iran, the president says he does not need congressional authority. do the democrats on capitol hill agree with him? >> to find the last few minutes of this online, c-span.org. we take you live now to the house. order. the chair lays before the house a communication from the speaker. the clerk: the speaker's rooms, washington, d.c. june 24, 2019. i hereby aa point the honorable mark desauliner it act as speaker pro tempore on this kay. signed, -- day. signed, nancy pelosi, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 3, 2019, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate . the chair will alternate recognition between the parties. all time shall be equally allocated between the parties and in no event shall debate

continue beyond 1:50 p.m. each member other -- 1:50 a.m. one minute for each member other than the majority and minority leaders and minority whip shall be limited to five minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from connecticut, mr. himes, for five minutes. thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, my colleagues on both sides of the aisle know that i shy away from sharp partisanship in favor of the negotiation and compromise required for law to be made. i marvel every day how rarely the pragmatic commonsense of the american people is given voice in this chamber. but, mr. speaker, there are moments for calculation, for prudence, for compromise, for the careful weighing of competing interests. and there are moments for clarity and conviction. this is such a moment.

the time has come, mr. speaker, for the house of representatives to begin an impeachment inquiry into president trump. from the moment of his inauguration this president has shown contempt for the truth, has attacked our institutions, and has ignored the constitution he swore to defend. he has refused the oversight which is congress can's law established right and duty. -- congress' long establish right and duty. he has refused to comply with subpoenas. he's ordered administration officials to refuse to testify. and he has asserted executive privilege of unprecedented scope with respect to attempts to alter the census. that we have not slouched closer to awe trock acy is cue to the strength of the democratic safeguards and protections we have built and defended for 2 1/2 centuries. most americans sense the danger and have reacted. most recently by electing a house of representatives with the power and desire to check

this president. the president has persistently refused to acknowledge or acquiesce to that power. mr. speaker, the framers of the constitution place the power of impeachment not in the courts but the congress. so that this body might consider not just the facts and letter of the law but broader interests of the republic. i have until now been conflicted about those interests. impeachment along with the right to declare warrer is the most awesome power of the congress -- war is the most awesome power of the congress. the politics of imimpeachmentment are messy and uncertain and might in the short run serve the president's narrow political interests. but look where we are today. republicans in this chamber cheer or justify or stand woefully silent in the face of behavior for which they would have impeached a democratic president many times over. our best and most proven ideas cannot get even a hearing in

the united states senate. unless we restore respect for the law, respect for truth, and respect for common decency we can not hope to solve any of the otherer pressing problems. the american people should understand that opening an impeachment inquiry is not removal of the president. given the behavior of the united states senate, that outcome is probably out of the question. an impeachment inquiry will be a fair consideration of the facts that the american people must understand with both sides fairly and openly represented. mr. speaker, i know that i will be asked in my mowive today is to pressurer the speakerer of the house whose leadership of this congress has been superb. it's not. she leads us today in the epic mission of defending our democracy. that mission requires a vigorous debate and competing ideas, but it also requires care, discipline, and a measure

of deference. i represent the people of southwestern connecticut, the constitution state. from my house i can walk to the hill where general putnam made a daring escape from british cavalry from 1779 so americans would never have to answer to a tyrant for their opinions, politics, or religious beliefs. just up the road is the town of ridgefield where general daniel worcesterer and 20 young patriots died in april of 1777. so that americans would be compared ever living under a capricious and arbitrary power. mr. speaker, there are moments for careful calculation, for weighing political exmeanency and conflicting interests -- expediency and conflicting interests. there are moments for clarity and conviction. this is that moment. i yield back the balance of my time.

the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities towards the president. the chair recognizes the gentleman from north carolina, mr. butterfield, for five minutes. thank you, mr. speaker. for yielding time. on yesterday at tabernacle church in rocky mount, north carolina, i had one of the highest honors of my life. to speak at the funeral service for p.f.c. jones who served in the korean war he went missing in 1950. his remains were recently returned to u.s. soil by the north koreans. the funeral service was handled by the pope funeral home and he'll be interred in arlington national cemetery in august of this year with full military rights. i will read into the record my remarks from the funeral. as representative for north carolina's first congressional district, please allow me to extend an official could he dolence to this family on

behalf of the president and congress of the united states of america. f.p.c. william hoover jones gave his young life on the battlefield, on foreign soil n. defense of our country. as part of the historic 24th infantry regiment, a black army regiment first organized in 1869 following the civil war, private jones fought on frontline for the republic of south korea during the korean war. this nation is indebted to p.f.c. jones for his service to our country and for offering the highest sacrifice for freedom, his life. p.f.c. jones was born in nash county in 1931 at the beginning of the great depression. life in nash county during that period was third world. not only did african-americans suffer from second class citizenship, but they suffered from extreme poverty. undoubtedly william hoover jones wanted a better life. on 31 may 1950 at the tender age of 18 hoover enlisted to

serve for three years in the army, recognizing that he would be deployed to core can rea to engage in -- core can rea to -- korea to engage in a deadly war. he defended not only our nation or nation's interests, but to speak a bert future for himself. the record reflects that private phones was poorly trained as an infantry man. history reveals that black soldiers of that era were poorly trained. though incomplete, he was deployed to korea, placed in an all black unit, company e, second battalion, 24th infantry ridgement of the 25th infantry division. president truman had ordered that unit integrated in 1948, but as of 1950 integration in the unit had not occurred. the black soldiers of the 24th infantry fought valiantly, but the north koreans and chinese were too fierce and greatly outnumbered our soldiers. the only african-american

officer serving the 24th infantry was lieutenant leon gilbert of york, pennsylvania. lieutenant gilbert led his soldiers into fierce battles with the enemy near the 38th parallel. on 1 september 1950, recognizing that the 24th infantry was literally, literally on a suicide mission, lieutenant gilbert ordered his soldiers off of a deadly hill. the division's commanding officer directed lieutenant gilbert to return his soldiers to the fight, but he refused. gilbert was court-martialed for his refusal. he was given a death sentence. after widespread outrage from black americans, president harry truman commuted the sentence to 20 years of imprisonment. he served five of those 20 years. because of these events the 24th infantry regiment was disbanded, but the division was desperately in need of infantry

soldiers. therefore, the 24th infantry was reactivated and forced back to the frontline. it was there that p.f.c. jones went missing on 26 november 1950 at the age of 19 years old. he was recovered by the north koreans and his remains have been secreted for the past 68 years. they were returned to american soil just a few weeks ago. that's the record. that's the record of p.f.c. jones and the story of the 24th infantry regiment in the korean war. pfc jones represents, represents a generation of young african-american men who stood forer this country when this country didn't stand for them. thank you to the department of defense for its efforts in recovering and transporting these remains and enabling these ceremonies as we salute an american hero.

finally, i pray that you will find solace in knowing that your loved one's remains are home. his soul is in heaven. and he died on the battlefield with integrity. may god bless each of you in this family. i thank you, mr. speaker, for allowing me to make these remarks today on the house floor as we honor and recognize the life and work of p.f.c. william hoover jones. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. without objection, the gentleman's entry will be entered into the record. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. bera, for five minutes. mr. bera: thank you, mr. speaker. this wednesday, june 26, marks the 1-year anniversary of the supreme court upholding president trump's travel ban, which suspended the issuance of immigrant and nonimmigrant visas to applicants from five

muslim majority countries, iron, labora, syria, yem yep, plus venezuela and north korea. in upholding the travel ban, the court indicated by including north korea and venezuela the administration was not targeting only muslim countries. in addition, the administration was creating a mechanism by which foreign nationals from those banned countries could be issued a waiver to enter the united states. if one applicant did not represent a security threat with their entry, or, two, if denying entry would cause undue hardship. one year later we can evaluate whether the trump administration has honored the court ruling. mr. speaker, from my experience with my constituents in sacramento county, the resounding answer is no. in my district, a young girl named amnia born in libya to an american mother and libyan father was separated from her family for two years because of the travel ban.

her mother, an american citizen, took her, then 2, to the immigrant visa interview at the embassies in twonies -- tunis where it was only minutes long with no questions. the consular officer said the embassy had all the documents and everything was in order, but they could not issue the visa for the 2-year-old. the consular told the mother who was seven months pregnant at the time, to go back to the u.s. and have her baby then come back when the travel ban was over. the consular office did not ference the undue hardship exception stipulated in the visa waiver process. don't believe this 2-year-old was a security risk, and separating a 2-year-old from their mother clearly causes undue hardship, so i'm not sure what that process was. there's also the disturbing case last year of a yemeni mother who fought to obtain a visa waiver to travel to california to see her terminally ill son.

it was only after widespread media coverage that she was finally granted a visa waiver to visit the united states to see her son just days before he passed away. this story takes place over and over again in districts across this country. thus, i have serious concerns about the waiver process, how it's being implemented unevenly and with little guidance, and that waivers granted are not leading to the issuance of visas for cleared individuals. my concerns further heightened due to the cases of constituents in my district and across the country being negatively impacted by confusing and uneven processes. now, in my role as chairman of the subcommittee on oversight investigations for the house foreign affairs committee, i am aiming to shed light on how the visa waiver process is being implemented. we have asked that the state department has not provided information to us that we asked on how to gain a waiver, what's

the process, what's the yes-no herer? i think i know why that's because there isn't one. as countless examples and stories have shown. we have got to continue to shine the spotlight on the millions of americans whose lives have been thrown into chaos via the president's reckless and ill thought through process. . i as an american am going to continue to fight on their behalf. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair recognizes the gentleman from connecticut, mr. courtney, for five minutes. mr. courtney: thank you. thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, on june 11, this month, the house education and labor committee reported out legislation, h.r. 1309, an act to -- workplace violent prevention act. mr. speaker, this is a culmination and milestone of a seven-year process that began in 2013. like many members of congress, i had been hearing about

stories of rising violence in emergency rooms, ambulances, and treatment facilities to nurses, doctors, nurses aides that, again, showed a disturbing trend. one such case was helen andrews, a registered nurse from dan burry, connecticut, who was assaulted multiple times during her career. she was thrown to the floor and her pelvis was shattered. in 2013, myself and former congressman george miller of california requested a report from the government accountability office to dig deeper to determine how pervasive this violence is and what strategies are at our disposal to reverse this trend. the report, which was completed in 2016, found workers in health care facilities experience substantial higher rates of nonfatal injuries. between 2006 and 2016 there was a 70% increase in violent incidents that occurred to health care and social service

workplaces that resulted in employees being away from work. according to the bureau of labor statistics, health care and social service workers are nearly five times more likely to suffer a serious injury from workplace violence than workers in other settings. up to 30% of hospital workers report being assaulted at work, for employees in psyche numbers, that number is drastically higher. nearly 50% of emergency room physicians have been physically assaulted at work and 80% report this affects patient care. we know violence against this workplace is in fact grossly underreported. many are discouraged from reporting incidents, fear stigmatizing patients or are told to move on, shake it off, it's part of the job. mr. speaker, during the course of work on this legislation, we actually heard from the cleveland clinic, which is one of the largest health care networks in america in northeast ohio.

the c.e.o. of cleveland clinic, tom, gave his 2019 state of the clinic address where he described that there is a national epidemic of violence against health care workers, especially in emergency room departments. last year alone, nearly 30,000 weapons were confiscated from patients and visit youors in that health care network. at the time we did the markup, one of the members of our committee actually expressed disbelief that in fact that statistic was accurate. mr. speaker, i supplied a letter to congresswoman foxx at the end of last week, again, citing the c.e.o.'s report, which was a youtube that's easily found as well as an article from "modern health care" which, again, quoted this amazing, astonishing statistic. again, it's obviously not limited just to the state of ohio. we know these incidents are preventable. since 1996, osha published voluntary guidelines that employers can take to reduce

the risk and severity of violence -- violent incident. our bill requires through osha there will be a violence prevention plan in health care settings. it's not one size fits all. it recognizes some facilities are different than others. in fact, there has to be a way to train staff to understand patient risk, to understand ways to de-escalate violence and a way to design workforces to reduce the incidents of violence. it requires there will be a reporting mechanism to osha when these incidents occur. today in a hospital if there is a slip and fall nust be reported. if there is a chemical leak it must be reported. if a nurse is punched, kicked, or spit at, that is not required to be reported, and that's what our bill will do. the legislation was reported out with a favorable report. we have 187 co-sponsors of the legislation. it is bipartisan. it will be brought up this summer for final action. we have waited far too long to protect the caregivers, the

people in the caring professions which every american relies on and depends on to be healed and consoled and cared for, and, yet, it's clear from the g.a.o. report that they are being subjected to incidents of violence which, again, are totally unacceptable and which hinder their ability to do their mission. it is time to pass h.r. 1309 and, again, i applaud the support from the emergency room physicians, the emergency room nurses, the american nurses association, as well as a host of other groups that, again, are affiliated with our health care delivery system. let's protect the caregivers. let's pass h.r. 1309. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to clause 12-a of rule 1, the chair declares the house n recess until 2:00 p.m.