mr. paulsen: mr. chairman -- mr. speaker, first, i'd just like to thank subcommittee chairman rogers and ranking member lowey, along with the full committee, and chairman frelinghuysen and their staff, for their willingness and help on this amendment as well as for all the hard work they have done in putting together this important funding bill. i also want to recognize congressman donovan who was not able to be here today, but i offer this amendment along with him because it does seek to increase funding for the u.s. african development foundation by $15 million, bringing it up to the $30 million it was awarded back in fiscal year 2017. the u.s. african development foundation is an independent u.s. government agency that excells at doing development differently. it uses small grants to focus on ventures in the fields of food security, health care, education and technology. our taxpayer money is maximized to its full potential as host african governments invest a share of their own money in this grant program. these

mr. poe: mr. speaker, as hurricane harvey rampaged across texas, the heavens opened up and 50 inches of rain hammered down on the houston area. after two days of hard rain, on august 27, 60-year-old houston police officer sergeant steve perez got up as he does every morning, put on the badge, the shield over his heart and began to drive to work to help rescue flood victims. it was dangerous. the floodwaters were high and constantly rising. people's homes and businesses were flooding. perez's wife even asked him not to go that day, but, mr. speaker, sergeant perez knew the people of houston were counting on him. he made a wrong turn when he was headed to work, fighting the flooded streets. because of that, 38-year-old veteran of the force, sergeant perez died in the floodwaters. he gave his life for the thin blue line, the line that protects and serves the rest of us. officers like sergeant perez, they're just a cut above the rest of us. they willingly put themselves into harm's way for their commu

mr. mitchell: mr. chairman, i rise to support my amendment within the en bloc amendments as a step to protect the great lakes ontario power generation company has proposed to build an underground nuclear waste facility along the shores of lake hereon which borders my district. their plan is nothing short of irresponsible. any failure at this site would have devastating impacts on michigan and canada, who rely on the great lakes for drinking water, tourism and commerce. canada and o.p.g. have displayed intransigence in the face of the near universal objection of my constituents and many of the residents of the great lakes region. my amendment serves to further highlight to the canadian government the gravity of this issue. the international joint commission was developed to resolve binational water disputes between the united states and canada, yet they have not addressed this critical issue for the great lakes. my amendment would prohibit staff from attending or participating in an annual canadian wate

mr. mitchell: my constituents' school and employers throughout my district recognize this is a crisis that needs to be addressed. i urge passage and i yield back to the gentleman from minnesota. the chair: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from oklahoma. mr. cole: mr. chairman, i yield one minute to the gentlelady from massachusetts, ms. clarke, a member of the scommesm the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for one minute. ms. clark: thank you, mr. chairman. i thank the gentleman from oklahoma for yielding. while this amendment increases career and technical education funding, a worthy goal that i support, it comes at the expense of funding for critical higher education programs that support low-income and minority students. these fun help ensure studentses are well prepared for further education employment in high-skill, high-demand jobs in the 21st century economy. days before the election, president trump, in reference to c.t.e., said, we're going to start it up big league. se

mr. hill: mr. speaker, i move to suspend the rules and pass s. 327, the fair access to investment research act of 2017. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the of the bill. the clerk: senate 327, an act to direct the securities and exchange commission to provide a safe harbor related to certain investment fund research reports and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from arkansas, mr. hill, and the gentleman from illinois, mr. foster, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from arkansas. mr. hill: mr. speaker, thank you. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and their remarks include extraneous material on this bill. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hill: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hill: i thank the speaker. i'm pleased that the house is considering s. 327 today, the fai

mr. engel: mr. speaker, i rise in support of this measure, and 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. engel: thank you, mr. speaker. first, let me thank our chairman who always conducts himself in such a bipartisan fashion. i want to thank him for including everyone and thank him for the work that he does. i also want to thank the bill's author, our former chair of the foreign affairs committee, ms. ros-lehtinen of florida. i am pleased to join her as the lead democratic co-sponsor of this legislation. she authored an earlier version of this bill which is a testament to how long she's been working to shine a light on the daily horror of so many living in north korea and to bring american leadership to bear to each their suffering. we've been focused on north korea a great deal lately because of the kim regime's increasingly provocative behavior and our own administration's inconsistent and irresponsible rhe

mr. roskam: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for such time. mr. roskam: mr. speaker, if a person deposits $10,000 or more into a financial institution, that institution must submit a currency transaction report to the treasury department. avoiding this reporting requirement by purposefully staying below the $10,000 limit is a federal crime known as structuring. structuring was made illegal in 1986 to prevent large scale criminal enterprises, terrorists and money launderers from hiding their illegally earned money from authorities by consistently depositing just shy of that $10,000 limit. this makes complete sense. when structure something believed to have occurred, the internal revenue service can use its civil atas et forfeiture authority. i'm not laying awake at nithe, neither are my colleagues here, worry being terrorists and monsters not being able to get access to their money. so far, so good. the law makes sense. but no

mr. carter: mr. chairman, pursuant to section 3 of h.res. 500, as the designee of chairman frelinghuysen, i rise to offer n bloc number 3 as part of the consideration of the division e of h.r. 3354. list of amendments included in the en bloc is at the desk and has been agreed to by both sides. the clerk: en bloc, number 61, 2, 65, 67, 68, 69, 7 the are are 2, 73, 82, 86 and 89 printed in part b of house report offered by mr. carter of texas. the chair: the gentleman from texas, mr. carter and the gentlewoman from california, ms. roybal-allard, each will control 20 minutes. mr. carter: i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. the gentlewoman from california is recognized. ms. roybal-allard: i yield one minute to the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. keating. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. keating: i thank the gentlelady from california and i also want to thank my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for their support of an amendment that is relevant. in ba

mr. rush: mr. speaker, i rise today to invite my colleagues to join me in supporting my resolution, expressing support for the establishment and the designation of national franchising day. franchising is an important tool to bring jobs to communities around our country. the franchise business model, in fact, is the largest vocational training industry in america and is responsible for creating 7.6 million jobs and influencing the ination of 13.3 million jobs the united states. franchises is an industry of entrepreneurs. many of whom are small businesses. these entrepreneurs have directly contributed $6.73 billion in economic output to the u.s. economy and the franchise system as a whole generates $1.6 trillion of economic input. in short, mr. speaker, it is clear how significant roles franchises and people operating them play in our community. mr. speaker, i ask that my colleagues support this bill. franchising is one important tool to make -- the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gen

mr. thune: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate resume consideration of the erickson nomination. the presiding officer: without objection, the clerk will report. the clerk: ralph r. erickson of north dakota to be united states district judge for the eighth circuit. mr. thune: mr. president, one of the senate republicans' most important priorities for the rest of this year is passing comprehensive tax reform. why? because comprehensive tax reform is perhaps the single most important thing that we can do to get our economy back on the path to long-term health. comprehensive tax reform done right will boost jobs. it will increase wages. it will provide much-needed tax relief for middle-income taxpayers and families. it'll help businesses reinvest in their operations, employees, and new products. and most importantly, it will help us achieve strong, consistent economic growth. over the past few weeks, leaders from the house, senate, and white house have been meeting to develop l friend

mr. amash: mr. chairman, i yield one minute to the gentleman from ohio, mr. davidson. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. the gentleman from ohio. mr. davidson: mr. chairman, i stand in support of the amendment. the amendment does a great deal to restore our constitutional right to due process and protects the institution of federalism. the equitable sharing program incentivizes local law enforcement agencies to ignore state laws regarding civil asset forfeiture in favor of federal law. after ohio reformed civil asset forfeiture laws, local agencies have been able to bypass, just as the gentleman from michigan described. d.o.j. allows this even when federal officials play no role in the investigation or the arrest. congressman amash's amendment would end this policy. this program violates the independence of state police powers and undermines due process. i urge my colleagues to support this amendment. mr. chairman, i yield. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentl

>> mr. cole. mr. cole. no. mr. woodal. mr. woodal with be no. mr. collins, no. mr. burn, no. mr. new shs house. no. mr. buck? mr. buck, no. mrs. cheney. no. ms. slaughter. >> yes. >> aye. >> mr. mcgovern? >> aye. >> mr. hastings aye. mr. polis aye. mr. chairman, no. four yeas, nine nays. >> not agreed to. >> further amendment for discussion? >> yes. amendment to the rule i move the committee make an order and give necessary waivers for hr 3354 by representative waters under 57 to strike provision severely weak y weakening and removing consumer financial protection bureau's authority to protect consumers from unfair practices. surely would like a yes on that. >> thank you. discussion? good debate on at the table when that occurred. all right. vote. signify by saying aye? >> aye. >> no? >> no. >> nos have it. >> roll call please. >> mr. cole, no. mr. woodal, no. mr. collins? mr. collins, no. mr. burn, no. mr. newhouse, no. mr. buck, no. ms. cheney, no. ms. slaughter aye. mr. mcgovern aye. mr. polis, aye. mr. chairman. no. >> clerk will report the total. >> four yeas. nine nays. >>

mr. cole: mr. speaker, for the purpose of debate only, i yield the customary 30 minutes to my good friend, the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. mcgovern, pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. cole: during consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purposes of debate only. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks . the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. cole: mr. speaker, yesterday, the rules committee met and reported a rule for consideration of h.r. 3354, the department of the interior, environment and related agencies appropriations act of 2018, also known as the make america secure and prosperous appropriations act of 2018. the rule provides for two hours of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking member of the appropriations committee. mr. speaker, the appropriations package in front of us is the sec

mr. calvert: mr. speaker, i move that the committee do now rise. the chair: the question is on the motion that the committee rise. all those in favor say aye. all those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the motion is adopted. accordingly, the committee rises. the speaker pro tempore: mr. chairman. >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. the chair: mr. speaker, the committee of the whole house on the state of the union having had under consideration h.r. 3354 directs me to report it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house on the state of the h.r. 3354 and has come to no resolution thereon. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? mr. calvert: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today it adjourn to meet on monday, september 11, 2017, when it shall convene at noon for morning hour debate and 2:00 p.m. for legislative business. the speak

mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for as much time as she wishes to use. mrs. lowey: the devastation in texas and louisiana from hurricane harvey warrants swift congressional action and i am pleased we are here today to ensure that fema can continue to support the states affected by this disaster. he $7.4 billion for fema and $450 million for the small business administration in this bill are only a first step in a long process that will require a long-term federal presence. i represent areas, mr. speaker, affected by superstorm sandy and understand firsthand for the need for federal intervention when storms overwhelm state and local capacity. following sandy, the last administration requested and congress approved funding for resiliency to ensure that future generations can mitigate the damage from storms that have grown in intensity. we can argue about the effects of climate change on storms, but we must all agr

mr.: -- mr. stone: i did not because the length of my testimony which included that went over and i was only a 45 minutes. yes. i'm not holding my breath. >> did you decline to say who your intermediaries were? mr. stone: yes, i did. that is the only question i declined to answer. >> your opinion of the committee, hasn't it changed at all? mr. stone: well, mr. caster seems like a very nice guy but beyond that my opinion has not largely changed. >> [indiscernible] when you decline to id your -- mr. stone yes. : they would like me to do so. i told them i would consider it. now, the reason i am not submitting that name is because the intermediary is a journalist and our conversation was off the record. i am an opinion journalist, he is a journalist. i am not going to burn somebody i spoke to off the record. if you releases me, if he allows me to release it, i would be happy to give that to the committee. i'm actually going to try to do that. statements before or after, you said that members of the c

mr. diaz-balart: mr. chairman, i would now recognize mr. payne. mr. payne: mr. chair. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. payne: i rise as the designee of the ranking member lowey, and rise to strike the last word. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. payne: mr. speaker -- the chair: did the gentleman from florida yield back? the gentleman from florida may not reserve. he may yield. mr. diaz-balart: i yield, yes, sir. mr. payne: thank you, mr. chair. the chair: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. payne: mr. chairman, i rise in opposition to the proposed amendment. to coin it an earmark is unfortunate. the amendment would strike the language passed out of appropriations committee that supports transportation projects of national significance. the committee voted to appropriate $900 million to rail programs already authorized by congress in the fast act. for the last eight weeks, millions of commuters in the new york metropolitan area suffered through a summer of hell after amtrak announced emergency track work at penn station. the busiest in

mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, as kids we were taught that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. still, far too many students, especially those living in overty, arrive at school hungry each day. congress can and must do more to bolster our school breakfast programs so that all students across the country have access to a nutritious breakfast to start the day.y each day. i'm joined by my republican colleague on the house agriculture committee, congressman rodney davis, on a bill to expand commodities support to the school breakfast program. the bipartisan healthy breakfast help kids len act would provide schools with nutritional school to ensure no child starts school hungry t will allow schools to expand their breakfast programs, and serve schools nutritious american grown foods. school meals are just as essential as a textbook. i look forward to working with my colleagues to advance this bipartisan legislation that combined with other anti-hunger safety net programs will work to end hunger now

mr. king: mr. speaker, i'd like to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from geam, the chairman of the subcommittee. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. aderholt: i rise in support of the gentleman's amendment here. i support what the gentleman is doing with this amendment. i also appreciate his willingness to make a slight change to the amendment in order to maintain support from staff in embassies across the world that help usda staff open markets to u.s. goods. so with that being said, i would like to urge my colleagues to support his amendment and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman from iowa. mr. king: reclaiming the balance of my time, thanking the gentleman from alabama, i would add for clarification that the provision the gentleman referred to is section 40 , foreign service act of 19 0, which exempts those employees in foreign countries that surely would not want them encumbered under e-verify. in response to the gentleman's objection i have tried to fool e-verify

mr. speaker, i want to yield to my friend, the majority leader, we cooperate more than people will see from time to time. i want to thank him for that. and i yield to him to give us the schedule for the week to come. mr. mccarthy: i thank the gentleman for yielding and i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mccarthy: before i give the schedule, i want to say that today was a day that was very good to see our very dear friend steve scalise make it back. as the gentleman said, an attack on him was an attack on the entire institution. i was there that day in the hospital, my wife and i and waiting for jennifer to arrive and steve going through the surgeries, the number of times we would go back to visit, he is the strongest man i have ever known. his speech was from the heart that he first would seek god's guidance, the strength of jennifer, watch madison and harrison spend their entire summer in that hospital with their fathe

mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, tomorrow marks the 40th annivsary of the food stamp actf 1977, which was landmark bill that made this program more effective and more efficient. today we no longer refer to it as food stamps but as the supplemental nutritional assistance program or snap. in 40 years there's been numerous changes and updates but the goal remains the same. to end hunger in america. snap lessens the effects of poverty on some of our most vulnerable citizens. the results are proven. according to the census bureau snap lifted five million americans, including 2.2 million children, out of poverty in 2012 alone. snap generates $1.80 in economic activity for every dollar in new snap benefits. 2013, snap payment accuracy was 98ings 6%, a historic high. participating in snap for six months decreased food insecurity up to 10%, including households for children. mr. speaker, over four decades the program has become more effective, more efficient, and more modern. i look forward to continuing our work to

mr. bishop: mr. speaker, this bill to me is an extremely important bill. 0 years ago during this month, nine extraordinary students attended little rock, arkansas, central high school. they were kids picked for their academic ability and maturity level because they were going to go through a year that no one had ever seen before and hopefully no one will ever see again. mr. speaker, perhaps because i taught high school for almost 30 years, i understand the environment that took place here and i have a great deal of empathy for these nine kids that went there. they could have easily been my students. this becomes a significant concept that on september 4, 60 years ago, the governor of arkansas ordered the national guard to bar these nine kids from entrance into central high school in little rock. and then after some pressure withdrew the protections so the kids were subject to the mobs and the violence that took place there at that time. september 25, 60 years ago, dwight eisenhower showed the courage

mr. culver son, yesterday we spent the appropriate amount of time acknowledging not only the sacrifice, the bravery, the working together, all groups of people on a common cause of saving lives, taking care of children and elderly people and those in harm's way, but we also offered elsee hastings a happy 81st birthday yesterday. so you're a day late, but not a dollar short. you'll have a chance to tell alsee happy birthday. but we spent time yesterday to acknowledge that and as a member of that houston community, we want to -- i'm a suburb of houston. i live in dallas. but i want to say that we are trying to do our part in dallas to take care of people from houston and most sincerely we appreciate and respect all the people there and what they're going through. so we're going to also have joe certificate ran notice who saw me this morning and reminded me he would be here at 2:00 to testify on the commerce, justice, science and other related agencies of the bill. so thank you to each of yo

mr. heck: mr. speaker, i rise today to offer a bipartisan amendment in support of the small business administration's scaleup program. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 211 printed in house report 115-297 offered by mr. heck of washington. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 504, the gentleman from washington, mr. heck, and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from washington. mr. heck: thank you, mr. speaker. like many of you, one of my favorite things to do back at home is visit local businesses, businesses like beech tree in ympia which invested in some machinery. it opened with just four employees not that long ago and now they have more than a dozen and they're still growing. these businesses have all expanded with the help of s.b.a.'s scaleup program. scaleup is a program that gives small businesses the tools they need to become not so small anymore. it works with existing community networks to pr

mr. cohn: thank you, sarah. i was going to make opening remarks, but you covered a few of them. a couple things i will say is that the president has made his goals very clear, what he wants to achieve here with tax reform and cutting taxes in the united states. i think you know where we are in the process. the group of six has been working well together. we are now in the hands of congress. we want to go through a normal, regular process in the senate and the house. we are working well with both tax drafting committees. we will continue working well and quickly, and are trying to drive tax reform as quickly as we can. the basic premise behind that, you know. i will not take you through it. a question i get asked a lot, we have to make basic assumptions about where we will end up with the brackets. but based on our assumptions, a typical family earning $100,000 with two children that has been a standard deductor, can expect a tax cut of about $1000. that is where we can continue to be. i w

mr. todd: 30 seconds. mr.illespie: one thing clear -- we cannot count on washington dc -- cannot count on washington, d.c. to count on our problems. i do not know what they are owing to do on capitol hill. we need to have our own ideas and policies at the state level. we need to make it easier for insurers to enter the marketplace. it will help drive down costs. to have policies to allow for greater competition. we need to look at medicaid and reforms in the spending to make sure we are spending it efficiently. those are answers we can provide at the state level. we do not have to wait for washington, d.c. mr. todd: thank you. all right, thank you. you guys motored through these. [laughter] mr. todd: i have one more question. it is a very northern virginia western. it is up metro funding. as you know, larry hogan said his state will offer the additional $500 million over four years to fund metro virginia and easy do the same -- and d.c. do the same. you agree to the $500 million as well? about 300,000 virginia

mr. calvert: mr. chairman, i yield to the gentleman from maryland for the purpose of a colloquy. >> thank you, mr. chairman, for allowing me time to discuss an issue important to my constituents in ocean city, maryland. i'm proud that ocean city is home to beautiful beaches and views and as a as a result has a booming tourism industry. i want to respond to conference ocean city residents regarding the visibility of wind turbines offshore. siting turbines within 24 nautical miles of the shoreline, i believe our tourism will be compromised. i believe every effort should be made to minimize the effect of this on the view. this addresses the needs of the local community. i look forward to working with my colleagues to develop a practical solution to this challenge and i yield back. mr. calvert: as i mentioned in our full committee markup, i understand my colleague, dr. -- with all these offshore projects many varying viewpoints need to be take intoon account and i appreciate that we have been able to addr

mr. crist: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to honor our guest chaplain, reverend louis murphy senior, of my hometown of st. petersburg, florida. reverend murphy truly embodies what it means to love your neighbor as yourself. in his 18 years as senior pastor at the mount zion progressive missionary baptist church, he's been a dedicated disciple of christ, giving his time, energy, lifting up his congregation in the larger st. pete yoursburg community. in addition to his duties as pastor as one of the largest churches in the county, he's been a leader in economic revitalization efforts in lifti st. petersburg and in supporting job training and outreach programs for at-risk youth. a native of florida, truly a man of god, a man of the people. i personally thank reverend murphy for coming to the people's house and providing such a moving, thoughtful invocation. god bless you. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable

mr. hastings: mr. chair, i ask unanimous consent to withdraw my request for a recorded vote on amendment number 98 printed in part b of house report 115-295 to the end that the chair puts the question de novo. the clerk: amendment number 98 printed in house report 115-295 offered by mr. hastings of florida. the chair: is there objection to the gentleman's request? without objection, the request for a recorded vote is withdrawn. the question is on the amendment on offered by the gentleman from florida. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the noes have it. and the amendment is not agreed o. pursuant to clause 6 of rule 18, proceedings will resume on those amendments printed in part b of house report 115-295 in the following order. amendment number 91, amendment mber 92, amendment number 99 by mr. grothman, amendment number 110. the chair will reduce to two minutes the minimum time for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is request for a recorded vote on

mr. thune: mr. president, i rise today to voice my strong support for the nomination of ajit pai to a second five-year term as a commissioner at the federal communications commission. mr. pai has served as a commissioner at the federal communications commission since 2012 when he was first confirmed by a voice vote in the senate. mr. pai was designated by president trump to be the 34th chairman of the federal communications commission in january of this yeand renominated to a second term in march. in july, the commerce committee which i am privileged to chair held a hearing on the nomination of mr. pai and the committee reported out his nomination favorably on august 2. before becoming a commissioner, mr. pai worked in the public and private sectors, notably serving here in the senate as a staffer on the judiciary committee as well as in the general counsel's office at the f.c.c. it is my belief that mr. pai's stellar career and communications policy, his integrity, and his tireless work ethic all s

mr. ryan: does anyone have any questions? reporter: mr. speaker, have you asked the president to at least check with you before he makes an agreement with democrats? mr. ryan: first off, there's no agreement. the president and the chief of staff call me from air force one today to discuss what was discussed. and it was a discussion, not an agreement or a negotiation. let me say a couple of thing. and i'll say the same thing i've been saying for weeks. the president and i have been talking about this for weeks. you cannot fix daca without fixing the root cause of our problem. we do not have control of our borders. so we need border security and enforcement as part of any agreement. i think that's something the democrats are beginning to understand. i think that's something that they're beginning to agree with. i said as much to our democratic colleagues here in the house just yesterday. but we have not begun negotiations. what we're doing is talking with ourselves here and our majority to make sure that we're on the same page ourselves befo

mr. davis: mr. speaker, since i spoke on pediatric cancer month, more than 10,000 children have been diagnosed with cancer and approximately 1,200 died due to this deadly disease. it remains the leading cause of death for children in the united states. in our country alone, nearly one out of every 285 children will be diagnosed with cancer. for those who survive the disease, the vast majority enjoy health complications for the regs of their lives. despite these startling stisticks, progress has been made. the -- statistics, progress has been made. the 21st century cures act and the race for children act has been signed into law. these bills will incentivize innovation and help us of mo closer to cures. the fact remains 4% of the national cancer institutes' budget supports childhood cancer research. before he lost his battle with cancer, 7-year-old johnny wade from jerseyville told me that 4% is not enough. i agree with my friend, johny. -- johnny. 4% is not enough. we must continue to support resear

mr. nolan: mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. nolan: mr. chairman, as co-chairman of the bipartisan congressional lung cancer caucus, i want to first express my appreciation for allowing my amendment to be made in order and for the work of the committee. make no mistake, these extra funds that are in my measure, the $3.8 million for cancer research at the cancer institute urging that be spent on lung cancer in particular, those extra funds will make an enormous difference in battling lung cancer. which is, as you all know the most deadly of all the cancers. my daughter katherine was diagnosed with stage 4, nonsmoking small cell lung cancer almost two years ago. thanks to medical research and the daily prayers, so many of my colleagues here in the house, katherine is still with us. but like so many thousands of others, she is still courageously and desperately fighting for her future. and we can provide those people ith some real hope

mr. frelinghuysen: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and their remarks include extraneous material on the consideration of h.r. 3354, and i may include tabular material on the same. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. pursuant to house resolution 500 and rule 18, the chair declares is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 3350 -- 3354. the chair appoints the gentleman from georgia, mr. collins, to preside over the ommittee of the whole. the chair: the house will be in order. the committee will please be in order. please take your conversations off the house floor. the sooner we're quiet the sooner we can begin. the committee will be in order. please take your conversation off the house floor. he committee will be in order. or it won't. will the members please take your conversation off the house floor so we can begin debate. the sooner we begin debate the sooner we'll vote l

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i have a request for one committee to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. wyden: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, in a few minutes i'm going to start sprinting to the airport to get home to listen to oregonians who have been clobbered by several mega fires unlike anything we have seen in my home state of oregon. on top of that, in addition to the mega fires, there are numerous other fires. just up the road from my hometown of portland, eagle creek fire has merged with the indian creek fire and has spread over an area of 31,000 acres. and what we have seen again just staggering in its implications, the fire jumped the columbia river into washington state. it's ravaging our iconic columbia river george. is this -- gorge. this is a treasure and beloved by people who visit it every year and people in my home state. ne

mr. holzer: we were the last. mr. carmichael: i wanted to talk about your partner in crime, edith. ,he is a big part of your work in youracknowledgment book -- it is a lovely tribute. she retired at a young age, she retired at 41. i am making that up. she has been able to spend a lot of time with me on the road. mr. carmichael: people are interested in the process of researching. how does it work? mr. holzer: we make a plan about what year or month we are going to cover. we have spent a lot of time in the library of congress. have notently, i asked, i am one of the few to have access to the original lincoln papers. they do not like to let people look at the lincoln papers because they are on microfilm, they are online. i hate to break this to people who are dependent on online resources. it is not all there. the things that lincoln clipped out, the things people sent him are not included in the transcribed or photographed versions. we found a lot of great things. half hasyear and a been in quest of daniel chester fren

mr. green: mr. speaker, i rise in support of the millions of americans whose health coverage is once again being threatened in the effort to repeal the affordable care act. the american people have spoken. they don't want it repeal. they don't want it replaced with the graham-cassidy, the latest cruel version of trumpcare. from the insurance proprietors, to doctors, to hospitals, to patient advocacy groups oppose graham-cassidy because it will result in skyrocketing premiums and co-pays and loss of coverage for millions of americans. particularly older americans who need the care most. it's time to abandon the rhetoric and repeal and replace and work together to stabilize our health care markets. senators murray and alexander were working together on a bipartisan bill to fix the a.c.a. before the republican majority abandoned their efforts for the graham-cassidy. i hope we return to the bipartisan efforts as soon as possible to stabilize markets and improve access to health care for all americans. i

mr. duffy: a two-step process. mr. vladeck: or find someone that will fire the acting attorney general. senator graham: we're trying to make sure that something out of bounds can happen and mr. mueller can proceed forward with some confidence. is that a thing worth the congress looking at given the circumstances we have? do you think we're doing the right thing by looking at that? >> i think you are. providing a process and orderly process of judicial review might strengthen presidential power and make the president more certain that if there is something that is, you know, legitimately good cause the president believes is good cause, the president can issue an order and not have brinksmanship. not have saturday night massacre. senator graham: what i am trying to avoid is a saturday night massacre and upheaval in the country that i think would be hard for us to goferte. i want the president to know there is a process in place. there are checks and balances. long before you got here. and long before after you're gone. n

mr. schiff: i'm delighted to be in a situation where the house gets to go first. i want to compliment insa for recognizing the proper order of things this morning. ms. kelly: yes. well, i wonder what went on behind the scenes. we'll have to get to the bottom of that. it's fantastic to have you here. with so much going on in the , so much ce community of it showing up in sound bites on television, on a daily basis, so much politics back and forth, when you take a deep breath, and you sit back aunled look at all the things we're dealing with, security clearance reform, an investigation into russia, the 702 come up for renewal later this year, how do you prioritize what you think is the most important? mr. schiff: it is an enormous challenge this year in particular. because in addition to all our day job responsibilities of oversight, we've also had the russia investigation layered on top. the not as if the other issues went away or went on hayities. when i think back, and i think all of us

mr. bacon: mr. speaker, i rise this morning to democrat commem rate hispanic heritage month by honoring a dedicated community leader from our district, alberto gonzalez, who has worked with the youth of our hispanic community, serves as a shining example for current and future generations. he grew up in hispanic neighborhoods in south omaha, but was on drugs and alcohol by the age of 11. at 23 he met a sister and learned about christ. he committed his life to helping youth. he runs youth drug and alcohol treatment groups, outreach with schools, and serves as a counselor. today he serves as an omaha police department gang prevention and intermention specialist for the south omaha boys and girls club. through these efforts he's touched and changed the lives of hundreds if not thousands of youth in the hispanic community. gives credit to god, his father, who always prayed for him, sister joyce, and the many educators and professionals who encouraged him along the way. i yield back the balance of my tim

mr. wyden: mr. president, thank you. mr. president, i rise today in opposition to the president's nomination of ajit pai to head the federal communications commission. my view is that, in particular, mr. pai will do an enormous amount of damage to one of the foundational principles of the internet -- net neutrality -- and i am going to outline why that would be a horrendous mistake for our country. mr. president, after we came to use the internet and see what an extraordinary asset it could be to our country, really beginning late in the 1990's, we laid out what i still consider to be the legal foundation for the internet. in other words, there was a lot of joking about who created the internet. the internet was being used and to see how beneficial it would be. and on a bipartisan basis, the senate and house to really lay out what were the foundational principles of the net for a variety of them. mr. president, we wanted to make sure that folks weren't hit with multiple and discriminatory taxes, a tax on access to the intern

mr. wicker: and, mr. president, i have six requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. wicker: and now, mrpresiden i note the absence of a quorum. the priding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mr. markey: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. markey: thank you, mr. president, very much. today we begin debate on a position in our government that impathe daily lives of every single american. if you use a telephone to connect to the internet, watch television, pay a big cable company to do all of those things, then you need to know who ajit pai is. president trump has nominated ajit pai to be the chairman of the federal communications commission, and while ajit pai has devoted many years to public

mr. courtney: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, albert einstein is reported to have once said the definition of insanity is trying to dot same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. using that definition, the men in the white coats with large butterfly nets have plenty of whacky patients to catch in the senate where this week, tomorrow in farkts the republican leadership is once again for over the 60th time trying to jam through a so-called health care bill which will repeal the affordable care act without a coherent replacement. once again the republican leadership will force a vote without analysis by the congressional budget office of the cassidy-graham bill, no hearings at the health care committees, and in the face of a tidal wave of opposition from the health care world, patient groups, health care givers, and even republican governors have had one message over the last week which is to vote no. mr. speaker, just to give you a small sample of some of the patient groups that have spoken in over th

mr. wyden: mr. president, thank you. mr. president, i rise today in opposition to the president's nomination of ajit pai to head the federal communications commission. my view is that, in particular, mr. pai will do an enormous amount of damage to one of the foundational principles of the internet -- net neutrality -- and i am going to outline why that would be a horrendous mistake for our country. mr. president, after we came to use the internet and see what an extraordinary asset it could be to our country, really beginning late in the 1990's, we laid out what i still consider to be the legal foundation for the internet. in other words, there was a lot of joking about who created the internet. the internet was being used and to see how beneficia it would be. and on a bipartisan basis, the senate and house to really lay out what were the foundational principles of the net for a variety of them. mr. president, we wanted to make sure that folks weren't hit with multiple and discriminatory taxes, a tax on access to the interne

mr. flake: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. flake: i ask unanimous consent to vacate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. the senate will now be in a period of morning business until 11:00 a.m. for debate only with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. mr. flake: mr. president, last month i spoke here about an amazing story i was told and i had the opportunity to host several veterans who survived the sinking of the u.s.s. arizona during the attack on pearl harbor. they recalled to me an incredible story of a true american hero named joe george. i'd like to briefly remind everyone of that story now. on december 7, 1941, joe was a 26-year-old mate second class board the repair ship u.s.s. vessel in pearl harbor. that morning the vessel was just outside the u.s.s. arizona. at 7:48 a.m. many sailors including joe had just finished their breakfast when the imperial japane

mr. scalise: thank you, mr. speaker. you have no idea how great this feels to be back here at work in the people's house. as you can imagine these last 3 1/2 months have been pretty challenging times for me and my family. but if you look at the outpouring of love, of warmth, of prayer, my gosh, jennifer and i have been overwhelmed with all of that outpouring. us the strength to get through all of this and to get to this point today. t starts us the strength with . when i was laying out on that ball field, the first thing i did once i was down and couldn't move anymore is i just started to pray. and i'll tell you it gave me an unbelievable sense of calm knowing that at that point it was in god's hands. but i prayed for very specific things. i will tell you pretty much every one of those prayers was answered. and they were some pretty allenging chairs i was putting in god's hands. he really did deliver for me and my family and it just gives you that renewed faith and understanding that the power of prayer is something that

mr. wyden: thank you, mr. president. i'm going to take some time this afternoon to respond to the remarks of the president's top economic advisor, mr. gary cohen, with respect to this administration's approach to taxes. and let me be clear right at the outset, the president and hicksf millionaires are illustrating a middle class con job and i'm going to be very specific as to why i reach that judgment with respect to what they're saying about taxes. now the president said, i don't benefit, very, very strongly. i think there's very little benefit for people of wealth. those are the president's exact words. he also said it's not good for me, believe me, the president said in a speech unveiling the tax reform blueprint on wednesday. now unless the president pays zero tax, the president is going to benefit enormously from his tax plan. his family would save billions if the estate tax is eliminated as he's proposed. his more than 500 pass-throughs will be able to take advantage of the new grand canyon-sized pass-through looph