Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend, the gentlewoman from the Cowboy State (Ms. Cheney), for yielding me time, but mainly for her leadership on this issue to ensure that we as a country and as the leaders of this great Nation fulfill our most important responsibility to provide for a common defense, our constitutional first job, to provide for the common defense, and, I would add, to secure our liberty and the liberty of our posterity, because there is no freedom without liberty. So God bless the gentlewoman, and I thank her for leading the charge here.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to strongly encourage my colleagues to support this resolution, H. Res. 1010, expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the United States Air Force faces tremendous readiness challenges, reflected in a shrinking and dilapidated aircraft fleet, insufficient personnel, and dangerous levels of deferred maintenance, all of which are due, I think, in large part, I would say, to budgetary uncertainty, which impedes the Air Force's ability to meet our national security threats.

Mr. Speaker, there is nothing more important than the safety of the American people and the security of our country. To do this, it is real simple. We have to have a strong military. To do that, we would need to include a strong Air Force.

For the past 70 years, our Air Force has ensured that America's military prowess is unmatched in the skies, protecting our people, our allies, and our interests around the world.

I am honored to have Dyess Air Force Base in my backyard, the largest B-1 bomber base in this country, and I am proud to represent the brave airmen of the 7th Bomb Wing and the 317th Airlift Group, and all those in the Key City and in the Big Country area who support them.

I know that these men and women, along with all of our men and women in the armed services around the world, are doing all they can every day for our Nation's defense, and we as Congress ought to do all we can to support them.

I think it is a moral imperative to ensure that our sons and daughters, that our brothers and sisters who we ask to risk their families, to risk their very lives, I think we should, at a minimum, make sure they have the tools and resources necessary to be safe and successful.

But recently, because of our continued reliance on temporary funding measures known as CRs, or continuing resolutions, and the budget uncertainty and disruption that those create, we have hurt the Air Force's readiness and our combat capabilities.

We have failed, it is hard to believe, for almost 10 years in a row to fund our military on time. Temporary spending measures, coupled with continual defense cuts--I think it is about $200 billion over the last decade--often delay procurement of important assets. Every contract, whether it is to buy a plane, repair a plane, fuel a plane, or arm a plane, is adversely affected by this funding start and stop.

But I think we could put it another way. This broken funding process, or budget and appropriations process that I have been describing, weakens our defense and plays directly into the hands of our adversaries.

Throughout our Nation's history, our airmen and airwomen have always answered the call of duty. They should not pay the price because Congress has failed to fulfill our duty, which is to fully fund our military and to do it on time. That is going to send the right message to our troops. That will affirm our support for our troops. And I think it sends the right message to our enemies as well, just as importantly.

Congress, though, has continued to fail to do this, and it has caused significant damage to our entire defense community, including the U.S. Air Force.

The Air Force has a 70-year history. This is the smallest and oldest Air Force--the smallest and oldest--we have ever had.

The Heritage Foundation's ``2018 Index of U.S. Military Strength'' rates our Air Force readiness as being merely marginal. With marginal processes, marginal inputs and resources, you get marginal results.

I think both sides of the aisle, my colleagues and my Democrat colleagues, would agree that our troops deserve better than marginal support. More than a quarter of our fighter pilot positions are unfilled, and there is a 10 percent gap between the pilots that the Air Force has and what they need to crew their aircraft, a gap that the Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said could ``break the force.'' That is from our Secretary of the Air Force.

Last year, almost one-third of the Air Force's planes were not flyable, and the average age of our aircraft is almost 30 years old.

Here is the worst part: Not only are we compromising our capabilities, but

aviation accidents, including fatal accidents, are on the rise. We now have four times as many servicemembers dying in training-related accidents than in combat.

Mr. Speaker, by June of this year, we already matched the number of noncombat crashes in the Air Force than we had all last year. Between the years 2013 and 2017, we had 133 military accidents leading to deaths. That is a 40 percent increase over that timeframe.

While our Nation's Air Force fleet continues to diminish in size and effectiveness, our adversaries, like China, are modernizing and expanding. The way I think of it, Mr. Speaker, is with respect to our investment in national security and our military strength. We are retreating while some of our adversaries are advancing. That is scary, and that is unacceptable.

As President Reagan said, weakness invites aggression. He also said that peace is achieved through American strength.

Our first President said that our military readiness is ``the most effectual means of preserving peace.''

If we don't reverse this trend, we as a Nation will leave ourselves vulnerable at a time of escalating threats and increasing instability around the world.

That is why we need to give the Air Force the quantity and the certainty of resources that match the caliber of our airmen and their enormous commitment of that sacred duty of protecting our fellow Americans. If we do this, our Air Force can continue safeguarding the skies, remaining the greatest fighting force in the world.

Mr. Speaker, America is still the leader of the free world, and the world is safer when America leads and when America's military is strong. The world is counting on us. The American people and our allies are counting on us. Most importantly, our brothers and sisters in uniform are counting on us.

Politicians too often make the important seem insignificant and the insignificant important. There is nothing more important for the American people and the future of this Republic than what we are talking about here today.

Let's be leaders. Let's do the right thing, and let's support our troops.

Again, I want to thank Representative Cheney, along with my fellow Texans, Chairman Thornberry and Chairman Granger, for their efforts.

Mr. Speaker, I can't thank the chairman enough for the opportunity to serve with him, Mr. Takano, and Mr. Wenstrup. I am looking out and seeing colleagues on both sides of the aisle who have worked in a bipartisan way to solve problems so that we can better serve our veterans. I have to say, it has to be the most productive bipartisan committee in all of the United States Congress, and that is refreshing. And there is no worthier customer to serve than those who wore the uniform, those who sacrificed their today so that we could have our tomorrow.

I think it is notable to remind my colleagues of the work under his leadership to produce more than 70 pieces of reform legislation. Seventy bills that have passed the House of Representatives is no small task. More than 20 bills have become law of the land.

Again, I thank Mr. Takano for his leadership, Mr. Walz, and my friends on the other side of the aisle. This is truly a bipartisan committee and effort altogether.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to encourage my colleagues to support my bill, H.R. 5649. It is really not my bill; it is our bill. It is the bill of the committee, and it is the bill of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity. This is a bill that was amended as the Navy SEAL Chief Petty Officer William ``Bill'' Mulder (Ret.) Transition Improvements Act of 2018.

Mr. Speaker, again, there is no greater honor for me than to serve the men and women who served our country with honor and distinction. I am pleased to be here today to debate the legislation I introduced, which I believe will significantly improve the lives of our servicemen and -women who are in transition from Active Duty to civilian life.

When our soldiers come home from war, it doesn't mean that the conflict necessarily is over for them. There is often a battle that continues to rage on inside of them. I think that is a big reason that we see, unfortunately, 20 veterans commit suicide every day in this country.

One of those veterans was my good friend and fellow Plainview Bulldog, Bill Mulder, after whom this bill was named. I am so proud that this is named after Bill, and I am grateful to Sydney and their family for allowing us to do so.

Bill was a true American hero who served his country with honor and distinction. However, again, like many of our veterans, Bill returned home from service with an internal struggle, with scars that you couldn't see with the naked eye, and he was working through his transition to civilian life after 20 years as a combat Navy SEAL. That is tough. I can't imagine, to think about redefining your purpose and your mission after 20 years of fighting for our freedom in combat as a Navy SEAL.

Our country makes a tremendous investment, as Chairman Roe said, in preparing our citizens to be freedom fighters, to be part of the greatest fighting machine in the world, but we only invest a fraction of that helping soldiers in their transition back to civilian life.

I have often said, like the gentleman has stated, that an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. And if we do a better job on the front end in their transition, and especially identifying the highest-risk individuals, I think that we can reduce the number of veterans who struggle with unemployment, with homelessness, suicide, et cetera.

This bill is the result, again, of Mr. Takano, Mr. O'Rourke, my ranking member, my friend and fellow Texan, and it will make the following improvements: It will improve in the sense that we will engage our Active Duty personnel earlier in the process. We will have a more comprehensive assessment, including mental health. We will customize support for them.

It will not just be a one-size-fits-all, I think, like we have seen in the past. We will also connect them back to community organizations and we will track and we will measure the success and the outcomes so we will know what is working, where we can continue to make those investments.

Again, I want to thank my friend and fellow Texan, Mr. O'Rourke, for working with me on this package, and Chairman Roe, and Mr. Walz for helping bring this forward and to a vote here on the House floor.

I am proud to say that this bill is fully offset. It is budget neutral, and I believe it will have a positive impact; in fact, I pray it will actually save lives of our American veterans.

I urge all Members to support H.R. 5649, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, some of the political rhetoric and political opportunism is at an all-time high of ridiculous on this issue of immigration. Let's take a step back and let's think through this, and let us reason together as Americans.

No American who I have talked to in my district in west Texas or beyond, has any problem with folks immigrating to this great Nation. We are a Nation of immigrants. But we are a Nation of laws.

And just like if I took folks out of the unemployment line and took them to your office and sat them in your office and said, you have got to hire them, or you are heartless. You don't care about them.

You would look at me like I had three heads, and you would say, they have got to go through an application process. We have got to vet them. We need to know that they have the merit to fill the job, that they are competent, that they have the moral character, that they are qualified.

There is not a single Democrat, if I brought them people from that unemployment line, who would just hire them on account of my threats of their being heartless and any other fear tactic. Why would we be any different with the standards of citizenship in this great Nation? Why?

Most of these kids coming over here are unaccompanied, about 83 percent, and then some with their parents. There has been this recent uproar about kids coming and being separated from their parents. I don't like that. I wish it weren't the case. I am prepared to fix it. That is what we should do in Congress, fix the laws when we find something that is not working.

This President is just enforcing the laws. We haven't had a President enforce the laws. We haven't had the respect for the Constitution and the rule of law in so long that we are outraged that a President would actually just

hold people accountable for breaking the law and violating our sovereignty.

Then there is that little hang-up with the 1997 Flores case, which is the law of the land that says you can't hold a minor for more than 20 days. That is the law. If you want it changed, then write your Congressman, call your Congressman, and get him to fix it. Instead of holding press conferences on the border, why don't you get back to work, roll up your sleeves, and work across the aisle to solve the problem.

Remember, most of these kids are coming from a place where they presumably fear for their lives. Their lives are at risk every day, and now they are in a country where they get three hot meals, and they get shelter. They don't have to worry about whether somebody is going to kill them. I would say that is a great start, for a benevolent country to do that.

Meanwhile, we have to process folks who don't come to a port of entry--as is the law of the land--to present yourself as an asylum seeker. We have the law for that. We have an answer: Present yourself at a port of entry.

But if you cross the border any other place, then you are going to be caught now, under this President, arrested, and processed for your hearing. And if found unlawfully to be here, you will be deported. That is the way it works. That is the way it ought to work.

Now, international law says that if you are fleeing for your life, you should stop in the first safe country you come to. That would be Mexico. That is where they should all be, if they are truly asylum seekers. If you are truly afraid for your life, you ought to be grateful that you are safe, that you don't have to worry, that you trust that the process will work, and that you will be vetted and found legitimate.

I don't want to separate the parents from their kids. This President doesn't want to either.

Mr. Speaker, Congress needs to get off our duff, do our job, and fix the problem. Everybody who is running around, taking this opportunity to fly whatever flag he or she wants to fly on this, let's solve the problem.

In Texas, illegal immigration costs us $6,000 per illegal immigrant, $12 billion, over 10 percent of our budget, and $100 billion nationwide. It is a huge cost: education, healthcare, the list goes on. We are already insolvent, $21 trillion in debt. We can't afford to make good on the promises for our kids and grandkids.

What is wrong with this picture?

Mr. Speaker, we have to work together to solve this problem, secure the border, stop illegal immigration, move to a merit-based immigration system, and move this country forward as leaders.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a very special group who will celebrate their 75th anniversary this Saturday in Sweetwater, Texas: the Women Airforce Service Pilots.

When the forces of fascism and totalitarianism were upending the entire global order, it took every ounce of our Nation's measure and every man and woman to win World War II.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, 28 female pilots volunteered to form America's first female squadron. From 1942 to 1944, over 1,000 women trained to fly ``the Army way'' at Avenger Airfield in west Texas.

As the first women to fly American military aircraft, they logged more than 60 million flight hours, flying every plane in the military's arsenal. They ferried equipment, towed gunnery targets, and flight- tested aircraft, serving at over 120 bases across America so we could win the war abroad.

These brave ladies were vital to the war effort and, ultimately, to our victory. Seventy-five years later, their legacy continues to inspire us all.

God bless these female freedom fighters who served with less recognition than their male counterparts at the time, but with no less honor and distinction.

God bless America, and go west Texas.

Mr. Speaker, probably the most ironically named piece of legislation outside of the Affordable Care Act would be Dodd-Frank's Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection.

Wall Street banks have only gotten bigger, and we have had more concentration of assets in fewer banks, making for greater systemic risk. Meanwhile, the small community banks on Main Street have been pummeled with a mountain of unnecessary rules and regulations.

We are putting a community bank out of business one a week since 2010. 170 community banks have gone away in Texas alone.

Consumer protection? There is no such thing as consumer protection with respect to Dodd-Frank. They have only had more complexity. Consumers have had to deal with more burden and higher costs and fewer choices.

I support S. 2155 because I support Main Street, because I support rural America; and I support community banks, the center of economic activity in small towns all across these United States.

Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. Chair, I want to thank Chairman Conaway for his leadership on H.R. 2. This farm bill is critical to this country's food supply and to rural America. I want to thank him for a great first step of getting it out of the committee.

We have strengthened the safety net to provide stability to the ag economy here in the United States. We have made an important investment in rural America and rural infrastructure, especially around the technology backbone, and we have also fully funded R&D for agriculture, which allows us to be globally competitive and gives our producers an advantage.

Lastly, but certainly not least, I am very proud of the reforms to the Food Stamp program that encourage work. We have got 6 million surplus jobs, and we don't need policies that trap people in a cycle of dependency on government and poverty. It is not the right thing to do to them. It is not right for the taxpayers. It is not good for America.

Mr. Chairman, the amendment I am offering today would provide a critical lifeline to rural hospitals by expanding the eligibility requirements in two of USDA's loan programs, the Business and Industry Guaranteed Loan Program and the Community Facilities Direct Loan and Guaranteed Loan Program, to allow these community hospitals to refinance their existing debt under these programs.

This will lower their cost of capital and free up precious resources needed to keep these facilities operating. If we are going to maintain the ability to feed our own people and fuel the American economy, we need a strong and sustainable rural America. The heart of rural communities is access to quality healthcare. What would this country be without the hardworking energy and agriculture producers in small towns across this great land?

There are over 5,000 hospitals in the United States, and roughly half of them are in rural areas, serving one out of every five Americans. Without access to basic medical services, communities in America's breadbasket and energy basin would not survive.

Since 2010, over 80 rural hospitals across the country have closed, including 11 in my home State of Texas. With

almost half of existing hospitals operating at a loss, the number of these hospitals that are closing are guaranteed to go up. In less than 10 years, a whopping 25 percent of our Nation's rural hospitals could close. For many of the nearly 700 rural hospitals struggling to keep their doors open, this will give them the tools and the resources necessary to maintain their viability and to continue to serving their communities.

If we fail to act and some of these hospitals close down, it could result in tens of thousands of lost jobs in rural communities across the country. That would cripple rural communities across this great Nation and potentially devastate our agriculture and energy economy, affecting all Americans, including our friends in urban and suburban areas.

I would like to conclude my remarks by thanking again, the chairman, my friend and fellow west Texan, for his leadership on this farm bill. I am proud to support it. I urge my colleagues to support my amendment, so we can protect rural America by giving our community hospitals the certainty and the resources they need to keep our people and our communities healthy.

I include in the Record a letter of support from the National Rural Health Association.

National Rural

Health Association,

May 16, 2018.

Hon. Jodey Arrington,

Washington, DC.

Dear Representative Arrington: The National Rural Health

Association (NRHA), a nonprofit membership organization with

more than 21,000 members in rural America, applauds your

proposed amendment to H.R. 2.

Rural America encompasses more than 90% of the nation's

land area, houses 46 million residents, and 20% of our

nation's population. Still, rural communities make up only 3%

of job growth since the Great Recession, and many rural areas

continue to see increasing unemployment. From 2010 to 2014,

rural areas saw more businesses close than open. Rural

hospitals and providers are a critical part of the rural

community, and often are the backbone of the rural economy.

Eighty-three rural hospitals have closed since 2010, and 673

are vulnerable to closure. If the 673 vulnerable hospitals

closed, rural patients would need to seek alternatives for

11.7 million hospitals visits, 99,000 health care workers

would need to find new jobs, and $277 billion in GPD would be

lost.

When a rural community is faced with a hospital struggling

to remain open, the community often looks for resources to

keep this essential point of care. The USDA has the

experience and expertise to help struggling rural hospitals

negotiate, reorganize, and revitalize. Rural hospitals are an

essential pillar of their communities and are necessary to

create the economic growth that is direly needed in rural

communities. No business wants to relocate to a community

that does not have an emergency room to care for an employee

injured at work or a place for a young worker to deliver a

baby or take a sick child. Allowing refinancing of debt

obligations through the Business and Industry and Community

Facilities Loan Programs supports communities in improving

the financial position of the hospital to maintain necessary

local access to care in rural communities.

We applaud you for your efforts to ensure that these

important loan programs can be used by rural hospitals in

need and appreciate your leadership in introducing this

important and timely amendment. Please contact Jessica Seigel

in my Government Affairs office if NRHA can offer more

support on this or future health issues.

Sincerely,

Alan Morgan,

Chief Executive Officer.

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

Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to reclaim the balance of my time.

Mr. Chair, I respect the ranking member's comments, and I appreciate his commitment to rural America, but I would submit that my hometown, which is over the 20,000 threshold but under the 50,000, has every bit of the challenges that small towns at 20,000 and below face. They deserve access to quality care. This amendment, by the way, does not change that threshold. However, that threshold is changed in the farm bill. It reserves the direct lending portion of the program at $2.8 billion for those communities at 20,000 and below, and it actually expands the Guaranteed Loan Program that has delivered capital to levels close to $150 million. That program would be the one we would expand for communities above 20,000 but below 50,000.

Again, Plainview, Texas, is a rural small town. It is an ag community, and if the people of Plainview and towns like that don't have access to healthcare, then they cannot sustain the ag economy in west Texas.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the life, service, and legacy of Abilene Police Department detective, Elise Ybarra.

Detective Ybarra was tragically killed last August en route to a conference focused on her life's work: fighting crimes against children. She was just days shy of her 33rd birthday and left behind a loving husband and a 10-month-old daughter. Elise Ybarra represented the best of west Texas in her service and sacrifice for our community.

The Bible teaches us that, even in the most trying of times, the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness shall not overcome it. By carving Elise's name into the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, we ensure that her light will continue to shine, a beacon of valor for our entire Nation to see.

To her husband, Adam: God's peace and comfort to you, brother. To baby, Noelle: May your mom's strength and courage live on in you.

Mr. Speaker, today I introduced legislation to honor the life of a high school buddy of mine and a decorated Navy SEAL, Bill Mulder. Bill was a true American hero who served our country with honor and distinction.

Like many of our troops, Bill's greatest fight wasn't on the battlefield; it was the struggle that often ensues from the mental, emotional, and physical wear and tear from military service. On top of that, people like Bill,

who spend their entire careers pursuing excellence as a warrior, often wrestle with life back as a civilian.

The Transition Assistance Program can help prepare folks like Bill for the challenges and opportunities of transitioning to civilian life, to create a new sense of purpose, to equip them with the tools to be successful in the marketplace, leveraging their unique experiences and skills from their time in the armed services.

Named in honor of Bill Mulder, my legislation works to strengthen and improve this program. We owe it to Bill and every veteran to make the transition from Active Duty to civilian life more seamless and successful, which I believe this legislation does.

God bless the Mulder family. God bless our troops. God bless America.

Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman, my colleague, Democratic colleague, for his comments and his personal testimony, and I respect his dad and the heritage of work that he left for his son.

I am on the Agriculture Committee, and I have got to say I am confused, I am perplexed, and, quite frankly, I am outraged in many ways with some of my colleagues' comments about work and the work requirements that we are putting in the Food Stamp program. This doesn't have anything to do about children, about disabled people, about the elderly. This is about requiring people who are able-bodied to work who aren't working.

We are long overdue for reforms in this country. We are long overdue to have policies in place that encourage work. We want people to have the blessing and dignity of work. We want people to fulfill their God- given potential. We want them to contribute to society.

We have 6 million jobs, surplus jobs. We want folks to make the best out of the life that God has given them for their communities, for their families, for themselves.

This is unbelievable in the United States of America. We are asking that, if you receive assistance from hardworking, taxpaying Americans, you would just work 20 hours a week or volunteer or be trained to work. That is all we are asking.

I see hardworking people throughout the gallery, and I bet you they feel the same way. I have seen the polls. Over 80 percent of the people in this country say more people need to work and pay taxes and contribute to this great country.

I believe in the safety net. I believe in compassion. I believe that is the heart of God, and I think it should be reflected in our policies. But God also expects personal responsibility, and He expects us to have responsible policies that pull people up and out of a cycle of dependency and poverty. That is not compassion; that is not decency; and that is not common sense.

So I support this farm bill, and I appreciate the tone, I really do, of my colleague. He is a gentleman, I can tell. I don't even know him, but I can tell he is a gentleman and a statesman, but I cannot listen to folks who, in my opinion, are scaring folks in the public and my colleagues who are on the Agriculture Committee and here in the House from not voting to make responsible, reasonable, compassionate, and commonsense reforms to food stamps.

We need to do that in every government assistance program. We need to pull people out of the welfare trap, and we need to equip them and encourage them and support them to be the best that they can be.

I don't know how much time I have left, Mr. Speaker, but I want to also comment on some fellow west Texans who are here in town to compete for the 2018 National Science Bowl.

This week, Lubbock High School will join select schools across the country who earned the opportunity to compete at the national finals. I want to thank the Department of Energy and my fellow Texan, Secretary Rick Perry, for sponsoring this important competition.

The students from Lubbock competing in this tournament are part of a national effort to ensure America continues to lead the way in science and remains the laboratory of innovation in the entire world. That is the greatness of American innovation.

We want this generation to discover the cure to cancer, to solve the challenges of cybersecurity, and to push the boundaries of outer space.

These students' commitment to science is impressive, and I am confident that their generation will propel us to new heights of discovery that will improve the quality of life for all humanity.

Congratulations again to Lubbock High School and to all the schools competing in the tournament.

Go Westerners.

Mr. Speaker, as I conclude, I thank Chairman Conaway and the leadership of the Ag Committee for providing the safety net so that we can feed and clothe the American people, so that we can make important investments in rural infrastructure for sustainable small towns, the heartbeat of this country, so that we can continue to be the leader in agriculture innovation and technology development, and so we can make the compassionate reforms to food stamps.

God bless America.

Mr. Speaker, the Good Book says, ``a righteous man's prayers availeth much.''

What a prayer, Mr. Crenshaw; what a man; what a great American.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize our guest chaplain and my dear friend, Mr. Phil Crenshaw.

Mr. Crenshaw's life has taken him across the globe, from serving our country in World War II to spreading the Gospel of Jesus in places like Norway, Israel, Russia, and India. At every stop on his journey, Mr. Crenshaw's mission has always been the same: simply to love God and serve others.

While stationed in Okinawa, he ministered to marines, soldiers, and airmen, as well as over 4,000 Japanese POWs, living out God's commandment not just to love our neighbors, but to love our enemies as well.

Over the years, following his return from war, Mr. Crenshaw, along with his late wife, Ruth, to whom he was married for 66 years, opened up their home and their hearts to more than 50 young people who were in need of a place to stay, some of them orphans.

At 95, Mr. Crenshaw is the last living chaplain's assistant from World War II, and he still lives every day to the fullest, serving our community and serving the Lord with all his body, soul, and strength.

Mr. Crenshaw, your life of personal sacrifice and faithful service to our country and to the Kingdom of God is an inspiration to all of us. We are all honored to have you here this day.

God bless you, Mr. Crenshaw; God bless the country you fought for and served; and, go, West Texas.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise to recognize the passing of a very special person and the epitome of a First Lady, Barbara Pierce Bush. As First Lady, Mrs. Bush was praised for bringing the power of literacy to others, but America will remember her most for her fierce love and commitment to her family.

Mrs. Bush embodied the best of America: strong, compassionate, and spirited. She, like her husband, believed that public service is a noble calling, and she stewarded that calling with class and grace.

Our country would not have been blessed with the principled leadership of both our 41st and 43rd Presidents if it were not for the strong character and devotion of Barbara Bush.

Her dedication to family values wasn't just a political talking point; it was her life's mission, and now, her greatest legacy.

While I grieve with my dear friend, President George W. Bush, and his family, I join them in celebrating a life well lived, and thanking God with gracing us with Barbara Bush.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the newest inductee to the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame, my former coach and dear friend, Carl Irlbeck. Mr. Irlbeck coached for 48 years, had over 1,000 wins, and was the 1994 Texas Basketball Coach of the Year.

But it is not his win-loss record that will be most remembered; it is his ability to shape the character of those he coached. The best coaches teach us how to be successful in the game of life more than any particular sport, and he did just that for almost five decades.

He taught us that preparation and perspiration were 90 percent of winning. He preached the importance of playing as a team, and he modeled grace in victory as well as defeat. I still apply the principles I learned as a Plainview Bulldog under the strong and loving leadership of Coach Carl Irlbeck.

Congratulations to Coach Irlbeck on a much-deserved honor in the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame.

God bless the Irlbeck family.

Go Bulldogs, and go west Texas.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Virginia, our chairman, for his leadership on, quite frankly, two of the most important issues that we face as a nation: number one, border security, which is national security; and then our national debt which if we ever--and we don't know when--but when it happens, it will be awfully hard to put it all back together, but a sovereign debt crisis would be devastating and would be our greatest national security threat. So I want to thank him for his leadership.

Mr. Speaker, our great country is currently over $21 trillion in debt, and if we don't address this looming crisis, our children will not inherit the exceptional Nation that we as Americans have known for generations. This is the most important issue, I think, of our day. This is my generation's greatest challenge.

One of the main reasons the American people are so frustrated and have lost confidence in Congress is because we play by a different set of rules. Nowhere is that disconnect more prominently on display than how we fund our government. No one gets to spend money they don't have on things they don't need. No one has a money tree growing in their backyard except, apparently, the United States Treasury.

A day of reckoning is coming, and once the sovereign debt crisis begins, we won't be able to stop it, and the dark days of high taxes and high unemployment will descend upon the next generation of Americans.

History has proven a few things, and one of them is that Congress will only limit its appetite for spending and responsibly manage its fiscal affairs when forced to do so. So the only solution that I see to this potentially devastating problem is to force Congress to do what it collectively doesn't have the will to do.

That is why I support a balanced budget amendment that requires Congress to--get this--not spend more money than it receives, not to spend more money than it gets in revenue.

The American people have to prioritize to live within their means, Mr. Speaker, and their government ought to do the same.

Mr. Speaker, this National Agriculture Week, I rise to recognize the hardworking farmers across this great Nation who get up every day and, by the sweat of their brow, grow the food we eat. The district I represent in west Texas is home to 14 million acres of farmland, making it one of the largest agriculture production regions in the world. Our farmers and ranchers feed and clothe the American people and help fuel the American economy.

Agriculture contributes to 20-plus million jobs, and it is our country's number one export. But, more importantly, it provides a safe, affordable, and abundant supply of food for our citizens, which has tremendous national security implications. We can never put ourselves in a position where we depend on other countries for our food. That is not a vision for a safe, strong, and free America.

When we sit down with our families to eat dinner this week, let's remember to thank God for our food and for the farmers he uses to help make it. Mr. Speaker, these folks work hard and take enormous risks so this country can maintain its greatness so that America can continue to be the most powerful, the most prosperous, and the most generous country in the history of the world.

God bless our farmers. God bless America.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Maryland, Dr. Harris, for his leadership on the most sacred of issues.

Mr. Speaker, in the shadow of over 60 million precious American lives aborted in the United States, there is light. This light shines through the roughly 2,000 pro-life pregnancy centers in communities across our Nation, including mine in west Texas. These pregnancy centers are dedicated to serving 2.3 million women a year. That is 6,500 a day.

Because of their good work, providing ultrasounds, medical services, and parenting classes, and even ministering to their deeper emotional and spiritual needs, these pregnancy centers save lives, hundreds of thousands of lives.

You see, Mr. Speaker, they believe, like a lot of us do, that all life is a gift from God and deserves their constitutional right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. But now these pro-life pregnancy centers in California are being forced by law to advertise in a way that goes directly against their mission and, more importantly, their conscience.

The State of California mandates that these pregnancy centers disclose how patients can obtain a State-sponsored abortion. California, in my opinion, is abusing the power of the State to force people to post messages they do not believe in and which violate their conscience.

Government coercion of speech or conduct that violates the religious conscience of an individual is in direct violation of the First Amendment. The Founders intentionally listed the right to freely express our religious beliefs first because they recognized the vital role faith in God plays in cultivating a moral foundation necessary for this democratic society.

While this inherent right to religious expression is being undermined, the Constitution could not be clearer on this question. I am confident the Supreme Court will uphold this sacred right against the heavy hand of government coercion.