's not as widespread as it used to be. more pure d that

drugs with much more devastating addictive aremore coming up from mexico. greater numbers, greater quantities. and it's even worse than it was when methamphetamine was being of ed because of the purity the substances and the addictive nature. and that also as a result of drying up so much in the way of methamphetamine we had much more of a heroin epidemic crossing america. but as additional drugs have ome from mexico across our poress border that seems to have

grown during the obama ministration dramatically, why? because our border just really has not particularly been all that enforced. otherns out it's not just drugs that are coming across our border. since we've been able to eliminate so many meth labs, especially in texas, we see stories like this one from bob price, january 5 -- like this one from bob price, january 5. feds seize nearly $7 million in meth, methamphetamine, at the texas border. that's a story about the seizure of methamphetamine at two international border bridges in south texas in one week. the customs and border protections, c.b.p., that was

assigned to the world trade center international bridge in laredo, this article reports how drug d caught the two traffickers, 200 pounds of crystal meth in one vehicle. nd that was december 22, 2016. the border know that security under this administration has become just lmost nonexistent. we had an article from january 12 today, from mmbing a crmbing k allen, -- from mack allen from fox news, that cartels,

smugglers, exploit border wall fears ahead of trump presidency. so, apparently they're using this time before president trump is sworn in next week to scare come now, bring your drugs now, come illegally now to the u.s., before trump becomes president. i guess it's about akin to iran after holding american hostages for over a year, under commander in chief jimmy carter, became so ared of a tough, independent-minded ronald reagan coming into office, they let those hostages go on the very day he was sworn in. so they didn't risk him taking military action against them. this story from jessica vaughn, anuary, 2017, reports that

i.c.e. deportations hit a 10-year low. that's january, 2017. d.h.s. has hit a 10-year low in deportations. e see stories about how border control is almost nonexistent on our southern border. stories that -- expectation of amnesty is attracting immigrants to our u.s. border. another story from january 10, brittany hughes, border agents catch another wave of illegal aliens from cuba amid escalating spike. and i've been told when i'm down there, they're seeing more and more cubans coming across the mexican border, of all places. , not mentallyrity

in the united states, but the actual insecurity of the united states because of our vulnerability to people that hate us, and drug cartels that want to make billions of dollars by hooking people on drugs that ey will deliver, has reached insane levels. and that's probably part of the reason that donald trump was elected president. by an avalanche in the electoral college. and if you look at the counties that voted for hillary clinton and you look at the counties hat voted for donald trump, it becomes very clear that the democratic party in the united states is basically -- has basically become a fringe party.

they won the fringes. west coast, east coast, part of , orida, part of the northeast chicago, detroit, some of the northern cities, the southern valley, texas. i mean, it's a fringe party. if you -- a few exceptions inside the country. but basically the rock solid interior that the american people make up and what some refer to as fly-over country in america, voted rather solidly for donald trump. and when you look at the numbers numbers from the c.i.a.

world fact book. crude oil exports, 2015 estimate barrels a daylion , country in comparison to the world, 13th. crude import, 11,110 barrels a day. 7 de oil proved reserves, 9. billion barrels. and that's just proven reserves. you look at natural gas from a 14 estimate, 44.37 billion cuic meters -- cubic meters, that's supposed to be 19th in the world.

but when you consider how productive they could become once they begin fracking, using more advanced technology, then you find out that, wow, this is nation, the nation of mexico, that really that really should be one of the top 10 economies in the world. what's the excuse that it's not? hardworking people, natural worldces that most of the could only envy. why is it not one of the top 10? and we keep coming back to the drug cartels and the corruption that they've brought to mexico and the billions of dollars that are generated by the drug cartels. we've talked about here in the use, you have the border

patrolmen tell me, i've been there all night, there's not a single inch of the u.s.-mexico byder that is not controlled one of the drug cartels. and that nobody should cross the border unless they have paid the drug cartels, have the drug cartels' permission, and seeing firsthand how it works, they'll send a group across the river with coyotes in rafts when they're down on the rio grande that keeps the border patrol busy, and at another place they end people with drugs. i've been there and seen their look-outs, climb up on perches where they can watch. when the border patrol goes by,

they know they won't be back for a while, so they get surprised when i drive by in the middle of the night. but, i mean, they're all over the place around our southern border. they're making billions of dollars. and whoever came up with the business model for the drug cartels, that you could make such massive amount of money bringing drugs illegally into he united states, was really a business genius. t it would take a business fool in the united states to allow the kind of model that mexico has set up for its drug business to even get a foot hold in the united states. as i mentioned, one of the border patrol told me that the drug cartels call department of

homeland security their logistics. they bring their drug dealers, they bring their drug traffickers, they bring their prostitutes or people -- unfortunately, girls that are being forced, often, into drug trafficking or human trafficking , and they're going to be used as prostitutes to make money for the drug cartels, they send them across, and as the border patrolmen said, they send them across and then d.h.s. here in america becomes their logistics. we ship them wherever they want them to go in the united states. all they have to do oftentimes is just have -- i've seen them, xerox copy of the address where hey're supposed to go. and d.h.s. puts them on the bus, sometimes flies them, but

usually buses, and ships them off to a city where the drug cartels want them to set up shop . been there in the middle of the night when border patrolmen will ask, how much -- ask how much they paid to get -- be brought in illegally into the u.s. and ome of the hispanic, spanish speakers in our border patrol are really incredible. as they drill down and get answers to their questions that are not always on the list that d.h.s. tells them to get, how much money did you pay, they had say, you don't have that much -- you didn't have $6,000, $7,000, $8,000. where did you get that money? i was able to get $1,000 from somebody in the u.s., $1,000 from somebody in mexico or guatemala or -- what about the

rest? well, i'm supposed -- they're going to let me pay that out after i'm in the united states. it becomes clear very quickly that once again this business model that the drug cartels have includes getting people in rafts where the rio grande river requires a raft, or just getting them across an unguarded -- in unguarded areas or areas where we need a wall and don't have one, getting them across and then getting them to d.h.s., get d.h.s. to send them to the city where they want them to set up traffickers, -- human trafficers, and what a business model. you -- traffickers, and what a business model. you get the government of the united states to help set up your business machine