Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to shed some light on the total hypocrisy of the Democrats' Save the Internet Act under the guise of net neutrality.

This bill is nothing short of a Federal Government takeover of the internet, and the end result would be catastrophic. Democrats want a panel of unelected bureaucrats to have nearly limitless control over the internet, including decisions over content moderation and imposing new taxes and fees for internet services by the FCC.

To be clear, they would like the Federal Government to have nearly unchecked authority to regulate your internet. That should terrify those of you sitting at home.

This goes against everything that made the internet such a transformative engine of the American economy in the first place. In fact, this type of regulatory approach would cripple smaller ISPs that can't afford the burdensome regulations, especially in rural communities.

I believe in a free and open internet that fosters innovation and takes our economy to new heights, like we have reached already. This legislation will do the opposite of that.

This isn't ``Save the Internet.'' We must vote ``no'' to save the internet process and the freedom to access it from legislation like this.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague, Mr. Dunn from Florida, for leading us in this Special Order tonight and providing this opportunity to talk about a very important aspect of our job together as it affects our different regions and our States across the country.

This is an important opportunity to highlight, in my own district, our critical need for disaster funding in California, as well as the success stories we have had in the past, but, also, the needs of my colleagues in the Southern States and now, unfortunately, too, in the Midwest, my colleagues from Nebraska.

Unfortunately, it appears that we will head into a 2-week recess now without the Senate doing their half of the job in this Congress and sending a relief package to the House that is so desperately needed--a real shame.

This comes after the Senate Democrats rejected the latest attempts by Republicans to reach a compromise. It highlights one common trend I have seen so far in this Congress that Democrats are not interested in good faith negotiations with Republicans. They say all or nothing; take it or leave it.

We have got two different Houses. One has a majority of one and the other has a majority of the other. We are going to have to come together a lot if we are going to get anything done in this Congress. What we have right now is no way to govern.

Disasters take a substantial toll on many areas of the country. In my own district, 2 years ago was the spillway disaster at Oroville on the Oroville Dam. Now, with 2 years of good work, that spillway is now back functioning once again, rebuilt with a heck of a lot of money and a lot of people coordinating to get it done quickly.

We just saw, in the last few days, 25,000 cfs of water is coming over that spillway in order for the lake to be regulated safely and accurately for flood control as well as storing water that we need through the year.

Unfortunately, that isn't the last disaster in northern California. We had two more on top of that: near Redding, California, what is known as the Carr fire--a firenado, they labeled it--doing so much devastation on the west side there; then, ultimately, in November, 2 days after the election, in Paradise, California--we have all heard about that--a whole town basically has disappeared in that fire, in that conflagration, destroying, again, thousands of homes and buildings, and dozens of people were lost in that.

The Camp fire and the areas around it--Concow, Magalia--they will be recovering for quite some time. Thankfully, we have had help, and we are thankful for that. We are thankful for the funding for the Oroville Dam spillway. We are thankful for the help initially here for the Carr fire in Redding and for the Camp fire in Paradise.

But, for all the combined diasters we are looking at--Mr. Scott in Georgia, who still needs help, and my other colleagues--we have to have a stable flow into the coffers for our disaster relief that is so desperately needed all over the country.

Why isn't the Senate doing its job? With all that has happened in our home State of California, why is the junior Senator from California more worried about, 2 years ahead of the election, spending all the time in the other 49 States campaigning instead of showing up to vote on the relief measure when the Senate considered it last week and the House passed a version of it back in December?

It appears that Senator has more important things to do. I hope Californians will remember that for a lot of reasons.

The Camp fire in Paradise was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California's history, the deadliest in our country for over 100 years.

It is time for the Senate Democrats to quit fooling around with political games and get this disaster assistance in place, not just for me but for all my colleagues around the country who have people they are responsible for and need to get the work done.

We have done our job in the House. D.C. must do its job overall, the Senate included.

Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to speak about our recent trip, on Friday, to Calexico, California, on the southern border between California and Mexico, with President Trump and several of my colleagues here from the House.

What really stood out the most to me on this visit was the dedicated men and women who do this important work along the border from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Border Patrol. They did make it very clear to us in the group that they don't currently have the personnel, the funding, the infrastructure, and even the commitment by Congress to do everything they need to do to get their job done well.

This includes the continued need for a physical barrier along the border, which they have seen and have demonstrated works very well. They reinforced that fences do, indeed, work. They serve as chokepoints for those who are trying to come across the border illegally. We have much to do in this department if we are going to have a secure border.

For this time, my hat is off to them for the great work they do and for being honest with us about what needs to be done so they can do their jobs well instead of watching them go right on by into our country.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to highlight some pretty disturbing numbers released by Customs and Border Protection that help put our border crisis into perspective.

In 2018, Customs and Border Patrol agents and officers seized more than 1.7 million pounds of narcotics, including 1 million pounds of marijuana; 280,000 pounds of cocaine; 248,000 pounds of methamphetamine; 6,500 pounds of heroin; 2,400 pounds of fentanyl, which is enough doses to kill everyone in the United States; and 139,000 pounds of other illicit drugs.

It is also a humanitarian crisis. Border Patrol agents rescued from trafficking 4,300 men and women near the border last year. There is no telling how many more have been caught up in human trafficking that slipped through the cracks.

Border Patrol says nearly every sector across the Southwest border has exceeded their capacity. Each day, nearly half the agents on the Southwest border are diverted away from border security missions to instead care for, transport, and process family units and unaccompanied children.

Even former Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson of the Obama administration said that we have a crisis with these huge numbers.

Madam Speaker, we need to do our job and get this border crisis solved.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight the discharge petition that was signed by me today on this floor, as well as 189 total Members of this House, and a special thank you to Representative Ann Wagner and Whip Steve Scalise for their great work on this issue.

This discharge petition is to force consideration of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, known

as H.R. 962, which so far has been blocked by the majority in this House.

I am willing to bet most Americans assume that doctors and nurses would do everything they can to help a baby who has somehow miraculously survived an abortion. You would be surprised and saddened to know that that is not always the case.

In 2002, Congress recognized the simple fact that an infant who survives an abortion is, indeed, a person. So why is there still no legal protection for those newborn babies who have been born alive after a failed abortion attempt?

It is past time to hold abortion providers accountable for ensuring the best possible care for any newborn baby regardless of whether that baby happens to survive an abortion. We must vote to protect the sanctity of newborns, and I hope the American people will call their Member of Congress and have them sign on to this discharge petition and support this act.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my concerns over the handling of the Violence Against Women Act, known as VAWA, by the Democratic leadership.

A few weeks ago, Democratic leadership intentionally let the Violence Against Women Act expire when negotiating the reopening of the Federal Government during the shutdown rather than simply reauthorizing VAWA. That is because, instead, as we see now, they want to tack on additional partisan provisions, like gun control and many other ideas that have little to do with violence against women and this act.

We need to extend this program. We need to do a clean version of it that would be noncontroversial and that is respectful to women and respectful to girls who are to be protected by this, which we could have done in the previous spending bill.

They want to use it, instead, to infringe upon our Second Amendment rights and do other things in a social agenda. That is not what that bill is or should be about. Piggybacking inappropriate and nongermane issues onto this bill is harmful to the women and girls we are trying to protect.

This legislation will make it more difficult for women to protect themselves with a firearm, for example. How does that make sense to anybody? We need a clean version of this bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my serious concern with the inappropriately and euphemistically named ``Paycheck Fairness Act.'' In reality, this legislation should be called the ``Leave No Lawyer Behind Act.''

I am sure everyone in this room believes that equal work deserves equal pay. In fact, Congress passed the Equal Pay Act in 1963 to ensure that. But that is not what Democrats have put this legislation on the floor for. Instead, they wanted something to benefit trial lawyers and to make it nearly impossible for job creators to defend against frivolous, unlimited lawsuits.

In fact, this legislation is actually harmful to women in the workforce by creating a mandatory opt-out system for class action lawsuits that will ultimately limit legal options when there actually is workplace discrimination.

This legislation is all about litigation, and that is not right. Enforce existing laws effectively. That will protect women, and everyone, in the workplace.

The number of working women in the U.S. is higher than ever--nearly 75 million--with more women entering the workforce in the last 2 years than men. That is the type of fairness we should continue to strive for.

I support policies that help more women become their own boss, not unlimited paydays for trial lawyers.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my relief that this political witch hunt into the President's alleged and now disproven ties with Russia is finally over.

Most of us knew all along there was no smoking gun, including the majority of my Democrat colleagues who have been parroting these lies for more than 2 years. Now, Special Counsel Robert Mueller has all but confirmed the President's innocence, his report finding there was no evidence of collusion with Russia.

This whole thing started because the left couldn't accept that they had lost an election, and the American people have suffered through this divisive investigation as a result.

Those in Congress or in the media who perpetrated this false narrative for 2 years should be ashamed of themselves. Believe me, the American people know who you are, and they will not soon forget.

Even worse, still now the response by some--the lack of acceptance of Mr. Mueller's findings, the need to dig deeper and deeper--shows they still haven't learned a thing.

But I believe Americans will accept this truth, as most have all along. I pray that we as a people can now finally begin to move on from this disgraceful chapter in American history.

Mr. Speaker, 25 months ago, we saw the crisis in Oroville, California, of the broken spillway at Oroville Dam, belonging to the State water project. Thankfully, emergency services were able to come in and, as soon as possible, get things functioning once again for the safety of the flood control as well as the storage and the hydroelectricity that is produced there.

We had much help that came from FEMA; and I want to say thank you to the folks at FEMA, this administration, and Secretary Nielsen for being on the spot in helping with this restoration process. $333 million have flowed to helping the crisis at the spillway be restored to a working spillway.

Now, there are those who are clamoring for even more money, but that lies on the backs of the State of California and the DWR for the extra money, bringing it up to $1.1 billion.

The State of California claims it is in a surplus situation, and it needs to pay its own bills and put the money aside to take care of the project--not the other 49 States--for the nonemergency part of the project.

So, again, thanks to FEMA for their attention to this, as well as the wildfire situation we had in Paradise, California, for helping us in northern California.

Mr. Speaker, it is with great sadness I rise today to mourn the tragic loss of life on Sunday morning as an Ethiopian Airlines jet carrying 157 people crashed only 6 minutes after takeoff. On board that flight were people from 35 different countries, including 8 U.S. citizens, with no survivors.

This tragedy hits close to home for those of us from northern California. Two of the eight Americans were from my own district in Shasta County.

Melvin and Bennett Riffel, two brothers from Redding, California, were embarking upon an adventure that had already taken them through Australia and Mogadishu before they arrived in Ethiopia. It has been said that this was their last trip together before Melvin was set to become a father, together with his wife Brittney, who had only recently returned home.

Our friends and neighbors in northern California share in the sadness and grief that we all feel for their families, and for all of the families who lost loved ones that day on that plane.

As we await more information on exactly what went wrong, please join me in praying for Melvin and Bennett, their families, and all the others who boarded that fateful flight that day.

Mr. Speaker, let me point out an important difference between the last Congress and this one.

Last Congress, under Republican leadership, our number one priority was tax reform and jobs, putting more money into the pockets of the American people who have earned it. That is why our bill, H.R. 1, the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, was that first priority.

Even back in 1995, the first bill under Republican leadership was the Congressional Accountability Act, to make sure Congress and its staff had to abide by the same rules as the rest of Americans.

This Congress, under Democrat leadership, it appears their priorities are much different. Their H.R. 1, supposedly, their most-prized bill, hence, they give it the number 1 bill, is not a generational policy reform to benefit Americans, but, rather, politics and rigging elections; that is the Democrat priority; sweeping Federal mandates that institute a 6-to-1 government match for small donor political contributions.

That means 6 to 1 of your tax dollars going to match contributions made for campaigns; $200 would yield $1,200 from the Federal Government into a campaign.

In what world is it defensible for the Federal Government to be forced to use your taxpayer funds, you to be forced for your taxpayer dollars to support a candidate for office, regardless of whether you support that candidate.

The bad news is it doesn't end there. Democrats want to take some of the corrupt policies already implemented in my own State of California and institute them nationwide.

For example: Ballot harvesting. Since its implementation in California, this practice has opened up our State to endless potential for election fraud. Just a couple of months ago, this exact practice sent one North Carolina election into chaos, with every Democrat in the State demanding a re-election. In the North Carolina one they were using similar practices.

Ironically, this bill is completely silent on ballot harvesting. In fact, Democrats blocked an amendment I worked on that would make ballot harvesting illegal in all States, not just where it is convenient for their elections.

In Orange County, California, 250,000 provisional ballots were counted after election night, with people delivering hundreds of them at a time.

Now, I am a staunch supporter of ensuring every voter has access to the polls, but this bill isn't about that. This legislation only undermines the security of our election system and limits the already- lacking safeguards that are in place to ensure the integrity of our electoral process.

How are the voters, the people, the citizens of America supposed to have confidence in their election system when they see these games being played?

To make matters worse, this bill will actually weaken voter ID laws. It automatically registers everyone in the DMV database, no questions asked, alive or dead.

When this issue has come up in California, we have seen numerous problems in the DMV process. California voter rolls have little integrity. We have tens of thousands of so-called voters that are registered that may not even be eligible, may not even be citizens.

This has also, in that process, made the REAL ID process in California questionable as well, where the people are going to have to go get their ID redone in order to be able to use the airports.

While some of my other colleagues on the other side of the aisle like to peg voter ID laws as prohibitive, the National Bureau of Economic Research published a study proving that is not the case.

We all support easy and fair voter registration, but it has to come with sensible voter protections and fraud prevention safeguards. As we saw in California this past election cycle, thousands of ballots continued to be harvested even after election day. That is a huge problem.

If this bill needed another nail in the coffin, even the ACLU has condemned the legislation as unconstitutional. That is because it hurts free speech and attempts to silence those who would dare disagree with, in this case, Democrat priorities.

Just a few years ago, a California theater director was forced to resign over harassment due to a political donation, just for advocating for his own beliefs.

Democrats boldly dubbed this legislation the For the People Act, but a more appropriate title would be ``Democrat Politicians Protection Act.''

Once again, H.R. 1 under Republican leadership was the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and, years ago, an accountability act. H.R. 1 under Democrat leadership is an unconstitutional bill to force Americans to help reelect more Democrats. That should paint a substantially contrasting picture for the American people what the priorities are of the two parties.

Mr. Speaker, I urge opposition to this terrible bill.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to highlight some new legislation I am introducing this week, H.R. 1515, the High-Speed Refund Act.

Simply put, California's proposed high-speed rail system has been a total disaster. It will not meet the legal requirements of true high- speed rail from San Francisco to Los Angeles. The total projected cost has now ballooned to $100 billion, tripling what the voters were told back in 2008.

The Trump administration has already canceled a $929 million grant, but I think they should take the entire $3.5 billion in Federal dollars that California is wasting under the Stimulus Act of 2009, 10 years ago. That is why my bill, the High-Speed Refund Act, would require California to refund all Federal funding for high-speed rail and repurpose it to highway and transportation projects that would actually benefit people and be economically viable.

Madam Speaker, $5 billion has already been wasted. Let's not make it $100 billion. Undertaking the project was a huge mistake. I think Californians and the other 49 States deserve a refund and to have this money channeled into something that would be more useful for all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues, Ms. Foxx and Mr. Price, both from North Carolina, who have made this opportunity fittingly available for all of us here tonight in order to honor our friend, Walter Jones.

I would always encounter him as a low key but kind, gentle, sweet soul that he is, around the building; and just in his own way, just thumbs up, keep going, encouraging in what we do around here.

There were a lot of very kind remarks made about him here tonight from people that got to serve with him a lot longer than I did, but indeed, we hear about how he was a very independent voice. I think marching to his own higher standard to what he felt his own integrity required, not only as a representative, as a person in this political business, but one who is answering to a higher power--the importance of God in his life made abundantly clear.

Indeed, at his service in North Carolina, it really, really hit home for me how much that was a part for him.

As we know, he was very, very unhappy with the Gulf war. And after that started, he really--I believe, and the results show--he spent the rest of his career trying to find and make and provide comfort for the members of the military--and even more so--the Gold Star families, who he knows--and we all realize--bear the loss the most when one of theirs has fallen.

I heard that he would write to every single Gold Star family when he would learn of one of their loved ones having fallen in conflict, that were killed in action.

He would take his time in that position as a Member of the United States House of Representatives, using his name, using that title and whatever that carried, to provide comfort and show those families that there are people in this place that really, really do recognize--we all do--but he went that extra mile for people all over the country, not just in his district, to take that care, to take that time. And I thought that was pretty amazing.

Another way that he tried to help was supporting the various programs that were out there, to provide those working dogs, a program I have encountered, to soldiers that have come home that suffer with PTSD or similar-type afflictions, that those comfort dogs could provide something unique to them that maybe no human contact can reach for some of them.

He spent a lot of time, a lot of effort in helping with that because he did want to make as much of a positive mark on those soldiers as possible.

Most importantly, though, his higher calling he felt, it wasn't here to put treasures in this place or in his title. It was the treasures he wanted to store in Heaven, as he wanted to do what he could to please God and walk with his Savior Jesus Christ. And that is the most important thing about Walter Jones and his life and his devotion.

God bless him and his family and the memory of him to this place.

Madam Speaker, this week the new Democrat majority has endangered more Americans with its push for more and more gun control.

By definition, criminals don't follow the law. Criminals don't honor gun laws. They steal. They commit murder, all sorts of crimes without permission. They don't seek permission when they take something from you, when they enter your home.

They don't seek permission to become gun owners. Yet, what happens here in the legislation this week, limits the rights, limits the ability for people to defend themselves, defend their own homes, defend their own families, by having less options or less ability to get a weapon if they need it, especially timely.

These measures do not work. They do not work to stop the shootings that are often cited as the reason to deny people their Second Amendment rights in this country.

Indeed, it is a political agenda that gets pushed in every election, every possible time in legislation, and finally, with the majority they have, they are able to push this stuff through and harm innocent Americans and their ability to defend themselves.

This has to come to a stop. I hope the Senate will defeat this measure.

Madam Speaker, California's high-speed rail system has broken promise after promise and made false claim after false claim.

I want to commend President Trump for working to pull back the $928 million that is still authorized, that could be reachable, and turn this money into something that could be useful for more Americans or even for more Californians.

Now, we also need to send a bill to the State of California for $2.5 billion for the money they wasted for a project that has not fulfilled what was required in the proposition the people passed by 52 percent to 48 percent. The price has more than tripled since then.

We need to focus on doing the transportation projects in the country that would actually help move people in a fashion that they can use.

Governor Newsom was right there with his State of the State speech the other day. I know he knows different.

Let's go ahead and put a stop to this project, put the money back into fixing our highway system or our levee system or our water system in the State of California and not send the bill to the other 49 States of this country that, in good faith, initially sent that as part of the stimulus package. Let's put it into good, solid projects.