I want you to know im pleased to report today, rules committee favorably reported out this bill and we will be talking about the substance of that today. I reserve my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves. The gentlelady from new york is ecognized. Ms. Slaughter thank you, mr. Speaker. I wasnt quite ready but i thank my friend for yielding me the customary 30 minutes and yield myself such time as i may consume. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. Ms. Slaughter im sorry i cant support this continuing resolution today. The great government of the United States of america thats been called the last, best hope of man cannot be funded in traunches of maybe two weeks to three weeks. This is the fifth continuing resolution that we have done since the 30th of september. Thats an atrossfi. I dont think of any, any legislative body anywhere, totally unable to do its job. And as sorry as i am to say it, because of my Great Respect and affection for my fellow members, i dont believe this majority is capable of governing. We are two days before the shutdown of the government of the United States, before it closes for business. Late last night, about 2 00 in the morning was it . 10 00 p. M. , thats better than i thought, late last night they finally released the details of this shortterm spending bill. Well be back here, as soon as this one expires, doing yet another one. We are five months into the fiscal year. And this is the majoritys fifth continuing resolution. We are virtually in the same position today as we were on september 8, december 7, december 21, january 18, and when this chamber passed the prior continuing resolution. The majority isnt learning from any of this. They just keep repeating those mistakes. Like the bill before it, this proposal was written by and for the majority. Let me repeat. The democrats had virtually no say in this. And once again it ignores millions of priorities and we all agree need to be addressed. Providing adecisional Disaster Relief after a storm season that saw historic wildfires, hurricanes, mudslides, three rail wrecks in two weeks. With fatalities. Certainly proving to us if we didnt know it already, that our neglect of railroads, bridges and infrastructure of the United States is a mess. But saving americas endangered pensions is also a priority. Extending Additional Health access for our veterans certainly is. Not just priority but an obligation. But whats included here is woefully inadequate. The bill pays for extending Community Health centers, which is very important to me, let me hasten to add, by eviscerating funding for one of the most important parts of the Affordable Care act that keeps people well. The prevention fund. The fund focuses on it expands access to vaccines and reduesing the lead poisoning. While we are facing the worst flu epidemic. I have heard a lot of talk about prioritizing the National Defense. We dont take a back seat on our side to anybody who loves and respects the people who defend us, who every day, through an allvolunteer military who stand on the libe line for us. This bill does not raise the sequester level of spending caps for nondefense. That is a shame and also the budget control act. Mr. Speaker, onethird of the nondefense domestic budget that we are trying to get parity for goes to national security, part of our defense, to our veterans, to homeland security, the state department, the Justice Department and counterterrorism initiatives. Refusing to equally raise the defense and nondefense caps is irresponsible. The secretary of defense, general mattis, has said, no enemy, no enemy is more harmful than unpredictable funding from congress. But it isnt just defense that hasnt had dependable funding. Not a Single Agency goes from one week to another, whether they will be funded and we have cut down on almost they can do, including travel, to places where they need to be. Its pretty awful. But we have had the warnings and here we are today with the fifth shortterm continuing resolution. Now the majority has 238 seats in the chamber but only holds 51 seats in the senate. You have the ability to draft a partisan agenda and routinely do. And we just saw that spectacle coming from the Intelligence Committee in the house when a memo written by the majority and one was acted on and put out for the public, but we are waiting and hoping the one for the minority will be found given the approval by the president of the United States. In this bill to get 60 votes in the senate and becoming law, you have to involve the democrats. You dont have enough over there. 51 is not 60. This is simple math. Minority leader in the senate has said this proposal is a nonstarter. He added that moving forward with this plan would quote jeopardize the positive discussions going on right now about the budget, immigration, disaster aid and more, end quote. So we know standing here today we are wasting our time. E should bring an end to the continuing resolutions and the my way or the highway approach to governing. Speaker ryan said, only a fully functioning house can really truly do the peoples business. If there was ever a time for us to step up, this would be that time, end quote. Mr. Speaker, the American People and the world have watched for months as the greatest democracy ever devised has been defined by disfunction. If ever there was one, this is the time for the majority to step up. Im very much concerned, mr. Speaker, that we are reaching the Tipping Point that the dysfunction and chaos is not with the actions of the stock market in the last three days, but our inability to know whether we are going to keep the lights on, has cost us dearly and respect from the rest of the world. Just a few minutes ago, that the president of the United States thought a Government Shutdown would be a good idea. I reserve the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Sessions i appreciate my colleague for being here so we may move forward on this important funding for the government. Mr. Speaker, from time to time, there are members of congress who distinguish themselves in ways that draw not only attention upon an organization more than just themselves, but also distinction and our next speaker is a gentleman who served for 14 years in the United States air force and he holds the record for the fastest nonstop flight ever in the world in one of the United States air force planes that is called a b1 bomber and this gentleman served with distinction and honor and here to speak about the importance of funding our United States military. I yield to the gentleman from from farmington, utah, the gentleman from utah, mr. Stewart, for five minutes. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman is recognized. Mr. Stewart thank you for those kind words and chairman sessions is a hero of mine and why i hold him in such high regard. One of the reasons is he understands a couple of very important things. And i think the first thing he understands is that the primary responsibility of the federal government is to keep americans safe in a chaotic world. The second thing he understands is nothing more important. And it is i rise in strong support to fund our military. Our inability to constantly fund our federal government has real consequences. But it has no greater consequence than it has for our military members. Nothing impacts our military with more devastating effects than the lack of a sustained predictable funding. We need to do what is right for the men and women in uniform charged with defending our country, including, i might add, members of my own family who are deployed even as we speak. The uncertainty of funding creates problems from large acquisitions to the smallest repair part. And we need to have Logistical Support and access to sufficient types. I have spoken with military members as recently as the last few weeks who told me about their funding and their training being canceled because of the threat of Government Shutdowns. It has implications for their safety and wellbeing. In a letter to Congress Last september, secretary mattis warned of the consequences. Funding through a c. R. Cannot be reprogrammed. Impacts are being felt and recruiting is curtailed. The bottom line is this, governing by crisis has had an enormous impact and time to do what is right and fully fund our countrys defense. Funding of the department of defense will boost our National Defense and give a much needed pay raise to our troops and increased in end strength for the active duty guard and reserve. Let me end by this, a personal observation. These wings that i proudly wear are my fathers. He was an air force pilot in world war ii and had five sons that served in the military. I was one of them as chairman sessions indicated. As i indicated as well, i have members in my own family who are deployed now or willedly in the next year. These young and women put their lives on the line to serve and protect our country. For heavens sake, lets do the right the right thing and i support this underlying legislation and the rule. I yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from new york is recognized. Ms. Slaughter mr. Speaker, President Trump said to reporters earlier today if congress cant reach a deal on immigration, quote, i would love to see a shutdown if we cant get this stuff taken care of. If we have to shut it down because the democrats dont want safety, lets shut it down, end quote. And we are the people that were acuesed last week because we didnt show great enthusiasm for his speech, that we were treasonous. Its pretty frightening to me what is going on here and i cant avoid talking about. I said earlier in the rules committee, i think we are reaching a tipping poirnt and i honestly do believe it. This isnt the first time that President Trump encouraged a shutdown. The last one we had was 16 days and took 24 billion out of this economy. This is remarkable and i think pretty sad. The president keeps injecting uncertainty into already what is a chaotic process from the majority. No one in this chamber is against seist. We are asking them to take action on the bipartisan priorities that have languished while they pass tax cuts for millionaires. In 2016, during an interview with cbs this morning, President Trump said, quote, im the king of debt. Im great with debt. Nobody knows the debt better than me, end quote. Well, mr. Speaker, according to this article from the Washington Post from february 3, and i quote, u. S. Treasury expects to borrow 955 billion this fiscal year. Its the highest amount of borrowing in six years and a big mp from the 519 billion the federal government board last year. He is definitely the king of debt. I ask unanimous consent to insert into the record the article from the Washington Post entitled u. S. Government is set to borrow 1 trillion jump. Ar and 84 and we did hear at the state of the union that we will be asking or 1. 5 trillion for infrastructure. And given the 1. 5 trillion that we have already started borrowing for to give top 1 a tax cut that would be permanent, im not sure anybody will finance that request. And frankly, taking on that amount of debt would mean that almost Everything Else we do in the country would take a back seat or even further behind and back. So with that, i ask unanimous consent to insert into the record the article from todays Washington Post he entitled u. S. Government is set to borrow a trillion this year, an 84 jump from last year. And i reserve. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Sessions mr. Speaker, i would like to acknowledge also that the gentleman, mr. Stewart, his service to the United States air force in this country, but i had the opportunity to speak with talk with a Security Officer from pearl harbor. And the lieutenant essentially told me, we are out in the middle of the pacific faced with danger every day and we represent the greatest nation in the history of the world. Please do us a favor and recognize that we need the funding to continue what is an aggressive race against us. And he is a lieutenant in the navy, a Security Officer, who sees firsthand the attack all sorts of ways at pearl harbor that happen every day. And i want to thank the lieutenant and other members of the United States navy and United States military for their service. I would like to yield five minutes to the distinguished the gentleman from from texas, dr. Burgess from the rules committee. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized. Mr. Burgess mr. Speaker, we are here today considering a continuing resolution that will provide dollars for the federal government and our National Defense. And it also finally accomplishes reauthorization of funding for several Important Health care programs. These extensions are long overdue and i urge members to support this legislation so that our nations doctors, other Health Care Providers will have stability to continue their normal operations. The house passed many of these provisions last november. Thats when we passed the championing healthy kids act. However, since house passage, the legislation has been stalled without action in the senate. Now fortunately, the Childrens HealthInsurance Program was reauthorized in the last continuing resolution. Seems like a long time ago, but was three weeks ago. However, we did not complete the Public Health or medicare extenders. The continuing resolution we are debating today includes funding for other Important Health care programs such as Community Health centers, the National Health service corps, the teacher medical education, all of which expired at the end of september. The continuing resolution provides a twoyear extension of funding for federally qualified Health Centers. One in 13 individuals nationwide relies upon a Community Health center to receive Necessary Health care services. The Community Health care center fund plays an Important Role in supplementing the services that the federally qualified Health Services are able to deliver by providing care to all americans regardless of their income or their ability to pay. The legislation we are considering also includes a twoyear extension of other important Public Health programs including funding for the National Health service corps. The family to family information centers, the personal responsibility education program, the spetion Diabetes Program for type one diabetes and the special Diabetes Program for american indians. The package also delays the 5 billion in cuts to many hospitals in many of our districts across the country from the Affordable Care act mandated medicaid disproportionate Share Hospital reductions for the fiscal years 2018 and 2019. Im certain that other members have im sure other members have heard from their hospitals, as have i, hospitals whose ability to remain open and provide care could be jeopardized by cuts in these payments this delay bus does not fix a problem that obamacare created for safety net hospitals that provided care to citizens of our country who most need this case. The committee is committed to continuing to work on this, but this twoyear extension is important. The bill also includes important medicare extenders, extension of Ambulance Services will allow responders in urban, rural, and super rural areas another five year of certainty in receiving addon payments. Similarly, Home Health Providers will receive a fiveyear extension of their rural addon payments and certain lowvolume hospitals will continue to receive payment adjustment for an additional two years. This Health Extenders package permanently repeals a provision in the balanced budget act of 1997. This provision sought to cap medicare covered outpatient therapy services, physical therapy, Occupational Therapy, speesh language pathology. The cap was never fully put into effect but repealing the therapy caps will allow for certainty and stability for Medicare Beneficiaries an providers of these services. Many of us have heard about the importance of repealing the cap. One of my priorities has been to improve the value of our Electronic Health records for doctors and for patients. Electronic Health Reco