mr. pallone: thank you, peter. i want to follow up on what peter said. peter is pointing out that the problem with the republicans and the president right now is they are just too negative and don't think the federal government can do anything. we have had our issues in conference and in the middle of it. coming out of that issues conference, the democrats feel optimistic about the future and thinking about the future. those of you who listen in the media to vice president's speech yesterday, he talked about how optimistic he was about the future. and i think that's what we believe as democrats. the federal government can make a difference and make a difference for the economy by investing in infrastructure, investing in infrastructure pays back so many times in terms of jobs, the economic engine. and that's what this is all about. i wanted to talk specifically about the energy and commerce jurisdiction, because peter is stressing transportation. but infrastructure involves a lot of other things. we in energy and commerce actually put forward a proposal

mr. pallone has that's based on a study that the fcc did saying that we really need $40 billion. and mr. walden raised questions about spending that wisely and we want zop that, mato do that, it's done right. but of the panelists here, does that fcc figure, $40 billion for this buildout for reasonably comparable service in rural america sound like a good number to you? i'll start with you, jonathan. >> congressman welch there are numbers of studies that have indicated that more monies are needed for reaching ubic witty access for americans, a goal that we all share. i will not necessarily agreeing with one or another set of numbers. what we all agree to is that we do need direct funding where there is no business case to deploy. >> right. >> high speed broadband especially in unserved areas and using universal service fund is the platform for doing so we know is most efficient and administratively logical. >> and even assuming we do the things that have been recommended with regulatory reform in local partnerships, the number that we are going to have to spend is in the billions o

mr. pallone. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized, for two minutes. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank my colleague from new york, the ranking member. i rise in opposition to h.r. 1892. i'm disappointed that once again my republican colleagues are playing politics with important health programs. rather than bringing a stand-alone, bipartisan health extenders package to the floor, the republicans have once again delayed any action on these extenders so that they could attach them to a c.r. that democrats cannot support. this strategy may hide their inability to pass a final funding bill for fiscal year that began on october 1. but it has also created uncertainty for the millions of americans who rely on these programs every day. i'm glad that republicans have dropped some of the harmful offsets that have led to months of delay and uncertainty for these health programs. however, i remain concerned that the package excludes important health priorities, including the maternal infant and early chiledehood home visiting program -- childhood hom

mr. pallone: thank you, peter. i want to follow up on what peter said. peter is pointing out that the problem with the republicans and the president right now is they are just too negative and don't think the federal government can do anything. we have had our issues in conference and in the middle of it. coming out of that issues conference, the democrats feel optimistic about the future and thinking about the future. those of you who listen in the media to vice president's peech yesterday, he talked about how optimistic he was about the future. and i think that's what we believe as democrats. the federal government can make a difference and make a ifference for the economy by investing in infrastructure, investing in infrastructure pays back so many times in terms of jobs, the economic engine. and that's what this is all about. i wanted to talk specifically about the energy and commerce jurisdiction, because peter is stressing transportation. but infrastructure involves a lot of other things. we in energy and commerce actually put forward a proposal ea

mr. pallone, i yield you five minutes. >> thank you, madam chair. one year ago president trump promised one tradoc ever structure package that would bring democrats and republicans together. for our part in may of last year committee democrats introduced a comprehensive info structure package to cross all areas of this committee is jurisdiction. here we are with a series legislation from the president and instead where proposals from house republicans that most the conflict with the plant that was just leak out of the white house. in stark contrast committee democrats developed a legislative proposal to build the type of modern l resilient infrastructure americans need and deserve. at a time with our nation's infrastructure is either crumbling or desperate need of modernization it's time to make real and significant investment to thees future. the lift america act authorizes $40 million so that deployment of secure in resilient broadband would also provide over $20 billion for$2 drinking water infrastructure, over 17 billion for modern, efficient an

mr. pallone: thank you. i want to thank my colleague from illinois request for all her work on this and other good legislation. not the bill that's on the floor today, though. i rise in strong opposition to h.r. 772. this bill would undo years of progress toward implementing menu labeling requirements and only lead to greater consumer and industry confusion. we included requirement in the affordable care act that certain restaurants and other retail food establishments with 20 or more locations display calorie and other nutritional information in order to give consumers access to the information they need to make healthy choices in a way that would be consistent and be easy to understand. now g.o.p. efforts to sabotage thee the affordable care act continue with this legislation today which also undermines the a.c.a.'s prevention goals. unfortunately, h.r. 772 would weaken the current menu labeling requirements and lead to extended compliance delays, putting those establishments who have begun complying at a

mr. pallone. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized, for two minutes. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i want to thank my colleague from new york, the ranking member. i rise in opposition to h.r. 1892. i'm disappointed that once again my republican colleagues are playing politics with important health programs. rather than bringing a stand-alone, bipartisan health extenders package to the floor, the republicans have once again delayed any action on these extenders so that they could attach them to a c.r. that democrats cannot support. this strategy may hide their inability to pass a final funding bill for fiscal year that began on october 1. but it has also created uncertainty for the millions of americans who rely on these programs every day. i'm glad that republicans have dropped some of the harmful offsets that have led to months of delay and uncertainty for these health programs. however, i remain concerned that the package excludes important health priorities, including the maternal infant and early chiledehood home visiting program -- childhood hom

mr. pallone: i come to the floor pay tribute to republican staff director of the house energy and commerce committee. i always remember ray as an optimist. ray was always pushing us looking for a solution that both democrats and republicans could support and he was optimistic about our prospects and thanks to his prodding and we ar able to pass a bipartisan bill out of the committee and ray was committed to being a public servant when we marked up the a.c.a. repeal bill and ray was sick at that time but refused to leave the markup and chairman walden convinced ray to go home but that didn't stop him watching the debate on c-span from home and my staff were getting emails from him. my thoughts and prayers go out to ray's family and everyone else who knew ray. he will be sorely missed. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. olson: mr. speaker, i'm honored to work with the texans f a small town of the

mr. pallone at this time i will yield five minutes. >> the infrastructure package that would bring democrats and republicans together and for our part the committee democrats introduced a comprehensive package across all areas of the committee's jurisdiction. mostly to conflict with the plan that was just leaked out of the white house and since they developed a legislative proposal americans need and deserve the time when the nation's infrastructure is either crumbling or in desperate need of modernization it's time that we makes it thickens investments in the future. the left america act authorizes 40 billion for the deployment of secure and resilient broadband and also provide over $22 billion for drinking water infrastructure over 17 billion for the resistant infrastructure over 3 billion for health care infrastructure and list 3 billion for the redevelopment. and the left america act puts the dollars where the needed creating jobs revitalizing the communities and addressing the threats to human health and the environment and it would address the drinking water to fund medical facilities

mr. walden: yeah, i hope so. i don't -- you know, frank pallone, who i've developed a great working relationship with on many issues, i know he's got a bill authorizing this. it's always easy to authorize, by the way. it's hard to appropriate from an authorizing standpoint. [laughter] mr. walden: appropriators get funny about that. but we've got to find the money. and we're shoulder to shoulder on that. mr. mcdowell: very good. so i know we're starting to run out of time, but the recent false alarm in hawaii brought attention to all of our emergency alerts and even a conversation regarding 911, next-generation 911. what would you like to see happen? mr. walden: we'll have the commission before the committee next week, is that right? i've got to look -- february. mr. mcdowell: false alarm. mr. walden: well, i guarantee you a couple of things, one, you mentioned i'm an amateur radio operator, although i'm not active too much, and two, i have a wired in emergency alert system or two or three in radio stations because my wife and i ran radio stations for 20 years. i know a little bit about that and i go back far enough

mr. hoyer for giving us us her story. r. frank pallone gave me this. he was with us early in the presentation and his guest at the state of the union was edgar, a stude at the unersity o newark. she came to the states from south korea. after 2008 economic recession, her mom lost her position working at the hospital and they lost their legal status. when her mom got -- after she realized the implications of undocumented status when her mom got into a bike accident, she needed treatment. because they were uninsured, she treated herself through home remedies and prayer. she is a sophomore at rutgers on donated de through the rships and founded rutgers dreamers. and student athlete competing at rutgers university, rutgers, track and field team and news editor of rutgers university, newspaper. how many hours do i have in the day? i would like to know. i would like to my own guest at the state of the union. i'm so proud of her. state-wide organizer for california's dream network. i'm so proud of them and the head of the organization, they have done so much t

thank the energy and commerce committee chairman walden, ranking member pallone, and the subcommittee chair ranking members, mrs. blackburn and mr. doyle, for their help and leadership on this issue. thank you very much and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. doyle: could i quine -- inquire if my friend has more speakers? mr. lance: i believe we have one more speaker. mr. doyle: i continue stroverb. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey. mr. lance: i yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from south dakota, mrs. noem. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. noem: i rise to support the rural call quality and reliability act. most americans can rely on their phone service to keep in touch with loved ones, they can respond to urgent work then away from their place of business and respond to emergencies. but many of my constituents in south dakota continue to have critical calls cropped with abslutly no warning. more specifically, companies in calls iness of routing drop call

mr. hoyer for giving us us her story. r. frank pallone gave me this. he was with us early in the presentation and his guest at the state of the union was edgar, a stude at the unersity o newark. she came to the states from south korea. after 2008 economic recession,

pallone: all right. thank you, mr. chairman. chair burgess: the chair recognizes the gentleman from michigan, mr. upton. thank you, mr. chairman, and i appreciate your remarks and that of the full committee chairman. that this isay bipartisan from the get-go. we want to provide you all the tools that you need. ay that every one of us ,nows someone that has impacted and the budget agreement that we passed and the president signed -- we do sequestration a couple of years ago, and no one had ever heard of opioids for the most part in terms of where things are today. 65,000 people a year, 8, 10 years ago on this thing. so i am glad to say that the budget agreement did increase money versus what would have otherwise been a cut. and specifically earmarked opioid abuse as one of the theeases that i know appropriators are going to come back with us for before the march 23 deadline. of course all of us on this committee supported 21st century cures, 51-0. included $1, we billion for opioids. that was only a two-year deal, so that expires

chairman walden and ranking member pallone for their leadership in making sure that this bill came to the floor today. it has been a tremendous honor to work with my colleague, mr. simpson of idaho, in moving this legislation that i am intensely passionate about, the action for dental health act. i want to acknowledge that while members of this chamber may not always see eye-to-eye on matters of health policy, i'm proud that my colleagues were able to work together in a constructive, compassionate, considerate way to address a critical public health matter of improving oral health in america. mr. chairman, all americans deserve a healthy smile, but sadly each year tens of millions of americans forego needed orel health care due to -- oral health care due forest, fear, language or cultural to ers, or the -- due fear, language or cultural barriers. going to the dentist can tell a lot about your overall health, including whether or not you may be developing a disease like diabetes or you're at risk for a stroke. 50 million americans live in places with limited access to dental care and economically vulnerable adults are almost twices a likely to have had no dental