Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, today I rise and I am proud that two of my bills, the Colonel John McHugh Tuition Fairness for Survivors Act, and the Overseeing the GI Act of 2021, were included in the GI bill.

Members of our military and their families have sacrificed so much in their service to our country. As a grateful Nation, we have a responsibility to take care of our heroes and their families. My bill, the Colonel John McHugh Tuition Fairness for Survivors Act, secures in- State tuition benefits for the survivors and dependents for eligible veterans under the Dependent Educational Assistance program.

This bill is named after the U.S. Army Colonel John McHugh, who was tragically killed in 2010 in Afghanistan by a roadside bomb. His family currently resides in my district. Like many Americans, Colonel McHugh dreamed of building a bigger and better life for his family, and we owe it to them, and the millions of families like the McHughs, to help them realize this dream.

The second bill, the Overseeing the GI Bill Act of 2021, provides much-needed oversight for the VA's digital GI Bill project by requiring the VA to submit a series of base-level reports to ensure the VA is on track.

These reports will provide Congress with the critical information needed to perform proper oversight over these IT upgrades and ensure that they are using taxpayer dollars efficiently and effectively. These bipartisan developments bring us closer to securing long overdue support for our veterans and their families, and I appreciate my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for lending their support to take care of our veterans and their families.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate and thank Chairman Takano and Ranking Member Bost for their leadership.

Madam Speaker, on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, I was unavoidably delayed in returning to Washington, D.C., due to airline and transportation issues.

Had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 134

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to call up H.R. 682, the Reopen Schools Act, to get our kids out from behind screens and back in the classroom.

Madam Speaker, if enacted, H.R. 8 would turn law-abiding citizens into criminals in the name of preventing crime.

H.R. 8 would establish universal background checks that aren't universal at all, nor would we have prevented any of the recent crimes involving firearms. The criminals involved either passed a Federal background check or stole the firearms they used. This should prove that background checks aren't the problem.

This bill doesn't stop at the transfer of firearms, but it also requires background checks for temporary transfers of possession. Under this bill, simply handing a gun to someone could result in a penalty of up to 1 year in prison and a $100,000 fine.

For example, this weekend, my son brought some of his friends over to the house to shoot skeet, and one of the young men borrowed my gun. So now, are we criminals when we loan a young man a gun for learning to shoot skeet?

I don't understand how in the world we are going to start to criminalize everyday activities in this country.

We are talking about a waiting period. Remember, when we got this mask, they told us 2 weeks to flatten the curve? We are a little over a year now.

Madam Speaker, we have talked all day in here about discrimination, and we need to put some facts on the table.

Madam Speaker, 0.6 percent of Americans identify as transgender. However, 80 percent of Americans identify with a religious affiliation. 50.5 percent of people in this country identify as female; yet we consistently want to infringe on the rights of all those other Americans for 0.6 percent of the population in this country.

Now, I have daughters, and I have encouraged them their whole life to do what you want to do in life; you can succeed. But we see, time and time again, that males are being put in competition in sports directly against our females.

My question is: Where are the feminists today? Why are they not here with the Members of this caucus fighting for the rights of females?

We are going to infringe consistently on that 50.5 percent of the American population by allowing males to compete in sports against them.

Madam Speaker, 86 percent of the people in this Nation identify as religious people. We are going to allow this law and the overreach of the left in this country to start infringing on those people's rights and, Madam Speaker, I have got to vote against it.

Madam Speaker, I am fairly new here. Actually, this is my first floor speech. But I rise to oppose this impeachment.

I asked my staff this morning, how many times in our Nation's history have we impeached a President? Well, they said, up until this President, only two times in our Nation's history.

So here we are, 7 days left in his first term, and we are going to impeach a President. For what reasons? For what reasons? There have been no hearings. There have been no committees.

We must defend the right and protect the process of impeachment. If we pursue this, from now on, from this day forward, impeachment will always be a political process.

I ask my friends across the aisle--they always talk about healing-- healing. How do we come together as a nation?

Since 2016, there have been hashtags going around in our Nation that said, ``Not our President,'' ``Resist, resist.'' Members across the aisle have said things in public to have supporters of this President attacked and demeaned.