the gentleman, mr. farr. mr. farr: mr. speaker, thank you very much. chairman -- ranking member .ishop and chairman culberson i rise as the longest serving member on this subcommittee. i want to commend you both, the chairman and ranking member, for your hard work in ensuring that this bill's another significant step in fulfilling our promise to our country that has made these commitments to our veterans. we'll leave none of them behind. this committee has a strong history of working in a bipartisan way to produce a bill that supports our active duty service members, our veterans, and their families. and i think this bill is no exception to that. for example, the v.a. has taken steps to rectify the deplorable backlog of benefit claims, as everyone's mentioned so farment and we owe it to our veterans to exercise our constitutional oversight responsibility to nsure that the v.a.'s actually fixing that backlog. i am pleased the bill before us today includes language i requested with many of my colleagues that continues additional oversight requirements fo

mr. farr: no, it isn't. mr. culberson: this is a federally-funded facility. mr. farr: you are going to tell the doctor, i can't talk to you about medical marijuana. i can answer your questions about abortion, oxycotin, alcohol, i cannot talk about any other evil or benefit, but i'm prohibited by federal law because i'm a doctor in this state from having a conversation with you about medical marijuana. that doesn't make sense. it's not good medical practice. mr. culberson: because it is prohibited by federal law. mr. farr: but not in those states and i happen to be in a state where federal law ignores this because law enforcement, medical folks, it's part of our system. we worked out the regulations. and you don't see the feds coming in busting clinics in california or people using medical marijuana. you are busting a lot of senior citizens. we have a hypocrisy in the law and that's what this amendment is trying to clear up. i ask for an aye vote. the chair: for what purpose does the gentleman from colorado seek recognition? gentleman recognized for five minutes. >

mr. farr: the pulitzer prize-winning novel was published in 1949. it captured the brutal honesty, the story of migrant farmworkers, fleeing oklahoma's dust bowl in search of new opportunity in california. steinbeck wanted to shine a light on the social injusestieses that plagued the working -- injustices that plagued the working poor. it was banned an burned in many parts of the country. inspired by the novel, first lady eleanor roosevelt helped pass new labor laws after touring the shocking conditions of the california camps. the -- "the grapes of wrath quats changed the way we view poverty in this country. that's why it figured prominently in the decision to award steinbeck the noble prize. even today the novel offers us hope, hope that our best days lie before us. steinbeck's words resonate as true today as they did 75 years ago. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> i ask unanimous -- unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks.

mr. farr: however, gender expansive students, gender diverse students and straight allies still face a lot of fear and discrimination. i want all these students to know they are not alone. i say this every year but i continue to be so proud of the young constituents, their parents and families who are working to make a world a better place for all people, no matter your race, your color, your gender or your sexual orientation. for example, jordan, a ninth grade student transgender male in santa cruz will be the m.c. at the 17th annual queer youth leadership awards. jordan's mom heidi is an advisory council member to the transteen project and a facilitator for transfamily support group. though many lgbt students and their allies are silent tomorrow, we in congress must never be silent. it is our job to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition