the speaker: the government has no higher responsibility than to support our men and women in harm's way. for months now we have been working to get our military the resource it is needs to keep the peace. this budget agreement delivers on that commitment. it fully funds our national defense at levels that secretary mattis has requested. it provides what the message message needs to restore our -- pentagon needs to restore our military edge. as secretary mattis said yesterday, i quote, congressional action will ensure our military can defend our way of life. that mission is hard enough, especially in a time of rapidly evolving threats, but our military's job has become exponentially harder because of the staggering readiness crisis that it is facing. i know i come up here and read a

whole bunch of statistics, you hear me do this every week, this is a statistic that gets to me. in 2017 we lost 80 service members in accidents and training incidents, nearly four times more than we lost in combat. in 2017, we lost 80 service members in accidents and training incidents, four times as many people we lost in combat. think about that. with better training and equipment, many of these deaths could have been prevented. this is a sad and tragic state of affairs. and this is why we can never allow anyone to politicize our military or use our troops as bargaining chips. the stakes are too high for this. let me say one more thing. i know that there is a real commitment to solving the daca challenge in both political parties. that's a commitment that i share. to anyone who doubts my intention to solve this problem

and bring up a daca and immigration reform bill, do not. we will bring a solution to the floor, one the president will sign. we must pass this budget agreement first, though, so we can get on to that. please know that we're committed to getting this done. before i turn it over to chairman thornberry, i want to take a moment and thank him. i want to thank mack thorn berry, chairman of the armed services committee and all the member of the armed services committee, both republicans and democrats, their leadership and their unwavering commitment to our service members and their families made this budget agreement possible. they live and breathe these problems. they know these issues. they know all the people who are fighting to keep us safe. they can tell you as well as anyone how critical it is we get this done. chairman thorn berry. -- chairman thorn berry. mr. thornberry: all of us on the committee are extremely grateful for the speaker's leadership in fixing the military as a

priority. let me remind you-all of a couple of statistics. when the house passed our defense authorization bill at exactly the same numbers that are in the cap deal we'll vote on today, the vote was 344-81. when we when we voted on the conference report at exactly the same defense levels that are in the cap deal today, the vote was 356-70. in the senate the votes were 89-8. and then the conference report was a voice vote. my point is there is widespread agreement in both parties that we have cut the military too much. that our service members are suffering as a result. and that we need to do better. this cap deal that will be voted on today is exactly the same funding levels as the bill that

i just read the votes for. my view is that this -- fixing the military is the dominant priority. we have to fix the military. i know members on both sides have other concerns. i wouldn't do this cap deal exactly the same way, but we owe it to the men and women who are sacrificing their lives for us to have the best equipment eeded. i turn to a combat veteran herself, the gentlelady from arizona. ms. mcsally: i'm retired air force colonel, a-10 pilot, spent 26 years in uniform. now i deploy to washington, d.c. one of the reasons why many of my fellow vets like mr. gallagher here and i came here was we thought it was important for those of us who serve to be here when decisions like this are being discussed, debated,

nd voted on. we need veterans in congress in order to be a voice at the table. we have been tirelessly dvocating and working with our chairman and leadership to be that voice for our troops. combination of lack of training, lack of resources, lack of hours and our experienced pilots and that comes together under difficult conditions and may be the last things that are happening and they lose their lives. and after the dangerous cuts in our military from the last administration, it has been going year after year after year and our troops are paying the price. we have the most amazing men and omen who are defending us.

they are over there right now keeping us safe. and they are at bases all over america training what might come next. and we owe it to them to give them everything they need and not play politics with them. they are willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice and we need to stop playing politics with their lives in order to defend us. there are a lot of things we need to work on and issues related to our fiscal responsibility. we have to get to those and work together to get to those and get our spending under control. right now, we need to give the troops what they need to keep them safe and alive and keep us safe because that price isn't what we want to pay. we are able to get to a place working with our chairman, our leadership here, secretary mattis and commander in chief who has the commitment to make sure our troops are supported and trained and ready in order to do their job and mission and we have got to get the resources to them and stop playing politics with what they

need. thank you. ms. cheney: it is a very sobering experience as a member of congress to have the secretary of defense say to you that no foe in the field has done more harm to our military than the budget control act, sequestration and the policies of the last administration and that's where we are today. we all, everybody on this stage, i would say everybody in the republican conference understands we have to deal with the debt issue. no question about it. but we cannot do it on the backs of the men and women who are serving us. we don't have time on our side. we have to get resources to them as quickly as we can. i would say to our friends in the freedom caucus, we got these numbers because we stayed together. and i would ask them not to quit before we get across the finish line. we need to get the budget deal passed and turn to the kind of reforms that are crucial in terms of the overall budget

process. it is important. as we are having these debates as republicans and members of the house, we all keep much in mind, the moms and the dads out there whose sons and daughters are deploying. and we cannot be in a situation where we are letting our political debates, our fights and arguments get in the way of giving them the resources they need in a dangerous world to protect and defend us. it is a sacred obligation. i'm proud to stand on this stage and grateful of the hard work of the speaker, the chairman, mike nd martha. and will be proud to cast this vote to get the military the resources they need. mr. gallagher: before running for office, i spent seven years on active duty in the marine corps.

we used to say in the marine corps, you ride to the sound of the gun, which means if you see a problem, you don't run away or punt that problem to someone else, you confront it head on and do your best to fix it. that's why i ran for office and we have the opportunity to do it today, to end the devastating cuts to our national defense. to my colleagues who have concerns, i get it. i would say two things. neglecting our defense is not a recipe for long-term savings. as we have seen time and again throughout history, weakness invites aggression and costs us money if we slide into conflict on someone else's terms. i have only been here a year and i got lost trying to find this place today, but it is always easy to vote no. you could always find some excuse to vote to, but the american people sent us here to fix problems like this no matter how difficult that may be.

thank you. he speaker: any questions? >> leader pelosi had her big show on the floor last night that lasted over eight hours. why are you insisting this will be a bill that the president will sign any -- the speaker: first of all, my hat is off to her. i don't know if i could hack that for eight hours. it was pretty darn impressive. especially wearing those shoes. i would have gone to the bathroom well before then. mpressive. we want a daca solution. guess what? n order to shift our focus and get onto the next big priority, we have to get this budget agreement done so we can focus on this. and i said it once and i'll say it again, we will bring a daca solution to the floor. as far as the senate is concerned, i think it's important to see if they can produce a bill and what they produce.

our system works different than their system. the leader would say the same thing. i can't speak to what a rule is going to look like but we will bring a daca solution to the floor because we want to solve this problem. reporter: where are you on the defense side on this. on the nondefense side, the question is -- indiscernible] the speaker: i wrote the first one. i did the first murray-ryan. he calls it ryan-murray. my niece's name is murray ryan, so i call it murray-ryan. i did the first one. why? i didn't want to see the sequester hit the military. i did the second one. the boehner deal. we are doing this one. why? because we don't want to see the sequester hit the military. this is a bipartisan bill. like leader schumer said, you

get some things you like and give the other side things they ike. on the net, this is a very good solution. and as to the debt and deficit concerns, most of this domestic spending is one-time spending. it's hurricane relief. are we not going to rebuild houston or florida or help puerto rico or the fires in california? those are things that we have to do because our fellow citizens in these disaster-ravaged area need assistance and that is the proper role for the federal overnment. a lot of that is one-time spending. the other domestic spending is something we all agree on. we have an opioids crisis. let's fix it. we can get close on cancer research. getting some cures. let's keep that going. we want to get a good down payment on infrastructure. there's one more thing i'll say. i think this budget process is broken.

here we are with another c.r., c.r., c.r., omnibus. that's why something we put in here that i feel passionate about is having a budget process reform dialogue. we had a one-sided dialogue in the house with republicans. i've been working on this pretty much my adult life. we need to get the senate involved in a conversation so we can actually have an budget and appropriations process that works. the house passed all of its appropriation bills this year before the deadline in september. we are doing our work here but the senate has a different system. and as much as we are frustrated by that system, it isn't working and we have a joint select committee between republicans and democrats and senators and house members to figure out how to fix this budget process so it works much more smoothly in the uture. reporter: the tax cuts are starting to kick in now and this bill will put the deficit over a trillion dollars this year and probably next year. these are supposed to be good times.

are the times going to be that good to close that deficit? the speaker: by the way, economic growth is one of the critical ingredients in getting the debt under control. the military is not the reason we have fiscal problems. it is entitlements. and i keep telling you. the budget we passed last year, that was the biggest, the most conservative budget congress has ever passed. something like $7.4 trillion in spending. we have shown, us house republican, what you need to do to fully deal with the debt cry sigs. it is entitlement reform. we have work to do with our friends on the other side of the aisle. reporter: the president is known to change his mind from time to time, so why not allow a vote on a bipartisan plan and see if he'll support it? the speaker: i want to make sure we get it done the first time. i don't want to risk a veto. and i think we can get

there. i'm confident we can bring a bipartisan solution to the floor that can get signed into law and solved this problem. we want an immigration solution. i'm confident we can get there. getting this budget agreement done, a lot of this is to focus on the deadline, which is a riority, which is this issue every time -- reporter: there is a great deal of spending in this bill. and speaking to why you are supporting it. but are these spending levels sustainable after these two years and setting up another udget cliff. and have you all five read this bill? this is a very short turn around for a large bill. the speaker: we were involved in this. this gives the authorizers and the appropriators to go to the money in this bill for the march 23 deadline. remember why we have it. remember why we have the b.c.a. in the first place.

remember the sold supercommittee. remember when president obama said we'll set a supercommittee to do entitlement reform and if that doesn't work, then this will happen. the original plan which never came to being and go point fingers but the fact it didn't happen. the entitlement reforms that were necessary did not occur and then the sequester kicked in. the sequester is a very crude tool which puts the cuts where they don't belong on our military and need to get back focusing on the true driver of our debt crisis. it is health care, inflation, entitlements. these are very important programs that were written in the 20th century that aren't working in the 21st century which is giving a debt crisis which we have a demographic crisis. we have baby boomers retiring and fewer people following them in the work force. we have to face those challenges and deal with it.

we have to face up to those challenges and deal with it. that's why cutting the military doesn't solve the problem. we can get rid of the military and still have a deficit. reporter: is there a longer term. the speaker: entitlement reform, you could solve these problems. reporter: there is speculation about your own personal future here. this is an issue that's bedeviled republicans. how does your own personal future play? the speaker: it doesn't. not at all. i don't think about it at all. reporter: i wanted to ask you about the tweet over the weekend highlighting the $1.50 paycheck increase. the speaker: the average family of four in america is getting a $2,000 tax cut. we've got billions of dollars going into bonuses. janet and i were working a concession stand last weekend and a friend of mine from my parish, working at home depot, came up and said, thank you for this raise, it's putting real money in my pocket. thank you very much.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2018] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> the house is now in rere-sess. they'll be back in at 4:15 eastern. a couple of votes on bills they debated earlier, they may use the opportunity to whip their members to figure out where they stand on the ultimate vote on the budget bill, the final vote that will happen sometime this evening. so the house coming back at 4:15. we'll have that live here on c-span. we'll also take you live shortly to the white house, the briefing should be getting under way shortly. and a live look here at the brady press briefing room. meanwhile the senate has yet to move forward on the c.r. an the additional budget resolution. the expansion of the budget by $300 billion over 2018 and 2019. joe williams of c.q. "roll call"

tweeting that senator menendez is holding up the vote on the spending caps bill over the disaster aid portion and how it ffects new jersey. the earliest the senate could vote without a time agreement is 1:00 a.m. we spoke to joe williams earlier this get an update on where things stand in the senate, here's a look. host: what can you tell us about this? guest: senator rand paul is objecting to a quicker vote on the bill , he wants a voten a separate amendment of his own to deal with balanced budgets. it's a bit of a messaging bill for him.

in absence of that time agreement the earl jets they'll be able to vote would be one hour into friday session, which would be 1:00 a.m. there's an effort afoot to obviously move that timetable up. and to get rand paul to drop -- senator rand paul to drop his actions to an earlier vote. host: not surprising we've heard objections from independent senator bernie sanders. what other democrats may be opposing the bill in the senate? guest: there's a good chunk of democrats in the 2020 caucus, democrats who could run for president in 2020. senator kamal la harris has come out in opposition to it, as well as bernie sanders, you're also seeing conservatives on the republican side come out against this because of the amount of increases to the nondefense funding. it's kind of, you know, for us here, expected individuals we're expecting to come out in opposition to this.

it's expected that the bill will be carried by mostly lawmakers in the middle of the spectrum on either party. host: leader mcconnell and senator chuck schumer, the democratic leader, yesterday talking about a moment of bipartisanship in the senate. are they actively working at this hour to get those votes they need? and as we look at it at this hour, do you think the measure will pass? guest: i think there is a lot of optimism that it will pass. to your point about them celebrating this bipartisan agreement, this is something they've been working toward for months. it's a large increase. on both -- for both parties. it is beyond what the president has requested on the military, defense funding increases, it's a very sizable increase on the nondefense funding. there's quite a few health-related measures in this bill. there's a large tax extender package a disaster aid package. so this is something that has been under discussion by both parties for a long time.

the bipartisan thing came out because this has been months in the making, they finally crossed the finish line and have an agreement they think can pass he senate and the house. host: you can follow joe's reporting at joetwilliams31. there's been reports that the democratic whip in the house is urging members not to support the measure over there. what have you heard? guest: we're hearing a little confusion on the democrat exside. you had minority leader pelosi come out earlier in the day and say she will vote no against this but is not actively whipping that. bhipping her caucus to vote no there were some alerts that have begun out from the whip's office urging democrats to vote against it. different sections of the house democratic party appear to be in debate over whether they should support it, whether they should oppose this, because there's not a clear path forward on a vote

on the immigration bill that the -- they hope to take up in the coming weeks. there's a bit of confusion, i think, among the party. it sounds like there's confidence that the chunk of democrats that are needed to join with republicans to pass this, to make up for the house conservatives that will vote against this, there are the numbers and the house will eventually be able to pass this once the senate does. host: that's joe williams , he covers the senate for "roll call." thank you for the update. as we mentioned earlier, joe williams updating that story reminding us that senator menendez of new jersey, the democrat from new jersey, saying that he -- at this hour, anyway, is opposing the measure because he's looking for -- not satisfied with the disaster aid portion of the budget bill. again the bill increasing the budget over the next two years by $300 billion. where things stand now, the senate is in session, waiting to move forward on that debate.

you can follow that over on c-span2. the house, an update from our capitol hill producer, craig kaplan, reports the house has been in recess subject to the call of the chair since 12:53 p.m. but is coming back at 4:15 p.m. for two more votes on small banks and rural telephone quality bills before recessing again. still waiting senate action on government funding and the budget deal bill. of course we'll have live coverage of the house here on c-span, live coverage of the senate is going on now other on c-span2. any updates to, any briefings, we'll try to get those on as well. speaking of which, we'll take you live to the white house, expecting to hear from the deputy press secretary shortly.

host: again, live inside the white house briefing room for the daily briefing. it was scheduled to start at 2:30. it was then pushed to 3:15. it's still delayed. we're not sure exactly why. when it does get under way we'll hear from deputy press secretary raj shah. press secretary sarah sanders is handling other business. while we wait, the clock is continuing to tick on temporary government funding that runs out at midnight. remarks from senate leaders on the budget deal crafted and agreed to yesterday that still needs to be voted on. >> this congress and this president have delivered bills. we paved the way for job creation. after years of broken promises

to our veterans we can delivered v.a. reform legislation to begin giving our heros the more accessible care, greater choice, and work force training. -- training they deserve. we confirmed judges to the federal bench, advanced efforts to address the opioid crisis and we passed the most significant tax overhaul in a generation. already tax reform is increasing take-home pay for american workers. already, businesses are investing more, expanding more, and create manager good-paying jobs. right here at home. over the past year, we have built a record of successes for middle class families and a stronger, safer country. but among all the work that still remains, one critical piece of unfinished business is now really close to the finish line. if we act now, we can start rebuilding our military and provide our troops the training and equipment they need to

defend the homeland and protect the american people. the crisis in our military is acute. just this week, headlines reveal hat 2/3 of the navy's f-18 aircraft are not prepared to fly. the fleet which must secure sea lines of communication across the globe and patrol the persian gulf and the south china sea has shrunk to the smallest ship count in nearly three decades. we become too reliant on special operations forces and radically drawn down our conventional force structure. this has not been lost on china or russia. they're improving their conventional forces and intimidating their neighbors. our force faces a complex collection of threats and challenges from iran, china, russia, and north korea.

to isil, al qaeda, and their affiliates. the need for our forward presence is not diminished in the persian gulf nor in the south china sea and the wider pacific. neither has our responsibility to our nato allies in europe or to the republic of korea. no, we have not asked our all-volunteer military to do any less for our country. they've just been forced to make do with less. these short-term funding bills have handicapped our military leaders' ability to make long-term plans and investments. in december, the navy secretary said the inefficiencies from continuing resolutions have cost his department enough money to pay for an entire squadron of fighter planes. or two destroyers. let me say that again. secretary of the navy said the inefficiencies from continuing

resolutions have cost his department enough money to pay for an entire squadron of fighter planes, or two destroyers. here's how general dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, put it. he said the u.s. military's competitive advantage against potential adversaries is eroding. yesterday, i announced a bipartisan budget i greement that will bring this to a close. the agreement will allow for the funding levels recommended by the ndaa conference report, authorization levels secured by the stalwart leadership of chairman john minnesota kaine and our colleagues on the armed services committee. so what does this mean for our men and women in uniform? it means putting a stop to the decline in combat readiness. it means knowing their weapon systems will be delivered, maintained, and kept on the cutting edge.

take it from secretary mattis. yesterday, he explained just what this agreement will do. here's how he put it. it will ensure our military can defend our way of life, preserve the promise of prosperity, and pass on the freedoms you and i enjoy to the next generation. our volunteer service members aren't the only americans this agreement will help. it also builds on the progress we have made for veterans and military families by providing for better care and helping cut the v.a.'s maintenance backlog. it offers reinforcements to families on the frontlines of our nation's struggle with opioid addiction and substance abuse. according to the c.d.c., opioid overdose deaths increased five-fold just between 1999 and 2016. on average, this epidemic takes

more than 100 american lives every single day. this agreement provides for new prevention programs and law enforcement initiatives to bolster existing national and state efforts. the legislation secures relief for families stig struggling to rebuild in the wake of lastier's spate of natural disasters. this provision was only made possible by tireless work from several of my colleagues. thanks to the leadership of senator cornyn, and senator cruz's advocacy for texas and senator rubio who led on behalf of florida and spoke up forcefully for the people of puerto rico, help will soon be on the way. the agreement also provides for new investigation. in our nation's infrastructure, a shared bipartisan priority. now i'm confident that no senator on either side of the

aisle believes this is a perfect bill but i'm also confident this is our best chance to begin rebuilding our military and make progress on issues directly affecting the american people. this is a bill for brave americans serving our country, including the many service members based in my home state of kentucky. they deserve the pay raise we promised them and the confidence that when they leave our shores, they are combat ready. this is a bill for our distinguished military commanders who sounded the alarm on sequestration more times than any of us can count. this is a bill for our heroes who have come home. they should be greeted by a better funded, streamlined veterans administration that's equipped to meet their needs. this is a bill for american families who have been victimized by brutal storms or the scourge of drug addiction. they deserve the assistance this agreement secures.

i hep hope each senator will carefully review this bipartisan bill and support it. we need to build on our historic year, seize the opportunity, and keep moving forward. >> mr. president. >> senate minority leader. >> i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. are we in a quorum? >> we are in a quorum call. >> i ask unanimous consent that the quorum be dispensed with. yesterday, the republican leader and i reached a two-year budget deal. not only will it end this series of successful fiscal crises that have gridlocked this body, it will also deliver a large investment in our military and robust funding of middle class programs. it will also give a significant boost to our nation's health care and provide long overdue relief to disaster stricken parts of our country. as i said yesterday, it doesn't

include everything that democrats want. nor everything that republicans want. but it's a good deal for the american people and it's a strong signal that we can break the gridlock that has overwhelmed this body and work together for the good of the country. let me run through a few of the benefits that this agreement would provide. our military has suffered from the uncertainty of endless short-term spending bills. this budget deal puts that to an end. it gives the military a significant boost in support and allows the pentagon to make long-term decisions about its budget. it's the right thing to do and i want to credit two people. first, my dear friend senator mccain. he talked to me repeatedly even when he was ill about the need for funding defense. he also talked about the need for doing immigration. and tried to make them go hand in hand. but senator mccain has been our leader in this chamber on both

sides of the aisle. in terms of making sure defense is funded and i know he is proud today of what we're doing for the military. i also would like to thank secretary mattis he visited me repeatedly. he's a cabinet secretary who seems to be doing his job rather than focusing on an ideological path which divides people. and he worked hard for this and deserves a great deal of credit. we democrats always argue that we want to fund our military and our middle class programs. we needed good help on both. a mother whose child died from opioid adick a veteran waiting in line to get help. college students with great debt on their shoulders. pensioners whose pensions might be greatly diminished. they will need help too. to say our military needs help to the exclusion of all these other worthy causes is not fair

to them and not good for america. and i've always argued we can do both. this budget shows we can. we can do both. fund the military and help fund the middle class. and for those naysayers who say that couldn't be done, it sure can. this budget, i'm proud of what it does for the middle class. for year -- decades, we all know this, we all talk about it. our middle class has suffered from a needless and self-imposed austerity in congress limiting investments in jobs and education. infrastructure. scientific research. and more. this deal puts that to an end as well. so for those who said we can't do both, we can. i'm proud of this budget because it does. let me go into a few specifics. there is billions of dollars of support for childcare, helping middle class families shoulder the very heavy burden of

childcare. they need to take care of their kids in a way they can have confidence in when both parents work. so often that happens. or in single parent families. so often that happens. what about college affordability. the dealt burden on the shoulders of those who just got out of college or graduate school is huge. we are focusing on providing health care and in this budget we focus on police officers, teachers and firefighters. what about infrastructure? our infrastructure is crumbling throughout america. or 100 it is built 50 years ago. roads, bridges, wastewater. we need to help those. and we need new infrastructure. how about rural broadband to rural areas and inner cities that are not getting it. broadband is a necessity today. kids can't learn, often you

can't hold a job unless you can get broadband at home. large parts of america, particularly rural, you can't get it. we provide help. in rural america -- and rural america is very happy we're doing this we provide billions to rebuild and improve veterans hospitals and clinics. so that when our brave soldiers come home, bearing the scars of war, their country serves them just as well as they served us. opioids. i mentioned that earlier. $6 billion. to guard against the opioid and mental health crisis. the opioid crisis is widespread. the president set up a whole bunch of commissions and given a whole bunch of features but hasn't funded it. we in this congress have. we have so many members, senators shaheen and manson, so many senators like senators hyde

camp and baldwin, so many senators like mccaskill and donald, like senator hassan. have been talking about the opioid crisis for a long time and their hard work has now produced the dollars that will give the treatment that so many who are addicted need and the infra structure to prevent these bad drugs, particularly fentanyl, from coming into this country. mr. president, my guest at the state of the union was a woman named stephanie keenan from putnam county. she was a brave mother of a veteran, the veteran got hooked on opioids in the depths of ptsd. he waited 16 months for his first appointment at the v.a. died of an overdose two weeks before he could get treatment. stephanie keenan has been fighting for this. she's a brave -- mr. shah: good afternoon,