Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call on President Trump to remove Steve Bannon from the National Security Council.

Mr. Speaker, the National Security Council was created in 1947, and it is

designed to provide the President of the United States with diplomatic, military, intelligence, and economic information to coordinate, to plan, and to implement national security, and to make sound decisions affecting national security with input from professionals and not from political operatives. And the National Security Council has done that for seven decades.

Yet, last week, the President issued an ill-conceived, dangerous, and unconstitutional executive order that bans Muslims. It puts Americans abroad, American communities at home, and American soldiers around the world at risk; and I believe that Steve Bannon, who might become a member of the National Security Council, was the architect of that executive order.

Mr. Speaker, I ask President Trump, if he is not willing to remove Mr. Bannon from the White House, at least, for the safety of this country, remove him from the National Security Council.

Mr. Speaker, I rise on behalf of the residents of Maryland's Fourth Congressional District to say that the Affordable Care Act works. It has improved the health of thousands of men, women, and children in my district, and it has also reduced the level of uncompensated care in our community hospitals.

Repealing the Affordable Care Act will result in more uninsured patients, and more uninsured people will drive up costs for everyone. Community hospitals, such as MedStar Health and Anne Arundel Medical Center, will be forced to lay off doctors and nurses. Major medical centers, like John Hopkins and the University of Maryland, will be forced to cut back investments in research that we so desperately need to fight cancer, to treat diabetes, and to reduce infant mortality.

In the Fourth Congressional District, we are on the verge of establishing a new regional medical center that will both improve the quality of care throughout the National Capital Region and will create thousands of healthcare-related jobs in my district.

Mr. Speaker, repealing the Affordable Care Act is simply wrong. Hospital services will be reduced, local economies will be weakened, and job losses will follow. Let's protect our care and protect our jobs.

Mr. Speaker, I regrettably was absent from the following votes in order to attend the Senate confirmation hearing for Attorney General nominee Senator Sessions. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 32, ``nay'' on rollcall No. 33, and ``yea'' on rollcall No. 34.

personal explanation

Article III, section 1:

``The judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.''