Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to the resolution the House will vote on later today that would terminate the President's declaration of a national emergency.

The need to secure our borders isn't just a matter of good public policy, it is our highest calling, and it is our constitutionally prescribed duty as guardians of our citizens' safety.

When our Founding Fathers penned our Constitution and changed the course of history, they charged the Federal Government in the preamble with the preeminent responsibility to provide for the common defense. But they didn't just stop there. They went on and not only empowered, but they commanded that the Federal Government shall protect every State in the Union against invasion.

Madam Speaker, unfortunately, as the American people and, especially, the citizens of the great State of Texas know far too well, the Federal Government has abdicated its most important responsibility and has been derelict in its constitutional duty to defend our borders and provide for our defense.

For too long, politicians have pontificated and they have postured that they would stop illegal immigration and that they would secure the border, but the fact is they haven't. Anyone who has been to the border or worked along the border or lives along the border knows that this is a crisis. This is a national emergency.

We know that, just last month, apprehensions at the southern border spiked 84 percent compared to the same time last year, with 120,000 apprehensions in the last 2 months alone. Homeland Security personnel spent 28,000 man-hours to render basic medical services to folks who were coming across the border.

New migrant caravans continue to form and march toward our cities

along the border where our Border Patrol agents are already overwhelmed with migrants from other caravans.

And in the first caravan of 8,000 people that forced their way into Mexico--they forced their way into Mexico--where they should have stopped as the first safe country when they were applying for asylum, we know that 600 of that first caravan of 8,000 were known criminals.

Additionally, because of our porous borders, drugs continue to flood into our country, poison our communities, and destroy our families.

Just last year 70,000 people died from drug overdoses in this country. Ninety percent of those drugs are coming from across the southern border. If that is not an emergency, I don't know what is.

No one is on the front lines of this fight more than the State of Texas. Since 2011, 186,000 illegal aliens have been charged with more than 290,000 crimes in Texas alone.

When you combine the total cost of illegal immigration from healthcare services, education, and incarceration, it is over $12 billion for the State of Texas. It is over $150 billion for the United States.

We are $22 trillion in debt. We will have two of our biggest safety- net programs insolvent in less than 20 years, and we are spending $150 billion on illegal immigration.

We know that constructing physical barriers, when combined with boots on the ground and technology, are effective at stemming the tide of illegal immigration.

We know walls work because we have seen it when we have deployed them in El Paso, San Diego, and Tucson, and we have stopped illegal immigration or stemmed the tide 90-plus percent.

So, instead of letting this crisis continue to worsen, this President took action, using authority not that he invented but that we in Congress explicitly gave him under the National Emergency Act.

It is not like the President is setting new precedent or breaking new ground. Other presidents have declared national emergencies 50-plus times, and I know President Clinton declared it a national emergency to fight drug traffickers--rightfully so--and President Obama against transnational criminal organizations.

This President loves this country. He wants to do his job. He doesn't want another one of our sons and daughters to die of drug addiction or overdose. He doesn't want crime to run rampant in the streets of the United States.

The President understands his first job as Commander in Chief is to keep our citizens--our people--safe, and I stand with him.

Madam Speaker, today I will be voting for our President, for his constitutional, legal authority to defend this country, to protect our borders and our citizens. I will be voting for the safety of the American people today and the safety of our communities, not just in west Texas but throughout this country.

Again, President Trump is doing the right thing. He is doing the responsible thing. He is doing the constitutionally necessary thing. And I am behind him 100 percent.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina, Representative Walker, for his service and his leadership, not just to this body, but myself personally.

He is a spiritual leader and mentor for so many. We have a lot of ways to measure success in life and in this job, but I can tell you, one of them is to maintain a healthy relationship with our Lord and savior, and I want to thank him publicly.

This is a serious issue, and it is one that we in Texas have a lot of knowledge about and experience with, unfortunately, and that is border security. It is also a humanitarian crisis.

Mr. Speaker, we are on the front lines, and we see the drugs, gangs, and criminal activity pouring into the great State of Texas, not just along the impact zone immediately across from the southern border, but in communities in west Texas, in the 19th Congressional District, and not just my population center, but in rural communities as well.

Here is a statistic that is pretty startling. Since 2011, 180,000 illegal immigrants were charged in the great State of Texas with 290,000 crimes.

I talked to local law enforcement officers, sheriffs, police chiefs, and others in my communities over the last few weeks. They are telling me that the volume of drugs coming into our communities is off the charts and that the crime has increased exponentially--not just property crime, but violent crime.

They are telling me that gangs, not just the shoestring gangs, as they call them, but the very violent gangs and cartels, the Sinaloa cartel and the Los Zetas cartel, are in my district in west Texas. They are showing up in our backyards and our neighborhoods, and it is scary.

Here is the sad fact: This country has the resources and tools to do something about it. Our President has asked for those resources and tools. He has a comprehensive border security plan, and we have to have political will. We have to be able to put our country first, especially when it comes to the safety and security of our people.

Mr. Speaker, I have heard people say that drugs are coming through only ports of entry. You can tell from this map, they are coming across the border at various places.

Just a month ago, there was 700 pounds of cocaine caught at the border, and we had our largest drug bust up in my district in a little town called Denver City, about 22 kilos of cocaine. So we have to do something about it.

Mr. Speaker, I beg of my colleagues to do the right thing and put their country before politics. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me.

Madam Speaker, America is great because America is good. But I ask the question: What is good about terminating the God- given, sacred life of unborn Americans?

Madam Speaker, on Friday, thousands of students, pastors, priests, and patriotic Americans from all across our great land will gather here in our Nation's Capital to take part in the 46th annual March for Life.

Madam Speaker, written into the Declaration of Independence is our founding faith and principle that all are created by God, created equally, endowed by a creator, created as a gift, created as an American, to have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

However, since Roe v. Wade, we have fallen short of that national ethic by not acknowledging that life at every stage is precious, valuable, sacred, and ought to be protected.

Madam Speaker, this March for Life is a call to conscience, and it is a challenge for all of us to work toward a future where every life, born and unborn, is celebrated, cherished, and protected.

May God continue to bless those who are marching for their passion and their love for the unborn, and may God continue to bless these United States.

Madam Speaker, I would like to say that I am very concerned, to my friend and the gentlewoman from Arizona, to put it mildly. I am troubled that our Nation and our Nation's leaders here in this great body of the United States House of Representatives would not put politics aside and put our country and our citizens' safety first. It is the number one job. It is the most important job, to provide for a common defense and to ensure the safety of the United States citizens. We can never be distracted from that, and we can never allow partisan politics from fulfilling that first responsibility and duty.

I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership and for bringing this discussion to the floor so that we can speak directly to the American people about our strong support for our Commander in Chief who is simply asking for the tools and resources to do that which he ran for the Presidency on, was elected to do, and is now doing everything with unwavering commitment to follow through on that promise to secure the border. Border walls and barriers are a fundamental component of security.

As a Texan, I can tell you being on the front-lines--and the gentlewoman knows this as well being on the front-lines as well from the great State of Arizona--that this is costing our States billions of dollars, $12 billion in the great State of Texas. We see the drugs that are flowing in, the gangs, the crimes, and the criminal activities.

Here is a statistic: since 2011, 186,000 illegal immigrants were charged with more than 290,000 criminal offenses costing $1 billion, tearing apart families and devastating communities. And this President is asking for the resources necessary to secure our border.

Madam Speaker, I say to Mrs. Hartzler, I find it ironic that Democrats have spoken in favor and have even supported physical barriers. I find it hypocritical that Speaker Pelosi has talked about walls being immoral when she has spent probably half of her life being protected by those very walls. I find it disingenuous that

Democrats have said that they actually want to do something to secure the border; they just don't want to have anything to do with walls or fencing.

Madam Speaker, I have got a list--and I don't have enough time--but last Congress, which was my first term in Congress, we put several bills to do just that, to secure the border and stop illegal immigration, from Kate's Law to No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, and Securing America's Future.

For the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, 188 Democrats voted no; Kate's Law, 166 Democrats voted against it; Securing America's Future Act to give DACA recipients peace of mind, 190 Democrats voted against it.

Then they were crying out saying that we have to abolish ICE, abolish the people who risk their lives to keep us safe. Then we put a very simple resolution: we support you, we love you, we are behind you, we know what a tough job you have; and 133 Democrats voted present, and 34 voted against that resolution. I wonder how that makes the folks in uniform who defend this country and protect our communities feel.

Madam Speaker, I thank Mrs. Hartzler for her generosity in allowing me to speak in her time and during this Special Order. I would just call on my Democrat colleagues and the Democrat leaders to be leaders, not politicians, and put this country first and work in good faith with this President who has been willing to negotiate every step of the way to secure this border and protect our people.

God bless America.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 22.

Madam Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this rules package authorizing the House to intervene in the lawsuit against ObamaCare, Texas v. United States. The American people sent us here to do a job: to solve problems, to improve their lives, and to move this country forward. However, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle seem to be more interested in playing partisan games than problem- solving.

Why do I say this? Because Democrats have already voted to pass this exact provision last week. They have even filed three motions to intervene in the ObamaCare lawsuit.

On the substance of the matter at hand, ObamaCare is one of the worst, most destructive pieces of legislation to have ever passed this House, and the facts on that are indisputable. Just ask some of my hardworking, God-fearing farmers and ranchers and small businesses in west Texas.

ObamaCare has ruined our healthcare system; it is crushing our economy; and it is breaking the backs of our small businesses and our working families.

Madam Speaker, we shouldn't spend another day nor should we spend another dime on attempting to prop up this top-down, government- controlled healthcare system that is collapsing under its own weight. It is unconscionable to me and the American people to continue to throw good money after bad policy like this.

Instead of doubling down on ObamaCare and its flawed framework of mandates, taxes, and regulations that drove healthcare costs to the Moon, we should be working on policies together that truly reduce costs and continue to provide access to the greatest quality of care in the world here in the United States.

No government plan, no government program can divine these desired outcomes. Only a healthy market with robust competition and maximum consumer choice can achieve them.

Now, my colleagues on the other side talk a lot about protecting Americans with preexisting conditions. I agree. My colleagues on the Republican side agree. That is why we passed our Healthcare Reform Act with protections for folks with preexisting conditions. That is why, last week, Republicans voted to ensure Americans with preexisting conditions are protected.

This is a game. We have already done it. We have already voted. We stand firm to protect people with preexisting conditions.

But today's vote isn't about protecting people with preexisting conditions. It is about Democrat-produced political theater. That is what it is. It is about trying to save what is left of ObamaCare, and it is actually in preparation for a single-payer system, for socialized medicine, and for complete government control of our healthcare economy.

Madam Speaker, the American people deserve real solutions to affordable care. They deserve real solutions: markets that are free to create any number of products and services.

Madam Speaker, I repeat: The American people deserve real solutions to the desired outcome of affordable care, and that is markets that are free to create any number, any variety of products and services and people who are free to choose those products and what is best for them and their families.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlelady from New York--and let me say the gentlelady from New York has served these United States so admirably and so effectively and with such dignity and honor. Gentle because she has a big heart soft for this country. She mentioned the civility and the commitment to civil discourse. She was part of leading that effort and leading by example. A gentlelady, she was class every day and in every way in her term in serving the people of New York in her district. Gentlelady from New York, she is a New Yorker, and I am a Texan. The only folk I know who may rival Texas in toughness are New Yorkers. She is tough, she is strong, she is passionate, and she fought every day for her constituents and for this country she loves.

So I just wanted to say that it has been an honor and a privilege to serve with Claudia Tenney, United States Representative, Claudia Tenney.

I am a better person, I am a better servant leader, and I am a better Representative of my people in west Texas because of the time I spent with you. So I know your folks back home are proud, your freshman class--and I will say this on behalf of our freshman class, and I can say it with confidence--you make us proud. We are going to miss you, but I know we haven't seen the last of you and your service to this country.

Mr. Speaker, I wanted to address this body and commend my Republican colleagues for standing with this President.

We are facing a national security crisis on our own homeland, at our borders, and our Commander in Chief has pleaded with us for the resources and tools necessary to secure the border and to protect the American people.

The President understands his first job and the first job of the Federal Government, which is to keep its citizens safe. He understands and I believe most Americans understand that the current situation is anything but safe.

Mr. Speaker, I am from the great State of Texas. Being a State along the border, I can tell you it is absolutely chaotic. This President has been hamstrung and for too long we have let people pour into this country illegally and we have allowed criminals and gang members and criminal activity and drugs. A lot of bad stuff comes over here and wreaks havoc on our communities on account of us being derelict in our duty to do our first job to provide for the common defense.

So, Mr. Speaker, this President has come along at such a time as this--a strong man, a strong leader, who ran on an agenda to put America first and the American people first. That is exactly what he has done. I have never seen a politician more hell-bent, more doggedly committed to delivering on what he promised.

At the center of those promises and that agenda that he ran on was securing the border and building the wall. I am one who believes that comprehensive border security is more than a wall. I believe it is technology. I believe it is boots on the ground. It is a number of things.

If we are going to truly be effective in the long run, we have got to fight this battle on a number of fronts. I believe that the driver of illegal immigration is supply and demand. As long as we have demand in this world for a better life and for the job opportunity and the services that we provide in this country, and as long as we provide the supply of jobs and services to folks who come here illegally, they will continue to come.

I do believe that, no matter how high you build a wall, or how long, you have got to turn off the magnets that are drawing people here. Chief among them are hiring people who are not in this country legally. I welcome the freedom-loving, law-abiding immigrant. This is a Nation of immigrants. But I will only welcome them if and when they respect our laws, our sovereignty, and the safety of our citizens.

We have a process. It is not perfect. We should work on it. We should improve it. But we have a process by which you can legally enter this country, and a million people do that every year. Millions more are standing in line to get a piece of this incredible land of opportunity and all the blessings of liberty that this country offers.

So, understand this. The American story and the story of the immigrant are indistinguishable, inseparable. I am proud that we are the leading Nation in terms of immigration and welcoming the immigrant and that we continue to circulate the new blood of those who are hungry for freedom and opportunity into the system, into this country's bloodstream. It is part of the greatness of America, no doubt.

But we are also a Nation of laws. As the President has said, without borders, you don't have a country. Without security, you don't have freedom. So we must uphold the laws of the land. We must fix the broken pieces of the immigration system. We must close the loopholes. We must turn off the magnets. And, yes, we must build a wall, a fence, and whatever physical barriers make sense. That physical barrier, that wall, that fence is a fundamental component of comprehensive border security.

Most of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have already voted to

provide resources: $1.6 billion in the last budget. The leader of the Senate Democrats, Chuck Schumer, has voted for 700 miles of fencing along the border. So he, too, has committed and understands and appreciates the need for physical barriers along the border where they make sense.

I think we are long overdue to put some common sense in this United States Congress. I am proud that my colleagues, again, on the House side, my Republican colleagues, have continued to drive the agenda of America first and keeping America safe as the first and foremost responsibility of this Federal Government all the way to the end of this 115th Congress.

Today was a proud day for me to come alongside of my colleagues and this President and vote for the funding that he has requested for that fundamental component of border security in the wall. I am proud to have done that. I am grateful that we have a leadership that listened. This morning, we had a wonderful meeting. It was wonderful because the leadership listened. Our majority leader, Kevin McCarthy; our whip, Steve Scalise, our outgoing Speaker, Paul Ryan, listened and allowed the Members to drive the strategy and the decision today to put that funding bill on the floor, to vote for it, and send it over to the Senate. That is our job.

I am proud of my colleagues' passionate and very compelling pleas to the leadership and to our team to make that vote happen today. Today is a great day for America's security. It is a great day for border States. It is a great day for the citizens who expect their government to do its first job.

Mr. Speaker, again, I am grateful for the opportunity to have served in this 115th Congress with the likes of Jack Bergman, Representative Claudia Tenney, and so many more. I am proud of our freshmen class for restoring civility, the theme of our class with our Democratic colleagues, and I am proud of all the results.

In west Texas, leadership, at the end of the day, is about results. If you don't deliver results, you cannot claim to be a leader. Whether it was rebuilding military or unleashing the full potential of this economy through tax reform and regulatory relief or improving services to our veterans or it was defending our fundamental God-given rights, the rule of law, the Constitution, and traditional American values, we have done what we said we would do in this House as Republicans, as conservatives, and as Americans first. I am proud of that.

God bless these United States of America, my colleagues, and go west Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Tenney).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from New York. Again, we salute her service and we are so proud to have served with her, if only for one term. But, again, this is not the last that we have seen of the gentlewoman and her service to this great country. We will certainly carry on our friendship for years and years to come.

What a special bond our classmates have, and what a unique privilege our constituents and people back home have given us.

And I know the gentlewoman cherishes that. I know she has stewarded that. I wish they could see the gentlewoman every day, because they are already proud, but they don't know the half of it.

So God bless Claudia Tenney and all the new ventures that she will undertake in the weeks, months, and years to come.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 9 o'clock and 15 minutes p.m.), the House adjourned until tomorrow, Friday, December 21, 2018, at 9 a.m.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Washington State for his leadership and the floor debate.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the 2018 farm bill, and I thank Chairman Conaway, Collin Peterson, and all the members of the House Agriculture Committee staff for all their hard work. There is no single piece of legislation more important in my district or rural communities throughout this Nation than the farm bill, and given the depressed state of the farm economy, there has never been a more pressing time to get one passed.

The 2018 farm bill significantly strengthens the agriculture safety net, which will give our producers the certainty they need to keep providing a safe and affordable supply of food to our families. It also makes important investments in rural infrastructure to help sustain these small towns that are so critical to our vibrant agriculture economy.

Additionally, 18 of the 21 House-passed reforms to the Food Stamp program are reflected in the final report, which strengthen the program's integrity, provide needed oversight, and reduce waste, fraud, and abuse.

Finally, this farm bill stewards the American taxpayer monies in a fiscally responsible way by having a farm bill that is budget neutral.

Mr. Speaker, agriculture and traditional American values go hand in hand. Farmers and ranchers represent more than food and fiber. They symbolize a culture of faith, hard work, and independence, which has always been at the heart of America's greatness.

The 2018 farm bill will not only support our producers and families living in rural America, it will provide security and peace of mind to all Americans by maintaining our ability to feed and clothe our own people, or agriculture independence.

I urge my colleagues, Mr. Speaker, to support our farmers and ranchers, to support rural America, to support agriculture independence in these United States, and I urge them to vote ``yes'' for the 2018 farm bill.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for hosting this Special Order, my friend Roger Williams, a fellow Texan, to honor the life and legacy of President George Herbert Walker Bush.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of a great American and a proud Texan, President George Herbert Walker Bush. This past week, we as a nation said good-bye to a true statesman. We reflected on a life of duty, honor, and, above all, service to others.

From one of the youngest Navy pilots in our Nation's history to the leader of the highest office in the land, our 41st President's life was defined by service to others, and his dedication to our country was matched only by his love for and devotion to his family.

Throughout his life, President Bush taught us that public service is a noble calling and that being a politician and a gentleman aren't necessarily mutually exclusive. His example inspired countless other Americans to get involved in public service, which made a tremendous impact on many lives, such as mine, and, no doubt, has had an impact on this country. It has made it a better and brighter place to live.

Mr. Speaker, President Bush once said that he saw life in terms of missions--missions defined and missions completed. Today, George Herbert Walker Bush's mission on Earth is complete, and I join my friend, President George W. Bush, the entire Bush family, and all Americans in celebrating a life well-lived and rejoice with them in the promise of life everlasting.

God, no doubt, has blessed this great country in many ways, not the least of which is with men like George Herbert Walker Bush.

God bless the Bush family, and God continue to bless America.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the life of a remarkable man and a fellow west Texan, retired Texas Ranger Captain Carl A. Weathers, who passed away recently.

Captain Weathers devoted his life's work to serving his country and my home State of Texas first as a soldier in the United States Army, and then with an over 40-year career in Texas law enforcement, beginning as a State trooper and rising to the rank of captain in the Texas Rangers.

Throughout their long and storied history, the Rangers have remained the best of the best in Texas law enforcement. Captain Weathers carried out the Texas Rangers' legacy in true west Texas fashion: with integrity, courage, and service to his fellow man.

Along with his dedication to the Texas Rangers, Carl was a devoted husband and family man.

To Carl's family, I join you in celebrating a life well-lived and trusting that he has heard those beautiful and powerful words from our glorious creator: ``Well done, good and faithful servant.''

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (S. 3479) to amend title 38, United States Code, to extend certain expiring provisions of law administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 3479, the Department of Veterans Affairs Expiring Authorities Act of 2018. This legislation represents bipartisan, bicameral agreement that would extend a number of expiring authorities impacting the lives of our veterans and their caregivers, their dependents, and their survivors. Swift passage of this legislation today would ensure that many of the benefits, programs, and services that they rely on would continue.

The authorities that would be extended in this bill include authorities to provide nursing home care, counseling for women veterans, assistance for homeless veterans, transportation, childcare, adaptive sports programs, and housing and home loan services, just to name a few.

To be clear, these are not new authorities. The costs associated with them have been assumed in the House-passed appropriations bill for fiscal year 2019 and the 2020 advance appropriations.

In addition to the extension of current programs, the bill would also make permanent several provisions, including provisions related to VA's home loan program. It makes permanent the authority for disabled servicemembers to begin using VA vocational rehabilitation and employment benefits while on Active Duty.

It makes permanent eligibility for specially adaptive housing grants for certain post-9/11 veterans who have sustained severe disabilities while on Active Duty. It makes permanent VA's authority to recover the cost of care for nonservice-connected care. Finally, it makes permanent supportive services for caregivers, homeless veterans, and their families.

The permanent authorization of these programs gives certainty to VA when administering them and certainty, most importantly, to the beneficiaries who rely on them.

The bill would also require that a school offer instate tuition rates to veterans using vocational rehabilitation and employment benefits in order to be eligible for the GI Bill. This change would align instate tuition rules for veterans using the benefit with those already in law for students using the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

The bill also includes bipartisan compromise language that clarifies conflict of interest rules for VA employees and for-profit schools.

Finally, the bill would also make a number of technical and clarifying changes to strengthen important legislation that Congress has previously passed, including the VA MISSION Act, the West Los Angeles Leasing Act, and the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support S. 3479, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague and friend on the committee, Mr. Takano, for his friendship, for his support, and for his leadership.

I think it is notable and remind our colleagues and the American people that we have passed out of this Chamber 80 bipartisan bills that support our veterans, our heroes. Twenty-seven have become law of the land, delivering on our promises to those who swore an oath and made the sacrifice and served and protected us and our freedom. God bless our veterans.

Mr. Speaker, once again, I encourage all Members to support S. 3479, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, again, we encourage all Members to support S. 3479, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in the short time since we have passed historic tax relief for the American people, we have already seen tremendous results.

By putting in place pro-growth, free market policies, we have unleashed a booming economy with higher wages and more job opportunities. With over 6 million job openings, the unemployment rate at an 18-year low and small business optimism at a 34-year high, our country's economic future looks as bright as it has ever been.

And thanks to tax cuts, 90 percent of Americans have seen an increase in take-home pay, with a family of four in my district keeping about $2,000 a year.

Now, some people call that crumbs, people, I think, that are disconnected to working families and middle-income families, people who want to raise your taxes because they think Washington knows best when it comes to spending your money. They want to prop up failed government-controlled, top-down healthcare systems that have failed.

West Texans know better than this, and they know that this is real cash in their pockets that will allow them to invest more in their future and in their family's future.

The bottom line is this: tax reform is paying off in a big way for our families all across this great land; companies are giving bonuses, increasing benefits, and hiring new employees and providing workers with new opportunities, and most importantly, we are seeing optimism, optimism spread throughout this great land.

In fact, tax reform has been so successful, that we want to keep building on it and keep the momentum going. That is why I am proud to support Tax Reform 2.0. I want to thank my friend and fellow Texan, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Kevin Brady, for leading the charge.

The central point of Tax Reform 2.0 is making tax relief for lower and middle income families and small businesses permanent.

In the first round of tax reform, we cut taxes for individual and small business owners, doubled the standard deduction and doubled the child tax credit. However, under current law, these provisions and others are set to expire in 2025.

We don't need to wait until the last minute to prevent Americans' taxes from going up. We can make tax relief permanent now, and that is where Tax Reform 2.0 comes in.

According to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, making this tax relief permanent will grow the GDP by another 2.2 percent, boost wages, and create over a million new jobs; this, on top, again, of the significant gains we have seen and experienced from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Making tax cuts permanent would also allow Americans to plan more confidently for their future, whether that is putting more money away for their kids' colleges or setting more money aside for their retirement or a rainy day fund.

A recent survey found that nearly 80 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck and 60 percent of Americans say they couldn't afford a $500 emergency. Remember, the folks in my district are keeping $2,000 a year because of the recent tax reform. Sixty percent of Americans say $500 would put them in a real bind.

Making tax relief permanent is an essential opportunity for us, giving Americans the certainty that they deserve in making their financial decisions, and we in Congress can provide that certainty by delivering on Tax Reform 2.0.

Mr. Speaker, currently our economy is growing at a record pace, and we need to keep the policies in place that allow job creators and businessowners of all kinds to keep their foot on the pedal.

Our job creators are always thinking of ways they can be more innovative and competitive, and we in Congress would do well to have that same mentality. We must be proactive and constantly be revisiting our Tax Code and finding ways to improve it, to modernize it so we don't fall behind our foreign competitors.

In order to encourage and reward the risk-taking, the invention, the entrepreneurship that has characterized the great American economy, Tax Reform 2.0 also expands on expensing for startup companies. By allowing new businesses to write off more of their initial costs, we can spur innovation and more job creation new businesses bring to this country and allow us to maintain our position as the economic envy of the world.

Mr. Speaker, the first round of tax reform reflects the timeless truth that the American people know best how to spend their hard-earned money, better than politicians, better than government bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. By cutting the amount that government takes out of people's paychecks, people have more freedom and they have more resources to invest in their families, in their community, and in our economy.

Tax Reform 2.0 would keep our economy growing and ensure America retains our entrepreneurial edge that has made us a magnet for innovation and the most prosperous, the most powerful, and the most generous country in all the world.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to support Tax Reform 2.0 and I encourage my colleagues to do so.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous materials on the topic of this Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, George Mason, the patriot, said:

``Nothing so strongly impels a man to regard the interest of his constituents as the certainty of returning to the general mass of the people, from whence he was taken, where he must participate in their burdens.''

Translation: The Founding Fathers wanted us to come here and do the people's business and then go home, back to the ``farm,'' and live under the rules we passed. They want us to come up here and represent the people, their interests, and no other; the public's interests, no other; America's interests, no other.

They wanted us to come here with a singular purpose and that is to do what is right and good for the American people and to have the courage to step up to the plate, because every generation is called to do so, and to make the sacrifices and to make the tough calls and take on the tough issues of the day and solve them, even if that causes you to have a shorter political career than you anticipated. That is the theme of this Special Order, Mr. Speaker. It is term limits.

We the Members who gather today to talk about it might be taken off some of the Christmas card lists of some of our friends and colleagues. But this does not in any way disparage Members who served here for many years and many terms. I think you have folks here--and I think in fact I can name some--who have done a good job, who have served well. But I don't think it is healthy.

Just because you can do it doesn't mean we shouldn't create an environment and have the right incentives for the right behavior. I think there are just too many forces that pull us as Members in directions other than doing what is best and right for this country and for the people we came here to represent.

So I think there is an ideal way. And I think we are off the mark from that ideal, from the spirit and the intent of what George Mason said in that quote, and what our Founding Fathers believed from the very outset.

Mr. Speaker, like my colleagues who will speak here in a moment, we didn't run just to rearrange the furniture in the people's House. We ran to make a real difference, to advance real reform, so that this country and its leaders could govern and solve problems and move this Nation forward.

So my greatest calling, I believe, isn't just to advance reforms to education or to healthcare or to the Tax Code. I think this is a season for reforming this institution, first and foremost. I think that we are long overdue, but I think the time is right for structural, fundamental, systemic reforms to the United States Congress.

As a new Member and as a new generation of Members, I cannot tell you how excited I am to stand with my colleagues today, Republican and Democratic, and talk about one of those structural reforms that I think will strike at the heart of some of the problems with Washington and the culture of Washington.

Woe to me and any Member who comes up here just to change the course, the policy course of this country, and not do anything to affect the broken culture of this body. I think it is incumbent upon us to do that and to change this broken culture.

I think if we take anything away from this last Presidential election on either side of the aisle and whatever party you claim, we can all agree that the American people are fed up with the status quo. They don't want business as usual. I think there is a crisis in confidence in this institution.

When I ran, I ran railing against the culture of Washington and the fundamental changes and the brokenness of this institution. Now I am a Member. Now it is time to act on the things that I so boldly proclaimed that we needed to do.

I think that for this reason Republican and Democrats alike have come together to support a constitutional amendment that would limit the number of terms an individual may serve in the United States Congress.

There are different ways to organize it, structure it, but I think the intent and the heart of all these reform initiatives around term limit are getting after, I think, the same desired outcome. We believe that, above and beyond Tax Code reform, bettering the healthcare system, limiting regulatory burden, and so on and so forth, we have got to change this institution.

We have a great chance. I do think the timing is right. Our Founders never intended these public servants to be professional career politicians. They didn't want a permanent political class to rule the land from Washington. Instead, they envisioned this sort of citizen- legislator way of leading and serving, and then living back among our brothers and sisters.

People say this is tilting at windmills and this is an unproductive quest. But all you have to do is look at George Washington and the example he set by custom, by tradition. When asked to serve more than two terms as President, he said: We got rid of a King George. We don't need a King George. I wanted to serve my people as President. It is time for me to go back to the farm.

For 100 years, that custom was honored. And then, FDR ran for a third and fourth term. The people reacted, and we had the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution and we have term limits on our Presidents.

I think that if it can happen for Presidents, where the people say, We don't want kings, I believe--and especially today, in these times-- that the people are speaking, if we will just listen and respond. They don't want career politicians either. Neither are healthy for this great country.

There was a recent survey, as recent as February of this year, where over 80 percent of the American people--Democratic, Republican, Independent--say that this initiative of term limits being effectuated in an amendment to the Constitution would make this institution run better and would change the culture for the better. They support it. I am old-fashioned enough to believe if 80 percent of the people want something, they ought to get their chance to at least debate it and vote on it. I am grateful for this time that we have to talk about it.

I am looking at my colleagues here in the Chamber and I see Ro Khanna, my friend from California. We have very different backgrounds. We come from different places and different ideological places. We have different thoughts about policy reforms on various issues.

But when we met during orientation as two new Members--a former member of the George W. Bush administration and a former member of the Obama administration--you couldn't have two more different people. But we had a great conversation, we struck up a friendship, and our families love each other, care about each other, and I want him to be successful, I want his family to be successful. We came together on one thing in particular and it was this notion of term limits.

We introduced what I think is still the only bipartisan, Democratic and Republican-introduced legislation to limit Members of Congress' terms. I am grateful for his friendship and I am glad he is here.

I think I am going to stop talking, Mr. Speaker, and ask my colleagues to share their thoughts. I am going to start with a dear friend, Representative Brian Fitzpatrick from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, District Eight.

Brian is the heart and soul of this initiative. We went to see the President of the United States on this, Republicans and Democrats, and he said: This is the most energized group I have met with. It is because we believe that we can actually make real change with real reforms like term limits.

Brian has been the heart and soul of this. He, like myself, is very passionate about this. He has dedicated a lot of his time and effort introducing congressional reform and anticorruption legislation to fix Washington's broken system. These measures include his own term limit legislation, a constitutional amendment that would prevent Members of Congress from being paid unless a budget is passed, and a balanced budget amendment that would force Congress to stop kicking the can down the road and address our national debt now.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fitzpatrick).

Mr. Speaker, I think anybody who heard the remarks from my friend Brian Fitzpatrick is, without a doubt, inspired by the new blood and the new fire in the belly of this new membership of this institution that, again, wants to make real change.

I love what he said to me--and he may be mad when I quote him, but he said: If we could get a vote, if we could just get a vote. And if we got a vote, I believe it would pass because I think the American people would put too much pressure on our colleagues, which is a good thing. That is how it works. And we would pass this, and we would be able to have this new dynamic which would get at that root cause and change the behavior of this institution and the culture.

He said: If I could get that, I would be willing to leave tomorrow, if that is what it took. If I knew I could leave knowing that that would happen, I would leave tomorrow.

Thank God for people like Brian Fitzpatrick. I am so proud to serve with the gentleman, and I appreciate his leadership on this issue. He really is the heart of this movement in our class. And I know that it extends beyond our class, but I think there is a sense of urgency to do something real in this class.

This isn't the silver bullet. This isn't the panacea. There is a list of things that are root causes and fundamental structural reforms, but I think this one should be the easiest to pass this House. And the people want it, as the gentleman said.

Mr. Speaker, now I am going to introduce another member of this new class of Representatives, from the great State of Wisconsin, another dear friend, Mike Gallagher.

During his first 100 days in office, Mike introduced a number of bills to drain the swamp, including his own term limit legislation, a 5-year lobbying ban for retiring Members, reforms to the congressional pension, and the Do Your Job Act, which would prevent Congress from leaving for recess until it passed all its appropriations bills.

This is a guy who wants to make a real difference, and he is willing to stick his neck out and do it. Probably, none of these are very popular here, but I guarantee you they would be powerful in implementation and the change--the good change--that they would make.

Since taking office last year, he has made decreasing the size and influence of the Federal Government, restoring power back to the people, a top priority; and he is an original cosponsor of Ro Khanna and my term limit legislation and led the first Special Order to discuss term limits in this Chamber. I thank Mr. Gallagher for his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Gallagher).

Mr. Speaker, that is the courage of a captain in the Marine Corps. I am grateful for his service to this country in the armed services. I am blessed to call him my friend. And again, the fire in the belly to come up here and make lasting reforms for our children and grandchildren--and game-changing reforms.

So I am grateful to Mr. Gallagher, and I thank the gentleman for being a leader on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I am now going to introduce a dear friend whom I mentioned earlier, Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California.

I want to just also note before Representative Gallagher may have to leave, but he is speaking from the traditionally Democratic podium. I don't know. There is not a law. I don't think there is even a House rule that says you have to speak on the right side or the left side. But he speaks over there, and our Republican colleague Brian Fitzpatrick also stood over there, not just in solidarity on this issue, but with the spirit of friendship and the notion of restoring civility in this body.

When I look at you guys across the aisle and I see a Republican and Democrat on the Democratic side, traditionally, I am reminded of our class signing the civility agreement and sitting in the middle of this Chamber as a message to others and as an affirmation to each other that part of the culture change that we are talking about--in this respect, it is term limits, but it is more than that. It is some of the things that Mr. Gallagher is pushing through legislation, but it is also the softer issues, the intangible cultural issues like civility.

With that, I want to say that I thank Mr. Khanna for his leadership. His folks are well represented by him. He knows what he believes. He fights hard for his beliefs and his constituents, but he remains independent to those beliefs and to those interests. I am proud to call Ro Khanna my friend.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Khanna).

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Khanna. I think we would do a lot for the confidence of the American people if we could get a vote on it. I think they would believe that this body is actually responding to them, instead of just talking to each other in this bubble up here in Washington.

Again, there are good people, but there is a bad dynamic. You put good people in a bad dynamic and a history that creates a bad culture and you get bad outcomes.

So this isn't to disparage anybody on either side. It is to align the incentives so that we can be most responsive and do what was expected when the folks hired us to do this job, and that is to focus on their interests, the interests of our country, do the right thing, and put America first.

I am reminded from the comments of Mr. Khanna that, when we had the meeting with the President--and I want to say that Mr. Mark Meadows, the Representative from North Carolina, helped us a great deal to get that audience with the President. I think everybody here is grateful for his efforts to do that. We knew that, from the outset--Mr. Khanna and I talked about this--that if we were going to have a path to success and not just make this part of the sort of rhetoric or some political box-checking exercise, but if we were going to really try to get this across the goal line with many others who have other pieces of legislation similar to our term limits legislation: A, it needed to be bipartisan; and, B, we needed buy-in from the drainer of the swamp in chief.

If there is anything that the man in the Oval Office, Donald J. Trump, represents, it is shaking up this culture. Whether you like the way he is shaking it up or not, that was the message, that they wanted change. They didn't want business as usual.

This is a proud moment for me because of my colleagues' response to the President when he said: Do you really think we are going to get a vote on this? Do you really think that you are actually going to get a vote whereby your fellow Members, who have been there longer than you all, would actually term limit themselves?

That is when my new friends and colleagues, Republican and Democrat, said: Mr. President, grandfather them in. Term limit us. Start with our class and every class that follows. Don't worry about the ones who are there. They may want a term limit, they may not. But we are not going to get into that. We don't want to slow this down. We want to be successful.

I really appreciate that response. I believe in it wholeheartedly. I am all in, and I am a true believer in what we are doing. So I thank Mr. Khanna.

Now, Mr. Tom Marino, the United States Representative from the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the 10th District, he has been working on this before probably my freshmen colleagues had thought to even run for this in their respective offices. He introduced term limit legislation to help ``return our government'' to one that truly is for the people and by the people.

He believes, like I do, and the gentleman you heard speak earlier, that it is well past time to get Washington back to work for the American people.

So may God bless my friend Tom Marino, as I yield to him to speak about this term limit effort.

Mr. Speaker, may I ask how much time I have left?

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Marino.)

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and his passion and his focus on the things that will really move the needle and really change the culture and really make a difference for his kids and grandkids. And I am thankful that he came and expressed his sentiments and the history behind his leadership and experience long before I showed up; and he has plowed some good ground for the new Members who spoke today, and we greatly appreciate that.

Mr. Speaker, I say to the gentleman, I think we can be successful, I really do, and here is why. I think we have the precedents of the 22nd Amendment, which was done in the shadow that was cast by one of our greatest leaders, George Washington, and the custom and tradition of the 2 terms for President.

But the people, with angst and vehement opposition to more than two terms as President, spoke, and there was enough critical mass where we had the 22nd Amendment. We passed a constitutional amendment. It has already happened and it can happen again. I believe that we are embarking on such a time and a season in the life of this country.

And the public frustration, we have talked about the approval rating, popular reform. We talked about the polls. Over 80 percent of the American people want this. And then we talked about the man in the Oval Office who ran on draining the swamp. And this is a definitive measurable way to do that. It is not the only way; it is not the panacea for all of the ills culturally in this institution, but it would certainly be a big start.

So, Mr. Speaker, I say thank you to my colleagues for the support and for their eloquent and passionate remarks to advance this.

And I want to say a special thanks to the President for tweeting out on this after our meeting, for endorsing our efforts, and I encourage him. There are two things we need. We need the President to continue to make this a priority, and we need him to continue to talk about it; and we need the next leadership of this body, whatever that looks like and however that sorts out, we need the leadership to bring this to a vote.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from North Carolina (Ms. Foxx). It is not on the issue of term limits. It is on another very important issue.

Recognizing Eli Herman

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina. And I just say, in conclusion, before I yield the balance of my time back, Mr. Speaker, that, and I was remiss to not mention that this would be the appropriate way to conclude.

I want to thank the majority leader, Kevin McCarthy, for allowing my colleagues and I to speak on this issue on the floor of the House, of the people's House, and being open to allow Members to bring their ideas and the things that they ran on, the things that they are passionate about, that they believe will make the biggest difference for the future of this country.

To me, that is a big part of leadership, being big enough to allow people to take the microphone and speak on these issues, whether he believes in it, supports it or not, I don't know. But I know that he is a good leader for allowing us to speak about it, and I am grateful for that.

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