speaker ryan: as tempting as it is to comment on the senate, waints to give them a space to get their job done. we had a promise to keep and we kept it in the house. like forward to seeing the senate do the same. reporter: can i follow-up. would the house stay in session through august -- speaker ryan: if the senate gives us a health care bill. we'll stay and finish the bill. reporter: senator grassley is sending a letter to don jr., donald trump jr. asking him to testify about his meeting. should the president's son testify -- speaker ryan: any witness who has been asked to testify before congress should testify. reporter: in public? speaker ryan: anybody who is asked to testify to the senate should do that. reporter: a bill to re-authorize the f.a.a. to come to the floor as soon as next week. there's been changes to it from the effort last year, to remove air traffic control operations from f.a.a. you didn't bring it to the floor last year. what's changed this year? speaker ryan: i'll defer the specific questions to chairman shuster, but this bill has changed substantially. that's w

nn: thank you, speaker. rise today to wish mr. ryan zimms, american students at arnold high school for their upcoming advanced placement exams. i was impressed by their articulate questions understanding our system of government. of course, understanding our system of government means understanding the u.s. constitution. it's the greatest gift left to us by the founders and it has stood the test of time. the success of the constitution is due to its carefully designed system of checks and balances. by separating the powers of government into separate but equal branches and guaranteeing individual rights, the constitution has been, as james madison suggested, the guardian of true liberty. mr. speaker, please join me in wishing these bright young students good luck on their a.p. exam and in their college applications. thank you, mr. speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california, mr. sherman, for five minutes. mr. sherman: i ask unanimous consent to addre

mr. gallego: so what was speaker ryan's response? actually, we're still waiting to hear from hit he hasn't commented or issued a statement. when trump denigrates the personal integrity of a member of this body, speaker ryan says nothing. when trump demeans a grieving widow whose husband has made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, speaker ryan stays silent. frankly, it's embarrassing. congressman lew, what do you think these responses -- congressman lieu, what do you think these responses say about the house republican leadership and the state of the republican party? mr. lieu: thank you, representative gallego. there's really twonal choices here -- only two choices here. either all of us in congress can follow the leadership of republican senators john mccain, bob corker and jeff flake, and tell the truth. or we can be complicit. jeff flake is unwilling to be complicit. we are unwilling to be complicit. keep in mind, when senator bob corker, who is not a flame flower -- flower, he's a chair of the senate foreign relations committ

[applause] >> thank you, mr. speaker. i think a speak for all of us when i say thank you for bringing some of that janesville whether to us. [laughter] speaker ryan: it is going to be 19 below zero. this isn't cold. inches of snow0 on sunday. >> packers weather. i appreciate the chance. it is hard for me to start a conversation like this without talking about jack kemp. i wrote about him, you worked for him. his name is up there, as you noted. if he were here today, still preaching the optimistic, happy, big tent brand of conservatism that he liked to talk about, what would he be pleased about and displeased about in terms of where we are right now? speaker ryan: i remember we would have conservative meetings about fighting poverty and he -- and you could sit everyone around one table at his office. it wasike, six people. this is exciting just to see this effort. i think he wou be really excited. if jac herk wereor if his son were on time -- [laughter] remind him i said that. he would be excited that the call the battle o

king, president trump and speaker ryan are all on video clearly stating they will "lower premiums and more deductibles." yet the plan presented by the gop specifically allows insurance carriers to charge uninsured individuals 30% more in premiums. how does charging someone 30% more on a premium lower their premium? taxes insurance executives' wages above $500,000. how is not taxing an insurance executive ceo's $9 million salary lower premiums and deductibles? this does not make any sense. as soon as president trump realizes the gop will fail to deliver his promises he will turn on you, just like you turn on you in the primary. his supporters do not like the gop. that's why they left our party. you are playing with orange fire and you will get burned. host: thank you. guest: on the 30% penalty, and the republican plan they illuminate the individual mandate, which is in obamacare, that requires mandates of individuals by health insurance. the provision they wrote in to bill is if you don't maintain continuous coverage, when you buy back in you will pay a 30% more on your premium. that i

[laughter] speaker ryan: oh, wisconsin. wisconsin.: got it. mr. speaker, god bless them, god bless you, god bless wisconsin. god bless the members of this house. god bless the united states of america. this is the people's house, this is the people's gavel. in the people's name it is my privilege to hand the gavel to the speaker of the house, paul ryan. [applause] speaker ryan: thank you. thank you very much. [applause] i'll be relatively brief. leader.o thank madam you know, i've stood in this spot more than a few times. and yet today it feels completely different. part of it has to do with all the new faces in the house. you look at all the proud spouses, the beaming parents, children at their best. if not impossible to resist the rush of enthusiasm. there's no sense of foreboding today. there's only a sense of potential. kind of reminds you no matter how long you've been here, you still haven't seen it all. and so to all our new members, i want to say simply, "thank you, congratulations, and welcome." [applause] ryan: to my own priest, father p

let's acknowledge the ryan amily. oh, wisconsin. got it. mr. speaker, god bless them, god bless you, god bless wisconsin. god bless the members of this house. god bless the united states of america. this is the people's house, this is the people's gavel. in the people's name it is my privilege to hand the gavel to the speaker of the house, paul ryan. the speaker: thank you very much. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you very much. i'll be relatively brief. i want to thank madam leader. you know, i stood in this spot very, very many times. today, though, feels a whole lot different. part of it has to do with all the new faces in the house. you look at all the proud spouses, these beaming children, at their best. people's parents. it's hard if not impossible, to resist this rush of substance abuse yasm. there's no sense of foreboding in this house today. there's only the sense of potential. it kind of reminds you that no matter how long you've been here, you haven't seen it all. so i just want to say, to our new members, and to their famili

[applause] speaker ryan: thank you. first, thank you mr. president. thank you for your leadership. [applause] speaker ryan: there are too many people today who played such an important role in helping us get to this part, but i want to thank a few people in particular. chairman gregk walden, kevin brady, diane black, pete sessions and the members of their committees for all the hard work they put into getting us to this point. [applause] thankr ryan: i want to all the other members who contributed to making this the best bill possible. it really was a collaborative consensus driven effort. i also want to thank the team here at the white house. i want to think tom price. i want to thank mick mulvaney, and i want to thank reince priebus. we could not have done this without you gentlemen. you guys are the best. [applause] speaker ryan: of course, this would not have been possible if it were not for these two gentlemen behind me. this is the fourth president i have served with. i have never, ever seen any kind of engagement like this. pence andthank mike president donald trump for thei

speaker, the week before the fourth of july i handed a letter to speaker ryan asking for a debate which i ask unanimous consent to submit hat letter now for the record. i said that if he doesn't read my letter, at least read the comments from the 31st commandant of the united states marine corps. my friend and unofficial advisor, general chuck crew lack and i quote him, this is what i wanted paul ryan to read and hope he did. no one has ever conquered afghanistan and many have tried. we will join the list of nations that have tried and failed. how prophetic is that, mr. speaker, that we will continue to go down this road and see this country spend and waste lives for absolutely nothing known as afghanistan. i yield back the balance of my time. e speaker pro tempore: without objection, the chair recognizes the gentleman from kansas, mr. marshall, for five minutes. mr. marshall: mr. speaker, this saturday my staff and i finished our 34th town hall in the home of one of america's greatest citizens, my mentor, my hero, bob dole. at every location we go most $20 e ask me about the trillion t

[applause] mr. pence: i just feel so at home. i know that the speaker told me backstage that six out of 10 members of the house of representatives are new since about a year before i left the capitol building to be governor of indiana. but it doesn't feel that way. i feel very at home. and let me say how grateful i am, thank you for giving the 45th president of the united states of america such a wonderful, warm welcome by the people's representatives. [applause] mr. pence: i have to tell you, i am, i've grown accustomed to preceding the president at various events. oftentimes it is my duty to introduce him, and he is a hard man to preceed. but he is a harder man to follow. [laughter] mr. pence: i have to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, what you just saw today is what i see from him every day of the week, that energy, that enthusiasm, that optimism, that strength, that determination. it is my high honor and great privilege to serve as his vice president, and i know that president donald trump will m

. >> before attorney general sessions may be a statement this afternoon, house speaker paul ryan talked to reporters about the issue. reporter: did the attorney general mislead the committee regarding his contact with the russians and should he recuse himself? mr. ryan: i would refer to his senate judiciary committee, i checked the transcript of all that, so i can't speak to what the judiciary transcript is, i haven't checked that. should he recuse himself? i think he answered that question this morning which is if he himself is a subject of an investigation, of course he would. but if he's not, i don't see any purpose or reason for doing this. let's take a step back for a second here. number one, we know that russia tried to meddle in the election. why do we know this? because we in congress and the intelligence community did an investigation after the election was discovered russia was trying to meddle in the election. this is something we all well know. here's another thing. we have seen no evidence from any of these ongoing investigations that anybody in the trump campaign or the tr

before his announcement, house speaker pall ryan held a briefing with reporters as well where he talked about the attorney general he said he doesn't think he should resign but added that mr. sessions should only have to recuse himself if the investigation involves him directly. here are the house speaker's comments. reporter: did the attorney general mislead the committee and should he recuse himself. mr. ryan: i would refer to his senate judiciary committee, i checked the transcript, i can't speak to what the judiciary transcript is, i haven't checked that. should he recuse himself? i think he answered that question this morning which is if he himself is a subject of an investigation of course he would. but if he's not, i don't see any purpose or reason for doing this. let's take a step back for a second here.

ryan and chairman price. budgets which ransack their investment jobs education and for hard-working families. budgets thought the hand hand massive tax breaks to the rich by stealing from food stamps and slashing medicaid. all of this to give a tax break to the wealthiest people in our country. the national budget is a statement of our national values. it's important we reflect that and how we allocate our resources. this budget fails to recognize that education is the greatest investment we can make and people reaching their aspirations in keeping america number one. he also fails to recognize that nothing brings more to the treasury than the education of the american people. early childhood, k-12, higher education, lifetime learning. nothing brings more money to reduce the deficit. it's a false economy. it's one of the dumbest budget moves, with stiff competition mind you, but one of the dumbest budget moves they can make. president trump's budget shows he does not value the future of our seniors, children

ryan: i do. >> nancy pelosi and ranking democrats also spoke to reporters following the speaker's decision to pull the america -- the republican health care replacement bill. this is about 25 minutes. >> thank you. >> thank you. ms. pelosi: thank you. good afternoon. i'm very happy to be here with the house democratic leadership. the unity of our house democratic members has an important message for the country that we are very proud of the affordable care act. yesterday, as you know, was the seventh anniversary of the president signing the bill. the american people expressed their support for it. that message became very clear to our colleagues on the republican side of the aisle. today is a great day for our country, a victory. what happened on the floor is a victory for the american people. for our seniors, people with disabilities, our children, veterans. it is not just about the 24 million people who now won't be off health insurance, it is about the 155 million people who receive their benefits in the workplace who will not be assaulted by some of the provisions the republicans put i

ryan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from ohio is recognized for one minute. mr. ryan: i thank the gentleman. i want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their leadership on this. this clearly is a big issue pressing the country. and i just wanted to rise in support of what's happening here today, of taking a firmer stance on russia, iran, and north korea. trying to stabilize the pins la. trying to take -- peninsula. trying to take care of the funding that's coming out of iran to all of these terrorist groups across the country. and across the world. and just say that what's happening with these sanctions here, in the targeting of russian gas pipelines, their number one export, i think, is entirely appropriate. the nortstream 2 which carries gas from russia through the balance tacks to germany, and i know -- baltics to germany, and know germany isn't happy about it, but this is something we have to do. we have to address this issue in a comprehensive way. we must continue to focus on how we get our gas here in the united states, our natural gas to euro

>> mr. speaker, the president of the united states. [applause] [cheers] donald trump: thank you very much. paul ryan: members of congress, i have the highest privilege and distinct honor of presenting to you the president of the united states. [applause] donald trump: thank you very much. mr. speaker, mr. vice president, members of congress, the first lady of the united states. [applause] donald trump: and citizens of america, tonight, as we were -- as we mark the celebration of black history month, we are reminded of our nation's path towards civil rights and the work that still remains to be done. recent threats -- [applause] donald trump: recent threats targeting jewish community centers and vandalism of jewish cemeteries as well as last week's shooting in kansas city remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms. [applause] donald trump: each american generation passes the torch of truth, liberty, and justice in on broken ch

per week, mr. speaker. in other words, 52 times what the struggling american will get. what the american that speaker ryan said may not be able to come up with $500 if they have a crisis with a refrigerator or their heating unit, something of that nature, or their car breaks down. mr. speaker, we on this side of the aisle do not believe that relief for resses the struggling working men and women of this country. in all er, it's clear of the polling that the average working american shares that view. they believe correctly that this is a tax cut for the rich and a few sprinkles all of the polling that the average working american shares that to the middle class. i'm sure the leader will have something to say on that. in addition, mr. speaker, it is ironic that what will happen in this tax bill is we will phase -- again, to the middle class. i have not seen the conference report so i don't know exactly whether that's true or not, but in both the house and senate bills, we phased out -- we didn't phase out, proposed to be phased out, the benefits to those middle income, ha

clyburn: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my friend for yielding me this time. mr. speaker, i rise in strong opposition to the ryan-mcconnell tax scam bill. this bill should be named the republican donor class relief act. because that's what it is. and several my republican colleagues and many in the media have admitted as much. this tax scam represents -- it will test a set of priorities, revealing deep depravity of american values. one of the first principles of our judeo-christian value system is grounded in what we do for the least of these. from the outset, this bill violates that principle by lowering the marginal tax rates on the wealthiest among us by 2.6 appointments while raising those rates on the least among us by two points. this tax scam bill adds insult to that act by doubling the estate tax exemption from 11 -- $11 million to $22 million. republicans add further insult to injury by lowering the tax rates for corporations by 14 points, while raising tax rates on 86 million middle income families. it makes the tax cuts for corporations permanent and th

[applause] speaker ryan: i just want to quickly say a thanks. this has been such a team effort. i want to thank gary cohn and steve mnuchin from the economic team for what they did to get up here. [applause] speaker ryan: i want to thank my partner mitch mcconnell in the senate and i want to thank these two chairman, orrin hatch and kevin brady. thank you for your leadership on this. [applause] speaker ryan: it is really simple. the message to the hard-working taxpayers of america is your tax relief is on its way. that is what is happening here. the message to the families in america who have been struggling paycheck to paycheck, your tax rates are going down and your paychecks are going up. this is the kind of relief that americans deserve. this is the kind of tax reform and tax cuts that get our economy growing to reach its potential. this gets us better wages, bigger paychecks, a simpler tax system. this gets the american economy competitive in the global economy. this is one of the most important things we could do for all of the people we represent. this is generational. we

clyburn: thank you, mr. speaker. i thank my friend for yielding me this time. mr. speaker, i rise in strong opposition to the ryan-mcconnell tax scam bill. this bill should be named the republican donor class relief act. because that's what it is. and several my republican colleagues and many in the media have admitted as much. this tax scam represents -- it will test a set of priorities, revealing deep depravity of american values. one of the first principles of our judeo-christian value system is grounded in what we do for the least of these. from the outset, this bill violates that principle by lowering the marginal tax rates on the wealthiest among us by 2.6 appointments while raising those rates on the least among us by two points. this tax scam bill adds insult to that act by doubling the estate tax exemption from 11 -- $11 million to $22 million. republicans add further insult to injury by lowering the tax rates for corporations by 14 points, while raising tax rates on 86 million middle income families. it makes the tax cuts for corporations permanent and th

also, i would like to tell you to be leery of speaker ryan. i think he is just waiting for a backlash of people turning against mr. trump if something goes wrong. i think he's just waiting to step up to the plate and kind of take over. guest: very interesting point, because he didn't really support him during the campaign and then came around in the end when it looked like the president was going to win. i think in the end the american people are pretty savvy and one of the things that they'll see is it's speaker ryan who is driving the train on this bill that doesn't really fulfill the promises of repealing obamacare. and perhaps you're right that he is waiting for president trump to stumble and then wants to step up to the plate. but i've seen a lot of politicians who plan that way and then give away their principles. people like governor kasich who was a real conservative when he was the budget chair but became a moderate, more liberal governor in ohio, took on obamacare, expanded the medicaid, and then people in the primaries said, wait a

president, if you enact the plan that's been put forward by the speaker of the house, paul ryan, and by the person, the person that president-elect trump has nominated to be his secretary of h.h.s., tom price, i encourage every american to look at their plan because they want to voucherize medicare and they want to save the medicare system money by raising the prices and the risks on every medicare beneficiary. that is the result of that plan. so, the affordable care act benefits 30 million people directly, and we need to make sure we don't put them in harm. but it also benefits all these other people in the system. the people on the employer-provided health plans who have seen historically low premium increases and seniors on medicare. rural hospitals will be particularly hard-hit by repealing the affordable care act. so the proposed republican action is going to think the those 30 million americans, including my neighbors in silver sprifnlgt it's also going to hit those tens of millions of other americans who may not realize the extent to which they're benefiting from the affordabl

speaker ryan said last night the current bill wouldn't likely not pass the u.s. house. mr. johnson, i wonder why in the world my colles on the other side of the aisle didn't have the courage or wisdom to ask this question off the -- >> you can continue to watch the hearing on c-span2 and prime time tonight on the c-span networks. live now to the u.s. house. members about to gavel n the speaker: the house will be n order. the speaker pro tempore: the prayer will be offered by the guest chaplain today, dr. reverend andrew chain fromy from springfield, missouri. the chaplain: let us pray. god, you are never far, but the busyness of each day makes you feel distant. inner barricades block your

paul ryan, come up and say a few words on a job well done. >> [applause] speaker ryan: thank you. first, thank you mr. president. thank you for your leadership. >> [applause] there are too many people tuning in getting us to this part. i would like to thank the members of their committees for all of the hard work they have put in to this point. >> [applause] speaker ryan: i want to thank all of the of their members who made this the best deal possible. it was a collaborative consensus driven effort. i want to thank the team at the white house. i want to thank tom price, mick mulvaney, and reince priebus. we could not have done this without you gentlemen. you guys are the best. >> [applause] speaker ryan: of course this would not have been possible if it weren't for these two gentlemen behind the. this is the fourth presidency i have served with. i have never seen engagement like this. i want to thank mike pence and donald trump for their personal involvement in working to get us to where we are. thank you gentlemen. >> [applause] today was a big day, but just one step in this proc

speaker, 11 months ago speaker ryan released the better way plan to save the nation's health care system and bring relief to the american people. this plan, which served as the blueprint for the american health care act, laid out policies to stabilize the markets damaged by the affordable care act, repeal the burdensome affordable care act taxes and mandates that have hindered innovation and limited access to care. so let's take a look at what the american health care act does. first and foremost, the american health care act provides immediate relief to the state insurance markets. as republicans we know that one-size-fits-all works for no one and certainly did not work for the individual markets. the states should have the flexibility to support their insurance markets and ensure that plans can continue to provide options for coverage. to do this we relax two of the more egregious market regulations that were imposed -- imposed under the affordable care act. the mandate pleemums cannot vary for younger and older americans by more than three to one ratio, and the mandate creating fixed

here's the simple reality, mr. speaker. republicans only care about deficits when they want to cut spending on programs for the poor, for veterans, elderly or our veteran. republicans only care about debt when they want to slash social security and medicare. republicans only care about that and are only fiscally responsible when there's a democrat in the white house. but the american people are now seeing right through this. they see through this hypocrisy just like they see right through donald trump's excuses about his tax returns. they want us to reject this republican tax plan, and it's about time we started listening to them. thank you and i yield back. ms. jayapal: thank you so much, mr. gallego, for your incredible leadership and, you know, one of the things when we think about this plan, there's really -- it's a three-step plan. number one, transfer wealth. trillions of dollars of wealth in tax cuts from middle-class working families to the top 1%. number two, explode the deficit, which we know is part of this deal.

[applause] vice-president pence: to members of our cabinet, to leader mcconnell and speaker ryan and all these members of congress, thank you. thank you for not only being here today for this special moment, but thank you for your leadership and support throughout this year. i truly do believe, mr. president, that this will be remembered as a pivotal moment in the life of our nation. a day when the congress answered your call and made history. but honestly, i would say to the american people, president trump has been making history since the first day of this administration. we have been rebuilding our military, standing with our veterans. just last week, president trump signed one of the largest investments in our national defense since the days of ronald reagan. we have been defending our rule of law. illegal crossings on our southern border are down more than 50%. president trump has been restoring american credibility on the world stage, standing with our allies and standing up to our enemies. as the president reflected today, our nato allies are paying more toward the common def

called on house speaker paul ryan to step down. after that he targeted conservative republicans in the house freedom caucus that opposed the bill. when you go to amber phillips' column, she says mr. trump came into this job knowing zilch about the way washington worked. why else would he promised to get obamacare repealed, a bill," in theax first 100 days. if not decades. the president has shown little desire to learn. next on our democrats line, go ahead iris. caller: i am concerned about the government shutdown. for myself and millions of seniors. if we lose our social security, which is small, i can see our landlords taking us out on the street is a lot of them are like , "we want our money now." we won't be able to afford food or anything. n't taxt time they did us, but this time i feel they will be aggressive. personally, i think his attitude "why will belike, done" or else. he is too aggressive. too aggressive. he wants what he wants regardless of the consequences for anyone else. that is extremely frightening for our economy

mr. speaker, here sour chance to do just that. if we defeat the previous question, i will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up h.r. 3440, the dream act. the bipartisan, bicameral legislation that has the support of the majority of this house and would pass if it were brought up for a vote. mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the record along with extraneous material prior to the vote on the previous question. with that, i yield three minutes to the gentleman from texas, mr. doggett. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for three minutes. mr. doggett: thank you. i'm all in favor of keeping our government open. the difference that i have with my republican colleagues, i want to keep it open for everyone. you know, here at christmas, we think of the children first. but the children are not put first in this underlying bill. the children's health insurance program is barely left on life support. there are children out there right now, some with dread diseases or disabilities

the speaker pro tempore: without objection. >> thank you, mr. speaker. mr. tonko: i rise in opposition to the ryan-mcconnell tax plan that puts the needs ahead of the american people. this tears away protections with student loans and americans who choose to adopt children and strips support and even those whose homes have burned down. this plan, americans will see their taxes go up and millions more will face tax increases in the future. all this is done while giving tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires and increasing the deficit and pus the economic future in deep jeopardy. this is not the type of tax relief that we need to deserve. put the noods of the american eople first and oppose the ryan-mcconnell tax plan. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentleman from california seek recognition? >> permission to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. > i rise today to congratulate representative jackson lee for ill be r winning the

trump has done such as terminating mr. .omey, may have been legal house speaker paul ryan and mitch mcconnell can no longer duck these issues in an effort to focus on the gop agenda. the russia-comey fiasco is now the country's agenda. mr. trump, if his denials are true, should welcome an independent inquiry. linda on our independent line in little falls, minnesota. caller: i agree fully with the last two. they stole my thunder, just about every word practically i was going to say, the last two calls. ,ne thing i could add is everybody in the whole united states had better get on their knees and start praying. that is the only thing that is going to help this nation. host: herald in tacoma, washington, republican line. caller: am i on? host: you are on, go ahead. caller: i think it is the russians playing us. they have very intelligent people, but they are too close to the situation. at, basicallyook they are saying who is telling this? who is telling that? that is playing into the russians' game of all of us saying, what is going on? we are just getting worse and worse about who is doing thi

ryan as speaker was a $500 billion 700uction to medicare and a $ billion or $00 billion reduction to medicaid. 60% of which go to the elderly in nursing homes. that's what they have in mind. secondly, they'll talk about a trillion dollar infrastructure. no way. the money is gone. there will be no infrastructure program no roads new york trains new york buses. no levees. no repair. mr. tonko: and mr. garamendi, i would point out, tinkering with the public utility bonds, that public utility financing that will be devastated by this bill, adds to the further woes for building our investments in infrastructure of all kinds. mr. garamendi: and you might add education to that. so what do you do? student loans, of which $1.4 trillion and nearly $1 trillion of that is owned by the federal government. these students are paying interest to the federal government and to add to that we're going to deny them the ability to deduct the student interest -- the loan interest that they're paying. this is just really hypocritical and it is very, very harmful to the economy. we want to do job training.

it begins with house speaker paul ryan. vice president biden: mr. vice president biden: mr. speaker, members of congress, pursuant to the constitutional laws of the united states, the senate and the house of representatives are meeting in joint session to verify the certificates and count the votes of the electors of the several states for president and vice president of the united states. certificates and count the votes of the electors of the several states for president and vice president of the united states. after the ascertainment has been had, the certificates are authentic and correct in form, the tellers will count and make a list of the votes cast by the electors in the several states. the tellers on the part of the two houses will take their place at the clerk's desk. the tellers will dispense with reading formal portions of the certificates. after ascertaining the certificates are regular in form and authentic, the tellers will announce the votes cast by the electors from each state beginning with the state of alabama. >> mr. speaker, the certificate of the elect

mrs. black: thank you, mr. speaker. it really is my privilege now to yield one minute to the distinguished man from wisconsin, the speaker of the house, paul ryan. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. he speaker: thank you. i haven't said anything yet. first off, there are a few people i'd like to thank. i'd like to thank the committee chairs, i'd like to thank chairman walden, chairman brady, chairwoman black, chairman sessions. i want to thank the members of those committees, energy and commerce, ways and means, budget and rules. i want to thank all the members who made constructive contributions throughout this entire deliberative bottom-up organic process. i want to thank the president of the united states for his teadfast leadership. the speaker pro tempore: the house will be in order the speaker: he called on congress to act and today we take the next step to repeal and replace obamacare. i want to thank vice president pence, secretary price, director mulvaney and all their teams. m

ryan, or 30 minutes. mr. ryan: thank you, mr. speaker. i appreciate the opportunity to be here this evening on the floor of the united states house of representatives. and talk about a timely issue most s an issue that is important to most of the american people. and that is the issue of the economy, globalization, automation, all of the issues that are coming down on many communities across the united states. and i want to take this opportunity to spend the next 30 minutes walking through for the american people a little bit about what's happened and talk very clearly about the differences in approach on how we deal with these issues and how the republican party is trying to deal with these issues. and how those of us on the democratic side want to deal with these issues. and i don't want to get into a suggestion at all, mr. speaker, about who hates whom and who's bad and who's good and who's this and who's that. i want to talk about the facts. and i want to talk about the historical facts and i want to talk about what is happening to av

aguilar: thank you, mr. speaker. earlier this year we watched president donald trump and speaker paul ryan ram their health care bill through the house of representatives before it even had a cost analysis. it didn't take long for us to learn why. it will strip over 20 million americans of affordable health care. it will drive up premiums and out-of-pocket expenses for older americans by as much as 25%. it will allow insurance companies to discriminate against pregnant women, children, and seniors. . this is so donald trump can give a tax break to his healthy friends this will literally be a death sentence to many americans. house republicans had years -- let me say that again -- had years to come up with ways to make health care more affordable, but instead, they would rather pull the plug out from millions of families who put their health care in the hands of the insurance companies. since the affordable care act was signed into law, nearly 40,000 of my constituents have enrolled in cover california, and nearly 200

mr. speaker, i yield one minute to the gentleman from connecticut, mr. courtney. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from connecticut is recognized for one minute. . mr. courtney: last night speaker ryan told people obamacare is trumbling. i would like to share just a tiny fraction of the emails my office has received in the last few days to demonstrate that the opposite is true. peter, 63-year-old farmer from ellington, connecticut, a.c.a. has allowed me and my wife access to quality health care. if this law is repealed either i sell off my land and livestock or go without insurance. becky, a 41-year-old small business owner and single mom. before a.c.a. hadn't seen a doctor in four years. now she and her kids have a plan for $315 a month. 53-year-old freelance designer past two years he and his wife have been covered by an affordable plan. the same message from michelle, a registered nurse with health issues. sue, her husband has cancer. barbara, 59-year-old registered nurse with chronic condition. all are watching this destructive process with an -- with out

speaker ryan now is the only speaker who is not allowed an open rule. boehner, pelosi, hastert, and gingrich allowed open rules. this is the first time we never had one. so, mr. speaker, again i would say to my colleagues process matters. this is really a sad day for this house, for this institution. and i hope my republican friends think about it a little bit because you are doing great damage to this institution. that makes me very, very sad. with that i reserve my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from alabama is recognized. mr. byrne: when we adopt this rule--let me tell you who will be happy, tens and thousands of small businesses and their employees across america. that's going to be happy. you know what? we're not here to make ourselves happy. we're here to make the people that sent us here and expect us to do their business, we're here to make them happy. we're going to make them happy today as we have done over and over again this year by passing legislation that works for them not for

i first want to applaud speaker ryan for forming a working group on this important issue. the gentleman and i have met numerous times on this. i've talked to the president about it as well. he's been very clear, and i agree with the president's position. ourts have shown that the past was unconstitutional, and that means the congress has to do their job one thing i would hate to happen here, that we only do the job halfway and then have this problem come back us to. the president asked about border security as well. i believe we can find a solution here together. i look forward to working with you. the president has challenged this congress to find a solution. i believe we can. we're going to work to make sure we get it done. i would like to do it sooner than the time frame the president has given. i yield become. mr. hoyer: i welcome the majority leader's thought that he wants to do it sooner rather than later. i will support himn that effort. i would say in his comment, with reference to a comprehensive solution, we're for a comprehensive solution, and we'd like to see,

so now the race is on, mr. speaker. to smear the f.b.i. the race is on to smear mr. mueller, the very man who was praised by senator mcconnell, who was praised by speaker ryan. who was described by all of our colleagues as beyond reproach. unimpeachable. the former director of the f.b.i. former u.s. attorney for massachusetts and california. a decorated veteran of the vietnam war and now suddenly, they cry havoc they set loose the dogs of war on mr. mueller. and why? because he's doing his job. because we have two guilty pleas. one by the president's former national security advisor, mr. flynn. one by mr. papadopoulos. for lying to government agents. we've got 12 count indictments that have been handed down against mr. manafort and mr. page and they're afraid that the investigation might be closing in on the very highest levels of government so what do they do? they attack the prosecution. and that's what we've been seeing in washington over the last couple of weeks. a truly extraordinary display of contempt for the rule of law and the justice department and honest p

mr. boehner: where do i begin? big thanks, fred, for your short introduction. i think you did a very nice job without getting too carried away. thank you to the city club for the opportunity to be with all of you today. i especially want to thank the host. dick has been a longtime friend, supporter, and i did not know this was your luncheon. but thank you for having me here. i was here six years ago, right before i became speaker. i came at your invitation to an economic speech, where i called on the president to fire his economic team. they did not like that. they savaged me afterwards. but i think i was right. but here it is, six years later, no longer the stick of the house after spending some 25 years in the congress. as i told the students at notre dame -- notre dame gave vice president biden and i the laetare award. i told the students, you know "laetare" is a latin word. in english, it means "rejoice." exactly what i have done every day since i left. [laughter] mr. boehner: people

let's acknowledge the ryan amily. oh, wisconsin. got it. mr. speaker, god bless them, god bless you, god bless wisconsin. god bless the members of this house. god bless the united states of america. this is the people's house, this is the people's gavel. in the people's name it is my privilege to hand the gavel to the speaker of the house, paul ryan. the speaker: thank you very much. thank you. thank you. thank you. thank you very much. i'll be relatively brief. i want to thank madam leader. you know, i stood in this spot very, very many times. today, though, feels a whole lot different. part of it has to do with all the new faces in the house. you look at all the proud spouses, these beaming children, at their best. people's parents. it's hard if not impossible, to resist this rush of substance abuse yasm. there's no sense of foreboding in this house today. there's only the sense of potential. it kind of reminds you that no matter how long you've been here, you haven't seen it all. so i just want to say, to our new members, and to their famili

speaker ryan talked about the debt ceiling deal. here is what he had to say. [video clip] interpretations and all the stuff about the meeting yesterday, isn't it a good thing that congressional leaders talk? that is probably a pretty good thing. number two, the president made it clear that what he was aiming for that meeting yesterday was a bipartisan moment while the country is facing two horrible hurricanes. what he made clear -- personally, i think the debt limit and the credit market, the longer, the better. but he was interested in making sure that we have this i partisan moment in responding to these hurricanes. he made that clear. host: here is joe, the bronx. democrat line. caller: good morning. bill, what i want to explain to the people that are calling in mr. trumpto the deal made with the democrats, it seems to me i have not heard exactly what they should focus and understand out of this deal. late for the very hurricane that took place in texas. the deal was the democrats understood, or they understand, this country is the country of all the people

trump said and i quote you know speaker ryan, ryan is the republican speaker in the house. he wants to knock medicare waygo down and frankly you are going to lose the election if you were going to do that. i am not going to cut it and i'm not going to do all of the things they want to do. but they want to really cut it and they want to cut it substantially. the republicans are not going to do that and what mr. trump said was exactly right. this is the day. they want to cut social security they want to cut medicare, they want to cut medicaid. mr. trump was right and millions of people voted for him on the belief that he would keep his word. it seems to me mr. trump right now has got to do one of two things. number one, if all that he was talking about was campaign rhetoric than what he was up -- obliged to do now is to tell the american people i was lying. "i said i would not support cuts to social security and medicare but it was a campaign ruse. it's ruse. they just said what came to my mind to get votes." and if that's what he c believes let him come forward and say that.