Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise tonight in sadness to acknowledge and commemorate the loss of an American icon, Rush Limbaugh, who, since 1985, extolled the virtues of conservatism on radio.

Starting in Sacramento, California, for the first 3 years, 1985 to 1988, he was within range of my tractor and my pickup out in the fields, where I was working at the time. He was really a breath of fresh air for radio, for a different type of talk and a different style.

I know he inspired millions around the country during his many years on radio. With his loss, he won't be replaced. He surely led the way for many others to take on that mantle, but nobody will do it quite like Rush Limbaugh. He did so well at it, and he touched so many that he was even recognized about 1 year ago right here in this Chamber by President Trump with the Medal of Freedom, one of the highest honors anybody can receive.

Mr. Limbaugh may be controversial to some, but he was always coming from truly a humble heart to try to get a message out to what America was about, his love for this country, and a love for its ideals.

So I know that many will miss him, and I am glad to be honored to help touch on his legacy here tonight.

Madam Speaker, the Equality Act's supporters claim it will protect students from discrimination, but in reality it makes schools more dangerous and unfair for everyone.

By expanding the definition of ``sex'' to include self-declared gender identity, it requires schools to allow biological males into girls' restrooms, locker rooms, showers, and sport events usually reserved for women.

And by incorporating sexual orientation and gender identity into Title IV of the Civil Rights Act, which appropriately mandates the desegregation of public education, this bill could order the incorporation of radical gender ideology in sex education or other aspects of curriculum, far outside the original law's scope. Activists are already pushing graphic, age-inappropriate content on these topics on students in places like Arlington, Virginia.

This bill puts teachers and administrators at risk too. Those who ``misgender'' a student or fail to use the individual's preferred pronouns could be accused of harassment and subject to discipline or even lose their jobs.

Girls would also face unfair competition in sports. The Equality Act would force schools to allow biological males to compete on female-only teams.

We have already seen consequences of this. One transgender MMA fighter has broken the skulls of two female opponents (and counting), and transgender runners and basketball players are dominating female competitors, leaving many females' long ambitioned goals of trophies and scholarships dashed.

For years, supporters of Title IX have fought to encourage and empower girls through athletic competition. Democrats would like to erase those gains, shattering countless girls' dreams and dignity, to appease the woke mob.

Americans of faith would suffer too. Religiously affiliated colleges and universities that maintain student codes of conduct, hiring practices, or housing rules reflecting their faith's sincerely held belies about marriage and sexuality would lose federal funding under the Equality Act, as such policies would be deemed discriminatory and open them to countless lawsuits to threaten their very existence.

All-female universities, whether religious or secular, would be required to accept male students identifying as female students, and male students identifying as males, since this bill provides no exemptions for female-only institutions. Is that a policy Americans want?

The misnamed Equality Act erases opportunities for girls and women and harms all students and teachers. It must be opposed.

Mr. Speaker, the Biden administration has now issued at least 42 executive actions, including 25 executive orders, by far the most of any President during this span. Clearly, all his rhetoric about unity is, to use his favorite word, malarkey.

This week, the President signed three more executive orders to destroy progress we have made on immigration and border security.

He reversed President Trump's public charge rule. That rule prevented immigrants likely to rely on social welfare programs--paid for by you and me, the taxpayer--from accessing green cards.

Asylum seekers will no longer be required to wait in Mexico while being processed, which is a commonsense deterrent against dubious asylum claims. Instead, it just waves them right in, with a backlog already of years on asylum hearings.

This power has been transferred from the proper agencies now to the White House, where immigration no doubt will be politicized.

Americans are suffering. Many need work because their jobs have been shut down due to the corona China virus.

How can we justify closing our schools and businesses but putting our borders wide open?

If the President wants to heal this Nation, he must pull together for the needs of struggling Americans, not these others.

Madam Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the second annual impeachment show extravaganza, brought to you by the censors in left-wing media, the fact-check ministers of shutdown in Big Tech, and the Democrat Party.

Today, the second annual impeachment of President Trump isn't really about actual words spoken at a rally. No. This is all about, Madam Speaker, the unbridled hatred of this President.

You use any extreme language and any process to oppose the core of what he has really fought for. You hate him because he is pro-life, the strongest ever. You hate him for fighting for the freedom of religion, to not be persecuted by unfair mandates and limitations on speech.

You hate him for not subscribing to and shackling us with the religion of

climate change and one-sided Paris accords. You hate him for Israel. You hate him for defending our borders.

You hate him for letting families and small businesses keep what they earn, for trying to keep the agents of government off their back.

You hate him for putting America first, which is what I thought we do when we swear the oath.

No, this shabby show isn't about a threat to our Republic. This is the impeachment and muting of at least half of the American people. This is a shameful abuse of a process.

Madam Speaker, I pray people of all stripes wake up to the spectacle and exercise their rights to put a stop to it through free speech and through fair elections.

Mr. Speaker, the latest proposal offered by my Democrat colleagues to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15 an hour nationally is going to be devastating to small businesses and especially to jobs. A 107 percent increase is not going to create more jobs. It might sound nice on the surface, but it will be very harmful.

There is this myth that a large segment of Americans earn at or below the minimum wage, but, in reality, it is only 2.3 percent; and half of them are below the age of 25 who need these entry-level jobs to learn a skill, to learn to show up every day, to be on time, and to grow from there. Increasing it to $15 an hour nationally would cause small companies to pass on higher prices to consumers, likely driving consumers away, and for a small business' little profit margin already, potentially forcing them to close their doors.

I visited a restaurant in my district that had two locations, and they have already closed one. They are afraid, as California is already on the track at $12 and higher, how much longer they can keep their businesses open because of the huge cost of labor as a percentage of their business.

So let's get on the right track and do the things that support job growth and the success we have had the last couple of years after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and not go down this path.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight the Trump administration's latest efforts to combat the skyrocketing housing costs in the United States.

There is likely no State in the country feeling the ill effects of unaffordable housing more so than my home State of California. That is why I applaud the President's recent executive order establishing a White House Council on Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing.

Over the past 20 years, there have been countless regulations implemented in California that make building a home so expensive that many people can no longer afford to buy them or even rent. The cost of building a home is nearly six times higher per square foot than it was 30 years ago, due to uncompromising and often unnecessary environmental and safety regulations.

I am glad there will now finally be a council tasked with looking into the true reasons behind these costs instead of continuing to offer Federal subsidies to simply mask the problem.

In my home area of the First District, housing is a critical issue, with the loss of the town of Paradise and so many people displaced there and the housing that needs to be put in place back in Paradise or in surrounding communities to help these people. The mandates that are put upon them make it almost impossible to afford.

I look forward to working with HUD Secretary Ben Carson and this White House council to examine and, hopefully, alleviate the housing crisis in California.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize June as Alzheimer's and Brain Awareness Month.

Alzheimer's disease affects more than 5 million Americans. It is also our Nation's most expensive disease.

We have got to continue working toward finding a cure for Alzheimer's; but, in the meantime, we have to cut down on preventable hospitalizations and lower the cost of care. That is why I cosponsored the BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer's Act last Congress, which President Trump has since signed into law. This bill will help educate community members and doctors on dementia detection, diagnosis, and symptom management.

This Congress, I cosponsored the bipartisan Younger Onset Alzheimer's Act, to ensure younger people dealing with dementia or other symptoms have access to the counseling and support they need.

I urge my colleagues, family, friends, and neighbors to do their part and know the warning signs of Alzheimer's disease. Education and awareness can make a huge difference in a person's life.

Mr. Chairman, I rise tonight in support of increasing the productivity of our national forestland. Somehow, America is the world's number two importer of lumber, and at the same time our forests continue to burn at an unprecedented rate. We need to get our forests back in working order.

The majority provided $276 million for forest products, which is an increase of $7 million above the enacted level and $4 million below the President's budget request.

My amendment would support job growth and increased timber production to support forest health and promote safe communities. This funding is critical to support the President's executive order on forest management that involves a plan to sell 3.7 billion board feet of timber and improve over 1.1 million acres of national forestland to mitigate wildfire risk.

Right now there are 150 million dead trees just in my home State of California. If we don't act now to dedicate more resources toward timber management, we won't have any forest left to manage. Instead, we will be watching them burn, foul the air, and foul our water with ash; and in the meantime, we are still importing wood products.

For example, as a result of the 2018 Carr fire in West Redding, California, which burned approximately 230,000 acres and eight people lost their lives, we also lost the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area encompassing 318 square miles which burned to the ground.

We need to increase the pace and scale of forest production and wildfire mitigation in a way that makes business sense and includes the private sector.

Mr. Chairman, 62 percent of forestlands in my district are federally owned. The remaining private forests in my district generate 73,000 jobs, contribute $4 billion in manufacturing and sales and supports $1.7 billion in payroll.

There should be no reason our Federal forests cannot produce the same benefits and results to its employees and community as the private sector can.

Let's focus on protecting public health, creating jobs, enjoying the great outdoors by reducing fire risks, and generating economic growth to rural communities across the U.S.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the House for passage of my amendment.

Madam Speaker, I rise to join my friends and colleagues in celebrating Juneteenth.

Madam Speaker, 154 years ago, on June 19, 1865, Texas became the final State in the U.S. to officially abolish slavery. This was a pivotal day in American history, one that represents both the checkered past of our Nation as well as the rising above it.

September 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, and it took effect on January 1, 1863, throughout all the formerly Confederate States.

Madam Speaker, 2 years later, Texas was the last stop on the road to the abolition of slavery in America on June 19, known as Juneteenth.

On a day like Juneteenth, we encourage everyone to come together and celebrate this occasion and recognize not what makes us different from one other, but what we all have in common, all that we share: the love of freedom and individual rights that we are one people.

There is still more to be done, but a lot of progress has been made the last 150 years, and we will continue to make that together as a society.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight this week as the first-ever Modernize the Truck Fleet Week.

Currently, the average age of heavy-duty trucks on the road is nearly 10 years old. That is a decade's worth of technology and improvements that have effectively been sidelined.

One big reason for this is the 12 percent Federal excise tax, known as the FET, on the sale of most heavy-duty new trucks.

This tax was implemented over 100 years ago as a means of paying for World War I and is now the highest percentage tax Congress imposes on any product.

It can tack on an additional $20,000 to the price of a new truck, which most truck owners simply cannot afford.

This severely outdated tax discourages the purchase of newer, safer, more fuel-efficient, environmentally friendly trucks.

It is time to get rid of this tax. That is why I have introduced H.R. 2381, the Modern, Clean, and Safe Trucks Act, which repeals the FET.

The FET maybe made sense when it was implemented 100 years ago, but, just like the trucks that were designed in 1917, it is no longer viable in the modern world.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend President Trump on the early success in getting Mexico to increase its commitment to helping secure our common border.

There has been no shortage of doubters, perhaps even some who wished the President would fail because he has taken an approach that hasn't been tried before. But I thank the President for his vision and for his commitment to securing our southern border, which has long been at crisis levels.

We are not done, by any means--we must now ensure that Mexico honors their commitments--but this is significant progress that we haven't seen yet to this point.

If Mexico is true to their word, that means House Democrats are now the only ones preventing the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement from becoming a reality. This agreement would be extraordinarily beneficial for the American economy, and it is time to ratify it here in this House.

I thank President Trump for applying pressure on Mexico and forcing them to step up their efforts to secure our border and trade.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 75th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy, known as D-Day, or Operation Overlord, and to recognize those who sacrificed to begin the liberation from Nazi Germany.

On June 6, 1944, over 4,400 Allied soldiers crossed the English Channel and gave many of their lives while storming the beaches code named Omaha, Utah, Gold, Juno, and Sword.

Madam Speaker, 2,501 of those soldiers who died on those beaches were Americans who never got to return home.

The impact that this had on our communities back home was great-- take, for example, the Bedford boys from a small town in Bedford, Virginia. Thirty-five men who had grown up together boarded landing craft that day and embarked towards France, and 19 of them didn't make it back.

This small Southern town is an example of the sacrifices made by many small towns and families all across this country during that effort that day and during that war. They did it to protect our freedom, our American way of life, and those of our allies around the world to help defeat the grip of the National Socialist German Workers' Party regime.

We will always be grateful for those who gave that day, for those who survived, and for those who didn't come back, and that is why it is important to always mark this day, D-Day, June 6.

Madam Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 235.

Mr. Speaker, last week I had the incredible privilege to participate in the groundbreaking for the new Redding VA Outpatient Clinic.

This will serve veterans all over northern California with the increased size and space as well as the increased capabilities of the new clinic, which include allergy, immunology, rheumatology, and additional telemedicine rooms being available. Also, increased radiology service will include fluoroscopy capabilities. This is a good sign for being able to better care for our veterans in northern California.

I would also like to point out one of the driving forces in seeing this clinic happen in the Redding area, and that would be our former State Senator Maurice Johannessen. This has been his vision and his dream for a long time: to help our veterans in northern California.

So my hat is off in appreciation to my friend Maurice, and we will attend, together, the ribbon-cutting before too much longer.

So, indeed, congratulations for the good work to VA and Senator Johannessen and everybody else who had a hand in it.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the hard work being done by a crowd-funded organization called We Build the Wall.

Because Congress has failed to pass legislation that will secure our border and fund the construction of physical barriers where they are needed, these folks have taken the initiative.

We Build the Wall, led by Air Force combat veteran and triple amputee Brian Kolfage, has raised over $23 million in private donations to help secure the southern border and began construction in New Mexico over the Memorial Day weekend.

Now, rumors were circulated about the group, but they are fulfilling their promise. After first being told their permits were in order, the mayor of Sunland Park and his administration were flip-flopping, and their incompetence has threatened to put the brakes on the whole project--but it only delayed it 36 hours. They now have been cleared to resume the construction.

We know there is a crisis at the southern border. Madam Speaker, I thank Brian Kolfage and We Build the Wall for their selfless commitment to our great country.

It is too bad it has to come to this, but it is also inspiring, in a way, that citizens came forward to do the job of the U.S. Government and secure our sovereign border themselves.

This Congress should do better for our border security and for our American citizens.