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

[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

[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

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

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

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

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

speaker ryan, it was this side of the aisle that ept the government open. it was this side of the aisle that made sure we didn't efault on our debts. so, mr. leader, i want to be constructive. i don't want to argue further on this. it is to say, however, to all of us -- i talked to some of your members privately. they're shaking their heads. why are we in this position? we ought not to be in this position. and every one of us that sits in this body, every one of us ought to be saying to ourselves, we need to act constructively. this is -- confrontation is not constructive. the failure to reach agreement. schip. we passed we agreed on the authorizing side. unfortunately we couldn't agree on the funding side because you wanted to cut things we ought not to be cut. clearly we would have gotten to an agreement. in fact, you passed a bill on ipab, $17.6 billion unpaid for that would have paid for all of that. all of that. so mr. leader, i will yield to if you want but i just plead with every one of the members of the body, this is not good for the american peopl

thank you, mr. speaker. and i yield back the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back the balance of his time. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from ohio seek recognition? without objection. >> i rise today to talk about tax reform. tax reform should be all about helping those who are in need. mrs. beatty: working families, veterans, seniors, small business owners, just to name a few. unfortunately the plan that the congressional republicans are currently ramming through the senate with a vote that could happen just in a few short hours does exactly the opposite. the plan would overwhelmingly benefit the superrich, the well connected and at the expense of the middle class, small business, not to mention veterans, seniors struggling to make ends meet. the middle class and small businesses, we can do better by them. instead of giving us a budget-busting half trillion dollar tax cut to the wealthiest americans, let's provide greater tax relief to working families, let's keep our promise to the veterans, let's strengt

speaker paul ryan of wisconsin placed a hasty phone call to his senior senator, ron johnson, in an attempt to resolve the likely conflict in his backyard. mr. johnson is the first to say he cannot vote for the senate version of the tax bill. during the phone call, mr. ryan posed an essential question -- what are you going to need? he said, is needs, for the bill to treat more favorably small businesses and's -- and other so-called pass-through entities, businesses whose profits are distributed to their owners and taxed at rates for individuals. the senate finance committee moving ahead on its legislation, two different versions, the house passing it thursday on a partyline vote with 13 republicans voting against it. no democrat supporting it. look for a vote in the senate early next month. thad is joining us from south carolina, republican line. caller: good morning. a couple weeks ago or a week ago, you will have the chairman of the ethics committee on, and i want you to kind of help me out here. i understood her to say that they only investigated incidents that happened after they are in

mr. hensarling: mr. speaker, for almost a decade, americans suffered under obamanomics. their savings remained disamated, their paychecks stagnant but a new day has dawned under the leadership of president trump and speaker ryan and chairman brady. flatter the edge of a three e, one built for percent-plus of growth. this brings jobs and capital back to america. it simplifies from 75,000 pages to 500, where americans can fill out their return on a postcard. they can imagine a tax code swept of all the special interest loopholes. they can imagine a tax code creating lower rates for working americans and small businesses, and they can now imagine a tax code that's all about economic growth. and all my friends on the other side of the aisle can offer is the politics, of division, envy and class warfare. i'm proud to support the tax cuts and jobs act because it's all about better jobs, fairer taxes and bigger paychecks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. both sides have 44 minutes remaining in this debate. the gentleman from massachusetts. mr. neal: th

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.

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

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 hereby -- the clerk: the speaker's room, washington, d.c., november 7, 2017, i hereby appoint the mr. weber to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, paul d. ryan, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the order of the house of january 3, 2017, the chair will now recognize members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for mog

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.

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

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

the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. kildee: mr. speaker, middle class families should be the focus of tax relief. not billionaires. not the wealthiest americans. unfortunately the ryan-mcconnell tax plan fails that basic test. independent analysis shows that the republican plan would actually raise taxes on many middle class families. ,iving billionaires, the top 1% the biggest breaks. the nonpartisan tax policy center says that middle class families could actually pay an increase of d 1,29 -- of $1,290 a year. even worse, the families i represent would be asked to foot the bill for a big, massive giveaway to the rich. under the republican plan, the wealthiest families, 5,400 families that are the superwealthy in this country, would get a $270 billion break. through the repeal of the estate tax. 100 families in my home state of michigan, the devos family, certainly the trump family. this is not representative of the values of the american people. just saying that the people at the top won't benefit doesn't make it true.

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,

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

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

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

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

mr. gallego: mr. speaker, as candidate, donald trump made some big promises on health care to the american people. g.o.p. leadership in the house and senate have affected those promises. but the trump-ryan health care bill and the senate version of the g.o.p. bill fail to deliver on those promises. donald trump promised health care for all of the american people, even though the a.c.a. expanded health coverage to nearly 20 million americans, donald trump said he didn't think it provided enough people with coverage. he said, and i quote, we're going to have insurance for everybody. . and i'm not going to leave the lower 20% who can't afford insurance off. the congressional budget office says that 14 million people would immediately lose coverage under the trump-ryan plan, and 24 million people would lose coverage by 2027. the senate version of the bill isn't much different. trump also promised that americans would enjoy cheaper health insurance with much lower deductibles. his health and human services

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. stivers: it is great to be on. ms. swain: let me introduce our two reporters asking questions. both with the first name of scott. scott bland is the campaign editor for politico and hosts politico's "nerdcast." scott wong is from the hill. both are making a return visit to "newsmakers." you are up first, scott wong. mr. wong: thank you for being here, mr. stivers. former director comey, who is testifying on capitol hill as we speak, has said that donald trump told him in the oval office that the russian investigations have been a cloud over his administration. "cloud" was the word that he used. do you believe that the russian investigation, these multipronged investigations, the fbi ones and the ones going on on capitol hill, are distracting from the gop agenda? and how do you see these russian investigations impacting house races around the country? mr. stivers: i was glad to see former director mueller named as a special investigator to look into this. i have supported the house and

paul ryan and senator john mccain and lindsey graham will be speakers. biden is attending saying he believes in bipartisan and importance of keeping good lines of communication open. read more about that at the hill this morning. anthony, washington d.c. independent line. caller: good morning. i think they doing as best job they can. he's a pathological liar. he would say how the president is upset. he tweets from anonymous sources everyday. he's undermining those guys. i feel sorry for them. of three of them all day long on one subject and have three different answers. host: we had several viewers saying they appreciate the president tweeting. caller: the problem with that is, he wants you to think that what i'm telling you is the truth. don't worry about what the news say. that's why we have the first amendment. we can't help one person saying. forget about the news it's fake news. it can't work that way. host: jenny in maryland democrats line. caller: good morning. thank you for having me here. i had a lot of people saying that president -- i want to

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

brian: paul ryan wasn't always speaker of the house. here he is questioning your old friend, jon koskinen. mr. koskinen may not like the fact i called him "old." your longtime friend. here he is. i want you to explain this one. [video clip] >> i'm listening to this testimony. i don't believe it. that is your problem. nobody believes you. >> i have a long career. that is the first time anybody has said they did not believe me. that's fine. we can have a disagreement. i'm willing to stand on our record. [end video clip] brian: what do you think? tom: congress does not like john koskinen. congress likes to call in the irs and berate their officials. when i was covering congress, they did it every year. i thought it was one of the phoniest moments of the year on capitol hill. they berate the irs because the tax code is complicated, but congress wrote it. john koskinen was 78 years old and barack obama had to talk him into taking this job. so guess what? he does not care about snippy young congressman. he's indifferent to that. i have seen t

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

paul ryan, house speaker, on fox news, not only talked about the firing, but what happens next, also talks about his thoughts on a special prosecutor to take a look into the russia investigation. here it is. >> senator mccain can and a few others are calling for a special prosecutor. obviously democrats are in lock step on calling for that. why is that not a good idea? >> yeah, i don't think that's a good idea. first of all, we have three investigations going on right now. we have a house investigation by our intelligence committee, which is the appropriate committee to do that, i believe. and we have a senate intelligence committee, you just played richard burr, and you have the f.b.i. investigating all things russia. so i don't think that that's a good idea. i think the intelligence committee are the ones that should do this, because don't forget that the methods and sources of our intelligence gathering are also at play here, and we have to be very sensitive so we don't compromise that information as well. so i really do believe that these three investigations are the way to go. l

[applause] speaker ryan: thank you. first, thank you, mr. president. thank you. thank you for your leadership. [applause] there are too many people today -- to name who played such an important role in helping us get to this part, but i want to thank a few people in particular. i want to thank chairman greg 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] i want to thank 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] 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. i want to thank mike pence a

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

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

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

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

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

remain in place, as paul ryan, our speaker said on friday, and i quote, obamacare is the law of the land. the affordable care act is, indeed, the law of the land. mr. speaker, i rise, however, in deep concern, that the trump administration and allies in congress will take steps to undermine the law and weaken it. to the detriment of millions who will see their health care put at risk. in other words, in my view, they may well try to do indirectly what they could not do directly. let it be absolutely clear, republicans control the white house, the senate, and the house of representatives. as a result, they are the governing party as a result, they are the governing party and will be responsible for anything that happens on our health care -- to our health care on their watch. even without passage of a repeal bill, the trump administration's actions could fundamentally undermine the law and the stability of our health care system. first and foremost, the trump administration must commit to continuing payments for cost-sharing subsidies. we met with insurance companies yesterday to see

after a meeting of house republicans, speaker paul ryan talked to reporters about the gop agenda following the failure to pass a health care bill to replace the affordable care act. this is 10 minutes. mr. ryan:

speaker paul ryan is left badly bruised by the help defeat -- health defeat. dynamics could shift quickly. several of mr. trump's advisers have been casting blame on mr. ryan, who is close with the presidency. mr. trump ha is also known to grow angry over time when faced with public embarrassment. that from inside the "new york times." this is from "the national review." it is the editorial available this morning on the website. republicans more or less fell into a losing strategy. they begin by thinking they could quickly reveal obamacare and replace it at leisure. we know many republicans on the hill -- that this morning from "national review." here is more with speaker ryan. he met with reporters friday after announcing the bill would be pulled. >> we want to secure the border. we want to build our military. we want to get the deficit under control. we want infrastructure and tax reform. the last question about tax reform, yes, this makes tax reform more difficult, but it does not make it impossible. we will proceed with tax reform and continue with tax ref

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