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02Resignation as Member of Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
03Enrolled Bill Signed
04Discharge Petitions: Additions and Withdrawals
Daily Digest
Public Bills and Resolutions Introduced
34 public bills, H.R. 5507- 5540; and 14 resolutions, H.J. Res. 126-127; H. Con. Res. 49-50; and H. Res. 747-756, were introduced.
Pages H4487-89
Reports Filed
Reports were filed today as follows: H.R. 3638, to direct the Secretary of Energy to prepare periodic assessments and submit reports on the supply chain for the generation and transmission of electricity, and for other purposes (H. Rept. 119- 304); H.R. 2954, to amend title 38, United States Code, to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to approve multi-State apprenticeship programs for purposes of veterans educational assistance, and for other purposes, with amendments (H. Rept. 119-305); and H.R. 3628, to amend the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to add a standard related to State consideration of reliable generation, and for other purposes (H. Rept. 119-306).
Page H4487
Guest Chaplain
The prayer was offered by the Guest Chaplain, Reverend Elliott J. Powell, Westminster Presbyterian Church, Lubbock, Texas.
Page H4459
Committee Resignation
Read a letter from Representative Frost wherein he resigned from the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
Page H4461
Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026
The House passed H.R. 5371, making continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal year 2026, by a yea-and-nay vote of 217 yeas to 212 nays, Roll No. 281.
Pages H4461-77
Rejected the DeLauro motion to recommit the bill to the Committee on Appropriations, by a yea-and-nay vote of 210 yeas to 218 nays, Roll No. 280.
Pages H4476-77
H. Res. 722, the rule providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 5371) and the resolution (H. Res. 719) was agreed to Wednesday, September 17th. Honoring the life and legacy of Charles ``Charlie'' James Kirk: The House agreed to H. Res. 719, honoring the life and legacy of Charles ``Charlie'' James Kirk, by a yea-and-nay vote of 310 yeas to 58 nays with 38 answering ``present'', Roll No. 282. Consideration began yesterday, September 18th.
Pages H4477-78
Clerk of the House of Representatives request the Senate to return to the House H.R. 3426
The House agreed to H. Res. 747, that the Clerk of the House of Representatives request the Senate to return to the House the bill (H.R. 3426) to amend title 40, United States Code, to limit the construction of new courthouses under certain circumstances.
Page H4478
Work Period Designation
Read a letter from the Speaker wherein he designated the period from Friday, September 19, 2025, through Sunday, September 28, 2025, as a ``district work period'' under clause 13 of rule 1.
Page H4482
Senate Message
Message received from the Senate appears on page H4479. Quorum Calls--Votes: Three yea-and-nay votes developed during the proceedings of today and appear on pages H4476-77, H4477, and H4477-78. Adjournment: The House met at 10 a.m. and adjourned at 12:14 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: 62 of 90 spoken turns were found. Turns without a time are still listed; they just can't seek.
Welcoming Rev. Elliott J. Powell
The SPEAKER. Without objection, Mr. Arrington of Texas was recognized for 1 minute.
Mr. Speaker, it is a great honor and delight to hear the familiar voice of my pastor, Elliott Powell, opening up the people's House with prayer, a tradition that began at the very first Congress in 1789.
Reverend Powell is the pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Lubbock, Texas, USA. He is joined today in the Chamber gallery by his wife, Shannon Aycock Powell, and their three children: Lila, Karissa,
On September 19, 2025, page H4459, in the second column, the following appeared: their three children: Lila, Charyssa,
The online version has been corrected to read: their three children: Lila, Karissa,
and Adam; and his niece, Chloe.My wife, Anne, and I have been blessed beyond measure to be a part of the Westminster community, and we are exceedingly grateful for the prayers, support, and friendship of our fellow parishioners.
Mr. Speaker, the 19-century French philosopher, Alexis de Tocqueville, traveled across the United States in the early 1800s in search of what he said was ``America's genius and greatness.'' He said that it wasn't in the commodious harbors or the fertile fields, not the public schools or institutions of higher learning, not the democratic Congress even, or our matchless Constitution, believe it or not.
He said that it wasn't until I entered into the churches of America and with their pulpits aflame with the Gospel of Jesus that I understood ``the secret of her genius and power.''
That is when he coined that famous phrase: ``America is great because America is good.''
Mr. Speaker, may God continue to bless America through the goodness of His church and His many faithful under-shepherds like my dear friend, Elliott Powell.
Mr. Speaker, today is National POW/MIA Recognition Day, a day to remember the brave men and women who served their country and have not returned home.
Currently, there are more than 80,000 American servicemembers who are still missing and remain unaccounted for from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the Gulf wars.
Our servicemembers answered the call to protect and defend our country in times of war and in times of peace. We have a sacred compact with the men and women who serve, and we will never stop searching for the ones who remain missing and unaccounted for until they are returned to their loved ones.
That is why today I reintroduced a resolution that urges our trading partners to aid in the search and recovery efforts of our Nation's missing servicemembers.
Mr. Speaker, we will never stop searching until all our servicemembers are brought home. They and their loved ones deserve no less.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of the Honorable Gladys Toney Branford.
Gladys was born in the Jim Crow South in Madison County, Alabama. To grow up in that era and go on to serve as a judge is truly remarkable.
In 1986, then-Mayor Kathy Whitmire appointed her to the bench in Houston, and I had the profound honor of swearing her in.
She was a great judge, Mr. Speaker, tough and fair, and always giving everyone a full hearing in their day in court.
She built shores of sisterhood as a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta and through her decades in The Links, Incorporated.
Above it all, Judge Branford often said that her greatest joy was her family: three accomplished children and six beautiful grandchildren.
Mr. Speaker, Judge Branford was a friend and a dear colleague, and it is especially an honor for me to be able to lift her life here today and on the floor of the United States Congress.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor an extraordinary man of God and a true pillar in our community. Dr. Steve Hurte is the pastor of Temple Baptist Church in Anderson, South Carolina, and I am blessed to call him my pastor. This year, he is celebrating 50 years in ministry.
Dr. Hurte felt the call to preach at the early age of 8, and by 20 years old had devoted his life to serving the Lord.
Since 2013, Dr. Hurte has faithfully pastored at Temple Baptist Church. Though he carries himself with humility and gentleness, when he speaks from the Word, there is a strength and an authority that can only be described as God working through him. He is unafraid to speak the hard truths of Scripture even when they are unpopular.
Dr. Hurte is proof of what God can do with a life fully surrendered to Him. He has touched thousands of lives, including mine, and South Carolina is better because of his faithfulness.
Mr. Speaker, please join me today in celebrating Dr. Steve Hurte for 50 years of unwavering service.
On September 19, 2025, page H4460, in the first and second column, the following appeared: (Ms. DEAN asked and was given per-. . . Ms. DEAN. Mr. Speaker, when I came
The online version has been corrected to read: (Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania asked and was given per-. . . Ms. DEAN of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, when I came
motivated all the more to do this work.In the almost 7 years since, our empathy and our common humanity has been tested in unimaginable ways.
The latest is the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk.
Beyond the horror of such a vile act is the pervasive ugly rise in political violence.
We have witnessed it in my home State of Pennsylvania with the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in Butler; and, again, with the arson attack on Governor Josh Shapiro's home on Passover with his family sleeping upstairs; and again in Minnesota with the murder of House Speaker Emerita Melissa Horton, her husband, Mark, and their dog in their home; and now, again, at Utah Valley University.
We must condemn political violence in all its forms and in all its twisted motivations and perverse ideologies.
We must, instead, commit ourselves to civic engagement and education, commit ourselves to decency, dignity, and the truth for the good of this Nation, our neighbors, our families, and most especially our children.
Mr. Speaker, 9 days ago in my district, a loving husband and father of two children, a public figure who debated vigorously conservative values and a representative for free speech, was assassinated by a deranged coward who felt that violence was the only way to deal with voices that he opposed.
Mr. Speaker, from Charlie Kirk's example, I have learned that we should live boldly, without fear. We should address and confront the cowards of the world who will oppose with violence those who seek to destroy free speech.
I have also learned from Charlie Kirk that we should debate vigorously, that we have opinions, and in this Hall, this sacred Hall, we can debate those opinions with respect and vigor.
Mr. Speaker, I have also learned that we should love completely. Charlie Kirk never degraded an individual that he debated. He always approached them with respect. With a loving approach, he tried to push forward his views and offer them as an alternative to those who debated him.
Mr. Speaker, I also point out that a widow and two amazing children are now left without a husband and a father.
To Erika and those children, I will just say that God has a special place in his heart for the widows of the world. Since ancient times, such as the widow Zarephath with Elijah, the mite that the widow cast into the temple treasury, as well as Jesus Christ' own mother, Mary, a widow, whom Jesus on the cross, while He suffered and died for all mankind, offered that widow, his mother, to His most beloved apostle to take care of for the rest of her life and make sure that she was cared for.
For Erika and her children, I will say that God has a special place in his heart for the widows and for the orphans. They also have a special place not only in my heart but in the hearts of millions as they suffer through the loss of her husband as well as the father of her children.
Mr. Speaker, I am inspired by Charlie Kirk and his example and the fact that his life now transcends not only his life and his message, but he stands for something more important now, which is freedom of speech, a constitutional privilege that our Nation will fight vigorously to protect.
I join with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to shun and eschew violence and to pursue freedom of speech through the rest of my days.
God bless America, Charlie Kirk, and his widow as we move forward.
Mr. Speaker, I rise for the 43rd time today to call on the Trump administration to restore lifesaving food aid for starving children around the world.
Edesia Nutrition, an organization in my district, in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, manufactures Plumpy'Nut, a nutritional supplement that is needed to get starving children back to health. When kids are starving, their organs break down, and they cannot digest conventional food.
Millions of lives have been saved by this product, and now there are thousands of boxes sitting in a warehouse in Rhode Island because the Trump administration has stopped this program.
They continue to promise that they are going to bring it back online. Over and over again, they have said that this program will continue. They have even named the organization in my district. They have said that it will continue, but it has been 9 months, and we are still waiting.
We are about to debate and vote on a budget. What is the purpose of passing a budget if the administration will just ignore it?
I have spoken on this floor about the humanitarian necessity to restore this program, the national security necessity to restore this program, but it is a constitutional necessity as well because the legislative branch has the authority to pass budgets and the executive must execute on them.
I will continue to speak on this floor every day until this program is restored.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of my dear friend and brother in Christ, Dr. John Thomas, a devoted husband, father, and community leader, who dedicated his life to serving his neighbors in west Texas and those around the world.
Dr. Thomas was a skilled surgeon, but his true calling was healing hearts and lifting souls.
In 1999, he founded Operation HOPE, a nonprofit that deployed teams of healthcare professionals to underserved areas across the globe.
His faith was his compass, Mr. Speaker, as he lived the words of Jesus to love thy neighbor and to do unto the least of these through his tireless medical missions, disaster relief efforts, and unwavering advocacy for the sanctity of life.
For Keri and Andrew and the entire Thomas family, our hearts and prayers are with them.
I can assure you that Dr. Thomas' light will continue to shine through the countless lives he touched and especially and most of all in his wife, Keri, and in his beloved son, Andrew. May God comfort them.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to share concerns I have heard from people back home.
I have traveled across eastern North Carolina, and residents have pulled me aside. They have texted our office. They have called or emailed, and many conveyed the same concern about rural healthcare.
We have already seen the closure of Martin General Hospital. We are working hard to reopen it as a rural emergency hospital.
Eastern North Carolinians face some of the greatest healthcare disparities in our State. Nearly 70,000 in my district rely on the Affordable Care Act premium tax credits. People in rural America are struggling. Many are trying to do everything just to make ends meet while raising children.
Every time it seems like we take one step forward, we are taking two or three backward. No matter if it is healthcare, trade, or infrastructure, Congress must not leave rural America behind.
Mr. Speaker, it seems hard to believe that it is not even 10 days since Charlie Kirk was assassinated.
We all know why he was assassinated. He was assassinated in part because he stood by our Constitution and believed in the limited government that our forefathers wanted. He was also killed for his Christianity. I have come to realize he was far more of a religious leader than he was a political leader.
We have to now follow what he would have wanted, had he survived. I think that is two things. First of all, in America right now, church attendance was down. We can all be wonderful Christians without going to church, but it is a bad sign that church attendance was going down.
Let's all redouble our efforts to support our local churches. Look for Bible-believing churches, as Charlie Kirk wanted, and hopefully they will grow and thrive.
In Congress, let's try to get back one more time to the limited government that our Constitution so clearly demanded and stop asking the Federal Government to add another program after program after program, but instead, have the type of government that encourages self- reliance and strong families.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate El Salvador's Independence Day, a day marking the end of Spanish colonial rule 204 years ago.
This week, El Salvadorans across the globe celebrated with music, parades, and cultural traditions. I celebrated with food. I am honored to represent a vibrant and growing El Salvadoran community in Virginia.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express deep concern over the recent reports of violence against minority communities, including Hindus in Bangladesh.
In the aftermath of Bangladesh's change in government, we have heard, including from my constituents, accounts of looting and vandalism of homes and damage to religious sites like temples.
These acts represent a pattern of violence against communities around the world. While we continue to work toward stability in places like Bangladesh, we simply have to acknowledge what is going on and not turn a blind eye to it.
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 722, I call up the bill (H.R. 5371) making continuing appropriations and extensions for fiscal year 2026, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 722, the bill is considered read.
The text of the bill is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill shall be debatable for 1 hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee of Appropriations or their respective designees.
The gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole) and the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro) each will control 30 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Oklahoma?
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5371, the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2026.
This Congress has a fundamental responsibility to fund the government and keep it open and serving the American people. It is a duty I take seriously and one that I have worked diligently to lead on.
Over the past year, the House Committee on Appropriations has acted to fulfill our fiscal year 2026 responsibilities. Constraints and challenges didn't stop us from doing the hard work, line by line, to uphold fiscal discipline and effective governance.
I am proud to say our markup process delivered all 12 regular appropriations bills out of committee. We have also passed three of these bills across the floor, representing more than 60 percent of overall discretionary spending.
That momentum has continued with our move to conference on the three- bill package covering Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, and the Legislative Branch bills. This marks the first conference on major appropriations legislation in close to a decade, and it is a critical step for this institution and for restoring regular order.
We are certainly moving forward productively, and a bipartisan, bicameral agreement is firmly within our grasp. We just need more time to sustain negotiations and complete our work.
That is why we are here today, Mr. Speaker. The continuing resolution before us is simple. It extends funding until November 21. It is a clean, short-term stopgap that protects the fiscal year 2026 progress we have made and allows the appropriations process to advance toward full-year bills. It allows us to return the appropriations process to regular order, where it should be.
This is the responsible path. I want to remind my friends on the other side of the aisle what this measure is. It is a clean CR that keeps the lights on for the American people while we finish our work. It contains no poison pills or partisan riders. It provides essential security measures for all three branches of government. It is a short extension of just 7 weeks.
By keeping our government funded, it protects our military and defense needs, supports our veterans, and sustains critical services for our constituents, from roads, parks, and water projects to infrastructure, research, and job training.
This tailored, straightforward approach is exactly what Democrats previously asked for. Now, they are rejecting it to manufacture a partisan fight over provisions totally unrelated to appropriations.
Let me be very clear: A shutdown would do nothing to help our work on full-year bills or to support the American people. If Members want stability for the American people, time for negotiations in good faith, and regular order, they will support this CR. Any other vote would be reckless, not just for both parties but for the entire Nation.
I have said this previously, but it remains relevant today: Republicans and Democrats are more effective when they negotiate rather than provoke partisan confrontations, and the country is better off when Republicans and Democrats actually work together.
Let's do that now. We must act today for our country, for our national security, and for our constituents. I hope that all will join me in keeping the government open and serving the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, Republicans have chosen a partisan route. In essence, the negotiation around the continuing resolution was a consensus that it should have been a bipartisan negotiation. That consensus was abrogated.
Mr. Speaker, Republicans choose a partisan route. They would rather shut down the government than sit down and talk with Democrats about lowering costs for millions of Americans, preventing people from getting kicked off their healthcare, and stopping President Trump and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought from stealing from our communities and our constituents.
Democrats will not support the partisan Republican spending bill because it continues to gut healthcare for the American people.
We are now 9 months into this administration, and the cost-of-living crisis has only gotten worse. Americans are struggling with the rising costs for everyday necessities. They live paycheck to paycheck.
Instead of lowering prices, President Trump and Republicans passed a bill to strip healthcare coverage from more than 15 million people, threatened Medicare benefits owed to America's seniors, and slashed nutrition benefits for working families, which will cause an additional 1 million kids to go hungry.
The majority did this to pass trillions of dollars in tax cuts for big corporations and for billionaires. They add $4 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.
Republicans' funding bills are cut from the same cloth: They help billionaires and big corporations grow their power and raise prices on the backs of the middle class and the working class.
What is coming out of the White House is even worse. President Trump's administration, led by Russ Vought, is unlawfully stealing funds that Democrats and Republicans passed into law, the agreements that we have reached over the years. Democrats, Republicans, House and Senate, have said yes, and they have been signed into law. Now, an unelected official, Russ Vought, is stealing that money and using it-- for what purposes, we don't even know.
This administration continues to freeze, terminate, and cancel $410 billion in commitments to families, farmers, children, small businesses, and communities in every part of our country. Billions of these commitments will soon be lost forever if Congress refuses to rein in this administration's illegal actions.
As much as $5 billion for the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be wasted.
Money promised to help farmers and ranchers drive advancements in agriculture is at risk.
Over $1 billion in nonprofit security grants and homeland security grants that keep our communities safe may disappear.
Hundreds of millions of dollars in resources to help Americans deal with the increasing cost of housing will evaporate.
Put simply, this White House seeks to undo any agreement made by Congress. Russ Vought wants a shutdown, and House Republican leadership is handing it to him on a silver platter.
He wants the confusion so he can keep stealing from our communities without accountability.
These are not normal times. We are not considering this funding during normal circumstances. A vote for this bill is a vote for the status quo, but now is the time to stand up to the theft and disregard for the middle class, the working class, and vulnerable Americans. Now is the time to prevent the healthcare crisis and to lower costs.
My colleagues on the other side of the aisle will say that healthcare costs are not germane to this bill. They should take a look at their continuing resolution because 67 of the 91 pages of that resolution deal with healthcare issues, whether they are healthcare extenders or whether they are healthcare for veterans. It is absolutely appropriate that we talk about how the administration has gutted healthcare, caused a healthcare crisis while increasing costs for people.
Now is the time to put an end to the Trump administration's corruption that hardworking Americans are paying for. Democrats want to lower costs, deliver critical services to all Americans, and that can be achieved through the continuing resolution that Senator Patty Murray and I introduced yesterday. It cannot be achieved through a Republican shutdown.
This partisan bill reflects a broken political system. Democrats want to protect the millions of working Americans who will be forced to choose between paying for food or their healthcare or the cancer patients and people struggling with chronic disease who will have to choose between having healthcare coverage at all or keeping a roof over their family's head.
The Republican majority ignores the democratically elected Representatives for half of the country to appease their leader. Let us hope the majority does not drive us straight to a Republican shutdown, but if they do shut the government down, I have no doubt the American people will know who is to blame. I urge Members to vote ``no'' on this bill that fails to address the needs of Americans and join Democrats at the table.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Alford), my very good friend and a distinguished member of the Appropriations Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Cole and our ranking member for their leadership as we move toward regular order in the appropriations process. I appreciate the ranking member's passion because of this issue, but we are not here today, Mr. Speaker, to talk about Russ Vought. We are here to talk about keeping the government open and avoiding a Schumer shutdown.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of this short-term CR, the continuing resolution.
This CR will ensure the Federal Government remains open and working for our constituents. It ensures that our troops get paid on time and that our veterans continue getting the healthcare they need and other benefits that they have earned.
It also ensures the Trump administration can continue its work to secure our border, secure our communities from violent crime, and secure a stronger economy.
Under the leadership of Chairman Cole, we have passed all 12 spending bills out of committee on a condensed timeline and for the first time in years, regular appropriation bills are now headed to conference committee, showing that appropriators are engaged in good-faith, bipartisan, bicameral negotiations.
Keeping our government open and working for the American people should not be a partisan issue, but it appears our Democrat colleagues want to make it one.
As you will see throughout this debate today, Democrats' proposal is full of partisan priorities that would explode the Federal debt by $1.5 trillion.
Let me be clear, Mr. Speaker: If our Democrat colleagues vote against this clean CR to keep our government open, they will own the shutdown. This will be a Schumer shutdown. The media will not be able to spin it. The American people will see straight through their gaslighting and political posturing to the contrary. That is why, Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the continuing resolution and keep our government open.
Mr. Speaker, I would like the gentleman from Missouri to understand that without the increase in the premium subsidies that were in the ACA that have been cut back in his district, the premiums will go up $760 for folks and almost 266,000 people will lose their healthcare.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz), the distinguished ranking member of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to object to this Republican funding scam that simply continues the relentless financial pain America's families, seniors, and businesses face right now.
The reason I object so strenuously is because it absolutely does not have to be this way. Democrats have a funding proposal that cancels cruel cuts, lowers costs, and saves Americans' healthcare coverage. Our plan prevents 24 million Americans from enduring a massive 93 percent spike in their healthcare premium costs.
How could any Republican vote for a funding bill with that kind of financial sledgehammer hanging over your constituents' heads? The Democrats' plan values families, not billionaires and big corporations. It prevents nursing homes from closing. It ensures 15 million Americans don't lose health coverage.
Republicans refuse to sit down and figure this out, just like every family does at their kitchen table each week. Republicans are choosing to go it alone no matter the consequences. What Democrats will not do is support a partisan spending bill that guts healthcare for the American people. We will not support a plan that lets Trump freeze funds promised to our communities and hold up lifesaving medical research, including for kids with cancer.
Democrats will never support that. What we will support is our plan which saves a family of four earning $64,000 a year from seeing their annual healthcare premiums go up by $2,571, or 197 percent. Democrats will support permanently extending health insurance tax credits to keep coverage affordable.
What we will not do is make this Republican-created healthcare coverage crisis worse. We need to pass a budget that doesn't force Americans to raid their 401(k), cancel vacations, or go to the pawn shop just to pay for skyrocketing premiums.
In my State alone, more than 4 million people will feel the financial crunch from these higher premium costs, and they will feel it each and every month. A quarter of the Americans facing higher premiums have a chronic illness they are managing, and these price spikes will also put 1.6 million children at risk of losing essential healthcare.
How can any Republican claim to be a champion of small businesses and entrepreneurs when 3.3 million small business owners and self-employed workers would see premiums skyrocket? That will cripple startups and handcuff mom-and-pop shops across America.
Budgets reflect values and priorities, and Republicans chose a spending plan that guts healthcare and lavishes the wealthy and big corporations. That is the Republicans' choice that they must live with. Democrats stand ready to pass a funding bill that cancels the cruel Republican spending cuts, lowers costs for everyone, and saves the healthcare coverage of millions of Americans.
That is what Democrats fight for, and we will not support this Republican spending plan that drags families
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Alford) is recognized to control the time for the majority.
On September 19, 2025, page H4473, in the first column, the following appeared: Mrs. KIM of California. Mr. Speaker,
The online version has been corrected to read: Mrs. KIM. Mr. Speaker,
history has shown that government shutdowns accomplish nothing.The last major shutdown cost our economy $11 billion, delayed wages for Federal workers, and disrupted businesses that hardworking Americans rely on.
This isn't a partisan issue. Keeping our government open means protecting servicemembers, honoring veterans, supporting mothers and infants, keeping our border secure, and helping small businesses access the loans they need.
As we approach the government funding deadline, I support this clean, short-term continuing resolution. It prevents a costly shutdown, preserves progress on appropriations, and gives Congress time to finish the job responsibly. We were not sent here to play political games with people's livelihoods. A shutdown doesn't score points. It only hurts those we serve.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to do the right thing, put the American people first, and support this measure.
Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentlewoman that in her district, premiums will go up $3,300, and in her State almost 2.4 million people will lose their healthcare.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), the distinguished ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I am opposed to this bill. President Trump and congressional Republicans have created a healthcare crisis and waged a war on the American healthcare system.
On the 4th of July, President Trump celebrated our Nation's birthday by signing Republicans' big, ugly bill into law, cutting more than a trillion dollars from our healthcare system. You can't cut a trillion dollars without creating devastating consequences for our constituents. Their new law will cruelly take healthcare coverage away from 15 million Americans.
We are already seeing the chaotic impacts of their actions. Just 2 months after enactment of the big, ugly bill, we are hearing from hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes across the country that are being forced to close their doors and cut services.
St. Mary's Sacred Heart Hospital in Lavonia, Georgia, recently announced it will shut down its maternity unit next month, and they pointed to ``recent congressional cuts to Medicaid'' as the reason for the closure.
In rural Virginia, August Medical Group is closing an urgent care and two primary care clinics, citing their ``ongoing response'' to Republicans' healthcare cuts. This is only going to get worse.
Congressional Republicans are also taking away tax credits that help millions of Americans afford their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. Thanks to enhanced tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act, a record 24 million Americans have coverage through the ACA marketplaces, but Republicans refuse to extend these tax credits for middle-class Americans in their big, ugly bill.
If we don't act now, millions of Americans are going to be hit with huge premiums for the upcoming year. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that these premium increases will lead to 4.2 million Americans losing their health insurance.
Trump and congressional Republicans had no problem giving their billionaire friends tax breaks in their big, ugly bill, but they refuse to extend tax credits that make healthcare more affordable for millions of middle-class families.
This is an outrage. We can't allow this to happen. Democrats believe we must address this healthcare crisis before millions of people lose their health coverage, see their costs spike, and their hospitals close.
Mr. Speaker, I call on my Republican colleagues to join us in ending the chaos. This has to be addressed in this spending bill. It doesn't. The Republican spending bill does not address the healthcare crisis, and for that reason I am opposed.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman and commend Mr. Cole for his commitment to controlling costs in the stewardship of taxpayers' hard-earned treasure.
Meanwhile, my Democratic colleagues are demanding an audacious $1.4 trillion in new spending or they will shut the people's government down. We should let the people know what that $1.4 trillion includes. It would extend a failed and what they called temporary COVID tax credit that went to people making $600,000 because there was no income limit. CBO said there were 4.5 million phantom enrollees. That is fraud in Plainview, Texas. CMS said 2.3 million ineligible people received this temporary COVID tax credit, tens of billions of dollars in waste and fraud, and this is what they demand or they will shut the government down.
They also want to remove safeguards that we recently put in important safety net programs, safeguards against what? The safeguards keep ineligible people from receiving these social services, people who are in this country illegally from receiving taxpayer-funded services, and people who are able to work but refuse to work. That is the sum of the people who should not receive the hard-earned, taxpayer-funded services, and those are the measures to root out waste, fraud, and abuse that they want to rip away so that we waste more of our tax dollars and continue on this slippery slope of bankrupting our country.
Mr. Speaker, this is the party whose failed policies of tax, regulation, borrowing, and unbridled spending gave us the worst cost- of-living crisis in the last half century. I urge my colleagues to reject their demands and support Chairman Cole and the appropriators in this CR so we can work responsibly to fund the people's government and avoid a costly and disruptive shutdown.
Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentleman from Texas that in his district, premiums will go up $430. He will have to explain that to his constituents. In the State, 1.6 million people will be jettisoned from their healthcare. Explain that, as well.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Neal), the distinguished ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee.
Mr. Speaker, let's look at the numbers: 15 million people are about to be kicked off their health insurance because of the big, ugly law; 24 million Americans are going to pay higher premiums, in some cases, up to 75 percent.
I am in opposition to this Republican plan because they would rather shut down the government than bring costs down for the American people.
Everything costs more. Unemployment is on the rise, and it is only going to get worse because of their healthcare premiums rising by up to 75 percent.
Let's say it again: Republicans would rather shut down the government than bring down healthcare costs.
Two months ago, they found it possible to permanently extend tax cuts for the super wealthy and the biggest companies that were all scheduled to expire. They have turned their backs on the American people, but they found time once again to cut taxes for people at the very top.
My friend, the budget chairman, said before that Democrats have added to the debt. Is there anybody on their side right now that is willing to stand up and say that in 2017 they didn't borrow $2.3 trillion for their tax cut? That is what I thought.
Is there anybody willing to say that they didn't add $4 trillion to the debt with the last measure they passed called the big, ugly bill?
Trillions of dollars being borrowed for a tax cut, and the bill is so popular, what they did with that legislation, it is so popular, at the White House right now they are trying to figure out how to rebrand it. We have already branded
This morning, Democrats are not going to be party to these attacks on the American people. We have a simple plan here. Let's extend these healthcare benefits. We can move on to the next legislative business in terms of the regular order. The American people know this morning Democrats have their backs, and we intend to defend their health insurance plans.
Mr. Speaker, this debate about keeping the government open is not just an academic debate. I have been here about 8 months. Before that, for about 10 years, I had the opportunity to write budgets for our State of North Carolina in our State legislature. We showed how you can lower taxes, cut regulations, and turn things around, which we have done successfully. I am new in this game here in Washington.
I want to talk about something that is very important to my home State, and that is disaster relief after Hurricane Helene, which has been almost a year ago when that happened, and the ongoing efforts that are happening right now. I want my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to hear this very loudly and clearly. If the government is shut down, those relief efforts, which are vital to my State and other States, including California, that are dealing with cleaning up from disasters, those efforts will stop. That is malpractice. We cannot do that. It is vital to make sure that those things continue.
I am reminded, and I am going to give a shout-out to Chairman Cole here. Back before I was a Member last year, we came up with a delegation from North Carolina. We met with the chairman and other members of the Appropriations Committee. I am very proud of the way that they, on a bipartisan basis, funded that initial tranche of relief for our State and that we have done additional work.
Mr. Speaker, we need to continue the efforts to make sure that we rebuild in western Carolina and any other part of the country that has been impacted.
My request to my friends on the other side of the aisle: There is time to debate all of these other issues as this appropriations bill passes through the process, but this CR simply gives additional time to work through this and will make sure that these disaster relief efforts continue unabated. This is important. We owe it to the people of my district, of my State, and, frankly, to everyone in this Nation.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I remind the gentleman from North Carolina that I think his constituents are just going to be very unhappy about an additional almost $600 in increased costs for their healthcare premiums, and almost 652,000 people in his State will be jettisoned from healthcare.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is less than Americans deserve. We need to address the cost-of-living crisis and ensure this country has high- quality, affordable healthcare. The Republican proposal before us today does neither of those things.
For this reason, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee. If the House rules permitted, I would have offered the motion with an important amendment to this bill. My amendment would allow the House to vote on the funding proposal that myself and Senator Murray introduced in each Chamber yesterday and would gain overwhelmingly bipartisan support.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert into the Record the text of this amendment immediately prior to the vote on the motion to recommit.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from Connecticut?
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, let me just recall what I said early on in my comments. My Republican colleagues have, once again, chosen a partisan route.
There was consensus amongst the people who, in fact, deal with the appropriations process on both sides of the aisle. We achieved consensus on the three bills in terms of the allocations and the top lines. We said, yes, we are going to move forward in a bipartisan way to deal with those bills. There was also consensus on a bipartisan CR.
Lo and behold, there were no conversations with Democrats on a continuing resolution. As a matter of fact, if I can quote the President of the United States, he said that it is ``a waste of time'' to talk with Jeffries and Schumer. The President said that. In addition, he has told Republicans to pass this Republican continuing resolution, to jam it down the Democrats' throats.
That is the direction that the President would like to take us. He would like to take us to a shutdown, and the Republican leadership in this House has taken this partisan route. Democrats have been overwhelmingly interested in sitting down and talking about how we keep the government open.
The fact of the matter is, the issues that are on the table here in this effort that are critically important, yes, are healthcare issues. What are we fighting against? We are not going to support a partisan Republican bill that guts healthcare for the American people.
When they continue to want to say that the issues that we bring up are not germane to this bill, it really is a fallacy. That is the fallacy because 67 pages of the 91 pages in this continuing resolution deal with healthcare extensions in one way or another. Whether they are for veterans or whether they are for others, that is what is in there.
It is absolutely germane that what we talk about is how they have slashed Medicaid, the largest cut in history; that 15 million people are going to lose their healthcare; and how they raise the premiums for copays and deductibles.
I am happy to share with all of my colleagues, Democrats and Republicans, how much that increase is going to cost their constituents in their districts and also tell them how many people in their State are going to lose that healthcare coverage that they have.
It is in black and white. It is there. The people of their districts and their communities are going to know all about it. They set in motion $536 billion in cuts to Medicare.
As the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, I have watched them shut off funding for medical research, including for kids with cancer, vaccines, and public health.
This is a partisan Republican bill that guts healthcare, increases healthcare costs for the American people, and allows the continuation of an unelected official to steal the money that both Democrats and Republicans in this House and in the Senate have moved forward on to meet the needs of the American people.
That has to stop. That is, in fact, the reason why Democrats are opposed to this continuing resolution. They are foursquare for keeping the government open but dealing with the needs of the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Jeffries), the distinguished Democratic leader.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentlewoman from the great State of Connecticut for her leadership and for yielding as we debate this partisan, reckless Republican spending bill that continues to gut the healthcare of the American people.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to legislation that continues the relentless Republican attack on the healthcare of the American people.
What we have seen throughout this year--notwithstanding Republican promises to lower the high costs of living, which Republicans promised to do on day one of the Trump Presidency. We know costs aren't going down. Here in the United States of America, they continue to go up. Inflation is going up. Life is becoming more expensive for the American people, in part, as a result of Donald Trump's tariffs that House Republicans continue to rubberstamp.
Democrats recognize that the cost of living in the United States of America is far too high. We have to fix our broken healthcare system, and we also have to clean up corruption in this town so that we don't have a government of the elites, by the elites, and for the elites. We deserve a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. That is why we oppose this reckless Republican spending bill.
The Republican assault on healthcare has been relentless: the largest cut to Medicaid in American history, and millions of Americans losing their healthcare as a result of the Republican one big, ugly bill. Hungry children have had food stolen from their mouths as a result of the one big, ugly bill. That is going to make them vulnerable to sickness, illness, and disease.
Mr. Speaker, all of this was done so that Republicans could reward billionaire donors with massive tax breaks.
In addition to the unprecedented assault on Medicaid, as a result of the Republicans' one big, ugly bill, the American people are confronting the possibility that Medicare could be cut by $536 billion this year, the largest cut to Medicare in American history, as a result of what Republicans have done and as part of their relentless assault on the healthcare of the American people.
Premiums, copays, and deductibles are skyrocketing. Over the next few weeks, tens of millions of Americans are about to confront dramatic increases in their healthcare. They will confront thousands of dollars, and in some cases, tens of thousands of dollars, in additional expense per year because of what Republicans have unleashed on the American people as part of this unprecedented assault on healthcare.
Mr. Speaker, I heard earlier today some of my colleagues on the Republican side say that the healthcare issue was not germane and that we are raising issues around Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act or increasing premiums, copays, and deductibles. The fact is that Republicans are dramatically ending medical research in the United States of America including as it relates to research for children with cancer. Who does that?
The fact is that all across this country, as a result of actions Republicans have taken and are continuing to take in targeting the healthcare of the American people, hospitals, nursing homes, and community-based health clinics are closing including in all of my colleagues' districts and throughout rural America.
Mr. Speaker, don't come and argue to us that these issues are not germane. I will tell my colleagues what is germane. Protecting the healthcare of the American people is germane. That is what Democrats are doing in fighting back against this partisan Republican spending bill.
There is an alternative. It has been introduced by Senator Patty Murray and Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro. It is supported by Democrats in the House and the Senate. It keeps the government open. It allows for bipartisan negotiations as it relates to a spending bill that would actually meet the needs of the American people in terms of their health, their public safety, and their economic well-being. It will actually try to make progress on lowering costs in America, which my Republican colleagues promised to do, Mr. Speaker, and failed to do. That is the legislation that we should be taking up.
Republicans know that this partisan, reckless, dirty spending bill is dead on arrival in the United States Senate. Yet Republicans continue to refuse to even discuss protecting the healthcare of the American people in the face of a relentless Republican assault that will actually harm people and cause Americans, children, families, seniors, and veterans to lose their lives.
We have a choice to make here in the House of Representatives. It appears that Republicans believe that healthcare should simply be a privilege available only to the wealthy, the well-off, and the well- connected. We strongly disagree.
Access to high-quality and affordable healthcare is a right; and Democrats are on the floor of the House of Representatives vindicating that right at all times. That is why we are voting ``no.''
Some have suggested that our principled opposition to the partisan Republican spending bill may result in a government funding lapse. We have heard all year how Republicans have a mandate, how Republicans have the Presidency, how Republicans control the House, and how Republicans control the Senate. If that, in fact, is the case, as is the moment, temporarily, Republicans will own a government shutdown. Period. Full stop. It is the Republicans' shutdown.
We are fighting for the healthcare of the American people. We will do that today. We will do that tomorrow. We will do that next week. We will do that next month. We will do that this year. We will do that next year. We will do that at all times. We are standing up for the healthcare of the American people.
Mr. Speaker, cancel the cuts. Lower the costs. Save our healthcare.
Ms DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, that was quite an unconventional closing. Normally when someone closes, they are the last speaker. I regret that, but I am happy to always hear from my good friend and distinguished minority leader. That is an unusual move.
The gentleman has the right to speak. The 1 minute is 1 minute. I respect that. I would just ask my friend in the future to just please be here in time to do it before we close.
Mr. Speaker, I won't take the 18 minutes that I have. I don't think I need it. The facts here are pretty clear. At the beginning of this process, I was asked to produce a clean bill for a limited period of time by my colleagues on the other side. They asked for that so that we could continue negotiations on a package of three bills. Those are going quite well now and are happening.
All of a sudden, we have extraneous demands for things unrelated to the day-to-day operation of the government. With all due respect, I think additional negotiations on those topics could happen. I think the majority leader in the United States Senate actually signaled they could happen but not attached to this particular bill.
This is what my friends on the other side asked for. They asked for a clean bill with no partisan riders and no tricks. Give it to us for a short period.
I was told by my distinguished friend in the United States Senate, Senator Murray: Oh no, we don't want to go all the way to January like the Trump administration does. We want to go into November.
I said: Great. I actually agree with you. I think we should keep this thing moving.
The thing to keep moving is the appropriations bills that fund the government. If my friends want to shut the government down, they have every right to do so. They might do it today. They certainly have the power of the United States Senate to do that.
Rest assured, my Democratic colleagues are doing exactly what Republicans did in 2013. It did not work for them. Republicans tied something unrelated to spending, ObamaCare, and shut down the government. That was the wrong thing to do then. I said it was the wrong thing to do. It was. My Democratic colleagues are doing the same thing now. There is nothing else.
If they want to have important negotiations on these other topics, they are important topics, and they ought to be negotiated. What is happening is not some cut that is in this bill. We are not cutting anything. A measure that was passed on a bipartisan basis, as I recall, ran out. It is running out. We should probably talk about that. We don't do it on a CR.
This is a manufactured crisis. My Democratic friends got exactly what they asked for. They asked for a clean CR. They got a clean CR. They asked for a limited amount of time. They got
That is all we are doing today, Mr. Speaker. We are buying the time that we all need to finish a process that we are all trying to restore and we think is broken. We now have people dropping things out of the blue that were never intended to be in the CR. They are trying to create a sense of crisis and drama. If they think that moves us in the right direction, I disagree.
I think that moves us in the wrong direction. I think keeping the government open for the American people and negotiating in good faith on bills that we are close to getting done and moving it through regular order is the right thing to do. I think provoking a government shutdown is the wrong thing to do. If you disagree, then vote ``no.'' Take your privilege and shut down the Government of the United States, something you have repeatedly condemned Republicans for when they did it, and rightly condemned, but you are doing the same thing, and you know it. You absolutely know it.
If you want to shut down the government today, fine.
We will give the United States Senate the same opportunity if we vote to keep it open, and if they want to shut it down, that is up to them.
However, we are at the table ready to negotiate. We are negotiating on the three bills we agreed to negotiate on right now.
That is the work of the Appropriations Committee, not this, and that is what the CR would deal with.
My friends, when I give you what you asked for, and you decide that is not acceptable, you change it afterwards, and you drop unrelated items in, that is up to you. But let's not have any pretense about what is going on here. It is political theater. That is all it is. But you are doing it at the risk of shutting the Government of the United States.
Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to vote for this CR. I am proud to work with my friends on the bills we were supposed to work with. I hope we can reach agreement and bring those bills to the floor in short order.
Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' on the bill in front of us, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to address their remarks to the Chair.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate is expired. Pursuant to House Resolution 722, the previous question is ordered on the bill.
The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was read the third time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 9 of rule XX, this 15- minute vote on the motion to recommit will be followed by 5-minute votes on:
Passage of the bill, if ordered; and
Adoption of H. Res. 719.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 210, nays 218, not voting 3, as follows:
Messrs. LUTTRELL, SCALISE, and NUNN of Iowa changed their vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
Mr. FROST, Mses. SHERRILL, OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. FIGURES, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, and Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina changed their vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
So the motion to recommit was rejected.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the ayes appeared to have it.
Honoring the Life and Legacy of Charles "Charlie" James Kirk
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, the unfinished business is the vote on adoption of the resolution (H. Res. 719) honoring the life and legacy of Charles ``Charlie'' James Kirk, on which the yeas and nays were ordered.
The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the resolution.
This is a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 310, nays 58, answered ``present'' 38, not voting 26, as follows:
So the resolution was agreed to.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
Mr. Speaker, I was inadvertently detained in a meeting with constituents and missed the vote on H. Res. 719, of which I was a cosponsor. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 282.
Mr. Speaker, on Wednesday, September 17, in York County, our community suffered an unimaginable tragedy. Members of the Northern York County Regional Police Department and the York County Sheriff's Office were fired upon as they entered a home while attempting to serve a warrant relative to a stalking incident in North Codorus Township.
Three officers--Sergeant Cody Becker, Detective Mark Baker, and Detective Isaiah Emenheiser--were killed in the line of duty. Two other officers, one from the Northern York County Regional Police Department and one York County Deputy Sheriff were wounded and remain in the hospital. We pray for their swift and complete recovery.
Mr. Speaker, this horrific and senseless act of violence has devastated the York County community. Hearts are broken. Three brave public servants who answered the call to protect and defend did not return home to their loved ones at the end of their shift.
Mr. Speaker, to the families, loved ones, friends, and colleagues of these fallen heroes, we extend our deepest, deepest sympathy. We grieve with them, and the entire community shares in their grief.
May we all keep the families of the fallen officers, of the department, the York County Sheriff's Office, and all law enforcement officers in our hearts and in our prayers.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Lancaster County for yielding to me.
Mr. Speaker, the Psalms tell us that the Lord is closest to the brokenhearted, and we are brokenhearted on this day for the loss of these officers.
Mr. Speaker, every day across America, as we go about our lives, every day and every night, there are men and women who put on the uniform to keep our communities safe. They never know when they leave home, kiss their wife, their husband, their children good-bye, whether that is the last day or not. It is a burden that most of us will never recognize, can't understand, will never experience. We live in a wonderful country because of the people who are willing to risk their lives and run to the danger.
Mr. Speaker, these brave individuals, the finest in America, certainly the finest in York County, gave their last full measure in support of the safety of their community and our country. We are heartbroken, and we pray for them. We pray for the departments. We pray for their families. We pray for our community, and we hold them up. We acknowledge their sacrifice on our behalf.
I thank the gentleman from Lancaster and the whole Pennsylvania delegation, the whole House for your attention to this matter. We have to do better. We have to deal with these things successfully, and we have to continue to honor those who stand in the way of evil every day so that we can remain free.
Mr. Speaker, I ask that everyone rise and that the House observe a moment of silence to honor the memory of Sergeant Cody Becker, Detective Mark Baker, and Detective Isaiah Emenheiser.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor the retirement of Manuel Heart, chairman of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.
Chairman Heart has faithfully served his people for more than a decade, leading with vision, humility, and an unwavering commitment to protecting the Tribe's sovereignty and making life better for his community. Raised by his grandfather, he learned the Ute language and carried forward the traditions of his people with pride.
Throughout his tenure, he has championed the Tribe's water rights and worked to safeguard this critical resource for future generations. He has
Chairman Heart has been a strong voice for Tribal sovereignty, reminding us that the rights of Tribal members as citizens of both their Tribe and the United States must always be respected.
On behalf of Colorado's Third District, I thank Chairman Manuel Heart for his decades of leadership and extend my best wishes to him in retirement. His service leaves a legacy that will endure for years to come.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss an issue that affects men of all ages, races, and socioeconomic backgrounds: prostate cancer.
Just last week, I introduced a resolution designating September as Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. As co-chair of the bipartisan Men's Health Caucus, this issue is close to my heart.
Every year, the Black community is disproportionately affected by prostate cancer. Specifically, Black men are twice as likely to die from prostate cancer as their White counterparts. This alarming trend highlights an urgent need for action.
To address the disparities in prostate cancer outcomes, we must ensure at-risk populations have access to prevention, early detection, and treatment options.
This disease does not have to be a death sentence, and this disparity isn't written in stone. We have the tools to close that gap.
Together, we can increase awareness through campaigns like Prostate Cancer Awareness Month and beat prostate cancer once and for all. Together, let's end this scourge on our community.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to reflect on my very recent visit to Israel. It was a humbling journey through the Holy Land, where the history and resilience of the Israeli people left a deep impression.
I stood inside Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a profound moment for me as a Christian.
I was grateful to have met Prime Minister Netanyahu, Israel's President Herzog, and our own Ambassador Mike Huckabee. Each visit afforded a deeper understanding of the enduring bond between our nations.
Our delegation visited the site of the Nova music festival, where Hamas terrorists carried out one of the most horrific attacks on October 7.
The trip was both sobering and inspiring. It reaffirmed my conviction to stand with the people of Israel, while working toward the goal of a more peaceful Middle East.
Mr. Speaker, I quote: ``Political satire is one of the oldest and most important forms of free speech. It challenges those in power while using humor to draw more people into the discussion. That's why people in influential positions have always targeted it for censorship.''
These are not my words. These are the words of Brendan Carr, the current FCC Chairman.
This week, Chairman Carr called for Jimmy Kimmel's show to be canceled for using that very same satire--Jimmy Kimmel, Stephen Colbert, suppression of free speech.
I don't see this administration saying anything about limiting the free speech on FOX, OAN, or Newsmax. Free speech is okay if you agree with it, but if it disagrees with you, then out it goes.
That is the way it is in Putin's Russia and in Kim Jong-un's North Korea. That is the way it is in China, Hungary, and Iran. That is not America.
America believes in something good and greater: free speech, free thought, free practice of religion.
When we silence American voices, we slide every day toward the very regimes that we say we are fighting.
1 year ago, western North Carolina was slammed by the worst storm to ever hit our region. To many across the country, we thought that this might have been just another segment on nightly news programs or an article in our local paper, but for those of us who call western North Carolina home, it meant so much more.
In our mountain communities, waters crested above 30 feet; winds peaked at over 100 miles an hour; and 1,500 landslides destroyed hundreds of homes and many communities. Over 1,300 roads were blocked by damage and debris. There were 1.2 million citizens left without power. Mr. Speaker, 108 North Carolinians lost their lives.
Over the last year, our mountain communities have overcome unimaginable obstacles with grit and determination. I couldn't be prouder that, as a community, we have come back together, not as individuals, but as neighbors, friends, and family.
Rebuilding hasn't been easy, but very few things that are worth doing are easy.
Come Helene or high water, western North Carolina will rebuild. I am so proud of the resiliency of the people of the mountains.
Mr. Speaker, we have giants in San Diego. I rise today to congratulate one of them, Mr. Tom Fetter, who is being honored as Mr. San Diego by the San Diego Rotary.
A lifelong San Diegan, Tom was born in 1934 and grew up in Point Loma. In 1957, he married his beautiful wife, Jane, a La Jollan.
Tom served in the Army before beginning a long and successful business career in San Diego.
Tom has always been involved in community service, and it has been at the center of his and Jane's lives. Tom has spent more than five decades building up the community and serving on the leading boards of San Diego institutions, which include the San Diego Yacht Club, The Bishop's School, the Fleet Science Center, the San Diego Zoo, the USD School of Law, and the San Diego History Center.
Notably, Tom was commodore of the San Diego Yacht Club during its defense of America's Cup in 1994.
Tom's service to the San Diego Zoo is especially meaningful as his father served as the zoo's board chairman in the 1960s.
Despite his many achievements, Tom considers his family to be his greatest success, and they are a great blessing to San Diego.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Tom for everything he has done for San Diego, and I congratulate him again on this prestigious honor. It is very well deserved.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise to recognize an inspiring moment in our community, the Spokane Impact's first home match this past Saturday at the HUB Sports Center in Liberty Lake.
The Spokane Impact is one of the founding teams of the Inspire Soccer League, the first-ever national soccer league created specifically for athletes with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Launched by Project Inspire, this league is about more than just soccer. It is about bringing people together from all walks of life and making sure that everyone has a chance to experience the joy and connection of sports.
Too often, athletes with special needs are left without access to the kinds of opportunities so many take for granted, which is real teams, real competition, and real crowds cheering them on.
This is an exciting new effort. There is so much going on with soccer in Spokane and across the country with the launch of our USL team and the coming World Cup. I am so proud that this has taken place.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to give a special shout-out to the team's manager, Anna McCoy, who is doing a wonderful job in her new role.
Mr. Speaker, our Nation is in crisis. We are in a very dark place. Americans are scared, and they want to see a way forward. We all need to start with ourselves.
This morning, I sat, and I lit a candle. I thought about the anguish and suffering of Representative Melissa Hortman's two children as they try to cope with the assassination of their mom and dad.
Then I sat, and I thought of the pain and the torment of Charlie Kirk's family as they try to cope with the killing of their dad.
Today, Mr. Speaker, I am inviting Americans across the Nation to do the same. I invite them to sit for a few minutes in the pain of these two families. If they can feel compassion for one family and not the other, that should tell them about the work they need to do and the work that we all need to do.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to thank the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce for hosting the chamber fly-in to Washington, D.C., this week.
Over 90 members of the Chamber, from the Aerospace and Defense, Energy, Housing, and Community Development sectors, among others, made the journey to our Nation's Capital.
I had the opportunity to meet with several of these business leaders individually. We discussed how we can work together to lower regulations, support businesses, and keep jobs in our community. Many of these business leaders are the reason why the Pikes Peak region is becoming one of the economic titans of the West.
Relationships are the most important part of the legislative process, and I look forward to continuing to work together with these and every business leader in the Fifth Congressional District to continue to grow our thriving community.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Women of Toledo. This remarkably dynamic organization is celebrating 10 productive years of advancing good works, opportunity, sorority, and leadership in northwestern Ohio.
What began as a simple focus group has grown into a vibrant hub, connecting thousands of women and girls to mentorship, education, and resources to build lives forward.
Through initiatives like HerHub, which champions women-owned businesses, and Girl's Hub, which inspires our next generation of leaders in science, technology, engineering, arts, and mathematics, Women of Toledo is shaping the future of our community. Bravo.
Their story is a testament to the power of vision and persistence with good people and good women. From coffee shop conversations to packed ballrooms, they have built a movement rooted in ``e pluribus unum''; ``out of many, one.'' Women of various heritages are working together for community betterment.
Women of Toledo forges partnerships with business, not-for-profits, and neighborhoods who believe that when women rise, our entire community rises. Congratulations, Women of Toledo.
Mr. Speaker, the last 2 days have actually been remarkable. Led by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, we actually met for nearly 36 hours straight on an amendment for inclusion in the State Department Authorization Act.
Indeed, I am very grateful that last night a very historic step was taken as the people of the United States showed their love and affection for the people of the Republic of Georgia. An amendment was passed that provides for no recognition of the illegitimate Georgian Dream government that has seized power in a rigged election in Georgia on October 26, 2024.
We now have a resolution or amendment that calls for nonrecognition. I am so grateful to my colleagues who joined in supporting that resolution. Indeed, it is an indication that what has been done is positive.
The Speaker of the Parliament of Georgia, Shalva Papuashvili, has denounced this legislation. In an unintended consequence, he reveals that the people of Georgia want to live in fairness and freedom. Additionally, today the United Kingdom has passed legislation to block recognition.
With this, we conclude that Charlie and Erika Kirk are making a difference for God, family, and country.
Mr. Speaker, under the process in this country of drawing maps for representation, it is done every 10 years immediately following a census. This year, States are setting out to redraw maps mid-decade and mid-census without any census data. This is done for partisan purposes.
For example, my home state of California has a commission that is supposed to draw the maps and put them in the grubby hands of legislators with a pen or pencil and eraser. The voters of California affirmed three different occasions by their vote on the ballot that they don't want it to be done by legislators.
We see a scheme going on right now to take that away from the voters and put it back in the hands of the legislators. Here is one of the results rights here. Where the top of California meets Oregon and Nevada, that corner there is Modoc County. It sounds as rural as the name ``Modoc'' implies. It is now being linked all the way down here to the north half of the Golden Gate Bridge in Marin County.
This is the area where wolves have been introduced that are devouring the wildlife and the farmers' and ranchers' livestock up there by the people down here who think it is a really good idea. They are not going to have any voice to balance out and to talk about how they are being devastated by policies coming from the urban areas. That is what is known as Proposition 50.
Mr. Speaker, they should vote ``no'' on that in California and bring balance back. Leave the balance in place instead of partisan lines.
Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, and I rise now to proudly yield to a person with great honor and integrity. She is a Member of this Congress who has been on the right side of righteousness. She is a Member of this Congress who stands for those who are among the least, the last, and the lost. She hails from the 14th Congressional District in the great State of New York.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from the State of New York (Ms. Ocasio-Cortez).
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) for yielding to me.
Today the Republican House majority brought to the floor a resolution honoring the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk.
Charlie Kirk's assassination was a horrific and vile attack. It was an incident of political violence, and condemning the depravity of Kirk's brutal murder is a straightforward matter. It is one that is especially important to help stabilize an increasingly unsafe and volatile political environment where everyday people feel more at risk.
We can deeply disagree and come together as a country to denounce the horror of this killing, and it is not a license for the abuse of power and whitewashing of American history.
Today's resolution only underscores the majority's recklessness by choosing to offer this condemnation and honoring on a purely partisan basis, instead of uniting Congress in this tragedy with one of the many bipartisan options to condemn political violence in Kirk's murder as we did with the late Melissa Hortman. Instead, the majority proceeded with a resolution that brings great pain to the millions of Americans who endured segregation, Jim Crow, and the legacy of bigotry today.
We should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was. He was a man who believed that the Civil Rights Act that granted Black Americans the right to vote was a mistake, who after the violent attack on Paul Pelosi claimed that ``some amazing patriot'' should bail out his brutal assailant, and accused Jews of controlling ``not just the colleges, it is the nonprofits, it is the movies, it is Hollywood, it is all of it.''
His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant, uneducated, and sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans, far from the ``working tirelessly to promote unity'' asserted by the majority in this resolution.
It is equally important that Congress does unite to reject the government's attempt to weaponize this moment into an all-out assault on free speech across the country all in the name of Charlie Kirk.
President Trump and the FCC are now cynically threatening to shut down ABC and any outlets that gives airtime to the administration's political critics.
This is a disgusting attack on the American people and the very First Amendment rights that define us as a country. It is also the ABC corporation's responsibility to refuse to embolden and participate in this corruption and escalation of censorship.
We continue to pray for Mr. Kirk's family and loved ones in the wake of this terrible act. I am thinking especially of his children and his wife whose grief cannot be measured.
I bid the gentlewoman a good day, and we will proceed now, Mr. Speaker, again.
And still I rise.
And I rise today, Mr. Speaker, with the notion in mind that what I have stood for I still stand for. What I have stood for I still stand for. It wasn't that long ago, Mr. Speaker, that I stood right over to my right, the seat next to the aisle. Mr. Speaker, when the President of the United States of America was here for a joint session of Congress, the President of the United States of America indicated that he had a mandate.
I, with a degree of spontaneity, Mr. Speaker, from right over there, the second seat from the aisle, collected my portable items and was about to make my departure. I traversed up to the doors and made my exit as a means of protesting what the President was saying.
However, Mr. Speaker, as I did this, I became overwhelmed with just the notion that something was going to happen very ugly and it would be something that would hurt people who are on Medicaid and Medicare. I also brought up Social Security when I spoke, but these are the things that I was overwhelmed with. As a result of understanding what was about to happen and knowing that the committee with jurisdiction over Medicaid had a mandate to cut more than $800 billion, I was overwhelmed, Mr. Speaker. I did rise to my feet, and I did say to the President: You have no mandate to cut Medicaid.
My colleagues across the aisle became very rambunctious and decided that what I was saying did not merit being heard, so they performed very loudly. I am not angry with them. They performed loudly. I wanted to make sure that the President heard my statement, and I repeated myself and added Medicare and Social Security.
My colleagues continued, and I continued.
I was evicted, and I was later on censured, censured but not silenced. Yes, I stand today where I stood then. Censured but not silent I stand today where I stood then. It is best captured in this photo that depicts what occurred: censured not silenced.
So I stand today where I stood then, and I stand today where I stood then because there is a CR that has been brought before this House, and if I had voted for that CR, then I would legitimize what I stood against.
I refuse to legitimize what I stood against when I said: You don't have a mandate to cut Medicaid, Medicare, and I introduced Social Security into the equation.
That is what this was about for me, today. The question was whether I would stand where I stood then or whether I would now agree that what was done then is something that I condone now. I condemned what happened then. My mind has not changed. The people who will suffer will still suffer.
Mr. Speaker, why would I now decide that I am going to bless, if you will, condone, a CR that continues what happened, when my Republican colleagues did what they thought was right, I assumed, and passed the legislation without the help of Democrats?
If you can pass the initial legislation without the help of Democrats, Mr. Speaker, then why do you want me to join in your CR?
Pass this without my help.
Censured but not silenced. I stand now where I stood then. I went out, and I addressed the press. I didn't go out to address the press, the press asked and appealed to me to come over. I was making my way to my home where I could watch the rest of the joint session of Congress, but I went over to the press, and I said to them what I said to the President. I am on record.
Why would I now decide that I somehow conclude that what was done to Medicaid and Medicare is somehow something that I would now condone?
I have said, and I continue to say that this piece of legislation that was passed--not the CR, but the original legislation, that one big, ugly steal of a bill--this piece of legislation as it continues to develop is going to hurt people on Medicaid. If you live long enough, Mr. Speaker, you are going to need Medicaid because if you live long enough, then you are going to need some sort of long-term healthcare if you are fortunate enough, and you are going to get that from Medicaid.
I refuse to change my position. I stand now where I stood then, and I believe that what we are doing is the greatest cut in healthcare history. It is the greatest cut in healthcare ever.
All we are trying to do as Democrats, or at least this one Democrat-- I don't speak for the Democratic Party. I speak for myself and everybody who agrees with me.
What we are trying to do is to protect Medicare. That is all that CR is about for me. It is about a lot of other things as well, but I am trying to protect Medicare as I tried at the joint session of Congress. I am going to stand where I stood then.
I am proud to tell you that Democrats have produced some documents
There is a healthcare crisis. The Democratic Party has passed this on to me. I want to give them full credit for it. I am going to adopt it as my own, but I did not produce it.
It says here--this is a part of the crisis--slashing Medicaid with the largest cut in history. I said that. I am repeating myself. Some things bear repeating. Slashing Medicaid with the largest cut in history. I can't condone that. If I had voted for this CR, that is what I would be doing. You passed it without my help before. Why would you expect me to support it now? I want to change that. I am not a status quo politician.
Next point: dramatically raises premiums, copays, and deductibles for tens of millions of Americans. There are people who are living on the margins, barely capable of affording healthcare, and this legislation is going to make it impossible for some of them to afford healthcare. These premiums and copays and deductibles are going to go up for a good many people who can't afford them. We are trying to change that, or I am. I support this.
It goes on to say: forcing hospitals and community health centers across the Nation to close. That is no joke. People are starting to see it. They are starting to express their consternation. They are starting to let the people know that somehow this must not happen. They want to change it. If they want to change it, why would I vote to continue it? I refuse to change my position. I stand now where I stood then.
It goes on to indicate: setting in motion $536 billion in cuts to Medicaid. Mr. Speaker, that sums it up.
I stand now where I stood then. I am a liberated Democrat, unbought, unbossed, unafraid, censured, not silenced. I stand for the people I have been faithful to in my congressional district. I am going to be faithful to them until the very end, wherever and whenever that occurs. I stand for what is best to help them through these turbulent times and the crisis that the GOP healthcare initiatives have introduced to people who are in need of healthcare.
I close with this, Mr. Speaker. This is the richest country in the world. We cannot allow healthcare to become wealth care. We also cannot allow healthcare to line the pockets of the wealthy. That is another form of wealth care, healthcare to become wealth care for the wealthy.
The cuts are going to line the pockets of the very wealthy in this country. That has been published. It has been accepted, it seems, by all or a good many except me. I don't accept that. I refuse to allow healthcare to become wealth care and do it in the sense that it becomes the wealthy who benefit the most from the cuts that are taking place.
Mr. Speaker, I stand now where I stood then, censured but not silenced.
Mr. Speaker, the House has just voted to pass a continuing resolution that is now going over to the Senate with the Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, pledging that his caucus will be united against it, barrelling us toward a potential government shutdown that would very much not be in the interests of anyone and would be terrible for the country as a whole.
The minority leader in the Senate has not been abundantly clear as to what exactly he is looking for in order to avoid this outcome. After all, we are dealing with a so-called clean CR, which simply extends funding levels as they have been for quite some time now. This is really not the way things should be done, by the way, but that is where we are, and it is the only proposal on the table for avoiding such a shutdown.
I have a thought on how this whole terrible outcome can potentially be avoided in a way that would satisfy Members on both sides of the aisle and keep the government open, which is to include in the continuing resolution language that will preserve the congressional maps in every State in the country as they existed at the time of the 2024 election.
I have proposed legislation myself along those lines to stop this horrible redistricting war that we see playing out across the country that is bad for representative government and is widely opposed by Members of the Democratic Caucus and Republican Conference in the House.
That is my proposal to avoid a shutdown, to give the minority leader, Chuck Schumer, in the Senate, something that he can claim he delivered that would help members of at least the Democratic Caucus here in the House. We simply reach a deal where we are going to say we are going to stop this redistricting war; we are not going to be upending maps in the middle of a decade.
This could be done easily. It could be put into the continuing resolution that the House just sent over to the Senate. Here are the two main virtues of this proposal.
Number one, the proposal is widely supported by the American people, 66 percent to 23 percent. The American people say that we should not be engaging in redistricting mid-decade. That is according to a recent Noble Insights poll.
Mr. Speaker, by a 3-to-1 margin, Americans support the legislation that I have proposed and support the idea that we should not be throwing out congressional maps, upending districts, and dissevering the connection between voters and their Representatives in the middle of the decade.
Not only do the American people support this proposal, but Members of the House on both sides of the aisle do. How do we know that? On the Democratic side, you just had a number of Members of the House who announced their own bill to get rid of mid-decade redistricting.
On the Republican side, I have had Members come up to me every day saying that what I am proposing is the right thing for them, the right thing for their districts, the right thing for their States, and the right thing for the country.
The only thing that is stopping us from moving forward on this commonsense proposal is the refusal on the part of the Speaker of the House to put on the floor a piece of legislation that is widely supported by Members of the House and by the American people.
The ball is now in the Senate's court when it comes to government funding, and I am absolutely opposed to a government shutdown. That is why I supported the stopgap funding measure today, even though I don't think it should have come to this.
Now, the Senate has an opportunity to negotiate a compromise that will keep the House open. That has to, by its very nature, be bipartisan, given the rules of the Senate.
Mr. Speaker, I would submit that a way to do that that would be in the interests of everyone here in this institution would be to reach an agreement that keeps the government open; that provides us some runway to actually pass a budget, which we should have done a long time ago; and that will stop this chaos of upending one district after another in State after State from cascading across the country.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to provide an update on Proposition 50 that is set for a vote in California, otherwise known as Gavin Newsom's redistricting sham.
This is a proposal by the Governor to tear up the map drawn by California's
It is an attempt to override what the voters have said three separate times in California, that redistricting should be done by an independent commission and not to move us back to the era of partisan gerrymandering.
As bad as this proposal is on its face, what is even worse is the cost of simply administering this special election because we are not supposed to be having an election right now. This is 2025, a nonelection year.
In order to get this sham through and in order to reverse the will of the voters, the Governor needs to produce an artifact of voter approval. They have come up with this fraudulent ballot measure that is designed to mislead voters and to confuse them into overturning what they had done before.
What is more is that it is doing so in a way that relies upon not only voter fraud by confusing people but also voter suppression by limiting voter opportunities.
I have heard directly from the registrars of voters in my district, saying that because they have thrown out all the rules for elections in California and because they have condensed the timeline beyond anything we have ever seen, they are not able to have the polling places opened that they would like, and they are having fewer voting centers.
The typical places that they use for voting are not able to be used because those places have already been booked. They are not able to get out the sort of notifications to voters that they usually do. The voter guide is not being mailed to voters when it should, and it is going to be a digital-only voter guide.
Think about how perverse that is. They lie to voters on the description on the ballot as to what the initiative actually does, and then they withhold from them the voter guide that would actually give voters the actual text of the initiative and arguments from folks on both sides.
In order to conduct this impromptu, unscheduled, hyper-rushed special election, when we are not supposed to be having an election at all, in a way that suppresses the will of voters and suppresses voter participation, it is going to cost California voters nearly $300 million. That is right, $282 million, to be exact. That is the cost of administering this election, the only purpose of which is to return California to the era of political gerrymandering. That is the only thing on the ballot.
It is $282 million in taxpayer funding at a time when California has a massive budget deficit and when the Governor has cut funding for foster kids in our State while saying that we don't have enough money. Yet, he has $282 million to return us to the era of political gerrymandering.
This comes at a time when the Governor is refusing to fund Proposition 36, the initiative to restore appropriate consequences for retail theft and to get drug offenders access to treatment. It was passed by California voters overwhelmingly last year, with nearly 70 percent of the vote, over Governor Newsom's opposition. Yet, he is not funding it. He is, again, trying to ignore and overturn the will of voters, so much so that the Democratic mayor of San Jose called what Newsom is doing ``a joke.''
Mr. Speaker, he doesn't have the funds to keep California safe. He doesn't have the funds for foster kids. He is running a massive budget deficit. He has defaulted on a $20 billion loan that he took out from the Federal Government, forcing small businesses to pay it back themselves through a tax increase. Yet, he has somehow found $282 million in taxpayer funds to conduct a snap special election to hypergerrymander our State.
It is one of the most disgraceful acts, if not the most disgraceful act, of any elected official in modern California history. You don't have to take my word for that. This scheme has provoked widespread bipartisan opposition.
Just today, the first chair of the California independent redistricting commission, who is a registered Democrat, has an op-ed in CalMatters, saying that this is exactly the wrong thing to do.
Former Governor Schwarzenegger came out a few days ago in strong opposition to Prop 50, calling it insane. Former Governor Schwarzenegger called Governor Newsom's scheme insane. Former Governor Schwarzenegger said that this is ``getting rid of the democratic principles of California.''
Mr. Schwarzenegger derided the fact that this was a map drawn by the politicians without any input from the people.
Mr. Speaker, Governor Newsom is in the process of trying to mislead voters not only through his ballot description but also through all kinds of campaign ads, using $10 million of funding that just came in from George Soros, with all of his favorite special interests in Sacramento getting behind it, with commercials saying that this is actually preserving independent redistricting when, literally, the entire point of the initiative is to throw out the map created by our independent redistricting and return power to the hands of partisan politicians.
Mr. Speaker, it has also come out that this map has been drawn in such a way as to provide new districts for the very politicians who drew the map to run in. The speaker of the California State Assembly and the president of the California Senate have been given their own special districts to run in for Congress if this map gets adopted, which is all the more reason why California voters have said on multiple occasions that they don't want politicians drawing maps.
Indeed, the California Constitution, in addition to saying that an independent commission draws the lines, specifically says that these sorts of considerations favoring a powerful politician, favoring an incumbent, drawing them in such a way as to give one person an edge or to have someone's home be in this district versus that one, that none of that is allowed under the current California Constitution. The way that this Governor's redistricting sham has been drawn, it says that, literally, everything else in the constitution is to be ignored.
Every provision that provides for the protection for voters, that provides for fair districts, that keeps communities together in the process of drawing district lines that says you cannot favor politicians or candidates in any way, that says you cannot consider partisan outcomes, all of that is completely blown up by this initiative.
It says partisan gerrymandering is the new law of the land in California, the highest law of the land, notwithstanding it says anything else that exists in our State's constitution.
Mr. Speaker, the Governor is trying to stack the deck in every way he can against the people of California, to try to overturn their will, to try to confuse them, to fool them, to mislead them, to suppress their opportunity to participate so that he gets more power and they lose power.
The task for those who care about good government, for those who care about our democracy in California, for people of decency on all sides of the aisle, is simply to make sure that folks understand the truth over these next few weeks as this election is conducted.
Mr. Speaker, we have just got some alarming news, which, unfortunately, is unsurprising, and that is that California, once again, has the highest poverty rate of any State in the country.
Despite the fact that we have some of the world's leading companies and all of the inherited advantages that we have as a State, we continue to lead the Nation in poverty with 7 million people, 17.7 percent of our residents, not able to cover their basic needs.
What is perhaps even more alarming is that just since 2021, child poverty in California has doubled. Child poverty in California, the number of kids living below the poverty line, has doubled in California just in the last 4 years.
That, sadly, is the price of failed leadership as our State's supermajority and Governor continue to impose policies that raise the cost of living while lowering economic opportunity.
Those two factors combine to produce poverty in California unlike exists anywhere else in the United States. In addition to ranking number one in poverty, California also ranks number one in homelessness, number one in unemployment, and number one in wage stagnation.
It is no secret why. The State continues to impose regulations that raise the cost of doing business in the State, that raise the cost of housing, that raise the cost of water, that raise the cost of electricity, that raise the cost of just about every other good that a person needs.
The State continues to impose the highest taxes in the country, including the highest taxes on gas with new regulations now coming into place that one study estimated is going to raise the price of gasoline in California to $8 a gallon by the end of next year.
Mr. Speaker, I am doing everything that I can here to counteract the failed corrupt policies that we see coming out of Sacramento. We have had some successes.
For example, I recently introduced, and we passed, a resolution to overturn California's ban on gas-powered cars, which means that Californians will continue to be able to drive the car of their choice, not one chosen for them by the government. It will save Californians significant amounts when it comes to the cost of their vehicle.
We are also working on legislation, and have, indeed, secured funding to increase our State's water supply and to expand our domestic energy production in order to lower the price of gas and electricity in our State.
There is only so much we can do at the Federal level when our State's politicians continue to fail the people of California. I am continuing to urge leaders in Sacramento to work on commonsense legislation, to lower the cost of living in our State, and to end the attacks on workers that have given us the Nation's highest unemployment.
We have so much potential in California. We are the greatest State in the country in so many ways, and if we simply had halfway decent policies in Sacramento, we would not have these outrageously tragic outcomes of having the highest poverty of any State in the country.
Cutting Off Funding for the California High-Speed Rail Disaster
Mr. Speaker, we have recently succeeded here in cutting off funding for the California High-Speed Rail disaster, which is, in my view, the worst public infrastructure failure in U.S. history.
I introduced a bill at the beginning of this Congress saying that we should cut off all funding for the high-speed rail and following an investigation with Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy, we have succeeded in doing just that.
Yet, the Governor of California has, rather than seeing the writing on the wall and winding this failed project down, has now said he is going to spend $20 billion more to keep it on life support and has even accused me of lying, saying: ``Representative Kiley continues to lie about California High-Speed Rail.''
Mr. Speaker, I am more than willing to be proven wrong. I am happy to be proven wrong. If the Governor and his team would like to take me for a trip on the high-speed train from San Francisco to Los Angeles that was supposed to be built 5 years ago, I will happily retract my criticism. I am ready to hop onboard when I fly home to California today.
If the train is there, I will acknowledge my mistake and admit the accusation that has been leveled against me, but I don't think that is going to happen because no such train exists.
In fact, not only do we not have a train from San Francisco to L.A. that was supposed to be finished 5 years ago, we don't have any stations. We do not have any track at all that has been laid, not a single passenger has ridden anything, and now the latest word is that even the initial segment from Bakersfield to Merced--that is not L.A. to San Francisco for those who are less familiar with California geography. It is not a particularly populated area--that is even going to miss its 2033 deadline.
The latest ambitious plan that is put forward is that maybe by 2045, we will have a line from Palmdale to Gilroy, which would require taking three separate transit lines, a total of 6 hours, to get from L.A. to San Francisco, which you could do today on any airline in about an hour.
Mr. Speaker, if I am lying, apparently a lot of other people are lying, too. The New York Times, I suppose, is lying when it reported in an expose x this project is not on track to be completed even this century.
Where do we go from here? In my view, in cutting off Federal funding, we have limited what opportunities the Governor has to cause further damage to our State. He has come out and said that we are going to spend another $20 billion, but that is over the next 20 years.
This is nothing more than an attempt to save face because the Governor knows that I am not lying. The Governor knows this project is an embarrassing disaster, and he also knows that he is out of office in about a year.
Once we have a new Governor and we have, in statute, the commitment to not provide any more Federal funding, which has kept the project on life support, it is my prediction that this disaster will be wound down and that our transportation dollars can go where they are actually needed to fixing our failing roads and providing for California's real transportation needs.
Mr. Speaker, we have just received the latest report on the performance of students across this country when it comes to math and reading and civics, and the results are absolutely alarming.
We have seen now 12th grade math scores reach the lowest score ever reported, with 45 percent of students not even showing basic skills, the highest portion of students ever to fall below basic proficiency. Nearly half of the Nation's students can't even apply single-step percentages to solve real-world problems. Less than a quarter, only 22 percent, of 12th graders scored at or above proficient in math, down 2 points from 2019.
The low scores are seen in these core subjects, and they are even below scores almost two decades earlier. The data shows that this trend has continued and was started even before COVID-19.
In 2024, only a third of 12th graders were considered academically ready for entry-level college math work, down 4 percent since 2019. We see similar results in reading. Over 32 percent, the largest percentage ever, scored below proficient in reading. When we look at both math and reading, we are seeing the worst performance ever for students across this country.
I have been raising alarms about this trend for some time now. As the chair of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, we have been looking at how we can reverse this trajectory, which has been continuing for far too long in this country. The truth is, we don't have to look far because there are some places in America that are defying this alarming trend, that are applying basic principles of propelling student achievement in order to perform in a diametrically different way than schools elsewhere in the country.
To take one example, which we highlighted in a hearing earlier this year, you can look at Success Academy, which is a network of nearly 60 charter schools in New York. I have here just one measure of their extraordinary success.
As background, it should be understood that the demographics of Success Academy are largely students from underserved communities with, in fact, 76 percent coming from economically disadvantaged homes.
When you look at this chart, you can see the number of students who passed one or more AP exam of the roughly 1,500 high school students that Success Academy has. This is their network of schools, nearly 60 charter schools, but 1,500 high school students. Mr. Speaker, 100 percent of their students passed at least one AP exam.
These other bars are different States. You see 24 percent for Rhode Island, 24 percent for Vermont, 27 percent for Virginia, and 26 percent in Colorado. Even of the States that do pretty well, in the high 20s, California, which does not do so well, scored 28 percent, and Massachusetts, the State with the highest score, scored 33 percent. Success Academy had 100 percent.
In fact, every Success Academy high school graduate has been accepted to a 4-year college, with many admitted to highly selective institutions. Overall, we have seen students at Success Academy last year led the entire State in math scores, with 49 percent of Black and 55 percent of Hispanic students earning 4s, which is the highest level on the State exam.
By contrast, New York City's district schools, compared to that, 8 percent of Black and Hispanic students earned 4s. Mr. Speaker, 49 percent and 55 percent versus 8 percent is an astounding difference at a network of schools where the vast majority of students are below the poverty line. As a matter of fact, if Success Academy were its own district, it would be the single highest ranking school district in the State of New York.
I had the opportunity to visit one of their schools just last week, and I was truly inspired by what I saw. The students were engaged in every classroom I visited. They were enthusiastic about learning, eager to participate, and attentive. I didn't see one student's eyes wander or one disruption. The teachers were, likewise, truly passionate about the work that they were doing.
The students are held to very high expectations and taught math and reading in a rigorous way, in an evidence-based way. They are taught things like focus, by learning chess starting in kindergarten, and they have created a culture within each of their schools of high expectations that is felt in every classroom and by every student.
It is no wonder that parents in New York are clamoring to get their kids into these schools. I had the chance to meet a number of these parents as well while I was there. The last time, for the last year, for the 3,200 spots that were available, there were 16,000 families that applied. The law for charter schools is that you do a lottery, so 16,000 families applied for 3,200 lottery spots.
If you won the lottery, then your child gets the chance to go to the highest performing network of schools in the State of New York, a network where 100 percent of students are accepted to 4-year universities, where 100 percent of high school students pass at least one AP exam, and where over six times more students achieve the highest level of proficiency as similarly situated students in district schools in New York City.
You would think that politicians in Albany or, for that matter, in Sacramento--because our State has similar success stories when it comes to high-performing charter school networks--would be doing everything possible to expand these opportunities, but it is just the contrary. In New York, they have actually capped the number of charter schools that can be started, and in California, Governor Newsom and the supermajority have conducted a years-long war against charter schools, making it harder for them to start up and easier for them to be shut down.
I think it is important for us to reflect on these two sets of data. On the one hand, the Nation's report card shows that our Nation is in big trouble because of the continuing decline and failure of our public education system, but on the other hand we have inspiring stories like that of Success Academy where you have nearly 60 schools that are achieving extraordinary things for kids coming largely from underprivileged backgrounds.
The urgent question that we need to ask is how do we make every school in America look more like Success Academy or more like the KIPP network of schools or more like any number of successful charter networks, and, for that matter, those traditional public schools that are doing a good job, as well.
We have been highlighting in our subcommittee why it is that we have this vast divergence in outcomes. While education is largely the domain of State and local jurisdictions, we will continue to use whatever tools we have to encourage the adoption of best practices and to work toward accountability for those who are failing our students year after year.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to highlight some curious news out of my State in California. It has just been revealed that a dog successfully voted in a recent election in California.
The dog received a ballot in the mail and successfully cast that ballot and, indeed, even after the dog died, continued to receive a ballot in the mail.
The owner has now been charged by the Orange County District Attorney's Office for illegally registering her dog to vote, but she probably would have gotten away with it if she hadn't posted a photo of her dog on social media wearing an ``I voted'' sticker.
The individual here has been charged with a number of felonies: for perjury, for procuring or offering a false or forged document, two felony counts of casting a ballot while not entitled to vote, one felony count of registering a nonexistent person to vote.
Just to be clear, dogs are not actually allowed to vote in California, and yet in this case, the animal did. The question we have to ask, Mr. Speaker, is how in the world do we have so few safeguards on our electoral process in California that such a thing could ever happen.
I have proposed commonsense solutions to this problem, requiring voter ID and passing the SAVE Act here in Congress to require proof of citizenship when registering to vote.
While this is, obviously, a crazy example, a lot of people in our State lack trust in the integrity of our electoral process, especially when laws are passed year after year in the legislature, where now ballots are automatically sent to every registered voter. Those ballots continue to go out, often when the voter has left the State or when the voter is no longer with us; where there is no proof of ID in order to register to vote, or actually to vote; when registration is done automatically when one gets their driver's license; and where, in recent years, ballot harvesting laws have been passed where you don't even have to submit your ballot yourself, but someone can come to your door and grab it for you.
I think it is past time that we have reforms to our electoral process in California and, frankly, nationwide, as well.
I have discussed my opposition to partisan gerrymandering. In addition to stopping this redistricting war going on right now, I believe that by the time we have the next round of scheduled redistricting, we need to end gerrymandering once and for all in this country. I think perhaps there is a bargain that can be struck to have legislation that will protect the fairness of elections across America by instituting universal voter ID while ending gerrymandering once and for all. I believe that will restore fairness in American elections, and our democracy will be much better off for it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Moore).
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Officer Gabriel Stainback, a young man taken far too soon in a senseless tragedy.
Officer Stainback had just begun his career in law enforcement, sworn in last December to the Cornelius Police Department in North Carolina. He had a bright future ahead of him. He was recently married. He and his wife, Teonna, were out on a bike ride together when he was struck and killed by a vehicle.
No family should ever have to endure that kind of loss. This was a young man who put his heart into his community. He was a State champion athlete, a college graduate, a pilot, and, above all, someone who loved his faith and his family, as well as his community.
Mr. Speaker, I extend my deepest condolences to his wife, his parents, and fellow officers. Officer Stainback represented the very best of us, and we will not forget him.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Officer William ``Bill'' Broadway, of the Huntersville Police Department, who recently lost his battle with cancer.
In 2016, he joined the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and later returned to serve closer to his home in Huntersville. His colleagues remember him for his professionalism,
Bill faced his cancer diagnosis with the same strength that he showed throughout his life. Even in his final days, his faith remained strong and his love for his family was unwavering.
Officer Broadway leaves behind a legacy of service and sacrifice that will never be forgotten.
Mr. Speaker, I extend my deepest condolences to his wife, Sarah; his son, Declan; and the entire Broadway family.
