Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 118th Congress for restoring the oversight function of the House.

Since winning the majority, House Republicans have held 565 oversight hearings, compelled Biden officials to testify 561 times, sent 862 letters to the administration, and issued 45 subpoenas, and we are just getting started.

Our Founders never intended for a President to be able to bypass Congress

through executive action, like forgiving more than $400 billion in loan debt with the stroke of a pen.

They never intended for a Federal agency to be able to circumvent the people's Representatives and use their regulatory authority to advance so-called progressive ideas. The judicial branch is doing its part to curb the rogue--often unconstitutional--actions of this President, but the American people can count on this half of the legislative branch to conduct its critical oversight function, just as our Founders intended.

Mr. Speaker, one of the key tenets of House Republicans' Commitment to America was restoring our Nation's safety and security. That means passing a strong and fiscally responsible National Defense Authorization Act, otherwise known as the NDAA, which is our country's primary legislation authorizing spending levels and providing substantive policy directives for the United States Armed Forces and the Department of Defense.

Thankfully, that is exactly what House Republicans will be doing this week when we consider and pass the fiscal year 2024 NDAA. The NDAA for the coming year being considered by the House this week includes many priorities and provisions that middle Tennesseans can be proud to support.

For starters, it ends the radical woke ideologies being forced on our servicemembers by prohibiting funding for teaching critical race theory. It repeals the authorization for the Department of Defense's unnecessary chief diversity officer and eliminates funding for drag shows and similar events.

Along with these commonsense measures that passed the House Armed Services Committee by a 48-1 vote, the National Defense Authorization Act gives our military the tools they need to counter the Chinese Communist Party's aggression, increases oversight of the Biden administration after their disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, and saves taxpayers $40 billion by cutting inefficient defense programs, obsolete weapons systems, and unnecessary Pentagon bureaucracy.

All in all, I believe this bill contains good provisions that return our military's focus back on readiness and the defense of our Nation, not wokeness and progressive posturing.

Mr. Speaker, ``What did the President know and when did he know it?''

That famous question was from former Tennessee Senator Howard Baker, and it is as important today as it was during the Watergate investigation. This time, the question is: What did the former Vice President and now-President know and when did he know it?

As House Republicans continue to dig into Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings, it is becoming more apparent that President Biden not only likely knew about these corrupt exchanges but he may have even been in the room for some of them.

Republicans have proven tens of millions of dollars were funneled to the Biden family from foreign nationals. Republicans have also uncovered an effort by his administration to cover up Hunter Biden's Federal crimes and his father's involvement while they continued targeting his top political opponent.

The American people deserve answers, and we are committed to finding them.

Madam Speaker, since taking the majority in the House in January, Republicans have been consistently holding hearings to conduct oversight and demand accountability of the Biden administration when it comes to the humanitarian crisis at our southern border.

For years now, sensible Republicans have done everything they can to offer solutions to this humanitarian crisis in an effort to halt illegal immigration but have been met with opposition by those on the other side of the aisle that prefer the open-border policies of this President and his administration.

Unfortunately, despite these repeated attempts to bring this administration to the table to enact sensible immigration reform, which the American people support, President Biden has done the opposite.

In fact, in President Biden's first 100 days in office, he took 94 executive actions on immigration, perhaps none as costly as halting the construction of the southern border wall. He also ended the remain in Mexico program, which had proven to be a successful deterrent at the border.

Now, the good people at the Customs and Border Protection, who are working hard under strenuous circumstances to protect our borders, have seized over 17,000 pounds of fentanyl in fiscal year 2023, including a

14 percent increase in the month of April alone, compared to the prior month.

In addition to these alarming figures, so far in fiscal year 2023, 96 people were stopped while attempting to cross the southern border whose names could be found on the terrorist watch list. To put this into perspective, during the entire last fiscal year, there were only 98 arrests, and that was more than in fiscal years 2017 through 2021 combined.

Madam Speaker, it is clear to the American people that President Biden's Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security is directly responsible for this abhorrent failure. That is why, much to my regret, I have no choice but to continue my call for impeaching Secretary Mayorkas, with the hope that the Biden administration will go ahead and replace him with someone willing to actually take on the task of securing our border. At the very least, the appropriate House committees must begin considering and debating impeachment articles.

Madam Speaker, one of the most rewarding opportunities I am afforded as a Member of Congress is getting to welcome new citizens who have recently been naturalized into the United States. I repeatedly take the time to point out the perseverance and dedication it takes to become a U.S. citizen the legal and right way. It goes without saying: These folks will forever be able to hold their heads high, knowing that they respected our laws even before they became a citizen of this great country.

I will also add that because of my familiarity with this process and seeing what so many have to endure to come here legally, I have one more reason out of many to fight against illegal immigration. That is why I will continuously demand the Biden administration and Secretary Mayorkas uphold our immigration laws, and I will engage in House Republicans' oversight efforts until the American people can be confident the administration is following the laws that govern immigration in this country.

Madam Speaker, I ask all Members of Congress to join me in demanding accountability from President Biden and Secretary Mayorkas.

Mr. Speaker, House Republicans are following through on our commitment to hold government accountable. Whether it be passing the REINS Act or the Separation of Powers Restoration Act or compelling many Biden administration officials to testify for the first time in over a year, the American people can see we are hard at work.

There is still work to do. Since the President took office, he has finalized 644 new regulations, which come with a $376 billion price tag that negatively impacts our economy and requires more than 230 million additional hours of paperwork.

Instead of burdening our job creators, House Republicans want to get government out of their way through legislation like the CHOICE Arrangement Act. We are also working to get government out of our kitchens, which is why we passed the Save Our Gas Stoves Act.

This administration has never met a regulation it didn't like, but rest assured, the House will continue reining in the Biden administration's executive overreach.

Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of my three amendments to the Fiscal Year 2024 NDAA that are included in en bloc No. 4.

My first amendment adds as a sense of Congress that the MQ-9 Reaper drone should be utilized to the greatest extent possible in the Indo- Pacific. I am proud to represent the 118th Wing of the Tennessee National Guard, which operates the MQ-9. With investments, the MQ-9 drone has the potential to provide many more years of service to this country.

My second amendment highlights the importance of our service branches coordinating as closely as possible in the Indo-Pacific in order to meet the challenges of the region.

Finally, my last amendment in en bloc No. 4 would prohibit the Department of Defense's Office of Strategic Capital from investing or facilitating investments in Chinese-owned firms.

Mr. Chairman, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting my amendments.

Mr. Chairman, I also rise in support of amendment No. 71, submitted by Representative Byron Donalds of Florida. Amendment No. 71 incorporates the text of H.R. 1009, the National Strategy to Utilize Microreactors for Natural Disaster Response Efforts Act.

Microreactors are a game-changing technology. These relatively small nuclear reactors have the potential to provide clean energy in a variety of circumstances. One possibility is to utilize microreactors to replace diesel generators during natural disaster response efforts.

Amendment No. 71 directs the President to develop a national strategy to utilize microreactors to assist with natural disaster response efforts. Replacing diesel generators with clean microreactors during disaster response efforts will be much better for the environment. I hope that by passing this amendment, we will be closer to that goal.

Mr. Chairman, I urge Members to support greater investment in microreactor technology, and I urge adoption of this amendment.

Madam Speaker, this week the House will consider the Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, otherwise known as the

Mr. Speaker, a little over a week ago, the Supreme Court of the United States handed a victory over to the American people when it struck down President Biden's obviously unconstitutional and egregious student loan giveaway plan.

The High Court held that President Biden and his administration needed Congress' authority on this matter before pursuing this costly program for American taxpayers. Of course, Republicans in Congress, like me, have been calling Mr. Biden's student loan plan unconstitutional from its inception. Even some Democrats, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have joined us in standing up for the American people as their elected Representatives.

This is just one of many examples of how House Republicans are demanding accountability of the Biden administration and doing everything in our power to conduct proper oversight on the President's out-of-touch, liberal, and sometimes unconstitutional agenda.

Mr. Speaker, since President Biden took office, there have been 5.2 million illegal crossings of our southern border.

Now, because of President Biden and his administration's failures to secure our southern border, our schools and children are suffering from the effects of rampant open borders.

When taxpayer-funded facilities in New York were used to house illegal immigrants, President Biden was silent. Even when the mayor of New York City said: ``The President and the White House have failed this city,'' President Biden was silent.

Well, House Republicans won't remain quiet.

We denounced this wasteful abuse of our schools by passing H. Res. 461, which condemned the use of public schools and facilities to house illegal immigrants. We sent a clear and direct message to the American people and the President that this should never be allowed.

Mr. Speaker, time and again, President Biden and congressional Democrats have made the choice to blatantly disregard the dire state of our country's finances.

Even when a few Members of his own party joined Republicans and voted in favor of H.J. Res. 45, which would have rescinded his unilateral student loan forgiveness executive action, the President vetoed it. Now, when given the chance to override the President's veto, radical House Democrats doubled down on their decision to force this taxpayer- funded bailout of student loan borrowers down the throats of hardworking, blue-collar workers who will never see a penny of the $400 billion in forgiveness.

Mr. Speaker, it is truly a shame, and I express my regret for the millions of Americans who never went to college or responsibly chose to pay off their loans. I stand with them in calling out this ridiculous, unconstitutional taxpayer-funded bailout.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in opposition to President Biden's student loan scam and urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote to override President Biden's veto of H.J. Res. 45, which would overturn this ridiculous misuse of taxpayer dollars and transfer of wealth from the working class to our country's most wealthy and educated citizens.

Mr. Speaker, middle Tennessee is home to many hardworking, blue- collar workers who do everything they can to provide for their families and live within their means. Many of them made tough decisions to forego attending college to pursue careers in skilled trades like becoming an electrician, a plumber, or carpenter, each valuable skill sets and careers that keep our communities running and provide services we could never live without.

In fact, 66 percent of the folks in Tennessee's Sixth Congressional District have no college degree. This, along with those who responsibly took out student loans and paid them back, means that an estimated 759,000 people whom I represent are ineligible for the Biden administration's proposed student loan giveaway.

To put this into perspective, the total population of Tennessee's Sixth Congressional District is 768,525. A whopping 98.7 percent of folks whom I represent will never see a penny of the billions being wasted on this ill-guided proposal. What is even worse is that it will cost the folks of my district an estimated $1.53 billion, or almost $2,000 per individual.

At a time when the U.S. national debt has surpassed $32 trillion for the first time in our country's history, meaning that each citizen owes almost $100,000 of the national debt, the last thing Americans need, and that Tennesseans need, is another 2,000 in debt to pay for other people's decisions to pursue college degrees.

Mr. Speaker, when we debated this legislation on the floor previously, I said that America is a country built on the idea of freedom. Freedom does not mean freedom from individual responsibility, but freedom from unreasonable constraints. By forcing Tennesseans to foot the bill for the college degrees of wealthy lawyers and doctors in New York and California, President Biden is chipping away at our freedom.

Back home in my district, where the median household income is $57,373, President Biden's student loan bailout will cost almost an entire paycheck for the hardworking folks of Tennessee's Sixth District.

Now, Mr. Speaker, I encourage the President and those who support this transfer of wealth from blue-collar folks of Tennessee to coastal elites to take a visit to my constituents and tell them this news that their hard-earned paychecks will be going to some of the most well- educated and wealthy Americans in our country.

I have a feeling that a lot of folks who support this policy would have a hard time going door-to-door taking paychecks away from people without college degrees so that those with college degrees can reap the rewards and benefits of the President's policy.

Mr. Speaker, let's call this proposal what it is: An election-year gimmick that has no chance of ever becoming law through the normal procedures of being passed by the House and the Senate. Even some Democrats understand this policy is just plain wrong and that is why they joined Republicans to pass this legislation, which would have stopped this proposal in its track.

Now is our chance to override the President's veto. Let's hope more commonsense and fiscally responsible Democrats will join us to send a message to the President to reverse course on this disastrous decision.

Mr. Speaker, President Biden's and Secretary Mayorkas' handling of our southern border has made every State, including my home State of Tennessee, a border State. Now, illegal immigrants are being housed in public schools, threatening our children's ability to learn.

House Republicans are denouncing this heinous action by passing H. Res. 461, which condemns the use of public school facilities to house illegal immigrants.

Housing illegal immigrants at public schools diverts resources from students already suffering from historic learning loss. Additionally, schools with summer programs or activities will now be forced to consider the additional security threat housing illegal immigrants at their facilities poses.

Mr. Speaker, if the Biden administration would work with Republicans to secure the border, this wouldn't be happening. However, since it is, we must condemn it, which is why I urge Members to join me in supporting H. Res. 461.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for yielding me time tonight.

Mr. Speaker, this weekend, on June 24, marks one whole year since the landmark Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. As we look back and celebrate this occasion as a win for all those that believe in the sanctity of life from the moment of conception, I can't help but wonder how many lives have been saved just since this decision.

Of course, there is still more work to be done, but I am forever thankful for those across our great country, including in my home State of Tennessee, who helped achieve this victory. From those who have traveled and continued to travel to our Nation's Capital every year since 1974 to march for life, to the many volunteers and professional counselors who provide caring services to mothers at crisis pregnancy centers all across the country, this was truly a national movement.

Showing great insight at the time, our Tennessee State legislature took decisive action prior to the Dobbs v. Jackson decision to outlaw most abortions the moment this decision was returned to the States.

I couldn't be prouder of our State of Tennessee, which has become a leader in the pro-life movement in recent years.

Now innocent, unborn children have the legal protection they so desperately needed. I believe we must continue our efforts to protect children from gender mutilating surgeries, the horrid sexualization of our children's classrooms and libraries by drag queen performances on public property, and to protect the ability of women to play sports against other women.

As a Christian, a father, and a husband I will always stand up for what is right for our families and fight back against the left's attack against our conservative Christian beliefs. Just like with Roe v. Wade, I believe we will be victorious.

Mr. Speaker, I ask all Members present in the Chamber to join me in a moment of silence for those millions of unborn babies who lost their chance to live out the life God meant them to have to the horrid practice of abortion.

Mr. Speaker, according to the National Federation of Independent Business, small businesses have ranked the cost of healthcare as their number one problem for 32 straight years.

That is just one of the many reasons why House Republicans will be working to pass the CHOICE Arrangement Act this week, which was introduced by my good friend and chairman of the Republican Study Committee, Mr. Kevin Hern.

The CHOICE Arrangement Act will enhance the flexibility and affordability of healthcare options for small businesses by aiming to reduce administrative burdens and by empowering small employers to provide the type of healthcare coverage that works best for their employees.

As a small business owner, I know that when Washington gets involved in our ability to make the best decisions for our employees, things go awry. That is why I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the CHOICE Arrangement Act by voting ``yes'' on its passage.

Madam Speaker, the Constitution is clear. The people's elected Representatives, Congress, have the power to legislate, and the courts have judicial authority.

Unfortunately, in recent years, those powers have been diluted by overreaching and unelected administrative branch bureaucrats that believe they are the sole arbiters when it comes to administering policies, not the American people through their Representatives.

Regardless of which political party is in office, both Republicans and Democrats alike should be concerned about willfully giving away their constituents' voices when deciding pressing matters.

The Separation of Powers Restoration Act, which I am proud to support, would restore a separate but equal government our Founding Fathers intended and give back to the people, the American people and their Representatives the capacity to make policy. This is as common sense as it gets and should draw wide bipartisan support.

Madam Speaker, I urge all Members to join me in voting ``yes'' on