Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, today was a tremendous victory for sanity in California. I had the opportunity to join President Trump at the White House where he signed into law a resolution I introduced to reverse Gavin Newsom's ban on gas cars once and for all.

I want to thank my colleagues here in Congress on both sides of the aisle who joined us in passing this and getting it to the President's desk where it was signed into law today.

Because of its passage, Californians can now continue to drive a car of their choice rather than one that is dictated to them by the government.

We are pretty close to killing the high-speed rail disaster once and for all, as well, so we can invest money in our roads where it is needed. I think, Mr. Speaker, that we truly are on a path back to sanity in California.

Mr. Speaker, over the last few days, the country has been shocked by the horrifying images coming out of Los Angeles, but what is also shocking are the brazenly false statements made by the Governor of California.

Governor Newsom has asked us not to believe our eyes, not to believe the scenes that we are all seeing of officers being attacked, of cars being lit on fire, of roadways being blocked. The Governor has claimed that everything was fine and that everything was perfect until the National Guard arrived.

This is completely inaccurate, as a matter of the timeline. Things had spun out of control well before the Guard got there. That is why the Guard was called in. It is also deeply offensive to attack the men and women in our National Guard by claiming that their presence has somehow catalyzed this violence.

The Governor owes an apology to the men and women in our National Guard who are serving our State and our country. He owes an apology to the people of Los Angeles for his role in egging on the riots.

The good news, if there is any good news at all, is that I believe the people of California have had enough. There is a coalition for common sense emerging in our State, and I believe we will return sanity and safety to our communities.

The scenes we are seeing in Los Angeles right now are absolutely horrifying, and California's radical political leadership has done everything possible to usher in this chaos.

First of all, they aided and abetted Biden's open border, which was worse in California than anywhere.

Second, they adopted sanctuary policies that prevent ICE from being able to conduct immigration operations in the safest and most orderly fashion in a custodial setting.

Three, they massively have funded radical groups that are now going out and providing coordinates to people throughout L.A. for where ICE operations are taking place.

Four, they have actually released a lot of dangerous criminals from our jails through early release policies so there are plenty of people out there who are willing to stir up trouble.

Five, they are adding fuel to the fire--literal fires--with incendiary rhetoric that are vilifying our law enforcement officers, that are vilifying Federal officials.

Then, worst of all, the Governor is refusing to take action to keep the community safe. Right now the entire country has seen what his failed policies have done to our State.

Mr. Speaker, this last week, a local newspaper published a letter to the editor claiming that by fighting against Governor Newsom's policies, I was not serving my constituents.

I very strongly disagree with that statement.

The fact is that we have a Governor whose policies have turned the greatest State in the country into the most popular State to leave.

We have a Governor who believes that because he has a supermajority in the legislature, he can run roughshod over the rights of Californians and continue to cause the quality of life in our State to decline.

Here in Congress, we have tools to fight back. I set out at the beginning of this year to use whatever tools are available to fight back against Governor Newsom's most harmful policies, and I believe that is precisely how I can best serve not only my constituents but all Californians and, indeed, all Americans because the Governor has himself said that his failed policies are ``a model for the Nation.''

I will go through the 10 areas, the 10 radical failed policies of Governor Newsom, which have prevailed in California that we set out to reverse, to fight to overturn or to, at least where we can, mitigate the harm.

I will give a progress report on where we are with respect to each of those 10 items.

Very quickly, the 10 are: Number one, crazy EV mandates; number two, free Medicaid for illegal immigrants; number three, out-of-control homelessness; number four, reckless crime policies; number five, the high-speed rail disaster; number six, the sanctuary State disgrace; number seven, failing public schools; number eight, manmade water shortages; number nine, catastrophic wildfires; and number 10, chaotic elections.

The good news is we have made significant progress when it comes to each of those 10 items.

When it comes to EV mandates, just about a week and a half ago, the Senate followed in the House's footsteps and passed my resolution to overturn Gavin Newsom's ban on gas-powered vehicles.

Any day now, President Trump will sign my resolution into law and Gavin Newsom's unworkable gas car ban, where he wanted to dictate what millions of Californians drive, will be reversed and Californians will be able to drive the car of their choice.

Not only that, we are reversing Newsom's EV mandate when it comes to trucks, and we have already seen the reversal of his mandates when it comes to trains, when it comes to buses, when

it comes to lawnmowers, and when it comes to leaf blowers.

Number Two, on free Medi-Cal for illegal immigrants, a policy that no other State in the country has, a policy that has literally driven our Medicaid system to the point of insolvency, I introduced the No Medicaid for Illegal Immigrants Act.

We have been applying pressure in every way we can, and finally Gavin Newsom has bowed to that pressure. He has announced that he is sunsetting his own policy, ending it at the conclusion of this year.

Of course, he still has not gone far enough because he wants to keep it going for those who have already enrolled, but this is a significant victory in forcing the Governor's hand.

When it comes to homelessness, California has by far the worst homelessness in the country, where the population of homeless has skyrocketed during Newsom's tenure as Governor, where he spent $24 billion and a State audit determined that he lost track of the money as homelessness, again, continued to go up.

What is worse is, we had this decision from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that said that local communities weren't able to do anything about homelessness. The decision said you are not allowed to regulate camping, you are not allowed to regulate homeless encampments in public spaces, even in front of schools or in parks.

Well, last year, we had a significant victory before the U.S. Supreme Court, to overturn that lower court decision. Here is the thing: Newsom wanted to keep the Ninth Circuit decision in place, whereas I advocated in an amicus brief that we reverse that decision and we restore the power of local communities to regulate homelessness in a commonsense way.

Because of that victory before the Supreme Court, you are now seeing, across California, order returning to our public spaces. Even far left, very heavily democratic jurisdictions like Fremont and San Francisco have acted on this new ability provided by the Supreme Court decision that I advocated for to clean up their streets, and we are starting to actually see the situation improve.

Number Four, when it comes to crime, we had an enormous victory last November when it came to Prop 36, an initiative that I helped to lead and qualify for the ballot that has made crime illegal again in California by restoring some basic consequences for theft and open drug use and dealing fentanyl.

Now, of course, Gavin Newsom and the supermajority in California fought against Prop 36 each and every step of the way. They even concocted corrupt schemes to take it off the ballot and deny Californians the opportunity to vote, but each and every one of their schemes failed.

Despite Governor Newsom leading the opposition to this initiative to make crime illegal again in California, it passed overwhelmingly. It passed with a higher percentage than any initiative on the ballot. It passed in each and every one of California's 58 counties, even Gavin Newsom's and Kamala Harris' San Francisco.

As a result, you are seeing law enforcement throughout California that now has a new ability to restore order and arrest people who commit crimes. We are starting to see real improvements across the State that we have not seen in a very long time.

Five, when it comes to high-speed rail, the biggest public infrastructure failure in United States history, which Gavin Newsom has continued to pour billions and billions of dollars into, at the beginning of this year, I introduced legislation to say that it shall receive no more Federal funding.

I then joined Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy at Union Station in Los Angeles to announce an investigation, an audit, and a compliance review by the Federal Department of Transportation into California High-Speed Rail and the billions it has received in Federal funding. Just this week, we got the results of that audit, finding that California is woefully out of compliance and that there is no viable path forward for the project.

I believe that with this Federal money now stopped, this is the beginning of the end of the high-speed rail disaster in California.

Six, when it comes to the sanctuary State, we have taken a number of measures. I introduced a bill, the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act. I also introduced the Freedom to Cooperate Act to allow local authorities to cooperate with Federal immigration enforcement. We have also seen a number of executive orders making it very clear that sanctuary jurisdictions are unacceptable and are in defiance of Federal law.

In California, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli has found a way to circumvent effectively the sanctuary State using the powers of Federal law enforcement, so we have come a long way toward ending the disgrace of the sanctuary State in California.

When it comes to California's failing public schools, which are just about the worst in the entire country, we have the lowest literacy rate of any State in the country. We continue to see attacks on high- performing schools from Governor Newsom and his enablers in the legislature.

We also have some good news on this front. I am chair of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, and we have been fighting to give Americans school choice. In this reconciliation bill, H.R. 1, there is a provision that would ignite a school choice revolution across America by providing tax credits that can then be used to allow students to attend a school of their choice. We believe this could enable meaningful school choice for 2 million students across the country.

I am also continuing to advocate for the High-Quality Charter Schools Act, a bill I have introduced that would enable a similar measure of school choice for students in the public school system through charter schools, potentially tripling the number of students attending charter schools across America.

Eight, when it comes to the absurdity of California's man-made water crisis, where, for example, when we had heavy storms in California that caused 20,000 cubic feet of water per second to be cascading out of Folsom Dam, we at the same time had a drought emergency still in effect because we don't have adequate water storage to capture the water when it comes. We don't have the ability to level out these cycles of wetness and dryness that are utterly predictable in California. On top of that, we have crazy policies that divert water to the ocean for the most absurd of reasons.

The good news is that we are starting to see some of this diversion of water come to an end, and we have secured Federal funding for the most significant water project in California in decades, Sites Reservoir, which is now well on its way to substantially expanding water storage in California. We are also taking steps to raise the level of Shasta Dam to provide additional water storage there, as well.

Nine, when it comes to the catastrophic wildfires, which have afflicted my district in searing and tragic ways and which the whole world saw on tragic display in Los Angeles at the beginning of this year, we know that California's failures to adequately manage its forests have precipitated many of these catastrophic fires in addition to several other policy failures.

The good news is that we are restoring common sense when it comes to forest management. We just passed on a bipartisan basis a couple of months ago the Fix Our Forests Act, which will streamline the sort of environmental regulations that stop us from appropriately managing our forests. It passed the House with bipartisan support, and I expect to see it pass the United States Senate very soon.

Finally, when it comes to California's election system, it is much more chaotic than any other State in the country. We take a month just to count votes, so the entire country is waiting for California to finish a process that takes everyone else a matter of hours or a few days.

We have passed in the House of Representatives the SAVE Act, which advances a commonsense proposition that you should provide proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. A recent survey showed that 72 percent of California's Democrats, Republicans, and Independents support this commonsense policy.

In addition, I have introduced the Election Results Accountability Act, saying that California has to count its votes in a timely manner. Finally, I believe that Californians will have a

chance in the next election to vote on a proposition to establish voter ID in California elections.

On each of these fronts, we have made significant progress, and it is improving the quality of life for Californians. Once again, this is a concern for all Americans because by making California sane again, we will help to bring about and continue this golden age in this country and chart a future that truly lives up to the founding ideals of our country.

California has always been at the leading edge of the American Dream. When California thrives, the rest of the country does, as well.

Responding to California High-Speed Rail Authority Statement

Mr. Speaker, I want to take a moment to respond to the statement put out by California's High-Speed Rail Authority in response to the audit from the Department of Transportation that came out yesterday.

This audit began a few months ago. I joined Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy in Los Angeles to announce the investigation into California's 17-year-long failure to build anything despite receiving massive funding at the State and Federal levels.

The audit specifically looked at what happened to the $4 billion in Federal funds that were provided through recent grants. The result of the audit showed that the State is woefully out of compliance, that it has built nothing, and that there is no viable path forward for the project; therefore, those grants can now be terminated.

The High-Speed Rail Authority came out with this statement, which, frankly, defies belief. It said: ``The Authority strongly disagrees with the [Federal Rail Administration's] conclusions, which are misguided and do not reflect the substantial progress made to deliver high-speed rail in California.''

Mr. Speaker, I almost cannot believe those words: ``the substantial progress to deliver high-speed rail in California.'' What progress has been made, let alone substantial progress? There literally has not been any track laid in 17 years. There has not been one passenger in 17 years. There have been five CEOs of the rail authority, by the way, so the CEOs of the rail authority outnumber the passengers 5-0. Mr. Speaker, $17 billion has been spent already, and literally nothing has been built.

By the way, the initial projection was that this thing was going to be done in 2020. That is what we were told when it was proposed in 2008, that by the year 2020, we will have a high-speed rail system, that you could hop on it in Los Angeles, and it will take you swiftly to San Francisco. Wouldn't that be nice?

We are now in the year 2025, and nothing has been built. We are 5 years past the deadline for the whole thing to be done. Nothing has been built, and the rail authority has the audacity to claim that substantial progress has been made.

By the way, we were also told that, by the year 2030, we would have 100 million riders per year. We now know for a fact that the number of riders per year by the year 2030 will be 100 million less than forecast. There will be zero riders still by the year 2030. We are told, no, no, substantial progress has been made.

Mr. Speaker, how do we know there will be no riders by the year 2030? The rail authority has said so itself. It has continued to scale back its initial leg of the system but has continued to push back the completion date for that initial segment.

The initial segment of the system from Bakersfield to Merced would span 119 miles. For those who are not from California, these are not exactly population centers. They have set a deadline to complete that by 2033. They are now saying that even that deadline will not be met.

Mr. Speaker, in 2033, we will not even have the initial segment of 119 miles from Bakersfield to Merced. By 2020, we were initially promised we would have the whole thing from L.A. to San Francisco. By 2030, we would have 100 million riders.

The CEO of the rail authority came out recently and said he has a new and very ambitious plan that by the year 2045, 20 years from now, not only will we have this Bakersfield to Merced segment done but we will also have Gilroy to Palmdale.

For those who don't know California geography, where are these places? Neither is especially close to San Francisco or Los Angeles.

Let's give him the benefit of the doubt. Let's assume this actually happens. By 2045, we have Palmdale to Gilroy. There is no reason to believe that will be true since every single other deadline has been missed and has been pushed back. Let's give him the benefit of the doubt.

They work hard for 20 years. They continue to spend tens of billions of dollars. They build Palmdale to Gilroy by 2045. How exactly would we utilize this system if we wanted to go from L.A. to San Francisco? Here is what we would have to do.

We would have to get on one rail system. It would take about 2 hours to get from L.A. to Palmdale. A passenger would then have to get off and hop onto the high-speed train. They probably have to wait for it.

That would take about 2 hours to then get to Gilroy. At Gilroy, a person would get off and wait for another train, one that is not a high-speed one. That would take them from Gilroy into San Francisco.

Overall, the trip at a minimum would take 6 hours and would span three different transit systems. It wouldn't be doable until 2045 at a minimum.

Right now, today, for decades, a traveler could take a flight on Southwest or several other airlines from L.A. to San Francisco in about an hour.

No, we are told that this vision, this new plan, amounts to substantial progress such that the results of the audit are--let's see, what were the words here?--misguided. They do not reflect the substantial progress that has been made.

By the way, the Governor has hired a gentleman who specifically goes around on X attacking people like me who criticize anything that the Governor is for. Newsom is completely for spending billions and billions on the high-speed rail. In fact, he just doubled the amount that will be spent this year through the cap-and-trade fund.

This gentleman responded to my criticism of the high-speed rail by saying that we are creating all these jobs. That is what this is about.

I am all for creating jobs. In fact, it would be great if we had more jobs in California. As it is, under Governor Newsom, California has the highest unemployment rate in the country. A recent jobs report showed literally zero job growth in California. I would love to create more jobs.

We could create jobs by hiring people to dig a hole and hire more people to come and fill the dirt back in, which isn't that far from what is actually happening with the high-speed rail.

It is better to create jobs doing something that actually creates value, that improves the quality of life of Californians, and that stimulates economic activity. Then there are actually more jobs because those are jobs associated with the economic activity that results from having something useful when it comes to transportation.

I do believe that this compliance review is the beginning of the end for high-speed rail in California. I am now calling on the House to pass my bill which provides that not only will Federal funds continue to be unavailable during this administration but that the project will be ineligible for any further Federal funding going forward.

Once we eliminate the possibility of future Federal funding, the State will have no choice but to acknowledge reality and finally wind down this embarrassing and disastrous project. This is the worst public infrastructure failure in U.S. history.

They will use those funds where they are truly needed, which is on our roads, on our other transportation infrastructure, or, frankly, on literally anything else.

Grading for Equity Initiative

Mr. Speaker, last week, San Francisco announced a new grading for equity initiative. As the chair of the Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education, this caught my eye.

What they are proposing is truly beyond belief. This grading for equity initiative in San Francisco was in a sense a brilliant solution to San Francisco's problem of having so many failing schools. It would simply fiat that kids would not be failed.

Anyone who got an F would just magically be given a C. Even if a student got a B-minus all the way down to 81 percent, that would actually be considered an A under this grading for equity initiative.

By the way, there would be no grading on anything--not homework, not attendance, not midterms, or anything like that. Grades wouldn't be given at all. The only thing that would actually matter for grades is a final exam. Even then, a student would get to keep retaking it until the student got the grade that he or she wanted.

Last week, I raised some concerns about this new initiative. Just for some context, it should be understood that San Francisco has had among the very worst student achievement gaps in the State and anywhere across the country. During COVID, they were just about the last place in the country to reopen their schools.

Students were attending class every day with no problem throughout the country and even in other parts of California. Yet, this corrupt school district refused to open its schools. Instead, what it spent its time on was creating a commission to rename schools.

They came up with such interesting recommendations as removing the name of Abraham Lincoln from an elementary school. Lincoln was not woke enough for this commission. They even went so far as to suggest removing the name of Dianne Feinstein from a school. All the while, these schools were closed, and students were continuing to fall behind.

Sadly, it didn't surprise me to see San Francisco come out with this absolutely preposterous grading for equity initiative.

The good news is that after we focused attention on this and folks spoke out against it, the district has now reversed course and has said they are not going to implement this in the coming school year as planned.

That is good news for all Californians because the crazy ideas that often start in San Francisco then often spread throughout the rest of the State and can even spread to the rest of the country.

I am hopeful that this will be a wake-up call that the way to solve the problem of failing public schools is not simply to lower expectations, arbitrarily raise grades, and make it so that failure just simply isn't within the grading system. Rather, it is to raise expectations and follow the forms of accountability and flexibility and other education reforms that have elevated student achievement in much more forward-looking jurisdictions across the country.

California Students Trapped in Failing Schools

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, in my home State of California, the California State Assembly passed one of the most despicable education bills that we have seen in a long time. Assembly Bill 84 is the latest all-out attack on charter school families and students in California.

It is part of what has been a war against charters since Governor Gavin Newsom came into office. Indeed, we are seeing that reach a truly concerning level right now, even before this bill.

Across California, we are seeing new legislation passed by the supermajority and signed by Newsom used to devastating effect to target high-performing charter schools and to shut them down or to stop new charters from starting up, forcing families to return to neighborhood schools that they had chosen not to attend and that, in many cases, are failing to teach students the basics.

We have many examples now of high-performing charters in the State being nonrenewed, but this bill, AB 84, makes things even worse. It specifically targets independent study and homeschool-based charters, which are very important for many families throughout California and which are very important, for example, for students with special needs.

It seeks to defund these schools and force them to shut down, taking this option away from those families and forcing them to go back into a system that wasn't working for them. It seeks to further trap students in failing schools and ensure that California remains as having among the worst education outcomes in the country, especially for students in underserved communities.

The bill is so bad and disgraceful that almost 20 Democrats just didn't even vote at all. They abstained. They knew it was terrible, but they didn't want to go against their party, the Governor, or special interests. They simply abstained from the vote.

This is a measure that absolutely cannot be allowed to pass. It still needs to go through the California State Senate, but I would encourage folks throughout the State to get in touch with their Senator about it.

The fact that we have this continued assault on students and families and their schools, this continued attempt to continue educational inequities in our State to continue our State and country's decline when it comes to education, this makes it all the more imperative that we do everything that we can here to provide choice to families and advance educational excellence.

While California is the worst of the worst when it comes to how our school system is run and the policies that the Governor has imposed, across the country, we have seen continued decline when it comes to student achievement. Spending has continued to go up, and student achievement has continued to go down. We are falling behind other countries, and it is putting our country at significant risk for the future.

Millions of kids in California and throughout the country are not getting the education that they deserve. As chair of the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee, I am committed to reversing these trends.

The good news is that I am sponsoring the Educational Choice for Children Act. The basic concept of that bill is to enable school choice for millions of kids across the country. It is now included in the reconciliation bill, H.R. 1, which I believe is one of the most important facets of this bill.

I am also strongly advocating for a similar measure, the High-Quality Charter School Act, to be passed either as a standalone bill or, perhaps more relevantly, as part of the same reconciliation bill, H.R. 1.

We believe this measure could triple the number of students attending high-performing charter schools across the country, and it would be a great help to California families who are being attacked by their own State government.

If we could ignite this school choice revolution across the country, then what the data shows is that this will help not only those millions of families that choose to enroll in a public charter or a private school, but it will lift all boats. It will advance student achievement for kids all across the country. It will reverse this decline that we have continued to see in our education system. It will give families the opportunities that they deserve and that they are entitled to. It will put our country on much stronger footing for generations to come.

congratulating tahoe yacht club

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Tahoe Yacht Club as they celebrate their 100-year anniversary.

In 1925, many San Francisco families discovered and became drawn to the beauty of Lake Tahoe. A small group of individuals formed the Tahoe Power Boat Club to organize seasonal boat regattas, which quickly became a highlight of the Tahoe Basin. In 1938, the organization officially became the Tahoe Yacht Club, the name it proudly holds today.

Over the following decades, membership grew exponentially to around 600. The organization later established the Trans-Tahoe Race, the organization's largest sailing event, which soon became internationally acclaimed. It attracted people from across the world. This July will mark the 62nd annual Trans-Tahoe Regatta.

The Tahoe Yacht Club has exhibited endurance and resilience over the past century, briefly closing over COVID-19 but overcoming the challenges of that time to reopen to a wave of new members. Today, the Tahoe Yacht Club boasts a membership of 450 individuals and maintains a year-round calendar of outdoor activities, environmental cleanup days, and strong community engagement.

It is an honor to represent exemplary organizations like the Tahoe Yacht Club in Congress. The Tahoe Yacht

Club contributes to the Tahoe Basin's status as an international destination, and its contributions have had a positive and lasting impact on the region.

Therefore, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I am honored to recognize the Tahoe Yacht Club for their 100-year anniversary.

national teacher appreciation week: danna mccoy

Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I wish to take a moment to highlight a teacher from the Colfax Elementary School District, Danna McCoy, who has dedicated the past 4 years of her career to educating the young students of her community.

Mrs. McCoy is an invaluable member of the Colfax Elementary team. She started as a paraeducator before going back to school to become a teacher. Now, she has many different roles at Colfax Elementary, serving as their resource specialist program teacher, working on the multitiered system of support team, coordinating the tier 2 check-in, check-out program, and acting as the SST coordinator.

Mrs. McCoy's efforts are critical to ensuring that students' individualized education plans, IEPs, are being met, and she has built an educational environment dedicated to helping all students reach their full potential. She also creates schedules for all of her school's paraprofessionals to ensure smooth support across the campus.

Mrs. McCoy's efforts do not go unnoticed. She is an exceptional educator, and she continues to make a strong impact in the educational journey of her students. She is known by others for her hard work, determination, strong ability to collaborate with other colleagues and work in a team, and for the brightness and positivity that she brings to the school.

It is a true honor to represent exemplary teachers like her in Congress, and I commend Mrs. McCoy for her exceptional dedication to education and promoting student success and academic achievement.

Therefore, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I am pleased to recognize Mrs. Danna McCoy for her significant contributions to the Colfax Elementary School District and the young students of the Colfax community.

Recognizing Chris Wardlaw

Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I wish to take a moment to recognize a teacher from the Western Placer Unified School District, Mr. Chris Wardlaw, who has dedicated 25 years of his career to educating the students of his community.

Mr. Wardlaw became passionate about teaching when he had the opportunity to be a teaching assistant in graduate school when he was studying to become a research biologist. In that capacity, university students knew him for going above and beyond by holding extra weekly office hours, meeting with study groups in the library before midterms, and helping however he could. His true passion for teaching that was ignited in that role has continued to this day.

His current high school students know him similarly as the teacher who is always willing to help, no matter the time or the place. He teaches during lunch, before school, after school, into the evening, and sometimes over the weekend before an upcoming important test, dedicating countless hours towards promoting the success of his students. He even extends himself at times to help students that aren't specifically in his class. He brings enthusiasm, positivity, and perseverance to the classroom and uses these traits as tools to help inspire students to learn and apply math and science to their day-to- day lives.

Additionally, Mr. Wardlaw created a summer bridge course after seeing a critical need among students transitioning from middle school to high school, with a goal of closing that gap. The success of the program is evident as nearly all students in his program are thriving in math for the first time.

Mr. Wardlaw exemplifies what it means to be a dedicated, compassionate, selfless, and skilled educator. He is a source of support for not only his students but also his colleagues in the school. Mr. Wardlaw is an exceptional educator, and he continues to make a profound impact on the educational journey of his students.

It is a true honor to represent exemplary teachers like him in Congress, and I commend Mr. Wardlaw for his dedication to education and for promoting student success in academic achievement.

Therefore, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I am pleased to recognize Mr. Chris Wardlaw for his significant contributions to Western Placer Unified School District and to the students of the Lincoln community.

Recognizing Dr. Jennifer Sandfort

Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I wish to take a moment to highlight a teacher from the Folsom Cordova Unified School District, Dr. Jennifer Sandfort, who has dedicated 25 years of her career to educating the students in her community.

Beginning her career as a fifth grade teacher in 2000, Dr. Sandfort later earned her doctorate with a focus on inclusive education for students with autism. Her research has shaped teaching practices both in her classroom and across the district. Dr. Sandfort has spent the last 10 years teaching at Empire Oaks Elementary in Folsom, where she has become known for her innovative, inclusive approach, and deep commitment to student growth.

In her teaching style, Dr. Sandfort emphasizes collaboration, relationships, and the transformative power of learning. Her tireless devotion to her role has made a meaningful impact in the lives and learning outcomes of her students. Not only does she empower her students academically, but she also plays a pivotal role in supporting her colleagues and fellow educators, reflecting her ongoing commitment to public service and civic responsibility.

Dr. Sandfort exemplifies the highest standards of educational excellence and leadership, which led her to be recognized recently by the Folsom Cordova Unified School District as the 2024-2025 Teacher of the Year.

I am proud to represent outstanding educators like Dr. Sandfort in Congress, and I commend her for her more than two decades of dedication to education and to promoting student success and academic achievement.

Therefore, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I am pleased to recognize Dr. Jennifer Sandfort for her significant contributions to the Folsom Cordova Unified School District and to the students of the Folsom community.

Recognizing Sarah Grimke Taylor

Mr. Speaker, in honor of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I wish to take a moment to highlight a teacher from the Eastern Sierra Unified School District, Sarah Grimke Taylor, who has dedicated 29 years of her career to educating the students of her community.

Ms. Taylor graduated from Amherst College in 1991, earned her teaching credential from UC Berkeley, and earned her master's degree in English from UC Irvine. In 1994, she began teaching English, and in the last 15 years has taught both English and Drama at Lee Vining High School. Due to the high standards of her performance, she has received a number of awards recognizing her exceptional teaching abilities, including the Outstanding Teachers of America Award from the Carlston Family Foundation, the Olmsted Prize for Excellence in Secondary School Teaching from Williams College, and most recently the Teacher of the Year Award from Mono County.

Ms. Taylor is known for her empathy and attentiveness to the differing needs of her students, as well as for the high expectations she sets, and the corresponding support she provides to empower her students to reach their full potential. She is regarded as a bedrock of the school and is one that students can turn to for college and career advice, academic assistance, or just to be a listening ear. Not only is she an invaluable role model to her students, but she also is a leader among her colleagues and was instrumental in creating a program that mentors early career teachers, helping them hone their craft and build a positive learning environment in their classrooms.

I am proud to represent educators like Ms. Taylor in Congress, and I commend her for her exceptional dedication to education and to promoting student success.

Therefore, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I am pleased to recognize Ms. Sarah Grimke Taylor for her significant contributions to the Eastern Sierra Unified School District and to the students of the Eastern Sierra community.

Recognizing Deputy Jeff Bilodeau

Mr. Speaker, as part of the California Congressional District Three Police Honor Roll and in honor of National Police Week 2025, I wish to recognize Deputy Jeff Bilodeau of the Placer County Sheriff's Office for his unwavering commitment to serving and protecting the Placer County community.

Deputy Bilodeau serves as the Loomis traffic deputy and is known for going above and beyond the normal call of duty to serve his community. He reads books to children at the local library, partners with schools to improve traffic flow and safety, provides educational presentations about accident investigations, gives public safety presentations to the town, and so much more. Through local partnerships, he has assisted in contributing numerous bicycles and helmets to underprivileged children in order to ensure that they have safe and reliable transportation options.

His passion and commitment to mentorship, education, outreach, and public safety make such a positive impact in our community. As such, he has received several honors, including the Roseville Elks Lodge Officer of the Year Award, and the soon to be induction into the United States Police and Fire Olympics Hall of Fame.

It is an honor to represent such exemplary law enforcement officers in Congress.

On behalf of California's Third Congressional District and the United States House of Representatives, I would like to thank and honor Deputy Jeff Bilodeau for serving and protecting the region as a dedicated public servant.

Recognizing Deputy Chad Blair

Mr. Speaker, as part of the California Congressional District Three Police Honor Roll and in honor of National Police Week, I wish to recognize Deputy Chad Blair of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office for his unwavering commitment to serving and protecting the community of Sacramento, California.

Deputy Blair began his career in 2019, working in the Investigation Service Unit where he collaborated with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to gather intelligence from inmates, analyze trends in violence and narcotics distribution, and monitor gang activity. Deputy Blair enhanced his training by becoming a jail training officer and the team leader for the Custody Emergency Response Team.

Subsequent to his service in corrections, he was assigned to patrol where he utilizes technologies and community engagement to help prevent crime and build bridges between the community and law enforcement. Because of his dedication to community engagement, he was selected for the Problem-Oriented Policing Team. In addition to his regular duties, Deputy Blair is also a member of the Sheriff's Critical Incident Negotiations Team in which he assists with hostage and barricade situations through the use of negotiation and crisis management skills. Within these roles, Deputy Blair has continually demonstrated professionalism and commitment to service and community.

Deputy Blair is known by others for his expertise and highly trained skill set, as well as for his dedication to enhancing trust between law enforcement and community members to prevent crime and promote public safety. He stands out as a daily example of excellence in law enforcement and is a model to those around him.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to represent exemplary individuals like Deputy Chad Blair. On behalf of California's Third Congressional District and the United States House of Representatives, I thank and honor Deputy Blair for serving and protecting the region as a dedicated public servant.

Recognizing Lieutenant Jason Doolittle

Mr. Speaker, as part of the California Third Congressional District Police Honor Roll and in honor of National Police Week 2025, I recognize Lieutenant Jason Doolittle for his unwavering commitment to serving and protecting Placer County.

Lieutenant Doolittle joined the Placer County Sheriff's Office in 2002 after he graduated from the police academy. He started his career in law enforcement as a reserve deputy and later as an extra help deputy, which allowed him to obtain experience in both patrol and corrections. In 2003, Lieutenant Doolittle was brought on as a full- time deputy sheriff and worked in the jail.

In 2005, Lieutenant Doolittle was transferred to patrol. He was responsible for the I-80 corridor, all the way from Bell Road in Auburn to Donner Summit. During this time, Lieutenant Doolittle developed strong self-reliance and proficiency, and his work did not go unnoticed. He received the Mothers Against Drunk Driving Award in both 2006 and 2008 for the most DUI arrests in the department and was awarded the Sheriff's Pin by then-Undersheriff D'Arcy.

While on patrol, Lieutenant Doolittle became a field training officer, which gave him the responsibility of training new deputies in law, policy, tactics, and procedures. In 2009, he joined the special enforcement team, which is the equivalent of a SWAT team, and was selected as the element leader for the chemical agents unit.

That year, Lieutenant Doolittle was also assigned as a detective to the investigations unit. He handled cases involving burglary, theft, fraud, stalking, homicides, sexual assaults, and assaults with deadly weapons. Lieutenant Doolittle was very effective, with nearly all of his cases resulting in guilty pleas from the defendants, and he was recognized by the district attorney's office for the thoroughness of his work.

In 2012, he received a promotion to sergeant. He went on to take such roles as a team leader for the critical incident response team at the jail, developing a supervisory training manual for the division, and working in patrol. He has overseen teams of deputies and supervised numerous high-risk and tactical incidents.

In 2024, Lieutenant Jason Doolittle was promoted once again, this time to field operations lieutenant. He currently serves as the commander of the south Placer substation located in the town of Loomis. He manages the youth and community services unit, which oversees public outreach and school resource officers, and works closely with local government and business leaders.

Lieutenant Jason Doolittle's service does not stop there. He also serves as an adjunct instructor at Sierra College's modular police academy and teaches courses in firearms, weaponless defense, chemical agents, introduction to criminal law, evidence, and professional policing in the community. On top of this, he serves as a recruit training officer, a position that allows him to mentor and guide new recruits.

Lieutenant Jason Doolittle's leadership, commitment to excellence, and ongoing involvement in our community sets him apart, and it is an honor to represent exemplary individuals like him in Congress.

Therefore, on behalf of California's Third Congressional District and the United States House of Representatives, I thank and honor Lieutenant Doolittle for his ongoing commitment to serving and protecting Placer County as a dedicated public servant.

Recognizing Sheriff Mike Fisher

Mr. Speaker, as part of the California Third Congressional District Police Honor Roll and in honor of National Police Week 2025, I recognize Sheriff Mike Fisher of the Sierra County Sheriff's Office for his unwavering commitment to serving and protecting the Sierra County community.

Sheriff Fisher has served his community for 25 years, starting his career as a deputy with the Sierra County Sheriff's Office, then a detective. Finally, he was elected as Sierra County sheriff in 2018 and reelected in 2022.

Sheriff Fisher exemplifies what it means to be a dedicated public servant, consistently prioritizing the needs of Sierra County and serving as a strong representative of his community.

His passion for championing the rural and ranching communities of Sierra County sets him apart as a leader,

and his steadfast commitment to safeguarding life, liberty, property, and Sierra County's community values is unparalleled.

Sheriff Fisher is known for being a trusted leader and has earned the respect of those who have the privilege to know him. It is an honor to represent exemplary individuals like Sheriff Mike Fisher. On behalf of California's Third Congressional District and the United States House of Representatives, I thank and honor Sheriff Fisher for his nearly three decades of serving and protecting the region as a dedicated public servant.

Recognizing Detective Dan Heaton

Mr. Speaker, as part of the California Third Congressional District Police Honor Roll and in honor of National Police Week 2025, I recognize Detective Dan Heaton of the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office for his unwavering commitment to serving and protecting the communities of Sacramento, California.

Detective Heaton began his career with the Sacramento County Sheriff's Office in 2014. He spent 2 years in corrections before moving on to become a patrol officer. He eventually became a field training officer, where he was responsible for training new deputies under his watch. He was then assigned to the problem-oriented policing team, and then was promoted to his current rank of detective, being assigned to the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.

Throughout Detective Heaton's career and decade of public service, he has achieved a wide diversity of accomplishments to improve the safety of our communities.

One accomplishment of particular note occurred last year, in which he led and implemented a proactive investigation across nine counties, including close to 30 agencies, that located and served warrants on more than 21 suspects who were preying on children. This was truly a heroic effort that spared many young lives from becoming victims.

Detective Heaton is known by others for his strong leadership, innovative techniques, understanding of the law, and the high standards by which he holds himself and others. He makes himself available to assist other law enforcement officers and agencies, sharing the skills that he has worked so hard to develop. His passion and dedication to the protection of children is unparalleled, and his tireless efforts have made a meaningful impact in our communities.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to represent exemplary individuals like Detective Dan Heaton. On behalf of California's Third Congressional District and the United States House of Representatives, I thank and honor Detective Heaton for serving and protecting the region as a dedicated public servant.

Recognizing Police Officer Brett Schneider

Mr. Speaker, in honor of National Police Week, I recognize and honor Officer Brett Schneider of the Lincoln Police Department for his unwavering commitment to serving and protecting the Lincoln community.

Officer Schneider was hired by the Lincoln Police Department in June 2006. Over his last 19 years with the department, Officer Schneider has held various roles, including EMT, field training officer, corporal, active-shooter response instructor, UAV coordinator, accident reconstructionist, department instructor, and he is currently assigned as a motorcycle officer with the traffic unit.

Throughout Officer Schneider's nearly two decades of public service, he has achieved a wide diversity of accomplishments to improve the safety of our communities. One accomplishment of particular note arose in 2023, when Officer Schneider was assigned to a full-time role to supervise the traffic unit that was disbanded as a result of the financial crisis in the mid-2000s.

Officer Schneider was given no funding and was directed to create a unit that provides the best possible traffic enforcement. Since the start of this formidable task, Officer Schneider has not only met but repeatedly exceeded expectations.

Through his efforts within the traffic unit, he has been able to secure grant funding, allowing the Lincoln Police Department to acquire essential vehicles and equipment that promote traffic safety, including traffic motorcycles, a DUI enforcement vehicle, multiple DUI checkpoints and patrols, specialized equipment for targeted traffic enforcement operations, and a truck to transport these resources.

Additionally, Officer Schneider secured funding to purchase a preliminary drug screening device, which is utilized in DUI investigations involving drugs, making Lincoln the first city in the region to utilize this type of device.

The funding he has acquired has enhanced accuracy and expanded capabilities within the department, leveraging innovative and new technologies. Not only has Officer Schneider secured equipment for the department, but he also has established the traffic safety committee to actively engage with the community and to enhance traffic safety.

Officer Schneider has harnessed GIS and drone technology to enable the department to recreate the scenes of accidents, allowing them to see accurate depictions of the chain of events.

With his levels of experience and expertise in the field, Officer Schneider has become the department's subject matter expert on traffic matters, leading the city to new heights and addressing traffic concerns through the implementation of positive and advanced solutions.

Officer Brett Schneider is known for his exceptional skill set, ambition, determination, and tireless devotion to preventing crime and promoting safety in the city of Lincoln. His efforts have made a meaningful impact on the Lincoln community.

It is an honor to represent exemplary individuals like Officer Brett Schneider in Congress.

On behalf of California's Third Congressional District and the United States House of Representatives, I thank and honor Officer Schneider for his ongoing commitment to serving and protecting the region as a dedicated public servant.

Recognizing Detective Sterling Wolfe

Madam Speaker, as part of the California Third Congressional District Police Honor Roll and in honor of National Police Week 2025, I wish to recognize Detective Sterling Wolfe of the Rocklin Police Department for his unwavering commitment to serving and protecting the Rocklin community.

Detective Wolfe has served as a police officer for over a decade. He has held numerous specialized roles, including Rapid Containment Team member, drone pilot, crime scene investigator, and, now, detective. Throughout every position, he has displayed and exemplified the highest levels of professionalism, leadership, and service.

During Detective Wolfe's time in public service, he has achieved a wide diversity of accomplishments to improve the safety of our communities. Over the past year alone, he has authored more than 35 search warrants, performed numerous arrests, and successfully led complex investigations.

One particular accomplishment of note was his use of advanced technology, complex search warrants, social media searches, and multiple agency coordination to identify key suspects to bring a high- value theft ring spanning across northern California to justice.

Detective Wolfe's commitment to his role and public safety is evident by the various recognitions he has received. He was recognized by a deputy district attorney from Placer County and was also honored with a lifesaving award earned after extinguishing a vehicle fire and rendering lifesaving aid to the pinned driver while responding to a solo vehicle collision.

Detective Wolfe embodies the spirit of teamwork by mentoring fellow officers and fostering collaboration and open communication across the department. He is proactive and dedicated, and he has become an invaluable resource for both his peers and the community. As such, he embodies the core values of the Rocklin Police Department through his integrity, skill, and dedication.

It is an honor to represent exemplary individuals like Detective Sterling Wolfe in Congress.

On behalf of California's Third Congressional District and the United States House of Representatives, I

thank and honor Detective Wolfe for serving and protecting the region as a dedicated public servant.

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

I have good news for Californians. Today is the beginning of the end of high-speed rail, the biggest public infrastructure disaster in U.S. history.

A few months ago, I joined Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy in Los Angeles to announce an investigation and compliance review into the State's high-speed rail project. Today, the results are in.

The State, with respect to $4 billion in grants that it took, is woefully out of compliance with the conditions of those grants, and, fundamentally, the audit found that this project has no viable path forward.

Of course, Californians have known that for a long time. They have spent $17 billion and haven't laid any track. The New York Times found the project is not on track to be completed this century and will be $100 billion over budget.

They initially told us that there would be a high-speed train from L.A. to San Francisco by the year 2020. Now, even the modest initial segment from Bakersfield to Merced is going to miss its 2033 deadline. Even if the train were to magically come into existence today, it would be decades-old technology.

It is time to end this embarrassment for our State once and for all and use our transportation dollars in ways that will actually benefit the quality of life of Californians.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to discuss the important issue of public lands management.

My district is very blessed. From the iconic landscapes of Death Valley to the ski areas of the High Sierras and the wonder of Lake Tahoe, we host and steward some of the most magnificent places in the entire country.

Across millions of acres of public land, seven national forests, and countless parks, these wild places are the source of clean water and air for much of the State, while providing jobs for nearly 545,000 Californians and essential tax revenue for our communities and, of course, recreational opportunities for millions of visitors every year.

That is why it is so important that any decisions made regarding the acquisition or disposition of these lands be made only after significant and meaningful local input.

The communities most affected by our decisions must be willing partners in any plans made by the Federal Government. Local buy-in is the key to preserving these spaces and guaranteeing that our policies benefit the people that we represent.

For that reason, I urge my colleagues to oppose any plan that would supersede the will of our local communities and reject efforts to force land decisions without prior consultation.

California Air Resources Board

Mr. Speaker, in California, we have just learned that CARB, the California Air Resources Board, is plowing ahead with the imposition of its new so-called low-carbon fuel standard to take effect in July.

The board has refused to even say what impact this is going to have on gas prices, but studies have shown that it could increase gas prices in California by another 85 cents per gallon.

Let's just consider where we are right now. In California, the price of gas is nearly $5 a gallon. People get photos from their friends who are on vacation in other States, showing $2.50 or something like that. They simply can't believe it.

By far, California already has the highest gas prices in the country. Second place is Hawaii, an island State, where gas is 39 cents cheaper.

Not only that, the current price does not account for the fact that two refineries have recently announced that they are closing, significantly reducing the refining capacity in our State.

A study out of USC estimated that this could increase the price of gas to $8 per gallon by the end of next year, and then we layer on top of that this new so-called low carbon fuel standard. It won't be long before we are paying $9 a gallon for gas or maybe $10 a gallon for gas in California, which is something our constituents simply cannot afford.

It is one of the major reasons why the cost of living in our State has spiraled out of control. It is one of the major reasons why California has the highest real poverty rate of any State in the country. It is one of the major reasons why California has led the Nation in domestic out-migration for 5 years in a row, according to U- Haul's own rankings because folks simply cannot afford to live in our State.

I am calling on Governor Newsom and the legislature to stop the imposition of this latest punishment for California drivers, which could increase the cost of gas 85 cents a gallon.

I am also calling on the Governor and the legislature to revisit our State's gas tax, the highest in the Nation. I ask him to revisit onerous regulations like cap-and-trade and to revisit all of the other regulations involving the fuel mix and all of the other things that have demonstrably increased the price of gas in our State.

Mr. Speaker, Californians are ready for common sense. They are ready for some sanity to return. They simply are tired of having to pay far more for basic commodities than any place else in the country.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday California Governor Gavin Newsom finally backed down from his irresponsible, reckless policy of providing full-scope Medicaid, Medi-Cal coverage to every person who is income eligible in our State illegally. Of course, the Governor did not do the right thing on his own but only in response to the pressure that we have brought to bear.

It has been painfully obvious that this policy, which no other State in the country has, was utterly unsustainable and was threatening the solvency of Medicaid in California itself. The cost has ballooned for this year to $10 billion, over three times what was initially estimated. The Governor has had to take out an emergency loan and then separately go to the legislature in the middle of the year for a bailout.

The Governor has finally acknowledged this, that the policy should never have been enacted, and he has said he is going to freeze any new enrollment by adults who are in our country illegally.

However, the Governor is only partially reversing his policy. Indeed, by the time this freeze goes into effect, we will have already spent $23 billion that could have gone toward improving access to care for legal California residents.

The partial repeal is not a solution. For one thing, it will continue to cost us enormous sums in State tax dollars. For another, it could lead to the loss of billions and billions of dollars every year in Federal funding.

As I called on the Governor before to repeal this policy, as I have introduced legislation requiring him to do so, I am now calling on Governor Newsom not to go halfway but to completely reverse this reckless, disastrous policy that no other State in the country has.

Absolute Definition of Insanity

Mr. Speaker, yesterday Governor Newsom introduced his budget proposal in Sacramento and has decided to double

State funding for high-speed rail. This is the absolute definition of insanity. It has been some 16 years, 17 years since the project was approved. They have spent $17 billion, and there has not been a single passenger.

Even under the most wildly optimistic scenarios, we are going to have a line from Palmdale to Gilroy in 20 years that will require 2 hours of additional travel on each end to get from San Francisco to L.A. In 20 years, riders will be able to get from San Francisco to L.A. in 6 hours, something you can do on a plane in 1 hour today.

This project has been called a project that won't even be built within the next century by even sources like The New York Times. I have introduced legislation to eliminate all future Federal funding for high-speed rail. The Governor continues to believe that Federal funding will come. It is not going to come. There is currently an investigation by the Department of Transportation as well, and I have asked for an investigation by FBI Director Kash Patel to look into exactly where all of this money went.

It is time to end this irresponsible failure of a project--the biggest public infrastructure failure in U.S. history--once and for all and put our transportation dollars where they are needed: toward improving our roads, repairing potholes, alleviating traffic, on things that will actually benefit the quality of life for Californians.

Mr. Speaker, in honor of National Police Week, I wish to recognize and honor Sergeant Mike Anderson of the Roseville Police Department for his unwavering commitment to serving and protecting the Roseville community.

Sergeant Anderson has had an extraordinary 29-year career in law enforcement with 21 of those years dedicated to the Roseville Police Department. Throughout his tenure, he has held numerous roles, including assignments in patrol, the crime suppression unit, and SWAT. He has also served as investigations sergeant, patrol sergeant, and rangemaster and instructor. In addition to his daily responsibilities, Sergeant Anderson has been a cornerstone of the Roseville-Rocklin Regional SWAT team for over 20 years, with 15 of those years as SWAT team leader.

Sergeant Anderson is known for his expertise and for being a calm, capable leader in moments of crisis. He motivates through action, leads by example, and consistently places the well-being and performance of his team above all else.

Through his skillful training and leadership, the SWAT team has experienced two decades of success through many critical incidents. The caliber of guidance and mentorship he offers is so exceptional that many officers intentionally choose to remain on the night shifts that he oversees, despite challenging hours, to work and learn under his direction. His influence and the confidence that he inspires among others has shaped generations of officers who have had the privilege of working alongside him.

Sergeant Anderson has strengthened the Roseville Police force and our community is safer as a result of his commitment to the department.

Sergeant Anderson will soon be retiring as the senior, most serving sergeant in the outstanding Roseville Police Department, which is a testament to his dedication, integrity, professionalism, and leadership. It is an honor to represent exemplary individuals like Sergeant Mike Anderson.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of California's Third Congressional District and the United States House of Representatives, I thank and honor Sergeant Anderson for his nearly three decades of serving and protecting the region as a dedicated public servant.

Mr. Speaker, The Nation's Report Card recently showed that our education system is in a state of crisis. There has been a steady and alarming decline. However, right now, we have an opportunity to turn the tide by catalyzing a revolution in school choice across the country.

One-half of the equation is the Educational Choice for Children Act which will expand private school choice to 2 million kids and has been included in the text of the reconciliation bill.

However, the other one-half, the High-Quality Charter School Act, and a tax provision contained therein, would triple the number of kids in charter schools across the country remains missing still.

I am encouraging my colleagues to ensure that we provide support for charter school families in equal measure in a way that will expand opportunity across the country. Together with universal school choice, we will be able to begin a new era of educational excellence in this country.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate World Intellectual Property Day and the creation of the Congressional Inventions Caucus.

The newly created caucus will work to foster education, collaboration, and legislative action on intellectually property issues in Congress. I would like to thank Rep. Deborah Ross for leading this caucus with me in the House, as well as Sen. Daines and Sen. Coons.

Copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets are key to America's innovation, industrial strength, standard of living, and our economic and national security.

Intellectual property-intensive firms account for 44 percent of U.S. jobs and better pay and benefits than jobs with that utilize little or no intellectual property.

It is integral to cutting-edge technologies, discovery, and development of new miracle medicines, sophisticated computing, and advanced microchips. Intellectual property is also foundational for movies, music, publishing, and much more.

Intellectual property industries produce almost 80 percent of U.S. commodity exports. Many of these industries even have trade surpluses since the United States is the world's top intellectual property exporter, with exports valued at $140 billion in 2024.

Mr. Speaker, the moment of reckoning for California Governor Gavin Newsom has arrived. While I have been fighting to protect Medicaid benefits for Californians, the Governor's irresponsible actions are now threatening deep cuts for Medicaid in California.

Mr. Speaker, Newsom has made California the only State that offers Medicaid to everyone in the State illegally. It has already cost us $9.5 billion just this year in State funds, and now it also threatens to cost us even more in Federal funds.

Governor Newsom faces a very clear choice: He can continue a policy that no other State has and cost us hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid benefits that could have gone to legal California residents over the next decade, or he can act now to reverse this irresponsible policy.

Mr. Speaker, I am strongly urging the Governor and the legislature to do the latter immediately.

Mr. Speaker, Californians could soon be paying over $8 a gallon for gasoline. That is the result of the disastrous policies that have been imposed by Gavin Newsom and the California Legislature's supermajority.

The most recent news is that there are two refineries that are closing operations in California: the Phillips 66 refinery in L.A. by the end of 2025, and the Valero refinery by April 2026.

According to a letter from Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones in California, these two facilities produce about 20 percent of California's in-State gasoline supply.

According to a recent study by USC Professor Michael Mische, the effect of this is going to be an increase in gas prices in California of up to 75 percent by April of 2026. The projections estimate a 33.6 percent increase just by April of 2025. By next year, 2026, we could see prices rising as high as $8.43 per gallon by the end of 2026.

This is because we are going to see a severe decline in in-State production. Indeed, it could fall from over 34 million gallons per day in 2023 to just 27 million gallons by the end of 2026. Then you factor in the higher transportation costs. You are going to see Californians not only paying these astronomical prices at the gas station, but it is going to increase the cost of goods and services throughout the economy.

That is not to mention that it is going to lead to the loss of hundreds of jobs for the folks who were working at these refineries. The gas that we are now going to have to import from other States or other countries is not only going to cost a lot more, but it is going to be way worse for the environment, releasing way more emissions.

The fact is California already has, by far, the highest gas prices in the country. We pay over 30 cents more than second-place Hawaii, which is an island State. This is because of nonsensical regulations, including the new fuel standard that was just recently imposed by the Air Resources Board, as well as a slew of other regulations relating to the fuel mix and other factors, as well as having the highest gas tax of any State in the country.

By the way, you would think that, since we have the highest tax, we must have great roads as a result. No, that is not the case either. We have just about the worst roads of any State in the country.

How does that work: highest taxes, deepest potholes? It is a stark illustration of our State government's utter inability to provide effective services to our citizens.

Mr. Speaker, I am calling on Governor Newsom and the State legislature to take immediate action to prevent Californians from having to pay over $8 a gallon for gas by the end of next year. We need immediate action to overturn regulations and to restore common sense in our State.

Fraud in California

Mr. Speaker, I have sent a letter along with several of my colleagues in the California delegation to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and Attorney General Pam Bondi asking them to investigate a simple question: Why is it so stunningly easy to commit fraud against the State of California?

During the COVID era, we saw fraud unlike we had ever seen when $32 billion in unemployment benefits were purloined from fraudsters, international criminal syndicates, who were easily able to just defraud Gavin Newsom's Unemployment Department.

Mr. Speaker, the latest example that we have learned is that over a third of community college applications in the State were fraudulent. These were not real people, not real students actually seeking a spot at one of our community colleges.

What they were instead were scams, individuals who were trying and succeeding in committing financial aid fraud, siphoning more than $10 million in Federal funds and millions more in State aid, according to the California community chancellor's own office.

We have asked the Attorney General and the Secretary of Education to look into this matter and see why California has not been able to stop this from happening.

We know that, with respect to the EDD fraud in the COVID era, the Governor's office failed to take the basic commonsense steps that other States took that the Federal Government had advised. For example, cross-checking applications for unemployment against the prison rolls, something that almost every other State did, and California didn't do. I would not be surprised to learn that there were similar oversights here with respect to the community college fraud.

We look forward to getting back the results of this investigation, and urge the State to take immediate action to make sure that millions more in taxpayer dollars aren't lost.

Independent Contractor Rule

Mr. Speaker, I rise to commend the Trump administration and, specifically, Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer for its decision to not enforce the independent contractor rule propounded by the Biden administration.

This rule was based upon one of the worst laws ever to pass in the State of California, AB5, which effectively banned freelancing, independent contracting, self-employment, and being your own boss for many, many people.

After this law went into effect, we saw thousands upon thousands of Californians lose their livelihoods and lose their rights to earn a living because of this edict issued by the government.

It received bipartisan criticism, and no other State followed California's lead in enacting such a law. Yet, that did not stop the Biden administration from deciding that this law would be its inspiration for national labor policy.

The Biden administration, using the regulatory process because it couldn't get it through Congress, enacted an independent contractor rule modeled on California's AB5 law. Not only that, but the administration brought in the very person who was the architect of AB5 in California and its chief enforcer, Gavin Newsom's Secretary of Labor Julie Su, to be his Secretary of Labor and to enforce it just as aggressively and ruthlessly as she had in California.

The problem was this track record was so disastrous that Ms. Su's nomination stalled in the Senate. She received bipartisan opposition and was never confirmed. Somehow the Biden administration, President Biden, decided to keep her there anyway. It was a very novel theory that Senate confirmation was now optional for Cabinet-level officials, and she shattered all records for the longest-acting Secretary in the history of our country.

Yet, at the end of the day, that rule, which, by the way, was tied up in court because there was a lot of reasons why it did not pass legal muster, is no longer being enforced. The right to earn a living of millions of independent contractors across our country is no longer threatened.

I particularly applaud Secretary Chavez-DeRemer when she met with a number of truckers recently, the American Trucking Association, for saying that we have their backs because it is the independent owner- operators, tens of thousands of truckers across the country, who were one of the many groups who were threatened by this regulation for consequences for the entire U.S. economy.

While this regulatory relief is extremely positive and important, we need to get the definition of independent contracting and protections for freelancers into statute so that we don't have the standard continue to change from one administration to the next.

That is why I have introduced the Modern Worker Empowerment Act that will put into statute the standard, common law definition of what it means to be an independent contractor, and I am hopeful that we can get that passed with bipartisan support this Congress.

Medi-Cal Facing Unprecedented Threat

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to let folks in California and across the country know that Medi-Cal, our version of Medicaid, is facing an unprecedented threat. Its very solvency, its sustainability, and its ability to provide coverage for Californians are being threatened by a completely reckless policy enacted by Governor Gavin Newsom that does not exist in any of the other 49 States in our country.

Because of this reckless policy, Newsom has just had to ask the legislature for a bailout of Medicaid, $2.8 billion, which the legislature provided. Now, of course, what I am referring to is the policy of providing free, full-scope, comprehensive Medi-Cal coverage to all illegal immigrants in the State who meet the income eligibility requirements.

This, again, is a policy that is singular to California. No other State has it. It was initially estimated to cost $3.1 billion. Since that time, the cost, just for the first year of coverage, has exploded to $9.5 billion.

As a result, Governor Newsom, number one, took out a $3.44 billion loan from the State's general fund. That is the maximum allowed by law. Of course, that wasn't enough to close the gap, so then, he had to go and ask for a bailout of the program to stave off insolvency.

Now, you would think that this would compel Newsom and the legislature to immediately roll back this disastrous experiment, yet when Governor Newsom was asked, he said that rolling back this policy was ``not on my docket.'' Let's be very clear: Saving Medicaid in California is not on Governor Newsom's docket.

Fortunately, we are fighting back and looking to take measures here that will ensure that tax dollars of Californians are reserved to provide Medi-Cal coverage for people who are in our State legally.

When you think about this cost, $9.5 billion just in the first year, is a cost that is basically triple what was originally projected. Think what that is going to look like over the next 10 years. We are talking about potentially hundreds of billions of dollars that could be going toward Medi-Cal for our own residents that is instead going toward a reckless policy that exists nowhere else in the country, which is only going to entice more people who are here illegally to come to California, thereby, increasing the cost even more.

By the way, because we are adding all of these additional people to the Medi-Cal rolls, that is making it more difficult for Californians who rely on the program to actually get access to healthcare. It is extremely difficult to get a doctor's appointment if you are on Medi- Cal in California. It is actually very difficult, in some cases, if you are on private insurance to get a doctor's appointment in California. The Governor's reckless policy is a big reason why.

We are going to do everything we possibly can here to fight for Californians and fight for Medicaid in California. I will do everything I can to protect this program against the Governor and the legislature's reckless policy.

Supporting Teach For America

Mr. Speaker, I will take a few moments today to share with folks here in D.C. and across the country a little bit about a program that I am an alumnus of called Teach For America and to share why I think this is an extremely important program for us to protect and to support right now and in the years ahead.

Right now, we see our schools across this country in a state of crisis. The nation's report card that recently came out revealed truly shocking declines in student achievement, but one bright spot in this otherwise very troubling picture has been Teach For America, otherwise known as TFA.

What TFA does is recruit recent college graduates to go teach in the toughest schools, schools in low-income communities. It is a very selective program. In some years, the acceptance rate for those who apply to be TFA teachers is as low as 11 percent. That is as selective as many of the most elite colleges in the country.

I was a teacher through TFA in Los Angeles. I taught 10th grade English. I had students who were, on average, at a fourth or fifth grade reading level when they came to my classroom, but I had a tremendous experience. My students achieved significant academic gains as part of my classes. I chaired the English Department while I was there. I even started an award-winning speech and debate program that provided opportunities to compete for students who otherwise wouldn't have had that experience or had that opportunity.

I will first, in underlining the importance of this program, speak to my Republican colleagues here in the House. If you need any one reason why you should support Teach For America, it is that the radical Democratic supermajority in California actually tried to ban the program from our State. That is not an exaggeration.

This is from a 2019 Politico article: ``Backed by powerful teachers unions, Democrats are pushing to ban Teach For America from California amid a wave of teacher strikes and a heated debate over charter schools in the Nation's most populous State.''

The article goes on to say that ``the national nonprofit and its recruits,

promising college grads eager to teach in poor communities, in the crosshairs of the State's supermajority Democratic legislature.''

Why in the world would the Democratic supermajority in California target TFA? I was there in the legislature at the time, and I helped to kill that bill on the State assembly floor, but it did pass the California State Assembly Education Committee, unbelievably enough.

What could possibly have motivated this attack? After all, TFA's mission, its entire purpose, is to close the achievement gaps that exist in this country so that every child, no matter where they are born or no matter what their ZIP Code is, will have access to an excellent education.

Mr. Speaker, the issue is that, in California, the governing majority and education establishment there have a model of keeping kids trapped in failing schools, and that has been the effect of the policies that have governed the State year after year.

Organizations like TFA that, for example, provide alternative pathways to get promising teachers into the classroom or, worst of all, from the perspective of those who ran the legislature, place almost half of their teachers in charter schools simply couldn't be tolerated.

Indeed, at the time, in 2019, Gavin Newsom, who had just taken office, had declared a war on charter schools. Charters, which are public schools that have a high level of flexibility as to how they run their school but, in turn, are held to a greater standard of accountability, have gotten tremendous results. Studies consistently show that they outperform traditional public schools, and they have a lot of students who are on their wait list. However, the teachers at those schools are not automatically unionized as a matter of default.

That is what inspired Gavin Newsom and his enablers to try to enact and, indeed, succeed in enacting an anti-charter school agenda. Because TFA placed almost 50 percent of its teachers in charter schools, they got caught up in it.

Fortunately, that bill did not pass. TFA has continued to serve thousands of kids in California. Indeed, throughout its history, TFA has placed some 65,000 teachers into classrooms.

This attack in California was truly an aberration. It really speaks to the character of the supermajority in our State, specifically, that it is out of step even with many reasonable Democrats, especially on the issue of education.

There are a couple of things that I will emphasize about the program. Number one is that TFA places teachers in areas that need teachers. It helps to combat the teacher shortage that is particularly acute in particular districts and particular subjects.

TFA partners with school districts facing persistent vacancies, especially in low-income, urban, and rural areas. The districts request TFA core members for hard-to-staff subjects like STEM, special education, and bilingual education. In fact, in this last school year, over 75 percent of TFA teachers served in title I schools.

The organization is recruiting motivated and talented young people to go teach in areas where they have a hard time getting teachers, but how do they do once they are there? The second thing I will emphasize is that TFA teachers have an outstanding track record.

Last year, there was a comprehensive study that the American Institutes for Research published. It was a meta-analysis that actually looked at 23 preexisting studies of TFA's impact across 24 years. Included in that were 63,134 teachers who taught 5 million students.

What did this comprehensive meta-analysis find? TFA teachers have had a consistent and significant impact on students' academic achievements. On average, students of TFA teachers perform better in math, science, and reading. Some studies have found that having a TFA teacher adds up to 50 additional days of learning.

Beyond that, by the way, many TFA alums go on to found schools. For example, the founders of tremendous charter school networks KIPP, IDEA, and YES Prep are TFA alums.

Personally, one of the main reasons I decided to run for public office, first in the legislature and then for Congress, was my experience as a classroom teacher. It motivated me to become the vice chair of the California State Assembly Education Committee and now, here in the House, the chair of the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Subcommittee.

TFA is an AmeriCorps program. It is one of the professional core programs for AmeriCorps. What that means is that the teachers who are part of TFA are employees of a particular school district or of a charter school.

For example, I was an employee of the Los Angeles Unified School District, but they also receive a Segal AmeriCorps Education Award. The reason that that is vital is because TFA is providing an alternative pathway into the classroom where you can start teaching soon after graduating college. They have an intensive summer program where students teach summer school and receive training. They continue to receive support from TFA as an organization throughout their time teaching, and then they are also simultaneously pursuing a teaching credential. Sometimes that takes the form of a master's of education, which is what I received.

For example, when I was teaching 10th grade English, 1 day a week, after spending the whole day teaching, I would then drive across town to a local college or grad school where I sat in class for 5 or 6 hours on that particular day, working toward my credential.

The education award helps students or the TFA teachers to pay for that degree or for that credential, and it would be very hard for many of them to actually be part of the program without this award.

I have heard reports recently that there have been some of these grants that are in jeopardy or maybe have been lost already, putting several thousand current teachers and several thousand more future teachers in a state of uncertainty.

While I have personal experience with this particular AmeriCorps program, I know that there are many others that fill similarly critical needs in different sectors of society. In fact, AmeriCorps' own definition of a professional core program recognizes that the placements are a strategic response to longstanding workforce gaps. It is not simply service programs. They are workforce solutions.

That is why I have respectfully requested in a letter that I am sending today that the Appropriations Committee and its Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies provide robust funding for AmeriCorps in the coming fiscal year.

Mr. Speaker, I am urging my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come together in support of TFA and these other critical programs.

Our Public Education System is Failing

Mr. Speaker, at this moment, we have an opportunity to catalyze a school choice revolution across America, and one has never been more desperately needed.

The Nation's report card recently came out, and the verdict was clear: Our public education system is failing. The National Assessment of Educational Progress showed one-third of students are unable to read at the basic level for their age group, and math scores are down 9 percent since 2018.

Now, the Biden administration's response was to continue to shovel more money into a failing system. They threw 200 billion in tax dollars into the same failed system with absolutely nothing to show for it. In fact, things got worse. You can put this on a graph: The level of funding has gone up; student achievement has gone down. It has been a negative return on investment.

However, right now we can change that with reforms that will actually work in expanding opportunity, giving choices to millions of families, and providing a healthy sense of drive toward improvement in our public education system generally. That is through two pieces of legislation that I am sponsoring and that can also be included as part of the budget reconciliation process.

The first is the Educational Choice for Children Act, which will provide a tax credit for charitable contributions that enable scholarships to attend private, parochial, and independent schools. This could potentially expand

private school choice to millions of families in this country.

Secondly, along with Representative Claudia Tenney and others, I have introduced the High-Quality Charter Schools Act, which will significantly expand access to charter schools across the country. It uses a similar mechanism, leveraging the tax code through an innovative Federal tax credit that will allow the Nation's most effective charter networks to create new high-quality seats.

In particular, it will provide a tax credit to cover startup costs for expanding charter schools that already have a track record of success. This is very important because you have a lot of families who are on waiting lists for charters. We estimate that this measure could potentially triple the number of students across the country who receive this particular form of school choice of charter schools which have a tremendous track record in advancing student achievement.

I will give you one example. Success Academy, which was founded in New York City, manages 57 schools, serving 22,000 inner-city children. They are 93 percent non-White, 72 percent low-income, with phenomenal results at an impressive scale.

For 8 years in a row, Success has a 100 percent 4-year college acceptance rate. Its students routinely outperform more affluent school districts, and 14 of New York City's top 25 schools in math are Success Academies.

Think about that. Over half of the top schools in New York City in math are Success Academy campuses. That is why there is so much demand to attend these schools. The number of families that apply is 10 times the number of available seats, so they have to lottery them out. There is so much demand, you have to enter the lottery and you have a 10 percent chance of winning that lottery. This bill would allow them and other successful charter schools across the country to expand their campuses.

Between these two measures, the Educational Choice for Children Act, and the High-Quality Charter School Act, we could expand meaningful school choice, meaningful options to millions and millions of families in every community across the country, which would benefit those families, and it would also reach the critical mass of school choice in many areas that would compel improvements in traditional school districts as well.

This is really a moment when we need to ask ourselves what our priorities are because in general--this isn't true of all of them--the Biden administration and Democratic majorities have moved our education system in the wrong direction. They have had the wrong policies.

I believe Republicans have generally had the right policies, but the questions are: What kind of priority are we going to place on those policies? What kind of priority are we going to give education? What kind of priority and sense of urgency are we going to bring to the fact that our schools across this country are failing far too many of our kids?

Now is the time to show that our commitment to educational reform and school choice goes beyond just slogans, goes beyond political arguments, but it is a real commitment to advancing the education and the life prospects for kids all across America. We have a chance to do that right now by assuring these measures are enacted into law.

Sacramento Capitol-to-Capitol Program

Mr. Speaker, I rise to commend the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce and the well over 450 people who joined the chamber's Cap-to-Cap program to visit Washington, D.C., this week. This was the 53rd annual Capitol-to-Capitol, or Cap-to-Cap, program where people, community leaders from the Sacramento region come here to D.C. to participate in programming and to advocate for our region to lawmakers.

I had the chance to be a part of this in many different ways. We had a bipartisan discussion that I was part of with Representative Ami Bera, and I met with well over 100, probably closer to 200, Cap-to-Cap leaders throughout the week to discuss issues of importance to them and to the communities, the industries, and the sectors that they lead.

I had very productive discussions about a number of actionable items concerning public safety, wildfire prevention, natural resources, transportation infrastructure, and California water, issues that are so important to our region and our communities. I am so grateful that so many leaders in the Sacramento area came here to discuss these matters.

I wanted to say thank you to everyone who took the time out of their busy schedule to come here. This program has in the past, I think, allowed our region to punch above its weight. Indeed, this is the biggest chamber trip, I understand, to D.C. that exists anywhere in the country.

It really underscores the tremendous spirit of collaboration that exists in our region, that we have so many people--it crosses party lines, it crosses different communities, different ZIP Codes--who are working together, who are all rowing in the same direction for the benefit of our region. We have been able to achieve tremendous things because of that. We have been able to maintain a quality of life for the folks that we represent so that our region remains a great place to live, to work, to raise a family, and to retire. The Cap-to-Cap program has been a very big part of allowing that to continue, of giving our region a cohesive identity, and I look forward to the 54th annual trip next year.

Honoring 2025 Graduating Class of Leadership Rocklin

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and recognize the 2025 graduating class of Leadership Rocklin. This prestigious program is run by the Rocklin Area Chamber of Commerce and provides an opportunity for participants to build upon their leadership skills while developing meaningful relationships with community and local business leaders.

The areas of learning for this program include leadership skills in theory, education, volunteerism and community service, Rocklin civics, public safety, transportation, health and human services, economic development, the history of Rocklin, and much more.

Leadership Rocklin holds high esteem in the community and is recognized by leaders as an important way to prepare those who wish to further serve and learn about their community. I commend the participants for their dedication to civic engagement and their commitment to leadership development.

Therefore, on behalf of California's Third Congressional District and the United States House of Representatives, I am proud to congratulate this year's Leadership Rocklin graduating class.

Congratulating Hebard Insurance Solutions

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate and recognize Hebard Insurance Solutions for their 75-year anniversary. Hebard Insurance Solutions is a family-owned, independent insurance agency in Loomis, California, a town located in Placer County.

Christine Hebard-Summers, who began working for the family business at an early age, is the third-generation owner. Her grandfather, Roy, started the business back in 1950. Roy would take Christine to the office back when she was in kindergarten. At the time, she would help around the office in exchange for a toy and some candy at the Main Drug Store. Christine's father, Roy, Jr., managed the business until 2003, when Christine officially purchased the business from him.

For more than seven decades, the Hebard Insurance team has been committed to working closely with their clients to help them make important and informed decisions relating to their protection and future. They prioritize customer service and are committed to treating their customers like family.

Hebard Insurance continues to be a staple in Placer County and surrounding communities. In addition to providing exceptional services, they are tremendously involved in their community. They are often seen volunteering with local organizations, such as the Soroptimist International Loomis Basin, taking leadership roles at the local chamber of commerce, serving at the senior center, and contributing to multiple youth programs.

It is an honor to represent exemplary businesses such as Hebard Insurance Solutions in Congress. Therefore, on

behalf of California's Third Congressional District and the United States House of Representatives, it is my honor and privilege to congratulate them on their 75-year anniversary. Congratulations.

Extending Gratitude to Teachers

Mr. Speaker, in recognition of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I wanted to take an opportunity to highlight the service of some of the truly amazing educators in California's Third Congressional District.

In his 1988 proclamation, Ronald Reagan said: ``Our country's great teachers often make many sacrifices as they fulfill their countless responsibilities. They have earned, and truly deserve, the utmost gratitude and esteem of students, parents, and community members.''

It is in that spirit that I rise today and recognize 15 individual teachers from throughout California's Third Congressional District for their exceptional dedication to their roles, students, schools, and communities.

While representing almost 70 school districts and close to 300 K-12 schools, these teachers stand out among their colleagues and have made an indelible mark on their students and communities.

As a former educator myself, I understand the unique challenges our educators face and the passion and dedication it takes to enable our students to succeed. A great teacher can help shape and transform the trajectory of a student's life and their perspective on learning.

As such, we are quite fortunate to have truly exceptional schoolteachers and administrators educating and supporting the next generation in California's Third Congressional District. Therefore, I would like to extend my gratitude to all of our communities' teachers this week and to thank them for their tireless devotion to promoting academic achievement, student success, and educational opportunities.

If you are an educator, I encourage you to reach out to my office or visit Kiley.house.gov for Federal resources and services available to local teachers and students.

Recognizing Janice Rowe for Teacher Appreciation Week

Mr. Speaker, in honor of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I would like to take a moment to recognize Mrs. Janice Rowe, a kindergarten teacher in the Pleasant Ridge School District at Cottage Hill Elementary School.

For 40 years, Mrs. Rowe has taught at the kindergarten grade level. Her commitment to her students, colleagues, and district is unmatched. Mrs. Rowe not only instills a strong literary and mathematical foundation for young learners but also creates a safe and caring environment where students can thrive and their love for learning is ignited.

She is instrumental toward establishing new academic programs, standards, and expectations for all kindergarten students, leading the continued development of the district's kindergarten programs.

She is often known for enrolling in classes, programs, and workshops to further develop her professional skills and for working late to prepare a special and hands-on learning experience for her students.

Not only does Mrs. Rowe demonstrate care and commitment to her students but she is also relied upon by her colleagues to provide help, mentorship, and collaboration. Mrs. Rowe has shaped the high standards of excellence that the community has come to expect of the school and school district.

Mrs. Rowe's four decades of commitment to teaching kindergarten students has provided a lasting benefit for students' introduction to public schools and foundational growth. It is a true honor to represent exemplary teachers such as Mrs. Rowe in the United States House of Representatives.

Therefore, in honor of her passion, dedication, her belief in the transformative power of education, and her commitment to her students' success, it is my privilege to recognize Mrs. Janice Rowe in celebration of National Teacher Appreciation Week.

Recognizing Dominic Albano for Teacher Appreciation Week

Mr. Speaker, in honor of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I would like to take a moment to recognize Mr. Dominic Albano, a fourth grade teacher with 30 years in the profession at Union Hill Elementary School.

Since 1996, Mr. Albano has been an extraordinary educator, coach, and mentor whose legacy has touched thousands of lives. His commitment to bringing history alive for his fourth grade students is unparalleled, blending rigorous academics with immersive and unforgettable experiences.

His passion for California's Gold Country, the 49er Gold Rush, and Wild West history has created traditions that are now woven into the very fabric of Union Hill's culture. Students of Mr. Albano receive a living, breathing understanding of history and our Nation's story.

Beyond his dynamic and innovative teaching style, Mr. Albano is a beloved coach who has grown Union Hill's cross-country and track-and- field programs into teams of nearly 90 students in a school of just 700. It is a tribute to the magnetism of his leadership.

He inspires students not only to learn but to believe in themselves, which is instrumental in shaping their future. Not only does Mr. Albano make a meaningful difference in his students' lives but he plays an instrumental role in mentoring student teachers and collaborating with his colleagues.

Mr. Albano is known by others for being a Union Hill legend, a builder of traditions, and a cultivator of character. He is treasured by his school and community for his reliability, kindness, positivity, and generosity.

I am confident the impact of his contribution will be felt for generations to come. It is a true honor to represent exemplary teachers like Mr. Albano in the United States House of Representatives.

Therefore, in honor of his dedication to serving his students and community with passion, humility, and excellence, it is my privilege to recognize Mr. Dominic Albano in celebration of National Teacher Appreciation Week.

Recognizing Miranda Prakash for Teacher Appreciation Week

Mr. Speaker, in honor of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I would like to take a moment to recognize Mrs. Miranda Prakash, a special education teacher in the Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified School District at Loyalton Elementary School.

Mrs. Prakash is an exceptional educator whose unwavering commitment to student success has made a profound impact within the Sierra-Plumas Joint Unified School District.

As a leader in special education with a decade of experience, Mrs. Prakash has continuously developed and refined her program to meet the diverse needs of her students, demonstrating innovation, adaptability, and a deep sense of care.

Serving in a rural community where educational challenges are often magnified, she has gone above and beyond to ensure that every student receives personalized support and opportunities to thrive.

She is a tireless champion for her students, ensuring their needs are represented and addressed with compassion and integrity. Her collaborative spirit and willingness to work alongside general education colleagues fosters an inclusive and equitable learning environment.

Mrs. Prakash's creativity, professionalism, and genuine devotion to her students make her a role model for other educators. It is a true honor to represent exemplary teachers, such as Mrs. Prakash in the United States House of Representatives.

Therefore, in honor of the outstanding contributions to her school and the difference she continues to make in students' lives every day, it is my privilege to recognize Mrs. Miranda Prakash in celebration of National Teacher Appreciation Week.

Recognizing Steve Holland for Teacher Appreciation Week

Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I wish to highlight Mr. Steve Holland whose 29 years of dedicated service in education exceeds standards throughout the Bishop Unified School District.

Mr. Holland began teaching in the Bishop Unified School District in 1996 as a middle school teacher and, more

recently, has been teaching the fourth grade.

Known for his kindness, calm demeanor, and unwavering dedication, Mr. Holland has consistently gone above and beyond to support learning, both academically and emotionally. Through his innovative teaching methods, he continues to keep students engaged and inspired.

In addition to his deep commitment to student achievement, he has also served as a coach and grade-level leader, providing mentorship to his fellow educators and leaving a legacy of integrity and inspiration. Mr. Holland has left an indelible mark on countless students, colleagues, and families within his community.

Therefore, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I am pleased to recognize Mr. Steve Holland for his substantial contributions to the Bishop Unified School District and the students of the Bishop community.

Recognizing Brandy Rost for Teacher Appreciation Week

Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I wish to take a moment to recognize Mrs. Brandy Rost, an outstanding middle school math educator in California's Third Congressional District.

During her 29 years of dedicated service to the Lone Pine Unified School District, she has taught thousands of students, transforming their view of math from an intimidating subject to one that is exciting and achievable.

Mrs. Rost is known for her creative instructional style, integrating hands-on activities, technologies, and real-world applications, instilling engagement from students and empowering every student to succeed.

Perhaps most remarkable is the academic transformation Mrs. Rost has led since the COVID pandemic. In the wake of prolonged school closures, Lo-Inyo Elementary School saw its math scores drop to new lows with just 20 percent of students meeting or exceeding standards.

Recognizing this challenge, Mrs. Rost spearheaded an extraordinary resolve. She retooled her instruction, built targeted interventions, and created a classroom culture where growth in math became not just a goal but an expectation.

Each year since the pandemic, her students' performance climbed significantly. In the most recent testing, over 70 percent of her students met or exceeded the math standard; a score that doesn't just surpass local benchmarks but also substantially outperforms the State average.

The story of Mrs. Brandy Rost is one of resilience, excellence, and impact. Her dedicated efforts not only recovered learning loss but also illustrated what success in rural education can look like.

Alongside these momentous achievements and beyond her classroom, Mrs. Rost is a mentor to new teachers, a trusted colleague, and a favorite among families. Her impact spans generations in the Lone Pine community, where former students now bring their own children to her class with pride and gratitude.

On behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I am honored to recognize educator Mrs. Brandy Rost as an example of what it means to teach with passion, purpose, and heart.

Recognizing Brandon Dell'Orto for Teacher Appreciation Week

Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I wish to recognize an outstanding and prominent educator in California's Third Congressional District. I would like to highlight, in particular, a teacher from the Roseville Joint Union High School District, Brandon Dell'Orto, who has dedicated 35 years of his career to educating the students of our community.

Mr. Dell'Orto is a passionate historian and a mentor. He spent most of his career teaching AP U.S. History, IB History of the Americas, Military History, and World History at Granite Bay High School.

Not only does Mr. Dell'Orto have a deep understanding of these subjects but he also knows how to bring historical events to life. His integrated and engaging teaching style fosters student success, while inspiring a lasting passion for history.

Beyond the classroom, he has been recognized by the Daughters of the American Revolution and Founding Forward for his excellence in teaching and ability to foster a deep appreciation of American history and civic responsibility among his students.

Mr. Dell'Orto is an exceptional educator, and he continues to make a strong impact in the educational journey of his students. It is a true honor to represent exemplary teachers like him in Congress, and I commend Mr. Dell'Orto for his more than three decades of unwavering dedication to education and to promoting student success and academic achievement.

As a former student of Mr. Dell'Orto myself, he is one of the truly best teachers that I ever had. That goes for high school, college, and law school. He is truly one of a kind, and you will rarely see someone who has such a palpable passion for the subject matter he is teaching and the ability to inspire that same love of learning in his students. I really credit his class in many ways for inspiring my own love for American history.

On behalf of the United States House of Representatives, it is really an honor to recognize Mr. Brandon Dell'Orto for his significant contributions to Roseville Joint Union High School District and to the students of the Roseville community.

Recognizing Anne Jones for Teacher Appreciation Week

Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I wish to take a moment to recognize a teacher from the Foresthill Union School District, Anne Jones, who has dedicated 35 years of her career to educating the students of her community.

Mrs. Jones has been a devoted and passionate first grade teacher, and she has inspired generations of the community's young scholars with her warmth, patience, and with her clear passion for education.

She goes beyond teaching her students the fundamentals of reading and math and also instills values in them that are invaluable for the learning community--the values of kindness, gratitude, and creativity.

She brings joy and cheer to the classroom and creates an environment in which students feel emboldened to explore their ideas and express themselves, which helps facilitate their academic and personal growth.

It is a true honor to represent exemplary teachers in Congress, and I commend Mrs. Anne Jones for her more than three decades of dedication to education and to promoting student success and academic achievement.

Therefore, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I am pleased to recognize Mrs. Anne Jones for her significant contributions to Foresthill Union School District and to the students of the Foresthill community.

Recognizing Samantha Harvey for Teacher Appreciation Week

Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I wish to take a moment to highlight Samantha Harvey, a teacher from the Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District, who has dedicated 9 years of her career to educating the students of her community.

Mrs. Harvey serves as a fifth grade level leader. In her role, she demonstrates traits of a natural leader such as the ability to lead by example, motivate colleagues, facilitate collaboration, and so much more.

She has built an educational environment to ensure that students and teachers alike feel valued, supported, and heard. As a positive behavioral intervention and supports lead, Mrs. Harvey's efforts in providing a variety of differentiated strategies and ensuring students have the necessary tools for success, while maintaining a positive environment, have been instrumental in shaping school culture.

Mrs. Harvey also develops student athletes through her role as a cross-country coach and helps young athletes to learn the importance of lifelong skills of perseverance, teamwork, and resilience, while leading them to excel in competition.

Furthermore, as check-in and checkout coordinator, Mrs. Harvey ensures the students have the structure and support they need to thrive at school. She mentors students and provides accountability to help them stay on track, both academically and socially.

Behind the scenes, Mrs. Harvey is valued by her colleagues as she displays a commitment to teamwork, collaboration, and a continual willingness to lend a helping hand.

It is a true honor to represent exemplary teachers like her in Congress, and I commend Mrs. Samantha Harvey for her tireless devotion to education and to promoting student success and academic achievements.

Therefore, on behalf of the House of Representatives, I am pleased to represent Mrs. Samantha Harvey for her significant contributions to Dry Creek Joint Elementary School District and to the students of the Roseville community.

Recognizing Samantha Mashinchi for Teacher Appreciation Week

Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I wish to take a moment to recognize a teacher from the Loomis Union School District, Samantha Mashinchi, who has dedicated 15 years of her career to educating the students of her community.

Currently, Mrs. Mashinchi teaches fifth grade at an international baccalaureate school and has consistently demonstrated an unwavering devotion to fostering growth and excellence of her students.

Mrs. Mashinchi nurtures the natural curiosity of her students with a global perspective. In doing so, she helps equip them with the skills needed to thrive in an interconnected world. Mrs. Mashinchi has consistently demonstrated leadership and a passion for her role, working tirelessly to help each student reach their full potential.

It is a true honor to represent exemplary teachers like her in Congress, and I commend her for her tireless devotion to education and dedication to promoting student success and academic achievement.

Therefore, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I am pleased to recognize Mrs. Samantha Mishinchi for her significant contributions to Loomis Union Community School District and to the students of the Loomis community.

Recognizing Tina Angell for Teacher Appreciation Week

Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I wish to highlight a teacher from Placer County, Tina Angell, who has dedicated the past 8 years of her career to educating the students of her community.

Miss Angel owned and operated her own business before going to work for the Placer County Office of Education. She then obtained her Career Technical Education credential, focusing on business and information and communication technology pathways.

Miss Angell taught in this capacity for a few years and then, once again, decided to obtain an additional credential in special education so she could support students with mild to moderate learning disabilities.

Miss Angell also provides students with a special opportunity by being qualified to teach dual enrollment classes through a partnership with a local college in my district, Sierra College.

Miss Angell is known for being an exceptional teacher and a lifelong learner. She provides real-life applications in her classroom and strives to prepare high school students for college and future career opportunities.

Her engaging and integrated teaching style, which is accompanied by her passion for teaching and for her students, inspires those in her class to reach their full potential.

It is a true honor to represent exemplary teachers like her in Congress, and I commend Miss Angell for her dedication to education and to promoting student success and academic achievement.

Therefore, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I am pleased to recognize Miss Tina Angell for her significant contributions to the students of Placer County.

Recognizing Holly Gotwals for Teacher Appreciation Week

Mr. Speaker, in the spirit of National Teacher Appreciation Week, I wish to take a moment to recognize a teacher from Rocklin Unified School District, Holly Gotwals, who has dedicated 24 years of her career to educating the students of her community.

Mrs. Gotwals, a graduate of Sacramento State, showcases innovation, compassion, and dedication in her classroom. She teaches a special education adult transition class for students who are 18 to 22 years old with moderate to severe needs and did not receive a high school diploma.

Mrs. Gotwals focuses her class on teaching her students functional English and math, current events, independent living and vocational skills, cooking, fitness and nutrition, how to be involved in their community, mobility training, social skills, self-advocacy, and career awareness.

In a remarkable manner, Mrs. Gotwals tailors each lesson to each individual student. She goes as far as to work closely with local community businesses to secure job training opportunities for her students that match their interests and skills. She looks to the futures of her students, and some go on to other educational institutions, such as the UC-Davis SEED program, while others are able to secure jobs locally in our community.

Mrs. Gotwals fosters a sense of independence and confidence in the classroom. She is not just an educator, as she has proven to be a strong advocate and a role model to her students. Her tireless devotion to her students brings out their unique potential and prepares them for opportunities to fulfill their dreams.

It is an honor to represent exemplary educators like her in Congress, and I commend Mrs. Holly Gotwals for her exceptional dedication to education and to promoting student successes and academic achievement.

Therefore, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I am pleased to recognize Mrs. Holly Gotwals for her significant contributions to Rocklin Unified School District and to the students of the Rocklin community.

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

Mr. Speaker, there is good news for Americans when it comes to gas prices. They are down about 50 cents since last year, but unfortunately this good news does not extend to Californians. As you can see here, we remain a stark outlier with by far the highest gas prices in the country.

As of just a couple days ago, gas prices in California are 29 cents higher than second place Hawaii, an island State. Third place is Washington. Our gas prices are 52 cents higher than Washington. They are 88 cents higher than fourth place Oregon, 94 cents higher than fifth place Nevada, a $1.16 higher than sixth place Alaska.

This is truly astounding and is one of the main reasons why it has become so hard for people to get by in our State. Now, it is no mystery why this is so: California has by far the highest gas tax in the country, our cap-and-trade program adds a huge amount to the price of each gallon, as well as the requirements of our fuel blend in California.

All of these taxes and regulations combine to give California by far the highest gas prices in the country already and now we have just learned that another refinery is closing. So two refineries have announced they are shutting down in California thanks to our insane energy policies. This certainly is not going to help matters.

It is time for Governor Newsom and the California Legislature to restore just a little bit of common sense when it comes to our energy policies because we cannot afford for these trends to continue. Indeed, it is one of the main reasons that people have been leaving our State in record numbers over the last several years.

Update on the High-Speed Rail Project

Mr. Speaker, I will provide an update on the nonexistent high-speed rail project in California. As I have noted on this floor before, I have introduced a resolution or legislation to cut off all future Federal funding for California High-Speed Rail. I was with Secretary Duffy when he announced an investigation into where the recent Federal funding has actually gone and I have called upon the FBI Director Kash Patel to launch an investigation into what happened to the $17 billion that has already been spent.

At this point, the cost of the project is estimated to be about $100 billion more than it was initially sold to the public.

But we did get some news this week and maybe I have been a little too unkind to high-speed rail.

The new CEO--and, by the way, this is the fifth CEO--so there have been five more CEOs than there have been riders. Five CEOs, zero riders. But the new CEO came out with some exciting news. He announced that he has a goal by the year 2045 of completing the line going from Palmdale to Gilroy.

So let's parse that statement, a goal of by 2045 going from Gilroy to Palmdale to Gilroy.

Well, 2045 is, of course, 20 years from now. I will note that when the project was passed in 2008, it was supposed to be done, the entire thing, by 2020. So the whole thing was supposed to be done 5 years ago, but now the CEO is saying I have got an exciting ambitious plan. We are going to have Palmdale to Gilroy completed in 20 years. And this is just the goal.

There have been a number of goals in the past, in the tortured 17- year history of this project, and they have blown right past them, missing deadline after deadline with more cost overruns than we can even keep track of.

Then, finally, when you look at what his goal--which is very unlikely to actually be reached--is, it is to go from Palmdale to Gilroy. Where are these places?

Remember, the initial project was supposed to ultimately go from Los Angeles to San Francisco, the two main population hubs of California.

Well, Palmdale is a ways away from L.A. It is about 37 miles northeast of Los Angeles, so if traffic is good, it will take you an hour in your car or 2 hours if you are using existing public transportation.

Think about this. You are taking our high-speed rail which, by the way, isn't going to be that fast. It will probably be the slowest high- speed rail system in the world if it even gets built. Then you get out at Gilroy, and you have to somehow have a car there and drive another hour or you hop on public transit for another 2 hours of travel just to get into L.A.

It is similar on the north part of it. Gilroy is 70 miles from San Francisco, and you would be going for at least another hour, probably more, you would certainly be driving more than an hour after hopping off there if you actually wanted to get into the city.

Of course, I am being facetious when I say that this is an exciting, ambitious plan. It is just another example of why we need to end this project once and for all. There is absolutely no reason that State or Federal taxpayers should continue to fund a project that is going absolutely nowhere, especially when our roads are in such bad shape, among the worst in the entire world.

It is time to redirect this spending toward transportation needs that will actually improve the quality of life for Californians.

Covered California Trackers

Mr. Speaker, an investigation by CalMatters has revealed something extremely disturbing when it comes to the personal health information of Californians.

It has been revealed that the website of Covered California, which is the State's ObamaCare exchange, had a tracker that was collecting the personal health information of Californians, and then transmitting that information for marketing purposes.

Specifically, the CalMatters investigation discovered that trackers on the website of Covered California collected and sent personal information to Linkedin through one of the company's trackers called an Insight tag. This information included very personal health information, whether the individual was blind, disabled, pregnant, whether they used prescription drugs, their gender identity, whether they are a victim of domestic abuse, how often they sought care at inpatient or outpatient facilities.

A spokesperson for Covered California even admitted they installed these trackers as part of a marketing campaign, and the trackers, by the way, were not removed until this CalMatters report was published. This illegal action was undertaken despite the fact that Linkedin has publicly advised on their website that the Insight tags ``should not be installed on web pages that collect or contain sensitive data and that pages offering specific health-related or financial services or products to consumers,'' that should not be there, either.

However, despite these warnings, Covered California proceeded. I believe this raises a serious issue under HIPAA, a law designed to protect the privacy of individuals' personal health information.

I have written to Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to ask for an investigation into what happened in California, into how this was allowed to happen and to any illegal violations that may have occurred. Specifically, I am asking Secretary Kennedy to investigate whether Covered California violated

HIPAA or any other laws, who authorized the use of the trackers, what controls exist to protect privacy in California's Affordable Care Act exchange? How did Covered California evade those controls? How many people have been impacted? Have they been notified? Has there been any restitution? Why did Covered California use the trackers contrary to Linkedin's explicit guidance? I am asking how this sort of violation can be prevented in the future. This is truly unacceptable, and I am looking forward to getting some answers from this investigation.

Congratulating Mark and Marcus Haney

Mr. Speaker, I wanted to take a moment today to commemorate John Adams Academy for its inaugural Servant Leadership Award Gala, which is taking place this weekend.

Now, John Adams is an exceptional school in my district. As a matter of fact, they have three schools now--in Roseville, El Dorado Hills, and Lincoln--and there are hundreds of families on the waiting list. This is a charter school. The school is so popular that there are hundreds of families who want to go there, as well.

If you walk through one of their campuses, you will see quotes from the Founding Fathers on the walls, and you will see all signs of the classical education philosophy that guides the school's instruction.

I have had the chance to work with John Adams over the years in many ways. I have judged the Constitution Bowl at their school. I have been to their ceremonies for veterans. I have met with their student council and participated and helped judge debates that they were a part of. It is truly a special place. This Servant Leadership Award really embodies the spirit of the institution.

John Adams was founded by Dr. Dean Forman, and he is spearheading this Servant Leadership Award, which will be awarded this weekend, and the inaugural recipients will be Mark and Marcus Haney. Mark Haney runs the Growth Factory in Rocklin, which helps early-stage entrepreneurs build startup businesses. They work with them to build the funding case and leadership capacity to attract the capital and team needed to support scaling a high-growth company.

Then his son, Marcus Haney, started AllegiantVETS, which is a way to provide a bridge for veterans leaving military service to be integrated into jobs in their local communities.

Mark Haney, his father, says:

We have imagined the impact that the most resourceful

regional leaders could have if united to help one promising

entrepreneur. The Growth Factory is the realization of that

vision multiplied by a hundred.

I am a little biased in this respect because I have seen the impact that the Haney family has had on our community in so many different ways. In fact, I honored Marcus Haney with the Veteran of the Year award when I was a member of the State legislature.

I wanted to also give you a description that Dr. Forman has given for what a servant leader is because I think it is a timely reminder in these times in many ways of what we should aspire to in public service or in other forms of community leadership.

The description of a servant leader is as follows: Robert K. Greenleaf said: ``The great leader is seen as servant first.''

``A servant leader is a servant first, driven by an inner compass of virtues or core values, with a natural desire to serve and empower others. This is not about being subservient but about sincerely wanting to help others by identifying and meeting needs.

``A servant leader has the gift of persuasion through moral authority: the principled use of natural virtues unique to them for the benefit of others. Positional authority: titles, credentials, degrees give only the opportunity to lead but it is the actions in behalf of others that can command, inspire and motivate change and moral behavior in others. A servant leader has submitted himself to his higher nature and asks, `What is wanted of me?'

``A servant leader has vision. They have knowledge of the past, recognize what is needed to improve their life, family, community and world and act to bring about a better future for others.

``A servant leader applies true principles such as: public and private virtue, natural law, liberty, life, personal responsibility, et cetera.

``A servant leader has the ability to build coalitions and inspire others to follow as first among equals. They see where things are in their condition, where they should be, and then insert themselves to voluntarily move self and others to the ideal. They model what they teach. Every servant becomes a leader because of their example and influence.

``A servant leader understands that life is not just a quest for pleasure or power but of meaning. Meaning and happiness is found when one is dedicated to a cause greater than oneself. The servant nature is not bestowed and cannot be taken away; it is who one is deep inside. Once this is recognized the servant intentionally chooses to lead. American Classical Servant Leadership is about becoming.''

I just say thank you to Dr. Forman and John Adams Academy for providing this tremendous recognition. I look forward to seeing the award promote this idea of servant leadership in the years to come.

Congratulations to Mark and Marcus Haney on being the inaugural recipients.

Secure Rural Schools

Mr. Speaker, today I am calling on the House of Representatives to act with urgency to reauthorize Secure Rural Schools. The program, unfortunately, because of the House's lack of action, has been allowed to expire. Even though the Senate did pass it last year, the House failed to do so.

Secure Rural Schools provides critical funding for a number of counties in my district and across the country. It was enacted in the year 2000, and it compensates counties with large amounts of national forest land for lost revenue due to declining Federal timber sales. The funds support local schools, roads, and essential public services.

Congress reauthorized the program through fiscal year 2023, but, as I mentioned, the authorization expired in September 30, 2023, and final payments were paid in April of 2024. Congress must reauthorize this to avoid critical funding shortfalls.

For example, in some of the counties of my district: Plumas County relies on Secure Rural Schools for $3.7 million, Sierra County for $942,000, Yuba County for $122,000, Nevada County for $393,000, Placer County for $839,000, El Dorado County for $2.1 million, and Alpine County for $493,000.

Many of those counties are small counties. This provides critical funding that they need because they have a large amount of Federal land and don't have a large tax base.

I am calling on House leadership and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to act with urgency to get this measure passed and make sure that these communities receive the funding that they need and that they rely upon.

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

Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 1 o'clock and 57 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until Monday, May 5, 2025, at noon for morning-hour debate.

Madam Speaker, our Governor in California, Gavin Newsom, likes to say that California leads the Nation and, unfortunately, President Biden enabled him to do just that. He has led our Nation down a path of total insanity in a way that puts us at war with common sense, with American consumers, and with our fantastic truckers.

California has come after truckers in every way you can imagine, whether it is by far the highest diesel tax in the country, the regulation after regulation after regulation that makes more and more trucks unusable, or AB5 that went after the independent owner-operator model and threatened to put thousands of truckers out of work. However, with this regulation, the State came after the whole ball of wax. They said we are going to take your truck itself.

With this regulation, the State has said that by just the year 2035, we are going to have for some classes of trucks, 55 percent have to be zero-emission vehicles; for others, 75 percent; for others, 40 percent.

What is the practical consequence of this going to be? First, trucks are going to be a lot more expensive, tens of thousands of dollars more expensive. Companies will either have to buy more trucks or they will have to carry less in their trucks because there is less capacity because of the weight of the battery.

By the way, they are going to have to use charging infrastructure that doesn't even exist at this point in time.

American consumers, as we are seeing already in California, will see the cost of just about everything, certainly the cost of groceries, go up, and this will only contribute to the fact that we have a shortage of truck drivers in our State and in this country.

California is being allowed to create policy for the whole country because 11 States are tied to California's actions here and because it puts manufacturers in a dilemma if they have to manufacture one truck for one State and another truck for another State.

Today, we are restoring common sense. We are restoring uniformity when it comes to interstate commerce. We are restoring support for our truckers and we are lowering costs for consumers.

By the way, we believe fully in innovation and we believe in a clean energy future for this country. We believe in clean air, but it is through innovation that we will get to clean air. It is not by government fiat. Indeed, it is an odd approach to innovation that says we are going to somehow magically fiat innovation by banning any and all available alternatives. That is not the way it works.

Finally, to the notion of the gentleman from New Jersey that this sets a dangerous precedent, I will note that no California legislator ever voted on this or the car ban, no Member of this House has voted on it, no individual citizen has voted on it. There has been no vote whatsoever on a policy of profound personal consequence to 40 million Californians and tens of millions other Americans. I think that is precisely the precedent, actually putting this to a vote of the people's Representatives.