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11Oath of Office Members, Resident Commissioner, and Delegates
12Congressional Earmarks, Limited Tax Benefits, or Limited Tariff Benefits
Daily Digest
Public Bills and Resolutions Introduced
18 public bills, H.R. 7305- 7322; and 6 resolutions, H.J. Res. 147-148; H. Con. Res. 72; and H. Res. 1029-1031, were introduced.
Pages H1948-49
Reports Filed
Reports were filed today as follows: H.R. 6536, to require the Federal banking agencies to study improving the growth, capital adequacy, and profitability of rural depository institutions, and for other purposes, with an amendment (H. Rept. 119- 473); H.R. 6547, to amend the Federal Deposit Insurance Act to provide an exception to the least-cost resolution requirement, and for other purposes, with an amendment (H. Rept. 119-474); H.R. 6556, to prohibit the use of certain concentration limit exceptions with respect to mergers involving a failed bank unless the applicable agency determines such use is necessary to prevent significant economic disruption or significant adverse effects on financial stability, and for other purposes, with an amendment (H. Rept. 119-475); H.R. 4242, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to modernize the National Firearms Act to account for advancements in technology and less-than-lethal weapons, and for other purposes, with an amendment (H. Rept. 119-476); and H.R. 2072, to require the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to extend the time period during which licensees are required to commence construction of certain hydropower projects (H. Rept. 119-477).
Pages H1947-48
Speaker
Read a letter from the Speaker wherein he appointed Representative Taylor to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.
Page H1925
Recess
The House recessed at 9:03 a.m. and reconvened at 4:30 p.m.
Page H1925
Committee Resignation
Read a letter from Representative Conaway wherein he resigned from the Committee on Small Business.
Page H1935
National Council on Disability: Appointment
The Chair announced the Speaker's appointment of the following individual on the part of the House to the National Council on Disability: Mr. Brian Patchett of Bossier City, Louisiana.
Page H1935
Recess
The House recessed at 5:37 p.m. and reconvened at 6:30 p.m.
Pages H1935-36
Suspensions
The House agreed to suspend the rules and pass the following measures: Medal of Sacrifice Act: H.R. 3497, amended, to establish a medal of service for law enforcement officers and first responders;
Pages H1925-27
Amending title 36, United States Code, to move the place of incorporation and domicile of the National Woman's Relief Corps to Illinois, to move the principal office of such Corps to Murphysboro, Illinois: H.R. 988, to amend title 36, United States Code, to move the place of incorporation and domicile of the National Woman's Relief Corps to Illinois, to move the principal office of such Corps to Murphysboro, Illinois;
Pages H1927-29
Veterans Readiness and Employment Improvement Act
H.R. 980, amended, to amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements to the provision of on-campus educational and vocational counseling by the Department of Veterans Affairs, by a \2/3\ yea-and-nay vote of 402 yeas to 2 nays, Roll No. 49;
Pages H1929-30, H1936
Ernest Peltz Accrued Veterans Benefits Act
H.R. 3123, amended, To amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements to laws relating to the payment of certain benefits administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs that are affected by death, by a \2/3\ yea-and-nay vote of 405 yeas with one voting ``nay'', Roll No. 50;
Pages H1930-32, H1937-38
Amending title 38, United States Code, to establish qualifications for the appointment of a person as a marriage and family therapist, qualified to provide clinical supervision, in the Veterans Health Administration: H.R. 658, amended, to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish qualifications for the appointment of a person as a marriage and family therapist, qualified to provide clinical supervision, in the Veterans Health Administration; and
Pages H1932-33
Veterans Education and Technical Skills Opportunity Act
H.R. 1458, amended, to amend title 38, United States Code, to modify the criteria for approval of certain independent study programs for purposes of the educational assistance programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Pages H1933-35
Oath of Office: Eighteenth Congressional District of Texas
Representative-elect Christian Dashaun Menefee presented himself in the well of the House and was administered the Oath of Office by the Speaker. Earlier, the Clerk of the House transmitted a copy of a letter received from Ms. Christina Adkins, Director of Elections, with the Texas Office of the Secretary of State, indicating that, at the Special Election held on January 31, 2026, the Honorable Christian Dashaun Menefee was elected Representative to Congress for the Eighteenth Congressional District of Texas.
Pages H1936-37, H1947
Whole Number of the House
The Speaker announced to the House that, in light of the administration of the oath to the gentleman from Texas, the whole number of the House is 432.
Page H1937
Meeting Hour
Agreed by unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 10 a.m. tomorrow, February 3rd.
Page H1938
Senate Referrals
S. 3705 was held at the desk. S. 282 was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources.
Pages H1925, H1947
Senate Message
Message from the Senate received by the Clerk and subsequently presented to the House today appears on page H1925. Quorum Calls--Votes: Two yea-and-nay votes developed during the proceedings of today and appear on pages H1936 and H1937. Adjournment: The House met at 9 a.m. and adjourned at 8:51 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: 98 of 145 spoken turns were found. Turns without a time are still listed; they just can't seek.
Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3497) to establish a medal of service for law enforcement officers and first responders, 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 Ohio (Mr. Jordan) and the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Scanlon) 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 include extraneous material on the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Ohio?
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3497, the Medal of Sacrifice Act of 2025, honors law enforcement officers and other first responders who are killed in the line of duty. This bill authorizes the President to award a medal to those law enforcement officers and first responders.
Law enforcement officers and other first responders courageously face danger to protect American communities. While others may flee, law enforcement and first responders run toward crises.
Law enforcement officers uphold public safety by enforcing laws and maintaining order. First responders save lives during emergencies despite the risks to their own safety. These brave men and women provide essential help in times of need, embodying sacrifice for the greater good. Some law enforcement and first responders make the ultimate sacrifice in serving their communities.
In 2024, the FBI reported that 64 law enforcement personnel were murdered while on duty. That same year, another 56 law enforcement officers died because of traffic-related incidents.
The National Fire Protection Association reported that there were 62 fatalities from injuries to firefighters in the United States in 2024.
The medal of sacrifice will honor these brave men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving their communities.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3497, the Medal of Sacrifice Act.
Every year, over 100 sworn law enforcement officers and over 100 firefighters die while on duty or from hazardous conditions related to their service.
While there are a number of different memorials for them, there is currently no memorial or medal that honors all public safety officers who die in the line of duty.
From 2015 to 2024, the leading causes of death for law enforcement officers were: COVID-19, job-related illness, car accidents, and shootings. These causes are responsible for 94 percent of line of duty law enforcement deaths.
I have had conversations with the families of fallen officers about their pain and struggles. They are why I worked to push forward a bipartisan bill, the Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act, which expands disability benefits for the families of firefighters and other first responders who develop cancer because of their service.
We were able to bring 179 colleagues together on a bipartisan basis to pass this measure, which was signed into law last December, to honor sacrifice not just in remembrance but through tangible support.
In that same spirit, I think we can, and must, come together on a bipartisan basis to do more to keep officers and the communities they serve safe in the first place by: investing in public health, making our roads safer, and combating gun violence so we can keep weapons out of dangerous hands.
Finally, in addition to this recognition, I can't really imagine what is going through the minds of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle when they say they support this bill when Republican leadership in the House still hasn't complied with the 2022 law passed by this body to honor the men and women of the Capitol Police and beyond who protected and defended us and our democracy on January 6, 2021.
It is a stain upon this institution that the plaque dedicated to those officers, to their patriotism and sacrifice, has not yet been installed in the Capitol because this administration and its lapdogs in Congress think they can rewrite history to hide their betrayal and cowardice.
Is it too much for the leadership of this body to have the decency to acknowledge that the Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police, and others saved the lives of Members of Congress on that day at great personal risk to themselves? Is it too much to say thank you?
All that said, I support this bill to award medals of sacrifice to other public safety officers who lose their lives in service to their country and their communities, and I thank them.
Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mast), someone who has certainly sacrificed and served our country and is the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I sincerely thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their work on this piece of legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill, H.R. 3497, the Medal of Sacrifice Act. Its purpose is singular. It is of the highest importance to honor fallen law enforcement officers and first responders.
This bill, this medal, came to be in this way on November 21, 2024, because my community lost three Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputies in one moment: Deputy Ralph ``Butch'' Waller, Deputy Ignacio ``Dan'' Diaz, and Deputy Luis Paez. They were three motorcycle officers, all killed.
At their memorial service to honor them, President Trump, myself, and a few of our friends, Eric and Dan, we were having a conversation that there is no medal which is awarded posthumously to law enforcement officers and first responders killed in the line of duty directly from the Office of President and on behalf of a grateful nation. Out of this horrific tragedy, the medal of sacrifice was born.
Six months later, I had the profound honor of standing alongside President Trump in the Oval Office as he presented the first medals of sacrifice to the families of those three fallen Palm Beach County Sheriff's Deputies that were lost on that day, three lions of our community.
These men gave their lives in service each and every day. In the end, they gave the last breath in their lungs and the last beat of their heart as so many of our law enforcement and first responders across our country do each year.
There is not a recognition that can ever bring them back. There is not an award that could ever repay their sacrifice. What we can do is ensure that their courage and their service and their legacies are recognized by the highest office of our land, the Office of President.
The medal of sacrifice will ensure that when a family member, a spouse, a son, a daughter, or a department, that when they reflect on the end of watch for their friend or their hero or their loved one, they will know that it is the whole of America that remembers with them.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to send a clear message to the families who have given so much, suspend the rules, and pass the Medal of Sacrifice Act.
Mr. Speaker, I endorse the comments of the sponsor of the bill. I totally agree we should be honoring the sacrifice of our public safety officers and it is right that that honoring should start from the top. I could not agree more that the President should be recognizing those public safety officers who have given all for this country, and I would put at the top of that list right now Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood.
Mr. Speaker, I am ready to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 3497, the Medal of Sacrifice Act, which would award medals to honor those who lose their lives while serving as public safety officers. I encourage my colleagues to support it, too.
Mr. Speaker, the Medal of Sacrifice Act of 2025 is a great piece of legislation, and I hope everyone will vote for it.
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 Ohio (Mr. Jordan) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3497, 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. 988) to amend title 36, United States Code, to move the place of incorporation and domicile of the National Woman's Relief Corps to Illinois, to move the principal office of such Corps to Murphysboro, Illinois, 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 Ohio (Mr. Jordan) and the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Scanlon) 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 include extraneous material on H.R. 988.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Ohio?
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 988 amends the congressional charter for the National Woman's Relief Corps.
In 1883, the National Woman's Relief Corps was founded as an auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic. This nonprofit organization was founded to perpetuate the memory of those who sacrificed much, and sometimes all, in the American Civil War. Today, the National Woman's Relief Corps provides assistance to veterans of all wars and their families.
In 1962, Congress granted the corps a congressional charter under title 36 of the U.S. Code. Congressional charters often stipulate an organization's place of incorporation and corporate domicile.
In the case of the National Woman's Relief Corps, their charter requires that the organization be incorporated and domiciled in Washington, D.C. Due to changes in the organization over the years, the corps would like to move its domicile to Illinois, and this bill does just that.
H.R. 988 amends the corps' congressional charter to formally change the organization's place of incorporation and domicile from Washington, D.C., to Illinois. The bill further amends the charter by moving the location of the organization's headquarters to Murphysboro, Illinois.
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 today in support of H.R. 988, a bill to amend the charter of the National Woman's Relief Corps to formally change its principal office from Springfield, Illinois, to Murphysboro, Illinois, where I understand it is already located. It also moves its place of incorporation from Washington, D.C., to Illinois.
The Woman's Relief Corps was formally organized in 1883 to preserve the memory of those who served in the Civil War and provide assistance to veterans, widows, and orphans. The National Woman's Relief Corps, as it is now known, was congressionally chartered on September 7, 1962, and continues to serve all of our veterans and their families.
Congress has incorporated both public and private organizations since 1791. While organizations are free to incorporate under D.C. laws or the laws of any other State, many continue to seek charters from Congress for the related prestige, which can help expand membership and increase funding. More than 90 organizations hold congressional charters, and many of them have principal offices and places of incorporation outside D.C.
Particularly as this administration has slashed programs that serve our veterans, gutted staff at the Veterans Crisis Line and Veterans Health Administration, and made drastic cuts to programs that veterans and their families rely upon, like SNAP and Medicaid, organizations that work to support our veterans, like the National Woman's Relief Corps, are more important than ever.
Ultimately, this bill is a straightforward administrative fix, and I support it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Bost), who has served our country, not in the Civil War but in a number of capacities, and is currently the great chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Jordan for allowing me this time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Woman's Relief Corps, the oldest national women's patriotic organization and the auxiliary to the Grand Army of the Republic, which was our first VSO in the United States.
This organization has a long history of service and patriotism, with strong ties to Illinois and to my hometown, Murphysboro, not Murfreesboro. That is in Tennessee. I am speaking of Murphysboro, M-u- r-p-h-y-s-b-o-r-o. There is only one in this world, and it is Murphysboro.
Murphysboro is also the hometown of former Member of Congress, former U.S. Senator, and Civil War General John A. Logan, who was a strong advocate for our Nation's veterans. He played a key role in establishing Memorial Day as a national holiday in his 11th general order when he was commandant of the Grand Army of the Republic. His legacy of service continues to inspire Americans today.
It is fitting that the Woman's Relief Corps has made its home at the General John A. Logan Museum in Murphysboro, Illinois.
Although the Woman's Relief Corps received its congressional charter many years ago, the charter still lists Washington, D.C., and Springfield as its official location. That is why I introduced legislation to update the charter to recognize Murphysboro, my hometown, as the Woman's Relief Corps' home.
This change reflects where the organization is actually based and honors its close connection to John A. Logan and the southern Illinois communities that support its work. I am proud to support this measure and am grateful for the opportunity to assist an organization that has done so much for veterans and our communities.
The Woman's Relief Corps stands for patriotism, service, and community. By recognizing Murphysboro as its home, we honor its history and support its continued work.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation and in recognizing Murphysboro, Illinois, as the home of the Woman's Relief Corps.
Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office for this bill.
H.R. 988, A BILL TO AMEND TITLE 36, UNITED STATES CODE, TO MOVE THE PLACE OF INCORPORATION AND DOMICILE OF THE NATIONAL WOMAN'S RELIEF CORPS TO ILLINOIS, TO MOVE THE PRINCIPAL OFFICE OF SUCH CORPS TO MURPHYSBORO,
ILLINOIS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AS ORDERED REPORTED BY THE HOUSE
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, the Woman's Relief Corps began as a way for patriotic women to show their continued loyalty to the Union and support Civil War veterans.
More than 140 years later, the organization continues to serve veterans of all wars and endeavors to ``encourage the spread of universal liberty and equal rights of everyone.''
I support the National Woman's Relief Corps' work, and I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 988 is a great bill. I appreciate the sponsor
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 Ohio (Mr. Jordan) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 988.
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. 980) to amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements to the provision of on-campus educational and vocational counseling by the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 Illinois (Mr. Bost) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano) each will control 20 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 980, as amended, offered by my friend and colleague, Representative Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin.
This bill would make improvements to the VA's Veteran Readiness and Employment, or VR&E, program.
Over the last 2 years, my committee has uncovered disastrous wait times, fraud, waste, and abuse in the VA VR&E program. This bill would move the program in the right direction by providing more transparency on these failures.
Mr. Speaker, it is our duty to make sure that veterans who complete this workforce program are earning more and are better off than they were before entering the program.
VR&E currently does not track those results. In fact, the only thing VR&E does track is the 45 percent of veterans who have completed programs and simply reentered them later. There remains continued fraud, waste, and abuse in the VR&E program, and the return on investment for the veterans is unknown.
Mr. Speaker, in fact, it shows me that VR&E needs an overhaul. This bill would reduce the bureaucracy and red tape that the VA has used in the past and would modernize the requirements for the VetSuccess on Campus officers, or VSOCs, by removing the master's degree requirement to a bachelor's degree in the relevant field of study.
This bill would also include increasing oversight and transparency of the VR&E program by implementing a call center specifically for the VR&E program. For VR&E to work well, there must be transparency to veterans who are using the program.
Finally, this bill would also allow veterans in the VR&E program to pursue noncollege degrees, like flight training.
Mr. Speaker, this bill is a step in the right direction of putting veterans first at the VA. I thank my friend and colleague, Representative Van Orden, for sponsoring this bill to improve the VR&E program.
I also thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hamadeh) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Obernolte) for championing the other provisions of this language.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 980, as amended, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my support for H.R. 980, the Veterans Readiness and Employment Improvement Act of 2025, as amended.
Mr. Speaker, this legislation will remove the requirement that Veteran Readiness and Employment, or VR&E, counselors staff the VetSuccess on Campus, or VSOC, program. This change will put counselors back into the severely understaffed VR&E program and will also allow the future expansion of the VSOC program, which has been limited by the availability of VR&E counselors.
Mr. Speaker, many colleges and universities and Members of Congress are asking for VSOC staff on their campuses and in their district because they have seen firsthand the impact a VSOC can have. By expanding who can fill that role, we will give more student veterans access to the program and help enable them to access their earned benefits.
While I do have concerns that section 4 of the bill requires VA to adjudicate extension requests within 30 days without addressing the underlying issue of
Mr. Speaker, I do encourage all of my colleagues to join me in supporting passage of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Van Orden), who is the chief sponsor of the bill.
Mr. VAN ORDEN. Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the Economic Opportunity Subcommittee, it has been a great privilege to get important bills like H.R. 913, the SAFE Veterans Act of 2025, and H.R. 1793, the Veterans Readiness and Employment Transparency Act of 2025, over the finish line.
I thank my friends, the gentleman from California (Mr. Obernolte) and the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Hamadeh), for their work alongside me to modernize the Veteran Readiness and Employment process. I also thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano) and our Democratic colleagues for understanding the importance of this program.
Mr. Speaker, this is a good VA education and job training program. It works, but we have to continue to improve it.
Veterans currently have to wait up to 7 months to complete the VR&E program intake and processing procedures. My bill, H.R. 980, the Veterans Readiness and Employment Improvement Act, would update the requirements for the VA's VetSuccess on Campus officers, or VSOCs, by closing an unnecessary loophole that right now requires a master's degree to qualify for these positions.
By closing this loophole and allowing VSOCs to serve more student veterans on campus by simply requiring a bachelor's degree in the relevant field of study will get these positions filled with solid candidates who are able to serve veterans.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud that our Republican Conference continues to address these issues to cut through the red tape and the bureaucracy of the VA and focus on the veterans themselves and, with that, making the entire government better. Removing the bureaucratic barrier and allowing more veterans to be served on college campuses across the country is in lockstep with that mission.
This bill would also establish a VR&E hotline that would allow veterans to call and receive correct information without having to sit on hold at a call center that may or may not be able to answer their questions.
Student veterans across this country have asked for these improvements, and I am happy to report that we hear our veterans, and we are making the changes that will make their lives better.
There also continues to be a pilot shortage, and this bill would allow veterans to help fill these critical gaps by allowing veterans to use their VR&E benefits to attend flight school.
As a disabled veteran, I am proud to lead this legislation on behalf of our veteran community.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support H.R. 980, as amended.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 980.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman and my friend and colleague from Wisconsin (Mr. Van Orden) for including my bill, H.R. 913, the Streamlining Aviation for Eligible Veterans Act, in the text of this bill.
This bill will make meaningful improvements to the way that the VR&E program serves our disabled veterans, and my section of the bill will enable those veterans to use their VR&E benefits to pursue vocational flight training.
Mr. Speaker, as you know, we have a nationwide pilot shortage, and our veterans make excellent candidates for pilots, having been trained in a highly technical environment and being trained to follow the rules and being able to absorb all of the knowledge necessary to be an exceptional pilot.
Mr. Speaker, there currently are impediments for VR&E benefits being used in vocational flight training. These benefits are intended, as currently written, to be used in programs that are degree granting. As we all know, earning a college degree has nothing to do necessarily with learning how to fly an aircraft.
This bill will improve that section by granting the VA the flexibility to have veterans pursue vocational flight training outside of degree-granting programs.
Mr. Speaker, that will not only incentivize our servicemen and -women to become pilots and to embark on new careers, but it will also help to solve the nationwide pilot shortage in our country. Most importantly, it puts our veterans first.
Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 980.
Mr. Speaker, in closing, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I am glad to see that the House is moving this bill forward today, and I hope for speedy passage through the Senate and to the President to be signed into law.
I look at the many other good bills languishing in committee waiting for us to take them up and move them to the floor like this one. If we are to believe our own rhetoric, it shouldn't matter if a good idea is from a Republican Member or a Democratic Member. If it helps veterans, we should get it done.
I hope to see the chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs move bills other than the ones sponsored by his members expected to be in tight reelection races. I hope he returns to the traditional practice of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs moving both Republican and Democratic bills in great numbers. I see the smile across his nice countenance, which to me is a sign of his assent and his geniality.
I encourage my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 980, the Veterans Readiness and Employment Improvement Act of 2025, as amended, and I encourage my colleagues to vote for it. I hope very much that my chairman will move other bills, as well.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, oh, how I missed my colleagues last week.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, once again, I encourage all Members to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Bost) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 980, 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. 3123) to amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements to laws relating to the payment of certain benefits administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs that are affected by death, 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 Illinois (Mr. Bost) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano) each will control 20 minutes.
Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 3123, as amended.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Illinois?
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3123, as amended, offered by my colleague Representative Elise Stefanik of New York.
This bill would require VA to pay out a due and unpaid pension to a veteran's next of kin in cases where the VA issues a decision granting a claim for a pension to a veteran, but the veteran passed away before VA had issued the first payment.
In the rare circumstances where an elderly veteran dies in the period between their VA pension being approved and receipt of their first payment, a surviving family should be able to rely on those funds as a source of support to honor their veteran's legacy.
Veterans eligible for the VA pension must be at least 65 years old and meet the annual net worth limit.
A great portion of eligible veterans served in the Korean war, Vietnam war, and Gulf war. This legislation would close the loophole and prevent VA bureaucracy from being forced to take back benefits delivered to the veteran who earned it through their service.
Families grieving a veteran's passing should not have to worry that VA will go after them to recover a pension payment.
This legislation would prevent those situations while recognizing our commitment to honor those who have served this country.
Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 3123, as amended, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise to express my support for H.R. 3123, the Ernest Peltz Accrued Veterans Benefits Act, as amended.
It is no secret that our offices get a lot of calls about casework on veterans' benefits. Sometimes these calls are a simple matter of getting people the right point of contact in the right office. Sometimes it is an ask to wake a sleepy bureaucracy to move faster on behalf of a constituent. Sometimes these calls highlight a loophole or a blind spot in the law that has been discovered because deserving beneficiaries have been wronged or overlooked.
It is imperative in those instances that we as Members of Congress work to fix those problems on behalf of those who elected us to this body.
That is the case with the Peltz family. Upon the death of Mr. Ernest Peltz, VA failed to pay the benefits he earned when his death occurred shortly after the benefits were awarded. This resulted in his family having to navigate grief, the cost of his care, and additional challenges posed by the bureaucracy simply because of the timing of his passing.
We have already asked so much of our veterans and their families. It is entirely unconscionable that while in the fog of grief, we ask them to navigate paperwork and uncertainty regarding benefits that were rightly earned just because the day their loved one died doesn't align well with VA's direct deposit schedule.
The Ernest Peltz Accrued Veterans Benefits Act will relieve families of that unnecessary burden during a complicated time. This bill states that if a veteran dies before they are awarded their pension benefit and they pass away before the benefit has been paid out, that the pension benefit is awarded to the veteran's living spouse, living children, dependent parents, or the estate of that veteran.
H.R. 3123 closes an opening that families have unfortunately been slipping through.
We know of one family that this has affected, but we don't know how many other families have been touched by a bureaucratic system that felt cold and uncaring.
I thank Representative Stefanik for her work in addressing this oversight. Much of the work we do on the Committee on Veterans' Affairs is centered on the promises that we make to veterans and their loved ones. This bill is just that, honoring not only a promise to our veterans, but also their families.
This pension benefit is not, nor was it ever, a handout. It was an earned benefit that Mr. Peltz secured through his service in World War II. I will continue to fight until every beneficiary gets the benefits that they earned, no matter how long that takes. We must continue to expand veterans' benefits for all those who have worn the uniform of this Nation.
Madam Speaker, I support this legislation and urge all my colleagues to do the same. I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Bost for yielding me the time.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of my legislation, the Ernest Peltz Accrued Veterans Benefits Act, H.R. 3123. I also thank Ranking Member Takano for his comments and support.
I have represented the Peltz family for well over a decade, and that included Ernest Peltz, a World War II veteran and American hero, who died a few years ago between Christmas and New Year's Day.
At that time, I heard from his son, Charles Peltz, who found himself caught in a maze of bureaucratic VA red tape. Instead of being able to focus on honoring the life and service of his father, the Peltz family was forced to contend with a system that failed the very veteran it was designed to serve.
Hero Ernest Peltz did everything right. He served admirably and honorably in our military. He continued a lifetime of public service. He applied for his accrued veterans pension benefit, and the Department of Veterans Affairs approved it while he was still alive.
I even got a call from his family as Ernest Peltz was on his death bed, that he was asking to make sure the VA benefits would be there. I encouraged them and said that absolutely we would do everything to make that possible. Yet, due to a processing error, the VA did not deposit the funds until after Mr. Peltz' passing. In an even more troubling turn, the VA then clawed those funds back from the Peltz family even though Ernest Peltz was alive at the time that this benefit was approved and fully earned.
As a result, the Peltz family was left to shoulder the financial burden of his father's care on their own, compounding grief with stress, uncertainty, and frustration. In short, the Peltz family was penalized for the VA's mistakes. This is unacceptable.
This is why I have been working for over 2 years to pass the Ernest Peltz Accrued Veterans Benefits Act. We have worked closely with the Peltz family, veterans service organizations, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, including the lead Democrat sponsor, Congressman Ro Khanna, to craft this legislation to correct this moral wrong.
This bill eliminates the burden on a veteran's surviving family by ensuring that the veteran is entitled to receive their pre-approved pension benefits within the month that death occurs.
I represent New York's 21st Congressional District, representing the largest number of veterans in any district in New York State. That is why I am proud to take action to make sure no family mourning the loss of a loved one who is a veteran has to deal with VA red tape and these bureaucratic mistakes.
This commonsense, bipartisan legislation honors the legacy of World War II Veteran Ernest Peltz and takes a critical step toward improving the VA's effectiveness and accountability.
What was amazing about this process, while mourning the loss of their father, Charles Peltz shared with me his priority was making sure that this never happened to another family again. That is why we are working to pass this bill today.
I thank Charles Peltz for his work with my office and with me directly. I am grateful for the bipartisan support, and I urge a ``yes'' to pass it on the floor.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for closing.
I encourage my fellow colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 3123, the Ernest Peltz Accrued Veterans Benefits Act, as amended, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, once again, I encourage all Members to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Bost) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 3123, 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.
Establishment of Qualifications for the Appointment of a Person as a Marriage and Family Therapist, Qualified to Provide Clinical Supervision, in the Veterans Health Administration
Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 658) to amend title 38, United States Code, to establish qualifications for the appointment of a person as a marriage and family therapist, qualified to provide clinical supervision, in the Veterans Health Administration, 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 Illinois (Mr. Bost) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano) each will control 20 minutes.
Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on H.R. 658, as amended.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Illinois?
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 658, as amended. This bill was introduced by my colleague Representative Julia Brownley of California.
Under current law, only one accrediting body has power over who can work as a marriage and family therapist in supervisory roles at the VHA. This is an unnecessary burden. It unnecessarily restricts access to licensed marriage and family therapists who can help veterans grow and maintain healthy familial relationships.
With Representative Brownley's bill, the law would include more eligible licensors to ensure a sufficient pipeline of therapists are able to work at VA and help our Nation's veterans, if they need it.
Madam Speaker, I thank Representative Brownley for her bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 658, legislation introduced by my colleague Representative Julia Brownley of California. This legislation would establish qualifications for the appointment of marriage and family therapists to provide clinical supervision in the Veterans Health Administration.
Licensed marriage and family therapists provide critical therapy and support to address the unique challenges that military veterans and their families face.
Veterans and their families are no strangers to facing life challenges when transitioning from Active Duty, whether that is adjusting to life as a civilian, navigating new family dynamics, or even dealing with medical needs or big moves.
Licensed marriage and family therapists help individuals and couples develop coping strategies and mechanisms to face these challenges head- on, and help ensure those who serve our Nation have the resources they need to support themselves and their families.
Licensed marriage and family therapists have provided care to countless veterans since 2010 when VA first established qualification standards for the profession and began hiring licensed marriage and family therapists.
However, in 2018, the VA amended its qualification standards and created a new requirement that licensed marriage and family therapists who want to serve as supervisors or managers must obtain the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy's ``approved supervisor'' designation.
Currently, the VA does not require licensed professional mental health counselors, social workers, or other mental health providers to obtain a designation from a private organization in order to serve as clinical supervisors.
Additionally, the VA's current qualification standards are not in alignment with State law. All 50 States and the District of Columbia license or certify licensed marriage and family therapists and have requirements for individuals who want to provide clinical supervision. However, only two States, North Carolina and Tennessee, require that clinical supervisors hold a private association's ``approved supervisor'' designation.
The VA's current qualification standards place licensed marriage and family therapists at a disadvantage when it comes to retention and promotion. There are thousands of licensed marriage and family therapists who are
H.R. 658 would help expand veterans' access to mental health care by expanding the pool of eligible licensed marriage and family therapist applicants for both rank and file and supervisory positions.
We must ensure that dedicated mental health professionals are able to fully support our veterans. That is why I support this legislation, and I encourage my colleagues to do the same. I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Brownley), the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Health and the author of this legislation.
Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman and ranking member for bringing my bill forward today.
I rise in support of the bill titled: Establishment of Qualifications for the Appointment of a Person as a Marriage and Family Therapist, Qualified to Provide Clinical Supervision, in the Veterans Health Administration, legislation I have authored, because of the very real stories I have heard from veterans, from their families, and from therapists, not only in my district but across our great country.
Ventura County has a long and proud military history. We are home to Naval Base Ventura County, and more than 40,000 veterans call our community home.
Every day, I see the strength, the resilience, and sacrifice of these families. I also see the challenges they face when their service ends and their transition back to civilian life begins. That transition is not only difficult for many servicemembers. It affects their spouses. It affects their children, and it affects entire families.
Many of these families, rightly so, turn to therapy and counseling for support as they navigate major life changes, trauma, and the stress that can follow after years of service.
Licensed marriage and family therapists are often the professionals helping these veterans and their families. They help couples work through their challenges. They help parents and children communicate. They help veterans develop healthy coping mechanisms and rebuild stability at home.
However, the VA's current promotion rules are discouraging many of these highly trained and qualified therapists from working at VA facilities throughout the country. While VA hires marriage and family therapists who are accredited through different organizations, under current VA regulations, only therapists who graduated from the one specific accreditation pathway are eligible to be promoted into supervisory roles at VA. This is despite the fact that, nationwide, nearly 30 percent of licensed marriage and family therapists did not graduate from that specific accreditation program. In States like New York, Florida, and Ohio, that number is closer to 40 percent. In my home State of California, 95 percent of licensed marriage and family therapists hold licenses from other programs.
Let's be clear: All of these marriage and family therapists are fully licensed in their States where they practice and are fully qualified professionals. Their accreditations are also already recognized by private insurance, TRICARE, and some State Medicaid programs.
However, inside the VA system, they hit a career ceiling, which they cannot fix because this credential cannot be obtained retroactively. What happens? They leave, or they never come to the VA in the first place, and veterans and their families lose access to care or lose the therapists that they have trusted.
I have heard directly from therapists who want to serve veterans but feel pushed away by this outdated rule. I have heard from so many veterans who want to keep their therapist who has helped them and their family through some of the hardest moments of their lives.
This bill is about fixing that. It is about recognizing that these therapists are qualified, capable, and already doing life-changing work for veterans and their families. It is about removing an unnecessary bureaucratic barrier that is shrinking the pool of providers and supervisors at a time when demand for mental health services has never been greater.
More importantly, this bill is about upholding our promise to care for veterans after their service, not just with words, but with access to support their families' needs to stay strong and healthy.
This legislation passed the Veterans' Affairs Committee with strong, bipartisan support.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill today and support our Nation's veterans and their families who depend on this care.
Madam Speaker, I encourage everyone to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Bost) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 658, 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 (H.R. 1458) to amend title 38, United States Code, to modify the criteria for approval of certain independent study programs for purposes of the educational assistance programs of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 Illinois (Mr. Bost) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Takano) each will control 20 minutes.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1458, as amended, offered by my friend and colleague, Representative Juan Ciscomani of Arizona.
This bill would modernize the GI Bill by approving hybrid and online independent study programs to meet veterans' needs. During the COVID pandemic, these institutions offered classes in both online and hybrid settings to stop the spread of COVID. These institutions also received GI Bill funding during that time. Many of these institutions were even told to move their programs to fully remote.
This bill would allow these education programs to receive funding again and get more veterans into successful programs. It is clearer than ever that VA education programs need to meet veterans where they are and not the other way around.
Additionally, this bill would ensure guard and reserves who get called up on orders during a semester can receive a grade. This bill would also give school certifying officials, or SCOs, time to prepare for a required survey to ensure there is no fraud, waste, or abuse at the GI Bill-eligible institution.
Finally, this bill would also allow servicemembers and veterans who paid into the Montgomery GI Bill to receive their $1,200 refund if they chose to fully use their post-9/11 GI Bill.
I am fully supportive of this bill as we must ensure that VA services veterans first.
This bill would not only give freedom of choice for what institution veterans can attend, but when a veteran does go to school, they would receive more protection when they are called up to protect this country.
I thank Representative John James of Michigan and Representative Ronny Jackson of Texas for introducing important provisions to this language, and I thank my friend, Representative Ciscomani, for introducing this bill and continuing to be a champion of improving education opportunities for veterans and their dependents.
My committee will continue to seek ways to level the playing field for veterans seeking education and employment so that every veteran has access to the opportunities that they want, all the while protecting the taxpayers' investment and these programs.
Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support H.R. 1458, as amended, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, I rise to express my qualified support for H.R. 1458, the VETS Opportunity Act of 2025, as amended. I support the improvements made by most of the bill, but I have concerns about some of the provisions within this legislation.
Specifically, I worry that section 3 of the bill, which would authorize the use of post-9/11 GI Bill benefits for independent study programs taught at non-degree-granting, for-profit institutions, might be used by predatory operators to target veterans with subpar programs and rob them of the benefits they have so rightfully earned.
While I believe that student veterans should have the freedom to pursue higher education in the manner that is most effective for them, H.R. 1458 risks unnecessarily exposing student veterans to bad actors and scams. With the U.S. Department of Education's ability to provide oversight in jeopardy, expanding program approvals for new programs now is misguided.
The GI Bill is one of the most important tools we have to support the long-term success and economic mobility of veterans. With that comes a responsibility to ensure that the programs we approve for GI Bill funding are high quality and accountable and lead to meaningful employment.
H.R. 1458, while well intentioned, opens the door for a surge in non- degree-granting, for-profit providers seeking to enroll veterans in high-cost, low-quality programs that, in a troubling number of cases, fail to deliver on their promises.
The lack of minimal quality assurance mechanisms for non-degree programs is what led to congressional action to exclude them from eligibility for the Department of Defense Tuition Assistance Program in 2013.
While I strongly support expanding educational access for our Nation's veterans, H.R. 1458, as it is currently
Madam Speaker, I appreciate the concerns of the minority, and I would like to dispel some misinformation provided by the ranking member.
H.R. 1458 would expand the way in which the GI Bill benefits can be used by veterans, but it would not remove any of the guardrails in place to keep out bad actors. In fact, the bill would require regular and additional interaction between students and instructors, which would add an additional meaningful guardrail for veteran providers.
In the most recent VA ``Annual Benefits Report,'' only 3.5 percent of veterans pursued vocational or technical education, even though skilled trades are among the fastest growing career opportunities in the United States.
This bill would help tackle the current workforce shortage in skills and trades in the U.S. while maintaining the oversight that VA has over bad actors. Now the GI Bill already has limits on tuition payments approval and quality standards to prevent waste, fraud, and abuse in the program.
Often, veterans may need to attend school or training online or hybrid, not due to performance but due to the necessity of taking care of their families or loved ones. This bill would respond to those realities, and I look forward to working with my colleagues in the Senate to get the bill signed into law.
Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Ciscomani), the sponsor of this bill.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1458, the VETS Opportunity Act of 2025, a bill I introduced to modernize veterans' education benefits and align them with today's workforce needs.
As I represent nearly 80,000 veterans in southern Arizona, I know firsthand when servicemembers transition to civilian life, they bring discipline, leadership, and a strong work ethic, but too often the system limits how they can use the benefits that they earned. This bill changes that by modernizing the GI Bill and expanding access to high- quality certificates and technical training programs, possibly offered in a hybrid format, that lead directly to good-paying jobs in high- demand fields.
Not every veteran wants or needs a traditional 4-year degree. Many want fast, skills-based training that connects them to careers in the trades, healthcare, technology, and other critical fields. This bill recognizes reality, and it gives veterans the flexibility to choose the path that works best for them and their families.
Furthermore, this legislation includes clear protections to ensure the program operates efficiently and that veterans' benefits are used responsibly as well. Programs like this one must be accredited, approved by the VA, and provide regular and substantive interaction between instructors and students.
The VETS Opportunity Act is about modernizing our VA benefits and programs to empower veterans, strengthen the workforce, and honor the promise this country made to those who served. By strengthening education benefits, we empower veterans, build a stronger workforce, and drive a stronger economy.
This bill turns service into opportunity and commitment into careers. That is what our veterans deserve, and that is what our communities need.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 1458 and vote ``yes.''
Madam Speaker, before I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina, I do want to point out that the chairman was referring to hybrid programs. Our concern is not about the hybrid programs, but independent study, and that independent study loophole for for-profit, private educational providers may allow for some abuse and targeting of veterans in unintended ways. I do hope that our colleagues in the Senate will give this a second look and possibly return this legislation for final passage here.
Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Davis), my good friend.
Madam Speaker, I thank Chairman Bost and Ranking Member Takano for their leadership.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1458, the VETS Opportunity Act of 2025. As a proud United States Air Force veteran and voice for over 56,000 veterans and their families in North Carolina's First Congressional District, it was an honor to join and work with the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Ciscomani) in introducing this bipartisan legislation.
For too many veterans, the transition from military service to civilian life comes with uncertainty about how to build a new career and support their families. By expanding in-person and hybrid training options for skilled trade programs, we are bridging skills gaps across the country, empowering our veterans, and contributing to our local economies.
Madam Speaker, I believe it is time to equip eastern North Carolina's veterans and beyond with the training and skills they so need. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill.
Madam Speaker, once again, I encourage all Members to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Bost) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1458, as amended.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
Veterans Readiness and Employment Improvement Act of 2025
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. 980) to amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements to the provision of on-campus educational and vocational counseling by the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 Illinois (Mr. Bost) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 402, nays 2, not voting 27, as follows:
Mr. MOULTON changed his vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
So (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
Mr. Speaker, Saturday was a great day for progress in Texas, from Houston to Fort Worth. For almost a year after the tragic death of our late colleague, Sylvester Turner, the citizens of the 18th Congressional District of Texas in Houston have been denied representation in this Congress.
After Governor Abbott delayed the call for the election for almost 8 months and then delayed the runoff election another 3 months, these Texans finally have the representation that they deserve.
At this moment, we remember the life of Sylvester Turner, who honorably served Houstonians for a decade or more as mayor and State representative, and who took over after the passing of our colleague, Sheila Jackson Lee, who we all remember for her tenacity.
This is in a district that was once represented by the legendary Barbara Jordan. This is also a district with a long legacy of fighters, fighters for justice. I am confident that Christian Menefee will carry on that tradition.
He was raised in the 18th Congressional District by two military parents who taught him about the values of hard work, of loyalty, and of standing up for what is right.
With the help of a Pell grant, he was the first member in his family to graduate from college. He graduated from UT San Antonio and then went on to St. Louis to get a law degree from Washington University.
He built a successful career as a commercial litigator in Houston and provided extensive pro bono work there, including his working with immigrant families affected by the Muslim ban. He most recently served as the Harris County attorney, the youngest person and the first African American to ever hold that office.
At this troubling time in our country, please join me in welcoming someone who I know will be a great colleague, carrying out the incomplete term of Mr. Turner in this Congress.
Congratulations, Christian.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Menefee).
Mr. MENEFEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Doggett very much for the incredibly kind introduction.
Good evening, colleagues. ``Colleagues'' is crazy to say.
I want to start by saying a special thank-you to God and to my wife, Kaitlyn, who is here with us today, and to my fantastic team.
It has been more than 330 days since the people of the 18th Congressional District had representation and a voice in Congress. When this body took on important votes about whether to cut SNAP benefits, about whether to make it more difficult to access Medicaid--important issues--this district had no voice in Congress. This one is for the 18th District.
Mr. Speaker, I stand here today understanding that there are very big shoes to fill. This is a district of fighters. This is the district of the legendary Barbara Jordan, who helped overturn a corrupt Presidency. This is the district of Mickey Leland, Craig Washington, and Erica Lee Carter. This is the district, of course, of our two great friends, my mentors, dear friends who we recently lost, the late Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and the late Sylvester Turner.
Many folks in the 18th District are watching. To my district, the commitment they have from me is that I will work as hard as I can to live up to the legacy. I will treat this job with the seriousness that it deserves. I will work full days, and I will fight as hard as I can to advocate for and protect the people of the 18th Congressional District.
The SPEAKER. 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. 3123) to amend title 38, United States Code, to make certain improvements to laws relating to the payment of certain benefits administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs that are affected by death, and for other purposes, as amended, on which the yeas and nays were ordered.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Bost) 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 405, nays 1, not voting 26, as follows:
So (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
Mr. Speaker, I was not present due to unforeseen personal circumstance. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 49 and YEA on Roll Call No. 50.
Mr. Speaker, today I was absent for recorded votes due to travel. Had I been present, I would have voted as follows: YEA on Roll Call No. 49, H.R. 980--Veterans Readiness and Employment Improvement Act of 2025, as amended, and YEA on Roll Call No. 50, H.R. 3123--Ernest Peltz Accrued Veterans Benefits Act, as amended.
Mr. Speaker, on Roll Call No. 49 and No. 50, I am not recorded because I was absent due to delayed travel. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 49 and YEA on Roll Call No. 50.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Angela Emireth Flores, a constituent of mine and an exceptional student.
Angela is a senior at Ocracoke High School and soon will become the first student enrolled through Hyde Academy, where she will graduate from high school with an associate degree from Beaufort County Community College. This incredible program helps students who wish to accelerate their academic careers get a jump start at the college level.
As a surgeon, I am elated to hear that Angela plans on hitting the books hard to become a nurse anesthetist. I love our nurse anesthetists. Eastern North Carolina needs more dedicated and more diligent individuals in medicine.
Serving patients is one of the most rewarding and meaningful career paths one can pursue, and I am glad that Angela is pursuing medicine. As a physician of 35 years, I derived great joy from treating patients and helping them in times of great difficulty. I know she will also.
Mr. Speaker, I congratulate Angela on her remarkable achievement, and a special thanks to her parents for nurturing her in her educational journey. I wish her the best as she furthers her studies.
Mr. Speaker, Congress is deciding whether to fund an agency that has already shown us how it wants to spend taxpayers' money.
When Republicans gave ICE a blank check last year, ICE used it to kill American citizens. ICE now wants 2 more weeks' worth of money, no strings attached, to keep their campaign of terror running smoothly.
Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks? Renee Good and Alex Pretti were murdered just 2 weeks apart. During those 2 weeks, 5-year-old Liam Ramos was used as bait and detained, and three more people died in ICE custody during those same 2 weeks.
Mr. Speaker, I don't want to be back at this podium in 2 weeks with a longer list of names. I urge my colleagues to consider what we are wagering at this point.
Are we going to give ICE 2 more weeks to invade U.S. cities in exchange for a pinky promise that we will talk about reforms? Forgive me if I don't believe that this President is negotiating in good faith. He is not.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize C.J. Jones and Isaac Corcoran of the Ross County Junior Fair Board.
C.J. and Isaac had a desire to help address hunger needs in their community and decided to participate in the Fight the Hunger, Stock the Trailer program, run by Farm Credit Mid-America and Rural 1st.
This program challenges junior fair boards to collect as many pounds of food as possible to donate to local organizations, addressing food insecurity in our communities.
C.J. and Isaac set an ambitious goal of collecting 100,000 pounds of food throughout Ross County. While many questioned whether this goal was achievable, C.J. and Isaac ultimately went above and beyond, leading Ross County to break their previous record of food collected. They collected 122,640 pounds of food last year, which is 92,000 pounds more than what was collected in 2024.
Efforts from youth like C.J. and Isaac will ensure that fewer Buckeyes will go hungry. Their actions show just what can be achieved when Ohioans set their minds to a common goal to look out for the needs of others.
Mr. Speaker, it is Black History Month, and I came to give you hell all month.
This weekend, ICE agents tear-gassed kids. Let me repeat that. ICE agents tear-gassed kids. Protestors from union families in Portland, Oregon, came together to exercise their First Amendment rights. Among the protestors were children, the elderly, even pets, and ICE saw that as enough of a threat to fire rubber bullets, pepper balls, and clouds of tear gas.
I have said it before, and I will say it again: What we are seeing is not law enforcement. It is State-sponsored terror, and this has to stop now.
Mr. Speaker, I am calling on this administration to get out of our city, follow the law, and hold those responsible for this accountable. Enough is enough.
Mr. Speaker, last week, Governor Henry McMaster gave the South Carolina State of the State Address.
I am grateful that under his leadership, the Palmetto State has had another historic year of over $900 billion of investments, creating 8,000 jobs, 100,000 jobs during his record 10 years of service.
Governor McMaster is correct: `` . . . State government is in superior fiscal shape, our laws and policies are business friendly . . . The best is yet to come.''
South Carolina succeeds with Governor McMaster, Republican super majorities in the senate, led by President Tom Alexander, the house by Speaker Murrell Smith, the Republican Congress, and President Trump, all to make America great again.
In conclusion, God bless our troops as the global war on terrorism continues. Trump is reinstituting peace through strength, revealing war Putin criminals lies, insulting Trump, mocking Trump, with Putin destroying Ukrainian utilities to freeze Ukrainians to death just as Stalin starved Ukrainians to death, while a maternity ward is being targeted by war criminal Putin yesterday to kill babies.
Our sympathy for the family of Karen Metz, wife of my chief of staff from South Carolina, Craig Metz; mother of Preston Metz.
Mr. Speaker, Americans expect us to address the alarming behavior of the ICE and CBP agents who have operated beyond acceptable boundaries of law enforcement.
While we must stand with our law enforcement community and enforce our immigration laws, it is crucial that Federal agencies operate within the framework of public trust.
We must uphold the rights of Americans to exercise their First and Second Amendment freedoms, and we also expect our Federal immigration officers to adhere to reasonable standards of conduct without interference.
During Secretary Noem's tenure, trust has eroded. Secretary Noem, who has so far refused to take responsibility, must be held accountable.
Therefore, on the floor of the people's House, I call for the resignation of Secretary Kristi Noem, the public face of Homeland Security.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the late Bill Hembree, a dedicated educator, businessman, and former member of the Georgia House of Representatives from Douglas County.
Mr. Hembree passed away on January 15 of 2026, at the age of 59, after a courageous 8-year battle with cancer.
Today, we recognize his two decades of exemplary public service in the Georgia House from 1992 to 2012, where he represented District 98 and later 67, including the cities of Douglasville and Villa Ricca. Mr. Hembree served his constituents with integrity and with vision.
Additionally, we recognize his tireless advancement of Georgia's higher education system, both as an educator and as a representative. This educational legacy shines through with the Bill Hembree Scholarship, established to honor lifelong compassion, leadership, and dedication to empowering student leaders.
Above all, Bill was a dedicated husband and father, being survived by his wife, Beth, and their three sons.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Lieutenant John Swandrak on 30 years of service to the Cranford Police Department and wish Lieutenant Swandrak the best on his retirement.
His decades of service in patrol, community policing, and the detective bureau allowed him to build invaluable relationships and strengthen the bond between the police department and the Cranford community.
That was demonstrated in profound ways, particularly during his son Nicholas' battle with leukemia. Cranford Police Department, Cranford Fire Department, and countless neighbors rallied around the Swandrak family reflecting the same support and compassion he consistently showed others.
Lieutenant Swandrak is foundational to the fabric of Cranford, and he is leaving a legacy of service, fairness, and true community partnership for all of New Jersey to follow.
On behalf of the New Jersey 10th District, I congratulate Lieutenant Swandrak on a job well done.
Mr. Speaker, it is reported that members of the Trump administration have held meetings with representatives of a group from the Province of Alberta that want to break away from Canada and form their own nation.
Why any American government would give aid and comfort to a group that would divide and destabilize an ally and peaceful neighbor like Canada is beyond reality.
Yet, those who speculate we should invade and take Greenland by force are operating with Vladimir Putin's ambition to create some illegal and unholy American empire fueled by ideology to force Canada as well into submission to America.
Making common cause in any way with those who would destroy the Canadian nation reminds me of Germany's efforts to encourage Mexico to attack the United States during World War I.
Do we really think in our competition with China and Russia that alienating Canada and Europe is smart geopolitics? No. It is stupidity, letting arrogance blind us from rational policies. Stop before we do permanent damage too great to fix.
Mr. Speaker, in Springfield, Ohio, families are preparing for the worst kind of ICE storm, a storm fueled by hate and racism, years in the making.
In 2024, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, peddled hateful lies about Haitians in Springfield. Vance even admitted they weren't true. He said: ``If I have to create stories . . . that is what I am going to do.''
Well, those stories dehumanized Haitians who were here legally working and rebuilding a city. Now the Trump administration is turning those lies into policy.
Tomorrow, they plan to revoke TPS, despite Haiti's collapse. Legal status today, illegal status tomorrow. This is the Project 2025 playbook for a morally corrupt mass deportation machine.
For those of us with Black skin, the demonization of Haitian people is something that we see, we hear, and we feel deeply.
This country must do better, and this President must extend TPS status and call off the ICE surge now.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the President and Vice President.
Mr. Speaker, tonight, as I stand here, people across this country are being terrorized by ICE with our tax dollars. Americans do not support this, and I will be their voice tonight on the floor.
They don't want to live in a country in which you can be randomly stopped by a masked man and have him demand from you your papers. They don't want to live in a country where your First, your Second, and your Fourth Amendment rights are being violated. They don't want Americans gunned down because they are standing up for their immigrant neighbors.
Mr. Speaker, we warned Republicans. We told them. We said: If you give a $170 billion blank check to Kristi Noem, you will create a paramilitary force, a lawless force that will brutalize Americans. We warned them, and I am sorry to say that we were right. Our predictions were right, and our worst fears have been realized.
Americans are being traumatized. Immigrants are being brutalized. We have to impeach Kristi Noem. We must dump Stephen Miller, and we have to end this ICE terror and lawlessness.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Black History Month and its 2016 theme, ``A Century of Black History Commemorations.'' I would like to honor retired Army Sergeant 1st Class Oscar Primm, Jr., a 104-year-old veteran from northwest Indiana whose service is an inspiration to us all.
In 1941, Oscar enlisted in the United States Army. Over the course of his heroic military career, he served in World War I, the Korean war, and the Vietnam war.
Today, Oscar is a proud member of the Greater Gary AMVETS Squadron Post 6 where he can frequently be found supporting veterans throughout northwest Indiana as they return home from service.
It is because of the sacrifices of veterans just like Oscar that we are able to live in a free, democratic country.
Mr. Speaker, please join me in celebrating Black History Month and a century of national Black history commemorations by recognizing the selfless service, bravery, and patriotism of retired Army Sergeant 1st Class Oscar Primm, Jr.
Children are not political pawns or political props. Tonight, 5-year- old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father are back in their home in Minnesota after being abducted and taken to detention in Texas, but this never should have happened.
A 5-year-old taken from his home and detained in violation of his basic human and constitutional rights is part of an ill-conceived and incompetently implemented policy of daily deportation quotas that is not just incompetent but inhumane.
This year, 3,800 children have been abducted across the country and detained. It is shameful and an embarrassment to our country. That is why we must act. It is why I will vote ``no'' and not give a single other penny to DHS. It is why we must impeach Kristi Noem. It is time to act. We will not be complicit.
This weekend, President Trump put out a social media post conflating the actions of a small group of people who broke a window, broke a couple of windows, at the Federal building, with the thousands of peaceful protesters that were exercising their constitutional right to fight against fascism, their constitutionally protected right to assemble, to free speech, and stated that he would send in his Federal goons to Eugene.
Let me tell you: Eugene, Oregon, has a long tradition of speaking out, speaking out and showing up for peace. We will continue to do so.
I would ask President Trump, Kristi Noem, and the DOJ to follow their own rules and not use the excuses of a couple of people who did wrong to tear gas and attack peaceful protesters, not in Eugene. We will not back down.
Thank you, President Trump. We don't need Federal help. We have got it. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Mr. Speaker, I rise with an urgent plea for small, family-owned farms, especially across the American heartland and communities I represent. Seven of the eight counties I represent in northwest Ohio are predominantly rural and home to hardworking farmers who produce the nutritious food that feeds and fuels our Nation. They deserve our unwavering support because what America makes and grows makes and grows America.
Yet their work has never been harder. Over the past year, they have endured setback after setback--including during the driest spells we have witnessed in more than a decade--due to tariffs, losing markets all across the world, and we think permanently. The severity of this physical, as well as tariff, drought runs straight through our district.
Our farmers need certainty. We need to pass a farm bill. We don't need recklessly imposed tariffs that break their backs due to lost export markets and then paying Argentina $40 billion for their beef when our cattlemen are going out of business.
Something's wrong here. Farmers are hurting. They need leadership that invests in their success, Mr. Speaker. Don't cut their rural water infrastructure or weaken the science that our farmers depend upon.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include any extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentlewoman from Virginia?
Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise today on the first weekday of Black History Month to anchor the Congressional Black Caucus' commemoration of Black History Month.
Mr. Speaker, 2026 marks a century of public commemorations of Black history, which began in 1926, founded by historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History.
It was originally conceived as a weeklong celebration called Negro History Week, expanded to the full month of February by President Ford in 1976. Why February? To coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.
In his book, ``The Mis-Education of the Negro,'' Woodson wrote: ``Those who have no record of what their forebearers have accomplished lose the inspiration which comes from teaching of biography and history.''
Said another way: If you don't know where you come from and you don't know where you have been, you don't fully understand who and where you are, and you don't know where you are going.
I grew up a student of history. My father would be 101 years old this year. He grew up under the tyranny of Jim Crow in Tennessee and in Alabama. My mother grew up under the tyranny of Jim Crow in Mississippi.
I grew up listening to the stories of what their life was like, when they saw the best of government through the New Deal in the midst of the depression and they saw the worst of government in Jim Crow.
They told stories, particularly on my father's side, of his father and his grandfather. We didn't know who his great-grandfather was because whatever plantation he was born on in Montevallo, Alabama, didn't think him worthy enough to record his name or his birthday.
We were fortunate enough to know who the first James Finnemore McClellan was, also born in Montevallo, but because he died when my grandfather was 10 years old, we know very little about him.
What we do know about him we got from family lore. My step-great- grandfather wrote a book called ``Inching Along.'' It is through that book that I fully came to understand my family's history, which was Black history, which was American history.
It told how my great-grandfather had to take a literacy test and find three White men to vouch for his character to be able to register to vote after Reconstruction ended. It told how my father and my grandfather had to pay poll taxes, despite the 15th Amendment saying all of them could vote, just to be able to register to vote. It told how my mother, my grandmothers, and my great-grandmothers didn't get to vote until after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
The horror that I felt watching the murder of George Floyd on the internet in 2020 was the same horror that my parents felt watching the aftermath of the murder of Emmett Till. That is because history may not repeat itself, but it rhymes. Through my family's history and through the study of American history, I recognized the pattern.
I was born and raised in Virginia, the birthplace of American democracy in July 1619, when the first representative legislature in the Western Hemisphere met in Jamestown. A month later, Virginia became the birthplace of American slavery when a ship of men and women who were stolen from their home in Angola were then stolen again by pirates, brought to the shores at Point Comfort, and sold and traded for supplies.
A few short years later, maybe a little over 100, a Virginian penned the words that we will celebrate this July: ``We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men''--and he meant men--``are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights'' of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
He didn't mean all men. He didn't mean the men who were enslaved at his plantation.
The idea of the founding of this country has been one that African Americans have strove to make true for everyone. Every time we have made progress in making those ideals a reality, there has been a backlash. That backlash involves three things: violence, propaganda, and voter suppression.
My great-grandparents saw the first backlash. My grandparents and my parents saw the second backlash. My generation is living through the third. Yet, we have a President who doesn't want us to talk about the bad parts of our history, but they inspire me.
This past spring, I took my children to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, not for the first time. I stood in the exhibit on the Middle Passage, which I had been in many times before. It is a heavy exhibit. It is an ugly part of our history, but I felt hope because that time I realized that somebody survived that hell so that I could be here in this body in this fight. It is a fight they never could have imagined.
While I fight the same fights as my parents, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, and whoever survived that voyage, I do so from a position of strength and power they never imagined. I fight those fights so that my children and my grandchildren don't have to.
I am proud to be in this fight as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. We will fight the erasure of our history, and we will celebrate it every single day.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Clarke), our chair.
Mr. Speaker, I am Representative Yvette D. Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, proudly representing New York's Ninth Congressional District.
I thank my colleague, Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan, for anchoring this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order hour.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today with my colleagues of the Congressional Black Caucus to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Black History Month and to reflect on the innumerable contributions to our country that Black Americans have made throughout our Nation's history.
During Black History Month, we celebrate the generations of Black Americans whose courage, advocacy, sacrifice, and patriotism have moved our Nation and the world forward.
From the American Revolutionary War to Reconstruction, the Great Migration, the success of Black Wall Street, the jazz age and the Harlem Renaissance, and the civil rights movement and beyond, there is no time in history that Black people have not contributed to the vitality and success of our country.
As chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, I am proud that as our caucus has grown from 13 visionary members in 1971 to a historic 62 members in 2026, we have continued fighting to dismantle barriers, create opportunities, and protect the rights of our communities.
Throughout our Nation's history, the CBC has been called to confront countless threats to our communities. Time and again, we have answered that call and stood in the breach on behalf of our communities and the values that make our Nation strong.
Today, under the shadow of the Trump administration, we are being called to yet another unprecedented and consequential time in the history of our country that we must address head-on.
The past year of President Trump's path of destruction has targeted our communities relentlessly. From purging the Federal Government of Black leaders and Black workers to removing the presence of Black stories and accomplishments from education and historical landmarks across the country, to launching volatile and violent campaigns against Black immigrants, the message from the administration to Black Americans has never been more clearer.
At any moment, the Supreme Court could strike down section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, putting our most basic and fundamental rights on the chopping block.
These threats have put Black America, once again, in a perilous position, but we are not powerless and will fight back. On the shoulders of our Founders, we will continue to push back against efforts to impede our progress, erase our history, and cut off access to opportunities in our communities.
We understand that the anti-DEI movement means anti-Black. This month and every month, we will continue to make clear that the contributions of Black Americans will not ever be erased, undermined, or undone. We will continue fighting for access to the ballot, fair representation, and our fundamental freedoms, which are under threat each and every day.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Madam McClellan from the great State of Virginia.
In 1619, the first settlers came to America in the same place where, in that same year, the first slave ship arrived on this continent.
I was privileged to be among those in Congress who traveled to Ghana in 2019 to commemorate the 400-year anniversary of the slave trade. It was a great visit.
History is so important, and Carter G. Woodson knew the importance of history. He knew that if a culture does not tell its own story, then that story won't get told. If you don't have a story, if you don't know what your parents did, your grandparents, and your foreparents did, if you don't know the accomplishments--of course, there are many accomplishments of Black people. If you don't know them, then you suffer a psychological disability, a collective psychological disability as a people.
So, it is very important that we know our history because when we do, we understand the great accomplishments of our forefathers and our foremothers.
We can be proud that despite the conditions under which they lived for 250 years in this country, slavery, and then another 90 years of Jim Crow, when we consider all of our accomplishments during that time, we can be proud.
Now, many people don't know what our accomplishments are or have been, and that is their ignorance. You should read up on it. That is what Black History Week was originally proposed to do. That is why it was instituted, to take a week for people to understand what our history was. Our history was not just slavery. Our history, as I said before, was accomplishments and struggle and overcoming and achievements.
When Carter G. Woodson established Negro History Week back on February 7th, 1926, he established that week to also commemorate the births of two important individuals in Black history, Frederick Douglass, who was born on February the 14th, 1818; and Abraham Lincoln, who was born on February 12th, 1809. During those times, Black people were held as slaves, but we have made so much progress since then. That is why we are so proud of Barack Obama, who was elected not once but twice to be President of this United States of America. It wasn't easy for him, and it was not easy for Carter G. Woodson, who was the second Black man to attain a doctorate degree from Harvard University; the first being W.E.B. Du Bois. Mr. Du Bois was a man of great accomplishment, a historian, an author, and a journalist.
It was in 1970 when folks at Kent State University in Ohio declared that, instead of celebrating Negro history for one week in February, we would do it for the entire month of February. It was President Gerald Ford who, during the Nation's centennial in 1976, issued a White House proclamation acknowledging the month of February as Black History Month, and we have been celebrating during this month.
It is ironic that at Kent State University there was a lady protesting the Vietnam war who was killed by National Guardsmen. Let's go to today where, instead of having Ku Klux Klansmen riding around the cities, towns, and countryside wearing hoods, we now have people wearing masks, shooting people in our streets. They are known as ICE. We have to get rid of them because we have a guy in office who is trying to turn the clock back on history.
If you don't know history, you are bound to repeat it. We know history. That is why we are not going back.
Mr. Speaker, with those words, I will take my seat and I thank Representative McClellan for anchoring this hour for the Congressional Black Caucus under the leadership of the great Congresswoman from New York, Yvette Clarke.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Virginia for yielding but for also helping to sponsor this very, very important Special Order on the fact that this is Black History Month technically.
However, Black history ought to be something of what we do and a part of our lives every day because, as much as there is American history, you can't have that without the history of African Americans in this country.
I want to also--at least to the Members who have come before this body this evening, who have talked about the great contributors to that history, have talked about why it is so very, very important, have talked about what it means not only to Black people, but what it should mean to the world when you look at a race of people who have suffered, endured, and survived two centuries of slavery, oppression, deprivation, degradation, denial, and disprivilege--in 1848, a speech was delivered in Edwardsville, Illinois, and Abraham Lincoln addressed these words to his countrymen, and he said:
When you have succeeded in dehumanizing the Negro; when you have put him down and made it impossible for him to be but as the beasts of the field; when you have extinguished his soul in this world and placed him where the ray of hope is blown out as in the darkness of the damned, are you quite sure that the demon you have roused will not turn and rend you?
What constitutes the bulwark of our freedom and our independence as a young nation? He said: It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling seacoasts, our Army and our Navy. These are not our reliance against tyranny. All of those may be turned against us without having made us weaker for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted deep within the hearts of all of us.
Our reliance, he said, is in the spirit of freedom which prides itself as a heritage of all men in all lands everywhere.
Then he admonished: Destroy that spirit and you would have planted the seeds of despotism at your own doorstep. Ignore the chains of bondage, like so many of the Black and Brown members of our Nation, and you one day will prepare your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed, he said, to trample on the rights of others, you would have lost the creative genius of your own independence and, as such, would become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises among you.
Lincoln's words uttered almost 180 years ago have gone unheeded, and such a cunning tyrant has, in fact, risen among us. The efforts of this administration to turn back the hands of time, to deny equal justice and equal treatment, to pretend that we are living in a world that sees nothing, knows nothing, hears nothing, and does nothing, is to pretend that we are all asleep.
So we desperately need, in this era of smaller visions, those of us who are Black, Brown, White, Yellow, and any other color or race, an ability to come together in coalitions the way we have always done to make a real and lasting difference.
We use this occasion on Black History Month to remind us that we so desperately need those who will stand up for that which is right and to speak out for that which is wrong.
It is for me, at least, a daunting task to find people in this country who are prepared to do the right thing day in and day out because we are increasingly seeing the ranks of others who want to do something different and follow this administration go in the wrong direction day in and day out.
I hope that we use as many days as possible during this month that we can to commemorate, to celebrate, to highlight, and to hold forth the history and the struggle of African Americans in this country.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding the time. I apologize for not getting here at the time I told her I would, but a few other things came into play.
Mr. Speaker, I also thank Congressman Mfume for restating the Lincoln speech, a speech that I think bodes well for us to reflect on today in much the
I thought about that often stated mantra that Black history is really America's history, and it is. It came very forcefully to me the last 2 weeks as I watched things happening in St. Paul and Minneapolis: I thought about Selma and Montgomery. When I saw what I consider to be the murder of Alex Pretti, I thought about Jimmie Lee Jackson.
I may be the only one on this floor old enough to remember Jimmie Lee Jackson and what led to his death and what his death precipitated. The fact of the matter is, the reason I thought about him was because Jimmie Lee Jackson was shot and murdered by law enforcement when he was trying to protect his mother, and I saw Alex Pretti trying to protect a woman and being murdered.
It told me why I was thinking about Selma and Montgomery as I watched things happen in St. Paul and Minneapolis. We ought to learn lessons from history. As George Santayana, that great Spanish philosopher, said to us that if we fail to learn the lessons of history, we are bound to repeat them.
The question we have to ask ourselves as we celebrate Black History Month is: Have we learned any lessons from Selma and Montgomery, or are we comfortable allowing ourselves to repeat them?
I have been listening to a lot coming from this administration about Black history. I don't understand why we don't see where this country would be today if we did not have the contributions of people like Ernest Everett Just, who was recognized around the world as the Black Apollo of science. Yet this administration seems to think that there is something wrong with celebrating this genius' contributions to not just this country but the world.
I don't know why it is considered a problem to focus on where modern medicine would be were it not for Charles Drew--whose genius gave this country the ability to safely refrigerate, store, and use blood when it is needed.
Do we realize how many souls and lives were saved in World War II because of this man's genius? It is supposed to be an insult to little children to learn about his contributions. Why is it okay for my grandchildren to learn about the genius of Thomas Edison and his principal invention, the lightbulb, but it would be insulting for a little White child to learn about Lewis Latimer and that filament that Mr. Edison used to put in his lightbulb. The filament that keeps the lightbulb burning was invented by a guy named Lewis Latimer, the son of former slaves, a genius.
The reason we are able to do that today is because Thomas Edison had enough maturity to step outside of his comfort zone and sit down with Lewis Latimer and get his filament and put it into the lightbulb. Thomas Edison had that much maturity to know that as smart as he was, a greater genius as he was, he did not know everything and he didn't have a problem leaning on the genius of this Black guy to allow his invention to work.
We live a much better life today in this country because two guys, one Black and one White, have lit the world. What is wrong with that? How is that insulting for us to have in our textbooks? Yet this administration seems to believe that.
Why is it okay for Jackie Robinson to be an outstanding baseball player, but when we put in the archives of the Army his contributions as a military man, we take it out. This administration ordered the Jackie Robinson stuff be taken out of the archives. What is that about? That seems to me to show the ultimate in immaturity if you are so threatened by your own existence that you don't want anybody else to be recognized for theirs. That is what Black History Month is all about.
This is one of the anniversaries--Carter G. Woodson had the genius back in 1915, 1916--he finally got around to it--of Black history week. I am old enough to remember Black history week. I am not being partisan here because I want to say it tonight, I thank President Gerald Ford, who celebrated the 200th anniversary of this country by calling upon the Nation to give due respect, moving Black history week to an entire month. That was Gerald Ford who did that.
Mr. Speaker, there is nothing partisan about this. I thank Gerald Ford for having the maturity to do that.
I want us to think about this month because we are getting ready to celebrate the 250th anniversary of this country's existence. Are we going to have a 250th birthday of this great country while not giving due honor and respect to the people who helped make this country great?
This country is greater because of Charles Drew. When I saw the tear gas there in Minneapolis, I thought about Garrett Morgan. It was Garrett Morgan who invented the gas mask, as well as the traffic light that all of us use. Where would this country be today but for the order that this man's invention gave to us?
I can go through a whole lot of this, but I know my colleagues are waiting to speak. I apologize for going so long. I hope that we will meet like this for the rest of this month, so I can continue to give due honor and respect to a great American, Gerald Ford, for giving us a month to celebrate the contributions of people of color.
Mr. Speaker, I rise with my Congressional Black Caucus colleagues in celebration of Black History Month 2026, a time to recognize the extraordinary contributions that African Americans have made to the history and culture of America.
Black History Month is an opportunity to acknowledge the inventors, artists, changemakers, and everyday citizens who built this Nation and who continue to shape our shared destiny.
As the Representative of Alabama's Civil Rights District, I stand on the shoulders of visionary leaders who risked everything for a vision and a dream bigger than themselves. These are leaders like Rosa Parks; our former colleague, the Honorable John Lewis; Dr. King; Amelia Boynton Robinson; and so many others.
As a daughter of Selma, I know that their sacrifices brought us the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, daring this Nation to live up to its highest ideals of equality and justice for all.
Sadly, we live in a time when Black history and Black Americans are under attack. Old battles have indeed become new again.
Throughout the past year, our communities have been at the center of the chaos and destruction that this President and his administration have visited upon the American people.
President Trump has tried to whitewash our history. He has cut our healthcare, while giving tax breaks to billionaires. He has canceled Black History Month celebrations at the White House and targeted Black immigrants with racist smears. He has waged an all-out assault on the right to vote.
Just this week, the Trump administration arrested two Black journalists who were simply doing their jobs.
Right now, President Trump's cronies are fighting in the Supreme Court to undo what remains of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Their actions threaten to take us back to a time before the civil rights movement, a time when Black Americans were second-class citizens and discrimination was the law of the land.
In my home State of Alabama, Trump's attacks on Black Americans are on full display. Last year, his executive order led to the removal of the brave Tuskegee Airmen from the Air Force training manual. Just 2 months later, his administration tried to sell off the site of the Freedom Rides Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.
While both of these decisions were eventually reversed, it was only because our community, the African-American community, spoke up and refused to be silent.
Mr. Speaker, these tactics are not new. They are borrowed from the same tired playbook that has been used for centuries to silence our voices and dilute our power. In these troubling times, we should take a lesson from the foot soldiers of the civil rights movement.
Shortly before his passing, Congressman John Lewis gave us a marching
My friends, my fellow Congressional Black Caucus colleagues, we can be tired. We can be frustrated. We can be downright mad. What we cannot do is give up. We need to use our voices and call out injustice wherever it hides. We need to demand better from our elected officials. We must vote like we have never voted before.
I thank my colleagues on the Congressional Black Caucus for hosting this Special Order hour. I thank my colleague from Virginia (Ms. McClellan) for her tireless leadership in this effort.
This Black History Month must be more than just a celebration. It must be a call to action. Generations of Americans--past, present, and future--are counting on us to meet this moment with the urgency it demands.
Mr. Speaker, we must do so in the name of our foremothers and our forefathers. We must do so in the name of the future leaders of this Nation. We must do so because it is always right to do what is right.
Mr. Speaker and our two hosts, I rise today to join the Congressional Black Caucus in celebrating Black History Month and honoring the Divine Nine, the historically Black fraternities and sororities that have fostered generations of bold leaders.
For more than 100 years, the brothers and sisters of the Divine Nine have played a vital role in driving forward American history. The Divine Nine has produced hundreds and hundreds of Black leaders who have shaped our country, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jesse Owens, Vice President Kamala Harris, Langston Hughes, Shirley Chisholm, John Lewis, Barbara Lee, and many, many of my colleagues in the CBC, including Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
I would like to take a moment to recognize the Divine Nine organizations. They are Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, and my very own Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority.
Alpha Phi Alpha, Kappa Alpha Psi, and Sigma Gamma Rho were founded at majority White colleges to create community for Black women and men.
All of our organizations give us the tools to advocate for ourselves and our communities. The Divine Nine as a whole has helped and is helping to make our Nation a better place for all Americans. At every turning point in our country's history, the Divine Nine was there.
We fought for women's suffrage, an end to Jim Crow, voting rights, and civil rights. We continue to be at the forefront of medical advancements and digital innovation. Our music, art, literature, and sports are woven throughout this country's culture.
We are still here, fighting against this Trump administration's attack against us. This President is trying to erase our history, rescind our rights, and reverse the clock to a time when Black people were not seen as equals. He is blatantly racist, and his administration is against DEI.
You cannot erase our history because Black history is American history. Black leaders are American leaders, and Black rights are human rights. The Divine Nine will be here, as we always are, fighting against oppression and for the advancement of Black people.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from the Commonwealth of Virginia for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark the beginning of Black History Month and to honor more than 100 years of Black history in America.
I speak today with urgency about American history; specifically, to highlight the fact that American history is Black history. From the march from Selma to Montgomery, where Americans demanded the right to vote; to the student sit-ins at lunch counters, where young people risked their safety to challenge segregation; and to the courtrooms and classrooms, where Black Americans pushed this Nation closer to its promise of equality, every major expansion of democracy in this country has been shaped by Black courage, Black leadership, and Black sacrifice.
Yet, Mr. Speaker, we must ask ourselves a simple but urgent question: Why are there forces trying to erase this past? Erasing history does not solve the problems that we face today. It does not create equality. It does not put us on a level playing field, and it does not move this country forward.
Black History Month exists for a reason. In 1926, historian Carter G. Woodson created Negro History Week to ensure that Black history was taught seriously in our schools and fully recognized as American history. His goal was never limitation. It was expansion, to broaden the Nation's consciousness, and to deepen our understanding of who we are. What began as 1 week grew into Black History Month--not to isolate Black history, but to correct centuries of exclusion.
Black history is not a sidenote. It is a foundation. It belongs in our schools, in our books, and our public institutions, including the National Museum of African American History and Culture right here in D.C.
In my home State of Nevada, Black communities have helped to build our labor movement, our neighborhoods, and our culture from the historic west side of Las Vegas, where I grew up, to communities all across our State.
History is not something to erase. It is something to face so that we do not repeat the same mistakes again and again, and, instead, we continue to work toward a better future that includes all of us.
That is why we celebrate Black History Month. That is why I am honored to join my colleagues of the Congressional Black Caucus, who, as the conscience of the Congress, will always hold this institution accountable to living out the full promise of our Nation.
Mr. Speaker, I wish everyone a happy Black History Month.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative McClellan for the recognition and the Congressional Black Caucus for organizing this Special Order hour to recognize Black History Month.
Mr. Speaker, Black History Month will always matter, but it is especially important during a time when our ancestors' contributions to this country are being erased and denied. Yet, Black History Month has never been just about the past. It is about the present and the future.
So I must ask: What has Trump done for Black Americans besides put a target on our backs? What has Trump done besides moving the goalpost for success? This White House has erased our history, undermined our opportunities, and taken direct steps to make Black families poorer than those Black families were a year ago.
In this speech, I won't focus on the reckless rhetoric we have heard from the President, because his actions speak even louder than his words--actions such as executive orders, actions such as budget cuts, and actions such as the passage of bad bills like Trump's big, ugly law.
It begs the question: What can Black Americans expect from this White House because under this Trump administration, millions of Black Americans are unable to afford healthcare. Millions of Black families are going hungry because of cuts to nutrition benefits. Opportunities for wealth building, be it homeownership to entrepreneurship, have been cut off. Black and Brown neighborhoods are terrorized by lawless ICE agents, all while our rights--our right to vote, our right to assemble, our right to go to school and work free from discrimination are being trampled on brazenly and blatantly with no apologies or regrets.
Trump took those resources and protections away under the guise that the plight that Black Americans face no longer exists, claiming that the playing field has been fully and completely leveled and our opportunities across
As a Black woman, dare I say he is wrong because what this administration does not understand is that we have been here before, and we persevered. Where discrimination created pitfalls, we worked alongside our neighbors to close the gap, and we kept fighting for justice.
We didn't just hold the line. We pushed back and created civil rights protections that made sure the law favored the people and not the powerful.
Mr. Speaker, that is Black history. So despite the cuts, the chaos, the cruelty, and the corruption of this administration, like every past challenge, this too, we shall overcome because Americans everywhere are aware of the harm that this administration is causing. We know that our freedoms are shackled and chained to the rights of others. An attack on the freedoms of one American is an attack on all of us.
So we will not be deterred from this fight for our rights. We will not go quietly into the night. We will stand our ground. We will make our voices heard, and Black Americans will emerge from these dark days stronger than before, just as we always have.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the Honorable Congresswoman for yielding.
In the interest of time for my colleagues, I give a very special thanks for holding this Special Order hour.
I am Congressman Jonathan Jackson from Illinois' First Congressional District, where African-American History Month was first created by then Dr. Carter G. Woodson.
Dr. Carter G. Woodson comes from West Virginia. He was a coal miner's son by way of Ohio. He went to the first integrated college in United States of America in Berea, Kentucky. There were great abolitionists fighting for a noble cause. They saw African Americans as full human beings.
He had the idea once he saw that there were no African Americans written in his curriculum that something was missing. He went on to ask a professor, a teacher, one time: Why are there no African Americans written about and our history is not chronicled?
The person is quoted as saying: Your history of your people is not important.
That echoes to this very day as we see so much of what is going on in this administration.
Dr. Carter G. Woodson left from Berea College, the first integrated college in the United States of America, in Berea, Kentucky. Berea College was founded by an abolitionist Caucasian, a White man, who also had in his history, Henry Clay, the great Congressman from Kentucky, who served in this United States body--which has the family ancestry of Muhammad Ali and Cassius Clay--and you can see his statue just outside of this wall, as well, as part of the Clay family that is immortalized in this institution.
From there, he went on to the University of Chicago, where he took that challenge and made it into a thesis. He wanted to show Blacks and Whites making progress together, so he put it in February strategically to honor both Abraham Lincoln's work and Frederick Douglass, showing Blacks and Whites making progress together. He did not want to isolate African Americans in history. He made it deliberate to show people of goodwill making it work together.
I ask you, if we do not demonstrate and show this, how will people know that there were great abolitionists that always recognized that people were human beings? We only show one side of history. To erase African Americans out of history makes Caucasians less heroic in history as well, so I applaud the work of Dr. Carter G. Woodson.
From there, after leaving the University of Chicago, he went to Harvard, where he became the second African American to get a Ph.D. in history. It went from Negro History Week, as Mr. Clyburn had said, to Black History Month, by Gerald Ford. It was Black and Whites making progress together.
What are we seeing right now? Under the disastrous leadership of the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Pete Hegseth, he is trying to remove the history of then Mr. Jackie Robinson. You just can't talk about his phenomenal work in baseball. He challenged the color line. He broke the color barrier.
When you take Harriet Tubman off the $20 bill, you are talking about a military strategist that broke the backbone of the Confederacy by being able to navigate people under the underground railroad. When you remove good people from history, this is a problem for all of our children.
In the interest of time, I will be back this month repeatedly, and I hope my other colleagues will open their eyes so they can learn, so their children can see the happier and the better side of American history. They can see racial progress.
Right now we are living in a time where people are trying to erase history. You cannot erase history. You must confront it and learn the truth about yourself. It will keep America strong. It will make America better. That is our goal. That is our desire.
Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative McClellan for hosting us this evening.
Mr. Speaker, I stand here as the first, but not the last, Black Member of Congress in Oregon's history, and I rise today to celebrate Black History Month.
It is not lost on me that I am just one generation removed from segregation. It is not lost on me how recently this moment standing before you as a Congresswoman would have seemed impossible.
My mother was valedictorian of a segregated high school in Conway, South Carolina. She had the brilliance and drive to do anything she dreamed, but America didn't believe in her future. She made sure that I had the opportunity to write a different story.
As a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, I am reminded that I am not in this fight alone. We are a community of leaders, united in our goal to shape a more just, a more inclusive, and a brighter future for this Nation.
Our country needs it now more than ever. We are seeing attacks on our communities and on our values by this administration.
Mr. Speaker, humbly, I ask that we must continue to rise together, not only during Black History Month but every day.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Virginia, and I thank the Congressional Black Caucus for putting this together and coming forth with this information and giving me a chance to speak. As well.
I will be brief. I know we are running out of time. I did want to comment briefly about Minnesota. I just got back a little while ago from Minnesota. We went out to do a special hearing out there, in large part due to the killings that have gone on, to the ICE protests, to the arrests, the roving patrols, and the like. I wanted to see it firsthand. I have got to say, I was shocked by what I saw, but that is not the first time I have seen it.
African-American history had a lot of parallels to what is going on in Minnesota right now. I think it is deeply disturbing, deeply troubling. The deaths that have been caused, in my view, by police excessive force, ICE agents using excessive force, the roving patrols, and the like, the racial profiling that is taking place, all of those kinds of things we have seen before.
I think we also have to be sure we understand a couple of things moving forward. One is that the agents who work for ICE are not warriors; they are guardians. Whether they put on the camouflage, whether they are wearing masks, no matter, they work for the American people. They are guided by the Constitution, or should be guided by the Constitution. We have to make sure that they understand that fully, just as the protesters in Selma and Birmingham had to make sure that lesson got across to the law enforcement in Alabama and in those cities at that time.
I think it is critical for us, as Congressman Jackson pointed out, to make sure we recall that the advances that have been made during the African-American movements and efforts have been not just African Americans, they have been Americans across the spectrum working together, fighting for justice, striving together to make a difference.
I want to make sure we continue to do that. I will come back, and we can discuss this more at length in the future. It is critical for us to find a way to move forward together because we can't do it alone.
Mr. Speaker, I close with the words of Maya Angelou:
A lot of our history wasn't written down, was erased, our files burned, our bodies burned, our bodies twisted, hung, shot, trod in the dirt, and still we rose.
The Congressional Black Caucus founded by 13 members, now 62 strong, we will continue to ensure that our stories, that Black history is told. Still we rise because Black history is American history.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address a serious national security issue that requires the immediate attention and immediate action from the United States Congress.
An illegal bio lab was just raided in Las Vegas, and it is directly linked to the secret Chinese bio lab found in Reedley, California, in late 2022. That lab was oozing with E. coli, HIV, malaria, and other dangerous pathogens.
The lab just raided in Vegas was operated by the same LLC and same Chinese nationals as the one discovered in Reedley. We know a lot about the one discovered in Reedley because I requested a report from the House of Representatives, an investigation which resulted in a report by the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
I want to share some of the details of that report, but I will start with its conclusion: That no one knows whether there are other unknown bio labs because there is no monitoring system in place.
Those were the words of the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party in 2023. We know there was at least one other such lab, but we still don't know how many others because the legislation, the bipartisan legislation, that I have proposed with Representatives Costa and Valadao has not yet been passed.
Here is what we learned about this lab that was discovered in Reedley and that has now had a counterpart discovered in Las Vegas.
It was run by an international fugitive from China named Jesse Zhu. After running various state-connected companies in China, Zhu moved to Canada where he set up dozens of corporations to steal valuable American intellectual property and unlawfully transfer it to China. The Supreme Court of British Columbia found that he committed fraud on an epic scale, resulting in a $330 million judgment.
He then fled to America, assumed an alias, David He, and set up several more companies, including the one behind the Reedley biolab and now the Vegas biolab.
He was indicted in 2023 and has been in Federal custody ever since, but his partner and other associates have not been.
The Reedley lab was discovered in December of 2022 when a code inspector came upon a suspicious warehouse. Inside, she found many Chinese nationals wearing white lab coats, glasses, masks, and latex gloves, along with thousands of vials of biological substances and a thousand mice. It was later learned that these were transgenic mice genetically engineered to catch and carry the COVID-19 virus. A further inspection found blood, tissue, and other bodily fluid samples and serums, along with thousands of vials of suspected biological material.
Some of the vials were labeled in the names of infectious agents while others were labeled in a code that was never deciphered.
At first the CDC--this was during the Biden administration--refused to investigate and even hung up on local officials who asked for help. After Representative Costa got involved, the CDC did an inspection and found at least 20 potentially infectious agents, including HIV, tuberculosis, and the deadliest known form of malaria. Yet, the CDC did not bother to test any samples, even those with unknown contents, making it impossible for the select committee to fully assess the potential risks that this specific facility posed to the community. The select committee report calls this baffling.
Later, local officials discovered a refrigerator in the lab labeled ``Ebola.''
While the supposed purpose of the lab was to sell test kits, in fact, all the company did was buy counterfeit kits from China and resell them in the United States. Thus, the committee found there was a lack of apparent legitimate or even profit-motivated criminal motive in the operation of the facility.
Meanwhile, Jesse Zhu, its operator, was receiving unexplained payments via wire transfer from Chinese banks.
As I mentioned, the report concluded that we don't know if there are any other unknown biolabs because there is no such monitoring system. That is why I am calling upon the House to act quickly to pass the bill that I have introduced, along with Representatives Costa and Valadao, to find any other such labs that exist across the country and assure that they are shut down.
The Preventing Illegal Laboratories and Protecting Public Health Act would address gaps in Federal law outlined in this Congressional report.
Specifically, it would require distributors of highly pathogenic agents to maintain federally reviewable logbooks of all transfers, including purchaser identity and intended use for at least 3 years. It would strengthen oversight by mandating Federal review of the number, location, and risks of high-containment labs with updated national standards for design, construction, and operation.
It would protect against foreign threats by ensuring adversaries cannot exploit weak U.S. oversight to establish these secret labs. It would create a public health biosafety and biosecurity team as a single point of contact for State, local, Tribal, and territorial governments when suspicious labs are identified. It would require a feasibility study on creating a centralized national database of high-containment labs accessible to State and local officials for biosecurity purposes.
As the city manager of Reedley, Nicole Zieba, said--who was centrally involved in trying to get the Federal and State authorities to take action here--she said: The Reedley incident highlighted a gap in the Nation's biosecurity. Any city around this country could have dozens of deadly pathogens stored next to sensitive locations and be completely unaware of it. She said that this proposed legislation puts us on a path to closing that critical gap that will help keep every American safe from the hazards like those that were discovered in the Reedley lab. Now, of course, we have seen alarmingly similar hazards discovered in the Vegas lab.
I will be calling for a thorough investigation of what was discovered in Las Vegas, and I am calling upon the House of Representatives to move quickly to get this bipartisan bill passed so that it can then pass the Senate and be signed into law.
Mr. Speaker, people across the country are rightly outraged by the fraud that has been discovered in the State of Minnesota. However, for those of us in California, we have almost become desensitized to it. Every time there has been an independent audit, it seems, of any program in California, what is discovered is fraud on a scale that dwarfs anything that was discovered in Minnesota.
We have already taken some action here in Congress to rein in the fraud that exists in California and to provide oversight and accountability that has
That is why I am requesting that the Government Accountability Office conduct a study on the scale of fraud in California. I will read, for the record, my letter to Comptroller General Brown, Acting Comptroller General of the GAO, requesting this study.
It says:
The letter concludes:
This study, Mr. Speaker, will provide information that we very much need in order to exercise the full range of oversight and accountability tools we have here in Congress to protect the tax dollars of hardworking California residents.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Robin Trimble, who is retiring as the chief executive officer of the Rocklin Area Chamber of Commerce, for her 20 years of dedicated service to the Rocklin community.
For two decades, Robin has led the chamber with enthusiasm, strength, and resilience. Through Robin's expertise, the Rocklin chamber was guided through a period of growth and prosperity. She helped the chamber expand its membership, started important community programs, forged strong partnerships that support Rocklin's local businesses and economy, and built a legacy that will continue to shape the Rocklin community for many years to come.
Like any 20-year period, her tenure as CEO came with its fair share of unique challenges. One example is the important role that she played in minimizing the impact of the extraordinary challenges that arose as a result of the restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 era.
Throughout her tenure, Robin has worked tirelessly to make the dream of business ownership a reality and a successful path for many in the Rocklin area. Her ongoing advocacy for Rocklin businesses has left a meaningful mark on our local economy.
I have had the privilege of knowing and working with Robin since my time in the State legislature. I have always appreciated her professionalism, wisdom, kindness, and generosity that she brought to her role as the chamber's chief executive officer. Robin's visionary leadership has made a lasting impact on the Rocklin Area Chamber of Commerce and the Rocklin community at large.
Therefore, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I join the Rocklin community in wishing Robin Trimble a very happy retirement and thanking her for her 20 years of contributions to the Rocklin business community.
Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.
The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 8 o'clock and 51 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, February 3, 2026, at 10 a.m.
