mr. collins: mr. speaker, i am pleased to bring forward this rule today on behalf of the rules committee. the rule provides for consideration of h.r. 620, the a.d.a. education reform act, the trid improvement act and h.r. 3299, the protecting consumers access to credit act. the rule provides for one hour debate equally divided between the chairman and ranking member of the judiciary committee. the rule provides for a motion to recommit and makes in order multiple amendments from colleagues on both sides of the aisle and one hour debate on the two financial services bills, with time equally divided between the chairman and ranking member of that committee. yield the rules committee had the opportunity to hear from mr. nadler, mr. poe. we heard from mr. hill and ms. waters on the financial services bill. h.r. 620 received consideration by the judiciary committee and enjoyed a rigorous markup process. in h.r. 3299 and h.r. 3978 were considered and reported by the financial services committee. the bills b

mr. collins: thank you, mr. speaker. for the purpose of debate only i yield the customary 30 minutes to the the gentlewoman from new york, my friend, ms. slaughter. pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. collins: during consideration of this resolution all time is yielded 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 and include extraneous materials on house resolution 748, currently under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. collins: thank you, mr. speaker. i am pleased to bring forward this rule on behalf of the rules committee t. provides for consideration of h.r. 1865, the allow states and victims to fight online sex trafficking act of 2017. the rule provides for one hour of debate with one hour equally controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the judiciary committee. the rule provides for a motion

there has been no additional evidence of any russian interference in the braggs that referendum now mr collins traveled to the u.s. to try to grill the officials from a number of leading tech companies and again the message was clear that russia has been interfering in the democratic processes there be looked at all advertisements of any connection to russia and we found no evidence of our services being used to interfere in the referendum a very small number of suspected research agency linked accounts forty nine such accounts were active during the campaign which represents less than not point five percent of the title number of accounts these are very low level things now despite those testimonies that runs against what we've been hearing from leading politicians including the prime minister to resign may who insists that russia is up to no good it is seeking to weaponize information deploying its state run media organizations to plant fake stories and photo shopped images in an attempt to sew discord in the west and undermine our institutions so i have a very simple message for russia we k

milner said that there was basically minimal interference if any by the russians so mr collins also to investigate again he's done so and said and concluded in that letter today that there has been no russian interference as far as the briggs's referendum is concerned now earlier this month damian collins he travelled to the us to meet with officials from the big tech companies such as you tube and some of the answers he received from them perhaps didn't satisfy him. they looked at all advertisements any connection to russia and we found no evidence of our services being used to interfere in that that's a referendum a very small number of suspects it's not research agency linked accounts forty nine such accounts were active during the campaign which represents less than not point not five percent of the total number of accounts these are very low level things. so very minimal if any russian accounts or accounts simply just based in russia involved there and that's a real contrast with the kind of political environment here in the u.k. and in particular from the top down with th

got to be a federal it's got to be russian influence it's nonsense was also interesting is how mr collins gets so angry when the tech giants show no proof of russia interference as the head of the investigation should he be a bit more impartial on the matter. yes it should but i've been up before these committees myself they act in an almost kangaroo court fashion foreign questions are you and hardly waiting to listen to the answers he yes he should be he should be trying to get to the truth then it would appear at the moment another on the biggest farm by the way of twitter or facebook and the people who run them but it would appear at the moment that there is no real evidence of russian meddling in bricks it so why shouldn't mr cullen just accept that and move on why does he have to go to washington there's are as cross party seems to me lots of fantastic joly that they've all been on and i think now he needs to drop this and also you know or i don't think the british public care they know why people voted for rex and they know it was nothing to do with donald trump or russian influence

mr. collins for the opportunity to be here and address the committee and present evidence. there's no question that miss information and influence on our society is an issue and it's an issue for google. i should point out, as you know, the mission is to organize the world's information and make it successful and useful. billions of users take advantage of us everyday and rely on us to provide right information. this is not only important to us as a company and important to your users and society, it's actually crucial to what we do. i often think of ourselves aspect in the trust business. we will continue to retain the loyal usage of people around the world to the extent that we retain their trust with our work everyday. i agree, it's an important and significant yessi issue and we' continue to make sure we're surfacing the best information from the best possible sources and do our best that trust worthy information does not surface. >> i'm glad you think it is important, i asked if you thought it was harmful to the society and to your customers and the recipients of it. >

mr. collins and present evidence. i think there is no question the issue of misinformation and untoward information is an issue and for google. our mission is to organize the world's information and make it accessible and useful. billions of users take advantage of our services everyday and rely on us to do the right thing and provide the right information. this is not only important to us as a company, important for our years, important for society, it's actually crucial to what we do. i often think of ourselves as being in the trust business. we will continue to retain the loyal usage of people around the world and retain their trust with our work everyday. i agree it's an important significant issue and we'll and continue our efforts throughout what we do on google search and news is best information from the best possible sources and do our best to make sure untrustworthy information does not surface. >> i asked if you feel it may be harmful to your society to customers who may be recipients of it. >> it can be ha

mr. collins you recognize for five minutes. >> i think you for holding this hearing broadband access is importantto our role communities as our reliance on the internet grows. some states like new york are working to complicate this issue. glad to see bipartisan bills here is subject to the committee hearing. as we focus on infrastructure such as roads and bridges and airports, 65% of my district are underserved. my bill, hr 4798 considers inventory of assets for communication facilities act of 2018. let's at least know what we got. so i made the comment of the big guys already know we got. maybe they do or don't, certainly some of the smaller suppliers may be those that end up coming into some of the role communities could see some value. as commonsense as this is i'm presuming you would support an inventory of assets. >> is not only commonsense but is music to her ears encourage that to happen. where is the mapping takes place will be able to deliver broadband where federal infrastructure and assets are connected to broadband they become more cost-effective and have life large lifespans we appr

mr. chairman. >> senator collins? >> thank you, mr. chairman. director pompeo, last week "the new york times" published a report that alleged u.s. intelligence officials had paid $100,000 to a russian source for phony secrets, including potentially compromising information about the president and information on certain tools allegedly stolen from the nsa. first, is it accurate that the cia has categorically denied the assertions in this story? and second, if so, what would be the motivations of a russian who peddled this story to "the new york times" and other western media outlets? is this part of the russian campaign to undermine faith in western democracies? >> senator collins, first, let me say thanks for the question. reporting on this matter has been atrocious. it's been ridiculous. totally inaccurate. and in our view, the suggestion the cia would swindle is false. the people swindled is the authors of those two pieces. indeed, it is our view that the same two people who were proffering phony information to the government and to these two

mr. chairman. >> senator collins. >> thank you, mr. chairman. director pompeo, last week the new york times published -- >> we have been watching this hearing, a senate intelligence committee hearing covering a wide range of subjects from russian interference in legislations to cyberattacks to north korea. there was just some significant news made by fbi director christopher wray on the timeline of events and the security clearance of rob porter. that is the key white house staffer who was just fired or resigned depending who you listen to and when after allegations of domestic abuse went public. i use the words went public because now it seems nearly certain that the white house knew much of it a long time ago. listen to what the fbi director said about the security clearance process on rob porter. >> so was the white house informed that this could affect his security clearance? that's a yes or no. >> i can't get into the content of what was briefed to the -- >> were they informed? >> what i can tell you is that the fbi submitted a partial repo

mr. collins, you're recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, madam chair. i would like to thank you also for just holding this hearing on having such a diverse group of witnesses. broadband access, as we all know, is important to our rural communities as our reliance on the internet continues to grow. unfortunately, some states like new york are now working to complicate this issue, but we'll set that aside for a second and say i'm at least glad to see some bipartisan bills here as the subject of this committee hearing. and as we focus on infrastructure, the inclusion of broadband is something that i bring up again and again. it's notas just roads and bridgs and airports. 65% of my district, eight counties very rural, a lot of dairy farmers, are certainly underserved. my bill, h.r. 4798, is the bill that considers inventory of assets for communication facilities act of 2018. let's know what we've got. let's at least make it easier for some of the smaller carriers, somebody when we introduced this made the comment don't the big guys already know what we've g

mr. collins: i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourn today it adjourn to meet at 10:00 a.m. for morning hour debate and 11:00 a.m. for legislative business. the speaker pro tempore: ithout objection. the chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from nebraska seek recognition? the house will be in order. the gentleman will suspend. he house will be in order. the gentleman from nebraska. >> mr. speaker, in honor of women's history month, i rise to recognize a woman dedicated to journalistic integrity. who made history as omaha's first female tv news director. roseanne shannon recently retired after 45 years in tv news and when she started her career in 1973, she was one of only three women in omaha tv news. after that, she worked as a communications director for omaha's mayor, then returned to ketv news at ketv. she was promoted to news director. the first female tv news director in omaha. ketv's general manager said roseanne exemplified integrity first, journalism at its core. she's a trailblaze who are shattered a glass c

mr. collins, we have not seen in the last election, during the brexit vote investigative journalism that has led to the suggestion that there are lots of campaigns going on. >> you haven't looked, have you? that's the thing, you haven't looked? >> this is going on. >> i have been >>. >> given the controversy, has facebook done an analysis of how profitable face news or the deliberate dissemination that it has been to the country? is it not at all, very little, very profitable or hugely profitable? >> we are looking at research. that's on going. i can't speak to the financial aspect of it. i will say that that would not drive our decision here. we have shown a willingness to find and remove false accounts. we remove these ad farms. this is a question of if it violates our policies, whether or not we are gaining money from it, we would take it. >> i understand that was the answer you gave a blwhile ago. had there been any analysis of just how profitable it has been to facebook? >> i'm sorry. i can't answer. i know we have looked to understand how false news is manifesting itself. i can't s

imax kaiser time now to go to shanghai and speak with dan collins of the china money report dan welcome back a max hey dan let me let me ask you mr trump administration first national defense strategy elevates china to its number one threat it claims that china practices predatory economics and calls for sending in the marines it sounds like what the frick is going on down. well yeah i heard i read that and i kind of put that into to area but i call it economic and military economically speaking china is a neo mercantile is the economy we talked about it before they're going to do bigger than your economic policies they're going to set up their own tariff barriers i mean any try to import here something is twenty five percent duty export the united states it's one or two percent so china does towards for its you know does what is it in its own interests japan and south korea did the same thing to united states for decades in less detroit in michigan hobbled in the steel columns

mr. chairman. >>senator collins. >> thank you, mr. chairman. director pompeo, last week "new york times" published a report that alleged that u.s. intelligence officials had paid $100,000 to a russian source for phony secrets,including potentially compromising information about the president, and information on certain tools allegedly stolen from the nsa. first, is it accurate that the cia has categorically denied the assertions in this story, and second, if so, what would be the motivations of a russian who pedalled this story to "new york times" and other western media outlets? is this part of the russian campaign to undermine faith in western democracies? >> senator collins, thanks for the question. reporting on this matter has been atrocious, ridiculous, totally inaccurate. in our view the people that were swindled were the authors of the two pieces. indeed it is our view the same two people that were proffering phony information to the united states government proffered that same phony information to these two reporters. the central intell

mr. chairman. >> senator collins. >> thank you.tor pompeo, last week "the new york times" published a report that alleged that you as intelligence officials had paid $100,000 to a russian source for phony secrets, including potentially compromising information about the president and information on certain tools allegedly stolen from the nsa. first, is it accurate that the c.i.a. has categorically denied the assertions in this story? and second, if so, what would be the motivations of a russian who peddled this story to the "new york times" and other western media outlets, since this part of the russian campaign to undermine faith in western democracies? >> senator, let me say thanks for the question. reporting on this matter has been rid i can laos and inaccurate. the people swindled were the authors of those two pieces. it is our view that the same two people who were offering phony information to the united states government gave that same phony information to these two reporters. the central intelligence agency did not provide

collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to introduce the terrorist firearms prevention act which would prohibit suspected or known terrorists from legally purchasing a firearm. i would like to thank my colleague, senator heitkamp, flake, heinrich, toomey, baldwin, king, nelson, mansion, and kaine for their cosponsorship of this bipartisan bill. i particularly want to recognize the leadership of senator heinrich, who has joined me on the floor this evening as we introduce the bill and explain it to our colleagues. mr. president, often referred to as no fly no buy, this bill represents one of the sensible steps that we can take to reform our nation's gun laws to better protect our people. our bill is based on a simple principle. if you are considered to be too dangerous to board an airplane, then you are too dangerous to buy a firearm. our legislation would grant the attorney general the authority to block the purchase of a gun by a person who was on either the no-fly or the selectee list. remarkably,

collins. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> ms. savage, i want to thank you for sharing your story publicly and for being here today. you are clearly a family of tremendous strength and by coming forward you are truly saving lives and i just want to tell you that i am, i'm just overwhelmed by your ability to take such a tragedy and turn it into something that is going to help other families avoid what you went through. just yesterday, i met with a group of all over the state who had received funding from the drug free communities program and i was impressed by a group of students from maine, way in the north near the canadian border who developed their own program to try to help their peers to avoid alcohol abuse, tobacco and opioid, the crisis we are in the mist of in maine. what do you think of those kinds of peer counseling or peer groups to help teach high school students and younger children that there are alternatives to drugs and alcohol? >> i think any time a conversation is started it's a positive and those peer mentor gro

collins? >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i want to applaud you for your leadership in this area. more than a decade ago, we established a port security program that led to radiation portal monitors being installed at our major ports so that they could screen incoming and outgoing cargo, trucks and individuals for radiological materials and i contrast that port security effort with what i perceive to be a real vulnerability in our ability to detect and effectively and quickly respond to an attack using biological or chemical agents. so dr. kadlec and dr. redd, i'd like you both to address the level of preparedness that we have to respond to detect, first of all, to detect a biological or chemical attack and to respond to it? i would like specifically to know whether cities have used some of the federal funds that the admiral referred to to install sensors that would be able to detect these agents and i'd also like you both to comment on the preparedness of our hospitals to cope with the victims of a biological or chemical attack. i remember being in israel many years ago and being

report imax keyser time now to go to shanghai and speak with dan collins on the china money report dan welcome back a mix hey dan let me ask you mr trump administration first national defense strategy a elevates china to its number one threat it claims that china practices predatory economics and calls for sending in the marines it sounds like what the frank is going on down. well yeah i heard i read that and i kind of prevented it to air it i call it economic and military economically speaking china is a neo mercantile it's the economy we talked about before they're going to do bigger than your economic policies they're going to set up their own tariff barriers i mean any try to import here something is twenty five percent duty export the united states it's one or two percent so china does towards for its you know does what is it in its own interests japan and south korea did the same thing to united states for decades in less detroit in michigan hobbled in the steel columns of pennsylvania broke. but now when china does it china's too big there is twenty chinese for every japanese so now the chinese are such economic juggernaut

mr. trump isn't happy with everything in collins-rounds bill why not engage negotiate, congressman? problem solver for compromise xhl numerous conversations with white house coming up with bipartisan proposal home can see light of day in the highways we have to wait on senate to act i think the white house wants to do a deal they want to get to yes, but they came up six short on closest package going to work at this the bottom line is also tells me that maybe what is dpoog going on behind scenes don't want to solve it they want it live as campaign issue this can it appeases base extreme plilths. >> that is the thing jamie james freeman with journal in terms of trying to figure out what the go to goal is or bottom line seems like he could have had the deal this week wall funding enforcement enterprise against criminals here illegally with some limits what he case will chain migration is he not satisfied until he reduces substantially even legal immigration? >> i don't believe so obviously you are the archibishoping on issues need to be addressed also going down path of comprehensive

. >> labtec rothwell collins, everybody needs all those vendors to produce software, hardware get it tested and get it ready to be installed quickly quickly. see nick thank you. mr. capuano. >> please inserted record the statement of -- she was detained in another meeting. >> without objection so ordered. >> with that i'm going to reserve my time. >> thanks michael. i appreciate it. the ntsb this morning i understand issued an urgent recommendation regarding what actions road road should take during a single suspension. csx says we had to shut down the signal because we were installing a new system. i question whether that is true and if they are shutting down my understanding is it required that flaggers are other people be out there. tell me what's going on there. >> will congressman defazio thank you very much. of course we are still looking into all of the options for what could have been put in place with the casey accident but our urgent recommendation we issued this morning to the fra is once suspension is in effect and the switch has been reported to be realized for the main track as was the case we want the first train to go through that switch to opera

mr. bell how do you think having this information will help support these grandparents and relatives who are raising these children as a result of the opiate epidemic? >> thank you. senator collins did raise this before she left. we are very supportive of what you are trying to do here. it is something we learned from the crack epidemic. need supportrents centers, they need navigator programs, they need financial resources. savingson of $4 billion is because many of these grandparents have not been informed that they can become kinship providers. i would not advocate that we take all of these grand parents and take them into the foster care system. many of them can do better outside. need to find a way to provide financial support, respite, opportunities for them to continue to live their lives, so that they are not burdened down overly with these children. thing we saw during the crack epidemic is utter health started to deteriorate with the do not have the support they needed. you are definitely on the right pathway and we fully support you with you on that. >> i appreciate it. particular expertise to these issues. we are grateful for that. momentum forus passing the bill. i a

mr. chairman. first statement i want to make is more in sorrow than in anger. i'll get to the anger part in a minute. the sorrow part is director coats, in response to question senator collinsou gave an eloquent factual statement of the activities of the russians and the fact that they're continuing around the world and that they are a continuing threat to this country. all of you have agreed to that. if only the president would say that. i understand the presidents sensitivity but what his campaign was in connection with the russians, and that's a separate question but there is no question we've got before see entire intelligence community that the russians interfered in the election in 2016, they are continuing to do it and they are our real imminent threat to our elections in a matter of eight or nine months. my problem is i talk to people in maine to say the whole thing is which and it's a hoax because the president told me. i just wish you all could persuade the president as a matter of national security to separate these two issues, the collusion issue is over here, unresolved. we get to the bottom of that but there's no doubt as you all have testified today, and we c

mr. o'connell is he's interested many making a good deal rather than doing the right thing he's a legislator not a conservative and he doesn't have 51 conservative votes. as long as you've got -- collins and who really come from welfare states. that's where these guys are. there you got leak one out of ten collected welfare you really can't get anything done. we saw that with with the health care debate. they simply weren't willing to vote for a bill that makes a reasonable reform on medicaid. it's perfectly fine for senate collins in maine to give out welfare to guys who are 5 years old and refuse to work. and until the senators purge people on their republican side who buy votes as if they were you know nancy pelosi, were simply not going to get progress on this thing. it's a political problem. >> dream on. [laughter] it is just the way it is. peter thank you so much for being with us. back to the wild markets. i want to bring in jeff sikher as you can see it is a wild week. i want to know how much of this -- wildness was the result of internal market movement. you know the robot trades ets unwinding that kind of thing. how much of that? >> you have to -- on monday o the market is m

collins, senator from maine, indicated she will vote for it. my question to each company here is simple. do you support my cra resolution, which would put net neutrality back on the books? mr. monje? >> yes, sir. thank you for your leadership on this issue. it is an important issue for our company and users. >> you would support it? >> yes. >> thank you. >> miss downs. >> we support strong enforceable net neutrality protections and we supported the 2015 rules and will support any effort to put those rules back in place. >> thank you. miss beckert? >> thank you, senator. same answer. we will support the cra and we also support and will work with anybody who is interested in working to find a way to put the rules back in place. >> thank you. we thank each of you. thank you so much. next question, bad actors can and do use the internet and social media to acquire weapons, including firearms. that's why in 2015 i wrote a letter to facebook and instagram asking why gun sales continue to take place on their sites even after announcement of self-imposed policy changes aimed at eliminating this type of activity. i was pleased when facebook and instagram said they would prohibit in

mr. speaker. recently my office face add tragedy when we received word that my former field representative, collin kennedy, passed away during injuries he suffered in an accident. a manassas, virginia, native and west virginia university graduate, politics ran in collins' blood. he worked on numerous campaigns for the republican national committee and interned on beginning l before work in my office in 2015, where he worked until last september. collin, who was 27, served as my field representative in vick fora -- victoria, caldwell, and gonzalez counties where he was work in boundless enthusiasm and positive known for his outlook and passion for life. his death, dozens of people have left notes and messages about the strong relationship they shared with colin. and the lasting impact he left on our communities. he spoke of his kind noes, great attitude, and constant willingness to lend a hand. they shared their fond memories of him attending ribbon cuttings, banquets, community meetings, and more. one of my current staff wrote a touching tribute that described colin as the gold standard of what it

mr. president, on another matter, today senate democrats will be introducing our legislation to reverse the f.c.c.'s repeal of net neutrality. it has the support of every single democrat and one senate republican, senator collins, from the state of maine. i tell all my republican colleagues this c.r.a. is the best way to undo the terrible decision to repeal net neutrality. it's an important debate. at stake are two opposing visions of the future of the internet. for its entire history, the internet has been free and open, accessible to all americans. it's been a true public good, just as our highways are. whether you are on main street or wall street, you got the same internet. whether you were a consumer or a big corporation, you got the same internet. whether you were a teacher in a wealthy school or an underresourced school, you got the same internet. the equality of access has driven innovation and entrepreneurship, and so much of what we value in the american spirit and the american economy. it's the american way. net neutrality rules were put in place to ensure that the internet remains that way, open, equal access to all. no matter who you are, how much money you had, how much power you had. but after r