Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss H.R. 3562 and ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this bipartisan, commonsense legislation to improve our services for those who have ``borne the battle": America's disabled veterans.

Currently, if a disabled veteran in VA's Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment program needs adaptations made to their home due to the limitations of their disability, then it is their vocational rehabilitation counselor, someone who has no experience or training in home construction, who makes such arrangements for these adaptations.

In addition to the lack of core competency in home adaptations, these counselors have experienced a significant and steady rise in their job counseling caseloads, so their focusing on this home construction takes away from their primary function as a vocational counselor. This has resulted in inefficiencies for disabled veterans who now have to wait in line, and it is costing taxpayers more money.

While these are master's degree-level counselors who provide great services to our veterans every single day, they do not have the expertise to understand how to build a wheelchair ramp, affix a grab bar to a wall, or implement other home adaptations. This bill would simply transfer these responsibility's to VA's Specially Adapted Housing program, where they deal with these kinds of construction projects every day.

This change is needed. It will save the taxpayers money, and, most importantly, it will help our disabled veterans immensely by ensuring that they have the right people on the job to address their service- connected disabilities in a timely fashion.

Mr. Speaker, as we head into Veterans Day this upcoming weekend, I just want to take a moment of personal privilege and say what an honor it has been to serve on the VA Committee and chair the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, and I want to thank, especially, the chairman for that opportunity. It is humbling to know that in some small way I can do my part on behalf of the people of west Texas to serve those who put their lives on the line for all of us.

Veterans represent the very best of what this country was built on: service before self. I say this because, at a time when our country's culture and political environment seems so divided, the one thing that continues to bring us together as Americans is our servicemembers and veterans.

When they raised their right hand and swore an oath to defend their fellow citizens, they did not care if we were from a red State or a blue State, Republican or Democrat. They did it for love of country and to protect not only their family and friends, but also the stranger whom they will never meet.

That is why I am also very proud that, when we consider veterans legislation as we are doing today and tomorrow, we are doing the two most important things expected by all Americans: working together to solve problems, and delivering on our promise to the American people. I believe that the cumulative effect of commonsense measures such as the bill that we are considering today are helping to deliver on those promises.

I want to thank Chairman Roe, again, and also House leadership on both sides for helping us bring this bill through our committee and to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity, I would be remiss if I didn't also thank the leadership of my ranking member, friend, and fellow west Texan, Mr. Beto O'Rourke, in getting this bill introduced and to where it is today.

I know that our fellow Americans would strongly agree with me that our veterans, especially our disabled veterans, deserve the very best services their country can provide, and this bill is another step towards doing just that. I urge all my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise to pay tribute to a living legend: my friend and colleague, Congressman Sam Johnson.

Recently, we had the opportunity to honor him by renaming the Texas Tech University Vietnam Archive as the Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive.

Nobody in the United States Congress enjoys more esteem from his colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, than Sam Johnson.

His legacy of service is awe-inspiring. Twenty-nine years in the United States Air Force, combat missions in Korea and Vietnam. Nearly 7 years as a POW, roughly 3 of those years in solitary confinement.

There are many forces in politics that pull us from pillar to post, and many interests that compete for our time and attention. There is one force that drives this man--it is his desire to fight for the future of this country. And there is only one interest, and that is only what is in the best interest of all Americans.

I am grateful to Texas Tech for honoring Congressman Johnson's service and sacrifice, and I am proud of the example Sam has set for all of us who serve in the people's House.

Mr. Speaker, if the United States is going to maintain the ability to feed and clothe our own people and fuel this American economy, we need a strong and sustainable rural America like the district I represent in west Texas.

What would this country be without the hardworking energy and agriculture producers in small towns across this great land? The heart of small-town sustainability is access to healthcare. There are over 5,000 hospitals in the United States, and roughly half of them are in rural America, serving one out of every five Americans. Without access to basic medical services, communities in America's breadbasket and energy basin would not survive.

Hospitals serving rural communities face unique challenges: an aging population, low patient volume, higher percentages of Medicare beneficiaries, to name a few. Each translates into a higher per-patient cost which has left 41 percent of rural hospitals operating at a loss.

On top of this problematic patient volume and patient mix, ObamaCare has heaped a backbreaking $54 billion in additional regulatory burden in unfunded mandates. Since 2010, the year ObamaCare was enacted, 80 rural hospitals have shut down, 11 of which were in my home State of Texas. If this rate continues, in less than 10 years, an unimaginable 25 percent of our Nation's rural hospitals will close. That would cripple rural communities across this country and deliver a devastating blow to our agriculture and energy economy, affecting all Americans, including our neighbors in urban and suburban America.

For some Texans, the nearest hospital is already 100 miles away. In an emergency, this distance can mean the difference between life and death. Point of fact: 60 percent of all trauma deaths occur in rural America, despite the fact that rural America only makes up 20 percent of the country's population.

Here is a startling fact and outright scary scenario: one-third of rural hospitals have been deemed vulnerable to closure. If all 673 of those hospitals were to close down, it could result in over 130,000 jobs lost and almost $300 billion in GDP lost. When unemployment goes down and wages go down in those small towns, folks move away in search of better opportunities.

In order to sustain the critical lifeline hospitals provide for our rural communities, I have introduced H.R. 4178, the Healthcare Enhancement for America's Rural Towns Act, or the HEART Act. Why? Because small towns are the heartbeat of America; the heart of our food, fuel, and fiber production; the heart of traditional American values. This legislation extends two programs vital to the sustainability of rural hospitals and the community they deserve: the Low-Volume Adjustment program and the Medicare-Dependent Hospital program. These programs account for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of all Medicare expenditures, but they go a long way to ensuring that rural community hospitals with a higher percentage of Medicare patients have adequate funding to serve the unique populations.

By extending the Medicare Low-Volume Adjustment program for 2 years, and for the first time permanently extending the Medicare-Dependent Hospital program, we can provide the assurance and continuity that our rural hospitals desperately need in order to serve our communities in the future. Just as importantly, we do this in a way that is budget neutral and without spending any additional taxpayer moneys.

Let's pass this legislation. Let's protect the heart of rural America and give our community hospitals the certainty that they need to keep our people and our communities healthy.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to represent the people of west Texas, home to 14 million acres of farmland, making it one of the largest agriculture production regions in the world.

I have spent a lot of time with these plowboys and cowboys over the years, and I can tell you this: these men and women don't work our land and our cattle for the money, and they certainly don't do it for recognition.

But today is National Farmers Day. Let's pause and pay tribute to the American farmer.

Farming was man's first profession. Farming saved and sustained our first colony at Jamestown. Farming helped fund the Revolution, securing the very freedoms we have and cherish today.

Farming has allowed us to feed and clothe our own people, and that food and fiber independence has contributed to America being the most powerful, most prosperous, and most generous Nation in the history of the world.

God bless our farmers.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a fallen hero, Officer Floyd East, Jr. Officer East was a police officer for the Texas Tech University Police Department. On Monday, October 9, Officer East completed his final patrol to protect and serve.

Officer East has been described by friends as someone you could rely on and someone who was always there to help or just listen. No doubt, he represented the very best of the values of Texas Tech.

His loss reminds us that policemen and -women put their lives at risk every day. He left behind a loving wife, Carmen, who generously allowed him to dedicate his life to keeping us safe.

To his children, Ana and Monica: Our prayers are with you. Scripture tells us that ``there's no greater love than for a man to lay down his life for his friends.'' That was God's greatest gift to this world and that was your dad's greatest gift. Our Red Raider family is behind you, and we will never forget Floyd and how he held the thin blue line. God bless your family.

Mr. Chairman, for too long Congress has been allowed to play by a different set of rules than the American people in regard to how we budget. No one lives in a world where there is seemingly an endless supply of money, that is, until you enter the fantasy world of Washington, D.C.

However, hardworking American families, businessmen, and businesswomen live in the real world. They have to budget. They have to prioritize and make trade-off decisions: wants versus needs, what is good and what is essential. The bottom line, they have to live within their means.

But, apparently, our government has been exempt from such basic principles of fiscal responsibility under which we the people must live. The prevailing budget philosophy over the years among our representative leaders has been as follows: as long as we can borrow it, you can bet your bottom dollar we can spend it. And spend it they have.

This borrowing-and-spending delusion has left us on the brink of bankruptcy. We are $20 trillion in debt, which puts our country in the worst debt position in the history of America, and this with the sacred constitutional charge to secure liberty for our posterity. That means give freedom to our children.

Mr. Chairman, there is no freedom with this level of debt. If we don't do something about this looming debt crisis and stay on our current spending trajectory, in less than 10 years, we will be at $30 trillion in debt. We will have $1 trillion in annual deficit. We will be spending more--get this--on our interest on the debt we owe than on national defense.

Mr. Chairman, enough is enough. I rise in support of this budget, a budget that begins to rein in this reckless spending, a budget that funds our national priorities and our core responsibilities and initiates a historic opportunity for tax relief for middle and working class families.

Let's stop spending our children's future and stop pretending that they won't inherit a disaster as a result. Let's live in the same reality as every other American. Let's focus on our main mission as a limited Federal Government by rebuilding our military, by maintaining our infrastructure, and by securing our food supply so we can maintain the ability to feed our own people.

Let's unleash our job creators from the highest tax burden in the free world. Let's allow our families and individuals to keep more of their hard-earned money, and let's hand this country safer, stronger, and freer than we found it.

Mr. Chairman, let's pass this budget.

Mr. Speaker, I cannot think of a more important issue to get right than protecting the God-given souls of the unborn and their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

I will never forget listening to the heartbeat of my first child, Nathan. I cried all the way to the car, praising God for this miracle, and the words of the Psalmist came to me: ``You formed me in my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb.''

Currently, the United States is one of only seven developed countries that allow elective abortions after 20 weeks. That puts us on the same moral equivalent, in this regard, to China and North Korea.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 36. I stand with the vulnerable and the

voiceless, and I kneel in submission to the author of life and ask for His blessings on this country and this initiative.

Madam Speaker, in 2014, four MS-13 gang members brutally murdered a 14-year-old boy from Texas with a machete. Just this year, two MS-13 gang members laughed and waved at the cameras as they faced trial in a Houston courtroom for the kidnapping, rape, and murder of young girls. These are just two examples that reflect the horrific and gruesome reality of what gangs across this country are capable of.

There are as many as 100,000 gang members in my home State of Texas, several of whom are linked to Mexican cartels, who help them distribute drugs and traffic people and weapons. Nearly 60 percent of identified prison gang members in Texas are serving sentences for violent crimes, including homicide, robbery, and assault.

MS-13 is one of the most dangerous gangs in our State, with almost 500 members throughout Texas. They have been described by the Houston police chief as a ``transnational terrorist organization,'' the ``worst of the worst,'' and a ``cancer.'' It is State and local law enforcement officers like him, as well gang task forces, who are on the front lines, putting their own lives in danger to deal with these heinous criminals.

Today, I rise in support of Mrs. Comstock's bill, which will do what we should have been doing a long time ago, and that is giving local entities the ability to expeditiously deport gang members who are here illegally and ensure they never are able to come back to the United States.

Our first job is to keep Americans safe. H.R. 3697 certainly improves the prospects of that.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate and recognize the Ports-to-Plains Alliance on 20 years of hard work to ensure a voice for rural communities in America's heartland and for educating others on the importance of building out infrastructure around feeding, fueling, and clothing America's cities in urban areas.

Let me start by recognizing the hard work and the leadership of my dear friend and predecessor who left big shoes for me to fill, and that man is Randy Neugebauer, who is, in my mind, the father of this great initiative. And we in west Texas and up and down the backbone of this country owe him a debt of gratitude. I extend my deepest thanks and appreciation to Congressman Randy Neugebauer.

For those who aren't familiar, the Ports-to-Plains corridor runs north and south through the center of America's heartland, from my State of Texas to Montana, through New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, and North Dakota. It is strategically located to create jobs and increase economic efficiency by connecting rural areas to urban America, regional trade centers, and international transportation facilities.

Within the Ports-to-Plains service area, there are three congressionally designated corridors, high-priority transportation corridors, consisting of over 2,300 miles of highway and 38 million citizens.

The Ports-to-Plains region includes States that lead our Nation's energy economy, with 7 of the top 10 States in oil production and 8 of the top 10 States in wind energy generation, producing over $44 million in agriculture goods, or about 22 percent of the United States' total production of agriculture.

The Ports-to-Plains corridor annually generates over $166 billion in trade with Canada and Mexico, which is almost 20 percent of all U.S. North American trade.

The bottom line is: Middle America provides the food, fuel, and fiber that strengthens and protects our Nation, but that is only true when we can get the product to market. Unfortunately, nearly half of this region consists of two-lane, antiquated roads that cannot safely and reliably handle today's traffic demands, much less future traffic demands.

These roads were never designed to accommodate the kind of traffic and large trucks being used today, mainly by the energy and agriculture industries. The Ports-to-Plains Alliance, through its partnerships, has formed a strong voice for rural America promoting the importance of investing in its highway infrastructure.

I am honored to share the significance of this corridor and its needs by chairing the newly created Congressional Ports-to-Plains Caucus alongside--and this is a bipartisan effort--my House co-chairs Representatives Smith, Gonzalez, Cuellar, and our counterparts in the Senate, Senators Heitkamp and Fischer.

If we are going to continue to feed and clothe the American people and fuel this great economy, we must make the investment in our infrastructure, and we must make that investment in rural America. The return is incalculable, unmeasurable, unquantifiable, and we need to make that investment.

If you want to make America great again, support the people of rural America, support the products of rural America, and God help us support the values of rural America.

God bless America, and God bless America's beating heart in small towns all across this land.

Mr. Speaker, in light of this unprecedented natural disaster in Houston and Louisiana, along the Gulf Coast, I want to urge my colleagues to provide the resources necessary to help them recover. We need to move quickly and we need to move responsibly, and I just urge my colleagues to act, and act now.

I am very proud of my fellow Texans for the way they have responded. I am proud of the leadership at the local level, at the State level, and I am proud, mostly, of the overwhelming, loving response of reaching out, neighbor helping neighbor, friends and folks in their community taking this responsibility head-on, not waiting on the Federal Government. We have a role, and the Federal Government ought to do all that we can to help those.

Texas is a special place, Mr. Speaker. As you know, these folks are very self-reliant. They are committed to their communities, and they are committed to loving thy neighbor. It is not just a memory verse, it is a way of life in Texas.

So, again, our thoughts and prayers are with our friends back home. I know my colleagues and neighbors in west Texas, in District 19, have sent first responder vehicles and personnel, food, and supplies. Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas, has sent, for example, 12 tons of supplies and food. So we are with you guys. We love you.

As Trump said, ``Texans can handle anything.'' He is right.

God bless Texas, and God bless America.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of S. 114, which will continue funding the Choice Program, an important reform to make sure that our veterans have access to quality care.

For too long, our veterans, Mr. Speaker, have been trapped in a system that has failed them. They are in a single-payer system. We put them in a system that the Members of Congress wouldn't sign up for. For years, we haven't give them the same choice that we have given Medicaid patients and Medicare patients.

The Choice Program isn't just common sense, it is common decency. We have asked these men and women to serve and to sacrifice for our freedom. They deserve the very best care. The only way they are going to get the best care is to have choice when they have geographic challenges or are waiting in line.

We have all read the reports about how our veterans have waited in line, have gotten sicker, and some even died. It is unconscionable and unacceptable.

I am so grateful that, in an institution that has a reputation of gridlock and dysfunction, we have a committee with leaders like Chairman Roe and Ranking Member Walz who will come together and put America first. So I am heartened by this and I applaud their leadership.

I support this continuation of funding and the improved access to care for our heroes. I thank the chairman for the privilege of serving under the leadership of his committee.

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 material on the topic of my Special Order.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my friends, my family, my neighbors, and my fellow Americans in rural communities all across this land. I am proud to represent 29 counties in rural west Texas. I am grateful that I grew up in a small town--the town of Plainview, Texas, a little farming community.

We are the sum of many things and many contributions and influences, and I am thankful for the influences of that town. I am grateful to my coaches and my teachers. I was inspired by Ms. Becky Taylor, my first government teacher at Plainview High School. I have countless people to thank, and as I walk the Halls here, and as I stand on the floor of the House and cast my vote for the people I represent, I think about all of those people who have made an investment.

You see, in rural America, they take responsibility for their community.

They believe in making investment in all of those young people who are working their way through the school system, who have big dreams to make a difference in the world, and I was one of them.

I pray I could be a champion for rural America. I pray I will be an effective legislator and that I will be a strong voice for a people that feel often that they don't have a voice. Maybe it is because we don't have the votes, and maybe it is because we don't have as many people, but what we don't have in numbers of people, we more than make up for in our contribution to this country in the food, in the fuel, in the fiber that we produce in rural America.

The folks who I represent help put food on the table of all Americans. They put clothes on the backs of all Americans. They help fuel this great American economy. They give us energy independence.

They allow us to have an affordable, safe, and abundant supply of food. We take it for granted. When you ask folks around the country, especially in urban and suburban areas, ``Where does your food come from,'' many answer, ``The grocery store or the food truck.''

My colleagues and I are standing today to speak about the virtue and the values of rural America and the contribution to this great experiment in democracy and liberty. We know that it is by the blood, sweat, and tears of farmers and ranchers all across this great land.

I love everything about rural America, Mr. Speaker. I love the people, I love the values, and I love our way of life. We are not just the energy basin, and we are not just the breadbasket. We are the backbone of this country. If you lose rural America, then you lose something very special. You lose those traditional American values that are at the heart of the greatness of this country.

They are counting on us--all of us who represent rural communities-- to fight for them. If you think about this Presidential election, more than 70 percent of rural communities and people living in rural areas in the swing States voted for our President. They felt voiceless and powerless. They felt like they were losing their country, and they wanted their country back. They were tired of political correctness. They were tired of do-nothing institutions and politicians that said they were going to change things and then--status quo.

They know, as well as anybody, what is at stake in the next few years and the next several years. This window of time is special. They came out strong in support of our President because they wanted something different. They wanted results.

Rural America defines leadership different than we do. They define leadership as working together to solve problems and deliver results. If you don't deliver results, you are not a leader in rural America. The proof is in the pudding. So I am especially excited about this opportunity in the life of our Nation. I am exceptionally honored to serve in this august body with so much history.

I am overjoyed that I wear the rural America jersey when I stand on this floor. I am going to do all I can to fight for the future of this country, which means I am going to fight for rural America's traditional values, and I'm not going to apologize for it because, again, where we come from is a lot of who we are, and who we are is a whole lot more important than what we do.

I am rural America. I am traditional values. I am from the land of farmers, ranchers, and public schoolteachers who believe they can have an impact on a kid and inspire him to believe he can change the world. You are looking at one of them.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Miss Becky Taylor, I thank Coach Cunningham, I thank Coach Irlebeck, and I thank youth minister Karl Shackleford. I could go on and on.

I stand on the shoulders of a lot of good people in small town, middle America, and I don't stand alone. I stand in the company of great men whom I have met since I have been here. I know a lot of Americans look at this United States Congress as dysfunctional and do- nothing, and do you know what? They are right in many ways. But I look at the individuals, and I see some of the most impressive, patriotic people who want to make a difference.

I am thankful that in this fight for the heart and soul of this country, in this battle for the identity of our Nation, this constitutional Republic, I have got folks in the foxhole with me.

To start my foxhole friends who stand on the side of rural America, I want to introduce a great American, a dear friend, and the president of our freshman class. He comes from a big swath of rural Michigan, Michigan's First District. He is a general, he is a soldier, he is a businessman, and he is a proud granddad. When I think of Jack Bergman, I think of a leader. He is a leader.

I am proud to serve with Jack Bergman.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bergman).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Michigan for his wonderful, beautiful, and heartfelt words about where he comes from, how that shaped him, and how deeply he believes in the people in the country, as we say in west Texas. He talked about a lot of things. He talked about the folks who work the land, and he talked about traditional American values. Mr. Speaker, I think you are going to hear some common themes from my colleagues this evening.

The gentleman also mentioned the burden of Big Government. I said, coming into this office and after 8 years of the advent and explosion of Big Government, that when our economy in urban and suburban is like a patient who is sick, the rural patients are in the ICU because small businesses, community banks, and family farmers bear a disproportionate burden when it comes to the trillions of dollars and the cumulative effect of all the rules and regulations out of the last year.

So rescuing the American economy is about helping a sick patient. Rescuing the rural economy is getting the patient stabilized and off life support so we can live to farm, to fight, and to have the kind of quality of life that we love for another day.

Mr. Speaker, I have got a good friend that I have made since I came to the United States Congress. The gentleman is from the 12th District of the great State of Georgia. He is a son of a farmer. I bet he knows something about working the land. I bet he knows something about a work ethic. I bet his daddy taught him something about that.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen) who is my friend and a businessman. The gentleman received the Augusta Metro Chamber of Commerce Small Business of the Year Award, and he will talk about rural America and why it is so important to making America great.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Georgia for his personal experience in agriculture, in a farming family, and a man who loves all that is good about rural America and knows that what is good about rural America is what is helping make this country great.

I have got other colleagues that I want to invite to speak. We have got folks from Illinois, Michigan, and some colleagues from Texas.

I am looking at a guy from the Commonwealth of Kentucky, another new friend, a dear friend, and a friend of agriculture. He is a guy who not only knows agriculture because he took a loan out right after graduating from Western Kentucky and started a farming operation--he claims it is successful today. I believe him--he was also the ag commissioner of Kentucky. He served in the Kentucky House, and now he is lending his expertise and his love for this country and all things about rural America to the First District of Kentucky.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Comer).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for his passion and his resolve to be a voice for rural America and for agriculture. It has been great to serve alongside of him on the Agriculture Committee.

I have got another dear, new friend and fellow freshman Member of Congress who is a great American. He hales from the great State of Louisiana, my wife's home State. He represents the Third District. I was about to say I have a couple more racehorses for rural America in the stable. He actually was raised on a horse ranch near Covington, Louisiana.

He is a veteran and highly decorated law enforcement officer. He is a man of deep and abiding faith. I say that God probably hears all of our prayers, but when he speaks and prays with that thick Louisiana accent, I think he enjoys his prayers more.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Higgins) and prayerfully ask him to speak about rural America and why it is important to this country.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from the great State of Louisiana for his comments and his heartfelt commitment to his district, to the farmers, and the ranchers like the ranch he grew up on. This is personal for Clay Higgins, and I know when he says he is going to be a champion for rural America, you can take that to the bank, and I want to thank him for his comments.

I have other colleagues who are here and want to speak loudly and proudly for the folks from rural America who are counting on us. What we lack in numbers up here, we got to make up for in strength of leadership. I am looking at the bench right now, and I am believing that we can overcome those numbers with effectiveness and with the strength of leadership and courage that it takes to get something done in this town and in this institution.

The next gentleman who I want to introduce to the American people who are watching with great anticipation is another freshman wonder from the great State of Georgia, whose district is home to a portion of western Georgia. He went off and got his dental degree and came back to where he grew up, West Point, Georgia, came back home to small town America, and I reckon he did for a lot of reasons, but probably at the top of the list was he wanted to raise his kids in small town America.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia's Third District (Mr. Ferguson), to talk about that and anything else, and there are lots of great things to talk about with respect to rural America.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for his comments, and what a strong leader he has been for our freshmen class, and what a great representation of his district in the great State of Georgia.

And who knows better about the challenges of sustaining rural communities than a mayor who is fighting the fight at the local level. And so I am just so grateful that he spoke from his heart this evening about our friends and family and our neighbors back home in small town America.

I have got another good friend and a guy who knows something about rural

America. His district takes up almost the entire State of Nebraska. He has had Nebraska as his home and his family's home for six generations.

He served at the local level and at the State level, but his greatest claim to fame is that he married a good friend of mine who served with me in the George W. Bush White House, Andrea. And I didn't know him before Andrea, but she has done a great job of cleaning him up, and I look forward to his comments.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the Representative from Nebraska's Third District (Mr. Smith).

Mr. Speaker, I am honored that the gentleman from Nebraska joined us to lift our voices high, as our flag of rural America flies high in this House. We think about those families, those middle and working class families, every day as we govern on behalf of the people we represent.

Mr. Speaker, I have got another gentleman who I am learning a great deal from as I serve with him on the House Agriculture Committee and the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. He is a very passionate man from the great State of Illinois' 12th District. He is a firefighter, the son and grandson of coal miners, and a proud daddy.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Bost).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois for his heartfelt comments about rural America. I am so proud to be shoulder to shoulder with him in this righteous cause.

Mr. Speaker, I now have the greatest privilege of the night for me, because this man has been a mentor and a friend for many years and has probably done as much as anybody to welcome me and coach me up so I can represent west Texas to the best my abilities. He is from the 25th District of Texas, and he is an all-American baseball player. Let me tell you, he won back then and he is winning now. I am just so proud that he is on the side of rural America and helping rural America win in the outcomes of public policy so we can keep it strong and vibrant and keep America great.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Williams).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from the great State of Texas. I appreciate his friendship, his mentorship, and that acid test that he taught me when I first stepped foot on the floor of the House of Representatives--your conscience, your constituents, the Bible, the Constitution. If you vote that way, you are going to do right by your children and grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Roger Williams, a great American.

Mr. Speaker, I have another colleague here. He came here because he feels so passionate about rural America. I am so grateful that he is here.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to my colleague from the great State of Texas (Mr. Gohmert).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas for those remarks.

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

Mr. Speaker, before it was cool to quote Ronald Reagan's national security philosophy of peace through strength, there was our first Commander in Chief, George Washington, who, in his first State of the Union address, said, ``. . . to be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.''

See, maintaining a strong national defense is not a new concept.

While more war has been diverted, more peace has been kept, and more freedom has been defended by our Nation's armed services, today we risk not only our Nation's security, but the lives of those who serve if we fail to adequately fund our military.

The policies and posture of the past 8 years under the previous administration have left our defense arsenal dilapidated, our position in the world diminished, our allies doubtful, and, unfortunately, our enemies even more determined.

Our military men and women have faced years of cuts, almost a quarter of our entire military budget, with defense spending at historic lows, over $170 billion, since 2010.

So as the world becomes increasingly dangerous and unstable, the government has forced our armed services to do more with less.

One of the United States' greatest assets in our national security arsenal and one of the crown jewels of west Texas is Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas. Dyess plays a key role in protecting our democracy against the rising global threats, and our airmen from Dyess have been deployed all over the world in countless military and humanitarian operations. Additionally, Dyess hosts the largest B-1 bomber base in the Nation; and the city of Abilene has won the Air Force's award for most supportive communities so many times, they actually changed the name of the award to the Abilene award.

Now, that may sound like I am bragging, but in Texas, that is just telling the truth.

But while we put the lives of these men and women on the line daily and ask them to defend our Nation, they are crippled by this discouraging reality. The Air Force is now the smallest and the oldest it has been in our Nation's history. Altogether, given the current demand, our Nation's Air Force is short 1,500 pilots, 4,000 mechanics.

Before the House Armed Services Committee, General Stephen Wilson testified: ``Today we find ourselves less than 50 percent ready across our Air Force, and we have pockets that are even below that.''

In fact, just to get by, the Air Force has been utilizing bombers that were designed and constructed for World War II.

This is a national security crisis, Mr. Speaker. This is a great American travesty.

Why?

Because I believe our former President, for political reasons, in my opinion, arbitrarily withdrew troops from critical battlefronts and dangerously drew down our overall military resources.

Today, on behalf of Dyess Air Force Base and all the brave men and women who keep our great country safe, I urge my colleagues to pass the National Defense Authorization Act, which will rebuild our national security, repair our national defense, and restore America's leadership position in the world.

The NDAA will provide our military with the resources they need to address our current threats. We have increased funding 10 percent over the previous administration. The NDAA will fund Dyess Air Force Base and other military installations at appropriate levels, increase the size of our armed services, enhance and modernize our defense arsenal, give our troops a pay raise.

If anybody in the Federal Government has performed with excellence and with courage and distinction, it is our men and women in uniform, and they deserve a pay raise.

This NDAA will also build on the reforms that we have enacted over the last 2 years to update, improve, and streamline services to our armed services.

By passing the NDAA, we send a message to the world that America will continue to be the greatest force for good in the history of mankind; a message to our allies who promote liberty and democracy that you can count on us to defend you, we have got your back; a message to our brave military men and women that we are standing firmly behind you, we are going to put our money where our mouth is, we are going to protect you as you protect us; and a message to our enemies that America is no longer in the business of making idle threats.

Mr. Speaker, before I close, I want to thank Chairman Thornberry for his hard work on this bill and for being a tireless advocate for our military. I am proud to call him a fellow west Texan, and I am even more proud to call him my friend.

One must wonder, on the heels of our 241st birthday, how did this oldest continuous democracy persist for two centuries against all odds? Don't you wonder?

Mr. Speaker, vote for NDAA, vote for our military.

God bless America.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 355.

Mr. Speaker, as a Representative of the great State of Texas, I want to first acknowledge and preface my remarks with the fact that most people that are entering these United States illegally are doing so because they want a better life for their families. That said, it doesn't make it right. As has been said, and I have said it before, we are a nation of immigrants for sure, all of us, but we are also a nation of laws.

When the Federal Government abdicates its responsibility to secure our border and enforce our immigration laws, we not only fail in our sacred duty to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law, but we put American lives at risk. 121, that is the number of lives that have been lost from 2010 to 2014, lives that could have been saved if we had the political courage to enforce our immigration laws regarding criminal aliens.

Here is something even more outrageous. Of the over 36,000 criminal aliens released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody over the course of a year, 1,000 of them were reconvicted of another crime.

These avoidable, tragic deaths from violent crimes continue to happen across the country, and many of the criminal aliens who have committed them have found refuge in our Nation's sanctuary cities. These are lawless cities, let's be clear, cities whose actions undermine the basic American tenet that we are a nation of laws, not of men.

Fortunately, we have the opportunity to stop this madness and do the job the American people expect their government to do, their first job, and that is to keep Americans safe.

Passing the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act would impose significant penalties on States and cities that refuse to follow Federal immigration laws and cooperate with authorities. Additionally, it would allow the Secretary of Homeland Security to prohibit law-breaking immigrants in DHS custody from being transferred to sanctuary cities.

The No Sanctuary for Criminals Act only addresses one part of the problem in this area, a problem that we all know will require further reform; but, nonetheless, this is a good, commonsense law, and it will move our country in the right direction towards safer, stronger communities.

In addition to supporting the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act, I have cosponsored the Davis-Oliver Act, and I urge all my colleagues to do the same. In addition to holding these cities accountable for harboring criminal aliens, we need to ensure that our State and local law enforcement officials have the authority to actually do their job, and that is enforce all of our Nation's laws.

Together, I believe the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act and the Davis- Oliver Act will have a major impact on stopping illegal immigration and deterring lawlessness at the hands of criminal aliens who have repeatedly proven that they will break our laws, harm our citizens, and disrespect this great Nation.

Mr. Speaker, let's empower the President and local law enforcement agencies to do their job. Let's honor the Constitution and respect the rule of law. Mr. Speaker, let's simply put America first.