Floor Statements

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

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

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

Madam Speaker, today, I rise to recognize the life and legacy of Richard Pearl Fleming, who sadly passed away on Friday, September 30, 2022, at the age of 94.

Mr. Fleming was loved by many is his hometown of Enterprise and it's said, ``he never met a stranger and loved everyone he met.'' Richard made friends no matter where he went or who he met, and he was an irreplaceable pillar of his community.

Richard and his wife Ruth owned and operated Fleming Ford Tractor, which was formerly known as Metcalf Tractor. Richard and Ruth, or Papa Richard and Mama Ruth, as they were known by friends and family, gave back to their community whenever they had a chance.

A devout man of faith and member of the First Baptist Church of Enterprise community, Richard spread love and joy to all those around. He was also known as ``The Candy Man'' because of the ``thousands of pounds'' of candy he would give to the children and families in his community.

The children would find him on every church occasion and Richard would give out candy to everyone. Richard was entertaining, kind, loving, and humorous. Never would a visitor leave empty handed from Richard, whether it was candy, a watermelon, or even a bag of tomatoes.

Richard Pearl Fleming dedicated his life to bringing joy to his friends, family, and everybody else around him. He was a loving son, husband, father, brother, and grandfather. He is survived by his three children, six grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, brother Sam, and many nieces and nephews.

Richard Pearl Fleming was a joyous and loved citizen of Alabama's Second Congressional District that left lifelong impressions on many people. He will be deeply missed by many friends, family members, and all those he made smile.

Mr. Speaker, I am a freshman, and the whole time I have been here I have been talking about crime and the rise in crime and how the Republican Party has supported the police.

Down South, we use a lot of common sense sometimes to solve issues, and the biggest issue we have right now in the country is the border. So what happens is that the drugs and the human trafficking follow through and goes to these cities. That is why we are seeing a rise in fentanyl.

One of the things I have observed is they use backpacks for the heroin and cocaine and fentanyl to pay their passage to the drug cartel.

So now the Democrats are panicked because we have an open border. We also have a rise in crime. It is just curious to me that now, all of sudden, we want to address these issues.

If you just look at the record across the country, Republican cities seem to manage crime so much better. So I don't think that more money is always a solution. Very often it is more management and local control.

I encourage a ``no'' on this, and I am honored to speak on this.

Madam Speaker, today, I rise to recognize the life of Charles Lamar Adams, who sadly passed away on Wednesday, August 10, 2022, at the age of 96.

Mr. Adams was a graduate of Graceville High School and he later attended Auburn University in 1943 for a few weeks before putting his education on hold to bravely enlist in the Navy and serve his country in the Second World War.

When he returned from his time in the service, Charles met and married Ms. Nelma Grace from Hartford, Alabama. Together, they were blessed with 3 lovely daughters, 8 beautiful grandchildren, and 12 great-grandchildren, who now carry on the family legacy.

After resuming his education, Charles went on to receive his Associate of Arts degree, a Bachelor's degree, and a Master's degree.

Later, Charles continued serving his community by pursuing a career in education--becoming a high school teacher, a high school principal, a college professor, and the Superintendent of Education in Washington County, Florida.

Charles continued to teach and remained active in the education system well into his seventies. In total, Charles' career in education spanned 54 years.

Charles dedicated his life to serving his community and his country. He was an American hero that touched many of the lives around him as an educator, a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a grandfather, and a great-grandfather.

Charles Lamar Adams left a lifelong impression on every student and member of the community that crossed his path. I join his many friends, family members, and the entire Second Congressional District of Alabama in honoring and preserving his legacy of service.

Mr. Speaker, President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act is bringing fire and rain to the White House and to the American people.

Yesterday, Biden and a host of celebrities and politicians, highlighted by a James Taylor serenade, celebrated their Inflation Reduction Act even as the economy cratered in real time.

As the President spiked the football on his supposed accomplishment, the Dow tanked nearly 1,300 points and the Consumer Price Index rose to 8.3 percent.

President Biden and Speaker Pelosi have taken every opportunity to herald deficit reduction, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, and what it would provide. But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office just updated the score on the new law, and it is worse than we thought. The reckless government spending on the Green New Deal policies in this bill will increase our deficit spending through 2026.

This means the IRS will need to take an additional $60 billion from middle-class Americans through increased audits to pay for this out-of- control spending.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that we are already suffering the negative effects of this spending. But Democrats are basking in the sunshine of their political accomplishment despite the economic storm it brings for the American people.

Remember: Democrats aren't just taking more money out of your wallet; they are celebrating it.

Madam Speaker, today, I recognize the life of Agnes Louise Windsor, who sadly passed away on Tuesday, July 26, 2022, at the age of 89.

Agnes Louise Windsor impacted thousands of young lives through her time as an educator and local historian of Slocomb, Alabama. She was a tireless volunteer who served on local, county, state, and national boards for service projects during her career, which spanned sixty- eight years.

Mrs. Windsor's drive to make a difference in her community led her to dedicating her life to volunteerism and serving others. She has received recognition for her outstanding leadership and tireless efforts in addressing and raising awareness about issues to include hunger, literacy, GED classes, senior concerns and welfare, children's educational issues, political concerns and voter education and registration.

Because of her efforts, Mrs. Windsor earned numerous awards and has the gratitude of those she served, her church family, community, and her peers. Her achievements include numerous teacher of the year and volunteerism awards, notably the Volunteer Action Award presented by President George H.W. Bush in 1990, as well as the NAACP Image Award in 2016.

Agnes Louise Windsor was an upstanding and respected citizen of Alabama's 2nd District who left lifelong impressions on many students and community members. She will be sorely missed by many friends, family members, and all those she taught.

Madam Speaker, today, I rise to recognize and celebrate the life of Mr. Horace Edwin Crump of Montgomery, Alabama, who sadly passed away on Friday, June 10, 2022.

After graduating from Thomas A. Levy High School, Mr. Crump earned a bachelor's degree and an Education Specialist degree from Alabama State University and went on to be an Assistant Professor in Alabama State University's Department of Health and Physical Education.

Mr. Crump also served as Alabama State University's head track and field coach and was inducted into the Southwestern Athletic Conference Hall of Fame in 2009.

Coach Crump worked at Alabama State University beginning in 1977 and coached the Hornets for thirty-one seasons until his retirement in 2008. During those years, he guided his team to fourteen Southwestern Athletic Conference championships with at least one of his teams winning a conference title for six years straight.

Coach Crump took the program from what it had been to unthinkable heights. He threw the discus and shot put as a collegian. When he became the Hornets' coach, his goal was to have a balanced team that could score points in the field events and the running events.

Coach Crump was preceded in death by his parents, Charles and Gertrude Crump; his son, Damian Crump; his sister, Marion Davenport; and his brothers, Charles and Harrison Crump.

He leaves behind his beloved wife, Delores Crump; his son, Kenneth Crump; his daughter, Crystal Crump; his stepsons, CV and Rodney Hill; his brother, Donny Crump; and his sister, Yolanda McClinton--along with grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and nieces and nephews.

Coach Crump was an upstanding and respected citizen of Alabama's Second Congressional District that left lifelong impressions on his many students and athletes. I am proud to rise in honor of his life, and I am confident that he will be sorely missed by his family, his many friends, and the countless men and women he impacted throughout his lifetime of service.

Madam Speaker, today, I recognize the service of Colonel Michael Breslin.

Over 30 years ago, Michael began a long and storied career in the U.S. Army. Michael began his career in 1992, attending flight school at Fort Rucker, Alabama, where he learned to fly the U.S. Military's premier medium lift tactical transport aircraft, the UH-60 Black Hawk. Michael then went on to serve in a myriad of commands starting at Fort Campbell and Fort Bragg, then moving to several locations in Asia and Europe--ultimately becoming the Commander of the 1-214th Aviation Regiment in May 2005, where he served until May 2007.

At the conclusion of his service with the 214th Aviation regiment, Michael went on to earn his Master of Business Administration degree from Webster University. Upon completion of his degree, he assumed the position of Directorate of Evaluation and Standardization Operations Officer, where he established Army aviation policy and ensured compliance across all mission sets and components. He also went on to plan and execute four separate team deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan to assist deployed commanders and bring back evolving tactics to follow on units. Immediately following this assignment, he served as the Commander of the 1-228th Aviation Regiment in Central America.

In 2012, Michael was assigned to the Pentagon, where he served as the Chief, Current Operations, U.S. Army Aviation G3, and was responsible for the movement of over 1,000 aircraft in and out of numerous combat zones, sequencing all redeployed aircraft to the Reset program while ensuring Commanders were adequately resourced for their mission. While serving in this capacity, Michael simultaneously managed over 300 taskings over the course of his two-year assignment.

Michael was subsequently returned home to Alabama, where he served as Director, Army Medical Evacuation Proponency, defining and articulating Aeromedical Evacuation requirements for the entire U.S. Army. He also managed all programmatic efforts to sustain and improve the aeromedical evacuation fleet of over 600 aircraft, and he successfully collaborated with over twenty different entities--centered on the training, organizing and funding of the Army medical evacuation program.

Colonel Breslin's final assignment came in 2018 as he took on the title of Assistant Dean of the U.S. Army School of Aviation Medicine. In this position, he oversees fourteen programs of instruction, including 37 staff members and over 2,000 students.

After 30 years of military service, Michael began his hard-earned and well-deserved retirement on June 1, 2022. Colonel Breslin represents the best of what this country has to offer. Michael and his family have given so much over the years, and I could not be prouder to pay tribute and honor his decades of selfless, dedicated service to our country.

Madam Speaker, when it comes to the economy, the Biden administration continues to insist that all is well. His press secretary claims the economy is in a better place than it has been historically.

Historically? Perhaps she needs to read a history book. Inflation is at a 40-year high in this country. President Biden himself makes the false claim that inflation is worse elsewhere in the world than here.

Mr. President, the United States has worse inflation than Germany, France, Japan, Canada, India, Italy, Saudi Arabia, and the list goes on. What is this explanation?

The Biden administration blames the pandemic and Putin, but each of those countries has also had to deal with the same problems we have dealt with. Why is their inflation not like ours?

Mr. President, the answer is easy: Quit overheating the economy with government spending. Cut red tape and regulations hampering our industries. Let the American people keep more of their hard-earned money.

Conservatives once warned against our economy turning into Europe. Unless we change course, Europe will be worried about becoming us.

Madam Speaker, last year alone fentanyl killed more Americans than any weapon of mass destruction in our Nation's history.

Fentanyl is now the number one cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45. It is not guns. It is not COVID-19. It is not even car accidents. It is fentanyl.

CDC numbers show more total drug overdose deaths last year in the U.S. than those killed by the atomic bomb blast that ended World War

Mr. Speaker, as a Christian and father of four, the issue of abortion is personal to me. I believe an unborn child is a human life, fearfully and wonderfully made and worth protecting.

In the last 50 years, scientific advancements have taught us a great deal about the early stages of life. As early as 5 weeks, babies in the womb have a heartbeat.

Roe v. Wade is an inherently flawed opinion. Nowhere in our Constitution exists the right to abort a child.

Recently, we watched the far left and liberal media attack our Supreme Court Justices after a leaked draft opinion shows that the Court might overturn Roe and give the States the power to decide this issue.

Never content to let a crisis go to waste, the Senate Democrats tried to advance a radical and inhumane bill that would guarantee the right to abort a baby up until the moment of birth--until the very moment of birth.

Shouldn't a debate like this take place in the States, where citizens will have more input on this important issue?

I will continue fighting for the unborn, as well as the radical propaganda coming out of Washington. We must stop extreme attacks and protect the sanctity of life at all costs.

Mr. Speaker, I have been here probably about 16 months now, and I am really getting tired of being right on so many issues in general, just the things we talk about from sort of the right of the political perspective.

We warned that if we spent trillions and trillions of dollars on COVID that we would see inflation as a result. Now, the American people are feeling that pain.

We warned that if we shut down the Keystone pipeline, and then we had to beg OPEC to increase production, we would see an increase in prices. We continue to see that impact the American families.

Today, I am here to yield another warning, and I hope I am wrong on this. I really do. I had an opportunity to go down to the border, and I have been down a couple of times. One of the things that I found very interesting is that people coming to this country are having to deal with the drug cartels.

We no longer have operational control of the southern border, no matter what Secretary Mayorkas says. We don't have control of the southern border.

What is happening is now we have people coming to this country, and they have a couple of different options, depending on where they are coming from. If you are coming from Mexico, just south of the border, you can pay the drug cartels approximately $4,000 to $5,000. Those prices, I think, are changing gradually. But if you want to come from the triangle nations a little further south, it will cost you about $8,000 to come to America.

Syria, the last price I heard was $20,000. This week, we had a sheriff's department in Texas on a random traffic stop that had two Chinese people who they arrested and detained who had paid $80,000 each to come to our country.

What do the people do that don't have the money to come to our country? What do they do? What are the policies of Biden's southern border? What do they do? They have a couple of options.

One option is they can become drug mules. If you want to pay passage to the drug cartels, you have an option. You can backpack heroin, fentanyl, or cocaine across the U.S. southern border to pay for your passage to the Mexican drug cartels.

Now, the thing we need to be reminded of is those drugs are not going to stay in those border towns. We saw that this year. We are losing about one person every 5 minutes to fentanyl overdoses. We are setting a new record level.

There were a lot of sad mothers on Mother's Day this past Sunday. I talked to a physician friend of mine in a college town, and she warned me. She said, Barry, we are seeing a lot of young people who see these drugs online. They might think they are getting Xanax, and they are getting something laced with fentanyl.

That is one of the warnings that we are issuing here today: The drugs are coming to a town near you.

The other thing that this policy of crossing our southern border, this open border policy of the Biden administration, the other thing it is doing is creating human trafficking.

We heard a briefing yesterday morning. What happens now is, used to, they would at least separate the child from the mother and do an interview to try to get to the bottom of: Are these people really related, or are these children being trafficked into America?

The Border Patrol agents are so overwhelmed right now on our southern border--the text I heard was ``broken arrow,'' I believe was the term. They don't even interview now. We are putting these children on buses. We don't know what cities we are sending them to.

I remember asking an admiral at Fort Bliss: Sir, what are we doing with these children? Where are they going? He said: Well, we are shipping them to addresses.

My question was: Why don't we send them back to where they came from? Now, these are kids who are 14 to 17 years of age. His response to me was: Well, they don't really have an address where they came from.

You are telling me they lived there most of their life, but we are going to send them to a Google address in America?

We are creating a crisis in this Nation, and I hope I am wrong, but I am afraid I am not. The drugs are coming to your community as the left wants to defund police.

These people are making payments. Most of this money now, the indentured servants and the human traffic, the ones who don't traffic the drugs across in a backpack, they are making installment payments to the cartels south of the border. Most of the money that is being made is being sent south of the border.

We have a ton of statistics here, and I don't want to try to go through this, but let me say this: Under this administration, instead of every 30 years, about every 30 to 40 days, we are seeing a new historic event, whether it is inflation, gas prices, the border crisis, or the number of deaths as a result of drug overdoses.

Again, I hope I am wrong on this, but let me say this for all of our friends: I hope you will go see the border. I would encourage the President, the Vice President: Please, go see what is going on.

We have an invasion on the southern border. We do not have operational control anymore of the southern border. The drug cartels are controlling our southern border, and it is estimated that they are going to make close to $100 billion on just human trafficking across the border alone. That does not count their drug profits.

We have a crisis on our southern border, and I will say this: A closed border is a compassionate border.

Madam Speaker, today, I recognize the life of Mr. Horace Milton Taff, who passed away peacefully on April 20, 2022, at his home in Montgomery, Alabama.

At a young age, Milton answered his country's call to action and joined the United States Army, where he bravely served throughout World War II and the Korean War. Following his service during World War II, Milton attended Auburn University to study electrical engineering and grew as a leader in the Alpha Tau Omega (ATO) Fraternity.

While studying at Auburn, Milton met his future wife, Eloise ``Sis'' Jordan. He soon fell head over heels, and following his graduation with honors in 1951, Milton and Sis were married.

Soon after, Milton began his career at the Alabama Power Company, initially working as its lead engineer in Montgomery and later as its Auburn District Manager in 1957. In 1971, Milton was promoted to the position of Montgomery District Manager, overseeing operations in the largest district in the State of Alabama.

During his time in Auburn, Milton served as the President of the Auburn Chamber of Commerce, the President of the Alabama State Jaycee, the Vice President of the National Jaycee, and the President of the Saugahatchee Country Club.

A devout Auburn fan, Milton also faithfully served as the official timekeeper of the Auburn Men's Basketball team for over thirty years.

Milton retired from the Alabama Power Company in 1989; however, he remained active in his local community--elected to serve on the Alabama Silver Haired Legislature and the Montgomery County Republican Executive Committee.

Milton was also a committed member of the Capital City Kiwanis Club, and he was a legislative volunteer for the Alabama Children's Trust Fund. Due to his extensive record of serving the men, women, and children of Alabama, Milton was later inducted into The Alabama Senior Citizens Hall of Fame.

Milton spent much of his retirement with his family at their vacation home on Lake Martin, Alabama. He and his wife Sis enjoyed hosting their friends and family--often taking their children and grandchildren boating on Milton's pontoon boat.

Milton was preceded in death by his beloved wife of sixty-six years, Eloise ``Sis'' Jordan Taff; his parents Freeman and Elizabeth Short Taff; his brothers Clarence, Hillary, and Foy Taff; and his beloved granddaughter, Lauren Nicole Taff.

He is survived by his seven children: Terry, Jerry, Mickey, Kathy, Joey, Betsy, and Davy; thirteen grandchildren; and four great- grandchildren.

Milton's lifetime of service and passion for his community has without a doubt created a lasting legacy for his friends, his family, and the entire state of Alabama. On April 20, 2022, Milton passed away at the age of 95, and he will be sorely missed.