mr. higgins. rep. higgins: thank you. mr. chairman, i think in the entrance of bipartisanship, we should consider a committee. we all care about the same thing. mr. o'rourke, thank you for being here. do you generally recognized, sir, that this is an era of reform in the v.a., that the v.a. has been a mess for decades? it did not get that way under one executive or one v.a. committee. this committee and a very bipartisan manner has just touched my spirit, has embrace a challenge to reform the v.a. does the v.a. get it, but this is an era of reform? mr. o'rourke: i do not think any organization self-reforms. is there a clear understanding within the culture that you described, if you could change one thing or if you can identify one thing that reflects this era of the v.a., that is an air of accountability? but i want to talk about -- is there a consequence to accountability? i am just asking you, sir, generally speaking, as a man, as an american, isn't recognized within the v.a. that we have to reform this thing? mr. o'rourke

mr. higgins. the chair: the gentleman from louisiana is recognized for two minutes. mr. higgins: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of h.r. 200, the strengthening fishing communities and increasing flexibility in fisheries management act. i'm a co-sponsor of this legislation. mr. speaker, my state of louisiana has a heavy presence of both commercial and recreational anglers and they all know that reforms have been needed to our federal fisheries' data collection systems for decades. in some cases, especially in relation to the red snapper fishery in the gulf, rebuilding schedules, season links and catch limits have been based off data models from the 1980's. technology has come a long way since then. with universities and the gulf states themselves utilizing new methods of data collection that are producing positive results that are at odds with the 1980's numbers that the federal government has been using. this bill will a -- -- will go long way in promoting a modern, science-backed approach to management of our fisheries. this re-authorization of the magnuson-stevens fishery and

mr. higgins: mr. speaker, i rise today to recognize the work after committee in western new york dedicated to constructing the only monument in the nation honoring african-americans who served in the united states military during times of war. this long overdue tribute acknowledges the selfless sacrifice of our veterans, many served our nation while being tea need eebling a wall rights at home. -- equal rights at home. the monument to be located in the military park will feature 12 illuminated black pillars representing conflicts and designed to give visitors an experience that is reflective, educational, and inspirsational. the monument is being designed by a local young talented artist, jonathan casey. i have asked the smithsonian national museum of african-american history and culture to collaborate with local project leaders on this first in the nation african-american veterans memorial. mr. speaker, i commend the veterans, artist and new york state assemblywomen, crystal stokes, who have dedicate

mr. higgins: and will threat then long-term viability of social security and medicare. because of recent actions by the trump justice department and house republicans, millions of americans between the ages of 50 and 64 1/2 who buy their health insurance on the individual market are about to get clobbered. with double digit, multiyear health insurance premium increases. and this congress is doing nothing, nothing to help. this population needs the protection of medicare now. medicare at 50 would allow people to buy, to buy medicare as their health insurance. medicare is affordable care act compliant with essential benefits. it has high patient satisfaction ratings. has full access to primary care and physician specialists. and always, always covers pre-existing conditions. medicare at 50 also is thousands of dollars cheaper when compared with the gold plan on the individual market. mr. speaker, medicare is the best public option that already xists. and the best public option that already exists should be available to millions of americans ages 50 to 64 1/2. i yield back

mr. higgins. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. higgins: mr. speaker, for weeks now the abolish i.c.e. movement has been growing in popularity on the left. with many democrats embracing this radical policy stance. i find it extremely ironic that calls to abolish the immigration and customs enforcement agency come only one year after 159 house democrats voted to pass landmark legislation introduced by my colleague, chairman michael mccaul, re-authorizing i.c.e. and other d.h.s. agencies for the first time since their inception after 9/11. mr. speaker, calls to abolish i.c.e. are reckless, dangerous to america's national security, and threaten the well-being of our i.c.e. agents. as a member of the thin blue line, this attack on i.c.e. is personal to me. the men and women of i.c.e. serve as america's front line defenders against human, drug and weapons traffickers. i.c.e. agents lowell locate, arrest and deport violent gang members and criminal aliens who threaten public safety. last year alone i.c.e. arrested more than 127,000 criminal aliens re

mr. higgins, you're recognized. before i go, can i yield 15 seconds to mr. pascrell. >> mr. chairman, this has to be said. if you follow the logic we just heard from the gentleman, we would have no checks and balances and we might as well just hand over the whole process to the executive branch of government. what we should be doing is trying to get back what we deserve from the constitution of article 1 section 8. and i yield back my time. >> thank you,. >> thank you. >> all of you here either own an agricultural business or you represent people who do. so no one here seems to support these tariffs. congressional leaders know that the president is wrong on this issue. and as has been stated previously, the united states constitution article one section eight is very clear. congress and not the president is vested with the power to levy tariffs. you can't tariff your way to economic strength and growth. the imposition of tariffs are a race to the bottom. you impose tariffs, another country responds by imposing their own tariffs. and in the end, consumers get hurt. because it

mr higgins showed absolutely no emotion as those verdicts were returned.tion and examples. the veteran labour mp margaret hodge has stood by her criticism ofjeremy corbyn on prejudice againstjews. our political correspondent jonathan blake reports. is the anti—semitism row damaging your party? they were here to talk about preparing for government, but labour's shadow cabinet faced more questions this morning that they'd rather not have to answer about the party's stance on prejudice againstjews. one seniorjewish labour mp is sticking by her criticism ofjeremy corbyn, despite his repeated condemnation of anti—semitism. it's by his actions that he has to bejudged. and by refusing to adopt the definition in full of what anti—semitism is, he's put himself in the position that he is perceived by many to be anti—semitic. she confronted jeremy corbyn and called him an anti—semite after labour adopted a new code of conduct including the internationally recognised definition of anti—semitism, but not word—for—word some of the examples given. for some, it's an attem

mr. higgins. >> thank you. mr. chairman, in the interest of bipartisanship, perhaps we could consider as a committee a roundtable to discuss this issue. it's passionate. we all care about the same thing. mr. o'rourke, thank you for being here. do you generally recognize, sir, that this is an era of reform in the va, that the va has been a mess, man, for decades. it didn't get that way under one administration. or one executive or one va committee. and this committee in a very bipartisan manner has touched my spirit, has embraced the challenge to reform the va. but does the va get it, that this is an era of reform? >> i don't think any organization self-reforms. it is going to be what the leadership of this congress -- >> but, is there a clear understanding within the culture that you described, if you could change one thing or if you could identify one thing that reflects this era of the va, is that it is an era of accountability. but i'm going to talk about, is there consequence to accountability? just generally s

mr. higgins. >> mr. chairman, can i just yield 15 seconds to the ranking member? >> mr. chairman, this has to be said. because if we follow the logic that we just heard from the gentleman, we would have no checks and balances. and we might as well just hand over the whole process to the executive branch of government. what we should be doing is trying to get back what we deserve from the constitution of article 1 section 8. i yield back my time. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> all of you here own their own agriculture business or you represent people who do. so no one here seems to support the takriffs. conditioningtial leade congressional leaders know president is wrong on thish u. and the constitution is very clear. congress and not the president was vested with the power to levy tariffs. you can't -- the impositions of tariffs are a race to the bottom. you impose tariffs, another country responds by imposing their own tariffs. in the end, consumer get hurt because it hurts demand. it hurts profits. you know this better than anybody else. if congress wants to stop tarif

mr. higgins: a plan by the transportation authority to transform this piece of history to a destination that serves buffalo of today and tomorrow. creating a multimodal center for people traveling by rail, automobile, likes, and boats. the donw is a project under consideration for a federal grant to the united states department of transportation's bert identitylizing investments to leverage development. i stand today in support of the am a case for the terminal which serves as a national model for financing infrastructure investments delivering significant economic impact. surrounded by canal side, the cobblestoned district, downtown buffalo, and the buffalo niagara medical campus the development represents a transformative project building on the economic renaissance of the new buffalo. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise today,

mr. higgins. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for 30 seconds. mr. higgins: i have a map in my office that shows areas of the united states that have been impacted by flood. it's virtually the entire country. this the house of we the people. this is an easy yes vote. i urge my colleagues on my side of the aisle to try and explain to the american people how you can vote yes six times on an extension and no the seventh time. we did our job in november. we passed some comprehensive reforms, nfip five-year re-authorization. the senate has failed. we serve the people. this is right for the people. i urge my colleagues to step up and vote yes on this extension. we don't like it, but we serve the people and this bill is for the people. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from texas reserves of the the gentlelady from california is recognized. -- the gentleman from texas reserves. the gentlelady from california is recognized. ms. waters: i continue to reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelad

mr. higgins: mr. speaker, i have proudly stood before this house on many occasions to honor the life and legacy of south buffalo native john glanville. he was young diplomat for international development and was tragically murdered by in khartoum, ists south sudan. he was helping them to become a democracy. a decade after john's death, the family is still fighting the international justice system to hold the government of sudan accountable for his death. the trump administration's department of state is now considering removing sudan from the list of state sponsored terrorists. if the state department allows for that removal, sudan's responsibility for john's death and the escape of his convicted murderers must be a condition for the state department's action in this matter. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and ex

mr. higgins for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. gentlemen, thank you for your service your country. administrator, you display a tremendous amount of common sense which makes it very clear why are no longer in congress. gentlemen you have provided excellent testimony and it's a very fascinating time in the history of mankind for space as clearly has become a theory of engagement militarily while at the same time is a new frontier of tremendous expansion of commercial activity. we have models but throughout the history of man is never been in. of engagement that did not include civilian, commercial activity via thailand, sea or air. so, the models of the past as they help us to plan for the future, i believe were on the right track here because the dod needs to handle defense and war port capabilities and any period of engagement and today best itself, it's understandable why over the last several decades dod has become deeply involved, it's aobvious that catalog and activities in space because of the responsibility of recognizing s

mr. higgins, you are recognized. can i yield 15 seconds to the ranking member? >> this has to be said. if we follow the logic that we just heard from the gentleman, we would have no checks and balances, and we might as well just hand over the entire process to the executive branch of government. what we should be doing is trying to get back what we deserve from the constitution. i yield back my time. >> thank you. >> thank you. >> all of you here either own their own agriculture business or you represent people who do. so no one here seems to support the tariffs. leaders know that the president is wrong on this issue. been stated previously, the united states constitution is very clear. congress, and not the president was vested with the power to , levy tariffs. your way toriff economic strength and growth. the impositions of tariffs are a race to the bottom. you impose tariffs, another country responds by imposing their own tariffs, and in the end consumer get hurt because it hurts demand. it hurts profits. you know this better than anybody else. if congress wants to stop tariffs, it

mr. higgins. i think it is the same thing. i think we are trying to parse words up here, i think if you laid it out, and i wish i had it in front of me, i hope somebody can get it and just read through it. you can have somebody on quote official time which is i believe time spent on union activity, actually robbing congress. that is one of the issues or activities that have been applied and determined acceptable. they go to union conferences, there are all sorts of things that i would say it is union activity. i am not saying there shouldn't be unions. i'm saying you can't spend 100% of your time if you are hired to be a physician to take care and provide help services to a veteran, and then end up spending 100% of your time lobbying congress for your union, being at conferences for your union. i just don't think that is acceptable. i don't think it is reasonable, necessary or in the best interest of the public. i yield back to my colleague mr. hicks. >> thank you. mr. chairman, and the interest of our partisanship perhaps we

mr. chair. >> steve: thank you very much. yeah, there you go.. [ wood breaking ] oh, my goodness. oh. higgins. higgins, are you okay, buddy?l. i forgot we put an anvil up in the ceiling. that's where we keep our anvil. oh, no, rusty, rusty, get away for him!et rusty,ver here. what's the safe word? pineapple! pineapple! oh, rumpelstiltskin sorry -- higgins, are you okay? are you alright? >> steve: oh, my god. >> jimmy: oh, my goodness. [ cheers and applause ] l >> steve: st, i know rusty doesn't have a nut allergy. >> jimmy: oh, thank -- good to know t, t. gosh. guys, that's all the time we have for kid letters. thank you for all the kids who sent letters. a [ cheers alause ] if you want to see yours on the show, just e-mail them to kidletters@tonightshow.c. stick around. we'll be right back with robert pattinson, everybody. [ cheers and appuse ] ♪ ♪ ♪ you have a side that saved for her to go out of state. ♪ ♪ now she's in and you can celebrate. ♪ ♪ a side that's getting your life in sy, ♪ ♪ to someday retire and hit the links. ♪ ♪ gan a plan today, yeah, d that's the key, ♪ ♪ so tomorrow you can get where you want to be. ♪

mr. speaker. i thank my colleague from virginia for yielding the time. i especially want to thank my colleague, congressman higgins from louisiana, for his leadership in bringing this resolution to the floor. what is -- does the resolution do? it simply says we stand behind our i.c.e. agents. those brave men and women who are keeping america safe. these are the people on the frontlines of removing terrorists from our country. these are the people -- by the way last year alone removed over 100,000 criminals from our country. and they want to vote present? my colleagues on the other side are talking about voting present. let me ask you, mr. speaker, when you look at the numbers, last year i.c.e. agents, they rescued or identified 518 victims human trafficking. what if those i.c.e. agents would have voted present that day? instead of rescuing those victims of human trafficking? luckily, mr. speaker, they didn't vote present. they showed up and did their job to keep america safe. what if last year, mr. speaker, those i.c.e. agents who rescued or identified 904 people who were sexually exploited children, what if they

higgins?hitehouse: ms. but in it was announced, would note our director has indicated that he was asked to make a recommendation once the decision to made -- was made to prosecute. senator whitehouse: mr. white, i have a few seconds left, how many cases are will wear of of separated children, separated pursuant to this policy, in which it turned out there were fraudulent care -- claims of parentage and there was in fact no family relation between that child and the person claiming heritage or family relation? circum-i do not have that number with me, but we are all aware of those cases. total number, the we have identified it include minors separated prior to and subsequent do the announcement of the zero tolerance policy. we have a number who are determined to be fraudulent parents. that did occur, and that is an endemic risk -- senator whitehouse: may i have the number if you have a chance? did you get it to me? >> the secretary for legislation will take that. senator whitehouse: is that a good enough answer? [indiscernible] senator whitehouse: i'm not sure. i just asked a question at a hearing, and i am asked to put it in writing to another person. i would like to have a commitment