Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize Mayor Hal Rose for his service to residents of West Melbourne, Florida. Mayor Rose has served the people of West Melbourne, Florida for over 23 years.

When Mayor Rose entered office, he promised to encourage sustainable growth for the city of West Melbourne, while keeping the town an affordable place to live. Today, under Hal's leadership, West Melbourne is a thriving and prosperous city with very low property tax rates.

In addition to his many years of public service, Hal served as President of the Space Coast League of Cities, Chairman of the West Melbourne Library Board, and as a Board Member of the Field of Dreams and Promise in Brevard. Mayor Rose also served as a City Council Member for West Melbourne since his election in 2000. Seven years after, he began his service as Mayor of West Melbourne.

After many years of community involvement and leadership, Mayor Rose plans to retire alongside his wife Sue and spend time with their family.

I ask my colleagues in the United States House of Representatives to join me in congratulating Mayor Hal Rose on his retirement and saluting his passion, dedication, and commitment to the residents of West Melbourne. His decades of selfless service are inspiring to myself, and many others.

Mr. Speaker, I want to take a moment to recognize the life and service of Colonel Martin James Zickert, USAF, Retired, of Vero Beach, Florida, a constituent who sadly passed away earlier this month. He was a pillar in the Indian River County veteran community who volunteered much of his time to serving our local veterans and military families.

Martin Zickert, or ``Marty'', as he was best known, was born in Greenwood, Wisconsin on February 13, 1941. While attending college, he was signed with the Milwaukee Braves minor league team as a catcher and in 1962, he decided to serve our nation the U.S. Air Force.

In the Air Force, Marty flew KC-135's before moving to the F-4E fighter jet during the Vietnam War. He and his family were stationed at Clark Air Force Base, Shaw Air Force Base, MacDill Air Force Base and Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, where he became the Base Commander. He retired to Florida in 1992 and in 2001 settled in Vero Beach, Florida.

Marty took an active role in the Veterans Council of Indian River County building volunteer transportation services to the VA hospital for disabled and elderly veterans, assisting homeless veteran families with housing and economic assistance, and helping to establish the Veteran Center and Store. Marty was also a long-time member of my Veterans Advisory Council.

Marty did his undergraduate studies at Delta State University and attended graduated school at Golden Gate University, Air War College and Air Command and Staff College. He was the medal recipient of the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with one Oak Leaf Cluster, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with Valor Device and five Oak Leaf Clusters, Vietnam Service Medal with 3 Devices and many others.

I ask my colleagues to join me in saluting Colonel Martin James Zickert for his many years of service to our Nation and communities, and express our gratitude, and condolences, to his family, for their service and for the loss of their loved one.

Mr. Speaker, due to a family obligation, I was unable to attend session on July 11, 2023.

Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 290, and YEA on Roll Call No. 291.

Mr. Speaker, due to a family obligation, I was unable to attend session on June 23, 2023. Had I been present, I would have voted NAY on rollcall No. 287, NAY on rollcall No. 288, and YEA on rollcall No. 289.

Mr. Speaker, due to a family obligation was unable to attend session on June 22, 2023. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 284, YEA on Roll Call No. 285, and YEA on Roll Call No. 286.

Mr. Speaker, due to a family obligation, I was unable to attend session on June 21, 2023. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 274; YEA on Roll Call No. 275; NAY on Roll Call No. 276; YEA on Roll Call No. 277; NAY on Roll Call No. 278; YEA on Roll Call No. 279; YEA on Roll Call No. 280; NAY on Roll Call No. 281; YEA on Roll Call No. 282; and YEA on Roll Call No. 283.

Mr. Speaker, due to a family obligation, I was unable to attend session on June 20, 2023. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA Roll Call No. 272, and YEA on Roll Call No. 273.

Mr. Speaker, last year marked the 75th anniversary of India's independence. The growing importance of the relationship between India and the United States cannot be overstated.

Our shared commitment to democracy and economic freedom serves to build peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region and challenge an increasingly aggressive China.

Robust cultural, educational, and professional programs play a key role in strengthening our partnership in science, technology, education, medicine, cybersecurity, civil nuclear energy, and so much more.

Americans of Indian descent are an important part of the fabric of American life, including friends like Mike Shaw, who immigrated decades ago with less than $100 in his pocket. Today, Mike is a very successful entrepreneur who has created a strong business and thousands of jobs.

This is a relationship to be celebrated as we welcome India's Prime Minister to Washington, D.C., next week.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for yielding today.

Today, the issue is rules reform. Let's answer some commonly asked questions about agency rules.

Question number one: What is a rule? To be clear, rules were made by unelected, unrecallable, unaccountable bureaucrats.

Question number two: Why do agencies write rules? It has been said on the floor, and even by an expert commentator on C-SPAN, that Congress created agencies to write rules. Wrong. Congress created agencies to implement laws passed by elected people, not create new laws outside of their delegated authority.

Question number three: Most people back home think Congress makes all the Federal laws. Is that true? Wrong. For every law elected representatives make, unelected, unrecallable, unaccountable bureaucrats can make 1,000 or more new rules enforceable as laws. Last time I checked, there were 170-some volumes of Federal code that were actually passed by elected representatives. The laws known as rules made by unelected, unrecallable, unaccountable bureaucrats could fill this Chamber.

Question number four: Can an American citizen end up in court or in prison for violating a rule made by an unelected, unrecallable, unaccountable bureaucrat? The answer is yes. It is estimated that if a citizen is called into Federal court, it is 100 to 1,000 times more likely to be a result of violating a rule made by an unelected person than a law.

Question number five: Are there any further restrictions on unelected, unrecallable, unaccountable bureaucrats' ability to write rules enforceable as laws that can end up putting American citizens in court or in prison? Yes. Currently, unelected, unrecallable, unaccountable bureaucrats who write a rule with an impact of over $100 million, as you heard earlier, have to write a cost-benefit analysis.

Question number six: Does that mean that they can write a rule with an impact of less than $100 million without doing one? Sure. It seems like it is okay to write rules as enforceable as laws that negatively affect Americans if the cost is estimated to be only $99,999,999.

Question number seven: Do agencies always perform cost-benefit analyses as required if the proposed rule has a $100 million or greater impact? The answer is no. Some unelected, unrecallable, unaccountable bureaucrats, unfortunately, are also arrogant, petulant, and defiant. One study revealed one rule had an $80 billion negative impact, but the agency had refused to do the required study saying, you, meaning Congress, can't make me, and we couldn't.

Not all Federal rules writers are guilty of bad behavior, for sure. We have many employees who add great value to the process, but we must establish needed guidelines for those who exceed and abuse legislative intent and authority.

I could go on for hours, but my time is limited, so I urge my colleagues to support this legislation to regain authority for lawmaking back from unelected, unaccountable, unrecallable bureaucrats by supporting this much-needed legislation reform.

Before I yield, I would like to say that I collected Federal Registers for the last 4 years of the last administration. Instead of throwing them in the trash like most people do because we can't act on them, I started building a stack in the corner. My office became a tourist attraction. I had people from almost every State come into my office and want to have their picture taken before the stack of rules implemented by unelectable, unrecallable, unaccountable bureaucrats.

How big do you think that stack got to be after 4 years? A lot of people say probably over my head. Actually, it was seven stacks over 10 feet high, over 70 linear feet of rules, longer than the entire amount of laws passed in this country since its founding.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman again for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, because of an extended flight delay which disrupted by travel back to Washington, DC on Monday, June 5, 2023, I was unable to attend the legislative session. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 246, and YEA on Roll Call No. 245.

Mr. Speaker, China is cheating America. They know it. You know it. I know it. Everybody knows it. China is avoiding the tariffs both Presidents Obama and Trump agreed upon by shipping solar panels through other countries in Southeast Asia and simply slapping a new label on them.

It is an undeniable fact, investigated and verified by the U.S. Department of Commerce. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the CCP--the Chinese Communist Party--has detained more than 1 million Uyghurs and other minorities in China's far western Xinjiang region.

An astounding 1 million people detained. To put that in perspective, that is nearly the equivalent of every man, woman, and child in most of our congressional districts. Many of these people have been forced into labor camps and factories to produce goods for the Chinese Communist Party loyalists to sell around the globe.

China produces 18 goods using forced or slave labor. Any use of slave labor is morally wrong. We know that, and China is by far the world's biggest offender.

Among the products produced by the Uyghurs and others through forced labor are electronics and polysilicon, which is used to make solar panels. Over 50 percent of the country's production of polysilicon takes place in Xinjiang. Some of those solar panels are the very same solar panels we are talking about here today.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, these are some of the conditions that Uyghurs and others in China's western region face as they make solar panels: They receive little pay; they are not allowed to leave; they have limited or no communication with

their family members; and they must learn Mandarin and undergo an ideological indoctrination. That is truly barbaric, and we shouldn't sell out our production to help them.

The regulation in question violates both our laws about importing products made with forced labor and enables these labor practices to continue.

I feel sure everyone in this Chamber despises the evils of slavery and slave labor. In a few minutes we will have the chance to see just who talks the talk and who walks the walk. If we pass this resolution, we can help put a stop to China's cheating and slave labor.

Make no mistake, people can still buy all the Chinese solar panels that they want to buy. We are not stopping them from doing that. We are not making solar panels unavailable. All we are saying is that they have to pay a tariff. Pay the fair tariff that President Obama and President Trump both agreed upon.

I would be remiss in not thanking some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle for cosponsoring this commonsense resolution and working to make it bipartisan: The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Kildee), the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pascrell), the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell), and the gentleman from California (Mr. Khanna).

Please walk the walk and vote in favor of this resolution to put American workers, American products, and the United States of America first.

Mr. Speaker, on Saturday, May 13, 2023, thousands of residents from across Central Florida will gather at the Cocoa Beach Pier in Cocoa Beach, Florida, to take part in the Twelfth Annual ``Footprints in the Sand'' Cocoa Beach Kidney Walk. Katie and I have joined others in our community in participating since the first walk was organized in 2012 by Rich Salick, Bill Hahn and volunteers with the Florida Affiliate of the National Kidney Foundation.

The ``Footprints in the Sand'' Kidney Walk brings our community together to show our love and concern. So many of us have family, friends and loved ones that are afflicted by kidney disease, and they need our strength and support. The road ahead is not easy for them, but as the kidney walk demonstrates, they do not have to travel that path alone.

The National Kidney Foundation of Florida, its supporters and activists have made a significant difference in people's lives. They not only raise awareness about this disease, but they have helped push for much needed changes in our laws and new innovations to give patients more treatment options and a better quality of life. This year organizers of the kidney walk will recognize organ donors and their families for giving the precious gift of life so that others could receive a second chance and continue with their lives.

Those recognized include:

Nancy Velazquez honoring Pedro Batista, Moncia Beyrooti honoring Seth Anthony Beyrooti, Pat Brown honoring Michael Brown, Mary Carpenter honoring Shawn Carpenter, Kayla Carroll Lopez honoring Keegin Carroll,

Sherri Wilson honoring William Garrett Coe, Leslia Collins honoring Jose Collins, Diana Couch honoring Linda Couch, Robin Covello honoring Michael Covello, Crystal Lopez honoring Giovanni Cruz, Laura Dawkins honoring Brooke Dawkins, Kathleen DeLeonardo honoring Anthony DeLeonardo, Shebna Dorsey honoring Andrew Dorsey, Jen Eden honoring Blake Eden, Tamara Edwards honoring Boris Edwards, Lori Evenson honoring Nick Evenson, Dawn Futch honoring Michael-Gene Futch, Annmarie Wong Allen honoring Chadale ``CJ'' Grey, Cheryl Harrington honoring Brenton Lee Harrington, Jasmin Persaud honoring Anand Persaud, Tammy Lee honoring Dylan Rowe, Irene Seltzer honoring Zachary Seltzer, Amber Shillingford honoring Brad Shillingford, Tonnia Bennett honoring Tekeya Smith, Bernadette Thompson honoring Kayla Marie Thompson, Ellen Tuech honoring Geoffrey ``Geoff'' Wasden and Cathy Woodall honoring Christopher Woodall.

I ask my colleagues in the U.S. House of Representatives to join me in recognizing the strong will of these caring families, their loved ones and all those who have joined the effort and worked tirelessly to raise awareness about kidney disease.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Smith for yielding.

Today, we are considering a historic bipartisan resolution to support American solar manufacturers and workers and hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for dodging our trade laws.

H.J. Res. 39 will undo a Biden administration's rule that allowed Chinese solar manufacturers who use forced labor to dodge American trade laws and dump inferior product on the United States.

They are doing this by slapping a new label on their products and exporting them to third-party countries like Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam.

The Department of Commerce, in a preliminary investigation, concluded that the Chinese solar companies are, in fact, sending their products through these four southeast Asian countries to avoid paying a higher tariff.

If left in place, this rule will benefit the Chinese Communist Party. Make no mistake about that. They are not our friends; they are an enemy. This will be at the detriment of American companies and workers.

Unfortunately, some believe we must tolerate China's bad decisions and remain dependent on adversarial nations to create renewable energy. That is a false choice, so says the AFL-CIO.

The United States can and should focus its resources into developing our own solar products and boosting American competitiveness around the world, rather than supporting China's quest to dominate the market and control energy supply.

This bipartisan resolution is a critical step to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for everything from their human rights abuses to their unfair trade practices, all the while protecting American solar manufacturers and workers.

Why not be an exporter of great American products rather than an importer of cheap Chinese products?

For those who say they are clean energy advocates, I would like to remind them that their Chinese solar panels are built without any environmental protection or controls whatsoever. American solar panels have environmental protection requirements.

Most are aware, and I hope everyone in this Chamber is for sure aware, that through economic dominance, China hopes to achieve military superiority. We need to stop helping China do that.

How good is this resolution?

As if the facts are not clear enough already, keep this in mind: This is a policy that President Obama and President Trump both agreed on. I know that is hard to believe, but you heard that right. It is a policy that President Obama and President Trump both agreed on.

Additionally, we shouldn't sacrifice the Uyghur people at the altar of convenience.

Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting America and H.J. Res. 39.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman very much for his leadership.

Today, we recognize a key congressional staffer who has served us on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, Jenn Wickre.

She has faithfully served both a Member of Congress and the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee for more than 16 years.

Often in Washington, people hear the phrases: No, we can't do that. That is too hard. No, that can't be done. No, we just can't do that.

But that has never been an experience anyone I know has had working with Jenn.

She has always been such an amazing help to our staff and to our efforts to properly serve the American people.

If our staff or I have ever brought tough issues before the committee, we never heard her sigh, roll her eyes, or do any of the things that somebody might do with some of my crazy ideas. She just jumped right in and figured out a way to get us to where we needed to go. You have got to love it, Mr. Speaker.

I have had amendments that have made it into bills strictly because of Jenn's leadership and her hard work; otherwise, they would have just gone nowhere. It is just the special touch that she had.

She always found a way to help members on the committee so they could best serve their districts and their constituents, and often it was in a bipartisan manner, which is not easy to come by around this place.

Congressional staff are truly the unsung heroes and heroines of this institution. Without them the legislative wheels would grind to a halt, and that is a fact.

Jenn Wickre is one of those heroines.

Mr. Speaker, our thoughts and prayers go out to this wonderful lady and her family.

God bless Jenn, and God bless America.

Mr. Speaker, on Roll Call No. 167, I mistakenly voted no when I intended to vote yes.