Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the previous question so we can amend the rules to immediately consider H.R. 6858, the American Energy Independence from Russia Act.

My friends from the other side of the aisle want to talk about restaurants, and restaurants are very important, but understand that when families can't put fuel in their tank, they certainly cannot afford to eat in a restaurant.

We have to get our priorities straight. Yes, we are bringing them up now because we cannot get our bills to the floor. We cannot get our message out.

This is the fourth time the Republicans have tried to bring this bill up for a vote, and each time, the Democrats have refused.

Families are suffering as rising fuel costs are making everything much, much more expensive, including bread, clothes, and everything, including meals at our restaurants.

President Biden's so-called solutions do nothing to fix the problems. Tapping into our strategic reserves will do almost nothing to bring prices down. All it does is risk our reserves and endanger our national security.

This administration is signaling to the oil and gas companies that they are going to come after them.

Big Government needs to get out of the way. Get out of the way of the businesses, and let the businesses run themselves.

For example, where I am from on the Gulf Coast, the Department of the Interior has allowed one lease sale in the past year and a half. Under Trump, we had two a year. We had the one sale that I am talking about in a year and a half.

The Biden administration refuses to uphold the law of two per year, even though the courts struck down the one that he had. He refuses to challenge that to get those lease bids acknowledged.

Biden, what he has said is a lie. I am sorry, it is an outright lie about what the drilling companies are. There are so many rules and regulations on the drilling companies. I understand it. We have to get the foot of the government off the back of the necks of our drilling companies.

Let's save this country. Let's don't give it away to Russia. Let's don't give it away to Venezuela. Let's stand firm and be Americans, both sides of the aisle here. I am sorry, I will cool off here on this one.

Republicans have a real solution to get American energy back on the market and get prices down. This bill will restart the Keystone XL; it will end the moratorium; and it will boost the LNG exports.

Mr. Speaker, I urge a ``no'' vote on the previous question.

Madam Speaker, I commend Austal USA for the launch of their steel manufacturing line on April 12, 2022. This world-class steel expansion is not only a valuable asset for Mobile, but it is also vital for our national defense. Austal has invested $100 million in the development of this venture, including the necessary facility upgrades, new buildings, and state-of-the-art equipment.

The addition of the steel line will create jobs both at Austal shipyard and throughout the steel line supply chain. Austal's partnership with SSAB Americas to provide the steel inventory for the Navy T-ATS program shows their commitment to utilizing regional resources and labor. Austal is developing and growing the local workforce by hiring a multitude of tradesmen and women to meet the demands of the new line. Additionally, they work with over 280 vendors in Alabama, including many small businesses, who will greatly benefit from this new enterprise.

Ensuring that Austal and the Gulf Coast can continue competing for future programs to meet the growing needs of the United States Navy and United States Coast Guard is incredibly important to our local economy, our state, and the defense interests of our entire nation. Austal USA is well equipped to meet these critical needs, and I'm proud of the work they do right here in Alabama's First Congressional District to keep our country safe and secure.

Madam Speaker, over the past few weeks, we have made it very clear how important it is for the United States to produce its own energy rather than rely on other countries for our supplies.

The President and his allies have made things very clear that this is the thing that they want to do, shutting down American energy production, but the reality truly is that we can produce energy cleaner and more efficiently than any other nation on the planet.

This administration decided to shut down American pipelines and shut down American energy production, which has done nothing but drive up the energy costs while threatening our national security and strengthening our adversaries around the globe. We simply cannot allow this to continue.

President Trump's hard work to increase energy production and his leadership actually made us energy independent instead of energy dependent during his time.

America has the resources and the ability to meet our supply needs, and I encourage the President to end his assault on American energy.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Banks), my colleague, for organizing this Special Order.

Madam Speaker, when my father was a child, he sold newspapers on the streets in Oklahoma City. He was 6, 7, and 8 years old. He would tell me stories that they would show up every morning and fight over the best corners because they knew they could sell the most newspapers. That was when we were in the middle of a depression.

We are not in a depression today--yet. But yet, we still have fighting over those same corners.

Today, instead of fighting over the sale of newspapers, they are fighting over the sale of drugs, and these are illegal drugs that are coming across our border.

Most people don't realize how potent fentanyl is. Let me give you an example. One grain, one single grain of fentanyl can kill a grown man. You can take two packs of sweetener that you sweeten your drink with; that is enough to kill every member of Congress, House and Senate, to give you some idea of how potent these drugs are. Could you imagine a 50-pound backpack of it coming across our open borders?

My personal observation is these intercity killings are primarily against minority communities. Where is the outrage for these children which are our responsibility? They are our responsibility, not another person's responsibility. Our communities are being flooded with illegal drugs being brought in from the left and the right, across our southern borders. My Democrat colleagues remain silent.

Madam Speaker, I truly believe President Biden cares about the lives that are being lost due to illegal drugs and the violence that is being claimed due to these illegal drugs. But where is he? Why is the President not being the leader that he was elected to be? We need a President that is a leader and that will step out there.

We have had a full year to address this simple issue. This simple issue is the illegal drugs. No one seems to be paying attention. I promise you it affects every family. Every family in America that has a family member or friend that has been affected by this fentanyl needs to hear this because we can stop it. We can do it.

This is an American issue that all communities should be in an uproar about. There are simple, commonsense solutions to fix this problem. I am asking, no, I am begging President Biden to sit down at the table and work across the aisle. Let's secure our southern border and stop the flow of these illegal drugs into our community that are killing, killing our kids.

Let's build a wall now instead of stopping the wall. Let's build a wall now and finally put safety and security back into America. First and foremost, our responsibility is the safety of the citizens of this country.

Mr. President, please hear my plea. Now is the time to take action. We need an American leader.

Madam Speaker, I am a firm believer that when the President of the United States does well, be it Republican or Democrat, we as America benefit the most. Unfortunately, President Biden's performance during his first year in office has been absolutely terrible, and virtually all Americans are suffering because of his failures.

There is so much about this President that actually frustrates me. He left behind Americans in Afghanistan, and he has completely refused to secure our southern border. Meanwhile, he is punishing hardworking Americans by imposing illegal vaccine mandates on them.

All across America, businesses are struggling to keep their doors open and their shelves stocked, but President Biden has done nothing to fix these issues.

I am urging President Biden to show up and work on leadership for a change. The American people deserve much, much more and much better than what they are receiving today.

Madam Speaker, I stand here representing families all across this country who are struggling with rising costs of virtually everything, from gas to groceries. And there doesn't seem to be an end in sight.

Inflation is taxation, and it has increased every single month since Joe Biden has been President. Last month marked a 30-year record high in inflation.

Even worse, real wages have decreased under Biden almost every month since he has been in office.

So what is causing this inflation? President Biden and his allies in Congress are continuing to borrow trillions and trillions of dollars to pay for a massive Big Government expansion. It

is unsustainable, and we cannot afford it.

It is past time we get this runaway spending under control. As I have said countless times, Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.

The American people deserve better than this. It is time that we put them first and get our economy back on track.

Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania for his leadership on this issue.

Madam Speaker, I rise to oppose President Biden's unconstitutional vaccine mandates on our businesses.

I believe this vaccine is effective. That is why I took it, and that is the reason my family has taken it. But I strongly believe getting the vaccine should be a personal choice, not a mandated choice.

The Federal Government has no right to mandate the vaccine on job creators or workers who are already struggling to recover from this pandemic and to get our supply chain back working properly again. The last thing they need right now is more government rules and regulations, and that is all we are seeing out of this administration.

The American people are fed up with it. They are fed up with Big Government overreach in our lives.

That is why I am proud to stand with so many of my colleagues to introduce this Congressional Review Act resolution, which would officially strike down President Biden's illegal vaccine mandate on our businesses.

We will continue doing all we can to fight back against President Biden's war on American workers, and I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stand with us.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of the U.S. flagged merchant fleet and the men and women of the US merchant marine who work every day to support our military and our nation. We are now seeing firsthand how important maritime transportation is to our supply chain and the health of our economy.

Our U.S. flagged fleet responds when called upon to aid in disasters and emergencies, moves critical government and military cargo around the world, and carries essential humanitarian aid to help people in need across the globe.

Madam Speaker, programs like the Maritime Security Program and the Tanker Security Program enjoy bipartisan support in Congress because they help ensure we retain both a strong commercial maritime capability that enhances our national security and a critical military capability should we need it in times of conflict. We must do all we can to strengthen our fleet and support our mariners.

Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Johnson) for organizing this Special Order.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to address President Biden's failure to secure our borders and enforce our national immigration laws. The Biden administration's disregard for the national security threat and humanitarian crisis they have created is extremely troubling. The American people deserve better than this. My constituents in south Alabama, as well as millions of folks across America, share my concern. That is why today I sent a letter to President Biden asking him a few simple questions. They are as follows:

Why did you stop construction on the border wall even though we had supplies on the ground and contractors ready to finish it? Why?

What is the plan to secure our border and enforce our immigration laws today? Do we have a plan?

What is the plan to prevent additional surges of illegal immigrants who are crossing our border? As we know, there are 30- to 50,000 on the way that are going to get here, and I want to know what the plan is before they get here; not a week after they get here.

What is the plan to handle thousands of individuals living in makeshift camps along the border? Can the White House assure us that these criminals who are sneaking across the border will not be released in our community?

I challenge my friends from across the aisle to stand up and start speaking out. This is not a Republican issue. It is an American issue. We have got to stand up for our constituents because when we are getting these people coming across the border with diseases, undocumented, the drugs, it becomes an American problem, and we as Americans have got to stand together and fight this.

If we can't get the Democratic Party, the Democrats across the aisle, to listen to what we are saying, there will be a tsunami in 2022 that will change this House for a long time. And that is not what we need. We need to be working together.

Although I doubt my letter will get a response from President Biden, I will continue to fight to secure our border so we can protect the health and the safety of American citizens.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to object to this ridiculous, wasteful spending that my colleagues from across the aisle are trying to ram through with this proposed $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill.

We have real needs in this country, but instead of addressing them, the Democrats are attempting to spend somewhere around $3.5 trillion on social programs, Green New Deal mandates, and all kinds of junk that adds up.

If you were to take and stack up $3.5 trillion in $1 bills, you would have a total of 250,000 miles of bills. That is how tall it would be.

This is unacceptable. It is totally ridiculous. It is absolutely absurd to consider spending that much money in an area that we are just beginning to get involved in, which is green energy.

It would be one thing if money was going to actually improve this country in a massive way. You might see some support from the Republican side. You might even see some of your own Democrats coming back to your own party. But as we all know, there are things in this bill that are horrible.

I want to just mention three of them very briefly:

One, we are throwing trillions of dollars at this ridiculous Green New Deal mandate. We are going to mandate things on corporations and on people they cannot afford. We are going to break the back of small businesses. It is coming.

Two, we are spending billions of dollars to expand the numbers in the IRS--88,000 new IRS agents. Those agents aren't going to separate us from being Democrats and Republicans. All they are looking at is a dollar figure.

Madam Speaker, I propose to you there is going to be some blowback on that. You are giving them the right to spy on every American in this country, and that is wrong. It is wrong. We shouldn't fear our government. We shouldn't fear the IRS. They should fear us because we are the taxpayer; we are the people.

Three, it will direct taxpayers' dollars directly to perform and to promote abortion. Never has that ever been done in this country before. That is going to be a game changer.

Madam Speaker, I suggest to you there is a tsunami coming up in 2022 because the American people are upset.

This bill will also increase taxes and the cost of living of everyday, hardworking Americans. Again, this is unacceptable.

We are nearly $30 trillion in debt. Inflation has risen every month that President Biden has been in office, and Americans across this country are seeing their cost of living skyrocket. In my small community I am looking at gas at $1 more a gallon. You can't reach into a hardworking American's pocket, Madam Speaker, without feeling their gas money, and when they have to give a dollar more a gallon, they are going to remember that.

Let me just remind my colleagues from across the aisle, the American people are fed up with this foolishness. I promise you, Madam Speaker, they will remember in 2022. That tsunami is coming. I have spent a lot of time trying to make a lot of friends on the Democratic side. I think it is extremely important for this House to work together and not against one another, but if you follow this administration off this cliff, there is no return. The American people are going to turn on the people who voted for it. It is time to get serious about fiscal responsibility and learn to live within our means.

Or is it too late?

Our children and our grandchildren deserve better than this, and I will not stand by and watch this country mortgage our future.

Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. We collect plenty of money, it is just how we spend it. We have got to learn to cut back. It is reckless and irresponsible for this body to continue throwing trillions of dollars around like there is nothing to it.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to oppose this terrible $3.5 trillion wreck bill, as I love to call it.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose this amendment.

There are several different ways to look at this amendment. The budget that we got from the President was before our problems in Afghanistan. We asked him for $25 billion to replace $80 to $85 billion we left on the ground for the Taliban to fight back at us. So I ask that we keep an open mind on replacing that equipment, if nothing else.

It is critical to pass this bill which includes a bipartisan increase--I repeat, bipartisan.

How many times do you hear that word, Mr. Speaker?

I have been here for 9 months, and I can probably count that on one hand.

The bill includes a bipartisan increase in spending to counter threats and project U.S. strength around the world.

This amendment would limit readiness and the needed capabilities to counter these threats. Passage of this amendment would basically shortchange our military at a time when they need our support more than ever.

I am proud to have worked on this bill with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure that our military is fully funded so our men and women in uniform have the resources they need to protect and defend the United States of America.

Folks in my district in south Alabama work hard every day to support the military readiness of this country. Unlike President Biden and his allies in Congress, Alabamians understand how important it is to fully fund our military.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support our Armed Forces and oppose this amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my opposition to H.R. 3755, the abortion on demand act.

This bill would make permanent a law to allow abortion providers to perform an abortion for any reason at any point in a pregnancy.

It would also make permanent law a woman's ability to get an abortion for any reason and at any point in the pregnancy. This is in direct violation of countless State and Federal pro-life laws.

By passing this law, pro-abortion radicals would eliminate even the most basic protection for unborn children at any stage in their development.

It is extremely discouraging to see the absolute lack of care for human life and basic human dignity. Life is a precious gift from God, and every human is made in God's image. Every person, especially children, should have the inherent dignity in the right to life.

We have a fundamental duty as a society to fight for life and to ensure that the most vulnerable among us are protected. I am proud to be 100 percent pro-life, and I will continue fighting any efforts by this body to take away the rights of the unprotected, unborn, and newborn children.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues on both sides to reject this abortion on demand act and join me for the fight.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to address the horrible inflation crisis we are seeing in this country.

I can remember back to the terrible inflation period of the 1970s, and I always hoped we would never return back to those times. Unfortunately, what I see coming lately, it is looking very similar.

With the lifting of the pandemic restrictions and the increasing rate of vaccinations, many Americans are getting back to their normal routine. Many are dining out, traveling, and enjoying social events again.

While this is great news, virtually every American is noticing a massive increase in the price of nearly everything because of the unprecedented inflation caused by the Biden administration's reckless spending and willingness to pay people to sit at home instead of work.

Inflation has increased every single month since Biden has taken office. The Consumer Price Index has increased more than 5 percent over a year ago, which is the largest jump since just before the 2008 financial crisis.

Gas prices have increased 45 percent compared to last year; food prices have increased more than 2 percent; and consumer prices overall are up near 5 percent.

While these numbers may not concern President Biden, they are absolutely killing the working class. The Biden administration's failures have real consequences, and his policies are crushing the working- and middle-class families across Alabama and throughout our Nation.

The working class is the backbone of this Nation, so I urge President Biden and my colleagues across the aisle to get serious about addressing this crisis and get to work building the economy that benefits all Americans.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the lives of the 10 people who perished last week in a horrific accident in Butler County, Alabama. This day was especially tragic for our state. Losing 10 people in an accident is terrible enough, but it's even worse that 8 of them were young, school-aged girls from the Tallapoosa Girls Ranch.

Each of these girls came from rough backgrounds where they were abused and/or neglected, but at some point they found a family and a community at the Tallapoosa Girls Ranch.

I can't even begin to imagine the grief that is felt by the loved ones of these 10 people, but I know they will find some comfort knowing countless people around the state and the Nation are grieving with them.

I urge my colleagues and folks everywhere to continue keeping the loved ones of these 10 people in our thoughts and prayers.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Gimenez for overseeing this and calling us together.

Mr. Speaker, let's not forget what we have gone through in the last year and a half.

In the last year and a half, personally, I have seen a campaign that we have had to run while talking through doors. We had campaigns that were virtually unheard of in the past.

Those of us that did win, when we came to Washington, we were all treated equally, but we were treated like a disease. We were locked down in a hotel; our food was slipped to us through a plastic cover, in a paper bag; and that is the way we lived for a week through orientation.

I am not blaming anyone. We had no idea what was going on. We all lived in fear. We all worried about this. But we are Americans and we are tough. We are tough. So we have made it. We have made it so far.

The changes we have seen, the birthdays that we have missed, the parents that we have seen that have passed away without us being there with them, I mean, we have all lived through this. We have got to reach across the aisle, and we have got to get America answers, answers to where this pandemic actually started. I encourage everyone to do that.

Millions have lost jobs and necessary incomes while countless others lost loved ones to the virus. Meanwhile, the American public is constantly being misled over the origins of the spread of this COVID- 19.

First, we need to declassify all information related to the origins of COVID-19. Then we need to prohibit the National Institutes of Health from giving funds to irresponsible foreign governments, like China. And, finally, we need to investigate the Chinese Communist Party's role in the origin and the spread of this virus.

The evidence is clear that the Chinese Communist Party intentionally hid information and lied about the truth about this virus. It is time for answers, and it is time for us to hold them accountable for the spread of this horrific pandemic. The American people and the whole world deserves to know the truth.

I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stop, hesitate, and let's work together on this. Let's join together and find out the truth and prevent something like this from happening again. It is very important to this country and this Nation.