Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the following Proclamation in honor of the 100th year anniversary of Abrams Memorial Church in Denton, Maryland.

Whereas, the Abrams Memorial Church was established in 1924

as the Kings Apostle Holy Temple Holiness Church of Good by

Mother Carrie Virginia Curry and;

Whereas, it has served God with passion and commitment

throughout its existence and;

Whereas, it has served the local community in Denton and

the surrounding area and;

Whereas, on October 19, 2024 the church is commemorating

its 100th year anniversary;

Now, Therefore, I, Andy Harris, Member of Congress, do

hereby proclaim and celebrate Abrams Memorial Church in

Denton, Maryland on its 100th anniversary.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the following Proclamation in honor of the 50th anniversary of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore class of 1974.

Whereas, the University of Maryland Eastern Shore was established in 1886 as the Delaware Conference Academy and renamed several times since; and

Whereas, between 1948 and 1970 it was known as the Maryland State College; and

Whereas, in July of 1970 it was renamed to its current name as the University of Maryland Eastern Shore; and

Whereas, the class of 1974 was and is the first class to graduate under its new name; and

Whereas, on its 30th anniversary class reunion, the class of 1974 resolved to raise $1,000,000 to be donated and contributed to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and has since raised and donated $650,000 which constitutes three-fourths of the resolved amount.

Now, therefore, I, Andy Harris, Member of Congress, do hereby proclaim and celebrate the class of 1974 of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore on its 50th reunion anniversary.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize Mushroom House Automotive, a veteran and family-owned business out of Colora, Cecil County, Maryland, as it approaches its 30th anniversary on October 1, 2024.

Originally a mushroom farm operated by the Webb family for over 40 years, the business transitioned into an automotive repair and sales center after being pushed out of the industry. In 2006, Mushroom House survived a devastating fire that destroyed the shop and several classic cars. It was rebuilt and reopened only with the support and dedication of the local community.

Today, Mushroom House Automotive continues to serve Cecil County and provide top-notch, honest automotive services under the leadership of Victor ``Butch'' Webb Sr., his son Steven Webb and with the expertise of Archie Singleton II. Together, they have raised over $300,000 through their vehicle donation program for various non-profit organizations and consistently support the community, including participating in Career Day at Rising Sun Middle School and the CCPS Summer Work Program, where they pair students with local businesses. Mushroom House Automotive also partners with the Cecil County School of Technology's Automotive program to teach and support the next generation of mechanics and car enthusiasts.

In the last three years, Mushroom House Automotive has placed in the top three of Cecil Whig's Community Choice in Automotive Salesperson-- Used Cars, Auto Repair, Oil Change, Pre-Owned Vehicle Sales and Tires. In addition, Steven Webb and Archie Singleton II were honored as business leaders and inducted into the National Technical Honor Society, a recognition spearheaded by Scott Coutu, the Automotive Technology instructor at the Cecil County School of Technology.

I am proud and grateful to Mushroom House Automotive for its continued service of over 30 years to the community. Small, family- owned businesses like these constitute the backbone of American economy and provide essential services to local communities.

Mr. Speaker, it is my honor and privilege today to recognize Chapel Hill Elementary School in Perry Hall, Maryland for being selected as a National Blue Ribbon School for 2024 by the U.S. Department of Education.

The National Blue Ribbon School award validates and celebrates the hard work of students, educators and families, among others, that strive everyday to achieve exemplary academic excellence. A National Blue Ribbon School flag gracing a school's entryway or on a flagpole, is a widely recognized symbol of exemplary teaching and learning.

Chapel Hill Elementary has been selected as part of a small group of 356 public and private schools across the United States as a result of their hard work and dedication to its students.

I congratulate Principal Nancy Hill, the wonderful teachers, educators and staff, as well as the dedicated students and families at Chapel Hill Elementary for this great achievement.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the following Proclamation in honor of the 240th anniversary of the historic Wheatley Methodist Church building in Rhodesdale, Maryland, the completion of its five-year preservation project between 2019 and 2024 and the church being established as an independent legal entity known as Wheatley Methodist Church, effective November 1, 2023.

Whereas, Wheatley Methodist Church (WMC) was erected in

1784 on land King George II granted to a William Wheatley,

during the eighteenth century. It was built with intent to be

a ``preaching house served by clergy of those people called

Methodist or a friendly clergy of the Church of England'' and

Whereas, this heavy old growth timber frame structure

secured with wrought nails has existed since one year

following the victorious American Revolution in October 1783

and five years prior to George Washington becoming the first

elected American president; and

Whereas, most Early American rural church buildings were

either demolished or abandoned and left no decay. The

Wheatley Methodist Church building has existed for 240 years

continuously serving its original intent; and

Whereas, in 2019 existing colonial era horizontal wood

plank interior wall covering was discovered underneath

presenting Victorian era pressed tin. Further search revealed

serious construction issues causing the building be

condemned. Members' faith directed a decision to preserve the

historic structure; and

Whereas, the five-year preservation project (2019-2024)

quickly became the pride of surrounding communities.

Financing for the $110,000+ project materialized from

donations of monies, time, materials, multiple fund raisers,

and two matching grants awarded by: the Bartus Trew

Providence Preservation Fund of the National Trust for

Historic Preservation ($15,000) and the Choptank Electric

Trust, Inc. ($2,400); and

Whereas, the Wheatley Methodist Church is believed to be

the oldest American Methodist church with a continuously

active congregation worshiping in its original building

erected to be a Methodist church and the historic structure

continues serving its original intent well into the 21st

century. It is a tangible link to its Early American heritage

of religious family life in an agricultural community.

Now, therefore, I, Andy Harris, Member of Congress, do

hereby proclaim and celebrate Wheatley Methodist Church on

its historic building's 240th anniversary, the completion of

its five-year preservation project and the church being

established as an independent legal entity known as Wheatley

Methodist Church, effective November 1, 2023.

Mr. Speaker, last week, I was sad to learn about the passing of retired Deputy Sheriff Robert T. Wilson of the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office. Deputy Wilson dedicated his life serving his community and country. A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Bob served at the Eastern Correctional Institute before retiring from the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office in June of 2021.

Deputy Wilson dedicated his life to helping others, putting his own life on the line to protect and serve the community he so much loved. A devoted member of the Fraternal Order of Police, Bob believed in service, sacrifice and honor. Robert T. Wilson passed away at the age of 71 years old.

I would like to express my sincere condolences to his wife Esther, the Wilson family and the entire Wicomico County Sheriff's Office. The Eastern Shore is forever grateful for DFC Robert T. Wilson.

Mr Speaker, two weeks ago I learned with great sadness about the passing of Sgt. Gordon F. Lee, a retired officer with the Easton Police Department who passed away on Monday, August 19, 2024, at the age of 46. During his time at the Easton Police Department, Sgt. Lee served with the K-9 unit, trained new officers and recruits as instructor and was a member of the department's SWAT Critical Response Unit. Before that, he honorably served with the U S. Marine Corps. Sgt. Lee retired from active duty with the Easton Police Department in February of 2024.

Sgt. Lee dedicated his life to helping others, putting his own life on the line to protect and serve the community he so much loved. His determination and hard work made him an outstanding leader, an excellent teacher and invaluable friend and mentor to so many in the Maryland police community and beyond.

I would like to express my sincere condolences to the Lee family and the entire Easton Police Department. The Eastern Shore is forever grateful for Sgt. Lee's commitment and dedication.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Mr. Nicholas ``Nick'' Hargrove, an Eastern Shore seafood processor and oyster restoration expert who has had tremendous impact on the health and sustainability of the Chesapeake Bay.

Nick is the owner of Tilghman Island Seafood which processes approximately 20,000 pounds of blue catfish daily. Through his hard work and dedication, Nick is instrumental in protecting crabs, perch, menhaden, and others, against the invasive blue catfish population plaguing the Bay. Nick has also contributed to addressing the oyster shell shortage by replanting millions of dried oyster shells in the Chesapeake Bay.

On behalf of the people of the Maryland's First Congressional District, I thank Nick for his tireless work and dedication to preserving the Chesapeake Bay for future generations to come.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the following Proclamation in honor of the 225th anniversary of the Star Democrat newspaper published in Easton, Maryland.

Whereas, the Star Democrat newspaper was first rolled off

the press in 1799 when The Honorable John Adams was the

sitting President of the United States and The Honorable

George Washington was still alive and living

his final year on his plantation at Mount Vernon; and

Whereas, the Star Democrat--originally the Republican

Star--was a staunch supporter of Jeffersonian democracy and

the ideas of The Honorable Thomas Jefferson; and

Whereas, the newspaper's original philosophy of individual

liberty, local autonomy and limited central government

continues to this day; and

Whereas, the Star Democrat has seen the Nation survive and

live through numerous wars and conflicts with its offices

twice destroyed in fires and once wrecked by a mob of

vandals, while one of its editors arrested and exiled by

Federal troops during the Civil War; and

Whereas, on August 21, 2024, the Star Democrat will

celebrate its 225th anniversary of publication.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, Andy Harris, Member of Congress, do

hereby proclaim and celebrate The Star Democrat for its role

and service to the Maryland community and our country on its

225th anniversary.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arizona for yielding me some time today.

Mr. Speaker, to those who see the gentleman virtually every week come up here and talk about the economics of the United States and our debt problems and things like that, today, we will take a little different view because we are going to talk about something that doesn't just have to do with economics; it has to do with providing a healthier America. An America where, yes, we would save money if we were healthier, but the other benefits are so tremendous.

We are not doing this just because we want to save money; we are doing this because we think this is actually the right approach for Americans. If you look at the cost of healthcare, about 70 percent is to take care of chronic diseases and the big chronic diseases are hypertension, diabetes, and obesity. They are the big chronic diseases.

Cancer is not a chronic disease. It is an acute disease. It is the chronic diseases that are costing literally hundreds of billions of dollars to the United States.

Today, we are going to focus on obesity. Now, hopefully in the future, we will focus on diabetes, maybe on hypertension. The reason why it is so important to start with these three is that the amount of spending, as the gentleman indicates, is tremendous.

I am going to pull some data from this study from the Milken Institute. It is called America's obesity crisis. It is from 2018, so 5\1/2\ years ago, October 2018, but it is subtitled, ``The Health and Economic Cost of Excess Weight.'' The health and economic costs because they are both costs.

Again, it is not just dollars and cents. They count, but the fact of life is just not as good for someone who has a chronic disease, so let's do something to prevent it.

However, the first thing you have to do is say, what is the history of obesity in the United States?

Look, I have been on this Earth 67 years. I will tell you that it has been noticeable that more Americans are obese or overweight. It is true throughout the world, but let's concentrate on America.

These are medical definitions. If you are higher than the normal range of weight, you are overweight, if you are slightly higher; then you are obese if you are higher than that; and then severe obesity or morbidly obese, as well.

Using these definitions, the same definitions in 1962, 3.4 percent of adults were considered obese. Again, it is not overweight; it is obese. If it is more than overweight; it is obese.

From 1962 to 2000, 30.5 percent. In 2016, 39.8 percent. Mr. Speaker, 8 years ago, it was 39.8 percent. The latest data the CDC has which is from 2017 to 2020, 41.9 percent. Mr. Speaker, 41.9 percent of Americans classified as obese.

Now, why is that classification important?

By the way, the demographic breakdown is very interesting because what we ought to be doing is, we ought to be looking at the demographics and paying attention to where it exists in the population: 49.9 percent of Black adults are obese, 45.6 percent of Hispanic adults, 41.4 percent of White adults, 16.1 percent of Asian adults.

It actually is overrepresented in the Black and Hispanic communities, but why is that important? By the way, that is adults.

The striking thing is for children in the last year that we have data: 16.1 percent overweight; 19.3 percent obese, one in five children are considered obese; one in 16, 6.1 percent, severe obesity in children. Again, that severe obesity in children number is actually higher at 6.1 percent than the entire adult population back in 1962.

It begs the question of why it is so important that we identify obesity. It is because I think a lot of people don't understand the broad range of diseases, including expensive healthcare diseases, in which the risk of that disease is higher if you are obese. It is not everybody who is obese who has these problems, but if you are obese, you are statistically more likely to have these problems.

I want to read the list so you understand why this is such a large economic problem. Alzheimer's and vascular dementia, most people don't realize obesity is a risk factor for that. We worry a lot about that because the cost of Alzheimer's in America and the treatment, again, is measured in the hundreds of billions of dollars. Other diseases include asthma and COPD; breast cancer--we know that cancers are; chronic back pain; colorectal cancer; congestive heart failure--again, a large consumer of healthcare dollars; coronary artery disease; diabetes, of course. Again, diabetes and obesity kind of go hand-in-hand, but only 20 percent of the cost of obesity, again, the approximately $1.7 trillion annual cost back in 2016, only 20 percent of that can be attributed to the coexistence of diabetes and obesity. Again, diabetes has to be handled by itself, but obesity is a risk factor for that.

Dyslipidemia, so people with high cholesterol and lipids; end-stage renal disease; endometrial cancer; esophageal adenocarcinoma; gallbladder cancer; gallbladder disease; gastric adenocarcinoma, so stomach cancer; hypertension; liver cancer; osteoarthritis; ovarian cancer; pancreatic cancer; prostate cancer; renal cancer; and stroke-- all of these have a higher incidence in someone with obesity.

Scientifically, we say that if we can reduce obesity, we will reduce the incidence of all these diseases and the costs associated with them. The costs associated with them attributable to obesity are over $1.5 trillion a year, both direct costs, the cost to actually treat someone, and the indirect costs, the cost of decreased productivity and decreased contribution to the GDP and the economy by someone who is ill, all these indirect and direct costs. These numbers are just staggering.

Sure. I chair the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, and we are in charge of funding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the SNAP program.

If you were paying attention about an hour ago, an hour and a half ago, to the folks from the other side of the aisle, all they wanted to do was push more money into the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

The second word there, by the way, is ``nutrition.'' If you go back to the original founding, the program was founded to provide nutrition. In the early days of the program, there was a significant number of people in the country who actually did not receive enough calories. Literally, they didn't receive enough calories. At that time, the emphasis was to get food of all kinds to these folks so that they are not calorie starved.

Again, I talked about the trend in obesity, and what we see is that something is happening. We have programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program where the last time they looked at it was in 2016--it might have been earlier than that--where 10 percent of the funds went to sugary soda. Remember, this is a $122 billion a year program of taxpayer dollars. We ask taxpayers to pony up or to borrow $122 billion to put into the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Ten percent is on sugary soda, $12 billion, our best estimate, is spent on something that we now know--maybe 40 or 50 years ago when the obesity rate was 6 percent or 3-plus percent, we didn't know that.

We do know now what contributes to obesity. We do know that insulin resistance, the presence of sugars and processed foods in the diet, directly cause obesity. Of course, diabetes, which again we will get to in the future, and probably also hypertension to some extent, are all interrelated diseases. We actually know that that is bad.

I have proposed taking out nonnutritious--it is about 20 percent. It is 10 percent sugary soda beverages and another 10 percent salty snacks, ultra-processed food. Again, it raises your insulin levels. It does all the bad things that ultimately lead to an increased amount of fatty tissue and obesity.

Let's just say that we will allow States to restrict that in a program and take that money and spend it on fruits and vegetables or something. That sounds like a pretty novel idea. That sounds like a pretty good idea based on the scientific evidence.

The pushback has been tremendous, mainly from the other side of the aisle, which is: No, all we need to do is spend more money on this program.

I would suggest to the gentleman from Arizona that we have enough proof that what we have been doing hasn't been working. In fact, it has been making the problem worse because the data on people who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program shows they are more obese and more overweight.

Of course, they are sicker because we know these diseases relate to it. The studies were done against individuals who had the same socioeconomic status, same income, but were not getting SNAP benefits.

I agree. This is not just about economics. It is using borrowed money to actually cause the need for more borrowed money in the future.

It is direct. Again, even if this were economically neutral--but it is not--one would make the argument that the right thing to do for people is to give them a better, healthier life.

In the hearing today, we had someone suggest that all we need to do is do public service announcements, that we will just do education.

One of the experts said, quite accurately, that when you deal with an addiction--and we won't get into that today, but by the way, just so everybody understands, it is now pretty clear from brain chemistry that sugar--and when we say sugar, mostly it is fructose because the other sugar is cane sugar, which is sucrose, a combination of fructose and glucose. Fructose, basically, we understand that it is actually physically addictive in the brain because it results through the modifier of MGO, a chemical called MGO, which binds to receptors in the brain. It actually releases dopamine.

It could. Every single addictive issue in front of us involves--whether it is an addiction like opioid addiction, an addiction like sugar addiction, an addiction like gambling, or your cell phones and the fact that our youth now spend 7 hours a day on their cell phones, on the internet and playing games and things, it is because this is designed to release dopamine in the brain.

We understand it is the exact same mechanism, and it is up to us. People say to educate. Our government shouldn't be involved in this. Wait a minute, we are talking about regulating the industry for children with regard to apps, regulating the opioid industry because it is addictive, dealing with gambling because it is addictive. Why wouldn't we talk about a food addiction that leads to misery and huge economic costs?

There is no question that that is true. The fact is that we can send a strong economic signal through our ability to modify what is available under food programs, not only direct payments but also the fact that, over the past 50 years, we have kind of funneled all the production, as you said, into only a handful of major crops.

In my district, for instance, they used to grow tomatoes. It used to be one of the tomato capitals of the country. I didn't even know this, but it is not anymore. It is just soybeans and corn, partly because we have a big poultry industry, but the variety of crops has just disappeared.

Again, everything comes together. Everything points in the same direction. We must address the obesity crisis. We know what causes it.

We actually have a pretty good idea of how to solve it, how to get there, but we have to decide that that is something we are going to do. I think the average American understands it. I think they do.

That is right. You bring up a good point.

The first thing you start with is say that we don't have to change-- let's do a few pilot programs. Let's get some data. Otherwise, it is incredibly difficult to see whether some of these ideas work to change the way people buy and their habits. Obviously, it will take a generation for the obesity that already exists to plateau.

I mean, with Ozempic and Wegovy, maybe it is quicker, but these are not the solution. The solution is not to become obese and then take a drug to reduce the obesity. It is not to become obese in the first place, but your point is critical.

Right now, a 3-year-old has a lower life expectancy than a 60-year- old had at the same age. That is because our adults are getting these chronic diseases at an increasing rate. That 3-year-old, if we don't change the trajectory, will have much less of a chance to live to the same age as their grandfather did or their father did.

We cannot accept that in America. We are actually in a situation where our children have a lower life expectancy than us.

This is the opposite of everything anybody does anything for. As a father, you want to do everything for your children so they have it better than you.

We are kind of intentionally, because we are intentional in how we spend dollars, forcing our children to a lower, shorter life expectancy than we have. Shame on us if we don't fix this.

Mr. Speaker, as we commemorate National Police Week, I take a moment to honor the memory of Wicomico County Deputy Sheriff Glenn Hilliard, a heroic Maryland Eastern Shore police officer who was killed in the line of duty while protecting his community from a violent criminal; unfortunately, an all too often occurrence in today's America.

In the evening hours of June 12, 2022, Officer Hilliard received a call that a fleeing fugitive was in the surrounding area.

While certainly potentially dangerous, this call wasn't much different from the hundreds of calls for help the Wicomico County police departments and police departments across the country receive daily as they confront crime to protect our communities.

Sadly, for Officer Hilliard, this call to duty would be his last. As he pursued the wanted criminal, the fugitive turned and fired, ultimately taking the life of Officer Hilliard.

As Officer Hilliard's family reminds us, he died doing what he loved and left behind a legacy of selflessly defending his community. In the end, it was not the way Officer Hilliard died but the way he lived.

As we honor National Police Week, let's take a moment to thank the many police officers who risk their lives so we can be safe.

May the memory of Officer Glenn Hilliard and all our fallen police officers never be forgotten.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.

Today, I rise, as fellow members of my delegation have, to speak regarding the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and especially to honor the memory of the hardworking men who lost their lives the morning the bridge collapsed.

These hardworking men were fellow Marylanders: husbands, fathers, brothers, and friends. Their passing serves as a solemn reminder to cherish our own lives and the lives of those we love deeply.

Mr. Speaker, the Maryland congressional delegation stands united as we mourn those lost and extend our heartfelt condolences to their grieving families.

I also want to take a moment to recognize Maryland's brave first responders whose heroic actions saved lives the morning the Key Bridge collapsed. Once that mayday call was issued from the approaching ship, Maryland Transportation Authority Police acted

quickly and, in less than 2 minutes, stopped traffic from coming over the bridge. There is no doubt these immediate actions saved lives and averted an even greater tragedy.

We thank those officers who protect us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, even in the middle of the night while most of us are asleep, as was the case that day.

Mr. Speaker, the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge and the closure of the Port of Baltimore has caused serious economic consequences for our State's economy. The Baltimore Port is the largest U.S. port for handling farming construction machinery. It handles agricultural products. It is also a large export facility for American coal.

Mr. Speaker, 15,000 jobs directly depend on the Port of Baltimore.

I especially thank the Army Corps of Engineers for their quick and tireless work to get the channel cleared so that the port can reopen as soon as possible.

As we continue to work on the cleanup phase of the bridge collapse, it is important that we seek maximum liability from those foreign companies that owned and operated the ship that crashed into the bridge. As I have long said, American taxpayers in both Maryland and across the country should not be held responsible to pay for the cost to rebuild a bridge if, indeed, there was negligence on the part of foreign-owned shipping companies.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, tragedy knows no partisanship. The Key Bridge collapse wasn't a Republican tragedy, and it wasn't a Democrat tragedy. The solution to clearing the channel, reopening the port, and building the bridge back even better than it was before won't be a partisan solution. It will be a bipartisan one.

As we navigate the necessary legislation going forward, we all commit in the delegation to working in a bipartisan way to cut through Federal red tape, clear that channel, open that port, and construct an even better, safer bridge so that our fellow Marylanders, Maryland's economy, and those affected by this tragedy will come back stronger, safer, and united.

Mr. Speaker, thank you very much. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon I am going to talk a little about Bidenomics. It is interesting the President doesn't talking about Bidenomics anymore. He thought about a year ago it would be a neat thing to talk about, but I guess the problem is that reality struck.

Just over a month ago, President Biden stood right in front of where you stand now, Mr. Speaker, in this very Chamber to give his State of the Union Address. He declared: ``Our economy is the envy of the world.''

Well, just today, the Consumer Price Index, a key inflation index, came in

``hotter than expected.'' By the way, that is not good news for Americans. It actually increased to 3\1/2\ percent. The past few years, it has been higher than it has been in 40 years.

As we all pay more for almost everything in Joe Biden's economy, let's take a really close look at the economy that Joe Biden built.

Well, when Joe Biden took office, the national debt was $28.7 trillion, a huge amount of debt, but now it is approaching $35 trillion, or more than $250,000 of debt for every American household. Now, in my district, that debt is higher than the average mortgage in my district.

For the average family, the mortgage is the least of their debt worries now. Now, it is the Federal debt.

The CBO projects that by 2031, $2 trillion deficits will be the norm, but I would suggest, Mr. Speaker, that as usual the CBO gets this wrong because this year it is going to be way over $2 trillion. In fact, over the last calendar year, from last April to the beginning of this April, the Federal debt has increased over $3 trillion under Joe Biden's watch.

Joe Biden's new spending initiatives, just the new spending initiatives in the budget he just proposed, adds up to a price tag of 5.5 trillion more dollars over the next 10 years, and that is just new spending.

That doesn't count the ongoing growth of existing Federal programs that he projects in his budget.

Together, all this new spending is going to drive up Federal deficits to 10 percent of GDP, a level we have only seen in the modern era during the national emergencies of COVID and World War II.

Now, since Joe Biden took office, inflation has risen to historic levels and make no mistake, Bidenflation is a direct result of Joe Biden and the Democrats' out-of-control government spending.

Just a couple of days ago, Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, no friend of this side of the aisle, warned in a letter to his shareholders that interest rates could rise to 8 percent or higher. He also mentions drivers of persistent inflation being military conflict throughout the world and fiscal deficits.

Let me tell you something, the Biden administration are absolute champions of military conflicts throughout the world and fiscal deficits. The bottom line is, we all know that under the last administration there were no hot wars. The Middle East actually was becoming more peaceful, not less peaceful. The Russians were not advancing in Ukraine.

All that changed with this administration and the resulting military spending that is going to be necessary worldwide will drive inflation even higher.

That is not my word; that is the word, again, of the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, a person who understands how this economy works.

Now, President Biden's economy is affecting Americans of every age and we all know it. In fact, according to a recent survey, one in eight retirees now plan to return to work this year because they simply can't afford retirement anymore. Inflation has driven up the cost of everything--groceries, gasoline, housing, rent, everything.

In a recent study, The Wall Street Journal showed that a $100 grocery list from 2019--and for those of you keeping score, that was during the last administration--now costs $137. Anybody who is watching us to day who goes to the grocery store, Mr. Speaker, knows this is true. They know what a loaf of bread costs. They know what a dozen eggs costs. They know what a gallon of milk costs. When they go down the aisles, they know everything is more expensive under Joe Biden's watch.

If Joe Biden thinks the economy he built is ``such an envy,'' maybe he ought to take a walk through a grocery store.

Within the first 2 years of this administration, Joe Biden and the House Democrats passed their so-called American Rescue Plan--I don't think we feel too rescued, to be honest with you--and the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which is the real laugh because everybody knows inflation isn't reduced from where it was in the last administration. Both of those sent Federal Government spending sky- high, again, what Jamie Dimon warns us is going to lead to a prolonged inflationary period and high interest rates.

Lastly, I will talk about energy prices because when you go to the gas pump, if you go to buy diesel to put in your farm tractor or truck, you know what it costs now. It costs about 50 percent more than it did under the last administration.

Energy prices, your electric bill, your heating bill, everything is going sky-high because of this President's policies.

Make no mistake, Joe Biden's out-of-control spending, his spending agenda, and his economic policies have made life simply unaffordable for American families.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding.

What we are watching is a complete foreign policy failure on the part of the Biden administration. And we are watching it on two fronts. We are watching it in Eastern Europe where peace prevailed under the last administration, and it is no coincidence that shortly after this administration bungles the withdrawal from Afghanistan that Mr. Putin invades Eastern Europe.

Then on October 7, Hamas--after this administration actively interfered with an internal discussion they were having about their court system--Hamas, again, detecting weakness, launched that horrific inhumane attack on Israeli civilians on October 7 where they take over 200 hostages.

Mr. Speaker, the latest news, literally just coming out today, is in the negotiations. The Israelis were willing to negotiate a cease-fire, Hamas just has to release 40 hostages--Israeli hostages--and Hamas says they don't even have 40 Israeli hostages anymore.

Now, there are only two possible explanations for that. Hamas is lying, and they have more than 40. Actually we heard in the rule debate today from the other side of the aisle they said: Well, we should be talking about this, there are 133 hostages. Well, Hamas says there aren't anymore. So they are either lying that the hostages aren't there, or even worse, they killed the hostages. These are civilian hostages. These are not uniformed members. These are civilians.

I wore the uniform of the country. You put on the uniform of the country, and let me tell you something, you understand you could be taken prisoner, you could be subject to violence during war, but you don't expect it in this unprovoked attack on October 7 on civilians.

So furthermore, this administration, which couldn't even get a withdrawal from a war correct, they couldn't even withdraw from a war correctly, they are trying to tell the Israelis, who are under an existential threat--Mr. Speaker, we don't understand that in America because we have two oceans on two sides and two friendly nations to the north and south. We don't understand what it is like to live in a neighborhood where some of your neighbors have said: Death to your country, that your country shouldn't exist. We don't understand that.

Yet this administration and this Pentagon is attempting to tell Israel how to win this war. And what they want after the war is a two- state solution. Well, look, I want peace and I want utopia and I want all that too, but let's investigate.

What do they mean by a two-state solution? Wait a minute. Gaza was a two-state solution.

Gaza got its independence, its ability to govern itself, humanitarian aid by the hundreds of millions of dollars, including from the United States which pours into Gaza to make life good for the citizens. They bring water in, bring all the infrastructure in, and the only infrastructure Hamas built were tunnels under the city so they could launch an attack and have a place to hide when Israel responded to the attack.

That is what they did, that is what a two-state solution looks like in Israel.

Mr. Speaker, I don't know if you had the privilege to visit Israel and land at Ben Gurion Airport. Ben Gurion Airport is between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and if you look at the map of Israel and you look just to the northeast of Ben Gurion Airport, there sits a piece of the West Bank--what the Palestinians want; they want to claim that territory.

If you look at that--and we visited one of those places--it is on an elevation. From that piece of the West Bank, you can look down in the valley and there is Ben Gurion Airport.

The people who took me up there said: Tell me why a two-state solution doesn't work, because if this is a second state, a single shoulder-fired rocket at an incoming jumbo jet--because these jets are big that come into that airport--can destroy that airplane. The effect of just that one shoulder-fired rocket would be bringing the economy of Israel to its knees because you would disable--no international flights would go into Ben Gurion. Of course, they wouldn't go into Ben Gurion.

You don't think that can occur? Of course, it can occur. Israel has to be able to defend its territories. It has sworn enemies.

Mr. Speaker, I would remind the body that at that protest in Michigan over the weekend, they weren't chanting only ``death to Israel,'' they were chanting ``death to America.''

This protest didn't occur in Riyadh. It didn't occur in Jordan. It didn't occur in Tehran. It occurred in Michigan; people in this country calling for death to America. If we think people in this country are calling for death to

America, imagine what they are thinking about in Tehran where they really want to bring death to America, where they are weeks away from a breakout on three nuclear weapons. We know what the damage of only one nuclear weapon can do.

They are weeks away from a breakout on three nuclear weapons. This all happened under this administration's watch where we think the appropriate response to Iran is to send them another pallet full of $6 billion with them promising, Oh, it is only for humanitarian aid-- ignoring the fact that money is completely fungible.

Of course, that administration in Tehran is going to say: Oh, well now we don't have to buy food here. We can use that American money to buy the food, and we are going to spend that money to send to Hezbollah in the north, with tens of thousands of rockets that could rain down on northern Israel to Hamas and Gaza, to the militia that surround them in Syria, the Iranian-backed militia.

How naive can you be about the dangers of this world? How naive can you be? Well, we know how naive you can be because you just have to go to the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue to find it. Where in this election year, they are putting the security of one our best allies in the country up for bid for electoral votes. That is a real shame.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Roy) for giving me the few minutes because our friends in Israel deserve the full, unqualified support of the United States to win their war. It is not our war; it is their war. Existential threats to one of our best allies, they deserve our help, not our criticism.

Mr. Speaker, this bill is about fairness. I do want to mention, though, the memory is a little short on the other side of the aisle. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act where this was implemented was passed on reconciliation. It only required a simple majority.

Moreover, the Democrats when they passed the Inflation Reduction Act depended on only a simple majority. They could easily have put their recommended SALT cures into that bill. It absolutely fits in with reconciliation which are budgetary items. That is what this is. Nonetheless, they chose not to.

So one has to ask: Why did they choose to spend $1 trillion on expensive green energy projects and not yield tax relief to their own constituents?

I can't answer that, only they can. Nevertheless, let's set the record

straight. The Democrats had the opportunity to do whatever they wanted to on SALT. They complained about it for years. They could have fixed it. They choose not to. They deliberately chose not to in a vehicle that only required a simple majority.

So this is about fairness.

Mr. Speaker, when we passed that in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act--one of the greatest stimuli to the American economy ever--we, interestingly, chose not to inflation index that $10,000. Now, thanks to Bidenflation, it should be around $15,000.

So our decision is that even just to make it fair for inflation caused by President Biden and his policies, we could have chosen to just raise it $15,000, but, no, we did, I think, what was the right thing to do, which is to say that there is no penalty to a family, because on this side of the aisle we actually think the idea of family is pretty good for this country. We don't want to disincentivize it.

We decided we would take and just remove what I would call the marriage penalty from this. I think it is the right decision.

One of the gentlemen who supports this mentioned that this goes far beyond blue States. This goes into States where, because of Bidenflation, housing prices have gone up, and, Mr. Speaker, I guarantee you, those property taxes are going to go up for a variety of reasons.

The time to do this is now, it is appropriate, and I fully support the rule.