E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 116 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 165 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2019 No. 35 House of Representatives The House met at 10 a.m. and was director. Some of these facilities have EMERGENCY DECLARATION called to order by the Speaker pro tem- not been staffed by a permanent direc- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The pore (Ms. KELLY of Illinois). tor in almost 2 years. Instead, these fa- Chair recognizes the gentleman from f cilities are managed by short-term di- New Jersey (Mr. MALINOWSKI) for 5 rectors who stay on the job for just a minutes. DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO few months. Mr. MALINOWSKI. Madam Speaker, TEMPORE There is just not a lot you can do in I rise to urge that we come together The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- a few months. It is not nearly long today to defend the Constitution of the fore the House the following commu- enough to review operations, rec- United States by repudiating President nication from the Speaker: ommend improvements, and see these Trump’s emergency declaration of Feb- WASHINGTON, DC, reforms brought through to an end. ruary 15. February 26, 2019. That is why I introduced bipartisan Few provisions of the Constitution I hereby appoint the Honorable ROBIN L. legislation with Mr. COSTA from Cali- are more plain than Article I, Section KELLY to act as Speaker pro tempore on this fornia that put an end to this revolving 9, Clause 7: ‘‘No money shall be drawn day. door. Our bill pushes the VA to hire from the Treasury, but in consequence NANCY PELOSI, permanent directors at all VA medical of appropriations made by law.’’ Speaker of the House of Representatives. centers—no more interim directors. The President has immense powers, f We all want a VA system that can but he cannot spend money unless we, MORNING-HOUR DEBATE complete its mission to care for those the people’s Representatives in Con- who shall have borne the battle. Hav- gress, have agreed that he can. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- ing consistent leadership is the least Now, there might be extraordinary ant to the order of the House of Janu- we can do for our Nation’s heroes. circumstances when a President could ary 3, 2019, the Chair will now recog- violate that principle, when all of us ASSAULT ON THE FIRST AMENDMENT nize Members from lists submitted by would agree that he must act but there the majority and minority leaders for Mr. BOST. Madam Speaker, I say to is no time to ask Congress for funds: a morning-hour debate. the people of southern Illinois and this military invasion or a massive natural The Chair will alternate recognition country: Your constitutional rights are disaster, for example. The National between the parties. All time shall be under assault. If you are a law-abiding Emergencies Act provides for that. equally allocated between the parties, gun owner, a sportsman, you need to But if the situation on the southern and in no event shall debate continue pay attention. border were that kind of emergency, beyond 11:50 a.m. Each Member, other This week, the House Democrats will then the President hasn’t been acting than the majority and minority leaders bring a bill to the floor that will re- like it. For 2 years, when his party con- and the minority whip, shall be limited strict your freedoms and do little to re- trolled the House and Senate, he never to 5 minutes. duce gun violence. asked us for money to build a wall, and f As a father and a grandfather, I want if we truly faced that kind of imminent to reduce gun violence as much as any- threat, a wall would not even be an VA MEDICAL CENTERS one, but we have to be smart. We can’t emergency measure given how long it The SPEAKER pro tempore. The get roped into scoring political points. would take to build. Chair recognizes the gentleman from That is why I worked with my col- The critical point is this: When the Illinois (Mr. BOST) for 5 minutes. leagues on both sides of the aisle last President finally got around to asking Mr. BOST. Madam Speaker, I have year on a measure which is now law to us for money, we deliberated on his re- run a small business, and I know that increase security for our kids in the quest, and we said no. You may believe any organization needs long-term cer- schools. But the gun control bill being we were right or you may believe we tainty. No organization can success- considered this week makes it harder were wrong, but that is what the elect- fully operate under a revolving door of for law-abiding citizens to defend ed Representatives of the American short-term leaders, especially not one themselves and others against crimi- people decided. tasked with caring for America’s he- nals who have guns. So the question before us today is roes. Unfortunately, this is what is We need to enforce the laws already not how do we secure the border; it is happening at our Nation’s VA centers. on the books, not limit the rights of whether this President or any Presi- Almost 20 VA medical centers, na- law-abiding citizens who want to pro- dent can use emergency powers to defy tionwide, currently lack a permanent tect their families. the Congress when he disagrees with a 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. H2105 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:09 Feb 27, 2019 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A26FE7.000 H26FEPT1 lotter on DSKBCFDHB2PROD with HOUSE H2106 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE February 26, 2019 decision that we have made. Are we Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. But, Madam Speaker, tomorrow going to stand by and watch this Presi- Madam Speaker, I rise today to discuss House Democrats will bring up a meas- dent seize funds from the military to the issue that is facing Americans ure to block President Trump’s emer- forcibly take land from law-abiding across the Nation: the opioids crisis. gency declaration, H.J. Res. 46. They American citizens to build something The 2018 National Drug Threat As- say the wall is immoral. They say it is that Congress has said should not be sessment, a comprehensive guide pub- cruel. I say we need decisive action to built? lished by the Drug Enforcement Ad- fight the opioid crisis, and this is the We know this would be wrong. The ministration, indicates that illegal first step in the right direction. National Emergencies Act is for gen- drug use continues to rise. It cites Since President Carter, there have uine emergencies. It is not a get-out-of- Mexican transnational criminal orga- been 31 national emergencies declared. the-Constitution-free card for Presi- nizations as America’s greatest enemy President Clinton declared 6, and Presi- dents who want something that Con- in the war against drugs. While these dent Obama declared 10 that are still in gress won’t give them. criminal organizations are bringing a place. All 31 national emergencies rec- Now, I have heard some people say wide variety of illegal drugs across our ognized a dire threat to the American that President Obama did the same southern border, I am particularly wor- people and took action. By declaring thing. I am sorry, he did not. Both ried about their role in spreading the this national emergency, President President Obama and President Bush opioid crisis. Trump is taking action against a were sometimes accused of exceeding Thousands of pounds of opioids are threat that killed 70,000 Americans in their constitutional authority; the smuggled across our southern border 2017 alone. courts sometimes overruled them. But every year. Just last year, the DEA Madam Speaker, I urge my col- neither Obama nor Bush nor Nixon nor seized more than 17,000 pounds of her- leagues to vote ‘‘no’’ on H.J. Res. 46. Reagan nor Roosevelt nor Lincoln nor oin in the United States. About 39 per- Support our President and save Amer- any President since the founding of our cent of this was seized at the southern ican lives. Republic has ever decreed an emer- border. f gency to spend money that the Con- Another opioid that has devastated gress explicitly denied them. communities across America is EMERGENCY DECLARATION If you want to find a precedent for fentanyl. As we started to understand The SPEAKER pro tempore. The what President Trump has done, I can the scope of the opioid crisis facing our Chair recognizes the gentleman from give you one. When I was a diplomat Nation, the CDC says doctors started Texas (Mr. ARRINGTON) for 5 minutes. representing our country and standing prescribing less and less pharma- Mr. ARRINGTON. Madam Speaker, I up for our values around the world, I ceutical fentanyl. But fentanyl rise in strong opposition to the resolu- had this exact same debate with au- overdoses remained steady as prescrip- tion the House will vote on later today thoritarian governments in Ethiopia, tion rates dropped, meaning that illic- that would terminate the President’s in Bahrain, and in Egypt, telling them: itly manufactured fentanyl is one of declaration of a national emergency.