Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, today I rise to express my support for the Cuban people.

After decades of enduring an oppressive Communist regime, the people of Cuba deserve freedom.

Last week, we watched as Cubans proudly waved the American flag through the streets and peacefully advocated for the freedom our flag represents.

Unfortunately, as Cubans marched, many of my colleagues across the aisle have remained silent or, worse, they have wrongfully blamed the United States or even suggested these protests were in response to

Mr. Speaker, today I rise because, as a proud pro-life advocate, I cannot stay silent as I watch the Biden administration chip away at the rights of defenseless unborn.

Democrats have been working over time with the Biden administration to roll back critical protections for the unborn so they can push radical pro-abortion policies, and their latest victim, it appears, is the Hyde amendment.

For over 40 years, the Hyde amendment has saved millions of lives by preventing the use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortions. A recent poll from the Knights of Columbus indicates that 58 percent of Americans oppose the use of taxpayer dollars to support abortions. That number also includes 65 percent of Independents and 31 percent of Democrats.

If millions of Americans are against the use of tax dollars being used to support abortion, then why is Congress considering legislation that does just exactly that?

If this legislation were for the people, wouldn't we listen to them instead of forcing American taxpayers to subsidize something that the majority of them are against?

Taking the life of an unborn child is simply unconscionable. I believe that we, as a governing body, have a responsibility to protect life at every stage, especially the defenseless unborn who are unable to advocate for themselves. We have no business using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Louisiana for his allowing me to have the opportunity to be here and speak on this issue.

Today, I rise, Mr. Speaker, because our country is in crisis. Despite promises to the contrary, President Biden's policies are crushing small businesses and hurting hardworking Americans.

The simple fact is that we should be cruising into an economic recovery thanks to the Trump administration's advancements. Instead, we are drowning in Democrats' reckless spending packages that have led to a greater increase in inflation rates than we have seen since the 2008 economic crisis.

As a result, Americans are paying more for everything. Gasoline is over 50 percent more expensive today than it was 12 months ago. Transportation services are up 11 percent since last May. Food and energy prices have seen a combined price increase of nearly 4 percent, a dramatic increase that we haven't seen since 1992.

The average American simply cannot afford this, and it is time that we prioritize American paychecks over wasteful government spending.

Madam Speaker, today, I rise to honor the 125th anniversary of the Indiana Veterans' Home.

It was established in Tippecanoe County in 1895, and the Indiana Veterans' Home initially served as a facility to care for the disabled Union soldiers after the Civil War.

By 1910, the home served over 1,400 residents and offered its own hospital, bakery, and electric light plant.

Over a century later, the Indiana Veterans' Home continues to operate as a full-service facility offering a multitude of medical and support services for its residents.

It is also home to a small museum of historical artifacts, and serves as the final resting place for nearly 3,000 veterans and their spouses.

Indiana has a proud tradition of honoring its veterans, and the Indiana Veterans' Home is a shining example of Hoosiers' commitment to the care of those who have served.

I congratulate those at the Indiana Veterans' Home on their 125th anniversary, and I offer my sincere gratitude for their continued service to Hoosier veterans and their families.

Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from the State of Washington for allowing me to have the opportunity to participate in this Special Order.

Madam Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the communities and the residents of west central Indiana to share our experience with the Endangered Species Act.

As an animal scientist and a farmer, I am a lifelong conservationist. I value the well-intentioned effort of the ESA to protect and conserve our Nation's most iconic species that define our landscapes and have shaped our heritage. Instead, however, I have repeatedly found myself discouraged with the implementation of this important act.

As I shared here on the House floor a few weeks ago, Lakes Freeman and Shafer, near Monticello, Indiana, have been a popular tourist destination. It has been home to many small businesses, attractions, and a vibrant local economy for generations of Hoosiers. Unfortunately, though, a series of droughts and a tangle of bureaucratic red tape involving the ESA has made a devastating impact on this community.

Following a listing on the endangered species list more than a decade ago of mussels found in the Tippecanoe River, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service subsequently ordered a new higher volume of water to consistently flow out of the Oakdale Dam that forms Lake Freeman, in an effort to preserve these now-protected mussels. This executive action by unelected bureaucrats has crippled our once-thriving community.

Businesses like the Tall Timbers Marina, local resorts, and the Madam Carroll cruise boat, as seen here, report catastrophic losses to revenue and depleted financial reserves.

Homeowners along the lake report ruined seawalls, dried-up wells, and slashed resale values, even during this hottest real estate market of our lifetime.

With zero regard for the economic and environmental catastrophe created, the Fish and Wildlife Service refuses to negotiate and continues to enforce a mandate designed to protect a population of mussels that have likely already died from the bacterial overload created when this 1,500-acre lake was reduced to a puddle, killing practically all the wildlife that used to call Lake Freeman home.

Due to years of misinterpretation of the law, unchecked actions by unelected bureaucrats, and radical environmentalism, this once valuable law, designed to conserve America's natural beauty, has instead proved time and time again to be a death knell to actual ecosystems and the nearby communities.

The Service consistently hides behind its ability to point fingers at other agencies, whose compliance is obligated by the ESA as a means to avoid rational management of the act and the species it protects.

As thought leaders and policymakers, we have an important responsibility to preserve the natural beauty that God has bestowed on our land. The Endangered Species Act was established with that mission at heart but has gone frightfully astray.

It has been 40 years since the enactment of the ESA. Now more than ever, it is time to modernize this important law, to fix its broken parts to better serve its purpose and to allow for responsible solutions to disasters like Lake Freeman.

I hope my colleagues will join me in this valuable effort.

Madam Speaker, today, I rise in honor of National Police Week, a week where we honor the men and women who risk their lives every day to protect and serve our neighborhoods.

I want to take this opportunity to highlight some of the great work from

law enforcement in my district who are helping to keep their communities safe.

First, there is West Lafayette Police Officer Brian Danosky who risked his own life to provide lifesaving care to a 22-year-old who had a gunshot wound.

In Frankfort, Indiana, Sergeant Chris Salaba was awarded Officer of the Year last year for helping his department overcome challenges from the COVID-19 pandemic.

In Putnam County, Sheriff Scott Stockton and his deputies kept deadly drugs off of our streets by seizing 225 pounds of meth.

These are just a few of the examples of police officers working to keep our neighborhoods safe.

I think it is important to highlight their work and remind citizens that most police officers are good people who want to protect their communities and serve the people within them.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to show my support for our men and women in law enforcement.

Unfortunately, there is a growing movement across this country that is trying to defund police departments and disparage the character of all of our police officers. This movement is having deadly consequences on our communities.

We are starting to see what happens when we defund the police. For the first time in decades, violent crime is rising in the United States. Major American cities saw a 33 percent increase in homicides in 2020. Many of these cities took the advice from radicals and slashed their police departments, with the ultimate goal of defunding them.

These reckless decisions didn't make our communities safer. Instead, it only empowered criminals and put those most vulnerable in harm's way.

All Americans want bad police officers to be held accountable, but all Americans also want to be safe in their own communities. Police officers risk their lives every day to try to make that a reality. Congress should focus on making sure our police departments have the resources they need to keep criminals off the street while implementing the needed reforms to hold accountable bad officers.

Madam Speaker, I appreciate my good friend from Texas allowing me to share with this body the program that I have for today.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to call attention to the overwhelming challenges plaguing a community in my district. It is located in White and Carroll Counties of west central Indiana. The communities surrounding Lakes Shafer and Freeman are a recreation destination for Hoosiers from all across the State and from Americans across the country.

The Twin Lakes, as they are known, straddle the small community of Monticello. In the nearly 100 years since the two reservoirs were created by damming up the Tippecanoe River, their far-reaching attraction has created a flourishing local economy built on tourism, replete with the trappings of a family vacation, including its own amusement park, cruise boat, resort, marina, and much more.

Despite all the buildup of amenities of this Hoosier destination, the lakes remained the focal point of the community and the driving force of the regional economy. Unfortunately, lake conditions can also have a negative impact on the local area.

At the hands of Mother Nature and outside forces, these crown jewels of the region have been tarnished. On multiple occasions, Lake Freeman, because of drought conditions, has been drained to the riverbed that flows at the bottom.

Unfortunately, these episodes of diminishing lake levels have come at an increasingly frequent rate in recent years and in times of even moderate drought conditions. These droughts caused the lake to become almost completely drained and resulted in devastation to the natural ecology and the local economy.

Businesses, homes, property--both real and personal--tax revenue, and the loss of family time are all impacted. The past 7 months have been one of those times as drought conditions last summer once again caused Lake Freeman's water level to plummet by more than 13 feet, completely draining the vast majority of this 1500-acre reservoir.

One victim of this devastation is the disruption of local ecological balance. During the worst parts of the episode, area residents walked the lake bed only to find dead turtles, fish, mussels, and more that had succumbed to the lack of water.

Safety also became a tremendous challenge for locals and boaters as water levels sank, exposing stumps, sharp objects, and other items usually covered by the water.

These impacts on the lake quality are especially disappointing to a community that has prided itself in its conservation stewardship of the lake. Members of the community have banded together to form Shafer & Freeman Lakes Environmental Conservation Corporation, also known as

Madam Speaker, today I rise for the concerns over the President's $2 trillion infrastructure plan. One concern is the steep price tag, but my bigger concern is what the administration is trying to classify as infrastructure.

We are to the point of changing the definition of what that is. We are throwing everything in except the kitchen sink and the kitchen table and calling it infrastructure. I think that is irrational and I think that is irresponsible.

How can you call this an infrastructure bill when less than 6 percent of it goes to roads and bridges, 5 percent goes to broadband infrastructure, and less than 2 percent goes to the waterways, locks, dams, ports, and airports?

Less than 2 percent of our waterways and ports is unacceptable. This type of infrastructure is critical for Hoosiers in transporting our manufactured and agriculture exports to the global market.

If we are going to ask the American taxpayers to make these critical and substantial investments, it is our duty to make sure our dollars are spent wisely and efficiently on true infrastructure.

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Louisiana for yielding. I appreciate the opportunity to be here.

Madam Speaker, this evening I really rise to voice my concerns over the President's $2 trillion infrastructure plan.

One concern is the steep price tag, but a bigger concern is what the administration is trying to classify as infrastructure. These attempts from some on the other side of the aisle to classify their partisan priorities as infrastructure, is inexcusable and it is irresponsible.

The President is asking American taxpayers to fork over $2 trillion. If the President is asking Americans to make a substantial investment, it is Congress' responsibility to ensure that these tax dollars are spent wisely.

Unfortunately, the President's proposed bill doesn't do this. How can it be infrastructure legislation when less than 6 percent goes to roads and bridges and less than 5 percent goes to broadband infrastructure?

There is a true need for infrastructure. For instance, in my district, our rural communities need help getting their last mile of broadband. This pandemic has proven that high speed broadband must be addressed.

Madam Speaker, I hope we can remove the partisan approach to this bill and solve the real infrastructure challenges of our country.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to honor the farm broadcaster, Gary Truitt.

Gary was inducted into the National Association of Farm Broadcasting Hall of Fame for his outstanding work and commitment to delivering informative and insightful news to our Nation's farmers.

I offer my congratulations to Gary for this remarkable achievement and to celebrate his dedicated career. Gary began his farm broadcasting career in 1981, bringing a fresh perspective to the industry. And in only a few years, he began his own news broadcast, which soon dominated Indiana radio.

In 2006, he did it all over again after a corporate sale of his first network, and created Hoosier Ag Today. For more than 33 years, Hoosier farmers have relied on Hoosier Ag Today for the latest news about the condition of the agricultural industry and markets.

Mr. Speaker, it is hard to find someone who puts his whole heart into everything that they do. Gary is one of them. I wish Gary many more years of success.

Madam Speaker, today, I rise to honor Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson.

Since 2012, Connie has overseen Indiana's elections and modernized how Hoosiers and businesses interact with the State. Connie championed comprehensive election reforms that included election security and expanded our voting access for Hoosiers.

Connie is a fierce advocate for Hoosiers to be financially literate and has advocated high schools offer a free financial class to all students.

Connie modernized State government departments by implementing an efficient one-stop portal for businesses to register, file, report, and make payments to State agencies.

Prior to being secretary of state, Connie served 16 years in the Indiana State Senate and, before that, was clerk of the Hendricks County Circuit Court.

I congratulate Connie on her retirement. On behalf of all Hoosiers, we will miss your 33 years of dedicated public service.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to commend the work of Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney. Ted is the first person to hold this position, and he set a high bar for whoever succeeds him.

His work has been an integral part of shaping trade agreements, including the successful renegotiation of the NAFTA into the USMCA. His determination to help American farmers get their products to new markets has not only helped our American farmers but has helped feed the world.

Ted's remarkable passion for agriculture began at an early age, growing up on a farm in Tipton, Indiana, and was active in 4-H and with the Future Farmers of America organization. He then graduated from Purdue University with a B.A. in agricultural economics and later served as the director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.

Thank you, Ted, for your outstanding work and devotion to our Nation's farmers.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor Purdue University professor Dr. Larry DeBoer. I had the opportunity to work with Dr. DeBoer as a member of Purdue Extension Service as an Indiana State representative and as a farmer.

Dr. DeBoer recently retired from Purdue after 36 years of teaching economics. His tenure at Purdue is distinguished and worthy of recognition. Every semester, he taught 200 to 400 students macroeconomics. In addition to that, he has authored macroeconomics textbooks for universities.

Dr. DeBoer was recognized for his outstanding teaching with numerous awards, like the Charles B. Murphy Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award in 2015 and the Richard L. Kohls Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher Award in 2014.

In addition to being a professor, Dr. DeBoer has advised and worked with the Indiana Legislative Services Agency on tax and finance issues, and has worked on former Governor Mitch Daniels' Commission on Local Government Reform.

The State of Indiana has benefited greatly from his deep knowledge and expertise in the State's economic affairs. I want to wish Dr. DeBoer the very best in his retirement.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in opposition to President Biden's executive order to revoke the permit for the Keystone pipeline.

This decision was political, provides no benefit to the environment, and it came at a cost of approximately 11,000 good-paying American jobs.

President Biden cited concerns regarding climate change for his reason on stopping the pipeline. But under President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, the State Department conducted a review and found the pipeline to have minimal impact on the environment.

Now, instead of having the pipeline, the oil from Canada will now be transported in less safe ways like trucks and railways.

Axing the Keystone pipeline destroyed thousands of jobs, won't reduce the greenhouse gas emissions, and only will deepen the divide on the issue of climate change.