Signed, sincerely, karen l. Haas. Mr. Sessions i send a report to the rule. The clerk report to accompany House Resolution 7 346789 resolution providing for consideration of the Senate Amendment to the house is a amendment to the Senate Amendment to the bill h. R. 1892. To amend title 4, United States cold, to provide for the flying of the flag at halfstaff in the event of the death of a First Responder in the line of duty. The speaker pro tempore referred to the house calendar and order printed. For what purpose does the gentleman from texas seek recognition . Mr. Sessions i kale up i call up House Resolution 734 and ask for its immediate consideration. The speaker pro tempore the clerk will report the resolution. The clerk house calendar number 125. House resolution 734. Resolved that upon adoption of this resolution, it shall be in order to take from the speakers table the bill, h. R. 1892, to amend title 4, United States code, to provide for the flying of the flag at halfstaff in the event of the death of a First Responder in the line of duty, with the Senate Amendment to the house amendment to the Senate Amendment thereto and to consider in the house, without intervention of any point of order, a motion offered by the chair of the committee on appropriations or his designee, that house concur in the Senate Amendment to the house amendment to the Senate Amendment. The Senate Amendment and the motion shall be considered as read. The motion shall be debatable for one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the committee on appropriations, the previous question shall be considered as ordered on the motion to adoption without intervening motion. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas is recognized for one hour. Mr. Sessions thank you, mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, during consideration of this resolution, all time is yielded 2018. E purpose of debate only. Mr. Speaker, this twoyear budget agreement begins to repair our military and freeze our Armed Services from the harmful spending caps, the devastating practice of funding our troops and stop gap funding bills. It raises discretionary funding levels by 80 billion and nondefense by 63 billion while raising fiscal year 2019 levels by 85 billion and 63 billion respectively. Ive been told. Thank this will move spending levels from 2009 spending levels to 2011 spending levels, consistent with what we had done during those periods of time. Mr. Speaker, i reserve my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. The gentlelady from new york. Ms. Slaughter thank you, mr. Speaker. And, mr. Speaker, i thank my colleague 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 we saw a shutdown just over two weeks ago. And here we are again. I believe this is the fifth one since september. And since the republicans control every branch of the government, we have to wonder whats going on here. I stood in this same spot after midnight in 2013 and announced that the great government of the United States was closed for business. At that point they would close for business for 16 days. Which means all the federal buildings and parks were closed. Vendors who had little mom and pop stores, newspaper kiosks, and things with federal business lost all the minute, a lot of it. People with lunch rooms. The estimate was 24 billion was lost to the federal government. As i recall, that particular one, that was because senator cruz, republican of texas, didnt like the Affordable Care act. And apparently was not in favor of giving health care to the American People. The first shutdown that occurred when i first came here was in the clinton administration, when speaker gingrich shut down the government of the United States ecause he was unhappy with a plane seat in air force one that had been assigned to him. And two weeks ago, it was blamed on the democrats, which is very strange. Since the departments do not have the vote democrats do not have the vote to shut down the house. Only the majority has those votes. And this is the first shutdown in history as far as we can find that the group of persons who control the house, the senate and the white house have given themselves a shutdown. It is a pretty sad day for us. Here we are, 3 30 a. M. 3 1 2 hours after the government shutdown, once again. Weve really got to stop this. Fellow americans are in a state of nervous anxiety. The stock market dropped 1,000 points on a single day twice this week. We have perplexed the entire United States of america, as well as large parts of the world. And i would think that a reasonable person looking at all of this would be understood to believe that perhaps republicans are incapable of running the government. Because its purely, purely crisis. T, nothing but so i yield back the balance of my time. Sorry, i reserve. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady reserves the balance of her time. The gentleman from texas. Mr. Sessions mr. Speaker, thank you very much. I appreciate the distinguished gentlewoman for her help making sure the rules committee effectively and carefully got their work done this evening and i want to thank the gentlewoman. I do know its 3 30 in the morning. The entire committee, the entire rules committee, was prepared on both sides and i thank the gentlewoman and the staffs that were included. Mr. Speaker, members of congress that were elected by their respective districts come to washington to represent their districts. But perhaps more importantly, some bit of those people also the nto account not just representation of their district, but the pride and authorship they have in particular about america. About being a part of america and a standing us standing together. Tonight we are going to have a chance to say, back to one of our members, who has come to washington washington, d. C. , representing her home of puerto rico, home territory of puerto co, and to say back to her that this body offered its condolences for the storms that happened last year. She stood up representing puerto rico. Shes a former speaker of the house of puerto rico. She stands with people of puerto rico. She has come and vivided member after member after member visited member after member after member to sell to them not only atry beauts of how to fix puerto rico, but came and did the things legislatively it is with extreme fight that i yelled five minutes to the gentleman. Former speaker of the house of to rico. Recognized for five minutes. Thank you mr. Speaker and thank you mr. Chairman for allowing me to support this bill. I think it is important to acknowledge that five months storms, 30 of to reagans are still without power. That is something that you will never expect in a u. S. Territory. That is one of the biggest i stand here at 3 30 in the morning. To support a bill that will have the money to restore the power grid in puerto rico, to help the island to recover from the last hurricanes. Were facing a medical cliff this year. To the that will and insurance of 680,000 patients on the island. That is the reason this bill is so important to puerto rico. For two months this bill has been stalled in the senate. Happy to see the agreement between republicans and democrats on the senate side to have this bill here tonight. Thank you mr. Speaker and members. Today congress will make a critical vote so we may finally have a budget deal. Book,time to vote for the for american citizens all over the state. For the states and territories that were struck by disaster in the last year, this bill will provide billions of dollars including improvement to puerto ricos power network. It also take steps to secure the islands medicaid problem. Year, i have been fighting to ensure puerto rico receives the money necessary to avoid that medical cliff. This funding will give puerto rico and congress the time to andt a longterm solution help the medical problems that we all face. I want to thank especially, the speaker of the house, and the members that have been supporting me. Chairman walden, chairman burgess, need to do for our people. On the senate side i thank senator marco rubio who has been supporting this since day one and thank all members of both chambers willing to save puerto rico and help their fellow citizens. I urge my democratic colleagues, if we wan to help puerto rico, now is the time to do it. Its not just talking, its time to act, and its time to vote for this kind of bill. We can be hostage of another bill and when i do support having immigration bills to happen, this is a bill that has been included in this budget. And we must take action today. And thats the reason. Its the time to show it. Not by word, by acts. I ask my colleagues to vote for this, not just say i want to help puerto rico. This is the time to help the island. I understand that the senate did a few minutes ago, we can come together and support what we are willing to do. Puerto rico, there are a lot of things that need to be done. There are so many needs to be met. But lets continue to Work Together as the senate did today and i hope the house can do the same thing. And i yield pack. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from new york. Ms. Slaughter if we defeat the previous question i will offer to bring h. R. 3440, the dream act. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation must pass before the time runs out on hundreds of thousands of young people who were promised by a Previous Administration that if they registered and paid 500 they could stay in the only count dry they know. The new president invalidated the program and their lives. And those young people are part of our lives who are living in fear. I hope we can do something about that. Its past time. What happened to them is most unamerican. I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the record along with extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Ms. Slaughter im pleased to yield three minutes to the the gentlewoman from from new mexico. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady is recognized. Risch risch i stand here for ick ol, mir a. M. , antonio, and hundreds of thousands of other Young Americans who dream and pray for only one thing, that this esteemed body of elected representatives endowed with the solemn responsibility will see a piece of themselves in them. That they will see beyond the circumstances by which they call america home and see the American Values that they hold deep in their heart of hearts. I would surmise there isnt one Congressional District that isnt home to a dreamer and we are lucky for it because to our kids, dreamers are their friends d seniors and they are caretakers. They are entrepreneurs with the deprit and determination to do something with nothing, following in the footsteps who forged new paths that led us to amazing discoveries. Eamers are a welloiled of doctors, Software Engineers and technicians hoping to depiff back, their imagination is a driving force in the offices of fortune 500 companies and every year for the next decade dreamer ingenuity antennasity will pump billions into our economy. Their efforts help america grow faster and stronger and represent our future and reflection of our values. American idewide id optism im. They overcome just as americans ways have and in the face of unbelievable adverse it, they give meaning to the american promise. Our democracy wasnt perfect but as lawmakers and representatives, we would work every day to the very ideals and we have the opportunity to do just that. We have to enshrine the promise that unlocks the potential of these Young Americans bypassing the dream act now by one vote. We have the chance to unite our country that hard work pays off. I ask my colleagues to vote against the previous question so we can bring the dream act to the floor and provide certainty who want to ntonio contribute to the country they love, the only country they have ever known. We cant afford to yield another day. I yield a member of the Republican Leadership team, mimpell. Michigan, mr. Mr. Mitchell at 3 40 im surprised that some of our colleagues wish to talk about history, but so be it. We passed all 12 appropriation bills in september. To no avail. They sit in the senate requiring 60 votes. We talked about math with my colleagues and republicans have 51 votes in the senate. Democracy requires people to Work Together. The senate decided not to do continuingended with resolutions and we have to fund the government in pieces. Seemed like there was an a rangement. But our stress, some of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle and the other chamber cided to throw the kitchen sink at it. Daca, which we are hearing tonight and came up with pensions. One thing after the other using funding our military and keeping the lights on for their political adependa. We have a basic function on, keep the lights on. Which means we have to fund our military which some have felt isnt a priority of theirs. We now have a bipartisan depreement that the senate has sent over, but its far from perfect. I dont think we will ever see perfect. In 35 years in business, but you take progress and move on. What does it for us. It funds defense so we can defend our nation and take care of our military men and women. And it provides funding for chip. Provides a downpayment on infrastructure that is badly needed in this country and funding for opioids funding a crisis that we face. Im left to wonder why it is you want to defeat the rule to turn down this bipartisan agreement to add another thing in there. Why would my colleagues want to do that . We take progress. The speaker says we will deal with daca and dealing with infrastructure and Work Force Development and the priority that we have at this moment in time. There is cleared the senate and now 3 4. I suggest we pass the rule and pass it and go on with policy next week. A and i yield back. The speaker pro tempore the gentlelady from new york. Ms. Slaughter i am pleased to yield four minutes to the ntleman from colorado, mr. Polis. Mr. Polis im saddened that is body is descending down a fiscally irresponsible path, a path that trillion dollar deficits and path to mortgaging the future of my children and yours. What this massive spending includes is 14. 6 percent increst 15. 1 ding and next year increase in defense spending, 12. 9 in nondefense spending. The New York Times says as deficit soars, Congress Solution and keeps spending. I also want to quote from the Los Angeles Times means the United States will be returning to trillion ziferts. E budget was running between 500 billion now with lower tax revenues, the deficit i will blow pass 1 trillion. Now look, to be fair, i have argued 500 billion deficits are too large. I supported spending cuts and i oppose the massive giveaway to special interests to the tax reform bill. It would be easy to say, republicans own this debt. The debt is too easy. You know who owns this debt . My family and yours. It is in the form of future taxation and future reduction in services and future threat to Social Security and medicare. This irresponsible path has got to end. I will be opposing this bill and i urge my colleagues who care to join me in opposing this irresponsible spending bill. This bill fails to include comprehensive Immigration Reform or the dream act. Comprehensive immigration refor it would reduce our budget deficit by over 200 billion. Increased tax revenue and increased productivity. While the dream act in similar measures havent been formally scored, they also would contribute to reducing our budget deficit because hardworking americans would be able to get jobs, pay taxes and participate in the american dream. If this massive republican spending bill passes, it will only dig our nation deeper into a debt that will become harder and harder to ever emerge from. I urge my colleagues to reject this massive republican spending bill and get to work on fiscally responsible measures like comprehensive Immigration Reform and the dream act, to reduce our budget deficit and hopefully eliminate it, rather than bloat it further and further. And i yield back the balance of my time. The speaker pro tempore the gentleman from texas. Mr. Sessions mr. Speaker, thank you very much. Mr. Speaker, at this time id like to enter into the record a statement of administrative policy, which is referred to as a s. A. It comes from the executive office of the president s. A. P. It comes from the executive office of the president. Mr. Speaker, if i could read the last paragraph. If the bipartisan budget act of 2018 were presented to the president in its current form, his advisors would recommend that he sign it into law. Make no question about that, that the president of the United States is asking not only members of congress but the American People to understand how important it is to make sure that this government is up and running. To make sure that our military is funded. And that the men and women who protect this great nation deserve a right to not only those volunteer those volunteers to our military deserve a right to have us fully fund our military fat the rest of the year for the rest of the year. I know and you know, mr. Speaker, that this deal is only until march 23. But we should not ever allow our military to be put in harms way. They are the ones who protect us. And for us putting them in harms way, without the money to protect themselves, i think is bad timing and a bad way for us to extend our support to the military. So, im pleased tod