Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present to cast my vote on Roll Call Nos. 506 through 511 today. Had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 506, NAY on Roll Call No. 507, YEA on Roll Call No. 508, NAY on Roll Call No. 509, YEA on Roll Call No. 510, and YEA on Roll Call No. 511.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present to cast my vote on Roll Call Nos. 502, 503, 504, and 505 today. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call Nos. 502, 503, 504, and 505.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote because of a traffic blockage to the Capitol. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 499.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present to cast my vote on Roll Call No. 492. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present to cast my votes on Roll Call Nos. 484, 485, 486, 487, 488, 489, 490 and 491. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 484, YEA on Roll Call No. 485, YEA on Roll Call No. 486, YEA on Roll Call No. 487, YEA on Roll Call No. 488, NAY on Roll Call No. 489, NAY on Roll Call No. 490, and NAY on Roll Call No. 491.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present to cast my vote on Roll Call No. 479 on December 3, 2024. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present to cast my vote on Roll Call Nos. 480, 481, 482, and 483 today. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 480, YEA on Roll Call No. 481, NAY on Roll Call No. 482, and NO on Roll Call No. 483.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present to cast my votes on Roll Call No. 461, No. 462, No. 463, and No. 464 on November 14, 2024. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 461, NAY on Roll Call No. 462, YEA on Roll Call No. 463, and NAY on Roll Call No. 464.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present to cast my votes on Roll Call No. 474, Roll Call No. 475, and Roll Call No. 476 on November 20, 2024. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 474, YEA on Roll Call No. 475, and YEA on Roll Call No. 476.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present to cast my vote on Roll Call No. 465 on November 15, 2024. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA.

Mr. Speaker, I was unable to be present to cast my votes today. Had I been present, I would have voted NAY on Roll Call No. 477 and YEA on Roll Call No. 478.

Mr. Chair, had I been present, I would have voted AYE on Roll Call No. 470.

Amendment No. 2 Offered by Mr. Grijalva

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

I rise in support of H.R. 5536 and applaud Representatives Russell Fry and Jasmine Crockett for their bipartisan leadership on this bill.

H.R. 5536 aims to increase transparency in the Federal grantmaking review and award process. It does so by strengthening agency compliance with title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations, which describes the contents that notices of funding opportunities must include.

It requires that each notice of funding opportunity for a competitive Federal grant to include specific information about how applications will be assessed, providing all applicants with greater access to the information they need to submit competitive applications.

The Biden-Harris administration has taken important steps to strengthen transparency in and improve accessibility to the Federal grantmaking process.

For example, in April 2024, the Office of Management and Budget announced significant updates to the Uniform Grants Guidance, which governs how agencies make grants and provide other forms of financial assistance. The updates focused on reducing compliance costs, removing barriers to entry and accessibility, and making Federal funds easier to track.

H.R. 5536 is aligned with these goals, and I urge my colleagues to support it today.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, regardless of party affiliation, every voting American wants to be confident that their ballot will get processed. No matter who we vote for, we all want our ballots to get smoothly to their final destination on time to be counted.

After all, this desire applies to anything important that we want processed. When was the last time anyone here sent a family heirloom through the mail to their relative without getting a tracking number? Who hasn't tracked an order of clothing or medicine at least once? I don't know about you, but for me, it is comforting to know what city my new shoes are in when they are being shipped so I know they are truly on the way.

Ballots are so much more important than shoes. When something is important to us, we all want to know it is in good hands, and our ballots are no exception.

Fortunately, the United States Postal Service created a tracking barcode for mail-in ballots, but unfortunately, right now, not everyone gets to use ballot envelopes that meet the Postal Service design requirements. That is why I joined Republican Representatives Byron Donalds and Nancy Mace in introducing the Vote by Mail Tracking Act, to fix that problem.

Under this nonpartisan bill, every ballot envelope will meet Postal Service standards and get a tracking barcode. Voters of all political stripes can have confidence that their ballot is accounted for along the journey to our election officials.

This commonsense modernization can improve transparency and trust in our elections for Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike. That is exactly why this bill is led by 10 Republicans and 10 Democrats who represent every major ideological caucus in the House. That includes both Chairman Comer and Ranking Member Raskin, two people named Jamie who couldn't be more different but both cosponsor this bill.

Madam Speaker, it just doesn't get more bipartisan than this bill. These days, it can be hard enough just to get Democrats to agree with Democrats and Republicans to agree with Republicans in this Congress, let alone to have conservatives, moderates, progressives, and Members somewhere in between all teaming up to back legislation. The Vote by Mail Tracking Act has support from every corner of the House because it is not partisan. It is just good policy.

If the shipment carrying Christmas presents that I order online is trackable, then we should certainly all expect something as valuable and as sacred as our ballots to be trackable, too.

This bill doesn't just make things more streamlined for the American people; it also makes processing easier and more efficient for the Postal Service, reducing its burden and making efficient use of taxpayer dollars.

I thank all of my colleagues who cosponsored this legislation and unanimously voted to advance it out of the Oversight Committee. I give a special thank-you to Chairman Comer, Ranking Member Raskin, and their staff for their work on this bill.

The Vote by Mail Tracking Act is truly a reflection that it is still possible, even in this political moment, to find consensus in Washington and come together on real solutions. I urge every single Member of this body to support it.

Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers. I urge the passage of H.R. 5658, and I yield back the balance of my time.

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

Madam Speaker, the BOLIVAR Act would temporarily prohibit executive agencies from entering into contracts for the procurement of goods or services with any person or business that they determine, with the concurrence of the Department of State, knowingly engages in significant business operations with the Maduro regime in Venezuela.

The bill goes on to list certain exceptions, including contracts vital to U.S. national security or necessary for the purposes of providing humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, and other urgent lifesaving measures, or to carry out noncombatant evacuations.

I certainly understand the motivation behind this bill. The Maduro regime's blatant disregard of the recent election results in Venezuela is a violation of international law and has left the regime more isolated than ever.

I know that the administration has some concerns about this bill. However, the Department of Defense, which conducts almost two-thirds of Federal procurement, has had a policy in place like the BOLIVAR Act for 2 years now. I thank the majority for working with us to address some of those concerns in the bill before us today.

Madam Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I yield back the balance of my time.