Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to congratulate my friend, Alexander Barth, on his retirement after many dedicated years to the hop industry.

Alex was the Chief Executive Officer of John I. Haas Inc., North America's leading hop supplier, as well as a partner at BarthHaas, the world's leading supplier of hop products and related services. BarthHaas, founded in 1794, is now in its eighth generation of family ownership.

As a hop farmer myself, I truly appreciate the impact John I. Haas Inc. and BarthHaas have on the industry, which is due in large part to Alex. Prior to his appointment as CEO, Alex was responsible for overseeing the company's significant production operations, so he also knows his way around a hop farm.

My sincerest thanks goes out to Alex for his honesty and integrity, and for his commitment to the prosperity of our community and industry. I wish him the best in his retirement.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and honor two young men who gave their lives in Vietnam 55 years ago.

Marvin E. Galbraith and John Timothy Lane were friends who grew up in Brewster, Washington, as the Vietnam war broke out. Both graduated from Brewster High School, and at the age of 20, in the spring of 1968, each found themselves in combat in Vietnam.

Lance Corporal Galbraith served with K Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines in the I Corps region of South Vietnam. On March 27, he was killed by a landmine while on patrol in Quang Nam province. Marvin was laid to rest in Bridgeport Cemetery with five generations of his family.

Private First Class Lane deployed in the Mekong Delta with B Company of the 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry ``Manchus'' of the 25th Infantry Division. On May 4, he was killed in a night battle near Duc Hoa when he threw himself on an enemy hand grenade in a brave act to save his fellow soldiers.

In recognition of Tim Lane's courage, he was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Nation's second highest award for valor. He was buried at Locust Grove.

As Memorial Day approaches, I honor the lives of these two young men from Brewster who heroically sacrificed their lives for our Nation.

Recognizing WSU Master Gardeners Program

Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate Washington State University celebrating 50 years of their flagship Extension Master Gardeners Program.

Founded in 1973 by WSU extension agents from King and Pierce Counties, their very first training session had 200 applicants. The master gardener concept has been replicated across the United States and internationally. Today, there are over 85,000 certified extension master gardeners.

With a mission to engage university-trained volunteers to empower and sustain diverse communities with relevant, unbiased, research-based horticulture and environmental stewardship education, they have made quite the impact not only in my State of Washington but around the world.

This program makes me proud to be an alumnus of Washington State University. I thank the hardworking visionaries and volunteers who believe in the impact that education and engagement can have on the health of our communities and our neighbors.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the topic of my Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, you probably didn't know this, but 50 years ago, President Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act into law, which was designed to do two very important things: Prevent species from going extinct and promoting their recovery.

Mr. Speaker, since then, hundreds of plants and animals have joined the endangered or threatened species list, spurring conservation and recovery efforts at all levels of government. While well-intentioned, this law, unfortunately, has been abused and twisted so much that it doesn't even begin to achieve its goals. In short, it is a failure.

Although there have been some successes in the past 50 years, only 72 of the 1,389 listed species have been recovered and removed from the list. That is a 5 percent success rate. Only in the Federal Government would anyone consider 5 percent a passing grade.

The Congressional Western Caucus has long advocated for improvements to modernize the ESA and make it more effective for our species and more transparent for the American people.

We have advocated on behalf of the rural communities that we represent

who are severely impacted by ESA listing decisions and who, in many cases, are working in collaboration with private landowners, community groups, tribes, local governments to promote successful species recovery and land conservation. We have advocated to administration after administration to follow the science and fulfill the congressional intent of the law which is to promote recovery of these species and remove them from the endangered species list.

That is why I am really proud, Mr. Speaker, to host this Special Order tonight where you will hear from my Western Caucus colleagues about successful, locally-led recovery efforts that are taking place across this country, about the need for conservation, not just preservation, of our species, the different impacts that ESA listing decisions have on local communities and economies, and some of the legislative reforms that are needed to finally bring the ESA into the 21st century.

As we have seen over the past 50 years, ESA has become a weapon used by extreme environmentalists and by serial litigators to slow or halt critical economic development and land management projects in rural communities throughout the United States.

From preventing the restoration of our forests to creating excessively burdensome roadblocks to domestic energy development, the ESA used in this way actually can do more harm than good.

These combative environmental groups use the ESA to drive a political wedge to achieve their true ambition, the end of ranching, the end of resource development, and the end of timber harvest on public lands. It is not just a western or a public lands issue.

There are approximately 1.3 billion acres of private land in the United States and 926 of the currently listed species are on those private lands, which means cooperation with these communities and these landowners is essential. It is crucial for recovery.

Unfortunately, ESA regulations often negatively affect the very people we need as conservation partners through land use restrictions, through reduced property values, and costly permitting requirements. In effect, the law literally makes enemies out of the people most critical to the species recovery.

We must empower our local, our State, and our Tribal partners to collaborate on comprehensive recovery and conservation efforts, and we understand more stringent regulations will not lead to more successful species recovery.

In rural America, we value the responsible management of species, but we have to do so in a way that does not destroy our economies, that does not decimate our lands, or leave our communities vulnerable to natural disasters.

We need flexible tools, not tools that are one-size-fits-all regulations that come out of the Federal Government, to be successful in our shared goal of recovery of our Nation's endangered species and threatened species.

Tonight, as we always do, we are here to raise the voices of rural communities across this country, and tonight we are focused on those voices that are telling us how they have been impacted by the ESA and make their message heard.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Baird).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for relating some of the impacts that he sees in his State. You don't have to be in the Western United States to be negatively impacted by some of the things that are in the ESA that need updating. I thank him for relating that.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Tiffany), one of the vice chairs of the Western Caucus, a gentleman that represents another Midwestern State. I thank him for being here tonight.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Tiffany. You are absolutely right. In the ESA there have been some success stories and we need to learn to celebrate them. More important, the resources that are being used in successfully recovering those species could then be turned to other resources that desperately need the help.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Valadao), one of the young Members of the House of Representatives and a friend of mine.

Mr. Speaker, he had to go there. I thank Mr. Valadao for his words. Sometimes going off script is dangerous at times, but I think he made a really good point about right now in California, there is an abundance of water, so much so that some communities are flooding.

If we could just store that water, then we would not have to idle all of that farmland that I hear is being set aside because there is not enough water to irrigate. Communities wouldn't be struggling. We need the food that California produces as a country. That is important to us. These are the things that are not just affecting people in California but the whole country.

Mr. Speaker, I think Mr. Valadao's time has expired, but he makes some really good points, and I appreciate that. Since he is a young man, I am always amazed at how much he has picked up in a short amount of time here.

Next, I turn to someone that has really impressed with her knowledge of natural resource issues, not just in her home State but throughout the country.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Wyoming (Ms. Hageman).

Mr. Speaker, I couldn't have said it better. Resources are being used to keep the species on the list indefinitely.

We should be thinking about the good of the species and the success of the recovery of the species. Instead, we want to keep them on this list to be used for other reasons. That is what we have to get to the bottom of.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Westerman). He is a dear friend. He is someone who came into Congress with me and has risen to the chair of the Natural Resources Committee and is doing just a great job. He is one of my star members of the Western Caucus.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Westerman for his remarks.

How appropriate it is to look at the original language, the intent, to illustrate how far we have strayed from that mission. I thank Chairman Westerman for those great words.

Next, Mr. Speaker, I turn to somebody who I visited in his district, and I think he knows firsthand just to what extent the ESA has been weaponized to stop some of the things that, as a country, we have to accomplish.

Mr. Stauber from the great State of Minnesota happens to be one of the vice chairmen of the Congressional Western Caucus. I would love to hear what the gentleman has to say about this.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from the State of Minnesota (Mr. Stauber).

I couldn't agree more that the gray wolf in my State has recovered, as well. They are prolific animals. They are flexible. They are nomadic. We really should declare a victory that they have recovered and celebrate that success and then use those resources to focus on other species that need our attention.

I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Thompson), the chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and someone that knows, from his perspective, not only a lot about agriculture but a lot about the Endangered Species Act.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Thompson for elevating the voices of the people of Pennsylvania on this important issue.

He is right. The conservation programs that we have in this country have done a lot of good for species across the country.

That is why he is the chairman of the Agriculture Committee because he understands things like that.

That too. We all do once in a while.

I yield to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Mann), a great agricultural State, and a beautiful district that I have visited.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Mann and appreciate his pointing out how important it is to listen to people in the local area who understand the environment, the climate that they live in, and that often they are earning their living by farming.

We have heard from several different parts of the country represented here with the different Members of Congress. So, I am going back to the great State of California to another one of the Western Caucus vice chairs, someone that is very outspoken on these issues, and has tremendous background and knowledge on the Endangered Species Act.

I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. LaMalfa), for being part of this conversation and also elevating the voices of the people he represents.

Mr. Speaker, Mr. LaMalfa is correct, there are a lot of things that we should talk about. We have a limited amount of time, but he is very good at expressing the needs of the people that he represents and making sure that people understand.

Mr. Speaker, in summation, as you have heard tonight, the Endangered Species Act, signed into law 50 years ago--and I think you probably picked this up--was designed to do two things: It was designed to prevent the species from going extinct and to promote its recovery. We need to return to that mission. We need to work with landowners and local governments, Tribes, and always keep the well- being of the species in mind in that work.

Mr. Speaker, we also need to be transparent for the American people. There is just too much at stake for us not to be. As members of the Congressional Western Caucus, we are going to continue to elevate the voice of the people of rural America on important issues like the Endangered Species Act and so many others.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 9 o'clock and 15 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, just to reiterate what we have heard today: House Republicans know that border security is national security, which is why tackling this crisis truly is crucial to fulfilling our promise to the American people and to deliver them a nation that is safe.

Since President Biden took office, there have been over 5 million illegal crossings over our southern border, and more than 1.3 million people have evaded apprehension. At the same time, Mr. Speaker, fentanyl is pouring over our southwest border and into my communities, into your communities, killing Americans at catastrophic rates.

On May 11, title 42 is set to expire, which is only going to exacerbate the current border crisis. The President and our Democratic colleagues have offered no long-term solution. While H.R. 2 does much to strengthen the border, it also fails to address an issue critical to our Nation's farmers--reliable access to agricultural workers.

We need essential reform to our immigration, asylum, and workforce laws, issues that I and many others have been working on relentlessly since being here in Congress. The United States is blessed with fertile lands and a climate conducive to agricultural productivity. However, without an adequate workforce, our farmers and our ranchers struggle to harvest and tend to their crops. This poses a direct threat to our Nation's food security, our national security, and our economic prosperity.

Mandating E-Verify would have a devastating impact on the American agricultural industry, including processing of agricultural products if it were to be enacted without reforms to our agricultural labor system. They must go hand in hand.

Mr. Speaker, just to finish, the current status quo is not working for our farmers, and we must address this crisis. We cannot mandate E-Verify without stabilizing our existing agricultural workforce: Removal of the seasonality requirement from H-2A agricultural visa programs and wage reform that makes H-2A wages and benefits more market based.

With the amended legislative language, I support H.R. 2 but seek a commitment from leadership and my colleagues that we continue the important work on true bipartisan legislation that will resolve the workforce needs in our industry.

Mr. Speaker, House Republicans know that border security is national security, which is why tackling this crisis is crucial to fulfilling our promise to the American people and delivering a nation that's safe.

Since President Biden took office, there have been over 5 million illegal crossings over our southern border and more than 1.3 million people have evaded apprehension.

At the same time, fentanyl is pouring over the Southwest border and into our communities, killing Americans at catastrophic rates.

On May 11th, Title 42 is set to expire, which is only going to exacerbate the current border crisis.

President Biden and our Democratic colleagues have offered no long- term solution.

While H.R. 2 does much to strengthen the border, it fails to address an issue critical to America's farmers--reliable access to agricultural workers. We need essential reform to our immigration, asylum, and workforce laws--issues I have been relentlessly working on since coming to Congress.

The United States is blessed with fertile lands and a climate conducive to agricultural productivity. However, without an adequate workforce, our farmers and ranchers struggle to harvest and tend to their crops. This poses a direct threat to our nation's food security, national security, and economic prosperity.

Mandating E-Verify would have a devastating impact on American agriculture, including processing of agricultural products, if it were to be enacted without reforms to our agricultural labor system. They must go hand in hand. The current status quo is not working for our farmers, and we must address this crisis.

We cannot mandate E-Verify without stabilizing our existing agricultural workforce, removal of the seasonality requirement from the H-2A agricultural visa program, and wage reform that makes H-2A wages and benefits more market-based.

With the amended legislative language, I support H.R. 2 but seek a commitment from leadership and my colleagues that we continue the important work on true bipartisan legislation that will resolve the workforce needs in our industry.

Thank you, Mr. Leader. We need real reforms that will ensure our farmers and ranchers have the workforce they need to feed our country and ensure our food security and economic prosperity.

Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman for his leadership on this important issue.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today to talk about something that affects every single person, not only in this room but in our entire country. You need it to turn on the lights. You need it to drive your car. For my folks back home in central Washington, it is how you run your farm, your business, and your home.

Recently, the cost of that energy has gone through the roof. For years now, the Biden administration has been telling the Nation that global markets are complex and that there are dynamics that are out of our control that contributed to the highest gas prices since 2008 and spiking global oil prices.

We know better. This administration has effectively shut down all future energy and resource development, has created one of the most hostile environments for energy and resource producers, and continues to take actions

every single day to further their Green New Deal agenda. They should absolutely be held responsible for the burden now placed on the American people, who are struggling to make ends meet.

While it is very clear to me, just as I know it is clear to my constituents, that President Biden and this administration are failing to display the leadership America needs and deserves, there is a silver lining here. That is H.R. 1.

The Lower Energy Costs Act will finally get government out of the way of the American people. It will put an end to serial litigants stopping energy projects. It will cut through the endless red tape our producers face. It will unleash American energy to lower the cost for every American.

This is what we need, and it is what the American people deserve.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to honor and remember the life of a dear friend and an inspiration to central Washington communities, Valerie ``Val'' McCain, who unexpectedly passed away this past Sunday.

Val was an incredible leader with over 30 years of industry experience across several continents. At the time of her death, she served as the project director of the Hanford Tank Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant and as senior vice president of Bechtel.

Val was an inspiration to workers across the Hanford site and in the Tri-Cities communities. She also served our local and government communities on boards of the Energy Facility Contractors Group, TRIDEC, The STEM Foundation, and Columbia Industries.

Val's death is a loss for our community, but her leadership and contributions to central Washington will never be forgotten. We should all strive to emulate her engagement and selfless citizenship.

May she rest in peace.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the topic of my Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, throughout the month of March, the Western Caucus has been highlighting the need for permitting reform in almost every aspect of the Federal Government.

Permitting and regulatory reform have long been a priority for the Western Caucus and it has become even more important in recent months.

As our Nation fights to reestablish energy independence, we need certainty for American energy producers and a reliable process for increased critical mineral mining.

As catastrophic wildfires threaten the West year after year, we need permitting processes that empower State and local land managers to effectively manage our forests and our grasslands.

As rural communities are faced with more and more Federal overreach from the Biden administration, they deserve certainty and transparency. That is why we must reform our broken permitting processes to unlock American investment and unleash the potential of rural America.

Landmark environmental protection laws like NEPA and the ESA have truly gotten out of control. While well intentioned they are, they are now used by serial litigants to stall critical infrastructure and management projects.

These far-left environmental groups use these statutes to drive political wedges and ensure America is dependent on her adversaries. Endless cycles of litigation tie the hands of project developers, of land managers, and of private conservationists, all while posing a serious threat to both our local economies as well as our environment.

As a farmer from the central part of the State of Washington and as chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, I see how regulations from the Federal Government have disproportionately negatively impacted our rural communities. This is unfair for so many reasons, but the main one being that these are exactly the men and women that we should be empowering.

In rural America, our livelihoods depend on a healthy environment and on our natural resources. We truly have a vested interest in and a storied history of protecting our lands and our waters. We just need the Federal Government to literally get out of our way.

That is why House Republicans have introduced H.R. 1, the Lower Energy Costs Act, to deliver on our promise to unleash American energy and lower prices for all consumers, regardless of what industry they are engaged in.

H.R. 1 updates our broken permitting process to actually let Americans mine, let Americans farm, let Americans manufacture, to process, and to build so that our country can grow and thrive once more.

Today, I am joined by Western Caucus members from across our country who will shed light on how broke permitting processes throughout the Federal Government have kneecapped

rural communities and how H.R. 1 can help resolve many of these challenges.

In order to truly unleash American potential, we must reform our permitting processes and we will continue to advocate for commonsense policies that will do just that.

As the preeminent voice for rural America on Capitol Hill, we have an expansive membership who have been on the front lines of the crafting of H.R. 1, our top legislative priority. We will continue to highlight the need for permitting reform to get more energy projects online and lower the cost to battle the inflation caused by the Biden administration's reckless agenda. This evening, many of our members of the Western Caucus will be here participating.

I ask the Speaker's indulgence that Mr. Stauber from Minnesota actually manage the time for our Special Order tonight.

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

Mr. Speaker, I am a third-generation hop and grape farmer from the State of Washington. Being a good steward of the environment has always been important to me, my family, and my neighbors.

For generations, farmers and ranchers across the United States have understood that in order to continue their important job of feeding the world, we must work together to protect our clean water and conserve our most precious natural resources.

And it has been to the great success. Our Nation's agricultural community has voluntarily innovated over the years, finding ways to use significantly less pesticides and fertilizers to grow even more food.

Yet, the administration has ignored all those facts and instead is coming after our private property rights with their waters of the United States rule.

WOTUS is nothing more than a power grab which would impose tighter controls over the waters the Clean Water Act never intended to regulate.

Let's be clear: WOTUS isn't just a logistical nightmare that has plagued landowners, businesses, farmers, ranchers, and rural communities across the country for years; it controls what people can build or plant in and around streams, ponds, and irrigation ditches in the middle of cropland giving the EPA unprecedented say over what people can do or can't do with their land, and it calls into question whether farmers could even begin to work their land.

This impacts our food supply, our housing industry, and many aspects that have already been severely challenged by the administration's overreaching policies.

This rule is not about clean water. Rural communities in the West and across the country like central Washington are dedicated to clean water, and they are the ones being punished by the continuing legal uncertainty that this new final rule brings.

As chairman of the Congressional Western Caucus, a bipartisan group of nearly 100 Members who advocate for property rights and clean water, I have consistently called on the administration to provide that certainty that we all want.

In fact, we have led over 200 Members in a letter urging the administration to do just that.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on this resolution, push back on this administration's egregious overreach, and fight for our food supply.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the City of Zillah for winning the Evergreen Rural Water of Washington's Best Tasting Water contest at their 2022 Fall Conference in Yakima this past August.

The Evergreen Rural Water of Washington's Best Tasting Water contest tasted about a dozen entries from across our great state and chose the City of Zillah as the best tasting. earning them a spot in the national water taste test through the National Rural Water Association.

The Great American Water Taste Test, which is held annually, pits the top water systems from each state against each other to vie for the title of Best Water in the USA. The water is judged on clarity, bouquet and taste in addition to meeting water quality regulations set by the state and federal governments. These include testing the water for pathogens and contaminants, protecting the water source from pollution. and employing certified water operators.

This year, on February 8, 2023, I am proud to say the City of Zillah took second place in the Nation.

It is an honor to represent the men and women of the City of Zillah. the Evergreen Rural Water of Washington, and all the groups who provide the best water and wastewater systems throughout Central Washington.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me say that I associate myself with the remarks from the gentleman from Arizona and hope that many people listen to his important messages that he provides for us.

Mr. Speaker, standing here in front of, what some would say, a beautiful picture, this is a photo of a fire that occurred near Grand Coulee Dam in my district about 1\1/2\ years ago to help depict something that I want to bring some attention to this evening in this Special Order.

My friend from Montana, Mr. Rosendale, and I, and several others, will be talking about something that is critical to the people in the Western United States. The communities across this country who will be absolutely devastated if a radical environmental group gets its way in a courtroom in the State of Montana.

Now, for those of you who may be unfamiliar with the Western part of the United States, let me just tell you a couple things.

In many parts of the West, it gets very, very dry. And in the summertime, that dryness is coupled with extreme heat. And this can-- although it makes for some gorgeous, beautiful days, but you may have heard it often leads to catastrophic wildfires that devastate forests, lives, property, and even full communities.

Now, fire in the forest is a natural occurrence and it is an important part of that forest's lifecycle. But as many of us have been saying for many years, and many of you know, much of our forest has been poorly managed, if managed at all. There are decades of buildup of dead trees, and brush, that are on our forest floors so that fires in recent years have been truly catastrophic, leaving swaths of our National Forest, nothing but ash, dead trees, blackened trees laying all over the Earth, scorched Earth that cannot produce another crop of trees.

In my district, in Okanogan County, the Whitmore fire back in 2021, burned through almost 60,000 acres destroying several structures on the Colville Indian Reservation and had as many as 500 residences under level 2 evacuations. It was devastating.

But through the hard, backbreaking work of firefighters doing everything that they absolutely could do to protect those communities, I am happy to say that no lives were lost and it was successfully contained.

I think I can say that everyone in this room agrees that we have to do something about these catastrophic fires. And also, I think I can say that when faced by fire, we can all agree that we must utilize every tool in our toolbox to help prevent those fires from endangering human lives.

I cannot say the same about a group that calls themselves the FSEEE. For some reason, this organization, the FSEEE, have decided to use a provision of the Waters of the United States Rules, or WOTUS, and put the lives of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people, at risk by removing one of the most important tools that we have to fight fires in the West, and that is, aerial fire retardant.

For those who don't know, aerial fire retardant is dropped around a wildfire's edges in an effort to contain its spread and allow ground crews, those that are fighting fires by hand, the time that they need to help extinguish the blaze. Firefighters calls this painting the box, and use the respite that the retardant line gives them to safely build a defensible line to hold the fire.

Aerial fire retardant is generally considered non-toxic but the Forest Service prohibits placing these fire retardants directly into water bodies or into buffer zones that surround water bodies with one allowed exception: to protect human life and safety.

Between 2012 and 2019, less than 1 percent of Forest Service retardant drops were made into water that was allowed under this exception.

According to the FSEEE, by protecting human life and safety, the Forest Service has violated the Clean Water Act for discharging aerial fire retardant into navigable waters without an NPDES, or a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit.

Even though the regulations for administering the NPDES system specifically state that fire control is exempted and communications from EPA dating back all the way to 1993 indicate a permit was not required for firefighting efforts.

Now, if this group wins this case or even receives an injunction, the Forest Service and other firefighting organizations would be prevented from aerially dropping fire retardant nationwide during the coming 2023 fire season, and even beyond, until they acquire this permit, the NPDES permit, which as many of you know, can literally take years to secure.

Now, if you haven't already connected the dots, this would be catastrophic for Western communities who routinely experience wildfires.

The 2023 fire season, if you didn't know, has already started in the drier parts of the country. It has already burned through over 11,000 acres this month, January, alone. The FSEEE claims to be doing this for environmental reasons. I asked them:

How environmentally friendly is it to release millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when these fires can't be controlled?

How environmentally friendly is it to have burned soil, ash choke our rivers and our streams?

How environmentally friendly is it to wipe out entire ecosystems, plant life, wildlife, the trees, the birds, the wild animals?

And even if the FSEEE were able to prove me wrong on every single one of these points, is all this worth the cost of human life?

Firefighters risk their lives to protect our communities, other people, and our forests, and we should listen to them when they tell us that fire retardant makes their job safer, and it truly is an essential tool to protect lives.

Mr. Speaker, I stand here today in truly utter disbelief that I even have to make this statement. That, no, the value of a human life is far beyond that of some possible incidental disruption to aquatic ecosystems that would be equally, or more accurately, more damaged by the toxic runoff of ash following a wildfire.

We did ensure that fire retardant remains available to our firefighters for this 2023 fire season and beyond.

Mr. Speaker, I turn to my friend from Montana, Mr. Rosendale, who is co-leading this Special Order with me, for his comments from his great State.

Mr. Rosendale, I appreciate that, especially coming from the State of Montana. Your State, just like mine, has seen record catastrophic fires over the last several years.

Thousands of acres have been destroyed throughout the Western United States, millions of dollars of damage, lives lost, and communities that have been totally destroyed. Untold numbers of wildlife have been lost. These fires have literally changed the landscape of our national forests for generations.

The carbon dioxide being emitted from these devastating fires surpasses the auto emissions in just 1 year. The smoke from these fires has even recently come as far as Washington, D.C. I had hoped that that would get people's attention.

We are dealing with that on a regular basis all summer long in the communities that I represent and that Mr. Rosendale represents, causing health issues and tainting agricultural crops. It truly is an issue that is hurting our quality of life.

If this court case is lost, the situation is going to get much worse. We cannot let this happen.

To help tell the story that we are facing in the Western United States, another Western Caucus member from the great State of Idaho, the Gem State, Mr. Russ Fulcher, is here.

Mr. Fulcher, thanks for relating your experiences in the great State of Idaho.

Mr. Speaker, fires are a huge problem in this country. We have been working hard over the time I have been here in Washington, D.C., to make this problem better.

This action, if this court decision moves forward, as we think it might, is going to take us back years. It is going to make the problem considerably worse. We must not let this happen.

I thank Mr. Rosendale from Montana for helping lead this Special Order and Mr. Fulcher from Idaho for sharing with us his thoughts from his home State. I thank members of the Western Caucus, almost a hundred of us strong in this Congress, for focusing on this issue and bringing to the attention of the American people how important this court decision could be for the future of our national forests.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 8 o'clock and 12 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, February 1, 2023, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 4 o'clock and 50 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, January 11, 2023, at 10 a.m. for morning-hour debate.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to mark the grand opening of the Washington National Guard's Richland Readiness Center, the first National Guard facility in Benton County since 1947.

This new, state-of-the-art facility will give our citizen-soldiers a new place to serve and stay during their training by providing ample training, storage, classroom, common areas, and office space for a company of soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment. The grounds also include classrooms and conference rooms available to the public and will serve WSU Tri-Cities, CBC, HAMMER, Hanford Patrol, local law enforcement groups, and dozens of other community organizations. This will also become the first Washington National Guard facility that is on track to meet a LEED Gold rating for environmental considerations and green cost saving measures.

It is an honor for our district to be home to the men and women who serve our country, and I extend my congratulations to the Washington National Guard for its leadership and many years of service to our Central Washington communities.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education Project's 6th anniversary and all their work to raise awareness and support for Filipino-American World War II soldiers.

FilVetREP is a volunteer initiative with the mission to obtain national recognition for all Filipino-American World War II soldiers for their service in the Philippines from July 1941 to December 1946. The initiative worked to successfully secure legislation that would award the Congressional Gold Medal to soldiers and survivors, which I proudly cosponsored and voted for during my first term in Congress.

After nearly 75 years, Filipino-American soldiers who served finally received their much-deserved recognition with the passage of the Filipino Veterans of World War II Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2015.

FilVetREP has since conducted over 80 ceremonies across the United States and in the Philippines to award veterans and their families the Congressional Gold Medal.

From a grateful Nation, I thank all of the Filipino-American soldiers for their service, and thank FilVetREP for their work to support and recognize our veterans. I extend my congratulations on the Filipino Veterans Recognition and Education Project's 6th anniversary and wish them many more decades of servant leadership.