Clean Up the Code Act of 2018

Mr. Speaker, I missed some votes on Wednesday, December 19, all votes on Thursday, December 20, and some votes today. Had I been present, I would have voted as follows:

Roll Call Vote Number 440 (Passage of H.R. 7327, the SECURE Technology Act): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 441 (Passage of H.R. 7279, the Water Infrastructure Improvement Act): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 442 (Passage of H.R. 6227, the National Quantum Initiative Act): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 443 (Passage of H.R. 6652): YES;

Roll Call Vote 444 (Passage of S. 1520, the Modernizing Recreational Fisheries Management Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 445 (Passage of S. 3530, the Museum and Library Services Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 446 (Agreeing to H. Res. 1180): NO;

Roll Call Vote Number 447 (Agreeing to H. Res. 1181): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 448 (Concurring in the Senate Amendment to the House Amendment to S. 756, the First Step Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 449 (Passage of H.R. 7328, the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 450 (Concurring in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 5075, the Ashanti Alert Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 451 (Passage of H.R. 7093, the Clean Up the Code Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 452 (Passage of S. 2896, the Justice Against Corruption on K Street Act of 2018 or JACK Act): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 453 (Passage of S. 2961, the Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 454 (Passage of S. 2679, the Veterans Small Business Enhancement Act): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 455 (Passage of H.R. 7227, the Taxpayer First Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 456 (Concurring in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 4227, the Vehicular Terrorism Prevention Act of 2019): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 457 (Passage of S. 2652, the Stephen Michael Gleason Congressional Gold Medal Act): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 458 (Passage of S. 2765, the RBIC Advisers Relief Act of 2018): YES;

Roll Call Vote Number 459 (Concurring in the Senate Amendment to H.R. 5509, the Innovations in Mentoring, Training, and Apprenticeships Act):

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7093) to eliminate unused sections of the United States Code, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials to H.R. 7093, currently under consideration.

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

Mr. Speaker, this bill is in part a response to the work of the current committee's Over-Criminalization Task Force. The Judiciary Committee created this task force to look at the growing problems of over-criminalization and over-Federalization of criminal law.

The bill before us adheres to these principles by eliminating several sections of the Federal Criminal Code that have either never been charged, criminalized conduct that should not land someone in Federal prison, such as unauthorized use of the Woodsy Owl image or slogan, or both.

This is a sensible, good-government measure, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I would also like to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Chabot) for his work on this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of H.R. 7093, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I join with the manager of the bill to support H.R. 7093, the Clean Up the Code Act, as a measure that takes a small step toward addressing the problem of over-criminalization as a result of the hard work of the Over-Criminalization Task Force, of which we look forward to continuing in the next Congress.

This bill repeals several criminal penalties for violations that do not involve serious wrongdoing, or at least not serious enough to warrant criminal prosecution and the consequences of a criminal record. For example, this bill repeals laws that make the unauthorized for- profit use of the Smoky the Bear and Woodsy Owl characters punishable by fine and/or imprisonment for up to 6 months.

The conduct that these laws are designed to deter or punish certainly do not merit criminal sanctions.

We are grateful for the Clean Up the Code Act, and I ask my colleagues to support H.R. 7093.

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

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize and thank for their efforts Representative Steve Chabot and Representative Hank Johnson for their work on this bill.

I ask my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 499, ``yea'' on rollcall No. 450, and ``yea'' on rollcall No. 451.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.