Bob Goodlatte

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Chairman, I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on H.R. 348.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Marino), the chief sponsor of this legislation and the chairman of the Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe), a member of the Judiciary Committee.

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize an epidemic that is plaguing our servicemembers and our veterans, and that epidemic is suicide. Each day it is estimated, on average, 22 veterans commit suicide in the United States. That is more than double the rate for the civilian population, and it is an extremely tragic statistic. Earlier this year, the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act was signed into law to help combat this very serious problem. I applaud this step forward, but our work is far from over. We must continue to ensure that those veterans who are suffering know that they are not alone; they have family, friends, and resources readily available to help them heal and move forward. These men and women have given so much to this great Nation. It is our duty to walk with them during and after their service. I remain committed to providing the highest quality medical care and resources for these brave men and women who were wounded in the course of defending our freedom. I look forward to working with my colleagues to improve timely access to mental healthcare services to ensure our veterans in crisis receive the help that they need. I thank Mr. Benishek and Ms. Sinema for organizing this Special Order hour.

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Mr. Speaker, nearly 110 years ago, a church leader in Staunton, Virginia envisioned a secondary school to be operated by the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia. The Rev. Robert Carter Jett, who was the first Rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church in Staunton, said he wanted the school to provide ``leadership in the matter of education'' for students from all means and backgrounds, with special consideration for the children of the clergy. Thanks to the work of Rev. Jett, on February 4, 1914, Virginia Episcopal School in Lynchburg, Virginia was incorporated. With the help of other individuals over the following year-and-a- half, Virginia Episcopal School opened on a 160-acre campus in Lynchburg on September 25, 1916. There were 63 young men enrolled in that first school year, the vast majority of them coming from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Rev. Jett was the school's first Rector and was joined by five faculty members. A single building held classrooms, a chapel, a dining room, and a dormitory. In the century since Virginia Episcopal School was created, more than 4,000 young men and women have received their high school diplomas from this institution. As Rev. Jett put it, this is work that brought them ``Toward Full Stature'' in their moral, intellectual, spiritual, and physical lives. Those students have gone on to contribute to our society in a variety of ways--as business leaders, educators, government officials, lawyers, doctors and nurses, and of course, the clergy. From its single Georgian Revival building designed by noted architect Frederick H. Brooke, Virginia Episcopal School has grown to include 15 buildings on campus and eight athletic fields. Of historic note, Virginia Episcopal School became the South's first private prep school to integrate in 1967. In 1986, the school became one of the first all- male prep schools in the South to accept females as students. There are 230 students enrolled for the 2015-16 academic year at Virginia Episcopal School. They come from a much wider area than those young men from Virginia who first walked through the doors of the original school in Lynchburg. Today's students have their homes in 20 states and foreign countries. As an important institution of learning in Virginia's Sixth Congressional District, I commend Virginia Episcopal School as it celebrates 100 years of work in developing students ``Toward Full Stature,'' and I wish the school and its leaders much continued success in their worthy mission.

Mr. GOODLATTE

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining on each side?

Mr. GOODLATTE. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), the House majority whip for the purpose of closing our debate.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Stutzman).

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Franks), the chairman of the Constitution and Civil Justice Subcommittee and the author of this legislation.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Millions of people have viewed videos of representatives of the organization Planned Parenthood, which performs some 40 percent of all abortions each year. Those videos, recorded undercover, include discussions of instances in which during the course of an attempted abortion a baby is born ``intact.'' As one doctor caught on tape said: ``Sometimes . . . if someone delivers before we get to see them for a procedure, then they''--the babies--``are intact. But that's not what we go for.'' Another business executive said: ``If you had intact cases, which we've done a lot, we sometimes ship those back to our lab in its entirety.'' A procurement manager says on a video: ``I literally have had women come in and they'll go in the OR''--the operating room--``and they're back out in 3 minutes, and I'm going, `What's going on?' `Oh, yeah. The fetus was already in the vaginal canal whenever we put her in the stirrups. It just fell out.' '' A former employee of the same company told investigators that she was shown the results of one abortion by a doctor, and she recalls: ``This is the most gestated fetus and the closest thing to a baby I've seen . . . and she''--the doctor--``taps the heart and it starts beating . . . The nodes were still firing and I don't know if that means it's technically dead or it's alive. It had a face. It wasn't completely torn up. Its nose was very pronounced. It had eyelids . . . Since the fetus was so intact, she said, `Ok. Well, this is a really good fetus and it looks like we can procure a lot from it. We're going to procure a brain . . . That means we're going to have to cut the head open.' She takes a scissors and she makes a small incision right here''--at the chin--``and goes, I would say, maybe a little bit through the mouth, and she's like, `Ok. Can you go the rest of the way?'. . . And so she gave me the scissors and told me that I have to cut down the middle of the face. And I can't even describe what that feels like.'' The House Judiciary Committee, which I chair, is undergoing a comprehensive investigation of the issues raised by these videos. But as that and other investigations continue, Congress must move immediately to protect any children born alive during the course of a failed abortion. The bill before us today is simple, yet profound, insofar as it might be a reflection of the Nation's conscience. Its operative provisions provide that, in the case of an abortion that results in a child's being born alive, any healthcare practitioner present must exercise the same degree of professional care to preserve the life of the child as he or she would render to any other child born alive at the same gestational age. The bill also provides that the child must be immediately transported and admitted to a hospital. If a baby born alive is left to die, the penalty can be up to 5 years in jail. If the child is cut open for its body parts or some other overt act is taken, the punishment is that for first degree murder, which can include life in prison or the death penalty. Babies are born alive during failed abortions. Just last week, the committee heard direct testimony by two grown women who, as babies, survived attempted abortions. The mother of one of them, Gianna Jessen, was advised by Planned Parenthood to have an abortion. But, as Ms. Jessen testified, ``Instead of dying, after 18 hours of being burned in my mother's womb, I was delivered alive in an abortion clinic in Los Angeles.'' Her medical records state clearly that she was ``born alive'' during an abortion. She continued: ``Thankfully, the abortionist was not at work yet. Had he been there, he would have ended my life with strangulation, suffocation, or leaving me there to die. Instead, a nurse called an ambulance, and I was rushed to a hospital. Doctors did not expect me to live. I did. I was later diagnosed with cerebral palsy, which was caused by a lack of oxygen to my brain while surviving the abortion. I was never supposed to hold my head up or walk. I do. And cerebral palsy is a great gift to me.'' Just think of that for a moment. Ms. Jessen says cerebral palsy is a gift to her because it came with the gift of life. Ms. Jessen presented a picture at the hearing, showing the results of the sort of abortion she survived. Today, I ask the Nation to see in its collective mind the body of a baby, much like this one, on the floor, born alive during a failed abortion. I ask that we collectively reach down into our hearts and, also, reach down to the floor. As we vote today, I ask that we, as a nation, grasp the value of life and, also, grasp that baby's back, lift its tiny body off the ground, and take it to a hospital--and not leave her with the abortionist. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous materials on H.R. 3504, currently under consideration.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, may I inquire how much time is remaining on each side?

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady).

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Wittman).

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Babin).

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Messer), the chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I have just one speaker remaining, and I believe I have the right to close.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Roe).

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Rothfus).

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot), a member of the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), a champion of this cause.

Mr. GOODLATTE. Madam Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Huelskamp).