| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
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Dr. Michael Gossett's Prayer
00:04:22
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| The house will be in order. | ||
| The prayer will be offered by guest chaplain, Dr. Michael Gossett, Greenacres Baptist Church, Tyler, Texas. | ||
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unidentified
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Let's pray. | |
| Heavenly Father, we come to you today and acknowledge that you alone are the King of kings and Lord of lords. | ||
| You alone are sovereign over the nations and the peoples of the earth. | ||
| Just as Psalm 24, 1 declares, the earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants belong to the Lord. | ||
| You alone, Lord, have ordained each government official to serve, and we ask that you raise up leaders and call each representative to lead with justice and wisdom and humility. | ||
| We ask your blessings on each member here and the families and people they represent. | ||
| I pray that you would grant each representative clarity of mind, integrity of heart, and a deep concern for truth and righteousness according to your word. | ||
| I pray there would be no fear among them except a fear of the Lord. | ||
| May they seek the good of people and the flourishing for all, especially the most vulnerable. | ||
| Please remind us today that our hope alone is in your Son, Jesus Christ. | ||
| We pray all this in the name of Jesus, our risen Lord and coming King. | ||
| Amen. | ||
| Amen. | ||
| The chair has examined the journal of the last day's proceedings and announces to the House the approval thereof. | ||
| Pursuant to clause one of Rule 1, the journal stands approved. | ||
| The Pledge of Allegiance be led by the gentleman from Kentucky, Mr. McGarvey. | ||
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unidentified
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I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty, and that we are going to be able to do that. | |
| Without objection, the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Moran, is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, it's my honor to introduce Dr. Michael Gossett, pastor of Greenacres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas, to the United States House of Representatives to serve as the guest chaplain this week and offer a prayer this morning. | ||
| Dr. Gossett and his wife Katie lead the largest congregation of believers in East Texas. | ||
| They also proudly shepherd a flock of four wonderful children at home. | ||
| Pastor Michael, as he is known, and Katie, are passionate about their call to serve to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. | ||
| And they are personable and approachable in their style, showing the same love and grace as our risen Lord and Savior. | ||
| Having been a firefighter for five years before entering full-time ministry, this Liberty University alum is tough-minded, disciplined, and steady in his leadership. | ||
| He is authentic and genuine and always faithful to preach the truth of the inerrant word of God. | ||
| And because of that, he has been a strong and effective leader for Greenacres since he arrived in 2019. | ||
| I'm proud to call him my friend and proud that he has dedicated his life to being salt and light in this lost and dark world. | ||
| To God be the glory for the great things he is doing through the Gossetts and Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas. | ||
| Welcome, Pastor Gossett. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
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unidentified
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The chair will entertain up to five further requests for one-minute speeches on each side of the aisle. | |
| For what purpose does the distinguished gentleman from California seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I always ask for the House for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, gentlemen is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The March Jobs report showed that 228,000 jobs were added last month, far exceeding expectations. | ||
| Private sector growth led the way with 209,000 new jobs, nearly double the pre-election average. | ||
| Wages are rising with hourly earnings up nearly 4% over the past year. | ||
| Government job dependence is shrinking with only 42% of new jobs in government-related sectors, down from nearly 75% under the Biden administration. | ||
|
Ohio State Buckeyes Victory
00:12:39
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| Federal employment dropped by 4,000 as administration cuts government bloat. | ||
| And for the 365-day period from the day President Trump was elected, it was $2.2 trillion of deficit. | ||
| Now, for the 365-day previous to right now, it's only $1.6 trillion of deficit. | ||
| A long ways to go, but a giant improvement. | ||
| Construction jobs remain strong. | ||
| Industrial production is hitting a record high. | ||
| Manufacturing output has grown nearly 1% over the month. | ||
| Auto-production has surged 8.5%. | ||
| And core CPI inflation is at a four-year low, easing pressure on consumers. | ||
| America's economy is back. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
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unidentified
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For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Kentucky seek recognition? | |
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Two years ago today, the blast of an AR-15 shattered a beautiful spring morning in Louisville as a lone gunman walked into Old National Bank on Main Street and opened fire. | ||
| We lost Josh Barrick, Dina Eckert, Juliana Farmer, Jim Tutt, and my friend Tommy Elliott. | ||
| Five friends, neighbors, loved ones taken too soon. | ||
| Among the eight wounded was Officer Nick Wilt. | ||
| Just 10 days out of the academy, he bravely ran toward the gunman and was shot in the head. | ||
| Miraculously, he survived. | ||
| That same day, just blocks away at JCTC. | ||
| Two people were shot and Siobhan Moore was killed at just 24 years old. | ||
| I stand here today as a lifelong Louis Villian. | ||
| Still sad, my community joined the long list of cities devastated by mass shootings. | ||
| On behalf of all of our communities, we can and must do more to stop senseless gun violence. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
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unidentified
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For what purpose does the distinguished gentleman from Ohio seek recognition? | |
| Without objection, gentlemen is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the Ohio State University Buckeyes whose remarkable victory in the 2025 College Football Playoff National Championship cements their legacy as one of the greatest teams in college football history. | ||
| As those of us who watch the game, many of us on the edge of our seats, can attest, the championship is up for grabs until the clock runs out. | ||
| However, We would be remiss not to mention that the Buckeyes impressive overall season, where they secured wins over five different top five opponents. | ||
| This is something that has never been accomplished before. | ||
| This season, the Buckeyes boasted an exceptional talent, strong coaching, and diehard fans. | ||
| But as Woody Hayes once said, success is what you do with what you've got. | ||
| This season, OSU was undeniable. | ||
| And as a fellow Buckeye, I extend my heartfelt congratulations to the entire team, coaching staff, for this incredible achievement. | ||
| With that, I yield back. | ||
| What purpose does the gentleman from Missouri seek recognition? | ||
| Ask for one minute, and students are to your advising step. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, every day nearly half a million Americans sit in local jails without a conviction, overwhelmingly for nonviolent, low-level offenses. | ||
| They're not there because they've been found guilty, but because they can't afford bail or are stuck waiting for their day in court. | ||
| And while they wait, taxpayers pay the price. | ||
| That's why I've introduced the Justice Forward Agenda, a target, results-driven plan to reduce crime and use taxpayer dollars more wisely. | ||
| The Community-First Pre-Trial Reform Act helps local jurisdictions cut unnecessary pre-trial detention and expand proven alternatives. | ||
| The DART Act builds off my work as a St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney by giving law enforcement better tools like diversion programs and mental health courts to connect people with treatment, housing, and support that actually stops the cycle of incarceration. | ||
| This isn't leniency, it's strategy. | ||
| It's about investment, investing in what works and what's proven effective and building safer, stronger communities. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, let's move justice forward. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| For what purpose does the distinguished gentleman from Texas seek recognition? | ||
| I rise to address the House for one minute. | ||
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unidentified
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Without objection, gentlemen is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, today I rise to pay tribute to a good friend, Fort Bank County Sheriff's Deputy David Fonteneau. | ||
| David was a dedicated law enforcement officer with over 30 years of service, 26 of those years with the Fort Bank County Sheriff's Office. | ||
| David and I worked many long days serving and protecting our community. | ||
| David loved, he loved serving his community. | ||
| He was not only a great sheriff's deputy, but he was also a great friend. | ||
| He was a man that I could depend on and a true professional. | ||
| I'm saddened to say that on March 29th, my friend David passed away after a battle with cancer. | ||
| My prayers are with his family and loved ones, especially his sister Camille and his brothers Chuck, Michael, and Stephen. | ||
| We love you guys. | ||
| We love you. | ||
| I and the entire law enforcement community of Fort Bend County, Texas, will miss him dearly. | ||
| God bless. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
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unidentified
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For what purpose does the gentleman from Illinois seek recognition? | |
| I request a unanimous consent to speak for the House and revise it. | ||
| Without objection, gentlemen, I recognize for one minute. | ||
| April 19th will mark 30 years since the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in the United States. | ||
| 168 innocent lives were taken on that quiet morning in Oklahoma City. | ||
| As many as 750 people were hurt, and thousands more scarred by trauma. | ||
| The main perpetrator was radicalized by extreme hate toward the federal government, quickly captured, convicted, and put to death for his crimes. | ||
| Today, we think of the toddlers at the Murray Building Day Care Center who would be in their 30s today. | ||
| We pray for their moms and their dads, but we must also pray for our country again. | ||
| The rise in political tribalism and the hate for others must stop. | ||
| Our faith in this government must never be diminished in any way that turns to hate and violence. | ||
| American author Napoleon Hill wrote that every adversity, every failure, and every heartache carries a seed of an equal or greater benefit. | ||
| May we never forget those words. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| For what purpose does the distinguished gentleman from Indiana seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I seek permission to address the House for one minute to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, gentlemen, is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the robotics industry is quietly reshaping the manufacturing and distribution economies of Indiana and our world. | ||
| I rise today to congratulate a team of extraordinary young students at Greenfield Central High School, back home in my district, for their winning performance at our Indiana State Robotics Competition. | ||
| Greenfield Central's team surpassed 62 other terrific Hoosier teams to claim top honors. | ||
| Their coach Jason led the exothermics. | ||
| Greenfield Central's team comprised of juniors Simon, Haley, and Braden. | ||
| These talented young Hoosiers will again showcase their talents at VEX World Competition in Dallas this year. | ||
| These students exemplify the best of the next generation of innovators, engineers, and scientists. | ||
| Their work underscores the importance of a STEM education. | ||
| And much as Hoosiers have celebrated victories on basketball courts, I'm proud to take this opportunity to spotlight these victories of our young Hoosiers in robotics innovation. | ||
| Their talented minds will reshape our economy. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
| For what purpose does the distinguished gentlewoman from Pennsylvania seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
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unidentified
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Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| In just two days, Wall Street lost $6 trillion in value in the worst sell-off since 2020. | ||
| Many of my constituents lost tens of thousands of dollars, money saved over decades. | ||
| Now we're all scrambling with the news of a 90-day pause on tariffs after President Trump swore up and down he would do no such thing. | ||
| Sadly, we cannot trust a word our president says, let alone plan around his erratic behavior. | ||
| Mr. Trump's turbulent game of chicken with some of our closest allies is absurd. | ||
| How does Mr. Trump expect people whose 401ks and kids' college savings account just took a nosedive? | ||
| How are they to feel secure in their retirement? | ||
| How does he expect people to save for retirement at all? | ||
| The short answer is the president doesn't know. | ||
| And even worse, he does not care. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the president lost $11 trillion in value in the first 11 weeks of his second term. | ||
| I call upon my Republican colleagues to please call out the president's destructive decisions. | ||
| It is time to say the Emperor has no clothes. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
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For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Florida seek recognition? | |
| I rise to address the House for one minute. | ||
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unidentified
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Objection, the gentleman's recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today to recognize the 2025 men's basketball NCAA national champions, the Florida Gators. | ||
| On Monday night, the Gators defeated the University of Houston in the national championship to become the three-time national champions, winning the first title since the 2006-2007 season and was led by Coach Todd Golden. | ||
| The Gators were one of four, were one of four tournament one seats, advancing through the round of 64 and 32 before dancing their way through the Sweet 16, Elite Eight, and Final Four. | ||
| After winning the title this week, the Gators ended the season with a 36-4 record, making Gainesville, aka title town, incredibly proud. | ||
| Congratulations, Coach Golden, the entire team, and of course, the Gator Nation. | ||
| You guys are absolutely incredible. | ||
| As always, it is so great and sweet to be a Florida Gator. | ||
| Go Gators, and I yield back. | ||
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unidentified
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For what purpose does the distinguished gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Stiles, seek recognition? | |
| Mr. Speaker, pursuant to HRES 294, I call up the bill H.R. 22, the Safeguard American Voters Eligibility Act, and ask for its immediate consideration. | ||
|
Mr. Wilson's Citizenship Proposal
00:15:39
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unidentified
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The clerk will report the title of the bill. | |
| H.R. 22, a bill to amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require proof of United States citizenship to register an individual to vote in elections for federal office and for other purposes. | ||
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unidentified
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Pursuant to House Resolution 294, the bill is considered read. | |
| The bill shall be debatable for one hour, equally divided and controlled by the chair and the ranking minority member of the Committee on House Administration or their respective designees. | ||
| The gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Style, and the gentleman from New York, Mr. Morrell, will each control up to 30 minutes. | ||
| The chair now recognizes the gentleman from Wisconsin, Mr. Style. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks, include additional material on the bill. | ||
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unidentified
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Objection. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consider. | ||
| Gentlemen, I rise in support of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, known as the SAVE Act, introduced by my colleague Chip Roy of Texas. | ||
| As chairman of the Committee on House Administration, I've been focused on improving election integrity and increasing confidence in our elections. | ||
| Let me be clear: non-citizen voting reduces confidence in our elections. | ||
| American elections are for American citizens, and we intend to keep it that way. | ||
| The SAVE Act will strengthen our elections administration and restore Americans' confidence in our elections. | ||
| The SAVE Act contains critical reforms to update the National Voter Registration Act, which currently requires states to give registration forms to everyone who receives a driver's license regardless of citizenship. | ||
| The bill before us would help states prevent non-citizens from voting in federal elections by requiring states to obtain documentary proof of U.S. citizenship in person when registering an individual to vote in federal elections. | ||
| You're sure to hear from my colleagues on the other side that non-citizen voting doesn't exist or that rarely happens or that we don't need to do anything about it. | ||
| Couldn't be further from the truth. | ||
| However, let's look back two months ago. | ||
| The secretaries of state that I had conversations with shared with me their difficulties that they're experiencing administering the most recent election. | ||
| Two of their top concerns were about integrity of voter rolls and non-citizen voting. | ||
| In our most recent elections, we just saw 13 individuals referred by the Michigan Secretary of State to the Attorney General for non-citizen voting in the state of Michigan. | ||
| In the House of Representatives, we often see close elections. | ||
| We have one member here who won her election by simply six votes. | ||
| It's clear we must pass the SAVE Act and prevent non-citizen voting. | ||
| There's also been many other examples of non-citizens voting or being on states' voter rolls. | ||
| Just a few years ago, Illinois removed almost 600 non-citizens from its voter rolls. | ||
| In Pennsylvania, almost 10,000 non-citizens were removed from their voter rolls. | ||
| In Georgia, an audit recently determined more than 1,600 non-citizens had attempted to register to vote. | ||
| Every state also needs access to the tools necessary to remove non-citizens from their voter rolls. | ||
| Right now, states don't have free access to the federal data that tracks citizenship status. | ||
| Another crucial element of the SAVE Act will provide states with cost-free access to existing federal and state databases so they can perform this important voter list maintenance. | ||
| In recent years, we've seen an increasing number of jurisdictions across the country allowing non-citizens to vote in municipal elections. | ||
| Right here in our nation's capital, non-citizens are eligible to vote in those municipal elections. | ||
| In Washington, D.C., a non-citizen allowance to reside in the district for 30 days in order to register to vote. | ||
| 388 non-citizens cast ballots here in our nation's capital in Washington, D.C., in the most recent election. | ||
| By passing the SAVE Act, we can ensure that only eligible Americans are registering to vote. | ||
| Additionally, the SAVE Act is aligned with President Trump's recent executive order, preserving and protecting the integrity of American elections, which will help restore trust in American elections, enhance election administration, and make our elections secure. | ||
| This legislation is just one step that we can take to ensure President Trump's executive order could not be undone. | ||
| Americans deserve to have confidence in our elections. | ||
| We must pass the SAVE Act to prevent non-citizen voting and secure our elections. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
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unidentified
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The gentleman reserves his time. | |
| The distinguished gentleman from New York is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
| Together with President Trump's recent voting restrictive executive order, the SAVE Act would cripple American elections. | ||
| It would end voter registration in the United States as we know it. | ||
| The SAVE Act would end mail-in registration. | ||
| You heard that right. | ||
| For all those states and all those people who register by mail, not vote by mail, registration by mail. | ||
| It would end that. | ||
| American citizens would have to appear in person at an election office, bring with them various documents and forms to register to vote. | ||
| Think about it. | ||
| Just to exercise your fundamental, inalienable rights as a citizen of this country, Republicans would force Americans into a paperwork nightmare, burying voter registration under a mountain of bureaucracy and red tape. | ||
| So what exactly would the SAVE Act do? | ||
| It would create enormous burdens for every American citizen who seeks to register to vote. | ||
| Let's dig into the details. | ||
| As my Republican colleague and friend admitted at the Rules Committee, under the SAVE Act, most Americans would be unable to register to vote using their real ID. | ||
| Further, under the SAVE Act, almost 70 million American women will be unable to register to vote using their birth certificate simply because they changed their name upon marriage. | ||
| The bill would disenfranchise survivors of domestic abuse who have changed their names for safety purposes, which is truly shocking. | ||
| And the SAVE Act will also have a steep financial cost to American citizens because, yes, the SAVE Act does allow Americans to use their passports to register to vote. | ||
| But half of all Americans do not have a passport. | ||
| And a passport costs $130 plus additional fees. | ||
| So the SAVE Act will cost American voters who do not have passports and choose to use them billions of dollars to secure them. | ||
| Americans are facing rising costs exacerbated by the recent Trump tariffs. | ||
| Economists are warning about a looming Trump recession. | ||
| But let's face it, the SAVE Act would force U.S. citizens to spend billions of dollars to register to vote. | ||
| This includes rural voters, many of whom now register to vote online by mail, who will be forced to drive hours and cross hundreds of miles to present documentary proof. | ||
| This includes senior citizens who are particularly likely to lack documentary proof of citizenship, including passports, copies of their birth certificates, or other documents. | ||
| And what about the men and women in uniform who serve our country all over the world? | ||
| Can a member of our military use their military ID? | ||
| Surely military IDs should be enough to register to vote, not according to the SAVE Act. | ||
| Service members will need to bring their military ID and a copy of their service record showing their place of birth within the United States. | ||
| But many service members were born abroad, say to military parents overseas. | ||
| Many are naturalized citizens. | ||
| Those service members will be blocked from using their military ID to register to vote. | ||
| And remember, the SAVE Act's requirement that Americans show their documentation in person at an election office. | ||
| It will have drastic consequences. | ||
| The SAVE Act will prevent members of our armed forces from registering to vote while deployed overseas. | ||
| But the SAVE Act is not actually meant to prevent non-citizens from voting. | ||
| The SAVE Act is really about silencing Americans. | ||
| This bill is about disenfranchising Americans, not non-citizens, Americans, U.S. citizens. | ||
| Americans like James Wilson, an Arizona voter who I met with last week, who was meant to join us in the gallery, who flew all the way to Washington, D.C. last week to watch Congress debate the SAVE Act. | ||
| He was forced to fly home after the Speaker canceled three days of legislative work. | ||
| Mr. Wilson is an American citizen, born in Japan to a military father during the Vietnam War. | ||
| Mr. Wilson is also a veteran. | ||
| He proudly served our nation overseas, including in Korea and Germany. | ||
| Like millions of Americans, Mr. Wilson does not have a passport because he doesn't need a passport. | ||
| Like millions of Americans, Mr. Wilson does not have access to his birth certificate. | ||
| When Arizona introduced a restrictive voter registration law, a law just like the SAVE Act, Mr. Wilson's right to vote was imperiled. | ||
| Mr. Wilson did not have any of the documents required by the Arizona law required by the SAVE Act to prove his citizenship. | ||
| But for a last-minute emergency court order, Mr. Wilson, an American citizen, a veteran, and a patriot, would not have been able to vote this past election. | ||
| If the SAVE Act becomes law, Americans nationwide will face the same bureaucratic nightmare that Mr. Wilson faced in Arizona. | ||
| The SAVE Act will force Americans like Mr. Wilson to pay billions of dollars to exercise their invaluable right to vote. | ||
| House Republicans want to increase the burdens and amplify the costs in time, in money, and in effort for American citizens to vote. | ||
| House Democrats do not. | ||
| The SAVE Act will cost American citizens something deeply important, something essential to the soul of this nation, the right to freely and fairly participate in our elections. | ||
| I strongly urge the defeat of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
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Gentlemen reserves his time. | |
| Gentleman from Wisconsin. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield three minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida, the chair of the elections subcommittee and the former Secretary of State of the State of Florida, Ms. Lee. | ||
|
unidentified
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Joe Walmart Shark asked. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act or the SAVE Act. | ||
| The SAVE Act is an important step forward that will ensure elections are more secure and accurate across the United States. | ||
| The vast majority of Americans agree that only U.S. citizens should have the right to vote in our elections. | ||
| Just last month, President Trump took a strong stance, reaffirming his commitment to the integrity of our elections. | ||
| The President's executive order will help equip elections officials with better data and more resources to administer elections. | ||
| Today, Congress has the opportunity to build on this momentum and ensure that these protections are part of our laws, that every state can follow these practices, and that voters across the nation can feel confident in the integrity and the security of their elections. | ||
| Congress must commit to supporting elections officials and voters by making voting accessible and secure. | ||
| While states are the primary authority on how elections are conducted on Election Day, it is our role here in Congress to ensure that we support them and provide resources to them and to promote uniformity and best practices across the country. | ||
| One way that we will be able to help provide those resources to states is by passing the SAVE Act. | ||
| The SAVE Act will help protect our elections and ensure that only American citizens are casting ballots in American elections. | ||
| The bill will support state and local elections officials by providing them with data and tools to help verify the accuracy and completeness of their voter roles. | ||
| As Florida's former Secretary of State and chief elections officials, I got to work with state and local elections workers across the country and saw their commitment to ensuring strong elections. | ||
| Now as the chair of the House Administration Subcommittee on Elections, I am proud to work alongside Chairman Steyle to advance policies that lead to stronger elections across our country. | ||
| These tools will help the states ensure their roles are accurate and help prevent any unintended errors. | ||
| We know that some states have continued to discover non-citizens on their voter rolls, and there is evidence that some of them have voted in recent elections. | ||
| We must take steps to ensure this doesn't continue. | ||
| Finally, Mr. Speaker, I'd like to address the claim that the SAVE Act will somehow negatively affect married women or others who might have changed their name because their legal documentation or identification may reflect two different names. | ||
| This legislation clearly contemplates exactly this situation and indeed directly addresses it. | ||
| Page 14, line 19, directs the states to create a process for addressing this exact issue. | ||
|
unidentified
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Ever since the 19th Amendment passed over 100 years ago, the gentleman has extended an additional 30 seconds. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Married women have been registering to vote and successfully voting. | ||
| Indeed, I am among them. | ||
| This bill will accommodate women who changed their name and have not yet updated their documentation to reflect a name change because the SAVE Act explicitly directs states to establish a process for them to register to vote irrespective of those discrepancies. | ||
| Like other areas of the law, citizens will be able to use combinations of existing identification documents in order to register to vote. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation, and I yield back. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
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Gentleman reserves his time. | |
| Gentleman from New York. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| And I always appreciate the work of my colleagues from the committee who agree on many things. | ||
| This is certainly not one of them. | ||
| I do want to reflect on what the gentlelady from Florida has said, and others have said several times: that the SAVE Act allows states to create a process to provide additional proof of citizenship. | ||
| Why not write it in the bill? | ||
| Why are we making the potential for 50 different standards to be set to prove citizenship? | ||
| What additional forms would be used? | ||
| A birth certificate together with an ID, also including a marriage certificate, also including a record of a changed name? | ||
| What must survivors of domestic abuse provide? | ||
| Court orders protecting them from stalkers? | ||
| Restraining orders? | ||
| Divorce records, divorce papers? | ||
| How much would that cost? | ||
| How much paperwork do Republicans want Americans to drown in? | ||
| Further, how long will these new rules take? | ||
| The SAVE Act takes effect immediately. | ||
| What if states take months or years to amend their systems? | ||
| What if they never do it? | ||
| So you might have someone interested in voting, but their state has enacted they have no way of proving that the name on their birth certificate, which differs from the name in their ID, is because they got married. | ||
|
Voter ID Costs & Challenges
00:15:52
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| You'd be unable to register to vote. | ||
| Here's what we do know: President Trump's executive order doesn't want any alternative forms of identification. | ||
| No alternate state processes, no additional avenues for voters. | ||
| Why do we expect the EAC to disregard the President's clear desire to limit documentary proof of citizenship to a small, exclusive, difficult-to-obtain list of options? | ||
| And I would say, in addition to my dear friend, and I mean that sincerely, the gentleman from Wisconsin, like to remind him that an estimated 165,000 women in his district in Wisconsin have a different name on their birth certificate than is on their current photo ID. | ||
| Under the SAVE Act, these women could not register using their birth certificate alone. | ||
| And roughly 340,000 residents in Wisconsin's first district lack a passport. | ||
| So the SAVE Act could cost voters in the district $45 million if they chose to comply that way. | ||
| I'd also like to remind my colleague and friend, Representative Lee, an estimated 170,000 women in her district have a different name on their birth certificate than on their photo ID. | ||
| Likewise, under this bill, these women could not use their birth certificate to register to vote because they have a different name now than at birth. | ||
| Roughly 368,000 residents of Florida's 15th district lack a passport. | ||
| It will cost voters in the district at least $47.8 million to secure a passport to register to vote. | ||
| These are the facts. | ||
| This is what the bill requires. | ||
| And so we should not gloss over it because this is a mountain of bureaucratic red tape. | ||
| And if you can't get it right in the bill, if you don't list marriage license in the federal bill and it's left to the states, who knows how and when we resolve these issues. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I'd like to yield a minute to the distinguished gentlewoman from the state of Oregon, Ms. Bonamici. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlewoman is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Murali, for yielding. | ||
| I rise today in strong opposition to the SAVE Act. | ||
| This bill will make it more difficult to register to vote, and it will prevent millions of American citizens, including married women who changed their name, and rural Americans, from exercising their right to vote. | ||
| It creates an enormous and expensive unfunded mandate on election offices and for what? | ||
| Federal law already requires people to attest under penalty of perjury that they are U.S. citizens when they register to vote. | ||
| Non-citizens attempting to register to vote is exceedingly rare, and if they do, they face severe consequences, including fines up to five years in prison and deportation. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, more than 140 million Americans do not have a passport. | ||
| Approximately 70 million women do not have a birth certificate that matches their current legal name. | ||
| And millions and millions of rural voters would have to travel long distances to try to register to vote. | ||
| We don't have to guess what would happen if this bill were to pass. | ||
| In 2011, Kansas had a proof of citizenship requirement that actually prevented more than 30,000 can I have extra 15 seconds? | ||
| Would you extend the gentlelady 15 more seconds? | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman is extended to the public. | |
| The gentlewoman from Illinois. | ||
| In Kansas, more than 30,000 U.S. citizens, 12 percent of everyone seeking to register to vote, were barred from voting. | ||
| Other states have tried, and in all of them, a significant number of citizens have been wrongly barred from voting. | ||
| It's unacceptable. | ||
| It's voter suppression, and it's wrong. | ||
| I urge all of my colleagues to vote no on the SAVE Act, and I yield back the ballot. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlewoman's time has expired. | |
| The gentleman from Wisconsin. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I'd like to yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from Illinois, the gentlewoman from Illinois, a member of the Committee on House Administration, Ms. Miller, to speak on the bill. | ||
|
unidentified
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Gentlewoman from Illinois is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today in strong support of the SAVE Act, which includes robust measures to prevent illegal aliens from participating in our elections. | ||
| Under Joe Biden, millions of illegal aliens flooded into our country, and many were given the benefits and privileges that should be reserved for American citizens. | ||
| In Illinois, J.B. Pritzker and the Democrats rolled out the red carpet and actively enticed illegals and those covered by Biden's bogus asylum programs to settle in my state to the tune of over 500,000 people. | ||
| They received welfare benefits, CDL licenses, state identification, and the Democrats have even voted to allow them to be law enforcement officers. | ||
| I do not have to tell you how dangerous this situation is for Americans and especially for Americans' confidence in the sanctity of our elections. | ||
| As far-left jurisdictions seek to allow illegals to vote in local elections, let me be clear about this one thing: this point. | ||
| Every vote cast by an illegal alien is a vote stolen from an American citizen. | ||
| Congress must defend the integrity of our elections. | ||
| We must aggressively push back against the left's attempts to change the electorate and dilute the voices of actual Americans in our Democratic process. | ||
| This past week and today, all we hear are the Democrats sharing their concerns that rural Americans, women, and people of color are not capable of giving an ID. | ||
| This is insulting, condescending, and an untrue argument. | ||
| You need an ID for most everything else in daily life. | ||
| Maybe if the Democrats would quit pushing for our schools. | ||
| I yield an additional 30 seconds. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman has extended an additional 30 seconds to the gentlewoman from Illinois. | |
| Maybe the Democrats should quit pushing, wasting so much time in our public schools, indoctrinating our children, and instead teach them real-life skills such as reading, civics, and how to get an ID. | ||
| I urge the passage of this bill, and I yield back the passage of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman reserves his time. | |
| The gentleman from New York. | ||
| Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I want to just make note of the point that real ID in the United States does not have citizenship in almost all states. | ||
| A handful have it. | ||
| So you couldn't even use your real ID. | ||
| So we're talking about voter ID and photo ID. | ||
| It doesn't even allow you under the SAVE Act. | ||
| So the gentlelady should read the bill. | ||
| It doesn't allow it, and I think that's part of the problem. | ||
| I would also just note, Mr. Speaker, in Representative Miller's district, an estimated 150,000 women in her district have a different name on their birth certificate than their current photo ID. | ||
| Under the SAVE Act, these women could not use their birth certificate to register to vote and would not be able to use their ID, their driver's license. | ||
| Roughly 414,000 residents of Illinois' 15th district lack a passport. | ||
| So the SAVE Act would cost voters in Ms. Miller's district $53.8 million should they avail themselves of a passport to prove the requirements of the SAVE Act. | ||
| And with that, I yield one minute to my friend, the distinguished gentlelady from North Carolina, Ms. Ross. | ||
|
unidentified
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The gentleman from North Carolina is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise in strong opposition to the SAVE Act, which is a transparent attempt to disenfranchise millions of voters. | ||
| The SAVE Act would change voter registration guidelines to require proof of U.S. citizenship in very narrow ways. | ||
| However, those documents, as we've heard, a birth certificate or a passport, are not always easy to come by for certain Americans. | ||
| This backward legislation would immediately disenfranchise the 69 million women who have changed their names after marriage or divorce and do not have a matching birth certificate. | ||
| There is no cure in this bill. | ||
| Millions of Americans would be forced to navigate the complicated process to change their birth certificate or be forced to pay more than $130 for a passport. | ||
| Who would be prevented from voting? | ||
| Working people who don't have the time to do it and low-income people who cannot afford to do it. | ||
| House Democrats will not be silent while Donald Trump and Republicans try to disenfranchise millions of people. | ||
| Thank you and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The girl has expired. | |
| Does the gentleman seek to reserve his time from New York? | ||
| The gentleman does seek to reserve his time. | ||
| The gentleman from Wisconsin. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I'd like to yield one and a half minutes to the gentleman from California, Mr. McClintock, to speak on the bill. | ||
|
unidentified
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The gentleman from California is recognized for a minute and a half. | |
| Mr. Speaker, in every election, somebody wins and somebody loses. | ||
| Democracy depends on the losing side trusting that the election was a fair and accurate reflection of the will of the majority. | ||
| And the winning side depends on the same perception for the legitimacy of their office. | ||
| For centuries, our elections were the gold standard for the world because they were very hard to cheat. | ||
| 30-day registration, in-person Election Day voting, and proof of identity were essential components of this process. | ||
| In recent years, in many states, the woke left has torn down these safeguards. | ||
| Mail-in ballots where there's no chain of custody, counting ballots weeks after the Election Day, counting ballots in secret, ballot harvesting, same-day registration, turning Election Day into Election Month, and forbidding proof of identity all make cheating easy and destroy the public's confidence in the process. | ||
| In many jurisdictions, the Democrats have made it clear they intend to allow non-citizens to vote, the ultimate in foreign election interference. | ||
| Well, I have news for them. | ||
| American elections are for Americans. | ||
| The SAVE Act restores this vital principle by requiring proof of citizenship and identity in the federal elections that affect every American. | ||
| Americans should pay close attention to this vote, for it will reveal those who would subvert your vote to foreign nationals. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
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Thanks, Madam. | |
| Gentleman from Wisconsin Reserves this time. | ||
| Gentleman from New York. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| And I remind the gentleman that in the United States of America, to vote in a federal election, you have to be a U.S. citizen. | ||
| If you're not, you're subject to penalties for attempting to register to vote, and you're subject to felonies and deportation if you do vote and you're not an American citizen. | ||
| That's the current law. | ||
| I also want to remind my friend, Mr. McClintock, that an estimated 135,000 women in his district have a different name on their birth certificate than they have on their current photo ID, and roughly 290,000 residents of California's 5th District lack a passport. | ||
| The cost to those voters would be $37.7 million to get passports. | ||
| And with that, I yield one minute to my dear friend, the gentlewoman from Georgia, Ms. Williams. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlewoman from Georgia is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today as the Congresswoman for Georgia's 5th District, the cradle of the civil rights movement, the home of Dr. King, Ambassador Andrew Young, and my predecessor, the late Congressman John Lewis. | ||
| I carry their legacy with me every time I walk onto this floor. | ||
| The SAVE Act is everything our civil rights leaders fought against. | ||
| And don't think that it won't impact you or folks that you know. | ||
| If you got married and changed your name, your ID, it won't match your birth certificate. | ||
| If you don't have a passport and your ID doesn't match your birth certificate, you can't prove your citizenship. | ||
| According to the SAVE Act, you won't be able to vote. | ||
| Right now, under Trump and Musk's disastrous economy, families like so many of those that I represent back home in Georgia are struggling to keep up with the cost of groceries, let alone adding $130 for a passport just to register to vote. | ||
| In Georgia, over half of the population doesn't have a passport, and our driver's licenses, even the real ID, doesn't prove citizenship. | ||
| This bill could force Georgians to pay more than $700 million just to register to vote. | ||
| Y'all, that's the poll tax, plain and simple, and it's blatant voter suppression. | ||
| Voter suppression by any other name's time is extended to the gentleman from New York. | ||
| Yes, sir. | ||
| I'd like to yield an additional 30 seconds. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman has extended the gentlewoman from Georgia 30 seconds. | |
| Voter suppression by any other name is still voter suppression. | ||
| This bill violates the 14th, 19th, and 24th Amendments, and it's also every tenant of a free and inclusive democracy. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to vote no on this disgrace of a voter suppression bill. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back. | ||
| Jim Womb yields her time. | ||
| The gentleman from New York Reserve says time, the gentleman from Wisconsin. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I'd like to yield three minutes to the gentlewoman from Oklahoma, Ms. Beiss, a member of the Committee of House Ministers. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Jim Wilmers recognized for three minutes. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today in strong support of the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility or the SAVE Act. | ||
| Under President Biden, nearly 5 million illegal aliens were released into the United States. | ||
| Biden's failure at the southern border has diluted the voting power that is reserved for only American citizens. | ||
| This crisis is not only a national security concern, but one that can seriously alter the outcome of our elections. | ||
| Just this past election cycle, both the states of Alabama and Virginia removed thousands of registered voters who were not American citizens. | ||
| Securing our elections is of paramount importance, and we must ensure that it is easy to vote and hard to cheat. | ||
| The SAVE Act will strengthen our election administration, improve voter confidence, and ensure that American elections are only for American citizens. | ||
| Specifically, it amends the National Voter Registration Act to require states obtain proof of citizenship while an individual registers when an individual registers to vote. | ||
| But let me be clear. | ||
| This legislation does not prohibit married women from voting, and the absurd narrative of this has gotten out of control. | ||
| When you change your name, Mr. Speaker, just as I have when I got married, you have to provide your birth certificate and a marriage certificate. | ||
| This is already required when you update your ID, your Social Security records, and yes, your voter registration too. | ||
| When your name is legally changed, it updates across government systems. | ||
| Real ID, passport, other valid forms of ID mentioned in the SAVE Act are sufficient proof of citizenship. | ||
| And no, your birth certificate doesn't have to match your current ID. | ||
|
Supporting The SAVE Act
00:15:40
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|
unidentified
|
Let me just add this. | |
| The claim is that it will disenfranchise married women and others who might have changed their name because the documentation might show two different names. | ||
| But the SAVE Act itself addresses this point, Mr. Speaker, in the text. | ||
| Page 14, line 9, directs the states to create a process for addressing this exact issue. | ||
| I find myself asking, why are the Democrats refusing to take steps to safeguard our elections and protect the votes of every single American citizen? | ||
| I strongly support the SAVE Act, and I look forward to voting for it. | ||
| And I encourage my colleagues to do the same. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield. | ||
| The gentleman from Wisconsin saves his time. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I hate to disagree with my dear friend from Oklahoma, but the words marriage certificate do not appear anywhere in the SAVE Act. | ||
| In fact, it could have been written in that way, since you're adding all these lists and requirements of people to do, but it actually does make it harder for almost 70 million American women to vote. | ||
| 84% of women choose their husband's name when they get married. | ||
| That's just a statistic. | ||
| As we've discussed under the SAVE Act, most Americans will be unable to use the standard issued driver's license when registering to vote because most real IDs don't include citizenship on them. | ||
| They don't automatically update if you haven't registered at all. | ||
| So when you go to register, there's nothing to have updated. | ||
| You have your birth certificate. | ||
| In the case of Mary Beth Bauer, that's what it says on her certificate. | ||
| Her voter ID, her driver's license now says Mary Beth Morelli. | ||
| She would not be able to register using those two pieces of information. | ||
| She would have to get an additional part of documentation which is not identified in the SAVE Act to do it. | ||
| I think we've talked about it at length. | ||
| This is clearly intended to make it much more difficult. | ||
| By the way, according to House Republicans, none of these women should be allowed to register votes. | ||
| Roughly 25% of the U.S. citizen voting age population. | ||
| I'd also like to just suggest to my friend from Oklahoma, Ms. Beiss, an estimated 179,000 women in her district have a different name on their birth certificate than their current photo ID. | ||
| And roughly 394,000 residents of Oklahoma's 5th District lack a passport. | ||
| So the SAVE Act would cost them $51.3 million to secure passports. | ||
| With that, I will yield a minute to the gentleman and dear friend from California, Mr. Mullen. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from California is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Free and fair elections are the foundation of any functioning democracy. | ||
| The SAVE Act is a blatant attempt to undermine our election system, weaken American democracy, and unfairly suppress millions of eligible citizens from voting. | ||
| If the SAVE Act becomes law, eligible Americans would have to provide either a passport or birth certificate to register to vote and cast their ballot. | ||
| About half of American citizens, roughly 150 million people, don't own a passport. | ||
| If an eligible voter doesn't have the means to pay for a passport, they would need a birth certificate that states their current legal name. | ||
| This act could suppress the votes of millions of women in this country who have changed their name after marriage. | ||
| So to be clear, if you're a married woman, I guess Republicans don't want you to vote. | ||
| If you can't afford a passport, Republicans don't want you to vote. | ||
| If you're a college student whose birth certificate is back home, Republicans don't want you to vote. | ||
| Congress has a responsibility to ensure all eligible citizens can participate in free and fair elections. | ||
| The SAVE Act would do the opposite. | ||
| I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
| The gentleman yields back his time. | ||
| The gentleman from New York reserves his time. | ||
| Gentleman from Wisconsin. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield two minutes to the gentlewoman from Colorado, Ms. Boebert. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlewoman from Colorado is extended two minutes. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and bless my colleagues' hearts on the other side of the aisle using married women as a gotcha for voting. | ||
| I've never had to bring my birth certificate to prove that I was a registered voter. | ||
| I have an ID that has a different name than my birth certificate. | ||
| And also, since we're using women as bait here, maybe in the next round of debates, they could explain to us exactly what a woman is. | ||
| I rise in support of the SAVE Act. | ||
| The American people are done messing around with a woke weak need system that lets our elections get hijacked. | ||
| I am fighting for you, for me, for every American who knows our vote is sacred, and it's time to lock it down with citizens only. | ||
| Let's cut the crap. | ||
| Right now, you can walk up, check a box claiming you're a citizen, and boom, you're registered for federal elections. | ||
| No proof, no ID. | ||
| That's not a system built on trust. | ||
| It's a system vulnerable to error, fraud, and exploitation. | ||
| And in Colorado, it was just expedited for the process for illegals to receive a driver's license. | ||
| And in the state of Colorado, when you obtain a driver's license, you register to vote. | ||
| The SAVE Act is a common sense measure designed to protect the integrity of our electoral process. | ||
| And at its core, it requires proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections. | ||
| This isn't radical. | ||
| It's not extreme. | ||
| It's a basic safeguard to ensure that only those who are legally entitled to participate in our elections can do so. | ||
| Let's be clear: this isn't about denying anyone's right to vote. | ||
| It's about protecting the rights of every American citizen, not adding votes and subtracting American citizens' votes. | ||
| I support the SAVE Act. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman reserves her time. | |
| Gentleman reserves his time. | ||
| Reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman reserves his time. | |
| The chair will remind all persons in the gallery that they are here as guests of the House of Representatives and that any malfeasance of approval or disapproval of proceedings is in violation of the rules of the House. | ||
| The gentleman from New York. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| May I inquire as to the time remaining? | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from New York has 14 minutes. | |
| The gentleman from Wisconsin also has 14. | ||
| The gentleman from New York is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I would just note to the previous speaker that while Ms. Bobert has not had to bring all those documents, she hasn't had to register to vote under the SAVE Act. | ||
| That's actually the point. | ||
| And I would also remind her that an estimated 159,000 women in her district have a different name on their birth certificate than they have on their current photo ID and that roughly 284,000 residents of Colorado's 4th District lack a passport. | ||
| The SAVE Act could cost them $36.9 million to secure passports in order to register to vote. | ||
| I would very much like to yield a minute to my friend, the gentlelady from Illinois, Ms. Ramirez. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlewoman from New York is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose a SAVE Act. | ||
| Bottom line, the SAVE Act suppresses the votes of women, of black, brown, and Indigenous people, of veterans, and working-class Americans. | ||
| In advancing it, Republicans invoke those historical policies that were intended to disenfranchise Americans. | ||
| Let me remind you what they were. | ||
| Literacy tests and poll taxes for eligible voters. | ||
| Grandfather clauses, which tied voters' right to their grandfathers before the Civil War. | ||
| All-white primaries to eliminate black voters' presence in the electoral process. | ||
| And now the show me your papers. | ||
| The SAVE Act is the same trash, just a different day. | ||
| It is the Republicans' latest attempt to make clear who they believe should have access to vote and who they think should not. | ||
| Anyone who votes for this bill will go down in the history books with the likes of Confederate politicians, Jim Crow advocates, and white supremacists as bigots. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to vote no. | ||
| With that, I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from Illinois gilds her time. | |
| The gentleman from New York reserves his time. | ||
| The gentleman from Wisconsin. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield two minutes to the representative from Florida, Ms. Kamack, to speak on the bill. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlewoman is recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| I rise in strong support as a woman and as the chairwoman of the Republican Women's Caucus, not only just for election integrity, but clearly literacy, because y'all have not read the bill. | ||
| That much is clear. | ||
| This bill is very, very simple. | ||
| It ensures that only American citizens can vote in our federal elections. | ||
| This isn't hard. | ||
| 87% of Americans agree that only Americans should vote in our elections. | ||
| So it makes me wonder why are my friends on the other side of the aisle always consistently looking for ways to ensure that illegals can vote in our elections? | ||
| It's almost as though they have an ulterior motive. | ||
| You have to show an ID to board a plane, to buy alcohol, to cash a check. | ||
| You have to show an ID to buy cold medicine, for God's sakes. | ||
| Why should people not have to verify their citizenship to register? | ||
| And I say to register because my friend over here keeps pointing out that women in every single congressional district will have to provide proof of their name change in order to vote. | ||
| Folks, read the bill, page 14. | ||
| If you are registering to vote, there is a process by which the states establish. | ||
| If you are already registered to vote, you are fine. | ||
| Read the bill. | ||
| Stop insulting women. | ||
| I am sick and tired, and I know women across this country are sick and tired of being talked down to and being insulted repeatedly with the fear-mongering tactics of the left. | ||
| It is disingenuous for them to stand there and continue to say that women will not be eligible to vote. | ||
| This is about protecting one of our most sacred rights that we have as Americans. | ||
| And I am so proud to stand here as a woman, as a married woman, and again as the chair of the Republican Women's Caucus in safeguarding and ensuring the integrity of our elections. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I urge my colleagues to say that. | |
| I yield an additional 15 seconds. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from Wisconsin yields her an additional 15 seconds. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| I can keep preaching for an additional 30. | ||
| The point is, is that Americans around this country are sick and tired of the fear-mongering tactics that they have been subjected to by the left for decades. | ||
| We need to ensure the integrity of our elections. | ||
| It has been demanded by the American people, and we're making good on that promise today. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to support the SAVE Act. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
|
unidentified
|
This gentleman from New York. | |
| Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I think my colleagues doth protest too much. | ||
| I've read the bill many times, debated the bill. | ||
| There's nothing in the bill that allows you to bring a marriage license to prove who you are when you register to vote. | ||
| You will have to do all the things we suggest you will have to do, and that's exactly the problem. | ||
| And I'd like to also just remind my colleague and friend from Florida that in Ms. Kamack's district, an estimated 170,000 women in her congressional district have a different name on their birth certificate than on their current photo ID, and that roughly 409,000 residents of Florida's third congressional district lack a passport. | ||
| The cost to those individuals, $53.1 million to secure passports. | ||
| With that, my dear friend, a member of our committee and the ranking member of the Subcommittee on Elections of House Administration, the distinguished gentlelady from Alabama, Ms. Sewell, I'd like to yield her two minutes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlewoman is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to the House Republican so-called SAVE Act, the most restrictive voting law to be considered by this body in decades. | ||
| The SAVE Act is just the latest in the ongoing assault on our democracy by President Trump and his allies in Congress. | ||
| Instead of working to meet the needs of American people, House Republicans are busy spreading fear and lies to justify their attempts to disenfranchise millions of eligible voters. | ||
| Let's be clear, it is already against the law for non-Americans to vote. | ||
| This bill is a solution in search of a problem. | ||
| The SAVE Act would create new barriers to the ballot box for millions of eligible voters. | ||
| That includes almost 70 million American women who got married and changed their last name. | ||
| It also includes 140 million Americans without a passport, and it includes Americans with military and tribal IDs. | ||
| To be clear, this bill is not about protecting our elections. | ||
| It's about making it harder for Americans to vote and easier for Republicans to win. | ||
| As elected officials, we should be working to expand access to the ballot box, not restrict it. | ||
| Congress should be considering H.R. 14, the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, to ensure that every American can freely and fairly vote. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this is very personal to me. | ||
| I am not only the representative of America's Civil Rights District, but I am also the proud daughter of Selma, Alabama. | ||
| It was in my hometown where hundreds of foot soldiers were bludgeoned on a bridge for the equal right of all Americans to vote. | ||
| This legislation before us today makes a mockery of their legacy. | ||
| I urge all of my colleagues to vote no on the SAVE Act. | ||
| Thank you, and I yield back the balance of my gentleman. | ||
| The gentleman from New York Reserves has time to yield two minutes to the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Bean, to speak on the bill. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Florida is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| One citizen, one vote. | ||
| It's the pillar of our democracy. | ||
| And Mr. Speaker, you would think, you would think that of all the issues that we debate on this hallowed floor, this is the one. | ||
| This is the one that brings everybody together. | ||
| The pillar of our democracy, one citizen, one vote. | ||
| Everybody's on the same team. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, you would be wrong. | ||
| It's amazing you would be wrong because there are people in this room that think women are incapable of getting an ID. | ||
| I think that's an insult to women. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, let me remind you why we're here. | ||
| We're here because this previous administration, the Biden administration, imported 10 to 15 million illegal aliens who have come here, and we have evidence that they're participating in our elections. | ||
|
Ensuring Citizen Voting Rights
00:15:40
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||
| The next thing you'll say is, did they get Social Security numbers? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, they did. | ||
| The Doge team just announced millions of illegals now have Social Security numbers. | ||
| It's happening and it ends today when we vote on this SAVE Act. | ||
| Now, I've just heard my colleagues say it's already against the law. | ||
| It's already against the law. | ||
| We don't need this act. | ||
| But let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, why it's already against the law for a minor to buy beer, but yet the clerk checks the ID before the purchase is made. | ||
| We need the SAVE Act. | ||
| We need security. | ||
| We need to come together. | ||
| And I will invite our colleagues to come together. | ||
| There's still time to agree that the pillar of our democracy is one citizen, one vote. | ||
| The right answer on the SAVE Act is a yes vote. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlemen's time, he yields back. | |
| The gentleman from Wisconsin Reserves has time. | ||
| The gentleman from New York. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The gentleman's comments leads me to the question. | ||
| Do Republicans believe that every attestation under federal law is rife for subversion? | ||
| Americans must attest under penalty of perjury that their tax returns contain correct information. | ||
| Do Republicans want to end this honor system by requiring Americans to provide even more documentation to the Internal Revenue Service? | ||
| It's a federal crime to lie on alcohol, tobacco, and firearms form 4473, the firearms transaction record. | ||
| That form is filled out under the same honor system that governs voter registrations. | ||
| Are you telling me that Republicans are open to strengthening gun licensing laws in the United States and no longer accept attestation? | ||
| Each of us must submit records to the FEC, attesting under penalty of perjury that our campaign committee reports are accurate. | ||
| Do Republicans now want to provide the American people greater transparency around political spending? | ||
| Because if they do, I've got a bill they can support the Freedom to Vote Act. | ||
| I'd also just suggest to the gentleman representative bean that an estimated 170,000 women in his district have a different last name on their birth certificate than is on their current photo ID. | ||
| And roughly 397,000 residents of Florida's 4th District do not have a passport. | ||
| It would cost them $51.7 million to secure one. | ||
| With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentleman, my friend from New Jersey, Mr. Conaway. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from New Jersey is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today in strong opposition to the SAVE Act. | ||
| While everyday Americans are struggling from the fallout of Trump's disastrous tariff policies, Republicans are pushing through a bill that strips Americans constitutional right to vote, a vote that was hard won and many for which many died. | ||
| They claim the SAVE Act is intended to prevent undocumented immigrants from voting, but it's already illegal for them to vote, and it is extremely rare. | ||
| In reality, the SAVE Act makes it harder for Americans, especially women and people of color, to participate in our elections. | ||
| We've seen these tactics before, creating barriers to the ballot box to suppress the vote. | ||
| And yet Republicans continue to find ways to undermine democracy. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to take a hard look in the mirror and ask themselves, do you want to stand on the side of voter suppression or do you want to stand on the side of democracy? | ||
| I choose democracy and will vote no on this dangerous anti-American bill. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman yields back to the gentleman from the New York Reserves his time, gentleman from Wisconsin. | |
| Mr. Speaker, we're hearing from the other side that it's already illegal for non-citizens to vote. | ||
| That's true. | ||
| It's also illegal to evade border patrol and cross the border illegally into the United States of America. | ||
| But enforcement matters. | ||
| And we can look at what happens when you don't enforce the law under the Biden administration. | ||
| What happens when you enforce the law under the Trump administration? | ||
| I think back about when I went home to my hometown in Janesville, Wisconsin the other day and I went to buy a six-pack of beer. | ||
| I walked in and the gentlewoman at the desk said, Brian, good to see you. | ||
| Went back, grabbed a six-pack of beer, came up. | ||
| She said, Brian, I need to see your ID. | ||
| Pulled out my ID and handed it to her. | ||
| She reviewed it. | ||
| She allowed me to purchase a six-pack of beer. | ||
| Am I the only one here that thinks it's absolutely absurd that we protect our beer more than we protect our ballots? | ||
| This law allows us to make sure that only U.S. citizens are voting in U.S. elections. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, it's about enforcement of the law. | ||
| I would ask my colleagues across the aisle, how many non-citizen voting, how many non-citizen votes should be okay? | ||
| The answer to me and my colleagues on this side of the aisle is zero. | ||
| Because every non-citizen that votes in a federal election in the United States of America cancels out the vote of a U.S. citizen. | ||
| As we know in this chamber, very often House races are close. | ||
| One of our representatives in this chamber was elected by simply six votes. | ||
| One non-citizen voting in a federal election in the United States is too many. | ||
| And the arguments I'm hearing from my colleagues on the left is that they're okay with non-citizens voting. | ||
| It's essential that not only do we have the law, we enforce the law. | ||
| And the SAVE Act does just that. | ||
| It's my good friend Chip Roy from the state of Texas, the author of the bill, who I've been working with to do just that. | ||
| And I now yield my friend, the gentleman from Texas, Chip Roy, as much time as he may consume to speak on the bill. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman has provided the gentleman from Texas for as much time as he may consume. | |
| The gentleman is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Speaker. | ||
| I want to thank the Chairman for his strong work and commitment to election integrity and to working with us on this bill in particular, the SAVE Act. | ||
| He's done an extraordinary job, and I'm proud to work with him and work with the rest of my colleagues on it. | ||
| I'm proud to work with my friend Cleta Mitchell, who had a significant hand in what we are doing here. | ||
| I'm quite certain that she is pretty well aware of protecting the right of females to be able to vote, along with my friend Stephanie Beiss, Mary Miller, and Laurel Lee, Lauren Boebert, and Kat Kamack, all of whom who came down to the floor in full support of this legislation, because they know the truth. | ||
| They know the truth that the American people know, which is that as much as my colleagues on the other side of the aisle want to bring up the DMV, the American people know that the DMV is very good at giving driver's license to illegal aliens because we know it to be true. | ||
| We know that there are people who have been indicted for voting illegally. | ||
| We know that there are voter rolls with massive numbers of people who are illegally present in the United States. | ||
| We know that the previous administration let in millions of people into the United States wrongfully and illegally under parole and asylum, blatantly abusing the law to put people in the United States that have no basis for being here, many of whom carried out dangerous acts against American people, killed American citizens, but importantly have been registering to vote. | ||
| That's what's been happening. | ||
| So what we understand is the American people have spoken very clearly that they believe only American citizens should vote in American elections. | ||
| There's nothing controversial about that. | ||
| There's nothing controversial about saying that you should be able to ensure that only citizens vote. | ||
| And let's be very clear: federal law has currently been interpreted to prohibit states from being able to check citizenship. | ||
| That's the truth. | ||
| That's why the state of Arizona, for example, has two systems, one for state and local, one for federal. | ||
|
unidentified
|
When he speaks, the gentleman's continued to. | |
| The good people of Arizona have two systems in place. | ||
| They check for citizenship for state and local elections, and they check, they're unable to check for citizenship in federal elections. | ||
| The point of this bill is to ensure that we guarantee only citizens vote by allowing those states to be able to check, by having systems, federal systems, be open to the states to be able to check and to require proof of citizenship when you register. | ||
| There's nothing complex about that. | ||
| There's nothing more sacred under the Constitution than ensuring that the people are able to have the voice in the election of the people that represent them in Washington and throughout the country. | ||
| Once that is undermined, then people lose faith in the very institutions upon which this is built. | ||
| This legislation is designed to restore that faith, to save our elections, to save election integrity. | ||
| I'm proud to have worked on this bill with my friend, the chairman, with my colleagues on this side of the aisle. | ||
| And I would note that five of my Democrat colleagues joined us last summer to vote for this bill. | ||
| Hardly a partisan exercise. | ||
| Hardly a partisan exercise to say that we should protect the elections of the American people. | ||
| So I urge my colleagues to support this bill, to restore confidence and faith in our elections, to take a step forward in ensuring that people know that citizens will be in control of this republic as the founders intended. | ||
| And I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman yields back his time. | |
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Wisconsin Reserve says time. | |
| Gentleman from New York. | ||
| Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I have an inquiry on time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from New York has seven minutes remaining. | |
| Very good. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I would like now to yield one minute to the gentleman from Alabama, my friend Mr. Figures. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Distinguished gentleman from Alabama is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Look, all of my colleagues today are speaking about this bill, and it's personal to me because I represent Alabama. | ||
| I represent the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement, and I would be remiss not to mention that election integrity was not an issue that my colleagues have been pushing until Donald Trump told them that they should be pushing this issue. | ||
| Americans have confidence in elections. | ||
| But see, for me, it's about too many people doing too many things too courageously for me to be able to stand here today. | ||
| Names like James Reed and Jimmy Lee Jackson and Viola Leozo, Andrew Goodman, James Cheney, Michael Schwerner. | ||
| These are people who died for me to be here today. | ||
| Congressman John Lewis, who most of you served with, died for me to be here today. | ||
| And this bill would make it tougher than it has ever been in American history to register to vote at a time where we have the technological ability to be able to verify election eligibility. | ||
| But we don't want to do that. | ||
| We want to make it tougher for people to actually get registered to vote. | ||
| And that is not what we should be doing. | ||
| We should be making it easier for people to vote. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Easier. | |
| Time has expired. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| The gentleman yields back. | ||
| The gentleman from New York reserves his time. | ||
| Gentleman from Wisconsin. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, can I inquire the time remaining? | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman has three and a half minutes. | |
| Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield one minute to my friend and colleague, the representative from California, Mr. Kiley, to speak. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a co-sponsor of the SAVE Act to advance the radical proposition that only American citizens should vote in American elections. | ||
| Now, of course, this isn't radical at all. | ||
| It is common sense. | ||
| I think the vast majority of Americans would be shocked to learn that it elicits any opposition at all. | ||
| In many states in this country, foremost my own state of California, the administration of our elections is completely out of touch with the rest of the developed world, falling well short of the standards that ought to exist in a modern democratic society. | ||
| This measure, requiring proof of citizenship in order to vote, is a needed corrective. | ||
| I believe in my state it will complement other initiatives that we are advancing now to require voter ID and to have a timely vote counting process in order to restore public confidence in our election process. | ||
| What is at stake is not only election integrity and election security, but democratic legitimacy and ensuring that our people have the ability to express themselves fully and our own identity as a state and a country through the democratic process. | ||
| I urge passage of this on a bipartisan. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlemen's time is expired. | |
| I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Wisconsin Reserve says time. | |
| Gentleman from New York. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I'd like to yield one minute to the gentlelady from California, Ms. Friedman. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlewoman from New York is recognized for one minute. | |
| California. | ||
| California. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Ranking Member Morelli. | |
| I rise in strong opposition to the so-called SAVE Act, a bill that is a modern-day poll tax targeting American women and low-income Americans. | ||
| This bill bans voter ID. | ||
| It bans using driver's licenses as voter ID unless they're backed by additional proof of citizenship, a requirement that excludes nearly all driver's licenses and real IDs issued today. | ||
| Now, for women who have changed their names, often through marriage, this means showing a passport or a birth certificate that may not match their legal name. | ||
| That would have meant that my grandmother, who had long since lost her birth certificate, would have been ineligible to vote under this bill. | ||
| In California alone, that would include more than 7 million women. | ||
| Now, this would force those women to pay $130 just to get a passport they need to vote. | ||
| With nearly a third of Californians lacking passports, this bill would cost them more than $1.25 billion statewide. | ||
| If you have to pay to vote, that's called a poll tax, plain and simple. | ||
| It is also unnecessary red tape for people just trying to cast a ballot. | ||
| This is a bill in search of a problem. | ||
| We have enough trouble getting American citizens to vote. | ||
| The gentleman reserves his time. | ||
| Does the gentleman seek to reserve your time? | ||
| I reserve my time, Mr. Speaker. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman reserves his time. | |
| The gentleman from Wisconsin. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I reserve. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman will reserve his time pending his, I believe, close. | |
| The gentleman has given that right. | ||
| The gentleman from New York. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I'd like to yield to my dear friend, the gentleman from New York, Mr. Latimer. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from New York is recognized. | |
|
Voter Suppression Debate
00:15:40
|
||
| Thank you very much, Mr. Morelli. | ||
| The American people in my district and in my state have spoken clearly. | ||
| This bill is voter suppression, pure and simple. | ||
| It's brought to us under the guise of stopping illegal voting. | ||
| And when we analyzed voting in Westchester County, a million people that I was the county executive of, we found no appreciable illegal voting. | ||
| But this is an opportunity for this majority to try to impose their will on the states that they don't already control. | ||
| They want to end male voter registration in my home state to satisfy other states' regressive laws. | ||
| They want to require people who have voted legally for years to prove their citizenship if they not only change their name, but if they move. | ||
| A simple move requires them to drive to a county board of elections and prove that they're an American citizen when they have proven that over the course of 20 years or more of voting. | ||
| This bill subjects local officials to hefty criminal fines if they register someone outside of these rules. | ||
| This is an expensive, unfunded mandate in Westchester, in New York City, and in all the other states that are involved. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield my time back. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Morelli. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yields back his time. | |
| The gentleman from New York has four minutes remaining. | ||
| The gentleman from Wisconsin has chosen to save his time. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I was remiss earlier. | ||
| I do want to remind my colleague, Mr. Roy, an estimated 150,000 women in his district have a different name on their birth certificate than on their photo ID, and 336 residents of Texas's 21st district lack a passport to a cost of $43.7 million to those who would need to get a passport should they choose that. | ||
| Also, I'd like to remind my colleague Representative Kiley, an estimated 135,000 women in his district have a different name, and roughly 268,000 residents of California's third district do not have a passport. | ||
| The cost to them for getting one is $34.8 million. | ||
| And with that, I'd like to yield two minutes to my friend, the gentlelady from Texas, Ms. Johnson. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlewoman from Texas is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today in opposition to the Voters Republican Suppression Act. | ||
| I want to give Republicans one chance to actually fulfill the rhetoric that they are spouting to the American people, which is actually giving people the right to vote. | ||
| I appreciate that elections are to ensure, I appreciate efforts to ensure that our elections are safe, free from foreign interference, and that only U.S. citizens can vote. | ||
| However, one of my concerns with this bill is that, as it's written, it does not allow for mail or online voter registration. | ||
| This bill, let me be perfectly clear, requires hardworking American people, people who go to work at 8 in the morning who don't get off till 5 p.m. to go in person to a voter registration office to take off work, to go in person to register to vote. | ||
| That is why I have offered an amendment to have online voter registration. | ||
| There are millions of service members and their families serving our countries overseas, individuals with disabilities, seniors who are unable to vote in person. | ||
| Why are we keeping these barriers for eligible citizens when the world is evolving around us? | ||
| We live in modern times, and so many of our lives happen online from daily activities. | ||
| We can pay our bills. | ||
| We can pay our taxes online. | ||
| You can apply for college. | ||
| You can apply for a car and home and everything else online. | ||
| 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 my common sense amendment to this bill. | ||
| My amendment would ensure Americans could still register to vote and prove their citizenship online or by in-mail. | ||
| This is a simple common sense amendment, and it would make certain that we can care for the people who can't get out of their homes and that this Congress is not depriving any eligible citizen of their right to vote. | ||
| Republicans have refused this amendment. | ||
| Republicans are refusing your ability to go and make it easy for citizens to register to vote in this country. | ||
| Republicans can now vote to pass this amendment. | ||
| I ask unanimous consent to insert the record of the text to this amendment, and I hope my colleagues will join me, and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman yields. | |
| Gentleman from New York is recognized. | ||
| And I would reserve the balance my question. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, the gentleman, it's my understanding that the gentleman reserves the right to close, so the gentleman from New York would now be recognized for the time remaining. | |
| Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The SAVE Act is, to put it nicely, the most severe voter suppression bill ever considered at the federal level. | ||
| Coupled with President Trump's recent anti-voter executive order, the SAVE Act would end the voter registration process for all Americans as they know it. | ||
| Republicans have repeatedly failed to present any evidence that non-citizen voting at a federal level has ever affected the outcome of any election. | ||
| The SAVE Act will make it harder for American citizens to vote, to make it harder for married women to vote, to make it harder for service members, students, rural Americans, senior citizens, native voters, survivors of natural disasters, and survivors of domestic abuse to vote, to make voting more expensive. | ||
| In fact, to force American families to pay billions of dollars just to register to vote. | ||
| Democrats want a country where every American citizen can vote. | ||
| That's why we champion bills like the Freedom to Vote Act, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, and the Native American Voting Right Act, not the SAVE Act. | ||
| I fiercely oppose this anti-American bill. | ||
| I urge every one of my colleagues, Republicans and Democrats alike, to defeat this extremist anti-voter SAVE Act. | ||
| With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman yields back stand. | |
| The gentleman from Wisconsin is recognized for his remaining two and a half minutes. | ||
| Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The SAVE Act is clear. | ||
| Only U.S. citizens should vote in U.S. elections. | ||
| Let's summarize the arguments here. | ||
| My colleagues on this side of the aisle believe that only U.S. citizens should vote in U.S. elections and we should keep it that way. | ||
| My colleagues on the other side of the aisle just moments ago said that there's no appreciable illegal voting. | ||
| Well, how much illegal voting should be allowed in the United States of America? | ||
| My opinion, no non-citizens should vote in U.S. elections. | ||
| We can go down and look at the data. | ||
| Illinois had to remove 600 non-citizens from their voter rolls. | ||
| Pennsylvania had to remove 10,000 non-citizens from their voter rolls. | ||
| Georgia, 1,600 non-citizens attempted to register. | ||
| In our nation's capital, where they allow non-citizens to vote in municipal elections, this past November, 388 non-citizens voted here at our nation's capital municipal elections. | ||
| You'll hear the argument from my colleagues across the aisle that it's already illegal to vote if you're a non-citizen in a federal election. | ||
| Well, I tell them, as I said earlier, it's already illegal to evade border patrol and to come into this country. | ||
| But Joe Biden was happy to not enforce the law. | ||
| Millions of illegal immigrants have come into the United States of America. | ||
| And the National Voter Registration Act is drafted by this body. | ||
| If you broke it, you've got to fix it. | ||
| We've got to fix the voting laws. | ||
| The National Voter Registration Act requires states to give voter registration materials when an individual comes to get a driver's license. | ||
| So in states that give driver's license to illegal aliens, like the state of Illinois, just to the south of my home state of Wisconsin, they're handed voter registration materials. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I view that as insane. | ||
| We should be making sure that only U.S. citizens are voting in U.S. elections. | ||
| You'll hear arguments about it's burdensome. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I think it's absurd that we're protecting beer more than we're protecting ballots. | ||
| You have to show a photo ID when you go in to buy a six-pack of beer. | ||
| You should have to go in and show that you're a U.S. citizen when you register to vote. | ||
| It's just that simple. | ||
| And I remind my colleagues that we had this debate in this chamber last Congress. | ||
| Five Democrats joined us in voting for this bill. | ||
| Well, in a few moments, we'll be voting, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| It'll be darn interesting to see how many Democrats have the courage to come across the line and say, yes, only U.S. citizens should vote in U.S. elections. | ||
| My colleagues should support this bill, and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
All time for debate has expired pursuant to House Resolution 294. | |
| The previous question is ordered on the bill. | ||
| The questions on the engrossment and third reading of the bill. | ||
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
| Aye. | ||
| Those opposed, no. | ||
| No. | ||
| The ayes have it. | ||
| Third reading. | ||
| A bill to amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require proof of United States citizenship to register an individual to vote in elections for federal office and for other purposes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Texas seek recognition? | |
| Mr. Speaker, I have a motion to recommit at the desk. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The clerk will report the motion. | |
| Ms. Johnson of Texas moves to recommit the bill H.R. 22 to the Committee on House Administration. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Pursuant to clause 2B of Rule 19, the previous question is ordered on the motion to recommit. | |
| The question is on the motion. | ||
| All those in favor shall say aye. | ||
| Aye. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Those opposed, no. | |
| The no's have it. | ||
| The motion is not agreed to. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask for the yays and nays. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The yays and nays are requested. | |
| Those favoring a vote by the yays and nays will rise. | ||
| A sufficient number having risen, the yays and nays are ordered. | ||
| Pursuant to clause 8 of Rule 20, further proceedings on this question will be postponed. | ||
| It will resume on questions previously postponed. | ||
| Votes will be taken in the following order. | ||
| The motion to concur in the Senate amendment to the House Concurrence Resolution 14 if ordered. | ||
| The motion to recommit H.R. 22 and the passage of H.R. 22 if ordered. | ||
| The first vote will be conducted as a 15-minute vote. | ||
| Pursuant to clause 9 of Rule 20. | ||
| Remaining electronic votes will be conducted on five-minute votes. | ||
| Pursuant to Clause 1C of Rule 19, further consideration of House concurrent resolution 14 will now resume. | ||
| The clerk will report the title. | ||
| House Concurrent Resolution 14, concurrent resolution establishing the congressional budget for the United States government for fiscal year 2025 and setting forth the appropriate budgetary levels for fiscal years 2026 through 2034. | ||
| Senate amendment. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The question is on the motion offered by the distinguished gentleman from Texas, Mr. Arrington. | |
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
| Those opposed, no. | ||
| The ayes have it. | ||
| The motion is agreed to, and without objection, the motion to consider is the gentleman from Wisconsin. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I request the yays and nays. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The yays and nays are requested by the gentleman from Wisconsin. | |
| Those favoring a vote for the yays and nays will rise. | ||
| A sufficient number having risen, the yays and nays are ordered. | ||
| Members will record their vote by electronic device. | ||
| This is a 15-minute vote. | ||
| And House lawmakers voting now on the revised version of the Republicans 2025 budget plan passed by the Senate last week. | ||
| It instructs House and Senate committees to craft legislation through the budget reconciliation process to enact President Trump's policy agenda. | ||
| The final bill is set to include tax cuts, domestic energy production, and border security provisions. | ||
| The initial vote was canceled last night due to lack of enough support to pass. | ||
| House Speaker Mike Johnson announced this morning that he believes they have the votes now to adopt the budget plan. | ||
| So while members are voting, we'll show the Speaker's press conference where he spoke alongside the Senate Majority Leader, John Thune. | ||
| After their remarks, we'll show the floor debate on the budget. | ||
| This is a 15-minute vote. | ||
| Good morning, everybody. | ||
| We wanted to give you an update. | ||
| It's a very positive one. | ||
| As you know, you've been following this for the last many months. | ||
| We've had a lot of very deliberative conversation and deliberation amongst members. | ||
| Everyone's been involved in the House side and on the Senate side as well. | ||
| We had some of those deliberations as recently as last night, and it's very productive. | ||
| And I'm happy to tell you that this morning, I believe, we had the votes to finally adopt the budget resolution so we can move forward on President Trump's very important agenda for the American people. | ||
| This process has required a lot of close consultation between the White House and the Senate. | ||
| And all of that has been necessary because we want to make sure that we are delivering on our shared goals in the budget reconciliation process. | ||
| Our big, beautiful bill has to reflect all of that. | ||
| And so it is big, and it involves a lot of areas of policy, and so it requires a lot of close coordination. | ||
| Our two chambers are directly aligned also on a very important principle, and that is the principle of fiscal responsibility. | ||
| We are the party that delivers and ensures that. | ||
| So we have a number of aims here. | ||
| Our aim is to deliver on our promises in this big, beautiful bill regarding things like border security, restoring peace through strength, and American energy dominance and regulatory reform to get the economy really humming again. | ||
| And of course also tax relief, tax reductions. | ||
| We have to make the tax cuts permanent, and that's all involved and enveloped in this big effort and all the other promises and priorities we made. | ||
| Now, it's important to note that at the same time, we also need to achieve the maximum amount of savings for the American people, because that's what fiscal responsibility is. | ||
| And we even want to start reducing the deficit. | ||
| So, with all that in mind, our first big, beautiful reconciliation package here involves a number of commitments. | ||
| And one of those is that we are committed to finding at least $1.5 trillion in savings for the American people, while also preserving our essential programs. | ||
| The Democrats are out right now trying to make hay out of the fact that we're going to gut Medicaid and all these other things. | ||
| It's simply not true. | ||
| We're going to protect the essential programs for everybody who's eligible to receive those. | ||
|
Senate Republicans Aim for $1.5T Savings
00:15:56
|
||
| And you'll see that reflected in the final bill. | ||
| But I think it's very important for us to note that we'll be looking for $1.5 trillion in savings. | ||
| And I can tell you that many of us are going to aim much higher and find those savings because we believe they are there. | ||
| We want to make government more efficient, effective, and leaner for the American people. | ||
| And I think that will serve every American of every party. | ||
| And we're happy to do that. | ||
| This morning we'll take the next big step in that process. | ||
| And I just want to say I'm very happy to have our partners in the Senate working so closely with us as one team, one unified team, which is very important for us to deliver on all these objectives. | ||
| And I can't tell you how much I thank Senate Majority Leader Thune for his principled, steady leadership and his resolve through this entire process. | ||
| And I'm delighted to yield the podium to him next. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and good morning. | ||
| A lot of work has been going on here the last few days, but what I can tell you is that I think, as you know, last week that there were 51 Senate Republicans that passed a budget resolution that seeks to accomplish all the things that the Speaker outlined. | ||
| We are all aligned on the need to make the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent, to restore American energy dominance, to grow our economy, and to make a generational investment in our border security and also make sure that we are ready militarily to deal with any of the threats that the country faces around the world. | ||
| And those are all things that are addressed in this budget resolution, which is why it's really important that we act. | ||
| The budget resolution, as you know, is the first step. | ||
| It unlocks budget reconciliation, which is where all this can be achieved. | ||
| But one of the principal objectives in our budget resolution and in the House's, as outlined by the Speaker, is spending cuts. | ||
| We have got to do something to get the country on a more sustainable fiscal path, and that entails us taking a hard scrub of our government, figuring out where we can find those savings. | ||
| And our ambition in the Senate is we are aligned with the House in terms of what their budget resolution outlined in terms of savings. | ||
| The Speaker's talked about $1.5 trillion. | ||
| We have a lot of United States Senators who believe that is a minimum. | ||
| And we're certainly going to do everything we can to be as aggressive as possible to see that we are serious about the matter not only of making our federal government more fiscally sustainable, but also deficit reduction, which is critical to a lot of our members in the Senate and I know to his members in the House. | ||
| So we're ready to move forward. | ||
| I'm hoping that the Speaker and his team and his House colleagues can succeed today, get the budget resolution passed, and that will set us up for the next step in this process, which enables us to achieve all the things on President Trump's agenda, including those I just outlined. | ||
| But absolutely essential that we work really, really hard to see what we can do to make government smaller, more efficient, and more accountable to the American taxpayer. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Thanks so much. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thanks. | |
| Mr. Speaker, in the most historic election of our lifetime, Americans resoundedly elected President Trump and Republican-led Congress to reverse course on the failed policies and the string of self-inflicted disasters of the past four years. | ||
| Unbridled spending and bad economic policies have weakened our economy, created a cost-of-living disaster for working families, and pushed our nation ever closer to the precipice of a sovereign debt crisis. | ||
| Today, our national debt is at wartime levels, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Our deficits, $2 trillion, more than our annual appropriations budget. | ||
| Half of that is interest. | ||
| Interest on the debt is greater than we spend, Mr. Speaker, on all of defense. | ||
| And respectively, it's more than we spend on all of Medicare services to our seniors. | ||
| It is completely and utterly unsustainable. | ||
| We're at a critical inflection point. | ||
| We have a generational opportunity to rein in wasteful spending, reignite growth, and put our nation on a responsible and sustainable path. | ||
| Members of this chamber did just that. | ||
| The Republicans of the House fashioned a fiscal framework that was responsible, that put pro-growth policies in place to incent growth and job creation, move our country forward, strengthen our economic base, which is our power base, that gives us our global leadership influence. | ||
| We also give tools and resources to our commander-in-chief to provide for a common defense. | ||
| And we bend the curve on mandatory spending, which is 75% of the budget, 90% of the increase in spending, and it is the spending that is bankrupting the United States of America. | ||
| For the next hour, the Democrats will have rhetorical arguments that are tired, old, and completely false. | ||
| They'll prey on the fears of our most vulnerable Americans, and they will try to intimidate my Republican colleagues into inaction. | ||
| They'll try to convince our seniors and those families and individuals who struggle that we will somehow steal their safety net or cut their program, which just couldn't be further from the truth. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, my Democrat colleagues in the Rules Committee said: listen, if you're just talking about cutting waste, you know we're there. | ||
| You know we'll meet you halfway. | ||
| You know, we want to ensure that the taxpayer dollars are stewarded, and yet they take out their baseball bat when we talk about the hundreds of billions of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse, and they politicize it. | ||
| But when they had full control of the House and Senate and the White House and they jammed through their Inflation Reduction Act or the American Rescue Plan, there wasn't a jot or tittle, not a single measure of fiscal control or a measure of rooting out waste and fraud. | ||
| But they say they're with us. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, instead, there was $2 trillion in wasted tax dollars, opening up health care and welfare to illegals, waived work requirements to able-bodied Americans, trapping more people in dependence on the government. | ||
| Of course, they also had bailouts for student loans and expansion of IRS by $80 billion, mandating electric vehicles for every American, tax breaks for green energy corporations, and the list goes on and on. | ||
| They'll also dust off an old playbook where they say that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was simply a tax cut for the rich. | ||
| So just to dispel that with a few points, the Washington Post gave four Pinocchios to their claim that it went to the rich and to the corporations. | ||
| Three out of $4 went to individuals. | ||
| And the lower 10% of our income brackets received the highest tax break. | ||
| And the top 1% actually had to pay a higher share of taxes. | ||
| In addition, we saw 25-year wage increases. | ||
| We saw American families, median household families, be able to put $5,000 back into their pockets. | ||
| And 6 million people were raised out of poverty. | ||
| So all boats rose on the tide of prosperity. | ||
| And yet my colleagues, my Democrat colleagues, are trying to stop us from simply extending the tax relief to our small businesses and tax breaks to our families after a 21 percent inflation tax that they suffered through for the last few years. | ||
| If they were successful in opposing the extension of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, an average American will have a tax hike of 22 percent. | ||
| $1,700 would be the extra expense for families of four. | ||
| 26 million small businesses would lose their comparable tax break through the 20 percent 199a deduction. | ||
| Child tax credit would be cut in half for 40 million families. | ||
| The standard deduction for 91 percent of all Americans would be cut in half. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, as we unlock the reconciliation process, I'm encouraging my colleagues to hold fast to the principles established in the House's budget resolution. | ||
| If we do that, we will preserve the blessings of liberty and prosperity for our children and grandchildren for generations to come. | ||
| If we don't, if we shrink back in this monumental moment and this historic opportunity, then we will be the first generation of Americans who have left our country worse than we found it. | ||
| If we are to usher in that golden age of America that President Trump is fond of talking about, we must advance a budget resolution bill that doesn't just include tax cuts or deregulation or good energy policies. | ||
| All that is good, but also admittedly the most difficult part, but the most necessary, which is reining in the runaway spending that is driving the greatest country in human history off of a fiscal cliff. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to reverse the curve. | ||
| This is a gentleman reserve. | ||
| I reserve, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Gentleman Reserves. | ||
| Gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. Bull is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield myself such time as I may consume. | ||
| Gentlemen is recognized for as much time as you may consume. | ||
| Well, thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank the Budget Committee Chairman. | ||
| I have to say, it's like deja vu all over again. | ||
| Because we were last on the House floor about a month ago to have a debate about the House Republican budget reconciliation resolution, which included trillions of dollars in big giveaways that mostly benefit the top 1%, paid for in part by the biggest Medicaid cuts in American history, | ||
| combined with trillions of dollars in new debt. | ||
| Here we are again a month later, and after the Senate Republicans made their changes, we have even more in tax cut giveaways. | ||
| Instead of $4.5 trillion, it's now $7 trillion, most of which one penny doesn't even pay for it, except again for cuts to Medicaid, as well as cuts to other programs. | ||
| Now, there's a little bit of confusion here in a couple aspects, and I want to quickly address them. | ||
| First, on tax cuts, there is no question that there will not be a tax increase on working Americans. | ||
| There is widespread agreement on both sides of the aisle when it comes to tax cuts on those making under a million dollars a year. | ||
| In fact, in the Rules Committee a few weeks ago, a Democratic member offered an amendment to say, we agree. | ||
| It's where the disagreement lies is in those who make more than a million dollars a year. | ||
| The top 1%, in fact, the top one half of 1%. | ||
| Every Democratic member voted in favor of that amendment that would make clear we'd be extending the tax cuts for everyone who makes up to $1 million, a massive amount of money. | ||
| Every Democrat voted for it. | ||
| Every Republican voted against it. | ||
| So don't be confused and don't be scared by this care tactic. | ||
| If you are a middle-class American, if you are in the 99%, you will not see your taxes go up next year. | ||
| There's no question about that. | ||
| What is at issue is the tax cuts for multimillionaires, billionaires, and big corporations. | ||
| Now, there's another part that has gotten confused or obscured, and that's with respect to the Medicaid cuts. | ||
| As CBO confirmed in a letter they sent to Mr. Pallone and to me, there is no question that this piece of legislation before us calls for hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid cuts, the largest in American history. | ||
| There are some on the other side who have said, well, the word Medicaid technically doesn't exist in the bill, therefore these cuts don't exist. | ||
| Give me a break. | ||
| The instruction in this piece of legislation directs the Energy and Commerce Committee to identify at least $880 billion of cuts in those programs where they have jurisdiction. | ||
| Well, guess what? | ||
| 93% of their jurisdiction is Medicare and Medicaid. | ||
| You can literally cut everything else that they have jurisdiction over, and that only gets you about $380 billion. | ||
| So at least $500 billion, by definition, in order to follow and carry out these instructions, have to come from Medicaid. | ||
| Now, finally, because I know we've got a lot of speakers on this side, there is something additional in this new version of the reconciliation resolution. | ||
| It's called, quote, current policy baseline. | ||
| It is a fraud. | ||
| And to House Republicans' credit, actually, in their proposal, they didn't rely on this fraud. | ||
| Current policy baseline, with a straight face, wants you to believe that permanent extension of the tax cuts won't cost one dime. | ||
| This would establish a dangerous new precedent here. | ||
| For 51 years, we've operated under the Budget and Empowerment Control Act. | ||
| For 51 years, we've had the Congressional Budget Office. | ||
| And we've had these rules, as imperfect as they may be, that we have to follow, that things have to be paid for within a 10-year window. | ||
| Current policy baseline means that rule goes out the window. | ||
| And if we think that in establishing this new precedent, that this will be the only time it's ever used, that's crazy. | ||
|
Fragile Moment Struggles
00:15:47
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| And if we think that we have a national debt issue right now, which we both agree on, it will get far, far worse if the new standard becomes this phony fraud of current policy baseline. | ||
| So, Mr. Speaker, I look forward to the rest of the debate, and with that, I reserve. | ||
| Gentleman Reserves, gentlemen from Texas. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield two minutes to the gentleman from the Keystone State, dear friend and vice chairman of the Budget Committee, Mr. Lloyd Smucker. | ||
| Mr. Smucker is recognized for how long? | ||
| Two minutes. | ||
| Two minutes. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the Chairman for yielding. | |
| I want to say first that it has been a great pleasure of mine to work with the Chairman over the past few months. | ||
| He's done an incredible job leading the budget committee and leading our conference to a bill passed out of the House that not only extended the tax cuts, it secured the border, it unleashes American energy, it funds our military. | ||
| All of the priorities, all of the mandates makes good on the mandates that the American people have given us and have given the President in this past election. | ||
| And I'll say first that it is, I think, important to every member of the Republican Conference in the House, and I believe every Republican member in the Senate as well, to extend those tax cuts to drive an economy that is working for, working for Americans, and drive additional growth in the economy. | ||
| So that's what went out of, that's what came out of the House. | ||
| And so I was very disappointed to see very, very different instructions to the Senate that I just think are not serious. | ||
| I believe that we have to do these tax cuts. | ||
| And what I think is also important to every member of the House, we know the fiscal trajectory that we're on. | ||
| We know this won't end well if we constrain, if we don't restrain our runaway spending. | ||
| I think this is our opportunity to do it. | ||
| And the $4 billion floor in spending savings in that Senate bill just simply are not acceptable. | ||
| There are those who argue that we'll be working on this and will still come up with a good bill. | ||
| But to me, it's important we have the guardrails in the initial resolution. | ||
| I think there's a reason for the initial resolution. | ||
| It's to set up the framework for what this reconciliation will look like. | ||
| And so, unfortunately, today, unusual for me, but I will not be able to support this bill on the floor. | ||
| I will be voting no on this bill. | ||
| It's time. | ||
| There is. | ||
| I think the gentleman in reserve. | ||
| I give the gentleman 15 seconds. | ||
| Gentlemen is recognized for an additional 15 seconds. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Again, with what I started with, it's very important we get this bill done. | |
| There is a better path forward. | ||
| We have an amendment that could be passed in this bill that would satisfy where the Senate is, where the House is. | ||
| And as I said, I can't vote on this bill as it is, but there's a pathway forward here that is very, very important. | ||
| Gentlemen's time has expired. | ||
| A reserve. | ||
| Gentleman in Reserve, Gentleman from Pennsylvania is recognized. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I now have the distinct honor of yielding one minute to my good friend, the gentleman from New York, the Democratic leader, Mr. Jeffries. | ||
| Gentlemen is recognized. | ||
| This magic is wide as they say. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Let me also thank the distinguished gentleman from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Representative Boyle, who's doing a tremendous job leading House Democrats on the budget committee. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I urge you to join me on the House floor to debate this reckless budget one-on-one so we would have an opportunity to fully air in a transparent way before the American people Democratic values and Republican values, the Democratic perspective on this budget and the Republican perspective. | ||
| I'm on the House floor right now. | ||
| We're ready to debate one-on-one, prepared to yield to you for colloquy at any time so we can discuss the Democratic vision for building an affordable economy that lowers costs and makes life better for the American people. | ||
| And the Republican budget proposal that would enact the largest Medicaid cut in American history in order to pass. | ||
| massive tax breaks for your billionaire donors like Elon Musk. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I'm ready to yield. | ||
| I'm ready to debate one-on-one on this House floor, and I promise not to rebuke you in the name of Jesus. | ||
| Here in America, we were told, we were told by Donald Trump and House Republicans that you were going to lower the high cost of living for everyday Americans. | ||
| In fact, we were told that you were going to do it on day one, and it hasn't happened. | ||
| President Trump and House Republicans told us that you were going to deliver the golden age of America. | ||
| But over the last several months, we haven't witnessed the golden age of America. | ||
| We've witnessed a rotten age. | ||
| You are crashing the economy in real time, driving us toward a Republican recession that's going to hurt children, hurt families, hurt seniors, hurt everyday Americans, hurt veterans, and hurt people across the land. | ||
| You haven't done anything to address the high cost of living. | ||
| As Democrats, we recognize that America is too expensive. | ||
| The cost of living in this great country is far too high. | ||
| Housing costs are too high. | ||
| Grocery costs are too high. | ||
| Insurance costs are too high. | ||
| Utility costs are too high. | ||
| And child care costs are too high. | ||
| America is too expensive. | ||
| We should be working to lower the high cost of living. | ||
| Far too many people in this country can't get ahead and they can barely get by. | ||
| Struggling to make ends meet. | ||
| Living paycheck to paycheck. | ||
| We should be acting decisively to address the high cost of living. | ||
| President Trump promised costs would go down on day one. | ||
| Costs aren't going down. | ||
| They're going up. | ||
| Inflation is going up. | ||
| Consumer confidence is coming down. | ||
| And these reckless policies, including the Trump tariffs, are driving us toward a recession. | ||
| And on top of it all, you are presenting a budget that's going to make things worse. | ||
| So we stand here today in strong opposition to this reckless Republican budget. | ||
| It's a cruel budget. | ||
| It's a budget that will have catastrophic consequences on everyday Americans. | ||
| It's an assault on the economy. | ||
| It's an assault on Medicaid, an assault on health care, an assault on nutritional assistance to children and families. | ||
| It's an assault on older Americans, an assault on hospitals and nursing homes and community health centers. | ||
| It's an assault on veterans, which is why we reject it, because we're going to stand on the side of the American people. | ||
| Now, there are so many different problems with this budget resolution, but let's begin with the fact that Republicans are setting in motion the largest Medicaid cut in American history. | ||
| That's going to hurt people all across this country, in small-town America, in urban America, in rural America, in the heartland of America, in Appalachia, all across this country, people will be hurt. | ||
| Health care will be taken away from children, pregnant women, everyday Americans with disabilities, older Americans, people in nursing homes, people who are receiving long-term care. | ||
| Nursing homes will close. | ||
| That will impact everybody in a given community. | ||
| Hospitals will shut down in rural America, in small-town America, all across America. | ||
| The largest Medicaid cut in American history is completely and totally unacceptable. | ||
| At the same period of time, targeting nutritional assistance for children, infants, women, families, veterans, older Americans, literally taking food out of the mouths of babies in the United States of America, the wealthiest country in the history of the world. | ||
| This is why we say it's a cruel budget. | ||
| It's a callous budget. | ||
| It's a budget that will have catastrophic consequences. | ||
| Veterans will be hurt. | ||
| People who have served this country admirably, they stood up for us. | ||
| We should always stand up for them, not target them, as will be the case in this reckless Republican budget. | ||
| And so we're here to make it clear, hands off Medicaid, hands off the health care of the United States of America, hands off nutritional assistance, hands off veterans, hands off everyday Americans struggling to make ends meet. | ||
| Republicans do nothing to lower the high cost of living. | ||
| In fact, you're making the affordability crisis in America worse, not better. | ||
| Then you target earned benefits and things that are important to the American people, like Medicaid, to visit upon it such an extreme cut. | ||
| And what are you doing it for? | ||
| What is it in service of? | ||
| All to pass massive tax breaks for your billionaire donors like Elon Musk. | ||
| The President himself has made that clear. | ||
| At the end of the day, that's what this is all about. | ||
| How extraordinary is that? | ||
| As Democrats, we support tax cuts for everyday Americans, tax cuts for small businesses, tax cuts for family farmers, tax cuts for those who need relief, not tax cuts for the wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected. | ||
| And so we stand in strong opposition to this GOP tax scam. | ||
| The reason why, Mr. Speaker, I've said let's debate this on the House floor directly, through a colloquy, transparently, to make it clear to the American people where we stand and where Republicans stand at such a fragile moment with so many people in this country struggling to make ends meet. | ||
| And so as House Democrats, we're going to continue to stand on the side of the American people. | ||
| We're going to stand on the side of our children, of our families, of our veterans, of older Americans, of everyone aspiring to achieve the American dream. | ||
| Stand up in defense of Medicaid, stand up in defense of veterans' benefits, stand up in defense of nutritional assistance, stand up in defense of economic opportunity and a fair tax code that is designed to build an economy that actually works for everyday Americans as opposed to an economy of the billionaires, by the billionaires, and for the billionaires. | ||
| That is why we strongly oppose this reckless Republican budget resolution, and we will not rest until we bury it in the ground, never to rise again. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the wages for the bottom 10 percent grew at twice the amount of the top 10 percent and wealth three times the top 1 percent. | ||
| And if Leader Jeffries is successful at killing the tax cuts and Jobs Act extension, he'll raise $1,739 of taxes for families in his district. | ||
| With that, I yield two minutes to my friend from California, Mr. Tom McClintock, for two minutes. | ||
| Gentleman from California is recognized for two minutes. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, Benjamin Franklin told of a French woman who once confided to her sister, I don't know how it happens, sister, but I meet with nobody but myself that's always in the right. | ||
| He was reminding his colleagues that democracies were never designed to make perfect decisions, only the most acceptable ones to the most people. | ||
| Now, my disappointment in the Senate version before us is vast, but it has one redeeming quality. | ||
| It is within reach. | ||
| No, it doesn't begin to address the dangerous debt that threatens our nation's solvency, but it does open up a process that is absolutely critical. | ||
| If we're going to stop a $4.5 trillion tax increase, it would devastate our economy and provide the funds to secure our borders and provide for our defense in a dangerous world. | ||
| I am frustrated with the Senate numbers, but in Doge we trust. | ||
| I think we can achieve a trillion dollars of savings as a result of its work. | ||
| The mass repatriation of millions of illegal aliens should save another $150 billion. | ||
|
Protecting Healthcare Votes Electronically
00:15:43
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| Restoring the work requirement for able-bodied welfare recipients will save hundreds of billions of dollars more without touching a single service for the truly needy. | ||
| And the economic rebound from the regulatory and fiscal reforms and from the bilateral free trade agreements the President intends to negotiate are potentially explosive. | ||
| None of these reforms is in this resolution, but all of them depend on this resolution. | ||
| If anybody's got a better alternative, they need to bring it to a vote in both houses this week. | ||
| Otherwise, let us take a little of Benjamin Franklin's advice, doubt a little of our own infallibility, and get on with the work we were elected to do and upon which the prosperity of our people and the future of our nation depends. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| This is the gentleman reserve. | ||
| I reserve. | ||
| Gentlemen Reserve, gentlemen from Pennsylvania is recognized. | ||
| Mr. Chair, I yield one and a half minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey, the ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, Mr. Pallon. | ||
| Gentleman is recognized for one and one-half minutes. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I've heard my Republican colleagues today admit that they were extending the tax cut for the rich and the large corporations. | ||
| I've heard them say they're worried about the debt, but certainly this bill would also increase the debt. | ||
| What I have not heard them admit is that they are cutting Medicaid to pay for all this. | ||
| They will not admit that. | ||
| But this is the second time now the budget resolution passed the House, the budget resolution came over from the Senate. | ||
| They're going to vote today on instructing my committee, the Energy and Congress Committee, to cut $880 billion at least. | ||
| And Mr. Boyle has said, our ranking member, he pointed out that the CBO got back to us and said that most, if not all, of that has to come from Medicaid cuts. | ||
| So please admit that you are voting today on Medicaid cuts. | ||
| Do not deny it. | ||
| Do not try to put it aside. | ||
| That's what this is all about. | ||
| And what does that mean? | ||
| It means there's less money to the states, and so they're going to cut back on nursing home care. | ||
| They're going to cut back on the money that goes to hospitals. | ||
| Hospitals will close. | ||
| Nursing homes will close. | ||
| Or they'll have such terrible quality of service. | ||
| Or, in the case of the hospitals, they'll pass on those extra costs to other people that have insurance and your insurance premiums go up. | ||
| And what about people with disabilities? | ||
| Most of them are dependent on Medicaid. | ||
| Their services will be eliminated or cut back as well. | ||
| So please understand a vote for this by the Republicans today is a vote to cut people's health care, to reduce their services, to kick people out of nursing homes, to make sure that the majority of the country is gentleman from Pennsylvania Reserve. | ||
| Gentleman from Texas is recognized. | ||
| Interestingly enough, the Democrats' expansion of Obamacare actually put 90 cents on the dollar for able-bodied adults, and they robbed. | ||
| robbed our motivation. | ||
|
unidentified
|
216, the nays are 214. | |
| The motion is adopted without objection. | ||
| The motion to reconsider is laid on the table. | ||
| Pursuant to clause 8 to Rule 20, the unfinished business is a question on agreeing to the motion to recommit on H.R. 22, offered by the gentlewoman from Texas, Ms. Johnson, on which the yays and nays war to the cloak will redesignate the motion. | ||
| Motion to recommit H.R. 22, offered by Ms. Johnson of Texas. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Questions on the agreeing to the motion to recommit. | |
| Members will record their votes by electronic device. | ||
| This will be a five-minute vote. | ||
| And the House just a moment ago adopting the 2025 GOP budget resolution, which now enters into the budget reconciliation process to enact President Trump's policy agenda focused on tax cuts, domestic energy production, and border security. | ||
| Underway now, a procedural vote on legislation requiring voters provide in-person proof of citizenship when they register to vote in federal elections. | ||
| The bill also requires states to remove non-citizens from the existing voter registration rolls, and it allows for suits to be brought against election officials who register people without proof of citizenship. | ||
| A final vote is expected next. | ||
| While members are voting, we'll show some of the debate on the bill from earlier. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise to oppose a SAVE Act. | ||
| Bottom line, the SAVE Act suppresses the votes of women, of black, brown, and Indigenous people, of veterans, and working-class Americans. | ||
| In advancing it, Republicans invoke those historical policies that were intended to disenfranchise Americans. | ||
| Let me remind you what they were. | ||
| Literacy tests and poll taxes for eligible voters. | ||
| Grandfather clauses, which tied voters' right to their grandfathers before the Civil War. | ||
| All-white primaries to eliminate black voters' presence in the electoral process. | ||
| And now the show me your papers. | ||
| The SAVE Act is the same trash, just a different day. | ||
| It is the Republicans' latest attempt to make clear who they believe should have access to vote and who they think should not. | ||
| Anyone who votes for this bill will go down in the history books with the likes of Confederate politicians, Jim Crow advocates, and white supremacists as bigots. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to vote no. | ||
| With that, I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlewoman from Illinois gilds her time. | |
| The gentleman from New York Reserves has time. | ||
| The gentleman from Wisconsin. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield two minutes to the representative from Florida, Ms. Kamack, to speak on the bill. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlewoman's recognized. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| I rise in strong support as a woman and as the chairwoman of the Republican Women's Caucus, not only just for election integrity, but clearly literacy, because y'all have not read the bill. | ||
| That much is clear. | ||
| This bill is very, very simple. | ||
| It ensures that only American citizens can vote in our federal elections. | ||
| This isn't hard. | ||
| 87% of Americans agree that only Americans should vote in our elections. | ||
| So it makes me wonder why are my friends on the other side of the aisle always consistently looking for ways to ensure that illegals can vote in our elections. | ||
| It's almost as though they have an ulterior motive. | ||
| You have to show an ID to board a plane, to buy alcohol, to cash a check. | ||
| You have to show an ID to buy cold medicine, for God's sakes. | ||
| Why should people not have to verify their citizenship to register? | ||
| And I say to register because my friend over here keeps pointing out that women in every single congressional district will have to provide proof of their name change in order to vote. | ||
| Folks, read the bill, page 14. | ||
| If you are registering to vote, there is a process by which the states establish. | ||
| If you are already registered to vote, you are fine. | ||
| Read the bill. | ||
| Stop insulting women. | ||
| I am sick and tired, and I know women across this country are sick and tired of being talked down to and being insulted repeatedly with the fear-mongering tactics of the left. | ||
| It is disingenuous for them to stand there and continue to say that women will not be eligible to vote. | ||
| This is about protecting one of our most sacred rights that we have as Americans. | ||
| And I am so proud to stand here as a woman, as a married woman, and again as the chair of the Republican Women's Caucus in safeguarding and ensuring the integrity of our elections. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I urge my colleagues to say that. | |
| I yield an additional 15 seconds. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from Wisconsin yields her an additional 15 seconds. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| I can keep preaching for an additional 30. | ||
| The point is, is that Americans around this country are sick and tired of the fear-mongering tactics that they have been subjected to by the left for decades. | ||
| We need to ensure the integrity of our elections. | ||
| It has been demanded by the American people, and we're making good on that promise today. | ||
| I urge my colleagues to support the SAVE Act. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I think my colleagues doth protest too much. | ||
| I've read the bill many times, debated the bill. | ||
| There's nothing in the bill that allows you to bring a marriage license to prove who you are when you register to vote. | ||
| You will have to do all the things we suggest you will have to do, and that's exactly the problem. | ||
| And I'd like to also just remind my colleague and friend from Florida that in Ms. Camack's district, the nays are 215. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The motion is not adopted. | |
| Question is on passage of the bill. | ||
| Those in favor say aye. | ||
| Those opposed say no. | ||
| The ayes have it. | ||
| The bill is passed. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, for what purpose does the gentleman from New York seek recognition? | ||
| I ask for the yays and nays. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yays and nays are requested. | |
| Those favoring a vote by the yays and naysays will rise. | ||
| Sufficient number having risen, the yays and nays are ordered. | ||
| Members will record their votes by electronic device. | ||
| This will be a five-minute vote. | ||
| And a final passage vote now on requiring in-person proof of citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections. | ||
| The bill also requires states to remove non-citizens from their existing voter roles and allows lawsuits against election officials who register people without proof of U.S. citizenship. | ||
| We're expecting this to be the last of the legislative work for the week here in the House. | ||
| Lawmakers will be out for two weeks for an upcoming break. | ||
| During this five-minute vote, we'll show debate from earlier. | ||
| Let's be clear. | ||
| It is already against the law for non-Americans to vote. | ||
| This bill is a solution in search of a problem. | ||
| The SAVE Act would create new barriers to the ballot box for millions of eligible voters. | ||
| That includes almost 70 million American women who got married and changed their last name. | ||
| It also includes 140 million Americans without a passport, and it includes Americans with military and tribal IDs. | ||
| To be clear, this bill is not about protecting our elections. | ||
| It's about making it harder for Americans to vote and easier for Republicans to win. | ||
| As elected officials, we should be working to expand access to the ballot box, not restrict it. | ||
| Congress should be considering H.R. 14, the John Robert Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, to ensure that every American can freely and fairly vote. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this is very personal to me. | ||
| I am not only the representative of America's Civil Rights District, but I am also the proud daughter of Selma, Alabama. | ||
| It was in my hometown where hundreds of foot soldiers were bludgeoned on a bridge for the equal right of all Americans to vote. | ||
| This legislation before us today makes a mockery of their legacy. | ||
| I urge all of my colleagues to vote no on the SAVE Act. | ||
| Thank you, and I yield back the balance of my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlemen, time has expired. | |
| The gentleman from New York reserves his time. | ||
| The gentleman from Wisconsin. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield two minutes to the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Bean, to speak on the bill. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman from Florida is recognized for two minutes. | |
| Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker, and thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. | ||
| One citizen, one vote. | ||
| It's the pillar of our democracy. | ||
| And Mr. Speaker, you would think, you would think that of all the issues that we debate on this hallowed floor, this is the one. | ||
| This is the one that brings everybody together. | ||
| The pillar of our democracy, one citizen, one vote. | ||
| Everybody's on the same team. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, you would be wrong. | ||
| It's amazing you would be wrong because there are people in this room that think women are incapable of getting an ID. | ||
| I think that's an insult to women. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, let me remind you why we're here. | ||
| We're here because this previous administration, the Biden administration, imported 10 to 15 million illegal aliens who have come here, and we have evidence that they're participating in our elections. | ||
| The next thing you'll say is, did they get social security numbers? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, they did. | ||
| The DOS team just announced millions of illegals now have Social Security numbers. | ||
| It's happening and it ends today when we vote on this SAVE Act. | ||
| Now, I've just heard my colleagues say it's already against the law. | ||
| It's already against the law. | ||
| We don't need this act. | ||
| But let me tell you, Mr. Speaker, why it's already against the law for a minor to buy beer, but yet the clerk checks the ID before the purchase is made. | ||
| We need the SAVE Act. | ||
| We need security. | ||
| We need to come together. | ||
| And I will invite our colleagues to come together. | ||
| There's still time to agree that the pillar of our democracy is one citizen, one vote. | ||
| The right answer on the SAVE Act is a yes vote. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentlemen's time, he yields back. | |
| The gentleman from Wisconsin Reserves has time. | ||
| The gentleman from New York. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| The gentleman's comments leads me to the question. | ||
| Do Republicans believe that every attestation under federal law is rife for subversion? | ||
| Americans must attest under penalty of perjury that their tax returns contain correct information. | ||
| Do Republicans want to end this honor system by requiring Americans to provide even more documentation to the Internal Revenue Service? | ||
| It's a federal crime to lie on alcohol, tobacco, and firearms form 4473, the firearms transaction record. | ||
| That form is filled out under the same honor system that governs voter registrations. | ||
| Are you telling me that Republicans are open to strengthening gun licensing laws in the United States and no longer accept attestation? | ||
| Each of us must submit records to the FEC, attesting under penalty of perjury that our campaign committee reports are accurate. | ||
| Do Republicans now want to provide the American people greater transparency around political spending? | ||
| Because if they do, I've got a bill they can support the Freedom to Vote Act. | ||
| I'd also just suggest to the gentleman representative being that an estimated 170,000 women in his district have a different last name on their birth certificate than is on their current photo ID. | ||
| And roughly 397,000 residents of Florida's 4th District do not have a passport. | ||
| It would cost them $51.7 million to secure one. | ||
| With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield one minute to the gentleman, my friend from New Jersey, Mr. Conway. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman from New Jersey is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today in strong opposition to the SAVE Act. | ||
| While everyday Americans are struggling from the fallout of Trump's disastrous tariff policies, Republicans are pushing through a bill that strips Americans' constitutional right to vote, a vote that was hard won and many for which many died. | ||
|
Enforced Voting Restrictions
00:05:06
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| They claim the SAVE Act is intended to prevent undocumented immigrants from voting, but it's already illegal for them to vote, and it is extremely rare. | ||
| In reality, the SAVE Act makes it harder for Americans, especially women and people of color, to participate in our election. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The bill is passed. | |
| Without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. | ||
| The chair will mind all persons in the gallery. | ||
| They are here as guests of the House and that any manifestation of approval or disapproval of proceedings is in violation of the rules of the House. | ||
| The Chair lays before the House an enrolled resolution. | ||
| House Joint Resolution 24, a resolution providing for congressional disapproval under Chapter 8 of Title V, United States Code, of the rules submitted by the Department of Energy relating to Energy Conservation Program, energy conservation standards for walk-in coolers and walk-in freezers. | ||
|
unidentified
|
House will be in order. | |
| The Chair will now entertain requests for one-minute speeches. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from New York seek recognition? | ||
| I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a remarkable constituent and community leader, Alan Seebach Sr. of Tapan, New York. | ||
| Alan is a lifelong resident of Japan and a U.S. Navy veteran who served our nation during the Korean War. | ||
| But his service didn't stop when he returned home. | ||
| In fact, it was just getting started. | ||
| He joined the Volunteer Fire Association of Japan in 1950, and for nearly 75 years, he's been a cornerstone of the department. | ||
|
Grassroots Legal Advocacy
00:03:36
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| Alan served as chief of the Tapan Fire Department from 1965 to 1967 and again from 1972 to 1974. | ||
| He later became fire commissioner, a role he held for 27 years, 13 of them as chairman of the district. | ||
| Alan's leadership, mentorship, and tireless dedication to the safety and well-being of his neighbors have left a lasting mark not only on the department but on the entire Tapan community. | ||
| As one local fire leader put it, Alan Seabach is the Japan Fire Department. | ||
| I want to thank Alan for everything he's done for the people of Tapan, of Rockland County, and of New York's 17th District. | ||
| His legacy of service is the best of who we are, and I am proud to call him a friend. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentleman from Illinois seek recognition? | |
| Mr. Speaker, I seek unanimous consent to address the House for one minute to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor the 10-year anniversary of Beyond Legal Aid. | ||
| a vital community-driven legal advocacy organization that has spent the last decade advancing justice from the ground up. | ||
| They've successfully built a grassroots network of lawyers and advocates to address critical legal needs to close the equity gap in justice. | ||
| Their work is grounded in fundamental truth, that an injustice to one member of our community is an injustice to all of us. | ||
| Beyond Legal Aid places impacted communities at the center of their advocacy, reshaping what legal support can and should look like. | ||
| Beyond Legal Aid in Chicago has worked for 10 years to inspire and enact change across my district and has represented over 5,000 clients in immigration and housing cases. | ||
| As an ardent supporter of community-driven grassroots activism, I commend Beyond Legal Aid for 10 years of fighting against systematic inequities. | ||
| I sincerely appreciate your dedication and look forward to supporting Beyond Legal Aid in building towards a world where justice is not a privilege, but a birthright. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purposes does the gentleman from Nebraska seek recognition? | |
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Today I rise to recognize the life of Harry Lynn of Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, a familyman, beloved community member, and World War II veteran. | ||
| Sadly, Harry passed away last week at the age of 102. | ||
| Despite the initial draft deferment due to significant visual impairment, Harry enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he became recognized as one of the Army's top three Morse code operators. | ||
| He became a Morse code instructor and rose to the rank of staff sergeant. | ||
| This year, we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Allied victory because of the sacrifices of heroes like Harry. | ||
| His determination to do his duty despite personal adversity displayed the true Nebraskan spirit to answer the call of service in one of the most challenging times in our nation's history. | ||
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Honor Of Ryan Griffin
00:07:35
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| He and each of America's World War II veterans deserve our deepest gratitude and most sincere thanks. | ||
| On April 2nd, Harry and his daughter Sherry were tragically killed in a car accident. | ||
| I extend my condolences to the family members and celebrate the life of this American patriot. | ||
| Harry's memory and example of service will live on in our hearts. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
I yield back. | |
| For what purposes does the gentlewoman from Florida seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise to celebrate my Florida Gators, the University of Florida men's basketball team, for winning the 2025 National Championship. | ||
| It's their third title and the first since back-to-back Gator wins in 2007. | ||
| In a heart-stopping final, mostly my heart, they erased a 12-point second-half deficit to defeat the amazing Houston Cougars 65-63. | ||
| Under Coach Golden, they showed the resilience, discipline, and heart that epitomizes Gator athletics. | ||
| Walter Clayton Jr., the tournament FMBP, led that charge, proving time and again that he and his teammates rise to the occasion when it matters most. | ||
| But this championship is more than just a trophy. | ||
| It's a symbol of U.F.'s excellence, both on and off the court. | ||
| It reflects the strength of our state's public universities and the pride we all share as Floridians. | ||
| The Gator Nation is still humming, and as a proud alum, along with my dad, brother, husband, and all three of my kids, let me just say it's great to be a Florida Gator. | ||
| So, congratulations to all the players and coaches and all the students and alumni who cheered them on. | ||
| Our Gator Boys stayed hot and brought a title home. | ||
| Go, Gators! | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purposes does the gentleman from North Carolina seek recognition? | |
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| In America, you can't drive a car, board a plane, by fireworks without an ID proving you are who you say you are. | ||
| So, why folks are allowed to vote to decide the future of this country without proving that they are a citizen first? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the House passing the SAVE Act just moments ago. | ||
| It's common sense that only American citizens should be able to vote in American elections. | ||
| Congressman Chip Roy's SAVE Act will close election loopholes by ensuring that every state requires voters to provide proof of citizenship before registering to vote. | ||
| When non-citizens go to the ballot box, the electoral system is compromised and American votes are diluted. | ||
| The American people have the right to determine the future of our country, and we refuse to be disenfranchised by illegal votes. | ||
| I was proud to support the SAVE Act when it passed the House today. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield back my time. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purposes does the gentleman from North Carolina seek recognition? | |
| Mr. Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent to address the House in one minute. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize the remarkable achievement of a teacher from Wilson, North Carolina. | ||
| Mr. Johannes Amarino, a high school science teacher at Salaby Howard School, has been awarded the Borough's Welcome Fund 2025 Career Award for STEM teachers. | ||
| The award honors outstanding educators who are committed to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. | ||
| The grant will be used to set up science equipment and living labs in the school's new high school building and provide essential supplies. | ||
| The award includes $175,000 over five years. | ||
| STEM will play a crucial role in the future of education, and Mr. Marino is proving that North Carolina is leading the way. | ||
| Congratulations to Sally B. Howard School. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yoPat. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purposes does the gentleman from Mississippi seek recognition? | |
| Address the House for one minute. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the life and legacy of Ryan Griffin, a devoted father, community leader, and accomplished professional who left an indelible mark on Laurel, Mississippi, and beyond. | ||
| Ryan was a man of service, whether through his career in journalism or communications, his leadership in civic organizations like Kiwana's and United Way, or his unwavering dedication to his hometown. | ||
| From the football field at West Jones High School to the halls of the University of Southern Mississippi, Ryan exemplified leadership, integrity, and a passion for bringing people together. | ||
| Above all, Ryan's love for his family, his faith, and his community defined his life. | ||
| His impact will be felt for generations to come. | ||
| My prayers are with his children, his loved ones, and all who had the privilege of calling him a friend. | ||
| May we honor the legacy and continue his commitment to service and kindness. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
| For what purposes does the gentleman from Maryland seek recognition? | ||
| To address the House for one minute to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise to remember my beloved friend and Montgomery County legend, Jack Fitzgerald, who passed away this week at the age of 89. | ||
| He will be sharply missed by friends, family, and customers of Fitzgerald Auto Malls up and down the East Coast. | ||
| Jack's life embodied the restless, adventuresome spirit of American entrepreneurial business at its very best. | ||
| Over the course of his extraordinary life, he built Bethesda Auto from a single storefront in the early 1950s into a massive success with dealerships across Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Florida. | ||
| An old-fashioned businessman, devoted to the community, he was an eloquent champion of customer safety, consumer protection, and employee well-building. | ||
| He pioneered the installation of child safety seats before it became an industry standard. | ||
| He was friends not just with CEOs of auto companies, but with Ralph Nader. | ||
| Remarkably, Jack transferred his company to employee stock ownership over the last year before his death. | ||
| His legacy now lives on in his employees and in everybody in Montgomery County, Maryland who loved him. | ||
| Please join me in saluting the life of Jack Fitzgerald, who is a pillar of our community, a local hero, and may his memory be a blessing. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yield purposes, does the gentleman from Georgia seek recognition? | |
| I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute, to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Lori Frazier Bearden, a resident of Savannah, Georgia, who will serve as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Employment and Training Administration at the United States Department of Labor. | ||
| Ms. Bearden earned her bachelor's degree in political science from Columbus State University in Georgia and her master's degree in public administration from Auburn University. | ||
|
Proud Representation
00:09:47
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| In this role, Ms. Bearden will assist Labor Secretary Laurie Chavez-DeReamer in executing President Donald Trump's mission of prioritizing American workers, veterans, and retirees. | ||
| She will work to advance the ETA's mission of contributing to the more efficient functioning of the U.S. labor market by providing high-quality job training, employment, labor market information, and income maintenance services, primarily through state and local workforce development programs. | ||
| Ms. Bearden's dedication to public service and expertise in navigating complex policy landscapes made her an asset, make her an asset to the Trump administration. | ||
| Ms. Bearden, congratulations on this exciting achievement. | ||
| We all look forward to watching you succeed and wish you the best in your new role. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Ohio seek recognition? | |
| I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today to honor U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Linda Fagan, a trailblazer. | ||
| Her decades of service have strengthened our nation and brought pride to the people of Ohio. | ||
| Throughout her distinguished 40-year career, Admiral Fagan broke barriers. | ||
| She led with strength of purpose. | ||
| As the first woman to serve as Commandant of the United States Coast Guard and the first woman to lead a branch of our armed forces, she made history with integrity and fortitude. | ||
| Her service spanned all seven continents, from the icy waters of the Poles to ports around the world. | ||
| She safeguarded our nation's interests with professionalism and resolve. | ||
| Her deep expertise in marine safety is unmatched, and she holds the title of Gold Ancient Trident, the first of that honor, and a symbol of enduring leadership in one of the Coast Guard's most critical missions. | ||
| Yet, patriots must acknowledge with concern the abrupt dismissal of Admiral Fagan just one day after a presidential inauguration with only three hours' notice. | ||
| Actions that politicize our armed services undermine the trust and stability of these institutions. | ||
| Admiral Fagan's legacy is not one of partisanship, but of patriotism. | ||
| Let us honor and thank her for her service. | ||
| Our military remains above political winds, guided as she was by our Constitution, principle, high professionalism, and a deep love of country. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Service Admiral. | ||
| Now we have the watch. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentleman from Ohio seek recognition? | |
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I rise today to recognize the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio. | ||
| These hardworking and dedicated scouts are agents for positive change in their communities and work every day to create a better world. | ||
| In 2024, 44 senior and ambassador Girl Scouts from the Girl Scouts of Western Ohio earned the prestigious Gold Award. | ||
| In pursuit of this distinction, each scout identified a specific issue close to their hearts and utilized teamwork and collaboration to effect positive change in their community, leaving a lasting impact. | ||
| Carolyn Koch, a graduate of Blanchester High School, created a Build Community Through Theater program to engage youth and help them develop confidence. | ||
| Promoting drama education in her community, Caroline invested her time and energy in creating a middle school drama camp free of charge for fifth to eighth grade students in the Blanchester Local School District. | ||
| The Girl Scout promise reads, On my honor, I will try to serve God and my country, to help people at all times and to live by the Girl Scout law. | ||
| Carolyn and each of the other recipients of the Girl Scout Gold Award are the embodiment of this promise. | ||
| I would also like to recognize the parents and scout leaders who supported each Girl Scout on their path to this milestone. | ||
| Your support made all the difference. | ||
| Congratulations, Girl Scouts, especially Carolyn. | ||
| Your investment in our community is appreciated, and Ohio can't wait to see what's in store for you next. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentleman from California seek recognition? | |
| Mr. Speaker, I ask to ask consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to serve as the ranking member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, and today I rise to recognize one veteran in particular, my great uncle Monso Takahashi. | ||
| Uncle Mon served in the legendary 442nd Infantry Battalion and gave his life in service to our nation on this very day, 80 years ago. | ||
| He gave the last full measure of devotion while his family, my grandparents and parents, were incarcerated in camp simply because they were Japanese Americans. | ||
| Uncle Mon's story is just one of nearly 18,000 Japanese American soldiers who embodied the motto, go for broke. | ||
| They risked everything for a country that had denied them so much because they believed in the promise of America. | ||
| But that promise is fragile. | ||
| The Trump administration erased the story of the 442nd from the Army's website and now seeks to gut the care our veterans have earned. | ||
| We cannot let that happen. | ||
| To truly honor our veterans, we must defend their legacy and uphold the nation they fought to build. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentleman's time has expired. | |
| For what purposes does the gentleman from Pennsylvania seek recognition? | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this morning all 216 of my GOP colleagues, along with just four out of 212 Democrats, passed the SAVE Act, which is a bill that mandates proof of citizenship for those registering to vote. | ||
| I think most people think that's already required and mandated. | ||
| But guess what? | ||
| Even though it's in the Constitution, federal law mandates that only citizens can vote, there are states that have systems in place that allow non-citizens to register, and guess what? | ||
|
unidentified
|
They vote. | |
| To address this problem, the SAVE Act also requires states to establish a program to remove non-citizens from their voter roles. | ||
| And just last month, even though Iowa did what it could to correct this problem, 277 non-citizens were on the voter rolls and 35 of them voted. | ||
| That may not sound consequential, but there are races that are decided by less than that. | ||
| The votes against the SAVE Act today were nothing more than to allow non-citizens to vote in the United States of America. | ||
| I think that falls into the category of the 80-20 position. | ||
| All I know, Mr. Speaker, is a vote against the SAVE Act today was a vote against American citizens' voting rights. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentlewoman from New York seek recognition? | |
| Mr. Speaker, I request unanimous consent to address the House for one minute to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Today, I am so proud to honor Isaac Samuelson, a young leader from Long Island and a member of Boy Scout Troop 613 based in West Hempstead. | ||
| Isaac spearheaded a project to preserve over 20 years' worth of religious texts, prayer books, and educational materials that had just been stashed away somewhere in his synagogue. | ||
| He, along with his family, friends, and Troop 613 members, spent hours organizing, ensuring that important religious materials could be preserved and used by future generations. | ||
| Isaac exemplifies the values of Boy Scouts and civic responsibility. | ||
| He is a role model, not just for young people in our community, but for all of us. | ||
| Thank you, Isaac, for your leadership in our community. | ||
| I'm so proud to be your representative. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentlewoman from California seek recognition? | |
| I rise to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Today marks 46 years since Taiwan Relations Act became law. | ||
| This landmark bill has strengthened the partnership with Taiwan and shaped America's foreign policy in the Pacific region. | ||
| And I want to recognize that Taiwan is a trusted leader in freedom, democracy, and trade, and is also a needed partner in security against shared interests or shared threats. | ||
| As chairwoman of the East Asia and Pacific Subcommittee, I have worked on bipartisan bills to give Taiwan a rightful seat at the table in international organizations such as WHO and IMF. | ||
| And I led the charge to track and ensure efficient delivery of weapons that Taiwan has purchased from the United States. | ||
| This year, I introduced a bipartisan, bicameral bill to enhance U.S.-Taiwan economic and trade ties. | ||
| Our partnership with Taiwan is more important than ever. | ||
| Thank you, and I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentleman from Virginia seek recognition? | |
| I rise to address the House for one day and center and buy my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
|
Honoring Community Pillars
00:08:51
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| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Yesterday, the President posted on social media, quote, this is a great time to buy. | ||
| And then, shortly after that, he paused his tariff plan, the very one that sent Markinson to a tailspin. | ||
| The market bounced back, although it's down again, and the president celebrated in the Oval Office with top financial executives. | ||
| And they celebrated at whose expense? | ||
| The parents who watched their kids' college savings accounts get depleted, the retirees who rely on their investments to carry them through their remaining years, and the small business owners, including many in my district, who don't know how to plan and don't know how to keep the lights on at this point. | ||
| This wreaked havoc on millions of Americans, and those Americans also deserve to know about what happened and who profited off of it. | ||
| Did the financial executives know about what was going to happen? | ||
| Did the president's donors know? | ||
| Who knew and who profited from this great time to buy tweet and everything that was leading up to it? | ||
| We need a full investigation into what happened and who profited from it. | ||
| The American people deserve better. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentleman from Indiana seek recognition? | |
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Today, I somberly rise to recognize the tremendous life and career of the Honourable Judge Michael J. Kramer from Ligonier, Indiana. | ||
| Judge Kramer was a well-recognized titan of the judicial branch in the state and beyond. | ||
| Prior to his sudden passing last month, he achieved the legendary feat of becoming the longest-serving judge in Noble County history. | ||
| His many accomplishments include being named Distinguished Hoosier by former Governor Frank O'Bannon, being named Volunteer of the Year by Drug-Free Indiana, and becoming Advocate of the Year for the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America. | ||
| Michael was serving as the chair of Drug-Free Noble County and was a member and former president of the Noble County Bar Association at the time of his passing. | ||
| Noble County was lucky to have lived under the unbiased and truth-seeking gavel of Judge Kramer. | ||
| He will be sorely missed by his surviving family and the community he loves so much. | ||
| Despite his unexpected passing, the institutions he helped form and the community he made safer will continue to honor his memory and legacy. | ||
| The world can use more men like Judge Michael Kramer. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentleman from Virginia seek recognition? | |
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Fredericksburg Nationals on winning their first ever Carolina League Championship. | ||
| Under Manager Joe Lowry's leadership, the team made a thrilling late season run and delivered a dominant performance to win the championship. | ||
| Standout prospects like Seaver King and Travis Sikora showed incredible talent, while veteran leaders brought unity and heart to the clubhouse. | ||
| My team was honored to represent a congratulatory letter when joining your recent ring ceremony in celebration. | ||
| This win is not just a triumph for the team, it's a moment of pride for owner Art Silber and his family and the entire Fredericksburg community. | ||
| Congratulations to the Fredericksburg Nats on the unforgettable season and championship well earned. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentleman from Pennsylvania seek recognition? | |
| I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my marks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart to honor the lives of Christopher Kemp and his beloved sons, David and Thomas of Bristol Borough, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. | ||
| A father and two sons bound by an unshakable love and now mourned in the wake of an unfathomable tragedy. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, Chris Camp was a man who chose compassion not as an occasional act, but as a daily calling across every corner of our community, he was known not only for what he did, but for how he did it. | ||
| With an unwavering commitment to lifting up those most in need, he was, in every sense of the word, a guardian of the vulnerable. | ||
| To the homeless, to those struggling with mental health challenges, Chris was a lifeline. | ||
| He met people in their lowest moments and helped them chart a path back to hope and dignity. | ||
| And even in his final moments, as Thomas struggled, Chris and his son David did what they have always done. | ||
| They responded with love. | ||
| And in their courageous attempt to save him, they gave their own lives, a sacrifice that speaks to the very core of who they are as human beings. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, the magnitude of this loss has reverberated throughout Bristol Borough and our entire Bucks County community and far beyond. | ||
| May we remember Chris for how he lived with open hands, an open heart, and a tireless devotion to the forgotten and to the unseen. | ||
| Today, Mr. Speaker, let us lift up the camp family in our prayers and let us commit to carrying forward Chris's legacy to serve with compassion, to love without condition, and to never turn away from those who need us most. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentleman from California seek recognition? | |
| I ask for unanimous consent to adjust the one council one minute or a rise and extend our barns. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Anne Evans, who was called home on February the 12th. | ||
| There are some people so important and central to a city and a community that their lives become intertwined. | ||
| Anne Evans' life and the life of San Diego for the last 60 years were magnificently intertwined. | ||
| Anne was America's finest lady, and she made San Diego America's finest city. | ||
| Every major advancement in the last 60 years that made San Diego great, from developing our beloved Mission Bay to redeveloping our urban core, you could find Anne right in the middle of it. | ||
| Anne was a doer. | ||
| She was fearless, brilliant, and a trailblazer, always anxious to make things better for everyone. | ||
| This is why she became a leading philanthropist and gave back generously to the city she loved and taught her children to do the same. | ||
| The city of San Diego's heart is broken with the passing of Anne. | ||
| I have never become America's finest city without her. | ||
| We pray for her family, her greatest legacy to our city, and we thank God for the life of Anne Evans, the guardian of San Diego. | ||
| Rest in peace, Anne Evans, and job well done. | ||
| With that, I yield back, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| For what purpose does the gentleman from North Carolina seek recognition? | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I ask you Anne's present line for five minutes and find services. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, it is my honor today to wish the happiest of birthdays to my dear friend and brother in Christ, Richard Lockamie. | ||
| I have known Richard for as long as I can remember. | ||
| With age, the more I admire and respect and appreciate Richard is growing with every day. | ||
| Briefly, Richard grew up in Benson, North Carolina, the oldest of four. | ||
| He attended Shaw University, followed by North Carolina State University, where he received a graduate degree in mathematics. | ||
| He married Lena Lockamie, with whom he shared 48 wonderful years of marriage before Lena passed into her eternal, heavenly home nearly five years ago. | ||
| Richard and Lena had one son, Marcus, who in his own right is now a wonderful man. | ||
| Professionally, Richard has worked at some of the world's leading companies, and for decades he has taught at the high school and collegiate level. | ||
| But despite his many professional accomplishments, what truly set Richard apart in my life and in the life of many others is his faithful service to his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. | ||
| With each day in every encounter, Richard's witness is as apparent as it is infectious. | ||
| I saw this personally in the Raleigh men's class of Bible study fellowship, the gentleman's time has expired, where for nearly 40 years, Richard met with dozens of men each week. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Gentleman's time has expired. | |
| Richard, happy birthday. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Oregon seek recognition? | |
| Mr. Speaker, I request unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
Anti-Woman Voter Suppression
00:09:09
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|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, today, House Republicans betrayed their mothers, their sisters, their daughters, and every woman in their life. | ||
| The so-called SAVE Act is an anti-woman, anti-democracy voter suppression bill cloaked in lies about election integrity. | ||
| With this vote, House Republicans have jeopardized access to the ballot box for nearly 70 million American women. | ||
| That isn't just a number, it's personal. | ||
| It's the working mom in Sandy who can't afford to take time off work to go get paperwork. | ||
| It's the woman in Portland whose name no longer matches her birth certificate and doesn't have $160 for a passport. | ||
| In the year 2025, I cannot believe I have to come to the House floor to argue for a woman's right to vote. | ||
| But I will fight this Republican effort to disempower women today and every single day if I need to. | ||
| As a mother, I will not allow this country to continue to strip our daughters of their rights. | ||
| We cannot force them to grow up in a world where they have fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers. | ||
| I call on my Senate colleagues to show courage and defeat this despicable expired. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentleman from Wisconsin seek recognition? | |
| I'd like to speak for a minute. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | |
| On committees I was on yesterday, immigration was a topic that was brought up, and it seemed apparent to me that the party on the other side of the aisle didn't understand why we have immigration laws. | ||
| First of all, it's a complete insult to the over 800,000 people who are sworn in as new citizens in this country annually. | ||
| Secondly, we have to make sure the next generation of Americans here think like Americans fit in our culture, which means they're law-abiding. | ||
| Just in general, the idea of having a million people come here without breaking the law to come here or say they need to sign and they don't means they're not going to fit in with our culture. | ||
| But finally, I want to share a word from Mark Ryle, back from my state legislative days of the Carpenters Union. | ||
| Again and again, he'd come into my office saying that his guys, his union carpenters, were being undercut by people coming here illegally. | ||
| And he demanded that we crack down on that. | ||
| Illegal immigration drives down wages of Americans who are already here. | ||
| We heard that yesterday as the Democrats were claiming that if they kicked out the illegals, we'd have a lot of people. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentlewoman from Arizona seek recognition? | |
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House and revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise in firm opposition to the Republican passage of the so-called SAVE Act, an act of legislative voter suppression that will make it much harder for most people to vote, the cornerstone of our democracy. | ||
| This bill, which just passed the Republican House, is designed to combat a non-existent problem. | ||
| Non-citizens are already not allowed to vote under federal law. | ||
| Instances of fraudulent non-citizen voting are exceedingly rare. | ||
| You are literally more likely to get struck by lightning than encounter non-citizen voting. | ||
| To address this made-up problem, Republicans have passed a draconian bill that would make it extremely difficult and costly for service members, married women, and disadvantaged Americans to register to vote. | ||
| In most cases, it requires a person to present their birth certificate matching a current ID. | ||
| There are no exceptions for the 70 million American women who changed their married name. | ||
| This bill also mandates in-person visits to register to vote, disenfranchising potentially tens of thousands of deployed service members as well as Native Americans in rural areas like northern Arizona. | ||
| This is a shocking act of voter suppression. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose is the gentleman from New York seeker age? | |
| Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to address the House for one minute and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
| Without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. | ||
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| House Republicans just passed their budget plan, President Trump's big, beautiful bill. | ||
| Again, the first version didn't cut enough from critical programs like Medicaid and SNAP. | ||
| This budget is a direct attack on the working and middle classes, all while handling more than $7 trillion in tax breaks for billionaires. | ||
| Over 196,000 residents in my district are at risk of losing Medicaid coverage, including 73,000 children and 27,000 seniors in one district. | ||
| 74,000 people who count on SNAP may not be able to put food on the table. | ||
| People who are covered through the Affordable Care Act will see premiums rise by an average of almost $3,000 a year. | ||
| This is what President Trump called beautiful. | ||
| It's anything but. | ||
| This budget won't lower costs. | ||
| Coupled with the President's thoughtless tariff policies, it will make life more expensive for our neighbors. | ||
| We're making a B-line to a MAGA recession and perhaps a MAGA depression. | ||
| This is reverse Robin Hood, stealing from the lower and middle classes to benefit the wealthiest American. | ||
| I yield my time back, Mr. Speaker. | ||
|
unidentified
|
For what purpose does the gentlewoman from New Mexico seek recognition? | |
| Good morning. | ||
| I ask for your unanimous consent to address the House and to revise and extend my remarks. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Without objection, the gentlewoman is recognized for one minute. | |
| Thank you. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I want to take a moment today to share a story of why we are fighting and who we are fighting for. | ||
| Every day this administration claims they're trying to make America healthy again, and yet everything they are doing seems to indicate that they are trying to make us sicker again. | ||
| They've fired 10,000 HHS health professionals. | ||
| And on this floor this week, the GOP passed a reconciliation package that would cut Medicaid by billions of dollars. | ||
| Every day my constituents ask, how can this cruel agenda continue? | ||
| Yesterday, I met with Rochelle Titman, a mom of four who was diagnosed with cancer when she was 29 weeks pregnant eight years ago. | ||
| But by the grace of God, her family, and the medical advancements made possible by the HHS, by the National Institutes of Health, by the CDC, she is here today, and her youngest daughter, Ray, is in the second grade. | ||
| These are the people we are fighting for. | ||
| This is why we are fighting back, and this is why we oppose this cruel agenda. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The chair lays before the House a communication. | |
| The Speaker's Rooms, Washington, D.C., April 10th, 2025. | ||
| I hereby designate the period from Thursday, April 10th, 2025, through Sunday, April 27th, 2025, as a district work period under clause 13 of Rule 1. | ||
| Signed, Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House of Representatives. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3rd, 2025, the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Green, is recognized for 60 minutes as a designee of the minority leader. | |
| Thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, and still I rise, and I rise today to initially extend greetings to all, especially those who are traveling over this season of resurrection. | ||
| In my church, I'm a Christian. | ||
| We commemorate and celebrate Easter. | ||
| So I want to let everyone know that I appreciate those who do, and to those who do not, I understand. | ||
| But I also want to give a special expression of gratitude and thanks to the thousands of persons who have literally called my office, said cards, greeted me along life's way, to give me a pep talk or to simply say to me, We appreciate what you're doing. | ||
| It means a lot to me to have people that I do not know, many of whom I will never meet and greet, to simply say to me, We want you to continue to do what you're doing. | ||
|
Stealth Tariff Tax
00:13:22
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| And as you know, Mr. Speaker, I have been censured. | ||
| I have been censured. | ||
| I was censured, but not silenced. | ||
| Censured, but not silenced. | ||
| I am here today because I was censured but not silenced. | ||
| And today, as a person who still speaks truth to power, also speaks truth about power. | ||
| Speaking truth to power is not as difficult as it is to speak truth about power. | ||
| To speak truth to power, you but only have to go to power and say, there is a problem, and you and I can solve it. | ||
| That's speaking truth to power. | ||
| But when you speak truth about power, you go to power and say, there is a problem, and you are it. | ||
| I speak truth about power and to power. | ||
| And today I'm going to speak truth to power as it relates to the president's tariff, the president's tariff. | ||
| One has to ponder why the president of the United States of America would put so much emphasis on these tariffs, emphasizing the tariffs for many, many years, I'm told, but put emphasis on the tariffs to the extent that he nearly drove the economy into a ditch. | ||
| Colloquial way of saying, driving the economy into an area wherein it would suffer greatly. | ||
| The president put a lot of emphasis on this. | ||
| He was just obsessed with the tariffs. | ||
| And we have to ask ourselves, why was he obsessed with the tariff? | ||
| And I'm going to answer these questions. | ||
| And I'm going to answer this question as it relates to the president's obsession and how it will impact you. | ||
| It's important for you to understand how this obsession would impact you, how it would impact billionaires, how it would impact your life. | ||
| I will answer the question, how it will impact you. | ||
| It's important for me to call to your attention that the president has a book that you are familiar with. | ||
| It is styled The Art of the Deal, The Art of the Deal. | ||
| Well, I want to introduce you to the President's Art of the Steel. | ||
| Art of the Steel. | ||
| A steel can be an underhanded way of acquiring something. | ||
| The Art of the Steel. | ||
| Here is how it works. | ||
| The President, with his tariffs, will continue. | ||
| At one point it was going to be unimaginable, but he has reduced it. | ||
| Let's just say 10%. | ||
| There's a 10% tariff. | ||
| This tariff is collected at the point of entry into the United States of goods that an importer desires to purvey in this country. | ||
| He wants to sell it, or she wants to sell it. | ||
| They want to sell it. | ||
| They want to sell these goods. | ||
| So they have to pay this tariff. | ||
| And this tariff has to be paid that the president would add to the goods. | ||
| Let's say you have something that costs $40,000 coming into the country, tariff of 10%. | ||
| So that's going to give you an additional $4,000. | ||
| This additional $4,000 is collected at the point of entry, and the person importing has to pay the tariff, has to pay the tariff. | ||
| This is the Trump tariff tax at this point. | ||
| And when that tariff is paid, that money goes into the treasury of the United States of America. | ||
| The same place that your tax dollars will go into the treasury of the United States of America. | ||
| Tariff, collected, port of entry, let's say $4,000 on a $40,000 item, if it's a 10% tariff. | ||
| And when it is collected, it goes again, important to remember, into the treasury. | ||
| Now, that person who imports and has this additional tax now to deal with will do what you will see when you buy something and you're in a state that has a sales tax. | ||
| You'll see that the item costs X amount of dollars. | ||
| If it's something that costs $40,000 and there's a 10% sales tax, then you'll see that there's a tax on there, sales tax, of 10% or $4,000. | ||
| Well, here is where the stealth comes in. | ||
| Here's where the art of the steel begins. | ||
| When the person sells that $40,000 item and has to add that additional $4,000 to it, that person becomes somewhat of a tax collector for the Trump tax tariff tax steel. | ||
| That person who purchased this item, brought it into the country, paid $40,000 for it, and then had to pay four more, making it $44,000, adds that $4,000 to that product when you buy it. | ||
| That $4,000 is added. | ||
| The unfortunate thing is, it's not done the way a sales tax is done. | ||
| It's not noted that you are paying it. | ||
| You pay it because it's a part of buying the product. | ||
| But there's nothing that will say this is the Trump tariff tax steel. | ||
| It won't be there. | ||
| It's a very stealthy way of doing business. | ||
| Most people don't realize that they're paying this tariff, this tax, this steel, if you will. | ||
| They do. | ||
| But we really haven't gotten to the essence of what's important here. | ||
| That money, that money, that $4,000 that was paid at the point of entry, now collected from you because the person who is selling, purveying, does not want to pay that because they're operating possibly on a thin profit margin. | ||
| They already have an overhead that they have to consider. | ||
| So you pay it. | ||
| Now it goes into the treasury. | ||
| And here's where it gets really stealthy. | ||
| The steel gets stealthy. | ||
| Because at some point the president is desiring to say, I gave you a tax break. | ||
| You got a tax break from the president. | ||
| Well, here is the truth. | ||
| That tax break that you think you're getting or may get and the billionaires will get, that's the money that came out of your pocket. | ||
| The president was desiring to get this huge tariff because that would be more money in the coffer coming out of your pocket so that it could then be some of it. | ||
| You don't get it back dollar for dollar. | ||
| You might get some of it back. | ||
| Some. | ||
| You may not get any depending on your tax circumstance. | ||
| The billionaires will get plenty. | ||
| You may not get any. | ||
| This is a stealthy way of doing business. | ||
| It's a steal. | ||
| This is why it is the art of the steel that has been developed by this president so that he can take money out of your pocket, put it into the treasury, and then say later on, you now have a tax break. | ||
| I think that people who understand this will understand why tariffs are not always a great benefit to you. | ||
| They can be a benefit in some circumstances, but remember, the president was putting a tariff on some 90-plus countries. | ||
| He was putting a tariff on any and every country that he could find, a means by which he could tax with a tariff. | ||
| And some places didn't have people to actually tax with a tariff, just animal life. | ||
| But he was desperate because he wants to get money into the coffer, the treasury of the United States of America, so that he can then say to you, you have now a tax break. | ||
| Some of you may, billionaires will. | ||
| Have a tax break, but it's really money out of your pocket that is being returned to you in a diminished fashion. | ||
| This is the art of the steel as perfected or as is being perfected by our president. | ||
| Our president understands also that there are other ways to get money into this coffer, the treasury. | ||
| You can get money into the Treasury by simply having Medicare or Medicaid have some cuts into these two programs, these two health care programs. | ||
| And this can be done because there has been an indication in this House that some $880 billion will be cut or should be cut. | ||
| I'm going to fight it, attempt to cut, I'm going to fight it, from the committee that has jurisdiction over Medicaid and Medicare. | ||
| $880 billion. | ||
| You can't cut $880 billion out of the appropriations that would emanate from that committee without cutting into Medicaid or Medicare. | ||
| You have to do it. | ||
| Well, when that is done, that money goes into the Treasury. | ||
| So now you add the stealth tax, which was a tariff, and you add the money that you're saving now by putting people who need health care in harm's way as it relates to their health care. | ||
| Put that money in. | ||
| And when I say people who need it, I'm talking about people who have long-term illnesses and they're seniors. | ||
| They're dual eligible persons, may qualify for Medicaid and Medicare, so they need these long-term hospitalization programs available to them. | ||
| That can be cut. | ||
| Talking about children in this country, approximately 40% of all children benefit from Medicaid at some point in their lives. | ||
| That can be cut. | ||
| These cuts, these cuts would then go into the cuts to children that would impact children and impact seniors, would go into the coffer. | ||
| And again, add this to the stealth tariff tax, and you have more money that you can now pass back to people who are going to get a break and say, here's what the government is sending you by way of cutting taxes and giving you additional money. | ||
| Friends, I conclude that this is a very stealthy way of doing business when people don't always understand. | ||
| I believe that if people truly understand how the president is amassing this tax break for billionaires, I think they are going to be exceedingly upset. | ||
| And there are many ways to express how upset you are. | ||
| You can do this always peacefully. | ||
| Many are going to protest. | ||
| Others will do it at the polls. | ||
| A good many, a good many of my colleagues who are participating as persons who are aiding and abetting, if you will, many of them will find that, as they are finding out currently, that they are going to be received in less than a very warm way when they find themselves having town meetings. | ||
|
Countdown To Impeachment
00:12:25
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| They're already experiencing this. | ||
| That's why many of them are not having their town meetings. | ||
| But they're going to experience it also when we have an election, because people aren't going to forget this. | ||
| They're not going to forget how the president desperately tried to tax them so that he could then return money, some to them, if they requalify, but much to billionaires who would qualify. | ||
| This is, in my opinion, a shameful and disgraceful way for the president to tell people that they're going to get a tax break when it's really their money that is being returned to them by way of this tariff. | ||
| I would also remind people that as we move forward, I have indicated that impeachment is imminent. | ||
| The filing of Articles of Impeachment is imminent. | ||
| We are currently in a countdown to impeachment. | ||
| Now, those who know me know that I wouldn't say this if I were not going to move on with it. | ||
| And I am. | ||
| We will have Articles of Impeachment filed. | ||
| I cannot tell you what the vote will be. | ||
| And there are some who would say, well, you shouldn't file the Articles of Impeachment if you can't win. | ||
| No, you need to know where people stand. | ||
| You really do. | ||
| We need to know. | ||
| I heard a member just yesterday indicate that we need to have a certain thing brought before the House to understand where people are. | ||
| It is not unusual for us to have votes to find out where people are on certain issues. | ||
| And this is no exception. | ||
| And the first articles of impeachment may not succeed. | ||
| The second may not succeed. | ||
| But having laid the foundation for the president's impeachment in the past, I know that impeachment can succeed. | ||
| And I also know that should Democrats reclaim the House and the Senate by margins that are sufficient to not only impeach but to convict, I believe that the President can be removed from office. | ||
| He talks of having another term. | ||
| Well, Mr. President, you're not going to have another term. | ||
| That's not going to happen. | ||
| But I do know that you have incited persons to come to the Capitol, the citadel of democracy, and engage in an insurrection. | ||
| So I don't know what you have up your sleeve, but I do know that we will prevent you from having a third term. | ||
| And the best way to do it is to not have you finish this term. | ||
| And the best way to do this is to have you impeached and convicted and removed from office. | ||
| It can be done. | ||
| I'm telling you it can be done. | ||
| The law says it can be done. | ||
| We only have to have the will to do it. | ||
| The way is before us. | ||
| The will is what is necessary to implement the way to an impeachment and a removal of Donald John Trump as President of the United States of America. | ||
| It would be the appropriate thing because he is unfit to be president. | ||
| Unfit to enforce the laws of the land in such a way as to bring honor to the process. | ||
| Unfit when you consistently, consistently, repeatedly flout the laws, flout the notion of due process. | ||
| When you would have agents of the state approach a female and approach her with persons who would surround her and then pull up a mask and then take her away all in plain clothes, mask. | ||
| I don't believe that the American people want to see that kind of episode take place in this country. | ||
| It looks like we have secret police. | ||
| America is not a country with secret police that come and take you away, away from your home, to some distant state where you're not known, where you don't have resources. | ||
| Don't give you any due process. | ||
| This is not America. | ||
| The president is destroying the lawful judicious processes that we have enjoyed. | ||
| He is chipping away at them. | ||
| And if the president can do it for a person who is here for whatever reasons, the president can do it to any one of us, especially when the president believes that you don't have to allow a person to say, hey, you have the wrong person. | ||
| I didn't do that. | ||
| Doesn't matter because the president believes that he has the sole authority buying through his agents to determine who can stay and who must leave. | ||
| And unfortunately, someone who should be here is not here as a result of the president's behavior. | ||
| The president is harmful to the processes that we have enjoyed in this country. | ||
| He is unfit to be president. | ||
| He is also unfit because he disrespects the judiciary. | ||
| When he loses a case, it's always the judge's fault. | ||
| And what is amazing to me is that I have colleagues who are buying into that. | ||
| That it's the judge's fault. | ||
| Let's impeach the judge because it's the judge's fault. | ||
| Always the judge. | ||
| Always the judge. | ||
| Never his fault. | ||
| Always the judge. | ||
| When we start this process of having the person who holds the highest office in the land continually say that judges are not fair when they are dealing with him and things that he would have done, when we allow that, we are now sending a signal to the rest of society that the judges are the reason why we're not succeeding, the reason why we can't have whatever it is that we want and can't acquire, | ||
| and we have to take it to court. | ||
| It's always the judges. | ||
| At some point, people will have a disrespect for the law and the process that will cause others to disrespect the country. | ||
| People invest in this country because they know that we have a good judiciary, that it is a process that has been in place and that will be honored. | ||
| They invest in this country also because they know that your money is safe here. | ||
| You invest in our bills, our bonds. | ||
| It's safe. | ||
| We have stability, except when you do as the president has just done, and that is tariff some 90 countries and do it in such a way as to cause people to start to equivocate when it comes to our bonds, our notes. | ||
| And when that happens, you can see how the president backs off. | ||
| He understood at final, at last, that he was making a terrible mistake. | ||
| And he backed off. | ||
| He has extended what he calls a 90-day, I would call it pause. | ||
| But I don't think he's going to go back to where he was. | ||
| I don't think he will. | ||
| Even he understands that he was making a serious mistake. | ||
| But here's the problem with that mistake. | ||
| He has hurt the brand, the American brand. | ||
| He's hurt the image of the country. | ||
| He has put the country in a position such that people may no longer think that this is the safest place for their investment dollars. | ||
| They may not want to buy our bonds as readily. | ||
| They will then, if they don't buy them readily, that would make it difficult for us to sell them to pay bills. | ||
| The president is hurting the image of the United States of America. | ||
| We are now seen as a country that doesn't honor its word. | ||
| President negotiated with Canada and Mexico a trade deal. | ||
| He breaks the trade deal. | ||
| President says that he wants Canada to be the 51st state. | ||
| Canada is not about to become the 51st state. | ||
| I will be quite candid with you. | ||
| I admire the way the Canadians have made it perfectly clear to the president that this won't happen. | ||
| Someone has to stand up to him. | ||
| Greenland wants to take it, wants to make Gaza a resort. | ||
| The president has to understand that he is not a king. | ||
| He's not the emperor. | ||
| He's not a dictator. | ||
| He has awesome power, but he doesn't have the power to just go around people and take what he wants. | ||
| He doesn't have that kind of power, and we can't let him have that kind of power. | ||
| So it's important for us to move to impeachment, because impeachment is the means by which a reckless, ruthless president can be brought into check. | ||
| This is the balance that we have. | ||
| When all else fails, when the Congress majority refuses to act, and when he disregards the orders of the courts, impeachment is still available. | ||
| I intend to bring articles of impeachment. | ||
| I don't know what the vote would be. | ||
| My guess is that you're not going to get the vote required, but you will get the opportunity to see who believes in what we have said. | ||
| We said that the president was a detriment to democracy. | ||
| We talked about how that would, how he would harm the country if he got back into office. | ||
| Let's find out if we meant that. | ||
| One of the ways we'll find out is with articles of impeachment. | ||
| I'm proud to serve my country. | ||
| I am proud to be an American. | ||
| It means something to me. | ||
| And I want to protect what this country stands for in a positive way, the positive image that our country has had. | ||
| The negative image I'm trying to change to a positive. | ||
| But I want to protect that. | ||
| It means something to me to be an American, and I want this country to be the one that people look up to as opposed to frown upon. | ||
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California Under Federal Scrutiny
00:12:20
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| And many do now because of the way our president behaves. | ||
| I thank you, Mr. Speaker. | ||
| I am proud to say that I'm going to yield back my time, that I am censured, but not silenced. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
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unidentified
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Members are reminded to refrain from engaging in personalities toward the president. | |
| Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3rd, 2025, the gentleman from California, Mr. Kiley, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight 10 ways in which the state of California is currently under federal investigation. | ||
| In particular, the Newsom administration under federal investigation. | ||
| Now, the New York Times recently ran a story on this topic headlined, Trump Takes Aim at California. | ||
| The question was, why is the administration targeting California? | ||
| They called it a multi-pronged assault on California that has begun in earnest. | ||
| But that's actually the wrong question to ask why the administration is targeting California. | ||
| The appropriate question is why is California so flagrantly violating federal law in so many different ways? | ||
| In the article, the junior senator in our state, Adam Schiff, is quoted as saying that the president has a, quote, partisan vendetta against California. | ||
| Senator Schiff says that he is continuing to weaponize the federal government against California. | ||
| Of course, that's not it at all. | ||
| Protecting the civil rights of Californians is not weaponizing the federal government. | ||
| It's what the federal government is supposed to do, what it's required to do under established law. | ||
| You see, what Senator Schiff and others are so upset about is that they're used to one-party rule in California being absolutely unchecked. | ||
| They are used to radicalism having absolutely no counterweight. | ||
| They're used to our governor, Gavin Newsom, whose only motivation is his own political self-promotion, having a supermajority legislator and other statewide elected officials that simply go along with whatever he says or does, regardless of how much damage it does to our state and regardless of how clearly it violates federal law. | ||
| So when the Times asked my opinion for this article, what I said was that extreme policies and unchecked one-party rule have lowered the quality of life across our state. | ||
| All Californians will benefit from greater accountability. | ||
| We need balance and common sense. | ||
| So I wanted to discuss today the 10 ways in which federal investigations are restoring that sense of balance and common sense and assuring compliance with the law. | ||
| Number one is on the issue of men in women's sports, where the state has continued to be defiant. | ||
| Recently, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights announced a directed investigation into the California Interscholastic Federation because of its refusal to follow anti-discrimination laws related to girls and women's sports. | ||
| This includes the possibility of allowing male athletes to compete in women's sports and use women's intimate facilities. | ||
| Governor Newsom has received as well a letter from U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon warning the governor that California could lose federal funds if the state continues to allow transgender athletes to play in girls and women's sports. | ||
| As Secretary of Education, Secretary McMahon wrote, I am officially asking you to inform the Department whether you will remind schools in California to comply with federal law by protecting sex-segregated spaces and activities. | ||
| She also wrote, Allowing participation in sex-separated activities based on gender identity places schools at risk of Title IX violations and loss of federal funding. | ||
| She says, as governor, you have a duty to inform California school districts of this risk. | ||
| Interestingly enough, Governor Newsom actually recently stated that he believes it's unfair what the state is doing, allowing for men to compete in women's sports, and yet he has taken absolutely no action to stop this unlawful practice. | ||
| The second ongoing investigation relates to California's policy of forcing school districts and schools to keep secrets from parents about their own students, about their own children. | ||
| The U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office has launched an investigation into the California Department of Education for alleged violations of the Family Educational Rights Privacy Act, known as FERPA, which gives parents the right to access their children's educational data. | ||
| The California Department of Education, it is alleged, has abdicated the responsibilities FERPA imposes because of a new California state law that prohibits school personnel from disclosing a child's gender identity to that child's parents. | ||
| So, what happened in California is you have a number of school districts that have said that we're simply going to hide this information from parents. | ||
| We're not going to tell parents if their child changes their name or changes their pronouns or anything like that. | ||
| You then had some other districts that said, well, this is not right. | ||
| We actually want to make sure that we're being open and transparent with parents. | ||
| So they passed their own policy saying, no, our policy is that we believe that parents have a right to know this. | ||
| What the state then did is started suing these districts, trying to get legal judgments against them, saying you are required under law to lie to parents about their children. | ||
| Fortunately, those lawsuits are being rejected, but the state legislature then followed up with a statewide law saying that it is now the policy of the state that you are not allowed to communicate this information with parents, that school districts are not allowed to have any policy that allows them to communicate this information with parents. | ||
| So think about the absurdity of this. | ||
| In California, you have teachers are forced to use one name and one set of pronouns with a student in class. | ||
| Then their parents come in for a conference and they're supposed to switch names and switch pronouns and doctor their assignments and the names written on them, which has actually been done in documented cases in California. | ||
| Thankfully, this federal law is on the books protecting the privacy right of students and the right of parents information, and the Department of Education has launched a federal investigation accordingly. | ||
| The third ongoing investigation relates to the issue of racial discrimination in California higher education. | ||
| The Department of Justice under Attorney General Bondi is investigating several California universities to assess compliance with the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ended affirmative action in college admissions. | ||
| Now, this is notable because not only is this now the supreme law of the land per the recent Supreme Court decision is that you have to have equal access, but it's also the overwhelmingly expressed will of California voters. | ||
| And just a few years ago in 2020, the super majority legislature tried to repeal an existing state constitutional provision that forbade racial discrimination in college admissions. | ||
| So they put it directly on the ballot by a super majority. | ||
| They passed a measure to put it on the ballot. | ||
| But the people of California said no. | ||
| Despite the campaign for this initiative having a massive, I think 10 to 1 spending advantage, the people of California voted 57%. to 43% to say no, we want to continue to have equality under law be the policy of our state. | ||
| So this investigation by Attorney General Bondi is not only about assuring compliance with federal law, but is also going to protect the clearly expressed will of the people of California. | ||
| The fourth investigation relates to the crisis of anti-Semitism at our universities. | ||
| The Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism has announced that the Department of Justice has opened a civil pattern of practice investigation into the University of California under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. | ||
| The investigation will assess whether the UC has engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race, religion, and national origin against its professors, staff, and other employees by allowing an anti-Semitic, hostile work environment to exist on its campuses. | ||
| Attorney General Bondi said, quote, the Department of Justice will always defend Jewish Americans, protect civil rights, and leverage our resources to eradicate institutional anti-Semitism in our nation's universities. | ||
| We've seen over the last year and a half or so absolutely abhorrent, outright anti-Semitism at many universities throughout the country, including at California universities, which our Committee on Education and the Workforce did a lot of work to expose through a number of hearings. | ||
| And while there have been some positive reforms that have occurred on some campuses, there are still many ongoing, very severe problems with these issues being aided and abetted in a lot of cases by university faculty and administrations. | ||
| So this is an investigation into the full gamut of that activity. | ||
| And then there is a related set of investigations that are looking at the extent to which students who are here on an international internationally, international students, are actually working to advance not only anti-Semitic but pro-Hamas type activity. | ||
| We saw related to all of these anti-Semitic incidents on university campuses illegal activity as well, with illegal encampments that violate the law, violate university policies, violate the civil rights of other students. | ||
| We saw buildings being taken over and we have seen connections between these activities and the agenda of Hamas and Hamas affiliated groups. | ||
| So recently the Department of or the administration has revoked about 100 student visas at universities across California, including the University of California at Berkeley, which is part of a broader assessment of individuals who are involved in activities deemed contrary to U.S. interests. | ||
| Now, this is actually a pretty small number, 100 out of 140,000 international students that are in California, but we do know that there are people who are here who are not from this country who have participated in these illegal activities because as the president's order cites, federal law bars non-citizens from being in the U.S. if they support terrorism. | ||
| And so any connection with pro-Hamas activity falls under the purview of those statutes. | ||
| Indeed, the executive order from the White House quotes the president as saying that his intention is to deport Hamas sympathizers and revoke student visas. | ||
| In a similar vein, UCLA has been sued in federal court in a case alleging that it enabled protesters at an encampment to block Jewish students from accessing certain campus pathways. | ||
| To the extent that folks who are here on a visa were involved in that sort of illegal pro-terrorist activity, the administration is doing an assessment to take appropriate action. | ||
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Investigation Into High-Speed Rail
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| The sixth investigation that is going on against some of the insane and potentially illegal policies in California relates to high-speed rail, which is the biggest public infrastructure failure in United States history. | ||
| I was at the train station in LA, Union Station, a couple weeks ago where we were with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announcing this investigation specifically into the federal money that has gone into high-speed rail. | ||
| The review that he launched, that we launched on that day, will help determine whether roughly $4 billion in taxpayer money should remain committed to the proposed project to build high-speed rail in the California Central Valley between Merced and Bakersfield. | ||
| I have also requested an investigation by the FBI into how exactly it is that California has so far spent some $17 billion on this project, which was approved in 2008, so we're talking over 15 years, and is yet to lay any track. | ||
| At this point, even the New York Times has said the project isn't going to be completed this century at the current pace. | ||
| The overall cost has ballooned over $130 billion. | ||
| That's more than $100 billion more than it was supposed to be. | ||
| The whole thing was supposed to be completed by now, per the initial projections, but now at this point, even the first segment from Bakersfield to Merced, a very modest segment, they're saying isn't even going to be completed by 2033. | ||
| And indeed, just last week, there was a report from the nonpartisan legislative analysts that there's another $9 billion funding gap, and they're continuing to rely on federal funding. | ||
| So this is an investigation that is ongoing, and I fully expect it will result in those funds being clawed back and hopefully then used on infrastructure projects in California that will actually serve to move people and goods, will create jobs that have positive economic value, and will actually be helpful in improving the quality of life for folks in our state. | ||
| The seventh ongoing investigation relates to California's cap and trade program. | ||
| An executive order from the president has directed Attorney General Bondi to identify state and local acts that may be unconstitutional or preempted by federal law. | ||
| And it singles out California's cap and trade program, which sets limits on greenhouse gas emissions and then has companies buy and sell credits. | ||
| As the order says, California punishes carbon use by adopting impossible caps on the amount of carbon businesses may use, all but forcing businesses to pay large sums to trade carbon credit to meet California's radical requirements. | ||
| What is the result of this? | ||
| Even as we have seen gas prices that have gotten much lower across the entire country, Californias continue to pay astronomical prices when they fill up their cars. | ||
| Indeed, California is now some $1.60 above the national average. | ||
| We have the highest gas prices in the country, higher than even Hawaii. | ||
| And the major cause of that is the state's taxes and regulations and other requirements, foremost among them being this cap and trade program, which adds substantially to the price of each gallon of gas. | ||
| The eighth ongoing investigation relates to the homelessness crisis in California. | ||
| California is the national leader in homelessness. | ||
| It is not even close. | ||
| We have roughly half the unsheltered homeless in the entire country, despite spending absolutely staggering amounts of money. | ||
| Indeed, over the course of the last five years, we have seen $24 billion spent on homelessness, and homelessness has continued to go up significantly. | ||
| A recent audit actually found that the state has lost track of the money and can't even tell you where it went or what outcomes it has produced. | ||
| But now, the new United States Attorney for the Central District of California, Villa Saley, has announced the formation of the Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force, which will investigate fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption involving funds allocated towards the eradication of homelessness within the seven-county jurisdiction of the Central District of California. | ||
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Federal Money at Stake
00:05:29
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| The task force will be comprised of federal prosecutors from the major fraud section, the public corruption and civil rights section, and the civil division civil fraud section of the U.S. Attorney's Office. | ||
| And it'll specifically look into what's going on in Los Angeles, where recently a court-ordered audit found that homelessness services provided by the city and county were, quote, disjointed and contained poor quality and integration. | ||
| And there's a lot of federal money at stake at issue here, by the way. | ||
| During COVID, the federal government sent $100 million in emergency aid to LA County to address homelessness. | ||
| And last month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded more than $200 million to address homelessness in L.A. | ||
| So now there is a federal investigation ongoing, led by the U.S. Attorney's Office, into exactly what has happened to all of this money. | ||
| The ninth ongoing investigation relates to concealed carry. | ||
| As part of a broader review of restrictive firearms-related laws in California and other states, the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has announced an investigation into the LA County Sheriff's Department to determine whether it is engaging in a pattern or practice of depriving ordinary law-abiding Californians of their Second Amendment rights. | ||
| The release from the Attorney General's office notes that a recent federal court decision found that the law and facts were clearly in favor of two private plaintiffs who challenged the lengthy 18-month delays that the L.A. County Sheriff's Department had imposed when processing their concealed handgun license applications, | ||
| and that the Civil Rights Division has reason to believe that those two plaintiffs are not the only ones in this county of some 8 million people experiencing long delays that are unduly burdening or effectively denying the Second Amendment rights of the people of Los Angeles. | ||
| The release from the Attorney General goes on to note the ways in which the Second Amendment rights of Californians have been unduly burdened in countless ways. | ||
| They call California a particularly egregious offender. | ||
| In response to recent Supreme Court case law, California enacted new legislation to further restrict the ability of ordinary, law-abiding Californians to keep and bear arms. | ||
| And many California localities appear to be imposing additional burdens beyond those required by California state law, including by subjecting ordinary, law-abiding Californians to expensive fees and lengthy wait times associated with applications for concealed handgun licenses. | ||
| So now there will be some counterweight to these measures which are restricting the rights of Californians. | ||
| In fact, there was even a recent proposal in the legislature that went to the very core of the Second Amendment that would have said that you're no longer allowed to defend yourself against an intruder who breaks into your own home. | ||
| Luckily, that bill was defeated, but it just shows you how far California has gone from what is protected by the Constitution. | ||
| And finally, of course, there is ongoing federal action, and this being the 10th federal action related to California when it comes to sanctuary jurisdictions. | ||
| The Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security, pursuant to an executive order from the President, are looking to the maximum extent possible under federal law. | ||
| They're evaluating and undertaking any lawful actions to ensure that so-called sanctuary jurisdictions which seek to interfere with the lawful exercise of federal law enforcement operations do not receive access to federal funds. | ||
| Further, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security, per the terms of the order, are evaluating and undertaking any other lawful actions, criminal or civil, that they deem warranted based on any such jurisdictions' practices that interfere with the enforcement of federal law. | ||
| When it comes to sanctuary policies, California has been the very worst offender in the country. | ||
| The state has a sanctuary state policy that was passed in 2017 and is responsible for many, many tragedies that have been documented throughout our state. | ||
| And then you even have jurisdictions like Los Angeles and San Diego and San Francisco that were already sanctuary jurisdictions on top of being within a sanctuary state, but are now even going further, one of them even passing what they're calling a super sanctuary jurisdiction ordinance. | ||
| We have, those of us who represent districts in California that are not sanctuary jurisdictions, have also asked the administration to be sure to recognize those counties and jurisdictions that are in good faith trying to comply with federal law, very much unlike jurisdictions like Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco. | ||
| So these are 10 ways in which we see finally something of a check on the runaway lawlessness of the Newsom administration and a number of jurisdictions in California. | ||
| And in Congress, we are very much a partner in those efforts. | ||
| Indeed, I'm working on a number of measures here in Congress, in the House of Representatives, that are seeking to push back on the radical, harmful policies of the Newsom administration. | ||
| For example, we recently introduced legislation to overturn Newsom's ban on gas-powered vehicles. | ||
| I've introduced legislation called the No Medi-Cal for Illegal Immigrants Act, which will seek to preserve Medi-Cal benefits for American citizens at a time when the policy of expanding those benefits to everyone in the state illegally is literally bankrupting the system. | ||
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California's Long Way Forward
00:11:36
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| And in addition to Secretary Duffy's investigation into high-speed rails' staggering failures, I've introduced legislation to assure that the high-speed rail project will be ineligible for any federal funding going forward. | ||
| California has a long way to go towards restoring sanity, but these actions are very important steps, and I look forward to following these investigations as they protect the civil rights of Californians and protect our citizens against truly radical and failed policies. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, today I'm excited to announce new legislation that I'm introducing along with Representative Claudia Tenney called the High Quality Charter Schools Act. | ||
| which is going to be among the most significant pieces of legislation for school choice that we've had in this country in a very long time. | ||
| What it will do is create a new tax credit for charitable contributions to non-profit charter school organizations. | ||
| Specifically, it'll establish a 75% federal tax credit for qualified charitable contributions made to non-profit charter school organizations with a proven record of success, incentivizing donations to support the development of more high-quality charter schools. | ||
| This could be truly significant, allowing perhaps millions of more kids in this country to gain access to charter schools. | ||
| Because the reality that we see right now is that you have very successful charter schools that get tremendous results for students. | ||
| For example, Success Academy in New York, which is the number one school system in the entire state, but there are a limited number of seats and it costs a lot of money to start a new school. | ||
| And a lot of times, especially in states like California or New York, you are disadvantaged under state law. | ||
| You have politicians like Gavin Newsom or the supermajority in California that do everything possible to try to stop you from helping your students succeed. | ||
| So there are all of these obstacles that exist often under state law, as well as the inherent obstacles that exist to starting up an enterprise as complicated and complex as a school. | ||
| And the federal charter school grant program has actually been critical to helping a number of charter schools start. | ||
| What this legislation seeks to do is to help those that have proven to be successful to expand, to replicate their model. | ||
| Because the ones that are really successful often have very long waiting lists. | ||
| You can have thousands of kids on the waiting list for a school. | ||
| And by the way, charter schools are required to then conduct lotteries. | ||
| They can't show any sort of favoritism in their admissions or anything like that. | ||
| They have to be open to all. | ||
| So you have a lottery, and if you don't win the lottery, unfortunately, then you can't go to the school. | ||
| And you might, if your local neighborhood school is not a good one, then your child misses out on the opportunity to go to a high-quality school, has to end up going to a low-quality school. | ||
| So the best way, probably the most effective way to expand educational opportunity and excellence in America today is to facilitate the expansion and replication of charter schools that have proven to be successful. | ||
| That is precisely what this legislation does, and I'm hopeful that we'll get it passed into law, perhaps even as part of the reconciliation process, as a way to start to turn around this sharp decline in education outcomes that unfortunately is posing such a risk to our country's future. | ||
| I look forward to hopefully getting bipartisan support and seeing it passed into law and seeing what it will do for so many kids across this country. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this week I introduced, along with my colleague Jay Obernolte, as well as Representatives Calvert, Fong, Valadeo, and ISA, the Election Results Accountability Act. | ||
| which will restore some measure of public trust in our elections. | ||
| The problem in California, one of many problems with our elections in California, is that they take forever. | ||
| Not only do people have, devoters have about a month to cast their votes, it then takes about a month to actually count the votes, with updates being made periodically throughout this what's called month-long canvassing period. | ||
| And you see results that flip. | ||
| Someone's ahead on election night, but then somehow three weeks later they're behind. | ||
| Or if you're in a tight race, you're just living and dying with each update. | ||
| Am I going to be the next city council or school board member or whatever the case may be? | ||
| It limits your ability to plan because you don't know if you're going to be coming into office or you need to find some other job or you're planning to run again, whatever the case may be. | ||
| The voters don't know who's going to be their representative when they should. | ||
| And it also just fosters a sense of distrust in the process. | ||
| And it's frankly embarrassing to our state. | ||
| When you have every other state manages to get its act together, most of them can give you the results on election night. | ||
| That's kind of the way it's supposed to work. | ||
| You go to the voting booth, you cast your vote, you find out who won that night. | ||
| You don't find out a month later and have it changed several times in the process. | ||
| So this is beyond embarrassing for California, and it's time we brought some accountability. | ||
| So we've introduced this legislation, the Election Results Accountability Act, which will require all states to count and publicly report no less than 90% of ballots cast in federal election within 72 hours of polls closing. | ||
| Additionally, it mandates that states complete the ballot count and certify the final results within two weeks of election day. | ||
| These are not onerous requirements. | ||
| 90% of the votes within three days need to be counted, and we need to have the results within two weeks. | ||
| Our state should be more than capable of complying with this. | ||
| And by the way, even though we're requiring it in federal elections, that likely will mean we'll get the results up and down the ballot as well. | ||
| This, along with measures that we passed today to the SAVE Act to require proof of citizenship in order to vote, as well as an initiative that I think is likely to be presented to California voters in the near future to require voter ID, will go a long way towards ensuring election security, election integrity, and the sense of democratic legitimacy on which our state and country's political identity depends. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this last week, I introduced legislation in the House to reverse California's ban on gas-powered vehicles. | ||
| This is a special resolution under the Congressional Review Act that provides a fast-track procedure, not subject to a Senate filibuster, to overturn an agency action. | ||
| In this case, it is the action of the Biden administration that gave Gavin Newsom special permission to ban gas cars in California. | ||
| This is a measure that will affect almost everyone in our state. | ||
| It's set to go into effect in 2035. | ||
| It is utterly unrealistic, and yet it has not been subject to a vote of the people, a vote of the state legislature, or a vote of the United States Congress. | ||
| But that will change soon. | ||
| This measure, I believe, will pass, hopefully with bipartisan support, and will restore the ability of Californians to select the vehicle of their choice. | ||
| It will also prevent massive increases in costs for Californians who are already burdened with the highest cost of living, the highest gas prices, the highest energy prices, and much more of any state in the country. | ||
| I think this is a pretty common sense measure. | ||
| Unfortunately, California has dragged a lot of other states along with it with this measure, so it's truly an issue of national concern as well. | ||
| And so I look forward to seeing this passed, to reversing the Biden administration's waiver under the Clean Air Act for California, and I think this will go a long way towards restoring some sanity to our state. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, this last week, as chair of the House subcommittee that covers K-12 education, I held a very important hearing on the topic of artificial intelligence in education. | ||
| Now, we are in the midst of a truly unprecedented period in which AI is advancing at a mind-boggling rate in terms of its capabilities. | ||
| And there's truly no end to this progress in sight. | ||
| We see all of the leading labs introducing new models, it seems like, every day, that demonstrate increasingly astonishing capabilities. | ||
| And there are a lot of risks and concerns that tend to come to mind when people see this progress, and a lot of, I think, legitimate fears as it relates to AI and its impact on society. | ||
| And it's very important that we are attentive to these concerns and taking whatever measures we can to make sure that we get these questions right. | ||
| But I think that it's equally important that we make sure that the benefits of this technology as it exists now and as it's likely to exist in the future are understood as well. | ||
| I think that there is frankly far less dialogue and conversation on a national level than there should be about the absolutely enormous changes that could well be ahead of us. | ||
| And so I wanted to use this hearing to examine one particular domain where AI holds the potential to dramatically expand opportunity and benefit our country and bring unprecedented opportunities to American kids across the country. | ||
| You know, one of the, I'm a former high school teacher, and we have in this country truly shameful achievement gaps when it comes to the educational opportunities that are available to kids depending on their zip codes. | ||
| And in my view, much of that is a result of failed policies, none more so than in California, which has just about the widest achievement gaps of any state in the country. | ||
| So we absolutely need to have policy reforms that bring accountability, that empower parents, that expand school of choice, and that support teachers, among many other policy reforms. | ||
| But the correct use of artificial intelligence could go a long way in itself towards bridging these achievement gaps. | ||
| Not only that, I believe that it will very soon be possible for any child in our country to receive a richer educational experience than any child did just a few years ago. | ||
|
AI Tutoring Revolution
00:04:44
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| And this is because of the absolutely incredible capabilities that are now accessible to anyone for free or at very little cost on a computer or smartphone. | ||
| And we saw during our hearing examples of how these possibilities are already being realized in many classrooms across America, where you could have, for example, a personalized tutor who knows just about everything there is to know, who knows everything about your own strengths and weaknesses, your own interests, and who engages with you directly to learn any topic. | ||
| Now, this is no small matter because studies show that having access to a high quality tutor is one of the most important interventions that improves educational outcomes by a significant degree, potentially moving you, you know, a half standard deviation or so, or giving you more than a year's worth of additional learning in any given year if you have access to a high quality tutor. | ||
| Well, with AI tools, any child will have that access at a level that has never been known before, in a more personalized way than has ever been known before. | ||
| And what's more is that these tools allow for learning across different modalities through text, through hearing, or through images, through voice, and can engage with different students in different ways. | ||
| Or just to give you another example, can take on the form of different characters. | ||
| So when you're learning history, you could actually have a conversation with a version, an animated version of a historical figure. | ||
| If you're reading a book, you could actually have a conversation with a character in the book. | ||
| If you're learning physics, maybe you could learn physics from a reanimated version of Einstein himself. | ||
| And these are just the tip of the iceberg. | ||
| When you look at the technologies that are advancing when it comes to augmented reality, when it comes to VR, we're already seeing ways in which AI is being deployed for sort of career training type learning, whether it's welding or other types of career or trades where these environments can be simulated in very realistic ways to help students learn, regardless of whether they go to a school where you can get hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of expensive machinery. | ||
| So I think that we are still just scratching the surface of what is possible here. | ||
| One of the suggestions at our hearing is that we need to continue to facilitate ways of sharing best practices, and importantly as well when it comes to how these tools can be used by teachers. | ||
| Because teachers' role is as important as ever, is potentially more important in the sense that having access to AI tools that can assist students in individual ways actually frees teachers in many ways to provide the sort of mentorship and instruction and teaching that only a caring human can. | ||
| So we saw examples at our hearing of how AI tools have been used to assist with lesson planning, have been used to help grade papers or to provide direct, immediate feedback to students to help with the assessment process and many other ways as well. | ||
| And so for those who think that the AI tool is somehow going to change the role of the teacher, these tools can change the role of the teachers, but I think of the teacher, but I think in very positive ways as well. | ||
| Of course, there are risks in this domain as well when it comes to academic dishonesty, when it comes to the potential of further absorbing students into digital worlds and thereby exacerbating some of the harms that we've seen from excessive use of smartphones. | ||
| All of those things we need to be very mindful of as well, which is why I'm continuing following our hearing, we're exploring ways to establish forums where these sort of best practices can be shared so different teachers, different schools, different states can see what's happening elsewhere, see what the results are, see the impact it's having on the well-being and learning of our students. | ||
| But this is one area where I think there truly is unbounded potential, and I'm looking forward to working with our subcommittee to try to assist districts across the country in unlocking that potential. | ||
| And with that, Mr. Chair, I'd like to yield to my gentleman yields back. | ||
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Mourning Bob Phelan
00:04:26
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|
unidentified
|
Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3rd, 2025, the gentleman from California, Mr. McClintock, is recognized for the remainder of the hour as the designee of the majority leader. | |
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mourn the passing of Bob Phelan of Modesto, a valued and beloved member of my congressional staff for these past three years. | ||
| His was a remarkable life and one that should inspire every American to realize the opportunities that freedom provides. | ||
| When Bob's father died, he was forced to drop out of high school to work odd jobs to support their family. | ||
| For nearly 10 years, he worked as a crab cracker at Ali Aldo's restaurant on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco. | ||
| Searching for a better life, he came to Modesto, where his outgoing personality made him an ideal salesman and a manager for such well-known companies as Keebler Cookies and Earl Scheib. | ||
| There in Modesto, he met his wife of 31 years, Alta, and raised their family. | ||
| When his son joined the Navy in the Gulf War, Bob's attention turned to politics. | ||
| He became a devotee of Rush Limbaugh and began working for local candidates. | ||
| He ended up starting his own political consulting firm. | ||
| Ultimately, he served as a trusted advisor to state assemblymen and then state senator and also a county supervisor Tom Berryhill for nearly 15 years. | ||
| When reapportionment brought my district into Stanislaus County, I was fortunate to bring him into my congressional office, where he served ably as my district representative. | ||
| His work ethic, his love for people, his sunny disposition, and his simple decency made him an exemplary figure in our community. | ||
| He was always a picture of fitness and health until he was diagnosed last year with cancer. | ||
| But he never let that slow him down, and until the very end, he continued to attend to his duties. | ||
| He was an exemplary father, husband, grandfather, citizen, and human being, the kind of person who holds a community together even through trying times. | ||
| And he will be particularly missed in these. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, it was a great loss for our community, a great loss for our office, but most of all, a great loss for his family, and we mourn his passing today. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, on May 17th, the College of the Canyons Foundation will honor Marlee Laufer with the 2025 Silver Spur Community Service Award in recognition of her longtime philanthropic work. | ||
| I first met Marley as a high school student leader in Tustin, and she was my first and only choice as chief of staff when I was elected to the California State Assembly in 1982. | ||
| Somehow, she was able to clean up every mess I made in those years. | ||
| She continued in that capacity until New Hall Land and Farming, the largest land developer in California, recognized her talents and offered her a senior position in their company when she was still in her 20s. | ||
| Well, four decades later, she is still in her 20s, and her energy and devotion to the community has never been stronger. | ||
| I am deeply gratified to see her honored by her community and to join in their accolades of her work. | ||
| And with that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back. | ||
| Back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3rd, 2025, the Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from Ohio, Ms. Captor, for 30 minutes. | |
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Trade Deficits and Job Loss
00:10:39
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| Thank you. | ||
| Mr. Speaker, I rise today out of deep concern for the manufacturing workers and families of northern Ohio. | ||
| From Toledo Jeep to our numerous parts suppliers and union shops across the Great Lakes in both the United States and Canada. | ||
| The Trump administration's reckless and arbitrary tariff policy is putting their jobs and livelihoods at risk. | ||
| These billboards just started to go up in our region. | ||
| Trump's tariffs are a tax. | ||
| They're a tax on everything. | ||
| While yesterday President Trump claimed to pause all tariffs, he left in place a 10% across-the-board tariff on all global trade entering the United States, even in places like our region, where we have a very, very wonderful relationship with companies in Canada, and we are an integrated economy. | ||
| We don't need any tariffs, not at our end of the country. | ||
| Let me be clear. | ||
| Tariffs are not a strategy. | ||
| They are a tax on working Americans and the firms that employ them. | ||
| If not wisely applied, jobs hang in the balance on both sides of our border between the United States and Canada, apart in a car or truck and a steel mill. | ||
| All of this that happens in our area can cross over the border six times. | ||
| Is it going to be 10 percent tariff going to be put on every time it crosses the border? | ||
| This is crazy. | ||
| Tariffs threaten good paying jobs. | ||
| They raise prices at the checkout line and they disrupt deeply integrated supply chains like ours, especially with Canada. | ||
| Ohio's largest fair trade partner that keep our auto industry strong and globally competitive, we don't need any more problems. | ||
| We've been fighting global competition now for half a century and it's rough. | ||
| Instead of a blunt Trump instrument, we need a targeted approach that brings real investment to American manufacturing and in the communities hollowed out by decades of bad and broken trade deals and outsourcing. | ||
| I call on this administration. | ||
| We do share in common a deep worry about the trade deficit, but work with us. | ||
| Work with Congress to craft smart, strategic reciprocity agreements with each country and ensure that workers, like United Auto Workers, have a seat at the table, a voice, and real power to negotiate on all sides of all borders. | ||
| For too long, what's been happening is billionaire companies and corporate executives have been taking our production and outsourcing it to penny wage nations. | ||
| Slave labor, really, where people make hardly anything, if a dollar an hour, maybe $2 an hour, competing against a first world economy like ours. | ||
| As the proud daughter of union workers, I know the road to rebuilding American manufacturing runs straight through our heartland, through the working class, the people who work hard, the spine of America's industrial economy in our Great Lakes region and the Midwest. | ||
| America's enemies around the world today are applauding at the self-inflicted tariff chaos that has been exacted on our people. | ||
| They're also plotting as they watch the U.S. stock market plummet and then, oops, bounce back a little bit and then go down again, endangering and impacting markets around the globe. | ||
| Reckless and cavalier economic policy could lead us into a Trump recession. | ||
| And trillions of dollars in U.S. wealth were just lost this past week, a record, due to chaotic moves on tariffs arbitrarily imposed by the Trump administration. | ||
| This week, the hole was being dug deeper as markets continued to freefall. | ||
| There was a partial rollback, and where will the roller coaster head next week? | ||
| Nobody really knows. | ||
| None of the tariffs that the President has proposed and implemented have ever had a single vote in this Congress. | ||
| This is unconstitutional. | ||
| And it's caused the retirement programs of millions, tens of millions of Americans, caused them loss on their 401k retirement accounts. | ||
| Those nosedived. | ||
| They've been yo-yoing up and down. | ||
| We're talking about $10 trillion of market loss these past few days. | ||
| That's unprecedented. | ||
| Where is Speaker Johnson? | ||
| Asleep at the wheel? | ||
| Where's the Republican Ways and Means Committee? | ||
| On vacation? | ||
| The Trump administration's dangerous overreach is totally damaging to our economy and unnerving to our trade allies around the globe. | ||
| Crashing the U.S. and global economy is not in the short nor long-term interests of the American people. | ||
| President Trump's so-called Liberation Day, he thought it was a huge success. | ||
| If the goal was liberating Americans from their hard-earned money and making them pay more for everything, whether it's their car, thousands of dollars more, my friends, are going to be placed on top of the purchase of a car, the price of energy you pay, the price of gas, the price of food. | ||
| I mean, take your pick. | ||
| Lumber, housing is outpriced for most people now. | ||
| Meanwhile, when asked about car prices going up, the President gave a rare, troubling response. | ||
| He said, I couldn't care less. | ||
| I couldn't care less. | ||
| That's what he said about automotive prices. | ||
| President Trump, come to Ohio. | ||
| Come to us. | ||
| Visit us with Canada. | ||
| Let us show you what we've done without your help for decades trying to rebuild the industrial spine of America. | ||
| I'll fight for the American auto industry and without tanking our economy because clearly there are some people in charge who don't know what they're doing and are raising prices on every single citizen in this country. | ||
| Retirement plans should be sacred. | ||
| What just happened on Wall Street made a whole lot of people nervous. | ||
| We got so many phone calls in our office. | ||
| Not only jobs are at risk, but retirement savings are put at risk. | ||
| Investments are put at risk. | ||
| I've spent too much of my time in this House and in this chamber trying to repair the economic damage to our economy of trade deals like NAFTA, CAFTA, China PNTR. | ||
| They said USMCA was going to fix everything. | ||
| Guess what? | ||
| The trade deficit's getting worse every year. | ||
| That means our jobs are being hollowed out to someplace else and they need to be returned to this country. | ||
| We need to negotiate that. | ||
| It just won't happen because we want it to happen. | ||
| As a private businessman and billionaire, Donald Trump never lifted a finger to help us. | ||
| He didn't stop the outsourcing of jobs during his first term. | ||
| They got worse. | ||
| Jobs were outsourced. | ||
| We had family farm after family farm collapse across this country through consolidation. | ||
| He didn't do anything. | ||
| You need a partnership between the legislative branch, the executive branch, working with our companies. | ||
| This is complicated. | ||
| It just doesn't happen. | ||
| So, as a result, we have these gigantic trade deficits. | ||
| We haven't had a balanced trade account in this country in over half a century. | ||
| And there's a cost to that. | ||
| It comes in jobs, wages, life, the ability to pay your way forward in your own family. | ||
| And it's happened in manufacturing, agriculture, and energy. | ||
| And there must be reforms in trade policy. | ||
| We all agree on that. | ||
| It's not a question of whether, but of how. | ||
| Huge trade deficits translate into growing U.S. debt. | ||
| We hear a lot on the other side of the aisle about the debt, the debt, the debt. | ||
| Well, you'd have a lot more economic strength if you hadn't outsourced so many jobs. | ||
| And with Canada, our largest fair trade partner, the books look pretty good. | ||
| The Great Lakes folks get along on both sides of the border. | ||
| So why disrupt something that is working? | ||
| That is absolutely insane. | ||
| Tariffs can be a tool to create jobs and wealth as well as bring back jobs to our country, and we ought to head in that direction. | ||
| But the President's efforts seem to be adding more trade deficits, not balancing our trade accounts. | ||
| But America can't import its way to jobs and wealth. | ||
| It must export products. | ||
| We must grow things and make things here and export them. | ||
| Thus, fair trade with nations that play by the fair trade rules must be our objective. | ||
| Let's start there. | ||
| Let's work with our friends and then open up other markets and retool other markets where that isn't working in our interest. | ||
| You can't just do it with a broad brushstroke. | ||
| Working with Canada is very different than working with China, believe me. | ||
| At the same time, we must be carefully assure that we grow jobs here through our trade policies and prevent price gouging by adversaries that benefit from protection in the marketplace. | ||
| Here's what China does. | ||
| It manufactures four times as much steel as the world consumes, and then it strategically dumps to wipe out production. | ||
| Come with me to Lorain, Ohio. | ||
| It's deeply in my heart I represented for 10 years until they gerrymandered our state again and took it away. | ||
| What happened to the workers in Lorain, Ohio should happen to no worker in this country. | ||
| They deserve better for the hard work they do. | ||
| So let's stop the chaos of trade wars, arbitrary pauses, crazy tariffs and threats. | ||
| The American people sent us here for solutions. | ||
| They don't need more tariffs that are really taxes on their cost of living. | ||
| America's trade accounts need balancing. | ||
| We don't need to keep hemorrhaging. | ||
| And that'll be the real test. | ||
| That'll be the real test. | ||
| The accounts will be the real test at the end of this year, but they're already not looking good. | ||
| But you don't make it better by killing the patient, the American worker, with higher prices on everything they buy and by jerking away millions of dollars for the cumulative wealth of their retirement accounts. | ||
|
Passover Reflections
00:10:16
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| America must achieve free trade among free people, not more tariff chaos. | ||
| And Mr. Speaker, I wanted to put in a word in our office as all of this has been going on. | ||
| I thought a lot about my own faith and how to help the American people that are so worried about what is going on. | ||
| And so I did some reflection on the faith community in which I was baptized and still belong. | ||
| Next Sunday for us is the most profound holy day we commemorate Easter, and it holds profound meaning. | ||
| This coming Saturday in Judaism, Jews around our globe and throughout our nation will sit down for a Passover Seder. | ||
| For both religions, this weekend is one of the most significant religious holidays in the calendar year with expression, with remembrance on the importance of treasuring our heritage and endowment. | ||
| For 2,000 years or more, these days have expressed faith that can move the human conscience. | ||
| Faith motivates people's behavior to think about the difference between daily life and the divine and what life could be. | ||
| Christians are encouraged to be a sacrificial people and importantly, a resurrection people. | ||
| Jews think of how hard it was for their ancestors escaping Egypt and thankful for all the joys they have in modern life. | ||
| With Easter and Passover in mind, I wish to place on the record today reflections as a result of the Trump administration's recent actions that are causing anxiety among the people that I represent. | ||
| These holy days seem a proper time to pray for them, to remember them, and to seriously ask ourselves what together we can do to heal them, our nation, and our people. | ||
| Days ago, I was approached by a kind nurse who had endured a hard day. | ||
| She shared with me that a patient of hers in a local health care center had emigrated to our country legally to work as a common laborer. | ||
| She had fled a troubled Latin American country where thugs control the streets. | ||
| Leaving all behind, the worker had journeyed here from a place where there was no hope for a better future. | ||
| And then last week here in America, very sadly, she attempted to take her own life with a fentanyl overdose because she feared being arrested by Trump administration immigration officials. | ||
| She could not imagine going back to the hell from which she had come. | ||
| And here, with no help, understanding the law that she came here by that she could work in America, she was frozen with fear because of what she saw on TV. | ||
| And I immediately thought of the last words uttered by Jesus as he was put to death by those that could not accept his religious teachings. | ||
| He asked, Father, Father, why have you forsaken me? | ||
| This also parallels the story of Passover, with the Jewish people fleeing Egypt in search of a better life where they could live free from bondage and fear. | ||
| Are we not to care for strangers in a strange land, to treat our neighbors as we would want to be treated? | ||
| Do we leave them to wander the desert to horror? | ||
| Or do we offer a hand out and up to ensure that they can live in safety and security? | ||
| I think this is a weekend for examining our own conscience. | ||
| My office has heard an influx of others fleeing horror, seeking shelter, scared they will be sent back somewhere. | ||
| Haitians who were here legally and working were scared in Ohio that they would be sent back to the streets of Port-au-Prince that are controlled by warlord gangsters and roving bandits. | ||
| Who would want to go back to that? | ||
| And these are people who are working in every company I know is looking for workers right now. | ||
| Local churches, synagogues, mosques help to resettle. | ||
| Ukrainians here legally fleeing war-torn regions in their homeland. | ||
| Those Ukrainians all received an erroneous email last week. | ||
| Imagine when your relatives are fighting and dying in another country and you're here trying to hold your family together in some minimal way, a letter saying they would be able to self-deport before it was claimed to be sent in error. | ||
| In other words, they sent out the wrong letter, some person sent some agency, which even causes more anxiety and fear from families that are already suffering. | ||
| What kind of a country are we becoming? | ||
| Then this week, our district staff took a call from a senior citizen who for many years has ordered her prescription drugs from Canada. | ||
| She receives them by mail because she can't walk. | ||
| She's deeply worried that with the new 10% Trump tariffs across the board, the price of her medicine will go up beyond her ability to afford it. | ||
| There's a lot of people in charge of things here in Washington that can't think in front of their own nose. | ||
| They've never faced these situations. | ||
| So I asked myself, what would Jesus do? | ||
| What would the Jewish people who leave the door open and a seat for Elijah, what would they do? | ||
| Our president has even threatened higher tariffs on all imported medicine. | ||
|
unidentified
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Boy, that's a hard sock to the gut. | |
| This isn't something someone who cares about people and their health and well-being would do or should do. | ||
| So if I were his mother, I would scold him. | ||
| Our office is receiving numerous inquiries from retirees, working people who worked hard and are deeply concerned about the drop in value of their 401 Cape retirement plans that they worked for. | ||
| Those just lost enormous value in the financial markets as the Trump tariffs traded away the value of their earnings. | ||
| Meanwhile, the cost of everything keeps rising. | ||
| Where I live, the price of gas rose 75 cents more a week, a gallon, 75 cents more a gallon than I paid a week before. | ||
| I've heard from mothers worried their daughters and granddaughters will lose their Medicaid coverage for mental health care and treatment. | ||
| And God bless every American family that has a child with mental illness or a relative with mental illness. | ||
| You are saints caring for them. | ||
| A wife called worried her husband was going through chemo for cancer treatment, and he would lose his Medicaid because of the cuts that are being proposed here just three years before he could become Medicare eligible. | ||
| So if families are denied access to Medicaid without the finances to cover care, what will happen to them? | ||
| If your family is lucky and you've never had an ill relative, you are lucky. | ||
| Because there are millions of people across this country that are suffering as I deliver these remarks tonight. | ||
| Walk in their shoes. | ||
| People on Medicare are about to lose access to telehealth. | ||
| This is terrible. | ||
| Many seniors can't walk, folks. | ||
| I have neighbors. | ||
| They fell on one lady, she fell out of her bed. | ||
| She couldn't get up the floor. | ||
| She had one of those things on her neck that she pushes, and then the ambulances came from the local fire department. | ||
| There are a lot of people living at the edge. | ||
| We have to be concerned about them. | ||
| We can't cut their benefits. | ||
| These are just some of the countless stories and fears we hear, and there are hundreds, thousands more reaching out to members of Congress in fear for themselves, their families, their loved ones, and treasured members of their community. | ||
| America does not live in fear. | ||
| That isn't why our country was founded. | ||
| We have been a refuge for our entire history, and we need to continue to be a refuge for those seeking a better life. | ||
| So who will speak up for these people while they are painted as worthless or not worthy of a place in our country by those who just want to slash and burn and tax and deport and destroy? | ||
| Jesus' last words were uttered in the Aramaic language and he breathed his last breath asking why he had been forsaken. | ||
| We can ask this for people we know and we can do something to help. | ||
| Some of us must ask during Passover and Easter week, who is being forsaken in this wild rush to endow the billionaire class with more, more vast infusions of money taken out of the hides and hearts of the American people. | ||
| What would Jesus do? | ||
| What would Moses do? | ||
| Why won't we as a country and a people ask ourselves the question of how we can help, not hurt? | ||
| How can we help and not hurt? | ||
| Let us recommit to that objective in the greatest nation in the world that needs caring leadership and those that truly are capable of loving one another and other people. | ||
| I yield back. | ||
|
unidentified
|
The gentlewoman yields back. | |
| The chair announces the speaker's appointment pursuant to 22 U.S.C. 276H and the order of the House of Representatives on January 3rd, 2025 of the following members on the part of the House to the Mexico-United States Interparliamentary Group. | ||
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Chair Receives Message
00:00:22
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| Mr. McCall of Texas, Chair. | ||
| Mr. Valadeo of California. | ||
| Mr. Jimenez of Florida. | ||
| Mr. Sisco Mani of Arizona. | ||
| And Ms. De La Cruz of Texas. | ||
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unidentified
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The chair will receive a message. | |
| Mr. Speaker, messages from the President of the United States. | ||
| Mr. Speaker. | ||
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unidentified
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Mr. Secretary? | |