mr. poe: i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. o'rourke: mr. chairman, i'd like tim: quire how much time remains ourn -- like to inquire how much time remains on our side? i yield two minutes to the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. johnson: i thank the gentleman from texas. i rise in opposition to the poe amendment. this amendment would expand the military's authority under the 1033 program to flood our streets with surplus battle-ready military equipment straight from the battlefields of iraq and afghanistan. specifically this amendment would allow the defense department to transfer equipment such as the mq-9 reaper drone to federal and state law enforcement agencies. this is a cynical attack cloaked in the name of border security on president obama's executive order limiting the proliferation of military equipment within the borders of america. typically the 1033 program feeds more

mr. poe: mr. speaker, this sunday, may 29, marks the one-year anniversary for the justice for victims of trafficking act being signed as we refer fvta to it. this is a vital piece of legislation that the house and senate passed, sign by the president a year ago, that takes this scourge of human slavery that's taking place internationally but also here in the united states and congress weighs in on this to deal with this issue. i think in a very good way. and it's impressive to me as a member of the house how many members of congress on both sides were involved in drafting legislation over a year ago that came to the house and passed. in the house itself, there were 11 pieces of legislation dealing with trafficking, sex trafficking, and all of those bills came up to the house floor the same week, all of them passed with overwhelming numbers, went down the hallway to the u.s. senate, the senate combined those bills into one bill, passed that legislation, it came back to the house, we passed that, si

mr. poe, but they may be but -- in marshall, texas, and that's not necessarily a great world there. so i suggest if you amend -- pre-suit notifications that you ought to have something that also rewards the good guys to clean up the miss after the 120 days. everybody says, oh, the good guys will come forth and give notice and that's what you want to get. mirror sort of the signs or rails or whatever taken care of. and if the good guys do it, great. but if you don't, you have bad actors or if they lollygag or they don't do substantial, whatever, then i think you got to have a stick. to change this you have to have a stick to see the bad guys get punished somehow. i don't know how you do it. you have to give some people this notice and provision and time to kind of maybe be dilatory but punish them for not being good guys. one of my thoughts was to give some kind of damages, liquidated damages, some amount that's equal to or multiple -- whatever it requires to fix the area or maybe there would

mr. poe, but they may be but -- in marshall, texas, and that's not necessarily a great world there. so i suggest if you amend -- suit notifications that you ought to have something that also rewards the good guys to clean up the miss after the 120 days. everybody says, oh, the good guys will come forth and give notice and that's what you want to get. mirrors or signs or rails or whatever taken care of. nd if the good guys do it, great. but if you don't, you have bad actors or if they loly gag or they don't do substantial, whatever, then i think you got to have a stick. to change this you have to have a stick to see the bad guys get punished somehow. i don't know how you do it. you have to give some people this notice and provision and time to kind of maybe be dilatory but punish them for not being good guys. one of my thoughts was to give some kind of damages, liquidated damages, some amount that's equal to or multiple -- whatever it requires to fix the area or maybe there would be some other

poe. if you turn that microphone on, i know -- yes, sir. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you for allowing me to be here. i want to thank the ranking member and congressman calvert for his work on this issue for a good number of years. as it has chairman pointed out, or has pointed out in the past, i'm a former judge, prosecutor, lawyer, been in the legal profession for almost 40 years. this is a situation where, this particular hearing we are having deals with, i think, abuse of a good law. i believe strongly the a.d.a. it needs to be always enforced and the goal of the legislation is to make sure that when there is a violation, anywhere across the fruited plain, that the violation get fixed so there is accommodation for the citizen to get into that business. but the legislation hopes to prevent what is occurring that there are lawsuits being filed, not to get accommodation for the citizen, but to get money so that people settle and the alleged violation may or may not ever be addressed. and what happens is that lawyers are making a lot of money off these, what i th

mr. poe, but -- they may be, but i don't think so -- marshall county, texas, deal. it's not necessarily a great world there. so i suggest if you want to amend the pre-suit notifications, that you ought to have something that also rewards the good guys that clean up the mess after 120 days. that's what you want to get, is you want the mirrors or the signs or the rails or whatever taken care of. and if the good guys do it, great. if they don't, you got bad actors or they just kind of lollly gag or don't do substantial, then i think you've got to have a stick. if you change this, you've got to have a stick to see that the bad guys get punished somehow. there's got to be something to those people not to just give them this notice provision and time to kind of maybe be dilatory, but punish them for not being good guys. one of my thoughts was give some kind of damages, some liquidated damages, equal to or multiple to what it requires to fix the area. or maybe there'd be some other kind of damages t

the chair now recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, for five minutes. mr. poe: request permission to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. poe: mr. speaker, early in 2015 the department of homeland security removed the t.s.a. director and administrator after it was revealed that banned items made it through screening in different parts of our airports throughout the united states. this didn't happen once or twice but it happened 67 times out of 70 tries. that is a 90% failure rate. any business would be out of business if it failed 90% of the time to do what it's supposed to do. and we are not talking about selling goods and services, we are talking about security, american security. but t.s.a. is a government agency so to me accountability doesn't seem to be a priority. so after this fiasco in 2015, the administrator was replaced with a new administrator. i don't know that security is better or not. maybe it is. but we do know that the lines are longer in t.s.a. efficiency is questionable. to find that out, just go to

the clerk: amendment number 14 printed in part b offered by mr. poe of texas as modified. the chair: those in support of a request for a recorded will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a two-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 chair: on this vote, the yeas are 243 and the nays are 180. the amendment is adopted. there being no further committee -- the rises. the speaker pro tempore: mr. chairman. the chair: the committee having had under consideration directs me to report it has come to no resolution thereon. the speaker pro tempore: the chair of the committee of the whole house of the state of the union has had under consideration h.r. 4909 and has come to no resolution thereon. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek

mr. poe of texas. >> thank you, madam chair. thank you, sir, for being here. i have one -- a couple observations, and i want to spend most of my time talking about china. when i visited with admiral harris at pacific command, i asked him this question: of these five entities -- russia, china, north korea, isis and iran, i think those are threats to the united states -- which of those five do you think is the most troubling at this point? and he responded, north korea. would you agree with that assessment or not? i just need a yes or no. >> yes. >> okay. i want to talk about china. china, they have a billion more people than we do in the united states. i think some americans don't realize how populated china is. and some facts about china, they are the number one recipient of poached ivory from africa. the elephants are dying off, they're being killed in africa, and the number one recipient is china. they are thieves. they steal our intellectual property. cyber attacks, i believe, they're responsible for those. they're bullying asia, trying to make new, soverei

mr. poe: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from texas is recognized for one minute. mr. poe: mr. speaker, last week isis terrorists came into the house of a christian family in iraq to collect the religious tax imposed on all nonmuslims -- non-muslims. isis told the mother of the home, quote, you have two choices. you are to leave now or you are to pay the tax. the mother pled, i will pay, but give me a few seconds because my daughter is in the shower. but the isis terrorists did not wait. instead they set fire to the house. the mother, clutching a small child, escaped, but the girl was trapped in the burning home. later she was found but had such severe burns that she died in her mother's harms -- arms. the last thing she said to her mother was, for give them. the girl's a better person than most of us. anyway, from beheadings to burning little christian girls alive, isis' ev

mr. poethey may be. marshall county, texas zero and they're just not necessarily great hair. i would suggest if you want to commend this pre-suit notification that you ought to have -- something that also rewards the good guys to clean up the mess after 120 days and everybody says the good guys would come forth and that's what you want to get. the mirrors are the signs or whatever taking care of. if the good guys do it, and make substantial clients, great. but if they don't, you're a bad actors. griffey lollygag or don't be substantial whatever, then you've got to have a stake. the fatah have a state to make sure the bad guys get punished somehow. i'm not quite sure you do it, but not just to give them this notice provision to punish them for liquidated damages and the amount is equal to the multiple of what it requires to fix the area or maybe there'd be some other damages we can come up with to punish the altars that are in the good guys. you've got to have consequences for those people who

mr. poe: mr. speaker, israel has always been surrounded by threats. since it was established, israel has survived arab armies waiting at its borders to destroy the jewish state. it has persisted in the face of suicide bombers and terrorists onslates like in other country in history. recently the threats to israel have increased and become even more dangerous. iran's supreme leader has stated clearly he wants to destroy israel. thanks to the nuclear deal made by the administration, it's only a matter of time before the mullahs in iran develop a nuclear weapon. the iranian deal will gown-g down in history as one of the administration's worst foreign policy mistakes. this chamberlain deal ensures that iran gets to keep enriching une rain yum and does not have to dismantle any of its nuclear infrastructure. in 10 years tehran just has to flip a switch to get a nuclear bomb. and israel is the first target. tehran wants to put the entire middle east under its thumb he, and iran continues to defy u.n. scurk resolutions on if ballistic missiles, and since the

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, rise? mr. poe: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my rksthe eak without objection. mr. speaker, last thursday a chemical warehouse in my texas district exploded nto a start thing -- startling inferno. chemicals shot into the air like rockets. the smoke and heat were intense. but the houston fire department quickly answered the alarm. mr. speaker, over 200 firefighters from 32 fire stations responded to the hellish inferno. spring branch elementary and nearby homes were evacuated. but the smoke and fire was conquered. the school and homes were saved. not one person was injured. mr. speaker, firefighters are a special breed. they risk their lives to save our lives. they restore order from bay kaye yoss. and these firefighters are to be thanked and appreciated. firefighter courage and dedication to protecting us is part of what makes them a special breed. while others flee in haste of imblend pending danger, the firefighter with sirens, red l

the chair now recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, for five minutes. mr. poe: mr. speaker, as the world leader in freedom and democracy, it is in our national interest to see that the same freedoms we have spread to peoples throughout the world. the republic of georgia is a small and young democracy in an area that is more known for its authoritarian rule than freedom. georgia formerly declared independence in 1918 but four years later, the soviet bear inveigheded and declared georgia a soviet socialist republic but the georgian people are resilient and with the fall of the soviet union in 1991 georgia declared its independence from russia. over the past 25 years, georgia has become the freest country in its region. it sets up -- it sets up a stark contrast to the dictatorship of putin in the north. however, the russians never gave up their ambitions to control georgia. i was in georgia in 2008 when the russian troops inveigheded and took 1/3 of georgia. i saw the russian tanks up on the hill and, mr. speaker -- invaded and took 1/3 of georgia. i saw the russian ta

mr. poe: thank you, sheriff. i want to thank the sheriff and sheriff nugent and all those members of congress who have served in law enforcement before they came to the house. this is a solemn week when we show our respect and honor to those who have wornhe shield or the star. you notice it's, mr. speaker, the shield, the star is always over the heart and it's symbolic of protecting us from outlaws, from criminals, that they stand, law enforcement stands between us and those that would do us harm. that's why they wear the shield or the star over their heart, because they will give their lives and have for the rest of us, protecting us from those do bads out there. i served as a prosecutor in houston, texas, for eight years, and then 22 years in the criminal courts trying all kinds of cases. and i met a lot of police officers. i still know a lot of them. and they are certainly a rare breed that would do what they do. most americans couldn't impon patrol one day and do what they do and they are to be admired. we ho

mr. poe: thank you, mr. chairman, for yielding, and i rise support of this amendment. prescription drug abuse is a growing problem throughout the united states, particularly in east tennessee where i live, and there's no question that a significant soue of a supply for prescription drug abuse is unused prescriptions. we need to do everything possible to encourage the safe disposal of drugs. i worked with my friend, dr. bera from california, to establish a grant program to fund programs to help law enforcement agencies, pharmacs, narcotic treatment programs, spitals, clinics, long-term ce facilities to properly dispose of outdated or unused prescription medications. so i'm pleased that the passage this amendment will create a siilar funding stream. currently the grant programs to properly dispose of prescription drugs, and i believe this effort could help urb the widespread prescription drug abuse we're seeing throughout the country and i encourage our colleagues to support our amndment and i yield back the balance of my time. e chair: the gentleman from virginia reserv

the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, for five minutes. mr. speaker, born in the 1920's, he grew up in the depression of the 1930's, poor, like most rural american children. fresh vegetables were grown in the family garden behind the small frame house. his mother made sandwiches for school out of homemade bread, store bought bread was for the rich. he grew up belonging to the boy scouts, playing the trumpet in high school band, and went to church on almost all sundays. . in 1944, this country boy who never found himselves more than 50 miles from home, he went to asic army training in texas. he went to new york city for the ocean trip on a cramped liberty ship to fight in the great world war ii. while crossing the atlantic, he witnessed another liberty ship next to his that was sunk by a german u-boat. as a soldier in the seventh army he went from france to survive the battle of the bulge and stew guard and colon. he saw the brutal concentration camps of the nazis and saw the victims. you saw incredible number of teenage americans buried in

the chair appoints the gentleman from texas, mr. poe, to preside over the committee of the whole. the chair: the house will be in order. members take their conversations off the floor. the house is in the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of h.r. 4641, which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: 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. the chair: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as read the first time. the gentlewoman from indiana, mrs. brooks, and the gentleman from new jersey, mr. pallone, will each control 30 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from indiana. mrs. brooks: mr. chairman, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentlewoman will suspend. the committee will be in order. members take your conversations off the floor. the gentlewoman from indiana is recognized. mrs. brooks:00: -- mrs. brooks: thank you, mr. chairman. this week we have and

castro and mr. poe, both members of the committee, who have been strong supporters and mr. engel, helping to maintain that our border structure is maintained and i encourage my colleagues to support this measure and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass senate 2143, those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. . in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. royce: i move the house suspend the rules and pass h.r. 1150 as amended. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: a bill to amend the international religious freedom act of 1998 to improve the ability of the united states to advance religious freedom globally through advanced diplomacy, training, counterterrorism and foreign assistance efforts and for a stronger response to rel

. >> mr. poe of texas. >> thank you, madam chair. i have a couple of observations and i want to talk about china. when i visited with admiral harris at specific command, i asked this question. of these five entities, russia, china, north korea and isis and iran, those are threats to the united states. which do you think is the most troubling at this point? he responded north korea. would you agree with that assessment or not. yes or no. >> yes. >> i want to talk about china. china has a billion more people than we do in the united states. i think some americans don't realize how populated china is. some facts about china, they are the number one recipient of poached ivory from africa. the elephants are being killed in africa and the number one recipient is china. they are thieves. they steal intellectual property and cyber attacks i believe they are responsible for those. they are bullying asia trying to make new sovereign territory in the south china sea and claim the area around it and help pakistan with intercontinental missiles a

mr. poe: i thank the speaker and i thank the gentleman from virginia for yielding time. mr. speaker, last month, a few eeks ago, aldon compton was on patrol after midnight. he is a deputy constable in houston, texas. he works for the constable's office in precinct 7. constables have all the power in the state of texas laws as other peace officers. he's on routine patrol with his rookie partner, ann glass glow. they make -- glascow. they make a routine traffic stop. some outlaw snuck up behind aldon compton and pulled out a pistol and shot at him six times in the back. some of those bullets made their mark and some of those bullets missed. he owes his life, he says, to the bulletproof vest that he was wearing. constable may walker said he survived because he was wearing a vest. you may have never heard of aldon compton, mr. speaker, but he's a peace officer coming from a peace officer family. his wife is a deputy sheriff. his three brothers are all in law enforcement. you his son is a cop in mississippi, i believe. he lives today because of had a bulletproof vest on, and as t

mr. poe: madam speaker, five years after the united states removal of libyan dictator gaddafi, libya is a dangerous mess. the u.s. policy was simple. remove the country's dictator, then get out of town. now there is chaos. the u.s. gave its blessings as arms were shipped into the libyan tinderbox, then libya quickly exploded. now libya is a state of perpetual anarchy, civil war, and death. al qaeda and isis have since infiltrated libya, exploiting the power back from the united states policy created. at least 6,500 isis fighters control over 150 miles of the coast. isis will not stop in libya. they are using the libyan base as a hub from which to create mayhem across north africa. to be clear, the united states has no plan when it comes to libya. libya's another example of an overall weak and indesistive u.s. foreign policy. meanwhile, more terror by isis and evildoers will continue. that's just the way it is. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek r

mr. poe's bill requires a plaintiff to give a business owner notice of an alleged ada violation and the opportunity to fix that violation before a lawsuit may be filed. as a business owner, as someone disabled, do you believe it's fair to the disabled to require notice and an opportunity to fix a violation before a lawsuit can be filed? >> it's fair to insert issue that's itemized. the reason -- i believe it is fair because there's so many new update law regulation that all of you had written to, for example, for my mom's shop. there was seven items unnecessarily. it was a sticker note, a violation for the exit sign, an incorrect symbol of the restroom, the doorknobs, the mat. that is simple. i was not aware of the new regulation. so if you all that making changes, let us know, and this would not happen. if the community, if the citizen knows, this would not happen. i would like to say something. i don't think your building here is accessible. i went to the women's restroom. it's not accessible

mr. poe: madam speaker, jane was above all a survivor. she always rose above adversity. she was a teacher, a music producer, a textile owner, mother, grandmother, and she was happily married, and she married her childhood sweetheart. 31 years after her marriage, her husband took off in the darkness of the night with the property. after 15-year court battle, her ex-husband was ordered to return her assets, but instead of following the court order, he struck off again hiding in another state. jane was left with nothing. she was forced to rely on public assistance. and there are many spouses like jane who find themselves victims of this injustice. jane's law provides federal enforcement to retrieve stolen marital property that is illegally taken across state line. it targets stealing spouses who have deliberately evaded payment. jane's motto was don't give up. her passion drove kongman cohen from tennessee along with other house members to champion jane's law. she died recently on april 28, 2016, at the age of 85. she was a strong spirited woman, madam speaker, she died wit

poe poe -- those opposed, no. the noes have it. mr. polis: i request a recorded vote. the chair: pusuant to clause 6 of rule 18, further proceedings on the amendment offered by the gentleman from colorado will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> pusuant to h.res. 735 i offer amendments en bloc. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendments. the clerk: en bloc amendment consisting of amendments eight, 25, 35, 38, 40, 41, 42 and 45 printed in house report number 114-571, offered by mr. thornberry of texas. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 735, the gentleman from texas, mr. thornberry and the gentleman from washington, mr. smith, each will control 10 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas. mr. thornberry: i'm pleased to yield one minute to the gentleman from california, mr. lamalfa. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. lamalfa: thank you, and i appreciate mr. thornberry allowing me to present this amendment. u2, then support of the dragon lady, one of the most spy planes ever built. what many

mr. chairman, and i thank my good friend from massachusetts. i rise in support of the bipartisan amendment i've co-written with my colleague, judge ted poe of texas. the amendment which is part of the next en bloc amendment endorses an ongoing effort at the defense security cooperation agency to develop a comprehensive framework for the assessment, monitoring, and evaluation of security cooperation activities of the department of defense. it follows a related monitoring and evaluation amendment judge poe and i offered to the ndaa for f.y. 2016 and the committee retained in the 2017 bill. security cooperation, foreign security forces builds valuable international partnerships and enhances the ability of our partners to carry out joint military operations and enhances american security while it's at it. however, few requirements are placed on these programs to measure the impact of funding provided to our foreign security partners. looking at efficacy, does it work? judge poe and i led the effort to apply assessment, monitoring, and evaluation, leading principles to u.s. foreign assistance administered by the state department, by usaid, and other f

mr. chairman, we appreciate your joining us. while you recover from a a medical procedure, note that you're under doctor's orders to wear your cha poe, i think that's the proper term. as i told you in the back room, i was going the give you a black cowboy hat. [laughter] a cowboy hat as we say in dodge city. but we don't want this to be a hearing with black hats, so -- [laughter] but you're permitted, and you're looking good. mr. spearman appointed to serve on the farm credit system board by president obama, october 13 of 2009, has an extensive background working in finance agriculture cooperatives from 1980-1991. mr. spearman served as controller of a 100 million citrus co-op in orlando where he handled financial management reporting and supervision of taffe accounts. after serving in this capacity, mr. spearman went on to become director of internal audit for florida's natural growers and outside director on the ag first farm credit bank board until his appointment to the farm credit administration board. mr. spearman is also a u.s. army and vietnam veteran. we thank you, sir, for your service. mr. spearman, thank you for your ser

mr. simpson: i appreciate the gentleman's passion with this and his obvious concern and interest and i will tell that you there is a great deal of support for what the gentleman is proposing. congressman poe and congressman culberson, as wling as members on your side of the -- as well as members on your side of the aisle have talked to us repeatedly about the issues you address here. while this amendment is out of order, i will promise to the gentleman that we will work with you to try to address this problem of one of america's great cities. mr. green: i thank you and as you know i believe your word is as good as gold. thank you. and i thank the ranking member. the chair: the gentlewoman from ohio is recognized. ms. kaptur: i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlewoman yields back the balance of her time. for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. yoho of florida. at the end of the bill, before the short title, insert the following, section, none of the funds made available by this act may be used by the department