Claudia Tenney

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the End Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act.

The objective of this bill is very straightforward. No American who has suffered wrongful detention or hostage-taking by our adversaries should return home to face penalties from the IRS.

Under current tax law, individuals who have been held against their will can be subject to late tax payment penalties after returning home from captivity. This defies common sense and is antithetical to what we stand for as Americans. This is an overlooked flaw in our tax code that can only worsen the trauma of individuals and families who have already faced extraordinary challenges if this is not addressed by Congress.

The End Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act protects American hostages, wrongful detainees, and their families from tax penalties incurred because of circumstances beyond their control. This bill was precipitated because of cases like my constituent Ryan Corbett, a husband and father from Dansville, New York, who was wrongfully detained by the Taliban for 875 days. Ryan was held in a 9-foot-by-9- foot basement cell without regular access to the bathroom, sunlight, or appropriate medical care. Ryan was in dire health by the time he returned to his wife, Anna, and his 3 children, Ketsia, Miriam, and Caleb in January 2025. While Ryan and his family have not been subjected to tax penalties from the IRS, the fact that it was a possibility under the circumstances is unacceptable.

While I am thankful that we are taking a pivotal step today to correct that injustice, we must continue to fight to secure the release of Americans being illegally held abroad as Ryan was.

In closing, I ask my colleagues to support the End Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act to send a clear message that we stand by our fellow citizens who have endured unthinkable circumstances abroad.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in loving memory of Donna Besler-Tatem of Canandaigua, New York, a woman defined by faith, family, compassion, and service.

She led the Care Net Pregnancy Center of Canandaigua, helped to establish a Nowhere to Go program for people experiencing homelessness, supported suicide prevention efforts, and counseled individuals in the Ontario County Jail.

Donna lived with deep faith, love for her family, and compassion for others. She was always warm and welcoming, with a special gift of making people feel seen, heard, and valued.

After losing her beloved son Brennan to suicide, Donna transformed her grief into a mission of hope and compassion.

Family was precious to Donna. She was the loving mother of Ashley, Grant, Luke, and the late Brennan. She cherished her father; her sisters, including Diana, her sister and best friend; and her precious therapy dog, Piper.

In recent years, Donna devoted herself to caring for her beloved mother, who passed away just months ago.

Donna's life reminds us to be kinder, listen longer, judge less, and see the person first. Our Finger Lakes community is better because Donna was a part of it.

May God bless Donna, her family, and all who loved her.

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chair, the Temple Mount, or Har HaBayit, as it is called, is the holiest site in the world to the Jewish people. During the periods of the First and Second Temples, Jews from across the land of Israel would travel to the Temple during the three annual pilgrimages. These pilgrims included figures like King Solomon, King Herod, and Jesus of Nazareth, our Lord and Savior.

However, whereas Christians and Muslims enjoy broad access and religious prayer rights at their holiest sites, Jews are severely discriminated against upon the Temple Mount.

Muslims can currently enter the Temple Mount at 11 different gates, but Jews can only enter from 1 gate. Muslims can visit the Temple Mount any day of the week, but Jews cannot ascend the Temple Mount on Friday or Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. Muslims have broad access to the Temple Mount and can pray openly upon the Temple Mount. Jews are severely restricted in their visits and do not enjoy the freedom to worship or the ability to wear their tallit and tefillin upon the Temple Mount.

And for the Jews that ascend in spite of all these restrictions, they still face harassment from Muslims upon the Temple Mount.

In fact, Muslim leaders have actively desecrated the site, including the planting and cultivating of trees at the inner courts of the Temple, expressly prohibited by Jewish law. Muslim children play soccer, practice boxing, and have picnics upon the Temple Mount, desecrating its holiness, while Jews cannot even freely worship upon the Temple Mount.

You don't have to take my word for it, Madam Chair. There is photo and video evidence of all this freely available. Individuals like Dr. Melissa Jane Kronfeld have spent extensive time documenting all of this. I thank her for her efforts to draw attention to this critical issue.

Further, when one of my staffers ascended the Temple Mount last year, he was harassed by Muslim onlookers, restricted from visiting most of the site, and was only allowed to be upon the Temple Mount for a very short duration of time.

Madam Chair, it is unconscionable that Jews do not enjoy the same access rights to visit and pray at their holiest site that other religions do. This is a basic tenet and principle of religious freedom, and the U.S. must do more on this issue.

That is why my amendment would emphasize the need for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to work to ensure religious freedom and equal access for all with respect to the Temple Mount.

I urge all my colleagues to vote for this commonsense amendment and to support religious freedom for all and support the rights of the Jewish people to freely worship at their very holiest site, the Temple Mount.

Madam Chair, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Chair, I respect the opinion of my colleague across the aisle, but it was also said that moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem was going to be too inflammatory and too dangerous. Many Presidents said they would do it. President Donald Trump did it, and it hasn't proven to be overly inflammatory. In fact, it proved to be the right place and the right thing to do.

I think this is common sense. Why should Jewish people not be able to worship at their holiest site in equal measure that all other religions get to worship at their holiest sites? I think this is a commonsense amendment. I don't think it would be inflammatory. I think it makes sense. It restores dignity, and it also restores fairness to the international religious freedom tenets that we all stand for, foundational type of religious freedoms that we actually revere in this country under our First Amendment.

I urge my colleagues to vote for this commonsense amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.