Louise Slaughter

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Democrat leader.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, if we can defeat the previous question this morning, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up legislation that would set aside excess funds from the Abandoned Mine Land fund for the miners' health benefits and pension plans. We must do everything we can to protect the benefits that our hardworking miners have earned throughout the years. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the amendment in the Record, along with extraneous material, immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I urge the majority, once again, to get back to regular order and get to work on long-term appropriations to end this long cycle of political brinksmanship. These short-term appropriations stifle economic growth and fail to provide stability to the American people. CBS News has highlighted that it costs the taxpayers an estimated $24 million a week just to run the House of Representatives. It is disappointing that this session of Congress is ending much the same way it began, with taxpayers failing to get their money's worth. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Madam Speaker, the Select Investigative Panel was created solely to attack Planned Parenthood and intimidate women, health care providers, and scientific researchers. Its investigation has never been fair or fact-based. It is shameful that the Majority is continuing to use the taxpayer's money to advance its own political purposes. This privileged resolution would waste another $800,000 of the American people's tax dollars on this partisan witch hunt. The Majority is now on track to spend more than $1.5 million on this dangerous smear campaign. Madam Speaker, I call on every Member of the House who does not want to fund witch hunts to support Ms. Schakowsky's amendment.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to honor a statesman and friend, Congressman Steve LaTourette. For 18 years, Steve served the constituents of Ohio's 14th and 19th Congressional District with distinction. He was tenacious, shrewd, thoughtful, but more importantly, he was always eager to listen and find common ground. Steve was an expert in parliamentary procedure. His interest in the occurrences on the floor went well beyond his own priorities or personal interests. I had the honor of working with him to protect and preserve one of the most beautiful natural resources we have here in America, the Great Lakes. He understood that along with protecting the environment of these majestic waters, millions of Americans depend on these lakes for their livelihood. Over those 18 years, Steve became more than a colleague, he became a friend. I fondly remember sneaking up to the chair and passing the gossip of the day with him. I don't think you could find a single member when he retired that wasn't sad to see him go. There was one thing that he loved more than Congress, his family; he was a devoted husband and father. As we look to the end of this Congress and the start of a new, let us remember Steve as a man who always sought common ground and practical solutions, all with a smile and laugh.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank my colleague from Georgia for yielding the customary time. The legislation before us today continues the majority's attempts to undermine the actions taken by President Obama. H.R. 5711 would force us to violate our international obligations under the Iran nuclear agreement, which was painstakingly negotiated by Secretary of State John Kerry, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz with the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany. I think this is a great mistake by the United States to think that we will undermine it and that we have the ability to do that. It is very unlikely, in any event, that should this be undermined and this treaty be overturned that we could put that back together with the same group of people who negotiated it in the first place. In the process, it would put aircraft manufacturers here at home at a competitive disadvantage with their foreign competitors--something I am very much surprised that the majority would even contemplate. This legislation would also continue their attacks on the Export- Import Bank, an economic driver that has helped to create jobs and to grow our economy by expanding American businesses' access to foreign markets. These attacks stand in stark contrast to the Export-Import Bank's long history of bipartisan support, including from Presidents all the way back to John Kennedy and Bill Clinton and to Republican Presidents like Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Mr. Speaker, instead of advancing this misguided legislation, this Chamber should be supporting our local businesses and the good-paying jobs that they create. The majority should also give the Iran nuclear agreement the time to succeed instead of rushing forward with this bill that would already put the U.S. in direct violation of it. As I said earlier, if this agreement fails, we would not likely be able to reapply the sanctions or get the support of the Security Council. If we want to achieve our goal of ensuring that Iran is unable to build a nuclear weapon, this agreement remains the best available option for peacefully and verifiably cutting off its pathways. The second bill we are considering today, H.R. 5982, is a sad continuation of the majority's attempts to delegitimize any actions taken by President Obama. This time, the majority is trying to amend the Congressional Review Act and allow Congress to invalidate regulations en bloc that are proposed in the final 60 legislative days of the President's term. That means that potentially lifesaving measures could be repealed in the blink of an eye without there being any proper evaluation or examination of their impacts. Mr. Speaker, the taxpayers expect reasonable and thoughtful governance. They also expect us to uphold the Constitution, which clearly states that Presidents have 4-year terms. That means that President Obama is President of the United States for a full 4-year term, not a 3\3/4\-year term. It is a disgrace that President Obama couldn't even get a hearing on his Supreme Court nominee, Judge Merrick Garland. This unprecedented dereliction of the majority's responsibilities is symbolic of its failure to respect this President. So many issues deserve our attention in the closing days of Congress, and it is disappointing to me and to so many others that the majority has chosen to prioritize measures--that won't even be considered in the Senate--just to take parting political shots at President Obama. We were elected to get things done, Mr. Speaker, and these bills are really just solutions in search of problems that don't exist. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 2 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up a bill that would prohibit lobbyists from serving on President-elect Trump's transition team. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the Record, along with extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, these bills will be going nowhere in the Senate, and we should be happy about that. We shouldn't be frittering away the closing days of this session of Congress with legislation designed to delegitimize the work of our President. There are major issues that face our country that the American people are crying out for us to address, from our crumbling infrastructure to the skyrocketing cost of education. We were elected to solve these problems, Mr. Speaker. These bills, again, utterly fail to do anything about any of that. Our constituents deserve more; the taxpayers deserve more. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank my colleague, the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. Mr. Speaker, the deadline for keeping the government running has been staring us all in the face for months. Yet, the majority is using martial law rule to rush the continuing resolution to the floor just 2 days before the weekend deadline. I wish we had spent the last 4 weeks properly debating the bill under regular order. Mr. Speaker, I am relieved that a reasonable compromise was reached on a bipartisan amendment to the Water Resources Development Act that will authorize funding for the people of Flint, Michigan, who have been forced to drink and bathe in poisoned water for years. As the only microbiologist in Congress, I can detail the many ways that this is a major public health failure. The children that have been impacted could suffer everything from neurodevelopmental damage to behavioral changes to anemia to hypertension. These are lifelong impacts, Mr. Speaker, along with a statistically higher risk of incarceration. This compromise is a positive step forward, but there is much more work to do at all levels of the government to get the resources needed to help the people of Flint and the United States. Thankfully, Mr. Speaker, the bill finally provides the resources to tackle the Zika virus more than 7 months after President Obama submitted his funding request to Congress to combat the spread of the virus and accelerate research into finding a vaccine. I am disappointed that this continues a poison pill that would prevent the Securities and Exchange Commission from moving forward with a rule requiring publicly traded companies to disclose their political spending. This is so important. I think the fact that spending is out of control, money comes in from everywhere and we don't know how much, where it goes, and it is not a good thing for a democracy. I think it is nothing more than an attempt to hide from the American people the identities of the big corporate donors and probably people from all over the world who are sending money in here in hidden ways to affect our campaigns. If sunlight is the best disinfectant, then we certainly should have spread some sunlight on the SEC to be able to do what we had asked them to do. We are very concerned that electoral spending is increasingly being conducted in the dark. It is also disappointing that, despite overwhelming bipartisan, bicameral support, the continuing resolution fails to ensure that the Export-Import Bank is able to fully help businesses and workers across the country by restoring a board quorum to the bank. This continuing resolution is going to avert a crisis in the short term, but it is a clear demonstration of the failure of the majority to do the most basic job: fund the government. The majority has been so preoccupied with holding more than 60 votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act and investigating nonexistent scandals involving Planned Parenthood that they have allowed the body to lurch from crisis to crisis instead of enacting long-term appropriations. All the while, our infrastructure is crumbling and the cost of college education and college loans and the interest on them, which is crippling, is skyrocketing. Mr. Speaker, CBS News has highlighted that it costs the taxpayers an estimated $24 million a week to run the House of Representatives. It is abundantly clear that, under this leadership, taxpayers aren't getting their money's worth. Nonetheless, I am pleased to be here to be part of passing this tonight to prevent the awful crisis of a shutdown, and I think we have all learned lessons there. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the House of Representatives has been in session for the last 4 weeks, more than enough time to properly debate the continuing resolution under regular order. But, instead, we have taken up a lot of one-House bills that will never become law. Mr. Speaker, you can't run the United States Government in 3-month tranches. The majority should get back to focusing on the issues the American people care about, like repairing our roads and bridges and bringing down the cost of college education. Also, let's end the brinksmanship that my colleague spoke of--and I accept his offer to work and look forward to working with him--and the temporary stopgap measures and the threats of a government shutdown always hanging over us by getting back to enacting long-term appropriations. That is something that I would be happy to join him in because, frankly, what we have done now is no way to run our government. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to bring up H.R. 1217, the bipartisan expanded background checks legislation, to honor the memory of Bobbie Odneal, III, 23 years old, Cincinnati, Ohio, who died a victim of gun violence and never received a moment of action on the House floor.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on ordering the previous question, the rule, and the underlying bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano), the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the gentleman.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Speaker, this bill is not a serious proposal to reform the Department of Veterans Affairs, although we certainly know that needs to be done. I think a major bill should be in order to get that done. And the Veterans Administration is vastly overstretched and we are concerned for the safety and healing of the veterans. My personal hope is that we can get them out of the building business and just do the business of taking care of veterans' health and concerns. We should also be voting on a bill that includes the funding that we need to address the Zika virus. The head of the Centers for Disease Control, Tom Frieden, recently warned that, ``The cupboard is bare. Basically, we are out of money and we need Congress to act.'' Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up legislation that would fully fund the administration's request to address this public health crisis. This request was made more than 7 months ago to help combat the spread of this virus, when I think we would have done better to control it and accelerate research into finding a vaccine. We have, instead, just been left behind in trying to get caught up on some of that. Over that time, the virus is spreading at an alarming rate, as the range of mosquito transmission far exceeds the initial estimates. It is beyond time for us to finally act. Just today, I read that they have discovered that the Zika virus can cause brain damage to adults, not just to fetuses. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of the amendment in the Record, along with extraneous material, immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to observe September as National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. This year over 16,000 children and adolescents will be diagnosed with cancer. This horrifying disease does not know race, nationality, religion, gender, or socio- economic status. As a mother and a grandmother, one of my greatest hopes is that one day every person can live a healthy, long life without the fear of cancer. I'm especially proud that a bill I wrote, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA), is now playing a leading role in much of the cancer research being done across the country today, after a 14 year fight to get it signed into law. Eliminating childhood cancer is one issue that I am grateful to see is bipartisan. As a member of the Congressional Childhood Cancer Caucus, I am proud to work with my friends on both sides of the aisle to advocate and support robust funding for research to prevent the suffering and long-term effects of childhood cancer. With significant advances in medicine in the past 40 years, the mortality rate for childhood cancer has declined by more than 50 percent. Still, 1,250 children may lose their battle with cancer by the end of this year. We must continue to push for robust funding for institutions such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute. We must work to increase awareness for early detection and support those in our community who face this reality with our compassion and support. Further, Mr. Speaker, I wish to pay tribute to the extraordinary life of Rochester's own Amanda Conrow. In 2012, when she was just three years old, Amanda was diagnosed with ependymoma, a cancer of the brain and central nervous system. Doctors told Amanda's parents she would maybe live another year. Amanda, like so many other courageous children, proved the doctors wrong. With the support and love of her mother Liz, her father Paul, and her amazing siblings Samantha, Michael, Jessica and Emily, Amanda lived to see her sixth birthday. Her determination and tenaciousness inspired many in the community and helped to bring awareness to childhood cancer in the Rochester area. Sadly, Amanda lost her battle in the early hours of February 8, 2015. Mr. Speaker, let us all be inspired by Amanda's life and the courage and bravery of every child facing this disease. It is my deepest hope that we can support the work of doctors and researchers that are committed to working tirelessly so that one day we will achieve the ultimate goal of eliminating cancer as a threat to all.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.