Floor Statements

Mr. Chair, when Title IX became law in 1972, it was a watershed moment for every woman in America.

Title IX was a game changer for women and girls in sports to showcase their talents on the field without discrimination or prejudice.

I watched with pride as my five daughters competed during their high school days. I feel the same pride as I watch my 12 granddaughters learn, grow, and thrive as they compete and work to gain respect from their teammates through hard work and meritocracy.

Unfortunately, these life-changing opportunities afforded to generations of women and girls are under assault today.

We cannot sit back and watch biological males rob biological women of

equal athletic opportunities. We need to stop putting feelings of boys and men above fairness and opportunity for girls and women.

With this upside-down world of feelings over fairness, we are also stealing from our young men a major component of their self-esteem, the inborn and innate desire to respect and protect womanhood.

This is why I am proud to support the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2023 to make sure women's sports are safe and fair.

Allowing biological men to compete in women's sports erodes the progress women and girls have made in athletics and undermines our cherished American values of meritocracy, hard work, and equality.

I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this commonsense bill and preserve the rights of all women to achieve their American Dream.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.

Since Title IX became law 50 years ago, women and girls have shattered records, broken barriers, and blazed a trail for generations of female athletes to dream big and to rise to new heights in athletics.

As a former athlete, I know firsthand the far-reaching, profound impact of sports participation on physical, academic, and social development.

In a recent survey, over half of the women executives of major U.S. companies attributed their success to participating in collegiate athletics.

The regressive, unscientific, and unsound policy of the Biden administration to allow biological men to compete against women strips the rights and dignity of every woman to safe and fair competition in sports.

The science is clear. Men are physiologically faster, stronger, and bigger than women. Biological men develop larger hearts and lungs, denser bones, and stronger muscles.

This is common sense, my friends, and we all instinctively know this. Putting a stronger, faster, bigger man against women turns back the clock on this remarkable accomplishment of female athletes by half a century.

Who also suffers from this attack on womanhood? Young men who have already been damaged for decades of progressive left policies that have destroyed the nuclear family.

Mr. Speaker, 80 percent of these urban men no longer have a father who will teach them their primary job as a man is to respect and protect womanhood, that his greatest success and legacy will be leaving his children and wife a good name.

Instead, you see in these urban, crime-ridden Democrat cities young men who have lost hope and as a result are losing their souls.

Turn on the TV. In the same cities where these urban city political leaders are closing their eyes to sexualization of children as young as 3 or 4 years old, where confusing our children about gender fluidity is at its heights, you will see gangs of young men with no respect for women as they bully, use, abuse, and beat up girls and women and, with no shame, boast about it as they post their insidious attacks on TikTok. No hope, no soul.

I'll make a request to those on the other side of the aisle; ask the urban community of Black women what they think of turning men into women, not the elitist Black minority who are married and have a safe life inside their middle-class neighborhood bubble, but the 78 percent of single mothers who are trying to raise and provide for their children solo.

Ask them how it is for generations to deal with the absence of good, God-fearing, honest, hardworking, committed, visionary, and courageous men who will stand and sacrifice anything, including their lives, for their wives and children.

These women will tell you that they already live in communities where males no longer identify as men. We will not stand by and allow the anti-family, anti-women progressive left to add women to their long list of hopelessness.

Our message with this bill is to all women, regardless of your politics, creed, color, background, social status, or religion.

The Republican Party will ensure that you and your daughters will never lose hope; that your efforts, your work, and your dreams will never be stolen by an ideology that has driven the party that has lost its way.

We promise never to demean your contributions, past and present, your efforts and sacrifice, acknowledged or forgotten, that has helped to forge this great Nation. We start today by defending meritocracy and granting every woman a level playing field of fairness.

As the chairman of the Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development, I am proud to support the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act to end the reckless, anti-women, and unfair policies of the Biden White House against female athletes.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my esteemed colleague for yielding.

Here are some facts you need to know about the abysmal record of the Chinese Communist Party on human rights and against our American way of freedom.

China has carried out the torture, forced sterilization, and sexual abuse of over 1 million Uyghurs.

China has ranked 175 out of 180 countries that lack free press, and it is notorious for jailing journalists with dissenting voices. Chinese officials have detained, tortured, and executed protestors with impunity.

Since 2013, U.S. colleges and universities have received more than $1 billion in gifts and contracts from the Chinese Communist Party and its affiliated sources.

As a result, professors, student groups, and guest speakers critical of the Communist Party's human rights abuses have been silenced, threatened, and de-platformed. The China regime is spreading anti- democratic, anti-American propaganda by funneling large sums of money into education.

Sadly, we have Americans who have and continue to think that turning their back on our Nation for self-aggrandizement is okay. This profit over patriotism culture that has infested our country and our institutions of higher learning is okay.

This must end.

It is a national security issue when the Communist Party simply buys onto platforms that manipulate our children, their education, the vision and ability to appreciate this great country.

We have for years allowed the Chinese Communist Party to find a home in our high schools and colleges with their Confucius Institutes.

Granted the credibility of our institutions and the pipeline of our children, they indoctrinate them into their form of government, one that can only survive through tyranny, is good, and that our form of government, a representative republic that thrives on freedom, is bad.

It is on these college campuses where the stealing of our intellectual property, technology, and national security secrets is not looked upon as betrayal, which it is at the highest, but instead deemed a necessity to build bigger, more spacious buildings and to hire more bureaucrats committed to teach our impressible and trusting children that Marxism is okay after all.

The manipulation of our children on American soil, paid for by American taxpayers, is unacceptable. Again, the profit over patriotism culture that has infested too many of our higher education institutions must stop now.

As we watched a slow-moving Communist spy balloon that took a week to lumber over our Nation, doing figure eights over our military bases; then, as we learned this morning of the secret Communist Chinese police station spying on, intimidating, and disrupting free speech of Chinese Americans in New York City, we have to wonder what is really being taught or not taught in our educational system.

It is indeed broken if our past generations taught by these institutions can see the blatant attacks on our American culture and think there is nothing wrong; that the presence of misery, chaos, hopelessness, and divisiveness throughout our Nation is normal and acceptable.

From establishing a bipartisan select committee on China, to reducing reliance on foreign adversaries for our American energy needs, the House GOP has delivered on its promise outlined in our Commitment to America; that is, to counter the malignant influence of China in corporate boardrooms, social media, and on college and high school campuses. We have done so in our first 100 days.

As the chairman of the Higher Education and Workforce Development Subcommittee, I am proud to lead the charge in ensuring the freedom of speech of every American on every college campus and to preserve the integrity of America's higher education.

I am committed to championing the freedom and liberty we enjoy as Americans. As was the statement made by a Japanese Admiral after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the deaths of close to 3,000 Americans, ``I fear we've awakened a sleeping giant.''

To the Biden administration that has for 2 years been asleep as our Nation has faced threats from within and without, the American people will not stand by and let our children be indoctrinated out of our belief in freedom, our American way, and the history of proud Americans who sacrificed their blood, sweat, and tears to grant us this great gift.

You have awakened a sleeping giant, a freedom-loving we the people.

Mr. Chair, I rise in support of H.R. 5, the Parents Bill of Rights Act.

I am the father of 6 children and the grandfather of 16 grandchildren. I am also the son of two educators. I know from experience that students succeed when parents and educators work together.

Between crippling learning loss, school closures, and now teacher strikes, our kids have been through enough. They don't stand a chance if parents are kicked out of the driver's seat. Moms and dads are the primary stakeholders in a child's education, not the government, period. They have a God-given right to be involved in their child's education and development, especially in the classroom.

Under the one-party Democratic rule in Washington, parents have been left behind, kept out of the classroom, and even labeled and targeted as domestic terrorists by the Biden DOJ. In Biden's America, parents come last.

Under the House Republican majority, we are supporting parents and fulfilling our commitment to America by making sure moms and dads have a seat at the table.

The Parents Bill of Rights Act is just good, old-fashioned common sense, and here is the truth of the Parents Bill of Rights Act. Parents have a right to know what is being taught in schools and to see the reading materials. Parents have a right to be heard. Parents have a right to see the school budget and spending. Parents have a right to protect their child's privacy. Parents have a right to be updated on any violent activity at school.

Unfortunately, in committee, 17 Democrats opposed protecting these God-given parental rights. Just remember: Parental rights are nonnegotiable.

Mr. Chair, I am proud to vote ``yes'' on the Parents Bill of Rights Act, and I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend, Ken Buck, a leading voice on demanding accountability from Big Tech and big media, for bringing us together tonight.

I am here to speak against the censorship of conservative outlets by AT&T and DIRECTV.

On April 16, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr., was confined in a Birmingham, Alabama, jail. His crime? Fighting Jim Crow segregation and showing the injustice to the American people through peaceful, nonviolent protest.

He shared his thoughts through a letter titled: ``Letter from Birmingham Jail.'' He gave millions of Americans the opportunity to read the thoughts of reason and one of faith in the Judeo-Christian values upon which our Nation was founded. Dr. King was someone who believed in the innate goodness of American's justice-seeking heart.

He stated in that letter: ``Injustice anywhere in this country is injustice everywhere.''

We see injustice in the canceling of conservative voices by board members and executives who cowardly hide in secret behind closed doors, using the power granted to them through the corporate name built by other American-loving business leaders. AT&T and DIRECTV have in the last 2 years deplatformed two very prominent and successful conservative platforms, OAN and Newsmax.

The cancel culture is driven by the insecure, the weak, and the intellectually lazy who work in the shadows to control the American heart. This is because they feel inept and unable through meritocracy to compete and change the American heart.

We are standing in Congress today to fight against injustice. It is an injustice that literally threatens our freedom. The power brokers of the early 1900s focused on controlling the marketplace of property, wealth, and industry. Today's power brokers are focused on controlling the marketplace of thoughts, ideas, and communication. In doing so, they steal the American people's opportunity for unity.

There will never be American unity without the freedom of speech, to be heard, and our thoughts to be judged by one another.

Ignorant and free can never be. Those who seek to keep us ignorant, regardless of how powerful and popular they are, are not the friends of freedom. They are not friends of the American way.

I call on all Americans to join us in this fight against censorship and preserve our freedom.

Madam Speaker, I thank my teammate for pulling this together.

Damar Hamlin's fighting spirit and his faith inspired all Americans.

His miraculous recovery has reminded us of the power of prayer. He has been in the prayers of millions over the last 2 weeks, his teammates, his opponents, and Americans throughout our country regardless of race, creed, or color.

As we stand on the House floor today, we see the vision of our Founders, a promise to become a more perfect Union. It is a celebration of meritocracy, of a young man whose strength comes from God and his family.

We have seen our Nation's heart of empathy, one that blesses us with the opportunity to dream, to struggle, to overcome, and, the ultimate prize, to inspire and bless others.

God bless Damar, the Hamlin family, his teammates, and the entire football community.

Madam Speaker, this year marks the 30th Anniversary of the Central Utah Project Completion Act, an absolute game changer for Utah's water conservancy efforts.

Our state is the fastest-growing economy per capita, and our population will double by 2065.

Historic drought is crippling states like Utah, which depend so heavily on our agriculture industry.

The Central Utah Project plays an integral role in efficient and innovative water use and conservation measures to meet the demands of our booming population and economy.

The project provides water for municipal and industrial use, irrigation, hydroelectric power, fish and wildlife conservation, and improved flood control.

Since the Central Utah Project Completion Act became law 30 years ago, the Central Utah Project has ramped up water delivery to a million and a half Utahns daily.

This remarkable accomplishment would not have been possible without the tireless work of Utahns.

I will take this time to recognize a few of the extraordinary individuals who made invaluable contributions to the success of the Central Utah Project:

Gene Shawcroft,

Marcus Faust,

Chris Hansen,

Olivia Sanford.

I am committed to working hand in hand with local, state, and federal partners to ensure Utah remains on the right track.

To all of Utah, Congratulations on this remarkable milestone.

Mr. Speaker, this year marks the 30th anniversary of the Central Utah Project Completion Act--an absolute game changer for Utah's water optimization and conservatory efforts.

Our State is the fastest growing economy per capita, and our population will double by 2065. Historic drought is crippling States like Utah, which reminds us that water truly is the lifeblood of the West.

The Central Utah Project plays an integral role in efficient and innovative water use and conservation measures to meet the demands of our booming population and economy.

Since this act became law 30 years ago, the Central Utah Project has ramped up water delivery to 1.5 million Utahns daily. This remarkable accomplishment would not be possible without the tireless work of Utahns.

I am committed to working hand in hand with local, State, and Federal partners to ensure Utah remains on the right track. Congratulations on this remarkable milestone.

Mr. Speaker, President Biden likes to brag about his handling

of the economy: ``I am responsible for the strongest job creation economy in modern times.

``The stock market has hit record after record after record on my watch.

``Since I took office, families are carrying less debt, their average savings are up.

``Our economy had zero inflation in the month of July. Zero percent.

``We're not in a recession.''

Stop lying to the American people, Mr. President. Here is the reality of your economy. Americans are facing the highest inflation in 40 years, up 13.7 percent since President Biden took office, a recession.

In fact, inflation has increased by 13.7 percent since Biden has become President.

Year after year, prices are up more than 12 percent, the largest increase ever. Nearly three in four employees say the cost of living is outpacing their salary and wages.

Gas prices have risen 55 percent since President Biden took office. The average mortgage payment is up 42 percent higher than a year ago. One in six households are behind in utility payments.

Democrat-ruled Washington has spent trillions of your hard-earned dollars for liberal priorities that Americans don't want and can't afford.

House Republicans have a plan to get our country back on track and to put an end to the wasteful spending that has crippled our economy.

Mr. Speaker, on December 2, 1982, the medical team from the University of Utah successfully implanted the first permanent artificial heart in the world.

Forty years later, Utah remains a trailblazer in healthcare innovation. Over the past 2 years, I had the pleasure of visiting many Utah businesses at the forefront of the healthcare industry. Ortho Development Corporation, Xenter, Canyon Labs, and Ultradent are among the leading biotech firms that call Utah home.

BioHive, a collaboration of 1,100 companies representing Utah's life science and healthcare innovative ecosystem is the driving force behind the Beehive State's success.

Additionally, the bioscience industry in Utah supports 130,000 local jobs, accounts for 8 percent of GDP, and produces hundreds of patents for lifesaving medical devices.

Behind these extraordinary accomplishments are the pioneering spirit, grit, and kindness of Utahns. I am proud to represent my State and know that we will continue to lead the Nation.

Madam Speaker, on December 2, 1982, the medical team from the University of Utah successfully implanted the first permanent artificial heart in the world.

Forty years later, Utah remains a trailblazer in healthcare innovation.

Over the past two years, I had the pleasure of visiting many Utah businesses at the forefront of the healthcare industry. I would like to highlight the impressive work a few of our homegrown companies are accomplishing in the healthcare space.

The team at Ortho Development Corporation works to restore mobility by perfecting the design, manufacturing, and distribution of surgical instruments used for total knee and hip replacements.

Xenter specializes in developing new wireless medical device technologies and digital health tools to address the latest challenges in medicine while helping Utahns manage their health information.

Canyon Labs is an accredited laboratory providing testing, scientific and technical consulting, and clinical research services for medical devices, pharmaceuticals, over the counter drugs, and biologics.

Ultradent is a global dental manufacturing company improving oral health throughout the world and ranked No. 9 best workplace by Fortune magazine.

My state's pro-innovation regulatory environment, advanced medical infrastructure, and highly skilled workforce work in tandem to cement Utah's invaluable role in the life sciences community.

Biohive, a collaboration of more than 1,100 companies representing Utah's life science and healthcare innovation ecosystem, is the driving force behind the beehive state's success. The collective effort of local government, the private sector, and other stakeholders facilitated by the Biohive initiative has delivered remarkable results.

Utah is ranked No. 6 in the Nation for medical device development, and No. 5 for diagnostics development. Utah also serves as the epicenter for lifesaving catheter technologies and is a rising force in bio-pharma.

Additionally, the Bioscience industry in Utah supports 130,000 local jobs, accounts for 8 percent of GDP, and produces hundreds of patents for lifesaving medical devices.

Behind these extraordinary accomplishments are the pioneering spirit, grit, and kindness of Utahns. I am proud to represent the beautiful state of Utah, and I hope Utah's success story serves as the blueprint for other states to emulate.

Mr. Speaker, summer is the hungriest time of year for over 11 million children currently facing food insecurity. That is 11 million children who rely on school meals as their only meal of the day.

The Federal waivers that provide free or reduced-price meals-- especially during the prolonged school closures--are set to expire at the end of the month, leaving far too many students without a reliable food source.

Local schools are facing an uphill battle: Four-decade high inflation, skyrocketing costs of food, and supply chain disruptions have made for unique challenges in my district and across the country.

The Keep Kids Fed Act will transition schools--and the families served--back to paid school meal programs without increasing costs to taxpayers.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a cosponsor to the Keep Kids Fed Act, and I urge Congress to do its part and pass this important legislation.

Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.R. 7910. The violence that occurred in Uvalde, Texas, was horrific. As we consider the pain these families are experiencing, we can do more now. Let us focus today like a laser beam on protecting our precious children.

My friends on the other side of the aisle want us to vote on a hasty, partisan, and overreaching package of bills they developed in the middle of the night without any Republican input.

The legislation we are considering today is clearly designed to strip law-abiding Americans of their constitutional rights. In a town hall meeting last summer, President Biden himself said he would like to ban the sale of handguns and rifles, full stop. It is no wonder law-abiding Americans see this legislation as central Federal overreach.

History has taught us some great lessons. One is that, ``Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.''

I grew up in the Deep South where, for a time, Black Americans were unable to defend themselves. After the Civil War, Democrat Black Codes and Jim Crow laws prohibited people of color from owning firearms.

Most people have heard the phrase, ``40 acres and a mule,'' the order issued in 1865 that allowed 40,000 former slaves to live on hundreds of thousands of acres.

After the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, the Democrat President, Andrew Johnson, a Confederate sympathizer, confiscated this land, displacing thousands of Black Americans

and families. This is an example of why the right to bear arms is necessary to safeguard and protect our life, liberty, and property.

The Democrats' proposals are unhelpful in protecting our kids and go against all common sense. They ignore real solutions that will keep our children safe and help prevent future acts of senseless violence.

Most importantly, they are not proposing anything that protects our children now. We don't need to spend another 2 years fighting over solutions. We have solutions available immediately. The Securing Our Students Act, my legislation, would empower local school districts to immediately receive unspent funds from the American Rescue Plan and implement security measures in their schools now.

Of the $122 billion appropriated to the America's K-12 schools in last year's $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, roughly 93 percent remains unspent. I invite my colleagues to join me in demanding these hundreds of billions of dollars be immediately used to help local schools determine and implement the safety measures that best fit their communities. We can harden our schools and protect our children at school now.

We can never bring back those precious children we lost, but we can, and we must, work together to prevent future tragedies.

This is a solution that will harness the full weight of American innovation and technology and keep our schools safe now to ensure that no child, educator, or family has to say goodbye to a loved one because of any kind of violence.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor National Guard members in Utah and across our Nation.

Since 1636 members of the National Guard have proudly served our communities and our entire Nation.

Today and every day, we are incredibly thankful for their commitment to serving others and keeping us safe. These past 2 years have been especially challenging for the airmen and soldiers of the National Guard who have stepped up when the Nation called and provided much- needed support for our communities.

From Logan to St. George, they have provided direct hospital support during the height of COVID-19, helped fight wildfires across the American West, and provided a calm and collected response to recent episodes of civil unrest.

They have performed under some of the most serious and difficult conditions in recent memory while also balancing their responsibilities as parents, spouses, employees, and even businessowners.

I have had the privilege of meeting many of these fine men and women. From the officers and NCOs of the 19th Special Forces Group to privates assigned to the 65th Field Artillery Brigade, I have been impressed by their selfless service and commitment to duty. Utah is truly blessed to serve as the proud home of Camp Williams and over 7,000 of these remarkable airmen and soldiers.

These brave men and women are always ready and always there.

Utah has a one-of-a-kind spirit of service, and the members of our National Guard are no exception. Each and every day they faithfully live out their mission to provide military forces to assist our State and Federal authorities at times of emergency. They stand ready to protect Utahns and Americans from enemies both foreign and domestic and to react quickly in the face of natural disasters or emergencies. I am grateful to them for keeping Utahns and Americans safe.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to raise safety concerns that remain unaddressed in H.R. 3617, the Marijuana Reinvestment and Expungement Act--known as the MORE Act. I believe there are serious safety concerns to be addressed prior to this chamber advancing this legislation.

According to recent data, the safety impacts of cannabis legalization for adult recreational use should not be ignored.

A 2020 AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety study analyzed the impacts of legal adult recreational use of cannabis in Washington state. The AAA study concluded that the proportion of fatal-crash-involved drivers who were THC-positive approximately doubled from the level observed before the law went into effect.

Moreover, a series of studies conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that crash rates increased in some of my neighboring states and others after they legalized marijuana. California, Colorado, Nevada, and Oregon, specifically, were the subjects of the IIHS evaluation.

Marijuana use impacts the psycho-motor skills of the people who use it, often resulting in slowed responses. As seen by these earlier data, this impacts how we drive, overall safety on our roadways, and may have other safety impacts as we relax the laws around cannabis. I have serious safety concerns, and I would like to see these issues addressed more directly before I can consider supporting such legislation. To this end, I am developing my own legislation to look at this issue in workplaces to ensure safe, impairment free operations, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to see it enacted.