Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I was detained in the Hope Hicks deposition. Had I been present, I would have voted ``Nay'' on rollcall No. 356.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a constituent, a veteran, and a dedicated public servant, Lynn Aas. Lynn's courage in battle, contributions to his community, and service to his state are testaments to his incredible character.

Lynn was born near Benedict, North Dakota, in 1921 and graduated from Velva High School. While attending the University of North Dakota, Lynn heard of the attacks on Pearl Harbor and immediately put his education on hold to enlist in the U.S. Army. His Army career was filled with distinguished service, earning a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, the Luxembourg Medal of Honor, and most recently, the French Legion of Honor Medal for his heroics during the Battle of the Bulge and Operation Varsity. Lynn was one of five men who returned from his 55- man unit that survived the Battle of the Bulge.

Upon completion of his Army service, Lynn earned a bachelor's degree in commerce and a Juris Doctor from the University of North Dakota. He worked as a special agent for the IRS in Minneapolis, where he met Beverly Stockstad, whom he married in 1952. They eventually settled in Minot, where he worked as the business manager of the Medical Arts Clinic and they raised their four sons.

Lynn's public service to North Dakota began by serving in the North Dakota Legislative Assembly in the 1967 and 1969 sessions. He also served as a member of the North Dakota Constitutional Convention in 1972. Upon retirement, he returned to the legislature, serving during the 1987 and 1989 sessions, marking four sessions as a North Dakota legislator.

Lynn has continued to have a profound impact on his community of Minot and the state of North Dakota. He is a longtime supporter of Minot State University, playing an instrumental role in starting their Nursing Program. He served as president of the Minot Chamber of Commerce, just celebrated his 59th year of service in the Kiwanis Club of Minot, and has been active in his church, and local and state politics.

June 4th marked Lynn's 98th birthday. For this special occasion, I send him warmest greetings on behalf of the U.S. House of Representatives and blessings to him and his family.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor an outstanding constituent and public servant, Rosemarie Myrdal.

Rosemarie's tremendous career and life is a testament to her strong spirit, hard work, and determination.

Rosemarie was born in Minot in 1929, graduated from Fargo Central High School, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Education from North Dakota Agricultural College. She married John Myrdal in 1952 and the couple began farming near Edinburg and raising five children.

Rosemarie's public service to the state began in 1984, when she was elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives. In 1992, Rosemarie was elected as the first Republican woman to serve as Lieutenant Governor in North Dakota history. She served alongside Governor Ed Schafer from 1992 to 2000.

Rosemarie continued her service to her community after her terms as Lieutenant Governor, staying active in the Edinburg School Board, the Icelandic Communities Association, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the North Dakota Diabetes Association, the North Dakota Library Coordinating Council, Preservation North Dakota, and Red River Resource Conservation and Development.

May 19 was Rosemarie's 90th birthday. On this special occasion, I send her warmest greetings on behalf of the U.S. House of Representatives and blessings to her and her family.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor an outstanding constituent, a friend, and a truly remarkable woman, Irene Schafer.

May 16 is Irene's 89th birthday, and I can attest that those 89 years have been spent tirelessly serving those around her. Service to her community is who Irene is.

Irene is active with many civic and leadership groups in Dickinson, including the Dickinson Area Builders Association, Badlands Board of Realtors, Dickinson Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce, St. Joseph's Hospital Foundation's Charity Ball Committee, Dickinson State University Alumni Association's Yuletyme Committee, AAUW, United Way, Elks Lodge, District 36 GOP, as well as a member of the Post Office Consumer Advisory Committee.

Even so, Irene was not satisfied with her level of community service. In 2016, Irene founded a new group, the Power of 100 Women, to gather women four times per year to each donate $100 to a deserving nonprofit organization.

The Power of 100 Women donated more than $15,000 to help open Hope's Landing, a sober-living home in Dickinson for women suffering from addiction. The group donated $10,000 to the Dickinson Backpack Program to purchase 2,000 backpacks for schoolchildren in need. Most recently, the group donated $20,000 to Project H.E.R.O. (Helping Educators Reach Out), a non-profit organization ensuring that children are eating lunch every day. Since its founding, the organization's members have donated over $240,000 to community-serving organizations.

Irene's mission in life is to build a great community and she is doing that every day through her community service.

My warmest greetings to Irene on her 89th birthday. Blessings to her and her family on this special occasion.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 174.

Mr. Speaker, Americans care about clean air; Americans care about clean water; and the U.S. needs to be at the table for these discussions as we move into a global economy. But, Mr. Speaker, a bad deal is worse than no deal at all. Make no mistake, H.R. 9 is a bad deal.

Almost no countries are in compliance with the Paris deal now, let alone its future requirements. I am going to have some breaking news here: China is not a developing country. China emits over 30 percent of the world's pollution. But not China, not India, not Australia, not the EU, and not even Canada are in compliance with the current terms.

The U.N. Emissions Gap Report estimates U.N. countries will have to triple their efforts to meet the Paris deal commitments. This deal imposes stricter requirements on the United States than other countries. It requires significant and economically damaging carbon emission reductions from the United States without requiring those same requirements from China, from India, and from other developing countries.

A true international agreement to address carbon emissions would require actionable commitments from all the countries and would have included a mechanism for enforcement. China has only committed to raising its nonfossil fuel share of its economy to 20 percent by 2030 and a commitment that CO2 emissions will peak in 2030. That is not including their financing of essentially unregulated coal plants all over the developing world.

U.S. CO2 emissions have peaked in the mid-2000s and have decreased since then. The United States is on track to hit about 65 percent of the voluntary targets based on both the Bush- and Obama-era regulations and existing power sector trends.

Mr. Speaker, we need to focus on developing and exporting innovation and technology to reduce emissions; give us cleaner air and water and reliable, affordable energy for families all across the country. Without that, this bill is simply virtue signaling. But it is worse than that because, by its very nature, it will force the exporting of pollution to countries that do not have the United States' regulatory controls.

We benefit from producing energy here. It is done safely and securely and creates American jobs. We need to end our reliance on foreign fuels and promote homegrown and home-produced fuels just like we have done in North Dakota.

The energy sector not only is great for our economy, but it is incredibly important for national security. So let's get on with real solutions. Let's get more pipelines in the ground. Let's allow for natural gas to be burned during the winter instead of heating oil. Let's end sue-and-settle environmentalism, and let's not forget that we had 8 years under the Obama administration to lead environmentally by symbolism and symbolism alone. We need to get rid of symbolism and start working toward action.

Democrats are offering unrealistic, counterproductive policies like stopping pipelines needed to transport environmentally safe natural gas and stopping trains from going into their own States. We need to allow for our energy infrastructure to catch up to where it needs to be, and then we can lead the world in global innovation and technology.

Mr. Speaker, sheriffs from across the country are in D.C. this week, and they have a simple message for Congress: Secure the border.

These sheriffs know that border security will help stem the flow of illegal drugs and human trafficking which affect communities all across the country.

The sheriffs warn that a new demand from my colleagues across the aisle could mean over 8,000 criminals would have to be released by authorities.

They wrote: ``This dangerous Congressional proposal not only jeopardizes the risk of our national security, but hinders our law enforcement officers from effectively enforcing and upholding the law and protecting their communities.''

In other words, this demand does not make our country safer.

We need to empower law enforcement to hold criminal aliens, when appropriate, to protect our communities. The last thing we should do is release dangerous criminals from custody.

I urge negotiators to come to an agreement to secure our border, build the wall--a barrier, a fence, a partition, a panel. I am less interested in semantics and more interested in supporting the law enforcement officers who are on the front lines every day protecting our communities.

Madam Speaker, the North Dakota State University football team brought home their record seventh FCS championship trophy in 8 years.

On January 5, the Bison defeated the Eastern Washington Eagles, 38- 24. The Eagles are a good team and attempted several comebacks, but the Bison held strong for the win.

Quarterback Easton Stick led the Bison with a spectacular performance. He had five touchdowns--two passing and three rushing--for a combined 319 yards.

The Bison players were cheered on by 17,000 dedicated NDSU fans who traveled over 1,000 miles south to Frisco, Texas, for what has become an annual journey.

Victory also sealed Coach Klieman's place in college football history. In his five seasons, he has coached the team to four national championships and just four conference losses.

Madam Speaker, this incredible achievement is the result of months of hard work and preparation. Congratulations to all Bison players, coaches, and fans. They earned it.