Floor Statements

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

I rise in support of S. 452, the Willie O'Ree Congressional Gold Medal Act.

Willie O'Ree's story is one of determination and perseverance, one of the greatest qualities a human being can have.

Willie, born October 15, 1935, was the youngest of 13 children of parents Rosebud and Harry O'Ree. The O'Ree family was one of only two Black families that lived in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Willie is a descendent of Paris O'Ree, a slave who escaped servitude in South Carolina in the late 1700s at only 15 years old.

When he was 3, Willie fashioned skates out of wooden blocks with metal blades attached to the bottom and took to his frozen lawn in the backyard. He had a knack for skating. Two years later at age 5, Willie began to play organized hockey. Many refer to Willie as the ``Jackie Robinson of hockey.''

Interestingly, at Dodger Stadium in 1949, 2 years after Robinson broke baseball's color barrier, a 14-year-old O'Ree had the opportunity to meet his hero. In one interview, Willie recalls that as Robinson made his way down to the receiving line, Willie waited patiently. When his turn arrived, he spoke to Jackie and said, I am a baseball player. But what I really love is hockey.

Robinson replied, Oh, I didn't know Black kids played hockey.

Nearly 9 years later, on January 18, 1958, Willie put on a Boston Bruins uniform for a game against the Montreal Canadians and became the first Black player in NHL history.

From 1958 to 1961, O'Ree played in 45 games for the Bruins, all while hiding a secret that he was, in fact, blind in one eye.

Willie paved the way for a new generation of hockey players. Wayne Simmonds of the Toronto Maple Leafs was quoted as stating:

Willie set the table for everyone else to eat, and he did

it all with dignity and class. I used to think about Willie's

story whenever teachers or hockey parents or coaches would

laugh at my dream of making it to the NHL.

Willie's story did not end after he left the ice. Seventeen years after he retired from professional hockey, the NHL hired O'Ree as their first-ever diversity ambassador. This role put Willie in a position to grow the sport by providing access, opportunity, and motivation for children of all races, ethnicities, origins, and abilities.

In November of 2018, O'Ree was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, and just last night, 64 years to the day of his historic entrance into the league, his number 22 jersey was raised to the rafters in TD Garden and retired; an act of ultimate recognition of what a player means to a franchise, a fan base, and a community.

Mr. Speaker, Willie O'Ree forever changed the sport of hockey. His determination and perseverance should be recognized with a Congressional Gold Medal.

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

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Emmer). This Member of Congress not only played collegiate hockey, he is a hockey dad, and spent over 20 years as a hockey coach, he is one of the best fans of the game of hockey in the United States Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I would just like to, once again, reiterate the significance of this Congressional Gold Medal. Willie O'Ree not only forever changed the sport of hockey, but he truly helped change the history of this country. His determination and perseverance and his trailblazing spirit should be recognized with a Congressional Gold Medal.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the life of a great American, Courtney Lykins, Jr. Mr. Lykins lived in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky, and passed away on December 15, 2021.

Mr. Lykins served our nation proudly in the United States Army Reserves from 1970 to 1997. He served in the 100th Division, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Brigade as Sergeant First Class/E7, Senior Drill Sergeant, and Senior Tank Commander. He trained soldiers heading to Vietnam in 1970 when he served at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Mr. Lykins was an active member of the American Legion, Post 22 in Mt. Sterling. He was commissioned a Kentucky Colonel by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in recognition of his service and accomplishments.

Mr. Lykins worked at Hobart Manufacturing Company for ten years. He then worked for Kentucky Utilities, LGE in Mt. Sterling for 32 years until his retirement. He is survived by his loving wife, Janet Wilson Lykins, two sons and daughters in law, Chuck and Nancy Lykins and Wesley and Allison Lykins, and six grandchildren. In addition, he leaves behind two brothers and two sisters.

Courtney Lykins was a follower of Christ, a true patriot, and a loving family man. It is my honor to lift up the life of Courtney Lykins before the United States Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee for yielding.

I rise in opposition to this legislation. Mr. Speaker, Islamophobia is wrong, just as anti-Semitism, anti-Christian hatred, and all forms of discrimination based on race or religion are wrong.

But this bill, despite whatever the author and defenders of this legislation claim as its purpose or their intent, is not targeted to counter actual Islamophobia.

In fact, this bill is so poorly drafted, any objective analysis of it raises serious concerns about what the true intentions of the bill are because it specifically does not define Islamophobia.

This lack of definition not only risks confusing U.S. foreign policy, but it also would compromise U.S. counterterrorism efforts and undermine our national security.

What we need, Mr. Speaker, and what this bill fails to provide is moral clarity. We don't need nuance or political correctness or silencing debate or censorship on the issue of radical Islamic terrorism. What we need is intellectual and moral clarity.

Before 9/11, radical Islamic terrorists were at war with the United States. That was before 9/11. Since then, radical Islamic terrorists have been at war with the United States.

Now, you may wish that wasn't the case, but it is a historical fact. If you cannot even acknowledge who the enemy is or that we are at war with them, then how can you expect to defeat that enemy?

We must face the truth, the truth that there is a very real struggle within the Islamic world between religious tolerance, the purported goal of this bill, and an evil, toxic intolerance, the potential byproduct of this bill that says if you are a Christian or if you are a Jew or if you are a moderate Muslim, then you must be destroyed.

This bill, either unintentionally or by design, gives voice to this toxic religious intolerance by failing to exclude from the definition of Islamophobia any policy or viewpoint that rejects radical Islamic terrorism.

This ideology of evil and extreme religious intolerance must be confronted with clarity, as much as each individual act of terrorism. And an overinclusive definition of Islamophobia threatens to encourage the very extremism that we all say we oppose.

Is it Islamophobia to criticize the Taliban, a self-proclaimed Islamic organization, when they commit grave human rights abuses and oppress women?

Is it Islamophobia to criticize rejoining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action when talking about the malign, theocratic Islamic Republic of Iran, the leaders of which chant, ``Death to America,'' and promise the destruction of the State of Israel?

Is it Islamophobia to condemn Hamas when they are firing rockets on innocent Israelis from Gaza?

Is it Islamophobia to criticize someone who dismissively, derisively, and defensively refers to 9/11 hijackers as ``people who did some things''?

These actions are not Islamophobic. These are beliefs motivated out of security and fact. However, we are voting shortly on a bill that actually does combat Islamophobia, real Islamophobia, a bipartisan bill to combat the forced labor of Uyghur people and the systemic genocide of peaceful Muslim minorities by the Chinese Communist Party.

Mr. Speaker, that bill makes a clear, defined difference. This bill does not. Simply saying we are against Islamophobia without clearly and correctly defining it and establishing an office within the State Department to combat it without safeguards against the relativist views of the politically correct is an invitation to weaponize our foreign policy against itself. We must deal with this problem as it is, not as we would hope it to be.

History teaches us that when Islamic extremists and jihadists are not fought, they grow. Their movement metastasizes. The longer they are not confronted, the more they become emboldened. The more they are appeased and tolerated, the more they overrun territories in the areas they occupy and secure safe havens from which they can launch attacks against the United States and the West.

As a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, I was more than disappointed that my Democratic colleagues, many of whom I respect very, very much, rejected a good faith amendment in our markup to clearly define what Islamophobia actually is.

We do have a Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism who works off an internationally adopted definition of anti-Semitism. But the way this bill is structured fails to acknowledge that a policy of countering jihad is not, never has been, and never will be Islamophobia. And the bill establishes an office that would actually undermine the very mission of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.

In sum, this bill, without definitional restraint, will invite anti- Semitism and anti-Christian bias into State Department decisionmaking, and it will do so under the guise of combating Islamophobia. That is what this bill will do without definition.

Maybe this bill is well-intentioned, but if we don't agree to some kind of definition, if we do not provide some clarity--moral clarity, intellectual clarity--as to who the enemy is versus what Islamophobia is, then what we have here in this bill is a wolf in sheep's clothing. Nuance and political correctness will not help us defeat our enemy, and it leaves peaceful practitioners of Islam robbed of the definition that they truly deserve.

Mr. Speaker, for these reasons, I urge my colleagues to oppose this legislation.

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

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, my good friend from New York (Mr. Meeks), for his leadership in helping support this legislation and bringing it to the House floor.

I want to thank the gentleman from Massachusetts for his leadership in recognizing this serious human rights travesty that is happening.

I also want to thank the 11 House Foreign Affairs Committee Republicans who are cosponsors of this legislation, including Mr. Smith of New Jersey.

I want to thank Senator Rubio from Florida for working with the gentleman from Massachusetts on finding a bipartisan and bicameral compromise to bring this important legislation to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, it is past time for this Chamber and the Congress to act to stop the Chinese Communist Party from using American consumers to subsidize its brutality. Preventing products made with slave labor from

contaminating our market is a longstanding priority of U.S. trade, not just because it puts American manufacturers at a disadvantage, but because the American values that we all share will not tolerate it.

Truly free trade cannot involve slave labor. But today, the CCP is using the forced labor of Uyghurs and other minorities to help bankroll its genocide against those very same groups. The repression taking place right now in Xinjiang is breathtaking in its scope and in its brutality. More than 1 million people have been locked in concentration camps and subjected to surveillance and brainwashing on a massive scale.

Families are being broken up and children are being taken from their parents. Forced sterilization and forced abortion are being used to limit births among ethnic groups targeted by the CCP.

This is outrageous human rights violations and the world cannot turn a blind eye. It is a horrific warning, not only to China's neighbors and to the American people, but to the world. The Chinese Communist Party is fundamentally focused on expanding its power and its authoritarian style of government. It views things that it does not control, like religion, cultural identity, and the yearning of all people for freedom, as threats that must be destroyed.

Because we have drawn the CCP into many of our most critical supply chains, it has the ability to hold our national security hostage while it uses U.S. consumers to subsidize its atrocities. This cannot stand. As many as one in five cotton garments globally are potentially tainted with Uyghur slave labor.

Last year, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized a 13-ton shipment of human hair that originated in Xinjiang's forced labor system. We have a duty to prevent the CCP from making Americans complicit in these sickening abuses. For that reason, I support the bipartisan bill before us today, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), a Member of this body who, for many, many years, has been a champion of human rights and, frankly, no one has done more to advance the cause of human rights than my colleague from New Jersey.

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

Mr. Speaker, in recent years the world has stood by as the Chinese Communist Party has detained more than 1 million ethnic minorities in concentration camps where they are tortured, brainwashed, and put into forced labor. This is all part of a deliberate program by the CCP to wipe out their ethnic identity, their religion, their culture, anything that might compete with the Communist Party for their loyalties and affection.

We have a moral duty to speak out against these horrifying crimes, but we have an even greater duty to avoid funding this genocide by paying for slave labor in Xinjiang.

Many American companies have built their businesses on values that include respect for basic human rights. The United States must continue to lead the world in setting corporate responsibility standards. There can no longer be business as usual with China. The world is watching.

While this bill did not go through regular order in the Foreign Affairs Committee, I commend Chairman McGovern and Senator Marco Rubio for coming to this important bipartisan agreement.

I appreciate the chairman's leadership, and it is good to have a bipartisan bill where we stand united in one voice for human rights, and to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of an issue that is obviously very personal to me, my legislation, the Cardiovascular Advances in Research and Opportunities Legacy Act, or the CAROL Act.

I am just overwhelmed and so grateful to my friends and colleagues on both sides of the aisle. I thank them for their kindness, their kind words about Carol, and their advocacy for this very important legislation.

I do ask for the indulgence of the House and my colleagues to speak about a topic that is very personal. I have become, unfortunately, very passionate about it.

My life and my girls' lives were changed forever when we lost Carol, who was my best friend, and that was a sudden cardiac event on June 16, 2020. She was only 39 years old. This was just a few weeks before her 40th birthday.

The end of her life didn't define her life. When people hear about the CAROL Act, I want them to know not just about the legislation. I want them to know about Carol, the woman who inspires it, because so much of her life really continues to make a positive impact on all of us.

First of all, Carol was obviously a beautiful person, but her beauty on the outside was not as much as it was on the inside, as beautiful as she was as a person.

She was an amazing friend and daughter and wife. She was so supportive. Everybody who serves in this body knows it takes so much support from a spouse, and I witnessed that every day both in this job and out of this job and in the 12 years that we were married.

She was a supporter. She was a selfless giver. And she was a giver not just to me and my girls, she was a selfless person with everyone, with her friends, with her family. She was always going out of her way to do for others and put others ahead of herself.

Professionally she was incredibly accomplished. She worked in the pharmaceutical industry. She was a planner, a list maker, a detailed organizer, which was great for me because I wasn't any of those things. She complemented me. She kept me going. She kept me on time and organized. I was not a list maker, and she was. She was a go-getter.

As my friend, Whip Scalise, said, she had this great saying, and she said it to me the weekend before she passed away: ``Just get it done.''

But of course, her greatest legacy was her motherhood. She was defined by her motherhood of our girls, Eleanor and Mary Clay. She was the best mother in the world. Now, she only had 9 and 7 years, but she packed it in, and she left a great mark on those kids, and they are her greatest legacy. I am so proud of our girls. And my youngest, Mary Clay, always says: ``Daddy, when

you give those speeches, why don't you talk about me? And, Mary Clay, I am talking about you, and I am talking about your sister, Eleanor, right now because you are your mother. You shine through, and your mother will continue to shine through you all.

So what is Carol's story?

At a young age, in seventh grade, she was diagnosed with an underlying condition called mitral valve prolapse or floppy valve syndrome. This is a typically benign condition that results in sudden cardiac death in only 0.2 percent of the cases.

The odds were decidedly in her favor, and she knew that, and she talked about that, and her physicians talked about that. They said it was no big deal. She said it was no big deal. I said it was no big deal because everybody thought it was no big deal. We just had to monitor it, and we did.

And Carol sadly was one of those unlucky people in that 0.2 percent category. She did have a near fainting episode, and she got a Holter monitor, and in early 2020 she sought help from a cardiologist, and in the medical notes the cardiologist said, yes, we need to further investigate this. Not urgent, but we need to investigate this. We need to get an echo stress test after the virus resolves.

And there was no incident. There was no chest discomfort after that. There was nothing between March and, sadly, June 16 when I came home that night.

So what factors placed Carol in the 0.2 percent versus the 99.8 percent category?

That is what we don't know. That is what we need to know for other families.

So in my discussions with top cardiologists, medical experts, researchers, and advocates following Carol's passing, I learned the extent to which the medical community seriously lacks answers to this critical question.

And sadly, over 25,000 Americans die each year from heart valve disease primarily due to underdiagnosis and undertreatment of the condition.

So inspired by the extraordinary life of my wife and also many experts, the cardiologists who contributed to this work with the help of experts at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, we introduced the CAROL Act to better equip our medical community with the resources needed to develop predictive models, inform communities, and save the lives of other loved ones.

So specifically, the CAROL Act authorizes a grant program administered by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to support research on MVP.

This legislation marshals the full power of 21st century medical innovation and encourages the utilization of technological imaging and precision medicine to generate data on individuals with valvular heart disease.

It is through this research that we can help identify Americans at high risk of sudden cardiac death from valvular heart disease and develop prediction models for high-risk patients, enabling interventions and treatment plans to keep these patients healthy throughout their lives.

Additionally, the CAROL Act will instruct the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to increase public awareness regarding symptoms of valvular heart disease and effective strategies for preventing sudden cardiac death.

Madam Speaker, I am honored and so grateful that this bill, the CAROL Act, has earned the bipartisan support of over 180 Members of this body and all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have been critical to bringing this legislation to this point. The speakers here today, I am so humbled and grateful to them. To my good friend, Congressman Guthrie, who was a dear friend of my wife, to Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Whip Scalise, both of whom knew and counted Carol as one of their friends, my good friends, Kathleen Rice and Jimmy Panetta on the other side, who have been just awesome to work with on this. Chairman Pallone, I really appreciate your leadership and Leader Hoyer, as well; my good friends Brad Wenstrup and Bill Huizenga, who have been really helpful to me in this difficult time. And I am also grateful for my friend and fellow Kentuckian, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who is leading the companion bill in the Senate, and Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema, who I served with in my class here; sadly, Kyrsten lost a sister to a similar condition, and they are leading the companion legislation in the Senate.

And, finally, I acknowledge and thank the over 20 medical groups who supported our bill, including the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiologists, and WomenHeart, and the scores of doctors that we consulted who really were instrumental in helping us, and I will just say a few: Dr. Mary Sheppard, Dr. Alan Daugherty, and Dr. Nezar Falluji in the district that I represent at the University of Kentucky; also Dr. Gary Gibbons and his team at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; Dr. Francesca Delling at the University of California, San Francisco; and Dr. Bonow at Northwestern. They were all instrumental in crafting this legislation.

Madam Speaker, in conclusion, Carol Barr's greatest legacy will always be our two daughters, and she wouldn't have wanted this. She doesn't want this as her legacy. She wanted to raise our kids. But I will tell you this, even though the doctors said that her heart gave out, you know, because of her life and her legacy and this bill, she is going to be remembered as having the most powerful heart of all, of anyone we have ever met. I hope my colleagues in the House will help me move one step closer to enshrining that legacy in a way that will help others avert this tragedy that has so profoundly affected my family.

And, honey, we are getting it done.

Mr. Speaker, on the heels of the most expensive Thanksgiving in decades, the American people are heading into the holiday shopping season that is going to be the most expensive in American history. That is because everywhere Americans open their wallets or swipe their credit cards, they are paying more because of President Biden's reckless tax, borrow, and spend policies.

Gas prices are up 61 percent from last year.

Think about it, Mr. Speaker, in 1 year's time we went from energy dominance to total dependence on foreign sources of energy. Electricity prices are up nearly 25 percent, and with winter in full swing, the cost of natural gas is soaring. Nearly half the homes in United States use natural gas for heat, and families could pay an average of $746 more this winter, 30 percent more than a year ago.

In October, the CPI rose 6.2 percent, the highest it has been in over 30 years. Core inflation--minus food and energy costs--is at 4.3 percent, well above the Fed's 2 percent target.

Mr. Speaker, the Fed is not meeting its price stability mandate, and now Democrats want to double down on their failed policies of overspending, discouraging work, and constraining the supply of energy.

The Build Back Better bill is not going to remedy inflation; it is going to make it much, much worse. It is time for this administration and the majority in this Congress to reverse course and stop jeopardizing the future prosperity of the American people.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of a true American patriot, former Congressman Larry Hopkins, who served in this body from 1979-1993 and passed away on November 15. Throughout his extraordinary career in public service, Larry served in the Kentucky State legislature and for over a decade in Congress in the seat I now hold. Larry's career in public service began as a U.S. Marine in 1954. It was that love for the military that Larry would bring with him to Congress, where he rose to become the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee.

Larry's humor was famous with both his constituents and his colleagues--always offering a disarming joke to lighten the mood or evoking a good laugh. Above all, madam Speaker, Congressman Hopkins was proud of his work across the aisle and the relationships he had with all of his colleagues, Republicans and Democrats alike.

In these divided times, let us be inspired by the legacy of Congressman Hopkins to come together and solve the problems of our day, not as Republicans and Democrats, but as Americans who all love our country. On behalf of a grateful nation, God bless Congressman Larry Hopkins. To my colleagues in the House, join me in praying for his wife, Carolyn, and three children, Shae, Tara, and Josh.

Madam Speaker, I rise today with my colleagues from the Kentucky delegation to honor the life of a true American patriot, former Congressman Larry Hopkins, who served in this body from 1979 to 1993 and passed away early yesterday.

Throughout his extraordinary career in public service, Larry served in the Kentucky State legislature and for over a decade in Congress in the seat I now hold.

Larry's career in public service began as a U.S. marine in 1954. It was that love for the military that Larry would bring with him to the Congress, where he rose to become the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee.

Larry's humor was famous with both his constituents and his colleagues, always offering a disarming joke to lighten the mood or evoking a good laugh.

Above all, Madam Speaker, Congressman Hopkins was proud of his work across the aisle and the relationships he had with all his colleagues, Republicans and Democrats alike.

In these divided times, let us be inspired by the legacy of Congressman Larry Hopkins to come together and solve the problems of our day not as Republicans or Democrats, but as Americans who all love our country.

On behalf of a grateful Nation, I invite my colleagues in the House to join me in praying for Larry's family: his wife, Carolyn; and three children, Shae, Tara, and Josh.

I now ask that the House observe a moment of silence to honor the life of Congressman Larry Hopkins. God bless Larry Hopkins.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the life of a great American, George B. Campbell. Mr. Campbell lived in Winchester, Kentucky and passed away on October 21, 2021.

George Campbell was a proud veteran of the United States Army, enlisting in 1968. He served our nation with honor in Vietnam, where he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, and the Vietnam Campaign Medal. After his time in the military, Mr. Campbell enrolled in Georgetown College where he met his wife Rosemary. They were married for 47 years and have 2 sons, Jeff and Chris, and four grandchildren. Mr. Campbell worked as a civil servant with the Department of Defense. He retired after a 30- plus year distinguished career as the Chief of Operations Division for Special Operations Forces Support Activity at Bluegrass Station.

Mr. Campbell had a passion and a gift for serving others. On a trip to the Vietnam Wall Memorial in 2011, he observed a group from an Honor Flight from Chicago. Upon speaking with a medic from the group and several veterans and guardians, he learned more about the Honor Flight organization and its profound impact on our nation's veterans. Returning home, he became the co-founder of Honor Flight Kentucky. He was very active as a board member, officer, Ambassador and Flight Coordinator. Mr. Campbell's work with Honor Flight brought joy, comradery, and a renewed sense of pride to hundreds of Kentucky veterans. I came to know Mr. Campbell when I was given the opportunity to participate in Honor Flight Kentucky activities and I am grateful to Mr. Campbell for allowing me to be involved.

Faith was a guiding light in the life of this humble servant leader. Mr. Campbell was a parishioner of Saint Joseph Catholic Church, where he was an active member and played guitar for Sunday mass. He volunteered at the Troy Bowling Campus of the Lexington VA Healthcare System and at various other charitable organizations.

George Campbell was a true patriot, a follower of Christ, a family man, and an inspiration to all who were fortunate enough to know him. While he will be missed, he leaves behind a legacy of service that will continue. It was my honor to call him my friend and it is my honor to lift up the life of George B. Campbell before the United States Congress.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the life of a great Kentuckian, James E. ``Ted'' Bassett III. Mr. Bassett was born in Lexington, Kentucky on October 26, 1921, one hundred years ago. Mr. Bassett is universally well-respected and one of our finest citizens.

Ted Bassett graduated from Yale in the early 1940's. Soon after that, he was deployed to the South Pacific as a member of the United States Marine Corps. He served as an infantry officer in the 4th Marine Regiment, 6th Marine Division. Mr. Bassett led a rifle platoon during the Battle of Okinawa. He was twice wounded and received the Purple Heart and the Presidential Unit Citation. Mr. Bassett credits his service as a U.S. Marine with being the ``most meaningful phase'' of his life. He is the epitome of an American patriot. Humble in his valor, his love of our country is unmatched.

Following WWII, Mr. Bassett worked as a newsprint salesman in New York, a tobacco farmer in Kentucky, Deputy Commissioner for the Department of Public Safety, and director of the Kentucky State Police. In 1968, he became involved with Keeneland Association as an assistant to President Louis L. Haggin, II. He went on to become President, Chairman of the Board, Trustee, and Trustee Emeritus of Keeneland, where his tenure extends for 53

years. During his time at Keeneland, the track became one of the most prominent thoroughbred racetracks in North America. Keeneland's sales grew incredibly, and it became a major international auction house.

Mr. Bassett's leadership continued as President of the Breeder's Cup, the Thoroughbred Racing Association, and the Thoroughbred Club of America. He served as a member of The Jockey Club as well as a Trustee of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, the University of Kentucky Equine Research Foundation, and Transylvania University. Mr. Bassett is undoubtably one of the most respected figures in the thoroughbred industry. In 1996, he received an Eclipse Award of Merit for his contributions and in 2019 was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame.

Mr. Bassett is a generous philanthropist in the central Kentucky area. He has a true love of people and would be as comfortable talking with the President of the United States or the Queen of England as he is talking with the staff at Keeneland. Ted Bassett is an incredible patriot, a legend in the thoroughbred industry, a selfless individual, and a shining example to us all. I have been honored to know him all of my life and it is my honor to recognize this great American patriot before the United States Congress on his 100th birthday.

Madam Speaker, I thank my good friend from Missouri, a real leader on the Financial Services Committee, and also our ranking Republican and leader on the Small Business Committee and tireless champion for America's small businesses. That is where all of the jobs are created in this country.

For the life of me, Madam Speaker, on the heels of horrible third- quarter GDP numbers, I don't know why the Biden administration wants to put new taxes on small businesses. The GDP numbers for the third quarter were far short of what economists predicted and, yet President Biden's plan to so-called Build Back Better is actually a $400 billion tax hike on job-creating small businesses.

The bulk of this comes from an expansion of the 3.8 percent net investment income tax that is now going to hit active income for these pass-through businessowners. Democrats want to expand this to investment income of individuals actively involved in LLCs, S corporations, and partnerships, those small mom-and-pop Main Street businesses that really create jobs in our country.

Additionally, the Democrats are also pushing an $800 billion tax hike on American businesses that will be a gift to China, Russia, Japan, and Europe, making it better to be a foreign company than an American one. These crippling tax hikes will kill American jobs, drive economic activity overseas, and destroy small businesses as they struggle to recover from the pandemic.

As if this wasn't bad enough, Democrats want to arm the Internal Revenue Service with $80 billion in additional funds to target American small businesses and families. So not only will small businesses in Kentucky have their taxes go up, but they should prepare for an avalanche of new audits coming their way courtesy of this Big Government socialist bill.

On top of that, this legislation will only add fuel to the fire of the burning inflation crisis. This year the Consumer Price Index is up 5.4 percent, the highest in 13 years, but the Personal Consumption Expenditure Index, less food and energy costs, is up 3.6 percent, well above the Fed's 2 percent target and the highest in over 30 years.

Madam Speaker, the longer this inflation surge drags on, the risk of inflation becoming embedded in our economy grows more and more. This multitrillion-dollar Big Government socialist tax-borrow-and-spend bill will bury American entrepreneurs in taxes and debt. But one interest group that will be happy with this Big Government socialist bill, if it passes, are the unions that fund the Democratic Party.

Tucked inside of this bill is a proposal to provide a $4,500 additional incentive exclusively for union-built electric vehicles. This provision runs counter to the Democrats' purported goal of reducing carbon emissions and getting more electric vehicles on the road. That is because nearly half of all U.S. automotive production comes from automakers with workforces who have chosen to not unionize. In fact, of the 60 automakers in the United States who build electric vehicles, only 2 are unionized. So Democrats are effectively pitting American autoworkers at union plants against the autoworkers who work in my congressional district at the Toyota manufacturing plant in Georgetown, Kentucky, the largest Toyota manufacturing plant in the world. But small businesses are impacted because small businesses that are not unionized are part of the supply chain.

So let me be clear: There is no environmental benefit or additional carbon reduction achieved by favoring union-made vehicles over nonunion-made vehicles. While Democrats lecture about the need to provide alternatives to the combustion engine, to gas-powered vehicles, the irony here is that this bill greatly restricts the ability for tax credits to actually reach consumers. This is because Democrats are limiting the tax credit to union-built, U.S.-assembled vehicles and applying these proposed limitations to the current EV market. Estimates indicate that only 2 of over 50 electric vehicles would qualify for the full tax credit.

This is not building back better. This is a payoff to political supporters. Nearly half of all U.S. automotive production comes from automakers with workforces that have chosen to not unionize. Why are we punishing these manufacturers of electric vehicles? Because it is not about the environment. It is not about promoting electric vehicles. It is about a political payoff to union supporters of these campaigns. This provision is nothing more than that; a payoff to the union bosses who control Democrat politicians in Congress and the Democrat in the White House.

We should be for small businesses. And if we are for the environment, we shouldn't discriminate against nonunion automakers and the small businesses that support nonunion manufacturers like Toyota in Kentucky's Sixth Congressional District.

I thank my friend from Missouri for his leadership in opposing this massive tax increase on small businesses and for helping me highlight the hypocrisy of the supporters of this bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the life of a great American, Christopher Jack Pace. Chris was a dedicated public servant and a leader in Clark County, Kentucky. He passed away on October 14, 2021 at 44 years of age.

Chris was elected as the County Judge-Executive of Clark County in November of 2018. He took office the following January and proved from that first day to be a caring and competent leader for the community that he loved. Chris was well-respected by all those he encountered in his position as Judge-Executive. I was honored to collaborate with Chris on many projects to benefit the community. On a personal note, I was honored to consider Chris a personal friend.

Chris was a graduate of George Rogers Clark High School, Eastern Kentucky University, and Northern Kentucky University's Chase College of Law. Chris served as Student Government President at both EKU and NKU. He was a leader who served the community on several boards. Chris was a youth soccer and Upward basketball coach, as well as the public address announcer for GRC volleyball. Most importantly, Chris was a Christian who was strong in his faith in Jesus. He tried to follow Him daily and was a Godly example to us all. Chris was a member of Calvary Christian Church.

Chris loved his family deeply. He was the husband of Shannon, father of Jack, Roman, and Maria, son of Betty Pace and the late Donald Pace, and brother to Donna Gail Baker and Donald Pace, Jr. He had a large and loving extended family.

Chris was the epitome of a good family man, a good citizen, and a good leader. He loved his community and his country. He will be greatly missed by all who were blessed to have known him. He loved life and lived it enthusiastically as evidenced by the genuine smile that was always on his face. It is my honor to lift up the life of Christopher Jack Pace before the United States Congress.

Madam Speaker, I rise to honor a great American, Col. (Ret.) Donald C. Hardy. Mr. Hardy lives in Irvine, Kentucky, and is 94 years of age.

Mr. Hardy comes from a family of service. His uncle, Henry Thomas Hardy Jr., was born in 1921 and served in the Quartermaster Corps during WWII. Hardy's brother, Pvt. Gordon L. Hardy, served in the United States Army, Company G, 2nd Battalion, 271st Infantry Regiment, 69th Infantry Division. At the age of 19, Private Hardy was killed in action in Germany on April 18, 1945. Donald Hardy

was drafted into the United States Marine Corps. At the death of his brother, Donald was recalled from active service. Later, Donald Hardy joined the Kentucky Army National Guard and served for 38 years before retiring as a Colonel. Upon returning to civilian life, Mr. Hardy worked in Irvine for CSX Railroad. His career there spanned 44 years.

Mr. Donald C. Hardy, like other family members, is a true patriot. As a part of ``The Greatest Generation'', Mr. Hardy and all those who served protected for future generations the freedoms that we as a Nation hold dear. For Mr. Hardy's patriotic service to our nation, he is to be commended and appreciated. It is my honor to recognize Col. (Ret.) Donald C. Hardy before the United States Congress.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to honor the life of a devoted public servant, Ray Larson of Lexington, Kentucky.

Ray served as assistant deputy attorney general for the Commonwealth of Kentucky, but later, for 32 years, Ray was one of the most consequential Commonwealth's attorneys in our great State's history, dedicated to our community and the rule of law.

He was an outstanding prosecutor, always laser focused on deterring crime, relentlessly pursuing justice, advocating for victims' rights, and keeping central Kentucky families safe.

Ray was an unapologetic and principled fighter, leading by example and advancing the cause of law and order. He believed in defending, not defunding, the police.

Ray was a faithful member of Good Shepherd Episcopal Church, where he served as a Eucharist minister and taught high school Sunday school for over 30 years.

On a personal note, Ray was a dear friend and an important mentor to me.

Mr. Speaker, Ray Larson was a great American patriot who made a positive difference, and he will be deeply missed. God bless him and his family, and I appreciate the opportunity to pay tribute to a great American.

IRS Financial Institution Reporting Mandate

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the Biden administration's proposal to mandate banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions to report the inflows and outflows of customer bank accounts to the IRS.

Think big government has too much of your personal data now? Just wait until the Biden administration and congressional Democrats require banks to submit the financial transactions of millions of Americans to the IRS.

Let me repeat that. For the Americans watching on C-SPAN right now, President Biden, as part of his massive job-killing tax increase, wants the IRS to have unfettered power to spy on your bank accounts, your deposits, your withdrawals, and your payments.

While I was pleased to see that the Ways and Means Committee did not include this provision in their bill during markup, news reports suggest there are still negotiations with the administration for its inclusion. A higher account threshold or other minor policy shifts will not solve the fundamental flaws with this proposal.

The mandatory reporting of Americans' transactions violates their privacy and puts an undue burden on financial institutions that could cripple community banks that helped get government aid to struggling small businesses during the pandemic, and it is predicated on the Biden administration's assumption that every American is somehow a tax cheat. How offensive. This is a disgusting example of Big Government overreach, and I am sounding the alarm.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to actively oppose this misguided and dangerous proposal.

Irresponsible Vote to Increase the Debt Ceiling Without Fiscal Reforms

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a member of the House Financial Services Committee in strong opposition to the Democrats' reckless and irresponsible vote to increase the debt ceiling without any fiscal reforms and provide a blank check for the Democrats' socialist tax and spending spree, which they intend to ram through Congress later this week or in the coming weeks.

Everybody understands we cannot default on our debt. But don't let the Democrats and their allies in the media fool you. This debt limit increase does not cover funds already spent. The ceiling suspended in 2019 accommodated 100 percent of the spending under the previous administration, including five bipartisan COVID response bills and then some.

But Democrats chose to pass, on a partisan basis, $2 trillion in new spending, less than 10 percent of which actually responded to COVID, and that is what has brought us to this new debt limit. Republicans did not vote for that $2 trillion, and now President Biden and Democrats want an additional $5.5 trillion, $4.3 trillion of which has zero Republican support. So it is Democrat partisanship that has resulted in a partisan debt limit vote.

Let's be clear. This debt limit vote enables massive amounts of new spending, not old spending. Even with the largest tax increase in American history, a tax increase that would make the tax burden on American businesses higher than in communist China, this is a bill that will add at least $2.4 trillion to the national debt, even with all of those new historic tax increases.

And the hypocrisy of those who criticize the job-producing and revenue-producing Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, claiming that it would massively increase the deficit, where are they now? The hypocrisy is breathtaking. These are the same people who support adding trillions to the national debt.

I came to Congress to save this country from bankruptcy, and I will not stand idly by as such dangerous legislation is pushed on a partisan basis through the Congress.

Mr. Speaker, oppose this tax and spending spree.

Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Pennsylvania for his leadership and leading tonight's Special Order.

As a member of both the HEAT Team and a member of the House Financial Services Committee, I want to address another dimension of the Biden administration's war on American energy.

Specifically it is the Biden administration's weaponization of financial regulation to implement through the back door of unilateral executive action what it cannot do through the democratic process and what it cannot do through the Congress and through the legislative process, because, frankly, the Biden administration knows that the American people oppose their radical agenda that would decrease the

reliability and affordability of electricity, industrial power, and the manner in which we conduct daily life.

That is, specifically, that the Biden administration intends to use financial regulators to bully banks, investors, and other financial firms, to divert capital away from what they view as politically unfashionable energy producers.

This is coming in multiple different forms. The Secretary of the Treasury has set up a czar within the Department of the Treasury to look at this from a holistic perspective to discriminate against American companies and American workers.

In bank regulation, there is a concept called redlining, and it used to be that it was illegal for banks and other financial firms to discriminate against the American people. Well, now the Biden administration is legalizing redlining. They are redlining against their own people because they are engaged in an industry, a great American industry that, for decades, has powered the American economy. Now they want to discriminate against those American heroes who have literally powered this country for decades.

What form does this take? Number one, it is taking the form of bank regulation, where the bank regulators are bullying credit providers and saying: You ought to rethink who you are lending money to because we don't think you should be lending money because of the reputational risk.

For example, ``Bank A, you better stop loaning money to that Kentucky coal mining operator. We want to get rid of all those coal mining jobs in eastern Kentucky,'' in my home State.

So, instead of going after the coal mining operator directly, they are going to the bank and saying: Choke off that coal mining company.

To heck with the fact that those mining jobs are important to put food on the table for those people in eastern Kentucky and in western Kentucky. They are weaponizing bank regulation.

That is precisely why, Madam Speaker, I introduced a bill to fix this called the Fair Access to Banking Act. This would basically codify the Fair Access to Financial Services Rule that the Office of the Comptroller promulgated in the previous administration. It would basically provide a guidance to banks that they must provide access to capital and credit based on assessment of the borrower's actual risk, rather than making broad-based decisions impacting entire industries.

This is guided by the fundamental principle of nondiscrimination and ensures that banks can't pick winners and losers in the marketplace.

That bill is pending in the Financial Services Committee, and we can't get any kind of consideration by this majority because this majority doesn't want fair access to banking. They are endorsing the Biden administration policy of discriminating against the American people.

Then there is the issue of ESG investing and mandating ESG, so-called environmental and social governance. This is through the back door of securities regulations at the Securities and Exchange Commission, but this is not the mission of the SEC.

The statutory mission of the SEC is to protect investors; to maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets; and to facilitate capital formation. Its mission is not to reduce carbon emissions or solve climate change or try to change the weather.

I acknowledge that there is some investor demand in the market for ESG funds. I also see some utility in standardization of ESG disclosures to eliminate some of the inconsistencies in the way public companies are rated because, let's face it, even if you are interested in sustainable investing, you do not know what you are investing in because these ESG funds are frauds, in many cases.

But more than 90 percent of all S&P 500 companies already voluntarily publish ESG information on an annual basis, and this regulatory approach from the Gensler SEC would not provide new material information to investors. Instead, it would inundate investors with voluminous, confusing, and nonmaterial information that would hurt the very investors that Democrats claim they want to help or, in the words of the late Justice Thurgood Marshall, in TSC Industries v. Northway, bury the shareholders in an avalanche of trivial information, a result that is hardly conducive to informed decisionmaking. We need to avoid burdening investors with an avalanche of trivial information.

The Gensler SEC would also weaponize disclosure requirements to name and shame politically incorrect companies; pick winners and losers in the marketplace; and discriminate against energy firms that produce jobs, affordable and reliable energy, and returns to investors.

The SEC proposal would also compromise investor returns by elevating nonpecuniary factors above and ahead of financial performance. Fees for ESG funds are 43 percent higher than non-ESG funds and many low-ranked ESG stocks. They outperform the market overall.

We must not harm American savers by subordinating investor returns to promote nonpecuniary policy objectives like social justice, diversity quotas, and lower carbon emissions.

Finally, the Gensler SEC, the Biden Securities and Exchange Commission, would increase compliance costs for public companies, discourage private companies from going public, and encourage public companies to go private, resulting in fewer investment choices for everyday investors. This is why the Gensler SEC is even proposing to hoist these requirements on private companies. The SEC, by wading into social and environmental policy debates like climate change, through a top-down, government-directed, one-size-fits-all mandatory ESG disclosure regulation, untethered to the longstanding investor-driven materiality standard, will politicize the agency and reduce its credibility by hurting investors, elevating nonpecuniary factors above financial returns.

Here is the bottom line. Not only is the Biden administration waging a frontal assault on heroic American energy companies that provide the American people with affordable, reliable energy, particularly low- income and blue collar families who can't afford the skyrocketing costs of Biden's energy bill, but in addition to that, this backdoor approach to financial regulation, discriminating against Americans in these industries, will compromise investor returns, elevating and prioritizing the woke environmental priorities of the select coastal elites over middle-income Americans in the energy sector who provide affordable energy for the American people, compromising Main Street investment returns.

Those moms and dads who are trying to put their kids through college, those folks who are trying to save in their 401(k)'s and their IRAs just to have a secure retirement, those middle-class Americans are going to be the ones who suffer because of the politicization and the weaponization of securities regulation.

This is exactly why we must oppose this dangerous agenda that will compromise American energy dominance, American energy independence, and investor returns.

Madam Speaker, I thank my friend from Pennsylvania for his leadership on this issue. I thank the HEAT Team for bringing some light to this. I wanted to provide a little bit of a different dimension to this important debate, and that is how the Biden administration is weaponizing financial regulation.