Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Mrs. Ruth Elma Cummings, mother of our colleague, Congressman Elijah Cummings, who passed on Monday, February 5th in Baltimore, Maryland.

Mrs. Cummings was born on July 7, 1926 in Manning, South Carolina, in the Sixth Congressional District, to the late Willie Cochran and Gussie Johnson Cochran. She was one of seventeen children.

She was educated in the public schools of Clarendon County, South Carolina. She and Robert Cummings were married on June 23, 1945. After the birth of their first child, Robert Cummings, Jr., Mr. and Mrs. Cummings made the decision to follow other family members and move to Baltimore in search of a better life for their growing family. There, they were blessed with six additional children, Cherethia ``Retha,'' Elijah, James, Diane, Carnel, and Yvonne.

In Baltimore, both Robert and Ruth were called to the ministry and led worship services, prayer meetings and ``Second Sunday'' family dinners. Their church created a food pantry, clothing drives, a prison ministry and a nursing home ministry. Robert passed away in 2000, and the church established the Elder Robert Cummings Sr. Scholarship Fund at Victory Prayer Chapel, which has allowed a number of church youth to attend and earn their college degrees, including one with a PhD.

The personification of the life and legacy of Mrs. Ruth Elma Cummings is encapsulated in the fourth chapter of II Timothy, verses seven and eight, ``I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give to me at that day . . .''

Mr. Speaker, Mrs. Cummings was beloved by her extended family, many of whom still reside in the Sixth Congressional District of South Carolina which I proudly represent in this august body. I ask the House to join me in celebrating this life well lived.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to explain to the American people exactly why I voted ``no'' on this continuing resolution earlier today.

If you look at all that has been said about the Children's Health Insurance Program, what you are going to find is that we extended that program in this CR for 6 years with a savings of $1 billion.

It is a sleight of hand, because we did not fund community health centers; we did not fund the disproportionate share hospitals, mostly rural in my district; we did not fund adequately the teaching hospitals.

So if you wanted to really be honest with the American people, we could have extended the Children's Health Insurance Program permanently and saved $6 billion and would have had enough money in the savings to expand our community health centers, to fund disproportionate share hospitals, and to fund teaching hospitals, that which we did not do, and I voted ``no.''

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House. The responsibility to govern rests squarely on their shoulders. Democrats stand ready to keep government open, but neither Speaker Ryan nor Leader McConnell seem interested in finding bipartisan solutions. Maybe they are adhering to President Trump's admonition that we need a ``good government shutdown.''

House Democrats wholeheartedly disagree. We ought to work together in a bipartisan way to help our veterans, to fight the opioid epidemic, to protect millions of workers' pensions, and to help the DREAMers. Today's CR is the fourth kick of the can. Once again, Republicans are engaging in legislative sleight of hand, shamefully using low-income children as political pawns. The Children's Health Insurance Program provides health insurance for 9 million low-income children. Every Democratic Member of this body supports it.

Republicans allowed it to expire more than 4 months ago and have refused to bring it up on its own until they can get something in return. That is wrong. What good is health insurance if you have nowhere to go when your child is sick? Republicans leave community health centers and disproportionate share hospitals out of their temporary authorization.

Mr. Speaker, we could save $6 billion if we permanently authorize CHIP. We should fund community health centers and protect disproportionate share hospitals for 2 years. We should permanently repeal the cap on therapy services for seniors in Medicare. We should fund the highly successful home visiting program for 5 years.

And we could do all of this by passing Representative Donald McEachin's Advancing Seniors and Kids Act. I urge my Republican colleagues to stop playing games with the children's health. Reject this grotesque political calculation, and let's work in a bipartisan way to keep government open.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the Ryan-McConnell tax scam bill. This bill should be named the ``Republican Donor Class Relief Act'' because that is what it is, and several of my Republican colleagues and many in the media have admitted as much.

This tax scam represents a grotesque set of priorities revealing deep depravity of American values. One of the first

principles of our Judeo-Christian value system is grounded in what we do ``for the least of these.''

From the outset, this bill violates that principle by lowering the marginal tax rates on the wealthiest among us by 2.6 points, while raising those rates on the least among us by 2 points.

This tax scam bill adds insult to that injurious act by doubling the estate tax exemption from $11 million to $22 million.

The Republicans add further insult to injury by lowering the tax rates for corporations by 14 points while raising tax rates on 86 million middle-income families. It makes the tax cuts for corporations permanent and the miniscule individual cuts temporary, while also kicking 13 million people off their health insurance and increasing premiums for millions more.

The tax scam caps deductions for State and local taxes and home mortgages and adds over $2 trillion to the deficit. Our children and grandchildren will be left with the bill.

Mr. Speaker, history will not treat kindly the crass cruelty of this so-called Christmas gift for hardworking Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I stand before this House tonight as the proud Representative of the congressional district that has seven of the eight HBCUs in South Carolina within its borders: Allen and Benedict in Columbia; Claflin and South Carolina State in Orangeburg; Morris in Sumter; Voorhees, Denmark Tech in Denmark, South Carolina; and Clinton College in Rock Hill, South Carolina.

I listened intently as some of the speakers spoke before me, and I would like to give just a brief overview of the history of HBCUs.

You have heard from the previous speaker that the first HBCU was Cheyney State in 1837. Well, it is kind of interesting. That school was created a few decades before the Emancipation Proclamation, so it means that before slavery was abolished, HBCUs existed.

Now, one of the interesting things that took place during the Civil War was the creation of something called the Morrill Act. The gentleman from Vermont, Justin Morrill, introduced legislation to train people not just in agriculture, but in military training.

That law was signed by the President, President Abraham Lincoln, July 2, 1862.

Now, the interesting thing is that when the law was enacted, the Southern States refused to implement that law on behalf of people of color. They would not allow any person of color to attend those schools. Consequently, Justin Morrill went back before the Congress and, in 1880, created a second Morrill Act, this time mandating that these schools be established in the former slave States for people of color.

Now, I bring that up tonight because one of the speakers talked about President Trump signing a bill earlier this year and issuing what we call a signing statement. In his statement, he said that he is going to sign the bill, though he questioned the constitutionality of that section of the bill that funded Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Just think about this: the history of this country was to deny educational opportunities to people of color, and now we have a President of the United States today saying that those schools that were established for the express purpose of educating those citizens, that legislation is unconstitutional.

If nothing else we have heard from this President bothers you, that one thing should bother every person in the United States of America.

Now, I have talked about those schools that I am proud to represent. I met with the President. Unfortunately, I heard stuff all over the weekend about the Congressional Black Caucus refusing to meet with President Trump. That is not true. The leadership of the Congressional Black Caucus did, in fact, meet with him, and though I don't hold a leadership position, they invited me to go along.

So I sat with the President in the Oval Office, and I told the President something that I want to share with the listeners tonight about HBCUs.

I told the President the story of a young man whom a lot of people have heard of, Ronald McNair. Ronald McNair was an astronaut who lost his life in the blowup of the Challenger.

Ronald McNair came from the little town of Lake City, South Carolina, in the Sixth Congressional District that I proudly represent, and I got to know him and his family very well.

We were talking one day as he was getting ready to retire from astronaut school. In fact, that accident of the Challenger was to be his last flight. He was going to retire. He was coming home to be a professor at the University of South Carolina, also in my district. He said to me that when he graduated from high school in Lake City and went off to North Carolina A&T, he had to take remedial courses.

Now, everybody talked about Ron McNair. I shared this with the President. I told him, I said: Everybody talked about him having a physics degree from MIT. Nobody talks about the fact that he went to North Carolina A&T. And he said to me: Had it not been for North Carolina A&T, he never would have made it. Why? Because it was on that small campus he was nurtured. When they saw in him that he had the ability to be a great physicist, the ability to be a great astronaut, what he did not have was the background, the educational preparation that was not provided for him in that little rural town that he grew up in, and the same thing is taking place today.

There are communities in my congressional district where there are gifted young people, but they come from what we call Gullah Geechee communities from the seacoast, those islands off the seacoast where they are smart, highly intelligent, but they know only the culture that they grew up in. So they may not know how to make a subject and verb agree properly, and, therefore, when they go off to college, would have to take a remedial course in order to get those subjects and verbs to agree. But they are very bright, very smart students, and they have been intentionally undereducated by the States that many of them come out of.

I know, for more than 20 years, the Legislature in South Carolina did not fund these schools properly, and we went before the State supreme court. That case lasted for over 20 years, and recently the Supreme Court decided to take the school districts from under that order that it issued some time ago.

So these communities have been intentionally underfunded for their public schools, and these students graduate high school, go off to college, and they need the nurturing that they get from an HBCU.

So if anybody tells you that HBCUs are unconstitutional, that ought to tell you all you need to know to stay away from that person.

I want to close by talking up my alma mater, South Carolina State University. There are a lot of good things to consider about South Carolina State, but one is this, and I want all of you to go and check the record.

You will find, if you check all the schools in the country that have produced general officers in the military, general officers of color, you will find that South Carolina State University, and South Carolina State College before it, has produced more African-American general officers than any other school in the country, and that includes the service academies.

I am very proud of what HBCUs have done, I am very proud of that HBCU that I attended, and I am very proud that Sister Alma Adams, who co- chairs the HBCU Caucus, has allowed me to speak about it this evening.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, let me say to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, it is time to do all of those things that he just spoke about, but this piece of legislation does none of those things. In fact, it raises taxes on 87 million middle-income families, cuts $25 billion a year from Medicare, kicks 13 million people off of their health insurance, makes it easier for companies to ship jobs overseas, eliminates long-held deductions for teachers, students, and the chronically ill, makes individual tax cuts temporary but corporate tax cuts permanent, and increases the deficit by more than $1.5 trillion.

The hypocrisy of so-called conservatives is staggering. Corporations will save billions and shareholders will get richer, while our children and grandchildren foot the bill.

The Democratic motion would instruct conferees to protect deductions for State and local taxes and restore the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate. Doing so will stop 13 million Americans from losing their health insurance and put a halt to the 10 percent premium hike that CBO estimates the Ryan-McConnell tax scam would cause.

Mr. Speaker, the individual mandate is at the heart of the Affordable Care Act. Repealing it--as the GOP tax scam does--is a deliberate attempt to undercut the law, create chaos in the health insurance marketplaces, increase premiums, and decrease choice and coverage.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to restore State and local tax deductibility and the individual mandate.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 630, which would require each Member, officer and employee of the House to complete anti-discrimination and anti-harassment training. Enacting this legislation ought to be a first step toward affirming with one voice that there is absolutely no place for discrimination nor harassment of any kind in the Halls of Congress. But we must also do more than agree to mandatory training.

As elected officials, we ought to be held to a higher standard. Congress must review and improve the current administrative procedure for victims to come forward. All harassment and discrimination allegations must be taken seriously. After enacting this measure, Congress must streamline the process, protect victims that wish to be protected, and ensure all allegations of wrongdoing are investigated with professionalism, urgency and due process.

I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation and encourage the House to take whatever administrative steps are necessary to make it easier for victims to come forward. More importantly, I respectfully ask all of my colleagues to take a close look inward at themselves and their offices and to put an immediate end to the cultural climate that has allowed harassment and discrimination to tarnish the institution of Congress. We can do better and we must.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a great South Carolinian and accomplished educator who will celebrate her 100th birthday on November 22nd.

Mrs. Rubie Ella Nixon Schumpert is the third of nine children born to Mr. Sumter Nixon and Mrs. Ella Bell Suber Nixon on November 22, 1917. She received her elementary education in South Carolina and Maryland, and her high school education at Harbison Institute in Irmo, South Carolina where she was class valedictorian.

She attended Barber-Scotia and Benedict colleges and obtained her Masters of Education degree from South Carolina State College. She did further studies at Wake Forest University and the University of South Carolina. Mrs. Schumpert earned certification in six areas of study: Elementary Education, Social Studies, English, Mathematics, French and Counseling.

Mrs. Schumpert began her professional career in Lexington County, South Carolina, where she served as an elementary and high school teacher, head teacher and elementary school principal. Later in her career, she worked in Richland County School District One at C.A. Johnson High School as a guidance counselor and was chair of the Math Department. While at C.A. Johnson, Mrs. Schumpert co-authored a mathematics textbook through a federal grant for non-college bound students through the University of South Carolina.

She recorded television lessons for the U.S. military to help young soldiers achieve success in algebra courses. She also served on Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) committees evaluating schools across the state of South Carolina. Upon retiring from the District One School System, Mrs. Schumpert worked at Benedict College as a professor of mathematics for ten years. She has long been active in the community serving on numerous professional and civic organizations.

Mrs. Schumpert was married to the late John Barton Schumpert, and they had two daughters, La Verne S. (Alphonso) Bassard and LaMaris S. Mack. She also has four grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, I began my professional career as a classroom teacher in the public schools of South Carolina, and I have always revered the profession of educator, especially those at the grade school level. I am honored to pay tribute to this great educator, Mrs. Rubie Ella Nixon Schumpert and ask that you and my colleagues join me in wishing her a happy 100th birthday.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Larson for yielding me this time.

Mr. Speaker, the bill before us today is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Republicans can dress it up and call it good names, but that will not change the fact that H.R. 1 is a scam that will be perpetrated on America's middle-income families.

This bill will make it harder to own a home, raise a family, and afford a postsecondary education.

It should come as no surprise that President Trump wanted to call the bill: ``Cut, Cut, Cut.'' That would have been apropos. The first cut is for him and his family, the second cut is for his wealthy friends, and the third cut is for large corporations and businesses that ship jobs overseas.

H.R. 1 certainly does not cut taxes for middle-income families or small businesses; in fact, it does just the opposite.

Under H.R. 1, millions of Americans, middle-income families, will pay more--500,000 of whom live in South Carolina. Middle-income families and first-time homeowners who utilize mortgage interest deductions will pay more, because the GOP scam lowers the cap, making homeownership more expensive and driving down property taxes for current homeowners.

Middle-income families with children in college or recent graduates will pay more, because the GOP scam eliminates deductions for interest on student loans. This includes 12 million American families, 156,000 of whom are South Carolinians.

Middle-income families struggling to pay costly medical bills will pay more because the GOP scam shamefully eliminates that deductibility. This includes 9 million American families, and nearly 140,000 live in South Carolina.

Middle-income families with children in daycare, nursery school, or aging parents will pay more because the GOP scam eliminates the deductions for dependent care assistance.

Middle-income schoolteachers will pay more because the GOP scam eliminates their ability to deduct the cost of the supplies they purchase for their classrooms.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1 is an attack on middle-income families. It will subject the good people of this country to a second Great Recession and raise taxes on 36 million middle-income households.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, this GOP tax scam will add $1.5 trillion to the deficit over the next 10 years and trigger massive funding cuts across the government next year. Medicare will see a $25 billion-per-year cut.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to a great South Carolinian and accomplished educator who will celebrate her 100th birthday on November 22nd.

Mrs. Rubie Ella Nixon Schumpert is the third of nine children born to Mr. Sumter Nixon and Mrs. Ella Bell Suber Nixon on November 22, 1917. She received her elementary education in South Carolina and Maryland, and her high school education at Harbison Institute in Irmo, South Carolina where she was class valedictorian.

She attended Barber-Scotia and Benedict colleges and obtained her Masters of Education degree from South Carolina State College. She did further studies at Wake Forest University and the University of South Carolina. Mrs. Schumpert earned certification in six areas of study: Elementary Education, Social Studies, English, Mathematics, French and Counseling.

Mrs. Schumpert began her professional career in Lexington County, South Carolina, where she served as an elementary and high school teacher, head teacher and elementary school principal. Later in her career, she worked in Richland County School District One at C.A. Johnson High School as a guidance counselor and was chair of the Math Department. While at C.A. Johnson, Mrs. Schumpert co-authored a mathematics textbook through a federal grant for non-college bound students through the University of South Carolina.

She recorded television lessons for the U.S. military to help young soldiers achieve success in algebra courses. She also served on Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) committees evaluating schools across the state of South Carolina. Upon retiring from the District One School System, Mrs. Schumpert worked at Benedict College as a professor of mathematics for ten years. She has long been active in the community serving on numerous professional and civic organizations.

Mrs. Schumpert was married to the late John Barton Schumpert, and they had two daughters, LaVerne S. (Alphonso) Bassard and LaMaris S. Mack. She also has four grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, I began my professional career as a classroom teacher in the public schools of South Carolina, and I have always revered the profession of educator, especially those at the grade school level. I am honored to pay tribute to this great educator, Mrs. Rubie Ella Nixon Schumpert and ask that you and my colleagues join me I wishing her a Happy 100th birthday.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to alert the American people to the tax scam that is the Republican tax reform proposal, unveiled last week. It is reported that President Trump wanted to call this bill ``cut, cut, cut.'' That would have been apropos.

The first cut is for him and his family members, the second cut is for his wealthy friends and acquaintances, and the third cut is for large corporations classified as LLCs. It certainly does not cut taxes for middle-income families or most small businesses. In fact, it does just the opposite. It is crystal clear who gets the cuts and who gets to pay more.

First and foremost, the GOP tax plan eliminates inheritance taxes that only apply to two-tenths of 1 percent of families who wish to pass along their wealth, unearned and untaxed.

Why are Republicans doing this? Because it is a huge priority for some of their biggest donors, and the middle-income families will be asked to pay for this $172 billion giveaway to the superrich.

The GOP pretend not to be cutting taxes for the superrich by maintaining the top rate of 39.6 percent. However, their plan increases the income levels that the 39.6 percent applies to from $470,000 a year to $1 million. These proposed rate changes will cost over $1 trillion.

The GOP tax plan also features a special rate for the owners of passthrough businesses that will cost $448 billion. These are LLCs and partnerships that pay zero corporate taxes and whose owners' income is treated the same as everybody else's.

LLCs and other types of passthroughs make up 95 percent of all the businesses in the country. Some of the largest businesses, like Koch Industries, Chrysler, and, of course, most of the entities owned by the Trump organization are LLCs.

Passthroughs that are truly small businesses are not currently subject to the highest individual rates and already pay 25 percent or lower. The National Federation of Independent Businesses opposes this provision for this very reason.

Mr. Speaker, most of us, especially those who have worked in State governments, view our States as the best

laboratories for the development of good ideas and best practices. This passthrough idea was the centerpiece of Governor Sam Brownback's tax overhaul in Kansas 5 years ago. The Governor promised it would yield massive economic growth.

And what happened? Kansas was plunged into a massive budget deficit and forced to make draconian cuts to education, infrastructure, and the rest of the State's operations. This year, the Kansas Legislature overrode Governor Brownback's shortsighted experiment.

I urge my colleagues not to make the same mistake here. This scam will subject the good people of this country to a second great recession in a single decade. Middle-income families will pay more because the GOP plan eliminates deductions for State and local taxes. This includes millions of Americans and over 500,000 South Carolinians.

Middle-income families who itemize deductions will pay more because the elimination of the personal exemption will cost their households $4,000 per member.

Middle-income families who utilize mortgage interest deductions will pay more because the GOP plan lowers the cap.

Middle-income families with children in college, or recent graduates, will pay more because the GOP plan eliminates the deductions for interest on student loans.

Middle-income families that are victims of natural disasters will pay more because the GOP plan eliminates the casualty loss deduction.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to alert the American people to the tax scam that is the Republican ``tax reform'' proposal, unveiled last week. It is reported that President Trump wanted to call this bill, ``cut, cut, cut.'' That would have been apropos. The first cut is for him and his family members, the second cut is for his wealthy friends and acquaintances, and the third cut is for large corporations classified as LLCs. It certainly does not cut taxes for middle income families or most small businesses. In fact, it does just the opposite. It is crystal clear who gets the cuts and who gets to pay more.

First and foremost, the GOP tax plan eliminates inheritance taxes. This tax only applies to estates of over $11 million and only affects two tenths of one percent of families in America, those who wish to pass along their wealth, unearned and untaxed.

Why are Republicans doing this? Because it's a huge priority for some of their biggest donors. In fact, this cut is not even about the 0.2 percent--it's really about two families--the Mercers and the Kochs.

The bottom line is that America's hard-working low, moderate and middle-income families will be asked to pay for this $172 billion dollar give away to the super rich.

At the heart of this scam is the GOP pretense not to be cutting taxes for the super-rich by maintaining the top rate of 39.6 percent. However, it increases the income level that the 39.6 percent applies to; from $470,000 to $1 million. These proposed rate changes will cost over $1 trillion.

This cut also goes to those who make far more than $1 million as well. Whether your income is $1 million, $10 million, or $100 million, this provision alone gives you an extra $25,000 a year. Mr. Speaker, many South Carolinians I represent do not make $25,000 in a year.

The GOP tax plan also features a special rate for the owners of ``pass-through'' businesses at a cost of $448 billion. These are LLCs and partnerships, who pay zero corporate tax, and whose owners' income is treated the same as anybody else's.

The Republicans claim that giving these owners a special lower rate will help small businesses, but nothing could be further from the truth. LLCs and other types of pass-throughs make up 95 percent of all the businesses in the country. In fact, some of the largest businesses like Koch Industries, Chrysler, and of course, most of the entities owned by the Trump Organization, are LLCs.

Pass-throughs that are truly small businesses are not currently subject to the highest individual rates, and already pay 25 percent or lower. The National Federation of Independent Businesses opposes this provision for this very reason. It delivers a special low tax rate to wealthy owners and will not help the small businesses they claim that it will.

Mr. Speaker, most of us, especially those who have worked in State governments, view our states as the best laboratories for the development of good ideas and best practices. This pass-through idea was the centerpiece of Governor Sam Brownback's tax overhaul in Kansas just five years ago. The Governor promised it would yield massive economic growth. And what happened? Kansas was plunged into a massive budget deficit and forced to make draconian cuts to education, infrastructure, and the rest of the state's operations.

This year, the Kansas legislature overrode Governor Brownback's short-sighted experiment.

I urge my colleagues not to make the same mistake. This scam will subject the good people of this country into a second great recession in a single decade.

Let's take a look at who pays more while the President and his wealthy friends and acquaintances pay less.

Middle income families will pay more because the GOP plan eliminates deductions on state and local taxes. This includes millions of Americans and over 500,000 South Carolinians.

Middle income families who itemize deductions will pay more because the elimination of the personal exemption will cost their households $4,000 per member.

Middle income families who utilize the mortgage interest deduction will pay more because the GOP plan lowers the cap, costing millions of Americans more.

Middle income families with children in college or recent graduates will pay more because the GOP plan eliminates the deduction for interest on student loans.

Middle income families that are victims of natural disasters will pay more because the GOP plan eliminates the casualty loss deduction.

Middle income families who adopt children will pay more because the GOP plan eliminates the adoption tax credit.

Middle income school teachers will pay more because the GOP plan eliminates their ability for to deduct for supplies they may purchase for their classrooms.

Middle income families struggling to pay costly medical bills will pay more because the GOP plan shamefully eliminates their deductibility.

Mr. Speaker, paying for pass-through gimmicks and tax giveaways to multi-millionaires by raising taxes on moderate and middle-income Americans is reprehensible.

Democrats are ready to do real tax reform on a bipartisan basis. But not once in this process, has the other side attempted to negotiate. In fact, they have publicly made it abundantly clear that they want a bill that only Republicans will support.

Bipartisan tax reform should lower taxes for working people, not raise them.

Bipartisan tax reform should end incentives for offshoring jobs and level the playing field for American corporations.

Bipartisan tax reform should expand the Earned Income Tax Credit for single filers and the Child Tax Credit to help families.

Real bipartisan tax reform would not increase the deficit, add to the debt and pass the bill on to our children and grandchildren.

I know many of my colleagues share these values. Let's set aside this partisan process and do something worthwhile for the American people. Until then, the Democratic Caucus will be resolute in our opposition to ramming through tax increases for middle income Americans and massive giveaways for the rich.

Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.

I am opposed in its current form.

Mr. Speaker, the Republicans have reserved a point of order against this motion.

Let me be clear about what this means. The Republican leadership does not want a vote on providing proper CHIP funds to our United States territories, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

There may be a point of order against this provision, but it is the same point of order that applies to the Republicans' bill.

Do you know what that means?

They waive the point of order for their bill, but they will not waive the point of order for this bill.

I won't take up too much time, Mr. Speaker. I just want the body to know that the Republican leadership is, once again, rigging the game in favor of the majority.

This isn't about hurting me and the Democratic Members of this body, no. This hurts the people who are already struggling in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

To my friends on the other side of the aisle, you may hide behind procedural tactics, but the fact remains that doing so denies our United States citizens living in the territories the proper funding that the Governor has requested to recover

Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill which will not kill the bill nor send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage as amended.

It has been 34 days, Mr. Speaker, since Republicans allowed the Children's Health Insurance Program and Community Health Centers to expire. These proven programs insure 9 million children and serve 27 million people.

The bill before us is the latest in a long line of cynical attempts by President Trump and Republican Leaders to sabotage and undermine the Affordable Care Act. We ought not be funding efforts to treat infectious diseases like the flu and measles by taking away the funds needed to prevent those illnesses from occurring in the first place.

Mr. Speaker, this bill turns on its head that adage, ``an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.'' Instead of joining President Trump's campaign to sabotage the ACA, the Members of this body, Republicans and Democrats, should join to reauthorize CHIP and CHCs for 5 years, fully paid for without robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, the document before us is a partisan exercise to deliver large tax cuts to the wealthy. Working Americans will see their taxes go up, and our children and grandchildren will have to pay back the debt Republicans will create to finance these tax cuts.

While they promise the American people revenue neutral tax reform that will simplify the Tax Code and close costly loopholes, the budget they are ramming through will borrow $1.5 trillion to finance these cuts. It will precipitate cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and other safety net programs upon which middle-income families depend.

It proposes to eliminate the deduction for State and local taxes, increasing the tax burden on over 500,000 people in my home State of South Carolina.

This document threatens the earned income tax credit; lowers the ceiling on middle-income savings; and eliminates the inheritance tax, which only affects those with estates valued over $11 million.

It creates a pass-through for businesses that pay zero corporate taxes, effectively giving the owners of these companies a lower individual rate than the people they employ.

If the Republicans would engage us, we could produce a bipartisan tax plan that would expand the earned income tax credit for single individuals and the child tax credit for working families.

Mr. Speaker, we could produce a bipartisan tax plan that would end the preferential treatment of investment income, which undermines working Americans while enriching wealthy investors.

We stand ready to engage with the other side. Until then, we will be resolute in our opposition to this unfair, immoral document.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Veasey, and our colleague Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, for joining me at the Center for African American Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington last Thursday evening. It was a wonderful experience for me and President Vistasp Karbhari, Dr. Jason Skelton and my longtime friend Dr. Marvin Delaney were perfect hosts.

Earlier this month, Sergeant La David T. Johnson died a hero's death in a distant land on a mission few Americans know about or understand.

This weekend, his grieving family, including his pregnant wife, took him to his final resting

place in Florida. Sgt. Johnson's tragic death leaves this young family fatherless.

Mr. Speaker, in his Second Inaugural address, President Abraham Lincoln called on our nation to endeavor ``to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan. . . .''

Unfortunately, rather than comfort Sgt. Johnson's grieving family, the current occupant of the White House has chosen to use them as his latest prop in his constant effort to sow discord and division in this country.

The President and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who happens to be a Four-Star General, have insulted and smeared an honorable public servant who happens to be a Five-Star Congresswoman, and in effect called her and her grieving widowed constituent liars.

Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson has been a champion for the people of South Florida for decades. It is no mystery--and it was not political--that she was accompanying Mrs. Johnson and her family to receive her husband's remains. She had mentored Sgt. Johnson throughout his childhood.

Mr. Speaker, I have participated in several of Congresswoman Wilson's 500 Role Models events and have spoken for one of their graduations. I often wear a red tie to this floor helping her highlight their efforts. And her passionate work on behalf of those kidnapped girls of Boko Haram is unmatched.

As the husband of a five-star African American woman for more than 56 years and the father of three African American daughters who are working hard to earn their stars each and every day, I feel compelled to respond to General Kelly and completely debunk his concocted misrepresentation.

Mr. Speaker, we can have political differences here in Washington, D.C. That comes with the territory. But people need to have the common decency and basic humanity to refrain from exacerbating the pain of those already suffering so much.

I was taught from childhood that silence gives consent. I want the White House to know this, I and the members of the Congressional Black caucus will not be silent or silenced.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding to me.

I also thank him and our colleague, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, for joining me at the Center for African American Studies at the University of Texas at Arlington last Thursday evening. It was a wonderful experience for me. President Vistasp Karbhari, Dr. Jason Skelton, and my longtime friend, Dr. Marvin Delaney, were perfect hosts.

Mr. Speaker, earlier this month, Sergeant La David T. Johnson died a hero's death in a distant land on a mission few Americans know about or understand. This weekend, his grieving family, including his pregnant wife, took him to his final resting place in Florida. Sergeant Johnson's tragic death leaves this young family fatherless.

Mr. Speaker, in his second inaugural address, President Abraham Lincoln called on our Nation to endeavor to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.

Unfortunately, rather than comfort Sergeant Johnson's grieving family, the current occupant of the White House has chosen to use them as his latest prop in his constant effort to sow discord and division in this country.

The President and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, who happens to be a four-star general, have insulted and smeared an honorable public servant who happens to be a five-star Congresswoman, and, in effect, called her and her grieving widow constituent liars.

Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson has been a champion for the people of south Florida for decades. It is no mystery--and it was not political--that she was accompanying Mrs. Johnson and her family to receive her husband's remains. She had mentored Sergeant Johnson throughout his childhood.

I have participated in several of Congresswoman Wilson's 500 Role Models events and have spoken for one of their graduations. I also wear this red tie to this floor helping her highlight their efforts. Her passionate work on behalf of those kidnapped girls of Boko Haram is unmatched.

As the husband of a five-star African-American woman for more than 56 years and the father of three African-American daughters who are working hard to earn their stars every day, I feel compelled to respond to General Kelly and completely disregard his concocted misrepresentations.

Mr. Speaker, we can have political differences here in Washington. That comes with the territory. But people need to have the common decency and basic humanity to refrain from exacerbating the pain of those already suffering so much. I was taught from childhood that silence gives consent. I want the White House to know this: I and the members of the Congressional Black Caucus will not be silent, and we will not be silenced.