Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to officially welcome folks from the Warren County Chamber Alliance to the Capitol this week.

I am so proud to represent these folks here in Congress and so glad that they are here in Washington these past few days. These leaders are incredible advocates for our Warren County businesses and residents.

We have had a very productive time discussing our bipartisan policy work and how our office can help them in their work. They have great projects, from road updates to high-speed internet expansion to updating water lines. We hope to have over $14 million coming back to southwest Ohio in this budget, which, when passed, will help ensure that these projects are fully funded.

Again, I am proud to officially recognize their visit to D.C. this week and look forward to continuing our work together.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of our workers, specifically our autoworkers. Right now, they are doing what many of us came here to do, which is to get wages up. They want to get their wages up. It is really important for this Congress to stand with them, not just for their families but for our economy.

They work for companies, great American companies, that have made tens of billions of dollars in profit. If we allow the profit to just be concentrated among a few, our economy won't grow as fast. If we say to the hundreds of thousands of autoworkers, yes, you deserve a very big raise, that means that the spending power will be distributed in a way that will grow our economy much faster.

I stand with our autoworkers. I believe in what they are doing, and I wish them the best luck as they continue to negotiate for better wages and better working conditions.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and work of Sinead O'Connor. For me, Sinead was the first truly incredible singer songwriter, and she made me think.

She made all of us think about justice and about fairness. She made us think about who gets left behind and why it is on us to care for those left out. She stood up for the most vulnerable, not only in her songs, but at the expense of her own career.

Mr. Speaker, I will take this 1 minute to make sure that her family, friends, and fans know how much she meant to so many of us.

May we all, especially those of us in Congress, honor her by fighting for those in our communities who are most marginalized.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the historic grand opening of the Cincinnati Black Music Walk of Fame.

Thanks to the work of Hamilton County Commission President, Alicia Reece, the Black Music Walk of Fame is a one-of-a-kind interactive tourism attraction that will celebrate the untold stories and legacies of artists from southwest Ohio, attracting families from across the region, country, and globe.

Cincinnati is home to many transformational Black artists, from Otis Williams to Bootsy Collins to Penny Ford. Thanks to the dedication and tireless efforts of President Reece, these artists will forever be honored on the banks of the Ohio River for all to see.

The Black Music Walk of Fame will inspire future generations of artists as well as drive tourism and growth. It is my honor to represent such talent and passion.

Madam Speaker, I congratulate President Reece and all of those who have worked so hard to transform this vision of the Black Music Walk of Fame into reality.

Mr. Speaker, during Roll Call Vote Number 315, I mistakenly recorded my vote as Aye when I should have voted No.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to welcome President Herzog of Israel to the Capitol tomorrow.

Israel is a critical partner of ours and essential to our national security. It is one of the most inclusive and progressive democracies in the world with high voter turnout, a diverse legislature, a Pride event in Tel Aviv that is one of the biggest Pride events in the world.

We must continue to grow our special relationship with Israel.

We also know that the path to peace and security and a two-state outcome will be a strong governing authority in the West Bank and then Gaza. This will help get the mostly Iranian-backed terror groups out of the West Bank. The key will be for European and Arab nations to help our Palestinian friends establish this legitimate governing authority.

With this, we will be on an historic path toward peace and better lives for both Israelis and Palestinians.

Again, I welcome President Herzog. We are so glad he is here, and I hope that this unique and special relationship between our countries continues to grow stronger and stronger all in our effort to promote peace and prosperity around the world.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my amendment to the CHOICE Arrangement Act because we have to do way more to cut healthcare costs for our families.

I have offered an amendment to cap the cost of insulin for all children and young people at $35 a month. Last Congress capped insulin for seniors, and I believe that this Congress should do it for our children.

We can make life just a little bit easier for hundreds of thousands of our families dealing with diabetes. If we want to actually cut healthcare costs, this is the way we do it. This will save everyone money, including taxpayers.

This is a bipartisan issue, and so I urge my colleagues to support this amendment and cut costs for children and families. This Congress needs this bipartisan win and hundreds of thousands of families need the relief.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 382, condemning the rise of antisemitism and calling on elected officials to identify and educate others on the contributions of the Jewish American community. I also thank my colleague, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, for her leadership on this and many other issues.

As a member of the Jewish community, this is deeply personal for me and my family. Like all parents, I want my children to be safe no matter where they go. I also want them and their culture, their Jewishness, to be understood and appreciated by others.

Unfortunately, we are not there yet. Last year, an individual in our community, who went by the name ``Paleface'' online, was arrested just moments after he announced that he would soon drive with his many assault weapons to local synagogues to kill as many Jews as he could. He was, fortunately, stopped.

I am also the Representative of the First Congressional District in Ohio, which is home to the city of Cincinnati and the Nancy and David Wolf Holocaust and Humanity Center, which is dedicated to the work of this resolution: providing learning experiences that touch hearts and change minds. It was founded by local Holocaust survivors, and it is committed to education that inspires action, not only in Cincinnati, but around the entire Nation.

I want to lift up the Holocaust and Humanity Center and Cincinnati and encourage my colleagues to seek them out to identify and educate others on the contributions of the Jewish-American community and to end anti-Semitism now and forever.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to ask my friends in the majority to think about this from a different perspective: It is June, and you all have defaulted on America. Millions of people have lost their jobs. Our economy is in shambles.

Madam Speaker, you would look back and say to yourself: There were things we could have done. We should not have left. We should not have left D.C. We should not have left the Capitol.

There are solutions. There is a discharge petition behind me. Two hundred thirteen Members have signed it. We just need five more, and we have a vote.

There is a bipartisan solution from the Problem Solvers Caucus. We could vote on it early next week. You could lock leadership in a room, negotiate, and finish this thing.

It requires, however, folks to come back to work.

Gavel us back in, and protect millions and millions of people from losing their jobs. Come back.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today during National Police Week to encourage my colleagues to support a bipartisan bill to help our communities better recruit and retain local law enforcement professionals.

This week a bipartisan group from Ohio introduced H.R. 3376, the Enhancing COPS Hiring Program Grants for Local Law Enforcement Act.

My colleagues from Ohio, Republican and Democratic, Congressman Carey, Congressman Miller, and Congresswoman Strong Sykes, have partnered together to alleviate the strain on local police departments by expanding the COPS hiring program. This bill will allow them to use existing grant dollars for recruitment and retention bonuses.

We will also be introducing similar legislation for communities to better recruit and retain firefighters.

Public safety is a top priority for me. We are making sure police and fire departments across the country have what they need to keep our children and families safe.

I hope Members will join us in this fight.

Mr. Chair, I rise today in opposition to this bill.

I hate bullies. This bill is about bullying children.

Children struggle with identity, gender, and otherwise. As a parent, I need all the other adults, teachers, coaches, and lawmakers to help me and my wife to protect our children, support them, give them a sense of purpose and belonging.

This is the opposite of that. You are picking on children.

Your government has become so intrusive in our lives. You are in our doctors' offices banning reproductive freedom. You are in our classrooms banning books and what teachers can and can't say.

Now, you are in my daughter's locker room requiring physical exams of children? It is so profoundly disgusting and inappropriate.

It is un-American. Don't tread on us. Let us be.

We have an economy to fix, a public safety crisis to address, a border to secure, a budget to balance, roads to pave, and bridges to build.

Focus. Stop bullying children.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to talk about freedom in the context of the Supreme Court's decision to extend their decisionmaking timeframe as to whether or not this country is going to ban a pill that has been approved by the FDA for over 20 years. This is a safe pill, and it is about reproductive freedom.

Make no mistake, it is also about control. This is about stripping Americans of their reproductive freedom, and I think immediately to my own 13-year-old daughter and her freedoms.

We need everyone in this body to object to this national ban and to come together to restore freedom to millions of girls and women across America. This is a defining moment in our country. We need the majority of us to stand on the side of freedom.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call for a bipartisan House and Senate select committee to address gun violence. Later this week, the Gun Violence Prevention Task Force will meet, and I pray that substantive work will emerge.

The Second Amendment provides Americans the right to have a gun to protect themselves and their families and rifles to hunt.

Weapons of war are different. To be clear, we are talking about the weapons that spray hundreds of bullets in seconds, tearing bodies to shreds.

The folks in my district, whether they are Republicans or Democrats or Independents, are on the same page. They want us to double or triple the number of mental health professionals, pass red flag laws, safe storage laws, and have commonsense, comprehensive background checks to keep these guns and rifles away from people who want to hurt others. Most agree that these weapons of war have no place in our communities or anywhere near our children.

We need both parties to be about public safety. This bipartisan group of both House and Senate Members can make it happen, and we have to act fast.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize one of my favorite people and a Cincinnati radio icon, Lincoln Ware.

For 50 years now, across southwest Ohio, folks have listened to Lincoln Ware. From deejaying aboard the USS Midway as a marine to WCIN, one of the oldest, Black radio stations in the country, to helping ``The Buzz'' get off the ground with the very famous ``Lincoln Ware Show'' to his talk show ``Cincinnati Issues'' on Star 64, Lincoln has made an enormous impact on our city and region.

Off the airwaves, Lincoln is always out in the community. From celebrations to protests, he is there. You can even join him as part of his walking club at Winton Woods on Saturdays during the spring, summer, and most of the fall.

He brings humor, wisdom, and clarity to thousands of Cincinnatians every day. I thank Lincoln, and I congratulate him.

Madam Chair, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 1, a very unpopular and wholly unhelpful bill.

The debate on this bill has to be put in the context of two very important things: inflation and costs, including gas prices, but also this broken economy that many feel is rigged.

Both Democrats and Republicans in my district talk about this all the time. You see, there are those with power and wealth, and then there are the rest of us.

It seems like those who have the power and the wealth keep getting more and more, and the rest of us keep getting less and less.

We ask, why is this?

We ask ourselves how can gas prices go up while our bank accounts go down; yet oil companies see profits skyrocket?

How is that not a broken economy? It does beg the question: Is it rigged?

Now we arrive at this bill. Let's be clear, Americans don't want more giveaways furthering this imbalance. They want relief.

Many of us are proposing that relief in energy rebates--direct assistance to help Americans pay for gas and their heating bills.

H.R. 1 just furthers this imbalance. Instead of direct assistance for Americans, which Americans want, it is more giveaways for oil and gas companies. The oil and gas companies have said two things about this bill: one, it is not going to help us speed up the process; and two, thank you for all the giveaways. We love them.

They get more power, build up more wealth, and we get, one, no relief on prices; two, a bigger deficit to deal with; and, three, the loss of local control and input. We actually lose power.

The environmental impact study is where we as Americans weigh in. This bill is controversial and problematic because it takes more away from us and gives more and more and more to a few companies.

That is the broken economy. That is why people think this system is rigged. That is why my colleagues should vote ``no.''