Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 116 CONGRESS, SECOND 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 116 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 166 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2020 No. 24 House of Representatives The House met at 10 a.m. and was be difficult and can delay their care full of exaggerations, half-truths, and called to order by the Speaker pro tem- leading to worse health outcomes. outright falsehoods. The President pre- pore (Mr. CUELLAR). Montana, unfortunately, also has the tended to have addressed, or was going f highest suicide rate in the Nation. to address, concerns of the American Thousands of Montanans lack adequate people. DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO access to mental healthcare. He said he is taking care of prescrip- TEMPORE Telehealth can fix these problems. tion drugs. Yeah. Really. They haven’t The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- Telehealth increases access to care, done a damn thing. We sent a bill to fore the House the following commu- brings down healthcare costs, and, in the Senate and it is sitting there. nication from the Speaker: some cases, saves lives. Second, he said, oh, we are going to WASHINGTON, DC, Unfortunately, Federal telehealth protect preexisting conditions. Funny February 5, 2020. programs have been poorly managed. thing, his Attorney General is in court I hereby appoint the Honorable HENRY Currently, 10 different Federal agencies arguing that those preexisting condi- CUELLAR to act as Speaker pro tempore on operate telehealth programs with little tions should no longer be protected. this day. or no coordination between them. But, hey, what the heck. NANCY PELOSI, That is why Chairwoman ESHOO and I And then he did devote one sen- Speaker of the House of Representatives. have worked for months on ways to im- tence—one sentence—to infrastructure. f prove and increase telehealth services. What happened to the $2 trillion plan MORNING-HOUR DEBATE I appreciate her leadership on this im- he campaigned on and carries on about portant issue. all the time? Well, so far, he has only The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- Today, we introduce the National proposed cuts. ant to the order of the House of Janu- Telehealth Strategy and Data Ad- But one issue of vital concern to the ary 7, 2020, the Chair will now recog- vancement Act. Our bill reauthorizes American people that is the focus this nize Members from lists submitted by telehealth grant programs, provides week—this is National Gun Violence the majority and minority leaders for greater oversight of Federal agencies, Survivors Week—did not receive a sin- morning-hour debate. and helps implement telehealth pro- gle mention by the President, despite The Chair will alternate recognition grams across the country. the fact that several commonsense bi- between the parties, with time equally Using modern technology to make partisan reforms and programs have allocated between the parties and each healthcare more accessible is a com- passed this House and have received no Member other than the majority and monsense solution. It will particularly action in the Senate in a year. minority leaders and the minority help us with our rural doctor shortage H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Comprehensive whip limited to 5 minutes, but in no in Montana. Background Checks Act, passed on event shall debate continue beyond This bill will ensure that patients February 27. No action in the Senate. 11:50 a.m. can have access to doctors and special- The Enhanced Background Checks f ists in a way that is convenient for Act passed February 28—bipartisan. them. Again, no action in the Senate. TELEHEALTH INCREASES ACCESS I look forward to working on this bi- Every year, guns are sold to people TO CARE FOR MONTANANS partisan bill. It is a critical step as we who aren’t supposed to have them—in- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The ensure all Americans, particularly cluding at that horrible church shoot- Chair recognizes the gentleman from those in our rural and frontier areas, ing a couple of years ago—because of a Montana (Mr. GIANFORTE) for 5 min- have access to better, affordable mandate that, if there is confusion utes. healthcare. over a background check, they have to Mr. GIANFORTE. Mr. Speaker, many f get the gun within 3 days. Montanans live in frontier and rural Over the last 10 years, 35,000 guns, be- areas where access to doctors and spe- GUN VIOLENCE SURVIVORS WEEK cause of that provision, were sold to cialists is a big challenge. They don’t The SPEAKER pro tempore. The people who were not qualified under worry about when they can see a doc- Chair recognizes the gentleman from Federal law to have the guns. And tor; they worry if there is even a doc- Oregon (Mr. DEFAZIO) for 5 minutes. guess what. Then the Feds contact the tor to see. Mr. DEFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, last FBI who screwed up the background For Montana seniors with mobility night in this Chamber, we heard a check, contacts the local law enforce- issues, getting out to see a doctor can bloviating, self-congratulatory speech ment and says, ‘‘Hey, go get the gun 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. H767 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:03 Feb 06, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A05FE7.000 H05FEPT1 dlhill on DSKBBY8HB2PROD with HOUSE H768 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE February 5, 2020 from that felon,’’ endangering our local ing the singing of the national anthem, Midwest Battle Buddies has seen the law enforcement. just past the end zone, my mentor and possible impact service dog therapy This would plug that loophole. friend, 96-year-old Senator Bob Dole, can have for our cherished veterans. The Violence Against Women Act Re- who was seriously wounded during his I look forward to passing the PAWS authorization passed April 4. No action service in World War II, insisted on for Veterans Therapy Act to extend ac- in the Senate. And, for the first time in standing up out of his wheelchair dur- cess to service dog therapy throughout 20 years, we are going to do some re- ing the performance. And with a little the VA, to provide the best treatment search on gun violence. There are other help, that is exactly what he did. for America’s veterans. bills we should be doing. In an age when people can’t even In my State, we have adopted red agree in honoring our flag, it is power- f flag laws. And over here, they say, ful to see one of our Nation’s greatest HONORING GUN VIOLENCE well, we can’t have red flag laws for heroes from our Greatest Generation SURVIVORS’ WEEK abusers because of their constitutional continue to show us the way. rights. Thank you, Senator Dole, for your The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Well, we have set it up in a way that patriotism and love of country. Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from we have had 160 petitions for red flag And congratulations to my Super Georgia (Mrs. MCBATH) for 5 minutes. restrictions. Most of them—actually, Bowl champions, the Kansas City Mrs. MCBATH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in the majority—were for people at risk of Chiefs. honor of Gun Violence Survivors Week because I, too, am a survivor. suicide; and then a minority were for CHAOS AT THE IOWA CAUCUS abusive relationships, and 32 of those Mr. MARSHALL. Mr. Speaker, on This week, just a month into the new were denied by a judge. Monday, we all saw the Iowa caucus year, there will have been more gun Due process was followed, but lives and the chaos that Democrats are of- deaths in the United States than our were saved. But, no, we can’t take that. fering—chaos, along with higher taxes peer countries will experience in an en- Bump stocks, we banned fully auto- and Medicare for all that takes away tire year—one month. matic weapons decades ago. Bump the insurance that you get at your job. I wear black today. I wear black all stocks, essentially, turn a semiauto- As Senate Majority Leader MCCON- week long to stand for every survivor, matic into a very inaccurate, nearly NELL said yesterday, these same Demo- every victim, every family that mourns full automatic in terms of ready to crats who want to take over everyone’s the unnecessary gun deaths that hap- fire. But if you are shooting at a sta- healthcare and micromanage the entire pen each and every single day. dium full of people, it doesn’t matter economy couldn’t even organize their I met earlier this week with Mary how inaccurate it is; you are going to own traditional Iowa caucuses. Miller-Strobel, whose brother, Ben, was hit a lot of people. Contrast this to last night at the a combat veteran suffering from de- We can’t even bring up legislation— State of the Union message when pression and PTSD. Ben had lost 30 or, well, the Republicans won’t support President Trump talked about the pounds after his tour. Returning home, legislation to ban bump stocks, hate strongest economy of our lifetimes, in- his father asked him about his weight crimes legislation, the list goes on. cluding record job and wage growth. loss. Ben replied that he couldn’t eat, Just one other quick issue.