Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address an issue of great importance to all of our constituents: their economic livelihoods. It has only been 6 months since President Biden took office and already our country is moving in the wrong direction.

Under President Trump we saw unparalleled economic growth. Now under President Biden, we are faced with more and more government spending, fewer and fewer people going back to work, and skyrocketing inflation, which devalues your money. You can see here, a picture is worth a thousand words. 4.2 less percent value to your dollar today after all the spending the government has been doing here lately.

By the end of 2020, the economy was resurgent. And since the economy was crippled by the initial lock-downs in March and April of 2020, there had been an improvement in the unemployment rate each month, until this spring. After 11 months of significant job growth, the unemployment rate increased this past April for the first time since last year.

More Americans are getting vaccinated every day and COVID-19 restrictions are being lifted around the country. This should be a time when the recovery reaches new heights. There were 9.3 million jobs openings in April. That is more job openings than any other time in the last year. But those jobs may not get filled any time soon, due to President Biden and many of my Democrat colleagues' and

friends' decision here in this Chamber to continue an unsustainable level of Federal unemployment benefits. Some workers can make more money on unemployment than going back to work.

Commonsense dictates that if you pay people not to work, they will take you up on it. Most people will not act against their own economic interests by working if they can make more money staying home.

The failure of the Biden administration has forced some Governors to act on their own. So far, 25 States have announced plans to wind down the extra $300 a week in Federal unemployment benefits.

Governor Jim Justice in my State of West Virginia announced that our State will join that group here this month, in June. So when Federal leadership fails, Governors must step up and make the best decisions for their States.

West Virginia has had a particular problem with worker shortages for years now. Gil White, who is our State Director of the National Federation of Independent Businesses, was asked on WV MetroNews about the worker shortage, and he responded, ``That is not a myth; it's a reality. I don't care if it's large business or small business employers. I think there is a common theme that finding workers is very challenging, to say the least.''

After a tumultuous year with government shutdowns and strict capacity limits, the last thing small businesses need is a worker shortage that leaves them unprepared to meet the demands of a reopening economy.

President Biden's solution to this problem, along with every other problem, seems to be more spending of your hard-earned taxpayer dollars. But with our budget deficit at an alarming level, and you see it here how it is just skyrocketing, our budget deficit, more spending will bring about more problems.

Our debt is currently $28 trillion, and our deficits have grown substantially larger in the past year due to spending increases in response to COVID-19. And, yet, President Biden is currently pushing for more than $4 trillion in new spending. $4 trillion.

President Biden has proposed to build hundreds of thousands of electric vehicle charging stations, retrofit buildings across America, to make them greener, and a laundry list of other progressive priorities.

Despite his sometimes moderate demeanor, President Biden's platform is far left. President Biden made a long list of promises to the left wing of his party, like when he said he would ``get rid of fossil fuels.'' It should come as no surprise that his administration is shaping up to be the most liberal in recent memory.

We should not keep borrowing money from China in order to spend money that we don't have here in America. There is a simple solution, unwind these expensive government programs, continue opening up the economy, and let people earn a living again. That is our country's path forward.

Mr. Speaker, I have a couple more comments I would like to make on a separate issue.

I rise today to address the crisis at the southern border. These images here show children being dropped over the border fence, and show migrants nearly drowning trying to cross the river on the border.

Ladies and gentlemen, dumping children across a fence like this into the wilderness is not an immigration policy. That is child abuse. That is not how we are supposed to do this. It is an outrage. If President Trump had done that, he would be attacked everywhere.

The border crisis is a humanitarian crisis. Even the President of Guatemala, Alejandro Giammattei, blamed the Biden administration's open border messaging calling it ``lukewarm'' and ``confusing.''

He explained this messaging actually increases the number of unaccompanied minors that are sent out on the journey and are subsequently trafficked by coyotes and cartels.

Data shows that Customs and Border Patrol agents stopped over 180,000 illegal border crossings in the month of May alone, the highest in over 20 years. Look, we can have our own opinions, but we are not entitled to our own facts.

This is a crisis, ladies and gentlemen. It is time for America's border czar, Vice President Kamala Harris, to do her job and address the humanitarian crisis at the border to protect to lives of these young children.

Mr. Speaker, today, I have the privilege of recognizing one of the millions of hardworking, taxpaying Americans who form the foundation of our Nation's economy through their employment in small business--in this particular case, the healthcare industry.

Mrs. Teri Topping of Elkins, West Virginia, has served her patients exceptionally well throughout her distinguished career as an orthopedic nurse manager.

As a result, Mrs. Topping is beloved by her community for the conscientious care that she has provided to those in need. Her outstanding performance has helped her local hospital, the Davis Memorial Hospital in Elkins, West Virginia, become one of the best hospitals for joint care in the entire Mountain State.

It is hardly surprising that Mrs. Topping's patients illustrated their deep appreciation for her incredible efforts when the Inter- Mountain's 2021 People's Choice Awards opened balloting to the public. In a heartwarming display, those graced by Mrs. Topping's skill and dedication voted in droves to grant her this year's award for Best Nurse. This tremendous honor is well deserved.

I extend my thanks and congratulations to Nurse Topping for her phenomenal service to the people of West Virginia. I encourage everyone, especially young nurses, to follow her extraordinary example.

Teri Topping and her husband, Ret Topping, are the mother and father of three beautiful daughters. They also are grandparents. They have their first grandchild, fortunately, living nearby them in West Virginia. I consider them personal friends, and they are pillars of the community.

Congratulations to Nurse Teri Topping for her Nurse of the Year award.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to commemorate the life of Sergeant First Class Donald Keith Strickland, who recently passed away. Donald's favorite quote was: ``My proudest accomplishment was defending our great Nation.''

Sergeant First Class Donald Keith Strickland was born on May 31, 1934, to George and Ruth Strickland in Richmond, Indiana. The Stricklands moved out to California for a better life, as many did back in those days.

Young Donald grew up in the San Fernando Valley and had many different jobs, from working at his family's grocery store to doing a paper route on his horse called Star Baby.

While attending high school, Donald had a call to duty and joined the Navy on his 17th birthday. Donald's father had to sign papers in order to release him to enlist for the Korean war. While in Korea, he served on the famed aircraft carriers USS Yorktown and USS Hornet. After the Korean war and 3 years in the Navy, Donald decided to join the Army, where he spent the next 18 years of his life.

Donald did his basic training at Fort Bragg. During Donald's first jump after training, his parachute did not open until he almost hit the ground. As he tells the story: ``I was the last one out of the plane and the first one down.''

During Donald's time in the Army, he was stationed in West Germany, where he met the love of his life, Antonie, and they have been married for over 60 years.

Donald was sent off to the Vietnam war, where he served two tours of duty and was awarded the Bronze Star for bravery in action during the Tet Offensive. Donald rose to the rank of sergeant first class.

After getting injured in the war, Donald became a drill sergeant at Fort Ord Army Base in Monterey, California. As his kids tell their friends, imagine having a drill sergeant for a dad.

In reminiscing with his children, Donald was always proud to be called a soldier for America. Donald considered the United States of America the greatest country in the world.

In 1973, Donald retired from the armed services and relocated to Simi Valley, California, where he worked for the police department.

Donald loved working with his hands and could fix anything. Donald never had a negative comment about anyone, and any person who knew him loved him for his hard work and his smile. Donald's commitment was resounding, as he did not retire until the age of 75.

Donald is survived by his wife, Antonie; his children, Gabriele, Rene, and Anthony; his grandchildren, Jacob, Samantha, Natasha, Alexandra, Ruby, and Anthony; and his great-grandchildren, Wyatt, Kayla, Sophia, and Bryce.

Donald had been a resident of Ventura County since 1973 and resided in Camarillo since 2000 with his wife for the remainder of his life.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record a tribute to Donald Strickland.

SFC Donald Keith Strickland

May 31, 1934-April 29, 2021 (age 86)

tribute

``My proudest accomplishment was defending our great nation.''--Donald

K. Strickland

Sergeant First Class, Donald Keith Strickland was born May

31, 1934 to George and Ruth Strickland in Richmond, Indiana.

The Strickland's moved out to California for a better life

like many did back in those days. Young Donald grew up in the

San Fernando Valley and had many different jobs from working

at his family's grocery store, to doing a paper route down

Sepulveda Blvd on his horse ``Star Baby.''

While attending San Fernando Valley High School, Donald had

a call to duty and joined the Navy on his 17th Birthday. His

father had to sign papers in order to release him to enlist

for the Korean War. While in Korea, Donald served on the

famed aircraft carriers USS Yorktown and USS Hornet. After

the Korean War and three years in the Navy, Donald decided to

join the Army of which he spent the next 18 years of his

life.

Donald did his basic training at Fort Brag, North Carolina

and joined the legendary 82nd Airborne. During his first jump

after training, Donald's parachute did not open until he

almost hit ground. As he tells the story, ``I was the last

one out of the plane and the first one down.'' Not

discouraged, his commanding officer sent him right back up

with no hesitation on Donald's part. He loved jumping out of

airplanes.

During his time in the Army, Donald was stationed in West

Germany where he met the love of his life, Antonie, and have

been married over 60 years. Donald was then sent off to the

Vietnam War where he served two tours of duty and was awarded

the Bronze Star for bravery in action during the Tet

Offensive. Donald rose to the rank of Sergeant First Class as

a non-commissioned officer and received many medals and

awards.

After getting injured in the war, Donald became a drill

sergeant at Fort Ord Army Base in Monterey, California. As

his kids tell their friends, imagine having a drill sergeant

for a dad. In reminiscing with his children; he always was

proud to be called a soldier. He considered the United States

of America the greatest country in the world.

In 1973, Donald retired from the armed services and

relocated to Simi Valley, California. He briefly worked for

the Simi Valley Police department and later went on to be

facilities manager for a number of Convalescent and Hospital

locations throughout Ventura County. He loved working with

his hands and could fix anything. He never had a negative

comment about anyone and any person who knew him loved him

for his hard work and smile. His commitment was resounding as

he did not retire until the age of 75,

He is survived by his wife, Antonie; his children,

Gabriele, Rene and Anthony; his grandchildren, Jacob,

Samantha, Natasha, Alexandra, Ruby and Anthony; and his great

grandchildren, Wyatt, Kayla, Sophia and Bryce.

Donald has been a resident of Ventura County since 1973 and

resided in Camarillo since 2000 with his wife for the

remainder of his life.

A Funeral Service was held on Sat, May 8, 2021 at 11:00 am

at the Chapel of the Hills at Conejo Mountain Memorial Park:

2052 Howard Rd, Camarillo, California 93012, with interment

to follow, also at Conejo Mountain.

The Army Goes Rolling Along

Verse:

March along, sing our song, with the Army of the free

Count the brave, count the true, who have fought to victory

We're the Army and proud of our name

We're the Army and proudly proclaim

Chorus:

First to fight for the right,

And to build the Nation's might,

And The Army Goes Rolling Along

Proud of all we have done,

Fighting till the battle's won,

And the Army Goes Rolling Along.

Refrain:

Then it's Hi! Hi! Hey!

The Army's on its way.

Count off the cadence loud and strong

For where e'er we go,

You will always know

That The Army Goes Rolling Along.

Verse:

Valley Forge, Custer's ranks,

San Juan Hill and Patton's tanks,

And the Army went rolling along

Minutemen, from the start,

Always fighting from the heart,

And the Army keeps rolling along.

(Refrain)

Verse:

Men in rags, men who froze,

Still that Army met its foes,

And the Army went rolling along.

Faith in God, then we're right,

And we'll fight with all our might,

As the Army keeps rolling along.

Madam Speaker, this past weekend, we celebrated Mother's Day, a day for families across our great Nation to honor our mothers.

God has blessed me with a wife, the mother of our three beautiful children, including two daughters.

My own mother, Lala, has instilled in me the values I am proud to cherish today, including my faith and belief in family. My mother, who is almost 80 years old, fled Communist Cuba under the Castro regime and is now a proud American. Her love of country inspires me each day.

Mother's Day was founded by West Virginia native Anna Jarvis in 1908. But the radical left, including some Members of Congress, have begun referring to mothers as ``birthing people.''

NARAL, the pro-choice lobbying group, tweeted on May 6: ``When we talk about birthing people, we are being inclusive. It is that simple.''

The canceling of the term ``mother'' actually began here in the Congress when Speaker Pelosi changed the House Rules package and eliminated the words ``mother,'' ``father,'' ``son,'' and ``daughter,'' and replaced them with ``parent'' and ``child.''

It defies common sense that the cancel culture and some Members of Congress would seek to cancel the term ``mother.'' It is wrong that we cannot celebrate mothers on the House floor. All mothers play an important role.

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

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to honor a great West Virginia icon and U.S. Army veteran, Mr. Dennis Davis, who passed away on January 19, 2021.

Dennis was the cabinet secretary for the West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance. He understood the needs of our veteran community.

Dennis had also been a member of the West Virginia State University ROTC program. I enjoyed our time together as we met with veterans all across West Virginia's Second District.

During his lifetime, Dennis was the much-admired director for West Virginia Workforce Development, an educator who helped guide citizens toward jobs, opportunities, and fulfillment in their lives.

We commemorate his leadership, his service as an Army veteran, and his dedication to our great State. May his legacy forever live on to inspire hard work, devotion, and service.

Madam Speaker, let's not attempt to steal knowledge of our Nation's history from our children, like the Grinch attempted to steal Christmas.

I rise to honor the legendary Dr. Seuss for Read Across America Day. Yesterday would also have been his 117th birthday.

Before he became a world-famous writer, Seuss attended Dartmouth College, my alma mater. He was also a member of the New Hampshire Alpha Chapter of the fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon, of which I was also a member. We used to love showing Theodore Geisel's class photo on the wall to visitors.

But in the spirit of cancel culture, publishers have discontinued six of his books. Dr. Seuss was known as a progressive for his time. His famous story ``The Lorax'' was about protecting the environment.

My favorite, ``Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now!'' my 6-year- old daughter thinks was written just for her. Children grow up dreaming about ``Oh, the Places You'll Go!'' a Dr. Seuss book with the lessons we find throughout our life's journey.

Madam Speaker, we should all respect and honor Dr. Seuss and forget this cancel culture nonsense.

Madam Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 48.

Mr. Speaker, I will talk a little bit about some concerns and, generally, about the sanctity of human life and the unborn.

I rise today in memory of the over 60 million babies who have been killed through abortion since the Supreme Court's disastrous decision Roe v. Wade. As a nation, we have taken extraordinary steps to protect public health and save lives amid the coronavirus outbreak, but there is a huge contradiction when it comes to protecting human life in the womb.

Protecting all human life should be a bipartisan issue. Yet, today, President Biden is driving policies like taxpayer funding of abortion and naming pro-abortion extremist Xavier Becerra as the Health and Human Services Secretary.

As recently as 2012, President Biden restated his long-held view that human life begins at conception. He said: ``With regard to abortion, I accept my church's position that life begins at conception.''

Well, it is not only a religious belief, but it is also a scientific fact that human life begins at conception. Thanks to modern scientific advancements, we now can visually see and know the personhood of preborn children.

Doctors can operate on babies in the womb to save their lives. We know a preborn baby's heart starts to beat at about 6 weeks. Nails begin to form at 10 weeks, and babies have fingerprints by 13 weeks.

It is time to give a voice to the voiceless. It is time for the law to acknowledge the dignity of the preborn babies who are the most helpless among us.

I urge my fellow Members of Congress to join me in defense of all human life, standing up for all human life. I urge President Biden to actually enact his personally held views that he acknowledges that it begins at conception. I think we actually all know that. It is a scientific fact.

The reconciliation bill that is coming up, there are pro-life concerns in this bill. For starters, it fails to include the traditional what we call the high protections. That is a longstanding policy in Congress that your taxpayer dollars do not go for abortions. This bill waives that. It enables taxpayer funding of abortion.

There are more than $414 billion taxpayer dollars, supposedly intended for COVID-19 relief, that have no Hyde protections.

So we are talking a lot about the cancel culture. You have, on the one hand, a division in this country. Many of us believe it is the taking of a human life, it is killing, it is murder; and we object to that. But instead of respecting our views, you actually want to take money from us through taxes and use our actual dollars to kill children. If you are going to talk about cancel culture, at least respect the differences of opinion.

But this bill doesn't do that. This bill we are going to vote on this week doesn't do that. It gets rid of the high protections. It is taxpayer-funded abortions. It also requires taxpayers to subsidize health plans that potentially cover elective abortions.

National Debt

Mr. Speaker, now I am going to change topics to something that is not talked about enough in this Congress, and that is spending. We talk a lot about these bills and how much we are going to spend on this group and spend on that group, and we are going to give money to this and give money to that.

Federal debt has increased sharply. I have this beautiful chart here starting in 1790, the first budget in our country right after the Revolutionary War, and you can see the national debt. This is done in a fair way. It is debt to the gross domestic product. So it is a percentage of the domestic product in debt.

And you can see, in 1790, the mark where it was. We just finished the Civil War. So we owed some money to the soldiers. We paid that off in the next 40 years up until the Civil War. And in the Civil War there was a little bit of debt, and it goes back down again. And you can see it is kind of steadily up and down a bit. World War II, okay. World War II, again, debt-to-gross-domestic-product. We were just trying to survive there, and the debt is back down again.

But when you get to where we are today, things have gone completely out of control. The Congressional Budget Office estimates an additional $104 trillion will be added by 2050. The Congressional Budget Office forecasted debt would rise 200 percent. Today, as I stand here right now, we have $27.9 trillion in national debt.

$27.9 trillion, what is that to you? That is $84,000.

That is actually a little more than $84,000 of debt to every American citizen right here today.

Now, on this day 1 year ago, in 2020, the U.S. national debt was $23.4 trillion, that was $72,309 in debt per person. We have actually borrowed $10,000 per person in 1 year. I mean, that is out of control.

And when you hear about these bills--I plan to vote against this one tomorrow; I think many of us do--they say, oh, we are going to give this and give that.

No. They are taking it from you. This is debt that your children will have to pay.

This $2 trillion--nearly $2 trillion spending package is full of liberal priorities. We are going to grow our debt to $29 trillion. That is even more debt owed per citizen.

There is a lot of misinformation about where the debt is going. The top two countries we owe the debt to are China and Japan, not actually our friends. We are at global competition with China all the time. They are holding a lot of the debt. We owe China over $1 trillion and we owe Japan over $1 trillion.

The people who are loaning us the money we have to pay back are not necessarily people who have our best interest at heart. Brazil, we owe $258 billion. India, we owe $216 billion. And the list goes on the debt that is owed to foreign countries.

The national debt was $5.6 trillion in 2000. It increased. Under Obama, it actually doubled. Since the 8 years Obama was President, we doubled our national debt. And we are adding another--projected here--a completely out of control debt-to-GDP ratio.

So I urge my colleagues to consider the future. Don't buy into the-- the government has no money it doesn't take from you that you are going to have to pay back. We need to be judicious with these dollars, and most of this is not going to coronavirus relief anyway.

I would agree. And I would add that 27 percent of this bill, over $510 billion goes to State and local governments. So the taxpayers of my State of West Virginia and your State of Texas and other States are literally bailing out States that have failed to manage their own budgets.

West Virginia taxpayers shouldn't have to pay for New York and Illinois and California that are completely out of control in their spending. $510 billion is going to bail out these State and local governments. It is not a good use of taxpayer dollars.

Madam Speaker, I object.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take from the Speaker's table H.R. 3401, with the Senate amendment thereto, and concur in the Senate amendment. This bipartisan bill passed the Senate with 84 votes and could be sent to the President's desk for his signature today.

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to welcome Reverend Jacob Isaac Pack from Putnam County in my district as the guest chaplain today. Reverend Pack is an ordained minister with the United Pentecostal Church International and currently serves as the pastor of Beckley United Pentecostal Church.

Over the 20 years that he has been involved in ministry, Reverend Pack has served local congregations as well as in State and national offices of the United Pentecostal Church. Reverend Pack serves as the West Virginia-Western Maryland District Sunday school director and on the National Sunday School Committee.

Reverend Pack is actively involved in the public service sector with his position as the executive director of the Kanawha Public Service District, also in my congressional district. He serves in his local community as the vice president of the Putnam County Planning Commission.

Reverend Pack and his fabulous wife, Tiffany, have three wonderful children, Hayden, Jamison, and Juliette.

Madam Speaker, I include in the Record, the following obituary for Mr. Bill O'Dell of Putnam County:

William Douglas O'Dell

William ``Bill'' Douglas O'Dell, 68, of Poca went to be

with his Lord on Monday, May 6, 2019.

Bill was a graduate of South Charleston High School and

Marshall University. He worked at Regional Family Resource

Network and was the Director of Putnam Wellness Coalition. He

dedicated his life to drug and alcohol prevention. He was a

mentor to many. His impact on the youth and the community

cannot be measured. He touched many lives at Teen Institute,

a leadership program that helps young people become leaders

around prevention of alcohol, tobacco, drugs and other

critical daily decisions.

He was a man of Christian faith, integrity, great humor,

positive thinking, a role model to many, a devoted husband,

father, grandfather and brother. He will be greatly missed.

The family would like to thank his Church, friends, co-

workers, the community, our extended family and the Putnam

Wellness Coalition for their support, love and prayers.

Bill is preceded in death by his parents Dr. Richard Nolan

O'Dell and Vera Waldorf O'Dell and father-in-law, Louis

``Gene'' Barnett. He is survived by his wife Judith O'Dell of

Poca, daughter Tina (Mike) Shoemaker and his pride and joy,

his grandson, Caden of Ona, WV, son Joshua (Kristina) of

Charleston, SC; mother-in-law Lorene Barnett, brother Larry

(Beverly) O'Dell of Chesapeake, OH; sister Verajane (William)

Fish of Savannah, GA, brother-in-law and sister-in-law Adrain

and Cindy Jones of Winfield, WV; nieces Wendy (Stephen) Mann,

Laura (David) Moir; nephews Keith (Jennifer) O'Dell, Joseph

(Marie) Fish, David (Heather) Fish and Logan Jones.

A tribute to the life of William ``Bill'' O'Dell will be

2:00 PM Saturday, May 11, 2019 at Gatens-Harding chapel with

Pastor Fred Elliott and Pastor Wayne Hooper officiating.

Entombment will follow at Haven of Rest Memory Gardens, Red

House, WV. Friends may visit at the funeral home 3 hours

prior to the service 11:00 AM-2:00 PM on Saturday.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Wilkinson

United Methodist Church, PO Box 236, Hometown, WV 25109 or

donate to the Bill O'Dell Teen Institute Fund, PO Box 3041,

Charleston, WV 25331.