Transcripts For CSPAN U.S. House Meets For Morning Hour 20170606

Chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning hour debate. The chair will alternate recognition between the parties. All time shall be equally allocated between the parties and in no event shall debate continue beyond 1 50 p. M. Than the than the majority and minority leaders and minority whip shall be limited to five minutes. The chair recognizes the gentleman from arkansas, mr. Ill, for five minutes. Mr. Hill i thank the speaker. Mr. Speaker, i rise today in honor of the bravery and courage of so many men who sacrificed everything on dday. At 5 52 in the morning on june 6, 1944, in a position about 4,000 yards from omaha beach, one of the oldest ships in the u. S. Navy, a wrorled war i world war i battleship, the u. S. S. Arkansas, opened fire on german positions on omaha beach in support of more than 30,000 american soldiers tasked with securing the beachhead. The heroes that stormed the beaches of normandy on that fateful day 73 years ago will never be forgotten. I had the honor of visiting this haloed ground Hallowed Ground over memorial day. While i was paying tribute to the brave soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice, an older frenchman approached me simply wanting to honor his liberators. He said that he just wanted to thank an american. He was 10 years old when dday occurred and he will never forget how the United States of america came to his and so many others to aid in the liberation of europe from the nazi menace. S love for america and our g. I. s speak volumes about the good will an exceptional character of our great nation. Its a privilege to offer my sincere tribute to the brave men who laid down their lives in the defense of those french and american shared convictions of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Yield back. Today i rise in recognition of one of arkansas finest, Staff Sergeant robert dale vanfossen. November 22,1952, a douglas c124a globe master 2 took off from tacoma, washington, headed for an air force base near anchorage. He along with 51 others were onboard and near Middleton Island in the gulf of alaska the plane disappeared. Eight days after the planes disappearance, part of the wreckage was located some 50 miles east of ang rang. Anchorage. Unfortunately, a week into the search the Recovery Team had to call off the effort due to weather conditions. The families of the victims were notified they would not ave any remains to bury. Finally, in march 2016, after 64 years and extensive recovery efforts, his remains were confirmed found and returned to his home in arkansas. Id like to extend my deepest condolences to the family of Staff Sergeant van fossen and hope they are now able to find peace hes finally home and in his final resting place. Yield back. Mr. Speaker, last month we recognized National Bike month and the many bicycling benefits that we have as citizens. I rise today to recognize the city of conway, arkansas, for its installation of their successful public Bike Sharing Program and to emphasize its leading example of advocacy for an active lifestyle. As a long time biker im pleased to see the city work to provide an alternate and convenient alternative and convenient source of transportation for residents of conway to help relieve congestion and promote a healthier sitty. As a former board member of bicycle advocacy of central arkansas, im glad to see conways Bike Sharing Program is one more step on the path towards fulfilling the mayors vision of a vibrant, healthy, and bike friendly city. I yield back. Mr. Speaker, today i rise in recognition of a great arkansan, long time conway resident and one of the pillars of the conway corporation, mr. Richie arnold. Mr. Arnold is retiring from his post as c. E. O. After 39 years with the company. He hails from harrison and a university of arkansas graduate with a degree in accounting. He joined conway corps as a manager of Data Processing before becoming a manager of finance and accounting, and then ultimately the chief executive officer in 1998. During his tenure at conway, he always worked to keep the company ahead of the curve and was responsible for transitioning the utility to full computerization. Arnold was arnold was instrume assisting conway corp in leading a path to diverse Filing Services by adding new services he was a platoon sergeant captured in 1944 during the battle of the bulge. In the spring of 1945 pattons army arrived and he was freed along with other american g. I. s and the jewish prisoners who had survived the atrocities of the third reich. He was granted honorable scharge a few months later and where he and where he served 29 years as a Police Officer and 24 as a. S. Marshal. Mr. Mcgovern i rise today to celebrate the accomplishments in worcester, massachusetts who will be tiring after a decade to the q. C. C. Family. From early on he recognized the impact one committed teacher can make in yawning persons life. She understands at her core the Community Colleges Community Colleges present a transformative opportunity for students to be recognized for talents and encouraged toward their goals. Hes a passionate advocate for expanding access to the opportunities that Community Colleges can provide. Because of his conviction that every student can achieve, q. C. C. Implemented a High School Dropout Prevention Program and he personally endowed over 200,000 in scholarships for local Community College students. She diversified the students, faculty, and staff populations to better reflect the community and implemented Award Winning stem programs to prepare students for the rapidly changing 21st century workplace. In keeping with her desire to equip her students with the skills they need to compete in the modern work force, she opened a 72,000 squarefoot campus in downtown worcester dedicated to the Colleges Health care program, which not overwhelm addressed the needs of q. C. C. Students but reinvigorated a large portion of downtown worcester. As a result of her leadership, q. C. C. Has become a leading institution of Higher Learning in massachusetts. This year q. C. C. Graduated almost double the number of students it did only 10 years ago. She has exceeded fundraising goaltenders an increased enrollment by nearly 40 . Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the city of worcester, on behalf of the people of massachusetts, and most importantly of all on behalf of the students she has helped to achieve their dreams, i want to say thank you to dr. Gale. We all owe her a heartfelt debt of gratitude and wish her great satisfaction and her endeavors to come. With that i yield back. E speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes gentleman from chair recognizes gentleman from pennsylvania, mr. Fitzpatrick, for five minutes. Mr. Fitzpatrick mr. Speaker, while our nation faces many challenges, perhaps none is more pressing than that of growing our economy. The positive impact of strong, sustained Economic Growth has the potential not only to help families make ends meet but it will also address the many other pressures we face. The time is now for congress and this administration to act on meaningful tax reform. The model is simple and straightforward. Simplify the simplify the ridiculously complex Internal Revenue code, eliminate the loopholes that allow corporations and individuals to avoid paying their fair share, lower the rates for middle class families and small businesses, and broaden the tax base. S a sert certified public accountant, i intend to push to make tax reform a reality in this congress. Moreover, this can and must be a bipartisan priority. 1 1 2 growth rate in the g. D. P. Is unsustainable. If that trend continues we will not be able to Fund Priorities such as taking care of our veterans, combating the addiction crisis, public education, and others. Economic growth has three seengs aspects. Tax reform, regulatory reform, and a balanced budget. The upcoming vote on the choice act will start the process on the regulatory side. Which will revive the ability of Community Banks to support local economies and advance Infrastructure Investment that puts americans back to work by rebuilding roads, rebuilding schools, bridges, as well as our i. T. Infrastructure and the electrical grid. Is other critical component tax reform and is tax reform and we owe it to the American People to get this done. I call on my good colleagues from both sides to put politics aside and do what were here to sent here to do. That is to stand up for hardworking families and release the power of the merican economy. Mr. Speaker, over a million americans, including 200,000 young americans, are living with type i diabetes, an autoimmune disease in which a persons pan creeous stops producing insulin. This disease is fatal without strict at heres to insulin injections or continuous pump infusion, along with close monitoring of blood glucose levels. My constituent was diagnosed when she was 2. She does not remember a day when she did not need to lance her finger multiple times a day to check her blood sugar or receive insulin injections. Espite these challenges, she and her family serve as an inspiration to all those facing this disease. Through perseverance they refuse to let type 1 diabetes stand in the way. She and her family serve just finis year at villanova university. The juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Projects that five million americans will have type 1 diabetes by 2050, including 600,000 young people. Yet only 1 3 of the people with ype 1 diabetes are achieving safe blood glucose levels. Accordingly, aim urging my colleagues to fully fund the National Institute of diabetes and digestive and kidney diseases. Presently there is no way to prevent type 1 diabetes. And no cure for it once diagnosed. Only through robust funding and Exhaustive Research at n. I. H. Can we continue to drive scientific progress to make the lives of those living with type 1 diabetes safer and healthier. Mr. Speaker, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the chair recognizes the gentleman from texas, mr. Farenthold, for five minutes. Mr. Farenthold thank you, mr. Speaker. Id like toll you about the new Army Specialist danny luck memorial which was unveiled last week at memorial day. His memorial recognizes carrie dannyluck who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation on april 14, 2014. Assigned to the 10th Mountain Division based in fort drum, new york, 27yearold dannyluck was serving his second tour in afghanistan. While conducting operations in was gar province, he critically wounded. Despite evacuation for the Medical Center in germany, he succumbed to his injuries. His awards and decorations include the bronze star, the purple heart, the Army Commendation medal, the Army Good Conduct medal and more. Thanks to the generous actions of the yokum rotary club, specialist dannylucks memory will live on. A special thanks is due in all involved helping plan and implement the memorial. Im honored to represent communities like yokum and many others who are so grateful to hose who serve our nation. Mr. Speaker, i rise today to recognize one of my constituents, james mcminn, who serves as the assistant Athletic Director and head Girls Basketball coach at Flower Bluff High School and was named coach of the year. Born and raised in Corpus Christi, texas, he graduated from Ray High School in 1981 and continued his education at l mar college and corpus kristi state university, now texas a m university. He coached the lady angels to two separate state appearances. He began working in flower bluff in 1993 and recently concluded his 27th year as head basketball coach. Over that 27year career, he aaccumulate late an impressive record. His team advanced to postseason play 19 of those 27 seasons. Hes taken the lady hornet to the regional tournament five times and advanced to the state tournament final four in the 20162017 season. Congratulations, coach mcminn on your outstanding coaching achievements and i hope you have continued success at flower bluff and all your future endeavors. Mr. Speaker, im here today to recognize four Outstanding High School students from the 27th district of texas who will be delegates to the congress of the future medical leaders and congress of the future science and Technology Leaders later this month. Brittany good win, a junior at rockportfulton high school excelled in science and technology and was nominated for the congress of future science and Technology Leaders for academic achievement, leadership potential and passion for science and technology. Austin thompson from cal allen high school, nicole morris, john handleman from Corpus Christi will be delegate to congress of the future medical leaders. They had academic success and their desire to become future stem leaders in medical profession. Our country needs more doctors. Our students need more our country needs more science, technology and mathematics students to continue the technological revolution and continued innovation that our country needs. Congratulations, brittany, austin, nicole and john, americas proud of yall. Ith that, sir, i yield back. The speaker pro tempore pursuant to clause 12a of rule 1, the chair declares the house untiless well take your phone calls and social media comments after the hearing. You can also listen to it on the free cspan radio app and a quick reminder if you miss any of it during the day, the hearing will reair at 8 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2 and later that night on cspan. A look now at the former directors testimony in march confirming the russia investigation. Director comey i have been authorized by the department of justice to confirm that the f. B. I. , as part of our counterintelligence mission, is investigating the russian governments efforts to interfere in the 2016 president ial election and that includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the Trump Campaign and the russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and russias efforts. As with any counterintelligence investigation, this will also include an assessment of whether any crimes were committed. Because it is an open, Ongoing Investigation and is classified, i cannot say more about what we are doing and whose conduct we are examining. At the request of congressional leaders, we have taken the extraordinary step in coordination with the department of justice of briefing this congress leaders, including the leaders of this committee in a classified setting in detail about the investigation. But i cant go into those details here. I know that is extremely frustrating to some folks but it is the way it has to be. For reasons that i hope you and the American People can understand, the f. B. I. Is very careful in how we handle information about our cases and about the people we are investigating. We are also very careful about the way we handle information that may be of interest to our foreign adversaries. Both of those interests are at issue in a counterintelligence investigation. Please dont draw any conclusions from the fact that i may not be able to comment on certain topics. I know speculating is part of human nature, but it really isnt fair to draw conclusions simply because i say i cant comment. And, again, you can watch his capitol hill testimony live online thursday at cspan. Org or listen live using the cspan free radio app for apple and roid devices. Live coverage on cspan3 begins at 10 00 a. M. Eastern thursday morning. And a debate now on whether College Campuses foster racist environments with telecommunications entrepreneur kmele foster and lawrence ross, the author of blackballed the black and white politics of race on americas campuses. The sojo forum in new york city hosted this event. Gene welcome to the soho forum that features topics of special interests to libertarians and aims to enhance social and professional ties within new yorks libertarian community. Were partnered with reason magazine presenting these debates and you can catch audio of all of our events on the podcast which youll find in the itunes store. Id like to thank the Smith Family Foundation for making this series possible. Im gene epstein, economics and books editor at barrons magazine and moderator. For more information and to buy tickets to our future debates, go to our