jim clyburn of south carolina. mr. clyburn: thank you very much mr. whip. thank you so much. vice chair, congratulations to you as well. linda is one of the stars our baseball team. [laughter] friendburn: my longtime john yarmouth, thank you. i learned early in my life what is expected from those who serve in public office. must pay special attention to those who are in the dawn of their lives, our children. we do so with medicaid and many other programs. and that must be protected. we are also judged by how well we take care of those who are in the sunset, the dust, if you -- if you please, of their lives. we do that through medicare and other programs to make sure they live out their golden years with dignity and respect. our government has a responsibility to take care of all the rest of those who fall in between through a very progressive program that our whip has just mentioned. voted million more voters for her than those who do not. pockets,there are segments in our population, who sent us a message on election day. and i want to say it to them. and we willived, reply

in any event, i am honored to stand here with mr. hoyer and our assistant leader mr. clyburn. and, to welcome the ranking member of the budget committee. he brings with him is values and ability to communicate values to the public. i associate myself with the remarks of our distinguished chairman. i think he gave a great presentation of where we are. where we are is a place of urgency for the american people. we have a responsibility to stand with them, to engage where we can, and oppose where we cannot engage, and also, the opportunity to do great things for the american people. so, it is with great pride that i accept the privilege extended to me by my colleagues. some of us have had a chance to talk already about that. i just want to focus on one of chairman'sn the agenda, concerns we have. every single day that goes by, republicans are making more inroads into undermining medicare. it is their budget, it is a part -- their budget calls for it. it is a part of their agenda to take away the guarantee of medicare for the american people. they want to voucherize it. and, the p

jim clyburn of south carolina. mr. clyburn: thank you very much mr. whip. thank you so much. madame vice chair, congratulations to you as well. linda is one of the stars our baseball team. she really came through today. [laughter] mr. clyburn: my longtime friend john yarmouth, thank you. i learned early in my life what is expected from those who serve in public office. our government must pay special attention to those who are in the dawn of their lives, our children. we do so with medicaid and many other programs. and that must be protected. we are also judged by how well we take care of those who are in the sunset, the dusk, if you please, of their lives. we do that through medicare and other programs to make sure they live out their golden years with dignity and respect. our government has a responsibility to take care of all the rest of those who fall in between through a very progressive program that our whip has just mentioned. over 2 million more voters voted for her than those who do not. -- those who did not. however, there are pockets, segments in our population, wh

the clerk: leave of absence requested for mr. clyburn of south carolina for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request is granted. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2016 the gentleman from new jersey, mr. smith is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. mr. smith: i yield such time as he may consume to my good friend and colleague, jody heist. -- jody hice. mr. hice: thank you, madam speaker. what an hon nor it is to join my colleagues this evening in taking a moment to honor my good riend and fellow alum from asbury college, pennsylvania congressman joe pitts my friend joe pitts has spent his life literally engaged in serving those around him. in fact, early in his career, joe and his wife worked as teachers to educate the next generation until he joined the air force in 1963. he answered the call of duty in serving three tours in vietnam where he completed 116 combat missions and earned the air medal with five oak leaf clusters. just a few years after returning home from the war effort, joe continued h

the clerk: leave of absence requested for mr. clyburn of south carolina for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request is granted. the chair will entertain special order speeches, without project to resumption of legislative business. under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2015, the gentleman from delaware, mr. carney, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader. mr. carney: thank you, mr. speaker. thank you, mr. speaker. mr. speaker, i rise today to recognize the members of my staff who have served me and the people of delaware over the past six years. many of them have gathered in the gallery above us and i welcome them to hear these remarks. i tell them all the time that we have the best jobs in the world. and they have done incredible work on behalf of the people of our state and our country. during my six years as delaware's lone member of congress, i have been enormously privileged to work with such a great team. we've become like family. whether they're cheering me on at the congressional baseball game o

one of my candidates who ran against mr. benghazi himself, trey gowdy, was 26 of years old. he went toe-to-toe with trey gowdy. we trained him and helped him on debate prep. it made me beam with pride. that is what i'm all about, empowering young people so they can be their own future. i'm willing not only to pledge that is my life history, man, that is my life story. so i'm in this with you. >> thank you all. jackson. >> thanks, are we good? thanks, rick. jackson ravens, chair of the washington state democrats and the vice president for the western region for the asdc. there are 13 states in the western region, about a quarter of the individuals in this room and good to see you the three of you representing the south and midwest and northeast of our country but i would like to ask you a little bit, as we talk about grass roots efforts and building the party and really drilling down on those experiences, you have all spoken passionately about the work that you have done in your regions, but as we know it's a little bit different in different parts of the country. so my quest