mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. sheehy. ms. slotkin. ms. smith. mr. sullivan. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. the clerk: mr. young. the vice president: a quorum is present. the vice president: a quorum is present. under the previous order, the leadership is reserved. the senate will be in a period offed morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the majority leader will then begin calling up -- the majority leader. mr. thune: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to consideration of s. res. 1, which was submitted earlier today. the vice president: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: s. res. 1, establishing a committee to inform the president of the united states that a quorum of each house is assembled. the

mr. cohen. mr. cohen: thank you, mr. chair. mr. bier, somebody asked you a question about the laken riley case. you said that people who were criminals, felons, were already prioritized. isn't that if they are convicted? mr. bier: that's right. you need a criminal conviction to be subject to mandatory detention. don't you need a criminal conviction if you are in the country illegally already. and the -- administration can go out and arrest that person even without a criminal conviction. mr. cohen: laken riley, i believe, the bill we had that expanded that to people who were charged with -- charged with not convicted. mr. bier: you didn't even need an arrest. to be subject to mandatory detention. there is a difference -- there is discretion for i.c.e. to get someone who is fleeing or evading charges. but if someone has just been arrested and then they are never charged because they didn't commit the crime, it would be wrong to subject someone to mandatory imprisonment in a kiss where they were cleared. mr. cohen: you think there sho

mr. thompson: mr. speaker, request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. thompson: mr. speaker, i rise today to recognize and celebrate national law enforcement appreciation day. it is a privilege to honor the more than 800,000 sworn officers serving across the united states for their unwavering dedication to upholding the law and safeguarding our communities. the challenges you face and the importance of your work cannot be overstated. since its establishment in 2015, national law enforcement appreciation day has been observed annually on january 9. this day provides a meaningful opportunity for our nation to express gratitude for the brave men and women who wear the badge with with honor and integrity. thank you to the capitol police, secret service, and the metropolitan police department for their continuous efforts to keep us safe here in our nation's capital. i'm also deeply

mr. chairman,, mr. patel has said he has no problem and would support grand jury testimony in the case. i would ask everyone to generate with requesting, with mr. patel as court approval, the release of the grand jury transcripts. i would also ask, mr. patel, whether you support the release of volume two as it pertains to you, of the special counsel's report. any reference to you in the report, to your truthfulness. will you support the release to this committee of the sections of volume two of the special counsel's report? mr. patel: i support following the law and providing whatever information the law requires. sen. schiff:? ? you said to the wall street journal do you support transparency. here is your chance do you support the release of that to the committee, yes or no senator. chair grassley: i have letters from law enforcement groups representing 10,000 or so officers supported mr. patel's nomination. the association of police organizations, national police association, united federation of poli

mr. patel: -- 60%. mr. patel: the issue is not with fisa and 702 p the issues those who have been in government service and abused it in the past, so we must work with congress to provide them protections necessary for american citizens. dealing with these matters, we use fisa collection to find and save american hostages. having a warrant requirement to go through that information in real time is not comported with the requirement to protect american citizens. i'm open to finding a better way forward, but right now these improve as you have made go a long way. sen. cornyn: direct direct live -- director radcliffe said he did not believe where a foreign target communicates with the u.s. person that it would -- there would be sufficient evidence to go to the foreign intelligence surveillance court order -- court or other courts to demonstrate rubble cause -- probable cause. mr. patel: it is almost impossible to make that function . sen. cornyn: you hit the nail on the head when you point out the lack of trus

mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. sheehy. ms. slotkin. ms. smith. mr. sullivan. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. the clerk: senators voting in the affirmative -- banks barrasso, blackburn, blunt rochester, booker, boozman, britt, budd, capito, cassidy, collins, cornyn, cotton, cramer, crapo, cruz, curtis, daines, ernst, fetterman, fisher, gallego, graham, grassley, hagerty, hassan, hawley, hoeven, hyde-smith, johnson, justice, kaine, kelly, lankford, lee, lummis, marshall, mcconnell, mccormick, m

mr. kennedy: no, mr. chairman. chair crapo: do you know of any reason personal or otherwise that would in any way prevent you from fully and honorably discharging the responsibilities of the office to which you have been nominated? mr. kennedy: no i do not. chair crapo: do you agree without reservation to respond to any reasonable summons to appear and testify before any duly constituted committee of congress if you are confirmed? mr. kennedy: chair crapo: yes i do. chair crapo:and finally do you commit to providing a prompt response in writing to any questions addressed to you by any senator of this committee? mr. kennedy: yes i do. chair crapo: thank you mr. kennedy and before you begin if you would like to you may introduce your wife and children. mr. kennedy: yes. my wife is here. my daughter kitt kennedy, my son, his wife, amaryllis box kennedy and my nephew jackson heinz is here, too. chair crapo: we welcome you all. mr. kennedy: thank you mr. chairman. chairman crapo, ranking member wyden and members of this

mr. kennedy for being here today. mr. kennedy, congratulations on your nomination. throughout this process, mr. kennedy, you have been accessible to members and staff on both sides of the aisle and have demonstrated strong commitment to fulfilling the responsibilities of this role. the department of health and human services overseas and nation's largest health care programs, providing coverage for nearly two in every five americans, the medicare, medicaid and chip among other initiatives presents challenges, especially in the face of a rapidly aging population, stubbornly high cost and persistent barriers to access. however, this also provides us the opportunity to deliver bold, transformative solutions. as a committee, we share a commitment to advancing common sense, bipartisan policies that improve the delivery of health care in this country. this committee has worked to realign incentives and the prescription drugs by chain, to enhance access in rural communities, to expand the availa

mr. wolf executive orders being , one way to deal with issues. what does the trump administration at least desire to do through congress for other aspects of border or immigration policy? guest: probably set out version passed in the last congress, stalled in the senate. my guess is they will go back to elements of that and providing dhs and a few more authorities they would otherwise have. you can secure the border today using executive orders from the president or you secretarial authorities from the dhs secretary, it is the way it has been for four years. the congress needed to do more and the administration started to do a few more executive orders but they didn't do it all the way and enforce that so it can be done, is it preferable for congress to make lasting changes? absolutely but you don't need congress to secure that border host:. lasting -- border. host: lasting changes such as what? guest: to return individuals back to home countries quicker, particularly children. beasts hav

mr. vought. i am going to have a quick introduction and you can say anything you want. we will have a minute questioning, be hard and challenging and let's get through this thing. . with that said, you are no stranger to this job. he had this job and was deputy director and was director under president trump's first term, he was born in mount vernon new york, graduated in 98 and completed the jd from georgetown university, worked on capitol hill as a legislative assistant. from 2004-2000 eight, he worked as executive director for the republican study committee and from 2009-2010, policy director of the house publican conference. he was the omb director under the first trump term, and became director when mulvaney left. you have done it once and you want to do it again. we are glad on our side you are willing to do it again. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. congratulations on your new role. welcome to the committee. senator cornyn, senator ricketts and new to the senate, senator marin

mr. trewhitt: mr. president, you referred earlier to your meeting with mr. brezhnev at vladivostok in 1974. you agreed on that occasion to try to achieve another strategic arms limitation salt agreement, ah within the year. nothing happened in l975, or not very much publicly at least. and those talks are still dragging and things got quieter as the current season approached. is there a bit of politics involved there, perhaps on both sides? or perhaps more important are interim weapons developments and i'm thinking of such things as the cruise missile and the soviet ss-20, an intermediate-range rocket making salt irrelevant, bypassing the salt negotiations? mr. ford: first we have to understand that salt i expires october third 1977. mr. brezhnev and i met in vladivostok in december of 1974 for the purpose of trying to take the initial step so we could have a salt ii agreement that would go to l985. as i indicated earlier, we did agree on a twenty-four-hundred limitation on launchers of ballistic missil

the clerk: mr. himes of connecticut. mr. carson of indiana. mr. castro of texas. mr. krishnamoorthi of illinois. mr. crow of colorado. mr. bera of california. ms. plaskett of virgin islands. mr. gottheimer of new jersey. mr. gomez of georgia. miss -- california. ms. houlahan of pennsylvania. and mr. quigley of illinois. the speaker pro tempore: superintendent to clause 8 of rule torques the chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on way the yeas and nays are ordered. the house will resume proceedings on postponed questions at a later time. for what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass the bill h.r. 186. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: h.r. 81, a bill to authorize the national medal of honor foundation to establish a work on the national mall to honor the extraordinary acts of valor, sacrifice displace bide medal of honor recipients. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from arkansas, mr. westerm

we have got three people on top, mr. musk, mr. bezos, and mr. zuckerberg, who are worth almost a trillion dollars, more than half of the bottom of our society, some 170 million people. three people, more wealth than the bottom 170 million. we have more wealth concentration than we've ever had. we have more concentration of ownership in the media, where a of billionaires like musk, bezos, mr. murdoch, on the information people receive. we have a corrupt campaign-finance system, in which a small number of billionaires make huge -- small number of billionaires in both parties make huge contributions to presidential and congressional campaigns. when you have a small number of multimillionaires who have an enormous economic, media, and political power, would you agree with president biden, who last night stated, and i quote, "an oligarchy is taking shape in america of extreme wealth, power, and influence that threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedoms"? that is what president biden said last night. i agree with him. do you? mr. bes

mr. kennedy has an important opportunity to reform the department and restore trust in our federal health agencies. i look forward to hearing about his plans to advance president trump's agenda to make america healthy again. i turn to mr. kennedy to introduce himself. is your microphone on? mr. kennedy: senators and mr. chairman and others of this distinguished committee, cheryl were heart broken last night to learn the tragic accident that took so many of our fellow americans including our servicemembers. we are in a apartment to see the rescue operations from our window. please know that i will continue to pray for you as i texted you and those who are lost that call your state home and senators kane. we appreciate the first responders and local officials who are working so hard and god be continue to work with those who are impacted and help with the recovery. i am sitting here as president trump's nominee as secretary of health and human services. i thank president trump for president

mr. smith: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition? mr. smith: could we get the yeas and nays? the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are now requested. all those in favor of taking this vote by the yeas and nays will rise and remain standing until counted. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house in recess subject to the call of the chair.

mr. tymon? mr. tymon: i'll start and say absolutely, and not just nepa, but also looking at the underlying resource protection laws that are in place. many of those have not been modernized or looked at in over 40 or 50 years. we're not saying that they need to be eliminated, just modernized. rep. westerman: streamlined, made to work quickly. anybody else want to weigh in on that quickly? you've got a whole 7 seconds. i'll yield that back to you, mr. chairman. chair rouzer: thank you, mr. nadler. you're recognized. rep. nadler: thank you, mr. chairman. i thank our witnesses for coming here. i am eager to begin reauthorizing our nation's surface transportation programs, particularly those under the federal highway administration's jurisdiction. however, i must first address the deeply troubling issue of president trump's hastily and poorly drafted executive order titled "unleashing american energy" that at least temporarily triggered an entirely avoidable crisis. in the misguided attempt to pause fun

mr. speaker. >> thank you, mr. speaker. the murder of three young girls in southport was devastating. a measure of justice has been done, but for the victims injured, we must have fundamental change of how we can protect its citizens and its children. as part of public inquiry, mr. speaker, we will not let any the flight from their failure. mr. speaker, next monday marks the memorial day. last week only strengthened my resolve to build national hogans memorial and learning center -- holocaust memorial day learning center beside this. the whole house also welcomes the release of emily and other hostages from gaza. the cease-fire deal implemented in full, the release of remaining hostages, and a surge in aid to gaza for citizens. may i also welcome someone whose young daughter olivia was murdered and awful circumstances , to the chamber. i've met them twice could we will change the law. mr. speaker, this morning, i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others in addition to my duties

mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. mr. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. rubio. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of souths. carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. she he. miss slotkin. mrs. smith. mr. thune mr. tillis. mr. turberville. mr. vane. hollen. mr. vance. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. >> a quorum is present. a quorum is a president present. how to preserve the leadership time is reserve the senate will be in the period of morning businesspe with the senators permitted to speak and they're in for up to 10 minutes each. the majority leader will then calling up. i'm not going to read. [laughter] majority leader. >> not a present asking a subset of the sea of consideration as friends one comment which was submitted earlier today. >> clerk for pope reports a resolution for. s >> s rez one to establish a committee to inform the president of the united states a quorum in each house is assembled. >> is an

mr. shanmugam. mr. shanmugam: thank you, mr. chief justice, and may it please the the ninth circuit has adopted an outlying rule that threatens a sweeping regime of securities liability for omissions. the ninth circuit held that a risk disclosure can misleading simply because a company does not disclose that the specified triggering event for the risk hurred in the past. that holding was incor a riskosure warrants that a type of event may cause harm in the future. it usually makes no esentation that the event had never previously occurred. e ninth circuit's approach would trigger serious concerns by hindsight, and this court should reject it. instead, the court should adopt a similar approach to the one it took ftements of opinion in omnicare. thhe court held that statements of opinion were ordinarily not actionable as false statements, but the co recognized that a statement of opinion could be misg based on an embedded representation autow the speaker formed the opinion. so too here, depending on the content of the statement, a

mr --military academies? mr. hegseth: i support the best and the brightest whatever their back on his full sen. banks: secretary lloyd austin disappeared for days and did not even inform the president's chief of staff that he was going to the hospital. with that on your watch --would that occur on your watch? mr. hegseth: no, senator, in any one of my jobs if i decided to go awol for a day or two in uniform, that would be a concern. sen. banks: i believe accountability minutes no one to this day has been held accountable for what happened in afghanistan. it is embarrassing for this country, it has impacted this country greatly, and i applaud you and president trump for bringing accountability back to the panic on. --the pentagon. chair wicker: the chair recognizes the dissing wished ranking member for unanimous consent request. sen. reed: i would like to submit an article discussing some of the issues of readiness -- there is been a comment that 5.9 million man-hours have been used for dei. the general clarified

mr. speaker, we're more than three weeks into january. and yet republican leadership in this chamber has failed to call a vote on a single piece of legislation to address the pressing needs of hardworking families. nothing to ease the burden of grocery prices, nothing to lower the cost of prescription drugs, and nothing to make it easier for an american to buy a home. so what's the priority for the republicans this week? a vote on h.r. 21, the so-called born alive abortion survivor protection act. a bill that will give politicians here in washington the power to monitor women's pregnancies and criminalize doctors and nurses who provide life-saving care to women in need. i wish i was kidding. now, over the next couple of days, we're going to hear republicans get up here and use scare tactic after scare tactic, attempting to justify this vote. so let's set the record straight about what this legislation does. at first glance, its stated goal might sound reasonable. to provide health care pr

mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr.anders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. sheehy. ms. slotkin. ms. smith. mr. sullivan. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr. welch. mr. whitehouse. mr. wicker. mr. wyden. mr. young. senators voting in the affirmative -- banks, barasso, blackburn, budd, daines, ernst, fischer, graham, hagerty, hyde-smith, johnson, justice, kennedy, lee, lummis, marshall, mccormick, moreno, mullin, ricketts, rounds, scott of florida, sullivan, thune, tuberville, wicker, and young. ms. hassan, no. mr. blumenthal -- ms. slotkin. senators voting in the negative -- mr. husted, aye. senators voting in the negative -- baldwin, blumenthal, collins, coons, cortez masto, duckworth, durbin, hassan, kaine, kelly, kim, lujan, merkley, murray, padilla, reed, schatz, schiff, slotkin, and wyden. mr. crapo, aye. mr. cotton, aye. mrs. moody, aye. mr. cornyn, aye. ms. murkowski, n

mr. mr. van orden: thank you. this bill is going to go a long way to reverse the lawlessness of the biden administration. i'd like to tell you a story for a moment. a criminal illegal alien entered the country with known gang tattoos and was allowed through biden's porous border. he made his way to the state of wisconsin where he had warrants issued in dane county for strangulation, suffocation, false imprisonment, battery and disorderly conduct. he was not detained and deported as he should have been because dane county is a sanctuary county. he then made his way to minneapolis, minnesota, where he was arrested for simple property crimes. he was not detained and deported as he should have been as a criminal illegal alien because minneapolis is a sanctuary city. then he made his way to a small 5,6 -- a small town of 5,600 people, my hometown, where he brutally rape administer and savagely beat her daughter over a period of days and was finally arrested for domestic battery, strangelation, suffocation -- strangulat

the clerk: mr. turner of ohio, chair. mr. dunn of florida. mrs. wagner of missouri. mr. fitzpatrick of pennsylvania. mr. guthrie of kentucky. ms. van duyne of texas. mr. connolly of virginia. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces the speaker's appointment pursuant to section 2-1, natural culture center act 20 u.s.c. 76-ha amended by public law 107-117 and the order of the house of january 3, 2025, of the following members on the part of the house to the board of trustees of the john f. kennedy center for performing arts. the clerk: mr. mccaul of texas. ms. letlow of louisiana. mrs. beatty of ohio. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces the speaker's appointment pursuant to sections 5580 and 5518 of the revised statutes 20 u.s.c. 42-43 and the order of the house of january 3, 2025, of the following members on the part of the house to the board of regionents of the smithsonian institute. the clerk: mr. smith of nebraska. mr. gimenez of florida. ms. matsui of california. the speaker pro tempore: the chair announces the speaker's appointment pursuant to section

mr. pete hegseth to be secretary of defense. at this point, in light of the continued suffering and death in and around los angeles, california, i'm going to ask my colleagues and those in the audience to observe a moment of silence. chair wicker: amen. thank you. i want to take this opportunity to thank my good friend ranking member jack reed. this is my first opportunity to chair this committee in this congress. i want to thank senator reed. he proved time after time he cares deeply about national security and about the united states of america. in particular come the men and women who wear the uniform and stand watch here and around the world to protect the united states. senator reed, thank you for the many courtesies that you have extended to me in the past, and i look forward to working with you again in a bipartisan fashion this congress. it is also appropriate to recognize and welcome three senators attending their very first senate armed service committee hearing as members. sena

mr. ford, mr. kissinger have continued on the policies of richard nixon even the republican platform has criticized the lack of leadership of mr. ford and criticized the foreign policy of this administration. this is one instance where i agree with the republican platform. i will say this in closing. as for foreign policy, mr. kissinger has been the president of this country. mr. ford has shown an absence of leadership, an absence of a draft of what this country is and what it ought to be. that has to be changed and that's one of the major issues in this campaign. >> president ford would you like to respond. >> governor carter again is talking in broad generalities. let me take just one question he raises. the military strength and capability of the united states. governor carter in november of 1975 indicated that he wanted to cut the defense budget by $15 billion. a few months later he said he wanted to cut the defense budget by eight or $9 billion. and more recently he talks about cutting the def

mr. speaker. >> prime minister. >> thank you. i know members across the house will want to extend our thanks to president biden for his steadfast leadership and warmly congratulate president-elect trump the head of his inauguration. mr. speaker, in my conversations with president-elect trump, we've underlined our shared commitment to the special relationship in the years to come. mr. speaker, we launched our ii opportunities action plan which made sure we seize the opportunities to benefit working people. that will boost productivity, transform public services, 39 billion pounds of investment in over 13,000 jobs. this morning, i had meetings with ministerial colleagues. i will have further such meetings later today. >> thank you. with almost 4.5 million entries and exits the last year, the train station is a flooded hub. the station needs major upgrades to give commuters what they need. does the prime minister understand how maidenhead citizens access the station and will he commit to thi

mr. kennedy, there are women today who are having babies and they are going to go back to work in a week or two because they have no guarantee paid family and medical leave. how do you have a healthy country when women are forced to go back to work, women and men get fired because they stay home taking care of their sick kids? that's not making america healthy again. i would go a little beyond the jurisdiction of health and human services, but i think it's important. if you're working 50 or 60 hours a week making $13, $14 an hour, can you be healthy? will you join those of us who think that in the united states, the wealthiest country on earth, people work 40 hours a week they should not live in poverty? we have to raise the living wage -- the minimum wage to a living wage. leslie, -- lastly, we discussed priestley that president trump believes climate change is a hoax. i happen to believe, and most americans believe, virtually the entire scientific community believes that it is an existe

mr. chairman,, mr. patel has said he has no problem and would support grand jury testimony in the case. i would ask everyone to generate with requesting, with mr. patel as court approval, the release of the grand jury transcripts. i would also ask, mr. patel, whether you support the release of volume two as it pertains to you, of the special counsel's report. any reference to you in the report, to your truthfulness. will you support the release to this committee of the sections of volume two of the special counsel's report? mr. patel: i support following the law and providing whatever information the law requires. sen. schiff:? ? you said to the wall street journal do you support transparency. here is your chance do you support the release of that to the committee, yes or no senator. chair grassley: i have letters from law enforcement groups representing 10,000 or so officers supported mr. patel's nomination. the association of police organizations, national police association, united federation of poli

mr. dispelden here before us as mr. trump's nominee to run the environmentalprotection agency is simple. will he follow the science and the economics and protect our air, water and climate? or will he merely be a rubber stamp for looters and polluters who are setting the trump agenda? i must say there's polluter organizations like america first works, a long list of trump affiliated consulting climates and his anti-climate op-eds paid for by dark money organizations do not give any confidence that he will be an honest breeker if confirmed to lead e.p.a. i really want this to work. that is how high the stakes are. i am not here trying to score points. i'm here trying to steer us away from what i see as a calamity ahead. i will therefore be watching closely today to see if congressman zeldin is able to differentiate himself in any substantive ways from the polluter agenda and the economic crashes likely to mr. zeldin: thank you, madam chair. here's to a productive relationship in this impor

mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mr. gallego. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. mr. hagerty. [inaudible conversations] [cheers and applause] oh, my goodness. we've got this from years and years ago and days ago from here. oh, i talked to so many of you who have holiday parties but i have sickened i am so proud of our team and this is a team that spans many years of doing extraordinary work on the half of the people. and as you all have heard me say many times, i am fully aware that i am the public face of a lot of our work, and so i have the benefit of running into people all over our country. and i will tell you i am fully aware that when they are thanking me they are thanking our team for the extraordinary commitment that you each have an as the team has two lifting up american people, lifting up their condition come lifting up their hopes and dreams, and understanding through it all the nobility of public service. we have each taken on a life and a calling that is about doing work in the service of others. and doing it in a way that is f

mr. burchett: thank you, mr. chairman. mr.peaker, i want to thank my very good friend, steve cohen, from memphis, tennessee. the home of al green. and we had a lot of good times in the state senate. we brought some famous people to the floor, our dear friend steve crawford, in the rock 'n roll hall of fame. some of his guitars are in thing smithsonian -- are in the smithsonian. many others. isaac hayes. we sang the theme from "shaft" on the senate floor. i'm sure someone will dig for that and hopefully that's been erased from history. when we brought isaac hays, i -- hey, i almost forgot about -- hayes, i almost forgot about him. we had a great relationship with those folks and people often ask me why i'm friends with congressman cohen. he's probably my oldest friend up here, truth be known. he's correct, we did sponsor a bill to raise the speed limit. i think i asked for 85. knowing we'd take 07 in the house -- 70 in the house. the week prior to that i'd brought peyton manning to the house floor and i think i could have proba

mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i say to the gentleman who just spoke that i agree with him that he's got some problems in the republican conference with some extremist members. and he again keeps using the word mandate, mandate. again, i remind the republicans they lost seats in the last election. but you know, you can't claim that you have this mandate to do whatever the heck you want to do and then expect to us once again come to your rescue to save speaker johnson if one of the extremists -- if nine extreme members in your conference want to challenge him and vacate the speaker's chair. i just find it mind boggling that my republican friends are living in this fantasy world where they think they have a huge majority here. look at the difficulty we witnessed today with electing a speaker. you guys are in charge, you have a mandate, put on your mandate pants and do the stuff you want to do. or work with us, work with us in a bipartisan way to actually deliver for the american people. mr. speaker, i want t

mr.tt bessette. potential partners nominate for the secretary of the treasury. as well as his family. congratulations, mr. bessent, on your well-deserved nomination and thank you for your willingness to serve. and for your extensive cooperation with this committee. it is already been a great pleasure to work with you figure been transparent, candid, and insightful with me and with my colleagues. you have spent countless hours meeting -- meaningfully answering our questions and recording yourself with great courtesy, dignity and professionalism. throughout the committee's rigorous vetting process and i think that our finance committee has the most rigorous process of any committee in the congress, you have worked tirelessly to meet our long-standing belgian standard. it is clear that you followed applicable law and provided thousands of pages of documentation that substantiated your positions, positions supported by major law and accounting firms. thank you for your transparency and respon

mr. joyce: mr. speaker, i rise to address the house and ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. joyce: mr. speaker, i rise today to recognize the huntington count pennsylvania institution which is celebrating a milestone anniversary. this year shavers creek grange number 353 will mark the 150th anniversary of its founding, with a series of events, including a fellowship event that reflects the organization's mission to embrace community members from across generations. defined by its enduring commitment to family values and community standards, the schaffers creek grange represents the -- shaver creek grange represents the motto, in essentials, unity. in nonessentials, liberty. and in all things charity. on behalf of everyone in pennsylvania's 13th congressional district, i congratulate the shavers creek grange on this milestone and thank its members for their continued work to strengthen the c

other than me mr. mr.egseth which used him as a democrat colleagues on the committee an d unprecedented act. a signal that he is not trying to be a nonpartisan secretary. he is in fact going to be very partisan. again, injecting politics into the department of defense will fail. tonight a second round of questioning although we need that time and i should point out historically went to secretary hagel was here we had two rounds of questioning. when secretary carter was here we had two rounds ofr questioning. so the precedent was strongly in favor. we have essentially been denied the kind of access that whatever revealed more of mr. hegseth qualities, conduct, and thoughts. and that is not appropriate. as i've said previously the fbi background check was an adequate. the first time i've ever had a background check supplemented by two additional addendum to the background check. that's not the way i have experienced it. so i hope my colleagues have asked themselves as this individual have the character and t

mr. speaker. question number one, please? >> thank you, mr. speaker. communities across the united kingdom have been hit hard by storm eileen. i spoke with the leaders of the administration's in scotland and northern ireland over the weekend to work with them on support that is wired and to pay tribute to all of those responding on the frontline. kickstarting economic growth is the number one issue. to deliver on our plan for change. today we announced our next steps. a new oxford-cambridge corridor, redeveloping old trafford, and supporting a runway at heathrow. we are supporting innovation and going further and faster to boost growth. mr. speaker, this morning i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. i shall have further such meetings later today. >> mr. speaker, this pension increase by 470 pounds, and over the course of this parliament, 1900 pounds, benefiting millions of pensioners. does the prime minister agree that means testing the state pension would do severe harm,

mr. webster: mr. baker, you are recognized for five minutes. >> i'm chuck baker, president of the short line association representing the nation 600 small class two and three small railroads. we move industrial, agricultural and energy products between ports, factories and farms and the larger class one railroads. the class one sold those lines to local entrepreneurs. they didn't have much traffic and weren't in great shape. but the local folks were eager to make a go of it. they ran efficiently, focused on getting one customer or car load and bent over backwards and it worked. short lines are critical and ensure that the goods your constituents rely upon get to their homes and businesses safely and we manage 50,000 miles of track and touch 1/5 of all car loads and 6% of the industry's total revenue. short lines and small businesses we have a large impact. we operate in 49 states, support 478,000 jobs and produce $56 billion in value added to the economy. for decades, members of this subcommittee have

mr. hegseth called mr. trump, who was a candidate at the time, and i quote, all bluster, very little substance, and again quoting, an armchair tough guy. he criticized then candidate trump in 2015 for advocating for the withdrawal of forces from afghanistan, but then he took the criticism back. he sharply criticized the 2021 afghanistan withdrawal, as did i, but he's failed to publicly comment on president trump's 2020 deal with the taliban, which is what set the date certain for withdrawal in 2021, that then the biden administration was actually tied to. now, i agree, i agree that that withdrawal was not what i wanted to see. i didn't support it, but they were terms that president trump in his first term set with the taliban, terms that i thought gave away the store to the taliban, because there were no concessions from them on what we were to get from the united states, the government of afghanistan was not at the table when the terms were negotiated, and now we're seeing the fallout from that. i know tha