Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, this evening, I will be talking on the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.

I have been a physician now for over 30 years and have dealt with a lot of different types of individuals, and there is a difference medically between men and women. There is a difference biologically between men and women. There is a difference chromosomally between men and women. There is a difference genetically between men and women.

At age 5, it is an absolutely normal thing for young children to question who they are. It is absolutely normal. We all go through that phase. Sadly enough, our left colleagues now want to put pressure, either from teachers, counselors, or whatever, that they may be disillusioned, that they may not understand who they are, to try to push them in one direction.

What has happened? We now have this huge conglomeration of individuals who don't understand their biological sex. We have been preached to by the left for 3 years, ``Follow the science. Follow the science,'' even though the science was wrong.

Right now, they don't want to follow the science. It comes down to the science of gender, and they refuse to allow that truth to be told. They don't want to hear about the true biological and genetic differences between XY and XX chromosomes.

As a physician, I can say there is an absolute genetic difference in mitochondria, spindle cell formation, and everything else in a genetic XY male from an XX female. It is how they develop.

Regardless of any type of hormonal manipulation, an XY male has a competitive advantage over an XX female--period, point blank. It is fact. It cannot be refuted.

Sadly enough, the left doesn't want to hear that. They want to push the fact that the choice of a gender will get to decide a competitive advantage. They want to trample over the rights of women and allow men to compete in women's sports. It is an absolute absurdity.

I honestly cannot believe that this is an actual issue that we are debating in the United States of America. It is common sense.

I won't point out any specifics, but what would happen if a male from the NBA decided he wanted to compete in the WNBA? Would that be fair? Absolutely not.

What would happen if somebody like Michael Phelps wanted to compete in women's athletic sports, in swimming? It would be absolutely unfair, but the left is not horrified if something like that would happen in high school or college.

Ten years ago, I would say Democrats and Republicans would never have dreamed we would be going down this path of lunacy, trying to erase women's sports, that a young girl who at the age of 5 or 10 would be competing so hard for her dream at age 18 or 22 to compete in the Olympics for a gold medal or any other medal might have that taken away by a biological male.

However, here we are. It is a sad state. It is time for the adults in the room to bring common sense back to this country.

Now, I am not downgrading or denigrating the desire for those individuals to compete in sports. I understand that, but what is fair is fair. It is absolutely unfair for a biological male to compete against a biological female in high school or any other type of sports.

We are bringing common sense and a sense of normalcy back to women's sports and women's rights against the unscientific madness of the left.

Mr. Speaker, I would ask my colleagues to vote for the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 619, a bill to require the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to declassify all information related to potential leaks between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origins of COVID-19.

We had red flags about COVID's origins from day one. If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it is probably a duck. Folks, this screams like a duck.

In January 2020, Dr. Fauci received emails that promulgated that COVID-19 looked engineered and not from the wild. Yet, 3 weeks later, to save his own skin, he commissioned a scientific paper that ``debunked'' the lab theory. He was academically and intellectually dishonest. Why? He did not want the American people to know the truth.

The truth is that Dr. Fauci and his institution funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money to promote dangerous gain-of- function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology without proper guardrails.

That is the key. The Wuhan lab was no more set up to deal with this deadly virus than my mother's kitchen.

We had people--thousands, millions of people--lose their lives, their livelihoods, and their loved ones.

If this contagion leaked from the lab, if that is the case, the world deserves to know. It is time to call out the duck in the room. Release the intelligence that we need to find out the truth.

We have been lied to by China. We have even been lied to by our own government leaders. We need the truth. We ask our colleagues to please pass this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart.

Today, we honor six North Carolinians who died in a plane crash off the coast of Carteret County on the 13th of February 2022. Four days from now will be the 1-year anniversary of this horrific tragedy.

Last March, we held a moment of silence in their remembrance. No words can describe the pain and devastation that our community has felt. Yet, I continue to be moved by the outpouring of love and support from individuals not only across North Carolina but this great Nation.

Today, I am introducing legislation with the entire backing of the North Carolina delegation to designate six creeks in Carteret County after six of the individuals who lost their lives.

My bill, the Down East Remembrance Act, gives exact latitudes and longitudes as to the creeks' locations. They will be named after Noah Styron, Hunter Parks, Kole McInnis, Stephanie Fulcher, Jacob Taylor, and Daily Shepard.

Upon adoption, these names will become part of the fabric of eastern North Carolina.

May God bless them and their families and give them peace.

Mr. Speaker, I speak on this bill from personal experience because I am probably the only Member in the Chamber who actually fell under this mandate because I am still actively practicing, and I am still on staff at an active medical center.

I have practiced at this one institution for 30 years. I don't know how many calls I got from nurses, people on the floor taking care of COVID patients, pleading with me to not be forced to take this vaccine.

Let me just say, if there were any individuals who knew what they were talking about, it was these nurses. They were actually taking care of COVID patients. I have been very pro-vaccine, very pro-vaccine, but I have said since day one that this is not a decision that should be made between a government and a citizen, but rather one made between a doctor and a patient. It is a medication. There are risks and benefits that go with this.

Sadly enough, we lost a lot of our nurses, way too many, because they chose not to get this. They were young, of fertility age, and they were fearful.

I am just going to speak to my colleague's comments about exemptions. Yes, there were exemptions, but they were minute, and I won't speak about one institution in specific, but nationwide they were oftentimes ignored. Thirty-year-olds who desired not to get this vaccine based upon fears about fertility don't have preexisting medical conditions.

I think this is the right thing. I am pro-vaccine, but I do not believe in the avenue of forced vaccination. I ask my colleagues to support H.R. 497.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Mrs. Ann Windley, who has served our great Nation and the County of Beaufort, N.C. Mrs. Windley started her decades of service as a Naval officer, joining the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps at 21 years of age in May of 1945 and serving until April 1946. She was stationed at U.S. Naval Hospital, Portsmouth, Virginia with the assignment to rehabilitate those service members who were wounded in action during

World War II and needed medical care before they could be released from active duty.

This is where she met her husband, Daniel Morgan Windley, III, a Marine who participated in the battle of Okinawa. They fell in love almost immediately and were married March 9, 1946, 3 months after they met, for 60 years.

They quickly settled down in Aurora, N.C. where her husband built the home Mrs. Windley lives in today. They had 5 children, Mary Lou, Daniel, William, John W., And Margaret. Three of their children also served in the military (Army, Air Force, and the Coast Guard) and her brother served in the Marines.

It is here, in beautiful Beaufort County, where Mrs. Windley began her decades of public service to Beaufort County. She served as a school nurse and then a county nurse, ultimately retiring from the Beaufort County school system after 2 decades of service.

Because of Mrs. Windley's outstanding dedication and great work ethic, she was awarded the President's Volunteer Service Award by the American Red Cross. This prestigious award requires a minimum of 4,000 hours of documented volunteer service.

I am very grateful for her enduring public service to eastern North Carolina and for the incredible example she has set for all of us to follow in life. It is my honor to recognize her in the hallowed United States House of Representatives. God bless Mrs. Windley, and I thank her from the bottom of my heart for her decades of ceaseless service.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mr. Claud ``Rob'' Wheatly, III of Wheatly Law Group, to honor his long and illustrious career.

Rob graduated from The Citadel in 1969 and the University of South Carolina School or Law in 1972. He also served in the United States Army, where he obtained the rank of Captain. Rob specializes in property, estate planning, business, corporate, environmental law, and civil trial practice in all State and Federal Courts. During his very successful career, Rob has been the county attorney for Carteret County and is also a member of the Carteret County and North Carolina Bar Associations.

Rob recently reached his 50-year milestone as an attorney in private practice and has served over 30 years as the Carteret County Attorney. Rob began practicing law in 1972 with his father, Claud R. Wheatly Jr., making Rob the third generation of his family to practice law in Carteret County.

Mr. Speaker, please join me in honoring this incredible and noble servant and congratulating Mr. Claud ``Rob'' Wheatly, III on a life of outstanding service to his community.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to William ``Bill'' Harold Prestage of Clinton, North Carolina, to honor all that he has done to benefit North Carolina and our great nation.

Bill was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan on June 15, 1935, to Richard and Lorraine Prestage. Bill graduated from Lakeview High School in Battle Creek, Michigan in 1955 and later attended Western Michigan University. In 1960, Bill, his wife, and their kids moved to South Carolina so Bill could start his new job selling Master Mix feeds for Central Soya. Despite having no agriculture experience, Bill quickly proved to be a natural salesman and was awarded Central Soya's coveted ``Wildcat'' sales award. Bill then moved to North Carolina to service a larger sales area, which led to him meeting Otis Carroll who owned a feed mill. Bill and Mr. Carroll became friends and eventually became partners in what became known as Carroll's Foods. Carroll's Foods was a huge success as it revolutionized the turkey and hog industry by adapting new techniques that would lead to the concept that we now call vertical integration.

After Otis Carroll passed away in 1981, Bill sold his share in the business to the Carroll family. In 1983, Bill and his family started Prestage Farms in Harrells, North Carolina with 22 employees and 18 contract growers. Bill and his team were able to expand his newly found family business to become 1 of the largest family-owned and family- operated animal protein production companies in the nation. Currently, the Prestage family of companies has 5 divisions across 7 different states with 3 processing plants and provides employment to nearly 2,500 people and holds contracts with over 450 family farms. 5 of Bill's grandchildren have joined the company and are learning the ropes of the business from Bill and Marsha's 3 brilliant sons.

Bill had a deep appreciation for all his employees and contract growers that he got to know throughout his life, and he always made sure they were recognized for all their hard work. These individuals served as the foundation of the business and helped make Prestage Farms what it is today.

Bill was inducted into the North Carolina Poultry federation Hall of Fame in 2003 and into the North Carolina Pork Council Hall of Fame in 2005. In addition, Bill chaired the North Carolina Agricultural Foundation Board, served on the Vet Med Foundation Board and served as president of the National Turkey Federation.

Bill and Marsha were both recognized with the Menscer Cup, which is North Carolina State University Foundation's highest award for philanthropy, dedication and leadership. Bill and Marsha were recognized with this. prestigious award after donating millions of dollars to North Carolina State University, which would go towards supporting research, teaching, and other programs provided by the university.

Bill had a love for the outdoors and had a passion for promoting conservation efforts. Some of his hobbies included upland bird hunting, boating, and fishing. Bill married to his caring and loving wife and business partner, Marsha, for 68 years. Bill and Marsha had 3 sons, Ronald, Scott, and John Prestage. Bill was known as ``Poppy'' to his 9 grandchildren, Kate Prestage Poplin, Zach Prestage, Max Prestage, Billy Prestage, Stephanie Prestage, Dr. Kay I in Prestage, Ben Prestage, Bill Prestage, and Vanna Prestage; and 3 great-grandchildren Charlotte and Claire Poplin, and Marsha Prestage.

Mr. Speaker, please join me in honoring the incredible life of Mr. William ``Bill'' Harold

Prestage and the tremendous legacy he leaves behind.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a Marine who has served our great nation for over 38 years. From a Cobra Pilot to a General Officer leading the Marine Corps largest operational command, Marine Forces Pacific, Lieutenant General Steven Rudder has made a significant impact on the Marine Corps. He has flown attack helicopters in combat and commanded Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 26, and also was in charge of the Legislative Affairs office for the Marine Corps. During his time with the Legislative Affairs office, he was responsible for ensuring the U.S. Congress had the most up to date information on all Marine Corps ground and air programs.

He commanded the 1st Marine Air Wing in Japan with Wing deployments to Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, and Australia. He also served as the planning officer at the United States Indo-Pacific Command where he led operational planning and further strengthened relationships with our Western Pacific partners and allies.

As the Deputy Commandant of the Marine Corps for Aviation, he aggressively transitioned the F-35B aircraft program to include oversight of the historic F-35B deployment on the HMS Queen Elizabeth. Additionally, Lieutenant General Rudder completed the MV-22 and H-1 aircraft transitions and increased the readiness of Marine Corps Fighter force to 80 percent.

Lieutenant General Rudder finished his career by commanding Marine Forces Pacific, the largest Marine Corps command with over 80,000 Marines. Under his command, the Marine Forces Pacific reestablished a significant program with the Philippines and entered into several trilateral agreements with Japan and Australia. Lieutenant General Rudder would go on to chair the 20 nation Pacific Amphibious Leaders Symposium with his Japanese counterpart. He was a key figure in the reestablishment of the Republic of Korea (ROK) Marine Corps Air Group.

Ashore or afloat, Lieutenant General Rudder has insured our Marines were ready to fight on behalf of our nation, and on behalf of our nation's commitments to our allies and partners. For his incredible leadership, Lieutenant General Rudder was awarded the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun by former Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi. He was also awarded the Guksun Medal, which is also called the Order of National Security Merit, signed by South Korean President Yoon Suk-Yeol. It was personally awarded by the ROK Commandant and signifies the impact Lieutenant General Rudder has made in the defense of the Pacific Theater of Operations.

Lieutenant General Rudder's awards include the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal with 1 bronze oak leaf cluster, the Distinguished Flying Cross with Combat ``V'' Device, the Defense Superior Medal (2 awards) and the Legion of Merit (2 awards). The Distinguished Flying Cross with Combat ``V'' Device is of particular note, as it is our Nation's highest award for extraordinary aerial achievement and in Lieutenant General Rudder's case, was awarded due to his courage and skill in combat.

I want to note the close ties Lieutenant General Rudder and his family has with my Congressional District (NC-03). They were stationed for about 10 years total in the Jacksonville, North Carolina area. His son, Dean Rudder, graduated from high school there and is a graduate of East Carolina University (ECU) and his daughter, Brittany, attended three schools in my District. Brittany currently resides in Jacksonville, where she has made it her permanent home for the past 12 years.

I would be remiss if I did not emphasize his wife, Holly, and her support of Lieutenant General Rudder's career. She was 100 percent behind him during his entire 38-year career and is a Navy veteran herself, after growing up in an Air Force family living all over the world. Needless to say, many of Lieutenant General Rudder's successes can be attributed directly to Holly's support. I wish both of them all the best as they transition to this new chapter of life. May they have fair winds and following seas. Semper Fidelis.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act, one of the first legislative acts of the new Republican majority.

Main Street America has suffered 2 years too many of Democrats' one- party rule. Inflation continues to hover at record highs, and small businesses continue to struggle.

The last thing that these small businesses can afford right now is 87,000 new IRS agents not only targeting their enterprises but targeting their livelihoods. With 11 million tax returns still awaiting IRS action, the IRS should be focusing on doing their job rather than weaponizing their agency.

This isn't new. The Democrats have used the IRS and the Tax Code as a weapon before and are attempting to do it again. The Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act rescinds new IRS funding intended to target middle-class families.

This cannot wait.

Mr. Speaker, I urge passage of this bill so our small businesses can thrive absent any fear of IRS agents knocking at their door.

Madam Speaker, I rise to address an impending disaster that is about to face patient care in this country.

Not just 2 years ago in this country, physicians were hailed as heroes for risking their lives to save others during the pandemic. Now, when other professions are being given large raises, doctors are facing double digit Medicare cuts beginning in January.

As a surgeon of 30 years, I can say without a doubt that these cuts will either force practices to close or severely restrict the number of Medicare patients who will be seen. The constant attack on physicians who see Medicare patients has to stop.

At present, the cost of seeing a Medicare patient exceeds its reimbursement. That is why most internal medicine practices will not see new Medicare patients.

The constant threat to Medicare needs to stop. We have a growing and aging population. We need to provide some certainty to doctors and hospitals if they are going to be able to plan to take care of these Medicare patients.

Madam Speaker, we cannot end this session without a Medicare fix.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Jackie Walorski MIECHV Reauthorization Act.

Maternal, infant, and childhood home visiting programs support pregnant women and their young children with evidence-based approaches that improve maternal and child health outcomes for the most vulnerable.

Over the last 30 years, I have taken care of many single mothers who struggled to take care of their children. Sadly, the problem is only getting worse with the explosion of fatherlessness in this country.

This is a program we all wish didn't need to exist, but we are all very glad that it does. This is actually when the government gets it right.

I personally have been in these homes, when I was in the State legislature, and these young women desperately need our help. Even more so, the children of these single mothers need our help.

This program will help young mothers get the help that they need for their children. These are not handouts; these are hand-ups. This is what government is supposed to do.

I am proud of our colleague and dear friend, the late Congresswoman Walorski, for her dedicated leadership on behalf of women and babies throughout the country.

Jackie shined a bright light in this Chamber and was resolute in her love and support for American families. This bill cements her legacy and will improve the lives of millions of Americans for generations to come.

I am honored to support this legislation and urge all of my colleagues to vote for the reauthorization act in honor of Jackie Walorski.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that I may hereafter be considered to be the first sponsor of H.R. 3921, a bill originally introduced by Representative Walorski of Indiana, for the purpose of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII.

Mr. Speaker, I hereby remove my name as cosponsor of H.R. 2460.

Mr. Speaker, first and foremost, I want to say how deeply I appreciate Mr. Price's hard work over the last couple of years on S. 1098. I thank him very much for his efforts on this key and very bipartisan issue.

It is clear that there is bipartisan support that victims of spousal abuse should be able to sever these consolidation loans without penalty or delay. I don't think that is the question. The question here is the change in the calculus because of what President Biden has done.

While I support the intention of this bill to separate these loans, President Biden's unconstitutional, only-able-to-be-done-because-of- his-abuse-of-power student loan giveaway has drastically changed the context in which we consider this bill. The President, in his actions, has undermined what was a clear bipartisan effort.

S. 1098 gives the administration the authority and creates a pathway which could be used for loan forgiveness, again taking money from people who didn't benefit from a college education and making those individuals pay for it.

Once these loans are separated into the Direct Loan Program, these loans will be eligible for Biden's near-trillion-dollar student loan giveaway. Republicans made a good-faith effort to amend this legislation to protect taxpayers, but Democrats refused to close this loan forgiveness loophole.

Our Republican solution, the Simplified Joint Consolidation Separation Act, will allow borrowers to separate their loans in a more timely manner to expedite financial freedom while protecting taxpayers by focusing on the administration's authority to directly aid those most in need.

This targeted, commonsense legislation should garner immediate support from both sides of the aisle and will actually correct the issue that we all want solved.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representatives DelBene and Kelly for putting forth the timely Improving Seniors' Timely Access to Care Act.

Mr. Speaker, I would just like to explain to the public what pre- authorization means. I am a practicing physician, so if I order a test, I recommend a surgery, it then goes into a bucket at an insurance agency, and then we play the great waiting game. The patient is no longer in the office because we have no idea how long that waiting game is. It was put in and accepted for what I believe was a good cause. But as with many government programs, or institutions, or institutions of our bureaucracy in the private sector even, it is something that has gone bad and gone terribly wrong.

I may be waiting 2 or 3 or 4 weeks to speak with somebody who is not my peer. I am a surgeon. I may be speaking with a pediatrician or, even more, I might be speaking with a nurse practitioner who has no experience whatsoever in my field of study to get their approval of something that I know needs to happen. It is an absolutely antiquated system that does not work.

I am going to give you a couple of examples. Approximately 10 weeks ago, I saw a prostate cancer patient. There were two avenues to go on this: Either he needed to be operated on very quickly, or the cat was out of the bag, and he needed intensive chemotherapy quickly.

A week goes by, 2 weeks go by. What is that patient doing at home? He hasn't slept one wink because his entire future, his entire life, is then suspended in front of him.

It took 3 weeks, 3 weeks to get the study that every urologist in the country knew was necessary to get that answer. Yet, in the meantime, that patient has lost years, just in life as far as worry.

A second; one of my partners did a very complicated surgery on a patient. The patient was a bad diabetic; came in a week or two later with a wound infection. Fine, come in, get some intensive IV antibiotics. Try to get the patient out of the hospital because we know it is good to get patients out of the hospital when they don't need to be in the hospital.

He needed a certain oral antibiotic that was prescribed for him. It was denied. It was denied. It was denied. A week and a half later, he shows up in my office as an emergency. I have to send him over somewhat late in the afternoon, so that means he gets on the OR schedule at 10:00, 11:00, or 2 a.m., and has to have an abscess drained. And then he is in the hospital now another 2 weeks because he didn't get that antibiotic prescribed to him when he should have because it was denied, his authorization.

Mr. Speaker, I know the CBO score came in. I don't believe it. I have lived and breathed this for 30-plus years. I don't believe it. It doesn't pass the smell test. To come up at the last minute with this score, in my opinion, is erroneous and needs to be looked at again, because I look at the savings that we, as physicians, provide in knowing what is right for our patients in the moment versus some bureaucrat in an insurance company who is given the directive to deny, deny, deny, is not what we should be doing in medicine. Our medical system has become bankrupt and these pre-authorizations are part of it.

So I have a hard time going along with the CBO score of $16 billion because I don't believe it. This is what is right for patients. This is decades past the time when this should have been done.

I look at the doctors that I have worked with, and we are just plagued in clinic, because we know what we are going to recommend for our patients after years of study and work with patients is going to be possibly denied by someone who has no experience who has been told by insurance companies, deny, deny, and deny until they wear out the doctor and wear out the patient.

So, Mr. Speaker, this is a travesty, I believe, to not pass this bill. I also do not believe the CBO score, and I think it is a great injustice for our patients to be denied care because of this antiquated pre-authorization system.