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08Continuation of the National Emergency With Respect to the Situation in the West Bank: Message From the President of the United States (H. Doc.
09Certification of Rescission of Cuba's Designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism: Message From the President of the United States (H. Doc. No.
10Agreement for Cooperation Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy: Message From the President...
11119th Congress Regulations for Use of Deposition Authority and Remote Participation of Committee Witnesses
12Adjournment
1 member spoke
Daily Digest
Public Bills and Resolutions Introduced
28 public bills, H.R. 376-403; and 4 resolutions, H. Res. 38-41, were introduced.
Pages H148-49
Reports Filed
There were no reports filed today. Speaker: Read a letter from the Speaker wherein he appointed Representative Kim to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.
Page H115
Recess
The House recessed at 11:16 a.m. and reconvened at 12 p.m.
Page H124
Committee Elections
The House agreed to H. Res. 38, electing Members to certain standing committees of the House of Representatives.
Page H124
Committee Ranking
The House agreed to H. Res. 39, ranking a Member on a certain standing committee of the House of Representatives.
Page H125
Committee Elections
The House agreed to H. Res. 40, electing Members to certain standing committees of the House of Representatives.
Pages H125-26
Recess
The House recessed at 1:26 p.m. and reconvened at 2:01 p.m.
Page H138
Suspension: Proceedings Resumed
The House agreed to suspend the rules and pass the following measure. Consideration began Monday, January 13th: Post-Disaster Assistance Online Accountability: H.R. 153, to provide for an online repository for certain reporting requirements for recipients of Federal disaster assistance, by a \2/3\ yea-and-nay vote of 426 yeas with none voting ``nay'', Roll No. 10.
Pages H138-39
Protection of Women and Girls in Sports
The House passed H.R. 28, to amend the Education Amendments of 1972 to provide that for purposes of determining compliance with title IX of such Act in athletics, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth, by a yea-and-nay vote of 218 yeas to 206 nays with one voting ``present'', Roll No. 12.
Pages H126-38, H139-40
Rejected the Adams motion to recommit the bill to the Committee on Education and Workforce by a yea-and-nay vote of 208 yeas to 218 nays, Roll No. 11. H. Res. 5, the rule providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 28), was agreed to on Friday, January 3, 2025.
Pages H139-40
Presidential Message
Read a message from the President wherein he notified Congress that the national emergency with respect to the situation in the West Bank is to continue in effect beyond February 1, 2025--referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and ordered to be printed (H. Doc. 119-7).
Pages H141-42
Presidential Message
Read a message from the President wherein he notified Congress of the rescission of Cuba's designation as a State sponsor of terrorism--referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and ordered to be printed (H. Doc. 119-8).
Page H142
Presidential Message
Read a message from the President wherein he notified Congress of the agreement for cooperation between the Government of the United States and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand concerning peaceful uses of nuclear energy--referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs and ordered to be printed (H. Doc. 119-9).
Page H142
Quorum Calls: Votes
Three yea-and-nay votes developed during the proceedings of today and appear on pages H138, H139, and H139-40. Adjournment: The House met at 10 a.m. and adjourned at 3:49 p.m.
Every speech and line is the Congressional Record's own text, read from GovInfo. Speakers are matched to members by GPO's own metadata. Referandom places each turn on the Clerk's video by matching its words: 91 of 205 spoken turns were found. Turns without a time are still listed; they just can't seek.
Morning-Hour Debate
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of January 3, 2025, the Chair will now recognize Members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning-hour debate.
The Chair will alternate recognition between the parties, with time equally allocated between the parties and each Member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to 5 minutes, but in no event shall debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m.
Madam Speaker, on October 7, 2023, the people of Israel experienced the greatest terror attack in their nation's history. There were 1,200 people killed and 250 more were abducted in what was the most severe attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust.
Nearly 100 hostages remain in Gaza, with at least a third of those believed to be dead. I was horrified by the atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7, but I am encouraged by the reports that indicate that Israel and Hamas are closer than ever to reaching a cease-fire agreement that would return all remaining hostages held in Gaza to their families.
Still, the reality of the matter is whether a cease-fire is reached and whether that cease-fire lasts. We must act now.
I firmly believe in Israel's right to defend itself. It has been a critical ally in the region and has earned our support as it defends against threats from Iran and its proxies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hamas in Gaza.
Still, the manner in which Israel defends itself matters. After 15 months of war, I believe Prime Minister Netanyahu has overseen a military campaign that has had catastrophic consequences not only for the people of Gaza but for his own people, as well.
As Israel's strongest ally, we have a responsibility to ensure that the legitimate anger felt by its citizens and the rest of the world after October 7 does not spiral into endless violence. What began as a war of defense has now devolved into a war of retribution and widespread destruction.
Over 47,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, though a recent study published by The Lancet estimates the death toll could be up to 40 percent higher. The majority of those killed are women and children.
Madam Speaker, 90 percent of Gaza's population is internally displaced and the threat of widespread famine has lingered for months. At least six newborns have recently died of hypothermia. The number of children killed in Gaza during the war exceeds the total number of children killed in conflicts worldwide over the last 4 years.
Thousands of children like Malek Al Kafarna are grappling with life- threatening injuries as a direct result of the war.
On October 24, 2023, Malek was waiting for food coupons at a market in a refugee camp when an airstrike hit and blew off his arm.
It bears repeating that Hamas is an evil terrorist organization that cynically exploits civilians and has little to no regard for life, even the lives of other Palestinians, but research shows that terrorist organizations have rarely been dismantled purely through military force.
Precisely because Hamas is such a threat, we must approach defeating them with a rational, evidence-based approach. Research by RAND shows that terrorist groups end through targeted intelligence operations or through a negotiated political settlement.
In fact, I feel the war in Gaza will act as a recruitment tool for Hamas and will create a new generation of fighters who will seek revenge. After over a year of fighting, Hamas is weakened but has not been eliminated nor have the remaining Israeli hostages been released.
The last time hostages were released was in November 2023, and they gained their freedom through diplomatic negotiations. What is urgently needed to bring an end to this brutal war is a diplomatic solution.
Both the Israeli Government and Hamas must agree to end the fighting, release the hostages, and flood the Gaza strip with desperately needed food and medical supplies. It is in Israel's security interest to have a stable neighbor and a Palestinian state.
Civil society has broken down completely in Gaza and the territory urgently needs a peacekeeping force to help restore order. This force, ideally composed of Arab states, will play a critical role now and in post-war Gaza.
Hamas cannot remain in power and the people of Gaza deserve new political leadership that will prioritize peace as they establish a new government. Ideally, that government will be
The ultimate goal for all parties must be a lasting peace, and that can only be reached through a two-state solution.
We have the opportunity to change the trajectory of the lives of children like Malek. In 10 years, he will be 24. The choices we make in the coming weeks and months can either leave him desperate and hopeless, a prime candidate for recruitment from Hamas, or we can give him and the more than 1 million children living in Gaza the opportunity to grow up in a world that has prioritized peace and security. We must work toward ending this war and building a positive future for both Palestinians and Israelis.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate Coach Lamar Kirkley's 50-year anniversary with the Savannah Country Day School.
Mr. Kirkley has spent the past five decades coaching and teaching students at Savannah Country Day. He had led the boys' basketball team as well as the boys' and girls' cross-country and tennis team.
Mr. Kirkley has earned a spot in the Greater Savannah Athletic Hall of Fame and received the Teacher of the Year award in 2020 from the Exchange Club of Savannah. He also won the Savannah Morning News Coach of the Year award several times and across many different sports.
Mr. Kirkley was previously a stellar basketball player during his years at Armstrong State University. He has expressed that teaching and coaching go hand in hand, and he has excelled at both.
Mr. Kirkley has an excellent ability to relate to students, colleagues, players, and parents, and continues to excel in his career.
Madam Speaker, I congratulate Mr. Kirkley on 50 impactful years at Savannah Country Day, and I thank him for what he has done for our three sons.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to mourn the loss of Vincent Fort, who sadly passed away in December from cancer at the age of 68.
Mr. Fort was a former Democratic leader in the Georgia State Senate and a candidate for Atlanta mayor and Congress, who advocated for causes he believed in for many decades.
After his 1996 election to the 39th District in the State senate, Mr. Fort went on to be re-elected 10 times. Mr. Fort earned his undergraduate degree in history at Central Connecticut State College in 1978 and moved to Atlanta to study African-American history shortly thereafter. There he wrote his thesis on the sit-in movement at the Atlanta University Center, where he later taught history.
Mr. Fort had several remarkable legislative achievements, including laws that took effect in 2002 targeting abusive lending practices.
Mr. Fort will forever be remembered as a remarkable man who was committed to leadership, justice, and service throughout his life.
Madam Speaker, I can attest to this as I had the honor of serving with Vincent Fort in the Georgia State Senate.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Stacy Jennings on being named United Way's 2025 Woman of the Year.
Ms. Jennings has been a longtime volunteer and the heart of community service in Savannah. She has spent 33 years with the United Way of the Coastal Empire, where she has served on the board, several committees, and helped fundraise.
Ms. Jennings is also the executive director of communications for the Savannah-Chatham County Board of Education. She has proven herself to be a dedicated leader and impactful server of the community by supporting families and students across the community within the school system.
Ms. Jennings' honorable achievement as United Way's Woman of the Year will be celebrated in March at the Women Who Rule event, hosted at the Savannah Convention Center.
She currently serves on the marketing committee and has not stopped her efforts to join new committees since she started at the United Way of the Coastal Empire.
Madam Speaker, I congratulate Ms. Jennings on this incredible accomplishment and thank her for her dedicated service to the city of Savannah.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to mourn the loss of former McIntosh County Sheriff, Charles Wilbert ``Chunk'' Jones.
Mr. Jones lived an honorable life, serving in the U.S. Army's D Company. He also served in Vietnam back in 1968.
Mr. Jones' career in law enforcement began in 1971 with the Brunswick Police Department and he later joined the city of Darien Police Department. After joining the city of Darien, Mr. Jones was promoted to the chief of police.
After his time at the Darien Police Department, Mr. Jones joined the Georgia State Patrol where he graduated as a State trooper. He also returned to his hometown and accepted the captain position with the city of Darien. He then won his first sheriff's election to serve the community from 1993 to 1998.
Mr. Jones was also a commercial shrimp fisherman and captain of his shrimp boat, Lady Vanessa, which was named after his daughter.
Mr. Jones married his high school sweetheart, the late Brenda Marie Jones, with whom he shared three children: Christopher, Vanessa, and Felica.
Madam Speaker, today we honor his life and hold his family in our thoughts and prayers.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the incredible journey of Sydney Sterlace, who finished third on season 26 of ``The Voice.''
Sydney, a young singer from West Seneca, New York, in my district, has inspired not just our community but viewers across the country.
Her extraordinary talent was undeniable from an early age. With the support of her loving family, especially her mother, she began her singing journey at the age of 7, participating in local talent shows.
By the time she was 10, she won first place in the Erie County Fair talent competition.
Since then, Sydney has performed the national anthem at a Buffalo Bills football game, countless times for the Buffalo Bisons baseball team, and this year at a Buffalo Sabres hockey game.
She is also a regular performer at the annual Music is Art festival, organized by Robby Takac, one of the founding members of the Goo Goo Dolls, who is also from my district.
At just 16 years old, Sydney accomplished what so many dream of: a four-chair turn at her blind audition for ``The Voice,'' and a run all the way to the finale of one of the biggest singing competitions in the world.
Over the course of this season, Sydney showed her incredible range and artistry, and her duet with Gwen Stefani, who also served as her coach while on the show, was the perfect way to cap off a season of unforgettable moments.
Throughout it all, Sydney had the endless support of her family, friends, and our entire community. From accompanying Sydney on her journey to California for the competition to welcoming her home at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport upon her return, her friends were always by her side to cheer her on, especially Kate, Lily, Izzy, Alannah, Holly, and Erin.
Sydney's success extends beyond ``The Voice.'' Last year, she won a challenge promoted by Broadway Evolved, which led to a weeklong Broadway workshop with Tony-nominated actress Betsy Wolfe, but what stands out most is Sydney's humility and heart.
Sydney has made our entire community so proud with her talent, her hard
While this chapter of ``The Voice'' may have ended, I have no doubt the next chapter of a long and successful career is ahead of Sydney.
Madam Speaker, on behalf of all western New York, I thank and congratulate Sydney for sharing her voice.
Madam Speaker, I rise in remembrance of Cornelius J. Keane, whose life was defined by service, family, and enduring dedication to our community.
As someone who was blessed to call him a friend, I can tell you Neil's love for his family was matched only by his unwavering dedication to serving our community, a calling he fulfilled with distinction throughout his remarkable career.
A Buffalo native, Neil's career with the Buffalo Fire Department spanned nearly four decades, where he rose to the position of commissioner, embodying courage and leadership every step of the way. As commissioner, he led with compassion and integrity, always putting the needs of others first, and setting a standard of excellence for those who followed in his footsteps.
Throughout his decades of service to the Buffalo Fire Department, Neil dedicated himself to protecting the safety and well-being of the community he loved, the City of Good Neighbors.
Neil's work extended far beyond the firehouse. His commitment to Buffalo was evident in his efforts to make the city a safer, stronger, and better place for all its residents.
He was a proud member of the Buffalo Professional Firefighters Association Local 282, the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and the East Coast Retired Firefighters Association. He was a devoted fan of the Buffalo Bills, the Buffalo Sabres, and the New York Yankees.
Neil's life was an inspiration to all who had the privilege of knowing him, and his legacy will live on through the many lives that he touched.
Neil was a loving husband to his wife of 54 years, Ellen; a devoted father to Sheila, Bob, and Terry; and a cherished papa to his beloved grandchildren. He was one of 16 children and had a deep commitment to the values instilled in him as a member of the Keane family. That sense of duty guided his extraordinary legacy of work and public service.
May we all take inspiration from Neil's devotion to his family, his steadfast service to our community, and his unwavering commitment to making the world a better place. May he rest in peace.
Madam Speaker, this morning I highlight a piece of legislation I intend to cosponsor that is sponsored by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Joyce), my good colleague. It is known as the Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act.
The bill aims to prevent the U.S. EPA from issuing Clean Air Act waivers that would enable State-level bans or restrictions on gas and diesel vehicles. This bill would ensure that Americans can select vehicles based on their individual needs and financial situations without undue government interference.
My home State of California is once again leading on the wrong things. The agency called the California Air Resources Board is intending to ban the sale of gas and diesel-powered cars, trucks, and SUVs by 2035, only 10 model years from now.
Now, who the heck is CARB, especially since this has far-reaching effects across the rest of the country? There are six or seven other States that are seeking to emulate what CARB is doing.
This regulation seeks to force a transition to electric vehicles regardless of their affordability, availability, or practicality for many residents and families. The Biden administration EPA has granted the necessary waiver very recently at the end of this era, allowing CARB to enforce this mandate at the State of California level, which sets a precedent that can lead to similar bans in other States across the country. Believe me, it will happen. Several other States are already looking at this.
You end up with the manufacturers having to produce two different types of vehicles for this State or that State, making them more expensive, and heaven knows the difficulty that is producing electric vehicles anyway.
Rural Americans and rural Californians face long commutes and rely heavily on reliable, affordable vehicles. I represent a very rural area. There are people who are afraid to take electric vehicles very far with the inability to know if they can charge them and make it back.
The mandate poses significant financial challenges, as EVs remain more expensive than their gas- and diesel-powered counterparts. They have more expensive tires, and they are harder to get parts for, among other things.
There is a very, very limited charging infrastructure. The fact that the Biden administration has put aside billions for charging stations and only built about seven or eight in the whole country over the last 3 years shows that it is very impractical.
EVs are an unviable option for many. The mandate would not only increase the cost of living for individuals and families but reduce transportation options for many rural residents and even urban residents that maybe have a car that is already paid for that they would soon see they wouldn't have the ability to keep. Additionally, part of the mandate is quietly eliminating fueling stations, making fuel more expensive, and making fuel harder to produce. In my home State of California and the country, when they ban the pipeline coming from Canada, it makes fuel harder to get. It is coming from all edges. Taxing people out of this is part of their goal.
Of course, the power grid of my home State, California, is already struggling to deliver electricity to meet existing energy demands, with the currently frequent blackouts and energy shortages. We have these blackouts in my part of the State, and we are starting to see them in southern California with the unfortunate massive suffering going on due to the wildfires. They have to preemptively shut off the power to particular areas if they think the wind is going to blow too hard and cause foliage to blow off trees, shrubs, and whatever onto the power lines and cause an outage or a blackout and, therefore, a fire along with it, as has happened many times in my district.
Mandating this shift to electric vehicles would place additional strain on the grid, leading to more outages and much higher energy costs. California has not demonstrated the capacity to expand the grid infrastructure. Indeed, they are tearing down dams in my district--and they have their eye on more--that make clean, CO2-free hydroelectric power. The grid gets even tighter due to this. This raises serious concerns about the feasibility of this mandate, yet they force it forward.
The practicality of converting to all these electric vehicles, as well as the appliances that California, Biden, and others are trying to do with electric stoves, water heaters, and all that, means where are the materials and the minerals going to come from to produce these electric appliances and vehicles.
We can't mine as it is. On average, it takes 29 years to build a copper mine in this country. Are we going to import it all? Are we going to have poor kids and slave labor in other countries continue to supply us so we can be pristine?
CARB's members are not actually directly accountable to the public. The resources board is appointed by the Governor. They don't have to answer to anybody, and they frequently don't. We have a direct threat to consumer choice.
Indeed, this is what Governor Newsom wants us to have, fires that burn out our vehicles. We need to have him stand aside and let President Trump lead the way on allowing us to have our vehicles.
Madam Speaker, House Republicans have a big vote planned for today. Now, I wish I was talking about a bill that will lower costs for hardworking families or help more Americans buy a home, the issues that so many people told us mattered most to them in the 2024 election.
However, instead, in just their second week of power, House Republicans have chosen to vote on a Federal takeover of sports at all levels. To justify this power grab, my colleagues across the aisle are preying on the legitimate concerns that some people have about transgender athletes in women's sports.
For the vast majority of those folks, many of them parents, their concerns don't come from a place of hate. They come from a place of worry about the safety of their daughters and the fairness of their sport.
Now, as the only woman in Congress who played Division I sports in college, I know how critical it is that we ensure that sports are safe and fair above all else. That is all any athlete wants, to know that if they put in the hard work and the training necessary, they are going to have a fair shot on game day.
As the mom of two young daughters, who I cheer on from the bleachers every weekend, I know that parents want their kids to be able to enjoy the game they love. After all, we know how important sports can be to children's development. They give the chance to build confidence, learn teamwork, and develop lifelong friendships.
That is why, like parents and athletes across our country, I have long placed my trust in the governing bodies of sports, the experts who have dedicated their lives to these games, to create fair and responsible rules for participation.
Despite what the authors of this legislation have said, many of those organizations have already updated their rules to ensure fairness and safety in their sports. That includes the international authorities overseeing track and field, boxing, cycling, swimming, and rugby, just to name a few. These organizations, many led by former athletes, worked with scientists, athletic federations, and human rights organizations to craft thoughtful, evidence-based rules, including those governing participation in the Paris Olympics last summer.
Don't get me wrong, Madam Speaker. I recognize that there is more work to be done, but why in the world would we let insincere, attention-seeking politicians here in Washington, many of whom know little to nothing about competitive sports, take over? It doesn't make any sense.
However, that is exactly what my Republican colleagues are going to do today, inject themselves into decisions they have no business making. In fact, if you listen to them, they would have you think that a transgender woman in college, who may have transitioned after puberty and may present physical advantages over her opponent, is the same as a 10-year-old girl who just wants to play soccer on the weekends with her friends.
However, those two situations aren't the same at all, and the consequences of that approach will be devastating: girls as young as 4 years old being subjected to invasive lines of questioning about their bodies and even physical inspections by an adult, a stranger, a predator all because some creep accuses them of not being a girl. What parent would want to put their daughter through that? I know I wouldn't.
Madam Speaker, we won't be able to find common ground on this issue today, but this debate has made one thing abundantly clear: Members of Congress are the last people who should decide who gets to play sports in America. That responsibility belongs where it always has, to the organizations whose mission it is to protect the fairness, the safety, and the integrity of their sports.
I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the GOP's child predator empowerment act.
Madam Speaker, last week in the Nation's Capital, 6.8 inches of snow closed Federal office buildings. Nearly 1,300 miles away in Kansas, blizzards brought more than 18 inches of snowfall to parts of the Big First District. Farmers, ranchers, and ag producers in the Big First didn't have the luxury of closing down for the week. When you answer the call to feed, fuel, and clothe the world, you are required to show up, even when the temperatures are far below freezing.
My congressional district is one of the top agricultural producing districts in the country. It is home to more than 60,000 farms along with farmers, ranchers, feedlot managers, dairies, nutritionists, veterinarians, ethanol producers, ag lenders, and agribusiness owners who bring the agricultural ecosystem to life.
When the snow piles and the temperatures refuse to rise past freezing, these men and women don't get a break. They throw on their warm layers, and they get the job done. Those of us in agriculture understand full well that Mother Nature is not a reliable business partner.
At the end of October, much of my district was still navigating dry to severe drought conditions. On top of navigating an already challenging farm year, these droughts severely squeezed margins for farmers and ranchers.
Approximately 2 months later, Mother Nature changed course once again with more than a foot of snow. In true Kansas fashion, families and neighbors came together to help one another in time of need. Kansans helped move snow to ensure livestock could still be watered and fed. Kansans helped move calves to make sure that they were warm after they were born, so they could get to a place to be properly fed and nourished in negative temperatures.
Kansans stayed up through the night to make sure livestock had a chance of surviving or to guarantee that their equipment was ready to go by sunrise the next morning.
Why on Earth would anyone do this, Madam Speaker?
It is a special calling that many families in my district have answered. In a world where Instacart and Amazon Fresh can deliver groceries to your door in nearly an hour if you are in an urban area, it can be easy to forget that our food doesn't just come from the grocery store shelf. It comes from the men and women who work tirelessly day in and day out to answer the call to feed, clothe, and fuel the world.
On days with lots of extreme weather like we saw last week, these men and women bust their backs to ensure that we can still have food on our plates when the storms are long gone. It can often be a thankless job.
On behalf of Kansas and the Nation, I thank these brave men and women for keeping us fueled, clothed, and fed. Their tireless efforts do not go unnoticed. We are deeply grateful for their efforts to feed a hungry world.
Madam Speaker, agriculture is the heart of the First District of Kansas. It is our lifeblood.
When I built my team in the District, it was important for me to find someone who knew agriculture and would fight for the farmers, ranchers, and agricultural producers of Kansas. Sarah Henry was the perfect choice.
As a graduate with a degree in agricultural education from Iowa State University, Sarah moved to Washington, D.C., where she worked in several congressional offices and for the National Corn Growers Association.
It was during her time in the Nation's Capital that she met her now- husband, Dalton, and the two moved back to Dalton's old stomping grounds in Randolph, Kansas. The move back to the Plains allowed Sarah to serve as my district ag director and later as my district director.
This month, Sarah will begin a more part-time role with the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers so she can focus on her two precious sons, Samuel and Abraham.
I thank Sarah for leading our district team well, for being an incredible advocate and friend, and for caring about Kansas.
Audrey and I are excited for her in this next chapter of life as she adjusts
Madam Speaker, today, I rise to honor a powerful force in the fight for justice, equality, and true democracy, the Illinois Poor People's Campaign.
In one of the wealthiest nations in the world, the Poor People's Campaign dares to believe that poverty can be eradicated. Their work continues the legacy and vision of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., building a multiracial movement to end poverty, centering the voices of those with lived experiences of poverty, and breaking down barriers to full democratic participation.
The Illinois Poor People's Campaign understands that democracy is too precious and too significant to leave in the hands of those who would prioritize the interests of the ultrawealthy corporations.
I especially recognize the Illinois Poor People's Campaign members and constituents of Illinois' Third District, Sheilah Garland-Olaniran, Joyce Brody, and Lenny Brody. Additionally, I recognize Illinois PPC Tri-Chairs Carlos Rodriguez, Jessica Motsinger, and Reverend Susan Phillips. Their unwavering commitment to all of us all over the country is inspiring and should encourage us to also live a life of this kind of dedication.
On behalf of Illinois' Third Congressional District, I commend the Illinois Poor People's Campaign for their relentless fight for justice and equality and their efforts to ensure every person has a say in our democracy. I thank all of its members.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Pastora Emma Lozano of the United Lincoln Methodist Church in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood.
Born in Texas and later making Chicago her home, Pastor Lozano's lifelong commitment to advocacy has left an undeniable mark on our communities and our Nation.
Her journey as an advocate started at Centro de Accion Social Autonomo, where she and her brother, Rudy Lozano, championed immigrant worker rights. After her brother's tragic assassination in 1983, Pastor Lozano carried his legacy forward, channeling her grief into action and dedicating herself to the causes they both held dear.
In 1987, she founded Centro Sin Fronteras, a grassroots organization that has empowered undocumented families, addressing critical issues such as overcrowded schools, housing insecurity, police brutality, and bilingual education.
In 2006, Pastor Lozano and her late husband, Reverend Walter ``Slim'' Coleman, sparked a nationwide movement for our shared humanity when they offered their church in my district, Adalberto United Methodist Church, as a sanctuary for a woman who was undocumented and in need of sanctuary, Elvira Arellano, and her son, Saul.
Emma's courage, faith, and tireless work remind us of the power of community and the enduring fight for dignity and equality. On behalf of Illinois' Third Congressional District, I thank her for her compassion. I thank her for her dedication to creating a more just, more compassionate world.
May this Congress learn from her--from her dedication, from her courage--and may it truly be what it says it is, the people's House, reminded of our roots and reminded of our shared humanity.
Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize an outstanding group of young athletes in Virginia's Sixth Congressional District, the Broadway High School boys cross country team, which won the VHSL Class 3 State championship in November.
Despite online predictions that showed the Gobblers losing by over 50 points, each runner clocked in at their fastest time that day to clinch first place with a 10-point margin over the runners-up.
Along the way, the team also became district and regional champs for the first time in the school's history. The following team members made this victory possible: Peyton Allen, Gavin Diehl, Grayson Jacquez, Jaiden Nguyen, Asher Ryan, Gavin Ryman, Cameron Shifflett, Lee Souder, and Tristan Yoder.
Head Coach Darrell Zook and Assistant Coach Michael Sheets provided their leadership and encouragement. Their success does not just reflect their individual talent but also their commitment to the team.
Madam Speaker, I congratulate each runner and their coaches, families, and supporters. Their hard work and dedication have inspired us all.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor an exceptional student athlete from Salem High School and the Roanoke Valley Governor's School, Kathryn Ha.
Kathryn is a two-time Virginia High School League 4A coed State golf champion, winning in 2022 and 2024, finishing the latter with an impressive score of 68, 2 under par, even in challenging conditions.
She also captured the 2024 VHSL girls open State championship and has been named the Virginia State Golf Association's Junior Girls Player of the Year for both `23 and `24.
Under the guidance of Head Coach Blaine Hancock, Kathryn has competed at the highest levels, including representing the United States at the Junior Solheim Cup in Spain.
Introduced to golf by her father, Tim Ha, she credits him with shaping her mental game, proving that family support is invaluable.
Academically, Kathryn shines as well, maintaining a stellar 4.377 GPA. She plans to continue pursuing her academic and athletic journey at Vanderbilt University.
Kathryn's remarkable achievements exemplify perseverance, skill, and sportsmanship. She serves as a role model not just in her community but for young athletes across our Nation. I congratulate Kathryn.
Congratulating Clarke County High School Boys Cross Country Team
Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Clarke County High School boys cross country team for their remarkable achievement in winning the Class 2 State championship. The Eagles placed four runners in the top 15 and scored 49 points to capture the program's first State title since 2009.
Seniors James Casey, Jackson Ellis, and Aidan Kreeb each earned all- State honors for placing in the top 10.
Sophomore Landon Horton earned a State medal for placing in the top 15, and sophomore Matthew Lisk rounded out the scoring. Carter Starley and Jonathan Hornbaker also ran for the Clarke County boys team, and Warren Maiberger, Brody Ellis, and Luke LaMaster were members of the post-season championship team.
The team is led by Coach Jeff Webster, who was named the Winchester Star Cross Country Coach of the Year for both girls and boys. According to Webster, the guys simply outperformed what we thought they would do. To place 4 runners in the top 15 was just an exceptional effort and one that other teams could not match.
Madam Speaker, I once again congratulate the 2024 Clarke County boys cross country team. Virginia's Sixth Congressional District is incredibly proud of their accomplishment, and I wish them continued success in the seasons ahead.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025.
Since 1972, Title IX has allowed women to thrive and excel in sports nationwide. This landmark legislation has empowered countless women to compete at the highest levels, achievements we should honor and protect.
Yet, the left has embarked on a relentless campaign to rewrite Title IX, aiming to erase the critical distinctions between men and women, boys and girls. This misguided agenda poses
Let me be clear: House Republicans will not idly stand by while the radical left diminishes over five decades of progress for women.
The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025 is essential for ensuring that all young women who aspire to play sports have the opportunity to compete fairly, preserving fairness and protecting their achievements. We must safeguard the integrity of female athletics so that young women can succeed in sports for generations to come.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to call out harm and hypocrisy. This bill, H.R. 28, is couched as a bill that protects children when it does the exact opposite.
Madam Speaker, this bill not only erodes Federal protections for our kids, but it puts the physical and emotional safety of every child in our public schools at risk.
Imagine that you are 8 years old, trying out for the soccer team, and your coach demands that you show them your genitals. That is abuse. That is exploitation. That is egregious, but it is exactly what this Republican bill does. It allows adults--not medical professionals, just random adults--to demand to inspect our child's genitals without parental consent.
As a survivor of a near-decade of childhood sexual abuse and as a bonus mom to a school-age daughter, I am horrified.
To Members of Congress who support this legislation, you are putting the safety of children across this Nation at risk. Why? Because you want to vilify and harm trans kids, children who should have every right to show up in this world and live and thrive like anyone else. You are punching down at the most vulnerable and exacting harm on everyone.
I would ask my colleagues: Have you spoken to any of these children? How about their parents? They pose no threat to you, but you pose a threat to them, denying them their healthcare, isolating them from their friends, creating conditions for bullying and even suicidal ideation.
You are posing a threat to every child who wants to step onto a soccer field or pick up a softball bat in this country.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' and to speak out in strong opposition to this disgusting, predatory bill that does nothing to keep a single child safe.
Madam Speaker, for too long, our Nation's criminal legal system has been wrought with systemic injustices and biases and has prioritized cruelty at the expense of rehabilitation and justice. That is why we have a mass incarceration crisis.
Nearly one in two adults in America has had an incarcerated loved one. Today, in the name of all who have felt the injustices of the carceral state, we are standing united to call on President Biden to use his clemency powers to release people from prison and reunite them with their families.
There are mothers like Michelle West, who is incarcerated for the crimes of her abuser; brothers like Charles Ellis, Jr., from my district, the Massachusetts Seventh, who had ineffective assistance of counsel when he committed a crime at the age of 19; and sons like Ismael Lira, who was sentenced to life in prison for a nonviolent cannabis charge.
Madam Speaker, why is anyone still incarcerated for cannabis?
With nearly 1 million people behind bars, more people per capita than any other country, it is time for clemency to put the United States on a path toward ending mass incarceration.
Locked in cages are people who pose no threat to public safety: the elderly, disabled, and chronically ill; those who were wrongly convicted; and people serving time under outdated sentencing laws.
It is the height of hypocrisy to claim they are a risk to public safety when they are the very people at this moment that we are trusting to keep the public safe. Eight hundred incarcerated men are fighting wildfires in California for $5 a day, only to return to a jail cell at night. During the pandemic, these same people were making hand sanitizer.
President Biden has the power to save their lives. That is what this moment demands, and we are grateful for his leadership. We need action. We need compassion. We need clemency.
Madam Speaker, this weekend in my district, the Massachusetts Seventh, community members came together to celebrate Haitian Independence Day. There was much soup joumou, freedom soup, that was consumed.
On January 1, 1804, Haiti became the first free Black republic, declaring independence for all people from colonial rule and enslavement.
This weekend also marks 15 years since a devastating earthquake killed thousands and destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes on the island. These anniversaries encapsulate the values of the Haitian people: resistance and resilience.
The Republic of Haiti continues to experience heightened violence and political instability, which is why, as co-chair of the House Haiti Caucus, I continue to advocate for humanitarian aid to our ally, TPS for migrants, strategic trade partnerships for economic prosperity, and an end to deportations to Haiti.
Even with just a few days remaining in the Biden-Harris administration, we must prioritize stability for Haitians on the island and in the United States.
Madam Speaker, I rise today, proud to announce that I have joined the bipartisan Congressional DOGE Caucus. This important initiative is focused on bringing much needed efficiency to the Federal Government and reducing wasteful spending that burdens taxpayers.
As an Iowan, I know that every dollar counts. Many of my constituents are living paycheck to paycheck, while unelected bureaucrats in Washington continue to waste taxpayer dollars. That is why I am excited to work alongside leaders like Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk who bring a business-minded approach to reforming government operations.
The national debt has now surpassed $36 trillion. Since 2003, $2.7 trillion in improper payments have been made by Federal agencies. The DOGE Caucus will work tirelessly to address this issue, streamline operations, and ensure the government is working more effectively and efficiently for all Americans.
I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues and advancing President Trump's agenda to rein in wasteful spending while we work efficiently to provide services and protect taxpayer dollars.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act which was introduced by Representative Steube.
In the last term, the House passed this bill as well, but it was not taken up by the Senate. This critical legislation ensures that only biological women and girls can participate in athletic programs designed for their sex at birth, preserving fairness and integrity in women's sports.
For decades, Title IX has worked to provide equal opportunities for women in education and athletics. This bill reaffirms that commitment by clarifying that sex is determined by an individual's chromosomal expression at birth.
As a physician and a scientist, the science indicates that males, especially after puberty, have greater and longer striated muscle mass which means they run faster, swim faster, and jump higher. They also have greater cardiac volume and greater lung volume which
This bill also requires a report from the Government Accountability Office to assess the negative psychological, developmental, and sociological aspects of male participation in female sports.
Madam Speaker, this is about fairness. It is about protecting women's rights and women's spaces and ensuring that girls have equal opportunities in athletics, and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
Welcoming Iowans to the United States Presidential Inauguration
Madam Speaker, I extend a warm welcome to the thousands of Iowans, including the hundreds from Iowa's First Congressional District, who are traveling to Washington, D.C., to attend President Trump's inauguration. I know that many of them are making the journey with their families, friends, and fellow community members. I am excited to see such a strong presence of Iowans in our Nation's Capital.
From local leaders to activists to business owners, students, and veterans, Iowans of all walks of life are coming together to witness this historic event. It is a testament to the pride and dedication we have in our State and our country.
My team and I are here to make sure their experience is as smooth and as enjoyable as possible. We look forward to assisting them in any way we can while they are here. We welcome Iowa to Washington, D.C.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in honor of the celebration yesterday of my sorority, Delta Sigma Theta, Incorporated.
Let me say that it was 112 years ago yesterday that 22 visionary, young, Black women at Howard University came together to create a sorority rooted in the ideas of change, justice, and empowerment.
I am a proud life member of this esteemed sisterhood. For me, it started at the Delta Kappa chapter as a freshman at Central State University and then as a member of the Dayton alumni chapter and now the Columbus, Ohio, alumni chapter.
I am honored to recognize the extraordinary legacy and contributions of this organization which have been a beacon of service, sisterhood, and social action since its beginning in 1913.
These trailblazers envisioned an organization that would prioritize service over socialization, and they had the foundation for what would become one of the world's largest African-American women's organizations.
Over the decades, this organization has tackled some of the most pressing challenges facing our community. The National Library Project provided books to underserved Black communities in the segregated South. Deltas became the first sorority to establish employment counseling and career development for Black women. They partnered with Habitat for Humanity, building homes for families in need at home and abroad.
Delta Sigma Theta has earned special NGO status with the United Nations, ensuring our voices are heard on the world's stage.
Delta Sigma Theta women are among the most powerful changemakers in history. Their history includes ceiling-shattering public servants like Lieutenant Colonel Charity Adams Earley, who I fondly called Aunt Edna, serving as the highest-ranking Black woman officer during World War II.
It includes the Honorable Shirley Chisolm, the first Black woman elected to Congress, the first Black woman to seek a major party's nomination for President of these United States and, yes, the only female of the 13 Members who founded the Congressional Black Caucus.
It also includes individuals like Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
Delta has defined leadership in a broad spectrum of influence, from civil rights icons like Ida B. Wells to cultural legends like Aretha Franklin to leaders in this very Chamber like chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Yvette Clarke, and our brilliant sisters who serve here: Congresswoman Valerie Foushee, Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett, Congresswoman Lucy McBath, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, Congresswoman Summer Lee, Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan, and Senator Angela Alsobrooks.
Madam Speaker, as we celebrate Founders' Day in Ohio, we recommit ourselves to the mission and the vision of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated: Fostering economic empowerment, advancing education, improving physical and mental health, promoting international awareness, and, lastly, engaging in political advocacy. These values have guided us for 112 years and will continue to light our way forward.
Let me add that I associate myself with every word that Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley said with respect to what we are rightly naming. When we think about this bill being proposed, it is really the child predator empowerment act. There is nothing fair or safe about a teacher, a counselor, a nonmedical professional asking a young child to remove their garments so they can be inspected.
Madam Speaker, this past weekend, Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro boldly declared his intention to invade and liberate Puerto Rico.
As Puerto Rico's Representative before the United States Government, I want to let Mr. Maduro know an overwhelming majority of Puerto Ricans support a relationship of permanent union or permanent association with the United States, be that as a State or as a U.S. Commonwealth.
That same overwhelming majority also defends the right of a respectable patriotic minority to advocate and fight for the island's independence through peaceful and democratic means. That respect for differing views is a hallmark of our democratic values, something Mr. Maduro clearly does not understand.
The future of Puerto Rico will be decided by Puerto Ricans in a peaceful and democratic manner, the same way that the future of Venezuela should be decided by the Venezuelan people in a peaceful and democratic manner.
I will address my constituents in Spanish.
(Spanish translation of the statement made in English is as follows:)
Este pasado fin de semana el dictador venezolano Nicolas Maduro anuncio su intencion de invadir y liberar a Puerto Rico.
Una mayoria abrumadora de los puertorriquenos respalda la union o asociacion permanente con los Estados Unidos, a traves del estatus del Estado Libre Asociado o de la aspiracion de convertir a Puerto Rico en un estado de la union.
Esa mayoria abrumadora respalda el derecho de una minoria respetable y patriotica de impulsar pacifica y democraticamente el derecho de Puerto Rico a su independencia.
Esa tolerancia por las diferencias es uno de los valores fundamentales de nuestra cultura democratica, algo que Nicoas Maduro es incapaz de comprender.
Maduro, el futuro de Puerto Rico lo decidiremos pacifica y democraticamente los puertorriquenos, asi como el futuro de Venezuela lo deben decidir pacifica y democraticamente los venezolanos.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Puerto Rico will provide a translation to the Chair.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of a fighter for human rights, Jose ``Cha Cha'' Jimenez who passed away on January 10 after a life dedicated to social justice.
Cha Cha, as he was fondly called, was the founder of the Young Lords, an organization created by Puerto Rican teens with the original purpose of providing a safe space in a changing Chicago.
Inspired by the writings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, and Puerto Rican leader Pedro Albizu Campos, Cha Cha transformed the Young Lords from a street organization into a social justice group to fight for equality and freedom beyond Chicago. The movement was rooted in the self-determination of Puerto Ricans on the island and the mainland.
They organized actions against gentrification and displacement of Puerto Ricans in Lincoln Park, Chicago. They fought against police brutality and brought much needed basic services like education, childcare, and health services to our neighborhoods.
Cha Cha understood that the Latino and Black communities were facing similar struggles and forged an alliance with the Black Panthers to help underserved, low-income communities. Soon after, they partnered with a group of White, low-income residents called the Young Patriots, establishing Chicago's Rainbow Coalition.
Cha Cha's leadership united people of all backgrounds to fight collectively for a better future, and his legacy will live on for generations to come.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the village of Riverside, Illinois, which this year celebrates its 150th anniversary. Originally called Aux Plains, this charming village is known for its peaceful riverbanks and scenic forested areas.
On August 8, 1875, Riverside elected its first village president and trustees. Over the decades, it has become a thriving community, earning the title of: ``Village in the Forest.''
With its expansive green parkways, iconic gaslit street lanterns, and curvilinear streets, the village's charm is matched by its distinction as a national historic landmark, a title that it has proudly held since 1970 in part thanks to the numerous home designs by famous architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Olmsted & Vaux, Jenney, Sullivan, and Drummond.
We congratulate Riverside on this incredible milestone and look forward to celebrating all year long.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Juan Soliz who passed away in December of 2024. Juan was a public servant, educator, attorney, and an advocate for immigrants and indigenous peoples.
He served our community with passion and dedication. Born in Texas to Mexican parents, Juan's hard work took him to college and later law school in Washington State. He moved to Chicago in 1978 to join the Legal Assistance Foundation and never stopped working for the rights of immigrants and for immigration reform.
My friend, Juan, was the first Mexican American elected to the Illinois General Assembly in 1984. In 1987, he became the first Mexican American to represent Chicago's 25th Ward as alderman. He uplifted voter rights and brought Latino representation to Chicago's southwest side, and for that he will be remembered.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to announce that on Friday I was proud to introduce the Amputation Reduction and Compassion, or ARC, Act to help combat preventable amputations brought on by peripheral artery disease, also known as PAD.
The ARC Act will save lives and reduce amputations by ensuring high- risk Medicare and Medicaid recipients have access to PAD screenings at no additional cost. Lowering costs will allow for better screening, earlier detection and treatment, and remove cost-prohibitive barriers to care.
This bill is very special to me, as it was first introduced by my predecessor, the late Representative Donald Payne, Jr. I am honored to ensure his work for better, more accessible care and his legacy are carried on with the ARC Act.
With the co-leadership of Representatives Jonathan Jackson and Robin Kelly, I am proud to introduce the ARC Act to save limbs, reduce patient costs, and save lives.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to object to the dangerous bill, H.R. 28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025, better known as the child predator empowerment act.
As the mom of an 8-year-old little girl who loves sports, who loves soccer, this bill is invasive to young girls but also dangerous to every kid. It puts every kid at risk. Every kid is at risk under this bill. I ask my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the tremendous achievements of President Joe Biden, the 46th President of the United States.
While I could spend my time highlighting the nearly innumerable achievements of his administration, I rise to celebrate what this Nation is today because of President Biden's leadership, a nation on the rise.
President Biden and Vice President Harris inherited a nation in crisis; the greatest public health crisis in generations coupled with a threatening economic downturn with rising costs and high unemployment.
President Biden recognized this head-on. He saw what our Nation needed, and he acted with a jump-start of economic investment to get Americans working, moving, and innovating like never before. Alongside congressional leaders, he delivered for the American people.
President Biden delivered historic investments into our communities through the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, just to name a few.
These historic legislative packages unleashed hundreds of billions of dollars into our communities to get us moving and growing again.
The national statistics may highlight the breadth and depth of these historic investments, but no place speaks better to the generational change created by President Biden's leadership like my home State of Michigan with $13 billion in infrastructure funding that has flowed through Michigan.
Mr. Speaker, there have been 62 new clean energy projects, and the most in the country have been announced in Michigan.
Over 400,000 new jobs have been created in Michigan, so many, in fact, that Detroit has been boasting its lowest levels of unemployment in three decades.
With the largest investment in the Great Lakes in decades, nearly all areas of concern in Michigan will be remediated, including two affecting my district: the Clinton River and the River Rouge. Combined with historic State-level investments, Michigan, the home of the Flint water crisis, is officially headed to a lead-free future with Detroit being lead-free by the end of the decade.
As home to the Big Three automakers, no place is leading the charge to electrify our future like we are in Michigan. We are manufacturing, we are growing, and we are innovating.
These are stories, these are numbers that represent the American worker. American workers have been able to achieve an economic reality, not just a political wish list, because of President Biden's dedication and leadership.
The needs of the American worker were heard, including seeing President Biden be the first President to join striking workers on a picket line in, of course, my home State of Michigan alongside the United Auto Workers.
It is the last week of President Biden's historic administration. President Biden is a true public servant who has stood up every single day of his career on behalf of the American people, who has reached out to the next generation to make sure that we are heard, to mentor individuals like myself, and who has been selfless in his
Mr. Speaker, I am honored to serve Texas' 32nd Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives for the 119th Congress.
As a Texas-educated attorney for over 30 years, I know what it takes to fight for those who need it most. Throughout my career, I have stood up for workers, those living with disabilities, students who are being taken advantage of by for-profit colleges, and so many of my fellow Texans who needed someone fighting alongside them.
I took those skills to the Texas State legislature where I fought for Medicaid expansion, a fair judicial court system, consumer protections, and for women to make their own healthcare decisions free from government intrusion.
When extremists decided to target the LGBTQ community in Texas, I raised my voice and helped kill hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills that would have hurt the members of my community and their families.
As the trusted voice for Texas' 32nd Congressional District in Congress, I am ready to deliver real results for my neighbors. That means working to lower costs across the board; support and expand infrastructure for the fastest growing metroplex in the country; secure our southern border; and make healthcare safe, affordable, and reliable for all Americans.
My home State of Texas plays a huge role in powering our Nation and our world. We have a massive economy that supports millions of jobs, and we are Mexico's largest trading partner.
Texas also has the largest border with our neighbor to the south, and it will be up to Texas and Texas Democrats to provide meaningful solutions to the problems that we face. I am ready to lead on these important issues.
I am thrilled I will be serving on three committees this Congress that will help me deliver these results to make life better for Texas' businesses, middle-class families, and our seniors.
On the House Homeland Security Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee, I will work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to keep our Nation safe and to strengthen our alliances around the world.
On the House Administration Committee, I will work tirelessly to protect the people's right to vote and to make sure this institution, the people's House, functions in a way that is better for Texans and all of our Nation's citizens.
Let me be clear: The work begins right now.
In Congress, I am committed to rising above the division and coming up with bipartisan solutions to solve our Nation's biggest problems. I will work with anyone, Democrat or Republican, who is willing to come together, put partisanship aside, and to make life better for the people that we all serve.
I want my constituents to know how grateful I am to have this opportunity, and I wake up every day with the mission and the purpose to serve them in this Chamber. I thank them so much, and I want them to know that I will always have their back here in the United States Congress.
Mr. Speaker, we are all watching the ferocious Palisades, Eaton, Altadena, and Hurst fires expand along California's beautiful Coast. I can recall my many trips there. Surely we all love the Tournament of Roses Parade and the magic of Hollywood.
Our hearts go out today and forever to come to the thousands of displaced people, the brave, unrelenting fire and rescue crews, and the public officials trying to bring order in the midst of chaos.
Let me share. Having practiced as a city and regional planner long before my election to Congress, I was awestruck when I visited there at the large number of homes built high on forested mountainsides with many sizeable mansions at their very peaks.
In fact, most recently, as ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Subcommittee, I was flown on an extensive tour over Los Angeles by a U.S. Army Corps helicopter to evaluate freshwater challenges in that drought-prone region.
As the granddaughter of a forester, experience led me to question how such densely developed communities with housing perched on forested ascending hillsides could be evacuated in the event of emergency. My stomach became queasy at the thought, and my premonition is now being affirmed.
Last fall, I called for Congress to return to Washington to fully fund FEMA and the Small Business Administration to assist with disaster relief efforts. It took until late December to approve $28 billion in funding, well below the $40 billion the Biden administration requested, and now this horror has launched.
Statistics show in Canada and the United States, whether it is along our Pacific Coast, in Vancouver, or Quebec, historic precious forests are burning to the ground during this era of prolonged drought.
One estimate indicates the recent annual tree loss just in Canada equates to their forests' lost capacity to absorb the annual carbon dioxide from all jet aviation fuel spewed into the atmosphere across our globe. This chart attests to that.
Just a few years ago due to major forest fires in Quebec, our southern Great Lakes region in my home State of Ohio was covered with an eerie, hazy, atmospheric soot blowing south across the border with Canada. What an out-of-body occurrence never before encountered where we live. My own rhododendron plants were smothered by it.
Long ago, I learned in a forestry class there is only one way to regenerate a forest: burning it to the ground. Thus, allowing massive communities to be built in forests is always dangerous.
When I was born, California's population numbered about 10 million people. Today, it has quadrupled to over 42.5 million people, and Los Angeles County's dense population alone now numbers over 10 million people, larger than 80 percent of the States in our Union. California's population is projected to reach 60 million people by 2050, and that is six times its population in 1950.
Freshwater is running out.
Challenges to life on a changing continent and world are daunting, and we must all ask tough questions about how to build and rebuild places that are livable and survivable.
It will take years to salvage the Los Angeles neighborhoods, and some will never be rebuilt. Meanwhile, other regions across our Nation can welcome fire refugees.
The growing freshwater fights between communities and States that attend to life in the West are hastening. More people are demanding more freshwater when that is a physical impossibility as aquifers run dry.
There is only so much freshwater. If one looks at places like the Great Lakes, we say: How does our Nation best invest in sustainable water and energy systems for the coming century and beyond?
We must think forward, not backward. America must have a more comprehensive approach to build forward sustainable communities.
Step one is to rescue the West, but there must be attention to resettling in freshwater regions that are more sustainable.
For example, advancing freshwater settlement for our Great Lakes region will require standing up the Great Lakes Authority and infusing it with the ability to relieve bonded indebtedness of struggling freshwater communities. They must be able to financially reinvest to upgrade their freshwater systems in places like Flint, Detroit, Toledo, Cleveland, Youngstown, Milwaukee, Kenosha, Chicago, and so many more. Freshwater is life.
The old expression, ``Go west or south, young man,'' still applies, but our planet is teaching us there are limits to what the Earth can sustain.
Living in the past is not an option. Onward, America, together.
Mr. Speaker, according to a report released by the House Committee on Homeland Security, more than 125,000 illegal alien crossings took place in October alone, bringing the total number of illegal alien crossings since Biden-Harris of over 11 million nationwide, with Speaker Mike Johnson warning of over 16 million illegal aliens.
Dangerously, these catastrophic border crossing figures do not account for the illegal got-aways, including drug smugglers and identified terrorists who threaten every American family.
Sadly, with the duplicitous policies of Biden-Harris, among those illegal transgressors are unaccompanied children who are suffering at the hands of cartel smugglers.
Additionally, after meeting with President Donald Trump this weekend on Sunday at Mar-a-Lago, I know he is committed to securing the borders and protecting families and making America great again.
In conclusion, God bless our troops as the global war on terrorism continues. Open borders for dictators put all Americans at risk of more 9/11 attacks imminent, as warned by the FBI. Trump will reinstitute existing laws to protect American families with peace through strength.
Mr. Speaker, it is no surprise that the Republican Party of Matt Gaetz and former GOP Speaker Dennis Hastert is the same party that is obsessed with passing a bill today which I call the child predator empowerment act.
Republicans are passing a bill that allows any adult in a school to inspect the genitals of our kids before they are allowed to play sports. That is right, Republicans' creepy, weird obsession with your kids' private parts now means they are passing bills that let them inspect what is in your kids' pants.
What is wrong with them? As a parent, I find this terrifying and downright sick. Let me be clear, every kid should be able to play sports, and this bill is just a mean, cruel bullying tactic.
My Republican colleagues are obsessed with passing a bill to protect predators. How about they pass a bill to protect jobs or pass a bill to fight wildfires or lower grocery prices? No, no, no, Republicans are weirdly obsessed with talking about transgender people and using that as an excuse to protect and even empower child predators.
I think, Mr. Speaker, that we all know the reason why.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize two stalwarts of community service in Sarpy County, Nebraska: Nancy and Jim Thompson.
Nancy and Jim have dedicated their lives to giving back to Nebraska throughout their nearly five-and-a-half decades of marriage.
As educators, they played key roles in forming the Papillion La Vista School Foundation, helping charter it nearly 40 years ago.
Their commitment to public service is equally impressive. Nancy and Jim were both elected to local and county office. Nancy had the distinction of being the first woman elected to the Sarpy County Board of Commissioners, and she later served as a State senator in our unicameral from 1997 to 2006, where she and I served briefly together.
This week, their lifelong dedication, especially to Nebraska's children, will be honored with the 2025 Reflection Award from the Midlands Community Foundation.
On behalf of Nebraska's First District, congratulations to both Nancy and Jim. I thank them for their remarkable service.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the profound legacy of Mr. John Willis Menard, who in 1868 became the first African American elected to Congress.
Even after winning 64 percent of the vote, Members of this body denied him the rightful opportunity to take his seat by a vote of 57- 130. Nevertheless, Mr. Menard bravely defended his right to represent the people of Louisiana and became the first African American to speak on this floor. His fight for representation, even when denied his dignity and his seat, paved the way for people like me.
While in 1868 there was not a single African American in Congress, today there are 67 African Americans serving in the 119th Congress, a record number, largely due in part to the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and heroes like John Willis Menard.
Mr. Speaker, we are well aware that women's sports are under threat, and it is high time we actually finish the job and take a stand against the threat against them.
I am very happy to partner with Mr. Steube once again in supporting his bill, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which is about fairness and ensuring that female athletes have the opportunity to compete on a level playing field, on their own playing field.
Title IX was designed to give women and girls equal opportunities in sports. Biological males competing on those same fields with them undermines that intent and puts these athletes at a disadvantage and a lot of discomfort.
This isn't about being exclusionary. It is really recognizing biological realities and protecting the integrity of women's and girls' sports. Female athletes should not have to compete against those with inherent physical advantages.
This bill ensures that women can continue to compete fairly, earn scholarships, earn medals, and achieve their athletic goals without being sidelined by unfair competition. We must protect these opportunities and rights.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the Steube bill and ensure that in the future women's sports remain fair and competitive, especially for women. Misguided policies erase what has been built for female athletes all this time.
Mr. Speaker, my heart goes out to all the Angelenos who have been affected by the wildfires in Los Angeles County. It has been heartbreaking to learn of those who lost their lives and to witness the devastation of entire neighborhoods.
I also want to extend my gratitude to the firefighters, first responders, and local officials who have been working tirelessly around the clock to combat the wildfires. Their heroism and bravery has been inspiring. I know that because of their efforts, these wildfires will soon be contained. There is no doubt that their swift action saved lives.
I join Senators Padilla, Schiff, and 46 of my Democratic and Republican colleagues urging President Biden to grant Governor Gavin Newsom's request for a major disaster declaration.
Thankfully, the President approved the Governor's request, and California has secured multiple fire management assistance grants from FEMA to ensure vital resources are available for local, State, and Tribal agencies. However, these grants are not enough.
I am also appalled by the recent calls from the other side to condition aid on a debt limit deal. Now is not the time to politicize this crisis.
I strongly urge House leadership to immediately bring a supplemental spending bill to California's efforts to combat this fire and make Angelenos whole again.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the inspiring work being done by the Rochester Museum & Science Center, led by curator Jamie Jacobs, to create a new permanent educational exhibit that showcases contemporary indigenous artists inspired by their ancestors.
This exhibit, titled: ``Hodinosyo:nih Continuity/Innovation/ Resilience,'' honors the ingenuity of the indigenous people of North America and explores the role museums have played in preserving indigenous cultural heritage.
At the heart of the remarkable project is curator Jamie Jacobs of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation. His leadership has honored the enduring legacy of the Hodinosyo:nih people and created a space for learning, reflection, and reconnection.
The community of Rochester, New York, celebrates this incredible achievement and extends our deepest gratitude to the Rochester Museum & Science Center and Jamie Jacobs for sharing these essential stories.
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 5, I call up the bill (H.R. 28) to amend the Education Amendments of 1972 to provide that for purposes of determining compliance with title IX of such Act in athletics, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 5, the bill is considered read.
The text of the bill is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill shall be debatable for 1 hour, equally divided and controlled by the majority leader and the minority leader or their respective designees.
The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg) and the gentlewoman from Oregon (Ms. Bonamici) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg).
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 28.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Michigan?
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in support of H.R. 28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025, authored by Representative Greg Steube.
This bill is about a promise. More than 50 years ago, this country made a promise to women and girls across America. That promise, Title IX, said women and girls would have equal opportunities, both in the classroom and in athletics.
For years, America has kept her promise. Prior to Title IX, only 300,000 women and girls participated in high school and college sports. By the 40th anniversary of Title IX's passage, the number was up to 3 million, and the numbers have continued to climb and grow ever since.
Today, female participation in sports has increased over 1,000 percent at the high school level and over 600 percent at the college level since Title IX went into effect. Unfortunately, these wins for women and girls ushered in by the promise of Title IX have been under attack.
The Biden-Harris administration pushed a radical rewrite of Title IX that would eliminate policies enacted by 26 States to protect equal athletic opportunities for women and girls. Even with last week's court order striking down the regulation and the Trump administration poised to undo the harm caused by it, nearly half of the States have no protections in place for female athletes.
Mr. Speaker, kicking girls off sports teams to make way for biological males takes opportunities away from these girls. This means fewer college scholarships and fewer opportunities for girls. It also makes them second-class citizens in their own sports and puts their safety at risk.
The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025 offers a new promise to America's women and girls. It will strengthen Title IX's protections for women, ensure a level playing field for female athletes, and protect the law
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the so-called Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025, a bill that will actually do the opposite and make sports more dangerous for women and girls.
In fact, this bill will empower child predators, putting students across the country at increased risk. This is a one-size-fits-all bill that would apply equally to every sport, from K-12 schools to colleges.
Currently, schools, parents, and communities manage youth sports leagues and write rules about who can participate in different sports at different levels. Many State schools and athletic associations across the country have allowed equal participation for transgender athletes for years, and it is working just fine.
This legislation would revoke all Federal funding from schools that include transgender students on girls' and women's sports teams. This is damaging and discriminatory to transgender students who benefit, as all students do, from participating in school sports, and it is also damaging to the entire school that is threatened because Federal funding benefits all students.
I remind my colleauges to keep in mind that as of last month, of the approximately 510,000 athletes who play at the NCAA level, 10 are transgender--not 10,000, 10 out of 510,000.
Transgender students, like all students, deserve the same opportunity as their peers to learn teamwork, find belonging, and grow into well- rounded adults through sports.
Childhood and adolescence are important times for growth and development, and sports help students form healthy habits and develop strong social and emotional skills. Sports provide meaningful opportunities for kids to feel confident in themselves and learn valuable life lessons about teamwork, leadership, and communication. Teams provide a place for kids to make friends and build relationships.
Yet, my colleagues across the aisle want to take these opportunities away from certain children. That is discriminatory, and it is wrong. My colleagues are apparently so afraid of people who are different than them that they have manufactured false and dangerous presumptions based on outdated stereotypes about transgendered people, especially transgender women and girls.
Additionally, there is no way this so-called protection bill could be enforced without opening the door to harassment and privacy violations. It opens the door to inspection, not protection, of women and girls in sports. Will students have to undergo exams to prove they are a girl?
We are already seeing examples of harassment and questioning of girls who may not conform to stereotypical feminine roles. Will they be subject to demands for medical tests and private information? That is intrusive, offensive, and unacceptable, especially from a party of limited government.
I want to be very clear: There are real problems harming women and girls in sports, but transgender students are not why. Today, we should be working to solve the real pervasive problems in athletics that deter women and girls from participating, including sexual harassment and assault, lack of equal resources, and pay inequality.
We should be working on those issues and also on the issues that improve the lives of the people we represent back home, like increasing access to affordable healthcare and housing, lowering costs for everyday Americans, and fighting the climate crisis.
Instead, here we are again. We have seen this time and time again: Republicans fearmonger about the trans community to divert attention from the fact that they have no real solutions to help everyday Americans with the pressing problems they face.
We must not discriminate against kids because of who they are. Transgender youth already face high hurdles. Research shows that this type of discriminatory policy is associated with declines in mental health and higher suicide risk among already LGBTQI+ youth. We don't need adults in Congress making things worse.
As Republican Governor Spencer Cox from Utah said in his veto statement of a similar bill: ``When in doubt, however, I always try to err on the side of kindness, mercy, and compassion.'' So should we all.
Mr. Speaker, Scripture reminds us that, at the beginning of time, God created mankind as males and females, and He blessed them.
All throughout humanity, we have recognized as a species that there are women and there are men, as God created, who are obviously biologically different and, dare I say, scientifically different. Even science agrees with this premise.
Yet, our culture and civilization continue to be subjected to the perverse lie that there are more than two genders or that men can be women or women can be men.
The distinction between men and women is clear and evident, and the erasure of this division has been promulgated by those in the radical left who seek to dismantle the core foundation of our society.
We must never let our country and the American way of life surrender to this immoral ideology. What a shame it is that, over the last several years, the radical left has tried to corrupt the minds of many Americans with the ideology that gender is just a spectrum, that it is fluid, or that you can be whatever you want, whenever you want, depending on how you feel. To them, it is just a social construct.
The radical left has taken gender identity so far that many on the left can't even define what a woman is for fear of retribution or cancelation by transgender activists. They have adopted completely made-up terms, such as nonbinary, trans male, and trans female. Some even say there are 74 genders, everything from agender to omnigender. There is even an astral gender, which is having a gender identity where you feel related to outer space. How can the radical left be able to identify that gender, yet they can't even define what a woman is?
Not too long ago, progressives would say all that is ridiculous, but today, it is their religion. If you question their lies and fictitious terms, you are labeled a transphobic bigot and canceled.
In giving homage to the trans movement, radical leftists have given way to the corruption of the minds of our Nation's youth by dismantling the very protections that Congress created to ensure fairness in education and athletics. In 1972, Congress created Title IX to protect women's sports and to give women their own playing field in athletics. In worship of their trans idols, radical leftists want to kill Title IX, abandoning women across the country.
Parents don't want biological men in locker rooms with their daughters, nor do they believe it is fair that a male could compete with women in female athletics. This is why Title IX protections were implemented in the first place.
Radical leftists want you to believe that this is never happening or that it is so rare that we shouldn't be concerned.
The other side just made a comment that so few of these people are involved in college athletics. The truth of the matter proves otherwise. In my very own district, my constituent Emma Weyant, an incredibly talented swimmer and Olympic medalist, lost the 2022 NCAA women's swimming championship title for the 500-meter freestyle by less than 2 seconds. The man who beat her formerly competed for years on the men's swimming team and took home that title after identifying as a woman.
It is a sad day in our country when radical leftists are willing to erase the rights that women have fought decades to obtain, all to elevate biological males to the top of women's platforms.
An overwhelming majority of Americans believe that men don't belong in women's sports and that we must allow common sense to prevail. This bill would deliver upon the mandate the American people gave Congress to restore the integrity of women's sports, just as Title IX intended.
Now is our time to act. If my liberal colleagues truly believe in supporting women's rights, as they often tout, they will vote in favor of this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand for women's free and fair opportunities in athletics and to stand for truth, not lies.
Mr. Speaker, as trans student and successful athlete Rebekah said: ``I know what it is like to have my gender questioned. . . . It is invasive and embarrassing. I wouldn't want anyone else to have to go through that,'' and, ``It is awful. Legislators are bullying kids.''
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano).
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong, unequivocal opposition to H.R. 28, the Republican child predator empowerment act. This bill lets politicians in Washington dictate to parents, school districts, and athletic associations across the country who can and cannot participate in their local sports leagues.
It creates a one-size-fits-all policy that holds a kindergartner wanting to play soccer to the same standards as an elite athlete.
This legislation undermines the very values we hold dear as Americans--fairness, opportunity, and the belief in the power of local communities to make decisions for themselves.
Even conservative Governors in States like Indiana and Utah recognized this and vetoed some of these bills.
Just as troubling, the bill's language opens the door to invasive, degrading, and humiliating physical examinations of children, children who simply want to play softball or join a basketball team.
Mr. Speaker, our communities thrive when every child can be part of a team, learn sportsmanship, and challenge themselves. They falter when we write exclusion and fear into our laws.
Mr. Speaker, I would call attention to the fact that, in this bill, we offer no requirement for any type of invasive checks on women or men. They simply have to go to the birth certificate. That will give the answer.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Rulli), a member of the Committee on Education and Workforce.
Mr. Speaker, I stand here today in support of H.R. 28, and I urge the House to pass this bill.
There is no reason we should even be having this conversation right now. H.R. 28 is a women's rights bill to protect Title IX, which was constructed to protect women's rights.
This first came on my radar while I was a member of the Ohio Senate. I had a lesbian couple shopping in my store, and they asked me to step aside to talk to me for a minute. They said that I needed to protect women's sports. We had Title IX. Since we had Stonewall 50 years ago, this couple told me, they have worked their entire life for women's rights.
What my opposition party is doing is blurring the lines of what is a woman and what is a man.
My daughter has played soccer her entire life. She is scared to death to play right now. She has seen the videos of what trans athletes have been doing to women athletes, as far as breaking their faces in volleyball, basketball, and baseball.
We do not have a clear, level playing field when we have the trans community participating in women's sports. We need to protect the concept of the woman, and women must be protected.
H.R. 28 is the only path forward. It is shameful that the opposition party does not support the protection of women.
We have to define what a woman is again, and H.R. 28 is the only vehicle that could actually protect women in America, whether it is in high school or whether it is in college, for them to pursue their dreams.
Mr. Speaker, just a reminder that this bill applies to every student of every age in every sport the same way. As Flynn, a successful trans athlete, said: ``The next time you see a story about trans athletes, think of the children behind the story who are just trying to play a game with their peers.''
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Adams).
Mr. Speaker, I rise because this bill threatens the principles that make our schools and sports fields places of opportunity.
This bill does not protect anyone. It unjustly targets transgender women and girls under the guise of fairness, but exclusion is not fairness, Mr. Speaker. Fairness is ensuring that every athlete can participate, grow, and thrive.
For this reason, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to the committee. If the House rules permitted, I would have offered the motion with an important amendment to this bill.
Mr. Speaker, Title IX was originally passed to address the structural imbalances between men's and women's sports, disparities that continue to pose an actual threat to women and girls in sports today.
My amendment, based on my Fair Play for Women Act, would strengthen Title IX enforcement and protect all women by increasing accountability, transparency, and training in athletic programs.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the record the text of the amendment immediately prior to the vote on the motion to recommit.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from North Carolina?
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen) who also chairs the Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding the time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Protecting Women and Girls in Sports Act, a commonsense bill to ensure female athletes only compete with biological females.
Unfortunately, in just 4 years under the Biden administration, Title IX has been under constant attack, jeopardizing women's safety, athletic opportunities, and chances for success.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle have followed suit. Last Congress, not one single Democrat voted in support of this bill on the House floor.
I hear about this issue consistently in my district and am often told by parents to put an end to this nonsense.
How many of history's most prolific female athletes would never have reached such heights if they were forced to compete against biological males? When will Democrats learn that the American people fundamentally reject their radical agenda?
A Gallup poll recently said 70 percent of the American people believe we should protect women's sports. I am a proud father to 3 daughters and a grandfather to 10 granddaughters, all of whom have competed or are currently competing in the sport of their choice.
This bill is about protecting every female's pathway to athletic prowess, excellence, and opportunity.
I thank Representative Steube for his leadership on this issue. As a cosponsor of today's bill, I strongly urge a ``yes'' vote.
Mr. Speaker, every single parent worries about their kids' safety. Every parent wants their daughters to be treated fairly including on the sports field.
That conversation is being had among parents, schools, experts, and sports authorities across the country, as it should be. This bill hijacks those conversations. It hijacks the real concerns that parents have raised. It exploits those concerns to place all of our daughters in danger.
This bill doesn't protect a girl's rights. It eliminates them. It requires her to answer an adult's humiliating questions. It will accelerate our national crisis of sexual assault on young women and girls. It puts a target on the back of every girl, every young woman who chooses to play sports,
Whatever the problem is we are trying to solve, the genital inspection of little girls is the wrong answer. I urge my colleagues to reject this bill and say ``no'' on empowering predators.
Mr. Speaker, I am shocked at that description of this legislation and would ask where in the world that information is found in this bill. There is no requirement for inspections, and there is no necessary effort other than going to a person's birth certificate.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Owens), one who knows about true competition and an equal nature and a just nature as well, as he wears a Super Bowl ring. He is also the vice chair of the Education and Workforce Committee and chair of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
Fifty years ago, Title IX revolutionized women's sports and opened doors that had been closed for all previous generations. Because of Title IX, women's participation in athletics skyrocketed by over 1,000 percent in high schools and 600 percent in college athletics.
This progress of equal opportunity for millions of girls and women for scholarships, honors, careers, and wealth has been under attack for the entirety of the Biden administration.
By ignoring the biological, physical, and genetic differences between men and women, this administration has dismantled the level playing field that women and girls deserve.
This is about fairness, safety, and opportunity. When viewed through the eyes of common sense, it is obvious. When seen through the results of lost opportunities, it becomes clear that something valuable has been stolen.
When men are allowed to compete in women's sports, not only are women no longer safe but they also lose scholarships, championships, and opportunities to build self-esteem that lasts a lifetime. Young men also lose when they embrace this ideology of unfairness and call it admirable. It is called loss of shame.
I have 5 daughters and 12 granddaughters. I have stood on the sidelines and watched them pour their hearts and souls into the sports they love. I have seen their grit, determination, and pride as they worked hard, hoping to be victorious. Even when they are not, these moments of competing add to the lifelong building blocks of character.
What message are we sending to our girls when we tell them their hard work doesn't matter? What is our message as we cowardly stand by as boys and men steal their opportunities, dominate their sports, and erase their records?
This debate isn't about sports. It is about what kind of country we are going to be. Do we remain a Nation that stands with fairness, celebrates achievement, and defends the rights of our girls and women, or do we devolve into a country that bows to radical ideologies at their expense?
An overwhelming majority of Americans have boldly spoken on the vision of our society. We see it as one in which we continue to teach our young men respect.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. Speaker, the only respect they earn is the respect to defend and honor womanhood.
Our daughters and women are watching. The message to men standing quietly on the sidelines of this issue is: It is time to man up. These are girls and women in our lives who depend on us to stand and fight for what is right. Now is the time to protect them from men who want to infringe on their space and their sports.
To my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, please join us as we support the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
Mr. Speaker, in light of the comment that the gentleman from Michigan, who is managing the time on the other side of the aisle, made about birth certificates, I want to remind my colleagues that in the discussion on a similar bill, we had a conversation about how out of the millions of birth certificates in this country, there are a considerable number of children who are born either intersex or with ambiguous genitalia.
How does the gentleman plan to enforce this bill? Because he is saying birth certificates but those aren't necessarily reliable.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Walberg) for the purpose of a colloquy.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose this hateful bill. This bill is a cruel attack on transgender children, already among the most vulnerable in our society, facing high risks of suicide, violence, and bullying.
Let's be clear. This bill isn't about fairness. The NCAA stated last month there are fewer than 10 transgender athletes in collegiate sports out of 510,000, less than 0.002 of 1 percent of athletes. The rare cases Republicans cite are outliers, not evidence of a systemic issue.
To deal with this 0.002 of 1 percent, the bill opens the door to invasive scrutiny of all girls' bodies, violating their privacy and dignity. Little girls will be forced to have their biological sex verified through humiliating physical examinations of their genitals by strangers and forced to present documentation about their anatomy.
In States with similar bans, even cisgender girls deemed not feminine enough have faced harassment, humiliation, and have been forced to undergo genital examination. This isn't fairness. It is cruelty.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reject this hateful bill and focus on real issues affecting our schools and communities.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Miller), a member of the Education and Workforce Committee and a strong leader in protecting womanhood, girls, and Title IX.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in defense of women. I rise in support of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act which safeguards our daughters from the radical Democrats' agenda to have our daughters and granddaughters compete against and share locker rooms with men.
Allowing grown men to compete in women's sports puts the safety of our daughters at risk. We have already seen numerous examples of female athletes being injured by grown men who claim to be women.
The physical advantages possessed by male athletes are undeniable. Allowing men to compete alongside women undermines the integrity of women's sports and diminishes the hard work, dedication, and dreams of female athletes.
This bill ensures that individuals participate in sports according to their biological sex and keeps men out of our daughters' locker rooms and showers. By passing this bill, we honor the legacy of Title IX and protect the future of women's athletics.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose the GOP child predator empowerment act. This bill is an egregious attack on young women and girls.
Everyone in this room knows that this legislation has the power to threaten the physical and mental safety of minors. Schools and athletic institutions already have rules around fairness and safety in children's sports. This is literally why we have the NCAA. This bill is textbook government overreach meant to fuel division.
Further, this bill provides no enforcement guidelines, insinuating that Republicans are just fine with subjecting
This is an attack on the mental and sexual safety of all girls in this country as young as kindergarten. Everyone deserves to have the opportunity to learn the camaraderie and life lessons that come with playing sports.
I urge a strong ``no'' on this legislation because I believe we should make our children safer, not empower adult strangers to investigate their most private physicality.
Congress needs to get back to our jobs, lowering costs for everyday families and working on issues that address the vast majority of us.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 28 and urge the House to pass this important bill.
For the past 50 years, Title IX has been an unqualified success at increasing participation of girls and young women in sports at both the collegiate and secondary level.
For 2 years, by allowing men identifying as women to dominate many events in women's sports, the Biden administration has perversely used Title IX to destroy the very gains that Title IX has fostered for young women.
The issue is one of fundamental fairness. Males have a greater lung capacity, larger heart, more bone density, and dramatically more muscle mass than girls, all of which lead to an enormous competitive advantage in many sports.
Champion Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix's lifetime best time in the 400 meter was 49.26 seconds. In 2017 alone, 15,000 young men, high school men and boys, outperformed that time. Swimmer Will Thomas, a/k/a Lia Thomas, ranked 462nd in his sport as a man, only to steal the NCAA 500-meter freestyle championship as a purported woman.
To accept men in women's sports is to destroy women's sports. Being a male or female is a biological reality that cannot be changed by a few months of hormones or by clothes or by radical gender ideology. The future of our young women and girls and the gains they have made through 50 years of Title IX must be protected.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important bill.
Mr. Speaker, every child should be afforded the opportunity to learn the essential lessons of sportsmanship, resilience, and discipline that playing team sports offers. This includes transgender children who make up a very small number of young athletes.
A transgender child who joins a sports team does so for the same reason that any other child does. They want to stay active, feed their hunger for competition, and form friendships with children their age. This typical experience, however, has been stifled by politicians who want to exercise authority on transgender students by prohibiting them from participating on sports teams with their peers.
This bill distracts us from what really matters to our constituents. I thought my colleagues would join me in wanting to continue delivering for people back home by expanding healthcare initiatives, improving economic opportunities, and fostering public safety. Instead, an attack has been launched on a community of marginalized people.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill.
Mr. Speaker, in 2022 North Carolina high schooler Peyton McNabb was seriously injured when a teenage boy spiked a ball into her head during a girls volleyball game, leaving her with a concussion and permanent injuries.
Despite stories like Peyton's, the left continues to want us to believe it is totally safe for men to compete against women. In fact, the current administration tried to impose this radical agenda across our Nation.
The truth is, President Biden's attempt to redefine the word ``sex'' in Title IX robs our daughters of opportunity and leaves them vulnerable.
Thankfully, the Biden administration's perverted rule was invalidated at the national level by a Federal court just this past week.
However, I stand today because Congress needs to make it clear that Title IX cannot and will not be weaponized to perpetuate a lie that men can become women.
This bill simply affirms common sense and reflects reality. Men and women are uniquely created by God, and no amount of testosterone therapy can reverse biological design.
On behalf of the women and girls I represent in North Carolina and those across America, I will vote ``yes'' for the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act and fight to restore sanity. I urge all of my colleagues to do the same.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is a cynical scapegoating of a vulnerable population. To make matters worse, it is a hateful attack on kids. Trans kids deserve to play sports just like their peers, and Congress can't bar them from the field.
All young people should be able to benefit from team sports--building character, developing friendships, and improving their mental health.
Organizations like the NCAA, International Olympic Committee, and State athletic boards have included trans athletes for years. Instead of following their lead, my colleagues want to codify hate and discrimination against all trans kids in all sports.
Not so long ago, all women were banned from school sports until the passage of Title IX. Even then, extremists preached that women playing sports was the end of sports as we know it.
Today's rhetoric about trans women and girls is no different and will soon be seen as just as outdated and absurd.
Every child should be able to join a team that is consistent with their gender and benefit from sports.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Walberg for yielding the time, and I thank Congressman Steube for introducing this important legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Protecting Women and Girls in Sports Act and would like to clarify a comment from the gentleman on the other side of the aisle that as majority leader of the Indiana Senate, we easily overrode the Governor's veto of our State law protecting women in sports.
Since the passage of Title IX in 1972, female participation at the high school and collegiate level has risen dramatically.
Competitive sports are very important to the students and families in Indiana's Eighth District and all athletes around this great country.
The Biden administration's recent attempt to rewrite and reimagine Title IX is threatening to erase more than 50 years of progress and women's rights and equal opportunities for all female athletes.
It is a simple fact of life that men and women are biologically different and that men and boys have levels of strength that women and girls do not have.
Allowing men to compete in women's sports is unfair to the women and girls, and it takes away their chances to receive scholarships and be recognized and rewarded for their hard work, skills, and accomplishments.
Over the last couple of years, we have all watched in disbelief as top female athletes are losing their hard-earned titles to biological males who are competing as females.
Americans are also horrified to learn about the injuries women and girls are facing when in competition with a biological male.
As a father and a grandfather, I am entirely against forcing anybody's daughter or granddaughter to have to share a women's locker room with anyone other than women and girls.
The results of the November election have made it clear that Americans agree with me and my colleagues.
It is time for a change back to the way things were intended to be. Title IX was created to protect equality and opportunity for women and girls in sports. Thanks to this legislation, we will go back to doing just that.
Mr. Speaker, here we are today. Republicans, who have voted consistently against the Violence Against Women Act, who have taken away the rights of all women to choose and have control over their own body, who as women are bleeding out in parking lots across the country, standing there allowing us to die, now want to pretend today that they care about women.
Why? To open up gender, and, yes, genital examinations into little girls in this country in the so-called name of attacking trans girls. To that, today, what we have to say are two words: Not today.
The majority right now says there is no place in this bill that says it opens up for genital examinations. Well, here is the thing: There is no enforcement mechanism in this bill. When there is no enforcement mechanism, you open the door to every enforcement mechanism.
Trans girls are girls, and for all the folks that are so concerned, thank you for your concern about women for the first time that I have seen. I don't know about you all, I don't know who has been to gym class lately, but even if you only believe in two genders, I have played coed sports all the time.
What this also opens the door for is for women to try to perform a very specific kind of femininity for the very kind of men who are drafting this bill and to open up questioning of who is a woman because of how we look, how we present ourselves, and, yes, what we choose to do with our bodies.
I know who loves this bill. Yes, bigoted folks love this bill. Assaulters love this bill. Also, CEOs love this bill, because Los Angeles is on fire right now, and this is the number one priority that the majority has.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, which ensures fairness and safety in girls athletics.
For the past 4 years, the Biden-Harris administration and congressional Democrats have made it very clear: They want men competing against our daughters and granddaughters. They want to force schools to allow biological males to share private spaces with biological females and compete in women's sports. That is wrong.
In fact, the vast majority of Americans agree that men do not belong in women's sports or in women's locker rooms.
Ask working-class Americans if Michael Phelps should have swum the women's 200-meter freestyle. The answer is no.
That is why we must protect women's sports, and under President-elect Trump's leadership we are already fulfilling that promise.
This week, the House of Representatives will stand with all young women and girls who deserve to have the opportunity to compete safely and fairly.
As a grandfather to six wonderful, capable granddaughters, this is important to me. This bill will safeguard and uphold the integrity and safety of women's sports and the true intention of Title IX, allowing all women the opportunity to achieve excellence in sports.
I commend Representative Steube for working on this issue, and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
Mr. Speaker, I hate bullies. This bill is about bullying children. Children struggle with identity, gender, and otherwise. As a parent of two and a former teacher, I need all adults, including politicians and lawmakers, to help my wife and I protect our children, to support them, to give them a sense of purpose and belonging.
This bill does the opposite. You are just picking on children.
Our government is not supposed to be this intrusive. Your government has become incredibly intrusive. You are in our doctors' offices banning reproductive freedom. You are in our classrooms banning books and telling teachers what they can and cannot say. Now you are in my daughter's locker room requiring physical exams of children.
It is so profoundly disgusting and inappropriate and un-American. We have an economy to fix, a border crisis to address, a budget to balance. My request to my colleagues is to focus. Stop bullying children.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their comments to the Chair.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 28 to prohibit federally funded schools from allowing men to compete in women's sports.
Mr. Speaker, I find it truly staggering that we as Congress have to even consider such an issue, but here we are.
Under the last 4 years of the outgoing administration, we have witnessed the imposition of a radical gender ideology that has disregarded the most fundamentals of biological principles with an expectation that Americans must redefine their perception and beliefs, no questions asked.
We have stood by and watched as this administration and career D.C. bureaucrats have sought to twist and manipulate the meaning and purpose behind Title IX, which, if successful, would have disenfranchised the very women and girls that Title IX was meant to protect.
Despite Title IX, for over half a century since its inception, having paved the way for millions of women and girls, including myself, to achieve their dreams, its very existence has been consistently under threat on behalf of an unaccountable Federal bureaucracy.
It is past time that we as a government restore the sanity that has been lost over the last 4 years, and it brings me great pride to witness this critical issue at the forefront of the new Congress so that we may truly act upon the American people's mandate.
As a cosponsor of this bill, I thank Representative Steube along with the Education and Workforce Committee for their committed leadership on this issue, and I urge all my colleagues to support H.R. 28.
Mr. Speaker, it is honestly hard to know where even to start with this bill.
Maybe let's start with the name. This bill doesn't even come close to protecting women and girls in sports. In fact, it puts all women and girls in danger of sexual abuse.
I hear my colleagues say, no, this wouldn't require genital exams. Let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, we have already seen an investigation like this happen at a high school in Utah. Unsurprisingly, they wrongly targeted someone who wasn't trans.
If this bill is passed into law, then there are only a few ways to actually enforce it, and that is genital inspections and asking young girls very inappropriate questions about their menstrual cycles.
My colleagues know that I am 35 years old, and I love talking about my period. I think it is important we talk about it. We shouldn't be making young girls answer these questions to people they don't even trust.
If this bill is passed into law, then these kinds of secret investigations,
This does not protect women and girls. This only further jeopardizes their safety and security when they are playing sports. This bill is sloppy, vague, and prejudiced.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in full support of H.R. 28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
Female athletes should never be forced to compete against biological men in sports, plain and simple. Allowing biological men to compete in female sports is not only a complete and utter failure to women who have trained their whole lives to achieve their dreams, but it also completely ignores the scientific fact that men and women have clear biological differences that make competing on the same sports team unfair and dangerous.
Mr. Speaker, last year, the Biden administration tried to push a radical Title IX change that would have prevented any institution receiving Federal funding from banning biological men from competing in women's sports. That is insane.
Educational institutions have a responsibility to protect the women and girls who attend them, and this legislation ensures that they will be able to do just that.
Let me be clear: Allowing biological men to compete in women's sports hurts women. It takes away opportunities, scholarship funds, and titles that are meant for women.
As a father of three girls, this is personal to me. I want my girls to be able to succeed in the sports that they play. I want them to be safe. I want that to be a level playing field. What we are talking about here is protecting women, protecting my three girls.
The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act will prevent schools from allowing biological men to compete in women's sports by defining sex in an athletic competition by genetics at birth.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlemen from Florida (Mr. Steube), my good friend, for leading this effort, and I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes.''
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to H.R. 28.
As a mother to a former child athlete, I get the need to keep our daughters safe and ensure our school sports are fair. Sadly, there is nothing in this bill to improve the safety of our daughters or improve fair play. In fact, the bill subjects girls, cisgender and transgender girls, to harm and ridicule, and it strips fairness from players, parents, and school communities.
The bill sets up an unfair playing field where any parent can raise a concern that a transgender girl might be playing on a girls' team, and we know this is so very rare.
It is unfair to the girls who may be targeted because they grow faster, play harder, or simply may be more talented than their teammates.
This bill is unfair to the school districts that can't navigate the threats of lawsuits but also can't afford to lose Federal funding, leaving students without sports or school meals.
This bill is unfair to the girl athletes who could be subject to genital inspection and subject to humiliation, leaving them with a legacy of trauma rather than the lessons of teamwork and sportsmanship.
Finally, this bill is unfair to the American people, who are demanding that we take their call to address the cost of living seriously.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to leave these decisions in the hands of parents and local sports authorities and vote ``no'' on H.R. 28.
Mr. Speaker, I have to do a reset here and say: Why are we in here even having to discuss this?
It is amazing to me that the idea that we would have XY chromosome males competing and taking the place of women and girls in sports is just mind-blowing.
Where are we at in the country, where are we as a society, that we are doing this? It is beyond comprehension that we are doing this to our girls.
Where are the feminists? Where are the people who have fought so hard to get rights for women but now they fade into the background over this transgender situation that we are advancing way too much in this country?
The young ladies depicted here, Paula, Lily, and Riley, whom I know personally, shouldn't even have to be in this position here. I commend them for being such strong leaders, coming from being athletes trying to do their thing, just trying to compete for medals, scholarships, and things, and having those taken away. They have stepped forward to be leaders when they didn't ask to. They probably were not even that comfortable with the spotlight. Certainly, they have been subject to abuse in doing so.
God blessed them with their leadership in stepping forward. We need to back them up by passing this legislation and put this to an end.
Mr. Speaker, as a working-class kid who grew up in sports, the mother of two college athletes, and a physician, I understand how important sports are to our kids' development and their sense of community.
No child in this country should be denied access to the opportunity to play a sport, including our transgender children.
I will vote against the GOP child predator empowerment act because it does not protect women. It attacks children.
Under this bill, kids as young as 4 years old could be forced to undergo invasive medical exams and answer personal questions about their bodies from adults they don't know or trust.
This legislation distorts commonsense conversations about how to ensure fairness in our athletic competitions and instead denies our children their basic rights and safety.
In Congress, I will continue to stand up against attacks on our transgender community because every child in Oregon deserves our support and care.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong and unwavering support for protecting women, protecting women's sports, and passing H.R. 28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
The Biden administration fought to tear down the decades of progress women have made in athletics. Women have been stripped of their earned titles and live in fear for their safety in the locker rooms of America, women like Riley Gaines, Lily Mullens, Paula Scanlan, and so many others with unspoken stories.
Last week, the Federal court ruled in favor of reality. Biden tried to rewrite Title IX, and his unconstitutional idea was rejected. Let's vote in favor of reality today.
The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act clarifies the protections under Title IX and ensures our women can continue to compete in fair and secure environments. It is an insult and utter disgrace to have them robbed of the triumph by a biological male.
We are told that if this bill passed, President Biden would veto it. Mr. Speaker, on November 5, the American people vetoed the radical left's progressive agenda. Next week, America will return to common sense.
I pray that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle remember common sense today in this very Chamber. It is not complex, Mr. Speaker. God intricately created two genders for one reason.
Men have no business competing in women's sports or being in their locker rooms.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a queer woman, once the only girl on my peewee football team, and a graduate from a women's college in strong opposition to H.R. 28.
This bill makes schools less safe for women and girls. It gives every teacher, coach, and parent an opportunity to police who looks feminine enough to play. It will put all girls at risk of intrusive questions and physical genital
As LGBTQ+ youth continue to face attacks and targeting from extremist lawmakers in legislative chambers across the country and higher rates of depression and suicide, this bill is doubly dangerous.
In my community, I meet young people and parents over and over who have fled States like Idaho, Texas, and Florida because they want to live in safe, welcoming communities where they know they have a future.
While there are real problems impacting women's sports, including sexual violence, lack of equal resources, and pay inequality, this bill does nothing to address them.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to focus on addressing the pressing issues facing everyday Americans and to reject this hateful legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in fierce opposition to this bill.
Trans Americans are not the problem. This obsession with monitoring kids' genitals is absolutely the problem.
Let's be clear. This is about kids--my kids, your kids, all kids, even elementary school kids playing basketball.
I am a mom of two teens. I am a former teacher. I know what kids are going through in school. They are already self-conscious about their bodies. They just want to be on the soccer field with their friends. They certainly do not want to be humiliated by Members of Congress.
Let's talk about what enforcement looks like because, Mr. Speaker, you don't want to talk about it. We know there is only one logical conclusion to this. This is interrogation of young girls about their bodies. This is asking people to show them what is underneath their underwear. That is what we are talking about. This is the logical conclusion for this bill.
It is vile, and it is twisted. They don't want to talk about the details. It is an absolute invasion of children's privacy. Far from protecting anyone, it puts our children at risk.
Mr. Speaker, actually, I urge colleagues on both sides of the aisle to reject this government overreach.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is a clear example of government overreach.
What business does the government have micromanaging how any sporting association runs their league? Having a congressional vote to dictate the terms of participation in a private sporting league is a slippery slope. What is next, voting on what uniforms the Ducks should wear each Saturday or, more sinisterly, who can participate based on race, religion, or national origin?
Government has a role, and this isn't it.
How do my colleagues propose to enforce this bill? Ohio passed the Save Women's Sports Act, where a girl would have to verify her gender by an exam of her external and internal anatomy.
Traumatizing girls who happen to be late in physically maturing or naturally have a more athletic build to satisfy extreme political agendas is fear-mongering, cowardice, and downright creepy.
Who will be doing these inspections? We do not need Taliban-like enforcers in our schools.
Every day, women are injured and murdered in domestic violence and children are murdered in their classrooms. If you want to protect women and girls, let's work on that. Until then, let's be honest about what this is: political propaganda that has nothing to do with lowering costs for working Americans.
Mr. Speaker, I continue to hear the talk about invasion of privacy of young kids. It is just not true. On the other hand, let me explain to my colleagues what is invasive.
Last year, Riley Gaines, the former University of Kentucky swimmer, testified in front of Georgia's State legislature. In addressing Georgia Tech's president, she said: ``We did not give our consent to be exploited and exposed to a 6-foot-4 fully naked man. Because you did nothing, that man walked into the women's locker room at your university and saw me undress down to full nudity. You allowed college women to be traumatized . . . on your campus in this way. Why didn't you protect us?''
I ask the same to my Democratic colleagues, Mr. Speaker. Why aren't they willing to protect the women and girls from this invasion of their privacy?
Mr. Speaker, this is the third week that we are in the 119th Congress and the third week that no bill is before us to lower costs for Americans.
Instead, before us is a political attempt to divide us as a nation, stigmatizing some kids so some adults can get MAGA merit badges.
The Republican Governor of Utah vetoed a similar piece of legislation after he shared that, of the 75,000 students in high school sports in Utah, only 4 were trans, and only 1 was a girl playing sports. He also mentioned the very real 86 percent of trans kids reporting suicidality due to things like adults stigmatizing kids for political gain.
Instead, today, the proposed solution in search of an actual problem suggests we somehow ban girls from sports with some sort of process to determine who is a girl. Does this mean hiring potential predators to peek at the private parts of kids in locker rooms? That sounds like an actual problem to me.
Creating a solution to a nonexistent problem by creating a problem instead of lowering costs for Americans is a sign of an ineffective congressional majority, at best.
Mr. Speaker, what I would like to know is, what does this bill have to do with lowering costs, the economy, or making our communities safer?
The answer is nothing.
We are 2 weeks into the 119th Congress, and the GOP is already wasting our time on political messaging bills. This bill is not about protecting women or children. It is the opposite.
It is about government overreach, telling parents their kids can't play T-ball or run track and telling our athletic associations that they can't regulate sports.
It is about bullying trans kids, who are amongst the most vulnerable in our communities, and subjecting our children to potentially dangerous situations in their schools. We won't stand for it. It has to stop.
H.R. 28 is an assault on the safety of the trans community and our children. It puts hate and division over unity, and it undermines equality in this country. It has to stop.
Mr. Speaker, that is why I oppose this bill, and I urge my colleagues to vote against it.
Mr. Speaker, never did I think that my first debate of this new Congress would be debating a Republican bill that empowers pedophiles and predators. Republicans say it is about protecting women, but that is a damned lie.
This bill puts all girls, all children, at risk in our school systems and across this entire country.
We have a bill like this in my State of Florida, and I will tell this quick
Strangers, adult men, could ask girls as young as 4 years old personal questions about their body. My question is, Republicans say it is about protecting girls, for people listening at home: Is it protecting girls to empower strangers to question your daughter about what is in their pants? No. It is disgusting.
Is it protecting girls to empower adult men to ask your daughter to inspect what is in her pants while you are not around? No. That is pedophilia. It is predatory behavior.
The hate on the other side of the aisle for trans Americans is so much so that they are willing to put all of our children, all of our daughters, at risk of a serious problem in this country.
Mr. Speaker, to protect our kids, we have to vote ``no'' on the Republican child predator empowerment act.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a letter led by the National Women's Law Center and the Women's Sports Foundation from 33 national and 34 State and local women's and girls' rights organizations to voice our vehement opposition to H.R. 28.
Mr. Speaker, I also include in the Record a letter from Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, which reads in part:
``On behalf of the 1.8 million members of the AFT, I write to urge you to oppose H.R. 28, the so-called Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025, and to reject its attacks on our students.''
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, Congress has the power and the responsibility to make a real difference for Americans. Yet, we are starting this Congress with a bill that dangerously picks on an extremely small number of children and young adults but putting all children and young adults at risk. These attacks are fueled by discrimination and not facts.
A poll from 2022 found that two-thirds of LGBTQI+ youth report that recent debates about State laws restricting the rights of transgender people have negatively affected their mental health. Today, my colleagues are furthering this hate. America already has a youth mental health crisis, and my colleagues are exacerbating it by promoting these hateful policies, and that is unacceptable.
Let's talk about ways to champion opportunities in sports for all women and girls. We celebrated the 50th anniversary of Title IX 2 years ago, which protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities.
Under Title IX, we have seen a considerable increase in the number of female students participating in sports, but college women still have nearly 60,000 fewer athletic opportunities than men, and high school girls have about 1 million fewer opportunities to play sports than high school boys.
Do my colleagues only care about women's sports when it benefits partisan talking points? Apparently so because preventing transgender women and girls, who make up only a tiny fraction of a percent of college athletes, from participating in sports seems to be more important to my colleagues than starting this 119th Congress with legislation that would protect female athletes from assault or harassment.
Mr. Speaker, we should focus our work on promoting policies that make sports safe, accessible, and fair for everyone. This bill does not do that.
I emphasize that my colleagues still have not explained how enforcement is going to happen without serious and risky invasions of privacy and the inquiry of intensely personal information.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to show some compassion, show some humanity, and please reject this partisan bill that will harm our Nation's youth.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, it saddens me to hear that my colleagues, who I respect and enjoy working with on most things, are totally not recognizing the fact that the American people, parents, grandparents, and teachers, don't stand with them and organizations that are reported today aren't speaking for the benefit of girls and women.
It is absolutely heart-wrenching to see daughters and sisters lose races. The strides women have made across all corners of the sports world deserve to be celebrated and protected.
Like it or not, sports are based on physical ability. Pretending otherwise is a stark denial of reality.
Erasing sex means ultimately erasing women, especially when it comes to sports. Girls and women lose a fair chance to compete when a biological male enters the field.
We can't let women's sports become collateral damage in the far left's campaign against a traditional science-based understanding of sex. Allowing women and girls to suffer for the sake of the dishonesty of wokeness is inexcusable.
We need to stand for women and girls. I believe that the constituents in overwhelming majority understand what my colleagues are posturing with and that that is not what we are talking about.
We are standing for affirming Title IX, affirming women, affirming girls, and protecting them for their abilities to succeed in the future.
I plead with my Democratic colleagues to join us in celebrating women and girls, the female athlete, and females in general.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the second letter I referenced during general debate on H.R. 28, a letter led by the Leadership Conference for Civil and Human Rights with signatories from 117 national and 289 regional, state, and local civil rights organizations rejecting ``the so-called Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025, because it would harm women and girls and undermine civil rights for all students.''
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
Pursuant to House Resolution 5, the previous question is ordered on the bill.
The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was read the third time.
Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the motion to recommit.
The Clerk read as follows:
The material previously referred to by Ms. Adams is as follows:
To read the complete bill text go to: http://democrats- edworkforce.house.gov/download/fair-play-for-women-act-bill-text
On January 14, 2025, page H138, in the first column, the following appeared: high-quality and supportive athletic opportunities.
The online version has been corrected to read: high-quality and supportive athletic opportunities. To read the complete bill text go to: http://democrats-edworkforce.house.gov/download/fair-play- for-women-act-bill-text
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule XIX, the previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit.
The question is on the motion to recommit.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the noes appeared to have it.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, the unfinished business is the vote on the motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 153) to provide for an online repository for certain reporting requirements for recipients of Federal disaster assistance, and for other purposes, on which the yeas and nays were ordered.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Graves) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 426, nays 0, not voting 8, as follows:
Mr. GARAMENDI changed his vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
So (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, the unfinished business is the vote on the motion to recommit on the bill (H.R. 28) to amend the Education Amendments of 1972 to provide that for purposes of determining compliance with title IX of such Act in athletics, sex shall be recognized based solely on a person's reproductive biology and genetics at birth, offered by the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Adams), on which the yeas and nays were ordered.
The Clerk will redesignate the motion.
The Clerk redesignated the motion.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to recommit.
This is a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 208, nays 218, not voting 8, as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. There are 2 minutes remaining.
So the motion to recommit was rejected.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
Mr. Speaker, I was not recorded because I was absent due to a prior family engagement. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 10, NAY on Roll Call No. 11, and YEA on Roll Call No. 12.
Mr. Speaker, due to a death in the family, I needed to attend to the funeral proceedings and was unable to vote on the House floor. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 10, passage of H.R. 153, NAY on Roll Call No. 11, MTR for H.R. 28, YEA on Roll Call No. 12, passage of H.R. 28.
Mr. Speaker, due to the devastating wildfire affecting my district and Southern California, I was not present for today's vote. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 10, H.R. 153, YEA on Roll Call No. 11, Motion to Commit H.R. 28, and NAY on Roll Call No. 12, H.R. 28.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in celebration of House passage of H.R. 28, the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.
Sports have always been more than just a game. They are an opportunity for growth that teaches discipline, teamwork, and resilience. Involvement in sports opens doors, fosters lifelong friendships, and inspires confidence in young adults across this country.
Unfortunately, due to radical policies implemented by the Biden- Harris administration and other far-left politicians nationwide, women and girls are losing critical protections that were afforded to them when Title IX was signed into law more than 50 years ago.
We owe it to the millions of young women and girls striving to reach their fullest potential, both on and off the field, who deserve fairness and safety.
The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act honors the commitment we made through Title IX, defends the principle of fair competition, and ensures that athletes can compete in categories that reflect their biological realities.
I am proud to support this legislation today on the House floor, and I urge my Senate colleagues to pass it as well.
Madam Speaker, I hear a lot from seniors in my district struggling to afford their prescriptions. I think that is wrong. This Nation ought to care for the folks who raised us and who helped build this great country of ours.
I rise to share some news today that will help.
Now, most seniors will never pay more than $2,000 a year for their medicine. As of January 1, for those already enrolled in an eligible Medicare plan, the cap is automatic. Once folks have paid $2,000 out of pocket for prescriptions in a year, they won't pay a dime more.
This cap will give seniors more peace of mind that they can afford the medicine they need, and thousands of seniors in western Pennsylvania will save money from this policy, cash that will go toward keeping a roof over their head or taking care of a grandchild.
For too long, we have seen pharmacy benefit managers and Big Pharma rip us off, padding their pockets while people struggle to afford the medicine they need to stay healthy.
There is lots more to do, but this is an important step to bring down the costs for seniors in western Pennsylvania.
Madam Speaker, today, I rise to celebrate the birth of Mark Walter Tucker. Mark Tucker is the son of my deputy chief of staff, Matt Tucker, and his wonderful wife, Sarah.
Since my very first day in office, Matt has been by my side, working to help address the healthcare issues that matter most to my communities in south central and western Pennsylvania.
The birth of a child offers both a time to reflect and an important time to look forward.
As Matt and Sarah begin this new chapter of their lives, I am not sure if baby Tucker will become a Deacon or maybe a Hokie. My hopes are that he becomes a Nittany Lion.
I am excited to see them both have the opportunity to grow and learn as they raise their newborn son and teach him about the important issues of life that matter most to a child, that matter most to his new family and to his community, and to teach him the faith that he will grow in to become a proud American.
I rise to recognize a legendary drummer and, above all, an incredible human being, Sam ``The Man'' Lathan.
Mr. Lathan was born and raised in Wilson, North Carolina. At 94, he has a deep passion for drums, which placed him on many stages, from playing for the iconic singer James Brown and The Monitors band to St. John AME Zion Church, his home church.
Mr. Lathan has also served as an educator and drove a school bus. He is known for mentoring his former students. He has been featured in the African American Music Trails of North Carolina.
Madam Speaker, joining many community members in recognizing Sam ``The Man'' Lathan for his love of drumming and community is indeed an honor.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in my first speech on the House floor to applaud the men and women powering America's spaceflight industry.
I am a proud resident of Florida's Space Coast, the launchpad for America's journey to the stars since the early days of NASA. This is not just our past. It is our future.
Madam Speaker, 2024 was a record-breaking year for the Space Coast, with 93 successful launches crossing our skies. In just the first few weeks of 2025, five more launches have taken place, proving that America's new golden age of spaceflight is alive and well.
This renaissance has been powered by game-changing private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin, whose ingenuity has turned spaceflight into a thriving ecosystem of public-private collaboration.
Dominance in space is central to America's economic strength and military readiness. I am confident that with the leadership of Chairman Babin and President Trump, America will remain the global leader in space exploration and innovation.
Madam Speaker, there is a great tragedy occurring in California as we speak. Members of the California delegation have spoken on the floor about the extraordinary damage, loss of life, and lives that have been disrupted.
I was shocked to watch on television the elected leader of this House suggesting that Federal assistance to deal with that tragedy would be conditioned. He didn't specify on what, but I would remind that gentleman that $120 billion has gone to Louisiana over the last 20 years, dealing with the tragedies of Katrina in New Orleans and the like, and that is not the total count.
It would be unconscionable for this House to place any condition on the necessary assistance that Americans should give to our American people in Los Angeles.
I would ask us to search our conscience and for the elected leader of this House to do so also and put aside those requirements.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to mourn the loss of Patricia Barragan Schreck, who sadly passed away at the age of 95.
Ms. Schreck was a longtime organist and choir director for 66 years at the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist.
At just 16 years old, Ms. Schreck became the organist at the cathedral in 1946. She managed several choirs, including the Savannah Catholic Deanery Choir, the SVA Alumnae Chorus, and the cathedral men's choir and women's choir.
Ms. Schreck was also the music director at St. Vincent's Academy for 47 years of her career, where she taught choral singing and church music. Her service to the academy was impactful. Ms. Schreck composed the fight song and the academy's alma mater, which are still sung today.
Ms. Schreck was awarded a medal for her work in the church by Pope Saint John Paul II and recognized by the city of Savannah, from which she was gifted a key to the city. Additionally, Savannah also declared Patty Barragan Schreck Day on May 31, 1981.
Ms. Schreck will forever be remembered as a dedicated servant of God and her community through her service to the church and to the city of Savannah.
Madam Speaker, it is an honor to speak on the House floor today representing New York's Fourth Congressional District, and I am ready to get to work to deliver solutions for the issues that matter most to Long Island.
We need to address the cost-of-living crisis, secure our border, and give hardworking Long Islanders a middle-class tax cut by reinstating the full SALT tax deduction.
These issues aren't political. The American people are counting on all of us to put our differences aside and work together to put money back in people's pockets and get things done.
Madam Speaker, my constituents have been clear. They want problems solved and not political extremism on either side.
I am honored to be their Congresswoman, and I look forward to working with anyone from any party who is serious about working productively to address the pressing issues that our working families face.
Primary Driver of U.S. Debt and Interest Fragility
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2025, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Schweikert) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Madam Speaker, I think we are going to try to do a bit of a continuation of what we were doing last week. If you don't like math or economics, please turn off C-SPAN.
There are a couple of things that we have to walk through. Last Thursday, I think I took 38 minutes here, and the two concepts I was trying to walk through were, one, the demographics of the United States being the primary driver of U.S. debt--it is not that complicated, but it seems to really bother people--and the second thing was this concept called interest fragility. That is a big word.
What it basically means is that when you have $36 trillion in debt, $28 trillion to $29 trillion publicly financed, and when, over a year, you are going to refinance almost $10 trillion, bring maybe $2 trillion to $2.3 trillion new issuances to market, that little movement in interest rates could be a boatload of cash.
What happened last Friday? We got a knockout jobs report.
Here is the irony that people need to understand: The United States and a few other governments, such as China, are bingeing on so much debt that they have a ravenous appetite to grab people's savings and borrow it around the world. When the bond markets see that the U.S. economy is actually doing okay, which means more individuals and more businesses will be in the market to consume debt, we are going to raise interest rates. The United States gets its head kicked in when our interest rates go up.
I think I was trying to show a chart the other day. It doesn't completely work this way because you have to refinance into it, but if we went to a 5 percent handle on U.S. sovereigns--that means, from the short term to the 30 years, you had a 5 percent interest rate that was our mean interest rate on U.S. debt--it is almost $9 trillion of additional borrowing, spending, and interest over that next 10 years.
Functionally, going to 5 percent is double everything we are pretty much talking about in the extension of the tax reform. There is this lack of understanding. We are on the cusp of the bond market, the debt markets, actually being the number one influencer on U.S. policy, not Congress.
When you borrow $70,000 a second--and I have charts, which I didn't bring this time, but I have done it in the past. Where we are in 9 years, it is no longer $70,000 a second, but it is almost doubled.
How many of you understand we borrow $70,000 a second? The math will tell you almost 100 percent of that borrowing from today through the next decade is interest and healthcare, but we don't want to tell people that.
Of the $2.3 trillion that my math says we are going to borrow this year--and CBO is going to publish something in the next day or so, and we will see how close my math got to what their prediction is--half of it is interest.
Even when we do all sorts of things to reduce spending, to modernize on how we deliver services, to change the costs, we have this interest monster because we have $36 trillion and, basically every 125 days, Madam Speaker, we click off another trillion dollars.
To the poor Clerk staff, I am so sorry. You have to be so tired of hearing idiots like me--well, me--getting up and saying some of these things over and over, but it doesn't seem to sink in around here.
Look, one of the reasons I am here today is I am trying to sell a concept.
This is a chart and it is almost unreadable. I accept that, but what it was saying is, we are up against a series of tax expirations at the end of this year. $3.7 trillion of it is individual. Your individual taxes are going up at the end of this year, but then we have estate taxes and passthroughs and LLCs and partnerships, all those other things.
I think the Treasury Department a couple days ago scored it not at 4.6; they scored it at 5.5, which is a timing effect because it is a different year and higher interest rates.
There was an economic study done by CBO and a couple outside groups saying, if Congress can find a way to offset it--and that is hard. You are talking $400 billion a year we would have to find in modernization and changing spending. If Congress could step up and pay for it, you not only maintain current tax policies so our brothers and sisters, all of our taxes don't go up but you get additional growth in the economy because you didn't just pull that much more money out of the economy and then have interest pile up on it.
I think it was a year or so ago or 2 years ago, we had, I think, 3 months where we had to borrow money to pay for our borrowing.
When we go home and talk to our voters, how many of them will look back at us and understand the scale?
You get these responses, well, if you just cut this or that--I am going to show a couple of those charts again, and they are rounding errors. Sometimes they are just a few hours of borrowing from an entire year, but that is what we speechify because it is easy to understand, it is a great sound bite on talk radio, and it is crap math.
Once again, the basic premise of this chart--and it was reconfirmed by the Joint Economic Committee and the baseline math was also done by CBO. It said, if you want to maximize economic prosperity in the United States, extend current tax policy, fix depreciation--we call it spensing; research and development expensing because that is actually where you get the productivity curve because God knows you will hear the Democrats come behind the mike and talk about look how good the job market is.
Many Americans are actually poorer today than they were 4 years ago. They may be employed, but they are poorer, and that is because inflation went up faster than their wages.
I represent a district in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area that had, I believe, 27 percent inflation over the last 4 years. So unless your wages are up 27 percent, you are poorer today.
How do you raise wages? How do you raise purchasing power?
Two things: Wages go up with inflation. That just means you are treading water.
Productivity. There are things we could do in the tax policy that is coming to fix the things that create the productivity boost, the things we can do in regulatory reform, in modernization, the adoption of technology as a regulator.
You get people here that go around saying, oh, we are going to deregulate. Fine, but how about doing smart regulation. We are all walking around with these supercomputers in our pockets. The idea is that you could crowdsource certain data, crash the size of the bureaucracy, make them less intrusive, and yet air quality, water quality, and all these other things can be much safer.
It costs a fraction of what we do today, but you just have to be willing to think like a scientist, a data person, and deal with the army of lobbyists that are outside in the hallway who are upset that you are making them change their business model or their unionized bureaucracies, they show up here angry at you saying, what do you mean you want to use technology at the IRS?
Remember, Madam Speaker, the IRS is the second largest unionized workforce in the Federal Government. I believe the VA is the first one. Every time we try to add modernization to do it better, faster, cheaper, and fairer, can you believe they get cranky?
The math is the math. If you want to maximize economic vitality for this country, do your very best to offset as much as you can of the tax policy extension.
The other thing I have to give you that is going to make me sound a little cranky is when you hear a Member of Congress, particularly a couple of our Senators, running around here and saying, we are just extending baseline. Huh?
It is a whole made up term now. The law is the law. The law says the tax cuts for individuals, passthroughs, estate, and alternative minimum tax, all those things, expire at the end of 2025. We have made up a term around here saying we are just going to extend current policy. I heard someone this morning say we are going to extend current law.
Current law says it expires. Take a look at all your CBO and your debt projections. It has the expirations in there. You take it away, fine. Be honest about what it means. It is another few trillion dollars of debt over the next 10 years that we have to pay interest on.
Here is the fragility, and we are going to do this on a chart or two here. When you do that, you are going to go home and tell your voters, I extended your tax cuts. Great. I don't want to raise taxes on anyone, but if you do it without paying for it, when the interest rates go up and that family's credit cards, car debt, mortgage, and everything else gets more expensive, when the economy slows down because interest rates are up, it is because you have made the bond market nervous.
Oh, but David, that would require thinking like an economist. I am going to get re-elected by telling people I just extended their tax benefits from the 2017 TCJA. Great.
How do we explain to people that there are no free options anymore? We have the moral obligation to not make the world debt markets nervous. You have got to understand--and I need to double check my math because Great Britain, you saw what they did. They were doing all sorts of tax policy this
Greece today can sell a 10-year bond almost a full percentage point cheaper than the United States.
Let me repeat that: Greece today can sell a 10-year bond almost a full percentage point cheaper than the United States.
Does anyone understand there is a risk premium? If you screw around with this stuff, there is a thing called a term premium. It is a fancy way of saying, we actually want a little higher interest for the risk.
One of my predictions for 2025 is Moody's, which is the last of the three big rating services. I think we are going to get downgraded if we do this stuff without even an attempt to pay for some of it, offset some of it, modernize our costs in how we deliver services. If we do that, we are going to get downgraded by all three rating services. The other two have already downgraded us.
Does anyone here care, or do we just want to do happy talk and sugar highs? We just want a good dopamine hit on social media, but don't give a damn about the math.
The fact of the matter is most of the industrialized world today has a better credit rating. You see it not by the credit rating services but by the way they can sell their debt cheaper than the United States.
When you hear people talk about the extraordinary privilege the United States has, there are actually two of them. The fact that the world uses the U.S. dollar as the ultimate arbiter of exchange. Great. Let's not screw that up.
The other one we often never talk about it, and I am going to do it in a future presentation, it is actually from an economist's standpoint and may be bigger than the fact that we get to buy and sell in our own currency. This second extraordinary privilege is that smart people from around the world, entrepreneurs from around the world, investors from around the world want to do it here. They want to live here, go to school here, produce their products here, invest here. From an economist's standpoint, the United States has two remarkable, extraordinary privileges: our currency and people want to be with us.
In a couple of moments, I am going to show you why that is so important, but back to a baseline.
If you are one of our new Members, please, you have got to memorize this. You see the blue on the chart that is upside down so I look like an idiot. Let's get this right. That is discretionary. All defense we consider is discretionary.
Everything most people think is government: the FBI, the Park Service, the foreign service, those things. That is blue. We call that nondefense discretionary.
Everything a Member of Congress votes on is borrowed money. If I do the math off the top of my head, it may be $400 billion of what is in the red, which is mostly earned benefits. That is your Social Security, your Medicare, your veterans benefits, your Federal pensions, those things.
Functionally, I think this year it is like 75-25, 75 percent of all spending is on autopilot. We don't vote on it.
I shouldn't be yelling. I have had a lot of caffeine.
What we do vote on, what we give speeches on, which we screw around with all the time, is discretionary and in the scale of what we can reduce, it is almost--a lot of what we debate here is rounding errors. We have actually had debates on the floor here where the amount of money that we are trying to save, we borrowed more money during the time of the debate than it would save that year because we don't understand if you are clicking off $70,000 of borrowing every second--I wonder what this speech is costing. If I go a full hour, you start to see the idea.
So far this fiscal year, we are borrowing about $10 billion a day. I think it will come in at $6 billion, $7 billion a day once we get tax receipts in April. I am trying to explain the fragility.
Here is the point I was just trying to make a couple of moments ago. If we went back to a 5 percent interest rate, it is just shy of $9 trillion over 10 years. Just the interest rate move is double everything we are talking about. How many times do you hear idiots--I mean, excuse me--elected officials like me get behind these microphones and talk through--it is not only having good fiscal policy but we are also going to be disciplined because how are we going to communicate to the bond markets that we are worthy of future investments?
Where this gets really dangerous is--remember how I was just criticizing people walking around here saying, let's just ignore everything. Let's just keep doing what we are doing, don't have any offsets. If we do that, in 9 years, 9.2 percent of the entire economy is borrowed.
This year, my math is, we are going to kiss up, around 7 percent of the entire economy is going to be borrowed money.
What happens if we have some large disasters? Can you imagine that happening? What happens if we have another pandemic? What happens if we have a war?
Do you understand how fragile you are making the greatest country on Earth because we are not willing to tell the truth about the fiscal situation?
For my friends on the left who go, well, let's just raise taxes. I can bring my charts over and over, as I have in the past when we have had high marginal tax rates, we get about 17 percent of GDP. When we have had low marginal tax rates, we get about 17 percent of GDP. I think we have 75, 80 years of history of that showing it always falls back down to that margin.
The secret is grow. The other side should stop lying about growing. One percent of GDP--and I am going to do this and double check myself in my head--1 percent of GDP is $300 billion. If you get 17 percent of that, that is about $48 billion.
If you are borrowing $7 billion a day and you did all these things to get another point of GDP, you have covered yourself for a week. You get these folks who want to say, happy talk, we are going to grow our way out. To cover this year's debt, you would need almost a 50 percent GDP growth. Come on. Join reality world with us. Put batteries in your calculator. We can do this. We can do this together.
One point I wanted to make for our brothers and sisters on the left, I have done multiple presentations here showing that if you do all their tax hikes for $400,000 and up, you get about a point and a half of GDP.
If we do all of our spending cuts in the nondefense discretionary, which is what most of us have talked about for the last couple years, you get about 1 percent of GDP, so you have a big 2\1/2\ percent.
We are borrowing 7 percent of the entire economy this year, so all of the left's solutions and the things we as conservatives often talk about don't get you actually anything close to what is necessary. It is terrifying.
Madam Speaker, I am having a sort of personal crisis of confidence because I do this every week. My math is good. We do our best. We make mistakes on occasion, but we try to double, triple check it. No one seems to care. Is it really that terrifying to tell the truth to our voters?
The press around here has no interest in telling the truth on the math. I have a couple Bloomberg reporters, a Wall Street Journal reporter, and, on occasion, believe it or not, a public television reporter seem to be the only ones who ever want to look at these charts. Everyone else, they basically want to write a gossip story.
Yet, these things decide if my 2\1/2\ year old has a future. It also decides if your retirement becomes a miserable disaster.
I hear a little person up in the balcony. If that little person is 2 years old today, when that little person is 22, his or her taxes have to be double what they are today, a 100 percent increase.
When my 2-year-old is hopefully finishing up his university and going into grad school before he does his post-doctorate doctorate, I have high ambitions for him. We actually are trying to put into the family rules he is not allowed to run for office. The same thing with my 9- year-old daughter. That is both funny and actually true.
Think of this: A child born today, when they are about 22, 23, the United States has to double every single U.S. tax--tariffs, income, corporate, everything--just to maintain baseline services. The math says a child born today
Great morality around here. Let alone our inability--we are not allowed to talk about Social Security even though the Social Security actuaries, the CBO, the outside groups, the left groups, the right groups, all say, hey, 9--now 8\1/2\ because we just gave away a couple hundred billion dollars out of it--9 years or so, we double senior poverty in America because when the trust fund is empty, and you all get a 20 percent cut in Social Security, we double senior poverty.
How many people do you see coming behind these microphones and saying, we need to fix it? It is immoral where it is going. If you do that, the left now has a political consultant writing attack ads on you because they care so much more about winning the next election than saving the society and not doubling senior poverty.
We already have the trouble after the inflation cycle how many baby boomers are now living on the street because they can't afford their rent. The math is the math, and the math will win. If we continue current policy and not follow the law, in 9 years, 9.2 percent of the economy will be borrowed in U.S. debt. This chart doesn't even factor in the new higher interest rates because we are up a full point from early December. Great job, guys.
Look, I have done this chart the last couple weeks because it seems to have an impact. For every dollar we take in in tax collections, we spend $1.39. Huh? Take in a dollar, spend $1.39. By 2034, if we went back to a 6 percent interest rate. I know that is a couple points higher than we are at right now, but 6 percent, I think that is sort of what we were paying in the 1980s, 1990s, early 2000s up to the Great Recession. If we go to 6 percent, think of this, in 9 budget years, 45 percent of all tax collections go just to interest.
Does anyone care? No, because we would have to tell people the truth.
This is a new chart, and I am trying to actually sort of explain. Our brothers and sisters on the left who want basically a socialized, planned economy, industrial policy, they did on the CHIPS Act and then their version of I guess they call it the Inflation Reduction Act, there is some good economic data now that says if you want to do something much less expensive, created much broader economic growth, and created much more productivity, you should not do what the Democrats did, which is let's thank some of our favorite industrial entities. Their executives, their investors will write us political checks.
However, if you had done something like research and development expensing, and expensing when a company buys a piece of equipment to be better, faster, cheaper, it is dramatically less expensive, and it actually has more economic value, more economic growth, and it is spread throughout the economy.
The problem with the Democrats' industrial policy, we are going to give all this money to certain green technologies, we are going to do CHIPS Act, is you often are writing checks, so you get rent-seeking, writing checks for last-generation technology. There is a little part of that I would have voted for, for primary research and development to do it better, faster, cheaper.
It is like the old joke, what is the fastest way to make every computer in America worthless? Have someone invent a quantum computer, and suddenly that leap. It is like when all of a sudden you have a new photovoltaic panel, if it goes up 20 percent--there are experiments in the lab right now--all the other ones now are out of the money and don't make economic sense anymore.
That is the concept. Creative destruction is one of the hallmarks of a society that becomes more productive. The way you get that is not the arrogance.
When I first got here, I think I stole this joke from my wife--she looked at me, what is the two times in life, Mr. Speaker, you think you know everything? When you are 13 years old, and the day after you get elected to Congress.
Oh, come on, guys, that is funny stuff.
The fact of the matter is, when you see these sort of policies coming from Democrats where they are so smart, they get to choose the industries that get the corporate handouts, the cash handouts, and you can't imagine that there were strings attached. Yet, if we had just done an egalitarian tax policy, say we want to maximize productivity across the society because we are smart enough to know what the breakthrough is tomorrow. That breakthrough tomorrow is the thing that raises all boats, I guess that is the saying, and makes us productive.
What do you get in a society that is more productive? Wages go up.
All right. I just want to make a point, and I did a little bit of this last week. We held a little bit of a contest, I think back in December, where we asked, give us your ideas of how you would modernize or improve or reduce spending, these things.
So far this budget year, if you got rid of foreign aid, this is for the 2025 fiscal year, all foreign aid, get rid of it, it is one week of borrowing.
Get rid of all the salaries at the Department of Education. Okay, I am fine with that, but you have got to understand, it basically comes out to 9 hours of borrowing for an entire year, and that is not spending. That is borrowing.
You have these people like me who get behind these microphones and speechify: If we get rid of the Department of Education, we are going to balance the budget. No, all the salaries just covered 9 hours of borrowing. There is a scale problem. I know seeing 12 zeroes, when you start talking a trillion, is hard. It is also our job. It is our job to understand the complexities here.
One of the complexities that we are terrified to talk about is, if anyone is interested in what we are really up against, go online, grab Congressional Budget Office's report from yesterday. Every year they do an estimate on population, fertility, growth in the society. We were using the Census Bureau's data.
I have come here behind the microphone and said, hey, our quick look at the Census Bureau data was in 11 years the United States was going to start to have more deaths than births. CBO came back yesterday and said, no, the way they are calculating where fertility rates are in the United States, in 8 years the United States will have more deaths than births.
Demographics is destiny. You want people like me to figure out the financing of Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, which were all designed systems for population growth. Remember, today's worker pays for today's beneficiary. Even when we do the adjustments for net immigration, you pick up a couple more decades.
Think about that, living in a society with more deaths than births in 8 years. Matter of fact, I believe there were 17 States that last year had more deaths than births.
This goes back to my productivity argument. If you want a society and a country that still economically grows, that can still defend itself, that still is the envy of the world, that has the extraordinary privileges, are we going to adopt regulatory tax policies that maximize economic growth?
It turns out, you are going to have to do things that maximize productivity, maximize labor substitution, use that technology, use the supercomputer in your pocket. It is shocking how many people freak out every time I start to talk about using AI and these things. You don't have a choice. If we are going to keep growing, we have got to thread a needle here while jogging. We have got to manage the debt. We have got to convince the debt markets we are serious, so don't raise our interest rate because if interest rates go up a bunch, it is almost too late because we are carrying so much, our demographics are against us.
We have to have this productivity spike, and it is going to come through functionally two things--AI and synthetic biology--but I will save that for another speech. However, there is a way it can work. There is hope. There is only hope if this place sharpens its intellect. You can't keep saying the same things you were saying in the 1990s or a decade ago. The world is different.
I hope the staff, the voters, others start to really think this through and start demanding, saying, I need intellectual robustness, if that is a word.
Let's put up the one chart that gets me the most hate, and it is more than a year, year-and-a-half out of date. The numbers are worse today, but it is the truth. For anyone crazy enough to watch, how many Members of Congress are willing to show this to you?
This is directly from CBO, numbers from about a year-and-a-half ago. They update it every year. CBO projects $115 trillion debt over 2024- 2054. Social Security and Medicare account for $124 trillion of deficit. The rest of the budget has a $9 trillion surplus. Let me walk that through. It basically means everything when we talk about nondefense discretionary, defense discretionary, all those are projected to grow slower than tax receipts, but Medicare, Social Security, and the interest that goes on top of their deficit financing produce about $124 trillion of borrowing.
How many of you think the world is going to lend us $124 trillion over the next 30 years?
This is based on current interest rates. Actually, it is sort of based on last year's interest rates. I was playing with a calculator a couple days ago. With my math, I have this going to $135 trillion, not $124 trillion.
It is not Republican. It is not Democratic. It is demographics.
The fact of the matter is that you could substantially change much of Medicare's costs and make services better, faster, and cheaper. Just join this century of technology in taking care of people.
The ring I am wearing that does my vitals or the technologies to incentivize things, do we pay a Medicare provider to help people be healthier instead of making more money when someone is sicker?
We did a whole presentation multiple times last year showing obesity in America is an additional $9.1 trillion of spending over the next 10 years. Maybe as a society, we should consider changing the farm bill nutrition support to help our brothers and sisters because it is both moral and great economics.
Suddenly, people can come back into the labor force. They can form families. They can do all these other things. We have States where more than half of the population is technically obese, and we are paying for it. It is government policy in many ways that is doing it to these people. It is immoral.
I am going to get hate texts saying: You can't talk about that. Screw you.
Let's do what is right for our brothers and sisters in this country. We are Americans. Don't hide from the math. Embrace it, and fix it.
This one is the last. If you saw my staff, they were slipping me this because we were sort of speed doing the math. Let me explain.
We are trying to do this more often. We will get these questions that come in on the comments. Someone asked this, and they actually did it as a legitimate question: Foreign aid over 4 years is $198 billion. Think of that. Every dime of foreign aid, if you said for the last 4 years and took 4 years of borrowing, it would cover 8 days, 8.2 days of debt. Those of you who get up in front of these mikes and say that if we got rid of foreign aid, we will balance the budget, even when I do the average of the last 4 years, it is just a little over 8 days of borrowing.
It is hard when you get up in front of an audience at home and tell them the truth when it is not the same thing they heard 10 minutes earlier on a talk radio show or on a cable television show.
This isn't about ratings. This isn't about today's dopamine hit of you being angry because you saw something on the Drudge Report. This is about saving this Republic.
If you are like I am, you believe this Republic was divinely inspired. If you believe like I do, do you not have a moral obligation to save this country?
How about being a dad? My wife is my age. We were blessed. We got to adopt a couple of kids. Should they be part of the first generation that is poor? They don't have to be.
There is a way the math works. It just turns out, Mr. Speaker, that it is hard.
We have to do complex things. We are going to have to tell lobbyists and people from home that you have to modernize, join this century, and change your business models.
They are going to be mean to us. They might not even contribute to us, but there is a way to make the math save our future. I am going to argue that in the next 6 weeks around here.
We are going to make some decisions. Are we going to modernize the delivery of government? Are we going to find a way to offset? Are we going to convince the bond markets that we are serious about the future?
For everyone out there, watch us. We all give these beautiful speeches about the morality of what an amazing country we have and our place in the world and our place in history.
Mr. Speaker, these are the weeks we are going to make that history or have to live with the sins of what we do.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to direct their remarks to the Chair and not to a perceived viewing audience.
Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.
The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 3 o'clock and 49 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, January 15, 2025, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.
