Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise to urge passage of my FAIR BET Act. The Republican's Triple B overturned a half-century tax provision that allowed gamblers to deduct 100 percent of their losses from their winnings. Accordingly, because that has been eliminated, gamblers now will be required to pay taxes on money they haven't earned.

My FAIR BET Act would undo the Senate mistake by keeping the 100 percent loss policy in place. This will ensure that gamblers don't have to pay taxes on phantom income and are not lured to offshore and unregulated markets.

My legislation has bipartisan support because Members on both sides understand that this is not ideological. It is just fair, good tax policy.

Mr. Speaker, I urge everyone to bet on the come, and pass the FAIR BET Act.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to send a message to Senator Lee and his allies: We are not going to let you use our treasured public lands as revenue raisers to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.

We made it clear here in the House that selling off our public lands faced bipartisan opposition. With the House version of the bill, I was pleased and proud to lead the effort to strike that provision to sell off public lands in my congressional district in southern Nevada without our consent.

Now, Senator Lee is trying to introduce a similar provision in the Senate version of the bill. Nevadans see this for what it is, and there is public outrage from outdoor enthusiasts and conservationists.

I am pleased that the Senate Parliamentarian, with the Byrd rule, has correctly ruled that this reckless provision has no business in a reconciliation bill. These are our public lands. Look at this map, and you can see what is at stake. It is not in the bill right now, but the fight is far from over, and so we will continue to do that. This is the reason why, for future generations.

Mr. Speaker, I was absent from the floor and the roll call votes today.

Had I been present, I would have voted: YEA on Roll Call No. 172, the Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 1998; YEA on Roll Call No. 173, the Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 3394; and YEA on Roll Call No. 174, the Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 3422.

Mr. Speaker, during Roll Call Vote No. 158 on H. Res. 488, I mistakenly recorded my vote as PRESENT when I intended to vote NAY.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the leader for yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, the Republicans may think that they can hide what they are doing to the American people by voting on this one big, bad, beautiful, BS bill in the middle of the night. They need to think again.

I represent Las Vegas. That is a 24-hour town. My constituents are up. They are not asleep. They are working, and they are watching.

They can see my Republican colleagues cutting benefits for families while cutting taxes for billionaires. They can see them taking away food from children and healthcare from women. They can see my friends on the other side of the aisle stripping funds from renewable energy, Medicaid, and public education.

They are not asleep. They are not blind. Their eyes are wide open. Republicans can say whatever they want to, but my constituents are watching what they are doing.

Mr. Speaker, over the past few weeks, I have held a number of townhalls, and one thing keeps coming up consistently: Democrats need a cohesive, concise message that clearly lays out what we are for, not just what we are opposed to.

In 1994, Newt Gingrich drew up a Contract with America. It was a simple set of priorities that Republicans promised to enact if they got the House majority. Well, it worked; the Republicans took the House in the 1994 mid-term elections.

I propose a Contract for America, one that reflects who we are as Democrats: Good wages, fair taxes, quality education, protecting Social Security and Medicare, expanding veterans' benefits, providing universal healthcare, environmental conservation, and national security.

We need a message that spells out exactly what we will do to benefit our constituents and how we will do it. That needs to start right now.

Mr. Speaker, I was absent from the floor and the roll call vote on passage of H.J. Res. 24, providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Department of Energy relating to ``Energy Conservation Program: Energy Conservation Standards for Walk-In Coolers and Walk-In Freezers.''

Had I been present, I would have voted: NAY on Roll Call vote no. 77, final passage of H.J. Res. 24.

Mr. Speaker, I was absent from the floor and the roll call vote on Ordering the Previous Question to provide consideration of the joint resolutions H.J. Res. 42, H.J. Res. 61, and S.J. Res. 11. Had I been present, I would have voted: NO on Roll Call No. 56 on Ordering the Previous Question.

Mr. Speaker, I was absent from the floor today. Had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 506 on the Motion on Ordering the Previous Question on H. Res. 1616.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6229, the DHS Special Events Program and Support Act.

Nevada's First District, that I am proud to represent, hosts hundreds of high-profile events each year that require considerable security measures to keep safe the southern Nevadans and the thousands of visitors who attend these events.

While State and local law enforcement take the primary responsibility in providing support for local events, many occasions, from the Super Bowl to Formula One races, require additional Federal support to ensure that security measures are hardened to prevent and protect against bad actors intending to do harm.

Through October of this year, about 35 million visitors have come to Las Vegas. This includes 5 million who came for conventions, 330,000 who attended the Super Bowl, and 300,000 who were there recently for Formula One.

Major events like this don't just occur in my district. They occur all around the country. Our country hosts some of the world's greatest events, as you have heard. In communities across the United States, special events routinely draw visitors from around the country and around the world, necessitating large-scale security coordination and assistance from the Federal Government.

Our next decade will be crucial for the United States as we host several large-scale events that will draw millions of visitors. These will require enhanced security coordination. They include the World Cup, the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games, Men's and Women's Rugby World Cup, and the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, that in addition will give our country the opportunity to show off to the rest of the world that we are the unparalleled sports, entertainment, and hospitality capital.

My bill, H.R. 6229, the DHS Special Events Program and Support Act, will enable the Federal Government to support these local jurisdictions in safely hosting these events.

The SEAR program within DHS helps to provide this supplemental Federal support on an ad hoc basis, but it has never been authorized into law. This legislation does just that and in turn fortifies the existing program to better equip law enforcement authorities to prevent, mitigate, and respond to threats to events that happen in all our districts.

Importantly, it codifies the standardized SEAR process into law, ensures DHS maintains its risk-based methodology for event review, and allows expedited consideration or reconsideration of events that receive an initial SEAR designation.

I thank Representative Richard Hudson of North Carolina for partnering with me on this legislation to codify the SEAR program, as well as Representatives Robert Menendez of New Jersey, Anthony D'Esposito of New York, and Jared Moskowitz of Florida for cosponsoring the bill. I thank the chairman and ranking member for bringing it to the floor, and I urge all Members to vote in support of this bipartisan measure.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this critical bipartisan bill which addresses water issues across the Nation, and it is especially important in the West where whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over.

This legislation includes provisions that I introduced and led to extend the Las Vegas Wash Program, which is essential for returning water to Lake Mead as our region of the country battles historic drought.

Additionally, as the ranking member of the Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management Subcommittee, I am proud to have negotiated the first reauthorization of the Economic Development Administration in 20 years. It includes my language recognizing the importance of travel and tourism for economic development. Across the country, every place has something people want to visit, but it is especially true in my district which includes Las Vegas.

It also has my legislation to assist with water conservation efforts in economies negatively impacted by drought and extreme heat.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Graves, Ranking Member Larsen, Chairman Rouzer, and especially Ranking Member Napolitano, Chairman Perry, and all the wonderful staff who worked so hard to move this forward and make the bipartisan package possible.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 484 and YEA on Roll Call No. 486.

Mr. Speaker, I was absent from the floor and the roll call vote on the Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 390--Maurice D. Hinchey Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area Enhancement Act. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 480 on the Motion to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 390.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time.

Mr. Speaker, I acknowledge and thank my Republican colleague from Indiana (Mr. Baird) for joining me on this bipartisan legislation to establish the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts Authorization Act, H.R. 8368.

Over the course of our 20-year mission in Afghanistan, more than 300,000 Afghans worked shoulder to shoulder with U.S. servicemembers, diplomats, and aid workers. They provided valuable support for nearly 800,000 U.S. troops who rotated through Afghanistan. They served primarily as translators, guides, and informal advisers to U.S. personnel on the ground.

These are, in every sense of the word, our valued allies. They stood with us through difficult conditions, advancing U.S. interests.

In August 2021, the U.S. conducted an historic and heroic evacuation that carried 70,000 Afghans to safety along with tens of thousands of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents, as well as citizens from other countries.

Since July 2021, the State Department has worked around the clock to relocate U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents from Afghanistan who wanted to depart and who were eligible Afghan allies who worked with us.

Secretary Blinken has made this a top priority for the Department and has said that there is no deadline for this important work. He underscores the commitment that the Biden administration has to this effort and the promise of Operation Enduring Welcome.

In 2022, to solidify these relocation efforts, the State Department established a specialized office called the Coordinator for Afghan Relocation Efforts, appropriately known as CARE.

CARE serves as the hub for a whole-of-government priority, working closely with various Federal departments and agencies, international partners, veterans groups, former diplomats, government officials, and NGOs to ensure the safe and efficient relocation of individuals who have qualified to immigrate to the U.S., either as special immigrants or refugees, during the 20-year U.S. mission to Afghanistan.

The Afghan Special Immigrant Visa program, also stood up by Congress and relying on our regular reauthorization of additional visa numbers to meet demand, long faced challenges and processing delays, but the situation changed dramatically early in 2021, when the Biden administration ramped up resources to clear an SIV processing backlog that had accumulated in the prior administration.

Working together, Congress and the administration have prioritized and streamlined the Afghan SIV program to meet evolving demand and uphold our moral obligation.

In fiscal year 2023, the administration issued the most SIVs in a single year since the start of the program in 2009. In the most recent report, the Department issued 1,894 SIVs, ensuring that almost 8,000 additional Afghan allies and their families had a pathway to safety.

Similarly, the State Department has announced the establishment of a new P-2 category for refugees, in addition to the P-1 referrals, to expand available pathways for persecuted Afghans. As a result, we have welcomed more than 130,000 Afghans to safety.

The CARE program has been the linchpin of this work, serving as a valuable conduit for all of the different organizations I mentioned and Afghans themselves as they navigate a pathway to their new home. The work, however, is not codified in statute. It exists across a number of agencies and programs.

Congress should be unambiguous here. We support this work. We want to see the job continue, and we should do so by authorizing it as a new agency.

That is what this bill would do. It would authorize the CARE office in the State Department for 3 years and grant it important authorities to continue this work as an identified legislative priority for the State Department.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, to acknowledge the obligation that we have, our moral obligation to help those who helped us so much, and to fulfill our promise to all of those who stood with us.

I thank Ranking Member Meeks and Chairman McCaul of the Foreign Affairs Committee for their support in helping move this bill to the floor, and I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of it.