is recognized for one minute. >> i want to congratulate johnstown's environmental tank and container company for being named manufacturer of the year at the sixth annual northeast 2018 ill and gas awards. mr. rothfus: the manufacturer of the year award recognizes the outstanding contributions a manufacturer has made in a region such as innovation, stewardship, community leadership, health and safety. i'm proud of etc's achievements. manufacturing is a key to our nation's prosperity and drives the american economy. as america competes on a global scale it's critical this industry continues to grow, creating a wealth of job opportunities for all americans. over 500,000 people in pennsylvania rely on the strength of the manufacturing sector. before the tax cuts and jobs act, the united states had the highest piss tax rate in the industrialized world. now this -- now they're moving this economic choke hold, putting foreign bidses an a more

economically favorable tax rate and allowing companies to write write off the cost of new equipment when it's purchased. south america gaining a competitive edge. thank you, mr. speaker, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from nevada seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. today i rise to remember the life of chris azencom who attended the route 51 festival in las vegas on october 1. he was a sports junkie who loved the angels, raiders and lakers he worked at the local wal-mart and is remembered by all his customers as being very friendly. chris was close to his mother, mary ann, and even had a gift for her with him while at the festival. chris died shielding his friend, niki, with his own body from

gunfire. he's remembered for his love of helping people and his constant need to put others before himself. i would like to extend my condolences to chris' family and friends. please note that the city of las vegas, the state of nevada, and the whole country grieve with you. mr. speaker, i yield the remaining balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, yesterday our world lost the beloved stephen hawking, a man who spent his life defying all obstacles and pursuing to the depth of human knowledge. he's the epitome of proving your circumstances don't define you. hawking faced being told in his early 20's that he only had a few years to hi. mr. yoho: fearlessly he went on to not only beat those odds but along the way demonstrated the beginning and end of our

universe as we know it today. hawking taught us if you dare to dream and work hard you can succeed and i know he's responsible for inspiring many of our scientific minds, both young and old alike. as we celebrate his life, let us remember not only his accomplishments, academic and otherwise, but his fighting spirit. we're grateful for all he taught us and the legacy he left our world. let us all remember by embracing his steadfast determination and lead lyes of action as he did. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous con stobet address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to recognize an exciting spring tradition in upstate new york, particularly the 22nd congressional district. school ey: vernon district is holding maple weekend. it's run for two weekends each

year by the future farmers of america, f.f.a. this f.f.a. organization has approximately 125 members and its success has been recognized both on state and national levels. despite the two nor easters new york received in march alone, the f.f.a. organization has worked tirelessly to prepare for the upcoming maple season. this weekend they'll join 170 other local organizations to prepare demonstrations on how to harvest and produce maple syrup products, to host pancake breakfast which is feature our award winning syrup, and tours of the mouth watering sugar shack where maple products are created. last year, the extravaganza drew more than 2,000 visitors. i'm proud to take parking lot each year in this event expertly organized by students in f.f.a. these same f.f.a. members travel throughout new york state using their maple syrup trailer to educate other students in high

schools across our state. teaching them thousand to produce maple syrup and produce maple candies and other delirks maple products. new york state still does produce the very best maple syrup in the world and is continually winning the award for the best maple syrup. i'd like to congratulate these outstanding v.b.s. and f.f.a. students on their hard work and wish them and the hundreds of other maple producers across the state the best of luck during this very difficult season for maple production. i yield back. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to honor the girl scouts of the u.s.a. on their 106th birthday and to commend the organization for

helping girls become leaders in their communities and in our nation. mr. carter: it's fitting that the girl scouts' birthday falls during women's history month. in 1912, juliette gordon l; we -- ded the first girl scout -- gordon lowe founded the first girl scrout troop. today the program reaches nearly two million girls. today, girl scout alums launch rockets into space, serve as c.e.o.'s of international companies, sit on academic boards and more. as we celebrate the girl scouts' 106th birthday this week and women's history month, i applaud the girl scout councils that serve girls in my state for building girls of couraging of confidence, and character who make the world a better place. i'm proud this program was founded in the first congressional district of georgia and in my hometown of

savannah, georgia. thank you, mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman s recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker, i rise today to voice my displeasure that the house was unable to pass the right to try act this week. mr. lamalfa: this bill would have allowed very sick or terminally ill patients to request access to drugs and treatments that have yet been abriveed the f.d.a. for any patient dealing with a serious, life-threatening illness a sliver of hope can go a long way. yet for some reason, even after the senate passed this proposal nearly unanimously, some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle blocked this measure from passing. sick patients deserve the right to have every possible tool at their disposal even if it's ermentarblet -- experimental still. the government has no business selling a -- telling a

terminally ill patient they can't pursue a certain treatment and this legislation gives them the right to try. i thank mr. rutherford for his work on this legislation and urge the house to bring this back to the there are and pass it as quickly as possible. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. does any other member seek recognition? under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2017, the gentleman from maryland, mr. raskin is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. raskin: thank you very much. i'm delighted to have the opportunity to share some thoughts with you during this special order hour. at the request of the minority leader. and i am a professor of

constitutional law as those of you who watch our proceedings here may know by now, and i'd like to talk about the constitution and i will get there before this is over but i wanted to start, mr. speaker, with a basic question of political science, which is, why does it seem as if it's so hard for us to get the people's business done in congress these days? why does it seem so difficult that even when we have a vast consensus on what to do about a particular issue, we still can't get it done? why sit that the approval rating of our institution, according to the most recent rasmussen poly, is at 15%. which i think most people would agree is a pretty dismal showing for the people's congress. and here in the people's house. well, i want to talk about this

problem in some historical and constitutional perspective and hope that it opens up some roots of thinking and feeling that ght enable us to transcend some of the paralysis that now besets the united states congress. of course the simple explanation that is often given cloak wally is that everybody in washington is -- that is often given co-loke weallly that serve so divided nothing happens. this explanation, although it turns out to be wrong, of course has a long lineage to it. in fact, the funders wrote very widely at the time our constitution was adopted about the problem of faction. and they said, if you look at james madison in federalist 10,

for example, he identifies faction as the central problem in the political life of a democracy, but he says that the lay tant causes of faction are sewn in the nature of man. we see them everywhere. madison cites a zeal for different opinions concerning religion, concerning government, and many other points, as well as speculation as a practice. he cites also an attachment to fferent leaders, ambitiously contending for preeminence in power and evokes the human passions that have divided mankind into parties, inflaming them with mutual animosity. so strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their

unfriendly absence and excite their most violence conflicts. in other words, even when there's not something real and big to be fighting about, people will find something small, trivial, and petulant to fight about. and those of you with little brothers and sisters might agree. that's just the way it is. sometimes it's human nature for people to fight. but the founders understood that faction was something that would arise in a democratic society where people have the liberty of thought and expression. one of the ways is to destroy liberty that gives rise to faction. but that plunges into authoritarianism, monarchy, dictatorship. you go to one party. you create a one-party state like they have in north korea and there is no conflict because everybody does what the one party says. so madison dismisses that and says that's not going to work. we are not going to be able to

remove the sources of faction. why don't we try to control the effects of fashion -- of faction? and the way you do that, he said, is that if in order to ontrol the effects of majority tyranny is you have a bill of rights that defends the rights of the minority so people in the majority can implement chair policy perspectives but not -- right to press, the right to dissent, the vote and so on but also, madison said, if you extend the size of the republic, if you create a big country, then even if you get a majority on one particular issue, the majorities are shifting because then you will have a different majority on a different issue and on a different issue and so on. but what happens, he says, if

you have a faction that's tyrannizing the society but it's not a majority faction, it's a minority faction? what if you have a small group that is able to hijack the process and prevent the majority from having its way? well, he thought there, democratic processes and republican government will take care of it. he says this -- if a faction consists of less than a majority, a minority of the people, relief is supplied by the republican principle which enables the majority to defeat its sinister views by a regular vote. the minority may clog the administration. it may convulse the society, but it will be unable to execute and mask its violence under the forms of the constitution. in other words, madison is assuming when it comes to public policy, the majority will eventually get its way.

if the governmental process is working correctly. now, let's fast forward to 2018, and i'm taking three issues where the vast majority of the american people agree as to what should be done to deal with the serious public policy problem. let's start with the problem of high prescription drug prices. now, congress passed a law saying that the government could not negotiate for lower prescription drug prices in the medicare program with the big pharmaceutical companies. and it will not surprise you to learn that the big pharmaceutical companies who invest a lot of money in campaign contributions also paid for a lot of lobbyists to go and lobby for that provision to be put into the law. so the federal government can negotiate for lower prescription drug prices in the medicaid program.

it can negotiate for lower prescription drug prices in the v.a. program, but for medicare, because this provision got slipped into the law, we can't negotiate and it's costing the taxpayers $25 billion to $30 billion a year. and, of course, driving up everybody's prescription drug prices. a majority of americans have at least one prescription drug and one fifth of americans have four or more prescription drugs. well, 92% of americans support allowing the federal government to negotiate free market style with the prescription drug companies for lower prices in medicare. 92% of americans support that. all right. so that's case number one. hold that in mind. case number two, this is something that should be familiar to you in the wake of the discussion about the parkland massacre that took place. i try not to lapse into calling

it a tragedy. romeo and juliette, that's a tragedy. hamlet, that's a tragedy. mac beth, that's a tragedy. what happened in parkland, florida, that was terrorism that took place in a public school. it was a preventable public policy debacle that that young man could walk into a gun store and purchase an ar-15. ar-15's are so available people can get them even when they're not qualified to possess even a handgun. in any event, after parkland and after the pulse massacre and after the las vegas massacre and after the san bernardino county massacre and after the sandy hook massacre and after the virginia tech massacre, guess what, 95% of american voters, 95% support a universal criminal and mental

background check on all firearm purchases in the united states. that's more than nine out of 10 americans. 19 out of 20 americans. if you include the margin of error, it might be 98%. it might be almost anybody exhe september for the leadership of the -- except for the leadership of the n. ramplet -- n.r.a. and the c.e.o.'s of the gun manufacturers who support a universal background check. if you go to a deepership and you can't pass -- dealership and you can't pass a background check, why should you be able to go to a gun show and buy one or online and buy one or the back of a parking lot? 95% of american voters is to favor universal background checks. and yet nothing's happening. just like with giving the government the power to lower prescription drug prices

despite the fact more than, you know, nine out of 10 americans support it, the president of the united states, president trump called for it in both of his two state of the union addresses. i think the vast majority of the members of congress would vote for it if it were brought up for a vote but nothing's happening. that's case number two. case number three, another thing that's been very much on the mind of the public and in public policy debate. 83% of americans favor continuing the daca program and passing the dream act and allowing the dreamers a path to citizenship in the united states. hese, of course, are 800,000 young people who were brought to america with their families when they were kids, grew up here, know this as their country, are in the armed services, are working here, are

in school and we have 83% of the american people who say quite logically exercising their common sense, let's create a pathway for those people if they're in school, if they're working, if they're in armed services to stay here and become united states citizens. yet, again, nothing happening in congress. ok. now, why not? what is it that's going on? so we go back to the problem of faction. obviously people are going to have different views. that's the oxygen of democracy. there's nothing wrong with that. we're not ashamed of that. we have different political parties here. much better to have two parties or more than that than to have one party, a one-party system. you know, thomas jefferson in his first inaugural address said we are all republicans, we are all federalists. and lincoln tried to strike the same note when he first took office and lincoln said, we are

not enemies. we are friends. we must not be enemies, and passion may have strained but it must not break the bonds of affection that hold us together. so our greatest presidents and our greatest leaders have understood. we fight like cats and dogs in elections. that's how it works in a democratic society. there's a political contest. but once we're in, we try to stand for the whole public, the whole common good. we try to remember we are not here to represent one party. washington reminded people that the word party comes from the french word parti, one part of the whole. you are just representing a part of the whole. we have to aspire to represent everybody. and yet given the human condition, given the nature of political passions and moral passions that madison discusses in federalist 10, we know parties are inevitable. ok, he we accept that in a democratic society. we cherish the fact that people

can form political parties that articulate different agendas and different values. so that's not the problem. so what's the problem? hy is it the case that the united states congress cannot even bring to a vote three measures that have overwhelming public support? to allow the government to negotiate for lower prescription drug prices, to pass universal and mental background check, and to pass the dream act, to help deal with the crisis of these young people who've been thrown into a limbo because of president trump's action last year, why can't we do it? well, there are a couple of reasons i want to identify and then i want to call on all of us in congress to try to take us to a higher ground. the young people who are protesting about the nightmare of gun violence, which makes

outoutlier solute state. our rate of homicide and suicide by gun violence is simply off-the-charts when you compare it to other industrialized countries like the united kingdom or canada or france or japan. it's not even close. we're losing tens of thousands of people a year. the speaker pro tempore: will the gentleman suspend? mr. raskin: yes, by all means. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will receive a message. the messenger: mr. speaker, a message from the senate. the secretary: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: madam secretary. the secretary: i have been directed by the senate to inform the house that the senate has passed s. 1869, an act to re-authorize the -- and rename the position of whistleblower ombudsman to be the whistleblower protection coordinator in which the concurrence of the house is requested. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland may now proceed. mr. raskin: mr. speaker, thank you very much. so the point i was making here

is we have this puzzlement about why we can have massive popular agreement and consensus, political consensus as to what to do and yet a bottle neck in congress, where we get this paralysis and this inaction. the young people who have ignited a revolution across the country against political complacency with respect to gun massacres in public places like schools and movie theaters and concerts and churches and so on, they are focused very heavily on the problem of money in politics and i think the vast majority of the american people exercising their common sense would agree that money in politics distorts the public agenda. we know that the n.r.a. has put tens of millions of dollars into our politics. just as we know the prescription drug manufacturers have put tens of millions of dollars into our politics. so i think their right to

identify that is one strand of the problem. but even with that, i think here in congress there is a major failure of political leadership, mr. speaker. and i think it goes to something that -- at least used to be called the hastert rule. well, the former speaker has been discredited but the rule, unfortunately, is still operational. and the hastert rule is a rule that's been adopted by the majority caucus which says no legislation will be brought to the floor of the house of representatives unless it passes the republican caucus first. now, think about what that means. if you got legislation like the dream act or like a universal criminal mental background check act, which has unanimous support by the democrats and substantial support by the republicans such that it would pass overwhelmingly in this body, it never sees the light of day on the floor of the

house of representatives because their rule is they won't bring it out of the g.o.p. caucus to the floor for a vote unless it can get a majority within the caucus. this means that the majority will not just of the country but the majority will of this body is thwarted and frustrated by the hastert rule which i wish speaker hastert had taken with him when he left the house of representatives because it is fundamentally un-democratic and we are seeing right now the costs of this rule which enshrines minority preferences and minority control against majority public opinion. now, i hasten to say, of course, we got a bill of rights so what we are talking about is not allowing the majority to trample the constitutional rights of the minority. what's happening here is a political minority is trampling the policy rights of the majority.

so that the majority policy preferences of the american people and of congress are being stymied by virtue of minority control in this body. now, this is something that our distinguished and thoughtful colleagues on the other side of the aisle can fix. they can say they are no longer going they won't allow us to have a hearing. they won't allow us to have a hearing on whether the government can negotiate for lower prescription drug prices. we are not saying everybody has to agree. they have the right to vote against it, but doesn't the majority have a right to vote on those issues which reflect the massive policy preferences of the american people? and don't we think that has got something to do with the lowest team within which we are held by

the american people today? when it's very clear that what americans want, we cannot legislate their preferences into law? , in federal lift -- federalist, madison. and right now, we have a tiny minority faction driving the entire train of government and there is not space, not enough room for the will of the people to govern. and that's why america is disenchanted with the leadership of congress and what is happening here. and we are seeing in election results and public opinion polls and marries and rallies and walkouts. and that's good, because in their wisdom, the founders gave us the first amendment, which

gave the people the right to redress grievances, the right to assemble as the young people assembled yesterday on the lawn of the capitol building and in front of the white house. and gives us the right of free press so we can write what is taking place and gives us the right against establishment of religion and right of free speech to talk about what is going on. the founders never guaranteed us perfection. madison if people were perfect, we wouldn't need government in the first place. but they gave us a structure in which we could reform things and make things better. and yet, the members of congress now who are in charge in the driver's seat are blocking off the hall, they are thwarting progress across the board from

everything from prescription drug prices to the ban on assault weapons and union versusal background check to the dreamers and the american people are increasingly unsatisfied and frustrated with this situation. i come back to the responsibility of each one of us who has been entrusted with the high honor and responsibility of coming to congress. you know, the original democratic philosophers distinguished between sovereignty and government. sovereignty belongs to we, the people and the right of pa free speech. and people come together and tell us what they want and the right to come to the town meetings and call us up and email us. but we have a high responsibility. hose who aspire and attain

public office, we are servants. there are no kings or queens or titles of no built. it's in the constitution. we have no slaves here or serfs. and those of us who get into public office are acting as the servants of those people we are sent here to represent. and our people want us to get past all of the procedural obstacles and chokeholds that have been put up here at the big money and special interests. let us start with these three things which the vast overwhelming majority of the american people, democrats, republicans, everybody agrees we need a universal background checks and ground lower drug prices for our people

so our mothers, fathers and grandparents can get the prescription drugs and need to pass the dream act to he deal with the crisis situation of hundreds of thousands of young people whose lives have been thrown into limbo. we can do those things and we can make it happen. i would invite you or any other members of the congress to respond. i reach out in a spirit of openness and affection and as much as possible to say we have to get america moving in the right direction again. and mr. speaker, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman rom maryland seek recognition? mr. raskin: when i first started speaking and there was a madam speaker before me. i rise to adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: those in favor signify by saying aye. those opposed say no. the house stands adjourned until noon monday, march 19 rnings 2018 for morning hour debate.

monday on c-span's landmark

ases, plessy, an african-american man was arrested for taking a seat. it established the separate but qual doctrine that allowed segregation. this narrow interpretation wasn't overturned until brown versus board of education. examine this case with ted shaw, law professor and director of the civil rights at the niversity of north carolina. and legal historian and constitutional law professor and author of the 2004 book "from jim crow to civil rights" watch it live on 9:00 eastern. and background on each case, 8.95 your book available $

landmarkcases. and there is a link on our website. >> president trump hosted the irish prime minister and spoke about the nerve agent attack against a former russian spy in the united kingdom. here's a look. president trump it's migrate honor to have the very popular of -- prime minister of ireland with us and we are having good talks about trade, cyber and all the other things we are talking about. the relationship is outstanding and getting better and it is a special group of people. a tremendous number of irish are living in new york, where i grew up and