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09Deletion of Sponsors From Public Bills and Resolutions
Daily Digest
Public Bills and Resolutions Introduced
130 public bills, H.R. 4624- 4753; and 15 resolutions, H.J. Res. 109-111; H. Con. Res. 45-46; and H. Res. 601-610, were introduced.
Pages H3641-47
Reports Filed
There were no reports filed today. Speaker: Read a letter from the Speaker wherein he appointed Representative Kelly (MS) to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.
Page H3557
Recess
The House recessed at 11:50 a.m. and reconvened at 12 p.m.
Page H3569
Commission to Study the Potential Transfer of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History to the Smithsonian Institution: Appointment
Read a letter from Representative Jeffries, Minority Leader, in which he appointed the following individual to the Commission to Study the Potential Transfer of the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History to the Smithsonian Institution: Honorable Kathy Manning of Greensboro, North Carolina.
Pages H3571-72
Recess
The House recessed at 12:21 p.m. and reconvened at 2 p.m.
Page H3572
Suspensions
The House agreed to suspend the rules and pass the following measures: Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025: H.R. 4275, amended, to authorize appropriations for the Coast Guard, to establish the Secretary of the Coast Guard, by a \2/3\ yea-and-nay vote of 399 yeas to 12 nays, Roll No. 218; and
Pages H3572-H3620
China Financial Threat Mitigation Act of 2025
H.R. 1549, amended, to require the Secretary of the Treasury to conduct a study and report on the exposure of the United States to the financial sector of the People's Republic of China.
Pages H3620-21
Recess
The House recessed at 2:29 p.m. and reconvened at 3:30 p.m.
Page H3621
Suspension: Proceedings Resumed
The House agreed to suspend the rules and pass the following measure. Consideration began Monday, July 21st. Enhancing Multi-Class Share Disclosures Act: H.R. 3357, to amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require issuers with a multi-class stock structure to make certain disclosures in any proxy or consent solicitation material, by a \2/3\ yea-and-nay vote of 381 yeas to 31 nays, Roll No. 217.
Pages H3621-22
Privileged Resolution: Intent to Offer
Representative Higgins (LA) announced his intent to offer a privileged resolution (H. Res. 539) censuring Representative LaMonica McIver and removing her from the Committee on Homeland Security.
Page H3623
Office of Congressional Conduct
The House received a message from the Clerk. Pursuant to section 1(k) of House Resolution 895, One Hundred Tenth Congress, and section 4(d) of House Resolution 5, One Hundred Nineteenth Congress, the Clerk transmitted a notification that the following individuals each have signed an agreement not to be a candidate for the office of Senator or Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress for purposes of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 until at least 3 years after they are no longer a member of the board or staff of the Office of Congressional Conduct: Ana Mikaela Aaland, Heejung A. Cho, Jody B. Hice, and Cheryl L. Johnson. Copies of the signed agreements will be retained by the Office of the Clerk as part of the records of the House.
Page H3627
Work Period Designation
Read a letter from the Speaker wherein he designated the period from Wednesday, July 23, 2025, through Monday, September 1, 2025, as a ``district work period'' under section 3(z) of House Resolution 5.
Page H3627
Senate Message
Message received from the Senate appears on page H3569. Quorum Calls--Votes: Two yea-and-nay votes developed during the proceedings of today and appear on pages H3621-22 and H3622-23. Adjournment: The House met at 10 a.m. and adjourned at 6:55 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: 138 of 170 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.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a very important person in my life, who is actually a distant cousin. His mother was actually a Bost, a cousin of my grandfather. His name was Ray Doerr. He is from Vergennes, Illinois. He passed away on July 12 at the age of 98.
Ray gave back to his community in big ways and small. He served as a trustee in Vergennes for 67 years and as mayor for 10 years. He was the chairman of the Republican Party of Jackson County for 24 years.
He was a friend to Governors and Senators, but he never let politics change who he was. He stayed grounded. He stayed loyal to his roots.
Mr. Speaker, I will say, personally, I stand here today because of Ray. He was one of the first people who encouraged me to get into public service. He saw something in me early on and never stopped offering his advice. When I say ``early on,'' I was 23 years old when he encouraged me to get involved in local politics. I will always value our friendship.
Ray was a proud Navy veteran who answered the call to serve our country during World War II. He enlisted at just 17 years of age, serving in the South Pacific, including during the invasion of Okinawa.
When he came home, he married his wife, Ime, and began a life rooted in faith, hard work, and service to others.
He worked in the mines. He delivered gas to farmers. He was a sales manager for Massey Ferguson. He farmed. He served as an auditor for the Illinois Secretary of State, and he was an auctioneer for 80 years. He was one of the hardest working men I have ever known.
He and Ime were married 68 years at the time of her passing in 2012. Together, they raised a son, Jeffrey. Jeff built a family business and shaped a community.
Ray's legacy is not just titles he held, but the lives he touched. He was a mentor, a friend, and a man of his word. He loved southern Illinois and served it every day of his life. We are all better for having known him.
May God bless Ray Doerr and may He bring comfort to his family and all his loved ones.
Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, a liberated Democrat, unbought, unbossed, unafraid; censured, but not silenced.
I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to address the topic of racism infused in Texas politics.
Mr. Speaker, I have in my hand a letter from the Justice Department. It is a letter that has as its reference Unconstitutional Race-Based Congressional Districts, and then it cites the districts: Texas District 9, occupied by a person of color; Texas 18 was occupied by a person of color, who is deceased, to be filled soon; District 29, occupied by a person of color; District 33, occupied by a person of color.
Now, this letter goes on to infuse race into the conversation. The last sentence in the last paragraph reads: ``If the State of Texas fails to rectify the racial gerrymandering of TX-09, TX-18, TX-29, and TX-33, the Attorney General reserves the right to seek legal action against the State, including without limitation under the 14th Amendment.''
Race has been infused into this letter. It was sent to the Honorable Greg Abbott, the Governor of the State of Texas, and the Honorable Ken Paxton.
Dear friends, at the end of the day, if they can fulfill what they proclaim in this letter, there will be more White representation in Congress from Texas and less Black and Latino representation. This is nothing more than an attempt to silence many of the voices that are emanating from communities of color in the State of Texas. It is racist.
Now, in this country there seems to be a problem with people saying ``racism.'' It is okay to say ``anti-Semitism,'' but don't say ``racism.'' Racism has not received the same amount of
Well, I am not afraid. I am going to speak truth to power and about power. Here is the truth: Under this President, Republicanism is eroding and devolving into racism. This President has declined to allow persons from countries of color to come into the country when he has opened the door to Anglos from South Africa. This President has found a way to circumvent what would ordinarily be a society that appreciates and respects people of all colors, and he is turning society against people of color.
This letter, if they succeed with this, will be the equivalent of having a mid-decade redistricting without the empirical evidence necessary to do it with a sense of justice. They will do this, and in so doing, it is comparable to having the halftime at a basketball game, and one team decides, because they have the power to do so, to remove two players from the other team and let that team proceed with three players, and they will now proceed with five. Oh, no, wait, you have to have 10 players on the floor, so what they will do is they will just take those 2 players and add them to their team. They will play with seven, and the other team will play with three.
They are diminishing the amount of representation that people of color will have in the State of Texas. Republicanism is being equated to racism too often in this country, and that is not the case. Republicanism has always been about conservative policies, but now they are about racist policies.
This President is infusing, injecting racism into Presidential policy. It is unconstitutional. I am going to fight it, but more than that, I am going to tell the truth about it. If I happen to be one of those who is extricated, who is removed, evicted, I will be bloodied but unbowed.
Mr. Speaker, nobody is going to silence me. You can come after me, but you won't stop me. You won't silence me. I refuse to allow Republicanism in the form of racism to dictate the policies in the State of Texas without my voice being heard.
Finally, this: I say to my friends that I have on my Texas tie. I am proud to represent my State. I am proud to say I stand against Republicanism as racism.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President.
Mr. Speaker, a beam is a ray of light, a symbol of hope. For more than 40 years, BEAM in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, has been that light, delivering hope and help to northeast Floridians in need.
It started in 1985 by representatives of local churches who saw people needing a hand up.
Today, I rise to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Beaches Emergency Assistance Ministry, BEAM, a lifeline for families facing hardship in eastern Duval County, places like: Mayport, Jacksonville Beach, Neptune Beach, Atlantic Beach. From keeping the lights on to filling the pantry, supporting seniors and single parents, BEAM continues to show up with compassion and care.
Mr. Speaker, I know what you are thinking. They are 40 years old, and they don't look a day over 29. That is true. What is also true is their volunteers and benefactors are everyday heroes, quietly providing critical services to thousands of neighbors each year.
As our community has grown and changed, BEAM has remained a constant source of light, guiding families through tough times with warmth, direction, and hope.
Today, we celebrate more than a milestone. We celebrate that ray of light that is never dimmed. May BEAM continue to shine, lighting the path forward for those who need it most for years to come.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise with a heavy heart but a grateful spirit to honor the life of my friend, Commissioner Carrol Eugene Franklin, who passed away peacefully in Hilliard, Florida, at the young age of 76.
Born in Booneville, Mississippi, Carrol lived a life shaped by hard work, deep faith, and a quiet but profound dedication to others. He was a proud combat veteran who served in the U.S. Army's 9th Infantry Division during the Vietnam war.
That same courage and resolve stayed with him throughout his life, whether it was in service to his country, in business, or in leadership with the Nassau County Ocean, Highway & Port Authority.
Carrol was a man who showed up, not just when it was easy but when it was needed. He believed in faith, integrity, and perseverance. He loved his family dearly. For 42 years, he stood side by side with his beloved wife, Judy, raising their sons, Garrett and Greg. They also cherished their granddaughter, Diana Del.
To his church and to his church family at First Baptist of Boulougne; his brothers and sisters; and his many friends, nieces, nephews, and neighbors who knew him, Carrol was the kind of man whose legacy is etched not in headlines but in the lives he lifted.
Mr. Speaker, we say goodbye to a veteran, a man of character, a family man, and my friend. It hurts because that is the impact that Carrol made on so many.
May his memory continue to inspire us all to serve with heart, live with purpose, and love without hesitation.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Karen Lewis, a tenacious organizer, a teacher, and truth-teller.
Long before she became known to many as the president of the Chicago Teachers Union, or CTU, Karen dedicated 20 years to serving Chicago students as a chemistry teacher including at Lane Tech College Prep High School in Illinois' Third.
As president of CTU, Karen built an intersectional solidarity movement rooted in love, in justice, and in the radical belief that working-class Black and Brown children deserve fully funded public schools.
In 2012, she courageously led her union in a successful and historic 7-day strike for a fair contract that captured the Nation's attention and brought new life into Chicago's labor movement.
Today, we invoke Karen, both her wisdom and her vision, to guide us as we stand opposed to all the forces of austerity, division, fear, and hate.
May her memory continue to fuel our fight, and may she rest in peace and power.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life and the legacy of Marion Stamps, a Chicago civil rights icon and tenant organizer.
Marion moved to Chicago in 1963 at a time when public housing residents were denied the full measure of dignity that they deserved. Marion was an organizer. She cofounded the Chicago Housing Tenants Organization, and she took on the Chicago Housing Authority, demanding respect, safety, and a seat at the table for tenants in Cabrini-Green and beyond.
Marion built people power from the ground up, participating in the first and only successful national rent strike against HUD, exposing the corruption and holding Chicago city leadership accountable.
Today, we invoke Marion, both her blueprint and her audacity to challenge those in power, to guide us as we challenge an administration that would deprive us of affordable housing and deepen housing inequality.
May Marion's courage and her spirit, which lives in her daughters, Karla, Tracy, Guana, Justice, and Commissioner Tara Stamps, guide us to organize tenants, challenge systems, and never ask permission to make our voice heard.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life and legacy of LGBTQ+ activist John Pennycuff, a proud gay
John understood that queer liberation wasn't just about marriage or visibility. It was about housing, healthcare, and survival. Alongside his partner, Robert Castillo, John advocated to have gender identity added to the Chicago Human Rights Ordinance and Chicago Fair Housing Ordinance, increasing fair housing protections for LGBTQ+ people in Chicago.
Today, his memory lives on in the John Pennycuff Memorial Apartments, an affordable housing community in Illinois' Third Congressional District that proudly honors the vision of inclusive, just neighborhoods.
Today, in a moment where LGBTQ+ rights are under attack, we invoke John and his uncompromising vision of holistic justice. We thank John, and may his memory call us to act with compassion, with clarity, and without apology.
Mr. Speaker, it is my honor to rise to honor the life and legacy of the one and the only Reverend Dr. Calvin Morris, a civil rights giant, a scholar, and a spiritual leader whose work helped shape the conscience of this Nation.
In 1987, at the request of Reverend Jesse Jackson, Dr. Morris became the national coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Operation Breadbasket, today known as Rainbow PUSH Coalition.
He served through the assassinations of Dr. King and Fred Hampton, guiding the movement with courage, with conviction, and with faith.
Dr. Morris also served for nearly two decades as the executive director of the faith-based social justice organization Community Renewal Society, where I am grateful that our paths got to cross.
Today, in a moment when the civil rights gained tanks to our elders are under attack, we invoke Dr. Morris and his moral clarity, his prophetic witness, his fire for justice, and his habit for breaking out into song.
In a time such as this, may his memory inspire the moral courage we need to walk boldly in his footsteps. May Dr. Morris rest in power, and may we continue to be inspired by who he is and continue to be for so many of us.
Madam Speaker, the Democrats are outraged that the largest illegal mass migration in history, which they unleashed on our country, must now be followed by the largest repatriation in history.
Democrats insist that they don't object to removing violent criminals, but that is a demonstrable lie. The whole point of the Democrats' sanctuary laws is to protect criminal illegal aliens from being turned over to ICE for deportation. Instead, they released them back into our communities, where many have gone on to commit even more heinous crimes.
Recently, when Federal officers served a criminal warrant on a southern California marijuana farm, activists staged a riot. Officers liberated 12 minors forced to work at this facility. Eight of them were among the 465,000 unaccompanied alien children that the Democrats placed with poorly or unvetted sponsors during Biden's administration.
It appears the marijuana farm was employing scores of illegal aliens to undercut their competition, in flagrant violation of U.S. labor and immigration laws.
Now, let's start with some simple truths. If we don't enforce our immigration laws, we have no immigration laws. If we have no immigration laws, we have no border. If we have no border, we have no country. We have gotten a glimpse of what that means as foreign flags are waved by violent mobs setting fires, ransacking businesses, and terrorizing motorists in our sanctuary cities.
What do our immigration laws actually say? They say, clearly and unambiguously, that any and every adult who illegally enters our country shall be detained. Those are the exact words of the law: ``shall be detained.'' The Democrats simply ignore it.
They have a right to challenge their detention through a writ of habeas corpus. If they are charged with a crime, they have a right to a trial by jury, but at no time do they have the right to be released back into our communities. Under the law, they ``shall be detained.''
Unless they are charged with a crime, they have the right to leave detention any time they want for any country that will admit them. What they don't have is the right to remain in our country unless a judge determines otherwise.
That is why the administration is expanding detention facilities, because that is what the law requires if our borders are going to mean anything.
The Democrats call these concentration camps, but the detainees are free to leave for home anytime they choose. Indeed, that is the purpose, to provide temporary shelter while transportation is being arranged.
Deportation is not a punishment and requires no criminal charges. It is a simple administrative act. Challenging it does not invoke a right to freely enter and stay indefinitely. You either wait here in detention or in another country that will accept you. Those are your options.
Reportedly, more than a million illegal aliens have already decided to return home, an option for which our government will arrange transportation, a $1,000 stipend to help them resettle, and a right to apply for legal entry. If they wait until they are encountered by ICE, they will be taken into custody, deported, and forbidden from reentering. That is a choice.
What about those who, after breaking our immigration laws to enter the country and breaking our labor laws to work here, have broken no other laws? That doesn't mean there aren't victims. For years, American families have struggled as the flood of illegal labor has taken their jobs and suppressed their wages.
During Biden's 4 years, most new jobs were taken by foreigners, and Americans' real wages declined. Just 6 months into the Trump administration, most new jobs are now taken by Americans, and real wages are growing once again. That is not a coincidence.
Supporting this impoverished, illegal population costs American taxpayers an estimated $160 billion a year. It flooded classrooms with non-English-speaking students, packed emergency rooms with illegals demanding care, and overwhelmed homeless shelters and food banks meant to help Americans. Worst of all, the most violent and dangerous criminal gangs in the world accompanied this population into our country and have now taken deep root in the Democrats' sanctuary cities.
This is why we must enforce our immigration laws to the letter, as this administration is doing. America admits more legal immigrants under our laws than any nation on the planet and will continue to do so, but that does not give license to millions of foreign nationals to violate those same laws.
That is the simple truth the Democrats refuse to acknowledge.
Madam Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart to honor a giant in our State's history, a giant in our profession, and a giant in the fight for civil rights, the late James Ferguson II, who passed away on Monday, July 21, at age 82.
Mr. Ferguson was not just a brilliant legal mind. He was a trailblazer, truthteller, teacher, and proud HBCU graduate who believed deeply in the power of the law to right all wrongs. He spent his life doing just that, from lunch counter protests in segregated Asheville to courtroom battles that reshaped this Nation.
Mr. Ferguson cofounded North Carolina's first interracial law firm. He stood before the Supreme Court in Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg and won, changing how schools across America desegregated. He defended the Wilmington Ten. He fought for Darryl Hunt. He trained Black lawyers during apartheid.
Mr. Ferguson did it all with quiet grace, a velvet voice, and an iron resolve.
Mr. Ferguson understood something that I often say about HBCUs: They were not built for comfort. They were built for purpose. So was he.
Educated at North Carolina Central University and Columbia Law School, he returned home not to make headlines, Madam Speaker, but to make a difference.
In my journey, I admired him long before I ever met him, but when I ran for Congress, he became a trusted friend, a supporter, and an adviser.
Mr. Ferguson didn't just practice law. He lived it. He believed that justice must be pursued even when it is unpopular and even when the odds are long.
That is the legacy of James Ferguson, not just the legal victories but the courage to take on cases that no one else would, the integrity to mentor the next generation, and the conviction that justice was not just a profession but, for him, a calling.
Mr. Ferguson was a leader in the courtroom. He was a leader in the classroom. He was a leader in our community. He was a model for what public service looks like at its best. Madam Speaker, as a former educator myself, I know a good teacher when I see one. Fergie taught us all.
Today, I honor his life. I honor his work. I offer my deepest condolences to his family, his children, his grandchildren, his great- grandchildren, and his many friends across Charlotte and across this country.
Let us remember him not only in words but in action by picking up the work that he left behind, by fighting the fights that he could not finish, and by standing tall in the truth that he lived.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a good friend, James Moore, Sr., who passed away on May 15 of this year. He lived his life in Shelby County, Tennessee.
By the way, for the purpose of these remarks, everybody at home just knew him as Jimmy.
Jimmy loved his family, golf, public service, and the car leasing business, probably in that order.
A longtime owner of Jimmy Moore Leasing, Jimmy never met a customer nor a person with whom he could probably not connect to in some way, shape, or form, probably the same way he connected to people on the golf course.
Jimmy really shined as a public servant. In public service, Jimmy was elected numerous times as a respected member of the Memphis City Council and then a number of times as the circuit court clerk in Shelby County.
Jimmy was a true public servant in every sense of the word. Jimmy was the type of guy who when you were frustrated that city hall wasn't doing enough about the trash being collected, you called Jimmy, Madam Speaker, and he got the trash picked up, usually the same day.
Jimmy was the type of guy that when the traffic lights weren't working, Madam Speaker, you called him, and he would get it taken care of right away the same day.
It may not have been his department or his agency, Madam Speaker, but Jimmy was the guy that you called when you needed your driver's license or marriage license or business license expedited. Jimmy would get to the right people who would get back to you and get it taken care of usually the same day.
As the circuit court clerk, he managed the case filings, the employees, the litigants, and the judges, and he kept all the trains on the track.
Here are two important things about Jimmy: He truly loved people, and he truly loved helping people.
I talked to my friends, Steve Stamson, who was the juvenile court clerk of Shelby County, and also Joy Touliatos, who followed Steve as the juvenile court clerk of Shelby County.
This is what Joy told me about Jimmy and her relationship with him. Joy and the others told me: If Jimmy was your friend, he was your friend for life. If Jimmy walked into the room, people knew that he had your back.
Jimmy dedicated his life to making sure that he left Shelby County a better place to live and to raise a family. Jimmy will be remembered not only for his leadership to our community but also as a devoted husband, a loving father and grandfather, and a loyal friend.
To Jimmy's beloved wife, Barbara; and his beloved children, Linda, Jimmy Jr., Wendy, and Tim; Roberta and I mourn with you, but we also have so many fond memories of your husband and your father.
Jimmy's loss is a true loss to our community. There is no doubt that Jimmy Moore is greatly missed.
Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the service of Richard ``Doc'' Borcicky, a Vietnam war veteran and constituent of North Carolina's First Congressional District.
A native of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, Doc has dedicated his life to selfless sacrifice. After enlisting in the Marine Corps as a hospital corpsman 3rd class, Doc flew into the heart of danger to execute medevac helicopter support missions.
Flown by an exceptionally skilled and resilient crew consisting of a pilot, copilot, crew chief, two gunners, and a skilled, combat-trained Navy corpsman, medevac helicopter support personnel volunteered to fly these missions anywhere, anytime, 7 days a week.
In August of 1969, Doc, a 19-year-old, deployed to Da Nang. Almost instantly, marines stationed there came under heavy artillery and rocket fire, but Doc stood tall, going on to fly 250 combat support missions over 12 months outside the wire.
Amidst the fog of war, Doc and his fellow marines sought refuge where they could. At the Sacred Heart Orphanage in Da Nang, Doc spent time with forgotten children, many of whom had fathers who had served alongside him.
Doc captured one such kid on camera. His name was Kirk Kellerhals. After being adopted by a U.S. Army veteran, Kirk came to America. In 2017, when he learned of his past, he met the man who had volunteered at his orphanage to escape the tragedy of war.
Through it all, Doc touched the lives of not only these children but of countless servicemembers wounded in battle who never knew his name.
His story shines a light on the forgotten heroes of one of the most consequential conflicts in world history, and it reminds us that all those who have served are deserving of our everlasting gratitude.
When they returned home, Vietnam veterans did not receive a hero's welcome as their parents and grandparents had following the world wars. Instead, their service went unnoticed, unappreciated, and unknown.
By taking the time to honor their patriotism and sacrifice, especially of those whose responsibility it was to save the lives of servicemembers wounded in battle, we are taking one step toward righting that wrong.
In the end, it was former Marine Corps Commandant General Chapman who best summarized what helicopter support meant to marines on the ground in Vietnam proclaiming: ``When a marine in Vietnam is wounded, surrounded, hungry, low on ammunition or water, he looks to the sky. He knows the choppers are coming . . . `'
Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize our July Veteran of the Month, Edward Eugene Holmes. He was a proud Missourian and a resident of the Missouri Veterans Home, and I got a chance to meet him this past winter.
He just left this Earth last month at the age of 99, and we want to take the time to honor his life and legacy today.
Edward was born on April 7, 1926. He joined the U.S. Navy in June of 1944,
After the war ended, Edward remained on duty during the occupation until January of 1946. During his service, he traveled the world from Australia to Africa to Japan and back home through the Panama Canal.
He was honorably discharged with the rank of Seaman 1st class.
After the Navy, Edward built a long and successful career in the floral industry and was known for his love of fishing, golfing, hunting, and making breakfast for his grandchildren. He was the proud father of 3 sons, grandfather to 6, and great-grandfather to 13.
Madam Speaker, Edward Holmes served his country faithfully with honor, humility, and always heart. It is my privilege to recognize him posthumously as our July Veteran of the Month.
Madam Speaker, today we honor a true American patriot, Master Sergeant Robert William Swank as our August Veteran of the Month.
He was born in Wichita, Kansas, and reared in Fort Scott. He answered the call to serve in 1967 and spent over 36 years in uniform, including time in Vietnam with the 199th Light Infantry Brigade.
Roger earned the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantry Badge, and numerous other awards. He continued his service in the Missouri Army National Guard for more than three decades and retired in 2004.
Off the battlefield, he was just as committed, serving as a mail carrier, a community leader, and a devoted family man. He was married to his wife, Linda, for 35 years, and together they have raised seven daughters.
Even in retirement, Roger remains a pillar of his community by volunteering with the Red Cross, serving his church for more than 40 years, and acting as assistant chaplain for the Disabled American Veterans organization.
Madam Speaker, I thank Roger so much for his lifelong service to our country and our communities. He is an inspiration to us all.
Madam Speaker, today we are proud to honor Anne's Acres, a generational family farm in Lincoln, Missouri, in the Fourth District as our July Small Business of the Month.
Since 1999, Robert and Leslie Exendine, along with their three daughters and six grandkids, have cultivated five acres with nearly 7,000 blooming blueberry plants. Say that 10 times fast. This vibrant farm named for the shared middle name of Leslie and their daughter Kadey is a cornerstone of our district.
During its peak 3-week season from Father's Day to the Fourth of July, Anne's Acres welcomes over 200 visitors, including local school kids. The gift shop delights a lot of people with the aroma of freshly baked blueberry muffins and refreshing slushies. I am hungry now.
Robert, a retired Air Force mechanic from Whiteman Air Force Base, and his family are now expanding, adding 8,000 strawberry plants for next spring.
Congratulations to the Exendine family, including Kadey and her sons, for their dedication. I invite you all to go visit them in Lincoln, Missouri.
Madam Speaker, today I rise today to honor Dan & Jerry's Greenhouses, a small business gem in Harrisonville, Missouri, in the Fourth District, our August Small Business of the Month.
For years, Dan & Jerry's has been a cornerstone of our community. Their Farm Fresh Selects trial garden tests hundreds of plant varieties each year, making sure only the best make it to our gardens.
Beyond their exceptional products, they foster community spirit through events like the Annual Arts & Crafts Fair, Fall Festival, and Plant a Flower for Mom on Mother's Day.
These gatherings create lasting memories and strengthen our small- town bonds. We are honored to be able to visit this phenomenal spot this August during our district work period.
I thank them for their dedication to excellence and community. Let's get to Harrisonville and visit them, as well. Thank you to Dan & Jerry's Greenhouses for being our August Small Business of the Month.
Madam Speaker, I rise today full of gratitude and pride for the incredible people of north Texas, my neighbors, and my constituents, who have stepped up in extraordinary ways to help their fellow Texans through one of the most devastating flood disasters our State has faced in years.
We all know that when tragedy strikes in Texas, we don't wait around for permission to do the right thing. We just show up. We roll up our sleeves. We help our neighbors pick up the pieces. That has been on full display in the weeks after the floods.
I will take a moment to recognize just a few of the many heroes from Texas' 32nd Congressional District who have gone above and beyond to provide hope and help when it was needed the most.
Sabrina Pinales, Ryan Lenamon, Savion Lee, David Hardage, and Lauren Sturdy, five of my remarkable constituents, didn't think twice before answering the call. They joined their church mission team and headed straight to the Hill Country where flood waters had washed away homes overnight.
These five north Texans have been on the ground every day helping families, clearing debris, delivering supplies, and rebuilding what was lost. They remind us that faith in action and neighbor helping neighbor is what holds this State together when times are hard.
I also want to lift up the brave men and women of the Plano Fire Department and first responders from Dallas. When floodwaters rose and families needed rescue, these heroes did what they always do: They run toward the danger. They deployed to central Texas to help rescue stranded families, clear the roads, and make sure entire communities could get back on their feet safely. They represent the very best of our communities: courage, commitment, and compassion.
It is not just these few. Across north Texas, neighbors have opened their doors to displaced families. Churches, synagogues, and mosques have collected food, clothing, and essentials. Local businesses have donated truckloads of supplies. Nonprofits like the North Texas Food Bank have mobilized to get fresh meals and water to families who have lost everything in just seconds. Countless volunteers have driven hours to help strangers through this terrible disaster.
These are who Texans are. We are defined by our resilience, by our people, by our willingness to stand shoulder to shoulder and say: ``We got you.''
Our State has faced immense tragedy with hundreds of victims, many of whom were children, little girls excited to go to summer camp to make new friends and create memories that would last for a lifetime. Our entire Nation mourns those we have lost, and we are holding close the families who are doing everything they can just to make it through each day hour by hour.
Those families and those victims deserve answers. We must hold State and Federal officials accountable. We have a new chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Mr. Garbarino from New York. It is my hope that he will respond to our calls to convene the Homeland Security Committee for an oversight hearing of these floods to examine what went wrong and how our government can do better in the future.
Texans deserve a government that matches their generosity. We deserve a government that plans ahead, responds quickly, and never lets politics get in the way of protecting our communities.
Today, I say thank you to Sabrina, Ryan, Savion, David, and Lauren. I thank the Plano Fire Department and our first responders from Dallas. I thank every volunteer, every neighbor,
Mr. Rogers once said when bad things happen, to always ``Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'' We have a lot of helpers in north Texas and across our State who have gone above and beyond to help with their neighbors, and we are damn proud of them.
Madam Speaker, today I rise to celebrate Mr. Henry Joseph Kolinek, Jr.'s 100th birthday on July 28.
Born in 1925 in Gruene, Texas, Mr. Kolinek graduated from Kenedy High School before attending Texas A&M.
After arriving to A&M, he was drafted into the Army Air Corps and served as a staff sergeant during World War II. He flew 35 combat missions as a tail gunner and courageously protected his fellow soldiers.
After his service, Mr. Kolinek returned to Texas A&M and earned a degree in agricultural economics. He worked 15 years at Union Carbide before returning to his hometown to join First-Nichols National Bank.
His dedication to the bank for over 37 years carried him from vice president to president, and finally, to chairman of the board. He retired at the young age of 80.
Today, Mr. Kolinek remains active in his community and church, serving as a Rotarian and a member of the city council, member of the chamber of commerce, and sits on the Karnes County Airport board, as well.
On his leisure time he is often found driving the tractor on his ranch. He is a very proud father, grandfather, and a great-grandfather, as well.
Happy 100th birthday to Mr. Kolinek. I thank him for his service to our great Nation and to his beautiful community. May God bless him and his family. Happy birthday.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of John Spears, the director of the Buffalo & Erie County Public Library system.
Although John only became director of the Buffalo & Erie County Library in April 2022, his brief tenure, backed by 25 years of experience, left an indelible mark on western New York.
John was an inspiring leader who worked tirelessly to expand access and make libraries in western New York more inclusive, from eliminating fines for overdue books to redesigning the Central Library to be safer and more welcoming for everyone.
John was a champion for diversity, equity, and inclusion. He was honored by the New York Library Association for innovative leadership and fostering relationships across every community.
In 2022, I had the privilege of working alongside John on a project to digitize the William A. Miles collection at the Merriweather Library, the largest resource center in western New York for information on African-American history.
From the moment the effort began, John was all in. This was just one of the countless examples of John's commitment to making our public institutions more just, representative, and responsive to the people we serve.
John saw libraries as a way of connecting people to their potential-- a place where anyone, regardless of their background, could go, sit down, and learn.
On July 20, after a courageous battle with cancer, John passed away. Yet, his legacy lives on. He created a stronger, more inclusive library system that he helped to build. His legacy will last forever.
John is survived by his partner, Brian Dimit; his father, Robert; his brother, Evans; and his sister, Katherine. He leaves behind countless friends and colleagues across western New York and beyond.
I thank John for his service, compassion, and unwavering belief in the power of community. He will be deeply missed.
May John Spears rest in peace.
Celebrating Jewish Community Center of Greater Buffalo on 80th
Madam Speaker, I rise today in celebration of an incredible milestone, the 80th anniversary of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Buffalo.
Since its founding in 1945, the JCC has stood as a pillar of strength, compassion, and community in western New York. For eight decades, it has served as a cornerstone of our region that reflects the diversity, resilience, and generosity of western New York. With two vibrant campuses, one in Amherst and one in the heart of Buffalo, the JCC opens its doors to over 1,000 individuals each and every day.
Whether it is early childhood education, enriching after-school programs, fitness classes, summer day camps, or arts and cultural events, and much more, the JCC is a space for everyone at every stage of life.
At its core, it is a place that brings people together. It is where families grow, friendships form, traditions are celebrated, and community is built.
The JCC's mission is rooted in inclusion. Regardless of background, faith, or ability, everyone is welcome.
The 80th anniversary of the JCC is more than a celebration. It is about the legacy that continues to shape the present and inspire the future.
I thank the leadership, staff, volunteers, and generations of families who have walked through the JCC's doors for creating a home where values endure, culture thrives, and people belong.
On behalf of a grateful western New York, I congratulate them on a remarkable 80 years. Here is to many, many more.
Madam Speaker, America's borders are the safest they have been in decades. Simply put, President Trump is the border security President, and no narrative from the national media or leftwing talking heads can change that.
Border security was the number one issue on the campaign trail and is one of the main reasons that 77 million Americans elected him as President--promises made, promises kept.
It is hard to believe that, in just 6 short months, President Trump has reversed 4 years of disastrous open-border failures from the previous administration. For 4 years, President Biden and Vice President Harris told the country over and over again that they simply did not have the authority or the ability to secure the border. The reality is that this could not have been further from the truth.
President Trump has shown that the only thing we needed all along was a President who was not afraid to actually enforce the law.
The facts speak for themselves. During the month of June, U.S. Customs and Border Protection saw the lowest number of encounters ever on our borders nationwide. Apprehensions along the border reached a new historic low on June 28, when CBP had the lowest number of apprehensions in a single day in agency history.
Under the previous administration, 27,766 illegal migrants were paroled and released into the country in June alone. Madam Speaker, 1 year later, zero migrants were paroled into the country--again, promises made, promises kept.
This leadership is exactly what Americans voted for this past November, and House Republicans are united in equipping the President to continue securing our borders for good.
In our One Big Beautiful Bill Act, we gave our law enforcement agencies the tools and resources they need to help secure the border. We allocated more than $46 billion to finish President Trump's border wall and ensure that our borders have a physical barrier to keep bad actors out. We invested in the CBP workforce, equipping the agency to hire more personnel to keep our borders secure and enforce the law.
House Republicans invested in state-of-the-art border technology to stop the trafficking of drugs and humans across our border and to finally bring
America remains the land of opportunity that attracts millions of individuals around the world each year. A few months ago, I had the privilege of speaking at a naturalization ceremony for brand-new American citizens who took their oath to the United States and officially became fellow citizens. I was inspired by each of their journeys in becoming Americans and couldn't help but feel blessed to have been born in a land that so many people seek to call their home. At the same time, my heart felt for them.
Of the 168 people who became Americans that day, some of them underwent a multiyear-long process to come here legally. Instead of rewarding their efforts, they watched for 4 years as a President and an administration that were asleep at the wheel allowed our immigration laws to be abused and taken advantage of month after month as millions jumped the line by coming here illegally. I am so glad that America overwhelmingly rejected that nonsense.
Today, our country is more secure and safe than it has been in nearly half a decade. It turns out that common sense works after all, and I am grateful for an administration that chooses common sense over caving to radical, far-left activists.
I thank President Trump for upholding his commitment to making America safe again and securing our border--promises made, promises kept.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent and dear friend, Gullermina Heredia, known lovingly as ``Mina,'' who passed away on July 2.
A proud Mexican American, Mina's family moved to Chicago from Texas in search of better opportunities. As a student at Northeastern Illinois University, she joined the Organization of Latin American Students, where she met her husband, Carlos. She later served as president of the organization, inspiring a new generation of Latino students in Chicago.
After graduation, Mina became a social worker, uplifting countless lives with her warmth and strength. She had a unique ability to make people, especially Latinos and Latinas, feel seen and cared for.
Mina had a gift for bringing people together, and her karaoke nights with Carlos, her husband, were legendary.
Mina was deeply loved and will be remembered for her service and spirit.
My thoughts are with her sons and grandchildren, friends, and all those who were fortunate to know her. We will miss Mina, and we will carry forward the compassion and strength that she showed all of us.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a giant in our community, Carlos Arango, as he approaches his 79th birthday.
For over two decades, Carlos has been a pillar of Chicago's immigrant rights movement, organizing marches, building institutions, and mentoring generations of activists, often behind the scenes, always with purpose.
Carlos stood on the front lines when it wasn't popular, and he stayed when others moved on. He was instrumental in the strength behind Casa Aztlan, not just a building but a beacon of self-determination, cultural pride, and community defense. Through it, he helped countless immigrants find power, purpose, and a place to belong.
Throughout every political storm, Carlos has remained unapologetically proud of his roots, his people, and, yes, of Los Pumas at the University of Mexico, whose jersey he wears like armor. He is more than an organizer. He is a keeper of memory, a fighter for justice, and a dear friend.
Madam Speaker, I thank Carlos for never backing down and for showing us what commitment is all about. I wish him a happy birthday, and may his struggle live on.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor my constituent, Brigadier General Jorge Fonseca, a decorated veteran and proud son of Little Village, on his recent promotion as director of the Joint Staff of the Illinois National Guard.
Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Jorge came to Chicago with his family and has dedicated over 30 years to public service, beginning as an enlisted combat medic and later commissioned as a Medical Service Corps officer.
He served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. His path was not easy, but his tenacity carried him through the toughest moments of his career.
Today, his success inspires a new generation of Latinos and Latinas to serve. His journey is a reminder that patriotism isn't defined by birthplace, but by service, sacrifice, and a love of country.
Madam Speaker, I salute General Fonseca. He has made his family, his city, and his country proud.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Sergeant Efrain Mata, a proud son of 18th Street in Chicago who will be retiring from the Cook County Sheriff's Department after nearly 30 years of distinguished and transformative service.
Sergeant Mata is not only respected for his honor, loyalty, and sharp instincts but also for his vision. He helped pioneer behavioral health and emergency response strategies now being implemented across Cook County, proving that compassion and safety can go hand in hand.
From Chicago to broader assignments across Federal agencies, Sergeant Mata has served with honor, courage, and an unwavering commitment to justice.
However, what sets him apart is that he never lost sight of where he came from. He has always made it a point to give back, supporting families and standing up for his neighbors. He is a father, a supportive husband, a mentor, and the kind of person you always want on your team.
Madam Speaker, we thank Sergeant Mata for his service and wish him Godspeed.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to invite my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join the bipartisan Congressional Scouting Caucus.
Scouting has been an essential part of my life. I am an Eagle Scout and was a Scoutmaster for more than 30 years.
The lessons I learned through Scouting: leadership, service, self- reliance, and integrity remain deeply imbedded in my daily life and guide my work here in Congress.
My decisions are guided by the principles of the Scout oath: my duty to God, duty to country, duty to others, and to myself. That is the kind of clarity and compass that Scouting instills. It is a moral benchmark, one that teaches young people to serve their communities, respect others, and become engaged, responsible citizens.
That is why I am proud of the work we are doing with the bipartisan Congressional Scouting Caucus. This group exists to strengthen and support Scouting programs across the country and to highlight the incredible impact Scouts have in each of our districts.
Madam Speaker, I invite my colleagues to join our caucus whether you were a Scout yourself, have Scouts in your family, or simply believe in the power of mentorship and youth leadership. There is no better time to get involved than now.
Today, we are hosting Camp Capitol Hill, an event that will bring the spirit of Scouting right to the heart of our Nation's Capital. This unique showcase will feature Scouts demonstrating outdoor and leadership skills right here on the Capitol grounds in the Rayburn foyer. Displays will include camping equipment, a canoe, a rocket, robotics, knot tying, and Pinewood Derby car racing, alongside educational tables sharing the story and scope of modern Scouting.
There will also be a dynamic panel discussion moderated by Scouting leaders and alumni, highlighting the diverse ways this program shapes the
We are also hosting Eagles on the Hill, a reception that will bring together Eagle Scouts and Scouting alumni to celebrate our shared background in Scouting. Eagles on the Hill serves as a reminder that even when Eagle Scouts in Washington disagree on the issues before us, we are united in the belief that Scouting instills essential leadership skills and character values.
The Scouting memorial, just steps from where we sit today, is a tribute not only to the organization but to the ideals it stands for: duty, service, community, and character.
That memorial was made possible entirely through Scout-raised funds in 1960, mostly in the form of dimes. Those Scouts who sent in their dimes have their names engraved at the base of that statue, reminding us of the quiet strength and legacy of civic engagement.
Madam Speaker, I, once again, encourage all my colleagues to join the Congressional Scouting Caucus, attend Camp Capitol Hill, and support the young people who work every day to build a stronger, more service- minded America.
Let's help ensure that the next generation lives up to the Scout law: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.
Also today, on a personal note, I welcome Josh and Finn Kirby to Washington, a Scout leader and a Scout, from the Boy Scout Council in the Juniata Valley.
Mr. Speaker, I rise for the 34th time to call on the Trump administration to restore food aid for children around the world suffering from malnutrition. We have been doing this for months.
We have been doing this for months because after decades of United States leadership in providing aid to children around the world suffering from malnutrition, the Trump administration has stopped funding this lifesaving program.
In my district in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, there is a warehouse with 90,000 boxes of Plumpy'Nut, lifesaving food aid that is designed to save the lives of starving children whose organs are shutting down and can no longer process conventional food.
This food aid has already been manufactured and has already been paid for but is sitting in a warehouse in Rhode Island because some bureaucrat in the Trump administration refuses to sign the piece of paper to restart the shipments.
Why? What possible good can come from allowing children to starve needlessly around the world while American factories and American farmers do not get paid?
The crazy thing is that for months the administration has been insisting that they are going to restart this program. Secretary Rubio, under oath in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that this program was going to be restarted.
Elon Musk, when he was still in the administration before he had his big break up with Donald Trump, even tweeted the name of the factory in my district and said that they were going to get their funding.
Time and time again when we have inquired with the administration, they say: Yes, any day now we are going to restart it. It has been 6 months. Every day that they delay is another day that children unnecessarily starve to death.
We need the administration to honor its word. We are not asking them to change their policy. We are asking them to execute on their stated policy.
I will continue to speak out on this floor every day until they honor their commitment to restart funding for emergency food aid around the world.
Mr. Speaker, when I was back in my district in Rhode Island, I took the opportunity to catch up with a number of leaders in the restaurant and hospitality industry around my State, and they told me to a person that business is down this summer compared to last summer.
Why? Well, there are a few reasons.
Number one, the tariffs that Donald Trump has put in place are a tax on small businesses and on the middle class. Why are we putting a 10, 15, or 20 percent tariff on food that we can't even grow in the United States?
Mr. Speaker, 99 percent of the coffee that we drink comes from other countries because we can't grow it here. We are taxing ourselves 10, 15, or 20 percent to import pineapples, bananas, and foods that we do not make or grow in the United States. That hurts restaurants and other small businesses in my district and the entire country. It hurts consumers as well.
On top of that, this is summer tourism season in Rhode Island, and we typically get a lot of tourists from Canada and Europe who come to Rhode Island for our beaches, our food, and our hospitality. Wouldn't you know it, international travel into Rhode Island and the entire Northeast is down because, it turns out, when you threaten to invade other countries, when you enact tariffs on other countries with no clear strategy, and when you bad-mouth our allies, they don't want to come visit here anymore.
We have a hospitality industry in Rhode Island--hotels, restaurants, and other small businesses--that is facing crushing costs from tariffs and less business from international travel. In addition, by the way, their domestic customers, American customers, also have less discretionary income because of the increased cost of food. Besides that, for some reason, we are also taxing imports of energy from Canada, so people's electric and heating bills were higher this year.
Supporting small business used to be a bipartisan cause in Washington, D.C., one of the few things that both parties could join together and come together on, but for some reason, over the last 6 months, it seems that Washington, D.C., is intent on doing everything that it can to make it harder for small businesses in this country to operate.
Let's reset. Let's prioritize tax relief for small businesses and the middle class instead of the rich. Let's eliminate these tariffs on products that we don't even produce in the United States because we don't have the climate for it. Let's help small businesses thrive and survive this summer.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate a historic moment for Calallen High School.
The Calallen Wildcats baseball team captured the UIL 4A D1 State championship with a 5-3 win, ending a 17-year title drought and bringing home the program's fourth State title. Ranked number one in Texas and number two nationally, they lived out their motto: Win on the last day.
Not to be outdone, the Calallen Lady Cats softball team made history of their own, winning their third consecutive UIL 4A D1 State softball championship. This marks the first time in Coastal Bend history that both the baseball and softball titles were won by the same school in the same year.
Congratulations to the Calallen Wildcats Head Coach Steve Chapman, Lady Cats Head Coach Teresa Lentz, and to all the Calallen Wildcats and Lady Cats.
Mr. Speaker, I rise as well to honor the Ganado Maidens, our
The Maidens were down, with one out to go, when they delivered a 2-1 rally that turned the game in their favor. As one local paper put it: It took all of Ganado. It certainly did.
Congratulations to the Maidens, their coaches, their families, and the entire Ganado community on a championship that reflects the very best of Texas.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the city of Corpus Christi, officially designated as the first Coast Guard City in the State of Texas.
For over 45 years, the men and women of the Coast Guard have served our region with courage: conducting daring rescues, safeguarding our ports, training the next generation, and responding with excellence when disaster strikes.
From patrolling our waters to securing energy shipments to their recent heroic efforts responding to the floods in Kerrville, their work keeps both our region and our Nation safe. The Coast Guard in Corpus Christi conducted hundreds of search-and-rescue missions and saved countless lives.
I thank the Coast Guard crews up and down our district along the Gulf of America for their hard work and living out their commitment to faith, service, and freedom every single day. I also thank my fellow citizens of Texas' 27th District for living a life and honoring the service of these guardsmen.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the House and oppose the defunding of Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide.
The Republicans' cruel budget bill, which all Democrats opposed, included a provision to block Federal Planned Parenthood clinics from receiving Medicaid funds. This was a devastating choice that Republicans have made which will undoubtedly impact families across the Nation.
Planned Parenthood does not just provide birth control. Clinics provide basic healthcare exams, cancer screenings, and vaccinations. Women across this country today will walk into Planned Parenthood clinics across counties and States to receive both diagnostic and care for cervical cancer, hypertension, and basic medical care.
Earlier this year, the largest Planned Parenthood health center in the country opened in my district, named after my predecessor and champion of reproductive health and access, Congresswoman and now Mayor Barbara Lee. The Barbara Lee Oakland Health Center has over 19 exam rooms and is transit accessible, but the Republican budget bill will put Planned Parenthood centers like ours across the country at risk.
Mr. Speaker, 200 of the 600 Planned Parenthood clinics across the country may close and women will die. Planned Parenthood closures will disproportionately impact Black and Brown mothers, who already have a maternal mortality rate more than three times their White counterparts.
These cuts will disproportionately impact poor folks' access to reproductive care, since 40 percent of all births in this country are covered by the very Medicaid services that are now being gutted. These are matters, as I said before, of life and death for us in our district and for women across the country.
I was a young mother living in public housing in San Francisco when I had my first daughter at 19, but I was able to get by. I was able to go to school and raise a wonderful daughter and put her through college and law school because I had access to care and institutions that cared about my life.
If we want people to be healthy in this country and to participate in their communities and work, we need to open up choices, and we need to provide more opportunities instead of less. That is why I offered an amendment to the Republican budget reconciliation bill that would have protected the vital services of Planned Parenthood.
Republicans killed that amendment, but this will not stop our collective work, my work, to ensure that people in my district and around the country in rural and urban communities have the access that they so deserve. Their lives are depending on it.
Just this week, the district courts put a temporary pause on parts of the Republican bill that would defund Planned Parenthood. We will continue to fight back. Planned Parenthood is vital. It is vital to communities' health, and I will not stand by while it is defunded and while our health is devalued.
I was that young mother. We and our families, our children, deserve better.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise to mark the anniversary of the legendary Freedom Train, a rolling symbol of American ideals that traveled more than 37,000 miles from 1947 to 1949, visiting all 48 States and welcoming over 3.5 million citizens aboard.
For over 30 years, my constituents, Mary Jayne and John Z. Rowe, have been at the forefront of efforts to preserve the memory of this great national event which helped to remind Americans of the foundations of their liberty.
Powered by the groundbreaking ALCO PA diesel locomotive, numbered 1776 and named the ``Spirit of 1776,'' the train revolutionized public perception of rail power. In an age still dominated by steam, the diesel proved its mettle across all terrain and climate, operating reliably without pause for coal or water.
Its performance, witnessed by millions and scrutinized by railroad leaders nationwide, helped hasten the transition from steam to diesel across American railroads.
Beyond technology, the Freedom Train carried our founding documents and civic ideals to the people. It was guarded by marines, celebrated in towns, and kissed literally by thousands in cities like Brooklyn.
It was not a government project but a private and patriotic mission supported by the Truman administration and the American Heritage Foundation. At a moment of global uncertainty, the Freedom Train reminded Americans of who we were and who we still are.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the extraordinary accomplishments of the Roanoke Catholic School Lady Celtics girls' track and field team who captured the 2025 VISAA Division II Virginia State championship with remarkable determination and unity.
After narrowly missing the title by three points in 2023, the Lady Celtics redoubled their efforts, displaying unmatched teamwork in a sport often focused on individual performance.
Guided by an outstanding group of seniors and supported by dedicated underclassmen, they secured the championship with a commanding margin of 55.5 points.
I commend Head Coach Jason Smith and the entire 2025 team. They are Aubrey Aaron, Addison Becker, Anna Stadnyk, Charlie Floyd, Karly Smith, Justinne Llavore, Eva Coniglione, Lillian Kessler, Sydney Whitt, Jamariah Edwards, Lauren Bradley, Brinkley Aaron, Molly O'Herron, Joey Barger, and Kuk Kuk Chen.
Their perseverance, skill, and sportsmanship are an inspiration to our community. I congratulate the Lady Celtics on this well-earned State title.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Stop Illegal Entry Act.
In recent years, more than 10 million illegal immigrants have crossed into our country, including hundreds who are on the terrorist watch list. This is more than a border crisis. It is a serious national security threat.
A failure to enforce our laws created a dangerous incentive. Cross illegally, break our laws, and a person is likely to be released into our communities
Even more concerning, over 70 percent of those charged with illegal reentry last year had criminal records. These are not first-time offenders. These are repeat criminals who have shown complete disregard for our laws.
The Stop Illegal Entry Act will increase penalties and prison time for illegal entry and reentry, sending a clear message that there will be consequences.
President Trump ended catch and release. With this legislation, House Republicans are continuing that commitment to restore accountability and protect American families.
It is time to bring back law and order by stopping these illegal crossings. I urge my colleague to support this bill and stand for the safety of the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I want you to imagine for a moment that a person is going to the grocery store, grabbing coffee, or picking their child up from school.
Instead of running errands or waiting for the school bell like usual, that individual is surrounded by masked men who scream at them, shove them to the ground, threaten them with weapons, and throw them into the back of a car.
People are calling out for help, asking where that person is being taken. Authorities refuse to answer. The person has no idea where they are going, who these people are, or when or if they will ever see their family again.
Mr. Speaker, imagine if you, or worse, your child, experienced the terror, the fear, and the blind pain of being kidnapped off the street.
For many of my constituents, this is a horrific reality that they are dealing with every single day. ICE is terrorizing our communities. They are kidnapping people off of the streets, tearing families apart, and destroying futures to meet insane daily quotas enacted by Donald Trump.
Just a few weeks ago, Republicans in Congress passed a massive budget that funnels billions of new dollars to ICE. This money makes ICE the largest domestic police force in the United States with more resources than dozens of militaries around the entire world.
This funding is unprecedented, and it is a free pass for ICE to ramp up Trump's cruel and inhumane mass deportation policies.
They are already building concentration camps in Florida where they are threatening to lock up legal immigrants and Latinos from across the country. I have visited facilities like this.
On May 29, I went to the Eloy Detention Center just outside my district. I met with women who wanted to and, frankly, were desperate to share their stories with me.
One was a green card holder who had been pulled over for a traffic stop. When they learned of her status, they stripped her of her green card and threw her into ICE detention without another thought. She had been trying to reach her family for months.
Another woman told me a story about a guard taking all of the women out into the blazing Arizona heat. He forced them to march in circles for hours without water. One woman fainted and needed medical attention.
While they marched, the guard yelled at them: This is the price of the American Dream.
It should not matter who these women are. It should not matter whether they are citizens, legal residents, or undocumented people trying to make a life for themselves.
It is shameful and embarrassing for our country that we would treat any human being like this. The detention centers and the facilities in this country are atrocious. They have absolutely zero oversight mechanisms in place.
More than a month later, after formally inquiring to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE about the conditions that I saw firsthand, I have yet to receive a response.
People are being harassed. They are being dehumanized. They are being abused.
Last weekend, I tried to return to Eloy to meet with several constituents of mine who are detained there.
I wanted to meet with a woman named Yari who has chronic lymphocytic leukemia. She has been detained at Eloy since February and has lost 55 pounds while in detention. She needs help.
I also hoped to meet with a man who has been coughing up blood for weeks.
Lastly, I wanted to meet with a 35-year-old woman with a kidney infection who says her antibiotics are not working and her condition is worsening.
Even after ICE put in place new protocols to make it more difficult for us to do our job and our oversight work, we tried to follow their new rules. I gave them ample notice of my visit and a list of constituents that I hoped to meet with. They let us know that our visit was approved.
Then less than 24 hours before I was supposed to make the trip, they changed their minds and said that my meeting with my constituents was denied.
ICE is leaving families without answers and human beings without care. They are doing it, regardless of whether people are undocumented, legal residents, or even American citizens.
They are splitting up parents by sending them to different detention facilities and then making children navigate the funds for a lawyer and basic survival.
If I cannot get answers as a U.S. Congresswoman, how is anyone else in my district supposed to? Any one of us could be next.
I will always stand with and fight for our immigrant communities. I will do everything I can to push back against Trump's authoritarian overreach.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Lance Corporal Ryan James Barnard, of Valley Cottage, New York, who died on July 2 while serving our country at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
Ryan was just 22 years old. He served in the United States Marine Corps with the 3rd Littoral Combat Team, Ares Company. He was living his dream, wearing the uniform with pride, and doing what he believed in.
Ryan grew up in the Hudson Valley playing Little League baseball and hockey, skating for Nyack High School, the Palisades Predators, and the Army West Point Junior Black Knights. He was known for his quiet focus, toughness, and strong sense of duty.
In the wake of Ryan's passing, his family and our community are working to establish a youth hockey grant in his name, carrying forward his spirit of discipline and teamwork for years to come.
I am grateful for Ryan's service to the United States, and I extend my deepest condolences to the Barnard family.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Michael Halpin of Pearl River, New York, who passed away on July 9 at the age of 88.
Born in Kilrush, County Clare, Ireland, Mike immigrated to New York in 1955 and proudly served in the United States Army, including a tour of duty in Korea. After his military service, he continued to serve as an NYPD officer in the 46th Precinct in the Bronx.
Like me, Mike was a proud Irish American. The very definition of a pillar of the community, he served as president of the Rockland Irish- American Cultural Center and the Rockland GAA. He was a member of the AOH Division 3 and led the 2004 Rockland St. Patrick's Day parade as grand marshal.
Mike was a devoted parishioner of St. Margaret's Church, a member of the Hudson Valley 10-13 Club, and, above all, a proud husband, father, and grandfather.
Mike Halpin lived a life of dutiful purpose and leadership with a deep love for both his heritage and his community. He will be missed.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize John ``Jackie'' Sullivan, a Navy veteran, FDNY EMS deputy chief, and longtime volunteer firefighter in Spring Valley and Yorktown Heights.
Jack gave his entire adult life to serving others. He spent 12 years as a Navy flight engineer, 31 years as a paramedic, rising to deputy chief, and more than three decades answering fire calls as a volunteer.
On 9/11, he ran toward the towers. When they fell, he dove under a truck to survive and then stayed at Ground Zero for a year, helping recover the fallen with dignity and respect. That tells you everything you need to know about the kind of man he was.
Jackie was also a union leader, a mentor to younger EMTs and firefighters, and a relentless storyteller, who never missed a chance to make someone laugh. He was the kind of guy you wanted by your side in a crisis and around the dinner table once the storm had passed.
To his wife, Denise; his daughters, Katie and Maggie; and all who loved him, our hearts are with you. May his memory always be a blessing.
Mr. Speaker, we are here today to say hands off our Social Security because Social Security is not a luxury. It is not a handout. It is a sacred trust, a promise that we make to Americans that the hard-earned money that they pay into the system will be there when they need it--our seniors, our children who have lost a parent, people in our communities who live with disabilities.
It is the lifeline that sustains our communities, our seniors. It is a promise that they can live their lives with dignity.
I am here today with my dear colleague, Congressman John Larson, to not only say hands off our Social Security but also to introduce a bill with that name.
This bill will protect Social Security from an administration that is trying to systematically dismantle it. It will protect benefits. It will stop the privatization of benefits. It will stop staffing cuts and closures, protect privacy and data, and protect the proud men and women who go to work every day to serve our seniors at the Social Security Administration.
Mr. Speaker, these are the American people's benefits, and we are fighting to ensure that not only are they here today and tomorrow but for future generations to come.
That is why I am so proud to be in this fight with my dear colleague, the man, the legend, the Congressman who has fought for Social Security for so many years, Ranking Member John Larson of Connecticut.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson), the ranking member.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Stansbury) for yielding to me. Her work and effort are exemplary.
Here is the data, the facts, Mr. Speaker: Over 70 million of our fellow Americans rely on Social Security, and Social Security, throughout its history, has never missed a payment.
Today, it is even more crucial as 10,000 baby boomers a day become eligible for Social Security, and for more than 40 percent of all Social Security recipients, this is the only benefit that they have.
Representative Stansbury is part of legislation that seeks to expand benefits, not just protect Social Security. Congress hasn't acted on Social Security and its expansion since 1971. Richard Nixon was President of the United States.
Mr. Speaker, because of the initiative, energy, and enthusiasm of Members of Congress like Representative Stansbury, people in New Mexico and all across the country--Mr. Speaker, it might surprise even you, as well, to know how many people in your district are equally served. More than $300,000 comes in monthly to recipients in your district in the great State of Virginia, but that hasn't changed in over 54 years.
Now is the time to act. Now is the time to get behind Representative Stansbury's legislation that will be incorporated into the Committee on Ways and Means' configuration on Social Security that will benefit the people.
As Representative Stansbury has indicated, this is America's number one antipoverty program for the elderly and number one antipoverty program for children, and more veterans rely on Social Security disability than they do the VA.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Ms. Stansbury for her efforts and initiatives.
Mr. Speaker, I am so proud and honored to be in the fight with the ranking member and, more importantly, to be in the fight for America and for our veterans, seniors, and children.
Let's do this, America. Let's protect Social Security.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and congratulate Illinois' Fourth District Appellate Court Justice James ``Jim'' Knecht as he reaches the milestone of serving 50 years as a judge.
Jim was born in Lincoln, Illinois, and earned his juris doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law in 1973.
In 1975, Jim began his judicial career serving as an associate circuit judge and was soon after promoted to circuit judge. In 1986, Judge Knecht was elected to the Illinois Fourth District Appellate Court. He is currently the longest serving judge in Illinois court history and an accredited leader within our Illinois legal community.
Outside of the courtroom, Judge Knecht is heavily involved in communities across Illinois and with his alma maters. He serves on both the Illinois Family Violence Coordinating Council and on the National Advisory Board of the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence.
At his undergraduate alma mater, Illinois State University, Judge Knecht was an adjunct professor for nearly three decades and is a recipient of their Distinguished Alumni Award.
Again, I congratulate Judge Knecht on this momentous achievement in his legal career and thank him for his continued service to the State of Illinois. I wish Judge Knecht, his wife, Ruth, their children and grandchildren all the best in the future.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Jim Collins for his extraordinary 20-year tenure as president of Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa. As the longest serving president in the school's history, Jim has left a lasting impact on Iowa's oldest institution of higher education.
President Collins earned his bachelor of science degree in finance from Loras College in 1984. After graduation, he began as an admissions representative and advanced through various leadership positions before being selected as president in 2004 at the age of 42.
During President Collins' tenure at Loras College, the institution achieved unprecedented growth. He oversaw actions to raise the endowment by 67 percent to support students, expanded graduate and professional programs, spearheaded the completion of multiple campus renovations, and led the college to consistent recognition by U.S. News as a top 15 Midwest baccalaureate institution.
President Collins' visionary leadership and unwavering commitment to Catholic higher education has impacted thousands of students who attended and graduated from Loras College.
I congratulate Jim, his lovely wife, Lisa, and their children and grandchildren on this remarkable career. I thank him for his decades of service to Loras College and wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement.
Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning, first and foremost, to pay tribute to Louise Kronholm.
Mr. Speaker, when you are in Congress, oftentimes you are unable to be home for wakes and funeral services. Louise Kronholm was the daughter of the legendary John Bailey. John Bailey was the chairman of the Democratic Party in Connecticut. He was the national chairman of the Democratic Party in 1960 when we elected the first Catholic President of the United States, John Fitzgerald Kennedy.
The Bailey and Kennedy families were extraordinarily close, and Barbara Kennelly, Louise's sister, was the Congresswoman from the First District in Connecticut whom I succeeded.
Our hearts and our thoughts and prayers are with them today as they mourn and bury their beloved Louise Kronholm, John Bailey's daughter and Barbara Kennelly's sister.
Mr. Speaker, I also rise today to recognize Pratt & Whitney aircraft in my hometown of East Hartford, Connecticut.
July 22, 1925, yesterday, marked the 100th birthday and anniversary of Pratt & Whitney aircraft. Pratt & Whitney builds the most dependable engines. They have led the aerospace industry in this country and are the greatest manufacturing force in the world. They are located in East Hartford and in Middletown, Connecticut.
My father and mother both worked there. My mother worked there during the Second World War. She had just gotten out of high school. My mother was 17 years old. She had been in the National Honor Society, and was recruited by Pratt & Whitney to help take down the details, information, and categorizing of parts, et cetera, which was desperately needed.
My father went off to war, and when he came home, he worked there. My brothers have worked at Pratt & Whitney.
In 1925, East Hartford was an agricultural community, and overnight it became the leading manufacturer of airplanes and aircraft and now aerospace.
We salute Pratt & Whitney aircraft.
When my father would go to work, we would say: Dad, are you going to work?
He said: Yeah.
I said: What do you do?
He said: We keep the eagle flying.
The symbol of Pratt & Whitney aircraft is the bald eagle in flight, and underneath it, it says: ``Dependable engines.''
That was true in 1925, and it is true today.
I am proud to be part of the F-35 Caucus and to understand that not only is it important to America, but it is also important to our allies all across the globe who still depend on Pratt & Whitney and their production of the most dependable aircraft engines ever assembled.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the resolution introduced by Governor Lamont of the State of Connecticut recognizing this 100-year anniversary celebration of Pratt & Whitney aircraft.
Mr. Speaker, I also include in the Record an op-ed piece that was presented in the Hartford Courant by Pratt & Whitney President Shane Eddy, again, talking about that great workforce over this past 100 years and their dedication then, now, and well into the future.
This op-ed ran in the Hartford Courant July 22nd:
Celebrating 100 Years of Aviation Innovation--and Investing in
Mr. Speaker, the eagle will keep flying because they have the most dependable workforce and build the most dependable engines ever assembled in the world. I am proud to have been born and raised in East Hartford, the home and the start of Pratt & Whitney aircraft, the engine company that makes the most dependable engines in the world.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Chuck Conner who officially retired on Monday, July 14, after serving as a national agriculture leader since 1997.
A Benton County native and graduate of Purdue University, Chuck Conner served as the president and CEO of the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives for over 16 years. From 1997 to 2001, he served as president of the Corn Refiners Association.
He also has a storied career in public service as Deputy Secretary and Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture under President George W. Bush.
Chuck Conner continued his public service as an adviser to U.S. Senator Richard Lugar from Indiana for 17 years.
We are grateful for his decades of service and work to benefit our great agricultural industry. I wish him all the best as he embarks on retirement.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Kent and Isabella Chism, two outstanding Hoosiers.
Kent is a fifth-generation family farmer in Indiana who focuses on growing corn and soybeans. His wife, Isabella, currently serves as the American Farm Bureau Federation's Women's Leadership Committee chair, and is the former second vice president of the Indiana Farm Bureau.
The Chisms are internationally recognized for their hard work and dedication to promoting America's great agricultural industry. Their family farm has also been a home for workshops, farm visits, and open houses. The Chisms recently received the 2025 Indiana Master Farmers award for their work advocating for agriculture.
Indiana's agricultural industry is better off thanks to the Chisms, who have used their experiences to be prominent voices for agriculture at the State, local, and national levels. I am grateful for their work that has certainly benefited Indiana and our farmers.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act makes American energy dominant again by resuming leasing for domestic energy production. This includes onshore and offshore oil and gas leases as well as coal leases.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act strengthens grid reliability and invests in building key energy and critical minerals infrastructure through the Energy Dominance Financing program.
This legislation also finally repeals the Green New Deal subsidies from the Democrats' so-called Inflation Reduction Act, such as the tax credit giveaway for expensive, unreliable electric vehicles.
This historic bill also restores our energy security by starting to refill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which was drained under the previous administration. This big, beautiful bill is a historic win for America's great energy sector that will help reduce energy costs for hardworking families in my district and across the Nation.
Mr. Speaker, it is a great privilege to have my hometown priest open up the House of Representatives this morning, Father Richard Kunst.
Father Richard Kunst has been a priest in the diocese in and around Duluth for 27 years. He is a faithful, faithful servant of our Lord, Jesus Christ, as reflected by his homilies on a daily basis.
Not only is Father Richard Kunst a great friend to our family but to the Catholic family in and around Duluth, Minnesota.
I thank him for traveling all this way from Duluth, Minnesota, to our Nation's Capital to open up the House prayer this morning.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a true American hero, a man who embodied and exemplified the very best of public service and selfless service, Mr. Chase Childers, a husband, father of three, former police officer, and professional baseball player.
Some of us in the Chamber, including myself, have worn the uniform and sworn an oath to protect and serve our communities. We understand the inherent risks, split-second decisions, and unwavering commitment required.
On July 13, while on vacation with his beloved family in South Carolina, Mr. Childers jumped into action to save another family who were caught in a rip current. Mr. Speaker, they were total strangers. They were not his own family but total strangers.
Thanks to the courageous and selfless acts of Mr. Childers, the family of five made it back to the shore safely. Tragically, Mr. Childers did not.
Mr. Childers' heroic actions serve as a reminder that heroism isn't confined to a uniform or a specific profession.
May his memory be a blessing, and may his actions inspire us all to lend a helping hand to other families, friends, neighbors, and, in this case, total strangers.
God bless Mr. Childers and his loved ones. My family and I are praying for his beautiful wife and three children during this very difficult time.
Mr. Speaker, there is so much upheaval and so much concern that is going on in our country right now--unemployment, Medicaid cuts, all the things that are happening. Yet, in the Virgin Islands this weekend, on my home island, we had our annual Tart Wars.
The Tart Wars brings together the Virgin Islands community to celebrate and showcase our rich culinary traditions, placing fans of pineapple, guava, and coconut tarts in a fierce competition.
Mr. Speaker, coconut tart did win this year. It is not my favorite, but I would have you note that Virgin Islanders, the grand dames of Frederiksted, Claire Roker, Betty Lynch, and even LaVerne ``La La'' Joseph, are all Team Guava.
Mr. Speaker, on Friday, July 18, 2025, Columbia, South Carolina, was blessed as Leah Grace Denny Blackwell and Matthew Blackwell joyfully welcomed their handsome son, Graham Thomas Blackwell, into the world, a very special gift just 2 days ahead of Leah Grace's own birthday.
Born at Prisma Health Baptist Hospital at 2:03 a.m., weighing 6 pounds, 9 ounces, and measuring 19 inches long, Graham has entered a loving, prominent, and nurturing home.
I am grateful for Leah Grace, who is a dedicated long-term staff member in the Washington office, serving as senior policy adviser, while Matt is a former staff member who is now at Duke Energy.
Graham is blessed to be born into a home that will guide him through a bright and fulfilling future encouraged by his wonderful grandparents, Tony and Beverly Denny and Bart and Paula Blackwell, who are all appreciated as devoted statewide community leaders.
On behalf of my wife, Roxanne, and our entire family and staff, I extend the warmest congratulations to the happy Blackwell family. May the years ahead be filled with joy, love, and blessings.
Mr. Speaker, Americans expect Congress to complete the basic work of government before leaving town for recess, not the least of which is passing the 12 funding bills for fiscal year 2026. Having passed only two bills, it is absurd that Republicans have decided to pack it up early.
Meanwhile, millions fear what Republican cuts to Medicaid will mean for their families. Shoppers are tightening their belts because of record prices for chicken and beef. Businesses are stymied by President Trump's on-again, off-again tariffs. ``Taco or not taco'' is the question they are asking.
Why are Republicans rushing to take the break when so many Americans can't even catch a break? Simply put, Republicans are running scared of a titanic Presidential temper tantrum over releasing the Epstein files.
My Democratic colleagues and I are here to work to lower costs and grow our economy, to build healthier and safer communities, and to ensure strong national security and national defense.
I implore my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to join us. Let's get back to work and deliver the results that the American people sent us here to achieve.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of TJ Costello, a leader of the Charlotte community, who unexpectedly passed away on July 8, 2025.
Mr. Costello's life was marked by sacrifice and service, first to his country as a marine leading combat operations in Iraq and then to our local community as a business leader and faithful church volunteer.
He also served my district by guiding hundreds of young North Carolinians through the nomination process at the U.S. Naval Academy of which he is a proud alumnus.
A devoted family man, TJ married his high school sweetheart, Julia, and had three beloved children, and I will remind them that 1 Corinthians declares: No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagines, what God has prepared for those who love Him.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues today to join me in celebrating the wonderful life and legacy of TJ Costello.
Mr. Speaker, Donald Trump and this Republican Congress just enacted the largest transfer of wealth in history. They cut 15 million people off of their healthcare and decimated food assistance for working families to give tax breaks to billionaires.
Last week, I joined my dear friend Representative Ayanna Pressley and Project Bread in Boston to hear directly from people experiencing food insecurity about how the big, ugly bill will make their lives more difficult.
We heard from hungry moms, grandmothers, food pantry leaders, and local officials. Each and every person who participated in the roundtables spoke about how the big, ugly bill will increase hunger. If Trump and Republicans in Congress would spend 5 minutes listening to anyone living paycheck to paycheck, they would know how devastating these cuts are.
In Massachusetts, we are crafting a plan to prevent families from going hungry amid these reckless Federal cuts. Governor Maura Healey, her administration, and local advocates are forming the Anti-Hunger Task Force to adopt long-term solutions to support families in Massachusetts and work to finally end hunger now.
Mr. Speaker, I have asked Attorney General Pam Bondi to open an investigation into the
What we have learned has happened is absolutely beyond belief. In the aftermath of these fires, which destroyed 18,000 homes and tragically killed 30 people, there was a FireAid concert in which a number of high-profile musicians generously agreed to perform and people responded in an amazing way. Tens of thousands of people donated, raising $100 million for what they were told was direct relief for the victims. Now we have learned that this money didn't go to the victims at all. Instead, it went to nonprofits, some of which have nothing to do with fire relief, where they promote things like voting and civic engagement and multigenerational power building. Some of them aren't even located in L.A.
I have asked the Attorney General to open an investigation in order to restore the intent of the donors, make the victims whole, and to bring accountability.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Bob Stein: a friend, a teacher, and a brilliant mind, who passed away last week after living an equally brilliant life.
I had the privilege of knowing Bob throughout my entire public service career. When he wasn't cycling, Bob was a professor at Rice University, where he spent 46 years being a leading voice on elections, disaster response, and local government, but to call Bob just a professor wouldn't capture who he truly was.
His classroom extended far beyond Rice. He had a remarkable habit of turning local officials into students, and I was proud to be one of them.
Bob Stein spent his whole life helping this Nation live up to its promise. To his wife, Marty, and his children, I thank them for sharing him with us. Mr. Speaker, you know that if you planned to run for office in Houston, you had to sit down and talk to Bob Stein.
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of a grateful city and a grateful nation, I thank Bob. May he enjoy his cycling in Heaven. God bless.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 100th anniversary of Indian River County, Florida, founded on June 29, 1925.
For a century, this community has stood as a jewel on the Treasure Coast, a place where history, culture, and natural beauty come together in extraordinary ways.
It has grown from humble roots to a thriving community, celebrating a strong economy, welcoming neighborhoods, and stunning environment. From the pristine shores of Vero Beach to the citrus groves of Fellsmere, Indian River County embodies the very best of Florida living.
Mr. Speaker, today, we recognize and celebrate a century in paradise. I congratulate the people of Indian River County on their 100th anniversary and 100 remarkable years.
Mr. Speaker, the news is louder than a toddler with a kazoo at a Metallic concert. While the headlines scream, the internet screams even louder with a monologue known as meanwhile.
Meanwhile, Paramount settles a lawsuit with President Trump over a dispute that could have been easily dismissed, which is defended as freedom of the press, or not.
Meanwhile, Paramount CBS is seeking a multimillion-dollar merger with Skydance Media that requires the approval of the very same Trump administration. Coincidence? Surely not.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration calls for media fairness, the kind perhaps shown by FOX, OAN, and Newsmax. Maybe.
Meanwhile, Stephen Colbert, host of the show ``Late Night,'' number one amongst hosts in his slot and a Trump critic, has his show canceled by CBS, a financial decision it is said. Oh, yeah.
Meanwhile, CBS' great news leader, Edward R. Murrow, rolls over in his grave.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a mother, a physician, and a Member of Congress horrified by the ongoing massacre in Gaza.
This is not a humanitarian crisis in abstract. It is the result of choices, choices leading to preventable famine.
While bombs are leveling entire cities, the only so-called aid group allowed in, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, is annihilating the very principles of neutrality and humanitarian relief.
Now, we are hearing reports that aid will be contingent on a cease- fire.
Let me be clear: That is morally bankrupt.
You do not negotiate over food. You do not bargain with medicine. You do not turn aid sites into deathtraps.
Palestinians in Gaza deserve safety, dignity, and the right to self- determination, not starvation.
Oregonians have been clear: The United States has a moral obligation to use its power to end this tragedy. A critical step is demanding the U.N. Relief and Works Agency is immediately reinstated in Gaza for large-scale aid delivery.
Mr. Speaker, in upstate New York, we make things. This past weekend, we made history when Amphenol Aerospace celebrated its 100th anniversary in Sidney.
Amphenol's is a century-old story of resilience, a community that rebuilt after floods, coming back stronger than before.
It is a century-old story of American innovation, with the world's most cutting-edge technologies rolling off our factory floor.
It is a decades-old story of the power of labor, a true partnership between Amphenol and the Machinists Union, with good jobs, good wages, and a strong middle class.
It is a century-old story of American strength. Amphenol's work defends our homeland.
Above all, though, we are celebrating 100 years of a close-knit manufacturing town of less than 5,000 people where the thing that matters most is not whether you have got an R or a D next to your name, but whether you show up for your shift, do your job with pride, treat each other right, take care of your family, and love this country.
My family and I were honored to celebrate 100 years with everyone at Amphenol this weekend, and we are all in for the next 100.
Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 4275) to authorize appropriations for the Coast Guard, to establish the Secretary of the Coast Guard, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Graves) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Carbajal) each will control 20 minutes.
Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the Record on H.R. 4275.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Missouri?
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4275 which is the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2025. The bill before us provides the men and women of the U.S. Coast Guard with the authorities and resources that they need to carry out their missions which are critical to ensuring maritime safety, enforcing the United States laws at sea, and protecting our Nation's borders.
The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025 authorizes Coast Guard funding for the fiscal years 2025 through 2029. The bill will support Coast Guard operations and enable the service to continue its efforts to recapitalize its cutter fleet, shoreline facilities, and IT capabilities. The legislation builds upon the One Big Beautiful Bill Act which was signed into law by President Trump earlier this month which provides historic investments for new air and sea assets and upgraded shoreside infrastructure.
Additionally, the legislation establishes a Coast Guard service secretary providing the Coast Guard parity with other military services and ensuring the service has a voice to advocate for its needs.
The bill also advances the administration's vision to strengthen our domestic maritime sector by facilitating an increase in the pool of qualified United States merchant mariners.
I very much appreciate Ranking Member Larsen, Subcommittee Chair Ezell, and Subcommittee Ranking Member Carbajal for working to reach a bipartisan agreement on this bill.
Madam Speaker, I urge support for this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to rise in support of H.R. 4275, the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025.
This bill is a prime example of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's bipartisanship under the leadership of Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Larsen, and Chairman Ezell.
As ranking member of the subcommittee, I am proud of all the good work that we have done on this bill to ensure that we reauthorize, enhance, and support the critical missions of the U.S. Coast Guard to save lives, protect our maritime environment, and prioritize servicemembers both in and out of the workplace.
These significant investments in the service signal our confidence in the capability of the Coast Guard to conduct each of their diverse missions to better serve the American people.
This bill puts coasties first by addressing the need for more affordable and quality housing. It also provides enhancement of our coasties' quality of life, such as family leave policies, career flexibility, tuition assistance incentives, and behavioral healthcare.
Equally important, this bill capitalizes on the extensive work that former Commandant, Admiral Fagan, did to make institutional changes to address sexual assault and sexual harassment.
Our coasties deserve better, and this legislation provides oversight and the tools needed for the Coast Guard to prevent these crimes, protect victims, and hold perpetrators accountable.
Moreover, I am proud that this bill includes several provisions that I sponsored regarding U.S. merchant mariners. This bill tackles long outdated methods for processing mariner credentials by investing in and revamping the Coast Guard's process.
This bill also improves merchant mariner credentialing tests by ensuring the most relevant and technologically critical elements are included. We want the best mariners in the industry, and by removing outdated entry barriers, we will help ensure steady, long-term employment opportunities.
Madam Speaker, I, once again, thank Chairman Graves for his leadership and bipartisan collaboration in crafting this bill. I am proud to have worked with my colleagues on this important legislation, and I look forward to seeing it pass into law.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes,'' and I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Ezell) who is also the chair of the Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation.
Madam Chairman, I rise today to support this legislation which was introduced by Chairman Graves along with myself and Ranking Members Larsen and Carbajal.
This bill supports the efforts of the Coast Guard to protect the United States' waters, interdict drugs, stop human trafficking, and promote maritime safety.
The Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025 authorizes funding for the Coast Guard through fiscal year 2029 and makes critical investments to enable the service to meet its growing mission demands.
As the Coast Guard works to implement the service's future vision of Force Design 2028 and procure new vessels, aircraft, and shoreside infrastructure with the historic investments made in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, this legislation includes accountability for those investments and modernizes the contracting process within the service.
As the Coast Guard looks to grow its forces, this legislation will support the Coast Guard's efforts to boost recruiting and retention while supporting President Trump's vision to strengthen the domestic maritime base and boost the pool of qualified United States merchant mariners who can mobilize during times of crisis to operate sealift assets.
The legislation also gives the service an important voice by establishing a Coast Guard service secretary, as envisioned in my legislation, H.R. 2546, the Secretary of the Coast Guard Act of 2025.
This measure also makes important reforms following the revelations of Operation Fouled Anchor, which was a report detailing improper handling of sexual assaults within the service. As a sheriff and a firsthand law enforcement officer, I have seen the harmful effects that happens to these victims.
I am pleased that the bill before us strengthens protections for members of the Coast Guard from sexual assault, provides support to victims, and increases transparency within the service about the manner in which such cases are handled.
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the work of Chairman Graves on this legislation along with Ranking Member Larsen and Subcommittee Ranking Member Carbajal, and I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Madam Speaker, I am pleased to speak in support of H.R. 4275, the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025.
This bipartisan legislation reauthorizes funding for the U.S. Coast Guard through 2029, updates and restructures Coast Guard programs and policies, and supports the commercial maritime industry. It is the result of good faith, bipartisan negotiations between Chair Graves and Chair Ezell, myself, and Ranking Member Carbajal, and it includes important contributions from members on and off the committee.
This bill is the latest example of bipartisanship on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and I am very proud to support it.
Coast Guard operational readiness is at risk due to years of underfunding. A lack of investment has led to a $3 billion shoreside infrastructure backlog, a lack of icebreaking capacity in the
The committee recognized this need, and H.R. 4275 begins to address the shortfall by authorizing the Coast Guard far beyond the administration's request. It increases Coast Guard funding levels to $21 billion by 2029, ensuring that the Coast Guard remains ``always ready''; ``semper paratus.''
These funding levels will give the Coast Guard the resources needed to execute its missions and deliver a basic standard of living for its servicemembers.
In addition, the bill increases procurement, construction, and improvements funding by 100 percent over current funding levels. These new resources should enable the Coast Guard to maintain its ongoing recapitalization programs, including Polar Security Cutters and Offshore Patrol Cutters.
Last Congress, we enacted substantial improvements to safety for mariners and passengers aboard vessels. This legislation builds upon that work by addressing additional safety risks on vessels and increasing the penalties for bad actors.
This bill fights oil spill pollution by bolstering vessel response plans and ensuring timely, robust firefighting responses when vessel incidents do occur.
It also requires the Coast Guard to evaluate international oil spill coordination and ensures robust protections and response capacity in environmentally sensitive locations like the Puget Sound. Maritime commerce cannot come at the expense of the environment.
This bill includes provisions that begin addressing the mariner shortage by updating mariner requirements, updating the merchant mariner credentialing exam, and expanding the pool of eligible mariners.
Finally and importantly, the bill includes numerous provisions to address sexual assault and sexual harassment within the Coast Guard. These new requirements, directives, and oversight were developed because the Coast Guard deliberately hid Operation Fouled Anchor and decades of sexual misconduct within the Coast Guard.
Former Commandant Admiral Fagan worked hard to repair that lost confidence that resulted from Operation Fouled Anchor, and this legislation builds on her work.
Again, I thank Chair Graves, Chair Ezell, Ranking Member Carbajal and others for their cooperation in crafting this critical legislation. I look forward to our continued collaboration as this legislation moves forward, and I urge all Members to support this bill.
Madam Speaker, I am very pleased to support H.R. 4275 to ensure that the Coast Guard has the authorities and resources needed to meet the vital missions that they have.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act provides the Coast Guard a much-needed and historic downpayment of $24 billion for new operational assets and systems.
This bill is still needed to support the important work of the Coast Guard, which does protect our waters through drug interdiction, stops human trafficking, and promotes maritime safety.
It also establishes a Secretary of the Coast Guard, an important step in the right direction to ensure that the Coast Guard men and women remain a priority for many administrations to come.
The other armed services have this position, and they also do much better and they have a better track record in getting the assets necessary to carry out their missions.
I am thrilled that President Trump and Secretary Noem have focused on the Coast Guard, and I am hopeful that this year the Senate also will move to pass this important legislation.
Madam Speaker, I thank the ranking member for yielding me the time. I acknowledge the leadership of the chair and the ranking member of the full committee and the subcommittee for their great, bipartisan work on this initiative.
One of the Coast Guard's primary missions is search and rescue. In fiscal year 2025 alone, their efforts saved more than 2,200 people and $40 million in property. To keep up this important work, they need robust funding and support, which is just what this bill delivers.
With the administration's aggressive funding and staffing cuts, however, at the National Weather Service and FEMA and the increasing severity and frequency of natural disasters due in my opinion to climate change, the risks associated with those disasters continue to rise.
Unfortunately, we don't have to look any further than recent floods and devastating storms to know how important the Coast Guard can be in responding to these emergencies and disasters, but they need their partners at FEMA and NOAA.
I strongly support this bill and the great work the Coast Guard does to protect our citizens and waters, including in and around the district I represent in the San Francisco Bay Area. I also ask my colleagues to continue to endeavor to invest not just in the Coast Guard but in their partner agencies like FEMA and the National Weather Service to ensure safety and mission readiness.
Madam Speaker, today and every day the brave men and women of the United States Coast Guard carry out a critical mission: securing our borders, patrolling our waters, and saving American lives.
As vice chair of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Subcommittee, I have seen firsthand how vital their service is to our national security and to our prosperity.
The Coast Guard Authorization Act gives our guardsmen the tools, the resources, and the support that they need to meet today's threats, whether it is stopping fentanyl at sea, stopping illegal migrants, or responding to natural disasters.
This bill is about backing the Coast Guard the same way that they back us every single day.
I am proud to support this bill, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.
Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for yielding.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4275, the bipartisan Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025, which includes my provision to improve navigation in the East Rockaway Inlet off the South Shore of Long Island and to strengthen maritime drug enforcement in our waters.
Madam Speaker, East Rockaway Inlet is a critical Federal navigation channel, which Long Islanders rely on for both commercial and recreational boating and fishing. While the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is responsible for maintenance dredging of the inlet, the Coast Guard maintains the markers and the buoys to aid in navigation and to keep boaters safe.
Unfortunately, I have heard from many of my constituents that due to shoaling, the water is too shallow in many parts of the inlet, and the buoys there are missing or misplaced, making it difficult for boaters and fishermen to safely navigate the channel. Incorrectly placed buoys and markers could cause boats to run aground in the sand, threaten commercial towing through the channel, and undermine safe navigation for all.
My amendment, which is included in section 283 of this bill, would require the Commandant of the Coast Guard to examine this issue and report to Congress with concrete recommendations to address hazards in the East Rockaway Inlet and present a plan to update the aids to navigation there to keep boaters safe.
I am grateful to Chairman Graves and Ranking Member Larsen for including this amendment, and I look forward to working together with the Coast Guard on this important issue.
Madam Speaker, this bill will also strengthen our national security and support the men and women I met at the Coast Guard Station in Jones Beach. This bipartisan bill will ensure
I am especially glad that this legislation includes a commonsense, bipartisan bill I cosponsored with my Republican colleague from North Carolina, Representative Addison McDowell, to help the Coast Guard respond to opioid overdoses.
Our brave Coast Guardsmen are the first line of defense against illegal drug trafficking on our waters, and this legislation will ensure that they have the tools that they need to combat opioid overdoses and close loopholes that drug traffickers seek to exploit.
Madam Speaker, in closing, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this important bill.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I support H.R. 4275, the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2025. I encourage all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do the same.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, this legislation provides support for the men and women of the Coast Guard to be able to do their jobs. As we know, these servicemembers often go above and beyond the call of duty, including when responding to emergencies and disasters.
That fact was clearly demonstrated during the response to the tragic flooding in Texas over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Petty Officer Scott Ruskan and the Rescue 6553 aircrew were first on the scene at Camp Mystic, the historic girls' camp that was caught in the catastrophic flooding, and helped save 165 lives.
The men and women who serve in the Coast Guard carry out heroic acts each and every day, and it is our responsibility to make sure that they have the resources that they need to carry out their missions.
I will take just a moment to thank my subcommittee staff who worked tirelessly on this legislation: John Rayfield, Reed Linsk, Lindsay Sakal, Spencer Thompson, Nicole Bredariol, as well as Matt Dwyer and the ranking member's team.
Madam Speaker, I urge support of the bill on both sides of the aisle, and I yield back the balance of my time.
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, H.R. 4275, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 1549) to require the Secretary of the Treasury to conduct a study and report on the exposure of the United States to the financial sector of the People's Republic of China, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Williams) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) each will control 20 minutes.
Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Texas?
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1549, the China Financial Threat Mitigation Act.
The Chinese Communist Party's track record of interference and aggression toward the American financial system is a serious and growing threat. The CCP has a well-documented history of abusing international financial norms, jeopardizing both our national and economic security in the process.
From manipulating currency and distorting markets to propping up state-owned industries and weaponizing finance for geopolitical gain, the CCP's actions are not just unfair but are also downright dangerous. These predatory practices harm American businesses, erode trust in global markets, and risk empowering China to pressure developing nations and destabilize debt markets for its own benefit.
We cannot afford to sit back and take our eyes off the ball. We must be prepared. That is why I introduced the China Financial Threat Mitigation Act. This bill is a proactive measure that requires the Department of the Treasury to identify financial risks posed by the Chinese economy and offer recommendations for strengthening international cooperation to monitor and counter these threats.
Our top priorities should always be to defend Western values, promote American interests, and hold bad actors accountable. This legislation is a critical step in confronting the CCP's abuse of the financial system head-on.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Gottheimer) for co-leading this important effort with me, and I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1549.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1549, the China Financial Threat Mitigation Act, sponsored by Mr. Williams of Texas and Mr. Gottheimer of New Jersey.
The People's Republic of China continues to pose a significant challenge to America's economy and financial system. This doesn't mean that China is simply an economic competitor. Rather, China has taken an aggressive adversarial posture toward American
To address concerns raised by China's conduct in this regard, American policymakers, including Members of Congress, need accurate data about the potential risks posed. This includes information about trade, both legal and illegal investments, demographics, subsidies for domestic industries, and demand for oil and economic growth.
Unfortunately, despite these needs, the economic data available directly from China is generally limited and unreliable. Even China's gross domestic product figures are regarded as questionable.
Madam Speaker, this bill asks for a detailed study on these issues. The bill would also require recommendations for additional actions to strengthen international cooperation to mitigate risks and protect U.S. interests.
The House previously passed this bill four times in the last three Congresses, and I hope we can finally pass it into law.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Williams of Texas and Representative Gottheimer for sponsoring this bill. Their bipartisan work resulted in a unanimous vote during our Committee on Financial Services markup earlier this year, reflecting our shared concerns about the aggressive economic and commercial activities of the Government of the People's Republic of China.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, for the reasons I explained earlier, I urge my colleagues to support this bill. I thank Congressman Gottheimer and my good friend, Ms. Waters, for their support.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Williams) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1549, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
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. 3357) to amend the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 to require issuers with a multi-class stock structure to make certain disclosures in any proxy or consent solicitation material, and for other purposes, as amended, 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 Arkansas (Mr. Hill) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 381, nays 31, not voting 18, as follows:
Messrs. JACKSON of Texas, MOORE of Alabama, CRANK, BARRETT, ROY, NORMAN, ONDER, CLINE, BURCHETT, FINE, HARRIS of North Carolina, Mrs. MILLER of Illinois, and Mr. HIGGINS of Louisiana changed their vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
Mr. DONALDS changed his vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
So (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
Mr. Speaker, Satchel Paige, a great Hall of Fame baseball player, in 1948 won two games of a doubleheader. When he was in the locker room talking to the press, the press said: Satchel, you won both games today. What was your best pitch, your fast ball or your curve ball?
He says: Neither. It was my be-ball.
They said: Your be-ball, what is that?
He said: My be-ball, when I throw it, it goes where I want it to be.
I can't think of anyplace that I would rather be than here right now representing the Congressional Baseball Game and our team.
The Congressional Baseball Game was played on June 11, and I am proud to say that we raised $2.7 million for charity right here, a record. We sold almost 40,000 tickets and had 34,000 in attendance, another record.
The Republican team, the USA team, Team USA is on a 5-year winning streak. We won 13-2 this year, and I am proud to coach these guys. They really do a great job, and I am proud to be able to coach this team.
The Democrats have a good team. They have good coaching, and we welcome playing them again next year in next year's game and setting records.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to Manager Sanchez for her comments.
Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, I congratulate Coach Roger Williams and the Republican team on their victory in this year's Congressional Baseball Game.
I have to say that I was very proud of the hard work and dedication of the Democratic team. We came out, and we played hard. More importantly, we raised a record amount of money for local charities here in the Washington, D.C., area.
The Congressional Baseball Game is probably my favorite time of the year, not the least of which is because every morning I get to yell at 15 men and tell them what to do. It is also because we can put partisanship aside and play a good game for a good cause.
Together, we raised a whopping $2.8 million which will go toward sports scholarships, local girls' and boys' clubs, and other youth charities. That is something I think we can all be proud of.
Again, I congratulate Coach Williams and his team. I would say to my friend, we are coming for that trophy next year.
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. 4275) to authorize appropriations for the Coast Guard, to establish the Secretary of the Coast Guard, and for other purposes, as amended, 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, as amended.
This is a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 399, nays 12, not voting 19, as follows:
So (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to clause 2(a)(1) of rule IX, I rise to give notice of my intention to raise a question of the privileges of the House.
H. Res. 539, Censuring Representative LaMonica McIver and removing her from the
On July 23, 2025, page H3623, in the second column, the following appeared: Censuring Representative LaMonica McIver and removing her from the
The online version has been corrected to read: H. Res. 539, Censuring Representative LaMonica McIver and removing her from the
Committee on Homeland Security.
Whereas, on May 9, 2025, Representative McIver took part in an incident at the Delaney Hall Federal Immigration Facility located in Newark, New Jersey;
Whereas Representative LaMonica McIver of New Jersey, as a result of her actions on May 9, 2025, has been charged in a three-count indictment by a Federal grand jury for assaulting, resisting, impeding, and interfering with Federal officers;
Whereas Representative McIver is alleged to have challenged guidance from a Federal officer regarding access to the secure detention facility;
Whereas Representative McIver is alleged to have interfered with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) officials from making an arrest of an unauthorized visitor;
Whereas Representative McIver is alleged to have ``slammed her forearm into the body'' and ``restrain'' an HSI officer by ``forcibly grabbing him'';
Whereas Representative McIver is alleged to have further interfered with an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Deportation Officer engaged in the performance of his official duties;
Whereas body camera and other video evidence support the allegations made within the Federal indictment;
Whereas such actions constitute a violation of section 111(a)(1) of title 18, United States Code, relating to assaulting, resisting, impending, and interfering with a Federal officer;
Whereas clause 1 of rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives provides, ``A Member, Delegate, Resident Commissioner, officer, or employee of the House shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House.'';
Whereas such actions of a Member of the House of Representatives do not reflect creditably on the House; and
Whereas Representative McIver's continued service on the Committee on Homeland Security, which is charged with oversight of Federal immigration enforcement and other national security matters, would represent a significant conflict of interest: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved,
Representative LaMonica McIver--
(1) is censured;
(2) shall forthwith present herself in the well of the House of Representatives for the pronouncement of censure; and
(3) is censured with the public reading of this resolution by the Speaker.
The following named Member be, and is hereby, removed from the following standing committee of the House of Representatives:
Committee on Homeland Security: Mrs. McIver.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under rule IX, a resolution offered from the floor by a Member other than the majority leader or the minority leader as a question of the privileges of the House has immediate precedence only at a time designated by the Chair within 2 legislative days after the resolution is properly noticed.
Pending that designation, the form of the resolution noticed by the gentleman from Louisiana will appear in the Record at this point.
The Chair will not at this point determine whether the resolution constitutes a question of privilege. That determination will be made at the time designated for consideration of the resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Central Pennsylvania Chamber of Commerce as it celebrates its 120th anniversary.
In 1905, the chamber was founded as the Milton Board of Trade. Over the last 120 years, the chamber has grown and expanded its reach and membership into Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder, and Union Counties, and 120 years later, the mission of
As a proud member of the chamber, I recognize its vital role in driving regional economic growth, fostering job creation, and supporting businesses of all sizes as they innovate and invest in America's future.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the board members, staff, membership, and partners who have worked together to promote and improve our region. They have fostered a commitment to free enterprise that enables our local communities to unlock their true economic potential.
I congratulate the chamber on this milestone occasion.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize General Atomics, a world-leading technology company headquartered in the district I represent, and their historic achievement of completing the ITER Central Solenoid. This giant custom-designed magnet, 60 feet tall, 14 feet wide, and weighing over 1,000 tons, is the largest pulsed superconducting electromagnet ever built, and it is a major step in the long journey toward commercial fusion energy.
General Atomics was one of the early trailblazers of both nuclear fission and fusion. Under the leadership of their chairman and CEO, Neal Blue, General Atomics has pioneered many new innovations, from groundbreaking advances in nuclear technology to remotely operated aircraft, and electromagnetic systems.
Fusion energy will provide a source of virtually limitless baseload power and a clean and safe pathway for true energy security. It is no wonder countries across the globe are racing to achieve fusion first, and San Diego is leading the way with the leadership of companies like General Atomics and others.
I look forward to celebrating many more accomplishments with my friends at General Atomics.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Kenley Juillerat. Kenley is a member of the Premier Showmen 4-H Club in Hillsboro, Ohio.
For her 4-H project, Kenley gave back to veterans by thanking them for their service with stars, stripes, and smiles buckets. With help from her community, she assembled goodie buckets to disperse to veterans in her area.
Included were cards that thanked them for their service. Freedom has never been free, and our brave servicemen and -women and their families sacrifice so much to keep us safe. It is great to see heroes being recognized, and it is my honor to advocate on their behalf in Congress.
Outstanding operations like 4-H teach our young people the values of patriotism and hard work. Programs just like this one represent the best America has to offer, and it is great to see them focusing their efforts on honoring our Nation's heroes.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise to celebrate the 90th birthday of Irmgard Hermann Davis.
Irmgard grew up in Germany during World War II. After the war, she came to visit her sister in Garden Grove, California, my district, where her life changed forever.
She met Wally Davis. They got married and had seven beautiful children. She never returned to Germany. Wally Davis was one of Orange County's first Hispanic attorneys and a civil rights icon. Irmgard was always there for him, and she was the story behind Wally's success.
I wish Irmgard a happy birthday. We love her and look forward to her next few birthdays.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will strengthen and protect Medicaid for those who need it the most. This legislation focuses on eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse that have historically plagued this system, ensuring that resources are used efficiently and effectively.
Contrary to the misinformation spreading, there are roughly 1.4 million illegal immigrants who are receiving Medicaid, crowding out benefits meant for American citizens.
What is more, this bill invests billions of dollars in long-term care for seniors and people with disabilities by establishing a new pathway for States to offer community-based services. This will help preserve Medicaid for the most vulnerable populations who rely on it: pregnant mothers, children, seniors, and individuals with disabilities and low- income families.
Mr. Speaker, in Pennsylvania nearly 65 percent of nursing home residents rely on Medicaid.
In my district outside Philadelphia, it is a lifeline for more than 15,000 seniors who have worked and earned access to affordable, high- quality care and who deserve to age with grace and dignity.
President Trump and the Republicans' big, ugly bill will cut Pennsylvania's Medicaid program, known as Pennie, by about $53 million over the next decade.
What will happen to our parents and to our grandparents?
Some facilities may be forced to make impossible decisions like reducing staff or raising prices for those who don't qualify for Medicaid. Others simply will not survive.
I know how worrisome it is to watch aging parents need to leave the home they loved. I know how critical it is to find them the best possible care. I saw it with my own in-laws, Joan and Bill Cunnane.
After all, through Medicaid, think about it, Mr. Speaker: I was disabled and you offered me aid; I was infirm and you offered me care; I was aging and you offered me dignity.
That is what Republicans voted in lockstep to tear away. Shame.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart and a deep sense of gratitude as I pay tribute to a true hometown hero, Carla Reynolds of Bristol Borough.
Carla was more than an advocate. She was a force of nature, a woman of uncommon compassion, relentless purpose, and a rare gift for bringing people together.
Through her signature event, Unity Day, Carla united law enforcement and neighbors, children and elders, in a shared celebration of kindness, community, and respect. She believed that our greatest strength lies in our ability to stand together, and she proved that year after year, day after day.
Through her Boots on the Ground Foundation, Carla offered not just food and essentials to those in need, but her time, her energy, and her heart. She gave selflessly, always showing up for those in crisis, always finding a way to help, and never asking for a thing in return for herself.
She also championed young people, creating initiatives to spotlight Bucks County youth who excelled in academics, service, and sports because, as she would say, our kids need to know that we see them.
Mr. Speaker, over the many years I had the privilege to work alongside Carla, I came to not only know her mission but her soul.
May God bless Carla Reynolds, and may we each do our part to honor her by continuing the work she believed in so deeply.
Mr. Speaker, Virginia Federal employees are still being fired, RIF'd, and harassed by this administration.
Last week, I heard from a constituent who received a termination letter from the Department of Health and Human Services just hours before it went into effect with no access to their equipment, no offboarding information, and no details about their severance. This is one of the many, many stories that I get at my office every week.
Civil servants who dedicate their career to serving this government deserve transparency, clarity, and respect. But across agencies, this administration continues to blindly and abruptly fire Federal workers. What do we have to show for it? A complete and total brain drain.
We are losing talent and expertise in our Federal Government, all while the administration prioritizes tax cuts and handouts to the biggest corporations.
To my constituents impacted by these cuts, I will continue to demand answers, and I will continue to fight to hold this administration accountable.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the legacy and esteemed career of Green Bay Packers president and CEO Mark Murphy, who is set to retire at the end of this week after serving in the role for more than 17 years.
Mark Murphy is a Green Bay Packers legend and a highly respected figure throughout Wisconsin and among NFL fans across the country.
During his tenure as president and CEO, the Green Bay Packers won the Super Bowl in 2011, made 5 NFC Championship Game appearances, secured 8 NFC North division titles, earned 13 playoff appearances, and posted a 172-101 regular season record, which was the second best in the league over that span.
Off the field and under his guidance, the Green Bay Packers invested more than $700 million in the Lambeau Field campus and Titletown development without the use of public money and increased charitable giving across Wisconsin.
Most recently, the Packers hosted the immensely successful 2025 NFL Draft, which drew an official attendance of 605,000 and delivered a major economic boost in our region in northeast Wisconsin.
Mr. Speaker, as the Representative from northeastern Wisconsin and as a lifelong Packers fan, I want to thank Mark Murphy for his many years of dedicated leadership with the Green Bay Packers and wish him the very best in his retirement.
Mr. Speaker, disastrous floods, horrific floods are devastating the lives of our residents in southeast Michigan and across the Nation.
The dangers don't stop when the flooding ends. Too many of our families are denied FEMA assistance because current rules and policies don't cover repairs and reconstruction for most basements where floods are the most destructive.
Without Federal assistance, Mr. Speaker, they are forced to live in extremely unsafe conditions, being exposed to serious health risks like mold and mildew and moisture damage.
One of my residents, a 90-year-old woman, had no hot water, a broken furnace, and toxic mold in her basement.
There are people recovering from disasters, and many of them are on a fixed income. They are seniors who cannot afford the thousands of dollars in repairs to their basement.
That is why I am proud to introduce the Fix Our Flooded Basements Act to make sure that Federal disaster assistance finally covers those costs.
We must make this change so that our residents, our constituents, live in a safe home after a flood. They need to be able to rebuild their lives from these disastrous floods.
Mr. Speaker, this week marks 6 months of the America First leadership under President Trump Donald Trump.
He has had innumerable accomplishments over the first half of this year and has kicked off a new golden age for our country. His strong leadership has single-handedly added over half a million jobs to the U.S. economy. Many of these jobs came back to my home State of Indiana, like the announcement from General Motors about increasing its production in the Fort Wayne truck plant.
He has brought gas prices to their lowest point since 2021 by unleashing American energy independence.
Outside of the economic impacts that have saved money for everyday Americans, President Trump has kept his commitment to protect American children and families by halting so-called gender-affirming care for children in this country.
As another testament to his impressive pace, President Trump has also signed 27 bills into law, the greatest of which, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, delivers tax cuts to American families, solidifies funding for America's Golden Dome, and defunded Planned Parenthood.
Over the past 6 months, President Trump has delivered on his promise to restore America's strength and dominance, and I look forward to continuing the fight with President Trump leading the way to ensure America's golden age lasts for decades to come.
Mr. Speaker, in February of this year, Attorney General Pam Bondi went on national TV and told the American people that Jeffrey Epstein's client list was ``sitting on my desk right now.''
Why won't she release that client list?
Why won't House Republicans vote to release that list?
In fact, House Republicans are shutting down Congress early. Shortly after my speech, Congress is going to shut down until September because House Republicans want to avoid voting on releasing the Epstein files.
Why? I will tell you why.
The Wall Street Journal just confirmed that in May of this year the Department of Justice told Donald Trump to his face that he is in the unreleased Epstein files.
House Republicans are facilitating a coverup of epic proportions.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a notable North Dakotan, Linda Kvasager, who recently retired after 50 years of dedicated service at Valley Senior Living.
Linda began her career in elder care as a high school student at the age of just 15 and devoted five decades to helping seniors stay active, healthy, and connected.
Her work as a restorative aide supported not only the physical well- being of her residents but their dignity and independence. Colleagues describe her as a compassionate, reliable, and deeply committed person, a steady presence in a field where continuity makes the difference.
Mr. Speaker, 50 years in a role is rare, and 50 years of meaningful care is extraordinary.
Linda's legacy is a testament to the power of faithful service. She has touched countless lives, and she has made her community proud.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in sadness to mourn the passing of Detective Andrew Woods of the Union County Sheriff's Office who passed away following his heroic battle against stage IV cancer.
Andrew spent his career with the Union County Sheriff's Office, starting in patrol and working his way up to detective. He was known as a man who always showed up with a smile and served as a mentor to the younger officers. He was a friend to all in the department and the community.
Andrew spent his time as a volunteer firefighter while also mentoring kids in the community who wanted to be involved in public service and law enforcement.
Mr. Speaker, in his free time, Andrew spent time with his family, fishing, golfing, or watching Tennessee Vols whoop up on Alabama. Too many times, that didn't happen, Mr. Speaker.
Andrew was a person who all Americans should strive to be like. He was dedicated to serving his community. He was a good family man. He committed his time to helping children achieve their dreams of becoming law enforcement.
Andrew is truly a hero of Tennessee, Mr. Speaker.
I personally extend my condolences to Andrew's family and friends; my dear friend, Sheriff Breeding; and the entire Union County Sheriff's Department.
Our prayers go out to all of them, and may the Lord bless Andrew Woods.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor one of our country's heroes, Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer Scott Ruskan.
Scott Ruskan hails from New Jersey and was an accountant at KPMG before enlisting to serve in the Coast Guard in 2021.
After joining the U.S. Coast Guard, Scott participated in and completed rescue swimmer training and was stationed in Corpus Christi, Texas.
In the early morning of July 4, Scott, along with other local and Federal first responders, was dispatched to aid in rescue efforts at Camp Mystic in Kerr County as flooding from the nearby Guadalupe River hit the camp.
Scott, while leading the Coast Guard triage at Camp Mystic, was able to save over 160 people through his efforts, including my twin granddaughters, whose birthday is today.
Scott's selflessness and bravery in the face of danger is something that we should all strive to embody.
I thank Scott for his courage and for changing the course of many families' lives, including my family. May God bless him.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in sadness to remember a personal friend from home in the district. Wallace Clark Roney, who everyone knows as Wally Roney, passed recently due to health issues.
Wally was a fifth-generation cattle rancher, lifelong steward of the land, and, indeed, a towering, imposing figure--a big guy in California agriculture.
Yet, that big guy, as imposing as he was, was also like a big bear cub. He loved what he did. He loved helping his neighbors. He loved helping the cattle industry and sticking up for agriculture. You won't find a better friend.
Wally and his wife, Billie Jean, are good friends of mine. As we remember him today and feel that sadness, know that his spirit of fighting for agriculture, as a fellow Cal Poly Mustang graduate, will also be remembered and appreciated.
Wally was a respected leader, of course, in his field in all those areas, blending old-school ranching with a sharp business sense and a deep understanding of land management.
Wally grew up alongside seasoned hands, learning the value of grit, responsibility, and persistence. He trained horses, rodeoed, raised cattle, and never hesitated to speak up when it was important to help preserve his industry and preserve a lifestyle not just for him but for his neighbors and everybody who depends on us as a food supply, making America stronger.
God bless Wally and his wife, Billie Jean. We will miss him. He was a good friend, and he will never be replaced but will always be remembered.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a warrior of the United States Air Force, Chief Master Sergeant Jason Q. Shaffer.
Chief Shaffer embodies the mindset and diligence that is needed to defend our Nation. He entered the Air Force in March 2000 as a security forces member and has been serving for 25 years.
During his time in the Air Force, he developed an impressive background, which includes experience at varying levels in the Security Forces. He has participated in operations in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, and the Pacific region. He is now retiring after all of that time.
Being a servicemember is tough. It is demanding, and the time spent away from your family is even harder. Yet, we can never forget to thank those who make that sacrifice.
I thank him; his wife, Tawny; and his children, Dallas, Ashlynn, and Teagan, for making sacrifices so our Nation can prosper.
Chief Jason, Aim High and have a happy retirement.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the brave members of the Virginia Beach Fire Department's Swiftwater Rescue Team, who were recently deployed to Texas Hill Country to support the flood rescue efforts there.
The specialized team is uniquely qualified to respond to natural disasters, having recently assisted in the rescue efforts from the October floods that occurred in western Virginia.
On July 4, the team drove 1,700 miles through the night from Virginia Beach to Texas to aid in the flood rescue efforts. In the face of tragedies like the floods in Texas, we are incredibly fortunate to have brave first responders who choose to run toward danger instead of away from it.
I will continue to pray for the safety of our first responders, as well as the victims and families affected by this horrific disaster. I am grateful that this team was able to put their expertise to use and assist in saving lives.
I am happy to hear the news that they are coming home.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to kick off my Hoosier Heartland Tour. As this Chamber adjourns, I eagerly look forward to beginning my first summer district work period.
As I move about Indiana's Sixth District over the weeks to come, I am eager to share this time with our hardworking Hoosiers.
For 7 months, I have been working to deliver for our communities. I look forward to sharing my work and bringing details of our wins back home.
Most importantly, this time will focus on listening. I look forward to touring our local businesses, meeting with our 11 county sheriffs, visiting the many district airports I represent, and hearing from our family farmers.
This Hoosier Heartland Tour promises to encompass many meaningful conversations that will inform my work as we return in September, and I eagerly undertake it.
Mr. Speaker, eastern Washington and Spokane are home to many heroes and champions, but I would like to speak today of one particularly exceptional young man, Brycen Phillips of Mt. Spokane High School.
Brycen was named a two-time U.S. Paralympics Track and Field High School All-American, and he is somebody who has overcome tremendous challenges.
After suffering a stroke at age 3, Brycen was left with paralysis on his right side, a condition called hemiplegia. Despite having to relearn how to walk, talk, and perform daily tasks, he never gave up.
Brycen found his competitive spirit on the track. Representing Mt. Spokane, he has won multiple State titles and competed on the national stage, all while maintaining a 4.0 GPA.
Brycen Phillips is a total stud, and the entire Congress and the entire Republic deserve to hear his story, and they now have.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the topic of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Utah?
Mr. Speaker, on July Fourth, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law. This historic legislation delivered the largest tax cuts to working-and middle-class Americans in U.S. history and will revitalize rural America.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act made permanent the 199A small business tax credit, providing certainty to small businesses and ensuring Main Street can thrive.
This legislation also saves 2 million family farms, including over 6,800 family farms in my district, from facing a death tax increase. This will protect the generational transfer of family farms.
This bill also cuts down on the waste, fraud, and abuse in our Federal agencies that have made it harder and more expensive for our American people.
This bill is a win for our farmers, small businesses, and Americans in every income bracket.
Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to recognize some of the impacts the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will have on my State.
By passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the House Republican majority kept its promise to preserve the 2017 tax cuts and provided further relief for American families.
The White House's Council of Economic Advisers estimates the bill will raise Utah wages between $4,300 and $7,700 over the next 4 years, putting more money in the pockets of our hardworking Americans. Typical families with two children can also expect to see higher take-home pay in the range of $7,900 to $11,400.
Utah is one of the fastest-growing States in the Nation and has the highest average household size. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act increases the child tax credit to $2,200, which will help our Utah families as they continue to grow. Without the bill's passage, the child tax credit would have dropped to just $1,000 per child. I am glad this bill invests in the future of our families, not just in Utah but all over the country.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act also helps hardworking Americans by cutting taxes on overtime pay. Around 22 percent of all employees in Utah regularly work overtime and could benefit from this tax break.
The bill also cuts taxes on tips. Whether you are a waitress earning tips or a nurse working overtime, this legislation will make sure that your hard-earned money stays where it belongs: in your pocket.
The legislation also benefits those who give to charitable causes, including tithes or religious contributions, allowing individuals who do not itemize their deductions to claim charitable deductions.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act delivers historic tax relief for seniors. This legislation ensures that nearly 90 percent of Social Security beneficiaries will no longer pay Federal income taxes on their benefits.
In Utah alone, around 400,000 seniors could benefit from the no taxes on Social Security provision of this bill. Our seniors have spent their lifetimes contributing to our Nation's economy, and House Republicans are glad to provide them relief through this bill.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will also help Utahns in ways beyond tax credits. It will help rural Utah by boosting Utah's energy sector due to provisions slashing the bureaucratic red tape associated with permitting delays and by restarting oil, gas, and coal leases. This will create thousands of jobs in Utah.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act also helps Utahns by reauthorizing the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, also known as RECA, for another 2 years following its expiration last year. RECA authorization will compensate Utahns who were exposed to radiation after the aboveground atomic testing
The bill will provide funding for technological advancement for our military and enhance the quality of life for our military personnel by allocating up to $7.4 billion in benefits for servicemembers across the country.
Under this bill, the budget will provide for restoration and renovation of barracks, more funding for the Defense Health Program, aid to military families by adding to the childcare fee assistance, and bonuses for members of the military.
This policy reflects our commitment to honoring the sacrifices of our military by investing directly in servicemembers and the infrastructure that supports their well-being. It demonstrates our commitment to putting America first by ensuring our servicemen and -women in Utah and across the world receive the care and support they deserve.
This legislation is designed to put hardworking Americans, families, and small businesses first, including my constituents in Utah's Third District. By passing this bill, Republicans have delivered on the promises we made to the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Dakota (Mrs. Fedorchak), my distinguished colleague.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Kennedy for yielding and for leading this important Special Order tonight to talk about all the wins in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight an important promise President Trump made to the American people that the one big, beautiful bill fulfills.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act delivers a long list of wins for families, seniors, small businesses, farmers, energy producers, and our military. It prevents the largest tax increase in U.S. history, putting $4.5 trillion in Americans' pockets instead of in the government's coffers. It delivers permanent tax relief, begins to rein in Washington's out-of-control spending, makes historic investments in border security and national defense, and restores the kind of commonsense priorities people in my State of North Dakota live by every single day.
There are so many wins in this bill that we need to break them apart and highlight them separately.
Today, I will focus on a provision that many think is too good to be true. In fact, in talking to people, they think, ``How can this actually happen?'' but it will, and that is no tax on tips and overtime.
During my time back home recently, I visited with folks across North Dakota, including those working in construction, law enforcement, and service industries. This bill is great news for them and the hundreds of professions that regularly put in overtime to get the job done.
In fact, around 30 percent of all employees in North Dakota regularly work overtime and could benefit from the no tax on overtime provision in this bill.
According to the Council of Economic Advisers, an even larger 65 percent of workers in North Dakota are in occupations that are likely eligible for overtime and could also benefit.
We cut taxes on up to $12,500 of overtime pay for more than 80 million hourly workers. This is estimated to increase yearly take-home pay by more than $1,400.
The bill also eliminates Federal taxes on up to $25,000 of tips for America's 4 million tipped workers. As a former waitress, I know how valuable this provision would be. This applies to all tips, whether they are tips that are cash or on credit. All tips qualify for the no tax on tips. This is estimated to boost incomes by an average of $1,300 per year.
With these policies, we are rewarding everyday Americans' hard work, and we are not waiting. These provisions are retroactive, meaning that people will see the benefits of no taxes on tips and overtime this year, even for hours worked prior to this bill passing.
I was very proud to join my colleagues in delivering on this commitment to the American people, and I can't wait to see how it benefits them all.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address one of the most serious issues of our time, the risk of conflict with nuclear weapons. It is a threat that challenges our conscience. It is a threat not just for Americans but for all humanity. It is a threat not just to humans, but to all species of life on our planet.
We raise this issue in the context of a series of important anniversaries. One week ago, July 16 marked the 80th anniversary of the Trinity test, the first detonation of a nuclear weapon in New Mexico. We still live with the legacy of above-ground nuclear tests.
Two years ago, the Defense Department awarded the Atomic Veterans Commemorative Service Medal to the still-surviving veterans of that era and their family members.
We must also honor the downwinders, civilians whose health and land suffered from the effects of radiation from these tests. Many were in the State of Nevada. In addition, we cannot forget the Pacific Islanders who have not been able to return to their home islands or the Uyghurs and others whose homeland in Xinjiang was the location of China's nuclear tests. They, too, have suffered long-term health consequences.
In 2 weeks, we will commemorate the first use of a nuclear weapon in a conflict--and that was the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945--and the second, the bombing of Nagasaki, on August 9. Let us pray that Nagasaki will be the last. Let us work to make sure that it is.
Sadly, the threat from nuclear weapons is only increasing. There are estimated to be 13,400 nuclear weapons in the world today. Some 90 percent of these are in the arsenals of the United States and Russia. The rest belong to the U.K., France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea.
Russia has threatened to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine and even against NATO nations. North Korea uses its nuclear weapons program to intimidate the United States, Japan, and Korea. China continues to build up its nuclear arsenal. It has some 600 warheads today and is expected to pass 1,000 by 2030, according to the Pentagon.
The question of Iran's nuclear program has been at the top of our concerns. The military strikes by Israel and the United States were, as stated, designed to degrade or eliminate Iran's nuclear development capabilities. However, as The Washington Post reported last week, U.S. intelligence agencies assess that only one of Iran's three principal nuclear facilities was destroyed by the U.S. attacks. This tells us that military action is not a reliable way to counter nuclear threats. In 80 years of the nuclear era, the only proven, demonstrated way to reduce the risk of nuclear conflict and to lessen the scale of its destruction is through diplomacy and negotiations.
If not for past arms control agreements, Mr. Speaker, today's arsenals would be larger and more dangerous. If not for limitation on above-ground and atmospheric testing, many more people would suffer from radiation and contamination.
However, our challenge is made harder by the fact that there is only one arms control agreement remaining in force between the United States and Russia. The New START Treaty limits the number of deployed strategic nuclear warheads for each party to 1,550. The treaty expires in February 2026. There are scant signs that either government is interested in extending it.
President Donald Trump can and should take forward steps on nuclear arms control. He can follow in the footsteps of other Republican Presidents. President Eisenhower, in his ``Atoms for Peace'' speech, expressed the moral imperative to warn Americans and the
President Reagan in his second term negotiated the INF Treaty with the Soviets. He spoke privately with Gorbachev about the elimination of all nuclear weapons.
Earlier this year, President Trump said from the Oval Office: ``There is no reason for us to be building brand-new nuclear weapons, we already have so many. You could destroy the world 50 times over, 100 times over. And here we are building new nuclear weapons, and they're building nuclear weapons.''
He added: ``We're all spending a lot of money that we could be spending on other things that are actually, hopefully much more productive.''
On this point, Mr. Speaker, President Trump is right. President Trump has the opportunity to make nuclear threat reduction a part of his legacy.
As a smart first step, he and Putin can strike a deal to respect New START's central limits and set the stage for a more comprehensive nuclear arms control framework agreement.
Next, President Trump can put nuclear weapons on the agenda when he meets with Xi Jinping. He expressed a willingness to do this in his Oval Office comments.
Even talking about negotiations in itself can help reduce tensions. A deal requires a first step, and I encourage the President to take it and to take it soon.
We, in Congress, can use our voice. Along with our colleague, the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Tokuda), I am the proud sponsor of H. Res. 317, a resolution that calls on the U.S. Government to return to the negotiating table on nuclear disarmament and to lead a global effort to reduce and eliminate nuclear weapons. It reaffirms our country's moral and strategic obligation to prevent nuclear war and pursue a world free of nuclear weapons as a national security imperative.
This call is in the spirit of Presidents Eisenhower and Reagan and Presidents Carter and Obama, and we hope President Trump. I am pleased to report that Senators Markey, Merkley, Sanders, Welch, and Van Hollen have all introduced a version of our resolution. I urge the foreign policy committees of both bodies to consider these resolutions promptly.
Unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, activity in House committees is taking us in the wrong direction. Last week, the Appropriations Committee approved an energy and water bill that cuts the National Nuclear Security Administration's Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation account by $412 million. That is 17 percent. These activities help the U.S. stop the spread of nuclear weapons, detect hidden nuclear activities, and support arms control efforts. Why would anybody think it is a good idea to cut that account?
Also last week, the Armed Services Committee approved the National Defense Authorization Act. It authorizes $62 billion for the nuclear enterprise, which represents a 26 percent increase over President Biden's request last year. Unfortunately, the Committee rejected an amendment by the gentleman from California (Mr. Garamendi) to restrict funding to create a new land-based nuclear delivery system, the Sentinel missile, a $180 billion boondoggle he has called an endless money pit.
The threat of nuclear war is an existential one. We have a moral imperative to address it and address it urgently. Debates over the utility and morality of nuclear weapons are as old as the nuclear age. Notably, many of the people who helped make atomic weapons turned out to be some of the most powerful voices against their use and for the reduction in their arsenals.
Mr. Speaker, 2 years ago this week, the film ``Oppenheimer'' premiered. It told the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who helped create the atomic bomb but then pushed against the development of more powerful weapons. For that position of moral courage, he paid a political price.
Mr. Speaker, 2 months ago, Dr. Richard Garwin passed away at the age of 97. He is best known as the author of the first hydrogen bomb. Less widely known is that he spent decades working tirelessly in arms control and disarmament, as well as scientific panels, conferences, and government boards.
In a 2018 interview, Dr. Garwin said: ``There is a myth, and you saw it operate many times in the past, that if there is a perceived security problem, well, no difficulty, we will just buy more nuclear weapons. But that doesn't improve our security. What we want is less nuclear weapons and less cause for using them on the other side.''
When I was a staffer for the late Congressman Joe Moakley in the 1980s, I recall going to hear Dr. Garwin and Dr. Carl Sagan give a talk on nuclear weapons and the Strategic Defense Initiative. Dr. Sagan, of course, is the physicist who helped us understand the idea of a nuclear winter, which is the hemisphere-wide Dark Age caused by the radioactive ash sent into the atmosphere following multiple nuclear detonations. It would wipe out food supplies and cause untold deaths from starvation, even beyond the millions killed by the blasts.
For us today, the dynamic Dr. Garwin identifies isn't in the past. It is in the present. Our inboxes are full of policymakers expressing fears about the growth of China's nuclear arsenal or Vladimir Putin's intentions or Iran's plans.
Too often, policymakers have a reflexive response. They are building more. Then we should build more. Mr. Speaker, this is so shortsighted. It is a dangerous reaction. It is very, very dangerous. We know firsthand the harm that such devastating weapons can have.
On the 80th anniversaries, people of many generations will gather at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Very few survivors of those atomic bombings remain with us, but their stories endure. The disturbing photos of the burns and the radiation sickness endure.
In those cities, those gathered will recommit to preserving the memory of the destruction, and to plead with current and future generations to work to ensure that such horrors never ever, ever happen again.
Mr. Speaker, I regret I cannot be with them in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That is why I have organized this Special Order on the House floor today so that Members can share their message from the floor of the House.
To our colleagues, to the President, and to the American people, this is a crucial moment in world history. We have a moral responsibility to speak out and to do more.
When we return to Washington after the anniversaries and after the August break, let us commit to raising more awareness. Let us commit to more congressional hearings and more debate on the floor. Let us commit to more encouragement for scientists, civil society, and regular citizens to raise their voices. Let us commit to legislation to contain the growth of nuclear weapons. Let us commit ourselves to the elimination of nuclear weapons.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Foster).
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) for holding this Special Hour to discuss the dangers of nuclear weapons.
Mr. Speaker, when I first entered Congress, I was the third Ph.D. physicist elected to this body. We had at the time Vern Ehlers, a nuclear physicist and a conservative, religious Republican representing western Michigan.
We had Rush Holt, a plasma fusion physicist, a progressive Democrat representing Princeton.
We had me, a sort of garden-variety Democrat who spent the last 25 years smashing protons and antiprotons together to make particles that have not been around since the big bang.
Although our politics were quite different, we were united by a special responsibility to join the discussion about nuclear weapons and ask what we could do to strengthen global nuclear security and maintain U.S. leadership in trying to prevent nuclear war.
One area where we were always in violent agreement was to stop wasting money on Star Wars, which was then rebranded as the SDI, the Strategic Defense Initiative, and has now been rebranded Golden Dome.
For more than 45 years, scientists have been patiently explaining to policymakers that this is never going to work. It is easy to overwhelm with a trivial response to it.
We have spent over $200 billion on it. We have never tested it once against the kind of countermeasures that we know any competent opponent would deploy. Even if we succeed at stopping ballistic missiles, there are, unfortunately, many other ways to deliver nuclear weapons that we can never stop.
This thing is deeply--I guess ``stupid'' is not too strong a word. We explain something to someone in a variety of terms again and again, and they don't want to hear it because they think it messages so well.
Wouldn't it be great if we had this magic Golden Dome, or whatever we want to call it, to stop nuclear weapons? Yeah, it would be great.
If it is an impossibility to do the fundamental physics of it, then we should stop talking about it, and we should certainly stop wasting money on it.
Another place where we were always in strong agreement was how we should be strengthening the nonproliferation efforts at our national laboratories.
Our national labs create an underlying foundation for all of our nuclear security efforts including the nonproliferation and national security priorities that we are talking about here today. In order to ensure that current and future arms control efforts are properly fulfilling their mission, we have to invest in our scientific workforce to maintain our leadership and verification efforts.
It is certainly not well-known among Members of Congress, but when the IAEA sends inspectors into Iran and into countries of concern, those have been largely trained by the national labs in the United States. When we gut the nonproliferation capacities of our national labs or simply allow them to retire, as has been happening, we risk putting aside one of the most powerful tools we have to actually enforce any deal that we may get.
The President is very fond of talking about this deal he is going to get on Iran nuclear. We listened to him talk about how he was going to get North Korea. I support efforts to try to do that.
If we ever succeed in getting one of these deals, for sure we are going to need to have experts we trust that can go in there and make sure nobody is cheating. Unfortunately, what we are seeing is the gutting of those budgets in that capacity. I guess it doesn't satisfy the MAGA worldview.
Over the years, I have focused my attention on a few specific areas to strengthen our nuclear security architecture. One of them is what is called nuclear--well, it has a number of names. If for some reason a nuclear weapon is detonated somewhere in the United States or anywhere around the world, the President will come under huge pressure to say: Who did that? Whose weapon was it?
There is a lot of very detailed knowledge that we have had in the past in our national labs to be able to go in there and do what is called nuclear forensics and find out whether that was a bomb from X, Y, or Z. That capacity has been under duress for a long time. It seems like it is every single time the appropriations budgets come up, we end up having to try to defend that.
That is something that is completely irrelevant until it is the most important question in the world. Who did that? Who let off this nuclear weapon? How do we make sure we don't retaliate against the wrong person or entity that did that?
There are a number of other things I have been working on. First and foremost is H. Res. 100. It is a resolution I introduced in the House with 19 other Members. It supports arms control and condemns Russia's purported suspension of its participation in the New START Treaty.
The current extension of the New START Treaty is set to expire in under a year, and anyone who remembers previous arms control negotiations will know that there is almost no time left to negotiate a subsequent treaty.
Additionally, any negotiations, whether with Russia, China, or any other country, will require partners who are willing to have discussions on arms control, which is something that is far easier said than done.
This is not something where the two great men leading great nations can come together and strike a deal. The details matter. We have to have technical experts that we trust to go deep down into the weeds to have an agreement so they can come back and say this is a solid agreement we can trust.
It is a time when traditional channels of dialogue on arms control and strategic stability have been closed or quiet, and we are going to rely more than ever on keeping alternative channels open and keeping the expertise in place. Then when the time comes for these agreements, we have people we trust who can carry them out.
Mr. Speaker, nongovernmental organizations, scientists, and research institutions have kept this dialogue open even during the worst parts of the Cold War, and we are going to need to rely on them to fulfill these roles again.
Another crucial institution that we must continue to support in these times is the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency. We have already seen the incredibly hard work that Director General Grossi and his staff are putting in to responding to the Russian invasion of Ukraine with its many nuclear reactors and the myriad of other crises on their doorstep.
Mr. Speaker, that brings us to Iran. One of the proudest moments in my career was standing alongside Dr. Richard Garwin, who, as Representative McGovern mentioned, was often pointed to as the father of the hydrogen bomb and a strong advocate for nuclear nonproliferation. He stood by my side, along with Energy Secretary Dr. Ernest Moniz, as I announced my support for the Iran nuclear deal.
One of the tragedies of the recent past has been this President's abandonment of the Iran nuclear deal, which has gotten us into a heck of a pickle, as predicted by the people who actually understood what our true options were in that negotiation.
After the U.S. bombing of Iran, there has been an immense amount of debate about whether or not Iran's nuclear program was set back by a certain amount of time, whether it is years or whatever. The level of technical ignorance that has been displayed by this administration is, frankly, frightening. They have access to the best weapons designers in the world, and they are either not listening to them or not asking questions.
When you hear Secretary Rubio, for example, saying not to worry about their 60 percent enriched uranium inventory because they are going to have to convert it to metal and that will take years, anyone with knowledge of the history of the Manhattan Project knows that is not a major activity. Iran has done it for a long time. They know how to do it.
If you are only interested in converting from uranium hexafluoride to metal, a few tens of kilograms, which is what you need for your first set of weapons, this happens in a laboratory. It can happen in a congressional office. You don't need a big space for this.
The conversion of the uranium hexafluoride to what is called green salt, and the green salt to metal, is something that happens in a small industrial building. It can happen anywhere in any city in Iran, and it will be really hard to tell. We have not prevented them from doing what they have to do.
The enrichment level is another thing where we are seeing, frankly, technically ignorant statements made. We have three levels of uranium. Less than 20 percent is generally regarded as relatively safe and can be used in reactors without a lot of safeguards. When you get about 90 percent enriched uranium, that is the good stuff for really high- performance weapons.
What about in between? They have 60 percent uranium. Guess what? That is not weapons-grade, but it is weapons-usable. For example, the Hiroshima bomb was made with a mixture of 50 percent enriched uranium and higher enriched uranium.
The 60 percent enriched uranium that Iran has a significant inventory of is perfectly usable even for a simple Hiroshima-style gun-type device. Our leadership speaks in apparent ignorance of that fact, beating their chest and saying we set them back by decades, when that is not the case.
Just to give a sense of the scale, the 400 kilograms of uranium hexafluoride that the IAEA watched them enrich to 60 percent is stored conventionally in the United States in about 25 scuba tank-sized pressurized containers. Any five of those containers have enough uranium to make a Hiroshima-style nuclear weapon.
These things are not hard to smuggle. We will have a hard time convincing ourselves, in fact, that the Iranians haven't already done it.
Pretending like Iran does not have a credible threat and has no leverage is a dangerous and ignorant position for our government to be taking and one of the scariest things about the many threats that we face right now.
Those who don't know should go look at the Wikipedia article on the Hiroshima Little Boy bomb and the references in it. It is, unfortunately, very well-documented over the years because it is not the best weapon you can make, by far. You can make much more complex and efficient weapons, but the Iranians don't have to do that.
If they simply want to replicate what was done, they would get an old 155-millimeter howitzer, replace the explosive shell with some enriched--60 percent enriched will work just fine--uranium, shoot it into the right-shaped target, and they have something that is as effective as the Hiroshima weapon.
This is not a trivial risk. The only answer to this is negotiations, and we have to get very serious about that.
It is not something that the Iranians even have to test. We did not test the Hiroshima weapon. It was obviously going to work. The physics hasn't changed in the 80 years since then, so we are at a very uncertain position on that, and we shouldn't pretend otherwise.
We have also recently been hearing a lot of calls about the resumption of nuclear testing. This is particularly worrying because the move away from nuclear testing has been really one of the cornerstone successes of nonproliferation and nuclear security.
Just think of all the attention Donald Trump could get by giving the order that he wants to blow up a nuclear weapon just to make sure it works, or whatever it is. Yes, he would get a lot of attention that way.
Our country has a tremendous amount to lose if everyone begins nuclear testing again. The U.S., during the Cold War, conducted over 1,000 nuclear tests, far more than any other country, and we had much better instrumentation, knowing exactly what happened in those explosions.
The knowledge that we gained has allowed our Nation to maintain the safety, security, and effectiveness of our nuclear stockpile without any further testing. If we were to resume testing, the rest of the world would resume testing. I am sure they all have bomb designers that are just champing at the bit to get more data on exactly what happens if they explode one of their untested weapons.
If we do this, we would be giving away the most significant strategic advantage that our country has, which is this huge database of exactly what works and what does not work in detailed and very technologically aggressive designs for our nuclear weapons.
If we open that Pandora's box, every country that is nuclear-capable will say this is their opportunity to become coequal with the United States in knowledge of nuclear weapons. That will be yet another disaster for the proliferation regime.
The next few years are going to be crucial to making sure that the world we live in remains safe from the threat of nuclear weapons.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative McGovern for bringing us together to discuss this.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to join my colleagues and reinforce their warning and urgent call to action.
Mr. Speaker, today, we stand at a crossroads. The world is once again drifting toward a future where nuclear weapons are not just tools of deterrence but urgent threats hanging over every human life.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot afford to look away, not when the lessons of the past are still very visible amongst us. Look to the people of the Marshall Islands. Many of them are living in my district, part of our Hawaii ohana, whose lands became sacrifice zones in the name of power. Entire communities were displaced, and generations were scarred by radiation. The Bikini Atoll, once a paradise, became a proving ground for devastation.
These are not just theoretical consequences, lines on paper, assumptions, and equations. They were real, and they are very real still.
The United States and its allies conducted 318 nuclear tests in the Pacific islands. The people who lived on the islands lost their ancestral homes, now uninhabitable, and the people who were exposed to fallout were immediately sickened with ongoing, long-term impacts for human health, including increased rates of birth defects, genetic disorders, and secondary cancers.
The nuclear age taught us that while bombs may drop in seconds, their impact crosses centuries and generations, and now, instead of learning from history and learning from the mistakes of our past, we are poised to repeat it with greater risk, fewer safeguards, and far more at stake.
Today, the United States, Russia, and China inched closer to an unrestrained three-way arms race as we collectively spend well over $1 trillion on updated and new nuclear warheads and means of delivery. Just one of these programs, as was mentioned, the Sentinel intercontinental ballistic missile, will cost $141 billion according to the Department of Defense.
Keep in mind, Mr. Speaker, that is not even the bottom line. Their cost estimates keep growing and growing. A new arms race is a race with no finish line. Let us be clear: There are no winners, only losers in this race.
It doesn't have to be this way.
We must urgently renew and expand nuclear arms control treaties with both Russia and with China. The path to security lies not in new warheads or Golden Domes but in dialogue, transparency, and mutual restraint. We must invest as much into diplomacy and prevention as we do into silos and interceptors.
Let us be clear. All it takes is one bomb, one miscalculation, and one moment of madness, and everything--everything--will end.
The clock is ticking, but the future is still ours to shape. Let us choose wisdom over fear, peace over peril, and life over annihilation.
Mahalo to my colleague, Congressman McGovern, for organizing this Special Order hour.
I ask on August 6 and August 9, let us take a moment to pause and remember we do have a choice.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to, once again, call on the United States to join the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons and for all of the world's nuclear armed powers to adopt policies of mutual disarmament and abolition.
In a few short weeks we will mark the 80th anniversary of the only time nuclear weapons have been used in combat by the United States in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The fact is in 80 years since, we have only avoided nuclear war by sheer luck. As long as countries possess massive arsenals of world-destroying weapons, the risk of miscalculation and the risk of escalation is eternal.
In the last few years, we have seen multiple situations that remind us of the extent of this fragility and of the danger. Nuclear-armed India exchanged fire with nuclear-armed Pakistan just this year. Cooler heads prevailed, this time.
Nuclear-armed Israel conducted unilateral strikes on facilities in Iran. That war didn't go nuclear this time.
Nuclear-armed Russia continues its brutal war of conquest in Ukraine. We are avoiding escalations that increase the threats of nuclear war between Russia and the West so far.
The truth is, the era of nuclear weapons will only end in one of two ways. Either we will abolish these horrific weapons from the face of the Earth, or we will use them and abolish humanity instead.
The only sane position and the only legitimate position for anyone who values human life is abolition.
In addition, more than one-half of the countries in the world have now formally agreed signing on to the TPNW. We should join them.
That is because just as we have gotten terrifyingly close to nuclear war in
It is possible to disarm, and it is possible to abolish nuclear weapons. We only need the political will, and we need the urgency.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, you will note that I said the bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the only nuclear weapons used in combat, but they were not--we must be absolutely clear--the only times nuclear weapons have been used.
In fact, nuclear weapons have been used thousands of times, and their primary targets have been Americans. We also mark this month the 80th anniversary of the Trinity test in New Mexico. So we should remember that entire communities have been poisoned by these weapons right here in the United States. Entire generations have seen their families, their friends, and their classmates die of rare cancers caused by radiation exposure. They have been forced to drink poisoned water and breathe poisoned air.
The effects on the communities known as the downwinders have been catastrophic, and their suffering is still, sadly, mostly unknown in this country. We have made some small steps toward providing overdue compensation to these Americans, the first and the most consistent victims of our nuclear weapons program, but we still are a long way from justice.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. McGovern for hosting this Special Order hour tonight and for his years of principled leadership on this issue.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her remarks. We are living in a time when there is great polarization in our politics, but the issue that we are talking about here today is how to bring Democrats and Republicans together, because as Democrats and Republicans and liberals and conservatives we do have a mutual interest in survival. If nuclear weapons are ever used in this current day, then nobody wins.
What we are talking about is the salvation or the destruction of our civilization from nuclear death. The stakes could not be higher, and yet what is shocking to many of us is the lack of urgency and the lack of attention to this subject.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Michigan (Ms. Tlaib).
That is right, Mr. Speaker. There is a lack of urgency, and we need to move with urgency because a nuclear war cannot be won and would have catastrophic human consequences.
One warhead--one--has the power to wipe out an entire city. A full- scale nuclear war would devastate life as we know it.
Mr. Speaker, 80 years ago, the horrific U.S. bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki caused unimaginable death and immense human suffering, and survivors to this day face long-term health issues and radiation poisoning.
So 80 years after these atrocities, we must, as a Chamber, recommit our efforts to finally achieving the complete and total abolition of nuclear weapons worldwide. We must ensure these war crimes are never repeated anywhere.
Nuclear weapons are tools of death and destruction. They cannot be used without disastrous consequences that violate international law and our shared humanity.
The White House and Congress need to immediately work to negotiate new constraints to cap and reduce nuclear arsenals, especially with Russia and China. We must do everything in our power to prevent an unrestrained nuclear arms race.
It is absolutely terrifying that in the United States the President has the power to unilaterally decide to launch a nuclear weapon.
Think about that for one moment, Mr. Speaker. The use of just a fraction of the nuclear weapons we possess, most of which are ready to launch within minutes of an order from any President, including the current one, would lead to mass destruction of unprecedented global scale.
Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle should back commonsense efforts to prioritize nuclear disarmament and adopt measures to reduce the risk of nuclear war.
We must continue to work toward international agreements, Mr. Speaker, with all nine countries that possess nuclear weapons through comprehensive nuclear test ban treaties, as well as the treaty on prohibiting a nuclear weapon.
Again, we must come together. I cannot say this enough: The devastation and the consequences of any nuclear launch could be, again, life-changing around the world. We must continue to strive for a world free from the threat of nuclear war.
I cannot thank enough my colleague, Mr. McGovern, as he commits to banning nuclear weapons and, again, tries to save us from any kind of life-changing devastation to our world.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Congresswoman Tlaib and all of my colleagues who have been here today because this is the most important issue, quite frankly, facing our planet.
Mr. Speaker, we can never ignore the fact that behind the conference room discussions about the utility of nuclear weapons, behind the corporate lobbying for nuclear modernization spending, this is a story of human suffering.
The Nobel Committee awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize to the organization Nihon Hidankyo for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.
Nihon Hidankyo is a grassroots movement of atomic bomb survivors form Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In 2 weeks, members of this organization along with activists and citizens from Japan and around the world will gather in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on the 80th anniversary of the atomic bombings. They will amplify this clear and existential message: that nuclear weapons must never ever be used again.
This organization keeps alive the testimony of the ``survivors''; ``Hibakusha'' of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They are the witnesses to the indescribable, the unthinkable, the incomprehensible pain and suffering caused by nuclear weapons.
Nihon Hidankyo highlights the nuclear taboo, the concept that nuclear weapons should never be used, an idea that is under threat from the growth in nuclear arsenals around the world.
Among the organization's aims is an international treaty for nuclear disarmament. The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, or TPNW, was adopted on July 7, 2017, and entered into force on January 22, 2021. It is the first legally binding international agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons with the ultimate goal being their total elimination. Mr. Speaker, 73 nations are party to the treaty. The United States is not. Neither are the other eight nuclear powers.
We won't get there overnight, but we should not abandon the goal. My resolution, coauthored with the gentlewoman from Hawaii (Ms. Tokuda), H. Res. 317, calls for good faith negotiations with the other eight nuclear arms states to halt any further buildup of nuclear arsenals and to aggressively pursue a verifiable and irreversible agreement or agreements to verifiably reduce and eliminate their nuclear arsenals according to a negotiated timetable. I encourage my colleagues to support this resolution and join us in our efforts.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano).
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the ranking member of the Rules Committee, Mr. McGovern, for yielding. I thank him and the CPC for organizing this very important Special Order hour.
Next month marks 80 years since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These were the only times nuclear weapons have ever been used in war.
I have to say that this memorial, this memory, this 80th anniversary milestone is not just historical, it is somewhat personal and unexpectedly so, say, beginning in 2001, 2002 when at the age of 40, 41 I made my first visit to Japan.
I grew up as an American, a Japanese American. One of my grandparents, my only grandparent, my grandfather, Isao Takano, immigrated to the United States around 1916. He was born in 1898 in Japan, and he came from the environs of Hiroshima.
Growing up, we would go to his niece, my second cousin or I don't know how to kind of appropriate the right sort of familial designation of who is a cousin, a second cousin, but Kikue Takagi was my grandfather's niece who married an American and lived in Anaheim and worked at Disneyland.
We knew some facts, but we never in our times when we would get together for our family gatherings would we ever discuss what happened in Hiroshima. It wasn't until I was well into my adulthood on my first trip to Japan visiting Hiroshima and visiting Kikue, who was there taking care of her mother, that I learned that she was a ``survivor''; ``Hibakusha,'' that is the Japanese word for survivor, of the atom bomb.
She lived in the outskirts of Hiroshima. If you have been there, it is mountainous. It is a place, a delta, with five different rivers converging, and she lived in the outskirts. She was a middle school student. On the day that the bomb dropped, she was still ill, so much so that her mother said she didn't need to go into the city center to do her public service work. The middle schoolchildren were needed to clean up the debris of the area around the downtown of Hiroshima. They were doing an urban renewal project to widen the streets.
They knew, the people of Hiroshima, the political class knew that Hiroshima was a target because it was an industrial city. But little did they know that the teachers, the middle schoolteachers and the 13- year-olds who were there at the city center doing this public service work were all going to perish that day. My cousin survived because she stayed home at the behest of her mother.
She had not visited any of the memorials until I had arrived in the early 2000s. And I felt a tinge of guilt for asking her to do this because she had never really sort of delved into this history by visiting the memorial museum.
Riding over the bridge of one of the rivers to the museum the day that Kikue and I decided to go, she told me about how the river was not visible during the day that the bomb was dropped and the days afterward because of the number of bodies that just covered the surface of that water.
When you arrive at the memorial location, you can see bottles of water that many people who attend these memorials will leave for the thirsty souls of those who perished and those who were thirsty from the August heat.
I feel a deep obligation and responsibility to carry this memory forward. I remember as I crossed the bridge thinking to myself how I was personally connected by family to this historical event, that it was not something abstract. It was a moment that who I was, my identity, somewhat shifted and changed.
More than 200,000 people were killed, most of them civilians. Some died instantly. Others suffered for months or years from burns, radiation, and grief.
Mr. Speaker, 80 years after the erasure of two cities we have still not learned the lessons of these terrible bombings.
There are an estimated 13,400 nuclear warheads on Earth today. The United States and Russia hold more than 90 percent of them. Together, we control more than 12,000 warheads, and that is more than enough to end human civilization. While the United States and Russia maintain the largest stockpiles, China is rapidly building.
According to the Department of Defense, China's arsenal already has 500 operational warheads, and if current trends continue, it could surpass 1,000 by the year 2030.
This growth adds to global instability and makes the case for urgent diplomacy and arms control even stronger. Yet, the most important arms control treaty still in force between the United States and Russia is set to expire in less than 200 days.
If we let the New START Treaty expire, we will be left with no legal limits on the size of the two largest nuclear arsenals in the world. At the same time, we are seeing headlines about strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities.
These actions revive a dangerous question: Can we stop the spread of nuclear weapons through military force? I believe the answer is no. We cannot destroy knowledge with a bomb. We cannot erase a nuclear program by targeting one facility.
Strikes might delay a program, but they almost always provoke retaliation and harden resolve. They do nothing to build the kind of long-term trust and transparency that actually reduces nuclear risk.
That is why we need a strategy based on diplomacy, prevention, and protection. We know that this strategy can work because it did in the past. Iran's nuclear weapons program development ground to a halt under the Iran nuclear deal. It was only after President Trump ripped up the accord that Iran set itself on the pathway that it is on today.
The recent strikes reinforce the military theocracy's paranoia that the only pathway to secure the regime's long-term survival is through the development of a nuclear program. Like I said before, if a nation has enough willpower and know-how, they will develop a nuclear weapon. That means that the United States' national security cannot solely rest on deterrence. We should lead by example.
That means modernizing verification tools, supporting the international inspectors, and investing in the diplomatic capacity to negotiate real agreements. It also means rethinking how we can make decisions about the use of nuclear weapons.
Mr. Speaker, Congress has a role to play. We cannot stay silent while the risks grow and the guardrails fall away. The American people deserve transparency about how nuclear launch decisions are made and who is involved in making them. This is not just a matter of policy. It is a matter of survival.
Mr. Speaker, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not mere tragedies. They were warnings. The people who died there cannot speak for themselves, but we can speak for the future they were denied. We can choose a path that avoids repeating the worst mistake in human history.
Let us honor the lives lost not only with remembrance but with responsibility. Let's choose diplomacy over destruction, prevention over provocation, and peace over peril.
Let me return back to that scene of riding over that bridge over the river with my cousin Kikue and the thought that I had that every world leader who has some control over a nuclear arsenal should make a commitment to visit Hiroshima, to walk the grounds and understand what happened there and in Nagasaki. I think that is the only way that one has the moral stature and authority to be a leader of a country that has a nuclear arsenal.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his eloquent remarks. There is so much more that needs to be said, yet our time is coming to a close.
Let me end by saying that when I was in college in the late 1970s, I interned for Senator George McGovern, no relation, but a leader on arms control issues. I was able to accompany him to a debate with William F. Buckley at Yale University titled ``Resolved: That the SALT Talks Are in the Interests of U.S. National Security.'' Of course, the SALT talks were the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks.
George McGovern closed the debate--and I remember this like it was yesterday--I thought very powerfully. He said that he recalls that when he was a young Senator in 1963, they were debating the Limited Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, and Senator Everett Dirksen, who was the Republican Senate minority leader at the time, ``took to the floor to close the debate. He said that he had just reread John Hersey's `Hiroshima,' the description of what happened to that great city, the morning after--the scene of one family sitting charred around the breakfast table; out in the yard, bits and pieces of children's clothing; the broken arm of a doll; toys and debris scattered over the landscape. And he said: `I thought about that scene, and I said that someday Everett Dirksen will be buried in Illinois, and when that happens, I don't want them to put on my gravestone: `He knew about this, and he didn't care.' ''
Mr. Speaker, we all know the realities of nuclear weapons and their devastation, and the fact that if they were ever used, it would result in the total annihilation of our planet.
The question for all of us is: Are we going to do anything about it?
I said earlier that one of the most troubling factors in this whole topic is the lack of urgency here in Congress. We don't talk about this. We are not pushing for arms control. We are not setting goals for the total abolition of nuclear weapons. Instead, we are, just out of habit, voting in favor of military budgets that contribute to the problem.
I think, at this moment, as we approach the 80th anniversaries of these horrible events, this is a time for us to step up and to do something before it is too late.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to commemorate and have moments of silence to remind their constituencies of the anniversaries of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I urge them to join with us in a bipartisan way in doing something about it.
George McGovern ended his debate with William Buckley at Yale by saying this: ``Many years ago, in ancient wisdom, it was said: I have set before thee two choices, life or death. Therefore, choose life that thee and thy seed may live.''
Mr. Speaker, that is the choice I want the United States to make at this moment. I hope that we are up to the task, and I hope that we don't just continue to ignore the perils of nuclear warfare.
Mr. Speaker, in 2010, California voters overwhelmingly voted to establish the Citizens Redistricting Commission. The voters said that they wanted to take the process of drawing district lines out of the hands of politicians. They said that voters should choose their politicians, that politicians shouldn't choose their voters.
That commission has drawn our district lines through the last two rounds of redistricting. Yet, the Governor of California has now announced a plan to abolish the Citizens Redistricting Commission and to seize its powers for himself. He initially proposed simply ignoring the commission, ignoring the constitution, and overriding his maps with those that he and the legislature drew. Yet, apparently, someone told him that that would get immediately struck down in court.
What they are now plotting is a special election where they will use confusing ballot language and other means of deception to try to convince voters--to fool voters--into dismantling the very independent commission that they recently established.
The point of this is that the Governor would like to reduce the representation of Republicans in Congress in our State to 3 Members out of 52, so that Republicans will hold 6 percent of the seats even though Republicans typically get over 40 percent of the vote in statewide elections. It could be the single most egregious act of corruption in the history of our State.
Mr. Speaker, you don't need to take my word for that. You can take the word of Common Cause, which is a group that typically, almost always, aligns with Democrats on elections and voting issues. Its executive director said: ``Point blank, it is a dangerous move.''
Or take the word of Patricia Sinay, a Democrat sitting on the Citizens Redistricting Commission, who said: ``The very purpose of the State's independent redistricting commission is to protect voters from partisan power grabs like this. If this were to succeed, it would set a dangerous precedent for suppressing voters across the Nation.''
Mr. Speaker, this is a moment for every Californian and every American of decency, regardless of party affiliation, to speak out against the abject corruption that our Governor is attempting.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Heather and Jeremy Reynolds, the first- and second-place winners of the 69th Annual Tevis Cup, a grueling 100-mile endurance trail ride from Robie Park to Auburn, held on July 12 of this year.
This year's competition proved even more challenging than usual, with the heat and rocky road providing unforgiving conditions for all competitors.
Of the 105 entrants, only 43 were able to complete the ride to Auburn. However, the couple persevered through, crossing the finish line in 17 hours 45 minutes.
Over the span of more than 20 years of competitive riding, the two have accumulated countless awards, including eight Tevis Cups and five Haggin Cups. Despite their many accolades, the one challenge they had never conquered was crossing the finish line together. In this year's competition, they did, crossing the finish line with their hands joined together, marking an astounding new achievement that has been a goal of theirs for over two decades.
Together, Heather and Jeremy Reynolds embody perseverance, teamwork, and competitive excellence. Their achievement serves not just as personal fulfillment but also as an inspiration to their peers, fellow competitors, and our community at large.
It is an honor to represent remarkable individuals such as Heather and Jeremy in Congress. Therefore, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I proudly extend my heartfelt congratulations to Heather and Jeremy Reynolds for their exceptional athletic achievement at the 69th annual Tevis Cup and commend them for their unwavering dedication to the tradition and sport of equine endurance riding.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to try to do a run-through of a couple things here. I am going to try to walk through some economics. Then I am going to actually try to walk through some warnings that are in the documents that are around us that very few people seem to bother to read. Then I am going to actually do some things that are hopeful because I think sometimes I am a bit dour, and I don't do enough of this.
First off, in August, Republicans are going to go out and tell the morality of people's taxes not going up next year. What we did in the reconciliation budget: incentives to invest in America, to build new plants of equipment, for working people to have some things to actually draw them back into the labor force, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, some of these things.
If you actually look at one of the reasons those things are in there, and we are actually starting to see some of the models of the economic side, seeing some very optimistic things that we think are going to change labor force participation, small changes.
The left will actually sort of do a bit of schizophrenia such as you cut spending over here, but too much of this money is borrowed. I agree too much is borrowed. I want to cut more spending, but then you attack us when we try to actually point out misalignment, bad acts.
What was the report that just came out a couple days ago, where we found 2.8 million of our brothers and sisters enrolled in subsidized ACA plans as well as Medicaid plans.
They don't want to talk about that because it screws up their pitch when you actually walk through what we see in the math. We know the American people believe and understand the morality and the great economics of encouraging those that are able-bodied, able to work to participate in society.
If anyone is a geek out there--it is probably 4 or 5 years old--the University of Chicago, four of their Ph.D. economists wrote a brilliant paper talking about: If you actually ask people to participate in society, in the economy, to take a job, even if you give them welfare or government subsidies, because they have an attachment to the economy, to work, at the
There was a time when it was actually the left's ethos, that the argument of work is moral. Somehow that left the Democratic Party.
Let's walk through a couple things. I have used this board for months now. It will probably be the last time I use it. Understand baseline over the next 10 years, according to Congressional Budget Office, we are going to spend $86 trillion. Think of the screaming and gnashing of teeth and protests that are all ginned up, you cut $800 billion from this, and a little bit from a couple other things, it was less than 2 percent of that spending.
Are you telling me that the left doesn't believe that if you are spending $86 trillion as your baseline spending, and understand--I am going to show you some of the charts and how much of this is basically demographics. We got old. Our healthcare costs money.
I am going to show you a couple charts that I really want folks to understand. But for the American people, when you see someone from the Democratic Party behind a microphone saying, they cut spending. It is this off of the base of this. It is the lack of understanding.
One of the points that you keep trying to make over and over again is, was it the Democrats' plan that they wanted to raise taxes on everyone? Because that was automatic; that was coming at the end of this year.
Your taxes were going up back to the pre-2017 tax reform. Every once in a while, you will get someone who says, well, you shouldn't have extended the tax policy for the highest income. Okay. That is a tiny, tiny portion of the total dollar amount. When they had control of everything, they didn't do it.
But just from a point--and this is more for everyone to understand, particularly even staff. You see the blue here, nondefense/defense, every dime of that is borrowed. I think this year we will probably borrow, let's call it, $400 billion for Medicare. We are going to actually hold a contest shortly to see who can guess the final borrowing for this year.
The economy has actually been pretty good. We are tracking customs receipts. Many of you think of it as tariffs. We may have another $70 billion on top of baseline. It is probably going to come at $2.2 trillion of borrowing this year.
This doesn't have the tax reform, many of those things built into that base. How do I help folks understand? Here is where we are already at, and this will make sense in a little while.
For every dollar we take in in tax receipts, we spend $1.39. We spend $1.39 for every dollar we take in tax receipts. If you saw that previous chart, you would have noticed that only about 24 to 26 percent is in discretionary, what we really get to vote on. That is why we end up having to use what we call these reconciliation budgets.
The 1974 Budget Control Act allows us to move a bill, if it has certain fiscal properties to it, through the Senate without having to get 60 votes. It is all a dance to deal with the 60 votes. If we were actually a little more honest about math, maybe we wouldn't have to do this dance.
Why this is important is--I am a little freaked out because this is the MedPAC report. I know every Member of Congress has read every word of it because it is really important. There is a chart in here that if you actually read the footnotes--now, look, for anyone that is paying attention, I am trying to bring Medicare Advantage back where the incentives actually are about helping populations be healthier and not about risk scoring them that--it is a concentration of illness, but the incentives are that if populations are healthier, the plans can make more money.
But inside here is also a great data point, Mr. Speaker. This year, we are going to spend, let's call it, a trillion dollars on Medicare.
How many of you would guess what we are going to spend in 7 years? The model in here says in 7 years, we go from $1 trillion a year on Medicare to $2 trillion. We double Medicare spending in 7 years.
Now, part of that is demographics. Starting, functionally, 30 years ago, we started having a lot fewer children. So if we took today and stepped back 20 years ago, we had about 35 million of our brothers and sisters who were 65 years old, 30 years ago. Today, we are approaching about 70 million of our brothers and sisters who are 65 and up, so more than double.
Go back 20 years ago, the number of 18 years olds we had is pretty much the same as the number of 18 year olds we have today. Next year, the number of 18 year olds goes down, the year after that it goes down, and the year after that it goes down.
Is that Republican or Democrat or is it just demographics? It is a little hard to campaign on that. It is a little hard to attack the other side, but the fact of the matter is, if we all read our data, we don't have a choice.
This is the Social Security Medicare actuary report, another thing I know every Member here has actually read. Seven years from now, the Medicare part A trust fund, which is about 38 percent of Medicare spending--the rest comes out of the general fund and members' participation, I think is about 15 percent, the fees they pay--but that 38 percent, that trust fund is gone in 7 years, meaning hospitals, surgery centers will have an 11 percent cut, but I know we are all going to talk and work on how we are going to revolutionize the cost of healthcare.
One of the classic problems around here, Mr. Speaker, is for some reason the left--and many of us on the right--we talk about healthcare as a finance problem. The ACA was a finance bill. It was who had to pay, who got subsidized. Medicare for All is a finance bill. I would argue the Republican alternative from a few years ago was a finance bill. It had a little better actuarial curve, but it was a finance bill: who got subsidized, who has to pay.
I beg of our brothers and sisters around here, open up your brain. We live in a time of miracles. We are going to have some conversations about how you change the view of healthcare. It is all about what we pay. Can we change the cost by doing it better, faster, cheaper with technology and our brothers and sisters being healthier?
If we don't, we will have problems like what is shown on this chart. Today, 16 percent of all tax receipts go just to interest. In 9 budget years, actually 9 years straight up, in 9 years, 30 percent of all U.S. tax receipts go just to interest. Heaven forbid, if we had a 1 point movement in interest rates, my math is 45 percent of all tax receipts would go to interest.
When you see people come behind these microphones, how many people are saying: Hey, how do we convince the bond markets? The bond markets are basically on the edge of running this country now because when you borrow $6 billion a day--next year, I think we borrow $6.5, maybe $7 billion a day. In 9 years, we are over $10 billion a day. Let's see. That is, what, $70,000 to $72,000 a second.
I have this aggregator on my news, and there are some crazy articles. A couple leftwing economists are saying: Borrowing doesn't matter, people are always willing to buy U.S. debt.
Okay. Let's pretend these leftwing economists are right. We can continue to borrow and borrow and borrow. They purposely sort of forget the punch line. Let's say we could borrow forever. At what point are there no more services, purchases, government helping our brothers and sisters because it is all covering the interest costs on the bonds?
So let's say--I think you are a little insane--you believe we can just borrow forever, you are a monetarist, but even the fragility in the monetarists, you saw in the previous few years of inflation that their model didn't work. Also, in addition to that, we are going to pay the interest. In 9 years, baseline under a favorable interest rate model, 30 percent of all U.S. tax receipts go to interest and, Heaven forbid, if interest rates were to come up 1 percent because we have to--this coming year, I think we are going to refinance $11 trillion, the year after that I think it is $13 trillion because we stay so short on the financing term, we sell short-term debt instead of longer-term debt because it turns out there is not as big an appetite. We are in this world where in 9
I am just going to run through a number of these things fairly quickly just to sort of get to the point. National health expenditures as a percentage of GDP, this will make sense in a moment. In 2033--so functionally, what, 8 years from now--over 20 percent of the economy will just be healthcare. Why?
The Joint Economic Committee 2 years ago wrote a report--and I thought I was going to get the crap kicked out of me, but we spent months and months and months grabbing every bit of literature and saying: Can someone tell me what obesity costs America? What it costs society? What it costs family formation? What does it cost? We came up with a number 2 years ago of $9.1 trillion in additional healthcare costs. We had some mortality statistics, the number of multiple chronic conditions, the misery out there.
What is fascinating is we have some articles right now talking about that we may have actually hit something crazy, and it is an odd way to phrase it, but it is what the researchers think, we may have already hit what we call peak obesity.
When we published the report 2 years ago, we still had about 4 or 5 more years of growth of obesity. In some States, actually approaching 50 percent of their population are technically obese under the BMI calculations.
It looks like in the last 12 months we may have started to bend the curve. We are trying to recalculate. Is this a sign of incredible hope that we know so much misery in our society--because there is a brilliant paper from about 7 years ago saying the leading contributor to income inequality in America, it turns out, isn't education. It turns out it is health.
When you think about it, the cascade of costs of someone with severe diabetes, when we already know diabetes is 33 percent of U.S. healthcare. What if things like this actually could help our brothers and sisters? Is this Republican or Democrat? It is just good policy. It has just always been uncomfortable to talk about.
Maybe society is starting to open up, saying, hey, maybe a healthier society actually is a really good, really moral thing.
Look, as we walk through these, I want to come back and sort of hit a punch line here. These charts have been available to us for years. The curve keeps getting steeper. When you have someone say they are a protector of Medicare, that is great. I am with you. It is an earned benefit. We made a societal promise, are they telling the truth about its financing? Oh, David, we can't do that, someone will say something mean about us.
In 7 years, what else will also be empty? The Social Security trust fund.
I am sure you all dove into the Social Security Medicare actuary report and saw the point in there where it says in 2032, 2033--actually we think it is 2032--our brothers and sisters on Social Security will take a 24 percent cut. Our model says we double senior poverty in America. That is absolutely immoral.
Have you also read the papers, the scale of tax hikes, of policy? Now, is the left offering to work with those of us on the right who are willing to step on the third rail and do the moral thing to actually take these on? Hell, no.
Mr. Speaker, I have talked to so many people on the Committee on Ways and Means and other committees who basically look at me in terror and run out of the room.
The political consultants care more about the power of the politics than the fact that in 7 years, Medicare is $2 trillion a year. In 7 years, the Medicare trust fund is empty. In 7 years, the Social Security trust fund is empty.
In the first full year, if we want to backfill that shortfall on Social Security, one of the rough numbers we have is $618 billion. Basically, what is that? It is two-thirds of what the entire defense budget is.
There is a lack of understanding of the scale of almost the dystopianism that comes from what happens when these trust funds are empty.
To the poor person trying to take my words down, I apologize.
I am going to skip over some of the other charts.
Mr. Speaker, you get the punch line. In the next decade, the vast majority of debt is driven by interest and healthcare costs. We are often very uncomfortable talking about it.
Let's actually talk about things that are great and that if we would get the policy right, we could lower that healthcare cost. It is not just an argument about who gets subsidized and who gets financed. It is what would be really good for society and really good for the budget.
We all saw The Economist article the last couple of days that talked about the miracle of how much the statistical benefits were having on the number of cures for cancer, particularly lung cancer and blood cancers, and their model that we are on the cusp of having major breakthroughs.
We saw this article a couple of days ago about a Microsoft platform. I didn't even know they were specializing in this. What was stunning about the datasets they had in here was that AI systems diagnosed patients four times more accurately than a human doctor.
I just upset some of my brothers and sisters in the doc caucus, but the data is the data. Mr. Speaker, should we legalize technology? If I have something I can blow into called a Breath Biopsy and if it is statistically as accurate or more accurate than a human and knows what I have, should it be allowed to prescribe?
It is uncomfortable, but it would help crash the cost of healthcare. It would actually help us with the fact that we have a shortage of medical professionals.
We are on the cusp of these things. As a matter of fact, that technology has been around for 5 years except it is functionally illegal. We don't reimburse it, and we don't allow it to prescribe. We are on the cusp.
An hour ago, Sam Altman with OpenAI was down the hallway. He and I had a few minutes of conversation about a new healthcare stat that is going to go public in about a month. He seemed incredibly optimistic that its accuracy will be off the charts.
Should we legalize the use of technology to help our society be healthier? Should we allow it to prescribe? It is uncomfortable because this place is a protection racket. We have to understand. Congress is mostly about one thing. It is about money. The left pretends it isn't. The right pretends it isn't. It is about money.
When we start to say maybe we can use technology as a competition to help our brothers and sisters be healthier and, therefore, change the cost of healthcare, somebody is going to say: I make money on that. You are now going to have me compete against a data system that is more accurate than I am?
We see it over and over. A new Apple Watch AI model can reveal hidden health conversations. Here are a couple things I have been most interested in the last couple of years. There is a great article. I did a whole speech on it a couple of years ago.
AI discovered a whole new categories of antibiotics. Remember we were all panic-stricken that we had diseases and bacterial infections that we didn't have antibiotics for. The antibiotics weren't working. AI discovered a whole new category of antibiotics that the literature said it would take humans 20 years to develop.
Instead of being afraid of the technology, maybe we should get our heads straightened up. In our society we have a shortage of young people. Baby boomers like me with gray hair are getting older, and we are going to consume a lot more healthcare. Can we embrace the technology? That technology sets us free when we start to realize the things that are going on.
We just had a doctor of radiology in our office. He walked us through the statistical abstract of breast cancer and the scans and showed that his AI platform was remarkably more accurate. It is cheaper, faster, and more accurate. Why wouldn't we embrace it? We don't reimburse it.
The barriers to entry here are protection rackets saying we are not fighting
We really are on the edge of miracles. How do I get the left and the right to understand the math is the math? Demographics are the primary driver of U.S. sovereign debt. It is hard to campaign against the other side. Maybe we can take a couple of months off and actually do good, quality policy and legalize properly vetted and properly certified AI to prescribe.
This August, with the wearables, I am going to do an experiment with this Oura Ring. I am buying some Dexcoms to manage my glucose. Have we all seen the app where we can take a picture of food and it calculates glucose and calories?
How can we create the incentives? Maybe we should look at the ACA. Instead of just smoking in three age categories, we can add a fifth category that is an incentive for our brothers and sisters to manage their health.
Mr. Speaker, 16 percent of U.S. healthcare spending is people who are not taking their drugs for hypertension and are not taking their statin. Mr. Speaker, 16 percent of U.S. healthcare spending is over $600 billion a year.
There are solutions. We can make a difference. Embrace the technology. Change the cost. Have a healthier society. It is the most powerful thing we can do for U.S. sovereign debt.
Mr. Speaker, I am deeply concerned about the devastating impact that President Trump's reckless tariff policies are having on our American automotive industry and its workers.
The latest financial figures from Jeep Stellantis, for example, the proud maker of Jeep and Ram vehicles--and they are so popular--paints a deeply disturbing picture. Nearly $2.7 billion in losses are tied directly to these tariffs. That translates into plant shutdowns, canceled programs, and over 900 American workers already laid off.
Similarly, the General Motors chief executive officer said tariffs cost GM $1.1 billion this quarter and that the next quarter will be worse. This is real money.
In an industry that America has been striving to bring back to full production in this country, we have lost so many jobs abroad to cheap labor and places that have no labor rights. This is what happens with tariffs when we lead with flashy headlines instead of well-thought-out trade strategy.
Tariffs without a plan don't punish China. They don't balance our trade accounts. Our trade accounts get worse. They punish Toledo. Bad tariff policy punishes manufacturing America.
These tariffs punish Ohio. They punish Michigan. They punish Indiana. They punish Illinois, America's manufacturing heartland. Tariffs punish Missouri. They punish Wisconsin.
They punish every worker on the line who is just trying to build a better life for themselves. The families and the workers who work in these plants do hard work. They deserve to earn a fair wage with good working conditions and benefits, including health and retirement benefits.
Mr. Speaker, American workers need real trade reform, balanced trade accounts, and sensible tariff policies, not gimmicks. I urge the Trump administration to stop the damage now before the bleeding gets worse.
Our chief trading partner in northern Ohio is Canada. We like Canada. Our industry is integrated. Parts pass over the border sometimes six or seven times. Tariffs make no sense in an integrated economy.
The American automotive industry needs investment here at home, on our continent, not more outsourcing. We don't need that. We need job insourcing before more jobs disappear and more families pay the price.
Our communities need economic certainty, not higher prices, not pink slips, not utter chaos, and not tariff regimes that change every couple of days. America needs a trade and tariff regime that yields good jobs, well-paid workers, and prices for cars, trucks, and consumer goods that Americans can afford to buy.
I urge Members of this House and the Trump administration to take a look at what is happening in the real economy. Let's fix it before it gets much worse. America doesn't need that.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the new horizons of advancing geothermal energy.
Geothermal energy is one of the most fascinating, promising, yet underused clean energy sources in our country. The problem with it? You can't see it.
You can't see it, so a lot of people, when they are walking, when they are in the woods, when they are going to work, they never think about the power of the Earth. Beneath our feet, due to the temperature differentials between the air we breathe and the temperatures in the soil, lies a constant supply of heat from the Earth's core.
In developed communities, we have vast subterranean water and wastewater lines that have been built over the last hundred years. Not just in this country but all over the world where we have more developed societies, there is waste energy that is renewable, reliable, and constantly available in those vast, underground, big pipes that run through all of our cities and towns.
Geothermal energy doesn't depend on the weather. It doesn't depend on the season or geographical conditions. It exists as a consistent and dependable source for a clean energy grid. When you go underground, generally, you have a 45- to 75-degree constant temperature all year long.
The United States has enormous untapped geothermal potential, enough to power millions of homes while slashing greenhouse gas emissions and lowering energy bills. We estimate--just think about this--Cleveland, Ohio, a big city--I had the privilege of representing part of it for a long time. There, their water and wastewater purification systems are the highest cost for that city.
The energy cost of wastewater processing is the largest cost in any city. Think about that. Every year, the purified water is thrown back into the lake when it leaves the plant. That city throws into Lake Erie the equivalent of a waste heat load of nearly 400,000 barrels of oil annually. Think about that. That is waste heat that we, as a country, could be capturing.
That is just one untapped location along just one great lake, Lake Erie. Imagine if we could add in Cleveland, Lorain, Avon Lake, Sandusky, Oregon, and Toledo in Ohio. That doesn't even count going north up into Detroit and, on the north side of Lake Erie, the cities in Canada.
There is a whole lot of energy wasted, being dumped into the lake. We have to capture it.
By investing in geothermal technology, communities across our country and the world can strengthen energy security; reduce reliance on dirty fuels; create good-paying jobs in engineering, drilling, and maintenance; and lower energy costs for industry, public facilities, neighborhoods, and all kinds of companies.
Geothermal energy has a small land footprint. It can even be co- located with other renewables or energy-hungry data centers, which so need it.
If we are serious about building a resilient energy-independent future, we need an all-of-the-above energy strategy, including unpacking the power that is already beneath us in the Earth and being wasted.
Check out Vancouver, Canada, and what it has accomplished with geothermal energy since the 2010 Olympics. They have really had a plan and strategy that is remarkable.
Check out a city in Europe called Szeged, in Hungary. That is Toledo, Ohio's sister city for 40 years.
The good news is the Trump administration appears ready to posture across America to draw forth geothermal power, and we are interested in doing exactly that, particularly in manufacturing America.
I am privileged to also represent a vast agricultural region in grain drying. It is so expensive when we have to dry corn, soybeans, and so forth. The agricultural community uses huge amounts of energy.
Let's create new jobs. Let's lower the consumer's energy bills. Let's
Mr. Speaker, I thank you for letting me put on the record the future for this country in energy, including geothermal energy.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary life and legacy of Ohio State Senator Marigene Valiquette, a towering figure in Ohio's politics and history and a trailblazer for women across Ohio and our Nation.
Born and raised in Toledo, Ohio, Marigene broke barriers as the longest serving woman in the history of the Ohio Legislature. With her intelligence, fierce conviction, and unmatched oratory--she was a tough lawyer--she served our community for 24 consecutive years, often as the only woman in the Ohio Senate. Can you imagine that?
She was a champion for working families and labor rights, a defender of women's rights, and an early advocate for the equal rights amendment. Her work helped create the Ohio Lottery to support education. She never wavered in her fight for fairness, dignity, and opportunity for all.
Though she chose a quiet retirement, her impact will echo for years and generations to come. She was always present. She always cared. She took her family's experience and moved it into the highest levels of lawmaking in the State of Ohio.
May she rest in peace, and may her courage, her grit, and her fierce dedication inspire us all. We miss her, and we know that her work in Ohio has made a difference in the lives of our 12 million people.
Mr. Speaker, I am unwell today, so I am going to make this speech short. I am going to cover three short topics.
The first topic is, 5 years ago yesterday, there was a horrific incident that happened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Bernell Trammell, who was holding a Donald Trump sign, was assassinated.
Somebody came out on a bicycle with a mask over his head. We don't even know if he was a Black man or a White man, but he had a mask over his head. He saw a guy named Bernell Trammell holding a sign for Trump, and that person came up and killed Bernell Trammell.
Bernell Trammell was kind of an iconoclast. Bernell Trammell was a Rastafarian. He was for Black Lives Matter and frequently endorsed Democrat politicians, but for whatever reason, Bernell Trammell was in the very liberal east side of Milwaukee or the Riverwest neighborhood in Milwaukee, very, very leftwing. Bernell Trammell swam upstream and decided to carry a Donald Trump sign, and he was assassinated.
This is the type of thing that, as we see America decline, we ought to be talking more about. It is the type of thing that happens in Mexico. It is the type of thing that happens in Honduras where during elections you can expect that somebody will be assassinated. You wouldn't think it was happening in the United States, Mr. Speaker.
One of the things we have to take into account when we look at this situation is it is not only something you would expect to happen in a Third World country, Mr. Speaker, but I felt at the time the liberal establishment in Milwaukee didn't treat it differently from any other murder. When we begin to shoot people for carrying a yard sign of people we don't like, then we are in new territory, but shot he was.
I went down and saw his neighborhood. We cannot allow this to go on. We cannot allow these people to do such a thing. I don't like talking or describing people as Black or White, but, in my opinion, at that time in 2020, the Democratic Party was afraid of some Black people voting for Trump. I wondered if that is one of the reasons why they decided to target Bernell Trammell.
They shot him dead. The establishment in Milwaukee at that time implied that perhaps the reason he was shot had nothing to do with politics. We don't know his politics, just because he was carrying a Trump sign doesn't mean that he was shot for carrying a Trump sign. Of course, he was shot for carrying a Trump sign in this very liberal neighborhood. They have pictures of it. The guy came up on a bicycle.
Mr. Speaker, you hear about people being shot when somebody shoots out of a car, but here he was shot by somebody on a bicycle, so it had to be somebody in the neighborhood.
I will say this: There was a time when Republicans stepped up and put up a given amount for available people if somebody could turn in the person who shot Bernell Trammell. I will say right now, I intend to, tomorrow and next Monday, find some people to put together and put out a $30,000 bonus to anybody who can do something that leads to the conviction of the person who shot Bernell Trammell. I am contacting the Milwaukee Police Department there. I am told sometimes in cold cases people could be making a little more progress if $30,000 was thrown out there.
I expect that, hopefully, we will make some sort of a difference. Like I said, this is a guy on a bicycle. It is not like somebody did a drive-by out of a car and was gone right after. Apparently, this guy lived within a few blocks of where Bernell was shot.
Bernell Trammell, by the way, owned a print shop, so he had a commercial property there that people were aware of. Somebody has to know more. Somebody had to see where this bicyclist went.
Presumably somebody told the bicyclist: We have to kill this guy. We can't have him elevating the number of people who are voting for Donald Trump in this radical, liberal area that 15 to 20 percent saw.
In any event, let's not forget about it. The Republican Party should never forget about Bernell Trammell.
The next thing I want talk about here that kind of bothers me is when I think of the conservative Republican movement, of which I consider myself one, which aims so low below the target.
A couple of weeks ago we had a newspaper article dealing with the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court is allowing parents to opt their children out of graphic LGBTQ books in Montgomery County, Maryland.
This was supposed to be a great conservative victory that a second grade child did not have to read books that were clearly designed to promote a sexual lifestyle, and Republicans considered this a great victory.
It really bothers me that Republicans consider this a great victory.
Was this a great victory?
Because of the Supreme Court decision, we wind up having maybe, I don't know, maybe 1 out of 20 parents who are on the ball enough to say that parents are not going to be forced into a situation in which their children have to read LGBTQ books.
That is preposterous. It never should have happened in the first place, but, instead, they are pretending that this is a great victory.
Another thing about this so-called great victory is that three of the nine Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that this was no big deal and that, in fact, parents shouldn't be able to object to their children reading books of a sexual nature in first or second grade or up to fifth grade, apparently.
That is almost beyond belief how far down we have come as a society. The conservative news media, FOX News, that type of thing, thought this was a victory.
Mr. Speaker, can you believe that?
We are handing out LGBTQ books to first and second graders, and the Supreme Court rules, with three Justices dissenting, that we don't have to have children go here, and if 5 percent or 4 percent of the parents opt out, that is a great victory?
Is that what America has come down to?
I would hope the comatose clergy in this country would wake up and demand that schools not do any of this stuff and begin to put elementary
So let's dial it up, America.
Let's dial it up, conservative news media.
This was a horrific sign that three Supreme Court Justices would have the nerve to say that parents shouldn't be able to object to this, much less the idea it is even in the schools in the first place, to be objected to or otherwise.
So there is your second issue of the day, Mr. Speaker.
The conservatives should wake up.
The comatose people should wake up.
The comatose clergy should say: We do not have to have LGBTQ books in fifth grade, fourth grade, third grade, and down to second grade.
Now, my third topic tonight is that we passed a great big, beautiful bill. I voted for the great big, beautiful bill. There were a lot of things in the great big, beautiful bill, and there were things that were highly questioned.
There is no question the number one defeat that I had in the great big, beautiful bill was spending money on what they call low-income housing tax credits in which a property developer was, with some conditions, given tax credits equal to 70 percent of the cost of a building.
In other words, he got to build the building, but the government would pay for 70 percent of the building. That is preposterous.
Prior to us increasing the amount of credits, I felt that I was in good shape. We had the Heritage Foundation editorialize against it. The Wall Street Journal editorialized against it. The Cato Institute editorialized against it. I thought it was all just completely common sense. Not to mention, the average Congressman should say it is not up to the government to pay 70 percent of a private citizen's building.
But that is what we have. The Republicans--when the bill left the House at that point about $12 billion a year was spent on this. The Republicans--and we were told and given pep talks about how we are going to cut spending: Man, we are going to cut spending. Wow, this is historic. Actually, increased spending on low-income housing tax credits in the House. That is preposterous.
Then we sent it over to the Senate, and I was hoping that a couple buddies over there were on my side so that at least we would go back to where we started in the Senate. But no, in the Senate, the free- spending Republicans went up again. It is something we ought to spend a little bit more time looking at, how this was able to happen here. With all the conservative think tank types explaining this train wreck why-- anybody with an ounce of common sense realizes it is a train wreck--the Republicans went ahead and upped spending on this program first in the House and then in the Senate.
I hope the press corps is not going to forget about this program and hope they continue to follow it. The Washington Post, of all newspapers, pointed out, looking at about four or five different projects in the Washington, D.C., area they found that the cost of some of these was over $1.2 million a unit. Is that possible that at the time we had this supposedly tight budget we are going to spend over $1.2 million per unit? It is just unbelievable.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to give you a bonus on something I noticed when I was back home. My good friend from Ohio decided to talk a little bit about all the wonderful things we could do with gambling proceeds.
When I was first involved in politics gambling was considered a sin, and it was against the law because we knew we were taking money from the poorest people. Now, at least in Wisconsin we have gone from I believe one small casino to it has to be 15 casinos, including some huge casinos. In Wisconsin they have separate slot machines in many bars. And in helpful Wisconsin, they sell scratch-offs in gas stations throughout the district.
The reason it was brought up to me is because I notice that in some of these convenience stores they are now selling $50 scratch-offs. Can you believe the horrible State of Wisconsin is selling $50 scratch- offs? My goodness, they are just shameful, the way they take advantage of the poor and the dumb. It is just horrible. I don't think we would have put up with that when I first got into politics, but apparently Tony Evers thinks it is a great way to get more State money and to take advantage of people who are buying $50 lottery tickets.
In any event, it is not maybe the biggest problem in America, but the number of people who are losing money at these slot machines and scratch-offs is not a small number. It is not something we should be proud of. I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the Democratic Party feels it is a great way to increase funding for schools and take advantage of people, but I don't think it is a good thing. I wish my brothers and sisters in the State legislatures would get rid of some of these ridiculous machines and ridiculous scratch-offs and stop taking advantage of the most vulnerable people in our society.
Mr. Speaker, there are four different topics for you to remember. We covered the increased gambling pushed by State governments, as they want to have government play a bigger and bigger role in life.
We covered the ridiculous Republicans who think it is a victory that three Supreme Court judges ruled that you have to allow LGBTQ books in second and third grade.
We covered Bernell Trammell, the poor guy who was assassinated for carrying a Trump sign 5 years ago yesterday.
And we covered the low-income housing tax credits, which is I think the most questionable program in our Internal Revenue Code and probably in Federal law all together.
