Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate Mr. Hultgren for leading this effort here tonight but also his great spiritual counsel and partnership in this building here. It is very much appreciated. Indeed, he is one of God's great servants.

So, you know, as I harken back on my years of when we saw Billy Graham on TV and the inspirational character he was, and all my colleagues here tonight have alluded to it as well, he lived a very, very full life, a selfless life. And when I think about the leaders that have come through Washington, indeed, what is this town named for? George Washington, who is probably the single most selfless politician I can ever think of in terms of giving of service, putting himself last and the country first. He didn't want to be king. He didn't really want to preside so much, but he wanted to help. God was always on his side.

And I see in Billy Graham that same kind of greatness of the founding policies, the founding values of George Washington's and some of our Founders manifested, in a man who reached and saved millions in this country over those years with his crusades.

A couple of my colleagues already mentioned his interaction with Dr. King. And with this being Black History Month, the last couple of days of it here, I thought it would be appropriate to touch on that as well because Billy Graham helped be a force in the civil rights movement, showing the way for others who may have been hesitant or breaking down the barrier for those who still wanted to sustain segregation.

My colleague mentioned the Chattanooga rally there where he himself went down when the ushers would not do it, and he removed those ropes so it would be integrated because, in God's eyes, all are equal, and then setting out in the Constitution all are created equal.

So Billy Graham sustained that in his years of friendship with Dr. King, and showing that he was a nonpartisan, nonracial leader, helped saved the lives of all men who are created equal. So that goes so far that he is willing to put it on the line. He made people mad. He made the head usher resign that day when he made that courageous--but what he probably felt wasn't courageous at all--but the right action.

So Billy Graham, even to his last day when he made a short video, was all about informing people about Jesus, about the salvation they could have if they would just embrace Jesus and find what eternal life really is all about, that it isn't what treasures we store here on this planet but the ones we store in Heaven when we embrace Him.

There will never be another like him, but we can always remember him with pride. And as he would say himself, that his stores of treasure are up in Heaven. And he will be even stronger up there with his legacy and his memory and his family members that go on to do what he did.

So God bless Billy Graham, and I thank, again, Mr. Hultgren for this opportunity tonight.

Madam Speaker, the Americans with Disabilities Act has played an important role in improving accessibility for many years.

Unfortunately, it is often taken advantage of by dishonest attorneys who file drive-by lawsuits against small businesses in order to get a quick payday. This entails coercing a business owner into paying expensive settlements or legal fees for unintended or technical violations and vague interpretations of the ADA. This practice has risen dramatically. From just 2013 to 2017, ADA lawsuits in Federal courts have increased by 182 percent, and it goes beyond that for many years previously as well.

This practice violates the spirit of the law and hurts small businesses without really improving access. One example, a small business, a minimarket in my district, went through a renovation. They put in a nice ramp there on the front of their business, a concrete structure that had been inspected, and they were working with the county all along. Then, when they were done, someone came and said: This is 1 degree off on incline.

How is a small business supposed to deal with issues like that when the regulators themselves can't even keep track of what they are supposed to be doing? This only benefits corrupt attorneys. That is why I support the ADA Education and Reform Act which will end this shady practice and give property owners a reasonable chance to fix potential issues.

Mr. Speaker, Charles ``Charlie'' McGaha was born on June 22, 1927 in Sevier County, Tennessee. The youngest of nine children, the McGaha family headed out west when Charlie was four. The family traveled through Oklahoma before finally settling in Chowchilla, California where he attended local schools. After High school, he began working at Danish Creamery in Chowchilla. He joined the Navy in 1945 and served our country for two years. After his honorable discharge in 1947, he returned to work at Danish Creamery where they held his job while he served in the Navy.

In September 1951, he married the love of his life, Mary Zandona. They had two daughters, Lori and Lisa. Charlie loved to hunt, fish, and ride motorcycles. He prided himself that at the age of 45, he could go dirt bike riding and keep up with the teenagers. He retired from Danish Creamery in 1983 after working for 38 years as a foreman at both the Chowchilla and Fresno plants. Upon retiring, he learned to play golf. He enjoyed the courses at Fresno West, Madera Municipal, and Pheasant Run in Chowchilla. On October 11, 1999 he got a Hole in One at Pheasant Run Golf Course. Charlie and Mary also enjoyed traveling together. They visited many National Parks and always loved going to Pismo Beach.

Charles is survived by his wife Mary McGaha, his sister Reba Rodriguez of Concord, two daughters, Lori Dill (Russell), of Washington, Lisa Zurilgen (Walt), of Chowchilla, four granddaughters and 13 great grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the Health and Human Services' new Conscience and Religious Freedom Division within the Office of Civil Rights.

Recently, they announced a proposed rule to protect workers in HHS- funded programs from being coerced into practicing activities that violate their conscience, including abortion, sterilization, assisted suicide, and more.

Under the previous administration, doctors and nurses were not protected from being forced to participate in procedures that may violate their religious beliefs or moral convictions. This is clearly wrong. Those who are discriminated against for their religious beliefs should be afforded the same protections as those facing any other types of discrimination.

OCR has now opened a 60-day public comment period on the rule. I encourage everyone across the country to participate in that comment period.

I thank the Division once again for taking this important action to protect religious liberty in our healthcare system.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commend the House Intelligence Committee for voting to release the classified memo alleging misconduct by senior FBI officials involved in the Russian probe. Chairman Nunes has done a great job of steering this through evenhandedly, with dignity, and with the ultimate goal of fairness in mind.

I also thank the President for approving the release of the memo, as well.

The contents of this document are troubling. I previously joined many of my colleagues in urging the committee to release this memo to the public, as they have demanded.

This is not an attempt to undermine anything. This document outlines some very serious misconduct at a very high level at a powerful government agency, and the American people have the right to know.

Contrary to the narrative created before its release, this memo in no way jeopardizes our national security but, indeed, shines a light on a lot of misconduct.

As promised, the committee today approved releasing the Democratic version of the memo. That is fair. We will let the people compare them.

Mr. Speaker, we are now 60 hours into the Schumer shutdown only because Senate and House Democrats would like to join them in forcing through an unfinished, hurried immigration policy.

This fellow here--I am not even going to name his name--is on trial in northern California for killing two police officers. He was twice deported from Arizona.

When the killings were described by others in the court, this fellow laughed and smiled as it was recalled. He then launched into a profane tirade, claiming his only regret is he didn't kill more than two officers and that he would escape from jail and he would do it again.

I will even quote part of him, if I can:

I don't blank regret that. The only thing I blanking regret

is that I only killed two. I wish I blank killed more. I will

break out soon, and I will kill more.

He has promised, when he gets out, he will kill more.

Does anybody out there believe that, under current policy, with the sieve of a border that we have, he won't fulfill that promise? Do we think that the families of Danny Oliver and Michael Davis or the families of Kate Steinle and Jamiel Shaw, Jr., have confidence that isn't going to happen?

Mr. Speaker, we are starting hour 39 of the Schumer shutdown weekend.

I would like everybody to understand that this is a 4-week spending bill--4 weeks. It has nothing to do with the March 5 deadline for DACA, has nothing to do with DACA at all. Indeed, it is just to keep the government running. So, if we get 9 or 10 Senators on the Democratic side to realize it has nothing to do with DACA, maybe we can go on and do the people's business.

That said, many of my constituents are calling up, asking about the FISA documents, the FISA memo. I do want to see them put out in front of the public, and the supporting documents that go with them, after having had a chance to look at those confidential documents earlier downstairs.

But I also want us to be confident in the process that Chairman Bob Goodlatte, Chairman Trey Gowdy, and Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes have in place to do this methodically and carefully, because we want to be sure these documents are brought forward and used in a way that is most advantageous to get to the truth. So part of that will entail that we need a special counsel to investigate and not have the DOJ and FBI investigate themselves.

Mr. Speaker, we are about 9 hours into the Schumer shutdown, which is basically Senate Democrats holding the United States--320 million people--hostage over an executive order made by President Obama to benefit 690,000 people here illegally, the DACA program.

The DACA program has nothing to do with funding the government for the next 4 weeks. There is plenty of time to continue to address the conversation on DACA, which is underway on a bipartisan basis, for something that is due in 2 months.

President Trump rightly decided to rescind what was done by a previous executive order so we can abide by the law and put a good law in place that addresses border security; chain migration; and what to do with those here illegally, which there is a lot of sympathy for across this country for those minors who are here under DACA.

Mr. Speaker, it is time we get back to work and put this country to work again and not hold 320 million Americans ransom in order to do this for a handful of illegal immigrants in this country.

We need to get back to work and reopen the government so we are not shutting down the CHIP program we passed, the National Guard, et cetera.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to thank the Department of Health and Human Services under this new administration for doing something that should have been done a long time ago.

The agency is now opening a Conscience and Religious Freedom Division within its Office for Civil Rights. This new office will be devoted solely to treating people fairly, regardless of race, religion, or creed.

It is part of a broader theme in America where people, lately, from all religions and walks of life have been persecuted for their views and for not conforming to the views of others. How is that in the name of tolerance?

For example, I recently led an amicus brief on behalf of 144 Representatives and Senators for a Supreme Court case involving pregnancy clinics in California who, under California law, are being forced to violate their own faith and effectively advertise for abortions, against their own will.

This is wrong, and it is evidence of the religious persecution in America today, religion being one of the founding cornerstones that have formed this country by our Founders.

This new DHS office is a positive sign for people of all faiths who are being bullied into adhering to a leftist agenda and are essentially being told their beliefs don't matter because they disagree with a conservative viewpoint.

Mr. Speaker, we are hearing a lot about how we can't do two things at once around here. We have 435 Members of the House of Representatives. We have multiple committees. There are negotiations going on in other rooms right now, but there is no time to do this important piece of legislation to stop infanticide in this country. It is like, wow, can Members of Congress not walk and chew gum at the same time?

I would invite my Democratic colleagues: Here, try some gum. We need to do this.

This empowers nurses. This empowers those assistants who see something that is terribly wrong with an abortion that went wrong and they have a chance. Instead, they have to clandestinely sneak out that surviving baby and take them somewhere else because they can't get the care they need; they might get in trouble from their boss.

What kind of country is that? Why is this even a debate in a civilized country in 2018 that you wouldn't do everything you can, after the already difficult or bad decision on an abortion, that a baby who survived, that we are not going to do everything we can to swoop it away and help it survive? What are we talking about here? This is unbelievable to me.

Mr. Speaker, we need to pass this legislation and empower those nurses, empower those assistants who see what is wrong and allow them to do the right thing.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida for yielding me some of his time. I appreciate it.

Mr. Speaker, tonight it is with great sadness that I rise to pay tribute to a man who passed recently in the north State, an icon. Moriss Taylor passed last week at the age of 93. He was a cowboy singer and a local legend.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I know House rules require that you wear a jacket and wear a tie and it is not allowed to wear hats on the floor, so I respect that, but I will do what I can, in the spirit of Moriss Taylor, to wear the type of clothing typically you would see on his show with this Western shirt. Of course, his were much fancier than this one I am wearing here tonight in what I think is known in Nashville as the nudie jacket style, where it is very, very well decorated with rhinestones and shiny objects like that.

And so you see the gentleman right here. I mean, how can you not like that and feel at home with someone like that?

Moriss was born in Miami, Oklahoma in 1925, and at age 14 he settled in southern Butte County, in Palermo, California.

Of course, his ``Moriss Taylor Show,'' he was the beloved host of that from 1956 to 1995 on KHSL-TV, Channel 12, from Chico, California.

He had an incredible 39-year run of entertaining folks each weekend. His show was a soothing blend of relaxing country western music and original music performed by himself and his many talented guests.

Many of the members of his band were people you would see just right around Butte County in northern California that worked during the week in places that anybody would likely patronize. I have seen his band members at auto parts stores where I shop, or at the feed store where I shop over time, and many others like that. They were just regular folks in the community who were blending their talents with Moriss Taylor on the weekend and other venues around northern California.

As kids, we used to watch the show on the weekends and we grew up listening to the country music staples on his show as well as the jokes. Some might say they were corny jokes, but they were also clean jokes and something you can just have a little chuckle over and enjoy.

But they indeed were a staple, along with the country music in their own right. So, for example, I have got to share a couple of them.

One of his jokes would be: ``They say dogs make great chiropractors because they know where all the bones are.''

Or, ``Did you hear the one about the dentist who married the manicurist? They have been fighting tooth and nail ever since.''

See what I mean?

They might make you groan a little bit, but they do make you smile, and they sure make you think of a different time when things were just a little simpler, a little more respectful, and innocent.

Moriss also hosted a weekly radio show from the 1940s until his retirement. Indeed, the show brought tremendous happiness to many people in northern California. What is not maybe as well known about Moriss is that he was also a decorated veteran of World War II, where he flew in a cargo plane between India and China. He went on to receive the Distinguished Flying Cross, which is second only in prestige to the Medal of Honor.

Again, being an Oklahoman, he moved to northern California, where he quickly became a local icon in our community. He was well loved and a great patriot.

One time, in a personal experience, I was out campaigning, going door to door, this time in Chico, California, and I happened upon his door. He opened it up, and I hadn't really looked at the walk sheet too closely at that point. It was night, so there he was, Moriss Taylor at the door. So I was kind of taken aback because here is the local legend.

He invited me right in and we sat down for a little bit, and he told me a little bit about his politics there and that he was a participant as well. It didn't come out in the show, and probably good and respectfully so. But he said: ``You know, Doug, you are all right and I support you. You are doing a good job,'' which means a lot from a guy like that, that somehow maybe I am on the right track here.

So each week on his show they played a lot of songs and made a lot of

jokes, and he would end the show with his original song called ``High Sierra.'' So maybe I will share just a few of those lyrics right now:

High Sierra, skies are blue,

Whispering pines remind me of you.

Walking together, over meadows green,

We pledged our love, by a rippling stream.

I can see the sunlight shining on her golden hair

And hear the words she told me as we were standing there.

High Sierra, calling me home.

It is at this point in the show where the credits would fade out. The lyrics would come to an end, and people were already waiting again for next Sunday to come around.

As the song says, High Sierra is once again calling him home. After 93 years of enriching the lives of northern Californians, many of us were fortunate enough to sing along with him during those 93 years. Those memories won't fade. There will never be another like Moriss Taylor. He will be greatly missed, indeed.

High Sierra, calling him home.

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

Mr. Speaker, we heard last week about $1,000 being crumbs and how the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act doesn't really mean anything for normal people.

Where I come from, this means a lot to people. $100 bills and $50 bills adding up to $1,000 is real money to real people, maybe not in San Francisco, but in my district and a lot of places in this country.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is working. These dollars are coming home. I just read today that Apple is going to repatriate billions of dollars and pay $38 billion of new taxes because they see a fair tax rate, and they want to come back and reinvest in America once again. That is $38 billion for the good of the economy that may not have come back home, but now will, because now we have a tax rate that is friendly to the people who provide jobs and make the economy happen in this country.

Mr. Speaker, I don't know anybody who would step over a dollar instead of stopping to pick it up. These aren't crumbs on the ground. These are the things that make America strong again and our economy good again. They are not just merely crumbs that elitists in San Francisco or coastal counties in California think don't mean anything. We are on the right track with this. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will mean more for Americans and their pocketbooks, lower taxes, and a better economy.

Mr. Speaker, it is important to point out that religious freedom is indeed a cornerstone of the founding and the fiber of the United States. What started out in the Virginia General Assembly on this date in

1786, which grew into the First Amendment in our Constitution and other Bill of Rights, that freedom is under assault.

Courts, time and again, try to strike down the ability for people to peaceably assemble, peaceably speak their religious views, whether it is on a football field after a game or even extending so much to people objecting to what they are going to do in their bakery with what kind of products they are going to put out. We have folks that seem to think that religion is some kind of a plague in this country.

Yes, maybe it is an inconvenience if your neighbor worships in a way that is different from you; but that is something that we have always, in the term ``tolerance,'' worked to get along with.

Indeed, this House Chamber, every day, opens with an invocation; and right above the podium here, it says: ``In God we trust.''

Are we going to trust ourselves as a nation to allow each other to worship freely? Or are we going to have an oppressive shutdown of that by out-of-control courts?

We need to hold on to religious freedom.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that when the House adjourns today, it adjourn to meet at 9 a.m. tomorrow.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 681, I call up the bill (S. 140) to amend the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010 to clarify the use of amounts in the WMAT Settlement Fund, and ask for its immediate consideration.

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 S. 140.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 140, as amended, which consists of three sections promoting Tribal self-governance and sovereignty over their lands, resources, and businesses belonging to Indian Tribes.

Section 1 of S. 140 amends current law to ensure the completion of a Tribal water system in Arizona. It makes a technical amendment to the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2010 to clarify that authority exists for any necessary cost overruns associated with the Tribe's rural water system, provided it falls within the existing authorization level.

This provision provides the White Mountain Apache Tribe and the Department of the Interior certainty that there will be sufficient funds to complete the rural water system.

Section 2 of S. 140 is identical to S. 249, a bill referred to the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs, which I chair. The Natural Resources Committee reported S. 249 favorably on July 24, 2017, by unanimous consent.

Section 2 amends what is commonly known as the Long-Term Leasing Act, to authorize two Indian pueblos in New Mexico to lease their restricted fee lands for up to 99 years, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior.

Such leases may be for a variety of nonmineral development purposes. While current law generally authorizes Indian Tribes, subject to the approval of the Secretary, to lease their trust and restricted lands, the terms of the leases may not exceed 25 years.

This bill would authorize the pueblos of Santa Clara and Ohkay Owingeh to lease their restricted fee lands for terms of up to 99 years.

Congress has amended the Long-Term Leasing Act more than 40 times to adjust the terms and conditions of leases of Indian lands and to authorize leases of specific Indian lands by their Indian owners for a term of up to 99 years, subject to the approval of the Secretary.

While the Natural Resources Committee does not have jurisdiction over section 3 of S. 140, I wish to express my full support for promoting Tribal self-governance by giving Tribes parity with States and local governments for the purposes of the National Labor Relations Act.

Tribal self-governance, or sovereignty, means that a Tribe may make its own laws and be governed by them. Since President Nixon launched the era of Indian self-determination, Tribes have shown that when they assume management and control over their affairs, they actually outperform the Federal Government.

Thus, section 3 of S. 140 will continue and enhance the policies of Tribal self-determination that have almost always enjoyed strong bipartisan, bicameral support for these measures.

S. 140, as amended, is fully consistent with promoting this important Tribal economic opportunity and freedom to do as they see fit.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``yes'' vote on the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from South Dakota (Mrs. Noem).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New Mexico (Mr. Pearce).

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, in summary, this Federal Government has had a very spotty record over the many decades of its treatment of Native American Indian Tribes in this Nation, and for us to not act in order to countermand what the National Labor Relations Board has done on its own would be a mistake. It would be wrongheaded, in that if we are going to have the types of relations, these government-to-government relations with Indian Tribes in this country, that level of respect, then Congress needs to act, Congress needs to maintain that relation.

So for local governments, State governments to have this protection from the NLRA and the Tribes not to, then we would be making a severe mistake to not take action here today with this legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I urge strong support for all portions of S. 140 today, and I yield back the balance of my time.