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, APRIL 4, 2017 No. 58 House of Representatives The House met at 10 a.m. and was tinues unabated: each day, the United pseudoscientists bought and paid for by called to order by the Speaker pro tem- States, like every other country on corporate interests, or to deny the pore (Mr. GRAVES of Louisiana). Earth, continues to release tons and value of scientific thinking altogether, f tons of carbon dioxide into the atmos- an approach that is all too familiar phere, and now we are starting to see given the post-research, post-intel- DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO the effects. ligence, post-truth mindset that we TEMPORE Over the last couple of years, the have seen from this administration. The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- U.S. has joined 20 other countries from They have adopted a ‘‘hear no evil, see fore the House the following commu- around the world in growing its econ- no evil, speak no evil’’ approach to cli- nication from the Speaker: omy while reducing its annual emis- mate change, hoping they can ignore it until it goes away. Sadly, that is not WASHINGTON, DC, sions into the atmosphere. This is not April 4, 2017. a small feat, and decoupling emissions the way the world works. I hereby appoint the Honorable GARRET from growth is the first step toward We can’t unfill the pool by pre- GRAVES to act as Speaker pro tempore on the substantive action needed to ad- tending there is no such thing as water. this day. dress the growing climate crisis. But I This form of denial has been evolving PAUL D. RYAN, find this concept of reducing emissions over time. First, we heard that there Speaker of the House of Representatives. can sometimes be a little misleading. was no way that climate is changing at f In the last few years, the U.S. has re- all. duced the rate that it emits greenhouse Now that the changes in the atmos- MORNING-HOUR DEBATE phere are beyond doubt, we are start- gases. But even if we are doing it more ing to hear that climate is changing The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- slowly, we are still emitting harmful but there is nothing we can do about it. ant to the order of the House of Janu- pollution into our air. In addition to being flat out false, that ary 3, 2017, the Chair will now recog- Imagine, Mr. Speaker, standing at type of thinking is unbecoming of a na- nize Members from lists submitted by the edge of an empty swimming pool the majority and minority leaders for tion that put the first man on the with a garden hose. For a while, water Moon, pioneered instantaneous com- morning-hour debate. was spewing out of that hose at a tor- The Chair will alternate recognition munication, and has led the world in rent; and each year, the volume got the fight against countless deadly dis- between the parties, with each party greater and greater. Now, the water is limited to 1 hour and each Member eases. still running, but we have begun to Last month, we heard the Adminis- other than the majority and minority turn the speed down. However, even if trator of the Environmental Protection leaders and the minority whip limited we manage to slow the rate of water Agency question the very fundamen- to 5 minutes, but in no event shall de- going in, the pool still has more water tals of atmospheric science, a particu- bate continue beyond 11:50 a.m. than when we started and is still filling larly dismaying thing from the man f up. charged with leading the fight against Our atmosphere is that pool. For CLIMATE CHANGE climate change. This type of willful nearly 100 years, it has been filling up scientific ignorance has serious con- The SPEAKER pro tempore. The with greenhouse gases. And they don’t sequences. It will cost lives. Chair recognizes the gentleman from just go away when the calendar flips. Children will be exposed to harmful, Illinois (Mr. QUIGLEY) for 5 minutes. Reducing the annual emissions is vital, asthma-inducing pollution because we Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, there but we can’t lose track of all the gases didn’t act fast enough to clean our air. has been a lot going on around here that have been accumulated year after They will die because crops that could lately. We have been conducting inves- year. be counted on for generations will no tigations, holding hearings, and some If we are going to hit the inter- longer grow. They will be forced from of us have even tried and failed to fun- national goal of limiting climate their homes because melting polar ice damentally change the way we provide warming to 2 degrees Celsius, we need is driving sea levels higher and higher. health care in this country. to start acting now. Yet, this august We cannot deny these impacts. We It has been easy to get distracted by body has been behind the curve on this cannot continue to hear no evil and see the dozens of different headlines and issue for years. no evil when these changes are hap- breaking news stories we see each Our colleagues seem content to ig- pening all around us, resulting in dev- week. But no matter what else is going nore the climate crisis, to hold hear- astating consequences that affect every on here in Washington, one thing con- ings with discredited, crank aspect of our life. 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. H2633 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Apr 05, 2017 Jkt 069060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A04AP7.000 H04APPT1 rfrederick on DSKBCBPHB2PROD with HOUSE H2634 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE April 4, 2017 Instead, the time has come to speak and nutritional education to men, individual who wanted to kill him and up and speak loudly like our lives and women, and children living with HIV/ chased him all over the country. It so the world depend on it, as it truly does. AIDS in Miami-Dade County. Since happened that Memphis was the spot f 1987, its staff and volunteers have pro- that he had that final opportunity. vided over 1.5 million meals and gro- In Memphis, there will be activities RECOGNIZING VICTORIA RIOS ceries as well as other crucial services, today celebrating the life of Dr. King The SPEAKER pro tempore. The such as free screening for sexually and commitments to community serv- Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from transmitted diseases, free medical and ice in his spirit. Florida (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN) for 5 min- dental care, access to health and nutri- Ironically, today, while it is the 49th utes. tion specialists, and so much more, Mr. anniversary of his assassination, it is Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I Speaker. also the 50th anniversary of his great- would like to recognize an outstanding Care Resource is improving the est speech, in my opinion. Not the young lady from our south Florida health and quality of life of our diverse ‘‘I’ve Been to the Mountaintop’’ speech community, Victoria Rios. south Florida community, especially that he made the night before in Mem- Vicki is the winner of the 2016 Con- those impacted by HIV/AIDS, by pro- phis, the great speech where he said: I gressional App Challenge from my con- viding essential health services, such have been to the mountaintop, and I gressional district, and she is a re- as pediatric and dental care, immuni- may not get there with you; but I want markable senior high student at Gul- zations, HIV primary care, and more. you to know tonight, that we, as a peo- liver Preparatory. It is because of the work and com- ple, will get to the promised land. Her app, Simple Sign, was created mitment of organizations like these His greatest speech, in my opinion, out of the most noble and sincere de- that AIDS is no longer a death sen- was the speech at the Riverside Church sire to help those with hearing impair- tence and patients can live long and in New York, in Manhattan, on April 4 ment, and her app was inspired by her fulfilling lives. of 1967, when he spoke of the three isms special needs younger sister, Zoe. So, again, Mr. Speaker, I invite ev- that bother this country and are the Simple Sign is an easy-to-use app eryone in south Florida to come out to enemies of this country: militarism, that includes photos and videos that the 2017 AIDS Walk Miami and help materialism, and racism. helps individuals easily and quickly celebrate our great success against this The speech was called ‘‘Beyond Viet- learn sign language through a cell disease and the great progress that we nam.’’ A prescient Dr. King saw the phone or tablet. have achieved for the thousands living need to get out of Vietnam, to make a The future of our great Nation relies with HIV/AIDS in south Florida and to unilateral step, cease the bombing, on innovators from all backgrounds reaffirm our strong commitment to the save lives.