Louise Slaughter

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Madam Speaker, I was unavoidably detained and missed rollcall vote Nos. 153 and 154. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on both.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago, our understanding of the universe leapt forward when gravitational waves were first detected. I rise today to recognize that achievement and honor six researchers from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) who were part of one of the most significant scientific discoveries in a century. While hundreds of scientists worked together to make this discovery, I am especially proud of the researchers from RIT--James Healy, Jacob Lange, Carlos Lousto, Richard O'Shaughnessy, John Whelan, and Yuanhao Zhang. All of these researchers are members of RIT's Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation, which is led by Manuela Campanelli. Her team was one of the first groups to initially solve Albert Einstein's strong field equations describing black hole mergers. Because of this legacy, it is fitting that the recent discovery helps further confirm Einstein's general theory of relativity. As the only microbiologist in Congress, I know that every scientist hopes to have their predictions verified by direct observation. I also know that this is relatively rare, so I stand in awe of this RIT team that accurately modeled the merger of two black holes and predicted the gravitational waves that were detected. This monumental achievement marks yet another chapter in Rochester's rich history as a center of scientific innovation and discovery. Rochester has helped pioneer important research and develop innovative products such as the Kodak Brownie camera, the Norden bombsight, and myriad high-powered lasers. Established in 1829, RIT has not only played a critical role in Rochester's past, it continues to ensure that Rochester remains a global center of excellence. RIT makes invaluable scientific contributions to the research community, but it is also a cornerstone of the Rochester community and helps provide local businesses with the talent they need to flourish. Perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of this discovery is that it allows us to pose new questions and push the bounds of our collective knowledge. There's no doubt in my mind that RIT will play an essential role in these forthcoming discoveries, and I am proud that millions of people will continue learning about the world around us thanks to the contributions of researchers like Dr. Campanelli and the other members of her team. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in applauding all of the individuals who helped contribute to this monumental discovery and especially the six researchers from RIT. These Rochesterians have helped fundamentally change our understanding of the world, and I am proud to support their work in Congress.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, Teddy Roosevelt, America's original conservationist said, ``We are prone to speak of the resources of this country as inexhaustible. This is not so.'' This could not be more true for our nation's water: the lakes, rivers, streams, and oceans that enrich our land and people. That's why, today, World Water Day, I would like to address the importance of protecting one of our national treasures, the Great Lakes. I have had the opportunity to represent parts of both Lake Erie and Lake Ontario during my time in Congress and serve as co-chair of the House Great Lakes Task Force. I know first-hand just how important the lakes are to my district, the region, as well as the country and planet. The Great Lakes represent 20 percent of the world's fresh water supply and 95 percent of our nation's fresh water supply. They are a source of drinking water, jobs, and recreation for millions of Americans. They are one of our country's most precious resources. We have an obligation to protect and rehabilitate this precious resource. From historic problems which have risen from mistakes made generations ago to new threats, like climate change, there are so many matters endangering the health of our Great Lakes. This is why programs such as the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative are so important to our region. The GLRI has funded the cleanup of toxic substances and has helped to combat the threat to our lakes from invasive species. We are all aware of the threat Asian Carp and other invasive species pose to the Great Lakes water system. The Asian Carp have been destructive to the rivers and streams that they have invaded and we must do everything in our power to prevent them from entering the Great Lakes at all. They have no natural predators to keep their populations in check and we cannot afford to let these fish wreak havoc on the ecosystems of the Great Lakes. I have consistently supported efforts to proactively protect our systems from dangerous invasive species and will continue to do so. I encourage my colleagues to join me. We need to make sure to hold Congress responsible for adequately funding the programs such as the GLRI and to work proactively to prevent the introduction of pollutants and species that threaten the safety and security of our water. In fact, humans can only survive four days without water. Ensuring the safety and availability of our water is truly life or death. These magnificent bodies of water are truly precious and we must do all that we can to protect these national treasures for future generations.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. I yield myself such time as I may consume, and I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, the Republicans in the House can't agree on a budget. They take futile vote after futile vote to kill ObamaCare. They waste millions of dollars and thousands of hours on the futility. Children are drinking lead-tainted water from aging pipes crisscrossing the country. Young people are saddled with crushing student loan debt. Bridges are crumbling. Our schools are falling apart. Obviously, the Metro system in Washington is in serious condition. Our airports are struggling to function, and we have no high-speed rail. But what do we do here? We vote 64 times to take health care away from people. We have Benghazi hearings, which come to nothing. We have had eight in the House. Many chairs of those committees have said there is nothing there, so we set up a Select Committee to look at it again and spend millions of dollars to see what they can find. We go after Planned Parenthood, investigate them, set up a Select Committee to do that--despite the fact that a case in Texas against Planned Parenthood found in favor of Planned Parenthood and indicted the people who made the film which created such a sensation in this House. We waste congressional time with duplicative, baseless investigations. Today, the crusade against President Obama reaches new heights. This resolution surrounding United States v. Texas adds to the already overwhelming list of baseless political tactics that the House majority has used to discredit, undermine, and disrespect President Obama. This resolution makes a political statement, one that represents the House majority--not the entire House of Representatives or even the entire Congress, since a major part of it has been left out of this altogether. This resolution seeks to put this whole Chamber on record when there is significant, vocal, and strong opposition. In fact, 186 House Democrats, along with 39 Senate Democrats, have joined together for our own amicus brief in support of the President's executive actions. Not only were the President's actions constitutional, they are in line with decades of bipartisan action by Presidents on immigration itself, including action by President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush. This is a rarely seen ploy, seeking to file an amicus brief as the whole House, leaving out completely the voice of the minority. I hope the American people will see it for what it is: purely political. This shows us, once again, that the Republicans are willing to prioritize their party over their country. Adding insult to injury, Speaker Ryan has said: ``The president is not permitted to write law--only Congress is.'' How true, indeed. So why don't we, the Congress, do what we were sent here to do: write laws. Republicans have reached for a tool that is not in their constitutional tool box: running to the courthouse. Rather than allowing Congress to do its job, the Republicans insist on telling other branches of government how to do theirs. It is quickly becoming clear that this is a dangerous moment in our country and in our political system. The Presidential primary field on the Republican side is resorting to demagoguery and nativism, fanning the flames of dangerous anti-immigrant anger and anger in general. What the President rightly called ``vulgar and divisive rhetoric'' in the Republican contest is a logical and foreseeable consequence of the anger and fear carefully and deliberately cultivated by decades of Republican campaign strategy, as Republicans went beyond principled advocacy for smaller government to the outright encouragement of people to think of government as the problem and their an enemy to be hated. This debate would not have even been an issue if, last Congress, the House had taken up the bipartisan Senate immigration bill, which they were asked time and time again to do but it never saw the light of day here. That was an opportunity for our country to come together in a bipartisan way, instead of further dividing us. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up Representative Lofgren's resolution expressing the position of the House in support of the Obama administration in United States v. Texas. If the House is going to take a vote on weighing in on an anti- immigrant lawsuit filed against the President, we should at least have the option of voting to support the President's executive actions, which are a worthwhile and temporary first step toward reforming our broken immigration system. I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren), the distinguished ranking member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, to discuss our proposal.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. I yield the gentlewoman an additional 1 minute.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Cicilline).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren), the ranking member of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Ellison).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional 30 seconds.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lofgren).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield the gentlewoman from Texas an additional 15 seconds.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. DelBene).

Ms. SLAUGHTER. I am prepared to close. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. If we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up Representative Lofgren's resolution expressing a position of the House in support of the Obama administration in United States v. Texas. If the House is going to vote on weighing in on the anti-immigration lawsuit that was filed against the President, we should at least have the option of voting to support the President's executive actions, which are a worthwhile, if temporary, first step toward reforming our broken immigration system. 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, our immigration system is broken, as evidenced by the fact that there are 11 million undocumented persons who are living in the United States. Instead of engaging in a bipartisan legislative process to reform the system, the House majority has decided to focus on discrediting the President rather than forming policies that benefit our country. There is ample evidence of Presidents long before this one having exercised the same executive order privilege without there having been any great rush by the House of Representatives to go to court to try to stop him. House Democrats would welcome the chance to work on a bipartisan solution to the Nation's broken immigration system, but we can't because we simply are not allowed to participate--only to show up to vote. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' and defeat the previous question. If we have a ``no'' vote on this closed rule, we then will be able to present our own resolution in support. I yield back the balance of my time.

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

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

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge John H. Folwell IV of Fairport, NY. John is currently a senior at McQuaid Jesuit High School and is a member of Troop 31 of the Boy Scouts of America who has completed all 141 merit badges, and I rise today to recognize that achievement. To put this remarkable feat in perspective, Stephen Hoitt, Scout Executive of the Seneca Waterways Council of the Boy Scouts of America, has been involved with the organization for twenty-four years and notes that John is the first Scout under his tutelage to complete all of the merit badges. With this achievement, John H. Folwell IV joins the elite number of approximately 270 Scouts nationwide who have earned every merit badge offered by the organization. Joining the Boy Scouts of America was a natural step for John. His father, John H. Folwell III, in fact serves as a Scoutmaster for Troop 31. Mr. Folwell has dutifully guided his son throughout this journey, including the Cycling badge. In addition to several other biking excursions, the Folwells traveled along the historic Erie Canal for fifty miles, completing their trip in the required time of eight hours, despite a flat tire. Equally impressive is the level of determination put forth by John to maximize his experiences as a Boy Scout. Stating he ``didn't want to leave Scouting knowing that I had not done it to its fullest,'' his quest has taken him in many directions. He traveled to the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico where he earned the backpacking badge, appeared on stage in the role of Jud Fry in Oklahoma!, and instead of relaxing over a holiday break, created a Morse code telegraph for the Signaling badge. Clearly, John represents the spirit and tenacity of the 25th Congressional District of New York, and I'm proud to represent him and all my constituents in the Rochester area.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, two weeks ago, our understanding of the universe leapt forward when gravitational waves were first detected. I rise today to recognize that achievement and honor six researchers from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) who were part of one of the most significant scientific discoveries in a century. While hundreds of scientists worked together to make this discovery, I am especially proud of the researchers from RIT--James Healy, Jacob Lang, Carlos Lousto, Richard O'Shaughnessy, John Whelan, and Zhang Yuanhao. All of these researchers are members of RIT's Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation, which is led by Manuela Campanelli. Her team was one of the first groups to initially solve Albert Einstein's strong field equations describing black hole mergers. Because of this legacy, it is fitting that the recent discovery helps further confirm Einstein's general theory of relativity. As the only microbiologist in Congress, I know that every scientist hopes to have their predictions verified by direct observation. I also know that this is relatively rare, so I stand in awe of this RIT team that accurately modeled the merger of two black holes and predicted the gravitational waves that were detected. This monumental achievement marks yet another chapter in Rochester's rich history as a center of scientific innovation and discovery. Rochester has helped pioneer important research and develop innovative products such as the Kodak Brownie camera, the Norden bombsight, and myriad high-powered lasers. Established in 1829, RIT has not only played a critical role in Rochester's past, it continues to ensure that Rochester remains a global center of excellence. RIT makes invaluable scientific contributions to the research community, but it is also a cornerstone of the Rochester community and helps provide local businesses with the talent they need to flourish. Perhaps one of the most exciting aspects of this discovery is that it allows us to pose new questions and push the bounds of our collective knowledge. There's no doubt in my mind that RIT will play an essential role in these forthcoming discoveries, and I am proud that millions of people will continue learning about the world around us thanks to the contributions of researchers like Dr. Campanelli and the other members of her team. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in applauding all of the individuals who helped contribute to this monumental discovery and especially the six researchers from RIT. These Rochesterians have helped fundamentally change our understanding of the world, and I am proud to support their work in Congress.

Ms. SLAUGHTER

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I thank the gentleman, my colleague on the Rules Committee, for yielding the customary 30 minutes to me. Mr. Speaker, for months, the Chamber's majority has been bringing recycled bills to the floor to stall and waste time, knowing full well these bills will not be signed into law. The majority has introduced no budget. Our infrastructure is crumbling. Americans are in need of new bridges, new roads, new water systems, schools, housing, and much more. It has been said that it costs an estimated $24 million to run the House of Representatives for a week, money basically wasted when we do bills like these. As a matter of fact, I think if we were to add up all that money, we might even be able to do high-speed rail in the United States. Wouldn't that be a new venture? The majority has sidestepped addressing the high cost of a college education and the student loan debt crisis. They have put their heads in the sand concerning the threat of the Zika virus. We have done nothing about the century-old water pipes crisscrossing the country, even in light of the tragedy in Flint. No wonder Americans are so disgusted and angry. Instead of focusing on what people are crying out for, we now bring up this whole package of bills that has no chance of advancing. Today we have the Sportsmen's Heritage and Recreational Enhancement Act. It advances an anti-conservation agenda at odds with the decades of longstanding tradition benefiting our uniquely American landscapes, wildlife, and sporting community. The SHARE Act cobbles together seven separate legislative proposals, along with six other titles. Now, that is some seamstress work. It is a grab bag that includes provisions that would undermine the Wilderness Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and other essential conservation laws. What's more, the SHARE Act would drive the extinction of domestic and international wildlife by adding language that would block the administration's efforts under the Endangered Species Act to stop ivory trafficking--it basically says that you can, if you go on a safari, bring back elephant tusks because they are not in any danger, despite what we all hear to the contrary--and to prevent the slaughter of American elephants, which is necessary to get those tusks. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wouldn't be able to stop the illegal ivory trade, and the importation of polar bears would be made possible again. But I think one of the worst things is it brings back the traps that captured so many of people's pets, small animals who died a very cruel and long death. Why in the world would we do that? What is sporting about catching an animal, sometimes a person, or a pet, in something from which they cannot extricate themselves, and to suffer and to die? Let's be clear. This bill undermines bedrock conservation laws. It won't benefit the average hunter or angler. People going on safaris might get something more out of it, like elephant tusks, but it will destroy years of work done by animal protection advocates and conservationists. The delicate balance at work in our ecosystem's food chain is not to be trifled with, and we disrupt it at our own peril. Aside from rolling back decades of work conserving our majestic natural resources, the bill is a distraction from what we should be doing. May I remind my colleagues on the other side of the aisle of a piece of wisdom from Teddy Roosevelt, America's favorite outdoorsman and actually the person who is responsible for the wonderful national parks that we have. He said, and I quote: ``We are prone to speak of the resources of this country as inexhaustible; this is not so.'' If he had this worry that we have today here, 100 years ago, I can only imagine what he would think of this state of affairs. I urge a ``no'' vote on this rule and a ``no'' vote on the underlying legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up a resolution that will require the majority to stop the partisan games and hold hearings on the President's budget proposal. 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. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. Of course.

Ms. SLAUGHTER. That is very kind of the gentleman, but I continue to yield back the balance of my time.