Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 115 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 115 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 163 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2017 No. 100 House of Representatives The House met at 10 a.m. and was Afghanistan is the biggest waste of floor of the House to have that kind of called to order by the Speaker pro tem- life and money I have ever seen in my debate on Afghanistan. pore (Mr. COMER). life. I have beside me two little girls Again, it is almost like it doesn’t f who, at the time, lived in my district: exist, but it does exist when we bring Eden Baldridge and Stephanie bills to the floor to continue to spend DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO Baldridge. Their daddy, Kevin, was billions of dollars over there. And John TEMPORE sent from Camp Lejeune, which is in Sopko, the inspector general for Af- The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- my district, along with Colonel Ben- ghan reconstruction, has testified that fore the House the following commu- jamin Palmer, who serves at Cherry waste, fraud, and abuse is worse in Af- nication from the Speaker: Point, which is also in my district. ghanistan today than it was 16 years WASHINGTON, DC, They were sent to Afghanistan 3 years ago. June 13, 2017. ago to train Afghanistans how to be po- Mr. Speaker, again, I want to say to I hereby appoint the Honorable JAMES licemen. the families of the three servicemen COMER to act as Speaker pro tempore on this Well, the tragedy of this story is that who I read their names—I will one day. Corporal Baldridge emailed his wife, more time—Corporal Dillon Baldridge, PAUL D. RYAN, Amy, and said: ‘‘Amy, I don’t trust Sergeant William Bays, Sergeant Erick Speaker of the House of Representatives. them. I don’t trust any of them.’’ And Houck: God be with you. We in the f the very next day, he was shot, along House of Representatives, both parties, MORNING-HOUR DEBATE with Colonel Palmer, and killed. send to you our sincere condolences. Yet we in the Congress have never I thank the good Lord that they were The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- had a debate since 2001 on the future of willing to give their life for this coun- ant to the order of the House of Janu- America’s involvement in Afghanistan. try. It is just a matter of why in the ary 3, 2017, the Chair will now recog- That is why JOHN GARAMENDI and some world do we continue to be in a coun- nize Members from lists submitted by on my side and his side—he is a Demo- try known as the empire of graveyards, the majority and minority leaders for crat—have put in a bill, H.R. 1668. All since so many countries have been morning-hour debate. we are asking is that we have a debate. there and failed? And that is all we are The Chair will alternate recognition You can be for the bill that Mr. doing, is failing, too, by wasting life between the parties. All time shall be GARAMENDI and I have put in or you and money. equally allocated between the parties, can be against it, but give us a chance f and in no event shall debate continue to have a debate. beyond 11:50 a.m. Each Member, other In 16 years, we have spent over $850 THE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE HAS than the majority and minority leaders billion, over 2,000 Americans have been OVERSIGHT OF THE JUSTICE DE- and the minority whip, shall be limited killed and 20,000 severely wounded, yet PARTMENT to 5 minutes. it seems like the leadership in Con- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The f gress does not understand that we have Chair recognizes the gentleman from a constitutional responsibility, and Illinois (Mr. GUTIE´ RREZ) for 5 minutes. AMERICAN SOLDIERS KILLED IN that responsibility is to debate, espe- Mr. GUTIE´ RREZ. Mr. Speaker, the AFGHANISTAN cially when we are asking our young saga continues, and there seems to be The SPEAKER pro tempore. The men and women to go overseas and no end in sight for the Trump adminis- Chair recognizes the gentleman from give their life for this country. tration’s growing legal and ethical North Carolina (Mr. JONES) for 5 min- Yet again, we have not had a debate problems. Every day another shoe utes. since 2001. There are 300 members of drops, or at least another foot is in- Mr. JONES. Mr. Speaker, sadly, I Congress sitting on the floor today serted into the administration’s come to the floor to remind the Mem- from both parties who were not here in mouth. bers of the House, as well as the Amer- 2001 and who have never been part of a The testimony of James Comey be- ican people, that three Americans were debate on Afghanistan. I don’t know fore the Senate Intelligence Committee killed last week in Afghanistan: Cor- what else we can do. We have written last week showed us that this is no poral Dillon Baldridge, Sergeant Wil- the Speaker of the House individually, longer just a matter of foreign intel- liam Bays, Sergeant Eric Houck. They myself included, and as a group, Repub- ligence and the Russian meddling in were killed by the Afghans they were lican and Democrat, asking the Speak- American elections. While that is very training. er to permit a new AUMF to get to the important and we need to address the b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H4857 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:34 Jun 14, 2017 Jkt 069060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A13JN7.000 H13JNPT1 H4858 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE June 13, 2017 foreign intelligence and security as- 100 Senators as well, regardless of their ing our valued veterans one step closer pects of that matter, the very impor- party affiliation. to the care they deserve. tant question of how we keep Russia At least one senior senator called KINSLEY, KANSAS, SUMMER FOOD SERVICE from hacking our elections in the fu- this policy opposing congressional PROGRAM ture, what is clear is that the inves- oversight nonsense. To his credit, the Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Speaker, last tigations into the Trump administra- Republican chairman of the Judiciary weekend I was honored to join the tion are now matters for the Judiciary Committee in the Senate, Mr. GRASS- Kinsley, Kansas, Summer Food Service Committee. LEY of Iowa, is not impacted by the Program at the Kinsley-Offerle Junior- The gentlewoman from California, Trump administration policy because Senior High School. It always makes Senator FEINSTEIN, and I were on CNN he is a chairman, but he spoke out my day when I walk into a room filled this weekend, and we made the point forcefully against the Presidential ob- with children I delivered in the past that the Judiciary Committee has the struction. See, my friends, that is how decade and their moms. oversight responsibility for the Justice you do it, the way Mr. GRASSLEY did it. Like those programs in communities Department, therefore, it is time for Follow his example. in my district and around the country, the committee to do its job. And then there is our old friend, the these folks serve free breakfast and That was the theme of my speech former Speaker and an adviser to the lunch, and the program is sponsored by here last week, and nothing has hap- President, Mr. Gingrich, who is now ad- the school district. It is great to see pened. It is also the reason I wrote to vising the President to terminate Mr. this local partnership, this community Judiciary Chairman BOB GOODLATTE Mueller, the former FBI Director in- coalition coming together to help their last week to request that he take ac- vestigating the President and his sub- children. tion, hold hearings, begin preparations ordinates, including the family mem- We live in the most prosperous coun- for the hearings that will come—and bers of the President. Mr. Gingrich said try in the world, where we have annu- they will come—because the silence of Mueller was a superb choice with an ally produced a tremendous abundance the Judiciary Committee has been impeccable reputation for fairness just of food, yet it continues to amaze me deafening so far. a couple of weeks ago, but now he says that we have the level of hunger that As soon as President Trump said on there is no way Mueller can be fair. He we do, especially among our own chil- Friday he was willing to testify under wants the President to fire Mueller and dren. oath 100 percent, I wrote Judiciary he wants a political fight against the Good nutrition is too important for Chairman GOODLATTE to say the com- very idea of special prosecutors. the development of these young minds mittee should schedule a hearing and Now, Mr. Gingrich has been joined in not to ensure, through the commu- take the President at his word. this chorus by a Trump confidante and nities and programs like these, that Now, I don’t think the chairman will golf buddy, the president of Newsmax, they are well fed. Whether you are in invite the President, a man he cam- who says the President is contem- the largest ag-producing district in the paigned for, because the role of the plating firing Mueller.