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14Oath of Office Members, Resident Commissioner, and Delegates
15Deletions of Sponsors From Public Bills and Resolutions
Daily Digest
Public Bills and Resolutions Introduced
21 public bills, H.R. 9236- 9256; and 3 resolutions, H.J. Res. 195; and H. Res. 1355-1356 were introduced.
Pages H4084-85
Reports Filed
Reports were filed today as follows: Committee on Ethics. Contempt Report Related to the Conduct of Michael Joseph (H. Rept. 119-693); and Committee on Ethics. Contempt Report Related to the Conduct of Hector Roos (H. Rept. 119-694).
Page H4084
Speaker
Read a letter from the Speaker wherein he appointed Representative Meuser to act as Speaker pro tempore for today.
Page H4057
Recess
The House recessed at 11:04 a.m. and reconvened at 12 p.m.
Page H4064
Recess
The House recessed at 1:01 p.m. and reconvened at 3:29 p.m.
Page H4075
Oath of Office: First Congressional District of California
Representative-elect James Gallagher 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. Jana M. Lean, Chief, Elections Division, California Secretary of State indicating that, according to the unofficial results for the Special Primary Election held on June 2, 2026, the Honorable James Gallagher was elected Representative to Congress for the First Congressional District of California.
Pages H4076, H4084
Whole Number of the House
The Speaker announced to the House that, in light of the administration of the oath to the gentleman from California, the whole number of the House is 431.
Page H4076
No Aid for Ghost Students Act
The House passed H.R. 7892, to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require to the Secretary of Education to use an identity fraud detection system to review each FAFSA to determine whether the FAFSA presents a reasonable suspicion of identity fraud, by a yea-and- nay vote of 249 yeas to 172 nays, Roll No. 217. Consideration began yesterday, June 9th. H. Res. 1333, the rule providing for consideration, was agreed to Wednesday, June 3rd.
Pages H4076-77
Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act
The House passed H.R. 8312, to establish fraud prevention and program integrity functions and data sharing authorities within the Department of Treasury and a permanent governmentwide Inspector General for Fraud, Accountability, and Recovery, by a yea-and-nay vote of 240 yeas to 181 nays, Roll No. 218.
Pages H4065-71, H4077-78
Pursuant to the Rule, the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform now printed in the bill shall be considered as adopted. H. Res. 1345, the rule providing for consideration, was agreed to yesterday, June 9th.
Pages H4065-69
Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act
The House passed H.R. 8464, to amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize pausing and segmenting payments, by a yea-and-nay vote of 218 yeas to 200 nays, Roll No. 220.
Pages H4071-75, H4078-79
Rejected the McGarvey motion to recommit the bill to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform by a yea-and-nay vote of 209 yeas to 213 nays, Roll No. 219.
Page H4078
Pursuant to the Rule, the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform now printed in the bill shall be considered as adopted. H. Res. 1345, the rule providing for consideration, was agreed to yesterday, June 9th.
Pages H4071-72
Suspensions: Proceedings Resumed
The House agreed to suspend the rules and pass the following measures. Consideration began Monday, June 8th. Zeroing Out Monetary Benefits Improperly Expended Act: H.R. 8467, amended, to reform the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 to ensure executive agencies focus on fraud prevention; and
Page H4079
Taxpayer Funds Oversight and Accountability Act
H.R. 8340, amended, to modify the governmentwide financial management plan.
Page H4079
Meeting Hour
Agreed by unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 9 a.m. tomorrow, June 11th.
Page H4079
Recess
The House recessed at 4:35 p.m. and reconvened at 5:41 p.m.
Page H4079
Suspension: Proceedings Postponed
The House debated the following measure under suspension of the rules. Further proceedings were postponed. Amending the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 to extend the authorities of title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978: H.R. 9238, to amend the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 to extend the authorities of title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.
Pages H4079-83
Quorum Calls: Votes
Four yea-and-nay votes developed during the proceedings of today and appear on pages H4076-77, H4077-78, H4078, and H4078-79. Adjournment: The House met at 10 a.m. and adjourned at 6:20 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: 115 of 151 spoken turns were found. Turns without a time are still listed; they just can't seek.
Morning-Hour Debate
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of January 6, 2026, the Chair will now recognize Members from lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for morning-hour debate.
The Chair will alternate recognition between the parties, with time equally allocated between the parties and each Member other than the majority and minority leaders and the minority whip limited to 5 minutes, but in no event shall debate continue beyond 11:50 a.m.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Dr. R. Duane Satzger, a Cincinnati native, who is retiring after 47 years of distinguished service to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Dr. Satzger earned his bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Cincinnati and joined the FDA in 1979. His forensic work in the 1980s Tylenol tampering crisis helped establish the FDA Forensic Chemistry Center in Cincinnati, a laboratory that has protected countless American lives.
Over his career, he led the center's elevation to the National Forensic Chemistry Center, oversaw a state-of-the-art 64,000 square- foot renovation completed in 2024, and launched the INTREPID program with Customs and Border Patrol and DEA--a forensic initiative that links illicit drugs to disrupt deadly trafficking networks.
With over 40 publications, two U.S. patents, and dozens of FDA honors, Dr. Satzger's record of scientific excellence and public service is extraordinary.
America is safer and healthier because of his lifetime of service to our Nation. I wish him and his family a well-earned and happy retirement.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of two people on my staff: Billy Dwyer and Michelle Galdamez. They have both moved on to new opportunities, but I will always remember their hard work, contributions to my office, and their wonderful personalities.
When I first met Billy Dwyer at a barbecue, I had no idea that one day he would be my senior policy adviser. It truly speaks to his persistence. He was my constituent and started to work in my district office, and in 2020, he moved to D.C. as my legislative aid.
He is a founding member of the office's House softball team, the Deep Dishers. His sports exploits extend to hockey, where as a member of the congressional team, he scored two game-tying goals this past year against the lobbyists.
For over 6 years, Billy was the life of the office. While his colleagues often complained that they could hear him even through noise-canceling headphones, he was always quick with a joke and a laugh. I have no doubt that his new coworkers have welcomed his uplifting spirit.
When my district expanded from 1,500 farms to over 4,500, Billy jumped right into the agriculture portfolio. The farmers all love him, whether they grow corn or soybeans, which is a feat in and of itself. He connected the agriculture work to my healthcare portfolio, leading to the introduction of my Food is Medicine bill to improve health outcomes through nutrition.
Billy's work has always been rooted in advocacy. He became a passionate advocate for mental health after his sister died when he graduated from high school. He continues to speak out for mental health and headache disorders. I am so proud of the work he has done in and outside of my office, and I know he will succeed in his next role.
Michelle Galdamez, my senior health policy adviser, has been critical in leading my office's healthcare work. She first joined my office 4 years ago as a fellow before working in the Senate. We then stole her back when there was an opening, and I am just grateful she decided to come back. She stepped into the work without missing a beat, continuing to carry on my healthcare legislation and expand it from internal health to clinical trial diversity to digital health.
I often say that no one can accomplish anything alone, and that could not be truer when it comes to affordable healthcare. I receive so many compliments from people who have worked with Michelle. They all sing her praises, so I think it is only right that they are entered into the House Congressional Record for all to hear.
Michelle's commitment to healthcare, especially women's health, is second to none. When I was in a 26-hour marathon hearing, Michelle was
When she saw the viral video of a woman being discharged from a hospital while in active labor and found out she was a constituent, Michelle got right to work. She diligently worked on the bill that would become the WELLS Act, named after my constituent Mercedes Wells, who gave birth in her truck on the side of the road. It was her idea to name the bill after Mercedes because her heart and compassion for people are at the center of everything she does.
Michelle also does great work recruiting and training health fellows, guiding them and setting them up for future success after they leave the office. I know she will do a fantastic job serving as the legislative director in the office of my colleague, Representative Emily Randall.
I have been incredibly lucky to have such wonderful staff, especially Billy and Michelle. I thank both of them.
Mr. Speaker, a full-court press is being waged in the media to bring back Yosemite Valley's restrictive reservation system. Viral videos of crowds on Memorial Day now stoke this movement.
Those complaining of crowds during peak weekends, of course, envision that they should be able to enter the park, but not all those pesky other people.
Here is a helpful tip: If you don't like crowds, don't go to the beach on Memorial Day and don't go to Yosemite on Memorial Day.
In a series of articles in the San Francisco Chronicle, these critics have gone so far as to advocate resurrecting the radical Yosemite General Management Plan. It would have ultimately banned all traffic from the park and required visitors to stop nearly 50 miles away, pack up the kids, the binkies, the blankies, and the backpacks, and then take a government bus more than an hour in order just to set foot in Yosemite Valley.
They also favor the so-called Merced River Plan that tried and partially succeeded to eliminate many of the amenities available in the valley, including bicycle and raft rentals, horseback riding rentals, gift and snack shops, swimming pools, and iconic facilities, including the ice skating rink at Curry Village, the Art Center, and a historic stone bridge that dates back to the 1920s.
These elitists now press to restore the disastrous reservation system that greatly inconvenienced park visitors throughout 2024. To them, these restrictive measures are the cure to crowds. Yet, to the public, the reservation system meant that an average of 700 cars a day, filled with families that had driven hours to enjoy a day at Yosemite, were turned away at the gates for lack of reservations.
Meanwhile, inside the park, parking lots sat half empty. Hotel reservations fell thousands short, and many tourists who booked a room outside the park were refused entry at the gates for want of a coveted registration. Frustrated would-be visitors reported continuing problems trying to obtain reservations on a glitchy website.
Now, this is not to say that crowding in the valley hasn't been a big problem, but the solution is better management and more capacity, not restricting access.
Before the 1997 flood, there were about twice as many parking places, rooms, and campsites as there are today. Although Congress appropriated funds to restore this capacity, it never was.
A succession of incompetent superintendents tolerated inefficient admissions and time-consuming transactions that often produced long lines at the gates. When gateway community representatives approached park managers for relief, their many suggestions and pleas were simply ignored.
Under Yosemite's new superintendent, Ray McPadden, these deficiencies are finally being addressed. He is instituting a large number of improvements that have been advocated by the gateway communities for a decade, and he is meeting regularly with local representatives, businesses, and residents.
To address gate delays, he has introduced digitized entry passes and installed WiFi to expedite admissions.
To decongest the valley, he is promoting and encouraging visitors to enjoy often overlooked features, like Tuolumne Meadows, Mariposa Grove, Glacier Point, and Tenaya Lake. He is adding long-overdue additional parking and will be using real-time data this summer to relieve traffic congestion.
Last weekend, the Secretary of the Interior and the superintendent met with local elected and business representatives. To a person, they opposed the reservations system and endorsed the measures now being undertaken to improve the visitor experience.
The Yosemite Grant of 1864 was the first time that Federal land was set aside for the enjoyment of the American people. In the original words of the act, that was done with the promise that lands would ``be held for public use, resort, and recreation.''
This led to the creation of the National Park Service with the express purpose ``to conserve the scenery and the natural and historical objects and the wildlife therein and to provide for the enjoyment'' of the same. Well, the environmental left would change ``use, resort, and recreation'' to: Look, but don't touch.
John Muir once wrote: The valley is filled with people, yet they do not annoy me. Not so the green left, which has tried for many years to reduce visitor services and restrict public access. The 750,000-acre national park can welcome many more visitors than it does today. All that has been lacking is a visitor-friendly attitude by Yosemite Park management and a willingness to be a good neighbor to the gateway communities and businesses that depend on tourism. With Yosemite's new management, that day has finally come.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Buffalo Juneteenth Festival, one of the great cultural traditions in western New York and one of the largest Juneteenth celebrations in the United States of America.
Since 1976, countless participants have marched in Buffalo to celebrate the day in American history when word finally reached Galveston, Texas, in 1865 that President Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclamation more than 2 years prior.
For those who were forced to wait, every day carried a profound human cost, but alongside injustice, Juneteenth is a story of what formerly enslaved men and women built with their freedom. Despite extraordinary obstacles and oppression, these Americans fought to claim their place in our democracy. In the process, they expanded the promise of America itself.
Generations of Black Americans confronted and overcame barriers that were designed to exclude them, including Jim Crow's literacy tests, poll taxes, and racial violence, refusing to surrender the belief that America could become more faithful to its founding ideals.
The struggle for Black America did not end in 1865 with the passage of the 13th Amendment, 14th Amendment, and 15th Amendment; with the civil rights movement; or with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. It continues right now, as we bear witness to the concerted, intentional campaign to take our Nation backward.
The dismantling of the Voting Rights Act is allowing States across the South to enact racist gerrymanders and dilute Black political power.
Moments like these remind us of the significance of Juneteenth and that our democracy is not self-sustaining. It requires constant vigilance.
That is why Buffalo's Juneteenth Festival is so important. For 50 years, this gathering has continued the unfinished work of building a more just and inclusive nation.
I extend my deepest gratitude to President Carrone Evon Crump, the
As we commemorate this golden anniversary, may we all remember Juneteenth's call to protect freedom.
celebrating 20th anniversary of westminster economic development
Mr. Speaker, in recognition of Immigrant Heritage Month, I rise today to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Westminster Economic Development Initiative, better known across Buffalo and western New York as WEDI.
For two decades, this extraordinary organization has been a driving force for opportunity and empowerment in the City of Good Neighbors. Through its work in education and economic development, WEDI has helped thousands of western New Yorkers of all ZIP Codes, backgrounds, and languages build stronger futures.
From literacy programs that prepare young people for success in school to small business initiatives, like the West Side Bazaar, that provide entrepreneurs with mentorship and access to capital, WEDI opens doors and expands opportunities across our community.
What makes WEDI so special is that it recognizes the talent and potential already present in our communities and provides people with the tools they need to thrive.
In neighborhoods too often overlooked, WEDI has created pathways to economic mobility, empowered working families, and helped build a more inclusive and equitable Buffalo.
Today, we celebrate 20 years of impact, leadership, and service. I thank everyone at WEDI for their unwavering commitment to western New York and for helping to ensure that the American Dream remains within reach for every member of our community.
Mr. Speaker, I congratulate WEDI on this anniversary. Onward to even more.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Tony Mattivi and celebrate his confirmation by the United States Senate to serve as United States District Judge for the District of Kansas.
Mr. Mattivi has spent his career working to uphold the rule of law, protect Kansans, and keep our communities safe.
Before serving as the 13th director of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, he spent more than two decades as a Federal prosecutor. In that role, he handled some of the toughest cases imaginable related to drug trafficking, violent crime, racketeering, organized crime, gangs, money laundering, and terrorism.
He served as the antiterrorism and national security coordinator for the district of Kansas, prosecuted cases involving threats tied to al- Qaida and ISIS, and helped bring justice in cases that directly affected Kansas communities, including an attempted attack at the Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport.
As director of the KBI, he continued that work with a clear focus on public safety. Under his leadership, the KBI helped form the Joint Fentanyl Impact Team, expanded child victims units in western and southeast Kansas, and completed a major upgrade to Kansas' biometric identification system.
Tony Mattivi understands the law. He understands law enforcement. He understands Kansas. I congratulate him on his confirmation and thank him for his years of service to our State and our country. I am confident he will serve the people of Kansas well on the Federal bench.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the University of Kansas baseball team for a historic and record-breaking season. The Jayhawks brought incredible pride to Lawrence, the Big First District, and the entire State of Kansas.
This season, KU won the Big 12 regular season title outright and then captured the Big 12 tournament championship for the first time in 20 years. They finished the year with 45 wins, tying the school record, and hosted the first-ever Lawrence Regional and Lawrence Super Regional.
Along the way, the Jayhawks set school records in conference wins, road and neutral site wins, home runs, and batters struck out. They also earned a spot in the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year, something the program has done only one other time in school history.
I congratulate Coach Fitzgerald, the players, staff, families, and all Jayhawk fans on an outstanding season. They made Lawrence proud, made Kansas proud, and showed the country that Kansas baseball belongs on the national stage.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the men and women who lead the essential grassroots organizations of Co-op City in the Bronx, the many building association presidents who are elected by and represent the many shareholders in each of the 35 buildings that comprise the complex, which is the largest housing cooperative in the United States. Each building rises as high as 33 stories with up to 500 units in those complexes.
The building association boards organize annual activities and advocate on behalf of the residents. They organize around holidays and special events, such as back to school, Halloween, and Christmas. They conduct fundraisers to provide money to enhance common areas. They form a group to lobby for overall improvements in the complex, as well as their buildings.
The civic life of Co-op City begins with these volunteers. Let me mention just a few of the most active individuals who head their respective buildings:
Building 13, Leslie Peterson;
Building 6, Lauren Lassiter;
Building 28, Idalia Reyes;
Building 27, Aaron Carnegie;
Building 26, Tanya Cruz-Cooke;
Building 2, Al Quattlebaum;
Building 8, Tremaine O'Garro;
Building 9, Linda Collins;
Building 35, Carol Arthur; and
Building 33, Tobias Garcia.
There are many more to celebrate.
From the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, we salute all the Co-op City building association presidents for their commitment of time and effort on behalf of their neighbors.
Mr. Speaker, our home area lost an impressive woman last month, Ruth Hinerfeld of Mamaroneck, at age 95.
Ruth, a Massachusetts native, made her life and legacy in Westchester with her husband, Norman. A Vassar graduate with three children and two grandchildren, Ruth was a pillar of the local League of Women Voters and rose to national prominence as the national League of Women Voters president in 1978.
Ruth had direct involvement with the national Presidential debates in 1980 with Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. She was appointed to various national boards, such as the U.S. Advisory Committee for Trade Negotiations and the Overseas Development Council. She maintained voluntary involvement with Common Cause, UNICEF, the Municipal League, and the Council on Foreign Relations.
Ruth was always gracious and warm to the people she dealt with, both locally and nationally. Ruth Hinerfeld had a life well-lived.
From the floor of the House of Representatives, we salute the life and times of Ruth Hinerfeld.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the outstanding programs provided by the village of Irvington that benefit the senior citizens of that community.
Under the able leadership of senior coordinator Joan Armstrong, in the senior center on Bridge Street, the Irvington seniors serve hundreds of seniors annually with a daily nutrition program at lunchtime weekdays each week, and activities and programs to engage seniors of all ages.
There are fitness classes, from tai chi to chair yoga; mental fitness programs; and a variety of board games, mah-jongg, bridge, along with the classic senior staple, bingo.
Joan and her talented crew host annual events for Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Halloween, and a host of celebrations. There are day trips planned
The programs are supported by the village board under the leadership of Mayor Arlene Burgos and Village Administrator Charles Hessler.
From the floor of the House of Representatives, we salute the work of the Irvington seniors, the active and energetic members who show that age is more a state of mind.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the history, heritage, and enduring legacy of innovation that defines the great State of Indiana.
During the 250th anniversary of our Nation's founding, it is vital to remember the foundational principles that have driven American progress. Many of those principles have been exemplified by the Hoosier State.
Founded in 1816, Indiana was built on the foundation of hard work, strong families, and tight-knit communities. Our pioneers cleared the wilderness, building a society grounded in faith and freedom.
It is this unique spirit that led Indiana to produce three Presidents, six Vice Presidents, and three Supreme Court Justices, earning our reputation as the birthplace of national leadership.
That drive to excel is also illustrated by our long history of industrial manufacturing. Long before modern technology hubs emerged on the coasts, Indiana was a premier powerhouse for early American automotive manufacturing. Our soil is where brilliant engineers and automotive inventors tested their limits. They built legendary companies like Studebaker and Duesenberg.
This relentless spirit of innovation led directly to the creation of the legendary Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1909. Today, we host the world-famous Indianapolis 500, rightfully known as The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. The event brings hundreds of thousands of fans from across the globe to our State every year.
It is that exact standard of Hoosier engineering excellence that gave the world early rearview safety mirrors and cruise control.
Indiana agriculture also helps feed and fuel the world. I am a lifelong farmer who studied animal science, so I know firsthand that agriculture is the heartbeat of our State and our national economy. These producers consistently make Indiana a top national producer of corn and soybeans, driving our bioeconomy and supplying global markets.
We are also the number one producer of popcorn in the entire United States. In fact, the popcorn king himself, Orville Redenbacher, was a proud son of Indiana.
The Hoosier State is also the Nation's top producer of commercial ducks, pumpkins, and peppermint.
Indiana has a rich sports history with the Indiana Fever, Indiana Pacers, and the Indianapolis Colts, who have also achieved historic wins throughout their history. The first-ever Major League Baseball game was held in Indiana in 1871.
Our colleges and our universities have contributed to this history, as well. Purdue University's basketball team has been dominant, with an NCAA championship appearance in 2024 and a Big Ten championship this past season.
While I will always be loyal to the Boilermakers, I must congratulate our neighbors in Bloomington, Indiana, the Indiana University football team, who also recently had a perfect 16-0 season, bringing a national championship to the Hoosier State.
Notre Dame has a storied football program with 11 consecutive national championships, including one led by the great Lou Holtz, and seven Heisman Trophy winners.
The true measure of Indiana has always been the people: leaders, trailblazers, and visionaries who shaped world history.
There are so many famous names from Indiana: the Jackson family, Axl Rose, Larry Bird, David Letterman, Colonel Sanders, Irene Dunne, Madam C.J. Walker, Steve McQueen, Cole Porter, Wilbur Wright, Ernie Pyle, Amelia Earhart, James Dean, General Burnside, and Abraham Lincoln, to name just a few. We are truly the birthplace of greatness.
Indiana is a proud State that honors its past while building its future. I am honored to represent Indiana's Fourth Congressional District. As we celebrate 250 years of our great Nation, I look forward to seeing our State lead the way for future generations. The best is yet to come.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 50th flight of the Indy Honor Flight. This organization hosts flights for veterans from Indianapolis to Washington, D.C., and boasts an unwavering commitment to serving veterans.
Founded in 2012, the Indy Honor Flight has flown nearly 4,000 veterans to D.C. to view the memorials. The organization runs four flights a year. Each flight has around 86 veterans and 86 guardians aboard.
Indy Honor Flight also hosts a large welcome-home celebration when the veterans return to Indiana for the public to show its appreciation for those who have served.
The organization is based in Hendricks County, and most of the leaders and volunteers live in the Fourth District. This is truly a community effort, with approximately 200 volunteers offering their time to make each trip happen. I congratulate them on this historic milestone.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Rafe Pomerance. Rafe passed away on May 21 at the age of 79 in Washington, D.C. Rafe fiercely and steadfastly championed environmental causes for nearly five decades.
Rafe was a beloved advocate for climate action. Born in New York City in 1946, Rafe grew up among nature in Connecticut and was a graduate of Cornell University. He was an activist, organizer, policy expert, and diplomat.
The New York Times described him as the ``Paul Revere of Climate Change,'' an environmentalist who discovered an obscure 1979 report that burning coal heats the atmosphere, a man who devoted his life to warning the public and policymakers about the dangers of climate change. He dedicated his life to uplifting the dangers of climate change and was instrumental in advancing awareness of the issue.
Rafe set the foundation for understanding climate change as a comprehensive problem that demanded urgent policy action.
When Rafe first started this work, inspired by a report by the Environmental Protection Agency on the impact of coal emissions on global warming, the risks of climate change were not being recognized or addressed. Scientists had been measuring increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration since the early 1960s, but their warnings remained largely overlooked by both governments and civil society.
Rafe was one of the few who recognized the magnitude of the threat and was compelled to sound the alarm. He organized the first briefings ever about climate change with policymakers, developed relationships with news media to bring the issue into public view and mobilize stakeholder groups to pursue collective action.
Today, climate change is one of the key issues driving political discourse, in large part because of Rafe's early leadership and insistence that we could not afford to look away.
Throughout his distinguished career, Rafe served the American people in government and nonprofits. He was the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Environment and Development from 1993 to 1999. In this capacity, he represented the United States at both the Berlin and Kyoto Conferences of the Parties. Rafe was instrumental in organizing the 1986 Senate hearings on climate change and helped negotiate a landmark UN treaty on global greenhouse emissions.
Rafe was a dedicated champion for the environment at a number of organizations including Friends of the
Rafe continued his advocacy until his passing, primarily through his leadership on the Upper Limit Project, an effort to establish an upper limit on sea level rise in order to protect coastal communities and help the world better understand the real-world consequences of climate change.
Through that work, he argued that climate policy must not only focus on temperature targets but also on preventing catastrophic sea level rise that threatens economies, ecosystems, and the future of coastal cities around the world. He continued his advocacy literally until the last days, until his passing, remaining an outspoken leader on the need for urgent action to save our planet.
I was blessed to know Rafe through his daughter, Lilah Pomerance, who has served as my incredible chief of staff for the past 6 years here in Congress. I see Rafe's legacy exhibited in her every day. The commitment to service, compassion, and big ideas that drove him have been passed to the next generation, and I am so grateful for this and for all of Rafe's contributions to our planet and our people.
I am proud to be joined in the Chamber today by Lilah; her husband, Dan; and her daughter, Noa, as we celebrate Rafe's life and contributions.
Rafe is survived by his wife, Lenore Pomerance; his children, Lilah, Benjamin, and Ethan; two siblings; and seven grandchildren.
Through his enduring legacy and his love for his family, for his friends, for his community, and for this planet that we live on, Rafe's legacy will continue to shape the fight against climate change and touch the lives of so many across the world.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to expose and challenge the climate shakedowns at the root of increasing energy costs being imposed on every American.
For decades, the left has waged a war against our energy industry, seeking to regulate them out of business. Having failed to crush those companies who produce affordable and reliable energy, they now seek to sue them into bankruptcy.
So-called climate Superfund laws have cropped up in nearly a dozen leftist States, punishing those who harvest the very product that has fueled America's unrivaled prosperity.
Activists are exploiting the courts to shake down producers, enrich the lawyers, and engineer behavior. These penalties for lawful activity weaken the power grid, destroy jobs, and amplify the pain every American feels when heating their homes and driving their cars.
Make no mistake: War with Iran is not the cause of our energy struggle. These wrongheaded lawsuits are.
The road to the Stone Age is paved by the elimination of fossil fuels. I ask my colleagues to pass the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act to protect our producers immediately.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and congratulate brothers Gaylon, Mark, and Verdean Heiner on their remarkable receipt of the Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award.
This award is reserved for aviators of the highest caliber and is a testament to the Heiner brothers as representing an extraordinary family carrying the legacy of the Ohio brothers who transformed mankind's reality in 1903.
To qualify, pilots must be U.S. citizens certified under the U.S. Civil Aviation Authority or the FAA with a perfect record where certification has never been revoked. Nominees must have completed at least 50 years of flying civilian or military aircraft, mastering the art of powered aviation barely more than a century old.
Few pilots have ever met the criteria for this prestigious recognition, and even fewer families have produced three such recipients.
I thank them for their dedication to aviation and congratulate them on this mile-high accomplishment.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and congratulate the hardworking men and women who have worked around the clock to keep the Simplot Rock Springs plant operating for 40 years.
This milestone celebrates the millions of people fed thanks to Simplot's leadership in agricultural innovation to feed the Nation thanks to the fertilizer produced in southwest Wyoming.
Pioneering new ways to provide nourishment to our neighbors has always been a part of Wyoming's proud history. The determination to feed the planet is at the heart of our rich cowboy heritage.
We thank the men and women at the Simplot Rock Springs plant who worked tirelessly to continue that legacy into the 21st century.
We will need them now more than ever as America continues to grow, and demand for quality food products increases.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Cheyenne's Luxury Diner, celebrating 100 years serving Wyoming.
The story of this treasured institution extends far beyond the diner's first meal. This storied business first began as a trolley car rolling through the streets of Cheyenne in the first years of Wyoming statehood in 1894. The car was retired by 1912 but found a new purpose in 1926 as a neighborhood diner serving railroad workers. It became the Luxury Diner in 1964, and it has been a Cheyenne landmark ever since.
Every meal is made from scratch. Recipes like the green chili and sausage gravy are decades old and still on the menu. Today, owners Del and Angie Jimenez carry the tradition forward, and the Luxury Diner has earned national recognition, including a feature on the Food Network.
In Wyoming, we value things built to last. The Luxury Diner started as a trolley car, became a diner, and 100 years later, it still feeds our community.
I congratulate the Luxury Diner on this milestone.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor your 2026 NCAA women's water polo national champions, my USC Trojans.
Last month, my Trojans beat our cross-State rival, the California Golden Bears, in a 10-9 nail-biter to take home their seventh national championship in program history.
After falling short in the championship game last year, Coach Casey Moon and the Trojans stayed the course and bounced back to win it all.
Special shout-outs to Anna Reed, Emily Ausmus, and Ava Stryker, who took home First Team All-Tournament honors. That is 6 straight years with at least one national championship. You have made our university, California's 37th Congressional District, and Trojans everywhere proud.
Mr. Speaker, Trump and Republicans just showed the American people once again exactly where their priorities lie--not with families struggling to make ends meet but with lawless agencies and political allies.
Yesterday, Republicans passed a $70 billion slush fund for ICE and CBP on top of the $140 billion already handed out in the big, ugly bill.
I submitted amendments that highlight just how dangerous and unrestrained this bill truly is. One amendment requires essential care for pregnant individuals in detention, another prohibits ICE from hiring people who participated in the January 6 insurrection, pardoned or not.
This would ban individuals like January 6er Andrew Johnson, who was
Endless billions for political corruption and nothing for those who defended our Capitol on January 6.
Mr. Speaker, the President said it himself: He doesn't think about Americans' financial situations. Last night, Republicans cosigned that exact sentiment.
Republicans have an audience of one. Democrats have an audience of over 340 million, and we will keep fighting for the American people and for our immigrant neighbors.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to sound the alarm about a grave national security threat: Donald Trump's sleeping habits.
I know we have rules about decorum, so I will stick to the facts, because this is, in fact, a serious matter of oversight, transparency, and national security.
In meeting after meeting, Donald Trump has fallen asleep. In public, on camera, in broad daylight, and when people lavish praise on him.
We cannot trust the White House on matters concerning the President's health because they are denying what Americans are seeing with their own two eyes.
Just last week, Marco Rubio seemingly lied to Congress about this when he told my colleague that he had never been at a meeting where Trump fell asleep, despite being shown a video where the President dozed off right next to him.
We cannot have a President asleep on the job. Is he sleeping in classified briefings or on calls with foreign leaders? How can we trust a President who is literally asleep at the wheel to make informed decisions about national security?
An April YouGov poll found that 48 percent of Americans believe that Trump is also suffering modest to significant cognitive decline. He is increasingly making erratic decisions that raise questions about his mental fitness for office.
He is posting AI on Truth Social at ungodly hours of the night. He is hyperfixated on his billion-dollar ballroom and a $1.8 billion slush fund for political allies instead of ending his war of choice on Iran and lowering costs for Americans.
Sadly, the White House has repeatedly failed to be transparent with the American people about the President's health.
Trump consistently has bruises on his hands that the White House claims are from handshakes. He received an MRI without knowing what body part was scanned or disclosing why he received it.
The White House failed to put a mysterious dentist appointment on the Presidential calendar, as is normal for medical appointments.
Dr. Oz says the President is taking cognitive tests every day because he ``likes the results.''
The White House removed a hair loss prevention drug from the public list of drugs he is taking, saying they are not obligated to disclose what medications the President is on.
Is Trump suddenly naturally growing his hair, or is the White House hiding something?
We need real transparency.
It is time for Republicans to wake up and join Democrats in demanding transparency from this White House about the President's health. It is a matter of national security.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Alia Moses, Chief U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Texas.
I first met Chief Judge Moses in May 2022 in my capacity as co-chair of the Congressional Border Security Caucus. The United States was seeing an unprecedented wave of illegal immigration across the southern border, and Members of the House were actively trying to understand the impacts on our Nation, including the impact on our Federal court system.
A member of the caucus who was aware of Judge Moses and her caseload recommended we seek her input, inviting her to virtually participate in our monthly meeting. Since that first connection, she has become a good friend and has been a wealth of information.
My staff and I have traveled to Del Rio, Texas, the division in which she sits, on multiple occasions, even bringing fellow Members of the House with us to meet her in person.
It gives me joy to share her story with you today. Chief Judge Moses is a story of firsts and one that should inspire us all. The chief was the youngest of six children born to her dear parents, Amelia and Abdalla Moses, and raised in the small farming community of Quemado, Texas, a mere 35 miles from where she would ascend to chief judge.
With the support of her parents and siblings, she graduated from Texas Woman's University and became the first in her family to attend law school, choosing the University of Texas.
In 1990, only a few years out of law school and working as an assistant county attorney in Austin, Chief Judge Moses was tapped to establish the U.S. Attorney's Office in Del Rio, Texas, where she continued until she was appointed as a magistrate judge in 1997.
On July 11, 2002, she was nominated by President George W. Bush to serve as a U.S. district judge for the Western District of Texas. On November 18, 2002, she took the oath of office, becoming the first female district judge for the Western District of Texas and the first district judge to reside in the Del Rio Division. Exactly 20 years later, on November 18, 2022, Judge Moses became the first female chief judge of the district.
Her impressive legal career isn't the only enduring aspect of her life. She has served as a mentor and guidepost for those around her. During her time as district judge, she has placed a priority on lifting up the young lawyers working for her, saying: ``My ambition now is to have a legacy of helping others, who will then turn around and help the next generation . . . `'
I could tell you her ambition is true, and she has made good on that ambition, aim, and goal.
I have personally interacted with a handful of her law clerks who possess great admiration and gratitude for her. On her 20th anniversary of serving as a district judge, some of her former law clerks have offered heartfelt sentiments, including: I didn't understand the jackpot I was hitting until after I got to Judge Moses' court. . . . Her confidence and command of the courtroom are inspiring. I take something I have learned from her and use it every day in my professional career.
Another said: It is like a mentorship for life.
A member of my own staff had the privilege of interning with her for a few weeks after completing his first year of law school and continues to sing her praises.
In my experience, her teaching and guidance aren't exclusive to those under her legal tutelage. In 2024, my staff organized a delegation of staffers from other Capitol Hill offices interested in learning more about the border and Federal court system. Among their many meetings, Chief Judge Moses welcomed them to her Del Rio courtroom. She provided them with the opportunity to attend court proceedings and to meet with the head of each of the court's components. We still hear from staff about the impact of that experience and how it better prepared them to serve their elected Representatives here in Washington, D.C.
Some years ago, Chief Judge Moses reflected on influences in her life, saying: ``It is amazing how God puts these mentors in your life. I wonder if they realize what kind of impact they are having on you when they are your mentors.''
I am confident she has had that same effect on many generations of law clerks and those who have had the opportunity to learn from her. I know she has had that impact on my own chief of staff, who speaks of her example, guidance, devotion, and friendship often.
Chief Judge Moses is an inspiration to all young women dreaming of what they can achieve. While I have only known her for a small portion of her 24 years on the bench, her dedication, her patriotism, and her love for the law
This month, Chief Judge Moses will be honored by having her official portrait hung in the United States Federal Courthouse in San Antonio, Texas. This tribute is well deserved. It further cements her place in history and her example for all those following in her footsteps.
I say this only once and only for Chief Judge Moses: Hook `em Horns. I congratulate her on this immense honor.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Iranian Temporary Immigration Relief Act, legislation I introduced alongside Congressman Tom Suozzi to provide temporary protected status and work authorization to eligible Iranian nationals already living in the United States.
Our bill is about fairness. It is about keeping a promise to people who followed the law, complied with every immigration requirement, and came to this country to study, research, innovate, and contribute.
It is also personal to me. My father came to the United States as a student. Like so many others I have met in Arizona, he came here legally, pursued his education, and built a life grounded in opportunity and hard work.
These stories are not unique. They are shared by thousands of Iranian students and researchers who now find themselves caught in uncertainty through no fault of their own.
Just in Arizona, I have heard from dozens of students, scientists, engineers, and researchers whose lives have been thrown into limbo by the chaos unleashed by the Trump administration. These are real people contributing to America's future.
One Arizona State University graduate earned a Ph.D. in materials science and engineering, researching biomedical technologies for neurological diseases through NIH-funded projects. He secured a very competitive position at the Mayo Clinic to continue federally funded medical research, but because his employment authorization remains frozen, he has spent months unable to work, without income, and without health insurance.
Another researcher at ASU completed her Ph.D. studying how lighting and design affect migraine patients, older adults, and individuals with Alzheimer's disease. She had a job offer waiting for her at a major architecture and design firm in Arizona. She did everything right. She filed every document on time, yet she still cannot begin her work because her case remains stuck in administrative limbo created by the Trump administration.
I heard from a Ph.D. researcher working on artificial intelligence for power grid reliability, crucial in my State. His research was recognized in the Department of Energy's competition, and yet despite receiving job opportunities from American employers, he cannot legally begin contributing those skills.
I heard from a biomedical researcher working on brain cancer drug development at Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix. Her work has already contributed to projects that advanced into human clinical trials in Arizona. She came to the United States to help sick people and advance science. Instead, she now faces the possibility of being forced to leave this country just as she nears completion of her doctorate.
I also heard from an Iranian Ph.D. student in public health whose husband waited nearly 2 years in administrative processing for a dependent visa, only to be ultimately denied after chaotic Trump policies prevented him from getting the visa he was promised. After 10 years of marriage, they are now separated indefinitely.
These individuals are not asking for special treatment. They are asking for their lawful applications to be processed fairly, and they are asking not to be punished because of where they were born.
These students and researchers are conducting NIH-funded cancer research, developing biomedical technologies, strengthening artificial intelligence systems, improving public health, advancing clean energy reliability, and helping American universities and employers remain globally competitive.
The United States spent taxpayer dollars on training many of these individuals. American universities recruited them. Federal grants supported their research, and American hospitals and companies have offered them jobs. Now, after years of education and contribution, we are telling them they may not be allowed to continue their work and could be forced to return to Iran amid a dire human rights crisis worsened by ongoing hostilities and increased repression by the Islamic Republic.
Many Iranians residing in the United States have participated in anti-Islamic Republic regime and prodemocracy demonstrations in recent years, putting them at greater risk of persecution in Iran.
My bill grants temporary protected status and work authorization to eligible Iranian nationals legally present in the United States while their immigration matters remain pending. Importantly, this legislation includes safeguards to ensure that individuals connected to the Islamic Republic are not eligible for relief. It is targeted relief for ordinary civilians, students, researchers, scientists, families, and professionals who have complied with the law and built lives in our communities.
As the first Iranian-American Democrat elected to Congress, I know personally how deeply these stories resonate across our communities, but this issue is larger than any one community. It is about whether America remains a country that rewards talent, values fairness, supports scientific innovation, and honors due process.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the Iranian Temporary Immigration Relief Act.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Bruce N. Borger of Palmerton, Pennsylvania, who passed away on May 23, 2026, at the age of 77.
Bruce was a proud Vietnam veteran who served in the United States Army from 1967 to 1970. Like many Vietnam veterans, he continued to face health challenges related to his service long after returning home, a reminder of the sacrifices our veterans make both on and off the battlefield.
Following his military service, Bruce worked as a mechanic for Palmerton Borough for 35 years, serving his community with the same dedication and work ethic that defined his life.
Above all, Bruce loved his family. He was a devoted husband to his wife, Kathryn, a loving father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, who treasured every moment with those he loved.
On behalf of the Lehigh Valley and Poconos, I extend my deepest condolences to the Borger family and all who knew him.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the lives and service of two dedicated members of Lookout Fire Company No. 1 in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania: David ``Dave'' Falcone and Alfred ``Al'' Hendershot, who our community lost in April and May of this year, respectively.
These two men, from different generations, shared a common commitment to serving their neighbors and strengthening their community through decades of volunteer service.
Dave Falcone served Lookout Fire Company No. 1 for nearly a quarter- century, most recently as assistant chief engineer. He held numerous leadership roles during his time with the company and was known for his dedication, reliability, and willingness to serve whenever called upon.
Al Hendershot was a proud veteran of the United States Air Force, who served our Nation during the Vietnam war before continuing a lifetime of service at home. As a longtime member of Lookout Fire Company, he devoted countless hours to protecting and supporting the Pen Argyl community.
I extend my deepest condolences to their families, friends, fellow firefighters, and all those whose lives were
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and service of Richard F. Kern, also known as Kerny, of East Bangor.
For nearly six decades, Kerny answered the call to serve his community. He was a 59-year member of East Bangor Volunteer Fire Company, where he served as chief and helped protect generations of families throughout the region.
Throughout his life, he embodied the values that make volunteer first responders so vital to our communities across the country: duty, sacrifice, leadership, and a willingness to put others before himself.
On behalf of the Lehigh Valley and the Poconos, I extend my deepest condolences to Kerny's family, friends, fellow firefighters, and all those whose lives were touched by his extraordinary service.
His legacy will live on through the organization he helped build, the people he mentored, and the community that he faithfully served for nearly 60 years.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the historic milestone of the Diocese of Allentown and the communities it serves throughout the Lehigh Valley.
This past weekend, six men were ordained to the priesthood in the Diocese of Allentown, marking the largest ordination class in the diocese in four decades. Several of those ordained have deep ties to the Lehigh Valley, including Dominic Civitella of Easton; Tyler Davis of Coopersburg; Tyler Loch of Ironton; and Hy James Gia Ngo, who served communities in Northampton during his formation.
Priests, pastors, and other faith leaders are essential leaders in our communities. They provide spiritual guidance, support families, care for those in need, and bring people together in service to their neighbors.
As these men begin their ministries, I congratulate them, their families, and the Diocese of Allentown on this historic occasion and wish them all the best in the years ahead.
Mr. Speaker, Americans are fed up with this government. They are fed up with money in politics. They are fed up with not knowing who they can trust.
Corporations and billionaires are spending more than ever in an effort to influence our elections, and we are seeing more and more campaigns paying social media influencers to promote their candidates.
Voters deserve to know who is getting paid. They deserve to know where corporations are spending their money and which billionaires are buying elections and how. When someone sees a video or endorsement, they should know whether it is actually an advertisement and who is paying for it.
In recent years, we are seeing social media influencers with hundreds of thousands and sometimes even millions of followers promoting campaigns and candidates. Now, everyone has a right to their opinions, but if they are being paid to create this content and promote a candidate, then they should be disclosing it to their viewers.
A semi-famous influencer with even a modest following can have an enormous impact on a close election that is decided, in some cases, by a few thousand votes. A social media personality with a large following can drive a campaign narrative sometimes more effectively than TV, radio, or any other media. They can do it all without ever disclosing their connection to the campaign or candidate they are supporting or even if they are being paid by the campaign itself.
This is wrong. Voters deserve to have basic information about the conflicts of interest, incentives, and who is paying for political ads. Social media influencers must be required to disclose their paid affiliations with a candidate or campaign.
In the California State Assembly, where I served as speaker pro tempore, I was proud to author the first-in-the-Nation DISCLOSE Act to require candidates, campaigns, and super-PACs to publicly disclose their largest donors in political ads. That is now law in the largest State in the land.
Now, in Congress, I am working on ways to address this now and for future elections. Congress has tools to ensure transparency in our elections--who is paying for what and who is getting paid.
Transparency is the least, the very least, we can do to safeguard our elections. We can and must do better.
Madam Speaker, with blatant complicity by Democrats, America had open-border policies, millions of illegal aliens crossing, human trafficking of children, and fentanyl trafficking, killing tens of thousands of young Americans.
House Republicans are funding law enforcement to secure the border. Yesterday, Republicans passed the Secure America Act, funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs. Key components include Border Patrol agents, surveillance technology, and child exploitation investigators.
Under the leadership of President Donald Trump, Border Patrol has released zero illegal aliens this year, using current laws, not needing immigration reform.
Yesterday, in the South Carolina Republican primary, I am grateful that my son, Alan Wilson, the longest serving attorney general in America, achieved the runoff on June 23 to serve the people of South Carolina.
In conclusion, God bless our troops as Donald Trump is reinstituting peace through strength, revealing war criminal Putin lies, insulting Trump and mocking Trump, as war criminal Putin provides targeting information to Iran to murder Americans.
South Carolina mourns the passing yesterday of Butch Wallace, who will always be cherished as a civic leader and an American patriot.
Madam Speaker, I rise today in recognition of Pride Month and to honor Radiant Health Centers, an Irvine-based nonprofit that has been serving Orange County's LGBTQ+ communities, underserved residents, and people living with or affected by HIV for nearly four decades.
Founded in 1985 as AIDS Services Foundation Orange County, Radiant began as a volunteer-led response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, providing dignity and support at a time when too many people were being denied the care they deserved.
Today, Radiant is the largest and most comprehensive nonprofit HIV service provider in Orange County, touching thousands of lives.
Radiant began as an act of courage. The founding volunteers stood up for the most vulnerable amid devastating stigmatization, which saved lives.
This Pride Month, I hope their courage will inspire us all. Amid rising hate and discrimination, let us recommit ourselves to defending dignity and equality for all. I am proud to recognize Radiant Health Centers for their lifesaving work and their deep commitment to the people of Orange County.
Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize Patriot Industries of Louisa County, Virginia, for being named the Small Business Administration's Virginia Manufacturer of the Year.
Founded in 2010 by Tom and Sarah Click in a modest 1,000-square-foot facility, Patriot Industries has grown into a leading manufacturer of electrical infrastructure products, operating three U.S.-based facilities and employing nearly 100 Americans.
Their conduit, fittings, and other critical components help support construction, energy systems, and infrastructure projects across the country.
Through continuous investment in manufacturing, innovation, and workforce development, Patriot has strengthened domestic supply chains while creating jobs in Virginia.
I congratulate Tom, Sarah, and the entire Patriot team on this well- deserved recognition and thank them for representing the very best of American manufacturing.
Madam Speaker, UFOs; the Gulf of America; water pressure in your shower; shrimp farms; pardoning insurrectionist rioters and providing a way for them to be paid for their behavior; the blue water color of the reflecting pool on The Mall; and building an MMA stadium on the lawn of the White House and a big, beautiful ballroom, too, that America doesn't need--these aren't topics of bizarre nightmares. They are some of the things that the White House and the congressional majority have prioritized in the last 18 months.
What should we be doing? We should be ending a war of choice that triggered skyrocketing gas prices and eliminating unnecessary tariffs that increased the costs of groceries and consumer products.
This morning, the news told us that inflation rose to 4.2 percent, the highest level in 3 years, way more important than the name on The Kennedy Center or building a triumphal arch.
This Congress is the least productive Congress ever, having passed an anemic number of laws--mostly messaging bills to rally the majority's MAGA base.
For those who are feeling the unbearable pressure on their paychecks because of rising costs on everyday necessities, help is on the way in 146 days, just less than 21 weeks.
Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of all of those impacted by last year's devastating tornado. People deserve a recovery process that is prompt, transparent, and responsive to their community's actual needs.
However, time and time again, President Trump and his administration have failed to meet those needs. Sadly, those impacted by last year's tornado have joined a long line of communities around the country pleading with this administration to do its fair share in their recovery process.
This is unacceptable, which is why yesterday I introduced my CDBG-DR AAA legislation, the first in a series of bills to reform and overhaul the disaster relief system in this country.
This bill helps ensure recovery gaps are identified early and continuously assessed after a major disaster declaration is declared by the President. This will help communities access the resources needed to rebuild stronger and faster.
We can and we must do better for those who need us most, and I remain committed to fighting on their behalf in Congress.
Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1345, I call up the bill (H.R. 8312) to establish fraud prevention and program integrity functions and data sharing authorities within the Department of Treasury and a permanent governmentwide Inspector General for Fraud, Accountability, and Recovery, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 1345, the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, printed in the bill, is adopted and the bill, as amended, is considered read.
The text of the bill, as amended, is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill, as amended, shall be debatable for 1 hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform or their respective designees.
The gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Comer) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Walkinshaw) each will control 30 minutes.
Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Kentucky?
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, the Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act dramatically enhances how agencies prevent fraud, especially during any future national emergency. It also ensures the governmentwide data analytic resources established to investigate pandemic-era fraud are permanently preserved.
Experienced fraudsters understand that when the government responds to a crisis, agencies often let their guard down. Serious failures were exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially for the newly established or rapidly expanded financial assistance and benefits programs.
Agencies did not build effective fraud protections into their programs nor implement them until the funds were already lost to fraud.
Although the true extent of the fraud through pandemic relief efforts will never be determined, GAO estimates that hundreds of billions of dollars were potentially lost to fraud.
The Federal Government also lacked a centralized resource for data and advanced analysis that could have quickly identified fraudulent activities.
The Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, or PRAC, built a data analytics capability on the fly as pandemic relief funds were already being expended by agencies.
American taxpayers have been hurt by the lack of swift investigative action and delays in implementing fraud prevention processes.
H.R. 8312 was drafted based on years of diligent oversight work under the leadership of Government Operations Subcommittee Chairman Pete Sessions from Texas, who is the sponsor of this bill.
His legislation ensures there is a permanent, governmentwide, antifraud analytics function to assist agency inspectors general with their fraud work.
It ensures a permanent Inspector General Office for Fraud, Accountability, and Recovery, utilizing the valuable proven resources built by the PRAC over recent years.
This eliminates the need to start from scratch in the inevitable event of a new national emergency.
The bill also includes provisions to ensure appropriate coordination with the governmentwide program integrity and improper payment tools maintained by the U.S. Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service, providing Treasury the authority to develop a governmentwide data analytic support platform for Federal agencies and State-administered, federally funded programs to voluntarily participate in.
This bill is the culmination of years of this committee's work to understand how agencies can improve their operations to protect hard- earned taxpayer money from fraudsters.
I encourage my colleagues to support H.R. 8312, and I reserve the balance of my time.
I am opposed to the Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act.
As the chairman said, since its creation, the PRAC has clawed back millions of dollars in pandemic fraud, and it stands as an exemplar of what smart oversight can do with strong bipartisan support. It works. I support making it permanent, as do my Democratic colleagues on the Oversight Committee.
That is why we supported the extension of the PRAC's authorization to 2034 last year. Thanks to that bipartisan work, the PRAC is in no danger of disappearing in the near future.
The danger this bill presents, however, is far-reaching, and it is a continuation of President Trump's war on the inspector general community.
Right now, today, the PRAC is housed in the Council of the Inspectors General for Integrity and Efficiency, or CIGIE, which was created by Congress to provide a way for the IG community to coordinate, share resources, set audit and investigative standards, learn from one another, and, most importantly, ensure accountability within the IG community itself.
The danger this bill presents is a continued weakening of that IG community. It is clear that President Trump and his administration are afraid of CIGIE, because one of its functions, its core functions, is to investigate inspectors general who are accused of wrongdoing; a function that disrupts his administration's efforts over the last year and a half to illegally fire independent IGs and replace them with political allies who his administration hopes will cover up the waste, fraud, and abuse perpetrated by his own administration.
To this end, he illegally withheld CIGIE's congressionally provided funding last fall. All of us, Democrats and Republicans, should be outraged by that because we appropriated that funding. It caused CIGIE to abruptly stop functioning. The websites housing thousands of audit reports went offline. Investigators and law enforcement officers across the IG community were left without access to essential training. That fraud prevention work came to a halt.
Taking the PRAC out of CIGIE and moving it to a third, new Treasury IG is another attempt to weaken the case for funding CIGIE and to further dismantle what remains of a community already very severely weakened by the Trump administration's efforts to purge independent IGs and replace them with political cronies.
Renewed cuts to CIGIE's funding would result in a massive loss of capacity for the IG community and less waste, fraud, and abuse identified.
Worse, the bill's expansion of the Do Not Pay system could threaten the privacy of millions of Americans, given this administration's really poor track record on information privacy. That is why I filed an amendment to the bill that would walk back the changes proposed and would instead simply make the successful functions of the PRAC permanent within CIGIE. It ain't broke. We don't need to fix it. But the majority would not allow that amendment to move forward.
This is another example of congressional Republicans lining up to support the administration's unrelenting attack on the IG community that started with the illegal mass firings in his first month in office in 2025. Since then, many IG positions have been left vacant, and they have installed overtly partisan appointees in others.
That governmentwide overhaul has created a culture of fear, where IGs are fearful to come forward when they identify waste, fraud, and abuse. Independent oversight has been blocked, and I fear that this bill would give the Trump administration another way to
Madam Speaker, you will not hear anything more rich in this body today than listening to a Democrat who did absolutely nothing about fraud for the last 4 years talk about why we should oppose a very good measure to prevent and oppose fraud.
Madam Speaker, I yield 7 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sessions), the sponsor of this good legislation.
Madam Speaker, I thank the distinguished gentleman, the chairman of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee, for yielding.
Mr. Comer has begun telling the story about H.R. 8312, Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act, which we today will discuss, but I think it is important that we probably tell a story because this has two tales, but one truth to it.
The bottom line is that our friends, if they oppose this today, it is because they are embarrassed. They are embarrassed about the legislation that they passed, the operation of the Biden administration with the Treasury, and their insistence that we continue allowing unaided opportunity for fraudsters to come and take advantage of the government.
I thank the distinguished gentleman who has encouraged me from the very beginning. He, as chairman of the committee, and I, as chairman of the Government Operations Subcommittee, have worked completely on a bipartisan methodology, since I have become chairman, with the Democrats, holding hearings, understanding not only the problems but the potential answers. The answers that we have come up with completely would sustain themselves under any opportunity for people to look.
The bottom line is that the excuses that are being offered today come from someone who probably does not know many IGs, has probably never spoken to those about some fear that he believes exists.
Madam Speaker, since 2003, the Government Accountability Office estimated that the Federal Government has improperly paid about $3 trillion. That means $3 trillion that was intended for a purpose-- probably a very good purpose--has gone to people who have taken that money for a different reason, and that means it is an unintended payment.
During the 4 years of President Biden, the government lost between $230 and $520 billion each year. While it is easy to say that the predominance of this occurred, really what the President was dealing with was working through issues related to COVID. I need to understand that I do know that this is a fact.
What happened, though, is the Federal Government made sure that Federal Government workers were given opportunities to not come to work. They call it telework, but the bottom line is, they were not there to challenge people who were trying to take advantage of the government, knowing that between $230 and $500 billion was being fleeced from the Federal Government every year.
We know this because the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, known as the PRAC, investigated these payments as they went out the door. They didn't just go out the door; they flew out the door.
The PRAC was established by the CARES Act of 2020 to oversee the $2.2 trillion in pandemic spending. In other words, they added fuel to the fire, $2.2 trillion, knowing they had a problem without an answer.
The Democrats' answer at that time, and still is today, just let the money go--just let it go--because we don't like the way Donald Trump and Republicans are attempting to hold these fraudsters accountable.
The problem is that the CARES Act of 2020 prioritized immediate spending of $2.2 trillion and left the PRAC to figure out why we were losing so much money, who it was. Madam Speaker, it is hard to watch $2.2 trillion go out the door knowing that roughly 25 percent of it will never be found or recovered.
In fairness to the Biden administration, they did recognize the need for an organization that would begin looking at this issue. Today, we take that beyond looking.
The Biden administration failed to quickly set up the PRAC and to stop the fraud. Instead, they prioritized payments and ignored the need to learn who was getting these payments, to establish an organization that would know more about what was happening on their watch. The Federal Government got payment receipt information on how these recipients requested their money. They had the whole story in front of them.
We know that the PRAC, however, is now the answer, and they have been the answer. Since the creation of the PRAC, the PRAC has assisted law enforcement and agency inspectors general and partners across 1,200 pandemic-related investigations, with a potential fraud loss of $2.5 billion.
Today, I am here to tell you, after six hearings conducted by the Oversight Committee and my Government Operations Subcommittee, it is clear that we have a huge number of people defrauding the government, and the PRAC has lots of data and information.
The PRAC has some 1.7 billion pieces of data--names, addresses, emails, cohorts who assisted with that, and other data and information--that was gleaned through the process.
This bill today, H.R. 8312, the Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act, will make sure that the PRAC cannot only continue permanently, which my friends, the Democrats, say that they are not against, but it will also allow a placement of a permanent home to alleviate the questions that had come up earlier, and that was who is doing the work.
It has been decided that the U.S. Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service's financial and integrity services will handle this. They are professionals. They are law enforcement, and they have an eye to fraud.
Finally, this bill makes sure that we are never left without proper oversight of funds. We will make sure that no matter the problems that face this Nation, we will be prepared.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
We are here on the floor today with this opportunity to come up with what started as and still should be a bipartisan agreement.
Instead of sending the money out and then chasing it, we are going to run every bit of this data and information through the PRAC of existing people who receive benefits today. We are going to know that just the word alone of fraud is enough not to stop a payment, but to do an investigation, and it will be done by law enforcement professionals who understand not only authority and responsibility, but they understand the taxpayers' needs.
Madam Speaker, I thank you for allowing this bill to come today. I thank the distinguished chairman of our committee, and I want you to know, this bipartisan bill that started that way still has a chance to end that way.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
The gentleman from Kentucky said that I had done nothing about fraud for the last 4 years here. I know the gentleman from Kentucky knows that I have not been a Member of this House for 4 years because he reminds me often, but I did spend the last 5 years serving in local government for a county government that was repeatedly named the best managed county in the United States of America.
One of the reasons for that is we had independent auditors, the analogue to IGs, and when they brought forward information that might have been inconvenient for us that there was perhaps waste, fraud, or abuse taking place within the government, we didn't fire them. We listened to that information and acted on it. The Trump administration could learn a little bit from that.
I come to this floor often, and one can be forgiven, Madam Speaker, if you come to the conclusion that Joe Biden is President of the United States right now. That is because with my friends on the other side, every sentence is ``subject verb Joe Biden,'' ``subject verb Joe Biden,'' ``Joe Biden this,'' ``Joe Biden that.'' Joe Biden is on the beach in Delaware.
Donald J. Trump is President of the United States, and he is responsible for the fraud, the corruption, and the abuse taking place in the administration: the $400 million jet gift of a foreign government; the digital schemes that were reported recently where the Trump family profited $500 million, while investors--I use that term loosely--in those schemes lost out, every one of our constituents; the no-bid contracts awarded to close political allies of former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem; and the credible allegations that Corey Lewandowski had to be paid off before contracts could be awarded at DHS.
There is corruption, fraud, and abuse, and we hear nothing from the majority about it in this Chamber or on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
With respect to the PRAC--and I believe that the gentleman from Texas is sincere in his view that this bill would be an improvement--I want to share, again, my concerns. We agree that the PRAC works. It is one thing that maybe we agree on today.
Why does it work? Why has it worked better than other tools that we have? I will give you three reasons, Madam Speaker.
One, PRAC has multiagency ownership because it is housed at CIGIE. It can bring together the judgment of IGs across the government, all the IGs. CIGIE is uniquely positioned to allow for all of those perspectives to be brought to bear on the PRAC's work.
Second, it has institutional independence. It is independent of the White House and independent of any agency or department, which allows it to speak truth in a way that, right now, other IGs don't feel they can do.
Third, it is separate from the payment system. It is separate from the payment system, so we can look from above and outside on what is taking place in the payment system to help prevent fraud.
This bill would put the IG overseeing the payment infrastructure inside the very agency that runs that payment structure. I think that weakens it.
I respect that the gentleman from Texas believes that strengthens it. I think the record is clear. If we agree that it works, then why do we want to risk disrupting it?
Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 8312, the Fraud Prevention and Accountability Act.
The American people expect their government to be a responsible steward of taxpayer dollars, yet every year, the Federal Government loses hundreds of billions of dollars to fraud, waste, and abuse of our hard-earned money.
While the Federal Government provides families, workers, and businesses with the support they need, several COVID-era spending programs exposed serious weaknesses in our ability to prevent fraud. Once those dollars were lost, it has proven to be nearly impossible to recover them.
This bill shifts the Federal Government from a reactive stance to a proactive one. Instead of focusing primarily on recovering funds after they have been stolen, it prioritizes preventing fraud before taxpayer dollars are ever stolen.
Through better coordination, stronger oversight, and improved safeguards, this bill helps ensure Federal programs are protected from abuse. At a time when our Nation is almost $40 trillion in debt, every dollar matters.
The American people work far too hard, sacrifice far too much, and wait far too long for their paychecks to watch them be sacrificed to bureaucratic incompetence.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, as I said, this bill would undercut independent inspectors general, which is one of the most powerful tools we have to combat waste, fraud, and abuse.
I highlighted the three ways in which I fear it would break the PRAC program that is not broken. We agree, both sides, that the PRAC is working. Why we would want to disrupt it, I don't comprehend. I struggle to comprehend.
I think this bill would be a mistake, and I fear that it would advance the Trump administration's efforts to further undermine and weaken our independent inspectors general, who are our key tools to combat waste, fraud, and abuse.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, it is estimated that if the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee were established prior to the pandemic, as much as $79 billion in fraudulent payments could have been prevented on the front end.
The Nation cannot afford to lose such a valuable resource. That is why I call on each of my colleagues to support H.R. 8312 to ensure that these antifraud capabilities are permanently available to Federal agencies and in preparation for any future national emergency.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
Pursuant to House Resolution 1345, the previous question is ordered on the bill, as amended.
The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was read the third time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the ayes appeared to have it.
Madam Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 1345, I call up the bill (H.R. 8464) to amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize pausing and segmenting payments, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 1345, the amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, printed in the bill, is adopted, and the bill, as amended, is considered read.
The text of the bill, as amended, is as follows:
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The bill, as amended, shall be debated for 1 hour equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform or their respective designees.
The gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Comer) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Walkinshaw) each will control 30 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Comer).
Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the measure under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Kentucky?
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, we are facing a national emergency of fraud in Federal programs that is impacting every American.
According to the Government Accountability Office, the Federal Government is estimated to lose between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud across all Federal programs and operations.
Earlier this week, we exposed how criminals stole $9 billion in Minnesota's social services programs while senior State officials, including Governor Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, did absolutely nothing to stop it.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. Whether in Minnesota, California's hospice system, or Medicaid waiver programs in Ohio or New York, one thing is clear: Fraudsters will keep stealing taxpayer dollars until they are stopped.
Taxpayers bear the burden, while vulnerable Americans, the very people these programs are meant to help, are harmed.
The Trump administration has taken decisive action to combat waste, fraud, and abuse by establishing the White House Task Force to eliminate fraud.
Just this week, Vice President Vance referred our findings on Minnesota's rampant fraud to the Department of Justice for investigation.
Congress must take further action to stop fraud before it happens.
The Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act adds critical safeguards to ensure Federal payments go to the right recipient in the right amount before funds are awarded or disbursed.
Federal law currently lacks a governmentwide requirement to verify payments and prevent fraud across Federal financial assistance and public benefit programs.
Even when payments show elevated fraud risks, the Treasury Department cannot stop it. It is required to process the payments agencies request.
Under current law, agencies can issue payments despite flags received from Treasury's Do Not Pay system or other tools that might indicate an elevated risk of fraud.
H.R. 8464 addresses the status quo by requiring agencies to conduct fraud prevention activities prior to issuing payment requests. The bill gives Treasury the authority to halt and return payments flagged for fraud risk so agencies can review and correct them before issued.
Agencies would be required to quickly review and resolve payments flagged for elevated risk of fraud unless otherwise mandated by law.
This provides additional assurance to the American taxpayer that money is being paid to the right recipient and for the right amount while preserving the ownership of a program's administration within the appropriate Federal agency as authorized by law.
This bill also helps agencies and the American public understand when a legitimate recipient's identity is being stolen and used for fraudulent activities by criminals.
Lastly, to help Congress oversee progress made in addressing payments with elevated fraud risk, Treasury will summarize the number of returned payments, corrective outcome, and associated cost savings achieved under the requirements of this bill. This ensures Congress has regular oversight of these reforms.
The commonsense reforms outlined in this bill will protect taxpayer dollars from being stolen by fraudsters while maintaining the integrity of Federal programs.
Madam Speaker, I call on each of my House colleagues to support H.R. 8464 to protect taxpayer dollars from falling into the hands of criminals and fraudsters.
Madam Speaker, fighting and preventing fraud should be a bipartisan issue, and preventing the misuse of government funds should be a priority shared by Democrats and Republicans alike.
When fraudsters successfully target government dollars, they steal from taxpayers, deprive our most vulnerable neighbors of lifesaving services, and undermine the public's trust in government.
We know that it is difficult to fight fraud and certainly difficult, if not impossible, to claw back payments after they have been delivered to a fraudster. There is no doubt the Federal Government must do more to address this problem.
That is why Oversight Committee Democrats have supported numerous antifraud measures, including the Pre-Payment Fraud Prevention and Treasury Data Access Act, which seeks to add additional payment verification before checks are sent out the door.
Oversight Committee Democrats and our Democratic colleagues across the House will continue to fight waste, fraud, and abuse in the Federal Government. However, the bill before us is flawed and does not constitute a good-faith effort to detect and prevent fraud.
H.R. 8464, the Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act, would give the Trump administration a blank check to cut off entitlements and grants to any entity or individual it disfavors with few guardrails. It would allow the Treasury Department to significantly delay funding if it decides there is sufficient reason that a payment carries an elevated risk of fraud.
This very broad, loosely defined authority could easily be used to target funding to State and local governments, university research grants, transportation funding, Pell grants, NIH grants, and even FEMA assistance.
Due to this administration's policies and this Congress' policies, Americans are struggling to put food on the table, gas in the tank, and to access the healthcare they need. For millions of families, Federal assistance, healthcare, food assistance, and Social Security is the only thing standing between them and financial ruin.
This bill threatens to pull that lifeline away by burying legitimate payments in vague criteria, red tape, and bureaucratic delays.
While we are all serious about stopping fraud, I hope, we can't turn a blind eye to the political interference and weaponization carried out by this administration.
Just last month, it suspended $1.3 billion in Medicaid payments to California, which will harm nearly a million elderly and disabled residents.
Last December, it threatened to withhold SNAP benefits from Colorado and Minnesota.
In January, the Department of Health and Human Services froze $10 billion in funding for essential needs across five States led by Democratic Governors. Meanwhile, not one State led by Republicans has been targeted.
The bill's stated intent is to stop improper payments, which we all agree is important. That is why House Democrats supported the Pre- Payment Fraud Prevention and Treasury Data Access Act earlier this week, a bipartisan bill to ensure we check the Do Not Pay list and catch improper payments before they go out the door.
However, the bill we are considering here includes none of those safeguards and will endanger millions of Americans who rely on critical programs for healthcare, food, and rent.
The American people want programs that work, not unnecessary red tape, delayed payments, and more dysfunction.
Madam Speaker, let me translate that 5 minutes of gibberish from my colleague.
They don't care about fraud. When you do find fraud, like we found in Minnesota and California, they don't want to cut off the money. They want the money to keep going so the fraudsters can stay in business. That is why we have to support this bill.
Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado (Ms. Boebert).
Madam Speaker, I strongly support H.R. 8464, the Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act.
This legislation is a commonsense, taxpayer-first bill that finally puts an end to the reckless pay-and-chase scam that has drained billions from hardworking American families.
For too long, the Washington bureaucracy has operated like an open checkbook for fraudsters. They cut the checks first, ask the questions later while American taxpayers foot the bill for waste, abuse, and outright theft.
We have seen it in State administered social services where millions vanished into pockets of criminals. Enough is enough.
H.R. 8464 empowers Federal agencies and the Department of the Treasury to pause, condition, or segment suspicious payments before the money flies out the door. It uses objective fraud risk indicators from the Do Not Pay system and requires any action to be narrow, temporary, and focused solely on verifying eligibility. No more blank checks and no more playing defense after fraud has already happened.
I believe in fiscal responsibility, government accountability, and protecting every hard-earned dollar from the American people. This bill delivers exactly that.
It shifts the focus from recovery to prevention, saving billions and ensuring benefits go to eligible Americans, not scammers and fraud rings.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to stand with taxpayers, stand against waste and fraud, and vote ``yes'' on H.R. 8464.
Madam Speaker, no one in this Chamber disputes that improper and fraudulent payments are a serious problem. The question before us is not whether to fight fraud; it is how we fight fraud.
If this bill actually does that--and I will give you a hint: It does not. The Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act allows agency officials to block payments whenever they have sufficient reason to believe there is an elevated risk of fraud.
This bill sets the standard so low that any administration can use it to cut off legitimate recipients before a single fact is even proven.
As a former prosecutor and public defender in St. Louis, I know firsthand what fraud accountability looks like. It starts with evidence, not suspicion.
This bill would allow any administration to stop payments for programs it opposes or in States it disfavors, using fraud as a pretext, allowing Trump to target States that disagree with him.
The people who would bear the brunt of payment pauses are the ones who cannot absorb it. These are patients on Medicaid, our seniors on Social Security, working families relying on SNAP, some of the most marginalized of our American brothers and sisters.
We can fight fraud without handing this administration a blank check to weaponize Federal payments.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose this bill.
Madam Speaker, I want to address the gentleman from Kentucky who described my statement as gibberish. Perhaps to him the details of the programs and the legislation are gibberish, but it is not to me.
I wonder if the gentleman knows how often the Do Not Pay list produces a false positive--in other words, how often the Do Not Pay list says someone shouldn't get paid when actually they are perfectly legitimate.
Madam Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Comer).
Madam Speaker, I will just give one agency, Social Security, an agency that has been under assault by this administration. It is estimated that 10,000 times a year, Social Security falsely declares somebody dead.
Imagine that. You wake up one morning, and your own government says you are dead. It happens oftentimes because States send bad information to the Social Security Administration.
Time after time after time, the IG has recommended that Social Security and this body make improvements in that process. They have requested additional funding, which this majority has denied, that would improve that process and prevent some of those false positives.
This bill would make a terrible situation for someone falsely declared by their government to be dead even worse, because if the government says you are dead, you don't get your Social Security checks.
This bill would make an already impossible process, where someone has to go call Social Security, get into an office, and try to get an appointment with an agency that has been decimated by DOGE--I know that my constituents tell me every day that they call Social Security offices and can't get anyone to answer the phone because folks have been fired and pushed out.
This bill would further delay at least 10,000 Americans falsely declared dead each year from getting their Social Security checks. That is just one of the problems.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself an additional 1 minute.
Madam Speaker, the IRS, 52 percent of the time when they say a return is fraudulent, they get it wrong. There are a lot of false positives on the Do Not Pay list.
This bill does nothing to address that situation, to ensure the Do Not Pay list is actually getting the fraudsters, not the law-abiding Americans who deserve their Social Security checks. It would make it a lot harder for all of our constituents to get the money they deserve when the government makes a mistake.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Madam Speaker, the gentleman eloquently described the Democrat-in- Washington solution to every problem. Whether it is fraud prevention or whatever, it is to hire more government employees and create a bigger government bureaucracy.
This bill that we are debating today keeps the decision of whether or not to hold a payment with the agency. The agency ultimately interprets the results of Do Not Pay.
This bill lets the President take away money from anything or anyone he doesn't like, as long as he thinks it is merely at risk for fraud. We have seen what he thinks is fraud.
Last year, Donald Trump froze $9 million intended for Serve Kentucky. Congress set aside that money for housing, hunger relief, education, and disaster relief in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The White House called that money waste and fraud. I have seen Serve Kentucky's work firsthand. President Trump might not like a program that brings food to seniors or new books to kids, but that doesn't make it fraud.
We know this President uses his power to punish those he does not like. He has done it before. He will do it again.
I agree with my Republican colleagues: No one wants waste or fraud from our taxpayer dollars. Congress must take a hard look at waste and fraud in our government.
Let's start with Donald Trump's ballroom. The President destroyed the White House and then said: Let me build a gaudy, billion-dollar ballroom that looks like it should hold slot machines, not State dinners.
He has been soliciting donations left and right from billionaires, tech and tobacco companies, defense contractors, and dozens more individuals and companies that do business with and profit from the Federal Government and your tax dollars.
The American people, all of us, deserve to know who and how much they are paying for access to President Trump.
For this reason, at the appropriate time, I will offer a motion to recommit this bill back to committee. If the House rules permitted, I would have offered the motion with an important amendment to this bill.
My amendment would prevent this bill from taking effect until the White House provides a list of every person who has donated to the White House ballroom.
Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of this amendment into the Record immediately prior to the vote on the motion to recommit.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Kentucky?
Madam Speaker, as I have said today, preventing fraud should be a priority for all of us, but this bill gives the Department of the Treasury far too much arbitrary authority to prevent critical Federal assistance from reaching Americans in need in a timely manner.
I will be happy to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support legislation like the eight suspension bills we considered earlier this week to combat fraud, but this bill misses the mark.
Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.
Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.
Madam Speaker, these bills we have debated today, H.R. 8312 and H.R. 8464, should be considered in the broader context of the committee's legislative work on fraud prevention and financial integrity reforms.
This week, the House has advanced eight bipartisan fraud and program integrity reform bills that we originally passed out of the Oversight Committee that will safeguard taxpayer dollars from fraudsters and cheats.
Collectively, with the bills advanced in the House this week, the Oversight Committee is preventing fraudulent payments from going out the door, equipping the Federal workforce to fight fraud, protecting taxpayer dollars during national emergencies, reforming agency financial leadership roles to improve agency financial performance, and launching sweeping oversight work at the Government Accountability Office over State administration of federally funded programs.
These governmentwide fraud prevention reforms are long overdue. They will safeguard our constituents' tax dollars and ensure Federal programs deliver for citizens who need them the most, as Congress intended.
We must continue to advance bold reforms that meaningfully address fraud, and I am proud to say these bills brought before the House this week by the Oversight Committee take a meaningful step toward better stewardship of taxpayer dollars by protecting them from fraud.
Madam Speaker, I urge each of my House colleagues to join us in supporting H.R. 8464 as we work to protect the hard-earned tax dollars of the American people.
Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. All time for debate has expired.
Pursuant to House Resolution 1345, the previous question is ordered on the bill, as amended.
The question is on the engrossment and third reading of the bill.
The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time, and was read the third time.
Mr. Speaker, we welcome a new Member of the California congressional delegation to our ranks.
On June 2, James Gallagher was duly elected in a special election to fill the remainder of the term vacated by our friend and former colleague, the beloved late Doug LaMalfa.
Doug was passionate about his commitment to the people of northern California and advocating for rural Californians, a passion that I am sure is shared by Representative Gallagher.
As chair of the Democratic congressional delegation, it is my honor to welcome you to the largest delegation in Congress, representing the greatest State in the Union.
We look forward to working with you to advocate on behalf of Californians here in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend, Mr. Calvert, dean of the Republican delegation from California.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, as chair of the California Republican delegation, I rise to welcome our newest Member of the body, the gentleman from California (Mr. Gallagher).
Today, the people of California's First District have chosen a champion, once again. James comes to this floor having devoted his entire career to what we affectionately call the North State: 6 years on the Sutter County Board of Supervisors, more than a decade in the California State Assembly, and years of service as his party's leader in Sacramento.
He fills the seat made vacant by the loss of our dear friend and colleague, Doug LaMalfa, a tireless voice for rural California who is deeply missed in this Chamber.
I have no doubt that James will carry the same fighting spirit and love of country to this work ahead.
To James and his family, welcome. The First District couldn't ask for a finer Representative, and the delegation couldn't ask for a better friend.
Mr. Speaker, I am honored to be the first Member of the House of Representatives to yield to our new colleague, Representative James Gallagher.
I have some very long prepared remarks today. No, I am truly honored to be here this afternoon, and I come here to this floor to fill some very big boots in Congressman Doug LaMalfa.
I come here from the wild north of California, of industrious people; of beautiful landscapes, mountains, and valleys; the breadbasket and farming capital of the north. I come here on behalf of the citizens of the First Congressional District, who overwhelmingly gave me their stamp of approval to be here to speak for them.
I intend to do so because, many times, they are the overlooked part of California, and they need a voice. Doug LaMalfa was their voice, and I plan to continue in that same spirit.
I come here also as a husband to my wife, Janna, who joins me in the gallery with my children, and whom I certainly could not do this without.
I am also joined by the wife of Doug LaMalfa. Jill LaMalfa is with us in the gallery today, as well, and some rabble-rousers who have come along from the wild north. I thank them for joining me here today, as well.
I am looking forward to serving in this body. It is truly, truly an honor. I know that this work that we do is very important.
I pray that God goes ahead of us and gives us the wisdom, the fortitude, and the integrity to bring our country together, as Abraham Lincoln once said, ``to bind up the Nation's wounds,'' and that we do right and that we seek the righteous way for the people of this great Nation.
I am proud to be one person in that long line of many leaders who have been able to be on this floor and speak for their people, and I take that honor very seriously.
I also know that my colleagues didn't come here necessarily for me. There is a big game tonight, I hear. I did want to say that I did play baseball, thanks to my dad here, who played in the minor leagues for the Kansas City Royals organization. I spent a lot of my young life on a baseball field somewhere, and so, with that, I will just end with: Play ball.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, the unfinished business is the vote on passage of the bill (H.R. 7892) to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require to the Secretary of Education to use an identity fraud detection system to review each FAFSA to determine whether the FAFSA presents a reasonable suspicion of identity fraud, 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 passage of the bill.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 249, nays 172, not voting 10, as follows:
Mr. MANNION changed his vote from ``nay'' to ``yea.''
So the bill was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, the unfinished business is the vote on passage of the bill (H.R. 8312) to establish fraud prevention and program integrity functions and data sharing authorities within the Department of Treasury and a permanent governmentwide Inspector General for Fraud, Accountability, and Recovery, and for other purposes, on which the yeas and nays were ordered.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill.
This is a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 240, nays 181, not voting 10, as follows:
So the bill was passed.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, the unfinished business is the vote on the motion to recommit on the bill (H.R. 8464) to amend title 31, United States Code, to authorize pausing and segmenting payments, and for other purposes, offered by the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. McGarvey), on which the yeas and nays were ordered.
The Clerk will redesignate the motion.
The Clerk redesignated the motion.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion to recommit.
This is a 5-minute vote.
The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 209, nays 213, not voting 9, as follows:
So the motion to recommit was rejected.
The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the passage of the bill.
The question was taken; and the Speaker pro tempore announced that the ayes appeared to have it.
Mr. Speaker, I was absent from the chamber during the vote on H.R. 8464. Had I recorded my vote, I would have voted ``Nay'' on Roll Call No. 220, passage of H.R. 8464, the Stopping Fraudulent Payments Act.
Zeroing Out Monetary Benefits Improperly Expended Act
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, the unfinished business is the question on suspending the rules and passing the bill (H.R. 8467) to reform the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 to ensure executive agencies focus on fraud prevention, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gill) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX, the unfinished business is the question on suspending the rules and passing the bill (H.R. 8340) to modify the governmentwide financial management plan, and for other purposes, as amended.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gill) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, 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. 9238) to amend the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 to extend the authorities of title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, 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 Ohio (Mr. Jordan) and the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Raskin) each will control 20 minutes.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, FISA section 702 will expire on Friday. This bill extends the program until July 2.
The 702 program is critically important to our national security. More than 60 percent of our intelligence presented to the President, to the Commander in Chief, every single day is derived from 702.
With the World Cup about to begin this week, we cannot be left without this critical tool every day. The 702 program helps keep us safe here at home and advance our interests abroad.
This temporary extension will ensure that there is no disruption to the program while we find a path forward on reauthorization.
Mr. Speaker, I urge Members 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, when we first met on the majority's confusion and disarray over FISA at 1:30 in the morning on April 17, we pointed out that the majority's language departed so sharply from the requirements of the Fourth Amendment in the Constitution that, for the very first time, it would have authorized the government to use 702 to specifically and deliberately target and spy on the communications of American citizens.
That midnight maneuver quickly collapsed as support melted away all across the body. On unanimous consent, we agreed to a 1-week extension to give the House leadership a chance to discuss and negotiate necessary reforms with their own Members who had been ignored and bypassed in the process, as well as with us.
Speaker Johnson never once invited us to the table. He never got in touch with us.
One week later, congressional Republicans again failed to pass their own bill. I stood in this spot, and we agreed to a one-time 45-day extension as a gesture of legislative good faith to give the leadership a chance to meet with their own members who had been bypassed and with the Democratic side of the aisle, which had been completely bypassed, and to engage in good-faith negotiations for serious FISA legislation.
That means legislation that meets both the requirements of the Constitution for the privacy rights of the people and the needs of our foreign policy and national security. Again, we never heard from the Speaker. We never heard from his staff. They never came to talk to us.
Now, we are here to consider a bill drafted, it looks like, at 4:33 p.m., about 1 hour ago, just to kick the can down the road one more time.
For months, we have offered to work in good faith with our friends across the aisle, our colleagues in the Senate, and intelligence community to reauthorize 702 in a manner that preserves the necessary authority while protecting essential constitutional values and the privacy rights of the people.
Despite this, again, Speaker Johnson has never once invited Democrats to the table.
I know Speaker Johnson. We served together on the Committee on the Judiciary. We used to speak and interact freely, but he has completely vanished in this process.
We have an incredible shrinking Constitution under Donald Trump, and now we have an incredibly shrinking Speaker under Donald Trump.
Look, our touchstone has been a fundamental principle at the core of the Fourth Amendment. A judge must come between the Federal Government and the private communications of American citizens. That is the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. The FBI has abused this powerful surveillance authority for decades.
The FISA court has recently raised serious questions today about how section 702 is operating. Instead of implementing the modest self- administered guardrails Congress required as part of our 2024 reauthorization, the FBI appears to have been actively circumventing and violating those guardrails.
We cannot trust Kash Patel not to violate FISA when he readily admits he queried some government databases to dig up dirt on journalists who dared to report about him and the government services he has made available to his girlfriend.
Believe it or not, the administration's invitation to trust Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard, which the majority of this body was not interested in, has now gotten even less enticing. Today, President Trump just appointed Bill Pulte as Acting Director of National Intelligence, making it even more obvious that he intends to use FISA to investigate, harass, and persecute his political opponents.
Director Pulte has no national security experience, zero, zilch, none. He is famous in America for only three things:
One, he vowed to engage in fisticuffs with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent when he was at Donald Trump, Jr.'s club in Georgetown, the Executive Branch.
Two, he brought Palantir into the Federal Housing Finance Agency, where he was director, to help him scour through American's personal financial data, looking for dirt on Trump's designated political enemies.
Finally, he then used this AI-enabled technology to create personal mortgage dossiers on Adam Schiff, Leticia James, and Lisa Cook, who he then referred to the Department of Justice for felony criminal prosecutions. He engaged in criminal referrals. All three of these attempted prosecutions, fortunately, collapsed either at the Department of Justice or in Federal court because they were so flimsy.
That is what he spends his time doing, trying to dig up dirt through this AI-enabled technology on American citizens, including elected officials.
So if you thought our civil liberties were safe with Tulsi Gabbard as the backstop, which was the last proposal, you will love the idea of Bill Pulte being the guardian of our privacy and the protector of our civil liberties.
Bill Pulte's appointment, which has been derided not just in our party but by Senators Thune, Tillis, and Cassidy, just to name a few, confirms our worst fears of the President's plans to abuse FISA section 702 for the purposes of domestic political surveillance, harassment, intimidation, and persecution.
Indeed, we know the FBI is currently abusing FISA based on the FISC opinion from March that remains inexplicably classified. Instead of implementing in good faith the modest reforms we passed 2 years ago, the FBI created a system to review Americans' data in violation of the minimal, self-administered, self-policing guardrails we required.
We can say with some confidence that the FBI has no idea how many U.S. person queries they ran last year, how many times they spied on the communications of American citizens, and we should be able to explain these serious deficiencies to our constituents.
Mr. Speaker, if we allow the President to turn FISA into an instrument of domestic political control, we will be ignoring everything we have already learned about the long history of abuse of this program, which my friend Mr. Jordan has helped to bring to light: past improper searches swept in Members of Congress and staff of both parties, campaign activists and donors, and Black Lives Matter activists.
President Trump certainly believes FISA provides the technology, methodology, and opportunity to spy on political opponents. On April 10, 2024, he posted: ``Kill FISA, it was illegally used against me, and many others. They spied on my campaign.''
``Kill FISA,'' he said. These allegations may or may not be true, but the President is certainly right that this program has been badly abused in the past.
The majority, yet, still shows no evidence of seeking to impose a judicial warrant requirement for queries of U.S. citizens. They have shown no interest in building a probable cause requirement into the statute. We have seen no evidence that they want to impose any judicial oversight at all, although that
That is the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. We need to stand by that, and we need a real process to make sure that we come up with real legislation that honors it.
Mr. Speaker, I think that might be the first time that I heard my friend and gentleman from Maryland agree with the President, as he smiles.
Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Crawford), the distinguished chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a good friend who is doing a great job.
Mr. Speaker, here is what we know: We are in an elevated threat level with FIFA World Cup games beginning this week, America's 250th birthday and related celebrations coming up this summer, Iran and its proxies are targeting U.S. military personnel daily, and the 25th commemoration of the September 11 terrorist attacks will be coming up.
We know that FISA 702 is the most important foreign intelligence authority to detect and mitigate national security threats.
This week, the World Cup kicks off, and 45 countries descend upon the United States for World Cup games, which just so happens to be the week that Democrats have actively chosen to disallow this critical national security tool from being renewed and allow it to go dark.
Democrats have chosen to compromise national security and the safety of Americans to play, essentially, political chicken with an essential national security tool. This is unserious, very dangerous behavior on the part of congressional Democrats.
Mr. Speaker, we are not talking about the policy. Instead, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are talking about personalities. They are concerned about personalities. They are not concerned about the policy.
I know, because they are really smart, that they understand that the DNI has no 702 query authority. Either they know that to be true and, yet, continue on this personality conflict issue, or they don't know that the DNI doesn't have 702 query authority. In either case, it is wrong.
We are not debating the underlying policy here. We are debating personalities, and that is a real shame.
Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and Mark Warner are all members of the Gang of Eight. They have all been read into the threats, as I have. They know the highest levels of national security threats, above every other Member of Congress, and they are all willing to let this program go dark and subject the American people to all manner of threats that might materialize here in the absence of this program.
That is an abdication of their constitutional responsibilities. It is shameful is what it is, for Gang of Eight members, who understand what is at stake, who have been read in at the highest levels, who understand the importance of 702, who know that 60 percent of the Presidential daily brief is derived from 702, for them to say ``no'' because they don't like the individual in question who doesn't even have 702 query authority. So let's go ahead and take this program hostage to make a political point because they don't like President Trump either.
That is what this has devolved into. It is an absolute shame. If this authority lapses starting on Saturday, we move into uncharted territory. It is unclear how providers will respond to statutory expiration, especially the lapse in liability protection and how uncertain this will impact foreign intelligence that is critical for policy and security decisions.
Once this authorization expires, the clock starts ticking. The implications get worse every single day.
While the 702 database would remain available to search, the data in that database will become increasingly out of date with potential provider noncompliance with orders, litigation by providers or outside groups, and even reticence by agency personnel to continue implementing an expired authority for fear of personal liability.
Enough is enough. Let's just get past the personalities, if we can, recognize the need to take care of the people in this country, and to secure our country. That is one of the things that we are supposed to do in this institution, is to protect the American people. Let's do that, take the personality potshots offline because if we want to do that, we have plenty of material to work with. Yet, let's just focus on the policy here, get this done, and move forward.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I don't know what personality potshots the distinguished gentleman is referring to. Of course, that is against the rules of the House, and if you think you have an objection, you should go ahead and object based on personalities. I haven't heard a single one mentioned.
In any event, when section 702 of FISA sunsets on June 12, if that is the will of the majority, the government surveillance activities will continue unchanged. Everything that has already been authorized and certified is already in motion, and current FISA authorizations will continue unaffected, at least through March 17, 2027.
In any event, I know that the gentleman said that we are approaching the 250th anniversary of the country. Yes, that is something we have known about for 250 years, and the majority has known for many months about this deadline and can't seem to get it together.
We don't have the opportunity to help them because they will not reach out to us and talk to us about it. I restate our commitment to try to help them get through this, but we are not going to continue to kick the can down the road with them indefinitely.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Massie), the very distinguished gentleman and a great champion of the Constitution and civil liberties.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this clean reauthorization of an unconstitutional program that is being used to spy on Americans without warrants. This would be the third temporary, clean extension of this unconstitutional program, and I find myself on the unfortunate opposition to the chairman of the committee of jurisdiction, the distinguished gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Jordan).
I want to read some of his quotes from last year. This is an article in The Washington Post that he so eloquently wrote: ``One year from now, Republicans and Democrats in Congress will have a chance to reaffirm our commitment to the Constitution and better protect Americans from warrantless government surveillance. This will be one of the most important debates we will have this Congress, and it is vital that we begin working now to protect Americans' constitutional rights.''
He goes on to say: ``Our fidelity must always be to the Constitution. The Fourth Amendment is one of the foundations of American civil liberties. It is part of what makes our country great and makes us the envy of the world. We must continue to protect and enhance it. Passing a warrant requirement for section 702 will do just that.''
He goes on to tweet later or earlier than that: ``The same people who spied on President Trump's campaign are now fighting against a warrant requirement in the new FISA bill.'' ``Makes you wonder.''
I find myself disagreeing with the chairman in this debate but agreeing vehemently with him last year and the year before when he pointed out that this program is unconstitutional and there is only one way to fix it: require warrants, judicial warrants.
We saw the President's administration tweet this week that we shouldn't trust these liberal judges in Washington, DC, to hamstring the Secretary of Defense. Well, that is not what we are talking about. Number one, we are not talking about a constraint on the Secretary of Defense or Secretary of War. We are talking about a constraint on the FBI to spy on Americans.
We are not talking about liberal judges since 8 of the 11 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judges were appointed by Republicans.
Mr. Speaker, I will point out to the gentleman from Kentucky, that is not the question today. The question today is: Can we go another 3 weeks, 21 days, and try to figure out what makes sense on protecting the privacy rights of Americans?
That is a simple question. I don't think 3 weeks is too much to ask. For goodness sakes, this program has been around forever. We did 56 reforms to it just 2 years ago.
I think the question is probably just: Can we go another 3 weeks and figure it out and maybe have those discussions that the ranking member was talking about? I know he and I have talked about what makes sense. That is the question in front of us.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Austin Scott), who serves on the Intelligence Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I want the American citizens to know that, as was said earlier, April 17, with hundreds of people on the floor of the House of Representatives, we did, by UC, adopt a 1-week extension. That was true.
We then did a 45-day extension, and now we are asking, yes, for 21- day extension. And sometimes things take longer than we would like for them to.
I want to defend my friend Tulsi Gabbard, who was attacked by the gentleman from Maryland. Tulsi was the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. She was the vice chair. She was elected unanimously to that position as the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee. She maintained friendships, because everybody knew she was a serious Member of Congress, up to and until she became an appointee of President Trump as DNI, and then, all of a sudden, everything I have heard from Democrats about her has been bad.
She was elected unanimously to the vice chair position of the DNC. She is a good woman. She cares about this country, and you should show her a little more respect than you do.
I want the American citizens, if you are watching this, to know, it is very simple. There is a lot going on in the world. Say what you want to about it with Iran. The bottom line is, the risks are elevated. The risks are elevated. Some of us think the President did the right thing. I realize some of you think he did the wrong thing, but the risks are elevated.
We have got the World Cup that is about to happen. Thousands and thousands of people are coming into this country, some of which actually want to do us harm. Do you know who is going to be making sure that we keep the ones out of this country that want to do us harm? It is going to be Customs and Border Protection checking statuses when they come in through the border. I am glad that we got that funded.
I want to leave you with this. If you are watching this, we, as the Republicans in the House, are also disappointed that we have not gotten to a resolution after the 1-week extension, after the 45-day extension.
We are simply asking for another 21-day extension to make sure that this authority does not expire.
Mr. Speaker, I would just ask that we abide by commonsense and the rule that we first do no harm by taking down a valuable national security tool that the United States of America needs.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SPEAKER. Members are reminded to direct their remarks to the Chair.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me just say, we gave the majority an extra week. We supported that unanimous consent. Everybody Member of this body supported that. They never consulted us. They never talked to us, despite all kinds of promises to do so.
I had GOP colleagues telling me, on the Judiciary Committee, they were never consulted. Nobody ever talked to them about it.
Then we gave them 45 days. They said they just needed 45 days, and they would definitely talk to us. We would be able to meet. After 1\1/ 2\ months, we heard nothing from them.
We have been begging them to sit down, because I believe there is a robust, bipartisan majority in this House to support the needed reforms and making sure that we interpose the voice of a judge before the personal communications of American citizens are invaded by the Government.
I think that we have got a vast majority on that side, but nobody from leadership seems to be talking to anybody who is concerned about this.
Now they say: Oh, well, just give us another week.
No, we are not interested in that. We have given you lots of time. You are not consulting us. You are not negotiating in good faith. So maybe the threat that we are not going to support you will finally get you guys serious about it.
Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Washington (Ms. Jayapal).
Mr. Speaker, Republicans called us up at the last minute to do yet another short-term extension of FISA.
This is just a sham. It has been months now, and we have done multiple short-term extensions. I voted against the last one because I knew that there was not actually going to be a reform proposal put on the table because, suddenly, even the bipartisan members, including my good friend, the Chairman, who has been with us for these reforms in the past, suddenly have decided that they are just going to bow down to what Donald Trump wants. Donald Trump doesn't want any reforms.
We know what the American people want. They want a warrant requirement. That is a bipartisan position. If you put a warrant requirement on the floor right now, it would pass. Maybe the President would have to veto it, but it would pass. People would see that the Congress of the United States is standing up for the privacy rights of Americans that are guaranteed in our Constitution.
This is not about national security versus constitutional rights. This is about how we do both together.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
This is about how we do both, and we can do that. What Americans have said over and over again is: No more secret searches of Americans' private communications. They want their basic right to privacy respected, and there is a path to get there.
The Chairman has been on our side. We got so close just a couple of years ago. We could have gotten it done. We didn't get it done then, but we can get it done now. It requires saying no to Donald Trump. It requires saying, no, you can't put Bill Pulte in as the ODNI because this guy is not to be trusted with any of our information.
Vote ``no'' on this extension. Let's get a real reform package passed.
Mr. Speaker, I rise with a degree of sadness because I was present at the birth of this legislation. For 30 years, I was either a Member of the Committee, ranking member on the committee, or the Gang of Eight, for 30 years. I bring extensive intelligence experience to this discussion.
Following 9/11, it was with great care that we worked in a bipartisan fashion to put together the legislation to advance what we are talking about today, this FISA initiative.
In that legislation, we established the Office of the DNI, the Director of National Intelligence. It had certain standards. The Director of National Intelligence, to be appointed by the President, with the advice of the Senate, the individual nominated shall have extensive national security experience. He shall serve as the head of the intelligence community, act as the principal adviser to the President, under the National Security Council, Homeland Security, and the rest.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentlewoman has expired.
Mr. Speaker, I have lists, from the legislation, of the criteria establishing the position.
What do we have from the President? Somebody who has no judgment on intelligence matters. What an insult to our brave intelligence community, who serve us so well to protect the American people, to put somebody in there.
If we are expected to vote for FISA, and Patel is at FBI and--what is his name?--Pulte as DNI--Pulte and Patel equals ``no'' on this FISA legislation. It can be done if there is an intention to do it right.
Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend, the gentleman from Maryland for yielding. I rise very sadly tonight in opposition to this legislation.
I have spent hundreds of hours negotiating this, including with the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, my friends on the Republican side, reauthorization after reauthorization. I have the scars to show for how much work has been done.
Here we are on the verge of a great deal. The Senate has a bill that reauthorizes FISA and puts in stronger safeguards than the bill that we passed here in the House. We are all ready to go, and we move on, and then the President of the United States decides that Bill Pulte, a man who has never held a security clearance, a man who I am not sure 2 days ago could have told you what the initials DNI stand for, a man who has distinguished himself in the role he currently has as an attack dog to go after the political enemies, that gets thrown in, and we are asked for yet more indulgence at that moment in time.
There is a simple way out of this conundrum. The President can follow the law and allow the Principal Deputy DNI, a Senate-confirmed appointee of the President, to assume the role of acting DNI until a suitable nominee can be confirmed by the Senate. That is all that needs to happen, and none of us needs to swallow what has just happened.
This is a funny moment because I have lots of Republican friends, and in person they have told me what a catastrophic appointment this is. We are not going to hear that on the floor or in public, but we all know that this is the path. It did not need to be this way. There is still time, though very little, to choose a new and responsible path consistent with our obligations to national security.
When this vote fails, and it will, I hope that the President sees the writing on the wall and puts national security first.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.
Mr. Speaker, my friend, the distinguished chairman of the Judiciary Committee, flippantly says: What is another 3 weeks after we have kicked the can down the road this far?
Where is the passionate, stalwart defender of American civil liberties and right to privacy we have come to admire and esteem? The Fourth Amendment protects the rights of all Americans. It does not have a ``unless it is just for another 3 weeks'' exception.
Congress must act to protect the rights of Americans. We agreed to 1 week. We agreed to 45 days. Enough of this disorganization and chaos. If there is a serious proposal on the table, we are all ears. We will sit down, and we will work on this. We want to reauthorize section 702, and we want to make it safe for the constitutional rights and liberties of the people.
We also know, Mr. Speaker, that section 702 explicitly allows any current authorizations to continue until their expiration dates, even if the statute sunsets. Therefore, there is no reason we cannot protect both the Fourth Amendment rights of the people and the authorities that keep us safe.
If Speaker Johnson will just allow us to do so, I believe that the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees can come together and get this done.
Again, Mr. Speaker, I believe there is a robust, bipartisan majority. I think it is ridiculous that we even need to say it, but I do believe there is a robust bipartisan majority that will stand with the Constitution, that will make sure we are interposing the proper independent judicial magistrate between the government and searches of the private rights and the persons and things protected by the Fourth Amendment.
We need to protect the rights of the people and the Constitution. We can do that. We need to protect our national security with section 702. We can do that. We can harmonize them. All it takes is old-fashioned legislative deliberation and compromise.
I am certain we can do it, but we haven't had any effort by the GOP leadership to look to this body, both Republicans and Democrats. Where do they look? They look to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
But we are an Article I for a reason. We are the legislating branch, not the President. We have got the power to declare war. The President has forgotten that. We have got the power to appropriate. We have got the power to tax, and we have got the power to pass this legislation on section 702.
We don't have to wait on hand and foot for the White House to tell us what to do. Let's just sit down. Let's hammer out a great legislative compromise that will take us not for another 7 days or 42 days or 45 days. How about we do it for the next 5 years? If we build a search warrant requirement into it, I bet we could do it for the next 10 years.
Let's live up to our constitutional responsibilities and legislate together.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I would just remind my friend from Maryland, the ranking member, of a couple things. I said initially, in light of the 56 reforms we did a couple years ago to this legislation, I was willing to go for a short- term reauthorization, 18 months. Remember, that was the original package. I was willing to go for that, particularly at a time when we, like it or not, are in a conflict, military operation, in Iran. I thought that made sense, in light of the reforms we have done.
Second, he said that I had said earlier what is another 3 weeks. Well, he just talked about hammering it out. I didn't say what is another 3 weeks. I said: We can take 3 weeks to continue to hammer it out and figure it out. That is all we are asking.
While we are hammering it out and figuring it out, we maybe want not to let the program go completely dark, not because--because the guys on the Intel Committee, even Mr. Himes, understands how important this is.
Finally, I would say this. When he says: ``Where is my friend from a few years ago?'' if I remember right, we could have had the warrant requirement maybe 2 years ago because I remember what the vote was. It was 212-212. All it would have taken was one more ``no'' vote then to vote ``yes,'' and, shazam, we pass it.
You can criticize all you want, but those are the facts.
Now, the question again is real simple: Can we go another 3 weeks--I think we can--and hammer out a deal, which I am willing to do with the gentleman from Maryland and the folks on the Judiciary Committee.
Mr. Speaker, I would urge a ``yes'' vote, and 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. 9238.
The question was taken.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
Mr. Speaker, with great pride I recognize a truly historic moment in Greene County.
The class of 2026 is the final graduating class to walk the halls of a building that has shaped lives, strengthened our community, and carried the hopes and dreams of generations since 1962.
Greene Central High School has been far more than brick and mortar. It has been a place where friendships were formed, lessons were learned, championships were achieved, and young people prepared to make their mark on the world.
Within these classrooms and hallways are countless stories filled with Greene County pride. The building may change, but the memories and legacy of the Greene Central Rams will live forever.
We honor every educator, parent, class, and the community who helped build the proud legacy of Greene Central High School.
Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.
The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 6 o'clock and 20 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Thursday, June 11, 2026, at 9 a.m.
