mr. rhodes, and thank you for taking my call. i was just wanting to ask, do you think that the obama administration should have been a little less forceful on trying to get the ach through? because it seems like when they put it through, as soon as he got into office, it caused a lot of backlash from the republican party. almost like he got in and punched him right in the nose. they didn't recover and they became obstructionists. here we have trump who came in and his first thing was to get rid of the ach. so, or the ahc. so, just want to know, do you think the obama administration should have been less forceful and what do you think is going to be the one policy issue that will try and bring both parties together? thank you, and i'll take the answer. >> that's a good question. i think at a minimum, we certainly misjudged how difficult it would be. i remember we came in, we did the stimulous. dealing with the economic crisis. and that spring, we pivot to healthcare. the feeling was, this would be a few months. we'll get a bill do

mr. langevin of rhode island. the chair: the gentleman from rhode island, mr. langevin and a member opposed, each will control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from rhode island. mr. langevin: thank you, mr. chairman, today i offer an amendment that is important to rhode island fishermen. this would provide representation on the management council which regulates numerous species in the waters off our coast. this is not a pro vingsshal matter but providing equity for those invested in our regional fishery council system. they should have a seat at the table. despite our location in new england, we do haul in the so-called mid atlantic species. using the most recent statistics, rhode island has awe all the squid caught on the east coast. half of all squid caught on the east coast is landed by ocean state fishermen. these squid are in the famous rhode island calamari. and rhode island has 85% of butter fish, butter fish is regulated by the mid atlantic council. we haul in more scup and regulated by the mid atlantic council. we are among the top thr

mr. rhodes. >> i do remember not the specifics, other transfers where it was a one on one transfer. i do not remember, ever in my history, of a transfer of a function where it went up 233% in the same year that was being transferred. if anybody can prove me wrong to the contrary, let me know. >> supervisor cohen: it would be mr. herrera. >> i'm sorry. >> one thing that was pointed out to me. couple of years ago we started doing lawyer work here. i we have lawyers that handled lawyers law work. never came back and look for additional funding for that either. that is going to be consumed within this unit that is going to be -- >> supervisor cohen: we've got some questions here that i want to get some clarity on. i want to go back to the state legislation. it passed out of committee 31-0 and frankly i believe expected to pass. what are the implications of this legislation passing? what are the implications going to be on city county of san francisco? >> it's hard to predict. my understanding of that legislation, i don't pretend to be an expert on it, it will expand the definitions of w

mr. rhodes. >> i do remember not the specifics, other transfers where it was a one on one transfer. i do not remember, ever in my history, of a transfer of a function where it went up 233% in the same year that was being transferred. if anybody can prove me wrong to the contrary, let me know.

mr. cicilline the remaining time, he's a great advocate for yprus and we've co-sponsored legislation together. the gentleman from rhode island. mr. cicilline: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i thank the gentlelady for her co-chairmanship of this caucus. both mr. bilirakis and mrs. maloney have been great champions on this issue. i rise to join both my colleagues to celebrate the important relationship between the united states and cyprus and highlights the critical role our relationship with cyprus plays. the republic of cyprus is a partner of the united states and an effective ally in combating threats by terrorism and nuclear proliferation. . through counterterrorism activities and increased cooperation on energy policy, our relationship with cyprus allows us to advance our nation's interests, defend against the rise of terrorism and regional acters who seek to take steps counter to american interests and to promote the ongoing close cooperation between the united states and europe. the u.s. participates in a number of joint exercises with cyprus, including annual multinational search and rescue and crisis manag

mr. polis: to discuss our proposal, i'd like to yield three minutes to the gentleman from rhode island, mr. cicilline. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from rhode island is recognized. mr. polis: i'd like to yield five minutes to the gentleman from rhode island, mr. cicilline. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from rhode island is recognized. mr. cicilline: thank you, mr. speaker. and i thank the gentleman. mr. speaker, congress is broken. each day more and more americans are losing faith that their government actually works for them. more than 80% of americans say they can't trust washington to do what's right for them. more than 2/3 feel like our democracy is getting less responsive under republican control. and they know what's going on here. they know they're caught in a system that's rigged against them. their voices are ignored. their concerns are dismissed. they don't even get a seat at the table, but the republicans who control this chamber aren't going to fix it. they've given away all the seats at the table to corporate special interests, to billionaires, to the big ba

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i would like to ask that any pending quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: and, second, to follow up on the remarks of our distinguished democratic ranking member on the environment public works committee, senator carper, who spoke about the environmental prospects of trump's nominee, brett kavanaugh, should he reach the supreme court. i come at this from a very particular angle, and let me start by kind of laying the predicate, if you will, for my comments. a long, long time ago when the founding fathers were setting up our country they brought over the tradition of an independent judiciary and of the common jury from england. it was extremely important to the founding generation, the declaration of independence made reference to efforts to interfere with the right to trial by jury, the efforts by british agents of influence to interfere with american juries was a constant thorn, and the feeling was that the independence of cour

there is one seat on that court that by tradition is designated to rhode island. mr. merkley: so if we lose this blue-slip tradition for circuit courts, it would be the case that when the seat comes up that is now held in rhode island, an administration could nominate and conceiveably a majority could confirm someone who lives, say, in arizona? mr. whitehouse: it would mean that the senators from that state would have no defense against that change. it would mean that the next democratic president could appoint rhode islanders to texas. it would mean that the next republican president could appoint texans to rhode island. and neither the senators from texas nor the senators from rhode island would have any defense left against that without the honoring of the blue slip. mr. merkley: so in essence, when our colleagues across the aisle, if they vote for this confirmation, they're basically saying they're voting to give up the essentially the understanding among this body that has ensured that they would have a voice in making sure that a member of their circuit court was

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: mr. president, i'd like to join my chairman, senator collins, in requesting that all of our colleagues file their amendments by 1:00 p.m. tomorrow afternoon so we can continue to make progress as we're doing. again, i thank the chairman for her great leadership. with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama. mr. jones: thank you, mr. president. i rise on behalf of the line workers in our alabama auto plants. i rise on behalf of our soybean and cotton farmers. and i rise on behalf of countless other alabama businesses that have contacted me because they feel threatened by proposed tariffs but are afraid to speak out publicly for fear of reprisal or in some cases they simply don't want to be seen as inflicting political damage to the president. mr. president, i came to this body to work on solutions, not to raise partisan threat levels. so i'm not one to unfairly level criticism at the president of the united sta

mr. long driven from rhode island to introduce the rhode island secretary of state. >> thank you mr. chairman i want to thank you and the members of congress for reaching out to me to facilitate , to hear testimony about the elections in rhode island and before i introduce the secretary of state i want to take a moment to publicly congratulate secretary krebs on his being confirmed officially, we had a big conversation and i again want to congratulate you. i appreciate the ongoing relationship in the work you and i have done together and what we've had on election security. i look forward to continue working together. but mr. chairman and ranking members of congress, i am proud today to be able to recognize and welcome -- rhode island secretary of state to the panel today. she has held the position in the ocean state as a leader in election security, under her direction rhode island replaced all of its two decade old equipment. following the 2016 elections the secretary has taken all steps that we need, that we would hope for the state to take to secure the elections. she has emphasiz

mr. langevin of rhode island. the chair: the gentleman from rhode island and a member opposed will each control five minutes. mr. langevin: i rise to offer my amendment to restore funding to the southern new england estuary program and i would like to withdraw to work out a solution that is deeply meaningful. m joined this amendment by congressman cicilline and congressman contendey. mr. chairman, estuary support life and salt water and fresh water mixed together and support a robust number of species. in rhode island, these coastal areas provide environmental balance but are threat yepped by human activity. we need to continue to support the restoration. over the past several years we have seen the success of e.p.a.'s southern new england program. with projects since 2014, these funds have helped to far begana set bay. and supported in south county, rhode island and cape cod and the island. they have worked in from puget sound and working in new england. mr. chairman, as i said in the past, our estuaries are the

the hat purpose does gentleman from rhode island seek recognition? mr. langevin: the gentleman from rhode island mr. ask unanimous consent that my withdrawn as a co-sponsor of h.r. 2069. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the chair lays before the house the following enrolled bill. the clerk: senate 2850, an act to amend the white mountain apache tribe water rights act of 2010 to clarify use of amounts in the w.m.a.t. settlement fund. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from georgia seek recognition? >> >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on judiciary be discharged from further consideration of house resolution 257 and ask for its immediate consideration in the house. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. house resolution 257, resolution condemning hate crime and any other form of racism, religious, or ethnic bias, discrimination, and incitement to violence a minority in the united states. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection to the consideration of the

mr. langevin of rhode island. now with my co-sponsor from the education and work force committee, representative krishnamoorthi. it's been more than a decade since our federal role and nation's c.t.e. programs has been modernized. much of our society has changed since then. right now there are more than 6.5 million unfilled jobs in this country and we're finally recognizing the impact of the skills gap. a study concluded by the brookings institute found that in the next decade three million workers will be needed in the infrastructure industry alone. this includes careers in transportation, housing, and telecommunications. the as a father i know there is nothing parents want more than their kids -- for their kids than a life that is better than their own. but only half of all americans today expect their children to have a brown-waiter future than they did. the strengthening career and technical education for the 21st century act aims to help more americans. particularly younger americans obtain the knowledge and

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i spoke before the 4th of july recess about two financial risks that are coming our way thanks to not getting anything done on climate change. one, of course, is the risk to coastal properties, not something that the presiding officer has to worry too much about given his home state but something that rhode island's ocean state has to care a lot about and the distinguished senator from florida and his constituents have to care a lot about because there is a point where rising sea levels intrude into the sailability, the mortgagability, and insurability of houses and none other than freddie mac, the huge federal housing corporation is predicting that there will be a coastal property meltdown. the other risk is that of a carbon bubble. there is a lot of talk in the economic literature about a carbon bubble. one recent financial study reports the potential effects of a carbon bubble on financial stability have been recently discussed in the academic literature and are increasi

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: mr. president, i would ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, as we consider the appropriations minibus this week, i rise to emphasize once again the importance of acknowledging and addressing the threat of interference in our election systems. in particular, congress must address the continuing threat of russian cyberattacks against our democratic institutions. it is difficult to overstate the need to shore up support for democratic institutions here and around the world in light of president trump's recent foreign policy failures. in the last week or so, the president has attempted to derail the nato summit by insulting our allies and demanding that they immediately double their contributions, thrown a wrench into brexit negotiations, and seemingly endorsed a new prime minister for the united kingdom and then embraced russian president vladimir putin in helsinki. president trump stood shoul

mr. speaker, i yield to the gentleman from rhode island, mr. cicilline, for the purpose of a unanimous consent request. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cicilline: i ask unanimous consent to amend the rule in order to make the quigley amendment in order to restore urgently needed funds to prevent russian interference in our upcoming elections. i would just ask the gentleman from washington if he would yield for purposes of considering this unanimous consent amendment so we can together, democrats and republicans, work together to protect the integrity of our elections. restore funding so we can look our voters in the face and say your vote counted. we're going to protect it from russian interference i'm imploring my friend on the other side of the aisle to permit this unanimous consent request so we can restore this urgent funding. it shouldn't be republican or democratic issue. it's an american issue. this is the integrity of our democracy. will the gentleman yield to a unanimous consent request? the speaker pro tempor

mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from rhode island, mr. langevin, the ranking member on the emerging threats subcommittee. i want to particularly thank him for his leadership on climate change a and alternative energy. he has done a great job inserting those issues in this bill. i a appreciate that leadership. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. . mr. langevin: thank you, mr. chair. i thank the gentleman for yielding. i'd like to begin by thanking chairman thornberry, ranking member smith, chairman mccain, senator inhofe, and their staffs for their tireless work in producing this conference report. i'm especially pleased that this conference report is named after senator john mccain, a true american hero. thank you for your service, senator, and god speed. it's an honor to serve as a conferee throughout this process and to be part of this undertaking in sport of our armed forces. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. members of the house are asked to take their conversations off the floor. t

tom rhodes was that lawyer. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. fitzpatrick, for five minutes. mr. fitzpatrick: mr. speaker, i rise today to recognize a consciencious young citizen in bucks county, pennsylvania, who recently was named the upper bucks ymca role model of the year. jonathan of quakertown received this award for his participation in the ymca's team fugs afterschool program where he stood out amongst his piers for his -- peers for his respect, sense of responsibility, and honesty. i commend jonathan for this impressive achievement and look forward to seeing what this future leader will accomplish in the years ahead. i also want to commend the upper bucks ymca for recognizing jonathan and wish this organization well as it celebrates its 50th year of service to the community. i especially like to thank upper bucks ymca executive director, pat edwards, and president of the board of directors, dale weswood, for all their work they

the gentleman from rhode island, mr. cicilline, is recognized for five minutes. mr. cicilline: thank you, mr. chairman. i begin by saying that america has stood as a beacon of hope to the rest of the world and america has been defined by a set of ideals established moral leadership in the world propelled by our respect for freedom, human rights, and the rule of law. yesterday the president's statements and behaviors, as well as his conduct in the preceding weeks, has severely damaged our standing in the world by siding with russia and its thuggish dictator against the united states. he has create add crisis in our beloved country. rather than conducting any oversight of these important issues relating to the integrity of our elections, disgraceful conduct of the president and threat to our democracy, we have this hearing. i would like to begin by associating myself with the remarks of several of my colleagues about this seriously misguided priorities of this committee under republican leadership. >> this hearing under way for about two hours. we have to leave it here

. >> the gentleman from rhode island, mr. scicilini is recognized. >> i look forward to a couple questions as each of my republican colleagues have had. >> serving on this committee has been one of the greatest honors of my life. but the conduct of this committee today has been, for me, tremendously sad, embarrassing, and really dangerous to our democracy. i want to apologize to you for the way you have been treated by this committee. and for the american people who are watching, you ought not wonder why they have lost confidence in congress and are circumstance of the kind of circus that they saw being conducted in this room today. because rather than focusing on urgent issues like family separation, reasonable efforts to reduce gun violence in our communities, considering legislation to reform our broken immigration system, passing legislation to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, addressing the inability of americans who fall behind in their student loans to discharge that debt in bankruptcy, or oversight of the many c

mr. cicilline of rhode island. >> thank you for holding today's hearing. before coming to congress, i was providence. city of i witnessed how our local businesses suffered because of the sales tax loophole created quill versus north dakota. for too long, this unjust system discriminated against local commerce, the economic lifeblood of communities. according to a survey i the institute for local self-reliance, the majority of independent retailers report the online sales tax loophole undermines their sales. this result is confirmed by other findings that consumers make purchases from large online companies over local businesses just to avoid paying sales tax. for two decades, this anticompetitive tax shelter has devastated small businesses and has been an economic test has to first -- forophe families. the number of job losses in the retail sector have been staggering. since 2001, 18 times more jobs were lost in the retail industry than in the coal mining industry according to the u.s. bureau of labor statistics. this included 36,000 jobs in the and we are

mr. speaker. i'm pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from rhode island, mr. langevin, the ranking member on the emerging threats subcommittee. i want to particularly thank him for his leadership on climate change a and alternative energy. he has done a great job inserting those issues in this bill. i a appreciate that leadership. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. . mr. langevin: thank you, mr. chair. i thank the gentleman for yielding. i'd like to begin by thanking chairman thornberry, ranking member smith, chairman mccain, senator inhofe, and their staffs for their tireless work in producing this conference report. i'm especially pleased that this conference report is named after senator john mccain, a true american hero. thank you for your service, senator, and god speed. it's an honor to serve as a conferee throughout this process and to be part of this undertaking in sport of our armed forces. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. members of the house are asked to take their conversations off the floor. t

mr. president, maine and rhode island are, indeed, aquatic. the oceans have absorbed approximately 30% of the excess carbon dioxide that we've pumped into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution. that is changing the ocean's chemistry. the oceans have also absorbed roughly 90% of the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere by those greenhouse gases. as a result of that excess carbon dioxide and that excess heat, our oceans are warming and they are rising and they are losing oxygen and they are growing more acidic. this puts marine life coastal communities and the global ocean economy all in jeopardy. commercial fishing is an important economy in the united states and both maine and rhode island celebrate our longstanding fishing traditions. according to the national marine fishery service, over 9.6 billion pounds of wild seafood valued at around $9.3 billion was commercially landed in the united states in 2016. across new england american lobster was our most valuable fishery, bringing in $633 billion, two-thirds of a billion dollars of l

mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from for rhode island. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. i rise in support of h.r. 6147, the so-called minibus. let me say, i am extraordinarily proud to work with chairman collins. she's put together a thoughtful bipartisan t-hud appropriations bill that reflects the priorities of more than 70 senators who provided that are than 800 funding or language recommendations. her leadership, her commitment to fairness and to ensuring that all of our colleagues had the opportunity to help make investments in their states is remarkable and deeply, deeply appreciatived. -- deeply, deeply appreciated. we looked at all of these suggestions and recommendations. we received guidance from chairman shelby and vice chairman leahy, and i aappreciate their creative and constructive role, appeared we were able to produce legislation which i am remarkably proud of and, again, thank the chairman for her great work. the bill does not include any poison pill riders, which is following the principle established by chairman shelby and vice chairman leahy. this agre

island, theer rhode committee which mr. mccain is the head. thank you for joining us.uld go senator mccain's sentiments. today was a disaster. like was acting more prudence secretary than -- this is the first time i recall an american president taking the word of a russian autocrat over his own intelligence officials. these are gentlemen who he appointed who look at the that theand indicated russians are still operating and attacking our system and do not is reckless ast senator mccain pointed out disgraceful. >> we are getting a lot of rebukes. no real significant concrete thing that came out of this. why are people getting worked up about this? >> words have consequences. the press --lly the present communicated, , your activities, it can't be in the past. we are talking about to penetrate our country and disrupt our elections. -- this is a green light. >> as lisa mentioned, there has been brought combination of the president's tenor towards putin. what do you and your colleagues plan to do on both sides of the aisle to move toward, maybe roll it back or somehow do s

david cicilline/d-rhode island "mr. chairman this is intolerable harassment of a witness."voice of rep. bonnie watson coleman/d-new jersey "what is wrong with us? you need your medication."f-b-i agent strzok was removed from special counsel robert mueller's team shortly after mueller found out about negative text messages he sent about then-candidate donald trump.rep. john ratcliffe/r-texas "of the approximately 50,000 text messages that i've seen with your personal beliefs like "f" trump, stop trump, impeach trump, go ahead and confirm on the record that none of that occurred on an official fbi device or on official fbi time. go ahead and do that." peter strzok/fbi agent"sir, no they did. many of them did" rep. john ratcliffe/r-texas "oh they did." chairman trey gowdy got testy with strzok regarding a text where strzok vowed to "stop" candidate trump from becoming president. peter strzok/fbi agent"what i can tell you is that text in no way suggested that i or the fbi would take any action to influence the candidacy of candidate trump."president trump and his supporters say

mr. speaker, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition? without objection, the gentleman s recognized for one minute. mr. langevin: mr. speaker, on friday, special counsel robert mueller handed down the most significant hadging indictment targeting a foreign pow for the history. director mueller alleges that 12 russian military officers responsible for breaking into political organization, stealing sensitive documents and disseminating them to undermine faith in mesh democracy. the indictment will further shake the norms of responsible state behavior in cyberspace and demonstrates our ability to hold them accountable. yet today three days later, president trump said it didn't happen. the president set it up as whether you believe u.s. intelligence agencies or russia. but this isn't a matter of belief, it's a matter of facts. and the facts say the russian government hacked us. i hope the president will acknowledge this and i pray my republican colleagues will hold him accountable if he doesn't. and i thank director mueller for his ongoing wo

from delaware, vice region from rhode island, vice region from south carolina, vice region from wisconsin, and former 21st regent from the state of maryland mrs. lucas. thank you, ladies. [applause] >> again, good afternoon and welcome to george washington's mount vernon on this important day. my name is sarah miller colston and i am the 22nd legion of the mount vernon association. the national women's organization, which has privately owned and operated george washington's estate since its purchase from the washington family in 1858. the mount vernon ladies association is a nonprofit organization, having operated continuously for the last 160 plus years. today it remains the oldest historic preservation institution in the country. the ladies association is neither sponsored by, nor beholden to the federal government, nor the state of virginia, it stands alone. its original charter having been granted in 1858, when women or not yet allowed to vote, much less capable to be considered of conducting public affairs. since those pre-civil war days, the ladies association has, without government financial support, steadfastly chartered its own cour

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr.whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 20 minutes as if in tphorb. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, the big oil companies, particularly exxon, shell, b.p. and chevron want us to believe they have turned over a new leaf, they're finally in favor of climate action. all four of them claim to support the paris agreement and exxon, shell and b.p. all claim to support putting a price on carbon emissions, a price that would reflect the costs of the damage, climate change inflicts on the environment, the economy, and public health. for example, here is exxon's website. exxon mobile believes a revenue-neutral carbon tax would be a more effective policy option than -- and it lists other options. a properly designed carbon tax can be predictable, transparent and comparatively simple to understand and implement. so it looks like they're supporting a properly designed carbon tax. but is that support for pricing carbon

mr. speaker, thank you. at this point i'd like to yield to the gentleman from rhode island, mr. cicilline, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cicilline: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise to speak about h.r. 4100, the federal bar association is the nation's premiere association for practitioners in federal courts. as such should, of course, be open to all regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity. currently, the f.b.a. recognizes the importance of nondiscrimination and has adopted a diversity statement that includes race, gender, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity. diversity segments are valuable but do not carry the weight of law. the gender identity is an important action but it's really unfortunate that my republican colleagues have excluded gender identity as enumerated protected characteristic in the law. not sure if they're pandering to the most extremes in their party or to their political base but it's wrong. gender identity is an individual's personal and internal ide

the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 15 minutes, as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: i'm here i guess for the 214th time to urge that we wake up to the effects of carbon pollution on the earth's ocean and atmosphere and climate. one obstacle to action on the threat that we face from climate change, however, is the manufactured doubt that so often surrounds this issue. we find this manufactured doubt a fossil fuel industry product, just as oil and gas are fossil fuel industry products flowing even from the editorial page of one of our nation's leading publications, "the wall street journal." whenever the issue is harmful industrial pollutants, "the wall street journal"'s editorial page has a long record of misleading its readers, denying the legitimate science, and even ignoring its own news reporting. all for the polluting industries. a pattern of science denial repeats itself in the editorial pages of "the wall street

i would like to yield to introduce the rhode island secretary of state. >> thank you mr. chairman. to facilitate inviting the secretary of state to hear testimony and progress that has been made in securing election systems. i want to take a moment to publicly congratulate secretary krebs confirmed officially. we had a conversation and i appreciate the ongoing relationship and work that you and i have done together and i hope that the continue and are working together. welcome to the panel today. secretary gorbea has helped position as a leader-- and we placed two decades-old voting equipment prior to the 2016 election with paper ballots systems following the 2016 elections. secretary gorbea have taken all the steps that we hope for states to take to secure their systems. he has emphasized staffing and training, solicited help from the assistance commission and proactively exchanged information through the multistate elections infrastructure and the national association. now with the help of federal grants appropriated by congress secretary gorbea initiating local level grants to i

our governor expressing her concernnd and also a delegation letter from the rhode island on occasion to administrator verma. mr. chairman this is important toto us. >> i will make that all part of the record. >> think you. >> mr. chairman are we going to secondt round. >> no, i think we've got to respect, sure you can ask one question but i'm not going to a second round. i think the secretary has been more gracious and answered every questions and answer them wells far as i'm concerned. >> mr. chairman, thank you. i know the secretary has been here a while. very briefly, this issue of children at the border in the separation policy, i've said at the policy straight from the pit of hell i think most people agree with that. i know the executive orders in place but the problem is zero tolerance led to the problem of separation and zero tolerance will continue to separate children unless you change and have alternatives. here's my question. you've read all of the statements made by medical professionals all across the country, one from the washington post, doctor charles nelson pediatrics from harvard said the eff

. >> the gentleman from rhode island is recognized. >> mr. chairman, i look forward to a couple of extra minutes as each of my republican colleagues have had. serving on this committee has been one of the greatest honors of my life. but the conduct of this committee today has been, for me, tremendously sad, embarrassing, and really dangerous to our democracy. i want to apologize to you for the way you've been treated by this committee. and for the american people watching, you might wonder why they've lost confidence in congress and the kind of circus they saw in this room today. rather than focusing on issues like family separation, reasonable efforts to reduce gun violence in our communities, considering legislation to reform a broken immigration system, passing immigration ii reduce the cost of prescription drugs, or oversight of the many conflicts of interest and corruption in this administration, we're having yet another hearing on the hillary clinton e-mails. what you should understand, mr. strzok, the reason my republican colleagues wi

rhode island for two minutes. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. cicilline: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i rise in opposition to this, which would undermine years progress made in rebuilding fish stocks and setting cash limits under the magnuson-stevens act. my home state is home to a vibrant fishing community. traditionally re-authorization of fisheries management programs through the magnuson-stevens act has been done ton a bipartisan basis with the goal of strengthening fisheries. however this entirely partisan bill weakens critical tools like annual cash limits which ensure fisheries remain full for years to come. this bill will gut depishries and roll back effective fisheries management techniques. h.r. 200 moves several species from science-based quotas to help ensure catches are sustainable each year. under this bill, hundreds of species of fish would have no catch limits which would lead to drastic overfishing. it also halts efforts to rebuild fish stocks with loopholes in time frames for some fish stocks and extending time frames for others. in the last week i've heard from fish

mr. strzok is not allowed to answer that question and the republicans on the committee know that. >> rhode island congressman, thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. >>> we're waiting for the hearing to reconvene as you're watching. again, it has been contentious so far. rpds and democrats yelling at each other over procedural matter accusing each other of playing politics, all the while the one person who was there to talk and explain himself and his text messages peter strzok barely got a chance to do so. the notable exception was this exchange with south carolina congressman trey gowdy. >> mr. gowdy, as i've state that had text was written late at night in shorthand -- >> i don't care when it was written. i don't care whether it was long hand, cursive. i don't care about any of that. i want to know what it meant, agent strzok. >> it would be his candidacy of the presidency -- >> it's not that tough. >> -- would not vote him into office. >> right, right. we hadn't gotten to the will yet. if you were kicked off when he read the text, shouldn't you have been kicked off when you wrot

rhode island is first. william you're on with our guests. >> caller: mr. cummings, i have to tell you i'm letdown with the performance of you and the democrats. the majority of the people are dying from overdoses of fenton on heroin. opiates have affected people but it's the illicit drugs coming in from mexico. you democrats are trying to put up a wall to stop the illegal drugs as much as possible coming in. you don't see anything or don't care. illegal immigrants sneaking in drugs. you don't care. it's the same thing with population. you let all these immigrants coming who take jobs get your black population we want to see them working. there americans. >> host: if you want to address the illicit part of it, go ahead. >> with all due respect, guinness i said, and it is sad to say but this has no boundaries or. we have a situation where white slacks, it doesn't matter, urban, suburban, rural, drugs have penetrated our society to a great degree. one of the things that we need to do is cut off the desire for drugs. so, when you have 10% of the people who hav

rhodes in the benghazi representation. she represented the clinton foundation against freedom of information act. andr andrew wiseman attended the election party. and then there's you and mrs. page. it's interesting to me that when -- you were so damaging to the investigation that you had to go that bob mueller, the person that brought in all of these people that had connections to the hillary clinton campaign did not ask you about a single text message. i tend to believe mr. chairman, it's because he didn't want to know the answer and there was bias and your perception of bob mueller's perception of you is totally unreliable. i yield back. >> time has expired. the chair recognizes mr. demings for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. strzok, let me just clear this up right now. i'm not angry. i'm not desperate. i'm not afraid of the truth. i am in pursuit of it. first of all, i want to thank you for your service to our country through the federal bureau of investigation and for your service to our country through the united states army. mr. chairman, each of us as members of congress took an oath to uphold and defend the constitution of the united states. my oath