mr. engel: mr. speaker, it's my pleasure now to yield three minutes to the ranking member of the asia subcommittee, foreign affairs committee, mr. sherman of california. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california is recognized for three minutes. mr. sherman: mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of h.r. 1644, the korean interdiction and modernization of sanctions act. this bill was introduced by the chair and ranking member of the full committee, mr. royce and mr. engel. and by the chair and ranking member of the asia subcommittee, mr. yoho and myself. it is a clear example of bipartisanship, the way it should be here in the house of representatives. north korea's -- north korea continues to act as a state sponsor of terrorism, test ballistic missiles, conduct cyberwarfare, building bl nuclear weapons and threaten -- build nuclear weapons, and threaten the united states and our allies. we need a strategy to confront north korea. an essential part of that strategy is to confront north kor

mr. engel: mr. speaker, i rise in strong support of this legislation and i yield myself as much time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for such time. mr. engel: mr. speaker, i'm very grateful that the house is considering my bill today. the caesar syria civilian protection act. i want to thank my friend, the chairman of the foreign affairs committee, ed royce, for joining as the lead republican co-sponsor of this measure. i'm proud that we're bringing it up to the floor with 108 co-sponsors. members from both sides of the aisle. mr. speaker, every week more and more bad news pours in about the civil war in syria. i'm grateful to chairman royce for making the comments he just made. because my heart has been bleeding for syria or crying out for syria for four or five years now. ever since mr. royce -- ever since, mr. royce said, there were peaceful demonstrations and they were mowed down by the assad regime. the united states didn't do much . we sort of watched and

mr. engel, do you agree with ms. yates' description of the function? mr. engel: i agree that the office must look only at the law. it is not its job to consider questions of policy. they have no operational responsibilities. they are a legal advisor to i do take issue with the description ms. yates gave of the function as being intended to review if there is some way of defending an executive order. we are not litigators in court coming up with reasonable arguments. the job of the office of legal counsel is to review executive orders as well as other proposals that come before it to ensure that they meet the requirements of the law. and that is how, if i'm fortunate enough to be confirmed, i will discharge those responsibilities. sen. grassley: also, the question of independence has come up. a lot of people before this committee, under the trump administration appointing, starting with the time you began assisting the trump transition team effort, has anyone come meaning anyone can ask you to make a commitment to reach a certain legal conclusion on behalf

grassley: mr. engel. thank you, chairman grassley, ranking member feinstein, and members of this committee will stop i'm honored to be before you today. thank you for scheduling this hearing and meeting with me the past few days. i want to thank senator graham for the generous introduction. both of my parents are here today. i hope they appreciated and hopefully at least one of them believe it. i would also like to thank the president and attorney general for the confidence they have shown in meat with a nomination to head the office of legal counsel, and with the chairman's permission, i would like to introduce the members of my family who are here. first, my wife, susan. firstand i met when we clicked together on the ninth circuit court of appeals. i followed her to the supreme court, when i cooked for justice kennedy and she cooked for justice scalia -- clerked for justice kennedy and she clocked for justice scalia. she is now a partner in washington, d.c., and one of the most gifted attorneys i know.

mr. engel: mr. speaker, i rise in support of this measure and yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for such time as he may consume. mr. engel: thank you, mr. speaker. let me start by thanking my good friend and neighbor from california, the ranking member of the committee on appropriations, nita lowey. i also want to thank chairman royce for his steadfast for in bringing this bill to the floor today. mr. speaker, it's so shocking and so heartbreaking to me that in the year 2017 we wake up day after day to read about anti-semitic vandalism and anti-semitic slurs on munich ses, anti-semitic conspiracy theories, a bombing in a kosher market in paris two years ago and here in this country, bomb threats to jewish community centers, desscregs of cemeteries. actual -- desecration of cemeteries. actually, it's hard to believe it. it's a hard corner into new some new group on the fringe tries to pull it back in the mainstream. and i feel we are seeing

mr. scott: i yield for the purposes of a unanimous consent request to mr. engel. mr. engel: i rise in strong opposition to this bill and ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a statement of the american hospital association against the bill and i just want to say in simple slogan, american people are going to pay more and get less. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield for the purpose of a unanimous consent request to the gentleman from georgia. >> thank you very much, mr. speaker. i rise for unanimous consent to make one point, it is most shameful -- the speaker pro tempore: is the gentleman making a unanimous consent request? >> yes, i am. the unanimous consent is to take $882 billion out of medicaid -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is not making a unanimous consent request. >> and give it to the wealthy is the wrong thing to do. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is not recognized. the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: yes, mr. speaker. can you advise again how much time remains? the

in december along with mr. engel of new york i introduced the pure democracy act that would sanction any foreign individual or entity found to have unlawfully interfered with our election process. that shouldn't be a partisan issue. yet all of the bill's 88 co-sponsors are democrats. i'm also co-sponsor of our protect our democracy act to establish an independent commission to get to the bottom of the russia thing. a recent nbc poll conducted in april found 73% of our fellow americans want such an independent commission. they want to get at the truth. so do i. so should all of us. i signed a discharge petition to get that bill to the floor. i urge my colleagues to support these two measures and bring them to the floor for consideration. it's our constitutional duty to provide oversight of any executive in any executive branch. the american people demand answers and accountability, not obstruction and intimidation. appointing a special counsel, independent of the white house and the attorney general, was one way

sires, mr. engel, and myself, urging the administration to use its voice, to use our vote, to use our influence at the united nations security council to demand that venezuelan authorities allow the delivery and the distribution of humanitarian aid. we were giving them what they need. maduro would have none of it. but i applaud our u.s. ambassador at the u.n., nikki haley, for organizing a security council meeting on venezuela last week, but more needs to be done, mr. speaker. as ambassador haley bravely said, venezuela is on the edge of a humanitarian crisis. right here in our hemisphere. humanitarian agencies must be allowed to operate independently in venezuela, without interference from the thuggish maduro regime, and deliver the aid that the people so desperately need. the world is ready to help venezuela. nicholas maduro refuse this is help. and humanitarian agencies must say to maduro, if they are hindered in any way, then those responsible must be held to account. and before i continue,

we' a grateful to you or being so eaand so principled. - mr. engel: as ie oftenaid, congress must fulfl s constitutional obligation to consider an updated aumf. as m colleags said befe that stands for e thorization forthe use of military force. right now, the admniration is still using the resolution we sd terseember 11, 21, inhe lal justification to fight isis. at's deeplyroblemati the 2001umf has none of the ims many of us are sking. we're congress, we're n a -- we're not a rubber stampo any president. we have a right to vote on sues such as war and peace. u.s. leership to defeaisis is critical t is doesn't require a lge sce deployment of u.s. forces. throu american leadershiw were able to prevent the wholese aughteof the yazidi peopl the iraqi partners were ableo maintain control of the mosul m which, if breached by isis, uld have resulted in death and displacemenf up to two million peoe d endangered american personnel iraq. with our support,oc forces veaken back aout 80% of the terrir fm isis andraqn syria. another large scale, open ended c

mr. scott: i yield for the purposes of a unanimous consent request to mr. engel. mr. engel: i rise in strong opposition to this bill and ask unanimous consent to enter into the record a statement of the american hospital association against the bill and i just want to say in simple slogan, american people are going to pay more and get less. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield for the purpose of a unanimous consent request to the gentleman from georgia. >> thank you very much, mr. speaker. i rise for unanimous consent to make one point, it is most shameful -- the speaker pro tempore: is the gentleman making a unanimous consent request? >> yes, i am. the unanimous consent is to take $882 billion out of medicaid -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is not making a unanimous consent request. >> and give it to the wealthy is the wrong thing to do. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is not recognized. the gentleman from virginia. mr. scott: yes, mr. speaker. can you advise again how much time remains? the

. >> thank you, mr. speaker, and i colleagues. may is asthma awareness month. mr. engel: i would like to talk about what we can do. about 24 million americans have asthma, a quarter of children. asthma costs $56 billion every year with billions lost in lost productivity. in new york, more than 1.5 million who live with asthma, we are all too familiar with these costs which comes on a heartbreaking human toll. i have asked appropriators to und the c.d.c. national asthma control program which treats asthma at $29 million. this has brought down costs by millions and saves lives. since the program inception, deaths have fallen a quarter. so this works and money well spent. in honor of asthma awareness month, implore my colleagues to support this program and bring much needed relief. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from massachusetts seek recognition? >> permission to douse for one minute and resize and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the gentlema

and mr. speaker, we've made progress, but there is still so much work to be done. and if we are going to end human trafficking, it will take all of us working together. i thank ranking member engel and congressman connolly and the co-author of my legislation, representative frankel for their work on this measure. trafficking in persons is perpetrated and perpetrated by ransnational criminal enter -- the traffickers operate inside and outside our borders, but the profits from the trafficking industry contribute to the expansion of organized crime and terrorism here and worldwide. and that is why combatting human trafficking requires a global approach to identify and apprehend the world's worst ofeders. this target act does that and rgets them through the state department. rewards issued under these programs have led to the capture of major terrorists and international criminals. i'll remind the members that y ousef was convicted in the ombing of the 1993 world trade center. another who kidnapped and killed american citizens and major international drug traffickers,