particular concerns. that aspect, that aspect of the withdrawal agreement is within the withdrawal agreement with various assurances of the temporary nature of the asked up. -- inassurances have been discussions with colleagues, it is clear that those are not positioned and we will go back to seek further reassurance on the nature of that temporary nature of the backstop. >> people think that signing away large sums of money would badly undermine our negotiating on the irish backstop. will she reaffirm that we the >> we're going to break away from the last five minutes of the house of commons and go to the house of representatives here in washington. . 3008, both by the yeas and nays. the first electronic vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote, remaining votes will be

conducted as five-minute votes. the unfinished business is the vote on the motion from the gentleman from utah and which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution 792, resolution urging the secretary of the interior to recognize the historical significance of roberto clemente's place of death in puerto rico, by adding it to the national register of historic places. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and agree to the resolution as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 385, the nays are 1. two recorded as present. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the unfinished business is the veten the motion of the gentleman from utah, mr. bishop, to suspend the rules and pass h.r. 3008 on which the yeas and nays were ordered. the clerk will report the title of the bill. the clerk: union calendar number 470, h.r. 3008, a bill to authorize the secretary of the interior to conduct a special resource study of the george w. bush childhood home located at 1412 west ohio avenue, midland, texas, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house

suspend the rules and pass the bill. members will record their votes by electronic device. this is a five-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of representatives.]

the speaker pro tempore: the yeas are 382, the nays are 4. two are recorded as present. 2/3 being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to

reconsider is laid on the table. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. embers, please clear the well. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the committees on homeland security and energy and commerce be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 7213 and ask for its immediate consideration in the house. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of

the bill. the clerk: h.r. 7213, a bill to amend the homeland security act of 2002 to establish the countering weapons of mass destruction office and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection to the consideration of the bill? without objection, the bill is engrossed, read a third time and passed. and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to include in the record an exchange of letters between the chairman of the committee on energy and commerce and the chairman of the committee on homeland security on the bill h.r. 7213. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. so ordered.

the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. members, please take your conversations off the floor. the house will be in order. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. members, please take your conversations off the floor.

the speaker pro tempore: the house cannot proceed until the house is in order. members, please take your conversations off the floor. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. members, please take your conversations off the floor. the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> ask unanimous consent to

revise and extend my remarks for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. would the gentleman yield. the gentleman is right. the house is not in order. members, please take your conversations off the floor. the house cannot proceed until members have removed their conversations from the floor. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman may proceed. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to honor the life of congressman mack collins. he represented the third district including myself in this chamber for decades. he is a champion for the working men and women of america. his life is an example of the american dream. he started with nothing and built an a great business. e enlisted in the georgia army

national guard and he doned the uniform to protect the freedoms. he went on to serve at the local and state level before coming to washington to represent the third district of georgia. mack passed away at the age of 74. as we reflect on his life and mourn his passing, let us strive to follow his life. he lived the scripture, the greatest among you should be the youngest and the one who rules is like the one who serves. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. members, please take your conversations off the floor.

for what purpose does the gentleman from rhode island seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. mr. langevin: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. i rise with my good friend and fellow co-chair in career technical caucus to introduce the cybersecurity program to include cybersecurity education. whether in our hospitals or power grid, systems that make up our critical infrastructure are internet-enabled. they increase efficiency and service quality. they provide pathways to cyber intruders to wreak havoc. we need to provide training for workers who deal with these systems whether in the

transportation, energy or health sectors so they can keep us safe and identify the cybersecurity vullnerkts early on. many programs have strong safety elements. cybersecurity is rarely included and can't think of this as an afterthought. by funding the programs, we can ensure workers have the skills to protect our nation's infrastructure. i thank fred thompson for his partnership and i urge my colleagues to support our bipartisan effort. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. thompson: request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today in support of h.r. 7214, the cybersecurity integration act.

the caucus i'm proud we continue to provide the resources necessary to have a dominant and dominant work force. we advanced career and technical education. we must continue developing a 21st century work force to meet the demands that our country is facing now. together with my friend, we introduced a bill to protect sensitive data from bad actors. our legislation directs the department of education to integrate cybersecurity education into new programs. with over 16 critical sectors. we must prepare our generation of learners to make sure we have the programs to protect our nation's most dire systems and networks. i encourage my colleagues to support this bill and i thank mr. langevin.

i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute and resize and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for ne minute. >> mr. speaker, i rise today to honor john keane chair of the department of african american studies at rutgers, newark. last month, he was awarded the 6 25,000 mcarthur foundation genius grant. he is only one of 25 people to receive the award this year. he is a groundbreaking author who has studied, taught and written about the intersection of race, society and the human experience. his work has inspired his

students and his community and myself. i am so proud of professor keene and rutgers newark for keeping my city and our district at the top of the academic field. i ask my colleagues to honor professor keene and i leave you with his words. the most important thing is to read as much as you can. work on your writing, to try to engage in your community with people where you can share your work with and learn from. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute and revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that my entire statement on the recognition of tom, the staff director of the foreign

affairs committee be ip concluded in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without bjection. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the yom is recognized for one minute. ms. kaptur: tonight i recognize and honor a true public servant, captain andrea cayman of the united states army. soon she's transfer from her army fellow assignment to continue service as an army human resources officers. n 2016, the people of ohio's sixth district were -- ohio's ninth district were hn nor when she joined my staff. we recognize her sacrifice and that of her family too.

i wish her well in her journey with the united states army and the type of commitment her life represents is necessary for our nation, today as much as it ever was. today in my own state of ohio, the f.b.i. arrested two individuals suspected of notting to -- of plotting to kill a rabbi and jewish worshipers in our region. let me express to the f.b.i. which has been getting criticism from the executive branch, and to toledo law enforcement officers, for their -- deep gratitude for their professionalism and dedication to defending the american people against all enemies foreign and domestic. today in ohio, the f.b.i.'s model of fidelity, bravery and integrity was demonstrated again, backed by the brave blue line of the toledo police division. this member of congress says, i absolute you, thank you on behalf of the people of our region and the american people.

god bless you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from maine seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> mr. speaker, americans are alarmed by the unsafe and unhealthy situation along the southwest border. a caravan of thousands and thousands of central americans have made their way through mexico and are camped just on the other side of the border fence in texas. mr. poliquin: now my heart, mr. speaker, goes out to these people but we cannot let them be allowed to overwhelm our border and enter our country illegally. thees individuals, mr. speaker, have been offered asylum and work permits by mexico but they refused. homeland security has confirmed that 600 known criminals are among the encampment and beyond that we simply do not know, mr.

speaker, who these people are. these dangerous -- this dangerous situation is going to only get worse unless it's addressed. that's why, mr. speaker, i have connected with almost every one of our 235 republican members in the house asking them to join me to solve this national security and immigration problem. there is overwhelming support, mr. speaker, to do so and i will bring this up tomorrow at conference along with lots of other republicans. the primary responsibility of congress is to protect our families, mr. speaker. this is our last chance as republicans in the majority to fix this mess. otherwise, next year, the democrat majority has signaled they will push for open borders and amnesty legislation. this is our last chance as republicans in the majority to get this right. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back my time.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from nevada seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and rhett rith -- and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the jegs is -- the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> today i rise to recognize shalane, who was a 26-year-old young woman who loved her family, working hard to become a nurse. she was admitted to the e.r. th deep veen thrombosis, a treatable condition if treated on time. she was told is -- she told the hospital staff she didn't have insurance and was told to leave the hospital. three weeks later she died due to an embolism. it is unacceptable that in one

of the richest countries in the world tragedies like this can still occur. everyone in the united states of america should have access to quality, afordable health insurance. access to health care is a base exhuman right and no one should ever be denied medical because of their inability to pay. this is why, mr. speaker, i recently pledged my support to the medicare for all act which provides universal coverage to all those living in the united states of america. my deepest condolences go out to shalane, this one is for you. thank you, mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition? without objection the gentlewoman is recognized for ne minute. ms. jackson lee: mr. speaker, many of us will see this as the holiday season, but many of us know our young college students will be finishing their first semester of whatever year they are in college.

as i was home this season of greeting my constituents, one very dedicated constituent came to me and said, what are we doing about helping students get rid of this enormous burden of debt trying to become a contributing citizen to this country. and i made a commitment to him that we would work together to reduce the interest rates on student government loans. to look forward to providing access to education to all americans. and i believe as students finish their first semester looking to their second, some of them graduating, that we do have a responsibility to make sure that education is reasonable, accessible and not the enormous burden that it is. let's help our college students, let's help them succeed and i look forward to doing that. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2017, the gentleman from texas, mr. brady is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. brady: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the topic of this very special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. brady: mr. speaker, few americans will ever rival the depth and breadth of the service to our nation exhibited by george herbert walker bush. today i join the bush family, my colleagues, fellow texans and a grateful nation in remembering and honoring the life of president george h.w. bush. he was a courageous war hero a key member of the committee on ways and means, while he was here in congress, an ambassador, director of the c.i.a., vice president and president of the united states. that is remarkable and historic level of service to america but i still think his favorite title

was that of husband to his beloved bar and i believe his greatest accomplishment was in raising children and grandchildren who served their nation with dedication and patriotism. i believe our country and our state can agree we've lost a man of honor and character. who leaves a legacy and las vegas of service to his nation and family. so today we all want to share with you a little bit about our relationship with the beloved president bush. i consider myself a proud part of the bush legacy, on the ways and means committee i hold the seat previously held by pest president bush, then a member of congress, and bill archer of houston, later the chairman of the ways and means committee from texas, i am truly blessed to be part of a legacy on this committee that has achieved so much. in fact, my interest in major issues from trade to tax reform to health care is due in large part to president bush. after i became elected to

congress rning -- to congress, i spent a lot of time visiting president bush and secretary james baker, asking their advice on these issues and in fact, one of the reasons i'm involved in 12 of the 14 american free trade agreements and led the central american free trade agreement was directly because of my discussions with president bush and secretary baker. president bush was incredibly supportive of me both in my early campaigns for congress and once i started serving. there was always an open door. talk about issues dealing in tax and trade, health care, welfare, social security, medicare. i always knew i had someone i could lean on. for sage advice. because i used to represent college station, i had the pleasure of being in office when president bush's library was open in a&m and worked closely with the foundation for the eight years i represented it. the library is remarkable, but it goes beyond the bricks and mortar, it's a tangible reminder of the impact president bush had

on college station and the state of texas. the library brought world leaders to college station, allowed young men and women from small towns in texas to interact with president bush as well as united states and world leaders on a one-on-one, close, personal level. an incredible legacy for those young people that will last for ages to come. i'll finish with this. one of my favorite moments with president bush came just after i was named ways and means chairman. president bush's office reached out and said the president wanted me to come down to his office in houston and visit about ways and means issues. as you'd imagine, i was thrilled about it. i went to his office, my staff urged me to take a pair of crazy socks to president bush because he loved them and wore them. i decided instead to bring one of three specially made ways and means ties we had just created. i brought that to the president and he seemed thrilled. but it was barbara who was most

excited. when i presented the tie, she exclaimed, thank god. no more socks, please. i'll finish with this. every veterans day, memorials day, as i address events in the eighth congressional district of texas, i often conclude with my most memorable quote from president bush. a quote emblazoned on the his library in college station in letters 10 feet tall where the brazos county sun can catch it every day. let future generations understand the blessings and burdens of freedom. let them say we stood where duty required us to stand. that quote embodies president george h.w. bush and it's a call to us as well. to stand where duty requires us to stand today. mr. speaker, ind yield the balance of the time to

the gentleman from texas, mr. -- congressman roger williams a dear friend of president bush for more than three decades. a partner and a colleague and a huge admirer. i yield to mr. williams. thank you, sir. mr. williams: thank you, mr. chairman, thank you, mr. speaker, for allowing us this time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman will suspend. under the speaker's announced , the of january 3, 2017 chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. williams, for the remainder of the hour. mr. williams: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm reminded of a time when in texas we were at a breakfast and we had two groups. we had a group that was very close to jeb bush, the governor of florida, and one that was close to george w. bush, and mrs. bush was our guest speaker. and she spoke and when she opened up for questions, one of the questions was, mrs. bush a lot of us know jeb better than

george, or george better than jeb. how are they alike? how do they tiffer? and mrs. bush said she's been blessed to have a great family but she said these words. she said you could put all my boys together. and they would not equal their father. i thought that was powerful. so on november 30, 2018, america lost a great servant and i lost a great friend. president bush epitomized everything wonderful about america. and like his country, he was tough, strong, and kind. over the years, i was able to get to know the president and his family very well. my family and i had the opportunity to visit them in kennebunkport many summers. our days were spent playing basketball and sailing on the water, sharing and listening to president bush's stories until the sun went down. remember one basketball game ,

my daughters were playing, they didn't have tennis shoe, mrs. sh went and got her tennis shoes to give to my daughters. and when they started to shoot, there were vines growing on the basketball pole and she made the president get the hedge clippers and get the vines down before they could shoot baskets. i'm grateful for those moments. in addition to traveling together as friends, we shared a love for baseball and i was proud to be awarded with his award, the george h.w. bush distinguished alumnus award, by the national college baseball hall of fame, and to this day i wear a ring that has his name on it. it was during our baseball days that something very interesting happened. we were having lunch one day in his office at college station and it was myself and president sh and gene vicer, his chief of staff and jake mcclain who owned the astros.

and president bush said, i need to bring something up that i've got no credit for. mr. becker said i'm not going to -- said, don't go there. he said, yeah. he said there's a statement i get no credit for. and that statement is you da man. he was at a game, the colts, back in 1961, rusty staub wanted to meet president bush. a the game, staub came toward president bush heck was not president, president bush said i on't know why i said it or came toward me and i said you da man. they i would say to the president, we would all agree.

mr. president, you, da man. he served as a mentor to me and had a huge impact on my life. he is the reason i'm standing before all of you today. when i was contemplating to run, i called president bush for advice. he encouraged me to run and gave me the push that i needed. i'll never forget it. years ago i announced my congressional campaign in his office with him sitting next to me and the rest in my world is history. i'm forever grateful to president bush. he has been inexpireational and been like a father, whether it be in my faith or public service, he was very kind to me. he was the first person to call me while i was in the hospital after the baseball shooting back in june of 2016 and he said he was praying for me and praying

for our team. and two days later, he called to check on me again. he offered always called to give me his advice and i miss him ter apply. over a week has gone by and our country has been without one of the debatest americans to ever live, this is a measurable loss for america, but i'm comforted knowing he has been reunited with his beloved barbara and their daughter robin. it has been a true honor to experience president bush. our country is better because of him. and i am better because of him and our family is better because of him. and he once said and we have all heard it, public service is the most noble calling of all and he answered that call. so each and every day i'm praying for the entire bush family and i hope they find peace during this difficult

time. one more story, we were in forth worth and found out that one of our civic leaders wasn't doing well. we got in the car and he had his cell phone and dialed the number and the lady that worked in the house and asked to speak to this gentleman. she held a minute and the wife of this gentleman said, he said this is president bush and she said he cannot speak. he said well, take this phone into his bedroom right now and i want to tell him i love him. that's the kind of man president bush was. god bless president bush, god bless his family and god bless america. i yield my time back. i now yield two minutes to congressman culberson, who i think -- represents where president bush lives. mr. culberson: i thank the gentleman for yielding.

it is 18 years, it has been my extraordinary privilege to represent district 7 and had the best role model. predecessor was the first congressman to represent district 7. just as he was to kevin, has been a role model to me and adviser to help guide me when i first decided to run for office and offered me advice every step of the way. extraordinary role model and everyone who knew him understood immediately they were in the presence of someone extraordinary. mckinion, george h.w. bush will be remembered as an extremely public servant. we will remember him for his uncommon grace and love towards family and friends.

he editor-in-chief of "texas monthly" said there is a narrative that runs through the bush family, treat people decently and came from his father and mother and passed it on to their children. and as they passed it on, he remembers that every encounter i ever had with george w. bush,, he was the same guy. he was very much his father's son and all of us who are parents hope, that if we don't do, we convey the values of who we are and who we are supposed to be. one of the things that survives about bush, the elder, he passed along that are same decency, that same line of decency he learned from his parents. when jeb bush once said, how great is this country that it

could elect a man as fine as our dad to be president. if i could have extra 30 seconds. remember what george w. said as he accepted the presidential nomination in the year 2000, president bush 43 said my father was the last president of a great generation. a generation of americans who stormed beaches, liberated concentration camps and delivered us from evil. some never came home, those who did put their medals in drawers and went to work built highways, universities, great cities and grand alliances, the strong foundation of an american century. george h.w. bush brought the cold war to a peaceful conclusion and saw the downing of the berlin war without provoking violence.

in the first gulf war, he accomplished that on his watch america would not retreat on the world but would intervene when the global balance of power was in jeopardy. he spent his life in the service of his nation and common sense and love of country will stand him in strong sted to the ebbs and flows. on that score that george h.w. bush was a good man and good men are hard to come by. there was bipartisan consensus. we will miss this good man. we are far, far better that he lived and served our nation so well. yield back. think of him as a

personal friend. mr. barton: he had tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of men and women who considered themselves personal friends. i felt i was very close to the president, although obviously not as close as mr. williams who went to kennebunkport and knew the family. i knew the president first as vice president when i was a white house fellow. he was vice president bush who had a reception in the white house and gave my class the white house class fellow certificatetive indicates. as a candidate, he took a personal interest in me. we had an event that we had planned for myself in forth worth but the nrcc decided i couldn't win but gave that date and time to dick armey and did it in denton, texas and i was so

mad that i crashed his event. and i went up to the security checkpoint and they wouldn't let me in. and i asked to speak to the advance team and the head of the advance team was a man named ron could have man. he said this is pretty unusual. this is for dick armey but he talked to the vice president and he said sure. i got on the stage with the vice president. and i was only there for three minutes, but my picture and the video was in the tv market that night and the vice president sked me to go to houston and i had montgomery county. he flew, but i drove and i got to be in that rally that night. when he was going to texas a&m as president, i represented a&m and i got invited to fly on air force one with senator gramm and

i wore my texas a&m tie. as we were sitting in air force one, he had on a beautiful silk tie. and senator graham had on an old cheap tie. and he said joe, you ought to give your tie to the president. and i volunteered to give my tie to the president, which i did, but then senator graham took the president's tie and i ended up with graham's tie. and the president said, well, joe, you are the junior man here, you just have to suck it up. later that week in fort worth, senator graham and i were at a fundraiser for the republican women and he was wearing the president's tie. at the end of the event, i said, ladies, we need to raise some

more money and auctioned off the president's tie and i think we got $2,000. when bush was president, he was a proud supporter of the project in my district. i got to ride on air force one and marine one and show him the project and he had on a hard hat that said president george bush. and when he went back to the helicopter, as he got out of the presidential motorcade, he threw his hat on the back seat, and i said, can i have that hard hat. he said keep it for me until i come down here to open the s.s.c. he got defeated and president clinton didn't support it. but i still have that hard hat.

after he left office and the decision was made to put the bush library at texas a&m i put a bill on the floor to set up the bush fellows at texas a&m and i'm very proud that -- the last story, in my re-election in 1986, i was the number one target in the state of texas and one of the top 10 targets in the country. vice president called me and said would you like me to do an event. of course, i said yes. we did that event in fort worth. d we raised i believe over $200,000 which in that time and era was a lot of money and the vice president spent a lot of time there and was very gracious to my family, to my parents. he invited my mother and father to the white house when he was

president at the white house christmas ball and that was one of the highlights of their lives. thank you for sharing the president all of these years and as i said at the start, it is a measure of an individual when he has so many people that consider themselves to be personal hasnds and my guess is bush more of those types of individuals than just about anybody else in the country. god bless the late president bush. with that, i yield back. mr. williams: next is chairman lamar smith, san antonio. smith smith -- mr. smith: i would like to commemorate the life of president bush. he was simply one of the most

honorable people i have ever met in or out of politics. as a fellow text ann, i worked with him over -- texan, i worked with him over the years. i was invited by the president to accompany him on air force one and we went down to my hometown of san antonio to sign the north american free trade agreement. the president asked me to join him and the first lady in the forward cabin. i expected the visit to last about five minutes. but instead ended up spending the 2 1/2 hour flight with them. i felt a twinge of guilt because i felt like he should have been spending his time making phone calls or writing those well-known personal notes that he was famous for. this was an election year and he could have taken my support for

depranted. instead, his gesture on his part showed his big heart and how gracious and friendly he was. i arranged for a tree to be planted on the capitol grounds to honor president bush. it was the first tree to be dedicated to a president. his selfless public service and commitment to family continues to be a worthy example for all of us. and i yield back. . mr. williams: next is congresswoman kay granger, fort worth. ms. granger: george h.w. bush was a giant of a man, flew in world war ii, nearly lost his life, ambassador, director of the c.i.a., vice president, and most notably president of the united states. more than that he's someone to

ad mire because he spent his life dedicated to serving his country and his fellow man. his dedication to his country was rivaled only by his dedication to his family, marked by his 73-year marriage to his wife barbara, his loving relationships with his children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. as important as he was he took time to great people who came to see him. he knew the value of a written note of praise and a hug and a handshake. he laughed as well as he led and knew the importance of relationships. those who didn't have the pri ledge of knowing president bush personally were given a glimpse of his character through the words of his loved ones wednesday during his memorial service. as his son, president george w. bush, said, who has the same sense of family and ted case to the nation, he said of his father, your decency, sincerity,

and kind soul will stay with us forever. so through our tear, let us know the blessings of knowing and loving you a great and noble man. george h.w. bush' greatness shows in the strength of his family and he's given us all a lesson in how to be a good friend. president bush accomplished much in his long life. he epitomized what it means to be a public servant and i'm honored to recognize this disting westerned texan today and thank you for his service to our country. mr. williams: next is congressman michael burgess from denton county. mr. burgess: thank you. i thank the gentleman from texas and i thank him for bringing us together for this hour to pay tribute to an american hero who served on the front lines of our nation's history for really almost a century. from the skies of the pacific to the yale baseball diamond to the oil fields of texas to the floor of the united states house of

representatives, to the streets of beijing and the hall os they have white house, president george herbert walker bush led a life of humble leadership, courage, and conviction. over five decades , he built an unmatched resume. his accomplishments while im-- his accomplishment, while impress i on their own, are extraordinary when bundled together he left his new england home to move to west texas where he pursued an oil career and later served the people of the seventh congressional district here in the united states house of representatives. as a leader, president bush faced some of the greatest challenges of his time he worked to open new paths of diplomacy in china, help red store confidence in the central intelligence agency and he worked alongside president reagan to make america great. though he's perhaps better known for making waves oversees -- overseas, our 41st president achieved new heights at home when he opened new doors for americans with disabilities. while president bush had a

robust resume, stacked with prestigious jobs at critical times in american history, most of us will remember him for the role he is held most dear. for 7 years, president bush was a devoted husband of barbara pears, a legend in her own right, with whom he built an honorable family of children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. together president and mrs. bush wove their own story of the american dream. there's no doubt that president bush made the state of texas, the united states of america, and the global community a better place to live. on behalf of my constituents in the 26th district of texas, i thank him for his matchless service for our country and i join a grateful nation and thank the bush family for sharing him with us. i yield back. mr. williams spks next, one of our great veteran, congressman ete olson.

mr. olson: i thank my friend from texas 25 for setting up this special order for a great american. george herbert walker bush. back home, known as bush 41. there are many words which describe his life. statesman, dignified, hero, father, husband, devoted leader, and human being. i met him twice in very relaxed settings in houston, texas. we loved how funny he was. he loved to make people laugh. e and i talked about being

naval aviators, running back home in the houston area for congress. both of us had a big problem with our first campaign. we weren't brn in texas. we weren't native texans. some called us carpet baggers. president bush had the best reply i've ever heard. to paraphrase , he said, it's true, my friends, i wasn't born ittexas, but on my birthday, was very important that i was with my mother, and sadly, my mom was not in texas on june 12 of 1924.

i wish i'd had the wisdom of hat line when i ran in 2008. he loved having fun with his soul mate, barbara bush. married for 73 years, the first woman he ever kissed. check out this photo. that's president carter and rosalind, president ford and betty. lady bird johnson and president george h.w. bush and barbara bush. guess who has rabbit ears? our first lady, barbara bush. job e bush never let the take over his humanity.

a final story about president , back in houston , they had a photographer. as president bush's health failed he went to take some pictures and i asked him, how is the president doing? he said, he's doing fine, his brain is great but he can't work anymore. he's wheelchair bound and we take a photo every year with the first lady after they come back home from kennebunkport for photos for christmas and the entire year. those shots -- shoots have become very, very tough. i can't stand him up, he has to sit down in his wheelchair. he was 6'2", 6'3". barbara was probably 5'7". he towered over her in real life. in the wheelchair she towered

over him. o how do you fix that? i work the first lady out hard, is what he said. i had her squat down, on her knee, so she's below him as they've been their whole life. and try to hide that wheelchair for the photos. i put her up left down low, behind to the right down low, moved her all over. they started laughing. said, what made their love so special, so dear, they both at , as i walked in front of the president 10 times, she said stop that. george, stop that. our president was pinching her

ehind out of love. there's good news today for the bush family. president bush and barbara are walking hand in hand with their daughter robin in heaven right now. i'll close by saying, the last four words president bush said when he was with us. said these words to our president george w. bush, so-called, bush 42. -- 43. he said, i quote, i love you too. he said that to george w. but we all know he said that to every american, every person in this

world. this man loved life he loved america. he loved humanity. he's a great man. rest well in heaven and have fair winds and following seas. i yield back. mr. williams: next is dr. brian babin. mr. babin: thank you very much. our nation lost a true patriot on november 30 with the passing of george herbert walker bush. our 41st president ascended to the office with an impeccable resume for this position -- for the position. having served as congressman, ambassador to china, c.i.a. director, vice president to our 40th president, ronald reagan. his service as a navy pilot during the second world war during which he was shot down over the pacific cemented his status as an american hero. but the humble bush rarely referenced his war experiences.

indeed, president bush rarely discussed his own record. his accomplishments as president particularly on world stage seemed more impressive with the passing of time and historians and scholars hold his administration in increasingly high esteem. i met president bush only once but still treasure the photograph that i had taken with him. he was a real gentleman, despite a life spent in public service at the highest levels, president bush was a devoted family man. he was constantly surrounded by his loved ones. his children adored him and his relationship with his wife barbara has long been celebrated for his commitment and warmth. the people of texas which became his adopted home after his service in the navy, will forever hold president bush in special regard. george bush led an exemplary life. his service to his country and his kindtons his fellow americans ranks him among our

most beloved of presidents. his reputation as a loving husband and father will persist and i believe that his legacy as president will continue to grow after his passing. thank you for your service, rest in peace, mr. president. mr. williams: next is the gentleman who represents a very large district in texas, congressman will hurd. mr. hurd: i want to thank my friend and colleague for arranging this conversation. i want to join my colleagues and omourning nation as we continue to honor the legacy of president george h.w. bush, a giant of a man we should all aspire to be. he's also a man of integrity who focused on his family and faith. he was a loving and caring husband, father, grandfather, and great grandfather who treated his friends and his foes with kindness, humility and respect. i will be forever grateful that he fell in love with texas a&m

university, my alma mater, because that's where i had the opportunity of meeting and becoming friends with the late president. he encouraged me to join the c.i.a. and had a lasting impact on me and many of my peers to answer the call to service and work toward causes greater than ourselves. i will be forever grateful for him instilling this spirit in me. 41 was the epitome of public service and beacon of light in this world embodying america at its best. rest in peace, mr. president. thank you for your selfless service and thank you for being an example to us all. i yield back. mr. williams: next is jody arrington, lubbock, texas. mr. arrington: i want to thank the gentleman for hosting this special order, my friend, roger williams, fellow texan, to honor the life and legacy of president george herbert walker bush.

mr. speaker, i rise today to honor the life of a great american and a proud texan. president george herbert walker bush. this past week, we as a nation said good-bye to a true statesman and reflected on a life of duty, honor, and above all service to others from one of the youngest navy pilots in our nation east hiry, to the leader of the highest office in the land, our 41st president's life was defined by service to others. and his dedication to our country was matched only by his love for and devotion to his family. throughout his life, president bush taught us that public service is a noble calling and that being a politician and a gentleman aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. . he inspired countless americans

to get involved in public service which made a tremendous impact on many lives and has no doubt had an impact on this country. and has made it a better and brighter place to live. mr. speaker, president bush once said that he saw life in terms of missions. missions defined and missions completed. well, today george herbert walker bush's mission on earth is complete. and i join my friend, president george w. bush, the entire bush family, and all americans in celebrating a life well lived and rejoice with them in the promise of life everlasting. god has no doubt blessed this great country. in many ways. but not the least of which is with men like george herbert walker bush. god bless the bush family and god continue to bless america. i yield back. mr. williams: next is congressman doug lamalfa from california.

mr. lamalfa: i thank my colleague from texas, mr. williams, for leading this tonight. you finally ran out of texans to present here. so we're now up to california. so i'm honored to be able to be here tonight to join in the commemoration, the celebration of president bush, 41. when he was looked to for leadership, he came through in spades. i recall mostly, i think, one of the strongest moments indeed was during the gulf war. desert storm. his steady hand was what was needed at a very perilous time for our allies and neighbors in the middle east that were counting on us, but also the ility to keep the coalitions that had been built for so many years and formed us the coalition that helped us be successful on the world age? that effort.

-- age in that effort. so that leadership. he exuded the leadership. i love the photograph, i think, best of him, he's standing there in that bomber jacket looking off in the distance. and just that photo exudes confidence and gives us confidence in him as a leader at that time when it was so very per lowls. -- perilous. he was a good man. he learned from mistakes that happened and he built upon them to be successful. as a president, and i think most importantly he would say as a family man, indeed when we all viewed the service for him last week here, that beautiful family that he's so proud of really is a legacy that he can be proud of , along with barbara. that's the most important legacy. but also, and what he brought to the office, civility, something that might be a little shorthanded in the dealings in

washington, d.c., these days. brought civility, he brought respect. for the office, for the institution, and the interactions, indeed, his ability to work across the aisle and post-presidency, work with people who had been his opponents previously for causes that were bigger than all of us. he showed the way, he showed the light when he talked about the thousand points of life and being able to accomplish and help others post-presidency. his sense of adventure. jumping out of perfectly good airplanes at each birth date or landmark and birth date. that's something else. it makes me smile. and i think mostly, he had a sense of humor. saw it in his son, george w. as well. you see it all the time he could take a joke and give one out. i always -- one of my favorite things will be him interacting with dana carvey on "saturday night live" skits there and him

playing along. because he saw the fun in it. he saw the humor in it. when people chalked him up as a combination of john wayne and mr. rogers and how he carried himself. and the whole na-ga-da thing that he interacted with dana carvey. it showed a well-rounded great man, this man was and is. and that we're appreciative of the opportunity to commemorate him and his service in all capacities and all phases of his life. so god bless him. god bless the whole bush family. and thank you for this time. mr. williams: next is congressman french hill from arkansas. mr. hill: i thank my friend from texas for coordinating this opportunity to stand in solidarity on the house floor and memorialize a dear family friend and my former boss, george herbert walker bush, our

41st president. president bush was a great sportsman, a man of warm and goofy humor, a man who in every instance put himself in the position of serving others. from his willingness to enlist and become the navy's youngest aviator, a brave aviator he was indeed, flying some 58 combat missions. but at every stage of his life, until he passed on to be with bar and ron at the age of 94, bush 41 continued to put himself in the position of serving others. that is his legacy. from helping spread 1,000 points of light, americans helping americans, americans helping the less fortunate, americans reaching out across the ocean and helping those in times of need. as i noted, he was a great sportsman. he loved speed. fast boats like the fidelity. fast planes like his avenger. the barbara iii. that's right. iii. it was said to be grum on the's best customer after losing three

planes as a naval aviator. and even in sports that were known for being relaxing, mr. williams, he made them fast. 18 holes of ready golf. or cart polo, as it was referred to. in minutes, not hours. super competitive doubles tennis. fishing, always loving fishing. that is, when he wasn't sky diving. but this sportsman-gentleman-servant-lead er has a portfolio of successes in his single term of four years as our president. called upon by the media and many to dance atop the crumbled berlin wall, president bush did not dance. but instead put his shoulder down and produced an agreement that in turn produced the extraordinary growth and prosperity among the peoples of europe. no greater mevpl to the success than to walk down -- memorial to the success than to walk down the streets today of warsaw, prague or budapest, and see the

economic vitality of free market capitalism at work. but there were other exceptional moments in the international portfolio, including the completion of the north american free trade agreement. the reinforcement of the monroe doctrine by ejecting a threatening thug from panama. the delicate punishment of china, while balancing our relation during the regime's horrible murderous actions at tiananmen square. and ending the years of tension between the united states and our ally, japan, by creating the structural impediments initiative that opened japanese markets by removing nontariff barriers to american exports and service. on the domestic front, this man of the house, bush 41, was an outstanding creative agenda, starting by cleaning up the failure of the s.n.l. crisis of the 1980's. he proposed the americans for disability act that was accepted by congress and has provided millions of americans with more

opportunities for work and access. his clean air amendment set the sttstd in the world for cleaning up acid rain challenges using market mechanisms benefiting not only america but our neighbor to the north, canada. he left office with a reputation of constraining government spending and responsible budgeting. but of course along the way there were heartbreaks, beginning with the failure to have his close friend, senator john tower, confirmed as secretary of defense. for a ridiculous partisan reason. on capitol hill, president bush 41 struggled with the incredible partisanship from the senate leader, george hitchle, and house majority leader dick gephardt. but he treasured his friendships of cooperation and success with members like john murtha, and speaker tip o'neill. mr. speaker, george bush 41 treasured god, faith and family, he prided himself in the army mantra of duty, honor and country.

in his memorial service at washington national cathedral, hiser toial john meachle stated he believed bush 41 was striving every day to justify why he'd been saved that day. that's his focus on -- thus his focus on service and his commandments, don't blame oh, always share the credit, warm admonitions from his beloved mom. so, mr. speaker, i stand today with my friends from texas to absolute george bush, a good and faith -- salute george bush, a good and faithful servant. i was lucky to know him, work for him and recognize him for being the exceptional man of character that he was. our country is blessed to have him as our commander in chief and our 41st president of the united states. i thank my friend from texas and yield back. mr. williams: just for the remaining speakers, we have 12 minutes left. next is rick allen from the tate of georgia. mr. allen: thank you so much for

this opportunity to come and talk about someone who we've talked about, but -- for some time now, but we could talk about for a very long time. it is with a heavy heart that i rise this evening along with my colleagues to recognize the life and legacy of a true american statesman and patriot, our late president george h.w. bush. my association with president bush was through my hometown of augusta, home of the masters tournament, founded by the greatest amateur golfer of all time, bobby jones. the walker cup, played by teams of the best amateur golfers from the united states and great britain and ireland every two years, was named after president bush's grandfather and his namesake. i got to know president bush, he was the first honorary chairman of the first tee organization. the sole purpose of the first tee organization is to give

those young people who do not have otherwise the economic means to play the game of golf the opportunity to play this great game. president bush is also only one of two presidents to be inducted into the world golf hall of fame. he led a life of utmost distinction and the family and friends he leaves behind will always cherish the time spent with this american hero. as he has reunited with his wife and their daughter in heaven, we will continue to learn by his example always. and tell you, those young folks who are playing golf now, learning those values, much appreciate it as well. rest in peace, mr. president. and i yield back. mr. williams: congressman randy eber from texas. mr. weber: thank you. i thank the gentleman. mr. speaker, george herbert walker bush. ask all of us to be light in

this world. to be gracious. to be diligent. and to be honest. and then he led the way by example. his patriotism was innate, it was his guiding light, mr. speaker. and barbara was his soulmate. his compass. part of his true north. mr. speaker, george h.w. bush was one of our last great statesmen. a member of the greatest generation. his love for his nation was bested only by his love for his family. this enduring love for both is how we will long remember george h.w. bush, mr. speaker. and oh, that we would emulate him. president bush could walk into a room and make everyone feel like they belonged. he was the epitome of the true southern gentleman, even though

he wasn't born in the south. the south did adopt him, however, i might add, mr. speaker. his mannerisms and his convictions gained him respect far and wide. worldwide. this great and good man brought us together and led the way once again in that during our time of mourning his passing, his example quieted some of the divisiveness which is on display all too often, mr. speaker. we have a lot to learn from his mission and his life. oh, that we would emulate him. and that. last week george h.w. bush kindest, his final,

gentlest resting place with .arbara and robin he is home. mission accomplished, mr. president. george herbert walker bush, mr. speaker, is worth emulating. oh, that we would all do so. mr. speaker, i yield back. mr. williams spks next is congresswoman sheila jackson lee of texas. ms. jackson lee: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to join my colleagues to ght in what is a tribute george herbert walker bush and barbara bush, a tribute of which i hope we will continue to live. it is my great honor to salute president bush and to be

reminded of the beauty of his love of 73 years, a partnership of service, raising a family and serving a nation. last week's tribute of mourning, memorials, and funerals was an opportunity for not only the to learn ofhe world the depth and the level of the integrity and honesty and statesmanship and leadership of our 41st president. i'm glad to have known him as a houstonian. delighted to have worked with his wife, barbara bush, on her great commitment to everyone should have the ability to read. literacy was a standard bearer by which she guided her later life and so many people learned to read and cherish books

because of her service. i got to know the president more closely because of his relationship with my husband, dr. elwin c. lee. at most people don't know is preceding the honorable barbara jordan, there was a young congressman representing this district by the name of george herbert walker bush. african-americans in a segregated houston, beloved because of his eagerness to treat everyone as a human being. one of his dear friends who turned -- who will turn 90 in a couple of week, reverend dr. f.m. williams, the pastor of the ant oklahoma baptist church, hill stil their pass foring i remember standing next to him in acres home when then president george herbert walker bush landed his big helicopter right

there in our community, showing and affirming the friendship. we further enjoyed the pportunity to know him, my husband through his assisting him to his own high school, andover academy, and how kind he was to send from china a gift for our wedding. so he is morn the president of the united states. the congressman this chair of the r.n.c. this eenvoy, among others. the vice president. the president, the director of the c.i.a. and most of all, the hero of world war ii when he in his effort to fight for this nation also as he was shot down looked to save his colleagues. he is a hero, she a friend, he is a man that we will honor and continue to honor and by our lives and by our service we hope

to affirm both the wonderful life of his lovely bride as well as himself and to say to his children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and others, rest well, thank you for sharing him with us, for he did serve his nation and by that, he has served the people of this nation. may god bless. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: congressman ted yoho from the state of florida. mr. yoho: thank you. -- mr. williams: congressman ted yoho from the constituent of florida. mr. yoho: thank you for putting this together. i want to express our condolences to the bush family. president bush accomplished many objectives in his 30 years in government but i believe his greatest legacy is his devotion to this nation and its people. in and out of office he dedicated his life to public service and helping others hsm

eblnged to that era of americans known as the greatest generation. whether it was serving in the u.s. navy in world war ii or achieving the highest office in the land. president bush never failed to generate selflessness and compassion. when faced with conflicts and adversity he always responded with griss and honor he lived at a time when americans and america knew who we were. his lifetime of service was rightfully recognized in 2011 when he received the presidential medal of freedom, the nation east highest civilian honor. even though he's no longer with us, his legacy of kindness and self-sacrifice will live on. as we transition into the 116th congress i'd like to remind -- like us to remember president bush for his complete devotion to this country and its citizens. it's an honor to have a career in public service and i'm grateful our country had a role model like president bush and i hope my colleagues in congress feel the same. at a time in history when the

mation feels divides -- divided, we must remember those who stood before us and bring the american people together for the goofed the country. the alignment he had in life is a simple one. in fact, our nation would be better served if we followed it. it's god, country, and family. i ask that we honor the late president bush, we remember his encouragement to work hand in hand with our neighbors to give back to our communities and our country, the american people are lucky to have such a compassionate and honorable leader and will forever be grateful for his service to this great country. mr. williams spks we may never see the likes of george h.w. bush again, although we hope we do. praise the lord for the president, praise the lord for his family, in god we trust, i ield back. the speaker pro tempore: the entleman yields.

for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> pursuant to clause 7 of rule 22, i present a privilege red port. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title.

the clerk: conference report to accompany h.r. 2, an act to provide for the reform and continuation of agricultural and other programs of the department of agriculture through fiscal year 2023 and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: ordered printed. under the speaker's announced policy of january 3, 2017, the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia, mr. garrett, for 0 minutes. mr. garrett: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, over thanksgiving i had the amazing opportunity to accompany some impressive individuals and thought leaders from the freedom research

foundation, on my own dime, my own time, into iraq and northeastern syria. there was a debate that ran between myself and one of these individuals over what was more dangerous, ignorance or evil. ultimately i suggested that perhaps ignorance is dangerous and evil is dangerous but the most dangerous thing might be the ignorance of evil itself. in order to vanquish evil we must first vanquish ignorance and we must recognize the evil that exists in order to correct it. so tonight, to that end, i'll speak to the realities on the ground not only in the middle east but in so many parts of the world, but specifically in iraq and syria, right now, as i speak if we don't get this right not only will innumerable lives vanish, but entire cultures will vanish. to my left, your right, is an

image of individuals restrained and then set on fire, one of many barbaric acts they could have chosen to visually depict. the horrors that have been visited upon this region since the rise of isis and the syrian civil war began. edmund burke once said, i'll paraphrase, the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing. i might submit the only thing worse than doing nothing is doing the wrong thing and all too often in the middle east, western governments' policies are some combination of the two. nothing and the wrong thing. there are any number of ways to illustrate this but one might be this depiction. of an individual who was actively committing atrocities

against their fellow man and who was later welcomed into a western nation as a refugee. that he went through a vetting process and was deemed to be a refugee from the very horror which he perpetrated is an anecdotal but very real evidentiary indicator of the fact that sometimes governments get it wrong. we've gotten it wrong enough in this part of the world recently hat we've seen not only ethnic cleansing but genocide on a kale hat really and truly is thoord imagine the mirror of. perhaps cambodia, certainly during the second world war, in fact, i spent the better part of the living in a tent in

former yugoslav republic of bosnia because of ethnic cleansing or genocide but let's put it this way, we look the other way so often it becomes second nature. it's raved ears a in burma. and now the rohingya are exterminated by a raging government and the west is quiet, perhaps not because we condone it because we're not aware of it. in rwanda over 100 days we lost about 10,000 lifes a day. that is a million people. in osnia, 8,000 were killed 1995. these war crimes begatt the icty, the international criminal try brunal of yugoslavia yet as we see isis rolled up into its final stronghold in syria with

fighting currently going on as we speak around najin no, splar such thing sexists. we see individuals who have immigrated to europe and have not been held to account. that's a shame and a tragedy and something i hope to see corrected. not only the army but al nussrafment we've armed aened funded alkentucky da to fight isis. proponents of anti-regime forces started biered wan and in the meantime we've seen any number of minority communities persecuted, displayed, murdered and rape aid cross the region.

to my left, your right, you'll see a pie chart, 100% of a pie chart that represents the approximately three million christians in iraq and syria at the high point of their population in the 21st century. what remains of that pie chart. being displaced, raped, murdered, etc. we've done nothing, truly. o effectively stop this. the refugees reflected the total population of these areas and their faith. but the answer is not to remove christians or yazidis or armenian minorities from iraq and syria. it's to create a circumstance where they can live in their home safely without fear.

and yet we haven't done. that 2.7 million, bark, again, you can go to c.i.a. world fact book or any number of sources. that's three people displaced, killed, etc., roughly for every one in rwanda. that's 325 people displaced or in another very one place. our foreign policy seems seems to be driven oftentimes by what our largest interest at play are. we're mp more concerned with what the russians are doing, what with the turks are doing, the iranians. i've already mentioned the russians. i understand that from a geopolitical sort of picture scale, but i submit the following, mr. speaker. if you want to get the big things right, you must first start by getting the small things right. if you want to understand what's going on in the world and get it

right for tomorrow so, that we can prevent this sort of suffering and inhumanity in the future, then you must first find those who share your values and align with them today. what of these atrocities committed, specifically against the christian community, but not only. crucifixions. there's a cottage industry in kidnapping and ransom. over 200 christians were kidnapped and ransomed off for millions of dollars that then went to fund the various entities which kidnapped them to begin with. when things didn't move quickly enough, mr. speaker, three innocent people were murdered. just to make a point. we didn't hear about it on the nightly news. we see a displacement and an ethnic cleansing taking place, particularly in eye, where collaborators -- in iraq, where collaborators searched through titles and then find a cousin and then take a deed and sell it to someone who's been selected

by entities who seek to change the demographic makeup of an area, who's of a particular faith. so the population, perpetually a victim population in itself, has been moved into christian areas to repopulate them with those who will be complicit in the rearrangement of entire regions. in fact, before the conflict in iraq, there were vibrant, thriving christian communities in basra, in baghdad, mosul. and now we've seen them rolled up, pushed out of the country, murdered and then now essentially contained by and area n the -- the river in syria was under siege by cispa, where churches and homes were destroyed. but where also a regime dropped a bomb from aircraft. and if this victimization isn't bad enough, it's multiplied by the fact that cispa and those who fight against cispa -- isis and those who fight against isis

hold with great disdain the west. so therefore if you happen to be christian, you're identified by the fault -- by default as pro-western and therefore the argument is, let them help you. these people aren't any more western than i am middle eastern. but they're victims of that perception. and we do nothing. so we know that minority groups have been victimized by sunni extremists, isis, shi'a extremists, hezbollah, radical elements of the p.m.u., by the free syrian army, by turkey and their could opting of some of these very -- cooperating of some of these very elements, by russia and of the regime. who not only drops chemical weapons on those who oppose them in regime-controlled areas, but also in areas that are not. all of these exploit or target religious minorities in order to

maintain political power. and it's a play that's as old as tyranny itself. that you would find a minority group that was large enough that everyone might know someone in that minority group, then ascribe to them all the problems of your society and then, in making -- creating a victim, unite your society against that minority group in order to maintain your own power. it is the face of evil. who does this? well, the regime in russia, but turkey, turkey in particular has been guilty. and by the fact that we refer to them constantly as our nato ally. turkey has taken the occasion of calamity in syria in order to enhance and expand turkey itself. this is absolutely, positively, unequivalentically undeniable. to my left, your right, you see pictures of the entrance to the hospital, along with areas that

the turkish have taken military control of. under the auspices of a clefrl named marketing ploy -- cleverly named marketing ploy to root out isis. why do turkish flags fly above the buildings there instead of free syrian flags? why is it that the sign in front of the hospital is no longer in kurdish and arabic but now in turkish and arabic? why are they changing the names of the streets there to turkish snamse names? why have they changed the language in which children are taught in school? why is the police force in of a ron equipped with turkish equipment swearing aliege abc to erdogan -- allegiance to erdogan, speaking turkish, and imposing a turkish will upon a people who are not even ethnically turkish? is to forgetompare

the fact that there were germans in that land when it was ceded to hitler. so we've seen an expansionist turkey use the calamity of isis and the syrian civil war to grab land and then impose upon a people a language that is not their own, rules that are not their own, enforce ms that is -- enforcement that is not their own and tyranny that is not their own. and this is the tip of the iceberg. these are our nato allies. they spend millions of dollars a month in this city to influence policy and opinion. they put our airbase under siege quite literally, cutting power and water to that facility, where nuclear weapons were stored. and candidly we're a scintilla away from storming the gates and visiting unimaginable terror on our service men and women stationed there. they brutalized, kicked, stomped, punched and hit with

asps and wands american citizens on american soil. they attacked and killed civilians in syria with u.s.-made weapons -- weapons. f season 16's. and -- f-16's. and now we're going to sell them f-35's? erdogan speaks in favorable terms of the nazis. turkey, our nato ally, is engaged in three-party talks regarding the future of syria with such global good actors as iran and russia. negating the thoughts or interests of their quote-unquote nato allies. or, more importantly in my estimation, the very people who suffer under their jack boot. they've imprisoned over 50,000 people as a result of an uprising and been rated to have one of the least free presses on the planet earth.

they conflate truth with fiction and they manipulate u.s. policy by con flating the y. -- conflating the y.p.g. with the p.k.k. and the p.k.k. in syria with the p.k.k. in turkey. and even now are demanding a, quote, kurdish withdrawal from where i met with members of the military council suggesting that the y.p.g. unilaterally control there. i have news for you, mr. erdogan. it's already been done. the s.d.f. controls that area and the leaders of that military council might have kurds among them but they also include arabs and christians and everyone else who lives in a region and we're negotiating with them over this. because they play word games and they're a step ahead of us. one of the most amazing stories i heard was on the front lines from a local command who are said that when the turks came in there, the isis fights that are the turks said they had vanquished never vanished, but only changed uniforms. in fact, where i stood, machine

gun fire had impacted that same very day, from forces of the free syrian army who sat about three kilometers in front of the turkish military base on that side of the line. in other words, and i can tell you this based on my time in a uniform, if turkey didn't want them to be there, they wouldn't thereby. and what was isis, the turkish said they would vanquish, is now the same people in different uniforms working for turkey, spreading same sort of terror. and they have the human being rouse to demand that -- tube riss to demand that the syrian democratic forces, which are a multiethnic tolerance pluralistic group which represents the various ethnyities and religions of the visit vids -- ethnicities and religions of the various people on the ground, y.p.g. had a great deal of liberating them from isis, but is no longer responsible for that area. why? so that they can cooperate control of that area without

firing a shot. and i can assure you of this. the people there are rightly afraid. and as if turkey wasn't bad enough, mr. speaker, iran. we, the united states, withdrew from iraq to maintain a political promise, thus creating a vacuum and everyone knows that power abhors a vacuum. so when that vacuum was created, the iranian regime took advantage of years of exploitation, of shi'a in iraq by sunni and the hussein bathism -- ba'athist administrations, and essentially flipped the script. now, there are people in baghdad who are working very hard to get this right. we have friends in baghdad. but iran is working as we speak to undermine this fact. they promote and fund ethnic cleansing.

they help to move properties where christians or other minorities have been displaced into the hands of other groups which will change the composition of the area, thus allowing them greater ease and control. they've killed, maimed, injured imnumerable of our brothers and sisters. iranian weaponry on the battlefield in iraq. and then there's the regime in russia. so many people suggest that perhaps in the middle east, in syria in particular, there are no good guys. well, there are. and the regime in russia have sought to play this to their advantage. make no mistake. the russians don't care souch about -- so much about the assad jet stream than a warm port in the mediterranean that's been a dream in russia since the czars. transit to the atlantic through the mediterranean, without the need to cross out of the black sea. what they've also weaponized

religious leaders against their own people. essentially creating circumstances wherein bishops and patriarches told the whole story about what was happening to their flock on one side of an imaginary line, they might endanger their flock on another. they've bombed not only their own civilians but the river valley and areas they didn't control, and then stood back and gladly blamed those atrocities on other parties. and they do this because we don't understand exactly what is being done. so we've identified the so we've identified the problems, what are the solutions? long-term solutions mean getting the little things right first. to get the little things right, we have to find the people who share our values. and they do exist. what can we do to defend? in iraq, i think, recognizing the k.r.g. as a soft governing

subentity of a greater iraq. their legitimacy and then fostering and encouraging their devotion to pluralism. we talk about atrocities committed, it's interesting how many times i heard the story of million a million christians murdered at the hands of the ottoman turks. the christians said when iraqi government forces pulled out from in front of the christian towns and left them exposed and defenseless for the rise of isis, they knew, just knew, no one would help because the kurds had not been their friends 100 years earlier. yet it was the kurds who stepped in and stopped isis at least long enough for people to flee with their lives. so this commitment to religious minorities, other minorities is perhaps part of the fact that the kurds themselves within the greater nation of iraq are a minority. i'm not terribly concerned with where it comes from.

i'm more concerned with what the result is. if there's a commitment to tolerance anywhere that's been demonstrate those opposed, no ground in iraq, it's in the subregion of iraqi kurdistan. s that shared value. these are people with whom we can work. we should insist that iraqi authorities in the central government in baghdad adhere to their own constitution. what do i mean by that. in the iraqi constitution there's a revenue sharing agreement that creates a federalist system by virtue of funneling moneys to areas based on population, etc. for years on end this very money was lorded over the kurdish regions in order to demand compliance. again, i'm not advocate ing for an autonomous iraqi kurdistan, i'm advocating for a subregion of the greater iraq. if we're going to help the iraqis we need to nand their own constitution because they're weapon sizing against the people they -- weaponize against the

people they purport to serve. we need to monitor at the closest level to the people. decentralize -- thomas jefferson once said the government closest to the people governs best and is most easily held to account. too often american aid is pilfered along its way from the united states to a regional government to a local government or entity. find the good guys, send it straight to them. how do you do this? well, within these subregions, we can find other subregions. for example, the nineveh plain in iraq. i've spoken with the prime minister, the interior minister, entire communities, literally towns and cities, pushed free of their generational inhabitants that could come back and create a bastion of tolerance and diversity instead of a region that knows far too little of th so the establishment of a nineveh plain counsel and the

direction of aid to that counsel, not as an independent aid to the nation of iraq but within the federalist construct would be siding with those who share our values to create outcomes consistent with our values. let me articulate briefly on what the values are. that all people are created equal and endoe dowed by their creators with inalienable rights, and among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. now, if i could spend 11 days in the united states of america and hear jefferson and locke and hobbs, and mason quoted nearly as often as i said in syria or iraq i'd think we were getting civics and history right. but these common values are what will build -- what we'll build a sustainable future on. support concrete steps to establish a true multiethnic, multireligious government in iraq. the framework exists. so for example, if iraq is the united states, then iraqi

kurdistan is california and the nineveh plain is los angeles. separate between these entities into the appropriate realms those government structures of each. in other words, political leaders shouldn't be making religious decisions. religious leaders shouldn't be making political decisions. economic leaders shouldn't be making security decisions. economic leaders shouldn't be making security ideas. what we're not doing is helping them get it right. if iraq is the united states, k.r.g. is california and the nineveh is los angeles. get los angeles right, it'll help california. get california right, it'll help iraq. same can be said in syria. what does right look like? again, repeatedly, people coming to me and saying, mason said, madison said, the declaration said, the constitution said. the syrian democratic council

governs north and eastern syria, again just like a state might -- there's a need for a greater syria that respects basic human rights an freedoms. these are american values and ideas. and it's not just the s.d.c. in north and eastern syria, they have separate councils in every single town. and these town councils look like towns. circassians n of exists, they're represented. there are more women represented in north and eastern syria than in the united states house of representatives. the turks tell us north and eastern syria, the sirian democratic council is a subentity of the kurds. the turks are lying. let me tell you what the syrian democratic council look like. it looks arab, kurdish, christian, yazidi, it looks

circassian. it looks like a man. it looks like a woman. it looks liberal, it looks conservative. it looks you and me. what do we do to get it right? the first thing we could do that wouldn't involve spending a single dime of taxpayer muffin is recognize the right of the syrian democratic council to exist as an independent subentity of a greater syria. mr. president, you could do this with one tweet. again i'm not advocating on behalf of an independent nation in north and eastern syrian, but on behalf of a syrian nation that shares values on what the leaders in this land that have undergone so much tragedy, so much die, so much rape have suffered through to begin. instead we shape our policy of what the -- what might the turks do? what might the iranians do? i got bad news. there's not a darn thing we can

do to make them like us. meanwhile we've got people drawn to us by virtue of an idea, that every person has a right to go to sleep in his or her own community without fear that they won't wake up in the morning who just need us to say, you have a right to be there and visas, allow leaders to get to the united states. they have what is a state government. their leaders aren't allowed to come here. their leaders reason allowed to walk the halls of this building. like leaders from every other nation in the world and tell their story. stroke of a pen. suggest that the values articulated in the social contract be mirrored in foundational documents for a new syria. hese values include tolerance, plaurlism, secular government, not secular society. freedom of religion, freedom from religion. equal rights for women.

no persecution of people based on sexual orientation. this right to aspire and attempt and endeavor and succeed. these are american values. i'm not suggesting that we say that the s.d.c. social contract should be adopted by all syria, i'm suggesting that we suggest that when we negotiate this, because heretofore they're not even invited to the table, that they look at those values and of to mirror those as part a sustainable future in that country. to that end, we should insoins the inclusion and recognition of the s.d.c. in peace negotiations. we should establish immediately a no-fly zone over north and eastern syria. if the north and eastern syrian s.d.c. doesn't want you flying the united states doesn't want you flying you can't fly. why? the turks have stationed artillery on the border. shelled across the border. killed sillians across the border. this reggie -- regime

dropped barrel bombs in the valley and killed civilians across the border and the s.d.c., god bless them for try, doesn't have any way of stopping. we should inform turkey that the y.p.g. is already out of there, and the s.d.f. isn't the y.p.g. we should inform turkey ultimately that they can get out of syria or they can get out of nato. the farce to suggest the ewe tray tees shield is in operation where turkey clb rates with the world to rid it of the evil of isis is proven false by virtue not only of the horrific atrocities committed by the turks, not only the allowing of the turks that are ostensibly under control to continue to attack peaceable peoples in the region but also the renaming of the street, hospitals, schools, police departments, in the areas which they have occupied under

the awe spisses of combating isis. when was the last time the united states army ever liberated an area and changed the language to english and flew the u.s. flag over the hospital and county administration building? these are not our allies. what can we do? to help not only in syria and iraq but both? make a concrete commitment to government at whatever level, local level as embodied by the nineveh plains council, the state level who while the k.r.g. is not acting completely in alignment with values is better than anyone else in the region, or in places like jordan. make concrete commitments to these people that share our values which means more than money. support iranian opposition groups. insust our allies do business with us or the iranians. suspend sale of weapons to

turkey until the turks begin to behave like a nation that belongs amongst a community of nations. in closing, mr. speaker, i'm proud to be an american. proud of american values. but we, like all human beings -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expire. mr. garrett: not the source of all the world's problems, we're also not the solution, but with great power comes great responsibility, pleasure -- mr. speaker, but we've been given great power. to whom much is given, from whom much is expected. no excuse in remaining ignorant, people are dying. we need to get this right. i thank you. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman have a motion? mr. garrett: i move that the house adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to adjourn. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it.

the motion is adopted. accordingly, the house stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow for morning hour debate.