ms. norton for five minutes. ms. norton: thank you very much, mr. chairman. this is a very timely hearing and i'll tell you why in a moment. this is a question i suppose best addressed by mr. byard and also mr. alexander. the question i'm asking implicates very deeply the federal presence with climate change throughout the country. we're seeing increasing flooding. that's been alluded to already in this hearing. there was sufficient concern about flooding here in the nation's capital that we have a levy on the -- levee on the mall that i that i, mr. alexander, the corps of engineers was involved with as well to protect the federal presence. yet, in real time, yesterday we had a disastrous flood in this region. anybody who was here, unless you were in the capitol and didn't have to go out, could have missed what happens -- happened and it seems to me raised questions about flood preparedness, even in the area of the nation's capital. a portion of the george washington parkway was closed in both directions. and to show you just how close or how complicated the

ms. norton: mr. speaker, i claim time in strong opposition to this amendment, interfering into the local affairs -- the chair: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. norton: of the district of columbia. you wouldn't know it from hearing the member on the other side speak, but in 1973 congress passed the bipartisan district of columbia home rule act, which created a locally elected government. and according to the home rule act, a central purpose of the act was to, and here i'm quoting, relieve congress of the burden of lenl slating upon essentially local district matters. in his signing statement of the home rule act, president nixon wrote, it will give the people of the district of columbia the right to govern themselves in local affairs, end quote. yet the bill before us would either repeal or block d.c. from carrying out or enacting five local laws. i filed amendments to strike all of these undemocratic riders, but the rules committee has blocked me from offering any of them on the floor, even though t

ms. norton: every year in conference. it republican majority, mostly touts their support of local affairs, a lie as long as that principle stops at the district of columbia border, and republicans interfere with the spending and laws of a cal jurisdiction not their own. pardon me for being angry but i will tell my colleagues that the 700,000 american citizens who live in the district of columbia pay the highest taxes per capita in the united states and have fought and died in every war since the revolutionary war. yet, they have no voting representation on this house floor, even on their own appropriation, and no representation in the senate at all. hese riders amount to bullying that takes unfair advantage of my district. no wonder the -- we are making headway on our d.c. statehood bill. but it should not take statehood -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman's time has expired. mr. mcgovern: i yield the gentlelady an additional 30 seconds. ms. norton: it should not take statehood for any district to be treated with

ms. norton: that is a most interesting question. as you indicated, i pointed out that i didn't expect a republican president to come anywhere near democratting presidents in appointing african-americans, i don't expect complete disdain for the importance of the courts to african-americans. i would not expect the lowest number of african-americans appointed to the courts of the united states in memory. certainly not since the 20th century brown vs. board of education. there have been some sense of epublicans that one way to indicate that a republican president believes in equal justice was to in fact have some african-americans on the court. now when you get to 90%, more than 90% appointees white, you're sending a very strong message on equal prosection to -- protection to african-americans. this president has been accused of racism because of some of the thing he is said. for example, charlottesville when he seemed to be for those killing people not against them. i'm not sure what his personal views are. showsam sure that when he di

ms. norton is recognized minority ignee of the leader. ms. norton: i ask that will all members to include extraneous material on the subject of my special order. i come to the floor today toll speak to two issues. one is thrown of the dagar of the right of federal employees to organize. that cond is i.c.e. raids rounded residence without a warrant and without any cause. to the roceed first gang-up on federal employees by the executive and republicans in the house to undermine the rights of federal unions to represent federal employees. and we have seen the republicans or years try to weaken the rights of federal employees. and certainly we have seen them go at unions before. but this time, they have gone even further. the intention to destroy the right of a union to represent federal employees is the clear intent of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. and i shall explain why that intent is so obvious this evening. the american federation of government employees had a rally . attending many of other federal employee unions. rally sge

ms. norton: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. norton: mr. chairman, i rise in support of h.r. 5729, the transportation worker identification credential accountability act of 2018. since 2002 the congress, when congress passed the maritime transportation security act, problems have bessette the transportation worker identification credential, or twic as it is called, a maritime security credential. since its inception, concerns and questions about the reliability of background check information, the efficacy of fraud detection capabilities and the relatively high cost of the credential have been persistent shortfalls that the department of homeland security has never gotten right. as explained by the bill's sponsor, the coast guard issued a flawed final rule in 2016 for the use of twic card biometric readers. at high-risk maritime facilities. the coast guard issued this rule, despite congress directing the department of

ms. norton? ms. norton votes no. mr. clay? mr. clay votes know. mr. lynch? mr. lynch votes no. mr. cooper? mr. connolly. >> nay. >> mr. connolly votes nay. ms. kelly. ms. lawrence. >> no. >> ms. lawrence votes no. ms. watson coleman. ms. watson coleman votes no. mr. christian morthy. >> no. >> mr. christian morthy votes no. mr. race kin votes no. mr. gomez votes no. mr. welch. mr. welch votes no. mr. cartwright. mr. desonye votes no. ms. plaskett votes no. mr. sarbanes. mr. sarbanes votes no. >> have all members who wished to vote voted? clerk will report the tally. >> mr. chairman, on this vote there are 17 ayes and 15 nos. >> the ayes have it. the motion is tabled. the ga from georgia is recognized for his five minutes of questions. >> thank you, mr. chairman. you know, i don't think anyone here denies the fact that russia attempted to meddle in the elections. they have done so in the past. they have attempted in 2016. i don't have any reason to believe that they won't attempt it again in the ones coming up. when we talk about the witch hunt that involves over a year of investiga

ms. norton. >> no. >> mr. clay. >> mr. lynch. >> no. >> mr. cooper. >> no. >> mr. connolly. >> nay. >> miss kelly. >> nay. >> miss lawrence. >> nay. >> miss watson coleman. >> no. >> mr. christian mortgagy. >> no. >> mr. raskin. >> no. >> mr. gomez. mr. welch. >> no. >> mr. cartwright. >> no. >> mr. desonier. >> no. >> mr. sarbanes. >> no. >> mr. chair? how is mr. gowdy recorded? >> mr. gowdy passed? >> the clerk will call the roll -- the clerk of the judiciary committee will call the roll of members who have not yet been recorded. >> mr. issa? >> yes. >> mr. gowdy. mr. buck. >> aye. >> ms. roby. mr. rothis. >> aye. >> miss bass. mr. jeffries. >> i've been asked by the minority and the majority counsel to advise members their votes will only be counted once. if they're on both committees. and the clerk of the oversight -- >> mr. chairman, point of order. on what basis would that rule be, since we -- each committee is voting separately. on that. >> procedurally, we have agreed to one unified vote. the clerk of the oversight and government reform committee will call

ms. norton: i thank my good friend from new york. and i particularly thank her for her very cogent remarks and wish to associate myself with those remarks in every sense of the word. and i say so to the good lady , as he state of new york the leader of the c.b.c. task force on federal court nominations, including the supreme court nomination, where i have had the opportunity to ook deeply at the decisions of this nominee, court of appeals, now serving on the court of appeals, as it turns out, for the district of columbia, brett -- nominee. and i think her remarks are telling in their understanding of the extreme damage he would do. and must add, not only to african-americans, but to the rule of law as we have known it. o, i rise to indicate that the congressional black caucus ands in strong opposition to the nomination of brett kavanaugh and we'lling doing -- we'll be doing all we can to keep that nomination from proceeding to the floor of the senate. we do have two members of the caucus on the judiciary committee in the senate and w

ms. norton: thank you, mr. speaker. as the house recesses i want to bring to our attention riders to the d.c. appropriations and how that makes the best case for statehood for the district of columbia. i need to report to the house the remarkable progress we're making on d.c. statehood. of e closing in on 100% democratic house members on record as co-sponsthoferse d.c. statehood bill and in the senate where the district has no representation, we have more than half the democratic senators. before this session is out, we're striving for 100%, certainly of the house, and of the senate as we go over to the other side to also make the case without having any representation there. that's why i'm so grateful to the senator who was understood the importance of equality for the 700,000 -- equality of citizenship i should say for the 700,000 american citizens who ive in the nation's capital. the face of that -- in the face of that good news you'd think there would be applause for -- from the congress who sitz in the home distric

ms. norton? mrs. norton votes no. mr. clay? mr. lynch? mr. lynch votes no. mr. cooper? mr. cooper votes no. mr. connolly? mr. connolly votes no. ms. kelly? ms. kelly votes no. miss lawrence? miss lawrence about snow. miss watson coleman? ms. watson coleman votes no. mr. christian morphy? mr. christian morphy votes no. mr. raskin? mr. raskin votes no. mr. welch votes no. mr. cartwright? mr. cartwright about snow. ms. plaskett? miss plaskett votes no. >> the chair, how is mr. gaudi recorded? the clerk will call the role of members who have not yet been recorded. >> mr. isa votes yes. mr. gaudi, mr. buck? mr.:votes yes. ms. robie? mr. rosser? mr. roth it says yes. miss bass? mr. jeffries? >> i have been asked by the minority and the majority counsel to advise members that their votes will only be counted once. the clerk of the oversight -- >> mr. chairman point of order, on what basis without rule be since each committee is a voting separately on that? >> procedurally we have agreed to one unified vote. the clerk of the oversight and government reform committee will call the ro

ms. maloney votes no. miss norton. miss norton votes no. mr. clay? mr. lynch? mr. lynch votes no. mr. otes no. mr. connelly? mr. connelly votes nay. miss kelly? ms. kelly votes nay. ms. lawrence. ms. lawrence votes ney. police watson miss watson coleman votes no. mr. krishnamoorthy votes no. mr. raskin votes no. mr. gomez. mr. welch? mr. welch votes no. mr. cartwright. >> no. >> mr. cartwright streets no. miss plaskett? miss plaskett votes no. mr. sarbanes? mr. sarbanes votes no. >> mr. chair. how is mr. gowdy recorded? stuart: taking this poll of the two committees, holding a joint session here. newt gingrich is with us. newt, i'm very glad you're with us this morning, your opinion what is going on her is very much germane. at end of this day does anyone doubt that the fbi, peter strzok, protected hillary clinton and undermined president trump deliberately? is there any doubt after hearing what you have heard? >> no, this whole thing is unbelievable. you have the fbi telling strzok not to answer legitimate congressional questioning. if you ever want to see what the deep state looks li

ms. norton: i ask unanimous consent to remove myself as a co-sponsor of h.r. 2069 the fostering and stable housing act of 2017. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. lowenthal: i ask unanimous consent to withdraw as a co-sponsor of h.r. 2069. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? ms. ros-lehtinen: permission to address the house for one minute ap revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. ros-lehtinen: mr. speaker, seven decades since its independence israel that become a shining light in a dark region . that would not have be possible if not for those who fought for the country but also for our shared values for freedom and democracy. 4,000 foreign individuals, jews and non-jus volunteered to fight in 1948 along side the israeli forces. volunteers from the country. amongst these mighty war can yors, they answered the call to arms and let cuba to come to i