mrs. lesko: awesome. thank you very much. thank you, mr. chair. and members. i ask that you please consider the lesko amendment, number one. basically what it does is give an exemption for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault who have an order of protection issued by the court. and the reason that i think this is important is because i think it's fair for -- and just for these victims to be able to defend themselves against their perpetrator. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2019] >> the house is now gaveling back in, but the house rules committee meet will continue live on c-span3. and by h.r. 539 and h.r. 276 the yeas and nays and geeg to the speaker's approval of the jourm if ordered. the first electronic vote will -minute cted as a 15 vote. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20 e unfinished business is a vote on the motion of the th

mrs. lesko: thank you, mr. speaker. and i thank mr. raskin for yielding me the customary 30 minutes, and i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. lesko: thank you, mr. speaker. all of us, all of us, republicans and democrats, want to reduce gun violence. i think there's just a difference of opinion in how we get there. unfortunately, h.r. 8 and h.r. 1112, although well-intentioned, will not reduce gun violence, as mr. raskin said. and instead, it will turn everyday law-abiding individuals into criminals. and could actually do more harm than good. you know, i grew up in a family that didn't have guns after my dad returned from world war ii. he stopped hunting. and so because i didn't -- i wasn't around them, i have to admit i had an irrational fear of guns for a while. and it wasn't until i was an adult that i got educated. i remember i first went to a debate where the person that was talking for gun rights said, you know, who follows the laws? law-abiding pe

mrs. lesko: thank you, mr. chairman. i have an amendment at the desk. the chair: the clerk will designate the amendment. the clerk: amendment number 1 printed in part a of house report 116-14 offered by mrs. lesko of arizona. the chair: pursuant to house resolution 145, the gentlewoman from arizona, mrs. lesko, and a member opposed will each control five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from arizona. mrs. lesko: thank you, mr. chairman. this amendment would allow gun owners to legally transfer their firearms to individuals who have -- in the ed and t.s.a.'s precheck program. t.s.a. precheck identifies trusted travelers and thus allows ex peedated movement through -- ex peedated movement through airport security. in order to receive t.s.a. precheck, one must submit an application have an in-person interview, and go through a background check and fingerprinting. fingerprinting is not required currently to purchase a gun. thus a t.s.a. precheck background check is more stringent. if an individual can pass this

mrs. lesko: i am. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman qualifies. the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: mrs. lesko of arizona moves to recommit the bill, h.r. 1112, to the committee on the judiciary, with instructions to report the same back to the house with the following amendment. age 1, line 13, insert i after ii. pages 1, line 17, strike i and insert aa. page 2, line 9, strike aa and insert a.a. strike bb and insert capital bb. and 2 line 21, strike ii insert bb. page 3, line 1, insert or after the semicolon. page 3, strike line 2 and insert the following. ii. in the case that the transferee is a victim of a crime of domestic violence, meaning days on which state offices are open, have collapsed since the licensee contacted the system, in the subclause, the term crime of domestic violence means an offense that has an element the use, attempted use or threatened use of physical force or the threatened use of a deadly weapon committed by a current or former spouse, parent or guardi

mrs. lesko: thank you very much, mr. speaker. and thank you very much, mr. graves. today i've heard a lot of amazing things. my colleague on the other side of the aisle, mr. zpwrons georgia, said -- johnson from georgia, said caravans trying to cross the border are a figurement of our imagination. -- figurement of our imagination. i don't know -- figment of our imagination. i don't know but, but all we need to do is turn on the news. i've seen thousands of people traipsing thousands of miles to get into our country. in fact, there's been some violence. so i just don't understand that statement at all. and speaker pelosi and chuck schumer recently said the crisis at the border is manufactured. i tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that i live in the state of arizona. a border state. and i have visited the border. and i have met with the border agents and border officials at the border. they have told me firsthand there is a crisis at the border. they have told me firsthand when i asked, do we need a border fence, and they said, yes. it is part of the solution. ask now, i

mr. chair, i ask that you please vote for debbie lesko amendment number 2, global entry program and this amendment would allow gun owners to legally transfer their firearms to individuals who have been admitted and are participants in the global entry program. for those that are in the global entry program, you know that it is done by the u.s. customs and border protection and you have to get a background check. if you already have this, why should a law-abiding citizen have to go through another background check? all right? >> any questions? >> i have several amendments. >> keep it going. i'm sorry. >> thank you. i will be fast. >> that's okay. take as much time as you want. >> i ask for your approval of lesko 3 amendment dealing with allowing a waiver for someone to temporarily transfer their gun when it is on their private property. so, we are talking about someone on their private property. let's say it is a farm or ranch hand of somebody else's on their property, i believe they should be able to temporarily transfer their gun on their property. because, they are law-abiding citizens

mrs. lesko: thank you. madam chair, i am proud to come to the floor today to discuss an amendment to h.r. 840, the veterans' access to child care act, that i have co-sponsored with my colleague, representative susie lee from nevada. the veterans' access to child care act will provide veterans who need to attend regular or intensive mental health care appointments with no-cost child care during their appointments. our amendment will make sure these child care services are covered at our local v.a. clinics, such as the one in my district in peoria, arizona, along with the main v.a. facilities. no veteran seeking these types of mental health services should be left behind. it is our responsibility to ensure that all eligible veterans receiving mental health services are able to go to a facility operated by the v.a. health department even if it's located separately from the v.a.'s general facility. my home state of arizona is blessed to be home to so many of our nation's veterans. i have 70,000 veterans in my d

mrs. lesko: thank you very much, mr. speaker. and thank you very much, mr. graves. today i've heard a lot of amazing things. my colleague on the other side of the aisle, mr. zpwrons georgia, said -- johnson from georgia, said caravans trying to cross the border are a figurement of our imagination. -- figurement of our imagination. i don't know -- figment of our imagination. i don't know but, but all we need to do is turn on the news. i've seen thousands of people traipsing thousands of miles to get into our country. in fact, there's been some violence. so i just don't understand that statement at all. and speaker pelosi and chuck schumer recently said the crisis at the border is manufactured. i tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that i live in the state of arizona. a border state. and i have visited the border. and i have met with the border agents and border officials at the border. they have told me firsthand there is a crisis at the border. they have told me firsthand when i asked, do we need a border fence, and they said, yes. it is part of the solution. ask now, i

mr. -- ms. lesko's comments and mr. cole's. in the bill there's millions for vawa, it's not as if it's been forgotten. i hear this and over the last few years, republicans have done nothing but try to defund vawa. i'm expecting a bill that was signed by bill clinton, was authored by the former chairwoman of the rules committee, louise slaughter, will be something that democrats will certainly push forward and i -- after listening to mr. cole, and ms. lesko, i'm sure all the republicans will be on board with extending the vawa. with that, i yield two minutes to the gentlelady from texas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. jackson lee: this is the republican will we're trying to keep the government open and not holding our federal employees hostage. i know in the 2020 fiscal year, democrats will put forward a humane bill that addresses many of these issues. with egave $1.37 billion for barrier, not the wall. for protecting the environment in hi own ate, the national butterfly center, santa

lesko had an amendment. mr. mccarthy: should we only have one? that was very complex. you should have many. reporter: i wanted to ask about the debt limit and how you think that that should be handled, whether or not it needs to be part of a deal that includes other elements to be negotiated, or if the debt limit can be suspended or raised on its own? mr. mccarthy: i think the debt is one of the greatest threats there is to this nation. i don't think it should be taken lightly. i think we should have a discussion, i know the democrats have changed how a debt limit will pass. i think on a bipartisan level, we should sit down together and find a way that we can stop this spending behavior of this government. and actually curve from we can pay off our debt. that's why i think it should always be voted on by itself, with any avenues we can add together to actually change the direction of spending of america. reporter: republicans yesterday spent a lot of time attacking cohen's credibility. but they didn't seem to spend a lot of time defending the president against cohen's

mr. klein. i'm sorry, ms. lesko. >> thank you. you know, i have to say that i'm very disappointed in this hearing. you know, i ran for congress to get things done. and at the beginning of this, you know, we were told that this is about asking about d.o.j. oversight and some legitimate questions. and here we are, it's nothing but character assassination, harassment of our witness, and it's really disappointing. at first i was mad. i have to tell you, when this thing started hours ago, i went outside and the reporter asked me, what do you think of the hearing? and i said, it's a joke. but now i'm just sad. i'm sad because we were on the floor just a little while ago talking about how we were honoring our late representative dingell and talking about bipartisan ship and how we need to get things done, and yet here we are with the blatant political show that doesn't help anything. i imagine if american people are watching this right now, they'd be shaking their heads, like what are you doing there? we need to work together to get thin

mrs. lawrence: and we made a commitment. lesko and is debbie jenifer gomez and we committed to working on domestic violence with women. we work on ending that horrible statistic that united states is known for, being the leading country in the world we are going backwards and number of women dying in childbirth. that is unacceptable. so maternal mortality, domestic violence and poverty with women. one more question. i do think ley: that women do lead differently. we are coalition builders. the conversation shifts at the table. it's true regardless which side of the aisle you are on. we have already shown our ability and our desire to work together, both on h.r. 8, the gun bill. there's been bipartisan work done together to end the scourge of human trafficking. and there are shared burdens and everything from limited health care access to addressing the cost of childcare, the challenges for caregivers and so many other issues. so congresswoman lawrence, our chair, very eloquently spoke to what women embody naturally which is why we

mr. chairman and members. i ask that you please consider 1. lesko amendment exemptionst gives for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault to have an order of protection issued by the court. the reason i think this is important is because i think it is fair and just for these victims to be it were to defend themselves against the perpetrators. because i am a survivor of domestic violence, so i kind of know how this works, at least in my case, it is very difficult for a victim of domestic violence to get away from their perpetrator and get these things, let alone pay for a gun, or pay for, if there is a fee for a background check. so my understanding is that hr 8 would prevent someone from just borrowing a gun from someone that they know or transferring a gun. i think it is very important that that person is able to defend themselves. and i ask for your support. chairman you have another : amendment? >> i do. members and mr. chair, i ask that you please vote for debbie lesko amendment number 2, global entry program. this amendment would allow

mr. klein. i'm sorry, i'm sorry. ms. lesko. >> thank you. you know, i have to say that i'm very disappointed in this hearing. you know, i ran for congress to get things done, and at the beginning of this, you know, we were told that this is about asking about doj oversight and some legitimate questions. and here we are, it's nothing but character assassination, harassment of our witness, and it's really disappointing. at first i was mad. i have to tell you, when this thing started hours ago, i went outside and a reporter asked me, what do you think of the hearing? i said, it's a joke. but now i'm just sad. i'm sad because we were on the floor just a little while ago talking about how we are honoring our late representative dingle in talking about bipartisanship and how we need to get things done. and yet here we are a i blatant political show that doesn't help anything. i imagine if american people are watching this right now, they would be shaking their heads, like what are you doing there? we need to work together to get things done. and s

mr. whitaker, if you want to ask the chairman for time of your own you can do it. this is my time. >> arizona congresswoman debbie leskoere. she joins us live next. pete: isis looks to boost their ranks. who are they targeting? millennials. will they get off their couch? hopefully not. this is not a bed. it's a revolution in sleep. the sleep number 360 smart bed is on sale now, from $899, during the ultimate sleep number event. it senses your movement, and automatically adjusts to keep you both comfortable. it even helps with this. so you wake up ready to hit the ground running. only at a sleep number store. save 50% on the sleep number 360 limited edition smart bed. plus, 24-month financing on all smart beds. only for a limited time. sleep number. proven, quality sleep. ♪ >> you wouldn't oversee a witch-hunt, would you? you would stop a witch-hunt, wouldn't you. >> you can spin the constitution all you want. as you sit here today, you just have to answer a yes or no question. >> i control this time. if you want this is my time. >> who are you? where did you come from? and how the heck did you become the head of the de

mr. mcclintock votes i. ms. lesko votes i. mr. klein. mr. klein votes i. ms. armstrong votes i.er members wishing to vote? >> i have voted. are there any other members who to let wish to vote that habit voted. >> mr. radcliffe voted i. >> clerical report. mr. chairman there are 24 nose and 10 i. >> the motion to adjourn is not approved. i will introduce today's witness, matthew g whitaker is the acting attorney general of the united states. previously mr. whitaker served as chief of staff to attorney general jeff sessions. he was appointed as the u.s. attorney for the southern issue of iowa in june 15, 2004 by president george w. bush. before that he was managing partner of the des moines based law firm whitaker hagan now and to stop. llc. he was also the executive director for fact, foundation for accountability and civic trust. between 2014 2017. mr. whitaker graduated with a master of business administration, juries doctor and bachelor of arts from the university of iowa. we welcome mr. whitaker and we thank you for participating in today's hearing. if you would please rise i