Gabe Vasquez

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor First Lieutenant James Clayton Flowers, who is the oldest living United States veteran, a retired teacher, and a proud resident of New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District.

Born on Christmas day in Dendron, Virginia, James was raised by his father, who was a farmer, and his mother, who was a teacher. His father taught him bricklaying before he entered the military in 1942, at 25 years old. James remembers his parents were strongly anti-war, and his decision to join the military was a difficult choice.

Shortly after James began his service in the Army Air Corps, he was chosen to become an officer. He completed Officer Candidate School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant. During this time, he began pilot training but did not complete the program. Instead, the Army recognized his intelligence and outstanding academic record and appointed him an Academic Instructor with a specialty in Aerodynamics and Mechanics. In this role he taught cadets aviation intelligence, threat analysis, and security, and he became one of the first Black United States military pilots. James served at several key domestic military bases during World War II, including Godman Field, Kentucky, and Freeman Field, Indiana. He departed the military after 5 years of service.

James is a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, which are the first Black aviators that served with the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. While stationed at Freeman Field, Indiana, he served with the 477th Bombardment Group. This was the first Black bombardment unit in Air Force history and became renowned for fighting against ``separate but equal'' practices in the military. James remembers being one of the few black officers in the military at the time and once instructing

an all-black intelligence squadron that was ecstatic to have him as their superior. Serving during this time was incredibly challenging as black servicemembers faced intense racism and discrimination, but his service tells a story of excellence, courage, and breaking systemic barriers.

Following the war, James moved to New York City where he met his wife, Evelyn, and they got married in 1951. He became a middle school science teacher alongside Evelyn, who also taught in public schools. Teaching students and serving as a mentor for the next generation was one of James' greatest joys in life. James and Evelyn taught school and raised their children on the lower east side of Manhattan for 30 years before retiring in New Mexico in 1984. Evelyn passed away in 2008 at 88 years old, and James reminisces on their happy and wonderful marriage. Together they had 3 kids, 6 grandchildren, and 3 great-grandchildren. James has lived a remarkable life, and he is most proud of his wonderful family and his work as a teacher.

James is a strong man of faith and has been a member of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Las Cruces for over 40 years. During his membership with the church, he has served as the congregation's representative for the annual meeting of the Unitarian Universalist Association known as the General Assembly. James and his wife also acted as grandparents for children in the church without any living or nearby grandparents. Additionally, James taught students religious education during his tenure teaching.

James is cherished in his community and loved by his neighbors, who appreciate his commitment, steadfastness, and strength. He is also loved by his caregiver, Lidia Macias, Dr. Sierra, and Home Kare Inc. of Dona Ana. He was awarded the New Mexico Medal of Merit from the New Mexico Army Air National Guard for ``exceptionally meritorious service for his lifelong commitment to service, sacrifice, and dedication to the continued success of our great Nation.''

On behalf of the people of New Mexico's 2nd Congressional District, I would like to thank First Lieutenant James Clayton Flowers for his courageous service and sacrifice to our Nation, his incredible work as an educator, and for his ongoing dedication to our local communities. He exemplifies the best that New Mexico and our country have to offer, and we are truly grateful for his tireless service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to put in the simplest of terms how the President's war in Iran is impacting New Mexicans.

Exhibit A: the pain at the pump. This time last year, New Mexicans paid over a dollar less per gallon. Mr. Speaker, New Mexico is a big State. We have to drive hours just to see family, go to work, or see the closest doctor. A lot of us drive trucks and diesels. New Mexico is a truck State. It now costs nearly $200 to drive a truck from one end of my district to the other.

Let's think about that. A round trip is $400. Who can afford that? That is more than the cost of a plane ticket. Trump's illegal war is costing the average New Mexican about $81 more in gas each month alone. $81 may not mean much to Wall Street brokers or investors, but it sure as hell does mean a lot to working-class families. That is a week of groceries, a month's electric bill, or three tickets to the Isotopes game.

As folks head to the grocery store to stock up for Labor Day, they have one thought: These prices are too damn high, and that extra $81 a month is a big problem.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about patriotism and what it means to be a patriot in this great country.

The American experience is one that we all share. It bonds us together under one Constitution, and as lawmakers serving in these hallowed halls, we have the privilege of carrying forward

one of the world's greatest democratic ideas through one of its most deliberative bodies.

Fortunately for the American public, that experience includes over a century of bipartisan support for another one of America's greatest and best ideas: the creation, shared stewardship, and enjoyment of our Nation's public lands, so that we may continue to hunt, to fish, to take our families camping, to discover America's history, and to unravel the great mysteries and gifts that can only be found in our Nation's national forests, national parks, BLM lands, and wildlife refuges.

Long after the creation of the U.S. Forest Service in 1905 by Republican President and conservationist Teddy Roosevelt, Americans of all political stripes have continued the legacy of conserving our public lands for all Americans, for multiple uses--both for our enjoyment and for the domestic production of natural resources, a careful balance that requires bipartisan and local support.

Let me remind this body of the tremendous work of U.S. Senator Frank Church. The Senator's impact on this Nation's wilderness, wild and scenic rivers, and land and water conservation is to be celebrated. In particular, he should be lauded for the way in which he went about passing many of our Nation's bedrock public land laws that stand until this day.

You see, Senator Church was a quiet, careful workman who worked across the aisle to strike compromise and pass overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation such as the Wilderness Act of 1964, the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968.

This was an unprecedented period of patriotism and public lands where bipartisanship flourished, and Congress worked as a unified body to protect our Nation's most precious resources.

In 1964, the Wilderness Act passed the House by a whopping 373-1 majority. That same year, the Land and Water Conservation Fund Act passed by a voice vote in the House and a 92-1 vote in the Senate. In 1973, the House passed the Endangered Species Act in a landslide 355-4 vote. Even Nixon, not known as an environmentalist, in 1972, proclaimed that what began as an environmental awakening must mature finally into a new and higher environmental way of life.

Believe it or not, there was a time which in this body we crafted win-win models of public land legislation. That is why I helped establish the first bipartisan Public Lands Caucus with former Interior Secretary and Montana Representative Ryan Zinke.

Today, we have the potential to piece together the remnants of bipartisan political consensus and provide a powerful framework for modern conservation and public lands initiatives.

Working together under this patriotic caucus to achieve wider bipartisan agreement, I believe that we can mediate conflicts between natural resource users and protection proponents and demonstrate that economic development and conservation are not mutually exclusive.

Today, foreign companies have spread their tentacles and sprawled into our forests, rivers, and national monuments, all in search of a quick buck.

Paired together with short sighted proposals from this administration that threaten to undo the Roadless Rule, to eliminate the Public Lands Rule, to shrink our national monuments, to open sensitive habitat in the Alaskan Arctic Refuge to drilling, to narrow regulations of the ESA, to shrink the U.S. Forest Service, to rob crucial maintenance funds from the National Parks budget, and just recently to sell off part of Yosemite National Park to a private developer, we are in deep, deep trouble of losing what both Democrats and Republicans have long fought to conserve and to protect.

Public lands improve every American's quality of life. They provide abundance and liberty. We must fight to ensure access to the American Dream, and that includes access to public lands and a healthy environment.

The truth is, Americans love nature. Hunters, anglers, and families alike agree that public lands are patriotic.

Let us renew these concepts of bipartisan cooperation and protect our shared patriotism, even if it means standing up to our own party and this administration in the wake of the largest wave of attacks we have seen to our public lands in our Nation's history.

Mr. Speaker, I know that I will be doing my damndest to protect the places we love in New Mexico, across the West, and this great Nation. I hope that my colleagues in this body can put partisanship aside and have the courage to do the same.