Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I am here to urge this House to defeat the previous question so that we can hear H.R. 5476, a bipartisan bill to protect the Special Counsel, Mr. Mueller.

It is important for democracy and for the rule of law for which we are respected around the globe that Mr. Mueller's investigation goes on and not be impeded by the firing of Mr. Rosenstein and the imposition of somebody who is inimical to Mr. Mueller's investigation.

I want to quote Bill Frist, former Republican majority leader in the Senate. ``Congress must never abandon its role as an equal branch of government. In this moment, that means protecting Mueller's investigation. We're at our best as Senators and Republicans when we defend our institutions. But more than that, it's our best face as Americans.

``People around the world admire not just the material well-being of the United States but our values, too. The rule of law is something many die trying to secure for their countries. We can't afford to squander it at home.''

Defeat the previous question. Protect Robert Mueller.

Mr. Speaker, the soul of our country is in jeopardy and in question. It couldn't be more directly seen than in the Senate on Thursday with the hearings for Judge Kavanaugh.

The two most pressing issues that will be heard are the #MeToo movement and respect for women and their safety from sexual assault, and the

truth and whether or not the truth is something that matters to people anymore or whether it is just spinning lies to get ratings.

The man who has been nominated to the Supreme Court went on FOX News and said he didn't drink illegally when he was 18 years old. Well, he did. The drinking age was 21.

The lady who accuses him has passed a lie detector test administered by a former FBI agent and has told more than four or five different people about this incident over the last 6 years, which has been very difficult for her. She should be given respect, and there should be an attempt to find the truth.

But the third person in that incident has not been subpoenaed by the Senate, because they don't want to know the truth. They fear the truth. They are keeping the truth from the American people, and they are failing in respecting women.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member DeFazio and Chairman Shuster for their excellent efforts to work out this compromise on the FAA reauthorization and finding consensus with our Senate counterparts. I am glad to have successfully included four important measures in the final package.

Special thanks to Senator Nelson and Ranking Member DeFazio for keeping in many key Democratic priorities that support labor, airports, and consumers; and, most notably, preserve the safety of the flying public.

I should comment that the SEAT Act, which I am most proud of, a 3- year effort that I worked on with Adam Kinzinger, was accepted by voice vote in committee. I thank Mr. Shuster for that. It is a watershed moment for safety for the flying public. We have never before been forced to regulate seat sizes, but the reality is, the safety of the flying public is at risk unless we do.

Representative Kinzinger and I worked on this to see to it that we put an end to the shrinking sizes of seats on airplanes through the SEAT Act, or the Safe Egress in Air Travel Act, so it would become law.

Americans have become larger. Seats have become smaller. They have become more dangerous. There needs to be a study on the width and the pitch of seats to make sure that they are safe to be evacuated within the approximate 90 seconds they are supposed to be able to evacuate a plane. Flyers Rights and the National Consumers League also supported this.

I would like to thank Senators Blumenthal, Markey, Warner, and Whitehouse, and others. I look forward to voting for this bill, and I encourage everybody to vote for it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this body's action to pass HR. 5439, a bill I introduced to designate the U.S. Postal Office at 1320 Autumn Ave. Memphis, Tennessee as the ``Judge Russell B. Sugarmon Post Office.''

I want to thank my colleagues from the Tennessee House delegation, Representatives Roe, Duncan, Fleischmann, DesJarlais, Cooper, Black, Blackburn, and Kustoff, all of whom cosponsored this legislation honoring a great American. I also want to thank Chairman Gowdy and Ranking Member Cummings for reporting this bill favorably out of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Born in Memphis, Tennessee in 1929, Judge Russell B. Sugarmon is heralded for his contributions to the City of Memphis and his work to reverse the tide of racism in Tennessee, paving the way for future black leaders in the area and inspiring their efforts to increase their representation in elected, Democratic bodies.

Working alongside notable Memphis pioneers and leaders in the fight for racial justice and equality, Judge Sugarmon was instrumental in using the courts to desegregate public transportation, restaurants and public facilities and the desegregation of Memphis public schools.

As a trailblazer for African-Americans in public office and a leader in the Civil Rights Movement, it is only fitting that we enshrine our recognition of Judge Sugarmon's contributions to the City of Memphis and the African American community by naming the 1320 Autumn Ave. Post Office in Memphis, Tennessee in honor of his legacy.

I thank my colleagues in the House for voting to pass this measure honoring Judge Russell B. Sugarmon, an exemplary American and titan of his time.

I urge my colleagues in the Senate to quickly take up this bill and send the legislation to the President's desk.

The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, was read the third time, and passed.

The title of the bill was amended so as to read: ``A bill to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1325 Autumn Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee, as the `Judge Russell B. Sugarmon Post Office Building'.''.

A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the bill I introduced today along with Senator Duckworth from Illinois, the School Bus Safety Act.

No more precious cargo is there than school-aged children entrusted by their parents to go and earn an education and pave the way to a better life. The common-sense measures called for in this legislation will save young lives and it's the right thing to do.

In November 2016, there were two high-profile school bus accidents in Chattanooga, Tennessee and another in Baltimore, Maryland that left 6 school-aged children robbed of their futures.

According to a subsequent National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) crash investigation report, seat belts and other safety measures could have prevented the death of those children and no doubt countless others involved in school bus accidents across the United States.

That is why I am glad that others have joined in the chorus to improve school bus safety including my colleagues, Representatives Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey and Charlie Crist of Florida who have introduced similar legislation, along with Representatives Elijah Cummings from Maryland and John Duncan from my state of Tennessee who joined me earlier this year to call for a hearing on this very matter.

Despite the recommendations of the NTSB, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration refuses to initiate the process to enshrine these life-saving measures into federal regulation.

As a result of this inaction, Senator Duckworth and I have put forth the School Bus Safety Act, a comprehensive bill to not only make children safer in the event of a crash, but to promote technologies to prevent crashes in the first place.

Buses, like so many passenger vehicles on the road today, should be equipped with automatic electronic breaking systems and electronic stability control. It is just common-sense that our children are the safest they can be on their way to and from school.

The School Bus Safety Act has been endorsed by the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety as well as the National Safety Council.

I urge this body to swiftly pass this legislation so that no other young souls fall victim to our failure to act and make school buses safer.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Hill for scheduling this Special Order. It is most appropriate that we meet here and we talk about John McCain, whose elected political career started in this House with two terms in the House of Representatives.

I spent most of my life as an elected legislator, 39 years, and I value my service. I think highly of people who take the oath of office and support it and make people think that government is an honorable profession and encourage younger generations to get involved because they set good examples.

John McCain was one of those people who set a good example for American citizens to think well of their government, to think well of their leaders, and to desire to serve in public office.

John McCain was a person I only had a few opportunities to interact with, and each of those opportunities are ones I will never forget. He was as nice and kind as he could be.

But I knew him from his career. We didn't always agree. He was a conservative and a Republican. But when he was wrong, he learned and he changed, and that is a great sign of a human being, to be able to continually evolve and become a better human being.

When he was running for President, he wasn't able, in South Carolina, in 2000, to come out against the Confederate flag, but he later knew it was wrong, came out against it and admitted his mistake.

He learned about campaign finance and worked with Russ Feingold on campaign finance reform, and on that, he was a maverick.

And he was a maverick on climate change. He recognized science and the need to preserve our planet.

He recognized the need to have reasonable and good immigration laws to not only protect our borders, but to give others an opportunity to come to this country and continue to make our country greater, because what we are is a country of immigrants that has benefited from the brainpower and hard work of immigrants who have sought a better home for themselves and their families.

John McCain was courageous as a military leader in Vietnam when he

was in prison, but he was courageous as a politician. When he stood up to the lady that condemned Barack Obama and was trying to throw scurrilous remarks about Barack Obama--in her mind they were scurrilous--John McCain, the candidate, could have just gone on and let it pass and moved to the next subject, but he didn't because he had character and he had a soul. And he stopped and he told the lady: ``No. You are wrong. Barack Obama is a good man. He is a good family man.'' And he spoke well of his opponent, something that we have not seen in recent Presidential elections, a Presidential candidate who rose above the fight and realized that Barack Obama and he were both Americans and on the same team even though he wanted to be President rather than Barack Obama.

There is so much that John McCain did. And when he came and did that famous thumbs-down on the ACA--yes, I was for the ACA, so I liked that a lot. I don't know if he did that because of the fact that the Senate wasn't following their rules and regular order, which was a good reason not to be for it, or if it was because he had recently found out that he had brain cancer and was undergoing a horrific health experience that he did face with great courage, but he saw that he had had the best medical treatment available, and I suspect he had to think about Americans who needed health insurance if they came into the same situation that he had experienced.

That showed he had empathy and he could grow and vote in a way as a human being and not just as a party person, because of others who suffer from health afflictions.

I watched every minute of the services in Phoenix, here in Washington, and was inspired--inspired--by Meghan McCain and her remarks and the two Presidents who were his opponents who spoke so well of him, and others.

I am sorry I couldn't attend those services on Saturday. I will be in Annapolis, Maryland, and I will visit his grave and pay my respects in person. He was a great American, and he was courageous. We are lucky he came our way.

Fair winds and following seas, John McCain.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Reducing Obesity in Youth Act, a bill I introduced earlier today along with my colleagues Rosa DeLauro and Jan Schakowsky. This bill would promote beneficial healthy eating and physical activity habits for children.

I was disheartened to learn that Tennessee has the highest childhood obesity rate in the country. While, nationally, 31 percent of kids are obese or overweight--a number that is already too high--in Tennessee, the rate is 38 percent.

Childhood obesity has lifelong consequences. It leaves our kids at a higher rate for cardiovascular disease, including heart disease and stroke, diabetes, and even certain types of cancer.

Research has shown that early childhood is a critical time for the development of lifelong dietary and physical activities.

That is why we are introducing the Reducing Obesity in Youth Act.

If enacted, this bill would create a competitive grant program to incentivize the development of healthier early care and education environments to improve healthy eating and physical activity for children under five.

It's time that we act. I urge my colleagues to help pass this bill.

Mr. Speaker, some Members of this House have embarrassed themselves, our Congress, and our country by bringing a baseless impeachment resolution against Rod Rosenstein, Deputy Attorney General of the United States of America.

Mr. Rosenstein has done his job lawfully and appropriately according to Hoyle. They want him to release information which, if he does it, will be releasing matters that are classified and confidential and could jeopardize the investigation that Robert Mueller is leading and Mr. Rosenstein is over and harm that investigation.

Prosecutors will not release their information of who their witnesses are, where they are going, or whom they have interviewed. They can't and should not give away sources and methods. To do so would be in dereliction of duty.

To file impeachment resolutions is to hurt Mr. Rosenstein, to hurt the investigation, hurt Mr. Mueller, and keep the truth from being known by the American public. If they weren't concerned about the truth, they wouldn't be going after the investigator so much. You do that when you can't deal with the data.

I hope when we come back Mr. Mueller is still safe in his job, Mr. Rosenstein is still safe in his job, and the United States of America still stands for the rule of law and democracy.

God bless America.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce a bill sanctioning Russia for its continued occupation of Ukraine. This bill sends a strong signal by going after Russian financial institutions, which are one of the few soft areas of Russian President Vladimir Putin's underbelly.

On February 27, 2014, Russia invaded and occupied Ukraine's Crimea region. Russia continues to ignore the Minsk Agreement and sanctions to date have failed to alter President Putin's calculations regarding Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

Putin's regime relies on several large financial institutions to implement its policies and keep the regime afloat. That is why I am introducing a bill to impose sanctions on Russian financial institutions.

Russia's continued occupation of Ukraine is intolerable and continued aggression and violation of international norms is unacceptable. Congress must use every tool available to change President Vladimir Putin's behavior.

I want to urge my colleagues to pass this important bill.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the following op-ed by former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist about the need to protect Special Counsel Mueller's investigation from partisan political interference. The piece recently appeared in the Washington Post.

The Senate I Led Put Country Over Party. This One Must Do the Same for

Robert Mueller.

(By Bill Frist)

Bill Frist is a heart and lung transplant surgeon, former U.S. Senate

majority leader and senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

When I retired from the U.S. Senate in 2007 as its majority

leader, my parting words were a prayer for my colleagues to

rise above the passions of the moment and protect the

institution as a bulwark for our country's enduring values.

The Senate I served in was not devoid of partisanship, nor

should it be, but my hope was that patriotism would always

take priority over party.

It is with some trepidation that I offer thoughts on how

the good people still serving in the Senate should address a

current crisis, but staying silent is no longer an option.

Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III is under assault, and

that is wrong. No matter who is in the White House, we

Republicans must stand up for the sanctity of our democracy

and the rule of law.

Certainly, my former colleagues face difficult pressures.

They go to work in a Washington that is divided. They want to

ensure a Supreme Court that, like most of our citizens,

understands that government power must be limited. They want

a fair tax code that supports a growing economy. They want

less regulation. By those measures, President Trump is a

great partner at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. But we

can't look the other way as, tweet by tweet, with each new

assault on the Justice Department's independence, the bedrock

principles of our party crumble.

I'm a Republican because I stand for small government and

also, as a physician, for the dignity of every life. But I am

also a Republican because I believe in the rule of law.

Republicans must fight for that principle today--even if it

means pushing back against a Republican administration. As a

party, we can't let the president or his allies erode the

independence of the Justice Department or public trust in the

vital work of law enforcement. That would be true even if the

stakes were much lower, but it is overwhelmingly so when it

comes to investigating foreign interference in our elections.

Congress must ensure that Mueller is able to do his job

without interference or intimidation.

Nobody knows what the special counsel's investigation will

conclude. I, for one, do not think the president colluded

with Russian President Vladimir Putin to win the 2016

election. But I do believe Putin purposely tried to undermine

our democratic process.

It isn't easy to tell a president of your own party that he

is wrong. But the assault on Mueller's investigation does not

help the president or his party. When Trump talks about

firing the special counsel or his power to pardon himself, he

makes it seem as though he has something to hide. The

president must remember that only Mueller's exoneration can

lift the cloud hanging over the White House.

The special counsel's investigation is not about Trump. It

is about our national security. Every American should be

rooting for Mueller's success in determining precisely how

Russia interfered in our fundamental democratic process. I

had no illusions about the Soviet Union during the Cold War,

and I have none about Putin now. Mueller's most recent court

filings indicate that Putin is seeking to meddle in this

year's elections. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Director of

National Intelligence Daniel Coats and FBI Director

Christopher A. Wray--all Trump appointees confirmed by the

Republican-led Senate--have also warned of foreign

interference. We should heed these warnings and empower

Mueller to see his important work through to its conclusion.

I have worried over the years about runaway legal

authority, and I've battled against activist judges. I don't

worry about Robert Mueller. He is a lifelong Republican with

a career of distinguished service running the Criminal

Division of the Justice Department for President Ronald

Reagan and serving as President George W. Bush's FBI

director, twice unanimously confirmed by the Senate. And his

investigation is getting results: By any objective standard,

he has moved swiftly, obtaining 23 indictments and five

guilty pleas in just more than a year.

Congress must never abandon its role as an equal branch of

government. In this moment, that means protecting Mueller's

investigation. We're at our best as senators and Republicans

when we defend our institutions. But more than that, it's our

best face as Americans.

People around the world admire not just the material well-

being of the United States but our values, too. The rule of

law is something many die trying to secure for their

countries. We can't afford to squander it at home.

Mr. Speaker, the most fundamental right in our country is voting.

The Pew Charitable Trust recently did a study on registration and voting in each State. I am sad to say that my State of Tennessee came out pretty bad.

We were 40th in the number of people registered in our State. About 78 percent of the people were registered to vote.

In turnout, we were last. Only 28.5 percent of the people in Tennessee voted. This was based on the 2014 elections.

The 2018 elections will determine a lot about who sits in this House, who sits in the Senate, and, eventually, who sits on the Supreme Court. It is imperative that everybody register to vote so that they can vote in the November elections, not just in Tennessee, but everywhere in the country, and that everyone turn out to vote so the voting totals are a fair representation of the people, all the people, if we are going to have a House and a Senate that is representative of America.

What occurred in Helsinki and what was brought out with the indictments by Special Counsel Mueller show how much the Russians think of our election system, that they got involved in a cyber attack on our country to defeat a candidate.

We should care as much about our electoral system as the Russians. We should care more about it. The fact that more than 20 percent of the citizens in my State do not register and do not vote is appalling.

With the continued threat to the electoral system in 2018, it is so important that we at least make it difficult for the Russians to have an impact. That means that each and every citizen needs to register, register others as their civic duty, vote as their civic duty, and make their voices heard. Otherwise, this room will not represent ``America the Beautiful.''

Madam Speaker, I want to commend our United States Department of Justice for reopening the Emmet Till murder case.

Emmet Till was a young man who was brutally murdered in Mississippi in 1955. The case that was brought to trial in Mississippi charged two White men who were identified by a Black one, one of Mr. Till's 14- year-old relatives. The all-White jury found them not guilty. Both men, looking back afterwards, said they did it, and nothing happened.

There have been lots of investigations about this, lots of reports, and the Justice Department has seized some ``new evidence'' to reopen the case. I commend our Justice Department.

While justice delayed is justice denied, justice, whenever it can be found in these civil rights cases, is appropriate and proper.

I thank the Department of Justice.

Mr. Speaker, today, the House passed a resolution which I authored with the help of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of which Ed Royce is the chairman supporting NATO and the NATO countries that are endangered by Russian aggression, particularly Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, and the Baltic area. The Balkan countries also have been threatened, including Montenegro, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine.

The resolution speaks of our support of the sanctions against Russia. And the sanctions should remain until Crimea is returned to Ukraine and the Donbas no longer has war. Then we continue to support the Baltics who have their airspace invaded by Russian aggression.

I am pleased that Speaker Ryan allowed this resolution to come to the floor and was passed by voice vote unanimous consent as the Senate had passed a similar resolution 97-2. The House and the Senate stand together in support of NATO and our allies in Eastern, Central, and Western Europe.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recall the excellent life of Melvin T. Burgess, Sr., who served his community in various capacities for 56 years and died June 28 at the age of 80. Mr. Burgess served for 33 years with the Memphis Police Department, the final two and a half years as Police Director. Mr. Burgess was a graduate of Booker T. Washington High School after which he joined the U.S. Air Force. He was also a graduate of Grambling State University in Grambling, Louisiana. Mr. Burgess joined the Memphis Police Department on March 12, 1962, starting off in the Beale Street Precinct as a beat officer. He rose through the ranks, working in the juvenile, robbery, narcotics and homicide units before becoming an Inspector then Director in January 1992. As Director, he assumed the command of 1,448 commissioned officers. He ran for Shelby County Sheriff as a Democrat in 1998 but did not prevail. The following year, he began working as the second in command of the Tunica County Sheriffs Department during federal corruption probe and, when the sheriff under indictment pleaded guilty to extortion and resigned, Burgess ran the department for almost a year until a successor was elected. He was commended by one federal prosecutor for ``coming in and righting the ship.'' He also worked as chief of security for Harrah's Casino in Tunica. Mr. Burgess was a true man of character and integrity whom I grew to know and admire while I was the legal advisor to the Memphis Police Department. I want to extend my condolences to his wife of 43 years, Johanna; his son Shelby County Commissioner Melvin Burgess II and his wife Sandra; his daughter Pamela Nelson; and his four grandchildren. Melvin Burgess always did the right thing. His was a life well-lived, and he will be missed.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member for the time.

What we are experiencing here in this moment in this Chamber is the greatest tribute to Federico Fellini that could ever be produced in this House. It is a theater of the absurd. It is a ruse on the American people and an attempt to defeat justice that will go back and expose activities involving Russia and participants in the 2016 election that resulted in the election of Donald Trump.

The fact is there is a special counsel investigating that, one of the most distinguished Americans ever, a Purple Heart recipient who went in the Marines because one of his friends was killed; and he volunteered to go to Vietnam, received a Purple Heart and other commendations, and then came back here and didn't practice law and make money and get greedy on 5th Avenue, but he pursued justice, and he put Gotti away, and he put Noriega away.

He has dealt with some of the worst people in this world, and it is a perfect calling for him to stand for the Constitution and for our country and for the rule of law and investigate possible collusion with Russia in our 2016 election and other activities.

The campaign manager for President Trump is in jail right now because, while out on bond, he did acts that the judge couldn't countenance and couldn't count on him not to engage in again, so she had to put him in jail.

There have been indictments. There have been guilty pleas by people close to the President.

The President is feeling the heat, and his acolytes here in the House of Representatives, rather than operating as a check and balance on the administration and protecting the flag, the Constitution, and doing their duty and their oath of office, are producing this ruse to make the American public think there is something wrong with our Justice Department, our FBI, and our special counsel, going after Mr. Mueller, a registered Republican; Mr. Rosenstein, a Republican appointed by Mr. Trump; and Mr. Wray at the FBI, a Republican appointed by Trump.

As we are here on this floor, the Judiciary Committee is having a sham hearing with Rosenstein and Wray, Republicans fighting Republicans to get information. But it is not Republicans fighting Republicans. It is Republicans fighting for Trump, who has taken over this party, a party that once proudly stood for people like Ronald Reagan and Dwight Eisenhower and George Bush and George H.W. Bush and even Abraham Lincoln, who most people know was a Republican.

What we are seeing is the takeover of our democracy, and this is the theater of the absurd. These documents should not be turned over, and the Justice Department doesn't turn them over because it would reveal sources and it would imperil an investigation.

God bless the United States, and may we protect Robert Mueller. I reiterate my oath to defend the Constitution.