mr. o'rourke. mr. o'rourke: mr. speaker, on onday of this week, i was in mcallen, texas. a beautiful community comprised of some incredibly courageous, strong, kind-hearted people in the rio grande valley in the state of texas. connected by the rio grande river to renosa, mexico. forming one of these extraordinary binational communities that distinguish our connection with mexico, with the state of texas, for the united states of america. and i was able to visit the border patrol station in mcallen, texas, which is the busiest border patrol station in the country. and i happened to be there during the busiest shift during that day in that busy station. and i was able to spend some time with the amazing women and men of the border patrol. who have one of the toughest jobs that i can imagine, of keeping our country safe, of protecting our communities and the families within our communities. and of meeting those who are at their most desperate, most vulnerable moment in their lives. people who have fled terror and violence, death and -- death in their countries to come to ou

mr. o'rourke, also in the audience. he said my guy i have chosen as the nominee is also here, too, and it would be good to get him going. what happens, what is the calculation of raw politics that we have heard some democrats say? what happens when you don't let an administration staff up? >> if you are a democrat, you love it. >> harris:s it's happening to you. >> plus the professional full-time bureaucracy tends to be liberal democrats. so if you don't have a trump person in there running a department, the department is run by a temporary person who often doesn't share trump's values, didn't vote for him and doesn't want to implement his program. >> harris: there are plenty of the people in the administration that love what they do and don't let politics get in the mix, right? >> but the president has a right to appoint a set of people. plus when he starts talking about foreign policy, there are career diplomats blocked by the senate. >> harris: it's complicated because we are operating on so many fronts. north korea

mr. o'rourke and mr. kennedy who were near the tent city. tent cities near el paso. to frank pallone and hakeem jeffries and jerry nadler that were out in the new york-new jersey area. debbie wasserman schultz and others who were in florida. we're pushing legislation, we're out on the streets. we're organizing rallies. we're doing every single thing that we can to change this. to end it. and thank you to the folks in the senate who also made a trip to mcallen and to snork merkley, without whose help and support a few weeks ago in brownsville this issue would not nearly have gotten the same amount of attention. you know, this year marks 50 years since we lost two titans in american history. martin luther king and robert f. kennedy. and robert f. kennedy said 52 years ago in a famous speech that he gave in south africa on their day of affirmation, senator kennedy said back then, robert f. kennedy said back then, moral courage is a rare commodity than bravery in battle or intelligence. yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world that

mr. o'rourke. from the committee on energy and commerce, for consideration of title 27 of the -- 2717 of the senate amendment and modifications committed to conference, messrs. latta, johnson of ohio, and pallone. from the committee on financial services for consideration of title 17 of the senate amendment, and modifications committed to conference, messrs. hensarling, barr and ms. maxine waters of california. from the committee on foreign affairs, for consideration of title 17 of the senate amendment, and modifications committed to conference, messrs. royce of california, kinzinger and engel. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will announce the appointment of additional onferees at a subsequent time. pursuant to house resolution 964 and rule 18, the chair declares the house in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for further consideration of h.r. 6157. will the gentleman from illinois, mr. hultgren, kindly esume the chair. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whol