mcmorris rodgers. this is 15 minutes. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: i hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving and put the phones away and focus on one another. i was reminded of just the blessing of being eaning american and living in a protection that protects and defends every person's life. and especially now with our tax reform bill passed in the house and being considered in the senate, i think our plan will create opportunities for everyone to have that better life. now the opportunity to succeed isn't limited to tax reform. success happens when people are given the opportunity to thrive, to reach their full potential. and part of that means ensuring they have a workplace that is safe and secure. and like many americans i'm troubled by the reports of sexual harrassment and inappropriate behavior. it is rocking capitol hill as well as elsewhere across the country. this is not who we are. we can and we must do better. we need to take a step back to the larger issue of civility and how we treat each other. there are many good pe

mrs. mcmorris rodgers bill in frovent us goes hand in hand to these efforts. even our friends across the aisle agree with our facilities. mrs. mcmorris rodgers bill in e at a may oversight hearing in my subcommittee on the challenges facing hydropower, committee democrats helpfully suggested we should find ways to retrofit all nonpowered federal facilities with hydropower. we should all agree that improving the permitting and approval process for these facilities would be the easiest way to achieve this goal. i want to thank congresswoman mcmorris rodgers again for sponsoring this critical piece of legislation. she has and continues to be a champion supporter of hydropower. ust last month my subcommittee considered another bill authored by the congresswoman, h.r. 3144, that looks to provide certainty and reliability to several considered hydropower projects producing electricity in the federal columbia river power system that had been mired in third party lit gation, questionable and expensive judicial and onerous it federal regulations. thank you, i yield back

mrs. mcmorris rodgers: i hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving n our family we're grateful to have the time together. put those fopesway and focus on one another. the this thanksgiving i was reminded again of just the blessing of being an american. living in a country that protects and defends every person's right to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. especially now with our tax reform bill having passed the house and being considered in the senate, i think of how our plan will create opportunity for everyone to have that better life. now, the opportunity to succeed isn't limited to tax reform. success happens when people are given the opportunity to thrive. to reach their full potential. part of that means ensuring that they have a workplace that is safe and secure. like many americans, i'm troubled by the reports of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior in the workplace. it's rocking capitol hill as well as elsewhere across the country. this is not who we're. e can and we must do better. we need to take a step back to the larger issue of civility and how we treat each ot

ladies and gentlemen, our chairwoman of the republican conference, cathy mcmorris rodgers. [applause] mrs. mcmorris rodgers: well, this is an exciting day for the american people, an exciting day for the american economy. we stand here as representatives of families and small businesses and farmers all across this country who have spoken, who have told us they want tax relief, that they want an opportunity for a better life, and today we are proud to stand. we are excited to stand and give them hope for a better tomorrow. you know, we all have the chance to travel around the country and i was repeatly down in north carolina and i heard a small business woman. she came up to me and said, you know what, if you are able to get fax reform onto the president's desk, i will tear out this wall, i will double my business, i am going to double the number of employees. and we heard those kind of stories repeated over and over and over. we want people to have larger paychecks. the small business owners who kept telling us, we'd like to be able to pay our employees more. we'd like to be able to incre

mrs. mcmorris rodgers: i hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving n our family we're grateful to have the time together. put those fopesway and focus on one another. the this

mrs. mcmorris rodgers: for that median income family of four, we're talking $1,182 in your pocket. think about the holidays around the corner what that means in your life. you know, as i travel around washington and visit towns and communities, recently i was down in north carolina, in michigan, u think about $1,182 for someone living paycheck to paycheck. someone in kettle falls, that's a big difference. or family like dee coobling's from michigan, maybe they can put more toward their mortgage. or victor a restaurant own in michigan , he says, quote, we pay our taxes first. we pay our people second. we pay our bills third. and then if anything is left over, we get paid. our plan is going to help people like victor. our plan also means more peace of mind. to spend more time with your kids or maybe your aging parents. or maybe just hang out with your friends. our plan is pro-family and it's pro-economic growth. because we value hard work and family. so if we're going to have a tax code that puts families first, i think we need to recognize that today's working american family has re

mrs. mcmorris rodgers: thank you, chairman brady, for your tremendous leadership. all the members of the ways and means committee. the speaker said this is a special moment. we're going to make our economy boom for the average family of four. that median income earner in america making $59,000, we're talking about $1,182 in your pocket. think about the holidays right around the corner, what that means in your life. as i travel around eastern washington and visit towns and communities and just recently i was down in north carolina and in michigan, you think about $1,182 for someone who is living paycheck to paycheck. someone in kettle falls, that's making a big difference. or families like dee cook from michigan, maybe they could put more money towards their mortgage. or victor, he's a restaurant owner in michigan and he says, quote, we pay our taxes first. we pay our people second. we pay our bills third. and then if anything's left over, we get paid. our plan's going to help people like victor. our plan also means more peace of mind to spend more time with your ki

mrs. mcmorris rodgers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: chip provides health care coverage for some nine million children, more than a million in washington state. we all need to remember how important this program is for the health of some of the most vulnerable. some states, like mine, are expecting to run out of chip funding soon. so it's crucial that we move forward now. this bill also re-authorizes the teaching health center graduate medical education programming, providing funding two years with a robust increase. these are not only -- this not only preserves current programs like the spokane teaching health center, but also provides funding for new programs in communities that need them. this bill makes a real difference to those who need health care, and i encourage my colleagues to support it. and i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. the gentleman from oregon reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i m

mrs. mcmorris rodgers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: chip provides health care coverage for some nine million children, more than a million in washington state. we all need to remember how important this program is for the health of some of the most vulnerable. some states, like mine, are expecting to run out of chip funding soon. so it's crucial that we move forward now. this bill also re-authorizes the teaching health center graduate medical education programming, providing funding two years with a robust increase. these are not only -- this not only preserves current programs like the spokane teaching health center, but also provides funding for new programs in communities that need them. this bill makes a real difference to those who need health care, and i encourage my colleagues to support it. and i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. the gentleman from oregon reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i m

mrs. mcmorris rodgers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: chip provides health care coverage for some nine million children, more than a million in washington state. we all need to remember how important this program is for the health of some of the most vulnerable. some states, like mine, are expecting to run out of chip funding soon. so it's crucial that we move forward now. this bill also re-authorizes the teaching health center graduate medical education programming, providing funding two years with a robust increase. these are not only -- this not only preserves current programs like the spokane teaching health center, but also provides funding for new programs in communities that need them. this bill makes a real difference to those who need health care, and i encourage my colleagues to support it. and i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields. the gentleman from oregon reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey is recognized. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i m

mrs. mcmorris rodgers: thank you very much. big thank you to the chairman for his leadership on this important legislation this morning. i'm proud to rise in support of enacting tax reform, tax relief to millions of americans. we have been waiting a long time. more than 30 years. while everything else has changed over 30 years, our tax code, unfortunately, has only gotten old, outdated, bigger, more complicated. it's become a burden. a burden that we're going to lift. now, there's some defenders of the status quo who think that the tax code is just fine. that's not what the american us here to do, to defend the status quo. we're here to do the big thing. our plan rewrites the tax code to put american families first. including families who have children with disability. for these families who may have saved for their son our daughter's college tuition, which is no longer needed, our plan carries on the legacy of the able act by allowing them to roll over from a 529 account o a 529-a account, an able account, to pay for things li

mcmorris rodgers here with us. i would like to yield two minutes to the good lady from eastern washington. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from washington is recognized for two minutes. mrs. mcmorris rodgers: thank you. i want to thank the gentleman for yielding and for his leadership on this very important issue. i am pleased to see this legislation, the resilient forest act, coming to the floor tay. also want to express appreciation to representative westerman for his leadership through the years on mcmorris rodgers here with us. i this issue. in recent years in my home state of as been mentioned, washington state, we have seen larger and larger devastating wildfires. breaking all the records. it seems like every year they just get larger and larger, more devastating. they impact people's health. it's not unusual now for air quality warnings to be in eastern washington, not just for days, but weeks at an end. where it really does impact people's health. it jeopardizes our safety, the stories of people who are caught in the midst of these fires. it's destroying our environment. we like to think of it's not unusual now for air quality warnings to be our fore as being gre