Brett Guthrie

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I was absent from votes yesterday due to my participation in a health care listening session in Lexington, Kentucky, with Vice President Mike Pence. As vice chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, this was another great opportunity for me to hear firsthand from Kentucky's small business owners about their experiences providing health insurance for their employees. Had I been present, I would have voted on Roll Call No. 345, Yea; Roll Call No. 346, Yea; Roll Call No. 347, Yea; Roll Call No. 348, Aye; Roll Call No. 349, Yea; Roll Call No. 350, No; Roll Call No. 351, No; Roll Call No. 352, Aye.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of my constituent, Nicky Hayden, an international motorcycle racer who tragically passed away following a bicycle accident in Italy last month at the age of thirty-five. Nicky, known around the world as the ``Kentucky Kid,'' was a beloved member of the Owensboro community. Nicky was riding by age three, and he followed in his older brother's footsteps to begin a career in racing when he was just sixteen years old and attending Owensboro Catholic High School. He won his first AMA Grand National Championship in 1999. In 2002, he shared a podium with both of his brothers, Tommy and Roger Lee at the Springfield IT race. Eventually he joined the Honda Repsol MotoGP team in 2003 and won the MotoGP world title in 2006. He continued to race in international competitions in the years that followed, and was competing in the Motul Italian Round in May before he passed away. In his personal life, Nicky was a son, a brother, and a fiance. And he always considered Owensboro home, traveling back and forth from there to his international races. Nicky's favorite bible verse was Proverbs 14:23: ``All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk only leads to poverty.'' While the community continues mourning our loss, we can all be grateful that we were lucky enough to have shared this earth with Nicky. I am grateful for his passion for life and his dedication to his family and hometown community of Owensboro. We will miss him.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I just want to talk about my good friend, Senator Bunning, a mentor to me. I first came across Senator Bunning when I was a young boy watching baseball and watching him pitch for the Detroit Tigers and for the Philadelphia Phillies. But I really got to know them--and when I say ``them,'' it is because most of us from Kentucky cannot talk about Jim Bunning without saying Jim and Mary. It is just Jim and Mary. They were grammar school sweethearts. I think the only people they ever dated were each other. It was wonderful to see Mary the other day, unfortunately under these circumstances, but a wonderful lady. I have a couple of stories. When I first thought I might run for public office for the State senate--and my now 23-year-old was 5, and I had a 3-year-old son--I went to Oldham County, Kentucky, to meet Jim Bunning. And, of course, you show up, there is Jim and Mary. And she said: ``Are you going to be our candidate in the 32nd District?'' And I said: ``Well, I just don't know. I am really concerned about it. I have got a young family.'' And she looked at me and she said: ``Young man, I have raised nine kids''--I think at that point 20-something grandkids--``we have done politics, we have done baseball, city council.'' She went through a whole list of things. And I will never forget she said: ``You are worried about your family because of the experiences that you have had, and you want them to have the same kind of experiences, but you have got to take your family and make your family experiences. Our kids have gotten to do things no other kid has gotten to do because of the positions and the things that we have done as a family.'' You know, when you start to run for office, you kind of want to talk yourself out of it. So I will never forget driving back home convinced that, yes, I am going to run for this office. I walked in, and the first thing my wife said is: ``Guess what. We are going to have our third child.'' I guarantee you, if I had not had that conversation with Mary Bunning, and after my wife telling me during the time of that decision we are going to have another one--now our 19-year-old--I wouldn't have moved forward. My other story is Senator Bunning took me under his wing. I won my first race by 130 votes out of 27,000 cast. Jim Bunning was running in a fight for his life for the U.S. Senate. Bob Dole comes to Bowling Green, Kentucky, to have a rally for Senator Bunning, and he wanted me to speak. Well, then we see people around town like this that are operatives for our parties, and this one guy says: ``No. No State, no local candidates. Only Federal candidates can speak.'' I had to leave the podium because this young, 25-year-old guy said that. And Jim Bunning looks over--and they are all there for his rally--he says: ``If he is not speaking, I am not speaking.'' So the next thing I know, I got on the agenda. They said: ``Yeah. Three minutes.'' So I had my 3-minute talk. The final thing I want to say is that one of my favorite Jim Bunning stories is he did not like to sign baseballs made in China. That was just his thing. He didn't want to sign a baseball made in China, which I didn't know that, but I had two major league baseballs for my two oldest kids to get them signed. He was going to be in Bowling Green, Kentucky. I show up there. And on the way, my youngest daughter, which we didn't think even cared, started crying. Well, to buy a real major league baseball in Bowling Green, Kentucky, at the last minute is not very easy to do. So we went by Walmart, picked up just a little official league ball. And I walked to the restaurant and I hand Jim the first ball. He signs it. The second one, he signs it. The third one-- and it is in my office today, because I may have the only one--he picks it up and he points to the ``China'' imprinted on the ball and just gives me this look like only he could give. And fortunately Mary was there, and she says: ``Jim, you are signing that ball for that little girl.'' So I now have it in my office in the Rayburn building, a Jim Bunning baseball that says ``Made in China'' on it. It is something I cherish. His granddaughter has interned in my office, and she is a chip off the old block, both her grandmother and grandfather. During the spring, we were getting a lot of phone calls in our office because of some of the actions here on the House floor. She was wonderful and mature beyond her years at 20 or 21 years old. So the old right-hander, as Mr. Hal Rogers said, is somebody we miss, is somebody that is important to me, somebody that leaves a fantastic legacy in Washington, in Major League Baseball. But far more important, if you had the opportunity to go to the funeral home, just looking at those nine children, and with over 30-something grandchildren and now into the great-grandchildren, that is his legacy. His legacy is his family, and there is no other way he would want it from that first few days in grammar school when he first met his wife, Mary, till today. It is just a legacy that all of us should strive to have. We love him. We are going to miss him. And we certainly love his wife, Mary, and his family.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I had the opportunity to visit the Center, and the building that I got to go visit was full of men and women who show up every day, who do exceptional work dealing with the disturbing issues, and so my hat is off to them. They deal with stuff that is just unimaginable to most of us, and they do it in a way that is dignified and in a way that is well worthy of the effort that we are giving them to give more transparency and empower them to help more. I really appreciate working with my friend, Mr. Courtney. H.R. 1808 is a bipartisan proposal, and I urge my colleagues to support the Improving Support for Missing and Exploited Children Act of 2017. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1808) to amend and improve the Missing Children's Assistance Act, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx), the distinguished chairwoman of the Education and the Workforce Committee.

Mr. GUTHRIE. I yield the gentlewoman an additional 30 seconds.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Paulsen), a good friend of mine who, in his work on the Ways and Means Committee, has been focused on and dedicated to this issue.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1808, the Improving Support for Missing and Exploited Children Act of 2017. Mr. Speaker, as a father, I cannot imagine the horror moms and dads in this country experience when they discover one of their children has been taken, abused, or exploited. Sadly, that is a nightmare for hundreds of thousands of parents in this country. Last year alone, there were more than 465,000 reports of missing children, and those are just the cases that were reported. The well-being of America's children has long been a national priority. In 1984, Congress established the Missing and Exploited Children's Program to help coordinate State and local efforts to recover children who are missing and better protect and support kids who are victims of abuse and exploitation. As part of that program, we provide a grant that is used to support the work of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, known as NCMEC. For more than 30 years, NCMEC has worked to provide help to people across the country, partnering with parents, law enforcement, nonprofits, and other public and private entities in an effort to recover, protect, and support missing and exploited children and their families. We are here today to ensure this supportive work continues. H.R. 1808 updates and streamlines the Missing Children's Assistance Act, making positive changes that will enable us to strengthen our efforts. This includes reforms that encourage and increase public awareness of new and innovative ways to recover and protect missing and exploited children. The bill better protects the growing number of children who go missing from State care or are victims of sex trafficking, while also providing transparency surrounding recovery and prevention efforts. In recent years, some of the advances in technology have, unfortunately, made it easier for kids to be victimized and exploited. H.R. 1808 ensures the law aimed at recovering and protecting exploited children is able to effectively identify and locate today's abductors and criminal offenders, many of whom are turning to more modern techniques to commit their disturbing crimes. The Improving Support for Missing and Exploited Children Act of 2017 delivers important reforms that will provide the tools needed to effectively serve vulnerable youth, help bring perpetrators to justice, and ensure taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1808. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I echo my support, and I enjoy working with my friend, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Courtney). Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg), the chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Roe), the chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, and a member of the Education and the Workforce Committee.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Mitchell), my friend and a member of the Education and the Workforce Committee.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 1808.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to support the American Health Care Act. A constituent of mine from Kentucky personally reached out to share her story. Under ObamaCare, the cost of her family's monthly premium rose to over $1,000 with a deductible of over $12,000, in total, almost half her income. When she fell and broke three ribs, she couldn't afford to go to the emergency room because of the astronomical deductible. She suffered for weeks until as she could afford care; and as she said in her own words: ``I paid 50 percent of my income for something I am forced to buy and cannot use.'' In Kentucky, there are many counties with just one health insurer on the exchange. That is not right. Affordable health care means having real access to health care when you need it. ObamaCare reduces access. It is not there, when they need it, for many Americans. I urge my colleagues to support the American Health Care Act.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, what I want to talk about is what is underlying in this bill in the traditional reform in Medicaid. Medicaid currently costs State and Federal Governments $600 billion. It is estimated in 10 years--a decade--to cost a trillion dollars. It is a system that is set up to implode on itself. So we want to fix the problem before we get to the critical point where it is going to implode. Let's fix it now, and let's make it right. What we do is allow States to have the same money they had in 2016-- the exact same money--with growth. The growth would be the CPI, medical, and, in some categories, plus one. They also have growth in demographics. We have some people who retire to other States. They have a concern. What if I am from a State where somebody lives in an area and then they move to my State when they are older and typically cost more in the Medicaid system? We adjust for that. It is in the per capita allotment. As they move, they would transfer. It is not a traditional block grant, unless the State chooses to do so. We are here reforming an entitlement program for the first time since the 1990s. It is a very sound, solid way, and a way that preserves and protects the program and prevents the program from imploding on itself within a decade.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I am surprised that my friends on the other side are defending the ObamaCare age tax, which is a tax on young people. I am the right demographic for it. This is how it works: people from age 26 to 34 pay more so people from age 50 to 64 pay less. Think about this: I am 53. In 3 years, I will be 56, my daughter will be 26. What I am asking her to do and what we are asking her to do if we don't repeal this is, as you are wanting to buy a house, get married--she got married--buy a house, start a family, get her family moving forward, we are going to say: But we want you to pay more for your health care so I can pay less. That is what they are doing. They are having parents have their children pay more so they can pay less. With all of us, I think we want our children, as they start their families, start their life, to have more breaks, not put another burden on them. I defend the fact that we are giving tax relief to young people, for people from age 26 to 34, who can least afford the premiums that we are putting on them.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, about 7 years ago, I was on the floor talking on the Affordable Care Act. And I remember talking about, I had just left the State Senate, and bringing up that my colleagues are in Frankfort and they are doing work on the budget; and, in the future, it is going to make it more difficult for them to pass budgets because of the expansion in Medicaid, and that is coming to pass. It will be in the next budget session they have to deal with moving forward, if we don't address this situation. So people keep talking about a rush process. Over a year ago, we put together a Medicaid task force, met with groups of people, met with Governors, we took a lot of information, and put together a plan that addresses the needs of Medicaid. Medicaid is growing. It will be over a $1 trillion program within 10 years if we don't deal with it. It is going to implode. So we actually worked to put it on a sustainable budget. It is growing. People talk about cuts to Medicaid. Only in Washington, D.C., is slowing the growth of a program looked at as a cut. So we have worked hard to move that forward. The other thing I want to talk about is, last year, small businesses were going to be hit by the minimum essential benefits. Small businesses were saying: We like our plans, and we want to keep it. We are going to have our prices go up, and we are not going to be able to afford to provide coverage. So we all came together, bipartisan, to address that to exempt the small-business plans for those programs. It passed by voice vote in the House, unanimous consent in the Senate, and signed by then-President Obama. So the question is, if small businesses can design and keep their own plans, I think individuals can, too. I agree with my friend from California that the American people are smart. I disagree with my other colleague who says: They will buy things, and they won't even know what is in it. They are smart, and I urge support for this bill.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a constituent of mine who was recently awarded one of the highest honors in his industry. Mr. Carl Swope, owner of Swope Toyota located in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, in my Congressional District, was named the 2017 TIME Dealer of the Year. The TIME Dealer of the Year award is one of the automobile industry's most prestigious and highly coveted honors. After graduating from Indiana University, Mr. Swope began working at his father's car dealerships. In 1986, Mr. Swope purchased his first dealership, a single store with 50 employees. Today, Mr. Swope oversees six dealerships representing nine brands in Elizabethtown and Radcliff, Kentucky, and employing over 300 associates. Mr. Swope is an active participant in the Elizabethtown community. He currently serves as a member of the Hardin County Chamber of Commerce, the Knox Regional Development Board, the Lincoln Heritage Council for the Boy Scouts of America, the Elizabethtown Tourism Commission, the Elizabethtown Airport Board, and the Hardin Memorial Health Foundation Board. He also established a local affiliate for Habitat for Humanity and remains an active part of the organization. On behalf of all the constituents of Kentucky's 2nd Congressional District, I congratulate Mr. Carl Swope on being named the 2017 TIME Dealer of the Year. I wish him and the Swope family all the best.

Mr. GUTHRIE

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 2 minutes. I need to explain what we are doing here. We are not changing the report card that schools have that teacher preparation programs have to provide. This rule says that if a school doesn't score well on its report card then students in that program can't get TEACH grants, which tries to focus on getting teachers from teacher programs into challenging schools. So what happens is, if you are an outstanding student and you are trapped in a school, let's say, because where you can afford to go is not performing well, then based on your school not performing well, not on the merit of that future teacher, they are not allowed to get a TEACH grant. That is what we are trying to prevent here. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Republicans and Democrats on both sides of the aisle have worked hard in recent years, particularly in the ESSA that we passed to make sure that we have local control of education, the idea that reforms that State and education local leaders know best. I think the same is true for teachers. It is vitally important that we have teachers that are prepared to succeed. We want the best and brightest in the classroom that help ensure our students receive the quality education they deserve. This resolution will put an end to this rule that will have negative consequences, I believe, for teachers and students; but it will allow us to address teacher preparation responsibly. Article I of the Constitution gives the legislative powers to Congress. So we don't just need to say: There's a new administration in town, let them fix it. What we need to say is that it is Congress' job, through working together, to pass the law and reauthorize higher education that will ensure that we have quality teachers in the classroom teaching our children. So I urge my colleagues to put a stop to this rule and vote ``yes'' on H.J. Res. 58. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Budd).

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 91, I call up the joint resolution (H.J. Res. 58) providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Education relating to teacher preparation issues, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. GUTHRIE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.J. Res. 58.