Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, today, I am presenting a resolution I have sponsored under the Congressional Review Act to reverse California's ban on gas-powered vehicles, to stop a single individual, Gavin Newsom, from dictating what tens of millions of Californians and other Americans are allowed to drive.

Madam Speaker, let me tell you where this ban came from. It was September 23, 2020. California was in the throes of the worst wildfire recorded in our State's history. There was untold suffering. Our heroic firefighters were doing everything they possibly could to get the blaze under control. Governor Newsom came out and announced: Here is what we are going to do. We are going to ban gas-powered cars. Our cars make wildfires worse.

It was an absurd, pathetic attempt to deflect responsibility from his own failures, for an NPR investigation would soon find that Newsom exaggerated the fire prevention work he had done by a staggering 690 percent and had also slashed the fire prevention budget by $150 million.

Newsom's edict eventually took the form of the regulation that is in front of us today, and on his way out the door, President Biden gave him special authority to effectively impose it on the rest of the country.

Three things about this mandate are undoubtedly true: Number one, it was never voted on, not in Sacramento, not in Washington. Number two, it does have a nationwide impact. Number three, it is not just a problem for the future. The 35 percent mandate goes into effect next year.

Therefore, we must act with urgency to democratically reverse that which was unilaterally imposed. It will be one of the most important things we do in this Congress. It will lower costs and restore common sense. It will restore the paradigm of consumer choice.

Madam Speaker, I like EVs. I happen to drive an EV myself. It works well for where I live and for my lifestyle, but I would never think to use the coercive powers of government to impose my personal preferences as a consumer on everyone else. Americans should be able to drive a car of their choice, not one that is chosen for them by the government.

Finally, with this resolution, we can restore a paradigm of dynamic innovation rather than command and control mandates. It is an odd approach to innovation that says we are going to force innovation by banning any and all available alternatives. I believe in the future of clean energy. I believe that it is upon us now, but that future is being driven by entrepreneurs and innovators, not by vainglorious politicians.

Madam Speaker, I look forward to this resolution passing. I hope it does with bipartisan support, so we can prevent the insanity of California's politics from infecting the rest of the Nation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as a cosponsor of the SAVE Act to advance the radical proposition that only American citizens should vote in American elections.

Of course, this isn't radical at all. It is common sense. I think the vast majority of Americans would be shocked to learn that it elicits any opposition at all.

In many States in this country, foremost my own State of California, the administration of our elections is completely out of touch with the rest of the developed world, falling well short of the standards that ought to exist in a modern democratic society.

This measure requiring proof of citizenship in order to vote is a needed corrective. I believe, in my State, it will complement other initiatives that we are advancing now to require voter ID and to have a timely vote-counting process in order to restore public confidence in our election process.

What is at stake is not only election integrity and election security but democratic legitimacy, ensuring that our people have the ability to express themselves fully in our own identity as a State in the country through the democratic process.

I urge passage of this on a bipartisan basis.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight ten ways in which the State of California is currently under Federal investigation. In particular, the Newsom administration is under Federal investigation.

The New York Times recently ran a story on this topic with the headline, ``Trump Takes Aim at California Six Times in 24 Hours.''

The question was asked: Why is the administration targeting California? They call it a multipronged assault on California that has begun in earnest. That is actually the wrong question. Why the administration is targeting California is the wrong question. The appropriate question is: Why is California so flagrantly violating Federal law in so many different ways?

In the article, the junior Senator in our State, Adam Schiff, is quoted as

saying: ``The President had a `partisan vendetta against California.''' Senator Schiff says that he is ``continuing to weaponize the Federal Government against the one in ten Americans.''

Of course, that is not it at all. Protecting the civil rights of Californians is not weaponizing the Federal Government. It what is the Federal Government is supposed to do and what it is required to do under established law.

What Senator Schiff and others are so upset about is that they are used to one-party rule in California being absolutely unchecked. They are used to radicalism and having absolutely no counterweight. They are used to Governor Newsom. His only motivation is his own political self- promotion. He has a supermajority legislature and other statewide- elected officials that simply go along with whatever he says or does, regardless of how much damage it does to our State and regardless of how clearly it violates Federal law.

When The New York Times asked my opinion for this article, I said: ``Extreme policies and unchecked one-party rule have lowered the quality of life across our State. All Californians will benefit from greater accountability. We need balance and common sense.''

Investigation into Male Athletes Participation in Girls' and Women's

Sports

Mr. Speaker, I will discuss today the ten ways in which Federal investigations are restoring that sense of balance and common sense and assuring compliance with the law.

Number one is on the issue of men in women's sports. The State has continued to be defiant. Recently, the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights announced a direct investigation into the California Interscholastic Federation because of its refusal to follow antidiscrimination laws related to girls and women's sports. This includes the possibility of allowing male athletes to compete in women's sports and use women's intimate facilities.

Governor Newsom has received a letter from U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. The letter warns the Governor that California could lose Federal funds if the State continues allowing transgender athletes to play in girls' and women's sports.

Secretary of Education McMahon wrote: ``I am officially asking you to inform this Department whether you will remind schools in California to comply with Federal law by protecting sex-separated spaces and activities.''

She also wrote: ``Allowing participation in sex-separated activities based on `gender identity' places schools at risk of Title IX violations and loss of Federal funding. As Governor, you have a duty to inform California school districts of this risk.''

Interestingly enough, Governor Newsom actually recently stated that he believes it is unfair for the State to allow men to compete in women's sports. Yet, he has taken absolutely no action to stop this unlawful practice.

Investigation into Alleged Violations of the Family Educational Rights

and Privacy Act

Mr. Speaker, the second ongoing investigation relates to California's policy of forcing school districts and schools to keep secrets from parents about their own children. The U.S. Department of Education's Student Privacy Policy Office has launched an investigation into the California Department of Education for alleged violations of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, FERPA, which gives parents the right to access their children's educational data.

It is alleged the California Department of Education has abdicated the responsibilities FERPA imposes because of a new California State law that prohibits school personnel from disclosing a child's gender identity to that child's parents.

What happened in California is there are a number of school districts that have said that they are simply going to hide this information from parents. They will not tell parents if their child changes their name or pronouns or anything like that.

There are other districts that say that this is not right. We actually want to make sure we are being open and transparent with parents. They passed their own policy, saying, no, our policy is that we believe that parents have a right to know this.

What the State then did is they started suing these districts. They tried to get legal judgments against them, saying they were required under law to lie to parents about their children. Fortunately, those lawsuits are being rejected.

The State legislature then followed up with a statewide law, saying that it is now the policy of the State that they are not allowed to communicate this information with parents. The school districts are not allowed to have any policy that allows them to communicate this information with parents.

Mr. Speaker, think about the absurdity of this. In California, teachers are forced to use one name and one set of pronouns with a student in class. Then their parents come in for a conference, and they are supposed to switch names and switch pronouns and doctor their assignments and the names written on them. This has actually been done in documented cases in California.

Thankfully, this Federal law of protecting the privacy right of students and the right of parents to know this information is on the books. Accordingly, the Department of Education has launched a Federal investigation.

Investigations Relating to Racial Discrimination in California Higher

Education

Mr. Speaker, the third ongoing investigation relates to the issue of racial discrimination in California higher education. The Department of Justice under Attorney General Bondi is investigating several California universities to assess compliance with the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ended affirmative action in college admissions. This is notable because not only is this now the supreme law of the land, per the recent Supreme Court decision, that there must be equal access but it is also overwhelmingly the expressed will of California voters.

Just a few years ago, in 2020, the supermajority legislature tried to repeal an existing State constitutional provision that forbade racial discrimination in college admissions. They put it directly on the ballot. By a supermajority, they passed a measure to put it on the ballot. The people of California said no.

Despite the fact the campaign for this initiative had a massive 10-1 spending advantage, the people of California voted 57 percent to 43 percent to say, no, we want equality under law to continue to be the policy of our State. This investigation by Attorney General Bondi is not only about assuring compliance with Federal law but it is also going to protect the clearly expressed will of the people of California.

Investigation Relating to the Crisis of Anti-Semitism at Universities

Mr. Speaker, the fourth investigation relates to the crisis of anti-Semitism at our universities. The Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism has announced that the Department of Justice has opened a civil pattern or practice investigation into the University of California under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The investigation will assess whether the University of California has engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination based on race, religion, and national origin against its professors, staff, and other employees by allowing an anti-Semitic hostile work environment to exist on its campuses.

Attorney General Bondi said: ``This Department of Justice will always defend Jewish Americans, protect civil rights, and leverage our resources to eradicate institutional anti-Semitism in our Nation's universities.''

We have seen over the last 1\1/2\ years or so absolutely abhorrent, outright anti-Semitism at many universities throughout the country, including at California universities, which our Committee on Education and the Workforce did a lot of work to expose through a number of hearings.

While there have been some positive reforms that have occurred on some campuses, there are still many ongoing and very severe problems. These issues are aided and abetted in a lot of cases by university faculty and administrations. This is an investigation into the full gambit of that activity.

Then there is a related set of investigations that are looking at the extent to which students who are here, international students, are actually working to advance not only anti-Semitic but pro-Hamas activity.

Related to all of these anti-Semitic incidents on university campuses, we saw illegal activity with encampments that violated the law, violated university policies, and violated the civil rights of other students. We saw buildings being taken over, and we have seen connections between these activities and the agenda of Hamas and groups affiliated with Hamas.

Recently, the administration has revoked about 100 student visas at universities across California, including the University of California, Berkeley, which is part of a broader assessment of individuals who are involved in activities deemed contrary to U.S. interests.

This is actually a small number--100 out of 140,000 international students--that are in California. We do know that there are people who are here and not from this country. They have participated in these illegal activities because, as the President's order cites, Federal law bars noncitizens from being in the U.S. if they support terrorism.

Any connection with pro-Hamas activity falls under the purview of those statutes. Indeed, the executive order from the White House quotes the President as saying that his intention is to deport Hamas sympathizers and revoke student visas.

In a similar vein, UCLA been sued in Federal court in a case alleging that it enabled protesters at an encampment to block Jewish students from accessing certain campus pathways. To the extent that folks who are here on a visa were involved in that sort of illegal, pro-terrorist activity, the administration is doing an assessment to take appropriate action.

investigation into potential illegal policies relating to california's

high-speed rail

Mr. Speaker, the sixth investigation against some of the insane and potentially illegal policies in California relates to high-speed rail which is the biggest public infrastructure failure in United States history.

I was at Union Station in L.A. a couple of weeks ago. We were with Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. He announced this investigation specifically into the Federal money that has gone into high-speed rail.

The review that we launched on that day will help determine whether roughly $4 billion in taxpayer money should remain committed to the project to build high-speed rail in the California Central Valley between Merced and Bakersfield.

I have also requested an investigation by the FBI into how exactly it is that California has so far spent some $17 billion on this project, which was approved in 2008. We are talking over 15 years, and it has yet to lay any track. At this point, even The New York Times has said that the project isn't going to be completed this century at the current pace.

The overall cost has ballooned over $130 billion. That is more than $100 billion more than it was supposed to have been. The whole thing was supposed to be completed by now, per the initial projections, but at this point, even the first segment from Bakersfield to Merced, a very modest segment, they are saying isn't even going to be completed by 2033. Indeed, just last week, there was a report from the nonpartisan legislative analyst that there is another $9 billion funding gap, and they are continuing to rely on Federal funding.

This is an investigation that is ongoing, and I fully expect it will result in those funds being clawed back and hopefully then used on infrastructure projects in California that will actually serve to move people and goods, create jobs that have positive economic value, and actually be helpful in improving the quality of life for folks in our State.

The seventh ongoing investigation relates to California's cap-and- trade program. An executive order from the President has directed Attorney General Bondi to identify State and local acts that may be unconstitutional or preempted by Federal law. It singles out California's cap-and-trade program, which sets limits on greenhouse gas emissions and then has companies buy and sell credits.

As the order says, California punishes carbon use by adopting impossible caps on the amount of carbon that businesses may use, all but forcing businesses to pay large sums to trade carbon credit to meet California's radical requirements.

What is the result of this? Even as we have seen gas prices that have gotten much lower across the entire country, Californians continue to pay astronomical prices when they fill up their cars. Indeed, California is now some $1.60 above the national average. We have the highest gas prices in the country, higher than even Hawaii.

The major cause of that is the State's taxes and regulations and other requirements, foremost among them being this cap-and-trade program, which adds substantially to the price of each gallon of gas.

The eighth ongoing investigation relates to the homelessness crisis in California. California is the national leader in homelessness. It is not even close. We have roughly one-half of the unsheltered homeless in the entire country, despite spending absolutely staggering amounts of money. Indeed, over the course of the last 5 years, we have seen $24 billion spent on homelessness, and homelessness has continued to go up significantly.

A recent audit actually found that the State has lost track of the money and can't even tell us where it went or what outcomes it has produced. Now, the new United States Attorney for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli, has announced the formation of a homelessness, fraud, and corruption task force, which will investigate fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption involving funds allocated toward the eradication of homelessness within the seven-county jurisdiction of the Central District of California.

The task force will be comprised of Federal prosecutors from the major fraud section, the public corruption and civil rights section, and the civil division's civil fraud section of the U.S. Attorney's Office. It will specifically look into what is going on in Los Angeles, where recently a court-ordered audit found that homelessness services provided by the city and county were ``disjointed'' and contained ``poor data quality and integration.''

There is a lot of Federal money at stake and at issue, by the way. During COVID, the Federal Government sent $100 million in emergency aid to L.A. County to address homelessness, and last month, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development awarded more than $200 million to address homelessness in L.A. Now, there is a Federal investigation ongoing led by the U.S. Attorney's Office into exactly what has happened to all of this money.

The ninth ongoing investigation relates to concealed carry. As part of a broader review of restrictive firearms-related laws in California and other States, the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division has announced an investigation into the L.A. County Sheriff's Department to determine whether it is engaging in a pattern or practice of depriving ordinary, law-abiding Californians of their Second Amendment rights.

The release from the Attorney General's Office notes that a recent Federal court decision found that the law and facts were clearly in favor of two private plaintiffs who challenged the lengthy, 18-month delays that the L.A. County Sheriff's Department had imposed when processing their concealed handgun license applications and that the Civil Rights Division has reason to believe that those two plaintiffs are not the only ones in this county of some 8 million people experiencing long delays that are unduly burdening or effectively denying the Second Amendment rights of the people of Los Angeles.

The release from the Attorney General goes on to note the ways in which the Second Amendment rights of Californians have been unduly burdened in countless ways. They call California a particularly egregious offender. In response to recent Supreme Court caselaw, California enacted new legislation to further restrict the ability of ordinary, law-abiding Californians to keep and bear arms.

Many California localities appear to be imposing additional burdens beyond those required by California State law, including by subjecting ordinary, law-abiding Californians to expensive fees

and lengthy wait times associated with applications for concealed handgun licenses.

Now, there will be some counterweight to these measures that are restricting the rights of Californians. In fact, there was even a recent proposal in the legislature that went to the very core of the Second Amendment that would have said that you are no longer allowed to defend yourself against an intruder who breaks into your own home. Luckily, that bill was defeated, Mr. Speaker, but it just shows you how far California has gone from what is protected by the Constitution.

Finally, of course, there is ongoing Federal action, this being the 10th Federal action related to California, when it comes to sanctuary jurisdictions. The Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security, pursuant to an executive order from the President, are, to the maximum extent possible under Federal law, evaluating and undertaking any lawful actions to ensure that so-called sanctuary jurisdictions which seek to interfere with the lawful exercise of Federal law enforcement operations do not receive access to Federal funds.

Further, the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security, per the terms of the order, are evaluating and undertaking any other lawful actions, criminal or civil, that they deem warranted based on any such jurisdiction's practices that interfere with the enforcement of Federal law.

When it comes to sanctuary policies, California has been the very worst offender in the country. The State has a sanctuary State policy that was passed in 2017 and is responsible for many tragedies that have been documented throughout our State. We even have jurisdictions like Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco that were already sanctuary jurisdictions on top of being within a sanctuary State but are now even going further. One of them is even passing what they are calling a super sanctuary jurisdiction ordinance.

Those of us who represent districts in California that are not sanctuary jurisdictions have also asked the administration to be sure to recognize those counties and jurisdictions that are, in good faith, trying to comply with Federal law, very much unlike jurisdictions like Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco.

These are 10 ways in which we see, finally, something of a check on the runaway lawlessness of the Newsom administration and a number of jurisdictions in California.

In Congress, we are very much a partner in those efforts. Indeed, I am working on a number of measures here in Congress in the House of Representatives that are seeking to push back on the radical, harmful policies of the Newsom administration.

For example, we recently introduced legislation to overturn Newsom's ban on gas-powered vehicles.

I have introduced legislation called the No Medicaid for Illegal Immigrants Act, which will seek to preserve Medi-Cal benefits for American citizens at a time when the policy of expanding those benefits to everyone in the State illegally is literally bankrupting the system.

In addition to Secretary Duffy's investigation into high-speed rail's staggering failures, I have introduced legislation to ensure that the high-speed rail project will be ineligible for any Federal funding going forward.

California has a long way to go toward restoring sanity, but these actions are very important steps, and I look forward to following these investigations as they protect the civil rights of Californians and protect our citizens against truly radical and failed policies.

tax credits for charter schools

Mr. Speaker, today, I am excited to announce new legislation that I am introducing, along with Representative Claudia Tenney, called the High-Quality Charter Schools Act, which is going to be among the most significant pieces of legislation for school choice that we have had in this country in a very long time.

What it will do is create a new tax credit for charitable contributions to nonprofit charter school organizations. Specifically, it will establish a 75 percent Federal tax credit for qualified charitable contributions made to nonprofit charter school organizations with a proven record of success, incentivizing donations to support the development of more high-quality charter schools.

This could be truly significant, allowing perhaps millions more kids in this country to gain access to charter schools. That is because the reality that we see right now is that we have very successful charter schools that get tremendous results for students.

For example, Success Academy in New York is the number one school system in the entire State, but there are a limited number of seats and it costs a lot of money to start a new school. A lot of times, especially in States like California or New York, you are disadvantaged under State law. We have politicians like Gavin Newsom or the supermajority in California who do everything possible to try to stop us from helping our students succeed.

There are all of these obstacles that exist, often under State law, as well as the inherent obstacles that exist to starting up an enterprise as complicated and complex as a school, and the Federal charter school grant program has actually been critical to helping a number of charter schools start.

What this legislation seeks to do is to help those that have proven to be successful to expand and replicate their model. That is because the ones that are really successful often have very long waiting lists. We can have thousands of kids on a waiting list for a school.

By the way, charter schools are required to conduct lotteries. They can't show any sort of favoritism in their admissions or anything like that. They have to be open to all, so they have a lottery. If a student doesn't win the lottery, unfortunately, then he or she can't go to the school. If their local neighborhood school is not a good one, then the child misses out on the opportunity to go to a high-quality school and has to end up going to a low-quality school.

The best and most effective way to expand educational opportunity and excellence in America today is to facilitate the expansion and replication of charter schools that have proven to be successful.

That is precisely what this legislation does, and I am hopeful we will get it passed into law, perhaps even as part of the reconciliation process as a way to start to turn around this sharp decline in education outcomes that, unfortunately, is posing such a risk to our country's future.

I look forward to hopefully getting bipartisan support, seeing it passed into law, and seeing what it will do for so many kids across this country.

Restoring Public Trust in Elections

Mr. Speaker, this week, I introduced, along with my colleague Jay Obernolte, as well as Representatives Calvert, Fong, Valadao, and Issa, the Election Results Accountability Act, which will restore some measure of public trust in our elections.

The problem in California, one of many problems with our elections in California, is that they take forever. Not only do voters have about a month to cast their votes, but it then takes about a month to actually count the votes, with updates being made periodically throughout what is called a monthlong canvassing period. You see results that flip. Someone is ahead on election night, but somehow, 3 weeks later, they are behind. If you are in a tight race, Mr. Speaker, you are just living and dying with each update: Am I going to be the next city council or school board member?

It limits your ability to plan, Mr. Speaker, because you don't know if you are going to be coming into office or you need to find some other job or if you will be planning to run again, whatever the case may be. The voters don't know who is going to be their Representative when they should.

It also just fosters a sense of distrust in the process, and it is, frankly, embarrassing to our State. Every other State manages to get its act together. Most of them can give us the results on election night. That is kind of the way it is supposed to work, Mr. Speaker. You go to the voting booth, cast your vote, and find out who won that night.

Mr. Speaker, you don't find out a month later and have it change several times in the process. This is beyond embarrassing for California, and it is time we brought some accountability.

We introduced this legislation, the Election Results Accountability Act, which will require all States to count and publicly report no less than 90 percent of ballots cast in Federal elections within 72 hours of polls closing.

Additionally, it mandates that States complete the ballot count and certify the final results within 2 weeks of election day.

These are not onerous requirements. Ninety percent of the votes within 3 days need to be counted, and we need to have the results within 2 weeks. Our State should be more than capable of complying with this.

By the way, even though we are requiring it in Federal elections, that likely will mean we will get the results up and down the ballot, as well. This, along with measures that we passed today, the SAVE Act to require proof of citizenship in order to vote, as well as an initiative that I think is likely to be presented to California voters in the near future to require voter ID, will go a long way toward ensuring election security, election integrity, and the sense of democratic legitimacy on which our State and country's political identity depends.

Reverse California Ban on Gas-Powered Vehicles

Mr. Speaker, this last week, I introduced legislation in the House to reverse California's ban on gas-powered vehicles. This is a special resolution under the Congressional Review Act that provides a fast-track procedure not subject to a Senate filibuster to overturn an agency action.

In this case, it is the action of the Biden administration that gave Gavin Newsome special permission to ban gas cars in California.

This is a measure that will affect almost everyone in our State. It is set to go into effect in 2035. It is utterly unrealistic, and yet, it has not been subject to a vote of the people, a vote of the State legislature, or a vote of the United States Congress.

That will change soon.

This measure, I believe, will pass hopefully with bipartisan support, and it will restore the ability of Californians to select the vehicle of their choice. It will also prevent massive increases in costs for Californians who are already burdened with the highest cost of living, the highest gas prices, the highest energy prices, and much more of any State in the country.

I think this is a pretty commonsense measure. Unfortunately, California has dragged a lot of other States along with it with this measure, so it is truly an issue of national concern, as well.

I look forward to seeing this passed to reverse the Biden administration's waiver under the Clean Air Act for California, and I think this will go a long way toward restoring some sanity to our State.

Artificial Intelligence in Education

Mr. Speaker, this last week as chair of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education that covers K-12 education, I held a very important hearing on the topic of artificial intelligence in education.

Now, we are in the midst of a truly unprecedented period in which AI is advancing at a mind-boggling rate in terms of its capabilities, and there is truly no end to this progress in sight. We see all of the leading labs introducing new models it seems like every day that demonstrate increasingly astonishing capabilities.

There are a lot of risks and concerns that tend to come to mind when people see this progress and a lot of, I think, legitimate fears as it relates to AI and its impact on society. It is very important that we are attentive to these concerns in taking whatever measures we can to make sure we get these questions right.

I think that it is equally important that we make sure that the benefits of this technology as it exists now and as it is likely to exist in the future are understood, as well.

I think that there is, frankly, far less dialogue and conversation on a national level than there should be about the absolutely enormous changes that could well be ahead of us.

I wanted to use this hearing to examine one particular domain where AI holds the potential to dramatically expand opportunity and benefit our country and bring unprecedented opportunities to American kids across the country.

I am a former high school teacher, and we have in this country truly shameful achievement gaps when it comes to the educational opportunities that are available to kids depending on their ZIP codes. In my view, much of that is as a result of failed policies, none more so than in California, which has just about the widest achievement gaps of any State in the country.

We absolutely need to have policy reforms that bring accountability, that empowers parents, that expands school of choice, and that supports teachers among many other policy reforms.

The correct use of artificial intelligence could go a long way in itself toward bridging these achievement gaps. Not only that, I believe that it will very soon be possible for any child in our country to receive a richer educational experience than any child did just a few years ago. This is because of the absolutely incredible capabilities that are now accessible to anyone for free or at very little cost on a computer or smartphone.

We saw during our hearing examples of how these possibilities are already being realized in many classrooms across America. You could have, for example, a personalized tutor who knows just about everything there is to know, who knows everything about your own strengths and weaknesses, your own interests, and who engages with you directly to learn any topic.

Now, this is no small matter because studies show that having access to a high-quality tutor is one of the most important interventions that improves educational outcomes by a significant degree, potentially moving you a half standard deviation or so or giving you more than a years' worth of additional learning in any given year if you have access to a high-quality tutor.

Well, with AI tools, any child will have that access at a level that has never been known before in a more personalized way than has ever been known before. What is more, these tools allow for learning across different modalities through text, through images, through voice, and can engage with different students in different ways.

Just to give you another example, they can take on the form of different characters. When you are learning history, you could actually have a conversation with an animated version of a historical figure. If you are reading a book, you can actually have a conversation with a character in the book. If you are learning physics, maybe you can learn physics from a reanimated version of Einstein himself.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

When you look at the technologies that are advancing when it comes to augmented reality, when it comes to VR, we are already seeing ways in which AI is being deployed for sort of career training-type learning, whether it is welding or other types of careers or trades where these environments can be simulated in very realistic ways to help students learn regardless of whether they go to a school or you can get hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of expensive machinery.

I think that we are still just scratching the surface of what is possible here. One of the suggestions at our hearing is that we need to continue to facilitate ways of sharing best practices; importantly, as well, when it comes to how these tools can be used by teachers because a teacher's role is as important as ever, potentially more important, in the sense that having access to AI tools that can assist students in individual ways actually frees teachers in many ways to provide the sort of mentorship and instruction and teaching that only a caring human can.

We saw examples in our hearing of how AI tools have been used to assist with lesson planning, have been used to help grade papers, or to provide direct immediate feedback to students to help with the assessment process and many other ways, as well.

For those who think that the AI tool is somehow going to change the role of the teacher, these tools can change the role of the teacher but I think in very positive ways, as well.

Of course there are risks in this domain, as well, when it comes to academic dishonesty, when it comes to the potential of further absorbing students into digital worlds and thereby exacerbating some of the harms we have seen in excessive use of smart phones. All of those things we need to be very mindful of, as well, which is why following

our hearing we are exploring ways to establish forums where these sort of best practices can be shared so different teachers, different schools, different States can see what is happening elsewhere, see what the results are, and see the impact it is having on the well-being and learning of our students.

This is one area where I think there truly is unbounded potential, and I am looking forward to working with our subcommittee to try to assist districts across the country and unlocking that potential.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to inform folks throughout California and the entire country of one of the biggest scandals in our State's history, which is that Governor Newsom is literally bankrupting Medicaid in our State. He is driving it insolvent through a policy that exists nowhere else in the country, in no other State, a policy of offering free, comprehensive, universal Medicaid, or Medi-Cal as we call it, to the entire population of illegal immigrants in our State who meet the income threshold. No other State has done this, and in California, it has been an absolute disaster.

Initially, it was estimated that this unprecedented expansion would cost just a few billion dollars. It turns out that it is going to cost $9.5 billion just for this year.

Because of that enormous cost overrun, because of the resulting shortfall of some $6 billion, Governor Newsom has just taken out an emergency loan from the general fund in order to cover payments. On top of that, he has asked the legislature to appropriate even more money, billions more.

Think about what this means over, let's say, the next 10 years. If the cost has grown from a few billion dollars to $9.5 billion just in this first year, what can we expect year over year going forward? We are likely talking about hundreds of billions of dollars of money from California taxpayers that will be spent this next decade implementing a policy that exists nowhere else in the country to provide comprehensive care, comprehensive government-provided healthcare, to those who are in our State illegally.

Here is the worst thing. Not only is this fiscally unsustainable, but those are funds that could be going to shoring up Medicaid, Medi-Cal, and improving the system, improving access to

care, and improving the quality of care for our own legal residents.

If you are a California citizen on Medicaid right now, the kind of coverage that you get, the kind of actual delivery of service that you get, likely is not that good. Doctors throughout the State simply will not take Medicaid patients because the reimbursement rate is so low.

This policy of Governor Newsom and the supermajority in California is a conscious decision to put the entire solvency of our system at risk, to diminish access to care for our own residents, and to, in fact, make it harder to get appointments because now there is a whole new population that is looking to get into the system and doing so in a way that has no precedent anywhere else in the country.

In fact, in many cases, it actually costs the State more money to provide Medicaid to a person who is in the State illegally because, number one, there is no Federal funding for such enrollees, so the State bears almost the entire cost. Even the overall cost, forgetting about who is paying for it, can be higher. When you look at, for example, the rebates for prescription drugs that are available at the Federal level because the Federal Government negotiates in bulk, that is not available for this population that is covered by State funds, so we are actually paying more than we would for our own citizens.

Mr. Speaker, this outrageous policy simply cannot continue. I am calling on Governor Newsom and the State legislature to reverse it immediately. That should be the obvious next step when the system has gone insolvent to the extent that the Governor is forced to take out an emergency loan.

Here in Congress, I have introduced legislation that will preserve Medicaid benefits in California and across the country for only those who are legal residents of our country. I think we also have an opportunity to rein in what Governor Newsom is doing through the reconciliation process, and I look forward to doing that in order to protect Medicaid for Californians.

Update on California's Failing High-Speed Rail Project

Mr. Speaker, I would like to provide an update on the latest unbelievable revelations concerning high-speed rail, the high-speed rail disaster in California.

Yesterday, California's legislative analyst testified before the State legislature that the project faces a $7 billion budget gap and that the funds must be secured by next June. The legislative analyst's spokesperson said: ``There is no specific plan to meet that roughly $7 billion gap. We also think there is some risk that that gap could grow.''

Indeed, the hearing at which the legislative analyst testified was very brief because the California High-Speed Rail Authority submitted an incomplete update to those who had organized the hearing. The high- speed rail authority can't manage to complete anything on time, even its own reports to the legislature, let alone a high-speed train from Los Angeles to San Francisco or even that very first segment from Bakersfield to Merced, which is now projected to miss the 2033 deadline.

Listen to the bipartisan pushback that this is getting. Assembly Member Steven Bennett, a Democrat from Ventura, said: ``We have no plan. We have a good likelihood it is going to get worse, and we have a short time to solve the problem.''

``The definition of insanity,'' said Democrat Assembly Member Cottie Petrie-Norris, ``is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.''

The truly amazing thing is the legislative analyst testified that this update that the rail authority provided, even this incomplete update, assumes there will still be Federal dollars. They are saying there is a $7 billion budget shortfall for just the next few months, and that has an unrealistic assumption that goes with it that there is going to be further Federal funding.

I can say this right now: There will not be further Federal funding. How do I know that? Because I was at a press conference with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy just a few weeks ago in Los Angeles, where it was made very clear that this project is a failure. In fact, there is now an investigation that has been launched by the Department of Transportation to claw back billions of dollars that have been granted.

I have also asked for an investigation by FBI Director Kash Patel to figure out how it is exactly that they have already spent $17 billion, that the overall cost has grown to in excess of $130 billion, yet no track has been laid after 16 years of some kind of work supposedly being done.

Finally, I have introduced legislation to make the high-speed rail project ineligible for further Federal funding at any point going forward, which, again, the rail authority is entirely reliant on the assumption of Federal funding just to get to a point where there is only a $7 billion budget gap for just the first next few months.

The fact of the matter is that this project has failed. It is not going to happen. There is absolutely no justification for spending another dollar of taxpayer money, especially when our roads continue to crumble and be rated among the worst in the world.

I will be advancing my legislation here, and I am calling on Governor Newsom and the legislature to do the right thing and bring an end to this failed and embarrassing project once and for all.

Condemning Classification of Israel as an Adversary

Mr. Speaker, today on the House floor, there was an amendment offered that suffered the most overwhelming defeat that I have ever seen in the United States Congress, and for good reason. It is perhaps the most abhorrent legislative proposal I have ever seen in the United States Congress.

The Representative from Michigan, Representative Tlaib, introduced a measure that would classify Israel as an adversary of the United States alongside the likes of China, Iran, and North Korea.

Fortunately, this proposal was swiftly and nearly unanimously rejected by the House of Representatives. Look at the vote total. A grand total of three people, including the author, voted ``yes.'' Every single other Member, Democrat or Republican, over 400 Members, voted ``no.''

This sent a very important message regarding what was being suggested with this proposal, that one of our most important allies in the entire world, Israel, at this time when it faces so many challenges, is somehow a country of concern, an adversary of the United States comparable to Iran or North Korea, and to single out this one country, Israel, of all the countries in the world.

We have seen across America, and in particular on college campuses, deeply disturbing, abhorrent anti-Semitism, which has absolutely no place and that we never thought we would ever see anything like it in this country. I think when you have proposals in Congress that encourage that, that are very much thematically aligned with the pro- Hamas, anti-Semitic encampments that took over universities in the country, it is very important that that is condemned strongly and unequivocally. I am very proud that that is exactly what the House of Representatives did today.

Zero Job Growth in California

Mr. Speaker, the California Center for Jobs and the Economy has just released an absolutely stunning report that shows how deeply Governor Gavin Newsom has driven our State's economy into the ground. Among the findings was that for the month of January, job growth in our State was nonexistent.

The number of net jobs that were added to the California economy was exactly zero for the month of January. By comparison, Texas added 27,900; Florida added 16,500; and even New York added 20,100. California added zero. Indeed, California is one of only five States in the country that has not recovered the jobs that it lost during the COVID shutdowns.

As things now stand, our unemployment rate is the second highest in the country. It is the second highest out of all 50 States. Indeed, there are 1 million Californians who are unemployed, and that has been true for 13 straight months. What is more, even those jobs that have been created in the COVID recovery are entirely government or government-dependent jobs.

So to quote the spokesperson, or the head, of the California Business Roundtable, Rob Lapsley: ``To put it more directly, other than in trade, California has not grown jobs during the past 4 years of recovery; it has bought them with public funds.''

We would have zero job growth and zero recovery if it weren't for government jobs.

What is more, beyond that, even when you look at folks who are employed, Mr. Speaker, the average number of hours per week is shrinking in California as well.

This is truly stunning, Mr. Speaker, when you consider everything that our State has to offer, not only being a place that has a greater diversity of natural wonders and attractions and beauty than just about any place on Earth, but it also has so many dynamic and thriving industries, so many incredible companies and employers. It has such a rich history of innovation and of driving the Nation forward.

Somehow this Governor and the existing legislature have managed to turn it into the State that does the absolute worst when it comes to jobs of any State in the country.

So why is that the case?

It is no mystery, Mr. Speaker. You can just look at misguided policy after misguided policy which has served to discourage companies from starting, discourage companies from adding jobs, discourage companies from staying here, and indeed, has made more people leave this State than any other for several consecutive years.

I am working on legislation in Congress inasmuch as we can use the levers we have here at the Federal level to try to bring some sanity back to the economic policy environment in California because there are areas where Federal and State policy intersect.

For example, we are getting rid of all of these EV mandates or electric train mandates or electric truck mandates or electric lawnmower mandates. I will soon be introducing a Congressional Review Act resolution to end Gavin Newsom's plan to ban gas-powered cars in California.

Beyond that, there are a number of State policies that everyone knows are causing immense harm and yet remain on the books. So if our State's leadership has the chance to look at this report and get a little dose of reality and has any inclination to actually try to turn things around and help folks in our State, here are a few suggestions:

Repeal AB 5, which has effectively banned independent contracting in our State and has put countless freelancers out of work.

Overturn the Private Attorneys General Act, PAGA, which is the bane of many small businesses' existence and accounts for the nonexistence of many that have been forced to close because of the harassing lawsuits that it leads to.

Reexamine every mandate that we place on employers, especially those that don't exist in any other State, and evaluate the impact they have on the incentive to hire.

Take a cue from President Trump who has said we are going to repeal 10 regulations for every new regulation that we offer.

If there is any place where the regulatory thicket can rival or even surpass that of the Federal Government, it is the bureaucracy that we have in California.

Speaking of the bureaucracy, find ways to rein in these massive, unelected policymaking bodies we have in California such as CARB, the California Air Resources Board.

These are just a few suggestions, but our State has absolutely enormous potential that currently is being dramatically underutilized. It is truly a sad thing as we see it in every community in this State. You see your favorite restaurant or another cherished small business that suddenly closes its doors for good, and you see so many of our fellow citizens who are lacking the sort of opportunities that a well- governed State would allow them.

So I would hope that if anything could be a wake-up call, then this latest stunning report with this very round number of zero new jobs will serve as that wake-up call that can catalyze and motivate some real reform in California.

SpaceX Rescue

Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate and thank SpaceX and its Crew Dragon capsule for successfully returning the two astronauts, Barry Wilmore and Suni Williams, who had been stranded in the International Space Station for 286 days.

Most Americans are now familiar with the story and with the issues that arose with the Boeing Starliner that made them unable to return on that vessel and the delays that ensued after that such that these astronauts had to overstay their planned trip by many, many, many weeks.

It was just on March 18, a little over 1 week ago, that they finally were brought home thanks to SpaceX and splashdown in the Gulf of America.

This was a great moment for our country, certainly a great moment for the astronauts and their families, and I think it serves as a reminder of how important America's lead is when it comes to the commercial space industry.

We saw just this last year repeated efforts by the Biden administration to hold back that progress and to specifically target SpaceX.

Now, it needs to be noted that SpaceX accounts for over 90 percent of the total payload brought into orbit in the entire world, and so targeting SpaceX is truly weakening our own country given how important our global dominance in space is. So this latest demonstration of the capacity of this particular company and American ingenuity in general to accomplish amazing feats should hopefully serve as a reminder that we have now turned a page, that we are now encouraging innovation, and that we must never return to the misguided policies and, frankly, discriminatory treatment that prevailed during the administration of President Biden.

So I thank SpaceX again and welcome home, a long delayed welcome home, and welcome back to Earth to our astronauts.

Artificial Intelligence Announcement

Mr. Speaker, I have the honor of chairing the subcommittee that has jurisdiction over all of K-12 education, and I wanted to let folks know about a very important hearing that we are having next Tuesday at 10:15 a.m. eastern time on artificial intelligence and its uses in education.

Now, some folks might hear the topic of that hearing and think about things like: Is AI making it easier for students to cheat, or is this going to absorb young people even further into digital worlds?

Those are certainly concerns. However, the focus of our hearing is going to be on the upside. It will be on the tremendous potential, the boundless opportunities that AI--even as it exists right now, let alone what its capabilities are going to be in a matter of weeks, months, and years, the unbelievable opportunities to close achievement gaps and advance student achievement.

I firmly believe, if it isn't already true now then it will be true in a very short time, that every child in America now has the ability to get a richer and more immersive education than any child did just a few years ago.

I was part of an organization when I was a teacher that was aimed at closing achievement gaps in America. The different opportunities that are afforded to young students depending on the ZIP Code that they live in is an ongoing failure of our public education system. There are many policy changes that we need to make to address that, such as providing for greater choices for students and their families.

However, the use of artificial intelligence is another incredibly powerful tool for closing these achievement gaps. That is because now, no matter where you were born, the ZIP Code that you live in, or the neighborhood school that is closest to you, Mr. Speaker, you, as a young person growing up in America, can access the entirety of human knowledge. It can be conveyed and given to you in a way that meets your own starting knowledge level, your own ability level, and your own strengths and weaknesses in the modality that fits you.

We are seeing incredible things that are being done already at different schools across the country as well as with platforms like the Khan Academy where you can have a direct dialogue with a chatbot or, for example, a reanimated version of Albert Einstein that

teaches you physics, or you can have a dialogue with a historical figure as you are learning history, or with a literary character as you are reading a classic novel.

In addition, beyond giving the student this novel, immersive experience that is uniquely tailored to them, it also liberates teachers to focus on those sorts of things that only a caring human instructor can do. So we are still in the very early stages, and the capabilities of AI systems are growing by the day.

I think this is going to be a very important moment for us to look at what is being done now and what we can do going forward to expand these incredible learning opportunities to every child in America.

So you can tune into our hearing next Tuesday at 10:15 a.m. eastern time.

Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Rotary Club of Grass Valley

Mr. Speaker, I wish to mark and to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Rotary Club of Grass Valley based in California's Third Congressional District.

The Rotary Club of Grass Valley was established in 1925 by 25 local business and professional leaders who were inspired by the Rotary movement's ideals of service and ethical business practices.

Club members represented a cross section of the community and included businessmen and professionals associated with and directly involved with the major regional economic activities of mining and timber harvesting.

The outbreak of World War II had a profound impact on the activities of the Rotary Club as many of its members were called to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. Those who remained in Grass Valley continued to support the war effort through various initiatives, such as organizing blood drives, collecting scrap metal, and helping military families.

The history of the Rotary Club of Grass Valley is a testament to the power of community spirit and collective action.

Today, the Rotary Club hosts several community events meant to support the numerous programs and activities that provide the resources needed to promote the quality of life of Grass Valley residents, the surrounding region, and communities across the globe.

For more than 10 decades now, the club has demonstrated an ongoing commitment to service, fellowship, and leadership. Their contributions are an indelible part of the Grass Valley community and have made a lasting impact on our region.

Therefore, on behalf of California's Third Congressional District and the United States House of Representatives, I am pleased to recognize the Rotary Club of Grass Valley for their outstanding contributions throughout their 100-year history, and I commend them for their ongoing and tireless devotion to community service.

Here is to another great 100 years.

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 43 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until Monday next, March 31, 2025, at noon for morning-hour debate.

Mr. Chair, America's universities have long been the place where for better or for worse cultural trends tend to begin and then spread throughout the rest of the country. Unfortunately, in recent years, it has been for worse.

An ethos of censorship took hold first in American universities before spreading to tech companies throughout our broader culture and into the government itself.

Of course we saw most vividly on university campuses the absolutely appalling scenes of anti-Semitism that sadly also became part of our broader problem for the rest of the country over the last few years and even before that.

America's adversaries, noticing this phenomenon, have decided that targeting our universities is a way to weaken the United States. Infiltrating our universities is a way to influence our broader institutions and to influence public opinion.

You see, for example, a congressional investigation found that there were nearly $40 million in contracts with the CCP or CCP-linked organizations. This is just what we know about.

Institutions have accepted billions in anonymous foreign funds without any transparency or accountability. There was even a recent study from the Institute for the Global Study of Anti-Semitism and Policy showing how this has infiltrated K-12 classrooms as well as funding from Qatar ended up at Brown University which developed anti- Israel curricula that then went to 8,000 K-12 schools throughout the entire country.

The DETERRENT Act is a much-needed, commonsense piece of legislation that simply says if you are going to accept funding from foreign countries, you need to disclose that. After all, universities are massively funded in various forms by the Federal Government, so if taxpayer dollars are going to support institutions that are taking foreign money, we should know about that.

The requirements put in place by this bill simply say that if you accept a gift of $50,000 or more, a foreign gift, then you need to report that, and it is anything of any value if it is from an adversarial nation.

The bill also closes reporting gaps, including faculty-level disclosures and imposes real penalties for noncompliance, including loss of title IV funds.

The good news, Mr. Chair, is that over the last year or so we have seen a reckoning begin in higher education in this country, and we are starting to see very positive changes. A number of university presidents have lost their jobs, and universities are increasingly committing themselves anew to protecting civil rights and promoting academic freedom.

The DETERRENT Act will be an important part of that trend. I am proud to be a cosponsor.

Mr. Speaker, I am quite astonished. I had every expectation I would be coming to the floor for what would be a bill with overwhelming bipartisan support. After all, COVID-era unemployment fraud was the largest fraud of taxpayer dollars in U.S. history. In California alone, it amounted to some $32 billion.

By the way, California made it really easy. People would submit claims with the name ``Mickey Mouse,'' or something along those lines, and it was given no scrutiny as the State ignored the basic fraud detection procedures that were recommended by the Federal Government.

Because of the scale of this fraud, there is a very small percentage of the cases that have been prosecuted, and thousands remain unresolved, so there is the need to extend the statute of limitations.

The question with this bill is: Are we going to allow those cases to go forward, or are they all going to be dismissed?

Are we going to hold the perpetrators accountable, or are we going to let them all go free?

Are we going to try to recover these funds for taxpayers, or are we going to allow the international criminal syndicates to keep it?

By the way, Mr. Speaker, what do you think they are going to do with the money? Give it to charity? No. They are going to use it for further criminal activity.

This is a commonsense measure. I am sure 99.9 percent of Americans support it, and I sure hope 100 percent of our friends on the other side of the aisle don't oppose it when it comes for a vote.

Mr. Speaker, we just heard the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) speak passionately on a number of topics.

It is his prerogative as an elected Member of Congress to speak from this floor on any topic he chooses. What is not his or any of our right is to stand up during the State of the Union and interrupt the President of the United States.

Imagine if everyone did that. Imagine if everyone took whatever grievance they have in the moment and decided to use the State of the Union to air that grievance. Imagine if, during President Biden's speech, each and every one of the Republicans in the House had stood up and objected to the President's open-border policies or his runaway inflation policies. The State of the Union could not be delivered. The institution could not function.

What is even more remarkable, though, than the conduct of this 1 Member is the fact that all but 10 of his colleagues on their side of the aisle chose not to censure this eminently censurable conduct. We held a vote today, and there were 10 Democrats who joined with the Republicans in voting for the censure. They are Ami Bera of California, Ed Case of Hawaii, Jim Costa of California, Laura Gillen of New York,

James Himes of Connecticut, Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, Jared Moskowitz of Florida, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, and Tom Suozzi of New York.

The other 200 Members who were present chose not to censure that conduct. I find that remarkable. Indeed, the antics on display during the joint session truly exemplified everything that is wrong with politics in this country today and exemplified everything that Americans are so tired of.

There was, of course, the outburst from the gentleman from Texas (Mr.

Green). There were the pathetic little protests of a handful of people walking out in the middle of the speech. There were the sad, little cards with statements like ``Lies'' on them.

Beyond all of that, there was a premeditated refusal from one side of the aisle, acting in unison, to stand and applaud for literally anything that the President said.

What were some of the things that they uniformly, acting as a monolith, refused to applaud?

They refused to stand and applaud for record-low illegal border crossings, for protecting women's sports, for stopping fraudulent payments, and for capturing a terrorist who killed 13 American servicemembers.

They refused to stand and applaud for supporting law enforcement, for improving military recruitment, for protecting free speech, for having our workers actually show up to work, for hiring people based on merit, for opening new power plants, for living in peace, for the signing of the Abraham Accords, and for returning manufacturing to America.

Not a single person stood. That is kind of the most incredible thing, that there was a willful decision to sacrifice any individuality to the orders being given by party leadership.

It got particularly disturbing when the President recognized a number of heroic Americans who were present, and we had our colleagues refuse to stand and applaud for a volunteer firefighter who provided a home to 40 foster children; to the victim of a deepfake who has become an advocate for other victims; to the family of Laken Riley; to the family of Jocelyn Nungaray; to a heroic Border Patrol agent; to the widow of an officer who was killed in the line of duty; to a 13-year-old survivor of brain cancer, such an inspiring young man; to a young man admitted to West Point; to a history teacher who has finally been brought home after being a political prisoner in Russia, sentenced to 14 years; and to the family of Corey Comperatore.

Each and every time the President recognized one of these individuals in the gallery, there was a premeditated refusal to stand and acknowledge them.

We know that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle know how to do it. During President Biden's State of the Union Addresses, which, by the way, his last one was one of the most caustic, partisan speeches I have ever seen, where he repeatedly compared himself to his predecessor; that is, his political opponent at the time. Dozens of times, Democrats stood and applauded.

By the way, on our side, for a lot of those times, we didn't stand and applaud because he was saying partisan things or things that we disagreed with.

When he said things that we agreed with, I would stand. Others on my side would stand, as well. When he spoke to unifying ideas, ideas about what makes our country great, we would stand and applaud. When he highlighted people who were deserving of commendation, we would stand and applaud.

Yet, the contrast could not have been starker in President Trump's speech and the reaction to it here in the Chamber on Tuesday.

I think that is really unfortunate because Americans of all party affiliations--Republican, Democratic, Independent, Green Party, whatever the case may be--repeatedly say in overwhelming numbers that the political divisions in this country are a serious problem.

I believe it is weakening us as a country, and I think we need to find opportunities to come together. We need to be looking for common ground. The fact that we had one side that came to Tuesday's speech intent on finding no common ground whatsoever is a very unfortunate thing.

California's High-Speed Rail

Mr. Speaker, yesterday, I formally requested that FBI Director Kash Patel open an investigation into California's High-Speed Rail.

My letter to Director Patel reads as follows: ``While I know that many issues are competing for your time, one issue that deserves your attention is California's High-Speed Rail Project.

``Nearly 17 years ago, California and the United States were sold on the dream of high-speed rail in California. Originally projected to cost $33 billion and scheduled to be completed by 2020, that dream has become a nightmare. According to the California High-Speed Rail Authority's own estimates, the total project cost has now ballooned by over $100 billion above that original estimate. Moreover, California's auditor reports that the HSRA will miss its latest 2033 deadline . . . without having completed a single segment of the track. Indeed, The New York Times reported that, according to `projections widely used by engineers and project managers, the train could not be completed in this century.'

``This malfeasance leads to questions that transcend mere incompetence. How is it possible to have spent over $13 billion without a single station opening? Where have these funds gone? Who benefited?

``Because the project has consumed billions in Federal funding, the FBI has both the authority, and I would argue the responsibility, to pursue these questions and deliver answers to the American people. The public integrity division is uniquely qualified to root out any corruption, recover stolen funds, and restore confidence that our tax dollars are being stewarded carefully.

``On behalf of my constituents and the people of California, thank you for your consideration of this request.''

I am hopeful that through this investigation we will finally see some accountability and a measure of justice for California taxpayers.

187,000 People in California are Homeless

Mr. Speaker, the California Legislative Analyst has just released a new report on the amount of homelessness spending in California. It reports that since 2019, the State has spent over $36 billion.

This is truly astounding when you consider what has actually happened with homelessness in California during that time. During the Governorship of Gavin Newsom, we have seen a 24 percent increase in homelessness. The population is now over 187,000 people, and roughly half of all unsheltered homeless in the United States are in California.

We have continued to spend more and more money, over $36 billion over this time period, and the homeless population has only continued to grow. What is worse, the legislative analyst has found that the Governor's office lost track of most of that money.

This was in an audit that was released last year. In this new report, even since that audit, we are seeing the same problem with the new spending that has been authorized. Indeed, the LAO reports that, despite many requirements, as of this writing, no data have been provided to the legislature on how many people living in encampments have received permanent housing or any other type of housing. The legislature lacks other key outcomes data such as the number of encampments that have been resolved.

We continue to see the same problems in California: spending billions of billions, homelessness getting worse, and zero accountability.

The Governor even vetoed last year a bipartisan bill that would have allowed for greater transparency and accountability when it comes to homelessness spending.

Mr. Speaker, this is absolutely unacceptable, and it has gotten to the point where I believe we need to find ways to bring new tools of Federal oversight and accountability to the out-of-control homelessness situation in California.

We are looking at ways of doing just that.

California Coastal Commission is Out of Control

Mr. Speaker, this week, I officially introduced the Coastal Commission Accountability Act to strip the California Coastal Commission of its powers under Federal law.

The Coastal Commission is simply out of control. It is one of the most out-of-control agencies in the whole country, and it has veered far from its purpose of protecting the coast.

From blocking SpaceX launches to obstructing fire prevention projects, the commission has repeatedly threatened the safety of Californians and weakened our national defense, while

needlessly undercutting innovation and economic progress.

The need to rein the commission in has now become urgent as we face the challenge of rebuilding Los Angeles following the fires, and that will not be possible if the commission is allowed to continue operating as it has been.

Just to give you a couple of examples of some of its abuses, one of them is specifically related to fire.

In 2019, the L.A. Department of Water and Power began replacing nearly 100-year-old wooden power line poles that are cutting through Topanga State Park.

The project, though, was halted because there was apparently an endangered plant, the Braunton's milkvetch plant that was in the area.

Now, the goal of this project was to improve fire safety for the Pacific Palisades area by replacing the wooden poles with steel, widening fire access lanes in the area, and installing wind- and fire- resistant power lines. This was all after the area had been identified as having an elevated fire risk.

What the Coastal Commission did, because of this Braunton's milkvetch plant, is they marched in, they halted the project, and they even demanded $2 million in fines.

On top of that, the commission has blocked a desalination plant that had been proposed in Huntington Beach. It has stood in the way of housing, contributing to the housing crisis that we have in California, and it even tried to stop SpaceX from launching rockets out of Vandenberg.

This one was particularly remarkable because SpaceX and the Air Force came and said we want to increase our launch cadence at Vandenberg. These launches are very important for a number of reasons when it comes to innovation, space exploration and national security. That is why the Air Force was involved.

The Coastal Commission said, no, we are not going to allow that. What was the reason they cited? It had nothing to do with preserving the coast, which is their mission. It had nothing to do with maintaining the beauty of the California coast, one of the most beautiful places in the world, which is their mission.

No. The commissioners explicitly said during their meeting that the reason they were going to stop these launches, which the Air Force said are in the national security interests of the United States, is because they didn't like some of the political posts put on X by Elon Musk on completely unrelated topics.

This gives you a sense of what a rogue agency the Coastal Commission has become and the barriers that we will face to rebuilding Los Angeles if this is allowed to continue.

I am looking forward to advancing the Coastal Commission Accountability Act through the House and getting it signed by the President, who I know agrees with me on this issue. I am hopeful that we can get bipartisan support throughout the process.

Protecting Women and Girl's Sports in California

Mr. Speaker, today, I am calling on California Governor Gavin Newsom to immediately issue an executive order to protect women and girls sports in California and ask the legislature for legislation codifying in law that men shall never compete in women's sports in California again.

Today, the Governor, on his newly established podcast called ``This is Gavin Newsom,'' came out with a statement that surprised many on this topic. He said that when it comes to men competing in women's sports, he said: ``I think it is an issue of fairness.'' It is an issue of fairness. ``It is deeply unfair.'' Those were the Governor's words.

Now, this was surprising because his policies have been the 180- degree opposite. For example, he has signed legislation that has taken away the right of parents to be notified about decisions that their kids make at school with respect to how they identify, or on this issue of sports.

In June 2022, not that long ago, the Governor attacked the State of Tennessee for not funding men competing in girls' sports. So at that point, he was not only in favor of it, he thought that a State refusing to actively promote it and fund it was deserving of censure.

Okay. The Governor has changed his mind. I think that is great. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that polls show that some 90 percent of Americans support the basic predicate of sanity that men should compete in men's sports and women should compete in women's sports.

Now, that message has apparently not been received by the United States Senate, which recently refused to pass the bill we passed in the House, the Protecting Women and Girls in Sports Act, but the Governor has made his statement.

He claims this is his position. It would represent a change of heart, but it means nothing unless he acts on it if he continues to support policies that do the exact opposite.

If the Governor is serious, I am calling on him today to take executive action to protect women's sports and to get the legislature to take action as well, so that we can end this absurdity and unfairness in California once and for all.

Much-Needed Comprehensive Effort Under Way to Modernize Our Government

Mr. Speaker, there is at this time a much- needed comprehensive effort under way to modernize our government, to root out fraud, to root out inefficiency, to implement reforms that will save the taxpayers' money, and lead to a higher quality of government service while rightsizing the Federal Government.

This is an undertaking that is supported by a broad majority of Americans of all party affiliations.

I have been very appreciative of the administration's efforts to keep us informed as well as to solicit feedback from Members of Congress as to how things are playing out in our districts, knowing that such a massive undertaking that is being done at a much-needed aggressive pace will inevitably, from time to time, produce some effects that need to be looked at more closely.

One of the ways in which I have provided feedback to the administration is as it concerns the issue of fire protection in my district. Now, of course, we all saw the horror that unfolded in Los Angeles recently, but in recent years, these catastrophic events have become a recurring phenomenon. They have become, sadly, a fact of life for folks in California.

Several of the most devastating fires in State history have occurred in my district. In the wake of these fires, there has been a massive undertaking to do whatever we can to try to prevent similar events from happening in the future.

One of my very first priorities since I got to Congress is to bring unprecedented resources to our district for massive fire mitigation projects that will keep our communities safe. By the way, there is a lot of reform that we still need to do in terms of the regulations. There have been some minor improvements, but the Fix Our Forests Act, for example, is a bill that will go a long way.

We do need the resources, which we have managed to secure at an unprecedented level, and I have simply tried to emphasize the importance of protecting these efforts, especially given the fact that in parts of my district that have rather extreme weather, there is a pretty short window of time right now to get some of these projects started and to get them completed.

Just as a few examples, the Plumas County Fire Safe Council has a grant of nearly $7 million that is very important for fire mitigation efforts.

The Nevada County Board of Supervisors has significant grants that have come in for vital wildfire mitigation projects, shaded fuel breaks, evacuation planning, and community wildfire protection planning.

The Mono County Board of Supervisors has a public safety and law enforcement grant related to staffing of the forest protection officers and law enforcement officers, as well.

American Rivers, there is a $16 million grant that is being funded by National Fish and Wildlife. There are matching funds as well with a number of regional partners. The purpose of the project is to restore high-severity burned areas near the South Fork of the American River and Cosumnes River to prevent erosion and flooding

as well as to protect water quality and for drinking, irrigation, and hydropower.

There is also the Eastern Sierra Climate and Communities Resilience Project. This is in Mammoth Lakes. There is $6.7 million for implementation funds as well as a number of other types of funds. This is a project that, again, is designed to do important fire mitigation work. There are potentially 1,609 acres with a reduction of 77 percent of total acres that is now potentially being faced.

We have then as well some reports of folks with the Forest Service and positions that are in jeopardy.

In the Camino Fire Safe Council, we have also gotten some reports of activity when it comes to their grants, as well.

That is just to emphasize that this is an issue of the highest importance for folks in my district and that we need to absolutely--and I have been advocating this since I have been in elected office--have much more sensible policies when it comes to forest management, when it comes to the laws and regulations that we have that make it so difficult to do this needed work.

We also need to do the work at a scale, and the resources to do it at a scale that is much higher than we have done in the past. I have been extremely critical of the Governor, for example, of not doing that, of exaggerating the amount of fire protection work done by almost 700 percent, according to Capital Public Radio. We have made good progress in terms of bringing Federal resources to get this work done, and I will continue to advocate for that here in every way that I can.

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 26 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until Monday, March 10, 2025, at noon for morning-hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, the basic premise of this bill, which I am happy to cosponsor, is that we should not have secret laws in the United States.

A major opportunity that we have right now is to modernize our government and to rein in the inexorable growth of the administrative state, restoring power to our elected representatives, States, local communities, and the American people themselves.

When we think about the administrative state, we think about all the regulations that are churned out, one after another, and compiled in the ever-growing Federal Register. The reality is, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Layered on top of all of that are these so-called guidance documents. These are memos, Dear Colleague letters, bulletins, all manner of what is referred to as ``regulatory dark matter.''

With respect to the ranking member, this is not a melodramatic term. It is actually quite appropriate. In physics, ``dark matter'' refers to the mysterious substance that makes up about 85 percent of the mass of the universe, but no one really knows what it is. Similarly, all of these guidance documents make up a great deal of the regulatory activity in our country, yet the agencies themselves can't even manage to track them down. How is an individual or a small business supposed to find out what this particular interpretation of the law is and how it will affect them, let alone how Congress is supposed to figure out how the laws that we have passed are ultimately being enforced and administered?

This is a commonsense measure that says that all of these guidance documents, which have real teeth when it comes to the enforcement of regulations, need to be compiled in one place that is searchable and accessible to every American citizen. It is a positive step for transparency and toward restoring government by the people.

Mr. Speaker, I am calling on Congress today to protect Medicaid benefits for American citizens.

There are a number of States that are using taxpayer dollars to provide Medicaid to those who are in our country illegally. These are public funds that could have been spent providing care for their own citizens.

Worst of all is my own State of California, which became the first State in the Nation, the only State in the Nation, to provide free Medi-Cal to every single person in our State illegally.

It was recently revealed that this is costing California taxpayers $9.5 billion this year alone. Right now, we are talking about costs over a 10-year time horizon, so let's consider what that cost will be here.

The cost is surely going to grow in terms of the year-over-year cost given, A, the rising cost of healthcare; and, B, increased enrollment. When you are the only State that is offering this most generous benefit, it entices people to come to your State. Indeed, that is why it went up 46 percent this year.

That is why, last year, the San Diego border sector had the most illegal border crossings of any border sector in the country for the first time since the 1990s.

When that $9.5 billion cost is factored in this year and the rate at which it is going to grow year over year for the next decade, we are talking about hundreds of billions of dollars that is going to go toward providing Medicaid benefits to people who are in our country illegally. These are funds that could have gone toward improving access to care for the most vulnerable Californians.

Mr. Speaker, I think this is absolutely unacceptable. For all of the Members who have been giving impassioned speeches about the importance of protecting Medicaid, joining our efforts to stop this and joining my bill, the No Medicaid for Illegal Immigrants Act, is an opportunity to do just that.

In Recognition of Kathryn Mandichak on Her Retirement

Mr. Speaker, I wish to recognize retiring Mono County Board of Education member, Kathryn Mandichak, for her years of devoted service to the people of Mono County.

Kathryn has been a leader in the local community for over four decades, serving trustee area 1 as a board member for 11 terms.

Kathy was born in Huntington Park, California, later moving to Mono County with her husband and three children from Whittier.

In 1982, Kathy began her service on the Mono County Board of Education to fulfill her mission of providing what she described as a ``good solid education'' to the students of her community.

During her tenure as a board member, Kathy continuously advocated for the support and services of the Mono County Office of Education and Mono County Public Libraries.

With the education board also serving as the county's library authority board, Kathy worked tirelessly to support various local libraries, including her beloved Coleville Library.

In addition to her work on the Mono County Board of Education, Kathy also serves as a commissioner of the Antelope Valley Fire District. As commissioner, Kathy has personified the district's core values of professionalism, courtesy, and efficiency. She worked to provide fire- prevention services and safety education to the people of Mono County.

Kathy is known by others for her quick wit, thoughtful guidance, and for her significant contributions to the Mono County Board of Education. Her leadership and continued devotion to service have been the hallmark of her career.

It is because of people like Kathryn Mandichak that Mono County is such a great place to live, to learn, to work, and to recreate. Her dedicated efforts contributed to the overall academic success of students of the region, as well as the safety and security of the people of Mono County.

Therefore, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, it is an honor and a privilege to acknowledge Kathryn Mandichak for her career in public service. I join the people of Mono County in wishing Kathy the very best in her retirement.

Mr. Speaker, to my friend from Maryland, I would say that one of the nice things about this bill that we are considering is that it allows us--if there are any good Biden-era regulations out there, they can

stay--to simply choose to disapprove of the bad ones, of which there are quite a few.

Then to this idea that we can't disapprove of regulations as a batch because we need to have a debate over each and every one in this rarified Chamber, I would point out that there was no debate at all in this Chamber for any of those regulations when they were imposed by the agencies. We had no role whatsoever. This act allows us to reclaim our legislative authority and our role in the policymaking process going forward.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to support the Midnight Rules Relief Act because President Joe Biden went on a regulation binge in his last few months in office. From August 1 of last year through the end of his Presidency, there were 1,524 new regulations issued. This bill today will allow us to press the reset button and to have a more considered process for policymaking when it comes to all of these different areas affected.

There are three main reasons I think that this is a good idea. The first has to do with the nature of regulations themselves, the death by a million cuts that is being felt by every industry and every sector throughout our country. When it comes to energy projects to make our country energy independent, when it comes to transportation projects to make our roads safer and to alleviate traffic, when it comes to forest management projects, when it comes to just about anything you can think of, and when it comes to being a small business owner, the sheer weight of regulation after regulation is making it unduly difficult to build, grow, expand, empower people, hire, and move us toward the prosperity that this country is truly capable of.

Secondly, there is a question of democratic legitimacy. When you have a President who has just been rejected by voters, or in this case at least he has chosen not to run again and his Vice President did not succeed in getting elected, to then issue over 1,500 regulations is a way of trying to lock in unpopular policies.

What this bill does, again, is it only affects new regulations in the last year of one's Presidency. It prevents this sort of undemocratic hangover effect, where new regulations are hastily thrown together in order to block the change that people have voted for.

Finally, I point out that there is an opportunity for Congress to reclaim its legislative authority. We have seen the administrative state and the bureaucracies that issued the sort of regulations we are talking about that have continued to grow and grow and affect American life in new ways and more intrusive ways every single year. We have had a few changes that have allowed us to reverse this decades-long trajectory. Of course, there is the election of President Trump and his commitment to rolling back regulations. There is also the decision from the Supreme Court revisiting the Chevron doctrine.

This legislation adds to that mix. It gives us the ability to say that we are not going to continue to outsource all of our lawmaking authority to administrative agencies. Rather, when it comes to the core of making policy that will affect the lives of Americans, we ought to be very mindful of giving that away and allowing bureaucrats to do the job that the American people have entrusted to us.

When we do that, we can reclaim the idea of self-government, that policy is made by those who truly represent the people.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Arizona for proposing this legislation. I look forward to seeing it pass, and I look forward from there on out to the newly empowered Congress being able to consider the merits of those regulations and decide on much better policies moving forward.

Mr. Speaker, I wanted to say a few words this evening about the rapid advancements that we are witnessing when it comes to the capability of artificial intelligence models.

I don't refer just to some of the narrow applications that folks are familiar with, that they might take advantage of in their work, that they might fear eventually replacing them in work. These are sort of the narrow conceptions that exist in public discourse.

The broader situation here involves the explicit goal of the leading labs to create what is known as artificial general intelligence, which is incredibly capable models that exceed human capability across essentially any domain.

I actually find it stunning that some of the advancements that we have seen lately have gone essentially unnoticed, unreported on by the media. What we have seen just in the last few weeks, I think on several occasions, there should have been front-page stories about the dramatic advances that have been made, given the capacity these advances hold for transforming our lives, economy, society, and much else.

What I wanted to do today is present just a few basic thoughts and pieces of information on the development and innovation that has been taking place. I am someone who has no technical expertise in this area at all. I just try to follow it closely because I believe the changes that will be upon us soon are so profound.

To give you just kind of a flavor for the scale of change that I am talking about, here are a few quotes from leaders in the field:

Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Google, said: ``AI is probably the most important thing humanity has ever worked on. I think of it as something more profound than electricity or fire.''

Demis Hassabis, the founder of DeepMind, echoed these sentiments. He said that AI should not be thought of as just another technology. He said that it is more epoch-defining than even the internet or mobile, more like electricity or fire.

Sam Altman, who, of course, is the head of OpenAI, said: ``With these new abilities, we can have shared prosperity to a degree that seems unimaginable today. In the future, everyone's lives can be better than anyone's life is now. . . . Eventually, we can each have a personal AI team full of virtual experts in different areas working together to create almost anything we can imagine.''

Along those lines, Elon Musk, who, in addition to his other ventures, is the founder of xAI, said: ``AI will ultimately render money meaningless.'' Why is that? He believes the capabilities will essentially allow any person access to basically any good that they desire.

Dario Amodei, who is the CEO at another lab, Anthropic, says that it is his guess that powerful AI could accelerate the rate of scientific discoveries by a factor of 10, giving us the next 50 to 100 years of biological progress in just the next 5 to 10 years.

We are already seeing incredible applications such as AlphaFold from DeepMind, which Demis Hassabis recently won the Nobel Prize for, which has predicted the 3D structures of over 200 million proteins, essentially solving the protein folding problem.

At the recent unveiling of the Stargate initiative, Mr. Altman was joined by Larry Ellison, who also spoke about the potential to cure cancer and essentially any other disease.

This might all sound pretty vague and certainly very optimistic. Maybe it sounds like hype, so I want to present a couple of charts that really clearly make this point, not only about the ultimate potential of AI models but about the rapid acceleration that we are right now currently in the midst of.

This chart is one metric of basically how smart a model is. It is called the GPQA diamond. If you look at the chart here, this axis is how well it does on the test, the model.

This axis is when the model was released. The different models over the time are the ``Xs'' there. The chart doesn't actually go back that far. It just goes back to July of 2023. We are looking at basically 35 percent for one of the models then.

You see that the line continues to go up steadily, a little bit at a time. Now, just in the last few weeks, you have seen this truly exponential growth rate. Those are both OpenAI models that are listed there; o1 pro and o3. I guess the o2 there was some trademark issues, so they jumped right from 1 to 3.

That shows you that we are on a rapidly accelerating curve. Now, the second chart I think makes this point even more clearly. One of the problems with the benchmarks that are being used to judge the capability of models is they get saturated very quickly. The models are becoming so much smarter that they ace the exam, and so the exam isn't good for anything anymore.

There was this effort to come up with what they called humanity's last exam, saying once they can solve this, then they have solved just about anything. This was unveiled, and the model's GPT-4o, which is actually the model that most people use--if you just go to ChatGPT, that is the one that it sort of defaults to--it didn't so well, 3.3 percent.

However, we are now up to the latest model that OpenAI has released, 26.6 percent. I included this tweet from--I think this actually is a reporter who said: When I wrote about humanity's last exam, the leading AI model got an 8.3 percent score. Five models now surpassed that, and the best model is 26.6 percent. That was 10 days ago.

In 10 days, we have gone from 8.3 percent to 26.6 percent on humanity's last exam. By the way, you will see that DeepSeek here at a respectable 9.4 percent. This is kind of the exception where you have seen a lot of media coverage of an advancement in AI.

The coverage really focused on the geopolitical implications of having this breakthrough come from a Chinese company. Of course, that is a very, very serious and concerning topic. Kind of lost in the coverage was perhaps the more important point of what it means for all of us, for humanity collectively, when we see this sort of exponential growth in the capability of these AI models.

What is essentially driving this very recent trend of exponential growth is the advent of unlocking a new scaling law around what is called test time compute. For a while, the way that these models were getting more capable was by scaling up the compute, the computation, that went into training them.

You trained the model, and it became more and more powerful as you use more and more GPUs and compute to train them. Then, after a fine- tuning process, you end up releasing them, and folks use them.

That sort of scaling law has leveled off some. What is now happening is the new scaling law that has been unlocked is when you, the user, actually enter a query into, you know, a Claude or Gemini or ChatGPT or whatever your model is, it will take time to think about the answer. Then, we are scaling up the compute that is involved in that thinking process. They are called thinking or reasoning models.

Just in a few weeks, whatever it was, when OpenAI went from the o1 model to the o3 model, we saw this incredible increase in capability, and there is not really any sign that it is slowing down.

The implication of that is that we might see even more rapid and even more astonishing advances very soon. It is pretty astonishing what these systems can accomplish even now.

I mean, I am someone who doesn't know how to write a line of code, but you can go to the latest models, and I can basically design you a rudimentary computer game instantly by just telling the model what to code.

For some of them, like Claude, it will actually produce some version of it right there for you. Others, you can just cut and paste it into some other application, but then it creates the application for you.

On the last chart, it said we are now kind of above the level of a Ph.D. in their field, which is a pretty high bar to begin with. The acceleration ahead could be further stimulated by the fact that this applies to many fields, but also computer science.

You could well see, and, in fact, you are already seeing it to some extent, and it is likely to pick up dramatically, the models themselves that are working on their own coding that are contributing to their own growth and capability.

You are also, by the way, seeing models that are built around solving specific problems. I mentioned AlphaFold or models built around discovering new materials. You also have uses of AI that are guiding action in the physical world, such as self-driving cars.

If you don't live in L.A. or San Francisco or Phoenix, you probably haven't ridden in a Waymo. It works incredibly well as a driverless vehicle. It surpassed the market share of Lyft, I believe, now in San Francisco. This has been made possible largely by AI or similarly Tesla's self-driving systems available in millions of cars being trained with a neural network.

Also, none of this accounts for the potential of quantum computing where Google recently achieved an incredible breakthrough and the interaction of quantum and AI could lead to even more staggering results.

This acceleration is happening very, very fast. My purpose in talking about it is not a call for regulation. Although, I do think some regulation is appropriate, but ultimately no regulation is going to stop this or really even dramatically slow down this progress.

I mean, the example of DeepSeek and what China is working on makes that point very clearly. I do, however, think that we need to invest heavily in research around AI safety and alignment. I think what we really need to ask are just some fundamental questions about how we might prepare for the radical transformation that could be upon us very soon.

We need more public awareness of what is going on and more voices involved because right now, the advance from OpenAI's latest models from o1 to o3 isn't really a topic of public discussion, it isn't a headline in any major newspaper.

The discourse is really limited to those who work at these labs or work adjacent to them in Silicon Valley or some fairly small online communities who are talking about these things.

They are increasingly becoming very relevant to the lives of all of us. I think we need to have more voices involved in shaping how we manage this technology; how we prepare for what is ahead; and how we can identify and preserve the values that really matter to us as a nation and as humanity in the face of this radical change.

To that end, I am planning to continue to give regular updates from this floor on advances in artificial intelligence, advances toward AGI, artificial general intelligence, or ASI, and the implications that it might have. I do this, again, as someone who is not an expert in this area, that doesn't understand the technology at a deep level, but believes that its implications are so profound that we need to have everyone in our country involved in considering how we prepare for it.

American Education Trajectory

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to announce that I am sponsoring the High Quality Charter Schools Act, which has the potential to give millions more students in this country access to an excellent education.

Now, as the chair of the House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education that spans K-12, as well as pre-K, I am extremely concerned about the continual decline of American education as illustrated dramatically in the recent National Assessment for Education Progress scores, showing that our test scores continue to decline in math and in reading.

This is incredibly concerning when it comes to the life prospects for these young people, as well as the future of our country. I think one of the powerful ways that we can change this trajectory is by highlighting the schools that are out there that are doing a really good job because there are a lot of great schools out there.

In my district, we have a number of phenomenal schools. This is true for traditional public schools, for charter schools, as well as for private schools. You don't, in a sense, have to reinvent the wheel when you think about good education policy because we have schools and school systems out there

that are doing the job very well right now.

This is especially true when it comes to the charter sector. Charters have generally shown, as a sector, to lead to additional days of student learning in any given year, but you can then home in on the truly excellent charter schools. They are getting unbelievable results in a lot of cases.

This bill is providing a 50 percent tax credit for donations to nonprofit charter school organizations that have a track record of excellence. It will make it easier for them to replicate themselves, to expand, to open new schools based upon their already-proven successful model, and thereby invite in more kids.

A lot of these really successful charters have hundreds or thousands of kids on their wait-lists. If we can create more seats, then that is going to be that many more kids getting access to a great education.

By the way, that will also have good effects on the neighboring school districts that will then be able to adapt themselves and try to offer a higher quality education product themselves.

The virtue of the charter school model, which I think ought to be incorporated more into the traditional public school system, as well, is that, number one, you have flexibility for the folks that run the schools. They are not told by State or Federal Departments of Education exactly how they have to run their schools. They don't have a million regulations to comply with. They are able to pursue their own educational vision.

The tradeoff is that in turn for that flexibility in terms of how the schools run, there is accountability for outcomes. There is accountability for actually doing a good job educating kids.

That accountability also comes from the fact that they don't get students assigned to them just by default based who is in the neighborhood. They actually have to attract families to come and sign up to go to school there.

The third part of the equation is that families do have that choice: Providing choices to families as to where they send their child to school. You have flexibility on the front end, accountability on the back end, and choices for families. That is the formula that has proven to be so successful. This legislation will be very powerful in expanding the impact of that formula.

There is perhaps no more high-impact use of education dollars than expanding successful charter schools because they are already doing the job very well. By the way, they are most effective when it comes to closing achievement gaps and to helping students in underserved communities.

I am very excited about this legislation, look forward to building support for it throughout this year, and ultimately getting it signed into law.

Recognizing Edward G. Heidig

Mr. Speaker, I wish to recognize a valued member of my team who will be retiring at the end of this month: Edward G. Heidig. Before joining my office, Ed had a vibrant career in public service.

Early on in that career, he worked for former Senator Pete Wilson in his D.C. office as a legislative assistant. Ed then went on to serve in a variety of roles within State and Federal departments, including as the Director of the Department of Conservation for the State of California; Deputy Secretary and General Counsel for the California Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency; Director of the California Office of Administrative Law; General Counsel for the Diocese of Sacramento; Chief Deputy Director for the California Department of Managed Healthcare; and the Regional Director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Shortly after I was elected and came into office, Ed came out of retirement to become my senior field representative for Placer County. During his tenure as a senior field representative, Ed played an absolutely vital role toward establishing my congressional district office, and he quickly became integrated and much beloved in the Placer County community.

His role included responsibilities in facilitating community relationships with government entities, providing congressional recognition and awards, hosting events, participating in community gatherings, scheduling meetings, mentoring interns, and recording the oral histories of veterans through the Veterans History Project, just to name a few.

He has become very popular in Placer County. He did a fantastic job for us. He is known by our team for his quick wit, tenacity, care, and compassion, not to mention his unique vocabulary, and, of course, his signature catch phrase: ``Thank you for your consideration.''

Mr. Speaker, Ed is held in high esteem by his colleagues and those who have the great pleasure of knowing him. We were very fortunate to have had his high level of expertise in my district office, which he used to provide outstanding constituent services during my first term in Congress.

Ed's sense of humor, congeniality, team spirit, hard work, and determination will be missed by me and by all of our team.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I am honored to thank and recognize Edward Heidig for his service to the people of Placer County and California's Third Congressional District. I wish him the very best in his retirement.

Recognizing the Temple Or Rishon

Mr. Speaker, I wish to recognize the receipt of a new Holocaust Torah at the Temple Or Rishon, a Jewish synagogue located in Orangevale, California.

I was honored to attend the rededication of the Torah for its original purpose to this temple community on February 2, along with the Consul General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest, Marco Sermoneta.

This scroll is approximately 155 years old, having survived the Holocaust during World War II, and it came to the temple from the Memorial Scrolls Trust. The trust is a charitable organization that was established to preserve and care for the over 1,500 Torah scrolls rescued from Czechoslovakia, where they had been looted by the Nazis. These scrolls were discovered in the early 1960s in a warehouse in Prague.

Having raised the funds to restore this particular Torah scroll, Temple Or Rishon is among the few institutions in the world entrusted with one of the Holocaust Torahs. This Torah represents the incredible traditions and resilience of the Jewish community in Orangevale, Sacramento, and around the world.

It certainly speaks to the Temple Or Rishon that it has been entrusted for this very important role and the incredibly important role it plays for so many folks in our community and our entire region. This ceremony is especially important in light of January 27 being Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the House of Representatives, I am honored to recognize the receiving of this Holocaust Torah at Temple Or Rishon.

Recognizing Wendy Thomas

Mr. Speaker, I wish to recognize Supervisor Wendy Thomas for her years of service.

Supervisor Thomas has served the people of El Dorado County for nearly 40 years, with an overall career in public service spanning over a decade.

Even prior to her career in public service, Supervisor Thomas had longstanding ties with her community. She was born and raised in Placerville, and she established a strong educational foundation at Principia College, where she earned a bachelor's degree in both business administration and fine art.

Wendy then further fostered her business acumen by owning and operating The Printing Press in Placerville for about 23 years, strongly contributing to the local economy.

In addition to her business endeavors, Wendy showcased her artistic gifts for years. She achieved recognition in multiple exhibitions for her watercolor artistry, authored a book, and had her work featured in several other watercolor publications.

Wendy's family has called the region home for many generations, finding success as placer miners in 1850 and, shortly thereafter, becoming businessowners in Placerville. In fact, public service is in her family's history. Her great-great-grandfather was a recorder-clerk of El Dorado County and later served as county sheriff and tax collector in the late 1800s to the early 1900s. So, he was the recorder-clerk, the sheriff, and the tax collector, which is pretty good.

In 2010, Wendy Thomas began her own career in public service after being

elected to the Placerville City Council. During her 8 years on the city council, with two terms as mayor, she remained steadfast in her commitment to the community. She created and implemented the Neighborhood Chat Program, which streamlined constituent outreach. Wendy was also instrumental in securing roughly $40 million to fix Placerville's failing roads and pipes.

In 2014, she was named Woman of the Year for District 5 of the California State Assembly.

After being elected to the El Dorado County Board of Supervisors in 2020, Wendy brought with her years of experience in governance and knowledge gained from earning her master's degree in political science from Southern New Hampshire University. She embodied a passionate, resourceful, and respectful style of leadership, driven by her deep and abiding love for her community.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I am honored to recognize County Supervisor Wendy Thomas for her extraordinary career and her commitment to public service. I join the community in wishing her the very best in her next chapter.

Celebrating Roseville Host Lions Club's Anniversary

Mr. Speaker, I wish to mark and celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Roseville Host Lions Club, a truly remarkable organization located in my district that is dedicated to meeting the needs of the Roseville community and people around the world.

In 1925, a group of civic-minded individuals formed what was to be among Roseville's first community service clubs. Throughout its history, the men and women of this organization have sought to exemplify what it means to be true community servants.

With major rail hubs and the Lincoln Highway propelling Roseville to serve as a critical logistical hub during World War II, club members and their families housed GIs traveling through the city on their way to the Pacific theater. The level of care and comfort provided by the club helped to bolster the morale of the young men and women sent to ensure the safety of our great Nation.

In recent years, the Roseville Host Lions Club has dedicated themselves to supporting local youth and seeing them thrive.

In the past, I have had the opportunity to join them for their Student Speaker Contest, an exceptional program in which students are challenged to improve upon their research and speaking abilities while being provided with various scholarships.

Building upon their initial foundations, the Roseville Lions also worked to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities. Through their support of various initiatives like the Folsom Prison Project for the Visually Impaired and the Guide Dogs for the Blind, the Roseville Host Lions Club continues to fulfill its obligation of being knights for the blind, given to them by Helen Keller 100 years ago.

In times of great hardship and crisis, the Roseville Host Lions Club has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to community service. From providing critical services and aid to victims of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake and the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami to sending medical equipment to Mexico and sponsoring exchange students both locally and internationally, the Roseville Host Lions Club has left an indelible mark on the world and our community most profoundly.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, I am honored to recognize the Roseville Host Lions Club for their 100 years of community service and commend them for their significant contributions in Placer County and across the globe.

Recognizing Chief Probation Officer Marshall Hopper

Mr. Speaker, I wish to recognize outgoing Placer County Chief Probation Officer Marshall Hopper for his years of devoted service to Placer County.

Chief Hopper has been an integral part of Placer County's probation system for nearly three decades and has served as chief probation officer for the last 14 years.

Chief Hopper earned his bachelor's degree in criminal justice at Sacramento State University and his master's degree in public administration from Golden Gate University.

Chief Hopper first served his country as a military police officer for the Army National Guard and as a probation guard in Shasta and El Dorado Counties. In 1997, he began in Placer County as a deputy probation officer. After serving as a senior deputy probation officer, he was promoted to probation manager in 2005, assistant chief in 2010, and, finally, as chief probation officer in 2011.

Chief Hopper's steadfast dedication to public service and to making a positive impact on those under his probation supervision has been a hallmark of his leadership. His efforts to promote innovation in the department led Chief Hopper and his team to spearhead many projects implemented throughout the county and even the State.

Some of Chief Hopper's wide diversity of accomplishments include creating the department's Professional Standards Division, initiating the Placer Re-Entry Program, creating the nationally recognized Probation Outreach Vehicle program, and establishing the county's low- barrier homeless shelter.

Through these efforts and many more, the probation system in Placer has excelled. It is because of the efforts of Chief Marshall Hopper and those like him that the residents of Placer County are afforded a strong sense of safety, security, and prosperity within our communities.

Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the United States House of Representatives, it is an honor and a privilege to acknowledge Placer County Chief Probation Officer Marshall Hopper for his exceptional career in law enforcement. I am proud to join Marshall's wife, Stefanie; his children, Tyler and Emily; Placer County; and California's Third Congressional District in wishing him the very best in his next chapter.

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

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 7 o'clock and 10 minutes p.m.), the House adjourned until tomorrow, Friday, February 7, 2025, at 9 a.m.

Mr. Chair, today, we will pass this vital legislation to fix our forests, and we will do so with bipartisan support.

This bill has a number of very important provisions. It simplifies and expedites environmental reviews. It ends frivolous legislation and endless agency consultation. It strengthens the Good Neighbor Authority. It creates a new categorical exclusion to increase vegetation management for utility rights-of-way. It prioritizes hazardous fuel reduction in high-risk firesheds. It protects communities in wildland urban interfaces, and it incorporates technology in a smart way.

I am particularly grateful for those in the California congressional delegation on both sides of the aisle who have spoken in support of this legislation. The contrast could not be clearer to what is going on in Sacramento at the State capital right now where just in the last hour, the runaway supermajority rejected legislation by Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher to add $1 billion to the fire prevention budget, the very budget that the current Governor has slashed time and time again. He was even caught by NPR exaggerating the amount of fire mitigation work done by a staggering 690 percent.

Today, we will pass this very much-needed legislation at the Federal level, and it will make a big difference. It will reduce the risk of wildfire, but until California's political leadership gets its act together, our citizens will remain at risk.