delauro: congresswoman watson coleman. ms. watson coleman: thank you, madam chairman. thank you, madam secretary, for being here. number one, i want to follow up on a question that congresswoman lee asked specifically, what is your rationale for having rolled back the guidance on dealing with discrimination and civil rights issues in the schools? you mentioned something about quotas. i have read the rule. it has nothing to do with quotas. what is your rationale for having taken that guidance and repealed it? secretary devos: congresswoman, thank you for that question. again, i will repeat again that i think we share the same goals that every student is treated as , the individuals that they are. ms. watson coleman: i only want to understand one thing. what is the rationale for repealing a guidance with regard to how you address discrimination, disparate impact, and all those things, on an -- in a school environment? secretary devos: well discrimination is wrong. , and it will be pursued. ms. watson coleman: we agree with that. just tell me, if you don't mind, why you f

watson coleman is recognized at this time. mrs. watson coleman: i wish to thank the gentlelady for yielding to me. i rise in support of h.r. 1, the for the people act. america is not a democracy if we don't protect the right to vote. we should be expanding voter rolls and making every single voice heard at the boll lot -- ballot knox and -- box and that includes currently and formerly imprisoned americans. a mistake made should not simes your right for life. i offered an amendment to this bill that would have included those americans in our democracy, however, i have withdrawn that amendment at the time. i will continue to work with my colleagues to fight for re-enfranchisement for these americans. this bill is a reflection of priorities of democratic leadership in this body. it is exactly the type of legislation went overlooked until democrats took back the chamber. i urge my colleagues to support our democracy by voting for its passage. i yield back. the chair: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from illinois is recognized

watson coleman is recognized at this time. mrs. watson coleman: i wish to thank the gentlelady for yielding to me. i rise in support of h.r. 1, the for the people act. america is not a democracy if we don't protect the right to vote. we should be expanding voter rolls and making every single voice heard at the boll lot -- ballot knox and -- box and that includes currently and formerly imprisoned americans. a mistake made should not simes your right for life. i offered an amendment to this bill that would have included those americans in our democracy, however, i have withdrawn that amendment at the time. i will continue to work with my colleagues to fight for re-enfranchisement for these americans. this bill is a reflection of priorities of democratic leadership in this body. it is exactly the type of legislation went overlooked until democrats took back the chamber. i urge my colleagues to support our democracy by voting for its passage. i yield back. the chair: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from illinois is recognized

watson-coleman. >> in a bipartisan fashion. thank you very much, mr. chairman. thank you, madam secretary, for being here. i've got a whole bunch of questions that i'm going to ask that where you can, you just tell me yes or no. question, what is a chain link fence, enclosed, into a chamber, on a concrete floor represent to you? is that a cage? >> it's a detention space, ma'am, that as you know has existed for decades. >> does it differ from the cages you put your dogs in when you let them stay outside? is it different? >> yes. >> in what sense? >> it's larger, it has facilities, it provides room to sit, to stand, to lay down. >> do so do my dog's cage. are the jails different than the cages that you have allowed the children to be put am? >> i'm sorry which jails. >> the jails that you put their parents in or the adults that come here with children, that you say are coming here illegally. >> the detention centers, most of them, no, ma'am, they have a border around the outside, but they essentially sleep in dorm-like conditions. >> so they live in better conditi

this is new jersey congressmember bonnie watson coleman questioning nielsen. fence, is a chain-link enclosed into a chamber on a concrete floor represent to you? is that a cage? that is a detention space has existed for decades. >> does it differ from the cages you put your dogs and when you let them stay outside? is it different? >> yes. >> in what sense? >> it is larger. it has facilities. it provides them to sit, to stand, to lay down. >> so did my dogs cage. amy: nielsen's testimony came as u.s. customs and border production reported its agents arrested over 66,000 people crossing the southern border between legal ports of entry in february, the highest number for a single month in nearly 10 years. a new report finds the investigative arm of the immigration and customs enforcement agency, ice, maintained a secret list of new york city activist groups that protested trump administration policies. a four-page document obtained by "the nation magazine" titled "anti trump protest spreadsheet" shows homeland security investigations kept tabs on a series of prot

as i look at this you said watson coleman? okay. >> a confusion here. congressman harris per co- >> thank you very much. madam secretary one of the things that i've noticed in the president's budget and one of the things was mentioned is the professional development and it's a different term the administration wants to take in professional development. i liken it to the position, we do can tuning medical education but is different for every person. every person is different stage in their training and different stage of experian's. and so one size fits if you approach doesn't work for that and i expect it doesn't work for professional development for teachers as well. if you review that eir program and what your proposal is for and how it would change the way we do it professional development. >> thanks congressman. this is a really important initiative i think that in our goal to really honor and respect the teaching profession and teachers, we want to give a couple of different tools to teachers specifically. and give them more freedom to be the best

watson coleman: i had a saying, show me your budget and i'll show you our priorities. look at what the president prioritizes. an additional $8.6 billion for his hate-fueled, wasteful wall. a 5% increase in the already bloated pentagon budget, including money for his childish space forest and making his tax cuts for the rich permanent. the same cuts that exploded the deficit. now, let's look at what he apparently does not value. medicare. $854 billion in cuts. medicaid, $241 billion in cuts. snap, that's meals for families who've fallen on hard times, $220 billion in cuts. he already clearly doesn't prioritize the environment. 31% cut from the e.p.a. education, $207 billion cut from student loan programs or infrastructure, $22% cut from the department of transportation. anyway you look at the budget, it's clear. this president needs to get his priorities in order. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the sp

. >> congresswoman watson coleman. >> thank you madam secretary, first of all i want to say something about this rule that was rescinded. this was not supported by any of the civil rights community and it would seem to me that that was a very viable entity to consider before you roll that back. number two is you are the major advocate for education in this country. admonish us in your statement for giving you too much money. so i just find that absolutely incredible. number three is that i look at where your priorities are. at the same time i look at where your decreases and program eliminations are and it is very poignant to me that those programs are particularly hurt address the minority populations, the poor populations, the teachers in the schools that are struggling more, the trio programs and programs that help young people get prepared for college. all of those programs address the children and the situations most in need and there is more than a $7 billion cut in your budget from each one of those programs. and finally, i am going to give you a copy that i have of my attorney

watson coleman: mr. speaker, i rise today to call out a growing insidious threat to women. there are bills in at least eight state legislatures that would outlaw abortions if a heartbeat can be detected. typically, this is about six weeks of a pregnancy, though it can be earlier. six weeks before many women even know that they are pregnant, effectively taking away their right to choose whether or not to begin or expand their family. these laws are cruel. they are also in direct violation of the supreme court's decision in roe v. wade, a precedent that has stood for over 45 years. and that's the point. mississippi governor bryant recently signed into law one of these bills, and he did so knowing it was unconstitutional. he even admitted he was signing this bill for his own religious reasons, knowing that it was likely to be challenged. he wants to go to the supreme court because he wants credit for trying to overturn roe v. wade. but the women of this country will not go back. we have fought tooth and nail to obtain our rights in this country. those who believe women will gi

the chair now recognizes the gentle lady from new jersey, miss watson coleman. [ inaudible ] >> in a bipartisan fashion. thank you very much, mr. chairman. thank you, madam secretary, for being here. i've got a whole bunch of questions, and i'm going to ask that where you can you just tell me yes or no. question, what is a chain link fence enclosed into a chamber on a concrete floor represent to you? is that a cage? >> it's a detention space, ma'am, that you know has existed for decades. >> does it differ from the cages you put your dogs in when you let them stay outside? is it different? >> yes. >> in what sense? >> it's larger. it has facilities. it provides room to sit, stand, lie down. >> so did my dog's cage. are the jails different than the cages that you have allowed the children to be put in? >> i'm sorry. which jails? >> are the jails that you put their parents in? or the adults that come here with children that you say are coming here illegally. >> the detention centers, most of them, no, ma'am. they have a border around the outside. but they essentially sleep in dorm-like