mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, in the dead of night in the armed services committee house republicans added what we believe in discriminatory language to the ndaa that would effectively overturn president obama's historic executive order protecting lgbt workers in federal contracts. therefore enabling discrimination with taxpayer funds. that is what we believe. we had a very vigorous debate in the rules committee last night and the gentleman defended his position quite ferociously. but we believe it is discrimination, plain and simple, and an amendment was offered by a republican member to strike that discriminatory language from the bill, and it was germane. and the rules committee decided on its own to not make it in order. the rules committee shouldn't be about making decisions on issues that i think the entire congress has an interest in debating and voting on, but unilaterally the republicans in the rules committee last night said, no, we are not going to make a republican amendment in order that woul

mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i rise to speak on the rule for consideration of h.r. 5046, the comprehensive opioid abuse reduction act. and h.r. 4641, a bill to provide for the establishment of an interagency task force to review, modify and update best practices for pain management and prescribing pain medication, and for other purposes. by the end of this week the house will have taken up a total of 17 bipartisan opioid-related bills, each a critical measure to help us tackle the opioid crisis in a variety of ways as we work to end this scourge, hurting so many communities across our country and costing the lives of so many all across this country. i am pleased that the house will be considering this critical bipartisan legislation this week, but in all honesty, i'm also very concerned that republicans are not proposing the new funding that is necessary to meaningfully address the opioid crisis. so in addition to passing the bipartisan legislation on the floor this week, which authorizes a new grant pro

mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, let me start by saying how disappointed i am by the inadequate and long overdue response by this republican majority to the zika crisis. with nearly 1,400 americans, including more than 275 pregnant women currently infected with the virus and well over a million cases expected before the end of the year, it is absolutely shameful that this house has failed to act on legislation to qualityly fund a response to -- adequately fund a response to this potentially devastating crisis. mr. speaker, zika is not coming to the united states. it's here. it's here. and as summer arrives, along with mosquito season, the mosquito that carries the zika virus will be active and knocking on the doors of our southern states and territories. this is an emergency. and it should be treated as such. but my friends on the other side of the aisle have spent months delaying action and making excuses and by making excuses, excuse after excuse after excuse about why we don't need to provide the full fun

mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i would like to yield four minutes to the gentleman from maryland, the democratic whip, mr. hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: the whip is recognized for four minutes. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i want to thank ms. delauro who is the ranking member on the labor-health committee. this is the story in the "washington post," front page. it is about the crisis that we confront about the danger to americans' health, about the dangers to young children will be born with microselfly and dr. freedian, the head of our disease operation and defense force, if you will, says it will cost $10 million per baby born with microencephaly. $10 million per child. . that doesn't count the heartache. and mr. cole, he's a good legislator. the action you take today belies the representation you have made. what do i mean by that? if there is enough money now, as mr. cole argues, why take this action? this was not scheduled earlier this week. this was not having a rule until 9:30 las

mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, i would like to yield four minutes to the gentleman from maryland, the democratic whip, mr. hoyer. the speaker pro tempore: the whip is recognized for four minutes. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i want to thank ms. delauro who is the ranking member on the labor-health committee. this is the story in the "washington post," front page. it is about the crisis that we confront about the danger to americans' health, about the dangers to young children will be born with microselfly and dr. freedian, the head of our disease operation and defense force, if you will, says it will cost $10 million per baby born with microencephaly. $10 million per child. . that doesn't count the heartache. and mr. cole, he's a good legislator. the action you take today belies the representation you have made. what do i mean by that? if there is enough money now, as mr. cole argues, why take this action? this was not scheduled earlier this week. this was not having a rule until 9:30 las

mr. mcgovern. mr. mcgovern: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank the gentleman from alabama, my good friend, mr. byrne, for the customary 30 minutes. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for as much time as he wishes to use. mr. mcgovern: i would like to thank the honorable chairman of the armed services theet committee, mr. thornberry, and the ranking member, mr. smith of washington, for once again working in a bipartisan manner to bring before this house h.r. 4909, the 2017 national defense authorization act. . i don't agree with everything in this bill. there's a lot of i -- i do disagree with. but i appreciate that the chair and ranking member always treat all members, submitting amendments, with respect. that's very much appreciated. but i must rise in very strong opposition to this structured rule, because there are very serious issues that merit the time and attention of this house, that w

mr. mcgovern. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mcgovern: i rise in favor of the amendment which is part of this en bloc to create a medal for surviving family members. over 200,000 service members conducted nuclear weapons tests and were exposed to radiation. sworn to secrecy, they couldn't tell their doctors. presidents provided specialized care. but this isn't enough. a constituent of mine, another atomic veteran brought this to my attention. last year, with the help of the chairman and the d.o.d. authorization bill we included this amendment but the department of defense insisted that the senate remove it, their explanation is we don't have a medal. congress should find another way. that is no excuse. that is dismissive and ungrateful. we should be appalled. these atomic veterans have already died. they kept a code of silence that led them to pass away. support this amendment and i urge the senate to do the same thing. the chair: the gentleman is recognized mr. thornberry: i have no no additional speakers and i urge adoption of

mr. mcgovern: mr. speaker, thousands of people will gather in washington, d.c., this weekend for feeding 5,000, an event designed to bring awareness to the issue of food waste. participants will be served a communal meal made entirely out of food that would otherwise have been discarded. in other words, wasted. since 2009, feed back, a global environmental organization, working to end food waste, has hosted dozens of feeding -- feeding the 5,000 events in cities across the globe. i'm pleased to see so many local partners, including government agencies, charitable organizations, n.g.o.'s, industry, and chefs joining together to call attention to food waste because the truth of the matter is we'll need all these partners working together to solve the issue of food waste. last year the usda announced their first ever food waste reduction goal, calling for a 50% reduction in food waste by 2030. usda is working with charitable organizations, faith-based groups, and the private sector and i believe this goal

mr. mcgovern: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the distinguished ranking member of the rules committee for yielding me the time. i join with her in expressing my admiration and appreciation for miles lackey. we both served as staff members up here when i first came to the hill. i've known him in his capacity when he worked with tony and ted and chris dodd and john edwards in the rules committee. and i guess in the thousand other things he did up here. i always admired his intellect and his dedication. but, mr. speaker, miles lackey is a good man. he is a very, very good man, and that's an important quality for people who serve up here, whether it's members of congress or as staff members, that they're good people. and miles always put the interest of the people of this country first. and always the most vulnerable were at the top of his list. no matter what we talk about in the rules committee, he always talks about how it's going to impact people who are struggling in this country. and i just want to say that i have admir

mr. mcgovern, for five minutes. mr. mcgovern: i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. speaker, as we celebrate the contributions of our seniors during older americans month this month, i rise to draw attention to an issue that often goes overlooked in our communities and that is the terrible problem of hunger among aging adults. food insecurity among seniors has doubled since 2001 and is expected to increase significantly as the baby boomer generation ages. today, food insecurity impacts five million seniors across the country, forcing them to make impossible decisions between food, medical care, home heating and other necessary its. we know that hunger is a health issue and that is especially true among seniors over the age of 60. research for feeding america suggests that compared to their food secured neighbors, seniors suffering from hunger are 60% more likely to experience depression. 53% more likely to report a heart attack. 52% more likely to develop asthma, and 40% more likely to report and experience of congestiv

mr. mcgovern: i ask for a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: a recorded vote is requested. those favoring a recorded vote will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.] the speaker pro tempore: the yeas are 241 and the nays are 178. the bill is passed. without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. >> i present a privileged report. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to accompany h.r. 2035 and legislative branch for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2017 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the union calendar. pursuant to clause 1, rule 21, all points of order are eserved. the house will b

mr. mcgovern for five minutes. soon i thank you all for being here.this is excellent testimony and it's all common sense. it's all doable. doesn't seem like it's rocket science to be able to implement a sensible food waste policy in this country. i have a suggestion we should put you all in a room and you write the policy and funded and we are done. you represent a vast array of the players that need to be the table. a few weeks ago i was invited to massachusetts to react to a film about a couple that decided to live for six months on food waste. at the beginning of the found they thought they could knew they wouldn't be able to find food waste to be able to live on. by the end of the found they gained 20 pounds. because it was so plentiful. they were able to eat relatively healthy but they ended up eating a lot because they covered so much food. they went to dumpsters and supermarkets and recovered a huge amount of wasted food. they tried to buy food like bananas that were being taken off the shelf and they were told by the people at the supermarket

mr. mcgovern, five minutes. >> thank you. thank you all for being here. this has been excellent testimony and it's all common sense and it's all doable. it doesn't seem like it's rocket science to be able to implement a sensible food waste policy in this country. if i have a suggestion, we should just put you all in a room, write the policy and tell us to fund it and we're done. because i think you represent the vast array of the players that need to be at the table. a few weeks ago i was invited by the amherst cinema to react to a show called "just eat it." it was a couple who decided to live for six months on food waste. at the beginning of the film they thought they couldn't do it, they wouldn't be able to find good food waste to be able to live on. by the end of the film, they gained 20 pounds because it was so plentiful. and they were able to eat relatively healthy, but they ended up eating a lot because they uncovered so much discarded food. they went to dumpsters at supermarkets and uncovered huge amounts of discarded food. they went into the super

mcgovern. so do the republicans. mr. the campaign as aabrasive and insulting as he possibly could be. i think he will i hope, go on apology tour. apologize to senator mccain. apologizing to senator cruz. neil: he is not going to do that. >> maybe be a stronger bigger person. neil: he is not going to do that. >> you -- may i ask you, sir, you're the interviewer why do you think he will not do that? neil: i ask the questions here. i will talk to you later. [laughter]. i'm kidding. all i'm saying though on this is, that anger is palpable. lindsey graham adding his voice to all the others skipping out on convention and not go. that is certainly should cover that. that is a big deal. we heard just a few minutes ago, then bernie sanders sent a letter to the dnc, don't stack the deck at the philly convention. he is long bemoaned the role of superdelegates disproportionally the affecting the outcome of this vote, yet that goes unreported. >> well, that is not reported because anything that is negative within the democratic party

mr. sanders, for taking my call, you have a great night. host: dave has this interesting historical tidbit, discussions about carly fiorina. presidentialvice by severaln passed days. he was on the ticket with george mcgovern in 1972 before he was dropped off the ticket and replaced by sargent shriver. massachusetts in the district of columbia, a landslide for richard nixon in 1972. round rock, texas. good evening alex. caller: thank you for connecting me. i would like to preface by saying i'm a member of the socialist party. i don't currently support the mainstream race. this race is very telling about how the american public perceives outliers, such as the democrats and the republicans. despite polling, bernie sanders is still persisting even though he is losing. and outsiders like donald trump are also on the rise and still winning votes over and over. while i don't support any of the candidates in the race it says a great deal about how the american people are approaching politics and how the establishment politicians are not welcome. i think in the future it will be very evident and third-party elections, such as the socialist party, the green party and libertarian party coming to the forefront and ho