U.S. House of Representatives U.S. House of Representatives
The House debates H.R. 2159, a bipartisan bill forcing the DOJ to disclose all 5,000+ federal crimes—statutes and regulations—to curb over-criminalization risks like felony charges for obscure offenses, with support from Chip Roy, Andy Biggs, and Jamie Raskin. Later, H.R. 176 tightens U.S. immigration laws to block Hamas-linked individuals, referencing October 7 attacks and cases like Mohamed Sabre Suleiman’s arrest. Healthcare discussions reveal $23K premium hikes for middle-class families amid Medicaid cuts, while H.R. 5284 extends "hospital at home" waivers for Medicare patients. Identity theft bills—H.R. 5345 and H.R. 5348—aim to streamline Social Security fraud recovery but expose lingering data privacy concerns. Finally, H.R. 5346 tightens IRS penalty rules, requiring supervisory approval before taxpayers face fines. The session underscores bipartisan efforts to address transparency, security, and economic fairness amid deepening public distrust in governance. [Automatically generated summary]
I've got a question about Ukraine, and then a clarification about immigration changes that are happening on Ukraine.
President Trump very briefly yesterday said that corruption issues there were not helpful to the peace process following the resignation on Friday of President Zelensky's top aid, Andrei Yermak.
We were told from your podium in the prior administration that, quote, there is no indication that there has been any kind of widespread corruption involving U.S. resources in Ukraine.
What is the Trump administration's view of corruption issues in the wake of Yermak's resignation?
How is that impacting peace, folks?
unidentified
You can watch this program in its entirety if you go to our website, c-span.org.
We're going to leave it here and take you live now to Capitol Hill.
God of hope, fill us this day with all joy and peace.
Lift our minds out of the current disquiet and renew our hearts in the belief that our desires and our contentment are to be found in you and not in anything we devise or which the world designs.
By the power of your Holy Spirit, may we discover the strength available to us when we hope in you.
In you, our Creator, we find our source, the wellspring of all that is good and right.
May we establish all our decisions, intentions, and pursuits on your firm foundation.
In you, our Redeemer, we find our salvation, the one who delivers us from our trials and inspires us in our weakness.
May we trust that you will bring forth the best outcomes from our worst attempts.
In you, our sustainer, we find our strength and purpose, the power that holds and guides us to serve as instruments of your will.
May we abound in the hope you provide.
And in serving you these days, in these times, may all that we are and all that we do reveal the joy and peace found only in you.
And so we pray in the name of the one who is our joy, our peace, and the source of our hope.
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 One, the journal stands approved.
The Pledge of Allegiance will be led by the gentleman from California, Mr. Cincineros.
unidentified
I pledge 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 justice for all.
Every day, more than 48 million family caregivers provide essential care to loved ones who are aging, ill, or disabled.
As a former health care professional, I've seen these caregivers often go above and beyond to support their family, sacrificing their own time, energy, and well-being to ensure that those that they care for receive the support and the love that they need.
Family caregivers are often the unsung heroes in our communities.
Many balance caregiving with full-time jobs, raising children, and managing their own health.
They deserve our support and recognition, which is why I'm proud to support legislation like Lowering Costs for Caregivers Act to help ensure these caregivers have the financial resources to continue providing care for their loved ones.
Mr. Speaker, let this month be a reminder of our shared responsibility to support these caregivers who give so much to others.
By showing our appreciation and lending a hand where we can, we honor the work that they do every day.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I yield back the balance of my time.
As we return from Thanksgiving with families and friends, I'm grateful that under the leadership of President Donald Trump, America is beating inflation, leading to lower costs, higher pay, and job creation.
The cost of Thanksgiving dinner itself decreased by 5%, with 16% less for Turkey.
Additionally, the One Big Beautiful bill is working for American families.
Inflation has dropped almost half.
Gas prices are at the lowest level in four years.
American families are saving up to $2,100.
America has attracted nearly $20 trillion in foreign investment.
Promises made, promises kept.
In conclusion, God bless our troops as the global war on terrorism continues.
Trump is reinstating peace through strength, revealing war criminal Putin lies, insulting Trump, mocking Trump as Putin mass murders civilians across Ukraine.
As a 31-year National Guard veteran myself with three National Guard sons, our sympathy to the family of specialist Sarah Beckstrom and prayers for Staff Sergeant Andrew Wolfe, both are American heroes standing for liberty and freedom in our country.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Corson's Tree Farms in Michigan's Montcalm County for being selected to provide the 2025 White House Christmas Tree.
Under the leadership of Rex and Jessica Corson, Corsons earned this honor by winning the National Christmas Tree Association's Grand Champion title, a recognition that reflects years of dedication, family tradition, and the highest standards of Michigan agriculture.
To commemorate this accomplishment this afternoon, I am introducing a resolution congratulating Corson's tree farms.
It's been 41 years since a Michigan-grown Christmas tree was displayed in the White House, and bringing this tradition back highlights the strength and quality of Michigan's growers.
Corsons has been recognized before, winning Michigan's grand champion tree contest and even providing a tree for the vice president's residents, but this selection marks the pinnacle of their work.
Their family-run operation represents the excellence and tradition that define Michigan's growers and exemplifies the First Lady's Christmas theme, home is where the heart is.
I'm grateful to honor this achievement and celebrate the role Michigan will play in bringing Christmas spirit to our nation's capital.
Pursuant to Clause 8 of Rule 20, the Chair will postpone further proceedings today on motions to suspend the rules on which a recorded vote or the yeas and nays are ordered or votes subjected to under Clause 6 of Rule 20.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent from all members, have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I today rise in strong support of my bill, H.R. 3174, the Made in America Manufacturing Act.
The ability to manufacture in the United States is vital to our country's economic and national security.
However, for decades, America law policies have shipped good-paying manufacturing jobs overseas and opened the door for foreign adversaries to fill the void.
We must traverse this trend, which will require more than just luck.
That is why the Trump administration has been championing pro-growth and pro-American policies that are fueling a domestic manufacturing comeback.
And now Congress can do this job to reverse the trend and support the revitalization of American manufacturing.
Small American manufacturers account for 98% of U.S. manufacturing companies, and like all small businesses, access to capital or the appropriate amount of capital is challenging.
H.R. 3174 gives small American manufacturers access to capital at a level that they need to start to grow their operations.
This legislation increases the loan limit for small American manufacturers under the SBA's 7A and 504 lending programs from $5 million to $10 million.
This will provide American manufacturing the capital they need to invest in new technology, hire, grow, and create onshore jobs that we have carelessly lost overseas.
H.R. 3174 is essential to keep pace with demand for capital and bring jobs back to the U.S. Two weeks ago, the Committee on Small Business heard testimony from the industry and other manufacturing stakeholders about the importance of this bill for small manufacturers across the country looking for growth and reshore their businesses.
It's often the case that when Congress passes a bill to support an industry, it will come at cost to taxpayers.
This is not the case with H.R. 3174 because the SBA's 7A and 504 loan programs operate under zero subsidy, meaning the zero cost to the taxpayer.
The Congressional Budget Office of Review find that any cost would be insignificant in this area.
So H.R. 3174 presents Congress with a critical opportunity to usher in the golden age of American manufacturing.
With that, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 3174 to support Made in America, small businesses, and the revitalization of the American manufacturing base.
Mr. Speaker, I am grateful for the opportunity to speak as we take up a set of five bipartisan bills that will expand services available to our country's 36 million small businesses.
These businesses are crucial to our economy and national security, creating two-thirds of all new jobs, employing half the private sector workforce, and generating almost half of our nation's economic activity.
Despite forming the bedrock of our local communities, small businesses are increasingly feeling uncertain about the future of the country.
This small business landscape is littered with obstacles like finding qualified workers, dealing with supply chain disruption as they adjust to the President's tariff regime, and adopting new technologies in order to stay competitive.
These economic headwinds make SBA services more important than ever.
The bills before us today reflect a months-long bipartisan effort to strengthen the services offered by the SBA and bolster the support for small businesses across the country.
These five bills were negotiated in good faith and in the spirit of collaboration.
Together, they help expand access to capital for business central to our national security, expand the reach of the SBA's Office of Rural Affairs, hold fraudsters accountable for exploiting the pandemic relief programs, and modernize the SBA's IT infrastructure.
These bills are quite simply common sense and would meaningfully improve SBA services for small businesses across the country.
I'm proud to support them, and I thank my colleagues for the bipartisan effort.
Turning to the first bill, I rise today for H.R. 3174, the Made in America Manufacturing Finance Act.
Small manufacturers account for more than 98% of U.S. manufacturing firms and employ 4.8 million Americans.
They play a critical role in regional economics and in maintaining supply chain resilience.
There is no doubt that reshoring manufacturing is a top priority.
We all lived through the pandemic and saw the downside of streamlined just-in-time supply chains.
When it comes to industries critical to our economic and national security, such as pharmaceuticals and weapons, ensuring the viability of domestic supply chain is paramount.
Let's all be honest.
As a result of the crushing use of tariffs imposed unilaterally by the President, small businesses are clamoring for options in their supply chains that avoid massive and ever-changing taxes at points of entry.
But a renewed economic focus on making things in the U.S. cannot happen at the snap of a finger.
It takes large investments and a long time horizon.
This bill is a way to approach filling the gaps in manufacturing financing.
It raises the loan limits for the SBA 7A and 504 CDC loan program from $5 million to $10 million for small manufacturers.
In fact, helping small firms with the upfront capital investment is one of the main goals of the 504 CDC program, and there is broad support for increasing the loan limits in particular.
Whether this is a prudent use of the 7A program is a conversation that is still up for debate, and I look forward to continuing to work through with our Senate counterparts.
I support the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
I would like to close by thanking the Chairman for his commitment to working on behalf of small businesses to open up avenues of financing for small businesses hoping to contribute to the reshoring of manufacturing.
I support this legislation and yield back the balance of my time.
A bill to require the administrator of the Small Business Administration to implement certain recommendations relating to information technology modernization and for other purposes.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill.
I rise today in support of H.R. 4491, the SBAIT modernization, introduced by Representative Cisneros from the great state of California and Representative Jack from the great state of Georgia.
The SBA is charged with verifying small businesses or certifying small businesses to participate in certain government contract opportunities.
And last year, the Biden-Harris SBA sought to implement a new certification portal.
Unfortunately, this portal's lackluster planning creation and rollout left the SBA with a ticking time bomb.
The Biden administration's failed unified certification portal rollout resulted in delays, errors, and cybersecurity risks, shutting out small businesses from the vital government contracting opportunities.
While this committee shared bipartisan concerns with the Biden-Harris SBA over its rollout plan, our lack thereof, former Administrator Guzman called to listen, and the results were damaging.
Small businesses were delayed for months, sometimes longer, to get approval from the SBA to compete for governmental contracts.
To make matters worse, the SBA allowed small businesses to use the new portal without conducting minimum cyber threat assessments.
And entrepreneurs didn't just face delays, but their sensitive personal and business information was put at risk of the cyber crime.
So the SBA IT Modernization Act, this will not happen at the SBA again.
It ensures that.
This bill requires the SBA to implement the GAO's recommendations to establish strong safeguards and improve oversight of IT initiatives so small businesses can rely on an efficient contract certification system.
Small businesses should not be held back by government mismanagement.
So this bipartisan common sense bill restores accountability and helps Main Street focus on what it does best, innovate.
I rise today in support of my bill, the SBA IT Modernization Reporting Act, and I thank the Chairman for his support.
I would also like to thank Representative Jack for joining me in introducing this bill, which will go a long way to help SBA modernize its IT infrastructure and improve its services to small businesses.
Billions of dollars in federal contracts are awarded to small businesses every year, and SBA plays a vital role in promoting small businesses' participation.
But over the years, the SBA's outdated and inefficient IT systems have made it harder for entrepreneurs to access the resources they need.
After repeated unsuccessful attempts to develop and deploy a platform that would be a one-stop shop for contracting certifications, the committee requested the GAO review the SBA's efforts to figure out why they failed.
The report identified the critical gaps in the SBA's modernization efforts from risk management to cybersecurity and budgeting.
My bill directly addresses these issues by requiring the SBA administrator to implement the 11 recommendations in the GAO report, mandating a clear plan of action and ensuring Congress is kept in the loop.
This means better oversight, better execution, and most importantly, better services by the SBA for all small businesses.
An efficient and fully operational IT platform is critical for the SBA to conduct the certifications that allow for so many small businesses to participate in the federal marketplace.
The SBA IT Modernization Reporting Act will ensure that the SBA addresses the root causes that lead to IT projects to fall behind schedule, increasing costs, and outright fail.
I'm grateful for the partnership with Representative Jack to introduce this common sense bipartisan legislation, which shows that modernizing how the SBA works is not a partisan issue.
Together, we can ensure that the SBA is prepared to meet the evolving needs of small businesses.
I urge my colleagues to support this bill to ensure we give the SBA the modern tools it needs to support the success of America's small businesses, and I reserve the balance of my time.
I'd like to close by once again thanking my colleague Representative Jack for partnering with me on this important legislation.
By bolstering SBA's IT infrastructure, we can improve services to small businesses and open up doors to thousands of new entrants in the federal marketplace.
I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation and I yield back the balance of my time.
I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days and wish to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4495, the SBA Fraud Enforcement Extension Act, a companion piece of legislation to S Bill 1199 introduced by Senator Ernst.
H.R. 4495 is bipartisan legislation introduced by Representative Downing from the great state of Montana and Representative Conaway from the great state of New Jersey.
For four years, the Biden administration's SBA failed to address over $200 billion in COVID-19 era fraud.
H.R. 4495 extends the soon-to-expire statute of limitations for two pandemic era relief programs, the shuttered venue operation grants and the restaurant revitalization fund.
The statute of limitation for these programs is set to expire this December.
And these two programs combined provided over $44 billion in grants and funding for small business during the pandemic.
Unfortunately, fraudsters stole COVID relief funds from small businesses across the country, and these fraudsters hope that the statute of limitations for their crimes will pass, allowing them to discourt justice.
As Congress, we cannot let this happen.
So American taxpayer dollars should be protected at all costs.
In the 117th Congress, we took similar action to extend the statute of limitations under the Paycheck Protection Program and COVID-EIDA, the IDEL funds program.
And today, we have the chance to close this final loophole so that the fraudsters do not get away with defrauding American taxpayers and entrepreneurs.
So this legislation sends a clear message that the era of taking advantage of the American taxpayer is simply over.
I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4495, and I reserve the balance of my time.
I rise today in support of H.R. 4495, the SBA Fraud Enforcement Extension Act.
This bill builds off the work done by Ranking Member Vasquez in a previous Congress.
That bill extended the Statue of Limitations for Investigating Fraud in the PPP and EIDL programs.
Because of this bill, all the major pandemic relief programs, including the Shuttered Venues Operations Grant Program and Restaurant Revitalization Fund, will have extended statutes of limitations from five years to 10 years.
Passing this bill into law will send a strong message to fraudsters that their behavior will not be tolerated, and those who committed fraud will be held accountable in the years to come.
The pandemic upended regular SBA operations, and the agency executed 14 years of lending in 14 days to keep small businesses afloat.
While these programs help millions of small businesses, the implementation was not without its flaws.
As we now know, potential fraud could range from $36 billion up to $200 billion.
While the exact number will never be known, we do know that the vast majority of that fraud came in the first nine months under the first Trump administration.
Recognizing the potential for fraud, the Biden administration instituted strong upfront controls for RRF and SVOG.
To date, the Office of the Inspector General's work has resulted in charges against 25 individuals, 14 criminal convictions, and more than $61 million in recoveries.
Now, the OIG has 31 open RRF cases and six open SVOG cases.
While modest in number, these cases are complex, involving layered transactions, false documentation, and financial concealment.
These cases will take time to investigate and prosecute, and we owe it to the expert doing the work to give them the tools they need.
But extending the statute of limitations is only part of the equation.
We must provide full funding to the Office of the Inspector General so that they have the resources to root out the fraud.
Moreover, we need to ensure proper staffing at the SBA to review the 1,892 active SVOG awards totaling over $3.2 billion.
That said, this legislation is a step in the right direction, and I want to commend Mr. Downing and Mr. Conaway for leading this effort.
We need to make sure that no one gets away with fraud simply because the clock ran out.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Fraud, waste, and abuse fundamentally undermines the American people's trust in the government.
When well-intentioned federal programs are defrauded by criminal bad actors, taxpayer dollars are wasted and funding for businesses and individuals in need of this vital support is squandered and stolen.
Over the course of the COVID pandemic, the Small Business Administration carried out an extensive effort channeling funding to small businesses facing unprecedented economic challenges.
In total, SBA provided over $1.2 trillion in emergency loans and grants during this period.
While COVID era SBA programs, in many cases, delivered much-needed emergency aid to small businesses, these programs were sometimes exploited by criminals seeking to defraud American taxpayers and illegally secure illegitimate loans and grants.
According to a 2023 report from the SBA's Office of the Inspector General, SBA distributed over $200 billion in potentially fraudulent funds in its COVID-era programs.
Now, this level of fraud undermines the integrity of the SBA.
It is essential that we track these criminal fraudsters down and hold them accountable for their actions.
Two of these SBA COVID-era programs, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant, directed financial assistance towards small businesses that were disproportionately harmed by lockdown policies due to their reliance on confined gathering spaces.
The statute of limitations for prosecuting fraud within these programs is set to expire beginning early next year.
If Congress does not act, law enforcement will not have the necessary time to investigate and to prosecute these crimes.
This is why I introduced with my colleague Representative Conaway H.R. 4495, the SBA Fraud Enforcement Extension Act.
This bill extends the statute of limitations from five years to 10 years for fraud with respect to SBA's restaurant revitalization fund and the shuttered venue operators grant.
This extension will provide critical time for law enforcement to track down criminals who have defrauded the U.S. government and to hold them accountable.
Small businesses across our country, including in my home district of central and eastern Montana, deserve an SBA that efficiently supports local job creators and isn't undercut by fraud.
I'd like to thank my colleague Representative Herb Conaway for co-leading this legislation.
The fraudulent spending of federal taxpayer dollars undermines our trust in the government.
It is essential that law enforcement is given the proper tools, time, and authority to punish those who subvert the integrity of the SBA programs and ensure that fraudsters face consequences for their actions.
With that, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
I rise today in support of H.R. 4495, the SBA Fraud Enforcement Extension Act.
I am the co-lead of this legislation, along with my friend and colleague and fellow Air Force veteran, Representative Downing.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 30 million small businesses were negatively impacted.
The federal government took action to ensure that an unprecedented amount of money flowed into small businesses in the form of grants and loans in order to help them stay afloat.
Over the course of 18 months, the SBA administered four major programs which delivered $22.1 million in loans and $1.2 trillion in grants.
Although these loans were provided, although these loans did provide much needed relief to numerous small businesses throughout the United States, there are many who illegally obtained these loans.
In an SBA-issued report entitled Protecting the Integrity of Pandemic Relief Programs, there are estimates that $36 billion of the $1.2 trillion in pandemic relief emergency funds were obtained illegally.
H.R. 4495 would extend the civil and criminal statute of limitations for violations of or conspiracy to violate fraud related to the Suttered Venue Operators Grant and the Restaurant Revitalization Fund.
To ensure small businesses can receive the benefits they deserve, it is important that the SBA is properly funded and staffed.
I am concerned that the cut in the SBA's workforce by 43 percent will impede the SBA's ability to recover the improper and illegally obtained payments.
Having said that, I urge all my colleagues to support this very important legislation and thank my colleague Representative Downing for allowing me to lead this important piece of legislation with him.
I'd like to close by thanking Dr. Conaway and Mr. Downing and Chairman Williams for their work on ensuring taxpayer funds are protected from fraudsters.
This is a common sense measure to rebuild public trust and I encourage my colleagues to vote yes.
Union Calendar No. 183, H.R. 4549, a bill to amend the Small Business Act to clarify the responsibilities of the Office of Rural Affairs of the Small Business Administration and for other purposes.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4549, the Office of Rural Affairs Enhancement Act.
This bill was introduced by Representative Goodlander from the great state of New Hampshire, Representative Weed from the great state of Wisconsin, and Representative Golden from the great state of Maine.
46 million Americans live in rural communities.
The small business of rural America has distinct and persistent challenges, such as the shortage of business assistance resources and limited access to capital.
And these challenges often hinder their growth and their sustainability.
The SBA Office of Rural Affairs was created to serve our rural entrepreneurs.
However, it is often underutilized and thus ineffective.
This bill addresses the challenges by clarifying the critical responsibilities of the Office of Rural Affairs and qualifications for leadership to prioritize the rural communities.
This bill ensures that the office will be utilized to each rural entrepreneur where they are and anywhere in Main Street America.
And these efforts will strengthen local networks and equip entrepreneurs with the knowledge and support necessary for long-term growth.
So, H.R. 4549 is about investing in the future of rural America, creating jobs, and ensuring resources reach all businesses across America.
I want to thank Representative Goodlander, Weed, and Golden for introducing this bipartisan legislation.
I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 4549, and I reserve the balance of my time.
I rise in support of this common sense legislation to enhance the Office of Rural Affairs at the SBA, and I commend Ms. Goodlander, Mr. Weed, and Mr. Golden for their commitment to making this office operate more effectively for rural small businesses.
Rural small businesses are powerful drivers of economic growth across the United States, fueling the agricultural, tourism, manufacturing, and energy sectors.
Unfortunately, they receive disproportionately fewer SBA loans and resources than their urban counterparts and face greater challenges, including access to affordable capital, unreliable internet access, and access to talent.
Created in 1990, the Office of Rural Affairs at the SBA could play a key role in helping small businesses overcome these challenges.
However, throughout its existence, the office has either been dormant or the collateral duty of a regional administrator.
In 2020, an acting director was named, and in 2021, the SBA appointed a permanent full-time career deputy director to stand up the office.
This bill would elevate the role of director to an assistant administrator, ensuring the assistant administrator meets certain qualifications and requires the office to host webinars and outreach events.
With clear lines of communication and the outreach that will come from the office, small businesses will be able to access resources that should be readily available to them.
I'd like to once again thank Ms. Goodlander, Mr. Weed, and Mr. Golden for their bipartisan efforts on behalf of the American rural small businesses.
I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
I'm very proud to rise today and join my colleagues from really across America in support of what is a common sense bipartisan bill, H.R. 4549, a bill that will deliver a fair deal for America's rural small businesses and entrepreneurs by cutting red tape, delivering access to key federal resources, ensuring experienced and accountable representation and leadership within our government.
A bill that will ensure the voices of rural America aren't just heard, but are truly prioritized within our government.
Running a small business, it's really an act of faith.
It's hard work, often brutally hard work, and it's extraordinarily important work because rural small businesses are the beating hearts of communities across America and in every corner of my home state, New Hampshire.
They're the backbone of our economy.
As I've worked alongside, as I've listened to and learned from rural small businesses across New Hampshire, from the family farmers of our North Country to the manufacturers of our Menadnock region, and from the loggers of our Upper Valley to the small businesses of the Sowhegan Valley, I've heard again and again that the federal programs designed to help our rural small businesses are riddled with red tape.
They're often impossible to access.
And I've heard again and again that the rules of the road are simply not written with the realities of rural America in mind, the challenges and the opportunities.
That's not right, and it's our job as lawmakers to correct it.
Now, in 1990, Congress created the Office of Rural Affairs within the Small Business Administration to tackle this problem set.
But as we've seen over the past 35 years, the office is underperforming.
It lacks experienced and accountable leadership, and the red tape is still very much there for the cutting.
So our bill is going to address itself to these gaps in the law.
It's going to require a senior leader with real experience in rural economic development to be at the helm and accountable to Congress and the American people.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I urge my colleagues to support this common sense legislative legislation to support rural small businesses, and I yield back.
A bill to amend the Small Business Investment Act of 1958 to exclude from the limit on leverage certain amounts invested in smaller enterprises located in rural or low-income areas and small businesses in critical technology areas and for other purposes.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extra announcement material on the bill.
I rise today in support of H.R. 2066, the Investing in All of American Act of 2025, introduced by Representative Muser from the great state of Pennsylvania and Representative Schulton from the great state of Michigan.
One of the most significant barriers to economic growth across America is the lack of access to capital for small businesses, including investment opportunities.
While some regions and industries are flush with investment, too many small businesses struggle to attract the investment capital that they would need and help them to grow.
So Investing in All of American Act strengthens one of the most effective public-private partnerships the SBA has to offer, the Small Business Investment Company, or SBIC, program.
This program has a proven track record of turning promising small small businesses into household names, all without spending any taxpayer dollars.
By unleashing nearly $200 billion in private capital, this bipartisan bill would extend opportunities for small manufacturers, rural communities, and business critical to our national security.
And it means more jobs, greater in motivation and innovation, and stronger in economy.
This common sense solution rewards hard work and fuels private investment into small businesses across America without new spending or more on red tape.
I ask my colleagues to support this bill for Main Street America, driving a capital back into the hands of small business owners where it belongs.
So thank you, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2066, the Investing in All of America Act.
Small business investment companies, our SBICs, are an essential part of the small business leading ecosystem.
Under this program, SBA works with and licensed private institutions to provide financing to small high-growth companies.
Unfortunately, due to the statutory constraints, investors are often limited in their ability to participate in the program when focusing on rural and underserved communities, small manufacturers or small businesses critical to national security.
Due to their capital-intensive nature and early revenue profile, these small businesses operating in the critical technology sector need institutional investors with longer-term time horizons to raise capital.
That's why this bill makes statutory improvements to provide SBICs with access to additional leverage when they invest in these businesses.
Providing SBICs with additional leverage flexibility will ensure the capital needs of small businesses in our critical technology sectors are met by the SBIC program.
This will enable the SBA and DOD to successfully implement their joint small business investment company critical technology initiative.
In addition, this bill provides another avenue to extend private investment to small businesses in rural and underserved communities, something that lenders and policymakers have repeatedly fallen short on.
This additional bonus leverage will encourage more investment in communities that need it most.
I want to applaud Representative Muser and Schulton for leading this bipartisan effort, and I want to thank Chairman Williams and his team for their collaboration on this bill.
I encourage my colleagues to vote yes, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I want to thank our Chairman very much for yielding and for your leadership.
Mr. Speaker, I ride in support of my legislation, H.R. 2066, the Investing in All of America Act of 2025.
This legislation will incentivize greater investment from small business investment companies, SBICs, to small businesses located in rural or low-income areas, as well as small businesses in manufacturing and national security technology sector.
SBICs are privately owned and managed investment funds that are licensed and regulated by the SBA.
These companies raise private capital, which is then matched with additional leverage by the SBA, capped at $175 million.
SBICs then invests both their private capital and SBA leverage into small businesses in communities across the country.
Importantly, the SBIC program operates at zero subsidy cost to the American taxpayer.
Over the last five years, SBICs have invested over $130 billion in small businesses across America, including $1.3 billion in my home state of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Small Businesses.
Though the SBIC program is successful, recent studies have shown that less than 20% of SBIC investment reaches low- to middle-income communities, particularly rural communities.
The Investment in All of America Act encourages additional private investment in parts of America that are often overlooked by not counting dollars invested in these areas against individual SBICs' $175 million leverage cap.
By creating this incentive, my bill will increase investment for these underserved, currently underserved communities.
It is important to note that the bonus leverage included in this legislation does not change the costs or risks of the SBIC program.
The existing model operates at no cost to the taxpayer and will remain the same.
So the Trump administration and the SBA administrator, Kelly Loeffler, are focused on fueling small business growth and reinvigorating domestic manufacturing throughout the United States.
This legislation supports that effort by encouraging increased private investment in the manufacturing sector.
By expanding access to capital and reducing barriers to entry, this legislation helps manufacturers scale operations and create high-quality American jobs.
I would like to thank Representative Skulkin for her continued partnership, as well as the other support from the Democrat leadership on this legislation and the bipartisan group of all members, Republican and Democrat, who have co-sponsored it.
This legislation will have tangible positive impacts on our communities.
I would like to close by once again thanking Mr. Muser and Ms. Scolton for their leadership on this bill and their efforts to extend additional capital to rural and underserved entrepreneurs as well as the critical technology industry.
I am pleased to support this bill and encourage all my colleagues to do the same.
Union calendar number 299, H.R. 4323, a bill to provide for the vacating of certain convictions and expungement of certain arrests of victims of human trafficking.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on H.R. 4323.
Bipartisan Relief for Trafficking Survivors00:15:17
H.R. 4323, the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act, is a strong bipartisan piece of legislation and bicameral, actually, that will help one of our most vulnerable populations.
This legislation passed the House Judiciary Committee by a voice vote earlier this year, and I'm looking forward to seeing it pass the full House.
Human trafficking is a heinous crime that we are all too familiar with.
Human trafficking is not just a distant problem.
It is a crisis that touches every corner of our nation, rural communities, urban centers.
It can occur anywhere in any community, and it does not discriminate.
Traffickers exploit the vulnerable wherever they may find them.
We see it happen to the vast number of women and children who are exploited after crossing our southern border.
We see it happen to people from both low-income and high-income backgrounds.
We see it happen in ordinary Americans, people who never imagined that they would become victims themselves.
Efforts by federal, state, and local law enforcement and advocates to eliminate trafficking and support victims have increased awareness, reporting, and prosecution of sex traffickers across the country.
However, victims of these crimes are sometimes prosecuted for their actions taken while under the control of their traffickers.
This can lead to the arrest, conviction, and incarceration of actual trafficking victims themselves without proper consideration of their criminal culpability.
We know that criminal convictions and even nonviolent ones can hold someone back from applying for a job, getting housing.
These victims deserve to be able to heal and move on from their lives.
Thankfully, we have made significant progress to help survivors.
Today, the vast majority of states, in fact, I think 46 or 47, have some sort of relief to victims for nonviolent offenses committed while under the control of their traffickers.
These laws allow individuals to re-enter their communities and move on with their lives.
In my home state of South Carolina, continues to lead on this forward-looking, victim-centered approach.
The Trafficking Survivors Relief Act follows the state's clear lead and provides federal relief to survivors of human trafficking who committed a nonviolent offense as a direct result of being a victim of human trafficking.
For a court to grant this relief, a defendant must show that the offense was committed as a direct result of being a victim of human trafficking.
To ensure that these opportunities are only available to true victims of trafficking and not criminals, we have worked hand in hand with law enforcement to include appropriate safeguards in the bill.
The legislation allows for additional evidence to be considered, including the sworn testimony of a law enforcement officer, as to whether a victim had any role in coercing other victims to enter criminal offenses.
This legislation is endorsed by multiple advocacy organizations, faith-based organizations, and law enforcement officials.
It really has tied, you have a bipartisan, bicameral piece of legislation that unites both law enforcement and victim organizations.
It's a good piece of legislation.
There are countless individuals and organizations that have worked tirelessly to get this bill to where it is today, including CPAC's Foundation Centers for Combating Human Trafficking, NCOSE, Right for Girls, Screen Grace, survivor leader Holly Nadel, and so many more.
Last Congress, a bipartisan group of Attorneys General wrote a letter in strong support of the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act.
This carefully crafted legislation strikes the right balance in protecting victims' rights and public safety.
Let's work together to fight back against this evil and help victims and survivors begin a new chapter and allow them to take on every opportunity that life hands them without any constraint of their past.
I encourage all of my colleagues to support the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act and I encourage its swift passage in the Senate.
I appreciate it and I thank the distinguished gentleman from South Carolina for his leadership on this issue.
I'm pleased that we are considering the Bipartisan Trafficking Survivors Relief Act, which will provide relief to victims and survivors of human trafficking who have been unjustly criminalized as a result of their trafficking.
Victims and survivors of human trafficking have been waiting nearly a decade for us to make this relief available to them at the federal level.
The heroic survivors of the global Epstein trafficking conspiracy have raised the conscience of the nation about the nightmarish consequences of human trafficking for the victims of it.
And they strongly support this legislation, which is part of the long overdue reckoning that America must have with all of the double standards and cover-ups that have affected women and girls who have been entered into the trafficking criminal underworld.
And while we have found far two opportunities to work together in this broken session of Congress, I'm glad that the majority has finally chosen to bring this much-needed consensus reform forward to the floor to protect trafficking victims and survivors, and I look forward to its swift passage.
Human trafficking, Mr. Speaker, is a multi-billion dollar criminal industry that overtakes the will and the freedom of nearly 25 million people around the world every year.
Traffickers exploit their victims by forcing them to provide labor, services, and commercial sex through violence, fear, coercion, and manipulation.
And while awful, their exploitation doesn't stop there.
Often, traffickers force their victims to commit other crimes, including prostitution, money laundering, fraud, drug trafficking, robbery, and theft.
This leads trafficking victims to be arrested and prosecuted without consideration of their status as victims themselves.
Then they are often made to serve prison sentences and left with criminal records that can stop them from finding employment or suitable housing or qualifying to receive the treatment that they need to recover from trauma and rebuild their lives.
When they're unable to start fresh or move on because of the obstacles they face as a consequence of the crimes they were forced to commit, victims and survivors often return to their traffickers or fall victim to new predators.
We cannot allow this cycle of trauma, criminal exploitation, and victimization to continue in the lives of so many untold victims.
While all but three states now allow trafficking survivors some form of criminal record relief, there's still no federal pathway to clear criminal convictions or records in this situation.
H.R. 4323 would correct this inequity by allowing human trafficking victims to petition, to have their convictions vacated for certain offenses, and to expunge their arrest records for other offenses if the offenses were committed only as a consequence of their trafficking.
This bill would also provide an avenue of relief for victims and survivors facing prosecution for certain federal offenses relating to their victimization by establishing a human trafficking related defense.
The defense will also be available as a post-conviction remedy.
And to ensure survivors have access to all of the remedies provided, this bill makes clear that a grantee may use grant funds from the Office of Justice Programs and the Office on Violence Against Women for legal representation for post-conviction relief.
For far too long, we've closed our eyes to the true horrors of human trafficking and allowed victimization to fester simply by allowing survivors of human trafficking to be classified and treated as criminals.
I'm pleased to support this essential and thoughtful bipartisan bill, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
I recognize the distinguished gentlelady from Georgia, Representative McBath, for two minutes, the ranking member of the Criminal Justice Subcommittee.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you so much to our Ranking Member Judiciary Committee.
The Trafficking Survivors Relief Act, it's very critical bipartisan legislation that would provide long overdue relief to victims and survivors of human trafficking to help them overcome the lasting effects of being trafficked and allow them a chance to heal.
It recognizes their unique traumas, the immense challenges that they face after escaping their exploitation, and the right to rebuild their lives with some dignity and some respect.
Victims of trafficking are demeaned.
They're dehumanized and coerced by the traffickers who do not see them as people but see them as objects only to be bought, sold and abused.
But we see them and we must give them the help that they need and they deserve.
Too often they emerge with criminal records directly tied to their exploitation.
These records follow them along their path long after they are free, preventing them from finding a job, securing safe housing, pursuing education, or even getting treatment for the trauma that they've escaped.
The barriers they face as a result of their records often serve as painful reminders of the abuse they endured and can make survivors vulnerable to even further exploitation.
Many states, including my state of Georgia, have already passed the laws like Trafficking Survivors Relief Act.
It's past time that we take similar steps to do this on the federal level.
By allowing survivors to expunge arrests or vacate nonviolent convictions connected to their trafficking, we give them a chance to reclaim their futures and move forward without the weight of their past being used against them.
Just as we must allow them the ability to shed the lasting remnants of their victimization, we must also provide them with the resources and services that they desperately need.
Survivors need strong and consistent federal support to stay safe and move forward.
I just want to pick up on the words of the distinguished gentlelady from Georgia, who is the chair of the criminal justice, or the ranking member of the criminal justice subcommittee on judiciary.
To be forced into a human trafficking network like the Epstein network is to suffer a double trauma.
There's the original trauma of the exploitation and the abuse, and then there's the added trauma of being stigmatized as yourself being a criminal, a prostitute, and someone forced to engage in other criminal activity by the trafficking network.
And I'm delighted that on a bipartisan basis today, we are able to move forward to address this problem and to give some relief to the victims and the survivors of a human trafficking network.
And again, I want to recognize the survivors from the Epstein Global International Child Sex Trafficking Conspiracy who have raised the conscious of the country and changed America's mind about the fundamental importance of our addressing this.
And I want to thank my colleagues for working with us on bringing this legislation forward.
I find myself in this moment on H.R. 4323, the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act, in somewhat of a deja vu.
I did this legislation at the state level, and I've talked to victims of human trafficking and those who have used this legal mechanism as a sense of relief to expunge their crimes, to get their crimes, their prior convictions vacated, to apply for housing, to go on with their life in a very meaningful way.
And what they would share with me is what I'll share with you today is that this absolutely matters to them, being able to turn the page on their past.
It is not easy for a victim of human trafficking to come forward.
There's shame sometimes in doing so.
There's extreme guilt.
And so when they get that chance to do that, this is an incredibly important step.
And here's the caveat I think that is often underlooked.
Law enforcement loves this bill too.
And why is that?
Because during a prosecution of a criminal defendant who's a trafficking victim or within a conviction of a human trafficking victim, victims are allowed to tell their story.
So one is very therapeutic and helpful to the victims themselves.
But to the law enforcement folks, they can go after the real bad actors.
I think that's the key crux of this bill.
And that's, I think, what unites both Republicans and Democrats, House members and Senate, law enforcement community, and victim organizations, is that it is a great piece of public policy that has worked so well in 46, 47, 48 states at this point.
And there is no reason why the federal government anymore should lag behind the states in crafting a very good common sense piece of legislation.
This bill is victim-centered, it's law enforcement-focused as well.
Union calendar number 298, H.R. 2159, a bill to direct the Attorney General of the United States to submit to the Congress a report on federal criminal offenses and for other purposes.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material in H.R. 2159.
Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to thank the gentlelady from Georgia for joining with me in this effort.
I'd like to thank the minority leader for his past work on this bill as well from his position on the Judiciary Committee, like the gentlelady from Georgia.
We may come at these things from slightly different perspectives on different issues that come before us, but we're bound together and joined together here on wanting some common sense, good government to make sure that we know what we're dealing with with respect to criminal laws.
Because for decades, the American people, Congress, and corners of the federal government have tried to grasp a reliable estimate of how many criminal laws exist either in statute or in regulation.
In the 1980s, the Department of Justice tried to count the number of federal criminal laws that reside within the code and estimated there are, quote, about 3,000 criminal offenses.
The American Bar Association came in in the 90s and said it was much higher than 3,000, but couldn't figure out the number.
In 2019, the U.S. Code was estimated to have 5,199 federal crimes, but again, it was uncertain.
In other words, the Department of Justice, the American Bar Association, organizations within our government are guessing.
Now, to be clear, there's estimated to be thousands of criminal offenses, many buried in regulatory codes.
For context, there are an estimated 300,000 federal regulations that carry criminal offenses that could put an American citizen in prison.
Now, we can debate the merits, and we would debate the merits, no doubt, among the members of this body of any particular statute that criminalizes a certain act or any particular regulation that comes with criminal penalties associated with an action.
It might be something that involves OSHA, it might be something that involves environmental regulations, it might be something else.
But there are thousands upon thousands of regulations and statutes, and the American people often have no idea that they might be in violation of something that would come with a penalty that might include jail time or sufficient fines and so forth, and potentially could become a felon.
So, this bill is pretty simple.
It just directs the federal government, it directs the executive branch to count the crimes, to come up with a list of the crimes that exist and put those in order and to make sure that we know what offenses are attached to those so that we can go through this and make decisions as to whether or not these crimes are duplicative, whether they might be contradictory, whether maybe they go too far, not far enough.
But we feel like the people's house, for sure, Congress in its Article I function, ought to know how many crimes there are, ought to know what penalties are associated with those crimes, so that the American people can know this.
I rise today for the sake of an effective criminal justice system.
The laws within our criminal code, as has been expressed even before, have become outdated and a highway to over-criminalization.
We have so many unlawful acts within our criminal code that we don't even know how many criminal laws there are.
That is why we need to pass the Count the Crimes to Cut Act of 2025, which would mandate the creation of a comprehensive inventory, as we've expressed, of all federal criminal, statutory, and regulatory offenses.
So I'm really proud to co-lead this common sense and, as I said before, bipartisan solution that will help us address the pressing issue of over-criminalization.
a troubling result of unchecked growth of our federal criminal law.
For too long, new federal crimes have been created without a full understanding of what criminal laws already exist.
Six years ago, policy organizations, they estimated that we have over 5,000 federal crimes, many of which, as we've stated before, are redundant, overly broad, or better left to the states, or are so obscure that the public has no practical way of knowing that they even exist.
In some cases, these laws are so vague that they even have a reasonable person who would struggle to understand what conduct is prohibited.
This massive and unorganized body of federal criminal law puts well-intentioned, law-abiding citizens definitely at risk.
Legal scholars should suggest that every day Americans may unknowingly violate multiple federal crimes without ever being made aware of it.
Yet we cannot meaningfully address the consequences of this bloated system until we fully understand the scope of the problem.
Over the last few decades, the number of federal criminal offenses dramatically increased to more than 5,000.
And that figure doesn't even account for the countless additional crimes created by federal regulations.
And despite several previous attempts to determine the number of criminal offenses that currently are on the books, the fact is we still don't even know.
The Count the Crimes to Cut Act, which I am very proud to co-sponsor, is a necessary first step toward comprehensive, data-driven reform that truly works.
By finally establishing a complete inventory of these offenses, we can effectively evaluate how they are enforced, understand the intent requirements associated with each one of these laws, and determine where reforms to men's ra standards are necessary.
We will also be able to identify redundant or outdated laws that serve no public safety purpose at all.
So I ask my colleagues to support this very reasonable bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
I thank the Speaker and I thank the gentlelady from Georgia for her comments.
I would just add in agreement with her that, as I said before, this simply says that the Attorney General should provide to us, the People's House and this Congress, with a list of all federal crimes in statute and regulation, along with pertinent information such as potential criminal penalty, the mensrea requirement for the offense, and the DOJ prosecutorial history of the statute.
I think this is the bare minimum that we should have as a body to ensure that we're protecting due process and protecting the rights of the American people while ensuring that we have an ordered society.
With that, I would like to yield up to five minutes to my good friend from Arizona, Mr. Beggs.
I thank the gentleman from Texas, and I thank you, Mr. Speaker.
The federal government has turned the criminal code into a labyrinth, a maze so bloated and disorganized that not even the DOJ can tell you how many federal crimes exist.
That's why I rise in strong support of H.R. 2159, the Count the Crimes to Cut Act, led by my friend Chip Roy from Texas.
Representative McBath, who is the ranking member on our Subcommittee of Crime and Government Surveillance and Judiciary, and is supported by members of both parties who understand that freedom collapses when the law becomes unknowable.
This bill is co-led by staunch conservatives like Representative Roy and myself, and our colleagues who occasionally think differently than us, Ms. McBath and Mr. Cohen.
We disagree on a lot in this chamber, but we should all agree that Americans should know what conduct is criminal before they're punished for it.
The Count the Crimes to Cut Act forces the DOJ to produce a complete list of every federal criminal statute with specific legal elements, the authorized penalties, and the number of prosecutions for each offense over the last 15 years.
And right now, we literally cannot tell the American people how many federal crimes exist.
I called the Congressional Research Service several years ago because I was interested in this.
They said we have no idea.
Estimates range from 4,000 statutes to hundreds of thousands of criminalized regulations, but no one actually knows because Washington's never bothered to count them.
This is the very definition of over-criminalization.
Vague laws, hidden laws, duplicative laws, and regulatory crimes that nobody could reasonably expect an ordinary citizen to find or understand.
The federal code has grown so bloated that a person can unknowingly violate a regulation they've never heard of, and the government can still throw the book at them.
Even former Harvard University professor Harvey Silverglate estimates that the average American commits three felonies a day without even knowing it.
Dr. Silverglate clearly wasn't referring to violent felonies like murder or felonies like money laundering, fraud, but instead to those vague, hidden, duplicative, and sometimes downright silly laws.
I have other pending legislation, the Endless Criminal Statutes Act, to repeal 10 unnecessary criminal offenses such as selling or possessing colored oleomargarine or colored margarine unless they're packaged and labeled or served in a triangular shape.
And that's far from the only silly law still on the books.
It's illegal to use a falconry bird in a movie that isn't about falconry.
To sell runny ketchup.
To leave the country with too many nickels in your pockets.
Here's the deal.
We just have too many laws and too many crimes.
When the federal criminal code becomes a weapon instead of a guide, it is always the most vulnerable, the poor, the small business owners, the persons who don't have a legal team on retainer, who gets crushed first.
Overcriminalization is one of the most destructive features of the modern federal leviathan.
We can restore liberty, shrink government, or protect due process.
We cannot restore liberty, shrink government, or protect due process unless we first expose the scope of the problem.
And that's what this bill attempts to do.
I'm so pleased to be a sponsor, but I'm proud to associate with my co-sponsors, Mr. Roy, Ms. McBath, Mr. Cohen, and others.
This is very simple, Mr. Speaker.
If you believe in liberty, you vote yes on H.R. 2159.
If you believe the government should be accountable to the people, you vote yes on H.R. 2159.
If you believe Americans deserve to know the laws that can put them behind bars, you vote yes on H.R. 2159.
It's bipartisan, common sense, long overdue, and I strongly urge my colleagues to support the Count the Crimes to Cut Act.
Thanks also to Mr. Roy for his leadership on this.
And Mr. Biggs, I rise in strong support of this bipartisan legislation.
The founders thought that federal law would be strictly limited in two different ways, one according to the subject matter and two according to number.
The subject matter of federal criminal law requires that the conduct being proscribed be tethered to a particular federal jurisdictional nexus, like interference with federal interstate commerce or assault on a federal officer in doing his or her duty or seditious conspiracy against the union,
which is why the vast majority of crimes are, of course, prosecuted at the local level.
Assault, murder, armed robbery, theft, and so on.
But federal law would also be limited, the founders thought, according to number because the federal criminal laws would be organized around certain specific principles forbidding criminal conduct that is clearly harmful to everyone.
And as my colleagues have said, what we've seen is the endless proliferation of criminal offenses, some of them statutory, some of them regulatory, oftentimes in a kind of political reaction to a particular event that might have been criminal already under a more general category.
Well, this legislation will allow us to get on top of the problem.
It will direct the Department of Justice and other federal agencies to compile a comprehensive report describing every federal statutory and regulatory criminal offense carrying penalties, and these have grown substantially over the last four decades.
Despite several previous attempts by the Office of Legal Policy at DOJ, the American Bar Association, and several scholars to determine exactly how many federal offenses there are, there's simply not a single comprehensive accounting of federal criminal offenses to be found anywhere in the federal government, and that's a pretty remarkable statement in itself.
Through the bipartisan Count the Crimes to Cut Act of 2025, Congress and the people will finally get an inventory of all federal statutory and regulatory criminal offenses.
Thanks to this bill, we will know the specific elements of each offense, the potential criminal penalties, the mens rea requirement, and the number of prosecutions that have taken place each year for the preceding 15 years for every listed offense.
Now, what's the danger of having too many criminal offenses?
Some people might just say, well, let's let sleeping dogs lie.
What's the problem with having a proliferation of offenses that may be opaque, inscrutable, obscure, and duplicative?
Well, one danger is that the citizen doesn't know what kind of conduct and behavior is actually expected of him or her.
That leaves the citizen in a state of confusion and potential anxiety.
The other major danger is that an unscrupulous executive will use this nearly endless arsenal of criminal offenses to target political foes who are vulnerable communities.
And, you know, in a free society, anything that is not specifically prohibited is allowed to you.
That's what it means to live in a free society.
In an authoritarian society, anything that is not specifically allowed to the population is considered prohibited and a danger to the government.
Well, the proliferation of endless criminal offenses moves us down that spectrum from being a free society much closer to an authoritarian society.
We all have a right to know exactly what the criminal law entails at the federal level.
I thank you for yielding, and I yield back to the gentlelady from Georgia.
I don't have a whole lot more to add because I associate myself with the remarks of all of my colleagues who have spoken on this matter.
I would only add that I think it's important to note that this legislation is supported by the Due Process Institute, R Street, Right on Crime, as well as the National District Attorneys Association and the National Criminal Defense Attorneys Association,
which I think tells you what's going on here and that everybody would like to have some clarity and some transparency so we can have common sense understanding of our criminal laws and the extent to which they impact, as the gentleman from Maryland, I think, wisely noted, our civil liberties and the extent to which we're made aware of what our actions, what actions we take might be criminalized.
I would note, as James Madison said in Federalist 61, when the fundamental principle of representative government and the importance of accessible and understandable laws, quote, it will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read or so incoherent that they cannot be understood.
If they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today can guess what it will be tomorrow.
That is precisely the situation we find ourselves in and we should fix it.
And we may have again, as I have said before, some disagreements as to what should be criminalized or not and previous Congresses have decided to criminalize some action that today we might take a second look at.
But I do believe that we need to know and have the debate and then be able to allow the subcommittee upon which my members, my colleagues and Judiciary Committee colleagues serve, be able to review these.
We can have open debate and then make some decisions.
Maybe some of these should be sunsetted.
Maybe some should be aligned.
Maybe there are penalties that are out of whack.
Maybe there are things that should be done to have greater notice for the American people.
So I come together in good faith with my colleagues across the aisle and hope that my colleagues in the chamber will support it and I reserve.
I got on this bill when it was first introduced, I think, last spring.
And Chip Roy and I have served on the Representative Roy and I have served on the Judiciary Committee for quite a while, and I respect your intellect and certainly hope that you get to be Attorney General of Texas.
That would be great for you, and I think it would be great for Texas, too.
But I would miss you in working on the Act, Article I bill.
We had agreed to work on that kind of legislative check on the executive, Article I on executive actions.
And that's something we may be able to bring up again next year, although I think it was more popular on certain places when President Biden was the president.
But it's still an important bill.
This is a common sense bill.
It's bipartisan, and I'm happy to be a co-sponsor.
And I look forward to everybody.
The lady from South Carolina, the lady from Georgia, the lady from Colorado, the gentleman from Illinois, and all the other people who have been highlights of our last week of legislation to vote with us in a unanimous passage.
Mr. Speaker, we cannot have effective reform of federal criminal laws without first passing and implementing the Count the Crimes to Cut Act.
This bill, it's not about simply making lists.
It's about creating the tools that we need for precise data-driven reform.
With concrete data, we can determine exactly which reforms that are needed and remove speculation from the process and avoid unintentional, unnecessary mistakes that could arise from a sweeping one-size-fits-all approach.
And might I say that in the era that we're in right now, there seems to be a lot of mistrust within our communities with law enforcement.
We need to be building those relationships, building community.
And I think this piece of legislation helps to really expedite that kind of community-driven policing and helping making sure that people feel safe and secure in their communities.
So I thank Congressman Roy for his leadership on this legislation, which will help eliminate duplicative laws and allow us to better serve and focus on the true threats to public safety, which are always a top priority of mine.
I urge all of my colleagues to support this long overdue piece of legislation.
It's bipartisan.
It's a bipartisan measure that really puts common sense and accountability first.
Thank you for your support on this piece of legislation, and I yield back.
I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for his kind remarks, the gentleman from Maryland, all of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, my friend from Arizona.
I also want to thank Judiciary Committee Chairman Jordan.
I want to thank the ranking member from Maryland that we've already engaged with and all of my colleagues who worked on this in the Judiciary Committee.
And it's not a long or major piece of legislation.
I tend to think that speaks well of it.
I think the shorter the bill, the better.
And I do believe that this is an important step, but I do want to remind my colleagues it is just a step.
I would hope that we'd get swift action out of the executive branch in following this legislation if we're to get it through the Senate and get it signed so we can make an understanding of what's happening with respect to our criminal laws and regulations and then act on it as Congress on a bipartisan, in a bipartisan fashion.
Again, we'll have reason to debate over some of the matters, but let's act on it.
Let's do some things.
I agree with the gentleman that we need to revisit Article 1.
I introduced that during the first Trump administration the first time.
And then we had it obviously during the Biden administration.
And I want to revisit that.
It's critically important.
Hope that the AUMF repeal for O2 that was in the NDAA in the Senate will be allowed to stay in the NDAA as it's coming back over to the House.
We shouldn't have a 23-year-old authorization of the use of military force continuing to be under use, and I hope that we in the House will reclaim those portions of congressional authority.
And I think this is an important step.
It's critically important for due process.
I hope my colleagues in the chamber will support it, and I urge its swift passage.
Union Calendar No. 17, H.R. 176, a bill to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act with respect to aliens who carried out, participated in, planned, financed, supported, or otherwise facilitated the attacks against Israel.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 176.
Mr. Speaker, although our political differences these days are vast, there are still some things we come together on in this body.
We certainly did so during the last session.
And one of them was an enduring opposition to Hamas and the terrorism they unleashed on innocent civilians in Israel more than two years ago.
Early this year, the barbaric inhumanity of Hamas was revealed again in the macabre and infuriating spectacle of returning the bodies of the Beabis family.
We last saw Sherry Beabis alive on October 7th, 2023, as she was seized, terrified and sobbing, begging for the lives of her two little boys as they were dragged into the hell on earth that Hamas created.
This February, their murdered bodies were treated as trophies, and later we learned in a final act of cruelty that Sherry's body had been substituted for another.
We all came together in this body last year and said that such monsters as these must never be admitted to our country, never given safe haven on our soil, and never tolerated where they are found.
H.R. 176 says that anyone associated with Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad in any capacity, or anyone who assisted these terrorist activities in any form, will not be allowed in this country under any circumstances, will be immediately removed if we do find them here, and under no circumstances will we allow them to receive any immigration benefit under our laws.
We already single out Nazi collaborators and PLO terrorists.
This simply adds Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad to that list.
For reasons I find inexplicable, the Senate couldn't be bothered to take up this bill in the last session.
Hopefully they'll find the time in this session.
Under current law, being a member of Hamas or being associated with its barbaric attack against Israel is not an explicit ground of admissibility or removability.
And that's just not good enough.
Anyone who gave them support in any form should never be allowed into this country.
During the Biden years, the number of known or suspected terrorists encountered at the southwest border soared to nearly 400.
Too many were allowed into this country.
How many more were among the 2 million known gotaways is anybody's guess.
And how many more are among the 190,000 Afghans allowed into this country with minimal or no vetting is also anybody's guess.
We found out last week that one is far too many.
But under the Biden administration, Hamas terrorists didn't even have to sneak in across the border.
President Biden simply let them in through the front door.
As just one example, less than two months ago, federal officials arrested a 33-year-old native of Gaza who's living in Lafayette, Louisiana, for his alleged involvement in Hamas's attack against Israel on October 7th.
After learning about the ongoing Hamas attack, the alleged terrorist gathered a group of fighters and stormed into Israel to join the barbarism.
Less than a year later, he submitted a visa application, which the Biden administration quickly approved, and he was allowed to enter the United States.
After the October 7th attacks, Director Wray warned us that the FBI, quote, cannot and does not discount the possibility that Hamas could exploit the conflict to call on their supporters to conduct attacks on our own soil, unquote.
These words proved to be prophetic.
On June 1, 2025, Mohamed Sabre Suleiman, an Egyptian national, attacked pro-Israeli demonstrators who were marching in Boulder, Colorado, in support of the release of hostages held captive by Hamas.
While shouting Free Palestine, Saliman attacked the peaceful demonstrators with Molotov cocktails, resulting in the hospitalization of at least eight people who suffered burns and other injuries.
At least one of the victims had survived the Holocaust.
According to the Justice Department, Suleiman stated he planned the attack for more than a year.
He, quote, wanted to kill all Zionist people and wished they were all dead, unquote, and would conduct the attack again if he had a chance.
He, too, was able to enter the United States through the front door, this time with a tourist visa under the Biden administration.
This can never be allowed to happen again, regardless of which party controls the executive branch.
And while we have a president who is committed to securing our borders, protecting our communities, and restoring the enforcement of our immigration laws, now is the time to act.
The terrorist atrocities committed by Hamas and Israel on October the 7th, which took the lives of more than 1,200 innocent civilians, and the subsequent war of mass destruction in Gaza have been nothing less than a catastrophe for humanity.
More than 70,000 people have been killed to date, including an estimated 20,000 children.
Hostages kidnapped by Hamas were abused, shackled in cages, and isolated in underground tunnels, in some cases for more than two years, and many were killed there.
According to UNICEF, the Gaza Strip is now home to the world's highest concentration of child amputees, and more than 80% of buildings in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed in the violence.
The world breathes a sigh of relief that a tenuous ceasefire was finally reached and that all of the living hostages were returned home.
Alas, the ceasefire continues to be breached, and violence and suffering continue to afflict the people of the region, including escalating vigilante settler violence in the West Bank.
Getting to a just and lasting peace in the region will require the creative leadership and hard work of statesmen and stateswomen.
It is past time to break out of the brutal and circular logic of terrorism and violence and war and instead address the underlying political problems destabilizing the region.
We must stay united around these goals and committed to the continuation of a strong peace process.
Meantime, we must all agree to the aims of this bill, which passed the House with bipartisan support in the last Congress.
No one affiliated with Hamas nor anyone involved in the horrific lawless attacks of October 7th should be admissible to the United States or eligible for any immigration benefits whatsoever.
That is an obvious point of political and moral consensus in our chamber.
However, I'm afraid that this is another missed opportunity for us to work across in bipartisan fashion because it departs dramatically from the Judiciary Committee's traditional practice.
This bill is essentially what we call a visa sanctions bill.
For decades, we have relied on pre-negotiated, bipartisan, and bicameral text for every such visa sanctions bill.
This legislation today departs from this bipartisan practice by directly amending the Immigration and Naturalization Act, the INA, to impose visa sanctions.
To put into perspective just how anomalous this approach is, consider our response to the 9-11 attacks.
In the aftermath of that catastrophe, we revised our immigration laws to overhaul significant parts of our immigration system, and we created the Department of Homeland Security.
Yet even then, we did not amend the Immigration and Naturalization Act to specifically reference the events of September 11th or to bar the individuals involved in the planning or commission of those outrageous terror attacks from entering or remaining in the United States.
The reason for that is plain.
The laws that we have in place already bar non-citizens who engage in terrorism or are involved with terrorist organizations from entering the United States.
And for any of those non-citizens who happen to be here, our laws clearly allow us to remove them and prevent them from obtaining any immigration benefits.
These laws were designed to apply broadly to any individual or any organization engaged in terrorism without having to specify them by reference to specific historical events or attacks.
Under sections 212A3B and 237A4B of the INA, any non-citizen who is engaged in any terrorist activity or provided even any material support to terrorists or is a member or representative of a terrorist group or organization that endorses or espouses terrorist activity is presently inadmissible to the United States and is presently deportable.
Hamas has been designated such a terrorist group since 1997.
So we already plainly have the legal tools to keep any non-citizen involved with Hamas, as well as any non-citizen who was involved in the horrific terror attacks of October 7th out of this country forever or to deport them from the United States if they are already somehow here.
So this approach is alas symptomatic of the syndrome we just discussed in the last bill of the proliferation of redundant legislation and redundant language simply to make a point.
The Judiciary Committee's standard visa sanctions language, which was carefully crafted with the majority and minority on both the House and the Senate Judiciary Committees, would allow us to achieve all the aims of this legislation without departing from negotiated sanctions language and amending the INA in an unprecedented and incongruous way.
Amending the INA to impose visa sanctions sets a strange and potentially self-defeating precedent where new statutory language becomes necessary every time a new terrorist group or event emerges.
Nonetheless, we strongly support this legislation today, whose purpose is incontestable and essential.
And I hope that we can both pass this bill and return to our bipartisan bicameral practice for dealing with visa sanctions whenever the occasion, alas, presents itself.
I reserve the balance of my time, Members.
unidentified
The gentleman from Maryland Reserves, the gentleman from California, is recognized.
Madam Speaker, the gentleman says that the bill is unnecessary because terrorists are already covered under the Immigration Nationality Act.
But this bill creates a new ground of removability and a new ground of inadmissibility for aliens who carried out or participated in or planned or financed or afforded material support to or otherwise facilitated any of the attacks against Israel beginning on October 7th of 2023.
In doing so, the bill treats the atrocities of October 7th on a par with the Immigration Nationality Act's current treatment of Nazi persecution and genocide and torture and extrajudicial killings.
Does anyone seriously argue that we should repeal the sanctions against persons who aided and abetted the Nazis' Holocaust?
And if not, then why would they oppose extending the same sanctions to the Nazis' would-be modern-day successors who just two years ago slaughtered more than 1,200 innocent civilians, including children and infants and the elderly, because they were Jewish.
I am prepared to close when the gentleman is completed, and I reserve the balance of my time.
unidentified
The gentleman from California Reserves, the gentleman from Maryland, is recognized.
Well, again, we restate our support for this bill and its purposes and the only hope that we can return to the traditional visa sanctions method of dealing with particular events.
Meantime, I wonder if the gentleman would yield for a question.
I wonder how this legislation with the new language would apply to the case of Chiang Peng Zhao, the former CEO of the crypto firm Binance, who was prosecuted for and convicted of and sentenced to jail for taking money from a number of terrorist groups, among them Hamas, as part of his crypto venture.
He was convicted of violating the Bank Secrecy Act and turning a blind eye to terrorists, including Hamas, cyber criminals and child abusers.
And I'm wondering if the new language would cover Chiang Peng Zhao, who just received a pardon from President Trump.
I'm not familiar with the case, so I can't comment on that directly, but I am quite confident that we have an existing process for applying the law and a process for appealing the application of that law through a writ of habeas corpus into the judiciary if an individual seeks to contest it.
Again, Madam Speaker, we strongly support this legislation, and we need to be doing whatever we can to eliminate terrorist forces and those who are providing critical material support to terrorist forces all over the world.
which is why I raised the case of Chiang Peng Zhao, who is the former CEO of the crypto firm Binance, who was recently pardoned by President Trump.
Madam Speaker, for four devastating years, our nation suffered the largest illegal mass migration in history.
For four devastating years, we were told the laws had to be changed if we wanted to do anything about it.
And in the meantime, anyone who illegally entered our country could stay in our country and be supported by American taxpayers.
But as President Trump said in this very chamber and proved in his first weeks in office, we didn't need new laws.
We needed a new president.
The largest illegal mass migration in history must now be followed by the largest legal deportation and repatriation in history.
But new laws would be helpful to prevent a future Joe Biden from making a mockery of our sovereignty and reopening our borders to the most violent criminal gangs and cartels and criminals and terrorists on the planet.
And it'd be helpful to give a future President Donald Trump the added tools to quickly and expeditiously prevent these same groups from infiltrating our nation, preying on our communities and attacking our people.
Now this law will stop the Hamas terrorists and their supporters who perpetrated the most violent attack against innocent civilians since the Holocaust from entering our country as we already sanction Nazi collaborators.
And although there are a tiny fraction of those who do our country harm, at least it does that.
And to the apologists of the Democrats' open border policies who say this is unnecessary and covered by other laws on the books, I'd ask just two questions.
First, if that were so, where were those laws under Joe Biden?
And second, even if their argument was true and the legislation was entirely unnecessary, why would they object to sending a strong message around the world that terrorists will get no quarter here?
If you have associated with Hamas, you are persona non grata in America, as you should be in any corner of the world that values peace, justice, and human dignity.
I yield back.
unidentified
The question is, will the House suspend the rules and pass the bill H.R. 176?
As amended.
Those in favor say aye.
Those opposed, no.
In the opinion of the chair, two-thirds being in the affirmative, the rules are suspended.
The bill is passed, and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.
Amending the Federal Bar Association Charter00:07:12
unidentified
For what purpose does the gentleman from California seek recognition?
Madam Speaker, I'd ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on S616.
Madam Speaker, I rise in support of S-616, the foundation of the Federal Bar Association Charter Amendments Act of 2025.
The Federal Bar Association was founded in 1920 as a non-profit organization.
In 1954, Congress chartered the Federal Bar Association as a congressionally chartered organization under Title 36.
The FBA seeks to strengthen the federal legal system and administration of justice by providing services to federal practitioners, the federal judiciary, and the public.
The FBA serves as a federal legal community by promoting standards of professional competence and ethical conduct, providing educational programs to the public and the profession, and facilitating the administration of justice.
The FBA is also committed to bringing civics education programs to classrooms across the country.
Now, over the years, it's become necessary for the FBA to update its bylaws.
And because the FBA is a congressionally chartered organization, it takes an act of Congress to make changes in its charter to permit the FBA to update those bylaws.
S-616 amends the FBA current charter in several ways.
It removes the requirement for the FBA to be incorporated and domiciled in Washington, D.C.
It allows the Board of Directors to choose the location of the principal office.
It specifies that the FBA's bylaws establish membership requirements, responsibilities of the Board of Directors, and the election of officers.
It prohibits a director or officer from contributing or participating in political activities.
It prohibits loans to members and employees.
And it specifies that in the event of disillusion, any remaining assets are to be distributed by as provided by the Board of Directors.
I'd urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
I rise today in support of S-616, the foundation of the Federal Bar Association Charter Amendments Act of 2025.
I was proud to lead this bill along with our former colleague, Congressman Steve Chabot, in the 117th Congress.
When the bill passed the House by unanimous consent, alas, it stalled in the Senate at that time, but I'm delighted to see that our colleagues across the Capitol were finally able to come to an agreement this Congress and move this important legislation.
S-616 makes technical changes to the foundation of the Federal Bar Association's Charter that will give the Foundation the flexibility it needs to advance its significant mission in this century.
The changes made would enable the Foundation to swiftly meet the needs and priorities of the organization and improve the administration of federal justice for all of our citizens.
I urge all my colleagues to support legislation and I will reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, it's critical for attorneys who practice in the federal judiciary to have the professional support that they need to illuminate the legal issues that they are litigating on and to advance the interests of their clients.
The foundation of the Federal Bar Association provides just that support, and it's crucial that the foundation be allowed to grow and to serve our people with flexibility.
I thank our colleague Senator Kennedy and Senator Whitehouse for working together to finally get this bill across the finish line.
I urge all our colleagues to support it and I yield back.
Mr. Speaker, I move that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 1262, as amended.
unidentified
The clerk will report the title of the bill, H.R. 1262, a bill to amend the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act with respect to molecularly targeted pediatric cancer investigations and for other purposes.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous materials in the record on the bill.
I'm rising in strong support of H.R. 1262, the Michaela-Nalin Gives Kids a Chance Act, led by my friend the gentleman from Texas, Congressman McCall.
This piece of legislation is comprised of bipartisan solutions to increase access to innovative treatments for those living with rare diseases, particularly children and adolescents.
Ten years ago, Mr. Speaker, the idea that we would be able to cure, not just treat, but cure sickle cell disease sounded like a dream that was too far out of reach.
Today, we are curing sickle cell disease.
We are curing spinal muscular atrophy.
We are curing hemophilia and blood cancers.
These cures are just a few of the success stories attributable to the FDA's Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher Program.
The PRV program is a powerful incentive that spurs the development of treatments for rare pediatric diseases, providing a lifeline for patients who require specialized treatments.
I also want to highlight the other provisions in this bill that seek to bolster important components of our health care system.
This legislation supports the improvement of the organ procurement and transplation network by allowing the Secretary of HHS to collect member registration fees to support the operation of the OPTN.
This bill also helps secure our medical product supply chain by requiring the FDA to establish an office in a country that has signed the Abraham Accords.
I'm grateful to Representatives Hartsberger, Vargas for their work to facilitate operations between the FDA and regulatory authorities and innovators in Abraham Accords countries.
Last but not least, this bill also includes the provisions championed by Representatives Dunn and Mullen that will ensure more affordable drug options are available to patients faster rather than being delayed by unnecessary red tape.
Mr. Speaker, this bill has one of the largest totals of bipartisan co-sponsorships of any legislation we'll see this Congress.
And one of the reasons for that is the tireless work of the patient advocates.
They come to our office on a regular basis and tell us their personal stories.
It makes such a difference, Mr. Speaker.
This bill now bears the name of one of the heroic kids, Michaela Nalen, who passed away earlier this year after battling cancer for nearly six years.
May her memory be eternal.
I appreciate it so very much.
She was 16 years old, and I'll never forget the videos.
Throughout her battle, Michaela was a fierce advocate of this bill to create hope for a cure, not just for herself, but for the thousands of kids around the country who are fighting the same fight.
This is a great, very important bill, and I wanted to get it to the Senate as soon as possible so it can become law.
I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I thank the sponsor of this legislation on the Democratic side, the gentlewoman from Michigan, Ms. Dingell.
I rise today in support of this legislation, the Give Kids a Chance Act, as I said, sponsored by Representative Dingell and McCall.
And this bill includes several strong bipartisan pieces of legislation to help expand access to care for patients with rare diseases and complex medical needs.
It increases research and development into rare pediatric diseases, improves regulatory certainty, strengthens the medical product supply chain, and enhances patient access to lower-cost medicines.
This bill will help in our efforts to bring new treatments to pediatric patients with more advanced forms of cancer.
It also includes important enforcement authority for the Food and Drug Administration to take action against companies that do not conduct required studies for pediatric patients.
The bill also includes critical language to clarify FDA's long-held treatment of orphan drugs exclusivity and bring new treatments to more patients suffering from rare diseases.
It will also allow for disclosure of certain information related to drug formulations to generic drug manufacturers to bring lower-cost medications to patients more quickly.
These provisions all advance our goal of accelerating the development of novel, safe, effective, and affordable treatments while improving outcomes for patients.
And I'm also pleased that the legislation provides the Health Resources and Services Administration, or HRSA, with the authority to modernize the organ transplant system.
This language will allow HRSA to collect registration fees and distribute them among the multiple contractors that will be supporting the OPTN.
This system is life-saving for many Americans, and I'm glad that we can continue to support these much-needed reform efforts.
Now, Mr. Speaker, this bill also includes important provisions to ensure that our medical product supply chain can be strengthened by working with international partners that believe in both tolerance and respect for every person, as well as advancement of science and medicine.
As a whole, this bill is going to make a difference, but I continue to believe that additional guardrails are needed for the PRV program to function the way Congress intended it to.
Previous reports from the Government Accountability Office on the program and continued research from academics show that there is little evidence that it incentivizes the products Congress intended to help come to market.
This is especially concerning as the FDA has introduced a new priority review program with potentially massive financial benefits for pharmaceutical companies without any transparency or congressional authorization.
And that's why I'm pleased that this bill includes a requirement for GEO to conduct a new study and report on the effectiveness of the PRV program in achieving our original intent.
Now, let us not overstate the impact of this bill, however.
While we're working together to advance the bill forward on incremental but important bipartisan legislation to advance both drug discovery and drug affordability, the Trump administration continues its devastating attacks on public health, including in cancer research.
The Trump administration's substantial cuts to research funding for the biomedical community is chilling the innovation we're trying to promote through this bill.
The Trump administration is decimating research and endangering the pipeline of new cancer therapies that could come to FDA for approval.
And their actions are putting patients at risk and leaving pediatric patients without the treatments we're trying to ensure can be tested and brought to them.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is using FDA as a tool to provide lucrative gifts to drug makers and allies of President Trump, undermining the agency's science-based review process and endangering the health of the American public with potentially unsafe and rush drug reviews.
The Trump administration is also decimating our vaccine infrastructure, from the programs that cover our vaccines and ensure that patients can afford them, to destroying the pipeline to future vaccines through their ideological pseudoscience agenda.
So, one day, I hope that my Republican colleagues will join us in calling on the Trump administration to reverse these terrible policies that are only harming the public health.
But with that, Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the bipartisan Give Kids a Chance Act, which supports research and development of drugs for children with cancer and other rare diseases.
Nearly 70 percent of rare diseases start in childhood, and most still have no approved treatments.
The Rare Pediatric Disease Priority Review Voucher program has been a catalyst for developing therapies for these vulnerable populations.
Thanks to this program, treatments have reached children suffering from nearly 40 rare diseases, many of which previously had no FDA-approved options and often led to severe disability or death before adulthood.
Since 2012, the Rare Pediatric Disease PRV program has helped bring more than 60 new treatments to market and has driven investment in hundreds of additional therapies for rare pediatric diseases that would otherwise be financially unviable.
The Give Kids a Chance Act restores this critical program, ensuring that we continue to spur innovation, improve outcomes for young patients, and close gaps in pediatric drug research.
Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to support this bill.
I rise today to share my strong support for H.R. 1262, the Michaela Nalen Give Kids a Chance Act.
I am proud to co-lead this important bipartisan legislation alongside reps Michael McCall, Dr. Kim Schreer, and Gus Billarakis.
This bill will accelerate pediatric cancer treatments and expand access to life-saving therapies for children battling rare diseases.
It is impossible to fully express the pain and the devastation that a family experiences when their child is diagnosed with cancer.
One of the bill's advocates was one that we're all going to talk about, Michaela Nalen, a 16-year-old girl in Colorado who battled bone cancer.
She was a fierce fighter for this bill.
She talked to all of us, and we all sent videos to her.
She unfortunately died on October 30th.
And her mother told all of us, the sponsors, the co-sponsors of this bill, we gave her reason to live.
And she hopes that other children will not die at her age, that this bill will help save lives.
She sported and spoke on the importance of funding cancer research to be able to help other kids like herself.
She was a fighter her entire life, and this life-saving bill has been renamed in her honor.
There are too many others facing the fight, as McCalla has each year.
Nearly 16,000 children in just the United States are diagnosed with cancer each year.
One in every 285 children in the U.S. will be diagnosed with cancer before they reach 20 years of age.
In fact, children compromise as many as half of those living with rare diseases.
Yet, here's the reality for these children.
Treatment options for children remain extremely limited compared to those for adults.
We know children respond to cancer treatments differently, but there's limited research on how these therapies impact them.
We owe our kids better than that, and their families deserve more.
We need this bill to offer more children a fighting chance.
The Give Kids a Chance Act would reauthorize the Food and Drug Administration Priority Review Voucher Program to allow pharmaceutical companies to expedite FDA review of more profitable drugs in return for developing treatments for rare pediatric diseases.
Since 2011, 53 PRVs have been awarded for 35 different rare pediatric diseases.
Additionally, thousands of successful drug combination therapies are now being studied and developed for adults, but not for kids, not for our children.
The Give Kids a Chance Act also authorizes the FDA to direct companies to study a combination of cancer drugs and therapies in pediatric trials as well.
Together, we can show these young children and their families that they're not alone in this fight.
I do want to thank the 313 co-sponsors of this bill for their support, along with Chairman Guthrie and Ranking Member Pallone for their assistance and support of this important bill.
It's taken too long to get here today, but we're here.
And let's show the kids in this country we care.
I urge my colleagues to vote yes, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, at this time, I'd like to recognize an esteemed member from Texas who has announced that this will be his last session and who has had a stellar career in this august body and who has led in many, many ways many committees and whose career we all want to emulate.
I want to thank my dear friend from Georgia, Mr. Carter.
Thanks for those kind words.
And I want to thank Chairman Guthrie, guest Bill Rockis, Mr. Pallone, Chairman, and especially Ms. Dingell, Chairwoman Dingell, and for your steadfast advocacy for these kids.
I can't think of anything more important in my 22 years.
As chairman of the Childhood Cancer Caucus, I host a yearly childhood cancer summit.
Ms. Dingle is the co-chair.
It's a time for pediatric cancer patients, survivors, and advocates to rally together around these precious children, the most precious thing we have, and to spread hope to them.
Each year, I meet a child who impacts me in a very strong way.
And this year, I was blessed to get to know this beautiful, beautiful young woman by the name of Michaela Nalen.
And I could see in her eyes that she was at the height of her struggle with cancer.
It took so much strength for her to come to the summit, but she believed that she was meant to be there.
And she wanted her presence and her voice to help shape our policies and change our world for the better.
We got her into a joint clinical trial at MD Anderson and Texas Children, but unfortunately, it was too late.
Three weeks after our summit, she had to be put on a ventilator and she passed away.
As Congresswoman Dingell mentioned, we sent videos to her to remind her how important she is.
In her final moments on this earth, I reached out to her and told her that her story would not be forgotten and that her legacy would continue to help thousands of other children.
I wanted her to know that her impact would outlive all of us.
And so today, in her honor, the United States Congress will vote on the Michaela Nalen Give Kids a Chance Act.
16 years ago, I founded the Childhood Cancer Caucus because I saw that children with cancer did not have a voice here in Washington.
We cared about adult treatments, but no one was paying attention to the precious children battling this heartbreaking disease.
In fact, they called it rare orphan diseases.
Since then, we have made a change for the better, and today is proof of that.
Put simply, this bill gives kids the same chance to beat cancer that adults already have.
Right now, thousands of successful drug combination therapies are being studied and developed for adults, but not for children.
The Give Kids a Chance Act will change that.
It authorizes the FDA to direct companies to study those same drugs and therapies in children as well.
It will also reauthorize my Creating Hope Act, which created a pediatric review voucher program within the FDA.
It was the first ever market incentive for pharmaceutical companies to develop childhood cancer treatments.
Prior to that, there were none.
Since its inception in 2012, 63 vouchers have been awarded for treatments of at least 39 different rare pediatric diseases, 36 of which previously had no FDA-approved treatments.
These diseases typically lead to death before a child can reach adulthood, but not anymore.
A dear friend of mine, Dr. Allison from MD Anderson in my home state of Texas, was able to use this voucher program to obtain FDA approval for a treatment called CAR T immunotherapy.
He received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for it.
And this voucher program had everything to do with the FDA approval for it.
This breakthrough treatment could change everything, and it has changed everything, not just for kids with cancer, but also for many adults.
This bill will keep the successful voucher program going for another five years, fueling more innovation, more hope for children and families who desperately need it.
So I want to thank all my friends on the Energy and Commerce Committee who helped me get my bill, which I'm not on the committee.
Thank you for helping me get this done.
But I also want to recognize the cancer childhood cancer survivors who are in the gallery today.
With 313 co-sponsors, this bill has the most bipartisan support in Congress, and that's because there's nothing political about a child with cancer.
There's nothing more important than saving the lives of the next generation.
My prayers remain with Michaela's family, and we're honored to have them here with us today.
Her mother, Cassandra, her father, Doug, her brother, Aiden.
Thank you for sharing Michaela's beautiful story with us.
She represents all the children who have suffered with this heartbreaking disease.
And after meeting with them, many of them, over all these years, I can tell you these kids are tougher and more resilient than any adults I've ever seen.
And they are truly my biggest inspiration.
For many survive, but many don't.
And that needs to change.
And losing these kids has been the hardest part of my career over 22 years.
But today I am encouraged because Michaela's legacy and all their legacies, all those who have died and survived this horrible disease, they will live on in this bill forever.
You know, Mr. Speaker, it's rare in this place that you can pass a bill that will end up saving children's lives.
I can think of nothing more important.
And so with that, I urge my colleagues to do right by our children and pass the Michaela Nalen Give Kids a Chance Act without delay and without a yield back.
Mr. Speaker, before I am ready to close too, I want to thank my colleague who I've been proud to co-chair the caucus with.
And we both know too many children that have died, but we know a lot that we were able to help get help too.
And we make a commitment to all of the families in the gallery and those that you and I have gotten to know that no matter where you're going, you and I are in this fight for the rest of our lives.
And I thank you for all of your work.
I'm going to miss my colleague.
With that, yield back my time and beg everybody to support this bill.
I'd like to thank my friend, the gentleman from Georgia, for recognizing me.
I rise in strong support as both a member of the Health Subcommittee and a proud co-sponsor of this bill, H.R. 1262, the Give Kids a Chance Act.
Mr. Speaker, we live in the most technologically advanced society in the history of human civilization, and modern medicine has recently come up with amazing solutions and cures for many of the physical ailments that have afflicted humanity.
But unfortunately, Mr. Speaker, we have many rare pediatric diseases for which there is no cure.
And while we are researching the cures for those diseases, thousands and thousands of children continue to suffer.
Mr. Speaker, we need to give every priority, do everything we possibly can to speed the delivery of these treatments for rare pediatric diseases.
And that's what this bill is all about.
The Give Kids a Chance Act will reauthorize the FDA's priority review voucher system to speed the research and development of these technologies and these innovative treatments and bring them to market.
It also clarifies the FDA's authority over expediting these therapies and reauthorizes needed fundings for the NIH to fund research and development into these cures.
I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill H.R. 4313, Hospital and Patient Services Modernization Act as amended.
unidentified
The clerk will report the title of the bill, H.R. 4313, a bill to amend Title 18 of the Social Security Act to extend acute hospital care at home waiver flexibilities and to require an additional study and report on such flexibilities.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material on this bill under consideration.
I rise in support of the Hospital and Patient Services Modernization Act introduced by Ways and Means Health Subcommittee Chairman, Mr. Buchanan and Congressman Dwight Evans.
I think one of the health care-related conversations that frustrates a lot of us around here is the typical year-end health care policy extender mess.
The legislation in front of us takes the successful hospital at home program and removes it from that chaos by providing it with a renewed five-year authorization so more Americans can receive care in the comfort and convenience of their own home.
Hospital at home has become embedded in the fabric of our health care system.
More than 400 hospitals in nearly 40 states have participated in the program, which has built a track record of improved patient outcomes.
In Health Subcommittee Chairman Buchanan's home state of Florida alone, there are 23 hospitals participating in this program.
Hospital care provided at home cuts mortality rates.
It reduces the risk of falls and infections.
And it lowers recovery times.
It also can save cost versus expensive in-person hospital visits.
It's no wonder that 99% of patients said they were satisfied with the program.
At a Ways and Means Committee hearing, we heard the incredible story of a hospital at home patient from North Carolina named Roy who was diagnosed with sepsis and initially treated in a hospital.
There he was disturbed by beeping sounds, uncomfortable in the hospital gown, and alone with no one able to visit him.
His recovery was much better at home.
He was able to sleep in his own bed and visit with friends and family.
He also continued to receive the same level of care he would have otherwise received at the hospital.
His recovery at home was rapid, it was complete, and without any infections.
I represent one of the most rural districts in America.
The long drives to a hospital faced by people living in small towns and remote areas can make seeking care prohibitive.
Hospital at home shrinks the physical distance, stopping rural patients from getting care.
Hospital at home has been a proven success for getting more Americans the health care that they need.
Well, I am really happy to see you, Mr. Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, and I'm certainly happy to support this five-year extension of the Hospital at Home program, which of course includes a critical study to ensure additional information about the program and to hear so much about the success of this program as people experience it.
You know, Mr. You know, Mr. Speaker, the provisions, as the previous speaker, Mr. Chairman, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee has pointed out, they get extended every single year.
I mean, sometimes in short increments, sometimes they move as a package, year-end kind of tax package.
As a matter of fact, this was just extended in the continuing resolution that we just passed.
It's been extended in previous funding bills and in previous funding bills before that.
So I am so delighted to be here this evening to see that my Republican colleagues are in the mood to extending current law.
And I am just, I would like to extend to them the opportunity maybe to extend the Affordable Care Act to the 24 million Americans who are facing this unprecedented, enormous health insurance premium hike since we're extending health care stuff today.
In my own state of Wisconsin, Mr. Speaker, 279,000 people receive credits to help make insurance coverage affordable.
And just say in my state, for a 60-year-old couple not yet eligible for Medicare, say they're earning $85,000 a year, they'll see their premiums increased by $23,281 a year.
A family of four earning $133,000 a year would see their premiums increased by $14,000 next year.
Families are going to be asked to pay 20, 30, 40% of their income for health insurance premiums.
And the majority just wants to ignore it.
My constituents, everybody's constituents, your constituents, Mr. Speaker, Americans from coast to coast are going to be staring down these massive amounts of medical debt, massive insurance premiums, or the inability to access health care as they are unable to afford it and they just drop it.
We just, we have got to act.
It's December 1st.
We've got to act.
You know, I'm reminded, Mr. Speaker, of how fast the Ways and Means Committee and the majority moved to give tax breaks to the wealthy.
And when it comes to regular families, you know, we just don't seem to have the time.
We could be doing that here on the floor now instead of us, not instead of, this is a marvelous bill we're passing today.
But I would much rather be spending the time that, you know, securing the time for that purpose.
You know, those hikes in healthcare premiums are not isolated, Mr. Speaker.
They come on the heels of the one big, beautiful bill that slashed more than 10 million Americans out of health care through the Medicaid program.
We cut over a trillion dollars in Medicare and, you know, a half trillion dollars liability in the Medicare fund.
And hospitals will close and patients will suffer.
And millions of American families will become uninsured, all because the majority is refusing to act.
Now, I'm telling you, Mr. Speaker, the majority, you were, sir, you know, more than happy to make a whole host of tax breaks permanent for the billionaire business class, but not for these entrepreneurs and families who are facing these tremendous hikes in their premium.
And this is part of a Republican economy, I think.
Helping the billionaires, you know, just we just, it'll all trickle down.
We're going to heap the costs on the middle-class families from every angle.
Rising numbers are falling behind on the utility bills.
There's a recent uptick in mortgage delinquencies and a rise in serious delinquency rates for the first time in years.
Consumer bankruptcies are on the rise, up 15% just since last year.
And what are we doing?
Well, we just passed a $4.3 trillion tax break overwhelmingly for the wealthy.
And what else did the majority do, sir?
Well, they found $40 billion for certain people in Argentina, but no health care for American families.
They found $300 million for a new gilded ballroom where the east wing of the White House used to be.
And the ballroom keeps getting bigger and bigger, so I can't describe the dimensions of it.
Sorry, Mr. Speaker, but it's going to be a marble bar, have a marble bathroom in it, I think, and a fancy new patio.
But no, no health care for families.
And so we got electric prices, grocery prices, housing prices.
Half the people in my state who are renting, you know, are paying more than a third of their income for housing.
You know, and these prices are going through the roof.
And American families, unless they're billionaires, are struggling to stay afloat in this economy.
And while President Trump and his family use the White House to haul in billions of dollars to line their own pockets, people will not be able to access health care.
So while I support this bill, I object to how the majority and the president are making life worse for every single day for most Americans, and I reserve the balance of my time.
The gentleman from Florida is recognized for as much time as he may consume.
unidentified
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your leadership on this topic.
It's been key to what we've accomplished today.
I rise today in strong support of my bill, the Hospital and Patient Service Modernization Act, which would allow hospitals to treat Medicare patients safely at home.
During the pandemic, CMS established a hospital at home waiver to provide hospitals with the flexibility to care for patients from the comfort and the convenience of their home.
The Hospital at Home Act has been very successful, being treated in many homes across the country, and it's also made a big difference in reducing risk and infections and falls.
I'm thrilled to say that my bill extends the successful hospital at home program for an additional five years.
I know a lot of people being in Florida where their parents will talk about the importance of if they could stay at home, and I know this is critical.
An extension of this program would ensure more than 200 hospitals across 34 states, including 20 hospitals in Florida, can continue to provide quality care to patients at home.
More than 140 leading health care organizations, including hospitals, health care providers, and patients, support this legislation.
I would like to thank Mr. Smucker, Mr. Evans, and Mrs. Moore for your friendship and bipartisanship on this bill.
I want to thank Leader Scalise and Whip Emmer for bringing this to the floor tonight.
I urge my colleagues to support the hospital at home program extension that provides for providers.
Gentleman from Pennsylvania is recognized for as much time as he may consume.
unidentified
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and I'd like to thank the Chairman for moving this bill through Ways and Means and for having us consider this bill this evening.
The Hospital Inpatient Services Modernization Act, which is legislation led by my friend Congressman Buchanan, I appreciate his leadership on this and I was pleased to be able to support the effort as well.
This bipartisan bill would enable hospitals to extend their hospital, their successful hospital at home programs for another five years.
The hospital at home model gives hospitals the flexibility to treat certain patients in the comfort and convenience of their own homes rather than in the hospital facility.
Over 31,000 patients received acute level care in their homes as of October 2024, and studies show that hospital systems achieved savings of 19% regarding these patients who required a shorter average length of stay and used fewer unnecessary services.
A number of hospitals in my district have used the hospital at home waiver to great effect.
For example, one system with a hospital in my community has accepted more than 800 patients across all of their facilities, freeing up more than 1,500 hospital bed days and saving approximately $1.1 million.
This is exactly the kind of program that we should be encouraging, which allow medical providers to innovate and provide better care for their patients.
Patients like being at home as well, and it decreases costs over the long run.
By extending the hospital-at-home waiver for five years, this bill that we're considering today would give hospitals the certainty they need to continue to build out these innovative care models and serve their patients in a holistic way after the disruption caused by the Democrat shutdown.
I encourage all of my colleagues to vote yes on this important legislation, which is a clear win for patients and taxpayers.
Union calendar number 283, H.R. 5284, a bill to require the Social Security Administration to make changes to the Social Security terminology used in the rules, regulations, guidance, or other materials of the administration.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
I rise in support of the Claiming Age Clarity Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by my ways and means colleagues, Representative Lloyd Smucker and Don Beyer.
Planning for one's retirement can be stressful enough without having to interpret needlessly complicated terminology.
Unfortunately, millions of Americans claiming Social Security today often face confusing and misleading terms used by the agency that make it that much harder to make informed decisions before one's financial future.
Under the legislation before us, the Social Security Administration will be required to update the agency's language to make it clearer and more straightforward.
This will help ensure that Americans do not accidentally claim benefits earlier than they should, are completely informed, and don't potentially miss out on substantial income during their retirement years.
This is critical for the nearly 100,000 citizens living in Representative Smucker's district and the over 80,000 in Representative Byers District who are nearing retirement age today.
It is why organizations like the AARP, the Bipartisan Policy Center, and the Association of Mature American Citizens have come out in support of this bill, which received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Ways and Means Committee.
I rise in support of H.R. 5284, the Claiming Age Clarity Act, and I do want to thank Mr. Smucker, Mr. Beyer, and my colleagues for their leadership on this important legislation.
As Mr. Smith has described this legislation, these changes will better help seniors understand the advantages and disadvantages of claiming at different ages.
I certainly know folks among my constituency who were faced with this confusion, and this bill addresses that.
But I do want to quote Mr. Beyer, who is not with us and is an author of the bill, along with Mr. Schmucker, which he says he noted in our committee report.
And I quote: This bill doesn't solve the big picture on Social Security, which this committee presides over, nor does it fix the data privacy, customer service, or staffing disaster that Dolge and this administration has put on this agency.
But it will help at the margins.
And I am glad that this little bill is seeing the light today.
Unquote.
This bill passed the Committee on Ways and Means with overwhelming bipartisan support.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this common sense legislation.
Gentleman from Pennsylvania is recognized for as much time as he would consume.
unidentified
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'd like to thank the chair for yielding.
I'd like to thank the leader for bringing this bill to the floor.
And Ms. Moore is right.
There are serious questions about Social Security and its sustainability going forward.
I can tell you that Republicans want to ensure that the promises that have been made to the American people will be able to be kept.
So we need to have that conversation that Ms. Moore talked about.
We need to make structural changes to the program.
We have a math problem.
In eight years, if nothing is done, beneficiaries will not receive their full payment.
So it's time that we begin to have that discussion.
But this does make, this provides information to individuals who are reaching retirement age to ensure that they have the best information available to them as they make decisions about when to start benefits.
Today we use terms like early eligibility age, full retirement age, delayed retirement credits, which are confusing to people that I talk with about this.
And studies show that most beneficiaries don't fully understand how their claiming decisions will affect their monthly benefits.
So as a result, there are seniors today, many seniors today, who may be missing out on substantial retirement income because of suboptimal claiming decisions that they made.
Mr. Speaker, that's where this act, the Claiming Age Clarity Act, comes in.
This bill, my bill, would simply change the terminology used by the Social Security Administration to describe the different ages when an individual can begin to claim their benefits.
Instead of early retirement age, this bill would refer to 62 as the minimum benefit age.
This is the age if you start Social Security then, that is the smallest benefit, the minimum benefit that you would receive.
Full retirement age would become the standard benefit age, and at age 70 would be referred as the maximum benefit age, minimum standard, and maximum benefit ages.
I don't think it gets any simpler than that when describing this.
Mr. Speaker, this bill will help make seniors, help them make informed decisions when deciding when to begin their Social Security benefits that they've earned.
I thank Mr. Beyer for leading this effort with me, and I urge my colleagues to support this common sense bill.
Mr. Speaker, I just think this is a common sense bill and I'm so happy that our colleagues thought it appropriate to bring it forward to help older Americans make better informed decisions, as I've indicated.
I have had friends who retired at age 62 perceiving that that would be a better time based on some of the misinterpretation of the language.
And so I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisles to support this bill, and I yield back.
No American entering retirement should lose out on their hard-earned Social Security benefits because the Social Security Administration failed to provide information in clear and understandable terms.
We need to make it easier, not harder, for individuals to plan for retirement in this country.
And the Claiming Age Clarity Act is a positive step in the right direction.
Representatives Smucker and Beyer are to be commended for forging this bipartisan consensus on a policy that will improve retirement security and ensure the bureaucracy here in Washington better serves America's seniors.
A bill to amend Title VII of the Social Security Act to provide for a single point of contact at the Social Security Administration for individuals who are victims of identity theft.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
In recent years, the theft and misuse of Social Security numbers has become a very serious problem in our country.
In 2024 alone, there were over 3,000 reported data breaches, and over half of them included compromised Social Security numbers.
For victims, the fallout can be overwhelming.
Instead of finding clear guidance at the Social Security Administration to deal with this stressful situation, too many folks are bounced from one office to another, receiving conflicting instructions and spending months trying to resolve what should be a straightforward issue.
During a previous hearing of the Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee, we heard directly from a mother about how a single point of contact at the Social Security office would have been beneficial to helping her deal with the fallout from her daughter's Social Security number being compromised.
Protecting Americans from identity theft is not a partisan issue.
This bill provides a simple and common sense fix to provide victims of identity theft with a single point of contact at the Social Security Administration when their number is lost or compromised.
I urge my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation.
I'd also like to thank Congressman David Kustoff for his leadership on this bill.
Thanks to his work, victims of identity theft whose social security numbers have been compromised will get the help that they so need.
I certainly support H.R. 5345, the Improving Social Security Service to Victims of Identity Theft Act.
And of course, this passed the Ways and Means Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support.
I think having a single person to deal with at the Social Security office is just common sense and it will enable a victim to unravel their problems a lot sooner.
I just want to make note of the fact that like some other Social Security bills that are under consideration today, this bill does not fix the crisis That this Trump administration has inflicted on Social Security when it comes to data privacy and customer service.
I mean, thumb drives went into our central data computers by Doge employees, people who had not been confirmed by any Senate or anything else.
And our Social Security information was captured.
Captured, indeed, on thumb drives.
And Democrats are going to continue to fight to protect Americans from having their personal Social Security information politicized or bought and sold to the highest bidder or their Social Security benefits put at risk.
So frightening, Mr. Speaker, that, you know, as soon as our Treasury Secretary was brought into office, I wanted to know what Doge was doing, where the information was going.
I don't think we've had any conversations of any substance regarding the location of those data.
And while this bill will have a modest but meaningful improvement to Social Security's customer service since the victims of identity theft,
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote for this legislation, but I want them to think more deeply about what we need to do in the atmosphere that we're in now to protect Americans' Social Security data that was mined by Doge.
Gentleman from Tennessee is recognized for as much time as he may consume.
unidentified
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, I want to thank our Ways and Means Chairman, Jason Smith, not only for his strong leadership, but for his support on this important legislation.
Mr. Speaker, every year, more and more Americans are having their identity stolen.
It's a sad fact.
Bad actors are becoming more sophisticated.
They're using new technology to gain access to sensitive information.
Just last year, there were over 3,000 separate data breaches that were reported, many leaks involving stolen Social Security numbers.
Currently, when somebody has their identity stolen, they've got to navigate a kind of a baffling process at the Social Security Administration.
The Ways and Means Committee has heard from victims who describe the process of regaining their identities as a bureaucratic nightmare.
It's complex, it's lengthy, and it's frustrating.
Sometimes they report being passed from representative to representative, from department to department.
Sometimes they even get conflicting advice from people within the Social Security Administration.
As identity theft becomes more commonplace, the system at the Social Security Administration needs to be streamlined to work better for the victims.
The Improving Social Security Service to Victims of Identity Theft Act addresses this problem head on.
Specifically, this bill will establish a single point of contact at the Social Security Administration for Americans who have had their Social Security numbers lost or stolen.
Mr. Speaker, think of it as a one-stop shop for those trying to protect themselves from identity theft.
Having a single point of reference, one point of contact at the Social Security Administration will simplify the process, making it easier and faster for victims to get relief.
This piece of legislation was passed favorably at the Ways and Means Committee with a strong bipartisan vote.
Mr. Speaker, now it's time to act in a bipartisan manner to support Americans whose social security numbers fall in the wrong hands.
And with that, Mr. Speaker, I thank you and I yield back.
I just want to thank my colleague for introducing this very important piece of legislation.
I'm always happy, as are other Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee, any initiative to protect our data, to protect and secure it, to protect people's privacy, and to streamline their ability to resolve their problem.
I would hope that the authors of this legislation and the chairman of the committee would recognize that this will mean that they will have to appropriate or stop taking the appropriations away from the Social Security Administration.
We've shut down scores of offices.
Many people have been fired.
And that data and AI will not resolve the issue of having a single point of contact or a person to deal with.
So I would just urge my colleagues to support this legislation.
It did pass out of committee with a strong bipartisan vote.
And I hope that there's a bipartisan interest in protecting our data, which, like I said, has been doged and stored somewhere in the cloud, and we don't know.
I hope that this urgency around protecting data will continue to be a priority of the committee.
Identity theft has become a major issue in our country.
One of the main ways that bad actors exploit victims is through the misuse of their Social Security number.
Unfortunately, when people contact the Social Security Administration for help with a stolen or missing Social Security number, they're often met with red tape, waiting for callbacks, confusion, and conflicting information.
Callers will get bounced around to multiple SSA employees or have to go through different processes just to get the help that they need.
This bill, sponsored by Representative Kustoff, will make it easier for Americans to resolve issues with stolen or missing Social Security numbers by providing them with a single point of contact at the SSA.
I once again want to thank Representative Kustoff for his great leadership on this legislation, and I urge my colleagues to vote yes.
Union calendar number 282, H.R. 5348, a bill to amend Title II of the Social Security Act to provide for the reissuance of Social Security account numbers to young children in cases where confidentiality has been compromised.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
A lost or stolen Social Security number can cause a lifetime of harm to American children.
Every year, more than a million children become victims of identity fraud.
Current Social Security Administration policy makes it extremely difficult for families to get a new Social Security number for a child, even when families know the original number was compromised through no fault of their own.
Previously, the Ways and Means Committee heard direct testimony from a mother who had to battle with the Social Security Administration when her one-month-old child's social security number was compromised, and she was denied a new number.
This bill, the Social Security Child Protection Act of 2025, sponsored by Representative Smucker, will help families when their child's social security number is lost or stolen.
It requires the SSA to issue a new number to children under the age of 14 when the child's card has been compromised versus sitting around and waiting for a malicious act to take place.
This is a straightforward solution that will help protect children and families from fraud.
I urge my colleagues to support this so we can continue to stand together to better safeguard the identities of American kids.
I certainly think that H.R. 5348, the Social Security Child Protection Act of 2025, which passed the Ways and Means Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support, deserves to be supported by this body.
As has been indicated, this legislation would direct the SSA to issue a new Social Security number to a child under 14 if that was stolen in the course of being mailed.
The current policy brings nothing but misery upon a child in a new family, and I think that this is a common sense effort to mend this grievous bureaucratic conundrum that parents would have to face.
Gentleman from Pennsylvania is recognized for as much time as he may consume.
unidentified
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'd like to thank the Chairman, Mr. Smith, for the opportunity to bring this up in committee and then for moving it out of committee.
I'd like to thank the leader for bringing it to the floor for a vote.
This is about helping kids.
Now, I know when we talk about Social Security, we don't often think about kids.
But remember, every child receives a Social Security number that follows them around for the rest of their life.
And every year, there are kids whose Social Security numbers are lost or stolen in the mail and exposed to fraudsters.
Now, because children don't open bank accounts, they don't apply for lines of credit, they don't seek employment, it can take them years to discover that their identity was stolen or to realize the effects of a stolen identity.
But under current policy, even if the child is aware that the Social Security number was stolen, a child must become victimized by actual fraud before the Social Security Administration will change their Social Security, will give them a new number.
That's ridiculous.
Now, if my bank issued a credit card and I didn't receive it in the mail, they wouldn't send me another copy of the same card.
They'd cancel the old one and send me a new card.
Why would we treat our children any differently?
We shouldn't.
That is why, Mr. Speaker, I asked my colleagues to vote for the Social Security Child Protection Act.
This bill would simply require that the Social Security Administration issue a new different Social Security number to a child under the age of 14 if the card has been lost or stolen while being issued to the child in the mail.
It's a simple fix to protect our children, make the process of interacting with the Social Security Administration easier, and I urge my colleagues to vote yes.
You know, this is a common sense bill, and it will strengthen customer service for children whose Social Security card has been lost or stolen in the mail.
I think that while Mr. Smucker described this as a very simple common sense bill, I think the importance of this is it demonstrates that on a bipartisan basis, we can solve problems.
And you always start with the little things and you just work yourself forward.
So I think that if providing greater customer service through the Social Security Administration is a goal that has strong bipartisan support, I think that that really gives us some runway to do bigger things.
And with that, I would yield back the balance of my time.
A mother testifying before the Ways and Means Committee told us how it took, quote, hours of effort over months to protect her daughter from identity theft and that, quote, the threat will never completely go away unless she's assigned a new Social Security number.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
I rise today in support of the fair and accountable IRS Reviews Act introduced by our colleague, Representative Glenn Grothman.
While not a member of the Ways and Means Committee, I know Representative Grothman to be a tireless advocate for American taxpayers as representative by this important piece of legislation that will go a very long way towards protecting their rights.
The legislation ensures that rogue IRS employees are not able to unfairly impose penalties and fines on taxpayers without going through proper channels of authorization and doing so in a timely manner.
Right now, an IRS agent can impose a penalty on an American taxpayer before obtaining a supervisor's approval.
Moreover, They can shop around for any other employee at the agency they wish to seek permission from since current law does not require approval from a direct supervisor.
These loopholes, they undermine the no signature, no penalty principle.
Representative Grothman's bill received unanimous support at the Ways and Means Committee.
It is an important policy reform that will reinforce fair treatment of taxpayers at the IRS.
I rise in support of H.R. 5346, the Fair and Accountable IRS Reviews Act.
I want to thank the Chairman, Chairman Jason Smith, for putting this bill on the floor, and I want to thank him for always remembering that it's better to do things in a bipartisan way.
This bill clarifies procedures under Section 6751 of the Internal Revenue Code and fixes an ongoing controversy regarding tax penalties and IRS supervisory appeals.
Approvals.
Sorry.
The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 added Section 6751 to the Internal Revenue Code, which says that certain tax penalties shall not be assessed unless the initial determination of the assessment is personally approved in writing by the immediate supervisor of the employee making the determination or a higher level official.
This provision in its current form does not define when supervisory approval must be obtained or who is considered an immediate supervisor.
The lack of definition has led to conflicting decisions in the court regarding the time of approvals and among who at the IRS can make such approvals.
Due to this widespread confusion, the National Taxpayer Advocate recommended that Congress enact legislation to fix this provision.
Therefore, this bill clarifies that an IRS employee must obtain supervisory approval in writing before any written communication is sent to a taxpayer about certain proposed penalties.
It also clarifies that an IRS employee's immediate supervisor is the person to whom the employee reports.
In addition to providing clarity, this bill also raises $117 million over the next 10 years.
This bill passed the Ways and Means Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this very important clarification bill.
I'd like to thank the previous speakers for the kind words and assistance on this bill.
I also like to address the Fair Accountable IRS Reviews Act.
For decades, federal laws required that before the IRS can impose penalties on a taxpayer, an agent must first receive written approval from that agent's supervisor, immediate supervisor.
Congress put this safeguard in place to ensure that penalties are imposed fairly, consistently, and with appropriate oversight.
A supervisor's signature helps prevent the use of penalties as a pressure tactic and creates a transparent record that benefits both taxpayers and the government in collection and appeals proceedings.
In recent years, unfortunately, a regulatory interpretation complicated the intent of this long-standing statute.
Instead of adhering to the clear requirement that an agent's immediate supervisor must approve a penalty at the time of the initial determination, supervisory appeal could be obtained at any point in the process, and the term immediate supervisor was broadened beyond Congress's original intent.
As a result, an agent could propose a penalty without prior review and later seek approval from a wide range of individuals, weakening the transparency and accountability the law was designed to ensure.
The Fair and Accountable IRS Reviews Act restores clarity.
It reaffirms that an IRS agent's actual immediate supervisor must provide written approval at the initial determination of a penalty, ensuring proper oversight from the start.
This simple clarification strengthens the taxpayer protections and promotes a consistent and reliable penalty process.
Mr. Speaker, Americans deserve a tax system that is fair, predictable, and transparent.
This bill moves us close to that goal.
I'd like to thank Chairman Smith for his leadership on the Ways and Means Committee and all the members on the other side of the aisle who helped shoot it out of the committee on such a bipartisan basis and for Chairman Smith's commitment to strengthening fairness and accountability within our tax system.
Thank you one more time.
I urge my colleagues to support the bill and I yield back.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5346 is a common sense bill that will help taxpayers and the courts.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this bill because not only is it common sense, but it will allow for more efficiency in our IRS code.
I think it's really important that both sides of the aisle, Democrats and Republicans, support such an efficient and common sense bill.
American taxpayers should not be at the mercy of rogue IRS agents who are handing out fines without reasonable due process.
At the very least, agents ought to have actual prior approval before issuing a penalty and not be allowed to go around looking for a sympathetic employee to grant them that approval.
I commend our colleague Representative Grothman for introducing this straightforward legislation that puts in place some guardrails around the IRS and its agents.
This bill will help restore integrity to the agency's processes and above all, it will protect the rights of American taxpayers whose interests we must continue to look out for.
I encourage my colleagues to vote yes on the Fair and Accountable IRS Reviews Act and I yield back the balance of my time.
Union Calendar No. 287, H.R. 5349, a bill to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve services provided to taxpayers by the Internal Revenue Service by providing greater judicial review.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and submit extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
I rise in support of the Tax Court Improvement Act, bipartisan legislation introduced by Representatives Nathaniel Moran and Terry Sewell.
As a former judge, Congressman Moran knows the importance of fully protecting Americans' legal rights and due process, and I appreciate his leadership on this issue.
This bill strengthens taxpayer rights during judicial proceedings before the U.S. Tax Court.
The court will be able to more expeditiously resolve cases as the legislation enhances the efficiency of its judicial review to the benefit of the taxpayer.
This will increase the court's productivity, and tax court judges will also be held to the same disqualification standards as other judges.
Finally, the court will now have the ability to extend taxpayer deadlines where timely filing is impractical.
The U.S. Tax Court is the only venue where taxpayers can dispute a tax estimate without first paying that tax.
Taxpayers must stand on equal footing when going toe-to-toe with the IRS.
Without the guarantee of rights, taxpayers are put in a situation where the IRS is essentially saying, heads, I win, tells, you lose.
I ask my colleagues to stand with American taxpayers and support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
Thank you, Chairman Smith, for bringing this bill to the floor.
I rise in support of H.R. 5349, the Tax Court Improvement Act, which passed the Ways and Means Committee with overwhelming bipartisan support.
I would like to thank my co-sponsor and colleague, Mr. Moran of Texas, for his leadership and working with me on this important legislation.
I also want to thank the gentleman from Texas for the smoked turkey he sent to several members of our committee.
The tax court has a very important impact on everyday Americans.
It provides individuals and businesses with an opportunity to be heard in court and challenge the Internal Revenue Service before paying a disputed tax.
Our committee is always looking for ways to make the tax court more efficient and fairer for the taxpayer, and that is why we are here today.
The Tax Court Improvement Act will strengthen the tax court procedures and practices by making four common sense reforms.
The act will accelerate the collection of documents, expand the types of cases assigned to special trial judges, hold tax court judges to the same recusal standards as other federal judges, and allow the deadline for petitions to be extended in certain circumstances.
These improvements to the tax court will have a tangible impact on thousands of taxpayers, and it will raise $6 million over the next 10 years.
Given the importance of the tax court, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this important legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.
I rise today in strong support of the Tax Court Improvement Act.
This taxpayer-friendly bill significantly improves the critical tax court process available to Americans who find themselves in a dispute with the IRS.
I want to thank specifically Representative Terry Sewell, who joined me in co-authoring this bill and for recognizing that taxpayers deserve a court process that is clear, timely, efficient, and just.
Her work on this bill reflects our joint commitment to the people that we serve.
For too long, the tax court has operated under pre-existing rules that do not mirror many of the well-established procedures for other courts and rules that are antiquated in their application.
In short, changes needed to be made so that the tax court process works better for the people that it serves.
When a system is slow or confusing, the burden falls on taxpayers, often at moments when they're already under stress.
But this bill provides practical updates that help the court do its job more effectively and helps taxpayers find resolution more easily and quickly.
First, this bill modernizes the court's subpoena rules.
Today, if someone is subpoenaed to produce documents before the tax court, they must show up in person.
This wastes time, adds expense, and clogs an already full docket.
Other Article I and Article III courts already allow documents to be submitted at times without requiring a physical appearance.
This bill, likewise, gives the tax court the same common sense flexibility, allowing judges to decide when someone truly needs to appear in person.
Second, the bill helps the court address its growing case backlog.
It does this by allowing special trial judges, who are experienced legal professionals who already handle much of the court's work, to take on additional responsibilities with the consent of the taxpayer.
If the taxpayer agrees, these special trial judges can hear certain additional matters, issue final decisions in specific cases, and use limited contempt authority to maintain order.
This is similar to how magistrate judges currently assist federal court district judges to streamline their dockets when consent of the parties exists.
The result is simple, faster resolutions for taxpayers without sacrificing expertise on the bench, fairness in the process, or integrity in the result.
Third, the bill strengthens public trust by creating clear ethical standards for tax court judges.
Article 3 judges already have statutory recusal rules.
Currently, tax court judges do not.
Codifying disqualification requirements ensures that taxpayers know that their case will be heard by a judge who is impartial and above reproach.
This change helps to take away any addition of impropriety in the process, again, giving weight to the soundness of the final judgment.
Finally, this legislation clarifies the court's authority to use equitable tolling in deficiency cases.
Today, if a taxpayer misses a filing deadline, even due to illness, natural disaster, or even being given incorrect information, the court often has no ability to offer relief to that taxpayer.
Cases can be dismissed before the merits are even heard, putting taxpayers at risk for losing their claim when they are not at fault for missing the deadline.
And that is not a just result.
This bill ensures the court can make determinations based on the substance of claims, not just procedural technicalities, especially when a taxpayer is acting in good faith.
Taken together, these reforms make the tax court more efficient, more responsive, and more just for the American taxpayer.
They reflect these values that guide our work in the chamber: strong institutions, fair treatment for taxpayers, and renewed trust in our government processes.
This is a measured, practical bill that passed unanimously in committee, and it deserves the support of this House on both sides of the aisle.
I urge my colleagues to vote for the Tax Court Improvement Act to help strengthen a court process that plays a vital role in protecting our taxpayers' rights and ensuring accountability of the IRS within our tax system.
In support of H.R. 5349, the Tax Court Improvement Act, is the fact that we want more common-sense bipartisan efforts to modernize our tax court system.
At its heart, this bill strengthens taxpayer rights and removes unnecessary procedural roadblocks.
Specifically, it authorizes the tax court to issue subpoenas before hearings.
That means third parties can be compelled to produce relevant documents, electronic records, and other evidence early, facilitating settlement, reducing the need for protracted litigation, and helping to resolve disputes sooner rather than later.
This bill also expands the role of special trial court judges, allowing them to hear additional cases and act when there are issues such as contempt, thereby helping to clear backlogs and improving the court's overall input.
It holds tax court judges and special trial judges to the same ethical and disqualification standards as other federal judges, ensuring transparency and integrity in every case.
This bill also clarifies that the tax court has the jurisdiction to grant equitable tolling in deficiency cases.
In other words, the court can expand and extend deadlines when timely filings was impossible and practical to make.
These reforms are not radical.
They are common sense improvements designed to deliver timely justice, lower court costs, and greater access for everyday Americans, small businesses, and those who currently face intimidating and burdensome procedures.
In a system where there are high stakes for individuals, families, and entrepreneurs, there is nothing uncommon or unreasonable about expecting a fair shot, swift resolution, and procedures that reflect modern realities.
That is exactly what H.R. 5349 delivers.
Passing this legislation is a statement that we believe in a tax system where accountability, transparency, and due process matter, not just for the wealthy or well-connected, but for all Americans.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support H.R. 5349 and deliver on common sense tax court reform.
Union calendar number 164, H.R. 225, a bill to require the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to testify before the Congress annually and for the purposes.
I ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in this bill.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 225, the HUD Transparency Act.
I want to thank the gentlewoman from Texas, Congresswoman Dela Cruz, for sponsoring this legislation.
The HUD Transparency Act of 2025 is a piece of common sense legislation that strengthens accountability, enhances oversight, and ensures the American people have a clear view into how federal housing dollars are spent.
For years, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, HUD, has administered programs that touch millions of families, seniors, veterans, and communities across our nation.
These programs are critical.
They support affordable housing development, combat homelessness, and help communities recover after disasters.
Unfortunately, over the years, in my view, the agency has shown time and time again they are unable to perform some basic functions.
The agency continually fails to hold local public housing authorities responsible for providing safe housing.
Reports from the Inspector General, the Government Accountability Office, and our own committee have repeatedly identified some of the same issues, outdated and incomplete reporting, inconsistent and unverifiable data, missed deadlines, and major programs operating without clear evidence of effectiveness.
As the branch with the power of the purse, it is Congress's responsibility to ensure tax dollars that go toward HUD's programs are managed effectively, efficiently, and transparently.
H.R. 225 delivers on that responsibility.
This bill requires the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development to annually testify before Congress so that we can ensure the Department is meeting its performance reporting and management standards.
By requiring the HUD Inspector General to appear in front of Congress, Ms. Dela Cruz's bill makes HUD take the necessary steps to publish key performance information, report program outcomes in a timely manner, and makes the data available so Congress and the public can better ensure federal housing programs are meeting their goals.
The HUD Transparency Act is a straightforward, bipartisan solution to a long-standing problem.
HUD needs to use consistent reporting formats so Congress can compare outcomes across programs and track progress over time.
It ensures that the American people can see how their tax dollars are being used.
These are basic principles of good governance.
Transparency strengthens public trust and improves program performance.
It allows Congress to address problems early instead of after tax dollars have been wasted or ones in need have been left behind.
Importantly, this bill does so without imposing new burdens on state or local governments and without slowing down the delivery of critical housing assistance.
H.R. 225 simply ensures that HUD operates with the openness and accountability the American people expect and deserve.
Again, I thank Ms. Dela Cruz for this important measure and I urge our colleagues to support it.
I rise in support of H.R. 225, 2225, the HUD Transparency Act of 2025, sponsored by Representative Dela Cruz.
Oversight is a core function of the Financial Services Committee.
Inspectors General also play a critical role in providing transparency about the functions of government as well as holding government officials accountable.
They're able to do this because they are independent of the officials they oversee and until recently were only removed for cause.
However, since taking office, President Trump has fired over 20 IGs across the government.
The majority of these IG firings took place in the first week.
President Trump took office and violated lawful removal procedures as they came with no warning or rationale.
In fact, the Trump administration has kept more than three in four presidential appointees inspector general positions vacant without Senate confirmed leadership.
These actions not only silence future IGs, but leave the public less informed about critical activities happening across agencies.
And dangerously, Trump's actions, combined with Republican House leadership, who are unwilling to investigate anything Trump's team does, enable the Trump administration to be entirely unaccountable.
Notably, the HUD Inspector General, this bill would require to testify before our committee was one of the people Trump arbitrarily fired earlier this year.
And since that firing, the acting HUD IG has been replaced again, and there is no one being considered by the Senate for confirmation.
As a result, no one in this chamber knows when our committee will be able to receive this testimony.
That said, and while I support this bill, this debate ignores the real and urgent challenges facing HUD and our housing market and how the President and his administration are actively taking steps to undermine efforts to address the affordable housing crisis.
For example, where is the legislation from my Republican colleagues to stop Trump's plan to gut existing permanent supportive housing that could force more than 170,000 people back on the streets?
20 states and D.C. have already sued HU, citing the plan as chaotic and unlawful.
Or where are their investigations into the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Bill Poot, who is weaponizing the housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for politically motivated witch hunts and trying to lock new homebuyers into 50-year mortgages.
If Republicans wanted to lower housing costs, why aren't they calling for to exempt materials like lumber from Trump's tariffs?
Or why aren't we negotiating the road to housing bill so that it can be included in NDAA and quickly passed into law?
Mr. Speaker, the invitation to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle is open.
Join us in finally taking steps to address the rising cost of housing.
The American public wants us to lower their bills, and Democrats have numerous ideas about how to do that.
Join us in ensuring that the HUD Inspector General has the independence to do their job without fear of retaliation when they uncover corruption or abuse of power.
So we will join you in passing this bill today, but we need to finally get to work to deliver real change for the American people.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and thank you to my colleague for yielding.
Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bill H.R. 225, the HUD Transparency Act of 2025.
This common sense legislation requires annual testimony from the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Inspector General.
By doing so, the HUD Transparency Act adds formal oversight over HUD that does not currently exist.
In the past, Congress has gone years without hearing from HUD's Inspector General.
And with a budget that exceeds $70 billion, we must have proper oversight over HUD to ensure housing programs are working for all Americans.
That being said, my bill will require the Inspector General to provide Congress with recommendations and insights into reforming HUD's programs and rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse in our federal spending.
Housing issues impact all Americans.
I commend this administration for their focus on restoring the American dream of home ownership by bringing down housing costs and cutting red tape.
Our HUD programs play a critical role in increasing the affordable housing supply and access nationwide.
However, the success of HUD's programs relies on the Department's ability to root out the fraud, waste, and abuse.
The HUD Transparency Act aids in this by adding critical oversight to ensure that those who qualify for HUD's programs can receive the housing assistance that they need.
This legislation has a strong record of bipartisan support.
This legislation has a strong record of bipartisan support, including passage in the House in the 118th Congress.
As this legislation continues to receive overwhelming bipartisan support, I strongly urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in passing this important piece of legislation, the HUD Transparency Act of 2025.
Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of the time.
HUD plays a vital role in providing safe and affordable housing to families all across the United States.
Families depend on HUD programs to keep a roof over their heads.
H.R. 225 would allow Congress and the public to hear directly from an independent oversight authority, provided one is ever confirmed and offer more transparency into the functions and operations of HUD, especially at a time when Trump's appointees are abusing their power.
I again urge my colleagues to support this bill and I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material in the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4423, the No New Burma Funds Act.
I want to thank the gentlewoman from Georgia, Ms. Williams, for sponsoring this bipartisan legislation.
I'm pleased to note that this bill passed the Financial Services Committee unanimously by a vote of 54 to 0 in July this year.
That kind of agreement underscores the seriousness of the threat posed by Burma's military regime and the broad consensus that the United States must respond firmly.
The No New Burma Funds Act ensures that the United States will oppose any new World Bank financing that could benefit Burma's illegitimate military junta and supports international efforts to restore democratic governance.
Since the military overthrew the elected Burma government in 2021, Congress has fought to hold Burma's military accountable and support the Burmese people in their struggle for freedom to restore their rightful voice in their own government.
Yet despite widespread global condemnation, the acting government of Burma continues to entrench its power, exploit state resources, and suppress democratic aspirations as citizens, all while seeking access to new streams of international financing.
The No New Burma Funds Act responds directly to this challenge by ensuring that the United States continues to use its full voice and vote at the World Bank to maintain a strict pause on disbursements and new financing commitments to the current government in control of Burma.
Supporting democratic movements defending human rights and advancing stability in Southeast Asia are in our American interest.
When international institutions inadvertently enable authoritarian regimes through new financing, our credibility suffers, and in this case, the Burmese people would pay the price.
By reaffirming and strengthening this pause, H.R. 4423 provides a responsible and targeted approach that prevents international funds from benefiting the current government and maintains the pressure applied following the 2021 coup.
This is a bipartisan common sense measure that upholds human rights, reinforces international accountability, and supports the long-term prospects of peace and democracy in Burma.
I thank the bill sponsor for her work on this legislation and commitment to standing with the people of Burma.
I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this bill and help send a clear message that the United States will not allow international financing that empowers brutal dictatorship or tyranny in Burma.
The lady from Georgia is recognized for two minutes.
unidentified
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I rise today in support of H.R. 4423, the bipartisan No New Burma Funds Act.
This bill, which I introduced with my colleague Young Kim, would mandate that the United States uses voice and vote to continue the World Bank's pause on disbursements and new financing commitments to the government of Burma.
This pause was initiated after a military coup overthrew the democratically elected government of Burma in 2021.
Four years ago, the democratically elected leaders of Burma's ruling party, the National League for Democracy, was overthrown by the Tatmada, Burma's military.
Since the military regime's coup, we've seen families displaced, citizens detained without access to income, education, or health care, and brutal violence against the Burmese civilian population.
I center my work on my constituents and fighting for those most marginalized.
And Mr. Speaker, while I hope that we are going to have a robust conversation around making sure that everyone back home in my district is housed with affordable housing and lowering costs in this country, today this bill is still centering my constituents.
In my district alone, DeKalb County is home to over 2,000 Burmese refugees.
In another life, prior to my congressional service, I was a public school teacher and I had a student who is a Burmese refugee.
Chit Yin's family story was empowering and a stark reminder that not only do we have an obligation to help those no matter their zip code, but we have a duty to help those no matter where they are on the globe.
This legislation gives our country yet another tool to put financial pressure on the Burmese government.
This bill will ensure that the U.S. Executive Director at the World Bank pushes the institution to continue its pause on the disbursement of funds and new financing commitments to the government, incentivizing the Burmese government to give power back to the most important piece of any thriving free country, the people.
Thank you, Congresswoman Young Kim, for co-leading this important legislation with me and Chairman Hill and Ranking Member Waters for your support of this priority.
I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill and with that I yield back.