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13Congressional Earmarks, Limited Tax Benefits, or Limited Tariff Benefits
14Deletions of Sponsors From Public Bills and Resolutions
Daily Digest
Public Bills and Resolutions Introduced
18 public bills, H.R. 7006- 7023; 5 resolutions, H.J. Res. 140; and H. Res. 986-987; 989 were introduced.
Pages H654-55
Reports Filed
Reports were filed today as follows: H.R. 725, to take certain mineral interests into trust for the benefit of the Crow Tribe of Montana, and for other purposes, with an amendment (H. Rept. 119-436); H.R. 2860, to reauthorize the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative Act to promote the protection of the resources of the Northwest Straits, and for other purposes, with an amendment (H. Rept. 119-437); H.R. 3168, to reauthorize the Earthquake Hazards Reduction Act of 1977, and for other purposes (H. Rept. 119-438, Part 1); H.R. 1681, to require the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information to establish an interagency strike force to ensure that certain Federal land management agencies, including the organizational units of such agencies, prioritize the review of requests for communications use authorizations, and for other purposes (H. Rept. 119-439, Part 1); and H. Res. 988, providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 2988) to amend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 to specify requirements concerning the consideration of pecuniary and non- pecuniary factors, and for other purposes; providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 2262) to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to exclude certain activities from hours worked, and for other purposes; providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 2270) to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to exclude child and dependent care services and payments from the rate used to compute overtime compensation; providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 2312) to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to revise the definition of the term ``tipped employee'', and for other purposes; and providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 4366) to clarify the treatment of 2 or more employers as joint employers under the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (H. Rept. 119-440).
Page H654
Speaker
Read a letter from the Speaker wherein he appointed Representative Taylor to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.
Page H617
Recess
The House recessed at 12:23 p.m. and reconvened at 2 p.m.
Page H620
Recess
The House recessed at 2:08 p.m. and reconvened at 3 p.m.
Page H621
Recess
The House recessed at 6:06 p.m. and reconvened at 6:30 p.m.
Page H645
Suspensions
The House agreed to suspend the rules and pass the following measures: Remote Access Security Act: H.R. 2683, amended, to provide for control of remote access of items under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, by a \2/3\ yea-and-nay vote of 369 yeas to 22 nays, Roll No. 13; ;
Pages H621-23
H645-46 Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act
H.R. 909, amended, to temporarily provide additional deposits into the Crime Victims Fund;
Pages H623-26
Bankruptcy Administration Improvement Act
S. 3424, to amend titles 11 and 28, United States Code, to modify the compensation payable to trustees serving in cases under chapter 7 of title 11, United States Code, to extend the term of certain temporary offices of bankruptcy judges;
Pages H626-28
Combating Online Predators Act
H.R. 6719, amended, to prohibit threats to a minor;
Pages H628-30
Child Predators Accountability Act
H.R. 6715, amended, to prohibit sexual exploitation and sexually explicit depictions of minors;
Pages H630-32
Coercion and Sexual Abuse Free Environment Act
H.R. 6732, amended, to prohibit unlawful coercion of a minor;
Pages H632-34
Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act
S. 269, to improve coordination between Federal and State agencies and the Do Not Pay working system;
Pages H634-37
AGOA Extension Act
H.R. 6500, amended, to extend duty-free treatment provided with respect to imports from certain countries in Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, to extend customs user fees, by a \2/3\ yea-and-nay vote of 340 yeas to 54 nays, Roll No. 14; and ;
Pages H637-42
H646 Haiti Economic Lift Program Extension Act
H.R. 6504, amended, to extend duty-free treatment provided with respect to imports from Haiti under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, by a \2/3\ yea-and-nay vote of 345 yeas to 45 nays, Roll No. 15. ;
Pages H642-45
H647 Quorum Calls: Votes
Three yea-and-nay votes developed during the proceedings of today and appear on pages H645-46, H646, and H647. Adjournment: The House met at 12 p.m. and adjourned at 8:07 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: 165 of 244 spoken turns were found. Turns without a time are still listed; they just can't seek.
Morning-Hour Debate
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of January 6, 2026, the Chair will now recognize Members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning-hour debate.
The Chair will alternate recognition between the parties, with time equally allocated between the parties and each Member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to 5 minutes, but in no event shall debate continue beyond 1:50 p.m.
Mr. Speaker, President Trump issued an executive order last week to prioritize the development of the U.S. warfighter.
President Trump has made significant strides toward strengthening the United States' military capabilities, and this executive order continues to do just that.
Enhancing the lethality and readiness of our military forces relies on the highly skilled practices of defense contracting partners like JLG Industries, Volvo Construction Equipment, the Manitowoc Company, and firms like Lockheed Martin, Leonardo DRS, Kongsberg Defense Corporation, and JWF Defense Systems. These are all examples of companies that put our Nation's vital interests first, and these are all companies that are in Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District.
President Trump's initiative will hold Defense to the highest standards by refocusing on our Nation's military readiness, which is especially needed in these incredibly dangerous times.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to acknowledge the efforts of the Gettysburg National Military Park to restore several monuments. These restoration efforts follow the vandalism of historic monuments at Gettysburg.
These memorials honor the brave soldiers who fought and died in one of the most pivotal American battles. Restoring these monuments will take months and cost taxpayers thousands of dollars. These are resources that should have never been necessary to expend.
These actions were not simply acts of graffiti. They were acts to damage our legacy. These monuments stand as reminders of sacrifice, unity, and the ongoing work of perfecting this Union. They deserve our utmost respect.
We owe it to those who fought for these freedoms and to the future generations of Americans to ensure that our national parks and memorials are preserved.
Representing Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District, I thank Superintendent Kris Heister and her staff at Gettysburg National Military Park for their dedication to protecting these sacred sites.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all constituents to uphold the highest respect for those who died so that we might enjoy the many freedoms that we continue to have today.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Huntingdon Area School District on its selection as a Great Pennsylvania School.
Bestowed by the Pennsylvania School Boards Association, this designation recognizes school districts across Pennsylvania for academic excellence. As Superintendent Jennifer Mitchell stated: This meaningful designation reflects the shared commitment to high-quality, innovative, and community-centered education in Huntingdon.
Mr. Speaker, I join with constituents throughout Huntingdon in congratulating the Huntingdon Area School District, Superintendent Mitchell, and the school board directors on the district's designation as one of Pennsylvania's great schools.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life and community impact of Tina Pelesky, a dedicated advocate for veterans, who passed away at the age of 56 this past Christmas Eve.
Tina devoted her professional life to Veteran Community Initiatives, a nonprofit organization in Johnstown that provides numerous services for veterans in a 14-county region that includes Cambria, Somerset, and Bedford Counties.
Tina most recently served as VCI's director of finance and administration. In her partnership with VCI founder Tom Caulfield, Tina was instrumental in supporting numerous aspects of VCI's mission.
As we pause to remember Tina, we also keep her husband, David, and her entire family in our prayers. We also express a nation's gratitude for her passionate commitment that advocates like Tina Pelesky and Tom Caulfield make each and every day for all of those who served this great country.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Korean- American Day, a day to commemorate the first wave of Korean immigrants to the United States and honor the generations who have followed.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to represent a vibrant Korean-American community in Virginia, a community that has made incredible contributions across the country in government, business, technology, education, the arts, and more.
Today is also a solemn reminder of the Korean-American families who remain divided as a result of the Korean war, including families in my district, whose stories I have heard firsthand.
The Korean war separated thousands of families who have spent decades seeking reunification and closure, but I am proud to be championing bipartisan legislation that I introduced earlier this year to help accelerate the reunification of these families. This was recently signed into law, offering these families hope for a long overdue reunion.
Mr. Speaker, I look forward to continuing to work with the Korean- American community in my district and across the country to make these reunions a reality, and I wish everyone a happy Korean-American Day.
Mr. Speaker, my office has been working with so many constituents who have been harmed by the administration's new immigration policies, one of which placed a hold on immigration petitions and applications from 19 countries designated by the administration.
In our district, families followed the law. They filed their paperwork and waited in good faith. They were told that their application was in good order and would be approved soon, and then the process completely stopped. Work permit applications were frozen, leaving people legally present but unable to work.
Asylee and refugee family petitions have also been stalled. There are so many heartbreaking stories, like one hopeful couple in my office who has been trying to plan their wedding but remain separated while they wait. There is another person who has not been able to unite with their sons or daughters.
These delays have been putting people's lives on hold indefinitely without any sort of timeline or transparency, and we must restore timely adjudication of these applications.
Mr. Speaker, for the second year in a row, Fauquier Hospital has been named the Top General Hospital in the Nation.
Fauquier Hospital has received an A grade for the last 18 months. It is recognized as a certified primary stroke center, and it has a 97-bed acute care hospital.
Only 52 hospitals receive this honor every year, and we are glad to have Fauquier Hospital serving our community.
Healthcare institutions around the country continue to face challenges, with cuts to Medicaid, the ACA tax credits expiring, and burned-out workforces that are asked to do more with less every single day.
The Senate must take up the 3-year ACA tax credit extension to address healthcare costs. We must make sure that we restore Medicaid funding, or we risk losing hospitals like Fauquier Hospital.
Working in healthcare is often a thankless job, and I hope the House will join me in thanking the nurses, doctors, and staff that keep hospitals like Fauquier Hospital running.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate the Puller Veterans Care Center on its grand opening on the historic grounds of the former Vint Hill Farms Station in Fauquier County. I am so excited about this center because it is going to deliver top-quality care to veterans in our region.
Mr. Speaker, 128 private rooms are organized into households and neighborhoods around a central community center. The site actually played a decisive role during World War II in intercepting enemy communications, including the message that helped pave the way for the D-Day invasion of Normandy.
It is fitting that a place that helped secure freedom will now serve those who fought to preserve it. The center appropriately honors the Puller family, including General Lewis ``Chesty'' Puller, one of the most decorated marines in our history; his son, Lieutenant Lewis Puller, Jr., a Vietnam veteran and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author; and former delegate and State Senator Toddy Puller.
Mr. Speaker, congratulations to all who made this grand opening of the Puller Center a reality.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate my constituents, Jack Winslow and Charlie Winslow, on earning first place at the Iowa State Automotive Dealers Association High School Skills Contest in Des Moines.
Jack and Charlie worked hard to represent Pleasant Valley High School and to show their skill and dedication to automotive technology and repair. These students advanced through two rigorous phases of competition, beginning with a written assessment focused on automotive repair, followed by a demanding hands-on evaluation.
During the hands-on section of the competition, Jack and Charlie took measurements, diagnosed faults, and completed repair processes, earning the highest scores among Pleasant Valley competitors.
As a result of their outstanding achievements, Jack and Charlie were awarded first place along with a new tool cart and a scholarship to Des Moines Area Community College's automotive program, helping them to continue the pursuit of their passion for automotive technology.
Mr. Speaker, I could not be prouder to recognize Jack and Charlie for all of their hard work and for this amazing accomplishment.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate my constituent, Kate Giannini of Washington County, for receiving the prestigious Fulbright Specialist Award to the Netherlands.
Kate will complete a project at Deltares, a major technological institute in the Netherlands, focused on environmental science, knowledge sharing, and building lasting partnerships that benefit communities in the United States and abroad.
Kate is 1 of over 400 Americans selected each year for this honor based on professional achievement, leadership, and commitment to international cooperation.
Kate works full time at the Iowa Flood Center; co-owns a small business with her husband, Ryan; serves with Bur Oak Land Trust; is a mom of two; and is an active community volunteer.
We are proud to have her representing Iowa and to recognize this amazing achievement and opportunity.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart to honor the life and legacy of a friend and pioneer in Iowa, Dave Streb.
Dave was the co-owner of Streb Construction Company along with his brother, Steve, where for decades, they helped build the backbone of our communities by paving subdivisions, parking lots, city streets, county roads, interstates, and airports across our great State.
Dave's legacy goes far beyond concrete and construction. He was a man who believed in hard work, craftsmanship, showing up every day to make Iowa stronger than it was the day before, and he was a proud Hawkeye.
Through Dave's leadership, Streb Construction became a trusted name, supported good-paying jobs, and helped communities grow and connect. Dave Streb leaves behind a lasting imprint on Iowa's landscape and an even greater impact on the people who knew him. He will be deeply missed, and his legacy will endure in every mile laid and every life connected.
Mr. Speaker, I wish to extend birthday greetings to my sister. Happy birthday, Marianne.
Before I yield, I will raise the podium in memory of my great colleague, Representative Doug LaMalfa. Doug will be sorely missed.
Mr. Speaker, America recently witnessed the new mayor of America's largest city share his democratic socialism vision with New Yorkers. He pledged to ``replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.''
Here in our Nation's semiquincentennial, 250 years of liberty, the new mayor rejected the fundamentals of American hard work and the extraordinary benefits of markets that have freed billions from hunger and poverty around the globe.
Anyone with even a basic knowledge of history knows that government- enforced collectivism always ends in poverty, death, and despair.
Mr. Speaker, look at Cuba, where the warmth of communism has left people with no rights, no freedom, and driving cars from the 1940s and 1950s; or Xinjiang, China, where the Uyghurs are imprisoned and enslaved to labor; or certainly no modest case, the Korean Peninsula, North Korea, where people are in darkness for 12 months a year and where people are stunted by malnutrition and oppression and live in darkness, literally and figuratively.
Compare that to South Korea, Mr. Speaker. In less than three generations since the end of the Korean conflict, the average South Korean is three inches taller, lives 12 years longer, and earns 18 times more than their northern struggling counterpart. Same people; same peninsula. One system embraced the individual; the other, the collective.
Of course, there are the millions starved to death and thrown into the gulags by Mao's China and Stalin's Soviet Union.
These aren't abstract failures, Mr. Speaker. They are graveyards built on broken bodies. What starts as hope ends in tyranny and death every time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to shed light on the discrimination faced by Coptic Christians in Egypt.
Coptic Christians face restrictions on building churches, have limited representation in government, and, tragically, have been targets of violence and persecution. They are attacked in the streets, held as political prisoners, and have little recourse.
The discrimination they face not only violates their basic human rights, but also undermines Egypt's rich cultural diversity and history, as well as Egypt's own legal commitments to its citizens.
It is critical for the international community to encourage the Egyptian government to further embrace religious tolerance, effectively protect minority rights, and ensure equality under the law for all of its citizens.
It is important for us to bring to light these issues and do all we can to promote our values: that no matter what race or religion, all people deserve dignity and respect.
As the Coptic Pope Tawadros II told me: ``All Egyptians take their water from the Nile.'' In that spirit, Egypt has work to do.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the leadership of Dr. Cam Patterson, our former chancellor of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Last year, Dr. Patterson announced his decision to step down from his leadership position after 7 years of focused, dedicated service to the university, the medical school, and the people of Arkansas.
Under his leadership, UAMS continued its commitment to excellence. As UAMS faced the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Patterson helped expand access to care across the State and navigated the pandemic while strengthening the university's reputation for excellence and research, patient care, and medical education.
As he remains at UAMS as a professor of cardiovascular medicine, Dr. Patterson will continue to advance his spirit of innovation, compassion, and service.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Dr. Patterson for his leadership and for always putting Arkansas families first.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in condolence to Jill LaMalfa and the LaMalfa family of northern California, that beautiful area north of Sacramento, deep in the wilderness, home to Mt. Shasta. There was no better representation of the people of California than Doug LaMalfa.
He was a gentle giant. I had so much fun with him over the years. He was such a committed person to his constituents, to the State of California, to public service, to his relationships on both sides of the aisle. He had deep respect. From the most liberal Democrat in California to the most conservative Republican down in Texas, they all loved Doug LaMalfa. He will be missed.
Mr. Speaker, Martha and I share our condolences. We pray for the family at this tragic loss, but we are grateful for our friendship and service with Doug LaMalfa.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Lieutenant Colonel Reina ``Rei'' Serineo of the United States Air Force, a proud daughter of Guam, as she concludes her distinguished career in service to our Nation.
For nearly two decades, Lieutenant Colonel Serineo embodied the very best of what it means to wear the uniform. As an air battle manager, she logged more than 2,000 flight hours, including hundreds in combat and combat support missions, where decisions made in seconds carried life and death consequences for those in harm's way.
Across assignments in the United States, Europe, and the Indo- Pacific, she earned the trust of commanders and airmen alike, leading with precision, integrity, and care for those she served. Most recently, she helped shape the future of our Air Force through her work in the air combat command, guiding policies, training, and modernization.
Mr. Speaker, Lieutenant Colonel Serineo's service brings great pride to Guam and to our entire Nation. I thank her for her leadership, her sacrifice, and her enduring legacy of excellence.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart to honor the life and legacy of the late Senator Carmen Artero Kasperbauer.
Born in 1935, Carmen grew up during the Japanese occupation of Guam in World War II, an experience that shaped her deep sense of responsibility to her community and her island.
She lived a life defined by service, first as a registered nurse, caring for others when they were most vulnerable, and later as a senator in the Guam Legislature, where she served two terms with professionalism and integrity.
Her life spanned generations of change on Guam, from war and recovery to a steady life of service rooted in community.
Guam has lost a matriarch, but her legacy of service lives on through her husband, Dr. Larry Kasperbauer, and her children and grandchildren.
Mr. Speaker, on behalf of a grateful island, I say ``a big thank you''; ``un dangkolo na si Yu'os ma'ase'.'' She will be deeply missed.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. Mary Okada as she concludes her tenure as president of Guam Community College after many years of service to our island.
Since 2007, Dr. Okada has served as president of the Guam Community College, becoming the first woman to lead
She led with care and responsibility, ensuring strong financial stewardship, and building programs that respond to the realities of Guam's workforce and economy. The impact of her work is reflected in the thousands of students whose lives were shaped by the education and training they received at GCC.
Guam is stronger because of her service and investment in our students. Mr. Speaker, I say: ``Thank you''; ``Si Yu'os Ma'ase''' to Dr. Okada for her leadership and for the opportunities she has created for generations to come.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. Erik Swanson upon his conclusion of service as superintendent of the Guam Department of Education.
Dr. Swanson stepped into the role during a challenging period for public education on Guam. He brought a steady focus on students, accountability, and the responsibility that comes with leading an island-wide school system.
During his tenure, he worked to address longstanding issues facing Guam schools while supporting educators, staff, and families who show up every day for our students. His leadership reflected a clear understanding that education is not just policy, but people.
Public education on Guam carries unique challenges, and Dr. Swanson approached that responsibility with care and commitment. I thank Dr. Swanson for his service to Guam students and families, and I wish him well in the next chapter ahead.
Mr. Speaker, among the 2025 legislative accomplishments by Republicans and President Donald Trump, with the leadership of Mike Johnson, the Working Families Tax Cuts has provided the cutting of taxes, limiting government, expanding freedom, and providing progrowth policies creating jobs.
Under President Trump, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 worked, but it had an expiration date. Americans would have faced historic tax increases.
This Republican law stops tax increases, continues Trump tax cuts, enabling families to make plans for jobs.
Success by President Trump with all-of-the-above energy are the lowest gas prices since 2021. Affordability is achieved, with money in your pocket and reduced transportation costs for businesses.
In conclusion, God bless our troops as the global war on terrorism continues. Trump is reinstituting peace through strength, revealing war criminal Putin lies, insulting and mocking Trump with Putin defending the illegitimate Venezuelan dictator Maduro, who was courageously arrested by Trump, jailing the narcoterrorist for killing Americans.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Elliot Meyer, my constituent who tragically passed away on December 6 at the age of 32.
While his time with us was far too short, he leaves behind an incredible legacy characterized by kindness and a drive to public service.
At Randolph-Macon College, he was awarded a fellowship to study the emerging Tea Party movement, which led to the publication of his book ``Slingshot: The defeat of Eric Cantor.''
After reading the book, I recruited him to an internship in Congressman Connolly's office, where he quickly earned everyone's respect for his reliability and his keen intellect. He later worked as a press assistant to Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe. In 2024, he achieved a lifelong dream of becoming a Federal civil servant working in the Department of Energy's Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations.
Elliot accomplished so much in a life that was too short. He will be missed dearly.
Madam Speaker, today I rise to stand with the brave Iranians who are protesting a repressive regime that has wrecked havoc on its own people, the region, and the world at large. The United States must stand with the Iranian people in this critical moment.
For decades, the Iranian dictatorship has exported terrorism throughout the Middle East and beyond, while tormenting its own people. At this moment, it has shut down communications nationwide and is inflicting violence and death on the courageous people taking to the streets.
This latest wave of repression is a symptom of weakness. Indeed, the regime has never been weaker. It is vainly trying to rebuild a nuclear capacity that the United States can undoubtedly neutralize again. Its economy has been ruined by the regime's self-sabotage.
It is my hope that the people of Iran do not have to bear the cost of this malevolence for much longer. It is my ardent hope that a better future, one of
Madam Speaker, this week I am officially announcing a statewide End Hunger Now tour, where I will be visiting every congressional district in Massachusetts to hear from people struggling to put food on the table, to see firsthand why getting nutritious food into every community matters, and to learn from the organizations that are making a difference in people's lives.
I am proud that Massachusetts is taking a stand to fight hunger, but I am ashamed that in the richest country in the history of the world nearly 48 million people, including 14 million children, don't know where their next meal is going to come from.
I think our national hunger crisis is more than just a policy failure. I think it is a moral outrage, one that Trump and Republicans have made worse by ripping food assistance away from people so they can give tax breaks to billionaires and canceling USDA's gold-standard hunger report to bury the impact of their cruel cuts.
Madam Speaker, this tour is about fighting back, and I hope you will follow along as I keep fighting to end hunger now.
Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2683) to provide for control of remote access of items under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lawler) and the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Amo) each will control 20 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 this measure.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from New York?
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, the Remote Access Security Act.
Mr. Speaker, export controls exist to limit critical technology developed in the U.S. from falling into the hands of our adversaries. Export controls are a major tool of the administration to protect sensitive tech and bolster our own national security, and these rules have never been more timely or important as China seeks to enhance their chip and AI development.
Unfortunately, there is a major loophole in our export control regime. As the laws and regulations are written, physical export controls do not apply to remote access of items. This means that still to this day, the CCP can access our tech through the cloud and utilize it for their own malicious purposes. Our export controls are only as strong as the weakest link, and right now, the CCP has a real tool to sidestep these prohibitions. We need action now.
My bill defines ``remote access'' and adds remote access provisions into existing law. It provides the Commerce Department with the authority to regulate controlled items through the cloud and finally close this loophole.
The Remote Access Security Act received unanimous support in the House Committee on Foreign Affairs during markup, passing with a bipartisan vote of 51-0.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Mast, as well as my bipartisan co- leads, Speaker Johnson, and Leader Scalise for helping to move this bill to the floor today.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for this much-needed and commonsense bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2683, as amended.
I thank Representative Lawler for introducing the Remote Access Security Act, as well as Chairman Mast and Ranking Member Meeks for working together to get this through our committee.
President Joe Biden imposed unprecedented export controls on China and Russia to restrict their access to critical U.S. technologies that could enhance their military capabilities. We know these controls were working because both nations have worked vigorously to try to circumvent our restrictions.
Right now, our laws do not explicitly cover the remote access of technologies via network connections, including the internet or cloud computing services.
H.R. 2683 would close this gap by giving the Bureau of Industry and Security statutory authority to control the remote access of items by bad actors who aim to jeopardize our national security or foreign policy interests.
While this bill passed the House last year, it is even more critical today. President Biden took steps to prevent the remote access of U.S. chips by our adversaries in his Artificial Intelligence Diffusion Rule. That rule is not perfect, but President Trump rescinded it and failed to replace it with any new policy framework.
Thanks to Donald Trump repealing the rule, there are currently no clear or consistent safeguards in place to protect American chips from being accessed remotely by our adversaries, and the safeguards are even less clear once they are exported abroad.
For the sake of enriching himself and his billionaire friends, Trump went further to undermine our national security by loosening President Biden's export controls on advanced chip sales to build data centers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE. He is auctioning off our chips to the highest bidder without a care for the national security implications. Without strong guardrails in place, this puts American IP and technology at risk.
H.R. 2683 provides BIS with the authority to control remote access to critical American technology and demands that the administration act to protect our interests.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting this measure, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my friend from New York allowing me to speak on this. I rise in support of Mr. Lawler's bill, the Remote Access Security Act.
Mr. Speaker, America is at a critical juncture in our technology policy. Do we want to allow our adversaries to weaponize American technology? Do we want them to dominate us militarily and economically in the future? Do we want to create a dystopian world and make everyday Americans subservient to the Chinese Communist Party and their affiliates, or do we want to make a decisive stand to stop some of the most advanced technologies from being used against us in every facet of our lives?
Loopholes currently available in U.S. export control allow the CCP and others to gain a competitive advantage over American companies, especially when it comes to cloud services for technologies that would otherwise not be accessible in physical form. In other words, and in plain English, you can't buy it, so you shouldn't be able to rent it either.
The Remote Access Security Act fixes this problem by giving the administration--all administrations--the authority and flexibility to restrict China's cloud-based access to our most advanced AI technologies.
In November 2025, I convened a subcommittee hearing on export control loopholes which leave American technology vulnerable, and this is where we extensively discussed issues such as this one. H.R. 2683 was reported favorably out of the House Foreign Affairs Committee by a vote of 51-0. Mr. Speaker, we can't do better than unanimous, but that is showing broad bipartisan agreement on this particular issue.
Today, Congress needs to uphold our responsibility to the American people to close this loophole and stop the CCP and its affiliates from leveraging our technologies for their own military modernization efforts and pursuit of technological dominance. Keeping this coveted technology out of the hands of the CCP and their affiliates will ensure that Silicon Valley, not Xinjiang, remains the center of the AI revolution.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan measure.
Mr. Speaker, I applaud Congressman Lawler for this fine bill. We have heard about the loophole that exists, and I will provide a few more details.
Mr. Speaker, this bill would allow the U.S. Government to extend existing export controls to the remote access of controlled U.S. technology
Let me give you three examples of what we are talking about of high- risk national security activities involving access to controlled technologies such as advanced AI chips.
One example would be conducting surveillance to undermine human rights through spyware location tracking or biometric identification. That is not good stuff. We don't want the Chinese and our countries of concern to be using the best American technology remotely to do that. Nor do we want them to train AI models to enable weapons of mass destruction, automated cyber attacks, or systems that evade human oversight. Another final example would be accessing tools designed for offensive cyber operations.
Under this bill, if a Chinese firm would like to rent access to a cluster of advanced chips already subject to U.S. control in an overseas data center, the Department of Commerce can require a license if determined that remote access is a risk to U.S. national security.
Put simply, if the U.S. has the authority to prohibit the export of a critical U.S. technology, then the remote access to that same technology should also be subject to control.
As mentioned, this bill was unanimously supported in committee, and I hope and expect unanimous support here on the House floor.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume for the purpose of closing.
As technology evolves, so must our technology security policies. Our export control regulations were written at a time when remote access of controlled technologies was not an acute threat.
Today, as Russian and PRC entities find more and more creative ways to evade our sanctions and export controls, we must update our regulations to keep pace with their tactics.
By passing this bill, Congress can make it harder for problematic PRC companies and military-aligned entities to obtain access to U.S. technologies and exploit them to hurt U.S. national security. By passing this bill, this body can send a clear message to Donald Trump that he must do more to protect American technology and safeguard U.S. national security.
Mr. Speaker, I hope my colleagues will join me and support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for supporting this bill in committee unanimously and certainly strongly encourage a unanimous vote here on the floor.
We all recognize the threats we face around the globe and in particular from China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, among many other bad actors. Our export control laws are put in place for a reason, and it is to protect sensitive technology from getting into the hands of bad actors.
However, when our laws were established, they did not take into account the ever-changing technology, and so it is imperative that we as a Congress act with urgency to update our laws and ensure that China, Russia, Iran, and others do not have access to sensitive technology remotely. That is why this bill is imperative, and I encourage all of my colleagues to vote in the affirmative.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lawler) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 2683, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair announces the Speaker's designation, pursuant to clause 7(a)(1) of rule XV of H.R. 909, as the measure on the Consensus Calendar to be considered this week.
Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 909) to temporarily provide additional deposits into the Crime Victims Fund, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner) and the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. McBath) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Missouri.
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 bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from Missouri?
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am beyond proud to rise in support of my bill H.R. 909, the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act.
This bipartisan legislation will provide critical support to over 7 million crime victims throughout every State in this country, without spending a single taxpayer dollar.
Mr. Speaker, across the United States, domestic violence shelters,
As elected officials, it is our duty to ensure these victims receive the support, care, and, equally important, the justice they deserve.
Tragically, over the past 8 years, across multiple administrations, the balance of the Crime Victims Fund, or CVF, has plummeted, jeopardizing Federal support for these victims.
This fund does not use taxpayer dollars. It is solely financed by the fines, settlements, and other monetary penalties collected from Federal criminal prosecutions. From 2017 to 2023, the balance of CVF dropped by over 92 percent. It was almost completely wiped out.
Congress attempted to correct this decline in 2021 with the bipartisan VOCA Fix to Sustain the Crime Victims Fund Act, but Federal resources are still not meeting the needs of victims in our Nation.
Child advocacy centers and domestic violence shelters have been forced to triage their services or, even worse, to close entirely.
In 2024, my home State of Missouri saw a $10 million cut, over 40 percent, Mr. Speaker, of its Federal support for victims of violent crime, gone. This is unacceptable.
Mr. Speaker, I got to work, and over the past 2 years, I have worked with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, with law enforcement, with prosecutors, and with victim advocacy groups to craft this legislation and build an overwhelming coalition of support.
Today, with 327 bipartisan cosponsors, this bill, the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act, will be the most widely supported piece of legislation considered on the House floor so far this Congress. I would like to emphasize that for just a second. With 327 bipartisan cosponsors, this bill is the most widely supported piece of legislation to receive a vote in Congress.
My bill uses nontaxpayer dollars to ensure vital programs can survive and victims receive the assistance necessary to heal, recover, and help law enforcement hold offenders accountable.
For years, the CVF had been financed by criminal monetary penalties, but those resources are no longer sufficient. With my bill, the CVF will also receive, through fiscal year 2029, the unobligated civil penalties collected through antifraud law.
One of the most prominent Federal antifraud laws is the False Claims Act. The False Claims Act allows the Federal Government to sue entities that defraud government programs and seek up to three times the damages. For example, if an entity defrauds the Federal Government out of $1 million, the government can sue that entity for up to $3 million. If the government wins, $1 million is returned to the defrauded agency, up to 30 percent is rewarded to any relevant whistleblower, when necessary, and the remaining leftover funds are unobligated.
The Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act only redirects these leftover, unobligated funds to the CVF. We include specific protections for government reimbursement and whistleblower rewards. Those dollars remain untouched. This bill simply ensures that the surplus damages collected from those found liable for fraud in Federal court are used to support victims of crime.
This temporary infusion of resources will stabilize the CVF, support both victims and law enforcement investigations, while also retaining the fund's original intent of being financed by the legal fines from bad actors, not tax dollars.
This commonsense legislation must pass Congress as quickly as possible because every day that we wait, victims of the most horrific crimes across our country are left in need.
I urge all of my colleagues in both Chambers to support this bill, and, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner) so much for this piece of legislation. I thank her for all the really good hard work that she has done in rallying the troops to do the right thing. I thank her very much for taking care of our victims and making sure they have these provisions. I, too, have been a victim, so I thank her personally.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 909, the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act of 2025.
Established by the Victims of Crime Act of 1984 to provide funding for State victim compensation and assistance programs, the Crime Victims Fund does not rely on taxpayer dollars. Instead, it is funded by fines, monetary penalties, and assessments paid by convicted Federal defendants, as well as forfeited bail bonds and other gifts and donations.
For four decades, the Crime Victims Fund has been a lifeline, providing money through grants to States, local governments, individuals, and other entities. It supports rape crisis centers, domestic violence shelters, child advocacy programs, and services for survivors like me of homicide, assault, and human trafficking in every State and in every territory. It pays for counseling, emergency shelters, legal aid, and lost wages.
In short, the Crime Victims Fund is the bedrock of our Nation's promise to help victims rebuild their lives, serving nearly 4 million victims of crime every year. That is a staggering number, so I want to say it again: 4 million victims of crime every year.
Over the last decade, the fund has faced a severe and sustained crisis. Stemming from changes in prosecution practices, revenues have plummeted. Meanwhile, the needs of victims have only grown.
In recent years, we have witnessed the emergence of a devastating cycle. Annual distributions to States for victim services and assistance have been cut by 40 percent, forcing programs to close their doors, lay off their staff, and turn victims away in their greatest and most desperate hours of need.
H.R. 909 is a necessary and responsible solution that is not just fiscally sound but profoundly just. This bill would address the fluctuations in deposits that continue to threaten the fund and our ability to provide vital support to victims of crime.
It would provide critical stabilization of the fund by authorizing an infusion of unobligated funds collected through the False Claims Act to halt the immediate bleeding. This stopgap measure will prevent further catastrophic cuts to victim services, ensuring that hotlines remain open and advocates remain at their posts while we implement and continue to work on a long-term fix.
It includes essential oversight and accountability measures. By requiring regular reporting that includes an audit, we can guarantee transparency in how these funds are being managed and distributed, and we can be sure that the money reaches frontline organizations that are doing the hard work on the ground. This is lifesaving work that they are doing, with efficiency and integrity.
Speaking as a beneficiary of the good works done as a result of the existence of the Crime Victims Fund and a proud cosponsor of H.R. 909, there is truly an urgent need to pass this legislation. Without Federal funding, critical victim services are simply going to vanish.
I am grateful to the sponsors of this bill and to all of our colleagues for their bipartisanship in doing what is right to help our victims and for their efforts.
I urge all of my colleagues to support the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act, and, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 909, the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act. I thank Congresswoman Ann Wagner for her leadership on this legislation because it reflects a principle this body has long shared: When the justice system holds wrongdoers accountable, those resources should help rebuild the lives of the innocent victims of the wrongdoers.
Congress created the Crime Victims Fund through the Victims of Crime Act
Importantly, this fund is financed by fines and penalties paid for by those convicted of Federal crimes. It is not taxpayer dollars. That structure reflects that simple, but powerful, idea that accountability should serve justice.
Today, however, that promise is under strain. According to the Office for Victims of Crime, the Crime Victims Fund ended fiscal year 2024 with a balance of just $1.2 billion, a 90 percent decline since 2017. As a result, victim assistance programs nationwide face a $600 million funding shortfall. For organizations serving survivors of domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault, including programs across northeast Texas, where I represent, this means fewer services and, in some cases, the risk of shutting the doors of organizations who are helping to bring restoration and healing to victims and families.
H.R. 909 reflects a straightforward principle: The justice system can both punish lawbreakers and support victims. There are no new taxes, no new spending, and no cost to the taxpayer, only a responsible use of fines collected in judicial proceedings to ensure victims are on a pathway to healing. The bill temporarily redirects unobligated funds collected under the False Claims Act into the Crime Victims Fund through 2029. Over the past 2 years alone, False Claims Act settlements have totaled nearly $5 billion, and after defrauded agencies and whistleblowers are made whole, remaining funds currently sit unused.
This legislation is bipartisan because the need is bipartisan. Victims of crime are not defined by geography or by party, and neither should our response. H.R. 909 provides stability, preserves the original intent of the Crime Victims Fund, and ensures that those harmed by crime continue to receive the support they deserve.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to strongly support this commonsense legislation.
I, again, thank Representative Wagner for her years of leadership and dedicated work to make this a reality and for all those on both sides of the aisle who are ardently supporting this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bipartisan legislation, and I extend my praise to the distinguished gentlewoman from Missouri who has demonstrated a remarkable initiative and high octane energy in organizing the House of Representatives behind it. We are grateful to her for her efforts and also to Mrs. McBath, who is the ranking member on our Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee for her efforts in always making sure that we put crime victims first. When we have a crime and there is a prosecution, it is State v. defendant or people v. defendant, but what is left out of that is the victim, and she always makes sure that we keep the victims very much in our sights, in our minds, and in our hearts.
The Crime Victims Fund has been significantly depleted, resulting in a $630 million cut to victim services in fiscal year 2024. Deposits into the fund have dropped dramatically since 2018. From 2008 to 2017, deposits were, on average, $2.56 billion annually. From 2008 through 2023, annual deposits averaged only $737 million.
So that is much greater than a 50 percent drop. There are different reasons for this that we need to analyze and address, but in the meantime, the consequences for VOCA grants are devastating.
These grants are the primary source of Federal funding for thousands of victim service providers across America, including programs serving victims of human trafficking, drunk driving, domestic violence, sexual assault, and child abuse. These are our people, our family members, and our community members who are suffering who need the help.
VOCA grants are funded by the statutorily created Crime Victims Fund, which is supported by criminal fines, assessments, and penalties paid for by convicted Federal offenders. However, these are being progressively wiped away. Without congressional action, victim service providers will be forced to make more dramatic cuts to critical services while many others will simply have to close their doors.
In order to stabilize the balance of the fund and prevent further cuts, H.R. 909 would add unobligated funds from actions brought under the False Claims Act to the sources of revenue that are deposited into the Fund. Deposits would be made into the Crime Victims Fund only after whistleblowers and defrauded Federal agencies are paid first and other preexisting obligations are satisfied.
This is a temporary change that will give Congress time to assess its overall efficacy and conduct robust review before deciding whether to renew, adopt an alternative remedy, or create a permanent, long-term fix.
Mr. Speaker, I suppose you could say this is a Band-Aid solution, but having cut my finger recently, I like Band-Aid solutions. Band-Aids are necessary sometimes to stop the bleeding, and I think that is where we are right now. We have an obligation to the millions of victims of crime across the country who rely on the services made possible by the Crime Victims Fund.
Mr. Speaker, I strongly support H.R. 909, and I hope all my colleagues will do the same.
Mr. Speaker, I, too, want to add my voice to those thanking our colleague from Missouri for her leadership on this work. It has been a pleasure to work with her and with our colleagues on the other side. It has been an honor to help lead the support for what she is trying to get done here.
Mr. Speaker, in my State, we dealt with this issue a number of years ago, and it is a policy fight that is separate from what we are doing here today. We actually ultimately decided to move our State-based crime victim support programs into appropriated support from our general fund and deposit all of these erratic streams from the court system into the general fund so that the risk of funding was shifted onto the State generally and not borne by those who rely on the services in particular.
That is a discussion for another day.
I share it today because for me, at least, this brings back memories of a time when we were wrestling with the same issue back home.
Mr. Speaker, how do you look a rape victim or a domestic violence victim in the eye and tell them that the good folks in your community, the advocates and the supporters of domestic violence services or rape crisis centers or child advocacy centers who want to be there to help you in your time of greatest need may not be there because their government didn't pay the bills?
The lights aren't on. The staff wasn't paid, so they left. That is where we are writ large in this subject matter, and we are there because of the vagaries in the recovery cycle and all kinds of things that happen in the court system that generate these revenue streams. This is a way to put our finger in the dam until we figure out longer term how we provide that sort of certainty.
There are a lot of different groups of crime victims. By the way, none of them asked to be crime victims. They didn't wake up and expect to be victimized. They have had a terrible moment thrust upon them by somebody else's actions, and they are in a time of need where they need help. That is what advocates do in these support services. That is what this money goes for.
This helps a lot of different types of crime victims. I will share a couple of moments in my last minute or so here about the work of the child advocacy centers that this supports. I have often said in the work I did when I was a State legal official, we did a lot of work with crime victims, child crime victims, supporting our child advocacy centers, and prosecuting criminal cases under State law against offenders who committed terrible crimes against children.
I have often described it to people this way: It is not like on TV in the crime shows.
When the victim is an 8-year-old child or a 7-year-old child, and when what happened to them was some form of sexual abuse, the odds are about 90-10 that the offender is somebody that the child knew and trusted.
It is rare that it is a stranger offense with little kids. That is because that is how the offender got access to the child.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. Speaker, on our watch, we prosecuted parents, we prosecuted grandparents, we prosecuted ministers, and we prosecuted coaches.
Mr. Speaker, the only evidence you have is what that child can testify to in front of a bunch of strangers in a jury box, a judge in a dark robe, and people in our adversarial system because you rarely have physical evidence in these cases. We sometimes, but rarely, have extraneous evidence.
That child has to be able to testify, or justice is never done, and that child cannot testify if he or she has not had the support and services of victim advocates at, for example, a child advocacy center to bring them to the point they can tell truthfully what happened to them.
This bill is about justice, and I am proud to support it.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I am sure my colleagues on both sides of the aisle agree that neither saving lives nor providing support to victims of crime are partisan issues. Victimization knows no political party.
The instability of the Crime Victims Fund threatens red states as well as blue states alike, urban centers and also rural communities equally. Passage of the Crime Victims Fund Stabilization Act is a declaration of our own common values.
This bill says that our commitment to this Nation's victims is not just a line in a budget subject to prosecutorial trends.
I would like to say when my family and I spent the 2\1/2\ years in court that we did in Jacksonville, Florida, when my son was murdered in November of 2012, the Crime Victims Fund of Florida helped to support the representative and to provide the representative who spent day after day with us making sure that we had the resources and the means that we needed, making sure that we understood that the State of Florida was standing there to support us in spite of the terrible tragedy that we had suffered. That money, those funds, were allocated from the Crime Victims Fund.
So, once again, having actually lived through this experience, I know how important it is to make sure that we pass this legislation.
It says that our first thought is to bind the wounds of the injured, the helpless, and the innocent.
We owe it to the survivors who need counseling and stable housing to help them sleep through the night again. We owe it to the parents who must bury their child or their children or their loved one, such as I have. We owe it to the countless silent sufferers who have yet to come forward but who must know that help will be there when they need it.
This is a commonsense solution that will ensure victims have access to the services that they need to heal, to reclaim their lives again, and to feel secure enough to speak out about their pursuing the justice that they deserve.
I ask all Members of this body to support this lifesaving bill. I hope that the Senate will take it up and pass it as quickly as possible.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I note that in 2024, child advocacy centers provided assistance to over 370,000 children nationwide who suffered abuse. That is 370,000 children in one year alone. For those who might not be aware, after a child is tragically exploited or sexually assaulted by a predator, one of the first places a victim is taken is a child advocacy center, or CAC.
At CAC, specialized interviewers are able to work with the child victim to not only make them feel safe and secure but also to get vital information that can be used by law enforcement to identify and arrest the offender. These often horrifying details are then used by our prosecutors, who stand firmly with this legislation, to ensure the predator is put behind bars.
My most recent visit to a CAC was in October last year. I had the pleasure of meeting with the executive director of the Missouri Network Against Child Abuse, Jessica Seitz, and her team at the Union, Missouri, child advocacy center.
The work these incredible individuals do every single day to protect and help children going through unspeakable trauma deserves the highest recognition. I want to ensure that all of them are recognized on the floor of this Chamber for what they do in Missouri and beyond. I also want to recognize all of the CACs throughout the United States that open their doors every day to help those who need it most.
The legislation before all of us today will turn our gratitude into action, Mr. Speaker. We will get these organizations, the amazing people who work there, and the children who rely upon them the resources they so desperately need.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I first thank my co-leads for their help in pursuing and pushing this legislation forward: Representatives Derek Schmidt, who we heard from, and Nathaniel Moran, Stephanie Bice, Jim Costa, and my dear, dear friend across the aisle, Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, who I wish could have joined us today for this debate.
I also thank the House Judiciary Committee and the Appropriations Committee, who had a strong hand in this, and Leader Scalise for working with my team to bring this bill to the floor. Of course, I thank Congresswoman Lucy McBath for her tremendous support and her testimony to just the terrible injustice and travesty that she has endured. I thank her for her support and her management of this piece of legislation, H.R. 909, across the aisle.
Through our collaboration, we were able to include strong language ensuring a comprehensive audit of the CVF will be delivered to Congress. The information from this audit will help us do our jobs as policymakers and properly plan for the future of the CVF and avoid another crisis like this.
To the dozens and dozens and dozens of supporting organizations that stood with me in this fight, including the National Children's Alliance, the National District Attorneys Association, RAINN, Covenant House, the National Network to End Domestic Violence, the National Network to End Sexual Violence, and the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys.
Mr. Speaker, our work is not done. We can and must get this bill through the Senate, as we discussed across the aisle, and signed into law. It has been an honor to lead this effort, and I am humbled to have gained cosponsors from well over a majority of the United States House Republican Conference and 75 percent of the entire House of Representatives.
This could not have been accomplished without dedication, teamwork, and a true get-stuff-done attitude. Representing our constituents in this Chamber is not a job, Mr. Speaker. It is a calling. There is no higher calling than helping the most vulnerable in our society.
I, again, urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation, H.R. 909, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Wagner) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 909, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 3424) to amend titles 11 and 28, United States Code, to modify the compensation payable to trustees serving in cases under chapter 7 of title 11, United States Code, to extend the term of certain temporary offices of bankruptcy judges, and for other purposes.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cline) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Raskin) each will control 20 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on S. 3424.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Virginia?
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 3424, the Bankruptcy Administration Improvement Act of 2025.
The bill before us today is an important piece of legislation that will help ensure the bankruptcy system continues to function efficiently and without taxpayer funding.
Congress designed the bankruptcy system to be funded through the fees imposed on those who utilize the system. From time to time, Congress has passed legislation to respond to how the bankruptcy system is operating.
S. 3424 responds to the current bankruptcy climate in three ways: First, the bill extends the temporary quarterly fees used to pay for the United States Trustee Program within the Department of Justice and bankruptcy judgeships. Ensuring taxpayers are not on the hook for the administration of the Bankruptcy Code is critical. The only way to ensure the bankruptcy system is funded far into the future is to maintain the current fee schedule.
Second, S. 3424 extends for an additional 5-year period numerous temporary bankruptcy judgeships across the country. These bankruptcy judges ensure that bankruptcy cases are quickly and efficiently administered. While bankruptcy filings in recent years have slowed, early data suggests that bankruptcy filings will likely increase in the coming years. Maintaining these temporary bankruptcy judgeships for the next 5 years will ensure that the bankruptcy system can continue to operate at full capacity if necessary.
Finally, and most importantly, S. 3424 increases the pay per case for Chapter 7 trustees. Chapter 7 trustees play a critical role in the bankruptcy system, ensuring that creditors recover as much as possible from bankruptcy debtors. Chapter 7 trustees also ensure that the government receives unpaid taxes, fines, and fees or whatever else it may be owed during a bankruptcy case. In around 90 percent of the cases, Chapter 7 trustees receive the statutory minimum payment for their services, $60 per case. This rate was established in 1994 and has never been permanently increased.
S. 3424 increases the pay per case by adjusting chapter 7 trustee compensation for inflation since 1994 to $120. This change is long overdue.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this bipartisan legislation, which will help ensure that Americans have access to bankruptcy relief when financial disaster strikes and they need it.
The legislation would increase compensation for chapter 7 trustees for the first time in more than 30 years, extend vital temporary bankruptcy judgeships, and ensure that our bankruptcy system continues to be self-funded and poses no cost to the American taxpayer.
Chapter 7 proceedings are designed for people who are most in need of financial relief. In chapter 7 bankruptcy, an individual debtor who has fallen on hard times, rather than go to debtor prison, which was the old-school method, can settle his or her debts, pay off back taxes, stop further collection actions, and secure a fresh start.
The process is means-tested, so it is available only for those who really need it, and it often comes with credit counseling and debtor education courses that can help our constituents achieve financial literacy and avoid bankruptcy a second time.
Nationwide, this process is overseen by trustees who help to distribute millions of dollars annually to local, State, and Federal Government agencies and private creditors of all types. In 1994, Congress set the pay for trustees at $60 per case, and we have not revisited that $60 pay rate in the decades since.
This bill would increase that paltry amount at long last. By doubling their fee to $120, we help to ensure that debtors will have the assistance they need to navigate the complicated and convoluted world of bankruptcy proceedings.
The bill also extends 29 temporary bankruptcy judgeships that are set to expire. In my State of Maryland alone, we are on track to lose three out of seven temporary judgeships. That is nearly half of our entire bankruptcy bench. We cannot afford to lose these judges at the very moment that bankruptcy filings are rising everywhere, up 30 percent in our State alone over the last couple of years.
Mr. Speaker, I strongly support this bill to increase the access and opportunity provided to all Americans under the bankruptcy system. I ask all of our colleagues to read it and to support it.
Mr. Speaker, again, this important legislation promotes efficient government rather than expanding it, reinforces user-funded government services, strengthens accountability and oversight, and reduces market distortions caused by uncertainty.
Mr. Speaker, I urge its support, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cline) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, S. 3424.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6719) to prohibit threats to a minor, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Lee) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Raskin) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Florida.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 6719.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from Florida?
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, as we recognize January as National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, I am proud of all the work the House Judiciary Committee has done and continues to do to protect children and our most vulnerable populations.
In the 118th Congress, the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance held two hearings focused on human trafficking, child protection, and the identification of victims. Through those important hearings, my legislation, the REPORT Act, which strengthened requirements for online service providers to report crimes involving child sex abuse material to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, was signed into law. I applaud Chairman Biggs for beginning the 119th Congress with our first subcommittee hearing once again focused on protecting victims of online exploitation.
Our work is far from over, which is why I look forward to passing the Combating Online Predators Act today.
Mr. Speaker, the rise of sextortion against our Nation's children is troubling. Sextortion is a form of exploitation that occurs when someone threatens to distribute another person's private, sensitive material unless that person complies with a demand for additional sexual content, sexual favors, or money.
Incidents of sextortion have increased dramatically in recent years. Cases reported in the United States increased from 13,842 in the first half of 2024 to 23,593 in the same period in 2025. This rapid growth is disturbing, and it is unacceptable.
Children are especially vulnerable to falling victim to sextortion, with boys aged 14 to 17 most often being targeted. Tragically, this exploitation has led some young people to take their own lives in an attempt to prevent their images from being shared with friends or family.
Through this horrendous conduct, we have lost beautiful young lives, including Gavin Guffey from South Carolina, Bryce Tate from West Virginia, and many other children. I have also met with parents, including a mother from my home State of Florida, who shared the heartbreaking story of her son who fell victim to sextortion and later took his life.
Each of these precious lives was taken too soon, and today, we honor and remember them. Yet, under current law, law enforcement is not fully equipped with the tools necessary to prosecute those who push children into these acts. Sextortion falls outside of the CSAM statute, forcing Federal prosecutors to rely on a patchwork of charging theories that do not fully reflect the gravity of these crimes. The absence of a specific Federal statute prohibiting sextortion leads to inconsistent and inadequate sentencing that can fail to capture the seriousness of this offense.
A legislative fix is, therefore, necessary to ensure Federal prosecutors can charge this conduct directly and fight sextortion effectively.
Congress has a duty to protect children from online exploitation and ensure predators are held fully accountable. The Combating Online Predators Act does exactly that by amending the United States Criminal Code to criminalize intentional threats to distribute child sex abuse material.
No child should ever encounter these threats online, and no child should ever feel that the only way out is to end their own life. Predators must be stopped, and today, Congress continues its work. By passing the Combating Online Predators Act, we strengthen our laws, close a dangerous gap, and send a clear message to predators everywhere that this conduct will not be tolerated.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6719, the Combating Online Predators Act, and I echo my distinguished colleague in noting that sextortion is a serious and rising threat faced by countless unsuspecting teens all over America when they use the internet and social media.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, or NCMEC, operates a Cyber Tip Line to receive reports of suspected child exploitation. The Cyber Tip Line has received many more reports of sextortion of minors in recent years, amounting to tens of thousands of potential victims. These crimes have deadly consequences.
NCMEC has identified 36 teens who took their own lives after being subjected to harsh and incessant harassment from callous perpetrators of sextortion. The problem is everywhere.
Last May, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Maryland announced the guilty plea of a man who had coerced at least 108 different girls to send him pictures and videos of themselves engaged in sexual conduct. The victims ranged in age from 5 to 17 years old and lived all over the U.S. and even around the world, from Tennessee and Massachusetts to Australia and the United Kingdom.
When the man asked for access to the social media account of an 11- year-old, he wrote: ``Add me back or I'll post all your vids online and in servers. I have everything saved.''
When some victims said they did not want to send him any more images, he threatened to post the images online, come to their house, or tell their parents. The man victimized a 12-year-old, her friend, and her 5- year-old sister through Snapchat.
Investigators obtained an IP address linked to the Snapchat account, which eventually led them to the perpetrator's house, where they recovered a laptop, two hard drives, and four iPhones containing evidence of the coercive treatment of more than 100 different girls. In this case, the man pled guilty to an existing crime of producing child sex abuse material.
Prosecutors have said the existing statutes do not always fully address the scope or severity of the conduct involved in these terrible cases. This bill would close that gap and ensure that more of these criminals are held accountable.
I hope we continue to work with our colleagues in a bipartisan way to strengthen and improve our laws to address these new and dangerous crimes and to keep our children safe online.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage all of my colleagues to support H.R. 6719, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership on this issue. I thank all the members of our Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, both Republicans and Democrats, for working together on these very important issues.
Mr. Speaker, sextortion has become a devastating crisis. Predators threaten to release explicit images of minors to extort money, more content, or compliance, preying on shame and fear.
Protecting children from online sexual exploitation remains a top priority for our Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance in this Congress.
Offenders, often overseas or even juveniles, groom victims and then weaponize images or AI-generated deepfakes pulled from public photos to demand payment or further abuse. This drives severe trauma, self-harm, and suicide.
More than three dozen teens have taken their lives in recent cases, with boys aged 14 to 17 hit hardest. Reports of these horrible crimes are surging. NCMEC, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, reports that financial sextortion cases jumped from over 13,800 in early 2024 to nearly 24,000 in early 2025. The FBI logged nearly 55,000 sextortion reports in 2024 alone, with $33 million in losses.
I commend the FBI for its investigations and public alerts. Current law, 18 U.S.C. 2252 and 2252A, does not explicitly cover threats to distribute child
The Combating Online Predators Act closes that gap by criminalizing knowing threats to distribute these depictions with intent to coerce or extort. This is a targeted bipartisan fix that gives prosecutors the tools they need to stop these predators and protect our kids.
Mr. Speaker, I urge support for this bill. I hope that this bill passes out of the House today and swiftly passes out of the Senate to be signed by the President.
Mr. Speaker, the internet is increasingly becoming a hostile place for children. The practice of sextortion is becoming far too common. As many as one in five teenagers report experiencing sextortion.
That is why I rise in support of the Combating Online Predators Act, which takes decisive action against the practice of sextortion.
This bill updates current child sexual abuse material laws to ensure that sextortion is included so that no minor can be threatened with the release of explicit content that depicts them.
As bad actors use the internet to harm kids, Congress must ensure our laws are updated to protect them. Those who seek to threaten our youth through sextortion must be held accountable, and this bill ensures they will.
Mr. Speaker, I am so grateful to my colleague, Representative Lee, for leading this effort to protect children from this harmful practice. I am pleased with the widespread and bipartisan support for it, and I urge my colleagues to support the Combating Online Predators Act.
Mr. Speaker, to close, I strongly support H.R. 6719, the Combating Online Predators Act. I encourage all of our colleagues to support it, and I praise the gentlewoman for her leadership on this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues for their thoughtful debate and for their support on this important issue. This legislation addresses a clear and dangerous gap in Federal law that predators have exploited to harm children online.
By explicitly criminalizing threats to distribute child sex abuse material, Congress ensures these heinous acts are prosecuted with the seriousness that they deserve. This legislation reflects the bipartisan recognition that protecting children from exploitation is a shared responsibility.
Mr. Speaker, it provides law enforcement with the clarity, consistency, and tools necessary to hold offenders accountable and prevent future harm.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, I encourage all of my colleagues to pass H.R. 6719, the Combating Online Predators Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Lee) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6719, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6715) to prohibit sexual exploitation and sexually explicit depictions of minors, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Harris) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Raskin) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from North Carolina.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 6715.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from North Carolina?
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, the state of child protection in our Nation and around the world is deeply alarming and demands our immediate and undivided attention.
Sadly, in today's world and today's age, child sexual abuse material, better known as CSAM, has never been more prevalent.
According to a study from February 2025, 1 in 12 children worldwide have been subjected to online sexual exploitation or abuse. Even more troubling: The vast majority of child sexual abuse, over 90 percent in many documented cases, is perpetrated by someone whom the child knows or is related to, whether family members, trusted adults, or acquaintances.
These are not distant strangers. They are often people with direct access to our children, making the betrayal all the more heartbreaking.
We, in Congress, have a duty to act decisively. We must commit ourselves fully to making the internet and our entire society a safer place for America's children and children everywhere.
My bill, the Child Predators Accountability Act, strengthens the criminal code to hold perpetrators accountable and to protect our children.
Under current law, the definition of ``sexually explicit material'' requires that a child be engaged in sexually explicit conduct for the material to qualify. This narrow wording has created a dangerous loophole.
In one egregious case, a defendant produced a sexually explicit video that included a child who was merely present, passive, and not actively participating. Since the child was not deemed to be ``engaged in'' the act, the conviction for distributing CSAM was overturned. The predator was let off the hook for using a child due to a technicality in the statute.
Mr. Speaker, this cannot stand. We cannot allow one rogue case to lead to a domino effect of bad case law and less protection for these vulnerable children. No predator should escape accountability simply because they included a minor in the frame but did not physically touch or direct them in the explicit conduct.
Such content is profoundly abusive. It exploits the child's presence, dignity, and vulnerability for depraved purposes. It inflicts lasting harm and deserves to be unequivocally classified as CSAM.
My bill delivers a precise, necessary fix. It amends the law to clarify that the depiction of a minor would qualify
The Child Predators Accountability Act is a straightforward, commonsense measure that will help hold exploiters accountable and prevent future abuses.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join with me in defending our children by voting in favor of this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I am rising in strong support of H.R. 6715, the Child Predators Accountability Act of 2025.
Mr. Speaker, the decision that the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina references out of the Seventh Circuit, United States v. Howard, threatens to significantly limit prosecutors' ability to hold some of the worst child predators to account legally. The question may appear to be technical, but the human consequences are grave and brutally simple.
Title 18 of the United States Code, section 2251(a), criminalizes the production of child sex abuse material. For decades, prosecutors have used the law to target predators who prey on children or who produce ghastly images of child sex abuse, but the Seventh Circuit's ruling in the Howard case in 2020 jeopardized prosecutors' ability to go after these dangerous people until they actually abuse the child and create an image of the abuse.
The Howard decision narrowed the scope of section 2251(a), holding that the mere physical presence of the minor in a visual depiction of sexually explicit conduct does not automatically violate the statute. To obtain a conviction for production of CSAM in the Seventh Circuit, the child in the photo, video, or image must themselves be engaged in the explicit conduct.
This is an absurd reading that we can and must legislatively resolve. The Howard ruling undermines the ability to prosecute common scenarios involving the surreptitious recording of kids; for example, when criminals plant concealed cameras in bathrooms, locker rooms, and bedrooms to record sexually explicit images of children who are unaware that they are even being filmed.
Criminals who record themselves sexually violating very young children, such as infants and toddlers, who are too young to understand that they are being filmed in sexually explicit scenarios could also conceivably avoid prosecution under the pinched reasoning of the Howard decision.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 6715 would make clear that even the passive use of a child in the production of child sex abuse materials is a crime, and it will eliminate any confusion caused by the Seventh Circuit's ruling in Howard.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support the legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina for his work on this bill and the bipartisan work from the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, which has worked on this, and I appreciate that very much.
The ranking member, the whole committee, and the entire Committee on the Judiciary has banded together, which if you ever watched the Judiciary Committee, you would know that this is a remarkable time.
Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the support that we have here because anyone who exploits a child for sexual purposes must face full accountability and must face the full measure of the law.
There cannot be loopholes or technicalities that would let predators slip through the cracks, and when we find them, this body has to fix that. Protecting minors from sexual exploitation remains a core priority for our Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance.
A recent decision by the Seventh Circuit in United States v. Howard exposed a dangerous gap in current law. Both of the previous speakers have spoken to that, but that really is the crux of this. The court overturned a conviction for producing child sexual abuse material because the minor--a sleeping, clothed child--was merely present in the video, not touched, actively involved, or engaged.
In that case, the defendant filmed himself in sexual conduct near his 9-year-old niece. The court ruled that he did not use her under existing statute because she was passive. That interpretation is utterly unacceptable.
Predators should not evade justice simply because the child whom they exploit is unaware. The harm is real. The intent is clear. This loophole weakens 18 United States Code, section 2251(a), and related statutes, making it harder to prosecute offenders and easier for exploiters to walk free and then exploit others and create more victims.
The Child Predators Accountability Act of 2025 closes this gap by clarifying that a minor is engaged in sexually explicit conduct when the offender intentionally includes the child in the depiction, even passively. This is a straightforward, bipartisan fix that ensures that Federal law captures these heinous acts and imposes the penalties that they deserve.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mr. Speaker, I commend law enforcement for their tireless work of protecting children, and I commend the work of this committee and the lead sponsor of this bill, Mr. Harris.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6715 so that every child predator is fully held to account. Let's do this today. Let's get it out of the Senate quickly and get it up to the President's desk to be signed and enacted immediately.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Georgia (Mrs. McBath), my good friend who is the ranking member on the Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Subcommittee of the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Raskin for yielding me time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6715, the Child Predators Accountability Act of 2025.
The safety of our children is foundational to a secure and just society. Yet this foundation is broken every time a child is victimized.
Due to narrow interpretations, prosecutors have sometimes been required to prove that a child was visibly, actively participating in sexual conduct in order to bring charges, but exploitation doesn't always look the same. A child does not have to be visibly active for harm to be real, lasting, and devastating.
Tell me, what would it mean for the child victims if we required more?
The properly named Child Predators Accountability Act makes an important and very necessary clarification for a circuit split that could allow predators to evade justice. By making it uniformly illegal to depict a minor in sexually explicit material, regardless of whether that child appears to be actively participating, this change strengthens the law so that predators can no longer hide behind technical loopholes while continuing to exploit our children, making sure that anyone who dares to prey on the most vulnerable will face consequences for their crimes. This legislation would clarify Federal standards nationwide and restore consistency in how these horrific offenses are prosecuted, ensuring that justice does not depend solely on geography or jurisdiction.
The protection of our children from monstrous crimes transcends political television. I call on each and every one of my colleagues to pass this legislation and send a very clear and strong message that the exploitation of children will be met with the full, unyielding, inescapable force of justice. This bill empowers law enforcement and prosecutors by giving them unified and stronger tools to pursue cases and dismantle these exploitation efforts.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6715, the Child Predators Accountability Act, and I thank my colleague from North Carolina for his leadership in advancing this important legislation.
Protecting our Nation's children is among the most solemn responsibilities entrusted to Congress.
Our criminal statutes must be clear and effective so that individuals who exploit children are held fully accountable under the law. When ambiguity exists, it can undermine enforcement and allow dangerous conduct to fall outside the reach of existing statutes.
Recently, a court decision in United States v. Howard highlighted a technical gap in Federal child exploitation law, one that exposed the need for greater clarity in how certain conduct is defined and prosecuted.
In that case, the Court interpreted existing statutory language in a way that limited accountability, even though a child's image was used in sexually exploitative conduct.
Mr. Speaker, that outcome underscores an important reality. A child is harmed whenever their image is intentionally placed into a sexualized setting. The absence of physical contact or active participation does not eliminate the harm or the violation.
This is an issue that I have personally heard about from law enforcement officers who work on these cases every day. I commend Mr. Harris, Chairman Biggs, and Chairman Jordan for ensuring that we address it through the Child Predators Accountability Act, and I thank my colleagues for joining with us in this important work.
H.R. 6715 closes a dangerous loophole. It restores clarity, strengthens enforcement, and reaffirms our commitment to protecting children and upholding justice.
Mr. Speaker, there should be no ambiguity when it comes to the criminal nature of the sexual exploitation of children. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6715.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, we seem to have the bipartisan convergence that we need to reverse the error of the interpretation that is in the Howard decision to make sure we can always hold accountable the perpetrators of this seriously corrosive crime.
H.R. 6715 strives to right this wrong, and I am proud that we are acting in a bipartisan way to do that. I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the members of the Committee on the Judiciary for unanimously supporting this bill in markup. I am grateful for my colleagues who have all risen to speak today and to the ranking member and leadership on the other side that have worked together with us.
Mr. Speaker, I urge swift passage of my legislation, the Child Predators Accountability Act, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Harris) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6715, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6732) to prohibit unlawful coercion of a minor, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Raskin) each will control 20 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Arizona?
Mr. Speaker, the horror of child abuse and exploitation online continues to remain a significant problem across the country.
The Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance made combating child exploitation a top priority in the 118th Congress, and we continue to do so in the 119th Congress.
Unfortunately, criminals are continuously finding new ways to force minors to commit sexual or violent acts against themselves or others.
Violent online networks are methodically targeting vulnerable underage populations across the United States. These violent groups, often known as gore groups, target children and force them into unthinkable acts of violence against themselves, against others, and even against animals.
These groups use social media or other popular platforms such as Roblox or Discord to elicit private information or sexual images from minors, and they use that information and that material to blackmail victims into mutilating themselves or taking other violent action against friends, family members, or pets.
Many of these networks rapidly emerge, create alliances, and then quickly dissolve, making it difficult to determine leadership structure. Many criminal actors are located overseas, and many of these offenders are also minors themselves.
The most prominent example is the online extremist network known as 764. Mr. Speaker, 764 is a decentralized online network that glorifies violence and encourages participation in criminal activities such as sextortion and doxing. A disturbed young man, who has since been arrested and jailed, started the 764 network in 2020.
While decentralized, the group has grown into a vast array of online predators seemingly in a dark competition of who can manipulate children to commit the most violent acts.
In 2024, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, NCMIC,
A law enforcement officer stated of these groups: ``If you can get someone to self-harm, you are doing quite well in that group. If you can get them to kill themselves, you are reaching the pinnacle.''
In April 2025, the FBI Richmond field office shared a public information video warning parents about a ``new threat to kids' safety.'' According to former Deputy Director Dan Bongino, the FBI has more than 300 active investigations into these groups, and that number continues to grow, but they were having difficulty preparing for prosecution because of gaps in our law.
I applaud the FBI for taking crucial steps to both raise awareness of this issue and hold predators accountable. However, more tools are needed from Congress to ensure that these heinous individuals are prosecuted.
The conduct of groups such as the 764 network do not always fit neatly into existing criminal statutes, which potentially jeopardizes prosecutions.
The Coercion and Sexual Abuse Free Environment Act, CSAFE, criminalizes compelling or enticing a minor to engage in self-harm, engage in animal crushing, or to commit acts of self-mutilation or self-branding.
We can all find common ground with this commonsense legislation. These are grotesque crimes that must be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I commend both sides of the aisle for working on this legislation. It is my hope and fondest wish that we pass this bill out of this House today, get it to the Senate, and get it up to the President for signing and enactment.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in support of H.R. 6732, the CSAFE Act, which creates a new crime to prohibit people from compelling children into physically harming themselves or animals.
Coercing kids online to hurt themselves or others is spreading harm that all of us need to take seriously. We have seen an alarming rise in episodes of this in recent years, and it has become clear that there is no Federal statute that effectively addresses this extreme misconduct.
Violent online groups have emerged on popular platforms geared toward children and teenagers. These groups, and individuals acting alone, encourage kids to commit horrifying acts, including cutting themselves, creating child sex abuse material, sexually exploiting other children, harming animals, swatting, doxing, and, in the most extreme cases, taking their own lives.
This happened to Jay Taylor, a 13-year-old who was struggling with an eating disorder, gender identity problems, and a sense of isolation. He found a connection on the online platform Discord. Members of 764, an online network that targets and exploits vulnerable young people, got their hooks into him and devastatingly coerced Jay into taking his own life while live-streaming.
The FBI agents who worked on his case repeatedly encountered roadblocks while attempting to get prosecutors to file charges in the case, with one U.S. attorney telling the agents that it simply was not possible to do anything.
The bill before us now, the CSAFE Act, seeks to address the shortcomings in existing Federal criminal law when it comes to investigating cases and prosecuting criminals who coerce and extort children online.
I thank the chairman for working with me to address some of the constitutional concerns I raised at our committee's markup of this legislation back in December of last year. I am very pleased to support this bill today, which I think is legally seaworthy and will survive any constitutional challenges.
Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support the legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6732, the Coercion and Sexual Abuse Free Environment Act, and I thank my colleague from Arizona (Mr. Biggs) for his leadership on this critical issue.
Madam Speaker, as technology advances, so do the tactics of predators who seek to harm our children. Current Federal statutes were not written with this kind of remote, organized, and coercive abuse in mind. When the law lags behind the tactics of predators, Congress has an obligation to act.
We are now confronting a deeply disturbing trend in which organized online networks target vulnerable minors, manipulate them through fear and blackmail, and coerce them into committing acts of violence against themselves, others, or even animals.
These online groups use mainstream platforms to gain access to children, extract personal information or images, and then weaponize that material.
The result is severe psychological coercion and abuse--children forced into self-mutilation, cruelty to animals, or even suicide, all at the direction of anonymous criminals who often operate across borders and behind ever-changing online identities.
Our laws must be able to meet this threat head-on. H.R. 6732 does exactly that. This bill modernizes Federal criminal law by clearly criminalizing the coercion or enticement of a minor to engage in self- harm, animal crushing, or other abusive or degrading conduct.
This legislation closes dangerous gaps in current law and sends an unmistakable message: Compelling a child to destroy themselves or to harm others is child abuse. It is criminal, and it will be prosecuted.
Madam Speaker, protecting children is one of Congress' most solemn responsibilities. H.R. 6732 is a necessary, targeted, and responsible response to a real and growing threat.
Madam Speaker, I thank the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee for yielding.
I rise today in support of H.R. 6732, the Coercion and Sexual Abuse Free Environment Act, or, as we all call it, the CSAFE Act.
As technology has become more sophisticated, online threats against children have become more complicated, malicious, and sometimes deadly.
The harm has moved beyond just simple bullying. Today, groups of people online, like the so-called 764 network, seek out and coerce vulnerable kids to photograph, record, or live stream acts of violence or self-harm to the world.
Take, for example, a horrific case that happened just last summer on the online platform Roblox. Several people associated with 764 located in Tennessee allegedly used the platform to entice a 13-year-old, located hundreds of miles away in New Jersey, to carve the initials of each person into her leg and send the group pictures and videos of her self-inflicted wounds.
According to the criminal complaint, the content was shared with the leader of the 764 group, or the so-called boss, so that the perpetrators could become full-fledged members of the group.
Mind you, Roblox is a massive online platform that actually allows users to design, create, and play millions of different games. With roughly half of its user base being under the age of 13, the platform is used by nearly 90 million children every day and has repeatedly been found to be at the top of its class in safety features.
Just imagine the potential harm that could be inflicted on our children on platforms and websites that have subpar safety features.
Let's be clear. State and Federal prosecutors have brought charges in these types of cases. For example, on November 20, 2025, the Department of Justice announced that a grand jury returned an indictment charging a 20-year-old man in Maryland, who identifies himself as a member of the 764 group, with three counts of sexual exploitation of a child, three counts of
Still, there is no law that specifically prohibits the coercion of children to inflict harm on themselves or others, which sometimes makes it hard for prosecutors to pursue these charges.
The CSAFE Act is meant to fill in the gaps in our Federal law by creating a new crime that prohibits individuals from compelling, attempting to compel, or conspiring to compel children into physically harming themselves, others, or animals.
While the original bill considered by the Judiciary Committee raised several constitutional concerns, I am pleased to see that this bill before us today includes several improvements that address the concerns that we raised during our bill markup.
As the internet and online platforms continue to evolve and create new challenges that we have to deal with every single day, it is our job as policymakers to be responsive to those challenges, ensuring that these seemingly benign tools are not used for nefarious purposes. We must also make sure that our criminal justice system is capable of holding to account those who dare to exploit these platforms and these tools and prey on our children and cause harm to others.
Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues in this body to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, bad actors often prey on the most vulnerable: our children. It is our job to stand up for them. That is why I rise today in support of the Coercion and Sexual Abuse Free Environment Act introduced by my colleague and friend, Chairman Andy Biggs.
This bill will ensure accountability for anyone who intentionally compels a minor to engage in self-harm or other degrading acts. As child abuse continues in this country and takes many forms, prosecutors must have the proper tools to go after these predators.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the Coercion and Sexual Abuse Free Environment Act.
I have no further speakers, Madam Speaker. I will just restate my strong support for this legislation. I thank the distinguished gentleman from Arizona for bringing it forward. It is certainly a lot more fun to be with him on legislation than against him on legislation, and I am delighted we were able to work on this bipartisan bill together.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Raskin for his helpful suggestions that will make this bill much better and has made it much better. I thank Ranking Member McBath for her support as well.
It is our desire to bring these malevolent-hearted people who are filled with evil and criminal intention to justice and to protect our children.
Madam Speaker, I urge the swift passage of this bill out of the House and the Senate and to get it signed and enacted, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Malliotakis.) The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Biggs) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6732, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 269) to improve
On January 12, 2026, page H634, in the second column, the following appeared:and pass the bill (H.R. 269) to improve
The online version has been corrected to read:and pass the bill (S. 269) to improve
coordination between Federal and State agencies and the Do Not Pay
working system.The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett) each will control 20 minutes.
Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Missouri?
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act.
This bipartisan bill continues a bipartisan policy that has already enabled the Federal Government to identify, prevent, and recover hundreds of millions of dollars of improper payments made to dead people.
Currently, the Social Security Administration has temporary authority to share its death data with the Treasury Department's Do Not Pay Portal to identify, prevent, and recover improper payments. In its first year alone, Treasury reported this data exchange saved American taxpayers over $108 million.
Unfortunately, Social Security's authority to share its data with Treasury is temporary and lapses at the end of this year if Congress doesn't pass this bill. That would only increase the likelihood that more taxpayer money is erroneously sent to dead people. In 2023 alone, before this policy was implemented, the Office of Management and Budget found the Federal Government sent $1.3 billion to dead people. That is unacceptable. The American people expect Congress to safeguard their hard-earned tax money from waste, fraud, and abuse.
I thank Representative Higgins for his leadership on this issue as well as
Madam Speaker, information on the deceased is already shared among Federal agencies under existing law. This is really a trivial bill that is designed only to make it appear that Republicans are doing something about supposed fraud. An independent investigation found that the Social Security Administration has an incredible success rate with less than 1 percent of payments found to be improper, some of those being overpayments and some of those being underpayments.
Today, of course, is not the first time we have heard these claims about fraudulent Social Security payments to the dead. Indeed, from that very podium, Madam Speaker, we heard President Trump last March come to give a lengthy address to a joint session of this Congress. In his remarks that combined misinformation, outright lies, and a good many platitudes, the President devoted special attention to Social Security, ridiculing it with outlandish tales. He spoke of ``3.9 million people from ages 130 to 139, 3.5 million people from ages 140 to 149. And money is being paid to many of them.''
What nonsense. Thanks to the anti-fraud guardrails that are already available, that has not happened, and the President's representation was absolutely wrong.
While today's bill essentially duplicates existing efforts to prevent erroneous payments, the focus on improper payments to deceased people is just another part of the Republican plan to undermine public confidence in Social Security, a social insurance program that has been one of the most valuable initiatives ever approved in this Congress.
Yet Trump appointed Elon Musk, who proclaimed that Social Security is ``a Ponzi scheme.'' He gave him the authority to take a hatchet to the Social Security Administration. For months, DOGE, the department of government evisceration, promoted related lies.
Undermining the delivery of checks and quality service, the Trump regime, through DOGE, abruptly fired thousands of Social Security workers, and it continues to enact erratic policy changes. This comes on top of years of Republican opposition to adequately staffing the Social Security Administration.
Social Security has less staff today than it did a decade ago, despite the fact that it now serves many, many more Americans. As a result, at Social Security, under the Trump regime, there is a backlog of 6 million cases, public inquiries, along with an agency that is riddled with errors and delays from the shortage of adequate staffing.
Now, the plan from the Trump regime on Social Security is to cut in- person visits at offices around the country, which is just another effort to obstruct Americans from getting straight answers, not from a machine but from a person, concerning their hard-earned benefits. These are just more ways to cause Americans to question this vital Federal program so that nobody is surprised if, one day, the payments are late or the trust fund is insufficient.
We have had one current Member of the United States Senate, a Republican, who has declared that what we need to do, he insists, is to ``pull it up by the roots and get rid of it'' with reference to Social Security.
Providing modest retirement, disability, and retirement benefits to 69 million Americans, Social Security is what puts food in the fridge and keeps the lights on week after week.
For 22 million Americans, Social Security is the difference between living in poverty, and for 40 percent, it is more than one-half of their income.
It is a lifesaving, irreplaceable, social contract. As stewards of this hard-earned benefit, we must protect taxpayers' dollars, but empty promises to address supposed fraud are not the answer.
Americans deserve a restored watchdog and efficient program at Social Security that ensures swift and easy access to their payments.
Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith for yielding time to me on this important topic.
It is important to be here today to express my support for S. 269, the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act. It is commonsense legislation that taxpayers should not be footing the bill for people who are deceased.
The purpose of this legislation is to permanently authorize the Social Security Administration to share its full Death Master File with the Treasury's Do Not Pay service. The Death Master File that is generated by Social Security is the best, if not the only national file that identifies the death of individuals throughout the country. This access will allow Federal agencies to have the updated, complete death data necessary to verify benefit eligibility and prevent erroneous overpayments.
We are well aware that the Federal Government has a major spending problem, and we face a massive problem continuing to pay people for all sorts of Federal programs, including Social Security, who have passed away. In FY 2024 alone, Federal agencies reported over $162 billion in improper payments. By making this data exchange permanent, the Bureau of Fiscal Service projects that we will save $330 million across the Federal Government by December of 2026.
As the chairman of the Social Security Subcommittee, I am committed to enforcing this legislation and protecting the integrity of our programs for the American taxpayer.
This bill is really another missed opportunity. The protections that are most urgently needed are not these new guardrails, but guardrails to protect our inalienable right to privacy.
Through the Privacy Act and other means, this Congress has long set limits on what the government can and cannot do with intimate details that it collects about each American. Government officials are not free to use our sensitive personal data however they wish, but that may actually be happening under the Trump regime.
When this legislation was before the Ways and Means Committee, I offered an amendment to address a serious and looming threat to our privacy. The Trump administration is pursuing an unprecedented effort to consolidate Federal data on virtually every American into a single, centralized master file, a de facto digital ID on every American.
This would be a digital record containing most anything that any part of the government knows about you, tracking where you live, where you work, your earnings, your bank account, your health insurance, your child support agreements, and more.
To understand the scope of this extraordinary project, my amendment required the administration to produce materials related to the Social Security Administration's role in data aggregation and its chosen contractor, Palantir, a company that one Silicon Valley executive once described as ``building the infrastructure of the police state.'' This project would further empower a President whose priorities include revenge, personal enrichment, and self-glorification to misuse this data.
Beyond the obvious danger of empowering a surveillance state or enabling the targeting of political opponents, the other danger associated with this mass centralization is that this sensitive information held by the Federal Government in one place could be exposed to hacking. One vulnerability, one malicious actor, one insider threat, and millions of Americans could be exposed.
A whistleblower has already revealed that the Social Security records of roughly 300 million Americans were uploaded into an unsecured cloud environment without adequate safeguards. Internal Federal reviews have identified serious weaknesses in Palantir's systems.
One internal U.S. Army memorandum described Palantir's platform
Palantir, of course, disputes these findings, but the concerns are real, and the consequences of getting it wrong would be enormous. My approach would not have stopped this project. It would not have dismantled anything. It simply would have required transparency, basic disclosure of how Social Security data has been used or misused by the Trump regime in the creation of this centralized database.
Yet, despite the gravity of these concerns, Republicans voted to block this reasonable inquiry from a regime that seems to thrive on secrecy.
This vote follows a troubling pattern that occurred right here in the House when rules were adopted to block a resolution of inquiry that I and other Members had to ask for this data from the administration.
Twice now, Republicans have adopted special rules, extraordinary measures that are designed to prevent the House from ever considering this question. Twice they have used the process to hide from the American people what is happening and to protect their Members from having to take a vote about this sweeping intrusion into our privacy.
Remarkably, Palantir has even said they are willing to support the resolution. That hasn't been enough for our Republican colleagues. This is the time for sunlight instead of fear of sunlight. It is unfortunate that this transparency, which should not be controversial, is not included in this bill.
I will be voting for this bill, as we did in committee, but it is relatively meaningless, and the big issues of the day are not being addressed in this legislation.
Madam Speaker, if there is one group of Americans who definitely shouldn't be receiving Federal payments, it is the dearly departed. There is a famous line in the movie ``The Sixth Sense'' where the star says: ``I see dead people.'' Our Treasury Department doesn't see dead people. They just write them checks.
Year after year, gaps in our data system allow improper payments to flow to individuals who are no longer living. It is wasteful, avoidable, and undermines trust in government-run programs.
As founder and co-chair of the DOGE Caucus, I am proud to support the Ending Improper Payments to Deceased People Act. It is a commonsense, bipartisan effort to strengthen the accuracy of the Death Master File, improve data sharing across Federal agencies, and ensure that benefits programs have the timely, reliable information they need to verify eligibility, and a pulse, before payments go out the door.
The results, Madam Speaker, speak for themselves. The Treasury Department recently announced it recovered $31 million in fraud and improper payments in just the first 5 months of test driving and implementing these reforms. The legislation makes these temporary provisions permanent and stops payments to deceased individuals moving forward.
Madam Speaker, this bill is a big step toward accountability, and I urge my colleagues on all sides of the aisle to join me in supporting this vital antifraud, antiwaste, antiabuse legislation.
As the saying goes: You can't take it with you, so let's stop writing checks to dead people.
Madam Speaker, I think it would be more accurate to say this bill is a tiny step, it is a trivial step, and it is curious how narrow the interest of our Republican colleagues are with regard to fraud.
Trump has been busy pardoning one fraudster after another. We haven't heard a peep from our Republican colleagues about that nor about his wrongful action within days of his inauguration of abruptly and unjustifiably firing the chief inspector general of the Social Security Administration. That is the public watchdog who is there to ensure that no fraud--dead, living, or otherwise--occurs. In only a single year, that inspector general had saved Social Security about $12.4 billion through audits and investigations.
House Republicans have similarly remained totally mute about the fact that as of today, almost a year later, Trump has continued his failure to nominate a replacement inspector general. They are apparently not too eager about addressing fraud to have a real watchdog there.
Just as they yell ``fraud'' as an excuse to replace ObamaCare with Republican nothing care, while Trump reinstates the suspended insurance brokers that were causing the fraud, the Trump regime and its congressional enablers are really just yelling ``fraud'' as a cover for the real agenda, which is to privatize Social Security.
Trump's Treasury Secretary, Mr. Bessent, recently blew their cover by indicating that the big, ugly bill about which Republicans have been so gleeful is really a ``back door'' to privatize Social Security, a step that will undermine the program that so many Americans are counting on.
This bill offers no additional protection to them or to the taxpayer. What it does do is continue the myth that Social Security is fraudulent, that it is not delivering the benefits that Americans have been able to rely on for generations, and with appropriate action will be able to rely upon for generations to come.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
As stewards of Americans' hard-earned tax dollars, we have a responsibility to ensure efficient and appropriate government spending. The dollars that have been spent on Social Security have been spent well and effectively to benefit millions.
For years, I have sought action on several fraud prevention measures, efforts that have been repeatedly rejected, not even heard by the Republican majority.
Ignoring my legislation and other proposals that have been offered from the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, another inspector general that was fired by President Trump, Republicans instead offer this minor bill that does little to address fraud, that raises a myth concerning payments to the deceased, and perpetuates that myth that Social Security should be, in the words of one Republican Senator: pulled up by its roots and gotten rid of.
It is all fear-mongering from some of the same people who recently enacted a truly horrifying scheme with the largest cuts to healthcare and SNAP food assistance in the history of this country, all in order to further enrich some billionaire donors. These cuts leave millions of children, people with disabilities, and seniors without access to a doctor, struggling to afford their medications, and unable to receive in-home support.
The billionaire class was so greedy that even $1 trillion in cuts to healthcare wasn't enough to pay for everything that they demanded. The total receipt from Republicans' legislation means that trillions of dollars are being added to our national debt, even after these draconian cuts to healthcare. Those additions to the national debt will endanger the long-term promise of Social Security and Medicare.
This legislation does nothing to address Social Security's guarantee to American workers. If this Congress fails to act, the Federal Government will default in 2032, and people would see their Social Security payments cut.
Meanwhile, this bill also ignores the Trump regime's effort, which I discussed, about the development of a digital file on every American and the invasion of our privacy. It is good that this legislation requires the Treasury Department's Do Not Pay system to reimburse Social Security and State agencies for its use of death records that the States collect and provide to Social Security.
Social Security should not bear the price for that Do Not Pay system's use of the data. I certainly support that provision, but every American will bear the cost of Republicans' failure to protect their hard-earned benefits and private information from Trump's hatchet job on the Social Security Administration.
While I don't oppose the bill, I do oppose the misrepresentations that are made about it.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, this bill is another piece of the puzzle in the fight against waste, fraud, and abuse. Before the Social Security Administration began sharing its complete death records with the Treasury Department, the Federal Government paid $1.3 billion to the dead in just a single year.
Congress authorized the Treasury to access Social Security's death data for 3 years ending in 2026. In the first year alone, Treasury reported that it helped the Federal Government identify, prevent, or recover $108 million in improper payments, with another $200 million expected by the end of this year. It is only common sense to make this fraud prevention measure permanent.
This policy has already passed both the Senate and the Ways and Means Committee with broad, bipartisan support. I hope the House does the same and sends this to President Trump's desk as soon as possible.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, S. 269.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6500) to extend duty-free treatment provided with respect to imports from certain countries in Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, to extend customs user fees, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith) and the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell) each will control 20 minutes.
Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on this bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Missouri?
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6500, the AGOA Extension Act, legislation to reauthorize the African Growth and Opportunity Act trade preference program.
Our Nation's economic, strategic, and national security interests are front and center in AGOA. Think about it: This program strengthens our critical supply chains and helps us counter the harmful global influence of nations like China and Russia.
Don't just take my word for it. A witness testifying before the Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee put it bluntly when discussing the potential for a lapse in AGOA when he said: ``There will be a party in Moscow. There will be a party in Beijing if we don't reauthorize it.''
To achieve this, however, we aren't going to lower our standards. This extension maintains the most stringent eligibility criteria of any trade preference program, with annual reviews to defend IP rights, human rights, market access, and the rule of law against corruption. To be eligible, countries must also ensure they are not undermining America's national security or foreign policy interests.
While we still need a longer-term AGOA extension, this reauthorization provides a much-needed level of certainty and stability in the near term so that Congress can continue its work on future reforms to address and strengthen U.S. priorities. After all, U.S. businesses have invested $8 billion annually under AGOA while our African trading partners have begun to open their markets for U.S. agriculture.
Protecting market access for America's farmers and ranchers is incredibly important to the rural communities I represent in Missouri, a point I have made in my travels to the regions going back to 2015 when I attended the AGOA forum in Gabon.
After we take this step, we can build further. Americans would benefit if African nations graduated into formal bilateral trade agreements with the U.S.
Right now, the nation of Mauritius is on track to graduate from AGOA within the next 5 years. When African nations take steps to expand their markets to American products, graduating from AGOA should have clear benefits, not negative consequences.
Africa is home to 30 percent of the world's critical mineral reserves, and China is quickly moving to corner the market on critical minerals and exploit Africa's vast resources. Stronger partnerships with African nations mean we will limit China's ability to make further gains in the region and protect our national security interests.
Madam Speaker, for example, last year the Trump administration announced a strategic partnership agreement with the Democratic Republic of the Congo to develop critical minerals.
I thank the chairman of our Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee, Congressman Adrian Smith, for his tremendous work and leadership in proactively building support for this renewal effort.
I urge my colleagues to support this extension of AGOA, which received strong bipartisan approval in the Ways and Means Committee. I look forward to continuing to work across the aisle to further strengthen this critical program.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 6500, the AGOA Extension Act.
For over two decades, AGOA, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, has affirmed America's commitment to expanding economic opportunity, creating jobs, strengthening strategic partnerships, and forging mutually beneficial economic bonds between the United States and our allies in sub-Saharan Africa.
Since its enactment in 2000, AGOA has provided duty-free access to the U.S. market for a broad range of goods from eligible AGOA sub- Saharan African countries. AGOA has enjoyed broad bicameral and bipartisan support from both Democrats and Republicans from both the House and the Senate.
By lowering barriers for African exports, AGOA expands demand for U.S. services and inputs--from agricultural equipment to digital and logistic services to energy and finance--supporting jobs at home and abroad.
In an era of global economic disruption, AGOA helps U.S. companies diversify supply sources and build resilient and market-oriented networks in key sectors, including textiles, agriculture, and renewable energy.
By providing preferential treatment for developing African countries, AGOA promotes U.S. strategic influence and democratic values, as well as economic prosperity. Eligibility under AGOA is directly tied to the progress by these developing African countries on market reform, rule of law, labor standards, and human rights.
The conditionality of this trade preference program harnesses trade as a catalyst for reform, not just revenue. Unfortunately, the AGOA program expired in September 2025, creating uncertainty for the future of America's relationship with the region.
The bill we are considering today will extend AGOA for 3 years and will send a clear message to the African Continent that we are committed to strengthening our shared prosperity.
Over the last few years, I have met directly with AGOA country leaders, civil society groups, and business communities about the importance of maintaining and improving the AGOA program.
I also had an opportunity to travel to Africa with Chairman Smith. To a person, they all said the same thing. While they wanted a 10-year reauthorization, and it was preferable, to a person they all said that we needed certainty in this program.
The fact that the program ended in September 2025 has been a serious source of concern for many. A clean, 3-year reauthorization is preferable to allowing AGOA to lapse because businesses require predictability and certainty.
Investment decisions cannot wait for prolonged negotiations or uncertainty. A lapse has caused immediate harm to African exporters and U.S. importers, disrupting supply chains and costing jobs on both sides.
Reauthorization preserves U.S. credibility. Letting AGOA expire signals disengagement at a time when competitors like Russia and China are deepening their presence across the continent.
Reforms can and should be considered, but holding the program hostage for a perfect bill is too high of a price to pay. The cost of inaction is far greater than the cost of moving forward today.
Africa provides an important growth opportunity for U.S. markets. Economic growth is rapidly accelerating on the African Continent. By 2050, one in four people in the world will be African. As women become more integrated into the formal economy and the young workforce is empowered by emerging technologies, the region is poised to be the next rising economic powerhouse in the 21st century.
Therefore, it is in America's national interest to strengthen our ties with the region and encourage this growth by deepening our trade relations. If we don't nurture this important relationship, China and others will. We can ill afford to allow others to fill the void.
AGOA is more than just about tariffs and duty-free access to markets. Passing this bill will demonstrate that Congress is committed to our long-term relationship with Africa. Most importantly, reauthorizing AGOA sends a very strong message that, even though the President's rhetoric toward many African countries has been a distraction, we in Congress do acknowledge the very important role that the continent of Africa plays.
To be clear, AGOA is not just a priority for the Congressional Black Caucus, although it is. It has been a decades-long bipartisan priority, and it stands as a proud example of America's commitment to deepening trust, stability, and shared prosperity with our AGOA allies.
I strongly support the 3-year reauthorization of the program. Moreover, during this extension, I hope we can continue our bipartisan efforts to modernize the program. I believe that we are making real progress on provisions that would strengthen enforcement, that would improve congressional oversight, strengthen critical mineral supply chains, improve utilization, and establish a smooth graduation path that encourages economic development.
Again, I thank Chairman Jason Smith, as well as Ranking Member Neal, for making AGOA a bipartisan priority for this committee. I also thank Ways and Means Chief Trade Counsel Alexandra Whittaker for her tireless efforts on this issue.
I strongly urge all of my colleagues to vote for this bill and to send a strong signal to our African allies that leaders in Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, respect and value our continued partnership.
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the diligent work of the full committee chairman, Chairman Smith, to prioritize this issue.
Madam Speaker, we have an opportunity to advance the bipartisan legacy of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, a program which has been a pillar of U.S. trade and economic engagement throughout sub- Saharan Africa.
As we all know, trade requires consistent engagement. With over 17,000 tariff lines and complex supply chains, trade is a detailed and dynamic system which values certainty.
AGOA is a unique opportunity to strengthen trading relationships through market signals and cooperation on our partners' trade and investment policy, rule of law, as well as worker and human rights. We cannot sit on the sidelines while our global adversaries, including the Chinese Communist Party, spread their malign influence across the continent.
As the Trump administration engages on trade, AGOA can be a complementary trade policy as we look to build mutually beneficial reciprocal trade. Though preference programs can be the foundation of our engagement with developing countries, they should never be the extent of it.
Take Kenya, for example. It has been a beneficiary of the program since it
This was why I was so eager to see the first Trump administration work to advance bilateral negotiations with Kenya, and I hope to see continued progress with Kenya and other potential partners.
As the world works to avoid overreliance on unreliable single sources, redundant supply chains for both inputs and markets for our outbound products are key. Stronger partnerships across Africa can be a solution for many of these items, from critical minerals to agriculture.
With the fastest growing population and untapped economic potential, we must maintain reliable and proactive engagement across the continent.
Madam Speaker, again, I welcome all my colleagues to join me in supporting this bipartisan program.
Madam Speaker, I support strengthening our relations with African countries through the African Growth and Opportunity Extension Act. I think increased trade, economic activity, and development that respects human rights, labor rights, and the environment can benefit both Americans and Africans.
I think that trade is especially important at this time after the profound damage done by the consistent disrespect by President Trump of Africans, unless they happen to be White Afrikaners, and, more importantly, by his abrupt and unjustified termination of the Agency for International Development, which has cost tens of thousands of lives in Africa and other places, and thousands of American jobs. AGOA cannot undo all of that harm, but it can be part of responsible engagement, if it is done right.
It is important, however, to understand that this reauthorization does not guarantee a single African country the benefits of this bill if they fall out of favor with President Trump. The role of Congress is constrained. The bill continues to empower the President to include or exclude countries entirely at his whim, and we know how unpredictable, vengeful, and punitive he can be.
While I support AGOA, I do not support extending it to countries with serious human rights abuses, nor to those engaging in serious environmental destruction, such as the devastation of Africa's rainforests.
In Tanzania, bodies filled morgues as more than 700 people last fall were reportedly killed in connection with the recent election. Peaceful protesters in Mozambique, Angola, and Madagascar were shot by security forces. Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are involved in multiple war crimes, despite President Trump's failed attempts to achieve a peace agreement.
I have particular concern about Kenya from a business standpoint. A longtime, well-respected Austin resident, an engineer and law-abiding citizen, serves as co-president of LightPulse, a respected Kenyan healthcare and educational institution. Kenyan authorities cooperated in the abduction of one of his employees, who was taken to Turkiye and tortured. The next thing that we knew, up on a website in Turkiye was a declaration that my constituent was being labeled as a terrorist. Another incident of this type occurred only last month, and the Kenyans have been unable to provide a suitable explanation for their conduct.
Finally, American workers should not be forced to compete on an uneven playing field, where China sends manufactured products to Africa, there are minor changes made there, and then this product is sent here as an AGOA trade preference product. Our trade laws should be clear and not put our workers at a disadvantage by forcing them to compete with these kinds of practices.
AGOA cannot undo the immense harm that President Trump has already inflicted, but if properly structured, it can strengthen democratic rights and environmental protection.
I would support a short-term extension paired with meaningful reforms. We have had no shortage of time in order to get these reforms; only a lack of will. We do not have that reform bill before us.
Madam Speaker, for all of those reasons, I respectfully urge my colleagues to reject this bill and instead work toward a more responsible, accountable reauthorization of AGOA.
Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Alabama for yielding me time.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to vote in support of renewing the African Growth and Opportunity Extension Act.
AGOA is a critical program to advance prosperity for the people of sub-Saharan Africa and to maintain United States' leadership in the region. It is a program that has bipartisan support.
AGOA is far from perfect, and so I understand concerns raised by a wide range of stakeholders, including labor, environmental, and other trade groups, about proposed changes to make this program better, stronger, and more effective moving forward.
This is a straight reauthorization for 3 years, providing a runway for all stakeholders to weigh in on needed improvements. To appropriate the sage words of Frederick Douglass: ``Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.''
The U.S. must not cede power to China or any other world power by not curing the lapse of this vital, soft power tool.
Madam Speaker, I thank my colleagues for their work on this bill.
Madam Speaker, at this time, I really don't have much to say except that I am fully in support of this legislation. I am so thankful to my colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee for working through this and, of course, the tremendous work of the staff.
We know that, since enactment in 2000 of AGOA, it has been a key element in providing support in sub-Saharan Africa for duty-free access to U.S. markets for almost 6,000 products, which includes over 5,000 products under the Generalized System of Preferences, as well as 1,800 specific AGOA products.
We know that Africa has the youngest and fastest-growing youth population, 60 percent under 25. Madam Speaker, 5 million young people will enter the workforce from Africa in 2035.
We cannot concede, as a nation, this tremendous market that is available not only for American economic growth and innovation but African, as well. Russia and China have engaged in an extraction of resources on the continent through their Belt and Road Initiative, through the use of Wagner, as well as China extracting so many minerals from this continent.
American innovation, economic support, and products are the products that Africa wants to utilize. Unless we have AGOA, they cannot do so.
I thank the gentlewoman for allowing me to speak on this tremendous opportunity.
Madam Speaker, as a longtime proponent of the African Growth and Opportunity Extension Act, I rise today in support of this bipartisan bill, H.R. 6500, the AGOA Extension Act.
Let me first thank Ways and Means Committee Chairman Smith, Chairman Smith of the Trade Subcommittee, Ranking Member Neal, and Ranking Member Linda Sanchez for working on this in a bipartisan way and getting it over the hurdle.
Madam Speaker, I also have to think about an individual who mentored me. I cannot think about AGOA without thinking about the former chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, the
The African Growth and Opportunity Extension Act delivers significant economic benefit to the United States. In removing barriers to trade between the United States and Africa, AGOA has enabled approximately $1.8 billion in salaries for American workers each year.
AGOA also provides approximately $1 billion in annual benefits to American consumers. The program has resulted in millions of American households enjoying lower prices for cocoa, coffee, and other goods that the United States cannot produce at home.
American businesses understand the value of supporting robust U.S.- Africa trade, which supports more than 450,000 jobs across the United States.
For this reason, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Apparel & Footwear Association, and countless other business associations are calling for AGOA's reauthorization by Congress.
Put simply, this bill offers clear advantages for millions of American workers. AGOA is essential to also protecting U.S. foreign policy interests in Africa.
As we speak, China and other U.S. adversaries are trying to undermine the African Continent to do this kind of work. In fact, Chinese officials seek to deepen China's commercial ties with African countries, prevent American businesses from competing in local markets, and redirect trade away from the United States.
Africa is the continent with the world's fastest growing population. China recognizes the critical role that Africa will play in the future and its economy and wants to exploit that, particularly as global demand for critical minerals and rare earth elements increases. China understands its own economy will benefit by making trade with Africa easier, not harder, and that is why China is rooting for AGOA's demise while offering zero-trade deals that mimic this vital U.S. program.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Madam Speaker, there are certainly improvements we can make in terms of encouraging countries to better utilize the trade preferences offered under AGOA and to maximize their government strategies to take full advantage of those benefits. I look forward to working with my colleagues to improve AGOA over the next 3 years, but extending the legislation is a first critical step.
Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to vote for this program.
Madam Speaker, in closing, I again thank Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Neal, as well as Chairman Smith and Ranking Member Sanchez of the Subcommittee on Trade for working so hard to make sure that we reauthorize AGOA.
Last year alone, AGOA imports totaled $8 billion. Moreover, since 2002, AGOA has spurred more than $500 billion in exports to the United States.
However, this year, the impact of the reciprocal tariffs, coupled with the expiration of AGOA on September 30, threaten to erode 25 years of economic cooperation.
If we fail to act, we will likely see weakening supply chains and increased poverty across the continent. Moreover, many industries could shift investments away from Africa and toward Asia. Sub-Saharan African exports to China have overtaken exports to the United States. We should not allow this trend to continue.
AGOA remains a centerpiece of United States trade in that region, and turning our backs on Africa at this critical time would be disastrous. Africa is diversifying their economy. It is expanding past textiles and agriculture. The service sector is growing rapidly, and women are beginning to get opportunities to enter the formal workforce.
During my visits to several African countries over the years, and most recently with Chairman Smith, I witnessed personally the benefit of AGOA, and I witnessed the entrepreneurial spirit of the people. As internet access becomes broadly available, rapid economic growth and opportunity will follow.
We have the ability to benefit from this inevitable growth in Sub- Saharan Africa, and we should do something about it.
Madam Speaker, I am honored to be a part of this committee and a part of this bipartisan effort to make sure we do just that.
In closing, I quote the first African-American chair of the Committee on Ways and Means, Charlie Rangel, and what he said about AGOA. He is often known as the father of AGOA. Charlie said: ``Since it was enacted in 2000, AGOA has been the cornerstone of the U.S. trade policy with Sub-Saharan Africa and has been a true success.''
AGOA has further contributed to diversification and competitiveness of Sub-Saharan Africa's economies and supports hundreds of thousands of jobs across the continent and the United States. I can think of no better way for America to continue to expand its trade relationships with Africa than reauthorizing this very important piece of legislation.
Madam Speaker, I again ask my colleagues to vote in favor of this reauthorization and extend a warm and hearty thank you to Chairman Smith for making sure that this remains a bipartisan effort and we are getting it across the finish line.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, first, I say thank you to Ms. Sewell, and Mr. Neal for their help in order to get this across the finish line. This is an important piece of legislation that I know my staff, Josh Snead and Hilary Pinegar, have worked tirelessly on for a long time to make sure that this program does not die. I thank both the Democrat and Republican staff. I thank Jorge Rueda and Alexandra Whittaker, as well. I appreciate the hard work. This is super important.
Reauthorization of the African Growth and Opportunity Act will advance the economic, strategic, and national security interests of the United States today and pave the way for future reforms to strengthen this critical program.
AGOA has a proven track record of holding our trading partners accountable to the strictest standards, while opening markets to American producers, particularly our farming community.
It is a vital tool to combat the harmful influence of nations like China and protect America's supply chains, including access to critical minerals.
Madam Speaker, I include in the Record an article discussing the strategic importance of critical minerals.
Why Is Renewing AGOA Strategic for U.S.-Africa Minerals Diplomacy?
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6500, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) Extension Act, introduced by Chairman Jason Smith.
This bill reauthorizes the AGOA program--first established by Congress in 2000. AGOA is a nonreciprocal U.S. trade preference program that encourages trade and investment with sub-Saharan African countries.
Economic benefits of AGOA include:
The bolstering of economic growth.
Promoted economic and political reform.
Improved U.S. economic relations in the sub-Saharan Africa region.
Diversified supply chains.
New markets for American goods and services.
Stronger and diversified American investments.
National security benefits of AGOA include:
Peace and stability in a region that our adversaries, such as China, are trying to exploit.
An American presence in a region rich in critical minerals.
American values are being promoted abroad, resulting in governance improvements that align sub-Saharan African nations with American foreign policy.
AGOA greatly benefits our national security and economy. For those reasons, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 6500.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6500, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6504) to extend duty-free treatment provided with respect to imports from Haiti under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith) and the gentlewoman from Puerto Rico (Ms. Plaskett) each will control 20 minutes.
Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Missouri?
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6504, the Haiti Economic Lift Program Extension Act, introduced by my colleague, Representative Murphy.
This legislation extends the HOPE and HELP trade preference programs which provide trade preferences for certain apparel and textile imports from Haiti.
Haiti has endured years of profound hardship, political instability, economic collapse, and repeated natural disasters. As our bill author, Dr. Murphy, shares from his time serving as a medical missionary in Haiti, these trade programs represent an economic lifeline that supports tens of thousands of jobs and sustain one of the last remaining formal industries in the country.
Failing to extend these programs would further destabilize an already fragile situation, worsening humanitarian conditions. Strengthening economic opportunity in Haiti promotes regional stability, pushes back on malign actors trying to gain influence with our neighbors, and advances U.S. interests. Prosperity in our hemisphere enhances security right here at home.
Renewing HOPE and HELP supports nearshoring and more resilient supply chains, benefiting American workers and businesses, while reducing reliance on distant and unreliable sources.
I commend Dr. Murphy for his leadership on this issue. Through his numerous trips to Haiti, he has seen firsthand the human consequences of economic collapse. He also understands the value these programs provide to American businesses, including those in North Carolina that have built reliable partnerships in Haiti.
Last month, the Ways and Means Committee passed this bill unanimously, 41-0, a strong bipartisan signal that these programs work.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise today in support of H.R. 6504, the Haiti Economic Lift Program Extension Act.
For over 15 years, Haiti HOPE/HELP programs have supported both U.S. and Haitian textile industries by granting Haiti duty-free access for apparel and textile products.
Building strong business ties between two neighboring nations, this bill, the Haiti Economic Lift Program Extension Act, reauthorizes the HOPE/HELP trade preference program for an additional 3 years, through December 2028.
The bill also restores eligibility for certain textiles that were initially eligible for duty-free treatment but became ineligible due to changes in the Harmonized Tariff Schedule.
I thank Ranking Member Neal, Chairman Smith, and Dr. Murphy, and I especially thank my longtime friend and fellow Georgetown University alumnus, Haiti's Ambassador to the United States, Lionel Delatour, for their leadership in keeping the light of Haiti HOPE/HELP alive here in the House of Representatives.
Many American manufacturers, as well as Haitian civil society, have pushed for the extension of trade relations with Haiti.
Of course, we thank the committee's Trade staff, led by Alexandra Whittaker, Mr. Rueda, Mr. O'Donovan, as well as former U.S. Trade Representative Ambassador Katherine Tai, who have supported our work to reauthorize the program for many years.
We all know that Haiti faces overlapping humanitarian, political, and economic crises and needs both economic and political stability. The circumstances require immediate action. More than 60 percent of the people of Haiti are living below poverty lines, and over 25 percent of the population live in extreme poverty. The 37 percent youth unemployment rate, combined with declining female literacy and lower school enrollment rates, as well as the crime and gang violence we all know about, makes finding skilled work very difficult.
I include in the Record links to two articles. One is ``Locked in Transition: Politics and Violence in Haiti,'' by the International Crisis Group. The link can be found here: https://www.crisisgroup.org/ latin-america-caribbean/caribbean/haiti/107-locked-transition- politics-and-violence-haiti
The second is the ``World Report 2025: Rights Trends in Haiti.'' The link can be found here: https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country- chapters/ haiti
Madam Speaker, the security crisis and political instability have been compounded by a dire humanitarian situation.
According to the World Bank, over 64 percent of Haiti's population of 11.7 million lived on less than $3.65 per day in 2024. The World Food Programme has identified Haiti as having one of the highest proportions of acute food insecure people in any crisis worldwide. In a report covering August 2024 to February 2025, about 5.5 million people require humanitarian assistance, and 4.5 million are facing acute food insecurity.
The apparel sector has incredible importance to Haiti's economy and is the foundation for the country's economic development. When we talk about the economic development of Haiti, let's not forget its history and the circumstances that have led to the crisis and compounded the situation that they are in.
Many of us here in this Chamber may be aware of Haiti's history, but I remind my colleagues of a critical fact: In 1825, for their freedom, France demanded that Haiti pay. The initial debt was 150 million in gold, later reduced to 90 million in gold, which equals approximately $560 million in today's currency. It took Haiti 122 years to pay off this ransom. Imagine the United States had been forced to compensate Britain for our independence.
It is estimated that between $21 billion and $115 billion in economic losses have occurred because Haiti had to pay this fee, a fee for freedom. That has instead, of course, led to Haiti's economic dire straits that we see today.
It is our support of Haiti, as well as the economic benefits to the United States that we receive through its apparel, which will help lift them. Given the cascading job losses and extreme security crisis, Haiti cannot afford to wait any longer for reauthorization of this vital program.
Haiti is our strategic ally. It is one of the few countries in the hemisphere that still recognizes Taiwan. U.S. support for Haiti's apparel sector is mutually beneficial. Haitian apparel utilizes a great deal of American-grown cotton, and when it is in place, it plays an essential role in shifting supply chains out of China and into the Western Hemisphere.
I thank my colleagues for supporting Haiti and its people, and I thank them for supporting the Caribbean hemisphere.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6504, the Haiti Economic Lift Program Extension Act.
The Haiti HELP/HOPE program provides significant benefit to both the U.S. and Haiti. These preferences can deliver tangible results in Haiti while also supporting our goals for diversification.
Providing duty-free access for textiles and apparel from Haiti leads to more affordable products for U.S. consumers while creating in- country opportunities for Haiti's workforce.
The apparel and textiles industry is important for the Haitian people, providing economic stability throughout times of uncertainty and unrest.
As President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said: ``World trade helps to lay the groundwork for peace by making all free nations of the world stronger and more self-reliant.'' While times have changed somewhat since these words were spoken, the message still rings true.
As a key pillar of our economic engagement with Haiti, the HELP/HOPE program has supported industry growth while encouraging a more stable business environment. However, as with AGOA and other expired preference programs, Haiti HELP/HOPE should not be the extent of our engagement. Congress and the Trump administration must develop additional strategies to work with Haiti to create a more sustainable and self-reliant economy.
A more stable Haitian economy supports American companies that seek to do business there, creating a supply chain for those products as we diversify away from China.
Onshoring and nearshoring of critical industries cannot leave opportunities within our own hemisphere on the table. We have the opportunity today to reassert congressional commitment to fostering security and prosperity in Haiti, supporting businesses that are already operating in Haiti or looking to establish new supply chains.
Reauthorizing Haiti HOPE/HELP is the right thing to do. It is in our interest to support stability in Haiti, and I encourage my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill.
Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands for yielding me time.
I rise in strong support of H.R. 6504, a 3-year extension of the Haiti HOPE/HELP trade preference program, one of the most important tools for promoting economic stability, job creation, and long-term development in Haiti.
The Haitian people have faced enormous hardships in recent years, after suffering successive political and environmental tragedies. Now is the time for Congress to demonstrate our support for the Haitian people and to promote trade policies that promote stability and spur economic development in Haiti.
In 2020, I led the bipartisan effort to reauthorize the U.S.- Caribbean Basin Trade Partnership Act, which works together with the Haiti HOPE/HELP program to ensure that the manufacturing sector stays invested in Haiti.
For more than a decade, HELP/HOPE has been a lifeline for Haiti's fragile economy. The program allows Haitian manufacturers to export certain goods to the United States duty-free, providing critical market access that has helped to sustain 50,000 jobs, many held by women, and anchor one of the few reliable industries in that country.
However, Haiti HOPE/HELP is not just a development initiative. It is a mutually beneficial partnership. American companies rely on Haiti as a near-shore sourcing location that is close to U.S. markets, supports resilient supply chains, and provides competitively priced apparel that helps keep costs affordable for American consumers. This partnership strengthens both of our economies and creates opportunity abroad while boosting economic activity right here at home.
Today, however, Haiti faces extraordinary political unrest, economic strain, and humanitarian need. Just as families are struggling to afford basic goods, this vital program is set to expire. Without this critical trade preference, Haitian exporters will face sudden and steep tariff increases. For many factories, these added costs are unsustainable. This result would be devastating: widespread job loss, factory closings, and further destabilization of a country already in crisis.
We should be clear about what is at stake. Allowing Haiti HOPE/HELP to lapse would not only undercut one of the few functioning economic pillars in Haiti, but it would also push families deeper into hardship, increasing migration pressures, and eliminating a key source of stability in our hemisphere.
Congress must act now. Businesses rely on this critical program both in Haiti and the United States. Workers need the reassurance that these jobs will not vanish overnight. Our close neighbor, just 700 miles from our shore, needs the continued support of this very important program.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands for her leadership. I thank the chair, Chair Jason Smith, as well as Ranking Member Neal for ensuring that this bill continues to have bipartisan priority in our committee.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this extension and to protect the partnership that delivers real and measurable benefits for both Haiti and the United States.
Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith for his leadership and bringing this bill forward. I thank Dr. Murphy for his leadership along with our subcommittee chairman, Adrian Smith, as well.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the Haiti Economic Lift Program Extension Act.
In my Hudson Valley district just north of New York City, we have a vibrant Haitian community. It is actually one of the largest Haitian diaspora communities in the country, and it has been an honor representing these great people and working with them over these many years.
One of the things that they have taught me is that the American people and the people of Haiti are interconnected. We have such historic ties that go beyond the current political crisis, so it is imperative that we step up and help uplift Haiti out of the present circumstances.
Since their President was assassinated just a few years ago, the Haitian people have endured hardship. They have endured political unrest, and they have endured gangs engaging in kidnapping. The Haitian people need hope, and they need support from the American people.
The HOPE/HELP preferential trade program helps do just that. It lowers costs for Haitian businesses to export goods to the U.S., bolstering both economic development and stability for critical Haitian industries. It helps move the country forward in a moment when they need it most.
Forty percent of the Haitian population lives in the United States of America. Our ties are longstanding, and it is in our interests to have stability in a critical part of our hemisphere. As we see this administration prioritize our hemisphere and focus on the challenges throughout, in Venezuela, in Cuba, and in Colombia, it is imperative to have a strong partnership with Haiti.
This legislation comes at a critical moment. I was proud to cosponsor this, and I was proud to support Dr. Murphy and Chairman Smith's efforts to get this across the finish line in a bipartisan way.
I thank my colleagues across the aisle, folks like Greg Meeks, our ranking member on the Foreign Affairs Committee, who has worked on numerous issues pertaining to Haiti with me on that committee, and we will continue to do so because it is imperative that we have a vibrant partner in the Caribbean.
Madam Speaker, I encourage all of my colleagues to support this legislation.
Madam Speaker, let me just thank the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands for yielding.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the reauthorization of the Haiti-specific U.S. trade preference programs. Haiti, of course, is suffering from grave instability and security risks.
As we know, the ransom that Haiti paid to colonial France for its freedom continues to be at the cornerstone of its instability. I am telling you, Madam Speaker, that the least and the minimum that the United States can do to help stabilize the incredibly precarious situation in a land a stone's throw away from our shores, is to reauthorize these programs.
President Trump has lifted up the need to fortify economic and security interests in our hemisphere, and I can think of no better way to buoy these interests than support the bipartisan HOPE/HEALTH programs.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
These programs are not without need of reform. However, reauthorization is crucial to the economic growth and stability and to protect our economic security and interests in our hemisphere.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Meeks), from Queens, who is the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 6504, the Haiti Economic Lift Program Extension Act.
First, as all have done, I thank the distinguished gentleman from North Carolina, Dr. Murphy, for his leadership in bringing this bill to the floor and for his partnership because we worked closely together to try to make sure that Haiti is given an opportunity to alleviate the suffering of the people of Haiti.
I also, again, can't help but celebrate the legacy of the former chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, Charlie Rangel, who championed meeting our moral responsibility to support stability and dignity for Haitians.
That is precisely what this bill does today. The Haiti Economic Lift Program Extension Act provides an economic lifeline to tens of thousands of Haitian families facing a gang-fueled humanitarian crisis that gets worse by the day.
The dire conditions on the ground in Haiti, driven by brutal, armed gangs, cannot be understated, and 1.4 million Haitians, over 10 percent of the country's population, are internally displaced. One-half of the country's population experiences life-threatening levels of hunger. Diseases such as cholera have spread as an increasing number of Haitians lack adequate access to drinking water, food, and healthcare.
Every family that is employed through the HOPE/HELP trade preference before us today for extension is a family less vulnerable to gang coercion, extortion, or recruitment.
There is no path to stability in Haiti without creating a foundation for economic opportunity. The HOPE/HELP program does exactly that. We simply cannot afford to abandon the thousands of Haitian families who depend on this program, nor the economic lift to our region that it will provide.
As the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Ms. Plaskett), knows best, because of her commitment to the Caribbean, this is a very important bill.
Lastly, let me say to Chairman Smith, who goes to the gym in the morning and for months said to me
This is the way we can do good in the United States House of Representatives and good for people who are in need.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.
Mr. Speaker, we have had some tremendously wonderful discussions during this debate period over this legislation.
Without reauthorization, companies will increasingly shift their production away from Haiti unless it is clear that HOPE/HELP will continue. We can't have that. I am so grateful that we have bipartisan support of Members who are interested in that. From all over our country--North Carolina, New York, Wisconsin--Members routinely understand our relationship with Haiti, one of our near neighbors.
There was discussion about Charlie Rangel, who was the former chair of Ways and Means, and was indeed in some ways the author of this legislation conceiving of it, representing Harlem, the Lion of Lenox Avenue.
He was also a veteran of the Korean war, and he would remind us that Haitian soldiers--we are in our anniversary now in this year of 2025 of our independence, our Declaration of Independence--fought with us under the Siege of Savannah in 1779, willing to fight for our freedom, willing to support us in our battle to become the great Nation that we became. It is now our imperative to help them, as well.
It is my hope that this short-term, 3-year extension will preserve production and jobs in Haiti while providing a runway for Congress to further strengthen this program.
As you can see, in 2024, more than $92 billion in exports were done to the Caribbean and $500 million in Latin America. Indeed, this is a region that the United States must be engaged in. It is mutually beneficial for us to have economic ties not only in Latin America but with our Caribbean neighbors, for them to be strengthened both politically and fiscally.
I thank my colleagues, again, for supporting Haiti and its people. I thank them for supporting the hemisphere. I particularly want to thank Chairman Smith for moving this legislation through regular order, committee markup, and now here on the House floor. I thank him for working with Ranking Member Neal as well as not just the Ways and Means members but members from other committees who also have jurisdiction over this matter.
Mr. Speaker, I thank everyone and urge support of this legislation, urge its passage as we move it through the Senate, and into reenactment. I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the remainder of my time to close.
This bill represents a practical, bipartisan step toward stability, security, and shared prosperity right here in our hemisphere.
By renewing the HOPE and HELP programs, we reinforce an effective trade partnership that supports jobs in Haiti, strengthens American supply chains, and advances our nearshoring goals. At a time when Haiti faces extraordinary challenges, Congress should not end a program that has proven to be a force for economic opportunity and regional stability in our hemisphere.
This legislation passed the Ways and Means Committee unanimously because members on both sides recognize the humanitarian and strategic value these programs provide. A stable economy in Haiti contributes to a more secure United States.
I commend Dr. Murphy for his leadership, and I urge adoption of the Haiti Economic Lift Program Extension Act.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 6504, as amended.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, the unfinished business is the vote on the motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2683) to provide for control of remote access of items under the Export Control Reform Act of 2018, as amended, on which the yeas and nays were ordered.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Lawler) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 369, nays 22, not voting 39, as follows:
Mr. BRECHEEN changed his vote from ``yea'' to ``nay.''
Messrs. ONDER and KNOTT changed their vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
So (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, the unfinished business is the vote on the motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6500) to extend duty-free treatment provided with respect to imports from certain countries in Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, to extend customs user fees, and for other purposes, as amended, on which the yeas and nays were ordered.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
This is a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 340, nays 54, not voting 37, as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. There are 2 minutes remaining.
So (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, the unfinished business is the vote on the motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6504) to extend duty-free treatment provided with respect to imports from Haiti under the Caribbean Basin Economic Recovery Act, and for other purposes, as amended, on which the yeas and nays were ordered.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
This will be a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 345, nays 45, not voting 41, as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. There are 2 minutes remaining.
So (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote today due to a prior commitment in my Congressional district. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 13, YEA on Roll Call No. 14, and YEA on Roll Call No. 15.
Mr. Speaker, due to flight delays, I missed evening votes. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 13, YEA on Roll Call No. 14, and YEA on Roll Call No. 15.
Mr. Speaker, I missed a series of votes today. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 13, YEA on Roll Call No. 14, and YEA on Roll Call No. 15.
Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably absent and unable to vote. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 13, YEA on Roll Call No. 14, and YEA on Roll Call No. 15.
Mr. Speaker, due to an official engagement, I was unable to vote on H.R. 2683, H.R. 6500, and H.R. 6504. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 13, YEA on Roll Call No. 14, and YEA on Roll Call No. 15.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize National Milk Day, which we celebrated yesterday.
National Milk Day dates back to January 11, 1878, to commemorate when milk was first delivered in glass bottles.
Millions of Americans drink milk. It is a delicious and refreshing beverage that provides key nutrients like calcium, potassium, and vitamins A and D in every glass. Milk provides 13 essential nutrients, which is especially important for growing children.
This is one of the reasons why my Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act is so important. The Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act will soon be signed into law this week. It allows schools to offer flavored and unflavored whole and 2 percent milk options.
National Milk Day allows us to recognize the many dairy farms across the country. In my home State of Pennsylvania, the dairy industry contributes $14.7 billion to the State's economy.
Mr. Speaker, I thank our American dairy farmers who work around the clock to provide nutritious and delicious milk to all Americans.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in memory of the exceptional life of John Cunningham, a resident of Rye for nearly 60 years, who passed away last week at the age of 93.
He was not only a familiar face around our community, but he was a familiar face on Broadway, on TV screens, and in movie theaters. John's acting career included roles too numerous to mention, but many are memorable to those anywhere in the Nation. He was the father in ``Mystic Pizza,'' Mr. Anderson in ``Dead Poets Society,'' and the character Sylvester Rheinback in the Christmastime movie ``Silver Bells.''
He was on the Broadway stage as Captain E.J. Smith of the ship in ``Titanic'' and as John Adams in ``1776.''
He had TV roles on ``30 Rock,'' ``Miami Vice,'' ``Law and Order,'' and ``The Good Wife,'' among many others.
His success as an actor notwithstanding, his role in the community was warm and friendly to all. Despite his status as a celebrity, he was approachable. He used his talents to help raise funds for local organizations, including dramatic readings with other actors, such as Frances Sternhagen, a New Rochelle resident, in the well-loved ``Players and Playwrights'' series at the Rye High School Performing Arts Center.
John and his wife, Carolyn, who served as a member of the Rye City Council, raised three children, all Rye High School graduates, with six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
John served in the U.S. Army and achieved a master's degree from Yale School of Drama. He was an active congregant of Rye Presbyterian Church, where a memorial service will be held this weekend.
From the floor of the House of Representatives, we salute this neighbor and friend who made a career in the arts and, in so doing, brought honor to his profession and to his home community.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the United States Army's remarkable 2025, defined by service, sacrifice, and strength; and filled with moments that showcase the character and resolve of our soldiers and support teams across the globe.
In 2025, the Army marked its 250th birthday with community celebrations and tributes to the generations that defended our Nation. Its annual Year in Review also features stories of soldiers preparing for future challenges and meeting recruiting and retention goals well ahead of schedule, demonstrating renewed commitment and purpose and included in this Year in Review was Fort Stewart's Rock of the Marne.
This retrospective honors those who served today and those who served before. It reminds us that our Army stands ready to protect the homeland, support partners, and uphold peace at home and abroad.
Today, we celebrate the Army's achievements in 2025 and thank our soldiers for their enduring dedication to duty and to country.
Mr. Speaker, I am here today because this administration is playing games with costs, retirement accounts, and the entire financial system. He is attacking the Federal Reserve, which keeps our economy stable by threatening criminal investigations into Jerome Powell, the Fed's chair. He is doing it because Chair Powell refuses to give in to Trump's demands.
Mr. Speaker, the independence of the Fed makes it so politicians can't use it like a weapon. If the President can bully or threaten the Fed Chair, interest rates become a political tool, inflation becomes a campaign strategy; and your mortgage, your job, and your savings become collateral damage.
Make no mistake, Mr. Speaker, this attempt to intimidate the Fed isn't about justice or the American people. It is about the President's ego, in my opinion.
I can't, and won't, stand by and let that happen. I will continue fighting to make sure that the Fed works for Oregonians and for Americans.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to say Go Bulldogs and Go Jaguars, better known as Malcolm X Shabazz High School's boys basketball team and Arts High School's girls basketball team, the champions of Newark Board of Education's Annual Holiday Basketball Tournament.
I wish I had been there to see Arts High School's girls basketball team secure their first holiday tournament title and to see Malcolm X Shabazz' boys basketball team secure another win to keep them undefeated, but, even though I wasn't there, I am still cheering all the way from D.C. for a win that made all of Newark proud.
Mr. Speaker, Rabbi Abraham Heschel once sent a telegram to John F. Kennedy. Referring to racism in this country, he said: ``The hour calls for moral grandeur and spiritual audacity.''
Now, 62 years later, we see the excessive brutality of ICE agents. Peaceful protesters are tear-gassed in the face. A pastor was shot in the head with a pepper ball. We have children being zip-tied, car windows smashed, people tackled and dragged, and guns pointed at unarmed bystanders. We have people targeted for the color of their skin or the accents that they speak in. ICE agents are demanding entrance to homes without warrants, and last week, an American citizen was gunned down.
Americans know this is wrong, and they are horrified. People of conscience across this country must come together and be that voice of moral grandeur and spiritual audacity once again. We have to find our courage and speak out. There is no other way.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today proudly to enter into the Congressional Record that the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center cut the ribbon and opened the University Hospital today with 820 large private rooms sitting 26 stories high.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Ohio State University's president, Ted Carter, and our CEO of the Wexner Medical Center, Dr. John J. Warner, for making not only my district but central Ohio and this country healthier. As we are in this time in need of better healthcare, I thank them for understanding the healthcare needs of the citizens of the Third Congressional District.
It is, Mr. Speaker, the only IV maternity care hospital in central Ohio. It includes 16 labor and delivery rooms and 51 NICU rooms. It is in partnership with Nationwide Children's Hospital. We salute Columbus because it is stronger and healthier because of this investment.
Mr. Speaker, like many Americans, I caught a little of the TV over the weekend, which was dominated by the tragic events in Minneapolis.
However, there is one thing I felt had to be commented on because I think there is a lot of confusion as to who we should be removing in this country.
Right now in America, we have no shortage of people who are here from other countries. We are at an all-time high, even greater than the 1890s or 2010s in the number of people in this country who were not born here. That is over 15 percent. We are naturalizing about 850,000 people a year.
Nevertheless, there are Congressmen who keep getting confused and think the only people that should be removed from this country after Joe Biden left about 10 million people in the country illegally are people who committed serious crimes. That is ridiculous. Of the 10 million people that Joe Biden let in or 8 million people, whatever, obviously it is up to ICE to remove as many as possible and get back to historical norms.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in defense of communities across America terrorized by the dangerous, rogue, and violent actions perpetrated by ICE agents.
Millions have seen the videos of ICE shooting and killing Renee Good, a poet and mother who was unarmed and trying to drive away.
Following her tragic death at the hands of law enforcement, Republicans rushed to deny the truth and smear the victim, a playbook that has been employed frequently, especially against the Black community.
Now, the White House is claiming ICE agents have immunity from lawsuits. Enough.
That is why I will reintroduce my bill to end qualified immunity to hold Federal agents accountable for breaking the law and killing our neighbors.
This bill is for Renee Good and so many others, like Keith Porter, a proud girl dad who was killed by an ICE agent in Los Angeles. This bill is also for Nenko Gantchev from Chicago, who died in ICE custody after living in the United States for 30 years.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is for every person in America, citizen or not, to know that when ICE agents break the law, they should be held accountable. For the families of these victims, Congress must end qualified immunity.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to uplift the inspiring and persevering spirit of our Nation's people, embodied in an extraordinary young American, U.S. Olympic figure skater Maxim Naumov.
Despite having endured unspeakable loss, the tragic American Airlines crash over Arlington, Virginia, in January of last year that claimed the lives of both his parents, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, Maxim stepped onto the ice this past weekend with courage, composure, and grace under pressure.
At the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, he delivered a powerful short program for 85.72 points, fourth place, and a spot on the U.S. Olympic team. He then spoke with humility and love, paying tribute to his beloved parents who shaped his life.
President John F. Kennedy defined true grit as courage, grace under pressure, perseverance in the face of adversity. Maxim personifies that ideal. He teaches us that determination can rise even from the deepest loss and that discipline and artistry can become a language of hope.
Bravo, Maxim.
Maxim's dedication as a genuine athletic ice artist inspires every young American to a higher purpose. May he stay the course. He makes America proud for his generation.
Onward, Maxim. Onward, America.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record the article titled: ``Maxim Naumov Credits His Parents, Who Died in DC Plane Crash, For making U.S. Olympic Team: `We Did It Together.'''
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from Ohio?
There was no objection.
Maxim Naumov Credits his Parents, Who Died in DC Plane Crash, for
Mr. Speaker, the American people want to know why the President of the United States and the Department of Justice are going after the Chairman of the Federal Reserve before they go after coconspirators in the Epstein case.
Mr. Speaker, the American people want to know why Donald Trump is using their taxpayer dollars to invade foreign countries and threaten our allies, but claims to not have enough money to fund American healthcare.
Mr. Speaker, the American people want to know why the President and Vice President are giving cover for lawless shootings by Federal agents while using political excuses to withhold funding for our communities, for public safety, housing, childcare, and food.
Mr. Speaker, the American people didn't ask for this. They asked for safe communities to ensure they can live their lives with dignity and opportunity and to leave a country their children can be proud of.
Mr. Speaker, this is not that. We will continue to fight and hold this President accountable.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today with grave concern over President Trump's vicious attacks on Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.
I know Jerome Powell. He is a man of integrity. More importantly, he is an honorable and faithful public servant with extreme knowledge and expertise of our financial ecosystem.
The President's effort to criminally target him with baseless accusations is an unprecedented assault on our democracy and the independence of the Federal Reserve.
An independent Federal Reserve is essential to America's economic stability, market confidence, and fairness to working families. The Federal Reserve is nonpartisan for a reason. It is guided by evidence, data, and duty. It does not cater to the whims of a President interested in his own political and personal fortune.
If the Federal Reserve loses its independence, the consequences will be felt on an international stage, undermining global confidence in our economy, destabilizing financial markets, and risking economic chaos worldwide.
The threat against Jay Powell is part of a growing and dangerous pattern. We must stand with Jay Powell and defend those independent agencies that underpin our economic resilience and national security.
Mr. Speaker, eastern North Carolina residents deserve access to clean drinking water and safe neighborhoods. We understand that aging water infrastructure, prone to leaks and contamination, and law enforcement agencies lacking the tools they need to be successful, directly impact the well-being of our communities.
Working with local officials, we have prioritized these issues. I am glad to share that over $5 million is being directed to eastern North Carolina communities for upgrading water infrastructure. Funds will also be used to purchase safety gear to better protect our law enforcement officers.
There is so much work to be done, and we plan to continue working with our local communities. By investing strategically in vital infrastructure and public safety, we are supporting eastern North Carolina's communities and economy for decades to come.
Mr. Speaker, the last time Donald Trump visited Detroit, he insulted our city, saying the whole country would end up like Detroit if Kamala Harris was elected. Mr. Trump promised to bring manufacturing jobs and economic success.
For the last 8 months, we have lost 68,000 jobs. Unemployment has hit a 4-year high. His tariffs have hurt Detroit's auto industry.
Mr. Speaker, Detroit does not need any more of Donald Trump's lies and insults. Detroit needs affordable housing, not Trump's insults. Detroit needs skilled jobs, not Trump's insults.
Mr. Speaker, I am fighting for Detroit, fighting to bring costs down, and make life more affordable for all.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President.
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 topic of this Special Order into the Record.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Arkansas?
Mr. Speaker, it is particularly important with this Special Order to clear the air. Americans deserve no less than to understand the truth of what just transpired in Venezuela.
Nicolas Maduro has been removed as the reigning despot, narcoterrorist, and illegitimate President of Venezuela. This fact is a momentous and great thing, pure and simple.
Notwithstanding what you might have heard from many Democrats when President Trump's successfully ordered Maduro's arrest and exfiltration, the realization on the part of the world, especially Venezuelans, that Maduro's sword of repression has come to an end resulted in praise and thanksgiving. This mission clearly showed America's full force and capability to instigate good in the world and battle the forces of evil.
Americans woke up on January 3, 2026, to news that our truly courageous and skillful intelligence community, law enforcement, and military had executed a mission that is simply unbelievable if we had not heard about the exploits soon thereafter.
What an unprecedented risk our men and women took on that day to do what no other political administration in the world had ever contemplated as remotely possible: to remove and exfiltrate for prosecution a ruthless dictator whose direct involvement in narcoterrorism has led to the death of scores of Americans and other allies' citizens.
Please don't take my word for the nature of Maduro's reign over Venezuela. My Democrat colleagues have for years been raising the alarm of Maduro's destruction through a multitude of legislative measures. Just a small subset of this Democrat-led legislation is cited in a House resolution--H. Res. 987--we have introduced today.
Examples include H.R. 328, a Democratic-sponsored bill that excoriates the Maduro regime which ``has refused to respect the overwhelming choice of
Mr. Speaker, consider H. Res. 1471 of the 118th Congress, another Democratic-sponsored piece of legislation that stresses ``Venezuela, where actors linked to the regime of Nicolas Maduro have engaged in a sustained and synchronized campaign of disinformation to undermine the country's 2023-2024 electoral process, invalidate the results of such elections, and attack Maria Corina Machado and other opposition leaders.''
Mr. Speaker, pointing to the threat closer to home, Democratic- sponsored H.R. 8741 of the 118th Congress defined Maduro as a person of concern who is engaged in a ``long-term pattern or serious instances of activity adverse to the national security of the United States, the security of critical infrastructure of the United States, or the safety and security of United States persons.''
Mr. Speaker, contemplate Democratic-sponsored H.R. 5670 of the 118th Congress that succinctly called for ``an end to the usurpation of Presidential authorities by Nicolas Maduro.''
Yet, despite this forgoing string of legislation sponsored by my friends on the other side of the aisle pointing to Maduro's reign of terror, sadly, President Trump's decisive actions to do something about it all seems to have caused a reversal in sentiment among Democrats. Rather than expressing unity during a time when the Western Hemisphere has been freed from a despot's clutch, instead, Democrats have called the Trump administration ``warmongers'' who are ``lying to the American people,'' or referring to the President himself as having put us in a ``fascist cul-de-sac,'' having committed ``an impeachable offense.''
Do these comments from Democrats sound supportive of the Trump administration or the fine men and women who successfully conducted one of the most daring operations in American history? Not to me. Not to any American who reads or hears them.
Instead, they seem to revel in demeaning a President whose administration just accomplished what the Democrats have never been able to do; that is, executing Maduro's demise.
Despite a long, laundry list of Democratic bills and resolutions seemingly hoping for Maduro's eventual removal, Democrats now choose to attack those who were able to make reality their previously voiced ambitions. Yet merely because it was the Trump administration which graciously performed the seemingly impossible, these Democrats now oppose one of America's greatest hours.
To this end, we introduced a resolution today to make clear that the House of Representatives is supportive of the efforts of our brave patriots who deftly brought an end to Maduro's terrorization of not only the good people of Venezuela but also those Americans and others who have experienced Maduro's drug-laden terrorism.
This Special Order and the related House resolution clarify one thing: America is grateful for this administration's efforts to rid the world of a freedom-killing, murderous dictator. We are all better for it.
Mr. Speaker, I now recognize my friend, vice chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Kelly).
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.
Mr. Speaker, America is safer today. A narcoterrorist and an illegitimate government leader, Nicolas Maduro, is removed from office and is awaiting trial in the United States of America.
One of the clearest responsibilities of the President is ensuring that those who endanger American lives are brought to face justice. He did just that.
When Nicolas Maduro continued to operate with impunity, President Trump made the decision to enforce United States law and protect our national security interests.
Nicolas Maduro was not a legitimate leader. He was an indicted narcoterrorist who helped turn Venezuela into a hub for drug trafficking, corruption, and foreign influence that directly threatened the United States and our allies. For a year, there was bipartisan agreement on this fact. The difference is President Trump acted.
As Secretary of State Marco Rubio made clear, this was a limited law enforcement action carried out with precision to enforce U.S. laws and protect our homeland.
The message is clear: The Western Hemisphere is our home. It cannot and will not become a safe haven for drug cartels, Iranian proxies, or hostile actors who seek to undermine our security and poison our communities.
This action made clear that the United States is serious about defending our national interests and holding criminals accountable, not through rhetoric but through results.
I express my deep gratitude to the law enforcement officers, servicemembers, and intelligence professionals who carried out this operation. Their discipline and professionalism reflect the highest standards of our Nation.
I thank President Trump for his actions. He did not escalate a conflict. He enforced the law.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Mississippi for his remarks.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. LaHood), the distinguished chairman of the National Security Agency and Cyber Subcommittee on the House Intelligence Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Chairman for having this Special Order here tonight and also for the introduction of the special resolution that lays out the justification and why we took out Nicolas Maduro.
Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight in strong support of the capture of Nicolas Maduro. Nicolas Maduro and his corrupt inner circle have been U.S. law enforcement targets for over 15 years with multiple agencies, including the U.S. Department of Justice, the DEA, and the FBI, working toward his arrest and his prosecution.
In 2020, under the first Trump administration, the United States unsealed a superseding indictment out of the Southern District of New York against Maduro and more than a dozen of his associates, along with offering a $15 million reward for his capture.
The 2020 indictment described how Maduro and his top lieutenants served as leaders of the Cartel de los Soles for over two decades and partnered with known designated foreign terrorist organizations to move, at the time, over 250 tons of cocaine through Venezuela--cocaine that was cultivated, manufactured, and moved through Venezuela.
Then, fast-forward to January 2025. The Biden administration and the Biden Department of Justice, at the time relying on the same indictment from the Trump administration, increased the bounty and reward for Maduro to $25 million. That is the same reward offered for information leading to Osama bin Laden's capture.
Under the second Trump administration, last month, a superseding indictment was unsealed with updated estimates of cocaine smuggling linked to Maduro, now exceeding thousands of tons.
The new indictment highlights other criminal activity directly tied to Maduro, including providing fake travel documents to facilitate drug smuggling under the guise of diplomatic cover and partnerships with the Sinaloa Cartel boss El Chapo.
The bottom line is that Maduro is a thug. He is a dictator. He is an international criminal. That was recognized by the Biden administration and obviously the Trump administration.
The Department of Justice was in charge of this mission. It was their mission, and there were a lot of details that came out after the execution of this mission.
Yet one thing that didn't get covered enough was that there were lawyers who immediately met Maduro when he was brought into United States' custody. He was read his rights. He was given the opportunity to read the indictment before he was brought to the Southern District of New York.
Narcoterrorism is a serious, serious charge. If you look at the allegations in there, Maduro and his associates essentially flooded the United States with thousands and thousands of tons of cocaine.
The other thing that doesn't get mentioned enough is the fact that our adversaries--Iran, China, and Russia--
I give a lot of credit to the Trump team: Secretary Rubio, Director Ratcliffe, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, General Caine, and obviously President Trump. None of this would have happened without that team that was in place.
Venezuela is going to be a better place without Maduro. The region is going to be better off, and the world will be a better place.
The reality is that Maduro's capture and prosecution will save American lives, and I commend the Trump administration for taking this decisive action.
There are additional targets of Maduro's criminal enterprise who remain at large and now know that the United States will no longer tolerate or turn a blind eye to the transshipment of their cocaine and other drugs across our borders.
I thank Chairman Crawford, and I thank the members of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence for being here tonight and look forward to continuing to work with the Trump administration to make the Western Hemisphere a safer place.
Mr. Speaker, I recognize the gentleman from Arkansas, Mr. Hill, my colleague and the distinguished member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, as well as the chairman of the Committee on Financial Services.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand on the floor with my colleague from Arkansas, our distinguished chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and our colleagues to give the American people some perspective on the important action that President Trump has taken that reasserts America's leadership in the Western Hemisphere, counters our rivals for that Western Hemisphere influence, Russia, Iran, China, and keep America safer by taking this action.
The communist, authoritarian government in Caracas has long been an adversary of the United States.
In the early 2000s, our relationship with Venezuela was strained when they named strongman Hugo Chavez as their leader. Maduro was a leader in the Chavez government, Mr. Speaker, and was a full partner in the anti-American policies and the growing partnership with Cuba, China, and Russia.
In 2013, Maduro became the president of Venezuela after Chavez' death. He continued those communist partnerships, compounded the anti- American rhetoric and strategy by adding the goal of becoming a narcostate.
From 2014 to 2015, the United States began to sanction Venezuelan officials for drug trafficking.
In 2017, the United States escalated sanctions against the Maduro government for its links to the illicit drug trade.
In 2019, the United States no longer recognized Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate president. As a result, the United States officially cut diplomatic ties with the Maduro regime.
In 2020, the Department of Justice charged Maduro with narcoterrorism, and the United States offered a $15 million reward for his capture.
In 2024, in my view, Mr. Speaker, was the last straw when Maduro lost the national election and annulled the results.
He simply is a cheap, drug-dealing, election fraudster.
Don't take Republicans on this side of the aisle's word for it, Mr. Speaker. The European Union, the United States Government under the Biden and the Trump administrations, the Organization of American States, his neighbors, they all agree Maduro stole the election in 2024 and compounded it by annulling the results.
The regime was one long string of repression and human rights abuses. Over 8 million Venezuelans have fled Venezuela, their home country, because of Maduro.
Republicans and Democrats have acknowledged that Maduro has been a national security threat to the United States, and that is why I have to call out the hypocrisy that I have witnessed in recent days from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle.
The Western Hemisphere is America's backyard. It is also why I am pleased that the recently released National Security Strategy reasserts the Monroe Doctrine with current American security interests.
Under the National Security Strategy, the United States will enlist allies in the Western Hemisphere to partner in controlling migration, halting drug trafficking, and mutually strengthening stability and security.
Also, under the Trump National Security Strategy, the United States will expand our goals and partners in the Western Hemisphere by bringing in new countries, building new relationships, bolstering America as the top choice as a security and an economic partner.
The strength of the Trump administration, combined with the exceptional execution by our law enforcement and military operators, showcases, Mr. Speaker, how serious the United States is to keep our country safe, keep our people safe, keep our streets safe, and secure our allied economic and security interests from the tip of Argentina and Chile to Canada.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend from Arkansas for his leadership.
Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to recognize the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Austin Scott, my good friend and a distinguished member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and chairman of the Subcommittee on the National Intelligence Enterprise.
Mr. Speaker, I have, as other Members, gotten a number of calls over the last couple of days about whether or not I think the President did the right thing or not. I will read this to you: ``. . . President of the United States of America, find that the situation in Venezuela, including the government of Venezuela's erosion of human rights guarantees, persecution of political opponents, curtailment of press freedoms, use of violence and human rights violations and abuses in response to antigovernment protests, and arbitrary arrest and detention of antigovernment protestors, as well as the exacerbating presence of significant public corruption, constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States. . . .''
Now, what I want you to know is that wasn't Donald Trump that wrote that. That was Barack Obama that wrote that. If President Obama or President Biden had taken the same actions to remove Maduro from power and help not just the United States but the Western Hemisphere and the world as a whole, I can honestly tell you that Republicans would have applauded those actions. Because it was President Trump and the Trump derangement syndrome and the hatred that Democrats have for him, he has been attacked for it.
Remember this: President Trump did put a bounty on Maduro, but it was President Biden that raised the bounty to $25 million in January of this year.
Chuck Schumer in 2020 attacked: ``And the President brags about his Venezuela policy. Give us a break. He hasn't brought an end to the Maduro regime. The Maduro regime is more powerful today and more entrenched than it was when the President began.''
That was Chuck Schumer in 2020.
What is Chuck Schumer saying today? ``This is reckless. And the American people are just, this morning, in fear of what is going to happen here.''
Let me tell you something. The world is a safer place because of what Donald Trump ordered and what our military carried out this past week. The Western Hemisphere cannot be a safe space for China, Russia, Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, or the other terrorists that were being given safe haven in Venezuela.
Speaker Pelosi in 2019 ended her round table comments with a resounding: ``It is clear Maduro must go, the sooner the better.''
Madam Speaker, you should congratulate President Trump. Instead, what did she say: ``Venezuela is ruled by an illegitimate regime, but the administration has not made the case
Mr. Speaker, I am thankful that we have a President in the White House with the guts to get it done, who has helped us build a military with the capability to get it done. It was one of the most impressive military operations that I think the world has ever witnessed. Those men and women, whether they were on the ground, in the air, or supporting that mission, deserve commendations, not criticism, as does the President of the United States, Donald Trump.
Mr. Speaker, I am now pleased to recognize my good friend from Florida, Greg Steube, also a member and colleague on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Trump administration's actions in capturing Nicolas Maduro.
Over the past week, Democrats have claimed that Maduro's capture was unconstitutional, illegal, and violated international norms. Democrats argue that Congress must declare war or give explicit authorization before the President can act.
Article II is clear. The President is the Commander in Chief, and the Constitution has never required a declaration of war for every use of force, national security or law enforcement operation against criminal actors who threaten the United States.
President Clinton acted in Kosovo. President Obama acted in Libya. President Biden even ordered strikes against terrorist leaders. In none of those cases did Democrats suddenly discover a constitutional crisis.
The War Powers Resolution recognizes that the President may act first and notify Congress afterwards. There is no legal requirement that Congress be notified before the President takes action. That framework has governed American foreign policy for more than 50 years.
Maduro is not a legitimate head of state. He is a criminal defendant under United States law who was charged and indicted in 2020 by the Department of Justice for drug trafficking and other related crimes.
There is legal precedent directly on point. All of these arguments made by the Democrats that it is illegal should look no further than President Bush's capture of Manuel Noriega in Panama in 1989. Like the Maduro operation, the Panama invasion occurred without congressional authorization.
Like Noriega, Maduro faces Federal drug trafficking charges. Like Noriega, he was captured through military operations conducted without congressional authorization. Like Noriega, he will surely argue head of state immunity and unlawful seizure. However, just like the court found in Noriega's case, he will be prosecuted for his crimes, and the actions that led to his seizure are legally sound, as they follow a 36- year-old template validated by Federal courts.
Mr. Speaker, to the Americans whose communities have been devastated by drugs, to the families who have lost loved ones, and to the people of our hemisphere who have suffered under his criminal regime, this action sends a clear message: Narcoterrorist dictators are not immune from consequences, and the United States will not stand by while our citizens continue to be poisoned and murdered by the Maduro regime.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend President Donald J. Trump for his decisive leadership that restored American strength, put our security first, and reasserted the rule of law on behalf of the American people in our hemisphere.
For years, Venezuela, under Nicolas Maduro, was not a legitimate government. It functioned as a criminal enterprise, enriching corrupt elites, fueling narcoterrorist networks, and exporting disorder throughout the Western Hemisphere.
That criminal activity did not stop at Venezuela's borders. It strengthened cartels, expanded drug trafficking routes, and contributed directly to the fentanyl crisis that is devastating working families across the United States, including in my home State of New York.
Under President Trump, that era of weakness is over. Criminals no longer get a free pass.
Through Operation Absolute Resolve, U.S. forces and law enforcement partners successfully captured Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, both tied to narcotics trafficking, in a carefully planned, coordinated operation, carried out with precision and without a single U.S. casualty.
This is what peace through strength looks like. This was a lawful action. This was an act of justice against an indicted narcotrafficker who believed he could evade accountability while ordinary people paid the price. President Trump proved him wrong.
This operation also demonstrated what strong leadership looks like. Our military, intelligence community, and law enforcement agencies worked seamlessly together, drawing on decades of experience, to deliver accountability.
The administration did not stop there. By cracking down on sanctioned oil shipments and seizing illicit tankers operating in violation of U.S. law, President Trump sent a clear message: Sanctions will be enforced. Criminal profits will be cut off. Rigged systems will be dismantled. When you stop the money, you choke off the trafficking.
Predictably, Democrats have reacted with hysteria, due largely to their acute Trump derangement syndrome and insistence on an America last policy. This is reminiscent of the policies of the Biden administration.
Democrats would rather see America cower to our adversaries than stand up for our people and enforce the Monroe Doctrine, or what we now refer to as the Donroe doctrine. Appeasement never results in effective deterrence.
Democrats' fecklessness has empowered dictators, emboldened traffickers, and left Americans less safe. Peace through strength works, and strong leadership matters.
The mission is stability in the Western Hemisphere and a secure transition in Venezuela that prevents criminals and adversaries from filling a dangerous vacuum. President Trump will continue to lead with strength, accountability, and resolve.
Mr. Speaker, this operation stands for a simple principle: Stand with the rule of law, cut off the money supply, stop the trafficking, always put America first, and the American people will win.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New York for those outstanding comments.
Mr. Speaker, I take no pleasure in highlighting the hypocrisy of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle. In fact, I wish we all could speak with one voice on this issue. It should never be partisan or controversial to praise the arrest of a man like Nicolas Maduro.
Make no mistake about it, Nicolas Maduro is a murderer, an autocrat, a narcoterrorist, and a thug who has oppressed his people, stolen elections, and turned a once prosperous and free country into a desperate nation that millions have fled. We should all be celebrating the actions of the Trump administration in attempting to bring him to justice.
Sadly, as we have shown today, many of my Democrat friends who were once on the right side of this issue have changed their minds simply because Nicolas Maduro's arrest was orchestrated by someone they don't like, President Trump.
Instead of celebrating the administration of justice by an impartial U.S. court, they bemoan it. They call it unconstitutional, illegal, impeachable, and fascist. They insinuate that our government is somehow no better than Maduro's Socialist and murderous regime. That is just nonsense. In fact, it is embarrassing for those Members.
I respect my colleagues, both Democrat and Republican, who have long opposed the Maduro regime and the Chavez regime before it, people like Representatives Salazar and Gimenez, who represent thousands of Venezuelan Americans whose families or themselves have experienced the terror of
I also thank the many nameless, faceless Americans who planned and executed this daring and successful arrest. The public will never know their names or see their faces. Americans who have suffered from drug overdoses in their families brought on by illegal narcotics trafficked to the U.S. by Maduro and his cronies will never get to thank those individuals. I thank them, and I want them to know that they are being prayed for and thanked for all that they have done.
Bringing a man like Nicolas Maduro to justice won't bring back the millions of Americans we have lost to drugs or the countless numbers of Venezuelans who have been political victims of the regime, but it is a start.
Mr. Speaker, justice is worth fighting for. A Western Hemisphere free from drug trafficking and gangs, supported and run by illegitimate autocrats, is worth fighting for. Standing behind our principles, even when it is politically inconvenient, is a posture worth fighting for.
Mr. Speaker, as I close tonight, I remind the American people that this administration's law enforcement actions to bring Maduro to justice have received the full support of Republicans in Congress. I hope my Democratic colleagues, who were once in favor of such actions, will be able to put aside their animus toward the President and embrace new possibilities for the people of Venezuela.
Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.
The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 8 o'clock and 7 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Tuesday, January 13, 2026, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.
