thank you for serving our country. mrs. ump: beautiful. >> thank you for helping everyone in the country. thank you for everything. mrs. trump: beautiful. veterans, thank you for serving our country. [indiscernible] do you want to read yours? want to read it? >> dear troops, merry christmas. -- i still think you will have a great time. they will be very happy to see you. thank you for all your help. have a very merry christmas. mrs. trump: beautiful. dear veterans, i want to wish you a merry christmas and happy new year. [crowd noise]

did you ever think about that? mr. ink clinton had a bigger role to play than you did because i don't think i ever would have run for governor had he not defeated dad. it would have been difficult for me to have beaten ann richards in 1994 because i would've spent my time defending george h.w. bush, who had been in the last two years of his presidency. it enabled brother jeb and me to run on our own for governor in our respective states. i was sitting in the oval office at the desk, taking it all in, and in walks my dad and i said, welcome, mr. president. and he said, thank you mr. president. david: that must've been something. what was it like when your mother walked in the oval office for the first time and you are president of the united states? mr. clinton: she started laughing out loud. [laughter] mr. clinton: it was so ridiculous the idea that it could ever happen. ♪ ♪ david: both of you ran for congress and both lost. so you have that in common. but after you lost the first time, you were trying to beat an incumb

♪ david: you are now both former presidents. mr. inton: nobody plays a song when you walk into a room anymore. [laughter] mr. bush: i did not bring the coffee. david: what do you say to each other? mr. bush: generally, when does this program start and when is it going to end? [laughter] mr. clinton: he'll say to me give shorter answers. david: what was the biggest surprise the first day you are in the oval office? mr. clinton: it really surprised me how easily i could be turned into a two-dimensional cartoon. mr. bush: in walks my dad, i said, "welcome, mr. president." and he said, "thank you, mr. president." >> would you fix your tie, please? david: people wouldn't recognize me if my tie was fixed. i will leave it this way. alright. ♪ david: i don't consider myself a journalist. nobody else would consider myself a journalist. i began to take on the life of being an interviewer, even though i have a day job. how do you define leadership? what is it that makes somebody tick? ♪ david: i'd like to start by acknowledging the presence of

you, sir. [applause] mr. young: thank you, mr. president.t to thank all these guys standing behind me, these ladies, the people who helped me do this. this is 37 years i tried to get this passed. it proves one thing, perseverance overcomes intelligence any day of the year. [laughter] mr. young: i thank the president, i thank you mr. president and my two senators. this is a team that cannot be beat. this bill does what's right for this nation and great land. we will be great again. thank you, mr. president. [cheers and applause] president trump: he's a pretty popular guy. pretty good. i want to ask orrin hatch, a special friend of mine. i can tell you that, somebody that spoke really well of me when it wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do. he was just always in there, always fighting for all of us and did a fantastic job for all -- did a fantastic job as chairman. orrin, say a few words, please. senator hatch: mr. president, i have to say that you are living up to everything i thought you would. you are one heck of a leader and we are all b

mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. any way you cut it, with this bill, the rich will get richer, the poor will get poorer, and middle class families will get shafted. 13 million americans will lose their health coverage and people with pre-existing conditions can forget it. then the writers of this bill will be coming after entitlement programs, after medicaid, medicare, social security, s.s.i. we're down to the wire. and no matter what is said, this bill raises the debt, raises taxes on middle income families, and provides wealthy individuals and cormingses with -- corporations with big tax cuts they don't need. . it's a sad day for my district. it's a sad day for the state of illinois. and it's a sad day for the united states of america. and i will vote no. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: mr. speaker, i'm so proud to yield one minute to the gentleman from north carolina, mr. holding. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for one minute. mr. holding: mr.

mrs. black: thank you, mr.sident and i thank all of the folks who are standing behind me because it has been a team effort. when we talked about doing tax reform and the tax reform and jobs cuts act, that is what the american people are going to benefit by. and as tim has just said, it is the average american. that's the reason why we did this tax reform. we looked at those right in the middle, those families that need the assistance and help and relief to be able to live their lives the way they are promised. it is an honor to stand here with the president of the united states, the vice president of the united states who have been an integral part in making sure this happens. i thank kevin brady, who i know hours and hours and hours worked hard to make this happen and what was really a short period of time. and some of the folks that are being left out right now and i know we have thanked them before but thank them publicly and that is all of the staff that has worked so hard in both the house and the senate t

mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. any way you cut it, with this bill, the rich will get richer, the poor will get poorer, and middle class families will get shafted. 13 million americans will lose their health coverage and people with pre-existing conditions can forget it. then the writers of this bill will be coming after entitlement programs, after medicaid, medicare, social security, s.s.i. we're down to the wire. and no matter what is said, this bill raises the debt, raises taxes on middle income families, and provides wealthy individuals and cormingses with -- corporations with big tax cuts they don't need. . it's a sad day for my district. it's a sad day for the state of illinois. and it's a sad day for the united states of america. and i will vote no. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from texas. mr. brady: mr. speaker, i'm so proud to yield one minute to the gentleman from north carolina, mr. holding. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from north carolina is recognized for one minute. mr. holding: mr.

thank you, mr. president, for all you are doing. lause] speaker ryan: what this represents is a promise that each and everyone of us made to the american people last year. it is a promise that is kept today. [applause] mr. ryan: something this big, something this generational, something this profound could not have been done without exquisite presidential .eadership mr. president, thank you for getting us over the finish line. thank you for getting us where we are. [applause] i just want to say thanks. this has been such a team effort. i want to thank gary cohen and steve mnuchin from the president's team for what they did to get us here. i want to thank mitch mcconnell in the senate for getting us two, we are and these orrin hatch and kevin brady. thank you for your leadership on this. it is really simple. the message to the hard-working taxpayers of america is your tax relief is on its way. that is what is happening. who have been struggling paycheck to paycheck, your tax rates are going down and your paychecks are going up. this i

mrs. comstock: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank you, mr. chairman, for your leadership on this important issue. i rise in support of h.r. 630, my legislation to deal with -- to begin to deal with the sexual harassment issue. 30 years ago in 1988, a 34-year-old legislative aide named dorina faced a very lonely fight when she decided to stand up to a powerful congressman, jim bates of california, who repeatedly sexually harassed her and others in his office with questions, comments and actions. such as asking her what type of sex she liked, saying different things that he would imagine. he talked about her breasts. he humped her leg in front of the staff and said vulgar things that are really too unpleasant to talk about in this body. she didn't get a lot of press attention or some of the support that victims get today. she got little support from this body. she went on her journey alone. she received nasty phone calls and even threats. she was warned they would release damaging information about her, but fortunately she prevailed and men and

mr. goodlatte: thank you, mr. chairman. chairman sessions, ranking member slaughter, and members of the committee. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today in support of h.r. 38, the concealed carry reciprocity act of 2017. h.r. 38 was introduced by mr. hudson of north carolina and is co-sponsored by 213 members from both sides of the aisle. this bill allows law-abiding gun owners with valid state-issued concealed firearm permits or those who live in so-called constitutional carry states to carry a con center field firearm in any other -- a concealed carry firearm in any other state that allows concealed carry. carrying concealed weapons reduces violent crime rates by deterring would-be assailants and a-- and by allowing law-abiggede citizens to defend themselves. a 1997 study, regarding the effect of concealed carry laws on crime rates, estimated that when state concealed handgun laws went into effect in a county, murders fell by more than 7%, and rapes and aggravated assaults fell by similar percentages. th

mr. neal: thank you. mr. speaker, we've heard this discussion back and forth tonight about tax relief for the middle class, and we've heard the other side say that you are going to get $1,189 for a family of four, i think, making $59,000 a year. what they don't say is that they are going to take away the state and local tax deduction, they are going to take away the ability of children to deduct interest payments on student debt, that they're going to shave back the mortgage interest deduction, get rid of the historic tax credit, that they are going to get rid of new markets tax credits. here's the best one of all. as champions of the middle class they are, they're going to repeal the estate tax. the gentleman from pennsylvania, who is my friend, he said we need to stop talking about wealth. well, how about approaching it this way? we're wealthy and we're not going to take it anymore. because that's essentially what this argument is about. when you look at the distribution tables as to who gets what in this ta

mr. neal: thank you. mr. speaker, we've heard this discussion back and forth tonight about tax relief for the middle class, and we've heard the other side say that you are going to get $1,189 for a family of four, i think, making $59,000 a year. what they don't say is that they are going to take away the state and local tax deduction, they are going to take away the ability of children to deduct interest payments on student debt, that they're going to shave back the mortgage interest deduction, get rid of the historic tax credit, that they are going to get rid of new markets tax credits. here's the best one of all. as champions of the middle class they are, they're going to repeal the estate tax. the gentleman from pennsylvania, who is my friend, he said we need to stop talking about wealth. well, how about approaching it this way? we're wealthy and we're not going to take it anymore. because that's essentially what this argument is about. when you look at the distribution tables as to who gets what in this ta

mr. newhouse: thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. mcgovern. it's early. a little early in my estimation for four-letter words but if that's where you want to go i understand. this is a passionate issue. everybody feels very passionately about this. what are we waiting for? well, that's a good question. there's many people in a bipartisan basis working very hard on this issue. they really are. my understanding is that just in the last few days a bipartisan group of senators met at the white house and i don't know what was agreed on specifically but apparently there's some commitment to work on this, get this done in january by those individuals with the president. so if that's the case, the pressure's off from the senate. it wasn't our doing. it was something that was already worked out that there's going to be something happening next year. so what are we waiting for? i guess that's what we're waiting for now. we've been continuing to work on this, as you know, many of us in this room have been working on it for a long time and still want to get it done. i

[applause] thank you, mr. ident. >> a man who has been working very hard -- thank you, paul -- very, very hard for a long period of time and last night was a culmination. i don't know if we'll have bigger moments but we hope to. we'll try. a special guy and great friend of mine, vice president mike pence. [applause] >> thank you, mr. president. thank you for those kind words. more importantly, thank you for your leadership and boundless faith in the american people. thank you for keeping your promise to this congress, delivering the largest tax cut in american history before christmas of this year. [applause] merry christmas, america! [applause] to members of our cabinet, to leader mcconnell, speaker ryan, all of these members of congress, thank you. thank you not only for being here today, for this special moment but thank you for your leadership and support throughout this year. i truly do believe mr. president that this will be remembered as a pivotal moment in the life of our nation. a day when the congress

david: did you ever meet him again? mr. collins: i did. david: did he remember you? mr. collins: no. he denies the whole thing. it was quite a bit later like maybe 10 years ago. david: you went to college at university of virginia. mr. collins: yep. david: you were an academic superstar? mr. collins: i was a bit of a nerd. i got excited about science in also. i should give testimony right now to the importance of having a really good teacher in also. what got me interested in science didn't come from my family. no scientist, no physicians for generations. it was that course i had from john halas in tenth grade at lee also in stanton, virginia. david: you went to yale to get a ph.d in what? mr. collins: in chemical physics. it was very -- it was mathematical, physical science. david: your parents are obviously proud. you have a degree at university of virginia, ph.d from yale. and now air ready to get a job, right? mr. collins: you would think so, wouldn't you? david: what happened? mr. collins: here i was as a graduate student sort of working late at night at 2:00 in the

mr. hudson, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. administrator, for making the extra effort to come back and take all of our questions, and thank you for your strong leadership at the agency. i appreciate also your efforts to make the epa focus on air and water and soil contamination. my state in north carolina's been shaken by the discovery of a chemical called generation x in the cape fear river. i know my state reports that again x is no longer getting into the river and the treated drinking water is within state health goals. the previous epa administrator permitted use of this chemical without conditions in 2009. can you say whether the epa discovered gen-x was used in this fashion? >> i don't have that information, but i can get it to you. >> i appreciate it. i understands the epa has updated its risk assessment of gen-x and has set up analysis for it and water samples are being collected right now along the cape fear river, including wastewater, surface water, groundwater and treated drinking water samples. are there any findi

thank you, mr. chairman. you said to follow the rules, were the rules followed in the hillary clinton investigation? dir. wray: that's something that's being investigated right now by the outside inspector general. i'm very much looking forward to seeing what he finds on that. >> you and me both. do you think she got special treatment? dir. wray: well, again, i think when you ask about special treatment, i interpret that but i may not be correctly interpreting your question which i'm sure you'll tell me, but i determine to be whether or not the handling of the investigation was tainted in some way by improper political considerations and that's exactly what the inspector general's going to tell us. >> i sent you a letter asking you to tell us whether or not hillary clinton got special treatment and your office's answer was you provide in a classified setting. why don't the american people deserve to know whether or not hillary clinton got special treatment? dir. wray: well, i think the reference to classified

mr. heck: thank you, mr. speaker, thank you, mr. capuano. i want to extend my gratitude to the gentleman from missouri. this has been a three-year journey for this particular legislation, not uncommon in this environment. but it was a difficult journey at times. at no step along the way did the gentleman from missouri ever waiver from his commitment to working as collaboratively as possible and a willingness to work to find a solution. and he did just that. i thank him for that and i also want to thank ranking member waters for her efforts without which this bill would never even have made it to the floor. i do believe that this bill is stronger as a consequence of the amendments that we have made, the changes that we have made to it. and most importantly, those that do not -- will ensure we do not interfere with the important work of law enforcement. i have been upfront about this, from my perfect i, my interest in this bill grows out of my work on helping my state find ways to make sure our state regulated marijuana businesses have access

thank you, mr. secretary. >> thank you, madam chairwoman and mr. secretary i would invite you to come to eastern connecticut and see a sizing up of apprenticeship programs seeded by federal dollars through the work force innovation fund using fitzgerald act standards which applies not only to the shipyard i wr we're recapitalizing the submarine force with the virginia class program rngs but also the supply chain, the small guys, who begin, had initial fears about taking out apprenticeship regular lations and found the process was very flexible and manageable. i think you would benefit from seeing a sizing up, dramatic sizing up, 3,000 hires this year as again we move forward to enlarge our undersea fleet and i have a letter from the eastern connecticut work force board that has data and statistics about the again tremendous success that's happening with fitzgerald act standards in place. madame chairwoman. >> without objection. >> the other question i want to jump in is a number of us have been working on work place violence trends that are happenin

>> thank you mr. president. i guess my question to the minister of defense. representative of the major defense contract and a summit at chemicals on organized on behalf of the epa and new zealand and the sailing government of industry criticizes the univer universe. the representative also made an inaccurate statement about the state the second of the contaminants in the convention. considering it is undertaking major investigation into contamination and the are double a in wales do you agree that companies who contract have a major conflict of interest in investigating contamination issues? >> thank you very much mr. president. i thank you for your question. i'm not aware of the statement the senator has been made by i'm aware of the efforts that they're making in a number of locations and almost three environmental investigations at this point which will take the investigation to a single national environment investigation in the country as you would be aware. however, further effort and i'll respond her into

mr. goodlatte: thank you, mr. chairman. chairman sessions, ranking member slaughter, and members of the committee. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today in support of h.r. 38, the concealed carry reciprocity act of 2017. h.r. 38 was introduced by mr. hudson of north carolina and is co-sponsored by 213 members from both sides of the aisle. this bill allows law-abiding gun owners with valid state-issued concealed firearm permits or those who live in so-called constitutional carry states to carry a concealed carry firearm in any other state that allows concealed carry. carrying concealed weapons reduces violent crime rates by deterring would-be assailants and a -- and by allowing law-abiding citizens to defend themselves. a 1997 study, regarding the effect of concealed carry laws on crime rates, estimated that when state concealed handgun laws went into effect in a county, murders fell by more than 7%, and rapes and aggravated assaults fell by similar percentages. this bill simply allows americans who travel

mr. davis: thank you, mr. speaker. when you think of robin hood in reverse, take from the poor and give to the rich, or when you take away social net programs, you take away medicare and medicaid, it reminds me of marie antoinette when the people had no bread and she said, let them eat cake. i was opposed to this before it was released. opposed yesterday. opposed tomorrow. will be opposed next week. it's no good for the american people. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized. mr. neal: might i inquire how much time is remaining. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts has 3 1/2 minutes remaining. the gentleman from texas has one minute remaining. mr. neal: i'm prepared to close on this side. i yield myself the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 3 1/2 minutes. mr. neal: so in one month we have taken the entire revenue system of the united states wi

mr. barthold. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. barthold to you and your staff for all your hard work in the midst of a lot of complexity and confusion i think. is it accurate to say that under both the house and senate bills, millions of working families with incomes under $200,000 a year would get a tax increase? >> if i could just elaborate briefly, there's substantial changes as we described, there's some -- depending upon the taxpayer's situation -- >> bottom line -- >> -- we've documented for you during the finance committee's deliberation that there will be fair number of cases where tax liabilities increase. >> thank you. in fact, according to your numbers that we have jct calculates that 32.48 million families with incomes under $200 end up with a tax increase under the house bill and 37.79 million families with incomes under $200,000 end up with a tax increase under the senate bill, according to your numbers. how many working families with incomes under $200,000 would receive a tax increase under either the house or senate

mr. graves: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to evise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on senate 1393. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. graves: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consumer. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. graves: mr. speaker, senate would exempt current members of the armed services o members of the armed services or reserve components from certain testing requirements for commercial drivers' license it is they had qualifying experience while serving in the armed services and reserve components. this bill also expands the types of medical professionals that the department of veterans that who can certify veterans meet the physical standards required to operate a commercial vehicle. these commonsense changes will help remove barriers to employment for men and women who have served our country in uniform. this bill is a

you? >> the republican donors -- mr. garrett: the gifts from to -- in your nation political donations and it would not surprise you to know they were in one direction. >> it would not. mr. garrett: would it surprise you if i were to tell you that based on public records, the political giving of the leadership of those organizations was almost exclusively in one direction? >> no. mr. garrett: would you contest the assertion -- >> you have not given up your days as a trial lawyer, have you? mr. garrett: again, it is interesting. i respect what you do, but i am concerned with how you are doing it i think it is fair to say the deadliest collective force in human history probably just after national socialism would be communism, which in arguably is a dogma of the left. i am not ascribing values to anyone. i'm suggesting that it troubles those to see an entity that has been responsible for determining what is and is not hate that skews almost exclusively, as do their collaborators, in a particular direction. i guess i admonish

i yield back. >> thank you, mr. rooney, i'll now yield to ranking member schiff for any opening comments he would like to make. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i want to take this opportunity to address my colleagues in the hope that we can change this hearing from the path that it's on at the moment, which is to a party line vote on this proposal and see if we can still produce an almost completely bipartisan work product. what we have suggested when we engaged in the early discussions over the bill was a way of resolving the most difficult issue around 702, and that is how should we deal with queries of the data base created by 702. 702, as we all know, is a program that's important. ap targets foreigners on foreign soil. and there are times we target foreigners on foreign soil where information, because of foreigners talking about an american or talking to an american is captured in the data base. so the question is, under what circumstances should law enforcement be able to query that data base that may contain some

mr. nunes: thank you, mr. conaway. mr. himes. mr. himes: thank you, mr. chairman. i ask for time really in a state of mind of real sadness, sadness really because i love this committee's work and i, like every single member, i like what we do because what we do is really important. we are the only people really who oversee a roughly $80 billion operation which does essential, critical, and important things. dangerous things. controversial things. and theoretically we could have had a really good debate and conversation about a controversial program that we all understand is critical but we all understand it's hard to get to the terms on which the government gets to go through the private communications of american citizens. and i'm sad because historically this committee operated in a bipartisan way. instead, where we are today is a bill that was presented to us about 36 hours ago, a bill that has exactly had zero hearings associated with it, and as much as i like and chairman of the n.s.a. and cybersecurity subcommittee, i consider him a friend, i'm the ranking me

thank you, mr. speaker. et me make sure before i leave , 122. thank you, mr. speaker. i would love to have been from alabama. i'm from illinois today. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair recognizes the gentleman from alabama, mr. rooks, for five minutes. mr. brooks: mr. speaker, this is a very difficult speech for me to give. god works in mysterious ways. when you are an elected official, missed votes require an explanation. that is why disclosed otherwise very personal, very private, and very humbling matter. on halloween night after votes as i stood on the capitol steps my doctor called and said congressman brooks, bad news. you have high risk prostate a cancer. i felt an adrenaline rush as a chill went up and down my spine. by way of background, prostate cancer kills almost 27,000 american men each year and is the third leading cause of cancer deaths behind only lung and colorectal cancers. 71% of prostate cancer patients die in less than five years if the prostate cancer has spread beyond the abdominal cal

thank you, mr. president, for all you are doing. [ applause ] >> first of all, what this represents is a promise that each and every one of us made to the american people last year, is a promise that is kept today. [ applause ] something this big, something this generational, something this profound, could not have been done without exquisite presidential leadership. mr. president, thank you for getting us over the finish line. thank you for getting us where we are. [ applause ] i just want to quickly say a thanks. because this has been such a team effort from everybody. i want to thank gary cohen and steve mnuchin from the president's economic team for what they did to get us here. [ applause ] i want to thank my partner mitch mcconnell over in the senate to getting us to where we are. and i want to thank the two chairman orrin hatch and kevin brady ch brady. thank you so much for your leadership on this [ applause ] " it is really simple the message to hard working people of america, it is on the w

mr. hudson, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. administrator, for making the extra effort to come back and take all of our questions. and thank you for your strong leadership at the agency. i appreciate also that your efforts to make the epa focus on air and water and soil contamination. my state of north carolina has been shaken by a discovery of a chemical called generation x. i know my state reports that gen x is no longer getting into the river and treated drinking water is within state health goals. the previous epa administrator had conditions in 2009. can you say whether epa has discovered if gen x was used in an impermissible fashion? >> i'm not aware, congressman. we can provide that information to you. i don't have any information on that today th, but we can get t to you. >> i appreciate it. i understand the epa is updating its risk assessment and performing independent analysis for water samples being collected now by the north carolina deq, along the cape fear river, including wastewater, surface water, ground water an

thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from california mr. lou for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you deputy attorney general rosenstein for being here today. i note for the american people not only appointed by republican president donald trump also previously appointed by george bush to serve as attorney for maryland. in a profile view in the "the washington post" when you were u.s. attorney, a former prosecutor says rod rosenstein is a poster child for the professional. competent, ethical and fair minded prosecutor. so thank you for your service to the american people and for your exemplary service. >> thank you. >> last week, fbi director christopher wray told us that no one is above the law. you would agree with that statement, correct? >> absolutely. >> no one is above the law? >> yes, i would. >> now important to our democracy is not only that concept but also that people have to have trust in our law enforcement investigations. there are some of my colleagues and some in the media who have suggested that if you make po

>> thank you mr. president. considering we have contracts with the defense department as a result and considering our waste management how is your department investigated the roles of the company and the contamination scandal and the department of defense can be handling? >> thank you very much. in terms of your language senator, you may refer to it in that way but we know that you know if you are in the chamber this is a legacy contamination issue that the australian government and a number of other international governments are handling. it doesn't only pertains to the defense side but airport and the sites used by [inaudible] and number of energy participants in the fuel area and there's a substantial way to go in the for all of those. >> point of order. >> turn your attention to the question of relevance and the question was about how your investigated the role of the company in the contamination scandal. it's not about what they have done but specifically about that country -- >> they were addressing the oth

thank you. mr. boustany: thank you, mr. speaker, and thank you -- mrs. bustos: thank you, mr. speaker, and thank you, congressman lahood, for putting this together, as we celebrate the 200th birthday of our great state of illinois. the congressional district i serve stretches from rockford to the north, the western border is the mississippi river. and then we go into central illinois, as congressman lahood said, to the city of pee pouria. and -- peoria. and i'm very proud to be able to share that city with congressman lahood. my congressional district also represents the quad city, which is where i call home. between is scenic n farmland and f.b.i. rick towns. we are a proud region with a proud history of manufacturing and agriculture and service to our nation. let me tell you about the congressional district i serve. we are the home of cat pillar and home of the iconic sock monkey, which was created in rockford, illinois. we hosted the nation's very first first national football league where the rock island independents defended the st. paul ideals. so more than 40 years ago,

you. i if there was one reality, mr. well, that you would be aware of, it was what happened with allege concerntive minimum tax because it was never indexed for application. a year, more poor people were been ensnared and i hope at we go forward on on this we'll address these issues quickly so that the very purpose of what we wanted to do here is accomplished. i hope that we can do this in a bipartisan manner. >> the political model that gets developed is hard to overcome as it develops and we have that opportunity -- >> speaking of -- >> ed -- it's become worse. >> but ace sit here tonight in bipartisan agreement that we're going to be back at this table again in a month or in six months or in 12 months, working -- whether it's a technical correction or an opportunity do even more than what we have done here, recognizing that we'll be back here together, we have choice of whether we continue to harden tonight or maybe wait until tomorrow -- >> in agreement as we like each other. >> you mentioned social security. it just

pelosi: thank you, mr. lewis. i want my colleagues all to hear the esteem which we hold our democratic members of the ways and means committee. i thank you. thank you very much, mr. neal, for being our ranking member for your extraordinary leadership on behalf of america's middle class working families. and that concludes -- includes millions of veterans. thank usm today is a very sad day in the history of america because we have on the floor probably the worst bill in recent times to come to the floor. that doesn't mean it doesn't have stiff competition from other legislation the republicans have brought to the floor. but this is the worst. because so many people are affected in such a negative way, and because trillions of dollars of impact on our economy have been voted upon without any hearing, without any hearing from the people who will be most affected by it. no hearings, no expert, no listening to the american people. yesterday our republican colleagues stood on this floor and voted for a g.o.p. tax scam th

mr. levin. >> thank you, mr. neil. mr. neil, i want to yield to ter terri sewell, back from the front line of alabama. [ applause ] so my question is to our economist. i know that you, mr. fuhrman, have had the opportunity to advise both presidents. if you were looking to provide economic growth, what would you be advising this administration to be doing? at the end of the day, we know that we've gotten out of our worst recession since the great depression, and we are on the rise. unemployment hasn't been as low as it's been in decades. and so what would you advise this administration to be doing? because i agree with you, mr. fuhrman. not only is it the chances of economic growth paying for itself, through this tax cut, not only is it as impossible as 60 degrees in boston, it's almost as impossible as a democrat winning the senate seat in alabama. but things do happen. so i would like to know from both of you, what you would do if you were advising this president on developing better economic growth. >> so, first of all, i

mr. luetkemeyer: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for your steadfast support on so many important financial services issues. mr. speaker, first, i want to quickly lend my support to the tax package slated to be considered by the house today. this legislation will bring simplicity and fairness to the tax code. it will lower tax rates so individuals and job creators can invest in our communities and hire more workers. i also want to commend chairman brady and the house leadership for their incredible work on this issue. secondly, mr. speaker, believe it or not, there's another bill slated to be considered today by this body. h.r. 3312, systemic risk designation improvement act. it will remove the ill-conceived approach in dodd-frank to designate bank holding companies as systemically important financial institutions or sifi's. the designation of sifi's is based solely on size. more than $50 billion in assets is subject to enhanced regulatory supervision and a variety of special assessments. this approach fails to take into acc

reporter: when's the last time you spoke with him? mr. reed: i spoke with the congressman a couple of days ago. reporter: you haven't spoken with him in the last 48 hours? mr. reed: no. i am letting him rest. reporter: what are the other considerations you are taking into account about what his future will be? mr. reed: i would assume the congressman would think about whether or not he can serve effectively, whether he can continue to do the work he has done for more than 50 years in congress. i assume that that would be at the forefront of the congressman's thought process and i believe he would do what is in the best interest of his constituents like he has always done. reporter: [indiscernible] mr. reed: it is too premature for me to make a statement about that. good question, but i am not a doctor. reporter: can you briefly summarize the nature of the $27,000 settlement? mr. reed: the way the settlement was done was a severance package where the accuser was able to separate. it was a nondisclosure, which is common in employment litigat

mr. barr: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, chairman hensarling, for your leadership and especially thank you to the gentlelady from new york, my friend, ms. tenney, for her outstanding leadership on this issue. and i rise in support of her legislation, the community institution mortgage relief act. home ownership is part of the american dream. however, an ill-conceived rule promulgated by the consumer financial protection bureau has made it harder for americans to purchase a home in typical one-size-fits-all washington bureaucrat fashion, the bureau's rule places excessive escrow and mortgage servicing requirements on the backs of smaller community financial institutions and mortgage servicers. what the bureau missed is that these lenders are rarely in subprime lending and frequently hold the loan and portfolio for the term of the loan. this means these lenders have a very strong incentive to ensure that taxes and insurance premiums are being paid because they're taking on 100% of the down-side risk if the borrower f

thank you, mr. chairman. ere are contracts between the department of defense and the very large number in australia did everything further to add a taken on notice and bring it back to the chamber. >> thank you, president. it's on about the danger associated with people since at least 2000. some certainty for the 2015th senate inquiry that stated the government commit to voluntarily acquire property no longer the purpose to the contamination. why are you still dragging the chain? thank you, mr. chairman. i would note that as i said the largest single national environmental investigation as far as we are aware, mr. president, we are investing substantial resources in the investigation and decontamination will invest in remediation management activities as required. as the senator is well aware, the coordination including what the senator has raised is implemented through the department of prime minister and cabinet in the matter is undertaken by them and the defense will assist in any way they can. >> still in

let me ask you -- >> mr. pallone. >> you didn't recuse her. >> that is something that we had career -- >> let's be respectful and let people answer, but let's answer shortly and concisely. >> we have career employees at the epa. >> look, mr. chairman, he refuses to answer the question. he obviously has not recused her. so i want to move on. i asked you for copies of all of nancy beck's ethics agreements and waivers. will you provide those to the committee? >> absolutely. >> thank you. the framework rules had already been completed and sent to various internal epa offices for concurrence before dr. beck started at the agency. we understand that they were completely rewritten after she started at epa by her. now, i asked you for a document tracking the changes she made to the rules. will you provide that to the committee, yes or no? >> we will provide the information that's requested. >> thank you. that's fine. >> and is available. >> i would like to quickly focus on one specific chemical undergoing review right

labrador for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you mr. rosenstein for being here today. i shutter at some of the questions from the other side and i just want to ask you a quick question. have you ever said that you are the president's wingman? >> no, sir. >> has the current attorney general of the united states ever said that he is the president's wingman? >> not to my knowledge. >> but yet the attorney general under president obama said that he was the president's wingman and i never heard a single democrat object to that, so it's kind of ridiculous to sit here and try to question your integrity or try to question whether somebody's going to be loyal to their president or not as you clearly indicated you can be both loyal to the constitution and to the president of the united states as long as there's not a conflict of interest, as long as you're not doing anything that is inappropriate, it's okay to be the president's wingman, it's also okay to say that you're going to be loyal to the president, as long as they're not asking you to do a