Trent Franks

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman for allowing me to offer this amendment to this year's Defense Appropriations bill to establish and reestablish the Commission to assess the threat to the United States from electromagnetic pulse attack, which was authorized in the House-passed FY16 NDAA. Mr. Chairman, as your committee knows so very well, the United States faces many threats and challenges today, perhaps more than ever before in her history. One of those threats is the reliance across all critical infrastructure sectors on an aging and highly vulnerable electric grid. As the GAO reported, the Department of Defense relies upon that very same electric grid for 99 percent of its electricity needs within the continental United States without which it cannot effect its mission. The previous EMP Commission stated that a collapse of large portions of the electrical system will result in significant periods of power outage and loss of significant portions of that system. Should the electrical power system be lost for any substantial period of time, the consequences are likely to be catastrophic to civilian society. They concluded that negative impacts on the electrical infrastructure are certain in an EMP event unless practical steps are taken to provide protection for critical elements of the electrical system. The Commission must be established, Mr. Chairman, to ensure that research into addressing these vulnerabilities continues within the Department of Defense to enable practical steps to actually secure and harden the grid. The House Armed Services Committee has already acted this year and authorized $2 million to reestablish the Commission. I would urge my colleagues to support this amendment to ensure that these funds are appropriated as well.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. I thank the gentleman very much. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Lance Corporal Jacob Andrew Hug, Phoenix, Arizona, Arizona's Eighth Congressional District.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, it has been an amazing day. We passed a major bill today, Mr. Speaker, that I think is going to have some significant reverberations in this country for a long time. I know that whenever the subject has been abortion that, somehow, the rules always change. Somehow, we don't see it the same way that we do other issues. We don't apply the same principles of logic and reason and even compassion. It seems like that gets lost in it all. It seems like we sort of overlook the reality of it all. The real question with abortion, Mr. Speaker, really is: Does abortion really kill a baby? If it doesn't, then people like me would be completely satisfied to never bring up the subject again; but, if it really does take the life of a child, then those of us living here in the seat of freedom, in the freest country in the world, are living in the midst of a great human genocide, and it is something that we cannot and must not turn our backs upon. Mr. Speaker, I know that it has been a long time that we have debated in this country. I remember in 1965 the Governor of Colorado signed a bill that would allow abortion in rare circumstances, and it created a great outcry because people knew that that might lead to more widespread abortion on demand. At the time, those who were concerned about that were ridiculed and ignored many times; yet that is, in fact, what the Supreme Court did in 1973, when seven Justices decided, for all Americans, that there was a constitutional right to hire someone to take the life of a child. Mr. Speaker, I sometimes wonder how we miss the reality of it all. I know that there are sincere people on both sides of the issue, but it just seems like that, ultimately, we keep coming back to that central question: Is there another life here? Because if there is, in order for America to be true to her greatest ideals, then the American people are going to have to precipitate a change, either in their leadership or to convince their leadership to precipitate a change in their own hearts--after all, I believe there are only two ways that we can change public policy in this country, and that is that the people either have to elect the right leaders, or somehow, they have to beg the wrongs ones to do the right thing. For a long time, our people have tried desperately to get their leaders to do the right thing on this issue, but we have been hamstrung by a Supreme Court decision. Once again, the Supreme Court was never meant to make law for the country. They were meant to decide cases, not issues. Even though we have put the Supreme Court in the position of deciding those cases and giving us opinions on constitutional analysis, when each of us as Members of Congress swore to defend and uphold the Constitution of the United States, we put our hand, as we swore to do that, to support and defend the Constitution. We didn't say that we will support and defend the Constitution if the Supreme Court says it is all right. We said we would do that. The Founding Fathers knew that there had to be this tension between the three branches of government and that each one of those branches had a responsibility and a sworn oath to defend the Constitution the best they knew how on their own. Certainly, we give deference to opinions of the Court on cases, but if this body says that the Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter of the Constitution, then we have to quit taking that oath. If this body says that the Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter because of their ability and the power that we would ostensibly give them to answer all constitutional questions, if we say that, then, Mr. Speaker, we can go outside here and board these windows shut, and the Congress can go home, and we can finally quit pretending to be that great Republic that the Founding Fathers dreamed of because we will have become, at that time, a judicial oligarchy, where unelected judges have arrogated unto themselves the power to answer really all legal questions, and then this magnificent dream that the Founding Fathers had would be vitiated completely. I just, somehow, hope that we understand that the Supreme Court of the United States is a critically important part of our Republic, but it is not the sole arbiter of the Constitution. Again, if it is, the Republic is dead. Mr. Speaker, today, we debated the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, and it kind of occurs to me that we have had to parse this out in ways that the opposition could finally understand. The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act doesn't protect any children in the first 5 months, even though I think they should be protected; and, if we don't protect them, then what will we find, in terms of political courage, to protect any kind of liberty for anyone? This act today only protected children beginning at the sixth month until birth. Now, that shouldn't be a hard question. That it got any dissenting votes is a disgrace that beggars my ability to express. I truly believe that those who voted against a bill that would simply have protected children in the sixth month, beginning at the sixth month and beyond, that when they lay their head down on that pillow in the nursing home, if there is any conscience remaining, that there will be great regret for such a vote because, in coming years, I believe that we will understand more and more how real and how human these little babies really are. We will begin to understand, as a people and as a country, that we overlook them, that somehow these little forgotten children of God just escaped our notice. With all of the new technologies and all the new ways that we do things, Mr. Speaker, I foresee a day when we will be able to have such a clear look into the lives of these little children, and we will see this as we have so many times before in past days, where there was a victim and no one was really paying much attention to them. I hope that, somehow, we can consider our own history and back up a little bit and say, You know, we don't have to continue to let ourselves be blind. Mr. Speaker, for too long, a great shadow has loomed over America. More than 42 years ago, the tragedy called Roe v. Wade was first handed down. Since then, because of that decision, the very foundation of this Nation has been stained by the blood of more than 55 million of its own little children. Exactly 2 years ago today, one Kermit Gosnell was convicted of killing a mother and murdering innocent, late-term, pain-capable babies in this grisly torture chamber they called an abortion clinic. Now, when authorities entered the clinic of Dr. Gosnell, they found a torture chamber for little babies that defies description within the constraints of the English language. According to the grand jury report--now, this is a quote from the grand jury report, Mr. Speaker: ``Dr. Kermit Gosnell had a simple solution for unwanted babies. He killed them. He didn't call it that. He called it `ensuring fetal demise.' The way he ensured fetal demise was by sticking scissors in the back of the baby's neck and cutting the spinal cord. He called it `snipping.' Over the years, there were hundreds of 'snippings.' '' Ashley Baldwin, one of Dr. Gosnell's employees, said she saw babies breathing, and she described one as 2 feet long that no longer had eyes or a mouth but, in her words, was making like this ``screeching'' noise, and it ``sounded like a little alien.'' For God's sake, Mr. Speaker, is this who we truly are? Kermit Gosnell now rightfully sits in prison for killing a mother and murdering innocent children, just like the one I described; yet there was and is no Federal protection for any of them. If Dr. Gosnell had killed these little pain-capable babies only 5 minutes earlier and before they had passed through the birth canal, it would have all been perfectly legal in many of the United States of America. Mr. Speaker, we may have sanitized Gosnell's clinic, but we can never sanitize the horror and inhumanity forced upon the tiny little victims. And if there is one thing that we must not miss about this unspeakable episode, it is that Kermit Gosnell is not an anomaly; he is just the face of this lucrative enterprise of murdering pain-capable unborn children in America. More than 18,000 very late-term abortions are occurring in America every year. It places the mothers at exponentially greater risk, and it subjects their pain-capable babies to torture and death without anesthesia. This, in the land of the free and the home of the brave. According to the Bartlett study, a woman seeking an abortion at 20 weeks is 35 times more likely to die from an abortion than she was in the first trimester; at 21 weeks or more, she is 91 times more likely to die than she was in the first trimester. Regardless of how supporters of abortion on demand might try to suppress it, it is undisputed and universally accepted by every credible expert that the risk to a mother's health from abortion increases as gestation increases. There is no valid debate on that incontrovertible reality. Supporters of abortion on demand have also tried for decades to deny that unborn children ever feel pain, even those, they say, at the beginning of the sixth month of pregnancy, as if somehow the ability to feel pain magically develops the very second the child is born. Mr. Speaker, almost every major civilized nation on this Earth protects pain-capable babies at this age, and every credible poll of the American people shows that they are overwhelmingly in support of protecting these children. Yet we have given these little babies less legal protection from unnecessary pain and cruelty than the protection we have given farm animals under the Federal Humane Slaughter Act. It is a tragedy that beggars expression. But today, Mr. Speaker, I am filled with hope. The winds of change are beginning to blow, and the tide of blindness and blood is finally beginning to turn in America. Because today, Mr. Speaker, we voted to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in this Chamber. And no matter how it is shouted down or what distortions or deceptive what-ifs or distractions or diversions or gotchas, twisting of words, changing the subject, or blatant falsehoods the abortion industry hurls at this bill and its supporters, this bill and its passage today are a deeply sincere effort--beginning at the sixth month of pregnancy--to protect both mothers and their pain-capable unborn babies from the atrocity of late-term abortion on demand; and ultimately, it is a bill that all humane Americans will support when they truly understand it for themselves. The voices who have hailed the merciless killing of these little ones as freedom of choice will now only grow louder, especially the ones who profit from it most. When we hear those voices, we should all remember the quote of President Abraham Lincoln, when he said: ``Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.'' Mr. Speaker, for the sake of all of those who founded and built this Nation and dreamed of what America could someday be, and for the sake of all of those since then who have died in darkness so Americans could walk in the light of freedom, it is so very important that those of us who are privileged to be Members of the United States Congress pause from time to time and remind ourselves of why we are really all here. Do we still hold these truths to be self-evident? You know, Mr. Speaker, I think sometimes we forget the majestic words of the Declaration of Independence: ``We hold these truths to be self- evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness--that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men.'' Oh, I wish so desperately that every Member of Congress could truly absorb those words in their hearts because it is very clear that it is almost a theological statement because it recognizes all of us to be created in the image of God, that we are created. And that makes all the difference, Mr. Speaker, because if we are created, if we have a purpose, if there is something miraculous about this magnificent gift of life, then we all should pay very close attention to what that purpose is. And if our rights don't come from government, if they don't come from the hand of men, if they, indeed, come from the hand of God, then we have a great responsibility to try to protect them from one another and for one another. Mr. Speaker, the Declaration goes on to say: ``That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men.'' That is why we are here. Mr. Lincoln called upon all of us, Mr. Speaker, to remember that magnificent Declaration of America's Founding Fathers and ``their enlightened belief that nothing stamped with the divine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on or degraded and imbruted by its fellows.'' He reminded those he called posterity that when in the distant future some man, some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that some were not entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that ``their posterity''--that is us, Mr. Speaker--``their posterity might look up again to the Declaration of Independence and take courage to renew the battle which their Fathers began.'' Wow. Thomas Jefferson, whose words marked the beginning of this Nation, said, ``The care of human life and its happiness, and not its destruction, is the chief and only object of good government.'' The phrase in the Fifth Amendment capsulizes our entire Constitution. It says, no person shall ``be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.'' And the 14th amendment says no State ``deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.'' Mr. Speaker, protecting the lives of all Americans and their constitutional rights, especially those who cannot protect themselves, is why we are all here. It is why we came to Congress. You know, not long ago, I heard Barack Obama speak very noble and poignant words that, whether he realizes it or not, so profoundly apply to this subject. Let me quote excerpted portions of his comments. He said: ``This is our first task, caring for our children. It's our first job. If we don't get that right, we don't get anything right. That's how, as a society, we will be judged.'' President Obama asked: ``Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?'' The President also said: ``Our journey is not complete until all our children . . . are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm.'' ``That is our generation's task,'' he said, ``to make these words, these rights, these values of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American.'' Mr. Speaker, never have I so deeply agreed with any words ever spoken by President Barack Obama as those I have just quoted. And how I wish-- how I wish with all of my heart--that Mr. Obama and all of us could somehow open our hearts and our ears to this incontrovertible statement and ask ourselves in the core of our souls why his words that should apply to all children cannot include the most helpless and vulnerable of all children. Are there any children more vulnerable than these little pain-capable unborn babies we are discussing today? You know, Mr. Speaker, it seems like we are never quite so eloquent as when we decry the crimes of a past generation. But, oh, how we often become so staggeringly blind when it comes to facing and rejecting the worst of atrocities in our own time. What we are doing to these little babies is real, and the President and all of us here know that in our hearts. Medical science regarding the development of unborn babies beginning at the sixth month of pregnancy now demonstrates irrefutably that they do, in fact, experience pain. Many of them cry and scream as they are killed, but because it's amniotic fluid going over the vocal cords instead of air, we don't hear them. Again, Mr. Speaker, it is the greatest human rights atrocity in the United States of America today. So, Mr. Speaker, let me close with a final contribution and wise counsel from Abraham Lincoln that I believe so desperately applies to all of this in this moment. He said: ``Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.'' Mr. Speaker, the passage of H.R. 36 will be remembered. It will be considered in the annals of history and, I believe, in the counsels of eternity. Protecting little pain-capable unborn children and their mothers is not a Republican issue. It is not a Democrat issue. It is a basic test of our humanity and who we are as a human family. Today we began to open our eyes and allow our consciences to catch up with our technology. Today Members of the United States Congress began to open their hearts and their souls to remind themselves that protecting those who cannot protect themselves is why we are really all here. I hope, Mr. Speaker, that it sparks a little thought in the minds of all Americans so that we might all open our eyes and our hearts to the humanity of these little unborn children of God and the inhumanity of what is being done to them. I don't know if that will happen or not. But, Mr. Speaker, as of today, when we passed the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, we have come a step closer, and for that, I am grateful. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, for the sake of all those who founded this Nation and dreamed of what America could someday be and for the sake of all those since then who have died in darkness so America could walk in the light of freedom, it is so very important for those of us who are privileged to be Members of this Congress to pause from time to time and remind ourselves of why we are really all here. Thomas Jefferson, whose words marked the beginning of this Nation said: The care of human life and its happiness and not its destruction is the chief and only object of good government. The phrase in the Fifth Amendment capsulizes our entire Constitution. It says: No person shall be . . . deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The 14th Amendment says: No State shall . . . deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Mr. Speaker, protecting the lives of all Americans and their constitutional rights, especially those who cannot protect themselves, is why we are all here; yet today, Mr. Speaker, a great shadow looms over America because more than 18,000 very late-term abortions are occurring in America every year, placing the mothers at exponentially greater risk and subjecting their pain-capable unborn babies to torture and death without anesthesia or Federal protection of any kind in the land of the free and the home of the brave, and it is the greatest human rights atrocity in the United States today. Almost every other civilized nation on this Earth, Mr. Speaker, protects pain-capable unborn babies at this age, and every credible poll of the American people shows that they are overwhelmingly in favor of protecting them; yet we have given these little babies less legal protection from unnecessary cruelty than the protection we have given farm animals under the Federal Humane Slaughter Act. Mr. Speaker, it seems we are never quite so eloquent as when we decry the crimes of past generations; yet we often become staggeringly blind when it comes to facing and rejecting the worst of atrocities in our own time. It is a heartbreaking thought. I would submit to you, Mr. Speaker, that the winds of change are indeed now beginning to blow and that the tide of blindness and blood is finally turning in America because today--today--we are poised to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in this Chamber. Mr. Speaker, no matter how it is shouted down or what distortions, deceptive what-ifs, distractions, diversions, gotchas, twisting of words, changing the subject, or blatant falsehoods the abortion industry hurls at this bill and its supporters, this bill is a deeply sincere effort, beginning at their sixth month of pregnancy, to protect both mothers and their little, pain-capable unborn babies from the atrocity of late-term abortion on demand. Ultimately, it is one all humane Americans can support if they truly understand it for themselves. Mr. Speaker, this is a vote all of us will remember the rest of our lives, and it will be considered in the annals of history and, I believe, in the councils of eternity itself. It shouldn't be such a hard vote. Protecting little, pain-capable unborn children and their mothers is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue; it is a test of our basic humanity and who we are as a human family. It is time to open our eyes and allow our consciences to catch up with our technology. It is time for the Members of the United States Congress to open our eyes and our souls, to remember that protecting those who cannot protect themselves is why we are all here. It is time for all Americans, Mr. Speaker, to open our eyes and our hearts to the humanity of these little, pain-capable unborn children of God and the inhumanity of what is being done to them.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Madam Speaker, I would like to first express my deepest and sincerest gratitude to every last person who played a role in the creation and development of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act now before us on this unique and historic day. Madam Speaker, we really understand what we are all talking about here. Protecting little pain-capable unborn babies really is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. It really is a test of our basic humanity and who we are as a human family. I would just hope that Members of Congress, as well as all Americans, will go to paincapable.com and see for themselves what technology is now upon us in 2015; that unborn children entering their sixth month of pregnancy are capable of feeling pain is now beyond question. The real question that remains is: Will those of us privileged to live and breathe in this, the land of the free and the home of the brave, finally come together and protect mothers and their little innocent pain-capable unborn babies from monsters like Kermit Gosnell? That is the question, Madam Speaker. God help us to do it.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding. Madam Speaker, for the sake of all of those who founded this Nation and dreamed of what America could someday be, and for the sake of all of those who died in darkness so Americans could walk in the light of freedom, it is so very important that those of us who are privileged to be Members of this Congress pause from time to time and remind ourselves of why we are really all here. Thomas Jefferson, whose words marked the beginning of this Nation, said: The care of human life and its happiness, and not its destruction, is the chief and only object of good government. The phrase of the Fifth Amendment capsulizes our entire Constitution. It says no person shall ``be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.'' And the 14th Amendment says that no State shall ``deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.'' Madam Speaker, protecting the lives of all Americans and their constitutional rights, especially those that can't defend themselves, is why we are all here. Yet today, Madam Speaker, a great shadow looms over America. More than 18,000 very late-term abortions are occurring in America every year, placing the mothers at exponentially greater risk and subjecting their pain-capable unborn babies to torture and death without anesthesia and without any Federal protection of any kind in the land of the free and the home of the brave. It is the greatest human rights atrocity in the United States today, and almost every other civilized nation on Earth protects pain-capable unborn babies, at this age particularly. And every credible poll of Americans shows the American people are overwhelmingly in favor of protecting them, yet we have given these little babies less legal protection from unnecessary cruelty than the protection we have given farm animals under the Federal Humane Slaughter Act. Madam Speaker, it just seems that we are never quite so eloquent as when we decry the crimes of a past generation, but we often become so staggeringly blind when it comes to facing and rejecting the worst of atrocities in our own time. Thankfully, Madam Speaker, I believe the winds of change are now beginning to blow and that this tide of blindness and blood is finally turning in America because today--today--we are poised to pass the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in this Chamber. And no matter how it is shouted down or what distortions or deceptive what-ifs, distractions, diversions, gotchas, twisting of the words, changing of subject, or blatant falsehoods the abortion industry hurls at this bill and its supporters, it remains that this bill is a deeply sincere effort, beginning at the sixth month, at their sixth month of pregnancy, to protect both mothers and their pain-capable unborn babies from the atrocity of late-term abortion on demand. Ultimately, it is one that all humane Americans can support if they truly understand it for themselves. Madam Speaker, this is a vote all of us will remember the rest of our lives. It will be considered in the annals of history and, I believe, in the counsels of eternity, itself. But it shouldn't be such a hard vote because, in spite of all of the political noise, protecting little unborn, pain-capable babies is not a Republican issue, and it is not a Democrat issue. It is a test of our basic humanity and who we are as a human family. It is time that we open our eyes and let our consciences catch up with our technology. It is time for the Members of the United States Congress to open our eyes and our souls and remember that protecting those who cannot protect themselves is why we are all here. That is why we are here. Madam Speaker, it is time for all Americans to open our eyes and our hearts to the humanity of these little pain-capable unborn children of God and the inhumanity of what is being done to them.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to join in this chorus of support for the fiscal year 2016 National Defense Authorization Act. I want to sincerely congratulate Chairman Thornberry in this, his inaugural bill as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, which passed with a small vote of 60-2. While this bill sets DOD policy, it also reflects the House-passed budget figure for authorized spending at the Department of Defense. It represents the will of Congress that we ought to be spending more on national security, as nearly every corner of the world has become less safe under President Obama's continued foreign policy failures. The fiscal year 2016 NDAA makes needed reforms to strengthen civilian retiree packages and begins to reform the way that we buy weapons and other systems at the Pentagon, which will save tax dollars for years to come. I also want to thank the chairman and the committee for including some of my amendments to reestablish the EMP Commission, beginning an initial concept for development of a space-based missile defense system, and guaranteed assistance to the Kurdistan regional government. As we know, President Obama has, unfortunately, issued a veto threat toward this bill. Mr. Chairman, the NDAA has been passed year after year for 53 straight years, under both Democrat and Republican administrations. Among the provisions the President stands ready to reject are a joint formulary to ease troop transition from the Department of Defense to the VA; providing aid to Ukraine in the midst of Russian-backed attacks; providing full funding to the Department of Defense which he, himself, requested; a stronger missile defense and cyber capabilities; a greater accountability for political reconciliation in Iraq; greater protection of our troops from sexual assault; and better pay and benefits to those who serve us so that we may stand here and debate this bill today. These are among the provisions of this bill Mr. Obama opposes. I want just to reiterate to my colleagues that this bill did pass out of the Armed Services Committee 60-2, and this list of accomplishments is too long. So I will just express congratulations again to Mr. Thornberry for his leadership under this massive undertaking. I urge adoption of the bill.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. I certainly thank the gentleman. Mr. Speaker, I have cherished the privilege to chair the Subcommittee on the Constitution in this body, and throughout the Obama administration, I have been bewildered many times by this President's many casual dismissals of constitutional principle and the respect for the rule of law, itself, in America. However, I now believe that the President's recent actions related to illegal immigration constitute a fundamental and seminal abrogation of his sworn oath to the Constitution. If left unchallenged, Mr. Speaker, this President's unconstitutional act could create a precedent that could threaten to place a permanent crack in the very foundations of this Republic. Consequently, the issue before us now is about far more than illegal immigration--it is about protecting the Constitution of the United States of America. Now it is both the prerogative and the solemn responsibility of this House and of the U.S. Senate to uphold our own collective oath to the Constitution. Through the constitutional power of the purse, we must stand with and for the American people and refuse to fund this unconstitutional action by this President. We must call upon the Senate to continue to hold multiple votes for cloture so that this Nation can discover and understand who it is who prevents us from doing our constitutional duty. Mr. Speaker, failing that, we must now call upon the United States Senate to subordinate its own cloture rules to the United States Constitution and to use their rules to change their rules for that purpose if it becomes a choice between the Senate cloture rules and the United States Constitution. Mr. Speaker, Daniel Webster once said: Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands, for miracles do not cluster; and what has happened once in 6,000 years may never happen again. So hold on to the Constitution, for, if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world. Mr. Speaker, our duty is clear.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, we have heard a great deal about protocol this past week, and it all centers around the invitation by the Speaker of this House to the Prime Minister of Israel to come and speak to the body, as he has done twice before. It is worth pointing out, Mr. Speaker, that Bibi Netanyahu is one of the most prescient voices that we have in the entire world to address some of the subjects and some of the dangers that face the United States of America, and yet this administration is caught up in a conundrum over protocol. While it might be worth reminding this administration that ours is a government made up of three equal branches, it is even more important to remind this administration that, when Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons capability with which to threaten the peace and security of the entire world, when ISIS and groups like it are slaughtering people the world over, when ISIS is crucifying and killing and torturing people in Iraq--when they are burning their prisoners alive in cages--this administration is caught up in protocol. Mr. Speaker, that is a profound distortion of priority. Ironically, this administration, for all of its talk of protocol, not only violated protocol when it traded five Taliban leaders for Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, but it broke the law itself. This administration has repeatedly sought to unconstitutionally usurp the powers of the legislative branch by brash fiat. It chooses to listen to these mysterious voices of those who did not vote in our Nation's election. Its constitutional overreach is evidenced by Cuba, immigration, ObamaCare, and a number of others. Let us put that litany aside for a moment and just consider the arrogance of this administration as it comes now to proclaim that the Speaker of this House has somehow broken protocol by inviting the Prime Minister of our most vital ally on Earth to speak on this floor. Worse, Mr. Speaker, it has sought to go after and silence the guest speaker, himself. In hearing the visceral rhetoric of this White House, one would think our Speaker had invited the prime minister of an enemy nation instead of one of our best friends on the planet. Unfortunately, this administration's claims of breached protocol are an attempt to overshadow the real elephant in the room, and truth itself. The actual outrage here is not about the Israeli elections, as some might say. It is not about the doomed diplomatic overtures of this administration. The real crisis and the real threat is a nuclear- capable Iran, and Prime Minister Netanyahu--with the greatest credentials on Earth related to this threat--in coming to speak to all of us is acting as a trusted ally should act. I hope this administration and this Congress and the American people will listen to him very carefully. The true problem here, Mr. Speaker, is that an outspoken enemy of our Nation, one that is, indeed, the leading state sponsor of global Islamic terrorism, is actively pursuing nuclear weapons that could create the gravest of threats to the United States, Israel, and the entire free world. How quickly we forget that Iran considers the United States of America the ``Great Satan.'' How quickly we forget that last year, on November 4, Iran, once again, celebrated ``Death to America Day,'' commemorating the 1979 seizure of the United States Embassy. How quickly we forget that ``death to America'' is the rallying cry of Hezbollah, which has been backed by Iran, and it launched attacks on Israel just last week, killing and wounding good men. How quickly we forget that one of Iran's stated goals is ``wiping Israel off the map.'' How quickly we forget that Iran collaborates with anti-U.S. regimes in South America and is actively seeking to exploit our borders and, of course, this administration's complete inattention to them. How quickly we forget that Iran continues to cooperate with North Korea in the development of long-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads to the United States of America. Mr. Speaker, is this administration so naive or, worse, so arrogant as to believe that we can have any type of credible, diplomatic agreement with the leadership of such a regime? I think it is embarrassing, Mr. Speaker, to the United States of America that this supposed breach of protocol has somehow permitted this administration through anonymous, yet somehow authoritative, sources to politically threaten the elected leader of our only democratic ally in the region--calling him names in the media and being vindictive in its every interaction with him. None of this salve for the administration's wounded ego has furthered the interests of the United States one iota. Ultimately, it has only diminished America's national security and Israel's right to defend herself. Mr. Speaker, there are, unfortunately, only three things that will prevent Iran from eventually gaining nuclear weapons: one is a fundamental change of the regime in Iran; two is a direct military action to destroy their capability to build a nuclear weapons capability; or, finally, Mr. Speaker, it is the conviction in the minds of the jihadist leadership in Iran that military action will occur if that capability is not dismantled. Mr. Speaker, indifference, cowardice, diplomacy--call it what you will, but in the end, ignorance, whether intentional or unintentional, is not a viable alternative to the truth. Along with so many others in this body and, really, in America, itself, I have every conviction that when Prime Minister Netanyahu speaks on the threat that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and its sponsorship of terrorism pose to global security, he will be speaking the truth. Once again, for the sake of America, for Israel, and for the free world, I pray that we all listen very carefully. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, there is nothing that I fear more for America than that, as a country, we might allow ourselves to grow numb to human atrocity in our own country and across the world. Eight years ago, President George Bush warned that: ``To begin withdrawing before our commanders tell us we are ready would mean surrendering the future of Iraq.'' He said: ``It would mean that we would be risking mass killings on a horrific scale. It would mean increasing the probability that American troops would have to return at some later date to confront an enemy that is even more dangerous.'' Mr. Speaker, many of us in Congress warned President Obama, both in a private letter and in open declaration, of the danger that ISIS represented as it began to rise in Iraq. We also warned the President that negotiating with terrorists by trading high-level Taliban leaders would lead to an increase in terrorists trying to leverage America and the world by taking hostages. Yet, this President ignored this, and so many other commonsense warnings, and atrocity after atrocity has occurred since. Today, Mr. Speaker, the world watched in abject horror as 26-year old Jordanian pilot, 1st Lieutenant al-Kaseasbeh, who was taken captive by ISIS, was doused in gasoline, placed in a cage, and burned alive. Mr. Speaker, this horrifying tragedy is the natural end to the timorous policy of appeasing or negotiating with or neglecting to have a just response to this mindless, heartless evil cancer called ISIS. And the question occurs: When will this President respond decisively to this hellish evil? Will it take a direct attack on American shopping malls? Will it take a direct attack on an American grocery store or a school or an American magazine or some other venue where American blood will have to be spilled before this President calls the evil of global jihad for what it is? It has been a full year since ISIS retook Fallujah and wiped out America's blood-bought gains. It has been a full 7 months since 55 of my colleagues and I beseeched the President to prioritize security and humanitarian support for religious minorities in Iraq, including the Yazidi people, a group that has now been nearly wiped out completely by ISIS. Mr. Speaker, this administration can no longer claim ignorance. This Nation is at war with Islamist groups like ISIS that support and perpetrate the terrorism of global jihad. Terrorists understand it all too well. The American people understand it all too well, and it is time that this White House begin to understand it as well. Mr. Speaker, if the Obama administration continues to sit on the sidelines and allows this unspeakable act of terrorism we have all witnessed today to go unanswered, as it has so many times before, we invite that sinister malevolence to our own shores. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I am honored today to be able to stand here in support of H.R. 469, the Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act. This is one of many pieces of legislation this week that we are going to be doing in the Congress, and I am so grateful to all of the people who have been involved in this critically important issue. I would especially mention the cochair of the Congressional Foster Youth Caucus, Karen Bass, for introducing this groundbreaking legislation. Mr. Speaker, Hubert Humphrey said a society is measured by how it treats those in the dawn of life, those in the shadows of life, and those in the twilight of life. This is such a critical issue to protect the 400,000 children in America who find themselves in foster care and vulnerable to being preyed upon by traffickers who know all too well how to exploit a child's hunger for love, acceptance, and a sense of belonging. We must put the structures in place to treat child victims of trafficking like victims instead of treating them like criminals. With that, Mr. Speaker, I remind us all that our first job here is to protect those who cannot protect themselves. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to able to stand here today in support of H.R. 469, the Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act. I commend my colleague Representative Karen Bass, the founder of the Co-chair of the Congressional Foster Youth Caucus, for introducing this groundbreaking legislation and for continuing to devote herself tirelessly to making a better future for these abused and neglected children. Hubert Humphrey said a society is measured by how it treats those in the dawn of life, those in the shadows of life, and those in the twilight of life. Mr. Speaker, this is so applicable to our nation's foster youth. Right now over 400,000 children in America find themselves in foster care for no fault of their own. . . . And it is that trauma of abuse or neglect, that brought them into foster care in the first place, on top of being in unfamiliar circumstances, that makes them exponentially more vulnerable to be preyed upon by traffickers, who know all too well how to exploit a child's hunger for love, acceptance, and a sense of belonging. For too long, and far too often, victims of trafficking have been allowed to fall through the cracks in the system. We have not put structures in place to treat child victims of trafficking like victims, and not treat them like criminals. This legislation will begin to bridge the gaps where law enforcement and child protection workers need to be better equipped in order to best protect children known or suspected to be victims of sex trafficking. It also requires the submission of annual reports on the number of child victims of sex trafficking, and the reporting of that data to Congress so that we can better assess how to prevent child sex trafficking, and remove barriers that keep us from truly serving those that have become victims, and most of all, to protect the hundreds of thousands of vulnerable children to keep them from ever having to endure the evil of sex trafficking. I am grateful for my colleague Representative Bass's leadership on this issue, and to House Leadership for recognizing the priority that must be placed upon protecting some of our nation's most vulnerable children. And I pray we will continue to work and stand together for the right of every child to be safe, protected, cherished, and loved.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, another legislative day has come to an end, and sunset approaches fast in Washington, DC. And as I have so many years, I stand before you in this House with what I call a Sunset Memorial, because, you see, Mr. Speaker, before the sun sets today in America, almost 4,000 more defenseless unborn children will be killed by abortion on demand in the land of the free and the home of the brave. That is more than the number of innocent lives lost on September 11 in this country by a multitude of thousands. And it happens every day. It has now been 42 years since the tragedy called Roe v. Wade was first handed down. Since then, the very foundation of this Nation has been stained by the blood of almost 56 million of its own unborn children. Some of them, Mr. Speaker, cried and screamed as they died, but because it was amniotic fluid going over the vocal cords instead of air, we couldn't hear them. All of them had at least four things in common, Mr. Speaker. First, they were just little babies who had never done anything wrong to anyone. Each one of them died a nameless and lonely death. And each one of their mothers, whether she realizes it or not, will never quite be the same. All the gifts that these children might have brought for humanity and to humanity are now lost forever. Yet, Mr. Speaker, even in the glare of such tragedy, this generation still clings to this blind, invincible ignorance while history repeats itself over and over again, and our silent genocide mercilessly annihilates the most helpless of all victims--those yet unborn. We should remember the quotes of President Abraham Lincoln when he said: Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not themselves, and under a just God, cannot long retain it. Mr. Lincoln called upon all of us to remember America's Founding Fathers when he said: Their enlightened belief was that nothing stamped with the divine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on or degraded and imbruted by its fellows. He reminded those he called posterity--and that is us, Mr. Speaker: When in the distant future some man, some factions, some interests should set up a doctrine that some were not entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness that their posterity--again, Mr. Speaker, that is us--might look up again to the Declaration of Independence and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began. Mr. Speaker, when authorities entered the clinic of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, they found a torture chamber for little babies that defies description within the constraints of the English language. According to the grand jury report: Dr. Kermit Gosnell had a simple solution for unwanted babies: he killed them. Now, he didn't call it that. He called it ``ensuring fetal demise.'' And the way he ensured fetal demise was by sticking scissors in the back of the baby's neck and cutting the spinal cord. He called it snipping. Over the years there were hundreds of snippings. Mr. Speaker, Ashley Baldwin, one of Dr. Gosnell's employees, said she saw babies breathing, and she described one as 2 feet long that no longer had eyes or a mouth, but, in her words, was making like this screeching noise. She said: ``It sounded like a little alien.'' For God's sake, Mr. Speaker, is this who we really are? Kermit Gosnell now rightfully sits in prison for killing a mother and murdering innocent, pain-capable children like the one I just described. Yet if he had killed them only 5 minutes earlier and before they had passed through the birth canal, it would have all been perfectly legal in many of the United States of America, including here in the District of Columbia. If there is one thing we must not miss about this unspeakably evil episode it is that Kermit Gosnell is not an anomaly. He is just the visible face of this lucrative enterprise of murdering pain-capable unborn children in America. Mr. Speaker, more than 18,000 very late- term abortions are occurring in America every year, placing the mothers at exponentially greater risk and subjecting their pain-capable unborn babies to torture and death without anesthesia. It is the worst atrocity in America today, and this in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Throughout history there has often been great intensity surrounding the debates of protecting the innocent lives of those who, through no fault of their own, find themselves obscured in the shadows of humanity. It encourages me greatly that in nearly all of those cases the collective conscience was finally moved in favor of the victims. The same thing is beginning to happen in this debate related to innocent, unborn children, Mr. Speaker, especially those that are pain capable. We are beginning to ask ourselves the real question: Does abortion take the life of a child? We are especially asking the question recently: Does very late-term abortion torture and take the life of a pain-capable baby? And we are finally beginning to realize as human beings that it does. Ultrasound technology now demonstrates to all reasonable observers both the humanity of the victim and the inhumanity of what is being done to them. And we are beginning to realize as Americans that taking brutally the lives of the innocent unborn does not liberate anyone and that 56 million children, Mr. Speaker, is enough. Ironically I have heard Barack Obama speak such poignant words that, whether he knows it or not, apply so profoundly to the tragedy of abortion on demand in America. Let me quote excerpted portions of his comments. He said: This is our first task--caring for our children. It is our first job. If we don't get that right, we don't get anything right. That is how, as a society, we will be judged. He went on to say: And by that measure, can we truly say, as a nation, that we are meeting our obligations? Can we honestly say that we are doing enough to keep our children--all of them--safe from harm? Can we say that we are truly doing enough to give all the children of this country the chance they deserve to live out their lives with happiness and purpose? The President went on to say: I have been reflecting on this the last few days, and if we are honest with ourselves, the answer is no. We are not doing enough. And we will have to change. Oh, how true the President's words are, Mr. Speaker. The President also said: We can't tolerate this anymore. These tragedies must end. And to end them, we must change. And then the President asked: Are we really prepared to say that we are powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of freedom? Mr. Speaker, is this not the most relevant of questions we should all be asking in the midst of this genocidal murder of thousands of unborn babies in America every day? The President has said: ``Our journey is not complete until all our children'' . . . are ``cared for and cherished and always safe from harm.'' Finally, he said: ``That is our generation's task--to make these words, these rights, these values of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American.'' Mr. Speaker, never have I so deeply agreed with any words ever spoken by President Barack Obama as those I have just quoted, and yet this President in the most merciless distortion of logic and reason and humanity itself refuses to apply these majestic words to helpless unborn babies. Oh, how I wish somehow that Mr. Obama and all of us could open our hearts and our ears to his words and ask ourselves in the core of our own soul why his words that should apply to all children cannot apply to the most helpless of all children. Mr. Speaker, we honor Abraham Lincoln most because he found the courage as President of the United States in the days of slavery, and he found the humanity within himself to recognize the image of God stamped on the soul of slaves that the Supreme Court said were not human and that the tide of public opinion didn't recognize as protectable under the law. Could it still be that President Barack Obama might consider that perspective as well as his own legacy, and even eternity itself, and recognize that those little unborn children look so desperately to him now for help? Could it be that the President might finally remember that on the pages of the Bible on which he laid his hands were the words written in red: ``Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, you have done it unto Me''? Whether he does or not, it is time for those of us in this Chamber to remind ourselves of why we are really all here. Thomas Jefferson said: The care of human life and its happiness and not its destruction is the chief and only object of good government. The phrase in the 14th Amendment capsulizes our entire Constitution. It says: No State shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without the due process of law. The 14th Amendment tells us that we should have equal protection of the laws for all. Mr. Speaker, protecting the lives of all Americans and their constitutional rights is why we are all here. The bedrock foundation of this Republic is that clarion declaration of the self-evident truth that all human beings are created equal and endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights, the rights of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Every conflict and battle our Nation has ever faced can be traced to our commitment to this core self-evident truth. It has made us the beacon of hope for the entire world. Mr. Speaker, it is truly who we are. Yet today another day has passed. As so many sunset memorials that I have given, another day has passed, and we in this body have failed again to honor that foundational commitment. We have failed our sworn oath and our God-given responsibility as we broke faith with nearly 4,000 more innocent, unborn babies who died today without the protection we should have given them. So, Mr. Speaker, let me conclude this sunset memorial in the hope that perhaps someone new who heard it will finally embrace the truth that abortion really does kill little babies, that it hurts mothers in ways that we can never express, and that it is time we stood up together again and looked up to the Declaration of Independence, and that we remember that we are the same America that rejected human slavery and marched into Europe to arrest the Nazi Holocaust, and we are still the courageous and compassionate Nation that can find a better way for mothers and their unborn children than abortion on demand. It is still not too late for us to make a better world and for America to be the one that leads the rest of the planet, just as we did in the days of slavery, from this tragic genocide of murdering nearly 4,000 of our own children every day. So now, Mr. Speaker, as we consider the thousands, the hundreds of thousands out on The Mall marching to protect these little babies, as we consider the plight of the unborn for 42 years under Roe v. Wade, maybe we can each remind ourselves that our own days in this sunshine of life are all numbered and that we, too, each one, shall walk from these Chambers one day for the very last time. If it should be that Congress is allowed to convene on yet another day, may that be the day when we finally hear the cries, when we finally hear the cries of innocent, unborn children. May that be the day when we find the humanity and the constitutional duty to protect these, the least of our tiny little American brothers and sisters, from this murderous scourge upon our Nation called abortion on demand. Mr. Speaker, it is now 42 years to the day since Roe v. Wade first stained the foundation of this Nation with the blood of its own children--this, in the land of the free and the home of the brave. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow is January 22, 2015. It marks exactly 42 years to the day since the tragedy called Roe v. Wade was first handed down from the United States Supreme Court. Since then, every foundation of this Nation has been stained by the blood of more than 55 million of its own unborn children. Incomprehensibly, those who have profited from it most have hailed it as freedom. We should all remember the words of President Abraham Lincoln when he said: Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves and, under a just God, cannot long retain it. Mr. Lincoln called upon all of us to remember America's Founding Fathers, and ``their enlightened belief that nothing stamped with the divine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on or degraded and imbruted by its fellows.'' He reminded those he called posterity that when, in the distant future, some man, some factions, some interests should set up a doctrine that some were not entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that ``their posterity''--that is us, Mr. Speaker--that ``their posterity might look up again to the Declaration of Independence and take courage to renew the battle which their Fathers began.'' Mr. Speaker, for the sake of all of those who founded this Nation and dreamed of what America could someday be and for the sake of all of those since then who have died in darkness so America could walk in the light of freedom, it is so very important that those of us who are privileged to be Members of the United States Congress pause from time to time and remind ourselves of why we are really all here. Thomas Jefferson, whose words marked the beginning of this Nation said, ``The care of human life and its happiness and not its destruction is the chief and only object of good government.'' The phrase in the Fifth Amendment capsulizes our entire Constitution. It says that no person shall be ``deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.'' The 14th Amendment says no State shall deny ``to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.'' Mr. Speaker, protecting the lives of all Americans and their constitutional rights is why we are all here; yet, today, a great shadow looms over America. When authorities entered the clinic of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, they found a torture chamber for little babies that defies description within the constraints of the English language. According to the grand jury report: Dr. Kermit Gosnell had a simple solution for unwanted babies. He killed them. He didn't call it that. He called it ``ensuring fetal demise.'' The way he ensured fetal demise was by sticking scissors in the back of the baby's neck and cutting the spinal cord. He called it ``snipping.'' Over the years, there were hundreds of ``snippings.'' Ashley Baldwin, one of Dr. Gosnell's employees, said she saw babies breathing, and she defined one as 2 feet long that no longer had eyes or a mouth but, in her words, was making like this ``screeching'' noise, and it ``sounded like a little alien.'' For God's sake, Mr. Speaker, is this who we truly are? Kermit Gosnell now rightfully sits in prison for killing a mother and murdering innocent children like the one I just described; yet, if he had killed these babies only 5 minutes earlier and before they had passed through the birth canal, it would have all been perfectly legal in much of the United States of America. If there is one thing that we must not miss about this unspeakably evil episode, it is that Kermit Gosnell is not an anomaly; he is just the visible face of this lucrative enterprise of murdering pain-capable unborn children in America. Mr. Speaker, more than 18,000 very late-term abortions are occurring in America every year, placing the mothers at exponentially greater risk and subjecting their pain-capable unborn babies to torture and death without anesthesia. It is the greatest atrocity in the United States. According to the Bartlett study, a woman seeking an abortion at 20 weeks is 35 times more likely to die from an abortion than she was in the first trimester. At 21 weeks or more, she is 91 times more likely to die than she was in the first trimester. Regardless of how supporters of abortion on demand might try to suppress it, it is undisputed and universally accepted by every credible expert that the risk to a mother's health from abortion increases as gestation increases. There is no valid debate on that incontrovertible reality; yet supporters of abortion on demand try to suppress that. They also have tried for decades, Mr. Speaker, to deny that unborn babies ever feel pain, even those at the beginning of the sixth month of pregnancy, as if somehow the ability to feel pain magically develops the very second the child is born. Mr. Speaker, almost every other major civilized nation on this Earth protects pain-capable unborn babies at this age, and every credible poll of the American people shows that they are overwhelmingly in favor of protecting these children. Yet we have given these little babies less legal protection from unnecessary pain and cruelty than the protection we have given farm animals under the Federal Humane Slaughter Act. Mr. Speaker, it is a tragedy that beggars my ability to articulate. But I would submit to you, Mr. Speaker, that the winds of change are beginning to blow and that the tide of blindness and blood is finally turning in America. Because tomorrow we will vote on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in this Chamber, and it will be a vote that every one of us will always remember and for which we shall be held accountable. And no matter how it is shouted down or what distortions, deceptive what-ifs, distractions, diversions, gotchas, twisted words, changing the subject, or blatant falsehoods the abortion industry hurls at this bill and its supporters, it remains a deeply sincere effort, beginning at their sixth month of pregnancy, to protect both mothers and their pain-capable unborn babies from the atrocity of late-term abortion on demand; and ultimately, Mr. Speaker, it is one all humane Americans can support if they truly understand it for themselves. Mr. Speaker, not long ago, I heard Barack Obama speak very noble and poignant words that, whether he realizes it or not, apply so profoundly to this subject. Let me quote, if you will, excerpted portions of his comments. He said: ``This is our first task, caring for our children. It's our first job. If we don't get that right, we don't get anything right. That's how, as a society, we will be judged.'' The President asked: ``Are we really prepared to say that we're powerless in the face of such carnage, that the politics are too hard? Are we prepared to say that such violence visited on our children year after year after year is somehow the price of our freedom?'' The President also said: ``Our journey is not complete until all our children are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm.'' ``That is our generation's task--to make these words, these rights, these values of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness real for every American.'' Mr. Speaker, never have I so deeply agreed with any words ever spoken by President Obama as those I have just quoted. How I wish that somehow we could all open our hearts and our ears to these incontrovertible words and ask ourselves in the core of our souls why these words that should apply to all children cannot include the most helpless and vulnerable of all children. How does any child become more vulnerable than these little pain-capable unborn babies? Mr. Speaker, it seems that we are never quite so eloquent as when we decry the crimes of a past generation, and we are never quite so staggeringly blind as when we assess an atrocity in our own time. What we are doing to these babies is real, and all of us here know that in our hearts. Medical science regarding the development of unborn babies beginning at the sixth month of pregnancy now demonstrates irrefutably that they do, in fact, feel pain. Many of them cry and scream as they die, but because it is amniotic fluid going over the vocal cords instead of air, we can't hear them. It is, Mr. Speaker, the greatest human rights atrocity in the United States of America today. I began and I close with the wise counsel from Abraham Lincoln to all of us. He said: ``Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the last generation.'' Mr. Speaker, it is time to open our eyes and our souls and recognize that protecting pain-capable unborn children and their mothers is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue. It is a test of our basic humanity and who we are as a human family. It is time to open our eyes and allow our consciences to catch up with our technology. It is time for Members of the United States Congress to open our eyes and recognize that protecting those who cannot protect themselves is why we are all here. And, Mr. Speaker, it is time for all Americans to open our eyes and our hearts to the humanity of these little unborn children of God and the inhumanity of what is being done to them. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. I thank the gentlewoman. Mr. Speaker, a great shadow looms over America, the home of the brave. More than 18,000 very late-term abortions are occurring in America every year, placing the mothers at exponentially greater risk and subjecting their pain-capable babies to torture and death without anesthesia. It is the greatest human rights atrocity in the United States today. Almost every other major civilized nation on Earth protects pain- capable babies at this age, and every credible poll of the American people shows that they are overwhelmingly in favor of protecting them. And yet we have given these little babies less legal protection from unnecessary painful cruelty than the protection we have given farm animals under the Federal Humane Slaughter Act. But, Mr. Speaker, I would submit to you that today the winds of change have begun to blow and the tide of blindness and blood is finally turning in America because today we take up the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act in this Chamber. It is not perfect, Mr. Speaker. Each one of us would have written it a little differently if we could have done so. However, no matter how it is shouted down or what distortions, deceptive what-ifs, distractions, diversions, gotchas, twisting of words, changing the subject, or blatant falsehoods the abortion industry hurls at this bill and its supporters, it is a deeply sincere effort, beginning at the sixth month of pregnancy, to protect both mothers and their pain- capable babies from the atrocity of late-term abortion on demand, and, ultimately, it is one all humane Americans can support if they truly understand it for themselves. Mr. Speaker, what we are doing to these babies is real--and we all know it--and it is time to change and protect them.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. ``. . . nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.''

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Mike McCaul, Subcommittee Chairman Pat Meehan, and, of course, Ranking Member Yvette Clarke for their principled and unwavering leadership in bringing this legislation to the floor. I was touched by the gentlelady's words as well. I would also especially like to personally thank Chairman Pete Sessions, the sole original cosponsor of this bill, for being a tireless champion of protecting our Nation's critical infrastructure against EMP. Mr. Speaker, back in August of 2003, a large section of our electric grid was knocked out across the Eastern United States. Fifty million people were affected after 21 power plants shut down in just 3 minutes. Office workers streamed into parking lots, and many commuters were stranded inside their trains. In a matter of moments, those things that make up our critical infrastructure, from the electric grid to water pumps to cell phone service to computer systems, were disrupted. Life suddenly changed that day in New York, Mr. Speaker, as well as in Cleveland, Detroit, and all the way into Canada. In New York City alone, this short blackout was estimated to cost more than a half- billion dollars. Mr. Speaker, a worst-case natural or manmade electromagnetic pulse-- EMP--event represents a dangerous threat that could have a prolonged catastrophic impact on our electric grid--our most critical and our most interdependent infrastructure. There are at least 11 major government reports and studies describing our vulnerabilities to electromagnetic pulses. Our Defense Department has wisely hardened many of our most critical defense assets like our strategic nuclear triad and our missile defense systems. However, our civilian grid remains fundamentally unprotected against severe EMP. Whether catalyzed by non-nuclear intentional electromagnetic interference, a major solar storm, or a high-altitude nuclear blast, EMP is an invisible force of ionized particles with the potential to overwhelm and destroy our present electrical power grids, which would profoundly impact our civilization. The National Intelligence University of the United States recently translated an Iranian military doctrine called ``Passive Defense'' which referenced the use of nuclear EMP as a weapon more than 20 times. This doctrine stresses that electrical grids are vital to national existence. It includes a formula for calculating the value of electric power plants and for prioritizing the targeting of electric grid components and other infrastructures. Mr. Speaker, we know all too well the Obama administration has just extended talks with the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, allowing them even more time in their inexorable march toward a nuclear weapons capability. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, the Department of Homeland Security was founded. It created a Presidentially-appointed position for an Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection. Among the Assistant Secretary's main duties is the responsibility to ``develop a comprehensive national plan for securing the key resources and critical infrastructure of the United States, including power production, generation, and distribution systems.'' Yet 12 years later, Mr. Speaker, no such plan is in place, and our Nation's critical infrastructure, including those key resources like power production, generation, and distribution systems, are still vulnerable to large-scale blackouts from severe electromagnetic pulse and geomagnetic disturbances. For all of these reasons, Mr. Speaker, we are here this night to pass the Critical Infrastructure Protection Act, which, if signed into law, will represent the first time in history that Congress will be specifically addressing this dangerous threat of electromagnetic pulse. This legislation will enhance the DHS threat assessments for EMP through research and reporting requirements. It will also help the United States prevent and prepare for such an event by including large- scale blackouts into existing national planning scenarios, including educational awareness for the first responders, all to protect the critical infrastructure. Most importantly, Mr. Speaker, it will require specific plans for protecting and recovering the electric grid and other critical infrastructure from a dangerous electromagnetic pulse event. Mr. Speaker, there is a moment in the life of nearly every problem when it is big enough to be seen by reasonable people and still small enough to be addressed. Those of us in this Chamber, and across America, live in a time where there still may be opportunity for the free world to address and mitigate the vulnerability that naturally occurring or weaponized EMP represents to the mechanisms of our civilization. This is our moment.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor tonight because I know that in a short period of time it appears that the President of the United States will issue an executive order related to immigration that could very well be outside the constitutional limits of his authority. And I believe that is going to create a great reaction in this country, Mr. Speaker. As important as it may be, it is also going to coincide with the date of November 24, when the interim agreement that this President signed with the nation of Iran will essentially expire. Then it will either be renewed or some type of agreement will be reached--or the effort will be abandoned. I am deeply concerned that the importance of this event could be obscured by the media frenzy that potentially will follow this President's executive order on immigration. So I come to the floor tonight to speak to that issue, Mr. Speaker, because the pursuit of nuclear weapons by the nation of Iran is an issue of the most profound significance to the national security of this country and to the peace and security of the entire world. It seems very important to me that we do not let that issue be obscured by others, as important as they may be. Mr. Speaker, those of us in this body are all too familiar with the endless parade of terror groups that have seemingly come onto the world stage in recent years. But if we are startled by the rapid rise of ISIS and its subsequent march across the Middle East, during which it has beheaded, raped, crucified, and sold into sex slavery scores of men, women, and children alike; if we are concerned about the crushing video of the innocent woman whose hands and feet were tied to two cars that subsequently drove in opposite directions and ripped her in half, or the Christians who were beheaded and whose decapitated heads were used as soccer balls; If we are outraged at the activities of Boko Haram and its brutal displays of violence against any group that doesn't stand alongside its inhuman ideology, including its raids and its bombings across Nigeria, its systematic abduction of young schoolgirls, as young as 12, who are said to be raped every day in their months of captivity; If we are shocked at the activities of al Shabaab, whose attacks have killed hundreds upon hundreds of civilians, including teenage girls lined up before firing squads as well as the numerous suicide bombings and other such horrific methods; If we recoil at the thought of groups such as the Taliban, whose atrocious violations of basic human rights, roadside bombings, and suicide attacks marked so much of the United States' early struggle in Afghanistan; If we recall, as so many of us do, precisely where we were when we learned of al Qaeda's attack on September 11 that claimed thousands of innocent American lives, just one of those senseless attacks by that group; Mr. Speaker, if we are stunned and outraged at this rise of militant Islam in the world, then, sir, how will we feel if we allow President Barack Obama to stand idly by and watch the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism, this deranged Islamist regime in Iran, lay hold upon nuclear weapons? Mr. Speaker, shortly before the midterm elections earlier this month, President Obama penned a so-called letter of collaboration to Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. This is the same Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who just a couple of days ago released his detailed, nine-step plan on how to wipe Israel off of the map. Mr. Obama's incredibly naive attempt at collaboration is with a man whose sermons have included such edifying lines as ``The Zionist cancer is gnawing into the lives of Islamic nations.'' This is just one of the recent very telling glimpses at just how out of touch with reality this President truly is as Iran continues its sprint toward a nuclear weapons capability. The Obama State Department was recently confronted by the somehow shocking revelation that Iran was now defying the interim agreement by feeding uranium into the IR5, the most technologically advanced centrifuge currently available in the world. Inexplicably, Mr. Speaker, the administration responded with the sort of naivete that has become so characteristic of Obama foreign policy, stating: ``We raised that issue with Iran as soon as the International Atomic Energy Agency reported it. The Iranians have confirmed that they will not continue that activity as cited in the IAEA report, so it's been resolved.'' To rephrase that, upon learning that the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism had defied an agreement on which the safety of the free world ostensibly rests and that indeed Iran was still conducting activities that could help it obtain nuclear weapons with which to carry out its threats to destroy the United States, the Obama Administration, so sophisticated is their ``understanding'' of what is presumably a tragically misunderstood Iranian regime, was assured by a pinky promise that the Iranians won't do it again. Mr. Speaker, such naivete would be heartwarming on an elementary school playground, but on the world stage, when this President seems poised to personally usher in an age of nuclear terrorism, it becomes a very grave thing indeed. Mr. Speaker, this administration's attempted punitive measures have been so halfhearted and demonstrably ineffective that they have at times actually benefited the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism. For instance, last week, the organization United Against Nuclear Iran released its updated analysis of the joint plan of action. That is the plan agreed upon by this administration and the Iranian regime. The Iranian government reported a 4.6 percent increase in their gross domestic product for the first quarter of the current Iranian calendar year compared to that same period last year. According to the Central Bank of Iran, this is the first time the Iranian economy has experienced positive growth in more than 2 years. Meanwhile, Iran's inflation is down 24 percent since July 2013, from an estimated 45 percent to 21.1 percent at the end of September. In fact, Mr. Speaker, the entire Iranian Stock Exchange has seen a 57 percent increase since roughly this time last year. Mr. Speaker, how bitterly ironic that this President has done more to benefit the Tehran Stock Exchange than he has done to benefit the New York Stock Exchange. These statistics directly controvert assertions made by administration officials that, despite the sanctions relief provided under the joint plan of action, Iran would still find itself even deeper in the economic hole. That is what they told us, Mr. Speaker. Let us not forget that Iran's economic bounce, which is occurring in the midst of what are supposedly sanctions designed to punish its economy, follows an agreement, the meaning of which neither party can even agree upon. The Iranian regime has publicly stated its belief that the agreement--which specifically references an ``inalienable right'' to use nuclear energy--guarantees Iran's right to continue enriching uranium. That is contrary to all of the U.N. Council resolutions saying that they had to dismantle such capability. The White House, meanwhile, has stated that it doesn't understand the agreement to mean that. From Iran's perspective, Mr. Speaker, they have signed on to an agreement that gives them a guaranteed right to ongoing uranium enrichment, giving them a breakout capability that--for a nuclear weapons capability not within years but rather within months, and then, as a reward for signing that agreement, which gives them nearly everything they have ever wanted, the Obama administration has also agreed to lift sanctions, providing a further boon to the Iranian economy. Mr. Speaker, what part of this approach is supposed to convince the jihadist Iranian leadership that they should reconsider their current course? Is it our concession to their nuclear rights? Is it our help in facilitating an economic windfall for them? Just last week, a Wall Street Journal op-ed revealed that an upcoming London forum will bring together Iranian firms with a range of international counterparts--ranging from law offices, telecom operations, business consultancies, and even art auction houses--to explore how capital might be moved into Iran as the country transitions into a ``post-sanctions'' environment. This is hardly the face of an Iran that fears the effect Mr. Obama's sanctions will have on what looks to be a very lucrative future. Mr. Speaker, perhaps we could see some method to this madness if, for example, the President had managed to secure other concessions from the Iranian Government, a commitment perhaps to address its atrocious human rights record; instead, the election of Hassan Rouhani--again, a man heralded by many on the left as a harbinger of a more reasonable era in Iran--what has transpired has been described by some as an ``execution binge,'' with nearly two executions occurring every day, often performed as a public spectacle as a punishment for such times as refusing to convert to Islam. In fact, since Rouhani's election last year, over 900 such executions have taken place. Meanwhile, Mr. Rouhani's promise to ease Internet restrictions remains unfulfilled. An American pastor and a citizen of the United States of America remains in prison in Iran, where he has been tortured for his Christian faith. Mr. Speaker, no matter how one may try to give this President the benefit of the doubt, there is simply no way to make the Obama approach make any reasonable sense. If the goal has been to keep Iran from being able to obtain a nuclear weapon, then Mr. Obama has failed. If the goal has been to punish the Iranian economy for the regime's radical pursuit of nuclear weapons, then Mr. Obama has failed. If the goal has been to have an impact on Iran's human rights record, then Mr. Obama has failed. If the goal was to reduce the chances of the world's children stepping into the shadow of nuclear terrorism, then Mr. Obama has failed. This President's only conceivable victory lies in his hope that, like a would-be modern Richard Nixon opening the doors to China, history will somehow consider Mr. Obama a hero for blazing new trails into Iran and for his mindless refusal to take the Iranian regime at its word, no matter how many times they have expressed that their real goal is the destruction of America and Israel. Mr. Speaker, very simply, the Obama foreign policy is a gutless political correctness on the global stage. It is the cynical pursuit of legacy without regard for the cause of human freedom. It is the belief that tepid appeals to some hollow concept of tolerance are all that are necessary to tame the most savage of beasts. The entire Obama legacy, Mr. Speaker, rests on the desperate hope that history will hand out an award for blind trust in the promises of jihadists. Mr. Speaker, former Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton once said: Diplomacy is not an end in itself if it does not advance U.S. interests. This President's take on that principle seems to be: U.S. interests be damned, so long as everyone considers me diplomatic. It is for all of the above reasons that I am pleased to join my colleague in the Senate, Senator Ted Cruz, in introducing H.R. 5709, the Sanction Iran, Safeguard America Act of 2014. The bill would eliminate many of Mr. Obama's waiver authorities over sanctions and would oppose severe sanctions on Iran once again. Included in the legislation are sanctions on Iranian crude oil, oil transportation, financial institutions, petroleum--including sanctions on the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, and marketing of petroleum products--and the Iranian automotive sector, among others. The bill also includes a prohibition on funding for any additional negotiations with Iran until a joint resolution of approval by Congress is passed, certifying that all Iranian-held American prisoners of conscience are released; the IAEA has determined Iran has dismantled its nuclear program, ceased enrichment activities, and released all stockpiles of enriched uranium; the Central Bank of Iran is no longer considered a primary money laundering concern under the PATRIOT Act; and Iran has renounced their state sponsorship of terrorism designation by admitting to participation in terrorist acts. Mr. Speaker, I would adjure this body that we must legislatively fill, insofar as it is possible, this vacuum of leadership left by a President who is asleep at the wheel while radical terrorists move toward placing their fingers on the nuclear trigger under his paralyzed stare. With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I rise in support of his amendment. Mr. Speaker, last January, ISIS retook Fallujah. Eight months later, President Barack Obama told Americans, ``We don't have a strategy yet.'' It was 7 years ago, Mr. Speaker, that George Bush warned: To begin withdrawing before our commanders tell us we are ready would mean surrendering the future of Iraq. Mr. Speaker, he could not have been more right. If you delete all the things Mr. Obama so very unwisely said he would not do, most of what remains of his plan is in keeping with the Bush doctrine. Mr. Speaker, I sincerely believe President Obama owes George Bush an apology, along with the men and women who freed Iraq and then watched their blood-bought gains evaporate while this administration stood by as women and children were beheaded, crucified, raped, and sold into slavery. We must make no mistake about it, Mr. Speaker. It was the vacillation and the tepid and inept leadership of President Obama that brought us where we are today, and, now, even though this administration is still inexplicably unwilling to admit it, we do, indeed, face a jihadist enemy that is more dangerous than ever, and it is now more vital than ever that this Congress, the President of the United States, and the American people commit ourselves to doing whatever is necessary to destroy this enemy before its insidious hand reaches into the heartland of America.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, last month, 55 of my colleagues and I sent a priority letter to President Obama urging him to actively prioritize security and humanitarian support for the Christian community in Iraq. We specifically warned him of the dangers and brutality of the terrorist group ISIS in Iraq who are now rampaging across Iraq and terrorizing the vulnerable Christian population. In the letter, we specifically pointed out to Mr. Obama that QUOTE, ``Parts of Syria and Iraq that have previously fallen under the rule of ISIS have witnessed summary execution, beheadings and even crucifixions.'' And that QUOTE, ``Absent immediate action, we will most certainly witness the annihilation of an ancient faith community from the lands they've inhabited for centuries.'' UNQUOTE Tragically, Mr. Speaker, President Obama--who once likened ISIS to a junior varsity basketball team--simply ignored us again, as he has done so many times before. And now ISIS, this ``junior varsity basketball team'', is beheading their way across Iraq and has declared that there would be QUOTE ``nothing for [the Christians] but the sword'' if they do not convert.'' Last week, ISIS torched a 1,800-year-old church in Mosul and ruthlessly destroyed the historic tomb of Jonah. Images of ISIS beheadings, crucifixions, rapes, torture and mass execution are all over the Internet and social media. Just this morning, I met with a group of NGOs based in Iraq who told me ISIS beheaded six Christians--then proceeded to play soccer with their decapitated heads. This past Sunday, for the first time in 1,600 years, there was no Mass in Mosul. The head of Iraq's largest Christian community said, ``For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians.'' Mr. Speaker, ISIS has systematically and insidiously targeted Iraq's ancient Christians, and they are now nearly extinct. It can rightly be called targeted religious cleansing, and it is a crime against humanity.'' And yet, we hear not a word from the President of the United States when a Christian genocide is taking place at this very moment. And we have not heard one syllable about what his administration is doing or planning to do to relieve or protect persecuted Christians in Iraq. So, on the floor of this house, I repeat the words we wrote in a letter to President Obama a month ago, QUOTE, ``we urge you and your administration to urgently and actively engage with the Iraqi central government and the Kurdistan Regional Government to prioritize additional security support for these particularly vulnerable populations and provide emergency humanitarian assistance to those affected communities. Absent immediate action, we will most certainly witness the annihilation of an ancient faith community from the lands they've inhabited for centuries.'' UNQUOTE Mr. Speaker, if President Obama continues to ignore this Christian Genocide in Iraq, history will record that it was Barack Obama who idly stood around and let it happen.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, on July 28, I made remarks on S. 1799, the Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act. I want to clarify that the bill makes funds available to the Department of Justice, including the FBI and the U.S. Attorneys' Offices for victims' services under the Crime Victims Fund. S. 1799 clarifies that funds available may only be used to benefit victims, through the work of Victim Witness Coordinators, Advocates, and Specialists, and for the administrative support of these employees to help them in their service to crime victims. For example, these Coordinators, Advocates, and Specialists may not be used to do witness travel services but instead should be exclusively providing services for the benefit of crime victims as the statute says. This provision was contained in a House bill, the Justice for Crime Victims Act of 2014, which I introduced in March of this year.

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona

Mr. FRANKS of Arizona. Mr. Speaker, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann and I recently introduced H. Res. 622 to defund the Palestinian Authority. We have now 27 bipartisan cosponsors in the House of Representatives, and just today we received nearly 28,000 signatures supporting this policy. Mr. Speaker, may we all remember that Yasser Arafat, the founder of the Palestinian Authority, proclaimed early on: ``We plan to eliminate the State of Israel and establish a purely Palestinian state. We will make life unbearable for the Jews by psychological warfare and population explosion. We Palestinians will take over everything, including all of Jerusalem.'' Mr. Speaker, Mahmoud Abbas, the current head of the Palestinian Authority, has taken this mantra to its insidious end by publicly uniting with the terrorist group Hamas, which is really the Muslim Brotherhood. Let me make this very clear, Mr. Speaker. The Hamas and Palestinian Authority have now become one and the same. Yet, even as Hamas has continued to launch cowardly attacks from neighborhoods in Gaza, hiding behind innocent women and children and making civilian casualties a deliberate strategy, this President has responded by heralding President Mahmoud Abbas as a man of peace. Mr. Speaker, in spite of the President's astonishing failure to do so, Congress must continue its steadfast commitment of supporting Israel to protect against Hamas' thirst for death, and the first step in doing that is to defund the Palestinian Authority.