Stop Penalizing Taxpayers for Sports Owner Fouls Act of 2014

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and concur in the concurrent resolution (S. Con. Res. 25) authorizing the use of Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center for activities associated with the ceremony to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Native American code talkers.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the concurrent resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in very strong support of Senate Concurrent Resolution 25, authorizing the use of Emancipation Hall on Wednesday, November 20, for a ceremony to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Native American code talkers who assisted the United States military and our ally powers. This ceremony, Mr. Speaker, is a very long overdue recognition of all Native American code talkers that served this Nation during times of foreign conflict.

Although the contributions of the Navajo code talkers during the World Wars have been the most celebrated, many, many other Native American tribes deserve recognition for their courage and dedication to this Nation as well. Thousands of Native Americans from over a dozen tribes across the country saw the threats to humanity being posed and joined with our military forces to protect our common homeland. It was a call to action that they selflessly and successfully accomplished.

I want to thank our former colleague from Oklahoma, Mr. Boren, for his leadership on H.R. 4544, the Native American Code Talkers Act, which provides for this overdue recognition and celebration.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support this resolution, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, it is my great honor to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Cole), a member of the Rules Committee and also recently named last week as the chairman of the Subcommittee on Legislative Branch Appropriations. Also, Mr. Cole is a member of the Chickasaw Nation and the Chickasaw Hall of Fame.

Mr. Speaker, it is my great privilege to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Oklahoma (Mr. Mullin), a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure and Natural Resources Committees. He is also a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I don't know how I follow on from the two previous speakers we had on our side that talked very eloquently from their heart about their pride in their heritage and their pride as being Americans and now as Members of the Congress about this bipartisan bill, and it is a ceremony that I tell my colleague from California we are all looking forward to.

As I mentioned in my opening remarks, it is certainly a ceremony that is long overdue for the recognition of all Native Americans, and particularly these code talkers and what they did to keep America free. They are great ambassadors of liberty, freedom, and democracy.

I urge all my colleagues to support Senate Concurrent Resolution 25, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentlelady from Michigan for yielding me time to speak on such an important issue.

The Cherokee Nation has a rich history of pride and heritage inside this country. At a very young age, I had the special privilege of meeting a gentleman, another former member of the Cherokee Nation, Wayne Russell.

Wayne Russell was taken care of by my grandparents. My grandad, Kenneth Morris, is also a Cherokee member, who fought in the European theatre as a combat engineer. Wayne Russell was a neighbor of my granddad.

My grandmother and granddad took care of Wayne until he passed away. At a young age, I got the privilege of getting to know him. We share the same birthday, and so it was a common bond for us. Wayne used to tell me stories of how he got to use his native language to help this great Nation win a war against a group of individuals that had very bad intentions not just in our country, but in this world.

Wayne never asked for anything. Wayne simply stood up each day and did his job when he was in uniform. When he came home, he didn't ask for anybody to give him anything. He didn't ask for a handout. He was just proud to serve.

Before I even knew what code talkers were, Wayne used to tell me about it all the time, because he used to teach the Cherokee language in the school I went to in Westfield. So Wayne would talk to me in our native tongue and tell me about the stories that he had from the war.

He didn't realize he was special. I didn't really realize he was special. But today, I get to stand up and talk about him. What an honor it is for me to stand on this House floor as a Member of the United States Congress and get to bring Wayne Russell's name up and tell people what he did.

Wayne has passed. When he left, he left me all his medals. And we get to stand up this week and vote on something to honor not just Cherokee members, but the members of Native Americans in Indian Country all across this great Nation that didn't ask for anything, but just simply did their job. They didn't realize they were special; they just did what it took to win. Because we have pride in Indian Country. We take great pride in this great country we call America. And for us to stand up and speak up for them, what an opportunity for this House to reach across the aisle and show bipartisan support to honor a group of people.

So it is an honor to stand up here, Mr. Speaker, and it is an honor that the gentlelady from Michigan has given me time to talk about Wayne Russell and something important to me.

I urge my colleagues to support this. Let's stand together and say ``thank you'' to a group of people that is well overdue.

I thank my friend, the chairman, for yielding me the time and for her gracious remarks.

Mr. Speaker, Native Americans have fought against, with, and for the United States more than any other group of people in the history of our country, and it is still true today. Native Americans enlist in the American military at a higher rate than any other race or ethnicity in the United States. That sense of protecting one's place and one's land, which is such an integral part of Native American history, is deep and alive and has benefited this country.

As my friend the chairman mentioned, most Americans are certainly aware of the distinguished role of the Navajo code talkers in the Second World War. What many of them are not aware of, though, is how many others served not only in that war, but as far back as the First World War.

This ceremony will recognize 33 tribes whose members are considered DOD code talkers. Ten of those tribes are from my home State of Oklahoma, and three of them--the Choctaws, Comanches, and Kiowas-- reside in my district. It is a privilege for me, as a Native American, to support this resolution and urge its adoption.

It is right that we recognize the contribution of these Americans-- the first Americans--who were so often discriminated against at the time in which they contributed to the defense of our country and, in some cases in the First World War, still did not have the rights of other American citizens. Most Native Americans did not actually achieve the right to vote until 1924. So the fact that they were willing to go and lay their life on the line to assist this country, I think, speaks volumes about their patriotism and their commitment.

So I thank my friends for bringing the resolution to the floor. I look forward to voting in support of it, and I urge its adoption by the House.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I join the chair in supporting S. Con. Res. 25, which authorizes the use of Emancipation Hall for a ceremony to award the Congressional Gold Medal to Native American code talkers. I am very pleased to support the efforts to honor these patriotic Americans and their service to our Nation during some of its most trying times. This honor is extremely well deserved, and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I must say, I hope that all of us are looking forward to this ceremony because I think it is going to be a very impressive one and give us a chance to honor, again, these wonderful, patriotic Americans.

I urge an ``aye'' vote, and I yield back the balance of my time.