[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 156 (Thursday, September 28, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H7615-H7619]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
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LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM
(Mr. HOYER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the majority leader for the
purpose of giving us the schedule for the week to come.
Mr. Speaker, before I yield, however, to the majority leader, I want
to join all of our colleagues in saying how very grateful we are and
pleased we are with the return of the majority whip, Steve Scalise. All
of us who sat here and heard Steve, our friend and colleague, give his
reaction not only to the hateful, vicious action that took place as he
was practicing for the charity baseball game where Republicans and
Democrats come together to raise funds for young people and people who
need help, and they do so together in a spirit of good will and common
purpose, I think Steve Scalise, our majority whip, spoke movingly, and
I am sure all Members were impressed with his courage and with his
comments about that which is important.
He talked about his prayers having been answered and the prayers of
literally millions of people around this country. And in talking about
some of the world leaders who called him and expressed their concern,
because they knew, as he said and as Leader Pelosi said: An attack on
Steve Scalise was an attack on us all, and it was an attack on our
democracy and an attack on peacefully resolving differences, no matter
how strongly they may be held--a lesson for all of us.
I want to congratulate and thank Jennifer, his extraordinary wife,
who shouldered a responsibility and a burden that she did not expect
and, as Steve said, did it with great courage and great grace. His
children, Madison and Harrison, and their entire family, I know, were
responsible for Steve being able to be back here with us, and so we
thank them.
He is back with us today, and we look forward to him being a
vigorous, as he was and is, part of the deliberations of this House and
of reaching decisions in a positive, constructive way.
Steve and I have a difference of opinion on whose crabs are better.
We had a crab dinner not too long ago, my staff and his staff, and he
brought some crabs up from Louisiana, I brought some crabs from
Maryland, and it was a split decision as to which were the best. It
will not surprise you who was for which crab.
Today, we are filled with joy to see him back on the floor and on the
road to full recovery.
We also continue to be grateful for the recovery of U.S. Capitol
Police Officers Crystal Griner and David Bailey. I want to join Steve,
and I know all of our Members, as we rose and clapped to show our
respect and our appreciation for those in the Capitol Police.
Some of us are privileged to, as Steve pointed out, have a detail,
and they become family. We are so impressed with their commitment,
their talent, the extraordinary training that they have received and
display every day; and, of course, Crystal Griner and David Bailey
responded and, in responding, were injured themselves. They put their
lives at risk for not only Steve Scalise but for all the Members who
were on the field at that point in time.
I want to join Steve, and I know all of our colleagues and the
majority leader, in expressing appreciation and great respect for those
who serve us in the Capitol Police.
I say to my friend, the majority whip--he has left the floor now--we
are glad to have you back. I wrote him a note this morning saying
whatever I could do to help him, I was available to do that. I am sure
he took it that that did not mean I necessarily would vote the way he
wants me to vote, nor did I think he would vote necessarily the way I
wanted him to vote, but we will continue in this great institution we
call the House of Representatives, but, as Steve called it and I call
it and so many of us call it, the people's House.
Every 2 years, they send us back here to try to make policy to make
their lives better and our country stronger, and, more than the public
knows, we work together to accomplish that objective. They see the
confrontations, but they don't always see the cooperation.
Now, at this time, Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from
California (Mr. McCarthy), the majority leader, my friend--we cooperate
more than people will see from time to time, I want to thank him for
that--for the purpose of inquiring of the schedule for the week to
come.
(Mr. McCARTHY asked and was given permission to revise and extend his
remarks.)
Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, before I give the schedule, I do want to say today was a
day that was very good to see our dear friend, Steve Scalise, make it
back.
As the gentleman said, an attack on him was an attack on the entire
institution. I was there that day in the hospital, my wife and I, and
waiting for Jennifer to arrive, and Steve, going through those
surgeries. The number of times we would go back to visit, he is the
strongest man I have ever known. I thought his speech today was
fantastic.
It is from the heart that he first would seek God's guidance. The
strength of Jennifer--I watched Madison and Harrison spend their entire
summer in that hospital for their father, and for him to be able to
walk back here as soon as he did and the excitement in his face when he
was able to cast that vote, I know Steve is going to continue to get
stronger as he goes, and he thanks everybody for the help they
provided.
[[Page H7616]]
We should not forget the spirit that this floor had today. We should
take that spirit into the days forward and continue it. We can
disagree, but it takes an unbelievable terrible situation, at times, to
remind us of the human spirit we have for one another, and I want to
make sure, even for myself, that I remember those moments in times of
the most heated debates.
So with that, Mr. Speaker, on Monday, the House will meet at noon for
morning hour and 2 p.m. for legislative business. Votes will be
postponed until 6:30.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the House will meet at 10 a.m. for morning
hour and noon for legislative business.
On Thursday, the House will meet at 9 a.m. for legislative business.
Last votes of the week are expected no later than 3 p.m.
And on Friday, no votes are expected in the House.
Mr. Speaker, the House will consider a number of suspensions next
week, a complete list of which will be announced by close of business
tomorrow.
Now, in addition, the House will consider H.R. 36, the Pain-Capable
Unborn Child Protection Act, also, as I like to call it, ``Micah's
Law.''
Mr. Speaker, I spent some time on Tuesday with a young boy named
Micah. Micah gave me this bracelet, ``Miracles for Micah,'' and I wear
it because Micah was born premature at 20 weeks. If you look at a
picture of Micah, he was the size of a bag of M&Ms. Today, he is happy,
he is healthy, he is 5 years old, and no one would know the difference.
Mr. Speaker, all life is a miracle, and we have an obligation here to
speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.
I look forward to the House passing this compassionate bill next week
that will protect the lives of countless others just like Micah.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, the House will take up the FY18 budget
resolution. Our Republican budget balances within 10 years, provides
for a strong national defense, eliminates burdensome regulations, and
cracks down on waste, fraud, and abuse. Passing this budget will also
enable tax reform, which is the key to economic growth and seeing that
Americans take home more of their hard-earned dollars.
I thank Chairman Black and the entire Budget Committee--and
especially you, Mr. Speaker--for their hard work on this bill.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentleman for the information on the schedule
to come.
I want to speak to two things that are not on the schedule, Mr.
Leader, but I know that both of us are focused on this and realize that
we need to move and we need to move quickly.
First of all, I want to speak of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The leader and I, Mr. Speaker, were scheduled to try to go to Key West
and to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands this weekend. I am not sure
that that is going to be able to happen, given some of the logistics on
the ground, but whether that happens or not, Mr. Speaker, I know the
leader and I are going to work very hard on this.
There is a humanitarian crisis that has confronted Puerto Rico and
the Virgin Islands. Key West, at least you can drive to Key West still,
and we can get relief to Key West and to Florida and to victims of
Harvey. Obviously, our fellow Americans who are residents of two
islands, or actually more than two islands, but that comprise Puerto
Rico and the Virgin Islands, are in life-threatening distress.
I talked today to Dr. Price, the Secretary of Health and Human
Services, about the availability of dialysis on the island. There are
people who have already died because they were not able to get to
dialysis centers, and those centers don't have all the electricity they
need, so there is a humanitarian crisis, as I pointed out, Mr. Speaker,
and I know the leader appreciates this.
Mr. Leader, I know we don't have anything on the floor with reference
to additional resources that might be and are necessary to meet this
humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, but I would
urge the majority leader, as I have done and I think he has done, to be
in contact with the administration, be in contact with FEMA.
In particular, I was pleased to see that General Kim has now been
appointed, as General Honore was for New Orleans and Katrina, to
coordinate activities. We have extraordinary resources in the Armed
Forces of the United States, and I would urge the President, as
Commander in Chief, and the Department of Defense to allocate every
resource necessary to get the American people who live in Puerto Rico
and the Virgin Islands to a point where communications, the
availability of food, the availability of water, the availability of
medical services are up and running, hopefully, full bore by the end of
this weekend. This is a crisis.
And I know the majority leader shares that view, and if he wants to
make a comment on that, I yield to the gentleman from California.
Mr. McCARTHY. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank him for his
interest, and it is true, the gentleman and I were hopefully trying to
go down to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and Key West to look at
some of the damage, and, right now, the Coast Guard tells us, with the
rescue attempts that are ongoing, that we probably would be taking some
equipment away from doing that work, and we do not want to do any of
that. We will be able to go a little later when the time is right.
We will continue to work with the administration. When you think what
this country has gone through with Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, I do
want to give thanks to the work of the administration. I have seen some
coordination like I have not seen in the past.
We know these are islands. The damage of the two hurricanes they have
to go through, I have been keeping in constant contact, and just
speaking with FEMA just recently, they are currently coordinating and
establishing seven temporary hospitals. That was one of my concerns
with dialysis and others, but there is so much more to do to be able to
move through, and I will work with the gentleman, as we have in the
past, to make sure whatever they need will be able to get there.
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And I do want to thank Congressman Carlos Curbelo for his amendment
to the bill that we just voted on, adding a little more resources there
to make sure, knowing the tax code of Puerto Rico is a little different
than the one we had voted on as we go through, to give them greater
assistance, and the Virgin Islands.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments.
Clearly, this is not a partisan issue when an American or a group of
Americans or a large number--in this case, over 3.5 million people, all
of them at dire risk. We want to act together, we want to act quickly,
and we do not want to fail to deploy any resource that is necessary to
help our fellow Americans.
Secondly, Mr. Speaker, I would like to bring up an act, which
although not the crisis that Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, in
particular, confront us with, as did Harvey and Irma in Texas and in
Florida, but, Mr. Speaker, I notice that the Dream Act is not a part of
next week's schedule.
The leader and I have discussed the Dream Act, along with Speaker
Ryan. I know that the President has said, if we pass the Dream Act, he
has said publicly that he would sign the Dream Act. He is obviously
concerned with security at the borders. We share that concern about
security at the borders. But this is an item that, now, one-sixth of
the time that was available has run, and we have 5 months left to go.
I will tell the majority leader that I am very hopeful. I know the
majority leader and the Speaker have formed some task forces to look at
this issue, but I am very hopeful, Mr. Speaker--and I ask the majority
leader to perhaps comment on this--that before the end of this work
period--there are another 14 days left after this week in this work
period--that we might be able to bring the Dream Act to the floor.
A discharge petition has been filed. I would hope that the discharge
petition not be necessary for either the rule or for the Dream Act
itself. The discharge petition on the Dream Act itself will be mature
as of October 5, and I expect a discharge petition to be filed on that,
as well. But I am hopeful, Mr. Speaker, that that will not be
necessary.
[[Page H7617]]
Given the fact that the President has said that he thinks DACA was
issued beyond the authority of President Obama, we disagree with that
conclusion. But whether that conclusion is correct or not, the
President observed that we need to fix this legislatively.
So my question to the majority leader is: How soon does he believe
that we could address this issue in regular order?
We continue to pursue a discharge petition, as we did, frankly, for
the Ex-Im Bank, which, when it was called to the floor, had over 300
votes in favor of it, including the majority of the majority party
voted for that bill.
We believe, Mr. Speaker, strongly, that if the Dream Act is brought
to the floor, which over 8 in 10 Americans agree with, frankly, we
believe large numbers on both sides of the aisle agree that these young
people are not to be sent home.
Lastly, let me just quote Senator Orrin Hatch, who is a senior Member
in the United States Senate and the chairman of the Finance Committee.
He said: ``I've urged the President not to rescind DACA. . . .''
He did, and gave us 6 months to solve this, legislatively.
Senator Hatch observed that if DACA were rescinded, it would be ``an
action that would further complicate a system in serious need of a
permanent, legislative solution.''
He was referring then, Mr. Speaker, to a comprehensive immigration
reform.
``Like the President, I've long advocated for tougher enforcement of
our existing immigration laws. But we also need a workable, permanent
solution for individuals who entered our country unlawfully as children
through no fault of their own and who have built their lives here. That
solution must come from Congress.''
And I agree that that decision must come from Congress.
Rush Limbaugh said--and I don't usually agree with statements that
Mr. Limbaugh makes: ``Nobody's gonna win anything by deporting a bunch
of kids that we let in, whoever did, Obama, whatever. If we can get the
strict enforcement of existing immigration law . . . then the DREAMer
thing may be an acceptable payoff,'' he went on to say.
I don't think this is a payoff. This is responding. And that is why
the overwhelming majority of the American people support the Dream Act.
As I say, over 8 out of 10 Americans.
So I ask the majority--and I know that was a relatively long
statement. This is a critical issue, however, as I have expressed in
private to the majority leader, because we have but 5 months left to
go.
Hopefully, we could do this in this work period to allay the fears
that these young people have, who are making such a positive
contribution to America, to their communities, and to their families.
So I am hopeful that we could resolve this issue as soon as possible.
I yield to my friend, the majority leader.
Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding.
I first want to applaud Speaker Ryan for forming a working group on
this important issue. The gentleman and I have met numerous times on
this, and I have talked to the President about it, as well. He has been
very clear, and I agree with the President's position, courts have
shown that the past was unconstitutional, and that just means the House
has to do their job and the Senate. The one thing I would hate to
happen here is that we only do the job halfway, and then we have this
problem come back to us.
The President has asked us about border security, as well. I believe
we can find a solution here, together. I look forward to working with
Mr. Hoyer.
The President has challenged this Congress to find a solution, and I
believe we can. We are going to work to make sure we get it done. I
would like to do it sooner than the timeframe the President has given
us.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I welcome the majority leader's thought that
he wants to do it sooner rather than later. I will support him, of
course, in that effort.
I would say on his comment, Mr. Speaker, with reference to a
comprehensive solution, we are for a comprehensive solution. We would
like to see that because that is the only way we will stop this from
coming back.
The Senate passed a comprehensive immigration bill 3 years ago. We
have not seen that on the floor as of yet. Again, we think that that
would have a substantial vote and, perhaps, I think, a majority vote. I
am not as confident of that as I am with the Dream Act, which I think
clearly would enjoy the majority of the House's support.
But I am glad that he wants to move this quickly. We will work with
him to get that, I would hope, as I said, by the end of the work
period, to allay the great fears and anxiety.
Very frankly, we have had some young people thinking of going back to
a land they do not know, a language they do not necessarily speak, and
a culture they have, as adults, never been exposed to and don't know.
This, for all intents and purposes, in anything other than having the
paper that says so, is their country. They have gone to school here,
they work here, and they have been positive citizens here. And,
hopefully--as the President said, he loved these children--we could
relieve their fears and, in effect, redeem the American Dream for them.
There are other issues, obviously, with which we have to deal, and I
would urge the majority leader, as well, at some point in time, to make
a path forward for comprehensive immigration reform, because it is a
system we all agree is broken and needs to be fixed and is part of the
problem.
Two more issues, Mr. Speaker. The majority leader mentioned the
budget would be coming to the floor. This is the 2018 budget. This is
obviously late, but, nevertheless, it is being brought to the floor,
and we will be able to consider it.
Can the gentleman tell me: Will this include reconciliation
instructions and, if so, what those reconciliation instructions will
deal with?
I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I expect reconciliation in this budget. I leave it up to the Rules
Committee and the Budget Committee when they produce it, but on this
floor, I believe there will be reconciliation.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Leader, will it assume the repeal of the ACA in fiscal
year '17 or fiscal year '18, either one of those years, which clearly
has not seemed possible at this point in time?
I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding.
If the question is have I given up on repealing ObamaCare, the answer
is no.
So, yes, this is the budget for the rest of the year. We know the
harm that ObamaCare has brought to many Americans. The lack of
insurance, when you look at the number of counties, 40 percent of all
of the counties in America only have one provider, some have none. We
watched premiums go up.
We want a healthcare system where people have choice, that, actually,
the price is lower and the quality is better. That is something I will
never give up on, so, yes.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the majority leader for that
observation.
Obviously, we disagree, as he knows, on the success or failure of the
ACA. As a matter of fact, every health organization in America, every
major health organization in America opposed the repeal, a bill that
came to the floor.
Senator McCain, I thought, gave a very powerful exhortation to all of
us when he said, on July 25, we ought to do this in a bipartisan way.
We found, now, three efforts to repeal by the majority party, who
control all three--the Senate, the House, and the Presidency--an
inability to do that.
Mr. Speaker, I believe--and I would hope the majority leader would
pursue efforts, and we would do the same on our side. We believe the
ACA has been working.
We believe that 20-plus million more people are insured under the ACA
than were insured before the ACA.
We believe people with preexisting conditions were able to get
insurance. We believe seniors saved substantial money in purchasing
prescription drugs as a result of that.
We believe that people did not have--we know they did not have the
specter of being canceled because their expenses in any one year were
above a limit and that their lifetime limits
[[Page H7618]]
would not be imposed when they get a serious critical illness.
So we think it worked.
The majority has tried to repeal it. They have not succeeded at this
point in time, but they have created, Mr. Speaker, great anxiety and
uncertainty in the marketplace.
And to the extent, for instance, that premiums have risen in our
State, the head of Blue Cross/Blue Shield, the largest insurer in our
State, said the reason for at least 50 percent was the uncertainty that
had been created by the administration and by the debates that have
occurred in this House and the proposals that have occurred in this
House, which have undermined the market.
I talked to him the other day, and he said, in fact, if there were
stability, he believes rates would come down significantly because
insurance companies, providers, would have an opportunity to have a
stable environment in which they could assess the cost of health
insurance.
Did the majority leader want to say anything?
I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, the only thing I want to say, and I know we have debated
this many times--we can always put an endorsement somewhere and we can
always go back and forth, but I will just tell you for my own
district--I don't know why anybody would ever say they are making a
decision based on something when our bill carries it out another 2
years even, so I don't believe that to be true.
But I know what is true. Currently, 30 percent of the people who are
on the exchange in my district just had somebody pull out; and they had
that health insurance, Anthem, so now they don't. They have to go find
something else. They had doctors who they loved, and they were promised
that they were going to be able to keep them. Well, they couldn't.
I just look at numbers; and I take Republican, Democrat, I take
whatever name is across from it. Almost twice as many people pay the
penalty or take a waiver as actually make a payment for ObamaCare.
{time} 1215
So, yes, this will continue not because you and I have a
disagreement, but because people are hurting, premiums are going up,
deductibles are going up, and people are losing their providers. And
the providers are not leaving because it is staying the same way for
another 2 years, they are leaving because it is staying there.
So, yes, I look forward to continuing this conversation because we
cannot allow this harm to continue to go through this country.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
Mr. Speaker, we could go on, I presume, all day, and our friends who
want to do a 1-minute or a Special Order would not be happy with us,
and they are maybe not happy now, but the fact of the matter is that
this is a critically important issue to our country. When he talks
about providers, the providers said they didn't like any of these
bills.
We have had three opportunities: one that was offered but not put on
the floor; then one that came to the floor and passed this House and
then went to the Senate, and the majority of the Senate has not agreed
with any of the three alternatives; plus the alternative that Senator
Graham brought forward along with the Senator from Louisiana.
The majority in the Senate has not agreed, and, Mr. Speaker, what
that has done is provided the insurance industry, providers, doctors,
medical authorities with total lack of confidence on what is going to
happen tomorrow. Nobody in business believes that you can have proper
pricing if you do not know the context in which you are pricing your
product. So, yes, there has been a disruption.
What we ought to do, as Senator McCain said, is come together and
make sure a system works. We believe the ACA is working--not working as
well as it should right now, it is not working as much for the small
market or people on the exchanges as it should. It can.
Almost every medical provider and the majority of the American people
over these last 8 months has changed from not liking the ACA and not
thinking it is good for them, to where the majority of the American
people now support it, and 7 out of 10-plus want the ACA fixed, not
repealed.
So in that context, it seems to me it is both good politics and good
policy for us to come together and to create a system that works for
the American people. We believe that is by fixing the ACA, and to that
extent, we reflect the majority of the American people.
Secondly, Mr. Speaker, the last issue I want to bring up are two
items that were not included in the FAA bill, but which are important
programs. One is the Perkins Loan Program for students. We know that
the cost of education has skyrocketed and that we need to extend that
act. That bill, by the way, Mr. Speaker, has 226 cosponsors, so it is
not as if there is not a majority of the House that already supports
that extension.
The second thing that needs to be done: we need to deal with a
comprehensive health system in our communities, the Community Health
Centers. We need to deal with the teaching hospitals. We need to deal
with the disproportionate share of hospitals.
So there are many things that we did not include in the bill that we
passed today that need to be addressed and need to be addressed
immediately. They are not on the schedule for next week.
Can my friend give me some idea when we might consider those, which,
of course, expire on September 30?
So September 30 will come and go before we start next week's
schedule.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
You raised a couple issues there. When it comes to teaching
hospitals, that was in the bill you just voted against twice this week
on the floor. So that has been taken care of.
When you are talking about SCHIP and the extension of that, Chairman
Walden actually postponed a markup not because he wanted to, but
because it was requested by the Democrats. So he postponed the markup
this week in continuing bipartisan negotiations.
This is something I would like to get done. I know Chairman Walden
has now scheduled a markup for next week, so I am very hopeful that we
will get this done very soon. I am a big supporter of SCHIP and a lot
of the work that they do and what it moves forward for our healthcare
in the future, especially for the health clinics out there. So I look
forward to working with you.
Mr. HOYER. I appreciate that.
You mentioned SCHIP. Can you refer to the Perkins Loan Program? Does
the gentleman know whether that is also moving forward?
Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend.
Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.
I apologize. You did mention the Perkins Act. I do not have that
scheduled at the current time, but I will keep you abreast when I do.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that SCHIP is on the committee's
agenda for next week. Hopefully, that can be brought to the floor
before we leave in this work period, perhaps just before or just after
the Dream Act is brought to the floor.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, the majority leader.
Mr. McCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, it is our understanding that today could
be the very last time that Margarida Curtis provides a message to us on
this floor.
We would like to thank Margarida Curtis. From a very grateful nation,
thank you for your service. Many times the American people see your
voice, but also the power of what you bring back and forth to make this
democracy work. We want to thank you for your service, and we wish you
all the happiness in retirement.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
Margarida Curtis has been a longtime employee of the United States
Senate and, as a result, an employee of the people of the United
States.
Margarida, you have always done your work with great ability and
clarity. We very much appreciate your service to the Senate, but also
to this House, to the Congress itself, and to the American people. They
are grateful for all you have done. God speed.
=========================== NOTE ===========================
September 28, 2017, on page H7618, the following appeared: Mr.
MCCARTHY. Mr. Speaker, it is our understanding that today could
bethe very last time that Margarita Curtis provides a message to
us on this floor. We would like to thank Margarita Curtis. From a
very grateful nation, thank you for your service. Many times the
American people see your voice, but also the power of what
youbring back and forth to make this democracy work. We want to
thank you for your service, and we wish you all the happiness in
retirement. Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
Margarita Curtis has been a longtime employee of the United States
Senateand, as a result, an employee of the people of the United
States. Margarita, you have always done
The online version has been corrected to read: Mr. MCCARTHY. Mr.
Speaker, it is our understanding that today could be the very last
time that Margarida Curtis provides a message to us on this floor.
We would like to thank Margarida Curtis. From a very grateful
nation, thank you for your service. Many times the American people
see your voice, but also the power of what you bring back and
forth to make this democracy work. We want to thank you for your
service, and we wish you all the happiness in retirement. Mr.
HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. Margarida Curtis has
been a longtime employee of the United States Senate and, as a
result, an employee of the people of the United States. Margarida,
you have always done
========================= END NOTE =========================
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
[[Page H7619]]
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