Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to House Resolution 5, I call up the bill (H.R. 30) to amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to provide that aliens who have been convicted of or who have committed sex offenses or domestic violence are inadmissible and deportable, and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and insert extraneous material on H.R. 30.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 30, the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act.

Over the past 4 years, President Biden and border czar Vice President Kamala Harris have allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens into the United States. At the same time that they facilitated the collapse of our southwest border, President Biden and Vice President Harris abandoned any semblance of interior immigration enforcement.

In a September 2021 memo, the Biden-Harris administration made enforcement more difficult for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. In training materials obtained by the Judiciary Committee and published in a staff report last year, DHS failed to answer seemingly clear-cut questions such as whether an alien who served a

20-year drug-related prison sentence or an alien who discharged a firearm outside of a police station should be priorities for arrest and deportation.

Until the Trump administration can change them, those are the training materials required for all of ICE's enforcement personnel nationwide. Instead of making clear that ICE officers should carry out their duties to remove criminal aliens from American streets, the Biden-Harris administration instructed ICE officers to develop a full profile of a criminal alien before deciding whether to arrest someone who is in the country illegally.

In the training examples, that included determining whether an illegal alien has high blood pressure or is a caregiver. The Biden- Harris administration's immigration absurdity appears to know no bounds.

In a transcribed interview with the Judiciary Committee, a former top ICE official admitted that the Biden-Harris administration's policies have made immigration enforcement more dangerous for ICE officers, more difficult to carry out, and less efficient overall.

The ICE official even acknowledged that because of the border crisis, fewer ICE officers are available to track down public safety and national security threats because they are left to do border administration-related tasks.

The consequences of these policies are not hypotheticals or simply numbers. They are a reality for families across the country, and they are emblematic of the Biden-Harris administration's war on women.

Last September, the Judiciary Committee heard from three mothers whose daughters were brutally assaulted and murdered by illegal aliens welcomed into the country by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Tammy Nobles recounted how Joe Biden and Kamala Harris released into the country the MS-13 gang member who went on to murder and sexually assault her daughter, Kayla Hamilton. The killer later admitted to four additional murders and two additional rapes.

Patty Morin told how an illegal alien raped and strangled her daughter, Rachel, and then stuffed her body into a drainpipe. The alleged murderer entered the country through border czar Kamala Harris' wide-open southwest border.

Alexis Nungaray spoke about how Joe Biden and Kamala Harris released at the border the two illegal aliens who went on to viciously assault and murder her 12-year-old daughter, Jocelyn. Ms. Nungaray said she had no clothing from the waist down. Her hands and her ankles were tied, and she was thrown under the bridge in the water like she was nothing but garbage.

Victim advocate April Aguirre also told the tragic story of 11-year- old Maria Gonzalez. The Biden-Harris administration released her alleged murderer into the United States. Just 7 months later, the illegal alien assaulted and killed Maria, wrapped her body in a trash bag, and stuffed her in a laundry basket that he shoved underneath his bed.

These are not isolated incidents. In February 2024, an illegal alien was arrested in Alabama for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl who could not consent to the intercourse, as she was physically helpless or mentally incapacitated.

In April 2024, an illegal alien was arrested in Indiana for allegedly breaking into a Michigan mobile home park and sexually assaulting two young girls.

In May 2024, authorities arrested a 20-year-old illegal alien for allegedly snatching an 11-year-old girl off the street in front of her Lake Worth, Florida, home and sexually assaulting her. According to local officials, the Guatemalan national crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in early January 2024, made his way to Florida shortly thereafter, and does not have an immigration court date until 2027.

Just earlier this month, ICE arrested a Dominican national who had been charged with assault to rape, kidnapping, and indecent assault. The illegal alien crossed the border in January 2023 and was placed on alternatives to detention.

That is Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' immigration legacy: more unvetted aliens released into American communities, more criminal aliens on American streets, and more Americans endangered by radical, reckless policies. Thankfully, the American people have voted to end this nightmare.

The Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act is just one of many bills Republicans have proposed that will help close immigration loopholes, reverse the disastrous policies of the Biden- Harris administration, and implement President Trump's immigration enforcement agenda.

The Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act makes crystal clear that illegal aliens who commit sex offenses are inadmissible to and removable from the United States. The bill also fixes a discrepancy in current law by creating a ground of inadmissibility for domestic violence to mirror the existing ground of removability for the same offenses.

In addition, H.R. 30 expands the current ground of removability for domestic violence by cross-referencing an existing statutory definition for sex offenses. Although many aliens can already be found inadmissible to or removable from the United States for certain sex offenses and domestic violence offenses, this bill expands and clarifies the conduct for which an alien can be found removable from the country.

The time is now to take seriously the danger of criminal aliens in the United States. Anything that makes it easier for adjudicators and officials to ensure a criminal alien's arrest and removal should receive overwhelming bipartisan support, particularly when it comes to sex offenses and domestic violence.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 30, the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Harris).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cline).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. McClintock).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Onder).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 7 minutes to the gentlewoman from South Carolina (Ms. Mace).

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers. I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Democrats claim this bill is unnecessary because aliens who commit sex offenses or domestic violence offenses are already inadmissible or removable. That ignores reality.

Take, for example, the fact that, under current immigration law, there is no explicit ground of inadmissibility for illegal aliens who commit domestic violence offenses, despite a ground of removability for aliens who commit such offenses, or consider that despite certain sex offenses making aliens removable from the country, there currently is not a ground of inadmissibility or removability for certain sex offenses.

Although some aliens who commit these offenses may be found inadmissible or removable for having committed a crime involving moral turpitude, that is far from certain.

Under current law, loopholes abound. For example, in 2023, the Ninth Circuit held that a conviction for menacing constituting domestic violence was not a crime involving moral turpitude even though the alien threatened his wife with a knife.

The Third Circuit held that an alien was not removable despite a conviction for involuntary devient sexual intercourse with a 15-year- old.

Similarly, courts have found that certain convictions for contributing to the delinquency of a minor, assault of a victim under 12 years old, and annoying or molesting a child are not crimes involving moral turpitude.

That is why this bill is imperative. It is to ensure that criminal aliens who endanger families and communities can be removed from the United States.

The Biden-Harris administration's war on women must come to an end, and this bill is one step toward that.

Making guests in our country inadmissible to and removable from the United States because they have committed a sex offense or domestic violence offense should be something that even open-border Democrats can agree with us on.

Mr. Speaker, the Preventing Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act is a straightforward, commonsense bill that I urge my colleagues to support, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Plant City's Firefighters, a group of incredible individuals who have dedicated their lives to serve our community, as they celebrate the swearing-in of new firefighters and the Plant City Firefighter of the Year.

Congratulations to Cameron Hall, John Furlow, and Christian Torres on earning their badge as the newest members of the Plant City Fire Department. Becoming a firefighter requires immense courage, dedication, and a willingness to put others before oneself. I look forward to seeing the great impact they will have on our community.

I would like to extend my congratulations to Captain Jason Mesa, who has been named Plant City's Firefighter of the Year. Captain Mesa's ability to lead by example, particularly during the most challenging times, is a testament to his remarkable character and service. I thank him for everything he does to keep Plant City safe.

I salute Battalion Chief James Wingo for his 30 years of unwavering service in the Department. Thirty years is an exceptional achievement-- I thank him for his service.

Lastly, I extend my deepest appreciation to all the men and women of the Plant City Fire Department. They are the first responders we turn to when disaster strikes, and they show up, without hesitation. During Hurricane Milton, we saw the true extent of their dedication, as they worked tirelessly to protect our residents, secure our neighborhoods, and help our community. On behalf of the people of Florida's 15th District, I want to thank them.

I thank them for their service, their sacrifices, and their unwavering commitment to our community.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 8664, the DHS Intelligence and Analysis Oversight and Transparency Act.

Our public servants must carefully protect the personal information and data of Americans.

Unfortunately, time and again, we have seen examples of agencies and bureaucrats who have failed to secure and protect our most sensitive information.

A recent report from the Government Accountability Office found that the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis, I&A, has not fully implemented oversight guidelines pertaining to bulk data collection activities and has not conducted an audit as outlined in the intelligence oversight guidelines.

To ensure transparency and to protect Americans' civil liberties, privacy, and civil rights, my bill, the DHS Intelligence and Analysis Oversight and Transparency Act, will require DHS' I&A to conduct an annual audit to assess whether access to and searches of Americans' data are appropriately limited and in line with the I&A's intelligence guidelines.

To further conduct oversight, this bill will require the Undersecretary for Intelligence and Analysis to submit a report to Congress that outlines the findings of every annual audit to ensure transparency for the American people.

Americans deserve to know what data and information is being accessed by government agencies. This bill will make sure that entities responsible for conducting audits of information systems and bulk data are carrying out their duties in accordance with I&A's oversight guidelines.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 8664.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate retired U.S. Army Colonel Orlando Rodriguez as the 2024 Veteran of the Year for Florida's 15th District.

Colonel Rodriguez is a distinguished figure within our local and military communities with nearly three decades of faithful and dedicated service to his Nation.

Born in Havana, Cuba, Colonel Rodriguez fled the island in 1959 but would soon return as part of the famed Brigade 2506, a CIA-sponsored group of Cuban exiles who carried out the Bay of Pigs invasion.

Colonel Rodriguez spent 2 years in a Cuban prison following the Bay of Pigs invasion. He was then released to the United States and commissioned into the U.S. Army in 1963, serving multiple combat tours in Vietnam and with the 1st Cavalry and 82nd Airborne Divisions.

As a Green Beret, Colonel Rodriguez served as a key adviser to Presidents George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan on Latin and Central American operations, and later served at Tampa Bay's very own MacDill Air Force Base as a senior military adviser at the U.S. Special Operations Command.

His lifelong service and leadership have left a lasting mark on our Nation and community, and his dedication continues to inspire us all.

It is an honor to recognize Colonel Rodriguez as Florida's 15th District Veteran of the Year. I thank him for his service and I congratulate him.

Mr. Speaker, the Chinese Communist Party and other adversary nation-states and criminal networks have been exploiting our critical infrastructure and collecting information on American officials, posing a grave threat to our national security.

The malicious cyber activity by the CCP represents a calculated effort to gather intelligence on IT systems vital to U.S. national security, public safety, and economic stability.

Specifically, the CCP state-sponsored cyber actor known as Volt Typhoon has conducted a coordinated campaign to infiltrate the information technology environments of a wide range of critical infrastructure sectors of the United States, including sectors like communications, transportation, energy, and water.

H.R. 9769, the Strengthening Cyber Resilience Against State-Sponsored Threats Act, will create an interagency task force, chaired by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, CISA, Director and co-chaired by the FBI Director to address the cybersecurity threat posed by CCP cyber actors.

This bill would improve our defensive and offensive capabilities in cyberspace and requires the task force to provide a classified report and briefing to Congress annually for 5 years on their findings, conclusions, and recommendations relating to malicious cyber activity. Specifically, this task force will help Congress create a mitigation strategy every year to help us prevent future cyberattacks and protect our national security.

It is time to mitigate this threat and secure our networks and infrastructure to protect all Americans. We must address the grave threats China and other foreign adversaries pose to our cybersecurity. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on H.R. 9769.

Mr. Speaker, it is indeed an honor to be here, to get to recognize such an exemplary Member of Congress.

Cathy McMorris Rodgers does all of the things that you could hope a Member of Congress would do, and she does them with integrity and incredible skill. She leads on policy, tackling some of the most challenging issues of our time. She is completely unafraid to confront an issue because it is complicated or because it is a political challenge. If it is the right thing to do, she will stand behind it and she has. She has been an example to all of us in that way.

Equally important, she is an example to us of the type of person and the type of Member that we should all aspire to be. She is a spiritual leader to so many in Congress.

You have heard mentioned already tonight not just of one Bible study but of numerous, because she ensures that she meets Members where they are and that each of us has an opportunity to have a friend, a partner, somebody to walk with in our own spiritual journey as we are here. That is so vital to this place and our relationships with one another.

Everyone who knows her knows that she cares about her home and her family, and she is also an example to so many of us that we don't have to sacrifice that in order to serve here.

When I was thinking about running for Congress and before I had decided whether I could, she was one of the people who stopped what she was doing to talk to me. She shared with me the story of her family and how she managed to do both this, to be a good, strong Member fighting for good policy and for her constituents, but also to remain a wife, a mother, a servant of God, and that all of those things could, in fact, be done at once. She made the case that, in fact, it was necessary to have people in this place who were willing to try to do all of those things well at the same time.

There is no other person who I can think of who has done more to reach out, support, mentor, and help particularly new women who are Members of Congress. She has shown the way to do this and to do it well.

I am so happy for her, for her family, for the people back home who get to have her more often. I will tell you this, for those of us who stay here in Washington, D.C., she will be dearly, dearly missed.

Mr. Speaker, Florida's 15th District is home to thousands of small businesses that create jobs, spur economic growth, and contribute to the cultural fabric of our community.

There are few things more inspiring than when I get to meet people in our community who had an idea to start a business or saw a need to be met and worked hard to make it happen. That is the American spirit at work.

For the past 4 years, small businesses across the country have seen firsthand the increase in new and burdensome rules, regulations, and mandates being handed down by the Biden-Harris administration, making it harder for small businesses to thrive.

Congress must do all it can to ensure that Main Street has the tools it needs to succeed and continue to support the American Dream, and that starts with government getting out of the way.

That is why I am proud to support H.R. 7198, the Prove It Act of 2024. Too often, small businesses are overlooked when it comes to analyzing the impact of new government regulations and mandates. This bill will strengthen current requirements for government agencies to consider and account for the impact of proposed regulations on the small business community.

Additionally, this legislation will increase small business owners' engagement in the regulatory process preventing further executive overreach and holding government bureaucrats accountable.

Mr. Speaker, small business owners deserve a seat at the table, and the Prove It Act will do just that.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to our colleague, the gentleman from North Dakota, Kelly Armstrong, and to recognize his significant contributions as a Member of Congress.

Kelly has been a distinguished leader during his time here. He brought to these Halls experience both in business and in the law. His insight and dedication elevated every committee where he served.

Most particularly, it has been my privilege to work with Kelly on the Judiciary Committee and on criminal justice policy. As a former criminal defense attorney, Kelly brings insight and courage to difficult issues related to our justice system and to criminal justice policies. His unwavering commitment to the U.S. Constitution and to ensuring that every American receives its protections and its rights is an insight and a guidance for us all. His voice and his leadership will be dearly missed.

I will miss him most as my friend. Those of us who are blessed to call him a friend see the same dedication, intellect, and wit that Kelly shows as a Member of Congress in his personal friendships.

As a new Member, Kelly was a mentor to me, and to this day, he continues to devote his time to making all of us and this institution better.

Most of all, Kelly loves his family and his community, and it is no surprise that the people of the great State of North Dakota wanted Kelly to serve as their Governor. I offer my heartfelt congratulations to Kelly and to those that he will represent.

I am grateful for his service here in Congress. He leaves behind a proud legacy of achievement and service, and he will be dearly missed.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7909, the Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act.

In 3\1/2\ years, President Joe Biden and border czar Vice President Kamala Harris have allowed more than 7.5 million unvetted illegal aliens into the United States.

At the same time that they facilitated the collapse of our southwest border, President Biden and Vice President Harris have abandoned any semblance of interior immigration enforcement.

In a September 2021 memo, the Biden-Harris administration made enforcement more difficult for Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. In training materials obtained by the Judiciary Committee and published in a staff report earlier this year, DHS failed to answer seemingly clear-cut questions, such as whether an alien who served a 20-year drug-related prison sentence or an alien who discharged a firearm outside of a police station should be priorities for arrest and deportation.

Those are the training materials required for all of ICE's enforcement personnel nationwide. Instead of making clear that ICE officers should carry out their duties to remove criminal aliens from American streets, the Biden-Harris administration instructs ICE officers to develop a full profile of a criminal alien before deciding whether to arrest someone who is in the country illegally.

In the training examples, that includes determining whether an alien has high blood pressure or is a caregiver, rather than focusing on appropriate considerations such as criminal history and whether the illegal alien is a danger to the community.

In a transcribed interview with the Judiciary Committee, a former top ICE official admitted that the Biden-Harris administration's policies have made immigration enforcement more dangerous for ICE officers, more difficult to carry out, and less efficient overall.

The ICE official even acknowledged that because of the border crisis, fewer ICE officers are available to track down public safety and national security threats because they are left to do border-related tasks, but this shouldn't be a surprise.

In 2019, Kamala Harris told the ACLU she would slash funding for immigration detention, close private immigration detention centers, and even use taxpayer funding to provide transgender surgeries for illegal aliens detained in the United States.

Here is how her policies are working out.

In fiscal year 2019, the Trump administration arrested aliens who accounted for 5,435 convictions and charges for family offenses. That number dropped to a mere 3,439 in fiscal year 2023, a 36.7 percent decrease.

In fiscal year 2019, ICE arrested aliens who were responsible for 6,650 sex offenses and 5,061 sexual assault offenses. Under the Biden administration in fiscal year 2023, ICE arrested aliens responsible for only 5,746 sex offenses and 4,390 sexual assault offenses, drops of 13 percent in each category.

These aren't just hypotheticals or just numbers. They are a reality for families across America who need these offenders to be arrested and prosecuted and, more importantly, need them to be prevented from entering the United States of America in the first place.

They are emblematic of the Biden-Harris administration's war on women. Just last week, the Judiciary Committee heard from three moms whose

daughters were brutally assaulted and murdered by illegal aliens welcomed into the country by President Biden and Vice President Harris.

Tammy Nobles recounted how Joe Biden and Kamala Harris released into the country the MS-13 gang member who went on to murder and sexually assault her daughter, Kayla Hamilton. The killer later admitted to four additional murders and two additional rapes.

Patty Morin told how an illegal alien raped and strangled her daughter, Rachel, and then stuffed her body into a drainpipe. The alleged murderer entered the country through border czar Kamala Harris' wide-open southern border.

Alexis Nungaray spoke about how Joe Biden and Kamala Harris released at the border the two illegal aliens who went on to viciously assault and murder her 12-year-old daughter, Jocelyn. Ms. Nungaray said: ``She had no clothing from the waist down. Her hands and her ankles were tied and thrown under the bridge of water like she was nothing but garbage.''

Victim advocate April Aguirre also told the tragic story of 11-year- old Maria Gonzalez. The Biden-Harris administration released her alleged murderer into the United States. Just 7 months earlier, the illegal alien assaulted and killed Maria, wrapped her body in a trash bag, and stuffed her in a laundry basket that he placed under her bed.

These are not isolated incidents.

In February, an illegal alien was arrested in Alabama for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl who could not consent to the intercourse as she was physically helpless or mentally incapacitated.

In April, an illegal alien was arrested in Indiana for allegedly breaking into a Michigan mobile home park and sexually assaulting two young girls.

In May, authorities arrested a 20-year-old illegal alien for allegedly snatching an 11-year-old girl off the street in front of her Lake Worth, Florida, home and sexually assaulting her. According to local officials, the Guatemalan national crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in early January, made his way to Florida shortly afterward, and does not have an immigration court date until 2027.

That is Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' immigration legacy: more unvetted aliens released into American communities, more criminal aliens on American streets, and more Americans endangered by radical, reckless policies.

Kamala Harris' war on women is fueled by her open-border policies, which allow more sexual offenders, domestic violence offenders, and child abusers not only into the country but also to remain in the country indefinitely, free from fear of deportation.

The American people can end this nightmare in just 2 months. If voters choose to end this crisis, Republicans have proposed new laws that will allow the next President to secure the border and increase interior immigration enforcement on day one.

H.R. 7909 is just one of many of those bills. H.R. 7909, the Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, makes crystal clear that illegal aliens who commit sex offenses are inadmissible to and removable from the United States.

The bill also fixes a discrepancy in current immigration law by creating a ground of inadmissibility for domestic violence to mirror the existing ground of removability for the same offenses. In addition, the bill expands the current ground of inadmissibility for domestic violence by cross-referencing the existing statutory definition for sex offenses.

Although many aliens can already be found inadmissible to and removable from the United States for certain sex offenses and domestic violence offenses, H.R. 7909 expands and clarifies the conduct for which an alien can be found removable from the country.

The time is now to take seriously the danger of criminal aliens in the United States. Anything that makes it easier for adjudicators and officials to ensure a criminal alien's arrest and removal should receive overwhelming bipartisan support, particularly when it comes to sex offenses and domestic violence.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from South Carolina (Ms. Mace).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Molinaro).

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, Democrats assert today that this bill is unnecessary, but that ignores the clear reality of the crisis affecting our southern border and how it has affected those who are victims of these crimes in our country.

Take, for example, the fact that under current immigration law, there is no explicit ground for inadmissibility of illegal aliens who commit domestic violence offenses, despite a ground of removability for such aliens.

Consider that despite certain sex offenses making aliens removable from the country, there is currently not a ground of inadmissibility or removability for certain sex offenses.

The Biden-Harris administration's war on women must come to an end. H.R. 7909 is one step toward that. Making people inadmissible to and removable from the United States because they have committed a sex offense or a domestic violence offense should be something that even open-border Democrats can agree with us on.

The Violence Against Women by Illegal Aliens Act is a straightforward, commonsense bill that I urge my colleagues to support.

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

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 348; YEA on Roll Call No. 349; YEA on Roll Call No. 350; NAY on Roll Call No. 351; and YEA on Roll Call No. 352.

Mr. Speaker, had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 353; YEA on Roll Call No. 354; and YEA on Roll Call No. 355.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to state my support for H.R. 7700, the Stop Unaffordable Dishwasher Standards Act, and H.R. 7637, the Refrigerator Freedom Act, which passed the House this week.

Since his first day in office, President Biden has repeatedly advanced burdensome rules, regulations, and mandates that have made Americans' lives more difficult and caused prices to skyrocket. Across the board, prices are up 20 percent because of President Biden's failed and inflationary policies.

Families in Florida cannot afford Bidenomics. House Republicans are fighting to protect families from burdensome mandates, safeguard consumer choice, and defend cost-effective energy solutions.

That is what these important bills will do. President Biden's war on everyday household appliances only hurts hardworking Americans and small businesses. People in Florida, not bureaucrats in Washington, should be able to decide what appliances they want in their homes.

These bills will protect affordability and choice, allowing all Americans the ability to make the right decision for themselves and their families.

Mr. Speaker, this bill should not be controversial. The vast majority of Americans agree that only U.S. citizens should be voting in our elections.

The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE Act, is a crucial piece of legislation that will protect our elections and ensure American citizens have confidence in our elections system and that their vote is not being canceled out by those who are not legally eligible to vote.

As Florida's former Secretary of State, I oversaw all of Florida's elections, working diligently to ensure that Floridians had accurate and fair elections that they could be confident in.

Now as the House Administration Subcommittee on Elections chair, I am working to advance policies that lead to stronger elections across our Nation, like the SAVE Act.

While it is already illegal for noncitizens to vote, this legislation provides much-needed enforcement and tools for States to verify that their voter rolls are accurate and that illegal aliens are not slipping through the cracks and voting.

We all know that President Biden's border crisis poses a clear threat to our elections system as millions of illegal

aliens have poured into our country at record levels. In recent years, election outcomes have included razor-thin margins. We must ensure that Americans can trust our election administration process, and one of the sure ways to accomplish that is by ensuring that noncitizens do not vote in our Federal elections.

Recently, we have seen documented instances of noncitizen voting in jurisdictions across the country, including right here in our Nation's Capital.

That is unacceptable.

The SAVE Act will strengthen current law by requiring documentary proof of U.S. citizenship to register to vote in Federal elections.

As a former elections official myself, I urge my colleagues to support the SAVE Act to enhance election security, to minimize the risk of foreign interference, and to restore Americans' confidence in U.S. elections.

Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize the United States Election Assistance Commission, the EAC, and the local elections offices across the country who are this year's Clearie Award winners.

The EAC was established in 2002 as part of the Help America Vote Act to assist States in HAVA compliance and distributing funds to the States. They also are responsible for creating voting system guidelines and assisting local elections offices across the country.

Each year, the EAC administers a national award, the Clearinghouse Award, or Clearies, to recognize local offices that implement best practices and procedures to ensure their election administration is safe and secure.

I commend their annual efforts in showcasing the successes of local and State jurisdictions and congratulate the hardworking staff from the 24 election offices from across the Nation who were recognized. I would like to give special recognition to Florida's very own Hillsborough County Elections office, which was named a winner for distinguished voter education and communication initiatives.

Madam Speaker, I congratulate the 2024 Clearinghouse Award winners.