Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, inflation is an invisible tax that Americans pay every day. Everywhere you look, inflation is wreaking havoc. At the gas station, gas is up 48 percent; at the grocery store, beef is up 20 percent; chicken, up 15 percent; butter, up 14 percent; fruits and vegetables, up 7 percent; coffee, up 12 percent.

At home, electricity is up 11 percent; furniture is up 15 percent; and even the rent is up 5 percent.

What about a vacation? You still won't be able to escape inflation, as hotels are up 29 percent and airplane flights are up 23 percent.

Recent graduates entering the workforce will be forced to pay record- high rent and other expenses as they enter adulthood. New mothers and fathers will pay 10 percent higher prices for baby food. Many Americans who saved their entire lives to retire comfortably are now faced with the brutal realization that they may not have saved enough.

Even the Nashville airport, which is renovating and expanding, was hit hard by inflation when the price of a new satellite concourse jumped from $92 million just last March to over $134 million today.

As you can see, inflation affects every aspect of our lives. It is costing the average American family an extra $433 per month, and it is expected to cost each household over $5,000 extra just this year alone.

Inflation isn't something you can easily turn off, but President Biden and congressional Democrats proved that their reckless, progressive policies can certainly turn it on. Since President Biden took office and Democrats gained control of both Chambers of Congress, inflation has increased every single month.

They borrowed from future generations and spent trillions of hard- earned taxpayer dollars on wasteful government programs and assured us that it wouldn't cause inflation, even though we all knew it would. That is why it is so disingenuous that the President, his administration and Democratic allies in Congress, and the mainstream media are blaming inflation on the invasion of Ukraine. To use one of the President's favorite words, that is pure malarkey.

Meanwhile, as my constituents feel more pain each day from the growing inflation disaster, the President and his administration hardly even mention it, much less offer solutions except to propose spending trillions of dollars more that we don't have, which will, of course, only make things worse. Just look at President Biden's budget proposal, where inflation is not mentioned even one time. Instead, it calls for spending a whopping $75 trillion over the next decade.

There is no denying that the massive deficit spending got us into this harmful mess, and doing more of the same certainly won't get us out of it. I and my fellow conservatives have pushed back as hard as we can against the reckless approach to governing that our Democratic friends have taken, but we have been outnumbered and outvoted.

Even though we are outgunned for now, I will nevertheless continue to work hard with my fellow Republicans to do all we can to fight back on every wasteful spending bill the Democrats bring until our commonsense conservative reinforcements are elected in the fall and arrive in January.

Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States of America, the most prosperous country in the world, has warned the American people that a food shortage is a real possibility in our near future.

Much like our national energy shortage, this potential crisis has been made much more likely by President Biden's out-of-control spending and his unwillingness to tap into American resources, ingenuity, and its people.

Since January of 2021, the prices of many of the key inputs used to produce our Nation's food supply have substantially increased. Ammonia is up 203 percent; liquid nitrogen is up 162 percent; and farm diesel, used in almost every piece of farm equipment, is up a whopping 95 percent.

Spending more money won't fix this; in fact, it has made it worse by causing the prices of everything to go up.

If a food shortage does come to the United States, the sole person to blame will be President Biden, who has wasted no time spending our country into a crisis.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding and for hosting this Special Order tonight.

Mr. Speaker, President Biden's budget is symbolic of his wasteful build back broke agenda that was filled with partisan provisions.

There is $73 trillion in new spending, $58 trillion in taxes, and $16 trillion in new debt, all over the next 10 years.

When hardworking Tennesseans get together and come up with a household budget, they have difficult conversations with one another about what exactly they can afford. If something falls under the category of unnecessary and unaffordable, the last thing they do is put it on their grandchildren's credit cards. That is exactly what this budget does.

President Biden and congressional Democrats praising his proposal are now on record seeming to have no issue with mortgaging our country and its children's futures, even amidst the largest increase in inflation since 1982.

There are many wasteful provisions in President Biden's budget proposal, like the $11 billion being sent to foreign developing countries to help adapt to global warming. The one that I struggle with the most is the one that gives $400 million to Planned Parenthood and other entities that perform abortions.

The Hyde amendment has existed in every Federal appropriations bill since 1976. It is one of the most longstanding and bipartisan agreements to protect Federal taxpayer dollars from going toward abortion.

President Biden's decision to purposefully keep this out of his budget proposal is wrong and will never get my support nor the support of my constituents in middle Tennessee who are firmly pro-life.

Leaving out the Hyde amendment is only another partisan attempt to advertise the President's anti-life position and satisfy those who support the horrible atrocities of abortion.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members of the Congress to stand firm in their commitment to protecting life. We must restore the Hyde amendment and reject President Biden's budget because no Tennessean's tax dollars, nor dollars borrowed from our children and grandchildren, should go toward subsidizing Planned Parenthood and the immoral practice of abortion.

Mr. Speaker, since before taking office, President Biden and his far-left base have openly expressed their interest in expanding the Supreme Court to create a super-legislature filled with unelected, liberal Justices determined to do the job of Congress and legislate from the bench.

After watching the nomination proceedings, I have no doubt that Judge Jackson will be exactly that, a rubber stamp for President Biden's agenda, not an impartial Justice who interprets the Constitution how it is written.

I believe Judge Jackson's repeated leniency in Federal sentencing cases toward prisoners in Guantanamo Bay, child sex offenders, and convicted criminal drug traffickers gives us a window into her activist judicial philosophy and renders her unsuitable to serve on the highest court.

On behalf of my neighbors in middle Tennessee, I urge both of our Tennessee Senators to vote ``no'' on confirming Judge Jackson.

Madam Speaker, the crisis on our southern border continues to worsen with each passing day.

Just last month, Customs and Border Protection released their latest figures that showed immigrant encounters at the southern border have increased 61 percent over the last year to 164,973.

That is more than double the population of Cookeville, Crossville, and Lebanon, Tennessee, combined.

President Biden and his administration have caused this crisis and should be held responsible. On his first day in office, he halted construction on the southern border wall. A month later he signed multiple executive orders rescinding President Trump's immigration policies. In June of last year, he ended the remain in Mexico policy. Now, the Biden administration has announced they are ending the Title 42 policy that allows for quick expulsion of illegal immigrants.

Rescinding Title 42 will encourage another surge of illegal immigrants at our southern border and put even more strain on Customs and Border Protection having trouble keeping up already with the record levels of illegal immigrant encounters.

Madam Speaker, on Monday, President Biden released a budget proposal calling for the highest sustained level of government spending in American history.

Unfortunately, despite record-high inflation caused by his administration's reckless and out-of-control spending, President Biden's budget request fails to fight inflation and leaves our military woefully unprepared if enacted as is. Instead, it uses budget tricks and misguided projections, combined with already-expiring spending programs, to forecast an unrealistic decrease in the deficit, all while raising taxes.

In fact, the White House assumed inflation would only be 2.3 percent for this year when, in reality, the actual inflation rate is running at 7.9 percent. Furthermore, they used an extremely low interest rate forecast, even though the Federal Reserve recently raised interest rates and signaled more rate increases would be on the way. Worst of all, they take credit for the temporary spending programs used to combat the pandemic that are already set to expire and are calling it a spending cut.

The only explanation for such drastic errors and misguided messaging is that the Biden administration intentionally wanted to mislead the American people and save face for a failed first year of one-party Democratic control. It is absurd that President Biden thinks he can pull the wool over the American people's eyes and fool them into thinking he has taken the issues of inflation, the debt, and the deficit seriously.

But we know that is not the case because President Biden and Congressional Democrats spent trillions of tax dollars during the first year of complete Democratic control to enact their ultra-leftwing agenda and satisfy their so-called progressive base, resulting in an increase in inflation every month President Biden has been in office.

Even after a year of record spending on unnecessary social programs and burdensome environmental regulations that terminate American jobs and make us reliant on foreign energy, the President did not learn his lesson. His budget proposal spends billions of dollars on Green New Deal initiatives while doing everything possible to eliminate the American oil and gas industry.

The worst part of President Biden's bloated budget is what it means for America's Armed Services. If we want the future of our military to be as strong as our current military then, at the very least, it would need to be funded at the same level of inflation. Instead, military spending only increases by 4 percent, well below the current level of 7.9 percent and future projections.

Amid an active land war in Europe, President Biden's budget would shrink the Active-Duty Army to just 473,000 troops. That would leave the service at its smallest size since 1940.

Before releasing his budget, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the President that inflation would make it difficult to buy the ships that the Navy needs to continue to develop new weapons and to pay our troops at a fair wage. Apparently, the President didn't listen.

How can we expect to compete with China and other adversaries if we are decreasing the size and strength of our military and are unable to fund the research for new weapons? We simply cannot.

It has become apparent that President Biden's White House has adopted a uniform policy when combating inflation. If you close your eyes, cover your ears, plug your nose, and bite your tongue, inflation ceases to exist. We know that is not the case.

Madam Speaker, I have repeatedly called on the President to unleash America's energy independence, reign in government spending, eliminate the burdensome taxes and regulations on job-creating industries and families, and return to the policies that put America first.

Thankfully, Congress will decide what to spend for the sake of our constituents, for our children, and those that follow after them. Let's hope we can come together and pass a budget that puts the brakes on inflation and prevents our country from driving off a fiscal cliff.

Madam Speaker, once again, the President of the United States made a terrible foreign policy blunder when he embarrassingly said that Vladimir Putin cannot remain in power.

Almost immediately, the White House communications team did everything they could to save face and walk back the President's remarks. Thankfully, the Secretary of State issued a statement clarifying the President's comments, saying that the U.S. has no strategy of regime change in Russia.

Unfortunately, it was too little, too late, as Moscow was quick to seize on the President's gaffe to embolden Putin's undeniably false message that Russia is the one under attack.

Mistakes like these directly undermine Ukrainian efforts to protect their sovereignty and stall momentum for peace. President Biden's actions have been misguided from the onset of this war. He has failed to deter Russia, and he was late to give Ukraine the military assistance it so badly needed.

The world expects clear and resolute leadership from the Oval Office. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like there is a chance of that anytime soon.

Madam Speaker, the Biden administration has a backup plan to address rising gas prices, if their Secretary of Transportation's comical recommendation for every American to buy an electric car doesn't pan out. Unfortunately, the plan includes secret talks with Venezuela, led by corrupt dictator Nicolas Maduro, about lifting sanctions on importing Venezuelan oil into the United States.

Of course, if that doesn't work out, there is always Saudi Arabia and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, otherwise known as OPEC, because, surely, begging an oil cartel to make a deal to increase oil production could never go wrong. What is next? Buying oil from Iran, the world's leading exporter of terrorism?

This begs the question: Is this all that the Biden administration has to offer the American people in a time of crisis? Buy oil from corrupt dictators or buy a costly electric vehicle that you can't afford?

These are not the ideals on which America was built. Regrettably, this is President Biden's America.

Mr. Speaker, higher prices at the gas pump directly result from President Biden's actions.

On his first days in office, he canceled the Keystone pipeline; he ended new oil and gas leases on Federal lands; and he is attempting to regulate the industry out of existence by way of executive orders.

But don't worry, President Biden's administration has offered some words of encouragement for Americans struggling to pay outrageous prices at the pump.

Last week, the Secretary of Transportation said to those Americans upset about paying outrageous gas prices that ``communities can all benefit from the gas savings of driving an electric vehicle.''

Did someone forget to mention to the Secretary that the average cost of an electric vehicle is $50,000, which, frankly, is far more than the yearly household income of many middle Tennesseans?

Even Elon Musk, the founder of the electric vehicle maker Tesla, understands that electric vehicles cannot solve this immediate crisis. Maybe he should lead the Department of Transportation.

Mr. Speaker, there is only one solution to President Biden's energy crisis: reverse these disastrous executive orders and unleash America's energy independence.

Madam Speaker, today, I rise to honor Roy and Wilma Brown, who celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary this Monday.

Married on March 14, 1942, at the Cumberland County Courthouse, Roy and Wilma have remained at each other's side ever since.

Through the ups and downs of raising five children on a family farm in middle Tennessee, in the early days with no running water or electricity, the Browns have been no stranger to hardship but have always leaned on the Lord. On their 69th anniversary, Wilma said: ``God has blessed us so much, and we are so thankful.''

Madam Speaker, today, I thank Roy and Wilma Brown for serving as a reminder to all of us, both young and old, of the power and longevity of true love. May both Roy and Wilma have a blessed 80th anniversary, and may this day serve as an inspiration for generations to come.

Madam Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding time tonight.

Madam Speaker, despite what President Biden and congressional Democrats have to say, higher prices at the fuel pump are not because of a Putin price increase.

The price of a gallon of gas increased from $2.31 a gallon since President Biden's inauguration to $3.48 the week before Putin's invasion of Ukraine. That is a 50 percent increase before the invasion of Ukraine even began.

But make no mistake, the Biden administration is doing everything they can to blame the increase on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. They have turned to their allies in the mainstream media to carry their talking points.

But I urge all Americans not to let the headlines or TikTok influencers fool you. This is a crisis caused by President Biden and congressional Democrats' anti-energy policies, not Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

Unfortunately, we all knew this was coming when President Biden said on the campaign trail that he would ``transition away from the oil industry.''

During his first days in office, President Biden declared war against American energy. He moved his plan into action by canceling the Keystone pipeline and other projects, imposing new regulations on the oil and gas industry, and stalling new leases on oil and gas projects on Federal lands.

If the President has a legitimate plan to lower energy prices and fight inflation, we, the American people, would love to see it.

But until we do, I can only guess the President's plan is what he has done since taking office: spend trillions of dollars and hope Americans purchase expensive electric vehicles. That is not a plan. It is a pipe dream.

The truth is that this is not the America President Biden inherited. Under President Trump, America was energy independent, even a net oil exporter. Inflation was well under control. Gas was less than $2.50 a gallon, and our enemies were our enemies, not potential trade partners.

But the price of a gallon of gas, along with inflation, has increased every single month since President Biden was inaugurated. The resulting harm to our country has been mostly self-inflicted and largely driven by Democrats' massive deficit spending and by the fact that the President has declared war on the U.S. oil and gas industry from his first day in office.

Every step he has taken to hinder the oil and gas industry diminishes capitalism, the very engine of our economy and our relatively high standard of living.

Whether it is in our schools or with our healthcare decisions, President Biden's administration wants you to do what they say instead of trusting what has made us the most prosperous country in the history of the world.

Republicans in Congress stand ready to implement policies to make America energy independent again. It is time for the President to reverse the war against American energy and recognize that the solution to his energy crisis exists right under our feet. Still, the President refuses to pull his head out of the sand to tap into it.

He will stop at nothing to satisfy his leftwing base, even if it is at the expense of everyday, hardworking Americans, who I am proud to represent in middle Tennessee.

Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in support of every American being negatively affected by inflation caused by President Biden and congressional Democrats' reckless spending policies over the last year.

Inflation isn't something that happens overnight. It occurs as a direct result of the bills passed right here in this body and the President's executive actions. Since President Biden stepped foot in the Oval Office and Democrats gained control of both branches of Congress, their actions have directly resulted in the highest inflation levels in 40 years, since the year I was a junior in high school.

I recall when President Biden and congressional Democrats' first legislative priority was a $1.9 trillion bill disguised as COVID relief, but in reality, only 9 percent of funds went directly to combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, it was a Progressive wish list of socialist ideas designed to transform American society from one of capitalism to socialism. Even the White House called it the most progressive piece of legislation in the history of the United States.

After that, Democrats wasted the entire legislative year using the budget reconciliation process to bypass the Senate filibuster and to pass their so-called infrastructure bill which was, in

reality, another piece of legislation costing more than $1 trillion, that builds more debt than it builds bridges or roads.

When the bill passed the House, inflation was already on the rise, and gas prices had increased 50 percent over the prior year. Instead of addressing these issues before they got out of hand, Democrats have used their political capital in an attempt to reshape the very fabric of our society and take another giant leap toward the United States becoming another socialist country. As a consequence, the cost of everything has continued to rise while inflation rages on with reckless abandon and no end in sight.

Unfortunately, the madness did not end there. Despite already passing two bills with price tags over a trillion dollars, President Biden and congressional Democrats saved the worst of all for last--their build back broke bill that was thankfully defeated in the Senate but would have added a staggering $5 trillion in new spending.

In just 1 year, House Democrats passed legislation equating to almost $10 trillion which, unbelievably, amounts to a full one-third of the current U.S. national debt. They acted like kids in a candy store with their parents' credit card. But in reality, their actions are even worse than that because in this case they are actually using their children's and grandchildren's and great-grandchildren's credit card, and even though they have more than maxed out the credit card, new purchases are never declined.

Economists warned of an impending recession as we got closer to reaching the debt limit last year. America's fiscal house was flooding, and the Democrats chose to raise the roof rather than stop the flooding. On a party-line vote, Democrats voted to impose the largest nominal increase in the debt cap in the history of our country, and in doing so, once again denied all reality that their out-of-control spending would directly result in inflation, the steep and cruel tax levied on all Americans.

You would think that after passing so many spending bills in the trillions of dollars that they would be able to pass a standard government funding bill, but you would be wrong. Congressional Democrats and President Biden have not achieved this once; in fact, we are already almost halfway through the current fiscal year and, in an ironic twist, are still operating under the spending priorities of President Donald Trump; that is, until the House votes on the Democratic appropriations bills tomorrow, which we have yet to read and will likely cost taxpayers additional trillions of dollars.

Trillions of dollars spent, and what do we have to show for it? Higher prices on everything, real wages for all Americans declining, and an economy dependent on government expenditures. We are getting exactly what President Biden and congressional Democrats want: Socialism. These are not the ideals on which America was founded. Every step they take diminishes capitalism, the engine of our economy and the engine of our standard of living, and it also diminishes freedom, the engine of our national soul. But regrettably, that is President Biden's America.

The fact of the matter is that President Biden's administration will stop at nothing to satisfy their far-left base.

Madam Speaker, this past weekend, on my way to a military medal presentation in Crossville, Tennessee, I stopped to fill my SUV with gas. Like many Americans, I was shocked to have to pay nearly $4 a gallon for gasoline.

Putin's invasion of Ukraine has no doubt made this situation worse, but our skyrocketing gas prices are primarily due to President Biden's reversal of President Trump's highly successful energy policies that had oil and gas production high, gas pump prices low, had created hundreds of thousands of new energy jobs, and had created an energy- independent United States for the first time in decades.

Instead of admitting this mistake, ending the freeze on new oil and gas projects, and stopping the regulatory assault on new energy projects in the United States, the Biden administration has reportedly been secretly meeting with Venezuela and its corrupt authoritarian regime to discuss the possible lifting of sanctions against importing Venezuelan oil.

We currently purchase more than half a million barrels of oil a day from Russia, which needs to stop immediately. Instead of replacing Russian oil with equally nefarious Venezuelan oil, why not re-create those jobs here in America.

Madam Speaker, I rise to celebrate the life of my friend, cousin, and lifelong Tennessean, Jimmie Knight Lancaster. He passed away on February 3rd after a remarkable 92 years on God's earth.

He was born on June 11, 1929 in Smith County, Tennessee and was the oldest of twin sons born to Edward and Dimple Knight Lancaster. He was raised in a log cabin on the family farm and attended Lancaster Elementary School. After graduating from Gordonsville High School in 1947, he attended Tennessee Technological University on a football scholarship where he received All-Conference honors as a single wing tailback. In college, he served as President of the ``T'' Club and was elected to Who's Who Among College Students while graduating with the highest honors and his Bachelor of Science degree in Agronomy Agriculture in 1951.

Mr. Lancaster dedicated much of his life to agriculture. He worked for the Wilson County Farm Bureau as its Agency Manager for over 43 years. In fact, he's now a member of the Wilson County Agricultural Hall of Fame in recognition of his exemplary work for local farmers throughout his career.

Jim had an unquenchable thirst for learning throughout his life. He became a Certified Life Underwriter in 1972, earned an Advanced Estate Planning Degree in 1973, and became a Chartered Financial Consultant in 1982.

As a charter member and former Sunday School teacher at the Westland United Methodist Church in Lebanon, Jim loved the Lord and cherished his family with all his heart. He and Vondell, the love of his life, were married for 67 years before her passing. Together they had five children, twelve grandchildren, eighteen great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. Jim's and Vondell's loving marriage and devotion to family led to a lot of little Lancasters running around Middle Tennessee.

Jim was a joyful role model and so many people in his community knew Jim in that way. He served as a leader in many local organizations including the Chamber of Commerce, Boy Scouts, Lebanon Jaycees, the Peoples Bank, the Lebanon Rotary Club, and Cumberland University, and was local camp President of Gideon's International. He prided himself on being a consummate public servant and attempted to inspire others to do the same.

He received countless awards for his service over the years like becoming a member of the Robert E. Musto Insurance Hall of Fame, receiving an honorary Doctorate in Literary Letters from Cumberland University, the Jaycee's Distinguished Service Award, the Rotary Club's Paul Harris Fellowship Award and Bernie Bass Good Citizenship Award, Tennessee Technological University's Outstanding Service Award, and the Chamber of Commerce's Lifetime Membership Award. But he was a humble man who wasn't in it for recognition. He just loved serving his community and the people in it.

Jim Lancaster spent his entire life serving his community, the public, and the Lord. It is only suitable for Congress to recognize and honor his life and legacy. I was blessed to call Jim family. It is a bittersweet moment for me now to say he's gone to be with our Lord.

I thank Jim Lancaster for a life well lived that touched so many in such a positive way.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address President Biden's national security crisis and to express my support for the people of Ukraine as they fight for their lives and their sovereignty.

An American ally is under attack, and they need our support. Sanctioning the Russian economy is not enough. The Ukrainian Government has requested more lethal aid for many months, and we must deliver it without further delay. We must also end our purchases of nearly 538,000 barrels of Russian oil each day and return to where we were just a short year ago by making America energy independent again.

After 4 years of peace and prosperity, it only took President Biden 400 days to unravel it all. President Biden's weakness on the world stage has emboldened our enemies and created a vacuum that Vladimir Putin is delighted to fill.

President Biden has demonstrated the inability to lead, whether it be the botched Afghanistan withdrawal or the invasion that is happening at our own Southern border. I can't help but think about what might come next as Iran strives to produce nuclear weapons and China may look toward Taiwan and mimic Russia. The world was a much safer place a little over a year ago.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to stand with President Zelensky and the people of Ukraine who are courageously fighting against power-hungry dictator Vladimir Putin.

So much tragedy and loss could have been avoided in Ukraine if we had any real leadership in the White House. Surely evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

Celebrating the Life of Jim Lancaster

Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate the life of my friend, cousin, and lifelong Tennessean, Jim Lancaster. He passed away on February 3 after a remarkable 92 years on God's Earth.

Jim loved the Lord and cherished his family with all his heart. He and Vondell, the love of his life, were married for 67 years. Together they had five children, 12 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and two great-great-grandchildren. Obviously, Jim's and Vondell's loving marriage and devotion to family led to a lot of little Lancasters running around middle Tennessee.

Jim was a joyful role model, and so many people in his community knew Jim in that way. He served as a leader in many local organizations including the chamber of commerce, the Boy Scouts, and too many to name here today. He received loads of awards for his service over the years, but he was a humble man who wasn't in it for recognition. He just loved serving his community and the people in it.

He also dedicated much of his life to agriculture. He graduated from Tennessee Tech, my alma mater, with a degree in agriculture, and then worked for the Wilson County Farm Bureau as its agency manager for over 43 years. In fact, he is now a member of the Wilson County Agricultural Hall of Fame in recognition of his exemplary work for local farmers throughout his distinguished career.

I was blessed to call Jim family. It is bittersweet. It is a bittersweet moment for me now to say he is gone to be with our Lord.

Thank you, Jim Lancaster, for a life well-lived that touched so many in such a positive way.