the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. jeffries: as the member designated congresswoman garcia, pursuant to h.res. 8, i inform the house that congresswoman garcia will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for

what purpose does the the gentlewoman from california seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. mark takano, i inform the house that mr. takano will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? ms. wasserman schultz: as the member designated by mr. crist of florida, i inform the house that mr. crist will vote nay on

the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> thank you. madam speaker, as the member

designated by mr. hagedorn of minnesota, i inform the house that mr. hagedorn will vote yes on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. curtis of utah, i inform the house that mr. curtis will vote yea on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by ms. al ma adams of north carolina, i inform the house that ms. adams will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek

recognition? mr. pallone: as the member designated by mr. albio sires, i inform the house that mr. sires will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by mr. donald payne, i inform the house that mr. payne will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by mrs. bonnie watson coleman, i inform the house that mrs. watson coleman will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. lawson, i inform the house that mr. lawson will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. dan kildee of michigan,

pursuant to house resolution 8, i inform the house that mr. kildee will vote nay on the motion to recommit h.r. 6119. and as the member designated by mr. g.k. butterfield of north carolina, pursuant to house resolution 8, i inform the house that mr. butterfield will vote no on the motion to recommit h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> ma'am chair, as the member designated by mr. reed of new york, pursuant to house resolution 8, i inform the house that mr. reed will vote yes on the m.t.r. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. rush of illinois, i inform the house that mr. rush will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. russ fulcher

of idaho, i inform the house that mr. fulcher will vote yea on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from -- the gentlewoman from new hampshire seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. meng, i inform the house that ms. meng will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by ms. frankel, i inform the house that ms. frankel will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. underwood of illinois, i inform the house that ms. underwood will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from connecticut seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. wilson, i inform the house that ms. wilson will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek

recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. swalwell, i inform the house that mr. swalwell will vote no on the motion to recommit. as the member designated by mr. vela, i inform the house that mr. vela will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. palazzo of mississippi, i inform the house that mr. palazzo will vote yea on the motion to recommit. thank you.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from utah seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. chris stewart of utah, i inform the house that mr. stewart will vote yea on the motion to recommit. madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. blake moore of utah, i inform the house that mr. moore will vote yea on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. cawthorn of the great state of north carolina, i inform the house that mr. cawthorn will vote yes on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from west virginia seek recognition? mrs. miller: as the member designated by mrs. lesko of arizona, i inform the house that mrs. lesko will vote yes on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. peter defazio of oregon, i inform the house that mr. defazio will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from virginia seek recognition? ms. wexton: madam speaker, as the member designated by ms. porter, i inform the house that ms. porter will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from michigan seek recognition? >> as the member designated by congressman donalds from florida, pursuant to h.res. 8, i inform the house that

congressman donalds will vote yea on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. johnson: as the member designated by brenda lawrence from michigan, i inform the house that mrs. lawrence will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for

what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. ruiz, i inform the house that mr. ruiz will vote no on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the the gentleman from florida seek recognition? mr. soto: as the member designated by mr. cardenas, madam speaker, i inform the house that mr. cardenas will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. al green from texas, i inform the house that mr. green will vote no on the motion to recommit.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the the gentlelady from florida seek recognition? >> thank you, madam speaker. as the member designated by mr. posey of florida, i inform the house that mr. posey will vote yea on the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated mr. reschenthaler of the great commonwealth of pennsylvania, i inform the house that mr. reschenthaler will be voting yes on the m.t.r.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 219. the nays are -- yeas are 211. the nays are 219. the motion is not adopted. the question is on passage of the bill. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the bill -- for what purpose does the gentleman from washington investigated. >> madam speaker, i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 3-s of house resolution 8, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. [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: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. rush of illinois, i inform the house that mr. rush will vote yes on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated mr. cawthorn of north carolina, i inform the house that mr. cawthorn will vote no on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member

designated by mr. peter defazio of oregon, i inform the house that mr. defazio will vote yes on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? >> thank you, madam speaker. as the member designated by mr. posey of the sunshine state, i inform the house that mr. posey will vote nay on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by the -- by mr. g.k. butterfield, north carolina's favorite son, pursuant to h.res. 8, i inform the house that mr. butterfield will vote yes on h.r. 6199. further extending government funding act. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from west virginia seek recognition? mrs. miller: as the member designated by mrs. lesko of arizona, i inform the house that mrs. lesko will vote no on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from kale seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. swalwell, i inform the house that mr. swalwell will vote aye on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. palazzo of mississippi, i inform the house that mr. palazzo will vote nay on h.r. 6119. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from connecticut seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. wilson, i inform the house that ms. wilson will vote yes on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. reed of new york, pursuant to house resolution 8, i inform the house that mr. reed will vote no on

h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. al green of texas, i inform the house that mr. green will vote yes on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. russ fulcher of idaho, i inform the house that mr. fulcher will vote nay on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from virginia seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by ms. porter, i inform the house that ms. porter will vote yes on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from utah seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. chris stewart of utah, i inform the house that mr. stewart votes nay on h.r. 6119. madam speaker, as the member designated by blake moore, i inform the house that mr. moore will vote nay on h.r. 6119.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. cardenas, i inform the house that mr. cardenas will vote yea on h.r. 6119. and keep the government open. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. hagedorn of minnesota, i inform the house that mr. hagedorn will vote no on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by ms. adams of north carolina, i inform the house that ms. adams will vote yes on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. reschenthaler of pennsylvania, i inform the house that mr. reschenthaler

will be vote nothing on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i rise as the member designated by mrs. brenda lawrence of michigan, i inform the house that mrs. lawrence will vote yea on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from michigan seek recognition? >> thank you. as the member designated by congressman donalds from florida, pursuant to house resolution 8, i inform the house that congressman donalds will vote nay on passage of h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. ruiz, i inform the house that mr. ruiz will vote yes on h.r. 6119.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> as the member designated by ms. underwood of illinois, i inform the house that ms. underwood will vote yes on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. jeffries: as the member designated by congresswoman sylvia garcia, i inform the house that congresswoman garcia will vote yea on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california seek

recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. mark takano, i inform the house that mr. takano will vote yes on h.r. 6119.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. lawson, i inform the house that mr. lawson will vote yes on h.r. 6119. on passage. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. curtis of utah, i inform the house that mr. curtis will vote nay on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. albio sires, i inform the house that mr. sires will vote yes on h.r. 6119. as the member designated by mrs. bonnie watson coleman, i inform the house that mrs. watson coleman will vote yes on h.r. 6119. as the member designated by mr. donald payne, i inform the house that mr. payne will vote yes on h.r. 6119.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from new hampshire seek recognition? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by ms. meng, i inform the house that ms. meng will vote yes on h.r. 6119. and as the member designated by ms. frankel, i inform the house that ms. frankel will vote yes on h.r. 6119.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida rise? ms. wasserman schultz: madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. crist of florida, i inform the house that mr. crist will vote yea on h.r. 6119.

the speaker pro tempore: the yeas are 221. the nays are 212. the pill is passed -- bill is passed and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. roy: object. the speaker pro tempore: objection is heard. for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> i have a motion at the desk. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: moves to reconsider h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from connecticut seek recognition? ms. delauro: madam speaker, i have a motion toe desk. the speaker pro tempore: the

clerk will report the motion. the clerk: ms. delauro of connecticut moves to table the motion to reconsider. the speaker pro tempore: the question now occurs on the motion to table. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. the motion -- the gentleman from texas. mr. roy: i request the yeas and nays. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 3 serb s -- 3-s of house resolution 8, the yeas and nays are ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. 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: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? mr. evans: madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. lawson, i inform the house that mr. lawson will vote yes on h.r. 6119. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from utah rise? mr. owe yearns: as the member designated mr. chris stewart of utah, i inform the house that mr. stewart wants to vote nay on the motion to table. madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. blake moore, i inform the house that mr. moore of utah will vote nay object thd upon the table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman

from california rise? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. peter defazio of oregon, i inform the house that mr. defazio will vote yes on the motion to table. purposes of the gentleman from michigan rise? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. curtis of utah, i inform the house that mr. curtis will vote nay on the motion to table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. russ fulcher of idaho, i inform the house that mr. fulcher will vote nay on the motion to table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> as the member designated by mr. al green from texas, i inform the house that mr. green will vote yes on the motion to table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from west virginia rise? mrs. miller: as the member

designated by mrs. lesko of arizona, i inform the house that mrs. lesko will vote no on the motion to table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. reed of new york, pursuant to h.res. 8, i inform the house that mr. reed will vote no on the motion to table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> as the member designated by mr. swalwell, i inform the house that mr. swalwell will vote aye on the motion to table. mr. gomez: as the member designated by mr. vela, i inform the house that mr. vela will vote aye on the motion to table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. cawthorn of north carolina, i inform the house that mr. cawthorn will vote no on the motion to table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida rise?

mr. soto: madam speaker, as the member designated mr. cardenas, i inform the house that mr. cardenas will vote yea on the motion to table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida rise? >> thank you, madam speaker of the. as the member designated mr. posey of sunshine state, i inform the house that mr. posey will vote nay on the motion to table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. rush of illinois, i inform the house that mr. rush will vote yes on the motion to table. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. hagedorn of minnesota, i inform the house that mr. hagedorn will vote no on the motion to table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york rise? >> as the member designated by congresswoman garcia, pursuant to h.res. 8, i inform the house that congresswoman garcia will vote yea on the motion to table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. reschenthaler of the commonwealth of pennsylvania, i inform the house that mr. reschenthaler will be voting no on the motion to table. mr. meuser: as the member designated mr. luetkemeyer of missouri, i inform the house that mr. luetkemeyer will be voting no on the motion to table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia rise? mr. johnson: madam speaker, i rise as the member designated by congresswoman brenda lawrence from michigan to inform the house that mrs. lawrence will votey on -- vote aye on the motion to table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from michigan rise?

>> as the member designated by congressman donalds from florida, pursuant to h.res. 8, i inform the house that congressman donalds will vote nay on the motion to table. the motion to recommit. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from florida rise? ms. wasserman schultz: madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. crist of florida, i inform the house that mr. crist will vote yea -- will -- yes, will vote yea on the motion to table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee rise? mr. fleischmann: madam speaker, as the member designated mr. palazzo of mississippi, i inform the house that mr. palazzo will vote nay on the motion to table. thank you. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? >> as the member designated by mr. mark takano, i inform the house that mr. takano will vote yes on the motion to table. the speaker pro tempore: for

what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. ruiz, i inform the house that mr. ruiz will vote yes on the motion to table. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? >> as the member designated by ms. underwood of illinois, i inform the house that ms. underwood will vote yes on the motion to table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio rise? mr. ryan: as the member designated mr. g.k. butterfield, pursuant to h.res. 8, i inform the house that mr. butterfield will vote yes on the motion to table. the motion to reconsider. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from connecticut rise? mrs. hayes: as the member designated by ms. wilson, i inform the house that ms. wilson will vote yes on the motion to table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does -- for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland rise? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by alma adams of north carolina, i inform the house that ms. adams will vote yes on the motion to table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose -- for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey rise? mr. pallone: madam speaker. as the member designated by mr. albio sires, i inform the house that mr. sires will vote yes on the motion to table. as the member designated by mrs. bonnie watson coleman, i inform the house that mrs. watson coleman will vote yes on the motion to table. as the member designated by mr. donald payne, i inform the house that mr. payne will vote yes on the motion to table.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from new hampshire rise? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by ms. meng, i inform the house that ms. meng will

vote yes on the motion to table. as the member designated by ms. frankel, i inform the house that ms. frankel will vote yes on the motion to table.

the speaker pro tempore: have all members voted? the speaker pro tempore: on this vote, the yeas are 217, the nays are 209. the motion is adopted. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, the unfinished business is the vote on the motion of the gentlelady from new mexico, ms. he jeer fernandez -- ms. leger fernandez to pass h.r. 2930 on which the yeas and nays are ordered. the clerk will port the title. the clerk: h.r. 2930, a bill to enhance protection of native american tangible cultural

heritage and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: the question is, will the house suspend the rules and pass the bill as amended. members will record their votes by electronic device. [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: for what purpose does the gentlelady from california rise? >> as the member designated by mr. takano, i inform the house that mr. takano will vote yes on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. cawthorn of north carolina, i inform the house that mr. cawthorn will vote yes on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois rise? >> madam speaker, as the member

designated by mr. rush of illinois, i inform the house that mr. rush will vote yes on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania rise? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. reed of new york, pursuant to house resolution 8, i inform the house that mr. reed will vote yes on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlelady from virginia rise? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by ms. porter, i inform the house that ms. porter will vote yes on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan rise? >> madam speaker, as the member designated by mr. curtis of utah, i inform the house that mr. cur kit -- cur kit will vote yea on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> as the member designated by mr. swalwell, i inform the house that mr. swalwell will vote aye on h.r. 2930.

as the member designated by mr. vela, i inform the house that mr. vela will vote aye on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from west virginia seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mrs. lesko of arizona, i inform the house that mrs. lesko will vote yes on h.r. 2930. for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? mr. jeffries: as the member designated by congresswoman sylvia garcia, i inform the house that congresswoman garcia will vote yea on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from utah seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. chris stewart of utah, i inform the house that mr. stewart will vote yea on h.r. 2930.

mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. blake moore of utah, i inform the house that mr. moore will vote yea on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. alma adams of north carolina, i inform the house that ms. adams will vote yes on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. russ fulcher of idaho, i inform the house that mr. fulcher will vote yea on h.r. 2930.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from florida seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. cardenas, i inform the house that mr. cardenas will vote yea on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. reschenthaler of the great commonwealth of pennsylvania, i inform the house that mr. reschenthaler will be voting yes on h.r. 2930. as the member designated by mr. luetkemeyer of missouri, i inform the house that mr. luetkemeyer will be voting yes on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member

designated by mr. crist of florida, i inform the house that mr. crist will vote yea on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. hagedorn of minnesota, i inform the house that mr. hagedorn will vote yes on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new hampshire seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. meng, i inform the house that ms. meng will vote yes on h.r. 2930678 as the member designated by ms. frankel, i inform the house that ms. frankel will vote yes on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from michigan seek recognition? >> as the member designated by congressman donalds from florida, i inform the house that congressman donalds will vote yea on the passage of h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman

from ohio seek recognition? mr. ryan: as the member designated by mr. g.k. butterfield of north carolina, pursuant to house resolution 8, i inform the house that mr. butterfield, north carolina's favorite son, will vote yes on h.r. 2930, safeguard tribal objects of patrimony act of 2021, as amended. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? >> thank you, mr. speaker. as the member designated by mr. posey of the sunshine state, i inform the house that mr. posey will vote yea on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? >> as the member designated by mr. al green of texas, i inform the house that mr. green will vote yes on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. palazzo of

mississippi, i inform the house that mr. palazzo will vote yea on h.r. 2930. thank you.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. aguilar: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. ruiz, i inform the house that mr. ruiz will vote yes on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? mr. casten: as the member designated by mr. underwood, i inform the house that -- ms. underwood, i inform the house that ms. underwood will vote yes on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from pennsylvania seek recognition? mr. evans: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. lawson, i inform the house that mr. lawson votes yes on h.r. 2930.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new jersey seek recognition? mr. pallone: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. albio sires, i inform the house that mr. sires votes yes on h.r. 2930. as the member designated by mrs. bonnie watson coleman, i inform the house that mrs. watson coleman will vote yes on h.r. 2930. and as the member designated by mr. donald payne, i inform the house that mr. payne will vote yes on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. carbajal: mr. speaker, as the member designated by mr. peter defazio of oregon, i inform the house that mr. defazio will vote yes on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from georgia seek recognition? mr. johnson: mr. speaker, as the member designated by ms. brenda lawrence from michigan -- mrs. brenda lawrence from

michigan, i inform the house that mrs. lawrence will vote yes on h.r. 2930. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from connecticut seek recognition? -- for what purpose does the gentlewoman from connecticut seek recognition? mrs. hayes: as the member designated by ms. wilson, i inform the house that ms. wilson will vote yes on h.r. 2930.

the speaker pro tempore: on this vote the yeas are 364. the nays are 57. 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are suspended, the bill is passed, and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from michigan seek recognition? >> mr. speaker, i speak for one moment for a moment of silence. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady is recognized. >> mr. speaker, this has been one of the darkest and most painful weeks our state of michigan has had in recent memory. we stand here, the michigan delegation, of democrats and republicans, along with the honorary michiganders, to ask congress see your own children in the pictures of those who were lost in yet another school shooting. in less than five minutes, the

small town of oxford, michigan, was changed forever when a gunman opened fire on his fellow high school students. in that momentary flash, four innocent teenagers, students with their entire lives ahead of them, were taken from us in yet another senseless act of violence. ms. slotkin: hana st. jewel evena was -- julina, baby-sat for a friend of mine and made her high school debut on the basketball team on monday night. hana was 14 years old. madisyn baldwin was accepted to college. she had a younger half brother and two sisters and her friends described her as arn artist who loved to draw, read and write. madisyn was 17. tate myre was a tight end and running back on the varsity football team. there is already a petition to

rename oxford's football stadium in his honor. he was 16 years old. justin shilling was a senior, getting ready for life after high school. he was the co-captain of the school's bowling team and he worked part time at anita's kitchen, a restaurant nearby. justin was 17. seven others were wounded, and make no mistake, every single student, parent, friend, family member, and community member in the greater area now has wounds that you can't see. the wounds that affect the head and the heart. last night, i attended a service at a church where many oxford families attend. the pastor spoke for many when he asked -- where do we go with our fears? we feel powerless to prevent this kind of tragedy. we mourn the brokenness much a culture where children kill children. today, i ask my colleagues from across the country to join me in a moment of silence to honor the

lives of hana, madisyn, tate, and justin. i ask you for this moment to put yourselves in the shoes of those in the places like columbine, sandy hook, parkland, santa fe, noblesville and now oxford, michigan, and i ask you to refuse to be powerless in the powerful body that is the u.s. congress. mr. speaker, i ask the house observe a moment of silence in honor of the victims of the oxford high school tragedy.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from louisiana seek recognition? mr. scalise: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for the purposes of inquiring to the majority leader the schedule for next week. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. scalise: madam speaker, i also ask to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without

objection. mr. scalise: with that, i want to now yield to the majority leader, my friend from maryland, to talk about the schedule for next week. i yield. mr. hoyer: i thank the gentleman for yielding. pending senate passage of the c.r. tonight, without amendment, the house will not pending passage of the krferlt r. tonight, if the c.r. is not in session, we will be in session tomorrow. if the senate fails toll act, we will meet at 9:00 a.m. and expected to vote on some of the postponed suspensions. we will work to prevent a shutdown at 12 midnight. next monday, h.r. 6119, being signed into law, the house is no longer expected to meet. this is a change from our

previous announced. we will not be in session on monday, assuming we have funded the government. on tuesday, the house will meet at 12:00 p.m. and 2:00. on wednesday and thursday, 10:00 a.m. and 12 proximate cause. on friday, the house will meet at 9:00 a.m. the house will consider several bills. the complete list of suspension bills will be announced by the close of business tomorrow. additionally, the house will pass h.r. 4350 the national defense authorization act. again, second time, to provide our troops with the pay they deserve and the military with the tools it needs to carry out its missions and keep america safe and keep the peace. again, i would reiterate, second

time we will pass this version as i understand it will be the conference-agreed version of the defense bill. this has been a discussion between the house and the senate. the house will consider h.r. 8363 to reassert congress' role by addressing the vulnerabilities exploited by the former president to undermine the rule of law and subvert checks and balances. and the house may also consider legislation to address the debt limit and prevent a manufactured catastrophe that will cause needless suffering. i would reiterate, while we don't know the exact date which america will be unable to pay its bills, we will address this

next week, hopefully in a bipartisan fashion. the house will be acting on h.r. 5376 the build back better act should the senate send it back to the house. and additional legislative items are possible. and i will yield back to the distinguished the gentleman from louisiana. heaver. >> tomorrow's schedule could be fluid how the c.r. is processed. if the c.r. does not pass the senate, are there bills designated to come up tomorrow? mr. hoyer: we have a list of suspension bills that has been announced and has been on our calendar and those are the pieces of legislation we would deal pending action by the senate. mr. scalise: as it relates to

the debt ceiling and we had a discussion, would there be a bipartisan negotiation? we haven't had that so far. is there anticipation there would be a plan to try to engage both sides in the negotiation on the debt ceiling or something we will have to wait and see next week? mr. hoyer: we will have to wait and see what is going to happen. we have passed a debt limit twice through this house. there has been a problem in the senate and i would expect senator schumer and senator mcconnell will be discussing that in the next few days. senator mcconnell has made it clear that he thinks that failing to protect the full faith and credit of the united states of america would have dire adverse consequences. so he made it very clear he ought not to do that and senator

schumer thinks the same and my answer to the gentleman is, we passed it twice in one form or another. so we can pass it and will pass it once the senate agrees on a version. two leaders are discussing that. i haven't talked to either one of them. mr. scalise: what develops from that discussion, as it relates to the national defense authorization act and as the gentleman pointed out, we are aware there are bipartisan negotiations between the house and senate and democrats and republicans. there are a few final details that both sides are trying to work out. they have already agreed which we both share that our troops deserve a pay raise and that number has been agreed to. hopefully that is part of this as far as the proper levels of

funding and we know the detriment because it can enter into the contract that are necessary. hopefully those conversations seem that is a bill that can come to the floor next week and come together. and i yield. mr. hoyer: i agree with the gentleman's comments. it is my understanding that interviewing the conference-agreed bill in the house and passing it through the house, will under senate procedures, facilitate them resolving this issue in a positive way next week. mr. scalise: two specific pieces of legislation i would like the gentleman to look at. one, by the end of the year, there are potential cuts coming

to entities to medicare if congress doesn't take action. there is a bipartisan bill that members of the doctors' caucus and other members of jurisdiction which is 6020 which would stave off those cuts and would need to be passed by the end of the year. if the gentleman can look at that bill and something we can do in a bipartisan way before we leave for the year. another would be -- and you and i had this conversation on other legislation dealing with a.l.s. and there are others. i have spoken about this. there is a piece of legislation that got out of the energy and commerce committee, h.r. 3537. and i would just ask if the gentleman could look at that

bill. it came out unanimously bipartisan from the energy and commerce committee and would help a lot of people that could use that help. mr. hoyer: i have talked to the sponsor and others and i expect this bill to be on the floor next week. mr. scalise: that would be great news to people of this country. hoish. mr. hoyer: with respect to the issues, the cliffs that were created on medicare and sequester are not good policy and we ought to act on those and we know about that issue and hopefully resolve thrl next week. i know the gentleman will agree that last -- earlier this year, we delayed to january 1 of this

coming year, these items, particularly the 2% sequester by a vote of 90-2 in the senate, meaning only two people voting against it. and in the house, 384, unanimous on our side but you had the overwhelming majority, 384-38, we extended that and i'm hopeful we will do it in a bipartisan way. not to do so will be harmful to the medical community and patients that are served by the medical community. i'm hopeful we can resolve that as early as next week. mr. scalise: i share that sentiment and hopefully we can achieve those bipartisan victories and mentioned h.r. 3537, that would be a tremendous victory for people who struggle with a.l.s. and i appreciate the

gentleman's past efforts as well as the offer to bring that bill to the floor next week. i yield back. mr. hoyer: i yield back. mr. scalise: i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentleman from michigan 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. >> i rise today with a heavy heart to honor the four students murdered and the teacher and six students injured in the oxford, high school shooting in my home

county. my own daughter was not in school today and not tomorrow due to threats of copiycat students many schools are closed all together. this is a terrifying time to be a parent, school professional and law enforcement officer and lord knows a child. this was the deadliest school shooting since 2018, the year our children rose up and take action. the house has passed several bills to curb gun violence but congress has not enacted a single new law for our kids. this father urges our colleagues in the senate to act, to act. no more thoughts and prayers but to act at long last. i send my condolences to the

families. when we say never again, let's mean it this time. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from ohio 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. mr. chabot: inflation is rising. the cost of buying a home is up, the cost to fill your gas tank up and even the cost of buying christmas presents is up. the failed policies of the biden administration have made things considerably worse. his administration and his allies have spent trillions of dollars that we don't have which will lead to higher taxes and higher prices for items that americans buy every day. despite the bad news, one point

county in my district has good news. think announced they will not be collecting property taxes. the commissioners were able to do this by exercising fiscal responsibility and putting aside money for a rainy day. kudos to the warren county commissioners. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee seek recognition? >> unanimous consent to speak for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. cohen: i mourn the loss of the supreme court of the united states of america. as a lawyer, i have always had respect for the court as the highest court in the land dispensing justice and bush v.

gore and shelby versus holder, destroying section 5 and taking the basic fundamentals of democracy away from so many people. and citizens united gave the rich and powerful more money and yesterday it took women's right to choose and to hear some of the arguments from justice kava nmp augh. high-speed is not in the constitution but the court can hear cases on that. and to hear justice barrett that women can give birth to the children because there is somebody who wants to adopt that child deciding for the mothers might cost their life. child bearing is not without risks. the court is diminished.

i thank you for the time. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from wisconsin seek recognition? >> i i request unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. >> the biden administration is a disaster and cancel the keystone pipeline cost hundreds of jobs in wisconsin and undermined and his policies made energy prices sorry. the america -- sore are paying for it. and this is an e.p.a. designated ozone nonattainment zone a contributor to the high prices. this requires area gas stations to use reformulated gasoline and

increased costs is passed on to consumers resulting in gas prices 10 to 15 cents compared to the county right next to us. president biden is blaming oil and gas prices for the gas prices and encouraging the s.e.c. to investigate. this is the administration's failed policies of the manipulation gas prices. americans cannot afford this way of life and i yield back. . the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from new york seek recognition? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise today because the maternal health country in this country is dire with the united states being the only experienced country in the world experiencing a rise for maternal

mortality rates. and minorities are more likely to die from pregnancy related issues. thanks to the leadership of black women in congress, congresswoman underwood, congresswoman sewell, congresswoman adams, and more who are driving the momnibus, we are coming out of a black maternal health crisis. mr. bowman: i rise to my sisters and their babies who are more than a stasic and deserve to be holistically treated and cared for. black moms matter. i join you in our effort to protect black women and black mothers. thank you and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from illinois seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without

objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. >> madam speaker, i rise to commemorate the service of brigadier general robby robinson on his retirement on the air -- from the air national guard. he served 41 years in the armed forces, much of peoria's 182nd airlift wing of the air national guard. he served as a security policeman, a pilot, chief of operations, wing commander, and chief of staff for the illinois air national guard. general robertson was integral on making the 182nd one of the best c-130's unit in the country. mr. lahood: they nine times reached the highest c-130 capability rates. he's known throughout the peoria community for his integrity. he's beloved for those who work with him and know him.

i want to thank him for his service to our country and our community and wish him well in his retirement. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from arkansas seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to speak to the house for one minute and to 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 recognize gordon rather and his hard work with the arkansas historic museum in little rock. currently gordon served as secretary of the historic museum commission. this year will mark his 50th year on the museum's board. for half those years, i've been fortunate to work alongside gordon, an exceptional attorney and civic leader. he's devoted his adult life to preserving arkansas's rich heritage for our kids. mr. hill: i'm proud to serve by his side for this worthy mission. i've seen firsthand the impact he's made on his our state and

the legacy he's preserving. congratulations, guard, on 50 years educating arkansans about our rich history and for preserving it for the next generation. i'm thankful for your service. thank you, madam speaker, and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from florida seek recognition? >> i ask the house -- i ask to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. >> i rise today on the fifth day of hanukkah to give special recognition to my jewish community in florida's district number 27. as their congresswoman, i have the distinct honor of representing one of the largest jewish communities in the country, which includes temple bethham, one of the largest congregations in the southeastern united states. ms. salazar: they have welcomed people to worship, to study, and

to seek refuge. for over six decades, the synagogue has provided spiritual guidance and served the miami community in so many ways. much of this would have never happened without the leadership of the senior rabbi jeremy baraz. there's so many great spiritual jewish leaders in our community, along with rabbi baraz. rabbi yitzi in miami beach. rabbi haralg pine crest. they are esteemed local leaders and pillars of the miami jewish community and i call them my friends. over the next few days, our jewish brothers and sisters all over the world will continue to celebrate the festival of lights, god permitting. i offer my best wishes to all of them. thank you.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas seek recognition? ms. jackson lee: to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. ms. jackson lee: thank you. i guess, madam speaker, since i have been here since the columbine tragedy, which is more than 20 years ago, i faced a mountain of tragedies in schools with children dying at the hands of guns. i offer my deepest sympathy for the loss of beautiful, precious young people in michigan. but i think a simple addition to this whole idea of gun safety discussions, so i intend to introduce a bill that is in tribute to kimberly vaughn, who died in santa fe, at the hands of a young gunman. and to just simply say, store your guns. this storage act, in honor to her name, responds to the tragedy that just happened as

well. because it requires manufacturers and retailers to sell guns with storage safety devices to ensure that those penalties for not doing so is ahead of the loss of life. providing tax credits for those who do that and as well providing grants for more information about safety devices. we have to do whatever we can to save the lives of our children. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from wisconsin seek recognition? mr. grothman: i would like to make unanimous consent request to speak for a minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. grothman: i think after next week we'll spend about three weeks back in the district. it would be nice if people would go down to the southern border, as i did, and look at the path into yuma, texas, in which all the photo i.d.'s are being thrown aside so the type of people who want to forget their past want to start a new life in

america. but i also hope when people go back home they spend some time with the farmers and with the manufacturers that make our country run. they will find that the cost of metals used in manufacturing -- i have a big manufacturing district -- are sometimes going up five or six times. not five or six percent. five or six times. they'll find that mucking around with the free market of trucking in california has resulted in huge shortages of various different things that we need. including chemicals needed for agriculture, for things like planting soybeans and corn so at least some farmers are afraid sometime in the next year we'll have a food shortage. they'll find out that the goal of taking away fossil fuels is going to result in significant increases in heated oil. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. grothman: a particular problem in northern wisconsin. i'd like to thank you.

the speaker pro tempore: for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. lamalfa: madam speaker, as we reflect upon yet another horrific fire season in california and the west, we can't allow ourselves to forget or get complacent. now, this week we've had several good meetings here in d.c. with various groups talking about the need for better forest management. this is more or less what the average forest looks like that's unmanaged. you can hardly see through it. you can never ride a horse through it. what does this mean, an overcrowded forest? it means fire danger. these trees compete for a limited amount of water supply. insects attack. weaken trees. they don't have enough water and soil nutrients. a right amount of trees per acre

would look something like that. see, we're not cutting all trees from mexico to the canadian border. we're leaving some behind. a healthier, more sustainable forest. we will have much more success, much less fire danger. indeed, over a million acres in my district burned this year. a million acres. it's terrible for air quality, water quality, for the habitat. we can do so much better. putting people back to work to -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. under the speaker's announced policy of january 4, 2021, the

gentleman from new york, mr. bowman, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. -- mr. bowman: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my special order. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. bowman: thank you, madam speaker. today, we are focused on federal student loans. this global pandemic, which is very much still with us, has been hard on americans in so many ways. one source of relief the federal government has been able to provide is the pause on federal

student loan payments. that pause is scheduled to end after january, and tens of millions of americans will have to resume monthly payments on their loans. millions of people will yet again be faced with terrible choices, between paying off their loans and putting food on the table or paying for childcare or paying medical bills. student debt is a national crisis. it was a crisis before the covid-19 pandemic, and it is an even bigger one now. i can't think of a better opportunity to cancel student loan debt. today, over 40 million borrowers owe a combined $1.8 trillion in loans, and the share of people who are able to make payments high enough to reduce their principal balance has been rapidly declining. that means for years people have been doing all they can to make

monthly payments but can only afford to keep up with the interest that accrues. so if someone took out a $30,000 loan to go to a public state university but can only afford the minimum monthly payments to cover interest, they could be paying hundreds of dollars every month for years without seeing the total amount they owe go down at all. in fact, many borrowers see their debt increase because they can't even keep up with the interest. far too often, it can take a borrower over a decade to pay off their loans. and many borrowers independent up -- end up defaulting because they simply cannot make ends meet with such high payments. this can have lasting impacts on a person's financial, mental, and physical health, which taken all together, makes it hard for

people to fully participate in the economy over the long term. for example, you can't get a small business association loan if you have defaulted on any loan in the past seven years. so many of our family members, friends, and neighbors face additional barriers to starting businesses because of student debt. they face additional barriers to save for retirement, buying homes, taking care of their health, and putting off doctor's visits or necessary prescriptions, starting families or pursuing a career they are passionate about. . students took these risks in pursuit of the american dream to obtaining a college degree. students across america are doing what we asked them to do, work hard and study and learn greatly, develop your mind and expand your world view.

students across america took these steps because we told them education, higher education would be the great equalizer and would open doors. instead, we have shut those doors in their faces one by one and have disproportionately done this to black and latino and indigenous and poor students and we have preyed upon our student kids. this is a racial justice issue and we cannot talk about the problem nor the solutions without experiencing the students of color. cancelling student debt would put money back into students' pockets and improving the economy. this could be used to pay for child care so parents can

re-enter the work force. this is money that can be used to start a business or buy a house or pay for necessary health care. this newfound freedom will open the door to pursue a passion or purpose like teaching, nursing or public service rather than one that just pays the bill. this freedom will improve one's quality of live and improve the necessary and quality. cancelling student debt would go a long way in retuesdaying the racial health gap and home ownership gap and is time to cancel this predatory student debt to give the american people a fresh start and accelerate beth the economic and social well-being of our nation.

our predatory debt is unfair and unjust burden that has been hanging over the heads of borrowers as they try to pursue an education. i along with many members you will hear have been calling on president biden to cancel federal student loans. this authority is being used right now to cancel the interest owed on federal student loans during the pandemic and now to cancel all federal student debt. and now i am pleased to yield to my other colleagues who will highlight how to cancel student loan debt is urgently needed. i would like to yield to the the gentlewoman from state, ms. jayapal, to address this house on this important issue.

ms. jayapal: thank you, my colleague, representative, bowman, for your incredible leadership and it is a true honor and this special order has been the progressive and and you bring tremendous power to the actual experience of education through your own background and i'm proud to serve with you and i talk about the need to cancel student debt. this is a tremendous crisis for 36 million americans who are being crushed by $1.8 trillion. when i first ran for congress, the number was $1.2 trillion, then $1.3 trillion and now

working families and students are counting on this administration to buildup all build back better, but many families cannot thrive with the student loan debt. borrowers are literally a few weeks away from resuming to pay substantial amounts of their income and the cries sees that they are facing, the trauma they are facing about what they are going to do when this moratorium expires and make these payments. over a quarter of borrowers expect one-third of their and they are terrified. 89% of employed borrowers are expected to be financially insecure. while that number is concerning

and it should not be surprising. the economic toll of the pandemic has been made it tougher. to make erm ends meet, all the other essential costs. 87% of borrowers are using savings. my office heard from a mother and a veteran in the seattle area who was delinquent before the first case of covid-19 and glad she has caught up on payments but concerned that she will have to choose between mortgage and repaying student loans. and not having to make student loan payments and should this end, she and her children will be on the path of financial ruin and we have the power to make

sure this doesn't happen. the administration has the power to make sure it doesn't happen. the administration does have, as my colleague said to do what is right for families like her. the pause was necessary to help families sustain themselves, then ending it without any form of permanent stupid debt relief would be harmful. consider the tremendous strides the biden administration has made towards reviving our struggling economy, low unemployment, re-opening businesses, a limb naturing $50,000 for student debt for borrowers would increase average yearly pay by $3,000 which would

increase g.d.p. by $1 trillion and building the middle class which have been delayed. more than 80% of borrowers of student loan debt report that debt is holding them back to afford a home. many would save for home ownership as well as retirement or starting a business. student loan for giveness would close the home wealth gap. and gnat i have borrowers struggle with repayments and default on their loans and further, it estimated that plaque borrowers on average owe nearly $53,000 in student debt. in fact, the average stupid debt for black households tripled in the 202008 recession and seeing

triple what white borrowers just four years after graduating. this is a matter of racial and economic justice. low and middle class americans are encouraged pursue education. here's the catch. the enduring wait negates opportunities for borrowers to transform their lives and our country. as the lead sponsor for college all act and a proud sponsor from representative omar, i know eliminating student loan debt is a strong path to economic security particularly during this moment for our recovery and that is why the administration should cancel student loan debt and start immediately

eliminating $50,000 per borrower before the payments begin again. it is a single action that can cement access for generations and those who come after that. let's deliver that financial breathing room and let's deliver that economic security by cancelling student loan debt. and i yield back to you. >> thank you for your leadership. thank you for your voice to this very important issue. mr. bowman: i yield to the gentleman from and the boogie down bronx, congressman

espaillat. ms. escobar: i also represent i'm a latin from manhattan and i thank you for giving me the opportunity to address this incredible issue. i rise today in support of cancelling student debt for over 43 million americans. in fact, madam student debt for some now has surpassed credit card debt for americans. secretary esper: -- and they could be indebted for an insignificant period of their adult life span. and those that have children and then choose to help them out

could be indebted for an entire life. this is not the way a country should move forward. and for more of a decade, mounting student loan debt has made it difficult for many americans to purchase a home, to start their own business, to move forward and aspire to be part of the middle class or the advancement that this should promise all of its people. they have difficulties and this is a transgenerational crisis and far beyond one generation. borrowers in the united states all collectively, $1.6 trillion in private and student loan

debt, with the surge of the coronavirus cases and the rise in unemployment claims, the student loan crisis only worsened and became a very deep crisis, not only american's futures but putting in jeopardy the immediate need of american families and as a strong proponent of student debt cancellation, i joined my colleagues to respond to the growing crisis. we led a bipartisan effort to provide economic assistance and relief to student borrowers in the cares act, which was steppedded in the american rescue plan. so we have a record, madam speaker, of trying to throw a lifeline to these borrowers who

are drowning in debt. and earlier this year, i called for a bold plan tore cancel up to $50,000 in student joan lept. failure to cancel student loan debt will greatly affect the quality of life for millions of americans like the coronavirus pandemic, student debt disproportionately affects lower income and communities of color. we must work to create a more equitable scrowt come for everyone. this isn't only relief forl debt holders and one of the most effective ways to stimulate our economies. let's be smart about this, madam

share and let's unshack will people so they can have money in their pocket and spend it in local businesses. they will not run away to a european vacation. they will not go to the south of france but go to the local store and spend their money there in emergency items, milk, pampers, food. so they are more easily able to start businesses and help their families. removing financial barriers allows americans to more easily join the workforce as well. so not only will it stimulate local businesses and small businesses, which continue to be the biggest employers in america, but it would also help people come back to the

workforce. i look forward to working with my colleagues in the congressional progressive caucus to provide relief and economic justice to the millions upon millions of struggling debt owners under a mountain of student debt, and i yield back to my colleague, my distinguished from the bronx. i'm from mount vernon. i'm from rockland county. and all the other areas that he distinguishes and represents. both both thank you so much -- mr. bowman: thank you so much, congressman espaillat. before you go, i want to talk about people investing in their own communities when they have more money in their pockets. and you just made me think of all of the young children who want to take art classes and drama classes and swimming lessons and receive tutoring and all the things that families cannot afford because they are trying to pay down their student

debt. they can reinvest in their communities, reinvest in their children, and their children will be much less likely to commit harm on their -- themselves or their communities because they have been developed and nurtured from an early age. so thank you so much for your remarks, my brother, representing the bronx and manhattan and the historic washington heights. we cannot forget that, brother. i would now like to yield as much time as needed to the gentlewoman from the great state of georgia, my sister and fellow freshman, ms. -- congresswoman nikema williams. ms. williams: thank you so much, representative bowman. i am here today with an urgent request that the biden administration cancel the student debt obligations that burden 44.7 million americans. y'all, i'm one of those 44.7 million americans who are still paying off student loans well

after our college days. and i rise today to elevate the voices of the numerous constituents who continue to call me, facebook me, d.m. to tell me their stories, including natalie from morningside and jacob from atlanta both of whom told me they're desperate for relief and they only see heartache in their futures, all thanks to the student loan debt. y'all, we know this doesn't have to be this way. during the covid-19 pandemic, a financial lifeline was extended to the american people with emergency student loan relief. but that lifeline is going to end in just two short months. now that we've seen that being free of the burden of student loan debt is possible, we must deliver for the american people and cancel student debt permanently. student debt is disproportionately held by black borrowers, and continues to worsen the racial wealth gap. nowhere is it more obvious exacerbates the racial wealth gap than with our historically

black colleges and universities. not only am i a proud third generation of an amb -- hbcu alum, my district has more hbcu's than any throughout the country. they have been underfunded throughout their history. while the build back better act will partially rectify that injustice, hbcu's are struggling to immediate the -- meet the needs of the 290,000 students enrolled across america today. the endowments are smaller compared to white institutions and in turn that limits the aid leading to larger student loans and smaller alumni donations, burdens grads with thousands in debt and perpetuating the cycle for generations to come. student loan debt also prevents people from starting a family and building a better life. and education -- an education

trust study graduate degree holders who owe between $75,000 to $100,000, 55% delayed investments in retirement, 67% postponed buying a home, and 36% postponed having a child. we live in the richest country in the world. we ought to be ashamed of these statistics. we shouldn't accept that people must choose between paying off student loans or having the family that they've always dreamed of. for generations, american students heard that a college education is the key to unlocking the american dream. instead of unlocking the american dream, we've only created a uniquely american nightmare. we made a promise to the american people. we can deliver on that promise by canceling student loan debt so that everyone can thrive and not merely survive. so thank you to representative bowman for hosting this special order hour and i look forward to

making sure we deliver on the promise of america for everyone. mr. bowman: thank you so much, congresswoman williams. i'll now like to yield as much time as needed to my friend and colleague from new york, representing the bronx and queens, new york, representative congresswoman ocasio-cortez. ocasio-cortez thank you -- ms. ocasio-cortez: thank you. we're here, bronx, boogie down caucus checking in, student loan debt caucus checking in because this is getting ridiculous. i am 32 years old. i was told -- i'm a first generation college graduate on my mom's side. and growing up, i was told, since i was a child, your destiny is to go to college. that's what's going to lift our

family up and out. that is our future. that's what we're here to accomplish. 17 years old when college recruiters started coming to my high school saying, this is worth it. and we still do that today. because it's teenagers signing up for what is often hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt. and we just do that. and our government allows that. we give 17-year-olds the ability to sign on and sign up for $100,000 worth of debt. and we think that's responsible policy. i'm 32 years old now. i have over $17,000 in student loan debt. and i didn't go to graduate school because i knew that getting another degree would drown me in debt that i would never be able to surpass.

this is unacceptable. not only that, 65% of all jobs in this country require an education beyond high school. first generation college students are two times as likely to report being behind on student loan payments. and 63% of borrowers who made payments during the covid forbearance still owe more now than they originally borrowed. there are hundreds of thousands of people in this country who owe more on their student loans now than they did when they first took them out. we as a country are profiting off of insurmountable and crushing educational debt, and it is wrong. it is absolutely wrong.

four years after graduation, 48% of black students owe an average of 12.5% more than they originally borrowed. but this isn't just an issue of a debt crisis. this is an educational crisis in the united states of america. if we want to remain competitive, if we want to remain innovative and if we need the technological investments necessary to address things like climate change, we need an educated country. the united states is dis -- has a policy of actually disincentivizing higher education. we disincentivize people from getting a college or secondary education beyond high school. that is backwards, and the least we can do in a more -- we have a moral obligation, an economic obligation, a political obligation to cancel student loan debt in the united states of america.

we've seen the benefits that this has had during the forbearance alone. it has given people the breathing room to do what they need to do and so we can stop writing these ridiculous articles that young people are killing diamond rings and are not buying houses and they're killing this industry or that, that we're not having children. it's because we're being crushed by immoral debt. no person should have to go into debt, crushing debt in order to get an education. it's wrong. it's backwards. it doesn't help us as a country. so i'm greatly looking forward to that. i'm greatly looking forward to the biden administration canceling student loan debt and no longer advancing the false narratives that student loan debt is for the privileged. what a ridiculous assertion. do we really think that a billionaire's child is taking student loans?

come on. come on. if you are taking on student loan debt it's because you are likely a working or middle-class person. so let's get real. let's cancel it. it's in the interest of the people. it's in the interest of this country. it's in the interest of this future. i yield back to the distinguished representative from the bronx and westchester, jamaal bowman. mr. bowman: thank you for taking me back to when i was 17, a senior in high school, trying to figure out what the heck i was going to do, decided to go to college. we didn't have any money. so they offer you all this free money. and say, here you go. you can take out as much as you want, as much as you need. just come do our school and we'll take care of you. and then what happens is, you take out all of -- you take on all of this debt and then you get out and you're underpaid in terms of the employment you receive. and the rent is too high.

the groceries are too high. the childcare is too high. ms. ocasio-cortez: and health insurance is too high. mr. bowman: and health insurance is too high. it's unbelievable. we need to cancel student debt and end the predatory practices on our young people. completely end the practice. thank you so much, congresswoman. it is my honor to now yield to the distinguished congresswoman from massachusetts, ms. representative aiyana presley, thank you for -- ayanna pressley, thank you for joining us. ms. pressley: there is nothing freshman about you. you've hit the ground running. you've been a leader and partner on many issues, including this issue of student debt, so i thank you for your partnership on our congressional resolution calling on president biden to provide broad-based student debt cancellation. madam speaker, i rise today on behalf of more than 45 million people in america crushed by the growing weight of the $1.7

trillion student debt crisis. the grandmother, you heard me right, the grandmother -- i have 76-year-old constituents in the massachusetts seventh still paying student loans. all while on social security and a fixed income. i rise on behalf of the new parents struggling to manage the skyrocketing cost of childcare of which massachusetts is the second highest cost in the country. $21,000. per child. for center-based care. the new parent struggling to manage the skyrocketing of childcare, rent, and their student loan payments. the teacher who fears losing their teaching license because they have gone into default and can't come up with that monthly student loan payment. not even the minimum. the irony. debt that they incurred in order to be an educator, in order to

be a nation builder, to pour into our children, the next generation. i rise on behalf of an entire generation of young people, young people i met with a couple weeks ago who when i asked them about their future responded in great hopelessness. well, i don't know i am going to college because i don't want to be in debt for the rest of my life. and i fear if there will even be a planet for me to grow up in. i rise today on behalf of a whole generation of young people grappling with that sense of forebodying and despair. a generation of young folg who have been forced -- folk who have been forced from starting a small business, purchasing a home because of record levels of student loan debt. and i rise on behalf of black and brown folk who do to generations with precise and

unintentional, what i would characterize as policy violence, have been forced to take on higher rates of student debt for just a chance at the same degree as our white peers. mr. speaker, the student debt crisis is one that disproportionately impacts our black community. for too long, the narrative has excluded us, and the unique ways in which this debt is exacerbating inequities, compounding our generational and wealth gap, we have to have debt for a shot. black women in particular bear the largest burden as they're forced to take on higher student debt loads all while navigating a persistent wage gap that allows black women to earn just 61 cents to every dollar earned by a white man. . these are systemic barriers that make it more challenging to repay this debt. there are some who questioned if this is regressive to cancel

debt, they questioned the narrative as to whether or not this is a racial justice issue. ask the presidents of the historically black colleges and universities who have been using arpa funds to cancel student debt. not regressive in impact. important, necessary, long overdue. there are systemic barriers that have existed long before the unjust, long before this pandemic, an unjust precovid status quo. in this moment as we work to build back better and do so equitably, president biden has and tun and responsibility, and the authority, to address the hurt and harm these communities are feel big use his executive authority to cancel $50,000 in federal student loan debt. doing so is one of the most effective way he is can provide sweep regular leaf to millions of families while helping to reduce the racial wealth gap, to lay the groundwork for an

equitable and just long-term recovery. this is a crisis created through policy decisions. we have a response to believe the address it head on. in this moment of ongoing crisis, our families need every bit of help they can get in jus. in just under two months, student debt payments are scheduled to resume for millions of families across the country, families who have been struggling to make ends meet throughout this pandemic, through no fault of their own, and now will have an additional bill to cover. parents in my district, in their 50's, still paying on their student loans and now helping their children pay for their student loans. this is an intergenerational crisis. now this summer, we applauded the biden administration heeding the calls of many of us here tonight, heeding the calls of the movement, the movement that elected him, when they extended the pause on student loan payments. we fought hard for that. this welcome action gave another

layer of protection to the millions of borrowers facing a disastrous financial cliff but our work here sun finished. and this isn't a question as to whether or not he has the authority because that authority has already been exercised and the same authority should be used to extend the payment pause. president biden must now cancel at least $50,000 in student debt to boost the economy and to close the racial wealth gap. in this moment of a so-called reaked conning on racial injustice, the only receipts that matter are policies and budget. the truth is, madam speaker, this economic crisis is far from over. families in the massachusetts 7th and across the country are struggling, failure to act would be unconscionable and we must move with urgency. as we continue to rebuild from the current economic cry circumstances broad-based arab cross the board, permanent

student debt cancellation must remain front and center. the people the broad and diverse coalition that elected president biden, demands, deserve and require nothing less. thank you and i yield. mr. bowman: thank you so much, congresswoman pressley. it is now my honor to recognize congresswoman tlaib from the great state of michigan. ms. tlaib: thank you so much, representative bowman for hosting this critically important special order hour tonight. i love how, you know, representative bowman said something that resonated with me when i was senior in high school. they really did make it sound like that money was free. that money was far from free, representative bowman, as we

know. students in our country have become profit centered. they really, truly have. it is ruining lives. one of the first ever town halls i had when i first got elected was in western wayne, wayne county, michigan, and a young lady, after i opened it up for question, stood up, she stood up very strong and looks up at me and starts crying. in tears. telling me just how incredibly hard it is to be able to survive, become a homeowner, to be able to move on. she told me about how much it felt like she was trapped. like she was hostage to the student loan debt. and the fact that she, all she wanted to do was give back. she wanted to get her degree and come back to the community that raised her, come back to the community and give back. and it was so incredibly hard.

you know, today, as we hear over and over again15, million of our neighbors across our country owe trillions in outstanding student debt. that alone should resonate with so many of my colleagues. this must become a national priority. one of the things that i think is important as we hear about these stories is the human impact. you know, when i was going -- i was the first in my family to graduate from high school my father only went up to fourth grade education, my mother to eighth grade my father came here 19 years old. could have never imagined their daughter being able to graduate from high school, go to college and yes, i worked full time, monday through friday, took weekend class, get my law degree. and still, close to $200,000 in debt. and i still owe over $70,000. most of it was interest. most of it was our own

government making money and profit off of me. and guess what, i didn't go to the for-profit entities, i went to legal aid. i work theatd nonprofit organization fighting for the right to breathe clean air, to fight for the worker that was getting their wage taken and stolen from their employer. i went and worked on immigrant rights. so much more. all of that to say, we have to stop treating as if folks paying for education as if they bought of bougie car or some big -- no. they were seeking an education. because as many of my colleagues will tell you, there is that counselor in the highway that would pull us aside and zayra tschida, where is your application for college. coach watson at my high school pulled me into his office because he didn't get an application. i said i'm the oldest of 14.

my parents were hardworking folks i can't go and say hey, dad, help me out. i want to go to college. and so all that to say is, yeah, they sat us down, of course there was the pell grant and all of that. of course there was. but at the end it was still struggle. it was still struggle because guess what, some of that money you couldn't use it for certain things. i remember this. they changed stuff a little bit after i graduated but i still -- i had to work. i had to figure out how to pay for the gas to get to the school. and so much more. but i think it's really important to know, you know, in my home state of michigan i think the average loan borrower is around $35,000 in debt. you have to add on the health care costs. the rent. the utilities. car payments. so much more to really live your life. so the majority of our american people, our neighbors right now, live check-by-check. they live check-by-check. add that the average of $250 or

more for student loan. it is really holding people back. when i look at my state, you know, my district is third poorest congressional district in the country. when i look at the eyes, the families i represent, they come to our town hall and talk about the struggles, please help. make government about people. make it about us. put us first. one of the things that i continue to hear, the common theme, is, we didn't do anything wrong. we just went to go get access to higher education. it may feel like they're being penalized. they feel truly that, you know, the interest rate, i read this, the interest rates are one of the silent killers when it comes to debt repayment. they feel like they're being punished for doing something that they were taught to do. right? they go to college. do the right thing, work hard. and they feel like they're being penalized. and the cost of education in our clint just continues to increase.

we all know that we see it. over and over again. and so what sounds like can't be solved that is something impossible, it actually is not that complex. president biden has the ability, this administration has the ability, with the stroke of a pen, to help millions, millions of our neighbors across the country, to get out of student debt. we are, you know, far from putting this pandemic behind us. been a struggle for many of us. and yes, these payments are going to be coming due. folks are so anxious about it. even planning now. folks sending me messages, social media, about what do i do about christmas? i know around the corner, i have to start repaying this student loan. it's difficult to put into words just how big of a difference relieving this heavy burden would make in the lives of so many of my residents. you know, i'm grateful to stand here with many of my colleagues,

joining in this fight. rarely, if ever, in politics are you represented with -- presented with an easy solution, such an impossible problem but this one isn't. this one is pretty easy. we're the one, the government, is profiting off the people. we got to stop. i think when we again make government about people, we put them first, then i think it's going to be an easy decision for the administration, for president biden, to come up with the plan that's needed to really help that young lady that came to my town hall and so many others in making this a national priority. i can tell you, they all know and they're all doing what they're supposed to be doing. and at the end they're still struggling. and i know my colleague is not a millionaire but i always like reminding people of. this the majority of my colleagues in this chamber are. they don't understand the struggle of living check-by-check. they don't understand, some of them, may not be close in

understanding the pain of that student loan debt that's really heavy on so many families. so, i stand here in solidarity with my colleagues in asking, let's do the right thing. let's make this a national priority. let's get an executive order done. and let's help millions of americans that did nothing wrong except wanting to access higher education as they were told was access to a beautiful, vibrant life in our country. again, we can't continue to make them a profit center. we have to make them our priority in that they deserve to be able to live and thrive in our country. thank you so much and i yield. mr. bowman: thank you so much, congresswoman tlaib, for your power. words. it's my honor to recognize the gentlewoman from texas, congresswoman jackson lee.

ms. jackson lee: i thank the the gentleman from new york for both his leadership and his inspiration. you obviously care. that's why you're on the floor tonight. i think that's the point that i want to make. it looks as if we are lonely on this floor tonight, it looks as if we are in the eve of the day's work, we could be somewhere else. but i can tell you as a district in houston that is surrounded by universities and i know that i will get someone in trouble for trying to call the roll of universities around the 18th congressional district, southwestern university, university of houston, houston baptist, st. thomas, the lone star, houston community college, and i know someone is texting me right now.

but i am full of college students all of them working very hard. and i thought i would bring to the floor today the constitution, i love the words of the declaration of independence, the opening words that we are all created equal. certain inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. does that mean students right now struggling to make ends meet? i think that famous noodle meal they eat pause they just don't have the money to survive, does that mean that one person that is still the first person to go to college in 2021, does that mean the person, the single mother that has made it to 20-something hours and has to drop out? america has always said that the american dream is defined singularly by your presence here in the united states. but yet we're finding that state and federal policymakers are ignoring the one trillion -- the

1,730,000,000 plus of national student debt and that one fourth, one third, one sixth of the american people, 47 million, about that number, 900,000, are indebted to student debt. that's why we're here on the floor today. recognizing that it also is an imbalance. i thank mr. bowman, an educator who has seen little babies grow up with little stars in their eyes, that can play a piano or play an instrument or he sees them playing on the field or recreation and they are little scientists. scholars. but yet the hopes and dreams of the opportunity is is somewhat denied. black families must take on more debt for the same degree as white students and often need to

get several degrees in order to be in the middle class. the burden of student debt reaches deep into communities of color, increasing evidence suggests it is hampering the ability to build wealth. one of the reasons my good friend and myself are also interested in the idea of the commission to study slavery and develop information proposals is to get a road map of some of the populations that are impacted negatively by student debt. default and delinquency rates on student loans remain appallingly high. 3.6 million students are in the state of texas. the nation carries $1.7 trillion debt. and we know that 79% of black students had student debt by their fourth year. . i hold in my hand the constitution, as i said. i don't know how many students

have time to even look in that direction, but i will tell them that the founding fathers, although not perfect, said that they came together to create a more perfect union. what does that mean? i think it means that give us hope, give us a lifeline, let us breathe, let us be able to buy the things that will help our families. let us not be as a black male borrower default on loans within 12 years of beginning school. this, of course, covers a gamut of all of america. it is not just the issue of people of color. it impacts older borrowers, 60 and older, from 700,000 in 2005 to 2.8 million in 2018. their debt load was $8.2 billion. can you imagine being 60 and older and still paying debt? i came here to the floor tonight because i wanted to join the gentleman for people to see that in spite of the fact that we are

here at a moment into the evening we care about getting this done. it must be the congress and the administration that takes a hold of -- ahold of this and determines that people, who are now struggling to pay -- to pay mortgages, to survive, to feed children, we hope the build back better bill will be a lifeline. but right now, we've got to deal with people who wanted to do right and are suffering. i want to close on this note. to create a more perfect union, the constitution guarantees me that. the declaration of independence says this nation was created to ensure the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. and i want to say to those who have gained student debt but never completed their degree, they are not in any way bad people, defaulters, dead-beats. no, they are not.

but they are people who are working in jobs just to survive. they wanted to finish school, but it was so overloaded -- maybe they had to leave to take care of a sick mother or sick father or maybe they had to leave to take care of younger brothers and sisters. i know those stories. but maybe they're now back in school struggling to just try to get that degree. let's give them hope. let's give them dignity. let's help them with that default and turn it into success. let's join in. congressman, thank you, to consell student loan debt. we are -- cancel student loan debt. we are not affirmative lis big spenders. -- we are not frivolous big spenders. we are trying to help them be givers for what is good in america. i hope we can get the job done. and i yield back to the gentleman. mr. bowman: thank you so much, congresswoman jackson lee.

you made me think of the hundreds or even thousands of students and families that i've met throughout my career in education who in elementary school have already made the decision that their children are not going to attempt to go to college despite their brilliance, despite them artists and scientists and architects and engineers and athletics because of the crippling impact of student debt and cost of college. they've already made the decision when kids are as young as 5, 6 years old. that's unconscionable, that's un-american, and the president has the moral responsibility to cancel student debt right now. thank you so much for your words. it's my honor to yield to the last speaker of the evening, the gentleman from california, representative gomez. thank you so much, sir, for being here. mr. gomez: thank you so much. first, let me thank congressman bowman as well as the

progressive caucus for organizing this special hour. i'd like to describe the student loan debt crisis as a boot on the neck of the american dream. and on the neck of millions of americans who make that american dream a reality. and that's because higher education is the one way that we achieve the american dream. it's what i did. i got -- i'm the youngest of six of immigrant parent from mexico. my two parents never made it past third grade. both could read but not really write. and one of the things that they knew is that coming here would give me that opportunity to change my life. i was fortunate enough to be here. my brother, javier, and i was born here and i was the first to go to college. it allowed me to believe i could do more, to believe i could be part of this country and about that american promise. you come here, you believe in our values, you work hard, you

know, you give back, you're going to have a place and you're going to succeed. and the next generation, your kids and your grandkids are going to do even better. i'm fortunate. i got to go to a community college after i worked at subway and target. then, i transferred to ucla. graduated in the top 10% of my class. got my masters of public policy from harvard university. i ended up walking away with $15,000 in debt from undergrad, which wasn't bad. i thought it was a lot of money when you graduate and only getting paid $24,000 a year. it was a lot of money. and i walked away with a little bit of over $65,000 from the kennedy school for my master's degree. and don't forget, a lot of students also have credit card debt on top of that. so i'm -- you know what, i'm fortunate that i got to go to school. i'm fortunate that i've been able to change my life.

i'm fortunate that i've been able to get jobs that provide me health insurance for the first time in my family's history. and that my debt isn't as crippling as the current generation's debt. the current generation's debt, after the great recession, ballooned to historic proportions. that's why you have trillions of dollars in student loan debt on the backs of 47 million americans. and you know what, these are -- these are dreamers. these are people who believe in the american dream. they say, you know what, i've been told, go to school. work hard. and you know what, it doesn't matter if you get into the best school possible, take out that debt because it's going to come back ten-fold. in the past, that was the case. but we don't see that now. we see that the debt that has been put on the backs because we underinvested in higher education. we underinvested in k-12. it's tripling people --

crippling people to living their version of the american dream. and it's so severe that people are starting to -- and it pains me and it depresses me that they actually are deciding, i'd rather not go to college because i'm -- i don't want to have debt. think about that. like, that is the decision people are making now. i'd rather not have the best opportunity to achieve the american dream because the amount of debt will prevent me from living that american dream once i graduate. i think that is shameful. because these are the folks that are renewing this idea to live a more just and perfect union, to refresh that idea, generation upon generation. and it's unfortunate because who does it impact? it often impacts immigrants, people of color, blacks,

latinos, single mothers, single parents. they are the ones taking on higher and higher burdens of debt. and then when they graduate, they sometimes go to a -- they get jobs because they want to give back. they care about their communities. they don't pay them that well. we saw that in a recent new york times article that graduates from a school of social work were graduating with $112,000 in debt but getting paid $50,000. so this is something that we see time and time again. so if people want to believe in the american dream, then they have to care about canceling student loan debt. to refresh the potential of millions of americans to buy their first house, to raise children, to start a business, to grow our economy. and i believe that this is something that americans from all sides of the aisle could agree on. so with that, i'm calling on the -- madam speaker, i'm calling on the president to

cancel $50,000 of student loan debt in the next year. with that, i yield back to my colleague, mr. bowman, from the great state of new york. mr. bowman: thank you so much, congressman gomez, for your powerful and inspiring words. president biden and his administration have made some important strides to improve student loans for many people who are enrolled in public service loan forgiveness. 30,000 people getting loan forgiveness is a big step in the right direction. now, we need loan forgiveness for the more than 40 million other people in this country. with that, madam speaker, i yield back my time. thank you very much. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. under the speaker's announced policy of january 4, 2021, the gentleman from texas, mr. roy, is now recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. roy: i thank the speaker. fascinated to learn that i serve

in the united states house of free stuff, because that's what i've been hearing nonstop this entire week. there's an unlimited supply of money and resources, apparently. an unlimited supply of dollars we can continue to print while devastating our economy, devastating the american dollar, and transforming our society by encouraging americans to believe that there's a free lunch. and there ain't no free lunch. my wife is the product of a single mom. growing up in texas, her mom worked multiple jobs to send her to college. she worked hard to be able to go to college. she left with $70,000-something of student loans despite going to two top public universities in the state of texas. and she's not asking for her loans to get repaid because she went there with a free will. she went there and made a

choice. she could have chosen a different path. she chose to take the debt. i did the same thing when i went to law school at the university of texas. i might not have chosen to go to law school if the loans hadn't been available. that might be fine. what's the fundamental problem? why has the cost of education skyrocketed in my lifetime at an inflation rate multiple times over virtually every other product and service in this country except for health care? why is it up some like 3,000%? is it perhaps because we're subsidizing the holy heck out of it? just thinking perhaps that there might be a correlation of the availability, massive widespread availability of subsidized student loans, the massive subsidizization of k-12, higher education? do we think there is a correlation to why the costs have skyrocketed so much? no, no, no. my colleagues on the other side

of the aisle now walk in here and say, oh, no, we don't want to -- you know, we're not the party of big spenders. we got a chart here with $1.7 trillion on it with another chart saying cancel student debt. who's paying for that? does anybody in this body give a rat's rear end about who's paying for anything at all? no. oh, no. then, they'll come out here and say $3 trillion of tax cuts. they don't care about economic growth and opportunity. but fine. why don't we actually have a conversation about spending and taxes? no, no. we don't do that. we just spend money we don't have. that's what we did today in the continuing resolution to keep this government running. oh, my gosh. panic ensues if we dare question whether or not the government must be funded saturday morning at 12:01 saturday morning. what will the american people do? how will they function if the

united states house of free stuff isn't dolling out free stuff? no one's in this chamber, of course, just reminding the american people how this place doesn't work. we're now on 5 1/2 straight years of no amendments being offered on the floor of this august chamber. i'd just like to remind the american people every once in a while how they saw how a bill becomes a law is a complete fraud. see, there's handful of people who get into a room and see there's a handful of people who get together in a room and decide what a bill will be. my colleagues on this side know it's true because they did it when they were in the majority just as much as my colleagues on the other side of the aisle did it when they were in the jaryt. we get a massive bill dropped on our desk and say take it or leave it. go offer an amendment in rules, they say. never taken, never accepted.

always prechosen. always pregamed out. this is deliberation and debate? this is the constitutional order? what value is there for an election certificate if you can't use it. you come to the floor and you want to offer an amendment in good faith to try to make a piece of legislation better and you can't do it. we got two, four, six, eight, 10, 12 people max who decide everything that goes on in this chamber in all their infinite wisdom. then we come down, look at the board, it's party line vote, it's walk out on the steps and go give a speech, go to the press, go on twitter, go on facebook and talk about why you're voting no or yes. that's what we're relegated to in the united states house of free stuff. but today we just voted to extend the funding of government with a continuing resolution which is going to barrel us toward trillion dollar deficit

this year, give or make. who knows. does it matter? does anybody know what the difference is between $1 trillion and $# 2 trillion? anyone know the difference between $29 trillion or $30 trillion of debt? nobody norse cares in this chamber. literally, not a lick. we don't talk about it. and then each side come downs on the floor and offers more spend for whatever their priority is, defense, nondefense, mandatory spending, nonmandatory spending. if the unbelievably terrible circumstance occurred at friday night at midnight of this government daring to pause, do the american people know that about 82% of it is on auto pilot with mandatory spending? does that matter when you walk out and a gaggle of reporters come up with baited breath, oh, no, there might be a government

shutdown. always get paid back. 82% of it keeps running. and there's never a serious debate about what's actually happening here in the united states of america. we never actually have, we never sit down like a family or a small business, roll our sleeves up and decide how to spend money. can you imagine if we actually had to adhere to a budget like any business or american family? and we actually had to sit down, madam speaker, at that table, and not leave this chamber until we said our budget is $3 trillion, $4 trillion, whatever it is, here's our income. here's what we can spend. that's all we can do. let's figure out our priorities. we disagree. do you want to fund a.d.a.? you want to fund the department of snetion fund the military? fund specific b-52 bombers? do you want to fund health care, do you want to fund border security in make a choice. we never make a choice. ever. both parties, by the way.

both leaders. we never make a choice. all we do is preen and posture and come down here with massive bills that have some of our priorities depending on who is in the majority. that's it. and again we're relegated to being the united states house of free stuff. got to call it free stuff because we're just printing the money to do the stuff. we're down here talking about, whoa, got to cancel student debt. man, wouldn't that be lovely? who cares about the people who have already worked hard their whole lives to pay off their student loans whether they be white, black, brown, male, female, who cares. they worked their whole lives, paid off their student loarntion did what they're supposed to do, or they're in the moistled paying off their student loan, one of my colleagues just said $50,000. did he just pick that number out of the air? $50,000 or free stuff? here you go. somebody else chose not to go to college.

somebody else started a business. worked hard. borrow mound to run a business. guess what. that money also had interest to my colleague from michigan who was down here talking about oh, the pain of interest. as if it's not as old as time. as if it's not biblical to say hey, i don't have the money to do something. i would like to have the money to do something. how might i get the money to do something? i don't know. one, get a job and earn the money. save the money. two, ask for it from somebody who loves you. three, borrow it. ok. now what do you do with that? go do something with it. make a choice. start a business. start a lemonade stand. go to college if you want. but oh, no. let's just go pay off $1.7 trillion of debt. doesn't matter if you went to school and got a degree in sociology or gender studies and you're floating around, trying

to figure out what to do with your life. oh, no, let's pay off that $140,000. there ain't no free lunch. but we live in this fiction that we can just keep printing money. and the horrors of printing the money is not just that we have $30 trillion in debt. it's not just that we have rampant inflation. it's not just that we're undermining our dollar. it's not just that we're handing over power to china and every other country around the world to kick our rear end. it's that we're funding a government to do things to us. to interfere with us. we're funding and f.b.i. to target parents. for daring to question the wisdom of school boards around this country. you say, that's not true. you must be embellishing. it's not true, we just had hearings with the attorney general of the united states. we just saw memoranda making it very clear that the f.b.i. is

targeting parents. we're funding that. for all americans out there watching this. all 12 of you. we're funding that. we're taking dollar, we're borrowing dollars, spending money we don't have, taking those dollars and we're funding and f.b.i. to target parents. we're taking dollars and we're -- we're taking away dollars from police departments and federal dollars are going in and funding programs allegedly to take the place of police and then wondering why department stores are getting looted. and then you've got the white house press secretary today literally at the podium saying, that's the fault of the pandemic. all of the looting. we're not talking about somebody breaking into a grocery store to buy a loaf of bread.

we're talking about people swarming into department store and taking gucci backs -- bags. oh, no, let's not enforce the law. let's not enforce the rule of law. let's blame it on the pandemic. let's blame border patrol for whipping migrants which was demonstrably and totally and clearly false. there is no shame coming from the press secretary's office of the white house. no lie that won't easily slip out about what's actually going on like border patrol agents whipping migrants. no apology. all of those border patrol agents down there on the front line, dealing with covid, dealing with being outmanned, outgunned, dealing with cartels, no apology. here we sit in the united states house of free stuff. funding the department of homeland security, not to secure the homeland.

funding the department of education, not to educate our kids, other than to indoctrinate them to hate our country and believe they're racist for the color of their skin. $700 million for a department of defense to now run climate training and to focus on chief diversity officers in the department of defense rather than focusing on, i don't know, blowing stuff up and killing people. which is what the department of defense formerly known as the department of war is actually supposed to do. $11 billion for an internal revenue service that took a record $4 trillion from americans last fiscal year. $9 billion for an e.p.a. that is destroying american energy through regulation. pushing a radical climate agenda. none of which, by the way is going to drive down co-2 production which we have been doing with clean-burning american natural gas over the

last decade. and today, we passed this continuing resolution in the united states house of free stuff, to rack up another $# trillion in debt, continuing to fund agency teoscarry out their tyrannical activity in particular, to carry out vaccine mandates on the american people that are getting slapped down one by one by courts across this country. because of course the president of the united states doesn't have the authority or the power to mandate that an american citizen go into a doctor's office and get a needle jabbed in their arm. he doesn't have that power. and the united states house of free stuff here allegedly representing the people is supposed to actually care enough about representing those people to stand here as a board holding the line against an authoritarian president of the united states. against a president carrying out

executive overreach. that's what we see happening. he's being slapped down left and right by the courts. now look, i don't believe in wearing a partisan hat when we're talking about standing up for the constitution, standing up for article 1 branch of the federal government. i introduced legislation when the previous president, a republican, president trump, was in office, called the article 1 act, to take away powers from the president with respect to emergency powers being used. i did so frankly in the wake of the use of dollars for border fencing and wall construction which i supported. which was important. which was a response to an emergency and by the way was working. but it was important for us to start laying out a foundation for protecting article 1.

the united states congress. and today, we passed a continuing resolution that we sent other to the united states senate and we never had a vote in this body about the vaccine mandates that are being slapped down in courts across this country for being unlawful, unconstitutional, tyrannical overreach by the executive branch of the united states. never in our history have we had federal mandates applying across the country to the american citizen that they must be vaccinated. they have been local decisions. local schools. local counties. in state in specific responses to highly communicable diseases that they knew might be communicable and be pulled back by a vaccine and after many years of study, with massive numbers of exemptions and protections for individual liberty and choice, that is the

history of how we have handled it in a federalist 50-state republic. not a decision by a president or frankly probably more likely the president's advisers. that the american people must be vaccinated that. a small business or a business of any size must vaccinate their employees. people act like well, it's no big deal. i want to direct my remarks here to my republican colleagues. my republican colleagues who today were perfectly happy to vote no on this c.r. yes, i'll go home and give a speech, i voted no on this c.r. i voted no because this continuing resolution had these terrible provisions in it. and yes this continuing resolution had vaccine mandate funding, funding the department of labor and funding osha and

funding the department of defense to carry out mandate, i voted no, don't you know. so what? who cares if you voted no. you vote no and give a speech, pat yourself on the back. good for you. did you do anything to go stand with any of the senators who had a chance to actually do something with this? with the senators over there right now having a debate and trying to force a vote on an amendment to prevent the tyrannical application of vaccine mandates? did my colleagues say let's go round up and go over and stand alongside mike lee or did they hide behind the article 3 judiciary? did they hide behind the courts? say, well, let's let the courts sort it out. that's exactly what they did. secure the blessings of liberty and the constitution indeed by the supposed primary branch of government. and these have real consequences for real americans, real lives.

hospitals in massachusetts are already limiting elective procedures due to critical staffing shortage. do we care? are we concerned about that? the new york governor issued an executived orer that postponed elective surgeries in order to deal with the staffing shortage. do we care? are we concerned? largest children's hospital in wisconsin is struggling to treat victims of the b.l.m. extremist who rammed his car through the waukesha christmas parade. do we care? dear friend of mine, suffering from multiple ski low sis, teaching at a university -- multiple scher oh sis, teaching at a university, may not be able to continue teaching because she believes in consultation with her doctor that it's in her best interest not on vaccinated at this time.

she should have the right and ability to choose to do that for her and her family and her interests without coercion from an over-extended federal government under an uh unlawful and unconstitutional mandate by the president of the united states. this body, the congress of the united states should do its article 1 job and stand up in defense of her and every other american who is facing losing their job at thanksgiving and christmas or being discharged from the military of the united states that they proudly serve because they believe in their interest, in their own personal safety, their own health interest that they should be the one to choose, not a far-away president. we structured this government specifically not to do this. we structured this government with federalism and separation of powers, specifically, specifically to avoid having a king. that man on the painting over on this wall in this house chamber,

the first president of the united states, turned down being a king, turned down the monarchy, turned down a third term because the founders knew why that mattered. the founders knew why separating powers and limiting powers mattered, because they saw and foresaw exactly what we're seeing today in this country and across the world. austria and germany and australia and places around the world we see mandates forcing people to be in their homes and not go out and not engage in society because they're not vaccinated. it's absurd. this country is built on a bedrock of liberty and protecting liberty and securing the blessings of liberty, and this president is stepping on it and the united states congress, members of both parties are m.i.a., missing in action, unwilling to stand up in defense of liberty while patting

themselves on the back for voting no on a continuing resolution and then kicking it over to the senate for one man to stand on the floor of the united states senate, senator mike lee, daring to say we should have a vote on an amendment, an amendment that says we shouldn't have the vaccine mandates. god bless mike lee for doing that. i hope he holds to his guns. and, no, i am not going to freak out or panic if saturday at 12:05 in the morning rolls around and oh, no, we haven't gotten that funding done. that fund, by the way, is racking up, as i said before, another $1 trillion of debt. the united states house of free stuff. father called me up in tears because his 13-year army veteran son is likely going to be discharged because he believes, based on his conversation with his doctors, that it is not in his interest to get the vaccination. millions of americans who know

they have natural immunity, who have been ignored, who've been absolutely ignored because the leaders of our national health organizations and agencies aren't actually focusing on natural immunity. we haven't had a study on natural immunity of any consequence out of their leaders. we have to rely on israel and the u.k. and other places and private entities. but all of these millions of americans who have natural immunity are being told, sorry, you must still go get a needle stuck in your arm in order to have a job. in what world is this the land of the free? it is not. and in what world are the people in this chamber who are supposed to represent the people of the

united states, how are they doing their job in the article 1 branch of our federal government if they're not standing up for those people? those people who are going about their life making a decision in their interest -- and by the way, if this matters to me a whole lot -- that even the experts -- so-called -- heading up our national health organizations and agencies, acknowledge if you're vaccinated you still spread the dadgum virus. it literally makes no sense. we're killing people. we're restraining and restricting therapeutics that could actually help people. we belittle people who are working in consultation with doctors to find ways to solve the problem if they happen to get the virus whether they've been vaccinated or not, by the

way, and we're mandating people get the vaccination irrespective if they had the virus and have natural immunity. and for months, i've been hearing about, oh, they laugh off natural immunity. and now suddenly, you start to hear, oh, bow down to the alter of all things dr. fauci. that he sawedly -- oh, natural immunity, that's kind of a real thing. no kidding. what world do you live in? the world of washingtonian magazine and getting cool pictures and throwing baseballs out at games? i had a young woman who is nine months pregnant -- remember all the frontline workers, everybody was celebrating a year ago? she's one of them. she's a nurse. i saw all these people standing up at games, people in this chamber going around, praising the frontline workers. well, good. we should have been praising the

frontline workers showing up and helping those who are sick. all of a sudden if you are one of those frontline workers and for your own health and well-being you decide you don't believe you should be vaccinated, you might have natural immunity, maybe you got an underlying condition, and you choose not to, then this young lady, a texan, who's nine months pregnant, is losing her job in direct response to the president's unlawful and unconstitutional mandates. let's talk about those mandates for a minute. the osha mandate. the president goes in and tells businesses across this country, you must get your employees vaccinated through osha rulings and fines, this body just voted to increase the osha fines, something like 700%.

i think 900%. we just did that. when we passed the so-called b.b.b. bill that's going to destroy america with a whole bunch of more free stuff. $2 trillion of unpaid nonsense. oh, no. don't worry. it's paid for. c.b.o. said so. garbage. absolute, pure garbage. of course, it's not paid for. it would -- it's games. the american people know how this works. nobody here is serious about operating within the bounds of normalcy like you would in a business or in your home because you don't care. there's no consequence. there's literally no consequence to spending money we don't have. to printing money. but that's what we do. and so we just voted to increase fines to osha. those fines are going to go

target businesses. well, what happened? now, that's been consolidated. u.s. district judge for the eastern district of missouri granted a preliminary injunction on november 9 for 10 states, brought forth a november lawsuit by state a.g.'s. louisiana, western district judge issued a nationwide injunction to the c.m.s. mandate, a separate mandate, the c.m.s. mandate -- sorry. i mix these up. the osha mandate, a panel of judges with the fifth circuit court of appeals issued an order stating enforcement and implementation of the osha mandate. now back to the c.m.s. mandate. the u.s. district judge for the eastern district of missouri granted a preliminary injunction for 10 states. and on the c.m.s. mandates. these are the main dates -- mandates shutting down hospitals and nurses and doctors for carrying out their jobs. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't care.

and i know they don't care because they just passed a continuing resolution continuing to fund the mandates of a tyrannical executive branch without holding them accountable. i promise you if that were a republican president, they would be outraged at these mandates. but my colleagues on this side of the aisle think voting no and walking out to go to dinner is perfectly fine. because that's what's going on here. they're not over in the senate backing up mike lee and they're not here talking. federal workers mandate. federal contractors mandate. november 30, u.s. district judge gregory van taton issued a preliminary injunction halting the federal government's contractor mandate that's impacting universities which is causing my friend with m.s. to possibly or probably lose her

teaching job. veterans. active duty military. frontline health workers. university teachers. professors. visiting professors. people across this country in private business. hopefully the courts will strike this down. but since when is it the job of the article 1 congress to punt to the courts and say, well, i hope you do it. do we care about the power of the purse? do we care if bureaucrats are targeting american citizens, saying, you must get the needle in your arm? and there's no science indicating in any way, shape, or form that those mandates are solving any problem at all but rather causing problems. over 80% of over 12-year-old american people have gotten one

shot of the vaccine. 99% or something close to it for people over 65. we're not even a year in to the broad rollout of the vaccines. this blows way past the polio epidemic. my dad had polio. i am well versed on the impact of the polio epidemic. it didn't roll out nearly as fast. targeted at kids. not people over 65. any mandates were left to school districts. it took them a while to get there. this was a vaccine that had been worked on for years. with a significant amount of knowledge. and a different kind of virus, by the way. not a coronavirus. 21-year-old nursing assistant in crawfordsville, indiana, worked

60-hour weeks throughout the pandemic. she's facing termination. do we care? does the indiana delegation care? either side of the aisle? i'd like to know. is the indiana delegation over alongside mike lee fighting to prevent the funding of the government bureaucrats that are going to enforce that mandate on becca pitts? jen pierce, a -- peters, a maternity nurse, was forced to resign after refusing to get vaccinated. recently met with heart surgeons that fly around the country that save lives. they come in, do pro bono work. they fly all over the world. they've been providers for roughly three decades and if the

c.m.s. mandates stay in place, they are no longer going to be able to save lives. they will have to shut down. are we fine with that? is that ok? does my constituents in the military contacted me about this vaccine mandate. i represent thousands -- like many of us do -- but i represent san antonio, a heavy population of veterans and of active duty military. people calling me in tears because it was their dream to serve their country and wear the uniform of the united states and they're being told they must get the jab or they'll be discharged. i'm not talking about the ability of a commander of a submarine going off for a nine-month tour and saying, ok, sorry, i am going to make sure everybody in that submarine is vaccinated. ok. you got to discharge the guy or gal or can you say, you know what, we're going to relocate you and leave you able to serve but while this is vaccine --

while this virus is going around, we're going to -- we're going to require the commander of the submarine to be able to make that decision. ok. that's a reasonable outcome. discharging under current law dishonorably, by the way, members of the united states military for not wanting to get the vaccine for whatever reason they believe is in their interest with young men, in particular, having concerns about the myocarditi s and the heart issues and -- myocarditis and the heart issues, that's ok. we are forcing these people to be discharged instead of carrying out their service to this country and this body should be ashamed of it. . a lot of people in this town

have forgotten that the american people are not our subjects but our fellow citizens and we owe the duty of representing them. they are our neighbors, relatives, our friends. the people are sovereign in this country. not the president. george washington turned that down. the founders rejected that structure. and yet, this body, which was supposed to be a check against an overbearing executive acting as an monarch refuses to check the executive. c.d.c. estimates that there have been 146 million infections in

the united states against natural immunity. the first omicron patient was fully vaccinated and had mild symptoms. and three months after the second shot, hence the booster. people are saying, we made a mistake having the first two shots of the vaccine happened next to each other. well, lmp o and be hold when you are rushing a reaction to a virus that you might make an error. their concern is omicron. one of the first doctors untiling south africa said most of the patients are seeing mild

symptoms and can treat these partes conservatively at home. on the 626th day on the 626th day in the 15 days to slow the spread, we have had enough. the american people have been enough being told toll told by a tyrannical government and so-called experts that we cannot and should not trust. this continuing resolution was considered under a closed rule. as i said earlier, i offered an amendment upstairs, rejected. we don't want to have a mandate. my colleagues would not like to take a vote on a vaccine mandate funding repeal.

otherwise, why not have the vote and why not have the debate? you know, the more and more that we turn over to the decision making to the people in this body and the senate and couple of people on pennsylvania avenue, the more and more this republic is getting ripped apart thread by apart and no matter who is in charge of this body. if we do not restore debate on the floor of this body and in the senate, the greatest deliberative body in the world. when is the last time you saw in this body? you don't. we all know it. nobody cares.

all we are going to do is drop another 2,000-paged bill. somebody is going to offer a motion to recommit or previous question. oh, man. the bars around time, did you see that previous question? did you see that m.t.r.? when are we going to represent the people again? when is this institution going to stand up and do the hard part of representation? we don't govern. we don't govern. we represent. that's what we are supposed to do in a republic. next week, we will turn the national defense authorization act and we are going to -- if

the senate doesn't make any additional modifications, we are going to have another version of the ndaa sent over to this chamber for us to vote on again and in that are legislation, there are a number of problematic provisions with knoll accountability for the failed exit from afghanistan, the 13 marines that died, the failed drone strike that led to the killing of 10 people, including seven children, no accountability. no accountability of assets left in afghanistan used in a parade by our enemies. no accountability. no legislation that requires the secretary of defense to submit to congress their plan to reduce

greenhouse emissions. well, praise the lord our department of defense is focused on important stuff as china is doubling their navy and ramping up their military prowess and shooting missiles around the earth in low orbit. let's focus on diversity. yeah. that will get them them. the n dmp arch a requires to send the chinese packing. and yes, the national defense authorization act for the first time will require women, girls, 18 years and older to register

for selective service to be eligible for the draft. my daughter, 10 years old, infinite wisdom of this body to require that my daughter be forced to register for the draft. you want a debate. let's have a debate and i think most people in this body will vote the draft down. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle and frankly the retreat by my colleagues on my side of the aisle from such touchy issues, they want to make a statement. they want to make a statement about so-called equity and they want to use my daughter to make that statement. they want me to make your daughter, america, part of that statement. and if you are one of the thousands of people across this

country reaching out to my office enraged that this body with no no amendment is going to adopt for the first time in history will require your daughter, your sister, your mom, our mom to register for the draft, don't worry, i'm going to keep fighting and i'm not go to go retreat and not go to go run away from sole pollster coming in and saying, i don't know how people feel about it. i know how people feel about it in my kids' school and my community. i know people stop me in the airport who say thank you for standing up about how we should function as a society. we spent $36 million speaking of the united states house of free

stuff, we spent $36 million for a study to determine whether single-sex units performed better or worse in the mid section. what do you think it found? you will be blown away by this piece of information, that the single sex male units performed better. my colleagues don't want to have that debate. but i'm going to keep having that debate. and whatever they do with the n dmp arch arch doesn't have the backbone and my colleagues won't stand up for my daughters, i will keep calling them out and i will call on every colleague in this body and i won't vote for any office that they are go to

go make my daughter eligible for the draft. this is not the way we should do things. have a debate. all for data. vr amendments. have the courage to have straight up-or-down votes rather than mega bills so people can go for press reports on the steps. no matter who is in charge of this body. restore this body. and don't continue to operate as the united states house of free stuff dolling out dollar after dollar to create programs that we can't even afford and fundamentally alter this society that is expected from government rather than serving themselves

and fellow man and their community. we are destroying the core of this great country by empowering government and doing so, knowing full well we don't have the resources to do it, knowing full well we are taking away the fall value of work and destroying family units, destroying the public education system by turning them into the vale having been lifted after covid exposed and what we saw in loudoun county, virginia. the american people are seeing the corruption that flows from the dollars that float from this town without any responsibility. and again, that is not a partisan statement. both sides are equally guilty of

walking into this chamber and writing checks they can't cash. and if we don't stop it, this country will not survive. this country will not make it and we will not keep it if we keep spending money that we do not have and turning power to a small amount of individuals and oh, by the way, the court to make decisions rather than the peoples' representatives. it is time, madam speaker, for this body to function again. and it is time for us to do it without regard who is in the white house. we have a duty in article 1 to

use the power of the purse to stand up for the people to twend the people, to stop the encroachment of their lives by unelected bureaucrats or a president that is lsh in three different courts to be against the people while they lose their jobs. and them and their families. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition? >> i remove my name as a co-sponsor of 3554 and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's request is accepted. under the speaker's policy of january 4, 2021, the gentlewoman

recognizes the gentlewoman from from mrs. slotkin. ms. slotkin: i rise in oxford, michigan is a quiet town and community where folks know and two days ago in less than five minutes time the town was ripped out in gunfire. .. . four young michiganders with their entire lives ahead of them. we mentioned them in our moment of silence but we repeat. ms. hanabusa: was on the volley -- hanna st. julina was on the volleyball team and made her debut on the basketball team

monday night. hanna was 14 years old. mothers against drunk driving was -- madisyn baldwin was accepted to college. some with full scholarship. she had a younger half brother and two sisters and some described her as an artist that loved to draw and read and write. madisyn was 17. tate myre was a tight end and you running back on -- and running back on the varsity football team and already there is a petition with more than 80,000 signatures seshg lating to re -- circulating to rename oxford's football stadium in honor of tate. he was 16 years old. justin shilling was a senior getting ready for life after high school. he was the co-captain of the school's bowling team and he worked part time in anita's kitchen, a restaurant nearby. justin was 17. the loss of these four young people has ripped a heel in our -- hole in our community and the trauma inflicted on their friends and classmates will

never fully subside. no one has been left unscathed. the aftershocks of the senseless act of violence are being felt across the state, most clearly in the 60 school districts that have been forced to cancel school out of an abundance of caution due to copy cat threats. all of us can see ourselves in the parents, students, and teachers at oxford. but we can't begin to imagine their pain. as agonizing as the last few days have been, the place to take solace is in the incredible response of the hundreds of first responders who jumped into action to end the violence before more lives were taken. yesterday, i visited the professionals at the oakland county operations center which was the eye of the hurricane on tuesday and heard the firsthand accounts of heroism, bravery, and dedication under extreme stress. in the darkness of this event, the light we should try and focus on is that in our hour of

need, our first responders were trained and ready. they did not hesitate. in the span of just a few minutes, the gunman fired 30 shots, hitting 11 people. four of them are dead. when the gunman was stopped by law enforcement inside the school, he had 18 rounds left. i shutter to think about how much more damage could have been done if those officers hadn't stopped him so quickly. the people who responded on tuesday saved lives. unequivocally. the training, speed, and efficiency of those on site made all the difference and i want to speak directly to them for a moment. first, to the teachers who have been through so much in these last two years and who jumped into action when the crisis struck, to the police office and sheriff's deputies who told me, quote, we were going inside no

matter what. we were never going to simply stage outside and wait to assess the risk for ourselves -- to ourselves. to all the firefighters and first responders, from our area and well beyond who didn't wait for direction and simply steamed straight for oxford. to the 911 dispatch operators who took over 100 calls from terrified children whispering and crying from their hiding places, and the dispatch shift leaders who ran massive logistical operations. and to the doctors, nurses, e.m.s. and hospital staff who put emergency procedures in place and all answered the call to help. what you did saved children and teachers and administrators. you saved someone's child, someone's brother, someone's mom. you kept people on this earth for their families to cherish and hold close. and every one of them will

remember that day and the role you played. there are children in that school who will go on to be police officers and firefighters and doctors because of how you responded this week and for that we owe you so much. madam speaker, over the last few days, i've thought a great deal about the sacrifices we ask our kids to make and the burdens we ask them to bear. we are all so exhausted seeing fleeing students, panicked parents, and bewildered teachers. the ines capable conclusion we must -- the inescapable conclusion we must draw is we are failing our children, not just failing to keep them safe but failing to set an example. our daily rhetoric continues to deteriorate. threats of violence are commonplace. as someone who worked alongside the military for years, i was trained that leadership climate is set at the top. whether you're a leader of a

platoon or a small town or simply the head of a household, the leadership style you use in your own life will be internalized by those you lead. it will become the standard. and nowhere is this more clear than with our kids. the hard truth is that violence, including gun violence, has become normal. threatening someone online has become normal. inciting violence and calling for violence has become normal. people do it online, in neighborhood forums, at school board meetings, at hospitals, and on airplanes and even on the steps of this capitol. like it's nothing at all. like it's somehow part of their freedom of speech. but it is not. threatening other people is where our freedom of speech ends, but how our kids to understand that? how are they to rationalize the lessons they learn in kindergarten, to treat others as

we would like to be treated, if they see adults demonstrating the opposite? that betrayal has taken hold in the roots of our communities. not a day goes by that i don't hear about it, and our kids are watching our every move. the tragedy also makes clear that we are in desperate need of mental health support for our young people. services and providers are scarce and there is no way of meeting the need, especially in the wake of covid. our children are using violence, contemplating suicide, and generally struggling more than any other time in our history, and we must acknowledge that and provide the resources to our communities to manage the demand. in these first 48 hours since the attack, that is where my office and so many others have been trying to engage. to find federal money, to find state money. we need to address the mental health crisis in this country with the seriousness that it demands or be prepared to live

with the consequences. in the intermediate -- in the immediate aftermath of tragedy, in these moments of intense suffering, there's often a need to understand what to do with our pain by jumping into politics and policy. i must admit, i'm torn about that discussion because my community is still reeling from the crisis and our attention has been focused on immediate crisis response. but there are some basic facts that simply can't be swept under the rug. that a deadly weapon purchased legally fell into the hands of a 15-year-old child. i come from a family of gun owners. i was trained to carry two different firearms on my person at all times during my three tours with the c.i.a. in iraq. but if a 15-year-old boy can get a hold of a weapon purchased by his father on a friday and use it to terrorize and murder his classmates on a tuesday, something in our country is

horribly wrong. whether we like it or not, oxford will be a town that our kids read about, joining a long list of communities that have become synonymous with the greatest tragedies our country has seen. columbine, virginia tech, sandy hook, parkland, santa fe, and so many more. this is sadly not a new set of issues. long before the events in oxford, the u.s. house passed a bill requiring basic background checks for all purchases of any and all gun. just like we do at wal-mart now. this bill had both democratic and republican co-sponsors. it was one of those rare instances of this body rising to the occasion with some basic common sense. we voted on this bill a few years ago, in the last congress, and we voted on it again this last march, 2021.

that bill is currently sitting in the u.s. senate. it could be voted on tomorrow if there was will to act. so please, to our colleagues in the senate, take up this important bipartisan legislation. i'm also focused on what it means to be a responsible gun owner. michigan is full of them. including my own family. but if you're going to own a gun, you should be responsible for storing it safely and for faking basic steps to ensure that the gun doesn't end up in the hands of -- taking basic steps to ensure that the gun doesn't up in the hands of a child or a criminal. adults should be held accountable for how they handle their guns. this is an issue we are particularly watching in oxford where the oakland county prosecutor is considering charging the parents of the shooter for their child's access to that gun. this is one of the areas we're looking at for additional legislation, and i know that a

similar bill is looked at in the michigan legislature. in the coming days and weeks, more facts will emerge from this horrible tragedy and help guide our thinking. and how to ensure our children, hanna, madisyn, tate, and justin did not die in vain. to my colleagues in both parties, i look to you all. every single one of you to join me in recognizing the pain that our community is going through and to make it mean something. thank you and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to section 11-b of house resolution 188, the house now st

for of herbert hoover. in west branch, iowa. and then, laveta honeycutt on baseball during the great depression. she discusses the role of baseball in american culture and the origins of sports journalism. exploring the american story. watch american history tv, saturday on c-span two. and find the full schedule on your program guide or watch online, anytime at c-span.org/history. tuesday morning, the inspector general of the u.s. capitol police testifies on the january 6 attack at the u.s. capitol. watch live at 10:00 p.m. eastern on c-span three, online at