Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5184, the Affordable HOMES Act.

H.R. 5184 would eliminate the Department of Energy's authority to impose redundant energy efficiency standards for manufactured housing that are already undertaken by other Federal agencies. The cost of living is on everyone's minds right now, which makes this bill especially timely.

Let's be clear, overburdensome and duplicative Federal regulations make life more unaffordable for all Americans whether it is housing, energy costs, or everyday necessities. Meanwhile, demands for affordable housing persist across the country, particularly in rural communities in Wyoming where my State continues to attract new industries and our reliable energy sector expands.

Manufactured housing is one of the many innovative solutions that can help bridge the gap and provide hardworking families and growing communities with access to quality housing.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Houchin and Chairman Guthrie for their steadfast leadership on this legislation, and I urge all of my colleagues to support the Affordable HOMES Act.

Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of modernizing our permitting system through the SPEED Act.

While other nations are rushing to win the AI race, build out energy generation, and modernize infrastructure, America is stuck in the 20th century.

Our Nation's permitting process has been corrupted, morphing from what NEPA was crafted to do into a leviathan designed to do what activists and courts want it to do, transforming from a procedural statute into a hammer to block development and innovation.

The resulting lawlessness in the permitting system finally culminated in the Seven County Supreme Court decision, which provided much-needed relief. Simply stated, and as the Court found, there is no reason a rail project should fail because project opponents don't like the commodity that will be shipped on that rail line.

An examination of other lawsuits filed under NEPA confirms the frivolous nature of many of them. In the last decade, circuit courts witnessed a 56 percent increase in NEPA appeals. NGOs instigated over 70 percent of these challenges, with just 10 organizations filing many of those cases. In these cases, agencies won roughly 80 percent of the challenges to both environmental assessments and environmental impact statements.

In other words, agencies are seldom faulted for inadequate environmental review, yet NGOs capitalize on the 6-year statute of limitations to file a lawsuit, slow projects down, increase costs, and finance their organizations through EAJA funds.

In recognition of this reality, and in line with the Seven County decision, this bill clarifies the role of the court over this purely procedural statute, and places shot clocks on when lawsuits must be filed and decided.

The SPEED Act is project agnostic, which I believe is well reflected in its bipartisan nature, and I am proud to be one of its cosponsors.

Permitting impacts every aspect of our economy. When the system is broken, it is broken for everyone. The SPEED Act will provide the certainty that the system currently lacks and which American industries need.

Mr. Chair, I thank Chairman Westerman for his strong leadership on this crucial piece of legislation. I urge all of my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor Wyoming Highway Patrol Dispatcher Chris McGuire, who served our State for 35 years.

Chris handled split-second decisions, juggled multiple emergencies at once, and saved lives on Wyoming's highways. She coordinated responses during snowstorms, rescued stranded motorists, and managed AMBER Alerts, all while training new dispatchers and supporting her colleagues.

Dispatching is not a job for everyone. It demands focus, courage, and the ability to stay calm under intense pressure. Chris worked 60-hour weeks, often sacrificing time with her family. Yet, she never wavered in her commitment to keeping our community safe.

Public service is more than a job. It is a calling, and Chris inspires all of us who serve and reminds us of the unsung heroes who protect our families every day.

Mr. Speaker, Wyoming thanks Chris McGuire for her remarkable career and unwavering service.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 346.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 356 to reauthorize the Secure Rural Schools program.

Mr. Speaker, with such a large percentage of Wyoming's resources historically locked up in Federal lands, including national forests, communities across my State have long weathered challenges associated with reduced flexibility and a decreased tax base.

While a percentage of revenue from timber sales previously alleviated tax shortfalls, shifting land management priorities in Washington, D.C., have led to significant declines in timber harvest.

The Secure Rural Schools program was created to bridge the gap for our rural communities that continue to be impacted by decades of agency mismanagement, Federal overregulations, and harmful lawsuits.

Since its creation, Wyoming communities have received vital funding to support infrastructure projects, public education, search and rescue operations, and other critical emergency services. The program's lapse in authorization has since threatened these essential functions, and its successful reauthorization will assist countless Wyoming communities that are uniquely and disproportionately impacted by bureaucratic decisionmaking beyond their control.

Lastly, we must not lose sight of the underlying problem and continue to prioritize policies that restore timber production and the original intent of our Federal land management agencies: supporting multiple use and healthy forests through proactive management strategies while meeting the needs of surrounding communities.

I appreciate all of the Wyoming stakeholders who brought this issue to my attention and have remained engaged on this legislation throughout its consideration in Congress. I also thank Representative LaMalfa and Chairman Westerman, as well as Chairman Thompson, for their steadfast leadership on this legislation to resolve these issues and support our rural Wyoming communities.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support S. 356.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the DUMP Red Tape Act and thank Representative Wied for his leadership on this crucial deregulatory initiative.

In addition to regulations that are promulgated pursuant to the Administrative Procedure Act, there exists a vast scope of additional regulatory documents that impact small businesses. These are guidance documents, memoranda, bulletins, circulars, letters, and more, which Wayne Crews, a fellow in regulatory studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, has more properly referred to as regulatory dark matter.

Only rules that are adopted pursuant to the APA actually carry the force of law. Yet, in practice, agencies seek to skew the intent of congressional law and impose other requirements through this regulatory dark matter, thereby avoiding compliance with the APA requirements.

Identifying the full scope of the regulatory state as it exists through this dark matter is not only a challenge for Congress and the agencies themselves but for our small businesses, as well.

Under the first Trump administration, agencies cataloged or attempted to catalog all of these various guidance documents, but as soon as he took office, President Biden stripped away this essential transparency measure in the early days.

The reality is that reforming the regulatory state begins with identifying its true magnitude, and that is an exercise which Congress simply cannot do alone.

The deregulatory agenda President Trump instituted, which resulted in the creation of the SBA Office of Advocacy's Red Tape Hotline, captures this reality.

It does so by creating a forum by which to partner with the small businesses of America, who can identify sector-specific regulations that impose undue regulatory compliance challenges and costs.

By voting for the DUMP Red Tape Act, we can codify this hotline and the essential role that it plays and make permanent this partnership with America's small businesses in a much-needed deregulatory effort.

Federal regulation's total compliance costs and economic effects are at least $2.155 trillion, which equates to over $16,000 in annual hidden regulatory costs to the American taxpayer. If we truly care about affordability, about the economy, about small businesses and their consumers, then there is no better policy than deregulation, and this bill will further empower the SBA Office of Advocacy in coordination with the small businesses that it represents.

Mr. Speaker, I thank again Representative Wied and Chairman Williams for their leadership on this important issue, and I urge my colleagues to vote in favor.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6019.

Included in the Senate amendment to H.R. 5371 was a section providing for a private right of action for those Senators who were targeted by the Biden administration to access their cell phone data.

I support repealing this particular provision, not because I think that these Senators and others should not be able to sue the Federal Government for these acts, but because they already have the ability to do so.

The Senators, similar to any other citizen who was wrongfully targeted by the Biden administration, already have a private right of action to sue the Federal Government, including the FBI and other agencies that may have been involved, for violation of their Fourth Amendment rights and other statutory provisions that govern privacy rights and/or that limit Federal law enforcement from pursuing political witch hunts.

I guess I am just absolutely shocked by my colleague on the other side who believes that the Federal Government has the right to invade the privacy and violate the Fourth Amendment rights not only of sitting U.S. Senators but the 340 million people in this country. He apparently believes that the Federal Government has the right to access their phone data at any time, which is absolutely untrue.

My message to those individuals who were involved in violating the constitutional rights of American citizens is very simple. You are the very type of tyrants that our Founders fought against and the reason as to why they drafted the Bill of Rights. You will be exposed. You will be held accountable. You should never be allowed near the levers of power again.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 6019.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my legislation, H.J. Res. 130, which utilizes the congressional disapproval procedure under the Congressional Review Act, or CRA, to restore coal leasing in Wyoming's Powder River Basin.

Many on the East Coast of America might be surprised to learn that the Federal Government owns massive amounts of the western States.

In Wyoming, the Federal Government owns about half of our surface estate and 60 percent of the subsurface estate, or our minerals. In northeast Wyoming, the Bureau of Land Management's Buffalo Field Office owns and manages over 780,000 acres of land and 4.7 million acres of our mineral estate.

Notably, this land encompasses Wyoming's share of the Powder River Basin, North America's largest coal deposit responsible for the production of 40 percent of our Nation's coal.

Wyoming is the largest coal producer in the Nation. We, in other words, are responsible for ensuring that you can turn on your lights and heat your home. The BLM manages its public lands pursuant to the Federal Land Policy and Management Act, which is implemented pursuant to what we refer to as resource management plans, or RMPs.

These RMPs are designed to maximize resource values for the public. The BLM is required to comply with a multiple use mandate, ensuring that these combination of uses meet current and future needs of the American people.

In its waning days, the Biden administration issued an RMP amendment for the Buffalo Field Office which pursued the no new leasing alternative, pulling 481,000 acres of America's largest coal reserves and resources offline, making 48 billion short tons of coal unavailable and ending leasing in the Powder River Basin.

Such a decision cannot be considered a legitimate or legal RMP pursuant to

FLPMA, and neither does it align with Congress' multiple use mandate.

The Biden RMP is instead very clearly a mineral withdrawal enacted by climate activists in direct violation of the law.

The Biden administration's decision to terminate mining in Wyoming's PRB is not only irresponsible and harmful but downright illegal, a mechanism used by the governing elite to inflict harm on every single citizen of this great country to further climate change lunacy.

If this RMPA is allowed to continue, it would risk 4,122 jobs in rural Wyoming, $1.9 billion in labor output through 2048, and millions of dollars in State revenue used to fund public K-12 education.

This seemingly localized decision has national repercussions, as well. In 2024, Wyoming produced 191 million tons of coal, 171 million tons of which were shipped to 26 different States for producing electricity.

At these rates, Wyoming produces about 40 percent of the Nation's coal and about 80 percent of all Federal coal production.

With coal generating as much as 23 percent of America's electricity at any given time, Wyoming coal supplies as much as 9.2 percent of the electricity produced in this country.

Watching the arguments in the Committee on Rules last night and on the floor today, it is clear that ``affordability'' is the word of the day for my colleagues across the aisle. If utility bills for Americans are something they genuinely care about, then I encourage them to vote for H.J. Res. 130 and to not turn off the Powder River Basin coal, which accounts for so much of American energy and could generate even more if Washington, D.C., had not waged a war on coal for the last three decades.

In short, it is policies such as no new coal leasing contained in this Buffalo RMPA that reduce affordability, which my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will be supporting if they continue to oppose H.J. Res. 130.

This vote today is a vote to shore up the grid, which will have positive impacts on the utility bills of Americans. When combined with what this majority did for energy development in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, we are shoring up centuries of energy production.

We cannot survive in this country without Wyoming coal, the majority of which is produced in the Powder River Basin. Demand for Wyoming coal is only increasing, both here and abroad. If you turn out the lights on one of Wyoming's most important industries, you will also be turning out the lights on America.

The Biden administration knew this and pursued this harmful policy anyway, and they did so in violation of the law.

On September 18, 2025, the Government Accountability Office determined that the Buffalo RMP was a rule subject to the CRA on the grounds that it is an agency statement, is of future effect, and it implements, interprets, or prescribes law and policy.

This decision is in line with previous GAO decisions on similar land management plans and RMPs, several of which this body has passed in the 119th Congress.

A vote today for H.J. Res. 130 has many positive implications.

First, it would overturn this harmful plan and revert to the 2015 RMP, thereby protecting access to 481,000 acres for coal leasing.

Second, it would provide certainty to countless Wyomingites who rely on our good, clean coal for jobs and for revenue that funds the schools that our children attend.

Third, it is a vote for the millions of Americans who continue to rely on Wyoming coal--and who always will.

Fourth, it is a win for Congress, reminding the agencies that we are the primary policymaking branch of government and that we will hold the agencies responsible for bad, unlawful regulations.

I urge all of my colleagues to vote in favor of H.J. Res. 130.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 3015, the National Coal Council Reestablishment Act.

I have often said that coal is the energy of the future, and under the leadership of President Trump and this Congress, coal is rightfully back in favor in Washington, D.C.

Coal produced 16 percent of the electricity in this country last year, and it is one of the most reliable and affordable forms of energy that we have. It is imperative that we increase domestic production in order to meet our ever-increasing demand.

My home State of Wyoming is responsible for about 40 percent of the Nation's coal, producing 191 million tons of coal and shipping 171 million tons to 26 different States in 2024.

It is estimated that Wyoming has more than 165 billion tons of economically recoverable coal with over 1.4 trillion tons of total coal reserves.

Power demand is expected to increase by nearly 21 percent by 2030, and the AI sector will need 50 gigawatts of new electric capacity by 2028. Producing coal is the only way to meet this demand.

Federal policy must be designed to meet these new challenges, which is why reestablishing the National Coal Council within the Department of Energy is more important than ever.

Unfortunately, this longstanding Federal advisory committee was shuttered by the Biden administration in response to lawsuits filed by the very environmentalist NGOs spearheading the full-scale campaign against coal.

My colleague on the other side decries the cost of energy and states that it is because of coal and policies from the Republicans that are causing that increase. The increase in the cost of energy is solely the responsibility of the Democrats and their failed policies. They are the ones that have caused the increase in the electric rates by requiring the electric companies to include unreliable and unaffordable energy resources in their mix.

While they claim coal is an energy of the past, clearly that is not the case. Coal-fired power plants are the most reliable and cost- effective form of available energy that we have.

I will just give one example near Colorado Springs. The coal-fired power plant is approximately 300 acres in size. Across the highway is a solar field that is approximately 1,500 acres. The coal-fired power plant is 80 percent efficient. The solar field is approximately 20 percent efficient. The coal-fired power plant produces more than double the energy and the electricity that the solar field produces.

Luckily, the Trump administration restored the council in June of this year, and I applaud the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Rulli) for offering this bill to reaffirm President Trump's actions.

We need more coal, not less. But coal policy can be complex. Coal production falls within the jurisdiction of numerous oversight agencies, and it is governed by a series of mining and energy laws, regulatory agencies, and permitting requirements.

The National Coal Council will provide much-needed expertise, advice, and guidance related to effective coal policies.

An example of the council's importance can be found in the report that it issued in 2018 titled: ``Advancing U.S. Coal Exports.''

Although environmental NGOs have worked to reduce domestic coal production and use, our allies in Asia have an increasing demand for coal, confirming that export markets present a significant opportunity for States like Wyoming.

I again thank Mr. Rulli for his sponsorship and Chairman Guthrie for his committee leadership promoting strong energy policies.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support this bill and to support the coal industry.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 719, Honoring the life and legacy of Charles ``Charlie'' James Kirk.

I had the honor of working with Charlie over the last several years, and he gave voice to so many young people. He was outspoken about his faith and conservative values and dedicated his life to engaging people in respectful and intelligent debate. He left a mark on this great country and will be forever missed.

What happened on September 10, 2025, was a violent, political assassination that was an attack on the very freedoms that Charlie lived and fought to protect. Today, we must honor Charlie by recommitting ourselves to what he stood for: respectful, open dialogue; faith; family; truth; and freedom.

Let Charlie's death not deepen our divisions but be the spark that unites us. May we reject political violence wherever it comes from and restore civility.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution to honor Charlie's life, to affirm the right to freely engage in public speech, and to resolve that America will stand undeterred by violence.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 4922 so that we may redefine what is considered to be a youth offender from 24 years to 18 years and repeal the D.C. criminal court provision that allows youthful offenders to receive sentences less than the mandatory minimum required by law.

There is no question that there has been a crime epidemic across the District of Columbia, and the citizens of this great city deserve better. President Trump recognized this fact and has exercised his authority to restore safety. It is now time for Congress to build on his good work.

H.R. 4922 is designed to begin to address many of the problems that stem from the D.C. courts and their refusal to hold criminals accountable. We need to start with recognizing that 19- to 24-year-olds shouldn't be treated as youthful offenders.

Local news has recently reported that the number of juveniles arrested in Washington, D.C., has increased every year since 2020 and that 60 percent of carjackings in the District in 2025 so far are for those over 20 years old.

Knowing that the District of Columbia currently classifies anyone 24 years or younger as a youth offender, it is fair to ask how many of these so-called youthful offenders running rampant, terrorizing the hardworking people of Washington, D.C., are actually adults and should be tried as such. The situation is untenable and should not be tolerated in a civilized society.

I am, therefore, pleased to support the solutions presented by H.R. 4922, including the establishment of a website on District of Columbia's juvenile crime statistics.

Passage of this bill will go a long way to correcting the broken, soft-on-crime policies here in Washington, D.C., that coddle criminals and place at risk the good, honest, and hardworking people who call the District home.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Donalds for sponsoring this important legislation and applaud Chairman Comer for his steadfast leadership on this critically important issue.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to join me in supporting

Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the Congressional Review Act joint resolutions that we are bringing forward to overturn the Biden administration's disastrous and radical resource management plans, beginning with H.J. Res. 104 to repeal the Miles City RMP in Montana to ensure continued access to the Powder River Basin.

These Biden-era plans lack balanced resource management and, in fact, are mineral withdrawals in disguise, which runs contrary to Federal law. They lock up America's resources, kill jobs, and undermine energy security.

The Miles City Resource Management Plan amendment, combined with the Buffalo RMP amendment in Wyoming, bans future coal leasing across the Powder River Basin, which holds roughly 30 percent of our Nation's coal reserves.

The Powder River Basin does not just power Montana and Wyoming, however, but our Nation at large. The Miles City plan strips away access to 37.8 billion short tons of coal, which is enough to meet U.S. demand for the next 73 years.

The consequences are vast, including higher energy costs for American families, the loss of $46 million annually in Montana State revenue that supports public education, and the elimination of countless high- paying jobs that sustain rural communities.

Wyoming knows this fight all too well. The Buffalo field office was hit with the same environmentalist-driven lawsuits and agency overreach, with

bureaucrats pushing ``no leasing alternatives'' that amount to nothing more than backdoor energy bans.

To this day, I am still baffled and horrified that, for 4 years, our government intentionally tried to impose energy poverty on the American people, all to please the vocal but minority climate lobby.

When the Powder River Basin turns off, so does America.

Energy security is national security. The Biden administration's RMPA undermines both. By restricting access to our own resources, it pushes America toward greater dependence on foreign nations, including our adversaries.

I applaud Congressman Downing of Montana for introducing this joint resolution, which aligns with President Trump's executive orders to reinvigorate America's clean coal and unleash American energy, restore strength to our energy policy, and put the needs of his constituents and all Americans first.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this resolution to restore American energy dominance.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 672 to designate single, unique ZIP Codes for communities across the United States.

H.R. 672, which includes the community of Mills, Wyoming, would resolve longstanding issues that have continually impacted a host of services, ranging from the delivery of mail to confusion for the local fire department and utilities providers, while also complicating economic development.

With mail ZIP Code designation intertwined with Casper, Wyoming, the city has struggled with timely mail delivery, loss of property tax revenue and franchise fees, and incorrect Census counts. Each of these issues poses significant challenges for Mills as it continues to grow, develop, and attract new residents across Wyoming and beyond.

Passage of this bill will go a long way to correct this oversight, not only for Mills but for communities nationwide.

The city of Mills has been a tireless advocate for this legislation, and I am immensely proud to be a cosponsor.

I thank Representative Diaz-Balart and Chairman Comer for their steadfast leadership on this critically important issue, and I support this legislation to resolve these issues for my constituents in Mills.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 672.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a remarkable Wyoming institution, the Bill Cody Ranch, as it celebrates its centennial. For 100 years, the Bill Cody Ranch has welcomed guests from across the country, giving them a taste of the American West.

As a flagbearer of Wyoming's dude ranch community, the Bill Cody Ranch is truly a remarkable testament to the enduring cowboy spirit that we hold near and dear to our hearts in Wyoming.

The Bill Cody Ranch continues as a living legacy of stewardship, hospitality, and dedication to our way of life. Please join me in congratulating the ranch and the many families who have called it home on reaching this marvelous milestone.

Their commitment to preserving Wyoming's heritage is something that we are all proud of. I thank them, and congratulate them once again on this historic milestone.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my legislation, H.R. 1001, which requires the Bureau of Reclamation and the Western Area Power Administration, or WAPA, to enter into a memorandum of understanding to address the impacts that bypass flows at Glen Canyon Dam have had on the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund.

It is worth taking a moment to highlight why we are here today. Under the Biden administration, the Bureau of Reclamation wanted to rush to implement bypass flows to prevent smallmouth bass and other warm water invasive nonnative fish from becoming established below the Glen Canyon Dam outlet works.

This action, however, comes at significant costs as it would mean foregoing hydropower generation for the majority of these releases.

The Bureau of Reclamation initiated its record of decision, or ROD, over Glen Canyon Dam's long-term experimental management plan supplemental EIS this past summer. It was signed on July 5, 2024, with implementation beginning just 3 days later on July 8. Pretty doggone quick.

The ROD calls for higher flows at the dam to combat the presence of predatory smallmouth bass which threaten the federally protected humpback chub. These higher flows bypass hydropower generators in order to cool the river temperature below the dam in an attempt to disrupt smallmouth bass downstream.

While this ROD was well-intentioned, it comes at a very serious cost to communities and power customers. Due to the bypass requirements, the lost hydropower generation must be replaced with power purchased on the open market.

WAPA makes these purchases from the Upper Colorado River Basin Fund which is funded by power revenues or, in other words, by the customers. WAPA's preliminary estimate of energy replacement is about $20 million more than it would have been without the bypass requirements. Going forward, it projects the impact on customers to be even significantly more.

The American people are fed up with these heavyhanded decisions by the Federal Government that makes it increasingly difficult to get by in this country, particularly if you are trying to raise a family. Water is the interior West's most important resource.

For over 60 years, Glen Canyon Dam has been producing hydroelectric power, providing reliable, flexible, low-cost, emission-free baseload energy across the entire region. That is why this bill is important.

My bill requires the Bureau of Reclamation to acknowledge the effect of the decision through a memorandum of understanding that measures the economic, environmental, and reliability impacts of the action. I am grateful that this important legislation is being considered today.