WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2016 No. 79 House of … · 2016. 5. 18. · man had accrued seven...

Congressional RecordUN

UME PLURIBUS

United Statesof America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 114th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION

b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m.Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor.

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Vol. 162 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 2016 No. 79

House of Representatives The House met at 10 a.m. and was

called to order by the Speaker pro tem-pore (Mr. WEBSTER of Florida).

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DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE

The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be-fore the House the following commu-nication from the Speaker:

WASHINGTON, DC, May 18, 2016.

I hereby appoint the Honorable DANIEL WEBSTER, to act as Speaker pro tempore on this day.

PAUL D. RYAN, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

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MORNING-HOUR DEBATE

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu-ant to the order of the House of Janu-ary 5, 2016, the Chair will now recog-nize Members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning-hour debate.

The Chair will alternate recognition between the parties, with each party limited to 1 hour and each Member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to 5 minutes, but in no event shall de-bate continue beyond 11:50 a.m.

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VETERANS EQUAL ACCESS AMENDMENT

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. BLUMENAUER) for 5 min-utes.

Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, one of the great tragedies of our time is our failure to adequately deal with the needs of our veterans returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan. We sent over 2 million brave men and women to fight under very difficult cir-cumstances, to say the very least. While I was convinced from the begin-ning that the war was a tremendous

mistake, that is all the more reason that we should work to protect those veterans as they return home with wounds that are both visible and, in some cases, unseen.

It is no secret that these returning veterans have placed quite a strain on our VA facilities, which coincides with a national opioid epidemic. Prescrip-tion painkillers steal the lives of 78 Americans every day. Over 20,000 were killed last year, and it often leads to heroin addiction if their supply of opioid pills is interrupted.

As veterans with PTSD, chronic pain, and any number of ailments are look-ing for relief, lethal opioid overdoses among VA patients are almost twice the national average. We are doing something wrong. This is at a time when the overwhelming number of vet-erans say to me that marijuana has re-duced PTSD symptoms and their de-pendency on addictive opioids. Yet the VA official policy prevents their doc-tors who know them best from talking to our veterans about this, even in States where it is legal.

In 24 States, the District of Colum-bia, and Guam, medical marijuana at the recommendation of a physician is legal. In those States, it is often used as an alternative to the addictive opioids to treat chronic pain. Fourteen States allow for medical marijuana to treat PTSD. Yet, veterans who are seeking relief from something that has proven to make a difference for many of their peers cannot get help from their VA doctor, even in States where medical marijuana is legal.

This is outrageous. It is time for us to acknowledge our debt to those vet-erans and allow their personal VA phy-sician, the doctor who knows them best, to be able to consult with them about medical marijuana in accordance with State law.

My amendment doesn’t authorize the possession or use of marijuana at VA facilities, but it would allow physicians

to treat the whole patient and to give them their best advice. We should not force our veterans to go to another doctor and pay for the service out of their own pocket with somebody who doesn’t know them as well as their own doctor.

I would strongly hope that my col-leagues would vote in favor of the Vet-erans Equal Access amendment in the MILCON–VA bill coming forward today. These men and women who have done so much for us and come home seeking help in dealing with health and coping with their return deserve our best. Forcing the VA to turn a blind eye to a potential useful therapy— something that is perfectly legal in their State—is not just shortsighted; I think it is cruel and unfair.

I have listened to the many stories of veterans who have found that medical marijuana has made a huge difference in their return, recovery, and readjust-ment. Importantly, it doesn’t subject them to the danger of being part of the opioid epidemic that has been visited upon our veterans.

We can help stop the tragedy of VA veterans dying of opioid overdoses at nearly twice the rate of the rest of the population by at least allowing their doctors to work with them, considering medical marijuana as an alternative therapy.

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COMMENDING THE SERVICE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. THOMPSON) for 5 minutes.

Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the service of law enforcement officers not only in Pennsylvania’s Fifth Con-gressional District, but across Pennsyl-vania and the entire United States. As this week is National Police Week, it is especially important that we recognize

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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSEH2704 May 18, 2016 the sacrifices of these men and women, especially those who have given their lives in the line of duty.

Over the weekend, as part of Na-tional Police Week, communities across the country observed Peace Offi-cers Memorial Day. This observation was created in 1962 by President John F. Kennedy to pay special recognition to those law enforcement officers who have lost their lives while providing for the safety and the protection of others.

Last year, five police officers lost their lives in Pennsylvania: Officer Lloyd Reed in Westmoreland County, Patrolman John Wilding of Scranton, Lieutenant Eric Eslary of Westmore-land County, Detective Paul Koropal of Allegheny County, and Sergeant Rob-ert Wilson III of Philadelphia. I know that I join my fellow members of the Pennsylvania House delegation in say-ing that their service to our Common-wealth will not be forgotten. RECOGNIZING THE RETIREMENT OF VENANGO

COUNTY CHIEF CLERK/COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR DENISE JONES Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the service of Denise Jones, who is the chief clerk and county administrator for Venango County, located in Penn-sylvania’s Fifth Congressional District. After nearly 39 years of work for the county, Denise plans to retire next month.

She started in the 1970s with Venango County, and Denise has served in a number of different capacities. Those include as a human services planner, as an administrative assistant, as an em-ployee relations manager, and then fi-nally moving into the role of chief clerk and county administrator in 1993.

In addition to her service with the county, Denise serves on a number of boards dedicated to her community, in-cluding as board chair of the Northwest Hospital Foundation, which is dedi-cated to providing high-quality health care for the residents of the Venango County area.

Mr. Speaker, I am always proud to talk about the local officials who are making a difference in their commu-nities, dedicating their service to im-proving the lives of people in their communities. I know that Denise Jones is one of those people, and I wish her the best of luck in her retirement.

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THE DUI REPORTING ACT The SPEAKER pro tempore. The

Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. COHEN) for 5 minutes.

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the DUI Reporting Act, a bill which I filed yesterday with my Judiciary Committee colleague, STEVE CHABOT of Ohio. If enacted, this bill would plug a glaring hole in our Nation’s drunk driving laws that en-ables repeat offenders to be tried as first-time offenders, and repeat offend-ers are the ones most likely to cause serious accidents and death.

Currently, when police make a driv-ing-under-the-influence arrest, they

don’t always have access to informa-tion about all of the driver’s previous DUI convictions or arrests. The reason is because not all agencies report DUI arrests and/or convictions to the Na-tional Crime Information Center, known as the NCIC. That is the na-tional crime database that is made in-stantly available to police and law en-forcement right in their patrol cars.

The consequences of this lack of re-porting can prove tragic. Last year, there was an awful, awful accident, a crash in northern Mississippi just out-side of my district. Two teenage girls, Maddie Kruse and Rachel Lynch, were headed out of Memphis on the way to a vacation. Their grandmother was driv-ing the car. At about 6:30 in the morn-ing, a man who had registered .17 at 6:30 in the morning hit their vehicle and killed Maddie and Rachel. This man had accrued seven DUI charges since 2008 but had been allowed to plead guilty five times to DUI first. He represented himself and had five first- offense DUI convictions. Mississippi didn’t have a system and still doesn’t have a system to require those repor-tages.

This story broke my heart and, I be-lieve, the hearts of everybody in the Midsouth who read about it.

This was a drunk driver who should have been in jail serving time off the road or have received treatment. The reason he wasn’t, according to local in-vestigations, is because none of his DUI history had been reported to the NCIC and was not available to the highway patrolman. When that patrolman ran his driving record in the national data-base, his past DUI convictions never showed up because they weren’t re-ported.

This is shameful in this day and age. This information should be reported so that law enforcement can get access to it and get drunk drivers off the road and save lives like Maddie’s and Ra-chel’s. Our bill would make that hap-pen by creating a financial incentive for States to require DUI arrests and convictions to be reported to the NCIC and, therefore, available to law en-forcement.

The bill is bipartisan. It has the sup-port of people throughout the country; but in Memphis, Billy Bond, at the Prosecutor’s Office, worked on this for a while and tried to get laws like this passed. We have had a good response from MADD.

This bill will save lives. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to pass it quickly.

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NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL- INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. BOST) for 5 minutes.

Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to a matter of na-tional security. Over the last several months, the National Geospatial-Intel-ligence Agency, or NGA, has been con-sidering locations for its new Western

headquarters. The agency, which col-lects and analyzes satellite maps in support of warfighters, has outgrown its current location in St. Louis.

With construction of the new NGA- West facility scheduled to begin next year, the question is: Where? There are two sites under consideration. One is in north St. Louis. The other is in St. Clair County, Illinois, next to Scott Air Force Base.

This site, which I have a chart of, is shovel ready. It is 182 acres of undevel-oped land with room to expand. It is free of cost to the American taxpayers, with the county ready to hand over the deed to the NGA.

To help make their decision, the NGA enlisted the help of the Army Corps of Engineers to study the envi-ronmental impact. Unfortunately, we have found that the Army Corps of En-gineers’ Environmental Impact State-ment is deeply flawed. The report is filled with errors, omissions, and un-derestimated risks. It is clear that the Army Corps did not provide an accu-rate accounting of the facts. The result is that the NGA announced plans last month to relocate to north St. Louis. Before that decision becomes final on June 2, I am here to set the record straight.

To the right of this chart, you will see St. Clair County, Illinois. This is the site under consideration by the NGA. However, the Army Corps of En-gineers’ report included data related to St. Clair County, Missouri, and St. Clair County, Michigan. One is 263 miles away from the actual site, and the other is 580 miles away from the actual site. The report also highlighted a river that isn’t even in southern Illi-nois.

When alerted to these embarrassing errors, the Army Corps of Engineers failed to correct them. Considering that the NGA is a mapping agency, maybe they could teach the Army Corps of Engineers how to read one.

Now, let’s look at the impact on mis-sion security and public safety. Clear-ly, a DOD mapping agency would be a prime target for those who wish to do harm against this agency. This chart shows evacuation zones if either loca-tion were attacked by a car bomb.

b 1015 You can see that St. Clair County has

ample setback to protect local resi-dents and the site itself. The north St. Louis site, obviously, does not.

We now know that security was a top criteria for placement of the new NGA. We know that force protection stand-ards have traditionally led to co-locating with existing military instal-lations. So why are the standards being ignored for this facility?

Let’s look at the facts. We have al-ready talked about the NGA belongs in St. Clair County. We have already talked about mission security. We talked about public safety, and we saw the difference in the blast zones.

St. Clair County is the right choice for taxpayers. The Army Corps claims

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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H2705 May 18, 2016 the St. Clair County site would be 20 percent more expensive, but they haven’t even completed studies of the north St. Louis site. St. Clair County is shovel-ready now. North St. Louis is not.

Every year that we delay this, it adds $40 million to the cost to this budget. St. Clair County has been proactive and transparent with the environ-mental studies. North St. Louis hasn’t even conducted its full analysis. The north St. Louis site has significant un-knowns, including reports of hazardous waste and potential contamination from cold war era testing. How can this decision be made without answers to these very serious and health-related questions?

In terms of recruiting the next gen-eration, Scott Air Force Base attracts the best of the best. Thousands of millennials work at Scott Air Force Base, and many already have their se-curity clearance. Finally, St. Clair County has the roadways, railways, and infrastructure to make NGA a suc-cess. North St. Louis will need to seize land through eminent domain and then create a network we already have in place.

Mr. Speaker, I believe the NGA is making a terrible mistake that could have serious consequences. They didn’t have the correct data. Before this deci-sion is made final, the people deserve the truth. Not just the people of St. Clair County, not just the people of north St. Louis, but we, the United States citizens.

That is why I have called for a full investigation by the Inspector Gen-eral’s Office.

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WATER AND DROUGHT IN CALIFORNIA

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California (Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ) for 5 minutes.

Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of Cali-fornia. Mr. Speaker, this week, we rec-ognize infrastructure week, where we highlight infrastructure development in our country and its importance to our districts.

Now, we might think that infrastruc-ture isn’t very important, but we de-pend on it in all aspects of our daily lives. Developed roads and bridges help to take our children to school or to take our kids to our national parks. Our bridges, dams, and water are the infrastructure that help to produce en-ergy and provide us with clean drink-ing water. Broadband infrastructure ensures that everyone has access to learning and to information.

But, unfortunately, our infrastruc-ture is deteriorating at an alarming rate. The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that our crum-bling infrastructure is costing each of us, each family, $3,400 a year of our dis-posable income. When we take into consideration the increasingly high cost of living, for example, in Orange

County, California, where I live, then we see that our families are, once again, footing a bill, and yet we are not making the investment that we need. In fact, the United States spends sig-nificantly less of its GDP than most developing countries for our national infrastructure.

Unfortunately, this lack of invest-ment is apparent throughout our coun-try. We saw it in Flint, Michigan. When infrastructure fails to provide clean water, our communities suffer. In my home State of California, Porter Ranch, California, a massive gas leak released 100,000 tons of methane gas into the air. These failed pipelines reach back to the 1950s.

With respect to our roads, the De-partment of Transportation found that nearly 68 percent of California’s roads are in poor or mediocre condition, and almost 30 percent of California’s bridges have been recognized as struc-turally deficient.

As California enters its fourth year of a drought, we are seeing just how crucial water infrastructure dollars can be during times of turmoil.

So, Mr. Speaker, we have to look no further than my home district to see the positive effects of investing in in-frastructure to help our communities. Since I was elected to the Congress al-most 20 years ago, the very first project that I championed was building a large factory, the largest in the world, to reclaim our water, to recycle our water, and it is the world’s largest advanced reclamation project. Today, that project has recycled nearly 188 bil-lion gallons of water, and it really con-tinues to be the flagship of water recy-cling.

I have also fought to bring high-speed rail to California and led sending a let-ter to President Obama urging invest-ment in the project, which will bring increased commercial and leisure trav-el.

With respect to transit, I recently led a letter from the California delegation asking for $3.2 billion to fund the Cap-ital Investment Grant Program, a pro-gram which funds projects all the way from northern to southern California. The Capital Investment Grants will help fund projects in my district, like the Orange County Streetcar, which in-creases transportation transit through my area so people get out of their cars, we protect the environment, and we move people more efficiently.

Mr. Speaker, this Congress needs to get its act together and invest in infra-structure.

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WE NEED A PRO-GROWTH AGENDA TO RAISE WAGES

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. PERRY) for 5 min-utes.

Mr. PERRY. Mr. Speaker, Wendy’s, one of the world’s largest fast-food chains, plans to replace human employ-ees with automated self-service kiosks

in many of its 6,500 restaurants around the country and around the world in an effort to counteract minimum wage hikes throughout the United States. I don’t blame Wendy’s at all. They can either react or they can close up their doors, and then no one will be working.

The economics on the issue are pret-ty clear. Wendy’s is doing what they have to do to survive, and others will certainly follow suit. They will adapt, or they will be gone.

When the government unnecessarily and unilaterally increases the cost of labor and imposes it on the job cre-ators, the jobs are probably going to be replaced through automation and tech-nological advancement. This is nothing new. This technology is not new. Wendy’s could have done this a long time ago if they just wanted to maxi-mize their profits, as every single cor-poration in America seems to be ac-cused of doing these days. But these are the job creators. These are the job makers. They have chosen now because they have no other choice.

Many people say that this is an arti-ficial wage and that it actually dis-courages employment and distorts the market. Well, here is the proof. This is exactly what is happening. And don’t blame Wendy’s. They are trying to sur-vive in a 2 percent economy.

Mr. Speaker, let’s not lock out mil-lions of people from their entry-level employment. I am a person who worked for less than minimum wage. One time I asked my boss at the time, I said: ‘‘Do I make minimum wage?’’ And he said: ‘‘No, you are not worth it.’’ I was just barely in high school. I didn’t have much to offer, except a strong back and showing up on time with a good attitude, and he paid me for that, and I worked my way up.

The squeeze on the middle class is real. It is painful for tens of millions of anxiety-ridden Americans who don’t know whether they are going to have a job, even though it might be their entry-level job. It might be the job that they could get in a 2 percent econ-omy.

Some people say that we are just transferring the jobs to those who will build kiosks or robots. Well, I have got to tell you, folks, I suspect that those jobs are not minimum wage jobs, so that is not going to be of much help. And, oh, by the way, I suspect they won’t be in your hometown where your Wendy’s is. So if you have got a job there and it is going to be displaced or replaced with one building a kiosk, un-less you are planning to move to where they are building that, that is not going to be of much solace or help to your family.

What this country needs is a pro- growth agenda to help raise everyone’s wages to provide the opportunity for everyone to get started somewhere and then move up, just like I did, without hurting the people already struggling to get by. What we don’t need is more liberal, wrong-headed, unilateral, ideo-logical-driven government regulation that destroys our jobs and livelihoods.


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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSEH2706 May 18, 2016 GUN VIOLENCE

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California (Ms. SPEIER) for 5 minutes.

Ms. SPEIER. Mr. Speaker, since 1970, more Americans have died from domes-tic gun violence than in every war since the American Revolution. If all of the victims of gun violence since 1970 were put on a wall, like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, it would contain 1.5 million names and stretch 21⁄2 miles. That is 25 times as long as the actual Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Congress is quick to offer moments of silence for some mass shootings, ignore most of them, and then proceed to do nothing else, except remain silent.

Each month that we are in session, I will read the names of every person killed in a mass shooting during the previous month. I have also created my own memorial wall in the hallway out-side of my office.

Here are the stories of the victims killed in the 41 mass shootings in April of this year. There have been so many people this month affected by mass shootings that I don’t have time to list the injured, just those who were killed. Here are those who were killed:

Anpha Nguyen, 31, and Jerry Nguyen, 24, were killed inside a restaurant owned by their uncle on April 1 in Al-buquerque, New Mexico.

Jaime Wilson, 24, and Keiwuan Mur-ray, 18, were killed on April 5 in St. Augustine, Florida. Jamie was holding her 2-month-old baby at the time.

Davon Jones, 17, was killed on April 14 in Orange, New Jersey.

Gino Nicolas, 24, and Tanya Monique Skeen, 46, were killed outside a house on April 16 in Orlando, Florida. Gino was the leader of the Orlando chapter of My Brother’s Keeper, where he mentored at-risk youth.

An unidentified 27-year-old man was killed on a sidewalk on April 16 in De-troit, Michigan.

Edwin Laboy, 46, an unidentified man, and an unidentified woman, were killed on April 17 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Jaxmany Jazan Montes, 29, was killed inside a nightclub on April 17 in Edinburg, Texas. He is survived by his wife and two children.

Delhaun Jackson, 19, was killed in broad daylight on April 18 in Long Beach, California. Delhaun had a 1- year-old child, shown in this picture, and he was looking forward to his very first Father’s Day.

Damond Dawson, 23, was killed while filming a music video in a park on April 19 in Chicago, Illinois.

Natalie Srinivasan, 35, and her chil-dren, Siena, 5, and MJ, 2, were killed by their husband and father on April 19 in Katy, Texas.

Jason Napoles, 18, was killed in a parked car with his friends on April 19 in Chicago, Illinois.

Eight family members were killed on April 22 in Piketon, Ohio. They were Christopher Rhoden, 40; his ex-wife Dana Rhoden, 37; their three children,

Clarence Rhoden, 20; Hanna Rhoden, 19; and Chris Rhoden, Jr., 16. Also killed were Chris Sr.’s brother, Kenneth Rhoden, 44; their cousin, Gary Rhoden, 38; and Clarence’s fiance, Hannah Gilley, 20.

Rheba Mae Dent, 85; Roosevelt Burns, 75; Keila Clark, 31; Shelly Williams, 62; and Lizzy Williams, 59, were killed on April 22 in Appling, Georgia. They were killed after the shooter’s wife asked for a divorce.

Recco Cobb, 43; Jadarrion Spinks, 25; and Roderick Nelms, 32, were killed at a home on April 23 in Auburn, Ala-bama.

Angelo Barboza, 15, was killed on April 23 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Mo-ments before, he had texted his mother saying he loved her and would see her soon.

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Davon Barrett, 38, and Devin Hamb, 27, were killed on April 24, in Chicago. They were at a memorial service for Davon’s brother, who died from gun vi-olence in 2009.

Carolyn Ann Sanders, 59, her daugh-ter, Marquita Hill, 32, and Kenneth Cornelious Loggins, 32, were killed by Marquita’s ex on April 27 in Mont-gomery County, Mississippi.

Joanne Woods, 49, was killed on April 27 in Forestville, Maryland.

Leco Cole, 38, was killed in a house on April 27 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Members, these were lives taken un-necessarily. May the dead rest in peace, the wounded recover quickly and completely, and the bereaved find comfort.

I urge my colleagues to stop being si-lent, and let’s do something to stop the rampage.

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THE FALSE PROMISES OF SOCIALISM

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. DUNCAN) for 5 minutes.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, people all over the country are moving from the high tax States to the low tax States. This is great for my home State of Tennessee. Almost half the people I represent have moved from someplace else; but it is not great for the country as a whole, and we will face many problems in the future if the high tax States do not start lowering their taxes and start trying to keep more of their people at home.

New York in the 1970s had 43 Mem-bers of the House. Now it has 27 Mem-bers. After the 2010 Census, each Mem-ber was supposed to represent between 705,000 and 710,000 people. While, in the 1970s, congressional districts had much lower populations than now, if New York had had the average growth of most States, it would have had about 11 million more people than it now has.

Cities and States throughout the Northeast and the Midwest have been losing populations or have been having growth lower than in most other States

for many years. Last year, a man from New Jersey told me his property taxes on a 2,800-square-foot house were $13,000. Plus, they had State income tax on top of that. I told him the taxes on a similar-sized house in east Ten-nessee would probably be between $2,000 and $2,500, and there would be no State income tax on top.

Almost every week, when I am home in Tennessee, someone tells me a story about how high the taxes are in the States they have moved from. Of course, it will be good for the young people of Tennessee if our legislators keep taxes low and if people would keep moving there, because many new jobs will be created.

An example of the problems, though, that high taxes have created in the States can be seen in Michigan’s Flint water crisis. When taxes become too high, first, upper-income residents move out, then upper-middle, then, fi-nally, middle-income. Then cities are left with a very low tax base. The pres-sures are greatest to pay the teachers, the policemen, and the firefighters first. The water infrastructure under-ground is out of sight, out of mind, and is often neglected. Flint has lost al-most half of its population since the 1970s, as have many cities, large and small, throughout the high tax States of the Northeast and the Midwest. We are going to send a boatload of money to Flint because of all the publicity it has received, but we cannot do that for every city and county in all of the high tax States.

I read a few days ago that Galesburg, Illinois, leaders are telling citizens to drink only bottled water. It is not fair to my taxpayers in Tennessee, where we have acted in fiscally responsible ways and have kept our taxes low, to have to now bail out all of the cities and counties and even States that have acted in fiscally irresponsible ways. Of course, the problems these wasteful, ir-responsible, high tax areas that keep driving people out will be seen not just with infrastructure, but all across the board—in education, in law enforce-ment, and in other areas. Puerto Rico is in big trouble now. Many people say Illinois is next.

I urge the high tax States all over the country to start drastically low-ering their taxes. While this exodus of people from these States has been very good for States like Tennessee, it will not be good for the Nation as a whole in the long run if it continues. It should also serve as a lesson or as a warning that almost every city or State in this Nation and almost every country around the world that has had liberal, leftwing, big spending, high tax leadership is in serious financial trou-ble.

Every young person who seems to be attracted to the false promises of so-cialism should look at Cuba, where de-spite hundreds of miles of beautiful oceanfront property and a wealth of in-terior natural resources, the average salary is $24 a month. They should also


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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H2707 May 18, 2016 look at Venezuela, which has more oil than Saudi Arabia has. Their economy is in shambles, and children are dying because they can’t get food and med-ical treatment.

That is what socialism gives the peo-ple, Mr. Speaker.

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THE STATE OF HOMELESSNESS IN AMERICA

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California (Ms. MAXINE WATERS) for 5 minutes.

Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise because I am deeply concerned about the homelessness cri-sis that is plaguing our country.

Homelessness affects the very fabric of our communities, and it degrades the values upon which our country was built. Every American has the right to safe, decent, and affordable housing; but according to the latest estimates, nearly 600,000 Americans are currently homeless, over 83,000 of whom are chronically homeless and nearly 130,000 of whom are children who are under the age of 18, and these numbers are in-creasing in some of our major cities. Sadly, in my own hometown, in Los Angeles, homelessness increased by a staggering 20 percent between 2014 and 2015, and it continues to rise.

But this is not just about the num-bers. When I visit our homeless neigh-bors on Skid Row in Los Angeles, I see how these Americans are facing chron-ic mental and physical problems that make it even harder to rehabilitate their lives. When I speak to families that are dealing with homelessness, I see the toll this housing insecurity is taking on their children, who can’t concentrate in school because they are sleeping in cars at night.

There is a solution to this problem, Mr. Speaker. We just need the political will and resources. That is why earlier this year I introduced comprehensive legislation to provide the resources we need to truly end homelessness in America.

My bill, H.R. 4888, the Ending Home-lessness Act of 2016, would provide over $13 billion over 5 years to strengthen programs and initiatives that will help us end homelessness in this country. The money will help to create approxi-mately 410,000 units of housing to end homelessness for the estimated 407,000 homeless households in the country. This includes permanent supportive housing for the chronically homeless, for Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher units, and deeply affordable units through the National Housing Trust Fund.

My bill would also provide the re-sources to increase the number of out-reach workers on the streets, working with homeless populations. Further-more, my bill would provide technical assistance to help States and localities align their health and housing systems.

Mr. Speaker, the Department of Housing and Urban Development has

reported that major progress toward ending homelessness in this country has virtually stalled without new fund-ing. So there is a real need to invest in our Federal housing programs and to support our local service providers who are on the streets helping the homeless every day.

Passing H.R. 4888 would be an invest-ment that would pay dividends in the long run. Research has shown that when we provide housing to chronically homeless individuals, the cost to the taxpayer is significantly less than if we allowed them to remain homeless. For example, Los Angeles County’s Project 50 found that providing permanent sup-portive housing to 50 chronically home-less individuals saved the county close to $250,000 over 2 years. Similar results have been found in other major cities as well as in small cities and in rural areas alike.

But this isn’t just about the cost or the savings, Mr. Speaker. It is about recognizing the crisis that we face as a Nation and having an honest conversa-tion about what we really need to do to put an end to homelessness.

We are the richest country in the world, and every person should have access to safe, decent, and affordable housing. This should be a bipartisan issue. We must, all of us, Democrats and Republicans, work together to fi-nally end homelessness in this country once and for all.

Mr. Speaker and Members, I will be on this floor every chance I get to force the real debate and the real conversa-tion about this crisis that we are con-fronted with in America. We cannot continue to walk past homeless, help-less, mentally ill, physically ill home-less people on the streets and pretend we don’t see them. They are there. It is unconscionable that we allow this homelessness to continue to grow and to be on our streets.

In Los Angeles, when you go to so- called Skid Row, we have people on the streets who are lined all the way up to the steps of City Hall.

Elected officials, ministers, commu-nity organizations, let’s get together with our legislators, let’s pass H.R. 4888, and stop the homelessness in America.

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ECONOMIC, RETIREMENT, AND NATIONAL SECURITY

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Tennessee (Mrs. BLACKBURN) for 5 min-utes.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, this morning, I want to discuss the issue of security with my colleagues—economic security, retirement security, and na-tional security—three issues that prob-ably right now in my conversations with constituents is what we hear the most about.

Let’s look at the picture of economic security, or the lack thereof, that ex-ists in our country and in our commu-nities.

What I hear from my constituents is that the 5 percent unemployment rate is indeed misleading because over 90 million Americans have dropped out of the workforce. They are losing hope and are unemployed. The Obama mal-aise, as I have constituents who like to term it, has created a workforce par-ticipation rate of 62.8 percent. Now, I want you to think about that. Of the eligible adults who are ready for the workforce, 62.8 percent have a job and are able to work. That is the worst level since the Carter administration.

Our GDP is declining. Our economy grew at only half of a percent—half of a percent in the first quarter of 2016. That is lower than a 1.4 percent expan-sion in the previous period, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. President Obama had a chance to cre-ate 40,000 jobs, and he took a pass on it. He vetoed the Keystone pipeline so that he could cement his legacy and stature as a liberal icon.

The American people are tired of being broke; they are tired of work per-mits that go to illegal aliens; and they are tired of $19.2 trillion in Federal debt. We need to get the government off the backs and out of the pocket-books of the American people. It is time to loosen regulations and lower taxes.

The issue of retirement security comes up so often in the conversations I have, especially with women, and it is important to note what is happening with Social Security and Medicare. The Social Security retirement trust fund is set to run out of money by the year 2034. That is not that far away. According to the Tax Foundation, under the current wage indexing for-mula, benefits are projected to climb by more than 150 percent, in real terms, over the next 75 years.

I have introduced H.R. 603, the Sav-ings for Seniors Act, which establishes within the Federal Old-Age and Sur-vivors Insurance Trust Fund a Social Security Surplus Protection Account to hold the Social Security surplus and prohibit it from being spent. Medicare has to be addressed as well. It is sup-posed to run out of money and be insol-vent by 2030. We must make sure that seniors are secure, and we have to make certain that the money they have already paid into the system, they are able to receive.

On the national security front, Presi-dent Obama’s very, very timid foreign policy has emboldened our enemies from the rise of ISIS, to Russian ag-gression in Ukraine and in the Middle East, to the Chinese military expan-sion in the South China Sea. It has also left our allies asking: Where are you? You are not present as we try to ad-dress these issues.

What we have seen with President Obama, I think, is inexcusable. For ex-ample, when the evil blade of ISIS de-capitated Steven Sotloff in 2014, Presi-dent Obama was on the golf course minutes after telling the American people: We will be relentless, and we


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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSEH2708 May 18, 2016 will be vigilant to see that justice is done. Or, as he also calls it, leading from behind.

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Two other glaring issues we face are the Syrian refugee program and our southern border.

There is currently no way to vet Syr-ian refugees, and I think this President is delusional if he thinks there is. I have introduced H.R. 4218 to suspend refugee admissions until Congress passes a joint resolution approving the President’s plan.

Meanwhile, our southern border is overrun again. Through the first 6 months of fiscal year 2016, which ended on March 31, border officials appre-hended 27,754 unaccompanied children. That is just shy of the 28,579 number apprehended for all of 2014. Think about that comparison.

Mr. Speaker, we must provide eco-nomic, retirement, and national secu-rity for all Americans. We must rise to the occasion and make certain our Na-tion is secure.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Mem-bers are reminded not to engage in per-sonalities toward the President.

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CALIFORNIA WATER LEGISLATION

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. COSTA) for 5 minutes.

Mr. COSTA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to work together on behalf of the people of California to get water legislation passed that will help fix California’s broken water sys-tem.

Yes, Californians have been divided historically for decades for a number of reasons on how to fix our broken water system, but that must change because we are living on borrowed time, and nothing has explained that more clear-ly than the last 4 years of drought con-ditions.

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Com-mittee on Energy and Natural Re-sources held a hearing on Senator DIANNE FEINSTEIN’s water legislation, the California Long-Term Provisions for Water Supply and Short-Term Pro-visions for Emergency Drought Relief Act. This week, Congressman JOHN GARAMENDI introduced the House com-panion bill, legislation that I support as well.

The California Long-Term Provisions for Water Supply and Short-Term Pro-visions for Emergency Drought Relief Act would provide $1.3 billion in fund-ing and support for desalinization, re-cycling efforts, and water storage projects like Temperance Flat and the expansion of San Luis Reservoir.

The bill would also direct State and Federal agencies to maximize water supplies during the short term, while not violating existing environmental laws that protect threatened and en-dangered species.

Additionally, the legislation includes language that would generate and pro-

vide for scientifically managed res-ervoir operations which would allow us to, for example, raise the spillway gates at New Exchequer Dam in Merced County, providing an additional 50,000 acre-feet of water storage for the Merced Irrigation District.

Finally, the bill would complement the ongoing efforts made by the recent passage of a State water bond that I supported—$2.7 billion for additional water storage in California.

In order to get California’s water bill passed and signed into law, our Na-tion’s Senators must understand that there is support for Senator DIANNE FEINSTEIN’s legislation among Cali-fornia Representatives in the House. That is why I am a cosponsor of the House companion legislation, H.R. 5247.

Now, there is room for modifications and changes in Senator FEINSTEIN’s legislation as well as the House bill, es-pecially provisions that deal with short-term fixes that would provide more accountability on how Califor-nia’s water system is operated year to year. But if Congress is going to be able to provide some relief to the peo-ple of California, which is a template for Western States—and, I would say, the world—we must continue to move forward, and the passage of S. 2533 would undoubtedly be an important step in the right direction.

Once S. 2533 is passed out of the Sen-ate, the House and the Senate will have the opportunity to go to conference to resolve the differences that exist in these water bills by each of the Cham-bers. That is the normal process under which we usually conduct business.

I have consistently fought to bring more water to our San Joaquin Valley, and that includes supporting the Cali-fornia water bill that the House passed last year, but we need to use all the water tools in our water toolbox to fix the entire State’s water needs.

It is my hope that my colleagues will put aside their political differences which, for too long, have been a part of the problem and join me in supporting the California Long-Term Provisions for Water Supply and Short-Term Pro-visions for Emergency Drought Relief Act, because fixing California’s water system is dependent upon it. If we don’t pass this legislation and we don’t work with Governor Brown in Cali-fornia, we cannot fix this broken water system.

So, finally, what is this about? It is about investing in our infrastructure. We are living off the investments our parents and our grandparents made a generation ago. This is Infrastructure Week. We ought to be talking about in-vesting in our infrastructure, not only in California, but around the country.

What else is this about? It is about helping the environment because, not-withstanding the opposition to this legislation, the status quo is only re-sulting in further deterioration of the environment.

Finally, what else is this about? It is about the reliability of our water sup-

ply to maintain our farms. Maintaining our farms, after all, is a part of Amer-ica’s national security. We don’t think about it that way, but having reliable, cost-effective food on America’s dinner table every night is about our national security. So it is about the sustain-ability, therefore, of our food supply and our way of life.

If we are going to fix this, we have to come together. We have to work to-gether. We have to get beyond our dif-ferences and beyond our talking points.

If Congress is going to get anything done, we, in California, on our water fixes, must come together.

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BUILDING SAFETY MONTH The SPEAKER pro tempore. The

Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. BARR) for 5 minutes.

Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark Building Safety Month, to rec-ognize the importance of building safe-ty, and to congratulate the leadership of the International Code Council that develops and publishes the model build-ing safety and energy efficiency model codes used in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and across the country. In-creasingly, these codes, developed in the United States, are being adopted in other nations as a model of safe con-struction.

Every year, there are sobering re-minders about the key role that build-ing codes can have. Foreign nations still experience catastrophic losses of life and property due to natural events and poor construction practices. These losses have been greatly reduced in this country thanks to the adoption of sound building practices.

Deadly fires, tornados, windstorms, floods, earthquakes, and other events remind us of the critical need for strong buildings. As Congress discusses the need for resilience and greater en-ergy efficiency in our communities, we are reminded in May that key elements of resilience and energy efficiency are sound building and energy codes.

I want to congratulate the leaders of the ICC, which has sponsored Building Safety Month in May every year for over 30 years. The theme of this year’s Building Safety Month, appropriately, is ‘‘Driving Growth Through Innova-tion, Resilience, and Safety.’’

The leadership board of the ICC, in-cluding my constituent, President Alex Olszowy, building inspection supervisor for the Lexington-Fayette Urban Coun-ty Government in Kentucky, will join ICC’s chief executive officer, Dominic Sims, in Washington next week to dis-cuss the critical need to support the adoption and enforcement of current building codes to make sure Americans are safe at home, at work, at school, and at play.

On this occasion, I also want to high-light the good work of the Code Admin-istrators Association of Kentucky, in-cluding president Jeff Camp and the other leaders of the Commonwealth’s ICC chapter, and to thank the thou-sands of men and women who work


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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H2709 May 18, 2016 every day to make sure our buildings comply with building and fire codes. Their work, largely unseen and often unnoticed, is critical to keeping the American people safe.

The model building codes adopted by ICC members from all 50 States allow every community to share the advan-tage of adopting building codes that are adaptable to local conditions but, at the same time, incorporate the very latest research, materials, and building practices.

This is achieved through a public-pri-vate partnership, saving local jurisdic-tions from bearing the large expense of code revision, updating, and coordina-tion. These model codes are produced through the cooperation of thousands of local U.S. code officials working with the building industry to produce codes that represent the consensus on what the minimum safety require-ments are and should be for various building types, all without a dime of Federal taxpayer money.

I should mention that the Architect of the Capitol maintains the safety of this building and all House and Senate office buildings by following the re-quirements in the current Inter-national Building Code.

So congratulations and a heartfelt thanks to the hardworking members and leadership of the International Code Council during this Building Safe-ty Month.

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HOUSTON, TEXAS, FLOODING The SPEAKER pro tempore. The

Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. AL GREEN) for 5 minutes.

Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speak-er, this is a continuation of my mission of mercy, a mission that I gladly ac-cept because a great American city has been declared a disaster area: a great American city with 2-plus million peo-ple, a great American city where we speak more than 100 different lan-guages, a great American city where we appreciate diversity and we cele-brate it. In fact, we have developed a symbiotic relationship, a symbiosis such that we can do together what we could never do apart. A great American city, Houston, Texas, within Harris County, has been declared a disaster area; and it has been declared a dis-aster area, Mr. Speaker, because of the flooding that takes place in Houston, Texas.

I asked that my staff prepare some intelligence for me to share so as to paint a picture of what this flooding is like in Houston, Texas.

In Houston, Texas, on the tax day flood—so-called because it was the last day to file for taxes this year—we had this tax day flood, and it has caused damages that will approximate $2 bil-lion. The good news is that that is re-vised down because the estimate ini-tially was that it would be more.

In Houston, Texas, over 100 neighbor-hoods experienced some flooding.

In Houston, Texas, a great American city, we had 240 billion—billion with a

B—240 billion gallons of water. A bil-lion is still 1,000 million. So we have had 2,000-million-plus gallons of water in Houston, Texas. And that was on one day. This is enough water to fill the Astrodome 750 times over.

In Houston, Texas, we had more than 1,200 high water rescues, people strand-ed, lives at risk in Houston, Texas, a major American city, a great American city declared a disaster area.

In Houston, Texas, there was 8.85 inches of rainfall—that broke the pre-vious record from 1976—and, I might add, in some areas, 17 inches of water. That was all a part of the tax day floods. There were 121,000 people with-out power.

Mr. Speaker, this is significant, but it is also significant to note that this is not the first time. Within the last year, 12 months, we had the Memorial Day flood, with similar circumstances and $2 billion in damages.

Mr. Speaker, over the last 20 years, we have had at least one day of flood-ing in Houston, Texas, that has been called to the attention of the people in Washington, D.C., and I’m doing so now.

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Mr. Speaker, as bad as these things are, all of these damages that I have called to our attention, there is some-thing more significant, something more meaningful that is happening in Houston, Texas, and that is lives are being lost. In the tax day flood, we lost nine lives, Mr. Speaker—nine lives— people who left home going to work, assuming that they would drive their cars and return home.

Mr. Speaker, we have, in Houston, what are called flash floods. Even peo-ple who are judicious and prudent can sometimes find themselves in cir-cumstances from which they cannot extricate themselves because of the way the water comes in so quickly— flash floods, nine lives lost, a great American city declared a disaster area.

Houston needs a lifeline. When you are drowning in water, you need a life-line. Well, there is a lifeline. The life-line is H.R. 5025, the 2016 Tax Day Floods Supplemental Funding Act. This is a supplemental funding bill, which means it is not an earmark. It is the kind of thing we do when we have emergencies to contend with. We have done this before when we have had the storms on the East Coast. We have done this before, when we had New Or-leans, Louisiana, and Katrina. We have done it when we have had fires. We have done it when we have had the tornadic activities. This is reasonable. It is prudent. It is judicious. It is some-thing we ought to do to rescue, to throw a lifeline to a great American city that has been declared a disaster area.

Well, the good news is, Mr. Speaker, we are recovering; but I hate to say, and I regret to say, I am reluctant to say, we are not out of the woods yet. We are not out of the woods yet, Mr.

Speaker, because today there is an 80 percent chance of precipitation. To-morrow, there is an 80 percent chance.

I beg that we support H.R. 5025 and extend a lifeline to Houston, Texas, a great American city.

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RECESS

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu-ant to clause 12(a) of rule I, the Chair declares the House in recess until noon today.

Accordingly (at 11 o’clock and 2 min-utes a.m.), the House stood in recess.

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AFTER RECESS

The recess having expired, the House was called to order by the Speaker pro tempore (Mr. DONOVAN) at noon.

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PRAYER

Reverend Dr. Patricia Venegas, With-out Spot or Wrinkle Ministries Inter-national, La Verne, California, offered the following prayer:

Heavenly Father, we come before Your throne room of grace today by unmerited favor. We thank You for this great Nation.

Our forefathers faced many trials and tribulations in their days. They relied on You as they sought Your guidance for America, knowing they could not do it without You.

Today, in this room, we humble our-selves before You and pause, asking You once again for Your guidance and perfect will for our Nation, as we pray Your kingdom come and Your will be done in America.

I also pray for every Representative in this room today, who shoulders the immense responsibility to make deci-sions for the people they represent, give each one wisdom, knowledge, un-derstanding, and discernment on every decision they make. I pray You will bless them and their families for the sacrifice they make for the American people.

In Your holy name. Amen.

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THE JOURNAL

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair has examined the Journal of the last day’s proceedings and announces to the House his approval thereof.

Pursuant to clause 1, rule I, the Jour-nal stands approved.

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PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Will the gentleman from California (Mr. BERA) come forward and lead the House in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Mr. BERA led the Pledge of Alle-giance as follows:

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Repub-lic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.


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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSEH2710 May 18, 2016 WELCOMING REVEREND DR.

PATRICIA VENEGAS

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentlewoman from Cali-fornia (Mrs. NAPOLITANO) is recognized for 1 minute.

There was no objection. Mrs. NAPOLITANO. Mr. Speaker, I

am so pleased to welcome Dr. Patricia Venegas of Without Spot Or Wrinkle Ministries International. I thank her and her husband for coming from La Verne, one of my cities.

She started the church in 1998 with her husband, Reverend Benjamin Venegas, who is up in the gallery some-where. From 1977 to the present, she serves as a chaplain to the Covina Po-lice Department. She was ordained as a minister of the Gospel in December 2006.

She published one book, ‘‘The Bride of Christ Without Spot Or Wrinkle.’’ She develops and writes curricula for conferences and seminars.

Thanks for the work that you do, Reverend, to spread the Gospel throughout the San Gabriel Valley and beyond. May God bless you and God bless our country.

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ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair will entertain up to 15 requests for 1-minute speeches on each side of the aisle.

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NATIONAL POLICE WEEK

(Mr. PITTENGER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. PITTENGER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the incredibly brave men and women in blue who serve and protect our communities.

For example, Sergeant P.J. Wilson of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police De-partment is a third shift supervisor. He and his team work the wee hours of the morning to make sure that we can sleep in peace.

Officer K.S. Kodad works every week-end and most holidays because he knows that criminals don’t always work business hours.

Officer Tim Purdy recently sat down in a school parking lot to calm and re-assure a potentially suicidal autistic student.

Detective McKee recently helped solve a homicide from last summer, with all five suspects now in custody.

Mr. Speaker, these are just four of the thousands of police officers who should be recognized for their impor-tant work. Today and every day, we should take time to say thank you to the police officers we encounter in our communities.

RECOGNIZING DR. EPHRAIM WILLIAMS

(Mr. BERA asked and was given per-mission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. BERA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. Ephraim Williams, Pastor of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Sacramento. Pastor Wil-liams has epitomized the importance of community and faith for the past 45 years.

This past Sunday, my wife and I had a chance to worship with Pastor Wil-liams and his congregation.

He will be retiring this coming Sun-day, but his legacy of service and lead-ership will live on through his con-gregation, which has grown from 100 worshippers to over 2,500.

Pastor Williams led the efforts to fi-nance and build an edifice and family life center, which now serves the sur-rounding community. His church offers employment fairs, home buyer work-shops, financial literacy courses, and much more to the community.

Pastor Williams also serves as a men-tor and adviser to younger pastors and has helped develop the next generation of leaders in the faith community.

On behalf of the Sacramento commu-nity and the region, I thank him for his 45 years of work and service, which has made our community a much better place to live in.

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CONGRATULATING 2016 GRAD-UATING CLASS OF ELITE YOUTH OUTREACH PROGRAM

(Mr. LAHOOD asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. LAHOOD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the 2016 grad-uating class of the ELITE Youth Out-reach program.

ELITE is a wonderful program that teaches at-risk youth in our local com-munities in central Illinois on how to gain employment, communicate effec-tively, behave responsibly, and dress appropriately. The program was found-ed by Carl Cannon, a Peoria-born na-tive who served his country as a mili-tary officer and drill instructor. Now he is dedicated to training and inspir-ing youth to overcome barriers to suc-cess, as he did himself.

In 2013, Carl Cannon received the FBI’s Director’s Community Leader-ship Award. This week, FBI Director James Comey will travel from Wash-ington, D.C., to Peoria to address this year’s ELITE graduating class.

I would like to commend Carl Cannon and his staff for their dedication to these students and recognize the trans-formative effect his program has had on youth in our Peoria area.

I would also like to thank FBI Direc-tor Comey for supporting this worthy program with his presence this week in Peoria.

Finally, I would like to congratulate the students who have completed this

program. You should feel proud of your accomplishments. You have a commu-nity and national and local leaders who believe in you, and we support you.

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INFRASTRUCTURE WEEK

(Mr. HIGGINS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. HIGGINS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of infrastructure week, which is a joint effort by business and labor to highlight the dangerous conditions of America’s roads and bridges.

There are currently 69,000 struc-turally deficient bridges in America. Every second of every day, seven cars drive on a bridge that is structurally deficient.

Congress said that we couldn’t afford to rebuild the roads and bridges of America, so we only spent $50 billion a year in the last decade to rebuild America’s roads and bridges—patheti-cally weak. We were told we couldn’t afford it.

But American taxpayers spent $87 billion rebuilding the roads and bridges of Afghanistan. We spent $73 billion re-building the roads and bridges of Iraq— off budget and unpaid for.

Congress needs to get its priorities straight. We need to put American workers back to work and invest in our infrastructure to unleash the great po-tential of American businesses to grow the American economy.

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CONGRATULATING PRAIRIE GROVE SCHOOL DISTRICT 46

(Mr. HULTGREN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HULTGREN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Prairie Grove School District 46 in Crystal Lake, Illinois, for being selected as a finalist for the 2016 Secretary of De-fense Freedom Award, the first ever from Illinois.

This is the Department of Defense’s highest recognition given to employers for exceptional support of their Na-tional Guard and Reserve employees.

This year, more than 2,400 nomina-tions were submitted by National Guard and Reserve servicemembers. Prairie Grove is one of only nine public sector employer finalists.

Among servicemembers at the school district who support the nomination is Lieutenant Colonel Patty Klop, a Ma-rine reservist, a physical education teacher, and a part-time teacher for students who have disabilities.

In her nomination, she speaks highly of District 46 when she says: ‘‘It’s been a real source of stability and comfort for me over the years. I’ve been on sev-eral deployments, and District 46 has always been there.’’

Prairie Grove is invited to the Free-dom Award ceremony this August at the Pentagon. I look forward to the school district representing Illinois


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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H2711 May 18, 2016 well as an exceptional employer of servicemembers.

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HEAD START

(Mr. CICILLINE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. CICILLINE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 51st anniversary of the creation of Head Start.

In my home State of Rhode Island, Head Start serves 2,500 children, in-cluding 100 homeless children and 500 children with special needs.

Head Start is proven and effective. Young people who participate in Head Start have increased graduation rates, are less likely to become pregnant as teens, have improved economic oppor-tunities, and are less likely to be in-volved in crime.

Every dollar invested in Head Start saves up to $7 in future costs.

In the 20th century, the United States set the standard in education and had the highest graduation rates around the world. Today, we rank 12th in college graduation and 26th in access to preschool for 4-year-olds.

If we are serious about providing the next generation with the skills they need to be successful and to compete in a global economy, it is critical that we significantly increase our investments in Head Start.

Congratulations to Head Start on your 51st anniversary. Thank you for all that you do.

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RECOGNIZING CHIEF OF POLICE CHARLES R. JONES

(Mr. ROTHFUS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his re-marks.)

Mr. ROTHFUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Beaver Falls Chief of Police Charles R. Jones on his re-tirement after decades of outstanding service to his community and to our Nation.

After serving his country in the Air Force, which included time at the 911th Airlift Wing in Pittsburgh, Chief Jones embarked upon a career in law enforce-ment.

He is a graduate of both Municipal Police Officers’ Training Academy and the Pennsylvania Deputy Sheriff’s Training Program in Carlisle, Pennsyl-vania.

He started with the city of Beaver Falls Police Department in 1994, and by 2008, he was chief of police. In October of 2011, the Pittsburgh FBI field office chose Chief Jones to join with other U.S. and international law enforcement leaders at the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, for professional studies.

A recipient of numerous awards, a man of faith, and a true leader, I thank Chief Jones for his service. In thanking the chief, I would be remiss in not also recognizing his wife Regina, who has

also been a great advocate for her com-munity.

Although the chief is retiring, I fully expect he will continue his service to his community in multiple endeavors in the years to come.

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HOUSE LEADERS NEED TO LEAD

(Ms. ESTY asked and was given per-mission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Ms. ESTY. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor with a simple message for the leaders of this House: Do your job.

The majority has refused to even vote on a budget—our most basic duty—and has failed to address over $3 trillion of needed infrastructure across the country.

This is National Infrastructure Week. Forty-one percent of the roads in my home State of Connecticut are rated in poor condition. Bad roads cost the av-erage Connecticut driver over $660 per year in unnecessary repairs and ex-penses.

A great nation does not respond to crises with duct tape. A great nation does not tell 110 pregnant citizens with the Zika virus that they should make do with one-third of the necessary funding.

For our infrastructure, for Flint, for the Supreme Court, for Zika patients, and for gun violence victims, the call to the leaders of this body is clear: It is time to lead. Do your job.

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THE IMPORTANCE OF SALVAGE TO FORESTRY

(Mr. LAMALFA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his re-marks.)

Mr. LAMALFA. Mr. Speaker, the Ninth Circuit Court is on a roll this week. First, they upheld gun rights in northern California. Now they have tossed out yet another frivolous law-suit on salvage operations for forestry after a fire.

Operations in western Siskiyou County on what is known as the west side fire—a fire that occurred in the summer and fall of 2014—are now fi-nally proceeding where the value of that wood can be still, perhaps, hope-fully, salvaged almost a year and a half later. Though it is only a scant 4 per-cent that they are going after in this harvest project here, you would think with the number of frivolous lawsuits and wailing over the project that we were causing an environmental dis-aster; yet the disaster has already oc-curred with the devastating fire.

I am glad to see that the court ruled that some of the salvage operation can occur, because now the forest can actu-ally recover. It can have an economic base to do so instead of merely coming out of the U.S. Treasury, and the peo-ple in the area can be employed in doing it in this forest fire recovery.

It will be a positive for the habitat, a positive for the spotted owl. This is what we need to do in the long term. Salvage is an important part of for-estry after a fire and not reinventing the wheel every single time we need to do the salvage and have lawsuits over it.

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IN MEMORY OF ERIC BRADLEY

(Mr. LOWENTHAL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, like everyone who knew him, I was shocked and am still very saddened by the sud-den passing of Eric Bradley.

Eric was so many things to so many people. He was a colleague, a friend, a mentor, a son, a husband, a father. For me, Eric was a dear friend who helped me in so many ways over the years, just as he helped so many others, but that was Eric. He gave of himself to ev-eryone whom he met whether that be insight, advice, knowledge, or simple kindness. Behind all of his hard work, behind all of his efforts, there was a genuine passion for making life better for others.

Just like anyone who crossed his all too brief time with us, I am better for having known him. I will miss my friend.

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100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EASTER RISING

(Mr. KING of New York asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. KING of New York. Mr. Speaker, this year is the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising in Dublin, Ireland, which was the seminal moment in the fight for Irish independence.

Since that time, the United States and Ireland have had an extremely close relationship in trade, business, and on so many other issues on which we work together, probably none more important than the Good Friday Agree-ment, which was achieved 18 years ago this year. It is working today, for, after centuries of fighting and strife, there is now a peace process in North-ern Ireland which has succeeded, is suc-ceeding, and is going forward.

I acknowledge this today, the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising, and the Prime Minister of Ireland, Enda Kenny, is in Washington today to help us commemorate this.

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GALESBURG FORGIVABLE LOANS

(Mrs. BUSTOS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mrs. BUSTOS. Mr. Speaker, I rise with great news about the city of Galesburg, Illinois.

About a month ago, I spoke on this floor, and I urged the city to apply for low-interest, federally funded loans


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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSEH2712 May 18, 2016 through the Drinking Water State Re-volving Loan Fund. Many officials ex-pressed legitimate concerns about the impact that might have on their budg-ets, so I worked with the city as well as with the U.S. and the Illinois EPA to see if those loans could be forgiven.

Today I am so proud to announce that I have received assurances that up to $4 million in Federal funding will be forgiven. That will happen as soon as the city completes its application and receives formal approval.

Mr. Speaker, all communities face challenges. What separates the great ones from the rest is whether commu-nities can come together and solve these challenges. We still have work to do to protect children from lead expo-sure, but Galesburg is a great city, and I am proud that we are taking this im-portant step together.

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VICTIMS OF GUN VIOLENCE

(Mr. PETERS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. PETERS. Mr. Speaker, Cedar Bluff, Alabama, November 16, 2015:

Sylvia Duffy, 71 years old. Clara Edwards, 68. Pamela O’Shel, 48. Tennessee Colony, Texas, November

15, 2015: Carl Johnson, 77 years old. Thomas Kamp, 46. Nathan Kamp, 23. Austin Kamp, 21. Kade Johnson, 6. Clarksburg, West Virginia, July 26,

2013: Freddy Donald Swiger, 70 years old. Fred Swiger, 47. Todd Russell Amos, 29. Christopher A. Hart, 26. Springfield, Missouri, November 15,

2014: Lewis Green, 44 years old. Trevor Fantroy, 43. Danielle Keyes, 29. Christopher Freeman, 24. Shreveport, Louisiana, May 5, 2016: Tyrone Coley, 37 years old. Randy Brown, 36. Robert Baulkman, 30. Joey Caldwell, 29. Richard Baker, 29. Platte, South Dakota, September 17,

2015: Nicole Westerhuis, 41 years old.

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RESTORE FUNDING TO THE OVERSEAS WAR ACCOUNT

(Mr. GALLEGO asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Mr. GALLEGO. Mr. Speaker, the an-nual defense bill before the House today removes $18 billion from the overseas war account to fund activities that are not related to war. It is unfor-tunate that the Republican majority, which claims to be fiscally responsible, is raiding OCO in order to blow past bi-partisan spending agreements. This budget gimmick would require an $18

billion supplemental next April—only halfway through the fiscal year—to re-store overseas funding for America’s troops.

This is no way to govern the Pen-tagon, and it is doing a disservice to our men and women in uniform by pushing for this. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has said that removing overseas funding during wartime is ‘‘objection-able on the face of it.’’

It is my hope and the hope of many others on the committee that funding for the overseas account will be re-stored on the House floor before the bill is voted on.

I urge my colleagues to oppose the defense bill until these funds are re-stored.

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HEAD START’S 51ST ANNIVERSARY

(Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of Cali-fornia asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of Cali-fornia. Mr. Speaker, today is the 51st anniversary of Head Start.

Fifty-one years ago, in 1965, Presi-dent Lyndon Johnson announced the groundbreaking program. In that year, a shy little girl and the daughter of Mexican immigrants enrolled in Head Start, and it changed her life. That lit-tle girl was me.

In this Chamber, when we fiercely de-bate funding education, we are some-times too removed from the reality of the everyday struggles that are facing America’s children and just how wide that opportunity gap is.

Even though I stand before you here as a Congresswoman, I also stand be-fore you as a child of Head Start. Uni-versal, early childhood education is the best investment we can make to close that education gap. I know this be-cause I am living proof of it. Head Start was not merely something that helped me; it has helped 32 million children and their parents to prepare for school. It has prepared them for life.

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PROTECTING AND DEFENDING THE RIGHTS OF LGBT EMPLOYEES IN THE DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION BILL

(Mr. ISRAEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his re-marks.)

Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Speaker, today and this week we will debate the national defense authorization. This is part of our most fundamental obligation as Members of Congress, to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.

However, there is a provision that is inserted into this bill that doesn’t pro-tect and defend—it discriminates. It is a provision in this bill that would ef-fectively stop an executive order that says that Federal contractors cannot discriminate against employees be-

cause they happen to be LGBT. I want to say this again. In the defense au-thorization, House Republicans have inserted a provision to empower and enable the discrimination of LGBT em-ployees. That is not protecting and de-fending. That is discrimination. That is divisive. It is disgusting.

Our job is to protect and defend the American people and not inject the de-fense budget with ideologies that are based on protecting a political base, Mr. Speaker. It is a disservice to our troops, and it is a disservice to our na-tional security to inject such poisonous language into a defense budget that is meant to protect and defend the con-stitutional rights of the American peo-ple.

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40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NA-TIONAL VOLUNTEER FIRE COUN-CIL (Mr. PASCRELL asked and was given

permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his re-marks.)

Mr. PASCRELL. Mr. Speaker, as the chairman of the Congressional Fire Services Caucus, which is the largest caucus in the Congress, I rise in ad-vance of the 40th anniversary of the es-tablishment of the National Volunteer Fire Council on May 20 so as to recog-nize its hard work and dedication to protecting our communities. The brave men and women who volunteer their time are professionals who put their lives on the line every day.

Founded in 1976, the NVFC came to-gether in Chicago to provide a unified voice for volunteer firefighters across our Nation. With this guiding vision, the NVFC has grown its ranks to a board comprised of 49 State fire service associations and with a membership of nearly 20,000 individual and department members. Today, volunteers have a strong voice at the table when it comes to critical fire and emergency service issues thanks to the NVFC.

The organization has been there to meet the challenges that volunteers face and to address critical issues every day. From groundbreaking programs and innovative resources to legislative and regulatory advocacy, the NVFC continues to serve the volunteer in meaningful and significant ways. I look forward to continuing to work with them to advocate for our volunteers.

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COMMEMORATING 100TH ANNIVER-SARY OF THE 1916 EASTER RIS-ING Mr. KING of New York. Mr. Speaker,

I ask unanimous consent that the Com-mittee on Foreign Affairs be dis-charged from further consideration of the resolution (H. Res. 716) commemo-rating the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising, a seminal moment in Ireland’s journey to independence, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

The Clerk read the title of the resolu-tion.


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CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H2713 May 18, 2016 The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there

objection to the request of the gen-tleman from New York?

There was no objection. The text of the resolution is as fol-

lows: H. RES. 716

Whereas the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising has a particular resonance in the United States;

Whereas, from the foundation of the United States, Irish people and the millions of United States citizens of Irish descent have helped to shape its history;

Whereas, in the words of President John F. Kennedy, ‘‘No people ever believed more deeply in the cause of Irish freedom than the people of the United States’’;

Whereas 5 of the 7 signatories of the 1916 Proclamation of Independence spent periods of time in the United States that signifi-cantly influenced their thinking and actions;

Whereas the United States is the only for-eign country specifically mentioned in the Proclamation;

Whereas the contemporary ties between the United States and Ireland are of extraor-dinary depth and breadth;

Whereas continued United States engage-ment in the Northern Ireland peace process is vital to safeguarding the gains made since the Good Friday Agreement;

Whereas the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising offers an opportunity for re-membrance, reconciliation, and reimagining of the future;

Whereas, on the 17th and 18th of May 2016, the Taoiseach (Prime Minister of Ireland) will visit Washington, DC, for events com-memorating the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising; and

Whereas more than 200 other commemora-tive events will take place across the United States to mark the anniversary: Now, there-fore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representa-tives—

(1) recalls the special ties between Ireland and the United States, continually sustained and strengthened throughout the inter-twined history of both countries;

(2) welcomes the program of commemora-tions in the United States marking the 100th anniversary of Ireland’s 1916 Rising, includ-ing the events taking place in Washington DC; and

(3) recognizes the importance of nurturing and renewing the unique relationship be-tween the United States and Ireland and their peoples into the future.

AMENDMENT OFFERED BY MR. KING OF NEW YORK

Mr. KING of New York. Mr. Speaker, I have an amendment to the text at the desk.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the amendment.

The Clerk read as follows: Strike all after the resolving clause and in-

sert the following: That the House of Representatives— (1) recalls the deep and abiding friendship

between Ireland and the United States, sus-tained and strengthened by the ties between our peoples and our shared values;

(2) calls for the enhanced cooperation be-tween the United States and Ireland in un-dertaking multi-lateral humanitarian mis-sions and international peacekeeping oper-ations; and

(3) supports efforts to continue to increase political, economic, scientific, educational, and cultural ties between the United States and Ireland, including ongoing work to con-solidate peace and reconciliation in North-ern Ireland.

Mr. KING of New York (during the reading). Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the reading be dispensed with.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gen-tleman from New York?

There was no objection. The amendment was agreed to. The resolution, as amended, was

agreed to. AMENDMENT TO THE PREAMBLE OFFERED BY

MR. KING OF NEW YORK Mr. KING of New York. Mr. Speaker,

I have an amendment to the preamble at the desk.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the amendment.

The Clerk read as follows: Strike the preamble and insert the fol-

lowing: Whereas the more than 35 million Ameri-

cans of Irish descent strengthen the friendly relations between the United States and Ire-land;

Whereas throughout our history Ameri-cans of Irish descent have made significant contributions to the United States and have helped to shape its history;

Whereas in April 1916, through the Easter Rising, an attempt was launched to secure Irish independence;

Whereas signatories to the 1916 Proclama-tion of the Irish Republic were influenced by the experience of the United States and therefore included the United States as the only foreign country specifically mentioned in the Proclamation;

Whereas the United States recognized and established diplomatic relations with the Irish Free State in 1923;

Whereas Ireland is a valued partner in international fora, including the United Na-tions, the NATO Partnership for Peace Pro-gram, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the World Trade Organization;

Whereas the United States and Ireland continue to share deep and abiding ties across a host of areas, including economic, scientific, and educational cooperative ef-forts, and international development co-operation;

Whereas the United States and Ireland enjoy a thriving and mutually beneficial trade and investment relationship, with the United States being the largest exporter to Ireland of services, and the second largest exporter of goods;

Whereas the United States and Ireland enjoy broad scientific cooperative programs, to the benefit of the United States, Ireland, and Northern Ireland, facilitated by the United States-Ireland Research and Develop-ment Partnership, which prioritizes joint re-search in the areas of nanoscale science and engineering, sensor networks, telecommuni-cations, energy and sustainability, and health;

Whereas the United States and Ireland sup-port thriving bilateral educational exchange programs, which Ireland has promoted in re-cent years with the establishment of Student Ambassador programs, increasing scholar-ships, and being a contributor and Lead Sig-nature Partner in the U.S. Generation Study Abroad Program;

Whereas the Governments of Ireland and the United Kingdom have worked closely, with the ongoing support of the United States, in promoting peace and reconcili-ation in Northern Ireland; and

Whereas the 100th anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rising offers an opportunity for re-

commitment to strengthening the relation-ship between the United States and Ireland for the benefit of future generations in both countries: Now, therefore, be it

Mr. KING of New York (during the reading). Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the reading be dispensed with.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gen-tleman from New York?

There was no objection. The amendment to the preamble was

agreed to. The title of the resolution was

amended so as to read: ‘‘Recognizing the deep and abiding friendship be-tween the United States and Ireland and recommending actions to further strengthen those ties.’’.

A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 4974, MILITARY CON-STRUCTION AND VETERANS AF-FAIRS AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2017; PRO-VIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 5243, ZIKA RESPONSE AP-PROPRIATIONS ACT, 2016; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 736 and ask for its immediate consideration.

The Clerk read the resolution, as fol-lows:

H. RES. 736

Resolved, That (a) at any time after adop-tion of this resolution the Speaker may, pur-suant to clause 2(b) of rule XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of the bill (H.R. 4974) making appropriations for military construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related agencies for the fiscal year ending Sep-tember 30, 2017, and for other purposes. The first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. All points of order against consider-ation of the bill are waived. General debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not ex-ceed one hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Appropriations. After general debate the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. Points of order against provisions in the bill for failure to comply with clause 2 of rule XXI are waived. Clause 2(e) of rule XXI shall not app

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