Recruiting Families Using Data Act of 2023

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Minnesota for yielding the customary 30 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, here we are, a little more than 48 hours from a devastating government shutdown. The deadline to pass a Federal budget is already 3 months overdue, and the clock keeps ticking.

Unable to get control of their majority and act responsibly, Republicans keep kicking the can down the road. They have struggled to pass any legislation because they choose again and again to appease an extremist minority rather than to advance policies supported by the majority of Americans and their Representatives here in the House.

Moreover, now, as we face pressing challenges at home and around the world, they have brought us to the brink of disaster once more, all because they chose to renege on a bipartisan deal to fund the government.

So, with these serious problems we are facing, what are House Republicans' priorities for today? They are to attack the President and pass more anti-abortion bills. It is a new year, but for House Republicans, it is the same old story.

Distracted by their own chaos and infighting, they have repeatedly failed to deliver for the American people. They have wasted time and tax dollars on baseless investigations and divisive culture wars, dragging the American people with them down rabbit holes of conspiracies and untruths.

They throw tantrums when they can't get their way, ousting their last Speaker and, just last week, bringing all work in the House to a halt because their new Speaker had dared to try to

strike a deal to keep the government open.

They put on dramatic acts of political theater, hoping to hide the fact that they are unable to complete the most basic tasks of governing. In 2023, they led the least productive session of Congress since the Great Depression.

We think the American people deserve better.

With that in mind, Mr. Speaker, let's look at the three bills that the House leadership has chosen to spend Congress' time on this week, and it is more of the same.

The first bill in this rule is the grotesquely misleading H. Res. 957, a resolution that repeats lies and distortions about the migration challenges at our southern border, starting with the title of the resolution and its false claim that this administration is promoting an open border. This is MAGA fiction, and it is an effort to keep campaigning on the fear of immigrants rather than any serious attempt to address the complex issues created by global migration forces and decades of congressional inaction.

It has become obvious that our Republican colleagues don't really want to fix our broken immigration system. They just want to campaign on it.

They have rejected--before even reading--the bipartisan solutions proposed by Senate Republicans, Democrats, and the administration.

They have refused to consider supplemental border funding requests from the President because the truth is they don't want solutions. They want political stunts. They want to rant, complain, blame, and campaign.

Immigration and border issues are complex. That is why they have remained on the table for so many years. They require comprehensive and nuanced policies, not acts of cruelty and dehumanization marked by barbed wire, family separation, or needless tragedies.

As we have seen over and over again, our Republican colleagues would rather use this issue to sow anger, division, and fear. They will use meaningless resolutions that do nothing to change the status quo, like this one, to distract from their failed Congress and their do-nothing agenda.

Mr. Speaker, if you want to see just how House Republicans view immigration and the border as a purely political issue, look no further than House leadership. After saying for months that border security is a crisis and just last month taking a field trip with over 60 House Republicans to the border, this week House leadership refused to even consider a bipartisan deal negotiated by the Senate before they have read it.

Mr. Speaker, you can't say that the border is in a state of emergency yet reject a bipartisan deal to address the crisis.

We can and must do better than this. Moreover, we owe it to our constituents and our country to work toward real, thoughtful solutions rather than partisan talking points like H. Res. 957.

Now, let's turn to H.R. 6914 and H.R. 6918. Supporting the health and well-being of mothers and babies should be something we can all agree upon, and we would welcome some real collaboration in that area.

Nonetheless, that is not what the majority has brought to the floor today. The fact is that both of these bills are designed to advance an extremist agenda to limit Americans' fundamental freedoms, particularly with respect to reproductive healthcare.

It is nothing but a political exercise that our Republican colleagues undertake every year on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. It is designed to cater to the most extreme supporters as they descend on Washington, D.C., for an anti-abortion rally.

The fact is that the MAGA majority's anti-abortion agenda is wildly unpopular in this country. The vast majority of Americans do not support it, and they have proven that at the polls repeatedly in the last couple of years.

Americans do not want politicians and rightwing extremists undermining their freedom to make their own medical and reproductive healthcare choices based on their own individual circumstances.

In the face of the overwhelming and repeated rejection of these extremist attempts to interfere in private medical decisions, Republicans are now cloaking their efforts in family-friendly rhetoric and misleading talking points. So, it is important to dig a little deeper and see what these bills are and are not.

If my colleagues on the other side of the aisle really wanted to support pregnant women, children, and families, then they would work with us to address the shameful fact that maternal mortality in our country far exceeds that of our peers. Childbirth is dangerous here in the United States, particularly for Black women and their babies, not because we don't know how to support healthy outcomes but because of a lack of will or interest from Congress.

It is a full-blown crisis, but it doesn't have to be. When it comes to giving our kids brighter futures, we should be talking about powerful tools like the expanded child tax credit, which lifted millions of children out of poverty. We should be strengthening WIC and SNAP, nutrition programs that serve as lifelines for pregnant women, mothers, infants, and families. Instead, this MAGA majority has proposed deep cuts to these nutrition programs.

We should pass policies to improve access to high-quality childcare and early education services, nutritious food, comprehensive maternal and infant healthcare, stable housing, and family-sustaining jobs because those are the things that would really help our kids and families.

The policies that our Republican colleagues have brought before us today in these two bills do none of that.

In fact, they would actually divert money away from vulnerable families and ultimately endanger women's lives.

H.R. 6914 purports to be concerned with providing information to pregnant college students.

Of course, there are obvious and unique challenges to balancing school and parenting, although students and their families can thrive with the right support. Unfortunately, this bill doesn't actually provide such support.

Instead, it requires that colleges inform students only about the rights and resources for carrying a pregnancy to term--resources, I will add, for which this House majority has sought to dramatically slash funding.

The bill purposely leaves out any requirement for schools to distribute medically accurate information regarding all of the healthcare options available to pregnant women. If this bill were truly about ensuring that pregnant college students have the necessary information to make informed decisions to meet their unique reproductive healthcare needs, it would include information about contraception, abortion, miscarriages, and the services that might be available to them during their pregnancy and after.

If the underlying intent of this bill were not clear enough in its one-sided substance, we need only look to the alleged funding section of the bill, which would write into law completely unproven and even false anti-abortion talking points.

These are findings that the bill's author could provide no evidence to support when it was marked up in committee. However, don't take my word for it. Advocates dedicated to advancing civil rights and resources for pregnant and parenting students have expressed deep concerns about this bill, including groups that are experts on this issue like The Coalition For Pregnant and Parenting Students Advocacy.

It is obvious that this MAGA majority doesn't really care about educating and supporting pregnant and parenting students. Instead, they would rather leave them in the dark and attempt to deny women the freedom to make informed decisions about their own bodies and futures.

Lastly, I will talk about H.R. 6918, which is another example of House Republicans doubling down on an extreme and unpopular agenda to try to ban abortion care nationwide. This bill is cloaked in a title that most Americans would agree with, the Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act.

In fact, Congress has passed bipartisan legislation to do just that, including through TANF funding, the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families.

However, in recent years, there has been growing evidence and a raft of studies showing that critical TANF aid for families is being diverted to purposes not authorized by Congress.

One of the greatest causes of concern is the siphoning of Federal TANF taxpayer dollars to support so-called crisis pregnancy centers, most of which are part of a well-funded arm of the global anti-abortion movement.

There is a growing body of evidence that these crisis pregnancy centers use deceptive and coercive tactics to target vulnerable people facing unplanned pregnancies, and they often prevent them from accessing a full range of appropriate reproductive healthcare, including safe abortion care and contraceptives.

Just as this bill is cloaked in benign pro-family rhetoric, these pregnancy centers distribute diapers and formula in order to disguise their underlying anti-abortion mission.

One of the great dangers of these crisis pregnancy centers is that they present themselves as legitimate healthcare facilities, but the reality is that most are unlicensed, understaffed by medical professionals, and unbound by the privacy laws that govern medical providers.

This has led to women being misled and given inaccurate or even dangerous information about their pregnancies and the options for care that are available to them, including women who have suffered life- threatening undiagnosed complications in their pregnancies, women who have been denied the information and opportunity to access appropriate reproductive healthcare for them, and women who have been encouraged to undertake dangerous and medically contraindicated procedures.

There is strong evidence that many pregnancy centers are using the public money that States allocate to them through TANF for purposes that are not authorized by Congress. That is why last year, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a proposed regulation to better guide the States in what services were eligible for TANF funding, and that is why this bill, H.R. 6918, is so dangerous and dishonest.

When we have a growing mountain of evidence of misuse and even fraudulent use of TANF dollars by crisis pregnancy centers, this bill by its term would prevent the Department of Health and Human Services from any regulation of pregnancy crisis centers.

House Republicans would green light the unregulated use of public money to fund these anti-abortion facilities, many of which have been proven to promote false medical claims and misinformation; misrepresent their services as providing a full range of reproductive healthcare, despite having only anti-abortion services and usually lacking any medical personnel. Horrifyingly, they are unbound by HIPAA privacy restrictions, and some of these centers collect and distribute women's sensitive personal information to organizations within the larger anti- abortion movement.

This is what Republicans are trying to push upon American women with these bills, and I wholeheartedly disagree.

Thus, here we are. It is another week, and the House GOP still can't get their act together. Their majority is on track to become one of the most ineffective in modern history.

Again, we are just hours from a government shutdown, but instead of dealing with that or any of the real problems Americans are facing today, this House majority is desperately trying to mask its own failure with misleading rhetoric and bills that will never become law. It would be a joke if it weren't so serious.

Led by their most extreme Members, it is clear our Republican colleagues don't want to make Congress work better for the American people. They want to break it, and they want to campaign on it. They want to bring chaos to this Chamber and pass legislation that feeds the flames of their desperate culture wars.

It is irresponsible, it is reckless, and it is not what the American people want.

Mr. Speaker, I deeply oppose this rule, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

We have heard from our colleagues over the course of debate on this bill that they think that they need more discretion to spend TANF dollars, but if this bill were to pass, a pregnancy center would be unregulated. That is what the bill literally says, We cannot regulate pregnancy crisis centers. So if they wanted to use TANF dollars to stage a Taylor Swift concert, they could because there is to be no regulation.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record the executive summary of a report titled, ``Designed to Deceive: A Study of the Crisis Pregnancy Center Industry in Nine States,'' written by the Alliance: State Advocates for Women's Rights and Gender Equity.

Mr. Speaker, this report studies crisis pregnancy centers in Alaska, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota. Overall, its findings show that crisis pregnancy centers provided virtually no medical care, promoted false medical claims, and used deceptive practices; State-funded crisis pregnancy centers are more harmful than privately-funded centers; and crisis pregnancy centers appear to be local, but are actually part of a global anti-abortion network.

It is clear that these sorts of manipulative and unregulated centers are not what is best for women and children's health, and actually have been proven to misuse Federal taxpayer dollars. We absolutely shouldn't be allowing Federal dollars to flow to them without any scrutiny.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern), the distinguished ranking member of the Committee on Rules.

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

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to include in the Record a letter from the Coalition for Pregnant and Parenting Students Advocacy and other organizations dedicated to advancing civil rights protections and resources for pregnant and parenting students in opposition to H.R. 6914.

Mr. Speaker, this letter expresses concern that this bill is

based upon unproven anti-abortion rhetoric and seeks to limit students' ability to make reproductive healthcare decisions with a full range of information.

It goes on to say that the bill does not contain any meaningful support to help pregnant and parenting students meet their educational goals, and it notes how the bill leaves out policies we know would actually make a difference, like strengthen Title IX protections, accessible childcare and early education, basic needs security, and accountability measures for institutions that fail to protect pregnant and parenting students.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from New Mexico (Ms. Leger Fernandez), a distinguished member of the Rules Committee.

Mr. Speaker, could you please advise how much time is remaining?

Mr. Speaker, if we defeat the previous question, I will offer an amendment to the rule to bring up H.R. 12, a bill that would ensure every American has full access to essential reproductive healthcare services, including abortion care.

Since the Dobbs decision, every State in the Union has taken action on abortion in some way. Many States have used it as an opportunity to enact laws that ban specific instances of abortion or abortion care entirely. Republicans have reiterated time and again that that is their goal, to ban abortion nationwide.

The abortion access landscape is deeply fractured, and Americans continue to face the devastating consequences of abortion bans and restrictions on both patients' health and the greater healthcare ecosystem.

H.R. 12 ensures every American has full access to vital reproductive healthcare and will stop the devastating health consequences for women when abortion access is banned or limited.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to insert the text of my amendment in the Record along with any extraneous material immediately prior to the vote on the previous question.

Mr. Speaker, to discuss our proposal, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Massachusetts (Ms. Pressley).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to close.

This MAGA majority has a bleak and nihilistic vision of our government. It is a vision where congressional power is wielded to take down political rivals; to force extremist beliefs on every American, particularly women; and to shamelessly sow division and fear, not to actually serve all Americans.

It is a vision where the idea of working together across party lines on behalf of all Americans is so anathema to the Republican Party that it can cause a Speaker to lose his gavel or rank-and-file Members of Congress to lose their primaries. It is where standing up against lies and for the Constitution results in death threats and where the integrity and core values of our country's institutions are continually chipped away.

This is an unacceptable way to govern. It is not governance at all. Americans deserve so much better. Let's stop playing these ridiculous games and get to work on the work that the people sent us to do.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to oppose the previous question and the rule, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong opposition to H. Res. 969--the rule providing for consideration of the following:

H.R. 6914--to require institutions of higher education to disseminate information on the

rights of, and accommodations and resources for, pregnant students, and for other purposes;

H.R. 6918--to prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from restricting funding for pregnancy centers; and

H. Res. 957--denouncing the Biden administration's open-borders policies, condemning the national security and public safety crisis along the southwest border, and urging President Biden to end his administration's open-borders policies.

This resolution, providing for debate on these highly politicized and dangerous bills, is yet another shameful effort to erode and dismantle the rights and protections of Americans across the country, and to distract the American people with unviable solutions for immigration and border control--all in the face of inaction to prevent our government from shutting down once again.

H. Res. 969 is a measure that must be opposed for the reasons stated below.

As it pertains to H.R. 6914, this bill requires higher education institutions that participate in federal education programs to disseminate information on the rights and resources afforded to prospective, full- and part-time students who are pregnant or may become pregnant to encourage them to carry their pregnancy to term.

These institutions would be required to share this information by email at the start of each academic year, in student handbooks. at each orientation for enrolled students, at student health and counseling centers, and on the school's website.

A list of anti-abortion ``findings'' in the bill insinuate that women who have an abortion are at risk of developing mental health issues, abusing drugs and alcohol, and becoming suicidal.

Amendments in committee offered to make it clear that schools are still allowed to disseminate information on access to sexual and reproductive health services and the rights, protections, and accommodation afforded to students under Title IX were voted down by Republicans on the Committee.

As it pertains to H.R. 6918, this bill prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services from restricting funding to pregnancy centers, which are defined as any organization that ``supports protecting the life of the mother and unborn child'' and ``offers resources and services to mothers, fathers, and families.''

This legislation redirects critical funding to antiabortion facilities, which includes so-called ``crisis pregnancy centers,'' that operate under the guise of legitimate health care providers.

At a time when women and girls' reproductive health care is already under attack from Republicans across the country, my colleagues across the aisle want to go even further by taking money from legitimate providers and redistributing it to these centers whose staff are not required to have any medical credentials.

Additionally, it must be noted that these harmful bills are futile attempts that will be vetoed by this Administration.

As we know, the Administration strongly opposes H.R. 6914 and H.R. 6918.

As highlighted in the White House Statement of Administrative Policy (SAP), the Administration clearly stated its opposition to H.R. 6914 in its current form.

Existing federal civil rights laws have long prohibited discrimination against students on the basis of pregnancy and related conditions, and institutions of higher education are already required to provide reasonable modifications to pregnant students--from modified class schedules to medical leave.

The Administration stated that it will continue taking action to ensure that students know their rights under federal law and have access to the comprehensive, evidence-based information and resources they need to make informed decisions about their health care.

And as highlighted by the White House in its SAP to H.R. 6918, contrary to the purported purpose of this bill, it would divert federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds from effective supports for pregnant and parenting women and families.

Indeed, the bill seeks to prevent the Department of Health and Human Services from even considering commonsense program integrity measures that ensure that the use of federal TANF funds is consistent with federal law and the long-standing purposes set by Congress.

Members of Congress from both parties have recognized the importance of ensuring that federal TANF funds serve their intended purposes, and the Department's proposal would merely ensure that federal TANF funds are used consistent with the statutory requirements.

I stand with the Administration in stating that we remain committed to supporting the economic security, health, and well-being of women and families across the country, and I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to make this commitment as well.

As it pertains to H. Res. 957, this resolution does nothing to address legitimate issues at the southern border--instead, it repeats an old list of hyperbolic Republican talking points on immigration.

Rather than working constructively to address these issues, House Republicans continue to make the evidence-free argument that President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary Mayorkas have intentionally created a ``national security and public safety crisis'' at the southern border.

This bill peddles the false narrative that President Biden has an open-borders policy and villainizes immigrants fleeing dangerous situations.

And it does nothing to advance common sense solutions to improve our immigration system like creating better legal pathways, increasing processing capacity at ports of entry, or funding more immigration judges to reduce the asylum backlog.

It is truly shameful that just days until a government shutdown, my Republican colleagues continue to waste time with a resolution that repeats the same, tired, inaccurate talking points on immigration and the border.

Once again, Republicans talk a big game when it comes to immigration and border security--but instead of trying to pass thoughtful and bipartisan legislation that might fix the problems in our immigration system, their resolution accomplishes nothing.

Let's look at the facts.

Today, there are approximately 38,000 people in immigration detention, which is 4,000 more than what DHS is funded for and roughly what the Trump administration averaged in Fiscal Year 2018.

The Biden administration has also significantly increased removals (in ways that many in our caucus worry violates due process).

Since the end of Title 42 last year, the Biden administration has removed or returned to Mexico over 470,000 individuals, including over 78,000 individual members of family units, including children.

The total is nearly equivalent to the number of people removed in all of fiscal year 2019 under the Trump administration.

This is hardly an open border.

Time and again, my colleagues across the aisle have refused to support additional resources and personnel for the border.

In 2021, all but six current House Republicans voted against the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, which provided additional funding to ports of entry to combat smuggling of people and drugs, and for modernization.

All but two current House Republicans voted against providing robust funding for Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and border security operations in the Fiscal Year 2023 appropriations omnibus legislation.

That bill provided more than $17 billion to CBP, including funding for an additional 300 U.S. Border Patrol agents--the first increase since 2011.

The omnibus also included $60 million to hire 125 CBP officers and $70 million for nonintrusive inspection technology to detect narcotics and firearms at ports of entry.

In October of 2023, the Biden administration sent Congress a supplemental funding request, which included an additional $13.6 billion for border security.

Yet House Republicans refuse to schedule a vote on this funding request, which would provide the Biden administration the resources it needs to secure the border and provide additional support for communities receiving migrants.

More specifically, this supplemental funding would pay for the following:

an additional 1,300 Border Patrol agents;

375 immigration judges and 1,600 asylum officers to speed up processing of asylum claims;

1,000 CBP officers with a focus on countering fentanyl;

new detection technology for ports of entry;

additional investigative capabilities to combat fentanyl trafficking; and

$1.4 billion more in grants to help communities receiving migrants, among other investments.

Democrats have put forward good faith bipartisan solutions to actually secure the border by expanding lawful pathways to relieve pressure on the border and adequately fund government agencies.

By forcing a vote on a meaningless resolution filled with empty rhetoric, Republicans are showing they have no real solutions to address the border. Members should not take the bait.

In sum, H. Res. 969, the resolution providing for debate on these above stated bills (H.R. 69l4, H.R. 69l8, and H. Res. 957), is a pitiful attempt to continue the politicization of our government's ability to function and to dismantle rights and protections currently in place for the Americans across the country.

All a vote would do is put every Republican who supports it on record pushing this extreme agenda.

This is not what Congress should be focused on. Democrats and President Biden will stay focused on putting people over politics and keeping our government funded and functioning for the American people.

As such, I ask my colleagues to vote no on this shameful resolution providing for debate on these highly politicized and dangerous bills.

Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 969 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Scanlon), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only.

General Leave

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

Mr. Speaker, we are here to debate the rule providing for consideration of H.R. 6914 and H.R. 6918, which provides 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Ways and Means, respectively, and provides each one motion to recommit. The rule further provides for consideration of H. Res. 957 under a closed rule, with 1 hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the Committee on the Judiciary.

Mr. Speaker, citizens across this country, and even Members on both sides of the aisle, have been imploring this administration to end its open-border policies, yet these cries have fallen on deaf ears. The President has failed to maintain operational control of this Nation's borders, causing the worst border crisis in American history.

Of course, this crisis extends way beyond the border. Every community in the country is facing the consequences of this administration's failure, from the strain on schools to the horrifying fentanyl epidemic being worsened by the astonishing amount of narcotics coming across the border.

In short, the policies of this administration have created a border crisis, a national security crisis, and a humanitarian crisis. It is so irresponsible and embarrassing that I almost understand why the Biden administration refuses to take responsibility for it.

Be that as it may, the fact is the responsibility lies with Secretary Mayorkas; the appointed border czar, Vice President Harris; and President Joe Biden.

H. Res. 957 condemns the national security and public safety crises these actors and other Biden administration officials have created, denounces the Biden administration's open-border policies, and urges the President to end said policies.

We are also here to discuss two pieces of legislation to support expectant mothers. H.R. 6914, the Pregnant Students' Rights Act, requires institutions of higher education to provide information on the rights of and accommodation and resources for pregnant students. According to the CDC, nearly one-third of all abortions performed in America are for women aged 20 to 24, college-aged students. While most colleges are required to accommodate pregnant students under Title IX, many women are unaware of those requirements and the resources available to them and feel that they have to have an abortion or give up their educational goals.

This bill simply requires these institutions to share information about resources and accommodations they already provide.

H.R. 6918, the Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act, a bill I introduced with Representative Tenney from New York and Representative Chris Smith of New Jersey, prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services from keeping TANF dollars from being used to support pregnancy centers. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families provides $16.5 billion annually to support assistance activities for needy families.

Certainly, pregnancy centers, which provide a wide variety of resources to pregnant women, from treatments to diapers to counseling, qualify for this kind of funding. Unfortunately, the Biden administration has shown their antiwomen, pro-abortion hand again, proposing a rule to modify allowable uses of TANF that singles out pregnancy centers in a way that could prevent States from using these funds for these vital care centers.

Make no mistake, conservatives are here for unborn babies and their mothers, and we want to ensure these moms are supported throughout their pregnancies and empowered to raise their families. These bills do just that.

Each of these bills delivers on the commitment House Republicans have made to the American people. We are here to protect the rights of Americans; we are here to hold the government accountable; and we are here to secure this country and its borders, all of which this administration has failed to accomplish.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Langworthy).

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

Mr. Speaker, I am a little confused. Helping women and their babies and providing information is now an extreme agenda according to my colleagues across the aisle.

Supporting and promoting unrestricted abortion up until the time of birth is an extreme agenda.

The majority of pregnancy resource centers are affiliated with a national organization and have voluntarily signed on to an industry standard called Commitment of Care and Competence created by Heartbeat International that set an ethical code where they agree to adopt a transparent and honest service model.

Pregnancy resource centers provide honest information about services they offer, including ultrasounds and pregnancy testing. They do not hold themselves out to provide all forms of healthcare.

According to a recent report surveying 2,750 pregnancy care centers in 2022, there were 4,779 licensed medical staff, 5,396 licensed medical volunteers, over 500,000 hours of ultrasounds performed, and over 100,000 hours of RNs meeting with STD and STI tests for clients.

If my colleagues really believed in giving pregnant women every option, like they claim, they would have no problem with this bill. We are talking about information and care.

However, the fact that they are pushing against it so passionately just proves what my colleagues and the pro-life community have been saying all along, the left is antiwoman and will find any avenue they can to encourage women to have abortions. There are so many resources that exist that would actually empower them during their pregnancy and raising their families.

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

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

Mr. Speaker, I have to repeat it: Helping women and their babies and providing information is not an extreme agenda. We are talking about taking care of women and their babies.

Supporting and promoting unrestricted abortion up to the time of birth is an extreme agenda, and it is a real shame the Democrats and the Biden administration are purposefully targeting and misrepresenting pregnancy centers in the rule and seeking to intimidate States that fund them and denying college students information.

Pregnancy resource centers play a vital role to both mothers, fathers, and their families, empowering them in their decision to choose life for their baby by providing realistic alternatives. They are another option for women who choose to use their services who are looking for an alternative to abortion.

All pregnancy resource centers are open and receive clients on a voluntary basis, and it is disgraceful that Democrats misconstrue these organizations in an effort to limit a woman's choice to raise their child.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

We certainly have covered a lot of topics here today, and House Republicans are working hard to keep our commitments to the American people: holding government accountable, securing our border, and protecting the rights of the unborn and their mothers.

Conservatives care deeply about defending the unborn and empowering women to confidently choose life, whether it be on a college campus or by ensuring access to care at pregnancy centers.

As thousands march for life across the country in the coming days, now is the perfect time to raise awareness of all the wonderful options that exist for women.

For nearly 3 years, we have seen a failure to act by the executive branch of this government to secure our borders. Biden beat his own record, with the 2023 fiscal year beating 2022 as the worst year at the border.

Mr. Speaker, 169 individuals on the terror watch list were apprehended trying to cross the border illegally. That number includes only the ones that we know about.

I am thankful for the hard work and thankless work our Customs and Border Patrol agents are doing and do not want to diminish any of the work that they are doing, but the administration's negligence has damaged our national security. Whether it is done through incompetence or malice, those responsible must be held accountable for their inaction.

To be clear, I am not talking about those hardworking CBP agents. I am talking about DHS Secretary Mayorkas; the so-called border czar, Vice President Harris; and President Joe Biden.

Mr. Speaker, I support the rule and underlying legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.

The previous question was ordered.

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

Mr. Speaker, let me start by thanking my colleague and friend, Mr. Feenstra, for his work on this legislation. I think we have proven once again that while we do have our divisions in this body and some divisions in this country, there are certain issues that bring us together across party lines and across different aspects of our society.

Mr. Feenstra and I, I think, proved that with our work on this legislation, along with other Members who have joined together to put this really important act together to help foster youth have a better path forward in life.

This legislation, as Mr. Feenstra said, is a commonsense approach to solving one of the problems that we see in the foster care system. It will improve the recruitment and retention of foster families so that we can get more kids into safe and loving homes.

Across the country, there is a severe shortage of foster parents, and retention of foster families, of foster parents, is a big part of the problem. Most foster parents stop fostering after just 1 year, and many stop fostering after their very first or second foster placement.

Under current law, States have the responsibility to develop plans, known as diligent recruitment plans, outlining the actions they will take to ensure that every kid in their care is connected to a family that meets their particular needs. However, a recent review conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services shows that these plans need significant reform and improvement.

States rarely use data to inform recruitment and retention strategies, and often, they fail to engage foster parents or foster youth, the people who understand the system better than anyone, in developing those plans.

What this means is that States continue to have difficulty finding and keeping foster parents, which has devastating impacts for those foster kids.

The most recent Federal review of Michigan's foster care system cites countless reports of children sleeping in offices or hotels for weeks and months as they await placement in a foster home.

Our social workers are doing the best they can, stepping up to take care of these children when they don't have anyone else, but that is not the kind of home that any child deserves.

As we continue to grapple with this severe shortage of foster homes, we are also seeing a growing number of foster parents drop out of the system because they just aren't getting the support that they need.

In 2023, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported that close to one-third of foster parents terminate their foster care licenses each year. This, of course, only puts more stress on a system that desperately needs more safe and loving homes.

Mr. Speaker, our legislation, the Recruiting Families Using Data Act, is the first step toward addressing this crisis. To help States better meet the needs of foster children in their care, the bill would replace the outdated diligent recruitment plans with family partnership plans that are developed in consultation with foster youth and their families; support foster family advisory boards, which give foster parents a voice in the policy development process; and, as the title of the bill suggests, use data to establish recruitment and retention goals and measure progress toward those goals.

This is a subject that is close to me. In my original career for almost a decade, I was a social worker working in this field. In fact, I was working in a residential agency for the most at-risk kids in our population, neglected and abused kids. So I know, from my own personal experience, the weaknesses in the system, and I know that fixing the system will require the expertise of the people who know it best.

The foster care system is known best by the people who are part of it, the families and the youth who have gone through it. By giving people a voice and using data that we derive from them and their experiences, we will find better ways to recruit and find retainment strategies that really work.

While it doesn't solve the entire problem, this bill would make a significant improvement to the foster care system not just in my home State but all across the country.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Florida (Mrs. Cherfilus-McCormick).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time for closing.

I thank my colleague, Mr. Feenstra, for his work on this, as well as all my colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee and throughout Congress for supporting this legislation.

As I said, there is much we need to do to improve the foster care system, to recognize the needs of foster youth, to make sure that they have a safe and loving home, to put them on a path to be the best versions of themselves. This is a step in that direction. I encourage all my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, today I am pleased to comment on H.R. 3058, the Recruiting Families Using Data Act.

There is an undeniable shortage of foster care placements in America, and an even more drastic lack of foster families with individual foster parents that can care for our Foster Youth. Furthermore, it is imperative that Congress ensures that foster children receive the highest standards of care in all current and future placements. This includes ensuring the availability placements that can be respectful of all of the individualities that foster youth hold.

That is why, in my capacity as a member of the Ways and Means Committee, who has jurisdiction over this legislation, as well as the Chairwoman on the Congressional Caucus on foster youth (otherwise referred to as CCFY) I am proud to support this bill. I will also point out that Congressman Kildee is one of our strongest advocates on the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, and I am a proud cosponsor of this legislation alongside my fellow CCFY cochairs, Representatives Bacon and Scanlon.

I often reflect on an instance that occurred when I was age 14, upon a visit to my aunt in my home town. I was awakened in the middle of the night with the police at the door. They ushered in a family of twelve children. My aunt was identified as an emergency placement for these foster youth out of a limited number of adults who had been previously vetted to be foster parents. At midnight, I suddenly worked with my aunt to gather the needed supplies for these children, including items like bedding.

While my aunt was an outstanding foster parent, moments like these occur frequently and exemplify the phenomenon that many youth feel when they enter care. Placements too often feel to youth like they are thrown to a stranger who the state has hired at random who is suddenly an authority of a child's life.

Thankfully, the Recruiting Families Using Data Act takes several important steps that can ensure that a foster care placement feels less alien to a new foster youth and is a more comfortable place for foster children to land during a tumultuous time in their lives.

One provision in this legislation is its requirement that whenever possible, the existing family of youth who are entering foster care are consulted regarding the most appropriate placement for the youth. This serves to not only maintain family bonds, but also increases the possibility that a foster placement has cultural competency with respect to a youth's background.

This bill importantly also includes measures to improve cultural competency of foster placements. This is through its provision that states, ``diligently recruit potential foster and adoptive families that reflect the ethnic and racial diversity of the children in foster care''. For example, we know that African American youth are disproportionately overrepresented in the foster care system however, there is not a like amount of African American Foster Parents.

Another anecdote that often comes to mind is a little girl of mixed heritage who I knew that ran away from her foster home and chose to come to my own home. It came to light that her reasoning for these actions was because she was in a foster home with white parents, and she knew that my own daughter would actually be able to handle her African American hair in a way that her white foster parents were not able to. After working with these foster parents to improve their ability to help the girl with her hair, we were able to make a successful reunification. It is that simple. We can fix this.

Finally, I would like to emphasize that with the shortage of foster placements, it is all the more difficult to place foster youth with special needs in homes that are prepared to meet their needs. One such example of special needs is sibling groups. It is certainly a tragedy that upon enduring the trauma of being brought into the foster care system, children often also face the trauma for being indefinitely separated from their known biological siblings. Another example is that foster youth who are part of the LGBTQ+ community need special considerations to secure a safe and accepting placement while in foster care. This is all the more challenging as we are seeing vitriol toward this community nationwide. Youth also can have particular dietary needs either pertaining to health matters or cultural identity that should be catered to in a foster placement.

I am so glad that the House of Representatives is choosing to address all of these issues through the passage of the Recruiting Families Using Data Act. I am looking forward to continuing to work on behalf of foster youth with my colleagues in this constructive manner as we move forward.