i think those of us on the frontlines are aware. unfortunately if you have never experienced food insecurity or been around someone who is experiencing food insecurity, you sit from a point of privilege. it's hard to look past that for some of america. i'm afraid so. but also there is another piece to this, congressman. ms. toney: it's when we are constantly being bombarded with this administration's talking points of stereotypes and people are poor, people are lazy, we are attacking them as a person. we are attacking their dignity. and when we are constantly -- when america is constantly bombarded by those talking points, it permeates our culture. we know better, the panelistses at this table know better. we work on the frontlines -- >> we are going thromb this hearing at this point to fulfill our 40-year commitment to providing you live coverage of the u.s. house. can you continue to watch this online at c span.org. we'll show it again later in our program schedule. the house coming in next to

begin legislative work that will take up a number of measures today dealing with medicaid block grants, labor union rights, and disaster relief for puerto rico following the earthquakes. they'll also debate on a resolution today wrought up by texas republican kay granger disapproving of the house speaker nancy pelosi's behavior of ripping up the official copy of president trump's remarks during tuesday's state of the union. live house coverage is here on c-span. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order. today's prayer will be offered by our guest chaplain, monsignor kevin sullivan of the chagget

lick charities of the archdiocese of new york. new york, new york. >> dear god, perhaps our traditions weary and tire you but to your children who do we turn for guidance, strength and a god, let's make a deal. f you hear our pair, we'll's heed your wisdom or at least try to. in the midst of dark enlighten us. in the midst of discord, mend us. when we swagger with self-righteousness, remind us that you are righteousness. when we hasten to justify ourselves, we mind us you are our justification. we thank you god for the blessings of vibrant new comers

from many nations that make our nation stronger. within our shadows we create hope in your brightness. within our frailty we doubt, give us faith in your strength. when out of fear and ignorance we hate, make us wise and secure in your love. god, please, faith, hope and ove without end, amen. the speaker pro tempore: chair and announces to the house her approval thereof. pursuant to clause 1 of rule 1, e journal stands approved. today's pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentlewoman from new jersey. >> i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman from new york, mr. espaillat, is recognized for one minute. mr. espaillat: thank you, mr. speaker. i'm proud to welcome monsignor kevin sullivan as a guest chaplain here today. monsignor sullivan is the executive director of catholic charities in the archdiocese of new york. monsignor sullivan also represents catholic charity agencies in public policy discussion abouts immigration, welfare reform, job development, and foster care. he joins us on a day when we welcome more than 500 dominican americans around the country to celebrate dominican heritage and discuss the civic engagement andish affecting the community across the country. a native of the bronx, the monsignor served as a parish priest at st. elizabeth's church, my church, in

washington heights. which is home to a historic and thriving dominican american community. we owe a debt of gratitude to monsignor sullivan for his service to our community and to all new yorkers. i'm proud to see him give the innovation in the house of representatives. mr. speaker, i yield back my time. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will now entertain up to 15 further requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one inute. >> madam speaker, i rise today to acknowledge the positive

community magazine on its 20th anniversary. mr. payne: positive community started as an idea of two broadcasting professionals, ade-and-counsel senior and jean nashwell. they were tired of all of the negative press about african-americans. they wanted to create a publication that focused on the good news coming from these communities. they started with a newsletter and distributed it to tchoiches and community centers. it became so popular that they turned it into a magazine. today the positive community agazine and its web site highlight events and people from our african-american culture. i applaud their efforts and encourage more people to read it. it is time to hear more positive stories from african-americans in their communities. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman

from south carolina seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. wilson: thank you, madam speaker. february is american heart month. a month where we especially recognize and promote positive heart health. currently 302,000 people in south carolina have coronary heart disease. i'm thankful for the great work of the national coalition for women with heart disease and the american heart association for their steps to spread awareness about heart disease. the number one killer of men and women in america. i am grateful that in the second congressional district we have many encredible events to recognize heart health, including the heart walk held in aiken and the midlands. these walks raise critical funds to help save lives from heart disease. as a volunteer with the lexington county heart association, i know firsthand of the dedicated personnel. i appreciate heart association executive director crystal kirkland of the midlands and jackie of csra heart

association. in conclusion, god bless our troops and we will never forget september 11 and the global war on terrorism. congratulations, president donald trump, for you deserve exoneration. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madam speaker. i rise today in honor of national gun violence survivors week. every day in america 103 people are killed by gun violence and many more survivors are left to deal with the lifelong trauma. this is horrific and it demands action. it's one reason that last year the house judiciary committee, which i sit, as well as the house of representatives, passed the first time in over a quarter century significant gun legislation. mr. lieu: we passed universal background checks, now before the republican controlled senate. i ask them to do your jobs and

put that bill up for a vote. i'm also grateful that last month california's 35th congressional district youth advisory council, which consist of high school students in the area, got together to discuss ways to address the gun violence epidemic. at their recommendation i'm proud to lend my support to bills like the ghost guns act and jamie's law, both of which i believe will protect american lives. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to honor the life and memory of a true community leader, mr. robert achel, of lancaster who passed away at the age of 92 on tuesday. bob was a friend to everyone. and would always greet you with a signature warm smile. he spent his life in service to others. in service to the nation as a first last seaman in the united states navy. a veteran of world war ii, and

the korean war. he also served his community, serving as a president of many boards and associations and was a manner township supervisor for more than 25 years. mr. smucker: when he was not serving the community he loved bob was with his family. he's survived by his loving wife of 67 years, maryanne, five children, 15 grandchildren, and one great grandchild. madam speaker, my prayers and condolences are with his family. with those who grieve, and all those who had the opportunity to know bob. i know i always appreciated his friendship and would cherish the time that we had together. while we mourn the loss of bob, we must also give thanks for the life that he lived and the time that we have had to spend with him. with that i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the the gentlewoman from new jersey seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. sherrill: thank you, madam

speaker. there have been 37 days so far in 2020. more gun deaths happened in this country in the first 37 days than in every other high income nation in a year. the tragedy of gun violence in this country is that it is preventable. 36,000 american lives that are needlessly lost annually. tens of thousands more are shot, injured, or left grieving for a family member. like jamie from my community in new jersey. 28 years ago today jamie's brother was shot and killed. in honor of chet, national gun violence survivor week, she recently shared there is not a day that goes by she doesn't ache for her brother's presence in her life. families across this country grieve like jamie waiting for the senate to have the courage to act. we passed a bipartisan

background check bill 344 days ago. a commonsense measure that more than 90% of americans in this country support. we owe action to victims. survivors and families torn apart by gun violence. it's time. past time that the senate acts and passes h.r. 8. thank you. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. it madam speaker, i rise today to remember frank and sydney edwards from springfield, illinois, who tragically died in a plane crash last week. they were my good friends. i met frank when he was a fire chief in springfield, illinois. frank was a proud illinois national guardsman, former alderman, and former mayor. everyone who knew frank knew he was not afraid to speak his

mind. we will miss that. cindy worked as a nurse for 27 years before becoming the county coroner. she truly loved her job as coroner and took pride in making the office the best it could be. i was blessed to see cynda days before the tragic crash. i can't believe they are gone. i still owe franc a cheeseburger from bill's toasty for a wainlor he won with me class year. it will be reminder when i eat that cheeseburger that life is too short. my thoughts and prayers are with their son alex during this impossibly difficult time. springfield won't be the same without you, frank and cynda, god bless. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one

minute. >> madam speaker, what if i told you there was a epidemic in the united states that's killed close to 40,000 people just in the year 2019 alone? what if i told you this epidemic has taken the lives of almost 8,000 people since 2014 in california alone. i'm not talking about coronavirus or ebola or aids or some global pandemic. this public health crisis is uniquely american. i'm talking about gun violence. we have let this public health epidemic go unchecked far too long. if gun violence were a disease with the death numbers i just shared with you, we would not rest until we had a cure. but because many members of congress are frozen in their ability to act in the face of the money the n.r.a. pours into the gun lobby, we haven't acted. especially the senate has not stepped up to act. this week is national gun violence survivors week where we honor the lives lost to gun

violence and share the stories of those whose live have been affected. mr. huffman: this disease has the cure. we need the senate to hear our udgency and act on gun violence legislation now. i thank the speaker and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia seek recognition? >> ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madam speaker. i rise today to salute a life of service. next week fire chief mike brent will hang up his helmet and inter' well deserved retirement. mike joined the fuvlana county fire department as a member of the palmyra volunteer company. he quickly rose to the ranks and 10 years later he was elected to serve as the chief of fluvana county volunteer department. leading volunteers from palmyra, fork union, and others. he was instrumental in many significant improvements to fire and e.m.s. service to

include a capital plan for three new state-of-the-art firehouse. mr. riggleman: he continues to volunteer as a mefment fire company a true testament to his commitment and unwavering service to our community. he truly embodies what it means to be selfless and putting other needs before his own. we are forever grateful for his service. thank you. i yield my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new york seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. he speaker pro tempore: >> mr. speaker, i rise to express my strong support for h.r. 2474rks the protect the right to organize act. for over three years, the trump administration has waminged an assault on organized labor, limiting unions' ability to fairly represent the american workforce while undermining safeguards that protect against discrimination and unsafe working conditions. this will protect our workforce

against this erosion of their rights. the p.r.o. act endorse penalties facilitate and collective bargaining and increases transparency in labor relations. our nation was not built by gold or silver, but built by labor, protecting the rights of workers to organize, strengthens our workforce, our economy and our nation. i yield back. and i urge my colleagues to vote yes on this important bill. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> i 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. i rise today to commemorate the legacy of president ronald regulateon list birthday. they called him ronny, the

gripper and the right communicator. he came into office with the world still in crisis over the cold war and a country under the crushing weight of stagflation. the economy roared and inflected a mortal blow to the berlin wall. and the threat of communism along with it. president reagan led this country with conviction. his conservative principles empowered people across the world. his words struck fear into the enemies. we have a lot to learn from his life, legacy and his leadership. thank you go, madam speaker and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, this is

national gun violence survivors' week and i recognize the survivors and victims who have felt the effect of our weak gun laws. last week in my community in miami, a man killed his infant's son mother, grandmother and great-grandfather with a high-powered rifle. the infant is still missing. stories like this are not unusual in this country. women in the united states are 21 more times to be murdered with a gun. when we don't take action like andrew, his mother, grandmother and great-grandmother pay the price. he deserves leaders who prioritizes his well-being over the violent whims of abusers and deserves a chance at life not

twinged with tragedy. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. lamalfa: it is national gun violence survivors' week and share and mourning the lives that have been taken with those filled by anger, hate and evil. however, gun violence is a misnomer. evil lies in the hearts of people. guns are inand mate objects, much like this pen which isn't going to move the entire time i'm making this speech. naive to believe violations of our second amendments are going to do anything other than create ore victims in gun-free zones. ask john wilson who was armed in that church in texas recently.

naive to think that people will be disarmed, only the innocent will be disarmed in this continued press to have our second amendment violated and eliminated. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does gentleman seek recognition? >> i 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. >> madam speaker, like so many of my colleagues, i rise to rise in national gun violence survivor oist week. with the gun death rate 10 times more than developed nations more americans have been killed with guns in 2020 than are killed in the entire year in our peer countries. mr. schneider: we are a nation suffering an epidemic of gun violence. each year, more than 36,000 americans are killed in acts of gun violence and additional

100,000 are injured by firearms. and the trauma caused is not limited to the victims. losing a loved one is the wound that never heals. if this were any other epidemic destroying lives at such a great scale, we would have long ago taken action. to be fair, in this house, we did act. nearly a year ago we passed bipartisan background check legislation, h.r. 8, to close loopholes that allow gun sales to go unchecked. in the senate, leader mcconnell is blocking a vote and choosing obstruction. enough is enough. for all the survivors of gun violence this week, we demand action. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> i 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 ne minute. >> i rise today to honor

survivors during national gun violence survivors' week. this week, sisters of garland were killed and bonnie on toddler was killed. the shooter was believed to be her ex-boyfriend charged with aggravated assault. i send my deepest condolences to the maths family. i share a letter that six-year-old sent me. when kids get shot, i have less friends to play with. i don't want to hear about people being killed with guns. what are you going to do make us safer. withouty son to grow up fear. pass the bipartisan bill that we have passed in this house, including back grouped checks and violence against women act. our children are watching. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from washington seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> thank you, madam speaker, i rise today in strong support of federal privacy legislation. with every new app that is downloaded that is used and people are sensitive to turning over their sensitive data. consumers are left with virtually no rights or protections. we have the damage done by the facebook cambridge scandal and yet there has been zero action from congress. this is unacceptable. i believe question can and must have a national data privacy law that gives consumers control over their data and fair rules of the roads for businesses to comply. i introduced the information privacy and personal data protection act, which would address both.

i urge my colleagues to take this issue up to make it a priority and work with me in moving this legislation forward. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from missouri seek recognition? mr. clay: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. clay: i rise today in recognition of national gun violence surviferes' week. when gun violence occurs in a community, lives are too often lost, but for survivors, the neighborhoods they know and love are never the same. this is especially true when gun violence impacts our young people. despite the terrible loss of so many young lives in my district last year, i see hope in the messages from their peers. i recently heard from some high

school students who shared their stories of support for a bill i introduced with congresswoman robin kelly, h.r. 3435, the local public health and safety act, to empower local communities to address gun violence. these students believe we can make changes to heal our communities and prevent future tragedies. and i agree and enjoy them in a renewed call to action on behalf of survivors everywhere. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, this is national gun violence survivors' week and i rise today to honor

the courageous survivors of gun violence across our country who are fighting for change. ms. eshoo: over 70% of the american people including the majority of gun owners support universal background checks. they know this policy will help keep guns out of the hands of criminals. the current system has already stopped three million gun sales to convicted felons and others who are prohibited by law from owning a firearm. but we can and must do more. the good news is is that a year ago this month, the new majority in the congress took up two bills to establish universal background checks including h.r. 8, the bipartisan background checks act. sadly, the senate refuses to take these bills up. and with every day that passes, 96 americans are killed by guns. so today, we remember the over

100,000 viewer viferse who have been injured by guns and are every day those that we have lost and the countless other americans who are threatened by gun violence in our country. we should never rest until congress takes every action to address this. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new jersey seek recognition? >> i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlewoman is recognized. mrs. watson coleman: the new medicaid proposal is a reverse robin hood on steroids, a coordinated effort to steal from the poor and give to the rich campaign donors at mar-a-lago and other places. this white house has put

medicaid on the chopping block. medicaid, the program specifically put in place to provide health care to our most vulnerable citizens, our veterans and working poor and their children. my republican colleagues will tell you no, this is merely about giving states greater flexibility. that's nonsense. federal law already gives states flexibility. this is about taking away health care to pay for their tax cuts. this is the latest in the g.o.p.'s long war on the working people and poor people of this country and cut the children's health insurance program, they have cut food stamps and now cutting medicaid. don't be fooled. this has long been in their plan. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> i 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. >> thank you, madam speaker, like many of my colleagues i rise in support of national gun violence survivors' week. 36,000 americans are killed and 100,000 more are shot and injured. this includes 3,000 children and teens that are shot and killed and nearly 15,600 that are shot and injured. firearms is the second leading cause of death for children and teens and first leading cause of death for african-american children and teens in the u.s. gun violence overly affects people of color. african-americans represent most gun homicide victims and 10 times more likely than white americans to die from gun violence. gun violence brings agony to families around the country.

while we cannot bring back the many loved ones lost to gun violence, we must prevent more casualties. it is past time for the nat to act and save american lives. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts seek recognition? >> i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute. revise and extend. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, two years ago i was standing at a rally where the father of a gunshot victim, a father who lost his son to gun violence, spoke of all the things that he and others are doing to stop this senseless scourge. things they are already doing. but then he turned to the crowd and he said, but what is congress doing? and tens of thousands of people as if they rehearsed it 100 times all said together,

nothing. but what is congress doing? nothing. madam speaker, for too long congress has done nothing. we have passed bills here in the house that take the right steps, but this alone is not enough. the senate needs to do their job, and we need to make them law. thoughts and prayers won't cut it. only action saves lives. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. cohen: thank you, madam speaker. i'm concerned about the lack of diversity, the lack of care of diversity this administration shows in its appointments and its actions. in the federal judiciary the president has appointed approximately 250 judges. six of whom are african-american.

that's a disturbing and chilling number. in a super bowl ad he showed alice marine johnson, who he came clemency to, he was trying to help people that looked like her, a african-american woman. he's given two executive clemencies, african-americanners, one was jack johnson, posthumous, dead for 80 years, only one living american has gotten one that was when kim kardashian chned her case. during his speech he talked about the tuskegee airman, the woman who he said would get a scholarship, the young girl, the fact is, he just appointed a tv board, tennessee valley board, nine members, no african-americans, one woman. the lack of diversity is chilling. america's diverse, it's our strength. we need to embrace it and not have an all white world. i yield back the balance of my ime.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> madam speaker, by direction of the committee on rules, i call up house resolution 833 and ask for its immediate consideration. the clerk: resolved, that upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order without intervention of any point of order to consider in the house the resolution, h. res. 826, expressing disapproval of the trump administrations harmful actions towards medicaid. the resolution shall be considered as read. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the resolution and preamble to adoption without intervening motion or demand for division of the question except one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on energy and commerce. section 2, at any time after adoption of this resolution the speaker may, pursuant to clause

2-b of rule 18, declare the house resolved into the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of the bill, h.r. 2474, to amend the national labor relations act, the labor management relations act, 1947, and the labor-management reporting and disclosure act of 1959, and for other purposes. the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. general debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on education and labor. after general debate the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the committee on education and labor now printed in the bill, modified by the amendment printed in part a of the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution, shall be considered as adopted in the house and in the committee of the whole.

the bill, as amended, shall be considered as the original bill for the purpose of further amendment under the five-minute rule and shall be considered as read. all points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. no further amendment to the bill, as amended, shall be in order except those printed in part b of the report of the committee on rules. each such further amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the house or in the committee of the whole. all points of order against such further amendments are waived. at the conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment the committee shall rise and report the bill, as amended, to the house with such further amendments as may have been adopted. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any

further amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or ithout instructions. section 3, at any time after adoption of this resolution the speaker may, pursuant to clause 2-b of rule 18, declare the house resolved into the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of the bill, h.r. 5687, making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2020, and for other purposes. the first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. all points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. general debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations. after general debate the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. the bill shall be considered as read. all points of order against provisions in the bill are waived. clause 2-e of rule 21

shall not apply during consideration of the bill. no amendment to the bill shall be in order except those printed in part c of the report of the committee on rules accompanying this resolution. each such amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the house or in the committee of the whole. all points of order against such amendments are waived. at the conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment the committee shall rise and report the bill to the house with such amendments as may have been adopted. the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and amendments thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit with or without instructions. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman from california is recognized for one hour. mr. desaulnier: thank you, madam speaker. madam speaker, for purpose of debate only i yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from texas, pending which i yield myself such time as i may consume. during consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for purposes of debate only. i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. desaulnier: madam speaker, on wednesday, the rules committee met and reported a rule, house resolution 833, providing for consideration of three measures. house resolution 826, expressing disapproval of the trump administration's harmful actions towards medicaid. h.r. 5687, the emergency supplemental appropriations for disaster relief and puerto rico disaster tax relief act. finally, h.r. 2474, the protecting the right to organize act.

the rule provides for house resolution 826 to be considered under a closed rule with one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on energy and commerce. the rule further provides for consideration of h.r. 2474, under a structured rule, with one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and the ranking minority member of the committee of education and labor. the rule self-executes a manager's amendment from chairman scott making in order 16 amendments and provides one motion to recommit. finally, the rule provides for consideration of h.r. 5687 under a structured rule with one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations. the rule makes in order six amendments and provides one otion to recommit.

madam speaker, before us today we have three measures that all speak to one very, very important topic in america today. that topic is inequality. madam speaker, justice louis brandeis one famously said, in this country we can either have democracy or we can have the concentration of wealth in the hands of a very few, but we can't have both. unfortunately right now in this country we are at historic levels of inequality. a handful of families control more wealth than the bottom 50% of americans. 160 million americans. 40% of lower income americans make $30,000 a year. the top 1% in income, not wealth, but in income, earn over seven million -- $7 million a year while the other 99% earn an average of $54,000 a year. we cannot have this level of

inequality. president abraham lincoln famously said labor and capital must always be balanced in america to have democratcy. and he said, if capital ever had control over labor, democracy would cease to exist. from the pearls of wisdom of people like lincoln and brandeis we are warned again today that we have to have countervailing institutions, as john said, between labor and capital. this is in the best interest of everyone, including those who are making and reaping exorbitant benefit from the current inequality. but most importantly, most importantly as brandeis said, you cannot have democracy with the current situation of inequality. not only is this inequality wrong, but its consequences in our everyday lives, like worse health outcomes, diseases of depression, behavioral health impacts, and economic

insecurity, these public health instances are directly correlated to income inequality as demonstrated by the landmark work 10 years ago. the first resolution that is part of this rule expressions strong disapproval of the trump administration's recent attempt to turn medicaid into a block grant. medicaid is our nation's promise to a group left behind by rampant inequality that will help provide basic services to protect their health and well-being. basic services. the trump administration proposal doubles down on its cruel policy that puts cost savings over life savings. the second bill provides disaster relief to puerto rico. this is a community that has been devastated, rely, by disasters. exposing inequality not only in puerto rico but between this administration's treatment of a territory versus a state. puerto rico needs our help.

without it roads will remain unpassable. schools will remain closed. and the poor will become poorer. and finally, we have the protecting the right to organize, the pro-act. president eisenhower once said, that only a fool would attempt to block a working man or woman , an american worker, from joining a labor union. president eisenhower said this, republican president. much admired. this is in a time where america had the largest expansion in our history and world's expansion, growing over 6% of g.d.p. a year that everybody benefited from. one year was 13%. at that time one in three american workers were in a labor union. by the time ronald reagan became president, one in four americans was in a labor union. by the time president reagan left office, one in 10 american

workers were in a labor union. the balance between labor and capital is the essence of american democracy. it is unbalanced and risks our democracy at this moment. the ability for american workers to organize and have a voice in the outcomes not just of their work but of their retirement and the benefit of their families and communities has been attacked since president reagan was in office. evidence is clear that the rise in inequality has coincided with the decline in union membership. by most estimates, declining unionization accounted for about a third of the increase and inequality which i speak in the 1980's and 1990's. to ooh dress inequality you have to include working people. to have include the right to organize. labor unions are universally recognized as providing major boost to employees' wages and benefits.

sadly, the best evidence we have on this trend is by comparing union dense states like the one i'm proud to represent, california, to right to work states. in 1979, states with historically high levels of union membership like in the northeast and rust belt, saw relatively low rates of income inequality. just the opposite had held true for right to work states. . if you look at the data as tates moved towards less union coverage, they have poor performing g.d.p. unions not only raise wages for workers they represent, but also been shown to moderate compensation for executives. on top of all the obvious benefits you think of that are associated with labor unions, like higher wages and safer workplaces, some of the others that come along with union membership help address the

inequities in our society. union workers are more likely to receive paid leave or up to 28% to have employer-sponsored health insurance and up to 54% more likely to be enrolled in an employee sponsored pensions. not om do they have better access to pensions but employers contributed 28% more towards those pensions than non-union employers. the p.r.o. updates labor laws which have been attacked for 30 years. to ensure that workers in today's economy are able to create and join labor unions to receive the same kinds of protections they see in other sectors. nothing more. madam speaker, i suspect we will hear a lot of misinformation especially about the p.r.o. act from our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. make no mistake about it, these

three bills will help restore to the people the administration has tried to strip power from. thank you. and i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the alreserves. the gentleman from texas is ecognized. mr. burgess: i thank the gentleman for yielding me the customary 30 minutes and i yield myself such time as i may consume. today's rule provides for consideration of three measures, three unrelated measures each of which have little passing the senate. the one is nonbinding messaging resolution, another one is a partisan labor bill and third provides billions in federal aid in aid and can be distributed to meet unmet needs in other states. let's talk first about the resolution expressing

disapproval for the trump administration's healthy adult opportunity dmon administration project that was just announced on january 30. a letter provided by the centers for medicaid and medicare services to state medicaid directors detailed an option, an option for states to apply for increased flexibility under the section 1115 for medicaid waiver. the healthy adult opportunity demonstration provides states with a choice, provides states with a choice as to how they would like to receive their funding for adults under the age of 65 that are covered by medicaid expansion population. this does not include children. this does not include pregnant

women. it does not include individuals with disabilities or the elderly. this only applies to healthy adults who are not covered as part of the traditional affordable care act population and if and only if the states decide to pursue the healthy adult opportunity. h.res. 862 is a political statement, political statement made to diminish the efforts of the trump administration. it is unreasonable and unrealistic for democrats to declare this demonstration and attack on medicaid after only a few days since the release of the plan. do we have a full understanding of the opportunity grants? so i strongly suggest members both sides of the aisle speak with their governor and their counterparts in state

legislatures to ask about this option. my office did speak with our texas governor this week. the state is still unpacking everything that the centers for medicaid and medicare services has offered. this may or may not be an option that texas will take, but it is up to them. they are currently running internal analysis, a process that does take some time. recognizing this, there is little chance that the senate agrees to this messaging resolution. far better approach would have been for us to have perhaps a hearing and a markup in our committee of jurisdiction. unfortunately not e agreed with that. he p.r.o. act, has a similarly low act to be considered by the senate. the bill is nothing more than a requirement that workers become

members of labor unions. republicans support employees to form a labor union, but should be a choice for every individual worker. as the card check system included in this bill. employees will no longer enjoy the privacy of a secret election. organizers will collect authorization cards covering 50% of the bargaining unit and form a union without holding a secret election. in effect, employees are not protected from political -- potential political intimidation, not protected from coercive behavior by organizers in an effort to obtain the required number of cards. voluntary free and choice. against a recent national labor relations board decision, the bill reinstates what are called micro unions allowing bargaining

units smaller than the workplace if there is a community of interest sm the joint employer standard is expanded creating liability for franchise owners, franchise owners who may have no direct relationship with the franchisey employee. this is not only unreasonable but impracticeal and will leak or damage the franchise model of business. addition, the bill preempts state right to work laws. my state is a right to work state. does the federal government know texas citizens better than the state of tech as. this disregards the rights of 27 states by overturning their right to work laws. even more concerning, employers will be required to provide union organizers with employees' personal information without the employee's consent.

in the energy and commerce committee, we are in the middle of negotiating both sides what should be the parameters of a federal privacy law. this provision in this bill flies in the face of protecting individual's privacy and it's odd because in the committee, the other side seems so eager to defend privacy in any other forum. along with these partisan measures we are considering emergency disaster for puerto rico, the supplemental appropriation provides over $4 billion for cyber, energy security, education assistance, federal highway administration and community development block grant. in recent years, puerto rico has faced multiple natural disasters acluding hurricanes irmma and series of earthquakes.

puerto rico is facing a long road to recovery. but compounding the natural disasters is the mismanagement of aid. just a couple of weeks ago, a warehouse was discovered full of emergency supplies. some of them had been there since 2017. citizens were outraged and broke into the warehouse and took it upon themselves to distribute the aid. president trump released $16 billion in aid funding in february but helped to prevent squandering of federal resources. this bill provides additional billions in aid without any accountability measures. existing disaster aid should be expended before appropriating billions of taxpayer dollars. and here's the kicker, it may not go towards the intended recipients. only a small portion of these funds are specifically directed

to puerto rico. the rest may be applied to unmet needs of disasters in recent years, yes, including puerto rico, but including many other states. fema has yet to complete its damage assessment and initial assessments indicate $40 million in federal costs, a much smaller amount than appropriated in this bill. no one wants to deny any american support when they are need, but this appropriation is premature. we should look at the best path for recovery for puerto rico and we have the ability because there is existing disaster aid that has been released to meet those immediate needs. i urge opposition to the rule and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. desaulnier; just a couple of

points to my friend from text' comments. i ask unanimous consent to insert into the record a february 2, "washington post" article entitled you would think trump would stop threatening the insurance coverage by now. and on the block grants, my experience as someone who is involved in the adoption of the a.c.a. and the being involved what we look back as a successful rollout, during the block grants, the threshold is lower than necessary. the federal thresholds are only a base level so other states can put more contributions at the state and local level which we have done in california, getting californians into insurance as opposed to being in indigent care. on the organizing aspect, this has come up at rules committee, the secret ballot and privacy.

reminder that chairman scott said last night, secret ballot only comes up and it will not be at the national labor relations board sanctions the employer for violating organizing rules. so our research shows that 45% of employers threaten workers in meetings, threaten them if they are trying to organize. 75% of employers hire consultants to run anti--union campaigns. one in five employees who try to organize their fellow workers get fired or threatened with termination. i yield three minutes to the gentleman from maryland, a distinguished member of the rules committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. raskin: i want to thank you for your leadership. i rise in very strong support of the p.r.o. act because it will

restore the constitutional rights of american citizens. we have to remember the right to organize is rooted in the first amendment of the constitution, which protects the right of the people to speak, to assemble and to petition for a redress of grievances. all of these rights have been under severe attack over the last several decades of union busting and interference with the right of the people to organize into unions. there's three specific provisions i just want to mention that will restore the constitutional rights of the people to organize. the first treats the violation of the right to organize like a violation like any other civil right in america. if your civil rights are violated based on race, based on gender, you have a right to go to court to sue for enforcement of your rights and for compensation for violation of

those rights. give the . act will same right for workers to go to court to enforce their labor-organizing rights. they have to go through the national labor relations board, which has been stifled with bureaucracy and red tape and right now under the p.r.o. act, if it passes, you will have the right to go to court as well to go to the national labor relations board. secondly, the p.r.o. act will end captive audience speeches. those are already illegal. right now employers cannot heard the workers into a big room and tell them they have to vote for donald trump for president at the risk of perhaps earning the disfavor of the employer being fired or demoted or whatever. but they can heard you into the room to tell you why unions are

bad and unions are a bad choice and predicting that the company will have to leave or lay people off if a union is voted in by the workers. this ends captive audience speeches. the union doesn't have the right to herd workers into the room. the employers shouldn't herd them into a conference room to talk against a union. the p.r.o. act will restore the first amendment rights of workers, organizing a union or in a union to support boy cots and strikes and other labor actions by workers in other places. amazingly under the taft-heartly provisions, it is against the law for workers in the union to engage in secondary support, secondary boy cots and so on. this is a naked violation of the first amendment right to

workers. unionized workers should support boycotts and strikes of their fellow workers and i support the p.r.o. act. . mr. burgess: i yield to the gentleman from kentucky, mr. member of the committee, two minutes. the peaker pro tempore: gentleman is recognized. mr. comer: thank you very much for yielding. i have heard from my constituents about the money making thanks to the trump.economy ushered by we've seen companies establish education programs, provide bonuses to their employees, and in their communities as a result of our booming economic climate. unfortunately, the bill we're considering today would quickly progress. as was made clear during the and laboron education

hearing and subsequent markup, he p.r.o. act would not serve the interests of the workers. to verriding states' right work law, meant to curtail harmful ion, codifying rulemaking regarding the definition and classification of employees, and increasing the prevalence of worker intimidation and privacy p.r.o. act is the a maze of misguided and costly policies.r to correct one of the countless issues with this legislation, i amendment to strike the provisions which would secondary boy cots. unions should -- boycotts. not be hould unfortunately, this and many other commonsense amendments were rejected by my on the other side of the aisle during markup and, rules committee

yesterday. otably, the p.r.o. act federalizes california's a.b.c. and limiting flexibility opportunity for entrepreneurs in our modern economy and codifies the previous administration's employer standard that would disrupt and fatally damage harming hise model, thousands of small business owners across the nation. the business's greatest asset is its workers. solemnly eason i am pro-worker and pro-business, and freedoms of ct the our hardworking americans. hankfully, this democratic dream -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. comer: thankfully, this democratic dream will meet a awakening in the senate where it will not see the light of day and president trump has will veto. thank you and i yield back the balance. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. desaulnier: just briefly efore i introduce our next

speaker, as a rm toer small business owner -- as a former owner who met payroll for hundreds of people in california, our economy is fifth largest economy in the world. there's evidence, lots of helping showing that employer and helping consumers so they have more disposable helps everyone. as far as the duo employer rule, we are trying to protect what's in effect for decades and not have it diminished so it impact on no franchisees. lastly, the distinction that i hinks needs to be reiterated over and over again in light of the administration's assertions the the question, yes, g.d.p. is growing, not as large as the president had promised, but it's not being spread out. so 30,000 people, as i mentioned 50%, 160ning comments, million people live on $30,000 a year. don't see the big benefit what wall street gets. the average income is for the 90%.m

90% of americans has increased 1988 -- 1980 to 2017 while other costs have gone most notably health care and education. he average income for the wealthiest 1% has increased by 184%. yieldspeaker, i'd like to two minutes to the gentlelady from connecticut, ms. delauro. the speaker pro tempore: the twolelady is recognized for minutes. in delauro: i rise to speak support for the protecting the right to organize act, or the p.r.o. act. the daughter of a garment worker. so the fight for, woulders' has -- workers' rights has always had a special place in my heart. toiled every day in haven, tshops in new connecticut, showing dress got pennies on the dollar. as chair of the appropriations

subcommittee, i work every day to ensure that her early in vain. were not i'm proud to be an original co-sponsor of the p.r.o. act, of the ed by the chair committee, congressman bobby scott. it strengthens the rights of to come together and union, to secure better ages, better working conditions. the single biggest economic challenge of our time is that keep up pay doesn't with the rising cost of health care, education, childcare, and 1980 to 2017, average incomes for the bottom 90% of stagnated to a 1.1% increase while skyrocketing more than 180% for the wealthiest 1% in this country. it is no coincidence that at the same time union membership fell of 10%.ord low economists at princeton found of income g rise inequality since the 1970's can attributed partially

to the decline in union membership. he p.r.o. act is about levelling the playing field for working people -- leveling the playing field for working people, penalizes corporations that helps workers' rights, national labor relations board to more effectively deal with violations. from being workers misclassified as independent contractors. it helps working people secure a winning agreement as part of a union. it protects union elections interference. it empowers unions, employers to egotiate agreements that collect fair share fees and establishes a mediation and arbitrations process. 30 seconds? mr. desaulnier: i'd like to extra seconds. ms. delauro: i thank the gentleman. it helps reach a first contract. economist nning joseph stieglitz said, and i is not nequality inevitable. it is about the public policy not es we make,

globalization, not technology. tohave the opportunity today choose a public policy that in act will defend and protect working people in this country. pass the p.r.o. act. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields. the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. you, madam : thank speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the recognized.s mr. burgess: if we defeat the previous question, i will offer to mendment to the rule immediately consider a esolution reinforcing policies that are part of the best is yet which was eprint, outlined by president trump in his very chamber on tuesday night. his historic, optimistic state of the union address. address highlighted the ncrease in wages for american workers, decrease in unemployment, the reduction in receiving of those

nutrition assistants -- assistance, and the strength of our armed forces. he went on to detail the ongoing efforts to decrease health care costs, also improving access to broadband, and the continuing defense of our borders, among priorities. madam speaker, i ask unanimous of ent to insert the text this amendment into the record along with extraneous material the vote onprior to the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. burgess: and now to speak his amendment, i recognize the gentleman from virginia, mr. riggleman, for four minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. riggleman: madam speaker, i hank the gentleman for yielding. i rise today in america with a booming economy, strong future., and optimistic on tuesday, president trump outlined the best is yet to come blueprint during his state of the union address. this agenda is an optimistic lan to continue the record setting economic growth we are seeing and provides solutions to american hat ail

citizens. it is imperative that congress step forward and support this i do, an agenda that dramatically lowers prescription wages fors and raises hardworking americans, an agenda inclusive uild an society and make sure every young american has the achieve the o american dream, an agenda that will ensure every citizen can ave access to high-speed internet, including in rural areas. with the national unemployment 3.5%, and virginia ismployment rate of 2.6%, it clear the economic policies the president has implemented are working. he best is yet to come blueprint will continue this growth and build upon it. strongercan economy is than ever, and we should work to continue this growth. 10,000 district that's square miles large, bigger than the state of new jersey, and optimism and excitement in virginia and virginia's fifth district is behold.ng to

we have built an inclusive economy where the least well-off fastest g some of the gains and unemployment is at an all-time low. inre is no doubt that we are the midst of a blue-collar boom in this country. the previous ort question are opposing this economic boom. voting hy i will be against the previous question. a vote against the previous question is a vote for lowering of impoverished americans on food stamps. against the previous question is a vote for continuing the booming economic growth we have experienced. vote against the previous question is a vote for enacting all these policies into law and trump's ng president agenda. i urge defeat of the previous question so that we can consider resolution, support the policies outlined in the best is blueprint. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. reserves.man the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. desaulnier: madam speaker, i'd like to yield three minutes the gentleman from virginia,

mr. connolly. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia is recognized. mr. connolly: thank you, madam speaker. thank my good friend from california for his leadership, especially in bringing before us protecting the right to organize act of 2019. my home state, the virginia general assembly is big debate about whether to repeal the right-to-work laws that's dominated our state for so many years. long supported. that's why today i am proud to stand with my good friend and virginian, chairman bobby scott, in supporting this bill, he protecting the right-to-organize act. backbone ofbeen the economy.d equitable air hard work gave us the five-day-a-week workweek. heir hard work helps deliver

fair wages and better access to health care. but this isn't just an economic issue. it's also a question of civil rights. itself is fiscal year when workers are empowered to and together and negotiate for better pay, benefits, and working conditions. even in those , states that are not right-to-work states it's hard organize. ut when you impose a right-to-work law, you've really stacked the odds in the ability men and women to work together. this is black history month. in the words of dr. martin luther king. glorious fight for civil rights, we must guard gainst being fooled by false slogans, such as right to work. whenever these laws have been passed, he said, wages are fewer, ob opportunities

and there are no civil rights. intend to let them do this to us, he said. the fraud be stopped. our weapon is our vote. right.g was our weapon is our vote. and today we're going to that weapon and strike a blow for working men and women the or restoring constitutional right of working men and women to organize freely benefit this economy and benefit the quality of lives for communities all across this great land. i urge passage of the bill, and underlying e rule it. i thank my friend from california for giving me the time. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the yields.n the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. burgess: thank you, madam speaker. may i inquire as to the amount of time remaining? the speaker pro tempore: the texas has 16 minutes remaining. the gentleman from california remaining. minutes

mr. burgess: i will yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the recognized.s mr. burgess: and the -- one of here, erlying bills h.res. 862, is really nothing exercise.a political i really am disappointed how e've come to discuss the healthy adult opportunity demonstration in the manner that it is. legitimate o have debate on an optional policy, we a hearing, in the committee of jurisdiction. that is why representative walden along with myself to representative pallone. we should be asking questions of agencies and states whether or not they would like to utilize this option to apply the new 111

waiver. should a state choose to apply for this adult opportunity demon station, it would only be allowed to address the adults that are under 65 that fall into the expansion population. this optional demonstration changes nothing for children, changes nothing for seniors, changes nothing for individuals with disabilities. all essential health benefit requirements remain in place. most importantly, states do not have to take this option because it is an option. states can maintain the status quo and continue to operate their medicaid programs as they were before this opportunity was presented to them. some states may find this demonstration provides the necessary increased flexibility for them to handle the limited healthy adult population ta is covered under medicaid

expansion. in fact, under one of the financing mechanisms, if a state does not spend all of its federal allotment under the healthy opportunity demonstration, it can keep 50% of the savings not to transfer over to the road and bridge fund but to reinvest in medicaid. in a state that might be ravaged by an opioid epidemic, that could mean individuals with this disorder into treatment. could allow states to help tear most vulnerable populations and heard compelling testimony in the rules committee last night for the long waiting list individuals with disabilities to get coverage under medicaid. 700,000 people across the country are on that waiting list.

these shared savings could go in to reducing that case backlog for those individuals. this may not be an opportunity that every state wants to take. that's why it's optional. that's what optional means. my state of tech as is working through whether or not this would be beneficial, opportunity for them. there is a look to look into the rule that was produced by the department of health and human services. after all, it was a week ago that this was received and people are looking into whether or not it makes sense for them. but we, in this body, should take the time to understand this rather than simply jump to a conclusion with an action that is ultimately going to be meaningless because it goes nowhere. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. desaulnier; i yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. green.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. green: thank you, madam speaker. i thank the gentleman from california's 11th district and i would like to thank the persons who are associated with the rules committee who worked tirelessly to get these bills to the floor. and i thank the house leadership for allowing the bills to come to the floor. madam speaker, i am honored today to say i traveled to puerto rico after one of the hurricanes hit, hurricane maria and i was there with beeney thompson. and while i was there, had the opportunity to meet with n.g.o.'s and met with some of the emergency responders, corps of engineers, national guard. i had a firsthand tune to see the devastation that puerto rico suffered from. and this was prior to the 6.7 earthquake that hit on january 7. i believe it is time for us to act.

i believe this legislation provides the means by which we can act appropriately. i believe that this bill with what it contains from our bill, which was the3702 disaster recovery bill, this legislation contains language from my bill. and i would like to share some of the things that are important. the bill includes the time line for allocation action plan approval and grant agreement execution that was contained in the bill. it contains language that hud will be required to allocate funds no longer than 60 days after action of the supplemental. hud would be required to approve or disapprove an action plan within 60 days. and h.u.d. will be required to llocate funds no later than 60 days after approval of a grantee's plan.

we have reached a point where the emergency has become something we must act upon immediately. the sooner would be today, but unfortunately, we will have the rule today, the immediately will be the vote tomorrow. i ask you to support the bill and i yield back the speaker pro tempore: the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas is recognized. mr. burgess: i recognize the gentleman from iowa one minute. mr. king: i appreciate the gentleman from texas for yielding to me. i rise in opposition to this rule and whole stack of things that i would raise but in the time that's available, i would say this, we watched as the medicaid program was opened up more and more under president obama. and when that happened, it caused a significant amount of turmoil in my state and many states across the country. president trump has decided he is going to offer an opportunity to have equivalent of block grants go back to the states and

have they will make the decisions. the states no best. this federalism that we have, the closer to the people the decision can be made, the more effective that decision is and more effective the resources of our taxpayers are. that is the attempt on the part of president trump. and so much politics has turned into this. when i see what happened this morning at the prayer breakfast and when i listened to the statement that was made by the speaker in a press conference, it spills forget upon this. some of her words show up in this document and it's time for us to take a deep breath, impeachment is offer. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california. mr. desaulnier; i yield to the the gentlewoman from from the rules committee for three minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized.

>> i'm proud to rise in support of the p.r.o. act. this legislation rebalances the playing field to give workers a fair shake and long overdue. ms. scanlon: the president stood here and talked about how great the economy is doing and the stock market is doing and unemployment is falling. but the truth on the ground is that people in the middle class and below are not being lifted by this tide. the cost of housing, child care, education and other basic essentials are raising at rates not matched by stagnant wages. according to a report released by the foundation for delaware county and philadelphia citizens for children and youth, which i would like to enter into the record -- the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. scanlon: families in my district in pennsylvania are being left under water during the high cost of living and debt they are forced to incur in

order to make ends meet. the family making the median income of $75,000 is likely to e $2,000 a year under water. the middle class is shrinking and clear to see why. the economic divide has reached unprecedented levels. and it is not strick willing down. workers have seen their wages cut and their dignity taken away. over the past three decades, the average income for the bottom of 90% of families increased by 1.1%. during the same period, the average income for the wealthiest 1% nearly doubled. workers responsible for wealth creation in this country are not seeing their fair share. over the same 30-year period, we have seen the percentage of american workers in unions steadily decline, not because people don't want to join unions

and take part in the higher average salaries. it's a direct result of relentless coordinated and well funded anti--union attacks from corporations. right to work laws have harmed workers and their families. no one is forced to join a union, but the fact is states with hire numbers of union membership also have higher average salaries for all workers. this bill will weaken anti--union state laws and loopholes. the p.r.o. act will restore fairness to the american economy and give workers a seat at the bargaining table and will introduce meaningful penalties for companies that violate workers' rights. no longer will companies exploit labor saying that the n lmprmp b

will give them a slap on the wrist. this bill will give employees the right to collectively bargain. one of the misleading arguments being made against this bill is it will affect privacy. that is not true. so i proudly support this rule and underlying bill and i urge my colleagues to join me in support. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields. the gentleman from texas is recognize dollars. mr. burgess: i yield myself two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. burgess: i wanted to highlight a few of the things the gentleman from virginia came and spoke about an amendment that will be offered if we defeat the previous question. and as a consequence of that defeat of the previous question, the consideration of the amendment offered by mr. riggleman, some of the things that people need to understand that they will be voting against these things if they vote to approve the previous question. the acknowledgement of jobs and investments are coming into this

country at a rate that has previously not been known. america is now energy independent and at a record high. we are building an inclusive society to make sure every young american gets a great education and the opportunity to achieve the american dream. that congress is to support our students and back the plan to offer vocational and technical education to every high school in america. in addition, the commitment to access to high-speed internet including rural america and the defense of religious liberty. many of us were at the prayer breakfast this morning and heard this on additional time, but including the constitutional right to pray in public schools.

i want people to be aware if they defeat the previous question, this is what where we will be engaging. and i will reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. desaulnier; i yield two minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. doggett. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. doggett: the prop does one thing here. he continues his assault on health care. nothing done to lower prescription price gouging and even considering potential cuts to what they call entitlements and we call medicare. trump supports only jumping insurance and junk ideas like to olympic grant medicaid, which is a truly block-headed approach that will jeopardize insurance coverage to one in five americans.

in tech as, medicaid is a safety net with more holes than net, through which many needy texans fall. many of the assistance is critical to our seniors. already slashed to the born, texas medicaid does not have any more room for the kind of cuts that trump is urging. hospitals are struggling to stay afloat in many parts of the state. health care providers, some of them go out of business. and to the disgrace of the lone star state, we have almost a million children, more than in any other state in the union who lack any insurance access. it is the affordable care act which actually slowed medicaid spending but republicans will have none of that. that landmark legislation tried to patch the holes in the safety net, but even with texas was offered 100 cents on the dollar

from the federal government to extend medicaid to some of its citizens, texas refused to do that and has continued to do so. this block-headed approach would widen the coverage gap for five million people with disabilities and millions of children who suffer when parents cannot get care. one of the advantages of the medicaid program is if more people require coverage during an economic downturn or costs go up because of a public health emergency -- could i have another minute. mr. doggett: like coronavirus or opioid epidemic, the federal unding ought mallly increases. that coverage would have gone down instead of up. what is out of control is not medicaid spending but this unhinged president's attempts to

undermine health care access for as many americans as he can do. let's oppose it. i yield back. . mr. burgess: thank you, madam speaker. two minutes.f the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. burgess: madam speaker, as i stated many times over, the proposed by the center for medicare and medicaid services for states. it does in no way affect what safety net y populations that are required to be covered under medicaid, it those thing to impact populations. population that was included in medicaid expansion in states that underwent expansion, this the center for medicare and medicaid services would governors, e state those state legislatures an consider a block grant if they desired. it's also written in the that they could

opt for a per beneficiary which might even impart additional flexibility. provisions of the rule that's been proposed is if significant change, he state undergoes a natural disaster or emergency, the block grant number can be adjusted. is not something that is immobile. i will reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the reserves. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. desaulnier: madam speaker, i speakers, so if the gentleman from texas would like to close. am prepared the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from texas is recognized. thank you, madam speaker. i'll yield myself the balance of the time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. burgess: mappings, i do want -- madam speaker, i do want into the nd introduce record an article published by institution.

brookings, of all places, published in september of 2018 global poverty levels, finding that over 50% of can now 's population be considered middle class or above. for the first time a majority of the world's is above the poverty line. ccording to this article from brookings, worldwide one person poverty every second, and five people are class per e middle second. in the united states, the strength of our economy is based on progrowth and probusiness policies, including policies included in the and jobs act. labor unions were initially created to ensure fair wages, working conditions for employees. today, americans are more ever.rous than

while i support the freedom of n individual to join a labor union, the necessity that waning labor unions is as wages increase and ubsequently union membership decreases. why would we now pass a bill is diametrically in opposition to the benefits that by this enjoyed country? again, i'd like to emphasize, participation in the healthy adult opportunity demonstration is optional. this demonstration project does not fit the needs or the oals of a state medicaid program, they do not have to participate. the -- eader of republican leader of the energy and commerce health ubcommittee, i believe conversations like this are best to occur at the committee level where members can call itnesses and have a serious

discussion. you know what, regular order can friend. it doesn't appear that democrats are taking this seriously. finally, republicans remain committed to helping all americans in need, including a se in puerto rico, but thorough evaluation of the best and most accountable allocation needed.rces is we support our fellow americans in puerto rico and will continue find ways to ensure their recovery. with that, i urge a no vote on no on theus question, rule, and no on the underlying measures. i'll yield back the balance of my time. tempore: the o gentleman's request is acknowledged, without objection. the gentleman yields. the gentleman from california is recognized. mr. mccaul: madam speaker, just want to thank everyone who came importantpoke on this issue. in my view, there's nothing more important. 600 on't have to read the pages in thomas pikerty to know level of -- i have acknowledged that globalism is who earned $1 a

day are now up to the astronomical level of $2 a day, benefited the american worker. as i said in my opening comments. workers, rican households live on $30,000 a year. everybody.helping most of the benefits of the last 50 years went to the top 1%. as i said before, who earn, not own, earn $7 million a opposed to the 99% below them who earn $54,000 a year. we have to fix this. democracy. as brandeis and lincoln said. as eisenhower said when the historic s growing at records, as i mentioned in my opening questions, his full is how ys -- and this times have changed, particularly as a former republican, former former siness owner, teamster, and former hotel and member,ant member, union those jobs, that protection gave me the money to save enough for to go into business myself and treat my employees as

i would want to be treated, my customers. handful r said, only a of reactionaries harbor the ugly hought of breaking unions and depriving working men and women f the right to join the union of their choice. i have no use, said president regardless of their political party who holds some foolish dream of spinning the clock back to days hen organized labor was huddled, almost helpless mass, fool, eisenhower said, only a fool would try to deprive men and women of the right to join the union of their choice. lincoln said, all that harms treason to america. madam speaker, for decades, tax rollbacks on regulations

that benefited the ultra-wealthy and powerful corporations, unfair labor laws and the nactment and enforcement of those laws and the rise of monopolies have fueled inequality to the point where we great depression levels, and we will suffer the consequences if we don't address in this room. it will be addressed outside of room. we have an opportunity today to move this country in the right three on with these measures. rule, a yes vote on the the previous question, and i will have two last quotes. 2,000 years ago, that to oldest and fatal flaw republics has always been the inbalance between the rich and poor. sammy, great union leader, when organize hting to americans during the depression, unions and equality, until

we get it, no surrender. back.d i move the previous question. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on ordering the previous question on the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the gentleman from texas. the yeasss: i ask for and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the requested.ys are those in favor s those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having risen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. the speaker pro tempore: for

the gentleladyes from texas seek recognition? ms. granger: madam speaker, i question nition for a of the privileges of the house and offer the resolution noticed.ly the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the resolution. 832,lerk: house resolution whereas on december 20, 2019, peaker pelosi extended an invitation for president trump to address a joint session of 4, 2020. on february whereas on february 4, 2020, his dent trump delivered state of the union address in which he honored the sacrifice of the following american heroes their families. general charles mcgee, one of tuskegee urviving airman who served in world war i, the korean war, and the vietnam war. kayla mueller, a humanitarian for orker who was caring suffering civilians in syria when she was kidnapped, isis ed, and enslaved by for over 500 days before being urdered by isis leader

al-baghdadi. christopher rgeant roadsiden he died by a omb supplied by qassem soleimani. sergeant williams who is currently serving his fourth deployment in the middle east his wife amy who works full time for the army and devotes hours helping army families. while still providing over the session, speaker pelosi ripped up an official copy of the president's remarks which the names and stories of these patriots who sacrificed our country. and whereas the conduct of speaker pelosi was a breach of degraded the proceedings of the joint session to the discredit of the house, now, therefore, be it resolved that the house of of esentatives disapproves the behavior speaker pelosi joined the joint session of congress held on february 4, 2020.

the speaker pro tempore: the resolution qualifies. for what purpose does the maryland seek recognition? mr. hoyer: madam speaker, i have a motion at the desk. the peaker pro tempore: clerk will report the motion. the clerk: mr. hoyer of maryland moves that the resolution be on the table. the speaker pro tempore: the question is to lay the motion on the table. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the noes have it. the gentleman from maryland. mr. hoyer: i request a recorded vote. the speaker pro tempore: does the gentleman request the yeas and nays? mr. hoyer: -day. the speaker pro tempore: -- e mr. hoyer: i do. the speaker pro tempore: those favoring a vote by the yeas and will rise. in the opinion of the chair, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. pursuant to clause 9 of rule 20, this 15-minute vote on the followed table will be by five-minute votes on ordering the previous question on house 833 and adoption of house resolution 833, if ordered.

this will be 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 224. the nays are 193. the motion is adopted. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. 20,uant to clause 8 of rule the unfinished business is the vote on ordering the previous 833tion on house resolution on which the yeas and nays are ordered. title rk will report the of the resolution. the clerk: house calendar number 72. 833, resolution providing for consideration of the resolution, house resolution 826, expressing disapproval of the trump administration's towards ctions medicaid, providing for

consideration of the bill h.r. amend the national labor relations act, the labor management -- relations act of 1984 and the of 1959 and for other purposes and providing for consideration of the bill h.r. emergency g supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2020, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on ordering the previous question. members will record their votes by electronic device. and this will be 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: on this vote the yeas are 224. the nays are 194. the previous question is ordered. the question is on the adoption of the resolution. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no, no. the ayes have t the resolution is adopted. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. burgess: i ask for the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. those favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise. a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a five-minute vote. fun one 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 220. the nays 194. the resolution is adopted. without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table.

could members please remove their conversations from the floor. please remove your onversations from the floor. please remove conversations from the floor. for what purpose does the

gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and add extraneous material on h.res. 826, expressing disapproval of the trump administration's harmful action toward medicaid. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. would members please remove your conversations from the floor. in the well. could we have people remove their conversations from the floor. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman seeks to call up house resolution 826? mr. pallone: yes. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title of the resolution. the clerk: house resolution

826, resolution expressing disapproval of the trump administration's harmful actions towards medicaid. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to house resolution 833, the resolution is considered as read. the resolution shall be debated for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on energy and commerce. . mr. pallone: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey, mr. and the gentleman from oregon, mr. walden, each will minutes.0 the chair recognizes the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. r. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today to speak in support expressing --

the speaker pro tempore: can we lease have conversations removed from the floor? he gentleman deserves to be heard. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. again, i speak in support of 826, expressing disapproval of the trump harmful actions towards medicaid. last thursday, the trump dministration continued its relentless campaign to sabotage its ffordable care act and unprecedented attack on medicaid. despite promising as a candidate would not cut medicaid, the trump administration proposed just that last week. guidance that would allow states to block grant program.icaid just another day and another broken promise by this president. unfortunately, like a lot of his broken promises, this proposal could have devastating consequences. he speaker pro tempore: please remove conversations from the chamber. the gentleman from new jersey to be heard. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, like

broken the president's this proposal could have devastating consequences on the health of millions of americans, including those affected by the opioid epidemic. ne in five americans have access to health care through medicaid. block grants limit the amount of states receive, forcing them to cut benefits, cut payments to doctors, and eligibility standards. the administration's proposal is also illegal. medicaid to a block grant would require an act of congress. our republican colleagues this, and that's why they included a medicaid block grant provision in their failed repeal the a.c.a. congressional republicans know that block granting medicaid is seismic change in the program that requires a change in the law. they'd be hope concerned about this illegal action and would join us in of ing a bipartisan message disapproval to the trump administration. 'd also like to refute some claims that you're likely to

hear during this debate, mr. speaker. has nothing to do with increasing states' flexibility. about cutting medicaid. states already have significant flexibility to design the bestaid program that works for them. you're also likely to hear the trump administration proposal medicaid es to the expansion population, but, again, that's not true. foundation r family makes clear, states could include many low-income parents currentlynt women who rely on medicaid. now, imagine that states would e allowed -- would be allowed to cut pregnant women off their health coverage in the midst of mortality crisis, which we now have. at the end of the day, this illegal proposal will lead to quality of care for fewer people. i encourage my colleagues to support this resolution and administration's illegal and cruel attack on working families, and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. seek in opposition and time in opposition.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. walden: mr. speaker, i just got to tell you that we wouldn't what's going to be a spirited debate today, over the energy and commerce committee had bothered to have had a hearing on the issue.ing i've asked the chairman, my friend, mr. pallone, to do that.y he just cited a source, kaiser foundation, saying pregnant women are going to be involved of this. the head of c.m.s. and their lawyers say not true, not the all.at so here we have a dispute of fact on the floor being hammered without the benefit of due process and regular order. no regular order, no hearing, no opportunity to bring in these qualified people and do what we do best in this congress hich is listen to the experts take the testimony, make up our minds, have debates. no.

the administration put out their etter, their guidance saying, here's how states can i owe vat. innovate. mr. speaker, oregon spent a lot. we were both in the legislature and we sought waivers as a state so we can innovate, create the oregon health plan, these things. 40 states have waivers. most of our states have waivers innovate, so they can bring better health care to working poor, find cost avings they can plow back into better services and more services, which is what this underlying proposal allows. couple of about a things. one, there's no mandate here. not, as my friend describes, some evil empire approach where the trump is forcing on something on states. case. factually not the an optionates seeking to innovate and provide better

health care at lower costs to to people they're trying serve. they would have to meet rigorous standards, including all the benefits health required under obamacare. that's a requirement here. can't walk away from that. bodied lies to abled adults. not to children. not -- able-bodied adults. children. not to people with disabilities. this does not affect the mandatory. only the expansion population for the states that expanded medicaid. differently, e because i heard it in rules committee. i can tell you directly from is not the case. that is not their intent. they've ot what suggested. proposal.t in their if we're going to have this difference of opinion, i go back here. underlying issue why in the devil did we not take n hour or two to do regular order and have the subcommittee on health, chaired my dear

california, ms. eshoo could have done a great job having a hearing. he can be rigorous on the administration. we could have hashed this out there but, no. even a resolution of disapproval that stops what the administration is proposing. this is the partisan equivalent of a press release. sense of congress saying we don't like this. o when we're done with that, then what happens? nothing. nothing. partisan, political, pathetic debate that deserves no legislative purpose. none. legislation?o well ownup work we do so at energy and commerce. then let's have a legislative hearing. et's bring in the kaiser foundation that was just cited and hold them accountable under what they w us where claim is fact.

we can dispute whether something is legal or not. have the lawyers there to give us guidance. that's not what we're doing. this day afternoon language got posted. we went to rules. we asked for an opportunity to a motion tornative, recommit, on this issue. that.e denied we have no opportunity to dig into the facts and the figures. do know one thing. our states are great laboratories for innovation. are.really california has waivers. oregon has waivers. a lot of states have waivers. back in i think in day project independence because we thought we could do it better and have a laboratory. his administration believes in that. states can. those people closest can create better programs to help those they serve. this is a federal-state partnership. so mr. speaker, i object to this i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman reserves. jersey.leman from new mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i'd like to yield two minutes now to texas, mr. an from veasey, who is a sponsor of this resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. veasey: i thank you, mr. speaker. i'm proud to bring this resolution to the floor today will fight against the trump administration's harmful grants. block i would like to take a moment to thank the chairman and the ommittee and their staff for working hard to protect health care for all americans. a ay, we're here to shine light on yet another one of the harmful and irresponsible olicies designed by the trump administration. these block grants are just the atest in a slew of attempts by his administration to gut the affordable care act, and the expansion thatge has been offered to millions of americans of all ages and all unable to who are gain coverage before, and the gain ns more who could

coverage, states like mine would smart and expand medicare. and let me tell you, they have about these block grants in texas for a while. an let me tell you, they are joke.-ha texas knows these are harmful. block grants will be harmful for the nation. on the floor n today demonstrates our majority's strong opposition to ex-paneleded protections -- expanded protections that the affordable childless rovided to adults and those parents who are iving at or below the poverty line. millions of hardworking americans have finally, finally een able to gain affordable health insurance. now the trump administration wants to take away the progress americans and undercut their be aing cisto -- their access to health care. chip away so want to access of health care for have ns of americans who and will be able to gain

coverage through state medicaid expansion. that is why i'm proud to lead this resolution today, because accessible health care is a right. it should not be a privilege, mr. speaker. a -- it's a right for all. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the yields back. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. oregon.leman from mr. walden: i now recognize the entleman from ohio, mr. latta, for two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. latta: well, thank you, mr. speaker. thank the republican leader of the energy and commerce committee for yielding. opposition of h.res. 826. is solely a on political talking point. administration's proposal does not harm medicaid. i applaud the trump for moving in the right direction. the grants give states flexibility to invest in their

while s' best interests reeling in spending by an estimated $1.4 trillion over the next 10 years. that's trillion. simple.in and children, seniors, and individuals with disabilities negatively affected by this option. nd those in low-income communities will be greatly benefited. chip and many of the other medicaid demonstrations are currently unning under similar structures. as earlier stated by the republican leaders, states do best for their residents. to iving states the options voluntarily participating in this program and to share in the federal savings, it is a win. this resolution is simply a health scare tactic, and i encourage all my 826.agues to oppose h.res. mr. speaker, i yield back the

balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. mr. walden: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon reserves. could the people in the rear of he chamber remove their conversations off the floor? could we have the conversations of the chamber removed from the floor? the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from california, ms. chair of our he health subcommittee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. thank the chairman of the committee and, mr. speaker, i rise in support of resolution. and i do for the following reasons. our friends on aisle er side of the process issues. they are always appropriate to bring up. obfuscation of why we are on the floor today

resolution. this is about health care. is about the democrats looking to protect the health that the american people have today. ow, from the outset of this administration, medicaid coverage for low-income and americans, medically complex children, and our ation's most vulnerable communities have been under attack. medicaidling to repeal coverage for 17 million americans in the last congress, trump administration is now taking a hatchet to medicaid. they're ripping away from onerous through paperwork, saying oh, no, that it ly doesn't matter, but does. onerous paperwork requirements, policies against documented immigrants, and

through proposed block grants. exactly nts are not tidy. it's not the way they're being represented. they use the word flexible. who is it flexible for? the states e for that can't stand it and allow them to cut. they are the states that have some of the poorest people in them. ow, the administration's actions have already taken a terrible toll. directly responsible for children being enrolled in medicaid and the children's health insurance and 750,000 fewer adults being enrolled in medicaid. mr. pallone: i yield the gentlelady another 30 seconds. fewer oo: and 750,000 adults being enrolled in medicaid since 2017. i would like to hear the

republicans today, stand up on , being in the ay court to eviscerate remove, undo, get rid of the entirety of the affordable care act. in this resolution, and i don't think this can stand, i urge my colleagues to support it. i think a vote against this resolution is a vote to throw millions of americans with pre-existing conditions overboard. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i have to just respond in that none of that is what's in this resolution because this resolution has no force of law. this resolution is not health care policy. it is a press statement. it does nothing to deal with any of the issues my dear friend just raised, other than make a statement. you want to legislate,

legislate. let's grab a hearing, let's grab a markup. let's go work on these issues together. i now yield two minutes to the former chairman of the health subcommittee, the good doctor from texas,. i thank the gentleman for yielding. i did want to speak in opposition to h.res. 86 mr. burgess: it is a political exercise and i am disappointed the democrats have decided to discuss the healthy adult opportunity demonstration in this manner. if we are to have legitimate debate on this optional policy, we should do so in a hearing. we should do so in a hearing in our committee. that's why the energy and commerce committee leader walden and myself sent a letter to chairman pallone to request just such a hearing. we should be asking the questions of the agencies that are deciding if you want to utilize this option. a new sectional and 15 waiver for a very specific population.

this optional demonstration changes nothing for children. seniors are individuals with disabilities. the comments about the state of texas eroan joust. texas did not expand medicaid. this only applies to the healthy adult expansion population not to the traditional mandatory populations. all essential health benefits requirements would remain in place and states do not have to take the option. states can maintain the status quo and continue to operate their medicaid programs as they were before this opportunity was presented to them. again, this is an option. give states flexibility. states are great laboratories of innovation. we should let them innovate. i yield back the balance of my time. mr. walden: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes to the gentleman from illinois, mr. rush, who chairs our energy subcommittee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. rush: i want to thank the

chairman of the full committee on energy and commerce for this time. mr. speaker, i rise in support of h.res. 826. mr. speaker, over the last three years the trump administration has deliberately and repeatedly sabotaged the affordable care act. this has led to higher health care costs for low and middle income americans. this has also led to an increase in the number of uninsured americans, including those in my home state of illinois. as such, mr. speaker, it is not surprising to me that the administration is, once again, attacking vulnerable americans' health care. we have not forgotten that our

colleagues across the aisle tried and failed to force through the medicaid block grant in the year 2017. it failed, mr. speaker, because the american people saw the plan for what it is, a way to weaken the medicaid program. under this latest proposal just like trumpcare, much of the financial burden would shift to state. and states, mr. speaker, would e forced to reduce benefits, kick vulnerable americans off medicaid, and siphon funds from other priorities, including schools, roads, and first responders. mr. speaker, health care is a human right and we cannot and we will not stand idly by as

this right is taken away from the most vulnerable among us. as such, mr. speaker, i'm proud to vote in favor of this resolution to express my disapproval of the trump administration's medicare program. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. the gentleman from new york. mr. walden: just again i point out a state governor would have to seek waiver and get approval and maintain all the essential benefits of the affordable care act in everything they do. this only applies in states that took the expansion. not others. the states are a great laboratory to innovate and deliver health care better for the working poor. i yield two minutes to the gentlelady from washington, mrs. rodgers. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. miss rodgers: i thank the gentleman and leader for yielding. i stand in opposition to house resolution 826. it really is a partisan resolution.

has zero reforms. it's being rushed through. to attack the administration's healthy adult opportunity to modernize medicaid. the majority is ignoring that medicaid status quo is leaving people. lying pregnant women, the elderly, people with disabilities behind. today. i stead of working in a bipartisan fashion to actually improve medicaid, they are more interested in scoring political points. there are currently over 700,000 individuals across this country on waiting lists to get -- people with disabilities on waiting lists to get care within medicaid. i would urge you to check your states. 2/3 of the 700,000 who are waiting for care and service that is they need currently today on medicaid are living with a disability. i listened to one family's story. their daughter had a rare neurological condition. she was put on a medicaid waiting list for 10 years to be

approved for services. 10 years. this is happening in my home state of washington, too. there's almost 14,000 individuals with disabilities today. waiting for care and services. the most appalling figure is that at least 21,900 people across the country have died waiting for medicaid services that they need. the status quo is unacceptable. it needs to be fixed. we need a solution. not a partisan resolution that maintains the status quo. it's time to modernize medicaid. let's work together, let's get solutions. the healthy adult opportunity will improve the medicaid program's integrity by giving states the option to innovate and provide coverage by enrolling in the program. this will give states the flexibility to control costs and share the program's savings within medicaid. states like washington could put those savings directly back into the medicaid program so

that they can shorten their waiting list and save lives. let's have a hearing. let's get this done. let's work in a bipartisan way. i yield. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: i yield two minutes to the gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. doyle, who chairs our communications and technology subcommittee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. doyle: thank you, mr. speaker. i have a strange feeling of deja vu today because once again democrats are down on the floor speaking out against another attempt by the trump administration to take away people's health care. this should go without saying, but let me say it clearly, block grants do not strengthen the medicaid program and they do not protect americans. it makes sense that when the economy is bad more people might need medicaid, and when the economy is good medicaid payments shrink. this is common sense and good

public policy. medicaid should be there when people need it the most. yet the trump administration wants to undo that. instead, the amount of money that a state would receive would be flat. if states would have to adjust their coverages accordingly. that means one of two things. either fewer people can be covered or fewer services can be covered. and, in fact, this policy encourages states to cut coverage and divert medicaid money to other parts of their budget. we should be trying to improve people's health care and investing more so that american families don't have to. republicans have been trying to cut made for 30 years. this is just the latest attempt. they most recently failed to cut medicaid coverage when they were in the majority and tried to repeal the affordable care act because the american people were overwhelmingly opposed to their plan. now the trump administration is trying to go it alone. the american people will see

through what you are doing and they will see that the republicans in congress once again turning a blind eye while this president and his administration try to take health care away from millions of americans. i urge my colleagues to support this resolution to condemn this outrageous and unwise proposal. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the parties are requested to direct their comments through the chair. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. mr. walden: could i inquire how much time each side has? the speaker pro tempore: 158 and a quarter minutes. -- 15 and a quarter minutes. the gentleman from new jersey has 19 minutes. mr. walden: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. speaker, at this point i would yield two minutes to the gentleman from michigan, mr. mitchell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. mitchell: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, mr. walden. i'm not sure, mr. speaker, if you are aware or my colleagues

are aware we are now over 15 resolutions expressing disapproval with some policy in the administration. more than one per month. it appears we have a monthly checklist we must do some resolution disapproving the administration's action on a monthly basis. there is a point in time in this body we actually legislated. imagine that. we considered issue, we have hearings. we get experts in. we have a bill. we'd have regular order. we would amend the bill. we debate the policies. this is not legislation. house resolution 826 has less impact, less importance than the tissue in the cloakroom has on this body. let me repeat that. less impact because, frankly, it's more useful. this is not. this is a media opportunity. this is a press release. people will gather together will beknown the policy of the

trump administration, which by the way, a guidance to the states if they want to pursue waivers. states choosing what's best for their citizens to serve them. 43 waivers approved by multiple states. let me just say i watched with great interest last evening the debate over expressing one's opinion and first amendment rights in this body. with great interest i watched them. let me at this point in time express my opinion, exercise my first amendment rights, by imply saying -- i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i would yield now two minutes to the gentlewoman from illinois, ms. schakowsky, who chairs our consumer freengs commerce subcommittee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. ms. schakowsky: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise to condemn the trump

administration's cuts to medicare. yet another broken promise from this president. on april 8, 2015, then candidate trump tweeted, i was the first and only potential g.o.p. candidate to state there will be no cuts to social security, medicare, and medicaid. unquote. he even said, that these programs were part of what makes america great. well, mr. president, you were right. medicaid is a pillar of our society. 3.2 million people in my home state of illinois receive their health care through medicaid. since illinois expanded medicaid, in 2013, our uninsured rate has been cut nearly in half. one study found that expanded medicaid coverage reduced mortality in illinois. 40% of kids in my state can see a doctor when they are sick and get vaccinations and screenings

that they need. only because of medicaid. and over 275,000 illinois seniors and almost 400,000 people with disabilities rely on medicaid. in fact, medicaid pays for over half of all long-term services and support across the united states. despite all this, the administration is gutting medicaid funding and allowing states to cut benefits. i urge my colleagues to join me in voicing our opposition to the trump administration in voting yes on this resolution. medicaid matters. and will protect your care. i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman yields back. to direct reminded their comments to the chair.

i walden: mr. chairman, yield myself such time as i may consume. i point out this is a state option. on dy's mandating anything any state. states can come to the federal government as they willfully do a better idea to take care of the working poor. e think we can achieve some savings that we are -- we understand if we do will be benefits k into more and services in some large measure to improve and expand our state. our states have done that. is an option, not a mandate. finally, the resolution on the no legal effect on any of this. it is a press release called a resolution. it never even goes to the senate. it will never go to the president. it will never become law. just a press statement. o for all the comments, mr. chairman, about stopping this and stopping that, you do that with legislation. tot's why we said, you ought have a hearing in the committee of jurisdiction.

you want to mark up a bill, laelts do that. that.'s do let's have witnesses. today.not doing that let me to yield to the congressman, the pharmacist, the georgia, two minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. carter: i thank the gentleman for yielding. rise to speak against house resolution 826, a resolution was hastily put together that opposes the administration's healthy demonstration initiative in medicaid. the use of waivers to grant flexibility in managing their health care systems is foundational to partieseforms from both throughout the years. in fact, most medicaid programs the country today are currently operating under some form of waiver. in the latest waiver proposal, the trump administration would allow states more flexibility to expansion r medicaid population by choosing to accept -- in a eral funds a per person or lump sum basis.

states will be able to take that federal money and more efficiently treat these patients and then share in the savings. built icaid program was to be a safety net for our children and the poor, not to be our nation's largest insurer. -- would r will now not affect how medicaid cares for children, seniors, or those disabilities. the healthy adult opportunity only to re designed help states manage to rapidly -- costs rapidly ballooning for adults who are now on obamacare.ter patient access to care will not be cut in this proposal. pursuing a healthy adult opportunity waiver will be held responsible for the accessibility of services to beneficiaries. of my friends across the this seek to dem onnize proposal -- demonize this

proposal and every scare tactic book, this will not help he growing medicaid participations. i thank president trump, and administer irma. i ask my colleagues to vote against this resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the yields back. mr. walden: and i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: and the gentleman from oregon reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. allone: thank you, speaker. i yield two minutes now to the entlewoman from florida, ms. castor. m castor: i thank -- castor: i thank mr. pallone for yielding. ow the trump administration is proposing, again, to shrink, lock, or eliminate health services under medicaid. for over 50 years, medicaid has a coverage guarantee. it's guaranteed that if you fall or you have a

disability or you are a senior n skilled nursing, that care will be there if you need it. of the proposal, out administration, will severely chip away at that coverage guarantee. harmful to myarly home state of florida, and it ability to ate our expand medicaid health services to families who need it. me.t just take it from patient advocates, doctors, look owe -- rwhelm overwhelmingly oppose block grant waivers. aarp, the american cancer society network, the academy of pediatric, the children's hospital association, many others have out against block grants and waivers. unfortunately, this is part of administration's broader anti-health care agenda. hey've tried to weaken affordable care through budgets. we rejected it through legislation. defeated it. now they're in the courts to

take away that coverage for pre-existi pre-existing conditions. the trump aept health care -- anti-health care agenda is cruel. it is wrong. urge my colleagues to reject it today by passing our resolution. back.d the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from new jersey reserves. oregon.leman from mr. walden: mr. chairman, i'm proud to recognize the gentleman from kentucky, mr. guthrie, for minutes. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. guthrie: thank you, mr. speaker. opposition to house resolution 826, a dismantle the trump administration's health dult opportunity medicaid initiative. the affordable care act's xpansion of medicaid is simply unsustainable. it is bankrupting my home state of kentucky. in the 114th congress, i served chair of the house energy and commerce committee's medicaid task force. we explored ways that would make so it can stainable be fully utilized by vulnerable

to lations for generations come. the trump administration has proposed a commonsense option in not affect -- that will not effect funding for -- will not affect funding for children, pregnant women, the elderly or people rather abilities but give states flexibility for their medicaid programs. i will continue to work with my energy es on the house and commerce committee to make medicaid sustainable and need it.e to those who i urge my colleagues to oppose house resolution 826. yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. mr. walden: and i reserve, mr. chairman. the peaker pro tempore: gentleman reserves. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield two minutes now to the california, rom mrs. matsui. the speaker pro tempore: the for twody is recognized minutes. mrs. matsui: thank you. of se on behalf of millions americans who rely on medicaid services. illness they were one of the largest

beneficiaries of the medicaid expansion. mentally ill, along with the families low-income will have ome adults away.medicaid block grants will shift costs to states, forcing them to make about what ons services to cut. picking the well-being and of one patient population over another. unethical,s this plan it is illegal, and the american people understand block grants some of the most vulnerable amongst us. we cannot allow this recklessly on to cause such hardship. i urge my colleagues to join me their disapproval plan trump block granted by voting to support house resolution 826. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the back.lady yields the gentleman from new jersey

reserves. the gentleman from new york. mr. walde mr. walden: mr. chairman, i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon reserves. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes now to the gentleman from massachusetts, mr. kennedy. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from massachusetts is recognized for two minutes. mr. ennedy: thank you, chairman. medicaid saves lives. with patients from poverty. it provides families with access care.tical it is the largest payer of ental health care in the country and the largest payer of long-term care in the country. births andalf of all strengthens special education opportunities in our schools. working families. it covers babies. sick,ers the elderly, the the addicted, and those in need. short, it covers those that this administration has from the ly targeted very first day.

from a health care repeal effort to would have denied care millions of americans to a lawsuit that could still steal from millions more, relentless effort to impose onero onero onerous bureaucratic red tape. this.w an illegal and immoral block countless will end lives due to prevent -- and loss of preventible death. we can afford trillions of dollars in tax cuts to make the richer. we can afford $60 billion that in s in the wind and fails the ring, but taking care of our neighbors, that's a cost we a challenge too great for this country to shoulder. administration that seeks to make america great, our far too frequently doubts the capabilities and grit of our fellow neighbors. this administration stands proudly behind this

no doubt licy, i have that it will be rejected by this chamber, in our courts, and the american people yet again. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the back.man yields the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: reserves. he gentleman from new york -- new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes now to the california, mr. cardenas. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from extrais recognized for two minutes. cardenas: thank you, mr. chairman. i rise today to express my opposition to president trump's constant efforts to get gut medicaid. let's be clear, this is another attempt by president trump to away from care millions of americans. this block grant proposal is the trump's ongoing the affordable care act. trump is tragically trying to vulnerable in our country -- children, people

with disabilities, low-income and seniors. according to a recent study, cutsproposal could lead to of $37 billion, perhaps as much billion a year of health our american to citizens. just two days ago, president these poke right here in chambers, saying that he's out to protect health care for the people. but once again, we see he's americans when all he's trying to do is talk like y and take actions this against the american people and their health care. --now what it's like to have to not have health care. when i was a little boy, when an aspirin, a prayer, and the emergency room were your only options. americans should not have to through that. there's no need for it, but this president wants people to suffer. of my constituents rely on

medicaid for their health coverage. eople shouldn't be forced to choose between buying medicine for their children or putting food on the table. join my colleagues in congress, such as congressman 826.y, in supporting h.r. e will not stay silent as this administration continues its efforts to gut and take health are away from millions of americans across our great nation. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the back.man yields i think it's important, members from inded to refrain engaging in personalities towards the president. the gentleman from oregon. thank you, mr. chairman. i was going to raise that point. i reserve. reserves. -- the speaker pro tempore: reserves. the gentleman from new york -- jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i two minutes to another gentleman from california, a member of our ruiz.tee, dr. the speaker pro tempore: the

gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. ruiz: thank you. granting medicaid will increase out-of-pocket costs, care, and take away health coverage for millions of americans across this country. block granting medicaid is just another way of cutting medicaid. reduce costs, states will cut eligibility, cut payments to hospitals who care for the poor, and cut coverage medicines. and these cuts will raise out-of-pocket costs for in fewer result hospitals and providers for medicaid recipients, and to care for iers low-income, rural, and vulnerable patients. in ill harm people underserved areas with physician coachellalike eastern area. and those in my low-income seniors, children, people with disabilities, our eighbors and families, put simply, medicaid block grants

hurt the very people medicaid is here to help. that is why i urge this body to resolution 826 and make a strong statement to protect health care for millions of americans. i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. mr. walden: i yield myself so much time as i may consume. the proposal before us today has no force of law. there's a lot of heated rhetoric, yes. there are a lot of fire and brimstone, yes. there are even words that probably could have been taken down. the resolution before us is nothing more than a partisan political press release. so for all the comments, mr. chairman, you could legislate, but you're not. you could actually have the force of law. now let's get to the underlying issue. all these attacks on the president, say the president's doing this, the president's doing that, this, that and the other thing, when in fact that's not what's happening here.

the president is giving states the opportunity to do a better job of providing health care to their citizens. nothing in this waiver process that exists today in statute or exists tomorrow under this proposal that the administration's put forward is allowed to adversely affect people on disabilities or pregnant women or children or -- this goes to the expanded adult population where they can then innovate. our state, mr. chairman, is seeking a waiver to be able to expand substance use disorder treatment. that would be allowed under this. states like california could come to the administration under this authority and say, we'd like to ex pabbed our medicaid -- expand our medicaid program to cover more people who need mental health. so mental health, substance use disorder. my colleague from washington state earlier in the debate, mr. chairman, talked about the

backlog for people on disabilities that can't get access to medicaid. so what is wrong with letting a state say, we can do it better, we can do it more efficiently, we can save money and we can plow the savings back into expanded coverage? by the way, mr. chairman, oregon has been a leader in this sort of effort with our c.c.o.'s, our community coordinating organizations, where they have done precisely this. they do wrap-around services. they take the most vulnerable and people in need in our communities and say, let's all get together and take care of this patient. and in doing so, the savings in large measure go back into expanded services. so for all the dooms day talk i hear on the floor, mr. chairman, let's get to the facts of the matter. the factors of the matter are nobody's been -- facts of the matter is nobody's being forced to do a block grant. what we're saying is, states, let's be thoughtful about this. come to washington, here are some things we know work elsewhere, you can do in your state and save money and probably provide more benefits,

but improve the quality of health care for people who you are overseeing. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield two minutes now to the gentlewoman from michigan, mrs. dingell, also a member of our committee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized for two minutes. mrs. dingell: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank you to my chairman for all the hard work he's been doing. i rise in strong support of h.r. 826, and in opposition to the trump administration's recent proposed cuts to medicaid. medicaid provides important, life-saving care for our nation's children, seniors and disabled. including in my home state of michigan. that is why political leaders under the leadership of governor rick snyder, a republican, worked across the aisle to expand medicaid in michigan in 2014. this expansion, healthy michigan, currently covers over

650,000 michiganders, providing them access to both quality, affordable health care, and protection from crippling medical bills. it is also -- it has also supported rural hospitals, both in michigan and across the country. without healthy michigan, hospitals across the state that serve some of our most vulnerable residents would face closures and terrible increased financial pressures. finally, medicaid is the single largest pair of long-term care in this country. and allows our seniors the opportunity to live with dignity as they age. the trump administration's recent actions puts this all at risk. both the 217 health care proposal and the c.m.s. proposal would block grant medicaid, drastically cutting the resources it provides for life-saving medical care. we know what this means. increased health care costs for my constituents, and a loss of

coverage for seniors, the disabled and our children. who are the overwhelming majority of medicaid recipients. this resolution sends a strong message, we will make good on our commitment to provide quality and affordable health care to every american. and i urge my colleagues to support it. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: i yield myself such time as i may consume just to say, michigan doesn't have to apply for another waiver. nobody's going to force anything like we just heard on michigan. that's not the proposal from the administration. and nothing in this resolution stops anything anyway. in fact, i would argue michigan probably came to an administration to get exactly an 1115 waiver to do everything my friend and colleague just said they're doing in michigan. just like oregon had to come back and get waivers to do what we're doing. all this administration's doing

is saying, let's make that waiver process a little easier. but you have to make sure you're continuing to provide the best care possible to the people you serve. and once again, despite what you've heard on the floor today, nothing in their proposal would apply to the categories we've been demanding of the legacy population. that's not what's there. that's why, mr. chairman, it would have been so much better to have a real hearing in the energy and commerce committee where we could have had a real discussion with real experts there to get us all on the same basis of fact. it's unfortunate we don't have that. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes now to the gentleman from north carolina, who is the vice chair of our health subcommittee. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. butterfield: i thank the gentleman for yielding. mr. speaker, for the life of me, for the life of me i just cannot

understand why 14 states have flatly refused to expand their medicaid program, to provide health care to their low-income, healthy, childless adults. a demographic that was omitted from medicaid in 1965 when it was enacted into law. north carolina, my home state, would greatly benefit from medicaid expansion. other congressional districts would benefit. and to my republican friends, the fact is that your low-income constituents would greatly benefit. talk to your doctors, talk to your hospitals, talk to your providers. the coverage low-income individuals would receive would not only benefit them, but the entire economy of your state. let's cooperate on this one. let the states know that medicaid expansion will benefit them and it will not break their budget. we, the federal government, will pay 90% of the cost in perpetuity. for the president to direct the block granting of medicaid to the states will be absolutely

beyond his executive authority. repeat, to direct block granting to the state will absolutely be beyond his executive authority. to cap and slash these benefits is unlawful. and it is cruel. it will require authorization from this congress. i urge my colleagues to vote aye on this resolution, h.res. 826. thank you, i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the chair would request all members direct their comments through the chair. the gentleman from oregon. mr. walden: mr. chairman. my friend from north carolina, i would just say, through the chair, that oregon is an expansion state. so you're right. we have seen the benefits of this. in my state. we've seen the benefit of flexibility. we have sought waivers and gotten them, to do exactly the sorts of things you're saying. and ironically, under the proposal, the administration -- north carolina could use this authority to expand its medicaid

population. that is allowed under the proposal from the administration out to the states. they could actually use these tools and do exactly what you're saying. expand the population in north carolina. so there are goods things in ere. i'm not lawyer but i would argue if we in this -- had this discussion in our committee we loved so much, maybe we'd have a better outcome here. with that, i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i yield two minutes now to my colleague from new jersey, mr. pascrell. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. pascrell: mr. chairman, mr. ranking member, i have a great deal of respect for both of you. but there's a parting of the ways here. i want to join my colleagues to stand against the

administration's vicious assault on medicaid. that's how i perceive it. the expansion of medicaid by the a.c.a. is one of the great success stories of government. in action in the last 50 years. despite their decade-long obstructionism, medicaid expansion has saved 19,000 older low-income adult lives. i know you don't challenge those numbers. 828 lives just in our state of new jersey. but many republicans have rejected the attempts to destroy -- they've tried to destroy the a.c.a. at the ballot box and at the courthouse. but like captain ahab after his white whale, they remain singularly dedicate to stealing health care away from as many americans as possible. this administration knows their

policy is pure poison. they gave it an innocuous name, and as we heard on tuesday, are lying about the details to fool people. americans will not be fooled by this orwellian scheme. this policy would rip away health care for some of the most vulnerable of our neighbors. they want to obliterate the a.c.a., no matter what the consequences. i support this resolution to send a loud message. those on the other side cannot be allowed to steal your health care. we will do everything in our power to stop their schemes. now, the joker movie -- "joker" movie may not prevail at sunday's oscars. we must think about any other jokers that go through any of their basements, including the white house, after today's vote. what will they be sulking be -- sulking about? this is important legislation. thank you, mr. chairman. i yield back.

the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. walden: mr. chairman, may i inquire as to the amount of time each side has? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from oregon has eight minutes remaining. the gentleman from new jersey has 3 3/4 minutes remaining. mr. pallone: mr. speaker, i don't have any more speakers other than myself at this time. so i'm prepared to close if you don't have any other speakers. mr. walden: i don't believe we have any more but i still have eight minutes. so i'm going to share a few comments, mr. chairman. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. for such time as he may consume. mr. walden: thank you, mr. speaker. -- thank you, mr. chairman. i just want to say a couple of things. i chaired the energy and commerce committee, we did try to do some reforms on health care, certainly. there was a big disagreement. but we also extended funding for community health centers. biggest increase they'd ever gotten. two years, fully funded. the chairman and i both are supportive of a five-year

extension of fully funding community health centers going forward in my state, i think we have 63 different places people get health care in my district. a lot of people in oregon go through community health centers. mr. chairman, i led the effort in thisongress the last ession to fully fund a 10-year expansion of the children's health insurance program. the program, the biggest expansion in i think modern legislative history, probably. many democrats voted against it when i tried to get it extended for four years. then a lot of democrats voted against it when it was six. eventually we got to 10, unprecedented, and we got that into law. we eventually came together and got that into law. we've done a lot of work on special diabetes program funding, and special program for those diabetes in our native american community. one thing after another in the last congress. we accomplished bipartisan. the work we did in opioids together as a congress, you were

very -- you were a very important part of that, mr. chairman, on a proposal we passed in the house. unfortunately we fell a little short in the senate. to get better communication among providers. but we put real money behind that. billion of dollars into our states and communities and that help is starting to show up with expanded access. i think it's 38% increase in access to the kind of service -- health services, people dealing with addiction need. as a result of our work, i would say, and public education and other work, we saw finally a topping off in the overdose death. there's more work to do there. this proposal that we're -- the underlying proposal the administration's put forward, i would argue, builds on the notion of local, state, federal partnership to serve the same people. we would give states more authority to manage their medicaid programs more

efficiently and effectively. savings would be put back into the medicaid program in large measure. now, my friend from new jersey, not the chairman, but the predecessor speaker here, talked about ripping away health care. ironically, it is the socialist left that wants to take away all americans' health care and have the federal government run it. that would be medicare, medicaid, medicare advantage, veterans' health care in mayor medicare for all proposals that -- that would, i think, bankrupt all of government, but rip away all insurance products out there and make them illegal. so if you like your health insurance, you can say good-bye to it. some of these same people who can't count votes in iowa want to run your insurance and health care in america and i don't think that's really a good thing. . we stand here today opposing

this resolution. saying this today resolution doesn't do anything anyway except make a statement. if you want to legislate, we can partners as we were on community health centers, on children's health insurance. let's go back to work, where it belongs, in the committee. reserve.er, i'll mr. chairman, do you -- mr. speaker -- mr. chairman, could ou find out if he has another speaker now? i see mr. scott on the floor. no. you're here for something else. that, mr. chairman, i would colleagues vote against this resolution and then let's back to work in the place best.policy is done with respect to those on the ways and means committee, it's in the energy and commerce committee. that's something we agree in the bipartisan way. we can get our work done. we can get this right. chairman, i ask for a no vote and yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. pallone: thank you, mr. speaker.

i yield myself such time as i may consume to close. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pallone: thank you. i'd urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support doing so ution and in i'd like to point to some of the whereas clauses of the actual resolution. that the president as waged an unrelenting war on medicaid. it says that under his watch, under president trump's watch, uninsured children has increased, reversing years largely as a result of substantial losses in medicaid coverage for children. million children have lost medicaid and chip coverage, have er 750,000 adults lost medicaid coverage. and i know that my colleague, he ranking member, who i respect, made reference to pregnant women and said they're ot -- they would not be included under this block grant. let me read, in contrast to read something from the american college of obstetricians and gynecologists, a letter. and they say, under federal law,

pregnant womener earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level in their medicaid programs. all states cover pregnant women beyond the federal minimum. covered ant women beyond this minimum are, therefore, an optional population and could be included in a state's block grant demonstration program. o the fact of the matter is that pregnant women and postpartum women will be included in this. also it says in the whereas clauses, not only the guidance reverse e trying to here today that allows states to cap their medicaid funding through a block grant, but the proposed has also regulations to roll back access to ensureput in place beneficiaries receive the care they need. he issued guidance to allow programs to d restrict access to prescription closed adopting formularies. he had massive compounding cuts n federal funding to the

program, in direct contradiction campaign promise. last year, the administration's budget cut medicaid by $1 trillion. i would not be shocked if he ouldn't get it again by $1 trillion. we have seen this war by president trump on medicaid in we're ay, and that's why here to say to say this war against medicaid has to stop. if the g.o.p. claim they support medicaid, which oftentimes they don't, then they should be voting for this resolution. nd so i urge all my colleagues to support this resolution. i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the back.man yields all time for debate has expired. ursuant to house resolution 833, the previous question is ordered on the resolution. the question is on the adoption of the resolution. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. have it. mr. walden: i ask for the yeas and nays. mr. pallone: mr. speaker. the speaker pro tempore: the yeas and nays are requested. favoring a vote by the yeas and nays will rise.

a sufficient number having arisen, the yeas and nays are ordered. pursuant to clause 9 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. for what purpose does the gentleman from virginia rise? mr. scott: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and insert remarks xtraneous material on h.r. 2474, the protecting the right to organize act of 2019. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. to house resolution 833 and rule 18, the chair declares the committee of the whole house on the state of the union for consideration of 2474. the chair appoints the gentleman from oregon, mr. blumenauer, to

provide over the committee of the whole. the chair: the house is in the committee of the whole house on for tate of the union 2474 whichon of h.r. the clerk will report by title. the lerk: a bill to amend national labor relations act, the labor management relations the 1947, and labor-management reporting and disclosure act of 1959, and for purposes. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule -- the chair: pursuant to the rule, the bill is considered as read the first time. debate will be confined to the bill and shall not exceed ne hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and

ranking member of the committee labor.ation and the gentleman from virginia, mr. the gentlewoman from north carolina, ms. foxx, will minutes.rol 30 the chair recognizes the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. r. scott: mr. chair, throughout their history, america's labor unions have enabled millions of american their place inre the middle class and receive their fair share of the profits they produce. when workers have the power to stand together and negotiate with their employer, they have pay, better benefits, and safer working conditions. only benefit union members but also benefit -- but nonunion members also benefit from the higher wages union members enjoy. and even the children of union do better.o and under union contracts, pay

disappear because union equal get equal pay for work. union membership, which peaked around 30% of the workforce in 1950's, it's just at 10% today. level since west just after the national labor relations act was enacted. this is not a coincidence that membership -- it's not a coincidence that as union decreased, income inequality has increased. function of workers' choices. recentt study found -- a study found that nearly half of say they orkers would would join a union if given a chance. product of he intensified anti-worker attacks fail to laws that address unfair labor practices.

he lesson from the last 40 years is clear -- it is our current labor laws that are too defend workers' rights to join a union and collectively employer.ith their h.r. 2474, the protecting the ight to organize act, or the p.r.o. act, is the most significant upgrade in labor laws in 80 years. comprehensive proposal makes sensible reforms to protect and rights.en workers' the p.r.o. act would put teeth labor laws by authorizing the nlrb to assess meaningful civil penalties when their workers'te rights to organize and bargain. in ill close loopholes corporations' use to misclassify workers as independent instead of employees. thereby, evading their obligation to bargain as well as evading their obligation to pay minimum wage and overtime, compensation, ' unemployment compensation, and employee benefits.

t ensures workers can decide whether to form a union without interference. workplace cy in the should be a right, not a fight. too many americans are now too little.hard for and while corporations are enjoying record level profits, are rs and their families struggling to keep pace with rising costs of housing, education.and and other essentials. i ask my colleagues to support and reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman reserves. from north dy carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. chairman. for nk my colleague yielding time. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. foxx: thank you. i rise today in opposition to 2474, the protecting the right to organize act. in a panic over plummeting union membership. self-correct ould and increase transparency and

workers ility to serve better or dedicate more resources to union organizing attempting to rganize less than .1% of eligible employees as they did in 2018. federation largest of labor unions in america spends more than three times as political on activities as it does on its anded purpose of organizing representing workers. nd they're resorting to their usual arm twisting and ntimidation tactics by demanding democrats pass the p.r.o. act. before i get into the many, many failings of this bill, i want to correct the democrats' false narrative that the decline in membership is hurting workers. benefitting from a booming economy, thanks to regulatory ax and reforms. despite democrats' false claims,

rising faster for workers. middle-income unemployment is at a 50-year low, and millions of jobs have created since president trump took office. of poor millions americans continue to move into the middle class, and millions moving iddle class are into the ranks of the wealthy. he substantial economic mobility many americans are xperiencing should be celebrated. instead, democrats are trying to laim falsely that the economy isn't working for average americans and the only way to expand and force expand forced to unionism through coercive, socialist schemes like the p.r.o. act. let's also remember that federal law already protects the rights employees to organize, and

republicans respect that right. reforms to u.s. labor laws hould help workers, not union bosses. the p.r.o. act will require overworkers' and private, personal information to union organizers without workers say in the matter. this would make it even easier target, organizers to harass, and intimidate workers. overturn allstate right-to-work laws. these are laws that allow decide for themselves hether to join a union and pay dues. if the p.r.o. act becomes law, workers will be forced to take oney from their paychecks and give it to labor unions, even if they don't want to be union.nted by a this provision is astonishing from 2010 to that unions spent $1.6 billion in members' dues on hundreds of

groups without first receiving consent from workers to do so. will also act undermine workers' right to vote by secret ballot. is hypocrisy at its worse best. house democrats elect their own leaders by secret ballot, and held up the usmca workers l to guarantee in mexico had the right to a secret ballot. to deprivere willing merican workers of that same protection. among the p.r.o. act's most provisions is the incorporation of california's newly enacted, overly broad, and confusing definition of employee, which will deprive the ons of americans opportunity to work independently and start their businesses. bottom line, there are over 50

in this bill,ions which are bad for workers, job u.s. economy.the mr. chairman, i reserve the balance of my time. the chair: the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: thank you, mr. chairman. low-income workers are getting better paid because and ate minimum wage laws most republicans oppose and jobs created in the 35 months of the are fewer istration than the jobs created in the months of the obama administration, and so i yield three minutes to the chair of subcommittee on health, employment, labor, and pensions, the gentlelady from florida, ms. wilson. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized for three minutes. . russell wilson wilson thank you, mr. chair. i -- ms. wilson: thank you, mr. chair. 2474, in support of h.r. the great p.r.o. act. the subcommittee on health, employment, labor and pensions,

which i'm privileged to chair, nducted three long, riveting hearings on the 116th congress. during these hearings we assessed the multitude of legal obstacles workers face in securing union recognition and winning collective bargaining agreements. some facts are indisputable. collective bargaining gives america's workers an economic ladder and safer working conditions. there are so many unsafe working conditions all over america. during our first hearing we heard testimony from cynthia hopper who suffered a severe injury in an ohio assembly plant. even though cynthia was hurt, she did not give up. she fought for her rights. cynthia was fired from her plant for organizing a union to win safer working conditions for herself and her co-workers. incredibly, the national labor relations act had no civil

penalties that deter employers from violating workers' rights. importantly, the p.r.o. act addresses this by establishing meaningful penalties for companies that violate their employees' rights. this important legislation cements into law the principle that workers deserve the right to negotiate for a fair share of the wealth. wealth that their hard work, sweat and tears helps to create for this nation. this bill makes every american man, woman and child's lives better. make no mistake. anyone who has gotten a livable wage, equal pay for equal work, and a safe working environment should thank unions and support the p.r.o. act. anyone who grew up in a middle class home and is fighting to build a middle class home for their own children should thank unions and support the p.r.o. act. anyone who believes in growing

wages, providing health care for all people, and protecting workers' rights should thank unions and support the p.r.o. act. anyone who knows we should protect the right to organize and institute financial penalties on companies that interfere should thank unions and support the p.r.o. act. every single member of congress, democrats and republicans, house and senate, represent working people and this is a working people's bill. simply put, if you claim to fight for and support the interests of working people, you must support the p.r.o. act. i ask all of my colleagues, democrats and republicans, to support the working people of america and support the p.r.o. act. i yield back. the chair: the gentlelady yields back the balance of her time. the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. chair. i yield two minutes to the

gentleman from north carolina, mr. walker. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for two minutes. mr. walker: thank you, ranking member foxx. mr. speaker, today i rise in strong opposition to h.r. 2474, the p.r.o. act. in fact, the more you learn about this legislation, the more the name fits. it's pro-union boss, it's pro-shadyness, it's pro-unemployment, it's prohibitive. you know what it's not? it's not pro-worker. by repealing the right to work laws, this legislation fails to protect workers from being forced into paying hefty union dues. with unemployment hitting record lows and wages hitting record highs, our workers should be able to keep their paychecks. not hand them official to corrupt union bosses -- over to corrupt union bosses. by changing the classification of the majority of independent contractors to employees, that's important, this legislation will restrict workers, create confusion, reduce opportunity, and then increase cost. it also dramatically expands the

joint employer standard trying to force businesses to restructure their entire business models. what might seem like an insignificant or small change would actually result in the labor union mafia taking our booming economy in a one-way ride. in fact, this legislation, estimated to cost employers and workers more than $47 billion, with a b, $47 billion annually. for a party that likes to talk about the right to choose when it comes to our most essential rights, why are house democrats trying to restrict the power of choice for an entire industry of workers? and in doing so, forcing middle income workers to hand over their earnings? i urge my colleagues to oppose this blatant earth to reinstate a mob -- -- blatant effort to reinstate a mob boss rule. thank you, and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields

back the balance of his time. the gentlelady reserves. the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield one minute to the chair of the subcommittee on civil rights and human services, the gentlelady from oregon, ms. bonamici. the chair: the gentlelady is recognized. ms. bonamici: thank you, mr. chair. income inequality is challenging our communities and our future. in northwest oregon and across the country, the labor movement has helped fight income inequality, raise wages, improve working conditions, and expand benefits. more workers would join a union if given the choice, but many fear retaliation for supporting or engaging in organizing efforts. under current law, tactics to intimidate, coerce or fire workers involved in union organizing are illegal, but the penalties aren't strong enough to deter employers. i helped ban captive audience meetings when i served in the oregon legislature but theseritis should be protected for every worker in the country -- but these rights should be protected for every worker in the country. we should be making it easier for workers to collectively

bargain. i am an original co-sponsor of chairman scott protecting the right to organize act. under this bill, employers who break the rules will finally be held accountable. today, by supporting the bipartisan p.r.o. act, we can support workers, restore fairness and help to make sure our economy works for everyone. mr. chair, i request unanimous consent to enter letters in support of the p.r.o. act into the record, from the blue-green alliance and more than 70 environmental groups. i thank chairman scott for his leadership. i urge my colleagues to support this bill and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: your request is cover under general leave. -- covered under general leave. the gentlelady's time has expired. the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. chair. i yield 2 1/2 minutes to the gentleman from georgia, mr. allen. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for 2 1/2 mibs. -- minutes. mr. allen: thank you, mr. speaker, and thanks to the gentlelady from north carolina for yielding. this week, in this very chamber,

we heard from president trump about the great american comeback. our booming economy is the result of pro-worker, pro-growth and pro-american policies passed during the 115th congress. and enacted by president trump. wages are rising, jobs are being created and americans from all different backgrounds are getting back to work. including workers without high school diplomat whoost are experiencing the lowest unemployment rate recorded in u.s. history. this body must mr. on this success. not go backwards -- build on this success, not go backwards. the radical p.r.o. act will undoubtedly hurt the economy and force americans out of work. in fact, a report from the american action forum found employers could face more than $47 billion in new annual cost if the p.r.o. act becomes law. as a small business owner, i know firsthand the p.r.o. act would harm both employers and employees. the p.r.o. act contains numerous poison pills from outrageous privacy violations, to forced

union dues. this bill would outright ban right to work laws that have been successful in states like my home state of georgia. which has been named the best state to do business in now seven years in a row. without right to work laws, workers are forced to pay for representation and political activities that they may not even agree with. from 2010 to 2018, unions spent more than $1.6 billion in member dues to hundreds of left-wing groups. those include planned parenthood, and the clinton foundation. that's why i offered an amendment which i hope everyone will support to strike that provision and protect states' right to work laws. the federal government should not restrict americans -- american workers' first amendment rights by forcing them to pay union dues. the p.r.o. act will restrict our booming economy and infringe on the rights of workers and employers.

the american worker deserves fairness and he deserves choice. my colleagues have a choice before them. they can stand with americans and president trump to keep america great and free by voting no on the p.r.o. act. or they can join the radicals who have seized the democratic party and put america on a path of socialism. i will always stand with liberty and president trump and will proudly vote no on the p.r.o. act. thank you. and i yield back the balance of my time. the chair: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: thank you, mr. chairman. mr. chairman, i yield to the co-chair of the progressive caucus, the gentleman from wisconsin, for the purpose of a unanimous consent request. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. >> thank you, mr. speaker. i'd like to ask unanimous consent to submit a letter from the afl-cio for the record. the chair: this is covered by general leave. mr. scott: thank you, mr. chairman. i now yield one minute to the gentleman from wisconsin.

the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. pocan: thank you, mr. speaker. and thank you, mr. chairman. as one of the few union members in congress, let me tell you that the benefits that workers and families earn from being in a union are significant. workers in a union make almost 10,000 -- $10,000 more per year and 70% of workers in a union have a pension plan compared to just 13% of nonunion workers. the problem is there have been decades' long coordinated attacks on workers' rights to join or form a union. it's time to make it easier for workers to have a voice in their workplace and we've got some work to do. there are laws make it harder to organize and employees involved in organizing face barriers, including a one in five chance of getting fired. even when workers do form a union, employers refuse to bargain and more than half of the new unions don't get a collective bargaining agreement within a year. if you vote to form a union, you should have one and get a contract. if you're an employee, you shouldn't be misclassified as an independent contractor, and if an employer violates your labor

rights, you shouldn't be let off the hook. i am proud to support workers' rights and i am proud to support the protecting the right to organize act. and i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlelady from north carolina. ms. foxx: thank you, mr. chair. i yield one minute to the gentleman from south carolina, mr. timons. the chair: the gentleman is recognized for a minute. mr. timmons: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in strong opposition to the p.r.o. act. our economy is booming, the unemployment rate is at a record low. the p.r.o. act would interfere with this historic progress by adding more federal regulations on the very businesses that have been responsible for this growth. employers and businesses could face more than $47 billion in new annual costs if this bill becomes law. this bill would force employees to take a public vote on whether they would want to be a part of a union. a rule that the house democrats do not even follow themselves. democrats even held up the usmca to guarantee the right to a secret ballot. yet they are depriving the american worker of that same protection in the p.r.o. act.

over half of the states in this country have passed their own right to work laws, including my home state of south carolina. the p.r.o. act would effectively invalidate these laws by forcing workers to pay union dues in order to keep their jobs. this is a gross overreach of the federal government and something we need less of, not more of, throughout this country. the p.r.o. act is yet another example of democratic partisanship and a flagrant power grab and is, as many other things we've done this year, not going to get a hearing in the senate. i urge my colleagues to vote no and with that i yield back. the chair: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from virginia. ms. foxx: i reserve. the chair: reserves. thank you. the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: thank you, mr. chairman. i yield one minute to a distinguished member of the committee on education and labor, the gentleman from connecticut, mr. courtney. the chair: the gentleman is recognized. mr. courtney: thank you, mr. speaker, i rise in support of the protecting the right to organize act, which is a pro-middle class measure that if enacted will increase incomes,

improve benefits and promote better working conditions for tens of millions of americans. the billie essentially debugs all -- billie essentially debugs -- bill essentially debugs loopholes that have been exploited over the last 50 years to delay and deny americans the right to organize for a better standard of living. the data is crystal clear. the decline of unions since the 19 0s has coincided with wage stagnation for the middle class and the skyrocketing wealth of americans in the top .1%, creating our new gilded age of outrageous income inequality. the rights this bill will secure have been internationally recognized as basic human rights and the universal declaration of human rights by the united nations charrer in the wake of world war ii and the vatican and the pope in 1891, as leo said, the right to organize is, quote, the natural right, and the state has for its office to protect natural rights, not to destroy them. passage of this bill will protect