mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to pay special recognition to our guest chaplain deacon bruce morolio. he serves in the st. helena catholic church in my hometown. that's where i was baptized received my first commune on, where i was confirm -- comunion and where i had my wedding vows. i know how personally how deeply he cares for our community and how much he and our church have given back to our town. bruce didn't know if he wanted to be a priest or a lawyer. so he took the sage advice of, when you have a choice between two great things, take them both. in both careers he's embodied selflessness compassion, and quiet generosity. he's guided people through challenging times, comforted them in times of grief, always pursued righteousness and has never wavered in his devotion to bettering the lives of others. st. helena is blessed to have him today and today we are in the house and are as equally blessed. thank you, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of hi

mr. speaker, -- mr. poliquin: mr. speaker, a huge congratulations to the new england patriots for winning the super bowl. surgical passes from quarterback tom brady -- tom brady a thunderous spike by tight end rob gronkowski. and a crucial goal-line interception by rookie cornerback malcolm butler. although our patriots won a thrilling fourth super bowl title, i also congratulate the seattle seahawks and their fans for battling until the very end of their terrific season. maine is patriots nation. we appreciate hard work and results. in this chamber, republicans and democrats engage in passionate debate on issues critically important to american families. we've been sent here to move the ball down the field. together, to put points on the board for hardworking taxpayers. patriots fans seahawks fans and families coast-to-coast deserve an effective government that solves our nation's problems. then we'll have a healthy, growing economy with more jobs fatter paychecks and more freedom. here in this chamber we're all patri

mr. speaker -- nuenue thank you, mr. speaker -- mr. newhouse: thank you mr. speaker. this has been detrimental to american families businesses and taxpayers. americans were promised that they could keep their health care plans and see their premiums decrease. instead they've been irreparably harmed by the elimination of their existing health care plans and pushed into a one-size-fits-all health care system. a system that fails to consider individual needs and eliminates choice of physicians, while families are faced with soaring premiums. . the cost of implementing obamacare has crippled businesses. small and large businesses have been forced to pass increased costs onto their employees, resulting in a decreased work force, lower wages, and delayed hiring. obamacare has hurt economic growth at a time when we can least afford it damaging our fragile economic recovery. put simply a government-centered approach to health care is not the answer. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlema

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: mr. speaker, i'm pleased to yield one minute to one of the new members of the house of representatives, the gentleman from minnesota, mr. emmer. mr. emmer: thank you for your leadership on this issue. i rise today to address the urgent health needs of this nation. i asked my constituents to share with me how obamacare has affected them and i want to share a few of their stories with you today. troy wrote that his family's premium went up and coverage went down drastically -- went down drastically -- drastically affecting the cost of his son's hearing aid. a mental health clinic has steadily lost clients due to regulations. today congress will vote to get rid of this fundamentally flawed and unworkable law, but this cannot be for show. it is not enough for congress to simply be against obamacare, we need to offer alternatives. . by offering market-based consumer-base reforms, we can find real solutions and i'm committed to working with my colleagues to get it done. it's time to stop playing

mr. speaker. mr. speaker, in three days the department of homeland security will needlessly run out of funding. yes three days. shutting down the department of homeland security will jeopardize local disaster relief grants, it will justify and stall critical safety training for firefighters and first responders. and will force thousands of border control agents, active duty coast guard service members, and airport security screeners across the country to work without pay. house republicans are threatening the safety and security of our nation and our families by refusing to pass a clean security funding bill and instead pushing for anti-immigration amendments. this is unwise this is unnecessary and this is wrong. we should not play partisan politics when our nation's security is on the line. we must pass a funding bill that does not include harmful provisions so that our nation remains safe and secure. that is why i ask unanimous consent that the house bring up h.r. 861, the clean department of homelan

mr. speaker. mr. mohammad bashir constituent was arrested in december. despite numerous occasions he had a different name to them and they were wanted. they held in the prison cells for three days and they only confirmed they indeed had arrested the wrong person when he was transferred. will my right honorable friend look into this case and perhaps supply some answers to questions which mr. bashir is not getting? >> i understand this does sound a very concerning his but my understanding is west yorkshire police are investing the circumstances serenity arrest at the detention of mr. bashir but i can't get the house specifics of this case because it does involve ongoing legal action. i will discuss it with a home discuss it with the home secretary of the and, of course, one option would be to mr. bush or to make a formal complaint to the independent police complaints commission but let me give you more information about that. >> i know the prime minister has followed closely the reason of people -- [inau

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. price: mr. speaker, i rise yet again today in support of a clean homeland security funding bill. first, mr. speaker though, i want to thank my colleague, patrick mchenry, for the tribute he gave a few moments ago to his predecessor in the 10th congressional district of north carolina, cass ballenger. who passed away last week. cass ballenger was a treasured colleague of mine. he and i came to the house together, the class of 1986. we worked together on a number of matters, teacher recruitment, disaster relief. cass used his time here and the work of his foundation to reach out to some of the neediest people in the hemisphere in latin america and addressing their health care needs. he came here after a successful business career. he was a man of great good will good humor. someone who was a great favorite on both sides of the aisle. so i'm happy to join patrick mchenry and other colleagues in remembering cass ballenger. paying tribute to his years of good citizenship and service. now, at this mome

speaker, to the gentleman from tennessee, mr. cohen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from tennessee is recognized for one minute. mr. cohen: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you for the time. the gentleman said this is the time to pass it. it's not the time to pass it. the time to pass it is after all the reports and studies are in. and the state department hasn't completed its study. it's kind of like what we're doing in this congress. we're not going by our regular procedures. and not having bills in committee and not having opportunities for amendments on the floor. because we bring things up here to make it the political issue du jour. this is not the time for the bill. just like it's not the time for the prime minister to come and speak from that well. it should be after his election and after the negotiations with iran are over. and this should be after the state department has told us what their opinion is and then let the president make his decision. we should go back to regular order. i yield back the balance of my time. and hope the house will return to regular order. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yie

mr. speaker. mr. mohammad bashir constituent was arrested in december. despite numerous occasions he had a different name to them and they were wanted. they held in the prison cells for three days and they only confirmed they indeed had arrested the wrong person when he was transferred. will my right honorable friend look into this case and perhaps supply some answers to questions which mr. bashir is not getting? >> i understand this does sound a very concerning his but my understanding is west yorkshire police are investing the circumstances serenity arrest at the detention of mr. bashir but i can't get the house specifics of this case because it does involve ongoing legal action. i will discuss it with a home discuss it with the home secretary of the and, of course, one option would be to mr. bush or to make a formal complaint to the independent police complaints commission but let me give you more information about that. >> i know the prime minister has followed closely the reason of people -- [inau

mr. speaker, i rise -- gun gun mr. speaker, i rise today -- mr. gun at that: mr. speaker i -- mr. guinta: mr. speaker, i rise to honor a friend. one of the nation's most successful auto dealers with seven stores and 600 employees in the granite state and the commonwealth of massachusetts. not only is andy a natural business leader, he's also an outstanding public servant. he's served in the united states marine corps and constantly gives back to the future leaders of our communities. in addition to donating proceeds of auto sales to help feed the needy around thanksgiving time, andy has spearheaded a program to motivate high school seniors in manchester new hampshire, to ac sell in their classes -- excel in their classes for a -- compel in their classes for a chance to win a car. he also works with technical colleges to ensure students are receiving the beft education and training to become the next generation of trained auto technicians. it's people like andy cruz who make me beyond proud to call myself a grand its stater, -- granite stater, chose commitment and passion to the aut

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield one minute to the ranking member of the health subcommittee, mr. green of texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. green: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to express my staunch opposition to h.r. 596 legislation to repeal the affordable care act. yesterday was groundhog day. today's vote really feels familiar. the house has now attempted to repeal or undermine the affordable care act more than 56 times. it's disappointing that the republican leadership continues its partisan campaign to undermine the a.c.a. and create barriers for millions of uninsured americans having access to health insurance. based on the latest estimate from the congressional budget office, 19 million americans and 20,000 in our houston area district would lose their health insurance this year if the a.c.a. is repealed. these are people who would be without coverage today if it were not for the a.c.a. h.r. 596 would take away critical benefits and health

mr. speaker. mr. speaker i think just about every one of us in congress went through security at an airport in our home state this week. and like millions of americans who fly every day, we are protected by 40,000 t.s.a. officers that we depend on to keep us safe, but now we are on the verge of stopping paychecks to all of those officers. and 50,000 border patrol agents, and 40,000 active duty coast guard members who are needed to protect our shores. and in my state and many others this winter they are being called upon to break up the ice and keep our harbors open. and it's not just the people who keep us safe, it's fema. much like much of the country we suffered one of the hardest winters in maine, but if the department of homeland security is shut down, fema will not be able to process any new disaster relief application from our states. this winter has create add crisis for my state and many local governments. let's not add to that with a manufactured crisis of our own by forming -- forcing the dep

mr. speaker, i have the -- mr. marino: mr. speaker, i have the distinct honor to ask my good friend, mr. huelskamp from kansas, to speak on behalf of us for two minutes. the chair: i'm sorry, two minutes? mr. marino: two minutes, sir. the chair: the gentleman from kansas is recognized for two minutes. mr. huelskamp: thank you mr. speaker. here in washington, d.c., i believe we have too many people working on k street looking out for wall street when we should be instead fighting for main street. it is our main street businesses, our small businesses that are the heart and soul of our economy, and without which there will be no economic recovery. america has slogged through six years of a lackluster economy, in part because our hardworking small business men and women are strangled by this administration's overregulation. during my 267 town hall meetings throughout my district in the last four years, the number one complaint is this. there is too much regulation on small business from faceless, nameless bureaucrats in washington

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. levin: -- mr. ryan: mr. eaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. ryan: here's what we are trying to accomplish with this legislation today. we are trying to provide some more certainty. small business, they have to be able to plan for the future. charities who are serving those in need, they also have to plan for the future. families need to know whether there's going to be help for them at local food banks. a lot of them look to the tax code ironically, when planning for the future. they need a tax code that's easy to understand. but that is not the tax code we have today. whether we make a tax code more complicated, well, if we do that we are making their lives more unpredictable. that's a disservice to the people we are trying to serve. what would really help would be to fix our broken tax system. ultimately our goal is to get to tax code that is impler, fairer for everybody. -- simpler fairer for everybody. we still have work to do on that

speakers. i don't know whether my friend from georgia does or not. mr. woodall: i also have no further speakers. mr. hastings: then i'll proceed to close at this point and yield myself the balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hastings: i earlier asked several questions. i believe mr. cramer addressed one of them, and i have yet another that i did not ask and i'm not asking him to respond. i might add, i think those of us in the body -- and i said this to him when he was in the rules committee -- i do think mr. cramer from north dakota does have a comprehensive understanding of this matter. while i disagreed with him about many matters, i do believe that he points out something that we need to pay attention to and there are already without keystone there are a lot of pipelines in the united states of america and in the period of time of this recent debate there have been a lot of pipelines that have had spills and have caused major damage. without getting into them, three of them have really been substantial. shutoff valves become important. we haven't discussed many

mr. speaker, as i -- mr. carter: mr. speaker as i noted earlier, this bill enjoys broad, bipartisan support. i hope members will vote for this bill. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. all time having expired on this bill the question is will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 361. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. mr. carter: i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: those in favor will say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative. mr. carter: mr. speaker, i request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman request the yeas and nays. mr. carter: yes, sir. sproik the yeas and nays are requested. -- the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 further pr seedings on this

mr. thompson: thank you mr. speaker. mr. speaker soon the house of representatives is expected to vote on h.r. 5 the student success act. h.r. 5 represents a long overdue rewrite of the current no child left behind with new policies that aim to ensure that every student in this country have access to a quality public education. for years, our federal education policy has been failing our nation's students. the statistics do not lie. today, only 38% of seniors in high school can read at grade level and just 26% are proficient in math. while i do not believe that any member can be in total agreement with every aspect of the proposed bill, it's important to recognize the underlying goal of reducing the federal government's role in education while empowering states and especially local school districts with discretion over academic standards and testing. while truly well-intentioned, the current law places on due pressures on young lerners and has turned hard -- latin americanners and has turned hard workers into test proctors. t

the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. ryan: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for such time as he may consume. mr. ryan: mr. speaker i think we are going to have a little bit of deja vu here today because we are going to be talking on another yet tax extender bill like yesterday. this one involves small businesses. let me see if i can lay out the case that's before us and the decision that we as members of congress are going to have to make. small businesses are the engine of economic growth and job creation in this contry. -- country. 80% of all businesses in america file their taxes as small businesses. it's what we call subchapter s. corporations or partnerships. and one of the critical ingredients to running a successful small business is to be able to buy equipment for your small business to hire people to do things. and one of the important provisions in the tax code to help do this is something we call section 179 of the tax code. section 179 is really

mr. mr. speaker, for allowing me to have a few words. mrs. beatty: mr. speaker, at this time, i would like to have congresswoman coleman. she is part of this freshman class. gives me great pleasure to ask her to say a few words. mrs. coleman: i want to thank the gentlelady from ohio for yielding me this time. i want to thank both the gentlelady from illinois and the most very gentleman from new jersey in providing this opportunity to speak tonight on something that i think is very important. as a member of the c.b.c., very proud member, i'm here because i rise to commemorate a slice of american history that speaks to the spirit that is america. we rise to acknowledge the sacrifice of a generation whose risks were ultimately america's reward. we rise to recognize the american heroes and sheroes of selma. from selma, we learn that protests and objections that are deemed un-american today made later be considered the greatest manifestation of american democracy. from selma, we learned that because of a young person's protest today he may be called an outside

mr. speaker. mr. speaker the department of homeland security will run out of money and shut down tonight. house democrats, senate democrats, the white house and senate republicans all agree on what to do to pass a bipartisan bill to fully fund the department for the rest of the fiscal year. the republican majority in the house of representatives is the only ones standing in the way. our next vote on ordering the previous question will be a vote on whether to continue down that dangerous path or to govern responsibly and to put our national security ahead of partisan politics. to discuss how essential it is that we pass a clean full-year appropriations bill, i yield four minutes to the distinguished gentlewoman from new york, the ranking member on appropriations, mrs. lowey. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman from new york is recognized for four minutes. mrs. lowey: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to urge this house to immediately take up and pass a clean funding bill for the department of ho

mr. speaker -- nuenue thank you, mr. speaker -- mr. newhouse: thank you mr. speaker. this has been detrimental to american families businesses and taxpayers. americans were promised that they could keep their health care plans and see their premiums decrease. instead they've been irreparably harmed by the elimination of their existing health care plans and pushed into a one-size-fits-all health care system. a system that fails to consider individual needs and eliminates choice of physicians, while families are faced with soaring premiums. . the cost of implementing obamacare has crippled businesses. small and large businesses have been forced to pass increased costs onto their employees, resulting in a decreased work force, lower wages, and delayed hiring. obamacare has hurt economic growth at a time when we can least afford it damaging our fragile economic recovery. put simply a government-centered approach to health care is not the answer. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlema

speaker. i yield one minute to the gentleman from california, mr. mccarthy, the distinguished house majority leader. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for one minute. mr. mccarthy: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker i do want to thank the authors of this bill. congresswoman roby and congresswoman sewell for their work on this. i appreciate it. we are blessed in this nation to enjoy the privileges of democracy and to exercise our freedoms without fear. but sadly for millions of african-americans in our history, that has not been the case. james cooper author of the american workers like "the last of the mohicans" and "american democrat" once said. the man who can right himself by a vote will seldom resort to a musket. the opposite is also true. people denied their rights might well resort to violence. it's not difficult to see why. with no established form of recourse, what choice do those denied their freedoms have? the people we honor today chose a different path. these nonviolent, civil rights activists did not take the road of hate. their generation's quest for freedom, they didn't corrupt themselves with the sins of those who worked a

mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, as we celebrate african-american history month, i rise to acknowledge and pay tribute to one of the most outstanding athletes in the history of baseball but also one of the most congenial personalities in public life. ernie banks. known as mr. cub, mr. chicago mr. ambassador for baseball. ernie banks was indeed, a superior athlete, playing 19 years for the chicago cubs named m.v.p. in 1958 and 1959 named to the all-star team 12 times, hit .274 with 512 home runs. voted into the baseball hall of fame on his first year of eligibility. but it was actually his cheerful attitude and his love of the game that made him such a popular player. ernie was always the absolute optimist. you can always count on him to express a most positive attitude. every day was a good day. let's play, too. no matter what the cubs' record, this was the year that they could win the pennant and become world champions. after his playing days were over, ernie became a coach and was active in the community. h

mr. leader? mr. mccarthy: mr. speaker, i mean mr. whip, i expect that we will deal with the current schedule that we have before us, plus dealing with d.h.s. mr. hoyer: can the majority leader tell us in light of the fact that's less than 24 hours from now, what we might be considering with respect to keeping the department of homeland security operating on a permanent basis through september 30? and i yield to my friend. mr. mccarthy: i thank the gentleman for yielding. as the gentleman knows, we dealt with this weeks ago and sent over to the senate and as i just listed before, we will provide that information after the rules committee hearing tonight. mr. hoyer: will the gentleman yield? mr. mccarthy: gladly. mr. hoyer: the rules committee's going to meet at 9:30 tonight, is that the -- yes. somebody said 8:00 over here. a member of the rules committee. is it 8:00 or 9:30? mr. mccarthy: where's our rules committee chair? 8:00. mr. hoyer: 8:00. will the gentleman yield again? mr. mccarthy: gladly. mr. hoyer: mr. leader, we have been

mr. speaker. mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. this bipartisan bill, and i want to thank the gentleman from mississippi because it has been truly a pleasure to try to work on something where we're not working for perfection but we are looking to find agreement and to do the best thing possible that supports the goals of nasa and all of the space industry but also so that we get something done in this congress. i could not have found a more cooperative and helpful working relationship than that i have with mr. palazzo. i also want to thank the chairman of the full committee, lamar smith an ranking member, eddie bernice johnson, both of texas, for supporting a process that leads us to the point we are today. this borne bill we're considering is largely identical to a bill that passed the house last year h.r. 4412. it passed with overwhelming support by a vote of 401-2. unfortunately, time ran out during the last congress before the senate was able to take final action to re-authori

mr. mcgovern, for five minutes. mr. mcgovern: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, too many people in our country, the richest country in the history of the world, are hungry, and it's a sad reality. and hunger has many faces -- children, seniors, veterans, the disabled. one group that experiences hunger and is often overlooked is working families, millions of people who work for a living don't earn enough to ensure their families have enough to eat. they don't earn enough to ensure that their kids have access to quality childcare, and for millions of working families every single day is a struggle. we in this chamber ought to do more to help. in his state of the union address, i was pleased to see the president identify specific ways to support working families, tripling the childcare tax credit, increasing the number of slots available and investing in high-quality, affordable childcare programs. these are investments that are important to all families, but especially working and poor families. we know that the early years of a child's life

mr. speaker, i yield back. mr. loudermilk: i thank the gentleman from alabama for those passionate words. and mr. speaker, i'd now like to yield a portion of my time to my freshman colleague from west virginia, mr. mooney. mr. mooney: thank you. thank you, mr. speaker. thank you to my colleagues congressman jim jordan and congressman bill loudermilk for addressing this special issue before our nation. senator harry reid and the president are currently risking the full funding of our national security to protect the president's unilateral and unconstitutional executive action on amnesty. on 22 occasions president obama himself said he did not have the authority to grant executive amnesty before flipping and denying the will of the american people and taking unilateral action anyway. this attitude follows a pattern of unilateral action, executive action, including the president's war on coal and it must be stopped. now, senator reid and his allies continue to block any consideration of the bill passed by the house to

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland rise? mr. hoyer: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman fromaranis recognid r one minute. mr. hoyer: mr. speaker the congress has five legislative days left until february 27. we have five days in which we're going to meet in order to send the president an appropriation bill that he can sign to keep the department of homeland security from shutting down. the republican leader in the senate says the house ought to act. the speaker says the senate ought to act. somebody needs to act. somebody needs to act like an adult. somebody needs to fund the security and safety of the american people. their own senate colleagues disagree with their strategy of holding national security hostage to their political goals on immigration. we face, as all of us know very real threats which is why we cannot let the department's funding lapse. if the republicans want to debate immigration policy, then

mr. sancrow with deny znswer of the city attorney went off on his own and left the mess that you now need to fix. thank you. speaker: any questions for mr. grossman. speaker: i have a question. mr. grossman, can you argue somehow or another that mr. sancrow violated the open government ordinances when the courts specifically ruled against you on that question. speaker: i'm conceding that the privileges no longer -- the aggregation of the privilege and the public access area under the ordinances is no longer enforceable. end the story. but there are other previsions in the ordinances that he violated. speaker: what are those previsions? tell me. speaker: what are they? speaker: tell me what they are. speaker: well, one is you have to identify the records in some way. were they e-mails? was there an opinion? have you to do that. speaker: the court reviewed them, and -- speaker: sir, if i could interrupt you. when the filed a lawsuit, the first thing the city attorney did was turnover 4 of the 28 withheld records, okay. so it's not a case where this is, you know, open and close and just the way it was reviewed by the court of appeal on one issue. but there's two other issues. ther

mr. ross, for five minutes. mr. ross: mr. speaker, i rise this morning to bring to the attention my colleagues an important event taking place in the 15th congressional district of florida which i have the privilege to represent. with the opening in tampa this friday, our state marshalls, the strength of all of florida's public universities to respond to the cybersecurity work force needs. the center will help generate the next generation of technology, to prevent cyberattacks, to help them prevent and if necessary respond to cyberthreats. i want to congratulate the board of governors for our state university system, our florida state legislature, our florida governor for recognizing the critical importance of the growing cyberthreats to our residents. they recognize with our growing reliance on internet connectivity each and every day, cybersecurity becomes increasingly more vital. cybersecurity reaches from national security to personal security, from data storage, to banking security from health care privacy to transportation safe

mr. speaker. mr. speaker, on friday, we lost our colleague, allen nunnelee who represented the first congressional district of mississippi. mr. thompson: yesterday congressman nunnelee he was memorialized. the entire mississippi delegation and 40 other members of congress attended. i ask that the house pause for a moment of silence in remembrance of congressman nunnelee. the speaker: members will rise and observe a moment of silence. the speaker: without objection five-minute voting will continue. the speaker: weather, the voting will continued. the clerk will report the title of the bill. caller: a bill to improve intergovernmental planning for and security incidents at domestic airports and for other purposes. the speaker: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in co

speaker -- mr. wittinger: thank you, mr. chairman. madam speaker, we are here today and i'm in amazement because we're in discussion about the constitution of the united states. this is an issue of the balance of powers. this is an issue of our liberties. this is -- as important as the homeland security bill is, we recognize today that the congress has made its statement, the president of the united states has made a statement 22 times, that he did not have the right to declare amnesty. the courts have made their statement. and yet today, we're in a dialogue, i hope the american people are watching today and seeing the miscommunication of truth. the truth is, we are committed to the constitution. we are going to stand by the constitution. we're not going to allow the edict of one person to commit this country to a direction unchallenged. we're here, committed to that principle. we believe that the rights of the american people are founded in this constitution, and we will submit ourselves to that, and i yield back. the speaker pro temp

mr. davis: i have no further speakers. i'm prepared to close if you are. ms. jenkins: yes. mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. i agree with my colleague from illinois, mr. roskam, that is indeed a bipartisan piece of legislation and it's good for higher education for those who are attempting to access it. i want to commend ms. jenkins and mr. kind for their leadership in developing it. i agree with its purpose. i urge its passage and yield back the balance. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from illinois yields back. the gentlelady from kansas is recognized. ms. jenkins: i yield myself such time as i may consume. >> the gentlelady is recognized for as much time as she likes to use. ms. jenkins: i thank my colleagues for participating in this debate. if america is going to remain competitive, i can't imagine than maintaining the affordability of higher education. today's vote is a critical and simple step that congress should take to empower folks to save for higher education and ultimately make it more attainable for more hard-working americans. i hope the congress passes this legislation today with the b

mr. speaker, mr. leader, senator mccain, how search all the -- counselor grijalva. it is an honor to be with each and every one of you on this special day. a special day when we gather in statuary hall to welcome -- to honor gary -- barry goldwater back to the capital. [applause] as our speaker said, these statues are sent from each of the 50 states. the statues in this collection are more than a catalog of people who have shaped our history. they celebrate the full breadth of ideas that have blossomed in america's democracy. today, we honor the statue of a loving father, grandfather, and legendary dedication. we are honored to have so many of goldwater's family members here today. thank you very much for being here. [applause] here in the heart of our democracy, we unveiled the statue of an army air force pilot who served our country during world war ii. a public servant to serve the people of arizona and the united states senator for 30 years. an outspoken and uncompromising champion for what he believed. as a student, i had the privilege of meeting him at trinity college here in washington. he was great. and he was funny. whether or not you agree with him, there can be little to say that senator very goldwater was one of the most consequential political figures of the last half of the 20th century. and that is an applause line. [laughter] [applause] senator goldwater's speech in the 1964 republican national convention in san francisco, was his bold articulation of conservatism that has ever been. barry goldwater also defied expectations. he opposed efforts to restrict women's rights -- to the point where planned parenthood created an award in his name. [applause] he sought to allow gays and lesbians to join the military early. a visionary. he called for an end to discrimination against lg bt people here at home and around the globe. as he told the washington post in 19 -- "the washington post" in 1994, the big thing is to quit discriminating against people because they are gay. barry goldwater. [applause] very goldwater received -- did not compromise his principles for parties or positions. he also recognize the value of open and candid discussions about the direction of our country. for instance, in his speech in san francisco, senator goldwater confirmed his respect for the disagreement of the debate that are the strength and soul of our democracy. he said, the beauty of the federal system of ours is in its reconciliation of diversity with unity. we must not seek malice and honest difference of opinion, no matter how great. today we gather in the recognition that our democracy is precisely because we have beliefs. we stand proudly for them, just as barry goldwater did so well. today, the congress probably on an -- honors senator goldwater with respect, admiration, and even with affection. not only for who he was as a leader, but who he was as a person. thank you. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, the assistant democratic leader of the united states senate on the honorable dick durbin. >> to write. -- thank you. leaders, members of congress goldwater family and friends, it is an honor to be here today to recall the proud son of arizona. mra, that was one of the names people called barry goldwater. one of the better ones. this is why. he was a true westerner. he had so many accomplishments are you have heard already that have been reference. i would like to focus on one that may not be noted. he was an accomplished photographer. really gifted. his favorite subjects reflected the beauty of arizona. rapids, waterfalls of the grand canyon -- rapids, waterfalls grand canyon, senator goldwater also brought his camera to washington. it led to an interesting story. he carried it with him when he was invited for drinks at the white house with president john kennedy. the two men had come to know each other when they serve on the labor committee. senator goldwater snapped a photo of jfk and he liked it so much, he sent it to the president. the president sent it back to him inscribed, for barry goldwater, who i urge to follow the career which is shown such talent, photography. from his friend, john kennedy. senator goldwater later

mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, over the weekend, penn state university held its annual pan he will ening -- hellenic dance. known as fawn. it's a year-long effort to raise funds and awareness for the fight against pediatric cancer. since 1977, they've raised more than $127 million for the four diamonds fund based out of penn state-hurst u. medical center. with support from students across the commonwealth of pennsylvania and supporters around the world this year's event raised over $13 million. mr. speaker, as a graduate of penn state university i cannot be more proud of these students and future fellow alumni and i congratulate them on yet another spectacular year. thank you mr. speaker, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >>

mr. mcgovern: i ask unanimous consent to address the house. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i rise today to highlight two important new reports released today by the food research and action center, or frac, on the school breakfast program. it reports the school breakfast report card and school breakfast making it work in large district show that we have made progress in expanding access to school breakfast but work remains to be done. during the 2013 and 2014 school year 11.2 million students received a healthy school breakfast on the average school day. that's an average of 320,000 more students per day who receive school breakfast than the year before. the report shows that more students than ever are participating in the school breakfast program and receiving a healthy breakfast on school days. we have made real progress in making sure that students who are eligible receive breakfast. the school breakfast program along with the national school lunch program are critically important anti-hunger programs that ensure that our most vulnerable children don't go hung

mr. speaker. >> thank you, mr. speaker. this morning i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others, and in addition to my duties in this house, i shall have further such meetings latertoday. >> lillian greenwood. >> my constituents keep telling that the number one concern is what's happening to our national health service, but across the country essential services are a breaking point. give an hour and h.s. didn't even make the prime minister's top six priorities for the election, shouldn't everybody who cares about our nhs, labour on the seventh of may? >> i think what people need to know about our nhs is it is this government that decided to invest in the nhs am ignoring labour's advice tocut the nhs. and when we look at nottingham we can actually see compared to 2010 the our 158 more doctors, 646 more nurses, and the nhs is doing well. what a contrast with wales where labour are in charge -- [shouting] i know they don't like to hear but they cut the nhs by 8% in wales, and because of labour the nhs is doing worse

mr. speaker, i yield back. >> yields back. the gentleman from michigan is recognized. >> thank you mr. speaker. i now yield one minute to the derailment from california, the distinguished house majority leader. >> the gentleman from california is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i do want to thank the authors of this bill for their work. i appreciate it. we are blessed in this nation to enjoy the privileges of democracy, to exercise our freedoms without fear. but, sadly, for millions of african americans in our history, that has not been the case. james cooper, the author of works like the last of the mohicans and the american democrat once said the man who can write himself will seldom resort to a must. the opposite is often true. those denied their rights might often resort to violence. it is not difficult to the wide. with no established warm of records, what choice do those denied their freedoms have? but the people we honor today chose a different path. these nonviolent civil rights activist did not take the road of hate. their generation's quest for freedom, they did not corrupt themselves with the sins of those who worked against them. they fought for their right to bash for every person with the force of rhetoric and the virtue of peace. i r

mr. carson. the chair: the gentleman from indiana and a member opposed each will control five minutes. mr. carson: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. carson: mr. speaker, i rise today to present an amendment to help prepare vulnerable and at-risk students for the future. too many children suffer because we effectively do not have the coordinated efforts to research and apply data on student achievement in a way that will really benefit them system of this amendment supports the creation of a national strategy for the collection analysis and assessment of student achievement data. this day that will be used to structure systems that better serve our students. in addition, it will advance teacher professional development, educational administration and international education comparisons. preparing students for college and careers should be a priority of our system of education. by doing this successfully, it requires evidence-based tools we need to properly assess what is working and what is not working. my amendment mr. speaker, will help ens

mr. thompson, for five minutes. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, the 25% fund act of 1980 required 25% of the tax receipts from timber harvested from the u.s. national forest to be returned to the counties where the tax receipts originated. since local property taxes cannot be leffveed on federal lands, these dollars along with payment in lufe taxes, or pit funding, are critical in national forests and other federal lands. this is because the 1908 law specifies that they directly support local schools and road activities in national forests. unfortunately, timberg has dramatically decreased in the national forest system since the late 1980's. according to the forest service the agency was annually harvesting over 12 billion board feet by the end of the 1980's, but today this amount has decreased to less than two billion board feet per year. make no mistake activities such as removing unhealthy wood waste, and others play a fundamental roll in the core mission of the forest service and lends to forest health. leading up to the turn of the ce

mr. paulsen. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from minnesota is recognized for 3 1/2 minutes. mr. paulsen: mr. speaker, i thank the chairman for his leadership on leading the effort to simplify the tax code and give some confidence and certainty to those who use it. i want to rise in support of this legislation, the america gives more act. this legislation is absolutely about helping those who are most in need, those are our charities and our foundations across the country that are working day in and day out to help those that are most in need. there are nam of important tax rules that -- a number of important tax rules that we've already discussed regarding charitable donations but they've always been temporary. we've had these provisions in law, they've already expired. so here we are acting under retroactivity already. it's time to get rid of these short-term fixes and embrace long-term solutions. this legislation simply makes the provisions permanent, encourages companies to donate food to help feed the hungry, it makes it he's area foreindividuals who might want to -- makes it easier for

mr. scott: mr. chairman, i yield to the gentleman from wisconsin, a member of the committee on education and work force mr. pocan, one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from -- the chair: the gentleman from wisconsin voiced for one minute. mr. pocan: thank you, ranking member scott. mr. speaker, this bill breaks the promise made 50 years ago to help all kids get a good quality public education and to recognize the challenges faced by kids living in poverty. when talking about the problems with this republican bill, one wonders where to start. is it the tearing apart of public education that comes in the form of dismantling title 1 funding? or the fact that the portability scheme is a slip arery slope -- slippery slope turning our public school system into one big taxpayer funded voucher program with public dollars spent to private schools? or the fact that republicans have failed to dreals the need for early ed -- address the need for early education or the maintenance of efforts for education? or that this bill diminishes the focus on professional development for teachers or the clear protections for collective bargaining

mr. speaker mr. speaker pro tem. it is my honor to be with all of you at this joint session and isn't it wonderful to have the ladies appear? they make us look a lot better. [applause] i wish i could say that was my idea. maybe i will. i want to welcome to the platform president pro tem in the mississippi senate. [applause] i i am mindful of the absence of my friend, jerry brown. each time we have appeared here he welcomed me with a strong handshake and a prolonged and enthusiastic hug. [laughter] we will miss our friend. but as it is often said, he is with us tonight. he has a better seat. three years ago i stood stood at this podium and delivered my inaugural address. the weather forced us inside together in this historic chamber. i will always remember, it was in this chamber i began my life in public service. twenty 20 years later it is where debra and i began our journey as your governor and 1st lady. i am certain sum in this chamber may not agree with all my policies as governor but i believe it is safe to say t

speaker: mr. keane, did you have questions for mr. bush? speaker: if i may. speaker: do i need my notes? speaker: yes. speaker: you always do when mr. keane is asking you questions. speaker: you don't have the right to remain silent. mr. bush, one thing that's still somewhat apart of my concerns in doing this, is that the suggestion that there have been a number of things that the commission itself has passed or recommended that bears on this particular matter. over the course over the last couple of years we have various things and recommended various things, and those have not been incorporated in these proposed changes and the staff has not addressed the fact that perhaps they should be incorporated within these proposed changes. that may have come up -- you've got it in some respects, referred to in regards to the public comment, but could you outline for us what concerns you have about things that you know that we have done because our memories -- our institutional memories are pretty bad. i have to say that. speaker: one of the things that the commissions acted on in may of 2013 was

speaker's announced policy of january 6 2015. -- january 6 2015, the chair recognizes the gentleman from arizona, mr. franks, for 30 minutes. mr. franks: well, thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, we've heard a great deal about protocol this last week, and it all centers around the invitation by the speaker of this house to the prime minister of israel to come and speak to the body as he has done twice before. it's worth pointing out mr. speaker, that benjamin netanyahu is one of the most precious voices we have in the world to address some of the subjects and dangers that face the united states of america. and yet this administration is caught up in a conundrum over prote owe crawl. while it might -- protocol. while it might be worth reminding this government that it is made up of three equal branches, it's more important to remind this administration that when iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability with which to threaten the peace and security of the entire world, when isis and groups like it are slaughtering people the world over, when isis is crucifying and killing and torturing people in iraq, when they're burning