Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to celebrate the life and legacy of a remarkable American, Israel MacAllister Booth, the grandfather-in-law of my friend and our colleague Suhas Subramanyam. He was known to those who loved him as Mac.

Born in 1931, Mac Booth earned degrees in mechanical engineering and business from Cornell University. He went on to serve our Nation in the United States Air Force, and while stationed in Oklahoma, he met his beloved wife, Frances, his wife of more than 68 years.

In 1958, Mac joined the Polaroid Corporation and over the course of 37 years, he helped build that iconic American company. He was a tough and principled leader. He cared deeply about his people. He believed success should be earned through skill, merit, and hard work.

After retiring, he shared his hard-earned wisdom and experience as a lecturer to the next generation at Yale University.

I will talk about the place that Mac called home, Lake Sunapee, New Hampshire. He loved his time with his family there where he hosted his friends. He took his grandchildren boating. He golfed well into his 80s.

Mac Booth's legacy lives on in his beloved family: his children, David, Tom, Molly, and Charlotte; his nine grandchildren, his six great-grandchildren, and his beloved wife, ``Dianne.''

His legacy lives on in all those who knew him and were blessed to know him and love him.

Mr. Chair, I rise in support of this bipartisan package of amendments, which includes an amendment I am proud to be leading alongside my colleague from New Hampshire, Congressman Pappas.

This amendment does an important thing for New Hampshire's veterans. We are home to more than 80,000 veterans in the Granite State.

We are the only State in the 48 continental States that doesn't have a full-service VA medical center. This gap has got to be addressed, and this amendment takes important steps to that end, to make sure that every veteran who has put their lives on the line for our country gets the healthcare they need, when they need it, and where they need it.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan amendment.

Mr. Speaker, I am very proud to rise today and join my colleagues from across America in support of what is a commonsense, bipartisan bill.

H.R. 4549 is a bill that will deliver a fair deal for America's rural small businesses and entrepreneurs by cutting red tape, delivering access to key Federal resources, and ensuring experienced and accountable representation and leadership within our government. It is a bill that will ensure the voices of rural America aren't just heard but are truly prioritized within our government.

Running a small business is really an act of faith. It is hard work, often brutally hard work, and it is extraordinarily important work because rural small businesses are the beating hearts of communities across America, and in every corner of my home State of New Hampshire. They are the backbone of our economy.

As I have worked alongside and as I have listened to and learned from rural small businesses across New Hampshire, from the family farmers of our north country to the manufacturers of our Monadnock region, and from the loggers of our upper valley to the small businesses of the Souhegan Valley, I have heard again and again that the Federal programs designed to help our rural small businesses are riddled with red tape, and they are often impossible to access.

I have heard again and again that the rules of the road are simply not written with the realities of rural America in mind, their challenges and the opportunities. That is not right, and it is our job as lawmakers to correct it.

In 1990, Congress created the Office of Rural Affairs within the Small Business Administration to tackle this problem set, but as we have seen over the past 35 years, the office is underperforming. It lacks experienced and accountable leadership, and the red tape is still very much there for the cutting.

So our bill is going to address these gaps in the law. It is going to require a senior leader with real experience in rural economic development to be at the helm and to be accountable to Congress and the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues from across this body and across our Nation to come together to deliver for our rural small businesses. They are the backbone of our economy, and they are the fabric of American life. This bipartisan bill, the Office of Rural Affairs Enhancement Act, is going to go a long way to delivering for them.

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

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, His All-Holiness Bartholomew, the longest- serving Archbishop of Constantinople in the two-thousand-year history of Christianity and the spiritual leader of a church of 300 million people, including more than 4,800 Orthodox Christians living in New Hampshire. Ordained to the Diaconate in 1961 and to the Priesthood in 1969, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew served as Assistant Dean

at the Theological School of Halki before he was appointed Personal Secretary to the late Ecumenical Patriarch Demetrios, Metropolitan of Philadelphia, and Metropolitan of Chalcedon. I want to thank His All- Holiness for his commitment to religious freedom for all faiths as well as his lifetime of service to all people and our planet. During this visit, His All-Holiness will receive the Templeton Prize to honor his environmental and spiritual leadership. I am honored to welcome him back to the Capitol and recognize his contributions to our Nation and the world.

Madam Chair, exactly 249 days ago today, we came together in this Chamber to swear an oath to this Constitution. I keep it with me everywhere I go, and I remember that we did that not as Republicans or Democrats. We took that oath as Americans.

We honor that oath by doing our jobs--it sounds simple, but it is pretty rare--by working in good faith to get good things done and to solve real problems for the real people who have put their trust in us.

That is what I came to Congress to do. That is what I joined the House Armed Services Committee to do. That is what we worked to do in the National Defense Authorization Act. We worked in good faith to find common cause on cracking down on the high costs from housing to healthcare that are crushing our servicemembers and military families and to crack down equally on Pentagon waste, fraud, and abuse.

Madam Chair, we worked in good faith to find common cause to stand up for our servicemembers and our shipyards, to stand up to determined and dangerous common enemies like Vladimir Putin, and to stand up for our allies like the people of Ukraine.

I read every bill we vote on, as we all should. This one is 2,000 pages, and I fear that the 200 amendments that have just come to this floor are going to make what was a bipartisan bill that was good for America a bill that is not going to serve the best interests of our country.

I hope that we can summon the spirit that brought us all to this body.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to amend the rule to make in order the amendment at the desk that protects against any cuts to Medicaid and to SNAP.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor America's firefighters and first responders. These are American heroes who put their lives on the line every single day to keep our communities safe. These are heroes who give their lives to saving lives.

Firefighters run into fire for us. They are on the front lines of fighting our Nation's opioid epidemic. In their service to all of us, firefighters are exposed to toxic chemicals and cancer-causing chemicals every single day. That is why cancer is the leading cause of death for America's firefighters.

They do all this work for us, knowing the hazards of the important job that they do. That is what makes them the best of America. They are heroes with families and loved ones who deserve our support.

Today, the families of fallen American heroes who died from cancers they developed in their service to all of us aren't getting the Federal benefits they have earned because of a gap in existing law. Let me repeat that. American heroes who have died from cancer in service to our country aren't getting the benefits that they have earned because of fixable gaps in Federal law. That is not right, and Congress can do something about this.

I am here today because we must close this gap for New Hampshire heroes who are standing beside me today and who are with us today in this Chamber. They are New Hampshire heroes Lieutenant Jessica Wyman of Nashua Fire Rescue and Lieutenant Aaron Cooper of Keene Fire Department, both of whom lost their lives to lung cancer that they developed in the line of duty.

These two brave heroes gave their lives to keep our communities safe. Their families and loved ones deserve to get the benefits they have earned.

That is why today, Mr. Speaker, I call on Members of Congress from across America to support bipartisan, bicameral legislation, the Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act, H.R. 1269. This is commonsense, long overdue legislation that I am proud to cosponsor. It will deliver for our first responders and their families.

I say today I am forever grateful to Lieutenant Chris Wyman, a hero in his own right, who is here with us in this Chamber today. He has come to Congress to do what we all should hope every American will do, which is to advocate for this legislation that we have to get done.

In this Chamber, there are words behind me, words of New Hampshire's own Daniel Webster, who called on us to do something, to do something worthy to be remembered. These heroes, including this hero standing before us today, have done so much that is worthy to be remembered and worthy to be honored.

As eloquent as Daniel Webster was, I want to say that Lieutenant Jessica Wyman lived by a motto that is even more powerful to me. It resonates even more deeply with me. She lived by the motto: Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand.

I thank Lieutenant Wyman from the bottom of my heart for involving me in this cause. It is a cause that I am going to fight for because it is a cause that we should all be on board with. It is honoring American heroes who are the best of our country.

By making the Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act law, the United States Congress will do something worthy to be remembered. I want to get all of my colleagues involved. With that, I say let's get this done this Congress. It is long overdue, and I thank Lieutenant Wyman for her service.

Mr. Chair, I thank Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz for her leadership.

Mr. Chair, I rise today on behalf of the 88,000 brave American heroes, veterans, who call the State of New Hampshire home.

We owe a sacred obligation to the women and men who served our country in uniform. We have got to make sure that they receive the high-quality healthcare they have earned.

There are 48 States here in the continental United States, and my home State of New Hampshire is the only one without a full-service VA hospital. My amendment before the House today would change that. It will ensure the Trump administration follows through on its promise to expand services to support a full-service VA medical center in New Hampshire.

It is past time that we right this wrong and fill this gap.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues here in Congress to support my amendment which will do just that.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Takano and the chairman for their work today on this bill and on the other bills that I hope will soon pass the House of Representatives.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of a bipartisan bill that I am very proud to be leading with my colleague and friend, Congressman Barrett. It does two important things that I came to Congress to do.

Number one, it cuts some senseless red tape and updates outdated laws so that our government can work better for hardworking people. It also in equal measure delivers on what I believe is a sacred obligation that we owe to the women and men who serve our country in uniform, especially those who sustain life-changing injuries during their service to our country.

Our bipartisan bill is called the ASSIST Act. It makes commonsense changes. It is going to really cut red tape that is limiting and, as Congressman Barrett said, preventing far too many disabled veterans in our country from accessing the medically necessary and basic equipment that they need to travel safely and freely.

The freedom to travel is just one of the many basic freedoms that our veterans fought for while they served our country in uniform. We can and must do better.

My home State of New Hampshire is home to tens of thousands of veterans who live with service-connected disabilities, including a man I am very proud to represent, Gary Gordan, from Concord, New Hampshire. He is a Vietnam veteran and a fellow Navy veteran who today relies on a power chair to live his life.

Gary Gordon has truly dedicated his life to our country in uniform as an EMT, and as a mental health worker at our State hospital for more than two decades. He reached out to our office for help with navigating the process of getting the basic adaptive equipment that he needs to live his life and to get his power chair into his car. It is a brand new power chair.

Under current law, the VA is limited to providing the basic type of equipment that Gary Gordon needs to get his power chair into his vehicle. This is a problem that this Congress can and must solve, and we can do that by passing the ASSIST Act.

It really is a commonsense, straightforward bill that is going to make it easier and possible for the VA to cover the basic equipment that our veterans need to live their lives. It is going to help us meet the moment and provide the best possible care that our veterans deserve.

As we approach Memorial Day, I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come together and to support this commonsense, bipartisan legislation that is really going to change the lives of veterans all across our country.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Pennsylvania (Mr. Deluzio) for bringing us together this afternoon.

Economic patriotism--we are coming from all across the country. We are coming from different backgrounds with different ideas, but we are united by things that are really powerful. We are united by a love of our country, by a belief in our country, and by a belief fundamentally in the American people.

Mr. Speaker, I was born and raised in the greatest State in the Nation, the State of New Hampshire, the State that made the Nation. We were the ninth to ratify the Constitution.

I was born and raised down the road from the family farm that my great-grandfather built when he came to this country. He was 16 years old. He didn't speak a word of English, but he believed in the American Dream. He raised my grandfather, Sam, on that farm.

My grandfather, Sam, was an economic patriot. He really believed that your word is your bond. He believed that hustle was the name of the game. He milked cows, bailed hay, and got his start as a businessman selling airplane rides at the Nashua Airport. His slogan was: ``A $1 million thrill for a $1 bill.''

He went on to become a door-to-door salesman for Electrolux vacuum cleaners. He worked hard because he believed in the American Dream. He was a lifelong Republican who loved one of our great Presidents with his whole heart, I think maybe the greatest economic patriot we have seen in the White House, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

I was reminded today of a great speech that President Roosevelt gave 81 years ago. ``The Economic Bill of Rights,'' it has been called. He talked about economic rights that are self-evident, but, as with all self-evident rights that we know in this great document, our Constitution, they aren't self-executing.

I want to focus for a moment on one of the rights that President Roosevelt talked about. He said that there is a right of every businessman--businesswoman, too--large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad.

It has been said on the floor of this House and on the floor of the United States Senate that monopolies are inconsistent with our form of government. It is true.

The antimonopoly spirit is as old as America. It is rooted in the simple idea that power has to be checked. Just like political power, economic power has to be checked, too, but the fact is that big corporations and monopolies have too much power in America today. I see it everywhere I go.

I come to Congress having worked in the Department of Justice in the Antitrust Division. It is a division full of patriotic men and women, many of them nonpartisan, who come to this work with the basic belief in this country and in the power that must be checked by government.

What do we mean? What kind of power are we checking?

Every day on this job, as I have traveled around the State of New Hampshire, I hear about how big agricultural corporations are screwing family farmers like the family farm I grew up down the road from. I hear about big health insurers who are charging people more for less, big health insurers who are rolling up the entire industry, from providers to hospital beds and to the prescription drugs that people rely on for their lives. I hear about big tech companies that are using your valuable data for their own gain. The list goes on.

As we look across our consolidated economy, we see that corporate power has reached its apex in industries big and small, from door locks to the defense industrial base.

We have always found common ground in this country around the basic idea that, just like political

power has to be checked, economic power has to be checked, too.

Mr. Speaker, I am so grateful to my colleague from Pennsylvania (Mr. Deluzio) for bringing us together today.

Our antitrust laws are alive and well, but they could use an update, and I look forward to working with everyone here today and in the days ahead to make that dream a reality because it is core to the American Dream.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the proud great- granddaughter, granddaughter, and daughter of New Hampshire small business owners. I proudly represent New Hampshire on the Small Business Committee here in the House of Representatives, and today, I am very proud to be a cosponsor of this important bipartisan legislation.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 832, the Small Business Advocacy Improvements Act. I am very proud to be doing this together with Chairman Williams, Congressman Van Drew, and Congressman Tran.

My family's small business story is an American story. It is a New Hampshire story. My home State is home to more than 136,000 small businesses. That is 99 percent of all New Hampshire businesses and more than 305,000 small business employees.

Small businesses are truly the beating heart of New Hampshire's economy, from our cutting-edge aerospace and life sciences companies to our retailers on Main Streets. From my hometown, Nashua, all the way up to the North Country, New Hampshire small businesses are truly world class.

At a moment when big businesses in our economy are more consolidated than ever before in so many industries, small businesses are living through some of the most truly uncertain times in American history, from the threats of Federal funding freezes to the threats of trade wars against our neighbors and allies.

In Congress, I am fighting every single day to ensure that New Hampshire small businesses get true advocates and a seat at the table in trade negotiations and discussions that impact our international and interconnected economy. I am looking for a level playing field for small businesses to compete and equal access to critical Federal resources.

I have traveled all across New Hampshire and heard directly from small business owners and employees about the concerns they have about the use of tariffs, which are an important tool in leveling the economic playing field, but they will have a real impact on our small businesses in New Hampshire.

I am really proud to be a part of cosponsoring this legislation because what it is going to be is a commonsense solution to empower an important office within the Small Business Administration, the Office of Advocacy, to represent small businesses on international issues.

It is a critically important seat at the table for our small businesses at a time when they need advocates here in Congress and throughout the executive branch.

I am very proud to be a part of this legislation, and I thank Mr. Chairman and Ranking Member Velazquez for keeping the Small Business Committee one of the most bipartisan committees in Congress.