Administrations disrespect for the legislative process is an important first step. All immigration policies should serve the interest of the people of the United States, lawful, immigrant and native born alike. Congress should carefully and thoughtfully pursue the types of reforms that are right for the American People. Our nation is comprised of good and decent people the state of texas and also for the people who are First Responders and volunteers and people across this country who have offered not only their prayers of support, but a bunch of people who brought their boats with them to help at a time our nation was in trouble. I would also like to say that the heroism that we witnessed shows i think the very best of this country and everybody pitched in together. I just walked in from watching that this new storm that is out in the atlantic is the largest storm in the history ever recorded at that point and it hasnt even hit warmer water yet. It is aiming for the United States of america, i would hate to say any one state because we dont know, its going to hit america,s a ameri america, and the things that we do today are in honor of the things we do know and the things we pray for, we also pray for the people of san juan and the people who are in the caribbean, and i know that mrs. Slaughter and i spoke very clearly about anguish thats on all of our heart, but with resolve and the resolve is that we care about people. Weve begun the process, and ive had a number of conversations all week including with chairman highsen, and mr. Mulvaney, the head of office and management and budget as well as members of the texas delegation and with our colleagues, at least the gentleman and the senator from tks tex and mr. Cornyn and each of these discussions have been for the safety of people, but its also been about the necessary and correct help, and i know and you know that the texas delegation is hoping that we have bills that actually address only the storm and that we have a Public Comment and conversations going on all around this country, and i know about an unprecedented size, but we are going to work with everybody to address that issue, and i want to thank each of you. Chairman, thank you for your recognition of this issue and working hard and the Committee Time that youve taken. Today well dollar the hhr 354 and the appropriations act of 2018. This important legislation ensures that we here in the house are doing our job and in funding not only our military, but also essential government programs. We are delighted to hear directly from not only the chairman, but also really one of my favorite members who is the Ranking Member from new york on the merits of not only this legislation, but addressing overall the needs of the country. Well also be addressing amendment testimony on transportation, housing and urban Development Section of the bill. Amendment testimony on agriculture, Rural Development, food and Drug Administration related in agencies section of the bill and amendments that with the testimony of the state and foreign operations and the related section of the bill. I want to be clear as officers are listening of what were trying to communicate and i want to be clear that any member with amendment testimony to the divisions b, g or h should come before the rules committee this evening and the rules committee will be hearing testimony on the divisions b, e, g and h. Members are advised that they can submit their amendment testimony in writing and this is not a requirement that you come up and speak about your amendment, but it is to say thats the work were going to do this evening and well stay up all night if thats what it takes and i would suggest that if you would only like to have your words and the things which you have provided testimony, well take those also. So that is what were attempting to do. Weve set aside this week. Mrs. Slaughter was aware of this and the rules committee had a discussion before we left and we advised them to sleep fast and weve done that. Without further ado, i would like to welcome the chairman of the full committee. Before i promise to do that to the underlying legislation as well as chairman rogers and Ranking Member allard to speak on state and foreign ops division. Well also include my dear friend from georgetown, texas, or round rock, texas, which is it . Round rock, texas, i was in georgetown this last weekend, thats why i didnt see you, to speak on the Homeland Division of the bill and i know each of you have put a lot of time in on this and looking forward to your testimony and anything you have will be entered without further objection and before i go further i would like to thank the Ranking Member of the committee for any comments you would like to make. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I want to say to our texas friends and all of the other members of the house that what we witnessed was what was happening in texas was deeply hurtful to all of us, and i dont think ive ever seen such bravery. I saw nobody crying, weeping, wailing why me. The thing that worried me, though, and i was just talking to pete about it, the children, even the smallest ones and 2 and 3 years old and not a whimper out of them. They came in on those boats and rescues and just as strong as they could be. Almost too strong. Im a little bit worrieded about it because there was a lot of ptsd from children left over from katrina, and we have to be careful whatever we have to do to survive this that happened. My hope, too, and obviously we want to be as generous as we can be. We want to do what we need to do, but my hope would be that texas would take the opportunity with houston as they rebuild that beautiful city that they would leave the flood plains alone. There was no question, i think, i know you may not want to believe in Global Warming which i do think the permafirst that melted in alaska has some bearing on this case, but in any case, the ability for the sponge, the natural sponges by building the flood mains youve taken that away. So get the best advice, texas, before you rebuild there and do the best job we can with this money and maybe with hope you wont have to go through that suffering again. I want to say how pleased we were as we watched those rescues and see those helicopters marked with new york and they were there as well as our national guard. So were proud of them as well as everybody else in america who really came together and who said were all in this with you and thats very important for us to recall. Thank you very much, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. I would like to address, if i can, the cities at least of fort worth, dallas, austin and san antonio are pitching in to help thousands of people, and in fact, as you speak, dr. Richard snyder who was one of the attending physicians who was there last night spoke to me about the need to make sure that we are providing good counseling for the children and people who were stressed out and the cities are very aware of this, but dr. Snyder did address that and recognized it. Successly, i think that we are looking at Houston Texas that have three years in a row of five once in a 500year floods. Thats an indication that we Better Change the modelling. Yes. And that modeling as you can i talked about is not rebuilding on flood plains that we know that exist three times and by doubling that space for the Flood Control would lessen the ability for more flood. So its a really twosided equation and its very, very important. Let me say one of the thicng thats been on my mind, one was a daca supporter and a young man who stands to be deported and he was out there doing his best for his fellow americans. A number of them. Yes. Thank you. I want to talk about the bill, and ill wait for my turn. Okay. Okay. We need to make sure i forgot, its birthday. Oh, my god judge, happy birthday some good news judge, i hope i make it. Happy birthday, and well find a way to celebrate. Well find a way to celebrate. Thank you very much. Okay. I inadvertently made a mistake and lucille, youre a homeland Ranking Member and i got that wrong and for that, i apologize. Okay. Chairman, Ranking Member, we are so glad that youre here and the chairman is recognized. Members of the rules committee, thank you for having us back. Thank you for letting us testify on the make america secure and prosperous appropriations act. May all of us extend our deepest sympathies the residents and victims of texas and louisiana. I think all 50 states contributed to the volunteer, fort and may i give a hats off to task force one, search and rescue from new jersey who were down there as they were on 9 11 in lower manhattan. We are awful low proud of the human spirit and endeavor that will help tecxas and louisiana recover. I am here in regarding to the prop legislation which includes 12 of the appropriations bill. In total this bill provides 400 and National Security programs that support our economy, keep americans safe and healthy and preserve our position as a global leader. As you are well aware, because weve been here before on the earlier package, this is a product that worked with months of hard work and input of every member and i thank all of the chairman and the Ranking Members but especially the Ranking Member for great cooperations hes given me so we can expedite these bills. Let me say in addition an amendment that has been offered in this package that will address an issue with the underlying bill to ensure that all funds with in the Disaster Relief fund continue to be available for ongoing disaster recovery. I think thats important to all of us. So mr. Chairman, the bill before you does fulfill our constitutional duty that we adequately and responsibly fund the entire federal government for each fiscal year, the legislation invested in Important National priorities by respecting budgetary realities and it is a good, solid bill and i would like to thank my colleagues for their hard work in putting it together and thank them in advance for their presentations before your committee both ranking and chairs. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Chairman, thank you very much. Miss louie . Thank you, mr. Chairman, and thank you for always giving us such a gracious welcome. Its a pleasure for me to be here before the rules committee. We need to advise you need to come up here on your birthday, also. Well take better care for you on your birthday. I dont know when that is. Well keep that a secret, but you can wish me good wishes every day of the week. Every day you can say happy birthday to me. Pr [ inaudible ] my pleasure. Any you know, when you i have to just say when you see the pain and the suffering on the one hand and on the other i was just glued to the bravery on the part not just of First Responders, but all of the people, rescuing the babies and the children and the seniors from Nursing Homes so i think its time whether we cook or we dont cook its time to celebrate those extraordinary men and women. I was glued to it and i feel proud, and i know well talk about numbers at some point, but i came home and said to my husband, i feel proud to be a citizen of the United States of america and to know when there is a catastrophe like this, we can do something to help people and im very proud to be here today to talk about it and thank again all those brave people who were there with their kneehigh, waisthigh boots. It was really quite a sight. So on the one hand, you saw the pain and suffering and on the other hand, you saw really heroism at its very best. So for me, im happy to be here with you all today. Okay. Thank you for the opportunity to testify and let me first say that the bill we will consider on the suspension calendar tomorrow i know will be a down payment to help families and communities recover from Hurricane Harvey, and as we were saying no amount of money can possibly replace loved ones homes when you saw them taking out every bit of carpet and furniture and clothes and pictures and not only thoughts and prayers. I know what a responsibility we have to not just the victims and the loved ones who were lost, but to provide assistance. So on the bill, we are here to consider im going to be brief. We have our subcommittee rankings here today to discuss their relevant divisions and most of my concerns during my last appearance in july remained for the eight appropriation bills we consider today. These bills are written, unfortunately, to partisan levels that undercut Economic Growth and priorities in which families rely. The nondefense bills are below sequestration levels set in law, beyond the funding levels and they are chock full of writers to which my side of the aisle as i know you know, has deeprooted opposition like cutting funding for planned parenthood. If members of the majority are serious about governing, loading must pass spending bills is a sure way to fail and while not surprising, it is nonetheless shocking that this package callously removes a bipartisan amendment from a committeepassed bill that would allow d. R. E. A. M. Ers to work for the federal government. I just want to make sure that all soaks in because this was bipartisan, it passed the committee and it is so callous and so cruel its hard for me to see that this is part of this bill. Chairman sessions was clear last meeting that leadership has the authority to overturn the clear will of another committee by arbitrarily, the leading language adopted through regular order, but, my friends and i would say this to my friends on both sides of the aisle, just because you can do something doesnt mean you should. Its an affront to the democrats and republicans to the idea of regular order and to this entire institution. This appropriation bill should be considered in the house separately under an open rule to allow members of both parties the opportunity to have their constituents voices heard. Yet, the rules committee took the highly unusual route of requiring amendments be submitted during the district work period in order to produce a structured rule that restricts the ability of members of both parties to offer amendments. Both parties have employed restrictive processes before, but it is not a tool that should be used without first trying to use an open process and when the republicans were in the minority my friends on the other side of the aisle, and i do remember complained bitterly about structured rules for appropriation bills. This process shuts down not only the minority, but also members of the majority whose amend wants are opposed by their leadership. Members should have every opportunity to amend the bills. To that end, i hope the committee will make an order and several amendments that i sub committed including the one to strike the expang of the global gag rule and the United NationsPopulation Fund. The expanded global gag rule is particularly, greejous as it would apply for Health Assistance tying up 8. 8 billion in funding for programs such as lifesaving nutrition programs and efforts to prevent malaria, tb and hiv. Prohibiting support to unfpa, expanding the global gag rule severely erode the progress weve made on both maternal and child health and access to Family Planning services. My other amendments would offer democratic alternatives to the state and Foreign Operations Division of the bill to rectify the most egregious cuts and strip out writers in the current version of the bill. As currently written it is wholly inadequate to meet the many challenges facing the world unless the plan is to employ the military instead of diplomacy. The allocation makes chairman rodgers job impossible. Extremely difficult, but impossible by allowing the house to work its will through amendments addressing the policy on the global gag rule, unfpa, Climate Change and an allocation of resources, we can make real improvements to that division. In addition, i respectfully request the rules committee make an order other amendments i have submitted for consideration including amendments that would prohibit the department of justice from using funds to obstruct special counsel Robert Muellers investigation. I want to make sure thats heard. That would prohibit funds to block the release of the reports for whit supremacy and provide 1 million to support federal Fitness Standards for safety personnel on interstate railways, eliminate a policy rider and maintain current funding for title 10 Family Planning. Protect contraceptive excuse me, coverage for millions of american women and provide funding to the cdc for firearm injury prevention recess research. In conclusion, my final point before i conclude is to say what we all know, to enact appropriation bills, you will need democratic votes and unfortunately, rather than ackack knowledak acknowledge that fact, we only have 11 legislative days until we must sign appropriation bills into law or shut down the government. To meet our deadline it is past time to engage the senate and the white house to pass legislation that can actually be enacted, yet the majority is once again catering to the far right, putting our economy and our reputation on the line again. So thank you again to all my friends especially our chairman. I hope you will take these remarks very seriously. We all have an interest, certainly on appropriations in moving these bills and we know that there are changes that can be made, must be made to move the process over. So thank you for giving me an opportunity to share my thought, mr. Chairman. Thank you very much. As always, your words do matter. Thank you. Your ideas are powerful. Thank you. Thank you very much. Chairman rogers, we are glad that youre here. The gentleman is recognized. Mr. Chairman, thank you for