Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to honor the life of Rylee Rose Belza, a beloved 11-year-old from Marysville who entered into eternity with her Savior on July 8.

Rylee was the cherished daughter of Dom and Julia Belza and a loving sister whose joy filled her family's life.

Our hearts are with Dom and Julia. I have seen the deep faith, amazing grace, and love that has been guiding the Belza family during this painful time.

Rylee was a bright light. She loved her family, her friends, softball, and fishing. Her church and her faith in the Lord were central to her life.

The picture that really stuck with me at her memorial was Rylee worshiping with arms stretched wide even as she was battling cancer. She carried joy into every room and made people laugh. She consistently placed herself behind others.

She had a beautiful voice, and she loved to sing ``The Star-Spangled Banner.'' She wanted to be the President. She told her classmates as much, and, Mr. Speaker, I bet you she would have been.

The Yuba-Sutter community has responded with compassion, love, and prayer for the Belza family.

Today, I ask the House to join me in praying for Rylee's family and every person her life touched. Rylee's life was far too short, but her outsized legacy will remain with her family and her community for many years to come.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Community Housing Improvement Program, or CHIP for short, a nonprofit that is helping working families achieve the American Dream of homeownership across the north State.

I recently visited the community of Orland Park Estates housing project in Glenn County, where eight families received keys to homes they helped build with their own hands.

These families put in the work. Sacramento should try doing the same. Instead, Governor Gavin Newsom and Democratic politicians have passed costly mandates and excessive fees that keep driving up the price of building a home. It is now a median price of $900,000. California has an affordability crisis because Sacramento keeps making everything less affordable.

As a member of the Congressional Real Estate Caucus and a member of the majority, I have been able to support the More Homes on the Market Act, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, and the Uplifting First-Time Homebuyers Act.

Together, these bills tackle the housing crisis and make homeownership more affordable for working families, just like those eight families in Orland who now have keys to a new home.

CHIP proves that the American Dream is still alive in the north State. These families worked hard for their homes. They earned their keys. The least Sacramento can do is stop making those dreams more expensive.

Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support of amendment No. 8, and I urge its adoption.

Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support of amendment No. 8, and I urge its adoption by this body.

My amendment requires the Federal Government to take a hard look at how the collapse of America's domestic refining capacity threatens our national security and military readiness and what tools exist when State level actions undermine refining capacity as they have in California and, thus, undermine our Armed Forces that we rely upon.

For years, dangerous and, quite frankly, stupid California policy led by Gavin Newsom and Sacramento Democrats have waged an ideological war on the oil and gas industry, and, thus, California's refining industry has been decimated by crushing regulations and Green New Deal mandates.

Today, California produces less than 23 percent of the oil and gas that it consumes and imports more than 65 percent of its crude oil from foreign countries, places like Venezuela, like Ecuador, like the Middle East--some of these countries with horrendous environmental records, with rain forests that are being burned down as we speak. And we are shutting down domestic production that we have in Kern County to our own detriment.

Meanwhile, what has happened to our gas prices in California? They have spiked to the highest in the Nation. Just now, today, the average price of gas in California is $5.50 a gallon. Do you know what it is in North Carolina? $3.72 a gallon. That is policy. That is what we are talking about. Our jet fuel supplies have been reduced by a million gallons.

This is due to the loss of the Valero refinery in the East Bay and the Phillips 66 refinery in Los Angeles, all due

to policies that Gavin Newsom championed and, in fact, said that he jammed his legislature to accomplish that policy. It has had horrendous effects.

California is also home to 32 military installations, including some of our Nation's most strategically important bases: Travis Air Force Base, Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Naval Base San Diego, Camp Pendleton, and Beale Air Force Base, just to name a few.

Our servicemembers cannot train, deploy, or fight without reliable access to fuel. Congress should not and cannot stand by while California's failed energy policies undermine the energy infrastructure our military depends on.

As the saying goes, energy security is national security. My amendment simply directs that the Federal Government identify what can be done to protect the rest of the refining capacity that we have in California that is essential to the West Coast and is essential to America's national defense.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this commonsense amendment. I can't imagine why the opposing party would ever oppose this when we need affordable energy now.

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

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

Mr. Chair, it is good that my colleague from California brought up principle, because his party used to be the party of the working class. But it certainly no longer is that, with $5.50 a gallon for gas. The working class in California is being decimated.

Do you know what else is happening? Those good-paying refinery jobs in Benicia, California, that used to be at the Valero refinery are gone because of bad policy, and those people no longer have those jobs.

Yes, the gentleman is right. We should be talking about principle. We should be talking about actually serving our constituents who have been plagued with the worst energy prices in the Nation.

Don't belie the argument. This is about national security because we have all of those bases that I mentioned on the West Coast. They need that fuel supply. They need that jet fuel that they can no longer get from Benicia. They can no longer rely on that. This is absolutely germane to national defense.

What are they so worried about? This amendment is simply calling for a review. It is calling for a study to see what we can do. Are my colleagues afraid of what it might find? Are they afraid of what it might find, that the Democratic policy, far from being one that is diverse and looks to all forms of energy, has put all of its eggs into one basket, solar and wind, to great detriment?

We should be looking at all forms of energy, including our oil and gas. We produce oil and gas in Kern County safely, environmentally friendly. Instead, my colleagues are importing it from countries that have no such record.

Absolutely, I decry what the gentleman is saying today. I decry California's policy. It deserves a review, and we should be using the Federal Government to ensure that our refinery capacity stays stable, that it is affordable, and that it is ready for our men and women of the military.

Again, I ask my colleagues to support this amendment. It is germane. It is much needed in these times.

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

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that I may hereafter be considered to be the first sponsor of H.R. 1420 and H.R. 4970, bills originally introduced by Representative LaMalfa of California, for the purpose of adding cosponsors and requesting reprintings pursuant to clause 7 of rule XII.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to two of my constituents who tragically lost their lives in a senseless act of gun violence at a public library in Chico, in the heart of my district.

Libraries are places of learning and community, spaces where families, children, and neighbors come together. Last week, that sense of safety was shattered by unimaginable violence.

I take this time to honor Jacob Hull and Robert Johnson and offer my deepest condolences to the families, friends, and community who are devastated and forever changed by this tragedy.

Jacob, or ``Cody'' as he was known, had taken someone he cared for deeply, a close friend's 8-year-old daughter, with him for a visit to the library. He gave his life that day to protect hers by shielding her from the attacker in an act of extraordinary courage and selflessness. Because of his actions, she was able to escape, flee to safety, and reunite with her family.

Jacob Hull is a hero.

Robert spent 30 years as a resident of Orland, California, where he spent a career in the ag industry before retiring. He was beloved by his family, who fondly referred to him as Uncle Robert.

Robert found great joy in spending time at that Chico library, which his family described as his favorite place in the world. It was a place of comfort, of learning, and peace, where he could indulge in his passion for reading. Reading was the passion that remained with him throughout his life.

Robert was a quiet strength.

Both Robert and Jacob were beloved members of the greater Chico and Butte County community, whose absence will be deeply felt, and it leaves a void that cannot be replaced.

Members of the Chico community have already banded together to raise money in support of the devastated families of both victims. Two memorial funds for Cody and Robert have been started by the North Valley Community Foundation, and donations can be made on the North Valley Community Foundation's website at www.nvcf.org. I also extend my gratitude to the librarians, the bystanders, and the first responders who selflessly rushed to the scene to provide aid during this horrific crime.

I commend Chief Aldridge and his amazing officers of the Chico Police Department, who responded to this incident within 4 minutes. Their excellent training was on full display, and they quickly apprehended the suspect. Their heroism undoubtedly saved lives that day. We are grateful to them, and we salute them, the thin blue line that protects our community each and every day.

No words will ease the deep pain and suffering our community is feeling, but I ask that my colleagues join me in honoring the memories of Jacob Hull and Robert Johnson and in praying for justice and healing for their families and our community in the difficult weeks and months ahead.

California's Fiscal Bust

Mr. Speaker, a new fiscal year starts off in California, and we have a fiscal bust that could cost us vital wildfire funding.

The cap-and-tax system doesn't raise enough money this year. Under a terrible deal struck between Gavin Newsom and a select group of politicians, money meant for wildfire prevention may be lost because it was put into last place under this deal; and the high-speed rail, a project that hasn't built a single mile of track, was put in first place, along with legislative projects for a select group of legislators: $125 million for transit passes, $25 million for a UC Climate Research Center.

One curious one: $85 million of our taxpayer funding to go to some entity chosen by the legislature to explore climate innovation and solutions for the future--where is it going? No one really knows, but what we do know is that wildfire funding could very well be slashed under this terrible deal.

Even worse, our CAL FIRE firefighters' budget could be slashed if we do not reach a deal that comes to putting wildfire prevention and wildfire suppression first in our State.

I rise to call out this terrible and atrocious deal, and I demand that my former colleagues in the State legislature put wildfire first. I demand that they put victims first after they have been through so much horror over these many years in California, wildfire after wildfire. Put them first by making sure that that funding is there.

We can do our jobs here in the U.S. Congress, as well, by passing our Fix Our Forests Act, which is now on the Senate side. We need to make sure that we get that through so that we can increase the pace and scale of removing dangerous fuels.

Mr. Speaker, California is doing it again. They just passed a budget which is raising taxes on healthcare plans and on business software. At a time when Californians and people throughout this Nation are struggling with the high cost of living, California is making it even harder.

I rise to condemn this action that is hurting everyday Californians. What a stark contrast to what we are doing here as House Republicans in Congress.

We are now coming up on the 1-year anniversary of cutting taxes for working people in this country. Now, people are getting the benefits of no tax on tips and no tax on overtime. The average refund is $3,600, vital money that is needed in this time.

That is the kind of leadership we need, not the kind of leadership that is being shown out of Gavin Newsom in California. We will continue that work here in the House. I am proud to be part of that work, and we have much more to do in the weeks to come.