mr. tonko: mr. speaker, if there are no other of our colleagues that wish to speak, i'm prepared to close. echo my just again, support to senate amendment to h.r. 1222, worthy of our support. we will continue to build on the research and education concerning birth defects and most importantly will enable individuals and families who live with birth defects to have more hope. so with that i yield back. of the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields. the gentleman from oregon is recognized. mr. walden: well, thank you very much, mr. speaker. i thank the gentleman for his kind comments on this bipartisan legislation. i think it's another fine work product from your energy and commerce committee in the area of health care and health research and helping families cope with these terrible tragedies that befall us. and, you know, your committee on energy and commerce, as you well know, mr. speaker, has done a lot of good work this cycle and i'm especially proud of our work on opioids and opioid addiction

mr. hoyer: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for one minute for the purpose of inquiring of the majority leader the schedule for the week to come. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hoyer: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield to my friend. i want to say as i yield to him, maybe i better say it at the end and see how pleasant we're. i yield to the majority leader. mr. mccarthy: i thank the gentleman for yielding. i ask unanimous consent to revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hoyer: mr. speaker, the house is still not in order. members want to hear the information that the leader gives about the schedule. the speaker pro tempore: members will please carry their onversation off the floor. the gentleman may pr seed. mr. mccarthy: i first want to begin by thanking my friend. today could be our last schedule colloquy together. over the years we have had many spirited debates on this floor. we have celebrated moments of cooperation

mr. durbin: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i want to thank the senator from florida for his kind words of encouragement on this criminal justice reform bill which is pending before the united states senate. i thank him. i know his personal interest in this subject and i'm going to miss his service and his friendship here in the senate chamber, but thank him for his many years of serving the people of florida and standing by me on many causes. it's rare that one of these causes is so bipartisan, and this one is. i heard the testimony, or the statement earlier by the senator from louisiana, senator kennedy. i count him as a friend. we've cosponsored bills together. i like him. we disagree on some issues, but we do it in a very positive way. the comments i'm about to make, i want them to be as positive as possible. he brought a chart to the floor and suggested there was no support by national law enforcement for the bill that's before us and s

mr. chairman. i know you haven't gaveled us. if you gavel us, i'd like to address the chair for one second. are you going to gavel us to i can address the chair for one second? i thank the chair. mr. chairman, unfortunately i'm going to have to go to the democratic organizational meeting which will run certainly all morning. as you know, we had an all-day organizational meeting yesterday. i regret we have a hearing in the middlele of that. i know you indicated yesterday, empty chairs should not be misconstrued. but i have a solemn obligation to elect the next leadership of this body. unfortunately that conflicts with this hearing. this means no disrespect to our witnesses and certainly to the topic. as the chairman knows and the ranking member knows, i don't like to miss hearings of any kind. i regret unfortunately i am going to have to leave. i will insert a statement for the record and thank the chair. mr. gowdy: there's really never a good time to have leadership races. given the serio

mr. bradley: well, we're obviously ninth year of the recovery, long duration. a lot is being made of the numbers coming in slightly below expectations, still 155,000, strong growth, low unemployment, i think what we're beginning to see is the tightness of the labor market having an impact here, frankly, as we begin looking out to the duration of being able to sustain this level of economic growth, one of the things that we're most concerned about is actually having the workers that we need to fuel continued growth. good strong numbers, but worry signs ahead about our ability to continue to grow. kate: the markets, some volatility recently. investors are starting to get a little anxious about possible signs of recession, not too far off, maybe on the horizon, how concerned are you, are your members about economic growth slowing down next year possibly? mr. bradley: i think we're more concerned about policy missteps that could lead us into a recession. so one of the things driving the stock

mr. chairman. and thanks to all of the members of the committee. the discussion draft of the bipartisan housing finance reform act develops thoughtful approaches to central issues in the reform of american housing finance. i remind us that this housing finance system collapsed -- [ technical difficulties ] concentrated montgomery credit risk on the banks of the potomac in fanni and freddy. this is a major blunder, but the concentration continues. principle objection is to mo mortgage risk to the capital and put more private capital in front of the government's mortgage risk guarantee. i am no fan of having the government guarantee the mortgage market but putting skeptical and professional and nonpolitical capital in front of the government's guarantee would be progress. in my view we should be headed for a system which is 80% private and only 20% government. the bipartisan draft would move us in the right direction and in my view that 20%, by the way, should be the fha. i suggest five add

that makes what mr trump did a crime now remember that mr mohler and the southern district of new york are operating under a justice department policy since two thousand saying you cannot indict a prosecutor president so mr trump as long as in the white house is not confronting a criminal prosecution but that doesn't mean that the house of representatives with the new democrats in control and jerry nadler of the judiciary committee in january can't open up an investigation and conclude that the criminal activity was an impeachable offense it's not punished by prison time but it's punished by removal from office and right now mr trump i think is confronting a high probability of impeachment in the house now remember however the trial would be in the senate you need sixty seven votes to convict and right now you've got fifty three republicans so mr trump is is somewhat protected but he would be enormously embarrassed if used impeached and ultimately acquitted last that you've got to think that mr trump's a mind is thinking about maybe he could cut a deal because your memory talks about t

mr. bruno, you have seven minutes. [inaudible] >> clerk: absolutely, i'm just letting you know when you're ready to start -- no, no. okay. if you could speak into the microphone, please. >> thank you, commissioners. my name is marc bruno. i am a tenant in the building 15 nobles alley. what's been confused by the permit applicant is this is a single building on a single piece of property. so there are people here today, paul and linda, myself, we're three-quarters of the people who live in the building. why? because this middle unit here is empty, and this middle unit here is empty, but people live here, people live here, people live here, and people live here. it's like a sandwich effect. there are people on the third and first floors of the buildings. on this side, i'll do it for you. 15 nobles alley would be here, facing north, and union street would be here, 472 union, so there are people that live on the top of 472 union. they're actually ill tonight, so the didn't -- they didn't come

mr. nixon, you are up first. mr. nixon: the question i would like to start with is, i think there are common misperceptions about fema's role in emergency management and dealing with natural disasters. what is fema's role and what is the state and local first responders role? brick is out for us, please. -- laid out for us please. -- lay that out for us, please. mr. long: fema's mission is incredibly complex. it is a lot more than just the response, which is often covered on tv when big events occur. we have a huge obligation to provide billion's of dollars worth of predisaster grants, mitigation funding. we run continuity of government programs to make sure the executive branch works on its worst day. as well as we are in a position to be providing billions of dollars to help america overcome the last two hurricane seasons and wildfire seasons. the best way to describe what we response andt recovery is when it is locally executed, state managed, and federally supported. fema was not designed to be a first responder,

mr. president, i yield the floor. announcer: one day after being released from federal prison, george papadopoulos, former advisor on the trump presidential campaign, sat down for an interview, along with his life -- his wife. mr. cap annapolis just finished serving a two week sentence in connection with the russian investigation. this interview hosted by the american priority conference is just over an our. -- an hour. >> [indiscernible] >> 123, 4 5 -- all right. all right, everyone, welcome to the american priority 2018 conference. honored guests are here. this is your first interview afterwards outside of the gates. and you made it through -- [laughter] and you made it through with your wife. so we are going to do this a little bit differently. i know a lot of people in the back in the mainstream media probably have questions, so if they have anything they want to ask and write it on a piece of paper, they can hand it to tom. george and i spoke and nothing is really off-limits. whateve

mr. speaker. mr. speaker. when we have the votes when we have the vote members will need to reflect carefully on what is in the best interest of our country. i know there are a range of variation we had personal views on this issue across the house. i respect all of them. expressing our personal views is not what we are here to do. we asked the british people to take this decision. 400 and 72 current members of this house voted for the referendum in june 2015. with just 32 voting against and the british people responded by instructing us to be the european union. similarly, 438 current members of this house voted to trigger article 502 set the process of our departure in motion with only 85 of today's members voted against. now, we must honor our duty to finish the job. i know, i know it is not everyone's perfect deal and a compromise. if we net the perfect be the enemy of the good then we risk leaving the eu. of course, we have prepared for no deal tomorrow the cabinet will be discussing the next phase in ens

mr. mr. conaway: thank you, mr. speaker. before i finish i would like to also add my thanks to the staff, the majority staff, the minority staff in the house as well as the minority and majority staff in the senate. untold hours were spent getting us to this place by these hard working men and women who labor in relative anonymity. colin and i get all the hugs and patsed on the back but they do all the hard work. art fisher, patricia strachan, josh maxwell, jennifer tiller, trevor white, callie mcadams, ayla crosswhite, molly, mindy, yasmin, emy, ashton, darryl, abigail, margaret, john, brian martin hayes, brandon reeves, nicole bane for all the hard work, all the time spent away if families for the last year plus getting to this point. mr. speaker, in a few minutes, there will be red and green lights go up behind your head. pressure facing america's farmers and ranchers are just unimaginable to those of us not directly in the business. pressures of five years reduced income, five years burning thru savings and capital, five

mr. blunt: mr. president, i have two requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. the presiding officer: duly noted. mr. blunt: mr. president, i also ask unanimous consent that robert ivansko, a federal regulatory committee detailee with the senate energy committee be granted privilege of the floor until and through december 21, 2018. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: mr. president, i also ask unanimous consent that my military fellow, our military detailee, major aaron house be given floor privileges during the duration of my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: so, mr. president, i'm here today to talk for a few minutes about major house and the work he's done in our office. we've benefited for the last several years from a military detailee being on the intelligence committee and on the defense appropriating committee, and having significant military installations in o

mr. lovell: i was interested in rockets and astronomy long before the glenns and the shepards of the world couuld ld spell "rocket." i went to be a rocket engineer. i said i want to be an engineer. letter.te backa nice you ought to go to m.i.t. or caltech. i could not afford either. so i took a secondary goal. i got an rotc appointment to wisconsin. from there i went to the naval academy. from there i got to the flight training. i became a naval air aviator. in 1958, nasa was formed, and they were looking for astronauts. i was one of the original 110 people who were selected for interviews. >> you almost did not go to the naval academy? mr. lovell: that is right. this was right after world war ii. i got down to preflight. my mother, when i was at the university of wisconsin, told me to apply to the naval academy. never expecting. i became first alternate, which usually doesn't make it. i got orders from bureau personnel to report to the naval academy for the physical to be inducted into t

mr. moynihan: yes. mr. meadows: mr. doyle? mr. doyle: hugely. yes. mr. meadows: so let me get to this. i think you guys have been well advised in terms of trying to protect your interests. let me just be blunt. i checked with the i.r.s. commissioner. nothing you say in this forum, according to him, will actually affect any potential claim that you've already submitted. hat's what he told me. if that is indeed the case do you have a problem giving the 6,000 pages submitted to the minority and the majority of this committee, do you have a problem with that? mr. moynihan: we'll take that under swrad visement. mr. meadows: then you need to go ahead with your counsel right now my patience is running thin. you're here. to provide expert testimony on what you found. and what i'm saying is, is that if you have a legitimate claim we will protect that but if you're not going to share the information with this committee and cut to the chase, my patience is running out. so i'll give you a few seconds to talk to your attorneys and you can come back and decide how you

mr. new houses: mr. speaker -- mr. newhouse: mr. speaker, i rise today to honor john turner who is retiring from his role as walla walla county sheriff. he served the public in this role for eight years. sheriff turner dedicated himself to working to make his community safer. he sought to provide 24-7 patrol coverage. re-establish the canine program. address gang activity in the county. and proactively address other public safety concerns. he was nominated by his peers across washington state for the national sheriff's associationer ifis e. lucas award for national sheriff of the year and received the national sheriffs association medal of merit for his outstanding positive accomplishments. in his retirement announcement, he wrote, being walla walla county sheriff for the last two terms has been one of the greatest honors of my life. as i wind down my second term, i ask that you continue to keep those brave men and women who regularly and selflessly go into harm's way in your positive thoughts and prayers. i ask my colleagues to joi

mr. durbin: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, we've recently heard a farewell speech from my colleague and friend, senator clean air mccass claire mccaskill of missouri. i grew up across the river in a town of east st. louis, illinois. i feel a familiarity with missouri more than most residents of my state. we have great reminisce about our states. my boyhood hero was stan musial, stan the man. st. louis cardinal hall of famer. he retired in 1963 holding national league career marks for games played at-bats and hits. asked to describe the habits that kept him in baseball so long, he once said, get eight hours of sleep regularly, keep your weight down, run a mile a day, if you schuss smoke, smoke cigars, then cut down on inhaling. make at that point to bat .3000. clean air mis-caskill has always brought the same work ethic to work that stan musial brought to baseball. her batting average is considerably better than .300. five years ago senator mccaskill and i teamed up to suggest a name for a new bridge, a beautiful new

mr. cole: mr. speaker, i send to the desk a privileged report from the committee on rules for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 1183, resolution providing for consideration of the senate amendment to the house amendment to the senate amendment to the bill h.r. 695, to amend the national child protection act of 1993 to establish a voluntary national criminal history background check system and criminal history review program for certain individuals who, related to their employment, have access to children, the elderly or individuals with disabilities, and for other purposes. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. for what purpose does the gentleman from oklahoma seek recognition? mr. cole: mr. speaker, by the direction of the committee on rules, i call up house resolution 183 and ask for its immediate consideration. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the es

mr. mast: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on h.res. 1063. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. mast: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. mast: h.res. 1063 designates the room h-226 of the u.s. capitol as the lincoln room. i appreciate my colleagues' work on this and find it appropriate to honor for such a distinguished leader of our country. i urge my colleagues to support this resolution. i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentlewoman from nevada. ms. titus: thank you, mr. speaker. i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. titus: thank you. i also support house resolution 1063. this bipartisan bill designates room h-226 in the u.s. capitol as the

mr. thompson: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to recognize decber 15 as t ll of rights da the bill of rights which is the first 10 amendments to the constitution was first ratified i 1791. it protects the rights and liberties oall americans. the bill of rihts guarantees our freedoms of religion, eech, press, to peaceably assemble, andetion our government, a protect our right to bear arms, o private pperty rights, right to a fair trial, and right against unreasonable search and seizures. it establishes that we as nation promote the power of the individua libertieand limit the scopef the fer government. mr. speaker, bill of rights day came into existence in 1941 on the50th anniversary. congress passed a joint resolution authorizing president franklin d. roosevelt to make it a national whody. roosevelt referred to the document as quote, the great american chart of personal liberty and human dignity, enquotes. . speaker, it is important we use this day to educate younge generations oamerins on our bill of rights

mr. royce: mr. speaker, i move that the house suspend the rules and concur in senate amendment to h.r. 2200. the clerk: h.r. 2200, an act to re-authorize the trafficking victims protects act of 2000 and for other purposes. senate amendment. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california, mr. royce and the gentleman from new york, mr. engel each will control 20 minutes. mr. royce: i ask unanimous consent that members may include extraneous material in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. royce: i yield myself such time as i may consume. mr. speaker, the senate unanimously passed this mendment version of the h.r. 2200. the house originally passed back in july. it is part of a bipartisan, bicameral package of bills to re-authorize and to strengthen our nation's effort to combat human trafficking. it deserves our unanimous support and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. the gentleman from new york. mr. engel: i rise in

mr. poe: mr. speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule 1, i demand a vote on agreeing to the speaker's approval of the journal. the speaker: the question is a greigg to the speaker's approval. journal. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the ayes have it. the journal stands approved. mr. poe: mr. speaker. the speaker: for what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition? mr. poe: i object to the vote on the grounds that a quorum is not present and make a point of order a quorum is not present. the speaker: pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, further proceedings on this question are postponed. the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentlewoman from california, mrs. torres. mrs. torres: i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the speaker: the chair will entertain up to five requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. for what pur

mr. manafort's defense team with reject prosecutors' claims, garrett tenney from washington bureau. >> eric, we are getting a few more details on what they believe paul manafort lied about and there's not a shortage of items and how he did so repeatedly to cooperate with the special counsel. in court filing mueller's team stated, quote, in his interviews with the special counsel's office manafort told multiple discernible lies and not instances of memory lapses, if the defendant contends the government not acted in good faith, the government is able to prove the false statements at hearing. now a lot of the key points in the court filing were redacted so hard to get a full picture of what and how many items manafort allegedly lied about but mueller's team include five issues, 125,000-dollar payment, former employee of his, political consultant to ties to russian intelligence, manafort allegedly lied about efforts to allegedly obstruct justice by trying to persuade witnesses to lie to muel

mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i am pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, the ranking member of the commerce, justice, science committee, mr. serrano. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes. mr. serrano: i thank the gentlewoman. you know, for me, this is a very simple thought. it's the same thought i've had all along. this country, of all countries, should not be building a wall. this country, the land of opportunity, the land of freedom, the land where people come to build a new life, should not be building a wall. so what do we do? there isn't the support necessary for building the wall. for funding it. so at the last moment we sneak it into a so-called must-pass bill or otherwise you shut the government down. but the president has already said that he doesn't mind taking credit or taking responsibility for shutting this government down. it's very simple. people say, well, there's aid here, disaster aid. we've been dealing with this disas

mr. courtney: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, one of the dominant news stories on both sides of the atlantic was the announcement by the british prime minister that she was postponing a vote on accepting a preliminary brexit package that had been negotiated with the european union. her decision continue the turmoil in her own party and parliament at large how to implement a referendum that was narrowly passed to instruct the government to leave the european union that the united kingdom joined in 1973. as a member of the u.s. congress also divided in struggling with its own ability to execute basic function, i have a great deal of empathy as i'm sure many of my colleagues do with the frustration that members of parliament and british public are feeling today. fundamentally, of course, this is a domestic question for parliament and it would be presumptuous for elected officials from the outside to weigh in on the proposals regarding residency, visa requirements, and how health care coverage would be coordinated if and whe

mr. bush was 94. >> at the white house, the place where president bush shent four years of his life in service, the u.s. flag flying at half staff. it's 4:00 a.m. eastern time. in houston, texas, a red, white and blue wreath is hung. >> services begin monday for three days the public will be able to pay respects as his body lies in state at the capitol building in washington. >>> on wednesday, a national day of mourning will come together for the state funeral. the funeral service will be held thursday in houston, texas, where the former president lived then he will be laid to wrest at george h.w. bush presidential library beside his beloved wife, barbara bush. when george bush passed away on friday were friends and family. >> among them were kneel bush, his wife maria, grandson pierce bush. his son and grandsons spoke with reporters shortly after mr. bush died. >> his sense of service with humility, giving credit to others, lifting others by looking for the best in others. those real cha

mr. hurd: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and and their remarks include any extraneous materials on the bill under consideration. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. hurd: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. hurd: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of h.r. 2454, the department of homeland security data framework act. this legislation provides the first ever authorization for the d.h.s. data framework. under this initiative, the department is bringing together vital d.h.s. databases, including travel and cargo information, investigative data, and critical infrastructure data, among other things. mr. speaker, americans will not only be surprised but appalled to learn about the number of information sharing stovepipes that still exist within the department of homeland security. this bill will bring together the data sets in each of the cl

mrs. lowey: mr. speaker, i am pleased to yield two minutes to the gentleman from new york, the ranking member of the commerce, justice, science committee, mr. serrano. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york is recognized for two minutes. mr. serrano: i thank the gentlewoman. you know, for me, this is a very simple thought. it's the same thought i've had all along. this country, of all countries, should not be building a wall. this country, the land of opportunity, the land of freedom, the land where people come to build a new life, should not be building a wall. so what do we do? there isn't the support necessary for building the wall. for funding it. so at the last moment we sneak it into a so-called must-pass bill or otherwise you shut the government down. but the president has already said that he doesn't mind taking credit or taking responsibility for shutting this government down. it's very simple. people say, well, there's aid here, disaster aid. we've been dealing with this disas

mr. conaway: mr. speaker, i rise today in strong support of the conference report to h.r. 2, the agriculture improvement act of 2018. it is fitting that the house today consider the farm bill because 28 years ago another proud texan, president george h.w. bush, signed into law the 1990 farm bill. for the first time since 1990, congress is poised to pass a new farm bill in the same year that the legislation was first introduced. in many ways the 1990 farm bill laid the groundwork for today's u.s. farm policy. u.s. farm policy in longer the old command control policies of the new deal but a market oriented, risk management approach that helps america's farmers and ranchers survive natural disasters and the predatory trade practices of foreign countries like china. our nation's farmers and ranchers are the very best in the world. but they cannot compete alone against a sea of rising -- high and rising foreign subsidy, tariffs, and nontariff trade barriers. nor can they survive alone in the face of record

mr. royce: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to take from the speaker's table the bill, 1918, with the senate amendment thereto, and to conquer in the senate amendment. done concur in the senate amendment. the speaker pro tempore: -- and -- and to concur in the senate amendment. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the bill and the senate amendment. the clerk: for the government of nicaragua unless the government of nicaragua is taking effective steps to hold free, fair and transparent elections and for other purposes. senate amendment. strike all after the enacting clause and -- mr. royce: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading of the amendment. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the reading is dispensed with. is there any objection to the request of the gentleman? without objection, the senate amendment is agreed to and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? mr. royce: mr. speaker, i a

mr. speaker, i rise today to what i expect to be my final speech on the house floor. after eight terms i have chosen to go home to texas. and nd of my forefathers with hope of being a better father and better husband myself. i'm also going home because i believe america is best served bite jeffersian model of american democracy and that is a citizen legislature. i fear too many wish to become members of the permanent ruling class. i am not among them. i also know that this congressional seat, mr. speaker, never belonged to me. it belonged to the people of the fifth congressional district of texas t's always belonged to them. they allowed me to hold it in trust. it was a sacred trust to be the guardian of their freedoms and opportunities and i will always, always be grateful for that privilege. so come january 3 return their seat back to them and i wish my successor all the best. all the best. mr. speaker, 16 years ago i went to these very same people in the fifth congressional district of

mr. chairman, mr. delaney, mr. himes, we applaud you for advancing the debate on housing finance reform. n.h.b. remains a staunch supporter of comprehensive housing finance system reform. we believe that comprehensive reform must come through congress and focus on fixing the structural flaws that still persist after the great recession. comprehensive legislation is the only way to ensure a stable housing finance system, preserve access to credit and protect the taxpayers. while g.s.e.'s are not granted plicit gaunt, treasury has turned enterprise's explicit guarantee into an explicit government guarantee which means taxpayers right now are at risk of loss due to a failure of the underlying mortgage loans. on a positive note, fhfa has taken steps to reduce risks through credit risk transfer programs that shift a meaningful part of the credit risk to private investors. recently n.h.b. urged policymakers to lock in recent reforms to the enterprises and complete additional reforms through legislation. the letter emphas

mr. sanders: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: i ask unanimous consent to use an oversized floor display. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president, i come to the floor today to talk about one of the great humanitarian crises facing our planet, and that is the horrific war in yemen. in march of 2015, under the leadership of mohammad bin mohan constitutional solomon, who was therein the saudi arabian defense minister and is now of course the crown prince, saudi arabia and the united air be a emirates intervened in the ongoing civil war. as a result of the saudi-u.a.e. intervention, yemen is now experiencing the worst humanitarian disaster in the world. according to the united nations, yemen is at risk of the most severe famine in more than 100 years. with some 14 million people facing starvation. in one of the poorest countries on earth as a result of this terrible war, according to the save the children organization, some 85,000 yem

mr. wilson: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute and to revise and extend my wrarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. mr. wilson: an extraordinary tribute to george h.w. bush was published by one in "the atlantic," had george herbert walker bush never become the 41st president of the united states, he'd still be remembered as one of the great americans of the 20th century. but it was his one-term presidency from 1989 to 1993 that had a monumental impact on the world. ronald reagan, his predecessor, uttered the famous words, mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. yet, it was bush who presided over the overly dismantling. he saw the collapse of the soviet union, the end of the cold war, the birth of the post-soviet republics and the west outreach to former members of the warsaw pact. in my service in congress, i've seen firsthand the expansion of freedom and democracy. today, the largest number of nations in the world history are free and democrat

mr. barr: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the reading. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. without objection, the amendment is agreed to and the bill is engrossed, read a third time, passed and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. without objection, the title is amended. for what purpose does the gentleman from kentucky seek recognition? mr. barr: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the committee on financial services and house administration be discharged from further consideration of s. 1050, an ask for its immediate consideration in the house. the clerk: the clerk will report the title of the bill. -- the clerk will report the title of the of the bill. a bill to s. 1050, give congressional gold medal to those from world war ii. the speaker pro tempore: is there objection to consideration of the bill? without objection, the bill is engrossed, read a third time and the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. for what purpose does the gentleman from

mr. cole: mr. speaker, today, the rules committee met and reported a rule for consideration of the further additional continuing appropriations act of 2019. the rule provides for one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and the ranking member of the appropriations committee. mr. speaker, the appropriations package in front of us represents the fourth appropriation package to fully fund the government for fiscal year 2019. while the congress has completed its work with respect to almost 75% of total discretionary spending, including notably the department of defense, health and human services, education, labor, roughly 25% of discretionary spending remains outstanding. today's bill will provide a short-term continuing resolution to february 8, 2019, to ensure that the entirety of the federal government remains open and operating while the congress continues to work. . i've said on numerous occasions on this floor and else where that continuing resolutions are not the best way t

mr. goodlatte, for working with me to organize this hearing. i want to thank sundar pichai for testifying on capitol hill. we appreciate and note your willingness to travel here and answer our questions. first in a private setting in september and now a public setting. google is one of the most valuable companies in america because of what it does. google's search engine organizes the internet and by extension almost all the information in the world. this is hardly an exaggeration. here is a statistic you will hear a lot today, but it bears repeating. according to the "wall street journal," 90% of all internet searches go through going. that is power. it comes with responsibility. mr. pichai is -- it was necessary to convene this hearing because of the widening gap of distrust between technology companies and the american people. for our country and economy to grow stronger, the american people must be able to have trust in the great companies of the 21st century. we can alleviate some of

when mr. cohen authorized us to contact the special counsel's office, he knew the president might shut down the investigation and knew there might come a time when he would appear in court and there would be no special counsel to stand up for him as there is today. he moved forward nonetheless. he came forward to offer evidence against the most powerful person in our country. he did so not know what the result would be, not knowing how the politics would play out and not knowing whether the special counsel would even survive, nor could he anticipate the full measure of attack that has been made against him. not only by the president, who continues to say that people like mr. cohen who cooperate with the special counsel are weaklings and that those who hold fast and clam up are heroes, but also attacks bipartisans and by citizens who happen to be aligned with the president. and those attacks have included threats against him and his family. so, respectfully, your honor, this is not a standard c

mr. nadler: mr. speaker, i rise today in support of s. 756, or the amendments thereto, the first step act as passed in the senate. this legislation has traveled a long journey to get to this point. along the way various aspects of the bill have changed. although do i not agree with all of the changes on balance the measure has greatly improved thanks to the hard work of many members on both sides of the aisle from the house and senate. before i get to the substance of the bill, i want to recognize some of the people most responsible for getting us here today. there are a number of champions of criminal justice reform in the senate, but i particularly want to recognize and thank senators dick durbin and chuck grassley for their commitment to getting a bill that includes important sentencing reforms to the president's desk. in the house, i want to thank my judiciary committee colleagues, representatives hakim jefferies, and doug collins, who worked together and with us to achieve a bipartisan exrowp mi

mr. chief justice, i'd like to reserve the remainder of my time. >> thank you, counsel. mr. fagan. >> thank you, mr. chief justice, may it please the court. throit its history, this court has recognized that the distinct and separate sovereign powers of state and federal government, the petitioner provides no reason to conclude the court has been wrong all this time and overturning precedent on this issue will invite a whole host of problems. >> 170 years, i think your friend is right, that we have not had a full consideration and exposition of the issue in any of our precedents? >> i don't think that's correct, your honor. i think as you yourself pointed out earlier in the argument, the historical point he's making here and that is the center priest of his argument, that even prosecutions by a foreign sovereign qanbar domestic prosecution by the state or by the united states was fully before the court in barcus. the grant article that is all over the petition ear brief and petitioner's c

mr. enzi: mr. president? mr. jones: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that my statement appear uninterrupted in the "congressional record." the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: mr. president, earlier this month congress sent the president another continuing resolution to allow more time to resolve a partisan impasse that has us on the brink of of a government shutdown once again. a continuing resolution just allows agencies to continue to spend money without knowing how much they actually get to spend. the current episode is yet another example of the breakdown of what should be the basic nuts and bolts of governing -- keeping the government open and funded. in other words, they've been spending money since last october without knowing how much money they get to spend. and so i come to the floor today to talk about the need to reform our broken budget and appropriations process and to lay out a few ideas i have for how to do that. as chairman of the budget committee, i've worked o

mr. shimkus: thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, before i begin i want to express my sincere thanks to general vincent brooks, my classmate from west point, upon his retirement today after 38 years of active military service. mr. speaker, i came down to the floor to read a facebook post from another west pointer honoring his close friend who died on november 27 of this year in afghanistan. time will not permit me to go through the -- his entire post, of us who for many served in the conflicts we have today, it underlines the sacrifice our men and women pay to the service of our country. . i'll end with this. it was captain andrew ross died on november 27, 2018. and the last verse of our alma mater, which was sung at the second singing of alma maters at the army-navy game it ends with this and i think it's appropriate. and when our work is done our course on earth is run, may it be said well done, be thou at peace, err may that line of gray increase from day-to-day, live, serve, and die we pray, west point for thee. god bles

mr. carter, for five minutes. mr. carter: mr. speaker, i rise today to recognize the football team for winning their fourth division ii national championship on december 15, the blazers. they got a two-point conversion to defeat fair state university. with a record of 14-0 this year, they had the nation's top scoring offense. the offense was led by their quarterback, rogan wells, who was finalist for best player in the country. he passed for 349 yards, ran for 39, and caught a touchdown pass in the national championship victory. valdosta, though, is no strangers to victories. located in south georgia, they have been recognized by espn as title town u.s.a. er the years, valdosta teams combined 252 titles across different sports. go, blazers. mr. speaker, i rise today to recognize dr. george e. francisco on four decades of teaching pharmacists at the college level, nearly all of which have been spent with the university of georgia. known across campus as an outstanding teacher for his perso

mr. cruz: mr. president, i rise today to honor the life and legacy of president george herbert walker bush. this week american hearts are heavy as we bid farewell to our 41st president. since we heard of news of his passing just a few days ago, there has been a ceaseless stream of communications and commemorations and testimonies to president bush's character from every corner of our nation, from the world of politics, philanthropy, entertainment, business the, the armed forces, and from our living ex-presidents. even those who were his rivals and critics during his public life have returned to praise that life so well and honorably lived. he will be remembered as a good and faithful servant to his country, whose great legacy of leadership and love of homeland became a family tradition.. earned him the admiration of countless americans and secured a special place in the memory of every texan. over his storied career, president bush was a war hero and a business man, a legitimate ledges is later and

mr. portman: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: mr. president, today i want -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. portman: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. portman: this evening he want to talk a little about the nexus of high prescription drug costs and the opioid epidemic that has gripped my state, our country. it's the number one public health crisis in america today. it's the story of greed, frankly, and it's the story of the need for some fixes here in congress to keep it from happening again. with regard to the opioid epidemic crisis -- the opioid epidemic crisis, 72,000 died from overdoses from drugs. it's a grim statistics. more than two-thirds of those overdose deaths include opioid, including painkillers and fentanyl which is responsible for most of the opioid deaths. i think we made god progress over the past couple of years here in congress to pass new