Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the life of Mr. Joshua Caudell, an Arkansas Department of Corrections Sergeant at the Tucker Unit in Tucker, Arkansas. Sergeant Caudell passed away on February 28, 2022, while providing assistance to his fellow officers.

Sergeant Caudell was a 10-year veteran of the Arkansas Department of Corrections, where he excelled as a Field Rider and K-9

Handler. He was also a veteran of the Army National guard, serving our nation honorably for eight years. In his free time, he enjoyed fishing and spending time with his family and friends. Above all else, Sergeant Caudell was a family man and the biggest supporter of his children, cheering them on at sporting events and frequently filling in as a coach for their sports teams.

I take this time today to honor Sergeant Caudell's exceptional service to his local community, his state, and his Nation. His service will live on as an example for those who will undoubtedly follow in his footsteps. I thank Sergeant Caudell and his family for their dedication to the citizens of the Fourth District of Arkansas and the United States of America.

Madam Speaker, in a peewee sports competition, you can make the case that if you are competing, you are winning. But when it comes to global standing, energy independence, and economic security, there are no participation trophies. Our goal can't be to just compete. We have to dominate because if we are not winning in this area, we are losing. And if America loses, the world loses.

Unfortunately, this so-called COMPETES Act would place America on the loser's bench. I am baffled why, at a time when gas prices are skyrocketing from Putin's war in Ukraine, and more Americans than ever are facing economic instability, this majority is still laser-focused on a blind, green-energy political agenda when America needs a rational, domestic energy plan that results in reliable, affordable, and clean energy.

Our constituents are paying almost $5 a gallon to fill their cars. Yet, I am hearing my Democrat colleagues suggest the solution is just to buy an electric vehicle. What a slap in the face to thousands of hardworking men and women that President Biden put out of their jobs by canceling pipelines and shuttering American mines, while turning to international adversaries like Russia, China, Iran, and Venezuela to solve the energy and mineral crisis he created.

Madam Speaker, no, if we really want to win, we must unleash the full power of American energy and mineral development by processing permits, issuing leases, streamlining the regulatory process, and giving our own homegrown industries the ability to use our American resources. We can and we will do that safer, cleaner and faster than anyone else in the world.

Where China uses child and slave labor to mine minerals vital to batteries and computers, we can use state-of-the-art technology to access those minerals that are right here in the U.S.

Where Russia controls oil rights and uses it as political leverage, we can produce energy for our own people and be an exporter to our allies.

Madam Speaker, we have no other option than to win.

I urge my colleagues to give Americans the power to develop, innovate, and unleash our full potential. If you look around, Democrat strategies are proving to be losing strategies. Americans can't afford higher prices and more incompetence. Let's begin to put an end to the madness by passing this motion to instruct.

Madam Speaker, I encourage that.

Madam Speaker, it is my honor to stand in this Chamber tonight and to pay tribute to one of the longest serving and I think one of the most effective Members to ever stand in this Chamber. Don Young was not just the longest-serving Member, he was also a mentor and a friend; and he is someone who will be dearly missed.

Outside of Don's service as a legislator, just sitting and talking with him and hearing the stories of his life, he told me one time about running a 100-mile trap line in the remote part of Alaska, and it was like I was speaking to some character out of a novel or out of an Outdoor Life magazine article. He seemed to have done everything.

It is the stories that I think we are going to remember from Don. He passed very great legislation that had to do with everything from fisheries to the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. He was behind that. But everybody who knew Don will remember the stories. We asked some of Don's former staff members if they could share stories, and I have got many pages, too many to read, just treasures here.

I want to share one story from David Whaley, who was a staff member for Don. He says one of my favorite Don Young stories is about the original Magnuson-Stevens Act, then known as the Fisheries Conservation and Management Act, or FCMA. The legislation extended U.S. jurisdiction over fisheries out to 200 miles. Many people have heard the story about the House passing the bill first and doing all the heavy lifting, and then the Senators getting all the credit. But not many people know that both the State Department and the Department of Defense were opposed to extending our jurisdiction out to 200 miles.

In the old days, if the President was flying to a Member's district, the Member would often be offered a ride on Air Force One back to the district. After both the House and the Senate had passed the FCMA, President Ford was flying somewhere that required a refueling stop in Anchorage, so Congressman Young was offered a ride.

As it happened, the Secretary of State was also on board. After they took off, the President asked Congressman Young into his office on the plane and had the Congressman debate the merits of the legislation with the Secretary of State. Congressman Young then got off the plane in Anchorage not knowing what the President was going to do. As we all know, the President signed the bill, and that is a story of how Don Young out-debated Henry Kissinger.

What a remarkable career, what a remarkable man. I got the privilege on my first trip to Alaska with Don to be on a fishing boat with him for the day, and the only thing I regret is that we didn't have a video camera recording all the stories. Those are things that I will cherish about Don.

But I want to share a personal story that Don shared with me out here on the House floor. A former member from Arkansas named Jay Dickey, who Don thought the world of, was always telling people about his friend Jesus, and after Jay died, Don just caught me on the floor and he said, ``I want you to know something. Your predecessor told me about his friend Jesus,'' and he said, ``And I put my trust in him, and some day I am going to go see him.'' I thought about the Scripture in Romans that says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. That wasn't the conversation I was expecting to have with Don Young that day, but I am glad he had that conversation because I know some day I am going to see Don again. That is the way Don was. He told stories that gave encouragement, he told stories that were reassuring, and that was probably the most reassuring story that Don ever shared with me.

We are going to miss him, but we can learn from his example. I again thank the gentleman from Louisiana for hosting this Special Order.

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

H.R. 268 authorizes the transfer of approximately 166 acres, by donation, from the International Boundary and Water Commission to the National Park Service for inclusion in the Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Park in Texas.

Palo Alto Battlefield National Historic Park is the site of the first major battle of the Mexican-American War and has the distinction of being the only National Park Service unit to interpret the Mexican- American War.

The land authorized to be transferred through this bill includes the historic Fort Brown site in Brownsville, Texas, which served as a critical military outpost during the Mexican-American War.

I thank Chair Grijalva for accommodating our request at markup to require the Secretary of the Interior to complete a boundary study analyzing the feasibility of adding this land to the park prior to it being acquired and incorporated into the boundary. The study requirement will ensure that the land to be donated is feasible for the National Park Service to manage as an addition to the park.

Mr. Speaker, this legislation will help preserve an important piece of American history, and I urge my colleagues to support the bill.

I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I am ready to close when the gentleman from Arizona is. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

H.R. 1908, offered by Congressman Case of Hawaii, requires the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to assess the suitability and feasibility of designating Ka'ena Point National Heritage Area.

The study authorized by this bill focuses on an undeveloped area on the west end of O'ahu that is home to the last intact sand dune species in Hawaii.

As the chairman pointed out, this point is also inhabited by various protected species, the wedge-tailed shearwaters, monk seals, and rare native plants.

The feasibility study that this bill authorizes will be conducted in consultation with State and local historic preservation officers, historical societies, and tourism offices.

Some day I hope to be able to visit this Ka'ena Point with Congressman Case. I urge adoption of the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I again urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 1931 extends the authorization of the Japanese American Confinement Sites grant program and establishes a new competitive grant program to award grants to Japanese American organizations to create and disseminate educational materials about the history of Japanese American confinement during World War II.

In 2006, Congress established the Japanese American Confinement Sites, or JACS grant program to preserve and interpret U.S. Confinement Sites during World War II. However, the program will soon run up against the end of its authorization cap.

The program has supported valuable projects across the country, including at least 12 in my home State of Arkansas, where important projects have been funded at my alma mater, the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, as well as Arkansas State University, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, University of Central Arkansas, and the Central Arkansas Library System, and the McGehee Industrial Foundation.

These projects include archiving, creating educational exhibits, hosting workshops and lectures, preserving cemeteries, and recording oral histories.

I appreciate Representative Matsui's work on this important legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support extending the program.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage passage of this bill.

I have friends back in Arkansas who, like Representative Matsui, at a young age, were in some of these internment camps, and they are great Americans, very patriotic. We owe it to them to recognize what happened and to support this program.

Mr. Speaker, I, again, urge adoption, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, H.R. 2899, offered by Mr. San Nicolas of Guam, requires the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a study to assess the suitability and feasibility of designating areas within the island of Guam as a national heritage area.

Archaeological evidence indicates that the Mariana Islands were one of the first places settled by seafaring peoples. The last 400 years of Guam's history are marked by administrations of three different nations: Spain, the United States, and Japan. After the Spanish- American War in 1898, Guam was ceded to the United States as an unincorporated territory.

Guam's rich history and culture merit consideration for national heritage area status.

I support Congressman San Nicolas' bill to study areas within the island of Guam to determine whether they merit designation as a national heritage area in the future.

Madam Speaker, I urge adoption of the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, again, I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, I also rise in support, along with Chairman Grijalva, and I thank him for his support of H.R. 3113, the MAPLand Act, offered by the ranking member of the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, Mr. Blake Moore of Utah.

This bill directs the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Army Corps of Engineers to jointly develop and adopt interagency standards for the collection and dissemination of outdoor recreation data on Federal lands.

Our Nation's outdoorsmen and -women are increasingly reliant on digital mapping and GPS technologies to hunt, fish, and enjoy other recreation activities on our Nation's complicated patchwork of Federal lands. Unfortunately, inconsistent and incomplete digital mapping data frequently prevents the public and Federal land management agencies from maximizing the full benefits of these technologies.

Mr. Moore's bill requires our Federal land management agencies to digitize records of easements and rights-of-way across private lands so the public will have a better understanding of Federal land access points and ensure that Americans recreating stay safe and avoid trespassing.

Outdoor recreation is vital to our Nation's economy, and the way we expand outdoor recreation is to expand access.

Madam Speaker, I commend Mr. Moore for his hard work on this important legislation to modernize our Federal land management records, and I urge adoption of the measure.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Utah (Mr. Moore).

Madam Speaker, I encourage adoption of this commonsense bill. It will be very beneficial to provide better access to our outdoor recreation areas, and I think it would also be a great benefit to Americans.

Madam Speaker, I urge adoption, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, I also rise in support, along with Chairman Grijalva, of H.R. 3197, the Save the Liberty Theatre Act, offered by Mr. Johnson of Louisiana.

Mr. Johnson's bill transfers a federally owned annex to the city of Eunice, Louisiana, so the city can complete critical renovations to the historic Liberty Theatre.

Transferring this annex will allow the park to replace the HVAC system in the adjacent Prairie Acadian Cultural Center and allow the city of Eunice to install a new HVAC system in the theater and perform other renovations that are currently hindered due to the Natural Park Services' ownership interest. This transfer will result in cost savings for the National Park Service and the taxpayer.

Madam Speaker, I commend Mr. Johnson for his work to save this important Louisiana landmark and building local support for his legislation. I urge adoption of the measure, and I hope that the Senate will take up this bill very soon.

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

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

Madam Speaker, along with Chairman Grijalva, I rise in support of H.R. 4380, which would designate the El Paso Healing Garden in El Paso, Texas, as a national memorial.

On August 3, 2019, 23 people tragically lost their lives and more than 20 were injured when a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso. In 2020, the county of El Paso approved the construction of the El Paso Community Healing Garden to provide a space to honor victims and survivors and aid in the healing process.

I hope that the El Paso Healing Garden will continue to bring peace and comfort to the families who lost loved ones in this senseless and horrific attack.

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

Madam Speaker, again, I support this bipartisan bill. It is unfortunate that with regard to something that had so much agreement on it that people would point fingers at political figures or political movements and try to assign the actions of a disturbed, radical individual to a political party or to a political figure.

Madam Speaker, I do support this, I wish that the debate hadn't gone in this direction, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, again, I urge adoption of this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, H.R. 5001 would extend the Upper Colorado and San Juan recovery implementation programs and their reporting requirements for an additional year.

The programs provide Endangered Species Act compliance for more than 2,500 water and power projects that withdraw more than 3.7 million-acre feet of water for human needs.

The program's goals are to recover four endangered fish species while continuing facility operations with the ultimate goal of species delisting. Last year, the Fish and Wildlife Service reclassified one of these species, the humpback chub, from endangered to threatened, and proposed a similar reclassification for the razorback sucker.

Madam Speaker, if it has razorback in the name, it has to be important, and we need to take care of it.

Current law required the Secretary of the Interior to submit a report to Congress by September 30, 2021, on recommendations for the programs post 2023. Unfortunately, the Department of the Interior failed to meet this deadline. As such we are here today extending the programs by 1 year in order to give the administration enough time to complete the report.

While I support the extension today, I want to be clear that any further extension of the programs will require an in-depth discussion of the programs' goals, achievements, and administrative overhead costs.

In closing, Madam Speaker, again, I support this bill, I support the razorback sucker, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6434, offered by my committee colleague, Mr. Obernolte of California, to establish a Japanese American World War II History Network within the National Park Service.

As Chairman Grijalva stated, this bill is complementary to the previous bill we considered today with the JACS program in it.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, tens of thousands of Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from the West Coast to relocation centers across the United States. Japanese

Americans were imprisoned without trial and forced to relocate to some of the most remote areas of our country, with few personal belongings. My State of Arkansas was home to two relocation camps, Rohwer in Desha County and Jerome in Chicot and Drew Counties.

Mr. Obernolte's bill, which I have proudly cosponsored, would establish a cohesive national network to increase the visibility of all sites related to the Japanese American experience during World War II. The network will be similar to existing networks established in recent years to connect sites associated with the Underground Railroad, the Reconstruction era, and the African American civil rights movement.

At the legislative hearing, Mr. Bruce Saito, chair of the Friends of Manzanar, testified about this critical network, saying: ``We must continue to strengthen the network and continue to connect the dots through the network so this tragic and very important lesson in history is never forgotten.''

The new network will be an important tool to ensure that this history, no matter how painful it may be, is always remembered, and the important stories of interned Japanese Americans are told with honor and respect.

In addition to the Friends of Manzanar, we have received letters of support from the Amache Preservation Society, the National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers, the National Japanese American Historical Society, and the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program.

I commend Mr. Obernolte for his work on this important legislation that will help future generations learn from and reflect on the experiences of Japanese Americans during World War II.

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

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for his support, and I thank Mr. Obernolte for introducing the legislation. I urge adoption of the bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and also for his leadership in the Western Caucus and on these important issues that mean a lot to places like the Fourth District of Arkansas, to all over rural America, where out-of-touch policies in D.C. have a negative impact on people's daily lives, and just being able to earn a living, to pay their taxes, and to provide the goods and services that the rest of the world needs. So I appreciate you hosting this Special Order.

For years, it has been clear to rural America that our Federal permitting and environmental review processes are broken. While well- intentioned, they are doing more harm than good. The current system is complex, burdensome, and ineffective, yet the political

elite in Washington, D.C., wonder why our farmers, ranchers, and energy producers struggle.

Far-left special interest groups have weaponized, as Mr. Newhouse said, well-intentioned laws like the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, and they use them as clubs to bludgeon or kill critical infrastructure, natural resource management, and energy and minerals development projects across the United States.

Delays in environmental regulatory systems are especially acute. In 2020, the Council on Environmental Quality showed that the average time for a Federal agency to complete a final environmental impact statement through the NEPA process--again, Mr. Newhouse quoted this number--is 4\1/2\ years. But that is the average number. One-quarter of all projects took over 6 years to complete. That is more than red tape. That is a roadblock. That is why Republicans support the BUILDER Act to streamline the NEPA process and benefit communities looking to improve infrastructure investment.

My district, like many others in the Western Caucus, is built on the agriculture industry, and I hear over and over from hardworking Arkansans who are simply trying to make a living through the sludge of government regulation. Overregulation and stalled regulation ensures that only the biggest businesses have the money and time to navigate the red tape and hire the lawyers that are needed to even attempt to navigate the process. This is the kind of Big Government that puts local, small operators out of business. It stamps out small business operators and honest competition in one fell swoop.

The message from rural America is clear: Government needs to get out of the way. More than that, government needs to be part of the solution and not part of the problem. I think government has forgotten that it is the government of the people, by the people, and for the people, and that if you work for the government, you work for the people. It is not the other way around.

There is no doubt that we should be good stewards of our environment and communities, but too often the free market, unburdened by government, is seen as the enemy of both. This is simply false. Streamlining a permitting process shouldn't be partisan, political, or picking sides. It can be a win for the environment, the economy, and our communities simultaneously. We do not need to choose just one. In fact, a healthy environment and a strong economy go hand in hand. Somehow, we have gotten this idea that they are mutually exclusive, and we can't have one without the other.

Again, Republicans have the solutions to cutting the red tape--it is called the BUILDER Act--and by so doing, we can empower rural America and strengthen our Nation's economy at the same time.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Colonial Steak House of Pine Bluff for being inducted into the Arkansas Food Hall of Fame Class of 2022. The steakhouse was one of three winners out of ten finalists submitted in the state of Arkansas.

Having opened its doors in 1974, the Colonial Steak House has and continues to be a staple in the Pine Bluff community. This local restaurant embodies the resilient spirit of Arkansas, having survived a fire in the 1980s and the Coronavirus pandemic, For nearly fifty years, it has continually served the community, not only with great food, but also with its drive to make the Pine Bluff area better. This was highlighted in 2020 when a $1,200.00 tip was left for one server. Colonial's owners divided it amongst the employees, even those who had the day off. Allie Hall and her business partner Scott Mouser purchased the historic steakhouse from her mom Dana Gately in 2020, and between the three of them, they have over fifty years of experience running the restaurant. To this day, if you come on a busy night, you can find three generations of Gately's working there.

I take this time today to congratulate Allie Hall, Scott Mouser, Dana Gately, and the staff of the Colonial Steak House on this well-deserved honor. I thank them for their dedication to Pine Bluff, our community, and all the residents of Arkansas's Fourth Congressional District.

Mr. Speaker, as we witness an evil empire trying to remake itself, I reflect on Mrs. Bolin's first grade class in my tiny rural school in the heartland of America and, as a 6-year-old living during the Cold War, trying to understand how crouching under a desk as part of our nuclear attack drill would save anyone. The simple truth is, it wouldn't.

Crouching, hiding, and being intimidated only emboldens Communists. Standing up strong is how you beat the evils of communism.

Last year, I had the great experience of standing at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, where Ronald Reagan spoke those famous words in 1987: ``Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.''

Remarkably, less than 2\1/2\ years later, that wall came down, and by the end of 1991, the evil Soviet empire had dissolved. The Soviet Union was gone, but the seeds of the evil in the Communist government of Russia and other parts of the world still remain.

As brave Ukrainians are fighting a David and Goliath type battle of survival, we must stand strong and create a long-term plan to crush the Russian energy grip on Europe and our allies. Energy revenue feeds the Russian beast, and we have the resources and the technology to starve it to death.

Only a few years ago, the United States became energy independent. But my, how quickly things have changed.

On his first day in office, President Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline that could have reduced our reliance on Russian oil. But it is not just Keystone. All U.S. pipeline projects are being held up, and Russian hackers even attacked our existing pipelines with no recourse.

A week into office, the Biden administration doubled down on their anti-American energy agenda, ordering an indefinite freeze on new oil and gas leasing and, to this day, has issued zero new leases on Federal lands or waters.

President Biden's policies are choosing Russian oil and Russian jobs over American energy and our own national security. In fact, in 2021, U.S. imports from Russia reached an 11-year high, and we are sending tens of millions of our dollars every day to fund Putin's war machine.

Why are we doing this to ourselves when we have so many resources at our fingertips?

Our bill is simple, and it stands up to Russian aggression by going after their major source of funding. It will empower U.S. domestic production by immediately approving the Keystone XL pipeline; by restarting the oil and gas leasing program on Federal lands and waters; by requiring President Biden to submit an energy security plan to Congress; by unleashing liquefied natural gas exports to displace Russian gas abroad; and, finally, requiring drawdowns from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to be replaced by increased Federal oil and gas leasing.

I ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand up strong and join Mrs. McMorris Rodgers and me in cosponsoring the legislation.

I urge my colleagues to defeat the previous question so that our legislation can be considered immediately by the House of Representatives.