Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor one of my constituents, Ms. Helen Mulrennan Young of Brandon, Florida, who turned 100 years old on February 27, 2023.

Ms. Young is the youngest sibling of the Mulrennan pioneering family, whose roots in Eastern Hillsborough County date back more than 140 years.

Carrying on her family's legacy of service, Ms. Young is an active member of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Brandon, and of Cornerstone Baptist Church, where she serves her community through crochet.

For more than 23 years, Ms. Young has crocheted blankets and hats for those in need, including newborn babies, the homeless, and hospital patients. In 2022, she received the Spirit of Kiwanis Award for her incredible work.

Her life is a testament to the power of faith, family, and community, and she represents the best of Florida's 15th District. That is why it is a great privilege to wish Ms. Young a very happy 100th birthday and many more to come.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.J. Res. 26, Disapproving the Action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022.

As a former Federal prosecutor and circuit court judge, I know firsthand how important it is for criminal penalties to reflect the seriousness of a crime and to ensure the safety of our communities.

Despite surging crime rates, the D.C. Council seeks to reduce the maximum sentences for violent crimes such as carjackings and robberies and enact procedural changes that will overburden the courts.

This will undermine law enforcement, and it is contrary to the actual needs of the residents and visitors to our Nation's Capital.

Republicans are committed to data-driven criminal justice policies that will strengthen our courts and law enforcement, combat rising crime rates, and protect our communities.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this important measure to put an end to these policies and make Washington safe for all Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of Chairman Comer's resolution disapproving of the D.C. Council's recent action to allow noncitizens, including illegal immigrants, to vote in local elections. The council's actions undermine voter confidence, faith in our elections, and, ultimately, the sovereignty of the United States.

Voting is a sacred right reserved only for American citizens. That is why Federal law and the Constitution prohibit noncitizens from voting in Federal elections.

In order to further promote integrity in our elections, many States have also prohibited noncitizens from voting in their State and local elections. Our Nation's Capital should be a model for the rest of the country, but for years, the District has run poor elections. Now, the council wants to take it even further by allowing noncitizens to vote.

At a time when communities across our Nation are dealing with the consequences of an unprecedented number of criminals, human smugglers, and deadly fentanyl pouring across our borders, it is unthinkable that the D.C. Council wants to reward those who have broken the law.

Further, this would let diplomats vote in D.C. elections, some of whom can be agents of our adversaries, like China and Russia. That is why several of my colleagues on the House Administration and Oversight and Accountability Committees last Congress, including Chairman Steil and Mr. Comer, sent a letter to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, criticizing the measure and calling on her to reject it.

Congress can and should exercise its constitutional responsibility over D.C. and stop this law with this joint resolution of disapproval.

I commend Chairman Comer for leading this commonsense measure and taking steps to restore voter confidence.

We have seen that in States like Georgia and Florida, when you implement key election integrity tools that make it easier to vote and harder to cheat, we can boost voter confidence, which in turn boosts voter turnout.

Mr. Speaker, we need more election integrity, not less. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

Section 3:

``The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State for six years; and each Senator shall have one Vote.

``Immediately after they shall be assembled in Consequence of the first Election, they shall be divided as equally as may be into three Classes. The Seats of the Senators of the first Class shall be vacated at the Expiration of the second Year, of the second Class at the Expiration of the fourth Year, and of the third Class at the Expiration of the sixth Year, so that one third may be chosen every second Year.

``No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.

``The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

``The Senate shall chuse their other Officers, and also a President pro tempore, in the Absence of the Vice President, or when he shall exercise the Office of President of the United States.

``The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.

``Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.''

Section 4:

``The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

``The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year, and such Meeting shall be on the first Monday in December, unless they shall by Law appoint a different Day.''

Section 5:

``Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller Number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.

``Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a Member.

``Each House shall keep a Journal of its Proceedings, and from time to time publish the same, excepting such Parts as may in their Judgment require secrecy; and the Yeas and Nays of the Members of either House on any question shall, at the Desire of one fifth of those Present, be entered on the Journal.

``Neither House, during the Session of Congress, shall, without the consent of the other, adjourn for more than three days, nor to any other Place than that in which the two Houses shall be sitting.''

Section 6:

``The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.

``No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been encreased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.''

Article IV, Section 1:

``Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the public Acts, Records, and judicial Proceedings of every other State. And the Congress may by general Laws prescribe the Manner in which such Acts, Records and Proceedings shall be proved, and the Effect thereof.''

Section 2:

``The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

``A Person charged in any State with Treason, Felony, or other Crime, who shall flee from Justice, and be found in another State, shall on Demand of the executive Authority of the State from which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having Jurisdiction of the Crime.''

Section 3:

``New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

``The Congress shall have Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be so construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.''

Section 4:

``The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive, when the Legislature cannot be convened, against domestic Violence.''

Article V:

``The Congress, whenever two thirds of both Houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose Amendments to this Constitution, or, on the Application of the Legislatures of two thirds of the several States, shall call a Convention for proposing Amendments, which, in either Case, shall be valid to all Intents and Purposes, as Part of this Constitution, when ratified by the Legislatures of three fourths of the several States, or by Conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other Mode of Ratification may be proposed by the Congress; Provided that no Amendment which may be made prior to the Year One thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any Manner affect the first and fourth Clauses in the Ninth Section of the first Article; and that no State, without its Consent, shall be deprived of its equal Suffrage in the Senate.''

Article VI:

``All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.

``This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

``The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.''